I usually ignore Keith Olbermann -- this third-rate sports reporter really has no credibility to comment on any issue related to politics or the War in Iraq. However, yesterday's commentary has one of the more outrageous assaults on the character of the President of the United States that I have ever heard, and deserves a response.

Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations.

Go there and fight, your war. Yourself.

Now wait one minute, Mr. Olbermann. On October 1, 1973, George W. Bush received an honorable discharge, indicating that he had fulfilled his military service obligation in an honorable fashion. Examinations of his service records indicate that he did, in fact, complete all required hours necessary to fulfill that military service obligation.

On the other hand, Mr. Olbermann, exactly how long did YOU serve in the military, and what is your discharge status?

Oh, that's right -- you were too busy playing sports reporter to bother with military service.

You are unfit to even launder the president's soiled jockstrap.

Sit down.

Shut up.

You are the worst person in the world!

Posted by: Greg at 09:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I think I'm going to go blind!

There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

She was talking on the Senate floor about the burdensome cost of higher education. She was wearing a rose-colored blazer over a black top. The neckline sat low on her chest and had a subtle V-shape. The cleavage registered after only a quick glance. No scrunch-faced scrutiny was necessary. There wasn't an unseemly amount of cleavage showing, but there it was. Undeniable.

And might I add -- ICK!!!!!!

Now I'll concede that there are other public figures whose cleavage I would find less appealing -- Rosie O'Donnell springs to mind -- but Hillary is right down near the bottom of my list.

I'm curious -- does the feminizing campaign help or hurt the presidential campaign?

Posted by: Greg at 08:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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To be honest, I can't disagree with the substance of these remarks by Senator Robert Byrd, clearly directed at Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

"The Book of Proverbs in the Holy Bible, the King James Bible, tells us a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," Byrd said. "The immortal Dante tells us the divine justice reserves special places in Hell for certain categories of sinners. Madam president, I am confident -- madam president, I am confident that the hottest places in Hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God's creatures in such brutal and cruel contempt! I yield the floor."

I'm curious, Senator -- what of sick and brutal people who hold God's children in contempt based upon race. You know, members of the KKK, an organization dedicated to the brutal, cruel, and sadistic oppression of African-Americans, Jews, Catholics and Republicans that you proudly joined and recruited for in your youth. Have you ever issued such a stinging (and well-deserved) condemnation of a group that you once described as "needed today as never before". Would you care to offer a condemnation of those who would proclaim that "ather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds"? Or do dogs have a higher place in your hierarchy of being than "race mongrels" and "the blackest specimen from the wilds"?

I'd be curious to know the answers to these questions -- after all, it would tell us whether the former Kleagle was speaking on principle, or merely because it gave him the opportunity to verbally lynch another prominent black man.

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Posted by: Greg at 06:48 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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I have a new hero -- Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman.

A Pentagon official has told Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that questions she has raised about how the United States would withdraw from Iraq feed enemy propaganda.

The stinging wording of the message, from Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman, was unusual, particularly because it was directed at a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mr. EdelmanÂ’s July 16 message, in response to questions Mrs. Clinton raised in May, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” he wrote, “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”

A Clinton spokesdrone made the following response.

A Clinton spokesman, Philippe Reines, said the senator would respond to Mr. Edelman’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Mr. Reines said military leaders should offer a withdrawal plan rather than “a political plan to attack those who question them.”

Excuse me -- members of the United States Senate, especially those who are putting themselves forward as candidates for the presidency, should be offering their own strategy for victory rather than cravenly undercutting the troops and emboldening the enemy with calls for unilateral retreat and surrender.

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Posted by: Greg at 06:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Maybe we need to send Half-wit Harry Reid a shirt that reads "No Surrender, No Peace".

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid offered no apologies yesterday for his decision to reject compromise efforts to alter President Bush's Iraq strategy that had the support of a growing number of Republicans.

"We did the very best we could," the senator from Nevada said in response to criticism that he had cut off debate on Wednesday just as a bipartisan consensus on milder Iraq proposals was emerging. "I strongly believe we should have a bipartisan foreign policy." But he added: "We need to do something to change the course of the war."

But the only change he wants is from a situation in which the United State is winning to one in which the United States declares itself defeated and flees home in the face of a nearly-vanquished enemy.

Patheric, isn't it, that such a spineless man is the best that Democrats have to offer as "leader" in the Senate.

Posted by: Greg at 02:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Damn -- not only has Obama forgotten 9/11 and the Gulf War, he clearly has forgotten Rwanda, Cambodia, and the Shoah.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

"Well, look, if that's the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven't done," Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would be a good idea," he said.

In other words, all that we have to do is "care" -- not act -- about genocide to do our duty in the the world of Senator Obama.

But he ignores one point in his analysis -- we have the means, right now, to prevent the carnage that would follow our withdrawal by not withdrawing. But his strawman argument - if we aren't stopping genocide everywhere we shouldn't stop it anywhere -- is morally bankrupt. It is like arguing that I shouldn't help one poor family in my neighborhood because I cannot wipe out world poverty.

Posted by: Greg at 02:22 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And the real kicker in the opinion is found here.

"But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."

In other words, any claim made by the perjurious, nepotism-encouraging former CIA employee and her partisan-hack husband will likely be barred by the immunity officials have for acting within the scope of their employment.

In other words, thee is no right to have one's false claims about the government and its policies stand unchallenged by the public officials involved.

Posted by: Greg at 01:57 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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When you love someone who suffers from chronic muscle and joint pain, you come to be very familiar with prescription and over the counter remedies for the pain and stiffness that make life almost unbearable for them. When you find such products, you cling to them and swear by them, because they help make life a little bit better for that loved one. And so the other day, when I had some samples fall out of an envelope, I was both intrigued and worried.

The samples were for a product called Freeze It, a fast-acting topical pain relief gel, and I decided to try them out with my wife later that evening when she asked for the old stand-by (AKA "the blue stuff") for her sore back. I told her I'd like to try something different, and opened one of the samples. She started feeling relief almost immediately, and within 15 minutes had a greater range of motion and less pain than at any point during the day. It was, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, as close to miraculous as any product that we have ever used to help her deal with the osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease that cause her such pain. Indeed, my skeptical wife immediately wanted to send me out to buy her a supply, something that does not happen very often with new products. We are both sold on Freeze It after that experience and additional applications of the samples I received. We will be using it again, because Freeze It works!

Want more information on FreezeIt? Visit the official FreezeIt website --or just watch this commercial.

Posted by: Greg at 06:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I understand that confidentiality is sometimes a useful and responsible tool for journalists.

That said, does this example go too far?

A female survivor of this month's violent storming by Pakistani forces of Islamabad's Red Mosque has spoken of how she wanted to be a suicide bomber.

The 18-year-old told the BBC Urdu Service that she was not held hostage by militants but had willingly remained behind during the week-long siege.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was prepared to carry out a suicide attack to defend the mosque.

I'm sorry, but this does not strike me as a responsible application of the principle of confidentiality. You have someone who indicates that she wishes to engage in acts of terrorism. Shouldn't her name be proclaimed to the public, so that all decent people can shun her and governments can keep a close watch upon her?

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Posted by: Greg at 11:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You can tell how much the media and the Left fear Fred Thompson -- they want to do their best to undermine him with the GOP base. You therefore get this headline.

Records Show Ex-SenatorÂ’s Work for Family Planning Unit

True enough -- but what they show is that Fred Thompson really didn't perform any significant work for the pro-abortion group as a lobbyist. After all, the total amount billed over the course of 2 1/2 years was under 20 hours. Of that, just 3 1/3 hours are reported as actual lobbying work -- the rest of the time would be meetings and consultations at the request of the colleague who was working for the pro-abortion group. Indeed, the lack of specificity in the records as to who was spoken to and what was discussed leads me to wonder if the hours were not mis-categorized -- after all, not a single individual from the Bush I administration has ever stepped forward to say that Fred Thompson spoke to them about the gag-rule.

Indeed, the billing records seem to show that Fred Thompson was not hired to lobby for the pro-abortion group, contrary to the claims of the group's leader.

Posted by: Greg at 06:30 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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Houston Chronicle On Filibusters -- 2005.

At stake is whether senators of the minority party will be allowed to play any role in the Senate's constitutional duty to advise and consent. . . . Without the right to unlimited debate so long as 41 senators desire it, the Senate could cease to be the world's greatest deliberative body and become another rubber stamp for the party in power and the interests that fill its campaign coffers.

Houston Chronicle on Filibusters -- 2007.

Reid was right to force opponents to filibuster or allow the matter to go to a vote. At the end of the exercise, the withdrawal amendment failed to get the 60 votes needed for closure, but the public is now clearer as to which lawmakers prevented the Senate from doing its job.

In other words, the Houston Chronicle doesn't believe the filibuster is all that essential to making the US Senate "the world's greatest deliberative body" when it is used to prevent a vote on policies the paper supports. When Democrats use the filibuster, it is part of the Senate doing its job, but when Republicans use it, is is "lawmakers preventing the Senate from doing its job." I suppose that is true -- but only if one operates on the premise that the job of the US Senate is to enact the policies of the Democrats in all circumstances whatsoever.

Posted by: Greg at 01:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Are you looking for a cellular phone in the UK? Are you trying to find the best deals on phones and service? Did you know that there are 12 months free line rental offers out there, often including a free phone, that will allow you to get your cellular phone service for nothing or mighty close to it!

Where can you find 12 months free line rental ? Well, you have to look closely at online mobile phone shops like FreeLineRentalMobiles.co.uk, which has all variety of deals that include free phones, free service, or heavy discounts. I’ll be honest – I wish that we Americans had the deals that you Brits have!

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Harry Reid on filibusters -- 2005

Mr. President, the filibuster is a critical tool in keeping the majority in check.

Harry Reid on filibusters -- 2007.

After the results were tallied, Reid asked GOP leaders to accept simple-majority votes. When they refused, Reid announced that the debate would be suspended, possibly until after Labor Day or until Republicans dropped their filibuster. He called the 60-vote requirement "a new math that was developed by the Republicans to protect the president."

Gee, harry, what happened? I thought that the filibuster was an important tool for the minority to keep the majority in check. Did you really mean that it was an important tool for Democrats to obstruct Republican proposals, but is illegitimate when used by Republicans?

Sit down, shut up, and go back to counting your dirty money from insider real estate deals.

Posted by: Greg at 01:17 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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If you teach for very long down here in Texas, you are likely to either be assigned to a portable building or have colleagues who are. Why? Because enrollment is skyrocketing in many districts around the state, and it becomes a challenge to keep up with the need for classroom space. From what I hear from colleagues in a number of other states, this phenomenon is not confined to Texas alone. As a result, mobile building units become a necessity for schools. For that matter, they also can help solve other problems, such as was the case when the first school I taught at suffered an electrical fire that destroyed a quarter of the building, including the library several classrooms, and the administrative offices.

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Posted by: Greg at 06:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If they are less than half as popular as the president, you know what that means.

Worst.

Congress.

Ever.

Posted by: Greg at 07:21 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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One day a statue of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will be placed in the United States Capitol to honor his dedicated service to America. On its base must be inscribed this quote from last night's debate on the War in Iraq.

“The American military will never lose the war in Iraq…if lost, it will be lost by a lack of political will.”

Ladies and gentlemen -- no truer words have ever been spoken on the floor of the United States Senate.

Posted by: Greg at 06:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Teddy and Mary Jo went for a drive and drove off a bridge on July 18, 1969, resulting in one fatality. The wrong one survived.

Think I'm being harsh? Consider the fact that the Senator left his passenger to drown, failed to call the police, went to sleep it off at a cheap motel, tried to obstruct justice by getting a cousin to take the rap, and consulted with legal an political advisers before contacting the authorities after he sobered up -- and walked away with a slap on the wrist.

So have a happy Chappy Day, Senator Kennedy!

Posted by: Greg at 06:14 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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That there is no al-Qaeda presence in Iraq, and that is why the Democrats are ready to withdraw.

But if that is the case, I really don't see how this could have happened.

The highest-ranking Iraqi leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested and told interrogators that Osama bin Laden's inner circle wields considerable influence over the Iraqi group, the U.S. command said Wednesday.

Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who was captured in Mosul on July 4, carried messages from bin Laden, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, to the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayub al-Masri, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.

"Communication between the senior al-Qaida leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani," Bergner said. "There is a clear connection between al-Qaida in Iraq and al-Qaida senior leadership outside Iraq."

And it is also clear that one of the main terrorist groups in Iraq is an al-Qaeda front.

"Along with al-Masri, al-Mashhadani co-founded a virtual organization in cyberspace called the Islamic State of Iraq in 2006," Bergner said. "The Islamic State of Iraq is the latest efforts by al-Qaida to market itself and its goal of imposing a Taliban-like state on the Iraqi people."

In Web postings, the Islamic State of Iraq has identified its leader as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, with al-Masri as minister of war. There are no known photos of al-Baghdadi.

Bergner said al-Mashhadani had told interrogators that al-Baghdadi is a "fictional role" created by al-Masri and that an actor is used for audio recordings of speeches posted on the Web.

"In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al-Qaida in Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq," Bergner said.

He said al-Mashhadani was a leader of the militant Ansar al-Sunnah group before joining al-Qaida in Iraq 2 1/2 years ago. Al-Mashhadani served as the al-Qaida media chief for Baghdad and then was appointed the media chief for the whole country.

Damn -- it must suck to be claiming that Iraq is where the terrorists aren't, only to find another one of them there. I guess they'll just have to find some other reason to cut-and-run -- maybe it is time for the Democrats to attack the troops again.

Posted by: Greg at 05:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fred will be passing through Texas on Wednesday, July 25th!

HeÂ’ll be spending the morning in Houston and the afternoon in Dallas.

The Texas FredHeads will be meeting Fred at Hobby Airport at 9:00 am and at Love Field at 3:30 pm.

Those interested in meeting Fred in Houston should contact

HoustonFredHeads@gmail.com

and those interested in meeting Fred in Dallas should contact

allasFredHeads@gmail.com">DallasFredHeads@gmail.com

for more information.

If you email, the Thompson folks will be able to give you all the details -- and get a head-count for how many folks to anticipate.

Posted by: Greg at 01:02 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In Mississippi, it has been the custom for many white voters to vote for moderate/conservative Democrats running for local office at primary time, while still voting for GOP candidates for statewide and national office. A recent ruling by a federal court will make that impossible -- and likely put the GOP in the driver's seat in the state for decades to come.

A federal court ruling in June that forces voters to register by party could return Mississippi to the days of racially polarized politics, as many white Democrats warn that thousands of white voters will now opt definitively for the Republican Party.

Republican-leaning voters in Mississippi have long been able to cross party lines in primaries, voting for centrist Democrats in state and local races while staying loyal to Republican candidates in national races. But political experts here say that by limiting these voters — almost all of whom are white — to Republican primaries, the ruling will push centrist Democratic candidates to the other party, simply in order to survive.

Most black voters in Mississippi are Democrats, and black political leaders have been pushing for years to prevent crossover voting in Democratic primaries. Black leaders say they want to end precisely what white Democrats here seek to preserve, a strong moderate-to-conservative voice in the Democratic Party, and in the process to pick up more state and local posts.

The ruling last month by Judge W. Allen Pepper Jr. of Federal District Court allowed the legal remedy sought by black leaders. Judge Pepper said the Democratic Party in Mississippi had a right to “disassociate itself” from voters who were not genuine Democrats. Most other Southern states also have open primaries.

Now as i see this, there are a couple of outcomes likely to arise from this. First, there will be a surge in GOP registrations and in GOP officeholders. Second, it is likely that those voter purged by the Democrats will be a moderating force in GOP politics, while their loss by the Democrats will take the party further outside the mainstream. This can only bode well for the GOP -- even as the race-baiters in the Democratic Party gain more internal power, their broader appeal will be decreased.

And lest you think that I'm over-reacting with my use of the term "race-baiters", consider the sort of person who sought and supports teh ruling.

Black Democrats who pushed the lawsuit that led to the ruling seemed to view the potential hemorrhaging of white voters with equanimity. One of their leaders is Ike Brown, a state Democratic executive committee member who was recently found by another federal judge to have systematically violated voting rights of whites, through intimidation and other means, as party boss in his home county, Noxubee, in the eastern part of the state.

Welcoming Judge Pepper’s ruling, Mr. Brown said in an interview: “We are tired of being abused by the white Democrats in Mississippi. We have just had enough. We want the Republicans out of our party.”

Yeah, that's right -- a fellow convicted of implementing a reverse-"Jim Crow" voting system in his county to disenfranchise white voters finds this to be a positive development. Tell me -- if a GOP leader were to complain about the voting preferences and habits of white voters, how loud would the outrage be? And how quickly would he be driven from party office if convicted of voting rights violations?

Of course, this entire suit is driven by those who believe that the skin color of a candidate (or voter) is more important than the content of his/her character. If the Democrats again want to segregate their party, so be it -- but recognize please, that it is once again the Democrats demanding such segregation.

Posted by: Greg at 12:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'll concede that I am not a big one for entitlement programs, but when you have a precedent reaching back to the times of the American Revolution, it might just be worth thinking about.

On Jan. 2, 1775, as historian David Hackett Fischer recounts in Paul Revere's Ride, the good people of Newton held a town meeting. The issues they discussed were similar in a certain sort of way to the issues that might be discussed today by the D.C. council. They included a proposed gun law and entitlement program.

In Newton, the gun law and entitlement program were one and the same.

The Newtonians thought it so important for every man in town to own a gun that they were ready to give him one if he could not afford it.

"Voted," say the town records, "that the Selectmen use their best discretion in providing fire-arms for the poor of the town who are unable to provide for themselves."

The District of Columbia argues that since there is no longer a colonial-style militia, the rest of the Second Amendment is meaningless -- hence it can ban the people from either keeping or bearing arms. Under that logic, the DC government could shut down the Washington Post because it no longer uses the sort of presses in vogue in the 1790s -- and there would be no First Amendment protection at all for television, radio, and the internet. But we can see what was important to those who fought for the independence of this country and later adopted our Constitution -- that each free citizen have the means of self-defense, and the assistance of the government in obtaining it if he could not.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Posted by: Greg at 12:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I know -- as we found with LiveEarth, left-wing celebrities believe that the rules should apply only to the little people.

An employment tribunal ordered Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, on Tuesday to pay a former chef $51,000 in compensation after she won a sexual-discrimination claim against them.

Jane Martin, 41, won her claim in May. She said she was fired after she became pregnant.

At a hearing earlier this year, Martin said she had worked for the 55-year-old pop star and his wife for eight years, cooking meals for them and guests including Madonna and Elton John.

She said Styler grew unhappy with her after she became pregnant in 2005, making her work long hours and growing angry when she took time off work because of illness.

No doubt Sting and Trudie would consider themselves to be "pro-choice" and "pro-woman". But heaven forbid that a woman in their employ should exercise that choice.

Posted by: Greg at 12:14 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I always find myself quite amused by celebrities who run around in fancy sunglasses to prove they are cool. That especially goes for rappers with butt-ugly jewel-encrusted monument-to-excess shades that look like a jeweler's work-room became ill on their face. If you want to wear sunglasses, great -- but a good pair of Ray-Bans will do you as well as one that costs you a bundle. After all, the secret to having money and class is to not flash the cash with conspicuous consumption.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Or, as I suggested, soft core.

When it comes to being bootyful, Jessica Simpson knows just how to make a splash.

The pop princess/designer debuted her hot new swimwear line over the weekend at Miami Fashion Week, featuring both barely there bikinis and fuller-figured one-pieces.

But despite the cuts and colors of all her creations, Jess had one goal in mind: boosting the butt.

“I’ve always done a certain thing with the string bikini … I take a safety pin and do a ruching on the butt,” she revealed to "Extra."

“'Cause I don’t really have a, like I want more of a butt! We actually put that into the line for the girls who want more butt!”

Now i like big butts and I cannot lie. . . but what is it with FOXNews and Jessica Simpson? Did they purchase her along with the Wall Street Journal?

Posted by: Greg at 11:54 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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How far does a school's authority go to regulate student speech?

We got a partial answer to that question a couple of weeks ago in Morse v. Frederick, which seems to allow a great deal of latitude during school-sponsored events in cases of drug-related speech. But even that case seems to be limited, for within days the Supreme Court refused to even hear a case in which a student was held to be within his First Amendment rights to wear a t-shirt mocking the President, even though it did contain depictions of illegal drug use. That would indicate that the Court will look askance at attempts to punish what is clearly political speech.

And, of course, the recent decision does not even get into the issue of the school's ability to punish student speech that happens entirely off-campus, even if it is somehow school related. We may, however, be seeing the genesis of such a case in Connecticut.

A Lewis S. Mills High School student who was barred from running for class office after she called administrators a derogatory term on an Internet blog is accusing top school officials of violating her free speech rights.

Avery Doninger, a senior at the school in Burlington this fall, was removed as class secretary in the controversy last May. She is asking a state judge to order the school superintendent and the principal to reinstate her as secretary of the Class of 2008 and allow her to run for re-election in September.

Lauren Doninger of Burlington, the 16-year-old student's mother, filed a lawsuit Monday on her daughter's behalf in Superior Court in New Britain.

At issue is a comment made on a blog about certain unnamed district officials, who Avery referred to as "douchbags". But the decision to punish her seems to be related to a much deeper issue that directly impinges upon the First Amendment in a rather pristine manner.

On April 24, according to the lawsuit, school officials told Doninger and the other student council officers that a "Jamfest" scheduled for April 28 could not be held in the school auditorium because there was not a staff member available to run new equipment. The event is an annual battle of the bands organized by the student council in which local musicians perform for the community, according to the complaint.

Another student council member sent an electronic mail message that day to high school parents and students, encouraging them to call the school board for Region 10, which covers Harwinton and Burlington, to express support for Jamfest. Doninger was among four students to sign that message, but it was drafted and sent by another student, according to the lawsuit.

When Doninger encountered Niehoff in the school hallway, the principal scolded her for the message and said the superintendent was angered by it and that Jamfest might be canceled, the lawsuit says.

Later that night, about 9:25 p.m., Doninger used her personal computer to post the entry on the blog.

"Jamfest is canceled due to the douchbags in central office. Here is an e-mail that we sent out to a ton of people and asked them to forward to everyone in their address book to help get support for Jamfest," she wrote. "Basically, because we sent it out, Paula Schwartz is getting a TON of phone calls and e-mails and such. We have so much support and we really appreciate it. However, she got pissed off and decided to just cancel the whole thing all [sic] together."

A few weeks later, on May 17, Doninger went to the school office to accept her nomination for class secretary. Niehoff handed a copy of the blog entry to Doninger and told her to apologize to Schwartz, tell her mother about the blog entry, resign as class secretary and withdraw her candidacy, according to the lawsuit.

Avery said she apologized and told her mother, but would not resign or withdraw. Niehoff then dismissed her from the post and barred her from running for the office, according to the lawsuit.

As you can see, part of the issue here is that the campus and district administration took offense at the fact that students would engage in speech to encourage others to petition public officials for a redress of grievances. I've no doubt that Principal Niehoff and Superintendent Schwartz were taken aback that mere students would challenge their authority, and that they were then looking for a way to get back at the student signatories to the email. The problem is that this constitutes the very sort of speech that the First Amendment is intended to protect -- the right of citizens to make their voices heard by public officials.

That Avery Doninger then proceeded to write a blog entry some six hours after the end of the school day, using her own computer in her own home appears significant here. While her subject was a decision by the school to cancel the event, she was again speaking out on a matter of public concern and urging others to engage in lawful conduct to petition school officials for a redress of grievances. Again, that is the use of the First Amendment in a pure and clearly protected fashion -- and even the use of the (misspelled, uncomplimentary, but non-obscene) term "douchbag" does not remove First Amendment protection from her writing (remember Cohens v. California -- even the use of an F-bomb in a political context is ordinarily protected speech).

School officials, in my eyes, have crossed two very bright lines here. First, given the fact that the speech in this case falls in the realm of political speech on a matter of public importance (the operation of a public school and the decisions of public school officials on scheduling/canceling an event), any punishment, including the revocation of what school officials label as a privilege, constitutes an abridgment of freedom of speech.

Second, the fact that the speech for which Avery Doninger is being punished occurred entirely off campus, there is really not a sufficient nexus between it and the school for the administration to even involve itself. If, for example, the student had referred to Hillary Clinton as a "douchbag", could the school have taken action? I think the answer is clearly negative -- and indeed the school would not have tied to do so. Indeed, I'm reasonably confident that no action would have been taken had the young lady "flipped the bird" at a teacher in the parking lot of a local grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. It therefore cannot be said that her lack of respect for school authorities was the basis for her punishment.

No, what you have here is a pair of administrators taking personal offense at being challenged by a student, and choosing to make an example of her. In doing so, they intruded not just upon the student's First Amendment rights, but also upon the right of her mother to to discipline (or not discipline) her for legal activities permitted (or not permitted) in the home. Just as the school cannot impose a 24-hour dress code without violating the rights of the students and the parents, they cannot impose a 24-hour speech code, either. If, as held by the much circumscribed decision in Tinker v. Des Moines, students do not shed their liberties upon entering the schoolyard, the school has an even less pressing interest in regulating those liberties outside of school hours and away from the school grounds. Furthermore, since there was not even a hint of unlawful activity suggested in the blog entry, even the recently approved limits on student rights found in Morse v. Frederick do not seem to be applicable here.

By the way, I'd like to point out that, if the facts are as presented here (and the district seems to confirm them with their response to the suit), I'd argue that Avery Doninger pegged Principal Karissa Niehoff and Superintendent Paula Schwartz just about right. While I would question her use of the term "douchebag", their later actions show that she correctly understands them as power-maddened little totalitarians who fail to understand the limits of their authority and the scope of the First Amendment. They need to remember that Avery Doninger and her peers are students on the cusp of adulthood, not prisoners in a maximum security institution. As such, I'll be following this case closely and hoping to see Niehoff and Schwartz righteously slapped-down by every court in which this case is heard.

Excellent coverage at the case can be found at The Cool Justice Report:
Douche Bag Case In Court
Douche Bag Reprise
Police State Tactics
Principal DB Ducks
Write-In Vote Buried
Who Took The Call
Bill of Rights
Failure To Educate

UPDATE -- 7/18/2007: If the decision discussed in this article provides any guidance, I think that Niehoff, Schwartz, and the district need to get out their checkbooks and prepare to make a substantial contribution to Avery Doninger's college fund. After all, the school sought to punish significantly more disrespectful speech on the internet and was held to violate the student's rights under the First Amendment.

In Layshock, Justin Layshock, a Hermitage, Pa., high school senior, created a profile ridiculing his principal on MySpace. LayshockÂ’s profile was one of four of the principal on the Web site and the least offensive. As word of the profiles spread, school officials tried to block school computersÂ’ access to MySpace and to learn who created the other three profiles. The officials failed in these efforts but ultimately persuaded MySpace to disable the profiles.

During the week before the profiles were disabled, a few students accessed them from school computers and shared them with other students. Officials therefore canceled computer programming classes for five days and otherwise limited student computer use. As a result, several teachers revised lesson plans to convert in-class assignments requiring Internet access to homework and changed Internet research lessons to class discussions. Those discussions did not address the profiles, however, and teachers, following administratorsÂ’ directions, sent about 20 students to the office for mentioning the profiles during class.

After Layshock admitted creating his profile, administrators suspended him for 10 days, placed him in an alternative curriculum, banned him from participating in and attending extracurricular events and prohibited him from participating in the graduation ceremony. His parents then sued, claiming, among other things, that the punishments violated their sonÂ’s First Amendment rights.

McVerry agreed. In ruling for the parents on most aspects of their constitutional claim, McVerry refused to read the decision in Morse as expanding the deference due school officials. Rather, he read Morse narrowly, noting that one of the few things the splintered justices agreed upon was that the banner was school-related speech. Because Layshock did not create his profile at school, McVerry held Morse was “not controlling” of the case.

Given that Avery Doninger was punished over a single word in a post urging members of her community to petition a public official for a redress of grievances, there is no way that applying a similar standard of review to the one in Layshock would permit any punishment to be meted out by the school.

MORE AT ProfsBlawg, Appellate Law & Practice

Posted by: Greg at 09:28 AM | Comments (112) | Add Comment
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This looks bad.

AP Poll: GOP pick is 'none of the above'

And it seems worse when you read the rather convoluted reporting on the poll in question.

And the leading Republican presidential candidate is ... none of the above.

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of Republicans are unwilling to back top-tier hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney, and no one candidate has emerged as the clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. Such dissatisfaction underscores the volatility of the 2008 GOP nomination fight.

In sharp contrast, the Democratic race remains static, with Hillary Rodham Clinton holding a sizable lead over Barack Obama. The New York senator, who is white, also outpaces her Illinois counterpart, who is black, among black and Hispanic Democrats, according to a combined sample of two months of polls.

A half year before voting begins, the survey shows the White House race is far more wide open on the Republican side than on the Democratic. The uneven enthusiasm about the fields also is reflected in fundraising in which Democrats outraised Republicans $80 million to $50 million from April through June, continuing a trend from the year's first three months.

"Democrats are reasonably comfortable with the range of choices. The Democratic attitude is that three or four of these guys would be fine," David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist. "The Republicans don't have that; particularly among the conservatives there's a real split. They just don't see candidates who reflect their interests and who they also view as viable."

More Republicans have become apathetic about their options over the past month.

A hefty 23 percent can't or won't say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.

Now that sounds really bad -- until one considers that over the last two months we have seen a new major candidate (sort of) enter the picture and another one begin to swoon. And interestingly enough, the AP doesn't link back to the actual data -- I had to go to the Ipsos website to find it. And know what -- the actual data shows something very different.

1b. If the 2008 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were...for whom would you vote?

Candidate	7/9-11/07	6/4-6/07	3/5-7/07
Giuliani	21	27	35
Thompson	19	17	N/A
McCain	15	19	22
Romney	11	10	8
Gingrich	5	7	11
Huckabee	3	2	3
Brownback	1	3	3
Other	2	1	-
None	8	4	6
(DK/NS)	15	10	12

So as I see the data here, you really only have a group of 8% opposed to all the candidates. What you do have, however, is a 15% undecided group as the GOP field finds itself in a state of flux -- waiting to see what happens with the race before committing themselves to one candidate or another. That said, 2/3 of GOP voters are committed to one of the top 4 candidates -- hardly a sign of dissatisfaction, especially when our candidate list is still in flux and we are still six months away from the first primary or caucus!

I suspect that we will see some additional changes in the next couple of months, as Thompson formally declares his candidacy sometime before Labor Day and McCain continues to flounder. And when Newt Gingrich makes it official that he has just been teasing the base with his hints of a presidential run, that will cause another 5-10% to move into the folds of the other major candidates.

MORE AT Michelle Malkin

Posted by: Greg at 02:57 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Posted by: John at Fri Nov 21 07:12:37 2008 (8qEmy)

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This story looks bad, if you are a believer in the notion that global warming si a man0made phenomenon and not part of a natural cysle.

At nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, in the shadow of a sharp Himalayan peak, a wall of black ice oozes in the sunshine. A tumbling stone breaks the silence of the mountains, or water gurgles under the ground, a sign that the glacier is melting from inside. Where it empties out — scientists call it the snout — a noisy, frothy stream rushes down to meet the river Ganges.

D.P. Dobhal, a glaciologist who has spent the last three years climbing and poking the Chorabari glacier, stands at the edge of the snout and points ahead. Three years ago, the snout was roughly 90 feet farther away. On a map drawn in 1962, it was plotted 860 feet from here. Mr. Dobhal marked the spot with a Stonehenge-like pile of rocks.

Mr. Dobhal’s steep and solitary quest — to measure the changes in the glacier’s size and volume — points to a looming worldwide concern, with particularly serious repercussions for India and its neighbors. The thousands of glaciers studded across 1,500 miles of the Himalayas make up the savings account of South Asia’s water supply, feeding more than a dozen major rivers and sustaining a billion people downstream. Their apparent retreat threatens to bear heavily on everything from the region’s drinking water supply to agricultural production to disease and floods.

Indian glaciers are among the least studied in the world, lacking the decades of data that scientists need to deduce trends. Nevertheless, the nascent research offers a snapshot of the consequences of global warming for this country and raises vital questions about how India will respond to them.

Sounds alarming -- and certainly presents some challenges. But since we know that glaciation is a part of a cyclical process ranging over thousands of years (tens of thousands, in fact), exactly what point in the glacier's history constitutes the norm? What was the optimal reach of the glacier? Does its location in 1962, for example, constitute "where it should be"? Or does today's location? And since there is no clear evidence that humanity is responsible for the changes, is it proper that we make economic decision based upon that unproven (and dare I say it, unprovable) theory?

Posted by: Greg at 01:45 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The issue is not one of needing to mix races or socio-economic classes in schools -- the issue is instead the need to make those schools more effective.

Sen. John Edwards plans to warn later this week that the nationÂ’s schools have become segregated by race and income, and he will propose measures to diversify both inner-city and middle-class schools.

The plan calls for beefing up inner-city magnet schools to attract suburban kids, and providing extra money for schools in middle-class areas as a reward for enrolling more low-income students.

Edwards seems to be hung up on the Magic Caucasian fallacy -- the absurd notion that getting a minority student next to a white student will somehow enable that minority students to learn in ways that they never could with another minority student sitting next to them. So rather than offering help in actually improving facilities, materials, and teachers, Edwards wants to dump more cash into a social engineering scheme of the sort that really hasn't ever worked to improve education.

And let's look at this quote from the candidate.

“We still have two public school systems in this country,” Edwards said. “They're not segregated just based on race. They're segregated, to a large extent, based on economics, which has racial implications.”

“The result is,” Edwards continued, “if you live in a wealthy suburban area, the odds are very high that your child will get a very good public school education. If you live in the inner city or if you live in a poor rural area, the odds of that go down dramatically. And I think there are very specific things we can do to not only improve the quality of the education in those areas but also to improve the quality of our schools at large.”

However, let's look at his contentions. Two educational systems? Yes, we do -- but they are public and private, not majority/minority or rich/poor. Interestingly enough, we know which system does better in many parts of our country -- but certain groups have a vested interest in making sure that the more effective one is not open to the poorest Americans. Edwards doesn't want to address that gap -- maybe because he wants someone else's children to be a part of that experiment in achieving diversity of ethnicity and social class, but not his own. I'll be more willing to accept that he believes in that diversity when he commits to enrolling his kids in predominantly minority, low SES public school.

Let's consider this contention -- “The result is,” Edwards continued, “if you live in a wealthy suburban area, the odds are very high that your child will get a very good public school education.

Now Edwards has a point here -- but there are a number of factors involved there. Parental involvement tends to be higher, and that has a marked effect on student performance. So, too, does the parents in those areas are more likely to have at least a college degree, if not a graduate level education. There is an expectation of achievement, and parents have the ability to help students with their work. No amount of government money to mix races or economic levels can fix those things -- and the money spent on moving bodies would be better spent on tutoring programs and other academic support services.

And Edwards doesn't recognize that his plan can't solve some of the problems he points to -- If you live in the inner city or if you live in a poor rural area, the odds of that go down dramatically.

Well, maybe you can encourage some of that mixing in a bigger urban district, but doing so in a rural district is not so easy. Look, for example, at west Texas -- sometimes you have schools that are 50-75 miles apart. How are you going to mix anything when there is only one high school in the county? Again, the issue is one of improving what you have, not changing the racial mix.

And while I'm talking about improving programs and facilities, I am not necessarily saying that money is the end-all and be-all of educational reform. Good grief -- the public schools in Washington, DC spends almost as much money per pupil as any district in the country, but still doesn't have results that anyone would be proud of. More rich white kids aren't the answer.

Posted by: Greg at 01:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After all, the gun law struck down in the District basically made it a crime for a mere serf citizen to keep or bear arms in the District of Columbia. Now the mayor has announced plans to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.

The District will ask the Supreme Court to uphold its strict 30-year handgun ban, setting up what legal experts said could be a test of the Second Amendment with broad ramifications.

The high court has not ruled on the Second Amendment protection of the right to keep and bear arms since 1939. But at a morning news conference yesterday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Attorney General Linda Singer said they expect the court to hear a case they called crucial to public safety.

In a 2 to 1 decision in March, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the city's prohibition against residents keeping handguns in their homes is unconstitutional. In May, the full appeals court declined a petition from the city to reconsider the panel's decision.

Some gun control advocates have cautioned that a defeat in the Supreme Court could lead to tough gun laws being overturned in major cities, including New York, Chicago and Detroit. Fenty said the District had no choice but to fight because more guns in homes could lead to increases in violent crime and deadly accidents.

"The handgun ban has saved many lives and will continue to do so if it remains in effect," Fenty said. "Wherever I go, the response from the residents is, 'Mayor Fenty, you've got to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.' "

You know, the data shows Fenty's argument to be false. Crime drops where the law-abiding are free to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment -- and criminals, of course, are strangely disinclined to follow gun bans.

Interestingly enough, if one looks at the words of the Founders on the right to keep and bear arms, there should be no question as to the meaning of the Second Amendment -- or its purpose. And indeed, a hard-and-fast ruling that there is no right for the people to keep and bear arms in the amendment guaranteeing that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged" might well be a good reason to implement that purpose.

Posted by: Greg at 12:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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At one point, my father decided that it would be a great thing to keep the family home in San Diego as a rental property when the Navy sent him to the East Coast. After all, he figured, it was quite likely that in a couple of years we would be back in California, and he was also looking towards retirement in the city where my mother's family lived and where they had met. It turned out to be a disaster at every turn.

It seemed like every month or two, we would get a call from our old neighbor, Dennis, about some problem or other with the tenants. The final straw, New years morning, came when we got the call about the fire. it seems that someone had left a pan on the stove New Years Eve with the burner turned on, causing a fire that decimated the kitchen and required serious money to fix up. Insurance covered most of the expenses, but that by Easter the house would be sold to a new family. My parents had decided that it would be less of a hassle to look for and buy a new house when/if we moved back to California (we never did).

Frankly, I think the problem was probably the tenants themselves. The first couple were a young couple, fresh out of college and not really stable. The same was true of the next set of renters, who burned the kitchen. But then again, that is what you get if you post a flier on the bulletin board at Safeway.

There is a better way to find renters. Rentals.com provides a database of 3 million potential renters to you, many in your area, and tools to help you connect with someone you are comfortable dealing with. After all, that property is an investment in your present and future -- you want to take care of by ensuring that you have quality tenants. Rentals.com makes it all very easy for you to do -- and at a reasonable price.

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Contrary to the claims of Democrats and other folks who argue that we have taken progressivity out of the tax system, a quick examination of the actual data shows something else.

The best source for objective data on the distribution of the tax burden is the Congressional Budget Office. The C.B.O. goes beyond anecdotes and bald assertions to provide hard data on who pays taxes. One can argue about the details of its methods, but there is no doubt that it is nonpartisan and that its tax analysts are some of the best in the business.

The C.B.O.Â’s most recent calculations of federal tax rates show a highly progressive system. (The numbers are based on 2004 data, but the tax code has not changed much since then.) The poorest fifth of the population, with average annual income of $15,400, pays only 4.5 percent of its income in federal taxes. The middle fifth, with income of $56,200, pays 13.9 percent. And the top fifth, with income of $207,200, pays 25.1 percent.

At the very top of the income distribution, the C.B.O. reports even higher tax rates. The richest 1 percent has average income of $1,259,700 and forks over 31.1 percent of its income to the federal government.

This does, however, take into account the fact that a good chunk of the taxes paid by the wealthy are paid indirectly, by corporations that pay taxes on profits before dividends are paid to stockholders.

When the C.B.O. studies the tax burden, it includes all federal taxes, including individual income taxes, payroll taxes and corporate income taxes. In its analysis, payroll taxes are borne by workers, and corporate taxes by the owners of capital. For the richest 1 percent of the population, 9.3 percentage points of their 31.1 percent tax rate comes from the taxes that corporations have paid on their behalf.

So, as the article points out, when you get a Warren Buffett claiming that he pays only 17.7 percent of his income in taxes, that doesn't count the indirect tax burden carried by the companies in which he hold stock (interestingly enough, the bottom 1/5 of wage earners actually pay less than the amount of their social security taxes due to the EIC and other refundable tax credits -- subtract the employer's portion of the payroll tax and you will see that they actually have a negative tax rate!).

As you can see, the wealthiest Americans actually pay very close to 1/3 of their income in taxes when one uses the CBO statistics. Here's the question to be asked of any candidate or officeholder who objects to "the Bush tax cuts for the rich" -- how much above 1/3 of their income do they believe "the rich" should pay?

Posted by: Greg at 08:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was shocked when I saw this quote in a column yesterday.

In fact, Tom Rodriguez, the executive manager of the Clark County School District's Diversity and Affirmative Action Programs, is quoted in today's newspaper saying no school system in the country tracks whether its students are in the country legally or not.

"You might find some people on the far right who would want to do that," he said, "but I can't think of any educators that would want to do that. Why would an educator not want to provide educational services?"

I find the comment by Tom Rodriguez to be laughable. I'm sure that if he were to ask the teachers of his district, he would find a large number of them certainly do want to track how many students are in this country illegally and turn them over for deportation. He'd find out that many of them are tired of seeing scarce educational resources diverted to special programs for the immigration criminals while the needs of American citizen children go unmet. He'd also find that many of them are believers in the concept of law and order, and therefore wish to see government agencies facilitating the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws rather than obstructing such enforcement.

Indeed, given that some 3/4 of Americans opposed the recent immigration bill with its amnesty provisions, I'd argue that Rodriguez is either a fool or a liar if he believes that those numbers do not generally reflect the attitude of educators. In other words, a great many educators in all parts of this country want real border enforcement and the removal of illegal immigrants from the United States.

But then again, what do I know -- I'm just a teacher.

Posted by: Greg at 02:44 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I guess that crime really does pay -- if you are an immigration criminal.

At least 10 undocumented students from Colorado will get to attend classes at the University of New Mexico this fall, with many not having to pay for tuition or books.

A new Colorado law prohibits state colleges from providing in- state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

In New Mexico, the state is barred from denying education benefits based on immigration status, said Terry Babbitt, director of admissions for the University of New Mexico.

While New Mexico's state financial aid is intended for residents, Poudre High School counselor Isabel Thacker in Colorado found a way for her students to receive in-state tuition, plus scholarships to cover it.

A full year of tuition at UNM, or 12 credit hours per semester, costs $4,570.80, said Alex Gonzalez, associate director of the scholarship office at UNM. An institutional scholarship available to undocumented students covers $5,000 of their tuition and book expenses.

Yeah, you read that right -- illegal immigrants getting a free ride to college. Though I do notice one little detail here -- thee is no provision made for housing. Are they going to work -- illegally, of course, like everything else they do in this country -- or are they going to somehow find another way of sucking more money from the taxpaying citizens? Or will there be some individual or organization (aside from the University of New Mexico, of course) aiding and abetting their continued violation of the laws of the United States?

And given that New Mexico law requires this outcome, why isn't the federal government cutting off all funds to post-secondary institutions in the state of New Mexico?

Posted by: Greg at 02:29 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs reports strong grassroots fundraising for the second quarter of 2007 as she seeks the opportunity to regain the seat she won in the 2006 special election, while Democrat Nick Lampson sucked up PAC dollars in his bid to retain the seat he won without a GOP opponent on the ballot following the resignation Tom Delay.

According to his release, Lampson raised more than $288,000 between April 1 and June 30 of this year, while FEC reports show Gibbs raised more than 138,000 for the same period.

ThatÂ’s less than 10% of what Lampson raised to wage his 2006 campaign against Tom DeLay, which then morphed into a race against Gibbs.

LampsonÂ’s second quarter report somewhat resembled the firstin that then well more than half his contributions came from PACs. So far this year money has come from those operated by the likes of National Weather Service Employees, Employees of Northrop Grumman Corp., Qwest Communications, Comcast, the Sheetmetal Workers Association, Chevron Employees, Verizon Communications, the International LongshoremanÂ’s Association, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association and on and on.

“Lampson, who recently had to spend six weeks recovering from major heart surgery, now has $441,049.87 cash on hand,” his campaign said in a prepared statement. “Despite having to spend half of the last quarter recovering from a quadruple bypass heart surgery, Congressman Lampson exceeded the campaign’s original goals.”

By contrast, Gibbs got just $5,000 from PACs in the second quarter. She and campaign manager Troy Berman were quick to point out the other day that the bulk came from “grass roots” contributions.

Some of that grass was a little greener than others, as numerous dermatologists and other medical doctors kicked in $250, $500 or $1,000 apiece to fellow dermatologist Gibbs. Lampson grassroots givers were more likely to be lawyers.

Gibbs showed “an impressive $137,000 raised and over $180,000 cash on hand at the close of the reporting period,” her campaign said in a press release. “Our fundraising is just starting and will continue to grow. With influential community leaders like Mr. Bob Perry, Don Jordan, John O’Neill and Senator Mike Richards helping our campaign I know we’ll have the resources we need to take back TX-22,” Gibbs said in the release.

Lampson's reliance on out-of-district special interest money is no surprise, given that CD22 is overwhelmingly Republican and the strange route by which he won the district in 2006. And given Sekula Gibbs' support by prominent republicans from the district, it seems clear that she ought to be the favorite for the nomination in 2008 -- and in the 2008 general election.

Posted by: Greg at 01:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I mean the generals who are actually on the ground in Iraq, not the retired talking heads in the employ of the MSM.

An American general directing a major part of the offensive aimed at securing Baghdad said Sunday that it would take until next spring for the operation to succeed, and that an early American withdrawal would clear the way for “the enemy to come back” to areas now being cleared of insurgents.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding 15,000 American and about 7,000 Iraqi troops on BaghdadÂ’s southern approaches, spoke more forcefully than any American commander to date in urging that the so-called troop surge ordered by President Bush continue into the spring of 2008. That would match the deadline of March 31 set by the Pentagon, which has said that limits on American troops available for deployment will force an end to the increase by then.

“It’s going to take us through the summer and fall to deny the enemy his sanctuaries” south of Baghdad, General Lynch said at a news briefing in the Iraqi capital. “And then it’s going to take us through the first of the year and into the spring” to consolidate the gains now being made by the American offensive and to move enough Iraqi forces into the cleared areas to ensure that they remain so, he said.

In other words, to begin the withdrawal this fall and complete it by April 1 is a recipe for disaster and defeat. To begin the withdrawal sooner than May or June of next year would be to guarantee defeat. So what is the priority of the Democrats -- victory for the US and Iraq, or for al-Qaeda?

Posted by: Greg at 12:26 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I'll be honest -- I never thought much about mortgage before I bought my house. Yeah, I knew they were secured loans with the money guaranteed by the house itself, but never about what went into getting one. I hear too often today about too many folks who are not good credit risks who get unsuitable loans, and are losing their shirts because of adjustable rates or outrageous payments.

Frankly, I'm glad I'm not looking for a house today or seeking to refinance because I am locked in at a very good rate that I've found I cannot beat. However, I keep hearing about folks getting bad credit remortgages for debt consolidation at less than ideal rates Too many irresponsible borrowers and profit-hungry lenders have created a situation in which the market has become unstable, resulting in a temporary softness in the housing market. The big issue will be whether or not the lenders close off the flood of high-risk mortgages before they send the market into a tail-spin with increasing foreclosures.

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