Dalt Danyon Diatribes

Welcome to the Obamanation

2009-05-25T23:12:00.002-04:00

Hope? Change? Hell, I just hope wqe have some spare change when this 4 years is over. Wanna buy a $79,000 Geo Metro? You can, with an 18% loan with a 740 credit score. Wonderful.

What? No better news?

2008-02-13T21:50:00.002-05:00

The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Billy Ray Cyrus says he and his daughter, the "Hannah Montana" actress Miley Cyrus, simply forgot to buckle up for one of their scenes in their new hit movie.
"We got caught up in the moment of filming, and we made a mistake and forgot to buckle our seat belts," the country music star said Wednesday . "Seat belt safety is extremely important."
Consumer Reports magazine had noticed that the Cyruses were not wearing seat belts as they rode in the back of a Range Rover during Disney's "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert."
Don Mays, the director of product safety at Consumers Union, said Wednesday, "We applaud the Cyrus family for recognizing that wearing seat belts in rear seats is essential."
The magazine had noted that 65 percent of the 13-to-15-year-olds killed in auto accidents in 2006 were not wearing seat belts. Miley Cyrus is 15.
Telephone calls and e-mails to Disney and to several of Miley Cyrus' representatives were not immediately returned Wednesday.

Shoddy merchandise, Lead filled toys. Poor service. Gas and other price gouging. And the most important thing in the world to Consumer Reports is Hannah didn't put on her SEATBELT????? WFC??? And it was so important her has-been dad had to apologize to the national MEDIA? Just give the damn country to the friggin illegals and Islamofascists and Jerry Springer stars.
Damn

OMG where have I been?

2008-02-12T18:09:00.000-05:00

Well kids, after a long hiatus, like a bad penny, I'm baaaack! Story short, new grandchild duties, brief illness, work duties, no time. Miss me? Probably not but, bloviate I must. Keeps me from going postal. If you're reading this, let me know. Whether you agree with me or not, make a comment. I love the give and take of ideas. Who knows, your ideas may be bettter than mine. Maybe we will both learn we aren't the only ones with these ideas. Maybe someone will learn something new. Who knows.

So, join the fray. Discuss amongst yourselves. Most importantly, VOTE. As writer Robert Heinlien said, "Sure the game is rigged. But, if you don't play, you can't win. "

Now on to recent Cincinnati events. Here's the first... Weather here is difficult to predict. But a few are consistant. Consistantly WRONG. Why here's one now...

The white death ain't coming. Please take all the milk, eggs and bread back to Kroger. Or make a shirt load of French toast. With or without Karo syrup. But no powdered sugar...Tim might overreact...again.

Support out Troops? Not if we can help it!

2007-10-29T12:54:00.000-04:00

* The 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard returned recently from extended duty in Iraq, which was reportedly the longest consecutive deployment of any outfit (22 months, counting extensions). However, the Guardsmen still do not qualify for government education benefits. The law allows the benefits only for those on "active duty" at least 730 days, but the Minnesota Guard's orders (as well as some other outfits' orders), were specifically written for "729 days."

Write your congress critter NOW to protest this government weasel action. To specifically limit deployment orders by ONE DAY in order to avoid making educational benefit payments is an unconscionable and heinous act. The uncivil servants who came up with this cost saving idea should be booted from any future government service as a distinct warning to others who would try such a despicable ploy to avoid dispersing benefits to vets. What a great way to promote joining the Guard.

And I think to myself; "What a wonderful world."

2007-10-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

This past summer, two capital-murder inmates were put to death after curious court policies failed them. Luther Williams's execution was carried out in Alabama in August after the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to stop it, despite his plea that the state's lethal injection procedure was unconstitutional. However, one month later, the Court voted to accept for consideration another case questioning the constitutionality of the injection. (Court policy is that four votes are needed to accept a case, but five are required to stay an execution.) In September, just minutes after the Court's lethal- injection case was accepted, lawyers for Michael Richard, who was scheduled to die that evening, rushed to file a stay with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal and promised delivery by 5:20 p.m. The court clerk responded, "We close at five"; the petition didn't make it; and Richard was executed at 8:23.

Much as I hate to admit it, sometimes bureaucracy can be a beautiful thing.

And these people want to run your healthcare????

2007-10-01T14:37:00.000-04:00

Pentagon investigators discovered in August that a small South Carolina company fraudulently collected $20.5 million dollars in shipping costs, including one invoice of $999,798 for sending two washers (cost: 19 cents each) to a base in Texas. According to Bloomberg News, the Defense Department was said to have a policy of automatically and unquestioningly paying shipping bills labeled "priority."

Remember these little bon mots come November OK?

She's back, she's lying, why are you surprised?

2007-09-23T14:36:00.000-04:00

Universal Health Care. A military used to cover scandals as they break. Illegal campaign contributions. Duck and dodge politics. Cronyism. Telling the big lie. Linking dissimilar events to legitimize your position. The only new question is who's going to blow Hillary in the White House? Hopefully, the American public (at least the red states) will make sure Clinton never returns to the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. address. The UHC thing has a fresh coat of paint but its the same crap, just newer lies. "Oh you get to keep your health plan if you want to. There won't be additional costs. There won't be any new bureaucracy." Sure Billary, I believe. Remember every time a scandal broke our forces went somewhere or we bombed someone? Facts are facts, look it up. Remember the Chinese monks that good ole Al (I-didn't-invent-the-Internet, but-I-did-invent global-warming) Gore got the illegal donations from? Now Billary's got Hu. Abbott and Costello aside, where's the follow-up on that? Dissappeared quick didn't it? But not before they questioned his sanity etc. As for duck and dodge, she votes for the war, before she voted against it. She voted for the billions spent before she voted against it. Thanks for reminding us how that worked for Kerry toots. Today she said she was against the MoveOn Petraeus attack ad but voted NOT to condemn it last week. Or mention the dems supported his appointment unanimously. She even went so far as to compare it to the Kerry/Murtha flap. Here's a flash. Petraeus is currently a serving member of our Armed Forces (Support the Troops? Sure you do.) The other difference is that both Kerry and Murtha lied about the character of their service and to this day refuse to release their service records to the public. Hell, she won't even condemn Columbia bringing in Iranian president Im-a-nutjob and giving him a free speech forum when his country doesn't allow them. God help us. Everyone.

quick bytes

2007-09-21T23:52:00.000-04:00

BOSTON (AP) — Troopers arrested an MIT student at gunpoint Friday after she walked into Logan International Airport wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweatshirt. Authorities call it a fake bomb; she called it art.

And if stupidity was still its own reward, she should have taken two to the head as a warning to other stupid people and with luck, she would be this years Darwin Award Winner. Speaking of winners...

NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attacks, New York police said on Wednesday.

No, I think he should drop in. By helicopter. From about 5000 feet
another article continues...

However, security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that at this point, if Ahmadinejad attends the U.N. General Assembly in New York as planned, there may be little U.S. officials can do to prevent him from visiting the area of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Again, that's fine, just don't provide ANY security. New Yorkers know what to do with him. Let Iran protest when we send him home in plastic wrap.

Semantics makes all the difference

2007-08-14T20:46:00.000-04:00

The White House on Tuesday assailed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton for criticizing President Bush in her latest television ad, calling her statements "outrageous." The 60-second spot, which began running Tuesday in Iowa, intercuts scenes of the candidate interacting with voters and talking about challenges facing many working people.
"If you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, you are invisible to this president. If you're a single mom trying to find affordable child care so you can go to work, you're invisible too. The ad also argued that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are "invisible" to Bush.
White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino initially declined to comment on the ad, but then lambasted the spot and the senator
Happy to be in a debate with the White House, the Clinton campaign quickly linked to the official transcript of Perino's comments on its campaign Web site, www.hillarysucks.com ... (thinks she gets a free plug? Guess again)...with the headline, "White House Attacks Hillary's New Ad."
Campaigning in Dubuque, Iowa, Clinton referred to the White House criticism of her "invisible" comments.
"Apparently I've struck a nerve. The White House just attacked me a few minutes ago," Clinton said.

Funny how our fair and unbiased news media works, huh? She uses innuendo, lies and misleading statements and if the president or his people make any defense, they are "attacking" her. Keep an eye on the "fourth estate" folks. They want your vote for their preferred candidate and will say anything to sway your choice away from you.

Definitive proof! Bureaucrats are pea-brains

2007-08-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

French neurologists writing recently in the journal The Lancet described their surprise in finding, via brain scans, that a normally functioning 44-year-old man. employed as a French government bureaucrat, had a brain "more than a 50 percent to 75 percent" smaller than average, consisting of little more than a thin sheet of brain material surrounding a large fluid buildup.

Right. It's just like we suspected, but could never prove. Can we volunteer some of ours for additional testing? Preferrably by disec...oooops. Did II say that out loud?

Am I hallucinating here Spocolli?

2007-08-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

Mr. Hand: Am I hallucinating here? Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?
Jeff Spicoli: Learning about Cuba, and having some food.

That exchange pretty much sums up the following bit of news

LA GRITA, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez reveled in his role as host to Hollywood star Sean Penn as they traveled together through the Venezuelan countryside in an open jeep, stopping to greet adoring crowds.
The Oscar-winning actor said little Friday, beyond saying he was working as a freelance journalist, following up on reporting stints in Iraq and Iran. In any case, his star power was clearly eclipsed by the populist president, who took the wheel, honking to the crowds, signing autographs and gathering letters from people asking for help.

What's the matter Sean? Not getting enough attention? Pissed about Madonna and all the kids? Or just trying to see if you give enough aid and comfort to the enemy of America that you too can marry Ted Turner and be one of the Top 100 women of America? Face it dude, you need to remember you're an actor. we don't care about your politics. Your support of those who would destroy our country are unconscionable at best and treasonous at least. Remember what your "daughter" said in I Am Sam;

Conner Rhodes: Are you a retard too?
Lucy: No!
Conner Rhodes: How do you know?
Lucy: Because he told me.
Conner Rhodes: But he's a retard!

Why do we even HAVE a criminal justice "system"

2007-07-30T09:04:00.000-04:00

Judge Harold Kahn of San Francisco (benevolent criminal judge) thought probation was enough for a woman who had stolen the identity of another (through credit card fraud) She ran up six months of bills and bad credit. Also, the thief was already on probation. Bonus fact: The victim had collared the perp herself, following a chance meeting, and handed her to police. San Francisco Chronicle, 6-15- 07

Will someone please slap this stupid judge? It's spelled J-A-I-L you idiot! Punish criminals? What a concept! Another Gilbert Bettman* on the bench, but I've come to expect this from California crackpot courts. I've got good news/bad news. Good news; they caught Osama! Bad news; The trial will be in LA. Damn.

*GB was a Cincinnati judge beloved by our criminal element and the local bar association, who consistently rated him as "highly recommended" for re-election by local attorneys.

What's next? Maybe Jefferson and Barry won't get re-elected

2007-07-29T21:26:00.000-04:00

Music legend Ike Turner said he holds nothing against St. Louis' mayor for a decision not to issue a City Hall proclamation in his honor.
Mayor Francis Slay has turned down a request from organizers of the Big Muddy Blues Festival to make Sept. 2 "Ike Turner Day." Turner, 75, is scheduled to perform that day at the blues festival in St. Louis.
Turner says he never asked for the honor. He notes he already has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and said he doesn't worry about whether he's given those honors.
"I just care about making people happy in the audience," he said.
Turner's past troubles include a 17-month stint in jail on a 1990 drug conviction. He was depicted as an abusive husband in "What's Love Got to Do With It," a 1993 movie about ex-wife Tina Turner's life.
Ike Turner admitted in his autobiography that he had hit his former wife, but said the movie depiction is what hurt his career.
"All I can say, and I would say this only to her, is `I'm sorry,'" he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Sunday's edition.
"But I can't undo yesterday. I don't owe anybody else that."
The mayor suggested, through a spokesman, that Ike Turner could visit a St. Louis center that provides services to domestic violence victims to call attention to the issue.

Not that I condone Ike's past but he isn't a political office holder like DC"s crack smokin mayor Marion Barry or William Jefferson (D) of Louisiana with his $90,000 freezer deposit. Both of these losers got re-elect after the news broke. Ike paid his debt, got divorced, apologized for what he did. What say we give him one day? It's not like we're electing him.

Your speech IS free, as long as you believe like me

2007-07-28T22:24:00.000-04:00

Liberal activists are stepping up their campaign against Fox News Channel by pressuring advertisers not to patronize the network.
MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America's Future and liberal blogs like DailyKos.com are asking thousands of supporters to monitor who is advertising on the network. Once a database is gathered, an organized phone-calling campaign will begin, said Jim Gilliam, vice president of media strategy for Brave New Films, a company that has made anti-Fox videos.
The groups have successfully pressured Democratic presidential candidates not to appear at any debate sponsored by Fox, and are also trying to get Home Depot Inc. to stop advertising there.
At least 5,000 people nationwide have signed up to compile logs on who is running commercials on Fox, Gilliam said. The groups want to first concentrate on businesses running local ads, as opposed to national commercials.

So much for the champions of free speech. Me, I plan to boycott anyone who kowtows to moveon.org or runs their liberal caterwauling. Period. It's the least I can do for the thousands of my brothers, dead and spinning in their graves, having fought and died so these democracy destroyers can attempt to close the freedom of speech loophole in that troublesome document, The Constitution. Death to tyranny!

Yet ANOTHER inconvenient truth!

2007-07-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

CNW Marketing Research Inc., an Oregon-based auto research spent two years collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial concept to scrappage. They call it a dust-to-dust analysis of the environmental impact of a car.
You may be surprised if you thought hybrids were the obvious winners.
The Honda Accord Hybrid has an Energy Cost per Mile of $3.29 while the conventional Honda Accord is $2.18. Put simply, over the “Dust to Dust” lifetime of the Accord Hybrid, it will require about 50 percent more energy than the non-hybrid version, CNW claims.
And you may do a doubletake after reading this:
For example, while the industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2005 was $2.28 cents per mile, the Hummer H3 (among most SUVs) was only $1.949 cents per mile. That figure is also lower than all currently offered hybrids and Honda Civics at $2.42 per mile.
Basically, when considering all relevant variables such as materials, fabrication, plastics, carpets, chemicals, shipping, and transportation, gas mileage turns out to be significantly less relevant than many people assume.

What I like about this study – and of course it’s just one study – is that it looks at the total cost/impact of creation, ownership, and disposal. It’s easy for the media, politicians, the globally aware public, to focus almost exclusively on miles per gallon and their ideals of environmental correctness. However, as is usually the case, reality points in a different direction than what’s politically correct. And isn't that the "inconvenient truth."

And so it begins...

2007-07-12T23:36:00.000-04:00

LONDON - A “fat tax” on salty, sugary and fatty foods could save thousands of lives each year, according to a study published on Thursday.
Researchers at Oxford University say that charging Value Added Tax (VAT) at 17.5 percent on foods deemed to be unhealthy would cut consumer demand and reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes.
The purchase tax is already levied on a small number of products such as potato crisps, ice cream, confectionery and chocolate biscuits, but most food is exempt. The move could save an estimated 3,200 lives in Britain each year, according to the study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Read the rest

OK folks, here it is. I'm fat. Some of my friends are fat. Some of the people I hate are fat. Granted, its a poor lifestyle choice. But the worst lifestyle choice is trying to control other peoples lives. And you sanctimonious, insidious little bastards trying to do so, sit there and congratulate yourselves on your earnest, caring sensitive natures when in reality, you are reveling in your chance of potential control of other people "for their own good." Just want to remind you that that little phrase has been heard in a bunch of languages from Latin to Arabic to German (yup, those guys) Japanese, Chinese and whatever the hell passes for language in Darfur. Enough!
It starts small. For those of you old enough to remember it was; "Oh we aren't banning smoking, we just don't want it in airplanes, that's not too much to ask is it? Isn't that reasonable?" Then came the additional taxes, the the lawsuits. Now, in some states, your employer can FIRE YOU if you smoke in your own home. You can't smoke in any public structure or in most open air venues. even if you could afford it. Now they've skipped the small steps and gone straight to "suggesting" taxing the aberrant behavior. I mean, that's reasonable right? Sieg heil folks. Oh and I told you so here November 17, 2006. God, I hate being right sometimes.

She's Baaaaack! Media Whore rises once more

2007-07-09T15:06:00.001-04:00

Cindy Sheehan, the slain soldier's mother whose attacks on President Bush made her a darling of the anti-war movement, has a new target: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sheehan, who announced in late May that she was departing the peace movement, said she decided to run against Pelosi unless the congresswoman moves to oust Bush in the next two weeks.
"I think all politicians should be held accountable," Sheehan told The Associated Press on Sunday. "Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership. We hired them to bring an end to the war."
Sheehan said she will run as an independent against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 if Pelosi does not file articles of impeachment against Bush by July 23. That's when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting from the group's war protest site near Bush's Crawford ranch.

Damn! Just a bit over thirty days and our national harpy returns, this time targeting Nancy P. Lousy for not acquiescing to her demands to impeach Bush. Golly it seems like just last month that Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the Daily Kos blog:

"Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

She must think we want it, since we've haven't mentioned her name ONCE since she left. Nancy, you can't dictate the policy of this country just because it's what YOU want. All the great megalomaniacs of history have learned this lesson. Tojo, Hitler, McCarthy, Nixon, Al Franken, Rosie O'Donnell. Your fifteen has passed, Cindy. And the fat lady has left the building.

Health food? Not this stuff

2007-06-29T12:10:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON - A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination.All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the company said, following a report of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning that may be associated with the product.Veggie Booty Snack Food is sold in supermarkets, health food stores, vending machines and online in the United States and Canada.

Tried it once. Tastes like...

(1) ass
(2) shit
(3) pirate
(4) other

Please pick your favorite. Me? I'm gonna have a Royale...with cheese.

Cameron Diaz, political mastermind?

2007-06-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

AGUAS CALIENTES, Peru (AP) — Actress Cameron Diaz appears to have committed a major fashion faux pas in Peru. The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated "Shrek" films may have inadvertently offended Peruvians who suffered decades of violence from a Maoist guerrilla insurgency by touring here Friday with a bag emblazoned with one of Mao Zedong's favorite political slogans. Diaz wore over her shoulder an olive green messenger bag emblazoned with a red star and the words "Serve the People" printed in Chinese on the flap, perhaps Chinese Communist leader Mao's most famous political slogan.

Is it me (of course not) or does the entire world need a good dose of shut the hell up? I'm sure Cameron Diaz is fluent in written Chinese and knew exacttly what was written on her purse. And of course she is so well versed in world history that she knew that there had been a Chinese insrgency in a a South American country. And of course in her cold, calculating way, she found that particular handbag and chose it, above all others, to wear in order to inflame the sensibilities of a foreign country she was touring. Brilliant!! Her evil plan suceeded!!!

Damn, now everyone will be doing it

2007-06-16T10:18:00.001-04:00

"You are not going to believe this," said a 911 caller to the Michigan State Police, reporting that "there is a semi pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway" in Paw Paw, Mich. Sure enough, responding troopers found that a truck driver had hit a man in a wheelchair; the handles on his chair got stuck in his front grille. The driver, completely unaware of the man stuck to the front of his truck, drove about two miles at up to 50 mph before reaching his destination. Ben Carpenter, 21, who was seat-belted to his chair, was not only not injured, he found the experience downright fun. "It was like a ride at a fair," Carpenter said later. (South Bend Tribune.

Glad the guy was OK. The miraculous thing was he didn't mention a lawsuit.

Welcome to the beginning of the End

2007-06-14T22:46:00.000-04:00

OK what else needs be said? We are on our final descent into a a third world, second rate shit hole. Don't believe me? Take a look around, Jack. Prices are going up. Majorly. Like they did under Carter. Remember? Double digit inflation and home loans? Tripling gas prices? And it was all our fault, according to him and his party! And it's not just gas but everything else too, because of gas. Why? Ethanol. Algore and these other stupid eco freaks thought, Golly, what a great idea! We'll grow our own gas! And what will we use? Not soybeans (which convert easily to use in diesel engines with very little processing) Not sugar beets (which yield the highest sugars for alcohol conversion) Not switch grass (which grows anywhere, has high yield and isn't a food staple!) Lets use CORN! It makes a cute little visual doesn't it? Everyone loves corn! That's the problem, IT'S A FOOD STAPLE YOU IDIOTS! What the hell were you thinking? We EAT corn. And not just as a veggie. Cereal. High fructose corn syrup. Snack foods. Corn for tortillas is in short supply causing problems south of the border already. Corn feeds the livestock we eat. So where do the prices go? Damn betcha. But it gets even more stupid. Corn is hard on farmland requiring lots of water and fertilizer chemicals to grow. Corn is one of the most inefficient sources for making ethanol with the highest cost of production. Any hillbilly moonshiner could tell you that. Then why corn? Politics and money. Call your congress critter and tell them to look for alternatives to corn. Renewable energy doesn't have to be expensive or painful. Why do we have to sacrifice when there's no need? The energy is there. Just get government and the self-loathing eco nuts out of the way so we can get it.

Made up your mind on immigration? Here's a clue

2007-05-30T01:49:00.000-04:00

MEXICO CITY - Many here south of the border reveled in her disastrous evening: First Miss USA Rachel Smith slipped and fell on her bottom during the Miss Universe evening gown competition. Then she was booed by hundreds in the Mexican audience.
The treatment of the Tennessee beauty queen was nothing personal. It had more to do with Mexico's sometimes tense relationship with its powerful northern neighbor.
U.S. athletes have sparked a similar response. In 2005, when the U.S. played Mexico during a World Cup soccer qualifier, the crowd booed the U.S. national anthem and a smattering of fans chanted "Osama! Osama!" during the game.

Remember how you felt when you watched Arabs celebrating our dead on 9/11? Funny how we let these 3d world cretins villify us, while they try to get in here. "Nothing personal"? Bullshit! Mexican wanting to set OUR immigration policy to benefit THEM? Waving their stinking flag, demanding AMERICAN rights? Let's answer them using MEChA's own motto

“Por Estados Unidos todo, Fuera de Estados Unidos nada.”

Adios Cabron!

Shehan quits too! America gets a twofor!!!!

2007-05-29T14:36:00.000-04:00

FORT WORTH— Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday she's done being the public face of the movement.
"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush, I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.
In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the Daily Kos blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

Hot damn!! Rosie is off the air! Sheehan shuts up and goes home to the granola state! Her stupid self serving rhetoric evident to the last.

"you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice,
"I can't make you be that country

Your damn right you can't make us be that country! That's what being this country is all about. One shrill, pedantic shrew can't force her vision of political correctness down our throats no matter how much airplay she gets from sympathizer media. Now that she says she doesn't love this country anymore, do you think she'll leave it? Hell no, because just like all the boorish "stars" who swore they'd leave if Bush was elected, they realize no other country would permit their antics. Don't you just love how these weasels all get so self-righteous when they don't get their way? Or they try to pass off legitimate dissention as coming from -phobes or haters? Get a clue, most of us don't believe your lies, half-truths and innuendo. The media does. Our enemies do. Thank God most of the people don't

Rosie O'Donnell: Micheal Moore in a lesbian suit?

2007-05-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK — Rosie O'Donnell said she may never speak to Elisabeth Hasselbeck again following their now-infamous confrontation on "The View" on Wednesday.
The confrontation began Wednesday over O'Donnell's statement about the war: "655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists?"
Talk show critics accused O'Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck "cowardly" for not saying anything in response to the critics.

Now if we could just get this loud-mouth to stop talking to the rest of us....

BTW her death toll figure INCLUDES those killed at the hands of Iraqi "insurgents," roadside and car bombs etc. How Micheal Moore-ish.

What the hell is the world coming to now?

2007-05-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

WHAT THE HELL?: English teacher Denice Kovanda gave her students at Fillmore Central High School in Geneva, Neb., an assignment: create a travel brochure for a place you'd like to visit. Michael Sattler, 16, got a grade of zero on his. "I asked what was so wrong with it," Sattler said. "She said I used the word Hell in every part of it. It was all about Hell, Hell, Hell." But, Sattler argued, his brochure wasn't for the afterlife, but rather Hell, Michigan. Sattler's parents support the boy, and sent a copy to the unofficial mayor of Hell, John Colone. "It was good," he said. "It had all the right information on it. The layout was great. It had good pictures. It was creative." Colone sent the boy a box full of Hell merchandise to share with his classmates and a "Grumpier Than Hell" coffee mug for Kovanda, but principal Jim Rose intercepted the box and says he'll send it back unopened. (Ann Arbor News)

The sad thing is, the lack of a sense of humor of all involved. I bet the English teacher supports political correctness as it suits her her agenda but stifles any creativity not within her narrow scope. BTW, how does a principal get to intercept a package not addressed to him? Won't that get him in the hot seat?And where the hell is the thriced damned ACLU when they are actually needed and the heat is on? Ain't this a hell of a note?

Chavez, Socialism and Freedom of speech???

2007-04-23T08:38:00.000-04:00

Thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets of Caracas in protest at the president's decision to close the country's oldest private TV network.
Mr Chavez's supporters say Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) backed a 2002 coup which briefly ousted him. But the country's opposition say the decision to close the network is an attempt to silence Mr Chavez's critics.

"Freedom of speech is a right, as is the right to be informed," said 72-year-old Pablo Mosco from the capital's Catia slum district.

"What will happen to Venezuela is one of its voices for people to come here and give out their expressions, their opinion [...] will be closed down and this is, I believe, a final step for democracy in Venezuela," said Moira Sanchez, from RCTV's legal team.

The government has offered jobs to staff in a new state-run TV station which will replace RCTV but most say they will refuse them.

The BBC's James Ingham, in Caracas, says that this is shaping up to be a fight between a government that is increasing its control of the country and those who feel their freedom is being taken away.

Well, golly gee there Hayzoos, did you think when you doofuses gave the man the power to do whatever he wanted, he'd keep a soft spot for his detractors? Did you think he'd give the country back when he was done? Democratic rights in a socialist country, run by a melagomaniac dictator? And you don't see a problem? Damn, how did you people get your own country anyway?

Truly, a season for miracles

2007-04-15T10:08:00.000-04:00

BERLIN - A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in New York City facing hostile blacks while firing his machine gun, a video that aired Saturday on national television showed.
The clip shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act.”
The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.
The video is the latest embarrassment for the German army. Eighteen army instructors are currently on trial for allegedly abusing and humiliating 163 recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with a skulls — including one who exposed himself while holding a skull.
The president of the Bronx, the New York City borough that the army instructor referred to in his directions to the soldier, demanded an apology from the German military and said the clip “indicates that bias and assumptions and racism is alive and well around the world.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton said he was outraged that Germans were “depicting blacks as target practice.”
“I think this is an incredibly racist kind of insult to African-Americans and it speaks to the kind of institutional racism that people think we are hallucinating about,” he said.
The existence of the video was first reported on the home page of the German news magazine Stern on Friday and excerpts were aired on the news television channel n-tv on Saturday.

Ahh yes. German reunification and the wonderful sentiments of our European allies. You know, that hotbed of culture and civility our liberals seem to envy so much? And finally a milestone for the Dalt. For the first and quite possibly only time, I actually find myself agreeing with Big Al (oooh, that's gonna leave a mark)

Violations? By WHO?

2007-04-14T21:45:00.000-04:00

Group Decries Marines in Afghan Shooting April 14, 2007 By FISNIK ABRASHI (AP)
— A U.S. Marine unit broke international humanitarian law by using excessive force during a shooting spree last month that left 12 people dead, an Afghan human rights group said in a report Saturday.
The troops fired indiscriminately at pedestrians, people in cars, public buses and taxis in six different locations along a 10-mile stretch of road in Nangahar province after an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into their convoy on March 4, according to the report by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission.
Six people were killed near the blast site, while the other six died on the road as the troops sped away, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's spokesman.
The dead included a 1-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and three women, the report said. Thirty-five people were wounded in the shootings.
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
The group said its report was based on interviews with victims and their families, witnesses, local community leaders, hospital officials and police.
A U.S. military commander has also determined that the Marines used excessive force and referred the case for possible criminal inquiry, a senior U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
U.S. military officials said after the incident that the suicide attack was part of an ambush that included militant gunmen shooting at Marines, which may have caused some of the civilian casualties.

Oh my goodness! 12 civilians killed in a fire fight started in their country by their countrymen.?
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
What about the terrorist's attacks against civilians? Where are these "Afgan human rights groups" and others when these attacks take place? Where were they when the Taliban forces siezed control of their country, hijacked their religion, subjugated their population? Most importantly. when are we going to learn that no matter what we do to help, we will not be appreciated, but reviled, not only by those who asked for our help, but by our own citizens? One cannot "support the troops" without supporting their mission, which is decided by their leaders, who are chosen by a representative majority of Americans. Like their decisions or not, our leaders are duly elected and we should support them until such time as they are replaced by lawful elections. Anything else is NOT "supporting the troops." It is merely lying to disguise an agenda. You decide whose it is, and what they plan.

"Maybe" it's too late already

2007-04-11T16:44:00.000-04:00

Iran May Be (?) Helping Iraqis Build Bombs April 11, 2007 BAGHDAD (AP)

1.)Iranian intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters inside Iran on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.
2.)Commanders of a splinter group inside the Shiite Mahdi Army militia have told The Associated Press that there are as many as 4,000 members of their organization that were trained in Iran and that they have stockpiles of EFPs, a weapon that causes great uneasiness among U.S. forces here because they penetrate heavily armored vehicles.
3.)U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell would not say how many militia fighters had been trained in Iran but said that questioning of fighters captured as recently as this month confirmed many had been in Iranian training camps

1. The military spokesman says they ARE.
2. Commanders of a Shiite militia say they ARE.
3. Questioned militia fighters say they ARE.

Why the hell does the AP headline say they "may be"??
Well, "maybe" they've gotten away with this crap for too long. "Maybe" the rest of the world thinks it's ok. "Maybe" we'll all just let them keep it going until there's a mushroom cloud over Israel or London or New York. Do you think that then "maybe" we might just do something?
"Maybe", but won't it be too late?

Stupid is International

2007-04-09T12:05:00.000-04:00

Daily Mail , London; Garri Holness, 39, is one of the Britons in a bad place at the time of the July 2005 subway bombings, and he suffered the loss of a leg, for which government programs compensated him with more than 100,000 British pounds (about $190,000). That is more than 10 times the amount of government compensation (in 2005 pounds) received by each of the two teenage girls from a vicious 1985 gang rape that Holness was convicted of participating in (and for which he served seven years in prison).

And the libs say everything is more civilized in Europe...

BC-Wizard of Id Cartoonist Johnny Hart passes

2007-04-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning "B.C." comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, has died. He was 76. He won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society's prestigious Reuben Award twice for Cartoonist of the Year. Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy.
"He had such an emphasis on kindness, generosity, and patience," said Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles.

We'll miss you Johnny.

Why did they have to die?

2007-04-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

A mother asked President Bush,
"Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"
Another mother asked President Kennedy,
"Why did my son have to die in Viet Nam?"
Another mother asked President Truman,
"Why did my son have to die in Korea?
Another mother asked President F. D. Roosevelt,
"Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"
Another mother asked President W. Wilson,
"Why did my son have to die on a battlefield in France?"
Yet another mother asked President Lincoln,
"Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"
And yet another mother asked President G. Washington,
"Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"
Then long, long ago, a mother asked...
"Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die
on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"
The answers to all these are similar --
"So that others may have life
and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom."

This was emailed to me with no author and I thought

the magnitude and the simplicity was awesome

IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE,
FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM !!
IF YOU DON'T STAND BESIDE THE LEADERS WE ELECTED
PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO STAND IN SOME OTHER COUNTRY

To finally go where he had gone before

2007-04-02T17:22:00.000-04:00

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The ashes of James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the original "Star Trek" TV series, have been loaded into a rocket that is set to launch in New Mexico later this month.
The remains of Doohan, Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and some 200 others were loaded into the rocket Friday by Charles Chafer, chief executive of Celestis, a Texas company that contracts with rocket firms to send cremated remains into space.
"And we're ready to go," Chafer said after inserting the silver canister.
Jerry Larson, president of Connecticut-based UP Aerospace Inc., said the rocket will be launched April 28.

What more needs be said? Gene Roddenberry led the way in 1997, his remains sent into in space. I loved the show growing up. It was a simpler time with simple values; Truth, Faith and the idea that we will one day become the people we aspire to be. May we all "boldly go"

Bad Choice? You betcha! Do over? I don't think so.

2007-03-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

Mom Says Georgia 'Girl Bandit' Is Sorry
Monday, March 5, 2007 AP
ATLANTA (AP) — The mother of an 18-year-old arrested in a bank theft scheme said Monday that her daughter isn't a bandit, she just fell in with the wrong crowd and made a bad choice.
Joy Miller said her daughter, Ashley Miller, is sorry for what she did. "I want (people) to know that her and Heather both are not bandits," Joy Miller told ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday." "They're little girls that made a bad choice."
Dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" by some Atlanta media, the teens were captured by a surveillance camera handing a bank teller a note then casually waiting for money as if "it's all fun and games to them," said Cobb County Police

Oh hell. And the police ARRESTED them? How inconsiderate of law enforcement! Well let's just be thankful that the police didn't make a bad choice and shoot the little darlings in the head as they made their escape during the course of their little hi jink.
Seriously folks, this woman thinks we should just give these darlings a "do over" Why? Because they are rich? Wealthy? Pretty? White? Or just plain stupid?

Reach out and touch someone PLEASE!

2007-02-21T00:51:00.000-05:00

Weird news tidbits
The Mexican government is scheduled to consider, as early as March, a proposal from its states' migrant assistance offices to hand out satellite-tracking devices to its citizens who plan to emigrate illegally to the United States, so that they could be located in case of emergency after crossing the border. Skeptics, according to a January report in the San Antonio Express-News, wondered how vigorously the U.S. Border Patrol would assist in rescues. [San Antonio Express-News, 1-5-07]

Figures that the Mexican government would find a way to track illegals when we apparently can't. It just keeps gettin weirder folks...

The second coming is here and his name is Obama (NOT!)

2007-02-11T22:58:00.000-05:00

The following is verbatim from Obama' s website:

In June of 2006, Senator Obama delivered what was called the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, Senator Obama candidly discussed his own religious conversion and doubts, and the need for a deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life.

There is a 40 minute video of the speech one other insert and these two blurbs

"(Obama's speech on faith) may be the most important pronouncement by a Democrat on faith and politics since John F. Kennedy's Houston speech in 1960 declaring his independence from the Vatican...Obama offers the first faith testimony I have heard from any politician that speaks honestly about the uncertainties of belief."-E.J. Dionne, Op-Ed., Washington Post, June 30, 2006

Senator Obama also laid down principles for how to discuss faith in a pluralistic society, including the need for religious people to translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values during public debate. In December, 2006, Senator Obama discussed the importance of faith in the global battle against AIDS.

"You can tell he has a Christian perspective . . . Caring for people is the no. 1 thing about being a Christian," said John Smith, senior pastor of Crossroads Church in Loveland, Colo. "It didn't feel like he was politicking. It felt like he was a person of faith, and he felt comfortable talking about that."-Chicago Tribune, December 1, 2006

A Christian perspective? His own religious conversion and doubts? An evangelical audience? The man professes to be a member of the UCC but he won't even admit to it on his Presidential candidate website. What's wrong with this picture?
More to come folks...And so it begins...

Deja Vu all over again

2007-01-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

From George Mason University History News Network

Historians have directly attributed the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the cessation of American aid. Without the necessary funds, South Vietnam found it logistically and financially impossible to defeat the North Vietnamese army. Moreover, the withdrawal of aid encouraged North Vietnam to begin an effective military offensive against South Vietnam. Given the monetary and military investment in Vietnam, former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage compared the American withdrawal to “a pregnant lady, abandoned by her lover to face her fate.” 2 Historian Lewis Fanning went so far as to say that “it was not the Hanoi communists who won the war, but rather the American Congress that lost it.”

Pay attention folks. When the next 9/11 happens, remember the party in charge that brought it to you. Those who don't remember history and repeat it, are doomed

To all my female friends who have been there

2007-01-27T11:13:00.000-05:00

Jesse Dorris, an inmate in the Lincoln County (Neb.) Jail, demanded to be removed from his cell because, he said, his cell mate, Brian Bruggeman, 38, had "bad gas." Jailers moved him to another cell but, at the next meal, Bruggeman cut in line to be by Dorris so he could fart on him. Dorris hit Bruggeman, who was serving 90 days for violating a protective order. (And don't you wonder why iy was issued?) County deputies were called in to investigate, and "smelled a liar but quickly sniffed out who was guilty," a spokesman said. "It was an air tight case." Bruggeman has been charged with assault on a confined person -- a felony punishable by up to 5 years in state prison. Dorris was not charged. (North Platte Bulletin)

I know ladies, I know. They should have sent his ass to the gas chamber

Life Imitates Commercials or Ve Vas Jus following orders

2007-01-17T23:51:00.000-05:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 46-year-old German motorist driving along a busy road suddenly veered to the left and ended up stuck on a railway track -- because his satellite navigation system told him to, police said Sunday.
The motorist was heading into the north German city of Bremen "when the friendly voice from his satnav told him to turn left," a spokesman said.
"He did what he was ordered to do and turned his Audi left up over the curb and onto the track of a local streetcar line"
Several German motorists have crashed their cars in recent months, later telling police they were only obeying orders from their satnavs.

Damned obedient, those Germans. Need car insurance? Call 1-800-DUMKOPF. Uberators are standing by. Not available in France.

Last Post of the year

2006-12-31T17:03:00.000-05:00

Damn you, Mike Brown. Damn you for twenty years of marginal football at Riverfront Stadium. Damn you and our county commissioners for raping the taxpayers of this county for nearly 500 million dollars for a stadium we can't use for concerts, conventions, or any other sports event except football. But most of all, damn you sir for getting your stadium on your terms and then not fielding a team worthy of a half billion dollar home.

BENGALS SUCK!
Welcome to the meadow,
home of the Bunny-gals

Go big or go home, if you still have one

2006-12-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

Starting to notice here that there has been a recent spate of the citizenry taking the law into it's own hands and interestingly enough, at least here in Hamilton County, the DA is SUPPORTING these actions. Now, I don't mind some good ol whup ass, but people are getting killed here. My point is, some idiot is going to blaze away over sumpin stupid (like the guy in Batavia that shot a kid for walkin in his yard) and then the anti-gun nuts will come out and say we're all blood thirsty killers and no one (except criminals) should have guns.

The problem as I see it is not that folks are fighting back, but the fact that they need to. Why? Because the criminals no longer fear the police or the justice system in this country. We've tied the hands of law enforcement to such a degree that they either cannot or will not act. Our courts and prision systems are filled with people willing to release these miscreants back into society with a slap on the wrist and if they re-offend, so what? When they do get out and purpetrate more heinous crimes, the parole boards SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. If they were, there would be much stiffer and longer penalties. The other thing is: it's prison stupid! That means LIMITED health care, limited chances for education, no color TV, computers, recreation etc> It needs to be so bad that, once freed, convicts will do their utmost to never return. Manual labor, benefitting the state, needs to make a return.

What the hey, it's just a dream...we have to be nice to everyone, never offend, never stand up for our country, our cities our beliefs...Don't try America...it's too hard anyway...better to just be sheeple...bahhhh

Dalt: Make common sense recognizable to judges

2006-11-29T16:30:00.000-05:00

Judge: Make Money Recognizable to Blind November 29, 2006 The AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Give blind people a way to tell a $20 bill from a single, says a judge who told the government to change the nation's paper money so it doesn't all feel the same.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson on Tuesday ordered the Treasury Department to start working on the problem, leaving it up to government officials to determine the best solution. Possible changes include making bills of differing sizes or adding embossed dots or raised ink.
The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling. The Treasury Department had no immediate comment.

Well, ole Dalt has a comment... DOES EVERY JUDGE IN AMERICA THINK THEY CAN DICTATE FEDERAL LAW??? There are approximately five hundred thousand blind in the US, who have managed quite nicely for all these years without help, thank you and suddenly, this piss-ant judge makes the determination that we have to completely revamp the entire US money supply to benefit less than two percent of the total population. Will this legislation/mandatory compliance lunacy never end? Laws are meant to protect the general populace. Yes we have to assist the less fortunate but not to the detriment or unrealistic expense of the rest of us. Common sense has died at the hands of legislated fairness. Write your representatives, write the judges, tell them to return to common sense and stop trying to legislate morality. We can take care of ourselves just fine!

Freedom of speech works both ways

2006-11-28T17:26:00.000-05:00

Imams Stage Airport 'Pray-In' As Protest Tuesday, November 28, 2006 1 By LESLIE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a "pray-in" demonstration Monday at Reagan Washington National Airport and asked an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight last week.
The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it was unacceptable in America.
Imam Omar Shahin, one of the six imams detained last Monday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said they hadn't done anything suspicious.
After they boarded the flight, a passenger passed a note to a flight attendant. The men were taken off the airplane, handcuffed and questioned.
"It was the worst moment in my life," Shahin said.
US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said prayer was never the issue. She said the passenger overheard anti-U.S. statements and the men got up and moved around the airplane. "We're sorry the imams had a difficult time, but we do think the crews have to make these calls and we think they made the right one," she said.
Earlier reports also noted other suspicious behavior like requesting un-needed seat belt extenders. Good call, US Air! Don't budge an inch!

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, four airlines accused of breaking federal anti-discrimination laws settled with the government. (Settled? Try capitulated) Transportation Department investigations found the airlines had unlawfully removed passengers because of perceived ethnic or religious backgrounds.

The Transportation Department received a complaint about the US Airways incident on Monday from the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said spokesman Brian Turmail.
"We're going to now look into the matter," Turmail said.
The Homeland Security Department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said last week that it was investigating the incident.

If this isn't the stupidest thing I've heard of, it's at least in the top five. Racial profiling? GREAT! When white guys, black guys, asian guys, hispanic guys or little old ladies hijack planes and fly them into things or blow them up in flight, I'll add them to the list. Till then, deal with it. Fit the profile? Then don't draw attention to yourself. Pray to yourself. Don't be anti-American. Sit in your assigned seats And the rest of you, write your officials. You fly, you vote and you need to be heard too. Don't let the minority shout you down. If you do, they win and crashed planes will be as commonplace as hijackings were in the seventies? Remember? When our government told us not to resist because it was safer? Well, golly gee sweetums, look where that got us....

Nobody moves or I'll shoot the other one

2006-11-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

AP WICHITA, Kan. - A botched kidnapping ended with one of the assailants shooting himself in the groin, Wichita police said.
The man had just stuck the gun back into his waistband when it fired, shooting him in the left testicle. He cringed, causing the gun to fire again and strike him in the left calf.
When the shooting ended, the 23-year-old man managed to walk himself into the hospital for treatment, police said. He and his two accomplices, ages 18 and 20, were arrested for aggravated attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The gene pool gets shallower every year, the jokes seem to be writing themselves and, God help me, this damn story gets funnier every time I read it.

Speaking of Hurricanes: Next time I won't help

2006-11-21T21:12:00.000-05:00

Read the whole story here

2 unrepentant about selling Katrina gift By WOODY BAIRD AP Writer

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm. But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans.
"Take it up with God," an unrepentant Joshua Thompson told a TV reporter after it was learned that he and the woman he identified as his wife had flipped the home for $88,000.
The church was also shocked by an ungrateful interview the couple gave with WHBQ-TV in Memphis.
"I really don't like this area," said Delores Thompson. "I really didn't, and I didn't know anybody, so that's why I didn't move in and I sold it."
Thompson, reached at a New Orleans phone number by The Associated Press on Tuesday, thanked the church for its generosity but said she saw nothing wrong in selling the three-bedroom, two-bath house.
"Do I have any legal problems? What do you mean? The house was given to me," she said. "I have the paperwork and everything."
She refused further comment and hung up.

Let's see. NOLA sat on its collective ass, didn't plan, didn't evacuate, didn't insure, waited for the rest of us to bail them out, bitched and shot at those who did, lied about conditions there, blatantly stole federal funding to buy bling, stayed in high end hotels and apartments until forced to leave...the list of abuses is endless. Yes, I know the Feds could and should have done a better job, (Florida and Texas have lots of hurricane experience and seem to do a good job, hire them) but this story settled it for me. Never again. I want someone's ass in jail. I am never contributing another damn dime, simple as that. Have a nice day, assholes. As for the church, I believe there's are laws covering theft by deception and misrepresentation of status to achieve financial gain from a charitable source. Go for the criminal charges first, then get whatever's left in a civil suit.

I didn't think I'd be right this quick

2006-11-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Season Defies Predictions:Atlantic Forecasts Were Way Off
ReutersSaturday, November 18, 2006

MIAMI, Nov. 17 -- The noted hurricane-forecasting team led by William Gray at Colorado State University has not missed by this much in a long time.
On May 31, they predicted that there would be 17 storms this year, and that nine would be hurricanes.
In the end, the 2006 season managed to produce nine tropical storms; five became hurricanes. None of the hurricanes hit the United States.
There are still two weeks to go, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center said there is little sign of action in the Atlantic.
The Colorado State team was not alone in predicting that 2006 would be more active than an average year, in which the Atlantic can be expected to spawn 10 tropical storms, of which six will strengthen into hurricanes.
No one foresaw what happened in 2005, when 28 storms swarmed out of the Atlantic, and 15 became hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph. Among them, Katrina killed 1,500 people along the Gulf Coast and swamped New Orleans, while Wilma became the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever observed.
Long-range hurricane forecasting, as with all long-range weather predictions, remains a complex and error-prone task, experts say.
The experts also say that an unusual amount of sub-Saharan dust in the atmosphere over the Atlantic may have deprived potential storms of the moisture they would use as fuel.
But there are probably other factors at work that have yet to be identified.

In other words, the laws of probability will not be denied. We get better but we can never be certain. Remember, you read it here first!

You can have my Big Mac when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers

2006-11-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

OK, this is for all you people who supported anti-smoking taxes and legislation_ you're NEXT!

The movie Fast Food Nation premieres Friday, Nov. 17. The cast includes Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne, Kris Kristofferson, among other familiar faces. If the statistics on the rise of obesity in kids isn’t getting Washington’s attention, perhaps this celebrity ensemble will.
Schlosser told an audience previewing the movie at the University of California not to expect a documentary, comedy or satire, though early reviews liken the tenor of Fast Food Nation to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. (Does this mean it will be full of lies, half-truths and innuendo?)
As Schlosser put it at the preview, “I should warn you … this is a very dark film. But these are very dark times.”

Great! We took care of smoking, Next we'll outlaw those pesky constitutional freedoms!
WAKE UP AMERICA. The trains for the re-education camps are coming for us all!

Hope we wake up before the first nuke goes off

2006-11-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

Controversial Assignment Leads To Teacher's Resignation
November 17, 2006
SMITHFIELD, N.C. -- A Spanish teacher at Smithfield-Selma Senior High School resigned this week after handing out an assignment that some students and parents said teaches hate.
Khalid Chahhou, who was in his first year of teaching in Johnston County, gave students a worksheet in which they were to translate words and find them within a word-search puzzle.
Some students started uncovering strange words in the process.
"There were words like 'kill,' then I saw it said 'destroy America,'" Eric Herrera said.
As they read on, students found the puzzle contained a paragraph that contained the following phrases:
"Sharon killed a lot of innocent people," a possible reference to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Palestine is not a terrorist group."
"Allah help destroy this body of evil making humanity miserable."
"It was kind of scary at first to think about, you know, your own teacher in your own school that is teaching you," Herrera said.
School administrators said they confronted Chahhou about an unidentified concern Wednesday and he resigned.
"The situation surrounding the resignation has prompted us to call the proper authorities," said Crystal Roberts, the spokeswoman for Johnston County Schools.
The Johnston County Sheriff's Office reviewed the complaint, but investigators said they don't see any reason to file criminal charges or contact other agencies.
Chahhou, who also teaches Arabic at a religious school affiliated with the Islamic Association of Cary, told WRAL in a telephone interview that students got the wrong message from the assignment.
"When I made the assignment, I was upset and angry about a story I recently saw on the news. If any message appears, it is more of a message to myself, not to my students. I never meant to hurt or upset any students or parents," he said.

This is where this happyland, diversity to the detriment of democracy, PC bullshit has led us. Tolerance my ass! This fool can't even lie effectively. He has advocated the destruction of our country. Don't just let him resign, and go elsewhere. Yank his teaching license so he can't do this again. If he's naturalized, strip his citizenship and ship him back.

CNN is Criminally Negligent News

2006-11-16T19:25:00.000-05:00

Midwest Hotel Chain Drops CNN Over VideoThursday, November 16, 2006
The Associated PressBy ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Midwest hotel chain has pulled CNN from the TV channel lineup in its guest rooms, saying the cable network was aiding terrorism with the broadcast of a video showing Iraqi snipers shooting at U.S. troops.
The broadcast, which aired Oct. 18 on both CNN and CNN Headline News, featured edited portions of a tape the network said it obtained from a rebel group called Islamic Army of Iraq.
The video crossed the line from journalism to propaganda, said James Thompson, president of the Iowa-based Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp.
"It was shocking and repulsive," he said. "Their actions supported terrorism."
Guests at the Stoney Creek Inn's 10 properties in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin can still view Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and other cable news channels.
Supportive comments from guests have outnumbered complaints by a 3-1 margin, Thompson said.
A network spokeswoman did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Thursday. A CNN producer previously defended the report as an attempt to show the "unvarnished truth" about the Iraq war.

The most wonderful thing about this country is that occaisionally, business puts aside desire for profits for belief in morality and ethics. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a beautiful thing. I'm glad to see consumers support it. Rock on! Down with the Criminally Negligent News

SCREW CATCH AND RELEASE: LET'S STRIP AND SHIP

2006-11-10T17:35:00.000-05:00

Warrantless Eavesdropping Claim Rejected Friday, November 10, 2006
Associated PressBy MATTHEW BARAKAT

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed claims that prosecutors illegally built their case against a convicted al-Qaida supporter on information obtained from the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program.
Truck driver Iyman Faris, 37, of Columbus, Ohio, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after admitting in a plea bargain that he conspired with al-Qaida on an aborted plot to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge by cutting its suspension cables. But Faris sought to have his sentence set aside, in part because of suspicions that the government's eavesdropping program tainted the case.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, filed earlier this week, is under seal, so it is unclear why she dismissed the claim. Faris' lawyer, David Smith, refused to discuss the ruling.

Faris, who was born in Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen in 1999, is one of several convicted terrorists who have sought to challenge the legality of the NSA's eavesdropping. So far, no challenge has been successful.

Hooray! Now strip him and his family of citizenship and ship their asses OUT! If we can prove others knew about his plans, strip and ship them too!
HEY DUMMYCRATS, YOU SAID YOU'D DO BETTER. ARE YOU LISTENING?????????

Hey Sheriff Leis, are you listening??

2006-11-08T16:32:00.000-05:00

BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) — Prisoners returning to a jail damaged in a failed breakout attempt will find a radically new decor — pink with blue teddy bear accents.
Dallas County Sheriff Mike Rackley said he decided on the color scheme as part of extensive repairs necessary after inmates set a fire and vandalized the interior on Oct. 8.
"Basically, if they are going to act like children and commit a childish act, then we'll make a childish atmosphere," he said. "And it's a calming thing — Teddy bears are soothing. So we made it like a daycare and that's kind of like what it is, a day care for adults who can't control their behavior in public."

Damn, this is just what I needed after losing faith with the voting public. There may be hope for this country after all.

Damn! Brit lawmakers are as stupid as ours!!

2006-11-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

LONDON (AP) — Britain's lawmakers Tuesday granted posthumous pardons for soldiers executed during World War I, ending years of campaigning by the families of men condemned to death for cowardice.

Around 300 soldiers, who were executed during the 1914-1918 conflict for failing to return to the front lines, were included in the pardon. The pardons acknowledge that many of the men suffered shell-shock from the horrors of the war and thus refused to return to their units.

In 1993, then-Prime Minister John Major ruled out pardons because "we cannot rewrite history by substituting our latter-day judgment for that of contemporaries." In a debate in the House of Lords in June, however, Lord Dubs said he appreciated that attitudes had changed since the early 20th century.

"The executed soldiers deserve better treatment than to be remembered as cowards; instead, they should be remembered as brave men who were willing to fight for their country in difficult conditions," Dubs said.

Wait a minute, "deserve better treatment"? The charge was cowardice under fire. They weren't willing to fight. They refused to return to their units and fight, ergo, guilty as charged. The punishment? Execution.

The families of the executed men had brought three lawsuits against the government, each one exposing the flawed trials the men received. In one case, a soldier was tried and executed on the same day as his offense.

The Defense Ministry said that though the men have been pardoned, their convictions or sentences will not be quashed.

In plain American English, this means "OK, all you cowards, you're forgiven for being cowards, you're still dead, and you're still guilty. Is it just me, or is this whole thing as meaningless and stupid as it sounds?

Communist News Network/Chicken Noodle News

2006-11-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

Two US Marines are listening to the radio in Iraq.
"American soldiers," coos a soft female voice, "Your so-called national Leaders have lied to you. You are needlessly risking your lives to wage A useless, unjust, illegal, and unwinnable war. Now is the time to return home to your loved ones, while you are still alive. If you foolishly insist on remaining where you are not wanted, the brave resistance fighters will have no choice but to kill you and add your name to the long ever-increasing casualty list of this insane war. So why risk never seeing your loved ones again for a so-called president who has repeatedly lied and deceived you at every opportunity? Why should you be sacrificed so that US corporations can enjoy fatter profits? The only wise thing to do is return home now, while you are still drawing breath, before you return zippered into a bodybag."

"What's this?" sneers one Marine. "An Islamo-terrorist version of Tokyo Rose?"

"No," answers the other. "It's just CNN!"

Duty, honor, country. They aren't choices

2006-11-04T19:36:00.000-05:00

I may take fire for this, but I won't desert those who serve. Ever.

AWOL Soldiers Reconsider Return to U.S. Saturday, November 4, 2006
By BRETT BARROUQUERE LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)
Since going to Canada to avoid another deployment to Iraq, Corey Glass has considered returning to the United States. But after hearing that a fellow former soldier who surrendered to the military and was ordered to return to his unit instead of being discharged, Glass may not return at all.

"They're not going to win the hearts and minds like that," said Glass, 24, who signed on with the Indiana National Guard in 2002.

Kyle Snyder, a one-time combat engineer who joined the military in 2003, disappeared Wednesday, a day after surrendering at Fort Knox and 18 months after fleeing to Vancouver instead of redeploying to Iraq. Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said a deal had been reached for a discharge, but he found out he would be returned to his unit at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
His troubles are complicating efforts for those among the 220 American soldiers who fled to Canada and want to return to the United States, according to lawyers, soldiers and anti-war activists.

"Nobody's going to come back from Canada anymore," said James Fennerty, a Chicago-based attorney who represents Snyder and other AWOL soldiers.

"After what they did to him, I don't see anybody going back," said Glass, a Fairmount, Ind., native who is currently in Toronto.

Some are seeking refugee status in Canada. Hart, who was joined in Toronto by his wife and their 3-year-old son, served time in Bosnia in the early 1990s, became a reserve, then went to Iraq after returning to active duty. The idea of returning to the United States is appealing to Hart, because he would like to see family and friends.

"I could see going back under some kind of amnesty program or something like that," Hart said. "But I don't trust them. My enemy isn't foreign now. It's domestic."

First off. I don't agree with any war. Or police actions. Or whatever they call it this week. It's barbaric. It's horrific. And people die. That being said, I also know that we will keep fighting them until we find a better way a better way to supress fanatics, idealogues and madmen. But there is one thing I do know. Honor, Duty and Country are not negotiable. If you claim the freedoms this country offers, then you had best be willing to defend them. We do not conscript, we no longer draft. If you choose service, you have chosen. No do overs. No picking and choosing. You come home with your shield or on it. This custom was the hallmark of Rome. When it declined, so did Rome.

If you leave in the middle of a war, it's called desertion. You have abandoned your duty, your country, your brothers-in-arms. And you are without honor. If you run in the midst of battle, the sentence is death. No courts martial necessary. If you run at other times, when you're caught or surrender, you get the luxury of a trial. It's still desertion. So Mr. Glass thinks we aren't going to make the deserters trust us by sending them back to their units? Tough. Mr. Snyder is afraid he'll have to return to his unit until discharged. He should be afraid to face those he abandoned. And his problems are complicating the lives of 220 deserters who want to come back? Good. I want their lives in turmoil. Mr Hart might consider returning if there's an amnesty program? I don't care if they ever come back. They violated an obligation they freely agreed to. They are without honor and deserve nothing but contempt. I stayed. I served. Others still are. They have my respect and my prayers.

When you talk to God, tell Him I said "hi!"

2006-11-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

Military Pressed Over Expressions of Faith
By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, November 2, 2006;
The U.S. military is being buffeted by dueling legal claims over religion, with one set of plaintiffs contending that the Pentagon is suppressing evangelical Christianity and another set arguing just the opposite -- that the brass gives the most aggressive evangelicals free rein to proselytize in uniform.

Reports of aggressive evangelism at the Air Force Academy led the service to issue interim guidelines last year urging commanders to be "sensitive" about sharing their faith and called for a minute of silence or at most a "brief, non-sectarian" prayer at mandatory gatherings. Read it all here

I posted the following response

First, separation of church and state was to prevent a state run religion like the Brits have with the Anglican Church. Look it up, get it right, OK? Second, military people are in harms way. If they derive comfort from the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Jesus, Odin or whatever, let them have it. Period. As long as their belief doesnt interfere with performance of duty, its their belief. Third, if the Jew calls on Yaweh, the Muslin on Allah, no one says a word. Call on Jesus and youre fundamentalist, right-wing Christian nut job in violation of that make-believe separation of church and state thing and offensive. Bull. Anyone else who founds their country and their society on their religious beliefs can do so and its OK. So why do some self loathing apologists feel guilty about Americas basis in Christianity? At least ours doesnt advocate KILLING non-believers. And our tolerance of others has made us the most free, the most giving, richest and well fed on the planet. Not too shabby. This whole religious debate thing will never be settled to everyones satisfaction so, if it helps, believe. If it helps, pray. If it helps, call on your diety. Just put in a good word for me too, OK?

The stupid will inherit the Earth. Let 'em have the damn place

2006-10-31T21:22:00.000-05:00

From News of the Weird
Underachieving former St. Thomas Law School (Miami, Fla.) student Thomas Bentey filed a federal class action lawsuit against the school in August, alleging that it knew when it accepted him that he couldn't muster the necessary 2.5 grade-point average to stay in school (and thus defrauded him, and dozens of his classmates of similar talent). [Asheville Citizen-Times, 9-13-06] [National Law Journal, 9-1-06]

Too stupid for school? Too lazy to get a job? Don't work to better yourself, just sue the bastards!

Time to move off this planet. It's no longer a fit place to live!
Darwin has met The Peter Principle and we are all doomed

Kerry besmirches our troops AGAIN!!

2006-10-31T17:33:00.000-05:00

Well, well. Apparently we know what Kerry thinks of American soldiers. According to him, they're too stupid to do anything else. From the AP:

...The war of words, tough even for this hard-fought campaign season, came after Kerry told a group of California students on Monday, "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Yo John, it was in the days of 'Nam that if you did bad in school you got drafted, today's armed forces are VOLUNTEERS! These boys and girls are patriots! You sir, are a liar, a coward, and a loser! And the press who call him " highly decorated" need to check their facts. Hopefully, in later years, they won't lie about their Purple Hearts unlike you and that other loudmouth blow hard, John Murtha.

Yup, that's right, the man that was so pissed at Jean Schmidt's comments about "cowards who cut and run," exaggerated his record too, according to Don Bailey, Harry Fox and others here, here, and here.

I love all this bluster and the chance to point out the press bias in this country. The key point I wish for all to see is that neither will release their service records, which would end all these questions immediately.

Gee boys, why not???

Junk science redux:Why is this news? How is it research?

2006-10-25T18:15:00.000-04:00

Weight Gain Means Lower Gas MileageWednesday, October 25, 2006 The Associated Press
By LINDSEY TANNER
CHICAGO (AP) — Want to spend less at the pump? Lose some weight. That's the implication of a new study that says Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines. Simply put, more weight in the car means lower gas mileage.
"The bottom line is that our hunger for food and our hunger for oil are not independent. There is a relationship between the two," said University of Illinois researcher Sheldon Jacobson, a study co-author.
Man, Is this idiot brilliant or what? Sheldon Jacobson, remember that name kids. One day, he'll be up there with Einstein, Hawkins and the rest of the greats.
The lost mileage is pretty small for any single driver. Jacobson said the typical driver — someone who records less than 12,000 miles annually — would use roughly 18 fewer gallons of gas over the course of a year by losing 100 pounds. At $2.20 per gallon, that would be a savings of almost $40.
The average man weighs 191 pounds, the average woman weighs 164. Do the math.
Outside experts said that even if the calculations aren't exact, the study makes sense.
It makes sense? How, by recommending malnourishment?
The same effect has been seen in airplanes. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that heavy fliers have contributed to higher fuel costs for airlines.
Great. My tax dollars at work, funding more idiots.
Jacobson, an industrial engineer, conducted the research with Laura McLay, a doctoral student in his Champaign-Urbana lab who now works at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Why is she in Virginia? Did she realize he was an idiot too?
The amount of extra fuel consumption blamed on weight gain since 1960 — 938 million gallons — would fill almost 2 million cars with gas for an entire year. However, that is only 0.7 percent of the total amount of fuel consumed by U.S. passenger vehicles each year, Jacobson said.
Wonderful. All this "research" to realize a .07 per cent increase? If we all lose 100 pounds? Is this what passes for scholarly research in America today? No wonder we're getting our ass handed to us. It's a wonder someone hasn't taken over this country already.

Junk Science with a hand in your pocket

2006-10-25T06:34:00.000-04:00

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 7:17 a.m. PT Oct 24, 2006

BEIJING - Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a report published Tuesday by the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Footprint Network.
"For more than 20 years we have exceeded the Earth's ability to support a consumptive lifestyle that is unsustainable and we cannot afford to continue down this path," WWF Director-General James Leape said in releasing the 2006 Living Planet Report in Beijing.
"If everyone around the world lived as those in America, we would need five planets to support us," Leape added.

And I'd be willing to bet if Americans stopped contributing to your sorry asses, you'd need five planets to equal the support you get now. "Stripping nature?" We thought that's what you wanted, for us to switch to renewable resources. Based on your own numbers, we should have actually run out of resources 5 years ago. The rain forest is alive and well, but we face some species extinction due to a lack of control of insects and vermin. The US IMPORTED 80 percent of its bee population last year. Why? Because of the explosion of a mite that kills bees. Why? No pesticide that controls the mite can be used in the US due to feel-good legislative action. If you truly think mankind is the source of all the world's problems, why don't you sacrifice yourselves to reduce the excess population? What's that? Oh, you need the other dumb SOB to sacrifice himself so you can continue preaching the word. I never thought of it like that before.....

Disabled? It's not all about you. Sorry

2006-10-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

Those wacky California judges are at it again...
Like any evolving technology, accessing the Internet has hardly been a smooth ride for the blind. Some sites can be difficult to navigate, particularly if they contain relatively few text links and rely more on graphics and other visual elements that screen-reading software such as Jaws can't interpret.
That's why the NFB, an organization that represents blind people, is suing Target Corp., saying that its Web site is inaccessible to blind Internet users.
Last month a federal judge in California allowed the NFB's case to proceed, rejecting Target's argument that its Web site wasn't subject to the Americans With Disabilities Act, a 1990 law that requires retailers and other public places to make accommodations for people with disabilities. Target argued that the law only covered physical spaces.

ENOUGH! Look, I'm sorry about your diability. (except for stupidity, those people need to leave the planet) I know it makes things difficult, but here's an idea-ADAPT! People with disabilities did it for centuries and we admired them for their courage and perserverance. No one owes anybody anything. Just try before suing. That's what disabled people did before lawyers , legislative judges and political correctness. Everybody is a victim anymore, or in some protected class. If everyone else has to deal with it, you should too. Anything else is the mark of indolenent self-absorbtion.

He served with pride. Welcome home airman. RIP

2006-10-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

Occaisionally, the Times gets it right, no politics, no rhetoric.

SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- His commanders gave Airman 1st Class LeeBernard E. Chavis the proud emblem of their squadron -- a blue-and-yellow flag known as a guidon -- because they knew he would rather die than lose it.
The 21-year-old District native carried it from the unit's home base in the hills of Georgia to the sands of Kuwait and onto the streets of Baghdad, where, on Saturday, he was killed by a sniper as he tried to keep civilians away from a suspected roadside bomb.
"The colors have dropped," said Maj. Thomas Miner, commander of the 824th Security Forces Squadron, as he waited to escort Chavis's body onto a C-130 Hercules late Sunday. His lip quivered and his eyes turned glassy. "But we've got to pick them back up."
More than 200 personnel from the squadron and other units stood in near-total blackness on a tarmac and saluted the man who became the unit's first combat fatality in Iraq. The guidon was solemnly carried forward, for the first time by someone else. Then a white, unmarked truck pulled up and the door swung open.
"Reach for remains!" a voice barked.
The sight of the coffin, draped in a large American flag and carried toward the plane by six pallbearers, slowly distorted the faces of 18 members of Chavis's sub-unit, known as a flight, who stood in two neat rows facing the makeshift charnel.
This type of ceremony, known as a patriot detail, is rarely observed by anyone outside the military -- not by the president, not by members of Congress, not by the children or spouse of the fallen service member. The squadron commander allowed a Washington Post reporter embedded with an affiliated unit to witness, but not photograph, the ceremony for Chavis.
With distant gunfire punctuating the night as the ceremony approached, Chavis's friends voiced questions about the war and this latest death."It makes you question almost everything" observed Luker, 27. Still, he said, "we're not here to ask the questions and get them answered. We're here to complete the mission. We'll worry about that stuff when we get home."
Eventually, the mourners left the plane. Then the crew closed the plane's door. It was nearly pitch-black on the tarmac again. But by the winking, distant lights of the capital, it was possible to make out the unit's guidon, fluttering gently in the night sky.

If you've never served, you'll never know. Rest in Peace Airman Chavis. Among your brother and sisters in arms, your sacrifice will be remembered. God grant us peace.

Nikki G? You go girl! (and keep going)

2006-10-17T16:24:00.000-04:00

Poet Nikki Giovanni touched off a firestorm Saturday with a profanity-spiked diatribe against Ken Blackwell during the re-dedication of Fountain Square.
She’s not happy about the uproar and criticism she’s drawn for her remarks, in which she called Blackwell “a son of a bitch” and “a political whore.”
But she’s not apologizing, either.

So she's not happy about the uproar?? Typical liberal elitest. They want to say whatever they want because, by god, they have freedom of speech, but if anyone disagrees or take them to task for their unreasoned remarks, they get indignant. (Are you listening, Dixie Chicks/Sinead O'Conner?) Get a clue. Freedom of speech works both ways. If you say something I don't like, I have the right, nay, the obligation to point out your ignorance to you and anyone else who'll listen. There is no freedom from consequences for your actions. Freedom of speech doesn't come with freedom from responsibility. Deal with it.

Nikki Giovanni: Cincy's poet of discriminate

2006-10-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

The fountain is back!
Unfortunately, some people took the opportunity not to celebrate but to discriminate and advance their political agenda, namely, poet (term used advisedly) Nilli Giovanni. Read her poetic rant here. In fairness, I liked it, right up to where she started the politics My letter to the editor of the Enquirer is as follows:

We too, are Cincinnati
We wore Northern blue.
We fought and died. to free those in chains
not because of politics
but because it was right.

Our people came from Europe's climes
seeking a new life, a fresh start,
not for just us but also for justice.
We recognize these Seven Hills,
for we built the neighborhoods across them.
Stonemasons, carpenters, craftsmen
skills we learned indentured.

We opened our hearts to those fleeing Northward
for the same life we had built for ourselves
We made our own way, took care of our own
We are Izzy's, Stengers and Kahns
We are the brewers that even Carrie Nation couldn't defeat

We weren't perfect, but we learned
Changes came slowly here, Twain knew us for that
But through it all we remained us.
Polite, respectful
We never used a celebration or a time of mourning
as a pulpit for our politics, to besmirch others names
Are you listening, Nikki, you scabrous scribbling slattern?

Things were different then, and they're different now
We still wear the blue
We still fight and die but
We no longer keep the peace, we persecute the "victims"
We were revered, we're now reviled
We don't keep the peace but pick up the pieces
We don't capitalize, we capitulate
We don't celebrate, we differentiate
Our city must be for all of us or
it will no longer be fit for any of us
and only Northern Kentucky will remain

"Stupid is as stupid does" Dumb, Forrest, dumb

2006-10-14T07:37:00.000-04:00

SACRAMENTO – Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her MySpace.com page. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled “Kill Bush” across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She replaced the page last spring after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.
Too late.
Federal authorities had found the page and placed her on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class. The 14-year-old freshman at Sacramento's McClatchy High School was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school. Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.
“They yelled at me a lot,” she said. “They were unnecessarily mean.”

Oh. And inciting someone to kill the President is what? BTW, don't you have to be 18 to be on Myspace? And why didn't her mother know what was posted there? Consequences for your actions? How rude!!

Sex, Religion and the Constitution

2006-10-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

In the Texas case the Supreme Court refused to review, an employee of an adult bookstore in El Paso was arrested in 2003 for selling a sex toy to undercover police officers. He was charged under the Texas law that bans the sale of an "obscene device" designed primarily "for the stimulation of human genital organs."
His attorney said the law was unconstitutional because it violated the right to sexual privacy without government interference. The court, which last year rejected a challenge to a similar Alabama law, denied the appeal without any comment.

Well maybe the court won't comment but I will. WHERE THE HELL ARE SEX TOYS MENTIONED AS A RIGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION? Oh Damn, sorry...it's right here...Amendment sixty-nine. Congress shall make no law infringing the right of the people to twiddle their winkies with whatever doohickies they so choose.

The justices also rejected an appeal brought by Jonas and Tiffany Eklund, who contended that the Byron Union School District, east of San Francisco, violated constitutional guarantees separating church and state when it required students in a world history class to read pages from the opening chapter of the Koran and study Islam's Five Pillars of Faith in a unit on Muslim culture.
"Parents entrust public schools with educating their children, not indoctrinating them in religion," the Eklunds' attorneys stated in a brief asking the Supreme Court to take the case. "The public school here had children become Muslims for three weeks."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the activities were not overt religious exercises and therefore did not raise constitutional concerns.

Wanna bet if they'd had them read the Bible and study the 10 Commandments, the appeal would have have been heard? It's OK as long as it isn't Christian.

It's my bloggy and I'll whine if i wanna

2006-10-02T18:50:00.000-04:00

I wrote this during the summer in reply to an editorial opinion espoused by an india immigrant bemoaning his treatment in this country. The Cincinnati Enquirer declined to print it. I reprint it here for no other reason than it's my blog. na,na,na.nah, na, na.

I am going to go ahead and say right up front that I am jingoistic, biased, insensitive and mean-spirited. So, now that names have been called, and liberals who would call them have moved on to the editorial cartoons, please allow me my voice.

To the India immigrant who wrote the editorial on immigration in the US, I applaud the fact you entered our country legally and are abiding by our laws while you are here. We like that.

1. I am sorry you don’t like rules we impose on non-citizens, like disclosing your whereabouts or paying taxes on money earned here. I’m sorry about other non-citizen hardships too, like not owning guns or voting in elections until you become a citizen. These rules exist so you have time to acclimate to our ways, insure you want to be an American and our officials think you deserve it. However, once you become a citizen, you may hold any government office, except president. You can vote, own firearms and even work to change our laws. Our government is set up so that any law can be changed if we want.

2. I don’t know why Ohio puts a red line on non-citizen license, but rest assured it’s for a legitimate reason and not persecution. If it was like the Jews under the Nazis, you’d wear it where it could be seen at all times and you’d have a whole host of other concerns. So please don’t use that analogy, its wrong. You know that.

3. Based on your statements, as a non-citizen your family is living very well in this country. You’re allowed to name your price for your services, live freely in our society, raise your child in our schools, covered by emergency workers and other services, which are funded by taxes you apparently don’t want to pay on money you earned here. You have the freedom to say what you want, to fight or refuse to fight for the country that has offered you its bounty. Be grateful. Most of us are, even though we take it for granted too.

4. Just by being born on our soil, your daughter instantly became one of us. Not many countries allow this. You and your wife didn’t have to be citizens here for that to occur. I am glad for her. Our flag is hers now and in a few years, it can be yours too. Or you can exercise another freedom we have that many other countries don’t; the freedom to leave. Personally, I don’t think you’ll find better. Anywhere.

Praise the Lord and Pass the ammunition!

2006-10-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

MIAMI - A fugitive gunman accused of killing a Florida sheriff’s deputy was shot 68 times by SWAT team officers who found him hiding in the woods, according to autopsy results. Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy Williams 39, was “executed” after Angilo Freeland 27, was pulled over in a routine traffic stop on Thursday. Deputy Williams, was shot eight times—one bullet fired at close range behind the deputy’s right ear and another in his right temple. Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed. Police fired 110 shots at Freeland, the target of a massive manhunt in central Florida following the shooting death of the deputy.
“That’s all the bullets we had, or we would have shot him more,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

Sometimes words fail me. Amen, Sheriff. Amen

Hugo Chavez the "Caracas crackpot"

2006-09-24T21:13:00.000-04:00

OK Maybe you've heard or not. Hugo Chavez has said some nasty things about President Bush, the US, etc.

Ian James, Associated Press Writer September 22, 2006
NEW YORK --Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he stands behind his description of U.S. President George W. Bush as "the devil." But his charged comments, coming near U.S. legislative elections, also have drawn condemnation from some Bush critics.
The New York City tabloids were more aggressive, with The New York Daily News page 1 headline Friday telling Chavez to "ZIP IT!" and the New York Post calling him a "jerk" and the "Caracas crackpot."
There were also signs that efforts by Chavez to reach out to the American people by boosting sales of discounted heating oil to the poor could face some new obstacles.
Maine's Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who approved an agreement last winter to buy discounted oil, said Thursday he had no plans to seek a similar arrangement this winter, and called Chavez's words "unnecessary and offensive."
Representative Chaka Fattah of Philadelphia also accepted Chavez oil.
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, whose home state of Connecticut has also participated in the program, called Chavez's comments "destructive to the United Nations as an institution" and said Chavez should face a rebuke.

Chavez should be rebuked? The politicians that support him by taking his cheap oil should be removed from office or better yet, charged with giving "aid and comfort" to a supporter of terrorism. Here's an idea. BOYCOTT CITGO! It is the national Venezuelan oil company. It's not difficult. Do what I did. Cut up the damn card, send it back. If you live in one of the neo-treason politician's voting districts, express your dissatisfaction in a letter, the, this fall, vote them out.
we need to start somewhere.

To my elected officials

2006-09-21T14:18:00.000-04:00

To elected officials of Cincinnati and Hamilton County:
As a duly designated taxpayer of Hamilton County and an unrepresented, unwilling one for the City of Cincinnati, (my wife and I work there but live in the county) I am hereby serving notice that Iand my fellow taxpayers are tired of your misrepresentations. You promised two stadiums for 451 million dollars. We paid that much for just one. That means you lied. Don't smile sheepishly. Don't hem and haw. You lied. Bold faced. You promised us a downtown cultural center with living spaces, shopping and entertainment. It's been ten long years. No matter how quickly you break ground now, it will cost 10 times as much as you said it would. So again, you lied. Now you are about to go into our pockets again for three million dollars a year to support (meaning "to prop up") the Underground Railroad Museum Center. You remember that don't you? That wonderful self-sustaining cultural center that Hollywood stars and other cultural icons would flock to support with big money fundraisers? The one that would draw thoundands of visitors to our beautiful city just to see it and them visit The Banks for shopping and entertainment? Well surprise! There's no shopping or entertainment there. Why? Because you lied. The Center isn't self sustaining; you said it would be. You lied. So here's an idea. Stop it. Do the honorable thing and get out now. Leave politics. Let someone else try to succeed where you failed. But you won't. Because you know one thing. No matter how often you lie, we continue to elect you. Apparently we don't mind liars.

Enough apologies already! Grow up!!

2006-09-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

Oh my God! The Washington Post has actually published an pro-Western, non-apologist, op-ed piece. Perhaps world peace can be achieved in our time! See it here:

Enough Apologies

If you don't have time, or are just too stunned, in the words of Inigo Montoya, let me 'splain. No, is too much, let me sum up.

Anne Applebaum regarding the recent papal apologies et al, says we need to stop. To whit:

...since nothing the pope has ever said comes even close to matching the vitriol, extremism and hatred that pour out of the mouths of radical imams and fanatical clerics every day, all across Europe and the Muslim world, almost none of which ever provokes any Western response at all. And maybe it's time that it should: When Saudi Arabia publishes textbooks commanding good Wahhabi Muslims to "hate" Christians, Jews and non-Wahhabi Muslims, for example, why shouldn't the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, Britain's chief rabbi and the Council on American-Islamic Relations all condemn them -- simultaneously?....

Yours truly posted the following comment on Matt Rosenberg's blog:

and with that comment from Anne Applebaum, perhaps the apologist tide will begin to turn. I am sick unto death of the hand-wringing, the editorial stratigizing, the sheer whimpering of West every time some innocuous comment or miscontrued statement incites the Muslim world to riot, rampage and rhetoric, calling for doom, death and destruction to rain down on the indfidels of the West. Like a petulant child in public, they throw a tantrum for all to see and scream, "I hate you! I wish you were dead!" If adults permit these action, the child is encouraged to continue in this manner, eventually growing into a mal-adjusted,sociopathic adult. So here's an idea. Explain to the child that if their unacceptable actions continue, there will be consequences and then make sure those consequences are imposed. Enough is enough. If you are Muslim, repudiate these ill-behaved, petulant children. Prove you are members of a "religion of peace." We are watching. Don't force us to act.

Christians are outraged too!

2006-09-15T14:49:00.000-04:00

Muslims Express Fury Over Pope's RemarksFriday, September 15, 2006 by SUZAN FRASER

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Muslims around the world expressed outrage Friday over Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam, with Turkey's ruling party accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades and scores taking to the streets in protest.
Pakistan's parliament unanimously condemned the pope, and the Foreign Ministry summoned the Vatican's ambassador to express regret over the remarks.
The Vatican said the pope did not intend the remarks — made in Germany on Tuesday during an address at a university — to be offensive.
Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"
Benedict did not explicitly agree with the statement nor repudiate it.

After all the recent barbarous acts performed in the name of Islam against Christians and Jews, these animals are furious over something said in the 14th century? WHO CARES? They have NO right to take the moral high ground and deserve no consideration whatsoever. I seem to remember they got their ass handed to them back then too. Some people never learn.

Our Govt makes sure Dog gets his day...ruined

2006-09-14T20:21:00.000-04:00

Duane 'Dog' Chapman Arrested by FedsThursday, September 14, 2006 By MARK NIESSE

HONOLULU (AP) — TV reality star Duane "Dog" Chapman and two co-stars on his show were arrested Thursday in Hawaii on charges of illegal detention and conspiracy in an alleged kidnapping three years ago.
The charges stem from Chapman's capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Villarta, Mexico, said Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic in Washington.Charges have been pending against the three since local police in Mexico arrested them shortly after they roped in Luster. They posted bail but never returned to Puerto Villarta for their court hearing on July 15, 2003, Credic said.
Chapman's capture of Luster, who had fled the country after being convicted of raping three women, catapulted the 53-year-old bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E. The three are being held in Honolulu. Bail has not been set. They will face an extradition hearing to Mexico under terms of treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, Credic said.

Wonderful. Murderers, rapists and thieves hightail it across the border from the US all the time and the Mexican'ts won't ship them back to us, but we just roll over with a whimper and no protest whatsoever. As stated at Court TV's Website 3 years ago:

Law enforcement officials bristled at the mention of Chapman in a press conference late Wednesday, chastising him for going too far, and signaling that they would not help the bounty hunter dodge potential kidnapping charges.
"I think his actions are just beyond the bounds that I can condone," said Ralph Boelter,the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Ventura office. "He's out there acting on his own ... Certainly it is not something the FBI would condone. We will not be acting on his behalf."
http://www.courttv.com/news/2003/0618/lustermoredetails_ctv.html

In the end, Dog did get there first and make the FBI look stupid, (not that it's difficult) but when you piss them off, they do get even. Always remember that.

Chracter counts? Don't bet on it.

2006-09-13T15:32:00.000-04:00

Democrat Could Be 1st Muslim CongressmanWednesday, September 13, 2006 12:44 PM EDT By MARTIGA LOHN MINNEAPOLIS (AP)

State lawmaker Keith Ellison didn't let questions about his past slow down his campaign to become the first Muslim in Congress. On Tuesday, voters responded to his liberal message calling for peace, withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and universal health care. He beat three contenders in the Democratic primary in a Minneapolis-area district long dominated by his party.
"You're not on your own," Ellison told supporters at an Egyptian restaurant in a speech that had the call-and-response of a revival meeting. "We are with you. We do these things together, y'all, and we don't let nobody break us apart."
Ellison, a 43-year-old criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam as a college student, overcame questions about late parking tickets, overdue taxes and his past ties to the Nation of Islam. He has since denounced black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan and was endorsed by a Minneapolis Jewish newspaper. He has also pledged to improve his personal record-keeping.

Gee, remember when it was all about character??

Sometimes, the jokes write themselves

2006-09-12T22:36:00.000-04:00

AP Sept 12, 2006 GETTYSBURG, Pa. - A woman facing drug charges admitted in court that she smoked marijuana with her 13-year-old son, often to reward him for doing his homework.
Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor drug charges Monday in Adams Country court and will be sentenced Nov. 27.
She admitted she had been smoking marijuana with her son since he was 11 and said she had also smoked with two of his friends, ages 17 and 18.
Livelsberger pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of corruption of minors, possession with intent to deliver drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of a small amount of marijuana with intent to distribute. The plea agreement did not stipulate a sentence.

How about the sentence, "I am an idiot"?

Five years doesn't dull the pain

2006-09-10T17:07:00.000-04:00

It's been five years. Five long years and I find myself asking the political pundit question " Am I better off than I was 5 years ago?"

Much to my chagrin, no.

We have not found Osama. Worse yet, if we did-intead of slowly killing him, live on national TV, by tying off one joint at a time, until he was a writhing torso, or by controlled evisceration- we would try him in our courts and debate his troubled childhood, his poor choice of associates, and in a fit of delusional self-recrimination, we would commute his sentence to life in prison, and in a few years we'd let him out for unsupervised visits with his friends and family. The ones he still has because nobody killed them.

We have not won the peace in Iraq, or the rest of the Middle East. Not our fault. t seems IMuslims would rather subjugate themselves in religious misery, killing themselves and each other over which view of "peaceful" Islam is the correct one. One email respondent to a news article on Iraq stated "Muslim country shold boycot us. (sic) We shold not trade with them." I agree. We need a new source of energy and quick. And export it to other countries. When the oil money dries up, these zealots will return to being sheep and goat herders. With nothing else to offer the rest of the world, no scholars, no manufacturing, no technology, they will wither and die. That day will come. Tomorrow would not be soon enough.

We have not sealed our borders. Not just against terrorism, but against the malaise of illegal immigration. If you come to my country legally, I will embrace you with open arms. Being an American is just that, American. No hyphens. If the other country was so great, why did you come here? Your previous heritage is a fine thing, but your new heritage should be more important. Learn the language. Blend in. The only times that this country has accomplished great things has been when we all came together as Americans.

We have not kept up the pressure. Pressure against those who support terrorism either monetarily, or with training or equipment. In the name of political correctness or placation, we have gone far out of our way to not offend or accuse others and in doing so, we have forgotten. We have lost our sharp, angry memory of our dead. Not just in 2995 in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, but the 10 kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq and Saudi Arabia The 17 killed on the USS Cole., 265 dead on Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland. 241 dead in their barracks in Beruit. All tolled, thousands dead to Islamic terrorists. The list dates backward from 1970. 1970? Yes. Bobby Kennedy was killed by an radical, Islamic terrorist. Or did you forget?

Finally and perhaps most importantly, we have not given up hope. No nation on this globe is more generous with its wealth, its knowledge, its people or its willingness to help. No other nation is more demonized, reviled or vilified without and within. We are the first to be criticized. The first to be accused of jingoism. The first to be taken to task for whatever we do. The key thing to remember is we are the first to be called. And the first to forgive. Always.

"Justice" comes Full circle.

2006-09-07T16:02:00.000-04:00

Ex-Governor Is Sentenced To Prison
Ryan Plans to Appeal Corruption Conviction
By Peter SlevinWashington Post Staff WriterCHICAGO, Sept. 6 -- Former governor George H. Ryan, who won global attention for emptying Illinois's death row, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for a decade of tawdry corruption and official lies that he minimized to the end.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer rejected Ryan's request for leniency, saying that he violated the public trust through sweetheart deals and political favoritism. If Ryan thinks the allegations were "relatively minor or insignificant," Pallmeyer said, "I would suggest they are anything but."

How potentially ironic. Maybe one or more of the death row inmates he commuted will thank hizzonner personally. Very personally. Over and over and over. Ooooh.

"Oh wouldn't it be nice?'

2006-09-03T19:04:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Aniston and a photographer have settled a lawsuit regarding topless photos shot of the actress late last year.
The 37-year-old actress sued Peter Brandt in December 2005, claiming he invaded her privacy by using a telephoto lens to photograph her inside her home when she was topless or partly dressed.
She alleged that Brandt used "invasive, intrusive and unlawful measures" to capture the images. Brandt said he took the photos while standing on a public street about 300 yards away from Aniston's home.
As I have said in the past, most of the legal stupidity in the US starts in California. In saner parts of the country, this pervert would have been prosecuted under CRIMINAL statutes, like "peeping tom" or voyeurism laws. It's generally a misdemeanor, but enough convictions could ramp it up to felonyor habitual offender or even sexual predator status and maybe the paparrazi would take notice. To quoute the Beach Boys "Oh wouldn't it be nice?"

If you want us to believe, don't be silent

2006-09-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

Muslim Group: Bush Distorts 'Islamic' Friday, September 1, 2006 The Associated Press By CARLA K. JOHNSON
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — The newly elected head of the largest Muslim group in North America called President Bush's recasting of the war on terror as a "war against Islamic fascism" inaccurate and not helpful to people of her faith.
Then tell them to renounce Islam or terrorism, We don't care which, but your silence in denouncing them gives your consent to their acts.
Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, said Friday that labeling terrorism as "Islamic" only adds to a misunderstanding of the religion.
But that's what it is, Islamists committing terrorists acts
Mattson acknowledged that terrorist groups "do misuse and use Islamic concepts and terms to justify their violence. But I think that when we then bestow that term upon them we only make the situation worse and somehow give validity to their claims which we need to deny and reject," she said at the opening of the group's 43rd annual convention.
Make it worse? How can it be made worse? You shouldn't just "deny and reject", you should actively be turning these animals in. Until then, "Islam is a religion of peace" is an outright lie!
Bush and other Republicans have been using the wording in recent speeches. White House aides and outside Republican strategists have said the new term is an attempt to more clearly identify the ideology that motivates many organized terrorist groups.
"I'm convinced that it is not only inaccurate, but unhelpful," she said. "If our major concern is security, security of this country, this is a term that has very bad resonance in the Muslim majority world and makes us feel uncomfortable here."
Good. You should be uncomfortable. Horrid acts are being committed in the name of your religion. Until you actively oppose these animals, you deserve no consideration.
Mattson said her group would argue to eliminate the use of the phrase. U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, are attending the meeting.
"We're hoping that there can be some adjustment to this language and we're trying to voice that opinion to those who have been using this, circulating this term," she said.
OK, dissent is an American right, but if you were in most Islamic countries, you wouldn't have it, much less be a woman in a large Muslim organization
England did not address the issue during a Friday afternoon panel, but said American Muslims will play an important role as the Pentagon improves its training of the military on Islamic culture."They understand their culture, obviously, much better than we do," England said. "We have not done a very good job in the past and we need to do better."
Yes, we Americans do need to do better. We need to do our best to root these animals from their holes, find their nests and destroy them utterly and completely. And Muslims the world over need to actively support our efforts, if they want us to believe that they are a religion of peace. Why are we even having this debate? When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we didn't quibble whether or not that Shintoism was a peaceful religion, we sent as many to meet their Kami as it required to make sure they were peaceful Until Muslims the world over actively oppose terrorism, they are all complicit. Silence gives consent.

OK, now I am PISSED!

2006-08-31T22:13:00.000-04:00

National Guardsman Brutally Attacked In Pierce County
UPDATED: 6:15 pm PDT August 30, 2006
PARKLAND, Wash. -- The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is searching for five people who allegedly attacked a uniformed National Guardsmen walking along 138th Street in Parkland Tuesday afternoon.
The soldier was walking to a convenience store when a sport utility vehicle pulled up alongside him and the driver asked if he was in the military and if he had been in any action.
The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim. Four other suspects exited the vehicle and knocked the soldier down, punching and kicking him.
“And during the assault the suspects called him a baby killer. At that point they got into the car and drove off and left him on the side of the road,” Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
“This is something new for us, we have not had military people assaulted because they were in the military or somebody's opposition to a war or whatever,” Troyer said.
The driver is described as a white male, 25-30 years old, The vehicle's passengers are described as white males, 20-25 years old.

This is what happens when these ignorant, let's-have-a-dialogue, you-poor-misunderstood-terrorist, murderer, rapist etc. idiots are allowed to flourish unchallenged. Now it's OK to attack those who keep us safe? Trust me, this is just the beginning. How stupid can we get??? Here's the idea, Bad guys are BAD GUYS! You make war on the National Guard, or other military branch, or the cops or FBI, CIA? Well you damn sure better be friends with the bad guys because you're going to be in real close proximity in the future. All these damn turncoat anti-military protesters deserve neither safety or freedom. And guess which whiny assholes are going to want to have candlelight vigils and wring their hands over dead loved ones killed by the above mentioned misunderstood miscreants? Yeah, right. Wanna bet you'll see this on National News? No, because Cindy Sheehan farted in Texas this week and that's more important...
Dammit STOP being the silent majority.

NBC apologizes; The shape of things to come

2006-08-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

NBC Expresses Regret for Air-Crash SkitMonday, August 28, 2006 7:12 PM EDT The Associated PressBy LYNN ELBER
LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC expressed regret Monday for an Emmy Awards comedy skit that included a mock plane crash and aired on the network the evening of a fatal Kentucky jetliner accident.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony.
"In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," NBC said. "The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes. The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused."

NBC felt it was better to apologize, but I don't. I'd bet even money this is the open door that leads to lawsuits against the networks for pain, suffering, emotional distress and desseminating offensive or distressing material. Think not? Where've you been the last 20 years? Watch this space for further developments.

Fly to your happy place!

2006-08-28T11:49:00.001-04:00

Emmy Plane Crash Skit Called InsensitiveMonday, August 28, 2006 9:10 AM EDT The Associated Press By GARY GENTILE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was meant to be funny. But a fake plane crash during the opening Emmy awards skit made many cringe on Sunday — the same day 49 people died in a fiery plane crash in Kentucky.The skit, aired live at the start of NBC's Emmy telecast, brought a swift response from the general manager of NBC's Lexington, Ky., affiliate, WLEX."It was a live telecast. We were completely helpless," Tim Gilbert was quoted as saying on the Lexington Herald-Leader's Web site."By the time we began to react, it was over. At the station, we were as horrified as they were at home," Gilbert said.
The prerecorded opening segment began with Emmy host Conan O'Brien boarding a private plane to Los Angeles. Asked by a stewardess if he was nervous about hosting the show, O'Brien answered "Nervous? What could possibly go wrong?"The plane then shook and pitched violently, sending O'Brien out of his seat and seeking shelter in an overhead baggage compartment.The skit didn't show the plane crashing. Instead, it cut to O'Brien emerging from the ocean onto an island resembling the one in "Lost," where he meets a cast member.
The skit aired live on NBC just hours after a commuter jet in Kentucky crashed into a field and burst into flames, killing all aboard except a co-pilot.Gilbert said he plans to ask NBC for an apology."They could have killed the opening and it wouldn't have hurt the show at all," Gilbert said. "We wish somebody had thought this through. It's somewhere between ignorance and incompetence."

There's an acronym on the Internet that sums up this situation nicely. STFU. Why Dalt, you insensitive bastard! How dare you! Well kids, it's simple. First off, stuff happens. As long as there's gravity and we try to beat it, planes will crash. What about the other TV shows and movies that showed plane crashes that aired that night? Should we have "killed the opening" (nice word choice Gilbert, how insensitive) or maybe the entire show? What else should we have put in place? Happy waterfalls and meadows? Grow up! Bad things happen, but we face them and move on. The other point is, maybe the producers didn't know that a plane crashed. Is there a staff position that scours the news, looking to find stories that relate to the show about to be aired, ready to "kill" the potentially insensitive segments? No? Well, there should be. I have the right to never be offended, to never be exposed to reality. If the preceding sounds as questionable to you as it did to me, you can stop reading now. As for those of you who vehemently agree that you have the right to never be offended or troubled by reality, listen up. Find a tall building, at least say, ten stories, and fly away to your happy place. Just think happy thoughts and fly! Everything will be fine and you'll make everyone else around you happy too!

Katrina: The storm is over, the stupidity never ends

2006-08-25T16:17:00.000-04:00

Reuters
Updated: 12:39 a.m. ET Aug 25, 2006

BLUFFTON, S.C. - At 12:33 in the morning on Aug. 31, 2005, John Giljam, inventor and fabricator of the world's first unsinkable bus, tapped out an urgent e-mail to his customers across the United States.
A day earlier, Giljam had "placed a call to FEMA to see if our Hydra Terras can be used in time to save lives," he wrote. "I am awaiting a reply ... I ask you all to consider offering your vehicles and operators to save those in New Orleans if the call comes in that our machines could make a difference."

the rest of the story is here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14504250/

Let it suffice to say that this guy had a great, viable alternative to helicopter rescues, but absolutely no one he contacted "had the authority to authorize" their use. A year later..

In the end, the Giljams' failure to get any agency interested in the Hydra Terra during Katrina may be best explained by the fact that rescuers were drowning in a flood of phone calls, and simply did not have time to pay close attention to each one.
"We were getting thousands of phone calls a day and we were in the process of saving lives," Mark Smith, a public information officer at the governor's office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in Baton Rouge, said recently. Still waiting on an answer Would authorities in Louisiana be interested today in studying Giljam's amphibious bus?

"If he's got something that works, we'd love to take a look," Smith said, adding a caveat: The Hydra Terra "would have to be not only good on land and water, but in really, really deep mud as well." (*NO ONE, including the government has a vehicle that can do that)

On March 22, the Giljams mailed the New Orleans Fire Department a prospectus for the Hydra Terra, a basic version of which retails at about $225,000. On May 10, they sent the specifications to the police department of Gulfport, Miss., then to FEMA.
The Giljams are still waiting for a response.

Crisises come and go, government arrogance and stupidity never ends.

It's called the Law of Probability, stupid!!

2006-08-22T17:20:00.000-04:00

Reuters Updated: 1:50 p.m. ET Aug 22, 2006MIAMI -
If you thought the sight of the great American jazz city New Orleans flooded to the eaves,ts people trapped in attics or cowering on rooftops was the nightmare hurricane scenario, think again.
Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, says theres plenty of potential for a storm worse than Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,339 people along the U.S. Gulf coast and caused some $80 billion in damage last August.
People think we have seen the worst. We haven't" Mayfield told Reuters in an interview at the fortress-like hurricane center in Florida.
"I think the day is coming. I think eventually we're going to have a very powerful hurricane in a major metropolitan area worse than what we saw in Katrina and it's going to be a megadisaster. With lots of lost lives," Mayfield said. "I don't know whether that's going to be this year or five years from now or a hundred years from now. But as long as we continue to develop the coastline like we are, we're setting up for disaster."

OK. What brilliant idiot thought this was news? This is math. Oh, and for you Al Gore-global-warming-will-kill-us-all-send-us-money goof balls, Listen up....

Kam-biu Liu, a geology professor at Louisiana State University, discovered ocean sand in core samples from inland lakes on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. From these samples, Liu concluded that extremely powerful hurricanes battered the Gulf Coast and dumped the sand into the lakes.
Liu thinks the core samples indicate that hurricanes that would be considered catastrophic by modern standards were regularly battering the Gulf Coast thousands of years ago.
From about 3,400 years ago to about 1,000 years ago, the Gulf Coast was hit repeatedly by very powerful hurricanes, Liu said. The frequency of hits increases by three to five times more than today.
The ancient Maya Indians who had their heyday in Mexico and Central America from about A.D. 250 to 900 had more than a passing familiarity with the tempests that regularly howled off the Atlantic. They called their god of storms Hurukan, and its likely that our term for the storms evolved from this name

Bigger, more frequent catastrophic storms 1700 years BEFORE the industrial age? Another proof that "global warming" is ja unk science-gimme money scam. As for the "send-me-government-money-or-donations-to-rebuild-because-I-choose-to-live-in-an-area-where -natural-disasters-occur-and-I-don't-buy-insurance" crowd, sorry about your luck. This also goes for folks who build along rivers, on slippery hillsides, or where the ground shakes, or where you can't build firebreaks because the little animals or bugs have more rights than you.

Food, medicine, temporary shelter, I'll donate to you, but rebuilding, that's your responsibility. And to you weaseling insurance companies shirking your responsibilities to the people who did pay you for protection, a pox, law suits and more government regulations to curb your trifling ways.

Build a spaceship so we can get off planet QUICK

2006-08-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

IT'S OFFICIAL, WE HAVE BECOME A WORLD OF IDIOTS AND TED TURNER IS LEADING THE CHARGE!!

LONDON - Turner Broadcasting is scouring more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including old favorites Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo, to edit out scenes that glamorize smoking.
The review was triggered by a complaint to British media regulator Ofcom by one viewer who took offence to two episodes of Tom and Jerry shown on the Boomerang channel, part of Turner Broadcasting which itself belongs to Time Warner Inc.
“We are going through the entire catalogue,” Yinka Akindele, spokeswoman for Turner in Europe, said on Monday.
“This is a voluntary step we’ve taken in light of the changing times,” she said, adding the painstaking review had been prompted by the Ofcom complaint.
The regulator’s latest news bulletin stated that a viewer, who was not identified, had complained about two smoking scenes on Tom and Jerry, saying they “were not appropriate in a cartoon aimed at children.”

First they edited out all the "violence" in cartoons and generations subsequent have become the most violent, killing anyone who "disses" them. Now what? Dammit, will you PC assholes hurry up and surrender to the cretins you've enabled so we can get on with the business of rooting them out and getting common sense back into the equation again. We founded this country on 'majority rules" and it worked great for over 190 years. Bring back common sense or pack your bags. The damn planet is no longer fit for intelligent beings!!!!!

Turn them in or bear their sin

2006-08-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

From The Washington Post 8/11/06

It all began with a tip: In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on London's transit system, British authorities received a call from a worried member of the Muslim community, reporting general suspicions about an acquaintance.
From that vague but vital piece of information, according to a senior European intelligence official, British authorities opened the investigation into what they said turned out to be a well-coordinated and long-planned plot to bomb multiple transatlantic flights heading toward the United States -- an assault designed to rival the scope and lethality of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.

Note to the peaceful followers of Islam and the moderate members of the Arab community:
THIS is how you deal with the radical members of your society. TELL someone! We'll take it from there. If you give up these monsterous murderers, the rest of us will stop painting your community with the brushes of suspicion and hatred. Until that time, your silence gives consent and you have yourselves to blame for whatever happens.

Scam from the School Board?

2006-07-25T17:53:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I've not been commenting on cincy and it's environs. Oh well, no one is reading this damn thing anyway. But it gets my vitriol on the outside, so that's probably good. Now on to local issues. 3 Rivers School district is having a bond issue. Here's my take on the recent flyer they sent out.

It’s time the voters of our area said, “ENOUGH!”
It’s time the taxpayers of Three Rivers said, “ENOUGH!”
It’s time the residents of Addyston, North Bend and Cleves said, “ENOUGH!”

Recently, a packet was sent to voters in the district to tell us “Things we need to know about the Three Rivers Bond issue” and “A sound community investment” Let’s look at some the “issues” raised by the school board in the letter.

The district will go from five buildings to two and will lower its operating expenses in the long run by 2 million dollars a year.

A 54.5 million dollar expenditure that will save 2 million a year in the long run? The first building opens in 2009, the second in 2011. So, if the “savings” is in full force by then and presuming there are no additional expenses, then by the year 2038, our 2 million dollar savings will equal our expenditure of 54.5 million dollars. Oh, sorry, the state will “give” us 4 million. That cuts it back to 2036, just to break even.

The land for the new school is already owned by the district. It has clean soil and is not near any environmentally contaminated sites.

OK, let’s just lay this major piece of misdirection to rest. The EPA “findings” state that if you live by Lanxess 24-7 for a period of seventy years or more, you might run a very slightly elevated risk of developing some ailment. If you live seventy years ANYWHERE, you run a risk of developing an ailment. Remember, the EPA didn’t close Hitchens, your school board did. If there was a danger, why didn’t the EPA cite or close Lanxess? Why was some outside, political organization called in to make us “aware” of this threat? Might there actually be a political or a social agenda at work here? Besides, what is the school board, or the township or the EPA doing to help the residents of Addyston and North Bend who are “at risk?” Makes you wonder about certain people’s agendas, doesn’t it?

The money raised is restricted to just construction costs and cannot be diverted to salaries benefits, etc.

The issue language is similar to that used in the Cincinnati bond issue. Now that enrollment has dropped in the city, have you heard of rebates to the taxpayers? No, because the money is being diverted, or plans expanded, despite promises to the contrary.

The new buildings will include expanding access to technology, so Three Rivers students can get more skills for college or in joining the workforce.

Who’s going to pay for this technology? Bond issue money pays for the buildings only. Technology costs money for equipment and trained personnel to teach it. Where will that money come from? That’s right, additional operating levies, more taxes. Instead of technology, that benefits a few, why isn’t emphasis being place on basic academics to benefit the majority?

Building new is cheaper than repairing or renovating the old.

Says who? Where are the studies regarding renovation? I haven’t seen any. Why should taxpayers take the word of those who allowed our schools to get in such shape they require immediate replacement? They say there is “major structural repair needed” in the middle school. Where? If it’s so dangerous, why did they leave the middle school open, close Hitchens and move even more students inside. Something doesn’t seem right here, does it?

Bear one thing in mind my fellow taxpayers. I am not against improving our schools. I am not against our children, our teachers or our school employees. I personally feel that the district and the “Citizens for Three Rivers” have not been forthright with the voters, taxpayers, and certain communities in our district. And until such time as they are, I am urging you to vote no on the bond issue. Thank you for taking the time to participate in the democratic process

Honesty does pay, but not by those who benefit

2006-07-25T16:48:00.000-04:00

AP July 25, 2006 DETROIT -
A homeless man who returned $21,000 worth of saving bonds he found in a trash bin is finding out how much honesty can pay off.
Charles Moore, 59, had been searching for returnable bottles last week when he came across the 31 U.S. savings bonds. He turned them in to a homeless shelter, where a staff member tracked down the family of the man who had owned them.

For his good deed, the bond owner’s son gave Moore $100,

but residents around Michigan and in other states decided his action merited a more generous reward.
So far, Moore has received over $4,000.
One man sent him eight trash bags full of returnable bottles and a bowl of coins. Three others gave a combined $2,500, and two businessmen from Troy donated $1,200, a shopping spree and a lead on a job.
“I was thankful for it,” said Moore, who had lost his roofing job in Ohio and moved back to Michigan but couldn’t find work.
Moore said he plans to use the money to find an apartment.
David C. Smith, of Albuquerque, N.M., gave Moore $1,000. Smith said he and his fiancée wouldn’t have thought twice about what to do if the bonds had belonged to them.
“We would have given him the whole amount, period,” Smith said. “No questions asked.”

Now, normally, I'd let this pass unremarked upon. Great, an honest man. God love them, they are far and few between. My consternation lies with the cheap bastards who benefitted from this man's honesty. A $100 reward? You should be ashamed! Total strangers gave him more for his honesty than you did! As for those folks rewarding his honesty, thanks for pointing out that good deeds should be rewarded. For the cheap bastards who got their bonds back, listen up; 10 per cent minimum. I mean, honesty is the best policy and one should do the right thing with no expectation of reward. But seriously, 10 per cent folks. I bet there'll be even more honest people. If anyone finds your stuff, hopefullythey'll give it back, but if there's no reward, I bet they talk about your cheap ass. I know...I just did.

No safe harbor for terrorists

2006-07-20T16:39:00.000-04:00

The following is an excerpt of a Washington Post article

European nations and U.N. officials are eager for a cease-fire or "pause" to allow Lebanese civilians to move to safer areas and investigate diplomatic avenues, as well as prevent other Middle East hot spots from becoming inflamed, European envoys said.

"The one thing that is guaranteed to send the Arab world and the Persian world over the edge is for the U.S. to be seen ultimately to be doing what they always believed -- to be fully in cahoots with Israel," said a European official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic relations. "The danger of allowing it to continue is that the United States is more and more despised. It's not like the U.S. had a good reputation within the region to start with."

Why is it that when these idiots harbor terrorists, or give silent consent to their actions and then get their asses kicked because of it, the first thing that happens is some whiny UN or European do-gooder wants a cease fire, "pause" or whatever. Lebanon let all these rockets in from Syria or Iran ( I don't care which) and gave agreement for their stockpiling, then launching them into another sovereign state. Hey idiots, that's an act of war. All bets are off, so take your ass whoopin for being stupid and be grateful if you get to get your country back.

As for the cowardly asshole quoted above: Who cares what these states who support terrorists think? Despise us? They had better fear us. Unfortunately, you've never seen us when we're really pissed. Ask the Japanese, they remember. The Europeans did their diplomatic thing in WWI and II and if we didn't stand up to their aggressors, they'd be speaking a different language. Now, I realize that gratitude or anything like it might be gauche or whatever, but we really would like like them to learn from their mistakes and quit giving up all the time, hoping these bad people will just leave them alone.

Personally, I hope the Zionists become expansionists. Take over Lebanon as the first state of the United States of Israel. Then sub divide it, half to the Lebanese, half to the Palestinians. Then Syria. Same deal. Everybody gets more ground for their state. As for terrorists, try this:
If you turn in a terrorist, you get a check. Or a house. If you are convicted of terrorism, you leave, with your entire family to whatever country will have you. I bet your family members will turn your ass in. Next country that permits terrorism, same thing. Eventually the "moderate" Arabs will be in the majority and the "extremists" will be all in one place, hopefully, small, out of the way, where they won't be missed. Brutal? You betcha! Simplistic? Oh hell yeah! Doable? Probably not. At least not till one of these silly bastards uses a nuke, or Sarin or some othe WMD. Maybe not even then. Hell, they flattened two towers, an embassy, a barracks (both in Lebanon)train stations, airliners, et al and we haven't done a damn thing yet. Shame on us. Go Israel!

Now, I LAY thee down to sleep

2006-07-13T10:29:00.000-04:00

HOUSTON, July 12 -- Former Enron Corp. executive Kenneth L. Lay, the business visionary who became a symbol of corporate greed, was memorialized Wednesday for his devotion to his family, his faith and his philanthropy -- and also defended as a "good man" who was the victim of prosecutors and the media.
He was a "straight arrow -- a Boy Scout, if you will -- who lived by Christian-Judeo principles," longtime friend Mick Seidl said during a memorial service that drew almost 1,200 to First United Methodist Church. The church, where Lay and his wife, Linda, were married 24 years ago this Monday, is just blocks from the downtown skyscraper that once housed Enron, the energy-trading giant that Lay built.
"I am saddened he will be remembered for the Enron indictment and trial," Seidl said. "An overzealous federal prosecutor and the media have vilified a good man. It was total character assassination."

Yeah right! Hopefully, "Kenny Boy" as Dubya calls him, is in a particularly warm spot in hell. Despite his buddy's views, the man's shameless greed cost the little guys their life savings. And then he dies (suicide anyone?). I'm not saying yes or no, but since he went to the showers, the trial's over and his heirs keep the cash? Appears so. BTW, Mick? Just in case you see this, judeo-chistian principles teach us to not lie, steal, cheat and to treat others as we would be treated. Violation of these principles lead to punishment on earth and in the hereafter. A Boy Scout is trustworthy, kind and thrifty. Kenny boy was none of these. He was a cheat and a coward. I hope his example causes his ilk to emulate his demise, whether by their own hand, or nature's or a pissed off investor.

Think about it

2006-07-11T18:07:00.000-04:00

Three things to think about (from a friend)

1. COWS 2. THE CONSTITUTION 3. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government cantrack a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

THE CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse is you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians......it creates a hostile work environment.

The "Real Inconvenient Truth"

2006-07-06T20:37:00.000-04:00

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 4:00 p.m. ET July 6, 2006
Western wildfires have increased “suddenly and dramatically” since the late 1980s and the wildfire season grew longer — a pattern that appears tied to global warming, according to a study published Thursday.
“The increase in large wildfires appears to be another part of a chain of reactions to climate warming,” said Dan Cayan, a co-author of the paper and director of the climate research division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

No, fires start with a higher temperature, dumbass, not from climate temperature. The reason the amount of fires has increased is because of stupid ass, tree hugger inspired legislation that restricts back or clear cutting, brush removal and fire breaks in order to "perserve habitat" for small mammals. (read vermin) This is not my call, but the US Forestry Department's in a statement made in the late '80's opposing the tree hugger legislation, due to the potential increase of brush fires. How soon we forget the "Inconvenient Truth".

Been a little while

2006-07-06T18:08:00.000-04:00

N ot that there hasn't been a reason to complain around here, quite the contrary. I've just been so blessed busy. So if you've faithfully been checking, my apologies. more to follow and more regularly too. When in doubt, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

To educate the most? It's not FAPE

2006-06-06T09:22:00.000-04:00

Unbridled Costs
Washington Post Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Page A14

As special education spending soars, D.C. schools raid other accounts.

YESTERDAY'S front-page story about the growing drain of special education tuition on D.C. public schools should have stopped school administrators, city leaders, parents and all taxpayers in their tracks. Spending on special education students assigned to private schools has risen 65 percent since 2000 to a whopping $118 million last year, Dan Keating and V. Dion Haynes report. To cover those costs, D.C. school officials have siphoned off tens of millions of dollars from classroom instruction, librarians, guidance counselors, supplies, equipment and maintenance. School board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz, acknowledging that she and other board members were unaware of the transfers, told The Post that special education spending was "so overbudget that they took it from whatever budget was available. It's the biggest scam in America."

FAPE, a free and public education is a fine idea, in theory. My personal belief is that folks who pay taxes in a given district should have some public services available to them, even if they are paying for private schools. The problem that arises from the latter, is that most of the services that would be used by private school parents are highly disproportionate to the amount of taxes paid. In the case of the former, if your child's educational goals include tying their shoes without help or not hitting other students, that's not providing education, that's public subsidy daycare. That aspect means that massive amounts of money and resources are being diverted from the majority, who will eventually become working taxpayers, to an exceedingly small minority, who will never benefit society through public monies spent on their behalf.
Obviously, the problem that arises is that I, and anyone who dares to share my beliefs, are cruel, unfeeling, mean-spirited scumbags. "If it benefits just one child, it's worth it!" The problem is, if it subtracts from all other children, it's not.

No news is...no news, if nobody cares

2006-06-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

Number of Gitmo Hunger Strikers Declines
Sunday, June 4, 2006 6:24 PM EDT
The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees on hunger strike has dropped from 89 to 18, the U.S. military said Sunday.
The strike — which jumped from three participants in late May to 89 on Thursday — was the biggest of the year at the U.S. prison in Cuba, where about 460 men are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Now, I maybe wrong, but isn't this a natural occurance? At least, if there's any dedication.

A win win win situation

2006-05-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

First, let's dig a moat along the full length of the Mexican border,west to east.
Take the dirt and raise the levies in New Orleans an additional 25 feet.
Then put the expanding Florida alligator population in the moat.
Any other problems you would like for me to solve?
Really.
I've got the time.

Jefferson, bribes and Videotapes

2006-05-24T16:13:00.000-04:00

OK. They have this idiot on video, accepting a $100,000 bribe and as the news puts it:

FBI agents searched Jefferson's office in pursuit of evidence in a
bribery investigation. The search warrant, signed by U.S. District Court Judge
Thomas Hogan, was based on an affidavit that said agents found $90,000 in cash
wrapped and stashed in the freezer of Jefferson's home.
The developments are the beginning of what lawmakers predict will be a long
dispute over the FBI's search of Jefferson's office last weekend. Historians say
it was the first raid of a representative's quarters in Congress' 219
years.

Let's hope it becomes a new trend. As far as I'm concerned, this is simple. Video taped offense, possession of the bribe money. 15 minute trial. No appeal. Stripped of office, law license, jail for minimum of 5 years, no parole.

I had my fingers crossed

2006-05-21T22:19:00.000-04:00

The Associated Press-NEW YORK

The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines apologized for disrespecting President Bush during a London concert in 2003. But now, she's taking it back. "I don't feel that way anymore," she told Time magazine for its issue hitting newsstands Monday. "I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

For band member Martie Maguire, the controversy was a blessing in disguise.
"I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith," Maguire said. "We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

Really cool people don't apologize when it's convenient, then take it back when the heat's off.
And a small following is what you deserve--less money, less exposure, more STFU.

All the King's men

2006-05-15T22:39:00.000-04:00

How many men does it take to lock lock the barn after the the horse is out?

President Bush, trying to build support for a major overhaul of the nation's tattered immigration laws, said Monday night he would order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. border with Mexico and urged Congress to give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.

A band-aid on an arterial bleed?

Teachers; Losing your job? Do the freakin math!

2006-05-15T07:40:00.000-04:00

From the Washington Post 5/15/06

Thousands of U.S. students such as Del Monte are increasingly relying on overseas tutors to boost their grades and SAT scores. The tutors, who communicate with students over the Internet, are inexpensive and available around the clock, making education the newest industry to be outsourced to other countries. Tutoring companies figure: If low-paid workers in China and India can sew your clothes, process your medical bills and answer your computer questions, why can't they teach your children, too?

But educational outsourcing has sparked a fierce response from teachers and other critics who argue that some companies are using unqualified overseas tutors to increase their profit margins.

To 15-year-old Amita Achutuni, though, tutoring on the Internet just makes sense. On a recent Monday afternoon, the Potomac resident kicked off her shoes and logged into her home computer. Then she put on her headset.
"Hi, Amita!" a woman with an Indian accent said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"
The voice belonged to Lekha Kamalasan, a $20-an-hour tutor who helps Amita with her geometry homework during twice-a-week, one-hour sessions. Using an electronic white board and a copy of Amita's textbook, Kamalasan guides her through the nuances of cross-multiplication, triangle similarity and assorted geometry proofs.

Amita is one of 400 students enrolled with Growing Stars, a California-based company whose 50 tutors, most of them with master's degrees, work in an office in Cochin, India. The overseas tutors work hard to seem as American as possible. Kamalasan, who has master's degrees in business administration and mathematics, went through two weeks of accent reduction and cultural training. She learned for the first time about baseball and ice skating and had to memorize strange-sounding American holidays. And when she signed off with Amita, she said, "Good night!" even though it was just the start of her graveyard shift in India, running from 1:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. But Kamalasan, 33, doesn't mind because she makes $300 a month, double what she made as a high school teacher. "This is a very good salary," she said.

Cool! Based on a 40 hour week, this woman gets about $1.89 AN HOUR. Growing Stars, the company she works for gets $20 per student per hour, or $3200 per month, if they fill her time with students. Plus extra money from our Government via the No Child Left Behind Act. Damn!
Is this a great country or what? Or was a great country. Darn those state-of-being tenses.

What? I got a life sentence? Do over!!!!

2006-05-08T22:32:00.000-04:00

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied on the witness stand about being involved in the terrorist plot and wants to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial. The judge turned him down. Moussaoui said he was "extremely surprised" that he was sentenced to life in prison instead of execution and now believes he can get a fair trial from an American jury.

Let him have a new trial. Sentence him to die this time. SURPRISE! Like I said, watch them posture right up to crunch time then, "whaa, I was just kidding! Do over!"