Sponsored Post

Do you need CRM software? Well if you do, AIMpromote is a fantastic on-demand lead management program. AIMpromote allows you to track every lead, trace every dollar, and check data on every business campaign in real-time, without having to wait for data to be gathered and reports generated -- because AIMpromote does it all for you! What more can a manager ask for in customer relationship software?

One of the nice features about AIMpromote is that the company sets it all up for you, configuring the program to your needs and providing your people with the training that they need to use the program. You and I both know that is better than most other lead management programs. They sell you the program, and then charge you for technical support. But AIMPromote provides dedicated support representatives to work with you in the event you have difficulties or concerns.

Not convinced? Try AIMPromote free for 14 days.

Posted by: Greg at 09:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.

One has to wonder if these two moonbats hang by their feet beside one another as they sleep -- because Elizabeth Kucinich is, if anything, stranger than Dennis.

Kucinich met her husband-to-be two years ago when she visited his office in the House of Representatives with her boss as a volunteer worker for the American Monetary Institute, an offbeat group dedicated to reforming the “unjust monetary system."

It was love at first sight for both of them. Immediately after their meeting, Dennis Kucinich phoned a friend and said: “I’ve met her [my future wife].”

He was mesmerized to receive a business e-mail from Harper with her usual signature line from "Kama Sutra," one of her favorite films: “Knowing love, I shall allow all things to come and go, to be as supple as the wind and take everything that comes with great courage. My heart is as open as the sky.”

He proposed at their second meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., and they married three months later. The actress Shirley MacLaine attended their wedding.

“I knew at once I really wanted to marry this man,” Elizabeth Kucinich said. “When you know it, why hang around?” It was Dennis’s third marriage, but by the time he met Elizabeth he had been single for more than 20 years.

If Dennis were elected, they would make a great team, Elizabeth said.

“Can you imagine what it would be like to have real love in the White House and a true union between the masculine and the feminine?”

Well, they would certainly be more of a union of masculine and feminine than th last pair of Democrats to occupy the White House -- but I don't think we have to worry about the Kucinich family ever taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Posted by: Greg at 09:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 308 words, total size 2 kb.

Sponsored Post

Some folks fall prey to drug and/or alcohol addiction. In such cases, there needs to be some sort of intervention and treatment to deal with the addiction.

That is where StoneHawk, a drug rehab facility in Michigan, can be of assistance. StoneHawk provides drug addiction and alcoholism treatment using the Narconon program, which is a program that focuses on addiction as a biochemical process that can be overcome using behavioral approaches, with education providing of skills to assist an individual through daily life problems and disorders. StoneHawk is not a program of medical intervention, so it doesn't substitute one drug for another, which is really nothing more than a switch in drugs to be abused, with the twist of multiple addictions. The Narconon program's rejection of that approach is therefore a healthy thing in my eyes.

Hopefully you will never need a drug or alcohol rehab program, and neither will those you love. If you do, though, please consider StoneHawk as an option.

Posted by: Greg at 06:20 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

At least among those who count -- the folks who actually participate in the caucuses.

Mitt Romney has sprinted ahead of presidential competitors John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in a new Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucus participants.

The Des Moines Register poll shows Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is the top choice of 30 percent of those who say they definitely or probably will attend the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January.

McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, nips former New York Mayor Giuliani for second place — 18 percent to 17 percent.

However, things could go differently if the list of candidates changes.

Other polls taken in Iowa this month, presenting a different lineup of candidates that included Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson, have shown Giuliani, McCain and Romney bunched together. The former U.S. House speaker and former Tennessee senator have said they are considering presidential bids but have not taken steps toward running.

Rudy's abortion problem and McCain's immigration problem may be sufficient to give the nomination to Romney -- provided there are no significant new entries into the presidential race.

Posted by: Greg at 11:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 191 words, total size 1 kb.

He hasn't been charged in the case -- yet. But does a judge who is the president of a company that actively violates our nation's immigration laws deserve to be on the bench?

Two corporations charged in an alleged plot to supply undocumented workers to Keppel AmFELS, an oilrig manufacturer based at the Port of Brownsville, are apparently run by a state district judge.

Judge Leonel Alejandro, who is presiding judge of the 357th District Court in Brownsville, has not been charged in the case, but he said he helped start Port Fabricators, which provided workers to AmFELS.

The two companies behind Port Fabricators, CPEP Inc. and LAMC Inc., and former employees Rolando Villanueva, 31, and Ernesto Casas, 33, of Brownsville, were named in a 15-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Brownsville earlier this month.

Alejandro is the president of both CPEP and LAMC, and the public record reflects he was AmFELSÂ’s attorney before taking his seat on the court in January 2003.

“Several years ago, I helped develop Port Fabricators at the Port of Brownsville and still have some involvement with the company,” Alejandro said in a prepared statement to The Herald. “The company has continuously cooperated throughout the process. It would not be appropriate to comment further given the preliminary information we have at this time.”

The corporations, Villanueva and Casas are charged with a combination of crimes, including conspiracy to produce, sell or transfer fraudulent employment documents to the workers, hiring more than 10 undocumented workers, accepting fraudulent documents, transferring fraudulent documents and using the identification of others.

Will there be action taken to remove this man from the bench pending the outcome of this case -- given that he appears to give the phrase "criminal judge" a whole new meaning.

Posted by: Greg at 11:03 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Cheney's Chess Moves in the Middle East by Joshuapundit, and Don't Bury Your Heads in the Sand. by Iraq the Model.  Here is a link to the full results of the vote) in a post. 

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

Posted by: Greg at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 191 words, total size 4 kb.

Sponsored Post

When I was younger, i never saw much of a need for Renters insurance, After all, didn't my landlord have a responsibility for anything that went wrong in my place?

I got lucky -- I never had anything serious go wrong. The same can't be said for the apartment below me, which got flooded when a pipe broke, destroying most of the furniture. They didn't have Renters insurance either -- and got no compensation for the damage because the problem was not due to any fault of our landlord. That was when I decided I needed to get some -- and I kept it as long as I rented a place.

Don't be foolish -- get yourself some Renters insurance -- and here is where you can find great rates here in Houston

Posted by: Greg at 06:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 137 words, total size 1 kb.

After all, the incompetent anti-Semite from Plains did a lousy job as president.

Former President Carter says President Bush's administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.

The criticism from Carter, which a biographer says is unprecedented for the 39th president, also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

Excuse me, but the single least competent individual to occupy the Oval Office during my lifetime was this pea-brained peanut farmer. After all, he decimated the military and our intelligence services, helped bring hostile regimes to power in both Iran and Nicaragua, presided over the worst economy in the last four decades and did such a poor job that the liquor-addled lecher Ted Kennedy even looked like a better choice to many of his fellow Democrats (and fellow Americans in general).

UPDATE: Great response from the White House.

“I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there,” Fratto told reporters. “I think it’s unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”

But then again, Jimmy Carter was irrelevant from about November 1979 onward, so I don't know that it would be fair to characterize him as "increasingly irrelevant". After all, his despicable abandonment of the Shah and his ball-less response to the Iran Hostage Crisis can arguably be seen as marking the start point of the Islamist reaction against America.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Webloggin, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Colloquium, Jo's Cafe, Right Celebrity, Wake Up America, Stageleft, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein... has no mercy, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 406 words, total size 5 kb.

Sponsored Post

Tax debt can be one of the worst problems you can run into financially. After all, with Tax debt you have the full force of the government coming after you, not just some company or individual.. What's more, such debts can often be collected by means not allowed to other creditors.

But there are places to turn to help you with Tax debt, if you find yourself fighting that problem. Most importantly, they have a lot of good articles to help you out, like this one on your options for paying your tax debt.

Posted by: Greg at 06:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

It has been rumored for some time that Tony Blair would likely convert to Catholicism after his time as prime Minister came to an end. I’d figured it had something to do with the established nature of the Anglican Church in Great Britain – but certainly not this.

He is widely considered to have remained an Anglican because of the potential complexities of conversion while in office.

Some lawyers believe the 1829 Emancipation Act, which gave Roman Catholics full civil rights, may still prevent a Catholic from becoming Prime Minister.

Clauses in the Act state that no Catholic adviser to the monarch can hold civil or military office.

It does raise an interesting issue – and one would hope that it would also raise calls for that limit on religious liberty to be changed.

Posted by: Greg at 12:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 146 words, total size 1 kb.

Seems to me that Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich makes a really valid point here – while it is great that we celebrate student-athletes for their accomplishments, we really need to be much more serious about honoring the kids who are doing the heavy lifting of education. You know, the valedictorians and other kids who are excelling at the curricular activities of a school, not the extracurricular ones.

Michael Dotson wanted to be his high school valedictorian because he hates to see his mother sad.

He hated how sad she seemed when he was in 7th grade and started making C's and D's instead of A's. So when he entered Julian High School, he vowed to shape up.

"If I didn't have my mother and I was valedictorian, it would be like, so what?" he said Thursday, sitting in an office at the school. He's a heavyset young man with a soft voice who wears baggy jeans and braids his hair.

"When I found out I was valedictorian, I thought: My mother's going to be the happiest person in the world."

And this young man has succeeded in more ways than one.

By junior year, he realized he had a real shot at graduating first in his class. He studied a little harder. He wound up as one of only 17 boys among this year's 86 Chicago public school valedictorians.

The principal at Julian had hoped Dotson would go to Tuskegee, a revered African-American university in Alabama. Dotson, who hopes to be a video game programmer, chose the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz., a school he discovered at a Navy Pier college fair.

He was sold by the brochure about "geeks at birth" that showed a fetus working at the computer.

Nudged by school officials, he applied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a scholarship. The day the letter arrived, his mother ripped it open. He hadn't even wanted to apply, knowing the odds were against him.

She shouted for joy.

"I was my calm self," he said. "Then I went into my room and called a friend and started screaming."

I know how hard it is to get one of those scholarships. We’ve had kids at my schools win National Merit Scholarships and other prestigious awards but not make the cut for the Gates awards. This young man has shown his ability, and also his individuality – he could have given in to the pressure to pick a college other folks wanted him to attend, but he instead followed his own heart in making that choice.

Yet into Michael Dotson’s life there has come tragedy – his mother recently suffered a stroke. But the good news is that she will be there to see her son graduate from high school at the top of his class, a tribute to his effort and her parenting skills.

Its great to see one of these kids get recognition for this ort of success, but it also makes me stop and think about the out-of-whack priorities we set. Last week, one of our alums (a former student of mine) was brought back to campus to give a motivational speech to a group of kids who might charitably be labeled as “troubled”. He is a starter in the NFL (tagged as his team’s franchise player) and making millions – and is someone of whom we are all quite justifiably proud due to his success and his high moral character. And yet no one would ever think of bringing back one of his classmates, the valedictorian who got accepted at MIT and who is now finishing medical school here in town, or his sister who went to Harvard and is now a microbiologist, or his other sister who followed them to academic excellence and who is finishing her final year at Harvard with a degree in science. These young people grew up in the same neighborhood and faced many of the same challenges as that much-admired football player, but for some reason we seem unwilling or unable to hold them up with the same sort of pride and respect for their accomplishments. Why not – and what can we do to change that?

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Webloggin, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Colloquium, Jo's Cafe, Right Celebrity, Wake Up America, Stageleft, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein... has no mercy, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 782 words, total size 7 kb.

Seems to me that Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich makes a really valid point here – while it is great that we celebrate student-athletes for their accomplishments, we really need to be much more serious about honoring the kids who are doing the heavy lifting of education. You know, the valedictorians and other kids who are excelling at the curricular activities of a school, not the extracurricular ones.

Michael Dotson wanted to be his high school valedictorian because he hates to see his mother sad.

He hated how sad she seemed when he was in 7th grade and started making C's and D's instead of A's. So when he entered Julian High School, he vowed to shape up.

"If I didn't have my mother and I was valedictorian, it would be like, so what?" he said Thursday, sitting in an office at the school. He's a heavyset young man with a soft voice who wears baggy jeans and braids his hair.

"When I found out I was valedictorian, I thought: My mother's going to be the happiest person in the world."

And this young man has succeeded in more ways than one.

By junior year, he realized he had a real shot at graduating first in his class. He studied a little harder. He wound up as one of only 17 boys among this year's 86 Chicago public school valedictorians.

The principal at Julian had hoped Dotson would go to Tuskegee, a revered African-American university in Alabama. Dotson, who hopes to be a video game programmer, chose the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz., a school he discovered at a Navy Pier college fair.

He was sold by the brochure about "geeks at birth" that showed a fetus working at the computer.

Nudged by school officials, he applied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a scholarship. The day the letter arrived, his mother ripped it open. He hadn't even wanted to apply, knowing the odds were against him.

She shouted for joy.

"I was my calm self," he said. "Then I went into my room and called a friend and started screaming."

I know how hard it is to get one of those scholarships. We’ve had kids at my schools win National Merit Scholarships and other prestigious awards but not make the cut for the Gates awards. This young man has shown his ability, and also his individuality – he could have given in to the pressure to pick a college other folks wanted him to attend, but he instead followed his own heart in making that choice.

Yet into Michael Dotson’s life there has come tragedy – his mother recently suffered a stroke. But the good news is that she will be there to see her son graduate from high school at the top of his class, a tribute to his effort and her parenting skills.

Its great to see one of these kids get recognition for this ort of success, but it also makes me stop and think about the out-of-whack priorities we set. Last week, one of our alums (a former student of mine) was brought back to campus to give a motivational speech to a group of kids who might charitably be labeled as “troubled”. He is a starter in the NFL (tagged as his team’s franchise player) and making millions – and is someone of whom we are all quite justifiably proud due to his success and his high moral character. And yet no one would ever think of bringing back one of his classmates, the valedictorian who got accepted at MIT and who is now finishing medical school here in town, or his sister who went to Harvard and is now a microbiologist, or his other sister who followed them to academic excellence and who is finishing her final year at Harvard with a degree in science. These young people grew up in the same neighborhood and faced many of the same challenges as that much-admired football player, but for some reason we seem unwilling or unable to hold them up with the same sort of pride and respect for their accomplishments. Why not – and what can we do to change that?

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Webloggin, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Colloquium, Jo's Cafe, Right Celebrity, Wake Up America, Stageleft, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein... has no mercy, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 788 words, total size 7 kb.

On you and me, thatÂ’s who!

Everyone takes a hit. Forty-five million working families with two children will see their taxes increase by nearly $3,000 annually. They’d see the current child tax credit cut in half — from $1,000 to $500. The standard deduction for married couples is also cut in half, from the current $3,400 to $1,700. The overall effect on married couples with children is obvious: Far from shifting the burden onto the wealthy, the Democratic budget drives up taxes on the average American family by more than 130 percent.

Seniors get hit hard too. Democrats like to crow that only the richest one percent of Americans benefit from the stimulative tax cuts Republicans passed in 2001 and 2003. What they rarely mention is how much seniors benefited from those cuts in the form of increased income as a result of lower taxes on dividends and capital gains. More than half of all seniors today claim income from these two sources, and the Democratic budget would lower the income of every one of them by reversing every one of those cuts.

I thought that it was only the top 1% of Americans who needed to pay more according to the Democrats. Looks like it is going to be all of us – and as I see it, my taxes will be going up a couple of grand. That’s OK, though – I’m sure we will be able to do without our medications until the middle of October, when this school teacher and his disabled wife will have finally paid off the additional taxes we owe for being among the super-rich who disproportionately benefited from the Bush tax cuts.

Posted by: Greg at 12:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 288 words, total size 2 kb.

Jonah Goldberg points out that there often are “good guys” and “bad guys” in a civil war – and that the argument that Iraq is a civil war is not a compelling one for adopting a cut-&-run-&-surrender policy as advocated by the neo-Copperheads.

Why is it obvious that intervening in a civil war is not only wrong, but so self-evidently wrong that merely calling the Iraqi conflict a civil war closes off discussion?

Surely it canÂ’t be a moral argument. Every liberal foreign policy do-gooder in Christendom wants America to interject itself in the Sudanese civil war unfolding so horrifically in Darfur. The high-water mark in post-Vietnam liberal foreign policy was Bill ClintonÂ’s intervention in the Yugoslavian civil war. If we can violate the prime directive of no civil wars for Darfur and Kosovo, why not for Kirkuk and Basra?

If your answer is that those calls for intervention were “humanitarian,” that just confuses me more. Advocates of a pullout mostly concede that Iraq will become a genocidal, humanitarian disaster if we leave. Is the prospect of Iraqi genocide more tolerable for some reason?

Indeed, there is no way one can argue that intervention in Kosovo or Darfur are defensible while intervention in Iraq is not. For that matter, many folks still struggle mightily over our failure to intervene in the brief and bloody events in Rwanda, which can also be argued constituted a civil war. I fail to see the moral calculus that would allow for intervening to stop genocide while not doing so in an effort to forestall such genocide.

Then there are those who take the fatalistÂ’s cop-out: Civil wars have no good guys and bad guys. TheyÂ’re just dogfights, and we should stay out of them and see who comes out on top. But thatÂ’s also confusing, because not only is it not true, liberals have been saying the opposite for generations. They cheered for the Reds against the Whites in the Russian civil war, for the Communists against the Fascists in the Spanish civil war, and for the victims of ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia and Sudan. Surely liberals believe there was a good side and a bad side in the American Civil War?

Indeed, most civil wars do, in fact, have an identifiable dichotomy of “good guy” and “bad guy”, to use Goldberg’s simplistic terms. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the world would have been a better place had the Whites won in Russia. Knowing what we do about Communist regimes, one can reluctantly conclude that the better of two sides won in Spain. And would anyone argue that a Serbian victory in Yugoslavia or an Islamist victory in Sudan and their accompanying genocides would be better for America or the world? Would one seriously argue that a Confederate victory over the Union would have been a neutral outcome?

In the end, America has an interest in who wins in Iraq – as do the Iraqi people. It is strategically, not to mention morally, imperative for us to act in the best interests of our nation and the Iraqi people – and to reject the defeatist cries of the nay-sayers who invoke the phrase “civil war” as if it were a magic talisman.

Posted by: Greg at 12:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 550 words, total size 3 kb.

Military posts have never been a public forum for political activity. These folks must therefore lose their case.

Last year they stopped short of the U.S. Military Academy gate. This year, anti-war protesters hope to go a few steps further.

As Vice President Dick Cheney prepares to deliver commencement remarks at West Point on May 26, local activists are headed to court for permission to protest the Bush administration inside the Academy on Graduation Day.

It's a type of civil disobedience that's never been permitted at the nation's oldest military college.

But Goshen civil rights attorney Michael H. Sussman and members of the Democratic Alliance of Orange County say they are seeking to set precedent. A federal judge has agreed to hear their request for an injunction this morning in White Plains.

"These people want to have it inside the gate, and West Point says they don't authorize (protests) inside the gate," said the group's lawyer, Stephen Bergstein. "But if they can be there in a peaceful way, they should be allowed to be there."

Nonsense.

Posted by: Greg at 12:28 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 184 words, total size 1 kb.

I just love it when liberals set up a strawman to attack the GOP. Michael Kinsley does exactly that in this current Time column.

The official position of the Republican Party on abortion is more extreme than most people realize. All of its recent platforms have declared that "the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children." The 14th Amendment is the one that protects fundamental rights and "equal protection of the laws." If "unborn children" are a protected group under the 14th Amendment--like blacks, women and so on--abortion is unconstitutional. A state couldn't legalize abortion even if its citizens wished to. Women who procure abortions and doctors who perform them would have to be prosecuted for murder, just like a woman who hires a gunman to kill her child. Death-penalty states would have to either stop executing murderers or start executing women who have abortions.

Actually, not quite, Michael. Yes, abortion would be banned in all states, but that would not require that abortion be treated as first degree murder or force the execution of abortionists and their clients. Just as there are currently multiple different criminal penalties for various sorts of homicide, abortion could be treated at any of those levels – or even placed in its own class. For that matter, criminalization of abortion would not be required – after all, there is no constitutional requirement that a state have laws against murder.

None of this, though, matters to Kinsley – who would rather alarm folks than illuminate them. After all, Kinsley knows that most Americans support sharp limits on abortion, if not an outright ban. So Kinsley has to scare people – and isn’t about to let the actual facts get in the way. You know, things like this from the next paragraph in the platform.

We oppose abortion, but our pro-life agenda does not include punitive action against women who have an abortion.

But then again, when you want to paint your opponents as heartless extremists it wouldnÂ’t do to tell the whole truth.

Posted by: Greg at 12:26 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 350 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Why would your party not punish active participants in murder?

Posted by: Dan at Sun May 20 06:35:39 2007 (IU21y)

2 As that question comes from a member of the party that celebrates those murders and considers committing them to be a civil right, I won't even dignify that with an answer.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 10:05:34 2007 (4g2Ps)

3 Actually, Dan, I do -- but given the refusal of you and your party to even acknowledge abortion as the taking of a human life, I don't see where any answer I give will satisfy you.

But then again, your party didn't see blacks as humans until the 1960s, so why should I be surprised at the callousness of the Democrats today?

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 11:36:54 2007 (4g2Ps)

4 You don't know my position on abortion, and I'd strongly suggest that you stop leaping to assumptions.

Expletive.

But, seriously, how do you square that logic? If abortion is murder, how can you possibly excuse the mother from her involvement? Is it that murder is okay in that circumstance - for the mother, anyhow? Is it that the fetus is not really worthy of protection? Is it not really murder, after all?

Or is it that the picture of sending crying young women to prison for a choice many choose to make is a bad public relations image for the anti-choice lobby?

Posted by: Dan at Sun May 20 12:01:51 2007 (IU21y)

5 Well, Dan, your choice of terminology clearly puts you in the anti-life left-stream of the Democratic Party -- so now I don't have to leap to any conclusions about your being an anti-lifer.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 12:21:11 2007 (ayoM5)

6 And Dan, if you read the platform in question, you would know the answer:

Our goal is to ensure that women with problem pregnancies have the kind of support, material and otherwise, they need for themselves and for their babies, not to be punitive towards those for whose difficult situation we have only compassion. We oppose abortion, but our pro-life agenda does not include punitive action against women who have an abortion. We salute those who provide alternatives to abortion and offer adoption services, and we commend Congressional Republicans for expanding assistance to adopting families and for removing racial barriers to adoption. We join the President in supporting crisis pregnancy programs and parental notification laws. And we applaud President Bush for allowing states to extend health care coverage to unborn children.

The short answer, as you can see, is one of compassion for someone who clearly has not been able to access the resources necessary to bring that child to term. On the other hand, the abortionist in such situations is clearly profiteering off the misery of others, and is clearly a more morally culpable -- and is usually as serial killer to boot.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 12:46:30 2007 (ayoM5)

7 That doesn't make any sense.

I think you know that.

If a woman gives birth, and is in a difficult situation, you would not support her decision to kill the child, would you?

Being in a "difficult situation" is not typically a murder defense. Is killing a fetus murder or not?

What if Paris Hilton gets pregnant, out of sheer sluttiness and a stupid refusal to use contraception? What if she would face no particular difficulty in having the child? What if she decided to abort because she thought it would be funny to piss of the religious right? Why would that not be premeditated murder? Why would she get off scot free?

Are you SURE this isn't just a PR issue? Because it would be a whole lot more consistent if you treated murder like murder, don't you think?

As for your jumping to conclusions, you're quite silly. These are difficult issues I've struggled with for years. I find that most people on both sides have shallow and stupid reasoning. The platform is certainly guilty of that. I'm beginning to suspect you may, as well, though I'm eager to be proven wrong.

Posted by: Dan at Sun May 20 15:07:54 2007 (IU21y)

8 Actually, I find any reasoning that doesn't lead to a pro-life position to be inherently shallow and stupid -- not to mention based in selfishness and self-indulgence.

From my experience dealing with those who have had abortions, most of them have not particularly been willing participants. I think of the 17 year old girl whose boyfriend and his mother took her "for shopping and lunch" and then drove to the regional abortuary and informed her that she could go in and have the procedure done -- or call her parents (who didn't yet even know she was pregnant) and a have them drive 100 miles to pick her up from the parking lot. I think of the one who took a home pregnancy test and was pressured into the abortion by her boyfriend -- only to discover, after she and her parents went to court to force access to her medical records from the facility that she had never been pregnant in the first place. And yes, I think of a number of clients when I worked at the homeless shelter who were told that abortion was their only option by "compassionate" people who had "struggled with the issue".

And yes, Dan, I'm sure it isn't just a PR issue -- but if folks like you insist, we could certainly execute both the serial-killer/abortionist and the woman who he/she had actively victimized.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 15:25:17 2007 (e74fy)

9 RWR - You're not answering the question. Is it unanswerable for you?

If a woman has other options, but chooses to have an abortion, why should she not be punished?

Posted by: Dan at Sun May 20 15:33:16 2007 (IU21y)

10 Ideally -- yes.

As a practical matter, however, preventing the injustice of punishing women like I mention above necessitates allowing such a woman to escape punishment.

But if you would like, we can just execute them all, just to avoid offending your sensibilities.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun May 20 21:34:27 2007 (Y4tHr)

11 RWR -

I suspect that many on the right would, in fact, be eager to execute them all - I don't doubt your own sincerity, but I do doubt the sincerity of many of your cohorts.

It seems strange that the anti-choice crowd would have such an easy-going attitude toward murderesses - my unscientific impression is that this is the same crowd which hoots in dismay whenever an accused asserts his or her rights.

On the other hand, it does fit into a certain paternalism I've seen on the side of state-enforced decision-making - those silly little women are too stupid to decide what to do with their bodies. I, too, have known women who have undergone abortions, and they have not all been the downtrodden victims this plank would seek to protect. It's not really logical to excuse an entire class of murderers because a few of them might have been in a jam. That's kind of like allowing all women to murder their husbands because a few of them might be battered spouses.

It also seems a little suspicious that this unexpected burst of illogical compassion for criminals happens to coincide with the avoidance of taking a position which would doom the movement at the polls. It looks more like a calculated decision to criminalize in increments.

Twice you've offered to execute them (ironic for a "pro-lifer"). Your quickness to flip-flop on this issue suggests that Republicans may be less than determined to protect women from murder prosecutions.

Posted by: Dan at Sun May 20 23:13:09 2007 (IU21y)

12 Actually, Dan, you seem to once again have missed the sarcastic nature of my response. You are the fellow with the blood-thirsty streak -- but then again, your support for abortion already showed that, didn't it.

And Dan, we pro-lifers are more than willing to allow women to do whatever they want with their bodies. The problem is, of course, that they are doing something to the bodies of their children. And while I'll agree that they may be morally culpable, compassion dictates that we as a society show the sort of mercy they are unwilling to show their children.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon May 21 14:03:52 2007 (3f8E9)

13 Compassionate enough to let them off for murder, but not compassionate enough to let them choose whether or not to have a child. Interesting.

But, less rhetorically, I appreciate your honesty. There is nothing other than the right wing's "compassion" to prevent murder prosecutions. If anyone feels secure in relying on the right wing's "compassion", I admire their faith. Personally, I'm seeing a huge maternity ward being added on to Gitmo.

Posted by: Dan at Tue May 22 00:44:53 2007 (IU21y)

14 Fine Dan -- if you insist, we can implement capital punishment for the women, too. Anything to keep you anti-lifers happy and content, with plenty of blood flowing (like the 45 million plus killed since Roe).

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue May 22 11:14:43 2007 (39aMb)

15 Is that a joke or not, RWR? You've got no assurance beyond your never-seen-before right-wing "compassion" that we won't see prosecutions. Most of the nation knows that republicans are liars and extremists.

You're trying to have it both ways. Ban abortion because it's murder, but treat the ladies kindly because they're a kinder and gentler brand of murderer. It doesn't make sense.

Except from a PR perspective.

Posted by: Dan at Tue May 22 12:44:18 2007 (IU21y)

16 Like I said, Dan -- we'll execute them if you anti-lifers insist upon it. After all, you folks must have the blood you rejoice in, one way or another.

By the way -- Moloch would be proud of you people.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue May 22 13:14:55 2007 (F7csV)

17 Was the Liberty University Napalm Terrorist pro-life?

Posted by: Dan at Tue May 22 14:09:55 2007 (IU21y)

18 You really had to scrounge to find a sick puppy like that -- whose actions would have been condemned by Falwell himself -- to try to discredit the pro-life movement, especially since there is no apparent connection between the two. Sort of like connecting the Unabomber and Al Gore, since they both spout the same sort of radical environmental kookery.

Of course, you and I might both agree that if this moron had managed to successfully use these devices on the Fred Phelps Klan (loyal Democrats all), America would be a better place.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue May 22 14:26:52 2007 (qAmhO)

19 You know, I'll go ahead and admit that using the Rightwinger Napalm Terrorist in this discussion was a bad misdirection. It doesn't really fit into the discussion, and I think we've said about all we have to say here. We agree, I think, that it is not logical to refuse to punish women who have abortions, if abortion is deemed to be murder, and we agree that the only prevention for such criminal prosecutions is rightwing "compassion". I have no faith that such a thing exists, and you do. We'll have to agree to disagree.

(Unless I toss in another red herring . . .)

Posted by: Dan at Tue May 22 14:36:33 2007 (IU21y)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Aside from his betrayal of the troops and readiness to surrender, John Murtha has long left a trail of slime and corruption in his wake. This charge should therefore come as no surprise -- and be seen as entirely in character.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) threatened to deny any further spending projects to a Republican who challenged him over an earmark, his antagonist has charged -- a potential violation of House rules.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had challenged money that Murtha inserted into an intelligence bill last week.

Rogers turned the tables later that night by saying he would propose a reprimand of Murtha for violating House rules.

The Republican is planning to insert a transcript of their exchange in the Congressional Record to document the potential violation.

The privileged resolution will also require a House vote to reprimand Murtha for his comments, according to a copy received by Politico. Rogers is expected to file it on Monday.

It does not call for an investigation by the ethics committee.

Bravo to Rogers for bringing this matter to the public -- but it also needs to go before the Ethics Committee. And I'm curious -- will the Democrats show anything approaching the level of outrage they always showed over Tom DeLay? Or will they continue to accept corrupt members as they have in the past, even as they talk a good game about ethics while shielding them?

Posted by: Greg at 10:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 243 words, total size 2 kb.

Utterly disgusting -- threatening to reveal a private tragedy if someone tells the truth.

Floyd Landis's sleepy, scientific arbitration hearing in Malibu, Calif., morphed into a pulp-fiction blockbuster yesterday.

Greg LeMond, like Landis an American Tour de France champion, disclosed in testimony that he had been sexually abused as a child and received a call Wednesday from Landis's manager, who threatened to reveal the secret if LeMond showed up to testify.

Shortly after LeMond dropped those bombshells, the manager, Will Geoghegan, apologized to LeMond and admitted he made the call, LeMond said. Subsequently, Landis attorney Maurice Suh told Geoghegan, "You're fired," while they were still standing in the hearing room.

"It was a real threat, it was real creepy, and I think it shows the extent of who it is," LeMond said before leaving the Pepperdine University law school after his spellbinding day. "I think there's another side of Floyd that the public hasn't seen."

Cross-examination of LeMond, designed to expose his motives and impeach his credibility, was called off because LeMond refused to answer questions about Lance Armstrong.

Before LeMond received the threatening call from Geoghegan, his testimony was supposed to be about conversations he had with Landis shortly after news of his positive "A" urine sample had been leaked to the press.

LeMond said he urged Landis to come clean if his backup "B" sample also came back tainted.

Disgusting -- utterly disgusting. And bravo for Landis, who fired Geoghegan on the spot. Too bad it is clear he cheated, and deserves to be banned fromt eh sport.

Posted by: Greg at 10:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 270 words, total size 2 kb.

Players sometimes have to buy-out a teammate if they want a particular jersey number. I've heard about players getting a pretty big chunk of change from a new member of the team for the right to wear their favorite number -- the one they wore through college and high school.

But I've never heard of this -- and it impresses me greatly.

[Running Back Ahman] Green, who started wearing 30 even before attending Nebraska, became optimistic but still wasn't sure what it might cost him. The tradition around the NFL is that if you want someone else's number, you pay them.

When Green finally asked, [safety Jason] Simmons shocked him.

"He said, 'Sure, but I'd like you to make a down payment on a single-parent home through a foundation or charity,' " Green said. "I was like, 'Yeah I'm all on board. That's easy. Tell me where to write the check to.'

"So instead of putting the money into his pocket, he's going to put in into somebody else's home and help them get their life started."

Simmons had no personal connection to the number 30. He wore 23 for four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. When he arrived in Houston as a free agent before the 2002 season, they handed him 30.

Now, he will wear No. 22.

Some family will have a home because of Simmons and Green -- and I hope that we have the beginning of a new tradition here in Houston and around the NFL.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Webloggin, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Colloquium, Jo's Cafe, Right Celebrity, Wake Up America, Stageleft, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein... has no mercy, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 10:37 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 333 words, total size 4 kb.

Our troops are chronically underpaid (even worse than cops, firefighters and teachers), and so i think they deserve any pay raise that Congress is willing to give them -- even if it exceeds teh one the administration has requested.

In the veto threat against the National Defense Authorization Act, the White House says they're opposed to two things: Increased survivor benefits of $40 a month to spouses of those who lost someone in military service, and a pay increase to all personnel, across the board, just half a percent higher than what the president endorsed.

There is plenty of good reason to veto the latest neo-Copperhead efforts to cut-&-run-&-surrender -- but this isn't it, because the proposal is not a budget-buster. Indeed, it is only common decency.

Posted by: Greg at 10:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.

Yes, it appears to raise the priority on enforcement -- but it also contains an amnesty program, so we can expect another 10 million illegal aliens to enter the US in the next four or five years, waiting for the next amnesty that our nation's leaders say will never again be offered.

A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers and the White House struck an immigration reform deal Thursday that would grant legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States and increase border and interior enforcement initiatives.

The plan would establish a temporary worker program for new arrivals to the United States with a separate program for agricultural workers. The bill also would include provisions for new technology to ensure against immigration document fraud.

Supporters of the arrangement urged their congressional colleagues and the American public to support the bill as a whole even though strong objection may be felt toward its individual parts.

"All of you know that in the legislative process, no one gets 100 percent of what they want, if you're going to get something done," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. said, speaking to reporters shortly after the deal was announced.

"From my perspective, it's not perfect, but it represents the best opportunity that we have in a bipartisan way to do something about this problem. And if we had not gotten together as Republicans and Democrats to develop this bipartisan consensus, we can be assured that there would not be a bill passed this year, and probably not next year," Kyl said.

The question is this -- is a bad bill better than no bill at all? Does a bill tha rewards illegal behavior better advance the interests of the United States than continuing with the status quo in the hopes of getting something better? I'm not sure -- but I'm inclined to oppose this one.

Posted by: Greg at 10:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 320 words, total size 2 kb.

Sponsored Post

If you are like me, you grew up getting some sort of allowance related to doing household chores. It was a way of teaching us kids some responsibility, and the value of work. I remember that each week we boys would be standing in front of Dad waiting for the cash to be doled out.

Well times have changed. PAYjr Visa Buxxis a new system that lets parents put their child's allowance on a debit card. In effect, it allows for keeping a spreadsheet/checklist of chores for each child. As the chores get done, the money gets transferred to the child's debit card. No chores, no cash -- pretty simple. This way a parent can also monitor where and how the money is being spent -- and restrict certain transactions and locations.

If this sounds familiar to you, it may be because you heard about it on the CBS Evening News last week. The service launches in July, but you can check out the demo now at the PAYjr Visa Buxx website.

Posted by: Greg at 06:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 177 words, total size 1 kb.

I guess I don't see the crime here -- much less how it rises to the level of a "hate crime".

Two 16-year-old Crystal Lake girls were expected in juvenile court Tuesday on hate-crime charges for allegedly printing and distributing fliers with pictures of two boys kissing and inflammatory statements about homosexuality.

The girls, both of whom are students at Crystal Lake South High School and whose names were not released because of their ages, were arrested Friday, Crystal Lake Police Chief Dave Linder said. One of the boys on the flier is a student at the school.

When an officer tried to stop the girls from distributing the fliers in a school parking lot, they climbed a fence and ran, Linder said.

Both girls face charges of committing a hate crime, disorderly conduct, and obstructing justice. One girl also was charged with resisting arrest.

Under Illinois law, a person commits a hate crime when he or she commits a crime against another person based on that personÂ’s race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities or national origin.

So tell me -- where is the crime against another person necessary to qualify as a hate crime? It appears here that what we have is a case of speech being criminalized. Yes, there is the issue of whether their venue was appropriate, but even that does not qualify as a crime against a person. And I'm not alone in asking the question -- at least one gay site has the same concern.

Seems to me that this case may be the "poster child" against hate crime laws.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Random Yak, AZAMATTEROFACT, 123beta, guerrilla radio, Right Truth, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie Is Wired, Right Celebrity, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 01:10 PM | Comments (237) | Add Comment
Post contains 339 words, total size 4 kb.

The Houston Chronicle is so pleased that the bill to require proof of identity and citizenship for voters has been blocked, despite overwhelming support of the people of Texas.

Once again a minority bulwark of Democratic state senators has blocked the advance of sloppily crafted, partisan legislation in Austin. The legislation would have required Texas voters to produce a confusing welter of identification in order to cast ballots.

The demise, at least temporarily, of SB 218 in the Senate was as vituperative and tacky as the process that pushed it through the House. Although none of the bill's proponents produced evidence of widespread voter impersonation, the bill still received easy approval on a largely party line vote.

The bill would have required Texas voters to present at the voting place either photo IDs or substitutes in addition to a valid voter registration card. Republicans said the purpose was to increase voting integrity. Democrats charged the real aim was to suppress voting by their prime constituencies, including the elderly and minorities, who are less likely to have the required identification than more affluent, working-age citizens.

* * *

Rather than trying to fix a problem — widespread voter fraud — that does not exist, lawmakers should turn their focus to the real issues: the poor reliability of electronic voting systems and the need for a paper trail to verify the accuracy of the count.

Yeah – voter fraud certainly isn’t a problem. I mean, there certainly isn’t any voter fraud or voting by non-citizens in Texas. Right?

Hundreds of illegal immigrants have registered to vote in Bexar County in recent years and dozens of them have actually cast ballots, canceling out the votes of U.S. citizens, 1200 WOAI news will report Thursday morning.

Figures obtained by 1200 WOAI news shows 303 illegals successfully registered to vote, and at least 41 cast ballots in various elections.

Bexar County Elections Administrator Jackie Callanan confirmed the figures, but she says a new form of voter registration card, which requires people to swear they are citizens when they register, should help cut the problem, because people who vote illegally can be charged with perjury.

And we know that those who break our laws by illegally entering the country and working in violation of the law are really very concerned about being charged with perjury, given their high level of respect for the rest of the laws of this country. And if we see a couple of hundred illegal voters in every county – illegal voters who are most likely going to vote for the Democrats – that is just great in the eyes of the Chronicle and the Democrats.

Posted by: Greg at 12:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 456 words, total size 3 kb.

I think this could reasonably be called a proposal for a police state – courtesy of the Democrats who run Baltimore.

Large swaths of Baltimore could be declared emergency areas subject to heightened police enforcement - including a lockdown of streets - under a city councilman's proposal that aims to slow the city's climbing homicide count.

The legislation - which met with a lukewarm response from Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration yesterday, and which others likened to martial law - would allow police to close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city sidewalks and halt traffic in areas declared "public safety act zones." It comes as the number of homicides in Baltimore reached 108, up from 98 at the same time last year.

"Desperate measures are needed when we're in desperate situations," said City Council Vice President Robert W. Curran, the bill's author. "What I'm trying to do is give the mayor additional tools."

As I read through the article, I cannot help but note that the provisions allow for the suspension of much of the First Amendment (right to peaceably assemble), Second Amendment (right to keep and bear arms), Fourth Amendment (freedom from unreasonable search and seizure), as well as the freedom to freely operate a legal business. Could you imagine the outrage if this were tried in an attempt to get at illegal aliens or terrorists?

Posted by: Greg at 12:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 239 words, total size 2 kb.

That is the effect of the surrender of his law license over his theft of secret documents to cover up the role of the Clinton Administration in the failures that allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen.

Samuel R. Berger, the Clinton White House national security adviser who was caught taking highly classified documents from the National Archives, has agreed to forfeit his license to practice law.

In a written statement issued by Larry Breuer, Mr. Berger's attorney, the former national security adviser said he pleaded guilty in the Justice Department investigation, accepted the penalties sought by the department and recognized that his law license would be affected.

"I have decided to voluntarily relinquish my license," he said. "While I derived great satisfaction from years of practicing law, I have not done so for 15 years and do not envision returning to the profession. I am very sorry for what I did, and I deeply apologize."

Why surrender the license? This makes it all clear.

In giving up his license, Mr. Berger avoids being cross-examined by the Board on Bar Counsel, where he risked further disclosure of specific details of his theft.

In other words, Sandy Berger didnÂ’t want to have to tell, under oath and facing penalty for perjury, exactly what he took and why.

Berger joins a long list of Clinton officials, including the former president himself, to have suffered the loss of their law licenses for criminal activities.

Posted by: Greg at 12:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 2 kb.

I guess we have to understand that in the eyes of Muslims, their hurt feelings are much more of a problem than dead infidels.

Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday expressed grave concern at the rising tide of discrimination and intolerance against Muslims, especially in Europe and North America. “It is something that has assumed xenophobic proportions,” they said in unison.

Speaking at a special brainstorming session on the sidelines of the 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), the foreign ministers termed Islamophobia the worst form of terrorism and called for practical steps to counter it.

The ministers described Islamophobia as a deliberate defamation of Islam and discrimination and intolerance against Muslims. “This campaign of calumny against Muslims resulted in the publication of the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a Danish newspaper and the issuance of the inflammatory statement by Pope Benedict XVI,” they said. During a speech in Germany last year, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things. The Pope’s remarks aroused the anger of the whole Islamic world.

“The increasingly negative political and media discourse targeting Muslims and Islam in the United States and Europe has made things all the more difficult,” the foreign ministers said. “Islamophobia became a source of concern, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the phenomenon was already there in Western societies in one form or the other,” they pointed out. “It gained further momentum after the Madrid and London bombings. The killing of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh in 2004 was used in a wicked manner by certain quarters to stir up a frenzy against Muslims,” the ministers pointed out. Van Gogh had made a controversial film about Muslim culture.

Yeah, I guess we should remember that these folks live by the words of the old Islamic nursery rhyme:

Stick and stone
Break infidel bones;
But C-4 is more effective.

I guess this blog entry makes me a terrorist – and no doubt the recipient of another couple of death threats from the fatwa crowd.

Posted by: Greg at 12:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 367 words, total size 3 kb.

I guess we have to understand that in the eyes of Muslims, their hurt feelings are much more of a problem than dead infidels.

Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday expressed grave concern at the rising tide of discrimination and intolerance against Muslims, especially in Europe and North America. “It is something that has assumed xenophobic proportions,” they said in unison.

Speaking at a special brainstorming session on the sidelines of the 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), the foreign ministers termed Islamophobia the worst form of terrorism and called for practical steps to counter it.

The ministers described Islamophobia as a deliberate defamation of Islam and discrimination and intolerance against Muslims. “This campaign of calumny against Muslims resulted in the publication of the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a Danish newspaper and the issuance of the inflammatory statement by Pope Benedict XVI,” they said. During a speech in Germany last year, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things. The Pope’s remarks aroused the anger of the whole Islamic world.

“The increasingly negative political and media discourse targeting Muslims and Islam in the United States and Europe has made things all the more difficult,” the foreign ministers said. “Islamophobia became a source of concern, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the phenomenon was already there in Western societies in one form or the other,” they pointed out. “It gained further momentum after the Madrid and London bombings. The killing of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh in 2004 was used in a wicked manner by certain quarters to stir up a frenzy against Muslims,” the ministers pointed out. Van Gogh had made a controversial film about Muslim culture.

Yeah, I guess we should remember that these folks live by the words of the old Islamic nursery rhyme:

Stick and stone
Break infidel bones;
But C-4 is more effective.

I guess this blog entry makes me a terrorist – and no doubt the recipient of another couple of death threats from the fatwa crowd.

Posted by: Greg at 12:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 374 words, total size 3 kb.

I’ll give you a hint – not the oil companies.

While oil companies make about 13 cents on a gallon of gasoline, the federal government makes 18.4 cents (the federal tax) and California's various governments make 40.2 cents (the nation's third-highest gasoline tax). Pelosi's San Francisco collects a local sales tax of 8.5 percent -- higher than the state's average for local sales taxes.

And the solution, proposed by Pelosi and other Democrats – is to increase the profit the government makes through taxation, thereby raising the price of gas.

As George Will points out, adjusted for inflation the price of gas is below what it was at the start of the Reagan Administration.

And as I noted in February, oil companies are not making that big of a profit.

As a percentage of total earnings, ExxonÂ’s profit was 10.45 %. Is that really an unconscionably high profit?

And taken per share, the profit was $6.62. With shares trading at $74 dollars as of this morning, that means that each share had a profit of 8.9%. Again, does the level of profit really shock the conscience?

So who is gouging the consumer – Big Oil or Big Government?

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Random Yak, AZAMATTEROFACT, 123beta, guerrilla radio, Right Truth, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie Is Wired, Right Celebrity, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 275 words, total size 4 kb.

When (not if) the Palestinian Authority fails, will we see a return to something resembling the pre-1967 status quo? Captain Ed notes this from the Times of London, indicating it might be.

Some Palestinian analysts predict that a collapse of the Palestinian Authority would pave the way for Jordanian custodial rule in the West Bank and a similar arrangement for Egypt in Gaza.

“The message is the Palestinians cannot rule themselves. This fighting will only end if a third party takes over,” said Ibrahim Abrash, a political analyst in Gaza.

How odd that the solution to the “Palestinian Problem” might be to essentially turn the clock back four decades – and that such a solution might, in fact, be the most secure option for Israel.

Posted by: Greg at 12:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.

No, not the stuff about suspending the teacher for threatening to shoot students. That is a proper move.

No, I mean this little tidbit at the end of the article.

In February he was reprimanded for including a biblical account of creation in an assignment on myths.

Excuse me, but the creation stories found in Genesis meet all the criteria for being included in the literary category of “myth”. Why should there be any discipline meted out for making use of those stories to illustrate the concept?

Now I've heard on the radio that this guy is a pretty outspoken atheist, and that makes some students uncomfortable -- but really, his method is not all that outrageous. In fact, an old colleague from my days as an English teacher and I talked about this thing this afternoon and laughed -- because the two of us, both active Christians, have taught precisely the same sort of assignment with 11th graders.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Random Yak, AZAMATTEROFACT, 123beta, guerrilla radio, Right Truth, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie Is Wired, Right Celebrity, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 236 words, total size 3 kb.

Imagine the uproar if a hotel set aside a special floor for men, with special amenities not available to female guests. There would, of course, be an uproar. Under civil rights law, the hotel would be forced to end the discriminatory practice.

The same thing should happen here.

Among the amenities planned for this city's new JW Marriott hotel, one might be a first in America.

The Alticor-owned riverfront hotel is reserving its 19th floor and a lounge exclusively for female clientele when it opens Sept. 19.

Andrea Groom, a spokeswoman for the 24-story, 340-room hotel, said the idea recognizes more than half of all business travelers are women.

"A lot of women are saying they're not feeling like they're safe when they're traveling to a strange city," she said. "They don't necessarily want to go down to a lounge and feel like they are getting hit on by guys."

The women-only rooms also will have amenities not found in other rooms, such as chenille throw blankets, ionic hair dryers, jewelry holders and special bath products.

Access to those rooms will come at a $25 to $30 per night premium over standard rates of about $229.

If this is allowed to stand, every sex discrimination law in the country needs to be repealed, for it will be clear that they fall short of the requirement that they provide equal protection of the law.

Posted by: Greg at 12:35 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 241 words, total size 1 kb.

1 comment2, 1000 loan payday
, %-(, Nice guaranteed online personal loans
, 19318, Personal Loan For Poor Credit Yeah
, txwde, Need 5000 Loan Overnight Online
, 8-[, Good elf bowling to play online
, 544205,

Posted by: gunzone at Wed Apr 29 10:33:24 2009 (FZxps)

2 comment6, Greatest aricept
, =-DD, Darvocet Photos
, 7535, short mini skirt galleries
, 466094, bactrim
, 774688, Pictures of buy zovirax
, 2138,

Posted by: Michael at Tue May 5 06:44:14 2009 (VpWq4)

3 Zdarova!, adobe creative for mac, 6303, buy adobe acrobat, > , buy microsoft office 2007, > ,

Posted by: Pisinka at Wed May 20 05:24:34 2009 (LpxCG)

4 Hi!, buy autocad, 813651, adobe creative for mac, gqfo, buy microsoft office 2007, jlvxs,

Posted by: SosniIUH at Wed May 20 09:30:30 2009 (mUE89)

5 Zdarova!, buy adobe acrobat, nnxggy, adobe creative for mac, 894, buy microsoft office 2007, 972760,

Posted by: Pisinka at Wed May 20 14:04:24 2009 (FDjtv)

6 Zdarova!, buy adobe acrobat, nnxggy, adobe creative for mac, 894, buy microsoft office 2007, 972760,

Posted by: Pisinka at Wed May 20 14:04:25 2009 (iae3s)

7 Zdarova!, buy autocad, =[[[, adobe creative for mac, %[[, buy microsoft office 2007, ipamk,

Posted by: Pisinka at Wed May 20 14:22:24 2009 (lreUk)

8 Good moning!, adobe creative for mac, 4292, buy adobe acrobat, 18901, buy microsoft office 2007, 29834,

Posted by: VBarakenOgama at Wed May 20 15:25:09 2009 (kmI7G)

9 Good moning!, buy autocad, 8[, adobe creative for mac, hgnnse, buy microsoft office 2007, =-DD,

Posted by: Maramoika at Wed May 20 15:45:57 2009 (/vojC)

10 Hello!, buy autocad, 213945, buy adobe acrobat, 1272, buy microsoft office 2007, >:],

Posted by: SosniIUH at Wed May 20 16:06:09 2009 (YI4Z5)

11 Gutentak!, autodesk autocad 2008, :-DD, solidworks 2009 x64, >:OO, Autodesk 3ds Max, 616212, Zoner PhotoStudio Enterprise, srfe, adobe acrobat 8 professional, 7141,

Posted by: Trasvestitka at Fri May 22 00:53:38 2009 (uCsD1)

12 Hello!, microsoft windows vista business, :O, adobe photoshop cs2, 8-P, solidworks 2009 x64, lmf, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, =DD, Zoner PhotoStudio Enterprise, 8-[[, Conceptdraw Office, 08269,

Posted by: Titinka at Fri May 22 02:25:39 2009 (nbclR)

13 Hi!, solidworks 2009 x64, rkbv, parallels desktop 3 for Mac, 9638, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, 744933, adobe acrobat 8 professional, 8-PP, microsoft windows vista sp2 x64, qbmi, autodesk navisworks simulate 2010, ezxrq,

Posted by: Trasvestitka at Fri May 22 04:58:41 2009 (t3eR6)

14 Privet!, SolidWorks 2009, =O, microsoft windows vista business, 873, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, qyll, adobe acrobat 8 professional, 43784, Conceptdraw Office, 008,

Posted by: Titinka at Fri May 22 05:43:39 2009 (wW9wa)

15 Gutentak!, Autodesk 3ds Max, =-DD, parallels desktop 3 for Mac, mrt, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, 421, Zoner PhotoStudio Enterprise, 8-(((, microsoft office xp profession, gvbm,

Posted by: Trasvestitka at Fri May 22 13:46:44 2009 (mnqZG)

16 Hello!, microsoft windows vista business, 91447, adobe photoshop cs2, 346, microsoft windows vista sp2 x64, :-D, microsoft office xp profession, 5516, adobe creative suite 3 design, wvr,

Posted by: BmarakakOkama at Fri May 22 14:07:15 2009 (QLIVg)

17 Good moning!, SolidWorks 2009, nmwmta, Autodesk 3ds Max, cqtuxl, Adobe CS4 Master Collection, 8-PPP, microsoft office xp profession, %]]], adobe creative suite 3 design, zfig,

Posted by: Titinka at Fri May 22 14:49:03 2009 (Ae6mK)

18 Gutentak!, autodesk autocad 2008, xfepl, Adobe CS4 Master Collection, gmam, Zoner PhotoStudio Enterprise, =D, g data internet security 2008, mtba, autodesk navisworks simulate 2010, 403626,

Posted by: Trasvestitka at Fri May 22 16:13:53 2009 (iae3s)

19 Hi!, microsoft windows vista business, 382, Autodesk 3ds Max, towuqy, parallels desktop 3 for Mac, =), microsoft office xp profession, rqkc, adobe creative suite 3 design, %P,

Posted by: Chtosmotrish at Fri May 22 16:56:46 2009 (mnqZG)

20 Zdarova!, adobe photoshop cs3 extended, kabyk, SolidWorks 2009, pvcch, adobe photoshop cs2, 2143, g data internet security 2008, %-OO, microsoft office xp profession, %]], adobe creative suite 3 design, >:-P,

Posted by: BmarakakOkama at Fri May 22 17:18:21 2009 (/CGhN)

21 Privet!, solidworks 2009 x64, %((, microsoft windows vista business, %-]], adobe photoshop cs2, 833687, adobe acrobat 8 professional, 84564, Conceptdraw Office, 8427,

Posted by: Trasvestitka at Fri May 22 18:02:04 2009 (kmI7G)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Sponsored Post

I like to cook. In fact, I do most of the cooking around the house by choice. I've been trying to vary our menu somewhat, but don't always feel safe experimenting. That is why I'm thrilled about this site for free recipes. The recipes they have are tasty, easy to cook, and even include a number that are particularly healthy for folks like me who are dealing with health issues that require a restricted diet. Drop by and check them out!

Posted by: Greg at 12:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Is the Dalai Lama going to retire?

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, said on Wednesday he was ready to retire in a few years but will keep championing causes to help the Tibetan people, culture and environment.

Speaking at Smith College in Massachusetts to about 5,000 students, faculty and invited guests of the Tibetan community, Tibet's exiled and revered spiritual leader said he already sees himself semi-retired.

"Within a few years' time, I will retire completely," the 71-year-old monk and Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, India, in the outer Himalayas, since 1959. He was active in establishing there the Central Tibetan Administration, Tibet's government in exile. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Wearing a yellow-and-maroon robe, he said he was honored to have been recognized in the world for his "small contribution to the welfare of humanity," and suggested the elected Tibetan leadership in exile can soon carry on his mission.

The Dalai Lama says he wants greater autonomy, not independence, for his predominantly Buddhist homeland, but China considers him a separatist and accuses him of continuing to promote Tibetan independence.

Unfortunately, the article brings out the problem with such a retirement. The Dalai Lama appointed a new Panchen Lama several years ago, and the Red Chinese promptly jailed him and selected a false claimant to the office to serve as a puppet. No doubt they will try the same thing with the Dalai lama's successor.

Posted by: Greg at 10:25 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 251 words, total size 2 kb.

Sponsored Post

I never knew there was such a thing as air ambulance service when I was young. It never crossed my mind that such a service would be necessary. After all, I figured you went to the hospital and stayed until you got well -- or until you died.

And then family tragedy hit. My grandmother remarried to a wonderful man who swept her off her feet and promised to provide for her very well. He showed her a marvelous couple of years -- and then came the day that his cancer struck. He went into the hospital for treatment -- but the cancer was way too aggressive to be treated in the local hospital, and he was advised to head over 300 miles to a hospital in a major city associated with a very prestigious medical school. But the question was how to get this frail old man there -- because it was going to be at least seven hours by car.

And that is where an air ambulance service entered the picture. My uncle hooked up with a company that provided this critical medical transportation service. They made arrangements to get this sick family member from his hospital bed in a rural hospital to the local airport, and from there to a business airport just a few miles from the new hospital -- and then checked in. Total time from bed to bed? Only a little over four hours, and they were even able to continue his treatment in the process. Some months later, this same service brought him home, as the doctors pronounced his case terminal, these same folks brought him home again with great care and dignity. Indeed, they made the whole process as painless for him and the family as it could have been.

Now you know I do my advertising through PayPerPost, and I take available offers as they come up. By interesting coincidence, that same air ambulance service is now one of their advertisers. They are called Air Ambulance America. And while I profoundly hope you do not need ever need their services, I hope you will remember them if you ever do.

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 363 words, total size 2 kb.

So we have a new theory on how there could have been more than one gunman.

In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald alone shot the two bullets that struck and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.

The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. They reached no conclusion about whether more than one gunman was involved, but urged that authorities conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the assassination in Dallas.

The only problem is that the accoustic evidence does rule out more than one shooter -- and computer modeling shows that the Warren Report got its conclusions fundamentally right. I'm waiting to see how this particular piece of research is shown to be flawed, as all the other scientific evidence is against it.

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 223 words, total size 2 kb.

Sponsored Post

Do you golf? Do you like to travel to golf? is your dream vacation one that gives you the opportunity to golf in a beautiful setting? If it is, then here's a great opportunity for you to golf in Myrtle Beach!

So what is the secret to this myrtle beach golf opportunity? Well, you can find out more about it through CoastalGolfAway.com and find out about their inclusive packages -- tee times and accommodations for you and your party in luxurious settings.

Think about it --you can play at Wicked Stick, International Club, Indigo Creek, and Wachesaw East. Or maybe you and your group can hit the links at Long Bay, Rivers Edge, Founders Club, and Carolina National. In fact, there are reasonable packages available for you throughout the year that let you play the courses you've always wanted to play. Heck -- with access to 30 golf courses in the area, you could be set for years-worth of hot action on the links!

Posted by: Greg at 06:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 169 words, total size 1 kb.

Worst.

Headline.

Ever.

Royals To Get A Taste Of Angels' Colon

ICK!!!

But the story isn't what you think.

Bartolo Colon attempts to win his third consecutive start off the disabled list tonight for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who will be aiming to continue their recent dominance of the Kansas City Royals.

After missing nearly nine months to rehab a partially torn right rotator cuff, Colon returned to a major-league mound on April 21 and delivered an outstanding performance against the Seattle Mariners. The former American League Cy Young winner allowed just one run on seven hits to lead the Angels to a 7-6 victory.

Posted by: Greg at 02:32 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 1 kb.

Melinda Doolittle voted out of the finals on American Idol?

I can't help but think of the headline flashed in Citizen Kane:

FRAUD AT THE POLLS!

Posted by: Greg at 02:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

Next time you hear the phrase “hate-radio”, remember that it is a phrase that does a much better job describing left-wing talkers and their callers than it does anyone on the right.

It’s a rough day for the idea that conservative talk shows are the home of “hate radio” if you were tuning in the day after Jerry Falwell passed away. Liberal talk shows are blazing with Falwell hate. In the first minutes of Tuesday’s “Stephanie Miller Show,” callers were saying things like “I hope his soul is writhing in Hell, and may Dick Cheney join him next week.” Another wished Falwell would be soon joined in Hell by “Pat Robertson and Bill O’Reilly.” Miller jokingly suggested she shouldn’t have opened the phones. But later in the hour, a self-described “militant homosexual” called to crack wise that he was eating “pagan babies” in celebration of Falwell’s death, and Miller suggested they tasted better when they were fried. She thought it would be funny if a conservative tuned in at that moment: “Right-wingers, this is satire,” she oozed. But it’s not pretty.

The only problem, Stephanie, is that your comments and callers donÂ’t meet the definition of satire. But the callers certainly do meet the standard for being called hateful -- and your egging them on makes it clear you belong in that same category. Would you consider such statements appropriate if the dead political minister were Jesse Jackson?

Posted by: Greg at 01:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 248 words, total size 2 kb.