Maybe, according to owner Bob McNair, who has long been one of the troubled quarterbackÂ’s big supporters.

David CarrÂ’s future with the Houston Texans remains in limbo.
Owner Bob McNair remained non-committal about Carr on Tuesday, saying he is still being evaluated and any decision on whether the fifth-year quarterback returns next season will depend on what the Texans can accomplish in free agency.

“David has been inconsistent, and we‘ve said that” McNair said at a Texas Bowl luncheon at the JW Marriott. “He’s had some good games and he’s had some games that haven’t been as good. He’s a tremendous athlete. We’ve got to get better consistency there, either with David or with some additional help. We need more consistency at quarterback.”

McNair has been one of CarrÂ’s biggest supporters since the team drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick during their expansion season in 2002. But after five straight losing seasons that support appears to be waning. McNair has not publicly endorsed Carr in recent months and has declined to speculate on the quarterbackÂ’s future with the team for the 2007 season.

McNair said the entire team is currently being evaluated by general manager Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak.

It will all come down, of course, to who they can bring in to replace Carr under center. Personally, I think a year or two with Sage Rosenfels at the helm would be acceptable, if the team could pick up Kevin Kolb or a comparable quarterback in the second or third round. Properly developed over that transition time, the new quarterback would not be rushed in too soon – or have to take the many hits that have left the current starter gun-shy.

Heck, I wouldnÂ’t even mind seeing Carr back, so long as he and Rosenfels enter training camp competing for the starting job rather than with the decision made before the first practice snap is taken. Such a move would be good for both of them.

Posted by: Greg at 11:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It seems to be, at least according to one Muslim cleric in England.

PREACHER of hate Abu Izzadeen has called on all Muslims serving in the Army to be killed.

In a vile sermon delivered at a mosque he rages against Muslims that work for the Government — and says they should be beheaded.

A recording of the rant has emerged just days after police uncovered a terrorist plot to kidnap and murder a 20-year-old British Muslim serving in the Army.

On the recording uncovered by ITN News, Izzadeen, 30, shouts: “Whoever allies himself with the Kaffirs (non-believers) against the believers — he is one of them.

“Remember the British Government, my dear Muslim brothers, are crusaders — crusaders come to kill and rape Muslims.

“Whoever joins them — he who joins the British Army, he who joins the American army he is a mortal Kaffir.

“And his only hukum (punishment) is for his head to be removed. Indeed whoever changes his deen (Muslim code of life) kill him.”

There is a cancer at work within Islam. It is up to the many decent Muslims in this world to either denounce such rhetoric and excise such extremists from their community, lest that their silence renders them indistinguishable from the radicals who spread such messages of hate and promote acts of terror, rather than decent, virtuous folks like these.

Posted by: Greg at 11:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It seems to be, at least according to one Muslim cleric in England.

PREACHER of hate Abu Izzadeen has called on all Muslims serving in the Army to be killed.

In a vile sermon delivered at a mosque he rages against Muslims that work for the Government — and says they should be beheaded.

A recording of the rant has emerged just days after police uncovered a terrorist plot to kidnap and murder a 20-year-old British Muslim serving in the Army.

On the recording uncovered by ITN News, Izzadeen, 30, shouts: “Whoever allies himself with the Kaffirs (non-believers) against the believers — he is one of them.

“Remember the British Government, my dear Muslim brothers, are crusaders — crusaders come to kill and rape Muslims.

“Whoever joins them — he who joins the British Army, he who joins the American army he is a mortal Kaffir.

“And his only hukum (punishment) is for his head to be removed. Indeed whoever changes his deen (Muslim code of life) kill him.”

There is a cancer at work within Islam. It is up to the many decent Muslims in this world to either denounce such rhetoric and excise such extremists from their community, lest that their silence renders them indistinguishable from the radicals who spread such messages of hate and promote acts of terror, rather than decent, virtuous folks like these.

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Seems to me that this convicted terrorist could be quickly and carefully extracted from Iraq and dumped in downtown Kuwait City where he can receive justice.

A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.
Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's seat in parliament gives him immunity from prosecution. Washington says he supports Shiite insurgents and acts as an Iranian agent in Iraq.

U.S. military intelligence in Iraq has approached al-Maliki's government with the allegations against Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, whom it says assists Iranian special forces in Iraq as "a conduit for weapons and political influence."
Repeated efforts by CNN to reach Jamal Jafaar Mohammed for comment through the parliament, through the ruling Shiite Muslim coalition and the Badr Organization -- the Iranian-backed paramilitary organization he once led -- have been unsuccessful.

A Kuwaiti court sentenced Jamal Jafaar Mohammed to death in 1984 in the car bombings of the U.S. and French embassies the previous December. Five people died in the attacks and 86 were wounded.

We know who he is. We know where to find him. We need to take action.
No quarter for terrorists. Period.

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Looks like the official blogger of the Edwards campaign will need to do a whole lot of scrubbing if the wants to sanitize her history of hatemongering – especially directed against Catholics and other Christians. She certainly helps put the “ICK” in the DemocratICK Party.

Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?

A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.

Or this.

There’s a pragmatic reason that the Vatican might be a little hesitant to come right out and say that there’s no limbo (definition here, for those who don’t know much about Catholicism) is because the concept is wielded by everyday Catholics to explain where the souls of unborn babies go, which is just an extra way to guilt trip women who have abortions. But it’s sort of a balancing act, as far as I can tell, because as most people understand it, unbaptized children go to limbo but when Jesus returns, they all get to go to heaven. So it’s a way to guilt trip women who have abortions without casting god as such an uncruel monster as to throw souls into hell that never even had a shot at sinning. So that’s limbo: it sucks enough to make women feel guilty about abortion, but it doesn’t suck so much as to run people off.

I suspect Pope Ratz will give into the urge eventually to come out and say there’s no limbo and unbaptized babies go straight to hell. He can’t help it; he’s just a dictator like that. Hey, fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, the Pope’s gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into Satan’s maw. The alternative is to let Catholic women who get abortions feel that it’ll all work out in the end, which is just not doable, due to that Jesus-like compassion the Pope is so fond of. Still, it’s going to be bad PR for the church, so you can sort of see why the Pope is dragging ass.

Which all brings me to recommending this great post by Austin Cline at Jesus’ General about why authoritarian types are so damn interested in cobbling people’s sex lives and meddling around in people’s private sexual decisions, like in this case why the Catholic church is so interested in making sure that people can’t make the perfectly sound decision to limit their family size while enjoying a healthy sex life—either you’re going to have to forgo birth control or you’re going to have to feel guilty to the point where you fear you’re casting babies into hellfire, by their standards. It’s a way to disrupt people’s lives so the church can get more control.

Oh dear – what a hateful bitch she is.

I wonder if the Edwards campaign really wants to be associated with the Know-Nothing wing of the DemocratICK Party that still espouses the same anti-Catholic hate that long-sustained the party’s paramilitary terrorist auxiliary, the Ku Klux Klan.

H/T Kathryn Jean Lopez

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Looks like the official blogger of the Edwards campaign will need to do a whole lot of scrubbing if the wants to sanitize her history of hatemongering – especially directed against Catholics and other Christians. She certainly helps put the “ICK” in the DemocratICK Party.

Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?

A: YouÂ’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.

Or this.

ThereÂ’s a pragmatic reason that the Vatican might be a little hesitant to come right out and say that thereÂ’s no limbo (definition here, for those who donÂ’t know much about Catholicism) is because the concept is wielded by everyday Catholics to explain where the souls of unborn babies go, which is just an extra way to guilt trip women who have abortions. But itÂ’s sort of a balancing act, as far as I can tell, because as most people understand it, unbaptized children go to limbo but when Jesus returns, they all get to go to heaven. So itÂ’s a way to guilt trip women who have abortions without casting god as such an uncruel monster as to throw souls into hell that never even had a shot at sinning. So thatÂ’s limbo: it sucks enough to make women feel guilty about abortion, but it doesnÂ’t suck so much as to run people off.

I suspect Pope Ratz will give into the urge eventually to come out and say thereÂ’s no limbo and unbaptized babies go straight to hell. He canÂ’t help it; heÂ’s just a dictator like that. Hey, fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, the PopeÂ’s gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into SatanÂ’s maw. The alternative is to let Catholic women who get abortions feel that itÂ’ll all work out in the end, which is just not doable, due to that Jesus-like compassion the Pope is so fond of. Still, itÂ’s going to be bad PR for the church, so you can sort of see why the Pope is dragging ass.

Which all brings me to recommending this great post by Austin Cline at Jesus’ General about why authoritarian types are so damn interested in cobbling people’s sex lives and meddling around in people’s private sexual decisions, like in this case why the Catholic church is so interested in making sure that people can’t make the perfectly sound decision to limit their family size while enjoying a healthy sex life—either you’re going to have to forgo birth control or you’re going to have to feel guilty to the point where you fear you’re casting babies into hellfire, by their standards. It’s a way to disrupt people’s lives so the church can get more control.

Oh dear – what a hateful bitch she is.

I wonder if the Edwards campaign really wants to be associated with the Know-Nothing wing of the DemocratICK Party that still espouses the same anti-Catholic hate that long-sustained the partyÂ’s paramilitary terrorist auxiliary, the Ku Klux Klan.

H/T Kathryn Jean Lopez

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I remember hearing that phrase over twenty years ago as I ran for student government at Illinois State University. A group of black candidates and their supporters were button-holing African-American students, handing them push cards and urging them to “vote your blood” – an appeal to cast a ballot based upon nothing more than the shared race of the candidates and the voters.

Sadly, weÂ’ve got some black Democrats explicitly voicing that same sort of appeal as we approach the 2008 presidential campaign.

Seeking to solidify African-American backing for Barack Obama's presidential bid, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr. told black Democrats meeting here last week they don't "owe" anyone, alluding to, but not mentioning by name, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama, said Jones, "is our son."

In a Monday telephone interview, Jones, Obama's political godfather, told me, "How long do we have to owe before we have an opportunity to support our son?

"And I know that Barack Obama is our son and he deserves our support."
He made a similar race-based appeal to a group of black Democratic activists Friday at a closed Democratic National Committee winter meeting.

Such racism should have no place in American politics, for all that racism-based appeals have been a staple of DemocratICK politics since well before the Civil War. Just as calls to for whites to oppose Obama because of his race are unacceptable, so are the calls for blacks – or anyone else – to support him because of the color of his skin.

Let’s talk about issues, experience, and competence – not bloodlines and skin-tone.

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Despite almost universal opposition, Governor Rick Perry refused to back down from his effort to play doctor with every little girl in Texas yesterday.

Gov. Rick Perry stood firm Monday against a political firestorm generated by his order that sixth-grade girls be inoculated against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer.

Social conservatives from Texas to Washington called on Perry to reverse his order making Texas the first state to require the vaccine, saying the mandate makes sex seem permissible and that parents should be the ones to decide whether to immunize their daughters. And several Texas lawmakers expressed outrage at Perry for circumventing the legislative process.

"This needs closer examination. How much will it cost the state?" asked Sen. Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, at a press conference. "Most importantly, as a mother of four daughters, I want to make sure our daughters' health is protected and parental rights are preserved."

Nelson, R-Lewisville, asked Perry to reverse his order and said she also would ask the attorney general whether the Legislature has any recourse if he doesn't.

Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, said he would file legislation to reverse Perry's order. There also is the question of what happens to several bills already filed to make the human papilloma virus shots mandatory for school enrollment.

Interestingly enough, these are Perry's ALLIES opposing him -- based upon his usurpation of the proper function of the sate legislature. But Perry will not acknowledge that criticism, instead attacking a strawman argument about teen sexuality.

"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," the governor said. "If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"

But as I pointed out, that isn't the argument that the opponents are making. Rather than confront the real issue of the proper role of government, the separation of powers, and the lack of a nexus between public education and HPV transmission, Perry wants to take the argument of a small group with an absurd position and present it as the mainstream position. It is an incredibly dishonest tactic, and insults every Texan.

All the Merck commercials tell women to talk to their doctors to determine if Gardasil is right for them. None of the advertising material suggest consultation with the governor or other elected officials. That is as it should be -- and the most fundamental reason for opposing making this vaccine mandatory.

PREVIOUS POSTS ON THIS TOPIC:
1) Perry Engages In Dictatorial Tactic -- Issues Gardasil Executive Order
2) An Open Letter To Governor Rick Perry

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It was supposedly a way of defending institutional integrity when Democrats used their ability to block cloture votes when the GOP had a Senate majority. Now the Republicans are using the tactic to prevent the passage of a cut-and-run resolution on Iraq, and the Democrats are howling.

A long-awaited Senate showdown on the war in Iraq was shut down before it even started yesterday, when nearly all Republicans voted to stop the Senate from considering a resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional combat troops into battle.

A day of posturing, finger-pointing and backroom wrangling came to nothing when Democratic and Republican leaders could not reach agreement on which nonbinding resolutions would be debated and allowed to come to a vote. The Senate's 49 to 47 vote last night to proceed to debate on Bush's new war policy fell 11 votes short of the 60 needed to break the logjam. Just two Republicans, Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Susan Collins (Maine), voted with the Democrats to proceed with the debate. Both are considered among the most vulnerable senators standing for reelection in 2008.

Republicans insisted that the impasse will soon be broken. But the leaders of the two parties appeared to be far from a compromise last night, and the White House has worked hard to block action on a resolution disapproving of the president's decision to boost troop levels.

"What you just saw was Republicans giving the president the green light to escalate in Iraq," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said after the vote. Reid contended that Republicans "are trying to avoid a debate on this matter."

Republicans said they have no desire to avoid a debate, asserting that they simply want a fair hearing on their proposals.

"We are ready and anxious to have this debate this week," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).

Hey, harry, didn't you folks like to use this very method to stop legislation you opposed as recently as last year? How, then, can you object to its use today, now that you are in the majority?

Oh, that's right -- the shoe is on the other foot, and you don't like having to play by the rules you established when you obstructed Senate business while in the minority.

And frankly, I want to see the GOP prevent any vote on any measure that will undercut the troops and their mission by giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Posted by: Greg at 11:20 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Well, it looks like potential GOP candidates for President will be making trips to Houston seeking support. That's no surprise, considering that we are the fourth largest city in America. But they are coming, and coming early.

Whoever wins the 2008 Republican presidential nomination probably has Texas' electoral votes in his pocket, and prospective candidates also are making the rounds pocketing Texas cash.

Already this month, three top-tier candidates are stretching their hands out to Houston.

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona was in Houston on Monday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is scheduled today, and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani headlined a dinner last week.

Though Romney has lagged behind McCain and Giuliani in fundraising and organizing in Texas, he said he will name a state team of financial and political supporters after meeting with potential backers this evening at the Houston home of L.E. Simmons, the founder of SCF Partners, which invests in energy companies.

Romney said he will draw on ties cultivated in the Lone Star State when he headed Bain Capital, a venture capital firm that did business with energy interests.

"I have a good network in Texas," Romney said in a phone interview with the Houston Chronicle.

Another notable Texan backing Romney is Kevin Rollins, of Austin, who recently left as chief executive officer of Dell Computer.

And given Rudy Giuliani's connection to a local law firm, it won't be any surprise to see him stumping in town either. That makes the three leading candidates very active in our community. And why not -- this will be only the second presidential election since 1980 when the GOP has not had a Houston connection to the national race in the form of someone named George Bush in the thick of things.

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One of the great things about living so close to Johnson Space Center is that anything about astronauts qualifies as "local news". I just wish this story wasn't.

Lisa Marie Nowak was accustomed to hard training, prolonged deprivation and a strong sense of mission. But this is not exactly what NASA had in mind when they made her an astronaut.

Equipped with a knife, pellet pistol, can of pepper spray, steel mallet and 4 feet of rubber tubing, Nowak arrived at Orlando International Airport early Monday morning, police said, to confront one challenge the space agency had never considered: a romantic rival.

Nowak, 43, remains in Orange County Jail without bail on a variety of charges arising from a confrontation with Colleen Shipman, an Air Force captain whom she allegedly assaulted in the parking garage during what police characterized as an attempted kidnapping.

She is scheduled to make an initial appearance this morning at the Orange County Jail Booking and Releasing Center, which is inside the main jail facility.

Nowak, a married mother of three, apparently had driven from Houston to meet Shipman, a younger competitor for the affections of another astronaut, Bill Oefelein. So intent was she not to be late that Nowak had donned adult diapers to avoid the customary rest stops, police said she told them.

The story has been a big deal here, because this is a new thing at NASA. We'll have to see how it all shakes out -- and how the space agency deals with the unprecedented situation of an astronaut facing a felony charge. But sadly, it looks like this could ruin the careers of two astronauts and one other military officer.

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I've been teaching about nationalism in my World History classes these last few days, and today came upon the unification of Italy.

It is hard to imagine that, following the fall of Rome, Italy was a fragmented peninsula made up of warring city-states, petty dukedoms, and the Papal States, each an sovereign state in its own right. But the nationalistic impulse sparked by Napoleon's conquest of the peninsula, combined with the revolutionary spirit of Mazzini and Garibaldi and the open support of King Victor Emmanuel II, led to the declaration of March 17, 1861 declaration of a unified Italian kingdom -- to be followed by the final conquest of the papacy's temporal dominion within the decade.

Today, Italy is a land noted for its beauty and history, as well as its travel and leisure industry. Take the opportunity, my friends, to consider investing in property in Tuscany, Sicily, or one of the many beautiful regions of Italy!

Paid Endorsement.

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We saw how well a promise to raise taxes worked for Walter Mondale in 1984. Surely it will be no more popular in 2008.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards on Sunday said that he would raise taxes, chiefly on the wealthy, to pay for expanded healthcare coverage under a plan costing $90 billion to $120 billion a year to be unveiled on Monday.

"We'll have to raise taxes. The only way you can pay for a healthcare plan that cost anywhere from $90 to $120 billion is there has to be a revenue source," Edwards said on NBC's Meet the Press news program.

The 2004 vice presidential nominee and former North Carolina senator said his plan would "get rid of George Bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year."

He said the plan would also reduce healthcare costs.

Of course, we’ve already seen how well nationalized health care has worked in Canada and England – in the latter medical care is rationed based upon budgetary considerations, and in the former people skip across the border to the US to quickly receive treatment and diagnostic tests that take months to get in Canada. Do we really want to see our system follow their models, and for medical advances to slow to a trickle as the economic incentive for them is leached away – and your taxes go up, as they inevitably will? After all, you know that the “optional” single-payer program will quickly become mandatory.

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We saw how well a promise to raise taxes worked for Walter Mondale in 1984. Surely it will be no more popular in 2008.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards on Sunday said that he would raise taxes, chiefly on the wealthy, to pay for expanded healthcare coverage under a plan costing $90 billion to $120 billion a year to be unveiled on Monday.

"We'll have to raise taxes. The only way you can pay for a healthcare plan that cost anywhere from $90 to $120 billion is there has to be a revenue source," Edwards said on NBC's Meet the Press news program.

The 2004 vice presidential nominee and former North Carolina senator said his plan would "get rid of George Bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year."

He said the plan would also reduce healthcare costs.

Of course, we’ve already seen how well nationalized health care has worked in Canada and England – in the latter medical care is rationed based upon budgetary considerations, and in the former people skip across the border to the US to quickly receive treatment and diagnostic tests that take months to get in Canada. Do we really want to see our system follow their models, and for medical advances to slow to a trickle as the economic incentive for them is leached away – and your taxes go up, as they inevitably will? After all, you know that the “optional” single-payer program will quickly become mandatory.

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What else do you call this bizarre thesis about the connection between the war in Iraq and Super Bowl ads?

No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this yearÂ’s commercials.

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.

For instance, in a commercial for Bud Light beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, one man beat the other at a game of rock, paper, scissors by throwing a rock at his opponentÂ’s head.

In another Bud Light spot, face-slapping replaced fist-bumping as the cool way for people to show affection for one another. In a FedEx commercial, set on the moon, an astronaut was wiped out by a meteor. In a spot for Snickers candy, sold by Mars, two co-workers sought to prove their masculinity by tearing off patches of chest hair.

There was also a bank robbery (E*Trade Financial), fierce battles among office workers trapped in a jungle (CareerBuilder), menacing hitchhikers (Bud Light again) and a clash between a monster and a superhero reminiscent of a horror movie (Garmin).

It was as if Madison Avenue were channeling Doc in “West Side Story,” the gentle owner of the candy store in the neighborhood that the two street gangs, the Jets and Sharks, fight over. “Why do you kids live like there’s a war on?” Doc asks plaintively. (Well, Doc, this time, there is.)

Let's see. We saw silliness, We saw sci-fi tributes, lthe Garmin ad -- straight out of the 1960s Japanese show Ultraman. And yes, we saw stupidity, in the form of the face-slapping ad. Like so many times in the past, the ads were juvenile and designed to stick in the mind using big-budget special effects.

I'm curious -- what do the folks at the al-Qaeda Ministry of Intelligence and Propaganda New York Times think of Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny?

Really -- when your anti-war, anti-Bush bias sneaks into an analysis of Super bowl ads, your have ceased being a credible news source -- although we've known that about the Grey Lady for years.

More At Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters, Riehl World View, Bill's Bites, Old War Dogs

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I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

The Justice Department is completing rules to allow the collection of DNA from most people arrested or detained by federal authorities, a vast expansion of DNA gathering that will include hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, by far the largest group affected.

The new forensic DNA sampling was authorized by Congress in a little-noticed amendment to a January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides protections and assistance for victims of sexual crimes. The amendment permits DNA collecting from anyone under criminal arrest by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal agents.

Over the last year, the Justice Department has been conducting an internal review and consulting with other agencies to prepare regulations to carry out the law.

The goal, justice officials said, is to make the practice of DNA sampling as routine as fingerprinting for anyone detained by federal agents, including illegal immigrants. Until now, federal authorities have taken DNA samples only from convicted felons.

Now i'll concede, we leave DNA all over the place in a variety of ways, so there are crimes that will be solved this way. But still, as pointed out in the article, DNA is different from fingerprints.

Peter Neufeld, a lawyer who is a co-director of the Innocence Project, which has exonerated dozens of prison inmates using DNA evidence, said the government was overreaching by seeking to apply DNA sampling as universally as fingerprinting.

“Whereas fingerprints merely identify the person who left them,” Mr. Neufeld said, “DNA profiles have the potential to reveal our physical diseases and mental disorders. It becomes intrusive when the government begins to mine our most intimate matters.”

This raises some serious privacy issues. How will the use of this information be restricted? Who will have access to the database, and what penalties are out there for misuse or unauthorized disclosure of one's genetic information? And are we ready to take a step that puts the very essence of one's biological identity in the hands of government? I'm just not sure.

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I'll be honest -- as a kid I used to think that the release day of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue should be a national holiday. After all, what normal, healthy, red-blooded American male could possibly concentrate on anything else but the gorgeous women in that magazine during on the day it came out?

And to be honest, I still sometimes feel that way, decades after becoming aware of the soaking-wet beauties that grace the pages of America's premier sports magazine. And this year the big day is Valentine's Day, February 14!

But today, there is more. So much more.

Not only can you get the glossy-paged "hard copy" of magazine, with pictures of such exquisite creatures as Heidi Klum, Marisa Miller, Ana Beatriz Barros, Maria Sharapova, Molly Sims and 2005 SI cover girl Carolyn Murphy, but now you can go to the online edition as well, for more of the beauties whose style and form fills your imagination with wild flights of fancy! You can even download cell phone wallpaper images direct from the special photo shoot from the site for a mere $1.99, as a part of the SIMobile service.

And you don't just get access to this year's photos -- there are also classic shots of former cover models Kathy Ireland and Elle Macpherson, as well as other lovely blasts from the past.

So look sharp and mark your calendars -- the big day is just around the corner on Valentine's Day!

Paid Endorsement.

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Coming back from an opening kick-off return for touchdown and an early interception, the Indianapolis Colts have won Super Bowl XLI in convincing fashion, 29-17. Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy finally have earn their Super Bowl rings!

In a sloppy, exciting, rainsoaked NFL title game Sunday, the Colts defeated the Bears 29-17 behind 247 yards passing from Manning, the star quarterback who finally won the big one after nine record-setting seasons that was missing very little besides a championship.

It was a surreal scene for the NFL's showcase game, played indoors or in perfect weather for almost all of the previous 40 years, but not this time.

In a good ol'-fashioned South Florida soaker — the first Super Bowl to be played in the rain — the football squirted loose and bounced all over the waterlogged field. It resulted in eight turnovers, including two late interceptions thrown by Chicago's Rex Grossman that sealed the game for Indy.

And it has just been announced that Peyton manning is the MVP of this year's game! Another well-deserved honor for the league's most dominant quarterback.

To me, though, the most interesting moment were the words by Tony Dungy, when there was an attempt to turn this victory into something about race. He brought it all into perspective -- and paid tribute to opposing coach Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears -- by noting that it was about showing that you can win coaching the Lord's way.

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Even though I initially thought we might be treated to a performance by Aunt Jemima in drag when I saw that kerchief, I was pleased by tonight's halftime performance.

Phew! CBS got through the halftime show without a "wardrobe malfunction." The Artist Formerly Known as a Munchkin of Wardrobe Dysfunction began by singing "Let's Go Crazy," but he didn't.

* * *

The closest thing to a fashion statement Sunday night was an odd kerchief on his head. So the NFL had no repeat of the 2004 Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake show, which happened the last time CBS broadcast the game.

The 48-year-old Prince, who rose to stardom in the '80s with his distinctive fusion of R&B, funk, soul and rock, once looked androgynous and produced songs that (lest we forget) drove Tipper Gore nuts (and made her a fat target for anti-censorship types like Frank Zappa).

Musically, the diminutive, erstwhile prodigy from Minneapolis kept it old-school, rockin' the house with "Purple Rain" and other golden hits.

He delivered one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows - ever. Consequently, he didn't come across as a painfully safe choice - or a has-been, the rap against the previous couple of Super Bowl halftime acts, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.

Now if we can just get some more decent performances in the future, we won't have to worry about the awkward "dead period" in the middle of the game.

Posted by: Greg at 02:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If there is any truth to this story, then the film in question must have an NC-17 rating slapped on it. Anything else legitimizes pornography as an art form.

Sienna Miller and Hayden Christensen are said to be convincing in their "Factory Girl" love scenes. The reason? The sex is for real, a source told the New York Daily News.

"It's not simulated," the insider said. "They're really doing it"

* * *

The News reports that Miller had a romance with "Star Wars" actor Christensen while on a break from her ex-boyfriend Jude Law — but then jilted him.

"They spent about a month hanging out," a Christensen pal told the News. "But then she decided that she didn't want a relationship. Hayden was devastated. He really fell for her."

Added a friend of Miller, "Sienna wanted to try to make another go of it with Jude. But again, it didn't work out. At the end of last summer, she and Hayden ended up in Toronto for more shooting. They hadn't talked in six months. But it turned out to be a great reunion."

It was during this "reunion" that the two former lovers, both 25, reportedly did the deed for the world to see.

Seriously -- are we going to start seeing REAL sex scenes on the big screen in the future? Or are we going to take a stand and draw a line here?

Posted by: Greg at 01:22 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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In keeping with the apology by President Bush, I promise that I will correctly pronounce the name of the other party.

Relying on self-deprecating jokes, unusual candor and outright flattery, President Bush on Saturday wooed lawmakers he not only needs but will have to answer to in the final two years of his presidency.

Bush had not seen fit to attend a Democratic congressional retreat since 2001, his first year in office. But the new political reality that has Democrats in charge of Capitol Hill for the first time in a dozen years changed his mind. When he appeared before House Democrats at a Virginia resort, he seemed to be trying to make up for lost time.

With his first words, he sought to put to rest one bone of contention between the White House and the new congressional majority: The dropped "ic."

Henceforward, I will cease referring to the Democrat Party. To ensure correct pronunciation, I will now refer to the party of abortion, racial discrimination, socialism and military surrender as the DemocratICK Party. Happy now, folks?

Posted by: Greg at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sounds like some things never change in the "party of tolerance".

A Democratic love-fest came to a screeching halt Friday after a high-ranking Hispanic party official abruptly resigned amid allegations he used a racial slur during a heated argument with a black aide to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Alvaro Cifuentes was chairman of the DNC's Hispanic Caucus and is well-known in national Hispanic Democratic circles.

Cifuentes was attending the DNC's winter meeting in Washington, D.C., on Friday when he and the aide got into an argument.

It's not clear what started the fight, but sources said Cifuentes called the aide, who is black, "boy" twice during the confrontation, and two conference attendees were alarmed enough to try and restrain Cifuentes.

Sources said they believed Cifuentes' actions to be physically intimidating, and his words racially insensitive.

DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney confirmed the resignation Friday evening, saying it occurred after a meeting with Dean, the former governor of Vermont. She said that Cifuentes resigned his post as caucus chairman, but remains a member of the DNC.

Asked if Dean forced Cifuentes to resign his post, Finney said: "Gov. Dean and Alvaro had a private meeting this afternoon. Following that meeting, Alvaro attended the Hispanic Caucus meeting, [and] submitted his resignation. It was accepted by the caucus."

First, I don't buy the notion that "boy" is necessarily a racial slur. But if the Democrats truly consider it to be one, why is Cifuentes permitted to remain a member in good standing of the DNC, which is the party's governing body? Why don't Dean and the rest of the top-ranking Democrats insist upon Cifuentes' complete removal fromt he body?

Could it be that racism isn't really that big a deal in the eyes of the Democrats -- any more than it was during the days of slavery, Jim Crow, and massive resistance?

Posted by: Greg at 12:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Would a judge ever give a group of white perps this sort of sentence for a hate crime against black victims -- especially if the victims received serious injuries?

Four black teenagers convicted in the racially charged beating of three white women on Halloween were sentenced to probation Friday.

Punishment could have ranged up to confinement in a California Youth Authority lockup until age 25.

The sentences were handed down by Juvenile Court Judge Gibson Lee, who last week convicted nine teens — eight female and one male — of felony assault, with a hate-crime enhancement against all but one.

Sentenced were an 18-year-old youth and his twin sister, who were 17 at the time of the crime, their 16-year-old sister — who didn't receive the enhancement — and another 16-year-old girl. The judge imposed 250 hours of community service, 60 days of house arrest, and anger management and racial tolerance programs.

"It was an awful crime. Terrible, emotional and physical injuries," the judge said.

Before sentencing, the judge reminded the audience that it was a juvenile court. Lee said he "must pick the least restrictive disposition that can lead to the rehabilitation of the minor."

If such a sentence had been handed down to white hooligans who had put black victims into surgery, there would have been riots in the streets -- which, of course, is why these black punks are allowed to walk free with less than a slap on the wrist. All the "juvenile court" rhetoric is a bunch of crap -- as is the near complete lack of coverage by the nation's media.

Want a case for abandoning hate-crime laws? This is it, for it shows that such laws turn the concept of "equal protection of the laws" on its head.

Posted by: Greg at 12:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You remember the Affirmative Action Bake Sales used at various colleges a couple years ago to highlight the absurdity and utterly racist nature of affirmative action programs, don't you? You know, the ones that caused all sorts of hate and discontent among leftists, some of whom engaged in acts of violence against the conservative sponsors -- and some of which even got their universities to take action against the non-PC offenders?

Well, what do you have to say about this event?

Students were treated to free pizza in the Student Union on Thursday afternoon, courtesy of the UB NAACP. Where they were allowed to sit, however, was based on race and ethnicity.

The NAACP hosted an event called the "Segregated Café," a simulation of past eras in which segregation existed in the United States. The mock-up featured a restaurant setting with separate dining tables and serving areas for minority and white students.

Patrons were directed to their correct places according to their race, separating many lunching companions. Reactions started off confused and quickly turned to nervous and upset. However, there was a general understanding of the experiment.

"I think something like this is good to do because we get to experience what it was like in the past," said Clyde Strokes, a sophomore business major who was forced to sit in the minority section. "But I'm still pissed."

Strokes' was referring to the rude treatment and unsightly décor encountered by those at the minority section, including ripped paper plates on the tables and pepperoni on the floor. Minority students were served half a slice of Franco's pizza and a trickle of soda in plastic cup, while white students were allowed a whole, or even multiple slices of pizza and soda served in champagne glasses.

First, this does not even begin to simulate conditions DECADES IN THE PAST. Second, why no actions against the NAACP chapter for daring to provide unequal treatment based upon race? Could it be that since their motives were pure as the PC snow and intended to promote liberal victimology, there was a conscious decision to allow the event to proceed without intervention by the university? And this is the second year the event has been held, so the school knew what it w3as about and the severe violation of campus non-discrimination rules it constituted.

Oh, and I'll point out another obvious difference -- conservative students didn't engage in a single act of violence against the NAACP -- and probably supported the goal of reminding the campus community about the evils of Democrat-imposed and supported Jim Crow laws and practices.

Hey -- free speech is free speech, even if it is repulsive and designed to keep hate alive. And unfortunately, that seems to have been the goal of the NAACP.

Posted by: Greg at 12:32 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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I'll be watching -- but I think I'll skip the festivities at this establishment a a couple miles up the road, even though they've been advertising for two weeks.

Oh, yeah, and by the way, even though I lived many years in the Chicago area, my wife and I are big fans of Peyton Manning, so you can guess where I stand on this one.

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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During my years in seminary, i spent many hours in class and reading in the field broadly referred to as Critical Biblical Studies. This includes lots of different things, from examination of manuscripts, to literary analysis, to Jesus Seminar type efforts to deconstruct the text of Scripture.

Over at American Thinker, James Arlandson has written the first of four articles on such studies, designed to help the average person with no advanced theological studies understand the ins and outs of New Testament textual criticism.

This article is the first in a four-part series on New Testament textual criticism. It provides the basics on this science and art, answering such questions as these:

o Did scribes make errors as they copied down holy Writ?
o If so, what kind of errors are they?
o Why wouldn't God protect his Word from such errors?
o What's the goal of the science and art of textual criticism?
o Should we even engage in criticism of the Bible? Isn't that blasphemous?
o Should I trust the New Testament?

These questions and more are explored in a basic Question and Answer format, for ease of understanding.

The ultimate goal in this four-part series is to provide a foundation for the readers' knowledge; then we will understand the critics who often mislead the general public about the complete reliability of the Bible.

Frankly, I find this first installment to be a great primer for those with limited background in the field, as it is clear, concise, and balanced. I'll link to the rest as they come along.

Posted by: Greg at 03:35 AM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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Posted by: Gimjeogk at Mon Jan 19 10:10:22 2009 (y0eLo)

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Dear Governor Perry;

I'm troubled by your decision to mandate that sixth-grade girls must receive the Gardasil vaccine as a condition of exercising the right to receive a free public education in the state of Texas. I'm troubled by your staff's insistence that your unilateral action on behalf of your big campaign contributor Merck and its lobbyist, your former chief of staff, may not be revoked by the legislature using its constitutional oversight powers-- or, based upon the statement of your spokesperson, any court. But since you seem to be a graduate of the Paul Begala School of Lawmaking, I won't argue with you over the question of the legitimacy of your position.

However, since you seem intent upon forcing pharmaceuticals upon children in order to prevent a sexually-transmitted condition not readily contracted by activity in the course of a normal school day, I'd like to offer a suggestion for the next executive order you should issue. It, too, involves prevention of a sexually condition which would not often be contracted in the ordinary course of a school day, but which much more often impacts the lives and education of school-aged girls in Texas, as well as the state budget.

That condition is teen pregnancy.

Governor, in the last decade I have had 10-15% of my female students either give birth or become pregnant during the course of the school year, or even enter my tenth-grade classroom already a mother. Their pregnancies wreak havoc on their lives and education, causing them to miss school on a frequent basis due to their pregnancy or the demands of motherhood. I've witnessed them drop out of school or seek a GED rather than a diploma so they could go to work rather than college. I've seen them enter unwise, early marriages and unstable live-in situations.

Furthermore, I know that most of them have been recipients of Medicaid dollars for delivery, and for the subsequent medical care their child needs. They often find themselves on food stamps and living in subsidized housing. During their pregnancies and the post-partum period, these young women are often segregated into special educational facilities, and many school districts find it necessary to provide some sort of daycare program for the offspring of their students.

Clearly, this condition adversely impacts the lives of Texas students and their children, as well as the budgets of the state of Texas and every school district and local government. It is therefore imperative, sir, that you take action to safeguard all of the above, just as you have with your decision bypass the legislative process to mandate Gardasil via executive order.

I urge you, Governor Perry, to mandate that every entering sixth-grade girl in the state of Texas receive Norplant implants as a precondition to enrolling in a public school in the state. Furthermore, you should by executive order mandate that the replacement of those implants be required as a precondition for being permitted to continue in a public school beyond tenth grade, due to the limited effective life of the Norplant implants. This will protect every school girl in Texas from the perils of teen pregnancy, and much more effectively than the abstinence-only education programs currently offered in our public schools.

Now some may object that government-mandated Norplant violates the right of a woman, even an eleven-year-old, to control her own body. You've already crossed that line with your Gardasil executive order. Others may argue that government-mandated Norplant may give these same young woman the message that unprotected sex is now safe. But you've already crossed that line as well. And still others might argue that government-mandated Norplant might be viewed as permission to engage in sex. That line has also been crossed by your executive order. And as for those who argue that such decisions are best left to parents in consultation with family physicians -- you blew right past that line when you chose to play doctor with every little girl in the state by mandating Gardasil.

So if you are really interested in protecting young girls from sexually-transmitted conditions that negatively impact their lives, you must issue the Norplant executive order.

Unless, of course, your real motivation for the Gardasil executive order was paying back Merck for the campaign contributions and doing favors for former staffers and the family members of your political allies.

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Posted by: Greg at 09:09 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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After all, George Soros did spend millions in an attempt to buy the 2004 presidential election for John Kerry. And Soros has lined up squarely behind Barack Obama in 2008. So I have to ask if Obama and other prominent Dems will denounce this comment made at the Davos Economic Conference in Switzerland.

"America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany," Soros said. "We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process."

Now let's start with this question -- do Obama and the rest of the Dem candidates believe that "Bush & GOP=Hitler & Nazis" rhetoric is accurate and appropriate? Do they believe that America needs "de-Nazification", a process which, if implemented here as it was in Germany following WWII, would involve stripping Republican Party members and supporters of their civil rights and civil liberties, banning them from political participation, limiting their employment, and subjecting the media to censorship?

This is an issue with no gray area at all.

Either Barack Obama and the rest of the Democrat Party believe that Soros is taking a legitimate position in urging the suspension of the rights of American citizens because of their political beliefs and activities, or they do not. If they do, they must condemn the extremist rhetoric. If they remain silent, they implicitly support his call for the abrogation of the First Amendment government suppression of the political views of their opponents.

Who wants to bet that the denunciations will not be forthcoming -- either because they fear losing this big-bucks contributor, or because they secretly agree?

H/T Captain's Quarter & QandO

Posted by: Greg at 08:39 AM | Comments (34) | Add Comment
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Looks to me like the John Edwards campaign has taken into its heart a dishonest hack who is not averse to trying to send inconvenient facts down the memory hole.

The individual in question, the shrilly profane Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon, was hired on to be Edwards' blog czarina. Among her early moves was to go back and sanitize her own blog, removing potentially embarrassing material.

You know, like this post, preserved for posterity in a Google cache.

In the meantime, I’ve been sort of casually listening to CNN blaring throughout the waiting area and good fucking god is that channel pure evil. For awhile, I had to listen to how the poor dear lacrosse players at Duke are being persecuted just because they held someone down and fucked her against her will — not rape, of course, because the charges have been thrown out. Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair.

This written, of course, a full month after the rape charges were dismissed because of the constantly evolving story of the faux-victim in the case and the filing of ethics charges against DA Nifong for his handling of the case.

After the post was linked by Jon Ham of the John Locke Foundation, the new Edwards staffer went back and "sanitized" her post via the DELETE key, and replaced it with this pathetic justification.

UPDATE: Since people are determined to make hay over this quick shot of a post, IÂ’m deleting it and hereÂ’s my official stance. The prosecution in the Duke case fumbled the ball. The prosecutor was too eager to get a speedy case and make a name for himself. That is my final word.

Change of language, change of stance, and a clear attempt to make it appear that she had not continued to accuse these young men of an offense which it is increasingly clear they did not commit.

In other words, Amanda lied -- in an attempt to cover her own tracks.

No doubt she will spend the next year -- until the Edwards candidacy folds under its own inadequacy after Iowa and New Hampshire -- engaging is similar acts designed to deceive the American public.

H/T Reason's Hit & Run

Posted by: Greg at 03:27 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I really had no idea that you could get your Car Insurance through a WalMart affiliate! I just found out that you can, at least in the UK, through ASDA Financial Services.

Looking over their site, I find clear, easy-to-use tools that will allow any consumer to quickly and painlessly (OK -- relatively painlessly, since you do eventually have to pay for it) purchase insurance for your car.

And what's more, you can purchase other types of insurance as well, including home insurance!

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I hope that tonight there are a number of Texas legislators looking into the procedures for impeaching a governor after Rick Perry did this.

Gov. Rick Perry signed an order today making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

By issuing an executive order, Perry apparently sidesteps opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way parents raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Excuse me -- I've got a real problem with our governor adopting the "Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool." philosophy of the Clinton years. After all, he knew that he would never get this proposal through the legislature, so he simply has implemented the requirement -- including ordering the spending of money to provide the vaccine -- without legislative authority. Did I miss the line for "dictator" on last fall's ballot?

And please understand -- this is not an objection to the vaccine or to the "message" that giving it sends to young girls. If I had a daughter, she would get this vaccine as a matter of course, without hesitation on my part. As I've said before, my issue is the libertarian issue of how far the state can and should go in placing conditions upon the exercise of the right (under the state constitution) of the right to a public education. Is it appropriate for the state to mandate a vaccine for a condition which is exceedingly unlikely to be passed in the course of normal day-to-day school interaction? No, it isn't, because there is no reasonable nexus between the two.

Also disturbing is Perry's connection to Merck, the company marketing the drug.

Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.

This stinks, and gives at least the appearance of impropriety.

Here's hoping the Texas Legislature will look into blocking this executive order legislatively -- and removing Perry from office for his corrupt, overreaching action today.

UPDATE: And lest you think my statement about Perry engaging in dictatorial action is an overstatement, here are the position taken by his own spokesperson on the matter.

The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor, as head of the executive branch, to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.

Hardly the actions of a leader in a democratic republic. Sounds more like he thinks he is Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro.

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Posted by: Greg at 03:04 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are 9/11: Just a Real Bad Day by Right Wing Nut House, and New Trend on the Rise: The Patriotic Terrorist by The Huffington Post.  Here is where you can find the full results of the vote. 
Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

Posted by: Greg at 02:32 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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A lot of folks are whining and wailing about the unfathomably large profit made by Exxon for 2006.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company _ $39.5 billion _ even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped Exxon Mobil's own previous record of $36.13 billion set in 2005.

Revenue at the world's largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion Exxon posted in 2005.
"Exxon Mobil continued to leverage its globally diverse resource base to bring additional crude oil and natural gas to market," Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of the Irvin, Texas-based company, said in a statement.

However, let’s look at some numbers really quick – numbers that make all the difference in the world.

As a percentage of total earnings, Exxon’s profit was 10.45 %. Is that really an unconscionably high profit?

And taken per share, the profit was $6.62. With shares trading at $74 dollars as of this morning, that means that each share had a profit of 8.9%. Again, does the level of profit really shock the conscience?

What I’m suggesting is that no, it does not. Indeed, those earnings are right around where many of us would like our retirement portfolios to be performing.

But most people don’t actually look at numbers like that. They hear “record profit” and assume that something unreasonable, unethical, or unsavory has been going on, not considering how that dollar figure relates to the size and level of capitalization of Exxon.

Watch for politicians and commentators to start demanding that “something be done” about oil company profits. Expect folks to start insisting that these companies be run as if they were not-for-profit enterprises, not business ventures with a primary responsibility to the shareholders AKA owners. After all, those complaining are people who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of business and the role of government.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A lot of folks are whining and wailing about the unfathomably large profit made by Exxon for 2006.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company _ $39.5 billion _ even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped Exxon Mobil's own previous record of $36.13 billion set in 2005.

Revenue at the world's largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion Exxon posted in 2005.
"Exxon Mobil continued to leverage its globally diverse resource base to bring additional crude oil and natural gas to market," Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of the Irvin, Texas-based company, said in a statement.

However, let’s look at some numbers really quick – numbers that make all the difference in the world.

As a percentage of total earnings, ExxonÂ’s profit was 10.45 %. Is that really an unconscionably high profit?

And taken per share, the profit was $6.62. With shares trading at $74 dollars as of this morning, that means that each share had a profit of 8.9%. Again, does the level of profit really shock the conscience?

What IÂ’m suggesting is that no, it does not. Indeed, those earnings are right around where many of us would like our retirement portfolios to be performing.

But most people don’t actually look at numbers like that. They hear “record profit” and assume that something unreasonable, unethical, or unsavory has been going on, not considering how that dollar figure relates to the size and level of capitalization of Exxon.

Watch for politicians and commentators to start demanding that “something be done” about oil company profits. Expect folks to start insisting that these companies be run as if they were not-for-profit enterprises, not business ventures with a primary responsibility to the shareholders AKA owners. After all, those complaining are people who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of business and the role of government.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Right Pundits, Perri Nelson's Website, Is It Just Me?, The Random Yak, A Blog For All, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, basil's blog, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Pursuing Holiness, 123 Beta, The HILL Chronicles, Faultline USA, third world county, Right Celebrity, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, Pirate's Cove, The Right Nation, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Renaissance Blogger, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 02:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, the end is fast approaching for the beloved Harry Potter series. All will be revealed, now that JK Rowling has written the last words of the saga of "the boy who lived".

J. K. Rowling, the author of the record-setting Harry Potter books, announced yesterday that the seventh — and last — installment in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be published on July 21.

That will be just eight days after the release of the film version of the fifth book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” promising a huge summer for fans of the young wizard.

Millions of fans around the world are fiercely anticipating the final installment. But the end of the series, in which Ms. Rowling has hinted she may kill off one of the main characters, comes as a bittersweet finale not only for readers but also for the publishing companies, booksellers and licensees that have cashed in on the international phenomenon since it began more than nine years ago with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

And it will be sad, givent he international phenomenon that hte books have been for the last decade. And while there are at least two additional movies to be made, one wonders if we really have seen the last of the young wizard and his friend. Will Rowling be able to resist the call to write additional books about Harry Potter? Or will she kill the hero? And will death be sufficient, or will he make an unexpected return like Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes did after an apparent tumble over a waterfall?

Only time will tell.

Oh, and as a side note, the big screen's Harry Potter is branching out with a nude scene in Hairy Potter and the Happy Trail Equus on the London stage.

more...

Posted by: Greg at 11:36 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I'll be looking for the results of this set of genetic tests -- designed to answer an old question about the presence of Roman soldiers in China, and the continued survival of their descendants.

Residents of a remote Chinese village are hoping that DNA tests will prove one of history's most unlikely legends — that they are descended from Roman legionaries lost in antiquity.

Scientists have taken blood samples from 93 people living in and around Liqian, a settlement in north-western China on the fringes of the Gobi desert, more than 200 miles from the nearest city.

They are seeking an explanation for the unusual number of local people with western characteristics — green eyes, big noses, and even blonde hair — mixed with traditional Chinese features.

"I really think we are descended from the Romans," said Song Guorong, 48, who with his wavy hair, six-foot frame and strikingly long, hooked nose stands out from his short, round-faced office colleagues.

"There are the residents with these special features, and then there are also historical records about the existence of these people long ago," he said.

The legend has it that some soldiers of Crassus' ill-fated expedition against the Parthians may have settled in the region after serving as mercenaries, sometime around 36 BC. Personally, I wonder more about possible descendants of Alexander's army, which pushed well into India. But whatever teh answer, it will be fascinating -- even if it destroys the myths that have sprung up over the ages.

Posted by: Greg at 11:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And personally, I'm quite content to see that happen. I argued that we should use a system with a paper trail back when Harris County selected its paperless system before the 2002 elections.

Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of FloridaÂ’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Voting experts said FloridaÂ’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nationÂ’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.

Several counties around the country, including Cuyahoga in Ohio and Sarasota in Florida, are moving toward exchanging touch-screen machines for ones that provide a paper trail. But Florida could become the first state that invested heavily in the recent rush to touch screens to reject them so sweepingly.

Personally, I like the optical scanner machines -- but then again, as a teacher who works with scantron test sheets on a regular basis, i am familiar with the technology and trust it on a regular basis. And it isn't that I don't trust the touch screen system and other paperles forms of voting -- I do. But I feel there has to be a back-up, and I saw first-hand the limitations of the touch screen system this fall when the confusing nature of the machines and their instructions may have given the CD22 election over to Nick Lampson rather than Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

Hopefully we will gt some sort of paper trail here in Harris county -- and the sooner the better.

Posted by: Greg at 11:12 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Over the years, I've sen many features about Dubai and its growing tourism/leisure industry. After all, it is unique among the United Arab Emirates in that the bulk of its revenue comes from something other than oil. The powers-that-be have made some wise decisions in steering their economy in that direction, for the desire for relaxation and recreation in beautiful surroundings will never fade.

And now, you can purchase property in Dubai at exciting sites like the Dubai Marina, Dubailand, The Palm, or the internationally renown Dubai Sports City.

Seriously, folks -- this is worth a look if you are a fan of fun in the sun and low taxes!

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yeah, heÂ’s a poverty pimp and a race ho, but he also has a sense of humor.

Mr. Sharpton said that when Mr. Biden called him to apologize, Mr. Sharpton started off the conversation reassuring Mr. Biden about his hygienic practices. “I told him I take a bath every day,” Mr. Sharpton said.

ItÂ’s nice to know the man doesnÂ’t take himself too seriously.

Posted by: Greg at 02:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I find this development a bit disturbing.

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."

"They are pressing the point of her succession and that the [Department of Defense] needs to play ball with the speaker's needs," one source said. The request originally went to the Pentagon, which then asked the White House to weigh in.

I guess the Whore of Babylon-by-the-Bay thinks that she and her fellow Congresscritters shouldn’t have to mingle with the masses – and neither should their employees and relatives.

Now I’ll concede that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there were grounds for giving the Speaker special protection in this regards, but I wonder if it should not have ended some time ago. However, I’d be willing to accept the request IF it were limited to the Speaker herself. But it isn’t – she wants to turn the US military into her own personal airline for her the favored few. And that, my friends, is intolerable.

Also, I love this little tidbit from a Pelosi aide.

The aide asserted that the administration was using a Washington Times reporter, in effect, to negotiate with the speaker's office by leaking information about Mrs. Pelosi's request.

I guess we see the Democrat double standard on leaks.

Leaks that embarrass high-ranking Democrats are bad leaks, even if they do no real harm to the nation. This is especially true if the recipient of the leak is from a non-approved media outlet like the Washington Times.

Leaks that endanger national security and undermine the war effort are good leaks, especially when they go to the al-Qaeda Ministry of Intelligence the New York Time, Washington Post, CNN, CBS, or other terrorist left-leaning media outlets.

Posted by: Greg at 02:11 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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