Wednesday's links and comments

When advocates of the senate illegal alien amnesty bill defend it they often claim the illegals "are just doing jobs American's won't do." Here is an example from right here in Ohio of the type of job they must be referring to:

Drug agents have discovered the largest marijuana crop ever found on a state wildlife area and one of the top five marijuana busts in the state's history. The marijuana crops removed today from the Mackey Ford Wildlife Area on Rt. 762 in Pickaway County consisted of more than 10,000 plants with an estimated street value of $10.5 million.

Officials said they did not have enough evidence to point to specific suspects, but they believe the marijuana was being grown by Mexican nationals who came to the area to grow the drugs. They found phone numbers from Mexico, Mexican currency and food at the scene.

We shouldn't be surprised if people who disobey our laws to come here break our laws while they stay here.

Sometimes progress is measured in very small steps. Consider this headline regarding Nigeria:

Nigeria inaugurates new president in peace
For first time in six decades, a salute, not violence, marks change in power

One thing that has differentiated the United States from other nations has been the fact that from our founding we have been able to install a new national leader without military intervention. Don't get me wrong, Nigeria still has massive unrest and it will take more than a new president to fix their myriad problems, but this is a start and you have to start somewhere.

Norman Podhoretz of the Wall Street Journal has an unfortunately compelling commentary titled "The Case for Bombing Iran." I say unfortunately compelling because while I agree that we can not afford nuclear weapons in the hands of someone like the madman leading Iran who has declared that wiping Israel off the map is one of his primary goals, I am very leery of what may follow any action against that country. Having traversed the Strait of Hormuz numerous times I understand how easy it would be for Iran to shut down shipping through that narrow passage.

If you are feeling too comfortable, read this article - Report confirms terror dry run. One thing we learned from the various investigations regarding 9/11 is Al Qaeda doesn't act on a whim. Rather, they did years of planning and made several dry runs prior to 9/11 to gauge our defensed and our reactions to various behaviors. We have been very fortunate since 9/11 not to have any successful attacks on our soil. I attribute that to our efforts around the world to disrupt their operation. However, everyday vigilance has also played a key role. Unfortunately, the lack of attacks will in time lead to reduced citizen vigilance. We can not be lulled into letting it happen again.

Baseball at Memorial Day

The baseball season is divided up many different ways depending on what point a writer is making. Some will use Memorial Day weekend to examine the first quarter of the season even though technically it is several games past that point. By this point in a season you get a pretty good sense of how good a team will be for the season. Sure, some players will return from injury and others will get called up from the minors and have an impact on pennant races.

Anyways, what do we know at this point in the season?

AL East - The Boston Red Sox can start printing playoff tickets. They have a 10.5 game lead on the Baltimore Orioles. There is a lot of baseball to be played, but that is a big lead. Boston could have a losing record the rest of the way (55-56) and still win 90 games. To tie that mark Baltimore would need to win over 68% of their remaining games (77-35). Not. Gonna. Happen.

AL Central - Cleveland and Detroit have been switching between first and second place and likely will continue to do so. Both are good enough to stay near the top but neither is dominant enough to put any distance between them in the standings.

AL West - The Angels have a 4.5 game lead over the overachieving Mariners. Based on how the Athletics have made second half charges the past few years, I'm sure the Angels are more concerned about the third place Oakland team than Seattle. Oakland's chances of mounting a serious challenge will depend on closer Houston Street returning from injury quickly.

NL East - Mets have a 4.5 game lead on Atlanta. As strange as it sounds, I don't think the Braves have the pitching to hang with the Mets all year. Philadelphia is a major disappointment.

NL Central - Six teams in this division and the only winning record belongs to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers have good young players and no serious challengers in their division. Despite losing their last five games, the Brewers have a 5 game cushion in the standings over the Cubs. The defending World Series champs, St. Louis Cardinals at 20 wins and 27 losses are not doing much defending. The Cincinnati Reds have the worst record in baseball at 18 up & 33 down.

NL West - The Dodgers and Padres are tied for first and the Diamondbacks are breathing down their necks one game back. However, in June the 4th place Giants will watched much more closely as aging outfielder, Barry Bonds approaches the all time home run record of 755 held by Henry Aaron.

Individual leaders and notable trailers:

With a .372 batting average, 35 year old catcher Jorge Posada leads the AL. More remarkable is he has never previously batted over .290 in a season. So, the Yankees have managed 4th place with their starting catcher batting 98 points above his career average. How will they do when he reverts to norm?
On the other end of the spectrum, there are several players not hitting as well as their career history would lead you to expect. Konerko .216, Young .239, Mora .242, Dye .234, Abreu .233, Frank Thomas .226, Kendall .185, Lugo .225. If you play fantasy baseball those are guys to target for second half resurgences (except Kendall who may be done).
Todd Helton leading the National League at .357 is not that surprising since he has hit .334 for his career. That Derek Lee who sports a .279 career average is tied with him at .357 is fairly surprising especially considering he is coming off an injury marred 2006 season. The other end off the batting standings is a mix of guys who may be done (Vizquel .233, Biggio .228, Cameron .230) guys who are young and may bounce back (Everett .204, LaRoche .205, Greene .217) and a guy swinging for the fences because he will be a free agent after this season who is hitting .218.
Other surprises:
Magglio Ordonez - I hesitated to list him as a surprise as he has always been a good hitter. However, he has had various health issue the last several years which kept him from playing like he did early in his career. Regardless, it is surprising to see him near the top in all three Triple Crown stats (2nd in BA, 3rd in HRS, and 1st in RBI). Having the very selective Gary Sheffield in front of him wearing out the pitcher is really helping.
J.J. Hardy is tied for the National League lead with 15 home runs. His previous career high was 9.
Alex Gonzalez has a well deserved reputation as a great glove guy who will contribute little on offense. Well, he is playing shortstop as advertised (his former manager Terry Francona called him the best defensive SS he ever saw), but he is also swinging a surprisingly big bat. After hitting 9 homers all of last year Gonzalez has 10 already, helping Cincinnati secure sixth place in the NL Central.

Slimy Lawyer News

Regular readers know I'm strongly opposed to frivolous lawsuits and the trend over the last couple decades to treat every personal tragedy as a potential lottery ticket. There have been such a rash of these stories this week that I decided to make this a semi-regular feature titled "Slimy Lawyer News."

We'll start with one that hits close to home.

On Staten Island, New York, "Jean Gonzalez is suing a beloved veteran coach for not teaching her son Martin how to slide properly". The boy, 12 at the time, was hurt sliding into second base. Coach Leigh Bernstein, along with "the New Springville Little League, and its international umbrella organization, Little League Baseball and Softball Inc., are all named as defendants in the suit, which charges them with never teaching him 'skills needed to avoid and/or minimize the risks of injury,' specifically how to run bases and slide."

I coach a team of ten year olds and between rained out practices and other priorities, we did not spend a lot of time on sliding. At 12 years old, her kid should have known how to run the bases, but regardless his mom should be beaten with a baseball bat for confusing her son with a lottery ticket. (H/T: BaseballCrank)

Sticking with the baseball theme, the father of the late Josh Hancock has decided to sue a bunch of people. Josh Hancock was the Cardinals pitcher who died in a car accident because he was drunk, talking on a cell phone and not wearing his seatbelt. Who does his idiot father think is responsible? Nope, not the kid he raised. He is suing the owner and manager of the restaurant where his son did some of his drinking. Not content to shift the blame to the restaurant, he is also suing the tow truck driver whose truck his son hit and the owner of the car being towed. So, not only are these folks assaulted by a drunk driver, but now they need to pay some stinking lawyer to protect themselves from his greedy father who was obviously egged on by another lawyer to file the suit.

Here is a case of a lawyer arguing that her client leaving poop on someones doorstep is free speech protected under the Constitution. Tells you all you need to know about the state of the Democrat party that leaving crap on a doorstep is what constitutes their political view point now a days. I guess a jury agrees since they acquitted the defendant.

Comprehensive immigration reform or just more amnesty?

Lots of talk today about the awful legislation proposed in the senate regarding our mess of an immigration policy. Let's start by looking at the key players.

Sen Ted Kennedy - Champion of this legislation from the left. He has a history of involvement at past attempts to deal with immigration. Mark Krikorian of NRO's Corner compiled quotes from Kennedy after past garbage legislation.

1965: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."

1986: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

2007: "Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system."

And we should believe him this time, WHY?

John McCain, Senator and erstwhile presidential candidate - Done. Most conservatives have been disenchanted with McCain for years because of his media pandering on Sunday mornings, his awful anti-First Amendment McCain-Feingold bill, etc. Well, if McCain's cake needed icing this is it. One blogger, CDR Salamander, titled his post about this legislation: "McCain is dead to me." I would say McCain's presidential chances will end with this legislation, but I didn't think he had a chance before. McCain knew it wouldn't be popular so he got his fellow Arizona senator, Jon Kyl to lend his name to the legislation. The last attempt was titled McCain-Kennedy leading to comparisons to McCain-Feingold.

My biggest disappointment with this legislation was seeing Sen. Jon Kyl being a party to writing this legislation. I can understand wanting to give input rather than letting the liberals write the legislation, but at the end if the final product is unsatisfactory walk away rather than lending your own credibility to it. Kyl has always struck me as a good man and he should know nothing good can come of dealing with Kennedy.

President Bush and a couple of his cabinet members have applauded this effort. I'd be disappointed except for the fact that the president has made it clear for some time now that he is in favor of amnesty for people who enter our country illegally.

What is the problem with the legislation? First problem is we don't have the details to debate. As Sen. Jim DeMint says:

"I hope we don't take a thousand page bill written in secret and try to ram it through the Senate in a few days. This is a very important issue for America and we need time to debate it."

"But the little we do know about the bill is troubling. According to reports, the bill contains a new 'Z Visa' that allows those who entered our country illegally to stay here permanently without ever returning home. This rewards people who broke the law with permanent legal status, and puts them ahead of millions of law-abiding immigrants waiting to come to America. I don't care how you try to spin it, this is amnesty."

Advocates claim it isn't amnesty because the crooks (yes, we call people who break the law crooks) will have to pay a $5,000 fine. Two problems with that claim. One, who actually believes that people who snuck into our country to do jobs at less than minimum wage and send money back to family back home have a spare $5,000 to pay the fine. Second problem is I have no doubt that this would be challenged in court and five of nine justices will find a reason to declare the fine unconstitutional. Regardless, the whole business of a fine is just a red herring to fool the easily fooled.

In a post aptly titled "GOP Caves on Immigration," Mickey Kaus at Slate.com touched one one of the biggest mistakes:

The GOP's lead Senate negotiator, Sen. Jon Kyl, appears to have caved on the crucial issue of legalization (for existing illegal immigrants) in exchange for a promise of tougher enforcement to prevent another, future wave of illegals.

Unfortunately, the legalization in the Senate's compromise would be immediate--see below. The "enforcement" part would follow.

Recognizing that this plan won't be favorable, Mitt Romney was the first presidential candidate to denounce it as another go at amnesty.

Not-yet-a-candidate, Fred Thompson ridicules the proposed legislation in more sarcastic terms.

No matter how much lipstick Washington tries to slap onto this legislative pig, it’s not going to win any beauty contests. In fact, given Congress’s track record, the bill will probably get a lot uglier — at least from the public’s point of view. And agreeing to policies before actually seeing what the policies are is a heck of a way to do business.

The only thing I've seen positive about this plan is this headline: Mexicans Fear Immigration Plan Moving Through Congress.
Big Lizards has an in depth post which examines the proposal titled Grand Outline of Provisions of "the Compromise" Definitely worth reading.

The best thing I can say about this is it has not been voted on yet. Call your senators and tell them what you think.

Friday night links and comments

Peggy Noonan has a column looking at the non-campaign Fred Thompson is running.

He is running a great campaign. It's just not a declared campaign. It's a guerrilla campaign whose informality is meant to obscure his intent. It has been going on for months and is aimed at the major pleasure zones of the Republican brain. In a series of pointed columns, commentaries and podcasts, Mr. Thompson has been talking about things conservatives actually talk about. Shouldn't homeowners have the right to own a gun? Isn't it bad that colleges don't teach military history? How about that Sarkozy--good news, isn't it?

Speaking of Thompson, he has a column today in National Review Online of the sort Noonan described. Using language that is clear enough even a liberal should be able to understand, he stomps on the ridiculous notion of the Fairness Doctrine being applied to talk radio.

I had planned on talking a bit today about Venezuela. The president there doesn’t like the way his media is covering him, so he’s doing away with the free press. He’s established rules on what he thinks is fair, and he’s denying licenses to television and radio stations that don’t play by government rules.

I can’t criticize him now, though. After all, how would it seem for me to complain about another country, when our own congressional leadership is trying to put the same sort of rules in place here? To do so, they’re pulling the Fairness Doctrine out of the dustbin of history.

"3 guys and a video show life isn't all about bombs" is an interesting article about three guys in Iraq using videos posted to You-Tube to show that some parts of their country is returning to normal.

Here is a sad story (sad that the punishment was so light). If I remember correctly, when you get a security clearance you are warned of a much stiffer penalty than 6 months in prison for revealing classified information.

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz was sentenced today to six months in prison and dismissal from the Navy for releasing information about foreign terror suspects in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay.

2nd GOP Debate

I watched more of the second debate than the first. As much as I'd like to pretend it was only because FOX handled the debate better than MSNBC, truth is it was as much a product of a weak slate of TV shows tonight.

I could say a bunch of stuff about the various candidates, but no one will remember much about this debate. The one thing that will be remembered about this debate is Rudy Giuliani won. He owes that perception to the lunacy uttered by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. If Paul hadn't said the stupid stuff he said then Giuliani wouldn't have had the chance to jump down his throat with both feet. Basically, Paul claimed 9/11 was America's fault and Giuliani rightfully got indignant and in not so many words told Paul to shut up and go home. I'm not a supporter of Giuliani on most issues, but his stomping on Paul like an offending insect clearly will be the only thing remembered from this debate.

Tuesday's links and comments

Sometimes I'll know I'll like an article just from reading the headline. Here is an example: Just how crazy are the Dems? Jonah Goldberg uses some recent polling data to demonstrate that the majority of Democrats are completely out of their mind.

MOST FAIR-MINDED readers will no doubt take me at my word when I say that a majority of Democrats in this country are out of their gourds.

But, on the off chance that a few cynics won't take my word for it, I offer you data. Rasmussen Reports, the public opinion outfit, recently asked voters whether President Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks beforehand. The findings? Well, here's how the research firm put it: "Democrats in America are evenly divided on the question of whether George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in advance. Thirty-five percent of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know and 26% are not sure."

It is one thing to hear that some percentage of people believe in UFO's or don't believe in the moon landing. It is another thing altogether to come to grips with the idea that the majority of people in what used to be a serious political party think there is a chance that our government could have known about the attacks in advance and done nothing about it. Pathetic.

Since Watergate, only Bill Clinton refused to release his past tax returns when running for president. According to this article several of the 2008 candidates are not intending to release theirs. How much personal information a candidate needs to divulge is undetermined. In the formative years of our country, politicians did not release much personal information at all. As we progressed through the 20th century, the media demanded more and more information. With FDR and Eisenhower the concerns centered on health issues. With others, financial returns were combed over looking for anything that could lead to a potential conflict of interest. Now, the returns are wanted by the media and opposition research teams to ferret out anything that could embarrass a candidate. Many Democrat candidates appease the labor unions and the far left by railing against various big business. If their returns showed holdings in companies like WalMart they understandably would hesitate to disclose that information. For other candidates, charitable contributions (or lack thereof) could be equally embarrassing.

Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away today. May he rest in peace. Falwell spoke for many people as he campaigned against the decline of the moral fabric of our society. Unfortunately, he also often gave the media and his opponents sound bites that could be used as ammunition against him.

This is hilarious. It is Fred Thompson's response to Michael Moore challenging him to a debate about Cuba.

BREAKING NEWS:

President George W. Bush has chosen Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the new U.S. "war czar" to oversee the conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan

I understand the political realities and the need to do "something" to show a change, but I am sure the problems we've had in prosecuting the war don't stem from an insufficiently cumbersome chain of command. Adding another level of command and control just gives another stop along the way for orders to get misconstrued. Nothing against General Lute (who I admit I've never heard of before tonight), I'm just not thrilled with the idea of adding a position.

An argument for term limits

On Constitutional grounds I'm opposed to the idea of term limits believing the voters should decide when someone has held a job too long. However, seeing this legislation passed tells me we have at least 288 congresscritters who have overstayed their usefulness. Every one of the 288 who voted yes should be ousted from congress immediately regardless of political party! What is the subject of this legislation that has me riled up?

The House of Representatives successfully passed the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act. The document essentially outlines reparations for Chamorros and their descendants during the Japanese occupation of Guam in the 1940s.

So, sixty some years ago the Japanese committed atrocities during WWII and now we are going to give handouts to the descendants of the victims. WHAT?!? Beyond how wrong this very idea is, what is especially galling is that some of the same idiots who frequently complain about the cost of the current war (Kucinich, etc) turned around and voted to spend more money on a war we won 62 years ago.

My congressman (Rep. Boehner) voted against this garbage. Did yours?

6 arrested in plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix

How does this story fit into the contention by Harry Reid and friends that the war on terror would be solved if we would just surrender in Iraq? Does anyone think these goofs in New Jersey are the only ones out there wishing to do us harm?

Roger Clemens Resigns with Yankees

In a move that reeks of desperation, the New York Yankees have made 44 year Roger Clemens the highest or second highest paid player in baseball depending on how you do the math. Don't get me wrong, Clemens is arguably the best pitcher of his generation and one of the top three pitchers of all time. However, he will turn 45 years old this season and the human body does breakdown over time. Due to ineffectiveness and a rash of injuries, the Yankees have used 10 different starting pitchers this season so their desire and need for some stability in the rotation is understandable. Paying 28 million dollars (prorated based on portion of season played) for a 44 year old pitcher only capable of giving you 5 innings is NOT understandable. Ten years ago, with Toronto, a 34 year old Clemens pitched nearly 8 innings a start in winning his 4th Cy Young award. However, the Yankees did not sign the 34 year old version. Last year, Clemens pitched 19 games and averaged 5.9 innings per start. The reason the Yankees felt they needed to make this move is a concern that their bullpen pitching would be worn out from over usage like last season. Well, if the pitcher you're bringing in to be your savior isn't going to give you 6 innings then he isn't solving that problem and isn't worth twenty some million dollars. Between my dislike of the Yankees and my desire for fiscal sanity in baseball, I hope this move blows up in their face. No, I'm not rooting for an injury. Just expecting that returning to the American League with the designated hitter coupled with the very average defense behind him we will see his ERA get a lot closer to 4.00 than last year's 2.30.

Separately, if fans of other teams want someone to blame for Clemens signing with New York they should look at the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks who provided the Yankees some financial relief by taking on Gary Sheffield's and Randy Johnson's big contracts in trades. If those two players and their contracts were still on the books then the Yankees would not have had the payroll flexibility to make this move.

We Win They Lose

First Name* Last Name* Email* Address City State select AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MNMS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY ZIP Yes, I'd like to receive updates about staying involved. I'm a blogger and I'd like to help. Blog URL:

To: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Democrat Leader

Congress has passed and President Bush has vetoed H.R. 1591, the Iraq Surrender Act of 2007.

This legislation, which you worked to pass, sets a timetable for surrender. It pulls the rug out from under our troops. That is shameful and wrong.

Your actions have already emboldened the enemy. Violent jihadists now know that the elected leadership of Congress would undermine the troops by holding their funding hostage to demands for surrender.

This Congress would bring us back to the dark days of the 1970s, when the world doubted our staying power. Except only much worse. Withdraw in April 2008, and on May 1, Iraq becomes an unchecked den of terrorism at the heart of the Middle East -- a new base for the same people that struck our homeland on September 11th.

I stand with our troops. I stand for victory. I support the President's veto and will urge my representatives to vote to sustain it.

There can be one and only one outcome in Iraq: We win, they lose.

Embed this petition on your blog. Cut and paste below:
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Thursday's links and comments

I have remarked kiddingly that since Barack Obama already has the black vote sewn up he could nail down another demographic group by putting an apostrophe after the "O" in his last name. Turns out he actually is part Irish on his mothers side.

So it turns out, the Daily Telegraph reports from Dublin, that Barack Obama's great-great-great-great grandfather was " Joseph Kearney, a well-to-do shoemaker from Moneygall, County Offaly, Ireland, who lived from 1794 to 1861." Reports the Telegraph, "The presidential candidate comes from an Irish Anglican family, many of whom emigrated to the New World around the time of the famine and Ireland's decimated potato crop in the 1840s."

Speaking of the senator from Illinois, someone must feel his campaign has a chance. Obama Gets Secret Service Detail.

Michael Graham of the Boston Herald has some less than flattering words for George Tenet and his new book in an article titled - Tenet’s tell-all simply untenable.

Here is some proof we aren't the only North American country with nutty politicians.

Bigfoot, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wildernesses of North America, is not shy, merely so rare it risks extinction and should be protected as an endangered species. So says Canadian MP Mike Lake who has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada's species at risk act, alongside Whooping Cranes, Blue Whales, and Red Mulberry trees.

Earlier I mentioned the Republican primary debate tonight. I switched channels and caught some of it.
Winners:
Mitt Romney - Seemed most polished and prepared of the group. Came across as presidential.
Mike Huckabee - Might have just been a case of exceeding low expectations, but Huckabee did much better than I thought he would. Because of some of his nanny state positions I really did NOT want to like him, but came away impressed.

Losers:
MSNBC's Chris Matthews - Seemed completely out of his league with amateurish questions like asking Mitt Romney, who isn't Catholic, "Should Catholic Cardinals deny communion to Catholic politicians in favor of killing children (Not a direct quote)?" For the record Romney correctly answered that it's none of his business.
Giuliani - Once you get past "I was mayor of NY on 9/11," he ends up just in the crowd or candidates.
John McCain - Seemed to stumble at times and was overly aggressive at other times.
Ron Paul - Came across as the token weird guy or maybe more as the crotchety old uncle who would always take a contrary position just to irritate everyone else.
Tom Tancredo - Obviously running on just one issue (illegal immigration).
Thommy Thompson - Didn't come across very well. Only saw him answer a couple times (part of problem of too many candidates on one stage) and it seemed like he was never facing the camera.

Really just there to have a chance at VP:
Jim Gilmore - If anyone was watching this debate, Gilmore actually did fairly well. I lived in Virginia when Gilmore was governor and have been impressed with him for a while. He succeeded George Allen and while I liked Allen, Gilmore seemed like more of a serious politician.
Duncan Hunter - He could be the mature steady hand at VP if a DC outsider (Romney/Huckabee) gets the nomination.
Sam Brownback - If Giuliani recovers, Brownback could balance the ticket and give Rudy some cover with the more socially conservative Republicans.

Bottom line: Too many for a debate format. Split them into two groups for the first few debates.

Some other reactions:
Michelle Malkin
Peggy Noonan
Captain's Quarters

First GOP Presidential Primary Debate

Eight months before the first state primary is held, the ten announced candidates for the Republican nomination for president will hold their first debate tonight. Don't bather watching. It is extremely unlikely that anything said tonight will be remembered more than a week from now. It is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. So you can expect each candidate to emphasize how some policy they espouse would be embraced by the 40th president. The one thing I'd love a candidate to do is to make mention of how their willingness to submit to questions from a stark raving lunatic lefty like Chris Matthews differs from how the Democrat candidates recoiled in fear at the thought of a debate moderated by Britt Hume.

Why are lawyer jokes still acceptable?

As a society, we have become so obsessed with political correctness that no joke is acceptable if it plays off generalizations about the race, religion, gender, ethnicity of the butt of the joke. However, there is one group about whom it will always be acceptable to tell jokes.

Q: What do you call 5000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A: A good start!

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a trampoline?

A: You take off your shoes before you jump on a trampoline.

Why will it always be acceptable to tell lawyer jokes? Because of lawyers like this judge.

Is somebody getting taken to the cleaners?

A $10 dry cleaning bill for a pair of trousers has ballooned into a $67 million civil lawsuit. Plaintiff Roy Pearson, a judge in Washington, D.C., says in court papers that he's been through the ringer over a lost pair of prized pants he wanted to wear on his first day on the bench. He says in court papers that he has endured "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort."
He says he was unable to wear that favorite suit on his first day of work.

Hey, moron, were talking about a pair of pants! Mind you, I think we should all demand good service. However, by our very nature humans are . . . I don't know . . . human and we make mistakes.

This judge should be thrown off the bench, disbarred and required to pay the legal fees of the the people he has harassed with this lawsuit. Often when juries award large judgments they think they are just punishing some faceless corporation. Reality is, they are punishing many people. First victims are the shareholders in the company sued. However, the collateral damage includes all the people ruined defending themselves from suits by plaintiffs encouraged by their largess. The victim in this case? Some folks just struggling to make a living.

Defending themselves against the suit -- for two years running -- are Korean immigrants Jin and Soo Chung and their son, who own Custom Cleaners.

Wednesday's links and comments

Washington Editors: Reluctant to Publish 'D.C. Madam' Client List. Personally, I don't care who had the DC Madam on speed-dial. However, it is rather telling about the priorities of the editors that this story bothers their sensibilities, but they have no problem disclosing national secrets during a time of war. Separately, as a cynic, I have to believe their reluctance means there are more liberals than conservatives on the list.

I've been attacked for referring to Global Warming as more a matter of pseudo-religion that actual scientific study. Well, here is some ammunition to back up my contention:

Visitors to the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa won't find the Gideon Bible in the nightstand drawer. Instead, on the bureau will be a copy of ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' former Vice President Al Gore's book about global warming.

Some have suggested that we should have a more open dialogue with the countries like Iran and Syria. Consider this article and then tell me you can have normalized relations with countries controlled by Islamic fanatics.

The President of Iran has been accused of indecency after he publicly kissed an elderly woman who used to be his school teacher. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was photographed and filmed by state media stooping to kiss the woman’s hand and then clasping her arms in an embrace, at a ceremony yesterday in honour of Iranian teachers’ day.

According to sharia law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related.

We may consider Ahmadinejad to be a crazy hardliner, but in Iran he is criticized for being way too liberal. Bear in mind Sharia law has started to gain a foothold in several countries outside the Middle East.

Apparently, Democrats have trouble accepting criticism.

the entire Democratic caucus in the United States Senate — 50 senators — has sent a letter to the Washington Post attacking the dean of the Washington press corps, David Broder, for a column in which Mr. Broder dared to criticize their leader for his preemptive surrender to the terrorists in Iraq.

There is a famous LBJ quote from the Vietnam era "If I've lost Cronkite I've lost middle America." To paraphrase that quote, if the Democrats have lost the David Broder's of the newsroom then they've gone too far. Far from a right-winger, Broder is liberal enough to fit in comfortably in any newsroom. The last paragraph of the NYSUN editorial attempts to explain why Broder criticized Reid.

One starts to get the feeling here that some of the divides in the rift between Mr. Broder and the Democratic caucus are not so much political but cultural. The chairman of the Washington Post Company, Donald Graham, served in Vietnam, and Mr. Broder himself is an army veteran. The notion of a Washington politician declaring a war lost even as American GIs are appearing in arms on the field of battle in the cause of freedom abroad, well it has a way of grating on those who have worn the uniform, a fact that many of Mr. Broder's readers, if not the 50 senators, understand.

Feinstein’s Cardinal shenanigans by David Keene is a story I'd get more excited about if there was much chance of the Senate Ethics Committee taking action.

Illinois is following the lead of several other states in making smokers into second class citizens.

The Illinois House overwhelmingly approved a statewide smoking ban in public places Tuesday that would eliminate a confusing patchwork of local laws and leave smokers in every community with one place in common to light up—outside.

I would be more concerned about these stupid laws if smokers didn't have the habit of throwing their lit butts out their car windows. Every car I've owned had an ash tray why don't they use theirs?

Tuesday's links and comments

Thomas Sowell is imbued with more than his share of common sense. Today, we get another of his Random Thoughts columns. Enjoy the whole thing, but here is the last paragraph:

I am so old that I can remember a Democrat, at his inauguration as President, say of our enemies: "We dare not tempt them with weakness."

If you are wondering, that quote comes from the older brother of the reprobate senator from Massachusetts.

Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times writes about hatred of the president from Frank Rich and others. I got a chuckle out of this passage:

Hating George W. Bush is a full-time job, but it's a labor of love for most of his critics, even for those who get paid to do it.
Frank Rich of the New York Times, a perfectly nice man if you run into him at a party or at the deli, goes off his meds when he sits down to write about anyone who doesn't lust to throw a rotten egg, an overripe tomato or a shoe at the president.

Here is a headline that will cause most folks to say "no kidding."

A former cable company call center rep says: "We lie" to customers who ask when installer will arrive