September 30, 2006

Colorado Dem Gubernatorial Candidate Allows Aliens To Plea Bargain Out Of Deportation

I mean after all, just because they are charged with drug offenses doesn't mean that they shoud be kicked out of the country, does it -- even if they entered illegally?

The Denver district attorney's office under gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter approved plea bargains that prevented the deportation of illegal and legal immigrants charged with drug, assault and other crimes.

The office allowed defendants to plead guilty to trespassing on agricultural land instead of the crimes they actually were accused of 152 times from 1998 through 2004. Other counties - Jefferson, Adams and Arapahoe - had only 75 convictions combined for the crime, according to court records.

Former Denver District Attorney Norm Early, who was Ritter's predecessor, laughed when he heard about the farm charges in urban Denver.

"I reviewed all my case dispositions, and I never remember that coming up," he said.

A review of 15 of the agricultural trespass cases in Denver showed that heroin and cocaine charges, theft of motor vehicles and domestic violence crimes - miles away from any farm or open land - were transformed into agricultural trespass.

"This plea agreement was reached with the the specific purpose of not pleading guilty to an offense that would subject (the defendant) to deportation proceedings," wrote a defense attorney in a motion filed in a Denver court Oct. 11, 2000.

The defendant, Ernesto Leon Reyes, was a resident alien who was initially charged with five drug counts related to his possession and intention to distribute 2,000 grams of methamphetamine.

If convicted of the drug charge, Reyes could have been deported after serving time. Instead, after pleading guilty to the trespass on agricultural land charge, Reyes received probation and stayed in the United States.

Did you folks get that one -- drug dealers remained in this country because the DA's office didn't want to subject them to the "hardship" of going back where they came from. Sounds like prosecutorial malfeasance to me.

And now Bill Ritter and the Democrats want him to be Governor of Colorado.

Vote Republican in Colorado and the rest of the country for every office -- public safety and America's borders depend on it.

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Judge Dismisses Frivolous Suit By Serial Border-Jumper

There was clearly no merit to this suit -- the law is clear that illegal immigrant parents of American citizens have no right to stay in this country simply because they managed to breed while breaking this country's laws. And there is no legitimate counstitutional claim here, either.

A federal judge struck a blow Friday to the hopes of an immigration activist who has taken refuge in a Chicago church to avoid deportation, dismissing her lawsuit against the government.

Elvira Arellano, 31, a Mexican national, had hoped that U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve would rule that deporting her would violate the constitutional rights of her 7-year-old son, Saul, an American citizen.

But St. Eve ruled that no one's rights would be violated by deporting Arellano back to Mexico. She did say, however, the child would suffer a hardship.

"The question before the court is whether that hardship is of constitutional magnitude -- under any construction of the alleged facts, it is not," St. Eve said in her order.

St. Eve concluded that the pending removal order does not prevent Saul from exercising his rights of citizenship.

"Saul will not suffer any injury to his constitutional right to remain in the United States," she said.

Indeed, I'm struck by this observation that the Constitution is not violated just because all options available to a person have negative aspects to them.

"In fact, the injury Saul alleges is not the same as the injury his mother will suffer. Her injury is compelled removal; his is the unenviable fork in the road [i.e., whether to uproot or to live apart from his mother] that arises as a result of his mother's compelled removal," the judge said.

Yes, the boy can stay in the United States -- whether under the guardianship of someone designated by his mother or as a ward of the state. Or Saul's mother may elect to take her son back to Mexico, which in no way impairs his citizenship rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The choice is entirely in the hands of Elvira Arellano.

But then again, this all comes down to choices made by the mother.

Arellano was supposed to surrender for deportation to Mexico on Aug. 15.

Instead, she and her son moved into a cramped room in the storefront church sandwiched between a bank and a beauty parlor in Chicago's heavily Puerto Rican Humboldt Park neighborhood.

She has frequently told reporters visiting the church she wants to stay in the United States to provide a better life for herself and her son.

"I'm not going to leave. This is a place where God has put me, this is God's will and I'm going to stay here," Arellano has said.

Arellano first was deported from the United States shortly after illegally crossing the border in 1997, according to immigration enforcement. She says she returned within days, went on to live in Oregon for three years and moved to Chicago in 2000.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare International Airport, where she was employed as a cleaning woman, and subsequently convicted of working under a false Social Security number.

So you see, this woman has broken American law multiple times, twice sneaking into this country like a thief in the night, working illegally in this country and fraudulently using false documentation. Violating her deportation order and hiding out in a church in an attempt to avoid the workings of American law (gee -- where are the church-state separationists on this one?) Oh, yeah -- and choosing to have a child.

The time has come for a SWAT team to enter the church to arrest Elvira Arellano.

Cuff her.

Stuff her.

Send her back.

Oh, yes -- and indict Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church for harboring a fugitive.

And by the way -- this story presents the best available argument for amending the Constituion to do away with birthright citizenship for the children of border-jumping immigration criminals.

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A German Who Gets It

Here is a politician with a little bit of moral clarity on the issue of terrorism and Islam.

A top German politician and close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday Islam was one of the main factors in religiously motivated violence, and urged Germany's Muslims to reject all forms of brutality.

But Ronald Pofalla, general-secretary of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, also acknowledged that many Muslims would find it painful that their religion was being abused for violent ends.

"Certainly it is painful for many Muslims that their religion is misused for violence," Pofalla wrote in a guest column for Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"But ... the problem of religiously motivated violence is today almost exclusively a problem of Islam. In addition, many of the victims are Muslims themselves," he said, according to extracts released in advance on Saturday.

Pofalla also noted that Muslims need to be prepared to accept criticism of their faith, as well as teh right of Christians to defend theirs.

The observation is quite accurate -- most of the victims of violence by Muslims are other Muslims. Now I could argue that Pofalla is wrong in stating that Islam is being misused, given the long and consistently bloody history of the followers of teh false prophet Muhammad, but I'm willing to concede that in many parts of the world we find a plurality of Muslims who object to terrorism in the name of their faith. The problem, of course, is that they are afraid to speak out or act against the violent faction among them.

I cannot help but be struck, however, by the response to a statement that implicitly rejects the notion that Islam is a violent faith and that notes that the violence takes a heavier toll on Muslims than on anyone else.

The Central Council of Muslims in Germany criticized Pofalla's comments, saying generalizations such as he made only reinforced stereotypes and prejudices.

"I get the impression that some CDU people want to take one step forward and two steps back," Aiman Mazyek, the Council's general-secretary, told Sunday's Tagesspiegel newspaper.

In other words, "How dare you criticize Islam, you infidel dog! You should be killed for insulting our religion."

Look for such statemetns to begin appearing from the jihadis any time now -- and for the Muslims who claim to oppose violence and oppression carried out in the name of their religion.

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September 29, 2006

Rep. Foley Resigns

I'm glad to see it happen. Trolling the House pages for sex -- cyber or real -- is unacceptable.

Frankly, though, the emails initially seemed pretty tame to me.

The Democratic opponent of Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) is calling for an investigation into an e-mail exchange that Foley conducted last year with a 16-year-old boy who had worked as a congressional page.

Foley, 52, has served in the House for six terms and is seeking reelection. He said that the five e-mails he wrote to the boy were harmless and that their publication is part of an attempt by Democrats to smear him.

Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said the five messages he sent to a former congressional page were harmless.
Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said the five messages he sent to a former congressional page were harmless. (Ray Lustig - Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)

"The e-mails in question were a response to a handwritten thank-you letter from a former page," said Jason Kello, Foley's spokesman. "There have not been any allegations made by anyone except by Tim Mahoney and the Democrats who are attempting to misrepresent a series of innocent communications to prop up a failing political campaign."

Jessica Santillo, a spokeswoman for Mahoney, a Venus, Fla., rancher and business executive who is running against Foley, said in a written statement: "This is a matter for the appropriate authorities to investigate."

In the brief but chatty e-mails, which were first reported by ABC News, Foley asked how old the boy was, inquired what he wanted for his birthday, requested a picture of the young man and told him that he had just finished a long bike ride and was going to the gym.

According to ABC, the boy forwarded the e-mail that requested his picture to an unidentified congressional staffer and wrote that the e-mail was "sick sick sick sick sick." In another e-mail to a staffer, ABC reported, the boy wrote: "Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out."

But it seems there was something more to this -- in the form of IMs to pages.

But, according to several former congressional pages, the congressman used the Internet to engage in sexually explicit exchanges.

They say he used the screen name Maf54 on these messages provided to ABC News.

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.

Another message:

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.

And this one:

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool.

The language gets much more graphic, too graphic to be broadcast, and at one point the congressman appears to be describing Internet sex.

And those are the ones that I'm willing to put up here at RWR -- penPopup('http://abcnews.go.com/images/WNT/02-02-03b.pdf','popup');">there is definitely worse.

As a result, Foley submitted his resignation.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned from Congress on Friday, effective immediately, in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former teenage male page.

"I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent," he said in a statement issued by his office.

The two-sentence statement did not refer to the e-mails and gave no reason for Foley's abrupt decision to abandon a flourishing career in Congress.

Too bad he didn't come clean -- but then again, he is likely facing punishment under laws he helped write.

Foley's name will remain on the ballot, but all votes for him will go to a replacement candidate to be named next week. I'm pulling for either Jeb Bush or George P. Bush Both would make excellent candidates.

I'm asure that some partisan Democrats will try to make hay over this -- but I want to point out that Republicans caught in such shennanigans routinely leave public life. On the other hand, Democrats continued to support and elect Congressman Gerry Studds of Massachusetts for over a decade after he was censured for having sexually abused a 17-year-old male page.

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September 28, 2006

Democrat Culture Of Corruption Rears Its Ugly Head

Looks like more trouble for Menendez as Tom Kean Jr. prepares to take his seat away. I wonder if we'll see an indictment, even as he fires one of his oldest friends.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) severed ties with a longtime campaign associate who was taped seeking a political favor on his behalf, the latest of several ethics-related incidents to shadow Menendez as he seeks a full Senate term in November.

According to yesterday's editions of the Newark Star-Ledger and the Philadelphia Inquirer, the associate, Donald Scarinci, was a Menendez childhood friend who became the senator's closest political adviser and a top fundraiser. In a transcript of the recording reviewed by the newspapers, Scarinci asked a client, a Hudson County psychiatrist who held lucrative local contracts, to hire another physician as a favor to Menendez. The psychiatrist, Oscar Sandoval, secretly taped the conversation, which took place in 1999, when Menendez was a House member.

Do you want to bet that the Democrats try to do again in New Jersey what they went to court to stop here in Texas in CD22?

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And This Is How American Politics Is Supposed To Work

Not the McCain-Feingold style restriction of speech or the silencing of the voices of the faithful, but a competition between those who hold different values, seeking to inform voters about principles to consider in the voting booth.

A new group called Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good said yesterday that it will distribute at least 1 million voter guides before the Nov. 7 elections, emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice as well as on abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

The 12-page booklet, called "Voting for the Common Good: A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics," is part of a broader effort by liberal and moderate religious groups to challenge the Christian right on moral values, said Alexia Kelley, the group's executive director and a former employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Secular groups such as the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and the Sierra Club have long published election-year guides to issues and candidates' positions. Since the conservative Christian Coalition began distributing voter guides in 1992, however, it has faced little or no competition from liberal or moderate religious organizations.

In Roman Catholic parishes, the group Catholic Answers, based in California, had the field largely to itself in 2004, when it distributed 10 million copies of its "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics." This year, as in the past, the Catholic Answers guide urges Catholics to base their votes on five "non-negotiable" issues: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and same-sex marriage.

"No one endorsing the wrong side of these issues can be said to act in accord with the Church's moral norms," it says.

Religious faith is supposed to permeate every aspect of the life of a believer. Offering guidance on how to apply religious values on election day is fully consistent with that -- and should be seen as part and parcel of good citizenship.

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Sekula-Gibbs Supports Public Safety – Pro-Wetback Council Members Play Politics

UPDATE: I seem to have struck a nerve with some local Democrats over this post. They claim the use of a certain term in the title, a term that I have always understood as referring to immigration status, is racially/ethnically insensitive. If such is the case, I apologize, though I maintain that such offense is not and was not my intent. I won't change the word on my site, though, because I do not go back and hide my mistakes or bury evidence of my own errors.

On the other hand, I in no way retract my comment about a certain city councilwoman whose description of the comments of another member prompted my estension of her metaphor to cover her own behavior.

As I pointed out recently, the city of Houston lost a veteran police officer at the hands of a child-molesting border-jumper who had returned to this country after being deported several years ago. I note that Houston’s sanctuary city policy likely helped contribute to the death by attracting immigration criminals to the city.

Only one member of Houston’s city council has had the integrity and courage to raise the issue – Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who is the GOP nominee for Tom DeLay’s old congressional seat. And she did so yesterday, hours after the funeral for Officer Rodney Johnson.

When it was Sekula-Gibbs' turn to speak, she said Mayor Bill White now had the chance to repeal what she calls the department's "sanctuary" policy.

"I hope that you will use this opportunity to make this change that has been needed for many, many years," she said.

In response, a number of pro-criminal city council members walked out on the grounds that it was “disrespectful” to raise a serious public safety issue on the day that a victim of the policy was buried.

"It's disrespectful that she has used this tragic event to make a political statement," said Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, one of the nine members who walked out.

Yeah, maybe Sekula-Gibbs should have instead taken the time to comment on incompetent city officials who lack the managerial skills to run their offices, allowing their staff-members to steal tens of thousands of dollars from Houston taxpayers. Did you enjoy your time before the grand jury, Carol? Were you more honest with them about this than you were about your academic credentials? But at least you didn’t break out into expletives directed at Dr. Sekula-Gibbs, like you have during at least one city council meeting.

And at least one commented in a manner that shows the complete lack of class and decency that permeates the pro-wetback side.

"I apologize to the Johnson family today for one of our colleagues attempted to pimp the death and tragedy of Officer Johnson for their political career," said Councilmember Ada Edwards.

Edwards, of course, was whoring herself out to those who support the violation of American law and American sovereignty – scrambling for a few more Hispanic votes like they were crack rocks, just to advance her own career. It’s clear that she doesn’t give a damn about the circumstances of Officer Johnson’s death or the safety of Houstonians, or else she would speak out herself on this serious public safety issue.

And then there is the Republican whose statement yesterday is the basis for my decision to guarantee that she is not reelected.

"I was embarrassed to be in the room with somebody talking like that," said Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, a Republican and one of the first to leave.

"There's a lot of things I disagree with, maybe the way immigration is handled, federally, and this is not the time to make a comparison."

I’m embarrassed to be in the same party with someone who talks like you do, Ms. Lawrence. If someone can’t talk about the flaws of a city policy that create a public safety issue when someone has died because of that policy, then when exactly can you talk about it? There is no more appropriate time than now! And I'd suggest that faux Republicans Pam Holmes and M. J. Khan might also want to get with the GOP platform or get out of office.

And remember, this has been a signature issue of Shelley's congressional campaign for months now, so Dr. Sekula-Gibbs is not playing games with the immigration issue like her colleagues are – she is continuing to address an issue she has been passionate about for some time. Why should she be silent on it now?

Remember – on November 7, 2006, vote twice for Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs for Congress in CD22.

voteTwiceWriteInOfficialLogo.JPG

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Sekula-Gibbs Supports Public Safety – Pro-Wetback Council Members Play Politics

UPDATE: I seem to have struck a nerve with some local Democrats over this post. They claim the use of a certain term in the title, a term that I have always understood as referring to immigration status, is racially/ethnically insensitive. If such is the case, I apologize, though I maintain that such offense is not and was not my intent. I won't change the word on my site, though, because I do not go back and hide my mistakes or bury evidence of my own errors.

On the other hand, I in no way retract my comment about a certain city councilwoman whose description of the comments of another member prompted my estension of her metaphor to cover her own behavior.

As I pointed out recently, the city of Houston lost a veteran police officer at the hands of a child-molesting border-jumper who had returned to this country after being deported several years ago. I note that HoustonÂ’s sanctuary city policy likely helped contribute to the death by attracting immigration criminals to the city.

Only one member of Houston’s city council has had the integrity and courage to raise the issue – Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who is the GOP nominee for Tom DeLay’s old congressional seat. And she did so yesterday, hours after the funeral for Officer Rodney Johnson.

When it was Sekula-Gibbs' turn to speak, she said Mayor Bill White now had the chance to repeal what she calls the department's "sanctuary" policy.

"I hope that you will use this opportunity to make this change that has been needed for many, many years," she said.

In response, a number of pro-criminal city council members walked out on the grounds that it was “disrespectful” to raise a serious public safety issue on the day that a victim of the policy was buried.

"It's disrespectful that she has used this tragic event to make a political statement," said Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, one of the nine members who walked out.

Yeah, maybe Sekula-Gibbs should have instead taken the time to comment on incompetent city officials who lack the managerial skills to run their offices, allowing their staff-members to steal tens of thousands of dollars from Houston taxpayers. Did you enjoy your time before the grand jury, Carol? Were you more honest with them about this than you were about your academic credentials? But at least you didnÂ’t break out into expletives directed at Dr. Sekula-Gibbs, like you have during at least one city council meeting.

And at least one commented in a manner that shows the complete lack of class and decency that permeates the pro-wetback side.

"I apologize to the Johnson family today for one of our colleagues attempted to pimp the death and tragedy of Officer Johnson for their political career," said Councilmember Ada Edwards.

Edwards, of course, was whoring herself out to those who support the violation of American law and American sovereignty – scrambling for a few more Hispanic votes like they were crack rocks, just to advance her own career. It’s clear that she doesn’t give a damn about the circumstances of Officer Johnson’s death or the safety of Houstonians, or else she would speak out herself on this serious public safety issue.

And then there is the Republican whose statement yesterday is the basis for my decision to guarantee that she is not reelected.

"I was embarrassed to be in the room with somebody talking like that," said Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, a Republican and one of the first to leave.

"There's a lot of things I disagree with, maybe the way immigration is handled, federally, and this is not the time to make a comparison."

IÂ’m embarrassed to be in the same party with someone who talks like you do, Ms. Lawrence. If someone canÂ’t talk about the flaws of a city policy that create a public safety issue when someone has died because of that policy, then when exactly can you talk about it? There is no more appropriate time than now! And I'd suggest that faux Republicans Pam Holmes and M. J. Khan might also want to get with the GOP platform or get out of office.

And remember, this has been a signature issue of Shelley's congressional campaign for months now, so Dr. Sekula-Gibbs is not playing games with the immigration issue like her colleagues are – she is continuing to address an issue she has been passionate about for some time. Why should she be silent on it now?

Remember – on November 7, 2006, vote twice for Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs for Congress in CD22.

voteTwiceWriteInOfficialLogo.JPG

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Now An Anthrax Scare In My Senator’s Office

Gee, they went after my state senator on 9/11. Now they are hoaxing my favorite US senator.

An anthrax hoax at Sen. John Cornyn’s office left aides stuck in their offices for about 45 minutes at lunchtime Thursday, after an intern opened an envelope containing a small amount of powder.

Tests quickly determined that it wasn’t dangerous.

“There was a small amount of powder. It was nothing hazardous. Hazmat has given the all clear,” said Capitol police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. “There was also a note indicating that there was anthrax.”

“It had gone through our mail system. It had been irradiated,” she said. That procedure was implemented after unsolved attacks on two Senate offices in fall 2001.

False alarms and scares are not uncommon at the Capitol. No one was evacuated, though everyone in the vicinity was asked to remain in place, presumably to avoid the spread of any potential contaminant. Access to part of Mr. Cornyn’s office suite was blocked pending the outcome of the tests.
“One of our interns opened a suspicious envelope. Capitol police responded.

Everyone is working as usual. I’m not evacuated. Sitting at my desk,” said Cornyn press secretary Brian Walsh before the all-clear was issued. “The system for screening mail, since the anthrax, is very vigorous.”

Such jokes are sick.

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Now An Anthrax Scare In My SenatorÂ’s Office

Gee, they went after my state senator on 9/11. Now they are hoaxing my favorite US senator.

An anthrax hoax at Sen. John CornynÂ’s office left aides stuck in their offices for about 45 minutes at lunchtime Thursday, after an intern opened an envelope containing a small amount of powder.

Tests quickly determined that it wasnÂ’t dangerous.

“There was a small amount of powder. It was nothing hazardous. Hazmat has given the all clear,” said Capitol police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. “There was also a note indicating that there was anthrax.”

“It had gone through our mail system. It had been irradiated,” she said. That procedure was implemented after unsolved attacks on two Senate offices in fall 2001.

False alarms and scares are not uncommon at the Capitol. No one was evacuated, though everyone in the vicinity was asked to remain in place, presumably to avoid the spread of any potential contaminant. Access to part of Mr. CornynÂ’s office suite was blocked pending the outcome of the tests.
“One of our interns opened a suspicious envelope. Capitol police responded.

Everyone is working as usual. I’m not evacuated. Sitting at my desk,” said Cornyn press secretary Brian Walsh before the all-clear was issued. “The system for screening mail, since the anthrax, is very vigorous.”

Such jokes are sick.

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And When Will They Sponsor Christian Pride Day?

Just an idle thought after reading this from the Catholic League.

SUNY SPONSORS SATANISM

On September 30, Adirondack Community College (ACC) will sponsor Pagan Pride Day. ACC, located outside Lake George in Queensbury, New York, is part of the State University of New York (SUNY).

HereÂ’s what Catholic League president Bill Donohue had to say:

“ACC Student Association, which is hosting Pagan Pride Day, says the event is free to the public and is designed to be ‘a celebration of religious diversity.’ But nothing is free—New York taxpayers are paying for this event—and a panel on religious diversity that was initially considered will not occur. However, Patricia Telesco will be there, author of How to be a Wicked Witch, and so will John Allee, a Satanic priest and founder of the First Church of Satan.

“According to an ACC news release, ‘The purpose of Pagan Pride Day is to support religious tolerance, eliminate prejudice based on religious beliefs,’ and other noble goals. But it is a lie. On the website of the First Church of Satan, Christians are instructed that they can ‘deprogram’ themselves by ‘making fun of religious dogma.’ But before one gets to the FAQ part of the website, a short video pops up on the home page to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s song, ‘I Will Survive’; a bearded man posing as Jesus dressed in a white robe starts mimicking the words. He then disrobes and struts down a street in a diaper before being hit by a bus.

“Other videos include ‘Gideon Bible Rant,’ a diatribe that shows a picture of the Bible with a sticker on it, ‘Warning! Literal belief in this book may endanger your health and life.’ Then there is ‘Satanic Sexual Vision,’ which features a woman dressed as a nun in a black veil wearing a black bra, black slip and black panties; she is shown masturbating. ‘Do You Take It Up the A--?’ depicts simulated anal sex, but ‘Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis’ is no longer available. This isn’t higher education—it’s an obscene assault on Christianity.”

Contact John J. OÂ’Connor, vice chancellor,john.o'connor@suny.edu, and Thomas F. Egan, chairman of SUNYÂ’s board of trustees, thomas.f.egan@citigroup.com.

Where is the ACLU on this clear violation of separation of church and state?

Posted by: Greg at 11:27 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Dean’s Delusion

Howard Dean is a doctor – maybe he can prescribe himself something to bring himself into closer contact with reality.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean came to Austin Tuesday to rally Democrats.

"We are going to take back Texas. And we're going to do it before we take back other states we've lost the last 15-20 years," Dean said during the rally.

Given that the polls show the GOP holding on to both houses of Congress and the president’s approval level rising, it is clear that Howard needs to be on drugs.

Posted by: Greg at 11:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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DeanÂ’s Delusion

Howard Dean is a doctor – maybe he can prescribe himself something to bring himself into closer contact with reality.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean came to Austin Tuesday to rally Democrats.

"We are going to take back Texas. And we're going to do it before we take back other states we've lost the last 15-20 years," Dean said during the rally.

Given that the polls show the GOP holding on to both houses of Congress and the presidentÂ’s approval level rising, it is clear that Howard needs to be on drugs.

Posted by: Greg at 11:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Dow Tops Record – Who Says Economy Is Bad?

We have at last completely recovered from the stock slump that was cause by the Clinton Recession and the 9/11 attacks.

The Dow Jones industrial average topped its record-high close this morning, reaching a milestone in Wall Street's recovery from nearly seven years of corporate upheaval, economic recession and the impact of terrorism.

The high close was 11,722.98 set on Jan. 14, 2000. Shortly after the index of 30 blue chip stocks surpassed its record, stocks fell back to trade little changed amid a dearth of news that could motivate investors.

"These numbers sometimes tend to act as magnets and the market it sometimes pulled up toward it," said Russ Koesterich, senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investments in San Francisco.

In late morning, the Dow was up just 1.92, or 0.02 percent, at 11,691.16. It has yet to reach its all-time trading high of 11,750.28, also reached Jan. 14, 2000.

So remember, folks, the performance of the Dow is all George Bush’s fault – just like the falling gas prices.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dow Tops Record – Who Says Economy Is Bad?

We have at last completely recovered from the stock slump that was cause by the Clinton Recession and the 9/11 attacks.

The Dow Jones industrial average topped its record-high close this morning, reaching a milestone in Wall Street's recovery from nearly seven years of corporate upheaval, economic recession and the impact of terrorism.

The high close was 11,722.98 set on Jan. 14, 2000. Shortly after the index of 30 blue chip stocks surpassed its record, stocks fell back to trade little changed amid a dearth of news that could motivate investors.

"These numbers sometimes tend to act as magnets and the market it sometimes pulled up toward it," said Russ Koesterich, senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investments in San Francisco.

In late morning, the Dow was up just 1.92, or 0.02 percent, at 11,691.16. It has yet to reach its all-time trading high of 11,750.28, also reached Jan. 14, 2000.

So remember, folks, the performance of the Dow is all George Bush’s fault – just like the falling gas prices.

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Oh, Dear -- Air America Did Participate In Criminal Activity

Stolen from the taxpayers and the poor kids of New York.

A Bronx charity will pay the city back $625,000 that had been intended for children and the elderly but was improperly lent to Air America Radio, a network known for its liberal programming and hosts like Al Franken.
The settlement, announced yesterday by the cityÂ’s Department of Investigation, is the latest but probably not the final chapter in an investigation that began last year.

The state attorney generalÂ’s office is continuing to look into the misuse of the funds, and the case has been transferred from its charities bureau to the criminal prosecutions bureau, two people close to the investigation said yesterday.

City investigators found that the charity, based in Co-op City and formerly known as the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, lent $875,000 to Air America Radio. At the cityÂ’s request, the network put the money into an escrow account while the investigation continued.

Now, $625,000 will be returned to the city and $250,000 will be turned over to the charity for its operations. The $625,000 recouped by the city includes $250,000 from the Department of Youth and Community Development and the Department for the Aging that the charity misused from 2001 to 2004 and $375,000 in overpayments from the Department of Education to a nursery and kindergarten run by the charity from 1997 to 2006.

Want to bet the moonbats won’t denounce this corporate misconduct – after all, it was serving the “higher purpose” of spreading socialism.

Maybe we can get a few indictments here. Paging Al Franken!

H/T Malkin

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The History Of Cut-And-Run Democrats

Thanks to Jeffrey Lord for documenting that the Democrat Party over the last four decades hasnÂ’t met a war it isnÂ’t willing to lose.

FOLLOW THE THREAD OF word and deed from leading Democrats since 1968. It isn't hard to see a philosophy of appeasement at work. They would easily fit Churchill's definition of "acts of submission, not merely in pride and sentiment, but in material matters."

* 1968 -- Minority Plank defeated at Democratic Convention calls for withdrawal from Vietnam.

* 1971 -- A young John Kerry testifies to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "we cannot fight Communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now." He goes on to accuse his fellow soldiers of a long list of "war crimes."

* 1972 -- Senator George McGovern proposes unilateral withdrawal from Vietnam.

* 1975 -- Democratic Congress ends funding of Vietnam War, American troops leave Southeast Asia. Years later Yale University's Cambodian Genocide Program reports that between 1975-1979 1.7 million people were murdered, 21% of the Cambodian population. A Senate Committee headed by Democrat Frank Church of Idaho investigates the CIA, an investigation described by then-President Gerald Ford as "sensational and irresponsible." Others charge Church with crippling the agency.

* 1977 -- President Jimmy Carter, safely elected after campaigning as an Annapolis graduate/Navy officer, tells America it has an "inordinate fear of communism." While the Cambodian genocide proceeds, the Soviets invade Afghanistan and set up a puppet regime in Nicaragua. American hostages are held in Iran for over a year. Carter cuts the defense budget so badly that Reagan's incoming Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger recalled not being "entirely over [the] shock at the weaknesses in our own military capability" Carter had left behind.

*1983 -- New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro joins the Democratic chorus opposing President Ronald Reagan's decision to send troops to Grenada. In spite of Reagan's rescue of American medical students and halting a Communist takeover, she charges, according to the New York Times, that it was "an inappropriate and precipitous use of military force." A year later Ms. Ferraro becomes the Democratic nominee for Vice-President. Her chief foreign policy adviser, according to the Times, is future Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

* 1983 -- Senator Edward Kennedy leads Democrats in disparaging Reagan's idea of shooting down nuclear tipped missiles from space as "Star Wars" -- fighting a system that only this year was invoked as a way to save the West Coast of the United States from a North Korean missile attack.

*1984 -- Walter Mondale campaigns for president on the idea that America should have a "nuclear freeze" with the Soviets. He vows to stop the "illegal war" in Nicaragua "in my first hundred days," accuses Reagan of wanting to "turn the heavens into a battleground," and ginning up an "arms race" with the Soviets. Dismissing Soviet aggression in Afghanistan, Central America and Communist treatment of Jewish dissidents, Mondale pleads for arms control. The concept of victory and ending the Cold War is never discussed.

* 1985 -- Reykjavik Summit: When Reagan walks away from a bad deal he is sharply criticized by Democratic Congressman Ed Markey for giving up "a chance to cash in on Star Wars" by refusing to trade away the entire SDI program. Later, it is this refusal that is credited with winning the Cold War.

*1988 -- Michael Dukakis runs for president opposing efforts to defeat the Communist government of Nicaragua, saying his election would not be about "overthrowing governments in Central America."

* 1991 -- By a five-vote margin the Democratic-controlled Senate votes to force Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait after he invaded the country. The majority of Democrats vote no. This includes now-Senator John Kerry, who said the U.S. was "once again willing to risk people dying from a mistake."

From Vietnam and the Cold War to Iraq and the War on Terror, the Democrats are ever-ready to capitulate to the enemies of our nation. We must not allow them to achieve significant power in this country ever again – the safety and security of our nation depend on it.

UPDATE: And now Investor's Busines Daily offers 97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can't Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime

Posted by: Greg at 10:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Moonbat Ned Lamont Crashing, Burning In Connecticut

I guess that the leftist nutroots can only take you so far when you step outside the narrow confines of the Democrat party and offer yourself to the great mass of common people (note, please, that the unwashed already voted for Lamont in the primary).

Sen. Joe Lieberman has a 10-point advantage over Democrat Ned Lamont among likely Connecticut voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

Lieberman, a three-term Democrat running as an independent after losing the party nomination in a primary, is favored by 49 percent to 39 percent over Lamont in the three-way race. Republican Alan Schlesinger trails with 5 percent.
The race has tightened slightly since an Aug. 17 poll that showed Lieberman leading 53 percent to 41 percent.

"Ned Lamont has lost momentum," said poll director Douglas Schwartz said. "He's gained only two points in six weeks. He's going to have to do something different in the next six weeks or ... Lieberman stays in for another six years."

The race is seen as many as a referendum on President Bush's handling of the Iraq war. Lamont, a political newcomer and multimillionaire, ran on an anti-war platform to upset Lieberman in the Aug. 8 primary.

Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, is a staunch supporter of the war.

And the polling results are a bit surprising – if you think that George Bush had the CIA and FBI blow up the World Trade Center, shoot the Pentagon with a cruise missile, and kidnap and execute several hundred Americans flying on airplanes around the country.

The Quinnipiac poll showed that Lieberman has higher favorability ratings among likely voters, 51 percent to Lamont's 31 percent. While Lamont has slightly higher favorability numbers among Democrats (47 percent to 43 percent), Lieberman far outdistances his challenger among likely Republican and unaffiliated voters. Seventy percent of Republicans view Lieberman favorably compared to 12 percent for Lamont, and 48 percent of independent voters view Lieberman favorably compared to 30 percent for Lamont.

Unaffiliated voters outnumber Democrats and Republicans in the state.

"Lamont wins among those who say Iraq is the most important issue to their vote, but that is only 35 percent of the electorate," Schwartz said. "Lieberman wins on all the other issues voters say matter most to them, including terrorism and the economy."

The telephone poll was conducted between Sept. 21-25. Quinnipiac surveyed 1,181 likely

The moral of the story, folks, is quite clear – the American people have a lot more sense than the un-American Left.

Posted by: Greg at 10:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Beware Of Squirrels!

They are hungry – and they won’t take no for an answer.

A fierce squirrel attacked a 4-year-old boy at Mountain View's Cuesta Park last week as the rodent tried to wrestle a muffin out of the boy's hands, leaving him with scratch and bite marks that prompted a series of precautionary rabies shots.

The skirmish wasn't the first time the park's numerous tree squirrels targeted picnickers.

Mountain View Community Services Director David Muela said today that as many as six people have been bitten or scratched by squirrels since May, and that the attacks have become more ferocious in the last month. One squirrel even went so far as to jump into a child's stroller.

So while the city says “Do Not Feed The Animals”, I’d recommend that you put down the sandwich and step away carefully in the that no one gets hurt by these furry felons.

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European Court Of No Human Rights – Children Are Property Of The State

And so the natural right of parents to direct and oversee the education of their children in a fashion consistent with their religious and moral beliefs has been abrogated by the European Union.

A German family filed a complaint alleging that their freedoms were violated by a German law requiring attendance in public or state-sanctioned private schools. The family's religious beliefs are opposed to some topics addressed in state-sponsored education, including sex education and mythological fairy tales.

Instead, the parents attempted to educate their children at home using a Christian syllabus developed by the "Philadelphia school," a Siegen, Germany, institution that is not recognized by the German government as a legitimate private school.

But the ECHR ruled that the objectives of a state-sanctioned education "cannot be equally met by home education" and that the law didn't violate the family's religious freedoms.

The court wrote that it was in the "general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society."

It ruled that the parents were allowed to educate their children from a religious perspective "after school and at weekends. Therefore, the parent's right to education in conformity with their religious convictions is not restricted in a disproportionate manner."

Oh, and about the law that was upheld – it isn’t a new one. It was one of the progressive educational reforms by an earlier Socialist government – the National Socialist regime of Adolf Hitler. So even today, it is Hitler who controls what and when German parents can teach their children.

Posted by: Greg at 10:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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European Court Of No Human Rights – Children Are Property Of The State

And so the natural right of parents to direct and oversee the education of their children in a fashion consistent with their religious and moral beliefs has been abrogated by the European Union.

A German family filed a complaint alleging that their freedoms were violated by a German law requiring attendance in public or state-sanctioned private schools. The family's religious beliefs are opposed to some topics addressed in state-sponsored education, including sex education and mythological fairy tales.

Instead, the parents attempted to educate their children at home using a Christian syllabus developed by the "Philadelphia school," a Siegen, Germany, institution that is not recognized by the German government as a legitimate private school.

But the ECHR ruled that the objectives of a state-sanctioned education "cannot be equally met by home education" and that the law didn't violate the family's religious freedoms.

The court wrote that it was in the "general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society."

It ruled that the parents were allowed to educate their children from a religious perspective "after school and at weekends. Therefore, the parent's right to education in conformity with their religious convictions is not restricted in a disproportionate manner."

Oh, and about the law that was upheld – it isn’t a new one. It was one of the progressive educational reforms by an earlier Socialist government – the National Socialist regime of Adolf Hitler. So even today, it is Hitler who controls what and when German parents can teach their children.

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September 27, 2006

Middle School Footbal Player Collapses, Dies -- Third Houston-Area Death In Ten Days

And it is very possible that the young man is related to at least one of my students student, as he attended one of our feeder schools.

A 12-year-old football player from North Shore Middle School died Wednesday afternoon after collapsing while his football coach gave a speech on the importance of academics.

The unidentified seventh grader was the third local football player to die within 10 days.

The team had held a "light football practice and conditioning drills" before the talk, according to Galena Park Independent School District spokesman Craig Eichhorn.

Eichhorn said that attempts to revive the student by two coaches were unsuccessful. EMS personnel also tried to revive the youth with a defribillator, Eichhorn said.

The student was transported to the East Houston Regional Medical Center, where he was worked on for "several hours. At one point, they did get a slight pulse from him, but despite their best efforts, they were unable to save him," Eichhorn said.

Earlier this week, a player from Rice University died after practice. And last week a student from a school in HISD (a cousin of one of my students) died of a previously unknown heart condition while walking around the school track after school.

I'm really expecting this to be a rough day today. Ours is a close-knit community, if a large one, and I expect this to be taken hard by students and teachers alike.

Please pray for this young man, his family and friends, his classmates and teachers, and my entire school district.

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Citgo No-Go

I won't stop for the cheapest gas in my town -- and not just because I can find cheaper gass on my way to school in the morning or on my way to my night class in the evening. Since every gallon I pump here in town would be money in the pocket of Hugo Chavez, I'm willing to spend a little more to register my distaste.

And Seven-Eleven (which does not, unfortunately, operate in the Houston area -- I need a Slurpee fix) has joined the boycott.

The devil might wear Prada, but will his fellow citizens fill up their tanks with Citgo?

One retail chain won't find out. Faced with a barrage of calls from customers and bloggers calling for a boycott of Citgo gasoline stations, 7-Eleven Inc. said yesterday that the Citgo signs are going to start coming down from its convenience stores.

The boycott calls were the result of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's fiery speech at the United Nations last week in which he called President Bush "the devil." 7-Eleven said that the end of its 20-year supply agreement with Citgo Petroleum Corp., owned by the Venezuelan state oil company, was not the result of that speech but rather that it had decided in the spring to launch its own gasoline brand and switch to three new U.S. suppliers.

But the chain moved up the announcement of those plans in response to the outcry over the Chavez speech. "We sympathize with many Americans' concern over derogatory comments about our country and its leadership recently made by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez," 7-Eleven public relations director Margaret Chabris said in a statement that waded into the political fray. In an interview, she added: "Customers started calling last week and saying that they didn't like what Chavez said. And they wanted to know what we were going to do."

I'm glad to see a little corporate responsibility -- nd patriotism -- here. Wll done!

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's An Unusual Blogger

Sean O'Malley -- Cardinal Archbishop of Boston!

He has spiced his entries with "lol," Internet slang for "laughing out loud," posted snapshots of himself pointing at a roadside pizza stand and written about the warm soda in a cheap Italian restaurant.

Launching his blog on a trip to Rome, Cardinal Sean O'Malley sounds at times more like a college student making his first trip to Europe than a prince of the church. Jokey and informal, the Boston archbishop is trying his best to reach out to a generation of Catholics hooked on instant messaging and MySpace.

On Saturday, he teased his readers with tales of his days as a young seminarian in Germany in the 1960s. "I and everyone else were wearing lederhosen in those days," O'Malley wrote on cardinalseansblog.org.

" ... But, do not try to find those pictures because I assure you that the negatives have been destroyed. ... LOL!"

Catholics and blog specialists praise the blog as surprisingly readable. Since O'Malley launched the Web site last week, he has received 65,585 page views and scores of comments.

It is an interesting place. I hope this is a project that continues, because he brings a different perspective to life, faith, and the blogosphere. Look in on his site if you get the chance.

Posted by: Greg at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A Leopard Can't Change His Spots

And it seems that some criminals can't give up a life of fraud, either.

This case is just stunning, given why "she" was even on the streets to begin with.

A transgendered inmate freed from prison last year because she was dying of AIDS has been charged with using a forged Maryland death certificate to get new criminal charges dismissed.

Dee Deirdre Farmer, 41, was charged Wednesday with forging a Baltimore Circuit Court order to change the death certificate of a man named Charles Smith to reflect that Farmer was the person who had died. Charging documents showed that Farmer got criminal charges in Virginia dismissed using a forged Maryland death certificate.

In a landmark case, Farmer sued federal prison officials over a 1989 rape that occurred about a week after Farmer entered a federal maximum-security prison for men in Terre Haute, Ind. Farmer had arrived with male sex organs and breast implants, after undergoing estrogen therapy.

The lawsuit claimed the government had violated Farmer's constitutional right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment by ignoring the risk that a feminine-appearing inmate would be raped by other prisoners. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1994 that prison officials can sometimes be held liable for inmate assaults revived Farmer's lawsuit, which had been dismissed by lower courts. After the Supreme Court decision, however, she lost the case at trial.

Farmer was serving a 20-year federal sentence for credit-card fraud, followed by a 30-year sentence for credit-card fraud in Maryland.

In February 2005, Chief Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr. of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals freed Farmer from a state prison near Hagerstown, saying the inmate, then described as blind, bedridden and dying of AIDS, was no longer a threat to society.

''When I cut him loose, my recollection is that it was on the basis of documentary evidence that he was HIV-positive and that his life expectancy was very, very short,'' Murphy told The (Baltimore) Sun on Wednesday. Murphy said he decided to release Farmer on probation ''in the hopes that that might encourage him to remain crime-free while he was out with what little time he had left.''

Well, we see how well that worked.

Lock this messed up individual away, and dispose of the key.

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Terrorist-Backing Muslims Of CAIR Demand Retraction Of Offensive Language

I guess you cannot speak ill of Muslim terrorists who claim to be engaged in jihad. It isnÂ’t politically correct.

The U.S. Council on Amnerican-Islamic Relations has accused a Michigan congressman of using 'polarizing' language.

CAIR's Michigan chapter said Tuesday its representatives wanted to meet with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI, over what it called his use of "polarizing language" on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

CAIR said that McCotter had used the term "jihadist-fascist" while discussing U.S. policy in Iraq in a House debate. CAIR quoted the congressman as saying, "The crushing weight of putting Iraq back into the terrorist and the jihadist-fascist camp will have enormous ramifications. . ."

"Representative McCotter should use his time on the House floor to foster dialogue and mutual understanding, not to introduce hot-button terms that will further damage our nation's image in the Islamic world," said CAIR's Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid.

Walid said President George W. Bush had stopped using the term "Islamic fascist" after Muslims in America and around the world had protested that it was ill-defined and counterproductive in persuading people in the global conflict against terror.

Fine – you don’t like the term “jihadi-fascist? How about some other suggestions?

“Islamo-Nazis.”

“Homicidal camel-jockeys”

“Murderous pig-raping followers of the false prophet Muhammad.”

Or maybe just “Typical Muslims” -- because you come out in their defense at every opportunity.

Posted by: Greg at 12:54 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Pro-Choice – If It’s Abortion

More examples of the face of “pro-choice” America.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Police have arrested the mother and two cousins of a pregnant 16-year-old who are accused of forcing the teen to drink turpentine in an attempt to induce an abortion.

Rozelletta B. Blackshire, 44, was charged with criminal abortion and first-degree cruelty to children, Columbus Police Sgt. Debra Bohannon said. The teen's cousins, Shonda Y. Blackshire, 26, of Columbus, and Monica M. Johnson, 28, of Eufaula, Ala., also were arrested Friday and charged with criminal abortion.
Investigators haven't determined whether the turpentine harmed the teen, who is three months pregnant, or the fetus.

"There's no medical evidence that would support you could induce an abortion by giving her turpentine," Bohannon said. "Still, it's not made to ingest. It's not good to ingest."

Bohannon said the girl's mother and cousins twice forced her to drink turpentine between Sept. 12 and Sept. 20.

The women might have wanted the teen to have an abortion because her pregnancy could have exacerbated an unrelated health problem, Bohannon said. The girl is in protective custody.

Police were notified after the girl told her school counselor that her mother made her drink turpentine.

Bohannon said they already were investigating a sexual assault case involving the pregnant teen. Investigators believe the girl conceived during that assault.

I guess that some folks are “pro-choice” as long as the “choice” is abortion.

Posted by: Greg at 12:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Pro-Choice – If It’s Abortion

More examples of the face of “pro-choice” America.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Police have arrested the mother and two cousins of a pregnant 16-year-old who are accused of forcing the teen to drink turpentine in an attempt to induce an abortion.

Rozelletta B. Blackshire, 44, was charged with criminal abortion and first-degree cruelty to children, Columbus Police Sgt. Debra Bohannon said. The teen's cousins, Shonda Y. Blackshire, 26, of Columbus, and Monica M. Johnson, 28, of Eufaula, Ala., also were arrested Friday and charged with criminal abortion.
Investigators haven't determined whether the turpentine harmed the teen, who is three months pregnant, or the fetus.

"There's no medical evidence that would support you could induce an abortion by giving her turpentine," Bohannon said. "Still, it's not made to ingest. It's not good to ingest."

Bohannon said the girl's mother and cousins twice forced her to drink turpentine between Sept. 12 and Sept. 20.

The women might have wanted the teen to have an abortion because her pregnancy could have exacerbated an unrelated health problem, Bohannon said. The girl is in protective custody.

Police were notified after the girl told her school counselor that her mother made her drink turpentine.

Bohannon said they already were investigating a sexual assault case involving the pregnant teen. Investigators believe the girl conceived during that assault.

I guess that some folks are “pro-choice” as long as the “choice” is abortion.

Posted by: Greg at 12:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Time To Neuter the Terrorstinian Anarchy?

If this is the sentiment at work in the West Bank and Gaza, it might be time to admit that the Israeli policy of permitting Palestinian self-rule is a favor, and that the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs (a policy implemented by virtually every Arab country towards their Jews in 194 is the only moral and rational option.

Following the recent Israeli-Hizballah war in Lebanon, a majority of Palestinians say they should follow Hizballah's example and launch rockets into Israeli cities, a new poll showed.

Hizballah launched more than 4,000 rockets into Israel killing dozens of Israelis and causing extensive damage throughout northern Israel during the 34-day war in July and August.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), 63 percent of the Palestinians surveyed agreed that they should emulate Hizballah's methods by launching rockets at Israeli cities while 35 percent of Palestinians disagreed.

A majority of Palestinians also supported Hizballah in July 2000 following Israel's unilateral troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon. At the time, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted that his group had done what no Arab nation in the last 50 years had done: defeat Israel. He encouraged the Palestinians to follow in his footsteps.

Five months after Israel's troop withdrawal from Lebanon, the Palestinians launched their intifadah uprising, which has turned into a five-year terror campaign targeting Israeli cities as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The new poll showed that about 57 percent of Palestinians support the idea of using suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis.

There may, however, be a glimmer of hope.

But at the same time, about three-quarters of Palestinians supported the call for an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, and 74 percent said they believe that Palestinians cannot depend on violent actions only but must reach a political agreement with Israel.

So a majority wants a political settlement with Israel – but there remains the problem that many of them want it achieved through terror attacks on the Jewish state. That is not acceptable. It also will not succeed.

Posted by: Greg at 12:42 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Something We Should See More Of

I know of few who advocate sending local police on immigration raids. On the other hand, many of us do insist that police should check the status of those arrested or cited in traffic stops. This is something that is happening more and more often around the country as police treat immigration violations like other illegal activity.

CHARLOTTE -- Police here operated for years under what amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward illegal immigrants.

As elsewhere in the United States, law enforcement officers did not check the immigration status of people they came into contact with, and in the vast majority of cases, a run-in with the law carried little threat of deportation.

But that accommodation for the burgeoning illegal population ended abruptly in April, when the Mecklenburg County sheriff's office began to enforce immigration law, placing more than 100 people a month into deportation proceedings. Some of them had been charged with violent crimes, others with traffic infractions.

The program takes one of the most aggressive stances in the United States toward illegal immigrants, and officials in scores of communities, including Herndon and Loudoun County, have been considering adopting their own version. The House earlier this month was weighing a measure "reaffirming" the authority of local law enforcement agencies to arrest people on suspicion of violating immigration laws.

Some Latino leaders say the program here is contributing to a discriminatory climate in which Hispanic drivers feel as if they are being "hunted" by police. And some law enforcement agencies elsewhere have shied away from enforcing immigration laws, saying that doing so would rupture any trust they have developed in Latino neighborhoods.

But advocates see it as a way to catch illegal immigrants who slip through porous federal enforcement measures and then run afoul of state or local police.

Perhaps the best way of explaining the goal of the program is found here, in the words of an immigration attorney.

"They're putting the pressure on these people. They're scaring them. People say we can't deport 10 million. But you don't have to. If you deport enough of them, others will go back voluntarily because they don't want to live in these conditions."

You deter behavior by giving it a negative consequence. While there will always be some illegal immigrants, we can deter folks from coming and encourage them to leave by making the conditions a bit more inhospitable.

Police check warrants and records. Checking citizenship is one more legitimate inquiry, given the plague of illegals that have come into this country in recent years. LetÂ’s see more of it.

Posted by: Greg at 12:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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September 26, 2006

A Good Reason For Uniforms

I'm tired of being the t-shirt police.

I'm tired of having to parse out meaningand weighing the relative level of suggestiveness of messages on t-shirts.

And it is a nationwide problem.

Ashli Walker rifled through a rack of designer T-shirts one recent afternoon, pondering which one she should buy and wear the next day to Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Prince George's County. The big black one that read, "TRUST ME..I'M SINGLE"? Or the snug white T-shirt emblazoned with, "I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT"?

They're blatantly sexual, occasionally clever and often loaded with double meanings, forcing school administrators and other students to read provocations stripped across the chest, such as "yes, but not with u!," "Your Boyfriend Is a Good Kisser" and "two boys for every girl." Such T-shirts also are emblematic of the kind of sleazy-chic culture some teenagers now inhabit, in which status can be defined by images of sexual promiscuity that previous generations might have considered unhip.

The T-shirts, which school officials say are racier than ever, are posing dress-code dilemmas on Washington area campuses. School systems typically ban clothing that expresses vulgarity, obscenity or lewdness or that promotes cigarettes, alcohol, drugs or weapons. For instance, T-shirts advertising Budweiser or the movie "Scarface," with Al Pacino holding a tommy gun, are taboo.

But sexually suggestive T-shirts often fall into a gray area that requires officials to evaluate one shirt at a time. Some messages are considered harmless -- "Single and Ready to Mingle" or "My Boyfriend Is a Good Kisser." Others are not.

"We try not to make a huge deal out of it, but we also want to be protecting the school environment," said Rick Mondloch, an associate principal at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County, who recently ordered a "Pimps" shirt turned inside out. "These shirts are more risque than they were even five years ago and probably a little more blunt, so you have to be attuned to it."

I still recall a struggle we had over a t-shirt several years ago. Several girls had bought shirts that looked like old-style ads depicting a couple of soft-serve ice cream cones.. The slogan? "Tasty Cones -- Give One A Lick!" , with the little twirl at the top of each dessert placed strategically over the nipples? Dirty messages on the shirts? Or dirty-old men oggling innocent teenage girls (one parent's argument)? You decide.

Personally, I'm for uniforms for all students -- just to get the inapprorpaite messages off the shirts and the pants up to the waist.

Posted by: Greg at 10:35 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Permit No Profit For Illegal Immigrants

I wonder -- would the Houston Chronicle come out in favor of allowing bank robbers to keep any interest they earn or investment income derived from the money they stole?? I doubt it -- they would rightly argue that it is a case of permitting criminals to profit from their crime.

Why, then, should they allow border-jumping immigration criminals to profit from their violations of the law by making their children citizens if they are born in this country? Why should we permit "anchor babies"? I see no reason -- but the Houston Chronicle wants to allow lawbreaking foreigners to profit in this way.

They start by arguing against the scenario that has pregnant women coming north to have babies.

The evidence is anecdotal, but plausible. A growing number of undocumented immigrants, border health officials say, are bearing children in U.S. hospitals. The resulting cost is immense. It's believable, because although immigrant women have fewer children than they did 20 years ago, the number of immigrant women in this country is higher.

That's a far different scenario from the more sensational one peddled by some immigration-control activists. Droves of pregnant Latin American women, they suggest, are marching here across desert, mountain and river expressly to bear American children. Their so-called "anchor babies" ostensibly are part of the parents' plans to reduce their chances of deportation from the United States.

The distinction between these two accounts is an important one. In response to the so-called anchor baby trend, some lawmakers are proposing amending the U.S. Constitution to deny the citizenship now conferred on all infants born in the United States.

I'm willing to accept that argument -- though the statistics in some border counties would appear to confirm the thesis dismissed by the Chronicle.

But that does not logically lead to this conclusion.

A coherent immigration system would effectively police the borders, while creating sane laws for visiting or guest workers. Part of that law should include required payment into a bare-bones insurance pool. Obviously, such insurance would include prenatal and delivery care.

The way to ease the financial anchor around border hospitals' necks is not to kill the hopes of children starting life there. Stripping these infants of their chance to strive, invest and sacrifice on behalf of the land where they're born could cost this society infinitely more than the price of a hospital stay.

Except, of course, that granting citiZenship to such children encourages illegal immigrants to stay, to return after deportation, and allws for eventual line-jumping privileges as family members of US citizens when teh children are older. Let's not give any benefit to those who break our nation's laws by their mere presence int he country -- let's clarify the Constitution to make it crystal clear that the Fourteenth Amendment does not (and, if one considers the legislative history, was never meant to apply) to the children of those who are in the US in violation of our laws.

Posted by: Greg at 10:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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NAACP’s Anti-Semitic Discrimination Complaint

A group of Jewish doctors close their medical clinic on Saturday in accordance with their religious faith. Sounds like a legitimate choice to me, and one certainly protected by the First Amendment.

But not according to the NAACP. They want to impose a little bit of involuntary servitude and religious oppression upon those who own and operate the clinic.

The village chapter of the NAACP has filed a complaint accusing the Ben Gilman Medical and Dental Clinic of religious discrimination for closing on Saturdays.

The complaint, filed Sept. 6 with the state's Division of Human Rights, alleges that the clinic's practice of remaining closed Saturdays in observance of operators' Jewish Sabbath, unlawfully imposes their religious beliefs on others.
Complainants say the practice is an unlawful violation of people's civil rights, particularly since the clinic's operator, Monsey-based Community Medical and Dental Care Inc., has received millions of dollars in federal funding.

In addition to the Gilman clinic, Community Medical and Dental Care operates Monsey Medical and Dental Center.

Sharon Milner, executive director of Community Medical and Dental Care, declined to comment on the complaint but said the organization had retained attorney Robert Lewis to handle the matter.

Lewis, who has an office in Nyack, also declined to comment.

Willie Trotman, president of the Spring Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the purpose of the complaint was to have the clinic open on Saturdays.

Those who work — more than 80 percent of the clinic's clientele are Hispanic or black, according to a letter the clinic sent to the Human Rights Commission earlier this year — would find it convenient to visit their doctors on a Saturday when they had the day off, Trotman said yesterday.

Yeah – but it would also be convenient for them to see their doctors on Sundays. How many Christian doctors has the NAACP filed complaints over closing their offices on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath? I’d be willing to bet that it is a non-negative number smaller than 1.

But I guess when you are a perpetual victim class, the rights of others are irrelevant.

Posted by: Greg at 09:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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NAACPÂ’s Anti-Semitic Discrimination Complaint

A group of Jewish doctors close their medical clinic on Saturday in accordance with their religious faith. Sounds like a legitimate choice to me, and one certainly protected by the First Amendment.

But not according to the NAACP. They want to impose a little bit of involuntary servitude and religious oppression upon those who own and operate the clinic.

The village chapter of the NAACP has filed a complaint accusing the Ben Gilman Medical and Dental Clinic of religious discrimination for closing on Saturdays.

The complaint, filed Sept. 6 with the state's Division of Human Rights, alleges that the clinic's practice of remaining closed Saturdays in observance of operators' Jewish Sabbath, unlawfully imposes their religious beliefs on others.
Complainants say the practice is an unlawful violation of people's civil rights, particularly since the clinic's operator, Monsey-based Community Medical and Dental Care Inc., has received millions of dollars in federal funding.

In addition to the Gilman clinic, Community Medical and Dental Care operates Monsey Medical and Dental Center.

Sharon Milner, executive director of Community Medical and Dental Care, declined to comment on the complaint but said the organization had retained attorney Robert Lewis to handle the matter.

Lewis, who has an office in Nyack, also declined to comment.

Willie Trotman, president of the Spring Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the purpose of the complaint was to have the clinic open on Saturdays.

Those who work — more than 80 percent of the clinic's clientele are Hispanic or black, according to a letter the clinic sent to the Human Rights Commission earlier this year — would find it convenient to visit their doctors on a Saturday when they had the day off, Trotman said yesterday.

Yeah – but it would also be convenient for them to see their doctors on Sundays. How many Christian doctors has the NAACP filed complaints over closing their offices on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath? I’d be willing to bet that it is a non-negative number smaller than 1.

But I guess when you are a perpetual victim class, the rights of others are irrelevant.

Posted by: Greg at 09:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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An Absurd Firing

From the stupid school board file.

An award-winning Texas art teacher who was reprimanded after one of her fifth-grade students saw a nude sculpture during a trip to a museum has lost her job.

The school board in Frisco has voted not to renew Sydney McGee's contract after 28 years. She has been on administrative leave.

The teacher took her students on an approved field trip to a Dallas museum, and now some parents are upset.

The Fisher Elementary School art teacher came under fire last April when she took 89 fifth-graders on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. Parents raised concerns over the field trip after their children reported seeing a nude sculpture at the art museum.

The parents had signed permission slips allowing their children to take part in the field trip.

McGee's lawyer said the principal at Fisher Elementary School admonished her after a parent complained that a student had seen nude art.

McGee said the principal had urged her to take the students to the museum.

Now, McGee, who was honored with a Star Teacher Award two years ago, is on paid administrative leave until her contract with the school district expires in March.

So let me get this straight – the teacher was disciplined because there was art at the art museum? Like nobody knew that there might be a non-pornographic nude sculpture or painting somewhere in the building? What sort of morons are we talking about here?

But some parents are fighting back.

Other parents are worried about the future of the art program at the school, which they cite as a reason for moving into the neighborhood.

"Our main concern right now is what's going to happen to the children and what's going to happen to the art program at Fisher Elementary. It is the best art program. That's the reason we moved to this neighborhood. It's because of the teachers," said Shannon Allen, a parent. "It was a principal-approved trip. What's the big deal?”

I agree. It is not like the teacher brought a Penthouse into the classroom or stood the kids in front of an erotic sculpture. They passed by something in the museum – a public place – and caught a glimpse of a work of art.

Sometimes IÂ’m sort of ashamed to be an educator in Texas.

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Blame Israel First

YouÂ’ve just got to love the rationalization for why the victim of aggression is the bad actor.

After 33 days of blowing up all major roads, bridges and airports in southern Lebanon, Israeli soldier Gil Ovadia's commander told his troops to be prepared to come back soon and fight again.

The Israeli public still criticizes Olmert's government for not doing enough damage. Uri Avnery, a Jewish writer stated, "If one wants to become prime minister of Israel, one has to walk over dead bodies."

Last month, Rabbi Dov Lior of the Yesha Council of Rabbis announced, "There are no innocent parties in a time of war. Rather, one must battle a bellicose city until it is captured." It gives us a clear picture of who is the warmonger here.

Certainly this mind set of disregarding the lives and property of one's neighbors is Israel's real problem and not that of the people of Lebanon and Palestine.
"We did not think that there was a 1 percent chance that the capturing would lead to a war of this scale and magnitude," admitted Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah.

So what we have here is an argument that when Israel faces attack from terrorists across international borders, it may not respond to the violation of international law and is immoral if it does so. Lebanon’s failure to control its territory, its borders, and the terrorists that operate within it (and which are part of its government) is irrelevant to this apologist for terrorism. All that matters is that Israel responded to the provocations of Hezbollah – the Party of (false) God.

Which leads us, of course, to this astounding assertion.

What makes a nation successful is not its power to kill and bring misery to the world, but its ability to bring comfort to our fellow human beings. Israel should realize its aggression and arrogance only fuel more hate, isolation and resistance. People won't forget that they are living under military occupation or that they have been living in refugee camps for six decades.

After six decades of failing to engage in civil discourse with its neighbors, it's time for Israelis to think of a new strategy for survival.

If the Israelis want to live in that neighborhood in peace and security, they better humble themselves and make some courageous changes in the Zionist political culture.

For six decades, Israel has sought peace with its neighbors. It has been the victim of repeated acts of aggression by those neighbors during that time. Israel is willing to negotiate with those who seek peace, but will defend itself vigorously from those who seek its destruction and those who provide them save haven. It is not Israel that needs to change, but rather it is the Arab/Muslim mindset that demands more Jewish blood be spilled.

Oh, yes, and one other thing, commented upon by Golda Meir decades ago – for the enemies of Israel to decide they love their children more than they hate the Jews.

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A Weak Case

I cannot see any basis for punishing people/organizations today for actions that took place a century-and-a-half ago – and which were legal at the time.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are among 18 corporate defendants named in a slave-reparations case to be heard tomorrow in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The case is a consolidation of nine cases filed by African-Americans across America in 2002. Among the other defendants are Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Aetna Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., and Lloyds TSB Group.
Prior to 1865, when slavery was abolished, predecessor companies of J.P.Morgan, Bank of America, and of other banks extended loans to slave-owners using slaves as collateral for the loans, the consolidated lawsuit alleges.

The predecessor companies of major insurance companies, such as Aetna and Lloyds of London, wrote life-insurance policies on the lives of slaves with slaveowners as the beneficiaries, it says.

"Our goal is to secure restitution of ill-gotten gains to create a trust fund to benefit the descendants of slaves," the lead plaintiff in the case, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, said. The lawsuit was dismissed last year, but she's confident that it will get through on appeals. The case, according to Mrs. Farmer-Paellmann, is similar to the one brought by relatives of Holocaust victims, leading to a $1.25 billion settlement from Swiss banks.

"Slavery is a crime against humanity under international law," she added. "There's no statute of limitation."

Ah – but even accepting that last comment, was slavery recognized as a crime against humanity at the time, or did that designation come later? And what of the question of the legal status of slavery under the domestic laws of the United States? Do we not have a problem with the ex post facto imposition of law?

Throw the suit out – and the plaintiff’s and their attorneys with it.

Posted by: Greg at 08:57 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hate Crime?

The FBI is involved in an investigation of THIS?

FBI agents have joined a Gilbert police investigation into a possible hate crime in which a Black Barbie doll was found hanging by its neck in the car of an African-American woman.

The 24-year-old woman found the doll July 8 after leaving the vehicle unlocked overnight at her apartment complex in the 1300 block of West Juniper Avenue, according to police.

The act potentially specifically targeted the victim, which could warrant federal charges should investigators determine it was motivated by the victim's race, said Special Agent Deborah McCarley, an FBI spokeswoman.

OK – I get the hate part. Could someone explain the underlying CRIME here? And I am being very serious here.

Posted by: Greg at 08:55 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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September 25, 2006

A Little Fun

Rusty & Ace have both posted this little bit of fun to their sites -- fake "motivational posters", a parody of the crap they put up around workplaces internationally.

Here's mine.

Baconnotforbreakfast.jpg

Should make the right folks very unhappy.

Posted by: Greg at 10:31 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Exploring Mars

Well over two years later, the two robot explorers of Mars continue their work, succeeding beyond the wildest dreams of NASA scientists.

When the Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit reached their distant destination in early 2004, NASA scientists hoped the vehicles would probe the planet's frigid landscape for 90 days before they pooped out or were undone by the harsh Martian environment.

More than 900 days later, however, both robotic explorers are going strong -- and Opportunity is literally on the cusp of what is likely to be its greatest accomplishment.

After enduring an 18-month trek through rugged terrain, dust devils and daily temperature swings approaching 200 degrees, the rover is scheduled to arrive today within easy lens view of a deep and geologically revealing crater. By tomorrow, if all goes well, the little robot that could will be right at Victoria Crater's edge and in position to peer inside and send back images like none seen before.

"Exploring Victoria is something we joked and fantasized about but never really thought we could realistically get to it," said Steven Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments. "This is the absolutely highest-priority destination we could have reached."

The reason is that Victoria is an impact crater about 200 feet deep and half a mile wide, with sheer cliffs and layers upon layers of exposed rock. Before Victoria, the deepest crater the rover visited was Endurance, which is a mere 23 feet deep.

This mission could tell us much about the geology of the Red Planet. Well done, NASA!

* * *

On the other hand, a private space flight program was less successful in its attempt to launch yesterday.

The first rocket launched from New Mexico's spaceport failed to reach suborbital space Monday, wobbling and dropping back to Earth barely a tenth of the way into its intended journey.

The unmanned, 20-foot SpaceLoft XL rocket, among the first to be launched from any commercial U.S. spaceport, was carrying experiments and other payloads for its planned journey 70 miles above Earth.

The rocket took off at 2:14 p.m. and was supposed to drop back to Earth about 13 minutes later at White Sands Missile Range, just north of the launch site. But three miles from the launch site, witnesses saw the rocket wobble, then go into a corkscrew motion before disappearing in the clear sky.

Something went wrong shortly after takeoff. Officials with UP Aerospace, the Connecticut-based company that funded the launch, said the rocket reached only about 40,000 feet.

It was not immediately clear where the craft landed or what condition it was in. Launch logistical coordinator Tracey Larson said it was possible that the rocket and its payload could have survived the crash.

However, having seen the film of early NASA efforts, with rockets tipping over or crumbling on the pad, I still maintain hope for the private sector efforts.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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