Sunday's news and links

Unless I'm forgetting someone, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) is the first official candidate running for president in 2008.

The Delaware Democrat spoke to more than 100 people gathered at an event organized by Strafford County Democrats.

"I'm running for president -- flat out," he said, adding his party should learn to be more blunt. "The next Democrat, whether it's me or Sen. Clinton or John Kerry, whomever -- the Democratic nominee -- they'd better be able to ante up right in front of the American people two things: security and faith," he said.

There are advantages and disadvantages to announcing your candidacy early. Obviously, being a declared candidate helps kick off the fund raising so necessary to wage a national campaign. Additionally, this assures him more of the media attention which has to help with name recognition. However, the bright lights of the media now have more time to expose the various warts that we all have as humans.

Peter Bronson writes for the local newspaper, The Cincinnati Enquirer. He should be nationally syndicated. Here's his column from today.

I wouldn't take any bets on this guy's life expectancy.

Ayatollah's grandson calls for US overthrow of Iran

Unlike his grandfather who hung out in France during his revolution, Hossein Khomeini's call is all the more startling as he made it from Qom, the spiritual home of Iran's Shia strand of Islam, during an interview to mark the 17th anniversary of the ayatollah's death.

This is a load of crap.

The family of a Yemeni prisoner said to have committed suicide at the United States Guantanamo Bay prison is refusing to bury him, demanding an investigation into his death. The dead prisoners' families do not believe that the men, devout Muslims, took their own lives. They said this was a major violation of the Islamic faith.

So they're asserting that he didn't commit suicide because it's against the rules. Guess what? Suicide is against the rules in lots of religions and unhappy people from all those religions (including Islam) have chosen suicide since the beginning of time.

Here is today's bad idea:

While naming Navy ships is a job that originates with the service’s secretary and the executive branch, Virginia Sen. John W. Warner appears to be trying to perform the task himself. The Republican has asked Congress to name the Navy’s next aircraft carrier after Gerald Ford, the nation’s 38th president.

Former President Ford is a good guy by all accounts, but that is not reason enough to name a ship after him. We have erred in the past in naming carriers after politicians (Stennis, Vinson) mainly because they had a history of voting for more spending. Carrier battle groups are used as the forward deployed image of the United States and the name of the carrier should evoke certain historical thoughts. We should name aircraft carriers for great leaders of our nation from the past or pivital battles from American history. Look at the names of some current and some retired carriers and decide which ones evoke the right image of American military might. USS NIMITZ (CVN 68), USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73), USS MIDWAY (CV 41), and USS AMERICA (CV 66) send one message while USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70), USS JOHN STENNIS (CVN 74) send a decidedly different message. Which group would you place the idea of naming an aircraft carrier after Gerald Ford?