Friday, March 31, 2006
Dutch blaggers explode ATMs
Even if you know what a blagger is, I bet you haven't heard about this...
The U.K. Register reports:
"Dutch blaggers explode ATMs"
Saddam's Delusions: The View from the Inside
This story takes up 11 web pages; however, it is really interesting to read...
Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray write about "Foreign Affairs - Saddam's Delusions":
"The quoted paragraph(s) from the linked web page go here."
Immigration's root cause
So why wouldn't our astute politicians focus on this principal reason?...
Bernd Debusmann, a Reuters Special Correspondent, digs into the immigration issue:
"That income gap is the principal reason why hundreds of thousands of Mexicans cross the border with the U.S. illegally to seek work -- yet it rarely figures in the heated and increasingly emotional debate over immigration now raging in the United States."
Michelle Malkin
Protesting is certainly within ones rights; however, when it gets to this, I must take offense...
Michelle Malkin has issues with the immigration protests:
"Whittier area students from Pioneer, California and Whittier high schools walked out of classes to protest the proposed federal immigration bill March 27, 2006. The protestors put up the Mexican flag over the American flag flying upside down at Montebello High. (Leo Jarzomb/Staff photo)"
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Heart-Healthy Ham
Weird science or a glimpse of the future?...
The Scientific American has the latest:
"a team of researchers has realized that vision, creating several healthy pigs with meat rich in omega-3s."
Christopher Hitchens being himself
If you know of Christopher Hitchens, you can only guess where he spends some of his time.
But, it is clear, that at one time or another, he obtained quite a vocabulary...
But, it is clear, that at one time or another, he obtained quite a vocabulary...
Christopher Hitchens calls his article:
"My Ideal War - How the international community should have responded to Bush's September 2002 U.N. speech."
"But what did the president get instead? The threat of unilateral veto from Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Private assurances to Saddam Hussein from members of the U.N. Security Council. Pharisaic fatuities from the United Nations' secretary-general, who had never had a single problem wheeling and dealing with Baghdad. The refusal to reappoint Rolf Ekeus—the only serious man in the U.N. inspectorate—to the job of invigilation. A tirade of opprobrium, accusing Bush of everything from an oil grab to a vendetta on behalf of his father to a secret subordination to a Jewish cabal. Platforms set up in major cities so that crowds could be harangued by hardened supporters of Milosevic and Saddam, some of them paid out of the oil-for-food bordello."
It's Carter's fault
im·pu·is·sant (noun).
One who lacks power or effectiveness; or is weak...
One who lacks power or effectiveness; or is weak...
I've never been a Jimmy Carter fan so Mychal Massie's writing rings true to me:
"The truth is the liberal party that was founded on racism, slavery and separatism are in the process of losing their minds. On the one hand, it is hysterical to listen to their mendacious diatribes. On the other, they are a sad commentary on the landscape of human existence. They are a morose collective of impuissants who, being out of power and void of constructive ideas, rely upon ipse dixit and misrepresentations. They forget, however, that there is a written record that convicts them of their duplicity."
Censure former President Carter?
Think President Carter is over the line lately?
If so, you can sign a petition for censure at the following website:
If so, you can sign a petition for censure at the following website:
CensureCarter.com:
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
World Public Opinion
Widely reported by the old, biased, lame, mainstream (sic) media. NOT!...
Did you miss the January 31, 2006 poll at World Public Opinion? Here is just one of the results:
"Iraqis overall have a positive view of the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Asked, “Thinking about any hardships you might have suffered since the US-Britain invasion, do you personally think that ousting Saddam Hussein was worth it or not?” 77% say it was worth it, while 22% say it was not."
"Gallup asked the same question in April 2004. At that time, 61% said that it was worth it and 28% said that it was not."
Allies?
Some of our "allies" are mentioned here.
Kinda makes you wonder...
Kinda makes you wonder...
In the New York Times, Richard Bernstein writes "Germans Say 6 Companies Sold Nuclear Parts to Iran Network":
"A prosecutor in the state of Brandenberg, Benedikt Welfens, told German television on Monday that several million dollars' worth of equipment that could be used for a nuclear program had been shipped from Germany to Iran, via a Russian company that operated in Berlin in 2003 and 2004."
"'Its main business is the supply of Iran's nuclear program,' Mr. Welfens said on the ARD television network. He said the parts included special cables, pumps and transformers, worth about $3.6 million."
Producing "reality"
I think it's very clear now that our adversaries devote a lot of time and effort to creating scenes and impressions that they hope will be shown in the world's media.
Events are "produced" just like "reality" TV.
And sadly, for many, it is blindly accepted as the truth.
And the bad guys know it!...
Trivia - In Pakistan they actually call them "fully managed episodes" (but our media does not).
Events are "produced" just like "reality" TV.
And sadly, for many, it is blindly accepted as the truth.
And the bad guys know it!...
Trivia - In Pakistan they actually call them "fully managed episodes" (but our media does not).
Reuters reports in Bagdad:
"U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque."
"'After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There's been huge misinformation,' Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said."The quoted paragraph(s) from the linked web page go here."
US bank approves ripped-up application
You are using your shredder, aren't you?...
The U.K. Register seems surprised by this:
"US bank approves ripped-up credit card application"
Junk Land?
As written, this seems like an acceptable idea. Now, let's see what the politicians and environmentalists say...
Holly L. Fretwell writing in the Wall Street Opinion Journal:
"The Bush administration proposed a novel idea recently: Sell off a tiny fraction of National Forest land to save money and raise funds for rural schools."
One illegal immigrant
Trust me. I've having my chauffer checked out right now...
United Press International reports:
"Clinton chauffeur an illegal immigrant"
Different strokes for different folks
There's no holding back in this article...
Deroy Murdock writes in the National Review Online:
"... liberal Democrats stay mum while “their people” get seized, maimed, and killed over there. Rather than demand the total defeat of these butchers, Operation Iraqi Freedom’s shrillest opponents instead accuse President Bush of carelessly blundering into war while brilliantly manipulating Democrats into authorizing hostilities. Al Qaeda’s man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, elicits shrugs while America’s true enemies, they suggest, are Guantanamo, the NSA terrorist-surveillance program, and the just-renewed Patriot Act."
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
More drones
The useful kind, that is.
Looks like we're not the only ones using high-flying technology...
Looks like we're not the only ones using high-flying technology...
Murray Brewster reports for the Canadian News Network:
"Air force to establish first all pilotless formation"
"It can be described as a milestone," said Maj. John Casey, a helicopter pilot and the commander of the TUAV flight in Kanadahar.
"It's a milestone in the ongoing transformation of the air force and the Canadian Forces."
"For security reasons, military officials on the ground here will not say how many drones are in use, but an average manned flight involves six to 12 aircraft."
Border Security
How can this be?...
At EagleForum.org, Phyllis Schlafly reports:
"If you don't have access to Texas newspapers or the internet, you may not have heard the sensational news about the enormous cache of weapons our government recently seized in Laredo, Texas. U.S. authorities grabbed two completed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), materials for making 33 more, military-style grenades, 26 grenade triggers, large quantities of AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, 1,280 rounds of ammunition, silencers, machine gun assembly kits, 300 primers, bullet-proof vests, police scanners, sniper scopes, narcotics, and cash."
"Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) reported that sheriff deputies spotted a military-style Humvee near El Paso, Texas, with a mounted .50-caliber machine gun escorting a caravan of SUVs bringing illegal drugs into our country. Our outgunned and outmanned sheriff deputies and state highway patrol couldn't do anything except take pictures."
"Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) says that if you visit the border, you will find that almost everyone who lives there is armed for protection from illegals. Just imagine if you had to carry a gun when you go to the grocery store or take your kids to school!"
Immigration
This is apparently going to get interesting
(if not bloody)...
(if not bloody)...
In an article at NewsMax.com, they report "James Sensenbrenner Not Deterred by Immigration Protests". Here's one of his points:
"I do not believe that illegal aliens should receive legal government documents, such as driver's licenses," he explained. "Illegal aliens should not be granted amnesty and a path to citizenship. This would be a slap in the face to all those who have followed the law and have come to America legally."
Monday, March 27, 2006
Rich Lowry watches "Meet the Press"
I read the transcript of this show.
I was astonished that so many unproven accusations went unchallenged...
I was astonished that so many unproven accusations went unchallenged...
Rich Lowry apparently noticed it, too:
"John Murtha is the longtime Pennsylvania congressman and former Marine who fits the Democratic party’s preferred political formula on the war. That formula is to say inane or incoherent things, but have a veteran say them on the theory that, then, no one will notice their inanity or incoherence. This was basically the rationale of the John “Reporting-for-Duty” Kerry presidential campaign in 2004. Murtha was on Meet the Press this past weekend to mark the third anniversary of the launching of the assault on Baghdad."
Charitable Accounting
I need a special category for stories like this...
Laura Italiano writes in the New York Post:
"Manhattan prosecutors say Winferd Keaton - a 45-year-old father of one from Edison, N.J., who was still on probation for a previous embezzlement - deserves extra scorn because he drained funds from two Brooklyn homeless shelters.
"He is stealing not just from a not-for-profit, the Salvation Army, but ultimately, he is stealing from the poor and homeless," lead prosecutor Elson Ho told a Manhattan Supreme Court judge yesterday."
Public Affection?
"The times they are a changin" (Bob Dylan)...
LifeSite.net is reporting:
"New UK Law: Restaurants Must Permit Gays to Publicly Exhibit Affection"
Private Savings Accounts
Sounds like this won't work until everyone is more educated.
Perhaps "the rich get richer" saying is really true...
Perhaps "the rich get richer" saying is really true...
Star Parker writes in an article titled "Private Savings Accounts Don't Attract Less Educated":
"However, according to a team of psychologists from Swarthmore and Stanford, who discussed the results of their work recently in the New York Times, Americans do not uniformly welcome more choices into their lives."
"Specifically, whereas higher income, better educated individuals welcome the empowerment of more choice, working class Americans, who represent the majority of our workforce, often do not."
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Lodi man sues himself
If this doesn't work, maybe the dog could sue for something...
This came from the Associated Press a few days ago:
"AP Wire | 03/15/2006 | Lodi man sues himself for vehicle damage"
The mystery of the skipping stone
Skipping stones, bouncing bombs, & torpedo design?.
You know physics, don't you?...
You know physics, don't you?...
Well, now that I've wondered, PhysicsWeb.org has some answers:
"In 2002 an American called Kurt Steiner set a new world record when he threw a stone across a river in Pennsylvania and made it bounce 40 times."
Dems shadow Steele
Politics is rough business. Could this be called stalking?...
From an article by Thomas Dennison in the Maryland Gazette about the election campaign for Maryland Senator:
"Paul D. Ellington, Steele’s chief of staff and longtime political consigliere, told The Gazette that the Democratic Party is worried that Steele is connecting with Marylanders and is willing to do anything for the party’s political gain."
"Ellington said he expects Democrat researchers to attend campaign-related events, but attending public events such as municipal tours is excessive."
"Gotcha's" or "Pimping"
It seems to me that every headline is a "gotcha", and there are more "whistleblowers" than workers.
Then, in every story, the accuser either offers no proof, or astoundingly, agrees with the investigations that have found no wrongdoing so far.
Could it be that the media is just pimping for ratings?...
Then, in every story, the accuser either offers no proof, or astoundingly, agrees with the investigations that have found no wrongdoing so far.
Could it be that the media is just pimping for ratings?...
Roger Aronoff writes at a website called "Accuracy In Media":
"The fact remains that, unlike then-president Clinton, who led a military action against Serbia without seeking or acquiring congressional approval, President Bush sought the approval of Congress and got it. And this was after Congress passed-and Clinton had signed-a policy seeking regime change in Iraq."
"After getting congressional approval, the U.S. took the matter to the United Nations, where it got a unanimous Security Council resolution, 1441, to give Iraq one last chance to come clean on its weapons of mass destruction programs. The clear implication was that if Iraq didn't cooperate, the next step would be military action."
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Troops spending their own money on equipment
Now, where did I hear stories like this before?...
Richard Foot, writing for CanWest News Service:
"Troops spending their own money on equipment"
Lies, illegal, all about oil
A Brit discusses the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war...
Tim Hames, in an UK Times opinion column, writes:
"The e-mail contained rhetoric that has become familiar, though fatuous. It railed against 'lies about weapons of mass destruction', an 'illegal war', 'Abu Ghraib' and the 'expropriation of Iraqi resources'. All the words so often employed about Iraq were there, except, of course, 'Saddam' and 'Hussein'. In any case, the entire episode started in March 2003 was condemned as an 'occupation' that has 'brought nothing to the Iraqi people except ever increasing death and destruction.'"
"'I suppose it depends on how you define 'nothing'. If two elections, one constitutional referendum, a free press, an independent judiciary, greater religious liberty, the lifting of economic sanctions, reintegration into the region and the wider international community count for 'nothing', then nothing is a reasonable assessment. As many leaders of the anti-war movement have nothing but contempt for 'bourgeois democracy' and hate capitalism and its manifestations, then, for them, 'nothing' is entirely accurate."
In the Sydney Morning Herald
The Australians want balanced Iraq news, too...
I found this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's one paragraph:
"He also sent me a letter which has been circulating among soldiers for a month, from the mayor of Tal 'Afar, near the Syrian border, praising the "lion hearts" of the US 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment who have changed the city from "ghost town in which terrorists spread death and destruction to a secure city flourishing with life"
Friday, March 24, 2006
Good news re: Bird Flu
This sounds like it might be good news...
According to the Scientific American website:
"Bird Flu Resides Deep in Lungs, Preventing Human-to-Human Transmission"
03-24-06 Wonder Land
Every Friday, I enjoy Daniel Henninger's column "Wonder Land". Today is no different...
In Dan Henninger's opinion column:
"It wasn't the sort of set speech that presidents normally read, bobblehead bouncing between two teleprompters. Holding a hand microphone, Mr. Bush walked around a stage before a few thousand people giving a largely extemporaneous talk on Iraq and his presidency. It was mesmerizing. One kept expecting Mr. Bush, whose deepest supporters despair at his inarticulateness, to stumble into the underbrush of confused facts or argument to nowhere. Never happened. Not once. For over an hour, it was nothing but net."
Catching them and throwing them back
Canada is soft on child pornographers...
In the Toronto Sun, Linda Williamson takes issue with Canada's sentencing of child pornographers:
"Canada's maximum penalty for trafficking in child porn is 10 years. It has never been used. Jail terms are rare -- the usual sentence in a child porn case is house arrest. (By contrast, in 1999, a U.S. child porn distributor was sentenced to 1,335 years in prison.)"
"On Friday, Edmonton's Carl Treleaven, who pleaded guilty to helping run the chat rooms at the centre of this worldwide child-sex-video ring, was sentenced to just three and a half years in jail -- even though the judge called him a "danger to society" and the volume and depravity of the images he traded "unprecedented."
"Pathetic. Yet this was the toughest sentence ever imposed in Canada for distributing child porn! One Edmonton cop called it a step forward."
Questions Surround Activities of Clinton Donor
Let there be no doubt that the world of politics is paved with money...
Meghan Clyne reports in the New York Sun:
"Senator Clinton's likely Republican opponent in 2006 and a South Korean newspaper are raising questions about campaign donations the New York Democrat has received from a New York businessman who is involved in an organization that sets up cultural events in North Korea."
"The organization was founded by a man who later resigned as South Korea's ambassador to America after allegations emerged that he helped establish a "slush fund" for South Korean politicians."
"'Once again serious questions surround Senator Clinton's fund-raising operation,' the Republican challenger in Mrs. Clinton's Senate re-election bid, a former mayor of Yonkers, John Spencer, said about the donations. 'We know that federal charges were levied against her fund-raisers from her last campaign and that she has taken money linked to supporters of Iranian mullahs. Now another issue pops up. Senator Clinton needs to come clean and answer these latest questions.'"
"A request for comment from Mrs. Clinton's Senate office was referred to her campaign spokesman, Sam Arora, who did not return repeated phone call and e-mail requests for comment Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday."
Meathead
It's Archie's choice of words, not mine...
In FrontPage magazine, Lloyd Billingsley writes about Reiner's plan. Among many, here's one snippet:
"The question of costs and revenues casts a particular light on already existing preschools plans such as Ready to Start. This program has been operating for two years in two Kern County districts in partnership with local businesses, education agencies and colleges."
"The five-week summer program uses existing facilities and spends $350 per child. (The tab for Reiner's plan is more than $8,000 per child.) The program uses a structured academic program, tests children before and after the session, and tracks them as they progress through elementary school. Children increased their scores by the end of the program and retained the skills through kindergarten."
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Let George do it
200,000 deaths in 3 years.
Sooner or later, everyone seems to need (and want) our cavalry...
Sooner or later, everyone seems to need (and want) our cavalry...
In today's Wall Street Opinion Journal:
"...All of this is a repeat of the same feckless U.N. pattern we've seen in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.
So that leaves . . . guess who? The cowboy President, the American unilateralists, the Yankee imperialists--or, to put it another way, the only nation with the will and wallet to provide order in an otherwise Hobbesian world."
Equal treatment is requested
Did this guy just call out the media?...
In the National Catholic Register, Mark Shea closes his article with:
"So to the mainstream media I say: If you must pull the noses of believers, then have the courage of your alleged principles and oppose radical Islam."
"Otherwise, shut up about being the “guardians of free speech,” for your courage is a permanently exposed as a fraud and we can henceforth declare with confidence that the real reason you bully Christians and cringe before radical Islamic thugs is simple: The Vatican does not issue fatwas."
Trusted him, did you?
Fool me once; shame on you...
Investor's Business Daily calls Governor Corzine a "promise breaker":
"New Jersey: Gov. Jon Corzine joins his tax-happy predecessor, Jim Florio — and former President Bill Clinton — in a rogues' gallery of Democrats elected under false fiscal pretenses."
Ann Coulter wonders about polls
I wonder about them, too...
In this article, Ann Coulter remembers quite a few past poll headlines; and then reminds us of the most important poll result:
"And then -- despite the fact that every single man, woman and child in America opposed the war in Iraq and despised George Bush -- a few months later, Bush won re-election against well-respected war hero John Kerry."
Under reporting Muslim violence
So, does the media suppress certain bad news to be politically correct?...
At TownHall.com, John Leo concludes:
"Suppressing news, whether out of multicultural deference or fear, is a perilous business. We can’t know how to react to upheavals if we aren’t told about them."
Merit Pay Plan Is a Bitter Apple
Life is quite complicated in the world of teachers compensation...
Julia Crowse writes for the Ledger in Lakeland, FL. She begins:
"The modern reality of teaching in Florida schools makes Bess Lott, a 32-year veteran, wonder whether she'd choose teaching as a career if she had it to do over."
Another CIA Attack on Bush
So, why is the media so trusting of Paul Pillar?...
From Paul Aronoff at Accuracy in Media:
"In the face of all of this comes Paul Pillar, another disgruntled former CIA official. According to Guillermo Christensen, writing in the Wall Street Journal, 'it is hard to think of anyone in the government who was more directly involved in reaching the wrong conclusions about what was going on in Iraq than Mr. Pillar himself.'"
"Christensen was a CIA intelligence officer for 15 years, and is currently with the Council on Foreign Relations. He says Pillar was in the best position of anyone to draft a National Intelligence Estimate, 'recording for all what was going on in Iraq.' He says Pillar has a political agenda, against this administration, and 'made no bones about it in discussions with think-tank audiences long before he left the agency.' He accuses Pillar of 'violating his confidences' and causing damage to the CIA. 'For a CIA officer to discard this neutral role and to inject himself in the political realm is plain wrong,' wrote Christensen. 'It will end up making the CIA even less relevant than it is today, if that is possible.'"
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
NBC reports. You decide.
This behavior just doesn't sound right to me.
Apparently, I'm not alone...
Apparently, I'm not alone...
Cliff Kincaid calls them:
"Traitors at NBC News"
The Democrats Plan
I've heard a lot about the Dems revealing their plan, but I don't think this is what they were being asked about...
Rowan Scarborough writes about it in the Washington Times:
"Senate Democrats have mapped a political battle plan for the March congressional recess..."
Sen. Durbin's tune has changed
Senator Durbin is highly critical of the Iraq war;
but, there was a time (1998) when...
but, there was a time (1998) when...
Senator Durbin, in a press release, said this:
"I fully support President Clinton and our national security team's decision to take swift action against Saddam Hussein."
"The attack against this dictator should come as no surprise."
Spitzer Versus the Poor
The NY Sun questions candidate Spitzer's latest lawsuit...
The NY Sun Editorial Staff reports. I wonder if they wrote it as a staff out of fear. They begin with:
"So the Lord High Executioner of Wall Street, Eliot Spitzer, now wants to make it "fraud" to help a poor person save for retirement. That's the message of the complaint filed this week in New York State court in Manhattan in The People of the State of New York against H&R Block. Those who have been following Mr. Spitzer for years now thought they'd pretty much seen it all, but for an example of leftist ideology run amok, this lawsuit sets a new standard of cynicism, denying those of modest means a first step into the system of capitalism and savings that is enjoyed with impunity by wealthy leftists such as Mr. Spitzer himself."
Senator Schumer
The Washington Times is the counterweight to the Washington Post...
In this opinion column the Times editors discuss Senator Schumer, They begin:
"The one thing that hasn't prompted Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to rush before a camera is his organization's identity-theft scandal. This makes sense, from where he sits. The Democratic media was never interested in the story: The Washington Post buried yesterday's coverage of the plea bargain in its Metro section and the New York Times mentioned it only in passing. Mr. Schumer has been able to duck the story for the six months since it emerged that campaign committee staffers stole the credit report of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele of Maryland in the search for dirt. All this begs questions about the sincerity of Mr. Schumer's pose as the scourge of identity theft -- as well as the lengths to which some Democrats will go to smear Republican candidates."
Presidential material? - John Kerry
Even if you are non-political, you might wonder about this guy...
I found this at NewsMax.com. You can try to guess who said:
"I can say to an absolute certainty,
'Boston Gone by 2036.'"
Presidential Material? - John McCain
If true, this doesn't sound like presidential demeanor...
This little tidbit can be found in the middle of the page at Families for a Secure America:
"Encounter with John McCain"
"John McCain SCREAMS AT 9/11 FSA MEMBERS FOR OPPOSING HIS BILL TO GIVE AMNESTY FOR ILLEGALS"
Presidential Material? - Hillary Clinton
A long story about Hillary. This is only Part 2...
In the New Media Journal.us, Joan Swirsky writes a series on Hillary Clinton:
"So it’s not a matter of who has kept the rather intimate company of crooks, is familiar with criminal charges or is more corrupt. Rather it is who will succeed: Hillary in getting the suit against her dismissed or Mr. Paul in winning it and effectively quashing The Scandal Queen’s aspirations for a presidential run in 2008."
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
A bang-bang man?
The megalopolis you never heard of.
Either did I, until I read this article.
It's almost mind-boggling...
Either did I, until I read this article.
It's almost mind-boggling...
The UK Guardian writes about the "Invisible City":
"Chongqing is the fastest-growing urban centre on the planet. Its population is already bigger than that of Peru or Iraq, with half a million more arriving every year in search of a better life."
"Cities are good for the rich. If you have money you can do anything. If you don't want to carry something, you just hire a bangbang man.'"
Voter registration rolls
Looking at our election system is sometimes scary.
For what it's worth (in one city) ...
For what it's worth (in one city) ...
Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee reports:
"City drops 105,000 names from voter registration rolls."
"That represents about 23% of the 450,000 names that had been on the rolls. Officials had said they were unsure if a purge of the rolls had been conducted after the 2000 election."
Qusai writes
The Hussein family: Nice people, heh?...
Republican Guard Secretariat Presidential Office
Special Security Organization
Republican Guard Chief of Staff Security
Number / [blank]
Date / March 14, 2003
Secret and Personal
Presidential Office/ Special Office
The Secretary:
Re / Kuwaiti POW’s
Regarding the execution of Mr. President, Commander Saddam Hussein’s (God protect him) orders, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Command Council on Friday, March 4, 2003.
Transfer all Kuwaiti POW’s / a total of 448 captured Kuwaitis who are located at the Al-Nida Al-Agher Prison and the Intelligence / General Center and Kazema Prison in Al-Kazema, to make them human shields at all locations that are expected to be attacked by the American aggressors. Put them in communication locations and essential ministries, radio and television, Military Industrial Commissions, and all other locations expected to be attacked by the criminal Anglo-American aggressors.
Transporting them should be in coordination with:
Intelligence Services Directorate Republican Guard Chief of Staff
Under direct supervision of the Special Security Organization / Organization Security
[Signature]
Qusai Saddam Hussein
Supervisor
of the Republican Guard Secretariat
March 14, 2003
A copy to:
Intelligence Service Directorate / Office of the Director
Republican Guard Chief of Staff / Office of the Chief of Staff
This a copied verbatim from the Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents website. It is evolving by the minute and I can't seem to post a link that works.CMPC-2003-012666
Republican Guard Secretariat Presidential Office
Special Security Organization
Republican Guard Chief of Staff Security
Number / [blank]
Date / March 14, 2003
Secret and Personal
Presidential Office/ Special Office
The Secretary:
Re / Kuwaiti POW’s
Regarding the execution of Mr. President, Commander Saddam Hussein’s (God protect him) orders, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Command Council on Friday, March 4, 2003.
Transfer all Kuwaiti POW’s / a total of 448 captured Kuwaitis who are located at the Al-Nida Al-Agher Prison and the Intelligence / General Center and Kazema Prison in Al-Kazema, to make them human shields at all locations that are expected to be attacked by the American aggressors. Put them in communication locations and essential ministries, radio and television, Military Industrial Commissions, and all other locations expected to be attacked by the criminal Anglo-American aggressors.
Transporting them should be in coordination with:
Intelligence Services Directorate Republican Guard Chief of Staff
Under direct supervision of the Special Security Organization / Organization Security
[Signature]
Qusai Saddam Hussein
Supervisor
of the Republican Guard Secretariat
March 14, 2003
A copy to:
Intelligence Service Directorate / Office of the Director
Republican Guard Chief of Staff / Office of the Chief of Staff
Daniel Henninger in the WSJ
Ethics - Politics - What's important?
We clearly have a problem.
This is one of those articles that I had to read and think about one sentence at a time...
We clearly have a problem.
This is one of those articles that I had to read and think about one sentence at a time...
Daniel Henninger discusses it, beginning with:
"Tales from the Enron trial got you down? Like Andrew Fastow's testimony of how he laundered $10,000 as a tax-free gift to his own sons? So after work you stumble home, seeking refuge from the workaday sludge in the stark competitive world of Sports Illustrated, which this week is awash in the details of the doping case against Barry Bonds, an Icarus, legend has it, who flew toward baseball heaven on wax wings made from human growth hormone."
'Al Qaeda' in Commons
The Brits have their security questions also...
From "The Sun" in the U.K.:
"Former detainee Mahmoud Suliman Ahmed Abu Rideh even sat in the Commons public gallery for a debate."
"He was invited to Westminster on Tuesday by Lord Ahmed, who met him at Regent’s Park mosque three weeks ago."
"The father of five — suspected of being a money man for terror groups — was given a SECURITY sticker for his Parliamentary visit."
Monday, March 20, 2006
"Precious little Autum" - hardly
A hat tip to my friend Harry.
If this is poetry, I can do without it...
If this is poetry, I can do without it...
Michelle Malkin writes:
"One of the nation's fastest-rising poetry prodigies is a 7-year-old New York girl whose poisonous demagogic advocacy of black separatism makes Al Sharpton look like Mr. Rogers."
Too sick; but OK to play?
Only as strong as the weakest link
Apparently, the prosecutors are clean.
Unfortunately, someone else is not.
And worst of all, the reporting looks to be questionably not precise (read biased)...
Unfortunately, someone else is not.
And worst of all, the reporting looks to be questionably not precise (read biased)...
At RealClearPolitics.com Debra Burlingame discusses the problems associated with the Moussaoui trial:
"The Moussaoui case serves as a vivid reminder of the corrosive impact of prosecutorial misconduct. When a prosecutor breaks the rules, it's not just the defendant who loses. We all do.""So said the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune last week. But hold on here. There is no evidence that any prosecutor broke any rules in the Zacarias Moussaoui case. What happened in that Alexandria, Virginia courtroom last Tuesday was the result of the highly professional, highly ethical prosecution team unilaterally reporting the misconduct of a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lawyer who is neither a criminal prosecutor nor a member of the prosecution team."
Spyware-for-hire
So who's watching your computer?...
"Spyware-for-hire couple plead guilty", reported in The Register:
"Investigators allege the duo developed and sold customised spyware or Trojan horse packages designed to evade detection by security tools..."
Rich Lowry on Immigration
In addition to my general dislike for illegal immigration, the strawberry part has me thinking.
Illegal aliens keep the price down so strawberry growing stays in the U.S.
Otherwise, the growing will shift abroad, increasing the trade deficit.
So, are we stuck with picking (no pun intended) the lesser of the two "evils"?...
Illegal aliens keep the price down so strawberry growing stays in the U.S.
Otherwise, the growing will shift abroad, increasing the trade deficit.
So, are we stuck with picking (no pun intended) the lesser of the two "evils"?...
Rich Lowry writes for the National Review:
"A core element of the American creed has always been a belief in the dignity of labor — at least until now. Supporters of a guest-worker program for Mexican laborers say that "there are jobs that no Americans will do." This is an argument that is a step away from suggesting that there are jobs that Americans shouldn't do."
"President George Bush, a strong supporter of the guest-worker program, has long said that "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." We are supposed to believe, however, that the work ethic does stop there — it is only south of it that people can be found who are willing to work in construction, landscaping and agricultural jobs. So, without importing those people into our labor market, these jobs would go unfilled, disrupting the economy (and creating an epidemic of unkempt lawns in Southern California)."
"This is sheer nonsense. ..."
Immigration to Russia - 20 mil annually
Did you know this? It's surprising to me...
From the Russian News & Information Agency:
"MOSCOW, March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Over 20 million people come to Russia every year as part of a post-Soviet 'migration boom', and half of them are in the country illegally, a senior Russian migration official said Wednesday.
'More than 20 million migrants annually come to Russia, mainly from former Soviet republics. Experts say about 10 million of them do so illegally,' Federal Migration service head Konstantin Romodanovsky told the State Duma, parliament's lower house."
Immigration Issues
As with so many issues, immigration changes will never please everyone. This article explains some of the issues; and of course, the politics...
"At the Border", by Tamar Jacoby:
"These provisional workers could travel at will, they could change jobs if they wanted and could bring their families to the country to live with them. But unless Congress vastly increased the annual quota of permanent visas (green cards)--a difficult step in today's political climate--most would have to wait 60 or 70 years for this prerequisite of citizenship. The result would be a permanent caste of second-class noncitizen workers, people we trusted to cook our food and tend our children and take care of our elderly relatives--but not to call themselves Americans or participate in politics. They would live in permanent limbo, at risk of deportation if they lost their jobs, hesitant to bargain with employers and unlikely to make the all-important emotional leap that is essential for assimilation."
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Directorate of National Intelligence
This looks like another "Able Danger" scenario.
I'm sure the government has our best interests at heart. Aren't you?
Right after their self-interests and self-protection, of course...
I'm sure the government has our best interests at heart. Aren't you?
Right after their self-interests and self-protection, of course...
The Wall Street Opinion Journal is wondering about this information. Here are some selected quotes from their editorial:
"These items--collected and examined in Qatar as part of what's known as the Harmony program--appear to contain information highly relevant to the ongoing debate over the war on terror. But nearly three years after Baghdad fell, we see no evidence that much of what deserves to be public will be anytime soon."
"And our alarm bells really rang when the intelligence official added another category of information that's never slated to see the light of day: "We cannot release wholesale material that we can reasonably foresee will damage the national interest." Well, what exactly does that mean and who makes the call? The answer, apparently, is unaccountable analysts following State Department guidelines."
"America went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan because we believed that the truth about the regimes in those countries justified it. Why should so much of that truth now be deemed so sensitive?"
PS- Since this was written, 48,000 boxes of info are being released and posted at the:
Foreign Military Studies Office Joint Reserve Intelligence Center website.
It looks to be quite interesting.
Jim Rutz is watching
I agree with this writer, but, apparently good news doesn't sell.
And that's why it is the way it is...
And that's why it is the way it is...
Jim Rutz is watching the news:
"If you want to know what happened today, you don't have to turn on the tube. I will be happy to tell you right now, no extra charge."
"Ready? Here goes: What happened today is about what happened yesterday. And the day before. Namely:
Four billion people went to work or took care of their kids. They cooked food, paid bills, washed clothes, handled problems, had a few laughs, did most of their chores, and got enough sleep to face tomorrow.
That's the stuff of real life. But don't expect your favorite news anchor to report something so majorly boring."
The latest on "Nessie"
There's a sucker born every minute
- Phineas Taylor Barnum...
- Phineas Taylor Barnum...
According to a report in The Australian:
"Loch Ness monster 'an elephant'"
Created in thin air
Advertisements right outside your windows?...
According to NewScientist.com:
"The night sky could soon be lit up with gigantic three-dimensional adverts, thanks to a Japanese laser display that creates glowing images in thin air."
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Birth Certificates
The world as we know it is changing.
Who decides "A" or "B"?
And how long before a "B" files a discrimination charge, because they think they should be an "A"?...
Who decides "A" or "B"?
And how long before a "B" files a discrimination charge, because they think they should be an "A"?...
The U.K. Daily Telegraph reports on events in Spain:
"According to an announcement in the Official Bulletin of State 'The expression 'father' will be replaced with 'Progenitor A', and 'mother' will be replaced with 'Progenitor B'.'"
Hey buddy! Wanna buy a list?
So you register your gun(s), and you get put on a list.
The bad guys get the list, find you, and steal your gun(s).
And the end result is: the bad guys have the guns. Ughh!...
The bad guys get the list, find you, and steal your gun(s).
And the end result is: the bad guys have the guns. Ughh!...
The Toronto Sun discusses gun registration:
"A fortnight ago, and in the wake of another calculated but seemingly out-of-the-blue robbery of a registered gun collector, even the Toronto Star finally entertained the possibility that the national gun registry might have been compromised and that sensitive information might have leaked to criminals."
"Trouble is, this is hardly cutting-edge news."
Clinton Quiet About Past Wal-Mart Ties
And which way is the wind blowing today?...
The Associated Press reports this via Yahoo! News:
"As Clinton sheds her Arkansas past and looks ahead to a possible 2008 presidential run, the Wal-Mart issue presents an exquisite dilemma: how to reconcile the political demands she faces today with her history at a company many American consumers depend upon but many Democratic activists revile."
And the bad guys know it
Apparently, Europe talks a lot and carries no big stick...
In the Wall Street Opinion Journal :
"So for years the Troika continued talking, maintaining the illusion that Tehran was playing by the rules as equal partners and denying the reality that the Mullahs will gain great economic and military leverage over Europe in the very near future."
"Europe could have suppressed the Iranian threat if it had convinced the mullahs two years ago that it was willing to contemplate military options. Only Europe lacks core values that it holds sacrosanct and that it's willing to defend at the highest cost. It will continue to operate on the diplomatic field and cling to soft power even though this is the path of certain defeat when confronted with power players burning with geopolitical and religious ambitions."
"Thanks to European illusions about soft power, the free world has two options left on Iran: disaster or catastrophe. America and Israel will bleed for Europe's lack of conviction."
Friday, March 17, 2006
The Condit's are still in the news
I'm thinking that Chandra Levy couldn't be found either.
So, do you think something runs in the family...
So, do you think something runs in the family...
The Modesto Bee reports:
"The son of former congressman Gary Condit, Chad Condit is a target of a $2.4 million lawsuit filed by California's political watchdog agency. The regulators claim Condit and his sister, Cadee Condit, illegally pocketed campaign money their father raised."
"But in the two months since the Fair Political Practices Commission filed the lawsuit, officials have been unable to reach Chad Condit to deliver legal papers."
Soldiers build wheelchairs for Iraqis
Another "bet you missed this" story...
Nathan Burchfiel writes for Crosswalk.com:
"Soldiers and other volunteers use their free time to participate in the program. Soldiers assemble the chairs and distribute them to Iraqis of all ages who have debilitating diseases like cerebral palsy and injuries that limit mobility."
Zarqawi Was Here
Some people actually go to Iraq and talk to the people...
Michael J. Totten is one of them:
"Did you live here when the village was occupied by Zarqawi?"
“I did,” he said. “Life wasn’t good. We had no freedom. TV was banned. Women couldn’t walk outside without an abaya. There was violence. Anyone not affiliated with them was treated badly. During prayer time everyone was required to go to the mosque. If we didn’t go we were insulted and fined 50 dollars.”"
FBI files on PETA
I am NOT a fan of PETA.
And this group watches them like a hawk.
Did I really say that?...
And this group watches them like a hawk.
Did I really say that?...
The group's website is Animal Scam. They report:
"that (among other things) PETA recruits interns from overseas for "the sole purpose of committing criminal acts."
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Silicosis - Lawyers On Trial
Is this like getting caught with your hand in the till?
This followed one of those "do you think you might have been exposed" advertising campaigns...
This followed one of those "do you think you might have been exposed" advertising campaigns...
Investors Business Daily reports on the silicosis law suits:
"In a 250-page ruling, Jack bluntly said the 10,000 claims of silicosis before her were part of a 'scheme' that was 'manufactured for money.' Since then, more than half of those 10,000 claims have been pitched out of court or voluntarily pulled by trial lawyers — a tacit admission, we'd say, that the claims were bogus to begin with."
"Some doctors' shameful willingness to make questionable diagnoses of silicosis to fill up class-action lawsuits has caught the attention of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. On Wednesday, the panel invited a few physicians in for a chat. Two were forced to testify by subpoena, and all three took the Fifth."
Tom Wolfe - 'nuff said
I'll let the writer tell it...
Joseph Rago writes the Opinion Journal's Featured Article on March 11, 2006:
"In the course of the reporting, however, it came out that Mr. Wolfe had voted for the Bush ticket. "The reaction among the people I move among was really interesting. It was as if I had raised my hand and said, 'Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, I'm a child molester.'" For the sheer hilarity, he took to wearing an American flag pin, "and it was as if I was holding up a cross to werewolves."
"George Bush's appeal, for Mr. Wolfe, was owing to his "great decisiveness and willingness to fight." But as to "this business of my having done the unthinkable and voted for George Bush, I would say, now look, I voted for George Bush but so did 62,040,609 other Americans. Now what does that make them? Of course, they want to say--'Fools like you!' . . . But then they catch themselves, 'Wait a minute, I can't go around saying that the majority of the American people are fools, idiots, bumblers, hicks.' So they just kind of dodge that question. And so many of them are so caught up in this kind of metropolitan intellectual atmosphere that they simply don't go across the Hudson River. They literally do not set foot in the United States."
Zogby's Bogus Poll
I've posted about my mistrust of polls before.
I see that I'm not alone... .
I see that I'm not alone... .
Tim Kane calls this Zogby Poll bogus, and he explains why:
"As a veteran, I have been hoping that a pollster would take the obvious step of asking our troops for their opinions, and I think Zogby International deserves credit for making the effort."
"But as an economist, my appreciation eroded sharply when I took a closer look."
"Survey says", but is it right?
I have to admit that everytime the New York Times is disputed, I'm there...
Michael J. New writes in the National Review Online:
"... the New York Times published an article arguing that recently enacted parental-involvement laws have been unable to reduce the incidence of abortion among teens. On its surface, the analysis looks convincing. In 6 states, the authors track the percentage of abortions among pregnancies for girls under 18 both before and after the passage of parental-involvement legislation. According to the data presented by the authors, the passage of legislation appears to do little to change this percentage. Furthermore, after the enactment of legislation, the childbearing decisions of minors continue to closely track the childbearing decisions of women ages 18 to 19 — women who would not be directly affected by parental-involvement legislation."
"However, there exist some significant shortcomings with the Times's analysis."
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Global Warming - the latest
"felling 60 million trees"; that has to be a "WOW" in any frame of reference...
PhsyOrg.com has this article: Greenhouse theory smashed by biggest stone:
"The Tunguska Event, sometimes known as the Tungus Meteorite is thought to have resulted from an asteroid or comet entering the earth's atmosphere and exploding. The event released as much energy as fifteen one-megaton atomic bombs. As well as blasting an enormous amount of dust into the atmosphere, felling 60 million trees over an area of more than 2000 square kilometres. Shaidurov suggests that this explosion would have caused 'considerable stirring of the high layers of atmosphere and change its structure.' Such meteoric disruption was the trigger for the subsequent rise in global temperatures."
Scientists Find Big Afghan Oil Resources
Every little bit helps. I hope they remember who their saviours are, before the Russians get it all...
John Heilprin, writing for the AP:
"Two geological basins in northern Afghanistan hold 18 times the oil and triple the natural gas resources previously thought, scientists said Tuesday as part of a U.S. assessment aimed at enticing energy development in the war-torn country."
About Oil
The ANWR oil drilling argument goes on...
Investor's Business Daily wonders:
"So why does the green movement fight drilling in ANWR so viciously while operations in Canada's oil-sand fields expand?"
"Again, nothing wrong with buying more oil from Canada. But it seems wholly unnecessary when the earth is ready to bestow 12 billion barrels of precious oil — and possibly as many as 16 billion barrels — from beneath the barren ANWR landscape that is within our borders and that could be fairly easily pumped out."
Hillary Clinton & Abramoff
And the old media justs ignores it...
At the National Review, Byron York has some interesting info:
"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has accepted campaign contributions from a Saipan garment-industry tycoon, sometimes described as a sweatshop operator, whose ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff have been part of the lobbying scandal investigation."
"Three weeks after Mrs. Clinton's visit, the paper continued, "a Guam Democratic Party official arrived in Washington with more than $250,000 in campaign contributions. Within six months of that, [a group of] Guam businessmen had ponied up more than $132,000 for the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign and $510,000 in 'soft money' contributions to the Democratic National Committee, making the island, with its 140,000 residents, the biggest donor to the Democratic Party per capita of any territory in the United States." Later, the Post continued, "the contributions from Guam were followed...by signs of a significant and controversial change in the Clinton administration's policy toward the island."
Yale doesn't want to be in the spotlight
Someone's feathers have really been ruffled...
John Fund has a column called "On the Trail":
"At noon on Saturday, Yale called back to say that once again no official would grant an interview of any kind. Spokesman Tom Conroy said he had spoken with Mr. Suvarov and been assured the emails had been sent in a private capacity. When I asked Mr. Conroy if he had specifically asked about the content of the emails, he said he had not, noting that many people at Yale send personal emails from their computer."
"But not like these. I then obtained permission from Mr. Taylor and Ms. Bookstaber to share the Surovov emails with Yale. Mr. Conroy said he didn't believe most donor information was a public record, but said he would have to confirm that for me. Yesterday, 48 hours after I first asked for reaction to the Surovov emails, Mr. Conroy notified me that Yale administrators were not available and the university would be making no comment."
Can this be legal?
Did someone's wish come true?...
From Ananova.com:
"A new gadget repels gangs of teenagers by emitting a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by under 20s."
"Police are backing the Sonic Teenager Deterrent, nicknamed the Mosquito because of its sound, reports the Daily Telegraph."
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The Feingold Resolution and the Sound of Silence
Looks like both political parties are in disarray...
Dana Milbank writes about it in the Washington Post:
"Democratic senators, filing in for their weekly caucus lunch yesterday, looked as if they'd seen a ghost."
"I haven't read it," demurred Barack Obama (Ill.)."
"I just don't have enough information," protested Ben Nelson (Neb.). "I really can't right now," John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters -- an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer."
"Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.)."
"Ask her after lunch," offered Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines. But Clinton, with most of her colleagues, fled the lunch out a back door as if escaping a fire."
WSJ vs NYT and others
Take this as a reminder to be careful what you believe...
The Wall Street Opinion Journal calls it the:
"Best of the Web Today"
Could they get any looser?
This sounds like it might get very interesting...
In his commentary titled "Expect Journalistic Tongues to Loosen", Jack Kelly says:
"Journalists will be paying rapt attention when Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman go on trial next month for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917."
"Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman were officials of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. They received classified information from Lawrence Franklin, an analyst at the Department of Defense, which they passed on to an Israeli diplomat, and to journalists. They are the first private citizens ever to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act."
Surprise, surprise! Saddam had WMDs after all
We haven't heard from Pat Boone for a while...
In this article, Pat Boone wonders about the lack of breaking news:
"The new mystery is why the politicians and the news media are taking scant notice."
"If what's being learned isn't news, well what is? Even rumors about this would deserve notice bigger than these facts are getting. Has the definition of news become just the bits that fit an ideological agenda? Are raw facts off the menu?"
Savings Rates
Couldn't different savings rates be right for different groups of people?
It seems that as the baby boomers retire, their savings rates will decline, and drive this measurement to irrelevance....
It seems that as the baby boomers retire, their savings rates will decline, and drive this measurement to irrelevance....
In this article by Ellen Simon "Economists at Odds Over Savings Rates" on Yahoo! News, she writes:
"Now that America's savings rate has been negative for an entire year, a first since the Great Depression, the question is whether we're a spendthrift nation on its way to the poor house or whether we're looking at the wrong numbers when we calculate savings."
Caller ID can be spoofed!
I didn't know about this. Did you?...
AOL News - Caller ID May Not Be As Trustworthy as You Think:
"For instance, Spoofcard.com sells a virtual "calling card" for $10 that provides 60 minutes of talk time. The user dials a toll-free number, then keys in the destination number and the Caller ID number to display. The service also provides optional voice scrambling, to make the caller sound like someone of the opposite sex."
"Caller ID spoofing appears to be legal, though many of its uses are not. The Federal Communications Commission has never investigated the issue, spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball said."
Monday, March 13, 2006
More on Saddam's terrorists links
Just maybe, the old media will have to own up...
On the blog named "EnterStageRight", Sam Wells begins:
"Captured Iraqi intel confirms pre-war links between Saddam's regime and terrorists."
"The DNC's mantra that President Bush 'misled the nation into war' is losing whatever clout it once had as more and more people become better informed. The massive post-invasion evidence mounts confirming that it was the mainstream media and leading Democrats -- not the Bush Administration -- who lied to the American people on the issue of pre-war ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaida terrorists."
A metaphor; perhaps?
This article seems to have dual intentions.
One involves historical hindsight, and the other, a metaphor referencing something else...
One involves historical hindsight, and the other, a metaphor referencing something else...
Once again, an Opinion Journal featured article:
"Yet not until after Srebrenica and its 7,000 dead men and boys in 1995 did the U.S. step in and lead an ineffective Europe to stop the fighting."
The Saddam Tapes
After reading this about the Saddam tapes, try to figure out what might be going on here...
From Sunday's OpinionJournal - The Journal Editorial Report:
Gigot: Steve, we've been able to listen to, I think, 12 hours of Saddam's tapes. He was apparently like Nixon. He liked to listen to--he liked to tape himself and hear what he had to say. Maybe keeping it for history. There are about 3,000 in total. Has the government even listened to those tapes in their entirety?
Hayes: My understanding is that they have not. Now I think that some members of Congress on the intelligence committees have had access to more than just the 12 hours--maybe 50 or 60 hours of these tapes. But this broader array of tapes, 3,000-plus hours, has not yet been made available to policy makers.
Gigot: Amazing. All right, so if we could find out all of this out, what is holding the administration back? It would seem to me it would have a good reason to make it all public.
Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Free access.
There is a new addition to the "Links" list on the right...
The Free Dictionary.com describes themselves as follows:
"Online Dictionary - English dictionary, medical dictionary, legal dictionary, financial dictionary, computer dictionary, thesaurus, dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations, dictionary of idioms, thesaurus, Columbia encyclopedia, Wikipedia encyclopedia, Hutchinson encyclopedia, examples from classic literature, pronunciations, word browser, glossary. Free access"
Proof of bigfoot colony?
Several basketball scouts were reported to be in the area. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist)...
WorldNetDaily reports:
"Wildlife group claims proof of Bigfoot colony"
Rendell grabs reporter's recorder
The Gov's a little testy at times; wouldn't you say?...
The Associated Press reports:
"HARRISBURG -- An angry Gov. Ed Rendell took a tape recorder away from a newspaper reporter during an impromptu interview this week, refusing to give it back for several minutes, according to the paper..."
"...Rendell has been involved in other confrontations with reporters, including grabbing the neck of a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter in May 1994 when he was the city's mayor. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Gar Joseph, in a Friday item entitled "Rendell 6, reporters 0," cites five other alleged physical confrontations with reporters from the Inquirer or Daily News.
In February 1999, the Daily News also reported that Rendell grasped a reporter's notebook after becoming angry during an interview."
the Espionage Act
Considering the political climate, and the apparent bias and agenda of the media, I suspect we're going to hear a lot more about this subject...
Read about it in Michael Barone's column, "the Reach of the Espionage Act". He begins:
"Here's a fascinating issue, and one of great importance for the news business: whether the government should prosecute newspapers for printing classified information and government employees for divulging it. Specifically, should the New York Times be prosecuted for its Dec. 16, 2005, story on the NSA surveillance of communications between suspected al Qaeda operatives abroad and people in the United States?"
"Yes, comes the answer of Gabriel Schoenfeld in the March Commentary. Or at least I think his answer is yes; his concluding sentence is, "The laws governing what the Times has done are perfectly clear; will they be enforced?" The laws are the Espionage Act of 1917, together with a section added by Congress in 1950. And his argument that the conduct of the Times and its sources in government is covered by these statutes is, I think, irrefutable."
Methanol - Heard of it?
Here's something that looks worthwhile...
In MIT's Technology Review, George Olah, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry, talks about methanol:
"I'm a great believer that technological development is done by major companies. ExxonMobil certainly has some means to do it. The only trouble is that so far they are not coming up with any reasonable solution. Basically, I don't think they like [the methanol economy] very much. If you sit on a large supply of oil and gas, on which you make enormous profits, or if you are an Arab country that has great supplies and great wealth, you wouldn't welcome some crazy guy who comes up and says that mankind can have an ultimate solution which would not be dependent, anymore, on what nature put under your soil."
"If this methanol economy makes sense, and I think it does, there is not necessarily a monopoly any more for oil companies. Big chemical companies could equally well do this, or even better."
Poisoning children, too?
I don't know anyone that likes this stuff, but on and on it goes...
Read about it in Brent Bozell's column at TownHall.com:
"The Parents Television Council has released the results of a new study that examined what Hollywood is producing for children ages 5-10, before and after school and on Saturday mornings, on eight different networks. The numbers should be enough to trigger a double-take for any parent."
Sunday, March 12, 2006
"Buy now, pay later" facts
A public service announcement.
(Just in case you were thinking about it)...
(Just in case you were thinking about it)...
Here's an article by BankRate.com that discusses the ins and outs of buying now and paying later:
"Everybody's seen ads and incentives to "Buy now, pay later!" or "Six months, same as cash!" or "One year, interest free!" What are these deals, anyway? Are they legitimate or some type of scam? When should people consider them? What should they look out for?"
Hot Topic - Immigration
Immigration reform driven by polls and politicians.
How can that work?....
How can that work?....
The Wall Street Opinion Journal weighs in:
"If the real goal of immigration reform is to have people 'obey the rules,' let's make sure the rules are sensible."
"That might be too tall an order for the current Congress, which is making up policy based on the latest polls. Mr. Bush is right to insist on comprehensive reform, and we hope he backs up his rhetoric with a veto if it comes to that. He'll be doing the economy, and his own party, a big favor."
Immigration reform?
I'm really having a hard time understanding the immigration issue.
That often means it's all about politics...
That often means it's all about politics...
Terence P. Jeffrey is writing about the latest at HumanEvents.com:
"Senators John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.), the current frontrunners for their parties’ 2008 presidential nominations, joined Senators Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y,) in rallying a group of illegal aliens who came to Washington, D.C., on March 8 as part of a lobbying effort funded by a foreign government to push for amnesty for illegal aliens."
Running out of sand?
And you think you've got problems...
The Associated Press reports:
"Maui Mayor Wants Sand Exports to End"
It's hard to even imagine
This is sad. I don't know what else to say...
From JamaicaObserver.com:
"Newborn corpses, foetuses clog sewers weekly in Zimbabwe"
Saturday, March 11, 2006
No more California dreamin'
I wonder if they just decided to sell the house and take the profit?... ...
This article, in the Wall Street Opinion Journal discusses an apparent population shift away from California:
"It takes hard work to drive anyone away from California's sunshine and scenic vistas, but politicians in Sacramento have been up to the task."
"The latest Census Bureau data indicate that, in 2005, 239,416 more native-born Americans left the state than moved in. California is also on pace to lose domestic population (not counting immigrants) this year. The outmigration is such that the cost to rent a U-Haul trailer to move from Los Angeles to Boise, Idaho, is $2,090--or some eight times more than the cost of moving in the opposite direction."
Sheriff orders undercoverus interruptus
This was listed under "Peculiar Postings"...
From MSNBC.com:
"SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. - The sheriff said Friday he will no longer allow detectives to receive sexual services while investigating suspected prostitution after they spent $1,200 at massage parlors last month and sparked a public outcry."
Union War Rules
I'm reusing their title as it seems so correct...
In the Wall Street Opinion Journal :
"In drafting the U.S. Constitution, the Founders entrusted national security largely to the President. But to protect the Republic today, the executive branch must first comply with something James Madison never imagined--union work rules."
Brits given US Aids blood
This story has more entanglements than are reported here. There are alleged linkages between a former governor of Arkansas, the chairman of a political party from that state, and the president of a firm that supplied blood to the world market...
From Emma Morton, the Sun Online's health reporter:
"Official figures show at least 3,000 Britons were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C from US blood in the 1970s and 80s."
"Of these 1,250 had HIV. And just 384 are still alive."
Friday, March 10, 2006
Foreign investing in the U.S.A.
The opening paragraph (shown below) caught my eye; however, there are many good paragraphs in this article...
This Wall Street Opinion Journal article begins with:
"Dubai Ports World finally threw in the kaffiyah on its American operations yesterday, agreeing to sell them 'to a U.S. entity.' We hope that entity turns out to be Halliburton, if only for the torment that would cause certain eminences on Capitol Hill."
Ralph Peters is back from Iraq
Now, about the Iraqi Army...
Ralph Peters writes for the New York Post Online edition. He says:
"Don't let anyone tell you we're failing in Iraq. "
Phishing
It's time to make sure you are aware of "phishing"...
According to this article at The Register, you're likely to learn the hard way if your guard is not up:
"According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group almost 50,000 phishing websites were created last year, with more than 7,000 appearing in December alone."
"Psychic" admits bilking elderly clients
I can't resist asking how psychics can get caught...
This sad story comes from Reuters in Miami, FL:
"A self-proclaimed psychic and fortuneteller pleaded guilty Thursday to bilking elderly clients in south Florida out of more than $2 million over an eight-year period, federal officials said."
"Linda Marks, 57, of Delray Beach, was accused of preying on the elderly and people suffering from incurable diseases, telling them she could cure them by praying over their money."
The Democrats’ Daddy War Bucks
I'm thinking that there must be a more than coincidental connection between politicians, government politicians, and their wealthy relatives.
And I'm sure Mr. Blum and Mrs. Feinstein just like their surnames so well, that they are reluctant to merge them.
And then, there's this bridge in Brooklyn...
And I'm sure Mr. Blum and Mrs. Feinstein just like their surnames so well, that they are reluctant to merge them.
And then, there's this bridge in Brooklyn...
Joshua Frank writes in OpEdNews.com about the former mayor of San Franciso; now Senator from California, and her enormously successful husband:
"Owen Blicksilver, Blum’s spokesman, claims his boss and Senator Feinstein have never talked shop at home in their gated mansion. “Mr. Blum and Sen. Feinstein have never had any discussions about outsourcing, government contracts or URS,' Blicksilver said."
"If this were a Republican senator's spouse scoring bundles off the spoils of war and passing it along to fellow Republicans, the liberals would be up in arms. But since Senator Dianne Feinstein is a leading Democrat -- mums the word."
The NY Times financials
Apparently, we can't believe their SEC filings, either.
But, at least they're consistent (/sarcasm)...
But, at least they're consistent (/sarcasm)...
The American Thinker mocks "All the news that's fit to print" with:
"All the Risk that’s Fit to Disclose"
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Edward "Butch" O'Hare - WWII ace
Chicago's O'Hare Airport was named after this guy...
You can read about him at www.acepilots.com:
"The other F4F pilots were too far away to reach most of the enemy planes before they released their bombs. As if this weren't bad enough, O'Hare's wingman discovered his guns were jammed. He was forced to turn away. Butch O'Hare stood alone between the Lexington and the bombers."
"O'Hare didn't hesitate. Full throttle, he roared into the enemy formation. While tracers from the concentrated fire of the nine bombers streaked around him,..."
75 year mortgages!
Hope you really like your job...
Reported by the B.B.C. is this:
"Retirement age 'will rise to 85'"
"He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages might not be unusual in the future."
"Dr Tuljapurkar was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in the Missouri city."
"People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives," he said."
"We are going to have to plan a lot more carefully, which people are not very good at."
Need a drivers license?
What are our governments doing?
Stories like this just keep showing up...
Stories like this just keep showing up...
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal reports "License seekers pour into state":
"For years, illegal immigrants have come from as far away as New Jersey to fraudulently obtain driver's licenses in Wisconsin, one of a handful of states that don't require proof of legal residency."
"Business has been booming recently, as more and more states toughen their license requirements, said federal authorities who recently arrested five people in South Milwaukee suspected in a fraudulent license network that reached into three states."
"Wisconsin is one of just nine states - for now - that allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses and state identification cards."
"Media Culture of Corruption"
At some media outlets, bias is openly transparent...
Vincent Fiore writes about the "Media Culture of Corruption":
"The story here is not the liberalism that dominates newsrooms across America, but the media’s unflinching willingness to be guided by it. In most cases, even the pretense of journalistic fairness has faded, so consciously committed to the politics of liberalism are today’s news organizations.
A while back, I forwarded the notion that the mainstream media were engaging in a “soft coup d’etat” of the country’s political process, and I echo that here today. Instead of blood and bullets to enact a takeover, the media use headlines and editorials.
Often penning front page parables that more often reflect wishful thinking than fact, the mainstream media hope that you do not take notice of their own culture of corruption in regard to the news.
But if you did take notice, you would know that most of what you read and hear from today’s “guardians of society” is intellectually dishonest because it is politically motivated, and that is that. It is, without preamble, a media culture of corruption that plays itself out daily in our newsrooms and on television."
Tapes - Katrina vs WMD
Hopefully, the media doesn't write the encyclopedia...
Investor's Business Daily notices a difference in reporting:
"The feeding frenzy over the Katrina tapes stands in stark contrast to the obsessive disinterest of Democrats and the media in the Saddam tapes that show that Iraq had WMD and that Bush didn't lie."
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Security Gaps Already Plague Ports
More on current port "security"...
The Wall Street Journal reports:
"At least one of the ports where DP World is set to operate, Baltimore, has been dogged by security shortcomings for years. A Baltimore Sun investigation in June 2005 revealed that the port's fiber-optic alarm system on the perimeter fence malfunctioned and was usually switched off, and that port police were so understaffed that their patrol boats often dry-docked because there was no one to operate them. The newspaper also found that a pair of 'video cameras' guarding the entrance to one important marine terminal were actually blocks of wood on poles."
Port Security Now
And we're worried about new management...
ABC News reports Criminal Records, Bogus Licenses Among Truckers at Key U.S. Port:
"The two ports handle millions of tons of cargo, with scores of cruise ships passing through each year. Truckers who transport much of the cargo are issued ID cards, which give them access to all areas of the port."
"ABC News has learned that the cards, given to thousands of truckers by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were issued with virtually no background checks. The Department of Homeland Security recently investigated the New York and New Jersey ports, and found stunning gaps in security."
"The new DHS report, obtained by ABC News, shows that of the 9,000 truckers checked, nearly half had evidence of criminal records. More than 500 held bogus driver's licenses, leaving officials unsure of their real identities."
Ben Stein on Hollywood
I guess this goes under "putting things in perspective"...
Ben Stein says:
"Now for a few humble thoughts about the Oscars."
Secretary Rumsfeld
There's just something about the way Rumsfield handles the media that tickles me...
In this recent transcript of a DoD news briefing are some examples:
Q Mr. Secretary, I'd like to clear up exactly what you're saying here. Are you saying that this poll and that what you call the rush toward declaring civil war in Iraq, is that the result of intentional misreporting of the situation there?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, I can't go into people's minds. All I'm doing is reporting on what we've seen. General Casey pointed out to this group here that he believes -- his data shows that the numbers of mosque attacks and the nature of the attacks and the severity of the attacks have been considerably exaggerated and that the number of civilian Iraqis that have been killed or wounded has been exaggerated.
And -- now, why someone or whoever did this, I have no way to judge. I'm not going to judge them. It's just a fact that he is saying that, and I believe he's correct.
Q But you said, Sir, that -- I believe that the reporting was virtually one-sided. Does that mean --
SEC. RUMSFELD: Yeah, the interesting thing about it is they all seem to be of a kind. All the things that have later been corrected or need to be corrected or that he believes were exaggerated all seem to be on one side of the equation. We don't see the similar thing on the other side, which you normally would get in some kind of a random spread, one would think.
Space elevator test
This idea just might work...
From NewScientist.com:
"Space-elevator tether climbs a mile high"
"A slim cable for a space elevator has been built stretching a mile into the sky, enabling robots to scrabble some way up and down the line."
Space elevator news
Most recent news about the space elevator.
It's probably too late to get in on the ground floor.
Get it?...
It's probably too late to get in on the ground floor.
Get it?...
From CNN Money Magazine:
"The 62,000-Mile Elevator Ride - March 1, 2006"
"The cable, known to elevator scientists as a ribbon, would be dropped in stages from space and hooked up to a floating platform similar to an offshore oil rig. An elevator car roughly the size of a Boeing 747, able to carry hundreds of people or 200 tons of cargo, could climb and descend the ribbon at a speed of 120 mph. That means the first trip to geosynchronous orbit (22,000 miles) would take seven days, but scientists say that could be reduced to four days by the time the first passengers make the journey. (Still, bring a good book for when the view of Earth gets dull.)"
Health Insurance in Maine
I hope the citizens of Maine understand this, because I don't...
In this Wall Street Journal opinion column by Tarren BragdonN and Adam Brackemyre, I couldn't decide on a paragraph to quote, so here's their opener:
"PORTLAND, Maine--Welcome to the Pine Tree state, where a program that the governor claims has saved the state millions of dollars means that your taxes go . . . up. Maine is the home of Democratic Gov. John Baldacci's Dirigo Health, which regulates the state's health-care system and includes a subsidized health-insurance program. (Dirigo is the state's motto, Latin for "I lead.") When the law creating Dirigo Health was signed, proponents said it would reduce cost-shifting and health-system costs and ultimately cover all 130,000 uninsured Mainers within five years, including 31,000 uninsured in year one."
"It hasn't worked out that way. Through the first nine months only 1,600 previously uninsured individuals enrolled in Dirigo Health's insurance product, called DirigoChoice."
The economy and the taxes
I'm thinking it's time to get back on this track...
Pete DuPont is an unabashed Ronald Reagan fan. He reminds us of how we got where we are:
"In the 1980 election the American people chose a new course. For the first time in half a century we retreated from the expanding-government philosophy established by Franklin D. Roosevelt and pretty much adhered to by every subsequent president through Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan's emphasis on individual opportunity--as opposed to the liberals' on government-created opportunity--was to have a substantial and positive impact on the prosperity of the American people."
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Out of Bounds?
I always look forward to Daniel Henninger's weekly column in the Wall Street Opinion Journal. Once again, I'm not disappointed...
Today's column wonders if too many are acting outside of long-standing normal boundaries:
"Insane? Spend too much time close to politicians nowadays and suddenly that's a good question. This week the New York Times in the course of deconstructing the bad relationship between the Bush White House and the pressies who shout questions at it quoted a clinical psychologist who claimed to have had as patients several White House correspondents--all suffering from what she calls "White House reporter syndrome." Something about being 'emotionally isolated.'"
"This story already has plenty of clowns, so by all means, send in the psychiatrists."
Democrat voters low on enthusiasm
Gee. Maybe people are just disgusted with politicians in general...
The Washington Times points out the Democrats shortcomings; however, there is also this quote:
"Republicans have lost a third of their support in their own ranks," Mr. Wenzel said. "Respondents who identify themselves as 'conservative' or 'very conservative' are leading the way in unhappiness over the growth in government since 2001 and the ballooning federal spending and budget deficits."
The Journal Editorial Report
Recently, I've started reading transcripts. I like that it eliminates the commercials. I know that I miss the faces, and any images that might be shown; however, that's my choice.
This show always seems to be sane, and doesn't try to "be all things"...
This show always seems to be sane, and doesn't try to "be all things"...
The Journal Editorial Report for Sunday, 3-5-06, covered the following:
"Iran in Iraq. Is this rogue nation outsmarting America in its fight for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people? Plus, President Bush makes history abroad, forging a landmark nuclear energy agreement with India. But trouble continues at home as a second Dubai-based company faces scrutiny over plans to take over operations at some U.S. defense parts plants. Those topics and our weekly "Hits and Misses."
AntiPoverty spending has leaped
This article says the facts don't support what we are told...
Here, at the Heritage Foundation, tax cuts and spending cuts are discussed:
"More broadly, the accusation that poor families are shouldering more of the tax burden while receiving less of the spending is empirically false. From 1979 through 2003, the total federal tax burden on the highest-earning quintile (one-fifth or 20 percent) of Americans - who earn 52 percent of all income - rose from 56 percent to 66 percent of all taxes. Their share of individual income taxes jumped from 65 percent to 85 percent. On the spending side, antipoverty spending has leaped from 9.1 percent of all federal spending in 1990 to a record 16.3 percent in 2004."
Monday, March 06, 2006
5th grade detective work
A 5th grader, a computer, and the Internet...
In the this article on a website called "RealityCheck.org":
"My young nephew asked me the other day just what it meant to be a democrat, what they believed in."
"I told him, go look up their web sites and study them and tell me what you find. I was very curious what he would come up with."
Think your phone is tapped?
Estimated U.S. population = 300,000,000
Assume 1/3 have phone lines = 100,000,000
16% would equal 16,000,000 wiretaps.
In my opinion, not very likely...
Assume 1/3 have phone lines = 100,000,000
16% would equal 16,000,000 wiretaps.
In my opinion, not very likely...
Rasmussen surveys public opinion:
"February 12, 2006--One-out-of six Americans (16%) believe that the Federal government has wiretapped their phones."
Man sentenced in sheep abuse case
You may not want to read this...
From the Associated Press in the Miami Herald:
"AP Wire | 02/14/2006 | Mich. man sentenced in sheep abuse case"
Iraq WMD history refresher
There seems to have been too much smoke on this WMD issue for there to have been no fire.
Unfortunately, the smoke of spin and politicking has allowed known facts to become obscure...
Unfortunately, the smoke of spin and politicking has allowed known facts to become obscure...
This writer has written about WMD history before. Now, Dr. Paul Kengor responds to emails about his previous article:
"Several weeks ago I wrote an article ("Insanity of the ‘Bush Lied’ Hypothesis," Jan. 27) that addressed the allegation that George W. Bush lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. I noted that this charge doesn’t make sense, even when granting it for the sake of argument, and that underlying the charge is an obsessive hatred of Bush that muddles the thinking of otherwise sensible people."...
..."Indeed, George W. Bush did not have unmistakable evidence of stockpiles of Iraqi WMD, but neither did the UN in 1991 nor Bill Clinton in 1998. Bush knew what they knew: Saddam had a rich history of manufacturing and using these weapons, and then lying about and hiding their existence."
Saddam's WMD
I hope that history will show that General Sada isn't just "selling" his book....
Larry Elder of TownHall.com interviews General Georges Sada:
"Sada: Iraq possessed WMD and they were there, and they were chemical and biological, and nuclear weapons. He have also deals with China to make it in China this time, not in Iraq, because F-16s of Israelis have destroyed the Iraqi nuclear project, therefore, he designed a new system to have the atom bomb to be done in China, and he would only pay the money, and he did for $100 million, and $5 million were paid for down payment. I know the bank, I know the branch, and I know the accountant who did it. "
Sunday, March 05, 2006
25% of 10th-graders get held-back notice
Seems like this is likely to spread...
The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports:
"25% of 10th-graders get held-back notice."
"Nearly one in four Seattle Public Schools sophomores is missing required credits and has been reclassified as a freshman, potentially delaying graduation."
DP World: Myth Vs. Fact
Here's the fact sheet or spin, whichever you prefer...
The White House gives us this and much more:
"MYTH: The Bush Administration is outsourcing the security of our ports to a company owned by the Government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
FACT: The United States government is in charge of U.S. port security. We will never outsource the security of our ports. The U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection are in charge of security of our ports.
MYTH: UAE is a haven for terrorists and allowing a UAE-owned company to control our ports will endanger our national security.
FACT: UAE is a friend and ally of the United States, a partner in the Global War on Terror, and a strong partner in global port security."
Telling it like it is
Looks like there are some opinions in Britain, too...
Julie Burchill does as the title says:
"Britain gave him refuge and thousands of pounds a year in welfare payments - and in return he turned his mosque into a weapons arsenal. Everything from CS gas to hundreds of forged passports was found there."
Jury: Airline not racist
Common sense (IMHO) from a New England jury...
In the Portsmouth Herald Local News:
"The jury deliberated for a little over an hour before finding against Nadine Thompson, who sued Southwest in federal court. She claimed that she was singled out because she is black and that the airline’s "customer of size" policy was unfairly applied to her after she boarded a flight at Manchester Airport in June 2003."
35 tons of ice cubes per day!
And it's big sister is on the way...
Reported in The Australian:
"Megaliner to dwarf the Titanic [February 08, 2006]: "The 160,000-tonne Freedom of the Seas, with 3600 passengers, is expected to sail in June. It has an ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall and an on-board surfing system. Passengers will also have access to a water park, promenade and a casino."
"It will generate 1.8 million litres of fresh water and require 35 tonnes of ice cubes every day."
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Does this explain it?
Present company excepted, of course...
In science, engineering & technology news:
“When do we reach adulthood? It might be much later than we traditionally think.”
New warship is 'quantum leap forward'
Wow! Who has heard anything about the Royal Navy lately?...
Reported in the U.K. Daily Telegraph:
"Daring will be able to track and destroy a target the size of a cricket ball travelling at more than three times the speed of sound, a 'quantum leap forward in the Navy's capabilities', according the Royal Navy."
New Machines Await 4 in 5 Voters
Get ready for the learning curve for new voting machines...
From Forbes.com:
"'Just over 30 million voters will be casting ballots on unfamiliar equipment,' he said."
"'You throw that many people in on something new, you're always bound to see something go wrong,' he said."
Bathroom Proposal
Hmmm. I wonder who owns the coat hook company.
Sorry, I just couldn't resist...
Sorry, I just couldn't resist...
From Forbes.com:
"The City Council Ordinance Committee has endorsed a proposal from City Councilman Keith Rodgerson to create a local law requiring coat hooks."
"Internship Programs"
After reading this, something just struck me as funny.
I'll just leave it at that...
I'll just leave it at that...
William J. Clinton Foundation "Internship Programs":
"Internships"
"If you are an undergraduate, graduate or professional student or a recent graduate with your own strong interest in crucial issues of our day, the Clinton Foundation Intern Program offers a unique opportunity for growth, learning and meaningful service. We are looking for people who are dependable, enthusiastic, professional, and intelligent."
Friday, March 03, 2006
David Shuster vs Lisa Myers
Dear NBC: So which is it ???...
NewsBusters.com watches TV for us. Today they are pointing out contradictions on NBC:
"Shuster contended that Mayfield's video “seems to contradict what President Bush said about Katrina” since Mayfield's warning “clearly” means that “the President's team did anticipate the breach.”
"Lisa Myers, however, recognized the meaning of words and how water flowing over a levee, topping it, is not the same thing as a breaching, the collapse of a levee, which is what occurred. Myers explained: "Today Mayfield told NBC News that he warned only that the levees might be topped, not breached, and that on the many conference calls he monitored, 'nobody talked about the possibility of a levee breach or failure until after it happened.'”
School choice - In Minneapolis
By the way, it's school choice day on this blog...
In the Wall Street Opinion Journal, Katherine Kersten discusses school choice:
"Louis King, a black leader who served on the Minneapolis School Board from 1996 to 2000, puts it bluntly: 'Today, I can't recommend in good conscience that an African-American family send their children to the Minneapolis public schools. The facts are irrefutable: These schools are not preparing our children to compete in the world.' Mr. King's advice? 'The best way to get attention is not to protest, but to shop somewhere else.'"
"Minneapolis families seeking to escape troubled schools are fortunate to have the options they do. That's not the case in many other states, where artificial barriers--from enrollment caps to severe underfunding--have stymied the growth of charter schools."
School choice vouchers - Hillary goes nuts
If you missed it, you can still see it. Isn't the Internet great?...
Hillary Clinton is speaking about school choice vouchers is this video at YouTube.com:
"YouTube - Hillary Goes Nuts"
School choice vouchers and Hillary
And did I mention that the teachers unions are against vouchers, (and that they contribute big money)...
Dan Lips writes in the National Review:
"In 1998, in a classic do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do maneuver, President Clinton vetoed legislation to provide school vouchers to low-income families in Washington, D.C., even as he pulled his own daughter from the city's troubled public-school system. The Clintons enrolled Chelsea in the elite Sidwell Friends school, but justified withholding school choice from other D.C. residents by claiming it would jeopardize the health of the entire public school system."
"Sen. Clinton recently offered an even more specious justification for denying school choice to children trapped in failing public schools. In a speech in the South Bronx, Sen. Clinton argued that giving parents scholarships to send their children to any school of their choice would lead to children attending 'the school of the White Supremacist.' The former First Lady continued: 'So what if the next parent comes and says, I want to send my child to the School of Jihad? I won't stand for it.'"
School choice vouchers
But don't forget the teachers unions are against vouchers (and they contribute big money)...
These paragraphs are from an article in WorldNetDaily :
"I was aghast to read Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's response to a question from the New York Times columnist John Tierney, "How long will blacks vote for a party that opposes the voucher programs they strongly favor?"
Doyle's response: "I don't think this is an issue that moves voters."
"The discussion took place in context of the Democrat governor's opposition to moves to expand the number of vouchers available in the immensely popular and successful school-choice program in Wisconsin."
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal
Oh, what a tangled web we weave...
The London Financial Times is reporting:
"Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal."
"It came even as his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, was leading efforts to derail the deal."
"Mr Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America”, advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition, according to his spokesman."
Spencer for Senate vs Hillary
Here's more on Hillary's port position...
Spencer for Senate has issued a press release that begins with:
"Senator Clinton's outrage over Dubai port deal is more about politics than National Security."
"Senator Clinton Takes Contributions From Firms Linked With The Mullahs."
"New York, NY: Senator Clinton's hypocrisy is showing in the controversy over the Dubai Port acquisition. Senator Clinton's concern with National Security seems based more on campaign contributions and less on security."
Dems harbor conflicts over ports
Just look at the names in this article; not to mention the underlying duplicity and hypocrisy...
Columnist Robert Novak writes in the Sun-Times:
"While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was ripping President Bush's handling of American ports management, Bill Clinton was pushing for one of his favorite White House aides to be hired to defend the deal. The former president proposed to the United Arab Emirates his onetime press secretary, Joe Lockhart, as Washington spokesman for the UAE-owned company, Dubai Ports World."
Our First Lady in India
Somehow, this seems truly genuine...
As reported in India, "the Queen of America had come.":
"Laura Bush was early."
"It was just by five minutes, but when powerful dignitaries arrive before time, it does leave a mark."
"So when the American First Lady arrived in her gleaming limousine at Prayas, the home for abused children in Tughlaqabad in Delhi, she had made the perfect entry."
"After that, the hour-long visit went like a dream."
Hillary speaks out on ports
Ah yes. Times have changed. Bill has probably changed his mind also...
NewsMax.com reports:
"2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is expanding her complaint about foreign companies owning U.S. ports - and now says a 1999 deal to let a Chinese company takeover the ports at each end of the Panama Canal was a mistake."
Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war'
Two articles to think about...
First, in the Canada Free Press is this:
"Unless your personal politics includes the literal destruction of America as we know it, you should not be more focused on destroying Bush than destroying terrorists. It is just that simple and anyone who doesn’t get that is more of a threat to America’s future than the terrorists themselves…"
And then, at WorldNetDaily.com there is this:
"A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an interim report."
"The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials."
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Nancy Grace - On trial?
Once again, things may not be as they appear to be...
Rebecca Dana writes a long story in the New YorkObserver. It begins:
"As she tells it, in the summer of 1980, she was a 19-year-old college student in small-town Georgia, engaged to Keith Griffin, a star third baseman for the Valdosta State University Blazers. The wedding was a few months away."
"Then, one August morning, a stranger—a 24-year-old thug with a history of being on the wrong side of the law—accosted Griffin outside a convenience store. He shot him five times in the head and back, stole $35 from his wallet, and left him dead."
"Police soon tracked down the killer, and a new phase of suffering began for Ms. Grace. The suspect brazenly denied any involvement. At trial, Ms. Grace testified, then waited as jury deliberations dragged on for three days. The district attorney asked her if she wanted the death penalty, and in a moment of youthful weakness, she said no. The verdict came back guilty—life in prison—and a string of appeals ensued."
"And much of it isn’t true."
The latest poll might be biased
I don't think polls are useful anymore. Everyone is aware of them, sees them as a means to their desired end, and answers according to that agenda...
Anyway, New Media Alliance, Inc. reports about the recent CBS poll:
"CBS News explained to readers what most pollsters do when they conduct their telephone surveys, and then they dropped this little bomb in the midst of their explanation:
Bush's favorability poll was weighted in favor of Democrats."
Coal Mining is dangerous
Yikes!...
From the Allentown, PA Morning Call:
"But coal mine accidents in China, the world's top producer, kill an average of 16 workers a day."
Windmills are good. Right?
But not in some backyards...
NewsMax.com reports:
"Self-proclaimed alternative energy proponent Sen. Ted Kennedy has strongly opposed an environmentally friendly "wind farm” off the coast of Massachusetts – and now it appears Kennedy will have his way."
Sportsmanship - Not!
Partisanship to the extreme, or a few brews too many?...
From BBC Sports:
"Smith, who later underwent surgery on the injury, was given a general anaesthetic before he left the stadium so was not aware of the attack on the ambulance."
