IÂ’ve already got fire ants, and they tell us every year that killer bees are headed our way in Texas. But do I really have to contend with the possibility of these?

As if killer bees and kudzu weren't enough, the southern United States may soon have another invasive species to contend with — giant Burmese pythons capable of swallowing deer and alligators whole.

Approximately 30,000 of the big snakes, which can reach 30 feet and 200 pounds, already live wild in Florida's Everglades, thanks to thick-headed pet owners who've released them into the swamps when they've grown too large to keep at home.

But now the U.S. Geological Survey says Florida is not the only place the Burmese python can thrive.

In fact, the big beasts, which are not poisonous and rarely attack humans, could live happily in the entire southern third of the country, from Southern California to Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley and up the Eastern Seaboard to Chesapeake Bay.

They say that a mere 50 snakes released in an area can create a viable breeding population. And since gators show up in our area on a regular basis (we are 5 or 6 miles from a nature preserve), I would imagine that the climate would support the big snakes.

Which would certainly discourage me from letting the dog run loose in the yard for any length of time.

Posted by: Greg at 09:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.

I was initially hesitant to comment on this story. After all, I presumed that the University of Toledo was a private school, and therefore entitled to impose any sort of fascistic speech code it chose on its students and employees. Indeed, such a school might even legitimately subordinate notions of academic freedom to a greater mission of promulgating a world-view, however wrong-headed a notion that might be.

But then I found out that the University of Toledo is a taxpayer-supported public university – and that makes all the difference in the Crystal Dixon case

The University of Toledo has suspended with pay one of its administrators for writing a newspaper op-ed that questions whether homosexuality is a civil rights issue. The school said the administrator was suspended precisely because her views on homosexuality do not comport with those of the university, a state institution.

Crystal Dixon, associate vice president of human resources at the Ohio-based university, sparked controversy Apr. 18 when she wrote in the Toledo Free Press that she did not agree with comments by the newspaper's editor that portrayed homosexuals as civil rights victims.

In the column, "Gay rights and wrongs: another perspective," Dixon said she was not speaking on behalf of the university, but was writing privately as "a Black woman who happens to be an alumnus of the University of Toledo's Graduate School, an employee and a business owner."

Please note that Dixon took great pains in her commentary to indicate that her stance on homosexuality is a personal one, not the official position of her employer. And note as well that her column was in response to a column that appeared in two weeks earlier by its editor-in-chief of the paper. As such, Dixon was acting as an American citizen, participating in the general dialogue on important matters of public concern.

However, the exercise of such freedom seems to scare the top level officials at this public university – and they will not tolerate it. Not only did the school’s president see fit to officially denounce Dixon, he has instituted personnel action against Dixon in retaliation for her exercise of her constitutional rights – action that now appears to include her termination. Apparently in the great scheme of things, the rights of gay people to go about unoffended trump the civil rights of an African-American Christian woman to be free violation of her First Amendment rights by politiKally Korrect Kluxers acting under color of law. Any outcome short of the full reinstatement of Crystal Dixon to her position – and the termination of those university officials involved in this civil rights violation – is unacceptable.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT McCain Blogs, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Kodera's Korner, Pirate's Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's Blog, , Conservative Cat, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 09:03 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 494 words, total size 5 kb.

Bravo to the guys over at GayPatriot.

And I’d like to remind you folks that if he wins, I immediately become unquestionably more patriotic than you at 12:01 PM EST on January 20, 2009 – because I will be dissenting constantly.

Posted by: Greg at 08:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

Granted, over half of that is to herself -- but that is a staggering sum, nearly double what most Americans realized.

With her campaign falling ever deeper into debt, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a rainy Mother's Day seeking votes ahead of Tuesday's primary here, turning a deaf ear to calls for her to leave a Democratic presidential contest she has little hope of winning.

Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. "The voters are going to decide this," senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on "Fox News Sunday," acknowledging the $20 million figure. "There is no reason for her not to continue this process." Wolfson said he has seen "no evidence of her interest" in pursuing the second-place spot on the Democratic ticket, contrary to rumors that she is staying in the race to leverage a bid for the vice presidential nomination.

That much debt does raise some serious issues for her -- and does almost require her to stay in until the end, hoping to get the vice presidential nod. After all, that might make it easier to pay off the other creditors, and see some of the money she loaned the campaign make its way back into her bank account.

Posted by: Greg at 10:43 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 225 words, total size 1 kb.

Well over a year ago, I condemned those who insisted that Barack Obama was a Muslim and that should disqualify him for office. I stated then, and I state now, that by the words of his own mouth he is a Christian, and that absent some indication to the contrary we must take him at his word. Even if the theology of Obama's church is dubious, I stand by that position.

However, I also pointed out that there is reason to wonder about the Illinois Senator's upbringing and whether or not he was, in his childhood and youth, at least nominally a Muslim -- and the impact upon US relations with Muslim countries. After all, given his father's faith and that upbringing, he might well be seen as a apostate Muslim.

Today, the New York Times offers up a column that raises that issue -- including some implications that I didn't consider when I wrote those earlier posts.

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his motherÂ’s Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is “irtidad” or “ridda,” usually translated from the Arabic as “apostasy,” but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings. (Some may point to cases in which lesser punishments were ordered — as with some Egyptian intellectuals who have been punished for writings that were construed as apostasy — but those were really instances of supposed heresy, not explicitly declared apostasy as in Senator Obama’s case.)

* * *

Because no government is likely to allow the prosecution of a President Obama — not even those of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the only two countries where Islamic religious courts dominate over secular law — another provision of Muslim law is perhaps more relevant: it prohibits punishment for any Muslim who kills any apostate, and effectively prohibits interference with such a killing.

At the very least, that would complicate the security planning of state visits by President Obama to Muslim countries, because the very act of protecting him would be sinful for Islamic security guards. More broadly, most citizens of the Islamic world would be horrified by the fact of Senator Obama’s conversion to Christianity once it became widely known — as it would, no doubt, should he win the White House. This would compromise the ability of governments in Muslim nations to cooperate with the United States in the fight against terrorism, as well as American efforts to export democracy and human rights abroad.

Thus, we have an entirely different question from that of whether Barack Obama is a crypto-Muslim who will betray America to his supposed co-religionists. Rather, as i have said before, we are facing serious questions of whether Obama's religious conversion will have a deleterious impact on our relations with the Muslim world. And while I agree with Luttwack that it should not be the end-all and be-all of the campaign, I think it is a factor worth considering.

More At Hot Air, Because I'm Right, OTB, Gina Cobb

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT McCain Blogs, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Kodera's Korner, Pirate's Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's Blog, , Conservative Cat, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 10:40 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 708 words, total size 6 kb.

Somehow, despite the close personal financial dealings between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko, the presidential candidate has avoided any significant political damage from the connection.

Not so another Democrat rising star.

As the corruption trial of the political fund-raiser Antoin Rezko winds to a close here, testimony about power-brokering at the highest levels of state government has battered the career of an Illinois politician who once had his sights set on the White House.

When the trial began two months ago, national attention focused on how Senator Barack Obama of Illinois might suffer because of his connection to Mr. Rezko, a former patron who made a fortune on fast food and real estate.

But it is Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, an ambitious chief executive who has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing, who is left flailing in the wake of weeks of testimony. His name and administration have surfaced repeatedly, described as a participant in the kickback schemes of which Mr. Rezko is accused.

While Mr. ObamaÂ’s campaign for the presidency has been dogged by questions about Mr. Rezko, the fallout for him has so far been slight. Mr. Obama, who has not been accused of any crime, donated money that was raised for him by Mr. Rezko to charity and said he regretted what he called his bad judgment on a property sale between their families.

Granted, the accusations against Blagojevich are pretty damning, and ought to damage any politician. But when you consider that when Barack Obama goes home he does so to a place that he owns because of a sweetheart deal with a corrupt insider, I remain amazed at the lack of damage that has been done to him by the financial connections between the two. Maybe Geraldine Ferraro was on to something a couple of months back.

But there is another question Americans should be asking -- given the throughly corrupt nature of Illinois politics over the last decade (and Chicago politics over the last century), does the election of an Illinois Senator from Chicago make any sense?

Posted by: Greg at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 360 words, total size 2 kb.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Who Cares About Israel, Anyway? by Joshuapundit, and Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks by The Huffington Post.  Here are the full results of the vote):

Congratulations and well-done to all participants.

Posted by: Greg at 09:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 175 words, total size 4 kb.

Well, let's see if this thing works!

Posted by: Greg at 08:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 9 words, total size 1 kb.

Admiral James Bond Stockdale made a lifetime of serving his country honorably -- first int he military and then in academia. Following his passing, the decision was made to honor him by naming one of our nation's warships after him -- and yesterday the USS Stockdale was christened by his widow.

The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened Saturday with the name of a fighter pilot who spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate.

Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony at Bath Iron Works that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for Vice Adm. James Stockdale.

Stockdale's widow, Sybil, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and uses a wheelchair, let loose a champagne bottle propelled by rope that swung across the Stockdale's bow. On the second try, the bottle exploded, the band broke into "Anchors Aweigh" and red, white and blue streamers filled the air.

Stockdale, who died nearly three years ago at age 81, flew 201 carrier-based missions before being shot down in 1965, becoming the highest-ranking naval officer captured during the war.

His endurance under torture and years of solitary confinement during his captivity in Hanoi became the stuff of legend. After his release in 1973, he received 26 combat decorations, including the Medal of Honor.

Sybil Stockdale, who founded an organization to draw the public's attention to the plight of American POWs in Southeast Asia, was accompanied at the ceremony by the couple's four sons.

He was, by all accounts, an exemplary human being. And while he is so often remembered for one of the great lines of political debate history, it is his service to this nation for which he ought to be remembered.

And on a side note, I cannot help but note that USS Stockdale is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, one of America's greatest naval officers of the twentieth century. It was my great privilege to meet the admiral when I was a boy, when he walked over to talk to a young Navy wife and her two sons while they were all waiting to be seen at Bethesda Naval Hospital in the during the Vietnam War. As I look back, remain struck by the man's kindness and gentleness -- and the strength of personality in a man already into his 70s. He told my brother and I to be proud of our father who was, like him, a destroyer officer, because our father was doing some of the most important work there was -- defending our country. I am therefore touched to see two men who I have always held in high esteem connected through this ship.

UPDATE: I missed this story of another Arleigh Burke class destroyer being named for another American hero -- the USS Michael Murphy.

Posted by: Greg at 02:55 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 496 words, total size 3 kb.

Yeah, that Texas Two-Step process that was so incompetently implemented by the Democrats (who proved that since they can't run their own party they surely aren't competent to run the state), has been deemed by Hispanic groups to be so fatally flawed as to illegally and unconstitutionally deny proper representation to Hispanic voters.

The Texas Democratic Party was sued Friday by Latino advocacy groups that say the primary and caucus system used in the state's March 4 presidential contest unfairly diluted Latino votes.

The League of United Latin American Citizens of Texas and the Mexican-American Bar Association of Houston sued in federal court, arguing that the party failed to seek clearance required by the U.S. Justice Department for the process, the so-called Texas Two Step. The groups also say the system effectively discriminates against Latino voters by giving them fewer delegates.

Texas Democrats distribute the state's 193 delegates using both a primary and a caucus, but the distribution favors state Senate districts that had high voter turnout in the most recent presidential and gubernatorial elections. That meant that on March 4, predominantly Hispanic districts, in which turnout was low in 2004 and 2006, got fewer delegates than others, particularly urban, predominantly black districts. Latino districts generally favored Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; black districts favored her rival, Barack Obama.

"The manner used to allocate the delegates ... undervalues Latino Democratic voters and does not provide Latino voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the nominating process and to elect candidates of their choice," the lawsuit says.

My question is why anyone is surprised by this outcome. After all, Democrats in Texas undervalued Hispanic voters from the day Texas was admitted to the United States back in the 1840s right up until it found that the only way to hold on to power was to throw Hispanics a bone -- but only one that the meat had been gnawed off of first.

On the other hand, the GOP has always been open to Hispanic voters, and remains so right into the present day. And for all the efforts of liberal partisan hacks to portray opposition to illegal immigration as anti-Hispanic racism, anyone with a lick of sense knows better -- including a great many immigrants to this country who played by the rules to get here legally. After all, the GOP has never has a "Whites Only" sign at its primary polling places -- that was the Democrats for most of their history.

Maybe the time has come for Hispanic voters to say "hasta la vista, baby" to the Democrats.

Posted by: Greg at 02:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 438 words, total size 3 kb.

Not that it makes a bit of difference, of course -- there is that little deal about double jeopardy that appears in the US and California constitutions that makes another trial for the murders out of the question.

A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.

Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves.

Gilbert's book, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse" (Regnery Publishing, 232 pages, $27.95), is due in stores Monday. It was released to The Associated Press in advance.

He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson said he went to his ex-wife's condominium, but did not bring a knife with him. Simpson told him Nicole Brown Simpson had one in her hand when she opened the door.

In a soft mumble, Simpson told him: "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand ... she'd still be alive."

"Nothing more needed to be said," Gilbert writes. "O.J. had confessed to me. There's no doubt in my mind."

Blaming the victim? Well, that would be in keeping with the sociopathic tendencies that Simpson has demonstrated over the years.

My question is this -- even though we cannot imprison this murdering scumbag, why should we not engage in something much quite painful for this narcissistic man. You know, shunning.

Stop buying the books about him, his career, and his crimes. Stop the news coverage of his latest criminal trial, and ignore his well-deserved entry into prison after his conviction. And until then, sports shows should quit inviting him for autograph signings and businesses should quit doing business with him -- to the point that the staff of an empty restaurant would tell him "there doesn't seem to be a table available for you, Mr. Simpson." I'd argue that it would be a fate worse than death for him.

Posted by: Greg at 02:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 397 words, total size 2 kb.

National polls get big play in the media, but really don't matter.

After all, the Constitution doesn't count the national totals for anything. It is the Electoral College totals that determine the outcome of the election -- and polls show something very interesting there, according to the analysis by this blogger.

Click the map to get the supporting data that this is based upon the latest polling data. McCain leads Obama in a whole lot of states -- mirroring the red state/blue state dichotomy we have seen over the two elections. Even where there is not enough polling data, we can infer which way certain states are trending -- some for McCain, some for Obama.

The result of these projections rather strikingly place McCain ahead 249-237 electoral votes, with the states of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico being toss-ups. Victories in any two of the Midwestern states would give John McCain the electoral victory, while Obama would have to win do one of the following:

• win Michigan, and Ohio.
  
• win Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Mexico.

That's it. Nothing else does it if the other states remain static, which is unlikely to happen over the next 25 ½ weeks.

Questions that need to be asked at this point are as follows:

• Will Obama pick Bill Richardson as VP in order to secure those five electoral votes in New Mexico -- and if he doesn't will the perceived slight swing the state towards the Republican nominee from Arizona, since he is regarded as friendly by the large Hispanic voting bloc there.
  
• Does Obama hurt himself by picking a running mate from one of the three Midwestern states, given that his home state is Illinois? Can McCain help himself by doing so -- especially an Ohioan?

There is a lot of calculus that needs to go on between now and the conventions -- and the conventions and election day. My guess is that it will likely swirl around how to win in Ohio -- the critical prize this fall.

There also remains one other possibility. All other things remaining equal, we could end up with an electoral vote tie if McCain wins Ohio and Obama wins the other three states. Quite frankly, I don't dare predict what would happen in that case without knowing the exact composition of the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January -- and the political implications of the election going to the House of Representatives so soon after the craziness of the 2000 election absolutely boggles the mind.

I know I'm going to check back at Brian's Electoral Projection website regularly to see how the numbers crunch. I suggest that you do, too, since this election will probably be a squeaker!

UPDATE: Allahpundit discusses the same topic at Hot Air, looking at Marc Ambinder's projections at The Atlantic. They've got it pegged at 245-221, with 72 electoral votes in play. And they do raise the 269-269 scenario.

Posted by: Greg at 11:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 506 words, total size 4 kb.

Because after all, anything related to terrorism depicting a woman in a burqa must be a hate crime, right.

Even -- perhaps especially -- if it is a devastating likeness of a particular woman and includes a direct quote from her.

Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.

The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, “I want millions,” and she says, “I can put it towards my husband’s next training camp.”

The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after charges against him were stayed on April 15.

* * *

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, a hate crime is committed to intimidate, harm or terrify an entire group of people to which the victim belongs. The victims are targeted for who they are, not because of anything they have done. Dan Leger, the HeraldÂ’s director of news content, said the cartoon does not take aim at all Muslims.

“The whole purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands of this individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case had ever been held,” he said.

In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through and told the reporter, “I want millions,” Leger noted. “[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words, and that’s the genius of cartooning that you’re able to do that,” he said.

Let's consider the issue.

You've read the quote above.

Here's her picture.

Here's the offending cartoon/alleged hate crime.

OK, folks, you decide -- hate crime, or fair comment on the demand that this particular jihadi wife has made following the arrest of her jihadi husband.

UPDATE: The Seattle Times offers this interesting commentary on the danger of such laws against so-called "hate" and the tribunals that enforce them.

H/T Malkin, Dust My Broom

Posted by: Greg at 03:24 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 383 words, total size 3 kb.

No remains of our honored military dead were mishandled, but there is an issue of respect and appearances that needs to be considered. As such, the decision in this particular situation is correct.

The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of American service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended yesterday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement.

The facility, located in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David A. Bose estimated last night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added, insisting that there had "not been any people gone through the pet crematory."

Pentagon officials said they do not think that human remains and animal remains were ever commingled at the facility. "We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point that any human remains were at all ever mistreated," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference hastily convened last night.

Regardless, the Pentagon will no longer permit crematories not located with funeral homes to handle the remains of U.S. troops, defense officials said.

According to the report, the facility at the heart of the dispute has crematories for both pets and humans, and the former are not of a proper size to cremate human beings. But the two types of crematories are physically located in the same room, and the facility itself has signage identifying itself as Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service. I'd therefore have to agree that the decision in this case is an appropriate one.

But there is a problem with the promulgated regulation that requires that all military cremations take place in funeral homes. After all, not every funeral home has a cremation facility, and so this could have the impact of limiting the funeral options available to the families of military personnel -- especially in situations where a crematorium might be located separately and operated independently from the funeral home, such as at a cemetery. In addition, the change could cause delays in cremations.

Posted by: Greg at 02:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 369 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, at least for one wealthy individual -- himself.

Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion. The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.

But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.

Now the U.S. attorney is investigating his nonprofit group, a probe that an undeterred Sharpton brushes off as the kind of annoyance that civil rights figures have come to expect from the government.

"Whatever retaliation they do on me, we never stop," he told the AP. "I think that that is why they try to intimidate us."

Gee -- it is somehow "retaliation" to try to enforce the laws of the United States against a tax cheat who owes $1.5 million dollars? If any of us ordinary folks -- especially those of us who are white, vote Republican, and don't make our livings off of race-based hustling and lying -- were to owe that much money to the government, we wouldn't have a pot to piss in and would probably be in jail. Why is Sharpton still walking the streets? And will a Democrat president simply issue him a pardon to make this little tax problem all go away?

Posted by: Greg at 02:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 284 words, total size 2 kb.

What is it with Hillary Clinton donors and the law?

Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a Washington-area donor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, investigating whether he illegally reimbursed other contributors.

The case is similar to one brought last year against Norman Hsu, a New York businessman who was indicted in November on charges of paying associates for donations to the New York senator. The Clinton campaign ultimately returned more than $800,000 raised by Mr. Hsu, who was also accused of cheating investors out of millions of dollars.

The new investigation centers around contributions last year by William Danielczyk, chairman of Galen Capital Corp., a northern Virginia private-equity firm, and by the executive's family, employees and investors, according to lawyers and others close to the case.

Investigators are seeking to determine whether the contributions Mr. Danielczyk solicited for Sen. Clinton were then repaid by his company. It is a federal crime to reimburse political contributions, punishable by fines and sometimes imprisonment.

And here I thought that it was the GOP that was the party of big-money financiers who are out to buy elections. Interesting, isn't it, that such folks keep turning up in the campaigns of Democrats -- at least those of Democrats named Clinton, and have for the last 15 years or so.

After all, honesty is such a lonely word.

Cue the music!

Posted by: Greg at 02:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 233 words, total size 2 kb.

Candidate A loans her campaign $11 million. Candidate B offers to pay off that debt to herself if she drops out of the race and gives him a clear shot at their party's presidential nomination. That is the latest rumor.

The latest rumor making the rounds is that maybe Barack Obama will pay off Hillary's $11 million loan to her campaign if she quits the race. I suppose that makes some kind of sense — and it would be a gracious and unifying gesture from Obama — but I'm not sure why Hillary would really be moved by this. She and Bill have earned over $100 million in the past few years and Bill obviously has tremendous earning capacity in the future. $11 million just isn't a big deal to them.

Now I know that failed candidates work to pay off their campaign debts, and that other candidates are allowed to help them. But what if that debt is all to the candidate herself, and there is a quid pro quo deal on that. Doesn't it have the appearance of impropriety, even if it is perfectly legal and above board?

Warren over at Coyote Blog certainly thinks it does -- and wonders how the Democrats would have reacted to newt Gingrich offering such a pile of cash to buy off challengers for Speaker of the House.

Posted by: Greg at 12:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 244 words, total size 2 kb.

Gee -- market forces might just kick in to start lowering oil prices.

After all, if the price gets so high as to cut demand for a product, the price begins to drop -- often due to increased production designed to maximize profits.

As prices jumped to another record, a member of OPEC signaled on Friday for the first time in months that the oil cartel might increase its output to prick the price bubble.

The comments, from LibyaÂ’s senior oil official, Shokri Ghanem, suggested a possible shift in OPECÂ’s position. Since the cartelÂ’s last meeting in March, OPEC has argued that the market was not lacking in oil supplies and blamed speculators for driving up prices.

But in recent weeks, prices have come under renewed pressure because of a string of export disruptions from Nigeria. Prices have been above $100 since early February. Crude oil for June delivery closed up $2.27, at $125.96 a barrel in New York on Friday, after rising as high as $126.25 during the day.

Gee, and here I heard it was all greedy oil companies driving up gas prices -- too bad that folks have ignored the supply-side issues at work to rais the cost of a gallon of gas.

Let's follow this one closely -- it may again prove that Adam Smith was right about how markets work, and the Left's idol Karl Marx was wrong.

Posted by: Greg at 11:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 241 words, total size 1 kb.

If you are going to have success in business, you will need to build and maintain relationships with your clients and suppliers. That is true regardless of the sort of business you are in – it is absolutely critical that you make sure that those with whom you do business feel that you are working to build and maintain a relationship for the long term. That is why you need to buy and send personalized corporate greeting cards.

Such greeting cards can be sent out on any number of occasions. We all know that sending greeting cards is a custom associated with certain holidays – Christmas being the most obvious example. However, birthday cards are in some ways even more important, because the card tells the person that receives it that you have made an effort to learn about them as an individual and express your warm wishes for them on that special day. If you select the appropriate card, duly personalized with your business name, you will invariably earn some good will for your business.

I don’t know about you, but I rather like this card. Why? Because I’ve never met anyone who can resist smiling when they see balloons. And besides, unless you are sending a package along it just seems to be wrong o have one with packages all over it – but balloons communicate the joy of the celebration, and bring back positive memories of our childhood years.

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 250 words, total size 2 kb.

1 On Saturday you had your birthday, so happy birthday to you. I hope you had fun, and that your wishes come true. Congratulations to you,from Global team!!

Posted by: Juergen at Sun May 11 20:59:26 2008 (HSEVl)

2 wishing a nice birthday

Posted by: Nnnn at Tue Sep 2 20:50:49 2008 (IrEmk)

3 ; london airline tickets vigf; cheap plane ticket >:-DDD; discount flight 833842; cheap flight tickets 65408;

Posted by: volks at Wed May 6 13:54:33 2009 (hXRfl)

4 ; las vegas airfare %-OOO; flights discount 015; cheap air flights )); plane tickets PP;

Posted by: wolf at Thu May 7 21:49:00 2009 (+79JS)

5 Very nice site!

Posted by: John798 at Fri May 22 04:37:32 2009 (RvuwQ)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Andrew Sullivan, referencing TNR's The Plank, raises a good question on his blog.

The trouble is: the Clintons will create mischief wherever they are. If Obama becomes president without them they will do all they can to undermine, destroy, and polarize him. The question is how one deals with sociopaths like them. It's not easy.

I disagree.

There is a very simple way of avoiding the entire problem.

It involves casting a ballot for John McCain and your GOP candidates for House and Senate, and urging every other person who loves America to do likewise.

OTB comments on Sullivan's "sociopath" label.

Posted by: Greg at 11:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 1 kb.

Good grief -- even my worst student knows how many states there are!

He's visited 57 states? What has he been smoking/snorting? Or maybe he's added the state of denial, the state of ineptitude, the state of delerium, the state of inexperience, the state of intoxication....

Let's be honest, too -- if John McCain had said this we would be duly informed by the acolytes of Obama that John McCain is too old and mentally unfit to serve as President of the United States.

H/T Marc Ambinder, Hot Air

Posted by: Greg at 12:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 107 words, total size 1 kb.

Beth over at MVRWC points readers at the GOP’s new “Can We Ask” website, where interested citizens can post questions that they would like Barack Obama to answer. I dropped by a short time ago and posed this one for the candidate – one which I suspect the news media will avoid asking him at all costs.

You support education policies that mean that most children in Washington will remain trapped in failing public schools. Will you commit to sending your daughters to those same schools rather than hypocritically sending them to private schools that your education policies place beyond the reach of every other child living in government housing in Washington?

I’m sure we all know the answer to that one. He’ll most likely emulate Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore, rather than Jimmy Carter – or George Bush, for that matter, whose daughters attended public school in Austin, Texas while he was governor.

But it would be interesting to know how he can support sentencing the children of Washington, DC to some of the worst schools in the nation – especially if they aren’t good enough for his own children.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stop the ACLU, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, InvestorBlogger, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 11:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 263 words, total size 3 kb.

One of the obligations of the courts in the United States is to guarantee that the US Constitution is followed. If New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, though, one court will ban any mention of portions of the framework of American government during the trial of a lawsuit seeking to enforce New York City gun laws against gun shop owners in other states – even though their procedures conform to federal law and the laws of their respective states.

Lawyers for Mayor Bloomberg are asking a judge to ban any reference to the Second Amendment during the upcoming trial of a gun shop owner who was sued by the city. While trials are often tightly choreographed, with lawyers routinely instructed to not tell certain facts to a jury, a gag order on a section of the Constitution would be an oddity.

* * *

City lawyers, in a motion filed Tuesday, asked the judge, Jack Weinstein of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, to preclude the store’s lawyers from arguing that the suit infringed on any Second Amendment rights belonging to the gun store or its customers. In the motion, the lawyer for the city, Eric Proshansky, is also seeking a ban on “any references” to the amendment.

“Any references by counsel to the Second Amendment or analogous state constitutional provisions are likewise irrelevant,” the brief states.

In other words, the city is taking the position that a federal court should not allow a little thing like the Constitution to interfere with efforts to infringe upon legal activities that are protected by the Constitution – and that similar state constitutional provisions should not be allowed to interfere with the city’s attempt to interfere with legal activities in other states.

Frankly, the court ought to slap this frivolous motion down with extreme prejudice – and fine Mayor Bloomberg and the lawyers involved in filing it with penalties to be paid from their own pockets. After all, every last period, comma, and semicolon of the US Constitution is always a legitimate matter for lawyers to bring up in a courtroom.

Posted by: Greg at 11:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 368 words, total size 2 kb.

More questions have been raised about the judgment of Barack Obama and his decision to remain associated with Trinity UCC. After all, how can we trust the judgment of any man who would stay a part of an organization propagating these ideas?

en. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) recently said his relationship with his long-time pastor and friend Rev. Jeremiah Wright "changed" after what Obama called the clergyman's "divisive and destructive" remarks at the National Press Club. Later, however, Obama stressed his loyalty to the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where he has been a member for many years.

Articles published in the Trinity United Church of Christ bulletin in 2007 carried controversial comments written by people other than Jeremiah Wright. Those comments included the claim that Israel worked with South Africa to build an "ethnic bomb" that would kill blacks and Arabs, that the Pentagon was training Latin Americans to be terrorists, and that the TV networks are run by right-wing racists.

On Sunday, May 4, Obama told NBC's Tim Russert, on "Meet the Press," that he was still a member of Trinity United Church of Christ and said of the Wright controversy, "I think that the American people understand that when I joined Trinity United Church of Christ, I was committing not to Pastor Wright. I was committing to a church and I was committing to Christ. And it is a wonderful church."

Yeah, this wonderful church – at which leaders spew forth racist venom from the pulpit and bigoted bile in the church bulletin.

Examples include the publication of the following:

• Rev. Reginald Williams, the associate pastor for social justice at Trinity United, published a piece in the bulletin stating that the words of Don Imus were indicative of the fact that "the major networks are run by right-winged conservatives who still see black people as subhuman and portray black people as such."
  
• Williams, in another piece, argued that the training of Latin American soldiers by the United States constituted the training of terrorists.
  
• Published apiece by an advisor to leaders of the anti-white, anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan, which accused Israel of working on an “ethnic bomb” that would kill only blacks and Arabs.

So, in light of these published statements of hate-filled racism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism, does the claim that Wright’s outrageous statements constituted something new and unusual really ring true? Does the claim that his statements were unrepresentative of Trinity UCC as a whole seem plausible any more? And does the argument that he was “committing to a church” and “committing to Christ” really hold up to scrutiny when his “wonderful church” consistently supported the most outrageous of ideologies from the pulpit and in official publications?

At a minimum, these latest revelations ought to raise questions about Barack ObamaÂ’s truthfulness and his judgment, as well as the sort of beliefs he would carry with him into the White House. Can America really afford to take a chance on such a man?

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stop the ACLU, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, InvestorBlogger, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 569 words, total size 5 kb.

When is telling the truth not OK?

When Barack Obama says its not, thatÂ’s when.

At the root of the dispute is McCain's decision to call attention to a Hamas adviser's apparent affinity for Obama. The adviser, Ahmed Yousef, said in a recent interview: "We like Obama and hope that he will win the election."

McCain used those comments in a fundraising appeal and has cited them in interviews.

Asked about the matter Wednesday during a taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," McCain said: "It's indicative of how some of our enemies view America. And I guarantee you, they're not going to endorse me."

In an interview Thursday with CNN, Obama accused McCain of trying to smear him by repeating the comments.

"This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says, 'Well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics,'" Obama said. "And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."

Now excuse me for one moment – I think it is highly relevant that one of America’s terrorist enemies has come out and declared that it wants to see a particular candidate elected. It leads one to wonder why that would be the case – and leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the preferred candidate is viewed as relatively weak and the opponent is viewed as stronger by our nation’s enemies.

Strangely enough, Democrats like to tout how foreign governments and opinion polls prefer a break from the policies of the Bush years. Why shouldn’t it be fair game to note that Hamas and other terrorist organizations do as well? After all, it is just as relevant – even if it is an inconvenient truth for Barack Obama..

Posted by: Greg at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 316 words, total size 2 kb.

Classify this story under “funky science news”.

Earth may once have had more than one moon, most probably two more, NASA scientists think.

Prevailing scientific consensus holds that the existing Moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet collided with the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, when the solar system was very young.

So much matter would have been thrown up into space that it recollected under its own gravity to form the Moon, which for millions of years would have glowed red-hot as the molten rock from the planetary collision cooled.

However, researchers Jack J. Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center near Mountain View, Calif., and John E. Chambers of the Carnegie Institution of Washington figure quite a bit of that ejected matter would have recollected into two other small moons at the so-called "Lagrangian points" or "Trojan points."
Those are fixed places in the Moon's orbit around the Earth where the gravity of both large bodies would keep smaller objects in stable positions.

Odds are that such moons would have lasted at least 100 million years, and possibly as long as a billion years, depending upon their size.

But before you have some image of three large lunar bodies in the sky, please understand that their size and distance from the planet would have left them appearing as nothing more than bright stars or planets in the sky – nothing like our single remaining moon.

Posted by: Greg at 10:53 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 240 words, total size 2 kb.

Her stance here is a principled one, especially since releasing the returns would disclose a great deal of financial information about not only her finances, but those of her adult and minor children.

Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.

"You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on Thursday.

Asked if she would release her tax returns if she was first lady, Cindy McCain said: "No."

The Arizona senator released his tax return last month, reporting he had a total income of $405,409 in 2007 and paid $84,460 in federal income taxes. He files his return separately from his wife, an heiress to a Phoenix-based beer distributing company whose fortune is in the $100 million range.

Sen. McCain is routinely is ranked among the richest lawmakers in Congress, but he and his wife have kept their finances separate throughout their marriage. A prenuptial agreement left much of the family's assets in Cindy McCain's name.

In other words, for nearly three decades it has been the practice of the couple to keep their finances separate -- and demands that these assets be treated as joint property is simply wrong.

Howard Dean is, of course screaming about this decision.

Of course, there is a historical precedent for the much wealthier wife of a presidential nominee refusing to release her complete tax returns for precisely these reasons -- and I believe Cindy McCain should follow that practice precisely.

Teresa Heinz Kerry reported income of just over $5 million last year, slightly more than half of it from investments in tax-exempt municipal and state bonds, her 2003 income tax return shows, confirming her status as the wealthiest spouse of any major party nominee in United States history.

Ms. Heinz Kerry on Friday released a small part of her 2003 income tax return, unlike her husband, Senator John Kerry, and President Bush and his wife, Laura, who have made their full tax returns available for public inspection. The Kerrys file separate tax returns, a common arrangement when one spouse is wealthy.

The two-page document, posted at johnkerry.com, showed total income of $5,073,554 last year. Her primary source of income was the tax-exempt bonds, investments that generally produce a lower interest rate, but those in the highest tax brackets can often pocket more cash if they choose municipals.

* * *

Nothing about the trusts that benefit Ms. Heinz Kerry herself and her three sons was disclosed. These trusts, set up after the 1991 death in an airplane crash of her first husband, Senator John Heinz, the heir to the H. J. Heinz Company fortune, are believed to be worth about a billion dollars.

* * *

Tax documents that would indicate if Ms. Heinz Kerry has offshore accounts were withheld, as were the schedules detailing her charitable deductions, interest expenses and the nature of the $14,412 in capital gains she reported. But Paul Bschorr, a lawyer for Ms. Heinz Kerry, said Friday that none of her personal investment accounts or accounts controlled by her family trust are deposited outside the United States, a step some wealthy American use to defer or escape taxes.

No information was provided about how much income was earned by trusts of which she is the beneficiary. If the trusts are as large as reported - and the Kerry campaign has not challenged the billion dollar estimate - then even a modest 5 percent return would have generated $50 million of income, 10 times what was on the two pages released by Ms. Heinz Kerry. A statement released by the Kerry campaign noted that income taxes are paid directly by the Heinz family trust, in addition to taxes that Ms. Heinz Kerry pays.

Howard Dean certainly didn't raise a fuss about this practice in 2004 -- it should satisfy him in 2008, unless he wants to engage in a little bit of Michelle Obama-style bar raising. After all, if it was good enough for a seditious gigolo like John Kerry and his wife, it should be good enough for a true American hero like John McCain and his wife.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Stop the ACLU, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, InvestorBlogger, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 10:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 805 words, total size 7 kb.

After the Lina Joy case, I have little hope for that. But this ruling may indicate some movement.

A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Muslim convert Thursday to return to her original faith of Buddhism, setting a precedent that could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights.

Lawyers said the Shariah High Court's verdict in the northern state of Penang was the first time in recent memory that a convert has been permitted to legally renounce Islam in this Muslim-majority nation.

A rising number of disputes about religious conversions has sparked anxiety among minorities _ predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu _ because in the past courts virtually always ruled against people seeking to leave Islam.

Penang's Shariah court, however, granted Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's request to be declared a non-Muslim. She embraced Islam in 1998 because she wanted to marry an Iranian, but claimed she never truly practiced the religion.

"I am very happy," Siti, a 39-year-old ethnic Chinese cake seller, told The Associated Press by telephone. "I want to go to the temple to pray and give thanks."

The Shariah court, which governs Muslims' personal conduct and religious lives, ruled that Siti's husband and Islamic authorities failed to give her proper religious advice.

"So you can't blame her for her ignorance of the teachings and wanting to convert out," said Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz, a lawyer for the Islamic Affairs Council in Penang.

So this means that some members of the Muslim community -- but only those who began their lives in another faith -- will have a right enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Unfortunately, those born and raised as Muslims who recognize the truth of Christianity and therefore reject the false teachings of Muhammad will still be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and death at the hands of sharia courts that operate with government sanction -- meaning that for the majority of Malaysians, true religious freedom is still denied.

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 347 words, total size 2 kb.

As you know, I teach social studies, which means I end up dealing a lot with issues of economics, including consumer economics type issues like wages, taxes, and getting credit. One of the things I often tell my students is that they should be smart when dealing with credit issues -- after all, failure to do so can cause serious personal problems for years to come. And i tell them that they particularly need to make sure they pick a credit card responsibly, finding one that suits their needs and ability to pay.

One great site that can help consumers with that can be found at CreditCardsClub.com, where they offer great credit card reviews regarding different cards and offers that are available to consumers. Seriously, if you are in teh market for a first card or a new card, they are a good place to check out for information.

Posted by: Greg at 10:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.

That is when one candidate for the Democrat nomination plans to declare himself the winner. On the other hand, the other candidate plans on staying in all the way to the convention, seeking to convince the party she is more electable.

Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary ClintonÂ’s campaign plans to dispute it.

ItÂ’s a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race.

The Obama campaign agrees with the Democratic National Committee, which pegs a winning majority at 2,025 pledged delegates and superdelegates—a figure that excludes the penalized Florida and Michigan delegations. The Clinton campaign, on the other hand, insists the winner will need 2,209 to cinch the nomination—a tally that includes Florida and Michigan.

“We don’t accept 2,025. It is not the real number because that does not include Florida and Michigan,” said Howard Wolfson, one of Clinton’s two chief strategists. “It’s a phony number.”

Wolfson said they intend to contest the DNC’s 2,025 number “every day,” as well as any declaration of victory made by Obama based upon that number, because it does not include Florida and Michigan.

Pass the popcorn, please. This one will be quite entertaining.

Personally, I urge Hillary to contest the race all the way until the convention, just like this guy did in 1980 even though he was much further behind.

Posted by: Greg at 09:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 295 words, total size 2 kb.

Are you one of those folks who feels like your home is in need of a home makeover? Do you have at least one room that needs to be done over – and maybe an entire house? You may be, because most Americans can point to some part of their house that isn’t quite up to par in their eyes, either because is stylistically out of date or in need of serious fixing up. Of course, some are definitely in greater need than others. I know that we still have linoleum in our kitchene that dates back to the Carter administration, and could certainly stand to replace some of the appliances, get a new countertop and reface the cabinets in an effort to move into the twenty-first century. Minor stuff, to be sure, compared with what some other folks need to have done, but major to my wife and I. After all, there are some folks whose homes are in much more serious need of work because of problems that are really safety hazards.

Now I have talked a couple of times about the Renuzit TriScents “Transform Your Home with Tanya Memme” contest Well, they have picked their semi-finalists, and you can vote on who you think deserves the $20,000 home makeover. Visit the semi-finalist gallery to vote for your choice between now and June 7, 2008.

My vote went to this home. It isnÂ’t just the picture, but the story that goes along with it that moved me to do so. Winning the contest would go a long way to helping improve the lives of a family that is clearly down on their luck.

Posted by: Greg at 09:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 289 words, total size 2 kb.

And in doing so, the Arizona Senator and GOP presidential nominee has beaten the time taken by John Kerry to release his full records by over four years!

From his five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp to his tenure as the NavyÂ’s liaison to the Senate, John McCainÂ’s Navy record boils down to a series of unadorned paragraphs that bestow upon him some of the nationÂ’s top military honors.

The Navy recently released McCain’s military record — most of it citations for medals during his Navy career — after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.

McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting “extreme mental and physical cruelties” inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the early months of his captivity, according to the citation. The North Vietnamese, according to the Navy, ignored international agreements and tortured McCain “in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes.”

McCain, now the Republican PartyÂ’s likely presidential nominee, was taken prisoner in October 1967 after he was shot down while on a mission over Hanoi. He wasnÂ’t freed until March 1973, after the United States signed peace agreements with the North Vietnamese. His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement. Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go.

That decision earned McCain a Navy Commendation Medal. Although McCain was “crippled from serious and ill-treated injuries,” he steadfastly refused offers of freedom from those holding him prisoner. “His selfless action served as an example to others and his forthright refusal, by giving emphasis to the insidious nature of such releases, may have prevented a possibly chaotic deterioration in prisoner discipline,” the citation says.

McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1954 to 1958, and was commissioned as an ensign in June of that year. He retired in April 1981 with the rank of captain. In that time he received 17 awards and decorations. Besides the Silver Star Medal, McCain also received the Legion of Merit with a combat “V” and one gold star, a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Art Medal with a combat “V” and two gold stars.

WhatÂ’s more, his record is not tainted by seditious activities upon his return from Vietnam, but is instead marked by an exemplary effort to return to duty despite the severe injuries he suffered at the hands of the captors to whom John Kerry and his fellow anti-war activists gave aid and comfort while our nation was at war.

Compare this record to the records of John McCainÂ’s Democrat opponents. One has left a slime-trail of lies, deceit, and borderline criminal activity behind her. The other has taken a preacher of anti-American racial hatred as his spiritual leader, an corrupt businessman as his real estate partner, and an unrepentant terrorist as a political associate. Which one of these three has consistently displayed the judgment and integrity necessary for greatness in office? Only John McCain.

Posted by: Greg at 12:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 520 words, total size 3 kb.

Here’s an interesting little tidbit for you – the cash Hillary has loaned/donated to her campaign comes out of the community property assets shared by both her and Bill Clinton – and includes money earned by Bill Clinton from foreign companies and governments.

ClintonÂ’s campaign says the New York senator has lent more than $11 million to her presidential campaign to date, far more than the $10 million she reportedly earned from previous books sales.

On a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said there was no distinction between Mrs. ClintonÂ’s money and Mr. ClintonÂ’s money in the account.

“I dispute the notion that there is a difference between her share of her joint assets and her own money," Wolfson said. "There is no distinction between her share of their joint assets and her money. Her money is their share of her joint assets."

Wolfson noted “legally she is entitled to use up to 50 percent of their joint assets if she chooses.”

Since leaving the White House former President Clinton has earned millions in speaking fees, mostly from foreign countries like the United Arab Emirates and the PeopleÂ’s Republic of China.

Campaign finance laws forbid foreign money from entering U.S. elections, but no laws forbid foreign monies being stored in a joint checking account by a candidateÂ’s spouse and later being accessed by the candidate.

Apparently it doesn’t just take a village to keep your campaign afloat – it takes a foreign village to do so.

Of course, it seems pretty clear to me that there isn’t a legal question about the money being used. After all, this is money that Bill Clinton earned (if you can call it that) through speaking fees and honoraria. So while the sources of cash are foreign governments, this is not a case of foreign governments directly donating to the campaign. But it does raise issues of Bill Clinton being paid by and financially beholden to foreign governments for his livelihood while his wife serves in the Senate – or maybe even the executive branch.

Posted by: Greg at 12:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 361 words, total size 2 kb.

Not good, if your name is Bill Belichick.

A former New England Patriots employee has sent the N.F.L. eight videotapes showing the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, in violation of league rules.

But the group of tapes does not include video of the St. Louis RamsÂ’ walk-through practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. The employee, Matt Walsh, had been linked to such a tape by news media speculation.

Walsh emerged as a pivotal figure in the spying controversy that enveloped the Patriots last season after they were caught taping Jets defensive signals in the season opener.

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday under an agreement reached last month between lawyers for the N.F.L. and Walsh. The agreement indemnifies Walsh from all future legal fees.

WalshÂ’s tapes show that the Patriots recorded the signals of offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 American Football Conference championship game. In that game, the tape has been edited to show Steelers coaches signaling plays, followed by two different camera angles of the actual plays that were called.

I guess I remain unfazed by the whole thing.

Yes, the tapes appear to show a rules violation.

But I've never understood why it OUGHT to be a rules violation -- after all, signal-stealing in baseball is a fine old tradition and a respected part of the game. And since the signals can be viewed openly by anyone in the stadium, recording them seems trivial.

But the point remains that the tapes DO violate league rules -- and there must be an appropriate penalty. Will it mean the end of one of the NFL's top coaches? Let's wait and see.

Posted by: Greg at 10:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.

There are some folks who just enjoy wearing fine fragrances. But what we often find is that there is a brand loyalty that builds up, and so some of these people stay within the same line of fragrances at all times – to the point that they are not interested in moving outside of a particular trademark that they have come to associate with fine fragrances. Such folks might want to try out the BOSS website. Boss is a well-known maker of high quality fragrances that have a wide rang of scents you might want to try, including BOSS, BOSS FRAGRANCES, BOSS-FRAGRANCES, HUGO BOSS, prestige, fragrance, BOSS Bottled, BOSS Selection, BOSS femme, BOSS In Motion, BOSS In Motion Edition, BOSS Intense, BOSS Woman, essence de femme, BOSS Soul.
And please let me note for you that BOSS has fragrances for both men and women, making them a great choice for everyone – including couples who want their scents to complement one another. In addition, BOSS also offers a line of skin care products for men and women, too.

Are you interested in these products? Ordering them is a breeze, and you can even get free samples on their website. Why not take a look today? Drop by and take a look at http://www.bossfragrances.com/us -- you wonÂ’t be sorry.

Posted by: Greg at 10:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 220 words, total size 1 kb.

So much for concern for "the little guy" -- the editors of the "paper of record" want us to pay more at the pump.

And for government to take a greater share of the cost in the form of taxes.

It was bad enough when Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain decided to engage in some petty pandering by calling for a suspension of the federal gas tax over the summer. What they suggested would reduce needed tax revenues and hamper efforts to combat global warming. And it would fail to deliver lower prices while giving oil companies more money. But neither senator is actually running the country, so it might be tempting to chalk it all up to campaign pandering.

Unfortunately, their demagoguery is growing into a real problem, setting off a chain reaction of “me too” proposals across the country to suspend state gasoline taxes, which tend to be much larger than the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal levy. If the pandering spreads, it would go a long way in setting the nation’s energy strategy in precisely the wrong direction.

Standard NY Times rhetoric -- a Neanderthal-like "Tax cut bad -- tax increase good" editorial if there ever was one. And if there is any doubt about the intent of making the American people suffer further at the pump, they make it explicit at the end of the piece.

Americans must find ways to curb their use of fossil fuels. That will require higher, not lower, prices for gas — even during a presidential campaign.

But don't worry -- the Democrats are on board to make sure that your gas prices go up substantially, along with government revenues.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The proposal also would impose federal penalties on energy price gouging and calls for stopping oil deliveries into the government's emergency reserve.

* * *

Democrats characterized the proposal as attacking "the root causes of high gas prices," although it wasn't clear how today's high oil costs _ set in a global market _ or gasoline prices edging toward $4 a gallon would be appreciably affected.

Remember, of course, that oil companies don't pay taxes -- they pass such taxes along to consumers in the form of higher prices. These new, government-imposed, costs-of-doing-business always get passed along to the consumer -- and will until and unless Congress figures out a way to repeal the laws of economics (which it can do as soon as it finishes repealing the law of gravity). Remember, too, that those same laws of economics tell us that the higher gas prices brought about by this legislation will be accompanied by higher electricity rates, higher food costs, higher clothing costs and a host of other increased expenses for consumers as the increased cost of gasoline and other petroleum products ripples through the economy.

And since the Democrats are adamantly opposed to increasing the supply of oil -- especially of domestic crude -- they remain adamantly opposed to allowing oil production in ANWR or off-shore anywhere but in the Texas/Louisiana region of the Gulf of Mexico.

Most amusing is the proposed Democrat effort to apply anti-trust law to OPEC -- a cartel of sovereign governments. Given that American law rally doesn't apply to those governments, this is just window-dressing and grandstanding.

But then again, since when have the Democrats ever been about solutions to real problems?

Posted by: Greg at 10:30 PM | Comments (104) | Add Comment
Post contains 607 words, total size 4 kb.

I am always telling my students that they need to find the tools they need to help them organize their thoughts and ideas regarding the material we cover in class. One of the ways that I frequently use with them is the technique of “mind mapping”, which serves as a way of making the material their own without having it forced into some pre-conceived structure that I give them. Students can create their own structures and patterns to grasp and remember the new concepts and facts they have been introduced to.

Well, I just recently found a Free Mind Maps website that I as a teacher can use to find and/or create mind maps on line – Mappio, located at http://mappio.com. This site help you create maps for to help you easily learn and recall the details that you learn in a class. Among the many fine items on their website is the Study Matrix -- a tool that I can use with students to help them improve their study skills as they become more organized. Really, there is a great selection fo mind maps for teachers to use with their students.

Not only that, but you can also find mind maps of such popular self-help books as Journal to the Self, Sample Decision Making, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, among many others.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 226 words, total size 1 kb.

For reasons that seem almost unfathomable, because she needs to run the tables in the remaining primaries to even have a hope of winning the nomination -- and that ain't gonna happen.

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she will remain in the presidential race "until there's a nominee." The former first lady declined to say whether that meant through the roll call of the states at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Now that is a truly ambiguous phrase. Does that mean until the Denver convention? Or until Obama gets enough superdelegate support? Or something else? After all, it won't be until the convention that there actually is a nominee -- even if there is a mass swing of superdelegates for Obama.

And she seems to be interested in staying in the race longer -- and is dipping into personal funds to do it.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lent her presidential campaign $6.4 million over the past month, her campaign said Wednesday, underscoring the financial advantage held by her rival, Barack Obama.

The money more than doubled Clinton's personal investment in her bid for the Democratic nomination. She gave her campaign $5 million earlier this year.

A campaign aide said Clinton gave her campaign another $5 million on April 11, more than a week before the Pennsylvania primary. She then again dipped into her personal wealth for $1 million last week and $425,000 on Monday, one day before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries.

Seems to me like she is throwing good money after bad. After all, she ought to know it takes a village to fund a presidential campaign -- and all the Democrat Party's village idiots are lined up to give money to the Obama campaign. I can't imagine her overcoming the fundraising deficit.

And more supporters keep abandoning the Hillary Clinton campaign -- the latest being George McGovern.

Former Sen. George McGovern, an early supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsed her rival, Barack Obama.

After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern said Wednesday it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination. The 1972 Democratic presidential nominee said he had a call in to former President Clinton to tell him of the decision, adding that he remains close friends with the Clintons.

"I will hold them in affection and admiration all of my days," he said of the Clintons.

This is a big deal -- not because McGovern has a vote at the convention (he doesn't), but because the former South Dakota Senator and Dem. presidential nominee was scheduled to campaign with her this week in SOuth Dakota. It doesn't look good for him to switch, does it?

And the superdelegates, who will ultimately decide this race, are ready to make their move as well.

Is it time to stick a fork in the former First lady? Or does she yet have another trick up her sleeve? I don't see how she could, but she intends to fight another day -- and since the commentators have been wrong about this race at every turn, I suppose anything is possible.

Posted by: Greg at 10:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 535 words, total size 4 kb.

We've talked about jewelry here before, and how important it is that jewelry gifts for loved ones be of high quality and beautiful appearance. That especially cannot be emphasized when one is looking at the purchase of diamond rings or other diamond jewelry. Since many diamond ring purchases are for the purpose of getting engaged, you have to be doubly sure that what you are getting is of fine quality. You'll find that at Apples of Gold, where they have a great selection of goald and diamond jewelry for you to purchase -- and at great prices. take the time to check out this user-friendly site for some user-friendly prices.

Posted by: Greg at 08:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

After all, the bulk of terrorism worldwide is currently related to Islamic causes (despite government attempts to obscure that reality). Simulating an assault on a mosque as a part of training exercise therefore seems reasonable to me.

As part of a recent emergency preparedness drill in south-central Illinois, law enforcement personnel stormed a "mosque" where radical gunman were holding hostages.

The "gunmen" and hostages were playing a part, and the building wasn't really a mosque. And that bothers an Islamic advocacy group.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) opposes the stereotyping of Muslims as radicals.

"The use of a fake 'mosque' in this type of drill sends the wrong message to law enforcement officials who may now view mainstream institutions, such as Islamic houses of worship, as potential security threats," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR's Chicago chapter.

Now letÂ’s set aside the obvious connection between Islam and terrorism -- even though Islam is the leading source of terrorism today, it is unnecessary to even consider that in justifying the use of the mosque scenario.

Police use a number of different scenarios in such training exercises – including some in which the target of the action is a “church” full of “extremist Christians”.

For CAIR to take offense at a scenario that is not unusual except for the use of the word “mosque” is therefore totally unreasonable – but then again, since when have we ever seen terrorist apologists at CAIR act reasonably when an unreasonable response is an option?

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.