West Coast Students Renew Walkouts

LAS VEGAS — Students walked out at nearly two dozen schools Friday in a renewal of protests over immigration policies being debated in Congress.

Veterans finding the going rough on the campaign trail

By Stuart Rothenberg
Townhall.com

We’ve only just begun the primary season, but already there are strong signs that the Democrats’ strategy of recruiting veterans who served in Iraq is a bust.

Prayer Study: Humans Fail to Manipulate God

A team of scientists today ended a 10-year study on the so-called “power of prayer” by concluding that God cannot be manipulated by humans, not even by scientists with a $2.4 million research grant.

The scientists also noted that their work was “sabotaged by religious zealots” secretly praying for study subjects who were supposed to receive no prayer.

Scott Ott

US to test 700-tonne explosive

AFP

The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.

Few Details Emerge on Carroll's Release

Wearing a green Islamic head scarf, American reporter Jill Carroll walked into an Iraqi political party office Thursday, set free nearly three months after being kidnapped in an ambush that killed her translator.

"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said on Baghdad television, only weeks after she appeared weeping in a video put out by kidnappers who had threatened to kill her.

Mariam Fam

When illegal is right, what is wrong?

By Kathleen Parker
Townhall.com

There's nothing like the sight of 500,000 protesters on U.S. turf, demanding rights in Spanish while waving Mexican flags, to stir Americans from their siestas.

In Los Angeles, the iconic phrase may be "Si se puede," but in Muncie, it's "What the ... ?"

Suddenly, in the flash of a newscast, polite political debate about guest worker programs visually morphed into what seemed like a full-blown invasion.

Good T.R. quote on immigration...

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt

Spanish Media Organized Nationwide Mass Protests

(AP) LOS ANGELES The marching orders were clear: Carry American flags and pack the kids, pick up your trash and wear white for peace and for effect.

Many of the 500,000 people who crammed downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to protest legislation that would make criminals out of illegal immigrants learned where, when and even how to demonstrate from the Spanish-language media.

For English-speaking America, the mass protests in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities over the past few days have been surprising for their size and seeming spontaneity.

But they were organized, promoted or publicized for weeks by Spanish-language radio hosts and TV anchors as a demonstration of Hispanic pride and power.

Working... the French way?

"Thousands of French, mostly young, demonstrated in Paris this week, demanding the government withdraw a law that would allow French companies to fire workers under the age of 26 who have less than two years on the job. The demonstrators apparently believe that an employers should not have the right to dismiss anyone. As you know, The Factor is boycotting France because I believe President Chirac is anti-American and helped Saddam Hussein stay in power. France and the USA have drastically different world views. France is an entitlement state, with guaranteed wages, jobs, retirement, health benefits, five weeks vacation, and on and on. With life guarantees, there is little incentive for individuals to work hard and push creative boundaries. Thus the French economy is stagnant and unemployment among young people stands at a whopping 22%. To be totally honest, I don't give a hoot about the French economy. The intriguing question is - will the USA become like France? The far left here loves the entitlement culture. Europe has embraced that system, the USA has not, and that angers radical left Americans. They want no uncertainty, they want security. Of course, someone has to pay for that security, and France can't. The French system will collapse, just wait and see. That should be a lesson for us all."

Bill O'Reilly

Corzine the Canary

New Jersey's new governor promised to cut taxes and is already proposing to raise them.

OpinionJournal.com

Jon Corzine, New Jersey's new Governor, isn't the first politician not to follow through on a campaign promise. But rarely is such dishonesty later presented as a virtue. The question for voters to contemplate is whether this is also an indication of what to expect if Democrats gain control of Congress in November.

Socialists Reap What They've Sewn in France...

Ireland Online

More than one million demonstrators poured onto France’s streets, and strikers shut down the Eiffel Tower and disrupted transport services in the largest nationwide protests so far against a new law that will make it easier to fire young people.

Wednesday Funnies... :-)

David Letterman: "Top Signs You're On A Lame Spring Break": Your hotel room offers a breathtaking view of the Persian Gulf; The package is 5 days, 2 nights; Closest thing you get to a sunburn is a rash from the hotel linens; Limbo stick looks an awful lot like a human femur; Difference between the presidential suite and a regular room? Free Q-Tips; Ask where to take a swim, the concierge suggests mall fountain; The bed in your room is not a water bed but it's awfully damp; Conga line ends at Scientology Center.

Jay Leno: We are now down to the Final Four. Not college basketball, the number of people who still think President Bush is doing a good job. ... Dick Cheney is so desperate to get his 18% approval rating up that He is now thinking of shooting an IRS agent. ... A leak in the Alaskan Pipeline last week spilled 265,000 gallons of crude oil into the Arctic tundra. British Petroleum, the company that runs the oil operation, said that the spill was too small to be detected by their maintenance equipment, but just large enough to rise the price of gas fifteen cents a gallon this week. ... Wal-Mart is now hiring 150,000 people to work in their stores in China. Illegal immigrants thought the Rio Grande was tough to swim across. Wait until they try the Pacific Ocean. ... Scientists believe they may have located the actual Noah's Ark from the Bible in Eastern Turkey. Of course, Noah was the biblical figure said to have built the giant vessel to try and save people and animals from a great flood—or as FEMA would call him, "a showoff."

Hallmark Card Rejects... :-)

CHRISTMAS CARD

Front: "Spread some holiday cheer." Inside: "Or drink alone. Who am I to judge?"

BIRTHDAY CARDS

Front: "My ex-girlfriend had a cat named Love because she said that's what it gave her." Inside: "So I called it Bloody Forearms. Hope no one gets you a cat for your birthday."

Front: "I wanted to give you a body piercing for your birthday." Inside: "But I didn't think I could get you drunk enough to where you wouldn't feel the stapler!"

WEDDING AND ENGAGEMENT CARDS

Front: "Did I hear wedding bells?" Inside: "Or was that the natural disaster siren? Sometimes I get them confused. Whatever it was, it was loud. Congratulations ... or take cover!"

Front: "Marriage is a bond that is unbreakable except by two-thirds of the population." Inside: "But it's you top-third couples that give the rest of us hope."

MOTHER'S DAY CARD

Front: "When I think of you, Mom, I swell with pride." Inside: "At least I hope it's pride. Otherwise, I'm pregnant again."

RE: Lobbyist Abramoff gets 70 months

Disgraced former US lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been jailed for nearly six years for conspiracy and fraud. Abramoff -— who had close links to top Republicans and Democrats - had pleaded guilty to the charges...

There, I fixed that for the BBC. They should pay me to copyread their stuff for them.

Nope, no bias whatsoever at the good ol' BBC.

Things don't suck half as bad now for the pubbies as they will if they pass any of the immigration bills floating around the Senate. They appear to be determined to fall for the Democrats' sucker bait once again. This is how CSPAN's rendition of Dumb and Dumber would be if they decided to go into the satire business.

Lobbyist Abramoff gets 70 months

Meanwhile, things continue to really suck for the Republican Party.

From BBC News:

Disgraced former US lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been jailed for nearly six years for conspiracy and fraud. Abramoff — who had close links to top Republicans — had pleaded guilty to the charges... An ongoing federal inquiry is said to be focusing on his dealings with up to 20 politicians in Congress.

Marchers say gringos, not illegals, have to go

While debates about guest-worker programs for illegal aliens take place in the corridors of power, in the streets of America's big cities no amnesty is being offered by activists calling for the expulsion of most U.S. citizens from their own country.

While politicians debate the fate of some 12 million people residing in the U.S. illegally, the Mexica Movement, one of the organizers of the mass protest in Los Angeles this week, has already decided it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent."

The truth is that most Mexicans are no more indigenous than any North American of Northern European descent. The actual, unmixed descendants of the so-called "indigenous" people of Central and North America make up a very small minority of Mexico's population. In truth, there are no "indigenous" people in the Americas, at least according to most archaeologists. The bottom line is that the whole discussion of who got here first is pretty silly and pointless.

In any case, the agenda of the neo-Jacobins moves ahead according to plan. The act of some of these lunatics calling themselves "America's Palestinians" is music to the neo-cons' ears.

Natural Born Regulators

If the only movies you had ever seen were Natural Born Killers and Sin City, you might conclude that all movies contain excessive violence. But would that really be a fair assessment of all movies? Of course not. But that’s essentially what’s going on with video games in America today. A few violent titles are being used to indict an entire industry.

In particular, clips from games like Grand Theft Auto and 25 to Life are often shown on TV or during press conferences when critics are advocating government regulation of the video-game industry. In fact, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if those two games are mentioned during Wednesday’s hearing on the regulation of violent video games in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Adam Thierer

The nanny state marches on.

Britain’s Sham Unemployment Drop

The British election campaign opened with the sudden appearance everywhere of advertisements extolling the Labour Government’s economic record. The unemployment rate, say the ads, is the lowest in 29 years.

The claim is true, in a sense, but it is a statistical sleight of hand. If to the numbers of the unemployed you add the numbers of those not working due to (alleged) chronic sickness, you get more or less the same figure for the last 20 years: about 3 million. What has changed is only the ratio of unemployed to sick.

Theodore Dalrymple

Rethinking the drug war

Getting high can be bad. Putting people in prison for it is worse. And doing the latter doesn't stop the former.

I was once among the majority who believe that drug use must be illegal. But then I noticed that when vice laws conflict with the law of supply and demand, the conflict is ugly, and the law of supply and demand generally wins.

The drug war costs taxpayers about $40 billion. "Up to three quarters of our budget can somehow be traced back to fighting this war on drugs," said Jerry Oliver, then chief of police in Detroit, told me. Yet the drugs are as available as ever.

John Stossel

I like Stossel more and more these days. He is not afraid to take on "third rail" topics and approach them with reason and intelligence.

Guests or gate crashers? Part II

Bogus arguments are a tip-off that you wouldn't buy the real reasons for what someone is doing. Phony arguments and phony words are the norm in discussions of immigration policy.

It starts with a refusal to call illegal aliens "illegal aliens" and ends with asking for "guest worker" status for people who are not guests but gate crashers. As for the substantive arguments, they are as phony as the verbal evasions.

Thomas Sowell

More from Dr. Sowell. This paragraph says it all with regard to the immigration debate:

For too long, we have bought the argument that being unfortunate entitles you to break the law. The consequence has been disastrous, whether the people allowed to get away with breaking the law are Americans or foreigners.

Guests or gate crashers

Immigration is yet another issue which we seem unable to discuss rationally -- in part because words have been twisted beyond recognition in political rhetoric.

We can't even call illegal immigrants "illegal immigrants." The politically correct evasion is "undocumented workers."

Do American citizens go around carrying documents with them when they work or apply for work? Most Americans are undocumented workers but they are not illegal immigrants. There is a difference.

The Bush administration is pushing a program to legalize "guest workers." But what is a guest? Someone you have invited. People who force their way into your home without your permission are called gate crashers.

Thomas Sowell

The great Dr. Sowell takes Bush (and others) to task for their demagoguery on immigration.

RE: Clinton calls Blair’s government the ’envy’ of the United States

Let's see, massive unemployment, crippling taxes, a huge unassimilated and openly hostile Muslim population, a nationalized medical system that regularly sees people dying while waiting for procedures that would be deemed minor in this country. Well, what's not to envy?

As usual, Slick is using a lot of words to say nothing and wasting oxygen that could benefit something useful.

Whose country is this?

By Cal Thomas
Townhall.com

Observing the pro-immigration demonstrations in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere in recent days, I wondered: whose country is this? Why are many illegal aliens who broke our laws to get here and who continue to break our laws to stay here, demanding that the United States not only allow them to remain, but support them with the taxes of law-abiding citizens? Have we gone mad?

Wife of Senator Robert C. Byrd Dies

Erma and Sen. Robert C. Byrd were married for almost 69 years.

West Virginia Media

West Virginia is mourning the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd's wife, Erma Ora James Byrd, who died just before 8 p.m. Sen. Byrd and family members were with her when she died.

Lyn Nofziger, R.I.P.

By Jon Thurber
Los Angeles Times

Lyn Nofziger, the irascible and outspoken aide who served Ronald Reagan most prominently as communications director during his two terms as California governor, died Monday. He was 81.

Mr. Nofziger died at his home in Falls Church, Va., family members said. For the past year, he had been battling kidney cancer that spread throughout his body. Until his health took a turn for the worse late last year, Mr. Nofziger was working as a political consultant and contributing to his blog Lynnofziger.com.

Mr. Nofziger, who graduated from San Jose State University's journalism program in 1950, left his post as Washington correspondent for Copley News Service to join the Reagan campaign for governor during the summer of 1965 -- and advised him through the rest of his political career.

``He understood the press and how to weed out the important things with the press,'' said Stu Spencer, a former campaign manager of Reagan's. ``He was a very important cog in the original Reagan effort.''

You'll Get Your Kicks on, er, I-40

By Peter Hannaford
The American Spectator

Today's Interstate Highway System -- all 42,793 miles of it -- was a gleam in Congress's collective eye in 1938 when it called on the government to study the feasibility of a network of six national toll roads.

The toll roads wouldn't work, the feds concluded. They advocated a non-toll system of 26,700 miles. Nothing happened. In 1944, Congress called for the designation of a national system of up to 40,000 miles. Nothing happened. In 1947, the highway bureaucrats selected the first 37,700 miles for the system. Other than that, nothing happened. In 1952, Congress authorized a token amount.

In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower decided enough was enough. He pushed Congress to pass a new Federal-Aid Highway Act, calling for the federal government to pay for 90 percent of the system out of its gasoline and other motor vehicle user taxes. He insisted it be on a pay-as-you-go basis so the system would not add to federal deficits. Now, 50 years and $125 billion later, we have a nation laced with what is formally called the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

Clinton calls Blair’s government the ’envy’ of the United States

LONDON - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday that Britain’s economy, environmental policy and attempts at modernization were envied in the United States, where comparable policies under President George W. Bush were lacking.

Why doesn't Clinton do us a favor and move over there along with his wife...

For first time, Palestinians fire Katyusha rocket from Gaza

For the first time, Palestinians fired a 122mm Katyusha rocket, a much longer-range projectile than the Qassam, from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the IDF confirmed Tuesday night.

The Katyusha was fired Tuesday morning. It caused no injuries or damage.

Israel Channel 10 Television said the rocket was apparently fired by the Islamic Jihad, which had vowed to try to disrupt the Tuesday general election.

Amos Harel

More demonstration of how wonderfully democracy is working in the Middle East.

Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger Dies

Caspar Weinberger, the former Secretary of Defense for Ronald Reagan, has died. He was 88.

Forbes magazine confirmed Weinberger's death to FOX News. Weinberger served as publisher chairman of the magazine and as a columnist there since 1988.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who worked under Weinberger at the Defense Department, said Tuesday he was saddened to learn of his passing.

"Cap Weinberger was an indefatigable fighter for peace through strength. He served his nation in war and peace in so many ways. For me, he will always be the leader, standing alongside President Ronald Reagan, who restored pride in the military, got the resources to make the all volunteer force the best in the world and rebuilt the American Armed Forces, helping to persuade the Soviet Union that it was time to end the Cold War," said Powell.

God bless and God speed, Cap. You helped Reagan save America.

Reagan's people are going fast. Lyn Nofziger died yesterday.

Hillary too sexy to win back the White House, screen siren says

Actor Sharon Stone has warned Hillary Rodham Clinton to stay out of the 2008 US presidential race, saying the New York senator and former first lady is too sexy to win back the keys to the White House.

Stone, 48, who appears naked in a soon-to-be-released sequel to the provocative 1992 sex thriller Basic Instinct, said Senator Clinton had an intimidating sexuality that would cost her votes.

"I think Hillary Clinton is fantastic, but I think it is too soon for her to run (for president)," Stone said in the latest edition of Hollywood Life magazine.

David Nason

Oh yeah, Hollyweird has plenty to offer in the way of political dialog. This dimwit probably doesn't even realize she has gushed forth a sublime satire of herself.

White House Chief of Staff Andy Card Resigns

White House chief of staff Andrew Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Josh Bolten, President Bush announced Tuesday.

"After five-and-a-half years, he thought it might be time to return to private life and this past weekend, I accepted Andy's resignation," Bush said. "Andy Card has served me and our country in historic times," including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, economic ups and downs and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush said.

Card has also made great legislative achievements on issues such as education and Medicare, and he helped confirm two Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts.

Liza Porteus

Step one in the Fred Barnes plan to rehabilitate Bush. They should have just appointed Barnes as chief of staff since he seems to be calling the shots anyway. It would be a mere formality.

FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics

This is good news... :-)

WASHINGTON

The Federal Election Commission decided Monday that the nation's new campaign finance law will not apply to most political activity on the Internet.

In a 6-0 vote, the commission decided to regulate only paid political ads placed on another person's Web site.

Afghan Christian Convert Seeks Asylum

An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity has appealed for asylum in another country, the United Nations said Monday after hundreds of Muslims marched against a court's decision to dismiss his case.

Afghan officials did not say whether Abdul Rahman had been released after the case against him was dismissed Sunday, but the U.N. statement came amid unconfirmed reports that he was being freed.

"We do understand that he will be released," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. "We're pleased by that."

Earlier Monday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting "Death to Christians!" marched through the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest the court's decision to toss out the case.

Amir Shah

Maybe Bush can invite a few of these clerics and students to his White House Ramadan gathering with Laura and the twins this year.

RE: Who's Steve's President???

He left office in January of 1989.

Remembering the Gipper

"In the end, it all comes down to leadership. That is what this country is looking for now. It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile because they might just wind up lowering our flag."

Ronald Reagan

Spring break at Wal-Mart

BY MARC HANSEN
DES MOINES REGISTER

Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.

Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.

Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.

Who's Steve's President???

Andy's President picks another winner.

And who's your president??? :-)

John Kerry Hates Celery!

MARCH 27--In the spirit of bipartisanship, The Smoking Gun today extends our review of political tour riders across the aisle to examine Senator John Kerry, whose list of demands (and that of his wife) makes Sprite-lovin' Vice President Dick Cheney look like a travelin' rube.

Rainbow mutations

What does the shape of a Minneapolis stripper's naked bottom have in common with a landmark of English finance? And how is it possible that the color of the roadside prostitutes in Italy can harbor any implications for the ability of a New York woman to stay home with her children? The point of commonality, as it happens, is historical patterns of migration.

In 1990, Umberto Eco wrote an article titled "Migrazioni," which was published in L'Espresso. In that essay, he presciently noted that what Europe was undergoing at that time was not a phenomenon of immigration, but of migration. The difference is significant and one of degree – an individual can immigrate or emigrate, but only a people migrate.

Vox Day

The enemies of free speech are on the march--Part 3

Enjoy this website while you can. The enemies of free speech — ever ready to shut up anyone with whom they disagree — are out to terminate free-swinging commentary encouraged by this and other web pages.

The Federal Election Commission has been grappling with the issue as to whether and how free political speech on the Internet should be "regulated [read muzzled]."

Wes Vernon

Nope, no jackboots here. Nothing to see. Move on.

Add this to the list of tyrannies we've suffered in the interest of furthering George's Big Adventure in the Middle East:

President Bush signed the bill in the dark of night, making it clear that he didn't like it, but confident the courts would throw it out. He should have known better. Why did he think the Senate liberals were unconstitutionally filibustering his court nominees? He must have known the courts are filled with political hacks who interpret the Constitution according to their socialist precepts. The conventional wisdom is Mr. Bush did not want to get the volatile McCain riled up again just when he needed the senator's backing for the Iraq war. The Supreme Court later rubber-stamped the McCain-Feingold Law.

Dangerous Holes in Border Security

The Bush Administration whines that it can't (i.e., won't) do anything to implement border security unless its guest-worker/amnesty proposal is part of the legislative package. When is our government going to protect us from the crime, the drugs, the smuggling racket, destruction of property, the endangerment to U.S. residents along our border and our undermanned Border Patrol?

In charge of protecting Americans against this war is 36-year-old Julie Myers, to whom President Bush gave a recess appointment after her Senate confirmation bogged down because of her total lack of law-enforcement experience. Her qualifications are her connections: she is the niece of former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers and the wife of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's chief of staff.

Phyllis Schlafly

Andy's President picks another winner. Maybe he'll appoint his barber as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Trump in '08 & Pat Jr... :-)

Who would have thought that when the BP was started, we would have Strother leading the "Trump in '08" committee and Steve becoming Pat Buchanan, Jr... Ha! Gotta luv it!!! :-)

Down, down goes Black, into his personal Inferno

By Paul O'Connor
Winston-Salem Journal

RALEIGH - At times during the past six months, House Speaker Jim Black has probably felt like the protagonist in the epic poem Inferno. As weeks have passed, Black has steadily descended deeper into his personal, political hell, the weight of each new revelation of wrongdoing increasing his ordeal.

Blue Ridge Parkway's money woes stress ability to operate

THE ROANOKE TIMES

ROANOKE, Va.

The maintenance backlog of more than $200 million is bothersome. Running the Blue Ridge Parkway with a work force that's 20 percent understaffed is challenging.

But this year has brought new trials. The park is without a dedicated landscape architect for the first time.

And it had to go begging for money to print maps.

Mourners honor Mount Airy soldier

Anton Hiett stood up for beliefs, father says

By Sherry Youngquist
Winston-Salem Journal

SALISBURY

As family members gathered on a hilltop in Salisbury National Cemetery to bury Sgt. Anton Hiett, they told mourners to remember the lesson of Hiett's life: Stand up for something you believe in.

President Dubya: An Epic Flop

(George W.) is exactly the vapid frat-boy, born into privilege that his detractors have portrayed. With his pretty, two-dimensional, schoolteacher wife and empty-headed daughters, he could be the yup down the block, mindlessly sliding through life on the proceeds of Mom and Dad's good fortune.

Right on, Steve.

Our current president — George W. Bush, an epic flop of both an entrepreneurial and political measure — has a life that is an American story of failure. Luckily for Dubya, his family was rich, connected, and successful enough to help him achieve more than his shortcomings would have naturally allowed. And currently this man is the The President of the United States of America!

Now for the fantasy segment of my post; please allow me to digress way off topic here… Just go with it; let's have a little fun with the idea...

This all brings my mind back to my only half-jesting recommendation I made a few days ago of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in 2008. Yep, that’s how crazy American politics has become, but at this point in history and American culture, someone like The Donald could actually win a spot in the White House in 2008 and would probably do a damn good job. Contrasted with Dubya, Trump’s life is an American story of success, not failure.

Okay, so maybe you don’t think that an actually successful businessman and a unique, comprehensively known, global personality like The Donald would clean up at the ballot box, regardless of party affiliation. Well, sans previous political experience, is The Donald’s life really all that different to the average American as Ronald Reagan’s pre-presidential life? Think about it.

Few fully trust our Federal government or our two main political parties anymore (and rightfully so). On that note, if things continue the same for the Republicans, anyone who cares about seeing an R next to the name of the next President would welcome an outsider like Trump. Otherwise, I think they’re pretty worried about 2008’s Pubbie prospects.

The only other presidential candidate that could trump Trump in 2008 would be Oprah herself. That won’t happen and few Americans would really want that to happen — she’d have to stop filming ‘Oprah,’ wouldn’t she? ;)

In 2008, I’d prefer to bet on Trump. Go, The Donald, Go! ;)

RE: Bush Doctrine

The American doctrine of preemptively striking an enemy when it becomes clear they will do us harm at the first opportunity is not new. It was just forgotten during 12 years of Bush, senior and Bubba Clinton turning a blind eye to the threat. And that doctrine is not the Bush Doctrine, no matter how many entries the neo-cons or their surrogates put in wikipedia.

The Bush Doctrine asserts that we can forcibly remove the existing government of a country that we have identified as a threat and replace it with an American-style democracy. We have attempted it twice, with mixed success in Afghanistan and with the outcome still in question in Iraq. We are considering it openly (yes, openly) as a solution to the strategic nuclear threat in Iran.

The attempt to hide behind a facade of preemptive security is a political whitewash to make this insane doctrine more palatable to the American people. The fact is that the neo-cons are actually neo-Jacobins. The Bush Doctrine is almost indistinguishable from the Brezhnev Doctrine when you replace the phrasing regarding socialism and communism with American democracy and capitalism. Indeed, when coupled with the fact that the democracy Bush seeks to export is simply American socialism, the distinction becomes even more blurred.

At first glance, the Bush Administration's borders and ports policy seems schizophrenic when examined in the context of adventurism abroad. It seems counterintuitive that we would be invading sovereign states in Mesopotamia while allowing an invasion here at home. However, when seen in the context of neo-Jacobin policy, it makes perfect sense. It is not an invasion, it is an absorption. As the demarcation of nation states that is our Southern border becomes more blurred by the traffic across it, so does the distinction of separate North American entities. Eventually Mexico will lose its identity and its states will simply become part of the United States. The Bush Doctrine will have been accomplished without firing a shot. Well, without firing many shots.

The left's bug-eyed hate Bush opposition has done nothing but strengthen the neo-Jacobins. With useful idiots like Michael Moore and most of the Hollywood elites shrilly screeching about stealing oil and enslaving Muslims, Americans like Andy who seek to remain "rational" form a bulwark of support for the neo-Jacobins' agenda. Bush purrs about security and the GOP faithful preach the gospel of the Bush Doctrine without even remembering it would have been anathema to them twenty short years ago. Bush tells them that we're fighting terror in Iraq and Afghanistan so we don't have to fight it in our streets. But the bushbots and security Moms never stop to question that. If we had a modicum of security, even half the level of the 1970s and 1980s, and a sane border policy, the idea of fighting Muslim terrorists in our streets would have been relegated to the realm of escapist fantasy. Not one of Bush's lemmings stop to consider that the World Trade Center is no longer standing because the Bush-Clinton-Bush triumvirate let the terrorists in.

I believe Bush is little more than the sock puppet he appears to be. If one examines his history, big ideas like this are quite obviously beyond him. He is exactly the vapid frat-boy, born into privilege that his detractors have portrayed. With his pretty, two-dimensional, schoolteacher wife and empty-headed daughters, he could be the yup down the block, mindlessly sliding through life on the proceeds of Mom and Dad's good fortune. Andy wanted to make much of me saying that Bush is evil, but he missed what I actually said. I said the alternative to believing Bush to be merely stupid or insane is to believe that he is evil. I believe his evil is that same little evil committed by his followers. Without a firm ideological footing, they have fallen victim to the neo-cons and their destructive agenda. When, like that of the historical Jacobins, that agenda fails or leads to disaster, Bush and his lemmings will be left shaking their heads and wondering what happened.

Bush Doctrine

From Wikipedia:

The Bush Doctrine refers to the set of revised foreign policies adopted by the President of the United States George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In an address to the United States Congress after the attacks, President Bush declared that the U.S. would "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them," a statement that was followed by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Subsequently, the Bush Doctrine has come to be identified with a policy that permits pre-emptive war against potential aggressors before they are capable of mounting attacks against the United States, a view that has been used in part as a rationale for the 2003 Iraq War. The Bush Doctrine is a marked departure from the policies of deterrence that generally characterized American foreign policy during the Cold War and brief period between the collapse of the Soviet Union and 9/11, and can also be contrasted with the Kirkpatrick Doctrine of supporting stable right-wing dictatorships that was influential during the Administration of Ronald Reagan.

Brezhnev Doctrine

"When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries."

Leonid Brezhnev

I still don't see Steve's viewpoint that Bush is another Brezhnev and the "Bush Doctrine" is another "Brezhnev Doctrine."

Is yours truly a "bushbot"??? :-)

Now that's a darn shame. The pods got to Andy and now he's a bushbot.

Do a Google search on the Brezhnev Doctrine and on neo-Jacobins, Andy. If you haven't been completely taken over by the GOP pod-people, you might find what comes up to be of some interest.

Let me get this straight, just because I don't rank Bush in the "evil" category with the likes of Stalin, Hitler, & Pol Pot (just to name a few), I am somehow a "Bushbot" and on the verge of being taken over by "GOP pod-people." Come on, Steve, stop being irrational. :-)

Vandals deface Mass. sign honoring soldier

This is pretty despicable...

CHESHIRE, Mass. (AP) — The family of a Green Beret who was one of the nation's first casualties in the war on terror in Afghanistan was outraged after discovering vandals had defaced a sign honoring the soldier with anti-war graffiti.

Are the Neocons Losing It?

From (don't laugh) AntiWar.com by Patrick J. Buchanan:

While President Bush appears serenely confident about Iraq, the same cannot be said of the War Party propagandists who were plotting this conflict when Dubya was still a rookie governor of Texas. William Kristol of The Weekly Standard now demands the firing of Donald Rumsfeld. William F. Buckley, whose National Review branded the antiwar Right "unpatriotic conservatives" who "hate" America, now calls upon Bush for an "acknowledgement of defeat." Richard Perle says the administration "got the war right and the aftermath wrong." Self-described "humiliated pundit" Andrew Sullivan confesses to "a sense of shame and sorrow." Michael Ledeen says of Bush's war, "Wrong war, wrong time, wrong way, wrong place." Frank ("The End of History") Fukuyama concedes that "Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for jihadists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at."
But it is a March 20 essay in The Wall Street Journal that suggests the neocons may be coming unhinged. Written by Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes, the piece urges Bush to begin the "rejuvenation of his presidency by shocking the media and political community with a sweeping overhaul of his administration."
The purge Barnes recommends would have caused Stalin to recoil.
Barnes calls on Bush to fire press secretary Scott McClellan, chief of staff Andy Card, political adviser Karl Rove, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Treasury Secretary John Snow – and Vice President Richard Cheney.
"The trickiest issue is how to handle Karl Rove," says Barnes.

RE: BP Poll Question: Is Bush evil???

Other than appealing to the kook fringe on both ends of the political spectrum, the rest of us rational people just roll our eyes in bewilderment... Soviet-style imperialism???

Now that's a darn shame. The pods got to Andy and now he's a bushbot.

Do a Google search on the Brezhnev Doctrine and on neo-Jacobins, Andy. If you haven't been completely taken over by the GOP pod-people, you might find what comes up to be of some interest.

Buck Owens, R.I.P.

LOS ANGELES — Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

My family always watched "Hee Haw" on Saturday nights at 7:00... I loved his red, white, & blue guitar.

RE: Afghan president intervenes in case of Christian convert

It will be interesting to see how this turns out because while it is true that the Afghan constitution is partly based on Sharia law, it is also true that the same constitution grants Afghans religious freedom.

BP Poll Question: Is Bush evil???

Or would you rather believe that Bush is actually not the simpleton puppet of the neo-cons he appears to be, but is genuinely evil? He has done genuinely evil things.

Michael Moore has somehow invaded your body... :-)

He has contributed more to the destruction of the constitutional republic than any President since Roosevelt, maybe since Lincoln. He has just about single-handedly wiped out the Reagan revolution. He stomps around, babbling platitudes while we are invaded by an army of people who don't all bear us good will, and all so his pals can hire cheap labor.

Let's be rational here... :-)

Worst of all, he has embarked the U.S. on a course that puts us in the way of Soviet-style imperialism and adventurism. This is real evil, much more so than Bubba Clinton's hillbilly Mafia tactics.

Other than appealing to the kook fringe on both ends of the political spectrum, the rest of us rational people just roll our eyes in bewilderment... Soviet-style imperialism??? Come on, Steve... :-)

Afghan president intervenes in case of Christian convert

President Hamid Karzai has personally intervened in the case of an Afghan man facing execution for converting to Christianity, a top official said, amid fierce criticism in the West.

Karzai was consulting with various government organisations to resolve the matter as soon as possible, the senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

"The president is personally working to resolve it peacefully. There is a way out of it," he said. "I believe it'll take one or two days."

Rahman was arrested under Islamic Sharia law about two weeks ago after his parents went to the authorities, reportedly following a family dispute.

Sharia law, on which the Afghan constitution is partly based, rules that a Muslim who converts from Islam should be put to death.

I'm sure this is a comfort to all the families whose sons and daughters and brothers and sisters have died to protect Afghanistan's right to execute Christians under sharia.

RE: Bush & Immigration...

Come on, Steve... We don't need comments like that either.

I just call them as I see them, Andy. With Bush wandering around different venues, alternately smirking and barking, but in both cases saying the same stupid things over and over again, the choices are that he's either autistic or he's certifiably nuts. The latter scares me, the former not so much. Take your pick.

Or would you rather believe that Bush is actually not the simpleton puppet of the neo-cons he appears to be, but is genuinely evil? He has done genuinely evil things. He has contributed more to the destruction of the constitutional republic than any President since Roosevelt, maybe since Lincoln. He has just about single-handedly wiped out the Reagan revolution. He stomps around, babbling platitudes while we are invaded by an army of people who don't all bear us good will, and all so his pals can hire cheap labor. Worst of all, he has embarked the U.S. on a course that puts us in the way of Soviet-style imperialism and adventurism. This is real evil, much more so than Bubba Clinton's hillbilly Mafia tactics.

When I call him stupid, I guess I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Bush & Immigration...

Anticipating a turbulent debate over immigration, President Bush urged Congress yesterday to tone down the increasingly sharp and divisive rhetoric over the issue.

Bush knows that he has a losing hand on this issue... When a person is asking for the debate to be "tone down" and civil, then that person is practically saying, "Look, I know I'm on the wrong side of this issue, but let's keep the debate to the bare bones. That way, the less the people know, the better off I'll be..." I say let the debate begin!!! :-)

Steve said: "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm beginning to suspect Bush might actually be somewhat retarded."

Come on, Steve... We don't need comments like that either.

Civil war is nothing new

Another brilliant column by Dr. Charles Krauthammer:

WASHINGTON -- Today's big debate over Iraq seems to be: Is there or is there not a civil war? Yes, say the defeatists, citing former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a man with an ax to grind against the current (elected) government that excluded him.

No, not really, not yet, not quite, say U.S. officials and commanders, as well as Iraq's president, also hardly the most neutral of observers.

The children who never leave home

UNION-TRIBUNE

I have to wonder, “Whatever happened to good ol' fashioned shame?”

It used to be that a person in his 20s and 30s who was out of school and into the job market and still living with his parents was too humiliated to show his face in the light of day.

Yet, these days, a lot of stay-at-home kids feel completely at ease with the experience. Psychologists, sociologists and other experts say it has become socially acceptable to be a young adult and still live at home.

RE: Bush, Frist differ over immigration

"If you are doing a job that Americans won't do, you're welcome here for a period of time to do that job."

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm beginning to suspect Bush might actually be somewhat retarded.

...but his focus is on the main concern expressed by the social conservatives - national security.

Yet Bush has nothing on Bill Frist in the public moron department. Please, someone explain to me how being concerned about national security makes one a social conservative.

"When we discuss this debate, it must be done in a civil way,"

This one is pretty opaque to me, but I suspect it might be Bush's version of, "Can't we all just get along?"

"It must be done in a way that brings dignity to the process. It must be done in a way that doesn't pit people against another."

Ok, I have this one. Translation: "Don't you dare use any logic or reason on me, because I can't handle it and I'll embarrass myself. And you should just agree with me anyway. I'm the President, don't you know?"

Bush, Frist differ over immigration

Dubya just can't pick 'em to win with his former fans, can he? His advisors are sleeping on the job, man.

Entertainingly written one from the AP:

WASHINGTON — Anticipating a turbulent debate over immigration, President Bush urged Congress yesterday to tone down the increasingly sharp and divisive rhetoric over the issue. The Senate will take up immigration next week - and Bush and Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate majority leader, are starting out with different ideas about the best way to deal with about 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. Bush wants Congress to create a program to allow foreigners to gain legal status for a set amount of time to do specific jobs. When the time is up, they would be required to return home without an automatic path to citizenship. He said yesterday that his message is: "If you are doing a job that Americans won't do, you're welcome here for a period of time to do that job."

This is written for an American readership, right? Like, everybody knows this stuff:

Immigration is a difficult issue for the country, and Republicans in particular. It splits two main GOP constituent groups - businesses and social conservatives. Bush is working hand-in-hand with employers who want cheap labor to clean hotel rooms, pick crops and do other tasks that they say keep their businesses competitive. Frist says he understands those economic issues, but his focus is on the main concern expressed by the social conservatives - national security.

..and here's this. Does anybody speak Dubya? If so, please decode.

The president's spokesman would not say whether Bush was referring to such comments or the filibuster threat when he called for a "serious debate" that respects people of all backgrounds. "When we discuss this debate, it must be done in a civil way," Bush said after he, Vice President Dick Cheney and top strategist Karl Rove met with groups who are allied with him in the debate. "It must be done in a way that brings dignity to the process. It must be done in a way that doesn't pit people against another."

State Bans Abstinence Program

Rhode Island education officials have banned from public schools a federally funded abstinence program that civil rights advocates said embraced sexist stereotypes and included a voluntary student health survey that violated privacy laws.

Lawyers at the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union first complained last year that a now-abandoned textbook used by Heritage of Rhode Island taught students that girls should wear clothing that doesn't invite "lustful thoughts" from boys. The book described men as "strong" and "courageous" while women were called "caring."

The ACLU protects the right of government-run schools to censor all but the officially sanctioned libertine view. We can always count on the ACLU to spring into action when there is a danger that government-run schools will be used for something other than indoctrination.

Role Reversal

David Gregory finds out what it’s like to be Scott McClellan

By Tim Graham
National Review Online

The third anniversary of the war for a free Iraq occasioned a wrong turn for the media. On Tuesday, NBC’s Today planned to discuss media coverage of the war — certainly an underexplored angle — with Laura Ingraham and James Carville. NBC’s question: "Is American getting a fair picture of what’s actually happening in Iraq?" Ingraham came out of the blocks with fire, doing something no conservative does who wants to be invited on TV ever again. She went straight at her hosts...

Contributors tell board of Black's cash requests

Decker received money, but colleague did not

By David Rice
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK

As Jim Black, a Democrat, struggled to remain House speaker in early 2003 - in a chamber with a 61-59 Republican majority - he asked supporters to make campaign donations to Republican Reps. Michael Decker and Steve Wood.

Decker, of Walkertown, who switched parties and voted for Black, got more than $16,000 in contributions from Black's backers.

But Wood, of High Point, never saw any of the $16,000 from 13 contributors who made out checks to his campaign at Black's request, the State Board of Elections heard yesterday. Those checks were never cashed.

The difference? Wood didn't vote for Black.

ABC NEWS EXEC: 'BUSH MAKES ME SICK'; E-MAIL REVEALED

DRUDGE REPORT

A top producer at ABC NEWS declared "Bush makes me sick" in an email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.

And now, here is ...

Moore is the latest state official to appear in a TV ad

By David Ingram
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU

RALEIGH

Whether invited or not, at least one potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2008 is making his way into voters' living rooms.

State Treasurer Richard Moore, who is exploring a run for governor, is appearing state-wide in a television ad to raise awareness of the escheat fund, a pool of unclaimed money from abandoned bank accounts and other sources.

But the ad, paid for with escheat money, could raise awareness of Moore, too.

Moore's name and face dominate most of the ad, which urges viewers to visit http://nccash.com, where they can search for unclaimed property by the owner's name or city.

Surveys by the treasurer's office show that 64 percent of claimants found out about the escheat fund from similar, previous television ads, said Sara Lang, a spokeswoman for Moore.

Is Ingraham pathetic???

If the president does something that you think is a bad idea, I'm sure you have the courage to address it, or at least not deny it, rather than to try to alter the real story or throw up a smokescreen, as Ingraham is doing.

I'll zing whoever, regardless of age, race, gender, etc... I don't discriminate. :-)

I don't believe Ingraham is throwing up a smokescreen... I believe she is making legitimate points.

And I think that the general consensus is that they, reporters from the press, are; that is how a number of them as well as other non-military types are getting attacked, kidnapped and/or killed.

I believe the general consensus is they aren't... Why else is viewership and subscriptions to the "old" media outlets are falling???

Do right-wing pundits like Ingraham and Limbaugh really have such little confidence in the US military - the strongest military force in the world - that they think a bunch of no-good reporters are more powerful in their supposed efforts of self-defeat and erroneous reporting? That 'the Press' is the reason why we're losing Bush's war?

I believe conservative commentators like Ingraham and Limbaugh have all the confidence in the world in our US military; they just don't like how they or their mission is being portrayed in the "old" media. Let's face it, the "old" media portrays our soldiers as committing torture and practically being terrorists themselves. By the way, I personally don't believe we're losing the war over in Iraq. I'm more worried about losing it here at home... That's what the terrorists over there want.

The Bush Administration and those who helped make this war a reality are the ones to be held over the fire here, not a bunch of TV network field reporters - that's what's pathetic here. It just goes to show that the last of the pro-Bush pundits are out of all realistic arguments to defend their man.

Just because you don't agree with her doesn't make her arguments unrealistic... I believe she made some valid points.

Hobbes in Sudan

What a world without U.S. power looks like.

OpinionJournal.com

At places like Davos and Harvard, the world's sages rarely stop fretting about the dangers of a too powerful America. Well, if you want to know what the world looks like without U.S. leadership, Exhibit A is Darfur in Sudan.

Today's leading authority on Darfur is the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who prophesied a world "nasty, brutish and short." At least 200,000 civilians have been killed in the past three years and two million more have become refugees. The source of the problem is the Arab rulers in Khartoum, who have pursued an ethnic cleansing campaign against black Muslims in western Sudan. They've equipped the Janjaweed Arab tribesmen to do the dirty work, and that militia is now attacking civilians across the border in Chad, creating 20,000 more refugees.

To his credit, Kofi Annan started shouting about the problem two years ago, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell labeled it "genocide" not long after that. The U.N.'s mighty peace-making machinery then started to roll and . . . nothing. The Chinese (who have close commercial ties to Khartoum) and Russians have blocked any serious intervention. Arab members of the Security Council have also opposed any attempt to single out Khartoum.

Iraq Archive Document Describes Bin Laden Meeting

ABC News

A newly released pre-war Iraqi document indicates that an official representative of Saddam Hussein's government met with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on February 19, 1995 after approval by Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden asked that Iraq broadcast the lectures of Suleiman al Ouda, a radical Saudi preacher, and suggested "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia. According to the document, Saddam's presidency was informed of the details of the meeting on March 4, 1995 and Saddam agreed to dedicate a program for them on the radio. The document states that further "development of the relationship and cooperation between the two parties to be left according to what's open (in the future) based on dialogue and agreement on other ways of cooperation." The Sudanese were informed about the agreement to dedicate the program on the radio.

Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer???

No, Steve isn't one of the choices... :-)

By the way, I got 7 out of 10 right on this quiz...

RE: Blogging may face regulation

What will you do, Andy, when they tell you not to post anything political on the BP? Keep in mind that McCain-Feingold was the brainchild of two Presidential hopefuls for 2008. If you can't hear the sound of jackboots in this, then you really are buried in the sand.

I want somebody to bring McCain-Feingold back to the Supreme Court since O'Connor was the swing vote on that decision (I think.)

RE: Court Limits Police Access

The following makes my earlier post from The Onion a bit funnier (well, sadder, actually), just in case you didn't hear about it first.

You've lost me on this one, Strother. I'm assuming you mean the "Onion" piece on revisiting women's suffrage. I'm not sure what this ruling has to do with that, hopefully you can clarify.

The AP report seems to make a big deal about the battered woman aspect of Roberts' dissent, but that is purely sensationalistic since Roberts' only used battered women as one example of a situation in which this odd ruling would hamper police. In fact, Scalia addressed the issue of the negative effect of this ruling on women moreso than did Roberts. The fact that the AP neglected to mention that shouldn't be shocking to anyone, though.

Court Limits Police Access

The following makes my earlier post from The Onion a bit funnier (well, sadder, actually), just in case you didn't hear about it first.

From the AP:

Court Limits Police Access
Roberts writes his first dissent on warrants case

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that police cannot search a home when one resident invites them in but another tells them to go away, provoking an objection from the new chief justice about the possible effect on battered women. The 5-3 decision put new limits on officers who want to search for evidence of a crime without first obtaining a warrant.If one occupant tells them no, the search is unconstitutional, justices said.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote his first dissent, predicting severe consequences for women who want police to come in but are overruled by abusive husbands.

RE: What if We Lose?

There are some very valid points in this article, such as the proliferation of the big, nasty weapons in the Middle East being slowed by our actions and, to some extent, the loss of credibility with Muslim reformers that would occur if we bolt. On the latter, I'm not entirely sure said reformers wouldn't just bite the hand that fed them anyway.

But there are a couple of items with which I take issue.

Now Iran is dangerously close to acquiring nuclear weapons, a prospect that might yet be headed off by the use or threat of force.

That's a pretty huge "might." Iran knows we can't fight ground occupation wars on two fronts, regardless of what the Administration is telling the public. Remember, the US military underwent four years of indifference under Bush, senior and eight years of decimation under Bubba Clinton. We don't have anything like the might that held off the Russians for forty years.

But if the U.S. retreats from Iraq, Iran's mullahs will know that we have no stomach to confront them and coercive diplomacy will have no credibility.

There's that insanely stupid assumption that Iranian mullahs don't know how to read the New York Times or the Washington Post. The Iranian lunatics know exactly how much support Bush has for any adventurist plans he might have in mind. And our coercive diplomacy has had no teeth for decades, ever since we handed over our cojones to the UN.

Iran would feel free to begin unfettered meddling in southern Iraq with the aim of helping young radicals like Moqtada al-Sadr overwhelm moderate clerics like the Grand Ayatollah Sistani.

There is absolutely nothing to indicate this isn't happening right now. In fact, a number of commanders on the ground in Iraq have complained of this very situation.

Some would make their own private deals with al Qaeda, or at a minimum stop aiding us in our pursuit of Islamists.

Once again, I defy the author to demonstrate that this isn't already happening.

We would invite more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

This is just plain silly. Terrorist organizations have not been unable to attack us due to a lack of will. Attacks have not happened because the Bush Administration has put us into a carefully crafted state that approaches marshal law as closely as possible without inciting open rebellion. I would argue that the combination of Bush's arrogant open borders policy along with his inability to commit military resources to the problem have put us more into harm's way than we ever were. We are now suffering a de facto invasion from the South. Armed skirmishes happen nearly every day in the border states.

While I viscerally oppose this war and the excuses Bush used to get us into it, I maintain that we have created a duty to the innocents we have placed into the meat grinder. Yes, we did free them from a reign of terror, but when we did that, we took responsibility for continuing the effort of holding at bay the forces that would have disintegrated Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power. The Wall Street Journal seems inclined to ignore the fact that most of those forces are internal. I see no possibility that the neo-cons' utopian vision for Iraq could be achieved in anything under several decades. The best we can hope for is an Iraq that can hold the jackals at its gates at bay so we can withdraw. There is no "win" or "lose" in this situation now, we lost the day we invaded.

Constructionist Supreme Court To Revisit Women's Suffrage

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON, DC — The Supreme Court, demonstrating its new constructionist leaning since the appointment of Justice Samuel Alito, will re-examine arguments behind the 19th Amendment this week. "There was no constitutional precedent for amending the law of the land so dramatically," the Heritage Foundation's Trent England said Monday. "A case could be made on social grounds, but what the Court will determine is exactly what the framers of the Constitution wanted." While it's difficult to predict an outcome, observers believe Ruth Bader Ginsburg will use her three-fifths of a vote to oppose.

The Transition From Radical To Moderate Islam

Blogging may face regulation

The Internet continues to confound Congress and the courts when it comes to free speech. The courts have struck anti-porn laws based on the First Amendment, and two bills that would address the issue of free speech on the Internet are floating around Capitol Hill.

The Federal Elections Commission will decide Monday whether political blogs like the conservative Free Republic or the liberal Daily Kos should fall under the McCain-Feingold Bill and should be forced to register with the FEC.

What will you do, Andy, when they tell you not to post anything political on the BP? Keep in mind that McCain-Feingold was the brainchild of two Presidential hopefuls for 2008. If you can't hear the sound of jackboots in this, then you really are buried in the sand.

RE: RE: Officials Make Public Intoxication Arrests Inside Bars

If these Texas agents were enforcing the law, then I have no problem with it... If Texans don't like it, they need to change the law.

This came up again on the news this morning and I didn't respond to it before.

It's not the law that's the problem. The police are claiming that bars are public places and the law prohibits public drunkenness. The bars are not "public" places unless they are run by the government. They are private property. It is this and other attempts to redefine what constitutes private property that are the leading symptoms of our descent into a police state.

RE: RE: Who's More Pathetic?

Since I defend him (Dubya) on occasion, I assume you believe I'm pathetic too.

No, I of course don't think you're pathetic. If the president does something that you think is a bad idea, I'm sure you have the courage to address it, or at least not deny it, rather than to try to alter the real story or throw up a smokescreen, as Ingraham is doing.

Ingraham's point was that instead of reporting from a hotel balcony in Baghdad, they need to go out through the country and talk to our soldiers and Iraqi citizens like she did when she was recently in Iraq.

And I think that the general consensus is that they, reporters from the press, are; that is how a number of them as well as other non-military types are getting attacked, kidnapped and/or killed. But even that is really beside the point.

Do right-wing pundits like Ingraham and Limbaugh really have such little confidence in the US military — the strongest military force in the world — that they think a bunch of no-good reporters are more powerful in their supposed efforts of self-defeat and erroneous reporting? That 'the Press' is the reason why we're losing Bush's war? That's ridiculous. The Bush Administration and those who helped make this war a reality are the ones to be held over the fire here, not a bunch of TV network field reporters — that's what's pathetic here. It just goes to show that the last of the pro-Bush pundits are out of all realistic arguments to defend their man.

RE: Who's More Pathetic?

I don't know who's more pathetic: our President or his few remaining defenders such as Ingraham and everybody's favorite OxyContin-chewing hypocritical drug addict, Rush Limbaugh.

Since I defend him on occasion, I assume you believe I'm pathetic too. :-)

I saw the Today interview described below, and in defending Bush while blaming the current state of the quagmire (impending civil war in Iraq) on the American press, Ingraham expertly played the role of the angry, irrational moron.

If I got my news from the "old" media outlets, I would believe Iraq was in a civil war and our American soldiers were big boobs. Ingraham's point was that instead of reporting from a hotel balcony in Baghdad, they need to go out through the country and talk to our soldiers and Iraqi citizens like she did when she was recently in Iraq.

She probably did more harm for her (questionable) cause than good.

Nah... Since it appears the "old" media is being rather defensive about it today, she did alright.

But hey, at least she got paid for the appearance, right?

I don't know if she got paid or not.

What if We Lose?

From OpinionJournal.com:

The consequences of U.S. defeat in Iraq.

We still believe victory in Iraq is possible, indeed likely, notwithstanding its costs and difficulties. But the desire among so many of our political elites to repudiate Mr. Bush and his foreign policy is creating a dangerous public pessimism that could yet lead to defeat--a defeat whose price would be paid by all Americans, and for years to come.

RiverRun

Our city and county governments currently spend tax dollars on far less fiscally wise causes, so why not contribute to a sure-fire winner like RiverRun?

Is this a function of government???

March Madness

By Lisa Fabrizio
The American Spectator

It's that time of year when bubbles burst and buzzer beaters ring out across the land. For many, it's an occasion for great elation, for some, bitter disappointment. But if recent news reports are to be believed, it is truly the month of March Madness for Democrats.

More teachers' union myths

By John Stossel
Townhall.com

I hope the teachers in America's public schools are more candid than their union officials and some of the public-education advocates and leftist smear groups who are criticizing my TV special "Stupid in America." They are promoting myths...

Stossel has been doing a good job busting myths from the teacher's unions...

Remembering the Gipper

"[W]e don't have deficits because people are taxed too little. We have deficits because big government spends too much."

Ronald Reagan

RE: Strother's Film Festival

I guess weighing in on the injustice of supporting RiverRun is more fun than something like, say, weighing in on my earlier topic of so-called 'conservative' pundits who continue to wave the flag for our failing president?

Well, let's see. I didn't hear Laura Ingraham's remarks and what's-his-name's reporting wasn't very detailed. Your synopsis wasn't much more than a diatribe, and since Mrs. Ingraham is given to belaboring your beloved celebrity elite for belaboring all of us with their unsolicited opinions, you can hardly be cast as an objective observer. With all that, there wasn't much for me to say. In the interest of balance, you probably should have taken the clueless dhimmi, Helen Thomas, to task for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is no smarter than Bush by asking him the equivalent of the wife-beater question.

Well, W/S currently has a program of funding downtown restaurants, many of which have defaulted and/or are behind on their loans. I can't say that I'm for that program.

Nor am I, but you're still in violation of the lemming rule.

That is truly corporate welfare as it measurably benefits only one entity: the restaurant owner.

First, that's not entirely true since it also benefits the employees of the restaurant and the city and county sales tax base, but that is beside the point. Whether or not this qualifies as corporate welfare, which it clearly does, has nothing to do with whether it benefits one person or forty. What makes it corporate welfare is the fact that the government confiscates wealth from you and me and redistributes it to a corporate entity.

Let's end that program and spend the funds on proven successes — like RiverRun, for example.

Great, let's stop one instance of corporate welfare so we can fund another. Put another way, let's stop doing one dumb thing so we can do another. Is that really what you intended?

A wide variety of tax-paying citizens benefit from that, myself included...That's good for all of us.

And there it is, the siren song of the looters and moochers. Someone thinks it's good for all of us so that gives them the moral authority to rob us and hand the proceeds over to their chosen mascot.

Most folks who are so adamantly repelled by culture on their block (and in their neighborhood) generally don't live on one (or in one)...

Nope, that's dishonest, Strother. This isn't about being repelled by culture or "art." This is about the nanny state robbing us to fund what some group of elites believe to be "good for all of us." Nice try at forcing the Neanderthal metaphor, though.

...you can always opt to live outside W/S where you don't pay city taxes.

You're very mistaken if you think Winston-Salem is the only place this is going on. In any case, your attempt to morph the taxes stolen from city residents into some kind of voluntary contribution is weak. You can't negate the immorality by simply saying people should just run away from it.

And here's a 'good job!' for trying to turn the subject of RiverRun into class warfare; wait, I thought that just liberals used that as a tactic for argument? I guess you can use it, too, huh?

I mulled over half a dozen responses to this before deciding on the one that takes the high road. I'm going to suggest that you do some research on what constitutes class warfare. Hopefully you'll have the good grace to be completely embarrassed by what you wrote and we'll pretend this unfortunate incident never occurred.

Wednesday Funnies

David Letterman: "Top Reasons Dick Cheney Won't Resign": Turns out when you shoot somebody, if you're not vice president, you gotta do time; Bush leaves at two every day and then it's margaritas and Fritos; Set the solitaire high score on his office computer; Wants to see if he can help Bush get his approval rating under ten; Too hard to give up Vice Presidential Discount at DC area Sam Goody stores; Extra-zappy White House defibrillators; Undisclosed location has foosball; Why quit when things are going so well?

Jay Leno: According to a survey in the paper today, 10% of all workers had a drink on company time today to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Do you know what you call those employees? Airline pilots! ... Everybody drank at work. Not a good day to go in for lasik eye surgery. ... More bad news for President Bush—his approval rating has now dropped again. It's now down to 33%. The only way Bush's popularity could get any lower is if he got a show on NBC. ... Saddam Hussein took the witness stand for the first time in his trial. He spent most of his testimony ignoring all the evidence and insisting he was the real president of Iraq. Among legal experts, this is known as the Al Gore strategy.... According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, Republicans are happier than Democrats. Well of course they are, they own everything. ... If you're a Republican politician, you get wined and dined by oil companies, bankers, foreign investors. If you're a Democrat, you have to go to things like rallies for illegal migrant workers and meet with angry lesbians for animal rights. That's no fun.

Re: Vox Knows

I guess Vox is just another crank who "hates" public schools and public school teachers. At least I am in some very good company.

You "hate" public school teachers? That doesn't sound like very good company to me. How sad for you!

;)

RE: RE: Help for RiverRun

Ah, there you are, Steve. I was wondering where you were today. I guess weighing in on the injustice of supporting RiverRun is more fun than something like, say, weighing in on my earlier topic of so-called 'conservative' pundits who continue to wave the flag for our failing president? But okay, that's cool.

I guess you never got blistered as a kid over the whole "everyone else is doing it, so why not me" school of excuses. I can't think of a dumber reason to spend money confiscated from other people than the offer that the cause you want to spend on is not as worthless as someone else's... It is corporate welfare, plain and simple.

Well, W/S currently has a program of funding downtown restaurants, many of which have defaulted and/or are behind on their loans. I can't say that I'm for that program. That is truly corporate welfare as it measurably benefits only one entity: the restaurant owner. Let's end that program and spend the funds on proven successes — like RiverRun, for example. RiverRun attracts spenders to a wide variety of businesses and vendors in the city, as does other downtown 'arts' ventures such as the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night entertainment that happens in downtown W/S each night of the summer. A wide variety of tax-paying citizens benefit from that, myself included.

During RiverRun 2005, W/S hotels, restaurants, and downtown streets were packed. That's good for all of us. Most folks who are so adamantly repelled by culture on their block (and in their neighborhood) generally don't live on one (or in one); you can always opt to live outside W/S where you don't pay city taxes. Most folks who don't support such things do and more power to them.

The government has no busines spending money on the "arts," if for no other reason than that no one can offer on objective definition of what they are. If the market is interested enough in supporting a film festival, the money will be made available for its support. There is no reason to rob the whole population so a small cadre of elites can enjoy something only they are likely to find enjoyable.

And here's a 'good job!' for trying to turn the subject of RiverRun into class warfare; wait, I thought that just liberals used that as a tactic for argument? I guess you can use it, too, huh?

Vox Knows

This is from Vox Day's blog. The topic is a plan in Illinois to start preschool for three-year-olds.

They'll barely be able to read or do math, and they'll be useless for anything but mindless office servitude, but at least they'll graduate from high school! The next step, obviously, will be universal college, in order to keep children safely ensconsced in their propaganda cocoons from three to twenty-three.

After this long pupation they will emerge at last into the light of the worker's paradise as a pretty, pretty, red butterfly, and with about the same attention span and ability to think as the insect variety.

In case this is too subtle, let me spell it out for you. If you sentence your children to public school, regardless of how "excellent" your local one is supposed to be or how "wonderful" the teachers and the facilities are, you are an idiot. And not having an easy alternative because you're a single parent or whatever doesn't make you any less of an idiot, it just means your idiocy is dictated by circumstance instead of choice. Those circumstances may or may not be your fault, but it's not as if a literal idiot asked to be born that way either.

I am growing increasingly unsympathetic towards my fellow Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike. This ploy by Illinois is only one of the many, many examples of how Americans so richly deserve what they are getting now and what they will be experiencing in the near future. Run to the man on the white horse; he will trample you with hooves shod with blood and iron and you will call it salvation.

I guess Vox is just another crank who "hates" public schools and public school teachers. At least I am in some very good company.

RE: Help for RiverRun

As a Forsyth County taxpayer and W/S resident, I'’m game.

How nice for you, but since that money is confiscated from people at gunpoint, what about the people who either couldn't care less about a film festival or who might object to it? I know, you'll say they can vote any commissioners out of office who support it, but that's the nature of democracy, isn't it: two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for supper?

Our city and county governments currently spend tax dollars on far less fiscally wise causes, so why not contribute to a sure-fire winner like RiverRun?

I guess you never got blistered as a kid over the whole "everyone else is doing it, so why not me" school of excuses. I can't think of a dumber reason to spend money confiscated from other people than the offer that the cause you want to spend on is not as worthless as someone else's.

The government has no busines spending money on the "arts," if for no other reason than that no one can offer on objective definition of what they are. If the market is interested enough in supporting a film festival, the money will be made available for its support. There is no reason to rob the whole population so a small cadre of elites can enjoy something only they are likely to find enjoyable. This is absolutely no different than the government participating in a major league baseball stadium. It is corporate welfare, plain and simple.

Help for RiverRun

From an editorial in today's Winston-Salem Journal:

The RiverRun International Film Festival last weekend in Winston-Salem was once again a success, one that brought in thousands of visitors who spent thousands of dollars. The festival has more than proved itself since its modest start here in 2003, and the city and county governments should encourage the festival's success by allocating money to it.

As a Forsyth County taxpayer and W/S resident, I’m game. Our city and county governments currently spend tax dollars on far less fiscally wise causes, so why not contribute to a sure-fire winner like RiverRun?

Who's More Pathetic?

I don't know who's more pathetic: our President or his few remaining defenders such as Ingraham and everybody's favorite OxyContin-chewing hypocritical drug addict, Rush Limbaugh. I saw the Today interview described below, and in defending Bush while blaming the current state of the quagmire (impending civil war in Iraq) on the American press, Ingraham expertly played the role of the angry, irrational moron. She probably did more harm for her (questionable) cause than good. But hey, at least she got paid for the appearance, right?

Bush-Thomas: D.C.'s odd couple

By Jon Friedman of MarketWatch:

NEW YORK — Meet the new odd couple of Washington, D.C.: George W. Bush and Helen Thomas. Playing the curmudgeonly Oscar to the President's chatty Felix, Thomas unwittingly helped Bush make news Tuesday morning even before he started in on the point of the latest news conference — to defend his decision to invade Iraq for the umpteenth time.
Bush surprised the D.C. press corps simply by calling on his United Press International nemesis to ask a question during a press conference. It marked the first time in many years that Bush, who notoriously dreads being buttonholed by reporters, even acknowledged "Helen the Hun" (as the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review labeled her recently as March 18). Seeking out Thomas was a telling, well-thought-out gesture. The president obviously knew that Thomas wouldn't be inquiring about the health of the Bush twins. But instead of growling at her question, he tried hard to be Mr. Nice Guy. With mid-term elections nearing, Bush is scrambling to do something -- anything -- to show the voters and the media that he isn't an irrelevant lame duck president...
...Bush's supporters are showing the strain. Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham sounded even more shrill than usual Tuesday when she went about browbeating David Gregory on NBC's "Today" show. Gregory, the self-styled tough-guy of the White House press corps, was taking a busman's holiday in New York by sitting in for the absent Matt Lauer. Come to think of it, the Ingraham-Gregory smackdown was a lot more harsh than the Thomas-Bush one.

Calling terror terror at UNC

As one of the premier initiatives of the Patrick Henry Center’s mission, we have been seeking to foster conservative political action among conscientious students on campuses across the country. It just so happens that one of those schools is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—which we chose for its notorious promotion of “politically correct” policies above free speech and intellectual diversity. Unfortunately, it has become notorious for something much more harrowing in recent days. In an obvious case of terrorism, a Muslim alumnus of the school attempted to run down and kill a large crowd of students in a popular meeting area on campus.

However, the school’s hard-left, P.C. mentality has not allowed the chancellor to provide a sufficient response to the incident. Indeed, he will still not even acknowledge the heinous act as one of terrorism!

Gary Aldrich

That's a BIG (__!__) fish... :-)

SAN DIEGO – Mac Weakley of Carlsbad caught what could be the world-record largemouth bass early Monday at Dixon Lake in Escondido.

The bass weighed 25 pounds, 1 ounce on a hand-held scale, which – if approved – would shatter the world record, the 22-pound, 4-ounce bass caught by George W. Perry at Montgomery Lake in Georgia in 1932.

Refused the Offer

Fox News

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin refused an offer by a Texas-based car crushing company to remove the city's flooded and abandoned vehicles left over after Hurricane Katrina. In October, K & L Auto Crushers said it would take 15 weeks to finish the job and even offered to pay the city $100 for each of the estimated 50,000 cars that needed removal.

Instead the mayor has pursued a plan that will take 6 months and cost the city $23 million. According to The Times Picayune, Nagin balked at K & L's gesture because he wasn't sure the city had the legal right to remove the vehicles, which it does, according to a city ordinance.

Nagin, you may recall, was reportedly hesitant to order an evacuation of New Orleans for fear that local merchants and hotels might sue the city if the storm had blown over.

Lost Business: Main Street project gets telling data

Study: Walnut Cove residents spend $38 million a year outside town limits

By Sherry Youngquist
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

WALNUT COVE - In Walnut Cove, it goes without saying that on a lot of days its 1,523 residents drive the 17 miles into Winston-Salem for work, shopping and entertainment.

The small town's Main Street is home to a few offices, hardware stores and a feed mill. There are also grocery stores and strip malls nearby, but few other businesses exist in Walnut Cove to keep those residents and their dollars from driving out.

Town officials say they didn't realize how big the leak was until a study was released this week by the N.C. Department of Commerce, as part of Walnut Cove's participation in the Small Town Main Street Program. The study estimated that in one year Walnut Cove loses more than $38 million to businesses outside the town limits.

Alternatives to reality

Horrifying stories about the rapes and murders of children, and about judges who go easy on sex offenders who prey on the young, have prompted some state legislatures to tighten up the laws and restrict the sentencing discretion of judges.

Few in the media or among the intelligentsia have been as outraged about these sadistic crimes against children as they have been about whether terrorists' phone calls have been intercepted.

Part of this is current politics but part of it is the continuation of a tradition that goes back more than two centuries, de-emphasizing the punishment of criminals.

Thomas Sowell

Presidential Material

NEW YORK — Donald Trump has a new apprentice. The billionaire developer announced Monday on national television that his wife, Melania Knauss Trump, had given birth 20 minutes earlier to a boy. “Everyone’s perfect,” Trump said in a telephone interview on MSNBC’s “Imus in the Morning.”
...Knauss Trump is a Slovenian-born model who has appeared in numerous print ads and on the covers of Vogue and British GQ magazines. Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” is in its fifth cycle.

Beautiful wife, new son, global celebrity status, successful series (weekly nationwide address) on NBC, and he's bestest buddies with Regis Philbin? Sounds like ideal Presidential material to me. Trump 2008!

The Donald, You're Our Only Hope!

Steve in 'RE: Defiantly Shaky': American politics has become an almost surreal satire of itself... Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to vote any more.

I'm with 'ya, Steve. Because that's the case and because I don't want to vote for a loser the next time around, I can only waste my vote in 2008 on The Donald. I'm completely serious. If he's not on the ballot, I'm writing him in.

RE: Defiantly Shaky

American politics has become an almost surreal satire of itself.

We have the Republicans still pretending to be in favor of lower taxes and smaller government, while the budget and size of the federal government grows at a rate that would make LBJ blush. The neo-cons still try to pretend they are spreading democracy, letting their boy, Dubyah, play high stakes poker in Mesopotamia, but their favored lab-rat, Afghanistan, is about to sentence a Christian convert to death under sharia.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are attempting to pretend to be pro-security, but anti-military; fiscally responsible, but pro-socialism; culturally liberal, but family-oriented. Harry Reid, arguably one of the most brazenly criminal members of Congress, says he can't tell you what the Democrats stand for, but he'll let you know eventually. That will be right after their pollsters tell them for what Americans want them to stand.

Did you say third party? The Libertarian Party is stuck defending their constitutional and god-given right to smoke pot and for women to murder their children. The Greens want to herd everyone into re-education camps so they can turn 2/3 of the continent into wilderness areas. They want to outlaw cars, except for Green Party officials and the chosen few who get to do "research" in their private parks. The Constitution Party is bogged down in their attempts to return all land ownership to white, Christian males and to find a replacement for Howard Phillips who is not an ambulance-chasing lawyer with a felony child abuse conviction waiting around the corner for him. Reform Party members are sitting in front of the television with glazed-over eyes, waiting for Ross Perot to come give them further orders.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to vote any more.

Remembering the Gipper

"In our world there are innumerable groups and organizations with grievances, some justified, some not. Only a tiny fraction has been ruthless enough to try to achieve their ends through vicious and cowardly acts of violence upon unarmed victims. Perversely, it is often the terrorists themselves who prevent peacefully negotiated solutions. So, perhaps the first step in solving some of these fundamental challenges in getting to the root cause of conflict is to declare that terrorism is not an acceptable alternative and will not be tolerated."

Ronald Reagan

Defiantly Shaky

By the Washington Prowler
The American Spectator

Sen. Harry Reid told reporters last week that it might be true that American voters don't know where Democrats stand, but that they will know by November.

The Dem Recess Packet; A Map Of Dems' Midterm Political Strategy

THE DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of the "game plan" devised by the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) office for Democrat Senators with political tips on how to use the war in Iraq against the Bush administration in their home states over recess break.

Dry out sex organs of Jews, asks prayer

The bird-flu virus found in Israel last week was sent by Allah to punish the Jews for being "the worst of humanity" and is the beginning of the outbreak of other diseases meant to destroy the Jewish state within the next twenty years, a Gaza preacher said at mosque services this weekend.

Sheikh Abu Muhammed, an imam at the popular Al-Tadwa mosque in Beit Lahia north of Gaza City, went on to ask Muslims at his Friday night sermon to pray for the sexual organs of Jews to "dry out" so they cannot reproduce, a Palestinian in attendance at the mosque services told WorldNetDaily.

Aaron Klein

Here we have the Islamic version of Pat Robertson holding forth. I have to ask: where's the outrage?

Sheepskin scam

Democracy and education are always good. That is perhaps the most fundamental core belief of the vast majority of American parents; certainly more of them hold to it than believe in God, the sanctity of marriage or the tuck rule. But just as American faith in democracy has been shaken by the election of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority and by what appears to be the looming failure of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the belief in higher education as a universal panacea will be severely tested in the coming decades.

The belief in a near-sacrosanct prime directive to pursue education is primarily rooted in the ability of the more highly educated to command higher wages from their employers. This has long been true, but the advantage was significantly compounded during the last four decades, when machine automation, computers and outsourcing enabled U.S. employers to replace skilled, highly paid but less-educated American workers with machines and inexpensive foreign workers. This resulted in the current situation where a college-educated worker can expect to earn twice the income of a worker who possesses only a high school degree over an average lifespan.

Vox Day

Where's the Freedom of Speech in Stokes Co. schools???

It can be easily verified... Here are the email addresses for the Stokes Co. School Board and here are the email addresses for the Stokes Co. school administration. If one wants to contact the press, I would suggest contacting the Stokes News and the Winston-Salem Journal.

RE: Censorship in Stokes County (N.C.) Schools...

If this can be verified, it needs to be brought to the attention of the press and NCDPI. I doubt whoever perpetrated it would want to have to explain to the public why they chose to censor political speech. It may also potentially be illegal.

Oh, but wait, I forgot. The government-run schools are bastions of academic and intellectual freedom. It's just crazy old Steve who thinks they are nothing but socialist indoctrination centers. There must be some perfectly reasonable explanation for how this enhances academic quality.

Google ordered to hand over data

Sounds like it's all for a good cause, but still, where does it stop exactly? And I assume that The Govt. will want to file those e-mail addresses just in case? It just sounds a bit Big Brotherish to me.

From BBCNews.com:

Google ordered to hand over data

A federal judge has ordered internet search engine Google to turn over some search data, including 50,000 web addresses, to the US government. However, Judge James Ware denied a request that Google hand over a list of people's search requests. The Justice Department had wanted access to search records to help prevent access to online pornography. The judge said privacy considerations led him to deny part of the department's request.
"This concern, combined with the prevalence of internet searches for sexually explicit material, gives this court pause as to whether the search queries themselves may constitute potentially sensitive information," he said in his ruling.
Google lawyer Nicole Wong said it was reassuring that the judge's decision had "sent a clear message about privacy". "What his ruling means is that neither the government nor anyone else has carte blanche when demanding data from internet companies," she said.

Censorship in Stokes County (N.C.) Schools...

According to a source, the Stokes County Schools has blocked the website The Echo Chamber from being viewed in the schools...

Growth in Watauga and Wilkes...

An aside: Could such growth in Watauga and Wilkes realistically mean anything for landowners/developers in Stokes? Thoughts?

It might get so expensive up in Watauga that some might have to move down the mountain into the foothills counties of Wilkes, Surry, & Stokes.

Collinstown, NC: God's Country :-)

And I was just about to ask what was in the air up in Collinstown that causes the ostrich act. Remember, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean no one is out to get me.

Due to bad allergies, I wish I could bury my head in the sand to keep away from the pollen & dust.

The liberal baby bust

What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.

This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.

It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future — one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.

Phillip Longman

Ann Coulter wrote an article on this very subject a year or so ago. She opined that liberalism would contracept, abort, and delayed maternity itself out of existence. Mark Steyn writes on the same phenomenon across Europe. I can recall people reacting to both of them, calling them ridiculously hyperbolic. It turns out they were just ahead of their time.