May 07, 2008
That said, he hits the nail right on the head in a HuffPo piece on Islam and freedom of expression – and says in a manner more eloquent than I the very thing I have pointed to over the last few years.
The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence.There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for "racism" and "Islamophobia."
And therein lies the problem. I’m all for showing respect for religious belief and sensitivity, but not enforcing it with threats of violence and death. I may disagree with the tenets of a faith, but I won’t intentionally insult its beliefs and the sensitivities of its believers – unless, of course, that faith and it adherents demands I refrain from doing so under penalty of great bodily harm or death. At that point, defense of freedom requires that I speak out – and echo those who have given offense – in order to ensure that I and others retain those rights and do not allow them to atrophy.
And let us not be unobservant of the double standard as it plays out in the press. During his campaign for the GOP nomination, many commentators and reporters wanted to focus on the religious practices of Mitt Romney’s polygamous Mormon ancestors – and had he remained in the race, Romney would no doubt have been expected to comment upon the FDLS child abuse case, despite the fact that the FDLS split from the LDS Church over a century ago over precisely that issue. Unless I missed it in the news, though, Barack Obama has not ever been asked to comment on the FDLS case and the polygamy issue – despite being the son of a polygamous Muslim. The difference? Which “M” religion the two candidates have a familial association with, of course! And we all know the reason why – bad things happen to folks who dare to offend the sensibilities of the Muslim community in this country and around the world.
I think Sam Harris is wrong on a lot of issues – but he really does peg it here. Make sure you read the whole thing.
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After all, one tells us that the “slumping housing market” down here is really booming – and that new home sales are outstripping the number of new homes being built.
Houston-area builders are selling more homes than they're building, leading to a shrinking supply of new homes on the market.
That's according to the latest survey by Metrostudy, a national consulting company that tracks housing.Housing starts dropped year-over-year 28 percent to around 34,500 during the 12 months ending in March. But builders closed on 39,880 homes during the same period.
In the first quarter, the area's new housing supply fell to 2.7 months, meaning it would take that long to sell all the finished homes on the market based on prior sales activity. That's an amount experts consider stable, according to Metrostudy.
Brian Binash, president of the Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes, said builders have scaled back so much that he's anticipating a shortage of homes as early as this summer.
The shrinking inventory, combined with low interest rates and continued job growth, could lead to higher prices if demand spikes.
"If you're thinking of waiting until this summer or later, I wouldn't," Binash said.
Prices already rose in the first quarter.The median price of a new home was $202,287, up 15 percent over last year.
Yes, there are fewer homes being built – but I suspect that has something to do with the predictions made over the last few months that we were entering a weak housing market. I’d have to say those predictions were wrong.
And then there is this other story, about the reality that the Texas economy is booming and setting records in tax receipts.
The nation may be on the verge of a recession, but the Texas economy is doing well enough for Comptroller Susan Combs to predict Tuesday that the Legislature will have a $10.7 billion surplus when it convenes in January.Much of the extra money can be attributed to record oil prices. While motorists are being socked with ever-increasing gasoline costs, oil and gas employment in Texas has been booming, the comptroller's office reported.
If Combs' early forecast holds up, Gov. Rick Perry would like to return part of the money to the taxpayers in the form of tax cuts or rebate checks, spokesman Robert Black said. But those steps would need legislative action.
Oil and gas employment in Texas grew by 7.5 percent between March 2007 and March 2008, leading an overall increase of 214,000 Texas jobs, comptroller's spokesman R.J. DeSilva said.
Consequently, sales tax revenue, a major source of state government income, also continues to grow.
And, DeSilva added, Texas has been insulated more than other states from the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis. Texas, he said, avoided the housing price bubbles that hurt states like California and Florida.
Now I would disagree with the notion of returning all of that money in the form of tax cuts – there are a number of infrastructure projects that could be helped along, and a substantive improvement in teacher salaries and/or health insurance is also in order, since Texas lags behind other states in these areas. But the fact that we have a surplus of $10.7 billion should be seen as one more indication of robust economic health – and make it difficult for the Democrats to poor-mouth their way to victory in this fall’s elections.
Just remember, folks – Democrat leaders say this economic news is all the fault of Republicans, and that Democrats have nothing to do with it. Seems to me that one would therefore have to be a real jackass to vote for the Democrats this fall, given that we are in a GOP sponsored boom economy!
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What can you find at Infinity Shoes? Well, just about anything your heart desires, from the simple to the stylish to the exotic! Shoes, boots and sandals, they really do have it all, and from many of the trendiest names in footwear fashion today.
Interested in Tsubo shoes? They have them for you. Want a pair of Minnetonka boots? They have them, too. You can even getSeychelles shoes or Birkenstocks at Infinity shoes – along with so much more!
As a man, I personally don’t wear women’s shoes – it just isn’t my thing. On the other hand, my wife does like nice shoes, and I can see several of the pairs I saw at the site as striking her fancy. I think the best ones for her might be the Waterpro Maipo athletic shoes that just arrived in stock. After all, she is always looking for a nice pair of comfortable athletic shoes for regular daily wear – and since they come in lavender, they would be right up the alley of my purple-loving spouse. I wonder what she’ll say when she sees them?
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May 06, 2008
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday he would appoint judges in the mold of conservatives John Roberts, Samuel Alito and former Chief Justice William Rehnquist if he were elected in November.In a speech in Winston-Salem, the Arizona senator said he would "look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint."
"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist -- jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference," McCain told an audience at Wake Forest University.
Roberts, the current chief justice, and Alito were both named to the U.S. Supreme Court by Republican President George W. Bush. Legal experts say they have helped shift it to the right. The court has the final word on questions of U.S. law and its rulings affect the rights of all Americans.
What the article doesn't note is that William Rehnquist was also one of the great scholars of the Supreme Court in the last generation -- and that legal scholars of all stripes have noted that Roberts and Alito are superbly qualified jurists whose work on the court has been impeccable from a legal standpoint. One would think those would be good things -- especially since Americans overwhelmingly view the Supreme Court as properly balanced or too liberal.
Not that this matters to the NY Times.
On a day when Mr. Obama won a decisive victory in North Carolina and Mrs. Clinton eked out a win in Indiana, Mr. McCain spoke about his judicial philosophy. He is determined to move a far too conservative and far too activist Supreme Court and federal judiciary even further and more actively to the right.Mr. McCain predictably criticized liberal judges, vowed strict adherence to the FoundersÂ’ views and promised to appoint more judges in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. That is just what the country does not need.
The Times editorial then goes on to complain that the Court has failed to uphold racial discrimination in school assignments, citizens' rights to participate fully in politics, and mischaracterized a decision upholding Roe v. Wade as undercutting the right to abortion and falsely claimed a retrenchment on voting rights -- despite the fact that the decision was written by reliably liberal Justice John Paul Stevens!
Whose views are out of step with those of America and the requirements of the Constitution? Not John McCain's -- it is those of the New York Times, and the Democrat candidates for president. For them, only an unbalanced, left-wing court that ignores the dictates of the Constitution as written will do.
That alone is reason enough to support John McCain.
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Over at his site, incontinence jokes about John McCain are considered deep thought. And a Photoshopped picture of the career navy officer and former POW mocking his military service is considered to be incisive commentary on the issues that matter to America by this local Dem mover and shaker.
This is, of course, the guy who organized the protest at John O'Neill's house four years ago -- over failure to give due deference to the military service of John Kerry, even though those questioning his record were his own fellow Swift Boat captains. McCain's heroism is much better documented, fully supported by his fellow POWS, and not tainted by seditious activities when he returned to the United States. But in the eyes of some liberal Democrats, including this one, McCain's undeniably heroic service is fair game.
But then again, I believe that he has plenty of free time to come up with hateful, anti-veteran images.
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It's no surprise, then, that as we approach Mother's Day we find lots of folks thinking in terms of gold jewelry for their mother. And that is where Apples of Gold can help you out.
Why Apples of Gold? Because of the wide selection of beautiful pieces of jewelry you can find displayed on their website. The details visible in these pictures are simply amazing, popping right out at you.
And for those on a budget, there is a generous “jewelry under $100″ section that allows you to get beautiful pieces at a bargain price! Not that the rest of the products are outrageous -- all the items are reasonably priced, so you can afford a gorgeous gift for yourself or someone you love, like your mother.
Another great thing about Apples of Gold is the level of customer satisfaction. I've looked, and I haven't found anything but praise from their customers -- and you know that any serious complaints would make their way around the internet. You just can't beat that, either.
So for your jewelry needs, drop by ApplesOfGold.com. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
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Yes, i expected one state to be a blowout, and the other to be tight -- but Hillary was supposed to run away with Indiana and the winner in North Carolina was going to barely pull it out.
Instead we got the exact opposite.
Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. ObamaÂ’s candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month.The results from the two primaries, the largest remaining Democratic ones, assured that Mr. Obama would widen his lead in pledged delegates over Mrs. Clinton, providing him with new ammunition as he seeks to persuade Democratic leaders to coalesce around his campaign. He also increased his lead in the popular vote in winning North Carolina by more than 200,000 votes.
Frankly, I don't see how Hillary Clinton can make a case that she deserves the nomination after yesterday's vote totals are considered. Having been decisively thrashed in a state where she was gaining only a few days ago is troubling -- and barely winning in a state she was supposed to win handily should serve as an indication that Democrats have made up their mind. I don't even believe an infusion of cash into the campaign from supporters can help (Obama will still have an advantage there) -- and superdelegates should begin flocking to Obama's banner in the next few days. I simply do not see any way for her to take it away from him.
Andrew Sullivan has a great roundup of opinion from bloggers and commentators.
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It really depends on where you are in the country which builder you choose. For South Carolina Custom Homes, you might want to consider looking at Schumacher Homes. They are a great custom builder in the Columbia area that is looking to expand their territory to other parts of the state. Their available floor plans are quite attractive, and they readily offer popular upgrades at even more popular prices.
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Rosie O'Donnell defended Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the "Today" show on Monday, saying Barack Obama's former pastor "made sense to me."The comedian also compared herself to Wright, saying "some people confuse passion for rage." She also came to Wright's defense on his views on the origins of AIDS.
Yeah, it is true that some people confuse passion with rage. But some folks also confuse celebrity with intelligence, which is why you are even asked your opinion on serious political topics.
And that Wright made sense to you is no surprise, Rosie. We all heard you on The View, where you stomped off because rational comments by one of your fellow panelists didn't make sense and therefore enraged you. You have no more contact with reality than Wright does.
And then there is this gem -- proving that O'Donnell doesn't know squat.
O'DONNELL: But Kathie Lee, you know what it's like for someone to pull one quote out of context for you.He was comparing it to when the government did give syphilis to black Americans for 40 years. What he was saying is in his history, in his genetic memory, he knows what it's like for the government to infect his own people because he lived through those Tuskegee experiments. And that's what he was talking about.
The problem? The government did not give these men the clap, no matter how often the lie is repeated. What did happen was that a group of black men with advanced syphilis were not given treatment for it, even as they were told they were being treated. A recent column by National Review's Jonah Goldberg recounts what actually happened.
So what did happen? In 1932, public health researchers set out to study syphilis, particularly among African Americans, who had higher infection rates than whites. They recruited 399 black men who already had syphilis. The doctors infected no one. In fact, the patients were selected in the first place because they were tertiary-stage syphilitics who were no longer contagious.The researchers studied the progress of the disease, without treating it, for 40 years.
Prior to the availability of penicillin in the 1940s and 1950s, the researchers couldnÂ’t have treated the men even if they wanted to. Even after standardized penicillin treatments were available, it wasnÂ’t clear that the patients could have been helped. Some of the doctors believed that treating the decades-long infections would kill the men.
Among scholars who’ve studied Tuskegee, there’s a lot of debate about how much — if any — racism was involved in the experiment. But no one disputes that Tuskegee had nothing whatsoever to do with genocide or even a desire to spread the disease among the black population.
Were the actions of those researchers reprehensible? Certainly.
Were they racist? Possibly.
Were they genocidal? No.
Were they what Wright, O'Donnell, and any number of other folks claim claim, often out of simple ignorance and the acceptance of folk tales that have grown up around this indefensible abuse of nearly 400 seriously ill souls? Absolutely not!
Goldberg offers this analysis as well -- one based less upon his own ideology than upon the research of a respected academic who has studied the Tuskegee Experiment at length.
Indeed, it’s worth noting that the Tuskegee study, launched during the pre-dawn of the New Deal-era, was symptomatic of arrogant liberal government. The study “emerged out of a liberal progressive public health movement concerned about the health and well-being of the African-American population,” writes University of Chicago professor Richard Schweder. He adds: “The study was done with the full knowledge, endorsement and participation of African-American medical professionals, hospitals and research institutes.”
In other words, there were a lot of dirty hands in this disgusting program -- and a good number of them were leading members of the black academic and medical communities of the period.
But let us return to the inanity of Rosie and the insanity of Jeremiah Wright (who, incidently, raves with all the delusional paranoia of the victims of Tuskegee in the final stages of their illness).
So let's come back to it -- there was no infection of African-Americans with AIDS by the government, just as there was no infection of black men with syphilis at Tuskegee DURING THE ROOSEVELT AND TRUMAN ADMINISTRATIONS when the bulk of the Tuskegee Experiment was carried out. And we don't need the vile untruths spread by voices of ignorance like Rosie and Jeremiah.
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An Oregon couple received a frightening phone call from their son in Afghanistan when he inadvertently called home during battle.Stephen Phillips and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed and called his parents in the small Oregon town of Otis.
And what did they get?
They heard shooting, swearing and shouted pleas for more ammunition on the phone call from their son."They were pinned down and apparently his barrel was overheating," said Jeff Petee. "It's something a parent really doesn't want to hear. It's a heck of a message to get from your son in Afghanistan."
The three-minute call ended abruptly.
"You could hear him saying stuff like, he needs more ammo, or he needs another barrel," said John Petee, Phillips' brother. "At the end, you could hear a guy saying 'Incoming! RPG!' And then it cut off."
Fortunately, Phillips and his fellow soldiers appear to have come out of the engagement without serious harm – and he will be home in about a month, following the end of his tour in Afghanistan.
Personally, I used this story to remind my students of an important point – that redial function can put you in an embarrassing predicament if you aren’t careful.
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May 05, 2008
ItÂ’s almost over.Well, not quite. But the Democratic presidential primaries taking place on Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana have more delegates up for grabs than any of the remaining contests. For political, demographic and mathematical reasons, those states have the potential to reshape the competition between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Simple scenarios.
1) Obama wins both races. Hillary Clinton's campaign is dead.
2) Hillary Clinton wins in Indiana, but loses big in North Carolina. She fights on through June, but no one takes her campaign seriously.
3) Hillary Clinton wins in Indiana, and comes within 4 points in North Carolina. Clinton fights through June, and likely concedes after the final votes are in June 3.
4) Hillary Clinton wins both Indiana and North Carolina. The race for superdelegates is on, and we are likely to see a flor fight at the convention that will dwarf anything in recent memory.
I'd like option #4 personally -- and not just because of the damage it would do to the Democrats. We haven't really had a convention where the events inside the hall mean anything in my lifetime -- it would be nice to see a return to the days when conventions matter, even if it is the exception to the rule.
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One of the participants in that case, Mildred Loving, has passed away.
Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.
"I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble — and believed in love," Fortune told The Associated Press.
Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.
"There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the court ruled in a unanimous decision.
Her husband died in 1975. Shy and soft-spoken, Loving shunned publicity and in a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, insisted she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride.
"It wasn't my doing," Loving said. "It was God's work."
Now I hadn't been aware of all those details -- some of which are quite disconcerting by today's standards -- but those details do not stand in the way of the fundamental truth that the laws in question violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
And while her death is sad, I am certain that Mildred Loving is today in the arms of her beloved husband, Richard/
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But when the claim is that a seditious weasel like Bob Herbert to challenge the credentials of John McCain on that score in a mendacious column straight from the DNC talking points is outrageous!
At the top of the list of no-brainers in Washington should be Senator Jim WebbÂ’s proposed expansion of education benefits for the men and women who have served in the armed forces since Sept. 11, 2001.
Oh, really? Why Webb's bill? Why not some other proposal? Because Webb is a Democrat? Or because it is the most costly, most complicated proposal designed to encourage short-term enlistments rather than military careers?
ItÂ’s awfully hard to make the case that these young people who have sacrificed so much donÂ’t deserve a shot at a better future once their wartime service has ended.
And no one -- outside of the same left-wingers who don't support the troops -- is making that argument.
Senator Webb, a Virginia Democrat, has been the guiding force behind this legislation, which has been dubbed the new G.I. bill. The measure is decidedly bipartisan. Mr. Webb’s principal co-sponsors include Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John Warner of Virginia, and Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.(All four senators are veterans of wartime service — Senators Webb and Hagel in Vietnam, Warner in World War II and Korea and Lautenberg in World War II.)
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are on board, as are Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House.
So what?
Who wouldnÂ’t support an effort to pay for college for G.I.Â’s who have willingly suited up and put their lives on the line, who in many cases have served multiple tours in combat zones and in some cases have been wounded?We did it for those who served in World War II. Why not now?
Actually, nobody argues against or fails to support an effort to pay for college for such folks. For Herbert to imply that anyone does not is to set up a strawman. But even if one were to oppose it, you could distinguish between an all-volunteer force like we have today and the draftee armed forces of WWII. But as I have said, no on disagrees with college benefits.
Well, you might be surprised at who is not supporting this effort. The Bush administration opposes it, and so does Senator John McCain.
Bullshit, Bob. Tall, steaming piles of partisan liberal bullshit. What they oppose is Webb's proposal, not paying for college for servicemen and women.
Reinvigorating the G.I. bill is one of the best things this nation could do. The original G.I. Bill of Rights, signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1944, paid the full load of a returning veteran’s education at a college or technical school and provided a monthly stipend. It was an investment that paid astounding dividends. Millions of veterans benefited, and they helped transform the nation. College would no longer be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy and those who crowned themselves the intellectual elite.As The New York Times wrote on the 50th anniversary of the G.I. bill: “Few laws have done so much for so many.”
“These veterans were able to get a first-class future,” Senator Webb told me in an interview. “But not only that. For every dollar that was spent on the World War II G.I. bill, seven dollars came back in the form of tax remunerations from those who received benefits.”
Well, no one can disagree here -- though Democrats insisted upon watering down that benefit decades ago. Today it is a matching funds program, not a grant program. Webb's bill will not change that I guess he doesn't care about the troops so much after all, does he?
Senator Lautenberg went to Columbia on the G.I. bill, and Senator Warner to Washington and Lee University and then to law school.The benefits have not kept pace over the decades with the real costs of attending college. Moreover, service members have to make an out-of-pocket contribution — something over $100 a month during their first year of service — to qualify for the watered-down benefits.
This is not exactly first-class treatment of the nationÂ’s warriors.
But then again, Webb's bill does not significantly change that, according to any source I have seen.
The Bush administration opposes the new G.I. bill primarily on the grounds that it is too generous, would be difficult to administer and would adversely affect retention.
Sort of -- the Bush Administration opposes the bill because it sets up a complicated scheme that makes benefit levels vary from state to state and institution to institution, and creates a larger bureaucracy to do so -- and also provides incentives to leave the military rather than continue to serve. That is just bad policy.
This is bogus. The estimated $2.5 billion to $4 billion annual cost of the Webb proposal is dwarfed by the hundreds of billions being spent on the wars weÂ’re asking service members to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. WhatÂ’s important to keep in mind is that the money that goes to bolstering the education of returning veterans is an investment, in both the lives of the veterans themselves and the future of the nation.
Notice, Herbert can't refute the claims of the administration -- so he dismisses them as irrelevant. Always a sign of a dishonest argument.
The notion that expanding educational benefits will have a negative effect on retention seems silly. The Webb bill would cover tuition at a rate comparable to the highest tuition at a state school in the state in which the veteran would be enrolled. That kind of solid benefit would draw talented individuals into the military in large numbers.
Not necessarily. And the problem remains that the legislation would still encourage folks to leave the service immediately, not stay and make a career of it.
Senator Webb, a former secretary of the Navy who specialized in manpower issues, said he has seen no evidence that G.I.Â’s would opt out of the service in significantly higher numbers because of such benefits.
So what he wants to see is an actual exodus of personnel before he will acknowledge he is wrong -- followed by endless whining about "taking away benefits from the troops" if his plan proves to be a disaster for our military.
Senator McCain’s office said on Monday that it was following the Pentagon’s lead on this matter, getting guidance from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under pressure because of his unwillingness to support Senator Webb’s effort, Senator McCain introduced legislation with substantially fewer co-sponsors last week that expands some educational benefits for G.I.’s, but far less robustly than Senator Webb’s bill.“It’s not even close to the Webb bill,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.
So, does the number of co-sponsors indicate the merits of a bill? Also, why doesn't herbert mention that hte expanded benefits -- which are still significantly more generous than the current configuration of the GI Bill -- includes more generous benefits for career military personnel, as well as provisions for allowing career enlisted personnel who don't use their benefits themselves to assign them to a son or daughter. Notice that Bob Herbert doesn't bother to tell you what McCain actually proposes -- after all, the facts might get in the way of your drawing the right Left conclusion. Just a quote from someone from one of the small veteran's organizations. What's wrong -- couldn't he get someone from the American legion of VFW to speak out against McCain's proposal?
Politicians tend to talk very, very big about supporting our men and women in uniform. But time and again — whether it’s about providing armor for their safety or an education for their future — we find that talk to be very, very cheap.
And the talk of newspaper columnists smearing a true American military hero is even cheaper, Bob -- and slimy even for a seditious rag like the New York Times.
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Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.An American official said the account of HezbollahÂ’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.
The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq.
But the Americans say the reports of HezbollahÂ’s role at the Iranian camp offer important details about Iranian assistance to the militias, including efforts Iran appears to be making to train the fighters in unobtrusive ways.
Seems to me that all the terrorist roads are leading back to Iran. That means that the next American president will find him/herself faced with the issue of how to deal with Iran's terrorist ties. Will we elect a leader willing to take action against state sponsorship of terrorism -- or one who will retreat in the face of the terrorist threat sponsored by Iran?
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May 04, 2008
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Another McCain staffer called my attention to this finding in the latest Fox News poll: McCain led Obama in the straight match-up, 46 to 43. Voters were then asked to choose between two tickets, McCain-Romney vs. Obama-Clinton. Obama-Clinton won 47 to 41.That reversal of a three-point McCain lead to a six-point deficit for the McCain ticket suggests what might happen (a) when the Democrats unite, and (b) if McCain were to choose a conventional running mate, who, as it were, reinforced the Republican brand for the ticket. As the McCain aide put it, this is what will happen if we run a traditional campaign; our numbers will gradually regress toward the (losing) generic Republican number.
Maybe thatÂ’s why, in separate conversations last week, no fewer than four McCain staffers and advisers mentioned as a possible vice-presidential pick the 36-year-old Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. TheyÂ’re tempted by the idea of picking someone so young, with real accomplishments and a strong reformist streak.
It might also be a way to confront the issue of McCain’s age (71), which private polls and focus groups suggest could be a real problem. A Jindal pick would implicitly acknowledge the questions and raise the ante. The message would be: “You want generational change? You can get it with McCain-Jindal — without risking a liberal and inexperienced Obama as commander in chief.” I would add that it was after McCain spent considerable time with Jindal in New Orleans recently, and reportedly found him, as he has before, personally engaging and intellectually impressive, that the campaign’s informal name-dropping of Jindal began.
Everything said about Gov. Jindal in this piece is accurate. However, I'd rather wait four years to see him on the national ticket, after he has successfully cleaned up the problems and corruption that piled up during decades of Democrat misrule in Louisiana. That state needs help -- and Bobby Jindal has made a great start towards fixing it. But with less than a year as governor to his credit, it seems like a place on the national ticket is coming a bit too early -- but I'd be fired up and ready to support him in the event of his selection.
But Jindal may be signaling his reluctance to sign on to the national ticket in today's Washington Times.
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This is going to be a difficult year for us here, since my wife’s mother passed away just a few weeks ago. Call it compensation, but that leads me to feel like it is quite important to make sure that I take the opportunity to honor my mother with something special this year. And since I know she loves live plants rather than cut flowers, I’m thinking of something a little bit exotic – perhaps this bonsai set in its very own water garden.
Absolutely beautiful – and a gift that can become a hobby as she keeps it trimmed back into the traditional bonsai form.
And then there are the gift baskets – filled with fruit, gourmet food, or candy. You can even find wine gift baskets and spa gift baskets for Mom, if those are what she is into. The key thing, though, is that you can find a great Mother’s Day gift basket for Mom at http://www.1800flowers.com/other/mothers-day-gift-baskets -- and lot’s of other great gifts besides!
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The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's loose cannon of a spiritual adviser, stole the wife of a parishioner - after the man sought Wright's help in saving his troubled marriage, the former husband told friends.Delmer Reed, 59, confided to pals that he believed the minister moved in on his wife while Wright was counseling the couple at his Chicago church in the early 1980s, The Post has learned.
"That's exactly how he said it," Reed's divorce lawyer, Roosevelt Thomas, told The Post.
"It looks like Delmer might have been right," he said, because after Delmer and Ramah Reed were divorced, she got remarried - to Wright. "Either that or this was the biggest coincidence in the world."
Asked about the relationship between Wright and his ex-wife, Reed told The Post, "Oh, the things I could tell you."
Initially, he didn't believe the rumors.
"People were telling me that my extremely attractive wife was seen with the pastor," Reed said. "But I didn't believe it. I thought, 'So what?' "
Was he wrong in the end?
"Well, yeah," he said.
Reed won't however, take the next step and outright accuse Wright of behaving improperly -- but not because he doesn't believe that case. Instead, he is abiding by a commitment to his children not to say anything damaging to their stepfather.
Unlike the horrendous statements from teh pulpit made by Jeremiah Wright, I don't see where this story really has anything to do with Barack Obama. But the exposure of this story now is simply one more case of chickens coming home to roost for the racist reverend.
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| Votes | Council link |
|---|---|
| 2 | The Total Witlessness of Obama Apologists Right Wing Nut House |
| 1 2/3 | Outfoxed By Obama & The Twelve Unasked Questions Wolf Howling |
| 1 1/3 | Rising Food Prices The Glittering Eye |
| 1 1/3 | The Company One Keeps Joshuapundit |
| 1 | An Article About Islam Most Amazing for What It Doesn't Say Bookworm Room |
| 2/3 | Past Is Never Past Done With Mirrors |
| 2/3 | Wright's Revenge Hillbilly White Trash |
| 1/3 | Moral Relativism Reaches a New Low The Colossus of Rhodey |
| 1/3 | Oppressive Speech Regulation Rhymes With Right |
| Votes | Non-council link |
|---|---|
| 4 1/3 | An Anatomy of Surrender City Journal |
| 2 | Political Maneuver in Counterinsurgency Small Wars Journal |
| 1 | Affirmative Action Abortions Balkinization |
| 2/3 | Chevy Bill Ayers: A Classic Ride for Limousine Liberals The People's Cube |
| 1/3 | The Obama Aesthetic American Thinker |
| 1/3 | Choose Your Identity Group Carefully, Kids! Classical Values |
| 1/3 | ID (the Other Kind): Beginning of the Death of the Democratic Party? Big Lizards |
| 1/3 | Syriana Commentary |
| 1/3 | Rushing to Blame Israel Israellycool |
| 1/3 | Obama's Eagleton Affair The American Spectator |
Congratulations to the winners in this week's competition.
I'd especially like to bring to your attention my non-council nominee, Affirmative Action Abortions. It puts an interesting spin on the abortion issue.
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Q: Suppose you were elected Temporary Supreme Dictator of America.
What ten laws would you pass/repeal or government programs would you create/tear down (Assume that you would be in office for however long it would take to do these things and that any changes you make will remain in place after you leave office).
A: Were I to assume this august and dread office, I would make the following changes.
1. ANNEX MEXICO. To paraphrase an old saying about a false prophet and a mountain, why bring all these Mexicans to the United States when we can bring the United States to the Mexicans? In one fell swoop, we could eliminate most of our illegal immigration problem by making our newly acquired Mexican territories are subject to all the laws that apply in the US that make it attractive to the illegal aliens in the first place. We would solve the citizenship and anchor baby questions because all of the Mexicans on either side of the old border would now be US citizens. What infrastructure and social improvements that are needed will be taken care of by using the PEMEX oil revenues. Eventually, I'd anticipate the old Mexican states to be admitted to the Union. An additional advantage is that the border wall we will need to build to keep out Central American illegal aliens will be much shorter -- and therefore much easier to build and maintain.
2) REPEAL THE SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT. By taking the election of US Senators out of the hands of the people and returning it to the state legislatures where it was placed by the Framers of the Constitution, we will move a long way towards restoring the states to their proper role in setting national policy for our FEDERAL union.
3) SETTLE THE DC REPRESETATION QUESTION. The District of Columbia was created out of Maryland territory, and its people should vote for members of the House of Representatives as citizens of the state of Maryland. Some method of representing them in the Maryland Legislature for purposes of selecting US Senators (See Point 2) will need to be devised.
4) REVISE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965. I've said it before -- the repeated renewal of the emergency provisions of the VRA has resulted in a continual focus on the problems of the 1964 Presidential election while ignoring contemporary voting rights issues. Replace the current preclearance regulations, which are based upon data nearly as old as I am, with new regulations that subject any jurisdiction with less than 50% representation in either of the two most recent presidential elections to the special supervision of the Justice Department. That way we will always be dealing with obstacles to voter participation that exist in the present, not those that have been more-or-less effectively remedied in the past.
5) EXECUTIVE ORDER OVERTURNING A NUMBER OF INAPPROPRIATELY DECIDED COURT DECISIONS. These would include Roe v. Wade, Lawrence v. Texas, Bob Jones University v. United States, Coker v. Georgia, Roper v. Simmons, and Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, among others -- all cases in which a court exceeded its proper boundaries by taking matters that properly belong in the hands of legislative bodies and inaccurately ascribing the status of Constitutional right or prohibition to one side or another. Even where I agree with the result (the law struck down in Lawrence was idiotic and ought to have been repealed), the problem is that the judges stripped the elected legislators of their ability to legislate in areas that no legally and historically plausible reading of the federal (or in the Goodridge case, state) constitution could legitimately justify.
6) TRIPLE THE SALARIES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL, POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS, AND TEACHERS. Everyone always says they view these jobs as extremely important and says we don't pay them enough. Let's do it. This can be partially funded by placing a windfall profits tax on the entertainment industry, and a special 100% tax surcharge on the salaries and benefits of entertainment industry executives, actors, recording artists, professional athletes, and their agents for all income over 10 times the poverty level for a family of four.
7) REAL EDUCATION REFORM. As long as we have a consensus in this country that government should be paying for education, then it should pay for the education of all students through grade 12, regardless of whether they attend a public, private, or religious school. Any student in a non-public school will receive a voucher equal to 2/3 the average per-pupil expenditure in public schools in their state, provided their school offers a core curriculum of English, math, science, and social studies that meets established standards. Students may voluntarily choose to drop out after Grade 8 -- and may be permanently expelled for disciplinary or academic reasons after that point as well. Students who drop out or are expelled are done with their free education. Tracking of students based upon ability is to be encouraged so that no student is held back in an effort to make sure that no child is left behind. In addition, high school students are to be encouraged to choose a course of studies, either college prep or vocational, based upon their interests and aptitudes.
9) ABOLISH ALL LAWS RESTRICTING POLITICAL PARTICIPATION BY AMERICAN CITIZENS. Bye-bye, McCain-Feingold and other campaign finance laws that restrict the contributions of American citizens to political campaigns, or limit their ability to form organizations to engage in political speech. The only rules will be that contributions to candidates must be reported within 24 hours, and no corporate or union funds may be contributed to or expended on behalf of a candidate. Money is not speech -- but it is an essential to being able to speak in today's media-driven environment, and donations of money are certainly a form of free association.
10) THE OMNIBUS CORRECTION AMENDMENT. Once amendment can be used to fix problems and misinterpretations that have sprung up regarding the Constitution over the last two centuries. These would include:
* Banning all discrimination for or against individuals based upon race, religion, or sex.
* Clarifying that religious speech cannot be disfavored by government entities -- meaning that religious groups have equal access to public facilities as non-religious groups.
* Modifying the Second Amendment to read "An armed populace being necessary to the preservation of liberty, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and its exercise is commended and encouraged. No law shall be valid that limits the right of any adult citizen not convicted of a violent felony or adjudicated mentally incompetent to go about armed in any public place, excluding prisons and mental health facilities.
* Affirming that the death penalty is constitutional, and may be applied for crimes other than murder.
* Stating that the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause are not catch-all provisions allowing Congress to do anything they please, and that all statutes enacted under them must provide a clear and direct rationale for the use of those clauses to justify them.
Having completed my term of service to the nation, I would then return to my classroom, just as Cincinnatus returned to his farm in Roman times.
Now, why don't you folks all give this meme a try -- I'm tagging no one, but encouraging everyone to play!
OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Pooh Flinging NeoCons, Rosemary's Thoughts, 123beta, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, , Democrat=Socialist, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Nuke Gingrich, Faultline USA, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, , Stageleft, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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May 03, 2008
In an article about the glut of executions likely to take place following the recent approval of lethal injection by the Supreme Court, the NY Times says this.
Experts say the resumption of executions is likely to throw a strong new spotlight on the divisive national — and international — issue of capital punishment.
Did you catch the lie in that sentence?
While capital punishment may be opposed by many countries outside the US, it is hardly a divisive practice in the United States. Polling data consistently shows that between 2/3 and 3/4 of Americans support the use of capital punishment.
But then again, what maybe what they meant by divisive was "the American people support it even though we editorialize against it."
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Erik Youngdahl and Michelle Garcia share a dorm room at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University. But they say there’s no funny business going on. Really. They mean it.They have set up their beds side-by-side like Lucy and Ricky in “I Love Lucy,” and avert their eyes when one of them is changing clothes.
“People are shocked to hear that it’s happening and even that it’s possible,” said Youngdahl, a 20-year-old sophomore. But “once you actually live in it, it doesn’t actually turn into a big deal.”
* * * At least two dozen schools, including Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin College, Clark University and the California Institute of Technology, allow some or all students to share a room with anyone they choose — including someone of the opposite sex. This spring, as students sign up for next year’s room, more schools are following suit, including Stanford University.
What do I find troubling here? A couple of things.
1) The potential for sexual assault/harassment created by this situation. To what degree will a school be liable?
2) The further erosion of standards. There was a time when co-ed floors were a limited experiment for those who chose them. Now they are mandatory at some universities -- to the point that students with religious scruples against what they view as the immodest living arrangements are told to either violate their moral beliefs or apply at another university. Will the next step be the assignment of students to co-ed rooms without regard for preference or religious/moral standards that reject the practice?
3) Right now, the bulk of those in co-ed rooms are doing so for non-sexual reasons. Will that change? And if schools wish to prevent that, will it be necessary for them to engage in intrusive snooping into the sex lives of students -- and will that same standard be applied to gay/lesbian students in relationship with roommates?
Do I have a problem with co-ed couples getting an apartment off campus? In all honesty, I don't. But to create such situations on campus -- especially in situations where students are mandated to live in dormitories as a condition of attendance at the school -- strikes me as a step too far. Men and women are different and are not interchangeable. Acting as if they are by breaking down all barriers between them seems to be a particularly bad idea.
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Now that the improper actions of Richard Roberts and his wife have been exposed and they have been forced from leadership, the school remains damaged by their misdeeds.
During the past school year, TV evangelist Richard Roberts, son of school founder Oral Roberts, resigned as president after being accused of misspending university funds to live in style. Also, it was disclosed that the school was more than $50 million in debt.Among other things, Roberts and his wife were accused of spending school money on shopping sprees, home improvements and a stable of horses for their daughters. They are also alleged to have sent a daughter and her friends on a Bahamas vacation aboard a university jet.
Projected enrollment for the fall semester could be 150 students fewer than the 3,166 who attended last fall, interim President Ralph Fagin said in an interview last week. Two university employees who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation said they have been told a much higher figure: around 400.
That would amount to a startling drop of almost 13 percent.
Can the school restore its reputation? Can it reestablish its credibility? My expectation is that it probably can do both -- but that the break between school and ministry is going to be a source of trauma for several years. Only once there is evidence that the problems of the past are truly in the past will the school be able to achieve some sort of distinction in the public eye. My guess is that it will have to shed the Oral Roberts name and the close association with the ministry for it to do so.
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Take Ronald Brownstein of National Journal and MSNBC.
First, if McCain doesn't envision a 100-year American front-line combat presence in Iraq, how long is he willing to keep U.S. forces in that role? So far, all he has said is that the United States should withdraw only if it concludes that the Iraq mission is unachievable or when it has achieved success, which he defines as the establishment of "a peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state."McCain hasn't said how long he would keep fighting to reach that demanding goal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of McCain's closest Senate allies, recently said he thinks that McCain would maintain current U.S. troop levels in Iraq through his entire four-year presidential term if military commanders recommended that course to maintain stability there.
Yeah, McCain hasn't given Brownstein the cutoff date that he and other liberals want. Why not? because as conservatives (and liberals who actually understand such things) have repeatedly noted for the last year or two, setting a date for withdrawal (and that is what "how long" is really asking) simply tells your enemy "how long" they need to bide their time until the US surrenders. The correct answer -- one that Brownstein seems unwilling to accept -- is "as long as it is militarily appropriate for us to continue the mission."
Brownstein then tries to distinguish the US presence in South Korea (which remains a source of great political division among South Koreans) as well as in Japan and Germany (in which we were initially an occupying power which forced our presence upon those nations at the point of a gun) from an ongoing presence in Iraq, which he argues would be both divisive among Iraqis and lead us to be viewed as an occupying power by the Iraqi people! I guess that Brownstein really isn't familiar with the history of the places he cites.
Which leads us to the third point -- the views of those who have doubts about the current Iraq strategy.
As Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked this week, "Does anyone think ... if you keep our troops in Iraq for a hundred years, people won't be ... setting off suicide bombs?"In an interview, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Mideast, echoed that concern. Zinni said that McCain is right that America needs the capacity to respond to regional threats. But Zinni believes that it should do so with a light and flexible force stationed outside Iraq, probably in Kuwait. "Keeping a large formation of combat troops [in Iraq] is a mistake," he says, "because you are going to be seen as an occupier, and a colonial power, and you are going to attract people that will want to attack those forces."
Which begs the question -- having achieved success and victory in Iraq, what makes Dean, Zinni, and others believe that the same tactics will not be adopted by al-Qaeda against American forces in Kuwait? After all, their success will merely embolden them in their efforts to drive the Crusaders" of the "Great Satan" out of Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam). Will Dean and Zinni (and their ideological successors) tell us a decade from now that we must withdraw from Kuwait because the cost in American casualties is too high? After all, the logic of Iraq will be just as applicable in Kuwait if even a small segment of Kuwaitis becomes radicalized.
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That said, Ohio's Democrat Attorney General needs to resign from office immediately.
Ohio's attorney general admitted an extramarital affair with an employee Friday, soon after three of his aides were fired or forced out after an investigation found evidence of sexual harassment and other misconduct.Leader of both parties were critical of Attorney General Marc Dann, one of several Democrats swept into office in 2006 after a scandal over state investments sullied Republicans. He apologized to his wife and supporters but promised not to step down.
"I'm embarrassed. I have taken responsibility for what I've done," he told reporters.
Dann had lived with two of the aides at an apartment during much of his first year in office and some of the alleged harassment by one of the aides occurred there.
"I did not create an atmosphere in my public and personal life that is consistent with the important mission of the Office of Attorney General ...," Dann said. "I am heartbroken by my failure to recognize the problems being created and by my failure to stop them."
In other words, Dann's sexual misconduct was a part of a pattern of such behavior in the Office of the Attorney General which he did nothing to stop and which his own conduct helped to foster. As such, any clean-up of the office is going to require his exit, based upon the same standards applied to the other employees in the office.
H/T Malkin
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May 01, 2008
Which is quite scary, given the minimal standards that are being set.
The admissions proposal includes:•Requiring all entering students to have a 2.0 grade-point average in high school.
•Requiring that they take either the SAT or ACT, although no minimum score has been set.
•Students who don't meet the standards would have to attend a summer program; if they don't successfully complete that, they will be referred to community college but accorded status as students at both TSU and the two-year school. TSU would provide counseling and their community credits would transfer to TSU, said interim Provost James Douglas.
•The best teachers would be shifted to freshmen classes, and all students would be required to attend class.
Imagine that -- being required to show that you can keep your head above C-level in high school before being admitted to a four-year "university". Being required to take one of the national college admissions test -- even though that is the entire requirement, as no minimum score is set by the school. That anyone would object to these proposals (other than to say they are insufficiently rigorous) is absurd.
Over six decades ago, Texas Democrats established the Texas State University for Negroes (now Texas Southern University) in an effort to ensure that blacks in the state of Texas continued to have fewer educational opportunities than whites, received a poorer education, and received degrees that were of inferior quality than those received by the (white) students of the state's top-tier schools, the University of Texas and Texas A&M. It is sad to see that in 2008, there are still those who want to ensure that the vision of those racist segregationist Democrats is fulfilled by failing to hold the overwhelmingly African-American student body to even minimal academic standards.
Of course, the best option available option would still be to fold TSU into the much more successful University of Houston system -- especially since TSU and the main UH campus are mere blocks apart. But if we are going to continue to allow the school to survive as a stand-alone institution, these new standards are the very least that should be accepted -- and the taxpayers of the state of Texas should be demanding much more.
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For nine decades after Bolshevik executioners shot Czar Nicholas II and his family, there were no traces of the remains of Crown Prince Aleksei, the hemophiliac heir to RussiaÂ’s throne.Some said the prince, a delicate 13-year-old, had somehow survived and escaped; others believed he was buried in secret as the country lurched into civil war.
Now an official says DNA tests have solved the mystery by identifying bone shards found in a forest as those of Aleksei and his sister Grand Duchess Maria.
The remains of their parents, Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, and three siblings, including the czarÂ’s youngest daughter, Anastasia, were unearthed in 1991 and reburied in the imperial resting place in St. Petersburg. The Russian Orthodox Church made all seven of them saints in 2000.
The murder of the family was simply one of the many atrocities committed in the name of Communism over the course of many decades, and the family are only a few of the millions of victims of that Satanic ideology. May the closing of the book on this historical question serve as one more pointed reminder of the malignant nature of Communism and the fact that it is antithetical to any valid notion of human rights.
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The nation’s top Democrats are suddenly rushing to appear on the Fox News Channel, which they once had shunned as enemy territory as the nemesis of liberal bloggers.The detente with Fox has provoked a backlash from progressive bloggers, who contend the party’s leaders are turning their backs on the base — and lending credibility and legitimacy to the network liberals love to hate — in a quest for a few swing votes.
In a span of eight days, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY.) and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean are all taking their seats with the network that calls itself “fair and balanced” but is widely viewed as skewing conservative.
With the partyÂ’s presidential contest reduced to hand-to-hand combat, Democrats are turning to the ratings leader among cable news channels in a clear rebuff to the liberal activists known as the Netroots.
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the leading liberal site Daily Kos, told Politico’s Michael Calderone: "Democrats are being idiotic by going on that network.”
Ari Melber, the Net movement correspondent for The Nation, told Politico by phone that progressive activists and the Netroots are “not happy about it.”
“I don’t think that it is tenable to completely neglect or ignore what your base wants,” Melber said.
Of course, it is absurd for Democrats to stay after the highest rated cable news channel. After all, that is where the viewers -- including a lot of the independents that they claim to be reaching out to. Why cede those voters to the GOP by making Fox a Democrat-free zone?
Besides -- who are the KOSsacks and DUmmies going to vote for this fall in a fit of disapproval of the Fox interviews -- John McCain?
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A woman convicted two weeks ago of being the "D.C. Madam" hanged herself Thursday, apparently making good on her vow never to go to prison for running a high-end Washington prostitution ring.The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found in a shed near her mother's home about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said the 52-year-old Palfrey left at least two suicide notes and other writings to her family in a notebook, but they did not disclose their contents.
Palfrey apparently hanged herself with nylon rope from the shed's ceiling. Her mother discovered the body.
Officers were outside the mother's white and pink home in the community of mostly retirees.
Of course, the fact that her mother says that Palfrey was not suicidal will fuel the conspiracy theories -- even though a number of other folks claim she had been making comments about killing herself rather than going back to jail for some time.
And I've already seen plenty of members of the mouth-foaming Leftosphere speculating about which Republican/conservative was being protected by the "murder of Deborah Jeane Palfrey".
Even though there wasn't a murder.
And even though the fact that she was so quick to disclose Republican names ought to make one wonder if she might have been holding (Bill Clinton) back (Bill Clinton) on (Bill Clinton) the (Bill Clinton) names (Bill Clinton) of (Bill Clinton) prominent (Bill Clinton) Democrats (Bill Clinton) -- and the threat of disclosure at the height of the Democrat presidential nomination contest serving as grounds for her timely and convenient demise, as has happened so often over the years to those with inconvenient information about a particular wannabe political dynasty.
Not, of course, that I believe for one second that this is anything more than a suicide by a troubled woman. But if the nutroots are going to toss around conspiracy theories, I might as well suggest one just as plausible in order to demonstrate teh absurdity of their efforts.
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According to our fearless leader Pixy Misa, we got mega-spammed by the usual sort of scumbags who send out unwanted and unrelated comments for porn, drugs, and other assorted crap. The server was slammed down hard, but Pixy got things working for us.
Thanks for all you do!
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In 2007, Costa Rican "artist" Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery in Honduras, and starved him to death. For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died. And now the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the 'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.If you'd like more information and to sign a petition to stop this from happening again:
The photos are pretty sickening, even to those of us in the unwanted animal biz who have to see sick, starving and dying animals every day. How anyone could have passed by and not given that poor dog a bowl of water and some food is beyond sick.
Thank you.
I can’t help but echo Jonah Goldberg’s opinion that we should try this with Guillermo Vargas Habacuc instead of some poor animal. But this sort of cruelty makes me wonder if perhaps we’ve found a new line of defense for Austria’s Josef Fritzl. I can hear it in court: “It wasn’t rape, false imprisonment, and unspeakable evil, your honor – it was ART!”
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"Our family is threatened to be destroyed by something that happened to her as a 19-year-old teenager 34 years ago in Michigan," Walsh said.
Excuse me? “Something that happened. . . 34 years ago in Michigan”? Is this guy serious?
Dude – your wife lied to the world for over three decades since she escaped from prison, and to you for the over 23 years that you have been married. Rather than own up to her crimes and do her time, she worked to hide them and avoid the consequences. What may, sadly, destroy your family is her web of dishonesty and criminality dating back to the Ford Administration. Why don’t you meditate on that for a while.
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She is also 15. Thus this week's uproar over a seminude photo by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair magazine. The photo – showing Miley draped in a sheet, back bared, hair tousled, with a come-hither smile – upset countless parents who immediately grasped the photo's essential vulgarity.
Such ordinary wisdom apparently escaped every so-called grown-up involved in the photo shoot. The sophisticates at Vanity Fair defended the picture as a "beautiful and natural portrait." Absent sensible adults, Miley herself stepped forward to issue a statement saying that the now-embarrassing photo shoot was supposed to be "artistic."
This isn’t a porno shot – it really does qualify as an art shot. But a (seemingly) naked teenage girl draped in a sheet is a bit too sexual for my taste. Frankly, it is a bit too sexualized in a society in which teenage sexuality is already a source of concern. After all, we’ve just removed hundreds of children from a religious cult over the issue of sexual abuse of girls the same age as Miley Cyrus – aren’t we sending a highly contradictory message when we show her in a seductive pose on the cover of a national magazine?
Posted by: Greg at
10:46 AM
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Post contains 243 words, total size 2 kb.
April 30, 2008
That said, I've got a problem with this detail released by Texas officials -- I find it unreasonably prejudicial and not particularly illuminating.
Although Cockerell didn’t elaborate on the broken bones, a report by his department’s Child Protective Services division said medical exams and interviews indicated “that at least 41 children have had broken bones in the past.”“We do not have X-rays or complete medical information on many children so it is too early to draw any conclusions based on this information, but it is cause for concern and something we’ll continue to examine,” the CPS report said.
Maybe i'm nuts, but 41 kids out of 464 with broken bones AT SOME POINT in their childhood doesn't seem all that outrageous to me. It is less than 10%, which would probably be about the rate my classmates and I suffered growing up. Heck, I can remember one summer in which one of my closest friends fractured his skull when fell riding up a steep hill on his bicycle and another broke her arm falling out of a tree in her yard -- and there weren't 20 school-aged kids on our street. The raw statistics on the broken bones tell us nothing -- and until we learn more about the types of breaks and possible causes, we can't no that these 41 broken bones really mean anything. CPS should have waited to disclose the information until they could determine more conclusively whether these injuries were from normal childhhood accidents or from abuse.
Posted by: Greg at
10:41 PM
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