This shoe craze is a croc

When I was a kid the footwear craze was centered on saddle shoes (upper picture). Then came penny loafers, followed by the re-birth of flip-flops with clogs and platforms sandwiched in there as well.

That was before 2002 when a couple of entrepreneurs in Boulder, Colorado began making the ugliest, least flattering items of footwear you’ll ever see.

Putting on a croc with bare feet for the first time can be a rather startling experience. When my bare feet slid into the soft, spongy foam resin I was sure I’d stepped in a bucket of earthworms and couldn’t wait to take them back off.

I thought they were the most disgusting things I had ever seen or felt on my feet.

But what do I know? There has never been a shoe craze like this! In no time, crocs were everywhere. On the beach. In gardens. In the supermarket. Even in church!

Most croc wearers swear by the comfort of the shoe. Some claim their crocs have helped with medical problems.

For whatever reason hoards of people are footing the croc craze.

Because the shoes are wide and roomy, Podiatrists say crocs can help with foot problems like severe heel pain and bunions.

One Podiatrist said that comparing crocs to flip-flops -- crocs are better because they are closed in the front providing more protection as well as support.

Well, they can have their crocs. I just don’t like the feeling of stepping in a bucket of earthworms.

Hillary fundraiser is a fugitive hiding in plain sight

A prominent fundraiser for Hillary (pictured) and other Democrats is a fugitive from justice and should be in jail as reported in the Los Angeles Times. The link below has the story.

Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.

Leaving no guesswork as to the stance of the Hillary campaign in regard to taking contributions from a fugitive from justice -- a man who should be in jail, a Hillary campaign spokesman said:

During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them.

Integrity and ‘playing by the rules’ indeed. As the article points out, Mr. Hsu is clearly a fugitive from justice and should have been in prison.

It is no surprise that the Hillary campaign has chosen to ignore the obvious status criminal of Mr. Hsu. The only surprise is that a blatantly politically liberal newspaper such as the Los Angeles Times would print this story.

Link

Will there always be an England? Maybe not

There'll Always Be an England was a popular World War II song. But how true are the words today?

There is an article at the link below titled: England is Vanishing .

Perhaps there will not always be an England. An exodus unprecedented in modern times, coupled with a record influx of foreigners, is threatening to erode the character of the land of William Shakespeare and overpowering monarchs, a land that served as the cradle for much of American thought, law and culture.

The figures, making headlines in London newspapers, tell only part of the story. Between June 2005 and June 2006 nearly 200,000 British citizens chose to leave the country for a new life elsewhere. During the same period, at least 574,000 immigrants came to Britain.

Missing from the numbers shown above are the thousands of Muslims arriving in Britain illegally.

Abraham Lincoln said no nation can exist half slave and half free. Neither can a nation be sustained if it allows conditions that result in mass emigration, while importing huge numbers of foreigners who come from backgrounds that do not practice assimilation or tolerance of other beliefs.

When one factors in the high number of abortions (one in five pregnancies are aborted in England and Wales), the high birth rates of immigrants (15 times those of white Britons), it doesn't take a population expert to predict that the days of the England we have known may be numbered.

Britons give many reasons for leaving, but their stories share one commonality: life in Britain has become unbearable for them.

They fear lawlessness and the threat of more terrorism from a growing Muslim population and the loss of a sense of ‘Britishness’, exacerbated by the growing refusal of public schools to teach the history and culture of the nation to the next generation.

The greater tragedy is that the people of Britain have little say in any of this, so they are taking the road of last resort. They are leaving.

Link

Modern day cattle drive

Author Robert Day wrote a novel in 1977 about a modern-day cattle drive from northwest Kansas to Kansas City.

Robert Day and friend O. Newton King plan to re-enact part of the fictional drive Sept. 4-5 at the Dickinson Ranch in Gorham.



King, a retired pharmacy owner from Lawrence, has spent three years planning and organizing the drive.
"His idea is almost as crazy as the idea of the book," Day said.

The drive also will raise money for 4-H clubs in Ellis and Russell counties, with 50 riders each day paying $300 each to go along.

The drive will commemorate the 30th anniversary of a novel.

Author Robert Day is hoping it goes better than a practice run last year when they lost all the cattle. They ran into a milo field and, in the words of Day, "It became The Lost Cattle Drive rather than The Last Cattle Drive."

Link

We all have our blind spots

(click on cartoon for surprise enlargement)

More on unauthorized Wikipedia editing

Admitting that Wikipedia cannot control unauthorized edits, Jimmy Wales had this to say:

Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, says the site discourages such “conflict of interest” editing. “We don’t make it an absolute rule,” he said, “but it’s definitely a guideline.”

By not making “conflict of interest” editing a rule, Wikipedia will continue to be rife with editing by anyone with an axe to grind.

It will take more than WikiScanner to police the millions of Wikipedia entries.

One must be naïve indeed to use Wikipedia entries as solid research material.

For more information about the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, click on the Wikipedia category in the left sidebar of this web site.

Link to the NYT article here.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

UPDATE

Wikipedia vandalism traced to Democratic Party. Link

www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/technology/19wikipedia.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Illinois politics a smear on Obama resume

Barack Obama has a lot of negative baggage because of his Illinois political background according to an article found at the link below.

Is America, nay, the world, ready for a U.S. president -- Barack Obama -- who bubbled up from the sordid politics of the Illinois legislature? From a political party whose stranglehold on Illinois government has brought the state to the brink of insolvency?

The rest of America should excuse many of us here if we blanch at the idea that someone, anyone, who just a few years ago occupied a seat in Illinois' laughable legislature might soon be president.

Barack Hussein ObamaWorld leaders are sure to tremble before him

The article goes on:

The first president to emerge from the Illinois legislature was Abraham Lincoln, but that's little comfort.

Today's Illinois legislature is rock bottom, exceeded in incompetence only by the preening, useless Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. And true, Obama can't be blamed for the current madness in Springfield and the Democratic Party's abject failure to govern. Yet, that's where Obama cut his political teeth.

The article concludes with:

A new day in Obama's Washington? Spare us. Obama in the White House would be an old day, incorporating the worst of the Bush administration (according to his critics) and the worst of the Clinton administration. Not to mention the Illinois legislature.

Link

Interesting pics along the way

Shown below are things you often miss when travelling in a hurry:


We didn’t know Billy Bob lived in Iowa. The solar collectors are nearly as big as the house with enough debris scattered in the yard to build a couple more. Photo taken near Dexter, Iowa


Most cannons displayed in public parks are large and impressive. This cannon is neither. Valeta poses with this lilliputian relic in Stuart, Iowa to show its relative size.


“Share the Road” signs like this can be found in Amish country near Sturgeon, Missouri.




This rock is located north of Greenfield, Iowa and is repainted every Veterans Day by local artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen.

More about the Veterans/Patriotic rock can be found here. Pictures of this rock from prior years can be found in the Photography photo album on the right side bar of this blog.

Link here for directions to the rock.

Another patriotic symbol was found near Chappell, Nebraska in the form of an American flag painted on the side of a very large grain storage elevator.

How cheap can PC’s get?

Mike Elgan’s Computerworld article asks: What can you get for less than $700? The answer: A lot.

You've no doubt heard that Dell plans to sell PCs at Wal-Mart. It turns out that the prices of these systems will be extremely low. A Dell Dimension E521with a dual-core Athlon chip, 1GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, Vista Home Premium and a 19-in. monitor will cost less than $700. (Note that Vista Home Premium by itself would cost you $200.)

Meanwhile, Asus announced at Intel's Computex a $189, full-size, solid-state Linux laptop that boots in just 15 seconds from its 2GB flash hard disk. Called the 3ePC, the low-cost PC isn't a humanitarian effort for third-world kids, but a consumer product that will be sold in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

I don’t know about the $189 laptop, but the Dell E521 with a 19-inch monitor sounds like a great buy.

I’m all for supporting the Linux operating system but buying a flash-drive laptop doesn’t get me excited.

Link

Dry cleaning shop with sense of humor

Prince William and Kate romance is on again

The on-again off-again romance of William (upper picture) and Kate (lower picture) is on-again.

Prince William has persuaded his long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton to get back together again 12 weeks after the couple split.

Rumors that the couple, who met at university and at one stage were said to be on the verge of marriage, had decided to rekindle their relationship have been rife since she appeared on Sunday at a concert in honor of William's late mother Diana.

William has persuaded Kate the problems of dating a future king are a price worth paying.

Why do I bother with this story?

First of all, there is a category on this blog titled: British Royal Soap Opera that needs a little activity now and then.

Second of all, William is more interesting to write about. His brother Harry seems to be a bit of a brash brat. Prince Charles is a bore most of the time and a bit obnoxious when he is trying to sound like an intellectual.

Link

Fat fight fails in public schools

The public school nutrition education program is “generally not working.”

The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education—fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well.

But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat—or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.



"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.

It’s difficult for any school program to convince kids to trade in their potato chips and fires for carrot and celery sticks when unhealthy “comfort foods” are readily available at home or the nearest McDonald’s.

Link

Bluegrass and Western Swing bands in Ft. Collins

Blugrass band at Civic Center Park

Western Swing band in Ft. Collins Old Town

Fairness Doctrine: down in flames 305-115

Congressional Democrats tried to re-launch the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” last week.

The measure failed by a 305-115 vote in the House. It probably would have been defeated in the Senate as well in spite of staunch support by Hillary, Kerry, Durban, Feinstein and others.

Just what is the Fairness Doctrine?
In a nutshell, the Fairness Doctrine would force radio and television outlets that broadcast “controversial” programming to devote equal time to opposing viewpoints.

The idea behind re-launching the Fairness Doctrine is a thinly veiled effort on the part of the nation’s liberals to shut down conservative political talk radio.

Commercial liberal talk radio has failed. Air America, the flagship of liberal talk radio movement, is a testament to that.

The only liberal talk radio left is (NPR) which is taxpayer funded. National Public Radio (NPR) is funded by taxpayers and is made up of Liberal talk hosts such as the unabashedly liberal Juan Williams (pictured).

Since NPR is taxpayer funded it should provide equal airtime to conservative political programs. It does not.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What about the Fairness Doctrine and the Constitution? Should we kill free speech in the name of fairness?

The Constitution protects free speech, not equal speech.

Congress is to make no law abridging the freedom of speech whether we like the speech or not.

It's simple; speech is to be free even if it is not fair. Fair is too subjective a word. Our founding fathers guaranteed us free speech, not fair speech, and there is a big difference

If they ever want to bring the Fairness Doctrine back, they should apply it to TV and radio that is taxpayer funded.

For every Juan Williams hour on NPR there should be a Sean Hannity (lower picture) hour etc.

An equal number of hours for conservative radio as for liberal radio.

Rather than having the government regulate what people can say, we should let the market decide what people want to hear. That’s precisely why the Fairness Doctrine was abandoned, and that’s why it ought not to be revived.

Link

A serenade by Teddy before giving them all amnesty

Ted Kennedy (pictured) and other Senator’s want to give them all amnesty.

But first, he has decided to sing to them before telling them he “won’t let them down.”

The Kennedy serenade is here, if you have the stomach for it.

Kennedy leads a coalition to make all of the “undocumented workers” citizens of the United States.

I was undocumented for short time when I lost my wallet. These people are more than just undocumented. They are illegal.

What about the law-abiding aliens who are here with valid green cards working toward citizenship. It takes them about seven years to become citizens.

Teddy, and the others, are determined to have the illegal aliens become citizens with the swish of a pen.

Before you make up your mind on immigration, think about this:

The president himself says in his first five years, six million people tried to break into this country.

One in 12, which is 500,000, had criminal records.

Five hundred thousand criminals trying to break into this country! The entire Army of the United State only nuimbers five hundred thousand.

This is not immigration.This is an invasion.

Link

Gore banned the media but gets coverage anyway

Mr. Al Gore (pictured) made yet another closed door speech Saturday. This time it was at the American Institute of Architects convention.

He has banned the media many times before. Why is he afraid of the media covering his global warming alarmism?

Here is something Al Gore ignores and doesn’t want you to hear: Sunspots are causing the current global warming. Link here.

The current sunspot cycle peaks in 2011 and then all the politicians will be calling our attention to global cooling.

Mr. Gore is building his bankroll and liberal political popularity on his man-made global warming alarmism and the resultant carbon credit scam.

Link

Obama calls for Detroit to improve fuel economy

In Detroit, Barack Obama (pictured) said automakers should improve fuel economy.

Wow! What a simply ingenious idea (sarcasm intended). But what can we expect from a candidate-in-training hoping to become a president-in-training?

Maybe he is speaking into an echo chamber. How many times have we heard other candidates say the same thing down through the years?

Can computer controlled injectors be improved on? Probably not. Detroit is producing hybrids and working on more hybrids. Detroit is also building bio-fuel vehicles.

If Obama called on Detroit to build smaller cars he would lose his large base of SUV owners. It's safer to point the finger at Detroit by echoing hundreds of politicians before him by calling on Detroit to improve fuel economy.

Link

Harry Reid passes on white-tie Affair with British Queen

The Democratic Senate leader decided to snub the Queen of England.

Harry Reid (pictured) has been complaining that we don't have enough international allies and then he snubs the best we have.

Maybe he was afraid he would not recognize the Queen. All he needs to remember is that she would be the one with the biggest hat.

This is the same petty little man who also refused to attend Ronald Reagan’s funeral.

I repeat -- he is the Democratic Senate leader. What an embarrassment for the Democrats and for Washington and for the entire country for that matter.

Link

Sarkozy as new French President widely welcomed in Western press

The Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured) win over Socialist Ségolène Royal was broadly welcomed in the Western press on Monday, though some media in Africa and the Middle East expressed hostility to the new leader.

African countries may fear they can no longer use France as a dumping ground for their unwanted Muslim’s.

The wide-open borders of France offered countries in Africa and the Middle East a convenient place to send their riffraff.

A large number of the rioters in Paris, and other french cities, are Muslim transpants from Africa.

Link

A poll I would like to see …

I would like a simple poll by one of the leading polling firms..simple question:

Level playing field, 1,000 democrats, 1,000 Republicans..
ONE question:

Do you want America to win the war in Iraq?

1. YES
2. NO

You already know the answer? So do I.

The Tenet tell-all book is untenable

George Tenet, the former CIA Director, has written a book that many observers say was driven by his ‘sour grapes’ affliction.

Tenet, a poster child for “The Power Of Positive Brown-Nosing,” has hit a new low, even for Washington.

Having worked his way up the political ladder by leaving no back unslapped, on the way down he’s leaving no back unstabbed.

George Tenet is the Barney Fife of the spy world. Every bad guy got away, and he never took his bullet out of his pocket.

Screwing up the pre-Iraq war intelligence alone makes him a failure. Utterly missing the 9/11 attacks and having not a single CIA asset in the Taliban or al-Qaeda at the time earns him “Worst CIA Chief Ever.”

But Tenet’s incompetence overshadows even these “accomplishments.”

The liberal media is Tenet’s cheerleading section. They are hanging on every word of the new Tenet book hoping to, at the very least, smear Bush for not firing the former CIA Director long ago.

Bush deserves criticism for allowing Tenet to remain as head of the CIA far too long.

Will the Tenet book be filed in the fiction section at the Library of Congress?

Link

House fails to override Bush veto

During an hour-long debate before voting to override the Iraq spending bill veto, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) said:

The president has turned a tin ear to the wishes of the American people.

The president wants a blank check. The Congress will not give it to him.

But Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., urged his colleagues to sustain the veto, saying politicians should not make military decisions.

"Now is not the time for the United States to back down in its war on terror," Lewis said

Wonder what Senator Biden is saying now?

Link

Biden: shove the Bush veto down his throat

Senator Joe Biden (pictured) proves once again that his positive traits are almost non-existent.

This mean-spirited threat came from a presidential candidate.

The YouTube video of Senator Biden’s threat is here.

Link

McCain complains of rough media treatment

In the past war hero McCain (pictured) was given great press my most of the media.

Now it’s different and the Senator acts like his feelings are hurt. Well, welcome to the real world Senator McCain.

Sen. John McCain, who was the darling of the political press corps during the 2000 election cycle, complains to friends that he is getting much rougher treatment from the news media than his competitors for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

McCain feels that his support for President Bush's Iraq policy has soured his erstwhile reporter friends. Although Giuliani and Romney also have been criticized by the media, McCain privately expresses the view that they have gotten off easy.

Link

Democrats caving in on war bill

The Iraq white flag wavers (Democrats in Congress) have conceded on the war bill.

They knew it would not get by a presidential veto, so why did they push it this far? To keep their “hate Bush” mania going.

The Republicans are not blameless. They keep on rolling over and taking whatever the Democrats try to smear them with. For centuries it has been proven that people will “do to you what you allow them to.”

Turning the other cheek is an admirable trait -- but it has gone far beyond that. Time for the Republicans to develop a little spine.

Link

Former Tennessee state senator guilty of bribery

There is an Associated Press article at the link below about former Tennessee state Sen. John Ford who was convicted of taking $55,000 bribe.

A Democratic Senator charged with a crime, whether on the state or national level, is not uncommon.

It is also not uncommon to show the politician’s party affiliation deep in the article if the corrupt senator is a Democrat.

Senator Ford, a Democrat, is a prominent member of one of Tennessee's most active political families.

The article is true to form -- the fact that he is a Democrat is not mentioned until the 14th paragraph. However, had the politician been a Republican, the party affiliation would have shown in the first paragraph

Link

John Edwards: no terror war

The Breck Boy must be in complete denial. Maybe he lives in his own little dream world.

He sure does have nice hair though.

Link here to a long list of terror attacks beginning in 2000.

Link here to the Edwards denial story.

Memories extended by liberals

Fond this in the comments to a Lucianne posting

Ah, the memories extended by liberals:

I think of Al Gore every time a third-world-built toilet malfunctions.

I think of Cheryl Crow when one square rips off the thrift-programmed roller at a rest stop. (link here for story)

I think of Bill Clinton and gullible, nubile females when I see a cigar.

I think of Harry Reid when I see a report of dead/wounded American Troops in Iraq.

I think of Evita Peron when Speaker Nancy Pelosi performs another act.

I picture a donkey heading south whenever I think of Hillary, Schumer, Leahy or Levin.. I know I have left many out.

Hillary says Bush is hard person to deal with

Senator Clinton said there are risks in sending bills to President Bush that cut off troop funding in Iraq and that passing such bills may not be possible because he will veto them.

She sounds as if Bush veto’s a lot of bills that Congress sends him. Actually, he is one of the least vetoing presidents ever.

As for the particular bill she was referring to -- the bill that will cut military funding -- it is a bill the Democrats know Bush will veto. The bill was intentionally drafted that way.

In Hillary’s world, if President Bush doesn’t do what she wants him to do, he is hard to deal with.

Link

Obama Outlines His Foreign Policy Views

Barack Hussein Obama’s foreign policy ‘coming out party’ has begun.

He knows as much about foreign policy as Janet Reno knew about running the justice department.

He is calling for “expanding and modernizing the military and rebuilding fractured alliances.”

Is he even aware that all of the other Congressional Democrats want to do just the opposite -- downsize the military and cut military finding?

What “fractured alliances” is he talking about? Is he talking about alliances with the Taliban and al-Qaeda?

He really doesn’t have a clue.

It must be comforting to be a far-left liberal, knowing that the media will coddle and protect you.

Link

Edwards would invest billions in Michigan

Speaking to more than 1,800 Democrats in Detroit last Saturday, Edwards said he'd invest billions of dollars in Michigan.

It is no secret that Michigan is in financial trouble. Billions to Michigan would not be an investment. It would be throwing good money after bad.

When Republican governor John Engler left office the state had a surplus. It didn’t take long for Governor Jennifer Granholm’s socialist policies to nearly bankrupt the state.

John Edwards told Democrats in Michigan what they want to hear. However, if he was serious about “investing” billions in the troubled state, he really has no idea of the role of President.

Link

John Edwards and the arrogance of the entitled

Presidential candidate John Edwards (pictured) says that he and America are angry about wretched excess.

The candidate, who has been looking pretty [here] and pretty impressive in defining "Two Americas" -- one for the rich and privileged, a lesser place for everyone else -- came up with a wonderful device to show us all what he meant.

His campaign spending reports, required by the Federal Election Commission, revealed that he has been paying $400 for haircuts by a Beverly Hills cutter named Joseph Torrenueva.

The guy must be good, because Edwards' hair sure looks good. So does the rest of him, helped along by a $250 shaping at the Designworks Salon in Dubuque, Iowa, and $225 at the Pink Sapphire spa in Manchester, N.H.

Well, the man has great hair. My barber tells me I do, too, and he only charges 20 bucks.

As Luczanne says:

Muskie's tears, Dean's scream, Al's sigh, Kerry's magic hat,
now this. It's the little stuff that gets them every time.

Now it’s Edwards excess while living in the “entitled” portion of his “Two Americas.”

Does the White House have enough mirrors to accommodate the Breck Boy?

Link

John Kerry hints at possible presidential run in 2008

Senator John Kerry (pictured) wants to be president so bad he can taste it.

He spoke to a small group of people at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Lodo (lower downtown Denver) hinting that he may step into the presidential race if the right situation presented itself.

As poorly as he managed his 2004 campaign it seems unlikely he would get enough primary votes to secure the Democratic nomination in 2008. However, voters sometimes have short memories so you never know . . .

Link

Cold and sleet cuts short global warming rally

Cold and sleet in Reno, Nevada cut short a global warming rally.

More than two dozen demonstrators braved cold, wet weather Saturday in Reno to attend a rally designed to draw attention to global warming.

More than two dozen? Big turnout.

Link

Katie Couric:Is America ready for a President who grew up praying in a mosque?

Katie Couric posted a question on her CBS blog about Barack Obama’s background:

Is America ready to elect a President who’s connections with Islam were the subject of rumors and innuendo?

Barack Obama has arguably the most diverse religious background of any candidate, ever. He was raised in Indonesia by a Christian mother and Muslim stepfather, and attended a Catholic school, but while growing up, also studied Islam. That background sparked rumors that he had studied in a radical madrasa, or Koranic school.

This is a question voters will be asking themselves during the 2008 primary elections.

Link

Hillary fell flat in MoveOn vote on Iraq

Hillary fell flat in a in a straw poll that asked what candidate 'would be best able to lead the country out of Iraq?'

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, lagged behind her main competitors, as well as some lower-tier candidates, in a straw poll taken after a virtual town hall meeting on Iraq.

The poll results:
Obama: 27.87%
Edwards: 24.84%
Kucinich: 17.18
Richardson: 12.26%
Clinton: 10.7%

Link

Top forecaster calls Gore a Gross Alarmist

A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore (pictured) "a gross alarmist" for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.

"He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans

Gray, an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science department at Colorado State University, has long railed against the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm.

Over the past 24 years, Gray, 77, has become known as America's most reliable hurricane forecaster.

Link

Pelosi accuses GOP of political stunt

It seems ironic that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) accuses the GOP of a political stunt for saying she should do her job instead of pulling a political stunt of her own in the Middle East.

Of course, she is secure in the reality that the liberal media will downplay her political stunt while making headlines when the GOP wonders why she doesn’t stop meddling in the Middle East and do her job as Speaker of the House.

Hmm … is she wanting headlines in the news so she can inch closer to becoming Hillary’s vice-presidential running mate in 2008? Naw - Hillary is too smart for that.

The Pelosi trip to the Middle East was a way to hold up funding for the troops and gain notoriety for herself at the same time.

Link

Democrats control congress with blank scorecard

Since the Democrats took majority control of congress in January, they have yet to show a desire to govern.

The House passed bills raising the minimum wage, promoting stem cell research and providing student loan breaks.

The Senate passed only one -- the minimum wage hike -- and it's hung up over disagreements on the size of small business tax breaks to include.

That means the Democrat controlled Congress is batting zero.

Maybe the Democrats like it that way.

When South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle (pictured) was Senate Majority Leader, before losing his re-election bid in 2004, the Senate was virtually deadlocked.

Daschle led filibusters along with other blocking tactics kept legislative action at a near standstill.

Legislative action in the Senate is back to where it was in 2003 and 2004.

Link

Bush critic Sheehan blasts Democrats

Cindy Sheehan (pictured), he radical full-time Bush protestor, is turning on her supporters.

Last Friday she said Bush should "end this madness" and accused his Democratic foes of having "betrayed" their anti-war supporters.

Actually, the Democratic Party has never really supported her. What financial support she has received is from the MoveOn group who claims to “own” the Democratic Party.

Sheehan took a tough line against Democrats who harnessed anger at the Iraq war to recapture the US Congress in November.

"They got there and they betrayed the grass roots that put them back there," she said. "We can't depend on the Democrats."

Link

End of evolution?

Good grief! And in only 7 days?

This would be a great photo to use for a caption contest.

Link

HBO film about Bush-Gore 2000 election recount

HBO will make a film about the 2000 presidential election when the TV networks first declared that Al Gore had won and then called Florida for Bush before announcing that the race was too close to call.

This was followed by three weeks of legal maneuvering.

Will the movie show how the Gore team demanded re-counts and then re-counts of some of the re-counts? It was as if they wanted to keep counting until they got the results they wanted.

What about the military ballots that were rejected by the Gore team because they arrived a few days late? Military ballots traditionally are overwhelmingly Republican.

Will the film show people holding ballots up to the light while studying them with magnifying glasses in a effort to try to guess the intent of the voter?

Will the movie show the results of two subsequent recounts by two different newspapers, both of which showed Bush won?

Will the film report that the Florida Supreme Court refused to hear the case the first time. It was then sent to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was rejected and returned to the Florida Supreme Court. After the Florida high court again refused, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case and ruled in favor of Bush.

Knowing that 95% of Hollywood is staunchly liberal there is little doubt how the film will be slanted. Expect as much innuendo as fact.

Link

Pelosi questions lack of female Saudi politicians

The title of this posting proves once again that Nancy Pelosi (pictured) is not known for her intellect.

She is not only mucking up the careful state department strategy for the Middle East, she is trying to cram social correctness down their throats.

If she were qualified to be a state department ambassador she would know that women in Saudi aren’t even allowed to drive automobiles.

Wondering why women don’t hold political office in Saudi Arabia is like wondering why black men didn’t hold political office in the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Mrs. Pelosi also defied tradition and wore a lavender pantsuit instead of the long black robe, called an abaya, that women, Saudi and non-Saudi, have to wear in the kingdom.

Mrs. Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia from Syria, where she defied the White House's Middle East policy by meeting with President Bashar Assad and saying "the road to Damascus is a road to peace." The Bush administration has rejected direct talks with Damascus and criticized Mrs. Pelosi for her visit.

Other than that, and misquoting Israel Prime Minister Olmert, things went rather well for a bumbling Secretary of State wannabe.

How long before she takes credit for the release of the British sailors?

Link

Scandal manufactured by Democrats and media

Federal judges serve at the pleasure of the President. He hires them and can fire them.

The firing of eight federal judges has been made into the “scandal that isn’t there” by Democrats in Washington and perpetuated by the media.

The contrived controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys is largely an exercise in imaginary indignation.

Congressional Democrats suggest that some of the firings may have been improper and demand to know the reasons for each of them. By what authority they make such demand is not clear, since the Supreme Court has ruled that, with limited exceptions, Congress has no voice in the dismissal of federal officers.

There was no such outcry when Bill Clinton ordered Janet Reno (pictured) to fire all 93 federal attorneys. In fact, the liberal media made it seem like it was the right thing to do.

Furthermore, there is nothing to stop Bush from firing any political appointee for whatever reason he chooses.

The Democrats are trying to make anything the administration does to appear as a scandal until the 2008 election.

They know that Hillary will probably be their candidate for president in 2008 and they are afraid she will be a weak candidate. They also know that the media will keep their “scandal” accusations alive for as long as they can.

The sad thing about this whole “scandal that wasn’t there” affair is the unwillingness of the President and Republicans in congress to put a stop to his nonsense! This proves the old saying: “people will do to you what you allow them to do.”

Link

Only 36% of Democrats would vote for Hillary

Nearly half of the respondents in a recent poll said they dislike Hillary Clinton’s political opinions and Clinton as a person and that she does not appear to connect with people on a personal level.

More than one in five Democrats that participated in the survey said they would not vote for Clinton. Overall, 36 percent said they would vote for the former first lady.

This is not good news for Democrats because Hillary will probably be the standard bearer for the Party in 2008.

Link

Washington lawmakers feasting on pork

Washington politicians have been accustomed to adding their favorite pork projects to bills they think the president will sign because of the importance of the main portion of the bill.

When such a bill reaches the president, he must sign it, in spite of the pork, or veto the entire bill. He does not have the ability to veto parts of a bill.

The president should be given ‘line item’ veto power but such a bill would never pass the House and Senate.

The House bill, which passed last week, exceeded the administration’s request by $21 billion and included money for spinach growers, peanut storage and citrus farmers.

If the Senate bill goes to conference committee as written, the two chambers may find themselves fighting over the best cuts of pork.

Washington lawmakers try to hide some of their pet projects as they are doing with the $100 million for the political party conventions. $50 million for the Democratic convention in Denver, Colorado and $50 million for the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The $100 million for the political conventions is included in a section described as “Katrina recovery, veterans’ care and for other purposes.”

Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Monday defended the extra spending, describing it as “common sense and good economics.”

Senator Byrd (pictured), former Ku Klux Klan member, is the king of the pork-barrelers.

A good portion of $20 million is for insect infestation control in Nevada, thanks to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Politicians love to take big chunks of federal money back to their home state to help insure their re-election.

With no term-limits and no line-item veto, Washington lawmakers feast on pork year after year.

Partial list of pork projects by Sen. Byrd:
(paid for by Federal tax dollars)
Robert C. Byrd Drive, from Beckley to Sophia (Byrd's hometown)
Robert C. Byrd Highway
Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution
Robert C. Byrd Freeway
Robert C. Byrd Center for Hospitality and Tourism
Robert C. Byrd Technology Center at Alderson-Broaddus College
Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, near Princeton
Robert C. Byrd Bridge between Huntington and Chesapeake, Ohio
Robert C. Byrd addition to the lodge at Oglebay Park, Wheeling
Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Pine Grove
Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships
Robert C. Byrd Expressway, U.S. 52 near Weirton
Robert C. Byrd Institute in Charleston
Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing
Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center
Robert C. Byrd Federal Building (there are two)
Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex
Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Hardy County
Robert C. Byrd Scholastic Recognition Award
Robert C. Byrd Community Center in the naval station, Sugar Grove

Senator Byrd is never questioned about his pork spending by the ruling left-wing of the Democratic Party in Washington or by the liberal media because he dutifully votes with Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer John Kerry, etc.

Link here and here.

Aide to Sen. Webb arrested for gun possession

An aide to Jim Webb, Democratic Senator from Virginia, was arrested Monday when he entered a Senate office building with a loaded pistol belonging to the senator.

Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the aide was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.

Sen. Webb’s office said it was an oversight. Carrying an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition was an oversight?

Link

Newspapers hurting as advertising revenue drops

Big city newspapers continue to stumble financially.

Although advertising revenue increased on newspaper web sites, ad income dropped in the printed version keeps dropping.

Revenue from advertising was in striking decline last month, compared with February a year ago, and were generally weaker than analysts had expected.

What will big city dwellers use to wrap fish if newspapers go the way of the dodo bird? They’ll have to find something else to line the birdcage.

As politically irresponsible as big city newspapers are, I can’t say as I’ll mourn their passing -- if it comes to that.

A link to the New York Times article is here. Some day they may print their own obituary.

Turnout low at immigrant rallies

Pro-immigration activists were disappointed last weekend by paltry rally participation.

Tens of thousands were expected in Washington but fewer than 5,000 showed up.

Some said it was because the movement's national organizers in Washington have lost touch with the people.

Not mentioned in the article is what could be the main reason for the lower than expected turnout -- a feeling of complacency on the part of the immigrants.

Many of the immigrants have everything they want now so why bother with demonstrating?

They earn a lot more than they did where they came from and they get free medical care for their families. If they are ill or injured, they are treated at most clinics and hospitals. Most have no insurance so U.S. taxpayers end up paying.

Link

Give Gore a dunce cap instead of honorary degree

The University of Minnesota is considering giving AL Gore (pictured) an honorary doctorate in climatology for his 2006 movie, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Considering the multitude of misleading and inaccurate assertions Gore delivered in the film, Gore is better fitted for a dunce cap.

Inaccuracy is the norm rather than the exception in Gore's movie. He would receive no better than an "F" in any serious course on climatology. The question is, given the current crisis in our public schools, does giving a bad scientist an honorary degree really send the right message?

A complete list of Gore's false and misleading statements would fill an entire book.

Some of the highlights can be found here.

Democrats 0 for 6 in Congress

The Democrats have been sidetracked by the war in Iraq and by their own “get Bush” agenda.

None of the elements of the newly minted Democrats' congressional agenda have made it to President Bush's desk, and the prospects of signature bills such as federal funding for stem-cell research or homeland-security improvements becoming law any time soon are doubtful.

Much of the Democratic agenda -- dubbed "Six for '06" -- sailed out of the House with bipartisan support, but all of it has stalled in the Senate as leaders scramble to deal with the Iraq war.

"I don't think they've gotten anything done," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said of the Democrats. "How many bills have they sent to the president? None? Somewhere around there."

Link

House Democrats in disarray: pull DC voting bill

With Speaker Nancy Pelosi absent, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (pictured) trying in vain to do a “balancing act” the Democrats appeared to be in disarray Thursday as the Democrat sponsored bill to grant Washington, DC, a vote in the House was stalled by Republicans.

House Democrats pulled a bill to grant voting rights to Washington, D.C., after Republicans offered a motion that would repeal the gun ban for the District.

The move is a clear signal that Democrats have lost control of the House floor on the voting rights issue after minority Republicans presented the Democratic majority with a politically unpalatable motion that their conservative members would be forced to support for fear of angering the gun rights community.

Link

Al's warming lies - the REAL 'Inconvenient Truth'

Politicians like to have a scare issue to make us tremble making it easier to raise money -- very little of which goes to fight the cause of the scare.

Today it's Global Warming. Yesterday it was bird flu. Before that it was SARS which was preceded by Acid Rain. Before that it was the Coming Ice Age and so on.

It’s just that the man-made warming scare is one they see as the real winner for them. It will bring in the dollars and political clout they need.

Link

British Airways set corpse in first class seat

A British Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.

The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows

Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”.

What did Mr. Trinder expect? The poor lady would not have fit in the overhead compartments.

What other airlines have done differently? Maybe not.

Link

Defiant Bush warned Democrats: no show trials

Were the Democrats bluffing when they wanted open hearings on the judge firings? If so, their bluff was called.

A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides speak about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath, or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.

In return the Democrats said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides.

In a late-afternoon statement at the White House, Bush said he would fight any subpoena effort in court.

Bush finally decided to stand up to the Senate Democrats. He is not willing to let them grandstand and publicly bash the Bush Administration, which is the only reason this was started in the first place.

This whole judge firing is just a partisan ploy as reported here. The Senate Democrats know the media will make this sound like another Watergate, yet when Bill Clinton had Janet Reno fire all 93 federal prosecutors there was hardly a ripple because the media reported it as if it was the proper thing to do.

Bush is a ‘lame duck’ president but that's no reason he should allow Schumer et al to make him into a ‘dead duck’ which is their real intent.

Link

Has the New York Times turned over a new leaf?

The New York Times usually bends over backward to coddle and protect liberal politicians. Uncharacteristically, the Times recently bashed Al Gore’s global warming movie (link here).

Now the Times seems overly critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton prompting a scathing retaliation from Bill.

The long love affair between Bill and Hillary Clinton (pictured) and The New York Times seems to be over.

At a fund-raiser at the Trump World Tower apartment of mortgage mogul Keith Kantrowitz, the former president spoke for two hours to a select group that had contributed the maximum $2,300 to Hillary's presidential campaign, and much of his talk was devoted to attacking the Times.

He said his wife wasn't getting a fair shake from the Times.

Clinton said the Times is attacking Hillary because she won't apologize for her vote on the war in Iraq.

The Times had always been super supportive in the past.

The shoe is on the other foot now. Usually it’s conservative politicians who feel the wrath of the New York Times.

Link

Seeking maximum political gain in attorneys uproar

Former Attorney General Janet Reno fired all 93 U.S. attorney’s at the start of the Bill Clinton administration. The media was so overjoyed that a Democrat was finally in the White House they refused to report anything negative about the unprecedented firings.

Now, it’s different as members of the media are eagerly backing up Congressional Democrats who are planning a new, two-track strategy for maximizing the political windfall -- and the disclosure of potentially embarrassing information -- from the Bush administration's firings of eight federal prosecutors, according to top party officials.

What the media is not reporting is that the firing of 8 U.S. attorney’s by the Justice Department was because the U.S. Prosecutors had refused to investigate and prosecute Democrat vote fraud.

Link here and here.

Tennessee mine enriched Gore, scarred land

A newspaper that once backed Al Gore is now critical of the Gore hypocrisy.

Al Gore Jr. received more than $500,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines who held mineral leases on his farm near Carthage, Tenn. Now the mines have a new owner and are scheduled to reopen later this year.

Before the mines closed in 2003, they emitted thousands of pounds of toxic substances and several times, the water discharged from the mines into nearby rivers had levels of toxins above what was legal.

Maybe Al Gore should have issued himself enough carbon credits to cover up this story.

Link

Struggling for support of their Iraq policy

A mini-drama in a congressional hallway last week (reported on here) shed some light on the difficulties that Democrats are having in keeping their promise to change the course on Iraq.

They say they have a strategy to reach that goal, but it will take time to line up enough support to pressure President Bush.

They not only don’t have a strategy, they don’t have the votes to stop war funding.

Even if they did, Bush has promised to veto the bill. Link