How far our nation has descended from following the paths of righteousness into worshiping at the feet of a mere man!

Or so one could argue.

Americans named President Obama as their No. 1 hero, followed by Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King, in a new Harris poll.
Others in the top 10, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa.

Full results here.

Once can, of course, argue that including Jesus is not entirely appropriate, given his divinity.

Now were I to list my personal top 10 – excluding Jesus – it would look like this.

1) Ronald Reagan
2) Martin Luther King
3) John Paul II
4) Robert E. Lee
5) Abraham Lincoln
6) Margaret Thatcher
7) Winston Churchill
Charles Martel
9) Thomas Jefferson
10) Douglas MacArthur

H/T Hot Air

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When you don’t have an actual scandal to complain about, why not create one out of nothing – or less than nothing. We’ve seen that tried this week over the Chimp Cartoon – and now a writer at HuffPo has used a faked recording of Fox News host John Gibson to gin up a scandal.

At the end of a long and pointless conversation between two Fox News reporters covering a zoo escape, John Gibson compared Attorney General Eric Holder to a monkey.

A monkey escaped from the Woodland park Zoo in Seattle and despite the fact that authorities are "taking this very seriously," Julie Banderas and Harris Faulkner were not, cracking jokes about the monkeys' bright blue scrotum.
At 2:48, they toss to John Gibson who complains that he can't get away with saying "bright blue scrotum" on the radio then follows that up by saying, "We were talking about Eric Holder today on the radio and his bright blue scrotum."

Given the journalistic standards Arianna “PuffHo” Huffington, it isn’t surprising that the writer, Alex Leo, didn’t bother to check out the recording closely enough to determine that it was a fake. After all, Gibson is the enemy to these folks, so just run with it and destroy the man’s reputation.

Only after it was irrefutably proved by conservative bloggers that the recording was a hoax did Leo and HuffPo issue a retraction/apology.

As John Gibson notes, this is part of a pattern intended to delegitimize him --conservative voices in the media.

Posted by: Greg at 01:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Bill has pressed (sorry – couldn’t resist) for a return of the Fairness Doctrine to censor points of view that he sees as being expressed too often, or too effectively.

Then he denied wanting to censor anything, instead arguing that he was a defender of free speech and that the only way to get free speech was for the government to require that certain perspectives be aired.

Now, at last, he comes out and admits the truth – his position is all about his personal self-interest, in particular his financial self-interest.

I know why I'm interested in it because I get up every morning at 3:45, I do three hours of talk radio every day from six to nine, that's my life, it's my business, I want to make money at it, and I want to be heard.

So let’s not call it the Fairness Doctrine – call it the Bill Press Bailout and Stimulus Package instead. It is about liberal greed as well as ideological censorship.

Listen to the audio.

Posted by: Greg at 01:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No, kitty, you can't.

After all -- beef and dairy farming are inefficient and produce a great deal of greenhouse gas.

When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.

Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.

That's because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere, said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada.

Pelletier is one of a growing number of scientists studying the environmental costs of food from field to plate.

By looking at everything from how much grain a cow eats before it is ready for slaughter to the emissions released by manure, they are getting a clearer idea of the true costs of food.

The livestock sector is estimated to account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and beef is the biggest culprit.

Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it's responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The next “logical” steps for the acolytes of the religion of global warming? A beef ban (or at least a tax) and some sort of sanction upon dairy products as well. And when they tell you that you cannot have that cheeseburger, you will be reassured that “it is for your own good – and that of the whole world.” After all, the planet has a fever.

Hey, left-wing busybodies – keep your hands out of my fridge and off my plate!

Posted by: Greg at 11:23 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Congratulations, Stump!

At 10 years old, Stump the Sussex spaniel should be well into his dotage. Instead, the dog who technically retired four years ago took home Best in Show on Tuesday at the 133rd Annual Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden, becoming the oldest to win the award.

Stump, a Houston dog, nearly died a couple of years back when he fell seriously ill. To see him recovered – and now the top dog in the US – is a wonderful thing.

Good dog!

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Barack Obama has had his "killer rabbit" moment. He hit his head on the door of marine One because he forgot to duck.

Could you imagine the sort of response that this thing would have gotten if it had been George W. Bush? But as we know from another recent Obama gaffe, the press will ignore or minimize the event, as wil the Leftosphere. However, let me offer this in the same spirit of bipartisanship that was displayed by liberals during the eight years of the Bush Administration.

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If advocates of “reproductive choice” would argue against “a woman’s right to choose” when that choice involved having kids like the mother of the recently born octuplets.

Look at this from Ellen Goodman.

Does anyone have a right to tell anyone else how many kids to have? Can only people who can afford them bear children? Do you need a husband to have a baby? These are questions that make us feel queasy when we are talking about old-fashioned families. But they take on a new flavor in the unregulated wild west of fertility technology.

* * *

This is more than an individual decision. Suleman's babies weighed between 1 pound 8 ounces and 3 pounds 4 ounces. They will cost at least $1 million in neonatal care and more if they have the typical range of disabilities for premature babies. The meter is running at the neonatal unit.

“More than an individual decision”? What about the “my body, my choice” rhetoric of the feminist movement over the last four decade? Is Goodman really advocating that childbearing is not a decision best left between a woman and her doctor? Does she now advocate that some government bureaucrat be able to step in and determine who can have children through in vitro methods, and how many? And when she defines the decision by Nadya Suleman to have eight embryos implanted as “mal-mothering” because of her unwillingness to abort, does she not recognize the implicit slippery slope that leads to China’s one child policy with its regime of forced abortions (or its functional equivalent)? For that matter, does this advocate of nationalizing medicine not see that her complaints about the cost of saving these babies presages eventual government decisions to limit and deny care that is “too expensive”, even if it leads to the deaths of some to whom government has magnanimously given “free healthcare”?

Odd, isnÂ’t it, how a liberal like Goodman becomes shockingly illiberal when she does not approve of how some exercise the freedom which she advocates. And amazing, too, that she does not appear to see (or care about) the Big Brother-esque implications of her own arguments. More proof that within every well-intentioned liberal there is a moralistic dictator trying to claw his/her way out.

H/T Don Surber

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He performed horrendous medical experiments upon Jews and other prisoners as a concentration camp doctor, so why is it no surprise that he found some sort of comfort in a faith that despises Jews in his later years.

One of the most wanted Nazi war criminals, Aribert Heim or "Doctor Death," lived for years as a quiet, pious Muslim in a small hotel on the edge of Islamic Cairo, where he was known as Doctor Tarek.

Concealed in the labyrinthine streets of the largest city in Africa and the Middle East, the man wanted for killing hundreds of concentration camp victims with horrific medical experiments found refuge until his death in 1992.

"He was like a giant, not very chatty but he never missed a prayer at the mosque," remembers Gamal Abu Ahmed, who today lives in Dr Death's former room on the sixth floor of the Qasr el-Medina hotel.

May he and his ilk burn in Hell for all eternity.

Posted by: Greg at 01:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Since when does death constitute the breaking of a lease?

The ex-husband of one of the nine people killed at a Christmas Eve party in Covina has received demands from a landlord to pay the dead woman's rent.

Broadcrest Foothill Apartment Homes claims Alicia Ortiz broke her lease on an Upland apartment when she and her 17-year-old son were killed by her sister's disgruntled ex-husband. The landlord informed her former husband, Carlos Ortiz, that she gave "insufficient notice to vacate." The company says it is owed $2,821 in rent and penalties.

The itemized invoice claimed Ortiz's estate owes $1,655, plus payment for 12 days rent and other fees for the weeks after she died.

Imagine that – Ortiz and her son were so inconsiderate of their contractual obligations that they went out and got themselves murdered. Apparently she should have notified the company in advance of their impending murder.

HereÂ’s hoping that every resident of this complex chooses not to renew their leases, and that no others move in. After all, this demand is simply beyond the pale.

Posted by: Greg at 01:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Allowing a historical building to retain its historical character is simply common sense. But to then attempt to suppress the free speech rights of the building owner is even worse. And to waste so many tax dollars on a pair of battles that the government could not win is not only foolish, but is also irresponsible.

But thatÂ’s what happened in Ogden, Utah.

A man who has fought for a decade to restore a nearly century-old painted sign advertising beer has emerged victorious.

In 1998, Bruce Edwards' request to restore the painted sign on his C.C. Keller building on the city's 25th Street was denied by the Ogden Landmarks Commission. Edwards said one member of the commission said no because the sign advertised beer and didn't fit a family-friendly image for the thoroughfare.
But recently, the commission approved a renewed request.

"I outlasted 'em," Edwards said. "And the bottom line is, I was right."

The original wording on the sign dates back to about 1910 and is painted on the north side of the two-story brick structure. It reads, "Every hour upon the hour for about an hour Drink Becker's Beer — Ogden's Famous Beer."

After his request was denied, Edwards and the city got into a war of sorts. In 2000, Edwards put up a sign in the window of his then-vacant building hammering the city with insults. The City Council then passed an ordinance forbidding signs like Edwards'.

The battle moved to court, where in 2005 a judge sided with Edwards, saying the city had violated his First Amendment rights. So the critical sign stayed and the landmarks commission denied his request to restore the beer sign again.

After more time in court, Edwards applied again last year and finally got the long sought-after approval.

No word on how much money the battle cost the city.

But a hearty hoist of the beer stein to Bruce Edwards for fighting the good fight on behalf of free speech and property rights.

Posted by: Greg at 03:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A year ago, ChicagoÂ’s Holy Name Cathedral was closed so that major structural renovations could be completed. In August it reopened. It will be closed again for some time after todayÂ’s major fire.

An extra-alarm blaze that broke out this morning at Holy Name Cathedral downtown caused extensive fire damage to the roof and attic, but spared the cathedral's sanctuary.

Cardinal Francis George said the cathedral's roof would have to be rebuilt and there was considerable water damage inside. "Chicago has always bounced back from fires and I think we'll bounce back from this," the cardinal said as he left the church.

The fire may have been related to some renovation. Work was being done on pillars in the cathedral and on some deteriorating wood high in the rafters, according Jimmy Lago, chancellor of the Chicago Archdiocese. He said a worker was present at the time the fire broke out, but didn't know if he was working in the area where the fire started.

May God bless the parishioners of Holy Name Cathedral and the people of the Archdiocese of Chicago. And may God also bless the firefighters who put themselves on the line to preserve as much of this historic building as they did.

I ordinarily donÂ’t find it appropriate for reporters to inject their personal feelings into a news story, but in this case I donÂ’t see how it is possible to not do so in the case of a building that has been the spiritual hub of a city for such a long period of time. That is part of why I was touched by this passage in one report.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine was emotional on the scene.

"What you can see, basically, is the smoke billowing the roof, but what you see in your mind's eyes are all the events and all the emotional moments," Levine said. "My mind goes back to Luciano Pavarotti singing 'Ave Maria' when Pope John Paul II was here. My mind goes back to the funeral of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin inside; the people that were standing around outside and watching. My mind goes back to so many emotional events in the building, which is really a part of the fabric in the community."

Indeed, my mind goes back to the five priesthood ordinations I attended and/or participated in at Holy Name Cathedral during and after my time as a seminarian at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in the early 1990s. Indeed, it was at the last of these (as members of my seminary class was ordained) ordinations that I was blessed with a sense of peace with my departure from the seminary and a recognition that my vocation in life lay in marriage and teaching. It is therefore a special place for me, and so I count myself among those who share in the sense of loss brought by this morningÂ’s events. But I know that after the loss associated this event will come a resurrection that mirrors that of Christ himself, and it is my hope that from this experience will flow much grace upon those whose lives have been impacted today.

Posted by: Greg at 01:36 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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ThatÂ’s what they call their new satellite.

Iran has successfully sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, the country's president announced Tuesday, claiming a significant step in an ambitious space program that has worried many international observers.
The satellite, called Omid, or hope in Farsi, was launched late Monday after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the order to proceed, according to a report on state radio. State television showed footage of what it said was the nighttime liftoff of the rocket carrying the satellite at an unidentified location in Iran.

Of course, the current regime in Teheran is noted for its exaggerations regarding its military and space technology. It will be interesting to see if this can be independently verified.

But if it is, it means that Iran has rockets that can hit Israel and Europe -- and may not be far from having the capacity to hit the USA. Will this development result in a CHANGE in the policies of the Obama Administration.

Posted by: Greg at 01:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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HereÂ’s one that is sure to get the old arteries hardening.

Think we could introduce this as a part of the menu at Gitmo and its successors? Or perhaps make consumption of a complete one a condition of release?

H/T Hot Air

Posted by: Greg at 11:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Now I join with many other folks in questioning how a woman with no job and six kids was able to get IVF treatment so as to give birth to octuplets. After all, where did she get the money and how is she going to support the kids? I think we all know the answer to the second question.

But what is most shocking to me is the response of so many folks in the media over this. After all, we regularly hear about “reproductive freedom” and “a woman’s right to choose” – and even about the necessity of government providing funding “reproductive health services” for poor women. But suddenly, the MSM and its talking heads are up in arms, expressing outrage over these births and the medical professionals who assisted this woman in conceiving and bringing the kids to term. I’ve heard some guests on cable news shows this weekend suggesting that the doctor had an obligation to refuse her services, based upon his/her subjective view of whether someone in her situation ought to be permitted to bring more (and certainly that many more) into the world.

Hold on! What about “reproductive choice”? What about “a woman’s right to choose”? Doesn’t “her body, her choice” enter into the discussion? And haven’t we had court cases regarding doctors choosing to deny services to a woman based upon the fact that his or her belief system led to the conclusion that the home to be provided by the prospective mother was an acceptable one? After all, these are the same folks who objected to “conscience clause” protections for those medical professionals who object to participating in abortion procedures.

Now mind you, I think that perhaps there are some interesting legal and ethical questions raised by this situation. But why is it that, once again, it is when the choice is “live birth” we have the “pro-choice” opinion elite coming out in favor of limiting those choices.

Posted by: Greg at 11:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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