Rest in Peace Dr. George Rieveschl

Who is George Rieveschl? Turns out that Rieveschl who died yesterday at age 91 was the inventor of Benadryl, the first prescription antihistamine. Sadly, I'll admit I hadn't heard of him before reading in this mornings newspaper of his passing. I assumed Benadryl like most drugs these days was the result of a collaborative effort. Well, Benadryl is an exception as it was created by a local boy while working at the School of Medicine at his alma mater the University of Cincinnati. People who suffer from allergies owe a debt of gratitude to this man they have probably never heard of before. Future generations may owe him a different debt as one of his last acts was giving a million dollars to the UC School of Medicine for research.

Hugo Chavez is right!!!

Why the three exclamation points in the title. When you're talking about someone who is wrong as often as the Venezuelan president is, then it's very newsworthy when he gets something right. Remember, this is the character that has been claiming for a few years now that he KNOWS the United States is planning to invade his country any day now. Anyways, what did he get right, you ask? He came out against an expensive form of child abuse.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in his beauty-conscious country -- giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday. "Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration," Chavez said on his weekly television show, which lasted a record eight hours.

I like a nice looking woman as much as the next guy, but it is ridiculous to go under the knife just to make your breasts larger. When it comes to children it is tantamount to child abuse to allow this surgery.

However, since Chavez is a socialist dictator he included a harangue against western consumerism.

Chavez's answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra goods they do not need, urging them to leave items such as fans or refrigerators in town squares.

What? I hope something was lost in the translation and he isn't really telling people to leave their refrigerators in the town square.

Ahmadinejad visit to Columbia is even worse than we thought

Columbia University was condemned far and wide for their decision to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus. Most people were outraged that a college would provide a forum for the leader of a state sponsor of terrorism. Beyond being a state sponsor, Iran has been supplying weapons and explosives to insurgents in Iraq to use to kill our soldiers. James Taranto pointed out the other day the irony of Columbia refusing to let ROTC on campus because of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy inviting the leader of a country that stones homosexuals. Well, turns out the location of Ahmadinejad's speech makes it even worse. Where did Columbia have a Holocaust denier speak? At the Alfred Lerner Hall named for the late owner of the Cleveland Browns. Jordan Lite of New York Daily News tells us more about Al Lerner. He wasn't just an extremely successful businessman. No, he was also a noted philanthropist who donated large sums to many Jewish charities. I wonder how Lerner would feel about his alma mater if he were alive?

Lerner donated a fortune to the Cleveland Clinic and created a fund to help families of first responders killed on 9/11. He also gave generously to the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which assists aging unsung heroes from World War II who helped save Jews during the Holocaust and educates teachers about the genocide.

Congratulations to the Cleveland Indians

Congratulations to the Cleveland Indians on winning the American League Central Division championship!!! Using very good pitching and timely hitting the Tribe put on a late charge to pull away from the Tigers. Since 22 August they have won 24 games and only lost 7.

Now, let's see them make some noise in the playoffs. Go Tribe!

Hillary Clinton: I'm not a lesbian

Breaking news!

During an interview with The Advocate to be published next week, Sean Kennedy, the gay magazine's news and features editor, asked the presidential candidate, "How do you respond to the occasional rumor that you're a lesbian?"

"It's not true, but it is something that I have no control over. People will say what they want to say."

Well, I'm glad she cleared that important matter up. She should have refused to answer such a question. I'll go a step further and say someone who is of presidential stature would not even have agreed to an interview with a publication that caters to a tiny segment of the population based solely on sexual preference.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in serious trouble

Months ago we heard the Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was being investigated for allegations of corruption. Here is an update to the story:

The FBI, working with an Alaska oil contractor, secretly taped telephone calls with Sen. Ted Stevens as part of a public corruption sting, according to people close to the investigation.

The secret recordings suggest the Justice Department was eyeing Stevens long before June, when the Republican senator first publicly acknowledged he was under scrutiny. At that time, it appeared Stevens was a new focus in a case that had already ensnared several state lawmakers.

I don't know if Stevens is guilty, but he does. Stevens knows if he was involved in illegal activity and he has a responsibility to own up to his actions. Unfortunately, the allure of power is so strong I have no expectation that Stevens will do the right thing.

I maintain we could pick representatives and senators at random and do as well as we are currently.

Is Giuliani one of the 5 best known Americans?

While in England this week, Rudy Giuliani made a fairly outrageous claim.

"I'm probably one of the four or five best known Americans in the world," Giuliani told a small group of reporters at a posh London hotel as onlookers gathered in the lobby to gawk at actor Dustin Hoffman, who was on a separate visit.

Huh? Ask a thousand Europeans at random to name 10 Americans off the top of their heads and he would be named even five percent. Tom Cruise, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, George Bush, Oprah, Harrison Ford and dozens of others would come to mind before the former mayor would. I doubt he is even one the 5 best known Americans in America. Whether we like it or not, our entertainment obsessed population is much more aware of athletes, actors and musicians than politicians.

Americans with Disabilities Act - A bad idea may expand like your waistline

Last week I criticized the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as lousy feel good legislation that has grown to mandate many requirements not envisioned when initially passed. One aspect I did not address was the very definition of a disability. On the surface it seems like a simple thing. A disability should be fairly clear cut. Paralysis, blindness, deafness, loss of a limb, etc. However, when there is the possibility of growing government involvement in our lives we should always expect the worst. The ADA is no exception. The area of mental health has seen the greatest expansion of the ADA as anything from not paying attention (ADD) to being a drunk (alcoholism) can be classified as a disease rather than a personal failing. What brought this to mind today is comments from a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson called Wednesday for obese Americans to be brought under the protection of the Americans for Disabilities Act.

"This is an issue of basic civil rights," said Richardson. "There are no federal laws that protect obese Americans from discrimination in the workplace, school, or anywhere else. This must change."

Great. Just what we need - another protected class. What a nanny state clown.

Barry Bonds is right

I hardly ever find myself in agreement with Barry Bonds. Having said that, I have to acknowledge when he is clearly right. The baseball he hit to break the all time home run record was auctioned off recently and here is Bonds' response upon hearing how much the person paid for a $4.95 baseball.

"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."

When you spend three quarters of a million dollars for a baseball you obviously have more money than brains.

NYT continues slide into irrelevancy

The stock of the New York Times (NYT) slipped to a ten year low yesterday as the share price follows their journalistic integrity's steep decline. The newspaper company is facing declining circulation and reduced advertising income for a couple reasons. First, in my opinion, no decent American would be caught carrying that rag and secondly businesses have to be leery of being associated with an organization so committed to working against our country. Here is the latest example. Several paragraphs into a New York Post article regarding Sen. Hillary Clinton's behavior during senate hearings, they note that the Times not only agreed to publish Moveon.org's disgusting attack against General Petraeus but they actually gave them a discount rate for the full page ad.

Meanwhile, the Times' own complicity in the despicable slur turns out to be even worse than imagined: Not only did the newspaper agree to run the libel, it apparently subsidized the hard-left sewer rats who wrote it.

To the tune of more than $116,000.

MoveOn yesterday confirmed that it paid just $65,000 for the full-page missive - compared to what a Times spokesman said is usually $181,000 for such ads.

So, we wonder: Will the Times report the $116,000 difference as an in-kind contribution to the Democratic National Committee - or to Hillary herself?

OUCH.

Another explanation for high cost of college tuition?

There are many factors that have caused tuition costs to consistently out pace inflation: overpaid professors, expensive books, and primarily the consumer often doesn't pay for the product until years later. Here is one I hadn't considered:

Ousted TSU President Priscilla Slade racked up a $100,000 bar tab at Scott Gertner's Skybar and Grille during her tenure and stuck Texas Southern University with the bill, prosecutors said Wednesday.

TSU routinely paid for $100 bottles of wine for Slade and drinks for her friends and staff, despite a prohibition at that time on state monies being spent on alcohol, Assistant District Attorney Donna Goode said.

Unsurprising outgrowth of bad legislation

Some of the worst things congress does happens when they pass "feel good" legislation. I'm referring to the type of legislation that is titled in such a way that anyone who votes against it's passage looks like a jerk. Today's example is regarding the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA). Almost from the moment this garbage legislation was passed it has been abused to force action that was not likely intended by those who voted for it. Here is a link to a story of a woman suing to get extra breaks during her medical licensing exam so she can nurse her child. What does that story have to do with the ADA? Well, the same woman has already received special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want it to be difficult for people to qualify to be doctors. It isn't a very good idea to have affirmative action procedures in place to help people with brain problems become doctors.

When the ADA was passed congress thought it would involve wheelchair ramps and a few parking spots. I doubt many thought it would lead to lawsuits for breaks on medical exams or being allowed to ride a golf cart during a tournament.

Hsu and other friends of Clinton

A story unfolded in the last week or two about a major Democrat fund raiser named Norman Hsu. Turns out Hsu was a fugitive from justice and appears to have gotten his money through an illegal ponzi scheme. While Hsu donated to many Democrat candidates, the bigger angle to the story is he was a big bundler for Sen. Clinton's campaign. Clinton has now returned the money raised by Hsu. However, the damage is not undone quite that easily. The Hsu issue matters primarily because it brings renewed focus on the fact that her husband was plagued by allegations of illegal foreign donations and other scandals. Yesterday, it came out that the Clinton campaign was warned about Hsu months ago. Despite the earlier warning, their initial response to reports of Hsu's criminal activity was this statement: "During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them." As a side note, while she wouldn't consider questioning the integrity of someone willing to fork over cash, she had no problem questioning the integrity of a four star general who gave testimony that the far left didn't like.

Another friend of the Clinton's is in the news. Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger is advising the campaign on foreign policy. Yes, the same Sandy Berger caught stealing and destroying documents from the National Archives to ensure the 9/11 Commission wouldn't have a chance to review them.

It is impossible to read minds or to fully understand how someone else reached a decision, but I have to view Clinton getting within 100 yards of a discredited character like Berger as a sign of arrogance. You only make that move if you are so confident of winning that you think the fallout can't make a difference.

Kucinich disgraces Ohio again

Last week, congressman and erstwhile presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich shamed his constituents by criticizing U.S. foreign policy while meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. While in the Middle East, Kucinich said he wouldn't to visit Iraq claiming "I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation ... I don't want to bless that occupation with my presence." What a pompous ass!

Yesterday, he further shamed the people who foolishly elected him by being the only congressman to vote against a congressional resolution commemorating the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

I grew up in Kucinich's district and understand there may be slim pickings, but even in that area there must be thousands of people able to represent the general populace without being a complete laughing stock.

Monday's Required Reading

From the Wall Street Journal we get today's required reading. It is an op-ed titled "Listening to Petraeus" co-authored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT). While I'm tempted to copy and paste the point I find most salient, I'd rather you just read the entire article. Actually, I'd really like the 98 other senators to read the piece with an open mind. Sadly, a number of senators won't even consider listening to General Petraeus when he testifies having already decided to call him a liar before he testifies.

Fred is in the race (I guess)

Fred Thompson has joined the crowd running for the Republican presidential nomination. The title of this post includes an "I guess" because even though I was watching the Tonight Show to see his announcement I must have fallen asleep during the monologue. That is a problem with using a late night TV appearance to enter the race.

For those of you who joined me in sleeping through the announcement, The Corner at National Review Online has posted video clips of the show.

Karma in the form of broken ribs

A couple years ago President Bush was test driving one of those Segway machines and fell off. Obviously, the late night talk shows had their laughs. The leftist London newspaper The Daily Mirror ran an article with this headline: "You'd have to be an idiot to fall off, wouldn't you Mr President." Well, the editor who came up with that headline is in the U.S. to take part in some stupid TV show and got an opportunity to ride a Segway. Fortunately, someone was filming as he rode the Segway into a curb falling and breaking a couple ribs. I wouldn't normally get so much enjoyment from another's pain, however the element of karma regarding his mocking Bush when he didn't instantly master the same device is enough reason to make an exception. Follow this link for a laugh at his expense.

Craig changes his mind - maybe

Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), who announced on Saturday that he would resign effective 30 September, is reportedly considering changing his mind. Huh? Wow, is this character confused. First, he is confused about bathroom etiquette (rule one: all your body parts stay in your stall). Then, he pleads guilty and now he thinks he isn't guilty and wants to appeal. Now, he isn't sure if he knew what he was doing when he resigned. Bottom line: All this indecisiveness further demonstrates that he isn't fit to be a U.S. senator.

Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online has an interesting compromise idea:

Compromise Position

A reader e-mails: "Larry Craig can stay if Arlen Specter resigns."

Better yet get rid of both.

Justice Denied

There has been a resolution to a local story that has been in the news the last week or so. Unfortunately, the resolution has left many people feeling justice has been denied. The basic facts are a woman left her two year old child in a hot car all day to die. The insufficient resolution is amazingly the county prosecutor decided he didn't think it was intentional so he is not going to charge her with any crime. Part of the prosecutors justification for ignoring this crime is he believes she will be suffering for the rest of her life anyways. He is likely right, but does that matter? Our prisons are populated by many people who feel bad about the results of their actions. If someone drives drunk and kills someone else they probably feel horrible about it, but we still punish them for the offense. Heck, we have had people arrested and prosecuted for leaving a dog in a car on a hot day.

A side issue in this case is the general belief that race and class played a role in how this case was handled. The "mom" is a white, college educated, well-paid professional. Some speculate, quite correctly, that if those factors were different she would have been treated much more harshly. What is her profession? Oh yeah, she is an assistant principal at a local school responsible for the well-being of hundreds of kids each day. Keep in mind our public schools have gotten so goofy with their zero tolerance policies that they will expel a child for drawing a picture of a gun. Additionally, consider how quickly public schools will call child protective services with allegations of child abuse if a kid shows up to school with bruises.

The last element of this case is just a personal prejudice. She has a hyphenated last name which means when she got married she didn't respect her husband enough to take his name. I may just be a crotchety SOB, but I don't like that crap.

Congratulation Appalachian State

Previously barely known Appalachian State upset 5th ranked (currently) Michigan this afternoon 34 to 32. This is the first time a Division I-AA team has defeated a ranked Division 1-A team. Good job Mountaineers!!!