If there was ever a case for issuing concealed carry permits.

Oh would they get a surprise when I calmly pulled out my Para-Ordinance P-12 and ordered them to either get on the ground or go say hi to the Devil.

Woo, woo, Juggalo yourself, grab some turf boys.

For several nights last month, a group of thugs with black hooded sweat
shirts pulled tight over their heads, including at least one in "angry" clown
makeup, terrorized visitors to Pierce County's Fort Steilacoom Park, police say.

The group cried "woo, woo, Juggalo" as they assaulted park visitors with
a machete and fists. They stole cellphones, cash and wallets and even threatened
to cut their victims' heads off, according to court documents.

So far,
two men and a woman have been charged with robbery and assault for their alleged
roles in the string of attacks, said Pierce County deputy prosecutor Phil
Sorensen. Prosecutors say the suspects claim to be "Juggalos," a subculture that
has developed among the fan base of the rap/metal group Insane Clown
Posse.

Who are these people, and please tell me they don't vote!

I found out why ALCOA profits are up in the second quarter.
A huge run on tinfoil to make hats!


These folks must read Kos

Our sixth question asked, "Do you believe persons within the United States government, or government agencies, organized a controlled demolition of the World Trade Center buildings (including WTC7) in concert with the passenger airline collisions?" Because of the nature of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, a popular theory among the most intense conspiracies involves the possibility of a pre-planned controlled demolition of the World Trade Center towers. While this theory is supported by an amazing number of websites with a staggering degree of detail, exactly half of all respondents agree with this extreme theory.

Dan Rather on HDnet. I'd rather not

Dan Rather found the only guy in America crazy enough to hire him.
So who is this pillar of good sense and ethical standards?

This guy.

Thats right, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban.

The hourly program will include "hard-edged field reports," interviews and investigative pieces and will be "completely uncensored," according to the channel's news release.

Rather is hard at work on the word processor right now making fake memos from the office of David Stern to the officiating crew of game 5 of the NBA Finals. Here is a sneak peak.

Official Document

From: David Stern
To: Game 5 Finals Officiating Crew

Hi guys, you know that Shaq still has those photos of me dressed up like Britney Spears so we need to get him one more ring and he swears this time he will give me the negatives.
Make it close, but we need a Miami win tonight. Besides, I have had quite enough of Mark Cuban. It will be a cold day in Hell before I let him win the championship.

Sincerely, your boss
David Stern
Thanks, remember I sign your checks

Tax revenue up again - damn those Bush tax cuts!

Good news for the nation and the GOP is hard to find unless your looking for it. I must give kudos to the New York Times, I know for me the Times basher giving praise to the grey lady is a rare thing, but they did publish a this story on the US news page as the sixth story just behind small colleges short of men turning to football to get more students. I couldn't find it at all on the Washington Post home page.

An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.

I wonder if Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi are drowning their sorrows tonight.

Nancy, if only the economy would crash and put a million or two people out of work, we might have a chance at taking back the House. Your right Howard, and a huge insurgent attack right before the election on one of our bases in Iraq wouldn't hurt either.

Bottoms up.

Five editors and one columnist resign!

"I just hate to see what has happened to the newspaper." one editor said.

Could it be? Is this the first of many such resignations from the New York Times?

Naw, what were you thinking.

The five editors and one columnist who resigned are from the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Just what has the owner of this fine newspaper been doing to cause such a remarkable shake up at her paper?

Did she publish the classified details of the NSA terrorist surveillance program and tip off the terrorists as to how we were tracking their communications? No that was the New York Times.

Did she publish the classified details of the terrorist financing network (SWIFT) program ? No that would be the New York Times again.

What did she publish or what didn't she want published? What was so terrible?

"For a number of months, there has been a discussion between Mrs. McCaw and senior editors about the direction of the News-Press," said the spokesman, Sam Singer. "She desired to have a stronger emphasis on local news, and these individuals didn't like that emphasis, and so they decided to part company."

Oh and the straw that broke the camels back-

Another dispute involved her reprimand of a reporter and three editors for publishing the address where actor Rob Lowe planned to build his "dream home."

Oh my! How dare she withhold such vital public information! The publics right to know must come first!
Oh wait, that is Bill Keller's line.

I want your vote and twenty bucks in lottery tickets.

Great to see you here today, I love you Indian guys, you're the fastest growing race in Delaware.

Yes, your right.

Don't I know you?

I'm not sure, have you been in my store?

THATS IT! You own a 7-Eleven or Dunkin Donuts right?

Sort of, I own the Kwik E Mart.

I knew it, you guys own all the stop-n-rob stores in my state.

Mr. Senator, not all Indians are convenience store owners you know.

Yea, yea, I think the receptionist at my dentist is Indian, she nice.

Mr. Senator sir, if you walk into a medical school or a computer science graduate program you would see a large portion of the students are from India.

No kiddin? You mean you can send your kids to medical school by selling donuts? Dang, I'm gonna stop putting my change in the tip jar. Medical school, peddling deep fried dough and slurpies, really?

I think what I am trying to say is there are ten of thousands of doctors and scientists and business owners that don't work at convenience stores or donut shops Mr. Senator sir.

Right, right, well that's cool by me. See you at the slurpie machine big guy!

What a horses ass.

If I owned a Dunkin Donuts shop.....

After the incredibly stupid remark made by Senator Joe Biden, there could be a huge upside in marketing.

"You cannot go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent."

If I owned a Dunkin Donuts shop or a 7-Eleven store I would have a huge sign in the window of my store. It would read -

FREE COFFEE IF YOU TELL ME JOE BIDEN IS A HORSES ASS.

I would call the local news and get a local talk radio program to broadcast live from my store. I don't care if I gave away 1,000 free cups that day, the publicity would be worth ten times that much.

How much is a Dunkins Donuts franchise anyway?
HMmmmm.

One year ago,

One year ago people went about their daily lives in the nations Capitol. They took the crowded subway to work . Just another day in the bustling city. Sipping your morning coffee or tea, eating a pastry. Smiling at the little girl across the car in her new dress and shoes, she must be on vacation you think to yourself. Looking down at your day planner going over this morning meetings and wondering if you could free up any time this afternoon to reserve a room at that nice little inn you like out in the country. I love living here you think, there is so much to do, and everyone gets along mostly. The culture, the people, the history. What could happen here?

This was not Washington D.C. or New York city.

One year ago, to some in London, the war seemed almost like a reality show. Yea, and the show sucks, I wonder when they will cancel it so we can watch something else. The war is over there somewhere, just another abstract concept, something to argue about, but nothing that effects you everyday life.

Then as London went about another day filled with the things that make up life, the war was laid on their doorsteps.

The bombings on 7/7 were not just a wake up call for London, it was message sent out to the rest of the civilized world.

We are not going away, and we want to kill you. Stay in Iraq, get out of Iraq, support Israel, don't support Israel, convert to Islam, don't convert, it doesn't matter. If you are not us, we will kill you.

A 'rolling' fast

Yes, just when you thought the fever swamp might be showing signs of a drought, Cindy Sheehan and her gang of useful idiots are starting a 'rolling' fast until G Dubya brings the troops home.

At least four activists, Ms Sheehan, veteran comedian and peace campaigner Dick Gregory, former army colonel Ann Wright and environmental campaigner Diane Wilson, will launch long-term fasts.

"I don't know how long I can fast, but I am making this open-ended," Ms Wilson said.

Others, including Penn, Sarandon, novelist Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover will join a "rolling" fast, a relay in which 2700 activists pledge to refuse food for at least 24 hours, and then hand over to a comrade.

No, I don't have the video of Cindy fitting Sean Penn with his tin-foil hat.

No need to worry about me, I have a Certified Angus tri-tip roast aging in the fridge for the Fourth of July. I will have an extra portion in the wingnuts honor.

Bill Bennett's America, warts and all

I like Bill Bennett. He is a great guy, and a fine American. I bought Mr. Bennett's Book of Virtue for my son and I to read together when he was five or six. It is still on his bookshelf. As much as admire Bill Bennett, he is far from perfect, his struggle with casino gambling gave the left and his enemies on the right a big stick to beat him with, and beat him they did. The most recent jab was a sly and cutting remark made by the viscous little reporter from the Washington Post, Dana Millbank, who Bennett had taken to the woodshed when she published the leak about prisoners housed in foreign prisons. I was watching Meet the Press and as usual it was four to one against Bennett, ok three and half to one because Bill Safire is in the right side of things half the time, but this is a cheap shot.

MS. MITCHELL: Dana, let me point out that The Washington Post, your newspaper, was behind the others but also did publish this story. And a story you wrote last year disclosing the secret CIA prisons won the Pulitzer Prize, but it also led to William Bennett, sitting here, saying that three reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize —you for that story and Jim Risen and others for another story were, "not worthy of an award but rather worthy of jail." Dana, how do you plead?

MS. PRIEST: Well, it's not a crime to publish classified information. And this is one of the things Mr. Bennett keeps telling people that it is. But, in fact, there are some narrow categories of information you can't publish, certain signals, communications, intelligence, the names of covert operatives and nuclear secrets.

Now why isn't it a crime? I mean, some people would like to make casino gambling a crime, but it is not a crime. Why isn't it not a crime? Because the framers of the Constitution wanted to protect the press so that they could perform a basic role in government oversight, and you can't do that. Look at the criticism that the press got after Iraq that we did not do our job on WMD. And that was all in a classified arena. To do a better job, and I believe that we should've done a better job,we would've again, found ourselves in the arena of...

Hey Dana, when you can't win the debate on facts you can always resort to personal attacks, it's very professional, I think I'll try it.

Go home and polish your pulitzer you little weasel, I wonder how you sleep at night.
Naw, it doesn't make me feel any better.
Back to my post.

I am about 100 pages into Bill Bennett's new book, America, the last best hope, and it is a wonderful read so far. Bennett is a story teller, things that I had forgotten or never knew are presented in a familiar and fascinating way. However, Bennett does not sugar coat our history, he never lets the reader forget that while the famous names were doing famous things at famous places, there were countless black slaves toiling in the fields under brutal conditions yearning not for freedom from an oppressive government, but freedom in the truest sense of the word.

The Africans brought to this new nation did not see America as a dream, to be realized, to them it was a four hundred year nightmare that took a bloody and terrible war to end. The civil war, where the freedom fought for and won at a great cost to abolish slavery, would not be fully realized for another hundred years.

He also tells the story of the native Indian tribes, some friendly, and some not. It is wonderful to read the accounts of how many times native people truly saved the American experiment from certain destruction, and saddened to know they would only be pushed further back into the wilderness until they ran out of wilderness.

Many of today's textbooks and history classes deal with those two subjects alone as American history. That is a tragedy. While no one wants the story of America to be a Hollywood version of the fifties, nor should it be told only through the lens of the wrongs and worst decisions made as our nation came into existence.

No, the America I teach my son, and now my daughter about, is the America Bennett writes about. The courage, the sacrifice, the struggle to make a new nation founded on the principals of freedom and liberty that could have, and almost failed countless times right through today. The history of how we became the last, best hope.

America- warts and all.

Drum circling hippies, not to be confused with giggling stoners

As Eric Cartman would say - "These are what we call the uh giggling stoners. Pretty common form of hippie, usually found in the attics. Problem is, if you see one hippie, there's probably a whole lot more you're not seein'.

Well it seems that the US Forrest Service has seen enough of the Rainbow hippies.

The Forest Service estimated that by Friday night about 6,000 tie-dyed hippies were camping in makeshift villages. That number swelled dramatically Saturday, the first official day of the gathering. An updated official estimate was not available.

Rainbows formed drum circles, exchanged beads, batik and crystals, and lined up at communal kitchens for meals. Everything is free, from meals to yoga classes to massage. Hugs are doled out at every turn and members greet each other by saying, "Welcome home."

Adams, 61, was drifting with a group of fellow hippies in the 1960s after his service during the Vietnam War when he decided to fulfill a vision of holding a giant gathering based on peace and love. Since the first Rainbow Family gathering in Colorado in 1972, he said, the federal government has denied permits and has done what it could to block the annual gathering.

Half hearted? Congress' response to the publishing secrets is just that.

A letter to my Congressman;

Dear Congressman Herger;

I have just now finished reading the text of HR 895 written by Rep. Michael Oxley. I am unimpressed to be sure. I am reminded of the comment made by Edward Everett after President Lincoln gave his address at Gettysburg. "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

I believe there are close to twelve hundred words in HR 895. However there are six words that are remarkably absent. The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Without naming the two newspapers that published the details of a classified and highly effective surveillance program, does a great disservice to the men and women serving in our armed forces. They need to know that the Congress that represents them has the courage to face an attack of printed words that will surely come, while those soldiers face real danger defending our nation from those who wish to destroy it.

How many terror plots will not be stopped because the editors and reporters for the New York and Los Angeles Times believe they know more about counter terrorism and surveillance than the people sworn to do carry out that duty?

Mr. Herger, I have an amendment to HR 895. I believe you call it a "gut and amend" bill.
I hope you don't mind if an amateur gives it a try.

Resolution

Supporting intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorists and terrorist finances conducted consistent with Federal law and with appropriate Congressional consultation and specifically condemning the disclosure and publication of classified information that impairs the international fight against terrorism and needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of further terror attacks by revealing a crucial method by which terrorists are traced through their finances.

WHERAS Publishing the details of a classified nation intelligence program is against the law.

WHERAS The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times did exactly that on June 23rd of 2006.

RESOLVED That the House of Representatives condemns the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. We also expresses concern that the disclosure may endanger the lives of American citizens, including members of the Armed Forces, as well as individuals and organizations that support United States efforts; and expects the cooperation of all news media organizations in protecting the lives of Americans and the capability of the government to identify, disrupt, and capture terrorists by not disclosing classified intelligence programs such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

It is my belief that the war against terror is real, and should be treated as such. Portions of the public, as well as the press may have forgotten the attacks on our homeland that bright September day almost five years ago, I have not. I hope the image of that terrible day brings resolve and candor to you and to the members of congress in this matter.

Time to stand up for your ideals, here is your orange jump suit.

Reading the responses from the Times, both New York and LA, they keep insisting that the press is not above the law. I love the quote from William Bennett;

William Bennett, the former Reagan administration official
and conservative radio host, said the "cumulative impact" of both Times stories,
and The Post's disclosure of secret CIA prisons overseas, had brought the
situation to a "critical mass." Conservatives, he said, now wonder: "Gosh, is
there a secret operation we're running that won't be disclosed by the press?"

Bennett favors prosecuting journalists in national security cases, but
believes that bringing espionage charges is not the best approach. He favors a
leak investigation.

"If you go to these reporters and ask who their
sources were, then they're in a Judy Miller situation," Bennett said, referring
to the former Times reporter who spent 85 days behind bars for refusing to
testify in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. "If they don't tell you, they
go to jail. Some of us have been saying for a long time that the press is not
above the law. Sooner or later you have to prove that."

Welcome to the party Mr. Putin

If you want to get on the right side of the war on radical Islamic terrorism, you might want to stop helping Iran and Syria and send in a division of soldiers to join the coalition to kill these killers.

The terrorists have a motto that one-ups the President's 'your either with us or against us'. Their motto is 'your either us, or we will saw off your heads'

Al-Qa'ida group beheads Russians
June 27, 2006 PARIS: An insurgent coalition led by al-Qa'ida has claimed responsibility for the deaths of four Russian diplomats held hostage in Iraq and released a gruesome internet video purportedly showing two of the men being executed.

The video was released on Sunday, the same day that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presented his long-awaited "national reconciliation" plan intended to reduce insurgent attacks through dialogue and amnesty.

A statement posted on the internet by the Mujaheddin Shura Council in Iraq said: "We present the implementation of Allah's rule against the Russian diplomats to comfort the believers."

Not quite so catchy, but honest as the day is long.

Remember Beslan? These are the same people. You might want to remember that when you are selling missiles and tanks to them.

The Iraqis take their government out for a spin. I hope they know what they are doing.

Just as the US debate over the democrats plans to cut and run, slice and jog or shave and walk, are ending, the Iraq government may be letting them off the hook with this new plan.

The Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as tomorrow in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.

The 28-point package for reconciliation will offer resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms.

The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces.

If this plan works, fantastic. Bring our troops home if the Iraqis make peace with the Sunis and drive the foreign insurgency out of their country. I have my doubts. I imagine with US troops departing, the insurgency will be going into overdrive. The first full scale coordinated rocket and mortar attack on the new government inside the green zone will put a halt to the US withdrawal, at least in Baghdad.

I want to see more details and I want to hear from the US commanders in the field, but in the end this is their nation, the training wheels must come off sometime. I just hope when they fall, and they will, they are not heading down a steep hill at full speed.

The New York Times, a terrorists best friend.

You know, sometimes the only way to keep from getting mad as hell is to laugh. It helps, but I am still mad as hell at the MSM for putting our soldiers and citizens in danger just to sell papers and get awards.

What's next? Will the New York Times publish the security layout and launch codes for a few ICBM silos in Nebraska?

Death to the pig eaters!

Al-Zarqawi's mother seems to be getting the hang of blogging. Here is a sample.

Greetings to all of my fans and pigeaters destined to have their flesh ripped to pieces in fiery rings of Hell! I met Tom Cruise at a party for Oprah and Ralph, and he seemed like a nice fellow. Short, but nice. He started to talk to me about thetans and I tuned him out. I am getting used to LA, but so many pigeaters.

WMDs in Iraq. The back story?

I want to know a lot more about Mr.Gaubatz, but his story is upsetting and intriguing.

Dave Gaubatz is a former U.S. Federal Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and is both an Arabic linguist and a counter-terrorism specialist. Mr. Gaubatz was sent to southern Iraq, along with five other OSI agents, concurrent with the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the mandate to search for WMDs. During this mission and with the aide of numerous Iraqi sources Mr. Gaubatz, along with his colleagues, identified four sites that were suspect. The Iraqis who assisted with the mission (ranging from doctors, engineers and farmers, to police officers and government officials) explained to the OSI agents that the WMDs had been buried at the specific locations within concrete bunkers in certain sections of rivers, and in the sewage system. Along with the Iraqi sources' accounts, there was an abundance of circumstantial evidence in the area near each site pointing to some type of chemical/biological activity. This evidence included protective equipment (gas masks), and decontamination and antidote materials, as well as missile imprints. The team of agents submitted a complete report to their chain of command; the report was supplied to the U.S. Weapons Inspectors in Northern Iraq in 2003 as well. The four sites identified were not only never searched, but have not yet been secured.

Meanwhile back at the palace.

What do think the Americans will do about our new rocket, Supreme Commander?

The Americans? I hope they offer me a butt-load of money to stop the launch.

But what about Bush? He says there will be consequences if we launch the missile.

Oh please, I have dealt with American Presidents, they talk tough but in the end they give you money and the technology to threaten them again. It like handing out ski masks and pistols at the front door of the bank. They are just asking you to rob them.

Yea, but what about Iraq? Saddam thought that Bush was bluffing and now he is sitting in one of his own prisons.

Saddam is an idiot. But he still has Americans on his defense team, can you believe it? I would execute your whole family if you were defending someone I had on trial.

When was the last trail Supreme Commander?

I forget, when the people get a little uppity, we hold a trial and then execute a trouble maker, it settles the peasants down.

Especially if he is guilty.

Whatever.

Supreme Commander! The general just sent an urgent message, he says to take a look off the coast.


What the Hell?






Oh crap.....

The cats in the cradle on father's day

My wife had to work today and my daughter spent the night at a friends house, so it was my son and I at church this morning. Fathers Day is not a big day most churches, and the congregation was a bit smaller than usual. Too bad. They missed a great message about fathers, children and parenting. Dan, one of our associate Pastors spoke about his children who are grown now and have families of their own now. But the part that really got to me was his looking back on a sermon he wrote years ago while his children were still at home.

He read about a special day where the whole family enjoyed being together, laughing and playing and having a wonderful time. Later that night as the children were in bed sleeping, he peeked inside his son's room. His son was a few weeks away from his 13th birthday and while he watched his son sleep he noticed that his room was a mess. His clothes, shoes and tennis racquets were all over the floor and the peaceful feeling he had was slowly replaced by one of growing anger. He said that he caught himself before he became too upset and realized that the wonderful day he had shared with his son was more valuable than the condition of his room.

My son will soon turn 13 and the condition of his room seems to be a constant battle between us. I am not willing to write off the prospect of a clean room, but the story did give me some perspective. Our children are growing up so fast, and while I believe there is a definite value in teaching them the responsibility of keeping their rooms clean and doing their chores, I don't want to ruin a day or a week's worth of connecting and learning by loosing my temper and driving a wedge between us. Patience is a virtue that I need to work on.

The topper of the service was the worship team was asked by Dan to play 'Cats in the Cradle' by Harry Chapin. Keith and the music team did a wonderful job. That song gets to me every time I hear it.

A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

The boy was just like me. A powerful image.
We are teaching our children how to interact with the world every day. Through our anger, our relationships, our love and the way we spend our most precious resource, our time.
I look back in disappointment when I think about the times I told my son I was too busy or too tired to play ball or just to watch a movie together. He doesn't ask me as often and I am sure that as he grows older, those opportunities will become fewer until they don't come at all.

When the service was over we sat down outside to have a cookie, our church has really good cookies, and I struck up a conversation with a woman. She told me how the sermon reminded her of how fast her children grew up. She pointed out a your woman in crowd and said that it was her daughter. She had just graduated from UC Davis on Friday and they had a big party for her the night before. I wondered as I ate my cookie, how fast will the next five years go by for our son?

Will I be sitting on that same bench looking at young man who will be entering college, or will I be sitting without him?

Will we have grown apart? Will he think of me a pain in his side that he won't have to deal with much longer?

I guess those questions will be answered in the next five years.

I hope am up to the task.

If its a Saturday in June, there must be wedding

I am heading out the door right now to perform the wedding ceremony for my friend's son. This will be my second wedding I have officiated in the last two years. I received an email from someone a while back asking if I would perform a wedding for their daughter. I said that I only do wedding for good friends, and referred her to the local Pastor of the Presbyterian church here in Esparto.

I have received quite a few compliments on my services, but that was easy. It's easy to write a ceremony for your best friend. Writing for strangers is a little harder, like today's ceremony. I know the father of the groom, but until last night I had never met the bride or groom. They seem like a very nice couple and so the words came easy last night as I wrote the ceremony.

I know there are many sample ceremonies complete with vows and prayers, but I am not a cut and paste kind of guy. If I perform your wedding ceremony, I want to convey the meaning of marriage as I see it. In my eyes, marriage is not just a decision, it is a life long commitment.

And you better stay together, or I may hunt you down and kick your butt.

I want to keep my perfect record.

The Night Commuters

A heart breaking story of children, war, slavery and survival in northern Uganda.

Every night in northern Uganda, thousands of children between the ages of three and seventeen walk by themselves up to ten miles from their homes to the relative safety of town centers, where they sleep on sidewalks, under verandas, and in makeshift tents. These children, called "night commuters", walk in order to avoid being abducted and forced into soldiering or sexual slavery by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.

I'm no scientist, but I have to call BS on this one.

Discrimination may lead to heart disease.
Ok.

As part of the ongoing Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) Heart Study, 181 African-American women, ages 45 to 58, answered questions designed to measure encounters with every day slights, like being ignored, receiving poorer service at a restaurant or being treated with less courtesy than other people.

Discrimination was assessed at different time points and averaged over five years, and the extent of calcium in the arteries of the heart was assessed at the fifth annual follow-up exam.

The researchers found that the more discrimination the women suffered the more likely they were to have calcium in the arteries.

For each 1-unit increase in the chronic discrimination score, there was nearly a threefold higher likelihood of calcification, Lewis and colleagues report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Even after adjusting for factors known to contribute to heart disease, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, older age, and higher body weight, the chances of having calcification remained roughly 2.5-times higher among women reporting chronic discrimination.

Why not study Asian women? Do they suffer any less 'discrimination' than black women?
Could it be that the medical risk factors for black women are so high that you could find a correlation between almost any factor and heart decease?

I wonder what percentage of the women reported chronic discrimination? This could be a very small sample of the study group. If a 10% of the sample reported chronic discrimination and these women had high very risk factors, that could skew your findings.

People of all colors, ages, sizes and disabilities face some sort of discrimination in their lives, some don't notice it, some ignore it, some respond to it, and others embrace it as the reason why their lives didn't turn out the way they planned. Facing 'chronic discrimination' everyday would be a terrible thing, they only problem with the term is how it is defined.

'Being ignored, receiving poorer service at a restaurant or being treated with less courtesy than other people' is in the eye of the slighted. If I was asked by researchers if I experienced this type of 'discrimination', I could honestly answer yes. Do I consider myself a victim of discrimination?
Not a chance.

Dumber than a suitcase of rocks.

Keith Olbermann; pompous ass.

Olbermann, whose "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" airs weeknights at 8, apparently has precious little respect for Cosby, whose "Rita Cosby: Live & Direct" airs at 10 p.m.

"Rita's nice," Olbermann wrote to a fan from his MSNBC E-mail account, "but dumber than a suitcase of rocks." Yesterday Cosby retorted: "Keith got it wrong. I'm not that nice."

But a Cosby intimate gasped when informed of Olbermann's E-mail. "That's incredibly disappointing," he said.

An MSNBC spokesman didn't dispute the authenticity of the months-old E-mail, which came to light this week after the recipient shared it with this column on condition of anonymity.

Yolo County's stupid criminal of the day.

That honor would go to Rajneel Kumar of West Sacramento. A tip to all you the drug dealers out there, you may not want to flaunt that fact on myspace.com

Not only were there several photos depicting marijuana plants, Giorgi explained, the subject was quoted as saying, "I have a medical condition that my doctor says I have to cure with 'green' medicine. The weird thing is that alllll of my friends have the same condition!! Haha, it's legal b------!"

Agents identified the site belonging to Rajneel Kumar, 25, living at 1617 Fernwood St., West Sacramento.

Agents were concerned, Giorgi explained, because Kumar's residence was only one block from Westmore Oaks Elementary School.

How many of you want to be a fire engine?

I am not sure how much money the Washington Post spent on this poll, but I think I could have done a much better survey at the post office on Saturday than the clowns at MWS Strategies. What does a Washington DC energy and oil lobbying firm know about immigration polling?
Not much by looking at this poll.

Which of the following do you trust the most on immigration?
37% CNN's Lou Dobbs
32% DON'T KNOW/REFUSED
31% PRESIDENT BUSH

Your second most popular response was don't know / refused to answer?
Wow.

I wonder if I get a Washington DC PO Box and a cool website if I can start taking some of the low hanging fruit off the poll-driven news industry?

And then there is this........

Beaten with dead chihuahua.

A Missouri woman has been arrested for breaking into a dog breeder's home and beating her repeatedly over the head with a dead Chihuahua, local media reported.

She woman was upset because the puppy had died, police told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

Way to go Taz.

Taz, an injured police dog is on the road to rehab thanks to the foks at UC Davis VMTH.

It was Sunday, April 16, and Sacramento Police Officer Hans Merten had just started his shift at 6:30 a.m. when they received reports of an armed man breaking into a car in the Oak Park area. Once a perimeter was set up, Merten and Taz began searching back yards for the suspect.

The only way into one yard was over a 6-foot-tall chain-link fence. As they were trained, Merten lifted Taz onto his shoulders and launched the dog over the fence. But Taz's feet got caught and he landed on his side - on concrete.

“He lets out a little bit of a whimper, but then he gets up and searches the yard,” Merten said. They went to work the next day and the extent of his injury didn't show up until that night.

“He got out of the car and his legs went limp. He couldn't move anymore,” Merten said.

Later, at the veterinarian's office, the severity of his dog's injury became clear.

“It was pretty hard to find out that he'll never work again and have a hard time walking. He's my partner. I spend more time with him than my wife,” Merten said.

al-Zarqawi and his sexual reward in 'Paradise'

Sorry I'm sooo bad at photo editing, but I could resist.

Al-Zarqawi dead, women and minorities hit hardest.

On a day with the good news that a murdering scumbag like al Zarqawi was taken out, I am sure we here the 'oh yea, well OBL is still out there' line from the anti-war crowd.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

One murderous scumbag at a time.

At least I can eat breakfast this morning knowing that, to borrow a line from SNL, Abu Musab al Zarqawi is in Hell right now being raped by the Devil.

The Daily Democrat - yesterdays news tomorrow

I must say that last night as county after county's election results crawled across the screen on KCRA' news, I kept thinking, what is going on with Yolo County? I watched the news for hours, heck even Yuba County had its early results in, and if you can't beat Yuba County, you have problems. So what was the problem?

Stupid people voting on a stupid paper ballot.

Unfair, outrageous slander you say?
OK, how about these write-ins for the election.

"A can of cat food"
"My dog could do a better job"
If all else fails, just write in any member of the Sacramento Kings.
Every write in had to be counted by hand, and this being Yolo County, it took a while.

"I think it's regrettable that you'd nullify your official choice because you were anxious to write in Minnie Mouse's name," Oakley said. "We've always had write-ins, but we haven't always sent people into the voting booth with a pen. It's like graffiti. It was like giving teenagers a can of spray paint and putting them in front of a brick wall."

Mike Bibby may have the reputation as a clutch three point shooter, but he isn't quick enough guard the smaller, faster point guards in the league, and I don't know what his stance is on driver's licenses for illegals is.

I bet this drove Jim Smith, the editor of Woodland's Daily Democrat, crazy last night as the dealine approached, and passed without election results. I looked at the paper this morning to read who won the Supervisor's and the DA's race only to be greeted with these anti-climactic stories.

Tight race for Yolo supervisor
Counting returns an all-night job for county

not to be outdone by

Reisig favored in battle for DA

I had to go to the Davis Enterprise website for the posted results. The Democrat does have a link to the Yolo Elections Office on its homepage this evening where you can find the results.

I know that living out here in the hinterlands, news coverage is like going to a new Chinese food place, kind of hit and miss, but can you at least post an extra on line edition story?

24 hours have passed since the polls closed and there are still no stories about the winners and losers in yesterday's election.

Yea, but did you have fake news before Dan Rather?

Dan is the king of fake news, and don't you forget it Jon.

This add ran today in the Hollywood Reporter

Why this war is different.

I was watching a program which featured veterans of WWII who thought back on the Germans they fought and killed in Europe. Several of them commented on the fact that, given other circumstances, these soldiers and the men who wore the gray tunics of the wehrmacht may have become friends. Many of the soldiers shared the same skin color, heritage, religion and in some cases, spoke the same language as those they faced on the other side of the battlefield.

It reminds me of Thomas Hardy's poem.

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!(a small cup)

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because--
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like--just as I--
Was out of work--had sold his traps--
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.

The veterans of the Pacific theater don't seem to hold this view of enemy they faced. Or if they did, it was to a far smaller degree. I wonder if this view of the enemy as friend given a different situations gives rise to the anti-war sentiment that we can get along if we don't fight each other.

I believe that sentiment is very misplaced in this war. The enemy our soldiers are fighting would not sit down at a pub and right many a nipperkin. Their view is not one peaceful co-existence, it is one of total domination through any means possible. If you look at the world right now, almost every conflict is either Muslim on Muslim or Muslim on Christian, Jew or fill in the blank. The terrorist in the Muslim world share the same religion, culture and language as those they slaughter in most cases. If anyone could 'help to half a crown' the people they hack to death with machetes or blow up with car bombs, it is the terrorists. What chance do democratic westerners have sharing a bond with these killers?

None I think. The only exception would be if you took an infant from Afghanistan or the Sunni region of Iraq and sent him to America to be raised with our values. Not the self loathing, blame America first values that come from the far left, but traditional Judea-Christian values. That young child would have every chance to become a force for good in the world. When left in the slums of Baghdad or Kabul, he will be taught in the madrasas to hate the West and the freedom that we love.

One could look at the Japanese people and their culture before WWII and say that we may defeat them, but they will never become a western democracy. But they have, and have done quite well. I believe the way this came about is the total defeat and subjugation of the Japanese people. They knew they were defeated, all they had to do was look around the rubble they lived in and look to the empty chair at the table and realize they lost the war and must do what the victor said. I know that seems cruel and very un democratic, but that is war, not a city council meeting.

I believe Sherman summed it up well when he said 'War is all Hell', he also said when he drove to the sea through Georgia.

"I would not coax them, or even meet them half-way, but make them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it."

That is victory, and defeat. I am not sure we have the stomach for the kind of victory we need to defeat this enemy. I hope we do, but we may need have several more 9/11s before we untie our other hand and start fighting this war.

The Mounties put 17 terrorists on ice.

In the past few days we have seen terrorist plots on both sides of the Atlantic broken up by police and intelligence agencies. While the possibility of a nerve gas attack on a London subway and a three ton ammonium nitrate truck bomb taking down the CN Tower, Canada's tallest building, this was indeed a good week for the good guys. With details still sketchy, what I hope we will see is that the information that lead to these terrorist plots being broken up came from Muslims. I will wait and see.

What do we know right now? Well, we know that Muslim spokesmen in Canada are asking police to watch for anti-Muslim violence. It seems that anytime you have an arrest of Islamic terrorists, the next day there must be a press conference where law enforcement meets with local Muslim leaders to assure that the police will be not tolerate anti-Muslim violence.

'Terrorism is a dangerous ideology and a global phenomenon, as yesterday's arrests demonstrate, Canada is not immune from this ideology.'
CSIS and RCMP officials invited about a dozen members of Toronto's Muslim community to a meeting Saturday morning to discuss potential fallout.

'The police said they are cognizant of the fact that there could be a backlash and that they've taken all precautions to ensure that nothing like this happens,' Canadian Muslim Congress spokesman Tarek Fatah said Saturday.

"They are very conscious of the fact that this is a small group of criminals and they don't reflect the vast Muslim community in Toronto."

Why is it that you never see a news conference where the local Muslim leaders and the police are sitting side by side talking about how the local Muslim population turned in the terrorist from within their own community?

I would love to hear the leader of a Mosque speak at a news conference saying the poeple who make up his congregation have cleaned up the radicals who were using a Muslim holy place to recruit terrorists. The day that happens, we will have turned the corner in the War on Terror.

The UAE goes forward with Plan B

Having been stymied in their efforts to take control of port operations in the US, the UAE has come up with Plan B - Dirty Skyscrapers.

"This agreement will provide Emaar with an important gateway into the US real estate market," Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Emaar's chairman, said in a statement on Thursday

That's right, in a move to terrorize America, Emaar Properties, a Dubai firm has purchased John Laing Homes for $1 billion in cash. They own Dell Web and other high end home and commercial building companies. With their ownership of these builders, the UAE will build 'Dirty Homes' and 'Dirty Skyscrapers'.

These projects will have at their core and nuclear devise, or dirty bomb, hidden under the swimming pools and recreation centers. If we can't trust these people with operating our ports, why should we let them build our homes and skyscrapers?

Someone call Jon Corzine, and Peter King and schedule a press conference!

Sorry, I had to adjust my tinfoil hat.

Prison Ministry unconstitutional

You have to be kidding.

The case, brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group in Washington, has been widely viewed as a major challenge to the White House's faith-based initiative, President Bush's attempt to deliver more government funding to religious groups that provide social services, particularly in prisons.

Nope, you can't have those crazy Jesus people trying to convert prison inmates. What good would come of that?

Can someone please explain to me the harm being done. There are many, many examples of violent criminals who turned their lives around with help from this program.

As vice-president of the Sons of Silence biker gang, Ron Gruber knew the taste of power. He told those underneath him what to do and they did it. "I had drugs. I had women. I had a nice gun. I filled myself up any way I could."

Oh wait, I forgot how well we are doing with the traditional corrections system.

Perhaps the only way to turn criminals into productive citizens is to change their hearts. But that is now unconstitutional.

Attack Journalism 101

'The Woodlander' is a throw back to another time. The 18th century to be exact. Back when towns and cities had hundreds of small newspapers and tabloid sheets to feed the publics hunger for information, entertainment and mud throwing of the most viscous type. I still haven't finished the whole 'paper', I couldn't stop laughing. I wish 'The Woodlander' was on-line, I couldn't find it, but it may be out there somewhere. He even print cartoons that make the targets of his scorn look like the worst bunch of criminals and scoundrels you could imagine.

'The Woodlander' comes out every few years, right before the election and just slams and outright slanders local politicians the writer doesn't like. This year's target - Matt Rexroad the Mayor of Woodland and candidate for Yolo County Supervisor, 3rd district. I don't know where the Woodlander crossed paths with Mr. Rexroad, but safe to say, this guy flat out hates the air he breaths.

I know Matt, we have met at a few functions and I consider him to be a good guy and a smart politician. I don't live in the City of Woodland and never had to apply for a building permit or business license, so I really can't comment one way or another on his leadership as Mayor.

That being said, I guess it comes with the territory, if you want to live in the public eye, you just painted a big target on your chest and had better be prepared for slings and arrows. I am a big proponent of a free press, you can print almost anything, libel and slander can get in you in trouble, but for the most part, you can print your opinions until the cows come home and I will stand up for your right to do so. However, with that freedom comes some responsibility. Give your readers a little disclosure, who are you, what are your beliefs, what are your affiliations. In short, what dog do have in the fight?

Back in the infancy of our nation, people who wanted information were forced to chose between papers on one side of an issue and papers taking the opposite position. You could read both and decide who you believed, if you believed any of them. Today the press is supposed to be independent, publishing the unvarnished facts and letting the reader decide what is going on. Scandal sheets like 'The Woodlander' have their place in the process I guess, but I wish they would state their case without the outright character assassination that is so easy to engage in.

On-Line registration? Is on-line voting next?

Every election year you read stories about the low voter turn out and the apathy of the electorate. The next day someone comes up with an easier way to vote. I am happy with the way we vote and the numbers of voters who turn out. If you don't care enough to figure out who you want to represent you, for goodness sakes, don't vote. If you want to make things better, purge the voter roles after every election cycle. That will eliminate some of the fraud.

What I oppose is the gerrymandering districts where incumbents win 99% of the time. If you want to fix something, fix that.

Legislation by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, to
allow Yolo County to create a pilot project for online voter registration passed
off the Assembly Floor on a 47-32 vote Tuesday.
Assembly Bill 2191 would let
the county coordinate with the Secretary of State's Office to conduct a pilot
program for the November 2007 local election through which current voters could
reregister to vote online.

"My bill will provide UC Davis students,
staff, and faculty the opportunity to reregister using a secure online
connection," said Wolk. "The bill ensures that California's rapidly advancing
technology is used to make the registration process more accessible, helping
voters stay active.

What is Memorial Day Dad?

A question my son asked me a few years ago. While he knew it was three day weekend and the start to counting down the school year, he wasn't sure why he had a day off. I told him Memorial Day is day when Americans remember the soldiers who fought and died in war. A day to think about the price paid by young men and women long ago and yesterday who gave their lives to protect this nation. Protect us from threats all over the world, and right here on our soil.

Myrna Blyth has a great piece over at NRO

This is a three day weekend. Many people are just now waking up in tents and motor homes to burning bacon and instant coffee. Many are mowing the lawn in preparation for the BBQ they will have with friends and family. It is fitting that we do this, this is who we are, what we are about. .I would also hope that during this weekend that at some point you take a few minutes to remember why you are so fortunate, why you are able to leave your home and travel to see our great nation, secure in the fact that your house will be there when you return. There will be no revolution this weekend, no military coup.

As Americans we enjoy a very precious gift, a gift that few on this planet posses, the gift of freedom. Free to say what you think, free to protest your government, free to make other people angry, free to be a jackass. You are also free to reach as high as your talent and determination will enable. Free to throw off your past failures, free to start over and start climbing up that hill again. Your freedom is what you make of it. But no matter what you do with it, remember that it was purchased at great price. Those who are buried in your local cemetery and on foreign soil gave all they had that this nation would long endure.

I would leave you with portions of a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou of the Second Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers. In July of 1861 he wrote to his wife Sarah.

My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure -- and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing -- perfectly willing -- to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows -- when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children -- is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me -- perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours -- always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan

Say Goodnight Larry, please.

Larry King the 'master of the news talk show' may be put out to pasture. CNN must keep looking at his time slot hoping that another Laci Peterson case comes along soon to get his ratings up. When King is forced to do real interviews, his ratings sink like a rock. No one cares what Merv Griffin is doing now Larry, really we don't.

Last night's shellacking came at the hands of;
Hannity and Colmes with an average of 300,000 viewers.
Countdown with Keith Oberman with 139,000 viewers.
And Larry with a magnificent 83,000 viewers in the 25-54 (money) bracket.

Good Heavens Larry, when you get smoked by Keith Oberman..... C'mon, its Keith Freaking Oberman! Wow, you got troubles.

"CNN sources say the network is starting to search for gentle ways to tell talk-show host Larry King that his long run may be ending,"

But wait, there is the dreaded 'vote of confidence statement' Just ask NFL coaches what that means. Don't buy any green bananas Larry.

A CNN spokesperson responds: "As we have said before, Larry King is going nowhere. There is absolutely no truth to this idle speculation. Larry is a talented broadcaster who continues to interview legends, newsmakers and heads of state every night. He pioneered cable television with CNN and we are proud to have Larry in our lineup."

It is time to call it a career. Go home to your 47 year old wife and be happy. If I were 72 years old and had a 47 year old wife at home, CNN would have to drag me into the studio kicking and screaming. But that's just me.

AT&T to Nunez - Your 2 Million Dollars, Delivered

I am thinking of running for office, seriously. I make decisions every day. Rarely, OK never, do those who would be effected by my decision offer to hold a fund raiser in my honor at Pebble Beach where I can raise almost 2 Million dollars. I want to be Speaker of the Assembly.

The Democratic Party raised nearly $2 million during a Pebble Beach fundraiser this weekend with the help of AT&T, a company that stands to benefit from cable legislation advocated by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

Nunez, D-Los Angeles, headlined the 'Speakers Cup' event at a Monterey County golf resort where lobbyists and business executives paid between $10,000 and $45,000 for a weekend outing with state lawmakers. The event raised $1.7 million for the Democratic Party, said Kathy Bowler, the party's executive director.

The event is among the most lucrative fundraisers for the party and has been sponsored by AT&T for several years. This year's event came a month after Nunez introduced legislation that would allow telecommunications companies to get into the cable business

Fabian says the two are unrelated.

Whew, do you smell that?
It smells like a huge load of horse manure.

Faith in the next generation? You bet.

I often complain about the twenty-something knuckleheads I see on the news and around Davis. The Birkenstock and cargo short crowd with an 'Impeach Bush!' bumper sticker on their Prius. Sometimes they bring me to the conclusion that the I-Pod/Gamer generation is going to be a drain on our nation. Contributing nothing meaningful to our society, just learning more effective ways to bitch about what is wrong with America.

Then I come across a story like this.

Crystal admits she wasn't thrilled with Brian's decision to join the military. When he first told her, she threatened to end the relationship. But the threat was half-hearted.

"I know if we hadn't stayed together I would have really regretted it," she said.

So Crystal married her high school sweetheart, vowing to support his decision.

Brian is expected to return from Iraq in September...

Stephanie Jaime also is expecting her husband back in the fall. David Jaime is a corporal in the Marines and has been in Iraq for three months....

The husband and wife, both 20, have been married for two years. They have a 2-year-old son, Jonathan, and Stephanie is expecting a second child in October.

She worries her husband is missing many of their son's milestones. Trying to explain to Jonathan why his father is away is the most difficult part of being separated, Stephanie said.

"I just tell him Daddy's at work; he's fighting the bad guys," she said.

These two average women, bearing a burden that we can little understand, make me feel as though our nation will continue to hold on to the basic principals that make it what it is.

I wish nothing but the best for Crystal Fowell and Stephanie Jaime. I will pray for their husbands safe return and think about how silly I am to complain about my small little problems. These two families are what is right and good in America.

Why the kook left is going to get you killed

Just listen to this guy. Can you imagine if people like him were in control of this country?

Also included, with about half of the names on the petition, are comments that people posted on the website. Almost all of them, Mr. President, are polite comments that need not have scared you way. Reading through thousands of them, I'm struck by the insight and the eloquence of the various points of view you so routinely ignore.

While the comments are for the most part not rude, many of them are angry, and even those that are not angry are opposed to your policies, Mr. President. In fact, a lot of them ask you to resign or promise that you will be impeached. I'm wearing a shirt that reads "Impeach Bush and Cheney" not because I'm angry with you, not because I hate you, and certainly not because I support the last president who was impeached or his corrupt warmongering wife. Mr. President, I want you impeached so that we can have peace in the world and a democracy in America, so that you will stop killing Iraqis and not begin killing Iranians.

Look, I don't care why you are wearing your impeach Bush/Cheney t shirt, and I couldn't give a rip if your mad. You are a danger to this nation. You and your peace at any price friends would sit back and allow Iran and every other mad man with enough cash to acquire nuclear weapons.

I thought all you pacifist hated nukes? Or is just American capitalist, imperial nukes that make your panties bunch up?

If Iran had such weapons, that would not justify the use of force, any more than any other nation would be justified in launching a war against the world's greatest possesor of nuclear arms, the United States. The most effective way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons would be to closely monitor its nuclear energy program, and to improve diplomatic relations -- two tasks made much more difficult by threatening to bomb Iranian territory. We urge you to lead the way to peace, not war, and to begin by making clear that you will not commit the highest international crime by aggressively attacking Iran.

Closely monitor its nuclear energy program? What world do you live in? Certainly not the real world, the one where you simply can't afford to trust that a nutter like Ahmadinejad is going to keep his word. He has already lied about Iran's nuclear program being built for energy, the UNAC found traces of weapons grade uranium in one of Iran's 'peaceful energy' sites.

But I guess that we have nukes, China has nukes, why not poor Iran. What is the big deal?
Because Iran is run by a guy who wants to bring about the end of history.

Now, if you believe him when he says he just wants to develop a peaceful civilian energy program, why won't you believe him when he says he wants to bring about the chaos that will lead to the return of the 12th Imam?

This is not the time to give peace a chance, this is the time to tell the Iranian people that you have allowed crazy, dangerous people to run your country. You had better summon up the courage to overthrow these Islamo-fascists or very bad things will happen to you.

The Da Vinci Code, the wrong crowd for a premier, unless...

If you are going to premier your film to the ultra chic and sophisticated crowd at Cannes, you better have something more provocative than a married Jesus. The reception among the Cannes crowd was rather tepid. If Spielberg, Howard and Hanks wanted to woo the French Riviera and Hollywood types they should have made the movie's plot revolve around Jesus being gay.

That's right, The Brokeback Code.

At least co-star Ian McKellen would have been happy.

I am sure Hollywood is working on that one too.

Colin Powell - an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war.

I need a little help here. I understand the 'N-word" controversy going on inside and outside of the black community. I don't agree with it at all, but I understand the argument. Are you using the word with an 'a' at the end or an 'er'. Are you black or white. Is it being used as a term of endearment? Then it's ok in the minds of most young people in this country. If its being used as slander, then its not ok, and you could be fired or punched in the nose. I think people who use that word, regardless of color, are taking our culture down the wrong path.

Back to my question. When is it ok to call a black man a spearchucker?

Still, Powell rose higher than almost any black Republican by making the party faithful comfortable with his non-threatening and non-demanding presence on racial issues. Powell flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war.

In my mind, never.

However, it seems that when the person writing the slander is black, then you get a pass from the same folks that would be screaming for your immediate termination as a columnists. Obviously, I don't get it. It could be my lack of education or my straight ahead view of life, but I believe columnist Sam Fulwood is full of crap.

"My deliberate use of provocative, incendiary - but not hurtful - language is to produce a reaction, to get people engaged, to cuss, to argue, to fuss with my ideas," he said. "If using that word made people mad, that's good."

Or it could be that Mr. Fulwood is a liberal and he was attacking Republican Ken Blackwell when he wrote the 's-word'.

Few black voters will forgive Blackwell for trying to suppress the black turnout in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. As Ohio's Secretary of State, he served as the Republican National Committee's leading storm trooper in the state, paving the way for George Bush to seize control of the White House.

I wonder what would happen if the roles were reversed. What if George Will called Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans fame an incompetent spearchucker in his war to place blame on the federal government.

Well, you can imagine the self appointed 'black leaders' Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson holding 24 hour a day news conferences from out front of Will's house. They would also be on Larry King Live every night until Will was forced to step down. Three days tops.

What will happen to Mr. Fulwood? A book deal and perhaps a few highly paid speaking engagements at Columbia or Harvard?

If I were a gambling man, that is where I would put my money.

Rove indicted?

Patrick Fitzgerald must like being the hero of the media elite. He wants another year of fame. If true, this one could hurt the GOP this fall.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 business hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said.

A new form of domestic spying.

Another Kos reader is born.

What a debacle, we win never win World War II

How the MSM of today would report World War II.

Just close your eyes and imagine Chris Mathews and David Gregory reporting in black and white from the Ardennes after the battle of the bulge.

Victor David Hanson is spot on.

We are only now coming off even more terrible losses in Europe, after being surprised by a supposedly defeated enemy in the Ardennes where another 20,000 Americans were killed and another 60,000 wounded or missing — again, due to our continued strategic incompetence and abject intelligence failures. Macabre reports of American bazooka shells bouncing off German Tiger tanks and our Shermans ablaze like Ronson lighters have only now come to light as we plow the Belgium countryside for yet another new American war cemetery. Tragically, this is not the first, but the fourth year of this war, when victory rather than endless bloodshed has been long promised.