It is official – not only can the government take your property and give it to a private developer, private developers with political clout can now legally engage in extortion against land and business owners using the threat of eminent domain action.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday bypassed an opportunity to revisit or limit its much-disputed 2005 ruling that upheld governmental power to use eminent domain to foster economic development.

Without comment, the justices declined to hear a case from Port Chester in Westchester County, N.Y., that challenged the villageÂ’s use of eminent domain in a dispute between a property owner and a private company designated as the developer of a run-down 27-acre urban renewal area.

The redevelopment plan, adopted by Port Chester in 1999, envisioned a retail area that would include a drugstore. In 2002, the developer, G & S Port Chester LLC, announced that a Walgreens store would be part of the project. But Bart Didden, the owner of the parcel where the store was to sit, had by that time separately entered into a lease with a competing drugstore chain, CVS.

After negotiations between Mr. Didden and G & S Port Chester failed, the village sided with its developer and notified the property owner that his half-acre parcel would be taken by eminent domain and made available for the developer’s use. Mr. Didden and his business partner, Domenick Bologna, brought a lawsuit in 2004 arguing that Port Chester’s condemnation of the property was not for a true “public use,” the phrase that identifies the constitutionally permissible use of the eminent domain power, but rather for the private financial benefit of the developer.

In other words, the government can now pick and choose who is the economic winner when there is a set redevelopment plan. There was already a drugstore slated to go on that parcel – the government simply decided that it would take the land and give it to G & S Port Chester to build a drugstore unless G & S Port Chester got a financial stake in already existing drugstore project. Where is the public use or benefit of this decision?

The failure to take and decide this case merely reinforces the question I asked after Kelo – does private property still exist in the United States, despite the guarantees of the United States Constitution?

Posted by: Greg at 11:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It was bound to happen, given Obama’s rock star status.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whose best-selling books and political travels generated huge pressure to run for the White House, joined a crowded Democratic field yesterday, vowing to advance "a different kind of politics" in a campaign that could make him the nation's first African American president.

Obama, a state legislator just three years ago, announced that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee, accelerating his already rapid emergence in national politics and establishing him as his party's most formidable rival to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the Democratic front-runner. He will formally announce his candidacy on Feb. 10.

The problem is, though, that his career includes no significant accomplishments. Indeed, he was elected to the US Senate only two years ago, after his Republican opponent’s campaign imploded in a sex scandal and the GOP could not find a credible replacement. During his time in the Senate he has been a big draw on the campaign trail, but is an absolute cipher as a legislator. Even his state legislative career is painted in only the most general terms in this article.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate, where he earned a reputation as a consensus-building Democrat who was strongly liberal on social and economic issues, backing gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, universal health care and tax breaks for the poor.

Indeed, the only two things that Obama has going for him as a candidate are his unquestioned skill as an orator and the color of his skin. This was illustrated yesterday when a representative of Young Democrats for America appearing on Sean Hannity’s radio show to speak about his announcement was unable to name a single substantive thing Obama has done during his time in Washington – or at any other point during his career.

What is going to happen to Obama’s candidacy? It will ultimately fail – and he will in all likelihood end up in the VP slot of a Clinton-Obama ticket. And if he does beat the odds and get the nomination? Expect him to crash and burn.

Oh, by the way, if you want to know about Obama’s record as a state legislator, you can find that information here.

Posted by: Greg at 11:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It was bound to happen, given ObamaÂ’s rock star status.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whose best-selling books and political travels generated huge pressure to run for the White House, joined a crowded Democratic field yesterday, vowing to advance "a different kind of politics" in a campaign that could make him the nation's first African American president.

Obama, a state legislator just three years ago, announced that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee, accelerating his already rapid emergence in national politics and establishing him as his party's most formidable rival to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the Democratic front-runner. He will formally announce his candidacy on Feb. 10.

The problem is, though, that his career includes no significant accomplishments. Indeed, he was elected to the US Senate only two years ago, after his Republican opponentÂ’s campaign imploded in a sex scandal and the GOP could not find a credible replacement. During his time in the Senate he has been a big draw on the campaign trail, but is an absolute cipher as a legislator. Even his state legislative career is painted in only the most general terms in this article.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate, where he earned a reputation as a consensus-building Democrat who was strongly liberal on social and economic issues, backing gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, universal health care and tax breaks for the poor.

Indeed, the only two things that Obama has going for him as a candidate are his unquestioned skill as an orator and the color of his skin. This was illustrated yesterday when a representative of Young Democrats for America appearing on Sean Hannity’s radio show to speak about his announcement was unable to name a single substantive thing Obama has done during his time in Washington – or at any other point during his career.

What is going to happen to Obama’s candidacy? It will ultimately fail – and he will in all likelihood end up in the VP slot of a Clinton-Obama ticket. And if he does beat the odds and get the nomination? Expect him to crash and burn.

Oh, by the way, if you want to know about ObamaÂ’s record as a state legislator, you can find that information here.

Posted by: Greg at 11:32 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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May I say “Who cares?”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that he hopes to patch things up with conservative Christian leader James Dobson, who said last week that he would not support the lawmaker's presidential bid "under any circumstances."

In an interview last Thursday with a Christian radio station in Dallas, Dobson argued that McCain did not support traditional marriage values "and I pray that we will not get stuck with him."

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," said Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family.

"I'm obviously disappointed," McCain said during a stop in Columbia.
McCain has said gay marriage should not be legal, but he has angered some conservatives with his opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions. He said the issue should be left to the states.

Frankly, I donÂ’t care about this. IÂ’m opposed to John McCain and his candidacy, and that opposition is irrevocable. And the reason is not the gay marriage amendment, which I support but on which I believe people of goodwill can disagree. Rather, it is McCainÂ’s flagrant opposition to an amendment already part of the Constitution, the First Amendment with its guarantee of freedom of speech, that leads me to reject him for any office.

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Well, at least not yet.

Officials from the Department of Justice have told a North Carolina congressman that it's too early to launch a federal investigation into the handling of the Duke lacrosse case, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Rep. Walter Jones wrote Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last month, asking that the Department of Justice investigate whether the district attorney prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players charged with sexual assault has violated the athletes' civil rights.

The department's Office of Legislative Affairs responded last week that it was premature to initiate a federal investigation while criminal charges and other investigations at the state level are ongoing, said Cynthia J. Magnuson, a Department of Justice spokeswoman.

Ordinarily, IÂ’d agree that there should not be federal intervention while charges are still pending against the defendants. However, in this case there has been such manifest misconduct by Mike Nifong that it seems the failure to act now is nothing less than the avoidance of responsibility. After all, shouldnÂ’t the Justice Department stop a civil rights violation in progress?

Posted by: Greg at 11:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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At least that's how it appears if current population trends continue.

Texas is on track to be the biggest winner when all 435 House seats are reallocated after the 2010 Census, getting as many as four new districts and Electoral College votes because of population gains.

And that, in turn, will translate into more federal dollars and increased political clout for Texas.

The growth assures Texas a gain of at least two seats, according to recent analyses of Census data by two redistricting-consulting and data-analysis firms.

If population increase continues in similar fashion through the end of the decade, as expected, Texas will definitely add a third and possibly a fourth seat, said Clark Bensen, a Virginia analyst who counsels Republicans on redistricting strategy through his firm, Polidata.

Kimball Brace, who typically advises Democrats through his Election Data Services, also projects that Texas will pick up three seats during the once-a-decade rebalancing in the House. Texas gained two seats after the 2000 decennial count and now has 32 House members.

How these districts are allocated will be the key. Houston suburbs are growing, and that could translate to an additional district or two here. Similarly, Dallas/Fort Worth will likely see at least one seat added. Assuming they are drawn by a GOP controlled legislature, I would anticipate at least a two seat pick-up for Republicans. That puts me at odds with the analysts -- but I base my projection upon what areas are growing and the fact that much of that growing Hispanic population is non-citizen (in fact, illegal alien) growth. And sorry, but every new Democrat Hispanic district will require cannibalizing Hispanics from other districts -- making the other districts more white, more affluent, and more Republican. The only area where redistricting would not have that impact would be down in the Valley.

I would even suggest that this growth could mean that my own district, CD22, could be split. What that would mean for my representation could be just about anything, depending upon what parts of neighboring districts are brought into the newly created districts.

Posted by: Greg at 11:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This story is just too weird -- but what do you expect from the Netherlands?

Amsterdam's red light district is reportedly to receive a bronze statue dedicated to prostitutes around the world.

According to the Dutch agency ANP, sculptress Els Rijerse made the statue at the request of a former prostitute Mariska Majoor, who a decade ago founded a centre on prostitution in the Dutch capital.

Majoor was quoted as saying by ANP that the statue would be a first of its kind and that it had received the blessing of the city authorities.

The statue itself is described as follows.

The statue represents a self-assured woman, her hands on her hips, looking sideways towards the sky, and standing on a doorstep, ANP said.

Or alternately, a hooker on the curb looking down the block to see if any business is coming her way.

I'd have let this article pass without comment were it not for this unfortunate turn of phrase.

The precise place where the statue will be laid and its title have not yet been announced, it said.

[YOUR HOOKER JOKE HERE]

Posted by: Greg at 01:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Remember the Wicked Witch of Marin County’s disgusting attack on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice? This was one of her comments, when she was not questioning the right of the childless to hold an opinion in favor of the US action in Iraq.

So who pays the price? The American military and their families, and I just want to bring us back to that fact.

Well, Senator, why don’t you listen to the opinions of those who have children in Iraq, or whose sons have given the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country? How about listening to one of your constituents, Debbie Argel Bastian, whose son Derek Argel was killed in Iraq?

When they talk of families of U.S. troops, it's as if they think only of Cindy Sheehan. "I have begged to go on the media and tell my story," Bastian told me. And, excusing her language: "Any time Cindy Sheehan burps or farts, she's on the news."

If anyone is interested, Bastian supports the Bush troop surge.

Or how about this constituent, Senator?

Mary Riley of Napa, whose son Gregory Smedley served in Iraq, doesn't want Boxer speaking for her or her son. She told me, "Sen. Boxer's presumption to speak for the troops and their families is fundamentally dishonest. She's undermining the war effort -- which hurts and doesn't help the troops. That's how my son and I feel."

They’ve paid the price, and view it as worthwhile. How dare you second guess them?

But let’s be honest – Senator boxer and those opposed to the war are not REALLY interested in what the military and their families have to say about the war, whether or not they consider “the price” to be acceptable. They oppose the war – PERIOD. They will take Cindy Sheehan and the relatively small percentage of servicemen and women who share their opposition and cast them as representative of the whole, but that is just for show.

The reality is that the talk about “who pays the price” is all a smokescreen for their willingness to walk away from Iraq in disgrace and defeat. Now I’ll concede that doing so is a legitimate option if they can get the votes – and exactly what they desired and received in Vietnam.

But don’t sully the sacrifices of the troops and their families to get it.

Posted by: Greg at 12:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Remember the Wicked Witch of Marin CountyÂ’s disgusting attack on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice? This was one of her comments, when she was not questioning the right of the childless to hold an opinion in favor of the US action in Iraq.

So who pays the price? The American military and their families, and I just want to bring us back to that fact.

Well, Senator, why donÂ’t you listen to the opinions of those who have children in Iraq, or whose sons have given the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country? How about listening to one of your constituents, Debbie Argel Bastian, whose son Derek Argel was killed in Iraq?

When they talk of families of U.S. troops, it's as if they think only of Cindy Sheehan. "I have begged to go on the media and tell my story," Bastian told me. And, excusing her language: "Any time Cindy Sheehan burps or farts, she's on the news."

If anyone is interested, Bastian supports the Bush troop surge.

Or how about this constituent, Senator?

Mary Riley of Napa, whose son Gregory Smedley served in Iraq, doesn't want Boxer speaking for her or her son. She told me, "Sen. Boxer's presumption to speak for the troops and their families is fundamentally dishonest. She's undermining the war effort -- which hurts and doesn't help the troops. That's how my son and I feel."

TheyÂ’ve paid the price, and view it as worthwhile. How dare you second guess them?

But let’s be honest – Senator boxer and those opposed to the war are not REALLY interested in what the military and their families have to say about the war, whether or not they consider “the price” to be acceptable. They oppose the war – PERIOD. They will take Cindy Sheehan and the relatively small percentage of servicemen and women who share their opposition and cast them as representative of the whole, but that is just for show.

The reality is that the talk about “who pays the price” is all a smokescreen for their willingness to walk away from Iraq in disgrace and defeat. Now I’ll concede that doing so is a legitimate option if they can get the votes – and exactly what they desired and received in Vietnam.

But donÂ’t sully the sacrifices of the troops and their families to get it.

Posted by: Greg at 12:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If those who know him best will not vote for him, why should other Americans?

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter's long-shot bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination got a boost over the weekend when he emerged on top in a straw poll of Republican precinct committeemen in Arizona's most-populated county.

Hunter, R-El Cajon, got 96 votes among the 458 ballots in the non-binding poll of Maricopa County party officials asked to list their first choice for president.
Hunter easily beat Arizona's own U.S. Sen. John McCain, considered a front-runner in the GOP presidential race, who drew a comparatively paltry 50 votes. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second in Saturday's poll with 82 first-place votes.

The total for Hunter is interesting, but I don’t believe it is significant in the long term. Hunter is not well-known nationally, and therefore is not likely to duplicate his feat elsewhere in the country. This even was shown in the straw poll when he placed seventh overall among the candidates when the same group was asked to rank who they considered “acceptable”, not just their first choice.

Here are the full results of the straw poll.

458 Ballots cast

As you can see, McCain is unacceptable to 65% of those voting! On the other hand, Romney is the only declared candidate among the top three finishers in the poll of acceptable candidates -- and for reasons I've pointed out before, Gingrich really is not a viable candidate for the general election. Add to that the reality that the Secretary of State has repeatedly indicated a lack of interest in running for the top job, and I believe this shows Gov. Mitt Romney to be the real front-runner among these party activists.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Robert Spencer reviews Stephen Emerson’s recent book in the current Human Events.

Are you aware of the al Qaeda plot to assassinate President Bush that was uncovered in 2005? Did you know that jihad terrorists in the U.S. financed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing partially through the sale of counterfeit T-shirts? Did you know that a professor at the University of South Florida in the 1990s was one of the international leaders of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that he used his university activities as a cover while he raised money, gained recruits and disseminated propaganda for the jihad group? Had you heard that in May 2003, an American citizen living in Ohio pled guilty to conducting surveillance of the Brooklyn Bridge and other potential targets for al Qaeda?

These were not isolated incidents. In fact, they are just a few of the known activities of a huge jihad network that still operates in the United States, but of which few Americans are aware. That lack of awareness, however, is not because the information is unavailable: Steven Emerson’s “Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S.” tears the cover off this American jihad network. It is a comprehensive summation of what is known about the activities of al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other jihad groups within the United States. Although the tone of this book is sober and straightforward throughout, the cumulative effect is startling: The extent to which these jihad groups have penetrated American society is likely to come as a surprise even to relatively informed readers.

How active are the jihadis in this country? How extensive is their network. I think this is good information for every American to have – and that the apologists for terror will try to keep out or our hands by any means necessary.

Posted by: Greg at 11:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Robert Spencer reviews Stephen EmersonÂ’s recent book in the current Human Events.

Are you aware of the al Qaeda plot to assassinate President Bush that was uncovered in 2005? Did you know that jihad terrorists in the U.S. financed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing partially through the sale of counterfeit T-shirts? Did you know that a professor at the University of South Florida in the 1990s was one of the international leaders of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that he used his university activities as a cover while he raised money, gained recruits and disseminated propaganda for the jihad group? Had you heard that in May 2003, an American citizen living in Ohio pled guilty to conducting surveillance of the Brooklyn Bridge and other potential targets for al Qaeda?

These were not isolated incidents. In fact, they are just a few of the known activities of a huge jihad network that still operates in the United States, but of which few Americans are aware. That lack of awareness, however, is not because the information is unavailable: Steven Emerson’s “Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S.” tears the cover off this American jihad network. It is a comprehensive summation of what is known about the activities of al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other jihad groups within the United States. Although the tone of this book is sober and straightforward throughout, the cumulative effect is startling: The extent to which these jihad groups have penetrated American society is likely to come as a surprise even to relatively informed readers.

How active are the jihadis in this country? How extensive is their network. I think this is good information for every American to have – and that the apologists for terror will try to keep out or our hands by any means necessary.

Posted by: Greg at 11:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And some folks are troubled that a race-neutral guarantee is being enforced in a race-neutral way.

Over the years, Ike Brown has earned a reputation in rural Noxubee County as a wily political boss, and his election triumphs have time and again aroused suspicions of impropriety. But talk of his tactics never carried much farther than this small community of sawmills and catfish ponds.

Today, though, Brown, who is African American, is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Jackson, where he will face charges from the Justice Department that he violated the political rights of Noxubee's white minority. It is the first time that the 1965 Voting Rights Act has been used to ensure white rights.

About two-thirds of the 8,700 adults in Noxubee County are black, and Brown, the local Democratic committee chief, has been criticized for urging people to "vote black" while engaging in an array of electoral shenanigans.

At issue is whether Brown, 52, has directed "relentless voting-related racial discrimination" against white voters and white candidates through fraudulent election tactics, as federal lawyers say, or whether he was merely operating aggressive political campaigns in a milieu that has long been split along racial lines.

What are some of the actions that Brown is accused of?

In a 1999 Democratic primary for sheriff, for example, the margin of victory for Brown's preferred candidate was only five votes. A judge ruled that a new election should be held because 52 ballots, most of them from absentees, were found to be invalid.

Brown, as chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee in the county, did not fulfill the judge's order, telling the local paper, the Macon Beacon, that someone would have to file a lawsuit to compel him to do so. No one did.

In 2003, Brown recruited a black lawyer to run against the incumbent white county prosecutor, according to the government's court filings, even though the white lawyer is a Democrat and the black lawyer was ineligible to run in Noxubee because he lived in Jackson. Brown refused to hear the complaints of the prosecutor and dropped the campaign only after a judge ruled against him.

The same year, Brown delivered to the Macon Beacon a list of 170 or so white Republican voters whom he said he would challenge if they tried to vote in the Democratic primary. Critics say he singled out white voters, but Brown indicated that he was only trying to keep Republicans from voting.

Now tell me that any fair minded individual would have a single objection to prosecuting such actions under the VRA if this man were white and his victims black. Clearly the same standard needs to apply here -- if this country is truly about applying equal protection of the laws in voting rights cases, without regards for the race of the perpetrator of the violations or the victims.

And wonder -- is there a single liberal out there willing to make a denunciation of the "vote black" rhetoric as they would about a GOP official urging folks to "vote white"?

Posted by: Greg at 11:09 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Not only are the two consistent, the right to keep and bear arms is vested in the individual rather than in the government. Early American practice bears this out.

Precisely because an armed populace can serve as an effective backup for law enforcement, the ownership of firearms was widely mandated during Colonial times, and the second Congress passed a statute in 1792 requiring adult male citizens to own guns.

The twin purposes of self and community defense may very well lie behind the Second AmendmentÂ’s language encompassing both the importance of a well-regulated militia and the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. As the constitutional and criminal law scholar Don Kates has noted in the journal Constitutional Commentary, thinkers at the time when the Constitution was written drew no real distinction between resisting burglars, foreign invaders or domestic tyrants: All were wrongdoers that good citizens had the right, and the duty, to oppose with force.

Now i personally don't have a problem with those who choose not to own guns -- but do not dare to impose your petty fears on my right to defend myself, my family, and my community. Your decision not to exercise your right to secure your safety and fear of those who do does not give you license to abrogate the Second Amendment, any more than your decision not to engage in speech or journalism or religious exercise constitutes a legitimate basis for ignoring the First.

Good job, Glenn!

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The possibility of good news for the Cuban people seems to be increasing.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection, a Spanish newspaper said Tuesday.

The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.

In a report published on its Web site, El Pais said: "A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis."

I look forward to hearing soon that Castro is in "in the grave" condition.

Posted by: Greg at 10:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I found this graphic and its associated quote while last night. The other is an old favorite of mine. I think they are important to remember today, as some in this country demand that we abandon our only historic ally in the Middle East to those who would destroy it and its people.

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Looks to me like Mitt continues to surge, and may be th man to beat among conservative activists.

The full results may be viewed here.

Matt Margolis of GOPBloggers offers this analysis.

Supporters of the top 3 potential candidates (Romney, Guiliani and Gingrich) are largely committment to their respective candidate of choice, which puts Romney in a very strong position to launch a very successful online grassroots campaign. With his impressive exploratory committee website, and his campaign's clear understanding of how to use the internet to respond to attacks quickly, Romney has proven himself very able to win the GOP nomination.

Indeed, the Romney lead is significant in that he has surged to the front of the pack in a very short period of time, according to John Hawkins of Right Wing News.

The Front Runners

Mitt Romney: +46.6%
Newt Gingrich: +45.8%
Rudy Giuliani: + 33.9%

Analysis: Mitt Romney has really rocketed up the charts in the last few months. For example, if you look back to July of last year, he was sitting at only 17.9%. Back then, the number one candidate was George Allen at 48.9%. After Allen went down in flames, it looks as if most of his support went to Romney with a little spillover going to Gingrich while Rudy has stayed in about the same spot (he was +30.6% back then).

And while Hawkins does note the strength of the Gingrich support, I can't help but think he is a candidate with so much negative baggage as to make a successful candidacy difficult to imagine.

Columnist Jeff Jacoby offers this bit of analysis of Mitt Romney's rightward shift since the 1994 Senatorial race against Ted Kennedy.

Romney's very public migration rightward over the last few years is a different kind of act, one intended not to hide his real views but to liberate them. In 1994, Romney struck me as an extraordinarily bright, talented, and decent man -- and a political neophyte who fell for the canard that the only way a conservative could win in Massachusetts was by passing for liberal.

Thirteen years later, Romney is where he should have been all along. Yes, it took some tap-dancing and artful dodging to get from there to here, and some voters will wonder which Mitt Romney, the 1994 edition or the one on offer today, is the real deal. Can he put those doubts to rest? If he's going to win his party's nomination, he'll have to.

Gov. Romney has been very clear about his journey from 1994 to 2007, and that journey shares much in common with Ronald Reagan himself -- not to mention a great many members of the GOP who have moved from the mushy moderation of Rockefeller Republicanism to the conservatism that is the cornerstone of the GOP today.

Posted by: Greg at 06:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'd love to commend the Washington Post for their great article on a young man from a strict evangelical background attending a secular university. It really is a great article -- but there is a real story in the article that gets overlooked by the paper.

Which is not to say the article doesn't have a promising beginning.

Danny Leydorf's world was about to be turned upside down, and he couldn't wait.

The extroverted teenager had shined at the mostly evangelical Annapolis Area Christian School since kindergarten, but now he wanted to test his faith in a more diverse world. With hopes of becoming a lawyer or politician, he badly wanted to understand people who didn't think like him.

"I feel like I exist to be interacting," the lanky, towheaded 19-year-old said eagerly one day last summer, shortly after his graduation, "and part of that is just getting out there."

So he'd deliberately picked a large, secular college: the University of Maryland. But the week before he was to leave, the wider world dealt him a blow.

And that blow is, in my opinion, the story that the article misses. Here it is.

"I hate evangelical Christians," read the Facebook.com profile of his roommate-to-be, who had seemed so perfect on the phone. He loved politics and "The Simpsons," like Leydorf, and they even had the same views about how to set up the room. Could it still work?

Excuse me -- the focus of the article remains Danny Leydorf's experiences? Shouldn't the Washington Post instead be writing about "The New Intolerance" at institutions of higher education?

Or is the level of intolerance towards Christians in our elite media institutions so high that those who report and edit there cannot even recognize such bigotry for what it is? And are those readers who do not recognize the bigotry in the roommate's words really suffering from their own bigotry-induced blind-spot?

By the way -- I still encourage folks to read the article, despite this obvious flaw.

Posted by: Greg at 06:15 AM | Comments (74) | Add Comment
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I've written about this before, but another great article is out reminding America that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a member of the only political party in American history that has steadfastly stood in favor of equal rights for black Americans -- the GOP.

t should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s.

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, Dr. King was fighting the Democrats who stood in the school house doors, turned skin-burning fire hoses on blacks and let loose vicious dogs. It was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who pushed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools. President Eisenhower also appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation. Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman's issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.

Democrat President John F. Kennedy is lauded as a proponent of civil rights. However, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a senator, as did Democrat Sen. Al Gore Sr. And after he became President, Kennedy was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. President Kennedy, through his brother Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King.

In March of 1968, while referring to Dr. King's leaving Memphis, Tenn., after riots broke out where a teenager was killed, Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, called Dr. King a "trouble-maker" who starts trouble, but runs like a coward after trouble is ignited. A few weeks later, Dr. King returned to Memphis and was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Yep -- those who acted agaisnt King and the Civil Rights Movement were Democrats -- and that same Robert Byrd who insulted King during the last few weeks of his life was just placed in the fourth spot in the Presidential Line of Succession by the Democrat Party. It is hard to see why any African-American who is dedicated to King's Dream would wish to be associated with that party.

And this is especially true given the evidence laid out by Frances Rice, on how the Democrats have always opposed the interests of black Americans -- and continue to do so up to this day. That includes killing GOP-sponsored minimum wage bills in 2004 and 2006 -- all while claiming that African-Americans are disproportionately hurt by the failure to raise the minimum wage and it was the fault of the GOP that there had been no increase! (Note -- I believe that the truth is that the increased minimum wage will disproportionately hurt blacks by slowing the economy.) And while the Party of Slavery attempts to paint itself as the Party of Civil Rights, it seeks to divide Americans and award benefits and burdens based upon race and ethnicity -- the antithesis of Dr. King's Dream.

No, Dr. King was a Republican for a reason -- and the GOP still remains the home of his Dream.

Posted by: Greg at 05:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Ever wonder why the Jews could hold out against the Romans so long in 70 AD? After all, even after the destruction of the Temple, parts of the city held out or another month. A new excavation has shed light on how.

An immense bedrock cliff uncovered opposite Jerusalem's Temple Mount may help explain why it took the Romans so long to capture what is now known as the Jewish Quarter almost two millenia ago, an Israeli archeologist said Sunday.

The cliff, uncovered during a year-long excavation at the western edge of the Western Wall Plaza, was one of several important finds that include the remains of a colonnaded street called the Eastern Cardo, dating from the Roman-Byzantine period; a section of the Lower Aqueduct that conveyed water from Solomon's Pools to the Temple Mount; and a damaged rock-hewn and plastered Jewish mikve (ritual bath) that dates back to the Second Temple period, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced at a press conference.

The dig, which was conducted in an area that had not been excavated before due to plans for construction, also served to clarify the height of an immense bedrock cliff that separated the Upper City from the Temple Mount area. It in itself is "the most impressive" find, said Shlomit Wexler-Bedolah, the excavation director.

Wexler-Bedolah said the cliff's topography could help explain the slow Roman conquest, noting that it took the Roman army an entire month from the time they destroyed the Temple Mount on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av until they captured the ground of today's Jewish Quarter on the 10th day of the following month.

"This could have been a natural obstacle for the Roman army," she said.

Seems to me that the people of Jerusalem made great use of the geological features of the city in their hopeless attempt to hold off the force of the greatest empire in the history of the world to that point.

Posted by: Greg at 05:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If this measure goes through, it is time for those of us in the West to quit giving a damn about Muslim sensibilities and their easily hurt feelings.

The letter "X" soon may be banned in Saudi Arabia because it resembles the mother of all banned religious symbols in the oil kingdom: the cross.

The new development came with the issuing of another mind-bending fatwa, or religious edict, by the infamous Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — the group of senior Islamic clergy that reigns supreme on all legal, civil, and governance matters in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The commission's damning of the letter "X" came in response to a Ministry of Trade query about whether it should grant trademark protection to a Saudi businessman for a new service carrying the English name "Explorer."

"No! Nein! Nyet!" was the commission's categorical answer.

Why?

Well, never mind that none of the so-called scholars manning the upper ranks of the religious outfit can speak or read a word of English. But their experts who examined the English word "explorer" were struck by how suspicious that "X" appeared. In a kingdom where Friday preachers routinely refer to Christians as pigs and infidel crusaders, even a twisted cross ranks as an abomination.

Let's see -- in the last several years we have had ice cream treats and basketball shoes pulled from the market because there was some vague resemblance between a design and some holy Muslim phrase. Out in California, a College republican group faces sanctions for abusing a Hamas flag because, unbeknownst to them, it contains the name of Allah. What next -- ill the right of those who follow the false prophet Mohammad to be free from offense require that the Western world drop the letter X (and, one would presume, T as well) because of their similarity to a Christian religious symbol?

Read the article for some of the other wonderful things this organization does in the name of Islam:

* declaring the world flat and immobile -- in 1974.
* forbidding the construction of churches in Saudi Arabia for 8 million guest workers -- and forbidding them to worship at all, in public or in private.
*forbidding women to work as sales clerks -- in stores that cater exclusively to women.
* restricting travel by women within the country or abroad.

Yep -- love those Wahabbis! And to think that their Saudi patrons are spreading their version of Islam around the world (including in this country) as the normative version of the faith.

Posted by: Greg at 04:50 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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MLK Day stands alone as the one national holiday not commercialized, trivialized, or ignored.

Think about it.

Christmas should be the first thing that leaps to mind -- over-hyped holiday sales and ACLU-enforced secularization of the day so that any hint that "Christ" and "Christmas" are somehow connected will bring a lawsuit down upon you faster than you can say "Kris Kringle".

Presidents Day? George and Abe get trotted out to promote sales, when they are not overshadowed by hearts and Cupids.

Memorial Day? It has long since quit being a memorialization of the slain and degenerated into "Swimming Pools Are Open Day". Yeah, we still have some obligatory wreath-layings, but the only thing most folks are trying to remember on the last Monday of May is who has the pole position at the Indy 500 and if there are enough bratwursts to let Cousin Lenny have a third one.

The Fourth of July, for all its patriotic overtones, is really "National Fireworks Day". And Labor Day is "Back To School Sale Day" for most folks.

Columbus Day? Ignored to placate the PC crowd, or yet another excuse for a sale at some brave retail outlets. Nothing closes that I can think of. And sadly, even in the midst of war, Veterans Day is equally ignored.

Thanksgiving is still a feast, but in most households it is little more than an excuse to overindulge while watching football and planning which "Black Friday" sales to hit at dawn (or even at midnight, if you shop at Wal-Mart).

But MLK Day is different. Parades honoring the vision of a great American. Oratorical and essay contests for kids. And nary an advertising circular or commercial to be seen.

But I know it won't last. Not for much longer, as we move further on from the lifetime of this American icon.

And every year, I have the nightmare.

I'm watching television, and they hit a commercial break. Some loud pitchman shouts out at me about the great bargains his store is offering to honor the slain civil rights leader. And I awake in horror, with the concluding words of the dream-commercial still ringing in my ears.

Free at last!
Free at last!
Buy one get one
Free at last!

Let us hope this remains only a nightmare -- and that we can restore a sense of honor and reverence to all our holidays.

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As they have every time one has been offered, dating back to the partition of the region by the UN in 1947. So why should we be surprised that this proposal for a state with interim borders would be rejected?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, pledging deeper engagement in the Middle East peace process, met Sunday with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, who rejected suggestions for establishing a temporary state within provisional borders and pledged that any American money to bolster his security forces would not be misused.

“I have heard loud and clear the call for deeper American engagement in these processes,” Ms. Rice said after two and a half hours of talks with Mr. Abbas.

* * *

Although no formal proposal has been presented, some Israeli officials have floated the idea that the peace process could be accelerated by establishing a provisional Palestinian state within temporary borders to be subsequently set.

But Mr. Abbas said the idea would never work, fearing that the Palestinians might be locked into an inferior map.

“We have also noted to Minister Rice our decision to end any temporary or transitional solutions including a state with temporary borders because we do not believe it to be a realistic choice that can be built upon,” Mr. Abbas said during a joint news conference with the secretary of state.

Then again, if the Palestinians get their own state, they might be expected to quit killing Jews in Israel -- an outcome that too many of Israel's Arab neighbors find unacceptable.

Don't believe me? Consider this little bit of information buried in the final paragraph of the article.

Despite a cease-fire in Gaza that came into effect on Nov. 26, Palestinian militants have continued to fire rockets into southern Israel on an almost daily basis. The rockets are inaccurate and rarely cause serious damage or casualties, but the Israeli government says it will not tolerate the attacks indefinitely.

Israel, on the other hand, is expected to exercise restraint.

Posted by: Greg at 12:59 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Given that so many folks are concerned about the religion of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, I think articles like this are important.

LIKE any religious community, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (better known as the Mormons) will always cherish the locations connected with its foundation story. Not only the places in New York state where its prophet, Joseph Smith, said he received a vision of God (in 1820) and then a new set of scriptures, or the faith's spectacular headquarters in Utah, the state where Mormon pioneers found refuge. Also dear to Mormon hearts are parts of northern and central England where, soon after Smith had his visions, the faith won many converts.

In those early days, people in Britain who accepted Mormon teaching were told to sail west and join the growing band of “saints” who were preparing for the second coming of Jesus, an event which was expected to happen soon, and in the new promised land, the United States.

But now, after a century of spectacular growth, the Mormon movement is flowing in the other direction: while it continues to be centrally directed from its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, the faith has gained a foothold in virtually every country in the world—and the American share of church membership has fallen. In the north-west of England, for example, the Mormons want their converts to stay put and use their spanking new meeting-house and temple; and their keen young missionaries are as likely to be British or Danish (even, in one case, from Greenland) as American. And there is hardly anywhere (not even Mongolia, see picture) where the proselytisers do not reach.

It is a fairly balanced article, though one that does not go into much depth on theology. Still, articles like this are important for those who want to actually have some understanding of that faith. And while I think the final few sentences make a rather clumsy comparison, I encourage folks to read it.

Posted by: Greg at 08:15 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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if this headline were tweaked just a little bit?

New Orleans struggles to keep its black character

Could you imagine the outrage if some community were to be trying to keep its "white character"?

Sorry folks -- racism is racism is racism -- and the effort noted in this article should be seen as no less offensive than one designed to "keep white culture alive."

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When it comes to Judaism, you don't get much more liberal than the Reform branch. It is no stretch at all to note that they are the polar opposites of the Orthodox, and tend to be the folks most critical of Israeli policies. It is therefore important to note that even the Reform Movement is distancing itself from Jimmy Carter following the publication of his current book and the string of Jew-bashing statements he has made in the weeks since.

Outraged by Jimmy Carter's controversial new book, the nation's largest organization of rabbis yesterday pulled out of a planned visit to the former President's human rights center in Atlanta.

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, representing nearly 2,000 Reform rabbis, said it was protesting Carter's latest book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which many say unfairly criticizes Israel.

Their statement is quite biting.

REFORM RABBIS CANCEL VISIT TO THE CARTER CENTER DURING RABBINATEÂ’S UPCOMING ANNUAL CONVENTION IN ATLANTA

THE CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS, THE WORLDÂ’S LARGEST GROUP OF JEWISH CLERGY, CITES FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTERÂ’S BOOK, PALESTINE: PEACE NOT APARTHEID

New York City (January 11, 2007) –The Central Conference of American Rabbis
(CCAR), which represents nearly 2,000 Reform rabbis, the worldÂ’s largest group of Jewish clergy, issued the following statement about the cancellation of a visit to The Carter Center during the CCARÂ’s March 2007 convention in Atlanta, Georgia:

For the sake of Zion, I will not be silent – Isaiah 62:1

“Our sadness emerges from our respect for the way that President Carter has largely used his retirement years. Many Reform congregations have participated in Habitat for Humanity-- one of America’s great examples of tikkun olam (repair of our world through social justice)-- which Mr. Carter has helped to popularize. So, too, The Carter Center has been an institution of dialogue and honest brokering in the name of statesmanship. In many ways, President Carter has demonstrated a gentle spirit and a commitment to such basic Jewish ideals as tzedek (justice) and chesed (loving kindness).

But with the publication of President CarterÂ’s latest book, Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid, we firmly disassociate ourselves from Mr. Carter and The Carter Center.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid contains numerous distortions of history and
interpretation, and apparently, outright fabrications as well. Its use of the term
“apartheid” to describe conditions in the West Bank serves only to demonize and delegitimize Israel in the eyes of the world. Its praise of such radical Arab “leaders” as Yaser Arafat and Hafez el Assad, and his attempted rehabilitation of such terrorist groups as Hezbollah and Hamas demonstrate either a clear anti-Israel bias, extreme naiveté, or both. In the light of the many mainstream critiques of his book, President Carter has made several public statements implying that something akin to a “Jewish conspiracy” has discouraged conversation about the Palestinians’ plight. These statements are not only false; they make subtle use of classic anti-Semitic themes, unbecoming for any fairminded person, much less a former President of the United States and Nobel Laureate.

We wish that President Carter had used his moral authority to press the Palestinians into a more rigorous pursuit of peace, to condemn terror unequivocally, and to decry the corruption and failures of Palestinian leaders. Instead, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is pervasive, biased and unfair anti-Israel propaganda. It ignores the facts of history, legitimizes the intransigence of extremists, and thus, further diminishes the prospect of real peace and reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians.

We call upon Mr. Carter to better educate himself and his readers as to the true root causes of the Palestinian peopleÂ’s dire plight, and once again to dedicate his efforts to promoting peace, not prejudice, in the Middle East.

As the rabbinic body of Reform Judaism, the largest denomination of religiously
affiliated American Jews, our cancellation of the visit to The Carter Center reflects our continuing commitment to Israel, Zionism, and America’s role in the establishment of a just and lasting peace between the State of Israel and all her Arab neighbors.”

Once can only reach one of two conclusions as one looks at the continuing stream of outrage over Carter's book and statements -- either there is something fundamentally flawed (and probaby anti-Semitic) in Carter's work, or there really is a vast Jewish conspiracy to silence criticism of Israel in America.

However, given the number of responsible and respected voices speaking out against Carter, the reality is that there is really only one reasonable conclusion that people of good-will can draw.

Posted by: Greg at 07:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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It looks like Congressman Ron Paul, who represents the neighboring congressional district (I'd be in it if I were one precinct further south) is exploring a presidential run.

Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic, nine-term lawmaker from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward a second, quixotic presidential bid _ this time as a Republican.

Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.

"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."

I like Ron Paul personally, and consider him to be a charming individual. I like many of Ron Paul's stands on the issues, though there are a number of places where we part company. And I consider Ron Paul to probably have more integrity than almost any politician in Washington -- of either party.

But I won't be backing his campaign for president -- though I will likely see about helping out his congressional campaign in 2008 if he runs for reelection in CD14.

For those of you who ask why, the reason is simple.

Ron Paul cannot win the presidency. He cannot even win the GOP nomination.

Scratch that last part. He cannot even pull 5% in any primary in any state. His quixotic, gadfly role guarantees that he has and will alienate more folks than he attracts. the best he could do would be raise some ideas that would likely be lost in the crushing defeat he would suffer in every state -- no matter how optimistic some libertarian bloggers are.

By the way -- I'd like to call your attention to this post by Chris Elam of Texas Safety Forum, a definite insider in past Ron Paul campaigns.

Well, I'm sure many of you have heard about it by now. Pop and I have known for a while, and if Ron decides to make a big push for the Presidency - we're behind him 100%. Goodness knows that the current crop of candidates are extremely disheartening when it comes to the topic of conservative government.

Let me address one thing. The internet is abuzz with rumors on who will replace Ron in his Congressional seat. Off the top of my head, I can name at least 8 people who would put their names into the ring for a primary battle.

However, I also have no indication on whether or not Dr. Paul intends to retire from Congress in 2008. At this moment, he is exploring the Presidential bid. He has not announced his impending retirement, and I would not be surprised in the least if we see Dr. Paul on the ballot for CD 14 in 2008.

If I hear something different, and Ron personally tells me that I have permission to share it here - I'll let you know.

My big fear is that this move will set off a bloody primary fight for the CD14 GOP nomination -- and that such a fight could create problems for the GOP holding the seat, regardless of the nominee.

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Posted by: Greg at 08:54 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I suspect that off-camera their comments would be even stronger!

The fact that Nifong withheld the information and knew it before he indicted their sons has outraged the parents of the accused. "You felt like someone hit you with a baseball bat. Â… It was almost too much to bear, as we sat there," says Kathy Seligmann, whose son, Reade, is among the three indicted players. "And [Nifong is] sitting 10 feet away from us."

It enraged Mary Ellen Finnerty, mother of Collin Finnerty, another indicted player. "I think one of the strongest feelings of rage that I've had Â… I literally had to turn to my husband, because I was shaking from my head to my toe, and say, 'Hold me down,'" recalls Finnerty. Adds Seligmann, "And we had to hold on to each other because when you sit there and put two and two together and realize that it was calculated Â… set up to make these boys appear to be guilty of something they didn't do."

When asked what they would say to Nifong if he were in the room, Rae Evans, the mother of indicted player David Evans, says, "I would say with a smile on my face, 'Mr. Nifong, you've picked on the wrong families Â… and you will pay every day for the rest of your life.'"

Indeed, if Nifong and these three Moms were left alone in a room together for 5-minutes, I'd be willing to bet that "the rest of [his] life" would be a very short time indeed -- and that no jury in the world would convict them. But I know they will settle for seeing the corrupt DA disbarred and jailed for his criminal mishandling of these false allegations.

Posted by: Greg at 07:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And it is because federal tax revenues are increasing.

But how can that be?

I thought that the Bush tax cuts were a give-away to the rich and were creating the deficit.

At least that is what the Democrats have been assuring us -- especially during the 2006 election and in the weeks since their congressional victory.

The federal deficit has improved significantly in the first three months of the new budget year, helped by a continued surge in tax revenues.

In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Friday that the deficit from October through December totaled $80.4 billion, the smallest imbalance for the first three months of a budget year since The budget year ends Sept. 30.

Tax collections are running 8.2 percent higher than a year ago while government spending is up by just 0.7 percent from a year ago. Last year's spending totals were boosted by significant payments to help the victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The Treasury said for December, the government actually ran a surplus of $44.5 billion, the largest surplus ever recorded in December and a gain that reflected a big jump in quarterly corporate tax payments.

The $80.4 billion deficit for the first three months of the current budget year was down 32.6 percent from the imbalance for the same period a year ago of $119.4 billion.

For the year, analysts are still forecasting that the deficit will worsen from last year's total of $248.2 billion, which had been the lowest in four years.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that the deficit for the 2007 budget year will rise to $286 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from last year, but that figure could be lowered when the CBO releases its revised estimate later this month.

In other words, we have pessimistic estimates of the budget deficit, based upon worsst-case scenarios. But then this ugly little thing called reality kicks in, and shows us once again that lower marginal tax rates produce higher tax revenues. It was true under John F. Kennedy. It was true under Ronald Reagan. And it is true under Geerge W. Bush.

But don't worry, folks -- the Democrats will do their best to raise taxes on every American and kill the goose that laid teh golden egg. After all, that is their standard approach to economics -- because they are the bastion of the "Out-Of-Contact-With-Reality"-Based Community. The Pelosi/Reid Recession is just around the corner!

Posted by: Greg at 07:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For in the earliest days of humanity, our ancestors migrated out of Africa and into the rest of the world.

Anthropologists and other scientists are slowly learning more about that event.

From a new analysis of a human skull discovered in South Africa more than 50 years ago, scientists say they have obtained the first fossil evidence establishing the relatively recent time for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens out of Africa.

The migrants appeared to have arrived at their new homes in Asia and Europe with the distinct and unmodified heads of Africans.

An international team of researchers reported yesterday that the age of the South African skull, which they dated at about 36,000 years old, coincided with the age of the skulls of humans then living in Europe and the far eastern parts of Asia, even Australia. The skull also closely resembled skulls of those humans.

The timing, the scientists and other experts said, introduced independent evidence supporting archaeological finds and recent genetic studies showing that modern humans left sub-Saharan Africa for Eurasia between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago; probably closer to 45,000 to 35,000 years ago for Europe.

As one who teaches world history, a field that stretches back all the way to the emergence of the earliest humans, I find this fascinating, and encourage you to read the whole article.

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Mike Nifong has sought to recuse himself in the Duke Rape Frame-up Case after nine months of ethically and factually challenged corrupt handling of the case.

After months of stinging criticism about his handling of the Duke University sexual assault investigation, Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong sought to bow out of the case yesterday, requesting that the North Carolina Attorney General's Office handle the prosecution.

His decision to recuse himself was welcomed by the defense team representing the three Duke lacrosse players initially accused of raping a 28-year-old stripper at a team party.

"We feel very good about this. It's a fresh set of eyes looking at the case," said William Cotter of Raleigh, one of three attorneys for Collin Finnerty of Garden City, N.Y. "We think it's more likely that they will listen to us and we will certainly be cooperative with him or her."

The defense believes that another prosecutor would, after reviewing the contradictions of the alleged victim's accounts and the paucity of physical evidence, drop the case.

Attorney General Roy Cooper's office deferred questions about Nifong's action until a news conference scheduled for Saturday.

The defense is pleased by this move, but wants more than NifongÂ’s removal.

Speaking of the recusal, Joseph B. Cheshire, the lawyer for David Evans, one of the defendants, said: “We’re very heartened by it. He should have done it weeks or months ago. For the first time, someone who is honest and objective and doesn’t have an agenda will look at this case. We feel confident that when they do, these young men will be exonerated and this case will be dismissed.”

Mr. Cheshire added that the attorney general should also look at possible obstruction of justice and manipulation of evidence by Mr. Nifong.

Quite frankly, the time has come for this tragic farce to be brought to a close with the dismissal of all charges and the complete exoneration of the accused young men. Furthermore, criminal charges need to be brought against Nifong, the DNA lab that conspired to withhold results, and the false accuser in this case. Civil damages need to be sought against all three, as well as others who ramped-up the hysteria and the lynch-party atmosphere that pervaded the early days of this case.

Rape is a serious crime – but so is the peddling of false accusations of rape.

UPDATE: Captain Ed offers this juicy, link-filled analysis.

Posted by: Greg at 04:38 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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After all, that is the only way to interpret this veto of a resolution on human rights in Burma, which for decades has been among the most serious violators of human rights in the world.

China and Russia on Friday jointly vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution criticizing Burma's human rights record, striking a blow to the Bush administration's year-long campaign to use the U.N. Security Council to spotlight the repressive rule of Burma's military junta.

Friday's vote was part of a broader diplomatic effort by Beijing and Moscow to prevent the United States and its Western allies from using the 15-nation council to censure some of the countries particularly known for rights abuses, including governments in Belarus, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

They were joined by one of the council's most influential Third World countries, South Africa. It also opposed the U.S. resolution on the grounds that the Security Council has no mandate to scold or sanction Burma, also known as Myanmar, for abuses on its own soil.

"We believe that the situation in this country does not pose any threat to international or regional peace; this opinion is shared by a large number of states, including most importantly those neighboring Myanmar," Russia's ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, told the council. "We find that attempts aimed at using the Security Council to discuss issues outside its purview are unacceptable."

Is it time for us to abandon this corrupt organization, a haven for dictators and murderers, to the dustbin of history? Is it time to start an international organization – composed only of democracies that guarantee human rights – to serve as a moral beacon to the world?

And is it time to expel the UN from American soil and to demolish the building at Turtle Bay?

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If this is enacted, I believe we will be seeing a reasonable penalty imposed upon those convicted of official corruption.

With disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham eligible to collect a congressional pension from behind bars, the Senate on Friday voted to deny taxpayer-funded retirement benefits to lawmakers convicted in the future of serious ethics offenses.

* * *

"The best way to restore and rebuild the trust of the American people is to ensure that we stand firmly against members of Congress who betray the public trust," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the measure's sponsor. The legislation would not apply retroactively. Kerry said such a law would be unconstitutional.

Cunningham, of California, is serving an eight-year prison term after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors who sought earmarks and to evading more than $1 million in taxes. He is eligible for an estimated $64,000 annual pension with his military service, including $36,000 a year from his eight terms in Congress.

An attorney for Cunningham declined comment.

The measure enjoys strong bipartisan support in the House.

"The fact that the Senate passed it puts a lot of pressure on the House to do the same," said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., sponsor of a similar measure in the House.
At least 20 former lawmakers convicted of crimes are eligible for taxpayer-funded pensions, some as high as $125,000 a year, according to the National Taxpayers Union, which supports denying pensions to lawmakers turned felons.

Interestingly enough, the public doesnÂ’t get to know how much these taxpayer-funded pensions for elected officials cost the nation each year.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Why Is There Still a CIA? by Done With Mirrors, and A Strategy for the Long War by Blackfive.  Here is where you can find the full results of the vote. 

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

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I can add nothing to this story, beyond my heartfelt thanks and admiration as a grateful American.

In April 2004, Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, an ordinary recruit from a small town in upstate New York, did something extraordinary: he threw himself on a grenade to shield two men in his unit as they battled insurgents on a road in Iraq.

On Thursday, President Bush gave Corporal Dunham, who was 22 when he died, the Medal of Honor, the nationÂ’s highest military award, presenting it to his mother and father in a somber East Room ceremony attended by his relatives and friends.

In an interview on Tuesday, as she was preparing to make the six-hour trip to Washington for the ceremony, Corporal Dunham’s mother, Debra, said she wished her son could “receive it himself.” “But we will receive it for him, and he will be watching us do that,” she said.

Corporal Dunham, who was a rifle squad leader in the Marines, is the second soldier to receive the medal for service in the current war in Iraq. Prior to that, the 1993 conflict in Mogadishu, Somalia, was the last to produce Medal of Honor recipients; two Delta Army Force soldiers died protecting a downed helicopter pilot there in actions later depicted in the movie “Black Hawk Down.”

In presenting the award to the Dunhams, President Bush, who on Wednesday night told the nation he would send 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, cited Corporal Dunham’s uncommon valor and said that he “gave his own life so that the men under his command might live.”

No greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends.

And for moral and intellectual midgets like John Kerry and Charles Rangel, let's clarify something -- Jason Dunham was in Iraq because he chose to be, not because he was forced to be. Indeed, he had volunteered to extend his tour of duty by two months so he could stay with his unit, and ensure that each and every one of his buddies came home safe and sound. He gave his life to fulfill that goal.

And for those who think that President George W. Bush is lightly committing troops to combat and has no concern for their lives, think again. The president wept openly during this ceremony, as I suspect he does in private over each casualty report. I do not believe there is any American who is more keenly aware of what the casualty figures mean.

The citation that accompanies this award reads as follows.

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to

CORPORAL
JASON L. DUNHAM
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third
Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine
Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004. Corporal Dunham's squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west.
Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander's convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

May God watch over each and every American in uniform, and show his tender mercies to each one killed or wounded in the service of our nation.

ADDENDUM: A memorial website honoring Cpl. Dunham can be found here.

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Well, except for those who work for some of Queen NancyÂ’s major corporate constituents.

. House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

"I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."

On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.

I guess that some workers just don’t need a “living wage” if it might impact the bottom line of the fat cats from a certain San Francisco congressional district. Right, Madam Speaker?

UPDATE: Guess whose husband has a $17 million dollar stake in one of the companies benefitting from this exemption? The new Speaker of the House, Queen Nancy Pelosi!

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Gotta love this sermon – available on CD from a leading mosque in England.

A leading mosque in London is selling DVDs that proclaim the coming mass extermination of Jews around the world on a "day of judgment." It also attacks Christian groups and the United Nations.

The London Central Mosque, also known as Regent's Park Mosque, is "the spiritual focal point for Muslims" throughout Great Britain, the European Jewish Press reported. It is also home to the Islamic Cultural Center, which educates Muslim children.

The report said that a British television station will air on Monday a documentary on Muslim extremism in Britain, and will report the selling of the DVD.

The DVDs are being sold at the London Central Mosque Shop. One excerpt shows a preacher, Sheikh Feiz, imitating the sounds of a pig and referring to the Jewish people who will be killed on the "day of judgment."

Another preacher, Sheikh Yassin, states that United Nations missionaries and Christians conspired to inject an AIDS virus in inoculations against diseases in Africa.

I’m sure there is some perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this, as we are most sincerely assured that the quotes are taken out of context and don’t really mean what they seem to mean – even the ones that are in perfect harmony with Koranic prophecies regarding the fate of the Jews.

After all, Islam is the Religion of Peace.

My.

Ass.

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This one is disgustingly low, even for a bitch like Barbara Boxer.

Condoleezza Rice came under a shocking Democratic attack yesterday - as a childless woman who canÂ’t understand the sacrifices made by families of U.S. troops in Iraq. In a bitter personal assault on the secretary of state during her appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, anti-war Sen. Barbara Boxer fumed that Rice didn't comprehend the "price" of the war.

"You're not going to pay a particular price, as I under stand it, with an immediate family," Boxer (D- Calif.) ranted.

"Who pays the price?" she repeatedly demanded during Rice's Capitol Hill grilling.

"I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young . . . So who pays the price? Not me, not you."

Boxer continued:

"You can't begin to imagine how you celebrate any holiday or birthday. There's an absence. It's not like the person's never been there. They always were there, and now they're not, and you're looking at an empty hole."

Excuse me? Apparently the pro-choice feminist Boxer wants to disqualify and disparage a highly qualified and accomplished woman – the Secretary of State – from participating in the formulation of public policy on Iraq because she has not borne a child. So much for the notion that Democrats respect a woman’s right to choose, and value a woman’s brain over her uterus.

Dr. Rice, of course, responded in the sort of fashion that shows why she should be on the 2008 GOP ticket.

The unflappable Rice responded at the packed hearing that she well understood the sacrifice of service members and families.

"I visit them. I know what they're going through," said Rice, who has never been married and has no children.

"I talk to their families. I see it. I could never and I can never do anything to replace any of those lost men and women in uniform, or the diplomats, some of whom . . ."

At that point, however, the Wicked Witch of Marin County interrupted Dr. Rice and refused to allow her to continue her too-the-point answer – and made an even more offensive attack on the Secretary of State.

"Madam Secretary, please," Boxer said. "I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions."

Good grief! Is this really an attempt to argue that being childless renders one less of a citizen and less worthy of commenting on political matters – an irrelevant and intellectually bankrupt ad hominem attack not dissimilar to the “chickenhawk” meme the left has used for years?

I’m curious – would Senator Boxer suggest that other childless officials are equally incompetent to formulate military policy? You know, someone like the Sugar Plum Fairy Barney Frank, who is also single and childless. Probably not – because he is on her side, and because only liberals have the requisite "sensitivity" to empathize with the pain of others.

And let me speak as a man with no children despite the deepest desires of both my wife and I -- I feel the absence of the miscarried children on every holiday, every birthday, and the anniversaries of those losses. And as a teacher with dozens of former students in uniform, including a least a half-dozen currently deployed in combat zones, each announcement of a local casualty leads me a moment of dread -- Is it Angel or Andrew? Jason or Marcus? Am I about to hear them say Ricky's name, or see Robert's picture on the television screen. These are my boys, of whom I am most proud and for whom I fervently pray. In two cases I also taught their wives, and I have held one of their daughters in my arms as I have beamed with pride at the fine young man her father has become. And having grown up as a part of the military community during Vietnam, I know just how real the dangers are any time we commit our armed forces to the field of combat. It is for that reason that I am particularly offended by Barbara Boxer's reprehensible attack upon the my fellow educator, Dr. Rice.

And I therefore passionately cry out against this mean-spirited and dishonest assault upon the character and humanity of Condoleezza Rice.

Shame, Senator Boxer!

Shame!

UPDATE: Secretary Rice makes a great retort in an interview with the NY Times -- and clarifies what feminism really is, as opposed to the false version espoused by Boxer.

In an interview this afternoon with The New York Times, Ms. Rice suggested that the California Democrat had set back feminism by suggesting during the hearing that the childless Ms. Rice had paid no price in the Iraq war.

“I thought it was okay to be single,” Ms. Rice said. “I thought it was okay to not have children, and I thought you could still make good decisions on behalf of the country if you were single and didn’t have children.”

Women can rise to the highest ranks of American society without relying on millionaire husband's money or riding their politically powerful spouse's coattails, based upon their own hard work and and expertise. That is why I expect to see Dr. Rice in the White House one day.

Boxer, on the other hand, continues to defend her comments, proving she is an unprincipled bitch.

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No injuries, and only slight damage reported.

Suspected leftist guerrillas fired a rocket at the U.S. embassy in Athens on Friday but no one was hurt in the blast, police and government officials said.

In the most serious attack against the mission in 10 years, the small rocket launched from across the street shattered windows and woke up nearby residents in the central Athens area at 5:58 AM (0358 GMT).

"There are one or two anonymous phone calls which claim that the Revolutionary Struggle was behind the attack," Public Order Minister Byron Polydoras told reporters outside the embassy. "Most likely, it is an act by local perpetrators."

The leftist guerrilla group has emerged as the most serious domestic threat since the dismantling of the deadly November 17 group in 2002. It claimed an assassination attempt against Greece's culture minister in May and a bomb at the Economy Ministry which wounded two people and damaged buildings 13 months ago.

Greece has a history of terrorist activity occurring within its borders, but a good record of bringing the perps down. It will be interesting to see how the story develops.

Additional news coverage at the Washington Post and New York Times.

More at Captain's Quarters, Jawa Report, and Michelle Malkin

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Look what happened to these jihadi punks -- documented by their own camera..

WARNING: Graphic violence and much deserved death follow.

Don't you just love a film with a happy ending?

H/t Jawa Report

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Posted by: Verity at Sat Nov 29 00:16:55 2008 (JOVhm)

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