I've not commented on the vulgar headline in a Colorado State University newspaper. But this line from a NY Times article forces me to break my silence

On the campus of Colorado State University, opinion is divided over whether a terse editorial that ran in the student newspaper on Sept. 21 was an exercise of free speech or immature judgment.

My answer: it is both at once. Free speech is free speech, even if it is immature and ill-considered.

Should the staff involved be fired? I'm not sure -- though there is the issue of the paper's code of ethics is being considered by the Board of Student Communications.

The board plans at the hearing to consider whether the language violated the newspaper’s code of ethics, specifically the provision that “profane and vulgar words are not acceptable for opinion writing.”

I don't know that I would agree in every instance, but this was a gratuitous use of the profane word in question. And I think a better argument for firing the editors can be made -- they violated their fiduciary duty to the paper by their poor editorial choice, as evidenced by the immediate loss of over $30,000 in advertising revenue.

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The space race kicked into high gear 50 years ago with the launch of Sputnik.

When Sputnik took off 50 years ago, the world gazed at the heavens in awe and apprehension, watching what seemed like the unveiling of a sustained Soviet effort to conquer space and score a stunning Cold War triumph.

But 50 years later, it emerges that the momentous launch was far from being part of a well-planned strategy to demonstrate communist superiority over the West. Instead, the first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age.

And that winking light that crowds around the globe gathered to watch in the night sky? Not Sputnik at all, as it turns out, but just the second stage of its booster rocket, according to Boris Chertok, one of the founders of the Soviet space program.

It is interesting to realize just how seat-of-the-pants that first launch really was -- fifty years ago this Thursday.

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Back during my seminary days, I had an old priest comment to me that we can never allow the best to become the enemy of the better. What he meant was that one should never reject a less than ideal option because it falls short of the ideal, especially when the remaining option is a bad one.

I wish someone would communicate this principle to these folks.

Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him.

The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps the most influential of the group, as well as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and dozens of other politically-oriented conservative Christians, participants said. Almost everyone present expressed support for a written resolution that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third party candidate.”

The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the both the Council for National Policy and the smaller meeting were secret, but they said members of the intend to publicize its resolution. These participants said the group chose the qualified term “consider” because they have not yet identified an alternative third party candidate, but the group was largely united in its plans to bolt the party if Mr. Giuliani became the candidate.

So let's see if I've got this straight -- the socially moderate Rudy Giuliani is so unacceptable to these "Christian" "conservative" "leaders" that they are prepared to usher in an administration headed by Hillary Clinton, whose positions are more liberal than Giuliani's are.

They would prefer judges in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to originalist judges.

They would prefer someone more likely to support gay marriage.

They would prefer an enthusiastic supporter of abortion.

In other words, they would rather support a perfect candidate than the best possible candidate that can win.

That position is not leadership -- it is petulant.

That position is not conservative -- it is reckless.

And I assure you that it is neither Christian nor patriotic, for it not only fails to advance the sort of policies that are in conformity with Christian belief and the best interests of the United States, but it will inevitably result in a worse situation than holding one's nose and supporting a flawed candidate like Giuliani.

And I say that as a Christian and a conservative who does not believe that Rudy Giuliani is the best that the GOP has to offer America -- but who does believe that he is better than anything the Democrats have to offer. And as a result, I will not let the best be the enemy of the better, and will support Rudy Giuliani if he is the GOP nominee a year from now.

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The Texans go for their third win of the season -- after coming frighteningly close to beating the Indianapolis Colts in a game marked by massive injuries to the Texans offense. And Texans QB Matt Schaub has something to prove to the team where he would have been starting this season if they hadn't traded him in the off season.

Better quarterback. Better defense. Texans win.

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But then again, that might just be one more sign that the Surge is working, and they certainly couldn't let the American people start to believe that victory is possible.

US military losses in Iraq for September stood at 70 on Sunday, the lowest monthly figure since July last year, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

The figure also marks the fourth consecutive drop in the monthly death toll following a high of 121 in May. June saw 93 deaths, July 82 and August 79. The monthly toll in July 2006 was 53.

Two US soldiers were killed on Saturday in separate incidents, pushing the overall toll of American losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,801.

A US military "surge" strategy saw an extra 28,500 US troops being deployed from mid-February, mainly in Baghdad and the neighbouring province of Anbar, although commanders said most were not in combat positions until May.

US commanders say the strategy is starting to work and that levels of violence are dropping, allowing for a possible drawdown of the 160,000 or so troops currently deployed across war-torn Iraq.

So let's make this clear --more troops in Iraq, fewer deaths. the Surge is working -- even though the Democrats don't want you to know that.

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Will an unpopular Democrat at the head of the national ticket harm the party in many states? And could this help offset the difficulties facing the GOP elsewhere?

The New York senator and Democratic front-runner was by a wide margin the most unpopular of 13 potential presidential candidates in Montana, according to a June survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Billings Gazette; 61% said they would not consider voting for her, compared with 49% who would not vote for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 45% who would not vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The most unpopular Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, was rejected by 51%.

Recent polls in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona have found similar distaste for Clinton.

Got that -- the leading candidate for the Democrat nomination is overwhelmingly rejected by the majority in several states. Even her two closest competitors (if she can be said to have any) are rejected by nearly half of voters.

And while there is a single Republican rejected by a majority of voters, he is still so unfamiliar to most Americans that further exposure can only help him, while Hillary Clinton is so well-known that it is unlikely that she can overcome these negatives.

Now Hillary Clinton may be our next president -- if one can project that outcome from over a year away from th election -- but that could be a Pyrrhic victory for the Democrats. After all, if she has negative coattails for th lower part of the ticket, Democrats may fail to consolidate their hold on the Senate and House. Indeed, she could single-handedly destroy the advances made by the Democrats in some red states.

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The old joke is confirmed with the front page tag-line for this WaPo story today.

In support for Democrat's plan, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) joins bipartisan side of Iraq debate.

Get that -- a Republican voting like a Democrat is "bipartisan. Never mind that the Democrats are acting in partisan lockstep. On the other hand, no Democrat voting with the Republicans -- say Joe Lieberman -- would never be considered to be "bipartisan".

And I guess it also goes to show that the Left considers military victory to be a partisan position, while surrender is a bipartisan option.

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And that claim has all the legitimacy of the Gambino family calling the FBI and Department of Justice "organized crime families".

Iran's parliament voted Saturday to designate the CIA and the U.S. Army as "terrorist organizations," a largely symbolic response to a U.S. Senate resolution seeking a similar designation for Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The parliament said the Army and the CIA were terrorists because of the atomic bombing of Japan; the use of depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq; support of the killings of Palestinians by Israel; the bombing and killing Iraqi civilians and the torture of imprisoned terror suspects.

"The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the 290-member Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.

The resolution, which urges Ahmadinejad's government to treat the two as terrorist organizations, would become law if ratified by the country's hardline constitutional watchdog but probably would have little effect as the two nations have no diplomatic relations.

If, however, Mahmoud the Mad does give approval to this silly resolution, I hope that all Americans will see fit to wabge a "terrorist" war against the Iranian regime -- one conducted without roadside bombs, suicide vests, beheadings of hostages and planes flown into buildings.

Mahmoud the Mad needs to be taught that war is Hell -- and it is high time that he receives a one-way ticket there, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

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After all, he does have a point.

We canÂ’t afford to keep being this stupid!

He's right on that point -- and dead wrong on everything else.

We need to fight the Crusade Against Jihadi Terror much more intensively, not disengage. We need to quit pretending that jihadis are criminals who deserve a lawyer due process, and treat them like POWs who are imprisoned until the end of the conflict -- which may not come in my lifetime.

Friedman clearly wants to ignore the realities of the Crusade Against Jihadi Terror while raising taxes so that we can become another socialist "paradise" like the EU or Red China. I think I'll pass on that agenda.

But he's right -- we cannot continue to keep being this stupid. America must quit listening to nanny-state liberals and instead get serious about fighting terrorism, securing the border, and putting the socialist vision of the Left in the ash-heap of history where it belongs. In other words, we must do the exact opposite of what Thomas Friedman suggests.

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Of all the districts in the Houston area, there is one that really ought to be closed -- North Forest ISD. They have been through superintendent after superintendent in the last 20 years, having fired them over poor performance ratings for the schools, financial mismanagement, and the color of their skin (they canned a white superintendent because he "did not understand the community because he was white". The schools are a mess, the district is a mess, and there seems to be little hope of the place getting better. It really ought to be closed down, with a neighboring district taking over the area. But given the racial makeup of the district, it won't happen because it would be "racially insensitive" (I guess it is more racially sensitive to leave minority kids in failing schools run by minorities).

Well, now they are searching for another superintendent.

Leaders of the North Forest school district soon will pen their "help wanted" ad for a new superintendent, beginning a nationwide search that could prove difficult.

Given the problems facing the northeast Houston district, the job posting could read: Change agent needed to turn around an urban system with declining enrollment, shaky finances and numerous underperforming campuses.

The district's newly hired search consultant, Benjamin Canada of the Texas Association of School Boards, said the pursuit of a top-notch leader will be challenging, but achievable.

"It is a district that doesn't have the best reputation, but it has some outstanding students. It has some outstanding staff," said Canada, a former superintendent. ''But like all districts, it has a need for significant change."

The board has fired or forced out four of its past five permanent superintendents, the last being James Simpson in March.

You can see in the sidebar how rough things have been in the district -- and why any candidate for the job would be nuts to take it.

Add to that the fact that 5 of 11 schools are rated as "academically unacceptable" -- and that is an improvement from a year ago, when 8 of them received that ranking -- and you can see what awful shape the district is in. Indeed, it is probably the only district in the Houston area I would not apply in.

Still, I wish them well -- and can only hope that they find a good leader who can help turn the schools around. And that the racist, over-bearing school board members will allow the new leader to do the job for which he or she is hired without bringing in petty political and personal agendas like those that have brought the district to its current woeful state.

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More heroes of WWII have been found at the site of their final resting place, entombed forever in the remains of their submarine, USS Grunion.

When famed novelist and sailor Joseph Conrad wrote in 1900, "I have known the sea too long to believe in its respect for decency," perhaps he had some foresight into the mysterious disappearance of a U.S. Navy submarine 42 years later.

The foreboding comment by Conrad, author of sea novels such as "Lord Jim," "Typhoon" and "The Rescue," dramatically applies to the fate of the crew of the submarine USS Grunion and the anguish of the families of the missing whose ship vanished in 1942 while steaming off the coast of Alaska.

The 311-foot, diesel powered Grunion and its 70-member crew had not been heard from for 65 years since they went missing while on patrol off the island of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

In early July of 1942, the Grunion had sunk two Japanese sub chasers and damaged a third near Kiska, one of two islands in the Aleutians that had been captured by the Japanese during the early months of World War II.

But the Grunion, named for a small fish and commissioned just three months earlier, had not been located since its last message of July 30, 1942, when it reported by radio the receipt of a Navy message ordering it back to the U.S. Navy base at Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

One month ago, the remains of the USS Grunion were found in 1,000 feet of water off Kiska Island following a lengthy and intensive search led by the son of the Grunion's skipper and with the cooperation of the Alaskan Civil Air Patrol and World War II Japanese navy veterans who had served in the Aleutians in 1942.

Utilizing Japanese navy records discovered in Tokyo last summer, John Abele, the son of Grunion skipper Lt. Cmdr. Mannert Abele, discovered the mangled remains of the sub utilizing an underwater, remotely operated vehicle equipped with video cameras.

May God Almighty grant them eternal rest, and comfort to their families.

The Crew of USS Grunion (SS-216)
Abele, M. L. LCDR
Alexander, F. E. SM3
Allen, D. E. SM3
Arvan, H. J. Matt2
Banes, P. E. CMOMM
Bedard, L. J. I. CMOMM
Blinston, W. H. RM3
Bonadies, N. R. F2
Boo, R. F. RM3
Bouvia, C. L. MM1
Caldwell, G. E. CEM
Carroll, R. H. S2
Clift, J. S. TM2
Collins, M. F. F2
Cooksey, L. D. MOMM1
Cullinane, D. MM1
Cuthbertson, W. H., Jr. ENS
Deaton, L. D. S2
DeStoop, A. E. CTM
Devaney, W. P., Jr. S2
Dighton, S. R., Jr. LTJG
Doell, L. H., Jr. RM2
Franck, L. H. S1
Graham, M. D. CTM
Hall, K. E. S2
Hellensmith, E. G. EM3
Henderson, H. B. MOMM2
Hutchinson, C. R. TM3
Kennedy, S. J., Jr. MOMM2
Knowles, E. E., Jr. S2
Kockler, L. R. TM1
Kornahrens, W. G. LT
Ledford, M. J. CY
Lehman, W. W. EM1
Loe, S. A. MOMM2
Lunsford, S., Jr. EM2
Lyon, J. W. F1
Martin, C. R. CMOMM
Martin, T. E. EM1
Mathison, R. EM1
McCutcheon, R. G. TM3
McMahon, J. M. LT
Miller, E. C. F2
Myers, D. O. F1
Nave, F. T. MOMM2
Newcomb, A. G. RM1
Nobles, J. W. MOMM1
Pancoast, J. E. MOMM2
Parziale, C. A. TM3
Paul, C., Jr. MATT2
Pickel, B. J. S1
Post, A. C. S2
Randall, W. H. RM2
Ryan, L., Jr. S2
Sanders, H. A. MOMM1
Schumann, E. T. CQM
Sullivan, P. P. PHM1
Surofchek, S. SC1
Swartwood, D. N. S2
Templeton, S. A. GM1
Thomas, M. W. LT
Traviss, B. A. S2
Ullmann, A. S1
VanWoggelum, M. F. F3
Walter, M. H. F3
Webster, R. E. EM2
Welch, D. F. FC2
Wells, J. H. TM2
Wilson, J. E., Jr. SC3
Youngman, R. J. F2

Bless those who serve beneath the deep,
Through lonely hours their vigil keep.
May peace their mission ever be,
Protect each one we ask of Thee.
Bless those at home who wait and pray,
For their return by night and day.
— Reverend Gale R. Williamson

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Posted by: Greg at 01:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Hat/tip: JammieWearingFool.

PS. My haloscan won't accept the trackback, so I thought I'd at least try some way.

Posted by: Rosemary's Thoughts at Sat Sep 29 15:41:45 2007 (2k5qj)

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I wonder -- is this a true voice of sanity that presages change? Or is it simply one lone voice of sense that will be drowned out by in a sea of anti-Semitic Israel-bashing?

The United Nations Human Rights Council has not managed to deal fairly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the council's president Doru-Romulus Costea told a Spanish newspaper on Saturday, according to Israel Radio.

Doru admitted that he was dissatisfied with the fact the council had overly focused on the degree of human rights violations by Israel.

"The body which I head must examine the actions of both sides equally, and we have not done that," said Costea. "Clearly, from now on things need to change."

Israel Radio reported that earlier this week, US President George Bush criticized the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it had put too great an emphasis on Israeli actions.

I suspect that the above comment is the lone voice -- after all, let's look at what the body in question has done this week.

When President Bush told the United Nations General Assembly this week “the American people are disappointed by the failures of the Human Rights Council,” his words could not have been more timely or deserved. He pointed out “This body has been silent on repression by regimes from Havana to Caracas to Pyongyang and Tehran — while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel.” On Friday, the Council piled the dung heap higher. It wrapped up another session in Geneva by adopting two more resolutions against Israel and no resolutions critical of the human-rights record of any of the other 191 U.N. member states.

This brings the total of anti-Israel resolutions and decisions adopted by the “Human Rights” Council — in only the first 15 months of its operation — to 14. Another four very weak decisions and resolutions have been applied to Sudan. And the Council finally decided to hold a special session of the Council on Myanmar. So adding up the highly selective concerns of the U.N.’s lead human-rights agency: 74 percent of the Council’s moves against individual states have been directed at Israel, 21 percent at Sudan, 5 percent at Myanmar, and the rest of the world has been given a free pass.

But then again, it is easier to criticize liberal democracies that value human rights and human life than it is to oppose terrorists and oppressive regimes -- after all, the latter don't give a damn about anything except holding on to their power

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The incredible Mark Steyn points out why the Left's tendency to engage in only easy, safe protests against easy, safe targets (the US, Israel) where human rights are respected is unworkable when they are confronted with true evil that doesn't give a damn about their eloquent (or not so eloquent) protests .

The pen is not mightier than the sword if your enemy is confident you will never use anything other than your pen. Sometimes it's not about "freedom of speech," but about freedom. Ask an Iranian homosexual. If you can find one.

In the end, unsavory dictators like Mahmoud the Mad don't care about the insults of Lee Bollinger or the cries of has-been hippies in the streets. They know that the latte-sipping class won't actually get their hands dirty to stop the evils they protest -- and that such folks quickly become the unwitting allies of evil when they turn upon their own countries for daring to act on behalf of freedom and human rights.

After all, why fight the real oppressors of the world when you can do this instead, risk-free?

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I'm pleased to hear that Newt Gingrich has ended any flirtation with a presidential bid this year.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) decided Saturday morning not to run for president just as his staff was preparing to launch a website to seek $30 million in pledges, his spokesman told Politico.

Gingrich had planned to seek pledges as part of a three-week exploration without making any formal declaration of candidacy for the Republican nomination — an approach that several Republican leaders said was legally questionable.

The decision will bolster the contention of several key Republicans that Gingrich's repeated flirtation with a presidential run was a publicity stunt designed to keep him in the news and sell his books.

I won't go so far as to say Gingrich was looking to sell books -- instead, I'll argue that it has all been about stroking the former Speaker's ego. But regardless of the reason for his proposed candidacy, I stand by what I said earlier today -- Let's say it loud and clear -- Newt has all of Rudy's liabilities and none of his personal popularity with the American people. Indeed, his abrasiveness even turns off a lot of Republicans. So while he is clearly one of the leading minds of the conservative movement, Newt Gingrich is clearly not someone who should be in the race for the nomination this year.

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And this is not about religion, or discouraging abortion, or limiting "choice" (to kill other members of the human race because they are inconvenient). No, it is about public health and safety.

Consider this story.

The Alternatives abortion clinic in Atlantic City, New Jersey, opted to surrender its license to the state instead of correcting the list of health violations detailed in a 116-page report.

Atlantic City Councilman John Schultz, who leased the facility to Alternatives, said the clinic's equipment was emptied out of the building last month and the space is available for lease.

The state's report detailed a slew of violations at the clinic, including bloodstained operating tables, expired drugs and the absence of a sterilization sink.

The facility had not been inspected in six years, even though state law requires annual inspection. I guess they didn't want to come into conflict with the abortion industry or the feminists who support them.

Mark Noonan makes these interesting points on one of his sites.

If you go over to the Centers for Disease Control, you'll find that the CDC (at least in 2002) was saying that there is 0.6 deaths per 100,000 abortions - but the problem with this stat is that everything about abortion at CDC is reliant upon voluntary reporting. An abortion mill with 1.2 deaths per 100,000 has no obligation to report and, indeed, would have a vested interest in keeping the death rate quiet. With little or no regulation of abortion at the State and local level, we really have no idea how many women are killed and injured in the course of their abortion procedure.

What we need is to bring the abortion industry under the same regulations which are applied to all medical operations. We need records to be kept; we need suspected cases of abuse to be reported (among the many dirty secrets of the abortion industry is the way they have become the means of choice for older men to hide their statutory rapes of young women); we need to ensure the facilities are up to surgical standards and that the staffs are fully trained not just in baby-butchering, but in emergency medical care in case they botch the abortion. And we should also have a comprehensive study done of abortion in the United States - to find out how many are really happening, and what emotion and physical effects abortion has on the women who have them.

Naturally, any such attempts will be desperately fought against by the pro-abortion fanatics - showing, in the end, that their real desire is that the killing continue. This, I believe, is a result of their guilty consciences - they know what they do and advocate is wrong, but as long as they can prevent any change in the status quo, they believe they can block out the fact that they are committing horrible crimes on a daily basis. Pro-abortion people - and the people fooled into being "pro-choice" - are people more to be pitied than despised; it must be a sad way to view life - but we who are pro-life have a duty to do whatever we can to lessen the ill effects of abortion.

As long as Roe v. Wade stands as precedent, we will be unable to stop the slaughter of the unborn in this country. That is a sad reality. However, treating abortion centers like other medical facilities would be a good start in protecting the woman who make the (wrong) choice to kill their babies from the unscrupulous and incompetent medical "professionals" who operate places like the one in the article above.

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And hopefully he will lose the defamation case against him.

A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a defamation case against Rep. John P. Murtha and ordered the Pennsylvania Democrat to give a sworn deposition about his comments alleging "cold-blooded murder and war crimes" by unnamed soldiers in connection with Iraqi civilian deaths.

A Marine Corps sergeant is suing the 18-term congressman for making the charge, which the soldier claims is false. Murtha, who opposes the Iraq war, made the comment during a May, 2006 Capitol Hill news conference in which he predicted that a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.

Murtha's office declined to comment on the ruling. A Vietnam veteran and retired Marine Reserves colonel, Murtha has said his intention was to draw attention to the pressure put on troops in Iraq and efforts to cover-up the incident.

The Justice Department wanted the case dismissed because Murtha was acting in his official role as a lawmaker. Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Henault said the comments were made as part of the debate over the war in Iraq.

I've got a real problem with the argument Henault made on Murtha's behalf. There is a provision of the constitution providing some limited immunity to members of Congress, but I think it is important to note what it says.

Article I, Section 6: The Senators and Representatives. . . shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

Murtha's comments were not made in the course of speech or debate -- they were made in a press conference, off the House floor and therefore so not meet the standard for such immunity under any legitimate reading of the text. If the argument advanced upon Murtha's behalf were to be accepted, any statement on any political issue made anywhere in the US (or the world) would be magically converted into "speech or debate in either House" -- thereby turning this limited immunity into a license to go forth and commit defamation against any private citizen or political opponent under the rubric of "debate" on a political issue. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has already spoken on this issue -- in Hutchison v. Proxmire, it ruled that the Speech of Debate Clause is limited in its scope.

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The last thing that the GOP needs in the race for the 2008 nomination is another candidate -- and especially not one who is as polarizing as Newt Gingrich.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will open a website by Monday in an effort to round up the $30 million in pledges that he says would be his ticket to entering the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

A longtime adviser, J. Randolph Evans of McKenna Long & Aldridge, will hold a press briefing at 3:30 p.m. Monday in Atlanta to describe plans for what Gingrich aides are calling a “feasibility assessment.”

Aides say Gingrich will announce his intentions by Oct. 21, ahead of a Michigan filing deadline.

During a recent breakfast with a Politico reporter and other journalists, Gingrich made it clear he has given a great deal of thought to how he would run, starting with a national television ad that would be heavy on his policy ideas.

That might be followed with DVDs of his agenda to households in early-voting states.

Gingrich vowed that he would not participate in group debates like those that now sprinkle the campaign calendar.

“I’m not a penguin,” he said, referring to the field of candidates at the debates as “a row of penguins.” Instead, he said, he wants to hold one-on-one, 90-minute “dialogues” on such topics as fixing specific inner cities.

“If I did run, I wouldn’t do any dog and pony shows,” he said. “I’d debate anybody who wanted to for 90 minutes — one-on-one, for 90 minutes, in either party.”

Let's ay it loud and clear -- Newt has all of Rudy's liabilities and none of his personal popularity with the American people. Indeed, his abrasiveness even turns off a lot of Republicans. So while he is clearly one of the leading minds of the conservative movement, Newt Gingrich is clearly not someone who should be in the race for the nomination this year.

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Dead terrorists are always a happy note on which to start the day.

A U.S. airstrike killed one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders in Iraq, a Tunisian linked to the kidnapping and killings last summer of American soldiers, a top commander said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson said the death of the suspected terrorist in a U.S. airstrike Tuesday south of Baghdad, and recent similar operations against al-Qaida, have left the organization in Iraq fractured.

Abu Osama al-Tunisi was killed along with two other terrorist suspects in a U.S. F-16 strike that dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a safehouse where they were meeting, said the U.S. Central Command Air Forces.

"Al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders ... the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq and part of the inner leadership circle," Anderson told a Pentagon news conference.

Al-Tunisi was a leader in helping bring foreign terrorists into the country, said Anderson, chief of staff to the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno.

Speaking by videoconference from Baghdad, Anderson said that al-Tunisi operated in Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad, November '04 and became the overall emir of Youssifiyah in the summer of '06.

His group was responsible for kidnapping American soldiers in June 2006, Anderson said.

And by now he knows that there were no virgins waiting for him -- and that the sands of Iraq are much cooler than his new eternal dwelling place.

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When it comes to the question of granting commutations and reprieves in death penalty cases, the governor of Texas has very limited authority. On his own authority, he can only stop an execution once, and for a maximum of 30 days. Anything else requires an affirmative recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Parole to be legal. This is both statutory and constitutional law in the state of Texas.

But at least one Texas legislator doesn't think that a little obstacle like a constitution should be grounds for Gov. Goodhair to allow executions to go forward while the US Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of lethal injection in a Kentucky case.

[Gov. Rick] Perry believes the fate of death row inmates lies with the courts, said spokeswoman Krista Moody.

"The governor does not have the authority to issue a moratorium nor does he believe there's a reason for one," she said.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, said Perry should issue a moratorium because the Supreme Court likely will grant a stay in every Texas execution until the Kentucky case is decided.

Whitmire noted that Perry, until overturned by the Legislature, attempted to use his executive order power to require teenage girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease.

"If he can tell a state agency to vaccinate people, I think he can tell a state agency not to execute people," Whitmire said.

Perry, of course, was legally wrong to issue his Gardasil order last spring, and and was slapped down by the Legislature as a result. That action was clearly seen as an overstepping of his authority. Doing so in this case would be an even more blatant case of exceeding his authority -- and would be grounds for impeachment. It is up to the courts to act -- and for the Texas justice system to continue to move forward if they do not.

Rick Perry is correct in not acting in this case. If a moratorium is truly necessary, he ought to call the legislature back into session to consider one -- and perhaps also legislation restoring either hanging or the firing squad as the form of execution in Texas, rendering moot the need for a moratorium at all.

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Given the level of obesity in this country, it is fair to say that a great many of us could use a little bit of professional advice on how to improve our diets. But it isn't just weight that is a problem -- cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure are all issues that can be regulated, in part, through thoughtful changes in diet. But where can we get the knowledge and assistance we need?

http://Nutrition.BitWine.com is an online service where you can get the advice of a real professional in the field of nutrition. Through actual online conversation with a nutritionist or dietitian, you can get all the information you need to become a healthier you. Check them out today!

Posted by: Greg at 10:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Over at Gates of Vienna, the Baron posted this interesting notice for college bloggers.

A representative of the Daniel Kovach Scholarship Foundation emailed us today, and asked us to spread the word that the Foundation is giving away $10,000 to a blogger this year. If youÂ’re a college student, a U.S. Resident, and you keep a blog, youÂ’re eligible.

Full scholarship details are available at the College Scholarships website.

This Second Annual Blogging Scholarship prize will be awarded at the Blog World and New Media Expo, to be held in Las Vegas on November 8th and 9th.

Important Dates:
Submission Deadline: Midnight PST on Oct. 6th
10 Finalists Announced and Public Voting Begins: 9am EST on Oct. 8th
Public Voting Ends and Winner Declared: Midnight PST on Oct. 28th

Contact Information:
Daniel Kovach
(919) 630-4895
daniel@collegescholarships.org

If only I were 25 years younger!

Posted by: Greg at 09:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When it comes to the question of granting commutations and reprieves in death penalty cases, the governor of Texas has very limited authority. On his own authority, he can only stop an execution once, and for a maximum of 30 days. Anything else requires an affirmative recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Parole to be legal. This is both statutory and constitutional law in the state of Texas.

But at least one Texas legislator doesn't think that a little obstacle like a constitution should be grounds for Gov. Goodhair to allow executions to go forward while the US Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of lethal injection in a Kentucky case.

[Gov. Rick] Perry believes the fate of death row inmates lies with the courts, said spokeswoman Krista Moody.

"The governor does not have the authority to issue a moratorium nor does he believe there's a reason for one," she said.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, said Perry should issue a moratorium because the Supreme Court likely will grant a stay in every Texas execution until the Kentucky case is decided.

Whitmire noted that Perry, until overturned by the Legislature, attempted to use his executive order power to require teenage girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease.

"If he can tell a state agency to vaccinate people, I think he can tell a state agency not to execute people," Whitmire said.

Perry, of course, was legally wrong to issue his Gardasil order last spring, and and was slapped down by the Legislature as a result. That action was clearly seen as an overstepping of his authority. Doing so in this case would be an even more blatant case of exceeding his authority -- and would be grounds for impeachment. It is up to the courts to act -- and for the Texas justice system to continue to move forward if they do not.

Rick Perry is correct in not acting in this case. If a moratorium is truly necessary, he ought to call the legislature back into session to consider one -- and perhaps also legislation restoring either hanging or the firing squad as the form of execution in Texas, rendering moot the need for a moratorium at all.

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I love Christmas time. So many traditions abound, including the decoration of the house and the tree. But let's be honest -- there can be a lot of money expended just to keep those Christmas lights burning through the holiday season -- and you can easily spend more on that than you do on air conditioning during a Texas summer.

But I recently found a neat product that I think has some real potential to make that holiday more environmentally friendly and energy efficient -- LED holiday lights. These special lights burn bright but do so in a sensible way – reducing the amount of energy used by about 80-90%, since they only burn about 4 watts of electricity for every string of lights. These lights have a long life, too – some 50,000 hours, which makes them last longer than any standard bulb I’ve ever encountered. Even more interesting is the fact that these LED Xmas lights burn at only a single degree over room temperature, minimizing the danger of fire in even the driest of real Christmas trees.

I’m also fascinated by the many different stiles of LED Christmas lights that are offered. You can get a round raspberry shape, a traditional strawberry shape, or a standard mini light. They even have a special design – pure white snowflake light! I suspect my darling wife would want some of those to go on the tree, given the lack of snow here in Houston.

Now I will acknowledge one thing – these lights will cost you more than regular Christmas lights. But given their beauty, their durability, and their energy efficiency, you can probably pay off the difference in as little as one holiday season, so they are most certainly worth it.

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Dead terrorists are always a happy note on which to start the day.

A U.S. airstrike killed one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders in Iraq, a Tunisian linked to the kidnapping and killings last summer of American soldiers, a top commander said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson said the death of the suspected terrorist in a U.S. airstrike Tuesday south of Baghdad, and recent similar operations against al-Qaida, have left the organization in Iraq fractured.

Abu Osama al-Tunisi was killed along with two other terrorist suspects in a U.S. F-16 strike that dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a safehouse where they were meeting, said the U.S. Central Command Air Forces.

"Al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders ... the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq and part of the inner leadership circle," Anderson told a Pentagon news conference.

Al-Tunisi was a leader in helping bring foreign terrorists into the country, said Anderson, chief of staff to the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno.

Speaking by videoconference from Baghdad, Anderson said that al-Tunisi operated in Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad, November '04 and became the overall emir of Youssifiyah in the summer of '06.

His group was responsible for kidnapping American soldiers in June 2006, Anderson said.

As so many enemies of America have found since the birth of our country, the United States military will keep after you until they find you. Your two options are surrender or death -- and in the case of the jihadis, I personally like the second option.

And by now he knows that there were no virgins waiting for him -- and that the sands of Iraq are much cooler than his new eternal dwelling place.

Posted by: Greg at 08:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Cosmic Ironies by Bookworm Room, and Rafael Medoff: Columbia "Invites Hitler to Campus" -- As it Did in 1933 by History News Network.  Here are the full results of the vote:

Posted by: Greg at 07:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you've noticed, this is not a big gossip blog. However, I do from time to time get into the celebrity gossip mode when it is significantly newsworthy. For example, in recent months we have seen both Brittney and Paris show up here as objects of my ridicule. For that matter, one might even consider some of my political blogging to be gossip. And I do keep myself semi-anonymous so that I can comment freely on such issues. One thing I don't do is gossip about work here, because that would probably mean engaging in some very unprofessional behavior, literally "talking out of school" about my students and colleagues. That is a boundary I will not cross.

Speaking of my students, a number of them have been really excited by Gossip Girl on The CW. Since they are all into MySpace and FaceBook, they are fascinated with the notion that one anonymous individual could spread all the latest dirt online in complete anonymity. They say they’d like to out the Gossip Girl – and at least one indicates that she might come to an unpleasant end for “bein’ all up in everybody’s bidness.” Makes me wonder how long a real-life Gossip Girl would make it at my school.

Will the Gossip Girl be outed? Will it make a difference? That is something that we will have to see in future episodes!

Posted by: Greg at 06:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You would think she would comment -- after all, the event is taking place in her district.

Instead, she chose to avoid answering the question.

CNSNews.com:"I'd like to get local for a second and talk about what's going on in San Francisco. Your spokesman told the Bay Area Reporter that the Folsom Street Fair advertisement mocking the last supper would not harm Christianity. I'm wondering if you find the advertisement personally offensive."

"And as a follow up, the city's Grants for the Arts program, funded by the city's hotel tax, subsidizes the fair. Do you think that it's fair to tax everyone who visits San Francisco and stays in a hotel to support the fair?"

Pelosi: "Well that's not really a local question. That's a constitutional question. That's a religious question. That's as big a global question as you can ask. I'm a big believer in First Amendment and therefore, as I said in my statement, I do not believe that Christianity has been harmed by the Folsom Street Fair advertising."

Notice what she avoids answering.

1) Are you offended by the poster?

2) Should tax dollars subsidize the event and the poster?

I guess Pelosi realizes that the gay bondage crowd is more likely to vote for her than Christians are -- but that she and her party need to court Christians and capture some of their votes to win in 2008.

But the obvious answers are:

1) No, I'm not offended by the mocking of Christianity and a sacred event in the life of Christ. Gay sado-masochism is a beautiful thing between two leather clad consenting adults.

2) Yes, taxpayers, especially Christian taxpayers, should have to subsidize everything that offends them and insults them, because they vote for Republicans. On the other hand, gay sado-masochists are a key part of the Democrat coalition of the victimized, and so they are entitled to everything they can get from the government.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for highlighting the Democrat family values.

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But even as the percentage of the federal spending sits at about half of what it was 50 years ago, some want to cut it even further.

For Ben Cohen, the politically active half of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, life's not all about ice cream anymore. Since he and Jerry Greenfield sold their Burlington, Vt., company in 2000 to Unilever, the politically conscious cofounder Cohen has turned his attention entirely to making Americans more aware of what percentage of their tax dollars goes toward funding the Pentagon's budget. His latest efforts include hitting up the early primary states and finding Democratic caucus attendees who will pledge to only vote for a candidate who promises to slice the defense budget and put that money toward social needs programs.

* * *

From what I understand, you're trying to persuade the presidential candidates to commit part of the federal budget away from the Pentagon. How are you doing this?

About two years ago we started a grassroots campaign working with "Iowans for Sensible Priorities" and "Priorities New Hampshire" to educate people as to how the federal budget is currently sliced up. We knew from surveys that once people found out about it, people were incredulous and wanted to shift twice as much money as we're talking about.

What percent are you trying to get sliced away from the Pentagon?

It's about 13 percent. That's $60 billion and it's amazing what you can do with $60 billion. It's enough money to rebuild all our schools, provide healthcare for every kid who doesn't have it, provide food self-sufficiency for all 6 million starving kids a year in the world, and reduce our need for oil, increasing energy independence—a lot of stuff.

Cohen, of course, fudges the numbers in this project. What he shows is the proportions of government DISCRETIONARY spending. He ignores those expenditures that are not discretionary, which is about half the budget. Many of those expenditures that deal with the very social issues he wants to address – expenditures on programs that grow every year and have generally been ineffective.

But then why would we expect a super-rich socialist like Cohen to be honest? It simply is not in the nature of the Left to do so.

And I'm curious -- any American with common sense knows the War on Poverty was lost a generation ago. How many more lives and how much more treasure must be wasted on it before liberals will admit that their war policies have been a failure and devise a plan for surrender retreat redeployment of our nation's social workers and anti-poverty activists?

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Posted by: Greg at 01:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A young author gives an interview to promote her new book.

The reporter asks her a totally unrelated question on US foreign and military policy regarding Iraq.

Is it relevant? Is it appropriate? Should she answer?

My answer to all of the above is NO!

Even if her father is President of the United States.

Jenna Bush agreed to an interview with Diane Sawyer to promote her new book, "Ana's Story." The nonfiction book is based on the life of a 17-year-old Latin American mother infected with HIV. She met the mother while working for UNICEF, teaching in four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The AP, of course, chooses to criticize her, claiming she “ducked the question”. But it was a question that should not have been asked in the first place.

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Next time the Left claims that they are being oppressed in this country for speaking out against the government, point to the situation in Burma (I don't recognize the name change made by the oppressive military junta).

Brutality and defiance marked the second day of an armed crackdown in Myanmar today as the military junta tried to crush a wave of nationwide protests in the face of harsh international condemnation.

The violence began before dawn with raids on Buddhist monasteries and continued through the day with tear gas, beatings and volleys of gunfire in the streets of the countryÂ’s main city, Yangon, according to witnesses and news agency reports from inside the closed nation.

Witnesses said soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of protesters. State television in Myanmar reported that nine people had been killed and that 11 demonstrators and 31 soldiers were injured. The numbers could not be independently verified, and exile groups said they could be much higher.

International action is being taken.

After news of Thursday's violence reached Washington, the White House renewed its demand that the Burmese junta end the crackdown.

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," President Bush said in a written statement. He added: "Every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime like the one that has ruled Burma for too long."

The U.S. Treasury Department designated 14 senior Burmese figures under new sanctions announced by Bush earlier in the week, including Than Shwe; the army commander, Vice Senior Gen. Maung Aye; and the acting prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein. Any assets they have in U.S. jurisdictions will be frozen, and Americans are now banned from doing business with them. U.S. officials hope to leverage that to influence foreign banks and institutions to follow suit.

The European Union also vowed to seek tighter sanctions. The United Nations, meanwhile, has said it will send an envoy to Burma, a move that the Burmese foreign minister said Thursday would be welcomed.

India and Red China, however, are blocking a serious response by the UN Security Council. Contact their embassies to demand that they support concerted international action to end the violence against peaceful protesters seeking regime change.

Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Embassy of India
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008

Michelle Malkin reports that the junta has cut off internet access to Burma.

Posted by: Greg at 10:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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How is it that someone with such a record was ever appointed to a government office in the first place?

Oh, that's right -- the governor who appointed him is a Democrat, and they have been siding with the enemy for some time.

But at least the supporter of jihadi terror is no longer holding an official position in government.

A controversial leader of a U.S. Muslim group resigned from a Virginia state board hours after Gov. Tim Kaine learned during a radio call-in show about incendiary comments the appointee made about Israel, Islam and U.S. foreign policy.

Dr. Esam Omeish, who is a top surgeon at a Washington, D.C., area hospital, also is seen in videos found on YouTube.com that show him advocating "the jihad way," decrying the Israeli invasion last year of Lebanon, and calling for President Bush's impeachment.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Kaine said he had accepted Omeish's resignation from the state Commission on Immigration, which only met for the first time on Tuesday.

"Dr. Omeish is a respected physician and community leader, yet I have been made aware of certain statements he has made which concern me," Kaine said. "Dr. Omeish indicated that he did not want this controversy to distract from the important work of the Commission."

In a separate, undated video, Omeish tells a crowd of Washington-area Muslims, "... you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land." The video was credited to Investigative Project, a Washington-based organization that investigates radical Islamic organizations.

Again and again we find "mainstream" Muslim leaders in this country engaging in the rhetoric of jihad. I applaud those who are engaged in an informational crusade to expose this ugly underbelly of the so-called "Religion of Peace."

Posted by: Greg at 10:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Have you got a business to promote? Do you want to have some Promotional Gifts to pass on to customers and potential customers, to keep your name out in front of them? Well, you need GetYourPromotionalProducts.com! They have a wide variety of products for you, like pens, balloons, shirts, and more. Take a look at their selection to see.

Posted by: Greg at 10:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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About 2 1/2 years ago, Nancy Pelosi and John Dingell sent a letter to the President that read as follows.

April 20, 2005

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As you know, gasoline prices have risen by an average 38 cents a gallon in the past two months. In fact, 70 percent of the American people have already said that the price at the pump is having an impact on their lives. We understand that the White House is feeling pressure from the American people to act, but misleading the public about the Republican's energy bill is not the answer.

In your weekly radio address last Saturday, you called on Congress to pass the energy bill and implied that the bill would lower costs to consumers. But your Administration's own Department of Energy studied last year's conference report on which this bill is based, and concluded that the Republican proposal would actually raise gas prices by 3 cents per gallon.

The American people deserve an energy policy that would boost the economy, preserve the environment, protect public health, and truly lower gasoline prices. This bill fails on all fronts. The Republican energy bill was written by energy lobbyists for the benefit of the energy industry, while hurting the environment, consumers, and taxpayers.

We encourage you to use your speech to the U.S.-Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to lay out an agenda that seeks to lower gasoline prices, not simply exploit them.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
John D. Dingel
Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce

And two years ago, Dingell spoke on the issue again in the Democrat radio address.

We must respond to the needs of the American consumers who are seeing the prospect of $4 a gallon gas and $1,000 monthly heating bills. I promise that Democrats will keep fighting for constructive solutions to AmericaÂ’s energy needs.

Well, around here gas prices are hovering around $2.50 a gallon -- and they are higher most other places in the country.

What is John Dingell's solution? A 50-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline.

Dealing with global warming will be painful, says one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. To back up his claim he is proposing a recipe many people won't like — a 50-cent gasoline tax, a carbon tax and scaling back tax breaks for some home owners.

"I'm trying to have everybody understand that this is going to cost and that it's going to have a measure of pain that you're not going to like," Rep. John Dingell, who is marking his 52nd year in Congress, said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

John Dingell has repeatedly spoken out against "price-gouging" by oil companies causing high gas prices, only to have every single investigation of those prices show that they were a legitimate response to market forces. So now what does he do? He proposes that the federal government perpetrate a little price-gouging itself to pay for programs to deal with the junk-science "problem" of man-made global warming. I guess that Mr. Dingell thinks that the government, which already makes more profit off a gallon of gas than the oil companies, just needs that extra 50-cents a gallon more than the American consumer does.

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Posted by: Greg at 10:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Are you looking for a beautiful place to vacation, filled with the sort of scenery that makes your heart cry out? Are you looking for an urban vacation spot, where you can experience fine dining and cultural events? How would you like to find both in one place? You can, in the wonderful city of Raleigh, North Carolina.

After all, where else can you go to see a popular Broadway show like Mamma Mia!and dine out at an Italian restaurant like The Point at Glenwood after a day exploring lovely greenways around town? And let's not forget the glorious golf possibilities around Raleigh. There is so much that you can do in Raleigh!

Want to know more? Visit the city's official tourism site to learn more about the activities that are available to you in Raleigh, and to check out the deals and steals on vacation packages or a Fall Getaway. And speaking of vacation packages, don't forget to sign up to win a FREE Raleigh Getaway. That package includes:
-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley;
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro;
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners;
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre;
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism;
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

What a great package!

Time is wasting, folks. Book your trip to Raleigh today!

Posted by: Greg at 09:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It was a first that went unnoted at the time -- but which began a practice that is quite common today.

The play was 48 Toss, and 30 years later, Dick Vermeil remembers it as if he called it last Sunday. Herb Lusk took a pitch from Ron Jaworski, headed around left end and breezed unscathed 70 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown. Four steps over the goal line at Giants Stadium, the Philadelphia Eagles' running back rewrote the playbook. Alone in the end zone, with a crowd of 48,824 looking on, he celebrated with a gesture in what has since become a watershed moment in American sports.

With little ceremony and no advance warning, Lusk kept his eyes straight, dropped to his left knee and bowed his head in prayer. A few seconds later, he stood back up and returned to the sideline, his legacy sealed.

"Herb Lusk was the first NFL player to kneel in the end zone and pray," said Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, which has footage of more than 9,000 games played since 1894.

No one doubts the sincerity of Lusk's action -- his faith was well-known to others in the NFL. The prayer was not particularly noted at the time. But it opened the floodgates to such religious moments -- something about which I have mixed emotions.

I'm glad to see folks be open about hteir faith.

I'm less pleased about the fact that some of those who engage in such public prayer appear to "talk the talk" during the game but don't particularly "walk the walk" off the field.

Posted by: Greg at 09:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hard Drive Recovery is something that you never want to need as a computer user. It means that you have had a catastrophic computer failure that endangers all of your data. If you need Hard Drive Recovery, it can mean that you cannot even use your computer pending serious intervention, and that you are unable to even access the critical information stored there.

Frankly, I wish I had knows about DTIData last year when my old computer's hard drive went down. The hard drive had gone bad, and the computer would not even update. I tried to fix it myself, and even tried to get a friend with greater expertise than I to fix the problem. It was impossible with our resources. As a result, I lost several years of course materials for my classes, my resume, research notes for a possible book (growing out of my Masters thesis work) and the graphics my wife uses for her craft projects.

But if DTIData could have done Hard Drive Recovery for me, they would have likely gotten back all the data for me. All I would have needed to do was give them a call or submit an online request for an estimate, and then ship them the hard drive for them to work their magic on.

My hard drive would have been taken into their class 100 clean room for their technicians to go to work on it. There would have been no diagnostic fee – we already know the drive is dead. Instead, they would begin work on the data recovery, with every step of the process logged for me to know exactly what is happening and how the project is going. Their goal is 100% hard drive data recovery, and so their policy is that you are not charged a dime if there is no data recovered, or if they fail to get it all back for you. And regardless, they can usually complete their work in 2-5 business days -- because they know that time is money.

I hope you never need the services if DTIData. But if you do, they are tops at what they do.

Posted by: Greg at 06:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I guess some folks think that absolute moral authority means the law does not apply to them.

A bench warrant was issued Thursday for antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who did not appear for arraignment Thursday in a Washington, D.C., courtroom to face charges related to her Sept. 10 disorderly conduct arrest on Capitol Hill.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Michael McCarthy issued the order to Sheehan around noon, a court spokeswoman said. The warrant says she is to be arrested and brought before the court. She also faces one count of unlawful assembly.

"She wasn't aware that there was a court appearance today," said Sheehan's spokeswoman, Tiffany Burns, reached by cell phone.

"We'll have the attorney deal with this immediately, so as soon as she's rescheduled to appear, she'll be there," Burns added.

Burns said Sheehan was at home in California Thursday, and did not receive the paperwork notifying her of the court date.

However, a court document obtained by FOXNews.com dated Sept. 10, signed by Sheehan, advised her to appear Thursday at 8:30 a.m. The warrant issued Thursday sets a $50 bond for her arrest.

Damn those signed papers with the court date clearly indicated! They must be CIA fakes, manufactured as a part of a Rovian conspiracy by the BusCheneyHitler dictatorship!

And as for rescheduling the court date, I'd rather see her cuffed, stuffed, and dragged into court whining like Paris Hilton.

Posted by: Greg at 12:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Even a wannabe Commie dictator can be right from time to time.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in his beauty-conscious country -- giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday.

"Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration," Chavez said on his weekly television show, which lasted a record eight hours.

Do we really need to further sexualize young people?

Posted by: Greg at 12:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, maybe – for a billion dollars and all his WMD information.

Less than a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction, according to a report of a Feb. 22, 2003, meeting between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart published by a Spanish newspaper yesterday.

The meeting at Bush's Texas ranch was a planning session for a final diplomatic push at the United Nations. The White House was preparing to introduce a tough new Security Council resolution to pressure Hussein, but most council members saw it as a ploy to gain their authorization for war.

Yeah, that’s the ticket – let the bad guy go with a wad of cash and the knowledge to either obtain WMD or sell the info to the highest bidder. That sure would have made the world a safer place!

Posted by: Greg at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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