"Moderate" Dem Governor (and likely Dem Pres. Candidate, shhhh) Commutes Death Sentence

Here's a report of a Virginia death sentence commuted by the "moderate" Dem Governor Mark Warner. The interesting thing is that there was NO reason (per the VA Sup.Ct. and U.S. Sup. Ct.'s) to overturn this jury's guilty verdict. NO trial is without errors, but absent intentional wrongful acts by the state, there is no reason that an error should negate an otherwise supportable-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt conviction. Of course, the doubt supporting commutation need not be reasonable if the person assessing the evidence intends to run for president as a Dem.

It's also interesting that the embodiment of prosecutorial abuse (Clinton Special Prosecutor Ken Starr, of course!!!) had advocated on behalf of this murderer on appeal. Wow.

"Catholic Church says homosexuality not good." This is news?

This article is fascinating in that it makes it seem like news that the Catholic Church thinks that homosexuality is not a positive phenomenon.

Sort of makes me lean toward a golden retriever

This report of five pit-bull/rottweiler mix dogs attacking two persons in TX (and killing one of the victims) makes me lean toward a golden retriever (if and when we get another dog). We've flirted with the idea of getting a german shepherd (I was even thinking the other day--ironically, during a family viewing of Beethoven, how beautiful a doberman pinscher is). Our family german shepherd growing up was a great/gentle dog, but I don't know . . .

If every Dem lawyer had the luxury of no political ambition . . .

I suspect that every Dem defense lawyer in America who has the luxury of no political ambition would probably love to be like former Dem U.S. Attorney General and volunteer (interject) him/herself into Saddam Hussein's defense team.

Piece of SCOTUS facade falls . . .

Here's a report that part of the facade on the front of the Supreme Court Building in D.C. fell. The article states, "The marble was part of the molding that serves as a frame for the frieze of statues atop the court's main entrance." I wonder if it was the statue depicting Moses and the Ten Commandments? I wonder if Ralph Neas can account for his whereabouts over the weekend?

Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Abortion

Interesting polling data at CNN regarding abortion 55% of Americans think abortion should be heavily restricted (of that group, 26% think it should be completely illegal); 69% believe in spousal and parental notice. This is good to keep in mind when the Libs claim that someone like SCOTUS appointee Alito is "outside the mainstream." Sorry, but I don't believe the Left has one whit of firsthand knowledge of the "mainstream."

Sharpton and Jackson tarnish Rosa Parks' legacy

It's no surprise to me that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton took the opportunity to demagogue racial politics during the eulogies offered at Rosa Parks' recent memorial service. Read for yourself what these racists had to say . . .

Recent howler from N. Korea

In response to a recent video depicting a public execution and broadcast by CNN (via Drudgereport.com) , N. Korea correctly observes that CNN's popularity is crashing, but foolishly assert that CNN carries water for the Bush Administration.

"CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past," KCNA said. Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image." In the process, the U.S. broadcaster has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration," it said.

Uh-oh, critically injured shooting victim in Tacoma Mall shooting may not have been a "real victim"

This article from Washington state reveals that the critically-injured victim in the Tacoma Mall shootings may not qualify as a "victim": it appears he is (a) a devout Christian, (b) registered to carry a firearm and (c) was armed with his own handgun, and (d) may have responded to violence with violence.

On a serious note, it is DESPICABLE to read what this loser perpetrator (Maldonado) claims were his reasons for committing these crimes. I hope they SLAM him.

Winning the GWOT and "the Islamofascist Snowball"

This is an interesting article which details ways in which the U.S. (or the West) could proceed to win the Global War on Terror/Islamofascism. My only disagreement with Michael Ledeen, the article's author, is that the war in Iraq is--like the revolt in Poland was in the 80's, the battle of the moment, and the battle that can ultimately lead to the downfall of larger enemies. Sure, it would have been nice to take on Syria, Iran and Iraq at the same time (to heartily put the Islamofascists on the defensive), but that wasn't feasible. Iraq was simply next on the list (a list which can get shorter, as in the case of Libya) of terror sponsors. The financial planning expert Dave Ramsey emphasizes that a person with multiple debts needs to tackle the smallest debt first (even if it isn't the highest interest rate) and then move to the next smallest debt and so on (I think he refers to it as the Debt Snowball). We needed to deal with Iraq/Saddam under the same principle.

Woodward, the Grinch who stole fitzmas

If you haven't heard, Bob Woodward--investigative reporter extraordinaire, is really stealing the Left's Fitzmas. The transcript of Woodward's appearance on Larry King Live! (I love that exclamation point) is very interesting, in particular, this statement in response to King's questioning Woodward about not coming forward with info he had about the Plame affair:

You know the significance of this is yet to be determined and what's the good news in all of this is when it all comes out, and hopefully it will come out, people will see how casual and offhand this was. Remember, the investigation and the allegations that people have printed about this story is that there's some vast conspiracy to slime Joe Wilson and his wife, really attack him in an ugly way that is outside of the boundaries of political hardball.The evidence I had firsthand, small piece of the puzzle I acknowledge, is that that was not the case. So, I'm trying to find out and focus on immense questions about are we going to go to war in Iraq? How are we going to do it? What is the nature of Powell's position? What did Cheney do? What was the CIA's role? How good was the intelligence on all of this?I think at this point I was learning things like that the CIA Director George Tenet went in and told the president the intelligence on WMD in Iraq was a slam dunk. That was new. That was the basis of this incredibly critical decision the president and his war cabinet were making on do we invade Iraq?

Wow, the Watergate icon is saying, there's nothing to the Plame affair. HeeHeeHee.

Reagan's "Star Wars" still needed?

This report about Russia's efforts to foil America's missile-defense system is a little troubling. That being said, I am convinced that democracies don't attack democracies, so we can still focus on moving the former commies toward republican and democratic forms of gov't.

Red state, blue state, me vs. you state

This is an interesting report about charitable giving in Red States and Blue States. The finding? Citizens (and, therefore, voters) in Red States are more generous! This is not a new finding as I've seen previous studies on the subject that found the same thing.

Of course, Blue Staters are bothered by this finding (and--believe it or not) have funded their own study of the statistics.

By the way, I don't deny that the statistics on this subject are complicated and any such study can produce false findings, but AT LEAST it neutralizes the "mean-spirited," "selfish," "ungenerous" blahblahblah characterizations hurled by the Left at non-Liberals. And I think it is also fascinating to consider how higher costs of living and higher taxes and higher regulatory burdens, etc. factor into the whole issue. Those poor blue staters may be taxing themselves (inasmuch as taxes equal coerced giving) so much that their ability to give is seriously diminished.

ADL (Anti-defamation League) and the bogey man

Abraham Foxman--the head of the ironically (in light of this story) named Anti-Defamation League, is warning that the biggest threat (and fundraising foil!) for Jews in America is . . . evangelical Christians. This is so blatantly partisan it is despicable . . . there is no better friend to Israel (and, thus, no less anti-semitic segment of American society) than evangelicals. Of course, even Jews in America can't be overtly supportive of Israel, because such a sentiment could be interpreted as politically incorrect and could possibly result in some benefit to Dubya and the GWOT.

Bush rebutting Liberal accusations

I am glad to see that the President is responding to the endless and baseless accusations from the Left concerning the Iraq war. (When I read the article's headline --"Bush escalates bitter Iraq war debate," I thought maybe I had stumbled upon the DNC website--who made the debate "bitter" in the first place?).

The buzz about "evolution" and "intelligent design"

I hesitate to post on this subject because it is so politically incorrect not to believe conventional wisdom, but I just read an article on FoxNews.com purporting to forthrightly explain evolution. The genesis (clever of me, huh?) of the story was recent school board elections around the country which were decided on the issue of teaching evolutionary theory and intelligent design. What kills me about the whole debate is the arrogance and propensity to squelch disagreement by those believers in macro-evolution. As scientists, they should be slower to draw conclusions and especially to twist/obfuscate the facts to support their belief system.

This excellent rebuttal demonstrates the intellectual and scientific problems with teaching evolution as fact.

the deafening silence about Iran's threats

This op/ed is great concerning the American so-called MSM's indifference to threats against Israel by Iran's prime minister. The killer quote:

"How can even the dreariest press in the English-speaking world maintain their interest in the third year of Joe Wilson’s 15 minutes? What a pitiful spectacle. If they’ve a sense of humor, the Iranians will time the mushroom cloud for the first day of the Bush-Cheney impeachment trial."

Difficulty demonizing Alito

Robert Novak (yes, of Libby leak fame) has this excellent report about the difficulty the Left will have in demonizing SCOTUS appointee Alito . . . the reality is that the majority of Americans don't agree with Dems on abortion (nor on many issues, once they see past the spin to the substance). As Novak demonstrates, the Left has to rely on mischaracterizations (even lies) to prevail in the debate on abortion policy and the SCOTUS.

Nuclear Threat Initiative

This organization (NIT.org) is doing a good job of educating the public and the pols about the serious threat posed by--among other things, unsecured nuclear materials across the globe. Though it is decidedly Democrat in its makeup, its mission is wholly necessary and as long as they continue to be non-partisan, I will support their work. (Frankly I was--and still am a little suspicious at the birth of the organization in the months prior to the 2004 presidential election, but we can't look at everything through a partisan prism. Even a broken clock deserves respect at least twice a day).

I just read today about one successful NTI.org program to secure some nuclear raw mat'ls which were sitting in Kazakhstan (just over the border from nuke-coveting Iran).

If you visit their site, you can request a free DVD of the movie Last Best Chance--a docudrama which has been aired on HBO. Pretty cool movie . . . former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) plays the President.

"Jihad" in France . . . contrast with U.S.

I think that you can get a good look at the efficacy of appeasement with fundamentalist Islam by looking at what has been going on in France over the past week-and-a-half. I've posted on this before, but I believe Islam is only compatible with democracy as long as Muslims are in the minority.