I guess there is something to be said for putting your top people where the focus of your business is, but it still comes as a surprise.

Halliburton, the big energy services company, said on Sunday that it would open a corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai and move its chairman and chief executive, David J. Lesar, there.

The company will maintain its existing corporate office here as well as its legal incorporation in the United States, meaning that it will still be subject to domestic laws and regulations.

Although the announcement of the new Dubai arrangement took many by surprise, Halliburton said that the move was part of a strategy announced in mid-2006 to concentrate its efforts in the Middle East and surrounding areas, where state-owned oil companies represent a growing source of business.

Still, most of its major operations will remain in Houston, so it is unlikely that this will make a long-term difference in how the company operates or on the local job market here in Houston.

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My wife loves magazines. Indeed, I've never seen anyone who gets so many magazines, with the possible exception of the school librarian -- but then again, those are not for personal consumption. So I'm glad I found the books and magazines section of Coupon Chief, where there are lots of coupon codes for books and magazines.

Of particular use around my house will be the coupons for Best Deal Magazines. They have a number of different options available for you -- offering 15% or 20% off of your total order, on top of the already discounted prices they offer. And after all, a bargain is a bargain!

Where can you find this and so many other great internet bargains involving the use of internet coupons? Why at CouponChief.com, of course!

Paid Endorsement.

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If the rumors are correct, expect a trade with Washington that will move Houston to the number 6 pick (from so that they can grab Notre Dame's Brady Quinn.

On the list of the world's 946 billionaires published by Forbes Magazine this week, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair ranked No. 664, with reported assets of $1.5 billion.

That's good, because it seems that for the second time in six years, McNair is going to be opening up the bank vault to sign a top-10 quarterback from the draft.

However, there are two problems with this scenario.

The first is the current incumbent at quarterback, David Carr.

The Texans appear focused on Brady Quinn. According to ESPN's Len Pasquarelli, the Texans would like to move up in the draft to get the Notre Dame quarterback. Sage Rosenfels might still be the starter at the beginning of next season, but Quinn could be groomed to play quickly.

Left unsaid in all of this is how the Texans get rid of David Carr. His trade value appears to be very low. His cap number is too high to stay on the roster unless he agrees to rework his contract. It's unlikely he'd do that to be a backup. Even though the Texans have filled needs at running back and the offensive line, quarterback remains their most pressing issue.

Indeed, are the Texans prepared to throw away the amount of money necessary to get rid of David Car without any compensation at all? I somehow doubt it, which means they are going to have to unload him somewhere -- but where, and for how little?

Which leads us to the other intriguing question -- after so many protestations that the team will trade away no extra draft picks, how do the Texans move into a position where Quinn is available? Well, there is this scenario.

If ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli's (membership required) league sources are right, they are doing just that. Please note the first word of the previous sentence. (See: Rudyard Kipling.)

According to Pasquarelli, "some in the league" believe the Texans have agreed in principle to a trade with the Washington Redskins to swap draft positions if Quinn is available when the Redskins go on the clock with the sixth pick.

According to the draft pick value chart followed by most teams, a move from the Texans spot at No. 8 to No. 6 would require a mid-third round pick. The Texans don't have any player they are willing to trade who has third-round value except for David Carr. (Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.) Would the Redskins take Carr? Would the Texans give up their third-round pick for Quinn?

This type rumor talk makes one wonder where it came from. You know the Texans have nothing to gain from putting word out that they are interested in moving up to get Quinn. That only makes other teams interested in Quinn know they have to beat the Texans out for his services. In this case, the less competition the better - if Quinn is indeed your guy.

Washington, on the other hand, stands to gain plenty by putting out such word. First, it lets the world know that the No. 6 pick is up for grabs. Secondly, it alerts those interested in Quinn that the Texans are after him, which also drives up the price for the No. 6 pick.

Frankly, unless Kubiak & Co. are willing to give up a draft pick (or the Redskins will take David Carr as a part of the deal), I don't see this trade happening. And neither do some other local sports commentators.

Personally, this Texans season ticketholder is expecting our starter in the fall to be Sage Rosenfels -- and I hope that David Carr (who I wish well) is nowhere on our roster. But I also urge the Texans to consider a choice that would be popular locally in the second or third round -- or even trading DOWN to the end of the first round to do this -- by making University of Houston's Kevin Kolb the quarterback of the future for the Houston Texans. It may take a season to groom Kolb for the starting role, but Rosenfels showed enough skill last season to be accepted by the fans as the acknowledged caretaker QB.

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Well, the new blogging platform for the MuNuvian blogs is being beta tested by some of my brother and sister MuNuvians, so I'm stating to think more seriously about the changes that I'll be making here. As I do, I am continuing to give consideration to providing email updates to my regular visitors in the form of periodic newsletters from my site. As I've looked around, I am more and more convinced that I’ve found the utility I’ll use for this service – it is called Zookoda, and it specializes in providing blog email as a form of email marketing, something that I believe that I need to do more of to take this site to the next level.

Why use a service like Zookoda? Because it will let me do the following to market this site with readers.:
• Manage email newsletter subscribers.
• Enhance my blog with custom newsletter subscription forms.
• Design eye-catching newletters to match my blog design.
• Schedule recurring broadcasts for each day, week or month.
• View real-time open, bounce, click and unsubscribe reports.
• Access mobile users by emailing blog content in text format.

Now I’d like to offer my encouragement to my fellow bloggers to take a look at Zookoda and what it can do for them and their blogs. Ask yourself – am I happy where I am, or do I want my site to be something more? If you answer “something more”, consider Zookoda.

Paid Endorsement.

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After all, just because they are violent gang-bangers already under arrest doesn't mean they should be looked at for additional offenses.

Or at least that is the position taken by advocates for border-jumping immigration criminals.

A spot check by federal agents has identified 59 street gang members in Southern California jails who are illegal immigrants subject to deportation, sparking a debate about the role of border enforcement in the region's battle against violent gangs.

The initial identification of deportable gang members came during a first-of-its-kind screening of a portion of jail inmates last month.

The review will continue, and officials expect during the first year to identify 700 to 800 gang members who are illegal immigrants, according to Jim Hayes, director of the Los Angeles field office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The results so far have some officials convinced that border enforcement needs to be a big part of combating the gang problem.

"We play a vital role with respect to foreign nationals who are in gangs here," Hayes said.

Of course, LA's Special Order 40 effectively provides sanctuary for criminal border-jumpers by preventing LA cops from inquiring about immigration status. Only when they comply with federal law and allow federal officials to check on immigration status does the magnitude of the problem become clear. And while different numbers relatd top different populations are cited in the article, it is not unreasonable to conclude that anywhere from 10% to 25% of those arrested in LA are eligible for deportation -- but the city is aiding and abetting their illegal residence in this country with this policy.

I'm not for random stops of people on the stree demanding proof of citizenship -- that is absurd. But a citizenship/immigration status check following arrest is hardly intrusive -- and makes good sense from a public policy standpoint.

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One of my students has told me he is going to be traveling in Europe this summer with his college-aged brother Their plan is to stay in the network of youth hostels there. I wonder if they are familiar with this Student Travelsite, with its listing of over 8000 places to stay in 2000 destinations?

Paid Endorsement.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Between Iraq and a Hard Place -- Why We Went, How It Got So Screwed Up and Where It's Going -- Part 2 by Joshuapundit, and Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job? by Websurdity.  Here is your link to the full results of the votet. 

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

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My wife watches a lot of HGTV -- and so I watch it with her in order to spend a little quality time with her. One of the companies whose products have been featured on some of the shows like "Mission Organization" has been Home Reserve, makers of some really good ready-to-assemble furniture. well, the company is adding a whole new line of products -- sectionals. Yes, that's right -- now you can got to Home Reserve for sofas, loveseats, chairs and sectionals at reasonable prices.

Now some folks might be a little bit wary of buying furniture off the internet. But think about it -- we buy all sorts of products online, so why not furniture, especially when you are dealing with a company that offers 95 different fabric options to choose from. And the nice thing is that items ship to you within ten days via UPS -- how many times have you found it necessary to wait for something on back-order for much longer with your local furniture store? In addition, all Home Reserve sofas , loveseats, sectionals, chairs and ottomans include built-in storage, changeable covers, and a five year frame warranty that compares favorably to what you would get at local furniture stores.

Now the nice thing about the sectionals is that they are reasonably priced. Sections start at $99 and a nice looking sectional can be completed for under $1000 -- again, a great deal compared to what happens when you go to your local furniture store. Indeed, the prices at Home Reserve on sofas, loveseats, chairs and sectionals are all good compared to what you'll find in a brick-and-mortar establishment.

My darling wife and I have been talking about new living room furniture for a while now, and will probably be making a move once we deal with some remaining medical bills (ICU can be expensive, even with insurance). When we do, Home Reserve will be one of the places we consider seriously -- and if they add a chaise to their sectional line, I can virtually guarantee that they will be our selection.

Paid Endorsement.

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How can that be, given these two stories?

First there is this.

The US trade deficit narrowed 3.8 percent in January to 59.1 billion dollars thanks to record-breaking export growth, the Commerce Department said Friday.

It was a bigger drop than expected on Wall Street, where analysts saw a deficit of 60.0 billion dollars, and marked the steepest change in the trade figure since October.

Then there is this.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent and workers got fatter paychecks in February, even as bad winter weather sent a bit of a chill through U.S. job growth.

The latest employment picture, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested employers are holding up well and opportunities continue for jobseekers as the economy deals with a sluggish spell, a housing slump and troubles in the automotive industry.

Economic growth. Lower trade deficits. Increased employment and robust job creation. Give me more of this “bad economy.”

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Sadly, though, this position was taken by only two of the three judges in the case.

A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia.

The court also ruled the D.C. requirement that registered firearms be kept unloaded, disassembled and under trigger lock was unconstitutional.

Frighteningly enough, one judge did not simply want to allow wholesale violations of the Second Amendment – she effectively sought to strip the residents of the protections of the Bill of Rights!

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the district because it is not a state.

Given that the Bill of Rights was initially designed as a check upon CONGRESSIONAL power, and that the DC city government is a creation of Congress and all its actions are subject to review/veto by Congress, the provisions of the Second Amendment actually are MORE applicable to the District than to the states (where it must be bootstrapped through the Fourteenth Amendment). For her to make such an argument is clear evidence of her fundamental incompetence for the bench.

Additional news coverage here.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stop the ACLU, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Pursuing Holiness, Rightlinx, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, , Pirate's Cove, Overtaken by Events, The Right Nation, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, A Blog For All, 123beta, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Florida Masochist, Jo's Cafe, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, and Blue Star Chronicles, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Sadly, though, this position was taken by only two of the three judges in the case.

A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia.

The court also ruled the D.C. requirement that registered firearms be kept unloaded, disassembled and under trigger lock was unconstitutional.

Frighteningly enough, one judge did not simply want to allow wholesale violations of the Second Amendment – she effectively sought to strip the residents of the protections of the Bill of Rights!

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the district because it is not a state.

Given that the Bill of Rights was initially designed as a check upon CONGRESSIONAL power, and that the DC city government is a creation of Congress and all its actions are subject to review/veto by Congress, the provisions of the Second Amendment actually are MORE applicable to the District than to the states (where it must be bootstrapped through the Fourteenth Amendment). For her to make such an argument is clear evidence of her fundamental incompetence for the bench.

Additional news coverage here.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stop the ACLU, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Pursuing Holiness, Rightlinx, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, , Pirate's Cove, Overtaken by Events, The Right Nation, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, A Blog For All, 123beta, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Florida Masochist, Jo's Cafe, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, and Blue Star Chronicles, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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So much for the notion that border-jumping immigration criminals are “doing the jobs Americans won’t do.”

Last summer, 40 or 50 carpenters from Local 1305, the Fall River chapter of the New England Council of Carpenters, didn't work at all.

Ron Rheaume, the business manager for the union, said that means about 10 percent of the union's 500-strong work force couldn't find any jobs for the first time in recent memory.

The biggest reason, he believes, is the influx of illegal immigrants who have begun to work in the New England construction industry over the past four to five years.

"It's blatant and it's everywhere," he said. "It's happening in prevailing wage jobs and it's happening in state projects. It's happening all over the place."

John O'Connor, a senior organizer with the carpenter's union, said the employment situation in Massachusetts has been so changed by illegal labor that it is even becoming impossible for high school students to find such traditional part-time positions as bus boys, landscapers or painters.

And it's not just a problem of the immigrants undercutting high wages by working cheap, he said.

"They're taking the lower-wage jobs from Americans who work in lower-wage jobs."

Round ‘em up! Ship ‘em back! Rawhide!

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You see, it is only CONSERVATIVES who cannot use the word “faggot”.

Daily Kos itself has not shied away from the word. Nor has it removed postings that use it. Examples include:

• a headline reading: "Democrats and the faggot problem."
  
• a headline asking: "Who invited the little faggot?"
  
• a headline reading: "When is a faggot just a bundle of sticks?" (That posting goes on to ask, "What's up with the little sly gay jokes? Hmm? As I read the comments in discussions on DKos, there are times when I almost have to check and see if I accidentally stumbled into a Wingnut [right-wing] blog.")
  

Other left-wing websites have also seen usage of what's being called the new f-word:

• Pam Spaulding of the blog Pam's House Blend wrote a headline including the phrase "caving to the faggot juggernaut" -- in reference to a comment by Fred Phelps, the controversial leader of a small religious group that uses the epithet frequently in its campaigning.
  
• Indymedia, a left-wing activist site, carried an Oct. 2006 rant under the headline, "Bush is a closet faggot."
  
• A posting on the Firedoglake blog that pokes fun at Christian leaders found to have been involved in homosexual relationships: "I have been spending my time since the election attempting to hone my knowledge of the Radical Gay Agenda in hopes of infiltrating the Christianist chuch [sic] and bringing it down from within. But it looks like the sad, sick, repressed faggots that run the place are saving me the trouble."
  
• Blogger Melissa McEwan, on her site Shakespeare's Sister, used the line -- in reference to Leonardo da Vinci -- "I'm not so sure it's such a good idea for students to be studying that faggot anyway."
  
• Another contributor to the Shakespeare's Sister site, "Paul the Spud," wrote in a Dec. 2006 posting, "We can't make it work, so why should you be allowed to, faggot? Quit getting so uppity!" (He was putting words into the mouth of an advocate against same-sex marriage.)
  

Ironically, McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister is one of two bloggers who worked briefly for the Edwards 2008 campaign but resigned last month amid criticism of provocative postings about Christianity on their sites.

The other erstwhile Edwards blogger, Amanda Marcotte, carried a posting ( warning: vile content ) by another blogger -- Spaulding, again -- on her Pandagon site, using the word "faggoty" in reference to Jesus.

And since two of the offenders include former Edwards staffers Marcotte and McEwan – dating back to before their hiring/firing/re-hiring/resignations for hate-speech, can the Edwards camp really claim to be offended or victims in this instance?

Posted by: Greg at 09:46 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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If you are going to give bonuses that you cannot explain, you ought to at least calculate them correctly.

Ninety-nine HISD teachers who received performance bonuses are being told this week they have to pay back an average of $745 because the district accidentally overpaid them.

HISD officials said a computer programming error led them to overpay about $73,700. The mistake caused the 99 part-time teachers and other instructional personnel to be paid as though they were full-time employees.

The affected teachers should receive a form from Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra this week giving them the option of having all the money deducted from a single paycheck or spread out over 10 pay periods.

The amounts range from $62.50 to $2,790.

"Although this affects less than 1 percent of HISD's 12,500 teachers, the error should not have been made," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said in a written statement. "We regret it and apologize to those instructional staff members."

Just a typical day in HISD -- and a reason I'm glad I don't work there.

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No, not with the conclusion of this article that San Francisco State University should drop all action against the College Republicans – for they should, based upon Supreme Court precedent permitting flag desecration. On the whole, I agree with the analysis.

Rather, I disagree with this little element of the column.

The objection to the trampling of the name of Allah is reasonable. Done willfully, it would be an act of religious intolerance. The problem is, this wasnÂ’t willful, at least not as religious disrespect. The erasure of the name shows it.

First, any desecration of the name of Allah is committed by the terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, when they place the name of the allegedly peace-loving deity of the so-called “Religion of Peace” on flags for their decidedly non-peaceful organizations. Unless, of course, some Muslim wishes to argue that Islam and Allah are not so peaceful after all, and that the use of the name of Allah to represent terrorists is therefore an honest portrayal of the Muslim faith.

Secondly, any disrespect shown to Islam or its sacred words, books, or symbols, even if done intentionally, is constitutionally protected and beyond the disciplinary reach of a public university to punish. Indeed, colleges and universities regularly sponsor plays, display art, host programs and schedule classes in which insults to Christianity and Judaism are permitted and justified based upon the “academic freedom” and “First Amendment rights” of those who commit the offensive acts. Not only that, but Israeli flags have been desecrated more than once on the campus by pro-terrorist groups composed primarily of Muslims with no sanctions imposed – despite the fact that the Israel flag includes a universally recognizable Jewish symbol, the Star of David. Setting aside the question of a double standard and unequal protection of the law, the act of which the College Republicans are accused would be Constitutionally protected and beyond the reach of the university to punish EVEN IF IT WERE a willful act of disrespect for Islam. After all, no government official may compel respect for, or punish disrespect for, the religious beliefs or symbols of any creed.

IÂ’d also take issue with this concluding bit.

San Francisco State should just drop the case. The offense was unintentional and the underlying act is constitutionally protected. The whiff of the whole thing is just wrong.

The problem is not that the “underlying act” is Constitutionally protected – the problem is that the actual offense with which the College Republicans are charged is Constitutionally protected. And as it would in any other case, SFSU may not grant a “heckler’s veto” by claiming that an act protected by the First Amendment is an incitement of hostility – unless it is prepared to impose a regime of speech censorship incompatible with a free society and the Constitution of the United States.

However, if SFSU gets away with this, I hope the university is prepared to deal with many objections from Christian and Jewish students to activities on campus – and that they are prepared to ban an Islamic group that uses the Koran, a work in which Christians and Jews are insulted and called “pigs and monkeys”.

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And will they insist that Ann Coulter receive the Pulitzer Prize for her courage in speaking out in the face of attempts by her critics and opponents to silence her? Of course not – after all, it isn’t like the Left believes that conservatives have any rights worthy of respect.

At least three newspapers have pulled conservative commentator Ann Coulter's syndicated column from their editorial pages after her comments last week calling Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards a "faggot."

Newspapers in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Michigan pulled the column after criticism from readers. In addition, reports say at least three companies, Verizon, Sallie Mae and NetBank, have dropped their advertising from Coulter's Web site after a liberal blogger launched a campaign to petition the firms to stop their support.

The Mountain Press in Sevier County, Tenn., pulled Coulter's column this week and called her comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week "distasteful and irresponsible," according to its note to readers on its Web site.

"When we agree to buy a syndicated column we expect the writer to offer responsible, reasoned opinion on national and international issues," said Stan Voit, editor of the Mountain Press. "We will not continue to publish the columns of someone who uses people as a punch line to get a cheap laugh and who so freely uses an offensive term to describe another human being."

Of course, I believe these papers and advertisers have every right to act as they have – and see absolutely no First Amendment implications to their decisions. But then again, I also had no problem with the same treatment being given to the Dixie Chicks after their outrageous comments – while the left-wingers rewarded them with Grammys for their latest song, “I’m Not Ready To Stop Whining”. But then again, that is the difference between conservatives and liberals – we have principles that apply across the board, while the left does not.

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The other day I pointed to Rudy' Giuliani's marital woes as a reason for having a problem with his candidacy. This disclosure about Newt Gingrich shows why he simply needs to stay out of the presidential race.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.

Sorry, but even if one accepts his explanation, it still does not play well. The GOP cannot be the party of family values with someone like Newt as teh nominee -- and given the realities of the campaign trail, there is no way that his misdeeds will not be construed as hypocrisy by the media and the public at large.

MORE AT Michelle Malkin, Ace of Spades HQ, HILL Chronicles, Unpartisan, memeorandum

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Just a reminder about his position on inflammatory language.

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I've mentioned a time or two that my wife and I are talking about some changes in our home decor. Well, this is likely to include wrought iron -- we've got a wrought iron cross that we love, and an iron candelabra over the dining table. I foresee some candle sconces and maybe even a wall vase or two placed on the patio. I suspect that my input will be limited to nodding my head and writing checks, though.

Where I may have some input, though, is in where we make the purchases -- and I think that the Wrought Iron Decor Store would be a great place for us to start looking. Indeed, just looking at the site I see some great bath fixtures that would go well with the plans my wife has talked about. Best of all, the products there are priced at a level we can afford -- meaning that the redecorating plans will not bust the budget.

And even better, there is free shipping for orders over $50!

Paid Endorsement.

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Unless there is a compelling reason for doing so, such as public safety, there is not reasonable basis for requiring a public employee to live within the boundaries of the government entity for which they work. One can make an argument for such a requirement regarding police or firefighters, but certainly not for teachers – but some districts try to do so anyway.

It looks like the teachers in one district might be free at last from such an absurd requirement.

The Chicago Teachers Union scored a major victory Wednesday in its two-decade fight to dump a requirement that Chicago teachers live in the city.
A bill to prohibit the rule passed the Illinois House nearly unanimously, 105 to 4. It now moves to the Senate.

"If you want to recruit the best and brightest teachers, why would you put up a roadblock?" said CTU lobbyist Pam Massarsky.

CPS is the only district in Illinois with a residency rule, Massarsky said.

And if you want proof that this is not about the good of the schools, but is instead about something else, you need only look at these comments.

Mayor Daley has been a big proponent. He has argued that teachers will invest more in the schools if they live in the city.

"This increases the number of middle class living in the city," Massarsky said. "It has nothing to do with whether or not they know more about the community in which they teach."

Fifteen years ago, I chose not to even consider teaching in the city of Chicago because I didnÂ’t want to live within the city limits. Indeed, I could not have afforded to do so in a neighborhood I considered acceptable.

Today, I don’t live in my district, and commute 30 minutes each way in order to ensure that my wife and I have the personal privacy that we believe is important. At the same time, I work my butt off for my kids, and make a point of being at those events that fit in my schedule. No one questions my investment level – if anything, they know that I am more invested in these schools because I choose to make a commute from a district that pays more and has a more affluent, better educated population than this one. I’m here because I believe in these kids.

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LetÂ’s hope this little girl gets well soon.

Hollywood film star Johnny Depp's young daughter is seriously ill in hospital, it was reported today.

The Mirror newspaper said Depp's seven-year-old daughter Lily-Rose was rushed to a British hospital nine days ago as Depp, 43, took part in filming in the UK.

It said the Pirates Of The Caribbean star, who has enthused about the joys of fatherhood, and his partner Vanessa Paradis are keeping a round-the-clock vigil on the youngster.

The Mirror said it knew what Lily-Rose's medical condition was and where she was being treated but was not revealing those details to protect the family's privacy.

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Prayer at Rumayla by Charles Sheehan-Miles was published in 2001. It was Sheehan-Miles’ first novel, and drew on his experiences as a veteran of the Gulf War following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.

Sheehan-Miles has recently taken the novel and made it into an audio book in the form of nine podcasts available through his website. Currently, the first two chapters are available there, with the remaining seven to follow.

The protagonist of the novel is a nineteen-year-old veteran of the war who is struggling to deal with his experiences in the Middle East, in particular with the accidental killing of civilians. Upon his return home, he has to deal with events that have turned his life upside-down. Reviewers at Amazon praise Charles Sheehan-Miles for his realism in presenting the difficulties faced by veterans of this war upon their return to America. His podcast version is beautifully read by the author, and full of a resonant emotion of one who has shared in the changes wrought by the experience of war.

I’ll be honest – I liked what I heard. If you enjoy literary works dealing with the realities of warfare, this is a good book for you. For that matter, if you enjoy a taut storyline about a character you care about, this is a good choice for you. I listened to the first episode of the podcast, and will be back for the rest – and ready to read Sheehan-Miles’ next book when it comes out.

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Having just spent the last couple of days jumping on Ann Coulter for her comments at CPAC, I feel rather sheepish about citing her column on the Libby verdict. However, for better or for worse, she more or less presents my point of view on the matter.

Lewis Libby has now been found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice for lies that had absolutely no legal consequence.

It was not a crime to reveal Valerie Plame's name because she was not a covert agent. If it had been a crime, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could have wrapped up his investigation with an indictment of the State Department's Richard Armitage on the first day of his investigation since it was Armitage who revealed her name and Fitzgerald knew it.

With no crime to investigate, Fitzgerald pursued a pointless investigation into nothing, getting a lot of White House officials to make statements under oath and hoping some of their recollections would end up conflicting with other witness recollections, so he could charge some Republican with "perjury" and enjoy the fawning media attention.

As a result, Libby is now a convicted felon for having a faulty memory of the person who first told him that Joe Wilson was a delusional boob who lied about his wife sending him to Niger.

For the record, I usually don’t read Coulter’s column, but it was sent to me by a friend without her byline on it – and only after reading it did I click the link and discover who the author was.

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Legal trouble happens. When it does, you are going to need a lawyer – and it had better be the right one. After all, attorneys specialize, just like doctors do, and you want the right sort of specialist.

That is where TopUSAttorneys.com comes into play. It is a directory of attorneys and law firms in the U.S., searchable by city, state, zip code, or specialty. Think about it – you can get the right kind of attorney right in your own backyard! Whether you need someone o handle a DUI case or a civil suit following an accident, the right sort of attorney is listed at TopUSAttorneys.com so that you can get the legal representative you need when you need it without spending hours using general search engines and clicking dozens of pointless links. What more can you ask – other than for your legal trouble to go away.

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Good grief -- how did they miss this? And how was it allowed to continue after it was discovered?

Law enforcement officers who earlier this week moved into Texas Youth Commission facilities to protect inmates from sex predators on Wednesday discovered a registered sex offender working as a correctional officer in a halfway house for juveniles.

The sex offender had been allowed to stay on the job despite an alert that had been sent months ago to TYC administrators in Austin.

David Andrew Lewis, 23, was discovered by investigators sent to TYC's 22 facilities after reports of sex abuse stunned lawmakers.

Gee, he only committed thirteen sex acts against a five-year-old -- how could he possibly be seen as a threat against juveniles?

There needs to be wholesale reform here -- beginning with massive changes in the top leadership at the TYC, and extending upward as well as downward. What did the governor know and when did he know it?

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I received an email from a friend yesterday and she included some information about proposed changes to the testing program down here in Texas -- and I like what I see.

• The bills are House Bill 2236 and Senate Bill 1031 (these bills are identical).

• There are 12 end-of-course tests: Algebra I, Algebra II, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, English I, English II, English III, world geography, world history, and United States history.

• A cumulative score of 840, equivalent to a 70 average on the combined scores of the 12 end-of-course tests, is required.

• These tests will count 15% of the course grade.

• Each student who did not perform satisfactorily on any end-of-course assessment instrument when initially tested, shall be given multiple opportunities to retake that assessment instrument.

• Bill will take effect with the freshman class of 2009/2010

• Additional security controls.

• Eighth grade readiness test.

• State funded Pre-SAT test for all 10th graders.

Again, I find plenty to like in this -- not the least of which will be that my students will actually be tested on material from my 10th grade World History class, not their 8th grade American History class. That means there will be some real accountability on their part and mine.

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This story is rather funny in a sick way.

Houston police are investigating a fatal shooting in a southeast Houston apartment complex late Wednesday.

One man died in a car parked in a complex on the 5600 block of Selinsky, while a second man was found wounded nearby, said Capt. M.W. Martin of the Houston Police Department. A third man might have fled the scene carrying a gun, police said.

The story would be unremarkable were it not for this.

Police found marijuana at the scene and believe the shooting might have been drug-related. However, authorities are unsure exactly how much marijuana there was because bystanders had taken most of it by the time investigators arrived at the scene, leaving traces of the drug scattered across the parking lot, police said.

Well, its not like the dead guy was going to smoke it, so why let it go to waste -- right guys?

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And that includes responding to a subpoena and tuning over material when directed to do so by a court.

He is being cast by some journalists as a young champion of the First Amendment, jailed for taking a lonely stand against heavy-handed federal prosecutors.

Josh Wolf, a 24-year-old blogger, has spent more than six months behind bars in California -- the longest contempt-of-court term ever served by someone in the media -- for refusing to turn over a videotape he shot of a violent San Francisco demonstration against a Group of Eight summit meeting. Unless a mediation session today can break the impasse, he will likely remain imprisoned at least until the current grand jury's term expires in July.

"Even in high school, he was standing up for things that weren't considered popular," says his mother, Liz Wolf-Spada.

But Wolf's rationale for withholding the video, and refusing to testify, is less than crystal clear. There are no confidential sources involved in the case. He sold part of the tape to local television stations and posted another portion on his blog. Why, then, is he willing to give up his freedom over the remaining footage?

"It's one thing to say journalists must respect promises of confidentiality they made to their sources," says Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. "It would be quite another to say journalists have a right to refuse to testify even about non-confidential sources. When something is videotaped in a public place, it's hard to see even an implied agreement of confidentiality."

In an interview with PBS's "Frontline," Wolf says: "There was a trust established between people involved in the organization that I was covering and myself . . . that what I chose to release was what I chose to release, and that I wasn't an investigator for the state."

This is rather cut and dried for me. When a citizen -- regardless of profession -- has evidence of a crime and is ordered to turn it over by a court, he or she has to comply. "I'm a journalist/reporter/blogger" is not a magic shield to exempt one from the basic citizenship obligations we all have. period.

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Just a quick link to a news story I ran across regarding the case I mentioned last week about university administrators banning members of a campus religious group from engaging in First Amendment protected religious activities. If any thing, the story gets worse, and implicates the campus fraternity system in the banning as well -- and shows that the university is taking the notion of in loco parentis further than any reasonable interpretation of those powers can be extended.

Frustrated by the futility of his efforts in the field of public opinion, Campbell used a patented move of the "diversity police" and sought to impose his will through the kangaroo courts of the university and reported the group to the campus police department. Following the filing of this complaint, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Irvin Clark, sent a summons to the C2L president charging the organization and its officers with two Level 1 Zero Tolerance Misconducts. One charge fell under the category of "assault, harassment and fighting" while the other fell under the hazing provision of the SSU Code of Student Ethics.

The summons also temporarily suspended all C2L activities until an investigation could be held and a hearing conducted. During this time, approximately 15 members of C2L attempted to gather and pray on campus; but the Vice President for Student Affairs Randy Gunter allegedly ordered campus police officers to stop the group from assembling and praying.

Soon thereafter, SSU faculty member Marilyn Suggs, who periodically serves as a hearing officer for the campus kangaroo court, laid down her judgment sanctioning C2L with punishments of a several month suspension, community service and probation. While under the suspension, the group was prohibited from conducting any activities, congregating, wearing C2L paraphernalia, soliciting membership or participating in "meetings, step shows or other 'underground activities' on campus or off campus."

Reportedly, Suggs' reasons for issuing the sanctions included a "verbal altercation" between the C2L president and Campbell, Campbell's petition, an incident where the C2L president told a former member "Shut [his] mouth" and the former member's voluntary acts of washing the feet of another C2L member and jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on the semester retreat.

The group's suspension ultimately led to expulsion when they refused to cancel an off-campus non-C2L-affiliated weekend trip to Walt Disney World for Disney's Night of Joy contemporary Christian music. Clark immediately expelled the group from campus for violating its terms of suspension. Left without any other options, C2L members are now suing to get their organization back on campus.

Excuse me -- what basis does a university have regulating a group of students going to Disney World? What basis does the university have threatening students with arrest for gathering together to pray -- either on or off campus?

Interestingly enough, it strikes me that the best statute on the books to deal with this official oppression under color of law by the staff of this historically black university would be one passed shortly after the Civil War to protect freed slaves whose rights under the Constitution were violated by former Confederates. It is known as the Ku Klux Klan Act.

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One more example of the fact that too many school administrators don't understand Tinker v. DesMoines -- and that too many non-Christians not only want "tolerance" for their beliefs, but are demanding that the rights fo Christians under the First Amendment be actively suppressed.

Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor, CitizenLink of Focus on the Family reports: "The non-profit legal group Liberty Counsel is asking Heritage High School officials to reverse their suspension of 12 Christian students for meeting in the cafeteria during non-instructional time to pray.

"After a Satanist student approached school administrators to complain about the prayer group, Vice Principal Alex Otoupal told the Christians they could no longer meet.

"Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said the students might not have been punished if they had met for just about any other reason.

"’These are students who, if they wanted to gather together and talk about American Idol or talk about whatever subject they wanted to and [there would be] no problem,’ Staver said. ‘But in this case they were told not to gather anymore -- ever -- because they wanted to gather together and pray.

"What the school did is clearly and blatantly illegal, he said."

Students do not lose their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate -- what will it take to make administrators respect that four-decade-old holding of the Supreme Court?

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Can anyone say "cattle futures"? Well, maybe not.

Less than two months after ascending to the United States Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies whose major investors included some of his biggest political donors.

One of the companies was a biotech concern that was starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu. In March 2005, two weeks after buying about $5,000 of its shares, Mr. Obama took the lead in a legislative push for more federal spending to battle the disease.

The most recent financial disclosure form for Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, also shows that he bought more than $50,000 in stock in a satellite communications business whose principal backers include four friends and donors who had raised more than $150,000 for his political committees.

A spokesman for Mr. Obama, who is seeking his partyÂ’s presidential nomination in 2008, said yesterday that the senator did not know that he had invested in either company until fall 2005, when he learned of it and decided to sell the stocks. He sold them at a net loss of $13,000.

The spokesman, Bill Burton, said Mr. ObamaÂ’s broker bought the stocks without consulting the senator, under the terms of a blind trust that was being set up for the senator at that time but was not finalized until several months after the investments were made.

“He went about this process to avoid an actual or apparent conflict of interest, and he had no knowledge of the stocks he owned,” Mr. Burton said. “And when he realized that he didn’t have the level of blindness that he expected, he moved to terminate the trust.”

I wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg -- or if we are going to find that Obama is operating at a significantly higher level of ethics than his major opponent, Hillary Clinton

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I wonder how much the conditions noted at Walter Reed Hospital have to do with the fact that the place has been slated for closure for some time.

Revelations of shoddy facilities and bureaucratic nightmares at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have tarnished the reputation of the renowned military hospital. But they may also have given the 98-year-old facility a second life.

The furor surrounding the treatment of wounded soldiers has prompted some lawmakers, veterans and Army officials to ask: Why is the Defense Department closing Walter Reed -- where more than 6,000 soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated since 2002 -- in the middle of a war with mounting casualties?

Congress approved and President Bush signed into law the recommendation of the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission in 2005 that Walter Reed be closed and consolidated with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where a $2 billion expansion is being planned.

The debate has been fueled by testimony from Army officials that the problems in outpatient care have been exacerbated, in part, by the planned closure in 2011. Commanders said this has created "instability" at the hospital and made it difficult to keep a good work force, which is two-thirds civilian.

"The BRAC pressure is clear," agreed Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). "What it does is send the signal to everybody: Go look for another job because we think it's going to close down." Norton said she will introduce legislation seeking to repeal the planned closure of Walter Reed.

The issue also arose at a hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I have concerns, as we go through this long war, about taking down capacity that may be needed," testified Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff.

"I think we should take a second look at that decision about Walter Reed," Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) responded.

That does not excuse the situation at all -- it is inexcusable -- but it might partially explain the failure to do renovations that were clearly necessary. If the place is going to be fixed up, it does not make sense to close it down.

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Even though I gladly joined the denunciation of Ann Coulter signed onto by so many of my fellow conservatives, I have some additional ruminations about the controversy.

You guys know that I am eagerly anticipating the NFL Draft this year as my Houston Texans continue to try to build a winning tradition. Well, Robert Ferringo has a great site devoted to what he views as the Top 60 NFL Draft Prospects for 2007. It seems quite likely that my team is going to end up with two of these guys on draft day, so I’ve been looking closely at what he has to say about them. Who does he pick for YOUR favorite team?

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Cases like this are why the death penalty needs to be available in more than just murder cases. This mutt clearly needs to be put down for the good of society.

Police say a man repeatedly stabbed his teenage wife, then gave the knife to his toddler son and told him: "Now you stab Mommy."

Fermin Rodriguez, 21, attacked his 17-year-old wife Sunday night, after accusing her of cheating on him, police said. He slashed and stabbed her multiple times, then handed the knife to his 2-year-old son and told him to stab her, police said.
Police would not say whether the boy did as his father said.

Rodriguez was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree unlawful restraint and threatening. He was being held on $350,000 bond.

His wife, Keyschla Rodriguez, was taken to a hospital for treatment of stab wounds to her chest, face, arms and legs. Her condition was unavailable Tuesday morning.

Now let’s see here. This mutt was having sex with an underage girl. He go her knocked-up at 14 or 15. Then he tried o murder her – and tried to get their toddler to help with the deed. He just needs killing.

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Cases like this are why the death penalty needs to be available in more than just murder cases. This mutt clearly needs to be put down for the good of society.

Police say a man repeatedly stabbed his teenage wife, then gave the knife to his toddler son and told him: "Now you stab Mommy."

Fermin Rodriguez, 21, attacked his 17-year-old wife Sunday night, after accusing her of cheating on him, police said. He slashed and stabbed her multiple times, then handed the knife to his 2-year-old son and told him to stab her, police said.
Police would not say whether the boy did as his father said.

Rodriguez was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree unlawful restraint and threatening. He was being held on $350,000 bond.

His wife, Keyschla Rodriguez, was taken to a hospital for treatment of stab wounds to her chest, face, arms and legs. Her condition was unavailable Tuesday morning.

Now let’s see here. This mutt was having sex with an underage girl. He go her knocked-up at 14 or 15. Then he tried o murder her – and tried to get their toddler to help with the deed. He just needs killing.

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Do pronouncements like this make John Edwards one of the dreaded “theocrats” the liberals keep ranting about?

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says Jesus would be appalled at how the United States has ignored the plight of the suffering, and that he believes children should have private time to pray at school.

Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country's willingness to go to war "when it's not necessary."

"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

And Edwards no doubt has a Big Government solution to impose that theological pronouncement upon the rest of us – but the liberals just won’t care.

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That seems to be the agenda of some Democrats as the spending authorization bill for current military operations is being considered.

President George W. Bush's first spending fight with the Democratic-controlled Congress may come over the Iraq war -- and avocados and cattle and flood protection.

Lawmakers are pushing to add billions of dollars to the administration's war-funding request to meet a host of unrelated demands, including those from California fruit farmers hit by freezing temperatures, ranchers whose livestock were killed in Colorado blizzards and children poised to lose their health insurance.

The potential add-ons threaten a battle in the coming weeks with the White House. Bush has never vetoed a spending measure, and Democrats, betting he won't veto one paying for the war, see a way to aid a number of constituencies seeking federal aid.

``There are urgent, emergency situations that have to be addressed,'' said Senator Kent Conrad), a North Dakota Democrat.

Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, said the extra spending is ``fiscally irresponsible and it's blatantly unseemly.''

``We're supposed to be fighting this war and paying for the troops -- making sure they have what they need,'' he said. ``We're not supposed to be paying for avocado growers.''

I thought that such pork spending was anathema to the Democrats – but I guess they figure that if they cannot stop the funding of the war, they can load it up with all the unnecessary and inappropriate special interest spending they can cram into it. After all, if these items were really worthy of the appropriations required, then they would certainly be offered independently and pass easily.

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Gee, I certainly hope so – they seem like a very happy young couple, very much in love. And given the unpleasantness that Prince William and his brother have endured over the years, it seems to me that fate should deal the future king at least one ace, given hat he has a joker for a dad.

Prince William and Kate Middleton will get married, MPs have been told.

A House of Commons select committee has heard that William, 24, had spoken openly about his plans.

Respected royal photographer Arthur Edwards - who has been honoured with the MBE by the Queen - told the MPs: "She's in love with Prince William. I'm sure one day they'll get married.

"I have talked to him about that and he's made it clear... he wants to get married."

Clarence House today refused to comment on his plans to marry, saying: "Prince William has no plans to get engaged."

The couple met at St Andrews University in September 2001 when they both studied History of Art.

Marriage for love – when it happens, as it did in the case of Prince William’s grandparents, it is a beautiful thing that provides a solid place upon which one can stand. It is my prayer that these two young people have found just such a source of strength.

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The politics of cut-and-run rears its ugly head in Congress as the Neo-Copperheads and their small band of White Flag Republicans seek to abandon our allies and give in to terrorism in Iraq by tying the hands of the Commander-in-Chief.

Senior House Democrats, seeking to placate members of their party from Republican-leaning districts, are pushing a plan that would place restrictions on President Bush's ability to wage the war in Iraq but would allow him to waive them if he publicly justifies his position.

Under the proposal, Bush would also have to set a date to begin troop withdrawals if the Iraqi government fails to meet benchmarks aimed at stabilizing the country that the president laid out in January.

The plan is an attempt to bridge the differences between anti-war Democrats, led by Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), who have wanted to devise standards of troop readiness strict enough to force Bush to delay some deployments and bring some troops home, and Democrats wary of seeming to place restrictions on the president's role as commander in chief.

The legislative jujitsu in the backrooms of Capitol Hill underscores the difficulties the Democrats face in confronting the issue that helped them regain control of Congress -- Iraq. Democrats passed a resolution in February opposing Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, but Murtha's proposal to go a step further by restricting deployment to troops deemed to be adequately trained and equipped elicited a fierce response from Republicans, while also dividing the Democratic caucus.

It must suck to be rooting for American troops to fail -- and to need to act to facilitate it -- to gain political advantage for your party.

And before anyone accuses me of questioning the patriotism of those members of Congress supporting this plan for failure, let me clarify matters for you -- YES, I AM!

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