Or at least some really strange medication side effects.

Doctors at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital came across something highly illogical when they tried to put an arterial line into a patient about to undergo surgery: his blood was dark green.

The green blood — reminiscent of the Vulcan blood found in Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame — came as a bit of a shock to Dr. Alana Flexman and her colleagues, who report on the unusual case in this week's issue of the journal The Lancet.

* * *

As surgical staff prepared the man for the middle-of-the-night emergency operation, Flexman and a colleague attempted to insert a line into a wrist artery.

Arterial lines are used to monitor blood pressure during an operation; any blood that flows when the line is inserted into the artery should be vivid red, the sign it has been oxygenated.

But in this case, which occurred in October 2005, it was not.

"During insertion, we normally see arterial blood come out. That's how we know we're in the right place. And normally that blood is bright red, as you would expect in an artery," Flexman said in an interview Thursday.

"But in his case, the blood kept coming back as dark green instead of bright red.

"It was sort of a green-black. Â… Like an avocado skin maybe."

The reaction in the room? "We were very concerned, obviously," said Flexman, who is training in anesthesia at the hospital.

Doctors suspect a reaction to the patient taking a larger than prescribed dose of a prescription medication.

Still, wouldn't you have loved to be a fly on the wall when the blood started flowing out green? The response of the medical team must have been priceless.

Posted by: Greg at 03:38 AM | Comments (27) | Add Comment
Post contains 305 words, total size 2 kb.

Indeed, the quote has only been known to be a fraud for over 100 years.

You can't really blame Al Gore for not using footnotes in his new book, "The Assault on Reason." It's a sprawling, untidy blast of indignation, and annotating it with footnotes would be like trying to slip rubber bands around a puddle of quicksilver. Still, I'd love to know where he found the scary quote from Abraham Lincoln that he uses on page 88.

In a chapter entitled "The Politics of Wealth," Gore argues that the ancient threat to democracy posed by rich people run amok has finally been realized under the man who beat him in the 2000 presidential race. Even Lincoln, Gore says, saw the age of Bush coming in 1864: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

* * *

Writing in 1999 in the Abraham Lincoln Association's newsletter, the great Lincoln historian Thomas F. Schwartz traced the bogus passage to the 1880s, about 20 years after Lincoln's death. One theory is that it first appeared in a pamphlet advertising patent medicines. Opponents of Gilded Age capitalism -- Gore's forerunners -- found the quote so useful that Lincoln's former White House secretaries felt compelled to launch a campaign "denouncing the forgery," Schwartz said. Robert Todd Lincoln, who was the president's only surviving son and himself a wealthy railroad lawyer, called it "an impudent invention" that ascribed to his father views that the former president would never have held.

"I discovered what I think is the true and only source of this supposed quotation," Robert wrote in an unpublished letter, probably tongue-in-cheek. "It originated, I think, at what is called a Spiritualist Séance in a country town in Iowa, a number of years ago, as being a communication by President Lincoln through what is called a Medium." Even bloggers might think twice about trusting such a source.

Well, maybe not left-wing bloggers.

And frankly, I'm shocked that the guy who invented created the Internet (happy now, Dan?) couldn't use it to do a better job fact-checking his book. Makes you wonder how much of the rest of his book is based upon pseudo-sources and lousy research.

Posted by: Greg at 03:29 AM | Comments (159) | Add Comment
Post contains 443 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Too funny that you compain of someone else's research in the same sentence where you pass on a fabrication about Gore claiming to have invented the internet.  That kettle sure is black, isn't it?

Posted by: Dan at Sun Jun 10 07:51:36 2007 (IU21y)

2 Dan:

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

Your apology is accepted in advance.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun Jun 10 09:49:39 2007 (K/dGH)

3 If you'd like, though, I would be open to changing my wording to "the guy who created the Internet" instead.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun Jun 10 09:53:38 2007 (K/dGH)

4 it would be a refreshing change of pace for you to stop making up quotations - though I'll admit that a whole lot of people fell for the lie you're spreading here. A whole lot more than fell for your lie about Reid.

Claiming to have invented the internet is not the same as accurately claiming to have taking the congressional initiative in creating the internet,

Once again, you've been caught lying. Does it ever get tiring, spreading the lies and smears that ruin your credibility and undercut any shred of intellectual honesty?

Posted by: Dan at Sun Jun 10 14:31:55 2007 (IU21y)

5 Gee, Dan, I give you the quote and you still will not admit you are wrong.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun Jun 10 15:28:06 2007 (HNpfZ)

6 Besides -- where is it written that only Dan is allowed to engage in satire?

Or is it that the only satire that Dan can understand is Dan's own?

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Sun Jun 10 15:32:46 2007 (HNpfZ)

7 RWR - Why would I admit I'm wrong, when the quotation you provided proved that I was right? He did not claim to have invented the internet, did he?

Are you now claiming that you were engaged in satire??

Posted by: Dan at Sun Jun 10 23:05:49 2007 (IU21y)

8 Dan -- the "inventing the internet" comment (which I have changed to meet your objection) was intended to satirize the Gore statement in which he takes credit for something which predates his service in Congress.

It was done to make a solid point -- for all his claims about his role in developing the "information superhighway", he (or his staffers who actually wrote the book) appears to have been incapable of using it for seem to have been incapable of doing the basic research necessary to document the quote. Where else was their research so sloppy.

And why do i expect an apology? Because "invent" and "create" in the sense of a technological development are not really all that different -- and I could document the basis of my satire with relative ease. But then again, you already knew the origin of my comment and attempted to deny it existed.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 01:02:25 2007 (eWgKt)

9 The lie that Al Gore claimed to singlehandedly create the internet has become a piece of net lore. In fact, Gore (as early as 1986) was instrumental in writing legislation and securing funding for creating what we know today as "the Web". Overstatement is common in politics (many still claim that Reagan singlehandedly brought down the Soviet Union!!! HAHAHA), but the basic truth is that Gore WAS instrumental in funding and creating the Web.

And, ummm, Gore doesn't have footnotes because he has ENDNOTES! The Lincoln quote comes from:

"88 "may prove groundless": Abraham Lincoln, "Letter to Col. William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864," The Lincoln Encyclopedia, ed. Archer H. Shaw (New York: Macmillan, 1950) 40"

On every subject from evolution to global warming to sex ed to foreign policy, Republicans of today truly are "fact-challenged" !!

Why don't you go to "Conservapedia" and read about dinosaurs being vegetarians that existed concurrently with humans!!! LOL!

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 01:50:01 2007 (Sp9Z2)

10 Rhymes with Right??? Okay, I'll try:

Blight, Trite, Lite, Lack of foresight, Dustmite, Flea Bite, Toxic Waste Site. . .

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 01:57:36 2007 (Sp9Z2)

11 Actually, "Rhymes With Right" is the device I use to help my students pronounce my last name, you asshole.

And given Gore's claim to be the Daddy of the internet, you would think he (or the interns who wrote it for him) would use it to determine that the quote is spurious, as every reputable modern Lincoln scholar agrees. The source he cites is one riddled with inaccuracies, as Shaw took any quote attributed to Lincoln and included it.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 03:07:13 2007 (11sD7)

12 >>my last name, you asshole.

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 04:48:31 2007 (Sp9Z2)

13 Hey, I'll agree with you on the other Lincoln quote -- which I believe has been variously attributed over the years.

As for Reagan, I would be among those who argue that his policies helped drive the final nails into the coffin of the corrupt Soviet system and its empire of oppression -- but I would not give credit to him alone.

As for Gore and the internet, I'd like to point you to this article that pretty conclusively points out that Gore was hardly the creative impulse behind the internet. Yes, he sponsored a couple of bills -- but the internet was already coming into being without him.

And YOU ASSHOLE is my designation for you -- my name is only four letters long and begins with its only vowel

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 05:20:32 2007 (/BJv7)

14 >>And YOU ASSHOLE is my designation for you -- my name is only four letters long>As for Reagan, I would be among those who argue that his policies helped drive the final nails into the coffin of the corrupt Soviet system and its empire of oppression -- but I would not give credit to him alone.

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 05:37:54 2007 (Sp9Z2)

15 So, to sum up according to the article YOU reference. . .

The 'turning point" for the World Wide Web began with Mosaic, which was funded by Al GORE's "High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991". So, Al Gore was sort of a visionary who saw the potential of the internet BEFORE the World Wide Web (as we know it) existed.

How exactly does that "conclusively" point out that Gore was not a force in helping to fund the early internet?

BTW, there are also technology visionaries on the Republican side, like Sen "It's not a Big Truck, It's a Series of Tubes" Stevens, who headed the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation under the last Congress, which oversaw Internet commerce!!!

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 05:46:56 2007 (Sp9Z2)

16 Yes -- but to argue that Gore was the creator of the internet is like claiming that Eisenhower was the creator of the road because of his role in creating the Interstate Highway System. The Internet had already come into being as early as the 1970s, and had its woots in the 1950s and 1960s. Yes, Gore made a contribution, but hardly as significant as he (and you) would like to claim.

And as for my designation for you -- my site, my choice.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 07:40:25 2007 (rtzPv)

17 You're quite disingenuous, Mr. Dustmite. I (and Gore himself) never claimed that he invented the internet- this was a talking point from the Republicans which caught on in the MSM. Indeed, Gore WAS instrumental in funding what became the WWW and deserves his due credit, just as Eisenhower deserves credit for the Interstate Highway System.

Again, there are plenty of Wingnuts who give Reagan sole credit for the colapse of the Soviet Union. This is patently false- Gorbeshev himself (who deserves some credit himself) dismissed this 'theory'; Pope John Paul II also deserves a fair amount of credit, black market US goods, etc, etc. . . Reagan played his part (opening a dialogue with the Soviets WAS a contribution), but he wasn't as involved as much as his worshipers pretend. . .

At least now you're admitting that Gore's role in funding the Web and foreseeing its potential is MUCH GREATER than the GOP's talking points (which you thoughtlessly recycled) let on. At least you're making a LITTLE progress in critical thinking, Mr. Fleabite!

Republicans are a little slow, but eventually they'll catch on- even Rush LImbaugh is now admitting that smoking and cancer are correlated (something he denied for years)! Maybe someday they'll even believe in evolution, global warming, and other scientific consensuses!

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 08:07:50 2007 (Sp9Z2)

18 Just a quick couple of notes.

1) Reagan -- big contribution, but I put JPII and Thatcher well-ahead of Gorby. Indeed, I remain unconvinced that he was not a willing part of the 1991 coup attempt that finally brought down the SU after his reforms escaped his control.

2) Gore deserves more credit than he gets, but less than he claims -- none of which excuses his crappy research.

3) Evolution? Heck yes -- it is how the hand of God worked its way through creation.

4) Global warming -- undeniable -- but part of the normal cycle that has expressed itself over the last several millennia rather than induced by human beings. The consensus view is based not on sound science but rather on the logical fallacy that correlation equals causation.

5) Science -- generally for, but concerned about the direction some of it heads as ethics/morality has become more and more separated from the notion of absolutes.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 09:39:22 2007 (KHzUl)

19 Wow, Mr. Asstight, we actually agree on some of these things!

"Gore deserves more credit than he gets, but less than he claims -- none of which excuses his crappy research."

Well, I haven't read the book, so I don't know whether he makes it clear that there's doubt about the attribution of the quote. Reagan, as I mentioned previously, also misquoted Lincoln (but didn't write a book where the standards should be higher) However, there are a SLEW of right-wing book (Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly) with outright fabrications, mischaracterizations, and a complete lack of facts. This in NO WAY excuses poor research on Gore's part (assuming he makes no mention of the dispute over the Lincoln quote), but does prove that poor research is not just the domain of the left.

"Evolution? Heck yes -- it is how the hand of God worked its way through creation."

We agree, although it is not up to science to determine anything about the "hand of God". That is up to religion and out of the scientific realm.

"Global warming -- undeniable -- but part of the normal cycle that has expressed itself over the last several millennia rather than induced by human beings. The consensus view is based not on sound science but rather on the logical fallacy that correlation equals causation."

Are you sure about that? Are you completely positive (unlike over 90% of the scientific community) that human being DON'T play a part in GW? It seems to me that up until recently the Right was denying the existance of GW, but now the meme is "it's not caused by human activity". . . It SURE SEEMS like there is an undeniable link between atmospheric CO2 and temperature over the last 650,000 years! Do you think that warmer temperatures CAUSE more CO2? Or is it mere coincidence? (Up until the 1980s, the Right Wing was saying the same exact thing about smoking- "you're confusing correlation with causation"; most of them have 'come around' now)

"Science -- generally for, but concerned about the direction some of it heads as ethics/morality has become more and more separated from the notion of absolutes."

Huh? Again, aren't 'absolutes' the domain of RELIGION? How can science study 'absolutes'? Wouldn't that also forbid the development of things which COULD be used for 'evil' (like television, guns, nuclear weapons, etc)??? Furthermore, if we used religion and absolutes to describe everything scientific, we would have VERY convoluted equations for the 'Theory of Gravity" , the "Theory of Relativity", etc (ie things fall at such a rate WHEN GOD wants them to, otherwise they don't)

Glad to see, though, that we are in general agreement Mr. Wastesite.

Posted by: coulterfan at Mon Jun 11 11:13:29 2007 (Sp9Z2)

20 You seem to have missed the fact that my last name is four letters long and starts with its only vowel.

I'll let some of your jibes go -- but will point out that my teaching field is History, and so part of that has included the ebb and flow of climate change and its effects on mankind. When you see the climate doing more or less what it has always done for thousands of years, you are faced with only one reasonable conclusion -- that what is happening is part of the natural cycle. To claim that THIS TIME, unlike all the other times, it has a different cause is not terribly logical, is it?

And you miss my point on the problem of science and ethics/morality -- it isn't that we shouldn't do anything that could be used for evil, but rather that there are means in and of themselves that are evil that we should not be using. My model for that problem is Dr. Mengele -- who fetal stem cell researchers would do well to remember.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 11 11:38:11 2007 (KHzUl)

21 >>but will point out that my teaching field is History, and so part of that has included the ebb and flow of climate change and its effects on mankind. When you see the climate doing more or less what it has always done for thousands of years, you are faced with only one reasonable conclusion -- that what is happening is part of the natural cycle. To claim that THIS TIME, unlike all the other times, it has a different cause is not terribly logical, is it?>My model for that problem is Dr. Mengele -- who fetal stem cell researchers would do well to remember.

Posted by: coulter fan at Tue Jun 12 03:51:16 2007 (ZwL3s)

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Hide Comments | Add Comment

I wonder if this idea actually works. It is supposed to boost page rank.

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions below this line———

Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!

Viralink

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New Addition: When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from here will also link to your site!

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions above this line———

One minor correction here -- since mu.nu's trackbacks have been turned off, you will either have to comment here with your link or email me privately. Hopefully they will be working soon when the new blogging platform is up.

H/T Yoga for Health

Posted by: Greg at 02:46 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 3 kb.

Maybe -- if the president and the bill's supporters in the Senate have their way.

Proponents of the immigration bill that stalled in the Senate regrouped Friday, holding strategy sessions and conference calls aimed at salvaging the overhaul.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and other key negotiators said they would return soon to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with a plan to move the bill toward passage.

The challenge is to whittle a lengthy list of amendments down to about 20, convince Republican critics that they are getting adequate opportunity to air their concerns and spend only two or three days of the Senate floor time to complete the bill, senators said.

“We are not giving up. We are not giving in,” Kennedy said. “The American people expect us to legislate. I think all of us look at the Senate the old-fashioned way: We are here to get something done.”

Kyl said they “have already begun the process of figuring how to get this back together and concluded in the next few weeks.”

And Reid signaled again Friday that he would accommodate them. “We are committed to finding room in the Senate schedule as soon as possible to get this bill passed,” said Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley.

President Bush, who has staked his domestic agenda on immigration, will go to the Capitol Tuesday to meet with Senate Republicans during their weekly policy luncheon. And Saturday he will appeal to Congress in his weekly radio address.

“I urge senators from both parties to support it,” Bush said in an early transcript released by the White House.

The Kennedy quote indicates a fundamental flaw with the approach of the bill's supporters -- the notion that they are expected to pass some legislation is simply wrong. What is really expected of them is that they pass a good piece of legislation that actually solves the problems of border security and settles the illegal immigration problem once and for all. This piece of legislation will not do that -- and so the better course of action is to do nothing rather than allow a bad bill to become law.

Ultimately, the bill is probably doomed in the House, where teh bill faces bipartisan opposition.

Some House Democrats and Republicans declared the Bush-backed legislation dead, saying the only viable alternative would focus more heavily on tightening borders without granting lawful status to those who entered the country illegally.

"The Senate immigration bill was a deeply, deeply flawed proposal, and I'm glad it has finally landed in the political graveyard," said freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan. "America needs enforcement, not amnesty."

"This bill is dead," said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. He called for new legislation "that does not grant amnesty" but focuses instead on border security and workplace enforcement.

Let's have a bill come out of the House of Representatives -- the People's House -- first, and have the Senate approve that and the President sign it. The current approach has failed.

Posted by: Greg at 02:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Who'd have expected this?

The highlight of President BushÂ’s European tour may well be his visit on Sunday to this tiny country, one of the few places left where he can bask in unabashed pro-American sentiment without a protester in sight.

Americans here are greeted with a refreshing adoration that feels as though it comes from another time.

“Albania is for sure the most pro-American country in Europe, maybe even in the world,” said Edi Rama, Tirana’s mayor and leader of the opposition Socialists. “Nowhere else can you find such respect and hospitality for the president of the United States. Even in Michigan, he wouldn’t be as welcome.”

Much of the pro-American sentiment stems from the time of Woodrow Wilson and his efforts to ensure that Albania would be an independent country. But I personally suspect that the Albanians, who suffered under what may have been the most oppressive regime behind the Iron Curtain, probably recognize that the US really is still the beacon of liberty for the world.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:17 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Could this be a sign of the eventual presidential contest?

In the the aftermath of this week's presidential debates in New Hampshire, Clinton and Romney come out on top in a new Mason-Dixon poll of likely primary voters there. Among likely Democratic primary voters, Clinton leads Obama, 26%-21%, with Edwards at 18%, Richardson at 9%, and Biden at 6%; no other Democratic presidential contender gets more than 1%.

Among likely GOP primary voters, Romney leads McCain, 27%-16%, followed by Giuliani at 15%, Fred Thompson at 12%, and Huckabee at 5%.

Romney is also quite strong in Iowa, while the other major candidates are abandoning the state by their refusal to participate in the Ames straw poll. If the former Massachusetts governor can win these two early contests, he could effectively shut the door on his GOP opponents. Granted that we are still early in the process and the impact of the Fred Thompson candidacy has not really been felt yet, but we may be seeing the beginning of the Mitt Romney charge to the head of the pack.

The question is -- faced with a Hillary Mitt race, which way would the American people go? Would they vote for the Mormon or the harridan.

Posted by: Greg at 02:08 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 216 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, he never had any support among the irreconcilable Democrats, who have been out to sink his presidency since before it ever began. And he has lost the support of many Americans, who have been led astray by the constant media focus on bad news in Iraq to the exclusion of the many positive developments there. And now he has alienated much of the GOP base by supporting the illegal immigration amnesty bill. Does this mean that Bush is irrelevant for the next 18 months?

The breakthrough on the “grand bargain” on immigration a few weeks ago had brought new life to a White House under siege, putting a long-sought goal suddenly within reach. After many grim months, there was almost giddiness at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

But that early euphoria only made the grand bargainÂ’s grand collapse on Thursday night all the more of a blow, pointing up a stubbornly unshakable dynamic for President Bush in the final 19 months of his term: With low approval ratings and the race to succeed him well under way, his ability to push his agenda has faded to the point where he can fairly be judged to have entered his lame duck period.

In all, 38 of the 48 Senate Republicans effectively voted against the White House on the crucial procedural vote on the immigration bill, leaving the presidentÂ’s No. 1 domestic priority somewhere between stalled and dead.

The White House has similarly been through a sharp reversal on the domestic politics of the Iraq war. After receiving a lift last month in the defeat of Democratic efforts to link war finances to Iraq withdrawal dates, the White House acknowledged Friday that it could not renominate Mr. BushÂ’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, because of expected opposition on Capitol Hill.

For a president whose muscular assertions of executive authority had overshadowed Congress for years, it was a striking indicator of how the balance of power in Washington has shifted away from him.

Sadly, I think it may be that this is the case. Having been abandoned by the white House on immigration, I find it hard to find any motivation to back the administration on anything other than the War in Iraq -- and that not because of Bush, but because of the essential security issues that would be compromised by failing to pursue victory.

Expect to see the GOP candidates for president run against the President as much as they do against the Democrats. After all, he has abandoned us -- why should we remain loyal to him?

Posted by: Greg at 02:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 441 words, total size 3 kb.

A much more worthy story about heroic people -- people who really deserve the respect of America's young people -- doing something for which they must be admired.

A patched-up Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts Friday on the first space shuttle flight of 2007, putting NASA back on track after a run of bad luck and scandal that included a damaging hailstorm and a lurid love triangle.

Its big orange fuel tank covered with white blotches where the foam insulation had been repaired, the spaceship rose from its seaside launch pad with a roar and climbed into a clear and still-brightly lit sky at 7:38 p.m. EDT, setting a course for the international space station.

The countdown was nearly flawless, and the shuttle smoothly settled into orbit around the Earth.

During the 11-day flight, Atlantis' astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They will also swap out a member of the space station's crew.

It was picture perfect -- though my wife and I always hold our breaths until we hear those haunting words -- "Go with throttle up" -- that we remember with great sadness from the doomed Challenger launch. No doubt we will do something similar 11 days from now.

Godspeed, crew of Shuttle Atlantis!

And best wishes to the crew from church who are working on this mission five miles down the road at JSC even as I type, and to everyone else associated with the space program and this mission (yes, including you, John C.). Your contributions to pushing back the "final frontier" are noted and appreciated deeply by this space geek.

Posted by: Greg at 12:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.

In jail, that is.

It didn't take long for the judge in this case to order Paris Hilton taken back into custody and returned to jail following her release contrary to his stipulated conditions.

A sobbing, shouting Paris Hilton was led from the courtroom Friday and ordered by a judge to return to jail to serve out the remainder of her 45-day sentence.

"It's not right," yelled Hilton, rising from her seat at the defendant's table.

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" she cried out to her mother, Kathy, who collapsed in tears in the front row of the courtroom.

Hilton, who was brought from her home to the court in handcuffs in a sheriff's car, entered the courtroom red-eyed and trembling, and she cried throughout the hour-long hearing, dabbing her face with tissues, biting her knuckles, and shaking her head. She sat slumped at the table throughout the proceeding, wearing a gray sweater, her blond hair pinned up.

Guess what. Paris -- welcome to how the other 99.9% of Americans live! The only thing not right about the situation here is that you were ever released in the first place, and that you were not sent to the jail medical facility for treatment, just like any other jailed criminal would have been in the same situation. Funny, isn't it, that the sheriff's department was able to find just such a facility for you once he was righteously slapped down by the judge in this case.

Personally, I believe your effort to dodge your earlier sentence should be a basis for making you serve the full time in jail, with no time off for good behavior. Hell, you would not know good behavior if it came up and bit you on the ass! Too bad it is unlikely that you will have to spend the full 45 days without personally prepared gourmet meals, sleeping on low-thread count sheets.

I hope that at every future appearance there are folks who should "Mom! Mom! Mom!" at you, mocking your wimpy inability to do the time for your crime.

By the way -- has the sheriff been held in contempt by the judge? And what penalty has been imposed for his flouting of the court order to keep her in jail and the court order to bring Paris to court for a 9:00 hearing?

Regardless, I guess this means that the Jailhouse Rock Party at Paris' house scheduled for tonight has been canceled.

Posted by: Greg at 12:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 415 words, total size 4 kb.

Well, what else is he going to do. If William Jefferson had any honor, he would have never have engaged in these acts in the first place.

Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of soliciting more than $500,000 in bribes while using his office to broker business deals in Africa.

Jefferson, D-La., said he understood the charges during the federal court hearing. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bond.

"I am absolutely innocent of the charges that have been leveled against me," Jefferson said afterward. "I'm going to fight my heart out to clear my name."

And with all the folks around him who have already been convicted or entered guilty pleas, can you believe he is going to claim that he was somehow entrapped?

According to court records, FBI agents videotaped Jefferson picking up a $100,000 cash bribe in 2005 from an informant in a hotel parking garage. Two days later, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in a box in his freezer.

Jefferson alluded to that money on Friday, but he declined to answer any questions.

"The $90,000 was the FBI's money," he said. "The FBI gave it to me as part of its plan — part of their plan — that I would give it to the Nigerian vice president, but I did not do that. When all the facts are understood, I trust that I will be vindicated."

According to court records, Jefferson told associates he needed cash to pay bribes to the country's vice president, Atiku Abubakar. Abubakar has denied the allegations.

He is caught, dead to rights. Too bad he is going to sting this thing along to delay justice as long as possible.

Posted by: Greg at 06:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A long-lost letter written by Abraham Lincoln in the wake of Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg has been found at the National Archives. The money quote is this one.

"Now, if Gen. Meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the litteral or substantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over."

Meade, of course, failed in this task and the Army of Northern Virginia escaped -- leading to nearly two years of additonal warfare.

Posted by: Greg at 04:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, that would be when the excommunication threats (and actual excommunications) are over issues where the liberals agree with the bishops on the moral issue.

After all, Cardinal Ritter in St. Louis desegregated the archdiocesan Catholic schools years before Brown v. Board of Education and was applauded for threatening his opponents with excommunication for upholding Catholic teachings on racial justice. Not only that, but Archbishop Rummel of New Orleans actually did excommunicate desegregation opponents in New Orleans back in 1962.

How did liberals react to Rummel's actions? "We salute the Catholic Archbishop," the New York Times editorialized. "He has set an example founded on religious principle and response to the social conscience of our times." An editorial in the Nation applauded Rummel's initial excommunication threat and cited Ritter's action in 1947 as a precedent. Certainly, it seems, liberals don't really mind mixing religion with politics as long as it's their political agenda being promoted.

Rep. DeLauro, Mr. Giuliani and other Catholic politicians may choose to see ecclesiastical punishments as blunt political weapons used to club them into submission on a controversial issue. For the bishops, however, such punishments are imposed as a last effort to be taken against those who, in their judgment, are publicly flouting the laws of the church.

Of course, if liberals really think that the threats of the Pope and bishops to take disciplinary actions against Catholic politicians who refuse to protect innocent human life from the barbarism of abortion, perhaps they could prevail upon the New York Times to retract and denounce its earlier editorial supporting the same sort of use of ecclesiastical authority to oppose racial discrimination. Or they could just admit that they are not merely pro-choice, but are instead actively and affirmatively pro-abortion.

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Posted by: Greg at 03:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 353 words, total size 4 kb.

Please come out of retirement for Indiana Jones 4 -- you cannot let League of Extraordinary Gentlemen be your final screen performance.

There are some official casting announcements for the fourth Indiana Jones, but the biggest news is who will NOT be in the movie.

Sean Connery says he has decided to pass on reprising his role as the archaeologist adventurer's antiquities-obsessed father, a role he played only once, in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The 76-year-old Scottish star, best known for launching the James Bond franchise, says he decided to retire in 2005 and he's sticking to it.

"I get asked the question so often, I thought it best to make an announcement. I thought long and hard about it, and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement, it would have been an Indiana Jones film," Connery said in a statement Thursday.

The actor praised director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas and said it was an "honor" to have star Harrison Ford play his son: "But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun."

Your fans really want to see you light up the silver screen one last time, Sean. And for this film, nothing but the best will do. And you, sir, are the best.

Posted by: Greg at 03:33 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We can certainly hope so -- and that any future legislation does not include an amnesty program.

A bill that would overhaul immigration law suffered a crippling defeat this evening in the Senate, casting grave doubt on the prospects for changing the system any time soon.

The defeat was in the form of a motion to shut off debate and move the bill toward a yes-or-no vote. The vote was 50 to 45 against the motion. Thus, it fell 15 short of carrying, since 60 votes were required under Senate rules.

After the cloture motion failed to win Senate approval, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, held out the hope this evening that the bill could be acted upon again within “several weeks.”

“I have every desire to complete this legislation,” he said.

Otherwise, Mr. Reid may shelve the bill for the year. He said beforehand that the lawmakers had to turn their attention to other issues.

Amnesty. Overturning court-ordered deportations. No significant enforcement mechanisms. No dealing with the problem of anchor babies. This legislation sucks, and must never see the light of day again.

Posted by: Greg at 01:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, those loons that cannot believe that 9/11 was a terrorist attack and that instead our own government attacked America on 9/11.

No, it isn't an appeal to eyewitnesses, of whom there are many. It isn't an appeal to science, which overwhelmingly demonstrates that the official version is correct. Rather, it is a simple appeal to logic.

o believe in many of these kooky conspiracy theories, you have to believe that tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, FBI agents, and CIA agents all know about an incredibly complex, monstrous plot against the United States, and are keeping their lips sealed while Charlie Sheen, Rosie O'Donnell, and the fruit loops who think Bush is a puppet of the Freemasons have figured it all out.

So much like the claim that the moon landings all took place in a soundstage, simple reality cannot sustain the conspiracy claims. After all, given the inability of small groups of people to keep small secrets, there is no way that a large group of people could possibly keep "the truth" hidden if 9/11 was a government conspiracy.

Posted by: Greg at 01:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Refusal to knuckle-under to the government-run church continues to bring harassment, imprisonment for faith.

An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained again by police, nine months after his release from their custody, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

Bishop Jia Zhiguo, 73, was taken away Tuesday by security agents in the northern city of Zhengding, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement. It was not immediately clear why Jia was detained or where he was being held, the group said.

A man who answered the telephone at the Zhengding Religious Affairs Bureau referred questions to the local government. Officials at the Zhengding government office and public security bureau said they had never heard of Jia and hung up without giving their names or any other details.

Jia was last released in September 2006 after being held for 10 months by local authorities. The reason was never made public but religious groups say Jia has been repeatedly detained over his refusal to affiliate himself with the Communist Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

"He was not even allowed to step out of the courtyard of his residence, was not allowed to administer the 'Last Rites' for his dying parishioners, and was not allowed any visitors," the foundation said.

Communism, like Islam, can only survive by violating the basic human rights of those under its control. And as in Malaysia's Lina Joy case, the world remains silent in the face of grave violations of internationally recognized human rights norms.

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I've mentioned that I spent several years in the seminary, studying to be a priest. That nearly didn't happen because of a problem I had not long before I was set to enter the seminary. No, not the sort of problem you read about in the papers -- rather it was a credit card debt problem.

You see, when I graduated from graduate school I ran into a big problem. In a glutted teaching market, I had priced myself out of many jobs by getting that masters degree. I spent the next two years as a staffer at a homeless shelter, where I made very little money. Without realizing it, I slowly ran up a mountain of debt and was in need of debt helpBeing in bankruptcy court is not looked upon as a plus for a prospective priest, and filing for bankruptcy in the seminary would have been even worse.

What to do? Well, I was fortunate to be able to find debt help in the form of a credit card debt consolidation loan. Having set up a debt management plan, I found a second job and payed off that bill consolidation in just a few months by applying every penny I could towards it. I was, fortunately, in a position to take my bank balances down to a minimum to repay every penny I owed and received a totally unexpected gift from someone close to me who had no knowledge of my situation, so I went into the seminary debt-free a year earlier than I expected to. I call it one of the greatest blessings of my life.

Now not everyone is in a position to do what I did. But through the use of a home equity loan or it is possible for many people to do a credit card debt consolidation. And there are other options that can work for you, if you really interested and try.

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I despise the Fred Phelps Klan from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. They are hate-filled pseudo-Christians whose anti-Americanism is as deep as that of the Islamists and many left-wing anti-Bush activists.

But this story troubles me, becasue of the clear violation of Constitutional rights it involves.

A woman was arrested in Bellevue on Tuesday during the funeral for a fallen soldier.

Shirley Phelps-Roper was arrested on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allowing her 8-year-old son to stomp on an American flag.

Phelps-Roper is a member of a Topeka, Kan., church that conducts anti-homosexual picketing at funeral services for U.S. soldiers.

Now let's get this one straight here -- mama was arrested because she set up her kid to desecrate the flag. The arresting officer even confirms this.

Bellevue Officer Joe Gray, who made the arrest, said that at first the group brought out a couple of members' own American flags.

"The arrestee, Ms. Phelps-Roper, put one around her waist. The second one was given to a 10-year-old, who put it on the ground and started kicking it in the area they were protesting," Gray said.

Nebraska law states that it is a Class 3 misdemeanor when a person "intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon such flag." The law was passed in 1977.

"It appears the adults weren't stepping on the flag because they knew it was a violation of the law. But they allowed the children to go ahead and do that," Gray said.

The local prosecutor seems to agree.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said the words from the group are fighting words and that takes it away from protected speech.

Which proves that Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov is an incompetent who should immediately be removed from office.

After all, this issue was settled nearly 20 years ago.

n Texas v. Johnson (1989) the Court addressed the flag-burning issue head-on and held (5-4) that Texas’ “venerated objects” law had been unconstitutionally applied to Gregory Lee Johnson when he burned a flag in Dallas. In considering the two interests advanced by Texas as overriding Johnson’s First Amendment rights, the majority first held that, under previously established standards, “the state’s interest in maintaining order is not implicated” since “no disturbance to the peace actually occurred or threatened to occur because of Johnson’s burning of the flag.” Turning to Texas’ second asserted interest, “preserving the flag as a symbol of nationhood and national unity,” the majority held that since Johnson’s guilt depended “on the likely communicative aspect of his expressive conduct,” the Texas statute violated the “bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, … that the Government may not prohibit expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Citing its holding in Street that “a State may not criminally punish a person for uttering words critical of the flag,” the majority, represented by Justice William Brennan, declared flatly that Texas’ attempt to distinguish between the “written or the spoken words [at issue in Street] and nonverbal conduct … is of no moment where the nonverbal conduct is expressive, as is here, and where the regulation of that conduct is related to expression, as it is here.”

Furthermore, Brennan declared that the principle that “the Government may not prohibit expression simply because it disagrees with its message, is not dependent on the particular mode in which one chooses to express an idea” and therefore the state could not “criminally punish a person for burning a flag as a means of political protest” on the grounds that other means of expressing the same idea were available. The majority concluded that the “principles of freedom and inclusiveness that the flag best reflects” would be reaffirmed by its decision: “We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that his cherished emblem represents.”

Now I feel rather confident that word of this decision reached Kansas some time back -- whether by means of semaphore, pony express, or that new-fangled telegraph thingy (not to mention telephone, television, and the internet). And since the state has no interest in punishing desecration of the flag (stepping on a flag is clearly analogous to and less severe than burning one), the Kansas statute in question is as unenforcible as one mandating segregation of public schools. First Amendment trumps state law -- period. And to argue that constitutionally protected political/religious speech (remember, these folks are their own little family-based pseudo-church cult group) constitutes "fighting words" is absurd -- especially since the Fred Phelps Klan had a valid permit to demonstrate. What Polikov wants to impose is nothing less than a heckler's veto -- something the Supreme Court has more or less consistently ruled against in the case of such speech since it decided the case of Terminello v. Chicago, in which SCOTUS held that there “must be a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance or unrest” for otherwise constitutionally protected speech to be banned. That burden clearly has not been met here, and I would argue that the holding in Texas v. Johnson makes it unlikely that any court could ever legitimately hold that the burden has been met in a flag desecration case (provided the flag belongs to those doing the desecration).

So what we have here is a cop and a prosecutor attempting to establish an entirely new paradigm with some frightening ramifications. Under this novel arrangement engaging in constitutionally protected speech or allowing your child to do so is now contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Just imagine -- CPS showing up at the door to haul away children whose parents have taken them to protest abortion. Encouraging your child to express the wrong religious beliefs could constitute grounds for arrest. In other words, the police and prosecutor in Sarpy County are seeking to eviscerate the First Amendment.

As I have said in the past, and in this post, I despise the Fred Phelps Klan, and wish they would slink back under their rock -- but destroying the Constitution is not a method I find acceptable to make them do so.

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Posted by: Greg at 06:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is beyond belief -- after a judge says she will serve her time in jail, the LA Sheriff let's Paris Hilton go home because of crying jags and a rash!

Paris Hilton was released from a Los Angeles County jail early Thursday because of an unspecified medical problem and will fulfill the reminder of her sentence in home confinement, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The 26-year-old hotel heiress was sent home shortly after 2 a.m. fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. She had spent five days at the Century Regional Detention Facility in suburban Los Angeles for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

"I can't specifically talk about the medical situation other than to say that, yes, it played a part in this," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Hilton had been sentenced to 45 days behind bars, but had been expected to serve 23 days because of state rules allowing shorter sentences for good behavior.

Whitmore said that under the new agreement, Hilton would be confined to her home for 40 days.

"Because she has agreed to this through her attorney, her sentence is now back up to the 45 days. She has served already five days so that's 40 days," he explained.

So instead of jail, she gets to live it up in the lap of luxury. Some punishment!

Maybe if I get arrested, I'll just start sniveling and whining about the low thread count of the sheets. Assuming that doesn't get me anally raped and nicknamed by my cellmate, perhaps they will send me home early.

I'm hoping that the judge in this case calls all parties involved in this travesty into court and sends them away for a little R-&-R in the LA jail for contempt of court.

Posted by: Greg at 05:58 AM | Comments (269) | Add Comment
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I lost everything last year when my hard drive crashed -- including a couple of years' worth of email for both my wife and I. Everything was unrecoverable. How I wish I had been in a position to get it all back -- or that I had been able to backup e-mail before I had this catastrophic failure and data loss hit.

Guess what -- there is a product out there that would let me backup my email and other key files easily. I found it at Backup-Email.com. It is relatively inexpensive, easy to install, and easy to use. Frankly, I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want this software, especially business people whose data is their business lifeline.

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And here I thought debate and discussion and disagreement were a good thing in the process of policy formation. How is it that this one is presented as bad?

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.

The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.

Comey's disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program. The program allowed the National Security Agency to monitor phone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas.

Oh, I see the problem -- Cheney and the folks hated by the Left actually came out on top in this policy debate. We just can't have the elected leadership win such battles, for that would imply that elections mean something when Republicans win. Nor does it matter that the policy adopted was in conformity witht eh requirements of a Supreme Court decision that went in favor of the Carter Administration doing the same thing.

No story here -- just a boat-load of liberal bias.

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Let's look at the financial realities that are presenting themselves to borrowers today. There are clear signs that interest rates are rising and will rise higher still -- so what is a person to do about that, especially if they are currently holding some sort of secured loans that have an adjustable rate, like many mortgages. Frankly, such borrowers need to refinance to lock in a lower fixed-rate now -- or even one that is slightly higher than their current rate, so as to avoid seeing interest rates and payments balloon.

We are seeing more and more debt conscious homeowners facing bankruptcy because of such issues. It is therefore important that people don't delay in tackling debt issues while they can. You will also find some interesting articles here.

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What would news coverage be like if D-Day happened today instead of 1944?

Thank God for those who fought and died that day (including one member of my wife's family). Thank God for those who fought and lived. And thank God for a loyal media that was not dead-set on undermining the war effort and morale of the American people.

H/T Stop the ACLU, Church & State, The Combat Report

Posted by: Greg at 03:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I received this in my email tonight, and am passing it on for your consideration.

Immigration Attitudes Survey

Increasingly, Americans are turning to the web for news about politics. This is a survey about online news coverage of the immigration issue. We are interested in your thoughts on this important political controversy. If you decide to participate in our survey, you will start off by answering a few questions about yourself and your political attitudes. Then you will watch a short news clip of an immigration story. After the clip, we will ask you some questions about your position on immigration policy. In total, the survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and you can skip any questions you do not wish to answer.


Click here to take the survey:

http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/crweber/TAKESURVEY/videohuddy.htm

Please feel free to contact Chris Weber or Mary-Kate Lizotte at Stony Brook University with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help!

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Roger Ailes of Fox News Channel gets this one exactly right when talking about the boycott of debates on the network by Democrat presidential candidates.

“The candidates that can’t face Fox, can’t face Al Qaeda,” said Mr. Ailes. “And that’s what’s coming.”

What are they afraid of -- having to answer a tough question? What will they do when they have to respond to an al-Qaeda attack?

Posted by: Greg at 11:38 AM | Comments (181) | Add Comment
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I'd love to be able to respectfully forward this one on to the student who keyed a pithy, two-word message (second word: "U") into the hood of my car during finals week.

Enjoy! But not at work or where the kids can see it.

Posted by: Greg at 10:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Or donate it to charity?

You know -- apply the same standard to themselves and their newly indicted member that they insisted Republicans apply to contributions from Tom DeLay when he was indicted for an offense that did not exist under Texas law.

Following U.S. Representative Tom DeLayÂ’s indictment at the hands of a local district attorney with whom he frequently battled, the DCCC called on GOP candidates to return contributions they received from the then-House Majority Leader.

Jefferson donated nearly $140,000 to the DemocratsÂ’ campaign committee. Jefferson also gave thousands to Democrat House members and candidates, including freshmen Nick Lampson, D-TX, Heath Shuler, D-NC, and Ciro Rodriguez, D-TX.

Lampson and Shuler received contributions from JeffersonÂ’s re-election committee, while Rodriguez received $1,000 from JeffersonÂ’s political action committee, the Future PAC.

Only Lampson is reported to have returned JeffersonÂ’s contribution.

Other Democrats who received financial support from Jefferson are: Sanford Bishop, $1000; Corrine Brown, $2000; Lois Capps, $500; Julia Carson, $1000; Donna Christensen, $1000; Emanuel Cleaver, $2000; Chet Edwards, $1000; Al Green, $2000; Alcee Hastings, $1000; Barbara Lee, $1000; John Lewis, $500; Carolyn McCarthy, $1000; Charlie Melancon, $2000; Gwendolynne Moore, $1000; Brad Sherman, $1000; and Mel Watt, $1000.

Jefferson also contributed a total of $5,680 to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) PAC.

JeffersonÂ’s Future PAC gave $1,000 each to Democrat Representatives Corrine Brown, Julia Carson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Carloyn McCarthy, Kendrick Meek, Mike Ross, and Linda Sanchez.

That's a lot of dirty cash, folks -- and only one member returning it (probably the only good thing I have to say about soon-to-be-former Congressman Nick Lampson). I guess the Democrat culture of corruption runs mighty deep -- and the hypocrisy even deeper.

H/T GOPBloggers

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I don't know whether to be more concerned about the pope's safety or impressed by his unflappability.

A German man tried to jump into Pope Benedict XVI's uncovered popemobile as the pontiff began his general audience Wednesday and held onto it for a few seconds before being wrestled to the ground by security officers.

The pope was not hurt and didn't even appear to notice that the man -- who was between 20 or 30 years old -- had jumped over the protective barrier in the square and had grabbed onto the white popemobile as it drove by. The pontiff kept waving to the crowd and didn't even look back.

At least eight security officers who were trailing the vehicle as it moved slowly through the square grabbed the man and wrestled him to the ground.

The man was a 27-year-old German who showed signs of "mental imbalance," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

"His aim was not an attempt on the pope's life but to attract attention to himself," Lombardi told reporters.

The man, whom Lombardi declined to identify, was interrogated by Vatican police and then taken to a hospital for psyciatric treatment, he said.

The man wore a pink T-shirt and dark shorts, a beige baseball cap and sunglasses. He vaulted up and over the barricade from the second or third row back. He got as far as the back of the jeep, holding onto it for a few seconds, before being wrestled to the ground.

I'm glad it is this, rather than the terrible news that flooded out of the Vatican on that awful day in May, 1981, when Pope John Paul II was shot.

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The Hokie Horror this past spring, with the murder of so many Virginia Tech students and faculty members, may yet claim another victim -- the functionality of the building where most of the murders took place.

Norris Hall is known for its Gothic architecture, its central location on Virginia Tech's huge campus and, more than anything, its role as the primary site of the nation's deadliest individual shooting rampage.

The two-story building that witnessed so much carnage in April when a gunman killed 31 people there, including himself, will reopen in about two weeks and will be used for offices and laboratories, university officials announced yesterday.

Formerly used by several academic departments, Norris will house only two departments -- engineering science and mechanics, and civil and environmental engineering -- when it reopens June 18.

The decision comes nearly two months after student Seung Hui Cho of Fairfax County shot and killed 30 students and faculty members on Norris's second floor before shooting himself. Cho fatally shot two other students in a campus dormitory earlier that day.

Since the April 16 attack, Norris Hall has been empty, but debate has surfaced among university officials, parents, students and faculty members about what should be done with it. Some wanted to raze the building and replace with it a memorial. Others said it should be left alone.

Speaking as an outsider, I think that it is a good thing that Norris Hall is being returned to some use -- and think that it quickly needs to be returned to full use rather than limited functionality. The demands that it be torn down are nothing more than the cries of those who believe that emotion should overcome reason -- the wussification of the American spirit and the over-indulgence of grief.

Come here to Texas. Visit the University of Texas in Austin. There stands the bell tower, site of the infamous sniper attack in the 1960s. It stands unchanged, as does (for the most part) the plaza where the victims were killed and wounded. Thousands pass through that plaza daily, as they go about their lives. Thus has it been for four decades -- the greatest memorial to the dead. For you see, it is the prime example of how life goes on in the face of tragedy, and how the paroxysms of grief that follow death cannot be allowed to forever paralyze the mourners.

So should it be at Virginia Tech -- the ultimate honoring of those who have died by those who continue to live in their footsteps and in the pursuit of the same lofty academic goals. Bravo to those who have moved to reopen the building -- and may they bring the building back to full use soon.

Posted by: Greg at 03:00 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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That would be a better headline for this story from the AP.

Forty years after Israel's stunning victory over three Arab armies, the defeat still lingers in the Arab world — so much so, some blame it for everything from a lack of democracy in the region to the rise of religious extremism.

On June 5, 1967, Israeli warplanes destroyed 400 aircraft belonging to Egypt,
Syria, Jordan and Iraq — most of them sitting on airport tarmacs. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Syria gave up the Golan Heights, and Jordan relinquished the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Trying to minimize the defeat, Arabs have long called the Six Day War the "naksa," or "setback," but its impact remains a deep wound.

Egyptian columnist Wael Abdel Fattah wrote in the independent weekly Al-Fagr newspaper that Arabs blame the defeat for "everything" — from "price hikes, dictatorship, religious extremism, sectarian strife, even sexual impotence."

The thing is, though, that every single one of the problems that is listed long pre-dated the 1967 war -- lousy economies, totalitarian regimes, the teachings of Islam, the divisions between Sunni and Shiite, and (presumably) lack of sexual prowess among Arab men. It is simply one more example of Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism to blame the Jews for these problems, when they are part and parcel of the failure of Arab/Muslim culture and "civilization" (if you can even call it that over the last several centuries).

Until the Arabs take responsibility for their own destiny, admit that their societies are fundamentally flawed and dominated by a barbaric and backwards theological system that holds them back in the modern world, there is little that can be done to help them -- and strife will continue in the Middle East.

Posted by: Greg at 02:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Roxanne
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Posted by: Greg at 02:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here is an interesting story from the Holy See.

Some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources, a Vatican engineer said Tuesday. The roof of the Paul VI auditorium will be redone next year, with its cement panels replaced with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity, engineer Pier Carlo Cuscianna said.

The 6,300-seat auditorium is used for the pontiff's general audiences on Wednesdays in winter and in bad weather during the rest of the year. Concerts in honor of pontiffs are also staged in the hall, with its sweeping stage.

The cells will produce enough electricity to illuminate, heat or cool the building, Cuscianna said.

"Since the auditorium isn't used every day, the (excess) energy will feed into the network providing (the Vatican) with power, so other Vatican offices can use the energy," he said.

You guys know I am not a believer in man-made global warming. I am, however, a believer in energy conservation and switching to renewable resources like solar and wind power for practical reasons. I therefore applaud the move that is being made, and hope that more nations, religious organizations, businesses, and individuals make efforts like this one.

Posted by: Greg at 02:37 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Because after all, it can't be that the national Democrats are corrupt -- so the Houston Chronicle would prefer to slime an entire state instead.

The indictment of Jefferson, a Democrat, shifts some of the attention and shame from the Republican side of the aisle after a string of Republican congressmen, aides and lobbyists — including the notorious Jack Abramoff, whose name has become synonymous with lobbying excess and improper favors — were indicted for bribery and other forms of official corruption.

If there is a distinction to be made, it is that Jefferson's behavior seems less the product of Washington's ethical void than of Louisiana's. Jefferson's constituents, perhaps inured to a culture of rampant official corruption, apparently regard $90,000 in a politician's freezer as a commonplace and re-elected him to Congress last November by a wide margin.

Now granted, Louisiana Democratic politics is known for its corruption, and Democrats have long turned a blind eye to such unethical behavior in that state because it has allowed them to retain power. But to trash the entire state?

But why stop there -- we could point out a disturbing tendency for official corruption among black public officials (at least anecdotally) that proportionally outstrips such corruption on the part of whites. Or perhaps we could go digging into religion or other demographic breakdowns -- anything to try to avoid the clear truth of the matter. You know, that William Jefferson is just one of a long string of corrupt Democrats that have highlighted the party for decades.

Posted by: Greg at 02:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And the suporters call this comprehensive immigration reform/border control?

The Senate's immigration bill will only reduce illegal immigration by about 25 percent a year, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report, Stephen Dinan will report Tuesday in The Washington Times. The bill's new guest-worker program could lead to at least 500,000 more illegal immigrants within a decade, said the report from the CBO, which said in its official cost estimate that it assumes some future temporary workers will overstay their time in the plan, adding up to a half-million by 2017 and 1 million by 2027. "We anticipate that many of those would remain in the United States illegally after their visas expire," CBO said of the guest-worker program, which would allow 200,000 new workers a year to rotate into the country.

* * *

"CBO estimates that those measures would reduce the net annual flow of unauthorized immigrants by one-quarter," the report said. Still, with estimates of hundreds of thousands to one million illegal aliens per year, CBO is assuming a large problem will remain.

So if I get this straight, there will be 50,000 "overstayers" each year, plus 500,000 to 750,000 border jumpers.

In other words, we really won't see that much of a reduction in illegal immigration -- and we will need another amnesty 10, 20, or 30 years down the road, after the population of immigration criminals has again reached critical mass (remember, we did an amnesty like this in 1986 under Reagan, and it has clearly failed) Maybe then it will require super-duper comprehensive legislation to solve the problem.

H/T Confederate Yankee, Captain's Quarters

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Perri Nelson's Website, Rightlinx, sissunchi, third world county, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Maggie's Notebook, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Colloquium, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 05:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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How can Clinton and Edwards (and Biden and Dodd, for that matter) "take responsibility" for their "incorrect" votes on the Iraq War, claim the war is not their responsibility at all but that of George W. Bush, and at the same time insist upon their fitness for the presidency?

The thing about a war is that once it has started, you can't take it back. Yes, Bush did push for the Iraq war. Yes, Bush asserted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Bush also had help -- a 296-to-133 House vote and 77-to-23 Senate vote in favor of a resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, with Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards, and Sens. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd voting in the "yes" column.

This is Bush's war, the Democrats claim, because that dunderhead president misled them -- which is interesting, because presidential frontrunners Clinton and Edwards told debate host Wolf Blitzer that it did not matter that neither of them had read the 90-page National Intelligence Estimate before they voted for the war resolution. They had been briefed. Edwards read the five-page summary.

So now it's: Bush lied, we read the CliffsNotes.

In other words, they dared to vote for war without bothering to get informed -- they were not leaders, they were blind followers. Hardly a great qualification for a would-be president.

But there is more.

Maybe this attitude works in a primary election dominated by far-left partisans, but in the general election, I have to think that a more adult approach would work better for Candidate Clinton -- especially considering that the facts get in the way of her version of events. Clinton would look much better in the long run if she said not that she had been gulled, but that she had good reason to believe Hussein had WMD.

As reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. -- authors of "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton" -- wrote in a Sunday New York Times story that dissected Clinton's pro-war vote, while she did not read the full intelligence estimate, Clinton believed firmly that Iraq had WMD.

Of course she did. Her husband launched more than 400 cruise missiles at suspected WMD sites in Iraq when he was president.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton said of Saddam Hussein's WMD arsenal: "Someday, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal. And I think every one of you who has really worked on this for any length of time believes that, too."

Sen. Clinton claimed Sunday that she had expected that her vote for the war resolution would allow U.N. inspectors to finish their job -- even though Bush had made clear before the Senate vote that he was prepared to strike Iraq if Hussein did not back down.

Let me add, the figure who was really wrong was Hussein for his refusal to cooperate with U.N. inspectors. Hussein misled the world into thinking he had WMD.

And so i am curious about Senator Clinton -- at what point is she prepared to condemn her husband for having misled the world on Saddam Hussein's WMDs? At what point is she willing to condemn his actions against Iraq over the "nonexistent" stockpiles of chemical biological, and (potentially) nuclear materials? Why does Bill get a pass? Well, maybe the fact that offering the same sort of "fair-minded" critique applied to the Bush Administration would completely undermine the "Bush lied us into war" mantra chanted by the Democrat Left, and point to the fact that the Iraq War was and is the logical outcome of over a decade of bipartisan American policy related to Saddam Hussein's rogue regime.

And as for Edwards, there is this.

As for Edwards, his idea of leadership is to claim in February, "I think I was the first, at least close to being the first, to say very publicly that I was wrong." To me, that makes Edwards the first, or nearly the first candidate, to let down troops who can't go home -- and fallen troops who cannot be brought back to life -- just because Edwards admits he was wrong.

And as Sen. Barack Obama pointed out: "John, the fact is, is that I opposed this war from the start. So you are about four-and-a-half years late on leadership on this issue."

Indeed, it shows Edwards to be an intellectual light-weight who is more interested in poll numbers than principle -- so much so that he must be seen as either willing to sacrifice the lives of American troops to bolster his popularity or to abandon them when it become politically expedient. Or both.

Indeed, the columnist Debra Saunders really gets it right with her conclusion -- any candidate who supported the war at its inception but claims now to have been wrong or misled needs to actually take responsibility for their "mistake" by sitting out the 2008 presidential race.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Perri Nelson's Website, Rightlinx, sissunchi, third world county, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Maggie's Notebook, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Colloquium, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 03:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sponsored Post

You are in a city far from your home base -- say someplace exotic like Kansas City. You need a projector to do that presentation in order to win the contract. Well, where do you turn for a Kansas City projector rental so that you can clinch the deal? Projector123.com -- that's where. They ship projectors around the country for business meetings, graduations, and other special events, so you don't have to lug one with you or try to make a connection in each city. FedEx delivers and takes care of the return. What a deal!

Posted by: Greg at 03:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That is the only word that fits this situation.

No one was believed to have survived the crash of a small plane that was carrying a six-member organ transplant team and their cargo of donor organs, authorities said Tuesday.

Searchers found human remains during a search in Lake Michigan, about six miles northeast of Milwaukee, a Coast Guard official said Tuesday.

The team's lifesaving mission _ carrying unspecified organs from Milwaukee for transplant to a patient in Michigan _ was cut short Monday when the Cessna Citation went down in 57-degree water shortly after the pilot signaled an emergency.

Those on board were two surgeons and two donor specialists from the University of Michigan Health System and two pilots who regularly fly their transplant missions.

The loss of the transplant organs is awful, but the loss of the team involved in getting them where they are needed is even worse. Prayers must go out for those killed, and their families, the organ donor(s) and loved ones, and the intended recipient(s). So many touched by one incident. -- and so many folks involved in heroic service snuffed out in an instant.

Posted by: Greg at 02:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sponsored Post

I'm not a big fan of horror type movies, but I have always had a soft spot for Stephen King movies. In particular, I loved The Dead Zone, which was one of the most chilling movies I had seen when it came out during my college years. the idea that one can not only have precognition but also be able to change the events one has seen is a particularly intense one for me -- after all, who is to say that the change you make doesn't create the future you see rather than heal the unpleasant future?

Well, another movie based upon one of Stephen King's works is coming very soon -- 1408 - The Movie. I suppose you want to know what the 1408 Movie is about. Well, the movie's official website describes it as follows.

Renowned horror novelist Mike Enslin only believes what he can see with his own two eyes. After a string of bestsellers discrediting paranormal events in the most infamous haunted houses and graveyards around the world, he scoffs at the concept of an afterlife. Enslin's phantom-free run of long and lonely nights is about to end when he checks into Suite 1408 of the notorious Dolphin Hotel for his latest project "Ten Nights in Haunted Hotel Rooms."

I'll stop there, so that you visit the website for the 1408 Movie. I don't know about you, but that certainly sounds rather enticing to me. I’ll be looking forward to seeing the commercials when they come out – I hope they appear as enticing as the website does. I’m feeling pretty excited right now.

Oh, and here is this little tidbit for you as well. Enjoy!

Posted by: Greg at 01:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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