Iraq and terrorists

Revisionists are upset that President Bush linked Saddam Hussein's Iraq to the War on Terror. Here is a little reminder for those who don't remember.

Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas died in American custody in Iraq last week, apparently of natural causes. According to a news release from the Coalition Joint Task Force in the Iraqi capitol, "U.S. forces have held Abbas since he was captured in Baghdad on April 14, 2003." His path into American hands illustrates why Operation Iraqi Freedom was and is an indispensable part of the War on Terror.

Abu Abbas masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, off the Egyptian and Israeli coasts. Four Palestinian terrorists boarded the luxury liner that October 7 and held some 400 passengers hostage for 44 hours. They segregated Jews on board, then selected one for special treatment. Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old retiree and stroke victim from New York City, was shot to death, then thrown into the Mediterranean with his wheelchair.

But Ted Kennedy will tell you Iraq didn't become a haven for terrorists until we went there.

More important than whether Iraq had any involvement in 11 September 2001 was ensuring they could not contribute to a future attack on a much greater scale than 9/11. The facts are that Saddam long supported terrorist activity and wanted revenge on the U.S. for leading the coalition that tossed him out of Kuwait. Additionally, the people opposed to ensuring our safety conveniently forget that Hussein never fully complied with the terms for ending the first Gulf War.

Have to admire Congressman King

This is pretty funny. Some goofs write to their congressman (Peter King r-NY). Unlike most politicians he actually read their letters and fired off responses. The constituents were upset with his tone and went to the newspapers to complain. All they accomplished was making themselves look nutty in their local newspaper. Listen to what one lady had to say:

Borecky, of Merrick, said the tone of King's letter was unwarranted and upsetting. "To be honest, it scared me. I just felt, well almost threatened; originally that's what I thought," said Borecky, a registered Democrat who owns a transportation company. "How can a professional congressman write to his constituents like that? I was insulted and I was scared. He mailed it to my home. He knows where I live. I got a little frightened."

I think someone needs her meds adjusted. Anyway, here is King's response:

King said Borecky's concerns are absurd. "I would say she should take a tranquilizer," King said with a chuckle. "I'm the one in public life; I should be scared. I don't know anyone who goes around assassinating constituents." "I think they should be honored they have a congressman who actually listens to them -- even if they are not making sense," King said. "I respond to them and they run crying to the newspapers. It's just like the kid who's a wise punk, then when someone takes a shot at them they go running to the teacher."

Those crying vote fraud are usually the ones committing the fraud

Adults would say, there is something Freudian about the Democrats projecting their own behavior onto their opponents. A child would say, he who smelt it - dealt it. Since the contested election of 2000 (and again after last November) Democrats have made all sorts of unfounded charges of vote fraud throughout the country. However, all the actual instances of fraud uncovered turns out to have been committed by Democrats. Here is the latest:

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A federal jury Wednesday convicted the head of this city's Democratic Party and four others of scheming to buy votes with cash, cigarettes and liquor last November to try to get key Democrats elected.

This story joins the attempts at vote suppression and double voting in Milwaukee, the mess in Washington State, the double voters in Florida (people voting in Florida and by absentee ballot to their homestate).

Making his case

The man called PRONK made his case to be included on the American League All Star team last night. Facing the defending champion Boston Red Sox, whose manager Terry Francona picks All Star reserves, he hit two doubles and a ninth inning Grand Slam.

Because of the teams awful performance in April and early May, I was certain only one Indian would represent Cleveland at the annual All Star game. The bullpen was tremendous early and seemed deserving of recognition. June has changed my thoughts somewhat. The offense has come to life with the installation of Grady Sizemore as the leadoff man. Speaking of Sizemore, he had a rather odd line in the box score from last night scoring 4 runs while going 0 for 3.

Small measure of revenge

Last week Cleveland was riding a 9 game winning streak when Boston came to town. With some help from the Tribe pitching, Boston swept 3 straight. Yesterday the Indians started a 3 game series in Boston by shutting out the Red Sox 7 to nothing.
Currently, these are two teams with very different standards for offensive performance. Mark Bellhorn bats ninth and is in danger of losing playing time due to his low batting average (.231) and penchant for striking out. In Cleveland the clean-up hitter (Martinez) has just gotten his average above Bellhorn's and the third baseman and usual right fielder (Boone and Blake) are hitting well below Bellhorn (.200 and .216 respectively). If Cleveland's overall offensive attack doesn't improve on a consistent basis the team will soon be exposed as pretenders instead of contenders for the Wild Card.

Anyone surprised by this?

Is it even news anymore to find out that a reporter is making stuff up?

A longtime columnist of the Sacramento Bee who resigned amid controversy last month may have invented the existence of 43 people she wrote about over several years, an internal investigation found.

I've read many newspaper articles which contained interviews that seemed to very conveniently match the slant of the article. I always attributed that to an assumption that they did dozens of interviews and just selected the ones supporting their position. Turns out I was wrong. They just make up fictional people and interview them. I suppose it cuts down on the leg work. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I don't think she is the only reporter playing this game.

I suppose I'm just mean

It might make some think I'm a meany, but my first thought on reading this article was I guess he should have paid his bills. My second thought was how much is the son going to sue for his own incompetence.

Is life tenure too long?

Stuart Taylor of National Journal makes a compelling argument for limiting the length of time on the bench for federal judges. However, I disagree with one of his points.

Uglier confirmation battles. Slower turnover has raised the stakes on each new appointment so high as to make confirmation battles even more intense than they would otherwise be. Conservatives hope, and liberals fear, that President Bush may lock in a young, conservative majority that could revolutionize constitutional law for 20 to 40 years. Small wonder that confirmation proceedings have acquired the ugliest, most demagogic trappings of presidential campaigns.

I don't believe the ugliness would be alleviated just by having term limits. The reason the left goes so overboard in demagoging judicial nominees is that liberal judges can enact social change that could never get approved through the legislative process. A case in point is the Massachusetts Supreme Court ordering their state legislature to enact gay marriage legislation.

A second look at Ed Klein's new book

At seeing the inflammatory headlines on Drudge, I denounced the new book by Ed Klein, "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President". My concerns were two-fold. One, I have a dislike of these books attacking politicians on both sides especially if unnamed sources are used. Separately, I believed (correctly) that any hit piece on Hillary Clinton would be spun hard by the media as a right wing attack on her and generate sympathy. John Hawkins at Right Wing News has posted an interview he conducted with Klein. He answers some of the criticisms that have been levied against him and his book. I'm still not likely to read it but maybe some people will give it a second look after reading the interview.

BTK Killer

On TV they are showing the court hearing of Dennis Rader confessing to his various murders. What a sociopath! The first word that comes to mind is "cold." He is calmly and dispassionately explaining how he killed these people. If this nut isn't crazy then the word crazy has no meaning anymore.

Happy Hunting

Now here is a good idea:

A hostage formerly held in Iraq has hired bounty hunters to track down his former captors, promising to eliminate them one by one. "I have now put some people to work to find these bastards," he told the Ten Network today. "I invested about $50,000 so far and we will get them one by one."

CREDIT CARD FOR LOURDES

Nothing good can come of this

Pop superstar MADONNA has given her eight-year-old daughter LOURDES her own credit card with a $10,000 (GBP5,500) limit.

The only way this could be a worse idea would be if the kid was a teenager.

Various Sunday stuff

Here is some links and random ramblings for Sunday:

Natalee Holloway has replaced Michael Jackson for me. If the newscaster says it is time for a Natalee update, I reach for the remote and change the channel. I feel sorry for her family but I don't need to hear about her case in every news update. Separately, what were those people thinking sending a bunch of kids down to Aruba for graduating high school? Another case of more money than brains. No matter how this turns out, I bet Aruba will suffer a serious drop in tourism for the next few years.

Flag burning is back in the news. Not because anyone has burned one lately but rather because the House of Representative passed a proposed Amendment to the Constitution banning such activity. I have heard reasonable arguments both for and against this proposal. Those against the proposal are not defending the flag burning. Their position usually is either it shouldn't be necessary as each state should be able to address it or that we don't want limitations on our right to free speech. Mark Steyn takes a different view. He argues that it is a sign of the strength of the U.S. Flag that it can withstand burning. With or without a Constitutional Amendment feel free to beat the crap out of anyone you see desecrating the Flag.

This past week the extreme left wing media has been up in arms because Karl Rove had the audacity to speak the truth about different reactions to 9/11. This morning Powerline has a letter from a lifelong Democrat explaining that comments from his fellow Dem's after 9/11 convinced him to leave the party. Here is a link to a petition to Congress supporting Rove's comments.

Top 9 Signs That You Might Be A Prisoner At Guantanamo Bay

The Indians broke out the big bats last night beating the Reds 12 to 7. Game wasn't really that close as the Reds scored 4 in the ninth. Different viewpoints: Plain Dealer and Cincinnati Enquirer

Grady Sizemore is now hitting .393 in the month of June. If he keeps going like this, Sports Illustrated might even get his first name right.

No respect: In its current edition, Sports Illustrated refers to hot-hitting Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore as "Gary Sizemore."

Apparently, Natalee is NOT the only person missing (not that you'd know that from FOX news. 50,000 still missing 6 months after tsunami

Committing a crime does not make one a hero

One Canadian columnist gets it. Peter Worthington writes in the Toronto Sun:

A Sun colleague Thane Burnett wrote a column on American deserters being regarded as "heroes" when they flee to Canada. In fact, the word "hero" appears five times in the column and deserters are compared with blacks who fled to Canada to escape slavery.

First of all, comparing military deserters to escaping slavery is not only wrong, it's ludicrous and verges on the obscene, and gives undeserved respectability to slavery. That isn't Thane's fault -- it's the people he's quoting, and reveals a mindset that is dogmatic and immune to reason.

While I, and most Canadians, have no hostility to deserters who seek sanctuary here, most of us do not regard deserters of any form as "heroes," or heroic. Especially not today, when the U.S. has a volunteer military, and everyone who wears a uniform does so by choice. Those who enlist and decide when they are slated to go to Iraq that they're really "conscientious objectors" (or that their role in Iraq consisted of "killing children and civilians") are rationalizing and justifying their decision to run away.

Whenever we discuss these deserters we need to keep in mind that they are criminals. Unauthorized Absence is a violation of Article 86 of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Desertion is a violation of Article 85 of the UCMJ. Missing Movement of Ship or Unit is a violation of Article 87 of the UCMJ. During time of war, these offenses are punishable by death.

Should they have shot her instead?

This title leads me to believe they didn't like the police's actions:

Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

Based on this kid being drunk, high and going nuts at 13 years old, I have to assume she has some "Film at 11 moments" in her future. Any bets on whether Mom is suing the police by Tuesday?

This bears watching

Italy has been a steadfast allie in the War on Terror. Prime Minister Berlusconi has stood by the United States despite considerable political heat not to do so. So this story bears watching:

Italy judge orders arrest of 13 CIA agents

Apparently, they believe our agents grabbed some terrorist on Italian soil and took him to Egypt for questioning.

Advertising on the internet

A few months ago I started running Google ads at the botton of this blog. Google has some software that reviews the material on the page and cycles through ads which may (or may not) pertain to the recent posts. Sometimes I laughed when I saw ads for places selling anti-Bush stuff. Well, some companies didn't laugh when they realized which pages Yahoo had placed their ads on.

KPRC reported last month that major advertisers including PepsiCo Inc. (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Georgia-Pacific Corp. (GP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. removed their ads after the station found the ads were appearing on Yahoo user-created chat rooms that were aimed at sex with children.

"As soon as we found out we pulled our ads," said Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco. "We were totally unaware our ads were associated with those chat rooms -- and that was back in April."

"We were horrified to find out we were on those sites," said Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Robin Keegan. "As soon as we found out, we pulled that advertising."

Having seen some of the crap on the internet (and I'm not just referring to Howard Dean quotes), I'm sure a lot of companies are having their names associated with things they would rather not be connected to even accidentally. I still think advertising will power the internet but there will be more growing pains like this.

Here's a laugh

Get this headline: Senate Dems Want Consult on Court Pick Here is an idea, get some actual ideas, start appealing to voters, win some elections and then when vacancies occur you will have a say in the appointments. Dem's have been rejected repeatedly at the voting booth for a reason. The American people don't trust them to make important decisions.

Human rights abused in Cuba

No, not GITMO. The real human rights violations in Cuba happen on the other side of the fence. Read about Castro's Gulag and see how it compares to the comfy conditions at GITMO.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, was sentenced to 27 years in jail by Fidel Castro. And what horrible crime did Dr. Biscet commit? The Afro-Cuban doctor organized a seminar to teach his fellow Cubans about Dr. Martin Luther King, the American civil rights leader, and his non-violent forms of protest.
Have you heard the Black Caucus denounce such monstrous crime? NO!
Have you heard Jesse Jackson denounce the racist regime of Fidel Castro? NO!
Have you heard Rep. Maxine Waters open her mouth in defense of Dr. Biscet? NO!
Have you heard Rep. Charles Rangel criticize Castro for sending someone to jail for following the teachings of Martin Luther King? NO!
Have you heard the NAACP say a word in defense of Dr. Biscet? NO!
Because these false leaders would never criticize any crime committed by Castro

And you'd never hear Dick Durbin criticize this example of "communist utopia."

What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

Yesterday, I was driving around and Rush Limbaugh read an article comparing U.S. military boot camp to conditions at GITMO. I missed the beginning so I didn't know who wrote the article. Conveniently enough, this morning Betsy Newmark provided a link to the article in question.

"Drop down and give me 20, 30, 50," the training cadre would demand, and the shaved head recruit falls to the ground and completes his push-ups -- sometimes to the point of exhaustion for those not in top condition. The heel of the corporal on your back tends to make the task a bit more difficult. Gosh, we should have had some of those ACLU lawyers.

Read the rest. The author is not too fonda Durbin.

Democratic plans!

I know many of us have said that the Dem's have no plans or ideas just obstructionism. However, Neil Boortz has an article explaining the THE DEMOCRATS' (SECRET) PLAN FOR AMERICAHere's one element

End the home mortgage interest deduction

Democrats have been after this income tax deduction for decades. They call it a "subsidy." Now the more intelligent among us will clearly understand that allowing someone to keep more of the money that they earn can hardly be called a "subsidy." But we're talking about the more intelligent among us. These people aren't likely to be voting for Democrats anyway!

Read the rest. Sad thing is most of the satire rings true.

Wild Thing

NOT YOUR PARENTS' DEMOCRAT PARTY. Great video from the RNC. Obviously, this would not be possible without the assistance of today's Democratic party "leaders."

(h/t RWN)

Durbin looks for abuse closer to home

Now this is funny.


Visit WuzzaDem for the rest.

Felon voting restoration

There have been a few articles in recent years about restoring voting rights to convicted felons. This article talks about how in Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is issuing a blanket order restoring voting rights to all Iowa felons who've completed their sentences. The article goes on to discuss the assumption that Democrats are supporting felons voting because they will vote for Democrat candidates. While that could be correct, I don't think it is the most important reason that it's a bad idea. Actions must have consequences. If you are convicted of a felony crime it is understood that you have forfeited the right to vote. I won't go so far as to argue that it has a deterrent effect because it's doubtful a crook would stop and think about losing voting rights. However, it has been part of the deal. To enjoy all the rights of citizenship you have to play by the rules. Committing a felony is a major breach of the rules of good citizenship and should result in loss of voting rights. Individuals can apply for reinstatement of those rights via the pardon process. However, blanket restoration is flat out wrong.

Durbin almost, kind'a, sort of apologizes

With these words:

"Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line. To them, I extend my heartfelt apologies.

Sen Dick Durbin (M-IL) feels he can move on from his reprehensibile comments. To me at least, his weak apology was insufficient and insincere. Sounds like he is only sorry that "Some may believe his remarks crossed the line." He is still too ignorant to understand that simply changing the temperature and playing bad music loudly doesn't compare to genicide. Senator John McCain rushed to the podium to accept the weak non-apology. This episode confirms my opinion that most senate Republicans are unprepared to play hardball. The Democrats have no shame and take full advantage of any Republican misstep. Trent Lott says a silly compliment at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party and within a week he is out of his leadership position. Durbin compares our soldiers and sailors to Nazi's and get off by apologizing that we were too stupid to understand what he meant.

Here's a little good news!

Utah Scout Found Alive in Woods Headline says it all. Safe and sound and on his way to his parents.

All good things have to end

The Indians 9 game winning streak came to a screeching halt last night. The box score credits David Wells with the win however, the homeplate umpire deserves at least equal credit. In the fifth inning, Victor Martinez was called out on a strike three pitch which was well outside the strike zone. Even the annoying ESPN announcers noted that the same pitches were consistently called balls for Sabathia. Many (including Sabathia) will be dumping all the blame on C.C. Sabathia. However, he didn't lose that game on his own. Manny Ramirez hit a three run homer on a pitch no other hitter would have swung at or could have hit (okay, Guerrero swings at everything too). Lastly, with two outs in the ninth inning and a runner in scoring position, Coco Crisp is up there swinging for the fences. A single would have tied up the game the swing for a homer became a long fly out.

Looks like Seattle learned from the Atlanta court shootings

Man Shot Dead in Seattle Courthouse

Senate again ignores the U.S. Constitution

Once again demonstrating that they have never read the Constitution, The U.S. Senate fails to perform their reponsibility to advise and consent on presidential appointments.

Senate fails to break impasse over Bolton

Could Biden for President be a good thing?

Well, of course, it would not be a good thing for Joe Biden to be elected president. However, Betsy Newmark explains that a Biden campaign could be a boon for educators.

Which means I will find one blessing if he runs. For a long time, I've been using Biden's lifting of Neil Kinnock's speech as an example of plagiarism for my students. . . . . . And the moral of the story is how he had to drop out of running for president once his history of plagiarism was revealed. They can see that plagiarism has consequences and those consequences can come back and bite you years later. The only problem with this great story is that no kid has any idea who Joe Biden is. Perhaps, he can stay in the race long enough to help them recognize who this bozo was who plagiarized an autobiographical speech.

See, he isn't completely useless. Biden is symbolic of "Senatitis" which is an ailment many senators suffer from. Senatitis convinces the senator that he (or she) should be president because he is so smart and he knows he's smart because his steff keeps reminding him.

Monday's stuff from the weekend

More people excoriate Durbin:
Mark Stein (h/t Betsy)
Newt Gingrich Heard him make the case for censure of Durbin on Hannity's show. Shame he has so many problems himself as he is one of the clearest speakers on the right.
At the Weekly Standard, Hugh Hewitt has a new column up titled Breaking the Durbin Code.
Don Surber's latest:

Liberals like to say they Support Our Troops. Here is how they Support Our Troops:

Read the rest (lots of good links)

Looks like we moved out of southern Virginia just in time.

Interstate 64, tied up in ''nots'' Not on time. Not on budget. And another summer of not-happy motorists on the Hampton highway.

Chris from A Large Regular reminds us that July is national Beer Month. You only have 11 days to stock up.

In sports, the Indians keep rolling along as they swept the Diamondbacks over the weekend to bring their winning streak to 9 games. Grady Sizemore has a nine game hitting streak concurrent with the winning streak. Cause and effect or coincidence? I was never in favor of Interleague play and thought it was bad a marketing scheme which only worked with the large market teams that draw well on the road. After seeing The Tribe stomp on their National League opponents, I'm going to miss those NL teams. A truer test comes to town tonight. The reigning champion, the Boston Red Sox are stopping by for a three game series.
Winning gets you noticed and it worked for the Indians as Peter Gammons takes a look at the hottest team in baseball in his latest column.

Lastly, we have the quote of the day (AKA who said that?):

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears that this is true.

Indians win 6th straight game!

Last night the Indians won their sixth straight game! While at the end of the season every game will count equally, the last couple have been especially satisfying. These are the sort of games a contending team needs to win. On Wednesday, the starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia got knocked out of the game early and left trailing 6 to 2. The bullpen came in and pitched 7 & 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. The next night Kevin Millwood in his first game off the disabled list could only go 5 innings and left leading 2 to nothing. The bullpen again came in and pitched well giving up just one run in 4 innings. The called third strike for the last out was clearly ball four and would have meant two men on base with a one run lead. So, Wednesday they won a game that should have been lost and then on Thursday they won with a little luck. To get back in contention this team is going to need good fortune like that and more offense.

Additionally, thanks to Omar Vizquel's 5 for 6 effort the Giants beat the Twins 14 to 7 which leaves the Tribe 3 games behind the Wild Card leading Twins.

Why are Ohio's two senators silent?

Two days ago Sen. Dick Durbin made a reprehensible statement on the Senate floor comparing GITMO (and by extension our soldiers running that camp) to NAZI concentration camps (about 6 million killed), the Soviet Gulags (between 14 and 19 million killed) and the killing fields of Pol Pot. Since then a few senators have condemned Durbin's virulently anti-American comments. However, the news reports I've seen have not mentioned either Senator from Ohio. I called George Voinovich's office and Mike DeWine's office and got essentially the same answer "The senator has not taken a position on that." I politely explained that I would appreciate the senator making it clear where he comes down on this issue. I went on to say that this is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue but rather an American vs. anti-American issue and I would expect 99 senators to quickly denounce Durbin's rhetoric.

As always, Michelle Malkin is all over this and has many relevant links.
Don Surber weighs in with an examination of some things which Sen. Durbin hasn't denounced.
Grouchy Old Cripple takes off the gloves and gives Durbin a bare knuckle beating. He's pissed so be prepared for strong language.

This advertisement is approved by Dick Durbin

Based on this article, I'd have to assume Dick Durbin would approve of this advertisement for the Democrat party.


(H/T RWN)

Movie Review - The Perfect Man

I went to see The Perfect Man last night. The movie stars Heather Locklear , Hilary Duff and Chris Noth. My daughter has been a big fan of Hilary Duff's old "Lizzie McGuire" tv show so I took her to the movie and she is going to guest blog the review. Before I turn this site over to her I'll admit to enjoying the movie. Definitely a young chick/date flick. Just like in a lot of horror flicks I spent a good deal of the movie wanting to yell "No, don't do that" at the characters made one mistep after another.
======================================================================================

Sarah's take: I really enjoyed The Perfect Man and strongly recommend this movie to anyone going on a date. Hilary Duff plays a teenage daughter who has trouble dealing with her Mom's lifestyle decisions. One thing the movie drove home to me was that as we are growing up and even while we often disagree with our parents we are more like them than we would like to admit. At times, I found the movie was somewhat predictable as you could see how her actions would end up in a different result than she intended. The movie reached me on several levels, I laughed, I cried and I worried right along with the characters.

The movie even sends props out to bloggers. The opening scene includes a line that goes like this "Hello, all you bloggers out there" as a lead-in to a post that Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) makes in her blog. My Dad and I looked at each other and laughed at that line.

Does military service matter in politics anymore?

Ever since Dan Quayle was selected as George H.W. Bush's running mate in 1988, service in Vietnam has been an element to some degree in each presidential election. BaseballCrank reviews all the potential presidential candidates for the next couple of election cycles and looks at their draft status based on date of birth, etc. Read his post and let him know if there are potential candidates he missed.

Jean Schmidt/Paul Hackett win 2nd District Primaries

I've discussed the race to replace Rob Portman as Representative of Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. Well, the primary was yesterday and Jean Schmidt won the Republican primary and Paul Hackett won on the Democrat half of the ticket. Schmidt's political career was widely assumed to be over after she lost a primary race last year for a state senate seat. Obviously, local voters gave a second look. Bizzyblog has a round up of winners and losers. I disagree with him on one point.

Winners (at least for the next 7 weeks): District Democrats. Yes, they were outvoted 3-1, and yes they have an uphill fight, but they managed to nominate a candidate who isn’t a raving MoveOn “Bush is the source of all evil” moonbat. Given the state of the national Democrat party, that’s an accomplishment. District Dems won’t have to explain away somebody’s nuttiness for the next 7 weeks.

Hackett may not express some of the looniness of the left as vocally as Dean and others but if you look at his positions on issues, he is right in line with the moonbats. He just knows that excessive rhetoric won't play well in this part of the country. He emphasizes his military service to cover for his opposition to the War on Terror. I think he will run a strong campaign and I suspect this will be a closer race than some are expecting.

Separately, Pat DeWine who came into this race as a prohibitive favorite has to wonder how much his father's recent actions weakened his chances. And Mike DeWine has to wonder if yesterday is a harbinger of what he can expect next year when he is up for reelection.

Real torture

There have been several clowns complaining about alleged torture of the terrorists in GITMO. Real torture is imagining an interrogation done by one of the clowns.

Hagel: You know, some of my best friends have been Muslims. Not that every Muslim is a terrorist, mind you, but some.....a few.....not very many of the terrorists I've heard about have allegedly been Muslims. Which is what you are, right? An alleged Muslim? No, I mean a terrorist? Be honest with me, please. If you are, you can have the strudel for dessert! Hah hah! Got you again! I wouldn't withhold your strudel! That wouldn't be.....well.....civilized, would it! No, of course you can have your strudel! But.....uh.....where was I.......?

Read the rest. (H/T to Michelle Malkin for the link)

Someone needs a serious beating

I don't normally advocate violence. However, I make an exception for this scumbag.

The Kansas preacher who tried to erect an anti-gay monument in a Boise city park says he's coming to Idaho this week to picket the funeral of a fallen soldier.

Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, says God killed Idaho National Guard Corporal Carrie French with an improvised explosive device. Phelps says God is retaliating against America for a bombing of his church six years ago.

If the father of this fallen soldier beats the living crap out of the "preacher" no jury in Idaho would convict him.

Flag Day today!

Michelle Malkin reminds us that today is Flag Day. Visit her site as she has some good links regarding our national ensign. Fly Old Glory proudly!

The Pledge of Allegiance
I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In the better late than never category

Senate OKs apology on lynching

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, Louisiana Democrat and a co-sponsor of the resolution said "The Senate was uniquely culpable as the House passed three bills that the Senate failed to act on."

Why didn't the Senate act?

Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents from 1890 to 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law. But the Senate, with Southern Democrats wielding filibuster powers, refused to act.

The article doesn't say how Robert "Sheets" Byrd voted on the resolution. However, I remember a couple weeks ago he claimed "We had saved the Republic" regarding the Gang of 14's efforts to preserve the filibuster.

What punishment is appropriate for this offense?

Is there any punishment that adequately fits this crime?

An HIV positive man is charged with raping a five-year-old girl as she visited family on summer vacation. It happened on Degenfelder Road in Richfield Township early yesterday morning. After the alleged rape was discovered, relatives and neighbors seriously beat the suspect 48 –year-old Antonio Gonzalez.

100 Greatest Americans

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has posted his list of 100 Greatest Americans. His list is in response to the abysmal list put together for a Discovery Channel special program. The Discovery Channel's attempt failed because they just asked people to vote without any requirement that they know anything. If you've ever watched The Tonight Show when they interview the man on the street you understand why that doesn't work. The average goof on the street will name current celebrities. I started to list the most egregious mistakes on the Discovery Channel's list but quickly realized I'd be copying half their list. They included Ellen Degeneres, for goodness sakes. If that doesn't invalidate their list I don't know what would.

Monday links

Here are a few assorted links for your enjoyment:

The Washington Times has an article titled The nutty things professors say. They don't hypothesize why those sheltered in academia say so many goofy things. My guess is some professors have a distorted world view because they have never had to leave school and deal with the real world.

Thomas Sowell expounds on the theme Why Liberal Ideas Are Counterproductive for the Poor.

The real chumps are those who refuse to start at the bottom for "chump change." Liberals who encourage such attitudes may think of themselves as friends of the poor but they do more harm than enemies.

The Enquirer's latest run down on tomorrow's primary for Ohio's 2nd Congressional District is aptly titled Eleven choices - and no one's perfect
Down-and-dirty campaign could be voter turnoff. Meanwhile Tom at bizzyblog keeps beating Bob McEwen like a drum. Personally, I'm predicting a very low voter turnout and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the winner be one of the candidates without the big money backing (Bemmes maybe) but with strong grass roots support.

Nothing like sweeping the Giants and getting a free gift in the process.

In Sizemore's locker hung an autographed Willie Mays jersey. The autograph was on the four of the No. 24, a number Indians fans have watched Mays wear for five decades as he turned his back and ran forever at the Polo Grounds to catch Vic Wertz's 460-foot drive to center field in Game 1 of the World Series. This year, the Giants are collecting autographed jerseys from every opposing player who wears No. 24. In exchange, those players get an autographed Mays jersey. Sizemore, given No. 24 when he hurriedly was recalled from the minors late in spring training after Juan Gonzalez's hamstring injury, gladly made the exchange. "I'm honored," he said.

The 7 and 5 record on the road trip brings the Indians record to 1 game over .500 winning percentage and within 5 games of the Wild Card leading Twins. Can the Indians recent resurgence be traced to Manager Eric Wedge shaving off his porn-mustache?

Aaron Gleeman at The Hardball Times examines some of the oddities in baseball over the weekend.

Peter Gammons writes about the Cubs' bullpen and the MLB draft from last week.

Throw a tantrum like a three year old child and lose your invite to the White House.

Spelling, spelling, spelling!!!

On the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer this morning there was a sidebar headline to bring our attention to a story inside in the Sports section.

Reds Hall of Fame adds Rio, Davis Jose Rio and Eric Davis are among the new inductees to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame SPORTS C1

Real nice, except for the fact that the player the Reds were honoring was Jose Rijo. He only played for the Reds for ten seasons so The Enquirer hardly had time to learn how to spell his name.

My wife often says I should call the paper and apply for the job of reading it before they print it. Obviously, no one is doing that as this is but one example out of hundreds.

Who is Specialist Jorge Estrada

Don Surber brings our attention to Specialist Jorge Estrada. Out of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served in the War on Terror, why should Specialist Jorge Estrada be singled out? Because he wasn't killed by Al queda terrorists, or Iraqi "insurgents." He wasn't even killed in a training accident. No, his story is more tragic than that. He served honorably and with valor and survived his tour in Iraq, it was leave in hometown, USA which claimed the life of this fine man. Don is rightfully outraged by the lack of media coverage of this murder.

I expect the nation to care about Jorge Estrada. He cared enough about us to enlist.

Rest in peace, Jorge.



I always told my junior Sailors that the most dangerous thing I would ever have them do was go on leave or liberty. I remember very few shipmates lost to enemy fire or shipboard mishaps. However, I long ago lost count how many died off-duty. Many of our military members enlist to escape a less than perfect background and to improve their lot in life. Unfortunately, when they go on leave it is usually back to where they started at before enlisting.

Baseball amateur Draft

The NFL first year player draft dominates ESPN and other sports media outlets for several days. The baseball draft flies under the radar comparatively. ESPN might have mentioned the baseball draft but if you blinked you missed it. The main reason for the disparity is players drafted by the NFL are expected to play this year whereas players drafted by MLB teams go to the minor leagues and are expected to see the majors 2 or 3 years from now at best. The most important thing is getting started so I dread holdouts. Two of the highest rated players from last years draft (Steven Drew and Jared Weaver) just recently signed which means developmentally they lost a year of playing time but at least their agents got their percentage of a slightly higher amount. Having said all that, this is encouraging:

John Drennen, the 18-year-old high school center fielder taken with the Indians' second pick (33rd overall) in the draft, is as single-minded as one can get. He wants to play baseball, and he wants to play now, and never mind how much he's going to make with his first professional contract.

``It is what it is, the slotting money,'' said Drennen, ``You take it and play. The money will come when you get to the big leagues.''

Drennen, who will graduate June 22 from San Diego's Rancho Bernardo High School, batted .500 (46-for-92) with 51 runs, 15 homers, 46 RBI and 12 steals.

He said negotiations are under way, and he hoped to start his career at Burlington, the Tribe's short-season rookie-league team, on June 25.

``I'm going to sign as soon as possible,'' Drennen said.

Here is more.

Separately, since I live in southern Ohio, I should acknowledge that the Reds first round pick, Jay Bruce, signed a contract on Friday and seems similarly anxious to start his career.

Signs of life discovered

No, the title of this article is not referring to life on Mars or other silliness. More important than that, the Cleveland Indians offense actually showed signs of life last night in San Francisco. This was expected to be a strong hitting team that could contend if the pitching wasn't lousy. Well, the pitching has been consistently better than average (Third in team ERA at 3.56) but the offense has been nearly non-existent (next to last place in BA at .245). Last night's game included back to back triples in the second inning and 14 total hits leading to 10 runs scored. Even more encouraging was Aaron Boone starting to climb out of his season long slump with his third multi-hit game in the last week.

The offense needs to feed off of Friday's success and carry it forward to get back in this race.

Is there a worse idea than reparations?

Jeff Jacoby writes about the latest reparations shakedown.

As soon as he learned the ugly truth, the chairman of financial-services giant Wachovia Corp. issued a remorseful nostra culpa.
"We are deeply saddened by these findings," Ken Thompson said last week. "I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans." Wachovia acknowledged that it "cannot change the past or atone for the harm that was done." But it promised to make amends by subsidizing the work of organizations involved in "furthering awareness and education of African-American history."

HOWEVER

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, and Wachovia wasn't founded until 1879.
In other words, Thompson's apology was for something Wachovia didn't do, in an era when it didn't exist, under laws it didn't break. And as an act of contrition for this wrong it never committed, it can now expect to pay millions of dollars to activists for a wrong they never suffered.

My take:
Slavery was a horrid episode in our countries past and a stain on our history. No amount of hush money funding for various scams to put money in the pockets of the latest protesters will absolve that stain. It merely transfers some of the stain to the current race hucksters. Who pays the hush money? The individual stock holder and eventually the customers. No one who profited from the slavery can pay because they have been dead around a hundred years. The ultimate victim of these scams is the black youth still being told that being angry and resentful about something that happened to their grandfather's grandfather is the way to go through life.

Since this subject seems to keep coming up, here is some reading:
Thomas Sowell in March 2004
Sowell again in July 2000
Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too by David Horowitz

Is this mentioned in the Book of Revelations?

Snowfall in Somalia reported! (h/t Erick of Confessions of a Political Junkie)

Friday's reading

Peggy Noonan (always a good read) discusses how Dean's recent over the top rhetoric is playing in Peoria.
Normally, I frown on picking on the elderly or the feeble-minded. However, I'll make an exception on both counts for Jimmy Carter. Lorie Byrd of PoliPundit slams the former president (and current raving moonbat) for his latest foray into criticizing the United States. Carter's recently stated that he thinks we should close down GITMO. No problem. Maybe we can build a prison to house dangerous terrorists on some old farm land near Plains, Georgia.
Wow! It really is a small world after all.
Steve Chapman discusses the recent Supreme Court decision regarding medical marijuana in an article headlined Dazed & Confused About Federal Power. Here's the opening (but read the rest)

The chief author of our Constitution, James Madison, had little patience for those who accused him and his allies of trying to create a large, intrusive federal government. In 1788, he noted pointedly that the "powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined." Those of the states, by contrast, "are numerous and indefinite."

This week, addressing the same question, the Supreme Court said, "James who?"
Here is a list of Possible Supreme Court Nominees. Something important is missing. The article doesn't show the age of the potential nominees. Considering that an appointment to the federal bench is a lifetime appointment you would think that is relevent to the conversation. For example, Ted Olson will turn 65 years old on 11 September which limits the length of time he could serve. Olson would be a compelling human interest story as he lost his wife Barbara 4 years ago in the 9/11 attacks. Despite his age, I'd enjoy his confirmation hearings as the left would go nuts. Ted represented George W. Bush in the court cases after the 2000 election mess and Barbara was a frequent critic of the Clinton administration and wrote a book about First Lady Hillary Clinton, Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was working on her second book, The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House (published December 2001) when she died. It is safe to say he won't get Hillary's vote.
So who is telling the truth and who is lying? Ron Kittle claims he asked Barry Bonds to sign a jersey for a cancer charity and Bonds replied "I don't sign for white people." Barry Bonds responded with

"Who is Kittle? How long did he play? He played in our league?" Bonds said, lying on a clubhouse couch before Thursday's game against the Kansas City Royals. "Ha! Do you guys believe that? ... Do you guys know my life history a little bit? ... One, you insult my children, who are half-white.

You'll notice that he did not specifically deny ever making the statement Kittle accused him of making. It isn't fair to either player to leave this story out there without follow up. The media has dutifully reported both players comments. Are they going to interview the other player there for the exchange (Matt Williams)? If Bonds made the statement he should be condemned. If Kittle made up the story to boost book sales he should be condemned. Which is it?

Lego church

This is cool! (H/T Baseball Crank visit his site, lot of recent updates on both politics and baseball.)

What terror threat

In their attempt to discredit the current administration, the left has downplayed the threat of further terroristic attacks in the U.S. Some have claimed the War on Terror should only have dealt with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Reality is terrorist organizations are spread throughout the world including here in the U.S. Read this story. Here is a snippet.

Authorities say Hamid Hayat, 22, returned last year after training in an al-Qaida terrorist camp and planned to attack hospitals and supermarkets in the United States. His father, Umer Hayat, is alleged to have paid for his son's training at a clandestine Pakistani camp. Both are charged with lying to investigators.

Don't for a minute believe this is an isolated case. After 9/11 most people were more vigilent and reported things which seemed out of the ordinary. As time passed and after the Taliban was quickly routed in Afghanistan we fooled ourselves into thinking the problem was solved. Terrorism will not be eliminated until it is clearly demonstrated to be a losing proposition.

Socialized health care a good thing?

If you believe socialized health care is a good thing, I strongly recommend you read this story. (H/T RWN)

Hand overplayed and bluff called

Ross Verba was a Cleveland Browns player for 4 seasons. He played well in 2001 and 2002. He missed the entire 2003 season due to injury. He played very good in 2004 and was arguably the teams best player as left tackle. This off-season the team paid Verba a $465,000 roster bonus to activate his contract for 2005, calling for $2.925 million. Likewise, Verba was scheduled to make $2.925 million in 2006. Verba got upset with the prospect of being paid 3 million dollars to play football and claimed he was one of the top three left tackles and should be paid commensurate with that status. The new management team of the Browns felt otherwise and told him he could give the bonus back and they would release him so he could see what he can get on the open market. Verba is not likely to get nearly as much money as a free agent as he would have with the Browns.

I think Verba is a good to very good player. However, we lost 12 games with him on the roster. I think the new management team is sending a message. The message is "good" is replaceable. You may overpay for great but you don't for good.

I guess you should only give your phone number to responsible people

Now this is funny.

"We were sitting around smoking weed and strolling down the list on Jimmy Buffett's phone, going 'Wow!' " Martin told Page Two. He said he didn't call anyone on the list. But according to the police report, Martin said some of his friends may have crank-called former President Clinton

Conspiracy theory alert

Earlier today while driving back from Cleveland I caught a little of Sean Hannity's show. He was discussing some of the nuttier things Howard Dean has been saying. Hannity threw out a conspiracy theory that Dean was intentionally saying outrageous things so Hillary Clinton would appear more moderate. The problem with that theory is it requires the assumption that Clinton is the automatic choice of Democrats. Most conservatives may believe she is running and that the Democratic party nomination is hers for the asking. However, as with any race not involving an incumbent, there are likely at least a dozen Democrats (Kerry, Biden, Bayh, Edwards, Hart, Richardson, Warner, etc) who feel they should be the candidate. My own opinion on Dean's antics is that since he is not running he has been designated to throw out "red meat" to fire up the base. He was chosen for chairman of the DNC because of a perception that he is a great fund raiser. If he loses the job it will be for not raising enough money not because he says things which should embarrass all Democrats. If that was a standard in that party most of the party leadership would have been dumped long ago.


For more on Dean's view of Republicans and people with religious faith visit Don Surber's Blog. Here is his take on Dean's claim that most Republicans have never worked an honest day in their life.

Since when is working at a fast food restaurant, working in a factory, working in a pill factory, serving in the military or working in a textile mill not "an honest living"? That is just part of my resume. Is he saying the one-third of America that now identifies themselves as Republicans are all dishonest?

Monday stuff

I was already sure how I felt about the Social Security scam, but it is refreshing to have a economics genius take the same position. Here is Milton Friedman's take:

"I've always been opposed to Social Security," Friedman said in a recent interview at his home in San Francisco. "I think it's a very unethical program. "

Read the rest.
Hal McCoy's weekly Baseball Insider column is dedicated to losers, without whom there would be no winners. The column can be summed up with this quote:

Good luck, Buddy.

How does a society determine if they are releasing the wrong crooks on parole? Possibly if the former convict chops up his parole officer as a birthday gift to himself.
What does baseball a team do if their previously fearsome offense becomes one of the most anemic attacks? Oh yeah, it says in the GM handbook that the next step is to fire the hitting coach. The GM signs Aaron Boone, Casey Blake and others and then fires Eddie Murray when those players don't hit. Okay, whatever. Murray is the same guy now as he was when the team was scoring runs in bunches last year. Sometimes a coach is fired just to shake up the team. We'll see.

2006 U.S. Senate races

About a year from now the mid-term elections will be in full steam. Baseball Crank take a look ahead to see which seats are most vulnerable to changing hands. He took the incumbents percentage of votes in 2000 and added the incumbents party's percentage in the 2004 presidential election. It does tend to reason that a Republican elected in a close race in 2000 in a state Kerry won in 2004 could be more vulnerable and vice versa. Problem with this is there is no way to account for the discouraging affect of facing a Senate incumbent. Unless they have broken with party leadership (Dewine?), most incumbents will not be challenged in the primaries. The challenger would be beaten and bruised in a primary and run into a rested incumbent with a whole lot of money to spend on TV.

Spread the word

URGENT LAW ENFORCEMENT MESSAGE!

Juan Gonzalez

It was late in my fantasy baseball draft so I took a flyer on Juan Gonzalez. Even though he was starting the season on the disabled list, I figured I got him cheap and if he came back from his strained hamstring quickly he could be a steal. Well, he didn't come back quickly. Yesterday he made his season debut two months into the season. He stayed around for all of three pitches before pulling his hamstring (again) running out a grounder in the first inning last night. OUCH!

Hero or Traitor

So now we have a name, W. Mark Felt, identified as the mythical "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame. And why do we have the name now?

Felt may also have a personal motivation in finally coming forward with the truth at age 91: His family apparently needs the money that Felt's sudden fame is expected to bring.

The mainstream media is falling all over themselves making this character out to be a hero. Felt apparently wasn't sure about that himself.

As the Post put it on Wednesday, Felt wondered if he was a "hero for helping the truth come out" -- or a "turncoat who betrayed his government, his president, and the FBI he revered."

To answer the title question as to whether Felt was a hero or a traitor we have to examine both motive and results as well as our own mindset.
Was he motivated by a strong sense of outrage at the abuse of power? No. In fact he committed various illegal break-ins himself and was convicted in 1980.
Was he motivated for revenge because he was angry about perceived slights? Apparently, yes. When J. Edgar Hoover died Felt thought he should have been appointed his successor.
Was he motivated for personal financial gain. Not likely. While his daughter seems to be trying to cash in on his notoriety, there is no evidence that he personally gained from his act of betrayal.
What were the results of his actions?
The immediate result was the ramping up of the investigation of Nixon administration and eventually led to Nixon's resignation of the presidency.
A secondary result was the regrettable Carter administration. This alone rules out hero status for Felt.

I just saw Henry Kissinger asked this question on "Fox & Friends" morning show. His answer (not an exact quote):

A hero does not spy on the president while serving as a senior administration official. If he saw something wrong he could have confronted the president or gone to the prosecutor, that may have been heroic.

In the final analysis, he will be viewed differently by people depending on their own mindset. Some on the left will believe he was a hero who performed a valuable public service. Those on the right will feel he was a traitor. My own position is he was a petty little man who betrayed his oath of office and undermined the administration he served during a time of war. He exemplified the worst of the Hoover FBI. After a week or two in the headlines he will be relegated to the dustbin of history a mere footnote.

Chris of A Large Regular brings our attention to this piece by Ben Stein. Political revisionism has lead people to assume Nixon was evil and did no good. Ben reminds us that there is more to the story:

Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW's, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?

Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace.

Read the rest it's interesting and educational.

Anyone else notice this?

Ever have a commercial that bugs you ever time you see it? The one irritating me lately is the one Yao Ming does for Garmin GPS. He drives up to a gas station, fills his tank and drives off without paying.
Click on the picture to view the commercial