Who vetted the choice for Treasury Secretary?

Yesterday John Snow resigned as Secretary of the Treasury and President Bush announced he has chosen Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr. as Snow's replacement.

Here are a few articles which lead me to wonder whether Paulson was properly vetted for the position.

Treasury Nominee Is Ideologically, Ethically Challenged

Under Paulson’s leadership, Goldman Sachs participated in ethically, and perhaps legally, questionable business practices. Paulson also supports the economy-killing Kyoto Protocol and has demonstrated little respect for private property rights.

On the ethical front, Paulson has refused to answer questions about his apparent use of Goldman Sachs’ corporate assets to advance his personal interests. In 2002, Paulson used at least $35 million of shareholder money to help environmental groups stop a “sustainable forestry” project in Tierra del Fuego, Chile. Environmental groups had delayed the project for years—to the point where financial stress on the project developer became acute and forced the sale of the land. Goldman swept in and bought the land, promptly turning it over to Paulson’s environmental allies.

It may not fit the legal definition of theft, but in my book that's pretty much what it is when corporate leadership uses company money to support their pet charity. These CEO's get paid millions of dollars, they can reach into their own pockets to support their favorite cause.

Fortune magazine had an article titled Hank Paulson's secret life a couple years ago.

Ethics Group Criticizes Henry Paulson Nomination for Treasury; Cites Nature Conservancy Conflict of Interest and Fannie Mae Fraud

Paulson Pick Goes From Bad to Worse

I don't have a problem with the fact that Paulson has contributed to politicians on both sides of the aisle. I can even accept that he has supported the extremely pro-abortion EMILY's list since as Treasury Secretary his performance of his duties shouldn't be affected by that issue. His involvmentenvironmentalmental groups and support for the KYOTO treaty is a concern.

He should have listened to grandma

Grandma's seem to have pretty straight forward advice. One piece of grandmotherly advice is "nothing good happens after 11PM." Indians pitcher Scott Sauerbeck could have benefited from that advice Monday night (okay, actually Tuesday morning).

Police say they spotted a 1966 Lincoln convertible, with the top down and Florida plates, driving erratically toward Sheffield at 3:45 a.m. Sheffield Village police were alerted and followed the car when it turned into the Abbe Road driveway. Sheffield Village police arrested Sauerbeck, 34, and Lily Miller, 28, after they fled the car. It took police 45 minutes to find Sauerbeck and Miller, who were hiding between a house and some bushes, after apparently jumping a chain link chain-link fence.

See IF you can find the key word in his apology.

Sauerbeck was grim and apologetic by Tuesday afternoon. ``I want to apologize to my family, my teammates, the organization and the fans, if I caused them any embarrassment,'' he said. ``I'm sorry if I created a distraction for my teammates. Usually I'm a low-key guy.''

If? IF! Hey, Scott call your wife and ask her if you have any doubt IF you caused her any embarrassment when you were arrested in the wee-hours of the morning with some drunk woman driving your car. My guess is she is somewhat less confused about whether that is embarrassing.

Sauerbeck would have been better off saying nothing. He continued to confuse us with his next comment.

“In trying to do the right thing,; I made a terrible error in judgment,” Sauerbeck said. “It’s something I’ve I’m going to have to life with the rest of my life. I’m a big boy, and I’m going to have to deal with it.”

He didn't expound of what he meant by "trying to do the right thing." Did he mean letting the drunk drive his vehicle or hiding in the bushes? Because he wasn't driving they didn't test his BAC, but hers was more than 3 times the legal limit.

Tuesday's links and comments

Several news articles for your enjoyment on a Tuesday morning.

More evidence of a "Culture of Corruption." Reid Accepted Free Boxing Tickets While a Related Bill Was Pending As Dems push their message of Republican corruption it is a good time to remind them that their senate leader, Harry Reid, accepted the most Abramoff related money and unlike most politicians he has not returned the funds.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News has a column titled 22 Problems With The Senate's Illegal Immigration Bill Anyone reading this should be outraged at the Senate for this load of garbage.

TMI guard playing a video game fails to see inspector Consider the bolded portion below and ask yourself if you feel any safer.

A security guard at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was so absorbed in playing a hand-held video game that he failed to see an inspector approach during a surprise inspection, the agency said. The employee did not violate any rules as guards are allowed to engage in mind-stimulating activities, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.

Republicans in Congress continue to make fools of themselves as they get indignant in defending their "right" to hide evidence of their wrongdoing in their taxpayer funded office. Today's fool is House Judiciary Chairman Chairman James Sensenbrenner.

Calling the decision to authorize the raid "profoundly disturbing," Sensenbrenner signaled that he would not be among the lawmakers backing off their criticism of the Bush administration. "They didn't get it right this time," Sensenbrenner said.

They also got a former congressman to say stupid stuff about the search.

former Rep. Bob Walker, R-Pa., said Congress should play hardball in seeking answers to its questions by subpoenaing administration documents authorizing the raid. "The American people should be deeply concerned that a decision to conduct a raid on Congress was made consciously and evidently at high levels inside the Justice Department and the FBI," Walker told the panel.

Is this goof Walker saying he would be less concerned if the decision was made at a lower level? I want to make it very clear that this guy is a completely different Bob Walker than my old friend, MCPON Bob Walker.

Source: FBI Ends Hoffa Search on Farm I wonder how much money was wasted on the search before it was called off?

Who does the thought of having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House help more - Democrats or Republicans? I think her level of liberal extremism is unappealing and it will help Republicans if she is on TV more often.

While most abortions are because babies are just inconvenient, there is a growing concern that the majority of late term abortions are because the child doesn't meet the parents definition of physical perfection. This story is from Britain but don't let that fool you into thinking this isn't happening here.

More than 20 babies have been aborted in advanced pregnancy because scans showed that they had club feet, a deformity readily corrected by surgery or physiotherapy.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics covering the years from 1996 to 2004, a further four babies were aborted because they had webbed fingers or extra digits, which are also corrected by simple surgery. All the terminations took place late in pregnancy, after 20 weeks.

Sick and depraved. It is a short step from these decisions to deciding to abort baby girls because you had your "heart" set on a son.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature

You do goofy stuff to make kids in test tubes you have to accept the occasional mistakes.

THE white dad whose wife had Asian twins in an IVF blunder told yesterday how his son declared: “I want to be pink like you, Daddy.” He said he replied: “Well, I want to be brown like you — that’s why I sit out in the sun. He laughed at that.”

The dad and his white wife, who we will call Mr and Mrs A, were speaking for the first time since The Sun’s world exclusive 2002 story about the test tube bungle. We told then how the twins, now six, were born after an Asian man’s sperm was wrongly used to impregnate eggs from Mrs A at a fertility clinic run by Leeds NHS Trust.

We have reached the point of 6 billion people on Earth making babies the old fashioned way. It is sad when loving couples are unable to conceive, but when you you do goofy stuff don't be too surprised when you get different results than you expected.

When they start with a lie everything else they say is suspect

Here are two articles by liberals which have blatant lies in the first paragraph.

We'll start with Rahm Emanuel. He was part of the Clinton Administration and is now a congressman from Illinois. In a hit piece directed at President Bush he opens with this:

ON OCT. 3, 1993, an American helicopter was shot down in Somalia. Efforts to rescue the downed pilots went terribly wrong, and 18 Americans were killed. It was a humiliating incident for the world's most powerful nation. It also devastated 18 American families. When President Clinton was told that his commanders on the ground had requested more troops but had been ignored by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, Clinton acted decisively and fired him.

How many lies can this guy fit in one paragraph. The military did not ask for more troops in Somalia. They wanted more armored vehicles. Other than in pursuit of the opposite sex, Clinton never acted decisively. Les Aspin was not fired. He resigned. However, since Aspin is deceased Emanuel can trash him with immunity I guess.

Then we have Cathy Young, a columnist with the Boston Globe. She starts her column today with this line:

AT A TIME when conservatives dominate all three branches of government and hold an increasingly large share of the Fourth Estate, the academy remains the last liberal stronghold.

She starts with standard liberal confusion. She mistakes Republicans with conservatives. There is Republican president, a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate, and most of the Supreme Court was nominated by Republican presidents. The president is somewhat conservative. In the senate there are 55 nominal Republicans but only around 20 conservatives. In the House of Representatives the Republicans have a slim and tenuous majority, but the conservatives are a minority there as well. Of the nine Supreme Court justices only four are considered conservative (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito). Her second lie is her assertion that conservatives "hold an increasingly large share of the Fourth Estate." What she means is the leftists no longer have a complete monopoly on the news media. The fact that people lay the failings of congress at the feet of conservatives is why I would rather lose the majority in the senate than see senators like DeWine, Chafee, etc get another six years to disappoint us.

(DBMIV4P)

Saturday links and comments

While Rep. Hastert argues whether the FBI can execute a warrant to search a congressional office, the noose tightens around the subject of that investigation.

A former aide to U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said Friday that it was the congressman's idea to solicit bribes to promote a telecommunications deal in West Africa that began as a legitimate business venture.

Here is an article that should improve Attorney General Gonzalez' reputation: Gonzales Said He Would Quit in Raid Dispute

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office.

No matter what your job, there should always be a line you would quit rather than cross.

Here is a headline sure to worry more than a few reporters: Reporter at Richmond Paper Fired for 'Fabrication'

A reporter for the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch was fired Friday for fabricating portions of a story about reaction to President Bush’s immigration speech earlier this month, as well as lifting part of a Washington Post story for the report.

William Kristol has an column titled A Recuperating Duck. He discusses how the assumed lame duck presidency of George Bush started bouncing back in May. An economy this strong can only be ignored so long.

Speaking of the economy . . . last week the Commerce Department revised first quarter growth up to 5.3 percent. Not too lame. Then we learned that new home sales had risen in April, suggesting a reasonably soft landing for the housing market. And gas prices even began to drift down. How much longer can people talk themselves into thinking the economy's in bad shape?

James Webb is a former Marine and former Secretary of the Navy under Reagan. He is currently running for U.S. Senate from Virginia. For Memorial Day weekend,he has a list of recommended reading on military history.

Friday's various links and comments

A number of articles for you all to read as we head into a long weekend.

Chatter about Obama's 2008 plans picks up is an article from the Chicago Sun-Times discussing a potential 2008 presidential run for the first term senator from Illinois. I could be wrong but Obama seems to be laying groundwork to be considered as a running mate.

From Human Events Online we have an article about immigration "reform" titled Senate Declares War on the House. It contains commentary from several senators both opposed to and in favor of the awful bill the Senate voted for yesterday. In the past the senate acted as a restraining force on the lower house known for being prone to impulsive action. Now we need the House of Representatives to stop the stupidity of the Senate. Biggest mistake of this whole immigration mess (well, besides failing to enforce our current laws) is lumping lots of lousy ideas together and calling it a comprehensive bill. Many of the items included in the Senate bill could not stand on their own. Just one example is a provision of the bill which allows illegals to pay the lower in-state tuition rate. I lived in Virginia until a couple years ago, but now live in Ohio. If one of my kids decide to attend the University of Virginia we would have to pay the higher non-resident tuition even though we paid Virginia taxes for many years. However, our senators want to ensure that someone who broke our laws could pay the lower in-state rate.

Ridge to join Swann's campaign. Good call by Lynn Swann to get Tom Ridge involved in his campaign. Ridge is a former Pennsylvania governor and remains very popular in the Keystone state.

Jeff Jacoby takes on Sen. Harry Reid's disgusting charge that requiring English is racist.

Racist! As if Americans who speak Spanish aren't as capable of learning English as any other linguistic minority. As if it is bigoted and mean-spirited to want all Americans to be able to follow their nation's political debates, read its founding documents, and take part in its civic life. Racist to embrace English as the common American tongue!

Victor Davis Hanson's latest. Read it all and you'll have a better understanding of Iraq.

Just when I think our politicians are absolutely awful, George Galloway (Member of Britain's parliament) reminds me that they could be worse. Galloway says murder of Blair would be 'justified'

In local news, Storms put 185,000 in dark. Demonstrating that even dark clouds have a little silver lining, some kids think this is a good thing as powerless schools have them starting their weekend a day earlier than they expected.

ENRON verdict

Former Enron chiefs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were found guilty today of various charges in connection with the fraud that brought down that company. Good! Now sentence them to a long prison term.

Don't get me wrong, I am still very much pro-business. However, it is honest business practices that I support. Sending these crooks to prison will make a couple others think twice before they consider stealing from their shareholders. Unfortunately, it won't stop most crooks because a common trait amongst crooks is an attitude that they are smarter than the other guy.

Baseball predictions a quarter of the way through the season

With a little more than a quarter of the baseball season behind us I thought it would be a good time to look at my pre-season predictions.
In the American League, I had the Red Sox, Indians and Athletics winning their respective divisions. The Red Sox are in first, the Indians are in third and the Athletics are a half game out of 1st.
In the National League, I expected the Mets, Cardinals and Padres to win their divisions. The Mets and Cards are in first, but the Padres are in 4th after getting off to a miserable start in April.
I'll stick with all my original picks. However, I'll admit that my pick of the Indians may have been affected by a severe case of homeritis.

It is way too early to consider any of the individual awards, but the pick of Thome for comeback player of the year is looking pretty good. Heck, he is making a strong case for AL MVP.

Now we know why Hastert complained

Earlier today I groused about fools on the Republican side of the aisle getting all upset about a warrant being executed for a search of a crooked (okay, allegedly crooked) Democrat congressman. Now, there appears to be a reason that Speaker Hastert was unhappy with the idea of a congressman's office being searched.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from senior U.S. law enforcement officials. Federal officials say the information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

After reading that, I have to wonder why my congressman (Majority Leader Boehner) joined Hastert in complaining about the lawful search.

UPDATE:
As pointed out by PJ in the comments, the Justice Department is denying that Speaker Hastert is under investigation. Additionally, Speaker Hastert is demanding a full retraction from ABC news. Somebody has some explaining to do.

The fact that he is not under investigation does not change the fact that Hastert was legally mistaken and politically inept to assert that members of congress are above the law. Despite all their protests otherwise, that is the only message that is being sent when they complain that the office of a member of congress can not be searched even with a properly executed warrant. Democrats have openly stated their intentions of running a campaign based on fooling the ignorant voters into believing all government corruption lies at the feet of Republicans.

An area of bi-partisanship

We often talk about how divided the political landscape is these days. Well, the Justice Department has found away to develop congressional bi-partisanship. Is it a matter of protecting the country in time of war? No, nothing that trivial. No, this is really important. What area of agreement did congressional Democrats and Republicans reach? They've agreed that congressman should be able to hide evidence in their office and be warned in advance of court ordered searches.

The FBI's raid on a congressman's office is rippling through Capitol Hill, with majority Republicans in the House complaining to President Bush and predicting a constitutional showdown in the Supreme Court. Lawmakers predict this may be the beginning a long dispute over the FBI's search of Rep. William Jefferson's office last weekend. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was so angry that he complained to Bush about the FBI's conduct. "My opinion is that they took the wrong path," Hastert said of the FBI, after meeting with Bush in the White House. "They need to back up, and we need to go from there."

FBI agents searched the Louisiana Democrat's office in pursuit of evidence in a bribery investigation. The search warrant, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan, was based on an affidavit that said agents found $90,000 in cash wrapped and stashed in the freezer of Jefferson's home.

Jefferson has not been indicted and has denied wrongdoing. The search brought Republican and Democratic leaders together in a rare alliance, fighting what they branded a breach of constitutional boundaries between branches of government.

House Democrats reacted particularly quickly, in keeping with their election-year pledge to campaign against what they call a Republican "culture of corruption."
Democrats are making it known that Jefferson is no longer welcome on the House's most prestigious committee, the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Whatever Jefferson's fate, the weekend raid stirred bipartisan expressions of concern.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying, "We have a great deal of respect for the Congress as a coequal branch of government." But he also defended the search: "We have an obligation to the American people to pursue the evidence where it exists."

Justice Department officials said the decision to search Jefferson's office was made in part because he refused to comply with a subpoena for documents last summer. Jefferson reported the subpoena to the House on Sept. 15, 2005.

The House and Senate Judiciary committees were looking at the ramifications of Hogan's action. Also, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters that Hastert's aides are reviewing several responses, including legal options.

They can't agree on defending our country, but they quickly agree to defend each other. Who says there's no loyalty amongst thieves.

I called the office of my congressman (Boehner) to complain. Their pat answer is that the Constitution says that Congress is self-policing. I re-read my copy of the Constitution and don't see an article saying Congress is above the law. If you think Congress is not above the law call your representative and let him know. If not, call the FBI and tell them not to worry about all the bribery that Congress will look into on their own.

Tuesday's links and comments

Former senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1988, Lloyd Bentsen passed away. Prayers go out to his family. Sen. Bentsen is best remembered for an exchange with Sen. Dan Quayle during the debates leading up to the 1988 election.

BROKAW: And if you cite the experience that you had in Congress, surely you must have some plan in mind about what you would do if it fell to you to become President of the United States, as it has to so many Vice Presidents just in the last 25 years or so.

QUAYLE: Let me try to answer the question one more time. I think this is the fourth time that I've had this question.

BROKAW: The third time.

QUAYLE: Three times that I've had this question - and I will try to answer it again for you, as clearly as I can, because the question you are asking is what kind of qualifications does Dan Quayle have to be president, what kind of qualifications do I have and what would I do in this kind of a situation. And what would I do in this situation? I would make sure that the people in the cabinet and the people that are advisors to the president are called in, and I would talk to them, and I will work with them. And I will know them on a firsthand basis, because as vice president I will sit on the National Security Council. And I will know them on a firsthand basis, because I'm going to be coordinating the drug effort. And then, if that unfortunate situation happens - if that situation, which would be very tragic, happens, I will be prepared to carry out the responsibilities of the presidency of the United States of America. And I will be prepared to do that. I will be prepared not only because of my service in the Congress, but because of my ability to communicate and to lead. It is not just age; it's accomplishments, it's experience. I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration, if that unfortunate event would ever occur.

WOODRUFF: Senator Bentsen.

BENTSEN: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.

Someone else with no chance of winning is considering running for president.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said Monday he has "decided to do all the things that are necessary to prepare to seek the presidency in 2008."

Beyond his decades of senate votes to defend, Dodd's campaign would be plagued by the stories of his antics when he and Ted Kennedy would go out carousing (the term "waitress sandwich" comes to mind).

If you need a laugh, here is an article by noted political strategist Jesse Jackson.

Investor's Business Daily asks the question: "Who's Corrupt?" Politics: Haven't heard much lately about Democrats' plans to make an issue of the GOP's "culture of corruption" in the 2006 elections. Could it be they just don't want to call attention to their own scandals?

Went to the Reds game last night. Good game. Reds won 15 to 5. Brandon Phillips signed a baseball for my daughter and then went out and had a four hit night. However, even though the Reds basically got Phillips from the Indians for nothing, the steal of the year remains last nights starting pitcher. Bronson Arroyo raised his record to 6-2 and lowered his ERA to a league leading 2.29.

More investing advice

A week or so ago I warned that gold and other commodities were nearing the end of their run up. Today, I'll offer some more unsolicited investment advice. DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY. Why am I warning people not to take their investments too seriously? This news item out of India:

INDIAN police are watching out for possible suicides by brokers and investors after a steep market slide wiped out billions of pounds in share values, officials said yesterday.

Policemen were patrolling near lakes and canals, possible places where people in distress could head to kill themselves. They said rescue teams were on the alert.

"A financial crisis can trigger suicides. We are just trying to prevent them," said a police official in Ahmedabad, a main trading hub.

India's Bombay Stock Exchange, which had a market value of £349 billion last week after falling 10 per cent in the previous two sessions, slid as much as another 10 per cent in early trading yesterday, following sales of stocks held by brokers as security on behalf of their clients.

"Gold has turned into brass. We are finished," said SS Gupta, a middle-aged Mumbai broker who said he had lost millions of rupees in two hours of trading.

Three words of advice: Diversify your assets. Beyond that, you need to understand your own capacity for risk. If you can't handle the possibility of losing ALL of your investment, don't invest in individual stocks as any company can go completely bankrupt. Go with mutual funds instead. If you can't even handle the ups and downs of a mutual fund then go with T-bills, CD's, and money market accounts. Even there you run the risk of not beating inflation. If you're just starting, go to a professional financial advisor and work out a plan that meets your situation. Lastly, don't play the game of gambling with margin accounts.

Al Sharpton is right

The end of the world may be coming sooner than we think. No, I'm not going "Pat Robertson" on you all and claiming to have insider information. It is just that yesterday I acknowledged that Jimmy Carter was right about something and now today I'll go a step further and say Al Sharpton is right. If Carter being right about something doesn't fulfill a Biblical prophesy than him and Sharpton both being right within a matter of days would have to portend the end of days. Anyways, back to Sharpton, "what's he right about?" you ask. This:

Alabama Democrats should get rid of a candidate for state attorney general who denies the Holocaust and a gubernatorial hopeful who has publicly advocated killing illegal immigrants, former presidential candidate Al Sharpton said Monday.

While state party officials say they are powerless to remove either candidate from the ballot because the June 6 primary is so close, Sharpton said "there's no room for these two men in our big tent."

One of my sharpest criticisms of the Democrat party is their apparent inability to disavow the worst of their members. Both parties can end up with real screwballs claiming membership, but what has really hurt the Democrat party is a refusal to condemn their own when necessary. For once, I applaud Sharpton.

Monday's news and links

Not a lot going on on a Monday morning.

Heard the Good News? is the title of a column by Michael Barone.

Things are better than you think. Yes, I know, most Americans are in a sour mood these days, convinced that the struggle in Iraq is an endless cycle of bloodshed, certain that our economy is in dismal shape, lamenting that the nation and the world are off on the wrong track. That's what polls tell us. But if we look at some other numbers, we'll find that we are living not in the worst of times but in something much closer to the best. What do I mean?

Click the link to find out what he means.

How do the insurgents in Iraq stay in business? It isn't as if they have day jobs. Here is how they can afford to resupply themselves.

FRANCE, Italy and Germany sanctioned the payment of $45 million in deals to free nine hostages abducted in Iraq, according to documents seen by The Times.

All three governments have publicly denied paying ransom money. But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role in hostage negotiations, sums from $2.5 million to $10 million per person have been paid over the past 21 months.

Paying these ransoms is a bad idea for a couple reasons. First, if you pay off kidnappers you send the message that kidnapping pays which encourages more kidnappings. Secondly, when you pay ransom to terrorists you are helping them purchase the means to kill. The political leadership in those countries have blood on their hands even if they don't realize it.

They say a broken clock is right twice a day. Well, along those lines, John Fund has a column titled "Jimmy Carter Is Right." In this very limited area, I have to agree. Requiring valid identification in order to vote is not asking too much.

Here is a pretty scary story.

A woman who arrived in London on a flight from Africa yesterday is reported to have died from the deadly and contagious ebola virus.

In local news, West Chester stores seek curfew You can argue both side of the idea of a curfew or disagree about appropriate hours for kids to be out. This one sentence jumped out as a little silly.

"It just becomes a great place for everyone and, of course, teens included," he said. "We want to make sure when the teens come out they behave like adults.

They aren't adults. If you spend your time waiting for 13 year olds to act like adults you're in for some serious disappointment.

Monday's news and links

Not a lot going on on a Monday morning.

Heard the Good News? is the title of a column by Michael Barone.

Things are better than you think. Yes, I know, most Americans are in a sour mood these days, convinced that the struggle in Iraq is an endless cycle of bloodshed, certain that our economy is in dismal shape, lamenting that the nation and the world are off on the wrong track. That's what polls tell us. But if we look at some other numbers, we'll find that we are living not in the worst of times but in something much closer to the best. What do I mean?

Click the link to find out what he means.

How do the insurgents in Iraq stay in business? It isn't as if they have day jobs. Here is how they can afford to resupply themselves.

FRANCE, Italy and Germany sanctioned the payment of $45 million in deals to free nine hostages abducted in Iraq, according to documents seen by The Times.

All three governments have publicly denied paying ransom money. But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role in hostage negotiations, sums from $2.5 million to $10 million per person have been paid over the past 21 months.

Paying these ransoms is a bad idea for a couple reasons. First, if you pay off kidnappers you send the message that kidnapping pays which encourages more kidnappings. Secondly, when you pay ransom to terrorists you are helping them purchase the means to kill. The political leadership in those countries have blood on their hands even if they don't realize it.

They say a broken clock is right twice a day. Well, along those lines, John Fund has a column titled "Jimmy Carter Is Right." In this very limited area, I have to agree. Requiring valid identification in order to vote is not asking too much.

Here is a pretty scary story.

A woman who arrived in London on a flight from Africa yesterday is reported to have died from the deadly and contagious ebola virus.

In local news, West Chester stores seek curfew You can argue both side of the idea of a curfew or disagree about appropriate hours for kids to be out. This one sentence jumped out as a little silly.

"It just becomes a great place for everyone and, of course, teens included," he said. "We want to make sure when the teens come out they behave like adults.

They aren't adults. If you spend your time waiting for 13 year olds to act like adults you're in for some serious disappointment.

Quote of the day

"Dating prepares you for marriage and kids the same way watching television prepares you to run a marathon."

Sunday's links and comments

From the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review we get an article that reminds us of a fact about leaks, "Loose lips sink ships."

When is it OK to sacrifice national security for personal gain or political one-upmanship?

For the common-sense-challenged, the answer is: "Never."

In the years since Sept. 11, an odd assembly of Capitol Hill-types, their staffers and disgruntled federal employees from myriad intelligence agencies have played the "gotcha game" with the White House's methods of protecting the citizenry.

Enabled by the media (which, by the way, have Ph.D.s in "gotcha"), they have become desensitized to the reasons some things must remain secret. They're making secret-revealing an extreme sport.

5 Myths About U.S.-Saudi Relations by Rachel Bronson examines some misconceptions people have about Saudia Arabia.

Would you support a 2008 presidential bid by Sen. Sam Brownback? That question is a poll question attached to a puff piece on potential presidential candidate, Sam Brownback in The Wichita Eagle. 38% said yes while 62% said no. That can not be encouraging from a home state paper.

Questioning if the world be better off without Israel is a piece by June Elliot Brott examining the oft-repeated assertion that everything would be better if Israel ceased to exist. Most of us just dismiss that thought as the ramblings of anti-semitic madmen, but she goes a step further and looks at the Middle East and the rest of the world without Israel.

Israel's enemies argue that if there were no Jewish state, the world would be better off.

But how? Would the Middle East be peaceful? Would Iraqi Sunni and Shia stop killing each other? Will Iran cease its nuclear bomb plans? Would China grant Taiwan independence and leave Tibet? Will Sudan stop slaughtering its non-Arab citizens?

Without an Israel, will gas be cheaper? Will Islamists stop beheadings? Would Saudi Arabia give women full rights? Will Muslim families stop honor killings of their raped daughters and sisters?

Will "I Hate Israel" -- Egypt's hit song -- change its title to "I Hate America?"

Would Pakistan and India share Kashmir? Will no more rainforests be cut down? Will Osama bin Laden cancel plans to destroy America?

Read the whole thing.

Last week I wondered if Jason Johnson was in danger of losing his starting pitching job. The reasons for a change continues to mount. Yesterday Johnson gave up 8 earned runs in less than 4 innings pitched. This is not a great (or even very good) pitcher going through a rough stretch. At 32 years old and with 208 career starts, Johnson is what he is - a below average pitcher. Meanwhile, Jeremy Sowers, the AAA pitcher people want to replace Johnson, pitched a 1 hit shutout Friday night. After nine starts, Sowers has a 6-1 record and an ERA of 1.07. Looks like he is ready for the next level.

A cartoon too good not to steal and post

(H/T SOB'r Conservative Culture)

Thursday's links and comments

Bill Bennett has a new book out, America: The Last Best Hope. Townhall has an excerpt from the book today. Jefferson's Crisis - which looks at how the Jefferson administration dealt with the crisis of the Barbary pirates.

Some punchlines just write themselves. For example: Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle will gauge potential support for a 2008 presidential bid with stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan next month. Does anyone outside his immediate family think he is presidential material?

Confederate Yankee has a detailed post about Rep. Murtha's (M-PA) recent accusation that U.S. Marines in Iraq had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” No sense in waiting for the investigation to be completed.

Why did Sen. Rick Santorum help Sen. Arlen Specter defeat a strong conservative primary challenger in 2004? Here's your answer: Specter to repay Santorum

This is kind of coincidental

I'm currently reading Patricia Heaton's book - Motherhood and Hollywood and I just saw a commercial saying she would be on the Tonight Show tonight. Like myself, she grew up in the west Cleveland suburbs. 30 years ago I knew her father. Rather I knew her dad's writing. He, Chuck Heaton, was an Indians beat writer. Last time I saw Chuck he was still following sports. His grandson was playing against my nephew in t-ball.

Democrats in Pennsylvania support politician who campaigned at soldier's funeral

They say you get the government you deserve. Democrats in Pennsylvania decided they want four more years of Catherine Baker Knoll as Lieutenant Governor. Last year I blogged about how outrageous she was in her behavior at the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. Yesterday, voters in the Democrat primary election resoundingly validated her behavior by nominating her for four more years. Shame on them.

(H/T BizzyBlog for pointing out this election result)

Best way to improve a worn out bullpen

What it the best way to help out a tired bullpen? Starting pitchers doing their job and pitching deep into a game. Jake Westbrook did just that tonight throwing a complete game shutout and giving the bullpen a night off.

Travis Hafner, who ended last nights game with a two run homer, walked and scored in the second inning and then hit a grand slam in the next inning to account for all the runs tonight. I have a hard time accepting the idea of a DH being the league MVP but if Hafner keeps this up he will merit strong consideration. A quarter of the way through the season and he is averaging nearly a run and an rbi a game.

Wednesday's notes & links

Just a few notes today:

Herman Cain reminds us that our legislators have done nothing about the problems inherent in the Social Security scam. If you're under 50 you'd be foolish to expect the current system to be around when reach retirement.

Here is the biggest non-story of the day:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted yesterday it's "just not clear" if his Mexican-immigrant grandparents settled in the U.S. legally. "Three of my grandparents were born in Mexico. They came to Texas," Gonzales told CNN. Pressed by Wolf Blitzer, Gonzales conceded he didn't know if they sneaked across the border like millions of illegals at issue in the current debate. "It's unclear. It's unclear," Gonzales said. "And I've looked at this issue, I've talked to my parents about it, and it's just not clear."

Who cares? I have no idea if my grandparents or great grandparents asked permission to enter the United States either. Are we concerned with people sneaking into the country 60 years ago or today? He was born and raised in this country and served in our military (Air Force). Last I checked we don't punish people for something their ancestors may have done.

This is a couple days old but definitely worth reading. Imagine if we’d reported and opined on WWII the way we do now by Victor Davis Hanson

Learning a lesson from a failed marriage

You can learn a lot from your spouse. I'll use a celebrity couple in the news as an example. Paul McCartney and Wife Separate

McCartney's wealth was estimated at $1.5 billion by the Sunday Times in their annual list of Britain's richest people. The couple are believed not to have a prenuptial agreement.

In 2002, Heather Mills told Vanity Fair that McCartney didn't force her to sign a prenuptial agreement before their huge wedding. Mills said she offered to sign an agreement, but that McCartney — who was worth more than $1 billion at the time — wouldn't allow it. "I wanted to prove that I love him for him," she was quoted by the magazine as saying. "He said, 'I wouldn't let you.'"
McCartney told the magazine that he knew some people would think he was being suckered by a gold digger.

It is estimated that she will end up with over 300 million dollars when the marriage is dissolved. Any bets on whether she will insist on a pre-nuptial agreement with any potential future husband?

The Indians Win!

It is sad that winning a game against the Royals warrants a headline with an exclamation point, but after a six game losing streak it was a big deal. They didn't just end the losing streak, they ended it in grand fashion. The Indians started the ninth inning trailing 4 to 3. Grady Sizemore promptly homered to tie up the game. Three batters later Travis Hafner crushed a two run homer to end the game.

Hopefully, this win will lead to a winning streak to get them back into contention. It seemed obvious to me that the pressure was getting to some of the players. Victor Martinez in particular is slumping badly. I realize the manager likes having Martinez' bat protecting Hafner in the lineup, but he needs a day or two off.

Tuesday's links and comments

Here are a few articles and comments for a Tuesday:

Paul Greenberg pokes fun at congressional ignorance of the history of the CIA. A general in charge of the CIA? Shocking!

Some of the honorables in Congress are shocked - shocked! - that George W. Bush would nominate a military man to head the Central Intelligence Agency. To quote Saxby Chambliss, a Republican congressman from Georgia, Gen. Michael Hayden's military background would be a "major problem." How's that again? Wasn't Stansfield Turner, an admiral, head of the CIA back in the Carter administration? Indeed, at last count, 13 of the 19 directors of the agency had served in the military at some time before their appointment. In the agency's early days, it was almost assumed a military man would head it.

Cal Thomas has a column about declining morale in Iraq.

Morale is slipping in Iraq. Fighters are growing doubtful of success. A comprehensive strategy for winning the conflict is nonexistent.

Is this an assessment of the U.S. military? No, it is an assessment about the insurgents who oppose the elected Iraqi government. While U.S. opinion polls show a growing number of Americans are pessimistic about the prosecution of the war, documents authored by an al-Qaida operative and seized by U.S. soldiers during an April 16 raid in the Yusufiyah area (12 miles south of Baghdad) offer hope to the American side that success may be closer than we think.

I normally would not be agreement with these particular congressmen, but something does need to be done about the atrocities in Darfur.

Seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested at the Embassy of Sudan Tuesday, after protesting over atrocities in the Darfur region of the wartorn nation.

I'm not sure what they thought they'd accomplish by making fools of themselves and getting arrested.

Am I the only one who read this and immediately thought of taking out a Swiss bank account in Fidel's name?

I hear the president made a speech about immigration reform last night. I didn't watch it because of more important things to tend to (little league baseball). You can surf hundreds of websites to get analysis of his proposals. Chris at A Large Regular live blogged the speech and his take is as good as anyone elses. My own take from what I've read - Encourage your children to learn Spanish.

Speaking of children, my boy's team won for the first time last night. After they got spanked in their first two games I was getting concerned. They are sponsored by Gold Star Chili so we went there after the game. Mm-mm-good. I don't throw many commercials in here but since they paid for the uniforms I don't have a problem encouraging you all to stop in there and throw a little business their way.

Monday's news and links

President Bush is going to address the nation tonight regarding the out of control illegal immigration problem. Fortunately for the president there is no shortage of people willing to give him advice on what to say. Unfortunately, I expect he will not follow the best advice.

Speaking of the best advice, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) had an op-ed this weekend which clearly addresses what needs to be done.

In his Monday speech, the President needs to make a clear break from previous speeches on the topic and come home to Republican Party principles. He needs to stop pandering to perceived voting blocs and employer lobbies and speak to the one thing all Americans agree upon: No immigration policy is workable without secure borders.

Read the rest.

David Frum has a less than positive opinion of the "plan" President Bush is expected to announce.

This plan won't work, and it is not seriously meant to work. It's supposed to look dramatic and buy the president some respite from negative polls - and then it is supposed to fail, strengthening the administration's case for its truly preferred approach: amnesty + guestworkers.

I hope the president doesn't repeat some stupid things he has said in the past on this subject. Worst thing he and others have said is "jobs Americans won't do." There are no jobs Americans will not do. We won't perform those jobs at the wages that crooks are paying illegal workers. Also, don't insult our intelligence by saying something like "we can't round up 12 million people." Mr. President we aren't asking you to arrest 12 million at once. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. We are asking you to stop talking about amnesty or fast tracks to citizenship as that only encourages more crooks to break our laws.

Here is a story about one of the folks here illegally.

A teenage in the United States illegally is now charged with murdering a Nashville woman and her daughter.

Howard Kurtz has an in depth (5 page!) look at Tony Snow as he settles in to his new job. He sounds like he would be a hard guy not to like.

Why don't intelligent people trust Democrats on national defense? Because their positions and actions in the decades after the Vietnam War convinced people like Jeane Kirkpatrick that they no longer belonged in that party. Here is an article where Kirkpatrick discusses why she left the Democrat party. Now that party has nobody like her or Scoop Jackson left. Closest you can find would be Joe Lieberman who has been vilified for having the audacity to be on our side in the war on terror.

Woman Kidnapped As Toddler in '76 Found This woman must be in shock. For 30 years she has been led to believe her mother had died in a car accident and now she finds out her mom has been looking for her.

Sunday's baseball notes

The Indians are sitting on a 5 game losing streak and have fallen into 4th place in the AL Central. It is getting a little late in the season to brush off the standings by saying it's early. The middle of this coming week will mark the one quarter mark of the season. I'd feel more confident in claiming they will turn it around if there was one element of the team playing poorly to fix. Unfortunately, the losing has been a team effort. If they're hitting the pitching fails. If the pitching does well like Sabathia did last night then the hitters take the night off. You'd be complimenting the defense if you said the fielding was average. You'd find less baserunning mistakes in a softball league full of drunks. Something needs to change and releasing Danny Graves on Friday wasn't enough.

Jon Lieber flirted with perfection last night. When I first heard on the radio that he had a perfect game going it struck me that the on and off rain made the day seem similar to the night Tom Browning threw a perfect game. Lieber went into the 7th inning without allowing a hit or a walk. Appropriately, on a night where the Reds were giving away Adam Dunn dolls, Dunn broke up the perfect game with a single with two men out in the 7th. My guess is Dunn remembers striking out to end the game more than he remembers the single.

Here is a link to Hal McCoy's Baseball Insider column. He always has something you won't find elsewhere.

If the Indians are considering dumping an underperforming starting pitcher, Jeremy Sowers is making a case for a shot.

Jeremy Sowers allowed one unearned run in seven innings to lead visiting Buffalo past Ottawa, 3-1, in Class AAA International League action Saturday. Sowers (5-1) gave up five hits and two walks while striking out three, lowering his ERA to 1.21 in eight starts.

Ken Rosenthal asks why pitchers are stilled scared of Barry Bonds.

Barry Bonds is batting .222. Yet he's second in the National League with 36 walks. When will opposing managers stop treating him as if he's the Bonds of old, and start confronting the reality that he's nearly broken down at 41?

I could understand if opposing teams decide not to give Albert Pujols anything decent to hit, but teams should go ahead and challenge the 2006 version of Barry Bonds.

Hideki Matsui has to be one of the classiest players in professional sports. In an age when we usually only hear negative stories of players behavior it is refreshing to hear one make a heartfelt apology. Why was Matsui apologizing? He actually apologized for breaking his wrist while trying to make a great catch.

Immediately following surgery Friday to repair a broken wrist that will sideline him for at least three months, Hideki Matsui apologized for getting hurt.

"Due to this injury, I feel very sorry and, at the same time, very disappointed to have let my teammates down," Matsui said in a statement. "I will do my best to fully recover and return to the field to help my team once again."

Yankees manager Joe Torre wasn't surprised by the apology. "It's all about responsibility — what he thinks his responsibility is to this team, this organization, because the Yankees committed to him and he feels it's a two-way street in that regard," Torre said.

Other players could learn a lot from Matsui. Even though he is a Yankee, I'm rooting for a complete and speedy recovery.

If you're visiting DC watch out for politicians driving after midnight

Grandma said nothing good happens after 11 PM. Looks like she was right.

D.C. Councilmember Marion S. Barry (D-Ward 8) pulled his car out of a parking space into the path of an oncoming vehicle shortly after midnight this morning, police said, in a stretch of Southeast Washington dominated by fast-food restaurants and nightclubs. Neither he nor the driver of the oncoming vehicle, a 1999 Jeep Cherokee, was injured in the 12:10 a.m. collision.

Barry, the former four-term mayor whose struggles with substance abuse and brushes with the law are well known, was given a $50 ticket for failing to yield the right of way, according to the accident report filed by D.C. police.

The reporting officer checked off a box on the report asking whether the at-fault driver had been drinking and appeared to be impaired. But police did not charge Barry with driving under the influence.

Friday's various links and comments

A few news items for your enjoyment on a Friday morning:

Condoleezza Rice is the commencement speaker at Boston College this year. Here is an op-ed by an adjunct professor of English at Boston College claiming he is resigning in protest over Rice's appearance. Call me a cynic, but I'm certain he is either going to change his mind claiming his students begged him to stay or he already has another job lined up.

Speaking of cynicism, here is an article to restore a healthy sense of distrust.

A wheelchair-bound Los Angeles woman, who has repeatedly filed lawsuits over access for the disabled, got up and ran after police arrested her for fraud, authorities said on Thursday.

Laura Lee Medley, 35, had sued in at least four California cities over injuries she claimed she sustained while trying to navigate her wheelchair before she was suspected of fraud.

Former Congressman Sonny Montgomery dies. The current version of the GI Bill for Education is named the Montgomery GI Bill because he was the one who pushed the legislation through the Congress in the early 1980's.

When ignorant people say "Hey, what's the big deal about immigration" (usually shying away from using the word illegal) I feel like throttling them and then explaining the facts of economic life to them. Everything costs money. Their are dozen of examples available of government services that are used by illegals. The easiest to track is the affect on police and jails. Our local sheriff sent a bill to the federal government a while back for housing illegals in jail. Here is a story of a sheriff in Oregon who took a different tact, he sent a letter to Mexico's President Fox asking for payment for housing the crooks he sends across the border.

Three months later, Trumbo reports, Vicente Fox still has not paid up. The Mexican president has issued no response, no installment payment, nada.

No surprise there. Our county didn't get paid either. And that sums up the problem. At the federal level neither country wants to make the effort to secure the border, but the local communities are expected to bear the brunt of the costs for housing the crooks and schooling their children.

Investing advice: Gold and other precious metals have had an incredible run up. Now, everyone is on board and saying buy. You know you are getting near a top (or a bottom) when everyone is in agreement. If you are buying gold at these prices bear in mind the other side of the trade. The seller is locking in the profits from the run up. Now is the time to start looking at the sectors completely out of favor.
(Disclaimer: Don't come to me for investing advice)

NSA Data Mining

Yesterday there was all sorts of noise from various politicians complaining about a data mining program used to reduce the chance of a terror attack on our soil. I'd like to see a comparison of quotes from folks up in arms now to quotes they made during the 911 commission. How many were accusingly asking "why didn't you connect the dots?" and are now saying "how dare you look at the dots?"

I hope Dems turn General Hayden's hearings for the DCI position into a series of accusations that the administration is trying too hard to thwart future attacks. Lets see how that plays out in November. Ironic thing is if the Dems pretended to be on our side in the war, they could fool enough people with promises of government (ie: other peoples money) handouts to vote themselves back into power.

One senator understands what's going on. Senator Kyl of Arizona had this to say:

"This is nuts," Senator Kyl, a Republican of Arizona, said. "We're in a war and we got to collect intelligence on the enemy, and you can't tell the enemy in advance how you're going to do it, and discussing all of this stuff in public leads to that."

(H/T RWN)

Thursday's thoughts and links

Some musings and articles for a Thursday afternoon:

Snow issues detailed rebuttals to media coverage of the president. It's about time. If he aggressively pushes back to refute inaccuracies in coverage watch the silly poll numbers to improve.

Need another reason to despise lawyers? How about the fact that one of them took this case:

A Los Angeles psychologist who was denied a tote bag during a Mother's Day giveaway at an Angel game is suing the baseball team, alleging sex and age discrimination.

Michael Cohn's class-action claim in Orange County Superior Court alleges that thousands of males and fans under 18 were "treated unequally" at a "Family Sunday" promotion last May and are entitled to $4,000 each in damages. The targets of the suit are the team and the Corinthian Colleges. Corinthian oversees Bryman College, which has an Anaheim campus and sponsored the event, its name printed on the bags. Thousands of the red nylon bags were given to women 18 and older attending the Sunday Mother's Day game.

It's just a crappy give away! Lighten up.

Speaking of lawyers, if you want an easy answer for the cost of medical insurance consider this.

About 40 percent of the medical malpractice cases filed in the United States are groundless, according to a Harvard analysis of the hotly debated issue that pits trial attorneys against doctors, with lawmakers in the middle.

Doctors frequently order additional tests and treatments out of fear that any mistake will be treated as a potential lottery ticket rather than as a mistake.

Senate Panel Clears Kavanaugh's Appeals Court Nomination. Now that is one fast acting Senate. Only took 2 years and 10 months to vote exactly as they intended all along since he was approved in committee by 10-8 party line vote.


You ever see an item in a store and wonder why the item is even still being made? Today I was at Sears and saw they're selling the old style powerless lawn mower($89). I wonder if that is an attempt to play on the price of gas.

Howard Dean - Liar or Homophobe

This is just plain funny.

Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean has contradicted his party's platform and infuriated gay rights advocates by saying the party's platform states "marriage is between a man and a woman."

Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean, appearing on the Christian Broadcasting Network, erroneously stated that the party's 2004 platform says 'marriage is between a man and a woman.' "The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says marriage is between a man and a woman," Dean said May 10 during a "700 Club" program hosted by conservative Christian leader Pat Robertson on his Christian Broadcasting Network.

That statement contradicts the Democratic National Committee's official stance, which was adopted in 2004.

"We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families," the platform says.

If a Republican makes a statement about marriage being between a man and a woman they are instantly branded a homophobe. Will Dean be similarly accused? Not likely. Most Dems will rightly believe he was attempting to fool viewers of that show (if there are any) into thinking Dems aren't as goofy as most of us think they are on social issues. It is called pandering.

Wednesday's notes & links

Here are a few links for a Wednesday:

The Hill has a look at Majority Leader John Boehner after 100 days in the job.

Want to worry about the future? Read The Caliphate: One nation, under Allah, with 1.5 billion Muslims from The Christian Science Monitor. We may not realize we are facing a world wide struggle with Islamic fascism, but we are.

If you'd rather laugh about the future of the Democratic party, then read this. Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post opines about the political scene and claims the Republicans have a bankruptcy of ideas. This one snippet sums up how clueless this guy is:

Karl Rove and his minions have plumb run out of issues to campaign on. They can't run on the war. They can't run on the economy, where the positive numbers on growth are offset by the largely stagnant numbers on median incomes and the public's growing dread of outsourcing.

The economy is roaring and the Dems and their media accomplices are scared to death that the word will get out.

John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations Remember it's nuts like Conyers that'll be running congress if Democrats get a majority in November.

If you want to know what Conyers has planned if he becomes chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, just read this.

Local Illegal Immigration Crackdown

From WCPO News: 80 People Arrested In ICE Raid Of Fischer Homes

Police took four supervisors and 76 undocumented workers into custody Tuesday in connection with an investigation of Fischer Homes.

If they had sufficient evidence to arrest four supervisors then they should have enough evidence to lock up the owner or CEO. The only way to fix this problem is to make employers too scared to break the law. Currently only the individual illegal alien and mid-level managers have suffered any consequences.

Here is a link to the two current job openings at Fischer Homes. My guess is they will need to do more honest hiring now.

Is this a woman's "right" to choose issue or a matter of unequal treatment under the law?

From Virginia we have the sad story of a woman who murdered her child on the day it was to be born by shooting herself in the belly. If someone else had killed her child they would have been charged with a crime, and rightfully so. However, a judge has ruled that the law doesn't apply to the "mother."

Because she shot herself earlier this year, General District Court Judge James A. Moore decided Monday that she can’t be tried for producing a miscarriage or abortion, and he dismissed the felony charge.

Skinner’s attorney argued at a preliminary hearing that the charge is meant to be used against a third party. It simply does not govern an expectant mother doing something to herself, Kevin E. Martingayle said.

Prosecutors could ask a grand jury for a direct indictment in the landmark case, but right now they are still trying to decide what to do, Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Ferguson said . “We are dealing with a woman who, by her own hands, killed her child on the day of its birth,” he said. “This was a nine-month fetus, clearly in the realm of viability. Whether it meets legal tests to constitute criminal conduct – we’re reviewing and exploring our options.”

Skinner, 22, also was charged with using a firearm in commission of a felony. That charge was not prosecuted because it must apply to a certain list of felonies, not including the miscarriage statute. Skinner was found guilty Monday of filing a false police report, a misdemeanor for which the judge sentenced her to 30 days in jail, all suspended.

If she had waited a couple hours to murder the baby there would be no debate on whether it was murder. If you can make sense of any of this you're doing better than me.

Rice criticizes Albright

Okay, the title could mislead folks to think that Secretary of State Rice criticized her predecessor from the Clinton administration. Actually, the headline refers to John Rice criticizing Albright after reviewing her new book. He is right on the mark.

Albright laments about our current policies and events, but she takes absolutely no responsibility for her actions, or rather inaction, during her tenure. Sure, she is articulate, but she bases her arguments on half-truths about the history of her own reign as secretary of State. She denies any responsibility for the situations that we as a country face today.

During her tenure, we saw the rise of radical terrorism - and she did nothing:

• We saw attacks on U.S citizens and interests around the world - and she did nothing.

And so on . . . .

Monday's news and links

A few stories for your reading pleasure:

Circling the White House by Charlie Cook is a round up of all the known contenders for the Republican and Democrat nominations for the 2008 presidential election. Cook is about right on most of his analysis, though I think he is too quick to dismiss Sam Brownback by lumping him in with Alan Keyes and Pat Robertson as purely a moral values candidate.

I thought I'd read that the last Titanic survivor had died a few years ago, but here is a story of another survivor dying which says there are two left. Sad story.

Lillian Asplund never married and worked at secretarial jobs in the Worcester area most of her life. She retired early to care for her mother, who was described as having never gotten over the tragedy.

Mike Adams in addition to writing a regular column for TownHall.com is a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. As a professor he has heard some incredibly stupid things stated as if they were facts. Today he has a collection of "blame whitey" stories from over the years. These quotes would be funny if it wasn't for how sad it is that some people are dumb enough to believe them. Here's a couple go to the link to read the rest.

7. “The Reagan administration hired Jewish doctors to develop the AIDS virus to destroy Africa.” (college professor).

6. “The Mona Lisa was painted by an African artist and stolen from a museum in Ethiopia. Most of the great works of art are African in origin and stolen by white people. This is done to promote the myth of white cultural superiority.” (graduate student).

What do you do if you've had a few drinks and need to go to the store but you're worried because you've already gotten two DUI's in the last six months? Take the riding lawnmower.

VERMILION, Ohio - Police have arrested a man accused of operating a lawnmower while drunk. Dondi Bowles, 50, of Vermilion, was arrested about 9:45 p.m. Friday as he drove the mower on a sidewalk. Police said he had used the mower to drive to a store about a mile from his home and was arrested on his way back.

Bush turns to Gen. Hayden to lead CIA I hope Hayden has thick skin because he isn't going to get any compliments for a while. In that job your successes are hidden and your failures are front page.

General Hayden is not the only Air Force guy in the news. Airman 1st Class Oliveras caught the ball Barry Bonds hit for home run 713. He asked for Bonds' autograph and was turned down, but Bonds got his autograph.

There was one signature needed though. Oliveras had to sign a waiver for Bonds' reality show.

Porter Goss resigns from CIA

It was just announced that Porter Goss has resigned as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. There must be something else behind this decision. Goss resigned from the House of Representatives and took this job a little more than a year and a half ago with a five year plan to modernize and improve the CIA. Since no specific reason was given for his resignation, rumor will be running rampant. Here is a short list of potential reasons for his departure:
1. Health - Goss is 67 years old
2. Infighting in the CIA - Goss just recently fired a CIA employee for aiding our enemies by leaking classified information to reporters.
3. Loss of power due to creation of the new position of Intelligence Chief overseeing all the various intelligence agencies.
4. Make up your own in the comments section.

Never again

In the aftermath of World War II and the revelations of the NAZI atrocities two simple words summed up the resolve of decent people to ensure it wasn't repeated. Never again. Charles Krauthammer has a column today with that simple headline except unfortunately those two words were followed by a question mark. I won't quote a portion of Krauthammer's column out of fear of diluting his message. Go read the whole thing.

Sins of omission

Yesterday it was reported repeatedly that a "former CIA analyst" heckled Defense Secretary Rumsfeld during a speech in Georgia. No news outlet bothered telling the rest of the story. Turns out this is not just a former CIA analyst. No, this guy is some sort of nut who has peddled several anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. HotAir.com has a run down of this goofs history with links to various articles which the mainstream press could in a ten minute Google search. Funniest thing is a week ago this guy is the one all the media was quoting about the professionalism of the treasonous CIA analyst, Mary McCarthy.

A chip off the ol' block(head)

A congressman gets into an accident at 3 AM and is seen staggering away but no breathalizer test is conducted and no charges are filed. That wouldn't make you think he is getting preferential treatment would it? How about if the likely drunken congressman is the son of a senator who killed a young lady 37 years ago and then hid from authorities until his BAC was low enough to pass a test? Sounds like a case of like father - like son to me.

9 News has learned U.S. Capitol police officers are concerned about the handling of an accident involving Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) about 3 a.m. this morning.

Rep. Kennedy was reportedly behind the wheel of a green Ford Mustang when it crashed into a security barrier at 1st and "C" streets Southeast. No one was hurt, but there are reports that the car nearly struck a Capitol police cruiser and that it had been swerving, as if trying to make a U-turn. So far, Kennedy HAS NOT been charged. The congressman released a statement Thursday night saying alcohol was NOT involved.

"I was involved in a traffic accident last night at ... the U.S. Capitol. I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident and I will fully cooperate with Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake," he said.

According to Rollcall.com, Baird -- acting chairman of the Capitol Police Fraternal Order of Police –- said Kennedy’s Mustang had its lights off when it narrowly missed crashing into a police cruiser and smashed into a security barrier at 1st and C streets Southeast about 2:45 a.m.

According to sources, Kennedy told police that he was late for a Congressional vote. But the House had adjourned more than three hours earlier, sources said.

According to Roll Call, Baird wrote in his letter that the driver got out and “was observed to be staggering.” He told officers he was a congressman late for a vote. Baird wrote that patrol officers at the scene were prohibited from performing field sobriety tests. Then two sergeants arrived, conferred with a watch commander and “ordered all of the patrol division units to leave the scene … that they were taking over.”

Congressman Patrick Kennedy is Ted Kennedy's son. He is currently serving his sixth term as the Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island. He sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

We will never know just how drunk this driver was when the accident occurred. Any regular citizen without political clout would have been forced to submit to a breathalizer test immediately. The watch commander should have directed the officers at the scene to handle this as they would for any other driver. Disciplinary action should be considered on everyone involved in this miscarriage of justice.

Next time you're in an accident and the police officer asks if you've been drinking just tell him you'll issue a statement tomorrow saying no alcohol was involved. Let me know how that works out for ya.

France May Seek Custody of Moussaoui

Convicted co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now we hear the French may ask to have his sorry butt sent to France for holding. I know some would argue that we should quickly reject any request by the French government. I would consider the request for a couple reasons. Primary reason is if someone else wants to house and feed him for the rest of his life that's money we don't have to spend. Another idea would be to table their request until the next time France is refusing to extradite a fugitive from our justice system like they did with Ira Einhorn. Then you offer a trade as long as they make a commitment to never let him see the light of day again.


Trivia time: Does anyone remember which lousy attorney got Einhorn's bail reduced so he could run from justice and hide in France?

Funny election results

Ohio Candidate's Sons Cost Him County Race

You're both grounded!

Two voting-age sons of a northern Ohio candidate didn't go to the polls Tuesday, and their father's race ended in a tie. William Crawford, trying to retain his seat on the central committee of the Erie County Democratic Party, and challenger Jean Miller each received 43 votes in the primary balloting.

Thursday stuff

More of the "culture of corruption." Another story of a bribed congressman. Oops, this crook is a Democrat. How'd this story get out?

Ted Kennedy got caught re-writing history on Meet the Press, not that Tim Russert would bother correcting Ted's lies.

"If we got out," asked Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" recently, "and there was a civil war, chaos, and you saw al Qaeda moving in -- in record numbers -- would you go back in?"

Russert's guest, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., replied, "Well, first of all, I heard the same kinds of suggestions at the time of the end of the Vietnam War. The 'Great Bloodbath,' we're going to have over 100,000 people that were going to be murdered and killed at that time. And for those of us who were strongly opposed to the war, [we] heard those same kinds of arguments."

The normally persistent Russert never challenged Kennedy's incredible assertion. Yet the bloodbath some predicted would occur -- if we withdrew from Vietnam -- did happen.

Read the rest. Senator Kennedy, Guess what? After the politicians in Washington betrayed our soldiers and the people of South Vietnam well over 2 million people were slaughtered. What a thoroughly despicable man. Sadly, he will be reelected in November. His many sins are shared by the population of Massachusetts as they have known for decades what sort of person they are sending to Washington to represent them.

Something about this story bugs me. Vindication at last: Governor pardons 78 people convicted under state's WWI sedition statute It can reasonably be argued that various state laws regarding sedition violated the First amendment's protection of free speech. However, I'm leery of any of these various attempts to go back and re-write history.

Here is an article where the writer demonstrates that he just doesn't get it.

Republicans in Congress who last year threatened to block George Soros from buying the Washington Nationals because of his ties to Democrats may be in for a surprise. Theodore Lerner, who was selected by Major League Baseball to own the Nationals, also has ties to Democrats, though on a much smaller scale.

Republicans weren't opposed to Soros because he donated to Democrat candidates. No, some were appalled at the thought of Soros being involved in ownership of a baseball team because he's nuts and because he abused the ridiculous McCain-Feingold legislation to spend 20 million dollars in an attempt to oust the president.

Here is something we should all be able to agree about regardless of political persuasion. The election is over get rid of the signs if you lost the primary.

If you ever need to feel a little humility just try to change a bicycle chain. Should have just bought the boy a new bike and avoided the aggravation.

Primary post-mortem

Many things come to mind looking at the results of yesterday's elections and the months leading up to the election.

First, let me thank the also-rans for making the effort. Particularly, Bill Pierce and David Smith for taking on the daunting task of challenging an incumbent U.S. senator. Both men made considerable personal sacrifice of both time and financial resources. Each entered this campaign realizing it was an up hill battle, but cared enough to make the effort. I'm sure supporters of both men wish the other had not run. In the end Mike DeWine had far greater name recognition than his challengers and neither Smith nor Pierce had the financial backing necessary to get their message out.

Next, in the Ohio 2nd District we learned a key difference between Ohio and New York. You might be able to show up in New York, pretend to be a New Yorker and win elective office, but in Ohio we prefer Ohioans to represent us. Bob McEwen was gone too long to be able to fool enough people to vote for him. Hopefully, this will be the last we hear of McEwen running in Ohio elections. There has to be an opening in Virginia for him somewhere.

Surprisingly, Kay Rogers won the nomination to run again for her current position as Butler County Auditor despite many allegations of misconduct and abuse of office. I just don't get it. Nationwide, Dems are planning on running a campaign based on allegations of a "culture of corruption" and we provide them a stick to beat us with by running a candidate currently under investigation.

Republicans in Ohio have chosen Mike DeWine to run in November. That leave Ohio's conservative voters with a difficult decision. Do we go with the lesser of two evils and vote DeWine in November? Do we ignore the race because we are so displeased with DeWine? The fact that the Democrat candidate, Sherrod Brown, is an extreme liberal doesn't necessarily make my decision any easier. Right now, when the senate fails to accomplish anything the media tells us repeatedly that the Republicans have a 55-45 advantage. Tell you what, go ask Bill Frist if he has 55 reliable votes. I hope no one believes this primary challenge will convince DeWine to straighten up. No, it will be just the opposite. To him a victory in November will validate his past actions and will give him 6 years of job security to ignore his constituents with impunity.

Lastly, a true fiscal and social conservative won the Republican nomination for governor. Ken Blackwell has many fine attributes, but most impressive to me is his consistency in his position on the issues. There is nothing inherently wrong with reexamining your position and modifying your stance. However, far too many politicians change their position in an obvious act of political calculation. I have a strong sense that Ken Blackwell would rather not win than win by being dishonest. This will easily become the nastiest race in the state with large amounts of funding coming from outside the state. Nationally, Democrats are terrified of losing their virtual monopoly on the minority vote and realize black Republicans winning major offices will greatly influence the next generation. Politicians are at their worst when scared of losing power. Democrats who understand math realize the last two presidential elections would not have been close if they had not gotten nearly 90% of the black vote. If November ushers in a Senator Steele, Governor Blackwell and Governor Swann more people may recognize that political decisions should not be determined by race.

This is democracy - Like it or not.

Our system of government and method of conducting elections requires acceptance of the results whether pleased with them or not. Tonight, I admittedly was not thrilled with some of the results. I honestly believe Bill Pierce would have been a much better choice for our representative in the U.S. Senate. In a local election, I didn't think Kay Rogers' performance warranted another term in office. There are several other races both in Ohio and in other states where I would have preferred different results. Regardless of my desires, the responsibility of citizenship requires us to accept the outcome of elections.

Having said all that, the bottom line is primaries are just recommendations. Republicans are recommending some candidates and Democrats are recommending other candidates. In November all of us will decide whether to accept those recommendations.

Judicial activism gone overboard

In my opinion, this is sufficient reason to impeach a federal judge.

A federal judge has overturned the capital murder conviction of a Houston man who fatally shot a motorcycle officer, saying the state trial judge had a "deep-seated and vocal bias" against the defendant.

Hey, dummy. Of course the trial judge had a bias against the defendent - the guy had fatally shot a police officer.

"Mr. Buntion has never disputed the fact that he shot and killed officer Irby that day," said Dick Wheelan of Houston, who has represented Buntion for at least eight years of the appeal process. "Since the beginning he has maintained that he was acting in self defense," Wheelan said.

Sadly the judge in question, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, was a Reagan appointee.

Hoyt said in his 61-page opinion that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his constitutional right to a fair trial.

If it takes you 61 pages to defend your decision it tells me that you realize it is indefensible.

Dumbest pro-illegal immigration comment

On the radio earlier, I heard what has to be the dumbest comment yet by the folks in favor of illegal immigration. A Latino guy was being interviewed and he said "Look at this country's origins. When the pilgrims got here did the Indians ask to see their visa? No." Okay, and tell me again how did that work out for the Indians? Heck, his argument actually bolsters my position of there being a need for greater border enforcement.

Civic duty completed

I just returned from performing one of the most important duties of citizenship. I can say with a certain amount of pride that I voted for Ken Blackwell for Governor and Bill Pierce for U.S. Senator. My conscience is clear. The was no waiting and I was in and out in less than ten minutes.

Voting Day

Primary elections are being held across the country today. If I were from the other party I'd urge you to vote early and vote often. However, since I'm a conservative Ohioan concerned for our future, instead I'll urge you to vote early and vote Bill Pierce for Senate and Ken Blackwell for Governor.


As a side note, I had someone (Bob) tell me they were voting for DeWine even though Bill Pierce may be a much better choice only because he was concerned about Sherrod Brown winning in November. It is an understandable concern. I wouldn't want to be represented in the Senate by Brown either. However, that argument falls apart when you take a good look at Brown's positions. Brown is extremely liberal and will not be marketable state wide. Ohio doesn't mirror Brown's district and won't elect someone to the left of Ted Kennedy. I'd even go so far as to say DeWine may have more trouble than Pierce in defeating Brown. There is a growing "throw the bums out" sentiment and if you add that to the general dissatisfaction with DeWine he ends up looking rather vulnerable in November.