Good grief – just pay the tickets!

An investigation concluded that a Des Moines woman faked her own death to avoid paying traffic tickets.

Polk County investigators said Kimberly Du, 36, faked her own obituary and forged a letter telling a Polk County judge she was dead.

Du is spending time in the Polk County Jail in connection with a forgery charge.
Court documents show that Du tried to avoid paying several tickets by sending a letter to the courthouse.

The letter is allegedly signed by Du's mother and said Du died on Dec. 5, according to court documents.

Investigators said the information submitted include a phony obituary made to look like a page from The Des Moines Register's Web site that said Du died in car accident, and her mother's signature was forged.

Du's mother said she didn't write or sign the letter. It's a case that leaves a legal expert scratching his head.

"The state still has to convince a jury of 12, but faking your own death is not a good idea," said Bob Rigg, of the Drake Law Clinic.

The case began to unravel when investigators said Du was stopped for another traffic ticket in January, which was a month after the obituary was dated.

The probe began at the county courthouse.

"If she did it, she now faces a felony instead of a misdemeanor. It's a $500 fine instead of a five-year prison term," Rigg said.

Du now faces more trouble than before.

The Polk County Attorney's Office could not comment about the case except to say it has never seen anyone try it before.

Let’s be honest – there really is not a good way to explain this situation away. Being caught driving while deceased is sort of a dead giveaway that you are trying up to something.

But I think it is clear that her actions are clear that she is not in contact with reality – but then what do you expect of someone named DU.

Posted by: Greg at 06:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Change a street name to honor the head of the Black Panthers? You must be kidding! Given the terror the group spread and the threats made against law enforcement, there is no way that Fred Hampton deserves any government honors.

Fred Hampton -- slain state chairman of the Black Panthers party that urged followers to "off the pigs" -- would join the parade of Chicagoans afforded honorary street designations, under an ordinance advanced Monday that outraged the police union.

Hampton and fellow Panther leader Mark Clark were gunned down by Chicago Police officers working under Cook County State's Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan in an infamous December 1969 raid at Hampton's apartment that ultimately cost Hanrahan his job.

But it was the violence that Hampton and the Panthers advocated against police officers that stuck in the craw of Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue.

Donahue was incredulous when informed that the City Council's Transportation Committee had voted without debate to rename Monroe Street -- from Western to Oakley -- as "Chairman Fred Hampton Way." The ordinance was sponsored by Ald. Madeline Haithcock (2nd).

Reaction from one police union official was quite blunt and to the point.

"You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe they would do that," Donahue said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.
"It's a dark day when we honor someone who would advocate killing policemen and who took great advantage of the communities he claimed to have been serving. We have real, everyday heroes within the department who would be better honored than someone of the stature of Fred Hampton."

But it sounds like it is too late to do anything, given that the measure has passed the City Council. Instead, I would like to add some other historical figures to the mix, individuals of the same sort of sterling character and high accomplishments as Fred Hampton.

Tim McVeigh Way.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Parkway.

Mohammad Atta Boulevard.

Any other suggestions?

Posted by: Greg at 06:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And I thought kids placing gum on the underside of the desk was a bad thing!

You might think that a museum wouldn't have to tell visitors not to stick chewing gum on the art. But you would be wrong -- as the Detroit Institute of Arts just found out.

At the DIA on Friday, a mischievous 12-year-old boy visiting the museum with a school group took a piece of barely chewed Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's 1963 abstract painting "The Bay," damaging one of the most important modern paintings in the museum's collection and a landmark picture in the artist's output.

Though the picture, acquired by the DIA in 1965 and worth an estimated $1.5 million, is expected to make a full recovery, the episode reinforces just how vulnerable priceless works of art remain when displayed publicly -- and what can happen when common sense takes a backseat to impulsive delinquency.

This kid may not be seeing his allowance for some time.

And as far as the work of art, it looks more like it ought to be $15 rather than $1.5 million.

Posted by: Greg at 06:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We don’t always get much of an insight into the lives of those whose writngs we read every day.

This Leonard Pitts column is an exception – and shows just how important family is to the man. You see, his 10-year-old grandson, Eric, was hit by an SUV last week.

And a miracle happened.

So Tuesday afternoon, the phone rings. I pick it up and hear my daughter's voice. Her tone seems normal and I breathe easy. I figure she's going to hit me up for money, tell me we're out of milk. Then I hear her say, "Eric got hit by a car."

And suddenly, I am hurtling. Out of the office. To the parking lot. Down the highway. Eric is my grandson. He is 10.

I hate Eric.

This occurs to me as I am driving. I hate Eric and all my children and my wife and everyone else I love for how much I love them and for how love inevitably brings pain. They get hurt, they get sick, but it might as well be me for all the fear that stabs my heart. To love somebody is to make yourself hostage to the fortunes of others. It is to give a hundred people veto power over your happiness. Sometimes I think the smartest way to live is without affiliation — no family, no friends, no children, no spouse, no pet, no nobody who can hurt you.

You might say it's a pathetic man who goes through life neither loving nor loved. Most days I would agree. But there are days it doesn't sound like a bad deal. Days like this.

So here's what happened: Eric was trying to cross the street. Going to a friend's house to play video games. He looked both ways — twice, just like we taught him. When he was halfway across, he saw a car, an SUV, coming around the bend. Instead of continuing safely across, he tried to make it back to the curb.

The car hit him. He smacked the hood hard enough to leave a dent. A shoe flew one way, a video game another. My wife saw it happen. She ran to him. He was writhing in the street, crying. He kept saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I am sitting beside his gurney in the emergency room as these words are written. The doctor has been in. His diagnosis: two lumps on the head and two skinned knees.

Let's repeat that to make sure you got it. The boy gets hit. By an SUV. He bounces off the hood. And he winds up with lumps and skinned knees. I am reminded of the refrain from a gospel song I've always loved. It says, "There must be a G-d somewhere."

There must be. And obviously, He was in a forgiving mood this day.

Eric is more voluble than usual. He says Spider-Man would have dodged the car. He says that like Wolverine, his "healing factor" kept him from serious injury. He says he is glad to be alive.

I keep thinking how all the uncertainty of life can be summed up in the ringing of a telephone. But it comes with the territory, doesn't it? Uncertainty, I mean. You just never know. Life is a dance on the highwire above mortality. It unfolds in the shadow of tragedies past and tragedies yet to come. There's nothing you can do about it except use the time in between to laugh, sing, hug, read comic books with your grandkid as often as you can.

And try to forget that you are a wisp in a wind. I hate that, too, but what are you going to do?

Eric is still chattering away, all nervous energy. He complains that I forgot to pay his allowance. He wants to go to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. And he says, he keeps saying, that he is glad to be alive.

I know just how he feels.

Thank you for sharing, sir. And my God keep you and you family safe and sound – especially this incredible young man whose incredible good fortune you shared with us.

Posted by: Greg at 03:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 695 words, total size 4 kb.

We donÂ’t always get much of an insight into the lives of those whose writngs we read every day.

This Leonard Pitts column is an exception – and shows just how important family is to the man. You see, his 10-year-old grandson, Eric, was hit by an SUV last week.

And a miracle happened.

So Tuesday afternoon, the phone rings. I pick it up and hear my daughter's voice. Her tone seems normal and I breathe easy. I figure she's going to hit me up for money, tell me we're out of milk. Then I hear her say, "Eric got hit by a car."

And suddenly, I am hurtling. Out of the office. To the parking lot. Down the highway. Eric is my grandson. He is 10.

I hate Eric.

This occurs to me as I am driving. I hate Eric and all my children and my wife and everyone else I love for how much I love them and for how love inevitably brings pain. They get hurt, they get sick, but it might as well be me for all the fear that stabs my heart. To love somebody is to make yourself hostage to the fortunes of others. It is to give a hundred people veto power over your happiness. Sometimes I think the smartest way to live is without affiliation — no family, no friends, no children, no spouse, no pet, no nobody who can hurt you.

You might say it's a pathetic man who goes through life neither loving nor loved. Most days I would agree. But there are days it doesn't sound like a bad deal. Days like this.

So here's what happened: Eric was trying to cross the street. Going to a friend's house to play video games. He looked both ways — twice, just like we taught him. When he was halfway across, he saw a car, an SUV, coming around the bend. Instead of continuing safely across, he tried to make it back to the curb.

The car hit him. He smacked the hood hard enough to leave a dent. A shoe flew one way, a video game another. My wife saw it happen. She ran to him. He was writhing in the street, crying. He kept saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I am sitting beside his gurney in the emergency room as these words are written. The doctor has been in. His diagnosis: two lumps on the head and two skinned knees.

Let's repeat that to make sure you got it. The boy gets hit. By an SUV. He bounces off the hood. And he winds up with lumps and skinned knees. I am reminded of the refrain from a gospel song I've always loved. It says, "There must be a G-d somewhere."

There must be. And obviously, He was in a forgiving mood this day.

Eric is more voluble than usual. He says Spider-Man would have dodged the car. He says that like Wolverine, his "healing factor" kept him from serious injury. He says he is glad to be alive.

I keep thinking how all the uncertainty of life can be summed up in the ringing of a telephone. But it comes with the territory, doesn't it? Uncertainty, I mean. You just never know. Life is a dance on the highwire above mortality. It unfolds in the shadow of tragedies past and tragedies yet to come. There's nothing you can do about it except use the time in between to laugh, sing, hug, read comic books with your grandkid as often as you can.

And try to forget that you are a wisp in a wind. I hate that, too, but what are you going to do?

Eric is still chattering away, all nervous energy. He complains that I forgot to pay his allowance. He wants to go to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. And he says, he keeps saying, that he is glad to be alive.

I know just how he feels.

Thank you for sharing, sir. And my God keep you and you family safe and sound – especially this incredible young man whose incredible good fortune you shared with us.

Posted by: Greg at 03:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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What would you think if you saw this headline?

Clinton pleases NZ woman

Certainly not what the article is about.

Posted by: Greg at 02:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Columnist Stuart Rothenberg seems to think that there is a lot of political smoke but no real national security fire in the dispute over a UAE-owned company operating American ports.

Talking of “turning over” American ports to a foreign company that apparently is controlled by a foreign (Middle Eastern) government raises the specter of terrorists flowing through the ports of New York, Baltimore and Miami. But with the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Immigration and Naturalization still firmly in U.S. control, it’s far from clear how that sale threatens U.S. security or enables terrorists to gain access to the U.S.

What we have here is a small dose of real concern and a huge amount of grandstanding by legislators, Republican and Democratic alike.

Democrats smell an opportunity to appear tougher than the President on national defense and homeland security, enhancing their generally weaker credentials on fighting the war against terror.

Republican legislators realize that they cannot allow Democrats to seize the one issue that the GOP has had an advantage on since September 11, 2001. And GOP members of the House and Senate even get an issue on which they can “stand up to” Bush, a hard-to-pass-up opportunity since the President’s job ratings remain weak.

The more I read about this arrangement, the less concern I have with the decision to let the deal proceed. Many American ports are under foreign control. Only one American company (a Halliburton subsidiary) is in the port operations business on a scale that they could take on the job. The employees doing the work will not change, and the security work will still be done by the government. And as was pointed out by a guest on Bill Bennett’s show this morning, the real security issues come at the ports where these shipments originate, where they security is not as tight.

Do I think that this deal should – and will – go through? Yes, probably. But do I still think it needs to be held up for a short interval for additional consideration? One again, I have to say “Yes, probably,” if only to provide reassurance to the American people
.

Posted by: Greg at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Columnist Stuart Rothenberg seems to think that there is a lot of political smoke but no real national security fire in the dispute over a UAE-owned company operating American ports.

Talking of “turning over” American ports to a foreign company that apparently is controlled by a foreign (Middle Eastern) government raises the specter of terrorists flowing through the ports of New York, Baltimore and Miami. But with the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Immigration and Naturalization still firmly in U.S. control, it’s far from clear how that sale threatens U.S. security or enables terrorists to gain access to the U.S.

What we have here is a small dose of real concern and a huge amount of grandstanding by legislators, Republican and Democratic alike.

Democrats smell an opportunity to appear tougher than the President on national defense and homeland security, enhancing their generally weaker credentials on fighting the war against terror.

Republican legislators realize that they cannot allow Democrats to seize the one issue that the GOP has had an advantage on since September 11, 2001. And GOP members of the House and Senate even get an issue on which they can “stand up to” Bush, a hard-to-pass-up opportunity since the President’s job ratings remain weak.

The more I read about this arrangement, the less concern I have with the decision to let the deal proceed. Many American ports are under foreign control. Only one American company (a Halliburton subsidiary) is in the port operations business on a scale that they could take on the job. The employees doing the work will not change, and the security work will still be done by the government. And as was pointed out by a guest on Bill BennettÂ’s show this morning, the real security issues come at the ports where these shipments originate, where they security is not as tight.

Do I think that this deal should – and will – go through? Yes, probably. But do I still think it needs to be held up for a short interval for additional consideration? One again, I have to say “Yes, probably,” if only to provide reassurance to the American people
.

Posted by: Greg at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Perhaps some of the red-diaper doper babies from the ACLU and other groups that are defending terrorists would consider taking up real cases of human rights abuses instead. You know, ones like this example of abuse of an individual by government for daring to engage in non-violent expressive conduct.

A protester jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing was finally released yesterday having gone mad in solitary confinement.

Yu Dongyue, then 22, and two other men each threw an eggshell filled with red ink at a Chairman Mao portrait.

He was jailed for 20 years for "counter-revolutionary activity" and "sabotage" two months after the tanks moved in, killing hundreds of people.

He has been freed three years early and his mother, Wu Pinghua, was told last night he was on his way home.

"My last prison visit was in December 2004, and he couldn't tell who we were," she said. "The official said he now couldn't look after himself and needed spoonfeeding."

Yu was a country boy who made it to college, moving to the city of Liuyang in central Hunan province. After teaching, he became an arts writer for the local newspaper.

With his best friend, Yu Zhijian (no relation), he joined the protesters in Beijing three days before martial law was declared. With another man from Hunan, they decided on an eye-catching protest. Yu Zhijian, his friend, who originally received a life sentence, last year described how prison guards ordered other inmates to beat him because he refused to admit his guilt.

His release comes in the middle of a new wave of dissident protest in China. The government is trying to rein in outspoken journalists and the internet, sacking editors and jailing writers.

So come on, Leftists – quit defending those who want to kill you and start defending real victims of human rights abuse.

Posted by: Greg at 11:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That is the message from three members of the flooded city’s City Council.

New Orleans doesn't want its poorest residents back — unless they agree to work.

That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government programs have "pampered" the city's residents for too long.

The news that some New Orleans City Council members weren't keen on the city's poorest returning home added another layer of discomfort in Houston, where local residents and elected officials alike have stretched to meet the needs of thousands of Louisiana residents in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

Chief among the complaints: Houston didn't discriminate when New Orleanians — from the poorest to the richest — filled this city's homes, hotels, motels and shelters. And Houston didn't flinch when nearly 100,000 evacuees needed subsidized housing for up to a year. So why, asked one Houston city councilman, are only the educated, healthy and employable welcome back in New Orleans?

"A city is a combination of all kinds of people," said Councilman M.J. Khan, whose district has absorbed most of the city's evacuees. "We definitely want everybody to be productive, wealthy and educated. But in any society it's not always possible. We cannot pick and choose who will live in a city."

Khan was among those who responded negatively to the comments of New Orleans elected officials Monday, which were published by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

I react negatively, too. As a resident of the Houston area, I was glad to help pick up the slack when the relocation was temporary. But for the city of New Orleans to try to permanently dump its problems on us is intolerable. I think I speak for many area residents when I say that the day is coming when we may need to simply put these people back onto the buses they came in and ship them home – whether their hometown wants them or not. We are sick of their whining and demands for more.

Posted by: Greg at 01:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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That is the message from three members of the flooded cityÂ’s City Council.

New Orleans doesn't want its poorest residents back — unless they agree to work.

That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government programs have "pampered" the city's residents for too long.

The news that some New Orleans City Council members weren't keen on the city's poorest returning home added another layer of discomfort in Houston, where local residents and elected officials alike have stretched to meet the needs of thousands of Louisiana residents in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

Chief among the complaints: Houston didn't discriminate when New Orleanians — from the poorest to the richest — filled this city's homes, hotels, motels and shelters. And Houston didn't flinch when nearly 100,000 evacuees needed subsidized housing for up to a year. So why, asked one Houston city councilman, are only the educated, healthy and employable welcome back in New Orleans?

"A city is a combination of all kinds of people," said Councilman M.J. Khan, whose district has absorbed most of the city's evacuees. "We definitely want everybody to be productive, wealthy and educated. But in any society it's not always possible. We cannot pick and choose who will live in a city."

Khan was among those who responded negatively to the comments of New Orleans elected officials Monday, which were published by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

I react negatively, too. As a resident of the Houston area, I was glad to help pick up the slack when the relocation was temporary. But for the city of New Orleans to try to permanently dump its problems on us is intolerable. I think I speak for many area residents when I say that the day is coming when we may need to simply put these people back onto the buses they came in and ship them home – whether their hometown wants them or not. We are sick of their whining and demands for more.

Posted by: Greg at 01:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Could you imagine the uproar if this incident involved a columnist for a conservative paper at a major university?

Turn Left, CornellÂ’s left-wing newspaper, has a bit of a public relations problem: recently, one of its writers allegedly shouted racial slurs at a group of blacks and then proceeded to stab one of them, puncturing his lung. Nathan Poffenbarger, the alleged stabber, then fled the scene, later turning himself into police. (Rumor has it that he will be contending for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming West Virginia senatorial race.)
On February 20, The Sun reported:

According to sources familiar with the incident, Poffenbarger and an unidentified female were walking in the vicinity of Baker Tower, on the corner of University and West, after Poffenbarger was reportedly kicked out of a West Campus fraternity party for belligerent behavior and use of racial slurs.

University officials said Poffenbarger continued using the epithets after leaving the fraternity and was overheard by a nearby group of three black Union College students, who then confronted Poffenbarger. A verbal altercation escalated, and Poffenbarger allegedly stabbed one of the students. Poffenbarger fled after an Ithaca Police vehicle arrived on the scene. He turned himself in to authorities Saturday night.

But hey, Poffenbarger is a strong opponent of racism and a noted pacifist, so an unprovoked assault upon minority students who object to his use of racial slurs gets a pass from the Left -- where are the major news stories and the condemnations? Where are the demands that the paper that employed this racist cretin be closed? Conservative minds want to know!

Posted by: Greg at 01:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It isn't the contests between cowboys and livestock.

It isn't the concerts.

It isn't the fair food (mmmm... deep fried Twinkies!)

It is what the show does for kids.

And not just for the scholarship winners.

Bart Pennington's Angus-Hereford crossbreed in 1985 gave him the confidence to start his own business. The Maine-Anjou and Angus hybrid Theresa Pritchard showed in 1974 paid her way through college and put her in choice seats at an Elvis concert. And along with the rush of TV interviews, Angie Elam's Limousin got her some extra, unexpected attention in 1980.

"I had probably a couple guys say, 'Hey, would you marry me? You're rich,' " Elam said.

Although decades have passed and much of the cash has been spent since Pennington, Pritchard and Elam presented the grand champion steers at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, all say the victories they earned as teenagers still influence their lives.

"It was a big deal for a small girl from a small town," Elam, now 41, said from her farm in Seminole, where she raises cattle with her husband. "That Sunday afternoon, we went to the Galleria and everyone knew who I was. ... It was a day I will never forget."

More than 2,600 youngsters from 4-H Clubs across Texas are fattening their steers and shining their coats in the hopes of leaving the country's largest and richest stage for steers, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, with the "Grand Champion" ribbon and a wad of cash. The biggest show of their steer-showing lives starts next Tuesday.

The steers will moo, chew and strut their stuff in 16 breed categories through Reliant Center, but only one will become the grand champion and earn its exhausted young exhibitor both a moment of big-city fame and a place in the record books among past victors.

Not to mention some big bucks.

My dear wife and I go to the rodeo every year -- multiple nights. And we always make sure we are there the night that the selection of the grand champion steer is made. It is a beautiful moment, watching the culmination of a lot of hard work for one boy or girl. I taught one recent winner during summer school, and got to see what great kids are involved in this program.

And i can't wait -- Rodeo is one week away!

Posted by: Greg at 11:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Jeff Jacoby discloses this little tidbit in today's column.

The vast majority of US media outlets have shied away from reproducing the drawings, but to my knowledge only the Phoenix has been honest enough to admit that it is capitulating to fear. Many of the others have published high-minded editorials and columns about the importance of ''restraint" and ''sensitivity" and not giving ''offense" to Muslims. Several have claimed they wouldn't print the Danish cartoons for the same reason they wouldn't print overtly racist or anti-Semitic material. The managing editor for news of The Oregonian, for example, told her paper's ombudsman that not running the images is like avoiding the N-word -- readers don't need to see a racial slur spelled out to understand its impact. Yet a Nexis search turns up at least 14 occasions since 1999 when The Oregonian has published the N-word unfiltered. So there are times when it is appropriate to run material that some may find offensive.

Want to bet we could find similar examples in other print media? I ran a quick search on the Houston Chronicle and found AT LEAST 500 uses of the so-called "N-word" since 1988 -- but Houstonians have still not found the Muhammad cartoons in the pages of the Houston Chronicle.

Jacoby's take -- we are dealing with cowards who have succumbed to fear in the face of intimidation by the Islamocensors. And as he points out, their cowardice betrays every dissident, reformer, and moderate who seeks freedom in the face of the islaist fanatics -- for if those in the free West cannot or will not speak out, how can they?

Posted by: Greg at 04:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've criticized the abuse of eminent domain for economic purposes a number of times on this site. But here is the sort of case where eminent domain is appropriate. The only question is what constitutes adequate notice of meetings and decision-making.

A Tacoma couple lost their court fight Thursday to keep Sound Transit from seizing their property to build a commuter rail station.

The ruling could have broader implications for the power of government in Washington state to seize private property by eminent domain. The state Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, said it generally does not referee disputes when a government agency needs to seize property. The court also said a Web site posting was enough notice of a meeting on taking the coupleÂ’s land.

The majority ruling of the court said it is a “legislative judgment” that determines when it is necessary to seize someone’s property for a public use. It said the courts will overturn that decision only if there is proof of fraud or when the government clearly ignores the law.

Justice James Johnson, in a written dissent, objected that the state Constitution clearly makes government taking of property a matter for the courts.

“The constitutionally limited eminent domain power is improperly expanded by the majority at the expense of the peoples’ individual rights to own and use property,” he said.

Sound Transit is taking the South Tacoma property as part of its effort to extend Sounder commuter train service south from Tacoma to Lakewood.

The property owners, Ken and Barbara Miller, said Sound Transit arbitrarily chose their property over other alternatives. They also argued that no one told them beforehand about the meeting where Sound TransitÂ’s board of directors decided to take their land and that it wasnÂ’t enough for the agency to announce the meeting on its Web site.

At first this looks bad -- not a matter for the courts? Only notice on a website? But let's flesh out a few details.

First, it is clear even from this that it is not up to the courts to decide the best properties to be seized for a project. The majority is right on that point -- that decision belongs to the political branches responsible for carrying out the project, not the judges. They have no role in determining the best way to implement a policy -- only its legality and constitutionality.

The second point -- relating to notice-- is a red herring. After all, the couple had known for years that this was probably coming.

FairhurstÂ’s ruling said Miller couldnÂ’t have been surprised by the decision to seize his property. Sound Transit started looking in 1998 for a good spot in South Tacoma or Lakewood to build a park-and-ride rail station as part of the planned commuter rail expansion. Three years later, after a series of workshops and public meetings, the agency identified three potential sites.

The ruling said that for those first three years, Miller cooperated with Sound Transit in the possible condemnation. It said he allowed Sound Transit to enter the property and take soil samples in 2001.

“There is considerable evidence that Miller was involved in the site selection process for many years,” Fairhurst said in the ruling.

Miller said he had only a few contacts over the years with anyone related to Sound Transit and wasnÂ’t given a choice about allowing the soil testing.

He said he knew the agency was considering taking his property, as well as others, for the rail station. But he said he wasnÂ’t informed about the 2003 meeting when the agencyÂ’s board of directors selected his land for the project.

So you see, for five years this guy was aware that his property was being considered for the project, and he did nothing substantive to head it off. He was not personally notified of the final meeting (which is, in my opinion, bad form), but by that point the selection appears to have been a mere formality. There's an old saying that applies -- "You snooze, you lose."

And unlike the case I wrote about recently, it seems that adequate compensation is a given here.

Posted by: Greg at 03:27 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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It is therefore obvious that the United States, Israel, and any other sane Western nation must act NOW to keep such weapons out of the hands of the mad mullahs of Iran.

Iran's hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies.

In yet another sign of Teheran's stiffening resolve on the nuclear issue, influential Muslim clerics have for the first time questioned the theocracy's traditional stance that Sharia law forbade the use of nuclear weapons.

One senior mullah has now said it is "only natural" to have nuclear bombs as a "countermeasure" against other nuclear powers, thought to be a reference to America and Israel.

The pronouncement is particularly worrying because it has come from Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of the ultra-conservative Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is widely regarded as the cleric closest to Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* * *

Rooz reported that Mohsen Gharavian, a lecturer based in a religious school in the holy city of Qom, had declared "for the first time that the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem, according to Sharia."

He also said: "When the entire world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to use these weapons as a counter-measure. According to Sharia too, only the goal is important."

Mohsen Gharavian did not specify what kinds of "goals" would justify a nuclear strike, but it is thought that any military intervention by the United States would be considered sufficient grounds. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has previously justified use of suicide bombers against "enemies of Islam" and believes that America is bent on destroying the Islamic republic and its values. The latest insight into the theocracy's thinking comes as the US signals a change in strategy on Iran, after the decision earlier this month to report it to the United Nations Security Council for its resumption of banned nuclear research.

Iran has just announced their intent to use nukes if they get them. Iran has restarted the research necessary to create them. It is therefore time to stop Iran from obtaining those weapons.

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This from Robert Novak's column today.

The first documents received from unions in the Labor Department's demand for detailed financial disclosures, for the first time strictly enforcing the 1959 Landrum-Griffin labor reform act, suggest embarrassment by organized labor when the information is made public next month.

Early reports show the AFL-CIO spent $49 million (27 percent of its total annual budget) on political and lobbying activities but only $30 million (or 16.5 percent) to represent its members. That gap contributed to the breakaway from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters, the Service Employees and other unions.

Another document reveals that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spent $791 million, constituting 85 percent of its 2005 budget, purchasing fixed assets and investments.

Now tell me, why would anyone willingly join any of these organizations? Why should anyone be required to join such organizations as a condition of employment?

Seems to me that the time has come for a national Right-To-Work law -- let the unions survive in the free market.

Posted by: Greg at 03:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For me, this is not about Arab or Muslim connections. It is about a much simpler principle – our ports should not be under the control of foreign entities.

The management of major U.S. ports taken over by an Arab-owned company? What was the Bush administration thinking when it allowed such a thing?

That is the question being asked by members of Congress from both parties. Their indignation is aimed at the $6.8 billion purchase by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates, of a firm that handles most operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

At a news conference yesterday, a bipartisan group of seven House and Senate members demanded that an interagency task force on foreign investments, which approved the transaction, examine it more closely. The group contended that although the UAE may have a strongly pro-U.S. government, the country was traversed by some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers and its banking system has been used by groups affiliated with al Qaeda.

"Our ports are major potential terrorist targets," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.). "I strongly urge the administration to thoroughly investigate this acquisition."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said, "Handing the keys to U.S. strategic ports to a regime that recognized the Taliban is not a sound next step in our war against terror."

It really does not matter who is in charge, if they are not Americans. The reality is that these ports are vital national security centers for the United States. It does not matter if the company in charge is the UAE or the UK – there is no guarantee that they will have the interests of the USA at heart.

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Of all the stupid tit-for-tat games, now Iran has changed the name of that favorite breakfast pastry, the Danish, in protest of the Mohammad cartoons.

Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad."

Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday after the confectioners' union ordered the name change in retaliation for caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper.

"Given the insults by Danish newspapers against the prophet, as of now the name of Danish pastries will give way to 'Rose of Muhammad' pastries," the union said in its order.

"This is a punishment for those who started misusing freedom of expression to insult the sanctities of Islam," said Ahmad Mahmoudi, a cake shop owner in northern Tehran.

Yeah – that will show them.

So letÂ’s go out and buy some newly re-christened Danish cats and Danish carpets.

Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Do we really need this news story? I mean come on, folks -- the victim is improving.

If the man wounded by
Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could — in theory at least — face criminal charges.

Dallas defense attorney David Finn, who has been a state and a federal prosecutor, said Wednesday that a Texas grand jury could bring a charge of criminally negligent homicide if there is evidence the vice president knew or should have known "there was a substantial or unjustifiable risk that his actions would result in him shooting a fellow hunter."

To indict Cheney, the grand jury would have to conclude that a reasonable person in the vice president's place would say to himself, "I am not pulling the trigger because this other guy might be in front of me," Finn said.

Frankly, this sounds like someone in the media is rooting for Mr. Whittington to kick the bucket.

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This really disturbs me. After all, we are not talking about preventing the spread of a communicable disease. Where is the compelling public interest in giving mere government employees access to the medical records of citizens without their consent, absent a threat of passing the disease on to other citizens?

On Jan. 15, New York City began requiring local clinical laboratories to report to the city health department the results of blood sugar tests performed on citizens. The department plans to use the information to improve surveillance for diabetes, which afflicts an estimated one out of eight New Yorkers and to "target interventions." Specifically, if you live in New York and have trouble resisting sweets, your doctor may soon receive a call from the health department suggesting that he or she needs to persuade you to change your lifestyle.

What makes this development so extraordinary in the annals of American public health is that diabetes is not a disease you can catch from, or give to, anyone else. U.S. governments have a long history of imposing quarantines and otherwise restricting the liberties of people suspected of carrying contagious disease. Early in the last century, for example, the very same New York City health department famously exiled Mary Mallon (aka "Typhoid Mary"), along with many other infectious patients, to a tiny island "colony" in the East River
Policies that require the reporting of sexually transmitted diseases to public health authorities similarly derive justification from the threat of contagion. Even recently enacted smoking bans in New York and elsewhere were passed only after the public accepted findings that secondhand smoke poses a serious health threat to others.

But diabetes, though now a fearsome epidemic, is not communicable; nor do the behaviors that lead to the disease (primarily lack of exercise and improper diet) put others at risk of illness. It cannot even be said of diabetics, as is often said of illegal drug users, that their habits foster a life of crime or fund crime syndicates and terrorist networks. So how does it become a matter of public interest that governments monitor the medical records of individual citizens for telltale signs of high blood sugar -- much less that they "target interventions"? Isn't this the ultimate example of the nanny state run amok?

Yes, it is – and all the attempts to justify this intrusion into the medical privacy of individual citizens based upon the need for research data, coordination of medical care, and cost effectiveness fall flat when faced with the simple fact that this goes against the fundamental right to be secure in one’s person and one’s papers and effects. Absent a serious threat to the health of others, there is no legitimate basis for this power grab.

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A member of law enforcement died of injuries sustained in the line of duty here in Houston.

An explosives sniffing dog died this morning after falling from a ramp at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

The dog, Mikey, was part of a U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unit involved in a security sweep of the convention center in preparation for the NBA All-Star game, said Franceska Perot, spokeswoman for ATF.

Perot said about 1:30 a.m. the unit was taking a break and the dog, a Labrador, was being put into the back of a truck when he suddenly bolted and went over the edge of a ramp.

The dog fell about 55 feet to the ground and was taken to a local veterinary clinic where he died. Perot said the dog, used for detecting explosives, may have seen a pigeon and instinct took over and he jumped at the bird.

"This is a highly trained animal but sometimes you can't train the instinct out of them,'' she said.

Dogs like Mikey are a vital part of law enforcement and military operations. It is sad to see him die in this accident.

And let me say that I therefore feel a much greater degree of sorrow over his death than I do over the death of any of the Islamocensors killed in rioting over the Danish cartoons.

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This is an unfortunate development.

The 78-year-old Texas lawyer who was shot by Vice President Cheney in a hunting accident suffered a "minor heart attack" this morning after a piece of birdshot moved and lodged in his heart, hospital officials said.

Doctors treating Harry Whittington said the Republican lawyer was moved back into the intensive care unit and will need to remain hospitalized for at least a week

A statement issued later by Cheney's office said the vice president spoke to Whittington around 1:30 p.m., wishing him well and asking if he needed anything.

"The vice president said that he stood ready to assist," the statement said. "Mr. Whittington's spirits were good, but obviously his situation deserves the careful monitoring that his doctors are providing."

"Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart," Peter Banko, an administrator and spokesman for Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, told reporters outside the Corpus Christi hospital. Banko said the birdshot "caused him to have a minor heart attack."

Asked if the birdshot could move more and endanger Whittington's life, David Blanchard, emergency room chief at the hospital, said: "When birdshot is in your body, there's always the risk they can move. We'll watch very closely for any migration."

He said later, however, that the single BB-like piece of birdshot is "in a fixed position" and is not expected to travel. Blanchard said he and other doctors treating Whittington feel "very strongly that all the other birdshot in him is not problematic." The number of other pieces of birdshot in Whittington's body is not known, he said, but could range anywhere from "more than five" to "less than 150 to 200."

I wish Mr. Whittington a speedy recovery to the best of health.

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Seems to me that there is less to this story than meets the eye.

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday.

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.

* * *

"It broke the skin," [Armstrong] said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

So we are dealing with really minor injuries here -- though this could have been a much more serious situation had the range been closer.

But what exactly happened?

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

In other words, this was not the result of Cheney being unsafe in his conduct -- rather it involved his companion failing to follow standard safety practices in this sort of hunting.

So why the major coverage? Well, I think this indicates why the press has a burr up its ass.

McBride did not comment about why the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident until the next day. She referred the question to Armstrong, who could not be reached again Sunday evening.

Why wasn't the press notified? Because this sort of accident is really not a big deal. But when you consider that the MSM wants a press release every time a public figure has a bowel movement, you had to get the obligatory "why weren't we notified" bitching from the press.

Personally, my favorite line has to be this one.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.

One would certainly hope so.

Michelle Malkin quotes this little gem from a reader.

Reader C.T. writes: "I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy ."

Quite true.
UPFATE Great article at the Washington Post, with more details.

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Posted by: Greg at 04:04 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 "In other words, this was not the result of Cheney being unsafe in his conduct -- rather it involved his companion failing to follow standard safety practices in this sort of hunting."

Umm, you are obviously not a hunter. The cardinal rule of hunting is that whoever pulls the trigger is responsible for whatever happens. When hunting anything--but especially quail because of their unpredictability--you are responsible for knowing where other people in your party are.

I have hunted in that same area of SE Texas and there is no way a fellow hunter could not be seen if he's wearing the requisite clothing. The mesquite brush is relatively short and any trees around would also be small and spread apart. You can see quite easily.

What probably happened was that he got so focused on the bird, that he ignored everything else in his view. Regardless, unless you deliberately jumped in front of your partner's gun, there is NEVER a scenario where the shooter is not responsible for his actions.

This is clear recklessness on the part of Cheney.

It will be interesting to hear Whittington's rendition of the event. It will also be interesting to read the local police investigation.

Posted by: Kilp at Mon Feb 13 07:35:30 2006 (5Zer4)

2 Ordinarily, I would agree with your statements on hunter safety. But there is information here that leads me to place a large part of the responsibility on Whittington.

If you read the report cited at the beginning of the article,along with the Washington Post article (which is excellent), you will see that Cheney was aware of where everyone in the party was -- or at least where they were supposed to be. It appears that Whittington moved from where he said he would be. While it is not quite "jumping in front of the gun," it is clearly at least as much a case of lack of caution on Whittington's part as on Cheney's part.

Assuming the reports are accurate, Whittington came out of a direction no one was expecting, because he had told his companions where he would be. He then unexpectedly approached from behind, which is a blind spot, coming from lower where he could not be seen to higher ground.

As for you descritpion of the terrain, I have some questions as to its accuracy. SE Texas is a big place, with a variety of flora and fauna. I'm not familiar with the Armstrong Ranch, but I do know that the nearby King Ranch has multiple habitats, most of which do not meet with your description of the terrain. I therefore respectfully question your assertion regarding the area where the incident happened.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Feb 13 08:36:44 2006 (6IgSr)

3 You're right with regard to the variability of terrain in Kenedy County--most of my experience hunting quail has been in Jim Hogg County, which is pretty close.

I base my comments on some of the pictures shown on Fox today--admittedly not the best source of data regarding the local terrain. Judging from the pictures, however, it looked like classic southeast texas Mesquite Blackbrush brush which will have sideoats grama that the birds love to hang out in.

It would help if we knew whether they were hunting for scaled quail or Bobwhite. I would think Bobwhite since it is a bit more prevalent in that area although rare. The Bobwhite loves itself sideoats grama and leatherstem--generally stuff without a bunch of large trees around.

The other reason it seems like it was a lightly-wooded area and, hence, space for better views was because of Armstrong's description. She claimed to be in a vehicle and saw the whole thing transpire,meaning there could not have been a bunch of trees around to obscure her view. This begs another question--if indeed she see Whittington approach Cheney from behind why didn't she yell or something as the covey started flying toward him to alert Cheney?

Regardless, assuming her story is correct this still doesn't get Cheney off the hook. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KNOW WHERE YOUR HUNTING PARTNER IS BEFORE YOU DISCHARGE YOUR GUN!!! This is hunting safety 101! Because quail hunting is potentially dangerous hunting parties should be small. Normally you hunt quail in pairs. The fact that they had three people with guns should have made them extra-sensitive to the location of each member of the party.

It has been weird that the Cheney's office has not been forthcoming about the circumstances surrounding the expedition--especially how many people were involved. Since he nor his office won't talk to the press about the details and it wasn't until late this afternoon that we learned the name of the third member of the hunting party, it is difficult to piece together what happened.

The fact that Cheney and Pam Willeford aren't talking coupled with the fact that local law enforcement wasn't notified until the next day makes me less than confident in Armstrong's account.

Also, I've been a hunter for 30 years and I have always understood the hunter's credo to be one of accepting individual responsibility. Yes, accidents can happen--although they are EXTREMELY RARE. In the event of an accident, blaming it on the victim--which what Armstrong and the White House have been doing over the past 24 hours--is simply insulting.

In this type of political climate the gun control lobby is going to jump all over this. Essentially, Cheney is emodying the gun control line of argument--i.e. that guns are the problem, rather than irresponsible users.

Posted by: kilp at Mon Feb 13 11:19:24 2006 (5Zer4)

4 An update--I was correct in my speculation regarding the terrain. The Smoking Gun has a copy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Report on the shooting. They say that the topography was flat, light cover, and it was sunny.

Armstrong's ability to give such an authoritative description, however, remains puzzling.

Posted by: kilp at Tue Feb 14 02:17:55 2006 (/qZ1B)

5 My reading of it is that she was watching the whole thing unfold from the car -- and add to that any discussion with her guests, and she would be in a great position to provide a reasonable account of what happened.

And thanks for the terrain update -- it is appreciated.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Feb 14 03:52:17 2006 (qm26c)

6 It is ALWAYS the fault of the shooter. Don't blame the lawyer on this one. Further, if three people are hunting and one of them drops a bird, the others are obligated to help that hunter retrieve his bird before they start looking for more. But, what do I know. I've only hunted birds for more than 60 years and, unlike our Veep, I have successfully completed a hunter's safety course.

As an aside, I read a post on another site that went like: "What kind of samn fool hunts a lawyer with a shotgun?"

Posted by: clark groseth at Tue Feb 14 09:48:47 2006 (4W7tY)

7 I was told last night that Cheney had been put in charge of a federal program to reduce the number of lawyers in the US.

The source of the joke was one of the lawyers who teaches in the same legal education program that I do.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Feb 14 10:10:51 2006 (fI2Yv)

8 Ok, this is getting weirder--I havent yet seen the entire footage of Cheney's interview with Brit Hume, but I was re-reading one of the early accounts of Katherine Armstrong which makes her viability as a witness extremely suspect.

According to the AP story: "Armstrong said she saw Cheney's security detail running toward the scene. "The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem," she told The Associated Press."

Ok, if she actually saw the event transpire, the "first thing that crossed" her mind wouldn't be Cheney's heart problem--but rather the fact that someone was just shot! If she actually just saw Cheney shoot Whittington you would immediately understand the reason his security detail was running toward the scene!

This doesn't wash. She is a discredited witness. It will be interesting to see if Hume actually asks him significant questions, or whether he just gives him a free pass on this.

Posted by: Kilp at Wed Feb 15 09:19:47 2006 (5Zer4)

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Based upon the charge in this case, you have to ask.

Airport baggage screeners found a human head with teeth, hair and skin in the luggage of a woman who said she intended to ward off evil spirits with it, authorities said Friday.

Myrlene Severe, 30, a Haitian-born permanent U.S. resident, was charged Friday with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation.

Customs and Border Protection officials found the head Thursday, after Severe arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on a Lynx International Airlines flight from Cap Haitien, Haiti, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.

"It still had teeth, hair and bits of skin and lots of dirt," Gonzalez said.

Severe told authorities she had obtained the package in Haiti for "use as a part of her voodoo beliefs," ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.

"Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," Hernandez wrote.

Severe, who also was charged with failing to declare the head and transporting hazardous material in air commerce, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.

Severe remained held Friday in lieu of a $100,000 bond. She is due back in federal court March 2.

The "failure to declare" charge is also amusing -- I have this vision of the guy at the Customs checkpoint when he sees the "severed human head" on the Customs form.

Posted by: Greg at 03:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If we are going to criticize the Islamocensors, should we not also cpndemn the murderous practices of the government of Red China?

A newspaper editor who was severely beaten by police about three months ago has died from multiple injuries, his wife and former colleagues said on Monday.

"He died on February 2," said a former colleague of Wu Xianghu, who was deputy editor at the Taizhou Wanbao newspaper in east China's Zhejiang province.

"It must be related to the beating... our newspaper might take action," the journalist, who declined to give his name, said.

"We're all really angry about it."

Mr Wu's wife, who did not want to give her first name but is also surnamed Wu, confirmed his death, although she declined to elaborate exactly what he had died of.

"I am not able to say," she said. "It is not convenient for me to say over the phone... in the end, it was due to his liver problems."

The official Xinhua news agency had earlier reported on the incident in which Wu was beaten.

Up to 50 police raided the newspaper's office on October 20, a day after it published an article criticising traffic police over charging arbitrary fees for electrical bicycle licences.

Up to eight police beat and kicked Mr Wu, before hurling him out of his office and bundling him into a police car, Xinhua reported the next day.

The Xinhua report said Mr Wu had a liver transplant two years earlier and the beating caused severe damage to his liver, as well as other injuries.

Another journalist at Taizhou Wanbao, who also declined to be named, said Mr Wu had remained in hospital following the beatings on October 20.

He added that newspaper staff had been warned against discussing the incident with outsiders.

Officers at the Taizhou city Communist Party office and Jiaojiang district traffic police branch both refused to comment on Monday.

In other words, the price of exposing official corruption in China might be ones own life -- exactly the same punishment that the Islamofascist mobs seek to impose on those who daret o depict the Muhammad.

But this is not the only act of violence committed against those who speak against oppressive tactics by Red Chinese officials.

In another incident of police-related brutality reported on Monday, a leading Chinese rights activist was allegedly beaten outside a police station in the southern province of Guangdong as police officers looked on.

Unidentified men beat Yang Maodong, also known by his pen name of Guo Feixiong, after he lodged a complaint at a police station in Guangzhou city on Saturday about plain-clothed police officers following him, China Rights Defenders said in a statement.

Yes, we must oppose the evils of the Islamofascists, but we must not forget the 1/5 of the world's population that lives under this brutal Communist dictatorship.

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Posted by: Greg at 11:29 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Manchester Union-Leader used to be the standard-bearer for conservatism. Not any more, based upon this editorial.

And yet, while this episode has further exposed pockets of intense intolerance and misunderstanding in the Muslim world, it also has exposed the arrogance and insensitivity of many in the West, who have forgotten simple manners. This is not just a matter of press freedom; it is a matter of common decency.

Christians and Jews know all too well what it is like to be on the receiving end of vicious, spiteful satire. Decent people protest when someone callously mocks Christianity by sinking a crucifix in urine. They protest when people spread anti-Semitism by drawing Jews as cash-obsessed misers with hooked noses. Why no protest when someone attacks Islam by drawing Mohammad with a bomb for a turban? Surely Muslims are equally deserving of consideration.

If this were September, I would agree with this editorial – there was no need to reprint the editorial cartoons then. They were merely poorly done and provocative then.

But today there is, because of the reaction to those cartoons. The threat of the Islamocensors to free speech and open discussion (and yes, that includes derision) of Islam and other religions is too great to remain silent. Five months ago, I didnÂ’t put the cartoons on this website. I did this weekend, because the issue is now precisely one of the limits of freedom of speech. That is recognized by the European newspapers that have reprinted the cartoons.

Sadly, the importance of standing up for press freedom is being ignored by the sensitive multi-culti press in this country. And the once proud conservative newspaper now shows itself to be the Manchester Liberal-Follower.

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The Venezuelan dictator has decided to threaten actions that clearly violate centuries of international law and custom.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to jail diplomats and close refineries belonging to the U.S. unit of the state oil company in an escalating war of words with the President George W. Bush.

U.S. diplomats continue to engage in espionage in his country, Chavez told hundreds of thousands of supporters today during a government rally commemorating the 14th anniversary of his abortive coup attempt in 1992 against former President Carlos Andres Perez. He said he would jail U.S. diplomats caught spying, while challenging the U.S. to break diplomatic ties.

The two countries exchange tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats earlier this week. Chavez expelled the U.S. naval attache to Caracas on Feb. 2, which was followed the next day by Washington declaring a Venezuelan diplomat persona non grata.

``If the government of the U.S. wants to break relations with Venezuela, and they take the decision, it would cost me nothing to order the closure of the refineries we have in the U.S.,'' Chavez said. ``Then we will see where (the price of) oil will go, or a gallon of gasoline. It would cost me nothing to sell oil to other countries in the world.''

Come on, Hugo, just try it.

The US will simply seize the refineries, and we still have enough members of the US military available to rescue our jailed diplomats AND take you into custody for trial in the United States for the violation of the US Embassy (which is legally US terrirory).

And lest Hugo does not understand my English, how about some Spanish -- Chingate, cabron.

Posted by: Greg at 03:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I may have finally found a monarch I would almost be willing to have as my own -- Her Majesty Queen Margarethe II of Denmark. She certainly has not minced words in the face of the recent growth of Islam in Denmark. her words are quite applicable to the current situation in her country.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has called on the country "to show our opposition to Islam", regardless of the opprobium such a stance provokes abroad.

* * *

She said: "We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy.

"We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance."

"And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction."

* * *

The queen told her biographer, Annelise Bistrup, apparently referring to Muslim fundamentalists: "There is something impressive about people for whom religion imbues their existence, from dusk to dawn, from cradle to grave."

She said she understood how disaffected young Muslims might find refuge in religion. This tendency should be fought by encouraging Muslims to learn Danish so they could integrate better, she said.

"We should not be content with living next to each other. We should rather live together."

n age world when politically correct "tolerance" leads many to refrain from speaking the truth about the world around them. Queen Margrethe has done exactly that -- pointed to the problem of Islamist fundamentalism and its threat to freedoms that we in the West hold dear. Muslims in the west must assimilate. If they refuse, they need to find new homes in societies more to their liking.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I've never noted such concern about being offensive in the past. Have you?

Associated Press, the world's largest news agency, decided against transmitting the cartoons despite carrying detailed articles about the drawings and the ensuing uproar.

“Our practice is to not move material that is known to be offensive,” said Santiago Lyon, the New York-based director of photography.

So newsworthyness takes offense to offensiveness? And will they apply the same standard to offensive material directed at Christians and Jews? Or is this just an "affirmative action" offensiveness policy, with some groups excluded from the senstivity?

Posted by: Greg at 09:00 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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They hate the President, and hate the troops. They hate the cops, too.

The Capitol police officer who arrested activist Cindy Sheehan went home from work early on Wednesday after receiving death threats. He's a plainclothes officer when Congress is in session and in uniform when they are out of sessionÂ…. The threat is ironic when you consider that Sheehan represents a peace group.

Not ironic at all, when you consider that many of the so-called “peace” groups are really “hate America” groups that side with our enemies.

By the way – while I praise the folks at the Washington Examiner for reporting this overlooked story, I cannot help but be astonished that they would also report his expected assignment for the weekend. What were they thinking????????

Posted by: Greg at 02:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Can you believe that this frigging moron is at it again?

Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens."

"The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged.

This man is a racist who uses the color of his skin to obscure the (lack of) content of his character. He should be repudiated by anyone who believes in the cause of civil rights, for his rhetoric does nothing but sow division.

OTHER VOICES: Sister Toldjah, Confederate Yankee, Big Lizards, Macsmind, The Jawa Report, Blog For All, RightWinged.com, Stop The ACLU, Conservative Blogger, 4TheLittle Guy, Dread Pundit Bluto, Vince Aut Morire

Posted by: Greg at 05:55 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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