Pennsylvanian in exile

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A REAL Benedict Arnold



Courtesy of The Hill is an article telling of the campaign contributions Kerry has gladly accepted from the "Benedict Arnold" CEO's that he blasted:

Campaign finance reports reviewed by The Hill reveal that employees at 25 companies identified by CNN’s Lou Dobbs as “either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers,” have contributed more than $370,000 to Kerry’s presidential campaign.

• Citigroup executives have contributed $68,250 to Kerry’s presidential bid. There was a maximum contribution from the company’s chairman and CEO, Charles O. Prince.

• Morgan Stanley executives have contributed $38,000 to the campaign, including a maximum donation by Richard B. Fisher, chairman emeritus.

• AOL Time Warner executives donated $29,750 to Kerry, with maximum contributions from James V. Kimsey, AOL co-founder and chairman emeritus, and Kathryn Bushkin, president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation and a senior vice president of the company. AOL Time Warner ranks as the third largest donor to Kerry’s political career.

• Goldman Sachs executives have contributed $50,300 to the candidate’s presidential campaign, including a maximum contribution from Vice Chairman Robert S. Kaplan. The investment firm is Kerry’s ninth largest all-time donor base.
Likewise, Kerry’s most recent Senate financial disclosure shows that he and his wife are heavily invested in companies that outsource jobs.

Direct investments and trusts controlled by Kerry list assets of $124,026 to $636,000 in such companies. Trusts held by Teresa Heinz Kerry hold at least $8.5 million in outsourcing companies. Seven of those holdings — with AIG, Anheuser-Busch, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble — were valued at greater than $1 million.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that Kerry received significant donations and fundraising assistance from executives at companies that have reorganized in offshore tax-havens. While no physical displacements directly result from such a move, it can drastically reduce a company’s tax burden.

Executives and employees at these companies have contributed more than $140,000 to Kerry’s campaign, the paper noted. Kerry has also benefited from the fundraising prowess of two investment executives who facilitate offshore corporate reorganizations. Those individuals have raised more than $400,000 for the presidential campaign, the paper reported.

Who's the worse traitor, Ketchup man? The traitor or the man who profits from the traitor? Much like Kerry, Benedict Arnold was decorated for valor and was wounded in battle before turning his back on his country.

Kill all the lawyers

A would be kidnapper/kiddie raper is on trial back home in PA, and the defense attorney so concerned about the poor baby's rights.

The attorney for a Franklin man accused of attempting to take a child from an Oil City preschool last fall asked the court Tuesday to have the man's charges dismissed, arguing there is a lack of admissible evidence.

Tracie Lee Black, 21, formerly of 201 Peach St., Orchard Park, has been held in the Venango County jail on $100,000 bail since his arrest last October. On Oct. 27, Oil City police learned that he allegedly attempted to enter the First Presbyterian Church preschool.

His attorney, Neil Rothschild, filed a petition with the court, questioning the validity of the case and arguing that his client's constitutional rights are being violated.

So what is this piece of garbage alleged to have done? Let's find out:

Black is charged with burglary, attempted kidnapping to facilitate a felony and attempted rape by forcible compulsion. A charge of criminal trespass has also been added by the district attorney's office.

Friedhaber testified that Black entered the preschool area and asked her where the office of the church was, left for a short period of time, and then returned. She said Black then asked to see his little sister, claiming he hadn't seen her since she was born.

When she asked him for the little girl's name, he told her his own name and at that point she asked him to leave, telling him there was no child there by that name, Friedhaber testified.

Black also gave statements to Oil City police about the incident.

According to the petition, "the next day, he was interviewed by Oil City police and stated that he planned to take a little girl to the woods and have intercourse."

What a piece of trash. I'm listening to a Charlie Daniels song this morning, his remedy is to take the trash out to swamp, tie them to a stump "and let the rattlers, bugs and the gators do the rest." That said, the attorney is all afraid for his client's safety in prison:

Rothschild on Tuesday also asked White to grant house arrest for Black, who has been incarcerated at the Venango County jail since last fall. Rothschild said Black is being mistreated and is a target at the jail because of the nature of his criminal charges, his small physical stature and his mental state.

"I am concerned about Mr. Black's welfare over there," Rothschild told White.

Thankfully we have good judges up home and not goofs like the 9th circus:

After hearing arguments from both Rothschild and Veon, as well as reviewing an evaluation for house arrest done by court supervision services, White denied the motion for house arrest and told Black he would look into his situation in the jail.

Black told the judge he would rather not be in a cell by himself but that he didn't want to be within the general jail population.

"I'll take a look at it and see what we can do," White said. "In any event, I'm denying your request for house arrest."

Here's a simple solution: not trying to kidnap little girls means never having to keep house for a big lifer in prison. Have fun rotting in jail, dirtbag.

The Kerry gas tax calculator

Kerry has favored tax increases on gas, as high as 50 cents a gallon! Here is a handy calculator to help you figure out how much more you could pay under the ketchup king.

Wictory Wednesday

It's Wictory Wednesday, the day to remind you to volunteer or donate to make sure that our safety is not compromised by a man who believes more in the sovereignty of the UN than the US. Join others who are doing the same thing, using the power of the blog:

No more free ride

Mark Steyn picks on Germany and as usual nails it. He writes of how Germany better get used to life without US soldiers and their money:

Right now, Germany plays host to 175,000 Americans - military personnel plus their families - and reducing that number to 80-90,000 would leave a big hole in an economy that's already looking like a Swiss cheese. See the recent story in Bild: "Can't We Do Anything Any More in Germany?" Also the cover of Der Spiegel: "Germany: A Joke."

The joke keeps getting better. Karl Peter Bruch, a state official in Rhineland-Palatinate who's lobbying the Americans to change their minds, put it this way: "We realised that our installations are in grave danger. And then came the question, what can we do to make us more attractive?"

"Our" installations? As Daffy Duck famously remarked after losing yet another verbal duel with Bugs Bunny and getting his bill shot off: "Hmm. Pronoun trouble." As to what Germany can do to make itself more attractive to the Yanks, how about this? Spend less time running around playing Mini-Me to Jacques Chirac's Doctor Evil. Just a thought. And it seems to have occurred, somewhat belatedly, to Gerhard Schröder.

Pretty accurate, I'd say. He also tells of a sickly Germany sinking from socialist obligations and getting used and abused by the EU.

What happens when a country becomes just as militant and aggressive about the virtues of "soft power" as it once was about old-fashioned hard power? Germany has a shrinking economy, an ageing and shrivelling population, and potentially catastrophic welfare liabilities. Yet the average German worker now puts in over 20 per cent fewer hours per year than his American counterpart, and no politician who wishes to remain electorally viable would propose closing the gap.

Germany, like much of Europe, has a psychological investment in longer holidays, free healthcare, early retirement, unsustainable welfare programmes, decrepit military: the fact that these policies spell national suicide is less important than that they distinguish Europe from the less enlightened Americans.

Where did all the money go? In a recent speech in Washington, the Oxford historian Niall Ferguson recalled German objections 80 years ago to their First World War reparations bill of $132 billion - why, such a sum would bankrupt the country!

Ferguson pointed out that Germany has paid $132 billion and then some to France, Belgium, Italy and co in net EU contributions. And, as predicted, bankruptcy looms. From Belgian steel to Italian agriculture to French colonial subventions, the entire European project has been financed by Germany.

Even a rare fellow contributor such as Britain owes its brief romance with the Common Market to German success: in stagnant pre-Thatcher Britain, the business community looked enviously across the Channel and figured that yoking the British economy to Europe would cut 'em a little piece of that rich German stollen.

But there's no stollen left to steal: Germany is the sick man of Europe, and too risk-averse to try any cure other than sugary placebos such as the dismal "Year of Innovation" Mr Schröder has declared 2004 to be. He has appointed an Innovation Council. The first sign of a genuinely innovative culture is that it's too busy innovating to have an Innovation Council. An Innovation Council is just more of the same-old same-old.

The Germans get 11 per cent of the votes in the Council of Ministers and pony up 67 per cent of the EU's net contributions. And sooner or later, they'll figure out that pandering to a pampered populace at home is one thing, subsidising it Continent-wide is quite another. Then they really will go on the offensive.

Ivy-holics

In the Washington Post is a great column about people who think Ivy League school are the be-all/end all of higher education. The author shows the fallacy of that rationale:

Here are the alma maters of the chief executive officers of the Top 10 Fortune 500 companies in 2001: Duke, Pittsburg (Kansas) State, Wisconsin, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Cornell, Miami of Ohio, Institute of Chartered Accountants (Australia), and UC-Berkeley.

and

Here are some of the most admired Americans, and the colleges they attended: Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse; Colin Powell, City College of New York; Billie Jean King, California State University-Los Angeles; Warren Buffett, Nebraska-Lincoln; Rudy Giuliani, Manhattan; Bill Cosby, Temple; Oprah Winfrey, Tennessee State; Garrison Keillor, Minnesota; Steve Jobs, Reed; Ken Burns, Hampshire; Jaime Escalante, California State University-Los Angeles. Mohammed Ali did not attend college.

In Pennsylvania there were the Ivy-wanna be's, such as Bucknell, Susquehanna, Gettysburg, Allegheny among others. I went to Penn State, where I paid 1/4 the tuition to graduate from a school with the biggest alumni association in the US. Did someone from little Bucknell get an education 4 times better than mine?

Kerry's ski vacation

Another reason to hate unions

With all of the kvetching about "outsourcing", the United Steel Workers (USW) is doing some outsourcing of its own.

With its union roots and a new convention center, you would think that Pittsburgh would be a lock to host next year's United Steelworkers of America convention.

But the Steelworkers have found their hometown lacking one essential ingredient -- unionized hotels, ironically enough.

As a result, the Pittsburgh-based union is thinking about heading back to Las Vegas, which was the site of its 2002 convention, and which has more than enough organized labor in its hotels to go along with all that glitz.

Instead of helping out folks in their own neighborhood, they are going to take that business to Vegas. Just another example of how unions have outlived their usefulness, as the the convention would help their fellow union members.

English said the USW will need more than 2,500 union hotel rooms for its 2005 convention, the first in three years. Pittsburgh, he said, has a little over 2,000 union hotel rooms available.

"We really would have liked to have done it in Pittsburgh. The convention center was very cooperative and worked very closely with us," he said. "The irony of it is that the city with the most union hotels is Las Vegas. We can put virtually all of the people in one hotel and hold the convention there."

I don't believe him for a minute, as I have seen unions do too many things that benefit only their leaders, and not the rank and file. Strikes, closing a mill rather than take wage concessions, exotic locales for conventions, I've seen it, I grew up in a steel mill town, am the son of a steelworker, and even worked in the mills one summer.

The Goblins have more rights than you....

.....at least in Pinellas County Florida:


Curtis Paulisin and a friend tried to break into a Honda Civic last week, and the car's owner, Raymond Jason Butler, confronted them and fired several shots from a 9 mm handgun in their direction as they fled, police said.

When police arrived, Butler was gone, but they found the gun, police Sgt. Jeff Young said. They also found Paulisin's friend, who was charged with burglary, Young said. His name was not released.

Paulisin's body was found Saturday floating in a pond at Tarponwood Lake Apartments, the same complex where the shooting took place.

Butler, 31, was arrested at a Wal-Mart in Hernando County just before midnight Saturday, and charged with first-degree murder. He was being held without bail in the Pinellas County Jail.

It was the second time in a week that Pinellas County authorities charged have dealt with murder in connection with an attempted car break-in.

On March 21, Randall Carlton Gray of St. Petersburg was charged with second-degree murder after police say he shot 15-year-old Devon Michael Davis. Police say Davis was trying to steal a car that belonged to Gray's girlfriend.

Just let the goblins take your car, I guess. Private property cannot be defended in that county, at least that is the message they are sending. We used to hang horse thieves.

Kerry find the Bible

Kerry found some use for the Bible, as he quoted scripture to blast Bush for not helping people. This coming from the man who claims to be Catholic but has no regard for Catholic teachings.

John Kerry cited a Bible verse Sunday to criticize leaders who have "faith but has no deeds," prompting President Bush's spokesman to accuse Kerry of exploiting Scripture for a political attack.

Kerry never mentioned Bush by name during his speech at New North Side Baptist Church, but aimed his criticism at "our present national leadership." Kerry cited Scripture in his appeal for the worshippers, including James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?"

"The Scriptures say, what does it profit, my brother, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?" Kerry said. "When we look at what is happening in America today, were are the works of compassion?"

The Scriptures also say quite a bit about how wrong abortion is, Mr. Kerry, something that you are so committed to that you were one of the few to support partial birth abortion. Tax collectors don't fare too well in Scripture either, and you have voted to raise taxes over 350 times. Thou shalt not kill is in the Bible too, and you allegedly committed atrocities in Vietnam. You are pretty good about being hypocritical though:

Kerry is Roman Catholic, but his support for abortion rights is at odds with Vatican teachings.

"I don't tell church officials what to do, and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life," Kerry said in an interview with Time posted on the magazine's Web site Sunday.

Mr. Kerry, you thoroughly disgust me. I keep thinking of a line from "The American President": we have serious problems that need serious people and your 15 minutes are up.

You're next, Syria

Sometimes I come across an article or piece so well written, that I cannot think of anything to add to it. Today's NY Post has just such a piece about it time to do some regime change in Syria, since we're over there.

In recent days, U.S. military helicopters in Iraq have repeatedly come under fire from Syria.

This provocation may indicate that the Syrian Ba'athist regime has taken the mollifying words of Secretary of State Colin Powell too much to heart, and is confident that America is too entangled in counter-insurgency efforts to do much to punish Syrian transgressions.

There's more: Besides firing on U.S. Marines, Syria is letting Islamist terrorists cross into Iraq. And it continues to dominate Lebanon, where it backs the terrorists of Hezbollah.

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad rightly fears the spread of democratic freedom from liberated Iraq. And, in their paranoia, Syria's Ba'ath thugs blame America for the growing refusal of the country's Kurds and other minorities to kowtow to the regime in Damascus.

So far, the Bush administration has - perhaps mistakenly - sought to ease tensions by delaying until mid-April the imposition of very mild sanctions triggered by the Syrian Accountability Act.

But Damascus should understand that America's patience is limited.

Even with its heavy commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States could easily punish Syria in ways that would mean the beginning of the end of rule by the Ba'ath Party and the Assad family.

A development long overdue.

PC vs HIV

At least at one Oregon college, the safety of our blood supply is less important than hurting someone's feelings.

The American Red Cross may soon be banned from holding blood drives on one university campus because the organization prohibits some gay men from donating blood.

"We're looking at the practices of the Red Cross — whether they are discriminatory, and if they are, how it relates back to our policy," said Gary Dukes, vice president of student affairs at Western Oregon University.

At issue is one of the dozens of questions used to screen donors. Men are asked if they've had sex with another man — even only once — since 1977.

Men are also asked if they have has sex with a prostitute, and everyone is asked about tattos, piercing, surgery, drug use, and trips to places like Haiti and Africa. So what is the big deal? Gay sex is the way that HIV is most easily transmitted.

Some student government leaders say the question is homophobic and has no place on campus, even if that means less blood available to those who need it.

"There may be less blood in the blood supply, or we can continue to have a world full of hate and discrimination," said Shauna Bates, student senator at WOU.

Or we can just hope that neither you nor anyone you care about needs a transfusion and either there isn't enough blood or the blood is tainted. But at least nobody's feelings would be hurt. At least the FDA has its priorities straight, pardon the pun.

The Food and Drug Administration (search), not the Red Cross, decides which groups can't donate blood. Among them are anemics, intravenous drug users and sexually active gay men, who still comprise the largest percentage of AIDS cases.

The FDA did recently look at possibly changing, or even dropping, the question about gay sex. But an advisory committee said doing that would risk putting blood recipients in danger of contracting the deadly AIDS virus.

"It's incredibly important that the blood supply remain safe," said Darrin Greenlee of the American Red Cross.

Giving blood is not a civil right. It's great that people give blood, but it is not a right. If someone has participated in behaviors or has conditions that increase the likelihood of their blood being tainted, then they can't give blood. Our health is more important than these PC nonsense.

The Terrorist Coddling Useless Nations

The UN Security Council condemned Israel for killing Sheik Yassin, but made no mention of the terrorism he wrought.

Calling the draft one-sided and "silent about the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas," the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution Thursday evening that condemned Israel for killing Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

With 11 votes in favor and three abstentions, cast by Britain, Germany and Romania, the US cast its veto after the 15-member council declined to add calls for a cessation of terror attacks against Israel, and mention of the March 14 Hamas attack in Ashdod that killed 10 Israelis, to the Algerian-sponsored text.

Algeria, that freedom loving country that embraces all faiths. Oops, I mean the country full of Islamofascist thugs that like to kill anyone not Muslim. Israel appreciated the US support:

Dore Gold, an adviser to the Israeli Government, said, "Israel is very appreciative of the steadfastness demonstrated by President Bush's US administration, which once again defended the principles of the fight against terrorism."

"Set aside the US veto, Great Britain's and Germany's abstention, this vote once again illustrated the sheer hypocrisy of the Security Council. The proposed text made no reference to terrorist organisations and the 337 Israelis killed by Hamas, while focusing only on the defensive operation carried out by Israel," Gold said.
Just ignore the UN like we did with Iraq, and blow away all of the terrorist swine.

College and the Clitoris

In a waste of taxpayer money and students' activity fees, my alma mater Penn State had the annual Sex Faire last night.

With Marvin Gaye music in the air and a maze of colorful display boards, Penn State's annual Sex Faire attracted more than 200 students to the HUB-Robeson Center's Heritage Hall last night.

The Sex Faire ran from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and was sponsored by Womyn's Concerns and the Center for Women Students. It provided over 2,000 free condoms, female condoms and dental dams to visitors.

Several activities and informational booths helped students to educate themselves on topics ranging from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to consent. Some of the featured activities included "Sexual Twister," "Orgasm Bingo," "Consensual Haircut," and a "Human Sundae" station. Participants could also sculpt genitals out of clay.

Orgasm Bingo? What the heck is that? Sexual Twister and Human Sundae I can figure out. What other learning took place?

Aaronette White, professor of African American studies, women's studies and psychology, gave a presentation on the clitoris.

"This is a feminist biological presentation of the 18 structures that are part of the clitoral system," White said. "In order to engage in consensual, safer sex, it's important that women know about their bodies."

White said informing women about their body parts would give them confidence to be "less passive when engaging in sexual acts."

She gave handouts to the audience members and encouraged them to follow along with her explanations.

"The hope is that you will go home and get your mirrors out," White said.

It was not all directed at women:

She encouraged education for both men and women.

"You don't have to have a clitoris to understand the clitoris," she said. "Men should know about women's bodies as well, even if they aren't sleeping with women's bodies."

White promoted talking about sexuality and the clitoris, as she urged members of the audience to shout the word. She then sang the word clitoris, drawing laughter from the crowd.

There was also a presentation on self-genital exams for women. Free plastic speculums were given to women who watched a slide show detailing self-exams.

The sponsoring group, Womyn's Concerns (yes, that is the proper spelling. They want nothing to do with men.) was quite happy with the turnout:

Molly Zuckerman, co-director of Womyn's Concerns, said she was "delighted" by the crowd's enthusiasm.

"This is the environment we wanted," she said.

"If we make sex something people can talk about and enjoy, everyone will realize that sex is supposed to be consensual, respectful and safe."

Kelly Ross, secretary of Womyn's Concerns, also said she was excited by the turnout because their message was important.

"In this country, we have such a stigma with talking about our sexuality," Ross said. "We're not trying to push any agenda except to say talk about sex."

As I flip through the TV channels, see the magazines at the checkout counter, or listen to the radio, I fail to see any shyness or stigma about sex. Anyway, this one guy at the festival scares me:

Andrew Partington (sophomore-advertising) said he was enjoying himself at all of the booths, but he enjoyed sculpting genitals out of clay most.

"I also learned that, apparently, women are afraid to say clitoris," Partington said with a laugh.

Ok Andrew, not that there is anything wrong with that, but making penises out of clay does not sound like healthy behavior. All in all, a colossal waste of money. Our students may not know Shakespeare, Calculus, or history, but now they now how to make a clay penis. Education at its finest!

Casey Kasem isn't doing this Top 10

Courtesy of the British group Transparency International is the list of 10 most corrupt leaders of the last 20 years. Here is the Top 10:

The complete top 10, with the dates of the rule and estimated sum stolen, are as follows:


1. Mohamed Suharto, Indonesia, 1967-98, 15 to 35 billion dollars


2. Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines, 1972-86, five to 10 billion


3. Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire, 1965-97, five billion


4. Sani Abacha, Nigeria, 1993-98, two to five billion


5. Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia/Yugoslavia, 1989-2000, one billion

6. Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haiti, 1971-86, 300 to 800 million

7. Alberto Fujimori, Peru, 1990-2000, 600 million

8. Pavlo Lazarenko, Ukraine, 1996-97, 114 to 200 million

9. Arnoldo Aleman, Nicaragua, 1997-2000, 100 million

10. Joseph Estrada, Philippines, 1998-2001, 78 to 80 million

What, no Clinton?

Palestinian Child Abuse



A would be 16 year old homicide bomber decided he didn't want to die.

A 16-year-old Palestinian with a suicide bomb vest strapped to his torso was on a mission to kill the Israeli soldiers who caught and disarmed him before he could strike, the army said. The youngster told a newspaper he had been afraid to die.

In an interview with the Yediot Ahronot newspaper Thursday, the boy, identified as Hussam Abdo, said he wanted to go to paradise but feared killing himself until he neared the Israeli army roadblock and was stopped.

"When the soldiers stopped me, I didn't press the switch. I changed my mind. I didn't want to die anymore," Abdo said, according to the newspaper. "I'm sorry for what I did."

The military said Abdo's mission was to kill soldiers at the crowded West Bank checkpoint.

Thankfully this boy changed his mind, but this is just the latest appalling example of the Paleswinians willing to sacrifice mere boys:

Several teenagers have carried out suicide bombings over the past 3 1/2 years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and there has been concern of late that militant groups were turning to younger attackers to fool Israeli security checks.

Abdo, though 16, looked far younger, and the Israeli military initially said he was 10.

On March 16, Israeli troops stopped an 11-year-old boy allegedly trying to smuggle explosives through the same checkpoint. Israel said militants had given the boy the explosives without his knowledge, either to ferry across the checkpoint or to be blown up by remote control when he got near soldiers.

Palestinians and the boy disputed this, claiming the bag he was carrying — swiftly blown up by army sappers — contained auto parts.

Last month, Israeli police arrested three boys, aged 12, 13 and 15, who said they were on their way to carry out a shooting attack in the Israeli city of Afula.

"No matter how many times Israel learns of the use of children for suicide bombings, it is shocking on each occasion," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

One more reason that any "negotiations" with these animals not involving troops and Apache helicopters will be fruitless.

The joys of the tax refund

Thanks to the tax cuts and the birth of my son last year, we had a sweet tax refund this year, and it was just direct-deposited into our bank account. We're going to use that as part of a downpayment to pay for a bigger house, which will help the economy. We will provide business for the mortgage company and the realtor, and possibly a builder if we decide to build a new house. A brand new house means work for the ecavator to clear the lot, the carpenter to build the framing, the manufacturer of the roof trusses, the roofer, the plumber, the electrician.....Tell me again how tax cuts don't help the economy? Speaking of taxes, we will be paying higher property taxes since we plan on moving into something quite larger than the townhouse we currently own, so the county will get more revenue from us.

Wictory Wednesday




Aaron the Liberal slayer has come up with Wictory Wednesday, a day to help President Bush win reelection. Click on the button above to get info on how to become a volunteer for Bush. Our safety against terrorism is too important to trust to the John Kerry's of the world.

Dead Goblin

He fought the law, and the law won.

A 25-year-old Frederick man was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy late Saturday after he brandished a handgun and opened fire on state troopers outside a busy motel cafe where he had been fighting with his fiancee.

The fatal shooting of Todd Allen Fuller was the first by a Frederick County sheriff's deputy in at least 35 years, a spokeswoman for the department said.

So what did this fine, upstanding taxpayer do to deserve such a fate?

The shooting occurred after Maryland State Police officers were called to Pastimes Cafe at the Hampton Inn in the 5300 block of Buckeystown Pike about 11:15 p.m. to investigate a physical confrontation inside the cafe between Fuller and his fiancee, said Deputy 1st Class Jennifer Bailey, a department spokeswoman.

By the time police arrived, Fuller had left the cafe and was returning from his home with a .45-caliber handgun, Bailey said. His vehicle crashed into a light pole at the entrance of the parking lot, and he was walking toward the restaurant with the gun when two troopers encountered him and ordered that he drop the weapon.

Instead, he shot first at one trooper and then the second, striking a patrol car before continuing toward the cafe, Bailey said. Because of their positions and the numerous people nearby, neither trooper returned fire, she said.

Moments later, a Frederick County deputy arrived and ordered Fuller to drop his weapon.

"He commands him several times to do so," Bailey said. Fuller "refuses and turns toward our deputy, raising the weapon."

When Fuller raised the gun, the deputy opened fire, striking him at least twice, she said. Fuller was pronounced dead at the scene, with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Of course the family had the typical "out of character" and "such a good boy" kind of statements:

Fuller's mother said in a brief interview yesterday afternoon that her son's behavior was completely out of character and the family is at a loss to explain or understand it. She said he and his fiancee had been engaged for about two months and were to be married in April. She said his fiancee told her she was also outside the cafe when Fuller was shot.

"They were just having a night out, was my understanding," Carolyn Fuller said.

Just a night out, waving the .45 at the cops and slinging some lead their way. Goodbye goblin!

Judges run amok example #1548798945512

The PA State Supreme Court set aside the death sentence of a man who drowned his first wife and his second wife:

HARRISBURG — The death sentence for a man who strangled his second wife in their hot tub was vacated by the state Supreme Court today.

Timothy Boczkowski, 48, was sentenced to death in May 1999 for killing Maryann Boczkowski in their home in Ross in 1994. He previously had been convicted of killing his first wife, Elaine Boczkowski, who died in the couple’s bathtub in Greensboro, N.C., in 1990.

The high court ruled that the trial judge mistakenly let the jury consider Elaine’s killing as an aggravating factor in Maryann’s death. Boczkowski must now be resentenced in Allegheny County to life in prison.

In a 40-page majority opinion, the court ruled there was ample evidence Boczkowski strangled Maryann but said Pennsylvania prosecutors wrongfully sent him to North Carolina to be tried there first.

All six voting justices supported Boczkowski’s conviction, and only Justice J. Michael Eakin disagreed with the decision to overturn the death penalty.

The jury for his second wife's murder wasn't allowed to consider that he had killed his first wife? Now that he is off of death row and back in the general population maybe he can be shanked for a pack of smokes and my parents and other PA residents won't be spending their tax money on his sorry carcass.

For the Duke-haters

In the spirit of March Madness is this great anti-Duke web site. It gives us great nuggets to reinforce our negative feelings about the spoiled, rich, holier-than-though kids of Durham. Here is the rags to riches story of Chris Duhon and his mom:

When he's driving the black 2000 Nissan Altima across campus, Duke point guard Chris Duhon is easy to spot. A dead giveaway is the personalized license plate: C DOO 21.

Duhon wears jersey No. 21, and he directs Duke's offense with the same steadiness he showed at Salmen High School in Slidell, but the car might surprise the people from his hometown. After all, in high school Duhon didn't have a car, and had to hitch rides with friends or borrow his mother's 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, a former Salmen teammate said.

But things have changed since 2000, when Duhon enrolled at Duke and his mother, Vivian Harper, moved to Durham, N.C., to be close to her oldest son. Harper, who got a job at a company run by a Duke basketball supporter, now owns a 1993 Jeep Cherokee. She also owns the Altima, according to North Carolina motor vehicle records.

Duhon's mother, Vivian Harper, landed a job working for a Duke booster; co-workers say the job opening was never posted and that Harper was overpaid and lacked qualifications. When a manager at the company asked why Harper was moving from Louisiana, supervisors informed him that her son, one of the nation's top recruits, had signed to play at Duke.

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and the dozens of other college coaches recruiting Duhon had to go through Vivian Harper. At the time, she and her two sons were living in a modest house in Slidell. It was a house Harper nearly lost in June 1999, according to court documents.

Trustmark National Bank filed court papers to seize the house after Harper allegedly failed to make mortgage payments for more than six months. Foreclosure never took place. Though court documents offer no details as to how the situation was resolved, Harper remained the owner. Privacy laws prohibit Trustmark from disclosing information about the matter, said Rob Armour, the bank's assistant marketing director.

At the time, family friends said, Harper was running a child-care business out of the home. It was a home Duhon was prepared to leave, but not without his mother.

The next summer, Harper rented out her house in Slidell and headed for a two-bedroom apartment in Durham, N.C. There she found a job at NCM Capital Management Group, a billion-dollar money management firm owned by Maceo Sloan, who displays in his office the basketball he received as a gift from Duke's 1991 national championship team.

How Harper learned of the NCM job is unclear, because the full-time position she got in its operations department was never posted, according to several former employees. No details were available from Harper, who initially offered to provide her resume to prove her qualifications for the position. When contacted later, she said, 'I'm not interested in talking to you.' Attempts to reach Duhon were unsuccessful.

Robert Sinclair, former manager of operations at the NCM, said Harper was the only candidate for the position. He also said when his supervisors gave him Harper's resume and he questioned her move from Louisiana to Durham, his supervisors explained, 'Her son is going to play at Duke.'

Buy A Gun Day II

You may have noticed the link with the picture on the left with the bloated liar Michael Moore firing a gun. In honor of liberals like him, Aaron the Liberal Slayer came up with Buy a Gun day. Since April 15th is one of the high holy days of the leftist, along with May 1st, one better way to torque a lefty than to become an evil gunowner, or add to one's arsenal. I already own a 30-06 and a shotgun, I may add a gun or help Aaron using Paypal to buy his own gun.

hatred in the name of God

A group that makes me nauseous is the Westboro Kansas Baptist Church, a "church" that likes to go around the country and proclaim that "God hates fags" which is an appalling message, as God loves everyone, even as he hates our sins. Anyway, they have been protesting in Pennsylvania lately.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, bundled against the cold and huddled within a corral of orange plastic webbing yesterday, carried their "God Hates Fags" signs while dozens of police officers swarmed around them on the grounds at Cedar Crest High School.

TV, radio and print news crews joined the gathering while school administrators looked on.

Hardly anybody else was there. "I planned a different route to school so I could see them," said Bryan Peach, a senior and opinion editor of the school newspaper. "I saw them and laughed. They didn't really get their point across."

It's good they didn't get the attention they were seeking, although they still managed to show how they are consumed by hatred and stupidity.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., were picketing the school to protest a chapter of the Gay/Straight Alliance that was approved in January. They had picketed in front of six Harrisburg-area churches Sunday.

"What's the point about having a club about sex in school?" asked Katherine Hockenberger, a member of the Westboro church. "We are getting our message out. ... The thought that God loves everybody is ridiculous."

John 3:16 seems an appropriate place to start: For God so loved the world that he gave 7 his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. Romans 5:8-9: But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.

Some may find this post hypocritical, that I have a log in my eye concerning some of my posts about various denominations and their rulings on homosexuality while pointing out a speck in the eye of this group from Kansas. Here is my position: God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. Sex outside of marriage is a sin, especially homosexual sex. God wants us to repent and follow his laws, not our desires. Sin is not to be celebrated or lifted up and praised, and those who are flagrantly sinful should not be in positions of leadership; but sinners: me, you, and everybody else, are to be shown love and to be prayed for.

Finally, it is not up to me or to some louts from Kansas to judge who may enter a church building or who God loves. All are welcome in the house of God, despite what these clueless zealots may think.

The "anti-war" protests

or anti-US protests, more accurately. Citizen Smash attended some of these protests that were allegedly to protest the one year anniversary of the war on Iraq, but as Smash tells us, it was mostly an excuse for the left to hate America. Courtesy of
Lileks is this horrifying picture of someone in serious need of deportation:

Sometimes you get the bear....

....and sometimes the bear gets you. The founder of Hamas was vaporized yesterday by the IDF while in his wheelchair, as defenseless as many of the victims of the homicide bombers were. Here is a picture of the aftermath:

Augusta St Patrick's Day parade update

Earlier I reported that a group was prohibited from carrying crosses in the parade. It seems a compromise was reached, as I received a reply to an email I sent to the Savannah diocese. I'm glad that reason prevailed, here is the email I received:

The Irish-American Heritage Society in Augusta apparently met with representatives of the Alleluia Community prior to the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the two groups were able to work out their differences and the crosses were allowed in their parade. Please read the press release below that the diocesan newspaper, the Southern Cross, received the afternoon of March 16 (too late because of early St. Patrick's Day deadlines, to run in our March 18th edition):
Irish-American Heritage Society

March 16, 2004

Press Release

Contact: Sean Burke, President 706-736-4939

The Irish-American Heritage Society would never reject the Cross. To reject

the Cross would be in fact to reject our Christian Heritage which is at the

very heart of being Irish.

Many crosses will be on display in the parade. Many in the parade will be

wearing Celtic Crosses. School children dressed as St. Patrick and others

with school banners will display crosses.

What we reject is what we judged to be the inappropriate use of an object

that is deeply sacred to us. So that the cross doesn’t become a source of

division, we are happy to have the Alleluia Community in the parade.

The parade is intended to be a celebration of our Irish heritage and that

heritage is bound up in the life of St. Patrick and his bringing Christ to

the people of Ireland. The parade is also intended to be a celebration of

our signicance to this community and how much this community means to us.

The Irish have a long and rich history as citizens of Augusta and the

surrounding community. We hope St. Patrick’s Day will be a great day for

people of faith. We hope it will be a great day for the Irish.

__________________

Barbara King

Director of Communications
Diocese of Savannah

Conflict of interest

Former official Richard Clarke is making all sorts of accusations that the Bush White House was not doing it's all in fighting terrorism.

Clarke was on 60 minutes last night, getting the usual softball questions. Where the conflict arises, is that his book is published by The Free Press, which is owned by Viacom, which also owns CBS. So, 60 minutes was an informercial last night for a book published by one of its sister companies.

Great Kerry Picture

Incompetent as usual.....

Publik skools

A star athlete was killed in DC, and this story in the Washington Post shows the schools are maybe worse than we feared.

The purple-and-gold program at James Richardson's funeral last month celebrated the life of a 17-year-old star football player at Ballou Senior High who was gunned down near the school's cafeteria. It described him as a quick-witted junior and showed photos of him smiling as he strutted across the field wearing his familiar Ballou jersey with the number 8.

But the image presented to the mourners obscured the reality of Richardson's troubled years at the Southeast Washington school, a disappointing record that raises questions about how school officials handled his problems.

Richardson was not a junior but a third-year freshman who had twice failed to earn enough credits to be promoted. School administrators let him play football even though he lacked the minimum grades required to participate in sports. And he remained at Ballou despite a request from anti-gang counselors to transfer him because of his feuding with other students, and despite a police report in which his girlfriend alleged that he had attacked her on school grounds.

Oh my God that is worse than I imagined the public schools to be in DC, even though they spend more per pupil than just about any other school district. Here is an understatment of the year:

"It just appears that the school didn't expect anything of this student," Jerald said. "That's the way schools behave when they believe that students can't achieve and don't have a future anyway."

The boy's football coach is clueless:

At one point, the coaching staff even told him that he would not be able to play football unless he shaped up. But head coach Noel Cyrus said he eventually relented. He said he feared that if Richardson were cut from the team, he would drop out of school and face the same threat from rival youths on the street as he did inside Ballou.

"I'm sad, I'm upset, I'm disappointed, but I haven't lost any sleep because I know I did everything within my power to help this boy become a man," Cyrus said.

There is much more to the article, such as how the boy's death resulted from a rivalry of two housing projects, but the article is so depressing I'll let you read it yourself. Here are 2 quotes from masters of the obvious:

The school system's chief of special education reform, Raymond Bryant....said Ballou officials should have offered more help to Richardson long before that. He said a team of educators at the school should have been convened to review why he was doing so poorly in class and what assistance was needed. There is nothing in records Bryant has reviewed to indicate that such a meeting was held, he said.

"We did not do our job at that school," Bryant said.

School board member William Lockridge (District 4), who represents the area that includes Ballou, said Richardson might have benefited from vocational programs or might have been a good candidate for an alternative education program. D.C. has limited alternative programs, and school board members have said they cannot afford to start more.

"The school system did fail James, no question about it," Lockridge said. "We let him fall through the cracks."

Meanwhile, kids trapped in these hellacious gladiator academies are not allowed to have school vouchers to go to a school where they might actually be taught by teachers that care in an environment free of violence. The athlete was a 3rd year freshman caught up in criminal activity and assaluting his girlfriend, yet was allowed to stay in school and play football, while any decent kids in the area are stuck trying to get through school without getting killed. More compassion from the liberals.

The Methodists' turn

Following the Episcopalians like lemmings off the gay cliff is the Methodist church, where a church jury acquitted an openly lesbian minister despite the teachings and doctrine of the church.

The acquittal of a lesbian Methodist pastor charged with violating church doctrine drew praise and scorn Sunday across a denomination that may see its divisions over homosexuality laid bare at a major conference next month.

Saturday's acquittal of the Rev. Karen Dammann was celebrated Sunday at the church where she used to preach in Ellensburg, a small town in central Washington.

"I'm very pleased," said Dodie Haight, a member of the congregation who sat through Dammann's trial about 95 miles away in the Seattle suburb of Bothell. "I don't think the jury had an easy task, but I think they gave it long, thoughtful, prayerful consideration."

A 13-pastor jury acquitted Dammann, 47, of violating a church ban on ordaining "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals." If nine jurors had voted to convict, Dammann could have lost her ministry.

I doubt how much consideration they gave the case. Methodist teachings and doctrine are quite clear on the issue, let alone the Bible:

"I believe the vast majority of United Methodists are in grief and shock today. I'm personally heartbroken," said Patricia Miller, executive director of the Confessing Movement, a conservative movement within the church that claims more than 600,000 members.

"I think the issue is, a part of the jurisdiction has broken covenant with the rest of the church and has decided to go the way of the world, as opposed to being faithful to and abiding by church law."

Church law prohibits the ordination of open homosexuals and the church's Book of Discipline declares homosexuality to be "incompatible with Christian teaching." However, the denomination's social principles support gay rights and liberties.

Though Catholic, my wife and I both have quite a few Methodists in our families, and they are very conservative, as are some of the Methodist churches here in the south. The Wesleys must be spinning in their graves.

Overseas John Kerry fan club

A column in today's NY Post shows who supports John Kerry and Kerry may realize that's a bad thing.

IT may be "none of your business" if you ask John Kerry which foreign leaders told him they're rooting for him to defeat President Bush. But a couple of leaders have taken it upon themselves to reveal their affection for the Massachusettes senator anyway.

First up, Spain's new prime minister, Jose-Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. His party was the surpirse winner in an election that turned on the 3/11 terror attack in Madrid. He has vowed to remove his 1,300 troops from Iraq unless the mission there "is put under U.N. command."

That would be the same United Nations where the Oil-for-Food scandal - billions in bribery and kickbacks from Saddam Hussein to various diplomats, officials and politicians - is about to explode.

Bribery, corruption, dirty deals.... John F'n Kerry is a democrat and from Boston, he should know quite a bit about these kind of things. His idol was John Kennedy, after all.

Next up, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. At an Islamic Summit Conference last October, he said that "Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews." He too believes John Kerry would "keep the world safer than President Bush." Safer for whom is a question that remains unanswered.

That endorsement will NOT help with the Jewish vote, which may be why Ketchup Man is backpedaling:

Apparently Sen. Kerry is having second thoughts about his "international fan base." Kerry foreign policy advisor Rand Beers: "This election will be decided by the American people, and the American people alone . . . John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements."

Of course, next he will say he sought them until he didn't seek them, but is seeking them again, or some other Kerry-speak. He's like Clinton, except without the charisma.

No crosses allowed in St Patrick's Day Parade?

The latest example of political correctness run amok is in Augusta, GA, where organizers of the St Patrick's Day parade refused to allow a youth group to carry crosses.

AUGUSTA - Crosses are out, shamrocks are in at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Augusta. Organizers of the Irish-American Heritage Society's parade have refused to allow a youth group from a local religious community to carry crosses in today's parade.

''Our position is we cannot be a platform for anyone's views, standpoints on politics, religion, race; it doesn't matter,'' parade Chairman Earl Lovering said. ''We're basically celebrating St. Patrick's in the way the holiday has become to be known.''

So getting drunk and making an ass of yourself is in, actually honoring the man for whom the holiday is named is out. Heaven forbid we carry a cross on the day named for one of the greatest apostles of Christianity.

Bill Conkright, who runs the Alleluia Community's youth ministry, said he couldn't believe his ears when he heard it, so he called the society's president, Sean Burke. Conkright said Burke told him the society had decided not to allow anything in the parade that would be controversial. ''He said they just decided they weren't going to put anything in their parade that would offend anybody,'' Conkright said. ''And I said, 'The guy was a saint. Not only that, he was a Catholic bishop.''' Conkright said Burke suggested the students carry shamrocks.

''St. Patrick used shamrocks to convert the whole country of Ireland to Christianity, explaining that the three leaves of the shamrock represent the Holy Trinity,'' Burke said. ''We respectfully reserve the right - and have exercised that right in the past with the same criteria - that we can deny any entry in our parade that is not themed Irish or St. Patrick's Day-oriented,'' Burke said.

Maybe someone should remind Burke that the Lord and Saint Peter "respectfully reserve(s) the right" to "deny any entry" into eternal paradise. I checked out this group's website, irishaugusta.org to see what these idiots are about. I notice that the parade is sponsored by Wachovia Bank, St. Joseph's Hospital, Guinness, Mulherin Lumber, Beasley Broadcasting, and Miller Lite. So it is OK to hit the ATM to get money to get three sheets to the wind on Guiness and Miller Lite, but a youth group can't hold crosses. I sent a terse email to the group.

Gomer Pyle for president?

Look at the picture and you decide:

A good political joke, and too true!

While walking down the street one day, a Democratic senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to Heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in." says the Democrat.

"Well, I'd like to but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven," says the Democratic senator.
"I'm sorry but we have our rules." And with that, St. Peter escorts the Democrat to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a club and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him, everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, hug him, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster and caviar. Also present is the Devil (a Democrat, too), who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes.

They are having such a good time that, before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a big hug and waves while the elevator
rises. The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on Heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit Heaven." So 24 hours pass with the Democratic senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well then, you've spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity."

He reflects for a minute, then the Senator answers: "Well, I would never have thought it, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell."

So Saint Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he is in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags. The Devil comes over to the Democrat and lays an arm on his neck.

"I don't understand," stammers the Democratic Senator. Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and club and we ate lobster and caviar and danced and had a great time. Now all there is a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.

The Devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted for us!"

Maybe she shouldn't be driving

Here in Florida a 74 year old woman was leaving the driver's license office and hit and killed her friend.

74-year-old woman accidentally ran over her friend, killing her outside a driver's license office they had just left.

Maria Herrera started her van and put it in reverse when she notice that her friend, 77-year-old Estela C. Rodriguez, was struggling with the van door because it got jammed on the root of a tree, police said.

Herrera got out of the van to help her friend with the door. But when she lifted her foot off the brake, the van, which was still in reverse, rolled backward.

Rodriguez was knocked to the pavement, and the front tire ran over her lower body, said Coral Gables Police Officer Martin Barros.

Coral Gables rescue workers rushed Rodriguez to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Thursday.

"This is a horrible, horrible tragedy," Barros said.

It was unclear why the women were at the Department of Motor Vehicles office, but they may have been renewing a license.

Rodriguez's license was due to expire in 43 days. Herrera has a valid driver's license, according to records.

This incident, plus the one in California where the older man drove through a market, plus accidents I investigated as a claims adjuster, are all reasons to get some of these drivers off the road. They are just as bad as drunk drivers, and their reflexes and coordination may be worse.

The Religion of Peace loves children

This sickening article from the Jpost tells of children willing to die for Hamas and other Paleswinian groups.

Since the outbreak of "Al Aksa intifada" three and a half years ago there has been a growing trend in the use of Palestinian children aged 11 to 17 who are recruited by terrorist organizations to perpetrate attacks in Israel.

In addition, terrorist organizations often use children's toys and backpacks to hide bombs they plan to smuggle to activists elsewhere to be used in attacks.

Disgusting, disgusting. Here are some examples from the article:

The most recent incident was the attempt by Fatah Tanzim terrorists in Nablus this week to smuggle a 10-kg. bomb hidden in a bag which they asked 11-year-old Abdullah Quran to carry through the Hawara checkpoint and hand to a woman waiting on the other side. When Quran was stopped by soldiers who asked to inspect the bags he was carrying and the contents of one revealed a bomb, his dispatchers attempted to activate it and blow him up near the soldiers.

Tawfik Mahamid and Jalal Mahamid, both 17, were killed when the bomb they carried blew up prematurely at the Mei Ami junction in February 2002. The two were on their way to blow up a Tel Aviv nightclub on behalf of the Islamic Jihad.

How on earth do you negotiate or deal rationally with people who view their precious children as mere pawns?

Parents often let their children dress up as martyrs, especially during marches and parades. Security forces recently discovered a photo of a baby wearing an explosive charge and a headband with a slogan professing his dedication to Allah.

Many senior members of terrorist organizations arrested by the Shin Bet told investigators they often sought to set up bomb laboratories near schools and kindergartens in order to camouflage their activities, which would be less suspect in such locations.

These vermin need to be exterminated, there is no possibility of peaceful negotiation with these cockroaches. Check that, even cockroaches probably protect their young.

How to be a good democrat

How to be a good Democrat:

1. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

2. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korean and Chinese communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented changes in the earth's climate and more affected by people driving SUVs.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

8. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco really do.

9. You have to believe that having self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

10. You have to believe that the military starts wars - not terrorists or anarchists.

11. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

12. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

13. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, General Robert E. Lee, and Thomas Edison.

14. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

15. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.

16. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and sex offender belonged in the White House.

17. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected - but manger scenes (depicting the birth of Jesus Christ) at Christmas should be illegal.

18. You have to believe that illegal Democratic Party funding by the Chinese government is somehow in the best interest of the United States.

19. You have to believe that President George W. Bush and the First Lady Laura Bush are not honest, caring, sincere religious people - BUT - Bill and Hillary Clinton are honest, caring people not motivated by self-interests.

20. You have to believe that this letter is part of a vast, right-wing conspiracy.

Religion of Peace

At least 17 were killed in a homicide car bombing at a Baghdad hotel.

Rescue crews on Thursday called off their search for survivors of a massive homicide bombing of a hotel in Baghdad (search) that killed at least 17 people, just days before the anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The military had earlier said that 27 people were killed, but U.S. Army Col. Jill Morgenthaler on Thursday put the death toll at 17. She gave no explanation for why it was revised downward. Governing Council official Rowsch Shawayas said Iraqi authorities put the toll at "about 20."

At least 45 people were wounded in Wednesday's car bomb attack on the Mount Lebanon Hotel in the heart of Baghdad. One Briton was killed and another was wounded, the British government said.

Morgenthaler confirmed the attack was a homicide bombing but said the destroyed hotel may not have been the intended target, because the vehicle loaded with explosives was in the middle of the street and not parked in front of the hotel.

Once again followers of the "religion of peace" kill innocent people.

The heck with national security, we have turtles to save

In Florida a man is suing the US navy to protect sea turtles he claims will be harmed by dredging.

MARATHON, Fla. — In Marathon, Fla., Ritchie Moretti runs the state's only certified hospital for endangered sea turtles.

Moretti's embroiled in a fight with the Navy and has filed a federal lawsuit to stop a $36 million dredging project under way in Key West Harbor to make the waterway deep enough for Navy ships to train in. Moretti says the dredge can carelessly crush the turtles.

"It'll suck it [turtle] up like a vacuum cleaner and it's got gears in it and it grinds it up," Moretti said.

Turtle puree, anyone? The navy is telling this guy to go pound sand.

The Navy says before it began dredging, it agreed to nearly 70 conditions to protect the environment — turtles and all. But homeland security and national defense are its top mission.
"We have a job to do and as I said, part of it is taking a look at the resources that exist," said Capt. Jim Scholl, commanding officer of the naval air station at Key West. "Key West, because of its location, is a very good strategic location for year-round access."

A slew of state and federal environmental agencies are backing the military's decision to dredge, but Moretti says as long as it continues, turtles are in danger. He hopes a federal judge will hear his case before any other turtles are killed.

Long arm of the law

An escapee from a PA prison has been caught after being on the lam since 1971.

An anonymous tip helped police locate a fugitive who walked away from a Pennsylvania prison in 1971 while serving time for his wife's slaying.

Allen D. Marshall Jr., 62, was captured Monday at his Houston, Texas, home by U.S. marshals, authorities said. The arrest appears to solve the state's second-oldest prison escape case, officials said.

How did he escape? Did he climb the fence? Overpower a guard? Nope:

Marshall failed to return from a three-day furlough from the state prison at Camp Hill in November 1971. Marshall, then 27, was serving a five- to 10-year sentence for the June 12, 1969 beating death of his estranged wife, Barbara Carol Marshall, 22.

Thirty-two years ago, a drunk Marshall entered his wife's Hall Manor apartment and fatally beat her with his fists, authorities said. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

On Nov. 23, 1971, Marshall left Camp Hill on the home furlough. The furloughs, created by the Legislature in 1969, remain on the books but haven't been granted in several years, McNaughton said.


He beat his wife to death, and was given a 3 day pass from prison? He wasn't alone in that:

The state's oldest unsolved escape dates to June 1971, when Leonard Moses failed to return from a similar furlough from a state prison in Pittsburgh. Moses, who was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, would be 51.

And liberals wonder why nobody takes them seriously on the issue of crime?

Arguing for a raise for Atlanta's finest

Cynthia Tucker of the AJC has a great column today arguing for a raise for Atlanta's police department.

According to PolicePay.net, a Web site that tracks pay nationally, Atlanta ranks 122nd among 200 major cities in salaries for its officers after cost-of-living adjustments are made.

The city also pays its police less than many neighboring jurisdictions, which lure Atlanta's cops away after they've been trained and gained experience. In DeKalb County, patrol officers start at $34,428 annually and pay for them tops out at $57,000; in Atlanta, comparable pay is only $32,783 and $44,000, respectively.

The low pay not only diminishes morale, it also prompts many officers to seek second jobs, that sometimes compromise their ability to serve the city well. Some are too tired after moonlighting to handle stressful situations; others find themselves struggling with conflicts of interest.

As just one example, an officer may hesitate to arrest an obviously drunken driver leaving a nightclub that is paying him to protect its customers.

But the mayor is right to try to find the money. She can do that by privatizing more city services and elevating police pay without trying to raise salaries for all city employees. The other employees will be unhappy, but police officers can make a better case for pay hikes.

If the city improves police pay and hires more officers, Pennington might be able to declare Atlanta one of the safest cities in the country a few years from now.

Just lay off some of the workers of the bloated bureaucracy. I don't always agree with Miss Tucker, but I'm glad to see her go to bat for Atlanta's finest.

Thanks, President Bush

"We are grateful for the many ways Irish-Americans have blessed our country. They have helped to expand our economy, create our communities and defend our homeland. Through their public service, they have strengthened our democracy, and their dedication to faith and family has enriched our nation's character."

- President Bush, taking note of St. Patrick's Day

Episcopalians at it again

A "priest" in Long Island is going to be performing same sex marriages.

The Rev. John Farrell says he will sanctify gay unions at Christ Episcopalian Church of Bay Ridge, as soon as his 12-member vestry approves performing gay unions within the 150-year-old house of worship.

And that approval is expected tomorrow.

"I see it as a justice issue - and my church is taking the lead in this matter," Farrell said.

I should show up for a blessing for a polygamous union. It's unjust that I can only have one wife, and polygamy is OK in the Bible, unlike a man shacking up with another man. Just kidding, marriage is between a man and woman, I'm just pointing out the absurdity.

I'm back

Just got back from my tour de Georgia, going from Columbus to Athens with numerous stops in between. I like Atlanta, there is a lot to do.

Road Trip

Blogging will be sparse the next few days, as I am going to Hotlanta for business. I don't have a laptop, so my computer access will likely be limited.

Pittsburgh loses 2 of its bravest

In fighting a fire at a historic church 2 Pittsburgh firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice.

The two firefighters killed yesterday in the blaze that destroyed Ebenezer Baptist Church were longtime veterans who had faced down death in the line of duty before and who had rescued their colleagues from other fires.

Battalion Chief Charles Brace, 55, of Brookline and firefighter Richard Stefanakis, 51, of Knoxville, had worked for the city fire department since the early 1970s knowing "the beast can take you at any time," said Joe King, president of Fire Fighters Union Local 1.

King, who knew both men because they all started at about the same time, also said he'd never seen so many firefighters -- at least 27 -- injured in a single blaze. Five of those were in critical condition last night.

Firefighters were ordered out of the church about 9:25 a.m. because the fire was spreading too quickly.

King said that at some point around noon, Brace and possibly Stefanakis went inside the church to decide where to place unmanned hoses to "surround and drown'' the remaining flames. That is one of the jobs of a battalion chief, King said.

Suddenly, the steeple area of the church fell in, burying Brace and other firefighters.

Brace was commended in 1997 for his actions in another church fire. William J. Tangalos, president of the parish council at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, praised Brace for leading the effort to save the church altar from a fire there.

King explained that often, even though no one is in a church, as was the case yesterday, firefighters go inside to try to save precious religious items, such as scrolls in a synagogue or a valuable organ.

May God bless and comfort the families and friends, and bless the souls of these two brave men.

Reveral Al in trouble

Reverend Al Sharpton may have gotten himself into a jam he finally can't ooze his way out of

What now to make of Rev. Al Sharpton, whose clownish presidential campaign was really all about the portly provocateur's effort to become the "next Jesse Jackson"? That crusade never went anywhere - though The Rev sure did. And when he got there, he stayed at the best hotels in town.

His large living, as a matter of fact, caught the attention of a lot of people.

Which may be why the Federal Election Commission is taking a long look at Sharpton's campaign finances.

Although, given past perfomances his office will probably go up in smoke including the records.

Romeo, where you be at? or "to be or not, that's what I'm axing you"

In Atlanta, allegedly "college ready" students with "poor reading skills" are reading dumbed down Shakespeare, Shakespeare translated into modern English.

Leon Allen, a student in (Connie) Kollias' class, didn't understand the original line. But he read the translated sentence aloud with ease.

"It's nice because all those ancient words aren't there," he said. "It is a cool story — what with people making plans to kill one another. It can be difficult because everyone has strange names, but at least it isn't using any of those old words anymore."

In one version, "Beware the ides of March" in Julius Caesar becomes "Beware of March 15."

I keep wondering about students who are incapable of reading Shakespearean language yet are considered "on track to attend college." How can they do college-level work if they can't figure out "lend me your ears" isn't about organ transplants? Maybe they'll just "attend" college but not actually pass any courses.

Maybe Macbeth "what is this I see in my hand before me, a dagger, it's handle pointed toward my heart?" can be "I've got this Nine in my hand, the butt at my chest". Why stop at literature? Beethoven's Fifth can have a guitar solo added to it. Tchaikovsky always needed a drum track and a beat box.

Lefties dreaming of a utopia

This article and also this one are articles about "new urbanism" and the goofs in Gainesville trying to get us to cram into neighborhoods and ride the bus, instead of living in the suburbs where we really want to. They try to use guilt for living in suburbs:

Skeptics or critics of neo-traditional design say a suburb is a suburb, and suburbs create sprawl regardless of whether they have a village center with stores, restaurants and banks.

They also contend that many neo-traditional neighborhoods are contrived, feel-good enclaves where people with money can have the illusion of a real town without the ethnic and economic diversity that typically come with true urban areas.

News flash: we like this areas because there is no "diversity" such as bums, drub addicts and muggers, so try your guilt on someone else. My wife and I went out to the one development for a drink and to walk around because we didn't want to deal with the thugs downtown. But, our commissioners are not known for being in touch with reality:

Chairman Mike Byerly is often considered one of the more conservation-minded commissioners. Byerly is a big fan of neo-traditional neighborhood design. He points to European cities as examples of how cars need not be necessities.

"The question is, do you isolate all the commercial way over here, and the residential way over there, and the schools over here? If you do it that way . . . you set up a situation where you are forcing the maximum amount of driving possible," Byerly said. "If you begin to carefully integrate some of those uses and put the needs closer to where people live, you decrease the average travel time a person has to sit through. If you average that out over the entire community, you are looking at a lot less driving and a lot less congestion."

Whatever, Mike, put down the peace pipe and step into the 21st century, I really resent you and the rest trying to tell us where we can and cannot live. THose of us who have real jobs, not jobs on the city or county commissions, have to get to work to pay the bills and pay the taxes for the $5 million deficit these pipe dreams have caused.

A celebration of his life

The Mass of Christian burial for Harrisburg Bishop Nicholas Datillo was held Friday, and Nancy Eshelman of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, a writer I have long liked, writes an article that captures the Catholic funeral, how it is a celebration of the person's life more than a mourning of their passing.

They laughed loudly when Keeler said he had been asked to speak briefly and understood what briefly means.

The laughter was not inappropriate. The funeral was as much a celebration as an occasion for mourning.

"There is a mixture of sadness and joy," said the Rev. Edward J. Quinlan, because Catholics believe they will find happiness in the afterlife. The white worn by the 100 priests of the diocese symbolized that belief.

Although the priests and others at the funeral will miss their bishop, they believe he has gone to a better place.

"Let us not begrudge him his eternity even as we mourn his loss," Bosco said.

I'm a convert to Catholicism, even though half my family is Catholic. One of the things that attracted me oddly enough a funeral. It was the death of my Irish-Catholic grandfather, a man I loved and respected more than just about anyone else. His sudden, unexpected death was a tough blow; I was 18 and had never lost anyone close to me before. My grief was powerful, I broke down at the funeral home when I saw him in the casket, my aunt had to escort me out, I was sobbing hard.

The funeral itself came, and I'll always remember being struck by the tone that in the Catholic church we are celebrating the life of the person, and that they are done with this transitory life and have gone on to greater glory. That was a powerful image, and one then led me on my long winding road to becoming Catholic.

Al Gore to blame for increased syphillis rates

Well, he created the internet didn't he? And per this new study, the internet is causing an increase in syphillis infections.

The Internet has played a significant role in the latest increase in cases of syphilis among gay men by introducing partners more likely to practice high-risk sex, according to a study released on Wednesday.

About 22 percent of homosexual men diagnosed with early stage syphilis reported meeting one or more of their sexual partners through the Internet around the time they were infected, said the study by the Los Angeles Health Department.

It gets worse:

Researchers at a national conference in Philadelphia on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases also said they found gays who used the Web to meet sex partners were almost four times as likely to have anonymous sex than non-Internet users. They were also more than twice as likely to use injected drugs as those who found partners more traditionally.

Of gay men who met their partners online, 67 percent were HIV positive, according to the study.

"The Internet is an important venue for conducting STD/HIV prevention and control," said Dr. Getahun Aynalem, an author of the Los Angeles Health Department study.

Who else can we blame for this behavior?

The Internet was one of a number of factors contributing to the rise in syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, Aynalem said. Other contributors included the increasing use of the recreational drug crystal methamphetamine and the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra.

Nationally, the incidence of reported syphilis has increased by 18 percent in the last three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For male homosexuals it has multiplied 12-fold.

Between 1999 and 2003, the proportion of all U.S. syphilis cases among gay men jumped to 60 percent from 5 percent.

Yes, we can blame the drug companies! Viagara is made by a drug company, and one of the main ingredients in crystal meth is cold medicine (Sudafed), so after the trial lawyers get done with suing McDonald's, they can go after AOL and other internet providers, and then Pfizer and other drugmakers. I guess it's too much to ask for these pervs to keep their pants on and not hook up at the nearest rest stop with just anyone.

publik skools

For those that would argue that we don't spend enough on education, I challenge them with the spending habits of Lancaster, PA and the $190,000 they have spent on airfare sending their teachers and administrators around the world the last 4 years.

Los Angeles, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Chicago, France, Australia.City school administrators and teachers have logged thousands of miles in the air, traveling to dozens of destinations in the last several years.

In those trips, more than 70 people traveled to El Paso, Texas, to visit schools there. Another 22 went on the Los Angeles trip, to learn about teaching methods.

And the administrator who went to France? He was attending a "Schooling for Tomorrow'' conference of an international group the district was considering joining. It never did.

Since 2000, the cost of airline tickets alone has totaled about $190,000 at the city district.

A New Era review of airline expenses follows a recent examination of credit card use at the School District of Lancaster, which is under fire for its spending in a number of areas as it suffers from a budget deficit of more than $3 million.

Traveling around the globe while the kids have horribly low scores in basic subjects, yet saying we don't spend enough on the kids. Here is more that shows how corrupt this district is:

However, employees at other districts here and across the state appear to take far fewer long-distance trips. In fact, the cost for airline tickets at the city district was at least six to seven times higher than at other districts surveyed.

Also, the cost of airline tickets is only a portion of the total trip cost. The district could not easily provide a detailed list of hotel, food and conference expenses associated with the trips.

And what has all this traveling done:

Since 2000, the district's scores on the state standardized PSSA tests have risen for fifth- and eighth-graders for both math and reading.

But in all except one category -- fifth-grade math -- the city district's scores are still below federal "No Child Left Behind'' standards.

A total of 62.5 percent of fifth-graders failed to meet the reading standards in 2003. Among eighth-graders, 75 percent failed to meet the math standards.

And why are our schools failing? The teachers unions are terrorist organizations, holding our children hostage.

Useless Nations Update

Oops, it turn out the UN had the black box from the 1994 Rwandan plane crash that set off genocide.

In what Secretary-General Kofi Annan called a "first-class foul-up," the United Nations said Thursday it has discovered a black box sent from Rwanda after a 1994 plane crash that unleashed a genocide in the east African nation.

The device was found Wednesday in a locked filing cabinet in the U.N. Peacekeeping Department's Air Safety Unit. Aviation experts put it there apparently in the belief its "pristine condition" ruled out the possibility that it came from the downed Falcon 50 jet, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

No, the UN failed to take action? They screwed up? Well, they're going to do something now, 10 years too late.

The United Nations now intends to immediately send the black box ? technically known as a flight data recorder ? to "a qualified outside body for analysis of its contents" to determine whether it came from the plane that was carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, Eckhard said.

"On the face of it, there's no reason that we would think that that judgment made by those experts 10 years ago was faulty judgment, but to make sure we're going to send it out for analysis," he said.

There is also no reason to think that UN can do anything right other than condemn the US and Israel. To recap, here is what happened 10 years ago:

The April 6, 1994 crash killed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, who had been attending a regional summit in Arusha, Tanzania.

When it became clear the plane had been shot down, Hutu extremists accused Tutsis of assassinating the Rwandan president and began attacking their longtime ethnic foes. The slaughter lasted about 100 days and claimed the lives of more than 500,000 people, most Tutsis.

500,000 people, that is roughly the population of Baltimore, a great example of the foreign policy failures of Clinton:

An independent report on the U.N. role in the genocide, commissioned by Annan, concluded in 1999 that the United Nations and its members lacked the political will and resources to prevent or stop the genocide.

The United States, in particular, blunted any efforts to get the Security Council more deeply involved in the Rwanda crisis in 1994.

Annan and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton both apologized to Rwandans in the late 1990s for the reluctance to intervene.

Like, sorry dude, I was too busy dallying with interns and actresses to care about you all get hacked to death with machetes. Just like he was too busy to respond to Bin Laden's attacks on the WTC in 1993, the African embassies, the USS Cole and led the terrorists and thugs of the world to believe that were weak.

Send condolences to Spain

This link is for Spain's US embassy's page to send an email.

Another Religion of Peace Update

Al-Qaeda is taking responsibility for the bombing attacks in Spain, and moderate Muslims denounced the attack. I mean, they are going to denounce it. That is, as soon as we find some moderate Muslims.

Taxachusetts

In an article about gay marriage, this piece about the Massachusetts legislature has one paragraph that is sad and funny at the same time.

As the behind-closed-doors maneuvering continued up to Thursday's debate, two small groups — normally powerless and sitting on opposite political poles — suddenly found themselves with a strong voice.

The liberal "progressive" faction, accustomed to making futile speeches for higher taxes and more social spending, met Wednesday to determine how to best utilize its block of votes: Should they support the current amendment to legalize civil unions as the better of two evils? Oppose it because of the ban? Or vote strategically, supporting it to move the process along, only to withdraw their support when the final vote arrives?

House Republicans, meanwhile, who hold 23 seats in the 160-member chamber, also could deliver a powerful block. Most voted against a proposal similar to the one currently before the Legislature, helping to derail it.

Rarely have I read something so true, "futile speeches for higher taxes and more social spending", what an apt description of the libs. Florida may be screwed up, but it's better than Taxachusetts.

"Religion of Peace" update

While peacefully sitting in church in Nigeria, Christians were hacked to death by armed Muslims.

A total of 48 people were hacked to death in Yelwa, Nigeria, by armed Muslims, many during a church meeting. A recent upsurge in violence in southern Plateau State in Nigeria has claimed at least 100 lives and in the worst single incident so far, at least 48 people were murdered, many during an early morning prayer service on February 24.

Armed Muslims invaded the service, ordered the congregation to lie face down and proceeded 'to machete and axe them to death in their house of worship' according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The victims included women and children.

I don't want to hear the "we don't understand them" or "we all share Abraham" or "Islam is peaceful, there are just some extremists". I don't want to hear any of that. Christians are being martyred for the faith in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia by followers of Islam. When the local Methodists spray automatic weapon fire at a mosque, let me know. Until then, shut your traps about the "peaceful" nonsense.

One less goblin

NYPD rid the world of a dirtbag yesterday, killing a thug after a violent struggle.

A pistol-packing Harlem parolee was fatally shot during a violent struggle with two plainclothes detectives yesterday - the second police shooting in three days.
As fists flew, one of the detectives managed to draw a gun and fire two rounds, hitting 41-year-old Leroy Smalls once in the stomach, police said.

Smalls, who police said was carrying a loaded .380 Colt semiautomatic handgun, was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he died at 9:08 p.m.

Smalls had 16 previous arrests for drug possession, weapons possession, assault and robbery and was paroled last July 15, cops said.

Good riddance. The police were looking at him as a possible homicide suspect when the battle broke out:

The shooting occurred shortly before 5 p.m. in the lobby of 2120 Madison Ave., one of the buildings of the Lincoln Housing Project at Madison and 132nd Street.

Police said two detectives from the 25th Precinct went to the building armed with a description of a homicide suspect.

As they were walking into the lobby, the elevator door opened and Smalls - who fit the description - walked out, cops said.

A vicious fight broke out. The cops were bloodied and bruised and their suits ripped, police said.

After Smalls was shot, backup cops recovered the .380 semiautomatic, which had seven rounds inside. Cops said it had been stolen in Maryland in 1997.

Of course some were out to say the lad is just misunderstood:

Residents of the Lincoln project said Smalls was married and had a daughter, grew up in the project and had many relatives there.

They described him as quick to help out others.

"He's a nice guy for real," said tenant Michael Jones, 18. "I saw him three minutes before it happened and he was helping an old lady bring her shopping bags into the building."

"He wasn't a troublemaker," said Sharmay Watson, 42, who had known Smalls for years. "They're going to make him look like a monster, but he's not."

Right, those 16 arrests for robbery, drugs, weapons and assault were just misunderstandings, this guy is salt of the earth. Whatever, hasta la vista.

A different kind of stick shift

It turns out that some people are playing shall we say, less than wholesome fare on their in car DVD players:

Andrea Carlton hadn't planned on telling her daughter about the birds and bees until she was 8 or 9. But that changed the night 4-year-old Catherine spotted a porno movie flickering on a screen in a minivan nearby.

"Just like there's no windows in a strip club, you shouldn't be able to see inside windows in a car when they're watching X-rated movies," said Carlton, a 26-year-old from Gurnee, Ill.

More and more Americans are buying vehicles with DVD players, usually to keep the kids entertained. But an increasing number of other people on the road are catching a glimpse through the windows of more than just "Finding Nemo" and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

I'm surprised this is the first story I've seen about this, after all there are some pervs out there. Here is more:

A driver in Schenectady, N.Y., was arrested last month after rolling past police with a DVD titled "Chocolate Foam" playing on the passenger-side sun visor in his Mercedes-Benz, authorities said. The movie also was rolling on screens set into the car's headrests.

The driver was accused of breaking state laws prohibiting watching TV while driving, as well as another law making it illegal to exhibit sexually explicit material in a public place.

"The detective had a clear view of what was playing through the window. Anyone walking by on the street could have see it," Schenectady police Lt. Peter Frisoni Jr. said of the nighttime traffic stop. "If he had dark, tinted windows where you couldn't see in, that wouldn't be a public display."

I'm guessing that is an interesting police report to read. The mother of the 4 year old girl had more to say:
As for Carlton, she was driving in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove with her daughter when Catherine glimpsed the sexually explicit movie. The experience last fall upset the girl and angered Carlton.

Carlton and her husband sat down with Catherine and offered the best explanation they could. Since then, Carlton has spotted other motorists with explicit movies playing, including a couple watching from the back seat of their car in a store parking lot.

"You're not allowed to have sex in your car, so why are you allowed to watch it?" Carlton asked.

I don't know that Mrs Carlton wants to know just how many of us may have been conceived in automobiles, although they were presumedly parked.

I'm not trying to make too light of this. Pornography is bad, it is harmful to both the participants in it and those who view it, causing bad attitudes toward God's gift of sexuality. Many sex offenders were/are heavily into viewing smut. If people want to watch this filth in their own homes or in hotel rooms, that's not exactly OK but at least nobody gets to unwillingly see it. Playing it in cars for all the world to see is pretty foul, and those who do so should be punished. It's the old "your right to express yourself with your fist ends at my nose" argument.

Why I don't drive Fords, exhibit 1

I used to drive a F***er Only Runs Downhill, aka a Ford, a Contour to be precise. After many problems, the car thanked me for paying off the loan by grinding the tranny to pieces 5 days later. Anyway, I saw this in the news and it reminded me of why I drive Toyotas and Nissans:

Ford is recalling more than 1.3 million Taurus and Mercury Sable sedans, citing problems with brake lights and air filters.

The malfunctioning brake lights have caused at least two accidents and one injury, which affects more than 900,000 2000-2003 cars.

The lights can malfunction either when they're on or off. It's off, the car will not be able to shift out of park; if on, they can disable cruise control or run down the battery.

The other problem causes air filter paper to sometimes smolder or even burn on some 2003 models. Ford says a supplier put the wrong chemical on filter paper. The problem can damage the air intake system or cause a fire.

Build a good car and I'll buy it, until then my Altima and my Tacoma will get me where I need to go.

It's called CAPITALISM!!!!!

Arrrghhhh! My homeland, the commonwealth of PA, is suing 13 pharmaceutical companies for allegedly inflating prices.

Pennsylvania is suing 13 major pharmaceutical companies for allegedly inflating prices in a scheme that cost the government, insurers and consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, Attorney General Jerry Pappert said today.

Pappert said he was filing the action today in Commonwealth Court and called it “the broadest effort to date to fight the problem” of price manipulation by drug companies trying to gain market share.

“What I hope is that at the end of the day the artificially inflated prices will come down to reality,” he said at a morning news conference.

Named as defendants are TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Astra Zeneca, Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Schering-Plough Corp., Bristol-Myers Squib Co., Johnson & Johnson, Baxter International Inc., Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. and Dey Inc.

At least a few of these companies have headquarters or major presences in PA; at the end of the day I hope these companies pull out of PA and take the jobs with them to another state. Did the state help these companies develop the drugs? These companies deal with trial lawyers filing product liability suits and now have the state attorney general trying to influence national and international commerce. Typical lefties.

Environmental Wacko terrorist arrested

This hasn't made the national news like one would think, but a suspect has been arrested for the SUV dealership arsons in California.

FBI agents arrested a 23-year-old Caltech graduate student Tuesday and charged him in connection with a brazen string of environmentally motivated attacks last summer that caused more than $3.5 million in damage to four auto dealerships in the San Gabriel Valley.

Authorities said they caught William Jensen Cottrell after tracing a series of e-mail he allegedly sent boasting of the crimes and taunting the FBI.

With more arrests expected, agents took Cottrell into custody at the Pasadena apartment of his girlfriend just before sunrise, serving a warrant that charges the lanky physics student with arson and vandalism. He was ordered held without bail on charges punishable by five to 20 years in prison.

Welcome to the big leagues, son, meet your new cellmate. He's going to love a lanky young man like yourself. Seriously, this is good news, and it was his arrogance that led to his capture, as was sending anonymous emails to the LA Times boasting of his crimes:

"Hello, the police have the wrong man here — I was amongst those responsible for the SUV attacks," read the first e-mail sent to The Times.

In investigating the authenticity of the e-mail, the newspaper was told by the FBI that it included details of the crime that could have been known only to someone involved in the attacks. The Times, in researching the route of the e-mail, learned it might have been sent from a computer at Caltech.

Three days later, computer specialists at the university confirmed that the e-mail sent to The Times — the first of several received by the newspaper — had an Internet address assigned to a computer at Caltech's library. And in examining the computer, the university quickly determined it had been used to send the e-mail.

Caltech passed that information to federal authorities, and it proved to be an enormous break for the FBI.

I'm pleasantly surprised that the University actually cooperated with the FBI, I would have expected them to cry "academic freedom" or other nonsense, but it is a science and engineering school and not some liberal arts college full of womyn's studies majors.

One less chiroquackter

A Pennsylvania witch doctor chiropractor is going to the pokey.

To chiropractor Joanne Gallagher and her patients, her practice is almost like a religion. That faith, prosecutors say, cost a woman her life when Gallagher insisted she could cure her epilepsy without medicine by waving her hands around the woman's head -- what she called "balancing the meninges."

U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner rejected pleas to reduce her recommended term. The judge sentenced Gallagher to 18 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation for her guilty plea. He also fined her $9,100.

Conner said prosecutors showed that Gallagher had been engaged in a continuing practice of improper treatments outside the scope of her expertise before the April 29, 1999, death of 31-year-old Kimberly Strohecker.

I work in the insurance industry and hate the quacks of the chiropractor variety. Bone popping, back cracking, and now "balancing the meninges". These folks are dangerous. Here's more:

Gallagher told other patients that she could cure Down syndrome and epilepsy. A neurologist from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center warned Gallagher that similar treatment she was giving another epilepsy patient could be disastrous.

The Hazleton-area chiropractor pleaded guilty in July to a single count of fraud after her trial, which could have resulted in a life term, was abruptly halted.

A mistrial was declared when the mother of Strohecker's fiance produced a tape recording of an April 28, 1999, telephone call in which Gallagher assured her the continuous grand mal seizures Strohecker was suffering was the anti-seizure medicine working its way out of her body.

"Eventually you will see her just go into a peaceful sleep," Gallagher said in the phone call. "And it's going to take her brain a little while. She's going to be tired for a while, but she'll recover."

Strohecker died what prosecutors called a slow and horrible death hours after the phone call.

Strohecker, who had lived fairly normally on medications, arrived at her last appointment with Gallagher the day before she died in a wheelchair, wearing adult diapers, choking on vomit, with her tongue nearly bitten through.

This quack deserved a life sentence. The mother of the deceased had very strong words:

Dawn Strohecker said she called Gallagher's clinic before her daughter's death and said she needed to be back on her medication.

"I told them not to see my daughter," Dawn Strohecker testified. "We took our children to specialists, not quacks, not witches."

A bunch of witch doctors whose continuing ed seminars deal with how to make sure the insurance payment gravy train keeps rolling in, despite the limited or no effect of chiro "care". A pox on them all!

More Kerry news

Kerry seems to think that Europe has electoral votes, as he claims that foreign leaders are rooting for him.

John Kerry claimed yesterday that certain "foreign leaders" have told him that they're rooting for him to defeat President Bush.
"I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy, they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,' things like that," Kerry told a crowd while campaigning in Hollywood, Fla.

Kerry's campaign wouldn't give any details about the identities of the leaders or the countries in his cheering section.

This is no surprise, since Kerry wants to cede our sovereignty over to the UN and not do anything without their approval. If Kerry wants to pander to the weasels overseas, so be it. Our national security is too important to worry about what the cheese eating surrender monkeys think of us. Also, here is one leader rooting for Kerry:

you can't fool everybody...

.....as John Kerry is learning. Jewish leaders are realizing that Kerry talks out of both sides of his mouth

Some Jewish leaders yesterday voiced concern about Democratic nominee-to-be John Kerry's 1997 description of Yasser Arafat as a "statesman" and his conflicting comments on Israel's security fence. The Post reported Kerry praised Arafat's "transformation from outlaw to statesman" in a 1997 book, although he told Jewish leaders last week in New York that he now agrees with President Bush that Arafat must be isolated.

Flip, Flop

Sen. Norman Coleman (R-Minn.), speaking on behalf of the Bush campaign, yesterday denounced Kerry's remarks on Arafat, saying: "Yasser Arafat has been a terrorist from the beginning to the middle to the end."

But American Jewish Congress President Jack Rosen said many people were wrong about Arafat in 1997, adding he's more concerned that Kerry told Arab-Americans that Israel's security fence is a barrier to peace while defending it to Jews.

Flip, flop. Yet again John F'n Kerry grinds the gears shifting from one side of a position to another without using the clutch.

Election day (yawn)

As a Republican in a democrat/socialist wasteland in Florida, today is a pretty boring election day for me. All of the races are on the democrat side, including the mayoral primary. I was thinking I should have changed my registration for a day so I could do something silly like vote for Sharpton, but I have been a lifetime member of the GOP and don't want to spoil that.

Despicable

I must take exception to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's article on angry military spouses that will vote for Kerry. The paper found disgruntled and upset wives of troops deployed overseas and is trying to use them to bash Bush:

When President Bush toured ground zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Donna Bramblett cried openly.

"I am angry. I feel betrayed. I won't vote for Bush again," said Donna Bramblett of Adrian, whose husband, James, a National Guardsman, was deployed to Iraq last June.

Barbee Smoot, a native of Blackshear, says she has voted Republican all her life but won't vote for President Bush this year. She and her 13-year-old son, Trent, have done without Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Smoot since he left for Iraq a year ago.

She liked that he mentioned God in his speeches. She was thankful she had voted Republican the year before.

This November will be very different.

"I am angry. I feel betrayed," said Bramblett, 41, a nurse from the small Emanuel County town of Adrian. "I won't vote for Bush again."

Bramblett plans to cast her ballot for likely Democratic nominee John Kerry, even though she and the Massachusetts senator are on opposite sides of many issues. As the wife of a National Guardsman, Bramblett cannot forgive President Bush for the war in Iraq.

As the first anniversary of the war approaches, disgruntled military families are speaking their minds on the justification of the conflict and the treatment of their husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who are risking their lives.

They say they are fed up with a war that some believe was unnecessary. They are frightened by a steadily mounting death toll. They are angered by tales of inadequate supplies — a lack of bulletproof vests, clothing or clean drinking water — for their loved ones and a belief that Bush reneged on campaign promises made four years ago to help overstretched and disaffected armed forces.

The paper fails to mention that Kerry voted 38 times against military funding measures, including a measure last year that would have supplied body armor to all of the troops. Of course, I don't know that these women realize their husbands volunteered to be in an army that might send them overseas:

Barbee Smoot, a native of Blackshear, grew up in the shadow of Fort Stewart and met and married her husband there. But when Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Smoot, now with the Fort Hood, Texas-based 4th Infantry Division, was sent off to Iraq a year ago, Barbee Smoot's political outlook changed.

She will walk into a polling station in November and vote for a Democrat.

"I have voted Republican all my life," Smoot said. "But I'm not voting for Bush again. He put American men and women in harm's way. And for what? Where are the weapons of mass destruction?"

About a fifth of the approximately 130,000 troops in Iraq now are Guard and Reserve forces, and the percentage is likely to rise considerably under a new rotation plan.

Guard families were as unprepared for Iraq as the soldiers themselves, Bramblett said. Since husband James' unit, the 878th Engineer Batallion, based in Augusta, left in June, she has cared for four children and endured difficult surgery by herself.

"My husband is trained to take care of hurricanes and tornadoes — not this," she said of the war.

Ma'am, with all due respect your husband is an engineer in the Army and sometimes that means having to go take care of the bad guys. There's more to his enlistment than dealing with floods and other acts of Mother Nature. As for the first woman, being in harm's way is what the military is about. Again, I blame the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation for trying to exploit some very scared and lonely women.

We forgot to say "please"

Human Rights Watch, an alleged human rights group that also wants to take everybody's guns except for "the state" came out with a report saying we weren't nice enough to the Taliban.

U.S. operations in Afghanistan (news - web sites) are marred by needless civilian casualties, lawless arrests and the alleged torture of prisoners, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

The U.S. military rejected the group's findings, saying it "confused the situation" in strife-torn Afghanistan for one where peacetime methods could be used.

I liked this quote even better:

"We're not perfect," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said. "But we work hard to improve."

No mention is made in the report of the thugs we were fighting, I guess their tactics were fine. These groups bitch and moan about how bad the Taliban was, but heaven forbid someone actually try to do something about them. Typical libs, all talk about compassion but no action, or as they say down in Texas "all hat, no cattle."

When Liberal constituencies collide

In Key West the libs have a dilemma as they have to kick out the homeless to save some environmentally sensitive areas.

Hidden in the mangroves, about 100 yards from the beaches where tourists sun themselves and frolic in the waves, dozens of homeless men sleep in small tents and cook meals over Sterno flames.

Plastic crates balanced in mangrove branches hold peanut butter, Crisco and ketchup. Several bikes, some in pieces, lean against trees. Wrapped in blankets and surrounded by empty beer cans, three men sit in chairs and chat with each other or read.

‘‘It looks like it’s not too bad,’’ said Assistant City Manager John Jones, on a recent visit to the camp. ‘‘But it’s in endangered wetlands. They’re violating the law.’’

Police officers are set to begin evicting homeless people this week as the city begins to enforce an ordinance that prohibits anyone from trespassing in endangered wetlands. Already more than a dozen of about 40 camps have disappeared since the city posted no trespassing signs last month.

One unfortunate consequence of the nice weather here in Florida is that we seem to have more than our share of homeless drifters. I'm waiting for the homeless advocates to jump on this move by Key West, this could get funny.

Arafat whines

After the IDF attacks (see below), Arafat whined in a statement:

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday strongly condemned the IDF raids on two refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and called on the international community to dispatch foreign troops to the area to protect the Palestinians.

"Isn't it enough that [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's black history is stained with the blood of Palestinian refugees from Sabra and Shatilla [in Lebanon] and Khan Yunis, Kibya, Nahalin, and other places in the homeland?" asked a statement issued by the office of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"The Palestinian leadership calls on the [United Nations] Security Council to supply international protection for our people and homeland in the face of the war of genocide, massacres, and incursions," said the statement.

No mention of the innocents like these killed by the Paleswinian Terrorists in that statement, no mention of terrorist "incursions" to blow up buses. I do like the idea of sending troops over to the West Bank though, as long as they are British and US Special Forces dedicated to eliminating the terrorist threat.

14 less terrorists

Back in Gaza, The Israeli Defense Force kicked some ass.

Fourteen Palestinians, including nine Hamas members and three children caught up in fierce gun battles, were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday during Israeli army raids on two refugee camps.

The raids came a day after an elaborately planned suicide bomb attack at Erez Crossing, the main checkpoint into Gaza, was foiled. Two Palestinian policeman and four fighters were killed and a suicide bomber was arrested en route to Jerusalem.

Palestinians clash with Israeli armour at the Nusseirat camp
Apache helicopters and dozens of armoured military vehicles took part yesterday in what the Israel military said was a big anti-terrorist operation in the Bureij and Nusseirat camps in the central Gaza Strip.

About 1,500 people surged to the entrance of the Bureij camp as the vehicles arrived and Israeli snipers took positions.

Troops were pelted with stones and petrol bombs by the crowd as anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades were fired.

Silly displaced Arabs, bringing a rock to anti-tank missile fight.

Success will be punished

British banks are enjoying record profits. What is the Labour party's response: They must be punished!

Widespread criticism of the record profits posted by Britain's high street banks could pave the way for Chancellor Gordon Brown to impose windfall taxes on them in his Budget next week, accountancy experts are warning.

Can't be profitable and competitive now, can we? Another interesting tidbit is the last paragraph:

Red tape introduced since 1997 has cost British businesses £30 billion, the British Chambers of Commerce will claim today. It says £20 billion of costs stem from regulations imposed by the Government, while European working time regulations have cost firms £10 billion.

No wonder we have states with bigger GDP's than most EU countries.

Socialists lose in Greek elections...

Now if our socialists will lose this fall. This article made me think of some similarities between the Greek socialists and the donks, our socialists.

The Socialists were punished. Many voters perceived the party as rife with corruption, inefficiency and political arrogance.....

....built it into a powerhouse by doling out civil service jobs and appealing to insecurities

Just like the donks!

Psychos R Us

Liberal compassion means psychos need to be set free, no matter how dangerous they are.

For five years now, New York state has had on the books something called Kendra's Law, which allows interested parties to force mentally ill patients to comply with medical treatment - including taking their medication.
Indeed, the New York Court of Appeals just last month upheld the statute's constitutionality.

So why wasn't it applied in the case of Bonergy Quelal, the violently schizophrenic Bronx resident who created a frightening subway emergency the other night when he hurled metal objects and other debris onto the third rail - touching off dozens of explosions and forcing hundreds of terrified straphangers to flee into the night?

Now, now, we don't want to deny the rights of the psychos to not take their meds and hurt people.

New York still remains in the grip of the nationwide trend to deinstitutionalization - an ill-conceived policy that has kept thousands of mentally ill people, even potentially dangerous ones, on the streets.

Kendra's Law was meant to address this policy, by providing a remedy that protected society, short of once again locking up the mentally ill in hospitals.

But there's something frightening when a family's pleas to keep their loved one constrained - as difficult a decision as anyone can be forced to make - is ignored, as they seem to have been done here.

There are some people who simply have to be kept confined - for society's sake, if not their own.

Well said, but that wouldn't be compassionate now, would it?

Funny bumper sticker

Usually I see the same boring lefty ones, but this week I saw a great one:

My kid sold term papers to your honor student

All gay, all the time

Read today's AJC editorial page and one would think you were reading a gay newspaper, as all 3 editorials are about gay rights, at least on the web version. The popular Woman to Woman, a Crossfire-like column featuring a conservative and liberal compares gay rights to the civil rights movement, another column wonders if animals can be gay and Cynthia Tucker chimes in with a column trying to say that only right wing fanatics that don't REALLY understand the Bible are against gay marriage.

The "love that dare not speak its name" has become "the love that doesn't shut up" and I'm wondering what kind of backlash there will be. The elites don't understand that the folks in flyover country are not neanderthal bigots, they just do not approve of special victim status for those that participate in behavior that many think is wrong.

No 72 virgins for them

Some Paleswinians tried to die for Allah and take some infidels with them, but only got the dying part right.

Palestinian gunmen and car bombers attacked a major crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Saturday. At least four attackers and two Palestinian policemen were killed, and no Israeli soldiers were hurt.

The elaborately choreographed assault began when a vehicle sped toward an Israeli checkpoint near the Erez Crossing and exploded, the military said. Three assailants jumped out of a second vehicle disguised as an army jeep and opened fire as the driver sped on.

Israeli troops fired back, killing all three.

Moments later, a third vehicle, also made to look like an army jeep, blew up away from the crossing point after it was apparently blocked from entering. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was in the vehicle.

Witnesses said heavy Israeli gunfire followed the blasts. Body parts were strewn around the wreckage.

Another win for the good guys.

I'm John Kerry....

and probably ashamed of that too. Banagor has the details in a great-we think-parody. A sample:

When I'm President, I'm gonna do things different. I'm gonna spend the first 100 days of my Presidency in a jumbo jet and run around the world so that I can apologize for America defending itself. That's right! I'm going to tell everyone how sorry I am for being an American and how terrible it is to live in this country.

This country sucks, you know. I hate it. I mean I love it, but I hate it too. I hated going to Vietnam. I hated it so much that it's all I ever talk about. I don't talk about much else because that's the thing I hated the most - apart from George Bush. That guy just gives me the creeps.

Bye-Bye Martha

The verdict is in, Martha was found guilty on all 4 counts. A very intelligent woman let her greed and arrogance overcome her intelligence. The NY Times was the first link I found giving the details.

Conviction on the charges against Ms. Stewart would carry a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison, but federal guidelines could reduce that to about a year.

In Frank J's world

The latest installment features a "what if" scenario, where Frodo gives The Ring to the UN and Gandolff tries to help them decide what to do with it. Jock Strap ChIraq as Gollum/Smeagol is hilarious, drink alert in effect!

A new Bishop is installed

Msgr Lawrence Brandt was installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg (PA) yesterday. The Pittsburgh P-G's article was good, and here are some excerpts:

Keely Smith, of Fayette City, is converting to Catholicism and preparing for marriage in the Catholic Church this summer. As she watched the ceremony in the overflow auditorium, she was struck by how much it resembled a wedding Mass.

"The bishop said nine 'I do's.' That's a lot more than I'll have to say," she said.

As at a wedding, Brandt's family had places of honor in the front pews. His mother Priscilla, 95, walked with perfect if careful carriage to the altar to present her son with his episcopal ring, and again with the bishop's two sisters to present the gifts for the Eucharist. She was the first lay person to receive communion from the hand of her son as bishop.

"My mother is engaged in a very contemporary, cutting edge, liturgical ministry. She times my homilies," Brandt deadpanned to laughter and applause.

I like the symbolism of comparing a wedding to the consecration of a bishop. The bishop is making a committment to his flock.

His friend and classmate from 40 years ago, Bishop Donald Trautman, became head of the Erie diocese a few years later. Trautman delivered the homily yesterday despite the death of his own sister the day before.

"The church lives right now in troubled times," Trautman said, in an oblique reference to the national sexual abuse scandal.

But, "this is a blessed time to serve as bishop because you can help Jesus, the Good Shepherd, build up his church.".

The emphasis is mine. Bishop Trautman is the bishop of my hometown, and he impressed me in Dallas at the conference about abuse, and has impressed me here again. I am reminded of Jesus saying that the healthy do not need a doctor. The Church is in a rough spot right now and needs good Bishops to lead her back into glory.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia then asked Brandt a series of ritual questions about his willingness to faithfully govern the diocese. After Brandt answered "I do" to each one, he lay prostrate on the cathedral floor, while the entire congregation sang a long litany asking all the saints and angels to pray for him.

When Brandt rose to his knees, Rigali, Bosco and Trautman each laid hands on him, followed by 17 other bishops who had come from as close as Pittsburgh and as far as the Middle East. Once Rigali finished the prayer, Brandt was officially a bishop.

What a powerful scene. If you believe in apostolic succession, this is a very powerful scene. When bishops are consecrated, other bishops lay hands on the bishop-to-be. Through this chain it is as if the apostles themselves are laying hands on the priest. When I was confirmed I thought of that, and as I knelt before the bishop and he placed his hands on my head, I thought of the chain of bishops and envisioned St Peter, St Thomas Becket, St John Chrysostum, the great bishops of the past laying their hands on my head and blessing me. I was deeply moved. God bless Bishop Brandt and good luck in his new position.

Requiescat in Pace

Harrisburg (PA) Bishop Nicholas Datillo has died at age 71.

Bishop Nicholas C. Dattilo of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg died overnight, a spokesman said early Friday. Dattilo was 71.

Dattilo died at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, where he had been hospitalized since Feb. 7, Fr. T. Ronald Haney said.

Rest in Peace, and comfort to your family and friends.

Boat Fever

I have caught boat fever. I have been living in Florida for 5 years now, and since it seems to be permanent I have decided to get a boat so I can enjoy all that Florida has to offer. I first got interested in boats back in 1990, when I lived on a lake for a summer. Maybe it's in my blood; half my family was in the Navy and my great-grandfather built ships at the New Haven shipyard.

My wife is pretty supportive, although we have to move into a bigger house first, that is her rule. I agree, a larger house is more important than a boat, since the birth of our son our townhouse seems smaller and smaller. The cynical part of me thinks my wife is hoping that this is a phase I'll outgrow.

I have looked and researched, and the leader now is Boston Whaler's 170 Montauk, which is a sturdy boat, and as the salesman said "it's a KISS boat: keep it simple stupid." I figure that hopefully next spring I can be motoring in the gulf or on the St Johns river. For now, I can just look at the pictures:

Catholics and voting

Michael Novak in the National Review writes a piece about Catholics and their voting, in particular why Ronald Reagan did so well with traditionally democrat-voting Catholics.

When his pollster Richard Wirthlin told Reagan that four themes resonated most powerfully among voters, especially Catholics in the big electoral states, Reagan felt in his gut that these themes were on target. And so, beneath the radar of the national press, but quite openly and daily nonetheless, Reagan talked incessantly about "WORK, FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH." These themes matched the Catholic experience with a special profundity.

4 things that liberals hate or just don't understand, no wonder liberals still hate Reagan. What exactly do these things mean? Let's start with work:

It was for WORK that most Catholic immigrants came to these shores. Where there is no work, the family perishes. By "work" they don't quite mean the "Protestant work ethic"; they mean "the condition for survival."

My Irish ancestors came here in the 1850's trying to find a "condition for survival", so I can understand that. I'm from a small, dying former steel mill town in PA where almost my entire generation has left looking for "the condition for survival". What about family?

And that helps to explain why the best of all anti-poverty programs is the marriage-based family. Of all married-couple families, some 93 or 94 percent have escaped from poverty, and the rest are certain to do so soon. If the married-couple family has at least one full-time job, an even higher percentage is out of poverty; that number is headed even higher. Marriage and full-time work are the greatest engines of upward mobility for people in this country, and the main reasons for America's worldwide pre-eminence.

But FAMILY is important not only for economic reasons. For most men, in particular, it is the reason for being. Males who can otherwise be young and irresponsible are willing to undergo many difficulties in order to give their wives and children the best lives they know how. Nothing so motivates a man as having a family. And in every family, the mother is always the bulwark, the center, the mainstay, the great strength of all the others.

These are the two greatest of daily realities: WORK and the FAMILY.

As the father of a 9 month old, I completely understand that. I was a party boy when I met my wife, and I have (mostly) reformed my ways. Working OT, cutting back on luxury items, this is what you do. Next is Neighborhood:

Most of the Catholic immigrants in this country tried to cluster their homes within walking distance of their parish church. That is how Catholics became America's number-one NEIGHBORHOOD people. In fact, in many cities, Catholics refer to their neighborhoods not by their secular or geographical names, but by the name of their parish churches: "We live over in Little Flower" or "out by St. Benedict's" or "close in by Sacred Heart." The Catholic Church has always organized itself territorially, as near its families as it can. Catholics are "neighborhood people."

That's why what is happening on local streets, and in local places of employment, and in local schools is of such great emotional importance to Catholic peoples. Sometimes such things matter far more than what is happening nationally or statewide. Local issues are trump.

The Democratic party has long benefited from its strong base in local urban politics, at the precinct and ward level. Since the 1970s, though, the national Democratic party has taken its main cultural signals from the New York press and the Hollywood elites and the university experts, rather than from the old Mayor Daleys of the world. That is how Ronald Reagan went over the head of the Democratic establishment, and under the radar of the national media culture, directly to the hearts and minds of neighborhood people.

Not surprisingly, the big issues for "neighborhood people" are work and family ? the awful assaults on their own family values by television and cinema and music, and even in "progressive" public-school textbooks. They also hate witnessing the deterioration of their neighborhoods into greenhouses for unprecedented crime, ugly graffiti, and lack of public discipline. In response, Reagan put together WORK, FAMILY, and NEIGHBORHOOD in his platform. He made clear whose side he was on in the culture wars.

Well said. Finally, there is the idea of peace through strength:

So, naturally, they loved the resolve expressed in PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH. That fit their experience. Against playground bullies, cowardice never worked, and neither did avoidance. Sooner or later a self-respecting lad had to be prepared to fight, and then the bullying stopped. It was always that way. Catholic fathers taught their sons how to defend themselves with their fists and their wrestling abilities. Then the tormenting stopped.

That was one of the big things that I remember about Reagan. I was 10 when he was elected, I remember the helplessness of Carter and Vance, and loved the power and determination of Reagan and Haig and Weinberger. All in all, an interesting article. The one point I would have added is that those Catholics who regularly attend Mass are more likely to vote Republican.

I'd prefer shooting him, although this isn't bad

A judge and prosecutor in the Florida Panhandle sentenced a pervert to 390 years for possession of child pornography.

A judge sentenced a man convicted of possessing child pornography to 390 years in prison, saying he wanted to give him plenty of time to think about his contribution to ruining children's lives.

Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet gave George Thrasher, 41, the maximum five years on each of 78 counts and ordered that the terms be served consecutively.

The pictures, obtained over the Internet, depicted children ranging from infants to adolescents. Overstreet said he doubted that he or jurors, who convicted Thrasher last week, ever would be able to erase the children's images from their minds.

"I saw the horror in their eyes," Overstreet said during Wednesday's hearing. "I saw their fear, their physical pain. And they were photographed with adults, and I saw the look of betrayal in their eyes."

I hope that this scum's crimes are announced to the whole prison, especially the guys who lift weights all day. Perhaps then he will understand "fear" and "physical pain." The public defender irritates me with his view:

Assistant Public Defender Doug White said the sentence violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, but Overstreet called it "an unusual case that warrants a fair and just and perhaps severe sentence."

White asked Overstreet to look beyond the nature of the photographs and sentence Thrasher in line with the severity of the crime, which carries the same penalty as defrauding an innkeeper.

He also said law enforcement should share the blame because the Web sites that disseminated the pictures were still in operation and nothing has been done to shut them down.

Mr. White either doesn't have kids, or is a democrat, or both. Those are some of the most asinine arguments I have ever heard. Thankfully, the good judge wanted nothing to do with that reasoning:

Thrasher's history of 20 prior felony convictions, including spying on children in their homes, contributed to the sentence as much as the pictures, Overstreet said.

"This defendant has been preying on innocent children and stealing their innocence for over 28 years," he said. "If he were to get out today, he would be preying on children by the weekend."

Prosecutor Mark Graham asked for the 390-year sentence to "send a message." It is longer than two other recent Bay County penalties that exceeded life - 240 years for a man who for videotaped himself raping children and 225 years for a bank robber.

I'm torn, as part of me would like to see this guy get shanked in the laundry room, and another part of me wants him to live to a ripe old age keeping house for the biggest, baddest lifers in the place. Either way, it's nice to see a judge really mete out some punishment to the lowest of the low.

Ann Coulter and "The Passion"

Ann Coulter, the sexiest female conservative alive, hits paydirt with her column about liberal discomfort with "The Passion of the Christ."

IN THE DOZENS and dozens of panic-stricken articles the New York Times has run on Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," the unavoidable conclusion is that liberals haven't the vaguest idea what Christianity is. The Times may have loopy ideas about a lot of things, but at least when they write about gay bathhouses and abortion clinics, you get the sense they know what they're talking about.

But Christianity just doesn't ring a bell. The religion that has transformed Western civilization for two millennia is a blank slate for liberals. Their closest reference point is "conservative Christians," meaning people you're not supposed to hire. And these are the people who carp about George Bush's alleged lack of "intellectual curiosity."

The most amazing complaint, championed by the Times and repeated by all the know-nothing secularists on television, is that Gibson insisted on "rubbing our faces in the grisly reality of Jesus' death." The Times was irked that Gibson "relentlessly focused on the savagery of Jesus' final hours" – at the expense of showing us the Happy Jesus. Yes, Gibson's movie is crying out for a car chase, a sex scene or maybe a wise-cracking orangutan.

Maybe some "Buddy Jesus" action figures, oops, that's "Dogma", wrong movie. If you haven't seen "Dogma", I recommend it.

The Times ought to send one of its crack investigative reporters to St. Patrick's Cathedral at 3 p.m. on Good Friday before leaping to the conclusion that "The Passion" is Gibson's idiosyncratic take on Christianity. In a standard ritual, Christians routinely eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ, aka "the Lamb of God." The really serious Catholics do that blood- and flesh-eating thing every day, the sickos. The Times has just discovered the tip of a 2,000-year-old iceberg.

But the loony-left is testy with Gibson for spending so much time on Jesus' suffering and death while giving "short shrift to Jesus' ministry and ideas" – as another Times reviewer put it. According to liberals, the message of Jesus, which somehow Gibson missed, is something along the lines of "be nice to people" (which to them means "raise taxes on the productive").

You don't need a religion like Christianity, which is a rather large and complex endeavor, in order to flag that message. All you need is a moron driving around in a Volvo with a bumper sticker that says "be nice to people." Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity (as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of "kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed"). But to call it the "message" of Jesus requires ... well, the brain of Maureen Dowd.

In fact, Jesus' distinctive message was: People are sinful and need to be redeemed, and this is your lucky day because I'm here to redeem you even though you don't deserve it, and I have to get the crap kicked out of me to do it. That is the reason He is called "Christ the Redeemer" rather than "Christ the Moron Driving Around in a Volvo With a 'Be Nice to People' Bumper Sticker on It."

In other words, "Christ the Epsicopalian". She shoots and scores, and Moron Dowd is down for the count. Ann has a poison pen when she wants to; few people can eviscerate the NY Slimes like she can. She has a good point showing that the libs are showing their complete ignorance of Christianity.

The other complaint from the know-nothing crowd is that "The Passion" will inspire anti-Semitic violence. If nothing else comes out of this movie, at least we finally have liberals on record opposing anti-Semitic violence. Perhaps they should broach that topic with their Muslim friends.

One Times review of "The Passion" said: "To be a Christian is to face the responsibility for one's own most treasured sacred texts being used to justify the deaths of innocents." At best, this is like blaming Jodie Foster for the shooting of Ronald Reagan. But the reviewer somberly warned that a Christian should "not take the risk that one's life or work might contribute to the continuation of a horror." So the only thing Christians can do is shut up about their religion. (And no more Jodie Foster movies!)

By contrast, in the weeks after 9-11, the Times was rushing to assure its readers that "prominent Islamic scholars and theologians in the West say unequivocally that nothing in Islam countenances the Sept. 11 actions." (That's if you set aside Muhammad's many specific instructions to kill non-believers whenever possible.) Times columnists repeatedly extolled "the great majority of peaceful Muslims." Only a religion with millions of practitioners trying to kill Americans and Jews is axiomatically described as "peaceful" by liberals.

As I understand it, the dangerous religion is the one whose messiah instructs: "[I]f one strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" and "Love your enemies ... do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." The peaceful religion instructs: "Slay the enemy where you find him." (Surah 9:92).

Imitating the ostrich-like posture of certain German Jews who ignored the growing danger during Hitler's rise to power, today's liberals are deliberately blind to the real threats of violence that surround us. Their narcissistic self-image requires absolute solicitude toward angry savages plotting acts of terrorism. The only people who scare them are the ones who worship a Jew.

Brains and beauty, Ann Coulter is quite the total package.

The TRUTH from Iraq


Hammorabi is a blog telling the truth about Iraq, the stuff we don't hear from the Bush-hating "It's a quagmire" liberal bleating press.

WARNING: He has some pictures from the bombing, they are very graphic and not for the faint of heart, but it shows you the animals that are at work over there.

Why's everybody always picking on me?

Poor Yasser Arafat, even the Muslims are mad at him.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's wish to be buried on the Temple Mount is stirring an emotional debate among Palestinians. Leaflets distributed in Jerusalem on Wednesday by the Muslim Liberation Party called for thwarting Arafat's plan.

Sources close to Arafat confirmed that the PA chairman has asked his supporters in Jerusalem to check the possibility of burying him near the Aksa Mosque.

The terrorist thug doesn't deserve to be buried anywhere holy, but that is just my opinion.

Jerusalem police recently detained three Arab residents of Jerusalem on suspicion they were putting pressure on the Muslim Wakf (religious trust) to agree to allocate a plot on the Temple Mount for the burial of Arafat. The three were served with orders banning them from entering the Temple Mount for three months.

Palestinians said some of Jerusalem's prominent Arab families are opposed to Arafat being buried on the Temple Mount. The last Palestinian to be buried on the Temple Mount was Faisal Husseini, the former PLO representative in Jerusalem, who died of a heart attack in 2001.

Husseini was buried at the site despite fierce opposition from some Palestinians, who said the privilege should be reserved only to devout Muslim figures. The Liberation Party, a tiny Muslim faction with a strong presence on the Temple Mount, spearheaded the opposition, but Husseini's aides managed to enforce their will.

"Devout Muslims", huh? Arafat has killed lots of "infidels", is that devout enough?

A leaflet distributed in Jerusalem by the party said its members are also strongly opposed to plans to bury Arafat on the Temple Mount. Referring to Arafat, the leaflet said: "We warn this wicked infidel, who married a Christian infidel, against contemplating desecrating the holy Aksa Mosque."

Earlier this year, members of the Liberation Party prevented Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher from praying at al-Aksa. They threw shoes at him and shouted slogans accusing him and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of betraying the Arabs and Muslims.

What this article fails to address is that the Temple Mount is the holiest site of Judaism, the site of the Temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. The Western Wall is all that remains. The obsenity of the Aksa Mosque is bad enough, but to bury a terrorist dedicated to killing Jews and destroying Israel on the same space as the Temple Mount is disgusting.

Disappearing Judaism

Of the many threats and obstacles facing European Jewish communities, their dwindling numbers is one of the biggest threats, as reported in the Jersualem Post.

The Jews of Europe are once again in grave danger, but the real threat to their future is not quite what you might think.

While the wave of anti-Semitism sweeping the continent is indeed disturbing, there is a far more destructive force at work these days, one that places the continued existence of European Jewry in doubt.

It is the ailment of assimilation and the malady of intermarriage which are truly wreaking havoc in Jewish communities across Europe. And though they may not receive as much attention as an assault on a rabbi in the streets of Paris or the desecration of a cemetery outside Berlin, the blows which they strike are nevertheless more lasting and more painful, as well as more difficult to repair.

The fact of the matter is that with only a few exceptions, the Jewish communities of Europe are gradually shrinking in size, contracting quantitatively as a result of declining birthrates, aging populations and increasing numbers of young people who marry out of the fold.

The decline in numbers is staggering:

According to demographer Prof. Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, there were slightly more than 1 million Jews living in western Europe at the start of 2002. Of these, nearly 80 percent could be found in France and the United Kingdom, home to Europe's largest and strongest Jewish populations.

Yet, despite a wealth of Jewish communal institutions and a plethora of Jewish organizations, both French and British Jewry have been steadily in decline.

A December 2002 study by the Jewish Agency's Institute for Jewish People Policy Planning found that the number of Jews in France fell from 535,000 in 1980 to some 500,000 in just two decades, a loss of over 6 percent.

British Jewry fared even worse. According to the Board of Deputies, the representative body for Jews in the UK, there were 430,000 Jews living in Great Britain in 1950, but just 283,000 in 1996. Or, as an item on their web site puts it, "Since the 1950s there has been a steady decrease in numbers so that by the 1990s British Jewry was approximately one-third smaller than it had been in 1950."

If anything, these trends are only likely to accelerate, as the negative factors behind the demographic crisis continue to consolidate. Indeed, in both England and France, the annual number of deaths in the Jewish community already exceeds the number of births.

It is therefore hardly surprising that in a lengthy article appearing in the 2002 edition of the American Jewish Year Book, Della Pergola estimated that, "French Jewry will experience a slow but steady decline from 520,000 in 2000, to 480,000 in 2020, to 380,000 in 2050, and 300,000 in 2080." Meanwhile, across the Channel, he wrote, "The Jewish population in the United Kingdom will decline to 240,000 in 2020, 180,00 in 2050, and 140,000 in 2080."

In effect, this means that within just 75 years or so, French and English Jewry will only be half their current size.

Soaring intermarriage rates have taken a toll as well, in some cases reaching as high as 80 percent or more, raising further questions about the viability of some European Jewish communities.

And even in countries where the numbers have remained fairly stable, such as Spain or Italy, or which have experienced growth, such as Germany, it is primarily due to an influx of immigrants from the former Soviet states, and not because of any inherent vitality within the local community itself.

Europe, and the world, will be poorer if these communities disappear. The author of the piece takes Jewish leaders to task for not addressing this:

Inexplicably, though, Israel and American Jewish leaders prefer to focus on combating anti-Semitism, rather than Jewish ignorance, even as its victims are increasingly facing religious and ethnic extinction.

The result, of course, is catastrophic, as attention and resources are shifted to fighting a question of bigotry, rather than of survival. Soon enough, there may not be any Jews in Europe left to hate.

Now don't get me wrong – I am not trying to downplay the severity of European anti-Semitism. But when compared to the threat posed by assimilation, should it really be placed at the top of the agenda?

Instead of worrying so much about educating Europeans to like their Jews, we need to start educating their Jews to better appreciate their Judaism.

There is so much that can and should be done in this regard, from sending more rabbis to serve European Jewish communities to translating more material on Judaism into the various European languages. But all this takes funds and energy and commitment, and there is a limited amount of these to go around.

Only by acknowledging the extent of the problem, and deciding to act, can world Jewry and Israel possibly salvage the situation. The first step in doing so is to recognize that as crucial as it might be to fight Europe's anti-Semites, it pales in comparison with engaging its Jews.

I'm Catholic, but I view the Jews as God's chosen people and have tremendous respect for their faith and customs. It would be a shame to lose their influence, but as Europe has lost its Christian identity it is not surprising that it would be losing its Jewish identity also. The EU's goal of replacing love of God with love of the state is well on its way to succeeding. The Christian churches can learn from this article, as we too need to send missionaries into Europe to get those of Christian heritage to once again embrace their faith, or spread the Gospel to those who have not heard it. I wish the Jewish leaders well, as both Jews and Christians have much work to do in Europe.

I actually agree with the Washington Post

It's a rarity, and I blasted them yesterday, but I agreed with this editorial about the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

THE SCOPE OF the criminality is staggering: more than 4,300 men accused of sexually abusing 10,667 children between 1950 and 2002. Fifty percent of the children were between the ages of 11 and 14, 27 percent between 8 and 10, and nearly 6 percent under age 7. Overall, 81 percent of the victims were boys and 19 percent were girls. The sexual offenders were not drawn from the ranks of convicted felons. They were men to whom the young and vulnerable victims turned for spiritual guidance and trusted leadership; the predators were Catholic priests.

We can argue the whys and hows, but the what is undeniable: 10,000 children were abused by priests, those men who are supposed to be the embodiment of Christ. While Jesus was both human and divine and the priests are merely human, this should not have been allowed to happen. The number indicate that the average abuser abused 2.5 children, with some abusing many more victims than that.

The National Review Board, a lay body created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, can be credited with producing this chilling description of the scope of the child sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church. Thanks to the board's work, performed by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, much more is now known about the profiles of the priests and their accusers and the prevalence and distribution of the sexual abuse problem over the years. We also know more about the toll the crisis has taken on the church's treasury for the treatment of priests and for legal expenses: more than $572 million, and that's not counting the total shelled out by the church for settlements and expenses incurred after parish surveys were returned to the John Jay College. But, given the nature and breadth of unlawful behavior, there are more questions that need to be answered.

The study shed some light on some patterns, and the Church needs to see what went wrong. Not mentioned in this editorial but a finding of the report is that the class of 1970, those men who graduated from seminary in 1970, were the most likely to be abusers, and also that the men who graduated in the decade of the 1960's were overrepresented by abusive priests. Why? What went wrong?

The sexual abuse of children could not have gone on for so long without the indulgence of church leadership. Washington lawyer Robert Bennett, who served as research chairman of the National Review Board, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday that "there are bishops who totally failed as pastors and as shepherds of their flocks." Mr. Bennett also said there was such a fear of the church's becoming engulfed in scandal that the bishops "planted the seeds long ago for the scandal that we are now facing." Too many bishops, Mr. Bennett said, "acted more like risk-assessment managers of an insurance company" and followed lawyerly advice that urged them to resist the victims of sexual abuse and to avoid admitting liability. As a result, some bishops paid hush money and, instead of removing sexual predators and reporting them to authorities, reassigned the offenders to other parishes. The National Review Board was not empowered to decide whether those church leaders would be punished or removed from office. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic hierarchy ought not sidestep that question.

Darn right the heirarchy ought to address that question, but I won't hold my breath. Cardinal Law resigned, and others who had a part in Boston or other dioceses where abuse was rampant should be forced to resign. Cardinal Egan, line one please. One problem that I think of with bishops, is that many of them are/were career church bureaucrats. Too many of them were ordained, spent time in the Vatican and then served as administrators and auxiliary bishops instead of spending time as parish priests. Unfortunately like any politician or bureaucrat removed from their constituency, the bureaucratic bishops can start viewing the members of the flock as pledging units or liabilities, unlike a bishop like mine, Bishop Galeone, who was elevated to the episcopacy after serving as a parish priest and as a missionary and deals with parishioners as flesh and blood people. It's similiar to the difference between a city councilman and a US Senator; my councilman might actually know my name and lives in my town, as opposed to my Senator who has no idea who I am and lives 800 miles away in DC.

Similarly, the board's report stopped short of naming the 4,392 child sex abusers. Don't the laity and the community at large have a right to know if an abuser is still working with children, either as a priest or as a former priest? We think so. Speaking for himself, Mr. Bennett answers yes, unless the priest is deceased or if the allegations have no merit. Given this sordid story of victimization and abuse of a child's trust, we would think the Catholic Church would lean toward more transparency so that, as the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, said on "Meet the Press," people can "be confident that [the church is] not going to hurt them."

The Church has lost its credibility in this matter, and those living priests who were credibly accused of abuse need to be named. I am a father now, I need to know if there are any priests serving Mother Church who shouldn't be, so that I can protect my son. In my opinion the following changes need to be made:
1. all credibly accused living priests must be named
2. any accusation of a priest abusing a child MUST be reported to the police. They are trained to determine the credibility of the accusation, the diocese is not. This will prevent cover-ups and also protects the accused, as if the accusations are without merit they will have been cleared by the police. Also, the special victims unit will handle the accusers with the sensitivity required.
3. The accused should be placed on administrative leave until cleared by the police.
4. If the accusations are credible, let the criminal justice system arrest, try, and prosecute the offender. The tricky part is if the accused is acquitted. If you let him remain as a priest, I think you need to place him in a position with no contact with potential victims or defrock him entirely.

This isn't that hard of a concept, your eminences. Please protect our children and purge the priesthood of those who would hurt the most innocent of God's children.

Bobby Bowden, scumbag

Bobby Bowden, the football coach of Florida State, infuriates me in a way few people do. He is always appearing in churches publicly proclaiming his faith, but his actions leave a lot to be desired, such as the thugs he brings in to represent his university, and the character reference he gave a rapist/murderer. Courtesy of Fox Sports is his latest atrocity:

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Florida State coach Bobby Bowden questioned the rape allegation made by a former female Colorado kicker and defended the character of Buffaloes coach Gary Barnett.

Bowden, who has been coaching for 51 seasons, spoke with reporters Monday before giving a lecture at Clemson called, "Changes in College Football During His Lifetime: What is good and What is bad." Katie Hnida said last month she was raped by a Colorado teammate in 2000 but didn't tell police back then because she was afraid of the player and didn't want a "media mess."

"I did not understand how a young lady can say she was abused, or whatever it was, two years later," Bowden told The State for Tuesday editions.

"At the time, why don't you go report it? It seems like you ought to report it right (away). So it makes me say, 'Well, did it really happen like that?' I just don't know. I know this. You can't get many men much better than ol' Gary Barnett. Talk about a good man. And I know he's got good morals."

Barnett was placed on administrative leave after he called Hnida an "awful" player who "couldn't kick the ball through the uprights." Barnett later said his comments were taken out of context.

"Gary Barnett simply told what he thought was the truth: She was not a very good player," Bowden said. "Boy, that cost him. Fifty years ago, nobody would have even said a thing about that (comment)."

50 years ago blacks couldn't vote in most of the South and went to segregated schools. 50 years ago kids still died of polio. 50 years ago there weren't interstates. What a flaming dirtbag. As far as Barnett's "morals", allegations have surfaced that sex parties with strippers were used to lure high school players into playing for Colorado. As for the female victim, many rapes go unreported. I would think long and hard before allowing a daughter to set foot on either of those campuses.

Publik Skool Update

But he was just trying to teach him about physics:

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- A high school student jumped out a second-floor window to win a bet with a teacher, who has been disciplined, officials said. The teen was not injured.

Miami Beach High School science teacher Yrvan Tassy Jr. has been reassigned to a non-teaching job while police and school officials investigate the incident.

Tassy's class was discussing evolution last week when the student, who was not identified, talked about jumping out the window to prove his point, police said.

The teacher bet him $20 that he would be injured in the jump, according to police reports.

The student then jumped out the window, landing on his feet in a patch of dirt and grass, police said. He returned to the classroom and asked Tassy for his money. Tassy said he would bring it the following day, students told police.

The incident was reported to police Thursday.

"The teacher is being investigated by our detectives and there is also a personnel investigation," said Carlos Fernandez, a Miami-Dade schools police spokesman. "It doesn't look like this is something where there would be criminal charges. It looks like it will be administrative."

Tassy does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Parent of the year candidates

The parents of a 3-year-old child were arrested early Monday after they allegedly left the boy inside their car while they partied inside a Volusia County, Fla., bar, according to police.

Randolph Davenport and Natashea Dunlop of Middleburg, near Jacksonville, were both charged with child neglect. They were each being held on $5,000 bail.

The child was left alone in the car for at least an hour at Sopotnick's Cabbage Patch, officials with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

The boy, who was unharmed, was taken into custody by the Department of Children & Families.

The Sheriff's Office said a woman who found the child alone and a bar employee both alerted deputies. An announcement was made at 11:15 p.m. Sunday over the bar's loudspeakers but witnesses said no one responded.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

Washington ComPost: The Passion is fascist

Richard Cohen in the Washington Post takes criticism of The Passion to a higher level, as he calls the movie "fascist" and brings in comparisons with how Hitler and Mussolini used violence to further their causes.

I saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" the morning it opened and hurried to my office to write what I thought of it. I thought the movie was tawdry, cartoonish, badly acted and anti-Semitic, maybe not purposely so but in the way portions of the New Testament are -- an assignment of blame that culminated in the Holocaust. But I wrote none of that, actually nothing at all, because there was something else about the movie that disturbed me, and it took days to figure it out. It is fascistic.

I don't know if I use the word right -- probably I don't. But I want to use it because I recently read Richard J. Evans's brilliant "The Coming of the Third Reich," in which it becomes clear, if it wasn't before, how violence was so much a part of fascism. It was not merely that Hitler and, to a lesser extent, Mussolini used force to get their way but also that violence, almost for the sake of it, became part of the ethic -- what Evans calls "the cult of violence." After awhile, Germans became inured. That, both precisely and surprisingly, is how I felt watching Gibson's disturbingly nondisturbing movie. I was bored stiff.

Much like reading the ComPost bores me with its liberal tripe. Let's see if this clown can make any reasonable argument to support his premise.

I need not have worried. The movie is as violent as everyone says -- indescribably and inexcusably gory. But instead of being repulsed, I found myself intrigued: Why wasn't I horrified? Why wasn't I revolted? Instead of feeling any of those things, I was more like the Roman soldiers who tortured Jesus. I did not laugh with glee as they did, but I did find myself at an emotional remove. There was so much blood, so much flayed skin, so much horror that almost immediately I became inured to it all. I felt as a surgeon must in the operating theater or, maybe, as the torturer feels when another "job" is brought before him. More work. Repeatedly, I found myself checking my watch.

I thought liberals were all about caring and feelings. This clown is admitting he has no feelings about watching a man get brutally executed. Of course, liberals are often stating how much they care while doing nothing to help those they allegedly care for, like the working class, the poor... What else does this moron have to say?

I may not be a typical viewer. Importantly, I am not a Christian and so, I suppose, I am not conditioned to seeing the passion of Christ in religious terms. Still, even seeing the torture of an ordinary man should have filled me with revulsion. Yet it didn't. In Gibson's relentless, driving vision, a man became an object, and the violence, the gore, became even more important than the man.

This is what I mean by a fascistic sensibility. The violence was the message. It overwhelmed the message of Christ, which even a non-Christian can admire and endorse. What's more, the cause of the violence -- its origins -- was not the Romans, who were actually in charge, but stereotypical Jews who, in their clever ways, manipulated even Pontius Pilate, about the only complex figure in the entire movie. Gibson says he is no anti-Semite. Maybe. But if he could breathe humanity into the autocratic Pilate, then why not something similar for the downtrodden Jews?

The whole thing -- the violence, the stereotypical Jews, the wooden acting -- makes for a tedious and unsettling two hours in the theater. It left me deeply disturbed -- not by the violence but by how little the violence disturbed me. Something went awry. Maybe, strictly speaking, the movie cannot be called fascistic -- but, in the best sense, it cannot be called Christian either.

So some idiot who is "not a Christian", who doesn't "see the Passion of Christ in religious terms", is going to tell us that a movie that shows one of the main pillars of Christianity isn't Christian? How arrogant, how stupid. By "the message of Christ, that even a non-Christian can admire" I am assuming he is talking about the nice side of the Gospels, where Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yes, that is important. However, what makes Jesus more than just a prophet, more than just a rabbi telling us to be nice to each other, is his crucifixion and resurrection.

"For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." God in his infinite love of his wicked creations, loved us so much that he had his son brutally executed as a final blood sacrifice for our sins. Crucifixion was a brutal way to die. Cohen can criticize the movie without criticizing Christianity, however he does not do that here. he is just another liberal attacking our faith, having the audacity to compare a fairly accurate portrayal of the crucifixion to the violent tactics of Hitler. I have been called "fascist" so many times for being a Republican, for being conservative, for being a conservative Catholic, that the word has no meaning for me anymore.

Happy Hippie Hunting

Banagor goes hippie hunting and hilarity ensues.

Really, Joe Stalin was a bad guy

At Tech Central Station is a review of a book that tells how the American Left ignores Stalin's evil even now.

It's a disgrace that this book had to be written. A disgrace because so many Americans -- and so many others around the world -- still cling to the notion that Stalin doesn't deserve the opprobrium that has been visited on Hitler. This needs correction, even though it's decades after the fact.

The book, "In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage" (Encounter Books, San Francisco) is by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, who have written extensively on the crimes of Stalin -- indeed the whole Soviet regime from start to finish -- and on the slavish devotion of American communists to Stalin & Co.

I am going to buy this book. Here's more from the review:

What Haynes and Klehr relentlessly expose is the unwavering dedication of American Communists to a regime that slaughtered more innocent civilians than Hitler did, counting up the Jews, Poles, Gypies, and the other poor souls that fell victim to Hitler's dementia. Robert Conquest, the historian who chronicled what took place in the Soviet abattoir, says that 20 million were slaughtered.

But "In Denial" is mostly about the American Communists' reaction to these events. The book is exhaustively researched, so that there are virtually no crumbs of doubt left for die-hard Stalinist defenders to nibble on -- except in academia, where so many professors refuse to believe the facts, even now when they can be etched in stone. The professoriat, in so many universities, still believe that McCarthyism was a greater evil than Soviet communism.

But Haynes and Klehr don't let them get away with anything, from the lingering lunatic refusal to accept the guilt of Alger Hiss and Julius Rosenberg, to the seemingly small deceptions, such as the Communist claim that the U.S. Army tagged veterans of the Lincoln Brigade

If you count the number of people that were not actively slaughtered, such as the Ukranians who were systematically starved to death, that death toll hits over 30 million. The conclusion was right on:

There are very few books on Americans who long for Hitler, mainly because there never was a significant segment of Nazis in America, but unfortunately there is a significant number of Americans who still think that Joe Stalin was an idealistic reformer, and some of these Americans are in control of history departments of important universities -- and virtually no books are available that document and explain this peculiar situation. "In Denial" fills this gap.

I had a class taught by one of them, she glorified the Lincoln Brigade and complained that the Great Society wasn't liberal enough.

Liberal silliness

Proving that there is no lie to outrageous for a liberal to tell, the Congressional Black Caucus is spreading the rumor that the US kidnapped Aristide from Haiti.

Questions about the circumstances of Mr. Aristide's departure from Haiti, where he quit the presidency on Sunday amid widespread civil unrest, arose as he was on his way to refuge in the Central African Republic, where was last reported to be.

Representatives Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California, both Democrats, along with the head of the TransAfrica advocacy group, Randall Robinson, said today that Mr. Aristide had told them that he was abducted and a victim of a coup led by the United States.

Ms. Waters said today that she had spoken by telephone with Mr. Aristide, and that he had told her that he had been forced to leave his house. Ms. Waters gave that account in an interview with CNN as Mr. Rumsfeld was holding a news briefing at the Pentagon.

Ms. Waters said Mr. Aristide had told her that armed men had confronted him and told him that he "he had to go, and he had to go now." Whereupon, she said, he was taken to an airplane along with his wife, Mildred, a brother and a few associates.

Ms Waters should know about intimidation and kidnapping and other criminal activities, given that she represents Compton and has hired gang members as staffers. What did Rummy have to say about this?

As for reports that Mr. Aristide had complained of being "virtually kidnapped" before his departure, Mr. Rumsfeld said: "I don't believe that's true that he is claiming that. I just don't know that that's the case. I'd be absolutely amazed if that were the case."

Per Fox News, Jesse Jackson is involved now and we know the rearend Jesse Jackass would never lie!

Cool article about Israel's fence

Lest anyone think the Israeli security fence is just chain link, this article tells us otherwise. Here are some excerpts:

the Security Fence is a carefully engineered series of barriers to infiltration, costing about $4 million per mile. The project combines fences, ditches, patrol and "trace roads," concrete walls, barbed wire, watchtowers, cameras, electronic sensors, military checkpoints and gates where people and vehicles can pass.

Most of the barrier consists of a concrete foundation topped by 15 feet of wire mesh fence. Protecting the fence on the Palestinian side are rolls of barbed wire and a 12-foot-deep ditch to prevent vehicles from smashing through. A road allows Israeli tanks and armored personnel carries to patrol the fence line.

On the Israeli side, another paved patrol road abuts the fence. Alongside is a dirt "trace" road, topped with fine sand that would reveal intruders' footprints. Grooming vehicles comb the trace road's surface each morning and evening. Another barbed wire barrier runs along the trace road.

California vs. Christianity

Once again showing that the judicial branch of our government needs reigned in, the California Supreme Court tells Catholic Charities the hell with your belief systems you must obey the state.

In a precedent-setting decision, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Roman Catholic charity must offer birth-control coverage to its employees even though the church considers contraception a sin.

The 6-1 decision marked the first such ruling by a state's highest court. Experts said the ruling could affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions in California and prompt other states to fashion similar laws.

California is one of 20 states to require that all company-provided health plans must include contraception coverage if the plans have prescription drug benefits.

State to the Church: screw you and your silly opposition to birth control.

The high court said that Catholic Charities is no different from other businesses in California, where "religious employers" such as churches are exempt from the requirement. Catholic Charities argued that it, too, should be exempt.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the charity is not a religious employer because it offers such secular services as counseling, low-income housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without directly preaching Catholic values. In fact, Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote that a "significant majority" of the people served by the charity are not Catholic. The court also noted that the charity employs workers of differing religions.

So Catholic Charities is not Catholic enough? Thanks for clarifying that.

The California Catholic Conference, which represents the church's policy position in the state, said it was disappointed with the ruling and feared that it could open the door to mandated insurance coverage of abortion.

"It shows no respect to our religious organizations," said spokeswoman Carol Hogan.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the ruling and called it "a great victory for California women and reproductive freedom."

So the without A-CLU, which says its mission is "to conserve America’s original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights" will NOT defend the first amendment but will defend a "right to privacy" and "reproductive freedom" which is not in the Bill of Rights. To quote the 1st amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Seems like the Kalifornia supreme court has added a caveat, that restrictions are OK if the religion doesn't conform to the PC zeitgeist.

THEY'LL know what to do with them

Who says the US is heartless? They're releasing some Gitmo detainees back to their home country, isn't that great? Too bad for the detainees that their homeland is Russia who I am guessing will not greet with them hugs and vodka.

The United States has turned over seven Russian citizens who were being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. and Russian officials said Monday.

Deputy chief prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said Russian authorities have charged the men with illegally crossing borders, mercenary activity and participating in a criminal group, according to the Interfax new agency. They were captured in Afghanistan and accused of fighting alongside the Taliban.

The detainees were turned over on Saturday under an agreement reached earlier by Washington and Moscow and were in the custody of Russia's Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian Prosecutor's office has said that the detainees include residents of Russia's Muslim-majority republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, western Siberia and the Caucasus Mountain region.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the agreement includes "assurances that the individuals will be detained, investigated and prosecuted, as appropriate, under Russian law and will be treated humanely in accordance with Russian law and obligations."

We all know how "humane" the Ruskies are, particularly when their leader is a former KGB guy. As can be expected, Amnesty International isn't amused:


However, the human rights group Amnesty International questioned the move.

"There is no evidence that the U.S. has adhered to its obligation to not forcibly return anyone to any country where they may face serious human rights violations, including detention without charge or trial, unfair trial, or torture," said Amnesty's Maureen Greenwood.

Too flippin' bad. The Taliban tortured people and wasn't known for their fair trials and concern for human rights. Happy trails!

Eat them you idiots

Norway is having a problem in its seas, as Giant Pacific Crabs that were imported by Stalin are having a population explosion.

Millions of giant Pacific crabs, whose ancestors were brought to Europe by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, are marching south along Norway's coast, devouring everything in their path.

The monster crabs, which can weigh up to 25lb and have a claw-span of more than three feet, are proving so resilient that scientists fear they could end up as far south as Gibraltar.

Energised by a mysterious population explosion a decade ago, whole armies of the crustaceans - known as the Kamchatka or Red King Crabs - have already advanced about 400 miles along the roof of Europe, overwhelming the ports of northern Norway

In Maryland, they know how to deal with crabs: you eat the suckers. These crabs are supposed to be delicious and filling:

The animal's legs are considered a delicacy and fetch top dollar in Japan and America. Even in Oslo, consumers pay around 200 Norwegian kronor (£15) a pound.

Served with bread, butter, lemon and mayonnaise, the taste and texture of the crab meat is comparable with that of the finest lobster.

One leg is enough to provide a grown man with a filling meal.

I need to eat 3 or 4 maryland blue crabs to fill up, these Pacific crabs sound great. Start catching them and steaming, I say, but things are not that simple in EUnuch land:

For years the Norwegian government has ignored the underwater advance, undecided whether to treat the crabs as a resource or a pest.

Sounds like France's approach to Saddam Hussein.

Spanking and liberals

I'm home today with my sick son, it's nothing serious, just a stomach bug. Anyway, while waiting for the Law and Order rerun, I caught the last minutes of "Judging Amy", where a respected physician was facing having the state child snatchers take his child because they spanked him. The main character, Judge Amy Grey, gives this long diatribe about spanking and how parents kill their kids, etc, etc, typical hyperbole.

There is a difference between spanking and abuse. If a parent uses an open hand on the bottom, I don't have a problem with that. Belts, paddles being used at all or any slap to the face is wrong. My friends and I turned out OK and aren't psychopaths or in therapy from our parents daring to spank us. We're pretty successful and well adjusted, actually.

Cardinal Egan does something!

I still think that +Egan is the wrong man for this see, as the archbishop of New York is arguably the biggest Catholic bully pulpit in the US. Cadinal O'Connor, rest in peace, certainly understood that and used it. That said, Cardinal Egan came out in support of "The Passion", as reported in the NY Post:

Edward Cardinal Egan gave "The Passion of the Christ" a thumbs-up from the pulpit yesterday, urging parishioners to see Mel Gibson's controversial movie.
"It's good that we see that movie because that movie tells us about the greatest prayer, the greatest sacrifice that was ever made," said Egan. "The victim was Jesus Christ, the priest was Jesus Christ, he offered himself."

The cardinal encouraged the congregation to share in the film's interpretation of Christ's final hours

"The film represented the sacrifice of Christ," he said yesterday. "It is here today in this beloved cathedral, the reality of this sacrifice."

Egan said he hoped the congregation would walk out of St. Patrick's Cathedral with the same indelible impression of Christ's sacrifice as audiences experienced viewing "The Passion."

"It is my hope that you leave here this morning and feel like you will never be the same," he said.

Before the movie opened, Egan issued a blunt reminder to New York Catholics that Jews were not to blame for the death of Jesus, after some critics charged the movie feeds anti-Semitism.

"Over the last few months, one would think that the only film that had ever been made was 'The Passion' by Mel Gibson," said Egan.

"Culture can tell us that there is no sin and there is no temptation, but life shouts back that there is. But we know there is sin, we know there is temptation."

Now if the Cardinal can show that he is capable of dealing with abusive priests and their sin and temptation, and or have the courage to address the pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians in his flock, such as Pataki, Lazio, and Giuliani, I will feel a little better about his Eminence.

The Oscars

Very good show last night, I thought. I liked how glamorous the stars looked, they went for glamour and not a trashy look. The awards went how I thought they would, although I was really rooting for Bill Murray to win best actor. Carl Spackler wins an Oscar, how cool would that be? Speaking of things Caddyshack, I liked the Tiger Woods ad where he plays Carl from Caddyshack.

The most political speech was the guys that made "Fog Of War", where Errol Morris tried to link Iraq to Vietnam, which isn't accurate as there is a world of difference between Robert McNamara, the subject of his documentary and secretary of Defense during Nam, and Donald Rumsfield, the current man in charge.

My highlight was getting to see Allison Krauss perform twice, as her voice is mesmerizing, and seeing her up their with Sting was great.