Katrina and Disgusting Exploitation

By James K. Glassman
Tech Central Station

A profound tragedy is unfolding in New Orleans, the most beautiful city in America, with the richest cultural history and the most wonderful style of living. I lived in New Orleans for seven years. I was married there. My children were born there. I have many friends there.

Cloning Ann Coulter

With so many liberals out there saying crazy stuff, maybe we need to clone Ann ASAP. She's got enough material to last several lifetimes... :-)

Progressive activism???

"As a result, defenders of the Bush Administration as well as those who hate anything that resembles progressive activism are giving her hell for it. She’s been called crazy, anti-American, anti-Semitic, and Lord knows what else. That reaction is typical, though. I recall seeing how those who dared to protest the Vietnam War were treated by the era’s selfless defenders of war politics. The more things change…"

Actually, it was Susan Estrich who called her "anti-Semitic," and I don't think Estrich is a defender of the Bush Administration. Sheehan doesn't have immunity from criticism for statements that she's made...

"With that in mind, I’d hate to hear the incredible backlash against any members of the BP who found themselves at Sheehan’s level of notoriety."

I want the BP to get noticed... I wish some cable news channel would call me up and ask me something. :-)

RE: “For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind”

See what I mean? Ann Coulter will never run out of material. Her problem is just the opposite. Which stupid liberal trick should she talk about next? There are so many to choose from.

“For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind”

I see that RFK, Jr. is blaming Bush & Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour for Katrina...

'It Is Not Safe in New Orleans'

From Fox News:

NEW ORLEANS — A public health emergency was declared for the entire Gulf Coast Wednesday as New Orleans officials estimated that hundreds, if not thousands, of city residents were killed by Hurricane Katrina and the storm's aftermath.

Yes to Senator No: Still Jesse.

Interviewer’s Note: Jesse Helms was born in 1921, and was elected to the Senate in 1972. He served there five terms, or 30 years. He is now in retirement on his North Carolina soil. This week, Random House released his memoir, Here’s Where I Stand. Earlier in August, Helms answered questions by e-mail, from his office in Raleigh. A version of the below Q&A appears in the current print issue of National Review. Only one question did he decline to answer: concerning the handicapped son he and his wife adopted in the 1960s. It is said that Helms won’t be giving interviews anymore. If so, a rare and memorable voice will be silenced.

Re: A political hurricane is gathering force

Great points made by Fineman. The actions of Dubya during September 2005 — marked by another anniversary of 9/11, the Iraq War with no end in sight, and a horrible natural disaster on the Gulf Coast — will largely affect how he is viewed in America, IMHO. This month could be yet another defining moment for the Bush Administration, good or bad.

Missing and dead in NOLA

Steve,

Yes, I saw the video yesterday and broke down at my desk in tears. It is the saddest thing I believe I've ever seen. And to think that he is just one in hundreds is unimaginable.

The scenes are so similar to what we saw after the tsunami, but I guess we just don't expect to see that sort of thing in our own country.

RE: Moving Dead Becomes City's Second Priority

You may or may not watch Fox News, but...

There is video of one of the Fox reporters talking to people in the street in New Orleans. She talks to a guy who tells her that he is looking for his wife. It seems they were on the roof of their house and he was trying to hold on to her hand, but he couldn't. He says that when his wife realized she couldn't hold on, she told him to take care of the kids and the grand-kids. He says he is lost, that she was all he had. The reporter was crying like a baby. It is one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever seen.

RE: ...With Steve Starring As Carnac The Magnificient

No need to respond to any of that strident disclaiming except to paraphrase Shakespeare: methinks thou dost protest too much.

In the name of accuracy, though:

As a result, defenders of the Bush Administration as well as those who hate anything that resembles progressive activism are giving her hell for it. She's been called...anti-Semitic

If you will recall, it was Susan Estrich, a highly placed liberal Democrat operative who called her anti-Semitic.

But I personally don't know anyone who considers Sheehan anything more than a sad, distraught mother who simply wants her president to truly understand what's its like to walk in her shoes.

That dog still doesn't hunt, no matter how many different ways you send it out. If I thought you really believed that, the sheer level of your naivete would depress me.

Sure, she's said some questionable things, but she's not a trained actor or a politician (same difference, anyway).

Spinning wheel goes round and round. Only a liberal would try to equivocate and rationalize what she has said as "questionable."

With that in mind, I'd hate to hear the incredible backlash against any members of the BP who found themselves at Sheehan's level of notoriety.

Bring it on. Been there, done that.

Moving Dead Becomes City's Second Priority

NEW ORLEANS - When Xavier Bowie died in a flooded neighborhood, his common-law wife did the only thing she could think to do. She wrapped his body in a sheet, laid him on a makeshift bier of two-by-fours and, with a little help, floated him down to the main road.

...With Steve Starring As Carnac The Magnificient

Steve said: "I vocally predicted you would run from Sheehan within 24 hours of Susan Estrich's column. I should have posted the prediction."

Good for you, Steve. You would've — yet again — been wrong about what someone you label 'liberal' was thinking.

I ain’t running from anybody, and I don’t really care about Estrich’s column.

My position on Sheehan stands: Her son died in a war that I was adamantly against from its inception. She is choosing to speak her conscience about it. She has been successful in publicly calling the Bush Administration to task for instigating this collosal waste of American lives, time, and money.

As a result, defenders of the Bush Administration as well as those who hate anything that resembles progressive activism are giving her hell for it. She’s been called crazy, anti-American, anti-Semitic, and Lord knows what else. That reaction is typical, though. I recall seeing how those who dared to protest the Vietnam War were treated by the era’s selfless defenders of war politics. The more things change…

But I personally don’t know anyone who considers Sheehan anything more than a sad, distraught mother who simply wants her president to truly understand what’s its like to walk in her shoes. Sure, she's said some questionable things, but she's not a trained actor or a politician (same difference, anyway). With that in mind, I’d hate to hear the incredible backlash against any members of the BP who found themselves at Sheehan’s level of notoriety. There’s some pretty crazy stuff said in these halls…

Vouchers Hit the Burbs

by Marie Gryphon

Marie Gryphon is a policy analyst with the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. She is coauthor of "Our History of Educational Freedom: What It Should Mean For Families Today"

For years, school choice seemed stalled on a freeway at the edge of town. Urban voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee were successful. But only the involvement of middle-class suburbs will trigger the market revolution that reformers seek, and the suburbs presented an unassailable front. Statewide ballot measures in favor of vouchers lost big in California and Michigan in 2000. Proposals to expand education tax credits in Minnesota and Arizona died, and Ohio's permanent "pilot" program remained strictly limited to the City of Cleveland.

A political hurricane is gathering force: A war and a deluge stretch resources -- and nerves -- thin

By Howard Fineman
MSNBC contributor

WASHINGTON - For years the Pentagon’s standing readiness plans required the country to be able to fight two major wars simultaneously. But no one anticipated what we face now: a war in Mesopotamia and another along the Mississippi.

The Inflation Calculator

I got this from a link in a column that I posted earlier today from Walter Williams... This is pretty neat.

Lipstick on an Ugly Pig

From John Hood's Daily Journal:

The North Carolina Senate has cleared the way for a state-run lottery. It happened either because a Republican politician misled his colleagues and the public — or because a Democratic one did.

Poverty on the rise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. poverty rate rose in 2004, driven by an increase in the number of poor non-Hispanic whites, while the median income for Americans as a whole remained stable, the government said on Tuesday.

The percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty rose to 12.7 percent from 12.5 percent in 2003, as 1.1 million more people slipped into poverty last year, the Census Bureau said in its annual poverty report.

As Told by the Times

From Fox News Political Grapevine:

Speaking of Sheehan, The New York Times reported, "[President] Bush has been careful not to go on a direct attack against [her] ... Still, he said last week that protesters like her were weakening the United States and emboldening terrorists."

But the president has never said any such thing. In fact, what he said last week was that an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, which some protesters have called for, would weaken the United States and embolden terrorists. He did not accuse protesters of weakening the country.

Governor: Everyone Must Leave New Orleans

By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS

The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New
Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. "We've sent buses in. We will be
either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is necessary," Gov.
Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans' breached levees
struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the
governor said Wednesday the situation was growing more desperate and there was
no choice but to abandon the flooded city.

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad?

From the Krugman Truth Squad:

Chalk up a double win for the Krugman Truth Squad. We’ve forced Paul Krugman to publish a double-correction appended to his New York Times column last Friday. He’s had to publicly take responsibility for not one but two of the outlandish claims he made about the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections in his August 19 column. And there’s more to come — we’re going for a triple.

RE: Running from Democrats & Sheehan

To be honest, Estrich is the first liberal Democrat I've heard to denounce Sheehan.

Right, and that's my point. Estrich is plugged in pretty high in the national Democrat organization. I think you're seeing the test market for the Democrat's next position on Sheehan. She is starting to become a liability, so Democrats from top to bottom will start trying to shake her off like gum stuck to their shoes. The Robertson gambit failed because Republicans and/or conservatives refused to come to his rescue and stand by his remarks. If what Estrich is doing fails, you may even hear Howie Dean start making anti-Sheehan noises.

The more the public learns of Sheehan, the less they like her. Look behind what Estrich is selling. Sheehan's remarks weren't all that anti-semitic. They were stridently anti-Israel, though. With the recent events in Gaza, American Jews are very sensitive to anti-Israeli sentiment just now. That's a liability Democrat's can't afford, especially since polling indicates Jews are leaving them in droves because of their pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel positions.

Running from Democrats & Sheehan

"You have that backwards. Republicans use it because it pains Democrats so much to hear it. It removes that subliminal connotation with democracy, which most assume to be good, and replaces it with a subliminal connotation with bureaucrats, which is more accurate, but less good to the average American's ears."

Very well said, Steve (a.k.a. The Evil Genius). When we would say the Democrat Party in class at UNC-Charlotte, some liberal in there would always point out that we were saying it wrong. Usually, the professors knew what we were doing, so they thought it was funny because some liberal would always respond. Strother carries on that tradition on this board. :-)

"I vocally predicted you would run from Sheehan within 24 hours of Susan Estrich's column. I should have posted the prediction. The directive has gone out from on high, the sound of rhetorical rubber squealing will be absolutely deafening during the next 48 hours."

To be honest, Estrich is the first liberal Democrat I've heard to denounce Sheehan. Sheehan has been saying this stuff for a while now, and you're had liberal members of Congress support her, you've had Elizabeth Edwards call Sheehan in Crawford offering support, etc. Estrich probably is thinking that supporting Sheehan is just driving away more & more Jewish voters. Just my opinion. :-)

RE: What's next for NOLA?

I don't believe any of us could fathom the destruction that's really occured down there. And I believe the media is playing down the severity of what's really going on. It's so incredibly scary, that it's almost too much for us to take in.

Like the Superdome evacuation, for instance. How in the world are they going to evacuate nearly 25,000 people by bus and send them to the Houston Astrodome when the streets are flooded? Hwy. 10 is broken into little pieces. Dire situation.

"Top Ten Signs George W. Bush is Having a Bad Vacation"

From the August 29 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Signs George W. Bush is Having a Bad Vacation."

Today's Real Top Story: What's Next For NOLA?

Considering that 80 percent of New Orleans residents were reported to have left town, that means 20 percent are still there and probably didn't have the financial means to leave. I'm sure that those figures didn't factor in NOLA's high number of homeless, either.

I have a friend who lives in the area. His parish has experienced what is referred to as 'massive devastation,' but no one can really be sure: they can't even get in to access the situation.

This is so incredibly sad and so very devastating to such a culturally rich and great US city.

Democrat Party

Coulter — who, as usual, must be having a drought of meaningful subject matter...

As long as there are liberals around, doing what liberals inevitably do, Ann will never have a drought of meaningful subject matter.

(By the way, it's the Democratic Party. Why does it pain Republicans so much to say that? Beats me.)

You have that backwards. Republicans use it because it pains Democrats so much to hear it. It removes that subliminal connotation with democracy, which most assume to be good, and replaces it with a subliminal connotation with bureaucrats, which is more accurate, but less good to the average American's ears.

Let's stick a fork in the topics of Sheehan and Robertson...

I vocally predicted you would run from Sheehan within 24 hours of Susan Estrich's column. I should have posted the prediction. The directive has gone out from on high, the sound of rhetorical rubber squealing will be absolutely deafening during the next 48 hours.

Tweaking the Dems

“(By the way, it's the Democratic Party. Why does it pain Republicans so much to say that? Beats me.)”

It doesn’t pain me to say Democratic Party, but I do it just to tweak the Dems. :-)

“Let's stick a fork in the topics of Sheehan and Robertson... They're done and are cooling right next to Natalee Holloway, Robert Blake, and Tom Cruise. Actually, Cruise is overcooked...”

No need to stick a fork in Sheehan & Robertson… Sheehan is now starting her bus tour.

The Quagmire Quagmire

By Philip Klein
The American Spectator

A syndicated cartoon that appeared in the New York Times earlier this month depicts a Republican elephant protesting outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford. The elephant is holding a sign that reads, "End The War (Before The '06 Elections)."

History may inevitably repeat itself, but it isn't supposed to start showing reruns so quickly.

Cindy Sheehan, spokeswoman for Cindy Sheehan

Andy said: "Ann Coulter said last week that Sheehan was the spokeswoman for the Democrat Party... maybe Ann is right."

Using that sort of logic, Pat Robertson is the spokesman for the Republican Party, but I'm sure no sensible Republican would claim him.

Cindy Sheehan is a spokeswoman for Cindy Sheehan and whoever else is following her around. Pat Robertson is the spokesman for Pat Robertson, his TV programs and dealings, and whoever else follows him around.

Coulter — who, as usual, must be having a drought of meaningful subject matter — needs for Sheehan to be the spokeswoman for the Democratic Party.

(By the way, it's the Democratic Party. Why does it pain Republicans so much to say that? Beats me.)

Let's stick a fork in the topics of Sheehan and Robertson... They're done and are cooling right next to Natalee Holloway, Robert Blake, and Tom Cruise. Actually, Cruise is overcooked...

Turkish Professor and Former Intelligence Officer: There is No Such Terror Organization as Al-Qaeda

Here's your paranoid, delusional conspiracy theory for the week. Say thank you.

I couldn't fit the whole tile:

Turkish Professor and Former Intelligence Officer: There is No Such Terror Organization as Al-Qaeda; Al-Qaeda is Code Name for a CIA Operation; The U.S. Government is Behind 9/11 and JFK's Assassination

Actually, I think we may have discovered Michael Moore's secret source.

Gasoline prices

By Dr. Walter E. Williams
Townhall.com

Nationally, the average per gallon price for regular gasoline is $2.50.

Are gasoline prices high? That's not the best way to ask that question. It's akin to asking, "Is Williams tall?" The average height of U.S. women is 5'4", and for men, it's 5'10". Being 6'4", I'd be tall relative to the general U.S. population. But put me on a basketball court, next to the average NBA basketball player, and I wouldn't be tall; I'd be short. So when we ask whether a price is high or low, we have to ask relative to what.

Senate Finally Passes Lottery: Gets through chamber when two Republicans fail to show

By Paul Chesser
John Locke Foundation

RALEIGH — Senate debate over a state-run lottery yesterday was marred as much by contention over procedural issues as it was over the game itself.

The chamber barely passed a measure that will institute a lottery in North Carolina after many years of holding out, while neighboring states had gradually adopted their own games. The majority of Democrats who wanted it were only able to win approval because two Republicans opposed to the lottery were absent: Sen. Harry Brown of Jacksonville and Sen. John Garwood of North Wilkesboro.

Leaving Republicans Behind

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article appeared in the March 8, 2004, issue of National Review.

When George W. Bush hit the campaign trail in 2000, Republicans ranked more than 20 points behind Democrats on which party best handled the issue of education. In 2002, Republicans were delighted to find that that deficit had vanished — thanks to President Bush's advocacy for his landmark education-reform plan, No Child Left Behind. Today, however, while the president's personal ratings still have him at the head of the class on education, his fellow Republicans have been left behind: Democrats once again enjoy a double-digit advantage on education, and the plan's bipartisan support didn't survive the Iowa caucuses. To curry favor with many unhappy school officials and the teachers' unions, Democratic candidates have been championing local control of schools and hammering the same reform plan they voted for. Ted Kennedy, whose crucial support made Bush's school-accountability proposal a reality, refuses to be accountable for its effects, angrily blaming Republican parsimony for shortchanging his vision. If opposition to the reform grows and the sweeping plan fails to deliver on its ambitious goals, Democrats will strengthen their advantage on education issues — and Republicans alone will be held responsible for the most unpopular regime Washington ever attempted to impose on our public schools.

Two men in love...

Aug. 29: Rev. Jesse Jackson shares a moment with President Hugo Chavez at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.

Collie found in Iowa

Misleading title, but this is the little girl from Rocky Mount. She appears to be safe and unharmed. Thank God.

Cindy Cuts Interview Short

From Fox News Political Grapevine:

Cindy Sheehan abruptly cut off an interview with National Public Radio Monday, well before the segment was scheduled to end. For a couple minutes Sheehan answered questions about her mother's health and the life of her late son. But when host Neal Conan asked her to describe her meeting with President Bush last year, she at first refused, saying she's talked about it enough. When Conan asked again, she told him she only had two minutes left for the interview.

She then gave a brief answer, and after another round of questions, told Conan she was having trouble hearing him, insisting, "We have a really bad connection ... It's very spotty cell service out here." A minute or so after that, just as she was being asked about past statements she's made, she said, "I have to go," and hung up.

KATRINA Gasoline

German Minister Links Katrina to Global Warming, Bush Policies

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Germany's environment minister has added his voice to green activists and others who have sought to link Hurricane Katrina with global warming.

Cindy Sheehan, spokeswoman for the Democrat Party

"Am I emotional? Yes, my firstborn was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel."

"What they're saying, too, is like, it's OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons. But Iran or Syria better not get nuclear weapons. ... It's OK for Israel to occupy Palestine ... for the United States to occupy Iraq, but it's not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. They're a bunch of (expletive) hypocrites."

Cindy Sheehan

I've said for the past few weeks that liberal Democrats shouldn't hitch their wagon to Sheehan's horse. If conservative Republicans stood with people who said anti-Semitic comments like Sheehan did, we would be crucified by the liberal Democrats and the media alike. Ann Coulter said last week that Sheehan was the spokeswoman for the Democrat Party... maybe Ann is right.

Susan Estrich: Dump Cindy

The left's own bellwether launches the beginning of the "Dump and Disclaim" effort on Cindy Sheehan. I'd say she's about done. Can't happen a minute too soon.

The Intellectuals and Socialism: As Seen from a Post-Communist Country Situated in Predominantly Post-Democratic Europe

We'll step up the academic level of the BP for a moment. This is a long article, but worth the read. I also recommend reading the Hayek essay to which Klaus refers.

Redesigning Trucks

by Alan Reynolds

Alan Reynolds is a nationally syndicated columnist and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta proposed imaginative fuel efficiency standards for new SUVs, vans and pickups. This scheme would divide light trucks into a half-dozen categories based on size, not weight.

Senate approves state lottery by vote of 25-24: Two anti-lottery Republicans absent from vote

By David Rice
Winston-Salem Journal Raleigh Bureau

RALEIGH

With two members absent and the Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue breaking a tie, the state senate approved a state lottery today by a vote of 25-24.

Remembering the Gipper

"We all share the love of peace, but our sons and daughters must learn two lessons men everywhere and in every time have had to learn; that the price of freedom is dear but not nearly so costly as the loss of freedom—and that the advance and continuation of civilization depend on those values for which men have always been willing to die."

Ronald Reagan

Heaven forbid!

Personally, he shouldn't go back to Washington until Friday as he had planned since he can do his duties in Crawford as he can in D.C.. Why is Congress allowed to go home during August no questions asked whereas Bush can't go home to Texas... Remember, being president is a 24/7 job, and as president, he has everything at his disposal like he does at the White House.

It's hard work, this presidentin'...

Heaven forbid! First Cindy Sheehan messes up his get away at the ranch, and now that damn Katrina has to come along....

The president had been scheduled to return to the nation's capital on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his ranch in Central Texas. But after receiving a briefing early Tuesday on the devastation Katrina unleashed, the president decided that he needed to be in Washington to personally oversee the federal effort, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

'This Is Our Tsunami'

What's happening in the Gulf Coast area is unreal... I wouldn't know how to start cleaning up such devastation... This whole area has lost everything... This is so sad... :-(

You can use the f-word in class (but only five times)

Sadly, this isn't a parody... :-(

From the Daily Mail:

A secondary school is to allow pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't do so more than five times in a lesson. A running tally of how many times the f-word has been used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the lesson.

The astonishing policy, which the school says will improve the behaviour of pupils, was condemned by parents' groups and MPs yesterday. They warned it would backfire.

Parents were advised of the plan, which comes into effect when term starts next week, in a letter from the Weavers School in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at 15 and 16-year-olds in two classes which are considered troublesome.

Right to Life Retrospect

By Margaret Moen
The American Spectator

"While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well." -- Matthew 13:25-26

The culture of life landscape looks like the field in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. Changes on the Supreme Court might produce an end to Roe v. Wade; Terri Schiavo's starvation death raises the Grim Reaper of passive euthanasia.

The Democrats' Supreme Conundrum

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Washington Post

Reports that Senate Democrats are deeply divided over how to deal with the Supreme Court nomination of Judge John Roberts both oversimplify what's happening and underestimate the conundrums the party faces.

INSIDE AIR AMERICA: THE SHELDON DROBNY FILES

by Brian Maloney and Michelle Malkin

My investigative blog partner, Brian Maloney, watched the surreal appearance of Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny on C-SPAN this weekend. Drobny was on the network to plug his 2004 book, "Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves." Click here for Brian's exclusive transcript/analysis of Drobny's remarks and the second half of our Sheldon Drobny files. Our thanks to the caller from Dallas who broke the silence about the Air American financial scandals on the program. Drobny was visibly uncomfortable. As he should be.

RE: 'Arizona Daily Star' Drops Ann Coulter's 'Shrill' Column

"Many readers find her shrill, bombastic, and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives," the recently appointed Stoeffler wrote.

I know of no actual conservatives who dislike Ann Coulter's writing. I know plenty of whining moderates and semi-libs who like to pass themselves off as conservatives who dislike Ann. That would be because she writes about things that are actually conservative issues. This is as opposed to simply telling one's fellow cocktail partygoers how conservative you are. Many talk the talk. Only a few walk the walk.

Taking her place in the Star will be the Creators Syndicate column by fellow conservative Tony Snow...

Of course. Tony Snow is the conservative liberals love to hear. Tony Snow is to conservatism what McDonald's is to fine dining.

Lottery may get vote in Senate today, with 2 opponents absent

It appears NC will get a lottery after all...

By David Rice
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU

RALEIGH

The N.C. Senate will return to Raleigh today with what might be the lucky number it needs to pass a state lottery, thanks to a Wilkes County senator's plan to stay home.

'Arizona Daily Star' Drops Ann Coulter's 'Shrill' Column

Ann will still be posted on the BP... :-)

NEW YORK - The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson has had enough of conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

In a column announcing a wide range of changes in the paper's opinion pages Monday, Editor and Publisher David Stoeffler revealed that the paper was dropping Coulter's syndicated column.

"Many readers find her shrill, bombastic, and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives," the recently appointed Stoeffler wrote.

A national emergency

By Pat Buchanan
World Net Daily

On Aug. 12, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency "due to a chaotic situation involving illegal alien smuggling and illegal drug shipments" on his southern border. Three days later, Gov. Janet Napolitano followed suit in Arizona.

Reason: the crisis on the border. The ally-ally-in-free immigration policy of George Bush and Vicente Fox, beloved of corporate America, has created a hell on our southern border.

Retired Sen. Jesse Helms Publishes Memoir

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. - Jesse Helms, writing with the same passion that made him the archconservative of the U.S. Senate for 30 years, renews his criticism of abortion in a memoir being published this week, comparing it to both the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 attacks.

Rising Death Toll; Levee Breaches in New Orleans

(CNSNews.com) - FEMA Director Michael Brown on Tuesday described the flooded Mississippi Delta region as a "very sobering scene,"as rescue and body recovery efforts continue amid reports of two or three levee breaks in New Orleans, where the water continues rising. On this day after the storm, the death toll stands at 55, most in Mississippi, and it will go higher. Brown told NBC's Today show that low-lying parishes south and east of New Orleans were hardest hit, and it will be "weeks and weeks" before people can return to what's left of their homes. Brown said the best advice is for people to be "very, very patient." He said getting people back into their neighborhoods will be a "very long and difficult process." President Bush has declared almost all of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi disaster areas.

Hurricane Katrina

Shrill Howling

"I'd love to know how many American church sermons mentioned Pat Robertson's name this past Sunday. It would be a pretty accurate representation of his visibility and influence."

Who knows...

"You really don't think he's influential to the religious right? The same group of folks that played a major role in deciding the last presidential election? Well, maybe you're right, then. If an influential person that regularly paraded on my side of the political circus said something that dumb, I would cringe because it would repel many sensible folks that vote my way."

I don't believe he is as influential as he once was. Besides, people who vote on religious issues aren't mind-numb robots anyway. They just vote their conscience. With regard to what Robertson said, he said we should take out a communist dictator in our own hemisphere because he sees Chavez as a threat to the US. I don't believe he should have said that, but I didn't cringe. Most Americans, well most Americans in the red states, aren't going to cringe when it comes to mentioning that we should take out a communist dictator... They probably wished we would have knocked off Castro years ago.

"Oh, I'm not hitching to her horse — I promise. And she might be crazy but I can't know for sure. However, she is saying some valid things. But I'll be the first to say that those valid things are negatively affected by the presence of Michael Moore & Friends."

If she said some valid things, they are being negatively affected by the nutty things she is saying... Let's see, she said that America & Israel are conducting a "War of Terror"; she said Bush is the biggest terrorist in the world; she said Israel was the problem in the Middle East; she said the US conducted a "nuclear war" in Iraq, etc. Who would have thought we would see Sheehan, Michael Moore, Al Sharpton, & David Duke all on the same team... Ha!

"She was a regular American with a son in the military. He died in a war that the majority of Americans are now acknowledging was a mistake. Big difference."

I don't know about the regular American part... As Steve said, she wanted to run her son over with her car to keep him from entering the military... Remember, not only did her son volunteer, he even reenlisted a few months before he went over there, so it's not like he was going over there against his will. And who knows if the majority of Americans are now acknowledging that it was a mistake: We just had an election less than a year ago where the "stay the course" candidate won reelection, and the "stay the course" party picked up seats in both houses of Congress... The poll that happened last November is the only poll I pay attention to.

"Not quite true. The shrill howling of the left is just that — shrill howling. And the right's sheer howling doesn't sound all that different from a distance. But the neo-con excuses are getting people killed."

When that "shrill howling" on the left gets repeated on Al Jazzera, and when the terrorists use that same rhetoric on those tapes they release, then we have a major problem... Since I believe we should get more aggressive in Iraq, I wish members of the right would howl "We're going to be kicking some (_!_) now... This is your only warning Syria & Iran."

Peace through strength... :-)

Acts of God we can handle: it's man's actions that leave us stumped

More good Mark Steyn (is there any other kind?).

RE: The Left's Shrill Howling Vs. Neo-Con Excuses

...she isn't Michael Moore.

That's true. You can barely see Moore's lips moving when Sheehan speaks. You have to give Robertson one thing: At least his dumb remarks were his own.

She was a regular American...

Hardly. Regular Americans don't offer to run over their offspring with their cars in an effort to help them avoid military duty. Especially when said offspring have no desire or intention of avoiding said duty.

...the majority of Americans are now acknowledging was a mistake.

So you keep saying, but I don't see any convincing evidence to support that. The media keep shouting about a couple of extremely doubtful surveys, one of which has turned out to be heavily skewed. What they don't shout about is that at least one of those surveys also indicates that Americans don't want the Administration to leave Iraq before the job is done.

But the neo-con excuses are getting people killed.

I hate to be the one to break it to you Sparky, but Michael Moore has a substantial amount of blood on his hands. It's called aid and comfort. Every time one of those smug morons uses the term "freedom fighter" to describe a Muslim maniac with a bomb, an American soldier is put further in harm's way. Cindy Sheehan may not be directly responsible for her son's own death, but she is culpable in the deaths of any more of her son's fellow soldiers. If I ever met her, the first question I would have to ask her is, "How do you sleep?"

The Left's Shrill Howling Vs. Neo-Con Excuses

Andy said: I don't think Robertson is highly visible and influential.

I'd love to know how many American church sermons mentioned Pat Robertson's name this past Sunday. It would be a pretty accurate representation of his visibility and influence.

With that said, I didn't cringe when he said what he said; he was talking about a communist dictator after all with terrorist ties. I agree, he shouldn't have said what he said, but I didn't cringe.

You really don't think he's influential to the religious right? The same group of folks that played a major role in deciding the last presidential election? Well, maybe you're right, then. If an influential person that regularly paraded on my side of the political circus said something that dumb, I would cringe because it would repel many sensible folks that vote my way.

I can't believe some liberals are still hitching their wagon to her (Sheehan's) horse.

Oh, I'm not hitching to her horse — I promise. And she might be crazy but I can't know for sure. However, she is saying some valid things. But I'll be the first to say that those valid things are negatively affected by the presence of Michael Moore & Friends.

Steve said: You mean just like Michael Moore and Medea Benjamin?

Yep. Just like 'em. Consider Mr. Robertson 'bizzaro' Michael Moore. But — even though Michael Moore is a fan of Sheehan, she isn't Michael Moore. She was a regular American with a son in the military. He died in a war that the majority of Americans are now acknowledging was a mistake. Big difference.

Everyday Americans are just as fed up with the shrill howling of the left as they are with the neo-con excuses.

Not quite true. The shrill howling of the left is just that — shrill howling. And the right's sheer howling doesn't sound all that different from a distance. But the neo-con excuses are getting people killed.

Collinstown Mayor meets with a member of the Saudi Royal Family

Roles reverse as '05 Legislature nears the end

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When the 2005 legislative session began seven months ago, House members agreed to a bipartisan power-sharing arrangement, while Senate Democrats approved rule changes to quash Republican dissent.

As the session drew to a close, the roles were reversed -- with potentially substantial consequences for the 2006 elections if they remain in place before the General Assembly finally goes home.

RE: Re: Kill Saddam

The reason for the furor is because he's a highly visible, influential, and outspoken moron who once again said something that had wise folks from all political leanings cringing.

You mean just like Michael Moore and Medea Benjamin? My assertion stands. The media is trying to cover its tracks. It got caught making a celebrity out of another radical left-wing nutcase. Unfortunately for him, Robertson chose just that moment to pop up and remind us that radical nutcases come in all flavors. He provided the media with the cover they were looking for.

Outside of right-wing political circles (you know — where moderates, progressives, and average Americans fed up with the Iraq War reside) most recognize Sheehan as a mother distraught over the death of her son.

Sorry, no sale. The distraught mother gimmick lost its sheen when she started regurgitating trite, leftist agit-prop. Outside of left-wing political circles, Sheehan is seen as what she is: An unbalanced woman who has been manipulated by soul-less political hacks and seems very happy to be manipulated. Michael Moore says it and it comes out of her mouth. Everyday Americans are just as fed up with the shrill howling of the left as they are with the neo-con excuses.

Robertson & Sheehan

"The reason for the furor is because he's a highly visible, influential, and outspoken moron who once again said something that had wise folks from all political leanings cringing."

I don't think Robertson is highly visible and influential. He was when the Christian Coalition movement was first born, but that's been nearly 20 years ago. With that said, I didn't cringe when he said what he said; he was talking about a communist dictator after all with terrorist ties. I agree, he shouldn't have said what he said, but I didn't cringe.

"Outside of right-wing political circles (you know — where moderates, progressives, and average Americans fed up with the Iraq War reside) most recognize Sheehan as a mother distraught over the death of her son."

I think when Sheehan first appeared on the scene, most people (including myself) had sympathy for her over her loss, but the more she kept talking, the more she started sounding like a nut. I will say that with some people, this is how they deal with trama, but with some of the company she is now keeping, I can't believe some liberals are still hitching their wagon to her horse.

Bearish on Buffett

Lesson #1: Never bet against the United States. :-)

By Brian S. Wesbury

WARREN BUFFET IS BEARISH on the United States, and he's bullish on Europe. For the first time in his life, starting in 2002, Mr. Buffett entered the foreign exchange markets and shorted the dollar. This rare macro-economic bet was based on a belief that U.S. consumers and the U.S. government were spending beyond their means, and that the trade deficit was a sign of economic weakness.

Re: Kill Saddam

Steve said: "Of course we all know the real reason for the Pat Robertson furor was to relieve pressure from the Sheehan story by demonstrating that the right had their own set of screaming crazies."

The reason for the furor is because he's a highly visible, influential, and outspoken moron who once again said something that had wise folks from all political leanings cringing.

Outside of right-wing political circles (you know — where moderates, progressives, and average Americans fed up with the Iraq War reside) most recognize Sheehan as a mother distraught over the death of her son.

Winning in Iraq

By DAVID BROOKS

Andrew Krepinevich is a careful, scholarly man. A graduate of West Point and a retired lieutenant colonel, his book, "The Army and Vietnam," is a classic on how to fight counterinsurgency warfare.

Republicans have reasons for opposing a lottery

By Scott Mooneyham
Capitol Press Association

RALEIGH — Not too long ago, a key Republican legislator told me that he would like to see the lottery "just go away."

RE: The 'Fair' Tax

I didn't say that. I said "no tax on essential food items."

Actually I was just pulling your chain a little. I agree with you completely. The Fair Tax gives a monthly "prebate" to people under the federal poverty level. The amount is based on amounts spent (or to be spent) on essentials like food. That avoids a complex bureaucracy built around excluding certain items from taxation. It ostensibly seeks to reduce fraud, but I guess we'll have to see about that.

Quote of the day

"If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows not fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on."

General George Patton

The 'Fair' Tax

Steve replied: "I'm a little surprised to hear that you would want to exclude food items from the tax, though. Why wouldn't we want to tax the sale of caviar and candy bars?"

I didn't say that. I said "no tax on essential food items." By that I mean bread, milk, etc., as well as food items such as baby formula — essentials that everyone, including those that must count every penny, need. But taxing stuff like caviar and candy bars, sure.

Kill Saddam!

Apparently Pat Robertson's biggest mistake was being unaware that you are only allowed to call for the assassination of the head of a sovereign state if you are a journalist and/or there is a Democrat in the White House.

Please note that this article was written in 1997.

Of course we all know the real reason for the Pat Robertson furor was to relieve pressure from the Sheehan story by demonstrating that the right had their own set of screaming crazies. In actual fact, what Robertson did was little different than the actions of the very agencies who sought to pillory him.

Left, right, or indifferent, the hypocrisy of the American media is breathtaking.

RE: Re: The World Is Flat

There are two problems with the flat tax: it doesn't rid us of the IRS and it still taxes the income of citizens, thereby invoking all the current evils of individual excise taxes.

The Fair Tax is the only moral and ethical solution to our tax woes. I'm a little surprised to hear that you would want to exclude food items from the tax, though. Why wouldn't we want to tax the sale of caviar and candy bars?

On the low wage, unskilled labor point, I have a better idea than trying to impose some artificial wage rate on the market. Let's just eliminate any and all entitlements. Americans may be too lazy to take these jobs for any number of reasons, but chief among them is the fact that they can make a living (of sorts) by doing absolutely nothing. When faced with the prospect of mowing a lawn or starving, I suspect those lazy Americans might just find new motivation. You want fries with that?

Re: The World Is Flat

Andy said: "Instead of NAFTA, maybe this is the real reason why some jobs are leaving the US."

I'd say that it's a bit of both, but mostly NAFTA. And now CAFTA? Geez.

On a somewhat related note, it seems that many Americans are too lazy for much of the manual labor that we hire migrant workers to do. That doesn't help our job situation, either. Although if the business owners that depend on undocumented immigrant workforces paid more, they may have more Americans willing to work for them... I'm starting to really digress here, though. Sorry.

Here's the bit I find interesting:

A variation on the flat-tax idea, junking the income tax in favor of a single-rate national sales tax is also gaining popularity. "The Fair Tax," a new book by Rep. John Linder and radio talk-show host Neal Boortz, is currently topping best-seller lists.

Done ethically (with no tax on essential food items), taxing via sales tax could be a viable solution. It might also encourage people to save money. And finally, the U.S. government would get their share of drug trade revenue and other black market trade. Sounds good to me.

National Conservative Coming Out Day

Come out, come out wherever you are... :-)

By Dr. Mike S. Adams

Dear Closet Conservative:

Only you can remember the point in your life when you realized who you really are deep down inside. Perhaps it came suddenly. Maybe you just woke up one morning and began to have troubling thoughts. Maybe you began to realize that you weren’t the same as all the other little boys and girls. You wondered how many others had similar thoughts they just kept to themselves for fear of being ostracized.

UNdermining Democracy

For all the UN lovers out there...

By Jed Babbin
The American Spectator

First in fraud, last in peace and utterly divorced from reality, the U.N. was hard at work this week. Applying its infallible pro-terrorism instinct and in its never-ending quest to be taken seriously, the U.N. again took a firm stand in favor of terrorism and against the measures democracies may take to defend themselves from it while reaching a state of near-panic over U.S. objections to its "reform" agenda. Neatly packaged by General Assembly president Jean Ping of Gabon, the agenda is old globaloney in a new package. When our newly arrived Ambassador John Bolton posed strong objections to about 400 passages of this nonsense, the U.N.'s media enablers began to harrumph at the fact that there were only a few weeks left until the September 14 summit that is supposed to adopt this mess. Never mind that these objections had been made many times before Bolton got there. Kofi and Ko. should take their complaints about the lateness of Bolton's input to Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.

Cindy Sheehan’s lost intentions

Interesting perspective from a college student:

Cindy Sheehan’s behavior is tarnishing her son’s memory and robbing him of his valor, his bravery and the sacrifice he made.

Maybe she is a grieving mother who began this whole crusade with the intention of achieving justice for her son.

But if she continues, her son will be remembered for his rabid mother and not the gift he gave his country.

And if you need any more evidence that the radical left is taking advantage of a mentally unbalanced woman:

As is the case with most mothers, Cindy Sheehan feared for her son before he left for Iraq, so much so that she was willing to help him avoid his impending tour. She offered to run him over with a car.

Fictional President Meets with Cindy Sheehan

From KRON 4 News:

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- Cindy Sheehan still hasn't achieved a meeting with the president during her three-week-long war protest near his ranch, but she met a man who plays one on TV.

Martin Sheen, who plays Democratic President Josiah "Jeb" Bartlet on NBC's "The West Wing," went to Sheehan's makeshift campsite Sunday. He is known for his peace activism.

The World Is Flat: But America is a laggard in the tax-reform revolution.

It may be a matter of long-term economic survival. America's taxes on profits are around 40%, when you combine federal, state and local levies. With the possible exception of Japan, that rate is about the highest of any developed nation in the world today. If the U.S. doesn't adopt the flat tax it may find itself losing jobs, capital and ambitious entrepreneurs to nations with a more ambitious growth agenda.

Instead of NAFTA, maybe this is the real reason why some jobs are leaving the US. Just my opinion. :-)

Doubts About Heritage Tourism

From John Hood's Daily Journal:

The president of Old Salem just resigned, calling into question some of the most sweeping assertions of those pushing for more tax dollars to be spent on North Carolina’s “heritage tourism.”

Katrina Nearing Oil, Refinery Operations

By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria

Crude-oil futures briefly surged past $70 a barrel for the first time ever as Hurricane Katrina barreled toward the heart of U.S. oil and refinery operations in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity.

Disaster of Biblical Proportions

Updated: 7:21 a.m. ET Aug. 29, 2005

When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans on Monday, it could turn one of America’s most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city’s legendary cemeteries.

Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.

Katrina reached Category 5 level Sunday before weakening just slightly to a strong Category 4 storm early Monday. But with top winds of 150 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.

“All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario,” Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.

Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city’s houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless.

“We’re talking about in essence having — in the continental United States — having a refugee camp of a million people,” van Heerden said.

Burying the Big News?

From Fox News:

The Army's Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomaker, told reporters on Thursday that while the Army will probably fall short of its goal of 80,000 new recruits this year, those losses are being offset by soldiers already in Iraq re-enlisting in record numbers.

Oddly enough, the French wire service Agence France Press, got it right. It's headline said, "Army Chief Says Re-Enlistment Strong, Force not Broken." But The Washington Post ran the story under the headline, "Army Likely to Meet August's, But Not Year's, Recruiting Goal."

The Post didn't even mention the unprecedented retention rates... until the seventh paragraph.

Carter Catches Heat

Could Carter be elected dog catcher in Georgia now??? I have my doubts...

From Fox News:

Former President Jimmy Carter is taking heat in his home state of Georgia, after he successfully lobbied to save a submarine base in Connecticut at the expense of thousands of Georgia jobs.

Carter wrote a letter last week to the BRAC commission asking them to ignore a Pentagon recommendation to move six subs and more than 3,000 jobs from Groton, Connecticut to Kings Bay, Georgia.

Republican Representative Jack Kingston says Carter went "against the home team" and Republican Governor Sonny Perdue asks, "What was he thinking?"

But Carter says that moving the forces would be "militarily deleterious," adding that the commission's decision was not based his political influence.

Lance Boiled: Why are the French getting all worked up over a six-year-old bike race?

BY GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT

Nothing says more about different countries and the relations between them than sports. You can learn at least as much about America by watching the World Series as attending a Republican or Democratic convention, and for the past century, no cultural phenomenon has been more central to French life than the Tour de France. That lies behind the bitter row which has erupted, with accusations--a remarkably long time after the event--that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs in the 1999 Tour, the first of his barely believable sequence of seven victories. For the French, we are talking about something more than a bike race. The Tour is part of national culture.

So it is bad enough that no French rider has won it in 20 years; for an American of all people to have dominated is intolerable. And as if to illustrate the continuing rift between the countries, Mr. Armstrong was out biking only days ago with his friend and fellow Texan, George W. Bush.

Robertson Apologizes for Chavez Assassination Remarks

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson apologized Wednesday for calling on the U.S. to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, stating that he "spoke in frustration" regarding "the war of terror being waged against civilized nations throughout the world."

RE: War on the Cheap

Hey Steve: You're right, that was an excellent article. The writer makes some very good points. As somebody who is pro-Iraq war and a free trader, the writer has made me question some of our current policies.

War on the Cheap

Excellent article. This comes as close to summarizing my views on the war as anything I've seen in print lately.

But there is more to waging war than fielding an appropriately sized battle force. The domestic economy must also be mobilized. Franklin D. Roosevelt could get Henry Kaiser and other shipbuilders to produce two large cargo ships every day during World War II, but George W. Bush can't get the huge American economy to produce enough ceramic inserts for safety vests for soldiers in Iraq. Or armor for their vehicles. That the great American production machine cannot be marshaled to keep the lights on and the air conditioners humming in Baghdad suggests that we are not serious about winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

Log Cabin Republicans

Hey Strother: Here's the link to the Log Cabin Republicans website. It should explain what the group is all about. :-)

Illumination

What do you mean by the "Log Cabin Republicans" attracting Mr. Carroll?

I'm pretty sure the sentence is complete and in reasonably good English. It is also in context. What part of it don't you understand?

Addendum:

Andy tells me you may not be familiar with the Log Cabin Republicans. My apologies. They are a group that seeks to advocate for a number of liberal social issues within the GOP. I trust this fully illuminates my remarks.

RE: RE: The Stokes News 'Letters To The Editor'

Steve said: "I can't understand why anyone thinks Ron Carroll has anything profound or even very useful to offer the political dialog. I also can't understand how he got associated with the Republican Party. He's even very liberal by Democrat standards. Maybe it was the Log Cabin Republicans that attracted him."

I'm confused here, and forgive my ignorance, Steve. But I think you should clarify this statement for myself and the readers of the BP: What do you mean by the "Log Cabin Republicans" attracting Mr. Carroll? Illuminate me...

RE: Re: Mike Adams

Liberals complain.

Conservatives illuminate.

Re: Mike Adams

Question: Is the $25 reception an open bar? I'll need a drink or two after listening to that guy complain for an hour.

Amber Alert

The Rocky Mount North Carolina Police Department has activated the Amber Alert after the girl was reported missing on Friday morning. Authorities say she was discovered missing from her home Friday at about 6:50 a.m. Authorities suspect that she was abducted by a registered sex offender.

Jodie Renee Collie is described as a white female, approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 114 pounds. Authorities say the girl has blonde hair and green eyes.

Police say the abductor, Phillip Daniel Denkler, 27, is a registered sex offender. He is described as a white male with straight, short, black hair and brown eyes.

The two were last seen in a beige 2005 Hyundai Sonata with North Carolina license plate number NMN-2630.

anyone who has information about this case is asked to call the Rocky Mount Police Department at (252) 972-1411 or you may dial 911.

Necessary Retreat

"I can't say I agree with Charles that this was a necessary retreat. You don't retreat when you're winning. This was bowing to a political expediency, no more, no less."

I don't believe this was "bowing to a political expendiency." I believe Ariel Sharon made a strategic move. Charles wrote a good column last week on this titled Israeli withdrawal is correct and necessary. Charles makes very good points in this column.

RE: The Inhumane Society

This bears repeating:

The left, which insists on anesthesia-softened executions of murderers on death row, doesn't want unborn children receiving any anesthesia, arguing that it poses an "unnecessary" risk to the lives of women. Practices the left wouldn't permit at animal hospitals or penitentiaries are apparently so essential to its abortion agenda it will fake up scientific claims designed to make people feel better about not even affording the unborn child the slight courtesy of anesthesia.

While the left treats the obviously guilty as innocent, they treat unborn children as the guilty, unworthy of any basic humane considerations. As Alexander Sanger, the grandson of Margaret Sanger, blurted out honestly, the unborn child is a "liability, a threat, and a danger to the mother and to the other members of the family."

RE: What's next for Israel

I was thinking about this the other day. The Jews are the original Palestinians. I wonder from what authority do the Palestinian Arabs assert that heritage? The Arabs in today's Palestine are descended from the Semitic Arab puppets installed as leaders in Jerusalem and Judea by the Romans in the second and first century BC. In many ways, the Jews are still fighting off the Roman yoke imposed on them over 2,000 years ago and suffering the consequences of losing a revolt in 70 AD.

I can't say I agree with Charles that this was a necessary retreat. You don't retreat when you're winning. This was bowing to a political expediency, no more, no less.

More venting from pissed-off conservatives...

From the Federalist Patriot:

Former Reagan consultant and direct mail specialist Richard Viguerie has blasted the "Washington wing of the GOP," accusing them of betraying conservatives who constitute the base of the party. In an open letter to conservatives, Viguerie said that after decades spent defeating Rockefeller Republicans, "we have a new enemy—the Washington wing of the GOP. They're not just wasting money; they're...massively growing government."

Citing the recent Highway Bill, "the most expensive public-works legislation ever," Viguerie said conservatives' duty is to their principles, not particular politicians. "If... Democrats... engaged in this level of...spending, every conservative in America would be raising their voice. We must not do less when...Republicans [are guilty]. The price of silence is hypocrisy."

Quote of the week...

"Since her first meeting with the president, she has called him a 'lying bastard,' 'filth spewer,' 'evil maniac,' 'fuehrer' and the world's 'biggest terrorist' who is committing 'blatant genocide' and 'waging a nuclear war' in Iraq... Sheehan is symptomatic of something that in 2008 could cause the Democratic Party a sixth loss in eight presidential elections. That something is a shrillness unlike anything heard, in living memory, from a major tendency within a major party... Do Democrats really want to embrace her variation of the Michael Moore and 'Fahrenheit 9/11' school of political discourse?"

George Will

More Krugman lies: the Great Unraveling continues

From Richard Baehr:

Paul Krugman, provides a small correction box at the bottom of his column today in the New York Times, to deal with some of his multitude of errors in his two recent columns on the Florida election controversy in 2000, and the Ohio controversy (a controversy, really, only for hard core fanatics like Krugman and John Conyers) in 2004.

The Inhumane Society

By George Neumayr

The left spent much of the week feeling Hugo Chavez's pain. But it was in no mood to feel the pain of unborn children. A bogus study's claim that unborn children don't feel any pain at all generated a flurry of tendentiously hopeful media reports. "Researchers: Fetal Pain Not An Abortion Issue; Review of 2,000 Studies Concludes Fetus Feels Nothing Up to 29 Weeks," read one headline.

2 authors of fetal-pain paper accused of bias

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

A medical student who has worked for an abortion rights group and the director of a clinic that provides abortions were among authors of a report on the highly charged issue of fetal pain published Wednesday.

What's next for Israel

From Charles Krauthammer:

WASHINGTON -- The world has noted -- though it will not credit, and will soon forget -- those deeply moving scenes of the Israeli evacuation of Gaza: the discipline and self-control of the Israeli army; the cohesion of a society torn over policy but determined to follow the dictates of democracy; and the deep, abiding attachment of Israelis to every inch of soil they have reclaimed from sand and swamp.

Gasoline: Prices Must Be In Perspective

This is a good informative article by Dr. Roy Cordato of the John Locke Foundation... This puts things in perspective. :-)

Wal-Mart Nation

An article on Wal-Mart with real facts. That would be as opposed to the usual articles in the union-loving, leftist-pandering fanatical mainstream press. Of course when faced with facts, liberals generally resort to invective. We'll see...

Is Anything Wrong With Pat Robertson Making a Killing?

Wow, it seems Robertson has invented quite a diet shake... :-)

Helms lauded as conscience of Senate conservatives

By Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jesse Helms says it is presumptuous to acknowledge that he was what admirers say he was: the conscience of conservatives in the Senate for 30 years.

Mike Adams

Dr. Mike Adams will be speaking at Dabney Hall on the campus of NC Statue University at 7 pm on Tuesday, August 30. Admission is free. There will be a reception at 5:30 hosted by the NCSU College Republicans in room 222. The cost of the reception is $25. Registration for the reception only is required.

I know this would be a long drive after work, but I figured Tucker, Behethland, and Strother would want to go hear Dr. Adams speak. Tucker might even get a chance to directly ask him why he doesn't complain about the war in Iraq.

RE: The Stokes News 'Letters To The Editor'

County politics are depressing. This is little more than the usual suspects whining. I can't understand why anyone thinks Ron Carroll has anything profound or even very useful to offer the political dialog. I also can't understand how he got associated with the Republican Party. He's even very liberal by Democrat standards. Maybe it was the Log Cabin Republicans that attracted him.

The Stokes News 'Letters To The Editor'

Current events validate past behavior by Ron Carroll

For scanning purposes, John Turpin had to break this editorial in two parts, so to read the first part, click on the title, and to read the second part, click on his name.

Commissioners attacked volunteers by Jerry S. Mitchell

Isn't this the same guy who was a part of that "Save Stokes" group from a couple of years ago??? Is that group still in existence??? He pretty much accused Sandy McHugh of committing a felony in his editorial.

Speech made at commissioner's meeting by Fredricka Cecile

I'll admit, I don't have faith in the public health board to do their job. To be honest, I hope that the commissioners would remove a few more board members. When you have an unelected board like the Board of Health where the majority of its members believe they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions, then we have major problems. Just my opinion... :-)

RE: Colombia lawmakers 'use cocaine'

We made the same dumb mistake with Afghanistan in the late 1980's and all through the 1990's. Plus, we compounded the mistake when we were subsidizing the Taliban. Our politicians seem to have a hard time learning from their predecessor's errors.

Colombia lawmakers 'use cocaine'

I'm perplexed. Exactly why do we keep giving them billions in aid to 'fight' the drug trade? To create more allies, perhaps? Talk about ineffective use of taxpayer money. Let them sell coke in their congress, I don't care. But let's stop the aiding and abetting.

From BBC News:

Some of Colombia's elected politicians have used cocaine within Congress itself, the vice-president of the country's Senate has alleged. The drug is also being sold there, Senator Edgar Artunduaga said.

"I know names of people who distribute cocaine here in Congress," he said, revealing the results of an investigation ordered by his office. "There are important officials who distribute, and senators and representatives who consume."

Personal possession of small amounts of cocaine and other drugs is not illegal in Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine producer.

RE: More Stokes Health Board News

Simmons is one of these leftover hippie types who thinks Stokes County is Haight-Ashbury. His wife has been scamming Stokes County taxpayers for almost ten years. She is Stokes County born and bred, but she speaks with a fake English accent. She tries to claim that she picked it up when she lived in England for about three months over fifteen years ago. They are both ultra-liberal socialists who wish that Stokes County was San Francisco or Marin County. He was put on the board to replace that turd from Walnut Cove who was a member of the Hickory Nuts and thought we should be giving contraceptives to sixth-graders. Apparently every dentist in Stokes County is some kind of ultra-liberal wing-nut.

RE: Bolton Accused of Causing Chaos Ahead of UN Summit

A longstanding critic of the U.N., the former undersecretary for arms control and international security is regarded by detractors as a "hardliner."

And this is where they give themselves away. Obviously, they would prefer someone who would duck and cower and give away U.S. sovereignty.

Go John, go!

How to win the Iraq War

This was sent to me by my cousin, Delana Vickers:

The Pentagon announced today the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit named the U.S. Redneck Special Forces (USRSF). These men from the Carolina's, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas will be dropped into Iraq and will be given only the following info about the Terrorists.

1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don't like the American flag, beer, cogs, pickup trucks, country music,
or Jesus.
5. They are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the death of Dale Earnhardt.

The war in Iraq should be over IN ABOUT A WEEK!

AMEN leave it to the SOUTH!

No Sale on New Local Taxes

I like this quote from John Hood: "North Carolinians are not undertaxed. They are underserved – by politicians." I couldn't have said it better myself.

From John Hood's Daily Journal:

RALEIGH – You pay too little in taxes.

That is apparently the belief of many if not most members of the North Carolina House. It may well be a popular sentiment among members of the North Carolina Senate, as well, though we may not have the opportunity to find out this year.

A Response to Jonathan Cohn: Healthy Choice

by Michael F. Cannon

Michael Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and co-author of Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, to be released by Cato next month.

In last week's TRB, Jonathan Cohn takes aim at one of the most innovative health policy proposals in recent memory: the Health Care Choice Act, a bill sponsored by Representative John Shadegg of Arizona. Currently, if you buy health insurance you are allowed only to buy a policy licensed within the state where you live. Shadegg's bill would allow you to buy a policy from anywhere in the country.

More Stokes Health Board News

Courtesy of John Turpin, he scanned and sent my way some other nuggets for the Stokes News...

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Personally, this Sam Simmons doesn't act like he's all here mentally... I believe both him & Walker should be removed from the board of health ASAP... I can't believe they submitted falsified meeting minutes... Unreal.

More Abortions Than Births in Russia — Health Official

MosNews

Russians, whose lives are shorter and poorer than they were under communism, have more abortions than births to avoid the costs of raising children, Bloomberg.com reported Tuesday quoting the country’s highest-ranking obstetrician.

Rocks Thrown at Border Patrol Chopper

YUMA, Ariz.

Illegal immigrants threw rocks at a Border Patrol helicopter, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing when one of the rocks damaged the rotor, the agency said.

Sharpton Joining Cindy Sheehan for Crawford Protest

(CNSNews.com) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton plans to join peace activist Cindy Sheehan for a prayer vigil on Sunday near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Sheehan began her vigil on the road leading to Bush's ranch on Aug. 6, vowing to stay through his month-long vacation unless he met with her a second time. She left last week to visit her 74-year-old mother, who had suffered a stroke, in Los Angeles but returned on Wednesday to "Camp Casey," which was named after her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed during April 2004 in Iraq. Supporters of the president's policy will hold a rally in Crawford on Saturday, and Sheehan plans to leave Texas at the end of August and embark on a bus tour ending in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24.

Bolton Accused of Causing Chaos Ahead of UN Summit

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Less than three weeks before more than 170 nations' leaders meet for a major world summit in New York, media around the world are reporting that the Bush administration's point man at the United Nations has thrown plans for the gathering into disarray.

Michael & Me — The movie

Good article by Larry Elder. This addresses Moore's previous lying piece of trash, Bowling for Columbine.

One interesting quote:

Respected historian Garry Wills, in a recent C-SPAN interview, called the individual-rights school flat-out wrong: "The idea that my gun protects me from my government is not in the Founders . . . it's just not there. . .

What about these, Garry?

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence." -- George Washington

"The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would surely shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did. Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors." -- James Madison

I guess the road to becoming a "respected historian" is to completely ignore the factual record. Academia is a degenerate mass that requires occasional excision.

RE: RE: Re: Pat Robertson

And that's the dumbest thing about what Robertson said. If we had any plans to go after Chavez before, we can't touch him now.

Does Pat Robertson Matter?

From Byron York:

A number of conservatives and Republicans have criticized televangelist Pat Robertson for suggesting that the U.S. government assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. "What an offense that this man was a serious candidate for the presidency," wrote NR's Richard Brookhiser, referring to Robertson's 1988 run for the Republican nomination, in which Robertson defeated eventual nominee George H. W. Bush in the Iowa caucuses. "He was our Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton."

The Stokes County Health Board

How the current Health Board is set up, they aren't accountable to anyone. The Health Board should serve at the pleasure of the Board of Commissioners, just like I do by being a member of the Planning Board. Reading that article makes it sound like that this current Health Board is some sort of entitled political establishment that answers to no one. Just my opinion... :-)

RE: Re: Pat Robertson

To be honest, maybe Robertson is guilty of saying out in the open what many people "in the know" with regard to Venezuela are saying privately... Hugo Chavez has been accused of aiding and abetting terror before... He's known to have exported terrorism throughout South and Central America. He's definitely trying to spread communism in those areas. He is using oil revenue (the Venezuelan government owns Citgo Petroleum) to fund violent groups, to prop up his regime, and to go after the US.

RE: Commissioners hold off removing Walker

What a zoo. A couple of comments:

The opinion offered by the UNC School of Government is just that: an opinion. We all have opinions. Each are just as good as the other. College professors have no shining light of authority, handed down from above. Furthermore, Leon doesn't appear to have offered the terms of the question to which the opinion was an answer. Questions can be couched in many ways. Lest we forget, Leon's profession is that of salesman. Obfuscation is a necessary part of his living.

Walker expressed sadness that the health board's autonomy "has been stripped due to the political agendas of certain people"

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. The health board is not supposed to be completely autonomous. The health board must be accountable to the taxpayers and that accountability is through the Board of Commissioners. The Stokes County Health Department only attained the level of autonomy it did because of the political agendas of Buster Robertson and Willis Overby. Their goal was patronage, plain and simple.

Walker said that he had missed a lot of health board meetings because his son was ill.

That, alone, is sufficient cause for his removal.

Kevin asked:

"Are you aware of any advantage to my sister from me sitting on the health board?"

You're missing the point, Kevin. If an advantage existed, then the whole purpose in avoiding conflict of interest has been missed. Simple ethics require you to at least recuse yourself from any direct or indirect issue dealing with your family. If you can't do that, then you can't effectively serve.

Full disclosure: Personally, I like Kevin. I've known him for a long time. I think he is a good guy and he is Marie's optometrist. But I think he and Jimmy are wrong on this.

I'm not sure who this Fredericka Cecile is, but she is obviously an idiot:

Cecile also stated that she believed there is "a conspiracy in this county to control every board and the way they do their meetings."

Gee, you think so, Fredericka? I wonder if you have a clue about how our system of government works, Fredericka? As the elected representatives of the people in the county, not only do the Commissioners have the right to control every board and the way they "do their meetings," they have the responsibility to do so. Where do you think we live, Fredericka, in Soviet Russia, where unappointed committees and other shadowy oligarchies control every waking moment of every citizen's life? Fredericka's ignorance could be excused, her stupidity is dangerous.

Most of the meeting appears to have degraded into "he said, she said." This is typical Stokes County politics. The little socialist corner gets its panties in a wad when anyone threatens their little Marxist paradise in the making. They call all their friends and neighbors and storm up to the government center, demanding to be heard. Everything after that is emotional, irrational, and content-free. It simply becomes a media circus.

Once again, as I have said here before, the only reasonable functions of the County Health Department are sanitation and inoculation. It has no business running free clinics or participating in any type or description of socialized medicine and it absolutely has no business competing with private enterprise.

Commissioners hold off removing Walker

This article is in today's Stokes News... It's in 3 parts... You can enlarge the image once opened.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

(Thanks to John Turpin for scanning this article for me.)

Spreading the manure

I'm butting in here to make a small point, and then bowing out. I have no intention of defending Robertson. As much as I may agree or disagree with him, I think it was a dumb thing to say. Not quite as dumb as the things Sheehan has said, but dumb never the less. But I digress...

That’s how I feel about Pat, except that he has his own very media outlet to enable his behavior.

You're right, there is a difference. Robertson has one media outlet to enable him, Sheehan has dozens. Robertson is a product of his own imagination with a media outlet watched or listened to by very few people. Sheehan is a product of the media with dozens of outlets around the world ready to record and repeat her every chirp, yelp, squeak, and digestive utterance.

Kitchen knife used to cut off man's ears: 2 charged with assault, malicious castration

By Sherry Youngquist
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL REPORTER

WALNUT COVE

A Pine Hall man is recovering from an attack early yesterday in which both of his ears were cut off and his penis slashed.

Re: Pat Robertson

Andy commented: I don't have a problem with Sheehan speaking out... My problem is what's actually coming out of her mouth, which I find quite nutty. I don't think she's all here mentally, and the media is enabling her behavior.

Insert ‘Robertson’ in place of ‘Sheehan’ in your above quote. That’s how I feel about Pat, except that he has his very own media outlet to enable his behavior.

To paraphrase my grandfather, Pat Robertson is like a manure spreader. Every time he opens his mouth, the **** flies.

I do think Robertson realized — after the fact, of course — that making the comments regarding Chavez was a mistake, though. After all, he initially denied the comments, then later apologized for making them. If Robertson is actually speaking his conscience, his convictions must not be as strong as his pride or as important as self-preservation.

Strother, you do know that you're quoting a communist official here... They believe all religion is one of the great problems facing humanity. They want people to worship the State (which is them), not God… Feel free to quote communists all you want if that's what your conscience tells you…

I also quoted Robertson. It’s my own little version of ‘fair and balanced’ reporting.

Seriously though, since we were discussing the issue, I thought it would interesting to provide a response from the regime that Robertson recommends removing via assassination. Rangel’s quote helps to illustrate the message that Robertson — maybe intentionally, and maybe not — sends to the rest of the world: some of America’s most powerful voices in organized religion/politics as well as their followers are quite hypocritical about this whole ‘fighting terrorism’ business.

And to be quite honest, religious fundamentalists are the very reason why we’re now enthralled in a war on terrorism. Religious fundamentalism can be very scary stuff. So can worshipping the State, as you mentioned. Sometimes blind, unquestioning patriotism closely resembles worshipping the State. That happens here in the US, too.

All the governments of the world can’t be modeled upon America’s version of democracy, but for some reason, we can’t seem to keep our noses out of other people’s business. But yes, I’ve come to learn that sometimes we feel that others’ business is our business. It’s just that sometimes I forget about our dependence on oil from countries such as Iraq and Venezuela… my bad.

Anyway, maybe we should be less concerned with nation building and spreading democracy to those who don’t want it and spend our time and money improving our own, here on our own soil.

Cracking Knuckles

From the Daily Ask SAM Column in the Winston-Salem Journal:

Q. Will cracking my knuckles cause arthritis later in life? - C.H.

A. "Depending on your point of view, knuckle-popping sounds disgusting or cool. There is no evidence that cracking your knuckles inflames the joints and leads to arthritis," according to www.mywebmd.com, a medical reference Web site.

"The cracking causes the bones to pull apart, forming a gas bubble and breaking the adhesive seal in the joint. Crack! About a quarter of the people in the U.S. crack their knuckles and might begin to lose their grip a little. Constant cracking can weaken the fingers."

Stokes killings suspect caught: Wanted in Pinnacle deaths, he's arrested in west Tennessee

By Dan Galindo
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL REPORTER

A man wanted in connection with a double homicide in Stokes County was caught yesterday in western Tennessee.

Just after 8 p.m. CDT, plainclothes officers went into a bar just west of Jackson, Tenn., and arrested Cobey Wade Lakemper without incident, said Lt. Don Holland of the Madison County Sheriff's Office.

From the Drudge Report Archives...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT FLASH XXXXX DECEMBER 7, 1997 23:56 PST XXXXX

GLOBAL WARMING ALERT: GORE BURNS 439,500 LBS OF FUEL TO ATTEND SUMMIT

"The most vulnerable part of the Earth's environment is the very thin layer
of air clinging near to the surface of the planet, that we are now so
carelessly filling with gaseous wastes that we are actually altering the
relationship between the Earth and the Sun - by trapping more solar
radiation under this growing blanket of pollution that envelops the entire
world," Vice President Gore told the U.N. Global Warming conference of 159
nations this morning in Koyto, Japan.

Drunk With Power, Spending Like Drunken Sailors

By Radley Balko

The Washington Post reports that in 1987, President Ronald Reagan vetoed a transportation bill passed by Congress because it had 157 "earmarks"— money set aside for Congress members' pet projects that would ostensibly be considered too wasteful to pass as laws on their own merit.

Who would Jesus assassinate?

From Marvin Olasky:

With liberal reporters since 9/11 frequently equating conservative Christians with Quran-thumping Muslims, WORLD has tried to delineate the real differences (see "Osama bin Ashcroft," April 27, 2002). For example, Islam initially expanded through the slaughter of opponents, but Christianity grew through the martyrdom of believers. Muslim extremists issued fatwas against their enemies, but the apostle Paul taught Christians in Rome, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink."

William Jefferson Clinton Free Mammogram

hoo-hoo dilly

This is my favorite question from Mike Adams:

8. The last time I saw a trans-gendered person at a UNCW diversity event, she (formerly he) said (when she was a he) that he was advised by his psychiatrist to move to a cabin in the mountains. The reason was that he (now a she) was so violent and dangerous that he (now she) might hurt someone. But when he became a she by cutting off his hoo-hoo dilly, she became less angry. Does the university support hoo-hoo dilly removal as a form of anger management?

Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital

By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for Lies" and "Enlist here and die for Halliburton."

Perversity and diversity at my little university

Another good one from Mike Adams. Warning, he does not preface his remarks with the obligatory complaint about the war in Iraq. I'm pretty sure, though, that taxpayer money is still being wasted here. Just my $0.02.

My favorite of his questions:

9. Have you ever considered putting a fence around UNCW and hanging up a sign that says “Welcome to the North Carolina State Zoo?”

Hillary Rodham-Clinton Special at KFC

The Left's Folly

Great column by George Will:

WASHINGTON -- Sad yet riveting, like a wreck by the side of the road, Cindy Sheehan, a plaything of her own sincerities and other peoples' opportunisms, has already been largely erased from the national memory by new waves of media fickleness in the service of the public's summer ennui. But before she becomes fully relegated to the role of opening act for more durable luminaries at anti-war rallies, prudent Democrats -- those political snail darters, the emblematic endangered species of American politics -- should consider the possibility that, although she was a burr under the president's saddle for several weeks, she is symptomatic of something that in 2008 could cause the Democratic Party a sixth loss in eight presidential elections. That something is a shrillness unlike anything heard, in living memory, from a major tendency within a major party.

Iraq is no Vietnam

By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Columnist

IRAQ WAR skeptics and critics have been invoking Vietnam almost from the day the fighting began. So Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was hardly breaking new ground when he joined the invokers on Sunday. ''We are locked into a bogged-down problem," he said on ABC's ''The Week," ''not . . . dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam."

Of All Gas Consumers, Bush May Be Biggest

By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill.

It's Immigration Stupid!

Some very good points made here. One point not made is that the First Amendment does not protect all seditious and violent speech. It is nonsensical to think that the protection of rights by the constitution extends to the destruction of those very protections.

Conservatives cause global warming and liberal press

From Ann Coulter:

In case you missed this week's top story, I half-agreed with something a New York Times editor wrote in a "Letter to the Editor" of his own paper. If nothing else, at least Bill Keller now knows how it feels to have to write an angry letter to the editors of the New York Times.

More baloney from Krugman

From Richard Baehr of The American Thinker:

Paul Krugman, tries to respond today to withering attacks on his column from last Friday in which he declared that a full statewide manual recount would have given Al Gore the victory in Florida in 2000. Somebody at the New York Times may have gotten concerned about how far from the truth Krugman was straying.

Divinely Naive

Interesting article by Paul Chesser:

RALEIGH -- Every day in the online journal Jewish World Review, publisher Binyamin Jolkovsky solicits prayers from readers for a friend who is ailing.

But if a recent study of the "medicinal power of prayer" is to be believed, then such pleadings aren't worth the trouble.

The L.A. Times Criticizes President Bush Again. What Else Is New?

By John Gibson

The L.A. Times was criticizing President Bush Tuesday in an unsigned editorial.

So what else is new John?

Well, I do think The L.A. Times is out of line for continuing to repeat the following tired and erroneous mantra of the anti-war crowd.

The Session’s End — Or Is It?

From John Hood's Daily Journal:

RALEIGH – The 2005 session of the North Carolina General Assembly appeared to wind down early Wednesday morning after an all-nighter, the passage of some key bills such as a welcome lobbying-reform measure, and a spirited lottery push that came up a little short.

But House Speaker Jim Black essentially said, “Hey, not so fast. We’re still working here.”

It’s the Truth that Counts: Paul Krugman’s outrageous Florida lie.

From Donald Luskin:

“This will be the subject of about a billion blog entries today. Did Krugman really think he could get away with this?” So wrote John Podhoretz on National Review Online’s The Corner on Friday, stunned by an outrageous lie in Paul Krugman’s New York Times column that day. America’s most dangerous liberal pundit had written,

Two different news media consortiums reviewed Florida’s ballots; both found that a full manual recount would have given the election to Mr. Gore.

Thursday Funnies

David Letterman... "Top Signs You Have A Bad Travel Agent": Gets you cheap airfare then asks, "You know how to fly a 737, right?"; The itinerary shows you crossing the Pacific Ocean on Amtrak; Reserves you a great package for seven days and two nights; Books you on something called "Dulta Airlines"; Looks at you funny after hearing there's a "South" America; "Rental car" turns out to be a donkey with cupholders; No matter what your destination, you have a layover in Afghanistan.

Jay Leno... The space shuttle discovery left California [last week]. It's been here since it landed [two] weeks ago. They say it will cost one million dollars to transport the shuttle back to Florida. A million dollars! So, apparently they are driving it back! ... Russia announced that due to a lack of animal feed they're feeding their cows confiscated marijuana. They have over 20 tons of it and they are feeding it to the cows. Do you think that's a good idea? It's only been a week and already some cows have moved up to crack. In fact, three of them knocked off a 7-Eleven in Leningrad. ... [President Clinton] is 59 years old. Hillary gave him a surprise birthday party. Well, actually, Bill was having a party—then Hillary walked in and said, "Surprise!" ... Eight cities in Texas are competing with each other to be the location for the George Bush Library. It's BYOB—bring your own books. ... President Bush woke up this morning, saw his shadow and now—six more weeks of vacation!