Look at these numbers for the five most closely watched Senate races -- GOP candidates listed first, and previous polling numbers in parentheses.

Missouri : 46-44 (46-47)

Rhode Island: 43-42 (38-44)

Ohio : 42-45 (41-49)

Montana: 47-47 (42-43)

Pennsylvania: 39-44 (42-4

We lead in two, are tied in one, and are close in the other two. That means that all are serious prospects to be won by a Republican -- if one considers Lincoln Chaffee to be a Republican.

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Looks like the UN will receive one final test of whether it is worth a pitcher of warm spit. Its handling of this latest move by the Madman of Tehran will determine whether or not the organization deserves to survive. If it fails here, the US and other sane nations should simply walk away.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated on Saturday a new phase in the Arak heavy-water reactor project, part of IranÂ’s atomic program which the West fears is aimed at producing bombs.

A Reuters witness said the president inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, which is near Arak 120 miles southwest of the capital Tehran. The plantÂ’s plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

The move came days before a U.N. deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment, the part of the program which is the biggest worry to the West. But the latest development is likely to raise further fears in Western capitals.

This move will likely split the major powers working to slow or stop Iran's nuclear program.

Six world powers have offered Iran incentives to halt enrichment. But Iran has so far only hinted it might be ready to consider halting the work as a result of talks, not as a precondition.

The reply seemed tailored to divide the four Western powers and Russia and China who agreed to the deadline on August 31.

The United States has said the six powers will move quickly to adopt sanctions if Iran disregards the deadline. Britain, Germany and France have been less conclusive in public.

Russia and China, both trade partners of Iran, have been unwilling and could veto sanctions in the Security Council.

But the Mullahocracy in Iran has said that it will not comply with UN demands.

Iran responded Tuesday to package of incentives, presented by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, for it to halt uranium enrichment and return to negotiations on increasing international oversight of its nuclear program. Tehran said it would be open to negotiations but did not agree to the West's key demand to halt enrichment as a precondition to talks.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will report on the state of Iran's program by mid-September. If its report finds that enrichment is continuing, the council could move toward sanctions.

Tehran has called the Security Council resolution that set the Thursday deadline "illegal" and has insisted it won't give up its nuclear program.

"They may impose some restrictions on us under pressure. But will they be able to prevent the thoughts of a nation?" Ahmadinejad said Saturday. "Will they be able to prevent the progress and technology to a nation? They have to accept the reality of a powerful, peace-loving and developed Iran. This is in the interest of all governments and all nations whether they like it or not."

The major problem is that while nuclear power in the hands of a peace-loving and developed Iran would be a good thing, we are stuck with a barbaric sharia-law dictatorship ruled by a madman who has expressed a desire to wipe one nation off the face of the earth -- and this call for completing the Hitlerian project of genocide against the Jews is advanced by the continuation of this project.

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Now let me begin by saying that I find Trooper Robert Henderson's beliefs and associations to be reprehensible -- but I also find them to be First Amendment protected. And furthermore, I find the attempt to fire him more offensive than his membership in these groups. Fortunately, an arbiter agreed with my position, although the state of Nebraska intends to seek to have a court overturn that ruling.

Robert Henderson was not fired as a state trooper because he belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and another white supremacist group, authorities said. Instead, he was ousted because he could not uphold public trust while participating in such groups, they said.

An arbitrator disagreed, ordering the State Patrol to reinstate Henderson within 60 days and pay him back wages. The state went to court Friday to keep him off the force.

"The integrity of Nebraska's law enforcement is at risk," Attorney General Jon Bruning said at news conference in Lincoln. "The Constitution does not require law enforcement to employ anyone tied to the KKK."

In a summary of the causes for firing Henderson in March, the State Patrol said membership in the KKK "seriously compromised" Henderson's ability to do his job.

Henderson and the state troopers union appealed and, under its contract, went to binding arbitration, to get his job back.

Arbitrator Paul J. Caffera, a New York lawyer, last week overturned the firing.

Heck -- imagine that the state tried that with someone who joined the Nation of Islam, a notoriously racist group. Or for that matter, a Muslim convert -- after all, how much of the public really trusts Muslims since 9/11, especially given the continued terrorism of the last five years (or, for that matter, the preceeding few decades). Or maybe some Hispanic guy associated with MEChA -- which has as its motto "For Our Race, everything. For Those Outside Our Race, nothing" (Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada). Would firing a Communist be acceptable? There would be lawsuits galore regarding First Amendment violations and accusations of racism and religious discrimination. Either all members of the law enforcement community retain their First Amendment rights, or none do.

By the way -- is Robert Byrd still in the US Senate?

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We'll let illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country enroll in our public schools -- but woe to the American citizen kid whose parents try to sneak him/her across district lines in search of a better education!

SAD to say, but suburban schools also have a problem with illegal immigrants, only theirs are pint-size and most are American citizens.

Take Greenwich. Students from bordering communities like Port Chester, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn., keep striving to land seats in Greenwich classrooms. Who can blame them? Just as Mexicans sneak into California because thatÂ’s where the better jobs are, students sneak into Greenwich because thatÂ’s where the better schools are.

Greenwich, one of AmericaÂ’s wealthiest towns, has not yet surrounded itself with a chain-link fence and National Guard troops. But it has its own version of a border patrol. A private eye, the kind who might be expected to snoop around motels, has been hired to check out tips of juvenile border crossings. Tattletale parents will report that theyÂ’ve spied a student crossing the Mill Street bridge from Port Chester or spotted another being dropped off by a car with New York license plates. The gumshoe, camera in hand, might shadow the third grader to his home.

The school district would not identify its Sam Spade, except to say heÂ’s a former Greenwich police officer and that he is paid $15,000 a year. He also does the shoe-leather sleuthing of confirming whether students live where their leases and utility bills say they do. In the 2004-5 school year, Greenwich investigated 62 cases and found 20 intruders. Dr. John Curtin, assistant superintendent, told of one student whose address was a golf course and who, upon inquiry, turned out to be the child of a maintenance worker legitimately housed on the greens.

Most suspicious cases donÂ’t arise from border crossings, but from the turmoil of 21st-century life. Parents divorce, executives get posted overseas. ThatÂ’s one reason why Greenwich is thinking of going high-tech with software, already used by West Hartford, Conn., schools, that crosschecks people who file change-of-address forms with the post office against the districtÂ’s database.

Why does Greenwich work so hard at stopping illegals? Put simply, state and local laws require students to attend schools where they live. Pelham, N.Y., bordered by the Bronx and Mount Vernon, takes similar steps, budgeting $50,000 to track down alien students. In the past year, according to Dr. Charles Wilson, the superintendent, it expelled half the 60 students it investigated.

I guess some illegal aliens are just a little bit more equal than others -- and the inferior ones have American citizenship. Because after all, Greenwich and its ilk don't have to worry much about the OTHER illegal aliens. Those are paid for by the taxpayers of the less affluent community who would desperately like their children to have the same sort of facilities and education Greenwich students get.

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A dog is a man's best friend.

That even applies -- perhaps especially applies -- if you are a world-famous artist.

And that best friend sometimes even finds his way into your art.

Some old masters made a point of including the faces of fellow artists and patrons in the crowds portrayed in large oil paintings. Pablo Picasso paid similar homage to a more unusual friend: a self-assured little dachshund called Lump.

* * *

More than three decades after the deaths of the Spanish-born artist and the German-born dachshund, Mr. Duncan has published “Picasso and Lump: A Dachshund’s Odyssey” (Bulfinch Press, $24.95), a 100-page book of photographs taken in 1957 that show Lump as the top dog in the Villa La Californie, Picasso’s hillside mansion in Cannes.

The sequence starts on April 19, 1957, the day that Lump met Picasso. Mr. Duncan, who had first photographed Picasso a year earlier, brought Lump along for the ride, largely because the dog did not get along well with Mr. DuncanÂ’s other pet, an Afghan hound called Kublai Khan.

“Lump immediately decided that this would be his new home,” Mr. Duncan recalled in an interview on a visit to Paris, noting pointedly that “lump” means “rascal” in German. “He more or less said, ‘Duncan, that’s it, I’m staying here.’ And he did, for the next six years.”

Picasso was apparently equally entranced. That very day, he did his first portrait of Lump, a signed and dated portrait of the dog that he painted on a plate while having lunch with Jacqueline Roque, his new partner, whom he would marry four years later.

Lump eventually went back home with Duncan -- and died, one week before Picasso, in 1973.

This is a charming story -- and a must for dog lovers everywhere.

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I'm troubled by this story.

A Madison County public defender has been accused of having "inappropriate sexual relations" with a 32-year-old female inmate.

Walter Wood, 52, a one-time Municipal Court judge in Ridgeland, was arrested Wednesday on two counts of disorderly conduct, said Sheriff Toby Trowbridge.

Wood posted bond and referred all questions to his attorney, Tommy Savant.

Savant could not be reached for comment.

Trowbridge said that following a meeting between the inmate and Wood last week, "we had reason to believe that there might be some inappropriate behavior between attorney Walter Wood and his client in the interview room of the detention center."

After their meeting, the woman was interviewed by sheriff's deputies and accused Wood of "sexual misconduct," he said.

1) Could there have been a circumstance under which Wood had "appropriate sexual relations" wih his client?

2) Under the Clinton Doctrine, isn't this "just about sex" and therefore not any of our business?

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Columnist Jack Kelley makes an important point about the inane and ungrounded ruling of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor on the rights of terrorists to attack America free from government interference. It highlights the decision we face this November.

We suffered on Sept. 11, 2001, the most devastating attack ever on our soil. It likely would have been repeated this month, were it not for the program Judge Taylor wants to terminate.

President Bush has made mistakes in his conduct of the war on terror. But thanks in part to Judge Taylor's ruling, voters this November will be asking themselves whether they would rather be governed by a political party that thinks Islamic terror is the greatest threat to Americans, or by a political party which is more concerned about Wal-Mart.

Let us hope the American people answer wisely.

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If it isn't a baby, how can you explain this attrocity?

Police and prosecutors in Hialeah, Fla., are investigating an abortion clinic incident that has all the markings of murder. On the morning of July 20, an 18-year-old girl walked into the A Gyn Diagnostics Center to abort her baby at 23 weeks. She had received medication to dilate her cervix the night before. By that afternoon, however, the clinic abortionist, Frantz Bazile, had not shown up for work.

The girl delivered her baby, alive, moving, and trying to breathe. Clinic worker Belkis Gonzalez then allegedly cut the umbilical cord, stuffed the wriggling, gasping baby into a biohazard bag, and sealed the bag shut.

That is the story the baby's mother and at least one other witness told investigators, according to Hialeah Deputy Police Chief Mark Overton. The day the baby was born, police received a tip and searched the clinic, but found no body. Nine days later, acting on another tip, police searched A Gyn again. This time they found the infant, still in the biohazard bag, unrefrigerated and badly decomposed.

There are no words that need be added.

H/T Anna Venger & Right Wing News

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Cool!

And that isn't a reference to the permafrost where the mummy was found.

The spectacular find of the frozen remains of a Scythian warrior in Mongolia by an international team of archeologists could shed new light on ancient life. Some of those findings will be the subject of a major exhibition in Berlin next year.

Scientists in Berlin this week gave their first major press conference about the spectacular discovery of a frozen mummy in Mongolia's Altai mountains. The frozen corpse, embedded in permafrost, is considered one of the greatest archeological finds since climbers came across the mummified remains of Ötzi, the ice man, in an alpine glacier. The corpse of the Scythian warrior could help provide clues about how people lived 2,500 years ago and about what illnesses they suffered.

"The mummy is unbelievably valuable to science," Hermann Parzinger, president of the German Archeological Institute (DAI), said on Thursday in Berlin. He described the mummy recently discovered in Mongolia as a "one of a kind find" that could increase our knowledge about the nutrition and health of early man.

The mummy, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40 year-old man with blond hair, and was found in very good condition, Patzinger said. It's too delicate for exhibition, but new techniques developed following other recent discoveries of frozen mummies will enable scientists to study the remains in detail. The newly discovered Altai mummy has been compared to the discovery of Ötzi in southern Tyrol in 1991 and a tattooed Siberian ice princess in 1993.

Wikipedia has a good article on Scythia and the Scythians, if you want more information on these fierce warriors.

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Does this picture not break your heart?

__

A fire gutted a 19th century cathedral in the heart of Russia's second city on Friday, destroying its famous azure domes which attract thousands of tourists every year.

As flames leapt from the main dome of the Troitsky (Trinity) Cathedral -- one of the largest wooden domes in Europe -- passers-by helped to rescue priceless artefacts from its renowned art and religious icon collection.

"The fire services don't have long enough ladders to reach the top of the dome. They have been aiming their water guns at the middle section," Reuters photographer Alexander Demyanchuk said by telephone from outside the cathedral.

The cathedral had been covered by wooden scaffolding during reconstruction work when the fire started.

"The main dome has been destroyed but we could not stop the fire because it was so high and now other domes are in flames," a spokesman for Russia's emergencies ministry told Interfax news agency.

Emergency services said there had been no casualties.

The Troitsky Cathedral, built overlooking one of central St Petersburg's canals, is big enough to hold 3,000 worshippers and also housed the military uniforms of Russian 19th century tsars.

No word yet on the extent of the damage, or the loss of any of the important historical and religious items in the building.

UPDATE: It appears that most of the items of historical and religious significance have been saved.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but acting St. Petersburg emergency department chief Leonid Belyayev said the blaze apparently started on scaffolding on the outside of the church, which was undergoing restoration.

He said the most valuable icons and other items had been saved, and that structural damage beneath the roof area was minor.

The damage will be repaired.

The above picture sums up my feelings as well. My heart breaks for the people of St. Petersburg.

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IÂ’m glad this school district backed down from a wooden, literal and absurd application of a particularly inane law.

A geography teacher put on paid leave for refusing to remove Mexican, Chinese and United Nations flags from his classroom will be allowed to return to school today after district officials backed down.

But Eric Hamlin, who teaches seventh-graders in Jefferson County, hopes his experience will inspire a backlash against a Colorado law that restricts display of other nations' flags.

"This hasn't been a teacher-versus-school- district issue," Hamlin said. "This has been a teacher taking on the state statute, with the school district stuck in the middle as the enforcer."

Carmody Middle School principal John Schalk put Hamlin on paid leave Wednesday after the teacher refused three orders to take the flags out of his classroom.

The school district cited a state law prohibiting the display of any flag but the American, Colorado or local flags on public buildings, including schools. Temporary displays for instructional or historical purposes are exempt, but the school principal did not consider Hamlin's display temporary enough.

District officials agreed Thursday that Hamlin could keep the flags up for six weeks, then exchange them with other flags from his collection of more than 50. The district said he could keep his next set of flags, 25 of them from Middle Eastern nations, up for 12 weeks.

See, the display is educational, part of a legitimate educational display in a classroom, which is clearly contemplated under the statute. Not that such logic satisfies the legislator who sponsored the current law.

Former state Rep. Carl Miller, who sponsored legislation in 2002 strengthening a 1971 law restricting foreign flag displays, said the school was right to put Hamlin on leave and should not have let him return so soon.

Miller, a Democrat from Leadville, disagreed with Jefferson County Superintendent Cindy Stevenson, who said the outcome was a "win-win situation."

"The only win-win I see is that Mr. Hamlin wins, China wins, Mexico wins and the United Nations wins," he said.

Miller said he and former Democratic Sen. Alice Nichol, co- sponsor of the legislation, intended for temporary displays to last a few days, not weeks.

First, the legislation has no time-limit. Second, the exception allowing for educational displays does exist, and using the flags during a period of time that it takes to cover a unit or set of units is quite appropriate.

What this really shows is that Colorado has a truly stupid law on the books, and that there needs to be a revision of that law by the Colorado legislature.

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And I don’t say that lightly – but when a member of Congress is taking trips funded by a terrorist organization, it is inconceivable that he or she can remain in that body.

Illinois congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law enforcement sources said.

Davis' seven-day trip came under new scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to support the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Hickory Hills, Ill.-based Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.

During the visit, Davis spent most of his time in a region controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the group is formally known, and visited the organization's political headquarters. He also met with a police chief for the region appointed by the Tigers.

The Tamil Tigers is a separatist group that has been fighting since 1983 for an independent state for 3.2 million ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, a tear-shaped island nation of 20 million off the southern tip of India. In addition to conventional guerrilla tactics, the group has used terrorist methods, including 200 suicide bombings, in a bloody conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Though the violence between the government and the separatist group abated during the past several years, it recently surged again, threatening a renewed civil war.

Davis said he believed that the trip, from March 30 to April 5, 2005, was paid for by the Tamil federation, which in accordance with congressional ethics rules sent him a written statement of the travel expenses, more than $7,000 each for Davis and his aide, Daniel Cantrell. Davis said he knew that the group was "associated" with the Tamil Tigers but did not realize that the trip's costs were covered with funds controlled by the rebel group.

"I know who I got the trip from," Davis said. "I don't know if any clandestine group gave them money. All I know is what I saw and was told."

Sorry, Congressman, but that explanation does not cut it. Would you consider it appropriate to take a trip or money from an al-Qaeda “associated” group? Hardly! By your own admission, you have engaged in equivalent conduct. You have no place serving in any position of public trust.

MORE AT Wizbang & LankaWeb.

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This just in from Denmark, where they understand that Islamic extremism is a threat to freedom and safety of everyone else.

A Danish prosecutor on Thursday charged four young Muslims with helping to supply weapons and explosives for a planned terror attack in Europe.

Five other suspects in the case have been charged in Bosnia, including two men accused of preparing to blow up an unidentified European target. Three other suspects have been charged in Britain.

Prosecutor Henning Fode said the four men arrested in Denmark last October helped the two main suspects in Bosnia get hold of "weapons and explosives with the aim of committing a terror act."

All four, who cannot be named under a court order, have denied wrongdoing. Danish investigators have released little information about the suspects, but said two of them are 17, and the others are aged 20 and 21.

If convicted they could face life in prison, although such sentences are commuted after 16 years under Danish law. A trial date has not yet been set.

The probe stems from the Oct. 19 arrests in Sarajevo of Swedish national Mirsad Bektasevic, 19, and Abdulkadir Cesur, an 18-year-old Turkish national living in Denmark.

Bosnian prosecutors said Bektasevic and Cesur were planning an attack in Bosnia-Herzegovina or at some other unidentified site in Europe with the aim of forcing the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police raiding their Sarajevo apartment allegedly found a suicide bomber belt, explosives, firearms and other military equipment, as well as a videotape showing masked men asking for God's forgiveness.

Where are the peacemakers from the Religion of Peace®? All I see are jihadi swine.

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Israel has the capability to nuke your camel-humping @$$. And that means you, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With the purchase of two more German-made Dolphin submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads, military experts say Israel is sending a clear message to Iran that it can strike back if attacked by nuclear weapons.

The purchases come at a time when Iran is refusing to bow to growing Western demands to halt its nuclear program, and after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

The new submarines, built at a cost of $1.3 billion with Germany footing one-third of the bill, have diesel-electric propulsion systems that allow them to remain submerged for longer periods of time than the three nuclear arms-capable submarines already in Israel's fleet, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The latest submarines not only would be able to carry out a first strike should Israel choose to do so, but they also would provide Israel with crucial second-strike capabilities, said Paul Beaver, a London-based independent defense analyst.

* * *

German officials have said the contract for the new submarines was signed July 6, and the Jerusalem Post reported this week the subs will be operational shortly.

If the Iranians really want to go there by hitting Israel with a primitive nuclear device, it seems to me that Israel would be more than capable of ensuring that Iran remains uninhabitable for approximately the next 25,000 years

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Just as the disgusting Phelps Klan crosses a line of decency with their reprehensible protests at the funerals of slain servicemen and women (and their earlier protests at the funerals of homosexuals), a group of anti-Bush cretins are crossing a line this weekend. They are picketing and protesting a wedding because the President is attending. The groom is a member of the extended Bush family.

Antiwar groups affiliated with Sheehan plan to rally as close as they can get to the wedding at St. Ann's Episcopal Church, near Walker's Point. "Join with people of conscience to call for an end to the war in Iraq and say NO! to the Bush Agenda," reads an online recruitment pitch for the demonstration.

Excuse me – people of conscience and decency, regardless of their views on the war or other political issues, do not seek to mar the wedding day of a couple with a protest directed at one of the guests.

But then again, these are the same sort of folks who held signs outside of Walter Reed Hospital that read to taunt wounded veterans. They have no shame, no decency, and no conscience.

UPDATE: Scum!

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One in four children evacuated in the wake of the hurricane failed to pass on to the next grade this year.

One in four Houston Independent School District students displaced by Hurricane Katrina failed to make enough academic progress to be promoted to the next grade this school year — a far higher rate than their classmates and an indicator of the massive challenges still facing area schools.

About 700 of the 2,900 Katrina students returning to HISD this year were held back, including 41 percent of high school sophomores and 52 percent of juniors. That 24 percent retention rate was among the highest in the area, according to retention rates released by some local school systems.

"These kids have worked hard, but many of them were not prepared for the rigorous Texas standards," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said.

On the other hand, many of these kids didn't work hard at all, based upon my experience. They arrived woefully behind due to an inadequate system of education in New Orleans and the surrounding area, took the initial outpouring of generosity (our school bought every single evacuee kid over $200 in clothes and school supplies -- despite having many impoverished children in the neighborhood who didn't gt freebies from every social service agency) as a sign that the year was a free ride, and complained that what was expected of them was more than they would need back in Louisiana schools and therefore didn't do much work because they expected to be back there this fall. Add to that the isues raised in the article and you can understand why the numbers show what they show -- especially since HISD received so many of the children coming from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds.

I hate to say it, but looking back over the last year I'm just not surprised by the number of failing kids, especially in the upper grades.

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Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans -- especially as long as this jackass is in charge?

During the "60 minutes" interview, a correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars still on the streets of New Orleans' devastated Ninth Ward. Nagin replied, "You guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five years later. So let's be fair," according to CBS.

New Orleans is one of the stupidist places in America to build a city -- and America's stupitest city. The incompetence and corruption of state and local officials over the course of many years resulted in many deaths and the failure of the levees. And at every turn, Ray Nagin looks to blame someone else for the failures of the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans.

And now he insults the victims of a real American tragedy -- an attack on the United States by foreign enemies.

From where I stand (surrounded by criminals and welfare leeches shipped in from New Orleans following Katrina), the time has come to cut that city off, raze it, and let Mother Nature reclaim the site.

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Human rights in Malaysia have always been something of a farce -- but this case deserves international condemnation.

From the scant personal details that can be pieced together about Lina Joy, she converted from Islam to Christianity eight years ago and since then has endured extraordinary hurdles in her desire to marry the man in her life.

Her name is a household word in this majority Muslim country. But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

Five years ago she started proceedings in the civil courts to seek the right to marry her Christian fiancé and have children. Because she had renounced her Muslim faith, Ms. Joy, 42, argued, Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah courts, which control such matters as marriage, property and divorce, did not have jurisdiction over her.

In a series of decisions, the civil courts ruled against her. Then, last month, her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, appeared before MalaysiaÂ’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to argue that Ms. JoyÂ’s conversion be considered a right protected under the Constitution, not a religious matter for the Shariah courts.

“She’s trying to live her life with someone she loves,” Mr. Dawson said in an interview.

Threats against Ms. Joy had become so insistent, and the passions over her conversion so inflamed, he had concluded there was no room for her and her fiancé in Malaysia. The most likely solution, he said, was for her to emigrate.

The truly obscene part of the case is that the civil courts left her with only one remedy other than leaving her homeland forever -- taking the case into the Sharia court system, which would have clerics of a faith Lina Joy rejects as false ruling upon her ability to exercise an international recognized human right. The problem is that the backwards and barbaric Muslim legal system considers attempted conversion to be a crime -- and it is therefore most likely that Lina Joy's attempt to vindicate her human rights would be met with a decision that she is a criminal for doing so. She would therefore be sent to a prison controlled by Muslim clerics in order to "rehabilitate" her -- in other words, to force her to renounce Christ in order to regain her freedom.

I urge prayers for Lina Joy.

And I ask where the international outcry is over this fundamental violation of human rights.

UPDATE -- 8/25/06: Michelle Malkin provides excellent coverage, noting that Malaysian police are investigating the Catholic Church where Lina Joy was baptized and the government is considering strengthening laws against preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims. And she includes this quote from an Islamic scholar on the subject of conversions.

"If Islam were to grant permission for Muslims to change religion at will, it would imply it has no dignity, no self-esteem," said Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad, senior fellow at Malaysia's Institute of Islamic Understanding.

"And people may then question its completeness, truthfulness and perfection."

In other words, fundamental human rights are anathema to Islam. You can have freedom of religion or ROPMA, but not both. has the time come for the civilized nations of the world to decide between religious liberty and Islam?

COVERAGE FROM MALAYSIA by Maobi -- with many links to bloggers from Malaysia and around the world. Also good stuff from Guambat Stew

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Religious Freedom -- Islamic Style
Malaysian Muslims Steal Hindu Hero's Body From Family
Dhimmitude In Malaysia
Human Rights And Islam – Incompatible

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I know it is just a game and I know it is just Hollywood -- but something just strikes me as wrong about the decision to group Survivor contestants by race.

Get ready for a segregated "Survivor." Race will matter on the upcoming season of the CBS show as contestants will be divided into four tribes by ethnicity. That means blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians in separate groups.

The announcement was made on CBS' Early Show. Host Jeff Probst says the idea "actually came from the criticism that 'Survivor' was not ethnically diverse enough." He says the twist fits in perfectly with what "Survivor" does, saying the show is "a social experiment. And this is adding another layer to that experiment." Probst says contestants had mixed reactions to the racial divisions.

This time the new Survivors are stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The castaways include a police officer, a heavy metal guitarist, an attorney and a nail salon manager. The new season of Survivor debuts September 14th.

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If so, please remit the amount you believe you are underpaying to the following address.

Until you do, please refrain from suggesting that taxes are not high enough.

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I’ve mentioned more than once that my dear wife suffers from a cluster of chronic neurological conditions which are degenerative and result in chronic pain. We have been fortunate that her doctors take her seriously and are willing to prescribe therapeutic dosages of appropriate pain medications.

Unfortunately, state and federal regulators have been going after doctors in the pain management field for prescribing such medications at therapeutic levels, second-guessing the medical judgments of physicians. One recent conviction really had me disturbed – but it has now been overturned on appeal.

A federal appeals court threw out the conviction of William E. Hurwitz yesterday, granting the prominent former Northern Virginia pain-management doctor a new trial because jurors were not allowed to consider whether he prescribed drugs in good faith.

The decision again galvanized the national debate that the Hurwitz case had come to symbolize: whether fully licensed doctors prescribing legal medication to patients in chronic pain should be subject to prosecution if their patients abuse or sell the drugs. Patient advocate groups strongly supported Hurwitz and expressed concern that his conviction would have a chilling effect on pain doctors.

The Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit acknowledged that prosecutors presented "powerful" evidence at Hurwitz's trial that was "strongly indicative of a doctor acting outside the bounds of accepted medical practice." Hurwitz was convicted in December 2004 of running a drug conspiracy from his McLean office, causing the death of one patient and seriously injuring two others.

But a three-judge panel concluded that U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler improperly told jurors that they could not consider whether Hurwitz acted in "good faith" when he prescribed large amounts of OxyContin and other painkillers -- in one instance, 1,600 pills a day.

"We cannot say that no reasonable juror could have concluded that Hurwitz's conduct fell within an objectively-defined good-faith standard," the judges wrote, adding that Hurwitz presented evidence that he ran a legitimate medical practice and believed that his prescriptions were "medically proper."

Patient and medical advocates hailed the decision. "It's about time that courts start to realize that these are doctors, not drug dealers," said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for the Arizona-based Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

While my wife is not – quite – on as much medication as this doctor was prescribing, her dosages are increasing as her symptoms worsen. I would hate to think that her medical team would ever have to face a choice between giving her enough medication or staying out of jail.

Posted by: Greg at 11:25 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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IÂ’ve mentioned more than once that my dear wife suffers from a cluster of chronic neurological conditions which are degenerative and result in chronic pain. We have been fortunate that her doctors take her seriously and are willing to prescribe therapeutic dosages of appropriate pain medications.

Unfortunately, state and federal regulators have been going after doctors in the pain management field for prescribing such medications at therapeutic levels, second-guessing the medical judgments of physicians. One recent conviction really had me disturbed – but it has now been overturned on appeal.

A federal appeals court threw out the conviction of William E. Hurwitz yesterday, granting the prominent former Northern Virginia pain-management doctor a new trial because jurors were not allowed to consider whether he prescribed drugs in good faith.

The decision again galvanized the national debate that the Hurwitz case had come to symbolize: whether fully licensed doctors prescribing legal medication to patients in chronic pain should be subject to prosecution if their patients abuse or sell the drugs. Patient advocate groups strongly supported Hurwitz and expressed concern that his conviction would have a chilling effect on pain doctors.

The Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit acknowledged that prosecutors presented "powerful" evidence at Hurwitz's trial that was "strongly indicative of a doctor acting outside the bounds of accepted medical practice." Hurwitz was convicted in December 2004 of running a drug conspiracy from his McLean office, causing the death of one patient and seriously injuring two others.

But a three-judge panel concluded that U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler improperly told jurors that they could not consider whether Hurwitz acted in "good faith" when he prescribed large amounts of OxyContin and other painkillers -- in one instance, 1,600 pills a day.

"We cannot say that no reasonable juror could have concluded that Hurwitz's conduct fell within an objectively-defined good-faith standard," the judges wrote, adding that Hurwitz presented evidence that he ran a legitimate medical practice and believed that his prescriptions were "medically proper."

Patient and medical advocates hailed the decision. "It's about time that courts start to realize that these are doctors, not drug dealers," said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for the Arizona-based Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

While my wife is not – quite – on as much medication as this doctor was prescribing, her dosages are increasing as her symptoms worsen. I would hate to think that her medical team would ever have to face a choice between giving her enough medication or staying out of jail.

Posted by: Greg at 11:25 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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No matter how much money Tom Cruise makes for a movie studio, there is still a limit to the odd behavior that studio will take.

Paramount Pictures will end its longstanding relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, actor Tom Cruise's production company, citing his erratic behavior, according to a published report.

Sumner Redstone, CEO of Paramount owner Viacom, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that appeared in Wednesday's edition that Cruise's controversial behavior over the last year - including advocating for Scientology and denouncing the use of antidepressant drugs - was the cause for the move
The movie company is concerned that Cruise's behavior hurt his most recent film, "Mission: Impossible 3," said the report.

"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount." .

Cruise paints this as a mutual agreement, but it seems petty clear that he was dumped.

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Houston's own wonder of the world will be getting a new life in the not too distant future.

Commissioners Court unanimously gave the go-ahead to a private firm's plan to spend $450 million reinventing the mostly dormant, county-owned Astrodome as a convention hotel.

The hotel is planned as a four-star facility with at least 1,000 rooms, a 2,100-space garage around two-thirds of the Dome's exterior, and restaurants, nightclubs and retail stores.

The entrepreneurs behind the project envision the facility as a destination attraction, with winding waterways and gondola rides.

With its vote, the court gave the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. permission to sign a letter of intent with Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. No public money will be put into the project.

The letter of intent states that by March 2007, Astrodome Redevelopment must obtain financing and the approval of Reliant Park's tenants, the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Hotel construction would begin late next year at the earliest.

The county would lease the Dome to Astrodome Redevelopment for 50 years and give it an option to extend the lease another 20 years.

Astrodome Redevelopment would pay the county $2.5 million in rent annually and 2 percent to 3 percent of gross revenues.

Unfortunately, the approval forbids the operation of a casino in the dome -- and also bans sexually oriented busineses (I guess to avoid unfair competition with the adult bookstore across Loop 610 and all the local stripper bars).

But that also means that the world's largest emergency shelter will be out of commission.

As the county moved a step closer Tuesday to redevelopment of the Astrodome as a convention hotel, officials said it no longer will figure in emergency shelter plans as it did when thousands of hurricane evacuees arrived last year.

During future emergencies, other facilities, including the George R. Brown Convention Center and Reliant Center, will be the region's primary shelters, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said.

Posted by: Greg at 10:30 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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Seems to me like we will see fewer car chases on television -- but will have more fleeing traffic violators due to this new policy change.

A new policy rolled out late Tuesday by the Houston Police Department will prohibit officers from chasing minor traffic offenders who refuse to stop.

The new policy- read at roll call Tuesday night-was signed into immediate effect by Houston police Chief Harold Hurtt.

* * *

Houston Police Officers' Association President Hans Marticiuc said the new policy will make officers less effective on the streets.

``Personally, I think it is an asinine policy at this point in the city's history,'' Marticiuc said. ``First of all, we've already got crime going up, and now let's tie the officers' hands a little bit more.

``This is a clear message to the criminal element (to) 'go ahead and run from the police,''' Marticiuc said.

Several HPD officers said late Tuesday that they were not happy with the change in policy. But they declined to comment on the record about why traffic offenders might not stop for police officers.

Marticiuc said that people run from police officers for several reasons.

``Sometimes, they run out of fear. Sometimes, it's other outstanding warrants for minor offenses,'' Marticiuc said. ``And sometimes, they run because they have committed a more serious crime. Why give those people the right to take off from us?``

So if you want to avoid that ticket, fine, and the consequences of your misdeed, just put the pedal to the metal and leave HPD in the dust -- you get a freebie.

But don't bother shooting a bird at the cops as you go -- Chief Hurtt has done that for you.

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For shame, Senator Clinton!

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is holding up renewal of the primary federal law that battles HIV/AIDS, the 1990 Ryan White Act, causing a rift among activists on the subject and threatening approval of the legislation this year.

Clinton (D-N.Y.) said she opposes the measure because it would lower funding for her home state. But some AIDS groups also see broader political motives at work. Other states that would lose out include California, Florida and Illinois -- all places Clinton would need to win if she seeks the presidency. Her critics also note that many of the states that would receive higher funding under the new formula are rural and Southern, which tend to vote Republican.

Clinton was the sole vote against the Ryan White Act reauthorization bill that passed the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in May. Ever since, she and other senators have been negotiating to find a consensus that would allow the measure to pass by acclamation before Congress's scheduled adjournment at the end of September. But a compromise has not been found.

"With a bipartisan bill like this, and with time limited, we want to have something that would go through without objection," said Michael Mahaffey, spokesman for the health committee. But, he added, Clinton "objects to the bill in the form passed out of committee."

Observers note that her objection is to a new funding formula which will give more funding to Southern and rural states, areas where AIDS is increasing at a faster rate than in other parts of the country. Interestingly enough, she is seeking to preserve extra funding for states that she needs to win the Democrat nomination and the presidency in 2008.

Even AIDS activists are critical.

Asked why Clinton might countenance lower funding for Southern and rural states, Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation's largest community-based HIV/AIDS medical provider, said, "I don't think she expects to carry the South."

Looks like Lady MacClinton is prepared to have the blood of AIDS patients on her hands if that's what it takes to win the White House.

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It appears we have an unintentional leak of the name of the new crew exploration vehicle which will take us back to the moon and blaze the trail to Mars – Orion.

The name of the new vehicle that NASA hopes will take astronauts back to the moon was supposed to be hush-hush until next week.

But apparently U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, floating 220 miles above Earth at the international space station, didn't get the memo.

Williams let it slip Tuesday that the new vehicle's name is Orion.

"We've been calling it the crew exploration vehicle for several years, but today it has a name Orion," Williams said, taping a message in advance for the space agency that was transmitted accidentally over space-to-ground radio.

NASA planned to reveal the new name Aug. 31, when the space agency also announces which contractor will build the vehicle. Competing for the award are Lockheed Martin and a team made up of Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

The crew exploration vehicle will replace the space shuttle program after it ends in 2010. Earlier this summer, NASA announced the names of the rockets that will propel the crew exploration vehicle and a cargo vehicle, respectively Ares I and Ares V.

Nine days until we know more about the next generation of space vehicle.

Posted by: Greg at 12:15 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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Just as they acted to limit voter choices here in CD22, now the Democrats are trying to prevent the people of Connecticut from voting for the candidate of their choice.

Critics of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's independent run to keep his job attacked on two fronts Monday, with one group asking an elections official to throw him out of the Democratic Party and a former rival calling on state officials to keep his name off the November ballot.

Staffers for the senator from Connecticut, who lost the Aug. 8 Democratic primary to Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, called both efforts dirty politics. The senator filed as an independent candidate a day after the loss, running under the new Connecticut for Lieberman Party.

A group whose members describe themselves as peace activists asked Sharon Ferrucci, Democratic registrar of voters in New Haven, to remove Lieberman from the party, arguing that he cannot be a Democrat while running under another party's banner.

* * *

John Orman, a Democrat who gave up a challenge to Lieberman last year, argued in complaints filed with the state Monday that the senator should be kept off the Nov. 7 ballot.

Orman, a Fairfield University professor of political science, accused Lieberman of creating "a fake political party" and added: "He's doing anything he can to get his name on the ballot."

In other words, anything to keep the people from having a choice – law or no law to the contrary. I guess voters are only disenfranchised if the result goes against the DNC-favored candidate.

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I’m a teacher, and I teach a course that includes a component on the Constitution. We talk about the Bill of Rights extensively, including freedom of speech. I often try something outrageous to provoke my students into thinking. But there are limits – and I believe this teacher crossed the line.

A Stuart Middle School teacher has been removed from the classroom after he burned two American flags in class during a lesson on freedom of speech, Jefferson County Public Schools officials said.
Dan Holden, who teaches seventh-grade social studies, burned small flags in two different classes Friday and asked students to write an opinion paper about it, district spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said.

Let’s look at the purpose of the assignment. The goal was to offer a provocative example of free speech to discuss the extent and the limits of the First Amendment. That is perfectly appropriate. The associated assignment is also perfectly appropriate.

But burning a flag – or anything else – in a classroom without proper precautions is reckless because of the possibility of fire. And engaging in such an inflammatory action risks causing a fire of a different sort, one which causes the point of the lesson to be lost.

And that is what happened.

Pat Summers, whose daughter was in Holden's class, said more than 20 parents showed up at the school Monday, upset over the incident.

I don’t blame them. This is the sort of lesson that you prepare for by contacting the parents in advance in order to have them aware for what you are going to do. Maybe the parents won’t buy-in to your lesson plan, but they will at least be aware of what is happening in the classroom. You also need to have administration support for such a lesson. It appears that olden failed to do either of these things. And one must ask whether a certain course of action will serve the intended purpose and reach the appropriate educational goal.

And that is where I feel that Holden failed. He chose an action which offends most Americans as an instructional tool in a middle school classroom. The kids are not (quite) old enough to deal with the issue in the way he wanted them to. And the parents are rightly offended that an action of this sort took place in their children’s classroom without their being made ready to deal with the fallout.

So what we have here is a critical-thinking assignment that went awry because a teacher failed to think through the implications of his lesson plan. This does not appear to have been an attempt to inspire anti-Americanism. I do not believe that disrespect was intended. And I do no believe that Holden should be fired – just cautioned to use better judgment – and not to play with fire in the future.

And as for the flag-burning issue itself, I’ve long stated my opposition to amending the Constitution to deal with that action. If it is your flag, feel free to burn it, trample it, or wipe your butt with it. But if you are a teacher, I would urge you to keep such actions out of the classroom.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I’m a teacher, and I teach a course that includes a component on the Constitution. We talk about the Bill of Rights extensively, including freedom of speech. I often try something outrageous to provoke my students into thinking. But there are limits – and I believe this teacher crossed the line.

A Stuart Middle School teacher has been removed from the classroom after he burned two American flags in class during a lesson on freedom of speech, Jefferson County Public Schools officials said.
Dan Holden, who teaches seventh-grade social studies, burned small flags in two different classes Friday and asked students to write an opinion paper about it, district spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said.

LetÂ’s look at the purpose of the assignment. The goal was to offer a provocative example of free speech to discuss the extent and the limits of the First Amendment. That is perfectly appropriate. The associated assignment is also perfectly appropriate.

But burning a flag – or anything else – in a classroom without proper precautions is reckless because of the possibility of fire. And engaging in such an inflammatory action risks causing a fire of a different sort, one which causes the point of the lesson to be lost.

And that is what happened.

Pat Summers, whose daughter was in Holden's class, said more than 20 parents showed up at the school Monday, upset over the incident.

I donÂ’t blame them. This is the sort of lesson that you prepare for by contacting the parents in advance in order to have them aware for what you are going to do. Maybe the parents wonÂ’t buy-in to your lesson plan, but they will at least be aware of what is happening in the classroom. You also need to have administration support for such a lesson. It appears that olden failed to do either of these things. And one must ask whether a certain course of action will serve the intended purpose and reach the appropriate educational goal.

And that is where I feel that Holden failed. He chose an action which offends most Americans as an instructional tool in a middle school classroom. The kids are not (quite) old enough to deal with the issue in the way he wanted them to. And the parents are rightly offended that an action of this sort took place in their childrenÂ’s classroom without their being made ready to deal with the fallout.

So what we have here is a critical-thinking assignment that went awry because a teacher failed to think through the implications of his lesson plan. This does not appear to have been an attempt to inspire anti-Americanism. I do not believe that disrespect was intended. And I do no believe that Holden should be fired – just cautioned to use better judgment – and not to play with fire in the future.

And as for the flag-burning issue itself, IÂ’ve long stated my opposition to amending the Constitution to deal with that action. If it is your flag, feel free to burn it, trample it, or wipe your butt with it. But if you are a teacher, I would urge you to keep such actions out of the classroom.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (31) | Add Comment
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Ultimately, Steve McCarthy is guilty of arguing his position based upon the same basis that he declares illegitimate when it is used by his opponents -- theology.

I see marriage as a civil right, and no group's religious beliefs should be allowed to deny the rights of others. And because blacks have suffered from bigotry and injustice that were cloaked by religion and morality, we should avoid doing the same thing to others.

In other words, policy positions based upon religious belief are anathema -- unless they are policy positions that Mr. McCarthy supports. And this is an argument we hear again and again from the allegedly-religious Left, which declares their liberal position infalible based upon their own religious beliefs, while declaring heretical any divergent views.

Posted by: Greg at 10:17 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I don't do that very often, but this time I need to. After all, Dionne puts forward a thesis that explains why liberalism became the effete, elite, irrelevancy that it is today.

And it all traces back to an idea propounded by Richard Hofstadter.

But reading Brown is also a reminder of where Hofstadter may have misled the very liberal movement to which he was devoted. There was, first, his emphasis on American populists as embodying a "deeply ingrained provincialism" (Brown's term) whose revolt was as much a reaction to the rise of the cosmopolitan big city as to economic injustices.

Many progressives and reformers, he argued, represented an old Anglo-Saxon middle class who suffered from "status anxiety" in reaction to the rise of a vulgar new business elite. Hofstadter analyzed the right wing of the 1950s and early 1960s in similar terms. Psychological disorientation and social displacement became more important than ideas or interests.

Now, Hofstadter was exciting precisely because he brilliantly revised accepted and sometimes pious views of what the populists and progressives were about. But there was something dismissive about Hofstadter's analysis that blinded liberals to the legitimate grievances of the populists, the progressives and, yes, the right wing.

The late Christopher Lasch, one of Hofstadter's students and an admiring critic, noted that by conducting "political criticism in psychiatric categories," Hofstadter and his intellectual allies excused themselves "from the difficult work of judgment and argumentation."

Lasch added archly: "Instead of arguing with opponents, they simply dismissed them on psychiatric grounds."

But that is still precisely the problem today.

Disagree with a liberal on race? One is a racist, afflicted with a deep psychological disease that renders one's opinions irrelevant. And we won't even get into the Stalinist diagnosis of "homophobia" that gets trotted out when someone dares to question the concept of homosexual marriage or the morality of homosexual activity.And rather than deal with the policies they oppose, liberals went after Reagan and the current President Bush based upon questions of intelligence and supposed psychological defests.

Posted by: Greg at 10:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh happy day! David Wallace is OUT of the CD22 race, leaving the field clear for a single GOP-backed write-in candidate, Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace withdrew Monday as a Republican write-in candidate for the seat vacated by the resignation of former House Majority leader Tom DeLay.

His action left the Texas GOP united behind one write-in candidate, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who had won the party's endorsement last week.

Wallace had previously indicated he would stay in the race despite the party's snub.

"What I am choosing to do at this time is unite with the Republican Party behind one candidate," Wallace said at a news conference. "There is no way that two write-in candidates could win. It would be very difficult and divisive to the Republican Party."

Wallace said the party did not pressure him to withdraw.

I don't know about that last statement -- a lot of the grasroots activists (including me) have been putting pressure on him to get out of the race. I don't doubt that Wallace heard from some elected officials telling him to get out of the race if he wants to have any sort of future in the GOP.

And it does come down to a question of campaign finance.

The national GOP says it's willing to commit $3 million for the race, but only if there was one Republican write-in candidate.

Actually, I've heard a figure of $4 million -- but only in the event there was a single viable GOP with the backing of the party. Continuing to stay in the race would have resulted in the national party writing off CD22 -- and left David Wallace holding the bag for the loss of the seat. The other GOP write-in, Don Richardson, is a non-entity who promised to drop out last week. I can only presume that he is a man of his word.

That is not to say that Wallace exited the race with either class or grace -- that is not in his nature.

Wallace took a swipe at that process Monday. “In a session closed to the public, an alternative candidate received the endorsement of the Texas Republican Party by winning a straw poll of 83 precinct chairs that were allowed to vote for what was labeled ‘the Republican choice’ for the write-in candidate to replace Tom DeLay,” he said.

Since that night, “I have received hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone calls” by “people who were not allowed to vote” at the Thursday meeting, and who “strongly encouraged me to continue to run,” Wallace said.

“Without exception, these callers and supporters questioned this made-up process and asked why 83 individuals could determine the ‘Republican choice’ candidate for over 33,000 Republican primary voters across the district,” he said. “Rather than unifying our party, it has only caused further fragmentation.”

In other words, Wallace claims that any process that involved the selection of a candidate by the elected grass-roots leaders of the GOP in CD22 is illegitimate unless it were to result in his selection as the candidate. Too the very last, he is seeking to sow division.

Democrats, of course, are now trying to create a scandal since they have a strong conservative woman from CD22 running against their liberal carpetbagger candidate. Seems obvious that there is a reason that Democrat and Desperation both start with a D!

Posted by: Greg at 12:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The first day of school is always interesting -- especially when you are a first year teacher. Philip Rucker catches some of th anxiety of the new teacher in this article in the Washington Post.

Munachiso Onuoha anxiously awaited her first day of fifth grade in Prince George's County yesterday afternoon.

"I am so nervous, just thinking of all the things that could not go right," she said. "I've been sleeping well. Tonight might be another story, though."

And trust me, there is always something "that could not go right" that you will not think of. Be prepared to role with it, whetehr it is being challenged by a kid over discipline matters or having a girl go into labor in your class (it actually happened to me on my first day at my current school). And yes, you can pretty well guarantee that your principal or department chair will walk in on something or other that does not constitute your finest moment.

But really, don't worry, even if they have this expectation of you.

Glenn Dale Principal Lia Thompson predicted that the two would energize returning faculty.

"They bring excitement and energy -- their enthusiasm, their love for the profession they've chosen, their eagerness to do the best that they can for the students they're working with," Thompson said.

Hopefully your colleagues still have that same drive -- even those of us who are a little bit cynical. I can guarantee you that we will do evrything we can for you new teachers, because we still remember that trrifying first day and agonizing first year -- the year when we went home utterly drained each day. We want you to make it, and we want you to stay.

And rest assured that the principal hasn't forgotten what it was like his or her first year -- and will probably be willing to concede, if pushed, that you are not making any more of a hash of it than they did during that first year.

Good luck, rookies!

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Posted by: Mvohdsdv at Wed Oct 7 14:49:33 2009 (glRo5)

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Posted by: Akbchnah at Mon Oct 12 17:56:22 2009 (ianfZ)

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Book Meme from Anna Venger.

And just for the record, I will not use the Bible as an answer because, for me, it would feel like trivializing Scripture.

1. One book that changed your life: I'd have to say the first one, whatever that was, back when I was 50 years old. I've not been far from a book since then -- but if I have to select a particular title, it would be The Brethren by Woodward and Armstrong, because it awakened in me a scholarly interest in law and the Constitution that lay dormant just beneath the surface back during my junior year of high school.

2. One book that you've read more than once: Gee, that could cover a lot of territory -- but let's go with something a little off-beat. When I was a high school junior, I bought a paperback during my lunch break one Saturday while working at the base PX. It was L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach, and I have probably read it at least once every other year since then -- and I still have the original copy I bought in 1979. It awakened me to libertarian political philosophy in a way that my earlier encounters with Heinlein had not, and also opened up the world of alternate history science fiction to me.

3. One book youÂ’d want on a desert island: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, another favorite that I first encountered as a high school junior (curious, isn't it, that my first three selections would all come from one very specific formative year -- what do you make of that?). If I had a chance to toss a few more books in the lifeboat, I'd want Forester's Hornblower Saga and O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.

4. One book that made you laugh: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Don't panic! And, uh, it seems to be another one I read at age 16!

5. One book that made you cry: The Robe -- it is every bit as melodramatic as the epic movie based upon it. When I was 12, my mom and I found her copy (given to her as a gift for her First Communion) in a trunk. I still have it tucked away safely, three decades later.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Well, maybe I should say the one book I wish the author had finished writing. That would be 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey by Patrick O'Brian. The author passed away while working on this, the 21st volume of his epic series of the British Navy in the Age of Nelson. The published version is raw, incomplete, and much of it consists of the author's semi-legible scrawl. There is enough there to make any fan wish that the old man had lived to complete it.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: The Deputy, by Rolf Hochhuth. This blood libel against Pope Pius XII ignores teh historical record and the assessments of his contemporaries (including no less than Golda Meir) to falsely accuse the pontiff of complicity in the Holocaust. Similarly, I would add The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most pernicious work of anti-Semitism ever published.

8. One book youÂ’re currently reading: Gee, I've read a great deal in the four weeks since this post. I've read all three books in Naomi Novick's Temeraire series, Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, and am currently working on Harry Turtledove's latest "Settling Account's novel, The Grapple.

9. One book youÂ’ve been meaning to read: You may be surprised by this, given my tagline above. I've repeatedly promised myself that I would read David McCullough's biography of John Adams, but have never gotten around to it.

10. Tag five others. This is hard, given that I wanted to tag Dan from Gone Mild, only to find that he has this same meme up. So I'll start with three fellow teachers -- Hube from Colossus of Rhodey, Darren from Right on the Left Coast and EdWonk from The Education Wonks. Then I'll tap my felow CD22 political blogger, Chris from Texas Safety Forum, because despite to all the jokes we make about them, Aggies do know how to read. And to give the list an international flavor, I'll add an Israeli friend, Avi from Tel-Chai Nation. Don't let me down, boys!

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are A Questionable Assumption by ShrinkWrapped, and Muslim Musings on British Muslims by Eteraz. 

Here is where you can find the full results of the vote.

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Word is that she will be picking up the endorsement of Tim Turner, former SREC member and former opponent for the CD22 nomination, sometime tomorrow. I'll post more when I know more.

UPDATE: As usual, the Ron Burgundy of Fort Bend County, Chris Elam, gets the story first and posts the press release.

Tim Turner, Republican activist and finalist among the candidates seeking to represent the Republican Party in the Congressional District 22 position, today announced that he is supporting Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as the Republican candidate in an effort to encourage unity from all Republicans and to preserve the district as a Republican stronghold.

Turner, who finished second to Sekula-Gibbs in the final selection by party leadership in a district wide meeting of precinct chairs last week, said he was honored to have received a significant number of votes in that proceeding but, once the party choice had been made, especially under the unique circumstances surrounding this election, all differences and personal agendas need to be set aside in the interest of unifying Republican efforts.

Turner says, “As someone who has been a Republican activist and a team player for over 26 years, I have supported many solid conservatives and have no problem in supporting the candidate chosen by the Republican leadership in District 22. I would enjoy the opportunity to serve the voters in the future if the opportunity to run presents itself, but the race for CD 22 is a race we must work together to win. I would hope that all Republicans will realize how important it is to put differences and agendas aside for a common good in this situation.”

We are now waiting on Mayor Dave's Big Announcement.

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Is it to be "Never Again"?

Or "Here We Go Again"?

Put differently, are Jewish lives less valuable than Arab lives?

Rabbi Jonathan Pearl looks at the issue, and does not like what he sees.

As we witnessed the incessant calls and declarations for “an immediate cease-fire" from Israel's detractors – whether politicians, journalists, religious and community leaders, or the United Nations with its resolution mandating a “cessation of hostilities” – I couldn't help but conclude that for all of these addressing the Middle East “conflict” boils down to this guiding principle: Jewish/Israeli lives are simply worth less than Muslim/Arab lives.

When missiles are blasted into Israel by Muslim/Arab terrorists living in their non-disputed Muslim/Arab territory, resulting in the murder of innocent Israelis/Jews, the world tells Israel to show restraint and refrain from retaliating with targeted responses against the origins of the rocket launches. Why? Because some Muslim/Arab civilians might inadvertently be killed.

And when Muslim/Arab suicide-bombing murderers steal into Israel and blow to smithereens innocent Jewish/Israeli civilians in pizza parlors and discotheques, Israel is admonished to show restraint and refrain from targeting the planners, facilitators, and future perpetrators of suicide-murder actions. Why? Because some Muslim/Arab civilians might inadvertently be killed.

Read the entire piece, for it shows pretty clearly that the international comunity clearly has not renounced the genocidal anti-Semitism that was pursued by the Third Reich. After all, if the jihadi terrorists stop shooting at and bombing Israel, Israel will have no need to respond with force in self-defense.

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Lock this terrorist-supporting homicide-bomber wannabe away forever. His threat in this speech makes him too dangerous to remain free to do harm to the innocent.

The audience at a Muslim rally today were told that dying for your beliefs was "just" and the "greatest act of martyrdom".

Dr Azzam Tamimi, a firebrand Islamic academic and self-styled Hamas sympathiser, claimed he is prepared to become a suicide bomber.

Religion of Peace my ass!

UPDATE: Get this litle tidbit.

Dr Tamimi, a prominent member of the Stop The War coalition, is married with three children and lives in Willesden, North West London. After coming to Britain from the Middle East more than 30 years ago, he and his family have become British citizens and live in a council block.

This friggin' savage wants to "Stop the War" -- and is willing to blow up innocents to do it. Not one member of the so-called "peace movement" has denounced this jihadi swine, which makes it quite clear that "Peace" equals "Surrender" in their eyes.

Like I said -- Religion of Peace my ass!

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Listen to this load of crap from the terrorist shill who ostensibly runs Lebanon.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, meanwhile, toured the devastated Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut and decried the destruction by Israeli bombs as a "crime against humanity." Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah backer, stood at the Sunni premier's side and said they spoke with one voice.

Of cours the Hezbollah-supporting Parliament Speaker stood beside Prime Minister Saniora -- someone had to operate the puppet strings. My only question is if Berri's lips moved as he put words in the mouth of the ventriloquist dummy who nominally heads the Lebanese government.

And I'll notie that we have yet to hear a single world leader condemn the intentional attacks carried out against Israel's civilian population as "crimes against humanity" -- but every single civilian casualty caused by israel qualifies as one. That is perhaps the clearest indictment of the UN and its leadership that I can think of -- that the victim of the attack is defined as a the aggressor for daring to act in self-defense against an organization that was supposed to have been disarmed years ago under the terms of UN Resolution 1559.

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