Pennsylvanian in exile

New House

Blogging will be light as we are moving into a new house.

Rehabilitation? Yeah right...

Gov Pataki says let rapists rot.

Gov. Pataki yesterday said the brutal rape of a 15-year-old Staten Island girl by her mother's paroled-rapist boyfriend shows the need for a law to keep sexual predators locked up after their prison terms end.
The civil-confinement legislation, which would allow for sex offenders to be held in institutions after their release date, has passed the Republican-controlled Senate but has been bottled up in the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

According to cops, Vincent McCollum on Monday beat and repeatedly raped the 15-year-old girl just three months after he was paroled. He had served almost 18 years in prison for rape.

After the attack, McCollum, 45, locked the doors, forced the girl's mother into the bedroom and set the Holland Avenue house on fire, police said. The 15-year-old girl broke free, screaming for help from neighbors.

Sexual offenders are one group that has a very high rate for repeat offenses.

Wictory Wednesday

Help us defeat that wascally waffler and his 57 varieties of the truth! It's not just Wednesday, it's Wictory Wednesday, the day of the week where us Bush supporters in Blogdom do our best to get out the support for the reelection of George Bush. How can you help? You can volunteer or donate and join these other bloggers and me in doing our part:

Here kitty, kitty, kitty

Israel is going to let Yasser Arafat travel freely, which will make him easier to vaporize.

Israel is wiling to allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat freedom of movement in exchange for a promise to put a stop to terror attacks in the Gaza Strip, the London-based Dar al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, Israel passed this message to Arafat through Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shin Bat chief Meir Dagan on Monday, prior to his meetings in Ramallah.

Arafat has been confined to his headquarters in the Mukata since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and Palestinian and world leaders have demanded since that Israel allow him to move freely.

Whoever has him in
The Dead Pool might be scoring some points soon, since if he is dumb enough to travel about the IDF will liquify him.

Immigration worries.....


....but they are from Great Britain.

The YouGov poll suggests that immigration is now seen as the most important issue facing the country, ahead of crime, the NHS and terrorism. Few people are convinced by arguments that large numbers of foreign workers are needed to fill job vacancies. A substantial majority considers that the country is already too crowded.

Earlier this month, Tony Blair acknowledged that public worries about immigration were real and should not be dismissed as "figments of racist imagination".

He said the country had reached "a crunch point" on the issue but maintained that high levels of "managed migration" were needed to underpin economic growth.

Last year, David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, said there was "no obvious limit" to the number of economic migrants that Britain could accept.

But almost 60 per cent of YouGov's respondents disagreed with this statement and only a quarter agreed. Three quarters of those questioned said there were too many immigrants and just three per cent thought that there were too few. Most people said that if there were job vacancies, Britons should be trained to fill them.

This sounds very familiar.

The Daily Reagan

This reminded me of the power of blogdom:

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.

Catholics and the Death Penalty

One position of the church that I struggle with is the death penalty. The Church is pretty much opposed to it, but I am not. The church's official position is, from the Catechism:

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm?without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself?the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent."

I am writing about this subject as my state of residence, Florida, is set to execute John Blackwelder tomorrow on the 25th anniversary of Florida's first execution after the death penalty was reinstated. Who is this Mr Blackwelder?

A convicted child molester is scheduled for execution at the Florida State Prison Tuesday night -- the 25th anniversary of the state's return to the death penalty.

John Blackwelder murdered convicted killer Raymond Wigley in May 2000 at Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City. Blackwelder said he hoped the murder would bring him a death sentence.

Blackwelder, 49, told the Supreme Court that he has dropped all of his appeals and is seeking execution.

It's hard to muster much sympathy for a monster like Blackwelder:

- received a death sentence after pleading guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley. He was slain on May 6, 2000 at Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City.
- wanted to commit a crime to get the death penalty because he was unable to accept life in prison. He was serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County
- was also convicted in 1991 on federal charges of threatening Quayle. He had called the Secret Service, Miami television stations and the TV series "America's Most Wanted," saying he would "eliminate" Quayle and "put him on slab" unless he received $10 million.
- During the 1970s, Blackwelder served a nine-year sentence for a sexual assault in Miami.

It's so much easier to be pro-life about issues like abortion. I remember seeing my son's heartbeat for the first time, yet being stuck by the thought he was young enough to be killed under the abortion laws. A unborn child is innocent, and there is no excuse for harming that child. It's harder to muster sympathy for killers and rapists like Blackwelder.

One more reason I'm glad I'm Catholic....

...is that I don't have preachers telling me about the dangers of "rot gut alcohol"

As city officials continue planning for the Super Bowl, a local religious leader is calling for changes to the city's drinking rules during game week.


Dr. Jerry Vines, pastor of downtown's First Baptist Church, said he's opposed to the street parties that are typical of Super Bowl week.

Much of the "entertainment zone" planned for the Super Bowl is just a block away from the church's sprawling, 11-block property.

"The city has tried to address all of the concerns of Dr. Vines," explained Heather Murphy, Mayor John Peyton's press secretary. "We are discouraging the sale of alcohol to the public at Hemming Plaza."

But Vines said that's not enough.

"It's an insult," said Vines. "How do you discourage 10,000 people drunk on rot-gut alcohol?"

Murphy said the entertainment zone, which starts at Duval Street and goes down the Riverwalk, doesn't begin until Super Bowl Thursday and won't interfere with the biggest days at First Baptist -- Wednesday and Sunday.

However, Vines wants the zone not to include Hemming Plaza.

"This is not about Wednesday and Sunday. We have children here every day of the week and we think it's dangerous to have open containers and drinking," said Vines.

But others say the activities are an important part of the whole event.

"Jacksonville is on the world stage. We must provide entertainment," said resident Patricia Carter.

First Baptist, with a membership of more than 25,000, is the city's largest church.

Retrosexuals

I got this email from a friend, it's what makes a REAL man:

Please allow me to vent. I have had it. I've taken all I can stand and I can't stand no more. Every time my TV is on, all that can be seen is effeminate men prancing about, redecorating houses and talking about foreign concepts like "style" and "feng shui." Heterosexual, homosexual,
bisexual, transsexual, metrosexual, non-sexual; blue, green, and purple-sexual - bogus definitions have taken over the urban and suburban world!

Real men of the world, stand up, scratch your butt, belch, and yell "ENOUGH!" I hereby announce the start of a new offensive in the culture Wars, the Retrosexual movement. "

The Code :

A Retrosexual man, no matter what the woman insists, PAYS FOR THE DATE.

A Retrosexual man opens doors for a lady. Even for the ones that fit that term only because they are female.

A Retrosexual DEALS with IT, be it a flat tire, break-in into your home, or a natural disaster, you DEAL WITH IT.

A Retrosexual not only eats red meat, he often kills it himself.

A Retrosexual doesn't worry about living to be 90. It's not how long you live, but how well. If you're 90 years old and still smoking cigars and drinking, I salute you. If you are still having sex, you are a God.

A Retrosexual does not use more hair or skin products than a woman. Women have several supermarket aisles of stuff. Retrosexuals need an endcap (possibly 2 endcaps if you include shaving goods.)

A Retrosexual does not dress in clothes from Hot Topic when he's 30 years old.

A Retrosexual should know how to properly kill stuff (or people) if need be. This falls under the "Dealing with IT" portion of The Code.

A Retrosexual watches no TV show with "Queer" in the title.

A Retrosexual does not let neighbors screw up rooms in his house on national TV.

A Retrosexual should not give up excessive amounts of manliness for women. Some is inevitable, but major reinvention of yourself will only lead to you becoming a froo-froo little puss, and in the long run, she ain't worth it.

A Retrosexual is allowed to seek professional help for major mental stress such as drug/alcohol addiction, death of your entire family in a freak treechipper accident, favorite sports team being moved to a different city, favorite bird dog expiring, etc. You are NOT allowed to
see a shrink because Daddy didn't pay you enough attention. Daddy was busy DEALING WITH IT. When you screwed up, he DEALT with you.

A Retrosexual will have at least one outfit in his wardrobe designed to conceal himself from prey.

A Retrosexual knows how to tie a Windsor knot when wearing a tie -- and ONLY a Windsor knot.

A Retrosexual should have at least one good wound he can brag about getting.

A Retrosexual knows how to use a basic set of tools. If you can't hammer a nail, or drill a straight hole, practice in secret until you can -- or be rightfully ridiculed for the wuss you be.

A Retrosexual knows that owning a gun is not a sign that your are riddled with fear, guns are TOOLS and are often essential to DEAL WITH IT. Plus it's just plain fun to fire one off in the direction of those people or things that just need a little "wakin' up".

Crying. There are very few reason that a Retrosexual may cry, and none of them have to do with TV commercials, movies, or soap operas. Sports teams are sometimes a reason to cry, but the preferred method of release
is swearing or throwing the remote control. Some reasons a Retrosexual can cry include (but are not limited to) death of a loved one, death of a pet (fish do NOT count as pets in this case), loss of a major body part, or loss of major body part on your Ford truck.

When a Retrosexual is on a crowded bus and or a commuter train, and a pregnant woman, heck, any woman gets on, that retrosexual stands up and offers his seat to that woman, then looks around at the other so-called men still in their seats with a disgusted "you punks" look on his face.

A Retrosexual knows how to say the Pledge properly, and with the correct emphasis and pronunciation. He also knows the words to the Star Spangled Banner

A Retrosexual will have hobbies and habits his wife and mother do not understand, but that are essential to his manliness, in that they offset the acceptable manliness decline he suffers when married/engaged or in a serious healthy relationship - i.e., hunting, boxing, shot putting,
shooting, cigars, car maintenance.

A Retrosexual knows how to sharpen his own knives and kitchen utensils.

A Retrosexual man can drive in snow (hell, a blizzard) without sliding all over or driving under 20mph, without anxiety, and without high-centering his ride in a snow bank.

A Retrosexual man can chop down a tree and make it land where he wants. Wherever it lands is where he damn well wanted it to land. Except on his truck--that would happen because of a "force of nature", and then the retrosexual man's options are to Cry, or to DEAL with IT, or do both.

A Retrosexual will give up his seat on a bus to not only any women but any elderly person or person in military dress (except 2nd Lt's)
NOTE: The person in military dress may turn down the offer but the Retrosexual man will ALWAYS make the offer to them and thank them for serving their country.

A Retrosexual man doesn't need a contract -- a handshake is good enough. He will always stand by his word even if circumstances change or the other person deceived him.

A Retrosexual man doesn't immediately look to sue someone when he does something stupid and hurts himself. We understand that sometimes in the process of doing things we get hurt and we just DEAL WITH IT !

I think the Babe would approve

Given the stories about Babe Ruth's love of the nightlife, I think he would enjoy this battle involving his place in history.

The fate of George Kritikos's strip club here, where his Greek immigrant American dream has collided with the city's renovation vision, may now depend on the bar's connection to the baseball legend Babe Ruth.

A Baltimore native, the Babe, George Herman Ruth Jr., bought the bar, known as Ruth's Cafe, for his father, George Sr., in 1916.

At the time, Ruth was a star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Two years later, the Red Sox won their last World Series. And his father died in a brawl outside the bar.

It is a history Mr. Kritikos has come to know well. Indeed, he has learned all he can about his building's ties to Ruth after the city passed an ordinance in March marking his small rowhouse club, the Goddess, for a possible condemnation under eminent domain to make way for an urban renewal project.

Mr. Kritikos did not buy the spot on Eutaw Street because of its baseball lore, but for its location. Not only is his club near Camden Yards, the home stadium for the Baltimore Orioles, but it is strolling distance to the M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League play; the city's convention center; and the Inner Harbor, the city's waterfront shopping area.

Mr. Kritikos, who has owned the building nine years, said he had spent $300,000 renovating it into a business catering to a natural clientele. "'You got two stadiums here," Mr. Kritikos said. "You got the convention center. You got the hotels. It doesn't get more prime than this."

Inside the club, the only tribute to Babe Ruth is a laminated photograph hanging behind the bar that shows father and son in ties, vests and bartender aprons posing behind a hulking wooden bar. It has long since been replaced with a newer model that serves as a precarious runway for the club's high-heeled entertainment.

Mr. Kritikos is hoping to get the building listed on the National Historic Register and thwart any efforts to tear it down to make way for new development.

The Goddess happens to stand at the gateway of Baltimore's Westside Project, a 100-block urban renewal project to restore this mix of ornate banks, former department stores and small shops.

Like I said, I think the Babe would enjoy this battle. He probably would be one of their better customers.

Glass houses?

An American Cardinal condemns the abuse of Iraqi prisoners but has no comment on the abuse of children in his diocese.

Clergymen are meant to instruct on matters of morals, but you'd think the American Catholic church would approach this duty with at least a modicum of humility.
Wrong.

James Francis Cardinal Stafford, a senior American Vatican cardinal, charged the United States with "moral failure" and "deception" because of its Iraq policy and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Well, not to be too flip, but when it comes to "moral failure" and "deception," this appears to be a case of "takes one to know one."

Cardinal Stafford served as head of the Denver archdiocese from 1986 to 1996. That was a period when - as has only been revealed in recent years - abuse of young boys and men by Catholic priests occurred across the nation.

Many of Stafford's bishops actively covered up the abuse and transferred abusive priests to other, unknowing, parishes - permitting the same thing to occur with a whole new set of victims.

And let's compare and contrast the response of the military to the abuse allegations:

Contrast that with the American response to the Abu Ghraib scandal: The military commanders in Iraq conducted their own investigations and turned the information over to the administration.

Now, multiple congressional committees are investigating thoroughly. One serviceman has been convicted at court-martial and sentenced - with other trials soon to be under way.

In other words, instead of covering up outrageous behavior for years, the American system - military and civilian - is bringing it to light, addressing it and working to make sure it never happens again.

In less than a year the accused have been charged and are being brought to trial in court martials, which are harsher in that the accused has less rights than a defendant in a regular criminal court. For instance, the defendant in a court martial does NOT have the right to take the Fifth. In the Catholic church, accusations of 30 years ago are now being brought to light, and some Bishops still "refuse to rat out their brother priests", to quote one clueless bishop at the Dallas conference.

Why we are fighting

This great post from Eject Eject Eject is long but worth the time, as he summarizes on what is going on in Iraq with some historical context. One of my favorite parts:

When Santa Ana?s men ran up the red flag and his band played the Deguello ? ?The Throat Cutting? it must have made the men and women in the Alamo sick and weak in the knees. But it did not have the demoralizing effect that the Mexican dictator intended. Rather, it hardened the defenders. They did not run, and we are not going to run either, and Dan Rather and Ted Koppel and the rest can play all the goddam dirges they want to. The Alamo itself was a military disaster, a catastrophe. And when Sam Houston retreated from and kept evading Santa Ana?s army, he was called a coward and a traitor ? afraid to fight, not tough enough to do what was necessary. Sam Houston was a deeply flawed man, but he had thick skin and that in itself goes a long way when you are planning deep. Sam Houston didn?t give a tinker?s damn about Glory or Honor. Sam Houston wanted Texas. Like the equally wily and patient George Washington before him, Sam Houston wanted to win. And they did win. And that is why there will be no major metropolitan area named Kerry.

Now read the rest! Not only am I suggesting it, but so is
The Emperor.

Iran: proud member of the Axis of Evil

In case people had forgotten that Iran was part of Bush's "Axis of Evil" comes word that Iran is helping Hezbollah against Israel.

The reason for Israel's ongoing offensive at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip lies hundreds of miles to the east ? in Iran.

It is Tehran's deepening involvement in Palestinian terrorism ? directly or through Iran's Hezbollah surrogates in Lebanon ? that prompted this week's massive hunt for arms-smuggling tunnels at the Gaza town of Rafah.

It's more than just guns:

This is not just a matter of rifles and bullets. It is Russian-made Strella shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and Katyusha rockets and launchers.

It is the same kind of material that Iran tried to smuggle into Gaza in January, 2002, aboard the infamous smuggling ship Karin-A ? until Israeli commandos seized it in the Red Sea.

These are weapons that, in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, could knock Israeli planes out of the skies and reach towns inside Israel.

Of course this should be no surprise given Arab attitude toward Israel:

Zvi Fogel, former chief of staff of Israel's southern command, told The Post that appeals to Egypt to halt the smuggling have been in vain.

"They don't care if Israel bleeds. They would like to see Israel retreating," he said.

We must pull out now!

Courtesy of Aaron the Liberal Slayer:

Every day there are news reports about more deaths. Every night on TV there are photos of death and destruction. Why are we still there?
We occupied this land, which we had to take by force, but it causes us nothing but trouble. Why are we still there?
Many of our children go there and never come back. Why are we still there?
Their government is unstable, and they have sporadic leadership. Why are we still there?
Many of their people are uncivilized. Why are we still there?
The place is subject to natural disasters, from which we are supposed to bail them out. Why are we still there?
There are more than 1,000 religious sects, which we do not understand. Why are we still there?
Their folkways, foods, and fads are unfathomable to ordinary Americans. Why are we still there?
We can?t even secure the borders. Why are we still there?
They are millions of dollars in debt, and it will cost millions more to rebuild, which we can?t afford. Why are we still there?
It is becoming clear?


WE MUST PULL OUT OF CALIFORNIA!!!

Ronald Reagan quote of the day

I'm moved from Machiavelli to Reagan, and though this quote is about Dukakis it fits another presidential candidate from Taxachusetts:

You know, if I listened to him [Michael Dukakis] long enough, I would be convinced we're in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.

The economy is growing, employment is up but you'd never know it from listening to the left.

A touching story

This heartwarming story is about a young man who was a star athlete, was paralyzed in an accident, and has battled his way back. This is a must read.

Rudy Guiliani sets things straight

The asshats on the 9/11 commission got to deal with someone with a spine yesterday, former mayor Rudy Guiliani.

AFTER Tuesday's insults against men who bleed for this city, well, what a difference a day made for the 9/11 commission.
Yesterday, the commission chose to be a little more intelligent by carefully avoiding saying something stupid to Rudy Giuliani - like accusing grand men of being Boy Scouts.

Rudy's calm, measured, factual and sometimes hauntingly sad address to the panel must have somewhere, somehow, sent these blunderheads a message.

And that was: Better to extract an abscessed tooth from a pit bull than mess with Rudy Giuliani.

"Our enemy is not each other," Rudy said as if to obliterate all the b.s. blaming cops, firemen, radios and rivalries.

"Blame should be directed at one source and one source alone, the terrorists who killed our loved ones," the former mayor said in his opening statement.

I hope Rudy runs for office again, as he that rare politician with courage. Here's more:

This is a leader who, while the commission members were sitting on their pinstriped derrieres watching television while eating their fried eggs at breakfast, watched something else.

"I saw a man throw himself out of the 102nd or 103rd floor. I was in shock."

On that terrible day, he shook hands with Father Mychal Judge, an old friend of mine. "Pray for us," Rudy told Father Mychal. It was the last time Rudy would see him alive.

And Rudy never saw Chief Ray Downey again, nor Chief Peter Ganci - men who were not just bureaucratic departmental hacks, but who had enough guts to overflow a stadium.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg of how Rudy handled what has become a waste of money, resources and human pain . . . the 9/11 Commission to Nowhere.

Past examples of Rudy rising to the challenge:

Perhaps they knew of Rudy's resolve when he told the Ku Klux Klan they could come to the city.

"But of course under law, if more than two people wear a mask, you will be arrested," Rudy reminded them.

And when the bum, Yasser Arafat, came to town in 1995, Rudy bounced him from Lincoln Center.

He announced he had prostate cancer in April 2000 and kept on working as mayor under heavy treatment until January 2001. Every day a full day, no fuss, no muss.

Yes, those commissioners can show off in Washington for the cameras, but when they came here they had to elevate their IQ, because they weren't talking to just any old former mayor, or some political hack.

They were talking to a man, a real man.

We're the bad guys?

Steyn compares and contrasts US occupation of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's occupation of Iraq, and the UN's occupation of various places. First, the US in Iraq:

Is the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq perfect? No.

Is it good? Yes.

Was Saddam Hussein's rule perfect? No.
Was it good? No.

This shouldn't be a tough call. But, shortly after the liberation, the bespoke apologists for the Middle East's thug regimes and the more depraved "peace activists" in Europe set themselves a tall order ? to prove that the Iraqis were better off under Saddam. At first, they confined this proposition to matters such as drinking water.

When some of us pointed out that the potable water supply in Iraq is now double what it was pre-war, or that health care funding is 25 times larger than it was a year ago, Europe's Saddamite cheerleaders gave up this line of attack. It was always rather boring and technocratic, anyway. So now they've got right down to basics ? not potable water but "torture." Why, Bush is torturing just as many Iraqis as Saddam did!

The Shia and Kurds know better than to go along with this. No doubt the average American network anchor or New York Times columnist wouldn't want to be led around naked with Victoria's Secret knickers on their heads by some freaky West Virginia slut. But I'll bet they'd take it any day over being thrown off a four-story building or having their fingers cut off one by one or being castrated without anaesthetic or being beheaded while the men around you sing "Happy birthday, Saddam." Video and photographic material exists of all the above being performed on Arabs and Kurds.

Now about Hussein:

So at first I didn't pay much attention to the missing digits and missing limbs. It was the third missing ear I saw ? in Ramadi ? that made me realize what was really going on. An ear's a hard thing to lose. So's a tongue.

That's why I cannot share the "outrage" over Abu Ghraib of some of the more excitable correspondents ("The Shaming of America: George Bush's boast of shutting down Saddam Hussein's torture chambers in Iraq rings hollow now," according to my chums at The Irish Times). More to the point, nor do most Iraqis. Representatives of the Shi'ites and Kurds, who between them account for four-fifths of the population, have said nary a word. Ayatollah Sistani, the most prominent figure in the land and a man who can cause the coalition serious trouble any time he wishes, has let the matter lie.

Now, the wonderful UN troops that John Kerry is so impressed with:

But let's go to the next stage. What do the "Bush's boast rings hollow" crowd want for Iraq? Usually, they want the UN to take over.

Is the UN perfect? No.

Is the UN good? Well, I'm not sure I'd even say that. But if you object to what's going on in those Abu Ghraib pictures ? the sexual humiliation of prisoners and their conscription as a vast army of extras in their guards' porno fantasies ? then you might want to think twice about handing over Iraq to the UN.

In Eritrea, the government recently accused the UN mission of, among other offences, pedophilia. In Cambodia, UN troops fueled an explosion of child prostitutes and AIDS. Amnesty International reports that the UN mission in Kosovo has presided over a massive expansion of the sex trade, with girls as young as 11 being lured from Moldova and Bulgaria to service international peacekeepers.

In Bosnia, where the sex-slave trade barely existed before the UN showed up in 1995, there are now hundreds of brothels with underage girls living as captives. The 2002 Save the Children report on the UN's cover-up of the sex-for-food scandal in West Africa provides grim details of peacekeepers' demanding sexual favors from children as young as four in exchange for biscuits and cake powder. "What is particularly shocking and appalling is that those people who ought to be there protecting the local population have actually become perpetrators," said Steve Crawshaw, the director of Human Rights Watch.

Of course, Kerry did admit to committing atrocities in 'Nam, so he'd be right at home.

Tribute to the rescuers

Steve Dunleavy brings some common sense in paying tribute to NYC's finest and bravest.

Rosemary Cain, the mother of George Cain, firefighter of Ladder 7, said:

"Is this a particularly bad day? Every day has been a bad day since I lost my son and I don't have to have a commission to tell me about bad days. But it's OK so long as there's no finger-pointing or politics."

You see after all these months, I didn't learn a damn thing that was new.

But let's recall the bravery and sacrifice that made sure 25,000 human beings were saved by men and women whose shoes I could not shine.

There was one touching moment that shone through the diatribes of yesterday ? Stanley Praimnath told how he was trapped and yelling for help on the 81st floor.

Brian Clarke struggled through wreckage and potential disaster to grab Praimnath.

"Brian put his hand around my neck and said, 'C'mon let's go home,' " Praimnath sad.

Indeed, let's remember the 25,000 that were saved by the actions of the fine men and women of the New York City fire and police departments.

9/11 commission asshats

The idiots on the commission are in NYC, home of ground zero, and are insulting the memory of the brave firefighters and police officers that risked, and gave, their lives to save the victims of the WTC attacks.

The 9/11 commission hearing yesterday in Manhattan turned into a series of angry finger-pointing exchanges ? and one panel member ripped the city's response to the World Trade Center attack as "not worthy of the Boy Scouts."
The over-the-top charge from commissioner John Lehman drew a furious response from former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who branded it "outrageous" and "despicable."

Von Essen and ex-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik fiercely defended the city's response to the terror attack ? and the heroism of the cops and firefighters who gave their lives that day to save others.

"They did a phenomenal job and I don't think that should be overshadowed by the criticisms," Kerik said outside the hearing.

What a descpicable jerk. Has he ever risked his life to save another? Was the response perfect? No. Did we ever dream of an attack like that? No. Understandably the firefighters were very angry:

Kerik, who also testified before the panel yesterday, denounced the commission's second-guessing.

"Everybody's trying to judge who should have, could have, would have," Kerik said. "Everybody cooperated and did the best they could have done under the circumstances."

The unusually harsh attack by Lehman, as well as biting comments from other commission members, touched a raw nerve with firefighters, many of whom lost friends and colleagues on Sept. 11, 2001.

"These people are Monday-morning quarterbacking," Lt. Dennis Stanford of Engine Co. 44 on the Upper East Side told The Post at the firehouse.

On Lehman's "Boy Scout" crack, Stanford said, "Obviously the person who said that is not a firefighter, a police officer or a Boy Scout."

The fire union also came to the defense of Von Essen.

"I think he was offended they were questioning our ability to work together when we effected the greatest rescue in history," said Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy.

Agreed. Then Bob Kerrey, one of the few dems I respected, quickly lost my respect:

Reiss shot back that he was angry at "19 people in an airplane" ? the hijackers ? not the FBI.

But Kerrey, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic vice-presidential candidate, won the biggest round of applause from victims' relatives at the hearing when he said, "19 people . . . defeated the INS, they defeated the Customs [Department], they defeated the FBI, they defeated the CIA."

Look, if people are willing to die to try to achieve their goal, how do you stop them? These 19 didn't come into the US in one group, they trickled in on student visas and exploited our freedoms. If someone wants to get close enough to try to kill a political leader and doesn't mind dying in the process, there is a strong chance of that maniac succeeding.

The John Kerry motivational poster

Courtesy of Flash Bunny is this great spoof on the successory motivational posters:

A great shirt

Click on the logo

A Marine tells us the good news in Iraq

What we won't hear from the mainstream media, courtesy of a Marine in Iraq.

This is my third deployment with the 1st Marine Division to the Middle East.
This is the third time I've heard the quavering cries of the talking heads predicting failure and calling for withdrawal.

This is the third time I find myself shaking my head in disbelief.

Setbacks and tragedy are part and parcel of war and must be accepted on the battlefield. We can and will achieve our goals in Iraq.

Waiting for war in the Saudi Arabian desert as a young corporal in 1991, I recall reading news clippings portending massive tank battles, fiery death from Saddam Hussein's "flame trenches" and bitter defeat at the hands of the fourth-largest army in the world. My platoon was told to expect 75% casualties. Being Marines and, therefore, naturally cocky, we still felt pretty good about our abilities.

The panicky predictions failed to come true. The flame trenches sputtered. Nobody from my platoon died. Strength, ingenuity and willpower won the day. Crushing the fourth-largest army in the world in four days seemed to crush the doubts back home.

Twelve years passed, during which time America was faced with frustrating actions in Somalia and the Balkans. Doubt had begun to creep back into public debate.

In the spring of last year, I was a Marine captain, back with the division for Operation Iraqi Freedom. As I waited for war in the desert, just 100 miles to the north from our stepping-off point in 1991, I was again subjected to the panicky analyses of talking heads. There weren't enough troops to do the job, the oil fields would be destroyed, we couldn't fight in urban terrain, our offensive would grind to a halt, and we should expect more than 10,000 casualties.

Remembering my experience in Desert Storm, I took these assessments with a grain of salt. As a staff officer in the division command post, I was able to follow the larger battle as we moved forward. I knew that our tempo was keeping the enemy on his heels and that our plan would lead us to victory.

But war is never clean and simple. Mourning our losses quietly, the Marines drove to Baghdad, then to Tikrit, liberating the Iraqi people while losing fewer men than were lost in Desert Storm.

In May of last year, I was sitting with some fellow officers back in Diwaniyah, Iraq, the offensive successful and the country liberated from Saddam. I received a copy of a March 30 U.S. newspaper on Iraq in an old package that had finally made its way to the front. The stories: horror in Nasariyah, faltering supply lines and demonstrations in Cairo. The mood of the paper was impenetrably gloomy, and predictions of disaster abounded. The offensive was stalled; everyone was running out of supplies; we would be forced to withdraw.

The Arab world was about to ignite into a fireball of rage, and the Middle East was on the verge of collapse. If I had read those stories on March 30, I would have had a tough time either restraining my laughter or, conversely, falling into a funk. I was concerned about the bizarre kaleidoscope image of Iraq presented to the American people by writers viewing the world through a soda straw.

Returning to Iraq this past February, I knew that the Marines had a tremendous opportunity to follow through on our promises to the Iraqi people.

Believing in the mission, many Marines volunteered to return. I again found myself in the division headquarters.

Just weeks ago, I read that the supply lines were cut, ammunition and food were dwindling, the "Sunni Triangle" was exploding, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was leading a widespread Shiite revolt, and the country was nearing civil war.

As I write this, the supply lines are open, there's plenty of ammunition and food, the Sunni Triangle is back to status quo, and Sadr is marginalized in Najaf. Once again, dire predictions of failure and disaster have been dismissed by American willpower and military professionalism.

War is inherently ugly and dramatic. I don't blame reporters for focusing on the burning vehicles, the mutilated bodies or the personal tragedies. The editors have little choice but to print the photos from the Abu Ghraib prison and the tales of the insurgency in Fallujah. These things sell news and remind us of the sober reality of our commitment to the Iraqi people. The actions of our armed forces are rightfully subject to scrutiny.

I am not ignorant of the political issues, either. But as a professional, I have the luxury of putting politics aside and focusing on the task at hand. Protecting people from terrorists and criminals while building schools and lasting friendships is a good mission, no matter what brush it's tarred with.

Nothing any talking head will say can deter me or my fellow Marines from caring about the people of Iraq, or take away from the sacrifices of our comrades. Fear in the face of adversity is human nature, and many people who take the counsel of their fears speak today. We are not deaf to their cries; neither do we take heed. All we ask is that Americans stand by us by supporting not just the troops, but also the mission.

We'll take care of the rest.

Rescquiat in Pace

The National Guard Unit from my home area in Pennsylvania
had two members killed near Fallujah.

Two soldiers attached to the Oil City National Guard unit were killed Sunday night near Fallujah, Iraq, after the Humvee they were riding in was struck by a roadside bomb.

Spc. Carl F. Curran II, 22, of Union City, and Spc. Mark J. Kasecky, 20, of McKees Rocks, both of the second platoon of Battery C of the 107th Field Artillery unit, were killed in the accident. Curran is an East Brady native.

Their deaths mark the first time since World War II that soldiers from the 107th have been killed in action.

Another soldier with Battery C, Spc. Robert R. Emerick, 38, of Monroeville, was also in the vehicle, but he escaped with only minor injuries.

Army officials said Curran and Emerick were riding in a Humvee driven by Kasecky near Fallujah, Iraq, late Sunday night (about 3 p.m. Sunday U.S. time) when it went under a bridge and an explosive device detonated. The vehicle flipped over a 12-foot embankment and landed on its roof in a canal, according to Maj. Grey Berrier, executive officer of the 1st Battalion 107th Field Artillery.

The Currans last heard from their son about two weeks ago.

David said his son's death has done nothing to weaken his support for the war in Iraq.

"I happen to be retired military myself, the way I feel and the way he felt is by (the soldiers) being over there we were discouraging the terrorists from attacking the United States," David said, adding that Carl's two older siblings are also in the military.

"It really hurt me losing my son like that ... but we do have to protect our country," he said.

May God bless you brave men and comfort those who mourn you.

Wictory Wednesday

Help us defeat that wascally waffler and his 57 varieties of the truth! It's not just Wednesday, it's Wictory Wednesday, the day of the week where us Bush supporters in Blogdom do our best to get out the support for the reelection of George Bush. How can you help? You can volunteer or donate and join these other bloggers and me in doing our part:

What IS it about professors?

Just another arrest of a college professor, this one for possession of child porn.

Affidavit charges that Paul Studdard had child pornography on computer at MU. Warrant is out for his arrest.
A Millersville University assistant professor was charged Thursday with 34 counts of possession of child pornography.

Cpl. Arthur B. White of Millersville University police brought the charges against Paul W. Studdard, 39, of the 300 block of Druid Hill Drive, Mountville. The charges stem from an investigation that began in early April after a university employee checked a computer that was showing a ?high traffic volume,? according to the affidavit of probable cause filed by police.

This is the sick stuff they found:

Police found 34 computer video files of child pornography on Studdard?s computer in his office at Ganser Library, according to the affidavit. Thirty-three of the videos depict young males involved in sexual acts with each other or an older man, and one video shows a young girl and boy having intercourse, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit sets April 3 as the date that an employee was assigned to check Studdard?s computer because of high volume. It says that when the employee checked the system, he saw that the computer in office 110, which is solely occupied by Studdard, was using several programs used to view movie files.

When the employee checked the file extensions he saw titles that indicated child pornography, according to the affidavit, and when he opened one , a ?thumbnail?? (a small picture from the file) showed what looked like a boy having sex with a man. The employee, according to the affidavit, was unsure who to report the incident to.

On April 5, the employee?s supervisor, unaware of the child pornography on the computer, e-mailed Studdard to remove the programs and files from his computer, according to the affidavit.

Studdard e-mailed back that the files were deleted, and the supervisor and employee checked to see that they were, the affidavit reports. But the employee discovered that the files were still on the computer, in a new file.

The employee reported the files to his manager and the university police. When he was interviewed, the employee said that he had seen similar types of files on Studdard?s computer about six months earlier but thought they were because of a virus and deleted them.

The university continued its investigation and then informed the district attorney?s office. A search warrant was approved April 16 and served, with officers seizing Studdard?s computer and disks.

Academia sure seems to more than its share of criminals and pervs.

Sacre bleu! You want me to work?

France is realizing that the 35 hour work week is a disaster.

The French government yesterday described the 35-hour working week as a financial disaster that was costing the state billions of pounds and promised to reform the system despite fierce union opposition.

In an interview in yesterday's Le Figaro, the finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that the 35-hour week had lumbered the state with £10 billion a year in additional social charges and that it had demoralised millions of workers.

Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential ambition may drive reform
"The Socialists made a decision which is not compatible with our responsibilities to Europe," he said. He suggested a system whereby those who wanted to stay on the 35-hour week could do so, but those who wanted to work and earn more had greater latitude.
"At a state level, we must make productivity gains, but I also want to reward those who work harder?to increase their buying power. This question of buying power is not a taboo."

What, people will be allowed to make more money and better their lot in life? What a strange concept!

The 35-hour week came into effect in 1997, as the Socialists' big idea for reducing unemployment. Unemployment fell until 2000, while the economy boomed, but has since risen again, to just under 10 per cent.

Employers despised the plan from the start, as they were forced to keep salaries at the same level while getting less work from their employees.

Government aid and repeated promises of flexibility have scarcely helped and the employers' union has not let up in lobbying for the system's repeal.

Employees, however, enjoyed the extra time off allowed by their shorter working week. Working mothers were especially pleased, as it allowed them to see their children on the Wednesday school half-day, gym memberships soared, as did interest in home improvement, gardening and other hobbies.

But with France's economy sputtering, smaller businesses in particular have clamoured for help. A system that once seemed a leap forward in working conditions is now attacked as yet another regulatory burden on those wanting to pull themselves up the economic ladder.

Hey, we're poor but we look buff and check out my garden! Just don't get sick.

Last August's heat wave also showed the flaws in the system. While almost 15,000 more people than usual died in the first half of the month, hospitals complained that the 35-hour week had left them with severe staff shortages.

Gotta love that socialized medicine

In the UK doctors will get a bonus for keeping their patients from being admitted to the hospital.

Family doctors could be paid up to £100 for every patient they keep out of hospital in a new incentive scheme that is causing concern among GP leaders.

Forty primary care trusts (PCTs), which pay for the hospital services used by local people, are said to be interested in the scheme, devised by the Torbay PCT.

But doctors are worried that incentive payments will be seen as unethical and damage the trust patients have in their family doctors.

Ya think?

The project is known as a "local enhanced service", which PCTs can introduce if they think it meets a local need. The Torbay scheme would offer GPs £75 for every patient with chronic illness for whom they develop a detailed care plan.

Another £25 would be paid if the patient did not have to go to hospital.

A spokesman for the Torbay PCT said: "This is about reducing unplanned admissions. It would apply, often, to an elderly patient with a complex history and several complaints like diabetes and heart disease.

"We are saying that if the patient is managed better at home we can avoid some terrible event happening and the patient being rushed to hospital."

At least a few doctors see how bad this plan is:

But Dr John Chisholm, the chairman of the British Medical Association GPs' committee, said they wanted to know more about the scheme.

"I would not advocate direct financial incentives triggered by some arbitrary reduction in referrals," he said.

"Incentives do work but we would not want to encourage perverse incentives that were not in the patients' best interest. We need to look at the details of this. We must protect doctors from any accusations of unethical practice."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that there were no plans to implement it nationwide. But he said: "Primary care trusts have the discretion to commission such schemes if they consider them necessary."

I like how they call it a "scheme", at least someone realizes this for what it is.

A touching article

Regular readers may know that I have a great love of Steve Dunleavy's column. Today he took a departure from his usual topics and talks about teen depression.

HER big smile dazzled like a burst of sunhine after a week of rain. Kristina Hebner proudly gave me her card.
"I bet you haven't met many 17-year-olds who have a card," she said.

The card read, "Youth Advocate" of the Mental Health Association of New York Inc.

If you met her, it would be hard to believe that from the ages of 8 to 14, she was obsessed with suicide, constantly slashed herself with razors and once cut herself 80 times.

"And, yes, there was a time, going to school, at a West Side subway station, that I would have thrown myself under a train if it had not gone past me so quickly," she said.

Now why should I recount grim tales of self-destruction by teenagers?

For a start, this is Mental Health Awareness Month, aimed mainly at schoolkids across New York and the nation.

I can give you dates when wiseguys get sentenced, how many got blown away in a hit on a mob hangout, and what Joey the Goose does now.

But I did not know this was Mental Health Awareness Month.
He then gives some statistics:

"One out of 11 adolescents attempts suicide in some way or other.

"One out of five have thought about it. One out of eight have actually seriously planned an attempt of suicide.

"Over 60 percent of adolescents who committed suicide showed strong signals one year before they actually did it. It's not getting any better. In schools, places of worship, at home, awareness, that's the key," the doctor added.

It hit a personal nerve with me. I sympathize with someone who has diabetes, and I have often taken up a collection for someone in the hospital. But if someone has a behavioral pattern unlike the majority, I tend, like many, to brand them "a nut case."

Many have thought that. The story of someone like Kristina makes it more human. I've only known one person, a former coworker named Amy, who committed suicide. While not close friends, it was shocking when I heard of her death. This story has a happy ending:

One of the main reasons I didn't kill myself was because I shared the same bedroom in our Staten Island home with my sister, Jennifer, and I didn't want her waking up with a dead teenager in the room," Kristina told me.

For Kristina, it started when she was 8, when her mother, Angela, was in a horrific car accident, spending three months in the hospital and three years on painkillers.

"Also, my great-grandmother, Lillian Long, was dying of cancer. I woke up one morning and suddenly I felt numb, like dead. I don't know, but continually cutting myself was a way to wake up," she said.

From an honor student, Kristina became a virtual dropout, but now she'll graduate next month from Tottenville HS in Staten Island with flying colors.

It's amazing how far she's come.

Colin Powell getting tough

At least someone in the State Department will tell the Arabs like it is.

Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday demanded to know why there isn't more Arab outrage over the terrorist beheading of American Nick Berg, saying there is "no excuse for any silence."
Powell contrasted the muted Arab reaction to the brutal videotaped execution of Berg with the very vocal complaints about how U.S. troops mistreated Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

"When you are outraged at what happened at the prison, you should be equally - doubly - outraged at what happened to Mr. Berg . . . to have him murdered on camera so that his parents could see it," Powell told "Fox News Sunday."

"That is equal to any other act you've seen with respect to the need to the need to condemn it, and to condemn it outright, and to condemn it publicly. And we need that same level of outrage and condemnation coming from the Arab world just as it's coming from us."

Powell added on NBC, "There is anger in the Arab world about some of our actions, but that is no excuse for any silence on the part of any Arab leader for this kind of murder."

Now if he would just tell off the Paleswinians and tell them to go to Jordan or some other Arab cesspool...

Just a little fumigation...

I find bugs, I call the exterminator. In Gaza, just call the IDF.

Israeli tanks cut off the Rafah refugee camp (search) from the rest of Gaza (search) Monday, sending panicked residents fleeing. Palestinians said an Israeli helicopter fired missiles at the camp hours later that killed three people.

Early Tuesday, Palestinian security officials said armored bulldozers moved to the edge of the camp near the border with Egypt and began leveling land in an Israeli-controlled zone. It wasn't clear if it was the start of a large-scale move against the camp.

Israel wants to widen a military patrol road between Rafah and the Egyptian border after Palestinians blew up an armored vehicle there last week, killing five soldiers assigned to destroy arms-smuggling tunnels.

The Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at the surrounded refugee camp, killing three people and wounding seven, one critically. Hospital officials said at least two of the dead were gunmen, but the wounded were civilians, including a 35-year-old woman.

The Israeli military said the target was a group of armed Palestinians approaching Israeli forces. Israel Radio has reported that troops were prepared to fight from house to house in the camp.

Sometimes you have to do a fumigation to get at the roaches.

Last week, Israeli troops destroyed about 100 houses in the camp, and officials said hundreds more may be torn down. In all, more than 11,000 Palestinians in Rafah -- out of a population of 90,000 -- have been made homeless by Israeli demolitions since the outbreak of fighting in 2000.

Better homeless than dead, unlike the scores of innocent Israelis killed by the Paleswinian murderers. Cry me a river.

Deal Hudson on the spineless Bishops

Deal's weekly email speaks of the spinelessness of the US Bishops Conference when it comes to the Federal Marriage Amendment, and it makes think they must have taught Kerry his catechism of waffling:

You're probably familiar with the current move in Congress to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) to the Constitution. With activist judges in states like Massachusetts beginning to rule in favor of homosexual marriage -- against the will of the general public -- many are worried that it will become the law of the land by
judicial fiat.

The idea behind the FMA is that it would define marriage strictly as the union of one man and one woman and then leave it up to the states to decide if they want to recognize other unions (civil unions, for example). That way, the people have a say in what becomes law while
the fundamental integrity of marriage is protected.

Many feel that a federal amendment is our last best hope to prevent homosexual marriage from becoming the law. Indeed, people of all faiths and backgrounds have come together on this issue to support the amendment, and more legislators are signing on every day.

Of course, the amendment is also running into opposition from homosexual activists and the radical left. But now it looks like it might be encountering resistance from another source: the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Yes, you read that correctly.

How could the USCCB be anything but 100% behind an amendment protecting the inherent dignity of marriage? All of their public statements have supported it. They even came out last September with a statement titled "Promote, Preserve, Protect Marriage" where they explained that duty "requires, among other things, that we advocate
for legislative and public policy initiatives that define and support marriage as a unique, essential relationship and institution." To that end, they went on to say, "we offer general support for a Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as we continue to work to protect marriage in state legislatures, the courts, the Congress and other appropriate forums."

That seems pretty clear. But are they now backing away from their previous position?

The first warning signs emerged at a meeting convened last week by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas). The meeting was a veritable "who's who" of evangelical groups, Jewish rabbis, and Catholic clergy, including several well-known senators who are backing the amendment. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver was present, as was Monsignor William Fay, General Secretary of the USCCB, and Frank Monahan from the USCCB's Office of Government Liaison.

Inside sources at the meeting said that the over-all tone was quite positive, as the various religious leaders discussed the current marriage crisis and voiced their support for the FMA. Archbishop Chaput even read a personal statement tracing the breakdown of marriage back to the advent of the Pill (that must have raised a few
eyebrows).

After some general comments, a more particular discussion arose on the subject of the FMA itself. At one point, Monsignor Fay, as a representative of the USCCB, was asked what the conference's particular position was on the amendment. Fay explained that the bishops believed marriage should be defined as the union of one man
and one woman. But he then, according to others present, went on to say that the bishops didn't want to see this become a "political issue."

Nevermind the fact that the statement released last September by the bishops' conference clearly said it was their duty to press this issue "in state legislatures, the courts, the Congress," and any other appropriate forum. How could that be anything other than political? What's the point of supporting marriage in word without being ready to support it in action?

Fay also reportedly said they didn't want to impinge on anyone's rights. But the current language of the amendment says nothing about rights, only that no state law "shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman." In other words, no state
will be required to grant marriage benefits to unions other than marriage; those incidents are left up to the voters to decide.

The bishops' conference itself has been clear that limiting marriage in this way isn't an infringement on anyone's rights. In their statement "Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers About Marriage and Same-Sex Unions" from last November, they clearly state: "It is not unjust to deny legal status to same-sex unions because
marriage and same-sex unions are essentially different realities. In fact, justice requires society to do so. ...The state has an obligation to promote the family, which is rooted in marriage. Therefore, it can justly give married couples rights and benefits it does not extend to others."

So if the bishops' conference has been clear in its statements on the matter, why was Monsignor Fay hedging his comments at the meeting? As an official representative of the USCCB, his reaction is considered a barometer of general opinion on the FMA at the conference. And needless to say, that opinion is now pretty doubtful about the bishops' support.

Not surprisingly, the meeting lost much of its steam at that point. One would hope that the leaders of the Catholic Church would be the first behind a fight to defend marriage. But with a USCCB spokesman offering such a tepid response to the FMA, legislators might now
doubt Catholics' dedication to the issue.

Fay's comments -- if accurate -- are especially discouraging because the "don't politicize the issue" tactic is identical to what's coming from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The Democrats have been
forced to tread carefully around this issue -- they usually have the political support of homosexual groups. However, they also realize that most American voters are against same-sex marriage.

So what do they do? They give lip service to traditional marriage but also say the issue shouldn't be addressed before November. That way, they appease the general public without angering their homosexual supporters. Furthermore, if they can table the amendment issue until after the election, their seats will already be secure and then they'll be free to quietly kill the amendment later.

Look, it's common knowledge that the lobbying staff of the USCCB supports the Democrats on just about every issue but abortion. But the question of same-sex marriage has put these staffers in the tricky situation of needing to support the FMA while also wanting to help those Democratic congressmen who could likely oppose it. No
wonder they're hedging on the issue.

Wanting to be clear on Fay's comments and whether they represented the USCCB's position, I contacted Msgr. Francis Maniscalco, the communications director at the USCCB, to get his take on what happened in the meeting. Maniscalco emphatically denied that Fay had ever said the issue shouldn't be "political," but instead said that
it shouldn't be "partisan."

While the sources I spoke to all agreed that Fay said "political," let's assume that Maniscalco is correct. It doesn't actually make a difference, since "partisan" is just as problematic. First off, the FMA already has bipartisan support. True, Republicans took the lead
on this issue, but there are important Democratic co-sponsors of the bill.

In fact, the only thing that's partisan about the FMA is the opposition... it's all liberal Democratic. Furthermore, the USCCB has made no bones about supporting other partisan issues in the past -- for instance, opposing the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which had strong
bipartisan support but only liberal Democratic opposition.
"Bipartisanship" didn't seem to be a concern then. And what about partial-birth abortion? Should the USCCB not have supported the ban just because it was a strong Republican issue?

In the end, what this really boils down to is a reluctance to support anything that might be seen as a Republican plank, in spite of the fact that it's in line with Church teaching and the bishops' stated objectives.

This issue needs to be addressed now. The conference's hemming and hawing about "partisanship" will only undercut the very congressmen who are the best hope for the FMA's survival.

Fay may not be intentionally trying to undermine the amendment, but that could very well be the ultimate result... especially if the bishops' conference doesn't start speaking up more forcefully on this.

What sets Britian apart

The Telegraph has a piece which describes in great detail why the UK is different from the other Western European countries, which is a compliment.

The case for the Atlantic alliance is simple. More often than not, our interests and the Americans' coincide. Like them, we have an interest in stability and free trade among nations. This makes us especially hostile to local bullies and ready, if necessary, to deploy proportionate force against them. The Americans have invaded Iraq twice on these grounds; we have intervened no fewer than seven times. We are not bound together just by sentiment and history, though such things matter, but also by a genuine community of identity as societies that place a special value on individual liberty and the rule of law.

The states of Western Europe are, of course, also democracies. But behind their commitment to "constructive engagement" with local strongmen lie different attitudes, shaped by different histories. There are many in Britain who share the world view - the Weltanschauung - of Europe and who would like us to become a quiet, medium-sized, social democratic country. But the majority of British people still feel a special affinity with the states touched by our colonising and enterprising energies, where common law and Westminster-style democracy prevail. Mr Blair, with his messianic belief in his own powers of persuasion, does not see the choice quite like this. But the forces tugging Britain in these opposing directions are pulling his administration apart.

He's a waffling man

The issue of gay marriage shows that Kerry has more

flip-flops than the beach on a hot day.

With his home state set to begin marrying same-sex couples on Monday, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) reiterated his opposition to the idea yesterday, even as he met with gay and lesbian groups to shore up their support.

The presumptive Democratic nominee has long opposed gay marriage, favoring instead state-sanctioned civil unions that extend legal protections to gay couples.

Now we just wait for the "I voted for it before I voted against it" part:

Yet Kerry has taken several positions on the issue: He voted against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union only of a man and woman, saying it amounted to gay-bashing. Kerry has opposed President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage but said in February that he favors such a ban in Massachusetts.

John Kerry, with his feet firmly on both sides of the issue. Here is some classic waffling:

Kerry's apparent discomfort with the issue showed at a news conference yesterday at his campaign headquarters in Washington. Asked by a reporter what he would say "on a personal level" to same-sex couples married in his state, Kerry said: "It's not my job to start parceling advice on something personal like that. I personally believe marriage is between a man and a woman, and in extending our rights under the Constitution in a nondiscriminatory manner."

Meanwhile, the GOP smells blood in the water:

Republicans are likely to tie worldwide publicity over the state's action to Kerry in an effort to paint him as a northeastern liberal who is out of touch with the values of the rest of the country. Polls show a majority of Americans, including many Democrats, opposed to granting full marital status to same-sex couples. Yesterday, Bush campaign officials said Kerry's statements reinforce their portrait of him as inconsistent on major issues. "This represents his typical pattern of confusing and contradictory statements," said Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt.

Indeed it does.

Lefties hating America exhibit #7693857393

There is a part in "The American President" where the President says an opponent "claims to love America but clearly can't stand Americans." An editorial in the NY Post about Kerry and Kennedy is a great example of that.

Meanwhile, another Boston America- basher, Ted Kennedy, seems to be bucking for a job on al-Jazeera television.
John Forbes Kerry's mentor went so far over the top on the Abu Ghraib affair this week that you've got to wonder whether his brains have - finally - fallen out:

"On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked, 'Who would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open?' Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management - U.S. management."

Unfortunately, because such slanderous nonsense was uttered by a senator with the magic "Kennedy" name, it's impossible to ignore - even if it comes straight from Michael Moore's playbook.

If Ted Kennedy cannot tell the difference between the abuses at Abu Ghraib, disturbing as they are, and the systematic, decades-long litany of torture and torment inflicted on thousands of Iraqis by Saddam Hussein's henchmen, then he has no business sitting in the United States Senate.

But even more disturbing is that such hate-America rubbish comes from someone who occupies a senior place of influence with the Democratic Party's candidate for president, John Kerry.

Indeed, Kennedy's contemptuous libel is just as much a smear of America's troops as was Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony, in which he depicted the U.S. military as little more than a collection of child-murderers and war criminals.

What did Kerry have to say about his colleague's slander?

"I don't agree with the framing of that," Kerry said on Don Imus' radio show. "He's my friend, and I respect him enormously, but I don't agree with the framing of that."

Hardly a profile in courage now, is it?

And then Kerry added this: "But I know what he's saying - and so do you."

Yes, we know what Ted Kennedy is saying - but we're a lot less certain about where John Kerry stands.

In fact, it seems like Kerry is trying to play both sides of this issue and bolster his appeal to the Democrats' nutcase-left wing.

It's time for John Kerry to make it crystal-clear, without euphemism: Does he believe that there's no difference between Saddam's torturers and the abuses of a handful of apparently sex-crazed sociopaths at Abu Ghraib?

Unless he forcefully repudiates Kennedy's despicable calumny, Americans can fairly assume that he agrees with it.

Great minds think alike....

....or not. Michael Dukakis praises John Kerry.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis said he's hoping John Kerry, should he win the presidency this fall, applies the sort of wisdom to issues like the Middle East turmoil and universal health care that Harry Truman would have in his administration.

"My hope is that beginning in January we can pick up on the Truman legacy under John Kerry and begin to move forward and do what Truman urged us to do so many years ago," Dukakis said Friday evening during an opening reception at the Harry S. Truman Little White House Museum.

Truman was an absolute idiot about foreign policy, so I guess a Kerry victory would bring abysmal foreign policy back to the Oval Office. Under Truman's watch:
- China fell to the Commies
- The Soviets were allowed to take over Eastern Europe
- Treasonous spies sold our secrets to the Ruskies
- he fired MacArthur
- we got involved in a war in Korea that we weren't allowed to win.
- he had lower job approval numbers than Nixon during the Watergate mess, 29%.
He was also the product of the corrupt Kansas city Pendergast political machine.

Dukakis, a self-professed "big Truman fan," praised Truman's refusal to support a proposed overthrow of the Iranian government during his term in office.

"Truman knew the history of the Middle East and he understood these kinds of things have unintended consequences," Dukakis said. "I hope (Kerry) will bring that sense of history back to the White House.

"I expect he's going to get us out of this mess in the Middle East, and we never again will believe we can invade countries with no support from our allies, no support from the United Nations," he said.

I agree, I firmly agree that a Kerry victory would mean we would bend over and grab our ankles for Kofi Annan and other morons at the Useless Nations and let the terrorists have their way.

Sand fleas looking for love

Hat tip to the Emperor for this story about Saudis looking for love at a beauty pageant.

A beauty contest for camels was held recently in Hayaniya village, 190 km north of Baqaa in the Hail region, attracting more than 5,000 people from the Kingdom.

According to Farhan Al-Shammary, a participant, the jury selected the winners on the basis of the size of the camel?s head, length of its lips and shape of its hump in addition to its strength.

Unlike their wives, the camels don't have veils, so the men were able to devote time and attention into picking a beauty.

On a less serious note

I couldn't say LIGHTER note, since the subject is a review of frozen custard stands in the Pittsburgh P-G. The article caught my interest because a) frozen custard rocks, and b) my hometown got a shout out, as Titusville Dairy makes very good ice cream and frozen custard mixes. Atkins, eat heart out with this picture of a fudge caramel frozen custard pie:

More history of "The Religion of Peace"

This website contains a letter written to the CEO of HP in response to a speech she gave extolling the "accomplishments" of Islam. THe author sets her straight. Example:

Arabs and Muslims appeared on the world scene in 630 A.D., when the armies of Muhammad began their conquest of the Middle East. We should be very clear that this was a military conquest, not a missionary enterprise, and through the use of force, authorized by a declaration of a Jihad against infidels, Arabs/Muslims were able to forcibly convert and assimilate non-Arabs and non-Mulsims into their fold. Very few indigenous communities of the Middle East survived this -- primarily Assyrians, Jews, Armenians and Coptics (of Egypt).

and

Arabs/Muslims are engaged in an explicit campaign of destruction and expropriation of cultures and communities, identities and ideas. Wherever Arab/Muslim civilization encounters a non-Arab/Muslim one, it attempts to destroy it (as the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan were destroyed, as Persepolis was destroyed by the Ayotollah Khomenie). This is a pattern that has been recurring since the advent of Islam, 1400 years ago, and is amply substantiated by the historical record. If the "foreign" culture cannot be destroyed, then it is expropriated, and revisionist historians claim that it is and was Arab, as is the case of most of the Arab "accomplishments" you cited in your speech. For example, Arab history texts in the Middle East teach that Assyrians were Arabs, a fact that no reputable scholar would assert, and that no living Assyrian would accept. Assyrians first settled Nineveh, one of the major Assyrian cities, in 5000 B.C., which is 5630 years before Arabs came into that area. Even the word 'Arab' is an Assyrian word, meaning "Westerner"

The REAL story of Islam

For those who believe in moderate Muslims, let this page disabuse you of that notion. Sample:

It asks the Muslims to slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers, that they be expelled from the land with disgrace and that they shall have a great punishment in world hereafter (Q.5: 34).

As for the disbelievers, it says that for them garments of fire shall be cut and there shall be poured over their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in their bowels and skin shall be dissolved and they will be punished with hooked iron rods (Q. 22: 9).

Quran asks the Muslims to strive against the unbelievers with great endeavor (Q. 25: 52), be stern with them because they belong to hell (Q. 66: 9).

The holy Prophet demanded his follower to strike off the heads of the disbelievers then after making a wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives (Q. 47: 4).

Any questions?

Sir Banagor weighs in

I have nothing to add to Banagor's comments about the murder of Nick Berg. An excerpt:

Damn the administration for thinking otherwise! The Leftists decry this President for being too warlike? Well I damn him for being too passive! Our choice on September 11th was clear: rid ourselves of this scourge! Pacify with force the same way we did in Japan, Germany and Italy! Yet we remain on our asses in a country where we have not yet won because we never bombed the hell out of them. To hell with the Media. The Media doesn't win wars; our military does! They take out one of our soldiers, then we take out a town. It worked for Saddam. It's how we won Germany. They want barbarism? They should have it, served up on a golden plate with extra trimmings on the side.

Where are you when we need you, George Patton?

Great quote from Patton on how to handle things in Iraq:

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

To hell with these thugs

There is no ambiguity in the lead editorial in the NY Post:

Some people - some Americans - have forgotten about 9/11.

That attack should have been enough to justify all-out war. But the hand-wringing over the war in Iraq - and over even the modest steps America took to defend itself, like the Patriot Act - suggests that folks truly have lost sight of what the war is about.

Yesterday they got a shocking reminder. And now they know: This war cannot be waged with half-measures.

It can end only with the total annihilation of those who practice butchery and barbarism. Those who have set as their goal the destruction of America.

There is no negotiating with such people. There can be no compromise with those who mean to destroy us.

Yesterday, the White House promised to "pursue those responsible and bring them to justice." That's the least of it.

America has to come out swinging.

And not stop until every last one of the savage thugs is dead.

If that means a resumption of major combat in Iraq, so be it.

Would it mean another division or so of combat troops to get the job done?

Turn to our garrisons in Europe, or Korea, to get them.

In sufficient numbers to get the job done.

To hell with political sensitivities in the region.

To hell with negotiating with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and the Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.

To hell with handing Saddam Hussein over to Iraqis, as some want to do, and risking some reverse - perverse - kangaroo trial that results in his survival.

Evil, cutthroat terrorists need to be eradicated.

Let's face it: This is a job that's going to take overwhelming - yes, brutal - force. There is simply no "nice" or painless way to accomplish this.

As yesterday's slaughter showed (yet again), the enemy is bound by no moral compunctions.

America won't go that far.

But it had better steel it's backbone and get ready to fight like it means it.

It's the only way to win this war.

Steve Dunleavy says all that needs to be said

Steve Dunleavy on the murderous bastards that killed Nick Berg.

I KNOW why you wear ski masks.
I know why you tied up Nick Berg, leaving him unable to fight back.

I know why the odds were 5 to 1.

You say your unspeakable act of barbarity was retaliation for what happened in Abu Ghraib prison.

What a convenient excuse: A bunch of untrained Americans hazed and humiliated Iraqi detainees.

But if that hadn't happened, you'd have found a different justification.

Maybe because we captured your fearless leader, Saddam, cowering in a rat hole.



Or maybe you'd have just fallen back on that old standby - Israel.

I can see right through you.

You wore those ski masks for two reasons.

Number one, you're afraid you'll be identified by the coalition and forced to answer for your atrocities. And number two, you shamed your fellow countrymen and fellow Muslims - and just maybe, you're also afraid of them.

You and your wimpy, terrorist brothers around the world are getting your butts kicked. In Baghdad, you're facing Iraqi soldiers who could beat you with water pistols.

So what do you do?

You kill an American when his arms are tied.

You blow up Iraqi cops with bombs because you can't do anything face-to-face.

You mutilate four Americans and hang them from a bridge.

I can't even remember what excuse you used for that one.

But this country won't forget that stomach-churning outrage against humanity - or this one.

Then there was the assassination back in 2002 of Daniel Pearl by some of your brothers in Pakistan.

Well, he was a Jew, you said. Any reason is better than the truth: You hate freedom.

But there's one piece of good news in all of this.

You have as much brains as you do guts - you just pulled the rug out from under soft-headed liberals on Capitol Hill. This will get even them pissed off.

But if you think this ultimate act of barbarity will weaken the resolve of the coalition - and the decent people of Iraq - you are wrong.

The overwhelming majority of the Muslim world wouldn't waste their spit on your graves.

I know why you wear ski masks. It is because you are cowards.

But hear this: Ski masks or not, you and your brothers in terror will fall soon enough.

Wictory Wednesday

Help us defeat that wascally waffler! It's not just Wednesday, it's Wictory Wednesday, the day of the week where us Bush supporters in Blogdom do our best to get out the support for the reelection of George Bush. How can you help? You can volunteer or donate and join these other bloggers and me in doing our part:

The Islamization of Europe

Agood article in today's Jerusalem Post writes of the disappearence of European culture as Europe becomes increasingly Muslim.

'Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." So declares Oriana Fallaci in her new book, La Forza della Ragione ("The Force of Reason"). And the famed Italian journalist is right: Christianity's ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam. Two factors mainly contribute to this world-shaking development:

The hollowing out of Christianity. Europe is increasingly a post-Christian society, one with a diminishing connection to its tradition or its historic values. The number of believing, observant Christians has collapsed in the past two generations to the point that some observers call Europe the "new dark continent."

Already, analysts estimate Britain's mosques host more worshipers each week than does the Church of England.

To quote a priest I know, "if a church doesn't challenge you to be a better person, why bother going?"

An anemic birthrate. Indigenous Europeans are dying out. Sustaining a population requires each woman on average to bear 2.1 children; in the European Union, the overall rate is one-third short, at 1.5 per woman, and falling.

One study finds that should current population trends continue and immigration cease, today's population of 375 million could decline to 275 million by 2075. To keep its working population even, the EU needs 1.6 million immigrants a year; to sustain the present workers-to-retirees ratio requires an astonishing 13.5 million immigrants annually.

Into the void are coming Islam and Muslims. As Christianity falters, Islam is robust, assertive, and ambitious. As Europeans under-reproduce at advanced ages, Muslims do so in large numbers while young.

Another dark ages, wonderful. I guess the Irish will have to save civilization again.

Current trends suggest Islamization will happen, for Europeans seem to find it too strenuous to have children, stop illegal immigration, or even diversify their sources of immigrants. Instead, they prefer to settle unhappily into civilizational senility.

Europe has simultaneously reached unprecedented heights of prosperity and peacefulness ? and shown a unique inability to sustain itself (one demographer, Wolfgang Lutz, notes that "Negative momentum has not been experienced on a large scale in world history").

Is it inevitable that the most brilliantly successful society will also be the first in danger of collapse due to a lack of cultural confidence and offspring?

I would argue that the US has been saving Europe from itself for over 150 years. First, as a haven for people fleeing the revolutions and class limits of Europe, as people fled the Potato famine, the revolutions of 1848 and other chaos. In the 20th century, the US saved Europe from itself in 2 world wars and a cold war. We're busy now, so Europe is dying the slow painful death it should have started experiencing decades ago.

One more dead Goblin

Man, the police are busy exterminating vermin.

A Columbia County man was shot and killed early Monday by a police officer following a convenience store robbery.

According to Lake City Police Capt. Gary Laxton, the incident began when the Stop-n-Go store at 605 SW Main Blvd. was robbed by a man wearing a ski mask at 5:39 a.m.

A passer-by, Scott Everett, saw a man running from the store with a cash register. As Everett was chasing the man fleeing to the east, three police officers were arriving. Everett told investigators he tackled the man with the cash register, but released him when he pulled a large survival knife. Everett was cut on the hand in the ensuing struggle, and required 21 stitches.

Shortly thereafter, an officer - whose name was not released - encountered a man with a knife next to a house east of the convenience store.

The officer ordered the man to get down on the ground several times, Laxton said. When the knife-wielding man advanced toward the officer, the officer fired one shot. The man was pronounced dead at the scene

Stupid Goblin

If you are going to carry a gun, it might be a good idea to know how it works.

A 23-year-old South Side man was in critical condition in Mercy Hospital today with a bullet wound to the head after his gun discharged during a struggle with city police.

He was identified as Michael Gestrich of the 1600 block of St. Patrick Street. Police said he had refused their calls to surrender while he hurriedly tried to fix his jammed automatic handgun.

Didn't he ever watch Elmer Fudd and learn not to look down the barrel?

Weather Map

I'm going to see if this works:

The case against appeasement

Victor David Hanson compares the appeasement of Carter and the left with the more aggressive stance of Bush and shows the folly of appeasement.

Imagine a different Nov. 4, 1979, in Tehran. Shortly after Iranian terrorists storm the American Embassy and take some 90 American hostages, President Carter announces that Islamic fundamentalism is not a legitimate response to the excess of the shah but a new and dangerous fascism that threatens all that liberal society holds dear. And then he issues an ultimatum to Tehran's leaders: Release the captives or face a devastating military response.

When that demand is not met, instead of freezing Iran's assets, stopping the importation of its oil, or seeking support at the U.N., Mr. Carter orders an immediate blockade of the country, followed by promises to bomb, first, all of its major military assets, and then its main government buildings and residences of its ruling mullocracy. The Ayatollah Khomeini might well have called his bluff; we may well have tragically lost the hostages (151 fewer American lives than the Iranian-backed Hezbollah would take four years later in a single day in Lebanon). And there might well have been the sort of chaos in Tehran that we now witness in Baghdad. But we would have seen it all in 1979--and not in 2001, after almost a quarter-century of continuous Middle East terrorism, culminating in the mass murder of 3,000 Americans and the leveling of the World Trade Center.

I think the election of Reagan is one of the reason the hostages were released, as I've always felt that Reagan and Haig were willing to level Teheran.

In contrast, George W. Bush, impervious to such self-deception, has, in a mere 2 1/2 years, reversed the perilous course of a quarter-century. Since Sept. 11, he has removed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, begun to challenge the Middle East through support for consensual government, isolated Yasser Arafat, pressured the Europeans on everything from anti-Semitism to their largesse to Hamas, removed American troops from Saudi Arabia, shut down fascistic Islamic "charities," scattered al Qaeda, turned Pakistan from a de facto foe to a scrutinized neutral, rounded up terrorists in the United States, pressured Libya, Iran and Pakistan to come clean on clandestine nuclear cheating, so far avoided another Sept. 11--and promises that he is not nearly done yet. If the Spanish example presages further terrorist attacks on European democracies at election time, at least Mr. Bush has made it clear that America--alone if need be--will neither appease nor ignore such killers but in fact finish the terrible war that they started.

As Jimmy Carter also proved in November 1979, one man really can make a difference.

We finally have a president who has drawn a line in the sand, albeit after the worst attack in our history, and said that these terrorists will be eradicated.

He fought the law.....and the law won


One less goblin in the world.

A 19-year-old Blue Ball man was shot and killed Sunday night during a scuffle with East Earl Township police.
Eugene G. Griffy, of 4192 Division Highway, was taken to Lancaster General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m.

The two East Earl Township policemen involved in the incident, Officers Robert Serino and Christopher Stouch, were not seriously injured in the scuffle.

Really? No kidding!

Bush and the US are going to impose sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism.

US President George W. Bush this week will levy economic sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism and not doing enough to prevent militant fighters from entering neighboring Iraq, congressional and administration sources said Monday.

The sanctions, which the White House will impose as early as Tuesday, are being ordered because the administration believes Syria has aggravated tensions in the Middle East by supporting militant groups.

The United States is ordering the sanctions "because they will not fight terror and they won't join us in fighting terror," Bush said in an interview last week with the Cairo-based newspaper Al-Ahram International.

"We've asked them to do some things and they haven't responded," Bush said. "And Congress passed a law saying that if Syria will not join - for example, booting out a Hezbollah office out of Damascus - that the president has the right to put sanctions on."

There are also suspicions that many of Hussein's weapons ended up in Syria. No matter how late, I'm glad to see that we are finally going to do something about the only Ba'athist regime left. The Arabs are mad, of course:

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said Monday that there is a "unanimous Arab decision" to condemn the sanctions.

Al-Sharaa, speaking after a meeting of Arab ministers in Cairo, Egypt, said US allegations that his country is not cooperating in the fight against terrorism are "unfounded" since his country has agreed with other Arab countries on the need to combat terrorism

Right, we've heard SO much condemnation of terrorism from these various sand fleas.

democrat cannibalism

Today's Washington Post features a column by Howard Kurtz that lists attacks on Kerry from his own party. Samples:

"Kerry Struggling to Find a Theme, Democrats Fear," says the New York Times.

"It's six months until the election, and Democrats are already having buyer's remorse," says John Fund of OpinionJournal.com.

"Democratic leaders fear he's getting 'Gored,' " says the Associated Press.

"The Trouble Is, So Far Kerry Stinks On TV," says the New York Observer.

Some Democrats are "pretty freaked out" by Kerry, says the New York Post. They see "a listless and message-less mishmash," says Newsweek. The man "has something of a gift for the toxic sound bite," says Time.

What about these jobs Waffle Boy?

I'm waiting for Kerry and the lefties to call for an investigation and legislation against the Atkins diet:

New World Pasta, mired in debt and plagued by consumer interest in low-carb diets, filed for bankruptcy protection this morning. The filing has been expected since earlier this year, when the Lower Paxton Twp.-based company reported operating losses of $70 million for 2003 and 2002, and restated its earnings in 2001 downward by $4.6 million.

and

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (KKD) Friday cut its earnings forecast and set plans to overhaul operations as doughnut and bread sales get battered by consumer fascination with low-carbohydrate diets.

Shares of Krispy Kreme, whose profit margins are also being hurt by its move to sell more doughnuts through grocery stores, fell more than 29 percent after the profit warning, its first since going public four years ago.

In the face of growing consumer distaste for high-carb foods like bread and pasta, Krispy Kreme cut its full-year earnings forecast by 10 percent and said it would shut down or sell off operations of Montana Mills Bread Co, a gourmet bread and pastry chain it bought last year.

Where is the outrage? These are lost jobs! It must be Bush's fault! Just kidding, but I wonder if these are some of the jobs "lost" due to Bush's economic plans.

Kerry not playing Jesse's game

At least one democrat is learning to stand up to Jesse Jackass:

TERESA Heinz Kerry's weekend em brace of the Rev. Al Sharpton hints at a behind-the-scenes struggle between John Kerry and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democratic insiders told The Post.
The insiders said Jackson has been aggressively pressuring Kerry's campaign to hire several of his key political aides - as well as agreeing to give him a chance to address the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer during a prime-time television broadcast.

"Jesse is up to his old tricks again, threatening to peddle stories that Kerry is hostile to blacks, if he doesn't get what he wants," said a prominent New York Democrat familiar with the situation.

"Obviously, Teresa Kerry's visit to the [Sharpton-run National Action] Network was a direct shot at Jesse, who has been noticeably absent from the Kerry presidential campaign," the Democrat continued.

Mrs. Kerry heard Sharpton say her husband's campaign was more racially inclusive "in this stage" of the contest than was the Clinton campaign 12 years ago.

You can only play the extortion card so many times, Jesse.

A good view of the prisoner "scandal"

The NY Post's editorial page delivers some common sense about the Iraq prison brouhaha.

Simply put, there was no cover-up.

* Investigations into the deaths of a dozen or so Iraqi detainees continue, and this is a most serious matter. But there is nothing to suggest that appropriate action won't be taken in these cases, either.

That is, Washington has not tolerated brutality toward Iraqis; officers who have employed it, or excused it, have seen their careers effectively ended.

Should President Bush been better briefed? For sure.

Is additional, high-level discipline appropriate now? Absolutely.

It remains, however, that a mere handful of the 135,000 American military personnel in Iraq behaved abominably - and most have been, or will be, punished.

And the president has apologized.

The question before the world now is this: Are Iraqis better off than 15 months ago - Abu Ghraib notwithstanding?

Of course they are. Immeasurably so.

Deal's latest

As regular readers know, I'm a big fan of Deal Hudson, publisher of "Crisis" Magazine, a conservative Catholic publication. Here is his latest email, which praises some bishops deserving of praise:

With John Kerry and so many other pro-abortion "Catholic"
politicians in the news these days, it's easy for us to get
discouraged with our Church's leaders when we don't see them
responding to the challenge these politicians represent.

That's why it's so important for us to acknowledge those priests and
bishops who DO stand up to defend the Faith. They need to hear how
much we appreciate their witness to the Truth. And if they were
assured of our public support, perhaps some of our more timid leaders
would follow suit and stand up as well.

But even more than that, we laity need encouragement, too. All too
often we let ourselves get bogged down in the bad news that surrounds
us -- and I know there's plenty of it -- instead of stopping for a
minute to acknowledge the many positive developments that go
unnoticed.

So to that end, let me take the opportunity today to bring you some
very encouraging words from a few bishops who have recently stood up
to defend the Church's teaching on life issues... and the Catholic
voter's responsibility to act accordingly.

I think you'll enjoy the good news...

First, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark released a wonderful
pastoral statement on Wednesday titled "A Time for Honesty." In it,
the archbishop does a fantastic job of explaining the Church's
uncompromising support of life and what that means for the laity. He
takes great care to emphasize our responsibility to form our
consciences in light of the Truth and to be in full communion with
the Church and Her teachings before presenting ourselves to receive
the Eucharist.

But I'll let Archbishop Myers speak for himself...

"There is no right more fundamental than the right to be born and
reared with all the dignity the human person deserves. On this grave
issue, public officials cannot hold themselves excused from their
duties, especially if they claim to be Catholic. Every faithful
Catholic must be not only 'personally opposed' to abortion, but also
must live that opposition in his or her actions."

"Catholics who publicly dissent from the Church's teaching on the
right to life of all unborn children should recognize that they have
freely chosen by their own actions to separate themselves from what
the Church believes and teaches."

"To receive communion when one has, through public or private
action, separated oneself from unity with Christ and His Church, is
objectively dishonest. ...Because the Eucharist is the source and
summit of our faith, the most sacred action of our Church, to misuse
the Eucharistic symbol by reducing it to one's private 'feeling' of
communion with Christ and His Church while objectively not being in
such union is gravely disordered."

And here's the section that has pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians
in a panic...

"As voters, Catholics are under an obligation to avoid implicating
themselves in abortion, which is one of the gravest of injustices.
Certainly, there are other injustices, which must be addressed, but
the unjust killing of the innocent is foremost among them."

I don't think anyone could have said it better!

I've always been impressed by Archbishop Myers' strong leadership,
and this pastoral letter makes me grateful for his clear voice of
reason in our Church. I encourage you to read the rest of the letter
for yourself. You can find it here:
http://www.rcan.org/archbish/jjm_letters/ATimeforHonesty.htm.

As you can tell, we at CRISIS are big fans of the Archbishop. In
fact, he has an article in our current issue on the war between our
Church and our culture. If you haven't read it yet, you'll definitely
want to take a look.

But Archbishop Myers isn't the only prelate who has recently
defended Church teaching on this point. Just last Sunday, Bishop
Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota gave a stirring homily on
these same issues. Again, it's best just to let him do the talking:

"The Council Fathers [of Vatican II] went on to teach, 'Therefore,
let there be no false opposition between professional and social
activities on the one part, and religious life on the other. The
Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties
towards his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal
salvation' (Gaudium et Spes, 43). My sisters and brothers,
'pro-choice' Catholics, 'Catholics for a free choice,' must listen to
those words, for they are the truth rooted in the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ has taught us that we are to be the salt of the
earth and the light of the world. We are to proclaim His Gospel, the
Gospel of Life, to the world."

"As Jesus Christ posed the question to Peter, so, too, does He pose
the question to each one of us, 'Do you love Me?' If we respond with
yes, then we must live that out no matter what the cost. We cannot
separate our professional life from our faith life. We must always
put the law of God above the law of man, especially as it concerns
the dignity of the human person and the life of the unborn."

Even Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, who has been criticized lately,
just wrote a letter to journalist Robert Novak, encouraging him to
clarify the Cardinal's words in a recent Catholic News Service
interview. The quote in that interview, which received a lot of
publicity, made it sound as if the Cardinal thought the pro-life
issue was merely one of many issues that Catholics should be worried
about.

But in his letter to Novak, he clarifies his position, saying, "The
defense of human life, especially the life of the unborn child, comes
first because 'without life you cannot have any other human values.'
This position in favor of life and of the obligation to defend it is
essential according to the constant teaching of the Church, and has
always been my own constant teaching." He went on to explain that
while we can't neglect other important social justice issues, human
life "is the first principle on which all other rights depend."

I'm glad the Cardinal took the chance to clarify his position.

Cool and Glib?

The FBI file of Vietnam Veterans against the War, and John Kerry, get released and some of it is unbelievable.

The FBI, closely tracking the anti-war movement in the 1970s, concluded John Kerry was a glib, moderate figure in a Vietnam veterans group that took a radical turn around the time he left it, documents show.

The FBI file on Vietnam Veterans Against the War says the organization swung toward “militant and revolutionary-type activities” but accuses Kerry, now the Democratic presidential candidate, of little more than charisma.

The bureau’s more than four-year investigation of the organization — everything from its plots to pot luck suppers — is detailed in more than 9,000 pages released Wednesday under a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press.

An FBI summary of the anti-war protests Kerry helped organize in April 1971 says the decorated war hero “overshadowed” many of the organization’s other leaders and was “a more popular and eloquent figure” than the rest.

“Kerry was glib, cool, and displayed just what the moderate elements wanted to reflect,” the summary says.

See, I told you it was unbelievable. Who else thinks Kerry is "glib" or "cool" or "moderate" and who has ever accused him of charisma?

The Police get PC

If you see a drowning person in North Miami, don't call the police.

In an attempt to recruit minority officers, the police department in North Miami, Fla., has dropped swimming as a required skill because it says not enough potential black applicants know how to swim well enough to pass the test.

The city's population is 60 percent Haitian and city officials say removing the swimming requirement wasn't done to be politically correct, but to fill 14 vacant slots.

That is just begging for a joke about how did the Haitians get from an island to Florida in the first place. The police chief denies that political correctness is the motive.

"The bottom line is I need police officers," said North Miami Police Chief Gwendolyn Boyd-Savage. "When I look at the qualifications to become a good police officer ... a person's ability to swim or not to swim does not make them a good police officer or a bad police officer."

Thankfully other police departments are more concerned with the public's safety.

But Miami Dade County, which includes North Miami, has hundreds of miles of canals, lakes and beaches. In nearby Broward County, the top cop said deputy candidates are required to swim, regardless of the color of their skin.

Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said if his deputies weren't prepared to swim he wouldn't "send them in harm's way and endanger their lives."

For 25 years Lee Pitts has trained police and military officers how to swim and he doesn't think race has any relation to swim.

"The basic instructions to learn to swim are patience and desire, whether you're Haitian, Asian or African-American," Pitts said.

The police hold a vital position in society, anything done to lower the standards of becoming an officer is a threat to public safety. Living in Florida, where water is everywhere, having the police able to swim is a must.

Machiavelli for the day

This cautions against disarming the public.

But as soon as you disarm your subjects you start to offend them, showing through cowardice or suspicion that you mistrust them; on either score hatred is aroused against you.

Come and try to take our guns, you libs.

Bush ads working

The Bush ads in the battleground state are doing their job.

WASHINGTON - Democrat John Kerry has taken a pounding from President Bush's TV ads - and some of the charges are starting to stick, especially in the 18 key battleground states, an independent poll has found.

In those states, 36 percent of those questioned now have a negative view of Kerry, while 35 percent see him favorably - down from March, when Kerry's ratings were 41 percent positive and 28 percent negative.

Meanwhile, Bush used Day Two of his Midwest bus tour to joke that Kerry's claim that unnamed foreign leaders are supporting him could be a "case of mistaken identity."

Kerry once claimed that he could have met the unnamed leaders in a city eatery.

"Just because somebody has an accent and a nice suit and a good table at a fancy restaurant in New York, doesn't make them a foreign leader," Bush joked.

Wictory Wednesday

Help us defeat that wascally waffler! It's not just Wednesday, it's Wictory Wednesday, the day of the week where us Bush supporters in Blogdom do our best to get out the support for the reelection of George Bush. How can you help? You can volunteer or donate and join these other bloggers and me in doing our part:

Machiavelli for the day

For those who wish to criticize Bush and Ashcroft:

"He (the Prince) must not flinch from being blamed for vices which are necessary for safeguarding the state."

You too can be a democrat VP candidate!

Qualifying Test for Democratic Vice-Presidential Hopefuls

Section A. Choose the answer closest to your point of view.

I) What is the biggest problem facing the country today?
1. SUV's
2. The high price of Prozac
3. Talk radio
4. Terrorism

II) How would you repair our relationship with France?
1. Appoint Dominique de Villepin to investigate the Oil-for-Food program
2. Give a $92,000. tax credit to every American over 21 who buys a case of Lafite Rothschild 1986
3. Require French sub-titles on all films shown in the US
4. Why bother?

III) How would you safeguard the country from terrorist attacks?
1. Apologize to al-Qaeda for 9-11 and mean it
2. Ask the UN to provide peacekeeping forces in New York, LA and Chicago
3. Stop humiliating Muslims with exaggerated security precautions
4. Make an example of Fallujah

IV) How would you improve border security?
1. Open the borders so people would not feel obliged to sneak into the country
2. Use drones to assure the safety of anomalous pedestrian overland immigrants
3. Erect pictures of armed border patrol agents at 5-mile intervals
4. Post "Trespassers Will Be Shot" signs in 72 languages and then shoot trespassers

V) How would you improve our medical system?
1. Adopt the Canadian system. Or the Cuban. Or the North Korean
2. Require the drug companies to give free drugs to everyone
3. Increase the number of doctors by opening medical schools to anyone with an 8th grade diploma
4. Make Medical Savings Accounts available to everyone and get out of the way

VI) How would you promote civility in election campaigns?
1. Ban talk radio except for Al Franken
2. Forbid Republicans to quote Democrats
3. Require each party to praise the other
4. Truth is more important than civility

VII) How would you improve education?
1. Make the NEA the fourth branch of government
2. Start sex ed in day care
3. Reduce class size to one
4. Make sure teachers can read, write and count to 100

VIII) What would you do about taxes?
1. Raise them, but only on the 93,000,000 richest Americans
2. Collect no taxes from people who donate to Moveon.org
3. Give tax credits to people who shred their SUV's
4. Make them payable only in pennies

IX) How would you stimulate the economy?
1. Have the government create 40,000,000 new jobs immediately
2. Sue Walmart into Chapter 11
3. Give annual gas subsidies to people who do not own SUV's
4. Lower taxes, reduce regulations and encourage the consumption of red meat

X) What would you do about the environment?
1. Outlaw SUV's unless they are driven by families of Democratic candidates
2. Locate wind farms so they are not visible from Hyannis
3. Pass stricter cow-flatulence standards
4. Require liberals to speak through charcoal filters

Section B. Mark those statements with which you agree.

1. I could listen to French all day even though I do not understand a word of it.
2. I have some experience in cattle futures.
3. I used to be for the war, but now I'm against it, but I guess I could be for it.
4. Asking Muslims to give their names is racially insensitive.
5. If we had banned SUV's this war would have been unnecessary.
6. We must sign the Kyoto treaty or pineapples will be growing at the South Pole by
2005.
7. I could have been a war hero.
8. Sometimes I'm Jewish.
9. I have never married an heiress but it seems like a good idea.
10. SUV's cause baldness.
11. If my running mate fell while snowboarding I would hasten to say I cut him off.
12. A rich wife is a real asset.
13. Whether you're for or against the war depends on what you mean by "war".
14. If we don't sign the Kyoto treaty immediately baby seals will begin shedding their fur.
15. When we fight a war we must be careful not to offend.
16. No doctor should earn more than his receptionist.
17. He lied about the WMD's.
18. We should eschew foreign policy initiatives that disconcert the French.
19. Whether you are for or against the war depends on the meaning of "for" and "against".
20. SUV's cause erectile dysfunction.
21. My step-grandmother's second husband's uncle's son-in-law was Jewish.
22. I have never been in the Army but I understand this is not true of everyone.
23. I do not drive an SUV. If anyone in my family does, it's news to me.
24. My health plan will not cost anyone anything.
25. If we don't sign the Kyoto treaty we will all die someday.

Scoring:
Section A: Give yourself 5 points for each "1" answer, 4 points for each "2" answer, 3 points for each "3" answer and 1 point for each "4" answer.
Section B: Each statement you checked off is worth 1 point.

Did you score above 70? Call party headquarters right away.
Between 60 and 70 - You're on stand-by
Between 50 and 60 - A pathetic showing, but hey, you never know
Less than 50 - Your name is being turned over to Larry Flynt

Useless Nations

In further evidence of how corrupt the UN is, Sudan was relected to the UN Human Rights Commission.

Sudan won re-election to the United Nations (news - web sites)' main human rights watchdog on Tuesday, prompting the United States to walk out because of ethnic cleansing in the country's Darfur region.

Sudan's envoy immediately accused the U.S. delegation of "shedding crocodile tears," and said the United States had turned a blind eye as Iraqi prisoners were mistreated and civilians were harmed in battle.

Fourteen seats were filled on Tuesday for the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission based in Geneva. Many were decided by regional groups before Tuesday's voting in the Economic and Social Council in New York.

In the African regional group, Sudan, Guinea, Togo and Kenya, were chosen for three-year terms on the commission, beginning in January.

Sichan Siv, the U.S. delegate to the council, accused Sudan of having no right to sit on the rights commission because of ethnic cleansing in Darfur where government troops are accused of backing Arab militia which pillage black Africa villages, raping and killing. The Khartoum government denies it is involved in ethnic cleansing.

And these are the clowns that
Waffles wants to help in Iraq.

Steyn pays tribute to Thatcher

Mark Steyn pays tribute to Margaret Thatcher and how she set Britain free from socialism. Sample:

But the result is that the Thatcher revolution is uncompleted. Nobody in 2004 seriously thinks the Government should run airlines or that working people should live their entire lives in state housing - though what now seems obvious to all required extraordinary political will by a few 25 years ago. And, on any honest account of 21st-century Britain, most of the problems derive from the unThatcherised sectors, in which the post-war, centralised, bureaucratic conventional wisdom still holds.

They aren't all lemmings

The United Methodists refused to follow the Episcopalians off the cliff.

The United Methodist Church has reaffirmed that homosexual activity is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and struck down language that would have been more inclusive of gays and lesbians.

Delegates to the denomination's General Conference, meeting in Downtown Pittsburgh, voted 576 to 376.

There were four abstentions.

In calling for the delegates to adopt the language clarifying the issue, Tennessee delegate H. Eddie Fox said, "Jesus said so from the beginning of creation -- God made male and female. We must not send confusing messages to those who are part of this church."

The conference did not include language that would have recognized "that Christians disagree on the compatibility of homosexuality practice with Christian teaching."

Of course, some people that all truth is open for "dialogue":

In urging passage of that language, pastor Margaret Mallory, a delegate from Ohio, said it would move the church out of "irreconcilable corners and move us to a place of dialogue."

In Chrisitanity there are "irreconcilable corners". Abortion is a mortal sin, as is adultery. A Christian shouldn't have to wonder about the meaning of "is", there are certain absolutes and sin is not up for negotiation. The revisionists did not want to go quietly into that good night:

Today began with gay advocates marching to the David Lawrence Convention Center, where the meeting was being held, and dropping to their knees in prayer.

The activists then took their protest inside, standing silently during the debate, praying and holding up colorful stoles that are the symbol of their movement. They began singing ?Amazing Grace? as the votes were tallied. Some wept when the results were announced and one person exclaimed, ?Injustice!?

There is always the Episcopal church.

Pensions for Perverts?

My home state of PA is getting around to cutting off the pensions of teachers convicted of sexual abuse of students.

Kevin Hunsicker once taught science and coached basketball at Lehighton Area Middle School in Eastern Pennsylvania. Today he's in a state prison, serving five to 10 years for having sex with a 12-year-old student.

The state took away his teaching license. But when he gets to retirement age, he'll have something else from the state: his pension.

About 200 men and women have lost their Pennsylvania teaching licenses in the past dozen years for crimes ranging from murder to shoplifting. But in most cases, unless those crimes were committed on the job, their pensions remain intact -- even if those crimes were sex offenses against children.

That is appalling that tax money goes to let pedophiles and other pervs get a monthly check. Thankfully, the state legislature wants to do something about it.

Because of what she believes is a "serious gap" in state law, Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, is sponsoring legislation that would force teachers convicted of sex offenses against students to forfeit their pensions.

Earll's Senate Bill 971 has been approved by the state Senate and currently is being considered by a House committee. If it's approved, the legislation would fill the "gap" in the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act.

The 1978 law states that public school employees can lose their pensions if they are convicted of certain crimes -- crimes that could include stealing PTA funds or forging a name on a school document, but not sex crimes.

"The heinous nature of sex crimes -- especially committed by someone in a position of trust -- are much more serious, and should be on that list as well," Earll said. "We should not allow convicted criminals who have abused their public positions to benefit from the public's tax dollars."

This following story is the reason she introduced this bill:

Earll was urged to change the law by the father of a girl who was molested by former teacher Greg Yarbenet, an Erie County teacher who's serving 11 to 22 years in prison.

Yarbenet, a teacher for 32 years, pleaded guilty last year to molesting two of his middle school students. The father of one victim was incensed to learn that Yarbenet can still collect his pension, said Carm Camillo, an aide to Earll.

Yarbenet collects $3,272.85 each month in pension benefits, according to state records obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette under the Freedom of Information Act.

That's just over $39,200 a year to sit on his keister and order movies from the adult pay per view channels. Alachua County Florida, where I live, doesn't pay that much to a teacher until they have taught 27 YEARS!!!! That is an appalling figure on many levels. Unfortunately it is not retroactive. Here is a dishonor roll:

But even if the bill is approved, as expected, it's unlikely it would be retroactive. In other words, it wouldn't prevent teachers who already have been convicted from collecting their pensions in the future.

Currently, several retired teachers who had been convicted of sex crimes against students are collecting pensions, according to Pennsylvania School Employees' Retirement System records.

They include Lancess T. McKnight, a former assistant superintendent in the Southeast Delco School District. He receives $4,133.67 a month, even though he was sentenced in 1992 for sexually abusing four boys.

Roger Heller, a social studies teacher before he was convicted in a 1998 sex abuse case involving a high school senior in Chester County, collects $1,607.18 per month.

A number of ex-teachers who have been convicted of crimes not specifically covered by the pension forfeiture law also are receiving thousands of dollars each month from the state.

Hugh A. Mooney was convicted on child pornography charges after his 1996 arrest in connection with a nationwide porn ring called "Overseas Male." He lost his teaching license the following year. The former Delaware County teacher receives $3,965.77 per month in state pension funds.

Clyde Caligiuri, a South Park High School band director who lost his teaching license after being convicted of sexual molesting a child, who was not one of his students, collects a monthly pension of $2,253.76.

Richard H. Stover, convicted in 2001 for downloading child pornography on his home computer, lost his teaching license months later but also began collecting $2,822.03 a month from his pension. He was a music teacher in Montgomery County.

According to officials with Pennsylvania School Employees' Retirement System, which currently has 145,000 school retirees, an average of one teacher per year is turned down for a pension because of crimes.

Earll's legislation has received support from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which says that the penalty should "serve as a deterrent to individuals from committing these acts."

Wythe Keever, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said the teachers union is aware of the bill but would not take a position on it.

Is anyone surprised by the teachers unions not taking a position that would help children?

Why there must be NO negotiation with the Paleswinians

From the Jerusalem Post is this article about a Jewish family slaughtered by terrorists in the Gaza Strip:

A pregnant mother and her four daughters were shot dead on Sunday by terrorists as they drove on the Kissufim road in the Gaza Strip shortly after noon.

Tali Hatuel, 34, who was 8 months pregnant, and her daughters, Hila, 11, Hadar, nine, Roni, seven, and Merav, two, were shot at point-blank range, after initial gunshots brought their car to a halt. The terrorists then sprayed the car with bullets to ensure that all the occupants were dead.

Hatuel was driving to Ashkelon, where she was planning to join her husband, David, in campaigning against the Gaza disengagement plan.
Three other Israelis were wounded in the attack: motorist Haim Aharon, a resident of the Negev who works in Gush Katif, and two soldiers riding in a jeep. The wounded were all hit by shrapnel and were airlifted to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. Two were reported to be in satisfactory condition and the third in good condition.

The IDF was able to wipe some of the perps out, but too little too late:

Military sources said four terrorists participated in the attack. Initially, two fired at IDF posts along the route, while the other two began shooting at civilian cars. A bomb or grenade also exploded on the road during the shooting, but caused no casualties.

After several attempts, soldiers shot and killed two of the terrorists. The others fled.
Following the attack, IAF helicopters on Sunday evening fired a number of missiles at the Hamas Al-Quds radio station in Gaza City. Seven people were reportedly wounded in the attack.

A statement issued by the IDF Spokesman said the radio station constantly broadcast hateful statements and alerted the movement's members to IDF operations in the area.

Later in the night, four members of the Fatah al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades were killed in Nablus when an IAF helicopter fired missiles into their vehicle. Nader Abu Leil, a fugitive wanted by the Shin Bet and security forces for his involvement in planning and launching terrorist attacks, was killed in the attack along with Hashem Abu Hamdan. The IDF confirmed the attack, stating that it was forced to take the action in order to thwart further terrorist attacks.

Now why on Earth should these bastards EVER get a state?

Common sense in Israel

The returns are coming in from the Israeli referendum, and the plan to withdraw from Gaza is deader than some Paleswinian who screwed up his Semtex timer:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party soundly rejected his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in a referendum Sunday, an embarrassing defeat for the premier.

The result, based on media polls, left the future of Sharon's "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians in doubt and his leadership in disarray. The outcome could precipitate a major political crisis - a Cabinet reshuffle, a split within the party or even early elections.

The premier, who had said he considered the polling a vote of confidence in his leadership, said he respected the results but would not resign. Close supporters said disengagement was inevitable, despite the referendum outcome.

Sharon said he would consult with party and government officials on his next steps and suggested he would continue to push ahead with his plan.

Terrorism cannot be rewarded.

So is it clean or dirty?

It depends whether environmentalists are trying to scare us or tell us how great of a job they have done. Here is the proof:

'TODAY, the Hudson River is an international model of ecosystem protection . . . It's the richest water body in the North Atlantic. It produces more pounds of fish per acre, more biomass per gallon than any waterway in the Atlantic, north of the Equator."
Indeed, the Hudson is "the last major river system left in the Atlantic Ocean that still. . . has strong spawning stock of all the historical species of migratory fish. It's Noah's ark."

Such a ringing endorsement must be propaganda from some Hudson River industrial polluter - the Indian Point nuclear-power plant, perhaps.

Well, propaganda, maybe - but the propagandist would be none other than America's top cop on the water-pollution beat: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The legend-augmenting Kennedy scion has been stumping to earn environ- mentalists credit for their good work. In the '60s, you see, the Hudson was a "sewer," a "national joke," "dead water"; groups like Kennedy's River- keeper turned it around.

The more that message gets out, it seems, the better for business: "The miraculous resurrection of the Hudson has inspired the creation of Riverkeepers all over North America," Kennedy boasts. "We're the fastest growing environmental group" - now with 117 licensed franchises.

McDonald's, watch out: Kennedy projects a Riverkeeper branch "on every major waterway across North America probably within five or six years."

So the Hudson is clean as whistle, and everything is fine, right? Well, RFK Jr gets all waffle like about it when trying to rally the enviro shock troops:

RFK's recent adjectival outburst came before a college audience in March. But wait: What's that on his Web site, riverkeeper.org?

"During times of peak use, power plants withdraw 5 billion gallons per day from the biologically rich tidal Hudson River . . . The facilities kill virtually all aquatic life in this massive volume, many billions of organisms each year . . . In most years the plants cumulatively entrain more than 40 percent of young striped bass."

Environmental horror stories, you see, also sell well.

So which is it?

Is the river cleaner these days and teeming with life?

Or are power plants like Indian Point ruthlessly engaged in a form of biological ethnic-cleansing in the Hudson?

Kennedy had it right the first time: The river is cleaner.

So clean, in fact, it's getting high marks from nearly everyone. Last week, a report by the Hudson River Foundation suggested that conditions "have improved as much as tenfold in the past 30 years," at least south of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The state, meanwhile, is moving ahead with Gov. Pataki's plan to make the entire river "swimmable" by 2009.

No wonder only 30% think that the environment is a major campaign issue; the green weenies can't decide for themselves how bad things are or aren't.

Tribute to our Troops

Ralph Peters in the NY Post delivers a fine column about how great our troops are.

I was indescribably proud of them. Anyone reading this paper would have been proud of them, too. Our politics don't matter. Those troops are serving us all. They didn't have a voice in the strategic decisions, wise or not, that sent them to those foreign streets. Young and splendid, they were doing their best not only for their country, but for humankind.

While in Iraq, I heard plenty of complaints about the Coalition Provisional Authority, its willful blindness, vanity and ineptitude. But I never heard a single word criticizing our soldiers. Our troops were held in respect. And, sometimes, in awe.

Paul Bremer isn't our most important representative in Iraq. G.I. Joe is. And we couldn't ask for a better one.

In that ravaged sliver of the world, words are almost as cheap as human life. But good examples endure. One old Kurdish warrior simply marveled at the way our troops followed orders. In their long guerrilla struggle against Saddam, Kurdish commanders negotiated orders with one another, partisans in several senses. The promptness and vigor with which an American unit moved out when ordered to go - second-nature to those of us who served in American uniforms - amazed him.

That was the kind of military the old veteran wanted for his country's future.

There is much more, please read the whole article.