Photoshop fun

It always amazes me how soon after some news event that the internet is flooded with something relevant. The latest is the Mike Vick indictment for dog fighting. This one is good.

Uphill climb

I just learned there is a group called "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)". Good luck with that.

The great energy hoax

The House recently passed something called "New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection". As we have learned over the years, politicians of both parties have an inate ability to provide the exact opposite of legislative effect in the title of major bills. This is no exception. It provides $16 billion in new taxes on oil companies. If you believe that higher taxes on oil companies will make them provide us more energy and not pass added costs on to consumers, you are as stupid as politicians like Nancy Pelosi think you are. She described this legislation as the "energy policy of the future". That would be sad.

No terrorism here

The following is a report of a little noticed incident in my neighboring South Carolina. It is described as not being related to terrorism, but I am skeptical. Who is hiding what and why?

Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car. The quantity of explosive making materials in that vehicle is unclear.

The FBI (website) reports that there is no known link to terrorism. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office believes that among materials in the car's trunk were a bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals, fuses, and igniters.

The men 21-year-old Yousef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed were pulled over Saturday evening during a routine traffic stop near Myers Road and Highway 176. Few details about the suspects are known at this time. They are believed to be students at a Florida college. They are of Middle Eastern descent and are not US citizens.

Barbra's Travels

Though she's a big backer of environmental causes, and even offers tips for low-carbon living on her personal website, Barbra Streisand was busted by the British press for touring in a private jet with a massive entourage that required 13 trucks and vast amounts of laundry—in other words, for sponsoring a traveling CO₂ extravaganza. These loony Hollywood leftists never seem to disappoint.

More Corn?

BestView has mentioned this before, but the move to corn as a replacement for oil-based gasoline is a really bad idea. Support was recently provided by the World Resources Institute which confirms that corn production will lead to ground water depletion, soil erosion, and algae blooms in our water ways. This will be caused by the wide-spread use of pesticide and fertilizer. It takes 4,000 gallons of water per acre per day to replace evaporation in a corn field.Each acre requires about 130 pounds of nitrogen and 55 pounds of phosphorus. When we get the corn, it then must be refined into a product that produces 20-30% less energy than gasoline and it must be transported around the country by truck since it doesn't do pipelines well. And, of course, our food costs are driven up by the elevated prices of corn which is fed to cattle and chickens and hogs.

The move to corn is largely due to the fact that Iowa is the first primary state and both parties are electoral whores. If we really wanted to improve our energy independence we would expand our existing oil capacity like in Alaska where the dems are obstructing and off the coast of Florida where the Republicans have a block. Not a pretty situation.

Another example of education failure

Here in my neighboring county there are 7-8 middle schools and according to the standards commonly used all are in the category of "failing" or "needs improvement" or some such. At any rate, they are so deficient that parents with a letter telling them they can move their children to any other school in the district don't really have a choice better than the one they are already in. Well, now we have good news. One of the schools has permission to convert to a charter school and the administrators say this will be fantastic in terms of performance. Kids will start school earlier, go at least one hour longer each day, wear uniforms, be subject to greater discipline, and everyone will be amazed at the improvement. Sounds good to me, but this all begs some obvious questions. Why did it take 2 years to get permission to make this change and why aren't all schools doing this? The answers would probably make you cry.

A Senator in Stripes?

I just read that the FBI is closing in on Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, a Republican. They are searching his house and if we are lucky, they will get the goods on him and he will go to prison where he belongs for misappropriating our money for decades.

The Congressman reveals all

The following quote from the Washington Post by Congressman James Clyburn, who is the House Majority Whip from South Carolina, admits what many have been saying all along. For some time it has been known that the dems are politically committed to a U. S. defeat in Iraq. Here is the paragraph in the article.

Many Democrats have anticipated that, at best, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would present a mixed analysis of the success of the current troop surge strategy, given continued violence in Baghdad. But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. Clyburn said that would be "a real big problem for us."

Another report from Iraq

Here is the latest Michael Yon report from the front lines of Iraq. It has an interesting description of the unmanned flight vehicles we use over there. Well worth reading as usual.

Say it ain't so

As I understand it, the latest legal sleeze is going to be class action suits on the scale of those against tobacco, pharmaceutical, and asbestos companies. The target? Well, companies who produce goods and services which emit what the lawyers claim to be excessive carbon dioxide which, of course, harms us all via an increase in global warming, will be filed. As a start, lawyers in Mississippi, where such suits find compliant judges and juries, some oil and coal companies are being sued claiming that they knew their emissions caused the climate change that generated Hurricane Katrina. Sadly, the fact that the suit is lacking in so many ways (scientifically) probably enhances its chances of success.

Kelsey Briggs

Here is a picture of Kelsey with her Father. Kelsey died on Oct. 11, 2005, at her mother and stepfather's home near Meeker, Oklahoma. Evidence indicated she suffered repeated injuries in the final months of her life, including a broken collarbone, broken legs and bruises on her face and body." Both her mother and step-father have been convicted and sent to prison. Her story is documented here.

More government failure

We now have one more example of the failure of the federal government to function in even a modestly competent fashion. First FEMA could not put put some food and water on a truck and drive to the Super Dome on the same roads you could drive out of. Then the State Department could not issue passports to citizens who were forced to get them with new rules of travel, and now we learn that $1.1 billion in farm subsidies is being paid to dead farmers. These are examples of simple incompetence. Fraud is another matter and that is why we need to keep a close eye on the earmark usage by our elected officials. The latest example I have read about is an earmark put in the defense authorizing bill by Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska which would be given to a company which is wholly dependent on earmarks and which also just happens to employ Senator Nelson's son. What a mess.

Guess Who

The following quote was part of an Op-Ed published today. Guess who was the author. Some fire breathing right wing nut? No, this came from the liberal media's monster created out of Bush hatred---Cindy Sheehan. Read it all here.


The Democrats are the party of slavery and were the party that started every war in the 20th century, except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal income taxes, not one but two World Wars, Japanese concentration camps, and not one but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan -- all brought to us via the Democrats.

Pardon?

Today is the day that Dick Cheney gets to be President for about two hours when Bush gets his colonoscopy. It has been suggested that Cheney use that window to pardon his former Chief-of-Staff Scooter Libby. That would be delightful. He should do that and also pardon the border agents railroaded by Bush's Texas buddy, Johnny Sutton. The pardons would take about 10 minutes so he would have plenty of time to lob a few missles at Iran.

Hard to take

I just ran across a blog which is really hard to read, but you have to admire the lady. She evidently devotes her life to documenting child abuse and some of her examples will literally make you cry.
You can read it here.

Pit Bull Fighting

If you learn how the main news outlets obscure facts it is possible to see current news events more clearly. The indictment of Mike Vick for his role in a dog-fighting enterprise has forced the TV and newspapers to cover the illegal aspects of the activity. If you listen carefully to these reports you will hear them say dog fights and ownership of pit bulls is prevalent in certain "cultures", associated with drugs, and is glorified by some rap "artists" in the ghetto. You won't hear them come out and report that it is almost entirely a black activity. That wouldn't be politically correct even though it could be beneficial to curbing dog fighting for sport.

Who you gonna believe

Sometimes it confusing when trying to understand what is going on in Iraq. The lefty Senators like Majority Leader Reid say the war is lost and Bush's increase in troop levels which were just reached last month is a failure. Then one reads reports from the military leaders on the ground in Iraq that things are going much better in several sections with greater cooperation from the tribal leaders and their followers. Independent reporters like Mike Yon confirm the military assessment. I can understand how Reid and others might have a political stake in losing this battle in a larger war, but I it is not as clear why the military who are toiling in 125 degree heat would misrepresent the situation by 180 degrees. For this reason, I am going to side with the guys on the ground. The shame is Bush is so completely inept in describing the situation.

And I thought U.S. education was bad

Secondary schools will strip back the traditional curriculum in favour of lessons on debt management, the environment and healthy eating, ministers revealed.

Even Winston Churchill no longer merits a mention after a drastic slimming-down of the syllabus to create more space for "modern" issues.

This is in the U.K. and you can read it here.

Well, that was last week

During the June 28th, Democrat debate, Hillary Clinton said the following: "Nonviolent offenders should not be serving hard time in our prisons. They need to be diverted from our prison system."

In a press release that went out from her camp less than four days after the June 28th debate, Mrs. Bill Clinton said this about Scooter Libby avoiding prison:

"Today's decision is yet another example that this administration simply considers itself above the law. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

More education idiocy

Teachers in public education will quickly proclaim that the added burden and disruptions imposed by the requirement that children with disabilities be put into classes with more normal students is a big factor for their failure to meet expectations. I think this is a big factor and these students should be largely excluded when they adversely impact the overall teaching effort. Parents of such students would object, but the greater good should prevail. Anyway, there are efforts afoot to give some relief in this regard. Here in Georgia, vouchers have been authorized for parents of children with disabilities to utilize private schools which might have smaller classes, better trained teachers, etc. Many of these private schools have applied to be included in the program. Even though in many cases if just one student from a classroom was removed to a private program, the improvement in the teaching atmosphere would improve exponentially. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, not to our teachers. They are fighting it because it might be a slippery slope to a broader use of vouchers which might, of course, lead to everyone knowing how big a failure public education is in Georgia. Pathetic.

Subsidies

The next time you look at your tax return think of farm subsidies. Farmers have been pocketing $20 billion a year in tax payer handouts for such things as corn which brings $4 per bushel which is double that of 2005. These farmers get 1/2 of all farm subsidies. Another travesty is the sugar program. This program keeps the price of sugar artificially high and costs us $1.9 billion per year. More than 1/2 of it goes to the wealthiest 1% of our plantation owners.
All of the recipients of farm subsidies are not farmers, per se. Among corporations which receive them are ExxonMobile, Chevron, International Paper, and Caterpillar. The farm lobby in Washington is pretty effective.

Medical Terrorists

For some reason the media seems not to be able to grasp the fact that several of the terrorists recently arrested in England for a botched bomb plot were physicians. Since I have had over 30 years of close contact with thousands of medical students it is not all that surprising to me. I have found many truly brilliant and dedicated students in our medical school and in fact most of them were as talented as the the selection process intended. However, I have also known liars, cheats, nymphomaniacs, sociopaths, and if you told me a latent terrorist was in there, I could easily believe it. A southern state medical school, however, is less likely to have a terrorist than a country with socialized medicine who can't attract enough people to the profession because of limitations placed on their income and stature in society. To satisfy their medical staffing requirements they have to recruit large numbers of foreign doctors and the fact that most are Islamic is proving unfortunate for the U.K.

Hormones

I had a research project a few years ago that involved hormonal effects on an infectious disease that I established in animals. Before it was concluded I was convinced that hormones and their myriad affects are exceedingly tricky and long accepted beliefs are quite possibly wrong. What reminded me of this was an article today which reviewed other reports I have read recently which disputed the conclusions reached in 2002 with respect to risk associated with treating menopausal symptoms with estrogen. Back then we read that there was an increased risk of cardiovascular incidents in women who used estrogen. Now it is recognized that the analysis of the data was flawed to the extent that age was not taken into proper account. Now the conclusion--from the same data--is that for women in the age range of 50-59 there is a 30% lower risk of dying if estrogen is taken with progestin. Older women do in fact have a greater risk from the same drugs. This is just another example of why I question every single report of scientific research I read--especially in the lay press.

It is just outrageous

The loonies are just irate that Scooter Libby will spend the same amount of time in prison for lying under oath to a federal grand jury as Bill Clinton did for lying under oath to a federal grand jury.

A message from Zawahiri

Here is a quote from the latest message sent by Ayman Zawahiri, the number 2 man in al Qaeda. As many of us have suspected, the dems are making the terrorists happy.

"You must be patient and steadfast." "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."

Flags in Minnesota

I just read in the Wall Street Journal that Minnesota has passed a law that makes it a crime punishable by a fine of $1,000 and 90 days in jail to sell a U.S. flag made somewhere other than the U.S. Since the Supreme Court has ruled that you can't ban or at least punish flag burners, it now possible to burn a flag made in the U.S. and go to jail for selling one made in Shanghai. Ain't this a great country?

New terror worries

It seems to me the recent attempts to set off car bombs in London and Glascow may signal a move to less ambitious plots which would be easier to bring off and thereby harder to preempt. The overall consequence of a single Islamic idiot throwing a hand grenade into a crowded mall is potentially enormous. If that happened, of course, it would be protrayed gleefully by the loony leftists as a Bush failure to keep us safe.

For the record

Democrats in the new leadership of the House said they would work 5 days a week now that they were in control. Well, so far, they have done so on six of the 21 weeks. Better than I would have thought when one considers the usual promise record of politicians.

Integration Outrage

The liberals are just outraged that the Supreme Court took a tiny step toward agreeing with the law of the land that you can't discriminate on the basis of race. This is very confusing to me. The Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP and all their loony left newspapers seem to feel that little black kids can't learn anything unless they are forced into a classroom with little white kids. This is in spite of several decades of evidence that forced integration has not resulted in any great educational benefit. My gut feeling is no kid learns a whole lot in a modern day classroom vis a vis "the old days", but I am almost certain they don't learn anything riding in a bus.

What makes this situation all the more puzzling is how the races segregate themselves when given an opportunity. I saw one of those shows on prisons in the U.S. the other day and the minute prisoners get locked up they group up into racial packs. Blacks with blacks, Asians with Asians, Latinos and whites in their separate groups. Now I am reading that blacks out in California are demanding and getting separate graduation ceremonies from universities. Seems like integration is only really important in public schools. It is all very strange.

Air Safety

Reading about the terrorists activity in Europe today reminded me of a recent transatlantic flight we made on British Air. We were in a 767 seated in a cabin just behind first class. This was called something like enhanced economy and we did have larger seats and more room. There were about 12 rows of us in this cabin and our rest room was toward the rear of the plane, just behind a curtain in front of another cabin which was regular economy. Just outside the rest room was an exit door and thus a little area where you can stand and stretch or just wait for the rest room to be vacated. I get antsy on long flights, so I often like to stand and stretch and since I am an old man I probably use the facilities more than younger males. At any rate, I was standing in this area and found myself looking back over the cabin. The interior lights were dimmed and as I looked over the cabin, most people were either asleep, reading or watching their little entertainment screen. Everyone, that is, but one man sitting on an isle seat about mid-way back in the cabin. He was interested in one thing and one thing only. That was me standing by that exit door. I think he was working on that flight and I was glad to see him doing what I imagine good air marshalls do.

Spending your money

Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey, was in Corning Wednesday morning at the Big Flats Plant Materials Center to annouce the award of nearly $20 million in Conservation Innovation Grants to fund 51 research projects across the country designed to refine new technologies helping dairy and other agricultural producers cut back on their greenhouse emissions and cash in on governmental incentives for the research.

One million dollars of those grants will come to New York State.

The U.S.D.A. is now taking applications from large dairy farms across the state who want to participate.

The agency reports that cow and hog manure produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas.

The main focus of the grant-funded research in New York State would be to tarp off areas where farmers dump cow manure, commonly called manure lagoons. Researchers would then prevent those gases from entering the atmosphere, measure how many units are produced, and farmers would receive cash incentives, called "Carbon Credits," for each unit produced. They would also receive annual payments for use of their properties.

You can read the whole article here, but it gives new meaning to the term "hog-wash".

Political Lesson

The boondoggle immigration bill is dead and it is a great day for America. Voters shut down the Senate phone system, but they got the message anyway.

Ridiculous enough for you yet?

Scientist Implicates Worms in Global Warming

Jim Frederickson, the research director at the Composting Association has called for data on worms and composting to be re-examined after a German study found that worms produce greenhouse gases 290 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Worms are being used commercially to compost organic material and is in preference to putting it into the landfill. The German government wants 45% of all waste to be composted by 2015. "Everybody... thinks they can do no harm but they contribute to global warming. People are looking into alternative waste treatments but we have to make sure that we are not jumping from the frying pan into the fire," said Frederickson.

Need Cash?

I was just watching a program on my DVR and a commercial came on offering to lend you money with a phone call. Then as I quickly raced through the commercial as I always do, the small print disclosure which always goes past too fast to actually read caught my eye and I backed up and paused to read it. The company is Cash Call and it says if you borrow a typical $2600 and pay them back with 42 monthly payments of $216.55, the APR for the loan is 99.25%. That is accurate.

If you want to get in on this great deal, call 877-890-CASH or call me and I will only charge you $200/month.

Another Iraq Report from Michael Yon

These reports from the front lines in Iraq are unique. I just sent him a contribution since that is his only source of support.

Gay Pride?

I just saw on the news that this is "Gay Pride " month. Every month has to be something, I guess, but I am confused by this one. I thought one took pride in something accomplished, usually through admirable effort and/or perseverence. Since one is supposedly gay by accident of birth and gene assortment, it seems strange to be proud of sexuality. That seems no more a feat than being red headed.

CNN finds al Qaeda

I just ran across this little story from CNN. Before long the loony leftists in the Dem party are going to have to drop their call for us to get out of Iraq because we need to go where the terrorists are.

Iraq war being waged----at last

Here is a timely report on the war in Iraq.

Another Boring Interview?

A Contrary View

For those who are interested in the religion which is known as "global warming", here is a scientifically based article which summarizes a contrary view and warns of global cooling by 2020.

No surprise

When D.A. Nifong charged the 3 Duke athletes with rape the New York Times had their pictures on the front page and a damning editorial at the ready. When Nifong was disbarred for unethical behavior the article was on page 16.

Delayed Gratification

The older I get the more often I see that what passes for life's success and failures or deficiencies is ultimately based on choices, but many times the choice is between doing something now or some better time in the future. There are lots of examples. Sex at the wrong time and with the wrong person, for example. Getting an education through applied studying and due diligence can obviously affect how successful one is. Having fun in college is great unless it prevents you from accomplishing what you should be there for. You can have a lot of fun later if you have a good job and money coming in every month. Family timing is important. Have a family too soon and there can be a profound and lingering effect on subsequent financial health. Retirement is just a whole lot more fun and a lot less stressful if you have delayed some gratification by saving enough money to spend later in life. These are the big examples, but there are a lot of smaller ones as well. Some big time athletes get huge contracts and lots of money to go with minimal common sense and risk it all by deciding for example that despite contracts to the contrary they have to buy a motorcycle. Ben Rothlisberger, for example. Several professional golfers have lost irreplaceable productive months and years from injuries while skiing and snow-boarding. Ernie Els and Chris DiMarco come to mind here.

I guess the other side of the argument is one should have it all now because tomorrow may not come. If wrong, however, you wind up repenting in leisure.

Energy Legislation

The Alaska pipeline started sending oil down to the lower 48 on June 20, 1977. This pipeline from Prudhoe Bay was criticized by the looney left in the Democrat party at the time as a boondoggle which would bring us just 6 months of oil and devastate our planet for all time with its ecological damage. This is the same drivel that they are offering us now with regard to Anwar oil. The truth, however, is that we have realized 15 billion gallons of oil from the pipeline and there has been no ecological damage whatsoever. The liberal line never changes, however, as can easily be seen by the current legislation being debated in the Senate. There is no provision for new production, no way to encourage new refineries to be built, no encouragement for nuclear power production, but there is a proposal for new taxes on the energy companies which they restrict from meeting our energy demand. As a result, there will be no energy bill this year.

Interesting Statistic

I just ran across an interesting statistic in a Wall Street Journal article this morning. There are currently over 632,000 known fugitive aliens in the U.S. These are persons who have illegally come into the U.S., committed a crime, been found guilty and been released pending appeal of an order that they be deported.

Another one. Of the 15,000 illegal immigrants arrested last year for some criminal infraction, 10,000 were fugitives from deportation orders as described above.

What are we doing about this situation? Well, according to the article, since last October the feds have captured and deported 537 of these fugitives. Here is the math. The number has been reduced to 632,189 from 632,726. That probably doesn't convince you that the promised attention to the illegal fugitive matter in the proposed legislation being promulgated by Bush and Teddy Kennedy will be delivered in fact.

Take your pick

I am reading in the news today that Mike Bloomberg, the liberal mayor of New York City has renounced his voter affilliation and is now unaffiliated rather than a Republican. There is growing expectations that the billionaire may decide to spend some of that money to run for President. This could give us the once in a lifetime opportunity to choose which New York liberal we want to vote for. Take your pick: Clinton, Guiliani, or Bloomberg. Beam me up, Scottie.

Another snippet from Mark Steyn

This is just a small part of another great essay by Mark Steyn. Read it all.

There are immigration laws on the books right now, aren't there? Why not try enforcing them? The same people who say that government is a mighty power for good that can extinguish every cigarette butt and detoxify every cheeseburger and even change the very climate of the planet back to some Edenic state so that the water that falleth from heaven will land as ice and snow, and polar bears on distant continents will frolic as they did in days of yore, the very same people say: Building a border fence? Enforcing deportation orders? Can't be done, old boy. Pie-in-the-sky.

The proper intellectual level

I just read that some 4th graders have now issued a global warming report.

That is about the same level of scientific sophistication that I have seen in similar analyses of the subject.

Homework

Here is a research project for the coming weeks. As you read the reports from the Mid-east and the civil war involving Hamas and Fatah, pay attention to the way it is described by the looney left in the nation's largest newspapers and wire services. If you pay close attention you will notice the casualties are described as "people". Once you have established that nobody in specific terms is affected by the war, go back and read the recent reports from the Israel incursion into Lebanon. There, you will find, the casualties are babies, civilians, women and children, non-combatants and the buildings affected were schools and hospitals as well as the houses of poor peasants.

If your results are as I suspect, you will find there are no innocent victims of the carnage being wrought by Iran's surrogates in Gaza and the West Bank as they fight Fatah. If Israel decides it doesn't want and can't tolerate an enemy state on its border in Gaza and takes retaliatory measures to counter rocket fire into its cities, the result will be reported as a form of genocide by the heartless Jews.

Trust me

1. Of course I will respect you in the morning.

2. The check is in the mail.

3. Islam is a religion of peace.

4. We will really enforce border security this time.

I thought mine was the worst

I just ran across an article which purports to list the 10 worst jobs in science. After checking to see if Microbiology Professor in a medical school was listed, I read about some which really do seem to be pretty sorry. Here is the worst according to the article which you can read here.

“The worst was at a factory pig farm,” says Steven M. Barsky, the author of Diving in High-Risk Environments, the industry bible for hazardous-materials divers. “A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, the farmer had dumped all the needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones in there.” Someone had to recover the body, and the task fell to commercial hazmat divers.

The Coburn Solution

When the Dems were campaigning last Fall in congressional races across the country, they rightly pointed to the corruption by Republicans in Congress and the need to clean up practices such as earmarks which allowed funding for "bridges to nowhere" in Alaska. Nancy Pelosi pledged to "make this the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history." Well, after only 6 months that seems to be an empty promise--- similar to the pledge to work 5 days a week. With regard to earmarks, David Obey, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee has decided that the membership has no need to actually know about and vote on those special little projects inserted into spending bills. He will now take all 32,000 of them and decide later which ones will be funded. As we consider this, we should remember that the crooked Republicans were thrown out for funding 14,000 of these earmarks. Anyway, congressional spending practices seem to be the same or worse than when the Dems were elected last Fall. While we wait for Nancy Pelosi to decide whether she wants to honor her word or impose discipline on her legislative body, we can watch Tom Coburn in the Senate. Senator Coburn says that unless something is done about earmarks we should remember that any one member of the Senate can prevent spending bills from going to conference to resolve differences in the House and Senate. If there is anyone in America who doesn't think that there is one member who will excercise his perogative in this regard, they don't know Senator Coburn. This should be fun.

In a related development, there is a paper pledge in the House with enough Republicans signed on to sustain any veto by President Bush of a spending bill which exceeds his budget. This is a shaky proposition since the Republicans could go wobbly if one of their pet boondoggles is threatened, but it may help some.

Trust Me

Bush, McCain, and Kennedy want us to let them pass amnesty in the current farce called an immigration bill and trust them to enforce border security even though they haven't done so despite current law for over 20 years. How about this. Secure the border and we promise to revisit the amnesty question in a few years if you actually do it.

Wish I had thought of it

I just heard those tatoos on a woman's lower back called "tramp stamps". Hard to argue with that.

The dem view

Again from Mark Steyn:

A few days ago, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, declared:

"This week we will vote on cloture and final passage of a comprehensive bill that will strengthen border security, bring the 12 million undocumented Americans out of the shadows, and keep our economy strong."

So, according to Reid, they are already Americans and now we just need to get the documents in order.

More on immigration

From Mark Steyn:

Back in the real world, far from those senators living in the nonshadows of their boundless self-admiration, the truth is that America's immigration bureaucracy cannot cope with its existing caseload, and thus will certainly be unable to cope with millions of additional teeming hordes tossed into its waiting room.

Currently, the time in which an immigration adjudicator is expected to approve or reject an application is six minutes. That's not enough time to read the basic form, never mind any supporting documentation. Under political pressure to "bring the 12 million undocumented Americans out of the shadows," the immigration bureaucracy will rubber-stamp gazillions of applications for open-ended probationary legal status within 24 hours and with no more supporting documentation than a utility bill or an affidavit from a friend. There's never been a better time for Mullah Omar to apply for U.S. residency.

Remember the 1986 amnesty? Mahmoud abu Halima applied for it and went on to bomb the World Trade Center seven years later. His colleague, Mohammad Salameh, was rejected but carried on living here anyway. John Lee Malvo was detained and released by U.S. immigration in breach of its own procedures and re-emerged as the Washington sniper. The young Muslim men who availed themselves of the U.S. government's "visa express" system for Saudi Arabia filled in joke applications – "Address in the United States: HOTEL, AMERICA" – that octogenarian snowbirds from Toronto who've been wintering at their Florida condos since 1953 wouldn't try to get away with. The late Mohammed Atta received his flight-school student visa on March 11, 2002, six months to the day after famously flying his first and last commercial airliner.

All the above passed through the legal immigration system. Whether they were detained, rejected, approved or posthumously approved, in the end it made no difference. Because U.S. immigration had no real idea who these men were.

But, don't worry, they'll be able to handle another "12 million undocumented Americans" tossed in for express processing.

The real "immigration fraud" is not Mahmoud abu Halima's or John Lee Malvo's or Mohammed Atta's, but that of the politicians who attempted to foist this sham bill on the nation.

Enforcement Now

Since the Bush administration thinks we are all as dumb as a sack of hammers, they keep trying to convince us that the border enforcement in the current bill is so solid and we can rely on its implementation so firmly that the amnesty aspects which start immediately should be accepted. That is hogwash and we all know it.

1. If all these enforcement measures are so wonderful, why not enact just them and drop the questionable legalization part? Bush is holding the parts of the bill everyone says they want hostage to the parts he wants.

2. If we tried the enforcement parts first, then we wouldn't have to trust the federal government. We could make sure the measures work before we go ahead with legalization (and attract a new wave of legalization-seeking illegals).

We need more money

Anytime someone criticizes the abject failure of the educational establishment in the U.S. there is an inevitable reply that we just need to spend more money and everything will get better. This is, of course, utter nonsense and now and then there is a report which makes this painfully obvious. Today's comes in the form of an article in the Washington Post which makes the point again that the schools in Washington, D.C. are the worst in the nation. This is actually common knowledge and the following paragraph from the column speaks to the money issue. Read the whole thing here.

The District spends $12,979 per pupil each year, ranking it third-highest among the 100 largest districts in the nation. But most of that money does not get to the classroom. D.C. schools rank first in the share of the budget spent on administration, last in spending on teachers and instruction.

Background Check on Speed

I just learned the bill before the Senate provides for a background check on illegal immigrants before they can be given the stamp of approval for entering the path to citizenship. The bill provides that it be given when the background check is concluded or the next business day--whichever comes first. As Tammy Bruce points out, it takes longer for her vet to check her cats fecal sample.

Buffett on Corn

Here is another opinion of Warren Buffett at his most recent investor's meting.

"I think the idea of running vehicles on corn is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Governments, under pressure, do crazy things, but this is among the dumbest. Raise the cost of food so you can run these autos about? You use up justa bout as much hydrocarbons making ethanol as it produces, and its cost doesn't even factor in the loss of topsoil. "

Legislative Records

I am getting fed up with liberal columnists analyzing Fred Thompson's record in the Senate and never failing to make the point that there is no legislation bearing his name. That is true, but where is a similar admission that the same can be said of Hillary Clinton?

Sewage Problem in Gaza

This is an informative analysis of the sewage problems in the Gaza strip as provided by Opinion Journal.

"Further deadly sewage floods are feared after a wave of stinking waste and mud from a collapsed septic pool inundated a Gaza village, killing five people, including two babies," the Associated Press reports:

The collapse has been blamed on residents stealing sand from an embankment.

It highlighted the desperate need to upgrade Gaza's overloaded, outdated infrastructure--but aid officials say construction of a modern sewage treatment plant has been held up by constant Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

The report gets a bit more specific as to the meaning of "constant Israeli-Palestinian fighting":

Umm Naser is about 300 metres [300 million microns] from the border with Israel, in an area where Palestinians have frequently launched rockets into Israel and Israeli artillery and aircraft have fired back. The situation worsened after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier last June in a cross-border raid, and Israel responded by invading northern Gaza.

The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this month that metal provided by Israel had been used in the construction of those terrorist rockets. And why was Israel selling the Palestinians metal? "For the construction of a sewage system in Gaza."

Palestinian babies drown in sewage because of the bloodlust of Palestinian grown-ups. What a fetid political culture.

Buffett's Analysis

He is a hopeless liberal, but he is also the most accomplished investor of all time. Warren Buffett, the famous head of Berkshire holds a meeting of his investors each year in Omaha, Nebraska. During this meeting, he answers all relevant questions regarding the fund he and Charlie Munger manage. One question he always gets since he is getting up near 80, is who is going to be his successor. His answer was longer, but within the answer he said Mozart was approached by a young man who said he wanted to write symphonies also and Mozart told him he was too young. "But you were young when you started." Mozart agreed, but pointed out that, "Yes, but I was not asking anyone for advice on how to do it".

Sigheh

I just learned about the Shia Muslim tradition of temporary marriage, or sigheh, which allows a man and a woman in Iran to marry for a set period of time, ranging from an hour to 99 years. This is evidently a common thing in Iran where the young men have a hard time finding sufficient work to support a wife and needs to relieve sexual tension. My source did not reveal the average time period requested for sigheh, but I suspect there aren't many 99 year arrangements.

More Bush idiocy

Continuing with the Bush is an idiot theme I recently adopted, I just read that Bush recommended a 3% across the board increase in military pay and the dems in Congress raised that to 3.5%. The White House is now fighting that instead of making it 4% with a firm resolve to keep moving the number to a point where the liberals cave. Surely Bush is not going to choose military pay to make a stand on spending.

Catching Up 2

It was fun to see the so-called global warming situation from the European point of view. As has been most apparent, the European politicians have their panties in a wad because Bush won't destroy our economy by adopting policies which reduce carbon dioxide release here when India and China and others would not be required to participate. The goal, of course, is not to reduce pollution which we should all embrace, or to reduce our dependence on unreliable sources of oil, which is also desirable. The loony socialists in Europe want to prevent the globe from getting warmer even though there is no good scientific evidence which supports the proposition that this would be necessary or even possible. There is not even evidence that our carbon output is more important in this regard than cow farts.

At any rate, we had a young guide in London who was lamenting the fact that the summers in London had been hotter in the past few years. She said we had to do something about her resulting discomfort. Much of this concern could be related to the lack of air conditioning in much of London and she was 50 pounds overweight. On the other hand, a much different perspective was noted in Lithuania. There the guide observed that the winters in that country had been much less severe than in the past and she was not at all upset by this.

So, as BestView has noted in several rantings in the past, there could well be a warming similar to that has occurred at previous times and the consequence of this is not something which can be categorically described in positive and negative terms.

Catching Up 1

Just back from a couple of weeks in Europe and find the political situation has turned most interesting. First, it seems that Bush is now exceeding his misadventures with the Farm Program, the expanded involvement by the feds in education, a new Medicare entitlement program, the Harriet Meirs nomination, the incompetence of the FEMA after Katrina, and is now calling his last few remaining supporters (his base) names and denigrating their opposition to the Immigration legislation drafted with Ted Kennedy. One can only conclude that Bush's long-standing critics were right and he really is an idiot. My two votes for Bush can still be supported by a firm conclusion that Gore and Kerry would have been worse.

Properly British

We are about to conclude a tour of London and it has been fun. The British are really quite proper and we enjoyed the experience. They use words like "whilst" and "way out" instead of while and exit, but that is sort of quaint. We were much impressed that the young people over here have more sense than ours and have avoided the tatoos and piercings which are so common in the U.S. If the dollar rallies against the pound one of these days, or we hit the lottery, it would be fun to come back.

Weak dollar? I would say so.

We made it to London and even had lunch at Herrods. I ordered a Reuben and Diet coke which came to 17.5 pounds or $44 Americn. My bride hasn't revived yet.

Just wondering

Before I leave for Europe, where the loony climate change fringe resides en masse, there is a question I hope to ask someone over there who thinks we must change our climate. It goes something like this---"Do you think anyone knows what the temperature of earth should be?"

Off to Europe

BestView is going to several countries in Europe over the next 3 weeks. If the Islamic fanatics don't blow up my airplane or subway car in London, we should resume blogging after June 3.

Maybe it is a mental illness

The following is from an essay by Dr. Sowell: Read it all.

That people on the political left have a certain set of opinions, just as people do in other parts of the ideological spectrum, is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how often the opinions of those on the left are accompanied by hostility and even hatred.

How often have you seen conservatives or libertarians take to the streets, shouting angry slogans? How often have conservative students on campus shouted down a visiting speaker or rioted to prevent the visitor from speaking at all?

Dream Election

The presidential election news lately has Newt and Mayor Bloomberg considering a run in the wide open 2008 election. Evidently, a Bloomberg and Hagel ticket is being slobbered over in the New York press. We even have polls showing that Bloomberg is considered a better mayor than Guiliani was. If I could ordain a Bloomberg/Hagel ticket as independents, Clinton/Obama for the dem ticket, and Gingrich/Guiliani (or vice versa) for the Republicans, I would say bring 'em on.

Berrnard Lewis on Iraq

Here is a nice summary by a Middle Eastern Studies authority on the Iraq situation. After quickly summarizing the historical events which got Islam and the rest of us to this point, Lewis makes the critical point that our enemy in this conflict--radical Islam--knows this is a generational battle and we have no apparent ability to get focused on anything beyond the next election. Here is a sample:

Having “destroyed the stronger and more deadly superpower,”the Soviet Union, “the effeminate American Empire is not a problem.” Bin Laden attacked U.S. installations in 1998 with impunity. Americans responded with “angry words” followed by “let’s get out of here.” This attitude began in 1983 Beirut after the U.S. Marine compound was destroyed and 241 U.S. Marines were killed, repeated in Somalia in 1994. Bin Laden’s attacks on American interests continued throughout the 1990’s, culminating with September 11, 2001, when Bin Laden opened the third phase - bringing his Jihad to America.

Turning to Iraq, Lewis suggests a number of views - one reflected in the media, which is of a “continuing disaster,” and another which comes to Lewis from his personal friends in Iraq who “report positive developments.” A third view, Lewis claims, is that “most of Iraq is functioning rather well.” As he ended his prepared remarks, Lewis surprised everyone by expressing “cautious optimism” regarding Iraq. Lewis credited President Bush for being “tough and consistent” in Iraq and ridiculed the attitudes of congressional Democrats who oppose the Iraq war and who are saying: “Unless we win the war by next Tuesday, we are done.”

Don't even think it?

Just ran across this little essay on 5 things you can't say in America and it contains some of the same things I have long held to be unfortunate taboos. I could add some to this list, but Hawkins makes a nice start. I am not too sure about Israel running the Arabs off the land, but something needs to be done over there. You can't just keep doing the same thing over and over with the expectation that things will be different next time.
When I get time I will add some items relating to education that should be in this list.

A major injustice

"I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted. I don't deserve this."

So spoke Paris of the Hilton clan after being sentenced to jail for 45 days. I agree with the second sentence. She doesn't deserve 45 days. She should sit in jail until she gets walking around sense. Wear your underwear in there, Paris. What a moron.

Resistant TB strains

From a Washington Post article today. We should keep this in mind when evaluating how many and who is entering the U.S. today.

A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.

Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them.

At least 50 percent of those who contract this strain of TB will die of it, according to medical experts. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which can be transmitted through coughing, spitting or even speaking, health officials have imposed sometimes extreme controls on infected people.

Fair and Balanced

BestView is pretty consistent in its opinion that liberals offer very little in the way of improving our life on earth. When something comes up which seems to make more sense than the right wing position, however, it should be mentioned. I have a brother-in-law who just retired as a Republican congressman after 20 years. Over that time, he has voted mostly as one would expect a conservative to vote. However, over that period of time, I have noticed that he has also developed a paternalistic attitude about the role of government in the affairs of citizens which he will not allow one to question. As a former academic, I enjoy debating subjects even if I am not especially well grounded in the area since I at least have a chance of learning something. This brother-in-law and many other people I have met over the years do not enjoy such give and take and I can live with that.
Recently, I asked this relative how he voted on the measure passed in September which banned the use of credit cards to pay for any form of gambling on the internet which involved a "game of chance". His reply was quite vigorous in proclaiming that he had voted for the ban because the internet is addictive and gambling is addictive and it is therefore necessary for the good politicians in Washington to watch out for us and protect us from our lesser inclinations. I knew immediately that there was no sense in taking this any further. For one thing, I am blessed with four brothers-in-law and 2 of them know less about the internet than I know about grand opera. He is one of them. I already knew that I was considerably more libertarian than he, so the subject was dropped. This attitude, by the way, is about the only thing the liberals have in the way of an argument for abortion. They feel that there is no role for the government to interfere with a woman's right to decide when and how to kill her baby. If there weren't a dead baby at the end of the process, they would have a great argument.
Back to gambling on the internet. There is a large and growing body of evidence--scientific-- that poker is not a game of chance, which is what gambling is. It is a game of skill. It should be mentioned here that the exceptions to the use of the internet in gambling are horse racing and stock trading. Poker is at least as much a game of skill as betting on horse races, but that is the kind of idiotic result you get from politicians who try to control human activities.
Barney Frank, the Chair of the House Financial Services has introduced a bill to overturn the ban on internet gambling and add controls. This could be the first thing he and I ever agreed upon. Furthermore, one of the biggest liberals in Congress (and also one of the most irritating) is Robert Wexler of Florida. He is also introducing legislation to declare poker a skill and allow it to be conducted on the internet.
When the liberals are right about something, they deserve to have it pointed out. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be a regular activity here on BestView.

Understanding Islam

If you want to really understand the way it is in the world today with respect to our enemy in what I consider a long war, you need to carefully read the words of Mark Steyn. Here is one of a long list of columns he has published which explain the situation in a way that everyone can learn from. The problem is getting liberals to acknowledge reality. Until they do, we will be doomed to their politically correct world. Read it all here.

Dems hide fairly thin

This is a good editorial discussing some recent criticism leveled by the liberal Washington Post columnist, David Broder, toward Senate Majority Leader Reid.

Guiliani's logic flawed

Rudy was asked recently if he supported the use of public money to fund abortions for the poor. He said that he would if someone would otherwise be deprived of a constitutional right. Aside from the fact that nobody on earth can find anything in the constitution about abortion, there is certainly no implied right to have the public fund the rights that are actually there. For example, if someone says they can't afford a firearm to satisfy their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bare arms, is Rudy going to buy them one?

What you get for $1.6 billion per year

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Read it all here.

More from the phony liberals

First, the whole pack of liberals running for President as dems fly in separate jets to South Carolina to then lecture us about the evils of conservation and pollution. Now the equally blowhard phony Corzine who as Governor of New Jersey decided the laws of the state passed for ordinary taxpayers were not meant for him and so he has his state troopers driving 91 miles per hour on a freeway on the way to a meeting with Don Imus. This was, of course, was without a seatbelt as required by New Jersey law. As he was leaving the hospital following well-deserved medical treatment he apologized for his previous actions and disregard for the law. On the way to the governor's mansion following that apology, his entourage drove about 15 miles over the posted speed limit. Amazing if we weren't expecting such things from them.

A sad situation

Let's assume you have a young daughter with a tumor which has not responded to conventional therapy and the physicians tell you that there is nothing more they do. A small biotechnology company has a compound in developmental research which they hope will treat cancers of this type, but it hasn't been through the required process to get FDA approval and hasn't even been shown to be effective at a given dose or age group.
As a Father you contact the company and beg for the drug to treat your daughter even though you know the outcome may not be positive and the drug itself may be too toxic and could cause an acceleration of her demise. What do you do if you are running the company? The only way you can develop the drug for FDA approval is through controlled studies of appropriate patients. If you give the drug to patients without the study parameters being established, you could forfeit the potential to develop the drug for numerous other patients.
This situation in various forms is facing parents and companies every day and a decision on the best way to handle requests for drugs prior to FDA approval is an ongoing ethical problem.

The devil is named real estate

There seems to be a gathering storm around the activities of several Congressmen in the general area of real estate transactions gone criminal. Most seem to be Republicans like Renzi of Arizona who might join some of their colleagues in jail, but Senator Reid and former Speaker Hastert also have smelly associations which don't seem to be as actively investigated as some of the others. Congressman Jefferson evidently took a bribe for a non-real estate activity and Barack Obama has a slimy association in Chicago which is almost unavoidable for a politician from Illinois, I suppose. I am about ready to conclude that any Congressman involved in a real estate deal while in office or soon thereafter is is probably a crook.

Supreme Court lets phonies down

Thomas Carper, the low-profile junior senator from Delaware, tries to walk the middle of the road on abortion. He was rated at 55 percent pro-choice by NARAL in 2006, but he was one of the 17 Democrats who voted to ban partial birth abortion three years earlier. Carper said after the court upheld the 2003 bill: "I think a number of people who voted for it thought that the court would ultimately strike it down."
There is something very smarmy about voting for a bill that you think is unconstitutional in the hope that you can have your cake and eat it too when the Supreme Court knocks it down. And to be bipartisan, plenty of Republicans, including President Bush, did that with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as McCain-Feingold.
This is from a good post by Betsy.

Mike Nifong's Fate

An interesting side issue in the Mike Nifong saga with prosecutorial misconduct is the manner in which the panel now hearing his case decides the matter. Ordinarily, a bunch of lawyers trying to decide if another lawyer did something unethical would be laughable since the likelihood of them doing something as extraordinary as taking away a license to practice would be beyond the pale. (The same situation would apply to physicians, by the way). This case, however, is so public that it might be argued that it is impossible for Mike to get a fair hearing. Obviously, those lawyers on the panel deciding his fate do not want to be the subject of numerous newspaper and television second-guessing. I predict that in this case, the light shining on the case might actually bring about partial justice and Nifong will lose his license, but won't go to prison where he belongs.

Misplaced Concern

Liberals all have their panties in a wad about the Supreme Court decision regarding partial birth abortion. Actually this was an almost meaningless act since women can still go in after the 5th month and have their cervix dilated so scissors can be used to cut the baby into little pieces and then taken out bit by bit. These leftist loonies can therefore continue to dispatch innocent babies while at the same time they object to any method of capital punishment because it is inhumane and could theoretically cause temporary pain to a convicted piece of scum.

A sensible response to Virginia Tech

NASHVILLE — In a surprise move, a House panel voted today to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments — including parks and playgrounds.

"I think the recent Virginia disaster — or catastrophe or nightmare or whatever you want to call it — has woken up a lot of people to the need for having guns available to law-abiding citizens," said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. "I hope that is what this vote reflects."

The saddest aspect of the Imus affair

We have already had way too much said about the Imus comment and its aftermath, but the most consequential aspect is not that a liberal jerk who provided a national format for liberal politicians and their press shills lost his program. The saddest part is the usage of the term "ho." Imus did not originate the term. Ho is a derivation of whore and it was first used by black men and even today is used primarily to refer to black women, mostly young black women. As has been made obvious in the Imus mess, this is a derogatory way to refer to these young women and all of them do not deserve it. It seems to me, however, that the situation is in some part caused by the extent to which far too many young black women permit black men to use them sexually and then have their babies, sans marriage or subsequent support, without consequence. They may not be whores in the strictest sense, but this situation certainly doesn't allow them to command respect and avoid demeaning references.

The story behind the lost line item veto

In 1996 the Republican party kept its word and gave President Clinton the line item veto. One of the first times he used it, he struck down a special interest provision which allowed New York hospitals a unique right to bilk Medicare out of extra money. The veto saved at least $200 million that year, but this was challenged in court and went all the way to the Supreme Court which put the kibosh on the veto authority in 1998. As Paul Harvey says, and now for the rest of the story. It turns out the guy who helped stall this powerful tool for controlling spending was none other than Rudy Giuliani who is now busy touting his "fiscally conservative" governing background. The Republican campaign should be fun when things like this are pointed out.

My, how the "Times" has changed

In 1909 the New York Times in an editorial opposing the income tax stated the following: "When men get in the habit of helping themselves to the property of others, they cannot be easily cured of it."

Curious speech

I just returned from a week where I was in crowds of people of different racial and cultural backgrounds from those I usually encounter. One thing that struck me during this exposure was the wide-spread use of "ja know what I mean?" in almost every sentence during almost all conversations I overheard. I presume this is an extension of the previous verbal assault "you know" which became a common source of lingual criticism and derision.

My question concerns the origin of this practice. So far I have come up with two possibilities. The first is the individual has no confidence in his or her ability to communicate effectively and just wants some assurance that all the words actually mean something. The second is the person speaking has no confidence that the person being addressed is smart enough to understand the spoken words. In either case, a desire for reassurance by constantly asking "you know what I mean?" makes sense, but the deficiencies implied are not particularly flattering.

Schools take on a new task

Despite proving themselves the biggest failure in modern America our public schools have decided that it now up to them to undertake an effort to assure that our students which they can't educate properly get the proper nutrition and watch their weight. More and more schools are undertaking the job of putting the child's body mass index on the report cards and writing letters to parents of students who they consider too heavy. This comes at a time when these same schools are eliminating activities at what once was called "recess" because things like tag and dodge ball are not politically correct.
Finally, when you question the education establishment about their failure to educate, a common excuse is the teachers have too many distractions like paperwork, reports to the government, mandated testing, etc. The logic of any suggestion that teachers work to improve their primary mission before undertaking new ones is probably not going to be appreciated.

Chirac exits stage left

Jacques Chirac has finally exited the world stage and thus the President of France ends a career as the world's biggest liberal. In this country, we all know that the libs want to raise taxes on everyone that is rich enough to pay them. That is chump change to our man Chirac. His biggest disappointment as President came when he failed in his effort to tax everyone in the world. He wanted every country in the world to put a tax on air fares and give the money to some idiotic organization like the U.N. to improve the environment or some other nonsensical project. The sad aspect of Chirac's leaving is the French will not improve in their next selection.

Unintended consequences

The obvious efforts of Speaker Pelosi to establish her own foreign policy is being criticized by even such liberal rags as the Washington Post and U.S. Today. Despite this response to her Syrian diplomacy, it may be that hubris will not allow her to rein in her concept of her role in the Constitutional process. Should she continue with her anti-Bush end-runs, it just might make the electorate even more reluctant to entrust our government to Hillary. If Ms Rodham comes to a similar conclusion, it will be interesting to watch how this threat is obviated. Watch your back, Nancy.

The Logan Act still on the books

Does this apply to Speaker Pelosi and other members of Congress--Republican or Democrat? Probably, but it doesn't make any difference. Bush has amply demonstrated that he has no intention of enforcing the law. Witness the Sandy Burger case, illegal immigrants, etc. The entire article is here.

The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States."

The British get their troops but lose pride

As mentioned in a previous entry to this enlightened blog, the timidity of the British in their response to the outrageous retention of their military personnel by the Iranians is really sad. The country which once ruled the high seas now cowers and runs to the U.N. in the face of a true assault on their sovereignty.
Jonah Goldberg writes about the sorry state of U.K. affairs here. Read it all.

Coming here next?

The following is from England, but how long before our teachers catch up? Read it all.

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.