October 14, 2008
Responding for the first time to allegations he paid $121,000 to prevent a lawsuit by a former staffer with whom he had an affair, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney this morning acknowledged causing "pain" to his family, but said he didn't break any laws and would fight for his reelection.Mahoney, accompanied by his wife, appeared before local reporters for less than two minutes in a meeting room at the PGA National Resort. He read a prepared statement and did not take questions.
"I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter," said Mahoney.
Except you ran as the guy with great family values who was going to bring a higher moral tone after the Mark Foley dirty email scandal. Now it appears that he was boffing a campaign aide during that very campaign, and has since paid her off to keep the matter out of court. That makes it a public matter.
Now if only the press will spend some time running down the story about Barack ObamaÂ’s girlfriend who Michelle ran offÂ…
Posted by: Greg at
10:54 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 214 words, total size 1 kb.
Foot baths.
Prayer rooms designed with Islamic sensibilities in mind.
But on at least one campus, Christian prayer will get you tossed out on your ear, according to a lawsuit filed in California.
Two students filed a federal lawsuit this past Monday against the publicly-funded College of Alameda alleging that school officials at the California school threatened to expel them for praying.The events prompting the lawsuit took place in December, 2007, a press release from the Pacific Justice Institute reports.
That month, student Kandy Kyriacou visited an instructor to give her a Christmas gift. Kyriacou found the instructor alone in her shared office. When the instructor indicated she was ill, Kyriacou offered to pray for her.
The instructor bowed her head and Kyriacou began to pray. They were then interrupted by another faculty member, Derek Piazza, who entered the room and said “You can’t be doing that here!”
Kyriacou left to join her friend and fellow student Ojoma Omaga. Piazza followed Kyriacou and repeated his rebuke. The students related that they were surprised by his intimidating behavior.
Three days before Christmas, both students received letters notifying them of the college’s retroactive “intent to suspend” them. While school policy requires such letters to state factual bases for the charges, the letter only vaguely accused the students of “disruptive or insulting behavior, willful disobedience . . . persistent abuse of college employees.”
An administrative hearing reportedly found KyriacouÂ’s prayer worthy of discipline and threatened suspension or expulsion for further infractions.
Excuse me – “You can’t be doing that here”?
Why not, exactly? Since when is a public college or university a religion-free zone? Since when is voluntary prayer forbidden – especially since, it would appear, that the prayer was taking place in the instructor’s office, which would be a private (or at least semi-private) space. Even were the office shared with Piazza, that would not in any way limit the right of Kyriacou and her instructor to engage in prayer in that space, any more than it being a shared space would allow Piazza to dictate what topics of conversation the two could discuss in the space.
What’s more, Piazza’s decision to pursue the two students and engage in an ongoing religiously based harassment of the two should have resulted in disciplinary action against Piazza, not the students. Such behavior was clearly an abuse of whatever minimal authority that Piazza would have outside of a classroom or his office space. While the record here is unclear as to what interaction the two students had with Piazza during that time, I would imagine that it related to the two attempting to defend their First Amendment rights – something which should not result in disciplinary action at a public institution.
I’m curious – would the same penalty have been imposed if these had been some of the school’s “diverse” Muslims? Or would Piazza been shipped off to a sensitivity class for giving the students offense by his words and action – assuming he was not the subject of a fatwa or beheading.
Posted by: Greg at
10:53 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 540 words, total size 4 kb.
Sarah Said, 17, and her sister Amina, 18, were killed on New Year's Day, but for nine months authorities deflected questions about whether their father — the prime suspect and the subject of a nationwide manhunt — may have targeted them because of a perceived slight upon his honor.The girls' great-aunt, Gail Gartrell, says the girls' Egyptian-born father killed them both because he felt they disgraced the family by dating non-Muslims and acting too Western, and she called the girls' murders an honor killing from the start.
But the FBI held off on calling it an honor killing until just recently, when it made Yaser Abdel Said the "featured fugitive" on its Web site.
The apologists for Islamist extremism at CAIR, however, attempt to whitewash the religiously based murder that follow a pattern noted around the Muslim world.
"As far as we're concerned, until the motive is proven in a court of law, this is [just] a homicide," Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Dallas, told FOXNews.com.
Frankly, IÂ’m surprised that Carroll is even willing to acknowledge that the two innocent victims are dead until that is proven in a court of law. After all, these folks have never encountered a violent act in the name of Islam that they are willing to whole-heartedly condemn. Why would they now come out and denounce as an honor killing the murder of two American teenagers for behaving like American teenagers, simply because being American teenagers offended the religious sensibilities and manhood of their Muslim father?
Posted by: Greg at
10:52 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.
George Manos, the 75-year-old Republican, told police that Edith Walker, the 73-year-old Democrat, jumped on his back and struck him in the head three to four times with her fists. Manos said two other elections workers had to pull Walker off his back, according to a report filed with Cuyahoga Falls police.Manos said it happened after he accused Walker of ballot tampering, and he wants to prosecute.
The incident, which occurred about noon at Gardens of Western Reserve nursing home, is being investigated by both the police and the Summit County elections board. The board probe could lead to a closer examination of the other votes with which Walker was involved.
It seems that Walker had marked a ballot for Obama even after the resident clearly stated a desire to vote for McCain. When Manos, the GOP poll worker, attempted to examine the ballot (as is his right under the law), Walker at first refused and then engaged in an act of violence to prevent him from doing so.
Just one more example of attempted vote theft by Democrats for Barack Obama. In light of the growing evidence of massive fraud by the Left this year, can an Obama victory be seen as legitimate?
Posted by: Greg at
10:51 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 256 words, total size 2 kb.
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the plumber asked, complaining that he was being taxed "more and more for fulfilling the American dream.""It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
In other words, Barack Obama is going to decide how much success you as an American are allowed to have, and any success beyond that will be confiscated by government and redistributed. And there is nothing magical about that $250,000 figure in his current plan. If there isn’t enough “success” to distribute around (read that money earned by hard-working Americans to redistribute to those who are not as successful or as hard working), that number could easily be changed by the Democrat President with the connuivance of a Democrat-controlled House and Senate. Overnight, the number could become $200,000, or $150,000, or $100,000, depending upon how successful Barack Obama and his socialist cronies believe you should be allowed to be.
Of course, Obama is somehing of a hypocrite on this. He’s got his, in the form of book royalties. I’ve not noticed him redistributing his own success to the poor (no, he used a big chunk of it to buy a house in a dirty deal with a corrupt political insider) – but he wants the government to take yours at gunpoint to use as he sees fit. That is quite antithetical to the notion of freedom and limited government that underlies our Constitution – but then again, Barack Obama believes that the Constitution evolves to mean whatever the latest liberal focus group wants it to mean.
Posted by: Greg at
10:49 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 367 words, total size 2 kb.
October 13, 2008
![ED-AI343_1taxcr_NS_20081008232813[1].gif](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/ED-AI343_1taxcr_NS_20081008232813[1].gif)
Or, explained by the Wall Street Journal,
Because Mr. Obama's tax credits are phased out as incomes rise, they impose a huge "marginal" tax rate increase on low-income workers. The marginal tax rate refers to the rate on the next dollar of income earned. As the nearby chart illustrates, the marginal rate for millions of low- and middle-income workers would spike as they earn more income.Some families with an income of $40,000 could lose up to 40 cents in vanishing credits for every additional dollar earned from working overtime or taking a new job. As public policy, this is contradictory. The tax credits are sold in the name of "making work pay," but in practice they can be a disincentive to working harder, especially if you're a lower-income couple getting raises of $1,000 or $2,000 a year.
Or put differently, that means there will be an effective tax INCREASE for workers making more than $25K a year.
Posted by: Greg at
11:19 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 220 words, total size 2 kb.
West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee.Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.
Bill Clinton.
John Edwards.
Barack Obama.
Tim Mahoney.
Why canÂ’t these Democrats guys keep their pants on around campaign staffers and public employees?
Posted by: Greg at
11:14 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.
You know, like this little gem directed by one of his supporters against Gov. Palin.
Outside on Broad Street, waiting for Palin to leave, one man was heard saying: "Let's stone her, old school."
After all, if McCain and Palin are responsible for every reprehensible comment by a supporter, the same standard should apply to Obama and his supporters.
H/T Malkin
Posted by: Greg at
11:12 AM
| Comments (16)
| Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.
Barack Obama is the target of a shadowy smear campaign designed to derail his bid for the US Presidency by falsely claiming he had a close friendship with an attractive African-American female employee.The whispers focus on a young woman who in 2004 was hired to work on his team for his bid to become a senator.
The woman was purportedly sidelined from her duties after Senator ObamaÂ’s wife, Michelle, became convinced that he had developed a personal friendship with her.
The allegations were initially circulated in August, just two weeks before the convention at which Obama finally beat his opponent for the Democratic Party nomination, Hillary Clinton.
The woman, now 33, vigorously denies the vicious and unsubstantiated gossip.
Now excuse me, but isnÂ’t this the same template that was played by the MSM prior to Jophn Edwards being caught visiting his mistress and love child in an LA hotel? The media tried to down-play that story until Edwards was forcibly outed. ShouldnÂ’t they actually do their job this time, three weeks prior to the election?
Now some might say that there is no evidence to support this story. Funny, that didn’t stop the “Sarah Palin isn’t her baby’s mama” some weeks back – or the New York Times article alleging a McCain affair with a lobbyist last spring on the basis of a couple of anonymous sources. Let’s just apply the same standard to Barack Obama that would be applied if he were a Republican, and let the chips fall where they may.
H/T Newsbusters, Ace Hill Buzz
Posted by: Greg at
11:11 AM
| Comments (39)
| Add Comment
Post contains 322 words, total size 2 kb.
, 
DD, 
(, 
), 
)),
The chairman of the Virginia Republican Party has compared Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden because of the Illinois senator's past association with Bill Ayers, who has confessed to domestic bombings as a member of the Vietnam War-era Weather Underground.Virginia Democrats, and some Republicans, are outraged, saying these are the latest in a series of inflammatory statements that the GOP has made against Obama in Virginia, a state that has emerged as a crucial battleground in the election.
According to a report in this week's Time magazine, the Virginia party chairman, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (R-Prince William), told Virginia volunteers working for GOP nominee John McCain that Obama and bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon."
"That is scary," Frederick said while providing talking points to GOP volunteers in western Prince William County as they prepared for a door-to-door canvass.
Now let’s be honest here – Frederick was wrong on one point. Bill Ayers did not have friends who bombed the Pentagon; he actually participated in the bombing personally as one of the leaders of Weathermen. That would make him more akin to Mohammad Atta than to Osama bin Laden, though both less competent than the hijacker in the carrying off his attack and less willing to give his life for his anti-American cause. For that reason, I’d argue that Bill Ayers is more akin to Eric Rudolf, Ted Kaczinski, or Tim McVeigh than he is to Osama bin Laden. Not that this makes him any more savory than the murderous Islamists with whom our nation is today at war.
But somehow, that should not make the association between Obama and Ayers any more acceptable. Indeed, those who have absolved the former domestic terrorist of his sins against America do a grave disservice to the country in doing so. And that Ayers today makes his living off the same government that he attempted to overthrow – something for which he remains unrepentant to this day – is another offense against this country.
Does this make Obama guilty of Ayers’ crimes? No, of course not – but his willingness (and the willingness of so many in the Chicago/Illinois political machine and the national Democrat establishment) to embrace him and work to make him a mainstream political figure is disturbing. Would McVeigh’s co-conspirator Terry Nichols ever be allowed a similar rehabilitation? Would any politician who associated with him after his involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing ever be considered acceptable by the American people? I don’t think either of those questions requires much consideration to answer.
And make no mistake – Ayers certainly had not repented of his treason and terrorism at the time Barack Obama worked with and for him. After all, this was a man who wrote in glowing terms of his acts of violence against the government of the United States in 2001.
In his 2001 memoir, Fugitive Days, Ayers brags that he helped blast NYPD headquarters in 1970, the U.S. Capitol in 1971, and the Defense Department in 1972. “Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,” Ayers writes. “The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them.” Ayers also appreciates “a certain eloquence to bombs, a poetry and a pattern from a safe distance.” He called dynamite “That most romantic of nineteenth-century radical tools.”
Obama continued his association and affiliation with Ayers even after those words were widely publicized at the time of their publication. There could be no mistaking him for someone who had repented and been rehabilitated. It is pretty clear that he still adhered to the same violent platform of three decades before, even if he no longer actively engaged in acts of terrorism.
And therein lies the disingenuousness of those who want to defend Obama’s association with William Ayers. Their willingness to forgive Ayers is predicated upon their support for the cause in which he committed terrorism acts of treason and terrorism against his own country – or their willingness to ignore them in the interest of furthering their own political careers. Consideration of that fact ought to be of serious importance in this race, and those who would silence or minimize that issue (as well as Obama’s other unsavory associations) do America a grave disservice.
Posted by: Greg at
11:06 AM
| Comments (10)
| Add Comment
Post contains 760 words, total size 5 kb.
This weekend, Pope Benedict XVI canonized an Indian woman whose life was noted for its holiness.
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday gave the Roman Catholic church four new saints, including an Indian woman whose canonization is seen as a morale boost to Christians in India who have suffered Hindu violence.Thousands of faithful from the homelands of the new saints, including a delegation from India, where Catholics are a tiny minority, turned out for the ceremony in St. Peter's Square.
The honor for Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, the first Indian woman to become a saint, comes as Christians increasingly have been the object of attacks from Hindu mobs in eastern and southern India.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, had beatified Alphonsa during a pilgrimage to India in 1986. Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood, the Church's highest honor for its faithful. Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, was 35 when she died in 1946.
Now this canonization should surprise no one with a knowledge of the religious history of India. Christianity spread to the region as early as the first and second centuries, and missionaries found a vibrant Christian minority in the region when modern Catholic missionary activity began there over five centuries ago. Even so, Christians account for only two percent of IndiaÂ’s population.
Which is part of why this next story is so disturbing.
India, the worldÂ’s most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa State, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.The forced conversions come amid widening attacks on Christians here and in at least five other states across the country, as India prepares for national elections next spring.
The clash of faiths has cut a wide swath of panic and destruction through these once quiet hamlets fed by paddy fields and jackfruit trees. Here in Kandhamal, the district that has seen the greatest violence, more than 30 people have been killed, 3,000 homes burned and over 130 churches destroyed, including the tin-roofed Baptist prayer hall where the Digals worshiped. Today it is a heap of rubble on an empty field, where cows blithely graze.Across this ghastly terrain lie the singed remains of mud-and-thatch homes. Christian-owned businesses have been systematically attacked. Orange flags (orange is the sacred color of Hinduism) flutter triumphantly above the rooftops of houses and storefronts.
Interestingly enough, the Indian government seems impotent in the face of these attacks. Why? Perhaps because of the political power that fundamentalist Hindu parties hold in the Indian political system – and because there is no political price to pay for protecting the human rights of Indian Christians.
Posted by: Greg at
11:03 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 490 words, total size 3 kb.
And so I take this editorial in the Washington Post with an entire shaker of salt, not just a grain of the white stuff.
The outpouring of enthusiasm for Mr. Obama in places such as Berlin -- where a smaller share of people say they have favorable views of the United States than in Russia or China -- seems to reflect a longing to repair a broken relationship. An Obama presidency offers the possibility of building on those sentiments. Mr. McCain would have to start cold. Neither may have a good chance of obtaining more European troops for Afghanistan or major new sanctions against Iran. But on the intangible but critical question of American prestige and the willingness to accept U.S. leadership that comes with it, Mr. Obama has more to offer.
On the other hand, I’d like to remind folks that we Americans are charged with electing the best leader for our nation. We are not charged with reflecting world opinion. Our European allies do not look to America for guidance on the selection of their leaders – and were candidates to appeal to their American popularity, most voters in Europe would vote against them. I urge Americans to take the same tack in making their choice in three weeks.
Posted by: Greg at
10:58 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 298 words, total size 2 kb.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as crude oil prices plunged and consumer demand continued to wane, an industry analyst said on Sunday.The Lundberg Survey released this weekend showed the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular down 35 cents over the past two weeks to $3.31. Mid-grade was $3.45 as of Friday and premium was $3.57.
On the other hand, I was getting gas at $3.41 the same week as Hurricane Ike. And IÂ’ve paid less than $3.00 a gallon every time IÂ’ve gassed up in the past week.
Given the current rate of fall, I am expecting to see $2.50 gasoline by election day – but still believe that we need to drill more in this country, including offshore and in ANWR. Indeed, I believe that we need to impose a special $1.00 per gallon tax in coastal states that do not permit offshore drilling under the same regulations as are permitted in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oh, yeah – and we still need nuclear plants (the one thing France is doing right) and greater use of wind power.
Posted by: Greg at
10:56 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 204 words, total size 1 kb.
October 06, 2008
As far as associate work goes, it could have been worse — “Advertising is a little sexier than spending a full year reading depositions in an antitrust law suit or reviewing documents for a big merger,” says [Quincy] White — but it was monotonous and relatively low-level.Too monotonous for Michelle, who, White says, complained that the work he gave her was unsatisfactory. He says he gave her the Coors beer ads, which he considered one of the more glamorous assignments they had. Even then, he says, “she at one point went over my head and complained [to human resources] that I wasn’t giving her enough interesting stuff, and the person came down to my office and said, ‘Basically she’s complaining that she’s being treated like she’s a second-year associate,’ and we agreed that she was a second-year associate. I had eight or nine other associates, and I couldn’t start treating one of them a lot better.”
Now I’ll concede that Michelle Obama is an intelligent woman, with a good education and a strong skill set. But when you are working in an entry-level position, you get stuck doing entry-level work. You don’t get to pick and choose your own assignments – and to try to do so is a sign of an extreme arrogance. Maybe, though, she decided that her status as an affirmative action baby would get her one more leg up over her melanin-deficient colleagues.
Oh, and one other reason to hate Michelle Obama – she was actively involved in the promotion of the PBS Barney franchise and we all know that there is a special place in Hell reserved for those who were in any way involved in bringing the purple dinosaur into American living rooms.
Any one want to bet that she played the race card, too?
H/T Don Surber
Posted by: Greg at
12:42 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 340 words, total size 2 kb.
Marchers took to the street this week, calling for the state to make reparations for the 1898 Wilmington riots.About a dozen people marched to the courthouse in Durham on Sunday. It was one of 13 such marches held across the state leading up to the 65th annual conference of the state NAACP, which starts Thursday.
The marchers are asking state legislators to make payments to the descendants of those harmed in an insurrection that led to the deaths of at least 14 black people and perhaps many more.
The riots were brought to the forefront when the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission report was released in 2006 after six years of study by a state-appointed panel.
The panel found that the riots that led to a government overthrow in Wilmington were started by white supremacist leaders in a conspiracy to strip political power from black people and their allies.
State legislators have apologized for the conspiracy, but the state NAACP and other groups in a statewide coalition are calling for the state to make reparations to the families of those who died or lost their livelihoods as a result of the riots.
"You want to apologize, but you don't want to share the wealth with these people," said Fred Foster, head of the Durham branch of the state NAACP. "The only way to bring closure is to set things right."
Yes, set things right indeed. The state’s Democrat Party was one of the two primary instigators, perpetrators, and beneficiaries of the coup conducted against the elected GOP government of Wilmington. Make the Democrats pay for their crimes – indeed, liquidate the Democrat Party in North Carolina and distribute the assets as reparations to the families of those who died and/or lost their livelihoods as a result of the murderous rampage by Democrats to create a Democrat-led government in the city – and also distribute a share of those assets to the state Republican Party, which was every bit a victim of the coup as the individuals. You know, bring some closure to this incident by setting things right.
Posted by: Greg at
12:40 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 396 words, total size 3 kb.
The latest involves Sarah PalinÂ’s observation that Barack Obama has had an ongoing close relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers.
"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday."This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."
Her reference to Obama's relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.
Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions.
Well, I would dispute the characterization that they were not close – especially given that Ayers personally sought out Obama for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, hosted campaign events, participated in speaking engagements, and otherwise worked closely with the Democrat candidate. While one can argue about the depth of their personal relationship, it was clear that they were close professional associates – and that Obama’s willingness to be so closely associated with an admitted terrorist indicates that he does see the world in a manner that is very different from most Americans. Either that, or he doesn’t give a damn about anything that doesn’t advance Barack Obama personally.
But racist? It the connection to race is so tenuous as to be laughable.
Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers' day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.
Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.
So get that – any pointing out that Obama might be different from Americans in his outlook or associations is automatically false and racist.
This marks simply one more goofy “racism” charge. They are cataloged over at Patterico’s Pontifications.
- It&’s racist to point out the connection between Barack Obama and a white man — who happens to be a terrorist.
- It’s racist to point out the similarity between Barack Obama and two white women — who are famous for being celebrities.
- It’s racist to point out the connection between Barack Obama and a black man — who happens to have run Fannie Mae.
- It’s racist to point out the connection between Barack Obama and a black woman — who happens to be his wife, and who said she wasn’t really proud of America until her husband was nominated.
And I’ve got to make an observation publicly that I have made privately to friends over the last few months as we have watched Barack Obama deflect criticism by redefining the entire concept of racism – if everything, including clear statements of fact and direct quotations of candidates, their friends, family members, and associates, constitutes racism, then the very notion of racism itself is meaningless. And that has the potential for making all but the most pernicious, outrageous forms of racism legitimate, because racism itself will have been devalued as an actual evil. Do we as a country really wish to see our society go down that path?
Posted by: Greg at
12:20 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 739 words, total size 6 kb.
October 02, 2008
More to the point, he lied about how his wife and daughter died.
Since his vice presidential nomination, Joe Biden's 2007 statement that a "guy who allegedly ... drank his lunch" and drove the truck that struck and killed his first wife and daughter has gained national media traction.Alcohol didn't play a role in the 1972 crash, investigators found. But as recently as last week, the syndicated TV show Inside Edition aired a clip from 2001 of Biden describing the accident to an audience at the University of Delaware and saying the truck driver "stopped to drink instead of drive."
The senator's statements don't jibe with news and law enforcement reports from the time, which cleared driver Curtis C. Dunn, who died in 1999, of wrongdoing.
So what we have here is a bald-faced lie in an attempt to drum up sympathy and votes -- and perhaps obscure the fact that investigators indicated that the accident may well have been caused by Neilia Biden's own negligent driving. One of the things that the official reports reject is the notion that Dunn was driving drunk.
What's more, Joe Biden knows it. He has for at least seven years, and likely for 36 years. How do we know he knows? Because the family raised this issue with him the last time he made this false statement in public, back in 2001.
After reading a News Journal account of Biden's 2001 speech at UD, Hamill sent Biden a letter on behalf of her father. The newspaper story included Biden's description of getting the call that his wife and daughter had died, but not his comments about Dunn.Hamill said her note to the senator described how Dunn was affected by the accident.
Printed on the senator's letter head and dated Oct. 11, 2001, the response from Biden reads:
"I apologize for taking so long to acknowledge your thoughtful and heartfelt note," Biden wrote. "All that I can say is I am sorry for all of us and please know that neither I nor my sons feel any animosity whatsoever."
One could argue that the failure to dispute the Dunn family's claims indicates his implicit acceptance of their validity. Even if one does not want to go that far, it is clear that Biden should have known that there was serious question about his account of the incident, and that he ought to more fully research the issue before making the claim again.
And besides, there is plenty of documentary evidence that Mr. Dunn was cleared of any wrong-doing in the accident.
Apparently Biden lacked the decency to do so. But then again, we've all known that Biden is "integrity challenged" for a couple of decades now. But that the Obama campaign did not catch this matter earlier raises serious questions into the opposition research and vice presidential vetting conducted on Joe Biden. For that matter, it also raises questions about the willingness of the press to look into family issues that Biden has referred to on the campaign trail and used to solicit votes. After all, doesn't this relapse into dishonesty and cynical abuse of his family call for the same sort of hard-hitting coverage as Bristol Palin's pregnancy? Where the hell is Andrew Sullivan on this one?
How much longer can this dishonest man continue as the Democrat's candidate for Vice President? And what does his selection say about the judgment of Barack Obama?
H/T Malkin
UPDATE: Reading through the comments at the N-J, I came across this one that is striking.
I remember the 1972 accident well.I knew the Bidens then as they shopped in the butcher shop where I worked at that time. Let me make something very clear here. The accident happened at Tim's Corner & Limestone Road. Mrs Biden had a stop sign. Mr Dunn, traveling on Limestone Road, did NOT have any stop sign or any other traffic signal. He had the right of way. The speed limit on Limestone Road was 50 MPH. Mrs Biden either ran the stop sign or pulled away from the stop sign without looking or seeing the oncoming truck.Those involved with altering the facts of this tragic event should be ashamed. My heart goes out to Mr Dunn's family that something like this is reported as "news". I'm sure there wasn't a day in his life (may he rest in peace) that he did not think of the accident. A car pulled directly in front of him and there was nothing he could have done to prevent what happened.
In other words, not only would this have been a situation in which Mr. Dunn was not at fault, the conclusion has to be that Mrs. Biden either didn't look, didn't see, or didn't care that the truck was coming and had right-of-way. Which means, of course, that the accident was most likely due to her own negligence or error. I understand that this may be an uncomfortable reality for the Senator to acknowledge, but for him to peddle the lie that Dunn was drunk -- especially after being told it was untrue -- is reprehensible and inexcusable.
And remember that the investigation, which was headed by an official who was a friend and neighbor of the Bidens, concluded there was no evidence that Dunn "was speeding, drinking or driving a truck with faulty brakes." Under the circumstances (a politically connected associate of a newly-elected senator investigating the death of the senator's wife), it is safe to conclude that no evidence against Dunn would have been overlooked, and that any evidence of wrong-doing on his part would have been used as grounds to file charges against him in a wreck that killed the wife and child of a senior elected official.
Also, while some may argue that this is an unfair attack on Senator Biden's family, I'd argue that it is a reasonable examination of Senator Biden's integrity. Regardless of the cause of the accident, I still feel an aching compassion for the man over the loss of two precious lives. But his pain is no excuse for bending the truth to the breaking point in his public statements -- while he is welcome to believe what he wants in the privacy of his own heart to deal with the anguish over a tragedy that must always be with him, he has no right to make public accusations that inflict pain today upon the family of a man who was cleared of wrongdoing and can no longer defend himself from such charges.
UPDATE 9/9/2008: MVRC is commenting on the story now. Her questions:
1. If Sarah Palin had this kind of “memory lapse” or told this kind of whopper, how likely would it be that she would get away with it?2. Biden’s sons were in the vehicle. They were in the hospital for weeks. He took his oath of office at their hospital bed. From then until they got out, he left them alone at the hospital to go to DC to do the senator thing. How is Palin’s bringing her family to DC any worse?
Posted by: Greg at
04:54 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 1250 words, total size 8 kb.
With British publication in doubt for Sherry Jones' "The Jewel of Medina," the U.S. publisher of her controversial novel about the Prophet Muhammad has moved up the release date from Oct. 15 to Monday."By speeding up the publication, we wanted to reduce or eliminate the chance of violence," Eric Kampmann, president of Beaufort Books, said Thursday, noting that three men were arrested in London last weekend for a fire-bomb attack on the offices of publisher Gibson Square.
"What had occurred in London, we didn't want to have occur here. We wanted people to have a chance to read the book. Once they read the book, we thought the violence part of this story would disappear and people would be focusing on the story, and the book and Sherry."
Publication in this country was stalled once by an Islamic backlash ginned up by a professor from the University of Texas in the People’s Republic of Austin. We must act to guarantee that such books can be freely published here – and one way to do so is to purchase them when they are published. I don’t have a lot of spare cash, but I will guarantee you that I will be seeking a book at my local book store four days from now, on October 6. I urge the rest of you to do the same – it is important.
And to any Muslim who feels obliged to respond violently to the exercise of a human right protected by the First Amendment, I can only say “Allahu screw you!”
Posted by: Greg at
01:03 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 306 words, total size 2 kb.
For two centuries, presidential nominees have used the office to balance the ticket by naming a running mate from a different region, or one who speaks with a different ideological accent to a specific constituency. This means that a president's death generates a double shock: The nation not only mourns a fallen leader, it must deal with a replacement who may push politics in a new direction.
In making such a proposal, Ackerman makes no proposal for how to deal with the succession issue. Would the successor be the Speaker of the House? The Secretary of State? Who would be the proper successor to the dead leader? And most importantly, how would this alternate successor avoid the “shock” of changed politics and personalities? The answer to this last question is that the change of succession would not do that at all – and that the good professor is seeking to solve a problem that exists only in his mind.
Posted by: Greg at
12:59 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 1 kb.
That is why I find this effort troubling.
Maybe she'll knock on her neighbors' doors and introduce herself, Dina Abdulkarim said. She could try to talk to them about Islam and what Muslims are really like."I have to prove my good intentions," she said. It's not fair, she said, but it's a reality of life as an American Muslim: Too many people think Muslims are radical and violent.
Well, Dina, let’s be honest here – it isn’t a case of Americans being ignorant and bigoted in this case. It is that too many of your co-religionists are radical and violent. We Americans remember 9/11. We are aware of the terrorism regularly committed in the name of your faith by “good Muslims”. You need to clean up your faith before most Americans will stop looking at you with a jaundiced eye. It may not be fair to you as an individual, but it is not an unreasonable response to the deeds committed in the name of Islam.
And before folks accuse me of calling all Muslims terrorists, please know that I am not taking that position. I know too many good and decent Muslims (folks probably much like Dina Abdulkarim) who I respect and hold in high esteem. But the reality is that the words and conduct of a significant segment of the Muslim community around the world have caused me to look askance at Islam and its followers.
Posted by: Greg at
12:58 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 315 words, total size 2 kb.
October 01, 2008
In a white-steepled church along a stretch in picturesque canyon country, the preacher laid out the basic blueprint of a godly marriage: Husbands lead, wives submit.Speaking recently before hundreds of worshipers at Placerita Baptist Church in Newhall, guest preacher Chris Mueller affirmed the view that loving male headship and gracious wifely submission are God's plan for spouses.
Placerita, like many conservative Christian churches, teaches that a wife's role is to be her husband's helpmate (Genesis), "workers at home" (Titus) and submissive to her husband in everything (Ephesians).
So how do these congregants square such teachings with their support for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the conservative evangelical Christian who is aiming to become vice president while her teenage daughter is pregnant, her infant son has Down syndrome and her husband took a leave from work to serve as "Mr. Mom," as People magazine put it?
But let’s be honest – Palin is not one of those who subscribes to such beliefs, which are a twisting of the mainstream views of most Christians. Most Christians – indeed, most evangelicals – are accepting of women working outside the home for various reasons, and supportive of families in which a father is the primary caretaker of children while a mother works. Why make an issue of this – other than to try to drive a wedge between the evangelical base of the GOP and the GOP ticket?
I’m curious – are we next going to be told that good Muslims cannot support Palin because she does not wear a burqa?
H/T Newsbusters
Posted by: Greg at
01:57 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 316 words, total size 2 kb.
Whites Forming a Rock-Solid Bloc Behind McCain
We would be treated to even more editorials and columns lamenting the emergence of race and racism in American politics.
Why, then, is this sort of race-based voting not so loudly condemned?
Blacks Forming a Rock-Solid Bloc Behind Obama
We know the answer, of course – racially-motivated behavior on the part of minorities is not seen as malignant by the liberal opinion elite. Only when white folks band together in solidarity with their do they see a problem. Instead, they hold minority groups to a lower standard – and condemn whites who do not support them in such solidarity as racist.
Posted by: Greg at
01:53 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.
I wonder, will he comment on this story?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm over the past decade, a practice of paying a spouse with political donations that she supported banning last year.Financial Leasing Services Inc. (FLS), owned by Paul F. Pelosi, has received $99,000 in rent, utilities and accounting fees from the speaker's "PAC to the Future" over the PAC's nine-year history.
The payments have quadrupled since Mr. Pelosi took over as treasurer of his wife's committee in 2007, Federal Election Commission records show. FLS is on track to take in $48,000 in payments this year alone - eight times as much as it received annually from 2000 to 2005, when the committee was run by another treasurer.
I guess that the Speaker, who promised to clean up Congress, decided that she and her husband would instead clean up by converting campaign funds to personal use. I wonder if the candidate of Change We Can Believe In has anything to say about this matter, or if such conduct is the sort of change that he plans on bringing into being if he is elected president.
Posted by: Greg at
01:50 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.
Already, the FEC has noted unusual patterns in Obama campaign donations among donors who have been disclosed because they have gone beyond the $200 minimum.When FEC auditors have questions about contributions, they send letters to the campaignÂ’s finance committee requesting additional information, such as the complete address or employment status of the donor.
* * * Under campaign finance laws, an individual can donate $2,300 to a candidate for federal office in both the primary and general election, for a total of $4,600. If a donor has topped the limit in the primary, the campaign can “redesignate” the contribution to the general election on its books.
In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.
Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.”
A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.
Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.
There can be no doubt that the Obama campaign noticed these contributions, since ObamaÂ’s Sept. 20 report specified that Good WillÂ’s cumulative contributions since the beginning of the campaign were $9,375.
In an e-mailed response to a query from Newsmax, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt pledged that the campaign would return the donations. But given the slowness with which the campaign has responded to earlier FEC queries, thereÂ’s no guarantee that the money will be returned before the Nov. 4 election.
Similarly, a donor identified as “Pro, Doodad,” from “Nando, NY,” gave $19,500 in 786 separate donations, most of them for $25. For most of these donations, Mr. Doodad Pro listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You,” just as Good Will had done.
But in some of them, he didn’t even go this far, apparently picking letters at random to fill in the blanks on the credit card donation form. In these cases, he said he was employed by “VCX” and that his profession was “VCVC.”
Following FEC requests, the Obama campaign began refunding money to Doodad Pro in February 2008. In all, about $8,425 was charged back to a credit card. But that still left a net total of $11,165 as of Sept. 20, way over the individual limit of $4,600.
And in a related fundraising problem, the Obama campaign also allowed donors residing in foreign countries to make contributions without verifying their American citizenship – meaning that the campaign raised untold millions in illegal contributions from foreigners. But then again, given his campaigning abroad, why should we be surprised by such a development?
H/T Hot Air
Posted by: Greg at
01:40 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 528 words, total size 4 kb.
Now it may surprise some of you, but I actually tread very carefully in terms of politics in my classroom. When my students and I discussed the election back before the hurricane, I was neutral enough that they were evenly split as to which presidential candidate I am supporting. And I certainly would never wear a campaign button in class – and don’t do bumper stickers on my car. I simply don’t believe in indoctrinating my students.
That’s why I am disturbed by this story – I think it is unethical for teachers to wear buttons like the ones below anywhere on school grounds.
Teachers at Soquel High School have agreed not to wear "Educators for Obama" buttons in the classroom after a parent complained that educators were attempting to politically influence his daughter and other students.John Hadley, an importer of South African goods, called the school to complain Friday after his 16-year daughter Teegan returned home and reported that she had seen several teachers wearing the buttons.
Hadley said his family supports Sen. Barack Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain, but that he is opposed to teachers wearing political paraphernalia regardless of its nature.
"It doesn't matter who they are supporting," Hadley said Tuesday. "Teachers lose their free-speech rights when they go into a classroom. They are allowed to stick to the curriculum, not political views."
The law disagrees with Hadley, but does allow districts to set limits on the political activities of teachers during the school day.
Now letÂ’s address a couple of points here. I donÂ’t know that there was an attempt to influence students here, but instead believe it was an attempt to influence colleagues. But the reality is that during the school day we have an influence on our students that can be profound, and our expression can have unintended influence upon our students. So while we do not surrender our rights at the schoolhouse gate (to quote Tinker), we also assume a certain obligation to behave in an apolitical, professional manner during our class time. We do have a captive audience, after all, and have an obligation not to use that time to indoctrinate them with our political opinions. I therefore believe the school is not out of line in its actions in this case.
Please note, however, that Darren at Right on the Left Coast takes a somewhat different view on this situation.
Posted by: Greg at
01:31 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 474 words, total size 3 kb.
September 30, 2008
So although the allegation comes in a strangely cryptic email and there is no actual proof that this procedure was performed, we've been studying Sarah Palin's mouth very closely (see slideshow below), and would like to put this question to the readers. Do you think Sarah Palin's lipliner is a tattoo? Cast your vote in the poll below.
First, why does it matter?
Second, is it really your intention to set women back this far by even asking the question?
Third, who cares one way or another -- as it proves noting of substance?
Posted by: Greg at
03:29 PM
| Comments (6)
| Add Comment
From: C______@gmail.com>
To: tips@wonkette.com
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Subject: tip on Sarah Pallin
Notes: Sarah's sister in-law owns a beauty parlor in Wasilla...apparently Sarah's lip liner is tattooed on...not sure what to do with that one.
leak to wonkette
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.
The Pope rejects the new Sarkozy-appointed French ambassador to the Vatican because he's gay and married to a man. These facts in no way impede the man's ability to do his job, just as being gay does not in any way impede a seminarian's ability to be a great priest (as so many gay men have been through the centuries). But this Pope is a bigot, as we now know - and will discriminate against people just for who they are, rather than what they can professionally do.
Excuse me, Andy, but Sarkozy appointed an individual to be ambassador to the Holly See whose lifestyle he knew would be repugnant to Catholic teaching and practice. The leadership of the Vatican made a decision to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church by rejecting this intentional affront to Catholicism. To have made this appointment is no different than if he had appointed an abortionist to the position.
I’d like to ask – would Sarkozy have appointed this individual as ambassador to Saudi Arabia or Iran? Remember, please, that the Vatican simply refused to accept the diplomatic credentials of the individual in question – in the Islamic world, they would have likely been executed for the crime of sodomy. So before you start demanding that the rest of the world start bowing down before the demands of your Homosexualist agenda, consider that there is no requirement that the rest of the world follow your extreme fundamentalist religious/philosophical/sexual beliefs rather than their own consciences.
Posted by: Greg at
02:40 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.
A Milwaukee woman is charged in what appears to be the stateÂ’s first election fraud case of the season. 21-year-old Endalyn Adams is accused of submitting dozens of false voter registration applications to the city.
It was her job to sign up potential voters for the Community VotersÂ’ Project and she could have been fired if she didnÂ’t submit 15 registrations per day, according to prosecutors. Authorities said it amounts to a quota. The same thing happened in the 2004 presidential contest and the state responded by banning payments for each registration an outside group submits. It was supposed to remove the incentive for submitting false names.
Milwaukee prosecutors said Adams is now one of 49 people being investigated as a part of two groups the VotersÂ’ Project, and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Prosecutors allege she submitted well over 50 false names and the city was able to remove them all from its voter list.
We’ve seen ACORN do this again and again – and then seen them get rewarded by grateful Democrats with tons of government loot. They even tried to load up the bailout bill to funnel some of the dollars to Barack Obama’s fellow community organizers. I want to know when RICO is going to be applied to the organization and its leaders duly punished for the organization’s innumerable criminal activities.
Posted by: Greg at
02:20 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 249 words, total size 2 kb.
But considering that only a dozen votes needed to switch in order to provide a different outcome, and 95 Democrats in the House voted against it, critics are now wondering why couldn't House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have assured a different outcome considering how important she said its passage was?
Pelosi, whose insults directed at Republicans before the vote were a proximate cause of the legislationÂ’s defeat, failed to exercise enough party discipline to get her people to pass a bill that she considered critical to the US economy. Why didnÂ’t she act like she was the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives and use her clout to get her people in line before driving the opposition party away from the bill by her intemperate language? Could it be that she has no leadership clout, or leadership ability?
By the way, IÂ’d like to suggest that any legislation introduced in the future include a clause removing Pelosi as the Speaker of the House. She clearly lacks the skills, qualifications and temperament to be next in line for the presidency after the Vice President.
Posted by: Greg at
01:27 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 216 words, total size 1 kb.
I wonder – will any of them go after this offensive work that insults and degrades a living politician? Or will the fact that she is on the ticket opposing Chicago’s favorite son (and a healthy respect for the First Amendment) lead them to leave this one alone?
There's been no shortage of takeoffs on Sarah Palin lately, from television skits to action figures, but Bruce Elliott has gone one step further than most. He's taken off her clothes.Elliott, whose wife, Tobin Mitchen, owns the Old Town Ale House on Chicago's North Side, painted a nude portrait of the Republican vice presidential nominee and hung it above the bar, where it's now a prime attraction among his display of more than 200 celebrity portraits and other racy art.
* * * Despite their political differences, Elliott admits to a bit of a crush on the Alaska governor. He began painting her smile and trademark glasses, he said, before filling in the details: a gun, red high heels, polar bear rug, rugged Alaska landscape and a scared moose. His daughter, who looks a little like Palin and does a great impression of her, served as model for the governor's body.
Interestingly enough, the Chicago Tribune was more than willing to show the disgusting picture by a sick freak prominently in both print and electronic editions. Contrast this with their refusal to reprint the Muhammad cartoons for fear of offending Muslims. And I somehow doubt that such an insult directed at the very juniour senator from Illinois would be tolerated for long -- or so prominently distributed by the Chicago media. Could it be that the only folks allowed to be degraded in the city of Chicago are white Christian conservative women?
Posted by: Greg at
01:23 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 359 words, total size 2 kb.
September 29, 2008
Three men arrested in north London on suspicion of terrorism continue to be questioned by police.They are suspected of attempting to set fire to a publisher's office in Lonsdale Square, Islington.
The publisher, Gibson House, is due to release a controversial novel about the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride, entitled The Jewel of the Medina.
The three men were arrested by armed officers from the Metropolitan Police in a planned operation.The men, aged 40, 22 and 30, were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and are being held at Paddington Green police station.
Two were arrested outside the property in Lonsdale Square, and the third following an armed vehicle stop near Angel Tube station on Upper Street at 0225 GMT on Saturday.
A small fire was put out at the property, which is used as a home and office by publisher Martin Rynja, who is due to publish the controversial book.
All of which raises the question – if a religious group is continually involved in the wholesale violent violation of the human rights of non-believers, does it cease to be religion and instead become a criminal conspiracy to violate the rights of others? And if the answer is yes, does the preservation of human rights require that Islam be identified as such and suppressed in the name of preserving the rights of rest of humanity? I don’t know where the balance is – but given the continued threats coming from Muslim sources, we need to ask the question and consider the very real need to stamp out the very real threat to liberty that Islam apparently constitutes, and which we in the West should have been recognizing for at least the last twenty years (since the Rushdie fatwa).
Posted by: Greg at
01:59 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 326 words, total size 2 kb.
Barack Obama's campaign earlier this month sought to find a rape victim to appear in a campaign commercial, according to an email obtained by Politico.Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign and victims and women's advocates.
"Obviously, this is a big ask and I havenÂ’t seen a script but presumably it will be a brief this is what happened to me, we need someone who will fight for women like me, these are the guys to do it," Steward wrote in a September 15th email. "Again, thatÂ’s just my assumption given how these things
usually go."Steward, a former top aide to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), said the Obama campaign would have a crew in Washington and was hoping to film that week.
The topic of the ad? Abortion, apparently. Seems that Senator Obama and his staff consider the difference between he and McCain to be a matter of “full civil rights”. In other words, while they would never support the execution of a rapist even after a trial with due process, they fully support the execution of the innocent child to be appropriate without any due process at all.
Posted by: Greg at
01:55 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 238 words, total size 2 kb.
THE GOOD: As I’ve mentioned once or twice, I’ve switched schools this year. My new school is located in a poor area of town, with most of my students being socio-economically disadvantaged by any measure. And yet when one of the “Points of Distribution” for water, ice, and MREs was established in the community by FEMA but no personnel were supplied to staff it, a couple of folks associated with my school were able to start making phone calls and turn out 130 students over the course of 3 days to help distribute the needed supplies. That is out of a total student body of about 1700 – not a bad percentage.
THE BAD: You know, we were all told that FEMA had learned lessons after Hurricane Katrina. Maybe they did – but only in regards to dealing with New Orleans. They’ve been no help with us, despite our having applied for aid early in the disaster – indeed, I have not received any of the paperwork they have supposedly sent to me, nor have I been able to get any assistance regarding finding a place to live.
THE UGLY: Here’s one that just makes me sick – and I believe I may have met this person at some point in the past, as the name sounds familiar. For that matter, I am friends with several administrators from this person’s school, and nearly ended up working there a couple of years ago. The behavior recounted here, though, is simply too repugnant for words.
Jacki Steinhauer is one of the lucky ones. She has no damage at her Deer Park home, she has power and she doesn't have to work since her school is closed."Life is great after a hurricane when nothing really happened to your house!" Steinhauer says in her blog, "The Secret Life of an Uninteresting Teacher."
The most recent entries brag about all of the free MREs she's been eating -- MREs that are meant for hurricane victims who have no food because they have no power. Some of those victims have no homes.The teacher has it down to a science, according to her blog: "I got Schlotsky's today for lunch and went again to the courthouse in Baytown to get my water, ice, and food. This time, there were different meals, but hopefully as good as the others. Then, i came home, emptied my trunk and then headed off for the Deer Park POD (Point of Delivery)."
"I think that I am falling in love with MREs. They are pretty darn good. I went around 5:30 to go get more MREs and actually got another box of real MREs, water, and ice," Steinhauer wrote on Wednesday. "Right now, I have five cases of water, two 20 pound bags of ice, four 10 pound bags of ice, and four boxes of MREs."
While stocking her pantry and frig with taxpayer-funded freebies, Steinhauer has become quite the MRE connoisseur.
"Yesterday I ate meatballs with marinara sauce, almonds, wheat bread with cheese sauce, pretzels, and the orange punch. Today's meal was chili mac, applesauce, a pop-tart, wheat bread with cheese sauce, fruit punch, and apple cider," she wrote. "It is so cool that you put a little bit of water in the bag with the food and in about a minute, there is hot food. This is great. I don't have school and getting free food!"
The good news? Her district has suspended her pending an investigation of whether or not her conduct constitutes a violation of the ethical standards set by the state and district for teachers – but once again she is getting a freebie off the taxpayers, since it is a suspension with pay. Too bad they couldn’t tell her that she didn’t need a taxpayer check since she has all those taxpayer-financed MREs to eat. In the mean time I’m living in a church hall, and have paid for every meal I’ve eaten since the storm by going to one of the many open grocery stores in the area – despite having had my home rendered unlivable for the next few months.
And to the pair of Bubbas I heard bragging about scoring MREs for hunting season -- may you not get your deer, may the birds fly elsewhere, and may you end up down-range of Dick Cheney on your next hunting trip.
Posted by: Greg at
01:54 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 762 words, total size 4 kb.
September 23, 2008
The house is uninhabitable, and so my Darling Democrat, the Apolitical Pooch, and I are living at our church for the time being.
I will be headed back to school Friday after 2 weeks off, and the kids return Monday. It should be interesting to see how folks survived and how this changes school life for us all.
I'm going to try to start blogging soon. In the mean time, please click one of the two buttons in the side column if you feel the urge.
Posted by: Greg at
10:42 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.
September 18, 2008
That is about to change.
This morning we return "home" from Austin, after deciding that it is better to be close than comfortable.
But we will not be in the house, which remains unlivable -- and will for the foreseeable future.
Instead, we will be taking over the "youth room" in the church fellowship hall about 2 1/2 miles inland from our house. It has the necessities of life, including a big kitchen -- and an offer to stay until we can make more permanent arrangements. That means no more long drives, and the ability to go back to school when it resumes (Monday, tentatively, but with 60% of the area without power I have doubts about that).
Besides, eventually we will probably be able to get an apartment or a trailer for us to live in until the house is repaired and we start filling it with new furniture.
So homeward bound -- with a very heavy heart but a spirit that is not (yet) broken.
And I'll again point to the PayPal and Amazon buttons on the side if you feel moved to help with our recovery.
Posted by: Greg at
12:14 AM
| Comments (24)
| Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 1 kb.
September 16, 2008
Yesterday was my first opportunity to see the place.
At first I was quite hopeful -- the back fence was down and the first pane of a couple of double-pane windows were broken.
And then I noticed the debris piled against the fence in the by the side of the house -- and my buddy Rick spotted the water line two feet high on the side of the house.
It appears the storm sewer backed up and sent water up from the street and into the houses on my side of the street (I don't know about the other side).
We took 2-2 1/2 feet in the garage, and 1 1/2 to 2 feet in the rest of the house. It is, dare I say it, a serious mess, and is going to require a serious rehab.
Thank God for flood insurance.
In the mean time, my district has canceled school until next week, and I'll have to see about finding more permanent quarters closer to home. Paula will remain in Austin for the time being, and I'll be in Houston with a friend trying to work on the house.
Prayer and moral support is always welcome -- as is a click on either the PayPal or Amazon boxes in the right column.
Posted by: Greg at
11:06 PM
| Comments (28)
| Add Comment
Post contains 255 words, total size 1 kb.
It also means I will try some new things. One will be a new multi-media software package, since I wasn’t really happy with the various programs I had been using. Why do I need a separate MOV converter , video encoder, and audio converter? Blaze Media Pro does everything a half-dozen programs on my old computer were needed for -- conversion, ripping, editing, recording, burning, playback, and much more. It supports CD/DVD, VCD, SVCD, and DVD burning. Plus it works with every audio and video format I could possibly want. So I expect it will be finding a home on my new computer – whenever the insurance cuts the check.
Posted by: Greg at
09:19 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 177 words, total size 1 kb.
September 14, 2008
First place in the non-Council category was Beldar Blog with DonÂ’t Confuse RepublicansÂ’ thrill over the Palin nomination with the DemsÂ’ worship of Obama: A reply to Paul Mirengoff.
The full tally of this week's vote can be found here.
Posted by: Greg at
04:29 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 68 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Greg at
03:49 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.
The point of the comment is to equate Obama and the Democrats with Christ and Palin and the Republicans with Pilate.
Why is it wrong?
First of all, because Jesus was the Son of God who came to die for our sins and redeem the world, after a career preaching the importance of bringing man's ways into conformity with the ways of God.
Second, because Pilate was, first and foremost, the agent of the world's largest welfare state (bread and circuses, anyone), one that wanted its religious leaders subordinate to the power of the state as a condition of holding their offices and receiving the benefits thereof.
Now tell me -- which of these two sounds like he'd be at home among the Republicans, and which one would fit best among the Democrats?
Posted by: Greg at
03:36 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 179 words, total size 1 kb.
77 queries taking 0.6378 seconds, 390 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
