Space Balls, Yahoo!

Believing they had a mystery on their hands of cosmic proportions Yahoo reports on a sphere which feel to earth in Namibia?

What is this, they wonder? Why have they been failing for twenty years upon various sites?

Well, according to at least one commentator it is a:

104 Litre Hydrazine Propellant Tank

That looks possible to me, (though they are not exact matches, probably a different maker of the same product), wonder if Yahoo can Google?

Pushing Back Against Those Threatened By Anonymous Commentators

I spoke on this subject recently. My opinion has not changed.

Today I found a call for eliminating anonymity from a letter writer and a blogger in my local newspaper.  I had to respond.

The posting I found was in response to, and in sympathy with, a recent letter to the editor.  I left a comment at the responder's posting, she has since told me she agrees with me, now, completely. A rare concession, and one I much appreciate.

Here is what I said to Annette:

OP writes:

If you can't see the problems possible to posters if they must use their real names then your sight is short. And, while no sensible person appreciates the awful comments you complain about, letting them speak is the price we pay for free speech in this country. It is our duty to discern between the appropriate commentators and those who foment with inappropriate language/conduct just as we must discern the honesty and value of everything we are presented. Just as you must discern whether my opinion on this matter has merit.

Whereas requiring all commentators to be identified can lead to an opportunity to challenge the offender directly, it does not filter who undertakes the challenging. And it does not guarantee that the same loony goofballs who make the senseless comments you abhor will not take offense and revenge upon a sensible poster with whom they disagree. Further, the sensible poster will know that their comments could put them in peril from persons both known and unknown and would then self-censor their speech for fear of awkward encounters with associates and family, employer retaliation, stranger danger, and so on, thereby suppressing free speech among the good, by the good. And we all lose when that happens.

I say allow people their screen identities. And, ignore those who insist on being jerks.

I didn't stop there though, and a visit to the site where the thread originated lead me to completely blow my top.

Continue down the Rabbit hole »

The County Sheriff's Project

GNMB just introduced us to new, and much needed, association: the County Sheriff's Project.

The CSP is dedicated to restoring local autonomy for law enforcement.  Getting State and Federal authorities back in their place is patriotic, and I, for one, applaud the work of the CSP.

Dear Friends,

What would you do if you knew you had just one chance to save your family and country from complete and utter destruction? What would you do if you knew there was a lawful and peaceful way to restore the Constitution and its Bill of Rights as the supreme law of the land?

Show More Skin, Change How You Are Viewed

I think we all knew this even if we never formed the words to express it.

It turns out that a glimpse of flesh strongly influences our perception of Erin/Aaron. When the pictures only showed a face, they had lots of agency. But when we saw their torso, we suddenly imagined them as obsessed with experience. Instead of being good at self-control, they were suddenly extremely sensitive to hunger and desire. Same person, same facial expression, same brief description – but a hint of body changed everything.

Skip The Coffee, Eat Protein

Orexin, it keeps you working. Sweet!

According to a new paper in Neuron led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, consuming foods high in protein can increase the activity of orexin neurons. This, in turn, leads to increased wakefullness and bodily activity, helping us burn off the calories we just consumed. Furthermore, eating protein in conjunction with glucose – adding almonds to Frosted Flakes, in other words – can inhibit the inhibitory effects of sugar on orexin. The sweetness no longer makes us tired.

A Grab Bag of Interesting Finds

This one sounded so much like something my ex-father-in-law would do that I expected to see his picture with the article. Miamians taking advantage.

If they keep coming back, he either charges $7.50 -- the estimated cost of the breakfast per person for the hotel, or calls the cops and have them charged with trespassing, but not stealing!

And this one reminded me of my brother-in-law, (not related to the above mentioned ex-father-in-law), who has had good fortune in finding cash in the pockets of clothes he buys second-hand. Man loses life saving donating his suit.

The 80-year-old man, who didn't trust banks, had kept his life savings of $13,000 sewn inside the lining of one of his suits. He is currently appealing for the money's return so that he can care for his wife, who has Stage 4 cancer.

This one is a Christmas story for the ages. Police refuse to evict 103 year-old woman and her 83 year-old daughter.

"No, I knew that they know what they were doing. God don't let them do wrong," Lee said.

From WWII we have, another indication of Japanese attack was missed, and more proof that the Holocaust really happened is preserved.

And, after years of study Stonehenge serves up more clues.

The researchers aren't anywhere close to finishing the puzzle: Gaffney figures there's at least another two years' worth of survey work to do. Even then, the full story of Stonehenge and its environs may remain wrapped in mystery. How much can stones and earth tell? Stay tuned ...

Editor's Note

I find my previous post to be much too long for presentation here; and I am currently attempting to learn enough CSS and Java Script so that I can competently locate where to enter the code to produce a "Read More" function for all long posts. The result will be shorter posts with the ability to expand the post if it appeals to you, the reader. Patience please.

Update- I also intend to code this site for all links to open in a new window, thereby you will not be directed away from here when you click on a link.
Update- The "open in new window" feature is complete, and an easy fix it turns out. Found it at The Real Blogger Status. 2nd Update: It is possible to ascribe this feature to your posts with the new post editor and it is not necessary change the HTML as I did.

Continue down the Rabbit hole »

Damn Right: Right To Work

Dear
XXXXXXX
Running Rabbit Editor,

As one of the cosponsors of the National Right to Work Act (S. 504), I'm grateful to all the concerned citizens like you who have urged your U.S. Senators and Representatives to stand up to Big Labor and end forced unionism.

Just last week, National Right to Work Committee staff delivered the first of 1.1 million (and counting) signed petitions to the U.S. Senate.

This is a crucial step as chief sponsor Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and I work with our colleagues to take the next step in the legislative process.
But it's vital for Right to Work supporters to keep up the pressure.
That's why, if you haven't yet signed, please go ahead and do so by clicking here.
It's important your elected officials hear your opinion on the National Right to Work Act.
Once you have (or if you already did), I would like to ask a favor of you.
...
Let your friends and relatives know that the National Right to Work Act not only fights forced unionism, it also loosens Big Labor's stranglehold on our economy.
...
This is an important step forward in building momentum for this crucial legislation.
I hope I can count on your action today.
...Forward the National Right to Work Act petition to your friends and family.
...

Sincerely,

Rand Paul
U.S. Senator (R-KY)

Continue down the Rabbit hole »

La Belle Heaulmiere

I became aware of this Rodin work while reading Robert Heinlein's classic book Stranger In A Strange Land.

There are lots of sites which introduce this piece, many quote from Heinlein's writings to explain why this is an important sculpture. For Heinlein's stranger the beauty was evident for she had achieved a face.

Word of the Day- Coprophagous

A new series for me, where I introduce words I discover.

This one comes from the comment section of the announcement I cite in the previous post, and i understand why the poster used it to describe the C-J editors.

co·proph·a·gous
adj \kə-ˈprä-fə-gəs\
Definition of COPROPHAGOUS
: feeding on dung
— co·proph·a·gy noun
Origin of COPROPHAGOUS
Greek koprophagos, from kopr- + -phagos -phagous
First Known Use: 1826

Card Check at the C-J

Card Check is of course the proposed method of voting for union members in which the member signs his ballot in public thereby opening himself up to retaliation from those who oppose his selected candidate. And, let's be clear, there is no question that there are people crazy enough to harm someone, either physically or through influence, for voting differently than the mad man wishes.

A newspaper I regularly read online is adopting a new policy for those leaving a comment to an article, they will require you to identify yourself in order to comment. The newspaper is the hometown publication of my favorite college basketball team, and I go there to follow the Louisville Cardinals and sometimes to keep up with my one time hometown in general. The method of delivering identification will be to sign on through your Facebook account, and the change is designed to identify those who leave distasteful comments with the hope that they will cease their offense if their names are known. And, while that has merit in a finite universe it has implications in the real world which the deciders failed to accommodate. And, all of the bad consequences of their action derive from the public knowledge of the names of the innocent commentator, and it is the same danger posed to those required to vote in a Card Check world; the people who don't like their opinion are given free access to the identity of those they might harm for their opinion!

In both cases the solution is worse than the previous arrangement. The idea at the newspaper does at least have a noble goal in mind, I can image no such valued purpose for Card Check; both ideas leave the innocent vulnerable to the predator.

There are those who are working to protect the secret ballot endangered by Card Check. And the newspaper need only read the comments to their announcement of the pending Facebook fiasco to see how its readers view their decision. And, then there are you and I to stand in the doorway blocking both dangerous actions.

Late To The Party: Discovering Sigur Ros

Gl'os'oli

So When It is Alive?

It has long been a worry for sexually active women, and back when getting a woman pregnant had implications men worried about it too. All manner of birth-control have been created and used to avoid pregnancy. Some women even go to the trouble to have a pregnancy terminated because leaving it alone leads to that it thing becoming something more. But, for all the realization that allowing an it to happen there is an awful confusion about what an it is.

American Capitalism Explained Circa 1948

A carrot to : Temple of Mut

Obama Set To Vote Present On XL Pipeline

The proposed XL pipeline would increase America's access to oil from friendly sources while providing thousands of jobs for American citizens. The downside to the project, some worry about the environmental impact.

America's record of safely transporting via pipelines is exceptionally good, we need oil, getting it from a friendly source which is also right next door seems a good solution. We also need the economic boost. And, even if we don't take the oil it will be produced and used, probably in China, so as long as we continue to maintain our stellar record on pipeline transport we should let them build and deliver.

Oh, the other reason to not allow the pipeline, at least at this time, politics; Obama may do nothing for fear that either choice he makes may affect the vigor of support he receives in the upcoming Presidential election. And that is a sad way to govern!

Update: Obama faces choice on Keystone pipeline: Big Labor or Big Green

Murmuration

Murmuration is name given to a flock of starlings. Who knew?

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Dr. Sowell Explores Unequal Justice In Schools

One of our great challenges as a constitutional republic is in the consistent interpretation of the laws we live under. Our Rights are guaranteed by divine gift, but even those we mistakenly attribute to our lawmakers and then seek to make them fit into supporting roles for our contemporary crusades in ways while often also seeking to deny them to others by the force of authority. We people sure are a messed up bunch.

Doctor Sowell exposes the transitional nature of society's protected classes on school campuses.

To put it bluntly, it was a question of whose ox was gored. That is, what groups were in vogue at the moment among the intelligentsia. Blacks clearly were not.

The current media and political crusade against “bullying” in schools seems likewise to be based on what groups are in vogue. For years, there have been local newspaper stories about black kids in schools in New York and Philadelphia beating up Asian classmates, some beaten so badly as to require medical treatment.

But the national media hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. Asian-Americans are not in vogue today, just as blacks were not in the 1920s.

What we learn at school we carry to society at large. I wait with little hope that I will live long enough to see a time when we practice equality.





The following is a response I left to a comment. Lector wanted to prove that Dr. Sowell was mistaken.

Lector, the four personalities you cite are not students on a campus, therefore the "campus thought police" have no jurisdiction over them.

That said, each has certainly faced hostile reaction to their speech. Take Mr. Limbaugh, for example, he was fired from ESPN for saying that the media wanted Donovan McNabb to succeed. Which they did. They wanted him to succeed as proof that a black man could play Quarterback in the NFL. And, simply for saying that truth out loud he was ostracized. Former U of L linebacker and then fellow ESPN employee Tom Jackson attempted to point out the benign nature of Mr. Limbaugh's remark and was met with threats of violence against his family for saying the fair and truthful. He had to back off from what he knew to be a truthful statement by Rush in order to protect his family. Limbaugh's remarks have never been properly defended since, and were even used to prevent him from being an owner of an NFL team. So, don't try to use him as an example of someone who has not been punished. He was punished unjustly and we are all expected to forget what was done to him because he is not among a protected class.

Equal protection under the law, or in society is a myth! As, those who were once unprotected mostly seek revenge with their new found place within the protected. And the hypocrisy does not bother them.

Bill To Eliminate Budget Accouting Gimmicks

The House Budget Act.



carrots to Instapundit and Hot Air

Another Surreal Moment From Islamoficism

A French newspaper was firebombed after they ran the following cartoon. Since the depiction is meant to be a caricature of Mohammad there is little doubt which group is behind the violence. And why, after all, it is a quite flattering image of the man.

The Prophet says, “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”.

Luckily, no one was hurt in the blaze.

a carrot to Instapundit

What Is Latin For OORAH

"Oorah", yells the master Sargent, "forward into the past"!

My fictional dialogue is to introduce a fictional setting which is to be a movie soon; a group of Marines travels back to ancient Rome to do battle with the Roman Legion, who wins.

An intriguing question.

The Roman legions and Marines are both highly trained with a clear unit structure and hierarchy of command. They emphasize aggression, dominating the opponent, unit cohesion, and being flexible on the ground. "It’s easy to arrange people like chess pieces and march them in a direction," Erwin says. "But when you’ve got basically huge gangs of people going toward each other at knifepoint, it’s very hard to maintain a plan. So they have to improvise."

Three Of Interest

Three what? You might ask? And, I might answer.

“Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” Groucho meets T.S. Eliot.

Algorithm your gangs away. Math predicts criminal's identity.

"But what if government encouraged, even invented, those "abusive practices"?" The document at the heart of the housing collapse.

Rewind to 1994. That year, the federal government declared war on an enemy — the racist lender — who officials claimed was to blame for differences in homeownership rate, and launched what would prove the costliest social crusade in U.S. history.

Don't Occupy The Sour Milk Sea

Glenn Reynolds reminds us of this classic song; he suggests the Occupy folk should take George Harrison's advice and get along.



Here the author explains the song, and it sure does fit with Mr. Reynolds advice.

GEORGE HARRISON says '… I wrote Sour Milk Sea in Rishikesh, India. I never actually recorded the song--it was done by Jackie Lomax on his album IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?. Anyway, it's based on Vishvasara Tantra, from Tantric art………'what is here is elsewhere, what is not here is nowhere'……… it's a picture, and the picture is called Sour Milk Sea - Kalladadi Samudra in Sanskrit. I used Sour Milk Sea as the idea of - if you're in the shit, don't go around moaning about it: do something about it…'

I just finished the book about the great rock keyboard player who appears on this song, if you also admire his work you should read and on piano...Nicky Hopkins by Julian Dawson.

And, congratulations to Sir Paul on his recent marriage. I wish you both much happiness!

The $10,000 College Degree

Just when I am underwhelmed by the man, word comes that Rick Perry has instructed his educators to come up with a plan for a $10,000 college degree. All four years for one set, and comparatively affordable, price.

I like that idea! Reduce the cost to the student. And, if more education is warranted after four years, then they can purchase the next level.

But down the road, the best way to deal with the high cost of college education is to reduce it! And Texas governor Rick Perry has thrown out the gauntlet by demanding that his regents come up with a plan for a $10,000 degree—not $10,000 per year but $10,000 for a full degree.

Update:

Of course college is not for everyone, such luminaries as Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs were not college graduates. There are alternatives.

Gravity On Pause

Not really, the explanation is that the spring action of the slinky makes it appear that the bottom does not drop when it should. Or, something like that.

Whatever the reason for, it is an amazing thing to watch.

Let There Be Trees

It is my opinion that anything to do with loving nature is today overrun by the kook fringe. But, I am kooky about trees, and make no apology for the pleasure I get from walking within a forest of really big trees.

Though I do hope no one mistakes me for one of the unreasonable masses of lemmings for ecology that have mushroomed upon us since the last half of the twentieth century.

All of this came to mind when I checked on the reaction to a comment I left at the Courier-Journal article about Louisville, Kentucky's loss of big trees. I had to laugh when I saw the score it received; +11. I am certain that is my best mark ever.

Arbor Day, that quaint and often forgotten holiday should be given more importance that the holidays for supposedly heroic social figures. We should go to work on MLK Day and stay home working in the yard on Arbor Day.

My own yard is looking better than ever. In some communities it may require a civic effort, but most of the good work can be done one yard at a time.

Sanity At The Daily Kos

Words I believed I'd never be able to use together with sincerity. A first time diarist makes the case against the Occupy crowd by calling them TeaBaggers throughout the piece while presenting a plethora of links to Occupy offenses. A brilliant piece; read it before they realize what it says and take it down.

For the last few years, the point has been expressed on this blog, as well as others, that the tebaggers are a violent, racist, and disgusting mob intent on transforming our society into something completely alien to our progressive democracy. While we've all known this to be the case despite a lack of evidence, these last few weeks of vile teabagger demonstrations have provided all the evidence needed to put the question to rest and exxpose the baggers for what they truly are. Warning, this diary contains some offensive material.

The Way We Were; When We Were A We

So, yesterday I am at work in a client's home..... why are you interrupting me with that puzzled look?

Well, yes, there are still people who work for a living. You don't? Well, then which Occupy protest do you call home?

Anyway, enough of my fantasy conversation with one of the dead beat protestors of today. My conversation with my client reminded me of what hard times really used to be like. This couple was old enough to remember food shortages in the 30's and 40's. "When we could get butter we had to add the color ourselves", she said, as he chimed in that "it wasn't even butter, margarine, or lard is more like it". She continued, "and we saved the wrapper from our stick of gum, foil, and roll them up in a ball for the war. They dropped them out of the planes", to confuse radar I supposed.

These were people who were alive during the dust bowl years. His father worked for the WPA. The WPA, the Work Progress Administration is what sparked the conversation as I had mentioned it in describing the cabin (seen on the home page and called the "Goat's Nest") where I had taken my Mother's ashes a few years back, it was built as a WPA project. The WPA was a solution to underemployment back when folks were used to real work, and people were grateful for any job they could get.

Our talk was in now way comprehensive of all the ways people survived, but we did cover things like how my Grandparents dealt with their trash without a landfill. What would burn went into a barrel, what could be composted went into the ground, and metal such as tin cans were opened on both ends, flattened and recycled for the metal.

I still have the gasoline ration books issued during the war. And, I will not pretend to offer a complete inventory of all the ways people scrimped, and found resourceful ways to get along during truly hard times. But, today's sufferings do not measure up to what folks went through last century.

Get Real

SDA

Holder The Criminal

I don't mean anyone named Holder in particular is a criminal. It just seemed like something good to say.

Coincidentally, the head of the Department of Justice is named Holder, and some want him to resign.

It was faint at first, but it grows ever louder, this cry for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) today became the fourth Congressman to explicitly call for Holder to take responsibility for the lethally reckless Operation Fast and Furious and to voluntarily leave his post because of his presumed authorization of the program. Walsh’s behest follows similar requests from Reps. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).

Walsh had a particularly damning indictment of Holder before concluding that Holder should resign.

Your Department has made an enormous error in judgment. It instructed federally-licensed firearms dealers to illegally sell at least 2,000 guns that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intended to be trafficked to drug cartels in Mexico. The results of this error in judgment have implicated the United States in well over one hundred deadly crimes and the deaths of two federal agents.

This not only raises serious questions about your ability to serve as the head of the Justice Department, but also begs the question of why an anti-gun Administration would knowingly force licensed firearms dealers to sell guns to violent criminals. I raise this because Operation Fast and Furious — if the facts of this case had not come to light — would have been used by this Administration as another false argument to attack law-abiding American gun owners.

The American people deserve to know if your Department had any intent to link the legal purchase of firearms here in the U.S. to crimes committed near our southern border. Operation Fast and Furious funneled firearms legally purchased at gun shops in the U.S. to known criminal syndicates to prove these syndicates have access to legal purchased weapons. This is a deliberate attempt to vilify and attack the millions of gun owners in America who value our Second Amendment and have never broken the law.

Am I alone in seeing a resemblance between the current administration and the legend of the Nixon administration which ended with that President resigning?

A carrot to: Small Dead Animals

Richard Epstein On A Healthy Economy

Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Prof. Epstein corrects his Lincoln quote attribution. He now accepts that it was by William J. H. Boetcker.

On Those Who Do Not Think When They Tweet

I struggled to find a header which explains the interview Patterico did with the girl who tweeted that Andrew Breitbart should die. I believe the one I displayed is inadequate. But, then, I am not sure there are words which can explain the interview without completely representing the entire interview. So, the line above will do.

The state of intellect among those who favor sending death threats, like K.R. in this interview, is not acceptable. We used to be better.

I tried to take the issue out of the Internet context, asking: “Would you walk into a party and say to one of the guests that they should die, to see if the other guests reacted negatively?” She replied:

i see what youre doing and i understand that point of view and i admit i didnt think this through as much as i should’ve. i did it for the lols and to recreate what he did. mostly because i didnt believe people would say things like that. if one of my friends said “oh i said this stupid negative thing to this guy and people threw rotten apples at me” I would probably attempt it because it’s so un[b]elieva[bl]e.

I asked: “You did it for the ‘lols’? Could you elaborate on that for me?”

Like a very patient young person explaining something to an old codger, she said:

doing it for the lols” or “lulz” is an internet meme. it means doing it for fun for laughs

Yeah, I know. I was just trying to figure out why it should make someone “laugh out loud” to advocate the death of someone about whom they admittedly have not the slightest clue. I played along, relishing the role of doddering Internet know-nothing: “You think it’s fun to suggest someone should die?”

She responded with shame and remorse. OK, that’s actually not true. Actually, she said:

i think the reactions to such a statement are so ludicrous it’s entertaining

I patiently soldiered on, asking: “Would you walk up to someone in line at the supermarket and say they should die, to see if the other people in line would react negatively? If they did, would you find that entertaining?” She responded:

and as i stated earlier, i did not think this through as much as i should have

I hope that this little girl comes to a point in her life where she avoids those who encourage her to not think. And, I don't mean to offend her, I truly hope she is strong enough, or fortunate enough, to move away from the influences that led her to act for "lulz" at the risk of someone's life.

A carrot to: Instapundit

New Obama Economic Image Revealed.

The Hope of growth, the Promise of Harvest, the Change to detritus; when the plan is rotten so will be the fruit it delivers.

Wild Things On The Loose; Blame Brad Pitt?

Big predators let loose, reminded me of a movie.

Brad Pitt let them loose, I've seen where he did that before. Caused a lot of confusion, and they were never captured because some maniac caused an epidemic, and when Bruce Willis came back in time to find who started the panic Pitts' "Twelve Monkeys" outfit was an immediate suspect. But he only let a bunch of zoo animals go that time. And, thus allowed a maniac to kill off most of the planet. Now he drove a man to kill himself after his animals were set free. That darn Brad Pitt, first he induces an epidemic, now he causes a suicide! Where will it all end?

All attempts at humor aside, sad that it came to this, isn't it. Junior would agree, if he was still around.


Update: Somehow related, actually wild animal meets domesticated animal.

We're Being Gored

Al Gore's experiment faked? Say it ain't so Gaia!

The upshot is that the author at Watts Up With That? was reviewing Al Gore's Climate 101 video and decided to reenact an experiment presented in the video. Gore made the claim it was such a simple test that it could be done in high school. The author found that the video had been tampered with to produce the result shown through Photoshop type techniques, (the picture above reputedly shows two thermometers, but it was discovered that they are the same picture except the blue fluid which marks the temperature was "photoshopped" in one to make it appear that these are two independent thermometers recording temperatures in two individual vessels at exactly the same time), and the experiment was not easy to perform and when performed did not yield the result promised. She says the claim made in Gore's video, with regard to this experiment, is false, and the video was faked.


One more carrot to Instapundit, I sometimes forget to give him the credit for so many of my finds.

One Time, At Occupy Camp....

Abolish ignorance.



Update: Now they are raping too.

Freeloaders Robbed

Ironic I say.

Update: Now they are raping too.

Blurrrrrrrrr!

A new software that corrects blurry pictures? Really? Have I got some challenges for that product!

Bones, More Brain Power

Or, so I imagine Captain Kirk demanding of the ship's doctor if they had known about modafinil. Maybe they did, and his subcutaneous delivery device just never got mentioned?

Of course, that sixties television show would have been perceived to be endorsing recreational drug usage if Dr. McCoy was popping little pills (yellow pills?. what color is smart?) before each diagnosis, or during each operation. Not that a full out space campaign openly promoting drug usage could have had much effect to increase the seemingly omnipresent consumption of illegal pharmaceuticals back then, but it would have been frowned upon. To no effect, I might add, for today we have the same practices and no end in sight. So much a part of our culture, in fact, that it won't surprise when they are made legal; the only question left seems to be when?

Women, Aim Higher

I just discovered an article which puts Anita Hill on a pedestal and holds her up as an icon of sexual harassment in the workplace elimination. I find that elevation of this woman to be ludicrous; and below is the comment I left to announce my rejection of her as a pioneer in that field. Take it for what its worth, but even she says she never meant her testimony to serve as charges against her former boss.

Anita Hill just wants everyone to be clear. A few seconds into my question about her "allegations" concerning Clarence Thomas during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, she politely, but firmly, interjects.

"When you say 'allegations,' it suggests that I was bringing some kind of claim against someone," she says, apologizing for the interruption. "That was not the case. I was giving testimony about my experience of working for an individual, testimony that read to the character and the qualification of an individual who was going to be sitting on the highest court of the country and given a lifetime appointment to that court. A lot of people have been confused by this kind of language -- 'allegations' and 'trial.' People start to ask whether I proved my case. Then they say, 'Wait a minute. If she didn't prove it, then why do we even care about it?' "

All hail Anita Hill, he said sarcastically, the Twana Brawley of Washington DC. The lesson here, little girls, is; perpetuate a fraud and get yourself respectability among those who buy into your ruse.

Monica Lewinsky did more to promote sexual harassment in the workplace awareness. No, let me correct that, because it was Linda Tripp who brought our attention to actual proof of sexual harassment in the workplace, Lewinsky gets credit for keeping that blue dress. (Unfortunately, the boss doing the harassment was never really held to pay for his crime, and today is well respected among those who now promote workplace harassment issues, like, no doubt, the author of this article),

Hill's testimony was decidedly unbelievable, she continued for years in the employ of the man she accused when she had chances to leave, the examples she offered of harassment were ridiculous. In fact, she is ridiculous.

Young ladies, look elsewhere for inspiration, Hill's is no example to follow. Read a biography of Madame Curie instead. Focus on achievement and don't let yourself to get bogged down in the petty squabbles of sexual harassment charlatans. You are better than that.

I have little experience with sexual harassment in the workplace, as a man some would say I don't even qualify to be harassed. So, despite my incredible good looks it workplace sexual harassment has never held me back. And, I am skeptical that it has been a hindrance to a large enough percentage of women to justify all the hubbub, though I leave open the possibility that I am wrong about that. But, I don't think so. I see many woman dress it up to use their sexual power to their advantage, within and outside of the workplace, to know that human nature says sex is going to be a part of any human contact. And it wouldn't surprise me, if such a study could be done in a truly independent manner, that there is more sexual harassment by those who tease in order to get ahead than by those who suggest in reaction to their notice of a potential sexual partner.

I repeat my last sentence from the comment, it sums it up, and sets the proper course for women to follow.

Young ladies, look elsewhere for inspiration, Hill's is no example to follow. Read a biography of Madame Curie instead. Focus on achievement and don't let yourself to get bogged down in the petty squabbles of sexual harassment charlatans. You are better than that.

The 1%

As opposed to his minions calling themselves the 99%. Just as with the million man march accounting's I think those in the 99% are incapable of doing the math.

We Are Not Suprised By Left's Racist Attitude Toward Cain

But, it is good to hear it said out loud, and often too. Calling them out is at times the only defense against the agenda of the left.

Ayn Rand For The Kids

A new book to teach children about one of the most important figures of the last century.

World's Oldest Museum

In this single room, Woolley had discovered at least 1,500 years of history all jumbled together, a bit like if you randomly found a Roman statue and a piece of medieval masonry while cleaning out your closet. Left to their own devices, these objects would never be found together like this. Somebody had messed around with these artifacts - they just couldn't have guessed how long ago and to what purpose that tampering took place.

A Woman Has The Right, Where Is Mine?

One familiar argument of the abortion promoters is that a its a woman's right to control her body. If such is the case, though I never fail to let it be known that killing babies is the actual outcome of abortion, then why don't I have the right to control my body as a man.

I am actually talking about the coming insistence on my purchasing health care which our current President jammed through when his Party controlled both Houses of Congress.

How can they take away my right to control my body that way? Would they subject women to a panel which would determine whether they should get an abortion? I sincerely doubt they would do so. Well, then why am I to being put before a panel to determine if I can get health care?

I'm seeing many parallels between the "rights" which the left insists on granting to a woman and the same freedoms they wish to remove from my choice.

Wall Street Protesters, More Like Woodstock 1999 Crowd

Woodstock 1999. It would be inaccurate to say that the entire audience was like the current Wall Street protest crowd. Just as it isn't accurate to say the concert promoters are equivalent to the Wall Street brokers being protested, (I think that is the gist of the protest, no one seems to know for sure). But, it is accurate to say that a small number of those present at each event tarnish the message for the rest.

Woodstock '99: The day the music died
Egotistical, angry bands fueled crowd's passions

Reminds me of the labor unions working behind the scenes with the WallNuts, and of those paying people to show up and protest; the leaders of the WallNut mob are ginning up a reaction.

If right-wingers want to throw a punch at musicians for inspiring bad behavior among America's youth, they can lay off poor Marilyn Manson, whose worst influence is his fashion directive. But they'd be dead-on if they pointed to the likes of Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and, especially, Limp Bizkit.

Insane Clown Posse started the ball rolling by throwing $100 bills into the audience and watching gleefully while a melee ensued. Kid Rock demanded that the kids pelt the stage with plastic water bottles. Soon, it looked like a plague of locusts, with Rock himself having to seek shelter from the hail of plastic projectiles.

(Videotape of Rock afterward showed his lack of concern. Grinning, he told MTV News that he felt "a little bad" about his incitements, but was psyched at how riled up everyone was.)

Red Hot Chili Peppers could argue that the situation already was out of control when they played the final set of the three-day weekend Sunday near Rome in upstate New York. In fact, vandals already had set fires throughout the air base that was the site for Woodstock '99. But what did these idiots do? Played a cover of Jimi Hendrix's classic, "Fire," which further enflamed the crowd.

The worst perpetrator was Limp Bizkit, the huge metal-rap band. I witnessed the megalomania of singer Fred Durst in June, when he nearly caused a riot at Shoreline Amphitheater during the LIVE-105 show by encouraging the audience to rush the guards and get close to the stage. Stagehands, recognizing they were outnumbered by whacked-on-music kids, wisely stepped to the side and let nature take its course.

And it almost did, in a nasty sense. Kids in the front began to get crushed, and some on the Shoreline stairs were tumbling, not able to see where they were stepping. Durst, realizing what he'd done, entreated everyone to be nice, but he was lucky nothing terrible happened. This time, his irresponsibility was more costly.

At Woodstock '99, as fans started moshing crazily to the ear-shattering screaming that passes for singing on his part, Durst told the crowd he'd been asked by promoters to calm the volatile situation. "But I don't think you should mellow out," he was videotaped saying. "This is 1999, mother- - ers - stick those Birkenstocks up your a- !"

He took it a step further when the band played its song,

"Break Stuff." "Ever have one of those days when everything's f- -ed up and you just want to break stuff?" he taunted the crowd. Shortly after, the crowd began destroying a tower and pelting the MTV crew atop it with garbage, and tearing planks from the stage. Durst, too, was videotaped coming off the stage with a huge grin on his face, elated at the response.

I hope they send him the bill.

Woodstock 1999 shares one ignominious comparison to the oirginal concert, they left the place a mess.



So did Occupy Wall Street, both crowds are absolutely careless that way.



Losers.

Update: Now Occupy rapists too, it is more and more like W1999

On The Legality of Killing Al Awlaki

Or, for that matter any U.S. citizens engaging in armed hostility to the nation. I am going to reprint in full an opinion from John Yoo, (I hope that will not violate any fair use standards), it is short and to the point.

Was US's Lethal Attack on Al-Awlaki Legal

Over on a thread started this morning, there's some debate over the question of whether the attack executed against Anwar al-Awlaki represents the killing of an American citizen by executive order without due process.

An American citizen who makes the mistake of joining the enemy is not legally inoculated from military attack. What is important is not whether someone is an alien or a citizen, but whether they are a member of an enemy conducting hostilities against the United States. Here are three historical pieces of authority:

1.The Civil War. Every confederate soldier was a U.S. citizen, especially under Lincoln's theory that secession was constitutionally impossible. If one could not kill American citizens who had joined the enemy without some kind of judicial hearing or due process, the Civil War would have been unwinnable.

2. Ex Parte Quirin (1942), where the Supreme Court upheld the detention, trial, and execution of German saboteurs, one of whom was an American citizen. The Supreme Court said: “Citizenship in the United States of an enemy belligerent does not relieve him from the consequences. ” One of those consequences, of course, is being subject to attack. In World War II, many Americans returned to Germany, Italy, or Japan to fight on the side of the Axis. The courts never required some kind of due process for them.

3. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), where the Supreme Court upheld the military detention of a Saudi Arabian caught fighting during the Afghanistan invasion of 2001. The Saudi had happened to be born in Louisiana, but left as an infant. “A citizen, no less than an alien, can be part of or supporting forces hostile to the United States or coalition partners and engaged in an armed conflict against the United States.”

That seems to clear up that misunderstanding.

We Need A New Term For Solar Irony

This sign is reportedly powered by the gas powered generator below it. Solirony? Isolic?

Update: Erony, combinining e from ecology, er from error, and ony from irony. I think that covers a lot of ground in an easy to remember and use form.

Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online

Includes English translations. A wonderful resource.

A carrot to The Blaze for bringing it to our attention.

And, in other Dead Sea news, researchers have discovered fresh water springs feeding into the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.

Saudi Women Get Vote: Or, Things We Never Believed We Would See

Saudi King Abdullah announced Sunday that the nation’s women will gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advancement for the rights of women in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

In an annual speech before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, the Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting with the nation’s top religious clerics, whose advice carries great weight in the kingdom.

“We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society and in every aspect, within the rules of Sharia,” Abdullah said, referring to the Islamic law that governs many aspects of life in the kingdom.

What We Need Is The Islamic Yakov Smirnoff

Did you hear the one about the Russian who emigrated to America and made us laugh at the repressive Soviets? We call him Yakov Smirnoff; and he helped thaw out the Cold War and even exhibited the novel concept of appreciating how great a country it is we have, here, in America; we need a Muslim version of Smirnoff to let laughter replace the evil and to reinforce that America is great and a friend to all who wish to be free.



But, until that day, when a Muslim can laugh at his heritage, we'll have to make do with Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Only in America.

Not To Make Too Much Of Suskind's Book

I've heard Dana Perino suggest that Suskind should be taken with a figurative grain of salt. But, maybe he didn't make up his entire book.

One of the most striking quotes in the book came from former White House communications director Anita Dunn , who was quoted as saying that, “this place would be in court for a hostile workplace. . . . Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”

Dunn says she was quoted out of context and told The Post on Friday that she told Suskind “point blank” that the White House was not a hostile work environment.

On Monday, Suskind allowed a Post reporter to review a recorded excerpt of the original interview, which took place over the telephone in April. In that conversation, Dunn is heard telling Suskind about a conversation she had with Jarrett.

“I remember once I told Valerie that, I said if it weren’t for the president, this place would be in court for a hostile workplace,” Dunn is heard telling Suskind. “Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”

Lochner, .......

Glenn Reynolds has been alerting to the new book by David Bernstein concerning an early 20th century Supreme Court case known as Lochner vs New York. Today at Instapundit he calls our attention to this response Bernstein makes to has critics.

David Bernstein • September 17, 2011 10:38 pm

When we last encountered the Media Matters blog, its authors reacted to a George Will column on Rehabiltating Lochner by declaring that Lochner v. New York is “in no way a liberal bogeyman.”

Today, reacting to a blog post of mine suggesting that the idea that federal power does not constitutionally extend to broad child labor laws is not all that shocking given that the states could and did regulate child labor before the feds stepped in, the MM blogger chimes in: “Is George Will on board with dismantling federal child labor laws, or did he not know what he was getting into when he endorsed Lochner?”

Three salient points: (1) my blog post did not mention or allude to Lochner in any way; (2) Lochner does not, in fact, have anything to do with the constitutionality of federal labor laws given that Lochner was a due process case about liberty of contract and the scope of the states’ police power while the historical constitutional debate over child labor laws revolved around Congress’s entirely distinct Commerce Clause power; and (3) if the Media Matters blogger (Adam Shah) had bothered to read my book, which I’m sure he has not, he would know that I point out that liberal legal commentators have spent the last several decades misusing Lochner to attack purportedly “conservative” constitutional doctrines that have nothing to do with the issues involved in Lochner. The Commerce Clause, Takings Clause, Contracts Clause, non-delegation doctrine, commercial speech and more get lumped into the “Lochner” framework because that’s a lot easier than explaining why, e.g., the power to regulate commerce among the states includes the power to regulate home-grown marijuana that never enters the stream of commerce.

So, I’d like to thank Media Matters for illustrating my point. You might even say that Media Matters has shown that Lochner remains a liberal bogeyman, at least among the less constitutionally and historically sophisticated.

A 73 Year Old New Book

Outwitting The Devil, by Napolean Hill.

Perhaps my all-time favorite business book is Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich.” I recommend reading and re-reading it, perhaps even annually, to keep your focus laser-sharp.

Now, I have an addition for your reading list. It’s “Outwitting the Devil,” written by Hill in 1938 (yes — 1938!) but never before released. Sharon Lechter, co-author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” has annotated this complex and compelling work, interpreting it for our times.

The history of the book itself is fascinating. Hill wrote it more than seven decades ago, but his family and advisers considered it too controversial for release. This book will no doubt make some readers squirm, but I’ll bet the farm it will make even more readers sit up and take action.

The topic couldn’t be more timely — breaking through inhibitions and living a life free from fear, doubt and dependency. Staring down those devils is an ongoing struggle. Life is constantly throwing challenges and fanning the flames of fear. Hill identifies the seven principles of good that lead to success.

Update: In a related manner, there have been reminders that not all successful people got there through formal education; at some point it is impossible for a teacher to instruct one to succeed, by definition it happens whenever a unique take reveals genius.

Imagine That

Even bloggers have First Amendment rights.

Seems old news to me.

FBI Knows Muslims Are A Danger

Glad to see them getting real.

The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”

At the Bureau’s training ground in Quantico, Virginia, agents are shown a chart contending that the more “devout” a Muslim, the more likely he is to be “violent.” Those destructive tendencies cannot be reversed, an FBI instructional presentation adds: “Any war against non-believers is justified” under Muslim law; a “moderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as the unalterable word of Allah.”

Krauthammer's Social Security Fixes

If you need the similarities between Ponzi's scheme and the US Social Security system explained Krauthammer provides a comparison, but since the unsustainable future of Social Security is certain what we call it matters less than how we fix it. CK says the following will do the job:

Demography is destiny. Which leads directly to Proposition 4: This is one Ponzi scheme that can be saved by adapting to the new demographics.

Three easy steps: Change the cost-of-living measure, means test for richer recipients and, most important, raise the retirement age. The current retirement age is an absurd anachronism. Bismarck arbitrarily chose 70 when he created social insurance in 1889. Clever guy: Life expectancy at the time was under 50.

When Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security, choosing 65 as the eligibility age, life expectancy was 62. Today it is almost 80. FDR wanted to prevent the aged few from suffering destitution in their last remaining years. Social Security was not meant to provide two decades of greens fees for baby boomers.

Of course it’s a Ponzi scheme. So what? It’s also the most vital, humane and fixable of all social programs. The question for the candidates is: Forget Ponzi — are you going to fix Social Security?

1] Change the cost-of-living measure
2] Means test for richer recipients
3] Raise the retirement age

I'd add a fourth step, restructure the people's obligations to the government and constrictions by the government in order to promote individual's economic stability and the ability and incentives to save for retirement. Changing from a nation of people expecting to retire on Social Security benefits into one which expects to self-reliant is not only essential but desirable.

Greeley Report.com Gets Answers To Flag Incident and Poudre Schools Policy

In an offensive move, somone placed the Saudi Arabian national flag above the United States flag in a Bauder Elementary classroom. The culprit remains at large.

GreeleyReport.com has been chasing this story since it became aware of the error in protocol. It is easy to imagine that the placement was intentional and intended as insult to this nation. And, given that the culprit remains hidden that is how I see it. GR.com has received a response from the school.

The school representative chose to use that ill-understand phrase, "separation of church and state" within their response. And, they probably think they know what they are talking about, but I think they don't and had to say so. My posted comment:

I think Poudre/Bauder needs some work on their understanding and presentation of our country's founding. They use the commonly used phrase "separation of church and state" in their response, a phrase replete with misunderstanding.

They said:
"As you know, our country was founded on the principal of separation of church and state"

Actually, it is more correct to say that our country pioneered the concept of freedom for religion and that our Bill of Rights includes a provision protecting against intervention by Congress to create or inhibit religion.

The original intent is little understood, and less frequently adhered to today; and if Poudre/Bauder and all other schools want to be honest brokers of history they need to adjust away from use of the corrupted phrase "separation of church and state" as that phrase appears nowhere within the Constitution or the Bill of Rights and its persistent use only serves to perpetuate an all too common misunderstanding of the role the founders intended for religion in American society.

I would like to see the person who placed the flag in that inappropriate place identified, and I would like to have a new national debate to resurrect the framer's intended understanding of the rights delineated in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Mythological Cheney

Let me put forth a simple statement for your consideration. Dick Cheney is a controversial figure.

It seems true to me, but I am also certain some readers would say that there is no controversy, the man is evil, done and done. You see, Cheney's detractors do not permit even the notice that others disagree with them, much less that their perceptions may not be absolute.

But, for many others it is true that Cheney is complex, and surprising when compared with the popular conceptions of him. And that is the case Stephen Harper makes in his brief essay, 5 myths about Dick Cheney.

what about the former vice president is real, exaggerated or outright myth?

For many the answer is the null set; the question does not compute. For then it is settled science, and Cheney is evil, pure and simple, there can be no discussion of details, facts, and nuance. For, you see, for Cheney's detractors are themselves intractable and polemic; rigid and power hungry without compassion or any hope of rehabilitation. In other words, Cheney haters are everything they project Cheney to be.

On Governing, and Being Governed

A real history lesson.

Proof Al Gore Is High All The Time.

You may have heard of Al Gore, former government employee, now unconvincing proponent of green-ness. He expends more fossil fuel, with its supposedly world-ending effects that you are I ever will, while making his fortune telling how bad behavior such as his is for the planet.

Well, turns out the production and use of marijuana is just the polluting nightmare Gore lives, and I doubt he'd waste a chance to contribute to our doom; so he must be smoking massive amounts of weed! I am sure of it dude.

So, Are Our "Companion Animals" Tax Deductable Not Too?

They live under our roofs, feed from our largesse, and we don't own them. So, can we claim them as deductions, should they file their own tax returns? Or, should we think of them as non-human members of the welfare class? And, if they file on their own, what percentage of Americans now pay no taxes, surely it is well above the 50% recently reported.

Help, animals.

A carrot to SDA

Lincoln Founded What?

America Akbar, all hail our dufus in Chief!

So now the media will erupt for weeks on end about what an “idiot” and “fool” and “know-nothing” Obama is, just like it erupted over Sarah Palin’s (accurate) comments about Paul Revere?

It’s even worse, because Palin’s (accurate) comments were made in an on-the-fly interview whereas Obama’s were in a prepared speech.

And all the enlightened conservative pundits who bashed Palin endlessly over Revere now will denounce Obama’s historical ignorance, right?

Wikipedia on Republican Party.


Meanwhile, now that it is clear that Obama and his prepared speech were wrong-


Sarah Palin says she was more right than wrong.

The Christian Science Monitor sort of agrees:

She was always kind of right. Look, from the point of view of strategic communications, Revere’s ride did indeed warn the British that fighting in the colonies was going to be tougher than they’d thought. That’s a sort of meta way of looking at it, we suppose, but that’s what they teach in the colleges these days.* If we were her that’s the defense we’d use – it has the virtue of being both logical and vague enough to avoid further discussion.

She remains kind of wrong. The historical record says nothing about Revere talking to the British about guns, specifically. So for Palin to say he said “you won’t be taking our arms” is technically non-factual. The Second Amendment was not yet in existence – that was passed under the administration of President Charlton Heston. Plus, Revere didn’t shoot anything from his horse. Church bells might have been ringing, though.

She can't win on this subject. Here’s something Palin’s advisers should tell her: “When you get into an argument about details with a media that buys its pixels by the barrelful, you’re always going to lose. And prolonging this discussion isn’t going to win you any votes if you run for president or viewers if you make another reality show. All it does is emphasize one of your negatives – many voters aren’t sure of your grasp of details. You need to change the subject.”

How should she handle more questions? Just say “Paul Revere’s ride was a wake-up call for the British. Now, I’d rather talk about our national debt than what a silversmith said two centuries ago to soldiers of a country that’s our closest ally today.”

Wikipedia explain; Meta- (from Greek: μετά = "after", "beyond", "with", "adjacent", "self"), is a prefix used in English (and other Greek-owing languages) to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.

So, what we know now: Palin's off the cuff remark is at worst ambiguous, Obama's rehearsed remark fit his purpose but does not fit with history.

* Emphasis mine

Update: What's that, .....it..smells....like....like...... it smells like...... coverup!

INTERESTING: PBS presents what they claim are Obama's remarks "as prepared for delivery and released by the White House". Their version omits the news that Abe Lincoln was "founder of the Republican Party", although that phrase appears at the White House site and other transcripts.

They further claim that it was a error which took some time to correct.

Boxing Cat

Apparently A Proposed Oil Pipeline Means End Of World

These sincere, and thoroughly misguided people, seek to stop the construction of a pipeline carrying oil from Canada to the United States Gulf coast. Seemingly unbeknownst to them is that the oil will be brought out of the ground regardless, and may well be sent to China instead of their home nation, the U.S.A., where it will likely be burnt to produce electricity. But, they are your basic 'can't see the forest for the trees' types so of course they fail to see the big picture yet again.


Update: SDA refers this article, Unsettling science, which reports the scientifically decided notion that the Sun is responsible for global warming. Time to put some sun screen into the atmosphere?

Last week, 63 scientists from CERN, the unimpeachable European Organization for Nuclear Research, published a paper in the journal Nature that would seem to prove that the sun, and not humans, is the main "driver" of climate on Earth.

Waffle House Adapted To Serve Disaster Stricken Clients

A lesson in American spirit.

Kelo vs New London: Project Becomes A Dump

Eminent Domain my ass.

Now, we learn from the local newspaper, The Day, that following the hurricane Irene, the city has designated the Fort Trumbull redevelopment site as a place to dump vegetation debris.............................................................Connecticut taxpayers have thus been soaked tens of millions of dollars, not just for nothing, but for making things worse — for transforming a nice local neighborhood into a dump.

Will Chinese Rewrite Koran?

But the cheap Chinese Korans have lots of typos…

Wow, I hope they don't inadvertently typo the pilgrimage clause, what a terrible thing it would be if they somehow replaced the 'grim' with an extra "L"? Oh, the horror, if all of Islam was compelled to pillage Mecca at least once in their lifetime!

Free Up Enterprise

It is my stuff, let me sell it.

Shelby Steele Explains Obama

America seems to be facing a pivotal moment: Do we move ahead by advancing or by receding—by reaffirming the values that made us exceptional or by letting go of those values, so that a creeping mediocrity begins to spare us the burdens of greatness?

As a president, Barack Obama has been a force for mediocrity. He has banked more on the hopeless interventions of government than on the exceptionalism of the people. His greatest weakness as a president is a limp confidence in his countrymen. He is afraid to ask difficult things of them.

I Blame Shalala

Donna Shalala is a Clinton era form of corruption who used her high profile government career as launching pad to acquire the lead position at the University of Miami.

You may have heard of the news surrounding that school of late, their athletic department turned a blind eye to the crooked practices of a booster who stole nearly one billion dollars from investors in a ponzi scheme.



Shalala knows him, as the above photo testifies. Hell, everyone knew of him because he had, so-called, rock star access to the entire sports program and made exorbitant donations to the school. This young crook was tossing around his stolen lucre in a bacchanalian festival of slime. He was on the field during games. He entertained the players with luxury and smut. He was everywhere and Shalala's spidey sense failed to pick up on the fact that he was a scum-ball who was destroying the integrity of the school she was paid to run. But, then, having worked for Bill Clinton all those years her instincts of propriety must be off, she has logged so little time how one should act to compare Shapiro's actions against. In other words, she is corrupted, and therefore she is corrupt.

I blame Donna Shalala for this entire mess. Don't try to tell me about some special circumstances about that photo, there is no excuse for what she permitted to go on. That photo is not the only evidence condemning her lack of control.

Shalala is corrupt.

Shalala is is ultimately responsible, and I am heartened to learn that many others came to the same conclusion. And, it is past time that the school's adult division took notice, after all, this isn't the first time for the Hurricanes to be found playing in the gutter. Alexander Wolff says it well, but he isn't the only one who knows that she must go.

Expert Says Beck Knows Middle East

Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. See the GLORIA/MERIA site at www.gloria-center.org.

Having studied the Middle East professionally for 35 years, written or edited more than 40 books on the region, and having a PhD in Middle East history, let me make it perfectly clear: Glenn Beck, who is holding several rallies in Israel this week, has a better grasp of Middle East politics than most Western experts, not to mention Western leaders.

A carrot to Kate

A Tooth-Regenerating Paste

Where can I get some.

The Year: 1939, The Target: Hitler

Georg Elser plotted for a year to kill Hitler, he failed by minutes.

It Should All Be Like The Greeks For Me

under the scope of reforms in the Greek Family Law, the Shariah will be abolished for Greek Muslims.

Update: Details and source of details.