Friday's various links and comments

I'm not a big believer in coincidences, so I have to assume this is connected to the trial.

Hussein judge brother-in-law shot dead

I know the Iraqi's are using this trial to demostrate that justice will be handled differently than under Hussein, but this should have been finished within months of his capture. It could be argued that Iraq would be better off today if they used the Mussolini method.

With reprobates like this guy the Republicans are going to have a hard time holding onto their majority in Congress.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official.

What is wrong with people like Foley? More importantly is why wasn't this creep dealt with sooner? According to this post from Betsy's Page, reporters from the St. Petersburg Times have been aware of these crimes for almost a year.

Jay Nordlinger's latest Impromptus column is worth reading.

Invester Business Daily has a column titled "97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can't Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime" which should be read by all voters before entering the voting booth.

Continuing to redefine crazy and making us all glad he lost some election in 2000, Al Gore now is saying that cigarette smoking causes global warming. He has now blamed everything but the sun.

This is wrong in many ways.

Coach accused of having sex with student
Paul J. Brown, 23, faces up to five years in prison; alleged incident occurred at his home with a girl, 13

Besides the fact that he should never have gotten near a minor, if you are a coach and your name is Paul Brown you have an added responsibility not to tarnish the name of that great man.

Wednesday's notes & links

During the Watergate investigation the question "What did the president know and when did he know it?" was in vogue. Richard Miniter has an insightful column today in the Wall Street Journal that plays on that theme regarding Bill Clinton's attempt to rewrite history.

What Clinton Didn't Do . . .
. . . .and when he didn't do it.

As I read article after article address Clinton's outburst from this past weekend I'm more and more convinced that he misjudged how it would play politically. His actions coupled with his underlings overreaction to the TV mini-series created more interest in assigning political blame for our lax security prior to 9/11.

I don't normally put a lot of stock in the various "scientific" studies mainly because there are so many of them and because you can usually find one with contradictory findings to match each one. Having said that, I have to like the results of this study.

Are you a forty-something grouch who's first to shout invectives in a slow-moving checkout lane? A youngster who mocks your dad's counsel? A graduate student known for driving your professor crazy with sardonic verbiage? Take hope: Today, you might be dismissed as a smart-aleck. In your old age, you might be viewed as smarter than average.

Or at least that's what Jacqueline Bichsel suggests.

Bichsel, a psychology professor at Morgan State in Baltimore, recently co-authored a study that invites the conclusion that upon reaching 60, disagreeable people maintain a higher level of intelligence than more easy-going seniors. "These individuals have a higher vocabulary," she said. "They have a better use of words, a better knowledge of facts."

There hasn't been a lot of media interest in Kosovo lately. Being rather cynical I'd assume that is because the situation can't be blamed on the current president. Here is an article examining how unstable the region is seven years after we entered the conflict (without asking the UN for permission by the way).

The woman who World War Two GI's referred to as Tokyo Rose died yesterday? For some reason I thought she had died years ago.

As sports fans it is easy to grow envious of the life we think the professional athletes live. We see the reports of million dollar contracts and the adulation heaped upon them and mistakenly think everything is fine in their life. What we don't see is how the stress of trying to be the best can take a toll on the athlete and their family. Today's news provides a stark reminder that like the rest of us they have problems and can struggle to make sense of their lives. Often for athletes who come from poor families the riches create additional difficulties in balancing being generous with being careful with your financial future.

According to a Dallas police report, Dallas Cowboys star receiver Terrell Owens attempted suicide Tuesday night. He remained hospitalized on Wednesday morning.

I have no way of knowing what personal demons drove Owens to believe death was preferable to living, but just hope his family and friends help him realize that he has much to live for even if he never plays another game.

Tuesday's links and comments

Some good news on the investing front.

In the category of longest prison sentence, WorldCom Inc. founder Bernard J. Ebbers recently bested the organizer of an armed robbery, the leaders of a Bronx drug gang and the acting boss of the Gambino crime family. . . . . . Ebbers, 65, is to report to prison on the same day that former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew S. Fastow will be sentenced by a federal judge in Houston. Fastow, who secretly pocketed more than $45 million in a scheme to disguise mounting financial problems at the energy company, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison as part of his plea deal.

Trust in the system is essential for the stock market to operate. There will always be those who tempted to manipulate the market so it is important that these crooks go to jail to discourage others.

Former president Bill Clinton lost his cool this weekend after being asked a softball question about pre-9/11 anti-terrorism actions. Clinton is reputed to have great political instincts, but he chose to attack the current administration instead of just giving an answer like "Prior to 9/11, none of us took the threat seriously enough. We had a false sense of security that the oceans protected us from the horrors of terrorism." That type of answer would have put the matter to rest. By getting so defensive and comparing his actions to other administrations and lying about various verifiable matters he guaranteed that his actions (or lack thereof) would receive continued scrutiny. The New York Post has Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's response to some of Clinton's misstatements.

Last week, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez when speaking to the United Nations recommended that people read a book by Noam Chomsky and expressed his regret that he didn't meet Chomsky before he passed on. Never mind the fact that Chomsky is actually still alive. The Wall Street Journal has an article today titled "Who Is Noam Chomsky?"

How did they get a volunteer for this?

A team of French doctors say they will perform the world's first zero-gravity surgery Wednesday, operating on a man in an airplane as it arcs and dives in and out of weightlessness.

I'm not an art buff and usually think schools waste too much time on that subject. However, even I think this is ridiculous:

Art Teacher Loses Job After Kids See Nude Sculpture
Children Were On School-Approved Field Trip

Don't want kids to see nudity. Don't approve fields trips to art museums. However, if you approve the trip don't turn around and act surprised to find out they they saw "art" at an art museum.

An argument against mixed marriages

The real problem with mixed marriages is the children. You try to raise them to know right from wrong the way you understand it, but your spouse may have a different viewpoint on child raising. You don't make an issue of the little things and over time the little things become big things. That has happened in my household. First I catch the boy wearing a Chad Johnson jersey and then yesterday she bought a Carson Palmer jersey for our daughter.

Seriously though, this is something the Browns need to wake up to. Continue to lose year in and year out and they risk losing the next generation of fans.

Friday's news and links

Responses to Hugo Chavez' nutty speech to the UN continue to come in.

Peggy Noonan thinks that as tempting as it is to just ignore Chavez it is important to address his comments.

While most Democrats commenting on Chavez have condemned his harsh rhetoric, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA voiced his agreement with Chavez. How do the people of Iowa justify keeping that embarrassment in office?

Forbes magazine has their annual list of 400 richest Americans. This time every member of the list is a billionaire. Before anyone asks, no I'm not on this years list.

Here are a couple more of the articles from the Examiner's series on potential 2008 presidential candidates:
Hillary Clinton
Rudy Giuliani - I strongly doubt Giuliani is going to run.

Thursday's links and comments

A sign that President Bush's improving poll numbers are real is New York Republican senate candidate John Spencer is saying he'd welcome the president joining him on the campaign trail. Just a couple months ago we were reading stories about Republican candidates avoiding the president like the plague. However, lets not get carried away. It is still New York so the campaign for Spencer's opponent, Sen. Clinton, has offered to pay for the president to visit and campaign on Spencer's behalf. I don't run the Republican party, but if I did I wouldn't waste any money on that race.

Ann Coulter discusses the idea of coddling terrorists in a column titled "Are Videotaped Beheadings Covered by Geneva?"

Robert Novak has a column discussing why John Bolton's nomination is still in doubt. Last year, Sen. Christopher Dodd worked to scuttle the nomination because Bolton isn't friendly enough to communist Cuba. Now, Sen. Lincoln Chafee is holding up the nomination because he heard the current administration supports Israel taking action after being attacked. Can anyone tell me why the RSCC wasted time and money on Chafee's reelection?

Michael Graham sums up the problem in dealing with the radical (ie: mainstream) Islamic countries in a column titled Tolerating intolerance."

As always, Victor Davis Hanson speaks with clarity about the threat facing civilization. Read it all, but here is a snippet:

It has been a parlor game of sorts to guess when—but even more so if—the Europeans (Britain included) will sigh, “Enough is enough,” and so get tough with both their own unassimilated angry Muslim minorities and the radical Islamic world at large. There will never be liberal values in the Middle East, no change, no future—as there would not have been in Hitler’s Germany, as there is not today in Cuba or North Korea—without the defeat of Islamic fascism, in its latest Islamic incarnation, as an ideological force.

Apparently they are calling for a heavy snow storm in hell. Charlie Rangel just chastized fellow leftist Hugo Chavez for attacking our president. You've really gone too far if even Rangel recognizes it. On that issue, FOX news has mentioned about a dozen times today that CITGO gas is state owned by Venezuela. I wonder if this will affect sales at their stations? Probably not.

Wednesday's notes & links

Yesterday I mentioned that the Examiner is doing a series of bio-sketches for likely presidential candidates for 2008. I thought I was linking to the first couple. Turns out I had missed a few. Here are links to the rest so far:
Mitt Romney
John Edwards
Mike Huckabee
John Kerry
John McCain
Mark Warner

Speaking of elections, here is an article about Democrats fighting against efforts to require voter identification.

The Texas governors race is one to watch if only for the comedy. The incumbent is Republican Rick Perry. There is a Republican running as an independent, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, whose son is the former White House spokesman Scott McClellan. There is a Democrat candidate named Chris Bell. And then there is an independent named Kinky Freidman who made news with this quote:

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Houston Chronicle have reported on an interview with Friedman that aired on CNBC last year in which the country singer and comedian was asked what to do with sexual predators.

"Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," Friedman said. He also called "Negro" a "charming word."

The sad thing is some folks will vote for this goof.

At U.N., Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil.' As evidence of the fact that Chavez is already known as a nujob not to be taken seriously, the oil markets yawned in response.

On the news tonight I saw the story of a Jewish brother and sister separated as the family attempted to escape the NAZI's 60 some years ago. Both assumed the other was long since deceased. The grandchildren of the sister found an entry in a website where the brother mentioned losing his sister during the war. That story brings to mind the horrors of that war. Tonight we see another surprising connection to that time. A concentration camp guard who admitted to lying on an immigration application in 1959 is being deported back to Germany. What makes this story different from other deportation stories is this was a female guard who married for decades to a Jewish man who escaped Germany. Not sure what we accomplish by deporting an 83 year old woman. Fixing our immigration problems 47 years after someone enters the country illegally is a little late in the game. I'm not defending whatever crimes this woman may have committed 60 years ago. However, with our law enforcement having limited resources and with an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in our country I have to question our priorities. At this rate the person sneaking across the border tonight will be caught and deported in the summer of 2053.

Tuesday's links and comments

Remember the stupid idea contained in this article next time someone asserts that New York City Mayor Bloomberg is a Republican.

NYC mayor suggests paying poor for good behavior, healthy choices

Funniest part of the article is when they say the idea has been successful in other countries like Mexico. You know Mexico, that's the place people fight to get out of so they can get a sub-minimum wage job here.

Rich Lowry has an excellent column on the current debate regarding treatment of prisoners in the war on terror. In the column Lowry takes apart the stupid argument advanced by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senator John McCain that not being extra gentle to terrorist prisoners could result in mistreatment of our own soldiers captured during this and future wars.

McCain warns that such a definitional exercise risks “the lives of those Americans who risk everything to defend our country.” What pleasant, alternate reality does the Arizona Republican inhabit?

Perhaps he missed the story a few months ago about the two American soldiers captured by al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Qaeda released a video of them, described by the British newspaper The Guardian: “One of them, partially naked, had been beheaded and his chest cut open. The other’s face was bruised, his jaw apparently broken, and his leg had long gashes. Fighters were shown turning the bodies over and lifting the head of the decapitated man.” This is savagery immune to a domestic legal debate in the U.S. Maybe McCain and Co. think that the U.S. debate at least will influence our more reasonable adversaries. But since when have we fought a regime — Saddam’s Iraq, Milosevic’s Serbia, North Vietnam, North Korea, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany — that is not barbarously committed to repression and murder?

The Examiner is running a series titled Meet the Next President taking a critical look at the ten most likely candidates for 2008. They appear to be relatively balanced in considering the pros and cons of each potential candidate. Here are links to the first two in the series:
Russ Feingold
George Allen

Monday's news and links

Last week Pope benedict XVI quoted from one of his predecessors in discussing the violent and intolerant nature of the self-professed "religion of peace." How do Muslim around the world respond to show their displeasure with being characterized as violent?
a. Declare the Pope must die.
b. Burn the Pope in effigy.
c. Kill an elderly nun.
d. Declare that the Pope and the West were "doomed."
e. All of the above.
Knowing the nature of radical Islam the correct answer is E.

Is this what they mean by the term pro-choice:

A Maine couple upset that their 19-year-old daughter was pregnant tied her up, loaded her in their car and began driving to New York to force her to get an abortion, police said.

In this crazy world we need to know that there are some constants we can rely on. Here is one:

Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said.

The people in Poland remember the brutal way of life under the Soviet Union. They are erecting a statue to honor the man who stood up to the "Evil Empire" and helped to free eastern Europe from the grip of communism.

An idea that makes too much sense

For decades the New York Yankees have based their highest level (AAA) minor league baseball team in Columbus, Ohio. For the past decade the Cleveland Indians have played AAA ball with the Buffalo Bisons. Today the Yankees announced that they might not renew their contract to play AAA ball in Columbus. The Indians should move quickly to affiliate with Columbus. They have long fought the Cincinnati Reds for fans allegiance from central Ohio and having a quality minor league team in the region could have a strong influence on the next generation of fans. Give Buffalo to the Yankees and sign a deal with Columbus.

Friday's various links and comments

Whether you agree with the death penalty or not you have to agree that properly used the death penalty would spare us from reading stories like this:

When Michelle Kosilek was convicted of murder in 1993, she wasn't known as Michelle. She was Robert and was sentenced as Robert to life without the possibility of parole for strangling his wife. While in prison, Kosilek, a self-identified transgendered woman, legally changed her name. Later, Kosilek also had her gender condition recognized by the court.
Now, Kosilek, 57, an inmate at a maximum security all-male prison in Norfolk, Mass., would like the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to pay for her sex-reassignment surgery.

A murderer sentenced to life in prison should never be heard from again. How much have the idiots in Massachusetts already spent trying to make this killer comfortable?

As former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey kicks off his book tour with an appearance on Oprah, Andrea Peyser in the New York Post reminds us that McGreevey is using his personal failings to cover for his criminally corrupt behavior as a public official.

He badly wants this scandalette to be about sex. He wants to be seen as a savior to gay men and women, a closeted official who finally found his true self in the arms of another man - or men - when he announced to the world two years ago, "I'm a gay American!"

I wouldn't buy it.

McGreevey's sin was never his sexuality. He was a corrupt politician who raped the people he served. He hired a foreigner, a man he now says was his lover, for a top position in his administration. And when he was about to be caught, the coward hid behind his gayness - a move so cynical that I'm surprised it worked. Gay groups are loath to criticize McGreevey - openly. Privately, though, he couldn't get picked up in a bathhouse. "He's just another sleazy New Jersey politician," said a colleague. "He used a movement for which people genuinely suffered discrimination to make questions about his own moral behavior go away."

In a column titled "Has Michigan become TracFonistan?" Debbie Schlussel wonders what happened with the story of the suspicious acting characters from Michigan. Something stinks about that whole situation.

As divided as Congress can appear, there is one area of agreement - reluctance to passing legislation aimed at reducing bribery.

Nine months after congressional leaders vowed to respond to several bribery scandals with comprehensive reforms, their pledges have come to next to nothing.

There is nothing surprising about this since congressmen understand that cleaning their act up would mean lobbyists and corporations wouldn't be buying their lunch, paying their greens fees, flying them to nice warm locations in the dead of winter, etc. In related news, Ohio Rep. Ney Expected to Plead Guilty. What is he admitting to doing? Failing to report a Scottish golf trip paid for by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Victor Davis Hanson isn't thrilled that we are granting student visas to 15,000 young men from Saudi Arabia. I feel naive that I didn't realize the numbers were anywhere near that high. I don't care how well our respective governments interact, as long as the religious nuts run their schools we need to be concerned about the students they want to send here.

A Lawyer by Any Other Name . . . The Best Lawyer Joke Ever. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America can decide they'd rather be called American Association for Justice but that doesn't change the need for tort reform.

Thursday's links and comments

Gary Bauer (former presidential candidate) has a column today titled "Wooing 'values voters." It's an interesting read. I don't personally believe either major political party has a monopoly on the value voter. Having said that, I do think the Republican party has done a better job in the past few elections in appealing to those voters by stressing their support for issues with which they would be concerned.

The New York Sun has a Primary Postmortem looking at Tuesday's primary. In addition to a good explanation of gubernatorial candidate Elliot Spitzer's changing strategy for Novembers general election, they take a brutal jab at the New York Times in the piece.

Not even New York City Democrats listen to what New York Times editorials tell them to do. The Times endorsed three candidates in closely contested races: David Yassky in a Brooklyn congressional race; Ken Diamondstone in a race to represent a Brooklyn district in the state Senate; and Mark Green in the race for attorney general. All three candidates — Yassky, Diamondstone, and Green — lost. The New York Observer ran a 2,000-word article last year claiming that "It's a given among the city's political classes that an endorsement from The Times in a race for City Council, the State Legislature or a judgeship is tantamount to election in affluent, Times-reading neighborhoods." Not anymore.

The folks running the Times have shown they are comfortable not turning a profit, but not being influencial will be much harder to accept.

Daniel Ellsberg is a perfect example of why the death penalty is appropriate for treason. He was not dealt with properly 30 plus years ago and now he is still around encouraging others to betray their country.

Here is Ann Coulter's latest column. Read the whole thing, but the money line is in the last paragraph.

Dedication to duty is not a forgotten trait. Here is an article about a Canadian soldier who staying on the job in Afghanistan even though he won a nice lottery jackpot.

Here is a sad case of misplaced responsibility. Cop gets shot by bad guy. Does police union blame the killer? Nope, they blame a reduction in paying overtime. (h/t Tom K.)

Tuesday's links and comments

Our kitchen is almost done so I'll attempt to post more regularly.

If you read no other opinion piece today read Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus.

For all the talk of a Democrat takeover of Congress, I've seen several articles like this one which lead me to believe the Senate will not change more than one seat either way.

Party insiders wonder if Menendez can survive

With all 435 House seats being decided in November any thing can happen, but when you hear talk of a rising anti-incumbency movement remember this; people talking about throwing the bums out are usually referring to the bums in other districts not their Representative.

On the same track, David Hogberg has an article in The American Spectator examining each of the competitive senate races this year. Personally, I think Hogberg is being overly pessimistic in his assessment of several races.

Here is some good news for Republicans for future elections.

PHOENIX (AP) -- A federal judge yesterday refused to block a law that requires Arizona voters to present identification before casting ballots.

Anything that reduces vote fraud hurts Democrat chances.

James B. Meigs who is editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics wrote an op-ed piece regarding his magazine efforts to refute the "Conspiracy Cranks" who deny that 9/11 happened the way it did.

On Feb. 7, 2005, I became a member of the Bush/Halliburton/Zionist/CIA/New World Order/Illuminati conspiracy for world domination. That day, Popular Mechanics, the magazine I edit, hit newsstands with a story debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories. Within hours, the online community of 9/11 conspiracy buffs - which calls itself the "9/11 Truth Movement" - was aflame with wild fantasies about me, my staff and the article we had published. Conspiracy Web sites labeled Popular Mechanics a "CIA front organization" and compared us to Nazis and war criminals.

For a 104-year-old magazine about science, technology, home improvement and car maintenance, this was pretty extreme stuff. What had we done to provoke such outrage?

Research.

Victor Davis Hanson asks Is the Western Way of War Dead?

In the world of sports, the National Football League's opening weekend concluded with two games last night. I'm glad I wasn't blogging this past week because I might have accidentally posted a positive prediction for the Browns. Defensively, they held they're own. Offensively, they seemed clueless. As Terry Pluto of the Akron Beacon Journal wrote yesterday:

This morning, Browns coach Romeo Crennel needs to sit down with his offensive coordinator and ask this question -- just what was the game plan Sunday? It's easy to pick on the guy calling the plays, and it can lead to some unfair criticism. But not in the case of Maurice Carthon, considering what happened in the Browns' 19-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints Sunday.

Too many times, the Browns' offense appeared confused, disorganized and ill-prepared. There were costly, silly penalties. There were wasted timeouts. There were moments when the players were pointing at the opposition, then pointing at each other. Not only were the fans wondering what the team was doing, that also appeared to be the case with the players.

Due to Fall little league baseball commitments I only saw the first half, but from what I saw the offense seemed hamstrung by the play calling.

9/11 Five Years Later

Today marks 5 years since a major attack on the United States. Prior to 11 September 2001 fanatical followers of Islam were already at war with western culture and values in general and the United States in particular. However, before the horrific events of that day we were content to treat attacks as isolated blips on the radar. We didn't fully realize the enemy we faced. In the Navy we have a navigation term, CBDR that applies to the decade leading to the major attack. CBDR is an acronym meaning Constant Bearing Decreasing Range. Usually that refers to another vessel that is on a course to hit your ship. The Rules of the Road give guidance to both ships on what action to take to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, our nation's leaders did not have a set of rules which could have been followed in order to avoid the attack. On this anniversary there are services being held and speeches being given. That is all well and good, but there are things that shouldn't happen.

We should Never Forget!

Don't deny the attacks or buy into nutty conspiracy theories that advance the idea that 9/11 was an inside job. I could laugh at fools who argued that we never sent a man to the moon. This is not a laughing matter. I'm disgusted that some idiots are advancing these ideas but even more disgusted that a sizable portion of our population is dumb enough to buy into it.

Don't assign blame were it doesn't belong. Sure, examine events and learn from our past failures to ensure we aren't vulnerable to future attacks, but don't blame ourselves. Blame lies with the hijackers. Blame lies with the planners of the attacks. Blame lies with the preachers and leaders who foment hatred in their followers and teach that terrorism is an acceptable expression of their religion. Assigning blame to politicians for 9/11 is like excusing a rapist because a woman is wearing provocative clothing.

Lastly, don't forget the horror and anger you felt as that day unfolded. Properly channeled those feelings should remind us not to let it happen again.

9/11 Five years later

Today marks 5 years since a major attack on the United States. Prior to 11 September 2001 fanatical followers of Islam were already at war with western culture and values in general and the United States in particular. However, before the horrific events of that day we were content to treat attacks as isolated blips on the radar. We didn't fully realize the enemy we faced. In the Navy we have a navigation term, CBDR that applies to the decade leading to the major attack. CBDR is an acronym meaning Constant Bearing Decreasing Range. Usually that refers to another vessel that is on a course to hit your ship. The Rules of the Road give guidance to both ships on what action to take to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, our nation's leaders did not have a set of rules which could have been followed in order to avoid the attack. On this anniversary there are services being held and speeches being given. That is all well and good, but there are things that shouldn't happen.

We should Never Forget!

Don't deny the attacks or buy into nutty conspiracy theories that advance the idea that 9/11 was an inside job. I could laugh at fools who argued that we never sent a man to the moon. This is not a laughing matter. I'm disgusted that some idiots are advancing these ideas but even more disgusted that a sizable portion of our population is dumb enough to buy into it.

Don't assign blame were it doesn't belong. Sure, examine events and learn from our past failures to ensure we aren't vulnerable to future attacks, but don't blame ourselves. Blame lies with the hijackers. Blame lies with the planners of the attacks. Blame lies with the preachers and leaders who foment hatred in their followers and teach that terrorism is an acceptable expression of their religion. Assigning blame to politicians for 9/11 is like excusing a rapist because a woman is wearing provocative clothing.

Lastly, don't forget the horror and anger you felt as that day unfolded. Properly channeled those feelings should remind us not to let it happen again.