January 14, 2008
A director who shares the ideas of Iran's hardline president has produced what he says is the first film giving an Islamic view of Jesus Christ, in a bid to show the "common ground" between Muslims and Christians.Nader Talebzadeh sees his movie, "Jesus, the Spirit of God," as an Islamic answer to Western productions like Mel Gibson's 2004 blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," which he praised as admirable but quite simply "wrong".
"Gibson's film is a very good film. I mean that it is a well-crafted movie but the story is wrong -- it was not like that," he said, referring to two key differences: Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God, and does not believe he was crucified
In light of the civilized, peaceful behavior of Muslims in recent years whenever their theological ox is gored, there appears to me to be an appropriate path for we Christians to follow. It seems to me that there needs to be a death sentence issued against Nader Talebzadeh for his insult to Jesus and to those of us who follow him. There need to be demands for an apology from the Iranian government. Mobs need to burn down Iranian diplomatic and cultural buildings around the world, as well as attack and destroy some mosques. Heck, maybe Christians also need to beat and kill a few random Muslims, perhaps by beheading, in order to express the level of offense given by this movie. After all, that is how the Muslim world handles perceived slights against Islam and its false prophet -- Muslims certainly won't object were Christians to respond in kind, would they?
Of course, such evil actions would go against all forms of civilized behavior, and betray Christianity's place as the true religion of peace. There would be universal outrage and condemnation if Christians acted like Muslims in this situation -- or any like it. And that outrage would be merited.
By the way, be sure to read the entire article and see just how much of a blasphemous insult to Christianity the religion of Islam really is. Then ask yourself -- how can Islam demand that Christians respect Muslim religious sensibilities when Islam itself is so offensive to the basic teachings of Christianity?
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FrontierLabel.com has a wonderful website that is simple to understand and easy to navigate. The site itself is sleek, modern, and intuitive. And that is just the first impression. Once you begin to look around the place, it becomes even more welcoming. The site offers instant quotes and assistance with artwork. That is something I would really need, given my lack of artistic talent and lack of graphics programs for my computer.
FrontierLabel.com has a huge variety of labels available for you. You can get labels for any product or promotional item, from candle labels to wine bottle labels to tea tin labels – items which I never knew existed. And if none of those labels suits your purpose, you always have the option of ordering labels by size. There is also a bulk purchase discount, so the more you order the less per label you pay.
FrontierLabel.com is certain that you will like their labels. How certain? Well, they will send you a free sample of their products. That is a practice that has sort of gone out of fashion with many companies, but not this one.
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January 13, 2008
I was right.
And wrong at the same time.
To the surprise of many people who follow the N.F.L., the San Diego Chargers, not the Indianapolis Colts, will meet the New England Patriots next Sunday for the American Football Conference championship and the right to play in Super Bowl XLII.
* * * The Chargers won their eighth consecutive game despite 3 touchdown passes and 402 passing yards by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. But Manning also threw two interceptions on tipped balls, and receiver Marvin Harrison lost a fumble after a catch and run, leading to San DiegoÂ’s first touchdown. All three turnovers were in Chargers territory; two came inside the 20.
And yet the younger Manning, the NY Giants' Eli, kept his team alive with the help of a defense that simply dominated the Cowboys.
Tony Romo can go wherever he wants with Jessica Simpson now. Eli Manning and the New York Giants knocked him and the Dallas Cowboys into the offseason Sunday.Having to wait out long, slow drives by Dallas, Manning made his few chances count, throwing two touchdown passes to Amani Toomer and getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Brandon Jacobs for a 21-17 victory that put New York into the NFC championship game for the first time since the 2000 season.
"I won't get tired of hearing that this week," Manning said. "No one's given us much credit and probably still won't. But that's OK. We like it that way."
Manning is heading to his first NFC championship game, at Green Bay next Sunday. Manning had a much better day than his brother, Peyton, whose Indianapolis Colts were stunned by the San Diego Chargers.
"I know he was watching and rooting for me," said Eli, who was 12-of-18 for 163 yards.
I know I'll be rooting for the Giants next week against the Packers -- in the hopes of setting up a rematch of the marquis game of the regular season's final weekend, when the Giants lost a hard-fought game to the Patriots. I'd love to see Eli Manning and the Giants pull that upset in the big game.
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The Toyota Motor Corporation, which leads the worldÂ’s automakers in sales of hybrid-electric vehicles, announced Sunday night that it would build its first plug-in hybrid by 2010.The move puts Toyota in direct competition with General Motors, which has announced plans to sell its own plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, sometime around 2010.
Katsuaki Watanabe, the president of Toyota, announced the companyÂ’s plans at the Detroit auto show as part of a series of environmental steps.
Mr. Watanabe said Toyota, best known for its Prius hybrid car, would develop a fleet of plug-in hybrids that run on lithium-ion batteries, instead of the nickel-metal hydride batteries that power the Prius and other Toyota models.
Plug-in hybrids differ from the current hybrid vehicles in that they can be recharged externally, from an ordinary power outlet. In a conventional hybrid the battery is recharged from power generated by its wheels.
I'm really curious how efficient these plug-in hybrids will be. How far will the go between charges, and how much energy will they use? The numbers in this article are not encouraging -- and the car still uses gasoline to operate. I guess i don;t see the advantage or the practicality.
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Republican voters have sharply altered their views of the party’s presidential candidates following the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, with Senator John McCain, once widely written off, now viewed more favorably than any of his major competitors, according to the latest nationwide New York Times/CBS News Poll.The findings underscored the extraordinary volatility in the Republican race and suggested that the party was continuing to search for a nominee to rally around. Nearly three-quarters of Republican primary voters said it was still too early for them to make up their minds “for sure,” meaning that they could shift their allegiances yet again if one or more of Mr. McCain’s rivals breaks through in the two Republican primaries this week, in Michigan and South Carolina.
And I find this little tidbit to be amusing, given my post over the weekend.
But Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are now viewed by Democrats as almost equally qualified on a variety of measures, including the ability to serve as commander in chief.
Yeah, they are both equally qualified there. all right.
But in the end, we are seeing a tightening of the Democrat race and a continued ebb and flow on the GOP side. In the end, which will produce the more qualified, electable candidate?
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BRITISH officials have revealed that evidence amassed by Scotland Yard detectives points towards Al-Qaeda militants being responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.Five experts in video evidence and forensic science have been in Pakistan for 10 days since President Pervez Musharraf took up an offer from Gordon Brown for British help in the investigation of the December 27 killing. Last week they were joined by three specialists in explosives.
Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, has handled this case very poorly. As a result, attempts by his government to blame al-Qaeda were met with skepticism. However, investigators from the UK and US have concluded that the evidence of the al-Qaeda link is genuine and probably conclusive of al-Qaeda involvement.
And while there are those who call for a UN investigation (including Bhutto's husband), it is important to remember that the investigation of the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri by Syrian surrogates is still ongoing after three years. Does Pakistan really have that sort of time?
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who badly needs to win Tuesday's Michgian primary, has an 8-point lead over Sen. John McCain of Arizona in a McClatchy/MSNBC poll of Michigan voters to be released Sunday.Romney had a narrower lead in a Detroit Free Press poll and was tied in a Detroit News poll.
Now there are those, including the author of this article in Politico, who insist that Michigan is a "must win" state for Romney. I don't know that it is. After all, a series of strong second place finishes would show him to have broad popular support in various parts of the country, while his rivals have spotty support. Indeed, that plays out int he current delegate count, which at this early stage of the game has Mitt Romney leading all other Republican candidates.
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January 12, 2008
Just for giggles, look how much time [former VP Dan] Quayle had in Congress when he got picked as Bush 41's running mate, and look how much experience the three leading Democrats have had. He beat Hillary by five years, Edwards by six, and Obama by nine.
Let's spell it out for you.
Dan Quayle had 4 years in the House and 8 years in the Senate when he became VP. And while Quayle was often criticized for his National Guard service during the Vietnam War, he has more military service than any of the three leading Democrats in 2008 -- none of whom have served at all. If Dan Quayle was so unqualified to be Vice President (and to step into the Oval Office in the event of a presidential death, incapacity, resignation, or impeachment), how on earth can ANY of the remaining Democrats be seen as qualified to start in the top spot?
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I do wish someone would ask him about this quote from sometime back.
"He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."
I mean, it is important to illustrate the fundamental hostility of a major presidential candidate to a part of the Constitution. After all, if elected, McCain would be swearing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Does his record indicate an inability to do so? I certainly think his own words make that a legitimate issue.
Mark Levin also offers some other areas where McCain should be seriously questioned by the media and his opponents.
The McCain domestic record is a disaster. To say he fought spending, most particularly earmarks, is to nibble around the edges and miss the heart of the matter. For starters, consider:
* McCain-Feingold — the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo.
* McCain-Kennedy — the most far-reaching amnesty program in American history.
* McCain-Lieberman — the most onerous and intrusive attack on American industry — through reporting, regulating, and taxing authority of greenhouse gases — in American history.
* McCain-Kennedy-Edwards — the biggest boon to the trial bar since the tobacco settlement, under the rubric of a patients’ bill of rights.
* McCain-Reimportantion of Drugs — a significant blow to pharmaceutical research and development, not to mention consumer safety (hey Rudy, pay attention, see link).
And given some of his defense miscues and his key role in undermining Bush's judicial nominees as a part of the Gang of 14, and you can see there is a lot to ask about besides his compelling story of personal heroism and sacrifice.
Maybe John McCain is not the greatest threat ever faced by the American Republic -- but is he the best that the Republicans have to offer America?
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Iraq's parliament adopted legislation Saturday on the reinstatement of thousands of former Baath party supporters to government jobs, a key benchmark sought by the United States as a step toward national reconciliation.The bill was approved by a unanimous show of hands on each of the law's 30 clauses. Titled the Accountability and Justice law, it seeks to relax restrictions on the rights of members of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Baath party to fill government posts.
It is also designed to reinstate thousands of Baathists in government jobs from which they had been dismissed because of their ties to the party.
Let's be clear -- de-Baathification had to happen, just as de-Nazification had to happen in Germany in 1945. The problem was that it went too far. Most low-level officials in Germany were reinstated in place quickly. That didn't happen in Iraq. Undoing the problem has been an important key to creating stability in Iraq. And now the question has been settled.
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NevadaÂ’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the stateÂ’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.The 13-page lawsuit in federal district court here comes two days after the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada endorsed Senator Barack Obama, a blow to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama addressed the Culinary Union at their hall earlier Friday.
The lawsuit argues that the Nevada Democratic PartyÂ’s decision, decided late last year, to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day violates the stateÂ’s election laws and creates a system in which voters at the at-large precincts can elect more delegates than voters at other precincts. The lawsuit employs a complex mathematical formula to show that voters at the other 1,754 precincts would have less influence with their votes.
Once again we see the problem with the caucus as a nominating device. Lot's of folks are immediately disenfranchised under that method. And now surrogates for the Clinton campaign are working to ensure that even more qualified participants are disenfranchised. Maybe they are trying to make sure that Hillary's statement about caucuses is true.
It is time to do away with the caucus in American politics.
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About a dozen senior campaign staffers for Rudy Giuliani are forgoing their January paychecks, aides said Friday, a sign of possible money trouble for the Republican presidential candidate.
Or maybe not.
"We have enough money, but we could always use more money," contended Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager and one of those who now is working for free. "We want to make sure we have enough to win."At the end of December, he said the campaign had $11.5 million cash on hand, $7 million of which can be used for the primary. He disputed the notion of a cash-strapped campaign, and said Giuliani continues to bring in cash; several fundraisers are scheduled this week in Florida.
Now let's be honest here -- if the top dogs are foregoing salaries to "make sure we have enough to win", then it would appear that the Giuliani campaign believes it might not have enough cash to win. And given the need to dig itself out of a hole created by its own flawed campaign strategy, I think that we are seeing a self-induced implosion of Rudy's campaign.
I wonder -- which of the current candidates does he want to serve under as Attorney General?
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OJ Simpson cussed his way back to a Las Vegas jail when he tried to contact a wit ness in his case with an expletive-fueled message, a judge ruled yesterday.Clark County District Attor ney David Roger accused Simpson of violating the terms of his bail by leav ing a voice mail for bail bondsman Miguel Pereira - in which he asked the moneyman to pass on some choice words to co-defendant Clarence "CJ" Stewart.
Simpson, previously free on $125,000 bond, was barred from talking to any witnesses, victims or co-defendants.
"I just want, want CJ to know that the whole thing all the time he was tellin' me that s--t, ya know, I hope he was telling me the truth; don't be trying to change the motherf--- ing s--t now," Simpson said in a rambling voice mail left on Nov. 16, according to court documents.
You aren't allowed to contact witnesses. You aren't allowed to contact co-defendants. Why on earth would you leav one a message on an answering machine? Do you LIKE jail?
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At nationalcorporatehousing.com you can rent accommodations anywhere in the United States for thirty days on up, equipped with many great amenities. The website has a search feature where you can click your state to get the phone number to contact to make arrangements for your stay. In addition, there are options to allow you to get just the right housing packages to meet your needs. Reservations can be made by calling (88
916-9520 Indeed, my only critique of their website is that they only offer one apartment as an example – you can’t examine a properties in different cities or options within a city from the website.
For more details, go to nationalcorporatehousing.com.
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The flakes melted quickly. But the smiles, wonder and excited story-swapping went on throughout the day: It snowed in Baghdad.The morning flurry Friday was the first in memory in the heart of the Iraqi capital. Perhaps more significant, however, was the rare ripple of delight through a city snarled by army checkpoints, divided by concrete walls and ravaged by sectarian killings.
"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.
"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," Abdul-Hussein said, referring to snow as a type of rain. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."
But I'm sure that someone will show up and explain to me how all the very cold weather is a sign that the earth is getting very hot. After all, the notion of man-made global warming is religion, not science. This is just one of its many miracles that defies natural explanation.
UPDATE: See, this didn't take all that long.
Climate change is still nudging up temperatures in the long term even though the warmest year was back in 1998 and 2008 has begun with unusual weather such as a cool Pacific and Baghdad's first snow in memory, experts said."Global warming has not stopped," said Amir Delju, senior scientific coordinator of the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) climate program.
Last year was among the six warmest years since records began in the 1850s and the British Met Office said last week that 2008 will be the coolest year since 2000, partly because of a La Nina event that cuts water temperatures in the Pacific.
"We are in a minor La Nina period which shows a little cooling in the Pacific Ocean," Delju told Reuters. "The decade from 1998 to 2007 is the warmest on record and the whole trend is still continuing."
Interestingly enough, the records start (in the 1850s) during a period called the Little Ice Age. Is it any wonder that the temperatures today would be higher -- and that the natural cyclical fluctuations in temperature would be evident?
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All-Tex is a reputable, experienced company. and is also the largest installer of Hardie-Plank siding in the nation.
Why pick All-Tex? Years of experience and a long record of happy customers, thatÂ’s why. After all, it is important to have work on your home done correctly.
Visit www.alltexexteriors.com to find out more information on their products and to read their great work on Houston decks">Houston decks, siding, roofing, and other home improvement jobs.
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The result? Many usual polling places won't be due to the need to ensure test security in school buildings.
Some Texas schools are considering passing up on a front-row seat in a democracy lesson during the March 4 primary to keep their campuses visitor-free and church-mouse quiet during the opening day of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.Leaders of some Houston-area school districts, including Katy, have informed Harris County officials that they're reluctant to fill their normal role as polling sites because of this year's scheduling conflict.
"Sites that are normally used as polling locations may not be available because of administrative policy that prohibits visitors on school campuses during testing," said Hector de Leon, spokesman for the County Clerk's Office. "However, at this point, the use of schools as polling locations has not been ruled out."
Questions remain about whether public schools can refuse to serve as voting locations, an issue state leaders are trying to iron out.
And one thing that apparently has not been a consideration in all this is the loss of some election judges and poll workers. I take election day off to be election judge and run the polls in my precinct, and I know a number of other teachers who do the same thing to serve as election judges or poll workers. We won't be doing that this year, because every school district I know has a strict policy forbidding the use of leave days on state testing days. So I'll be proctoring a test or monitoring restrooms or some other task instead of making sure that Republicans in my precinct have a smoothly running polling place.
Which leads us back to an obvious question -- don't folks with TEA take the time to look at the calendar before they set testing dates?
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January 11, 2008
First, I could print up some address labels promoting my blog. That could help, because I do mail out a bunch of stuff every week. And with it being election season, I will be doing a mailing to my precinct about various important races ahead of us. After all, this would be no different than the personal address labels I would already be using.
It is very easy to print such cheap address labels through Vista Print. There is an incredible selection of templates that you can use and personalize with you information, changing the font and color so that the label will stand out.
I may also get some business cards as well. After all, with the election season coming up IÂ’ll be at the precinct convention, county convention, and the state convention. I can no doubt get word about my blog spread far and wide!
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January 10, 2008
![2144588813_fd6d595084[1].jpg](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/2144588813_fd6d595084[1].jpg)
My wife sent me a link to this one -- great fun for anyone who feels a need to laugh at politics for a few minutes.
Come on -- event he Ron Paul supporters should find this one cute.
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Paul told CNN's "The Situation Room" Thursday that he didn't write any of the offensive articles and has "no idea" who did."When you bring this question up, you're really saying, 'You're a racist' or 'Are you a racist?' And the answer is, 'No, I'm not a racist,'" he said.
Paul said he had never even read the articles with the racist comments.
In other words, he allowed his staff to run wild, writing whatever they wanted with no supervision. Not only that, he doesn't know who worked for him and has no records to make such a determination. He just let all sorts of crap go out with his name attached -- and even signed some fundraising letters with racist content without reading them. All of which indicates that Ron Paul is unfit to run a lemonade stand, much less the US government.
Either that, or he is a liar trying to to cover up for political allies, former employees and himself.
Neither of which constitutes good credentials for a presidential candidate.
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Gov. Eliot SpitzerÂ’s plan to contain the rising property taxes that support New YorkÂ’s schools could mean a confrontation with the stateÂ’s largest teachersÂ’ union, whose president said on Thursday he was wary of a new commission leading the effort.Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, said he was also wary of the panelÂ’s chairman, Thomas R. Suozzi, named by the governor in his State of the State address on Wednesday.
* * * . . . Mr. Iannuzzi said of a property tax cap, “I’m not going to let a blunt instrument butcher the progress we’ve made.”
In other words, it doesn't matter if the taxpayers are being bled out by sky-rocketing taxes -- the needs of public employees come ahead of the needs of the public.
And I say that as a teacher who knows that teacher salaries need to be increased -- but that the first priority should be making our school districts less wasteful, more efficient, and free of redundant administrators. Few businesses could operate the way most school districts do.
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Not only is the price right, but the quality is great. If you doubt me, look at the Mini Blinds and other sorts of shades they hang when next you watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. SelectBlinds provides the blinds and shades for that show.
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Edmund Hillary, 88, a beekeeper-turned-mountaineer from New Zealand who with his Sherpa guide in 1953 became the first men known to conquer Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak, died early today at Auckland City Hospital. No cause of death was reported.Hillary's 29,035-foot climb up the Himalayan mountain was achieved amid subzero temperatures, unpredictable winds and daunting crevasses, and with a grade of equipment now considered primitive. The ascent ended a decades-long quest undertaken by countless men to test human endurance. In the 1920s, English adventurer George Mallory memorably quipped that he wanted to climb Everest "because it's there" and perished trying.
On May 29, 1953, the successful ascent and return by Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in a team led by British army Col. John Hunt made them instant international celebrities.
"Well, we've knocked the bastard off," an exhausted Hillary famously said upon his return from the apex.
And despite having reached the pinnacle of his chosen avocation at a relatively young age, Hillary spent the next half century productively, promoting humanitarian and environmental causes. In addition, he continued his explorations and difficult treks , reaching the South Pole and crossing Antarctica. He also wrote extensively about the explorations, and became a best-selling author.
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Let’s be honest – hair care can be a problem for her, especially when she is in the hospital. One of her medical conditions leaves her less flexible and mobile than she once was, so washing her hair can be a problem to begin with. Doing it while confined to a hospital bed is impossible. But during her last long hospitalization, after several days with tubes running in and out of her arms and a couple of EEGs, she just had to wash it. That is when we became aware of the dry shampoo. She got her hair washed right there in the bed, emotionally speeding her along the path to recovery. And best of all, there were no white powders, oily residues, or other drawbacks associated with similar products. We could even match her hair color, so she looked her best (or as good as she could in the hospital)! From here on out, this dry shampoo is a product that goes in her travel bag that we keep packed in case of emergency.
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January 09, 2008
The owner of a landscaping firm was arrested Wednesday and faces up to 10 years in federal prison, accused of harboring one of his workers, an illegal immigrant from Mexico charged with the capital murder of a Houston police officer.Court documents show that Robert Lane Camp, 47, went to considerable lengths to help Juan Leonardo Quintero and keep him on the job at his Deer Park landscaping company before the September 2006 killing of officer Rodney Johnson.
In August 1998, Camp posted a $10,000 bond for Quintero after he was jailed on an indecency with a child charge and hired an attorney to defend him. After the worker was deported in May 1999, Camp sent him money in Mexico and later bought him a plane ticket from Phoenix to Houston after Quintero re-entered through Arizona illegally, according to an affidavit by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Camp then purchased a house in Houston and rented it to Quintero.
Clearly, this isn't just "he gave an illegal a job" situation. Camp went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that he could employ this particular border-jumping criminal. He helped get Quintero back in the country after he abused a child. He bought the man a house. Camp gave the American dream to this scumbag -- why wouldn't he stay in this country, and even murder a police officer to try to keep that life?
I'm just curious -- is there any way the state can charge Robert Lane Camp as an accessory to the murder of Officer Rodney Johnson based upon the following facts?
• August 1998: Robert Camp posts a $10,000 cash bond for Juan Leonardo Quintero, who was charged with indecency with a child.• March 3, 1999: Quintero is convicted of a sexual offense with a minor.
• May 7, 1999: Quintero is deported from the U.S.
• Nov. 26, 1999: Quintero boards a Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to Houston after hiring a smuggler to re-enter the U.S. through Arizona. Quintero's wife tells investigators her husband told her Camp purchased the ticket.
• Sept. 21, 2006: Quintero is accused of fatally shooting Houston police officer Rodney Johnson in the head during a traffic stop in which Quintero was driving a company truck owned by Camp. Quintero is later charged with capital murder.
After all, it is clear that the murder would not have happened except for Camp's active participation in and facilitation of Quintero's other illegal activity -- including his presence in this country.
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to pull his advertising from South Carolina, where he was hoping to take on Mike Huckabee and John McCain, and from Florida, where Rudy Giuliani has been spending time and money."We feel the best strategy is to focus our paid messaging in Michigan," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Wednesday as the campaign launched its "National Call Day" fundraising effort.
The decision comes on the heels of back-to-back second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire for the former Massachusetts governor. Romney, a multimillionaire who had used some of his own cash, had invested heavily in both states, counting on the two to give him the momentum toward the nomination.
Romney should have won in either Iowa or New Hampshire. That he has not is troubling to many of us who have supported him. And yet, a string of second place finishes around the country combined with a few wins and a division of victories between his top two or three rivals (Huckabee, McCain, and, potentially, Giuliani) could leave the former Massachusetts governor with the largest pot of delegates at the GOP convention. At that point, he would be one of the most obvious choices for the nomination -- unless a brokered convention led to the selection of someone not currently running for the office.
Interesting analysis of the Michigan race from Debbie Schlussel, who questions whether Romney will win there for a reason I hadn't considered. Michelle Malkin discusses the fight for pro-lifers and Catholics in the state.
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I guess they are looking for something else.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is dropping out of the presidential race, following his fourth place finish in the New Hampshire primary, according to sources familiar with the decision.Mr. Richardson won just over 4 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, a week after a similar showing in the Iowa caucuses. In a recent interview, a campaign spokesman said that they were hoping for a third place finish in TuesdayÂ’s primary in order to continue on to Nevada and other Western states.
Here's a guy who actually has accomplished something in his career.
A candidate with real expertise in a number of areas.
And Democrats can't be bothered, preferring instead a candidate who married her way to the top and one who has no experience and has never had to face a serious opponent in his 1/2 term in his effort to be elected to the US Senate.
H/T Captain's Quarters, Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin
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he longest baby ever born at the Albany, N.Y., hospital, at least as of May 5, 1926, who grew up to be my strapping father, passed away last Friday morning.As Mother and I stood at Daddy's casket Monday morning, Mother repeated his joke to him, which he said on every wedding anniversary until a few years ago when Lewy bodies dementia prevented him from saying much at all: "54 years, married to the wrong woman." And we laughed.
What can I say except that I wish I had the opportunity to have met this man who Ann describes so lovingly and with such obvious admiration.
But the most touching part of the piece comes at the end -- where, appropriately, she talks about the end.
And last Friday morning at 2 he passed away, in his bedroom with Mother. The police and firemen told my brother that they kept trying to distract Mother to keep her away from the bedroom with Father's body, but she kept padding back into the bedroom to be close to him.
The couple had been married for over half a century. I wish I could the opportunity to meet her mother as well. She sounds like quite a lady. Her father obviously invested wisely when he bribed his FBI colleagues to allow him to ask her out first.
And so to Ann and her brothers, I offer condolences on the lost of their father. And to her mother, Nell, I offer my condolences on the loss of the companion of most of her lifetime -- and the assurance that they will meet again, for there can be no doubt that a love like theirs endures for all eternity.
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I saw this story yesterday, which mentions 32 Indiana voters who didn't have identification and somehow couldn't find a ride to the voter registrar's office to prove their identity.
But today we find this story about one of them.
On the eve of a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Indiana Voter ID law has become a story with a twist: One of the individuals used by opponents to the law as an example of how the law hurts older Hoosiers is registered to vote in two states.Faye Buis-Ewing, 72, who has been telling the media she is a 50-year resident of Indiana, at one point in the past few years also claimed two states as her primary residence and received a homestead exemption on her property taxes in both states.
In other words, what we have here is a case of voter fraud. After all, she has FLORIDA identification, proving her to be a FLORIDA resident.
Gearing up for the high court's review, news media around the country have been trumpeting the ordeals that Ewing and others in Indiana allegedly suffered due to Indiana's voter ID law. One news story related how Ewing received a standing ovation from poll workers in Lafayette after she spent several hours on Election Day 2006 obtaining an Indiana photo ID.When poll workers wouldn't accept her Florida license as a valid ID for voting, she was told she could cast a provisional vote, but she declined. Her birth certificate wasn’t acceptable because it didn't have her married – and therefore identifying – name on it, according to a brief filed with the Supreme Court by the Brennan Center.
It took four hours and visits to two cities to secure the necessary documents for Ewing to vote, the brief and news stories said.
That would, of course, help explain how she and her husband have been defrauding either Indiana or Florida of property tax money for a number of years, because she cannot legally have a homestead exemption in both states -- just as she cannot legally register or vote in both states. The only way in which she has been inconvenienced here is by being forced to do additional legwork to vote illegally in Indiana -- and the resultant exposure as a tax cheat.
So tell me -- will we see Faye Buis-Ewing prosecuted for her crimes?
By the way, I'd have to assume that Faye Buis-Ewing is a Democrat -- having been caught in her illegal activity, she immediately claimed that she wasn't a criminal, but that she was instead the victim. No wonder liberals want her to vote.
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Russia is leading the race to complete a manned mission to Mars and could land a Russian on the Red Planet by 2025, a leading scientist was quoted as saying on Tuesday."We have something of a head start in this race as we have the most experience in piloted space flight," the director of the prestigious Space Research Institute, Lev Zelyony, told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
The goal of becoming the first country to land a human on Mars is "technically and economically achievable" by 2025, he said.
However, if their portions of the International Space Station are any indication, I doubt this. Their components have been the source of most problems up there. I really doubt that the Russians will ever reach Mars -- unless they are planning on sending men to Mars in spacecraft held together with duct tape and baling wire.
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But that isnÂ’t enough for at least reporter with the Washington Post.
In contrast to the military's professionalism and restraint, the Bush administration wasted no time falling back on its knee-jerk rules of engagement. President Bush called the incident "a provocative act" and "dangerous situation." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued to play up the Iranian threat. "The United States is going to defend its interests, it's going to defend the interests of its allies," she said defensively. "Iran is the single most important, greatest threat to the kind of Middle East we all want to see. It's a supporter of terrorism in Iraq, in Lebanon, in the Palestinian territories. It has nuclear ambitions."
Yeah, verbally condemning acts of war and pointing out the many misdeeds of Mahmoud the Mad and the Mullahcracy in Iran is irresponsible behavior to this idiot, who previously called our troops overpaid, pampered mercenaries and declared them to be enemies of American liberty. It strikes me that he has never met an American enemy he didnÂ’t like, and that he would have found some reason to condemn the Bush Administration no matter what the outcome of the incident had been.
Show restraint and condemn the provocation -- WRONG.
Show restraint and suffer an attack -- WRONG.
Show restraint and remain silent -- WRONG.
Sink the enemy -- WRONG.
And since Arkin doesn't bless us with his wisdom on what would have been the right course of action, we know that he'll be able to condemn the Administration if they take a different course of action in the future. After all, being a journalist means never having to take a position that makes a real difference in terms of lives and national security.
Maybe he is angling for an endowed chair at Columbia University, so he can join these Islamist-lovers on their pro-jihadi junket.
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((, January 08, 2008
Of course, it is usually folks from the entertainment industry whose autographs and memorabilia are hot collectibles. No doubt someone from movies, television, or music will be of interest to you and you would love to get their autograph as a keepsake. Getting such items might not be easy if you are in another country, and ensuring that you are getting an authentic one would be even harder if you do not know how to do so.
If you want to purchase autographed memorabilia, check out Autographink to see what they have in their store for you. Among entertainers, I would like to get my hands on autographed items from The Beatles, Queen, and Elton John. But what I would really like to get is a real historical treasure – an autograph from Sir Winston Churchill.
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Democrats:
It is a two person race between Hillary and Obama. John Edwards will remain in until he can cut the best deal for himself -- maybe another run for VP. This race should be done by February 6.
Republicans.
Another Romney defeat -- but still a respectable showing. He remains in for now, hoping for success in South Carolina and Super Tuesday.
McCain is alive -- but how strong is his candidacy? Do his negatives with many of us conservatives outweigh his positives?
Huckabee shows his weakness as a 50 state candidate. Not many evangelicals in New Hampshire, so his showing was somewhat weak. Can he succeed in South Carolina and derail Romney and McCain?
Rudy -- will Florida and Super Tuesday be too late for him, given his weakness in South Carolina?
Thompson -- time to say goodnight, Fred, though I wish it wasn't.
I think we are realistically down to only three significant candidates -- Romney, McCain, and Huckabee.
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Most voters had never heard of Paul before he launched his quixotic bid for the Republican nomination. But the Texan has been active in politics for decades. And, long before he was the darling of antiwar activists on the left and right, Paul was in the newsletter business. In the age before blogs, newsletters occupied a prominent place in right-wing political discourse. With the pages of mainstream political magazines typically off-limits to their views (National Review editor William F. Buckley having famously denounced the John Birch Society), hardline conservatives resorted to putting out their own, less glossy publications. These were often paranoid and rambling--dominated by talk of international banking conspiracies, the Trilateral Commission's plans for world government, and warnings about coming Armageddon--but some of them had wide and devoted audiences. And a few of the most prominent bore the name of Ron Paul.Paul's newsletters have carried different titles over the years--Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report--but they generally seem to have been published on a monthly basis since at least 1978. (Paul, an OB-GYN and former U.S. Air Force surgeon, was first elected to Congress in 1976.) During some periods, the newsletters were published by the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, a nonprofit Paul founded in 1976; at other times, they were published by Ron Paul & Associates, a now-defunct entity in which Paul owned a minority stake, according to his campaign spokesman. The Freedom Report claimed to have over 100,000 readers in 1984. At one point, Ron Paul & Associates also put out a monthly publication called The Ron Paul Investment Letter.
The Freedom Report's online archives only go back to 1999, but I was curious to see older editions of Paul's newsletters, in part because of a controversy dating to 1996, when Charles "Lefty" Morris, a Democrat running against Paul for a House seat, released excerpts stating that "opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions," that "if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be," and that black representative Barbara Jordan is "the archetypical half-educated victimologist" whose "race and sex protect her from criticism." At the time, Paul's campaign said that Morris had quoted the newsletter out of context. Later, in 2001, Paul would claim that someone else had written the controversial passages. (Few of the newsletters contain actual bylines.) Caldwell, writing in the Times Magazine last year, said he found Paul's explanation believable, "since the style diverges widely from his own."
So let's say this -- there are questions about what Ron Paul wrote and what was written by others. Fine, I'll give him that . But that makes quotes like these even more troubling.
An October 1990 edition of the Political Report ridicules black activists, led by Al Sharpton, for demonstrating at the Statue of Liberty in favor of renaming New York City after Martin Luther King. The newsletter suggests that "Welfaria," "Zooville," "Rapetown," "Dirtburg," and "Lazyopolis" would be better alternatives--and says, "Next time, hold that demonstration at a food stamp bureau or a crack house."The October 1992 issue of the Political Report paraphrases an "ex-cop" who offers this strategy for protecting against "urban youth": "If you have to use a gun on a youth, you should leave the scene immediately, disposing of the wiped off gun as soon as possible. Such a gun cannot, of course, be registered to you, but one bought privately (through the classifieds, for example)."
A 1986 newsletter names Jeane Kirkpatrick and George Will as "two of our enemies" and notes their membership in the Trilateral Commission.
In an undated solicitation letter for The Ron Paul Investment Letter and the Ron Paul Political Report, Paul writes: "I've been told not to talk, but these stooges don't scare me. Threats or no threats, I've laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.) The Bohemian Grove--perverted, pagan playground of the powerful. Skull & Bones: the demonic fraternity that includes George Bush and leftist Senator John Kerry, Congress's Mr. New Money. The Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica."
In other words, we are looking at not a couple of months worth of material, but a couple of decades of strange stuff.
And here's Paul's explanation.
January 8, 2008 5:28 am ESTARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – In response to an article published by The New Republic, Ron Paul issued the following statement:
“The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.
“In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person's character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: ‘I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.’
“This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade. It's once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary.
“When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not edit. Several writers contributed to the product. For over a decade, I have publically taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.”
In other word's, Ron Paul's definition of "taking moral responsibility" is to say that he didn't write it, he didn't supervise what was published under his name, and he shouldn't be held accountable for such statements. Ron Paul won't tell us what he wrote and what others wrote, won't identify the others, and won't tell us which of the views in question do represent what he believes/believed. "Moral responsibility" is therefore something entirely different from real responsibility. And at least one prominent supporter is willing to let him get away with it.
Sort of like condemning racists while refusing to divest himself of their cash.
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