He can't meet his fundraising goals -- and is being beaten by Mitt Romney in the amount raised.

Sen. John McCain said his presidential campaign would not meet its fundraising goals this quarter, and his campaign advisers acknowledged that ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney may wind up raising more.

"We're going to pay a price for it because we got a late start," McCain told reporters in New Hampshire. "We're not going to meet the goals we had." He later said he did not know whether Romney would outpace him, but his advisers did not downplay that possibility. They also did not rule out finishing first.

McCain contends that his exploratory committee's opening in December and the rush of the busy holiday season did not allow his campaign to begin fundraising in earnest until January. But once that month began, owing in part to a busy Senate schedule, McCain attended only two fundraisers and only two in February. There are twenty scheduled for all of this month, and another twenty in April.

While the numbers that come out in July are a better indicator of the strength of a campaign, one would have to think that the failure of one of America's most visible and best known GOP politicians to meet his goal in this area constitutes a major failure.

But then again, maybe lots of Republicans are simply practicing our own version of "campaing finance reform" -- by not giving money to a candidate with a record clearly hostile to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Posted by: Greg at 01:46 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 265 words, total size 2 kb.

If this information is correct and cannot be squared with his previous statements on the matter, I would have to say that he does.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to newly released documents that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.

The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

The five-step plan involved notifying Republican home-state senators of the impending dismissals, preparing for potential political upheaval, naming replacements and submitting them to the Senate for confirmation.

The documents released Friday indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.

Now this comes back to how you parse out the statements made. Gonzales seems not to have been involved in the selection process of those to be fired, but does seem to have given approval to the process used to implement the firings. Can that be reconciled with his earlier statement about his relative lack of involvement? After all, here is what he said a week and a half ago.

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

“I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers — where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that’s what I knew,” Gonzales said last week. “But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That’s basically what I knew as the attorney general.”

Interestingly enough, there do not appear to be any material released that indicates he received memos, took phone calls or participated in other meetings on the firings -- which were well-within the prerogative of the Executive Branch, because US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President -- so one can argue that he knew what was going on and was not otherwise involved in the decision-making process. But putting his final stamp of approval on the process can be seized upon by political opponents seeking to make a scandal where no improper activity occurred, and so the Administration needs to tread carefully here. After all, what he said was true, but can be presented as inaccurate.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stix Blog, Stop the ACLU,Right Pundits, Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Random Yak, 123beta, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, , LaTogaStrappata®, sissunchi, Allie Is Wired, third world county, Faultline USA, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, LaTogaStrappata®, CORSARI D'ITALIA, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 02:27 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 572 words, total size 6 kb.

The three stars of the Harry Potter movies will remain a team through the final film, according to a new announcement on the matter.

Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will return as teen wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the final Harry Potter films, Warner Bros. Pictures announced Friday.

The young stars will reprise their roles in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — the last two films in the franchise based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels, said Jeff Robinov, the studio's president of production.

"It would be inconceivable to imagine anyone else in the roles with which they have become so identified," Robinov said.

Radcliffe, who recently made news for his role in the London production of Equus, said playing Potter has been "an immense privilege."

"I feel a huge sense of loyalty to the character of Harry and the fans who have supported these films over the years," the 17-year-old said in a statement.

Watson, 16, said her character was her hero.

"I could never let Hermione go," she said. "I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I'm excited and honored to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films."

Grint, 18, added: "I've been so proud to play (Ron) and loved every second of being part of this world."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released in July, and the final two movies should be filmed and released over the next couple of years. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will also be released this summer.

Posted by: Greg at 02:07 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 293 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, the notion of the blogger as the new Rock Star has been advanced by the folks at PayPerPost for some time now. That has led to a planned gathering of Rock Stars this summer in Florida -- PostieCon 07, with its theme being "You're A Rock Star"!

PostieCon 07 is a bloggers conference designed to help bloggers reach their full Rock Star potential. That's why the event will feature conferences on various aspects of blogging, including how to build traffic and readership, and use your notoriety and unique brand to create value and monetize your internet presence. More to the point, it is about helping bloggers improve at their craft, becoming the best bloggers they can be.

The conference itself is set for June 1 & 2, 2007, in Orlando, though many of the participants will arrive the night before, allowing for plenty of networking/get acquainted activities in Orlando on May 31. The total cost of the event is $199.95, which is mighty cheap for any conference, whether hobby-related or designed to advance one's business career. Registration for the even includes
all of the following:

* VIP access to all conference sessions, workshops, and extra-curricular events
* Breakfast (with eggs) Lunch, Drinks and Snacks on Friday and Saturday
* Saturday early evening open bar with hot and cold appetizers
* Sit down dinner with open bar at the award banquet on Saturday evening
* Cool swag to take home.

And while that swag bag may not be up to Grammy standards, I'm sure it will have some neat stuff to bring home.

So if you are free the first weekend of June, get to Orlando and learn how to channel your inner Rock Star at the PostieCon 07 bloggers conference!

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 02:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 299 words, total size 2 kb.

Sounds to me like some folks need serious jail time.

W. L. Carter knew there was something fishy going on when he went to his lawyersÂ’ office a few years ago to pick up his settlement check for the heart damage he had sustained from taking the diet drug combination fen-phen.

The check was, for starters, much smaller than he had expected. And his own lawyers threatened to retaliate against him if he ever told anyone, including his family, how much he had been paid. “You will be fined $100,000, you will go to jail and you will be sued,” Mr. Carter recalled them saying.

Mr. Carter was right to have been suspicious. The lawyers defrauded their clients, a state judge has ruled in a civil case, when they settled fen-phen lawsuits on behalf of 440 of them for $200 million but kept the bulk of the money for themselves. Legal experts said the fraud might be one of the biggest and most brazen in legal history.

This week, several clients testified before a federal grand jury that has begun to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing arising from the settlement.

“It enrages me,” said Sonja Pickett, a retail manager, who testified Thursday before the grand jury. “They robbed us.”

I won't trash trial lawyers or class-action suits, because I recognize that lawyers are necessary and class action suits are sometimes the best way to deal with an injustice. However, too often they become a vehicle to enrich lawyers -- and the secrecy/confidentiality agreements that go with the settlements often close off justice. Indeed, ANY court order that closes the results of the justice system to the eyes of the public needs to be strongly questioned by the American people as a violation of the principle that the workings of the courts are to be public.

Posted by: Greg at 01:58 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 312 words, total size 2 kb.

Dating isn't easy -- at least not for most people. And the reality is that sometimes you need a little bit of help. Dating services can fill this need for you. The availability of online dating services is very helpful to some. That is why Just Say Hi! exists -- to help you meet someone special.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are The Contranomics of Global Jihad by Big Lizards, and Four Years In by American Digest.  Here is a link to the full results of the vote.

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 4 kb.

Looking for a mortgage? Do you know what it is going to cost you in interest, points, etc? Well, you can check out Mortgage Rates at PersonalHomeLoanMortgages.com. They even have a mortgage calculator, so you can see if the loans available are within your budget instead of finding yourself facing a nasty surprise after you find the home you want.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 67 words, total size 1 kb.

Not only that, there will be a review of sentences to determine if any more victims of abuse have been held longer for their resistance to victimization by TYC personnel.

The superintendent of the Texas Youth Commission's intake facility in Marlin was arrested today, charged with falsely telling a Texas Ranger there were no sex abuse accusations at the unit.

Jerome Parsee is charged with making a false statement to a peace officer, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

Also today, officials announced a panel of community activists, prosecutors and juvenile prison officials will review the records of nearly all youth inmates to make sure their sentences haven't been extended unfairly.

Advocates for TYC inmates and their families have complained that sentences are often extended for capricious reasons or in retaliation for filing grievances.

TYC special master Jay Kimbrough said the panel will review the documentation on each inmate's sentencing extension and discuss whether the decision was just and appropriate.

The panel will make a suggestion to a retired judge, who will decide whether the inmate should be immediately released.

"I have no confidence in the integrity of that entire system,'' Kimbrough said.

TYC incarcerates about 4,700 offenders ages 10 to 21 who are considered the most dangerous, incorrigible or chronic. Kimbrough said about nine in 10 of those offenders have had their sentences extended.

We need lot's more charges, going both directions in the chain of command -- including the Governor's staff.

UPDATE: Looks like this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Posted by: Greg at 03:35 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 274 words, total size 2 kb.

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

Today I'm joined here at the White House by veterans, family members of people serving in combat, family members of those who have sacrificed. I am honored that they have joined me here today.

Here in Washington, members of both parties recognize that our most solemn responsibility is to support our troops in the war on terror. Yet, today, a narrow majority in the House of Representatives abdicated its responsibility by passing a war spending bill that has no chance of becoming law, and brings us no closer to getting our troops the resources they need to do their job.

The purpose of the emergency war spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq. They set rigid restrictions that will require an army of lawyers to interpret. They set an arbitrary date for withdrawal without regard for conditions on the ground. And they tacked on billions for pet projects that have nothing to do with winning the war on terror. This bill has too much pork, too many conditions and an artificial timetable for withdrawal.

As I have made clear for weeks, I will veto it if it comes to my desk. And because the vote in the House was so close, it is clear that my veto would be sustained. Today's action in the House does only one thing: it delays the delivering of vital resources for our troops. A narrow majority has decided to take this course, just as General Petraeus and his troops are carrying out a new strategy to help the Iraqis secure their capital city.

Amid the real challenges in Iraq, we're beginning to see some signs of progress. Yet, to score political points, the Democratic majority in the House has shown it is willing to undermine the gains our troops are making on the ground.

Democrats want to make clear that they oppose the war in Iraq. They have made their point. For some, that is not enough. These Democrats believe that the longer they can delay funding for our troops, the more likely they are to force me to accept restrictions on our commanders, an artificial timetable for withdrawal, and their pet spending projects. This is not going to happen. Our men and women in uniform need these emergency war funds. The Secretary of Defense has warned that if Congress does not approve the emergency funding for our troops by April the 15th, our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions, and so would their families.

The Democrats have sent their message, now it's time to send their money. This is an important moment -- a decision for the new leaders in Congress. Our men in women in uniform should not have to worry that politicians in Washington will deny them the funds and the flexibility they need to win. Congress needs to send me a clean bill that I can sign without delay. I expect Congress to do its duty and to fund our troops, and so do the American people -- and so do the good men and women standing with me here today.

MORE COVERAGE AT WaPo & NYTimes

Posted by: Greg at 03:30 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 575 words, total size 4 kb.

So much for being pro-military and an opponent of pork -- Nick Lampson followed the wishes of the DemocratICK Party leadership and against the sentiment of CD22 and his own promises to the voters by lending his support to a pork-laden supplemental appropriations bill which abandons the troops and calls for unilateral surrender in the face of the enemy.

Nick Lampson (TX-22): Nick Lampson campaigned on fiscal responsibility and took a harsh stand against congressional pork on his campaign website: “We have terrible waste in our government that can be addressed right now. We shouldn't be spending on pork projects like bridges to nowhere in Alaska and a tea pot museum in North Carolina. We must set priorities and stick to them.” By that standard, Rep. Lampson should cast a “no” vote on the Iraq war spending bill.

But he didn't vote no, despite his claims to be a pork-buster -- and instead voted to reject the expertise of the generals in the field in favor of that of the anti-American left-wingers at MoveOn.org.

MORE COVERAGE AT WaPo & NYTimes

H/T Michelle Malkin and Sen. Tom Coburn

UPDATE: But then again, why should we be surprised? After all, Speaker Pelosi lied to the American people on this issue only three months ago.

The headline over the column by Tom Curry of MSNBC oin Dec. 5, 2006, was clear: “Pelosi: ‘We will not cut off funding’ for Iraq”

Curry quoted her then:

“We will not cut off funding for the troops,” Pelosi said. “Absolutely not,” she said.

The vote today was clear: Pelosi is cutting the funding for Iraq. Out by Sept. 1, 2008.

It was a partisan stab in the back of the 150,000 troops in Iraq.

What's a lie to your constituents if your party leadership is telling big lies to the American public?

H/T Libertarian Leanings

Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 316 words, total size 3 kb.

I’ve not sent he “Big Sister” ad about the Hldebeast – and I’m really not interested in seeing it. And frankly, I’m not even concerned that it was made by a guy who did some technical consultation on Obama’s website. After all, there really is nothing deceptive or troubling about such political speech – and much more that is troubling about the efforts to prevent political speech by Americans.

Sadly, the Boston Globe wants even more restrictions on the right of Americans to speak – whether in a straight-forward or satirical manner.

The anti-Clinton clip falls within the boundary of acceptability. It makes a point in a witty way -- the runner is wearing an iPod, unknown in 1984 -- and is airing too early in the campaign to have a significant impact. The Huffington Post has unmasked the creator as a Barack Obama supporter, who denies the campaign was involved. Viewers can now evaluate the clip based on its source. And a Clinton supporter has subsequently doctored the video to put Obama in the Big Brother role, and put that on YouTube. Free speech has generated more speech to enhance the debate over who would make the best Democratic nominee for president.

But suppose it was two or three days before a close election, and a scurrilous, deceitful, anonymous clip was posted on YouTube and the other sites that specialize in homemade videos. Candidates should, of course, monitor all these sites and flag the offending videos. But doesn't YouTube have an obligation to make sure these ads are swept from its site before they can do harm? YouTube today doesn't have a policy against attack ads late in the campaign, but it should.

After all, only the mainstream media should have the ability to put out scurrilous, deceitful attacks on candidates that cannot be effectively rebutted two or three days before a close election. If amateurs get into the business of disseminating political smears, newspaper circulation might fall.

And as for YouTube doing the regulating, they do have the right to do so – but is it appropriate for a corporate entity to decide what constitutes unacceptable political speech, and to then engage in censorship. Having already seen how YouTube applies a biased standard to speech about jihadi terror (banning anti-terrorist speech, but often letting pro-terrorist speech slide), do we really such subjective judgments to become the rule?

Posted by: Greg at 12:17 PM | Comments (43) | Add Comment
Post contains 415 words, total size 3 kb.

How fitting that a grateful nation honors a soldier who willingly gave his life to save his comrades.

The legacy of an Iraq War hero from Allegany County will be honored on the high seas for years to come.

Members of Congress announced Tuesday that the U.S. Navy will name its newest guided-missile destroyer the USS Jason Dunham – for the Marine corporal from Scio who threw himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades in April 2004.

“We’re basically totally amazed that this happened,” said Deb Dunham, Jason’s mother. “I anticipated that it would be 10 or 20 years before we saw this.”

Indeed, the Navy has a long tradition of naming its ships for war heroes, but it often happens many decades after their death.

For example, in June 2006, the Navy commissioned the USS Farragut, a guided-missile destroyer named for Adm. David Glasgow Farragut, the Civil War hero who coined the phrase: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

Mrs. Dunham said she wasn’t sure how the Navy came to name a ship for her son less than three years after his death. She said the family’s Marine liaison called last week to mention the possibility. “We thought it was very appropriate,” she said.

The naming of the ship will be just the latest accolade accorded to Dunham, who was awarded the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military award – by President Bush in January.

As a historian, I know it is important that we honor the heroes of decades and centuries past, to keep their memory – and our history – alive. But it is equally appropriate that we bestow such honors upon our latter-day heroes – men like Jason Dunham, who gladly served this nation and who laid down his life for his friends.

Posted by: Greg at 12:16 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 311 words, total size 2 kb.

Saudis shred Bibles and destroy non-Islamic religious items that travelers attempt to bring in to the country with hardly a peep of protest from the world.

Will there be an outcry over this murder over alleged desecration of a Koran – and which appears to be merely maintain good order and discipline in the classroom. Or will they continue to demand special treatment for their sacred objects that they deny to those of any other faith?

Secondary school pupils in north-eastern Nigeria have killed a teacher after apparently accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police say.

The teacher, a Christian, was attacked after supervising an exam in Gombe city. It is not clear what she had done to anger the students.

The authorities, concerned that communal unrest could break out, have ordered all the city's schools to shut.

Similar accusations sparked riots in neighbouring Bauchi State last year.

At least 15,000 people have been killed in religious, communal or political violence since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.

Frankly, there is no justification for what was done here – even if the teacher had dropped trou and defecated on the Koran, killing her would have been an inappropriate response. Where is the outrage and contrition from the Muslim community over this horrific act?

Posted by: Greg at 12:10 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 225 words, total size 1 kb.

Proving that there are those on the Left who are not complete anti-American surrender monkeys.

Congress can and should play a major role in determining how and when the war ends. Political benchmarks for the Iraqi government are important, provided they are not unrealistic or inflexible. Even dates for troop withdrawals might be helpful, if they are cast as goals rather than requirements -- and if the timing derives from the needs of Iraq, not the U.S. election cycle. The Senate's version of the supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan contains nonbinding benchmarks and a withdrawal date that is a goal; that approach is more likely to win broad support and avoid a White House veto.

As it is, House Democrats are pressing a bill that has the endorsement of MoveOn.org but excludes the judgment of the U.S. commanders who would have to execute the retreat the bill mandates. It would heap money on unneedy dairy farmers while provoking a constitutional fight with the White House that could block the funding to equip troops in the field. Democrats who want to force a withdrawal should vote against war appropriations. They should not seek to use pork to buy a majority for an unconditional retreat that the majority does not support.

Personally, I prefer a reauthorization without a timetable – which telegraphs strategy to the terrorists – but can accept one that is, as this editorial suggests, made up of non-binding goals that are designed to meet the needs on the ground in Iraq not at the ballot box in 2008. But to put the ideology of the extremists and the greed of the porksters above the expertise of those tasked with carrying out the policy is absurd – and the editors at the Post are correct for condemning it.

A pity that the DemocratICK majority in the House lacks such wisdom.

MORE COVERAGE AT WaPo & NYTimes

Posted by: Greg at 12:08 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 326 words, total size 2 kb.

I’ve generally not commented on the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, in part because there are some very specific factual issues that make the lines rather blurry here – as well as one or two legal issues that people can disagree upon in good faith. However never, in any of my reading, have I encountered anyone proposing that the landmark decision in Tinker v. DesMoines should be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Until today.

Some history: Lawsuits over the free-speech rights of schoolchildren exist because the Supreme Court legitimized them in 1969. Several years earlier, a 13-year-old girl and 15-year old boy decided to wear black armbands to their schools in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest the Vietnam War. The schools had a policy against wearing symbolic armbands at school and warned they'd be suspended. They showed up with the anti-Vietnam armbands, were suspended and in what today is the landmark Tinker case for school "speech," Justice Abe Fortas famously wrote that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

Two later cases, Fraser and Kuhlmeier, refined Tinker's scope, which we'll see shortly is the background to one of the most hilarious--and revealing--exchanges at oral argument ever in a school free-speech case.

In the years since, school officials and lower courts have struggled with Tinker. The Massachusetts Supreme Court said a T-shirt, "Coed Naked Band: Do It to the Rhythm," was protected speech. But schools in several states have banned a T-shirt with "Abortion is Homicide. You will not mock my God." (Religious groups filed amicus briefs for the Juneau "bong" banner because they want similar protections to wear anti-abortion shirts and the like.) A federal appeals court in California said schools could ban a T-shirt calling homosexuality shameful because it was "injurious to gay and lesbian students and interfered with their right to learn." But a federal court in Ohio conferred constitutional protection on a shirt with: "Homosexuality is a sin! Islam is a lie! Abortion is murder!" All these cases involve public schools.

* * *

Rather than just fiddle with the dials on the school-speech contraption, the solution would be to take Tinker and throw it out the window. But they won't. They'll tinker, telling us what to do, but unable to give coherent reasons why we should do it.

The pious extension of First Amendment speech rights amid Vietnam from adults to students prior to college was a mistake. The Bong case may be another nail in the coffin of public schools. Parents, including liberals who can afford it, will quicken the trend to sending their children to private schools whose principals can exercise real discretion and in loco parentis.

One argument for the say-it-loud status quo is that kids should be free in school to learn how "to deal" with different viewpoints. I'd bet all nine justices went to high schools with principals who put learning first and Tinkered "speech" in its place. It doesn't seem to have stopped them from growing up to drive people nuts with their opinions.

IÂ’m sorry, but Daniel Henninger has this one completely wrong here. If one fundamental mission of public education is to teach young people the importance of American political values and the freedoms that are part of our representative democracy, then it is essential that Tinker not be overturned, but instead be reinforced. If it is not, our public school would become no different from the old Soviet Union, which had a Constitution guaranteeing expansive individual liberties which were systematically denied to the inhabitants thereof.

Imagine the situation that would ensue were Tinker to fall. Schools would be free to establish an official orthodoxy that could not be contradicted or questioned by students. A school could, as in the example pointed to above by Henninger, establish a de facto policy that any speech opposing homosexuality would be subject to punishment. To avoid offending religious minorities, expressions of the Christian faith could be restricted or banned. And recalling the irritation I caused my teachers as a high school senior whose Reagan button was constitutionally protected under the Tinker doctrine, I would not see it as being far-fetched to have support for the “wrong” candidates or parties banned by those who see themselves as the guardian of “correct” speech and messages. Do we truly teach young people how to live in a free society by closing off such fundamental freedoms to them?

And let me correct one notion put forth by Henninger. Tinker presented no constitutionally novel doctrine, being based in large part upon the holding in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, which at the height of World War II held that the government could neither compel student speech nor punish refusal to speak a state endorsed message – the Pledge of Allegiance. Indeed, the words of that 1943 decision ring as true today as they did 64 years ago.

Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. [319 U.S. 624, 641] As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

It seems trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.

The case is made difficult not because the principles of its decision are obscure but because the flag involved is our own. Nevertheless, we apply the limitations of the Constitution with no fear that freedom to be intellectually and spiritually diverse or even contrary will disintegrate the social organization. To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds. We can have intellectual individualism [319 U.S. 624, 642] and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

And indeed, if a student cannot be compelled to confess by word or action his or her assent to that which one does not believe, is there any legitimacy to forbidding the expression of views contrary to the officially established orthodoxy? Do we not betray our own constitutional heritage if such a regime of speech suppression is permitted? Can young people learn freedom by being taught lessons in oppression and suppression of their fundamental civil liberties?

That is not to say that there are not legitimate limits to student speech – as Tinker itself points out. Actual disruption or interference with the educational mission of the school caused by a student speaker can and must be prohibited, and on this point it is possible to argue that the school in Morse v. Fredericks may well be acting in a manner consistent with the relevant precedents. Similarly, it is possible to argue against strict financial liability on the part of educators in some First Amendment cases. However, nothing in this case merits overturning Tinker -- or its predecessor, the Barnette case – and proper application of the precedents lends itself to their reaffirmation.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stix Blog, Stop the ACLU, Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Random Yak, 123beta, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, , LaTogaStrappata®, sissunchi, Allie Is Wired, third world county, Faultline USA, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:23 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 1637 words, total size 12 kb.

If you are Muslim, you can beat and abuse your wife in Germany because the Koran sanctions it.

A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim womanÂ’s request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.

In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which she said it was common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse.

In other words, German law now holds that Muslim men may treat their women in a barbaric fashion that degrades and violates their fundamental human dignity -- because their culture and religion are fundamentally barbaric and sanction that barbarism.

Shocking -- and a sign that we in the West must insist that the Muslim minority in our midst conform to Western legal norms and respect the fundamental human rights of all individuals if they are to be permitted to remain among us.

This is a War of Civilizations -- and we cannot let fuzzy-minded politicians and judges surrender Western Civilization to those who would take us backwards to a dark and savage place.

UPDATE: While Ruth, in her much appreciated update on the case, assures us below that wife-beating is not permitted in Islam, I think this article should be taken as casting some doubt on her assertion on the matter. After all, why would the new translation be controversial if the verse in question DID NOT condone wife-beating?

Posted by: Greg at 10:58 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
Post contains 284 words, total size 2 kb.

Charlie-Hebdo will not be punished for publishing the Danish Muhammad cartoons.

A French court cleared a satirical weekly newspaper Thursday in a case brought by Muslims who were angered by its publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

The newspaper Charlie-Hebdo and its director, Philippe Val, were accused of "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion." Val had risked a six-month prison sentence and a fine of up to $29,250.

The court ruled that Charlie-Hebdo showed no intention of insulting the Muslim community with the caricatures, several of which appeared first in a Danish paper and sparked angry protests across the Muslim world and in Europe.

The case drew massive attention from politicians and the media in France, which has western Europe's largest Muslim population — 5 million people — and a deep commitment to secularism and free speech.

Val said the ruling was a victory for believers in freedom of expression, and for secular French Muslims.

"This debate was necessary," he said.

Frankly, this victory for free speech should have come even if the editors had intended to publicly abuse and insult Muslims -- after all, no one has a right not to be offended, and a free people cannot be forced to conform their speech to the practices and beliefs of a particular faith without having their fundamental human rights violated.

Posted by: Greg at 10:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 238 words, total size 2 kb.

It’s Knut, the baby polar bear, making his public debut.

You know, the one the animal rights folks want to kill.

Posted by: Greg at 10:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

ItÂ’s Knut, the baby polar bear, making his public debut.

You know, the one the animal rights folks want to kill.

Posted by: Greg at 10:48 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by diamonds. My mother’s diamond engagement ring is the reason why -- platinum with a Marquis cut, it never left her hand, except for those few times I saw it removed for cleaning. At those times, it was as if her hands were utterly naked, and there was something wrong with the world. In many ways, that ring symbolized not just her, but also my father, whose career in the US Navy took him away from us all too often.

My wife and i didnt go the traditional diamond solitaire route when we got engaged -- her love of the color purple is legendary and so it was a given that the ring would have an amethyst -- but surrounded by diamonds, so as to give the center stone that sparkle that only diamonds can bring.

I recently went to a website called Abazias.com, looking for a little something special for my wife for an upcoming special day. They have a wonderful feature there, a search feature for loose diamonds that allows you to select size, color, clarity and price that will allow you to find just the stone you want for the special one you want. You can then have that special stone (or stones) set the way you want. Because after all, diamonds are forever -- just like love is meant to be.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 10:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 239 words, total size 1 kb.

Contrary to my expectations, John Edwards did not drop out of the presidential race yesterday, despite the return of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer in a much more serious form.

John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for president, said today that his wife Elizabeth Edwards was once again suffering from breast cancer, this time in an incurable form.

But in a joint news conference, he and Mrs. Edwards expressed confidence that the disease could be managed with treatment, and that there would be no interruption in his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Mrs. Edwards said she was in little pain, and that she was maintaining a positive attitude and a full schedule of appearances on behalf of her husbandÂ’s candidacy.

“I expect to do next week all the things I did last week,” she said at the midday news conference, conducted in a courtyard at the inn on the campus of the University of North Carolina where the Edwardses held their wedding reception 30 years ago this summer.

Frankly, I was rather angry at John Edwards yesterday -- I believed he was fundamentally wrong in his decision to continue his campaign. Indeed, I had a blog post attacking John Edwards all composed in my head for his over-weaning ambition leading him to place his interests above the needs of his wife, lambasting him for failing to be where I believed he belonged -- at the side of Elizabeth Edwards as she faces a condition that is likely to take her life before the end of the next presidential term.

And then I realized where I was -- in my car, driving to a Republican fundraiser at the insistence of my wife, who found it necessary to stay home because of her own health issues. And I realized that, no doubt, there had been, in the privacy of the Edwards home, a conversation like the one I had with Paula on Wednesday when it became clear that she could not attend the function with me. So upon reflection, I don't doubt that John Edwards was ready to quit and argued in favor of quitting -- and that it was only the insistence of Elizabeth Edwards that has led him to continue this race.

Regardless, the Edwards family remains in my prayers -- even as I hope John Edwards' presidential fortunes (and those of all the Democrats) go down in flames.

UPDATE: Public reaction, like mine, is mixed on the decision to continue the campaign.

Posted by: Greg at 10:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 416 words, total size 3 kb.

I have to be honest with you -- I'd rather do just about anything than have to take out another loan. I don't like owing money if I don't have to, and have seen how doing so can get to be a serious issue that can impact you on the level of the necessities of life, not just the lifestyle level.

But working where I do, I have any number of students who come from families with relatively little means, and that is how I first learned about the reality that is the payday loan. I mean, I hear about families facing the possibility of having the lights shut off or the car taken back because they don't have the cash to make a payment right now. I've seen families facing eviction because someone needs medicine but the rent is due and they are not eligible for Medicare. In situations like that, a payday loan can be the difference between having what they need and losing what they have.

That's why folks that provide such loans exist. And with the advent of the internet, it is now possible to get an online check advance to help you meet those emergency needs if you find yourself in such a situation. We ll know it is better not to have such a need, but when the need exists, it is good to know that there are options that exist to help meet those short-term financial needs.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 248 words, total size 1 kb.

I wonder how Al Gore accounts for this.

Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming. It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto.

NASA says the Martian South Pole’s “ice cap” has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from earth. If so, I guess Jupiter’s caught the same cold, because it’s warming up too, like Pluto.

This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle.

Silly, I know, but I wonder what all those planets, dwarf planets and moons in our SOLAR system have in common. Hmmmm. SOLAR system. Hmmmm. Solar? I wonder. Nah, I guess we shouldn’t even be talking about this. The science is absolutely decided. There’s a consensus.
Ask Galileo.

Now such increases are inexplicable if one presumes that terrestrial global warming is caused by the actions of homo sapiens sapiens. On the other hand, if a natural, Solar System-wide phenomenon is at play here then there is more than sufficient reason to accept that the climactic changes on our planet are governed by the same effect at work on the other planets.

Now does this mean that we should not conserve energy, cut harmful emissions, and generally pollute less? Hardly – because each and every one of those goals is laudable in and of itself, absent any reference to the man-made global warming fraud perpetrated by advocates of Big Global Government Nanny-Staters like Al Gore. But the fact is that the adoption of such eco-friendly practices then becomes a matter of personal free choice rather than government diktat -- much to the chagrin of those who promote a convenient falsehood to stifle individual liberty while calling it an inconvenient truth.

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 353 words, total size 2 kb.

I wonder how Al Gore accounts for this.

Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming. It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto.

NASA says the Martian South Pole’s “ice cap” has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from earth. If so, I guess Jupiter’s caught the same cold, because it’s warming up too, like Pluto.

This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle.

Silly, I know, but I wonder what all those planets, dwarf planets and moons in our SOLAR system have in common. Hmmmm. SOLAR system. Hmmmm. Solar? I wonder. Nah, I guess we shouldnÂ’t even be talking about this. The science is absolutely decided. ThereÂ’s a consensus.
Ask Galileo.

Now such increases are inexplicable if one presumes that terrestrial global warming is caused by the actions of homo sapiens sapiens. On the other hand, if a natural, Solar System-wide phenomenon is at play here then there is more than sufficient reason to accept that the climactic changes on our planet are governed by the same effect at work on the other planets.

Now does this mean that we should not conserve energy, cut harmful emissions, and generally pollute less? Hardly – because each and every one of those goals is laudable in and of itself, absent any reference to the man-made global warming fraud perpetrated by advocates of Big Global Government Nanny-Staters like Al Gore. But the fact is that the adoption of such eco-friendly practices then becomes a matter of personal free choice rather than government diktat -- much to the chagrin of those who promote a convenient falsehood to stifle individual liberty while calling it an inconvenient truth.

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 361 words, total size 2 kb.

Bank accounts are a necessity -- after all, you really can't keep your cash under a mattress. But do you know who is going to give you the most return or the lowest fees on the accounts where you stash your dough? Heck no -- until now. There is a new service out there that will help you get all the information you need to make the best choices for your situation -- because they have already done the work for you!

That's right -- you can Compare online banking, find a savings account or checking account and earn more interest today with SavingsAccounts.com. You would be nuts NOT to look at the site and find out if there is a better bank for you.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 128 words, total size 1 kb.

If this matter doesn't qualify for coverage under executive privilege, does anything?

These columns have long supported the principle of "executive privilege," though we realize it is not a blanket prerogative: Both the Burger Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon and the Rehnquist Court in Clinton v. Jones upheld the principle that a President cannot use the claims of his office to protect himself from criminal or civil legal claims.

But there's little doubt that this or any other President has the right--we'd say the obligation--to protect the confidentiality of internal White House discussions, especially over Presidential appointments. If Congress can solicit any email concerning advice to the President, or haul any White House official before Congress, then executive branch deliberations will soon be an oxymoron.

Personally, I think the Administration should have told Congress to pound sand from the very beginning of this non-scandal. Prosecutors are Executive Branch appointees, and Congress has no role in interfering with such personnel decisions. Indeed, any attempt to take the authority over such positions from the Executive Branch reeks of the same sort of constitutional infirmity that afflicted the Tenure In Office Act used to impeach Andrew Johnson -- though whether or not the Democrats have enough respect for that document to tread lightly when there is political hay to be made is a doubtful proposition.

Posted by: Greg at 10:46 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 238 words, total size 2 kb.

No doubt because they are "inconvenient truths" for the opponents of the Bush administration.

Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra could hardly believe what he heard on television Friday as he watched a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Rep. Henry Waxman, the Democratic committee chairman, said his statement had been approved by the CIA director, Michael Hayden. That included the assertion that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative when her identity was revealed.

As House intelligence committee chairman when Republicans controlled Congress, Hoekstra had tried repeatedly to learn Plame's status from the CIA but got only double talk from Langley. Waxman, 67, the 17-term congressman from Beverly Hills, may be a bully and a partisan. But he is no fool who would misrepresent the director of central intelligence. Waxman was correctly quoting Hayden. But Hayden, in a conference with Hoekstra yesterday, still did not answer whether Plame was covert under the terms of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

* * *

Waxman and Democratic colleagues did not ask these pertinent questions: Had not Plame been outed years ago by a Soviet agent? Was she not on an administrative, not operational, track at Langley? How could she be covert if, in public view, she drove to work each day at Langley? What about comments to me by then CIA spokesman Bill Harlow that Plame never would be given another foreign assignment? What about testimony to the FBI that her CIA employment was common knowledge in Washington?

Why not seek these answers? because it would make it clear that there was no plot, and no violation of th law. But the Democrats simply don't want the truth to get in the way of a good lynching -- a longstanding tradition in that party

Posted by: Greg at 10:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 305 words, total size 2 kb.

One need not be a psychic to predict what is coming in this press conference by John and Elizabeth Edwards.

John Edwards, the North Carolina Democrat making a second bid for the presidency, called a news conference for Thursday to discuss the future of his campaign, a day after he and his wife, Elizabeth, visited Mrs. EdwardsÂ’s doctor to assess her recovery from a bout of breast cancer.

Mrs. Edwards, in a brief interview from her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., said she and Mr. Edwards would discuss her health at the news conference, but she declined to elaborate.

“I’m still here,” she said.

Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for the Edwards campaign, would not comment. The news conference is to be held in Chapel Hill.

Mr. Edwards canceled a campaign appearance in Iowa on Wednesday to join his wife on what he had described as a presumably routine follow-up examination.

Mrs. Edwards, 57, received a cancer diagnosis in 2004 almost on the day that Mr. Edwards, the vice-presidential candidate, and Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, were defeated in their race for the White House.

Mr. Edwards has said he waited to announce a second bid for the presidency until he and Mrs. EdwardsÂ’s doctors were confident about her recovery.

I suspect that Elizabeth's cancer is back, and that John Edwards will be showing a level of spousal devotion I admire and will end his campaign for President. If this is the case, my respect for John Edwards will increase dramatically -- and the Edwards family will be in my deepest prayers. Some things you don't want to see even your political opponents face, and cancer is one of them.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.

In rejecting efforts by the larger Anglican community to preserve orthodoxy Christian teaching and minister to those who have fidelity for it, the Episcopal Church is likely to be expelled from worldwide Anglicanism.

Responding to an ultimatum from the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, bishops of the Episcopal Church have rejected a key demand to create a parallel leadership structure to serve the conservative minority of Episcopalians who oppose their churchÂ’s liberal stand on homosexuality.

The bishops, meeting at a retreat center outside of Houston, said they were aware that their decision could lead to the exclusion of the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion, an international confederation of churches tied to the Church of England.

The bishops have a “deep longing” to remain part of the Communion, they said, but they are unwilling to compromise the Episcopal Church’s autonomy and its commitment to full equality for all people, including gay men and lesbians.

Given their willingness to compromise teh Gospel instead, it is time for folks to recognize the reality that the ECUSA is a post-Christian denomination.

Posted by: Greg at 10:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 191 words, total size 1 kb.

Here's a case that needs investigating. You don't let violent rapists off with lesser charges, a lighter sentence, and freedom from registering as a sex offender.

Especially when the perp has a position of trust in the community.

The Fairfax County prosecutor who agreed last week to reduce charges against a minister accused of raping and beating a woman, paving the way for a 16-month sentence and no requirement to register as a sex offender, did not tell her bosses or the victim that she had done so.

The sentence handed to the Rev. Eugene A. Marriott Jr., a pastor at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, was surprisingly light compared with those of other sexual assault cases heard in Fairfax, many veteran lawyers said. But the deal offered to Marriott by Assistant Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Toni S. Fay is what has the courthouse buzzing.

Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he "had no idea" that the charges had been reduced four months after Marriott's conviction and that the victim "absolutely" should have been consulted: "That's Rule One. You just don't go and change a plea that the victim had agreed to." He said he had spoken to Fay but declined to say why she reduced the charges or failed to tell either the victim or the detective. Fay did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

At the sentencing, Fay said: "I wish Mr. Marriott well. I hope that his wife takes him back. I am very glad to see his church and his community are still supporting him."

Horan said he was stunned. "The function of a criminal prosecutor is to point out how bad the crime is," Horan said. "It's not a social partnership with the defense."

I'm stunned.

Posted by: Greg at 10:01 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 303 words, total size 2 kb.

Was it the Portuguese?

A 16th century maritime map proves Portuguese adventurers, not British or Dutch, were the first Europeans to discover Australia, according to a new book.

The book, Beyond Capricorn, says the map, which accurately marks geographical sites along Australia's east coast in Portuguese, proves Portuguese seafarer Christopher de Mendonca led a fleet of four ships into Botany Bay in 1522 - almost 250 years before Britain's Captain James Cook.

The map is in a Los Angeles library vault.

Australian author Peter Trickett said that when he enlarged the small map he could recognise all the headlands and bays in Botany Bay in Sydney - the site where Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770.

"It was even so accurate that I found I could draw in the modern airport runways, to scale in the right place, without any problem at all," Trickett told Reuters.

This theory presumes, of course, that the theory put forth by David Menzies in 1421 that the Chinese Admiral Zheng He's great fleet explored the East coast of Australia (as well as the coasts of Africa and the Americas) is not correct -- and that the chart in question is based upon a copy of a copy of the charts from that expedition.

Posted by: Greg at 04:12 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 216 words, total size 1 kb.

Want to bet it won't be enough for the rabid Bush-hating Left? Comments at the article's end proves it won't be.

George P. Bush, a nephew of President Bush who was a hit on the campaign trail, has been accepted in the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer and has begun the process of being commissioned for eight years of service.

Bush, 30, said in a telephone interview from his office at a real estate development firm in Fort Worth, Texas, that he was moved to join the service in part when he attended the rainy commissioning in October of the aircraft carrier named for his grandfather -- the USS George H.W. Bush.

"My grandfather's my hero, and what really sold me on the ultimate decision was having the chance to see the CVN-77 be commissioned under his name," he said. "That was pretty moving, and I had a chance to meet some Navy admirals, as well. I had a chance to talk to them briefly about the opportunity, and I was won over."

George Prescott Bush, the oldest son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player and Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 in what was later determined to be a friendly-fire incident, "was a wake-up call for me." He said he even "looked into active duty" and had somber conversations with his wife about the possibility.

Bush said he had not intended to announce his plans. "Honestly, I'm kind of a little disappointed that the word got out," he said. "I was hoping to keep this as confidential as possible. I'm not doing it for political purposes or anything along those lines. I'm just doing it because I've been inspired by the friends of mine that have served, either through the JAG (military law) program or through the Reserves. I thought this was a small way that I could get involved."

I wish this young man -- and future political rock star -- well in his military endeavors.

Posted by: Greg at 04:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 351 words, total size 2 kb.

Cathy Seipp has passed away.

Sign the online memorial petition.

Posted by: Greg at 12:56 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

I just love it when Muslims, complaining about ill-treatment and so-called Islamophobia trot out their own anti-Semitism.

Guess what -- I've found a perfect example in this blogger.

Joe Sestak (D-PA) is facing an intense attack of sorts by the Philly Jews to back down from his commitment to speak at a CAIR dinner.

Come on, surely he could just come out and call them "kikes", given the tone of his opening.

And if you have any doubt of his anti-Semitism, consider what he has to say later on.

There is a lesson in this for all of usÂ… consider for a moment how this group of people are so beholden to a foreign country (Israel) that they do not mind There is a lesson in this for all of usÂ… consider for a moment how this group of people are so beholden to a foreign country (Israel) that they do not mind demanding the disenfranchisement of fellow Americans.

Ah, the anti-Semitic "dual loyalty" canard, trotted out to delegitimize the speech of Jewish-Americans -- what I think the author of the sentence would call an example of "demanding the disenfranchisement of fellow Americans" if it were used to criticize Muslim loyalty to the ummah above any other loyalty.

But then again, the author makes it really clear that he doesn't consider non-Muslims worthy of respect in another post -- especially if they are supportive of Israel.

“Our Muslim brothers”? First of all, we ain’t your brothers, especially YOUR brothers.

Contempt returned -- in spades.

Oh, and by the way, the only reason I found this blog is because it is being promoted by the Houston Chronicle's reader blog about Islam. It's author (a charming young woman with whom I have had a number of cordial and respectful discussions) claims to be "excited and happy" about this blog -- and is a co-blogger on the site in question, which makes me wonder if she has missed the anti-Semitism of at least one of her co-bloggers.

UPDATE -- 3/22/07: As you can see, Amad insists he was misunderstood. He even modified one portion of one of the posts in question, recognizing I may have had a point. After reflection, I'll presume good-will on his part, and that what he wrote did not have the intent I saw.

Posted by: Greg at 03:03 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 393 words, total size 3 kb.

No, not the story itself, which is all about the Edwards Campaign getting illegal campaign contributions. Democrat corruption of that nature is to be expected -- after all, honesty has never been a requirement in the Donkey Party.

No, this is the part I find hilarious.

Trial lawyers are a fixture of Democratic politics and fundraising, particularly in the South, but some also have a reputation in Democratic political circles for a freewheeling approach to campaign finance law. Within Edwards' 2004 campaign, staffers referred to those flamboyant personalities by an acronym: They called them "DFTLs," which according to former staffers was short for "dirty (expletive) trial lawyers."

"No current staffer for John Edwards for President uses that kind of language to talk about our donors," said Kate Bedingfield, campaign spokeswoman.

Edwards, of course, is one of those "dirty (expletive) trial lawyers." And while Bedingfield may be right that the phrase is no longer used in the campaign, I can't help bit be struck that the Edwards camp has no real objection to that particular expletive being used by staffers to describe Christians who deviate from the Gospel of Liberalism because the follow instead follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After all -- Christians are much worse for the country than trial lawyers, isn't that right, Ms. McEwan and Ms. Marcotte?

Posted by: Greg at 01:05 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 226 words, total size 2 kb.

It doesn't matter what is good for the country or the belief of their constituents -- Nancy Pelosi is threatening to punish Democrats who don't vote her way on the funding bill for the Iraq War.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is holding the implied threat of lost committee seats over the heads of Democratic Caucus members who may vote against her $124 billion Iraq war supplemental bill.

Faced with the possibility of losing the first really big vote since taking majority control in the November elections, Pelosi is talking tough to wavering lawmakers and isolating those opposed to the bill.

Interestingly enough, it is the most liberal, anti-war Democrats she is seeking to penalize for voting their consciences. And while I consider the folks she is out to punish to be anti-American traitors, I object to the Speaker's methodology, which shows rank disrespect to the elected representatives of the people of each of their districts.

Bad precedent for a speaker who vowed not to play petty politics as usual.

Posted by: Greg at 12:56 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 185 words, total size 1 kb.

You know, since so many folks on the Left claim the so-called insurgents (terrorists, really) are the equivalent of our Founding Fathers. After all, I'm not aware of George Washington ever engaging in tactics like this.

Insurgents detonated a bomb in a car carrying two children after using the children as decoys to get through a military checkpoint in Baghdad, an American general said Tuesday.

Speaking at a news briefing at the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Michael Barbaro, deputy director for regional operations at the PentagonÂ’s Joint Staff, said that American soldiers had stopped the car at the checkpoint but allowed it to pass after they seeing the two children in the back seat.

“Children in the back seat lower suspicion,” he said, according to a transcript. “We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in back.”

General Barbaro offered no further specifics about the incident.

Savages -- supported by dupes who would rather believe worse of their own country than its enemies.

Posted by: Greg at 12:41 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 193 words, total size 1 kb.

Borrowing money is a fact of modern life. Let's face it -- cars and houses alone are investments that most of us need years to pay off. After all, who has a spare 100K sitting around to pay cash for a new home -- or even 15-25K for a car? Heck, if you are like most folks of the middle class, there just isn't that sort of spare change in the couch cushions.

That's when you need to make a decision about seeking a loan -- whether we are talking about a secured loan, an unsecured loan or even, heaven forbid, a bad credit loan.

In the UK, you can turn to SelectLoans.co.uk for information about all these different types of loans. Take a look, it has good information for you. Then make a prudent decision, based upon your circumstances and means, on whether or not to seek a loan.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 12:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm sorry -- it is a question that had to be asked. Why would aides to the governor allow accusations of child abuse to be investigated by the alleged abusers -- especially when one of the complaints came from the second-highest ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives? It seems incomprehensible, unless the policy was approved at the highest levels.

Gov. Rick Perry's staff knew as early as June 2005 that two administrators at a Texas Youth Commission facility were not being prosecuted on allegations of sexually abusing youths in their custody, according to records obtained Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle.

Perry's aides have said that TYC notified them of the initial investigation in February 2005, and that they thought the case was being pursued by prosecutors until they were told otherwise in October 2006 by an aide to state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston.

Also, other records show Perry's office routinely sent written complaints from parents about their children's treatment in TYC facilities to the agency for self-investigation. A complaint of sexual abuse involving students was forwarded to Perry in 2001 by then-U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Denton.

I'm particularly shocked at this "business as usual" response from Rick Perry's official spokesperson.

Royer said the governor's office had to rely on TYC to respond to the complaints.

"When constituents write to tell us their insurance company is overcharging them, we refer them to the Texas Department of Insurance," Royer said. "We do not have the staff to investigate complaints about other agencies."

Royer said as far as the governor's office knew, the complaints were handled appropriately.

Excuse me, but if you put complaints of sexual abuse of kids in the same category as complaints of insurance over-charging, I think there is a serious question regarding your judgment. And even if their isn't, your analogy fails -- what the aides did in this question is more the equivalent of turning the complaint of overcharging over to the insurance company to investigate, not the Insurance Commission.

And I guess that as a teacher, I'm particularly troubled by one little point here -- if I find out about alleged sexual abuse and do not report it to CPS or law enforcement for investigation, I can lose my teaching credentials for life and possibly face criminal charges. It looks like the governor's staff and employees of TYC are held to a much lower standard than I am.

Posted by: Greg at 12:37 AM | Comments (33) | Add Comment
Post contains 423 words, total size 3 kb.