We know that the Nazis had one of the most effective propaganda machines of the twentieth century. To compare their methods and success to other groups is neither insensitive or racist -- and calls for firing those who do are absurd.

A Jewish group is calling for the firing of an outspoken CNN anchor, Lou Dobbs, after he accused advocates for illegal immigrants of using propaganda techniques employed by Nazi Germany.

"Comparisons to Nazis — especially in this day and age — are abhorrent," the president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Gideon Aronoff, said in a statement yesterday. " Mr. Dobbs has crossed the line between responsible television commentary and hate-speech propaganda of his own. Keeping him on the air is essentially sanctioning by CNN — which is why we're asking CNN to remove Dobbs from his very public platform."

In a broadcast last week, Mr. Dobbs denounced immigrant-rights groups for portraying a crackdown on illegal immigration as a threat to foreigners who live in America legally.

"They might as well work for Herman Göring," Mr. Dobbs said. "I mean, they're running so much propaganda, trying to confuse the debate, the national dialogue, by talking about immigrants rather than illegal aliens and legal immigrants. It's mindless beyond belief."

Now I do see one issue of concern -- Dobbs' historical ignorance. Herman Göring was the head of the German air force, not its propaganda arm. The latter role was filled by Joseph Goebbels. Get your facts straight, Lou!

And if the Hebrew Immigrant Aid society wants to combat Nazi abuse, might I suggest that they go after the real culprits -- the Bush=Hitler leftists.

Posted by: Greg at 10:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And a dead high-ranking terrorist is a great way to brighten up one's morning!

The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has reportedly been killed in a firefight today.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri died in an "internal battle" between militants near a bridge in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi interior ministry said.

If true, the death would represent a huge blow for the Islamic fundamentalist organisation. The United States had regarded al-Masri as the number one threat to the stability of Iraq, and placed a $5 million bounty on his head.

Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, suggested that US and Iraqi forces had nothing to do with the killing - blaming it on an internal power struggle within al-Qaeda's Iraq cell.

"The clashes took place among themselves. There were clashes within the groups of Al Qaeda. He was liquidated by them. Our forces had nothing to do with it," he told Iraqi state television.

He later told the Reuters news agency: "We have definite intelligence reports that al-Masri was killed today."

And isn't it great that what we have here is these criminals killing each other? And now that we see the internal divisions splitting the terrorists in Iraq, do we really want to adopt the Democrats' "flee in terror" strategy?

Posted by: Greg at 10:28 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It will either bankrupt doctors, cost parents an arm and a leg, or require unwarranted state intrusion into insurance.

When Merck launched a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign last year to promote Gardasil, its new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, company officials probably did not anticipate that its signature phrase -- "one less" -- would apply not just to malignancies but also to physicians. Yet that slogan has come to symbolize the response of doctors locally and around the country.

Pincered by rising costs and eroding reimbursements, and resentful of what they regard as a long-standing and unfair financial burden, some doctors, especially pediatricians and gynecologists who are most likely to be asked for the vaccine, are refusing to buy it or restricting who receives the shots.

Discontent over the price of the vaccine -- the most expensive ever approved -- highlights a long-simmering dispute over reimbursement for immunizations, traditionally regarded as bedrock medicine. It is a dispute, experts say, with significant public health implications that has accelerated as the number of costly new vaccines has proliferated.

"This is a national issue that is affecting lots of people," said Benjamin Gitterman, president of the D.C. chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "It's a matter of cash flow," Gitterman added. Some insurance companies are paying doctors $122 per shot -- just $2 more than the price doctors pay for a dose of Gardasil -- an amount not sufficient to cover the cost of stocking and administering the vaccine, doctors say. The problem is disproportionately affecting pediatricians, experts say, because they administer the majority of immunizations and are among the lowest-paid specialists.

"Some plans are saying I'll give you $90 -- and not

And yet too many folks want to force every girl to get the vaccine -- inflating corporate profits and costing someone -- and they never say who, but pobably the taxpayer -- a wad of money.

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That is certainly how it appears at this point, as actor and former Senator Fred Thompson begins assembling a campaign staff and making public disclosures of potentially embarrassing information prior to a potential summer announcement.

Advisers to Fred Thompson have begun exploring a range of staffing options -- including talking to potential campaign managers -- as the actor and former Tennessee senator firms up his plans to enter the Republican presidential contest, according to people involved in the conversations.

Thompson has not made a final decision but is on track to be ready to announce his candidacy in June or July, his advisers say. Thompson has already been polling better than some of the announced GOP candidates, and his entry would shake up a field that has left many Republican faithful dissatisfied.

Thompson also has begun inoculating himself against potential attacks from rivals. During a question-and-answer session with House members on April 18, Thompson was asked about his colorful dating history from 1985 to 2002, while he was divorced.

And let's be honest here -- most of us are not going to be troubled by Thompson's colorful love life during his single years, especially in light of the noted fidelity problems of Gingrich and Giuliani.

What I find most interesting, though, is this possible new dynamic -- one which is not really new.

On the day Thompson revealed he has cancer, he hinted at an unorthodox blueprint when he said that he thinks it's possible to join the field without abandoning his family.

"Going on the road for months at a time, and for all practical purposes, just checking [in] every once in a while, I wouldn't do that," he told Fox's Neil Cavuto. "I don't think it has to be done that way. I know people will expect that of everyone -- to run frenetically around for years. And I don't do frenetic very well."

In the old days, candidates did not run for president. It was sen as undignified for a potential president to be out on the hustings, pressing the flesh and behaving like a mere politician. Lincoln did not campaign actively, and neither did any other candidate up until the early twentieth century. Instead, they stayed home and went about their business, with surrogates campaigning on the r behalf while they made speeches and issued statements from their home or Washington. Given our media age, and the immediacy of the internet and cable news, this might be a preferable -- and cheaper -- model for us to follow. And if fred Thompson can pull it off, it might be a healthy development for America.

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But I'll be honest -- he goes a little bit too far for me when he supports concealed carry in bars, and requiring churches to permit guns on their premises.

Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that Texans who are legally licensed should be able to carry their concealed handguns anywhere, including churches, bars, courthouses and college campuses.

"I think it makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals, whether they're in church, or whether on a college campus or wherever they are," he said.

"The idea that you're going to exempt them from a particular place is nonsense to me."

Perry commented to reporters after he and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt had met privately with educators, mental health experts and law enforcement officials to discuss the recent shootings at Virginia Tech University. Leavitt and other Cabinet officials are traveling around the country to discuss school and community safety practices in preparation for a report to President Bush.

The governor's remarks aren't likely to result in widespread changes in Texas gun laws, particularly this late in a legislative session that must adjourn by May 28.

The reality is that the current law allows so many entities to ban guns that the state becomes a crazy-quilt patchwork of of where one can and cannot carry a gun with a permit. Perry's proposal would fix that -- including permitting guns to be carried by teachers in schools, which I view as a good thing. It would also prevent any Texas college or university from becoming a gun-free hunting ground for a future shooter. And saying that governmental sub-entities can ban what the state explicitly has permitted an individual to do is absurd.

But I draw the line at bars an churches. I'm uncomfortable with that mix of guns and firearms -- it just seems a step too far, and even in the old West there was often a requirement that guns be checked at the saloon door. And as for churches, I see a religious freedom issue that troubles me deeply, as it should any lover of the First Amendment.

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Big Web Links Directory is a bid for placement internet directory. Want to be listed on the site? Want to rank a bit higher? Well, all you have to do is bid your way up a little bit higher, offering some more cash to be one of those first links seen on the site when someone runs a search that is relevant to you. So if you are looking for exposure, why not spend some of your advertising budget in this way -- especially since everyone is clear that web bidding is the key to placement on BigWebLinks.com

Paid Endorsement.

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After all, the decision to flee the police at high speed is one fraught with danger, and exclusively within the purview of the individual seeking to escape from the authorities. For the police to attempt to prevent their dangerous activity is not unreasonable.

The police did not violate a speeding driverÂ’s rights by ramming his car and causing an accident that left him permanently paralyzed, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday by a vote of 8 to 1.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that despite the fact that the 19-year-old driver was suspected of nothing more than speeding, the decision to force him off the road was reasonable in light of the need to protect pedestrians and other drivers from “a Hollywood-style car chase of the most frightening sort.”

The justices took the unusual step — a first for the court — of posting on the court’s Web site the 15-minute video of the chase, recorded by a camera mounted on the squad car’s dashboard. A link to the video in the case, Scott v. Harris, No. 05-1631, is at supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06slipopinion.html.

Are we perhaps beginning to see some common sense applied in cases of fleeing suspects, given that the jurisprudence of the last two decades has tended to approach making such behavior a constitutionally protected activity rather than a crime -- and reasonably tailored actions to stop such conduct a violation of the Constitution

Oh, and a side note about Stevens' comment about the other eight justices acting as the jury -- I'm much more concerned about Stevens' tendency to round up a slim majority to assume the role of unelected legislature.

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Like most folks, I havecredit cards -- they are the avenue to so much information about us, and can be both a source of financial opportunity and financial danger. I mean, one need only consider the recent breaches at so many retailers and banks to recognize just how much of your personal information is out there in your credit card records. Such information in the wrong hands can ruin you. On the other hand, responsible credit card issuers will monitor your card's activities and make contact to stop fraud in its tracks. One of mine did that during our hurricane evacuation. So it does seem that the companies are out to protect our interests when they coincide with their interests.

However, there are benefits to credit cards, in terms of finding an offer that will save you money by allowing 0% balance transfers or 0% credit cards. Shop around for the best offers -- that is just a part of being a wise consumer.

Paid Endorsement.

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Google bought DoubleClick; now Yahoo is buying Right Media.

In the latest sign that small Internet advertising firms have become hot properties, Yahoo said yesterday that it plans to acquire online advertising company Right Media for about $680 million, a move to stake out its online turf against competitors such as Google.

Privately held Right Media, of New York, operates an online auction system that allows advertisers to bid on space on a Web site, the company said.

Yahoo, of Sunnyvale, Calif., acquired 20 percent of Right Media in October 2006 for $45 million.

Some technology analysts said the move is a response to Google's recent purchase of online ad firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion after engaging in a bidding war with Microsoft and AOL.

"Clearly, this is an attempt to compete with what Google's been doing," said Jennifer Simpson, an analyst with Yankee Group. "Yahoo did grow last year, but Google has really been stepping away from the competition. . . . There will be a certain attention paid to Microsoft to see what they do next in this advertising chess game."

But will it be enough, given Google's control of a quarter of the internet advertising market? Or is Google the 800 pound gorilla in the room, which no one can overcome? Time will tell, I suppose.

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Seeking out credit and loans are a part of our society. The average person simply can't make some purchases, like a car or a house, without borrowing money. When faced with such purchases, secured loans are usually the only realistic option out there, with the lender having a lien on your house or car. In a sense, the lender is the real owner of at least some portion of the property until you have fulfilled your end of the bargain, right?

Secured loans, though, are not the only sort of personal loans you might need. You can get an unsecured loan in many instances -- especially as we look at credit card debt. Too many folks find themselves taking out a loan to consolidate debt so that they can lower payments and interest rates, as well as extending the time one has to pay off the debt. This can be a great help, provided one does not run up additional debt. There is even the possibility of a bad credit loan being available for those who have already gone to far down the road of debt, to help them repair their credit rating.

Borrow only when you have to, and only to the degree that you can afford to pay back. Otherwise you face bankruptcy -- with all the credit and personal implications that implies.

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Nick Lampson is at the top of the GOP hit-list here in CD22 without any urging from Karl Rove. After all, this is a GOP district and the only way he got in was a betrayal by Delay and a court case to keep him from having a opponent on the ballot.

The political slide shows that landed President Bush's adviser Karl Rove in the middle of an investigation named the congressman who replaced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as the White House's No. 1 target.

Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, tops the list of the "2008 House Targets: Top 20", part of a presentation made to executive branch employees, possibly illegally.

Critics have alleged the presentation was political and violated laws restricting executive branch employees from using their jobs for political activity.

The White House has defended the presentations as informational briefings for appointees and acknowledged last week there have been briefings at several agencies.

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, also was on the list at No. 12.

Now if Rove screwed up and engaged in illegal political activity, lock him up -- I could care less. But that does nothing to minimize the misrepresentation of CD22 by the Neo-Copperhead carpetbagger from Beaumont -- or the need to rid ourselves of the candidate of MoveOn.org.

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Here we have a student denied a degree in her field of studies and her teaching credentials because of a photo on MySpace.

Take a look at the photo.

Seems pretty tame to me – especially given that the young woman in question was at least 25 at the time, and the mother of two.

LetÂ’s look at the story.

A 27-year-old Millersville University graduate filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the college for denying her an education degree and teaching certificate after a controversial Internet photograph surfaced last year shortly before graduation.

The picture shows Stacy Snyder of Strasburg wearing a pirate hat while drinking from a plastic "Mr. Goodbar" cup. The photograph taken during a 2005 Halloween party was posted on Snyder's MySpace Web page with the caption "Drunken Pirate."

"The day before graduation, the college confronted me about the picture," Snyder said Thursday. "I was told I wouldn't be receiving my education degree or teaching certificate because the photo was 'unprofessional.' "

Snyder said she apologized for the photograph, but Jane S. Bray, dean of the School of Education, and Provost Vilas A. Prabhu refused to issue the bachelor of science degree in education and teaching certificate Snyder earned.

Instead, the college issued Snyder a bachelor of arts degree in English.

Snyder is asking for the modest sum of $75,000 and the awarding of her proper degree and teaching credentials. That seems pretty reasonable to me – I mean there are some serious freedom of speech issues here that apply, since Millersville University is a public entity and they are punishing her for engaging in legal and, one could argue, constitutionally protected activities.

And I’ll say it flat out – if Stacy Snyder is held to have engaged in unprofessional conduct that merits her being barred from the classroom, I’m not sure that any teacher who blogs – or drinks – can stand up to scrutiny. And given that I have already beaten off one attempt to suppress my First Amendment rights and interfere with my employment by a gang of illiberal Democrat thugs who don’t like my politics, I find this case to be particularly troubling.

H/T FIREÂ’s Torch

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Posted by: Greg at 09:43 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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How are we supposed to deal with the toxic waste that these bulbs will become – especially as we see jurisdictions trying to outlaw incandescent bulbs.

How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour -- unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.

Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent light bulb in favour of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

The problem with these bulbs? They contain mercury, which is a highly toxic substance. Are we exchanging an inefficient light source for a potentially much more serious problem?

And we wonÂ’t get into the question of domestic tranquility.

Posted by: Greg at 09:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And these are CNN reporters, not FoxNews correspondents.

On Thursday, two CNN correspondents just back from Iraq -- Kyra Phillips and Michael Ware -- were asked if it would help the situation in Iraq to withdraw U.S. troops.

Phillips responded: "There is no way U.S. troops could pull out. It would be a disaster."

Ware answered, "If you just want to look at it in terms of purely American national interest, if U.S. troops leave now, you're giving Iraq to Iran, a member of President Bush's axis of evil, and al-Qaida. That's who will own it. And so, coming back now, I'm struck by the nature of the debate on Capitol Hill, (by) how delusional it is. Whether you are for this war or against it, whether you've supported the way it's been executed or not, it does not matter. You broke it -- you've got to fix it now. You can't leave, or it's going to come and blow back on America."

And remember – Ware is the guy who took on John McCain not long ago over his comments about the safety of Baghdad – so he certainly is no GOP shill.

Somehow, though, these comments by liberal journalists who have been in Iraq will be ignored by the war opponents. Their agenda is cutting losses and surrendering to the enemy., and these observations just donÂ’t fit.

Posted by: Greg at 09:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here in Houston and in San Francisco.

It must suck to be a Truther, and to have publicly claimed that such a thing couldn't have happened on 9/11.

H/t Malkin, America's North Shore Journal, Daily Pundit, Hot Air.

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I'll be the first to concede that the raw numbers are troubling. That minorities are more likely than whites to be arrested if pulled over by the police appears problematic.

But I wonder how many folks will consider the disclaimer in the report.

Like the 2002 report, this one contained a warning that the racial disparities uncovered "do not constitute proof that police treat people differently along demographic lines" because the differences could be explained by circumstances not analyzed by the survey. The 2002 report said such circumstances might include driver conduct or whether drugs were in plain view.

And that is precisely the problem with the report -- until we look at the circumstances that led to the arrests, we cannot know for sure what the reason for the disparity is. As I see at school, there is a cultural difference in how different ethnic groups respond to being confronted by authority figures. That could go a long way towards explaining the differences. So could questions of immigration status or, heaven forbid, obvious actual evidence of criminal behavior. For that matter, so could the socio-economic status of the drivers or the neighborhoods where they were pulled over. And until we manage to quantify and control for such things, does the data really tell us anything useful at all?

Posted by: Greg at 10:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When they were just verbal assaults on female conservatives like Michelle Malkin and Debbie Schlussel the MSM didn't want to consider the issue of sexually-based attacks on female bloggers. Now that it has hit more bloggers outside of the political Right -- and outside of political blogging as a whole -- it is being treated as a crisis.

A female freelance writer who blogged about the pornography industry was threatened with rape. A single mother who blogged about "the daily ins and outs of being a mom" was threatened by a cyber-stalker who claimed that she beat her son and that he had her under surveillance. Kathy Sierra, who won a large following by blogging about designing software that makes people happy, became a target of anonymous online attacks that included photos of her with a noose around her neck and a muzzle over her mouth.

As women gain visibility in the blogosphere, they are targets of sexual harassment and threats. Men are harassed too, and lack of civility is an abiding problem on the Web. But women, who make up about half the online community, are singled out in more starkly sexually threatening terms -- a trend that was first evident in chat rooms in the early 1990s and is now moving to the blogosphere, experts and bloggers said.

I agree with Michelle Malkin -- where have you all been?

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More name-calling open-borders nonsense in the Washington Post. And it is too bad, because without the playground-style name-calling, Sebastian Mallaby might just have contributed something of value to the debate on immigration legislation.

Border security does not come cheap: We could save money on unmanned aerial drones and use it to help high-school dropouts with a more generous earned-income tax credit. And although the concern for high-school dropouts is welcome, it must be weighed against the aspirations of migrants. Is it right to push native workers' pay up by 2 percent if that means depriving poor Mexicans of a chance to triple their incomes?

Of course it isn't, and given that the total economic effect of immigration on U.S. households is a wash, the big ramp-up in enforcement spending beloved by immigration hawks is an egregious waste of money. But no politician is going to say that. Candidates with a good record on immigration -- Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, John McCain -- are trying to avoid the issue. And the demagogues and nativists are allowed to spout unchallenged nonsense.

Because, of course, opponents of liberal policy preferences aren't just wrong -- they must be declared to be EVIL!

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One of the issues with attending any conference is the travel and expense associated with it -- especially if it is located out of town. the seminar may be great, but does the time lost outweigh the content.

Well, there is a great marketing webinar available for you that lets you participate from your home or office. Think about it -- the cost in time and money spent on travel is gone -- and you can learn how to use new technology to expand your business. Sounds like a win all the way around to me.
Paid Endorsement.

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More salvos in the never-ending question of whether or not humans and Neanderthals interbred 40,000 years ago.

Researchers have long debated what happened when the indigenous Neanderthals of Europe met "modern humans" arriving from Africa starting some 40,000 years ago. The end result was the disappearance of the Neanderthals, but what happened during the roughly 10,000 years that the two human species shared a land?

A new review of the fossil record from that period has come up with a provocative conclusion: The two groups saw each other as kindred spirits and, when conditions were right, they mated.

How often this happened will never be known, but paleoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus says it probably occurred more often than is generally imagined.

In his latest work, published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Trinkaus, of Washington University in St. Louis, analyzed prehistoric fossil remains from various parts of Europe. He concluded that a significant number have attributes associated with both Neanderthals and the modern humans who replaced them.

"Given the data we now have, it would be highly improbable to argue there is no Neanderthal contribution to the early European population that came out of Africa," Trinkaus said. "I believe there was continuous breeding between the two for some period of time.

"Both groups would seem to us dirty and smelly but, cleaned up, we would understand both to be human. There's good reason to think that they did as well."

The conclusion, one of the strongest to date in this debate, remains controversial, and it has potentially broad implications. It suggests, for instance, that humans today should still have some Neanderthal genes. It also means that the unanswered question of why the Neanderthals died out is even more puzzling -- because under this scenario they were quite capable of living successfully alongside the more modern newcomers.

Don't like this conclusion? Don't worry -- in the next few years there will be a new study claiming exactly the opposite, as has been the case for decades whenever a groundbreaking study of this question is published.

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Do you like to win things? I mean nice things -- wine glasses, phone cards, radio control vehicles or Ipods? You can do it over at WhoGets.com, and it won't cost you a cent. Just sign up, submit yourself as a potential candidate for one of the prizes, and you may become one of the finalists. If your reason for wanting the item is compelling enough, folks will vote for you and you win it! Easy enough, don't you agree?

Paid Endorsement.

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I have to ask -- would the press ever respond to such bigotry with respectful, dispassionate discussion if it were directed at Jews or African Americans?

Is it significant that the five Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure also happen to be the court's Roman Catholics?

It is to Tony Auth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He drew Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. wearing bishop's miters, and labeled his cartoon "Church and State."

Rosie O'Donnell and Barbara Walters hashed out the issue on "The View," with O'Donnell noting that a majority of the court is Catholic and wondering about "separation of church and state." Walters counseled that "we cannot assume that they did it because they're Catholic."

And the chatter continues, on talk radio and in the blogosphere. In the latter category, no one has stirred it up quite like Geoffrey R. Stone, former dean and now provost of the University of Chicago's law school.

Once again we see, anti-Catholicism, long described as the anti-Semitism of the intellectual (or rather, I would suggest, the pseudo-intellectual) remains the most persistent prejudice in the American psyche.

Posted by: Greg at 09:54 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Earth Day by Done With Mirrors, and The Big White Lie by City Journal.  Here is a link to both winning entries and to the full results of the vote.

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

Posted by: Greg at 07:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you are looking for a site where you can meet new folks, then you can find it all at Person.com - webcams, chat, personals. It is a new social networking site where you can make new friends and meet new dating partners, whatever you want. And part of the fun is that many members run their webcams live, so you can engage in live video chat (clean, please) with a real person!

Is it a site that I would spend a lot of time at? Maybe not, being that I'm a happily married guy in my 40s. But I would have loved something like this about 15-20 years ago, before I met my darling wife -- and think it is a great way for meeting new folks in town and around the world. Especially female folks. I would certainly have been one of the online flirts. I mean, it is an impressive social networking site.

If that sounds like it is up your alley, or if you are one of those female folks I mentioned, check it out.

Paid Endorsement.

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It will be so nice to have a little sunshine poured forth on the Hildebeast by one of the Left's most beloved journalistic icons -- Carl Bernstein. I may have to shell out for that particular book.

Drawing on a trove of private papers from Hillary Clinton’s best friend, the legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein is to publish a hard-hitting and intimate portrait of the 2008 presidential candidate, which will reveal a number of “discrepancies” in her official story.

Bernstein, who was played by Dustin Hoffman in the film All the PresidentÂ’s Men, has spent eight years researching the unauthorised 640-page biography, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Bernstein reaches conclusions that stand in opposition to what Senator Clinton has said in the past and has written in the past,” said Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf, which publishes the book on June 19.

With the thoroughness for which he is famous, Bernstein spoke to more than 200 of Clinton’s friends, colleagues and adversaries. He stops short of accusing the New York senator of blatantly lying about her past, but has unearthed examples of where she has played fast and loose with the facts about her “personal and political life”, according to Knopf.

The book could revive the explosive charge, made earlier this year by David Geffen, a former Clinton donor and Hollywood mogul, that “the Clintons lie with such ease, it’s troubling”.

I can't wait to see if Bernstein's reputation is impugned by the Clinton spin machine -- or if he ends up having an "unfortunate accident". If I were you, Carl, I'd stay away from Fort Marcy Park.

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This just chaps my behind -- immigration authorities making it easier for kids who don't live in the United States to cross the border to steal a free public education from American taxpayers.

For the past two years, Rachel Ortiz's commute to her El Paso school has begun each morning in Mexico.

As the sun rises over that side of the Rio Grande, the first-grader follows her father from their cinder-block home through the streets of Ciudad Juarez.

Aaron Ortiz holds his 6-year-old's pink backpack and later her hand. At the border they funnel onto the pedestrian bridge alongside dozens of other children with backpacks holding parents' hands. Then they are on the other side, saying goodbye at the gates of Vilas Elementary, where breakfast is served free and special classes are offered for English-language learners.

At that school, Rachel has made friends with American students. She writes reports on butterflies and decides she wants to be a doctor — for dogs — when she grows up. And when the school bell rings at the end of the day, her father is waiting outside, ready to walk her back home to Mexico.

No wonder there are 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country, along with millions of anchor babies. Our own government aids and abets them -- and expects us to pay for it.

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Indeed, this is nothing short of a call for a coup if the President does not capitulate to Congress.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) said Sunday that Democrats in Congress could consider impeachment as a way to pressure President Bush on his handling of the war in Iraq.

“What I’m saying, there’s four ways to influence a president. And one of them’s impeachment,” Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Excuse me, but "Jihad Jack" Murtha seems to be ignoring a minor detail -- impeachment in our system is reserved for removing an individual from office for "high crimes and misdemeanors". Exercise of the powers delegated to the President by Article II of the Constitution -- such as use of the veto power and the power as Commander in Chief -- is not grounds for impeachment. Indeed, the possibility of such a flagrant abuse of power by the legislative branch is why Article I so sharply circumscribes the power of that branch in this regard.

But then again, since when does a corrupt old fart like Murtha give a damn about the Constitution?

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And in the mean time, good news from Iraq in the effort to clean up Anbar Province.

Many Sunni tribal leaders, once openly hostile to the American presence, have formed a united front with American and Iraqi government forces against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. With the tribal leadersÂ’ encouragement, thousands of local residents have joined the police force. About 10,000 police officers are now in Anbar, up from several thousand a year ago. During the same period, the police force here in Ramadi, the provincial capital, has grown from fewer than 200 to about 4,500, American military officials say.

At the same time, American and Iraqi forces have been conducting sweeps of insurgent strongholds, particularly in and around Ramadi, leaving behind a network of police stations and military garrisons, a strategy that is also being used in Baghdad, IraqÂ’s capital, as part of its new security plan.

You know, the US and the Iraqi people might come out of this thing as winners -- if the President holds firm against al-Qaeda, al-Sadr, and the Democrats.

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It's good to know that the Democrats have the terrorists on their side in their efforts to undercut our troops.

"Here are the Democrats calling you to withdraw or even set a timetable and you are not responding," al-Sadr's statement said. "It is not only them who are calling for this but also Republicans, to whom you belong."

"If you are ignoring your friends and partners, then it is no wonder that you ignore the international and Iraqi points of view. You will not benefit from this stubbornness," he added.

And Muqtada al-Sadr would certainly know what is best -- for the terrorists and Iranians.

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It has been years since I have been to Orlando, but I'd love to go back. After all, it is home to the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World. I mean, my darling wife and I could stay in one of the many Disney Vacation Homes in the area and visit Epcot or Disney-MGM Studios -- or whatever the latest Disney News says is the hot new attraction. We could also go to Universal Studios Florida, or to one of the other attractions in the area.

But to be honest, I'd just like a quiet getaway with my beloved, relaxing and enjoying each other's company -- with maybe a balloon ride thrown in for good measure! And being from Houston, we could also head over to Kennedy Space Center -- sort of as a bookend to our trip back home, just down the road from Johnson Space Center. But regardless, it would be a great getaway for the two of us.

Paid Endorsement.

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School administrators have a problem when it comes to criminal conduct by students. They can be by-the-book and support the most severe possible charges against a kid who has broken the law. Or they can call it a school disciplinary matter and never call the cops. Or, as a middle ground, they can arrange with the cops for many offenses to be treated in a less serious manner that results in a ticket rather than an arrest.

Kenneth Trump, a national authority on school safety who testified before Congress on Monday, says the underreporting of disciplinary incidents in area schools is part of "a historical culture of downplay, deny, deflect and defend when it comes to publicly acknowledging and reporting school crimes." It's driven, experts say, by an overarching concern among school principals to protect their image and that of their school.

"If you're the administrator and you report what happened, you may get blamed," said Jean O'Neil, director of research and evaluation at the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington. "If you're the administrator and you don't report what happened, you may get blamed."

And more to the point, that blame does not just come from the general public. A lot of disciplinary decisions get questioned by vocal parents, whose first phone call is to the Superintendent. When it involves an arrest, you can bet that call is going to be made. Assuming, of course, that the parent doesn't call the press and start to cry racism. It is often easier to give the kids a break on lesser offenses and treat them as mere disciplinary matters -- which will have the double impact of keeping the crime statistics down

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About a year ago, I lost it all. Everything. Not a byte of data could be recovered following that hard drive crash. There was no way to access a single bit of it, no matter how hard I tried -- and none of it had been backed up, despite my best intentions. Indeed, I had just bought an external hard drive to do precisely that when everything went away.

I wish I had known about IDrive-E, found at IDrive.com. They have a phenomenal deal there on Online Backup services -- 2 Gigabytes free, $4.95 a month for unlimited online storage. Good grief, if only I had known and availed myself of the service. I wouldn't have lost all of my materials for my college course, or my wife's extensive collection of graphics that she uses for her crafting projects. Indeed, i still regularly get asked if I've backed up her stuff -- because she has a fear of losing so many graphics that she had spent years collecting.

And I'll be honest -- there was very little that my wife and I couldn't do without. Imagine if you were running a business, and lost everything. Say goodbye to your accounts receivable spreadsheets, your other financial records, and your crucial correspondence that you've been keeping an eye on. Imagine the lost good will with customers as orders went unfilled and leads went unanswered. It would be enough to put the small businessman out of business -- or worse. So seriously, you have got to take a look at getting some Online Backup now.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 01:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm glad to see this happen -- Kevin Kolb is a fine young man and a fine quarterback. I envy you folks in Philly, because he is going to be fun to watch as he develops behind McNabb.

Early in the second round of the NFL draft Saturday, Kevin Kolb decided it would be best to avoid the television and spend some time outside on his family's farm.

Minutes later, it wasn't the cows that came calling.

It was the Eagles.

Kolb, the record-setting quarterback from the University of Houston, was taken with the No. 36 overall pick and will begin his career learning behind Pro Bowler Donovan McNabb.

"I wasn't outside two minutes when my wife (Whitney) came out with the phone and said, 'I don't know who it is! I don't know who it is!' " said Kolb, the highest UH player selected since Antowain Smith was taken by Buffalo in the first round in 1997.

Tell me -- how many other potential first-day picks did anything other than camp out by the phone and television until their name was called or Round 3 ended? For that matter, Kolb was one of the few to have a team trade up for them on the first day of the NFL draft -- a day on which he became the thrid quarterback picked overall.

And for you Eagles fans who booed this choice, i want you to consider these stats.

A four-year starter, Kolb finished his career as one of the most prolific passers in NCAA history with 12,964 passing yards, 13,715 yards total offense and 106 TDs. As a senior, Kolb led the Cougars to a 10-win season and their first Conference USA title since 1996.

This young man has quite an arm on him -- and as I've said, is a strong leader and quality human being. That is what I hear from several former students (and a teaching colleague) who played with him at UH, so I'm not just believing his press releases. These are the things that come out of the mouths of his teammates in day-to-day conversation.

Good luck, Kevin -- I'm just sorry you didn't somehow end up in Houston.

Posted by: Greg at 01:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Debt is a two-edged sword. It can allow you to acquire things you want or need, but it can also strangle you economically if you are not careful.

I look at the situation some friends found themselves in a few years ago. They were a nice couple -- he in his 50s and her in her 40s, with two wonderful kids. the problem was that they had allowed themselves to live a lifestyle that was well beyond their means. I mean they were in serious trouble. The had lots of unsecured and secured loans -- everything from student loans to car loans to credit cards to a mortgage. And then he lost his job, and they nearly lost it all. Fortunately, a new job for my friend and the use of Secured Home Loans to lower monthly payments and tap into their equity in their house allowed them to recover and live a more scaled-back life by use of this Secured Loan.

If you are facing financial need and you are looking for Secured Loans UK, might I suggest AdvanceStart.com?

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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With Brady Quinn still on the board, I expected the Texans to take him or trade the pick. They didn't. Nor did they try to shore up the weak offensive line that was largely responsible for the destruction of David Carr as a useful quarterback.

Instead, for the fourth straight year, they went with a defensive player in the first round. Frankly, I was stunned -- but the more I have researched the player selected, the better I feel about it.

Who did they pick?

Amobi Okoye -- Defensive tackle out of Louisville.

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 302

In four years at Louisville, Okoye started 24 games. He finished with 121 tackles, 10.5 sacks for minus-42 yards and 23 stops for losses totaling 81 yards. He caused four fumbles and recovered three others.

But that isn't the only thing I love about this kid. His story is amazing. Born in Nigeria, he started high school at age 12, played football for the first time at 13, and made his first college sack at age 15. Now 19, he earned a degree in psychology in 3 1/2 years.

One of the biggest challenges was in 1999 when Okoye moved to Huntsville, Ala., from Nigeria. Because he had started school in Nigeria at 2 1/2 , he was in the ninth grade at 12. The principal in Huntsville was skeptical.

"The principal wanted to send me back to eighth grade," Okoye said at the NFL scouting combine. "I disagreed and felt like I was getting pushed back. We came to an agreement. She decided 'I'll keep you here for two weeks and depending on how you perform determines if you stay or not.'

"After the first week, she put me in some classes I had already taken. The reports got back, and the teacher told her I had to be moved to upper classes. After that, I stayed in high school."

Soon thereafter, a substitute teacher saw Okoye's size and encouraged him to try out for football. Okoye played soccer in Nigeria and knew nothing about football.

At 13, he started his first game on varsity and a year later, he was starting on both sides of the ball. By 15, he signed with Louisville and became the youngest player in college football when he enrolled in 2003 at 16.

He played in 13 games as a true freshman, despite then-Louisville coach Bobby Petrino saying Okoye couldn't step on the field until he needed to shave.

"I knew he was serious, but deep inside he wanted to play me," Okoye said. "I went out there and proved myself, and he went and got me a razor."

By his junior season, Okoye was a starter. As a senior, he was the defensive leader and recorded a career-high 58 tackles with eight sacks and 15 stops for losses. He also caused three fumbles.

And at age 20, he will start his first NFL game.

Damn! I may just need to get myself a new Texan's jersey. And I certainly have a role model for my students.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:47 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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When boys are more desirable than girls, guess which gets aborted -- and what the long-term demographic consequences are.

It seems like an ordinary village school, deep in the farm hills of Hainan Island in southern China.

A red Chinese flag flutters in front of the white-tiled building on the village's main street. Outside are rice paddies, water buffaloes, banana trees and grass-roofed houses.

But look more closely at the school's Grade 6 class: row upon row upon row of boys. There are 34 of them in this classroom, and only 20 girls. The same is true across the entire school, where 180 boys vastly outnumber 105 girls.

“It's always a headache to keep order in this school,” said Xing Zhen, the principal of Sanbai Primary School. “The boys are always misbehaving. They run all over the place, climbing the trees and the walls.”

What he really fears is the restless intensity of boys who grow up to become unmarried men. There are already hundreds of single men in nearby villages, an army of unhappy bachelors. “They can't find wives, and it affects the social stability,” Mr. Xing says.

All across China, the dangerous combination of modern technology and traditional beliefs is creating a huge army of single men. By 2020, more than 30 million men of marriageable age will be unable to find wives. Ultrasound machines and selective abortions, combined with China's restrictive one-child policy, are helping parents to skew the gender ratio, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Well, this could go a long way towards reducing the Chinese population -- or make them more warlike, with "excess" men being bled off through wars of aggression.

Posted by: Greg at 01:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dead Taliban!

Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life.

Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them as their leader, the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head.

As the boat reached the shore, Captain Larry Staley tilted the nose of the lead Apache gunship downwards into a dive. One of the men turned to face the helicopter and sank to his knees. Capt Staley's gunner pressed the trigger and the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust.

And that isn't even the good part -- die, terrorists, die!

I am curious, though -- why is this story appearing in a British newspaper, and not an American one? You don't suppose it could have anything to do with the bias of the MSM, do you?

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He says he has no right to interfere in Canadian politics -- and then does so anyway.

The Conservatives' new environmental platform is a "complete and total fraud" that is "designed to mislead the Canadian people," former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said Saturday.

* * *

Gore acknowledged he is not a Canadian citizen and said he has "no right to interfere in your decisions."

However, he said, the rest of the world looks to Canada for moral leadership and that's why this week's announcement was so "shocking."

But the Tories proceeded to bitch-slap the former vice president and noted hypocrite (who still has done nothing to make an actual reduction in his "carbon footprint").

Baird released a statement later in the day Saturday in which he refuted Gore's criticisms.

"The fact is our plan is vastly tougher than any measures introduced by the administration of which the former vice president was a member," Baird said in the statement.

After all, the Clinton/Gore Administration never submitted the Kyoto Protocol for ratification.

Oh, and by the way -- Gore says "intensity reduction" is nothing but a focus-group tested deception by "Big Oil". I suppose that would make it the equivalent of "carbon off-sets", a phrase test-marketed by those who sell them to make a profit off of the failure of Left-wing trendoids to reduce pollution -- by folks like Al Gore, who profits from selling these latter-day indulgences.

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Posted by: Greg at 01:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Raiders will set the tone for the draft.

The Oakland Raiders kept everyone in the league guessing yesterday about what they were planning to do with the top overall selection in today's NFL draft. Many people around the league continued to assume that the Raiders would use the pick on Louisiana State quarterback JaMarcus Russell, but there were conflicting accounts, and Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn apparently remained possibilities.

The rest of the first round, which promises to include runs on wide receivers and defensive linemen and could produce an unusually high number of safeties chosen, hinges on the Raiders' decision. Teams were making contingency plans and lining up potential trades, but everything was on hold until Raiders owner Al Davis and first-year coach Lane Kiffin finally tip their hand.

The Raiders had contract discussions during the week with the representatives for Russell, Quinn and Johnson. NFL rules permit the team with the first pick to sign the player that it intends to choose before the draft, a tactic that eliminates the possibility of a combative set of contract negotiations during the summer that might delay the player's arrival at his first training camp. But as of last night, there was no indication that the Raiders had a deal in place with any of the players.

And who will they pick? ESPN is offering this tidbit.

It appears the Oakland Raiders have made their choice, and it's JaMarcus Russell. According to two sources, one with the Raiders and one close to Russell, the team called the LSU quarterback Friday to inform him he would be the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NFL draft.

We'll know soon.

But my big question is this -- what will my Houston Texans do? And will it help improve a team that was on on the cusp of being good last season?

Posted by: Greg at 02:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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