Thursday, April 26, 2007
WorldNetDaily: 'Smoking gun' tape indicts Hillary
This has been bouncing around in courtrooms for quite a few years now. There are a lot of accusations, a lot of lawyer initiated delays, and an outcome that is certainly not clear...
Art Moore reported this at WorldNetDaily.com:
"A business mogul who says he was Hillary Clinton's biggest donor in her 2000 Senate campaign is preparing to release a newly recovered videotape his lawyer calls 'smoking-gun evidence' of the New York Democrat's commission of a series of felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison."
Go ahead. Make my day!
Maybe there is a lesson here...
I found this tidbit at WorldNetDaily.com:
"In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of 'Wild West' showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.
The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law."
The Media - our Public Broadcasting System
I guess PBS has an agenda, too...
At FrontPageMag.com, Bill Steigerwald tells us about PBS and Martyn Burke:
"Canadian novelist and veteran documentary filmmaker Martyn Burke is not someone you'd expect to get into an ugly ideological spitting match with the folks who run PBS.
Burke, who lives and works in the heart of the Hollywood creative community, considers himself neither conservative nor liberal. But 'Islam vs. Islamist,' the documentary he made about how moderate Muslims are being silenced and intimidated by Islamist extremists, will not be part of 'America at a Crossroads,' PBS's new 11-part, six-night series about post-9/11 America that begins Sunday night at 9. Executives at WETA in Washington, D.C., the public station overseeing the series for PBS, say the documentary was cut from the 'Crossroads' lineup because it wasn't completed in time and because it was 'alarmist' and not objective."
Indecent Interval - by John Podhoretz
To me, "decent interval" rhymes with "politically correct"...
In the New York Post, John Podhoretz has an interesting theory:
"We know this because they believe the war strategy was disastrous before the president chose to change strategies and launch a new offensive (also called the 'surge') - and they oppose the surge, too.
So they don't like what was done before, and they don't like what we're doing now. And yet they are explicitly voting in favor of a policy that will keep American troops in Iraq until the spring of 2008.
What we have here is a fascinating new twist on an old conspiracy theory - the theory of the 'decent interval.'"
Global Warming - IBD Editorials: Killer Trees
Does anybody really know what's going on?...
Here's part of an Investors Business Daily editorial:
"According to New Zealand climate researcher David Lowe, 'We now have the specter that new forests might increase global warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by being sinks for carbon dioxide.'"
"Mingling with bears and flirting with death "
Here's an interesting story. You'll have to decide whether this guy is doing good or doing harm...
Craig Medred reports in the Seattle Times:
"Fish and Wildlife Bureau Sgt. Tory Oleck of the Alaska State Troopers detachment in Palmer said he last visited Vandergaw's homestead in the summer of 2005 after receiving a complaint from a woman whose 10-year-old son had been taken by his father to see Vandergaw's bears.
Oleck investigated bringing charges of reckless endangerment against Vandergaw for allowing a child to be near the bears but decided it would be difficult to support the charge. All the Bear Farm visitors Oleck interviewed denied they had felt threatened or in danger.
Oleck himself felt differently.
'It was not comfortable,' he said. During one visit, 'there had to be 13 bears in the yard. Some of them came right up to me and put their feet on me. We had to chase them away. They were all lying around like they owned the place.'"
"CNBC Anchor Challenges Sheryl Crow and Laurie David"
Good for Joe Kernen...
For NewsBusters.org, Noel Sheppard observed:
"As Kernen tried to present the skeptics’ side of this debate, the ladies clearly got uncomfortable and, to say the least, a bit defensive with their interviewer."
Fred Thompson - on Tax Cuts
Case closed!...
Fred Thompson seems to have tax cuts figured out:
"It's that time again, and I was thinking of the old joke about paying your taxes with a smile. The punch line is that the IRS doesn't accept smiles. They want your money.
So it's not that funny, but there is reason to smile this tax season. The results of the experiment that began when Congress passed a series of tax-rate cuts in 2001 and 2003 are in. Supporters of those cuts said they would stimulate the economy. Opponents predicted ever-increasing budget deficits and national bankruptcy unless tax rates were increased, especially on the wealthy.
In fact, Treasury statistics show that tax revenues have soared and the budget deficit has been shrinking faster than even the optimists projected. Since the first tax cuts were passed, when I was in the Senate, the budget deficit has been cut in half.
Remarkably, this has happened despite the financial trauma of 9/11 and the cost of the War on Terror. The deficit, compared to the entire economy, is well below the average for the last 35 years and, at this rate, the budget will be in surplus by 2010."
People - Couple is charged with tax fraud
Geez! Whatever happened to just "skimming"?...
From the Allentown, PA Morning Call:
"The St. Clairs reported so little personal income on their joint 2000 and 2001 returns that they qualified for the earned income tax credit designed to benefit low-income families, while spending thousands of dollars on lumber, framing, roofing slate, heating and cooling systems and plumbing fixtures, court documents said."
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Historical Lessons of Lower Tax Rates
Sooner or later; (perhaps later, considering the current economy), I figure the tax cut debate will return to the forefront...
At that time we can review this article by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D. which includes this reminder:
"According to President John F. Kennedy:
Our true choice is not between tax reduction, on the one hand, and the avoidance of large Federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits… In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now."
What Trade Deficits Really Mean
The media always makes trade deficits seem so bad.
Maybe that's not so true...
Maybe that's not so true...
At the Heritage Foundation, Brian S. Wesbury explains:
"I want to tell you that the United States in the past year has produced more goods than it has produced in any 12-month period in its history. So, despite the trade deficit, we are still the world's largest exporter and the world's largest manufacturer. The facts do not support the rhetoric of the doom-and-gloomers. The U.S. economy is simply amazing.
Thriving with a Strong Dollar
Now, let's talk about the dollar, which has been weak in recent years. Many people argue that the dollar is falling because of this massive trade deficit. I say--baloney!"
Managing Your Money
I thought everyone knew this.
Apparently not...
Apparently not...
Kelli B. Grant writes on Yahoo for SmartMoney.com:
"To pay off their $150,000 15-year mortgage faster, the couple has been prepaying it with any extra money that comes in. After just three years, the balance is down to $79,000.
Smart move? Not necessarily, says Jason Rich, author of 'Smart Debt.'
'When you actually sit down and do the math, it can actually work out in your favor to have these [good] debts,' he says. Mortgage and student-loan debt are generally fairly cheap, and leave you with an appreciated asset. Plus, the interest you pay on these loans is deductible. Having this kind of debt can actually get you ahead if you invest extra cash rather than put it toward your loan principal.
Consider this: You'd pay $876 per month on a $150,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a rate of 5.76 percent. If you were to prepay your mortgage by an additional $100 per month, you'd pay it off six years sooner and save $42,703 in interest.
Had you taken that $100 and invested it, earning a conservative 8 percent, you'd have $55,745 -- enough to compensate for the interest paid, plus $13,042 in profit."
A Tidal Wave of Violence
From the horse's mouth.
I'd like to use another word, but I won't...
I'd like to use another word, but I won't...
David Outten is Movie Guide's Managing Editor:
"On Jan. 24, 1989 serial killer Ted Bundy was executed. The day before his death he was interviewed by Dr. James Dobson. He repeatedly warned the public that they would see more killers if they did not do something about the spread of violence in the media.
At one point in the interview, Bundy said: 'I led a normal life, except for this one, small but very potent and destructive segment that I kept very secret and close to myself. Those of us who have been so influenced by violence in the media, particularly pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons and husbands. We grew up in regular families.'
This year Hollywood has unleashed a tidal wave of violence. The most popular movie so far this year may be the most violent action movie ever made. Gruesome horror shows are being released at a rate of almost one per week and most of the new 'thrillers' are killers as well. The level of violence in movies today FAR exceeds what Hollywood offered when Ted Bundy began killing the first of twenty-some women."
The "BUSH BOOM" !!!!!
DOW UP 135.95 to close at record high 13,089.89 !
Up, Up, and Away !
Up over 1,000 in less than 6 months !
Record highs in the Dow-Jones Transportation Average, the Dow-Jones Utility Average, and the Russell 2000 Index!
How can this be?
Do tax cuts really work?
Is it Karl Rove's doing?
Will it be "Breaking News"?
Could it be that the "Bush Boom" has exceeded the "Clinton Expansion Bubble"?
Oh my, oh my, oh my...
Up, Up, and Away !
Up over 1,000 in less than 6 months !
Record highs in the Dow-Jones Transportation Average, the Dow-Jones Utility Average, and the Russell 2000 Index!
How can this be?
Do tax cuts really work?
Is it Karl Rove's doing?
Will it be "Breaking News"?
Could it be that the "Bush Boom" has exceeded the "Clinton Expansion Bubble"?
Oh my, oh my, oh my...
Oklahoma City bombing - Case not closed?
I'm thinking there's no money in real investigative reporting because American attention spans are so short.
Do we all have ADD?
There are too many stories that never completely see the light of day.
The Oklahoma City bombing might be one of them...
Do we all have ADD?
There are too many stories that never completely see the light of day.
The Oklahoma City bombing might be one of them...
Wes Vernon writes for Accuracy in Media:
"Ignoring a huge story like this is bad enough. But at least two establishment outlets—the New York Times and CBS—affirmatively squelched it, albeit in different ways. The Times shut down an investigation that was hot on the trail of the story. CBS did not follow up on clear evidence of Middle East involvement. Why?"
The Jessica Lynch story
We know what the media told us and we might have seen the movie; now, Mr. Lowry tells us what really happened...
In the Weekly Standard, Richard S. Lowry writes:
"I spent more than two years of my life studying the battle of An Nasiriyah. I read thousands of pages of government reports and personally interviewed nearly one-hundred of the participants of the battle, including four survivors of the 507th Maintenance Company's ambush, several Marines who came upon the scene of the ambush, a young Marine who worked in the regimental intelligence shop and was responsible for the safekeeping of Jessica's personal effects, and several of the soldiers, sailors, and Marines who were actually involved in her rescue."
Our Media - on Earth Day
Pollution is headed downward?
Nature is making a comeback?
That's not what our media is reporting...
Nature is making a comeback?
That's not what our media is reporting...
John Stossel wrote this at RealClearPolitics.com:
"Last Sunday was marked by an orgy of celebrations of Earth Day, the worldwide annual event intended to 'to spark a revolution against environmental abuse.'
Even the Bush administration had an Earth Day website, which stated, 'Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet'.
Watching the media coverage, you'd think that the earth was in imminent danger -- that human life itself was on the verge of extinction. Technology is fingered as the perp.
Nothing could be further from the truth."
Going "Green" in style?
Can you notice anything hypocritical here?...
Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa report for the Boston Herald:
"... Until the celebrity windbags quit blowing hot air about saving the planet, the greening of America doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell."
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The Media - Counterpoint
I'll yield to Mr. Podhoretz on this one...
At the National Review Online, John Podhoretz discusses ABC News' Terry Moran's blog:
"Terry Moran of ABC News has written a blog item entitled "Don't Feel Too Sorry for the Dukies." As a compendium of fashionable attitudes toward the Duke case, it is incomparable. It's instructive to go through it to examine those attitudes and why they are so noxious."
The Media - "The Really Big Story (Maybe)"
For me, the jig was up, a long time ago...
At HumanEvents.com, Pat Sajak writes:
"It forces otherwise capable journalists to try to sell us on the validity of their coverage, even though they have to know better. It has allowed networks to superimpose the words 'Breaking News' over a story that is not breaking, or perhaps not even news. It’s a charade played by those who present the news and those of us who watch it. That’s why it was excruciatingly jarring to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer as he recently stood, looking somber, in his 'Situation Room', only to have fellow anchor Jack Cafferty ask, 'Well, Wolf, is Anna Nicole still dead?' For a moment, at least, the jig was up."
The Media - Payback for Iraq?
I hope we never lose writers like Victor Davis Hanson who can see things as they are, instead of how the agenda driven media reports them.
Sadly, a significant part of our population gets information only from that media, and worse, actually believes it...
Sadly, a significant part of our population gets information only from that media, and worse, actually believes it...
Victor Davis Hanson writes for the National Review:
"What, then, is the one common tie that explains all these furious efforts of the media and partisans to go after these present and former Bush-administration officials?"
The Media - the Beeb
It's unlawful to try to "fix" the outcome of a sporting competition.
Doesn't that compare to the media trying to "fix" public opinion on some current subjects?...
Doesn't that compare to the media trying to "fix" public opinion on some current subjects?...
At NewsBusters.com, Lynn Davidson reported:
"For the BBC, however, his story is 'too positive' about the conflict.
The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq."
Sunday, April 22, 2007
In the Milwaukee suburbs
So, how are things in your neighborhood?...
If you wish, you can read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal for a comparison:
In our World - Custody Battle
Here's a custody battle with some unusual (at least to me) complications...
I found this Associated Press story by Greg Bluestein at BreitBart.com:
" Wheeler, 36, and her partner, Missy, decided to start a family together and share the Wheeler last name. In 2000, Sara Wheeler gave birth to a son, Gavin, through artificial insemination. Two years later, they decided Missy Wheeler should adopt the child and legally become his second parent.
Georgia law doesn't specifically say whether gay parents can adopt a child, so the decision was up to a judge in the Atlanta area's DeKalb County. After an adoption investigator determined that both partners wanted it, the judge cleared the request.
The couple's relationship later soured. Missy Wheeler wouldn't comment for this story, but her attorney, Nora Bushfield, said Sara became involved with someone else and wouldn't let Missy and Gavin see each other. "
Politicians - "Congressional extortionists"
Pat Boone is frequently right on the mark.
This is no exception...
This is no exception...
This is from Pat Boone's latest column:
"... and on and on and on, 20 billion dollars worth! And who would pay for all that pork, added to an emergency supplemental spending bill meant to get our troops what they need?
Why, you and I, of course, the hapless taxpayers these hypocritical con artists were elected to represent and serve."
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Only in America - Parking tickets by the truckload
Things seem different in the city by the bay.
Or maybe, it's like this all over...
Or maybe, it's like this all over...
Rachel Gordon tells about it at SFgate.com:
"Parking tickets by the truckload / 18 S.F. businesses rack up thousands of citations, pay city on monthly plan"
Hollywood - Look no further
The song, "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" won the Academy Award for Best Song from the movie "Hustle and Flow" in 2005. It was performed LIVE by rappers Three 6 Mafia on television (during the Oscar telecast) and won a standing ovation. ...
You can read the lyrics at SmartLyrics.com:
You can read the acceptance speech at Oscars.org:
Black and Right - Rising above
"Right On" advice from "Dad" Parks...
At MensNewsDaily.com, Bob Parks writes:
"I was asked what would I do if my daughter were on the Rutgers basketball team at the time of the insult. I must admit, I had to think on that one. I must also admit to watching clips of the team press conference with confusion, as although this was a “team” thing, why were the white players there? Surely Imus’ words weren’t meant for them.
Of course, they had to be there, but it was still odd.
As I’m bringing my daughter up a conservative young woman, I would have told her than no old man’s words could undo the accomplishments of her great season. I would tell her that words (outside of mine and her mother’s) don’t have the power to hurt unless she lets them. With that, I would ask her to tell her coach and team that she was sitting out any further public appearances with the other players regarding the Imus controversy.
It wouldn’t take long for those who profess to be the most tolerant and inclusive amongst us to launch on her. She would experience the kind of hate emails I received after being questioned by Carol Costello on CNN. She would receive the “progressive” epithets I receive today on my YouTube videos. She would see very quickly that Imus was not the racist in this whole episode. The real racists are the ones who have seen fit to hyphen people in our nation, except themselves."
Al Sharpton - vintage 2006
And the beat goes on...
Dave Koppel knows about Al Sharpton:
"In 1989, a young woman jogger in Central Park was viciously raped and beaten by a gang of youths. Sharpton led a mob outside the court which claimed, without a shred of evidence, that 'the boyfriend did it,' and screamed that the victim was a 'whore.'
At a rally in Harlem, Sharpton denounced a Jewish small business owner as a 'white interloper,' and then stood by approvingly while one his associates incited the crowd to violence. Later, a listener killed seven people in the store. Sharpton then lied and claimed he had never been at the rally.
Sharpton helped incite a murderous anti-Jewish pogrom in Brooklyn when he gave a speech at a funeral of a black child who had been accidentally killed by a Jewish driver. Sharpton announced, 'If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.' He also organized a boycott of small grocery stores owned by Korean immigrants. He called New York City's first black mayor, David Dinkins, 'that n----- whore turning tricks in City Hall.'"
Al Sharpton - Memories
Some people remember Al and are willing to write about him...
This article, by Jeff Jacoby is from Capitalism Magazine in 2003.:
"If Sharpton were a white skinhead, he would be a political leper, spurned everywhere but the fringe. But far from being spurned, he is shown much deference. Democrats embrace him. Politicians court him. And journalists report on his comings and goings while politely sidestepping his career as a hatemongering racial hustler."
Whoopie Goldberg
The name of her production company tells it all...
Click here for the info:
"The Internet Movie DataBase"
The Media - "So What's the Bad Word Today?"
The media is obviously bad for our news health, if not more...
Bill Murchison discusses it at TownHall.com:
"The news -- let's own up to it -- is dreadful.
The glaciers are melting; the terrorists are advancing; Iran, after getting away with the kidnapping of 15 Britons, has begun enriching uranium; hardly anybody professes to like the president of the United States; Don Imus makes a bigger donkey of himself than he was by crawling to Al Sharpton, racial trickster extraordinaire, for forgiveness of a racial insult; and ... and ... I think that's enough for now.
In this image released by the US Army, Republican Senator from Arizona and a presidential hopeful John McCain, second left, and the commander of the US forces in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, left, visit the popular Shorja market in central Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday April 1, 2007. McCain charged that the American people were not getting a 'full picture' of progress in the security crackdown in the capital.
It isn't that nothing good goes on. A lot of good goes on. We merely tune it out. Or, as more often is the case, the media tune it out for us, understanding as they do the human love of the awful.
We claim -- we, in the media -- not to be doing this. Instead, we claim just to be relating what's out there. Well, come on, bros. I've been in this business for nearly 40 years -- you can't fool me. We go to town on bad news."
At the library
How about just saying no, and then taking time to review the decision?...
Bob Lonsberry finds a bureaucracy in action:
"The bureaucrats did yesterday what bureaucrats always do. They decided to study instead of act, delay instead of decide."
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Higher grades, lower scores
So much for "teaching to the test" as opposed to teaching the subject matter...
At SFgate.com, Debra J. Saunders discusses America's "improved" test scores:
"AFTER ALL those years of educators focusing on improving the basics in public schools, how is it possible that the National Assessment for Educational Progress just gave America's high school seniors their lowest score for reading since 1992?
Students in elementary school have improved their skills in reading, writing and math, but the improvement "stops in middle school and completely stops in high school," answered Jim Lanich, president of California Business for Educational Excellence in Sacramento and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, who called me from a NAGB meeting in Nashville.
The new NAEP report found that the percentage of high school seniors who read at or above basic levels decreased from 80 percent in 1992 to 73 percent in 2005. A mere 23 percent of seniors were rated as proficient in math, even though students were allowed to use calculators for one-third of the test."
The World We Live In - Bunnies and Eggs
Perhaps this should be a non-issue after all...
Jim Herron Zamora writes in the San Francisco Chronicle:
"The bunny is a fertility symbol with no religious connection to Easter," added Cunningham who was the Christianity editor for the in the HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion. "The egg, which was popularized in Greece, Russia and Eastern Europe in connection with Easter, does not have a religious connection to Easter. By taking away the term 'Easter,' these symbols to some extent return to their pre-Christian roots as symbols of spring fertility."
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Politicians - Fred Thompson
Stay tuned.
Something just might be happening here.
Remember the last actor who became President...
Something just might be happening here.
Remember the last actor who became President...
J.B. Williams writes for the National Ledger:
"Fred can raise the money. But more importantly, he seems able to inspire voters who are desperate for an inspired candidate unlike all the others. He might also get people to the polls that have not been to the polls in a very long time. And that’s why Fred alone is inspiring the imagination without even being in the race.
Now that’s a real 'peoples' candidate. And this is about to get really interesting."
"It's the Culture, Stupid"
I couldn't agree more.
I finally found someone who writes about exactly what I've been thinking...
I finally found someone who writes about exactly what I've been thinking...
Dinesh D'Souza writes at TownHall.com:
"We have heard a great deal from critics of globalization about how the United States is corrupting the world with its multinational corporations and its trade practices. But world opinion surveys by the Pew Research Center and other groups show that non-Western peoples are generally pleased with American products. In fact, the people of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East want more American companies, more American technology, and more free trade. Their objection is not to McDonalds or Microsoft but to America's cultural values as transmitted through movies, television and music."
Extravagance without Accountability
Climbing walls?.
And did I hear liability insurance?...
And did I hear liability insurance?...
This is from Malcolm A. Kline at CampusReport Online:
"The ‘country clubbing’ of the university is all being financed with this,” Dr. Vedder said. 'Who knows where the money goes—athletic programs, climbing walls?'
'You can’t have a university without a climbing wall anymore.' Even some of Dr. Vedder’s more liberal colleagues acknowledged the odd trend of university finances growing with tuition hikes."
Portland taxpayers get bill for March protest
Now, this is a conundrum, for sure.
I guess billing the protestors or having them purchase an appropriately priced permit would go against free speech rights.
And of course, I have to wonder how many of the protestors pay taxes...
I guess billing the protestors or having them purchase an appropriately priced permit would go against free speech rights.
And of course, I have to wonder how many of the protestors pay taxes...
In Oregon, Wilson Chow reports for NorthWest Cable News:
"Portland taxpayers are getting the bill for last month's war protest that ended with police and demonstrators clashing.
The cost: $70,000 and counting."
There goes the neighborhood!
I'll give you the link and you can pick a side...
At Myrtle Beach Online, Mike Baker finds a neighborhood conflict:
"Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the 'rabid, rabid Republican' who owns property across the street from her Orange County home - and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.
Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way off his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person."
An Unwanted Baby Depository?
I'd bet you think I'm making this up...
For the U.K. TimesOnLine, Roger Boyes reports from Berlin:
"Desperate mothers are being urged to drop their unwanted babies through hatches at hospitals in an effort to halt a spate of infanticides that has shocked Germany."
IBD Editorials: Booming For Bush
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone...
The editors at Investors Business Daily report:
"Since August 2003, the economy has created more than 7.8 million jobs — 2 million in just the last 12 months — capping a string of 43 straight months of job growth.
Real after-tax incomes have risen $2,900 per person since Bush took office, and in the last 12 months real wages grew 1.8% — a pace faster than in Clinton's final years. Productivity growth of 2.8% a year since 2001 outstrips the average for the last three decades."
Only in America - TerraPass
The ingenuity of Americans never ceases to amaze me...
You can see what I mean at TerraPass.com:
"TerraPass funds clean energy projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Your TerraPass is third-party verified to reduce the equivalent of your car’s carbon dioxide pollution."
What's in the Stew?
I bet you might have guessed the answer:
You really don't want to know...
You really don't want to know...
At BusinessWeek.com, David E. Gumpert tells us:
"It seems logical to assume that if a disease is considered dangerous enough to require quarantining farms and destroying animals, then the condemned animals would be incinerated or otherwise destroyed to prevent their meat from reaching consumer markets. Not so."
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Cape Wind - calling Al Gore
Cape Wind they call it.
This is the project that Ted Kennedy doesn't want to see from his house.
Cape Wind seems appropriately named.
And by the way the Boston Globe is wholly owned by the New York Times...
This is the project that Ted Kennedy doesn't want to see from his house.
Cape Wind seems appropriately named.
And by the way the Boston Globe is wholly owned by the New York Times...
The writer of this article, Stephanie Ebbert, doesn't mention that point. I figure she wants to keep her job.:
"Another delay for Cape Wind as agency grapples with review process - Cape Wind Associates aims to build 130 wind turbines on 25 miles in Nantucket Sound. The company says its windmills could produce about 79 percent of the Cape and Islands' daily power needs, pollution-free."
Politicians - Dianne Feinstein
I don't think this was as widely reported as it should be...
I found this article by Peter Byrne at MetroActive.com:
"SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum's ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband's companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp."
Politicians - Bobby Jindal
I've heard about this guy before.
I'm thinking we all might hear about him someday...
I'm thinking we all might hear about him someday...
This was posted on a blog called RedState:
"The first time I saw Bobby Jindal, he left Jack Welch, John Sweeney, and a roomful of corporate bigshots, union leaders, and people who generally like to hear themselves talk absolutely dumbfounded.
It wasn’t the first time he’d done this sort of thing, and certainly not the last.
Read on."
Politicians - Ted Kennedy
I'm rooting for Jim Gordon...
From David Schoetz at ABC News:
"A major battle in the politics of alternative energy has moved to a final phase in Washington, and a senator named Kennedy with a waterfront view and a bone to pick awaits.
Friday was a good day for Jim Gordon, the man hungry to build America's first offshore wind farm off the Cape Cod coast."
In Our Courts - Disabled access attorney rebuked by judge
I'm sure this wasn't the expected outcome...
Marjie Lundstrom writes in the Sacremento Bee:
"A disabled access attorney who has sued entire towns over alleged access violations has been rebuked by a San Diego federal court judge for his conduct in a recent case, told to pay legal fees and take ethics classes.
San Diego attorney Theodore Pinnock, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, was ordered to pay more than $15,000 in legal fees incurred by a business owner who was sued over alleged access violations at a convenience store that wasn't even open for business.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller also imposed sanctions against Pinnock, ordering the attorney to complete four hours of ethics and professional responsibility training classes approved by the California State Bar"
Politicians - Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
Just in a hurry to do the peoples business?...
From WWLTV.com in New Orleans:
"Hedge-Morrell issued an apology for the incident, which happened on February 26, when a state trooper clocked the councilwoman flying down I-10 at close to 100 miles per hour just before 9 a.m. Morrell was reportedly in a city-provided SUV and using the vehicle’s blue flashing lights to help cut through traffic.
State Police said when they pulled Morrell over and asked her to step out of the vehicle, she refused, and said 'Do you know who I am?' Morrell told the trooper that she was on her way to an important meeting with FEMA officials. A similar incident involving Morrell occurred in January."
Don Imus vs. Al Sharpton
"The pot calling the kettle black?"
Uh, Oh. I bet even that is politically incorrect.
But it's also free speech!...
Uh, Oh. I bet even that is politically incorrect.
But it's also free speech!...
From an Investors Business Daily editorial:
"We won't repeat what the 'Imus in the Morning' host said about Rutgers' women's basketball team. Unlike the dust-up over President Bush's observation that Sen. Barack Obama was 'articulate,' or Newt Gingrich's advocacy of English immersion, it was genuinely offensive and deserved condemnation.
What struck us was that his most vocal accuser, the Rev. Al Sharpton, on whose show Imus begged forgiveness, is hardly the poster child for racial sensitivity. Big Al rose to fame back in 1987 by charging that New York prosecutor Steve Pagones 'on 33 separate occasions' had 'kidnapped, raped and abused' Tawana Brawley."
Politicians - John Ford
I don't know what the verdict will be; however, I do know that it sure isn't what honest people do...
Marc Perrusquia reports for Memphis Online:
"Yet as the prosecution and defense made opening statements Tuesday in the former state senator's long-awaited bribery trial, it became clear they want jurors to reach far different conclusions on the case's centerpiece:
Hours of videotapes that show Ford stuffing cash into his pockets and bragging of his power to make deals.
'Senator Ford saw a great opportunity. And that opportunity was to sell his office,' Asst. U.S. Atty. Tim DiScenza told the seven white and five black jurors chosen to decide Ford's fate.
Ford, 64, the unofficial head of Memphis' leading political family, is accused of accepting $55,000 in bribes to help undercover agents posing as corrupt businessmen get a state contract.
Yet, defense lawyer Michael Scholl told the jury that cash payments on the tapes aren't bribes but rather legal payments Ford thought he was entitled to after agents baited him with limo rides, outings on a yacht and stays in first-class hotels.
'The United States government is looking for John Ford, and that's what this case is going to show,' Scholl told the jury.
'The FBI keeps coming to John Ford ... month after month, day after day to try to get him to do something illegal.'"
Immigration - $2,200,000,000.00
Guess we all know who pays for this...
The WorldNetDaily website reports:
"Someone has finally fixed an approximate taxpayer cost of between 12 million and 15 million illegal aliens residing in the U.S."
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Media - Montel Williams 2
And from another source...
on the Military Spouses blog:
"Hubby and I even got seated in the front for the first taping! We were this close to the stage! It was a very highly charged atmosphere, and we got to ask Montel questions before the show began. We were all having a great time.
The trouble started during the second taping, when we learned that Montel's agenda with military people wasn't what it had been portrayed to be when our group was invited to attend. And as military families have been burned so often by unscrupulous media members (I'm not attacking the ones who work professionally here!), we probably should have sensed it from the beginning. We were going to be ambushed."
The Media - Montel Williams 1
This article tells how some talk shows operate...
At CNSnews.com, Fred Lucas reports:
"According to Keli Frasier, an Army Reservist who served 11 months in Iraq, Montel Williams, host of 'The Montel Williams Show', quickly moved to the next segment after she made positive comments about the Department of Veterans Affairs.
'This soldier isn't going to complain', she quoted Williams as saying to other talk show staffers during a commercial break."
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Stranger than fiction?
Could this really be?
And besides, don't helicopters pollute?...
And besides, don't helicopters pollute?...
In Brussels RIA Novosti is this:
"The government of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia, which has a population of about 4 million, has approved a tax on barbequing, local media reported."
Is something fishy here?
He wanted the reporters to tell all, but he doesn't want to do the same...
The Wall Street Journal doesn't like the precedents that may have been set in this case. Their editorial begins:
"It's time to hold the special prosecutor accountable."
"For a prosecutor who claims to be a truth-seeker, Patrick Fitzgerald sure can be secretive. Even now that the Scooter Libby trial is over and his "leak" investigation is all but closed, the unaccountable special counsel wants to keep his arguments for creating a Constitutional showdown over reporters and their sources under lock and key.
Mr. Fitzgerald is fighting release of the affidavits he filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to justify compelling two reporters to testify about their conversations with Mr. Libby, and to throw one of them in jail for 85 days until she did so. Also under court seal are eight pages of a redacted 2005 D.C. Circuit opinion by Judge David Tatel that explained the court's decision to support Mr. Fitzgerald's pursuit of the reporters.
In January, Dow Jones--which publishes this newspaper--and the Associated Press requested that the D.C. Circuit release this material now that the case is wrapped up. By demanding that the reporters betray their sources, Mr. Fitzgerald caused a legal collision that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The public, the press and other prosecutors all have what the Dow Jones-AP motion calls "an undeniable and overwhelming public interest" in knowing the arguments and information that Mr. Fitzgerald made to the court."
Iran - the root cause?
This writer puts it squarely on Iran:
In the Wall Street Journal, David Hazony begins by calling ti Cold War II:
"A new Cold War is upon us. Though there is no Soviet Union today, the enemies of Western democracy, supported by a conglomerate of Islamic states, terror groups and insurgents, have begun to work together with a unity of purpose reminiscent of the Soviet menace: not only in funding, training and arming those who seek democracy's demise; not only in mounting attacks against Israel, America and their allies around the world; not only in seeking technological advances that will enable them to threaten the life of every Western citizen; but also in advancing a clear vision of a permanent, intractable and ultimately victorious struggle against the West--an idea they convey articulately, consistently and with brutal efficiency.
It is this conceptual strategic clarity that gives the West's enemies a leg up, even if they are far inferior in number, wealth, and weaponry. From Tehran to Tyre, from Chechnya to the Philippines, from southern Iraq to the Afghan mountains to the madrassas of London and Paris and Cairo, these forces are unified in their aim to defeat the West, its way of life, its political forms and its cause of freedom. And every day, because of this clarity, their power and resources grow, as they attract allies outside the Islamic world: In Venezuela, in South Africa, in North Korea.
At the center of all this, of course, is Iran."
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
America - We have a problem
This is mindboggling.
How can there be so many people like these?...
How can there be so many people like these?...
The Associated Press's Sharon Cohen tells an incredible story:
"More than 18 months after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, authorities are chipping away at a mountain of fraud cases that, by some estimates, involve thousands of people who bilked the federal government and charities out of hundreds of millions of dollars intended to aid storm victims.
The full scope of Katrina fraud may never be known, but this much is clear: It stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast, like the hurricane evacuees themselves. So far, more than 600 people have been charged in federal cases in 22 states _ from Florida to Oregon _ and the District of Columbia.
The frauds range in value from a few thousand dollars to more than $700,000. Complaints are still pouring in and several thousand possible cases are in the pipeline _ enough work to keep authorities busy for five to eight years, maybe more."
Islam - the irony of it all
I don't think many of us truly understand the implications of this issue...
From Tawfik Hamid in the Wall Street Opinion Journal:
"Worst of all, perhaps, is the anti-Americanism among many Westerners. It is a resentment so strong, so deep-seated, so rooted in personal identity, that it has led many, consciously or unconsciously, to morally support America's enemies.
Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values. And they must not take for granted the respect for human rights and dignity that we experience in America, and indeed, the West, today."
