These cases happen from time to time. More often than we want to admit, to be honest.

The two tiny Indonesian women know just a handful of English words. They know Windex. Fantastik (the cleanser, not the adjective). They know the words Master and Missus, which they were taught to use in addressing the Long Island couple they served as live-in help for five years in the sylvan North Shore hamlet of Muttontown.

Their employers, Varsha Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender, 51, naturalized citizens from India, have been on trial in U.S. District Court here for the past month. They are charged with what the federal criminal statutes refer to as involuntary servitude and peonage, or, in the common national parlance since 1865, the crime of keeping slaves.

The two women, the government charged in its indictment, were victims of “modern-day slavery.”

It is a rarely prosecuted crime. But since passage of the 2000 federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, prosecutions have increased from less than a handful nationwide per year to about a dozen. The law is probably best known for its focus on prostitution and child-sex traffickers; yet in the last few years, in a few highly publicized cases like the SabhnanisÂ’, federal and state task forces set up to deal with sex trafficking have also begun to focus on the exploitation of domestic workers.

Last year, the wife of a Saudi prince was convicted in Boston for keeping two house servants for three years in virtual slavery. In 2005, two doctors in Wisconsin were convicted of holding a Philippine woman as an indentured servant for 20 years. Federal prosecutors won convictions in 2003 against a Maryland couple who kept a Brazilian woman in their home as a servant for 15 years, paying her nothing.

What is particularly frightening is that a number of incidents have involved foreign diplomats -- people who can hide behind their diplomatic immunity for protection. We need to clarify that slavery cases are exempt from the usual diplomatic immunity cases as a crime against humanity. And we need to prosecute all cases of slavery -- whether those of individuals forced into prostitution or those held hostage as domestic servants -- to the fullest extent of the law.

Posted by: Greg at 11:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My Hurricane Rita experience still haunts me over two years after the fact. It wasn’t the stress of being driven from my home by a storm that we fully expected to destroy all our possessions that we could not take with us due to the expected 25 foot storm surge barreling though my home (which is located barely 5 feet above sea level and only four blocks from the bay). It was not being rear-ended in my new car after having traveled only 60 miles in 20 hours and having to make a hospital visit with my wife. No, what haunts me today is how unprepared we really were – and how we really aren’t much better prepared today in the event another storm comes.

That’s why there are two items I really want to see under our tree on Christmas – a pair that complement each other quite well. I want an Emergency Response Kit for my wife, and an Emergency Preparedness Kit for me. Let's be honest -- if we had found it necessary to sustain ourselves away from shelter -- in our car, no less -- during the storm because of a mechanical failure or running out of gas (thank God for Sam's Club in the Woodlands!), we would have had little in the way of food to eat and less water than would have been advisable -- after all, we had expected to be on the road under 12 hours as we escaped to Oklahoma. That’s why I want Santa to shop for me at PlanetMace.com, your one-stop website for personal, home, auto and child safety gear. They have both of the items I want, and many more besides.

Of course, there are some stocking stuffers we could use, too. They’ve got door and window braces that can help make Paula feel more safe at home when I’m at school. There is also alarm gear, in case someone ever does want to get into the house. You can even buy lock pick set for a loved one if they need one – though I can’t see why I would need one.

Posted by: Greg at 11:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Freedom victorious in Venezuela.

Venezuelan voters delivered a stinging defeat to President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, blocking proposed constitutional changes that would have given him political supremacy and accelerated the transformation of this oil-rich country into a socialist state.

Hours after the final ballots were cast, the National Electoral Council announced at 1:15 a.m. local time Monday that voters, by a margin of 51 to 49 percent, had rejected 69 reforms to the 1999 constitution. The modifications would have permitted the president to stand for reelection indefinitely, appoint governors to provinces he would create and control Venezuela's sizable foreign reserves.

Chávez immediately went on national television and conceded before a roomful of government allies and other supporters. "I thank you and I congratulate you," Chávez said calmly, directing his comments to his foes. "I recognize the decision a people have made." Chávez admitted, though, that he had found himself in a quandary on Sunday night as votes were being tallied, because the vote was so close. But he said that with nearly 90 percent of 9 million ballots counted, it became clear that his opponents' victory was irreversible. "I came out of the dilemma," he said, "and I am calm."

Now the question is one of how much respect he shows for the outcome of this vote. Will he continue down the path of suppressing the opposition, or will he back off the moves towards dictatorship that have been his hallmark in recent years? Will he tone down his anti-American rhetoric? Or will we yet see a declaration of fraud by Chavez, and the forced implementation of some of these provisions at a later date?

Posted by: Greg at 11:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Does it surprise you to know that, as conservative as I am, I have a taste for some rather funky, unusual types of art and slightly off-beat objects for around my workspace? Maybe that's why I have a couple of gargoyles guarding my computer at school, or why my home office has a giant piece of modern art hanging where it is the first thing you see upon entering.

Well, I just found one more item I'd like to add to my collection of interesting stuff -- this topographic representation of the Earth brought to life through the magic of plasma!

Now this look at it. There is our planet, with a cool blue glow suffusing the whole. And yet, when you touch the surface, caressing the surface of Mother Earth, green bolts of plasma are formed, creating a light show within the globe that provides new perspectives on the planet and its surface. How exciting -- not only would this be great as a decoration at home, but also as an interesting classroom item.

Now where does one get such an item? Would you believe at a site called CoolStuffExpress.com? They have, as the name suggests, lots of cool stuff for home and office – including this and lot’s more Plasma Art. And they should – they have been supplying such products to museum stores for years, and so they know what quality is and what the buying public likes. Drop by and see for yourself!

Posted by: Greg at 11:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I wish it were not necessary for a candidate to have to give a speech saying "I'm not a tool of my religious leaders". Indeed, I thought we had dispensed with such things nearly a half-century ago. But the reality of Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, especially in light of the increase in evangelical influence on the right, secularist political correctness on the left, and media coverage of fundamentalist Mormon cults practicing polygamy seems to require it, and so he will give The Speech later this week.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, striving to be the country's first Mormon president, will give a speech this week explaining his relatively unknown faith to voters, his campaign said Sunday.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, striving to be the country's first Mormon president, will give a speech this week explaining his relatively unknown faith to voters, his campaign said Sunday.

From where I sit, here is what Romney needs to do.

1) Romney needs to avoid spending much time on explicating the overall teachings of the LDS Church. They are irrelevant to the presidential race. In addition, this would serve to turn off many voters who would find some of the faith's distinctive teachings to be rather strange.

2) Romney does need to present the teachings of the LDS Church on religious liberty and political participation. They are, by any measure, distinctively American and supportive of the right of all members of that faith to participate in politics free of Church control. Pointing to individuals as different as Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch as examples would do a great job of showing that there is no coercion of Mormon elected officials.

3) Romney does need to show how the general ethos of his faith has influenced his personal and professional conduct. He must show that his being a man of faith has provided him with a moral and ethical compass that will serve him well as the leader of this country.

Mitt Romney is not responsible for 175 years of Mormon history. He is not responsible for former practices now repudiated by the LDS Church. What he is responsible for is showing that he is a man worthy of the trust of the American people to serve in our nation's highest elected office.

Posted by: Greg at 11:13 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Now here's a Christmas contest for you at Overstock.com -- the All I want for Christmas Giveaway. When you visit their site, you have the chance to sign up to win the item of your choice, up to $1000, and the opportunity to invite 5 friends to sign up. If you win, so do your friends, too!

Not only that, but there's the grand prize. After five days, one individual will be picked to receive ALL FIVE of days of their selections. Yeah, you've done your math right -- that's up to $5000 worth of prizes in one shot.

What gift do i want? Well, today I registered for the HP Pavilion tx1200 1.8 GHz Tablet PC. It is a great computer with all the bells and whistles. It has great speed, a 120 GB hard drive, and 2 gigs of RAM. That should take care of all of my computing needs right there, but when you add the Ethernet card and the CD-RW, that makes it even better. Heck, it comes close to what is available on my desktop! And what is really nice is the way the screen can be turned to face different directions, it means that there are some things I could use it for in the classroom that a traditional desktop could not be used.

So what do you think – did I make the right choice?

Posted by: Greg at 06:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Buchanan's New Book: “Prepare Ye for the End” by Right Wing Nut House, and Have Our Copperheads Found Their McClellan in Retired LTG General Sanchez? by Wolf Howling.  Here are the full results of the vote:

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No criminal charges in noose case.

Because the perp is black, of course.

A firefighter who reported finding a knotted rope and a threatening note with a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore station house last month had placed the items there himself, city officials said yesterday.

The man was suspended last week for performance-related issues and will likely face additional punishment, fire officials said. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Police Department and for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the man admitted to the hoax and will not face criminal charges.

Officials identified the firefighter who they say acknowledged writing the note as Donald Maynard, a firefighter-paramedic apprentice who is black. Maynard could not be reached for comment.

The rope incident sparked outrage two weeks ago and prompted a federal investigation into possible civil rights violations. It was the latest in a series of incidents that have cast the Fire Department in a poor light over the past year, including the death of a recruit in a training exercise and accusations of racism.

The news of the hoax came a day after a report released by the city's inspector general found that the top performers on two recent Fire Department promotions exams likely cheated amid lapses in testing security.

So let's see here.

A cheating scandal breaks out in the Baltimore Fire Department.

One of those involved finds a noose and a note.

Accusations of racism fly, and a civil rights investigation ensues.

Now it turns out the perp is one of the black guys involved in the cheating scandal, and the party who found the noose.

Well, never mind -- no need for charges criminal charges here. But if he had been white, Donald Maynard would have had the book thrown at him, by local, state, and federal authorities, on the basis of the civil rights violation posed by the noose.

Excuse me, but didn't Maynard just victimize every black -- and every white -- member of the BFD? Why should he get a pass on his CRIME?

Lock him up and throw away the key -- or admit that the current noose hysteria is nothing more than a PC move designed to score more points for the ethnic grievance industry.

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So much for one character in a children's book.

A BRITISH children's author who called one of his characters Mohammed the Mole to promote multiculturalism has renamed him Morgan so as not to offend Muslims.

Kes Gray said the case of British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who has been jailed in Sudan for allowing her class of primary school children to name a teddy bear Mohammed, had prompted him to postpone a reprint of his book, Who's Poorly Too, and change the name.

“I had no idea at all of the sensitivities of the name Mohammed until seeing this case in Sudan,” Gray told The Sunday Times.

“As soon as I saw the news I thought, 'Oh gosh, I've got a mole called Mohammed - this is not good'.”

I know whose name won't be changing.

And he's now available at CafePress!

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They've insisted that all previous discussions on their nuclear program are moot, and that they will continue to work towards "peaceful" (read that "jihadi") uses of nuclear material.

In a sign that Iran has hardened its position on its nuclear program, its new nuclear negotiator said in talks in London on Friday that all proposals made in past negotiations were irrelevant and that further discussion of a curb on IranÂ’s uranium enrichment was unnecessary, senior officials briefed on the meeting said.

The Iranian official, Saeed Jalili, also told Javier Solana, who represented the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the five-hour talks, that United Nations Security Council resolutions punishing Iran for not suspending its enriched uranium activities were illegal, the officials said.

Representatives of the six countries met in Paris on Saturday afternoon to discuss further punitive Security Council measures against Iran after the final talks in London failed to produce a breakthrough.

So, bombing Iran may yet be the only way to avoid nuclear war. Will Bush have to do it? Or will any Democrat have the balls to do so (and that includes Hillary, who has a pair bigger than any of her male counterparts, which isn't saying much in today's wussified Democrat party)?

But I can't help but note what may be the funniest line in an otherwise serious news story.

The first hour and a half of the meeting on Friday was described as a monologue, with Mr. Jalili speaking about the will of the Iranian people to support uranium enrichment, theology, God, even his doctoral thesis, according to several officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under normal diplomatic rules.

Looks like Mahmoud the mad has found his perfect counterpart for these non-negotiations.

Posted by: Greg at 05:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When the Gnostic Gospel of Judas was published with great fanfare, it was trumpeted as showing Judas as a good guy whose role was a blessed one. But was that true?

So what does the Gospel of Judas really say? It says that Judas is a specific demon called the “Thirteenth.” In certain Gnostic traditions, this is the given name of the king of demons — an entity known as Ialdabaoth who lives in the 13th realm above the earth. Judas is his human alter ego, his undercover agent in the world. These Gnostics equated Ialdabaoth with the Hebrew Yahweh, whom they saw as a jealous and wrathful deity and an opponent of the supreme God whom Jesus came to earth to reveal.

Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Because Judas is a demon working for Ialdabaoth, the author believed, when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream ChristiansÂ’ belief in the atoning value of JesusÂ’ death and in the effectiveness of the Eucharist.

So what we have here is, as I pointed out at the time of the original publication, is a document by a heretical sect that was properly rejected by the early Church. That modern scholars have willfully mistranslated it and overlooked the fact that it is both anti-Semitic and anti-Christian (the Jewish Yahweh is an evil demon, while the crucifixion had no value and the Christian Eucharist is meaningless) is indicative of some other agenda than illumination of history. Whether that agenda was to make a quick buck, to spur a healing of Jewish-Christian relations, or to undermine Christianity itself, both the original Gnostic work and the subsequent translation by National Geographic are clearly fraudulent and deserve rejection by people of good will everywhere.

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How the editorial board at the New York Times can miss the fact that two of their editorials are so contradictory in nature is simply mind-blowing to me.

They defend, quite properly, freedom of speech for foreigners, from their own repressive governments and insist that internet companies be forced to support American values. Indeed, they chastise the companies for opposing efforts to protect free speech in repressive foreign countries.

What they are resisting are efforts in Congress that could help them stand against repressive governments.

Last January, Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey reintroduced the Global Online Freedom Act in the House. It would fine American companies that hand over information about their customers to foreign governments that suppress online dissent. The bill would at least give American companies a solid reason to decline requests for data, but the big Internet companies do not support it. That shows how much they care about the power of information to liberate the world.

But then, the same newspaper demands that the American government limit and punish political speech here in the United States by implementing another public financing scheme, complete with contribution limits and speech bans. Indeed, they argue that those who engage in too much political speech because of their deep pockets are subverting democracy! Their editorial calls for more government money to campaigns, with more restrictions on the ability of Americans to spend their own money to engage in political speech – and enhanced penalties against those who do dare to speak too much (media organizations like the New York times would, of course, be exempt).

So make no mistake here – what the Times wants is free speech abroad and speech suppression at home. Rather than make China more like the US, though, the result will be to make the US more like China. So if Yahoo has betrayed free speech by its opposition to the Global Online Freedom Act, how much more does the New York Times betray it with support for campaign speech suppression?

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You have to wonder about the folks who tell developing nations not to use or subsidize fertilizer as a way of ending famines.

Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid.

But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.

In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children’s Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. “We will not be able to use it!” Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef’s deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly.

Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer.

Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid have periodically pressed this small, landlocked country to adhere to free market policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer subsidies, even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Bingu wa Mutharika, MalawiÂ’s newly elected president, decided to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached.

Stung by the humiliation of pleading for charity, he led the way to reinstating and deepening fertilizer subsidies despite a skeptical reception from the United States and Britain. MalawiÂ’s soil, like that across sub-Saharan Africa, is gravely depleted, and many, if not most, of its farmers are too poor to afford fertilizer at market prices.

“As long as I’m president, I don’t want to be going to other capitals begging for food,” Mr. Mutharika declared. Patrick Kabambe, the senior civil servant in the Agriculture Ministry, said the president told his advisers, “Our people are poor because they lack the resources to use the soil and the water we have.”

Good grief! We in America make the great Midwestern agricultural zone explode with food each year through the use of fertilizers. In Israel, the desert has bloomed for the same reason. Why the heck tell developing nations -- nations where people are starving -- not to use the methods that we know work for us?

Am I for a free market? You bet I am. But in a case like Malawi, where the choice is between a little socialism and a lot of starvation, I fall firmly on the side of ensuring that people have enough to eat. It is time for other nations to follow the example set by this formerly starving African nation -- and for those who encourage a different path to question their own wisdom and motivations.

Posted by: Greg at 04:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm really hoping that the legislature responds with a law that denies the state's electoral votes to any party that denies it full voting rights at the national convention.

Democratic leaders voted Saturday to strip Michigan of all its delegates to the national convention next year as punishment for scheduling an early presidential primary in violation of party rules.

Michigan, with 156 delegates, has scheduled a Jan. 15 primary. Democratic Party rules prohibit states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina from holding nominating contests before Feb. 5.

Florida was hit with a similar penalty in August for scheduling a Jan. 29 primary.

So let's be really clear about this. The Democrats have now denied the people of two states the right to be involved in the nomination of their party's presidential candidate. Remember, this is the party that has claimed for the last seven years to be all about preventing "disenfranchisement " (something that didn't happen in either of the last two elections, despite bogus claims to the contrary) telling certain states that they don't have a right to vote according to the dictates of state law. As ashamed as I am of the GOP move to diminish the voting strength of certain states, and as strongly as i condemn that move, this is much more destructive of American values and the rights of the people and the states.

Posted by: Greg at 03:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, one of my favorite movies in the last few years was Hitch, starring Will Smith. It was a lot of fun, and dealt with a matchmaker who taught his clients how to sweep a woman off her feet. Indeed, I don't think I have laughed so hard during a movie in years.

Believe it or not, there are actually guys like that out there who say they can teach you The Rules of Seduction. Now that sounds like an interesting concept to me. Let's set aside the question of ethics for a minute -- but just a minute -- and ask the key question: "Is there a way to guarantee that you can pick up any woman you want?" These guys say that there are, and that they can be learned if you have the motivation.

Now there is the ethical question related to these rules. Are you out to use these women and cast them aside? Or are you looking for romance and love? If the latter is the case, I can’t argue against learning The Rules of Seduction as a way of meeting that special one. If one is into selfish pleasure, definitely not – but then again, could such techniques work for one who was insincere? We’ll find out on December 7 when the UK’s Channel 4 airs a special about these pick up artists.

Posted by: Greg at 02:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh, wait -- that's a constant occurrence for the old bat anyway.

But the latest report from Iraq makes the apologist for all things jihadi look particularly foolish and biased -- civilian deaths are falling in a dramatic fashion due to the surge.

The number of Iraqis killed last month fell to 718, an Associated Press tally showed, the lowest monthly death toll since just before the 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine provoked a vicious cycle of retaliatory sectarian violence.

The figures come as the military says violence has fallen to levels not seen in nearly two years, while acknowledging that Iraqis are still dying in unacceptable numbers.

* * *

It was the third consecutive monthly decline in the death toll of Iraqi civilians and security forces since August, when a massive suicide bombing targeting minority Yazidis in northern Iraq helped push the figure to at least 1,956.

Some 500 are thought to have perished in the bombing of the Yazidis.

At least 1,023 Iraqis were killed in September, 911 in October and 718 in November, the lowest since January 2006, when 615 Iraqis were killed, according to figures compiled by the AP from hospital, police and military officials, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers. Insurgent deaths were not included. Other counts differ and some have given higher civilian death tolls.

The number of U.S. troop deaths also declined for the sixth consecutive month, with at least 37 recorded in November, according to an AP tally based on military figures. That was the lowest number since March 2006, when 31 American service members died.

The U.S. military has said the decline in the number of deadly attacks is largely due to a troop buildup this summer of some 30,000 additional troops that enabled them to get closer to the population, as well as a sharp turn of public opinion against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremist groups.

Yeah, there's that whole problem of success undermining the liberals' preferred policy of surrender and retreat.

But not to worry -- the media shills for the Islamist jihadis are always willing to put matters into perspective with the help for the academic shills for Islamist jihadis. Take this Columbia (of course) professor and UN (of course) official who is anointed an expert on civilian casualties despite working with health and nutrition issues.

An expert on the effect of conflicts on civilians agreed, saying that while the downward trend was positive, it needed to be kept in perspective.

"We've gone from horrific levels of murder to very bad, which is an improvement but not a reason to celebrate," said Richard Garfield, a professor at New York's Columbia University and a manager of health and nutrition for the World Health Organization.

"At these so-called low levels, there's a massive number of excess deaths still likely to occur."

Expert, of course, is AP speak for "someone who agrees with us, regardless of credentials.

Oh, and remember one minor detail, folks -- the civilian dead are being killed by the terrorists, not by Americans. That won't end if we withdraw, and will get worse.

Posted by: Greg at 02:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just love the website over at MadGringo.com! Talk about making the casual ethos of a company and its products shine through! They certainly do show off their beach wear and other "Go Slow!" attitude merchandise to great effect. And their logo -- a pineapple skull and crossbones -- simply cries out "Hey! We're all about fun and relaxation."

Now what will you find at MadGringo.com? Well for one, you will find some of the best Hawaiian shirts I've sen anywhere, in a variety of colors an patterns. You'll fond sarongs in some of the same patterns. And then there are t-shirts, flip-flops, bags, and other merchandise epitomizing the "Go Slow" attitude. You'll even find some reasonably priced gift baskets -- all gathered up in an aluminum beer bucket! Yep, it is all about fun and relaxation over at that site.

The whole “Go Slow” ethos of MadGringo.com is one that calls for all of us to slow our lives down and take it easy. Too often, even our recreation is one frantic effort do something more. The Hawaiian shirts urge us to do something quite different – to be, rather than to do, during our leisure time. So Go Slow with Mad Gringo!

Posted by: Greg at 06:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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After denying any connection between the use of his PAC money and his campaign, Obama and his campaign have a lot of explaining to do.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign helped recommend several of the donations his political action committee made in recent months to politicians in key primary states as the campaign was working to secure endorsements, campaign officials said yesterday.

The acknowledgment alters the campaign's original account of how donations were directed and raised questions among some legal experts about whether the presidential committee was using Obama's leadership PAC to benefit his campaign. The Obama campaign said it is confident it complied with the law.

Obama's Hopefund Inc. distributed more than $180,000 in donations to political groups and candidates in the early presidential voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and more than $150,000 to federal candidates in other states with primary dates through mid-February. The donations accounted for nearly three-quarters of the money the PAC has given out since this summer.

An Obama campaign spokesman last week said that "there is no connection" between the PAC donations and the presidential campaign.

But Bob Bauer, the private counsel for both Obama's campaign and Hopefund, said yesterday that campaign workers were involved over the summer in identifying and recommending possible recipients when Hopefund was deciding how to spend its remaining money. In particular, Bauer said, senior campaign strategist Steve Hildebrand was consulted "multiple times" on potential donations.

The guy who made the recommendations is now a deputy campaign chairman, moving seamlessly from one job to the other. Certainly has an appearance of impropriety, don't you think? I thought you liberals kept saying that Obama was different from all the rest.

And before you liberals protest raising the question, consider this -- what would you say if there had been such cross-pollination between Ton DeLay's PAC and reelection campaign? Don't bother answering -- it will only show your hypocrisy.

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Let's be honest -- there are a lot of folks out there doing web hosting. Not only that, there are a lot of different plans with a wide variety of features and fees. How do you get the best deal on the hosting of your site.

Well, there is a way to check it all out in advance so that you make the best web hosting choice. At WebHostingChoice.com they've compiled the information and allow you to use their Quick Web Host Search to find options that meet your needs. And all hostingservices are given a rating so that you can sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Posted by: Greg at 05:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The little dictator of Venezuela has made it pretty clear that he will win tomorrow's constitutional referendum by fraud -- and that he will punish anyone who attempts to call him on it.

A threat by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop oil exports to the United States has raised the stakes over a Sunday referendum he has called in a bid to expand his powers.

Chavez told tens of thousands of supporters late Friday he was putting Venezuela's oil field and refineries under military "protection" and would halt the exports "if this (referendum) is used as a pretext to start violence in Venezuela."

He accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of preparing to spread unrest during the plebiscite in an effort to topple him, and said if its operation was activated "there won't be a drop of oil from Venezuela to the United States."

Given that he polls show the people of Venezuela sharply split on the referendum and that many of his earliest and closest associates oppose the measures, a victory is bound to be questioned by both internal opponents and foreign sources. After all, he has refused to allow international monitors for the election -- not even the dictator-loving, anti-American Jimmy Carter will be permitted to ensure that the elections are free and fair. That about says it all.

And if the international press attempts to reveal the shenanigans, they will be deported and permanently barred from the country.

He renewed his harsh criticisms of Juan Carlos and Uribe, with whom he has had recent high-profile disputes, and threatened to take independent Venezuela television network Globovision off the air if it broadcast partial results during the voting. He also threatened to take action against international networks, accusing CNN in particular of overstating the strength of the opposition's numbers.

"If any international channel comes here to take part in an operation from the imperialist against Venezuela, your reporters will be thrown out of the country, they will not be able to work here," Chavez said. "People at CNN, listen carefully: This is just a warning."

In other words, don't question my vote fraud.

Chavez keeps rambling on about CIA assassination plots. Our laws forbid such things. Too bad -- it might be the only thing that the Left and the Right in this country might be able to agree on (Hollywood excepted).

Instead, we are likely to see a free people enslaved, just like the Cubans, and will stand by and do nothing, to our eternal shame.

Posted by: Greg at 05:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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They are strict separationists when it comes to even a hint of Christian principle making it into the American legal system -- but they seem to like Islamic law in Nigeria.

Just last year, the morality police roamed these streets in dusky blue uniforms and black berets, brandishing cudgels at prayer shirkers and dragging fornicators into Islamic courts to face sentences like death by public stoning.

But these days, the fearsome police officers, known as the Hisbah, are little more than glorified crossing guards. They have largely been confined to their barracks and assigned anodyne tasks like directing traffic and helping fans to their seats at soccer games.

The Islamic revolution that seemed so destined to transform northern Nigeria in recent years appears to have come and gone — or at least gone in a direction few here would have expected.

When Muslim-dominated states like Kano adopted Islamic law after the fall of military rule in 1999, radical clerics from the Arabian peninsula arrived in droves to preach a draconian brand of fundamentalism, and newly empowered religious judges handed down tough punishments like amputation for theft. Kano became a center of anti-American sentiment in one of the most reliably pro-American countries in Africa.

But since then, much of the furor has died down, and the practice of Islamic law, or Shariah, which had gone on for centuries in the private sphere before becoming enshrined in public law, has settled into a distinctively Nigerian compromise between the dictates of faith and the chaotic realities of modern life in an impoverished, developing nation.

“Shariah needs to be practical,” said Bala Abdullahi, a civil servant here. “We are a developing country, so there is a kind of moderation between the ideas of the West and traditional Islamic values. We try to weigh it so there is no contradiction.”

The tone of the article is, quite frankly, fawning. The segregation of women and limits on women's rights are presented as liberating. And the atrocities committed by Muslims against Christians are presented as minor misunderstandings that have been replaced by (a somewhat dhimified) tolerance. But the situation is great in the eyes of al-NY ibn-Times -- after all, the Christians aren't in charge.

Posted by: Greg at 05:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As our 11th Christmas in Texas approaches, I feel the annual sadness over a broken promise. During the job hunt that brought us to Houston, I promised my wife that we would move no place where there was not snow at Christmas. In all this time, only once have we gotten snow at all.

Well, I may have found the solution to the problem -- instant snow! You guys probably think IÂ’m nuts, but there is a product called InstaSnow that just requires a little bit of water to produce realistic appearing snow. They use it for movies and plays, and it is great for decorating. Even better, it is non-toxic and reusable. I wonder if my wife will kill me if she wakes up Christmas morning and finds a InstaSnow-covered pat all the way from the bedroom t the Christmas tree?

Posted by: Greg at 05:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It will be the coldest winter in the last 15 years in the Great White North.

After years of warmer-than-normal winters that spurred constant talk of global warming, winter this year is expected to be the coldest in almost 15 years and should remind everyone of what real Canadian cold feels like, Environment Canada said Friday.

With the exception of only small pockets of northern Canada and southwestern Ontario, this December through February is forecast to be one of the harshest winters in recent memory across the country, said senior climatologist David Phillips.

"It is somewhat remarkable that we're seeing the same situation from coast to coast to almost coast - from Vancouver Island to Bonavista, Nfld., we're showing the country as being colder than normal," Phillips said.

"The last time Canada had a significantly cold winter was back in 1994, more than a decade ago, and this may very well rival that one in terms of coldness."

1994 started with a bang of winter weather and Canadians across the country shivered through temperatures as cold as -42C - and that was before factoring in the wind chill.

Once again proving, folks, that the claims of the adherents of the religion of global warming don't match up with the reality on the ground. Whatever warming is going on is part of a cyclical trend -- and recent fluctuations have been a part of the natural cycle.

My suggestion for the Canucks? More beer fridges.

Posted by: Greg at 05:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I like to visit new places and see the sights. Indeed, when I studied in Mexico during my seminary career, my buddy George one day got an exasperated look on his face and began hollering at me about how he was sick and tired of me trying to find every attraction in the area.

As IÂ’ve gotten older, IÂ’ve come to realize that tours are often the best way to make sure you see what interests you and avoid the rip-offs and gimmicks. ThatÂ’s why I like the Trusted Tours and Attractions concept of offering you choices within your tour packages. For example, if I were to travel to Savannah, IÂ’d have the choice of a number of Old Town Trolley tours that would take me to great sites, as well as tours of special attractions and riverboat cruises complete with a nice meal. And the options are such that folks with interests from history to the arts, to architecture.

Oh, and donÂ’t forget to drop by and sign up for their e-newsletter. This month they are doing a drawing for 4 Sigtseeing Tour tickets in any one of their 21 cities, just for signing up for the newsletter. Or you could win an iPod Nano instead.

Posted by: Greg at 05:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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First, let me say that I'm glad that no one was injured in this standoff at a Clinton campaign office.

A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.

Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.

The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.

The man walked into the office shortly before 1 p.m. and took several hostages, police and witnesses said. He let a woman with an infant go immediately and at least one other woman got out about two hours later.

Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.

I'd like to point out that this situation does not, in and of itself, reflect at all upon the character or qualifications of the candidate. After all, she was nowhere near where it took place, and had absolutely no role in resolving it. The one thing that she does appear to have done, contacting the families of the hostage, strikes me as the minimum that could be expected under the circumstances. Common decency demanded it, and for all that I oppose Hillary Clinton's election to any office i do believe that she does have, at the very core of her being, some level of human decency.

But the use of this incident by her campaign spokesman is positively absurd, as noted by Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters.

Somehow, later that evening, the Clinton campaign decided this makes Hillary look presidential, at least to Larry Sabato and the AP:

And as soon as it ended, Clinton took full advantage of the opportunity she had unexpectedly been handed.

In her New Hampshire press conference, she stood before a column of police in green and tan uniforms. She talked of meeting with hostages. She mentioned that she spoke to the stateÂ’s governor about eight minutes after the incident began.

The scene was one of a woman in charge.

“It looked and sounded presidential,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “This was an instance of the White House experience of this campaign. They knew how to handle this.”

That the crisis was outside Clinton's control gave it a rare quality in this era of hyper-controlled politicking, Sabato added.

“What’s most important about it is that it’s not contrived. It’s a real event and that distinguishes it from 99 percent of what happens in the campaign season.”

Er, what? Sabato, who usually gives intelligent political analysis, must have inhaled a little deeply. Clinton was nowhere near New Hampshire during the entirety of the crisis. What was presidential about having the Rochester PD talk a hostage-taker out of a building? What "leadership" did Hillary show in Virginia during this crisis? She canceled a speech!

I'd have to argue that such spin by Sabato is a sign of just how shameless the Clinton campaign can be at moments. After all, the only thing the Senator did was let the process work itself out -- and avoid the bad press of giving a campaign speech during the crisis.

Or did she? Morrissey also notes that AP's Glenn Johnson was reporting on Hillary's repeated calls to various law enforcement officials to get minute-by-minute updates on the situation. In other words, the various law enforcement folks involved hat to spend their time holding the hand of a frantic candidate rather than devoting attention to the key issue at hand -- how to resolve the crisis. In other words, she was in the way. What does that say for her crisis management skills as President? Nothing good, that's for sure.

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Posted by: Greg at 05:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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