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Whodda Thunk?

Court rules atheism a religionDecides 1st Amendment protects prison inmate's right to start study group

A federal court of appeals ruled yesterday Wisconsin prison officials violated an inmate's rights because they did not treat atheism as a religion.

"Atheism is [the inmate's] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being," the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said.

The court decided the inmate's First Amendment rights were violated because the prison refused to allow him to create a study group for atheists.

Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, called the court's ruling "a sort of Alice in Wonderland jurisprudence."

"Up is down, and atheism, the antithesis of religion, is religion," said Fahling.

The Supreme Court has said a religion need not be based on a belief in the existence of a supreme being. In the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, the court described "secular humanism" as a religion.

Fahling said today's ruling was "further evidence of the incoherence of Establishment Clause jurisprudence."

"It is difficult not to be somewhat jaundiced about our courts when they take clauses especially designed to protect religion from the state and turn them on their head by giving protective cover to a belief system, that, by every known definition other than the courts' is not a religion, while simultaneously declaring public expressions of true religious faith to be prohibited," Fahling said.


I LOVE THIS STORY! I guess this now means I can call atheists religious zealots! YEAH!

Tom Purcell went sailing!

On Sailing with Women

I had a bad feeling as soon as I got onto the boat.

It was a small rented sailboat that was piloted by two women. They women had taken a few sailing lessons and wanted to try out their nautical prowess on the Potomac River. I and two other fellows went along for the ride.

And what a ride it was. Shortly after we boarded, one of the women, a lawyer, began lecturing us on sailing techniques. She told us about the jib, the small sail up front, and how to move it from one side to another by releasing one jib rope and pulling the other.

She explained what it meant to “tack,” or shift the sails from one side to another to catch the wind and change direction. She lectured us with a seriousness you’d encounter at a sexual-harassment seminar.

No sooner did her lecture conclude than the winds whipped up and grabbed the sails. We were yanked out to the great unknown at the neck-snapping speed of two miles per hour.

“Let go of the jib!” she shouted to one of the men, who, being a man, felt the need to do something, so he grabbed the jib rope. I later learned he was her ex-husband and they still lived together.

“But if I pull the jib tighter, it will catch more wind,” he speculated. Men speculate, you see. A lack of actual knowledge never interferes with our perpetual quest to resolve problems.

“Release the jib now!”

“But if I --”

“I said let go of the damn jib!”

He let go of the damn jib. His surrender, and the embarrassment we felt for him, set the tone for the rest of the torturous outing.

No matter where you sit on a sailboat piloted by women, you are in the way. Your head is perpetually getting struck by ropes, pulleys and sail rods. If you attempt to do nothing, the women yell at you to pull the damn jib. If you pull the damn jib, they demand you release it. If you release it, they demand you pull it tighter.

I got to thinking about this episode after reading about Women’s Equality Day, to be celebrated Friday, August 26th. Congress established it in 1971 to spotlight women’s efforts at achieving equality. It is celebrated on August 26th, because that’s the day women won the right to vote back in 1920.

Things sure have changed since then.

It used to be that women were held back in this country. They had few options but to marry and become mothers, and they were then expected to stay home while the men went off to run the country.

Today, the potential of women has been unleashed and we’re all better off. Women are excelling in every profession. More women than men are enrolling in college and more are earning advanced degrees. Nearly 40% of all businesses in America are owned by women.

It’s true that women have not yet achieved parity at the top levels of corporate America. It’s also true that women earn 75% of what men do, though doesn’t this have more to do with the choices women can now make than discrimination?

Women can stay single and climb the corporate ladder. They can marry, have a family and hire a nanny to watch the kids. They can suspend their career, which will reduce their earning potential later when they return to work, to stay home with the kids. There are a million choices available and women are choosing every variation under the sun.

And they’re piloting sailboats.

It used to be that when five people got onto a sailboat, it was the men who sat in the back barking orders. They’d soon get to bickering and turn an otherwise delightful outing into a miserable affair.

Now it’s the women who are doing that. While they focus intensely on their piloting duties, it’s the men who are adrift at sea.

Men who aren’t sure whether they should pull or release the damn jib.

(Tom Purcell’s e-mail address is TomPurcell@aol.com; his Web address is www.TomPurcell.com)

TOOOOOOO FAR!!!!!!!!!!

That's IT! I have HAD IT! I have NEVER blasted the ACLU on this blog before, but now I have HAD IT! The ACLU was created to fight for civil liberites for United States' Citizens. They were NOT created to fight for FOREIGN NATIONALS, especially ILLEGAL ones. They were certainly not created to protect ENEMIES of America and TERRORISTS! In fact, I would venture to say that they were created to STOP terror being imposed onto people. HOW THINGS CHANGE! If you are giving ONE RED CENT to the ACLU, then I, personally, consider you to be an enemy to the United States of America. PERIOD!!!!!!


ACLU to Gitmo inmates: Don't talk
Prisoners advised of 'right' not to answer interrogators

Peace Plan?

This plan will not bring peace.

I awoke yesterday morning to see IDF soldiers literally kicking in the doors of a Jewish family in Gaza. My heart broke as I watched such an intimate moment of grief and despair unfold before my eyes. Part of me felt guilty to be witnessing this event. Part of me was filled with such admiration for a family stricken with such tragedy responding without violence and struggling to have their voice heard. The family spoke of their arrival in 1976 to a desert land. They had come to farm the land, and make it fertile. They were greeted by an imam that brought them salt and bread, welcoming them, begging them to farm this land to provide jobs for his people. SO much has changed...........

As the men began to cut and tear their clothes (an Old Testament sign of mourning for Jews), I had to catch my breath. When the children began singing from Psalms (the Torah) I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I don't know what the orange bracelets and clothing symbolize, but it was obvious there was a message with this color.

This is hard for for me to grasp. Of course, we can't feel compassion for these people without realizing how the people of Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon must have felt when Israel was created, and what they went through when their lands were lost in the Six Day War. One commentator on FOX News claimed the fact that they lost their land because they attacked Israel and lost was no point at all because, the result is the same. I beg to differ with THAT. A dead father is a dead father, the pain and result is the same for a family, yet a father killed BY a drunk driver is definitely different than a father killed because HE was driving drunk.

If this world TRULY wants peace, the anti-Semitism MUST STOP! PERIOD! As part of the world seeks Israel to live in peace with its neighbors, another part of the world seeks to expel Jews from the earth. Then there is the part of the world that is so busy trying to understand both sides, and afraid to be "UNCARING" that they just get in the way of the entire process. We can sift through history and debate it until we are blue in the face. The bottom line is that we are no longer IN HISTORY. We cannot go back and change ANYTHING. We are HERE, NOW. Israel seeks peace, not conquering the world. Are there some Jews that are hate filled? Sure. Are there some Muslims that are NOT determined to act like savages counting each Jewish death as a blessing? Sure. But these people are not the majority on either side.

What can we do? I don't have all answers. ALL I can come to is that the only way to STOP this cycle of violence is to rid ourselves of the HATRED. Getting the Jews out of Israel will NOT stop terrorism or violence. Unless you are willing to go back to Hitler's plan to exterminate a whole people based on race, we need to take a stand to rid the hate. These are the only choices. The kicker to all of it is this. Even if the Jews were shaken off the earth, the violence will not stop.

Poeple in America have at times claimed that "fundamentalist" Christians are just as dangerous as the "fundamentalist" Muslims. WHAT A LIE! True Christians are not the least bit interested in using violence to rid the world of all Non-Christians. Christians will quickly step up and denounce violence. They condemn killing abortion doctors and bombing clinics. The difference in the Christian religious zealot and the Muslim religious zealot is not just stark, but CLEAR.

Groups like HAMAS will not stop until the Jews are GONE, PERIOD.

A Fall OF Grace

Skydiver's desperate prayer answered
Felt 'warm embrace' as he survived spiraling plunge to Earth

A first-time skydiver who survived a 3,500-foot plunge to Earth after his parachute failed to open properly says he experienced extraordinary comfort as he prayed on the way down.

Daniel Levi Cave, speaking from his hospital room in Seattle yesterday, told the "Today" show's Matt Lauer he made a last-minute plea to God.

"I said, 'OK, well, I trust you, I believe in you, and if there's any way, I'd love to see my family again, so help me out here.'

Cave continued: "And I just felt – I got to say, I just felt like the biggest hug in the world and just this warm embrace. It was the most amazing thing ever. And at that point, I thought, either way, this is going to turn out good, so, and here I am. I don't know how."

Read it all!

RUDY!

To say that being a mother is the hardest job in the world is so cliche. It is said so often that we really don't give it any thought. Most people think about the hours, and the selflessness put into it and miss the REAL meaning of the statement. Even us mothers nod, and know it's true, we don't often spend time thinking about what TRULY makes the job of being a mother so hard. Today was one of those days for me that helped to put this old cliche back into focus for me.

My son is 16. He is kinda little for his age compared to the other kids at school, and it is especially noticeable when he steps out onto the football field (or stands on the sidelines). He's a Junior this year- and it is his FIRST year playing football. He is very athletic, built and cut well, but still pretty small and quite inexperienced in organized sports, let alone FOOTBALL! He comes home each day after practice and shares how much he lifted, how many 40 yrd sprints he won (6 out of 15 he came in first- he is pretty fast). He plays wingback, but would LOVE to play safety or wide receiver, and with his speed and ability to jump- he would fair pretty well in those positions. But with his size and just starting to play his Junior year, he truly lacks the self-confidence and experience to SHINE.

I am a typical mom, and think everything he does is awesome and I am very proud. I see the talent he possesses quite easily. I also see the tender ego and heart of a 16 year old boy that grew up without his father in his life until he was 14, and how he struggles to find the man inside of him. I see how he measures himself by others. It is normal for 16 year old boys to go through this, but it also breaks my heart. It is particularly painful because I know that no matter how well-adjusted he his, he still feels the sting from the abandonment of his father in his early years and the pain he has endured by my poor decisions.

His first scrimmage game was last Friday, and I was the typical mom, jumping out of my seat exclaiming "Kevin's on the field! Kevin's on the field!" the very first time I saw him run for a play. I laughed at myself, of course. His little sisters, 5 and 6, clamored at the fence yelling his name as he stood on the sidelines, and he graciously turned and smiled and waved. How nice of him not to get embarrassed and try to ignore them. It was such a relief to see his teammates think it was cute too, instead of razzing him over it.

But tonight was different. Tonight he looked agitated on the sidelines. He finally got to get in for one play- the second to last play of the game. It was at the other end of the field and since I was firmly planted in the front row, I really didn't get to see it. The game ended, and we waited by the locker room as he came to get out of uniform. I walked up to him, slapped him on the shoulder and said "Hey, All-Star!" He turned around to look at me, and I could see the fury all over his face. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I RAN INTO THE QUARTERBACK!" He snapped, and I saw the tears well up in his eyes. MY HEART SHATTERED!

How could I fix this? What do I do? What do I say? The mother in me wanted to grab him and hug him and tell him everything was okay, just let him cry. But THANK GOD I am a bit wiser than that, or am I? As my insides burned and my arms ached to hold him, I smiled and said, "Hey, at least you didn't get your hands on the ball and run to the wrong end zone." He rolled his eyes and tried to smile. "Shake it off! It was one play." I said "My ONLY PLAY." He mumbled, and he disappeared into the locker room.

I stood outside, waiting. I rocked back and forth wishing there were a man there to tell me how to handle this without destroying him. I mean, as parents. we just don't have all the answers. We are doing ALL we can just to not totally WRECK their lives. I knew this was a crossroad moment in his life. This young teenager, trying to be a man, had come to a point where how he handled this could effect how he handled failure the rest of his life, especially on the BIG things in his life. This was a moment that would set a pattern for so many things. At this age they hang their identity on things that nobody else ever remembers. OH- I NEEDED HELP! How do I ease the pain? How do I allow him the opportunity to feel the pain without adding to it, and at the same time help him keep this tiny moment in perspective? How do I make sure he doesn't let this moment haunt him or define him without belittling how he feels?

This was truly a moment that required an academy award-winning performance from me, and the wisdom of ANYONE BUT ME! As my heart broke, my mind raced for the answer on what to do. I racked my brain, trying to think of a man I could call in for reinforcements. Okay, to be totally I honest- I was trying to think of a man that I could hand this whole thing over to and say- "Please fix this! I am afraid to touch it! I'll mess it all up! Here- YOU TAKE IT! PLEASE!" Finally I calmed down and the answer came to me.

He came out of the locker room and we walked to the car. On the way, I asked him if the coach said anything to him about it. This is when he explained that the coach sent in 3 guys. 2 wingbacks and a tailback- but no fullback. The quarterback told my son to play fullback. So, of course, he had NO IDEA WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO OR WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO GO! When he came off the field, the coach asked him, "What happened?" My son told him. The coach said, "Oh, my bad," and just shrugged it off. I just laughed and said "Well, that's cool. If the coach said 'My bad' then no worries." "But it was my ONLY play." was all he could say. But that was okay, I had a plan. "I got surprise for you." I told him.

We all piled into the car and I headed to Hollywood Video. I ran in and came out with a bag of movies. When we got home, I called my dad to tell him what happened, how I handled it, and what I was about to do, as my son took a shower. Thank GOD, my dad agreed. I had spent some time on the way home sharing with him some of my most embarrassing moments, and explained to him that he would live through it, and this moment just didn't define him and not to let it haunt him. My dad thought it was great that I didn't make it a BIG deal, despite my urge to coddle him and help him lick his wounds. Treating it like just another funny moment in life was pretty good. He was also thrilled with the next step. My son got out of the shower, and we sat down to watch "RUDY."

We laughed, we cried, and we cheered. As we read the little message at the end about how NO ONE had been carried off the Notre Dame field since 1975, my son looked at me and said "AMAZING MOVIE." He hugged me tight and said "Thanks mom!"

He then got on his computer and checked his zenga (OY!), kissed me goodnight and went off to bed. Right now he is laying in bed, drifting off to sleep. He has no idea that I just had one of the most TERRIFYING nights of my life, and I am PRAYING that I didn't just do EVERYTHING WRONG as a mother. He has no inkling that I hope I was a good mom tonight, and that it may be 20 years before I ever find out if I fumbled, or made a game winning Hail Mary catch in the end zone with 2 seconds on the clock. Chances are, I did neither. Chances are, I made a simple play that either gained a few yards or lost a few yards on the vast field of his life. As parents we get in a LOT of plays. But for THIS ONE HUGE MOMENT in his life, it was MY ONLY PLAY of the game.

YOU can SAVE a LIFE!

Yes, YOU can save the life of a soldier. You can save a child the agony of losing a parent, or mother and father from losing a child, a spouse from being widowed.

The helmets that our troops use are the same type issued during WWII. With the way war has changed- more troops are killed by the IED's than bullets. Sadly enough, many of them lose their life not from the blast itself, but from the force of the blast and the way the helmet impacts the skull. You can read more on this by following the link provided below.

There is a life saving kit that can be provided to our troops for their helmets to avoid these deaths. If you have extra cash- please show your support for our troops by investing in them in a life-saving way. There is plenty of argument to be made about why our soldiers are not provided this life saving kit already, but until we can address this issue, let's not waste time and waste precious lives.

Operation Helmet

Just for the sake of covering some of the debate on this issue:

It sickens me that we are more concerned about giving SPECIAL meals to Club Gitmo TERRORISTS than spending the money on saving the lives of our brave soldiers. It further sickens me that POLITICS, POWER, and GREED get in the way by those WE HIRED to have charge over such spending and decisions. It INFURIATES me that the MEDIA spends more time pandering to TERRORISTS and "PROTECTING" THEM than the men and women GIVING THEIR LIVES so that these childish media people can ACTUALLY EXERCISE their first amendment rights. What a WASTE of their talents, gifts, and opportunity. Someone once commented that I would make a terrible reporter. May I just say, "AMEN MY FRIEND, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!"

Tom Purcell on Gay Marriage

When Heterosexual Men Marry (Each Other)

The law of unintended consequences always produces interesting results. Here’s a doozy.

Two heterosexual fellows in Canada, invoking their rights under Canada’s recently passed same-sex marriage legislation, have announced their intentions to marry. Drinking pals Bill Dalrymple, 56, and Bryan Pinn, 65, intend to marry not because they are gay but for the tax breaks.

News of the pending engagement didn’t sit well with same-sex marriage activist Bruce Walker, a Toronto lawyer. He complained that marriage should be for love.

Well, who is Walker to criticize? He used to argue that if two consenting adults of the same sex wanted to marry, it was nobody’s business but theirs. Now that two fellows of the same sex want to marry – perhaps to qualify for family discounts at the neighborhood pub -- what business is it of his?

Where Canada is concerned, marital preconditions are over, and good riddance.

It used to be that marriage was sacred. A man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife as one flesh. It was a powerful commitment, a duty, an institution. What’s worse, it meant you weren’t allowed to see another woman naked for the rest of your life.

It used to be that governments gave breaks to married folks because it was ultimately good for society. The family has always been the building block of a healthy society, and encouraging family life was good for everyone.

It’s true that heterosexual men and women have made a mess out of traditional marriage. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce – and that only pertains to folks who bother marrying. Many heterosexual folks prefer cohabitation, as it provides many of the goodies of marriage without the hassles.

But cohabitation frequently fails and men and women become so suspicious of each other, they end up living alone. That means millions of single women spend their free time playing with their two cats, while millions of single men are slumped over a bar stool.

That’s why those two heterosexual Canadian fellows may be on to something. Perhaps more people should marry their buddies.

If single heterosexual women married their female friends, they’d avoid the loneliness of single life, while enjoying the benefits of marriage. If one was a member of a country club, for instance, the other would be able to join as her “spouse.” The only downside of women marrying their friends would be a significant increase in four-cat households, but then you can’t have everything.

Single heterosexual men could enjoy similar benefits from marrying their buddies. They would never spend their weekends window shopping at the Crate and Barrel with their “spouse,” but business would be brisk at the Keg and Barrel.

You’d find married heterosexual fellows doing all kinds of things they could never do with a real wife. The natural course of any man who is single long enough, after all, is to wake up in a pile of dirty laundry still clutching the tequila bottle he began sipping out of a few days before. At least if he married a buddy, he’d be able to self-destruct with a little company.

Such a married couple would sit up all night drinking beer and watching Beavis and Butthead reruns. They’d argue over who is hotter, Liv Tyler or Halle Berry (and Halle wins hands down). If a fight broke out and guacamole dip ended up all over the rug, who cares.

Such an existence would be unthinkable with a wife. A real wife would never guide her husband to the bathroom after he won a drinking contest down at the VFW, and she certainly wouldn’t celebrate his victory the following morning by bringing him a Big Mac, a large Coke and a bottle of aspirin.

Perhaps America ought to follow the lead of its courageous neighbors up north. Instead of working to strengthen marriage as an institution, we ought to broaden it. We ought to make its benefits available to any consenting adults who want at them.

Such as married drinking pals, who deserve the right to spend their tax savings buying extra rounds at the pub.

(Tom Purcell’s e-mail address is TomPurcell@aol.com; his Web address is www.TomPurcell.com)

Tom, I don't have ANY cats, I don't shop for crates or barrels, and I could probably out drink you at the VFW ( I may require an escort to the bathroom though). Oh, and my divorce should be final within 60 days.

Terrorism, Pedophiles, and.......Dating?

What do these things have in common? Profiling. The word games played by vultures clamoring for political power and MONEY are just that- GAMES!

When searching for terrorists, there is a profile. Do ALL terrorists fit this "profile?" NO! It is a method used for all sorts of things. If your 6 year old daughter disappears from her bed in the middle of the night, the first thing the cops do is start with pedophiles and sex offenders known to be in the area. I know- I know- someone is already whining about how these guys have already been convicted of a crime, blah, blah, blah. But hold on a second. WHY do the police start with these particular folks? It's not just because they can. It is because they are the most LOGICAL place to start. It's not like they sit around waiting for missing little girls so they can go harass the sex offenders. They start with the sex offenders because the PURPOSE is to FIND THE MISSING GIRL! The PURPOSE of taking an extra look at folks utilizing public transportation is to STOP TERROR ATTACKS! It is not a scheme designed to harass people.

Profiling is even done with dating. We all do it with the dating game. For instance. If I were looking for a man to date- I have a profile. He has to have a job (a steady job), a car, no criminal history (especially pedophilia), etc... Can I find ALL these things and still end up with a scumbag- YOU BETCHA! Could I find an incredible man who has no job, no car, and a vacation period compliments of the American tax payer in a resort with barred windows? Possible. The numbers are greater if I stick with the profile. Why waste time dating an ex-con with no car and no job? Men, on other hand, may kick me out of the running because they have no interest in women with kids. Especially women with THREE kids!

Should we check granny? Sure we should. After watching Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman on the BIG SCREEN, no telling what terrorists could try. But do we ONLY do random searches? DO we totally give Middle Eastern men between the ages of 18 and 35 a pass for fear of "OFFENDING" or looking "RACIST?" NO WAY, JACK! It isn't about RACISM, it is about a PROFILE! It is about taking the information you have, and making educated and thoughtful decisions. THIS is the LEAST I expect from those charged with the duty to protect me and MY CHILDREN!

Enough of the smoke screen. PC is dangerous enough to our society without drowning ourselves in blood in order to create racism that doesn't exist. There is REAL racism in this world. Let's stop insulting the REAL ISSUE of racism with such ridiculous charges in the case of terrorism.

Tyrants, Theives, and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.......

When I read about the events that took place here in Atlanta, GA over the weekend, I SMILE!

Bush, GOP Labeled 'Thieves' Who 'Need to be Locked Up'

Atlanta (CNSNews.com) - A featured speaker at Saturday's civil rights march in Atlanta said the Bush administration and Republican Party leaders are "thieves" who "need to be locked up" for stealing the past two presidential elections and presiding over federal budget deficits and the war in Iraq.

"They all need to be locked up because they are all criminals and they are all thieves," said Judge Greg Mathis, the star of the syndicated television program "The Judge Mathis Show."


and then:

Harry Belafonte Calls Black Republicans 'Tyrants'

Celebrity activist Harry Belafonte referred to prominent African-American officials in the Bush administration as "black tyrants" at a weekend march, and he also compared the administration to Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Oh, and the AJC sweetheart, Cynthia Tucker:

Easy to identify hypocrisy of Georgia Republicans' voter ID law

When Mamie Fields voted last year, it was easy. She rode the elevator down to the lobby of Lakewood Christian Manor, a high-rise for the elderly. The voting booths were right there, so all she had to do was show her Social Security card and cast her ballot.

But Gov. Sonny Perdue and the GOP-dominated Legislature have gotten tough on people like Fields, who is 93, so she won't be able to get away with that again. Claiming they were on the lookout for fraudulent voters, GOP legislators pushed through a stringent voter ID law that would force Georgians to show a state-sponsored photo ID. But Mamie Fields doesn't have one. She hasn't driven in many years, she said.

My DEAR, DEAR, Cynthia! Relax, hun! Calm down, take a DEEP breath and put down the kool-aid. No one is out to "GET TOUGH" on 93 yr old women. You are taking an EXTREME circumstance and turning it into some EEEEVIL INTENT of a GOOD, COMMON SENSE idea. The TRUTH is that the state of GA is willing to actually COME TO Mamie's HOUSE and GIVE her the photo ID! I think it is RIDICULOUS for the state of Georgia to go to this extreme, but hey- they are willing to do this for Miss Fields and others like her. I don't think that expecting people to present a PHOTO ID is too EXTREME to ask people to do when they are participating in one the most crucial processes of our country governance. Call me CRAZY- but I remember the accusations and banter of the last 2 elections. I remember the stories of the dead voting and I think we even had some fictional characters registering to vote in Ohio. Who wants the leader of our country decided by FRAUD!? Our system NEEDS to hold INTEGRITY! I realize this puts a wet blanket on the party lines like "illegitimate" and "stolen election," but you may need to be more careful next time you throw around such loaded horse manure. The kicking and whining "Not Fair, Not Fair" will only get you so far when dealing with the REAL WORLD, sweetie.

My initial response was to label this old, tiring, and worn out rhetoric, but the word rhetoric just doesn't fit. The word rhetoric is a strong sounding word, and there is no power left in this dribble. It has become more like a laugh track to a re-run sit-com. It adds a little humor to the daily read of the news..........

My Deepest Sympathy to the Jennings Family....

Peter Jennings Passed Away Tonight. I offer my deepest sympathy to his family and the many people at ABC who spent so many years with him. I cn only imagine the loss they feel.....


Peter Jennings dies at 67ABC News anchor succumbs to lung cancer

Longtime ABC News anchor Peter Jennings died tonight at the age of 67 from complications of lung cancer......

Words of Wisdom

These are some old columns, but in light of the London bombings, the "American Hiroshima," the ACLU, Judge Roberts' adoption files being a TARGET of the LOONS, etc- I felt it HELPFUL to post this today. You can follow the links and read much more.

Jonah Goldberg, YOU ROCK!

"The difference between the good society and the bad one is entirely defined by the rules which determine how this natural impulse to compete for respect and happiness should take place. A bad society is one where it is acceptable for people to attain status through violence or birthright. The good society is one where status is achieved through creativity, personal industriousness, and moral self-restraint. A bad society considers some groups ineligible to compete for trivial or superficial reasons. A good society believes everyone is free to pursue happiness equally. But all societies, good and bad, will have such competition for status and success. This is a universal truth."

and then there is this one:

"Meanwhile, conservatism has always understood that life is too complicated to be easily defined — or controlled — by the human intellect. "The nature of man is intricate," wrote Edmund Burke, "the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity; and therefore no simple disposition or direction of power can be suitable either to man's nature or to the quality of his affairs." Man is born in sin, God's plan is unknowable, the known and tried, in Lincoln's formulation, is preferable to the unknown and untried: This is the spine of conservatism's humility."

and this one:

The Tyranny of Clichés

In debates with readers, colleagues, college audiences, et al. the monitor on my internal respect-o-meter flat-lines every time I hear someone say, for instance, "better ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be punished."

In order to explain what I'm talking about let me repeat my objection to this phrase.

It's not so much that this isn't true. Maybe it is. Maybe it is better that ten confirmed rapists and murderers be set loose on the streets to murder and rape again rather than lock up one innocent guy along with the ten menaces to society. Maybe we will all accept it as the price of liberty when your mother is subsequently raped or your son is shot because, hey, better the rapists and murderers go free than the unlucky go to jail.

But, it seems to me, there's an argument to be had here. Isn't there? Let me provide a very quick-guided tour of the obvious. According to the best social scientists and criminologists, career criminals commit a great many crimes over their lifetimes. Indeed, that's why we call them "career criminals" — they've made a career of it. Career accountants have, in all likelihood, prepared many tax returns and we can expect them to prepare many more. So it is with career criminals who've committed many crimes: We can expect them to commit many more. This is why I call prison "the bad people place."

So, anyway, if you say "better ten guilty men go free than one innocent be punished" — or some variation of that — all I expect from you is an argument. Why is it better?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the principle: We should err on the side of protecting the innocent rather than punishing the guilty. Fair enough. But quite often — too often — when people throw out this old adage, they seem to think the principle settles the argument when in fact it only sets the stage for it.

For instance, how come it's better that ten guilty men go free? When we translate the principle to reality, we've got to pick a threshold number. So why not say it's better that 50 guilty men go free? Or, say, two guilty men? Is 10 a special number? Or is it just easy to say? Or haven't you thought about it all? Most often, people haven't thought about it all.

So let me ask you, why not set free two million guilty men? After all, we all know that some number of innocent people are in prison right now. Therefore, if we maximize the principle of erring on the side of the innocent we should let everyone out of jail because we know someone doesn't belong there.

The point is.......

It's NOT the GUNS, it's US!

America has gone INSANE. Too many Americans are losing perspective. Most of us have good intentions, we just want to find a way to avoid tragedy. Where things get mucky is when we start debating and implementing certain ideas on HOW to do this.

First, let's take GUNS. GUNS don't kill. SUV's don't kill. Box cutters don't kill. PEOPLE KILL! This story is a perfect example of the kind of story that sparks debate over gun control:

Man Holding Daughter Killed in Road Rage

BROCKTON, Mass. -- A man lifting his infant daughter out of his car was killed in an apparent case of road rage by a motorist "who obviously exploded" and shot him four times at close range in front of dozens of witnesses, authorities said.

The victim's 10-month-old girl was covered with blood but uninjured when police found her in a car seat on the floor of the vehicle.

Walter R. Bishop, 60, who was taking medication for depression, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Sandro Andrade. He pleaded innocent and was ordered held without bail; a hearing was scheduled for Aug. 26....

The other debate topic in this article is the whole medication issue. Lovely how we just want to shove personal responsibility under the rug all the time. Drugs, alcohol, a cheating husband, the dog told me, etc- IT'S NEVER MY FAULT! BOLOGNI!

I will certainly concede that putting a 60 yr old man on medication sets off alarms. I have found in some of my research for other topics, that physicians often don't take into account how an elderly body processes these drugs differently than say a man in his thirties. That being said, "TOO BAD!" Any one who CHOOSES a GUN as the way to deal with anger over a TRAFFIC INCIDENT DOESN'T NEED TO BE LOOSE ON THE STREET!

HYSTERICAL! If These People ONLY HAD A CLUE!

The first three minutes are just setting the table, but once you get to the 3 minute mark- GET YOUR DUCT TAPE! (Or just LAUGH AND PRAISE GOD THAT YOU HAVE COMMON SENSE!)

Labor Unions Upset Over Stolen Jobs in Space?

Nuke in America on Saturday August 6th?

Nuke terrorists'
favorite dates
Numbers, calendars important
to bin Laden include Aug. 6

WASHINGTON – Intelligence gathered from captured al-Qaida documents and interrogations of captured operatives has provided the U.S. with some specific information about Osama bin Laden's favored dates for his decade-long plan for an "American Hiroshima" nuclear terrorist attack – and one of those dates arrives this week.

One of the most frequently cited dates is Aug. 6, the anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of that attack, so this Aug. 6 would have special significance, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter that has broken several major stories tracking al-Qaida's nuclear terrorism plans.

Read it all!


My Response?

Can I get an "AMEN!?"

Senator Coleman speaks out about the UN Global Internet Control


Washington, D.C.-Senator Norm Coleman today submitted a statement into the Congressional Record denouncing a final report issued by the United Nations' Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) suggesting that the U.N. assume global governance of the Internet. Since its inception and creation in the United States, the U.S. has assumed the historic role of overseeing the Internet's growth and has overseen its development. The U.N. taskforce report suggests that in addition to terminating the U.S.'s leadership role, the authority and functions of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce, should be transferred as well. Senator Coleman strongly opposes these measures.

"My probe of the U.N. as Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed management that was at best, incompetent, and at worst corrupt," said Coleman. "The first priority for the United Nations must be fundamental reform of its management and operations rather than any expansion of its authority and responsibilities. The Internet has flourished under U.S. supervision, oversight, and private sector involvement. This growth did not happen because of increased government involvement, but rather, from the opening on the Internet to commerce and private sector innovation. Subjecting the Internet and its security to the politicized control of the UN bureaucracy would be a giant and foolhardy step backwards."

"Recently, I introduced UN reform legislation with the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations, Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN), known as the Coleman-Lugar UN Reform Bill, to help put an end to a culture of corruption that was exposed by the Oil for Food scandal, peacekeeping sexual abuse scandals, and other instances of organizational failures at U.N.," Coleman said. "Putting the U.N. in charge of one of the world's most important technological wonders and economic engines is out of the question. This proposal would leave the United States with no more say over the future of the Internet than Cuba or China-countries that have little or no commitment to the free flow of information."


Read it all....


AMEN COLEMAN, AMEN!