At least as regards perceived slights against the false prophet Muhammad.

Eleven Danes have been summoned to appear before the Jordanian pubic prosecutor to answer charges of blasphemy and threatening the national peace. They include the cartoonist who drew one of the Mohammed cartoons and editors from 10 of the 17 newspapers that reprinted them.

The group behind the announcement is called The Prophet Unites Us, a union of Jordanian media organisations, organisations and private individuals.

'The public prosecutor decided to summon the Danes for a series of criminal offences. Now the Danes have to meet in Jordan,' said Zakaria al-Sheikh, the group's general secretary, to Politiken newspaper.

He explained that the public prosecutor will ask the Danish embassy for help in contacting Danish officials to arrange the meeting of the editors.

Osama al-Bettar, the group's lawyer, said that if the Danes do not appear, the next step will be to inform Interpol and seek their arrest.

The public prosecutor confirmed to Politiken that the editors have been summoned.

The Danish government has made it clear that the actions of the eleven is not criminal in Denmark, and that they will not be deported to the realm of the Islamo-censors as a result.

Somebody needs to inform King Abdullah of Jordan that there is no basis for prosecution for printing the cartoons because doing so is merely the exercise of fundamental human rights recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Also, I have repeatedly published the cartoons on my site and expressed my contemptuous opinion of the 43rd generation ancestor of King Abdullah, the Christ-blaspheming false prophet Muhammad. I therefore demand an indictment by the Jordanian government!

H/T Jawa Report, Edge of Reason

Posted by: Greg at 01:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 294 words, total size 3 kb.

I know that liberals insist it doesn't happen -- but it does.

Jane Drury voted last year in an election in Stonington, Conn. The only problem is, she died eight years ago.

Her daughter Jane Gumpel thought someone must have goofed.

“I was surprised because this is not possible,” she said.

But it did happen. The town clerkÂ’s record clearly shows DruryÂ’s vote, marked by a horizontal line poll workers put next to her name. And it turns out, Drury isnÂ’t the only voter to apparently cast a ballot from the grave.

The issue of dead voters showing up on ballot records continues to be a problem for election administrators across the country.

Journalism professor Marcel Dufresne, at the University of Connecticut, led a class investigation into dead voters and said his group of 11 students discovered 8,558 deceased people who were still registered on ConnecticutÂ’s voter rolls. They discovered more than 300 of them appeared somehow to have cast ballots after they died.

“We have one person who appeared to have voted 17 times since he died,” Dufresne said.

No I realize that Necro-Americans are a key Democrat constituency, but I believe it is important that they be disenfranchised immediately. Pruge them from the voter rolls. Require that voters show identification before voting. Drive a stake through the heart of the undead when they arrive to vote. Only the living should be permitted to vote.

MORE AT Don Surber

Posted by: Greg at 12:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 2 kb.

Even as Barack Obama's fundraising BFF Tony Rezko was convicted of corrupting Illinois government officials and Obama found it necessary to throw him under the bus using the same argument he did with Jeremiah Wright, the apparent Democrat nominee has picked up another member of the Caucus of Corruption as a supporter.

On a day that Sen. Barack Obama moved closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, embattled Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, Tuesday became the first of Louisiana's four Democratic congressional members to back his candidacy.

You remember William Jefferson, don't you? The guy with $90K in his freezer, on tape taking bribe money from FBI informants? The guy who diverted Katrina evacuation resources to remove evidence from his home after the storm. Yeah, that corrupt Democrat who Peklosi wanted to give a key seat on a committee dealing with national security.

Well, now he is the first Louisiana congressman to endorse Obama. What a coup!

I wonder, can he bring along his newly indicted family members as Obama supporters, too? Seems to me that Barack Obama's first day in office will involve signing a lot of pardons for friends and supporters.

Posted by: Greg at 12:29 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 201 words, total size 2 kb.

Racists. Terrorists. Crooked businessmen. Those are the folks that Barack Obama counts among his friends. This one will be looking for a pardon if Obama wins the election.

Tony Rezko — the high-flying developer and fast-food magnate who was once a major campaign fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and one of the governor’s closest advisers — is now a convicted felon.

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Rezko this afternoon on 16 of 24 charges he faced in a political corruption trial that cast a harsh light on the Blagojevich administration.

Now remember -- this is the one who made a sweetheart deal with the Obamas to enable them to buy a property adjoining their residence that they otherwise couldn't have afforded. This is a guy who was a big fundraiser for Obama until he got indicted. I guess the day after he becomes Mr. Inevitable, Barack Obama has to now explain away a fishy relationship with a convicted felon. This should be fun.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 177 words, total size 2 kb.

Welcome Michelle Malkin readers.

In New York today, an art exhibit was shut down.

This morning, a Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama,” in neatly stenciled letters on the plate glass windows at street level.

By 9:30 a.m., New York City police detectives and Secret Service agents had shut down the exhibition, and building workers quickly covered over the inflammatory title with large sheets of brown paper and blue masking tape. The gallery is across the street from the southern entrance to The New York Times building.

The police officers declined to answer any questions, and at first would not permit reporters to speak with Mr. Arboleda, who was wearing a black T-shirt and making cellphone calls from inside the makeshift gallery.

Later, Mr. Arboleda, who is 27, said in an interview: “It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.” He added, “It’s about the media.”

Mr. Arboleda said the exhibition was to open on Thursday and run all day.

Now let's say it -- the title of the exhibit was overly provocative. There was, however, no need to shut the exhibit down or require the promotional sign to be covered.

Why not? How about because of this from 2006.

The Republican Party in Texas has said it is "shocking" and "disturbing" that a TV drama is to depict the assassination of US President Bush.

Death of a President uses archive footage, actors and computer effects to portray the president being shot dead.

UK broadcaster Channel 4, who made the mock documentary, said it explored the effects of the War on Terror on the US.

But Gretchen Essell, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas, called for it not to be screened.

"I cannot support a video that would dramatise the assassination of our president, real or imagined," she told the Press Association news agency.

"The greater reality is that terrorism still exists in our world. It is obvious that the war on terror is not over.

"I find this shocking, I find it disturbing. I don't know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that."

How disturbing are the images? I'll let you decide, with this YouTube clip that you can view right now.

An American company will be releasing the film in this country on January 20, 2009. I somehow doubt we will see any effort by the Secret Service or local law enforcement to prevent the release of the film, the showing of the film in a theater, or any of the film's advertising. After all, you've just seen the depiction of the murder of a sitting president hosted on YouTube!

Not to mention threats by Air America Radio.

Why are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton treated any different, especially when it is clear that the exhibit in question is a critique of the media coverage of the just-concluded race for the Democrat presidential nomination? Could it be that Assassination Chic is only cool if the target is a Republican?

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Rosemary's Thoughts, Maggie's Notebook, Right Truth, Adam's Blog, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Pet's Garden Blog, The American Nationalist News Service, third world county, Faultline USA, McCain Blogs, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, CORSARI D'ITALIA, , Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 06:20 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 626 words, total size 7 kb.

Yeah, Dick Cheney made a stupid joke on the subject. But Slate asks the question of how West Virginia got its reputation for such things -- and then tries to answer it.

Exaggeration-prone outsiders. In the 1880s and 1890s, writers such as Mary Noailles Murfree and John Fox Jr. traveled across Appalachia, looking for "local color," and overstated the degree to which mountain populations lived in isolation. During the same time period, missionaries reported pervasive ignorance and poverty, with large families living together in ramshackle cabins. The notion of widespread inbreeding was at least in part the result of crude assumptions about how these isolated forest people might have been perpetuating their communities.

* * *

Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the state's poverty. When Eleanor Roosevelt visited West Virginia mining towns in the 1930s, national newspapers ran pictures of rundown shacks and barefoot kids in rags, which left a lasting impression of the state as a backwater. West Virginians became the prototypical "hillbillies," and incest served as a crude "scientific" explanation for their downtrodden social condition.

Personally, I have a different explanation for that stereotype.

Posted by: Greg at 03:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 198 words, total size 2 kb.

That's my take on this move by Chicago's Francis Cardinal George.

The priest whose mocking of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton stirred more racially tinged controversy in the presidential campaign was effectively placed on leave from his pastoral work Tuesday at the Roman Catholic parish he has led since 1983.

The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, called on the priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, to “step back from his obligations” at St. Sabina and “take leave for a couple of weeks.”

* * *

He could not be reached for comment late Tuesday, but Cardinal George made it clear that Father Pfleger had disagreed with the decision that he take a brief leave.

“Father Pfleger does not believe this to be the right step at this time,” Cardinal George said in a statement released by the archdiocese. “While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of the church’s regulations for all Catholic priests. I hope that this period will also be a time away from the public spotlight and for rest and attention to family concerns.”

His parishioners exhibited their cult-like devotion to him at a special service on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of parishioners crowded a service at St. Sabina on Tuesday evening, asking Cardinal George to reinstate Father Pfleger and requesting a meeting with the cardinal, the Associated Press reported.Father Pfleger has had a regular place at the forefront of activism here, participating in protests against violence and police corruption and at times defying the church leadership.

My guess is that this will lead to one of a several of possible outcomes.

With a May death toll more than twice the level of American casualties in Iraq, it is clear that the situation in New York City is untenable and the US should immediately withdraw to a more sustainable position -- perhaps New Jersey.

NYC had 43 murders in the month of May 2008.  ThatÂ’s over twice the US deaths in Iraq (19) for the month of May.

While the liberals and the mainstream media love to remind us (daily) of the death count in Iraq as a way to fuel their anti-war propaganda, they might want to consider focusing their attention to local US deaths as a healthy comparison to the job we are doing over in Iraq.

When we lose more Americans in a major city than we do in a war zone, it is clear that the we are winning that war. It may be disheartening to those who need a US defeat to shore up their electoral position, but that is a hard and fast reality.

H/T Ace

Posted by: Greg at 03:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

Yeah, I know that there are still things that could happen between now and the Democrat convention in August, but it would appear that Barack Obama will be the least qualified Democrat standard bearer since. . . well, ever.

With a split decision in the final two primaries and a flurry of superdelegate endorsements, Sen. Barack Obama sealed the Democratic presidential nomination last night after a grueling and history-making campaign against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that will make him the first African American to head a major-party ticket.

I've got mixed emotions about this nomination. On the one hand, I feel that the nomination of Barack Obama will do nothing but boost the GOP ticket in the fall, because it will be composed of two candidates with the qualifications an experience necessary to be president while Obama makes Jimmy Carter and Michael Dukakis look highly qualified. on the other hand, I live in fear that we might actually have to suffer through four years of this accomplishment-free individual in the White House -- something that could damage this country for a generation or more.

Posted by: Greg at 03:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 200 words, total size 2 kb.

Let's hope not.

Cable service operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable said yesterday that they would begin testing new approaches that would slow Internet access for heavy users and charge more to those who want additional speed.

The tests come as the Federal Communications Commission wraps up an investigation on complaints that Comcast blocked certain users from sharing video, music and other files. The complaints fueled a larger debate, with hearings in Congress and by the FCC, on how much control Internet service providers should have over the flow of data.

"The cable companies see a hammer hovering above their heads and are scrambling to find ways to reduce the appearance of wrongdoing," said Ben Scott, head of policy for the public interest group Free Press, which advocates for better oversight of cable operators. He called the plans "Band-Aids" on the bigger problem of network capacity, which he said can be solved only by larger investments in the cable companies' networks.

Comcast said that on Friday it would begin tests in Chambersburg, Pa., and Warrenton, Va., that would delay traffic for the heaviest users of Internet data without targeting specific software applications. Public interest groups complained in November that Comcast targeted users of BitTorrent, a file-sharing application, by blocking or delaying video and other files exchanged with the technology. Free Press said the practice discriminated against certain content and impeded users from having full access to the Web.

Now i'll be honest -- I don't use that much bandwidth on a daily basis, but my webhost does. Are we going to see the destruction of the blogosphere as bloggers get socked with higher fees.

But i don't think such plans will be accepted by consumers, as is noted by this industry analyst.

Analysts warned that customers have become accustomed to flat fees for Internet and television service.

"Flat rate and unlimited service is an endgame move. When you go to that kind of rate structure, you can't go back," Entner said.

Posted by: Greg at 03:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 343 words, total size 2 kb.

There are any number of advantages to incorporating. Some of those have to do with taxes, others with liability, and still others with providing a structure for one's business. But regardless of the reason for incorporating, the second question you have to ask yourself is what state you want to incorporate in. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages that go with your choice. Today, however, the site of choice appears to be Nevada if you want to obtain the most favorable treatment under the law.

But let's be honest here -- most of us do not know the process of creating a Nevada LLC Corporation or other corporate structure. It just isn't something that we do every day. That is where the folks from Nevada Corporate Headquarters Incorporated can come in handy. For nearly 20 years, NCH has been company to go to for assistance in Nevada Incorporation. They can also help you develop asset protection strategies, establish business credit and provide you with many other business/financial services that are essential for a fledgling corporation. At NCH, they pride themselves on the quality of the service and guidance they provide their clients in order to help them succeed. So whatever the reason you have for wanting to Incorporate in Nevada, NCH is the company to turn to for the assistance you need in doing it right.

Posted by: Greg at 03:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 228 words, total size 2 kb.

This murdering punk doesn't like the lethal injection protocol? Fine -- let's go for the single-bullet-to-the-base-of-the-skull protocol.

Condemned double-murderer Derrick Juan Sonnier received a reprieve about two hours before he was to walk into Texas' death house Tuesday, the second time he has escaped execution.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution after the Texas Defender Service, a watchdog capital punishment group, filed two last-minute appeals in the 40-year-old man's case.

Sonnier was sentenced to die for the 1991 stabbing deaths of Melody Flowers, 27, and her 2-year-old son Patrick.

Authorities said he had stalked the single mother of five for months before the murders.

* * *

In its appeals, the Texas Defender Service argued that the state made changes May 30 to its lethal injection protocol that have not been reviewed by any court.

Its second appeal argues that the lethal injection protocol violates Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment, an issue raised in two other cases pending before the state court.

I'm sorry -- the "cruel and unusual punishment" argument doesn't was for me. While one can argue that any sentence of death is cruel, it is not unusual under the laws of this country to sentence someone to death for murder. Nor does it somehow shock the conscience that murdering scumbags might feel some fraction of the pain and suffering that their victims experienced -- indeed, most people with any sense of morality would argue that it is not unreasonable for those receiving capital PUNISHMENT to actually experience a some discomfort as a part of their punishment.

Posted by: Greg at 02:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 273 words, total size 2 kb.

I'll be honest with you -- I've encountered a lot of specialty stores in my time, including some really specialized sites on the internet. After all, if you can find your niche, you can eventually grow your business into something much larger and expansive that it is the day that you begin. But i have to be honest -- when I first heard about the website at BuyRailings.com, I was a bit taken aback. That really seems like a pretty precise niche they are out to fill.

But then I looked at the site, and I was really surprised at the sorts of products that you can get at BuyRailings.com. I was thinking exclusively of stair rails, but found out there is so much more. Indeed, there are all sorts of guard rails and bar rails and other items that you and I encounter every single day that fall into the category of railing. Take the handrails along many hallways -- they have them. Similarly, the guard rails that are used to guide customers into well-organized lines in some businesses are also among the products they sell. And then there is the old-fashioned bar rail. And their selection and inventory of items is quite good. Drop by and take a look at everything they've got!

Posted by: Greg at 12:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 221 words, total size 1 kb.

I've intentionally kept out of the FLDS saga, not blogging upon it because it so quickly became so complicated and convoluted that I ceased being able to tell what was true, what was conjecture, and what was outright lies. And while I initially supported the raid, I also understood the importance of returning some -- but not necessarily all -- of the children to their parents. Taking that many kids could not be justified.

But one striking point through all of this is the claim made by the FLDS members that no underaged girls were married off as part of the cult's practice of "spiritual marriage". How, then, can they now make this statement?

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints made the startling announcement Monday that it will no longer allow underage girls to marry adults within their sect.

* * *

As the transfers were taking place, Willie Jessop, an FLDS member and the group's Texas spokesman, said: "In the future, the church commits that it will not preside over any marriage of any woman under the age of legal consent in the jurisdiction in which the marriage takes place."

The announcement applies to both the group's "spiritual" unions and legal marriages. The minimum age to marry in Texas is 16, but only with parental permission.

"The church believes in purity, cleanliness and innocence, and our children and families are the cornerstone of our lives and religion," Willie Jessop said. "We hope this modest clarification will alleviate recent concerns and allow this church and its families to reside in peace among its neighbors."

Now hold on -- I thought they already didn't allow such marriages. Doesn't this constitute an admission that they did -- and the initial move to protect young girls from sexual exploitation by older men was, in fact somewhat justified (even if the initial phone call was a hoax)?

Posted by: Greg at 03:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 2 kb.

After all, Bob Barr is at least willing to denounce professional racists and refuse to taint his campaign with their money. When racist scum-suckers posted an endorsement of Bob Barr (including an attack on John McCain's adopted daughter) in several locations around the web, here's how Barr's campaign manager responded on his behalf.

The Barr campaign is not going to be a vehicle for every fringe and hate group to promote itself. We do not want and will not accept the support of haters. Anyone with love in their heart for our country and for every resident of our country regardless of race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation is welcome with open arms.

Tell the haters I said don't let the door hit you on the backside on your way out!

Contrast that to Ron Paul's long-time association with bigots and refusal to divest himself of cash from known professional racists.

I won't vote for Bob Barr -- but I at least retain some respect for him.

H/T LGF

Posted by: Greg at 02:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 187 words, total size 2 kb.

This one is important to note -- especially in light of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. On this day in 1989, the oppressors of the people of the People's Republic of China crushed the voice of the people when they called for democratic reform in Red China.

Some still suffer for their heroism.

China is still holding about 130 activists from the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said, calling on the government to free them on the 19th anniversary of the crackdown that falls today.

China should honor its pledge to improve human rights by releasing the prisoners before the Beijing Olympics in August when the square will be used for functions, the New York-based group said.

China tightened security at Tiananmen Square, authorizing police to randomly search visitors, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last month. ``Security around Tiananmen is very important and has great international influence,'' it cited Zhang Peili, an official at the municipal government law office, as saying at the time.

Chinese soldiers, backed by tanks, killed an estimated 2,000 pro-democracy activists in and around Tiananmen Square and in other Chinese cities on June 3-4, according to Human Rights Watch. The death toll included Chinese citizens who massed in Beijing streets to stop the army reaching the square, it said.

We must never forget the sacrifices of these heroic young people who stood up against one of the most oppressive regime of our times.

Soccer Dad supplies this video that documents the evil committed by the Red Chinese dictators in Tiananmen Square nineteen years ago.

Posted by: Greg at 01:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 267 words, total size 3 kb.

There are at least some peacemakers in the religion of Peace.

A Muslim Indian seminary which is said to have inspired the Taliban has issued a fatwa against terrorism, insisting that Islam is a religion of peace.

Senior clerics from the 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband issued the edict saying they wished to wipe out terrorism. "Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form," said the rector, Habibur Rehman, to the cheers of thousands of students. Many held placards saying "Islam means peace", while others chanted.

"The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace," Mr Rehman added.

The Deoband institute was established in the aftermath of the 1857 uprising against British rule, an uprising that was brutally suppressed by the imperial forces. Highly influential, it controls thousands of smaller seminaries and madrassas around the world, from Britain to Afghanistan.

Of Britain's 1,400 mosques, about 600 are run by Deobandi-affiliated clerics. Seventeen of the UK's 26 Islamic seminaries follow Deobandi teachings, which produce about 80 per cent of all domestically trained Muslim clerics.

Now, if only the terrorists will listen. After all, given the decentralized nature of Islam, there is no Pope to issue decrees that are binding upon all the faithful. In this particular case, I certainly wish there were.

Posted by: Greg at 10:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 2 kb.

And I can think of no more fitting tribute than this video, surrounded by some of the greats he inspired.

Musician Bo Diddley has died at the age of 79.

The Grammy-winning singer-guitarist died of heart failure in Florida, his spokeswoman said.

He had suffered a heart attack in August 2007, three months after suffering a stroke which affected his ability to speak.

He rose to fame in 1955 when he topped the R&B charts with Bo Diddley. His other hits include Who Do You Love, Before You Accuse Me, and Mona.

The legendary singer and performer was known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat.

His so-called "Bo Diddley beat" influenced rockers from Buddy Holly, to Bruce Springsteen and U2.

Rest in peace.

Posted by: Greg at 05:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.

Just remember -- this is what Hillary, Barack, and the rest of the Democrats are promising you when they promote their universal health care schemes.

A woman who was refused free NHS cancer treatment after she paid for extra drugs has died, reigniting the debate over whether patients should be allowed to "top up" their care.

Linda O'Boyle and her husband Brian, both retired health workers, decided to pay for treatment in addition to that available on the NHS in order to prolong her life.

Mrs O'Boyle was told that meant she was considered a private patient and so had to pay for all her treatment.

Government guidelines currently ban patients from mixing public and private care.

* * *

When Mrs O'Boyle, who had three children and four grandchildren, developed bowel cancer and began having chemotherapy, doctors said she could boost her chances of fighting the disease by adding the drug cetuximab.

It is not routinely funded by the NHS but she decided to use her savings to pay for it.Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust then withdrew her free treatment, including the chemotherapy drug she was receiving.

In other words, because Mrs. O'Boyle affirmatively attempted to improve her health by seeking the best in medical care, she was denied access to even the minimal level of care provided by the government.

In my book, that is murder.

And now the Democrats want to bring such a medical rationing system here.

Don't tell them no -- tell them HELL NO!

Posted by: Greg at 02:20 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
Post contains 261 words, total size 2 kb.

1 To bad she couldn't have died the American way, with an insurance bureaucrat declining coverage. Until all Universal Health Care plans are run absolutely perfectly, we should continue to tolerate our ridiculously expensive system, its frightening inequities, and mediocre results. As long as some beneficiary of UHC must sit for 15 minutes before receiving high-quality care without paying for it, I will continue to happily wait for an hour to be seen briefly by a nurse practicioner . . .

Posted by: Dan at Mon Jun 2 03:50:55 2008 (n1xH/)

2 Except, of course, if you have been paying attention to the news about the health care systems in Canada and the UK -- the ones that are most often cited by universal health care advocates -- stories like this are the exception rather than the rule. Why do you think that Canadians cross the border to the US to pay privately for routine tests procedures? Because they are told that it will three months before they can get an MRI for that suspected torn ligament in their knee, rather than three days. And since in the British system they will simply stop doing surgeries during the last couple of months of the year because they have burned through their budget, it ain't a question of "sitting 15 minutes for high-quality care". Nut hell -- the true-believers in socialism always believe that Karl Marx's solutions will finally work if only they get to be in charge of implementing them, never mind that they have failed every time they have ever been tried anyplace.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 2 04:01:28 2008 (YtsIz)

3 If I had the time, I would fill my tank with government-subsidized gas, on the socialized roads, to your socialized place of employment, and tell you what I think of your criticism. But, on the other hand, the conversation could get heated, in which case the socialized police department might get involved. Of course, the roads, military, trash pick-up, parks and police are complete failures every time they have ever been tried anyplace . . .

Posted by: Dan at Mon Jun 2 06:04:00 2008 (n1xH/)

4 Nice try, Dan -- but it does not work. Government should only be providing those things that the people cannot provide for themselves -- thus military and police services are legitimate. As for my place of employment -- I'll be the first to tell you that I believe the public school system ought to be privatized so that it can run more efficiently.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 2 09:21:55 2008 (YtsIz)

5 Actually, the argument works fine. We can purchase our own security if you socialists would not prevent us from having our own military. Some places do have their own trash pick-up, though studies show that the privatizes systems underperform the "socialistic" ones. We can certainly have private toll roads. And we're communicating on a socialistic internet.

Posted by: Dan at Mon Jun 2 11:48:44 2008 (IU21y)

6 Actually, it really does not. Familiarize yourself with the concept of "public goods".

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jun 2 12:40:05 2008 (YtsIz)

7 As in a healthy public?

Posted by: Dan at Tue Jun 3 03:06:15 2008 (IU21y)

8 Doesn't fit the definition. The people can provide health care for themselves without government intervention in a way that they cannot provide military protection for themselves.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Jun 3 04:57:31 2008 (YtsIz)

9 Don't you think the millions of uninsured, including tens of millions of children and elderly, prove you wrong? If we're all expected to have enough money to pay for our own health care, why shouldn't we have enough money to pay for our own roads and police? And military? You admitted above that the story you told was the exception rather than the rule in countries that are blessed with single-payer systems. Why are our uninsured less worthy than a poor Brit or Canadian? Why should American children suffer, while French kids get basic care? There will always be exceptional cases, where some unlucky person gets ignored or maltreated. That happens in all countries where humans run the health system.

Posted by: Dan at Tue Jun 3 07:31:21 2008 (VQXBf)

10 I mis-typed -- they are the rule rather than the exception.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Jun 3 10:32:20 2008 (YtsIz)

11 And again, you are clearly not familiar with the economic concept i referenced, so I'm not going to try to debate you when we are not even working with the same definition of a key term.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Jun 3 10:48:00 2008 (YtsIz)

12 I know the definition, but I rather enjoyed showing how myopic your view of the proper role of government is. Faux-libertarianism is one of the most mockable stances. Happily for all except the insurance insurance industry, we're going to have universal health care within the first 4 years of President Obama's administration. It'll probably take a few more years before we totally get rid of the medical insurance industry, though. (As an aside, your comment screening will not allow the phrase "insurance" followed by "company".)

Posted by: Dan at Wed Jun 4 16:37:45 2008 (IU21y)

13 I'm not engaged in a faux-libertarianism. I'm engaged in a very real conservatism. President Obama? I don't think so. Democrats are rushing to back John McCain. And as far as the two words go, that has something to do with a previous spammage problem.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Wed Jun 4 23:41:00 2008 (YtsIz)

14 "A woman who was refused free NHS cancer treatment after she paid for extra drugs has died." We have often many similar subtitles in our newspapers, just with a small difference, usually it's something like "Woman died because of late diagnosis" "Man died because of late treatment" I don't say public health insurance is generally bad, on the other hand you should have the right to choose something different and to pay for it if you want. But that's almost not possible in Canada. As a Toronto life insurance broker I have been always fan of private health insurance, but any effort to spread it is blocked... anyway, the best health care is the one you don't need Best wishes! Lorne

Posted by: Life Insurance Canada at Sat Jun 7 02:59:47 2008 (wmA+H)

15 It'll probably take a few more years before we totally get rid of the medical insurance industry, though. (As an aside, your comment screening will not allow the phrase "insurance" followed by "company".)

Posted by: Pearle Lindberg at Tue Sep 11 00:30:27 2012 (SMcr0)

16 As an aside, your comment screening will not allow the phrase "insurance" followed by "company"

Posted by: Rayna Urbina at Wed Sep 12 00:42:19 2012 (FTPQj)

17 Hello, Thanks for this fine blog. I think it is really a great topic to write about on my blog. Also here is some nice information:

Posted by: Maida Sells at Fri Nov 9 00:26:54 2012 (Ltlc/)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Looks like the Islamo-censors are back again, out to punish Denmark with acts of terror because of the reprinting of the Muhammad cartoons. After all, there have been repeated threats towards Danish embassies, including this one, since the February reprinting of the inoffensive drawings that offend the sensibilities of those whose brains are addled by extremist Islam.

Now they've tried to blow up ">the Danish Embassy in Pakistan.

At least eight people have been killed in a car bomb attack near the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, according to reports.

About 30 people were wounded. An embassy worker was among the dead and three were hurt, but no Danish citizens died, Danish officials said.

The embassy building and several vehicles outside were damaged.

It was not clear who carried out the attack, as Pakistan's main militant group recently declared a ceasefire.

Pakistan's top Taleban warlord Baitullah Mehsud is in peace talks with the authorities in an attempt to end fighting in the country's north-west.

Some Danish embassies around the world have been threatened since a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad was reprinted in Danish newspapers in February.

The cartoons, deemed offensive to Islam, led to worldwide protests when they were first printed in September 2005.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says suspicion for the attack has fallen on al-Qaeda, as the network's number two Ayman al-Zawahri denounced the cartoons in a recent video.

The Danes remain unbowed!

Per Stig Møller, the foreign minister, blamed the attack on 'dark forces that want to destroy Pakistan's relationship with others'.

'We will not give them that victory,' he said at a press conference in Copenhagen. He that the relationship between the Danish and Pakistani governments is as strong as ever, saying that the bombing 'is also an attack against Pakistan's government and their security people'.

Terror cannot be allowed to win the battle. Freedom of speech and of the pres cannot be abandoned because the most hateful and extreme engage in terrorism and other acts of violence in response.

So to all you jihadi swine out there, here they are -- and you can kiss my big fat bacon grease smeared kaffir ass if you don't like it.

More coverage at Jawa Report, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Wizbang

Posted by: Greg at 01:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 394 words, total size 5 kb.

As I noted when his health problems came to light, I don't think that now is the time to attack Ted Kennedy for all the crappy deeds of his past. Human decency and compassion requires that we offer our best wishes for a full recovery.

Today is one of those days, as he undergoes surgery related to the brain tumor that was discovered following his seizures.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) will undergo surgery this morning at Duke University to try and remove a highly lethal tumor that doctors discovered in his brain last month.

In a statement, the 76-year-old Democratic icon said he would fight the grim prognosis he was given in May through a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The operation, which is being performed by neurosurgeon Allan H. Friedman of Duke University Medical Center, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. and last about six hours.

Kennedy said in his statement that he expected to remain at Duke for about a week after the operation, and start radiation and chemotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital shortly thereafter.

Kennedy was diagnosed in mid-May with a malignant glioma, a highly aggressive type of tumor that doctors say can never be completely destroyed. About half of the 10,000 people found to have such tumors in the United States each year die within 12 months; three-quarters of them are dead within two years.

My prayers are with the Massachusetts senator at this time, and with his family as they wait with a man they love despite his many flaws. At a time like this politics is irrelevant and love of our fellow man should be the rule.

Posted by: Greg at 01:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.

A bit over a decade ago, my wife was the pastor of a small rural congregation of the United Church of Christ in southern Illinois, and I worked for the county mental health agency in the next county. We lived in the century old parsonage next to the church and a cemetery that dated back to the Civil War and half-a-mile from the nearest neighbor.

Neat as that was, we were also 10 miles from the nearest gas station. Even so, I would often play the "how low can you go" game with my car's gas gauge in the last few days before payday -- and inevitably lost the bet five miles from the nearest gas station. Fortunately, a county sheriff happened by a few minutes later and took me to town for gas. It never dawned upon me that there might be something newsworthy about my situation.

But the fine folks at the Washington Post seem to think there is.

Brent Saba had just dropped a church group off at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday morning and was heading north on Interstate 95 when it happened: His 15-passenger van ran out of gas.

Saba, a 24-year-old church pastor, made it to the shoulder just past the Ben Franklin Bridge and waited more than 30 minutes for someone to stop and lend him a cell phone. Then he waited a while longer for AAA to arrive with fuel.

With gas prices hovering at $4 a gallon, motorists like Saba are putting less fuel in their tanks _ then coming up empty on the highway.

Though national statistics on out-of-gas motorists don't exist, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that drivers unwilling or unable to fill 'er up are gambling by keeping their tanks extremely low on fuel.

DUH! If you put less gas in the tank you run out sooner or need to fill up more often. If you run out of gas because you have tried to stretch enough fuel for 150 miles to drive 200 miles, you are not going to be successful unless you have gale force tail winds at all times.

And the MSM thinks this is news? I guess there aren't any serious issues to report on.

Posted by: Greg at 12:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 391 words, total size 2 kb.

I live only a few blocks from the water, so I see some really dangerous things done out there on a regular basis. Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous combinations I see is drinking and boating -- a combination every bid as dangerous as drunk driving.

Boating Operating Under the Influence is really a dangerous practice. But it is possible to get Boating Education Online to help you operate your water craft more safely. Here's an example of information about Arizona Boating safety that contains information relevant to every state..

Remember -- Boat Safe, Boat Smart, Boat Sober.

Posted by: Greg at 12:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

It has been rumored for weeks, and now appears set to break tomorrow.

And this one is going to sting MUCH WORSE than Wright or Pfleger.

And left-winger Larry Johnson is set to break news about it at 0900 on Monday, June 2.

New and dramatic developments. This is a heads up. IÂ’ll post the news Monday morning by 0900 hours. Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning. BarackÂ’s headaches are only starting.

Imagine that -- the day before he is set to clinch the nomination, a bombshell of his wife's racist comments at Trinity UCC (if rumors are correct) is set to break. Johnson wants to blame Rove, but my money is on Hillary Clinton. The GOP would wait until the last week of October or even November 1 to break this story.

Obama's problem? He can throw his grandmother under the bus. He can throw Jeremiah Wright under the bus. he can throw Michael Pfleger under the bus. He can even throw his entire 8000 member church under the bus. But how on earth do you manage to throw your wife, the mother of your children, under the bus?

UPDATE: Valerie Plame's ex-boyfriend seriously under-delivers again.

I learned over the weekend why the Republicans who have seen the tape of Michelle Obama ranting about “whitey” describe it as “STUNNING.” I have not seen it but I have heard from five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape. It features Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan. They are sitting on a panel at Jeremiah Wright’s Church when Michelle makes her intemperate remarks. Whoops!! When that image comes out it will enter the politcal ads hall of fame. It will be right up there with the little girl plucking daisy petals in the famous 1964 ad LBJ used against Barry Goldwater.

But he raises some other, much more important issues related to Obama's connection to racists.

Barack may have quit his church but his religious problems are not over. Barack Obama has a Nation of Islam problem that will receive more attention in the coming days. Before Barack came on the scene, THE MAN in his political district was Louis Farrakhan. No one could take Alice Palmer’s seat without Farrakhan’s blessing. No one. I do not fault Barack Obama for seeking out the blessing of Farrakhan, but the story of what was done behind the scenes to get rid of Barack’s predecessor—Alice Palmer—has not been told. A knowledgeable source tells me that Tony Rezko played a direct role in this feat. And Rezko has been tight with Farrakhan.

It also should come as no surprise that Barack hired two members of the Nation of Islam to work on his staff—Jennifer Mason and Cynthia K. Miller. (And no, I am not merely recycling info initially reported by Debbie Schlussel. I have two independent Chicago sources for this info.) If Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger had kept their yaps buttoned none of this would mean much. But the fact that both men have been—until scrubbed from the website in recent weeks—listed as spiritual advisors to Barack Obama and also are very close to Louis Farrakhan, forces the question about Barack’s faith and beliefs.

In probing those matters we begin to understand that the Nation of Islam has been a critical component of Barack ObamaÂ’s base of support. And, I am told, Louis Farrakhan has been careful to use Tony Rezko as the intermediary in his relationship with Barack. This is not guilt by association, this is guilt because of actual relationship. Farrakhan, Wright, and Pfleger are each on tape in various settings spewing the most vile racists garbage in the guise of preaching. Barack Obama, up to this point, has tried to pretend he had no idea that these men had these thoughts or said these things.

I've got trouble with Johnson's use of anonymous sources here -- but these matters have all been in the public domain in some form or fashion over the last several months, only to be overlooked by the MSM as they fawn over Barack Obama.

Posted by: Greg at 04:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 701 words, total size 5 kb.

Congressman Alcee Hastings, whose major distinction is being one of only seven federal judges in the entire history of the United States to be impeached and removed from office for committing high crimes and misdemeanors, is boycotting the Democrat Convention over the decision of the DNC to give the delegates of Florida and Michigan only half a vote each, made this historically inaccurate statement.

At the beginning of our great countryÂ’s history my ancestors were counted as only 2/3 of a person....

Well, not exactly -- in reality it was 3/5 of a person, and only for purposes of representation in Congress.

Interestingly enough, I wrote about this very topic earlier this evening in response to one of my students in my college-level American Government class.

There is this popular notion that the Three-Fifths Compromise means that blacks were three-fifths of a human being. However, if you go back and read it in the Constitution, it deals with a very different issue -- should property be counted for purposes of representation and taxation.

The Northern delegates argued no -- that if slaves were chattel, then they should no more be counted for purposes of representation that cows, pigs, or chickens were. Their goal was to see to it that slave-owners, who acted in violation of the principles of liberty and equality by holding slaves, did not also do violence to the principle of self-government by gaining extra representation by counting those who would not EVER have a voice in government. In short, they were
operating on the principle that those who were entitled to neither liberty, equality, nor self-government under the laws of those states that recognized slavery (northern and southern -- slavery was legal in at least 10 of the 13 states at this time, though more prevalent in the South) should not be included in the total inhabitants of the state who would be represented in Congress.

The Southern delegates, on the other hand, took a pointedly different tack -- they were more than willing to count slaves as their equal in terms of being numerically represented in Congress, even as they denied them liberty, equality, and self-government.

It is really easy (and popular) to condemn the Three-Fifths Compromise today, with the benefit of 221 years of hindsight. After all, that extra representation that the slave-holding aristocracy of the South gained enabled the region's "peculiar institution" to continue for at least three decades beyond what it would have if the Northern delegates had prevailed -- and during that time the forces of slavocracy were able to foist the Missouri Compromise on the nation, along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and various Fugitive Slave Laws, not to mention the infamous Gag Rule that for a decade forbade Congress to even consider the issues of abolition and emancipation by consigning citizen petitions on those subjects to oblivion without hearing in violation of the First Amendment right of the people to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

However, you got to the meat of the issue in your last sentence -- a majority of those who met in Philadelphia in 1787 recognized that the nation needed to replace the Articles of Confederation with something that created a more functional national government. And so they compromised on the issue, leaving it to future generations to deal with a question they could not.

Consider this, my friends -- without the Three-Fifths Compromise, there would have likely been no Constitution. Not only that, but very possibly the government of the Articles of Confederation would have collapsed within a few years, and with it the fledgling United States of America. for all that it was a compromise with evil (one for which this nation has paid dearly in every generation), are not we and the world better off for it having been made in order to preserve America as one nation?

Posted by: Greg at 04:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 657 words, total size 4 kb.

And as far as I am concerned, he ought to obey it.

A Washington Times reporter has been subpoenaed by a federal judge who wants him to reveal the sources for a story he wrote about an engineer convicted of conspiracy to export U.S. defense technology to China.

National security reporter Bill Gertz was ordered to appear before U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in June, the newspaper reported Saturday. The judge has also requested e-mail messages, files and correspondences.

Gertz cited U.S. government sources in a 2006 story saying that Justice Department officials approved an indictment against Tai Mak and that four of Mak's relatives would also be charged.

Mak's attorneys had objected to Gertz's story, contending the government violated a federal rule barring federal officials from giving information about grand jury proceedings to outsiders. Carney ordered an investigation to determine who leaked the information.

“We will be presenting our case to the judge and we remain hopeful that he will be receptive to the arguments we present to him in trying to preserve Bill's and the Times' First Amendment right to report the news and his other legal rights as well,” Times executive editor John F. Solomon said.

The four family members were eventually indicted. All have pleaded guilty to related offenses in exchange for leniency. Mak is serving a 24-year sentence in federal prison.

It is my profound hope that the judge is not at all receptive to the arguments put forward by the Washington Times and its attorneys. Members of the press are not royalty, and ought to be mandated to obey curt orders in exactly the same way other citizens. Given that Gertz may well be a witness to the criminal disclosure of grand jury testimony, he must be compelled to obey.

Posted by: Greg at 08:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 302 words, total size 2 kb.

Even though the hate monger claims that I and many like me do.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who helped reignite Barack Obama's pastor problems by mocking Hillary Clinton, said this evening he's received "thousands of hate threats" since his videotaped pulpit rant.

"They want to kill me," Pfleger told parishioners during a service in a St. Sabina Church chapel on Chicago's South Side this evening. "It's been very ugly."

Not as ugly as your words at Trinity, Mikey. You are just reaping what you have sown.

But seriously, i don't want you dead.

You are much more useful alive -- because you will be unable to keep your mouth shut for long, and you will violate your promise to Cardinal George just like you violated your promise of obedience when you refused his directive to change parishes at the end of your third term as pastor of St. Sabina six years ago.

Just like Jeremiah Wright, i expect you to be a gift that keeps on giving -- and your death would prevent that.

Posted by: Greg at 08:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

What's missing here?

SHREVEPORT, La. - Two judges were convicted Saturday of taking bribes to set low bonds or remove court holds on defendants.

A federal jury convicted state District Judge Michael Walker and Caddo Parish Juvenile Court Judge Vernon Claville on one count each of racketeering. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Claville was accused of taking bribes to remove court holds from juveniles so they could get bond.

Walker oversaw the drug section of his court and was accused of taking bribes to quickly set bonds, reduce them, recall arrest warrants or remove probation holds.

Defense attorneys argued the case was based on inconclusive recordings and testimony.

Where's the party affiliation of these public officials? Oh, that's right, it doesn't matter -- because the correct answer is DEMOCRAT!

I guess that it must now be a part of the AP stylebook that party affiliation for convicted public officials shall be disclosed only if they are Republicans

Posted by: Greg at 07:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 179 words, total size 1 kb.

Guess what rich liberal has skipped out on paying taxes like the rest of us?

It initially appeared to simply be a case of his tax-avoidance shell corporation failing to pay a relatively paltry amount -- $2269.50

New York State has issued a tax warrant against Keith Olbermann for failure to pay taxes on his humbly named personal corporation, Olbermann Broadcasting Empire, Inc. Olbermann is listed in legal records as the President of Olbermann Broadcasting Empire, Inc.

A call to the Albany County Clerk's Office in upstate New York confirmed that the warrant is still outstanding and that Olbermann has still failed to pay his back taxes. State records show that Olbermann's company failed to pay $2,269.50 in state taxes. A judgement was entered against Olbermann last summer (Docket Date: 8/21/2007), just weeks before Olbermann closed on a a luxurious $4.2 mm condo at Trump Palace, at 200 East 69th Street.

By the way -- you've just gotta love the name of the tax-dodging corporation -- Olbermann Broadcasting Empire, Inc.. I wonder, would that make him Emperor Keithius Smallpenius of the Olbermann Broadcasting Empire?

But it turns out that there may be a reason for setting up the corporation -- some personal tax issues that go back several years.

A search of records in New York State turned up another Judgement against Keith Olbermann - this one for Keith personally not his "Empire" shell corporation). The Judgement was filed on 7/27/2000 for $21,565.

California records show yet another judgement - this one for a whopping $77,425 - which was filed on 9/21/2001. I guess Keith's professed patriotic fervor in the wake of 9/11 had cooled by the time his tax bill was due. This one was filed in Los Angeles County. Records indicate that Keith was finally got around to resolving the matter four months later.

All together Keith's tax warrants and judgements now exceed $100,000.

How do you miss a $77K tax payment? That is more than most Americans make in a year. But at least he seems to have paid it. It remains unclear, though, whether Olbermann ever made good on that other $21K of money owed to the government. Makes me wonder if the Olbermann Media Empire is really nothing but a way of protecting his assets from those personal judgments.

UPDATE: While MSNBC tried to spin Olbermann out of this one, it now appears that Emperor Keithius Smallpenius has in fact had $150K in tax leans against him or his shell corporation over the last 9 years.

H/T Newsbusters

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Alabama Improper, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Adeline and Hazel, Pet's Garden Blog, Online Gym, third world county, The Pink Flamngo, Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Chucjk's Place, , Right Voices, 123beta, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Conservative Cat, Nuke Gingrich, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, McCain Blogs, Alabama Improper, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Wolf Pangloss, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 03:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 532 words, total size 7 kb.

But in a way which I believe is utterly insufficient to defuse the controversy that has dogged him for some three months. Indeed, his stated reasons for quitting make it clear that, his disassociation is less about any fundamental disagreement with what goes on at Trinity than it is about the cost of him membership there to his campaign and the behavior of the media in covering the racist church.

"We don't want to have to answer for everything that's stated in the church," the Democratic front-runner said. "We also don't want the church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes."

Sorry, Barry -- you stayed a part of Trinity UCC for two decades and praised it in both of your books, even though the very things that you claim constitute “a cultural and a stylistic gap” have been a part of what goes on at Trinity for that entire time.

How timid is Obama in the break from the extremist theology and rhetoric of Trinity UCC? Consider this.

"I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church," he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and "the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them."

Got that? If you are concerned about what you heard from Wright, Pfleger, and Otis Moss, Barack Obama isn't interested in you (though he believes you ought to vote for him -- otherwise you no doubt are a racist). And given that it is Otis Moss, the new pastor at Trinity who was so effusive in his praise for Michael Pfleger in the video we've all seen (and who invited him to preach), I'd have to argue that the new pastor is every bit as guilty of the sins of the past as Jeremiah Wright -- and that he merits equal scrutiny. And given the response of the congregation to Pfleger's sermon (watch the background and listen to the crowd response), I'd argue that the whole congregation does merit serious scrutiny.

And let's be honest -- among the scrutiny deserved by Trinity UCC is an investigation by the IRS for violation of restrictions on political activity by a tax exempt organization AND under the standard enunciated by the Supreme Court in Bob Jones University v. United States, namely that an organization that practices racism is ineligible for a tax exemption as a charity even if it meets all other requirements.

Obama indicated he won't be making a choice of a new church until after November. Anyone want to bet that it will be a church just like Trinity UCC -- if not Trinity UCC itself, should he lose the election this fall? After all, the folks he claims to be the bad actors in all this (Wright & Pfleger) won't be there, and neither Moss nor the institution itself have done anything wrong in his eyes -- and as a failed candidate for president, will his choice of church really merit any scrutiny at all?

Here's the whole press conference in which Obama discusses the decision.

He ight be able to get away with that limp-wristed position except for the fact that less than a year ago he was more than willing to denounce a different group of religious believers for what the believe and say.

"Somewhere along the way faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart... Faith got hijacked partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, whoÂ’ve been all too eager to exploit what divides us.

So let's get this straight -- those who support traditional values and traditional Christian theology merit denunciation by Obama, but the race-baiters and their followers at Trinity UCC (ant Pfleger's St. Sabina Catholic Church) do not. After all, haven't they "stopped [using] faith to bring us together and started [using] it to drive us apart"? Given that double standard, I guess he wasn't lying when he said yesterday that he isn't people who disagree with him, is he?

MORE AT Malkin, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, STACLU

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Alabama Improper, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Adeline and Hazel, Pet's Garden Blog, Online Gym, third world county, The Pink Flamngo, Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Chucjk's Place, , Right Voices, 123beta, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Conservative Cat, Nuke Gingrich, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, McCain Blogs, Alabama Improper, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Wolf Pangloss, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 12:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 788 words, total size 10 kb.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Why Jews Are Right To Suspect Obama's Advisers by Bookworm Room, and Deep Thoughts with Biggie Smalls by Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal.  Here's where you can find the full results of the vote:

Posted by: Greg at 12:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 175 words, total size 4 kb.

Former White house Press Secretary Scott McClellan should not profit from his book.

The liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org today launched a petition drive calling on former White House official Scott McClellan to donate the proceeds of his book to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The petition drive, intended to create pressure for Mr. McClellan to be asked about it on the morning news-interview shows Sunday, is the latest signal of a backlash by Democrats and Republicans alike against the former press secretary for turning on his ex-boss, President Bush.

MoveOn's petition e-mail, sent out to its supporters Saturday morning, said that Mr. McClellan's "coming clean is admirable.”

"But McClellan shouldn't profit off the role he played in our nation's largest foreign policy blunder,” the release reads.

"After spending years defending the Bush administration and perpetuating the lies that led our country into war, Scott McClellan is poised to make bank — his tell-all book is a bestseller and he may make hundreds of thousands or millions,” MoveOn says. "Meanwhile, our troops are still dying in Iraq.”

It really is very simple. If we are to believe Scott McClellan, he stood up and lied to the press on a daily basis for years, and he did nothing to stop what he knew was a contrived effort to take America into an unnecessary and unjustifiable war. As such, he is part of a great criminal conspiracy -- and he should no more be permitted to profit than would any spree killer or child molester would with a book about his crimes.

On the other hand, if Scott McClellan is lying in the book itself there is no justification for his profiting by what would be a fraud committed against the American people in the interest of undermining the government.

Either way, I'm going to disregard everything in the book -- after all, much like David Brock, his entire argument is "Trust me -- I'm a liar!"

Posted by: Greg at 01:33 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 335 words, total size 2 kb.

This has been a rough school year for me, so I have to admit that I've been looking forward to the last day of school for a while now. There were some wonderful high points, but also a number of negative events that just made this year harder than any in the past. And given the reconfiguration of my school and the resultant reassignment of faculty, I was having problems with my enthusiasm for returning to my school next year -- but planned to do so anyway.

Until last week -- when a wonderful opportunity fell into my lap that I think is a change for the better. So next fall I'll be teaching something different in a different school -- and believe I will be refreshed by the change.

I'll be picking up my last three boxes tomorrow, turning in my keys, and preparing to begin a whole new adventure.

Posted by: Greg at 12:04 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.

I always love it when students are able to figure out how to handle a situation better than the adults in charge -- and hope the adults in charge make the right choice here.

The state's governing body for high-school sports again finds itself stuck between its rules and what many consider common sense.

This time, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association faces a protest from Nicole Cochran, a senior at Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma. Cochran finished more than three seconds faster than her competition in the girls 3,200-meter run at the Class 4A state track and field meet in Pasco, but she was disqualified after an official flagged her for running on the inside lane line.

One problem: a video shows she didn't do it.

"I'm still in a little bit of shock," Cochran said Thursday afternoon. "That's pretty much all everyone can talk about."

The video — which shows that a Bellarmine Prep teammate, not Cochran, stepped on the inside lane line — was shot by flotrack.com, a track Web site. Since the event's controversial finish late Friday night, the video has circulated throughout the state's track community, triggering many to call for the WIAA to reverse the disqualification and name Cochran the winner.

That, WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese said, isn't likely to happen.

He said the WIAA must follow the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which prohibits the use of unauthorized video for reviews. In addition, the race official's ruling is considered a judgment call, which Colbrese said is non-reviewable.

Fortunately, there may be a couple of factors that let them overturn the erroneous judgment call.

Cochran and Ellis list several problems with the disqualification ruling, including that the disqualification form indicates the infraction occurred on Lap 7, even though the video shows the official raised his yellow flag on the final turn of Lap 6.

At the same turn on the seventh lap, Cochran moves outside to take the lead.

"Even without looking at the video, you have a disqualification form with the wrong information," Ellis said.

Also, Ellis said the WIAA should consider that one of the two race officials watching that turn refused to sign off on the disqualification.

Sounds to me like the disqualification itself ought to be disqualified here based upon the obvious inaccuracies in it.

But even if it isn't, this shows that our kids do, in fact, know that what is right ought to trump the rules in such a case -- and those involved handled the situation themselves at the meet.

Andrea Nelson, a sophomore from Shadle Park of Spokane, was named the official winner, but she walked off the podium and hung her gold medal over Cochran's neck.

"It kind of gave me chills," Cochran said. "It was really emotional."

Then the rest of the top eight finishers passed their medals down to the person who crossed the finish line ahead of them.

As hard as these kids have worked to get to this level of competition, I can only imagine how hard it was for those eight kids to take a step down the ladder voluntarily -- especially that poor young lady with the eight-place medal who went home empty-handed as a result. I wish they had included her name in the article, because I'd argue that her sacrifice was every bit as heroic as Andrea Nelson's in giving up the gold to the girl she knew had won the race.

Now, can the adults straighten out this mess?

Posted by: Greg at 11:14 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 601 words, total size 4 kb.

And this time, I've even met the perp!

Let's look at the hate speech being spewed in the sanctuary this time -- with an introduction from Barack Obama's NEW pastor, not Jeremiah "I didn't know he was that extreme" Wright.

Pastor Otis Moss: He needs no introduction. HeÂ’s a friend of Trinity, heÂ’s a brother beloved. HeÂ’s a preacher par excellence. HeÂ’s a prophetic, powerful pulpiteer. He is our friend. He is our brother. He is none other than Father Michael Pfleger. (Crowd on its feet, standing ovation, loud applause). We welcome him once againÂ…

…Pfleger: [Unintelligible] to address the one who says, “Well, don’t hold me responsible (gesticulating) for what my ancestors did. But you have enjoyed the benefits of what your ancestors did and unless you are ready to give up the benefits (voice rising), throw away your 401 fund, throw away your trust fund, throw away all the money you put into the company you WALKED INTO BECAUSE YO’ DADDY AND YO’ GRANDDADDY AND YO’ GREATGRANDDADDY–(screaming at the top of his lungs)–UNLESS YOU’RE WILLING TO GIVE UP THE BENEFITS, THEN YOU MUST BE REPSONSIBLE FOR WHAT WAS DONE IN YOUR GENERATION ‘CUZ YOU ARE THE BENEFICIARY OF THIS INSURANCE POLICY! (Wild gestures, wild applause).

Â…We must be honest enough to expose white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head.

I said before I donÂ’t want this to be political because, you know, IÂ’m very unpolitical (mocking tone, huge laughter).

…When Hillary was crying (gesturing tears, uproarious laughter from audience)–and people said that was put on–I really don’t believe it was put on.

I really believe that she just always thought ‘This is mine’ (laughter, hoots). ‘I’m Bill’s wife. I’m WHITE. And this is mine. And I jus’ gotta get up. And step into the plate. And then out of nowhere came, ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama.’ And she said: ‘Oh, damn!’ WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?!?! (Crowd going nuts, Pfleger screaming). I’M WHITE! I’M ENTITLED! THERE’S A BLACK MAN STEALING MY SHOW. (SOBS!) SHE WASN’T THE ONLY ONE CRYING! THERE WAS A WHOLE LOTTA WHITE PEOPLE CRYING!

IÂ’m sorry. I donÂ’t wanna get you in any moÂ’ trouble. The livestreaming just went out againÂ…

Let's look at the matter closely.

1) If Michael Pfleger were black and were to make such venomous comments about blacks from the pulpit of a white church, he would likely be called, with some justification, a self-hating Uncle Tom by the black community.

2) Michael Pfleger is well known for this sort of crap in Chicago. Anyone who invites him to preach knows exactly what they are going to get.

3) This is the new pastor of Trinity UCC, Otis Moss, doing the introduction-- not Jeremiah Wright. He is the one who invited Michael Pfleger, and allowed him to rant on like this. So much for a new tone at Trinity.

4) Given the pervasive nature of the partisan politics preached from the pulpit at Trinity UCC, is it time to yank their tax exempt status yet?

When I was a seminarian in the Chicago area back in the early 1990s, I went to St. Sabina several times and heard what goes on there -- this is not atypical. I knew priests who had worked with Michael Pfleger, and was even taught by some of them. I heard the stories from the Chicago seminarians, and the Chicago priests. Their assessment, and mine, was that Pfleger was more consumed by his own ego and agenda than by the teachings of Scripture or the Church. Some have even argued that Pfleger's position at St. Sabina is akin to that of Jim Jones or David Koresh.

And let's not forget that this is the same Michael Pfleger who defied the authority of his own Archbishop, Francis Cardinal George, to make personnel assignments as is his right under canon law -- and went so far as to threaten schism if his demands were not met. Already weakened by the pedophilia scandal that had wracked the archdiocese for several years, George backed down rather than suspend Pfleger's priestly faculties over his failure to live up to his priestly commitment to obey his bishop, much less excommunicate Pfleger over his threatened schism.

Obama, of course, has issued another mealy-mouthed statement distancing himself from Pfleger, who was another one of his close spiritual advisers according to early versions of his campaign website.

“As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause," Obama said in a statement.

Sorry, doesn't cut it, Barry. You are still a member of a congregation that regularly allows, encourages, and revels in such hate mongering -- and you have been there for two decades, been married there and raised your children there. That you refuse to address that in a substantive way is proof that you lack the moral resoluteness to confront and reject evil when it might carry a personal cost for you. That is a trait that is unacceptable in a president -- and given the documented history of John McCain's willingness to do the right thing even in the face of certain torture, it is clear that only one of you has what it takes to serve in the highest elected office in the United States.

Oh, yeah, and an even more weaselly statement oozed from the mouth of Michael Pfleger.

"I regret the words I chose on Sunday. These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them."

Bullcrap, Mikey -- you are sorry that you got caught. Why don't you butch up and admit it -- and admit that you still stand by every vile word that dripped from your mouth in that video, just like did when you threatened the life of a gun dealer. And after this, do you think you have the stroke to fight a transfer directive now that your FOURTH six-year term as pastor of St. Sabina is up?

This is just one more in a chain of extremist associations that Obama has to explain away -- Wright, Rezko, Ayers, Pfleger -- of the sort that would kill any white candidate. When will Barack Obama be held to that standard? And what will he say when and if that rumored tape of Michelle Obama speaking at Trinity ever surfaces? As Hillary Clinton discovered earlier this year, it is rather difficult to disassociate yourself from your spouse.

UPDATE: Guess what -- Barack Obama has made sure that $100,000 of your tax dollars go to support Michael Pfleger and St. Sabina. That means that he is clese enough friends to subsidize make you subsidize Pfleger, but not close enough to know what he really stands for. Can we really afford to have to have a guy like this as president?

UPDATE 2: Obama quits Trinity.

H/T Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Rosemary's Thoughts, Alabama Improper, DragonLady's World, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, Big Dog's Weblog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Pet's Garden Blog, Online Gym, Allie is Wired, third world county, Faultline USA, Alabama Improper, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Chucjk's Place, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, , Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1273 words, total size 11 kb.

I'm sorry -- those who made a big deal out of Rachel Ray's scarf in a Dunkin Donuts commercial were simply nutty.

A few months after doughnuts became a presidential campaign issue, they stood at the center of a storm created by right-leaning bloggers. This was a story about “donuts and dumb celebrities” who were “mainstreaming terrorism” to make a buck, asserted Little Green Footballs and Michele Malkin. And Atlas Shrugs revised a bell-ringing catchphrase thusly: “TIME TO MAKE THE JIHAD!”

Suddenly, Dunkin’ Donuts was accused of promoting terrorism, thanks to the wardrobe choices of Rachael Ray, its celebrity spokesman, during an online advertisement. According to the bloggers, she had decided to embrace “hate couture” by wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf popular in the Arab world and preferred by Yasir Arafat and other Palestinian militants during their rise in the West Bank and Gaza.

“The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Michele Malkin wrote in her nationally syndicated column. “The Keffiyeh Kerfuffle,” as she called it, might warrant a boycott. Other bloggers agreed.

On Tuesday, Dunkin’ Donuts announced that it was dropping the advertisement. But they also made clear that this was all a big misunderstanding. “Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design,” the company said in a statement, according to The Boston Globe. “Absolutely no symbolism was intended.”

Moreover, Rachael Ray’s role was minimized — the controversial scarf “was selected by her stylist.”

The upshot is that the scarf probably wasn't a keffiyeh. This was a tempest in a teapot, fueled by several folks who I like, respect, and in at least one case have a good personal relationship with via email. It was simply silly, in my opinion.

But what it does do is show the power of the blogosphere -- and the potential power of those of us on the right if we embrace efforts to harness that power in the way that the left has done.

Posted by: Greg at 10:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 348 words, total size 3 kb.

Remember these thieving bitches?

One of them just got three years in the slammer!

Saying she is "an out-of-control drug user," a juvenile court judge on Wednesday ordered Girl Scout cookie-money thief Stefanie Woods confined to a high-security facility for up to three years in order to address substance-abuse and mental-health problems.

* * *

Baker convicted Woods on May 13 of petty theft and two counts of violating probation after a nonjury trial for her role in the stealing of $168 from 9-year-old Girl Scout Gracie Smith outside a Winn-Dixie in suburban Boynton Beach. In a letter to the judge, Gracie urged him to sentence Woods to community service in the form of cleaning up a Girl Scout camp.

Woods was a juvenile at the time of the misdemeanor offense. A girlfriend, also a juvenile, took an envelope containing the cookie sales money and got into a car that sped off with Woods at the wheel. The next day, Woods and her friend boasted and showed off for television camera crews and found themselves making national news.

Woods will remain in a secure juvenile detention facility locally until there is a bed available at a state-run facility at the second-highest security level, as ordered by Baker. That could be a month or two, a Juvenile Justice worker told the judge.

She eventually will be in a prison-like setting where she will undergo a psychological assessment - she's been diagnosed at least once as bipolar - and individual and group therapy. "It is the hope that once and for all, she will address her substance abuse issues," Baker said.

Based on reports he receives, the judge will decide whether Woods remains confined for three years or is released earlier.

She may get out of juvenile detention briefly next week. That's when she's due back in adult court to be sentenced for a "dine-and-dash" incident for skipping out on a Denny's without paying a $25.84 check she incurred with the same friend from the cookie-money theft.

You have to read the string of outrageous claims made by Baker and her lawyer to try to get her leniency -- something which backfired in a big way. Here's hoping that her next court appearance -- on that charge from Denny's -- nets her some additional time.

What a pair of scummy, scuzzy wenches!

Posted by: Greg at 10:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 402 words, total size 3 kb.

But is that all it was? And why did it become the astrological/astronomical observatory that it undeniably is? This discovery doesn't answer those questions.

New radiocarbon dates from human cremation burials among and around the brooding stones on Salisbury Plain in England indicate that the site was used as a cemetery from 3000 B.C. until after the monuments were erected around 2500 B.C., British archaeologists reported Thursday.

What appeared to be the head of a stone mace, a symbol of authority, was found in one grave, the archaeologists said, indicating that this was probably a cemetery for the ruling dynasty responsible for erecting Stonehenge.

“It’s now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages,” said Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at the University of Sheffield in England.

In other words, we still have some serious questions that need to be answered -- but it is exciting to have one more bit of history to add into the mix.

Posted by: Greg at 10:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.

Are you in the market for a new car? If you are, you are probably looking for some sort of financing. After all, how many of us actually have sufficient liquid cash reserves to plunk down the entire price of a new car in cash? Of course this means you need to get a Car Loan to pay for the thing. Without question, you are going to want the best terms available. After all, who wants to pay more than they have to for their vehicle? Where can you find Online Car Loans that fit your needs? Why not try BasicCarLoans.com? They offer great loan terms to fit the needs of folks in all sorts of situations – I’m sure they have one for you.

Posted by: Greg at 09:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 129 words, total size 1 kb.

I know – any complaints about this are merely a distraction from the Obamessiah – and they don’t help out Michelle Obama’s children (not that I’m mocking her – Obamessiah says she is off limits).

Portland police officers have asked for an apology after they said organizers of a Barack Obama rally set up Porta-Potties on a memorial honoring fallen officers.

Earlier this month, 75,000 people gathered in Waterfront Park in downtown Portland to hear Obama speak at a pre-primary rally.

And how, exactly, would organizers have known that this was sacred ground dedicated to the memory of fallen police officers (many of whom were no doubt at the rally that day – Obamessiah sees dead people)?

Brennan, who controlled the crowd near the Portland Police Memorial, noticed several Porta Potties set up in the middle of the memorial. Brennan had been at the site five days earlier for an annual memorial service and a flag was still set at half mast on the day of the rally.

When Portland cop Thomas Brennan contacted the Obamessiah campaign about the blatant act of disrespect, the complaint was ignored. But hey, heÂ’s Obama!

Posted by: Greg at 12:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 211 words, total size 2 kb.