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.