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March 31, 2008
Bill to Remove Restrictions Against Teaching Communism
by Jack Lee
Given all the vital issues before the California legislature, Senator Alan Lowenthal has found his priority ... let's remove all the restrictions against teaching COMMUNISM or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States Government.... SB 1322!
No this isn't a joke, I wish it were. Read on. . .
Per the bill, "This bill would also delete provisions regarding a person who intends to use school property on behalf of an organization to deliver a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the organization is not a Communist action organization or Communist front organization required to be registered with the Attorney General of the United States or does not, to the best of that person' s knowledge, advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States or of the State of California by force, violence, or other unlawful means."
Sen. Alan Lowenthal - This bill would delete provisions that prohibit a teacher giving instruction in a school or on property belonging to an agency included in the public school system from teaching communism with the intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism.
His bill makes it easier for our enemies to use our freedoms against us
The bill would also delete provisions that a teacher may be dismissed from employment if he or she teaches communism in a way that advocates our over throw.
Under the current law, if a teacher is careful they can still teach communism and the overthrow of the United States without fear of any consequences, this is certainly true at UC Berkeley where Angela Davis has thrived for the past 3 decades and it's true at many of our Universities where leftist philosophy is embraced and encouraged.
Given the level of plots against America by our enemies we should be keenly aware that our freedom and our laws are often manipulated to be used in clever ways against us. So, why we would want to try to make it easier for our enemies is a question worth asking Sen. Lowenthal. (see his phone number below)
ACLU is winning this battle
The ACLU has vowed to support any teacher for teaching communism or other forms of government that may run contrary to our Democracy and they have been very successful in that regard. They use the protection of our own Constitution against us and if you don't think this is possible, check this out: American Civil Liberties Union of Southern Cal. v. Board of Ed. of City of Los Angeles, 55 Cal.2d 167, 180 (1961). Danskin v. San Diego Unified School Dist., 28 Cal.2d 536 (1946).) N.A.A.C.P. v. Claiborne Hardware, 458 U.S. 886, 920 (1982) and also Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447-48 (1969). The ACLU has prevailed many times and under the current laws we can't fire teachers for teaching anti-Americanism or they will be back on the job before you can say Karl Marx. But, rather than strengthen those laws, Sen. Lowenthal wants to scrap them and glibly declares, "The cold war is over!" Yes Sen. that is true and it's also true that a hot war has taken its place and we need stronger laws to protect our democracy and deal with terrorism and subversion now more than ever before.
Senator Alan Lowenthal
Phone: (916) 651-4027
Fax: (916) 327-9113
State Capitol, Room 2032
Sacramento, CA 95814
A copy of the SB 1322 is attached on page 2
BILL NUMBER: SB 1322 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
An act to amend Sections 38135, 44932, 44939, 45303, and 88122 of,
and to repeal Sections 38136 and 51530 of, the Education Code, and
to amend Section 1028 of, and to repeal Sections 1027.5 and 1028.1
of, the Government Code, relating to communism.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1322, as introduced, Lowenthal. Communism.
(1) The Civic Center Act requires the governing body of a school
district to grant the use of school property, when an alternative
location is not available, to nonprofit organizations, and clubs or
associations organized to promote youth and school activities.
Existing law also prohibits an individual, society, group, or
organization from using school property for the commission of any act
intended to further a program or movement the purpose of which is to
accomplish the overthrow of the government of the United States or
of the state by force, violence, or other unlawful means.
This bill would permit the school board to require the furnishing
of information as it deems necessary to determine that the use of
school property for which application is made would not violate that
provision. This bill would also delete provisions regarding a person
who intends to use school property on behalf of an organization to
deliver a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the
organization is not a Communist action organization or Communist
front organization required to be registered with the Attorney
General of the United States or does not, to the best of that person'
s knowledge, advocate the overthrow of the government of the United
States or of the State of California by force, violence, or other
unlawful means.
(2) Under existing law, a permanent or classified school employee,
or a classified community college employee may be dismissed from
employment for specified causes, including, but not limited to,
commission of a felony.
This bill would delete provisions that a permanent or classified
school employee, or a classified community college employee may be
dismissed from employment if he or she is a knowing member of the
Communist Party.
(3) Existing law prohibits a teacher from giving instruction and
prohibits a school district from sponsoring any activity that
reflects adversely upon a person because of his or her race, sex,
color, creed, handicap, national origin, or ancestry.
This bill would delete provisions that prohibit a teacher giving
instruction in a school or on property belonging to an agency
included in the public school system from teaching communism with the
intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a
preference for communism. The bill would also delete provisions that
a teacher may be dismissed from employment if he or she teaches
communism in that way.
(4) Under existing law, a public employee is required to answer,
under oath, specified questions, including, but not limited to,
knowing membership in an organization advocating the forceful or
violent overthrow of the government of the United States or of any
state.
This bill would delete these provisions. The bill would also
delete related findings and declarations by the Legislature regarding
communism and the Communist Party.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 38135 of the Education Code is amended to read:
38135. Any use, by any individual, society, group, or
organization for the commission of any act intended to further any
program or movement the purpose of which is to accomplish the
overthrow of the government of the United States or of the state by
force, violence, or other unlawful means shall not be permitted or
suffered.
Any individual, society, group, or organization which commits any
act intended to further any program or movement the purpose of which
is to accomplish the overthrow of the government by force, violence,
or other unlawful means while using school property pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.
The school board may require the furnishing of information as it
deems necessary to make the determination that the use of school
property for which application is made would not violate this
section.
SEC. 2. Section 38136 of the Education Code is repealed.
38136. No governing board of a school district shall grant the
use of any school property to any person or organization for any use
in violation of Section 38135.
For the purpose of determining whether or not any individual,
society, group, or organization applying for the use of the school
property intends to violate Section 38135, the governing board shall
require the making and delivery to the governing board, by the
applicant of a written statement of information in the following
form:
STATEMENT OF INFORMATION
The undersigned states that, to the best of his or her knowledge,
the school property for use of which application is hereby made will
not be used for the commission of any act intended to further any
program or movement the purpose of which is to accomplish the
overthrow of the government of the United States by force, violence
or other unlawful means;
That ____, the organization on whose behalf he or she is making
application for use of school property, does not, to the best of his
or her knowledge, advocate the overthrow of the government of the
United States or of the State of California by force, violence, or
other unlawful means, and that, to the best of his or her knowledge,
it is not a Communist action organization or Communist front
organization required by law to be registered with the Attorney
General of the United States. This statement is made under the
penalties of perjury.
__________________________
(Signature)
The school board may require the furnishing of additional
information as it deems necessary to make the determination that the
use of school property for which application is made would not
violate Section 38135.
Any person applying for the use of school property on behalf of
any society, group, or organization shall be a member of the
applicant group and, unless he or she is an officer of the group,
must present written authorization from the applicant group to make
the application.
The governing board of any school district may, in its discretion,
consider any statement of information or written authorization made
pursuant to the requirements of this section as being continuing in
effect for the purposes of this section for the period of one year
from the date of the statement of information or written
authorization.
SEC. 3. Section 44932 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44932. (a) No A permanent employee
shall not be dismissed except for one or more of the
following causes:
(1) Immoral or unprofessional conduct.
(2) Commission, aiding, or advocating the commission of acts of
criminal syndicalism, as prohibited by Chapter 188 of the Statutes of
1919, or in any amendment thereof.
(3) Dishonesty.
(4) Unsatisfactory performance.
(5) Evident unfitness for service.
(6) Physical or mental condition unfitting him or her to instruct
or associate with children.
(7) Persistent violation of or refusal to obey the school laws of
the state or reasonable regulations prescribed for the government of
the public schools by the State Board of Education or by the
governing board of the school district employing him or her.
(8) Conviction of a felony or of any crime involving moral
turpitude.
(9) Violation of Section 51530 or conduct
Conduct specified in Section 1028 of the Government
Code , added by Chapter 1418 of the Statutes of 1947
.
(10) Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist Party.
(11)
(10) Alcoholism or other drug abuse which
makes the employee unfit to instruct or associate with children.
(b) The governing board of a school district may suspend without
pay for a specific period of time on grounds of unprofessional
conduct a permanent certificated employee or, in a school district
with an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, a
probationary employee, pursuant to the procedures specified in
Sections 44933, 44934, 44935, 44936, 44937, 44943, and 44944. This
authorization shall not apply to any school district which has
adopted a collective bargaining agreement pursuant to subdivision (b)
of Section 3543.2 of the Government Code.
SEC. 4. Section 44939 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44939. (a) Upon the filing of written
charges, duly signed and verified by the person filing them with the
governing board of a school district, or upon a written statement of
charges formulated by the governing board, charging a permanent
employee of the district with immoral conduct, conviction of a felony
or of any crime involving moral turpitude, with incompetency due to
mental disability, with willful refusal to perform regular
assignments without reasonable cause, as prescribed by reasonable
rules and regulations of the employing school district, with
violation of Section 51530, with knowing membership by the employee
in the Communist Party or with violation of any provision in Sections
7001 to 7007, inclusive, the governing board may, if it
deems such action necessary, immediately suspend
the employee from his or her duties and give notice to him
or her of his or her suspension, and that 30
days after service of the notice, he or she will be
dismissed, unless he or she demands a hearing.
If the permanent employee is suspended upon charges of knowing
membership by the employee in the Communist Party or for any
violation of Section 7001, 7002, 7003, 7006, 7007, or 51530, he may
within 10 days after service upon him of notice of such suspension
file with the governing board a verified denial, in writing, of the
charges. In such event the permanent employee who
(b) If a permanent employee
demands a hearing within the 30-day period , he or
she shall continue to be paid his or her regular
salary during the period of suspension and until the entry of the
decision of the Commission on Professional Competence, if and during
such that time as he or she
furnishes to the school district a suitable bond, or other security
acceptable to the governing board, as a guarantee that the employee
will repay to the school district the amount of salary so paid to him
or her during the period of suspension in case the
decision of the Commission on Professional Competence is that he
or she shall be dismissed. If it is determined that the
employee may not be dismissed, the school board shall reimburse the
employee for the cost of the bond.
SEC. 5. Section 45303 of the Education Code is amended to read:
45303. In addition to any causes for suspension or dismissal
which are designated by rule of the commission, employees in the
classified service shall be suspended and dismissed in the manner
provided by law for any one or more of the following causes:
(a) Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist Party.
(b) Conduct
conduct specified in Section 1028 of the
Government Code.
SEC. 6. Section 51530 of the Education Code is repealed.
51530. No teacher giving instruction in any school, or on any
property belonging to any agencies included in the public school
system, shall advocate or teach communism with the intent to
indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference
for communism.
In prohibiting the advocacy or teaching of communism with the
intent of indoctrinating or inculcating a preference in the mind of
any pupil for such doctrine, the Legislature does not intend to
prevent the teaching of the facts about communism. Rather, the
Legislature intends to prevent the advocacy of, or inculcation and
indoctrination into, communism as is hereinafter defined, for the
purpose of undermining patriotism for, and the belief in, the
government of the United States and of this state.
For the purposes of this section, communism is a political theory
that the presently existing form of government of the United States
or of this state should be changed, by force, violence, or other
unconstitutional means, to a totalitarian dictatorship which is based
on the principles of communism as expounded by Marx, Lenin, and
Stalin.
SEC. 7. Section 88122 of the Education Code is amended to read:
88122. In addition to any causes for suspension or dismissal
which are designated by rule of the commission, employees in the
classified service shall be suspended and dismissed in the manner
provided by law for any one or more of the following causes:
(a) Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist Party.
(b) Conduct
conduct specified in Section 1028 of
the Government Code.
SEC. 8. Section 1027.5 of the Government Code is repealed.
1027.5. The Legislature of the State of California finds that:
(a) There exists a world-wide revolutionary movement to establish
a totalitarian dictatorship based upon force and violence rather than
upon law.
(b) This world-wide revolutionary movement is predicated upon and
it is designed and intended to carry into execution the basic
precepts of communism as expounded by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin.
(c) Pursuant to the objectives of the world communism movement, in
numerous foreign countries the legally constituted governments have
been overthrown and totalitarian dictatorships established therein
against the will of the people, and the establishment of similar
dictatorships in other countries is imminently threatening. The
successful establishment of totalitarian dictatorships has
consistently been aided, accompanied, or accomplished by repeated
acts of treachery, deceit, teaching of false doctrines, teaching
untruth, together with organized confusion, insubordination, and
disloyalty, fostered, directed, instigated, or employed by communist
organizations and their members in such countries.
(d) Within the boundaries of the State of California there are
active disciplined communist organizations presently functioning for
the primary purpose of advancing the objectives of the world
communism movement, which organizations promulgate, advocate, and
adhere to the precepts and the principles and doctrines of the world
communism movement. These communist organizations are characterized
by identification of their programs, policies, and objectives with
those of the world communism movement, and they regularly and
consistently cooperate with and endeavor to carry into execution
programs, policies and objectives substantially identical to
programs, policies, and objectives of such world communism movement.
(e) One of the objectives of the world communism movement is to
place its members in state and local government positions and in
state supported educational institutions. If this objective is
successful, propaganda can be disseminated by the members of these
organizations among pupils and students by those members who would
have the opportunity to teach them and to whom, as teachers, they
would look for guidance, authority, and leadership. The members of
such groups would use their positions to advocate and teach their
doctrines and teach the prescribed Communist Party line group dogma
or doctrine without regard to truth or free inquiry. This type of
propaganda is sufficiently subtle to escape detection.
There is a clear and present danger, which the Legislature of the
State of California finds is great and imminent, that in order to
advance the program, policies and objectives of the world communism
movement, communist organizations in the State of California and
their members will engage in concerted effort to hamper, restrict,
interfere with, impede, or nullify the efforts of the State and the
public agencies of the State to comply with and enforce the laws of
the State of California and their members will infiltrate and seek
employment by the State and its public agencies.
SEC. 9. Section 1028 of the Government Code is amended to read:
1028. It shall be sufficient cause for the dismissal of any
public employee when such that public
employee advocates or is knowingly a member of the Communist
Party or of an organization which during the time of his
or her membership he or she knows advocates
overthrow of the Government government
of the United States or of any state by force or violence.
SEC. 10. Section 1028.1 of the Government Code is repealed.
1028.1. It shall be the duty of any public employee who may be
subpenaed or ordered by the governing body of the state or local
agency by which such employee is employed, to appear before such
governing body, or a committee or subcommittee thereof, or by a duly
authorized committee of the Congress of the United States or of the
Legislature of this State, or any subcommittee of any such committee,
to appear before such committee or subcommittee, and to answer under
oath a question or questions propounded by such governing body,
committee or subcommittee, or a member or counsel thereof, relating
to:
(a) Present personal advocacy by the employee of the forceful or
violent overthrow of the Government of the United States or of any
state.
(b) Present knowing membership in any organization now advocating
the forceful or violent overthrow of the Government of the United
States or of any state.
(c) Past knowing membership at any time since October 3, 1945, in
any organization which, to the knowledge of such employee, during the
time of the employee's membership advocated the forceful or violent
overthrow of the Government of the United States or of any state.
(d) Questions as to present knowing membership of such employee in
the Communist Party or as to past knowing membership in the
Communist Party at any time since October 3, 1945.
(e) Present personal advocacy by the employee of the support of a
foreign government against the United States in the event of
hostilities between said foreign government and the United States.
Any employee who fails or refuses to appear or to answer under
oath on any ground whatsoever any such questions so propounded shall
be guilty of insubordination and guilty of violating this section and
shall be suspended and dismissed from his employment in the manner
provided by law.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:59 AM | Comments (6)
March 30, 2008
James Bond and My Kid
by Jack Lee
Just a little local gosip... My daughter Rebecca was recently in Panama City, Panama, where they were filming the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solstice, due for release Nov. 7th. While at dock, their boat (a large luxury yacht) was used in a background scene and for one of the action scenes. If you happen to watch the movie note the yacht where Bond is chased around a large boat and eventually uses a small anchor to fight off one of the villains. That's actually Beck's "mobile home"! Beck met the star, Daniel Craig, her first day in port and she thinks Craig is really a nice guy. Actually, I think she has a little crush on him, but then what girl' doesn't? Craig was also a guest on their boat between some of the harbor scenes.
Becky is currently on the Pacific side of Panama and is just staying on board and hanging out for a few more days before they come back through the canal and then head home to Florida. This trip has included Panama, Nicaragua, Aruba and a number of small undeveloped islands in the Caribbean. She called on her cell phone yesterday and said she will be glad to get home! She said the beauty of the Carribean islands is a stark contrast to the wide spread poverty on so many of the islands. Many of the local inhabitants, and especially the native indians, live very poor compared to even the poorest American. The island indians live like they are still back in the 1500's. She said the guests and crew tried to buy a few handmade things from the indians to help them out, but in doing so it brought on a swarm of indians in canoes the following morning and they became pretty aggressive and several borded without being invited, so they left the area.
They have been at sea for about 6 weeks and have another 10 days left before returning. Becky is a graduate of Chico High and Butte College. Beck has been working in the maritime industry for about 11 years and holds two Captain's licenses, in the US and UK, she is currently working on a book about the yachting world and that will include some of her adventures.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2008
Why Might Democrats Vote McCain?
by Tina Grazier
One reason, from my perspective, is that John McCain is just liberal enough to appeal to old fashioned democrats...those who are fiercely patriotic and care about family values. Of course some democrats look at it much differently and have said so in various articles all week.
The whole conversation began with a recent “Rasmussen Poll” that found a sizable percentage of the democrat base (20%) indicate they might vote for John McCain in November if their preferred choice for president isn’t the candidate. This prompted Susan Estrich, a well-known professor, political operative and commentator to write “Political Suicide,” a piece urging democrat voters to reconsider. As I’ve said before, it’s a long way to November so anything can happen, but a few of her comments deserve a response if only to demonstrate an obvious state of denial in the democrat mind. Here’s what she said:
Twenty percent of the Democratic base voting for McCain? The pollsters call it "some hardening of feelings among some of the most core supporters of both Democrats." I have a different name for it: political suicide. ** This is how a Democrat could lose an election after eight years of a Republican administration that has taken the economy into recession, the country into an unpopular, costly and dubious war, and bailed out Bear Stearns instead of the thousands of hardworking Americans who were taken advantage of by subprime lenders and are now losing their homes and their life savings. This is how Democrats could end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Or, with all due respect…
…democrat voters have seen dubious tactics, a smattering of racism, indications of possible hatred for America, and straight out lies and fabrications from these two candidates. And perhaps in her fervor to change the subject by painting a slanted, erroneous accounting of the last eight years, Ms Estrich missed these (and other) items of interest:
1. Complex election rules and changes in rules that threaten to disenfranchise democrat voters
2. Bullets over Bosnia upon First Lady Clinton’s arrival
3. Rev. Wright’s US of KKKA speeches
4. Bill Clintons opening salvo in the great democrat racism unveiling
5. Michelle Obama’s “proud” moment
6. NAFTA posturing
These troubling events hint at deep flaws in character and speak to the trustworthiness of each democrat candidate. Estrich chooses to ignore this and instead concludes:
Could McCain win? He could, if enough Democrats forget that the end policy should count more than personality, and the real fight is for the country's future and not the party's crown.
Perhaps Ms Estrich, in her forgetfulness, doesn't realize that, at least in the case of Obama, personality is the major fuel behind his presidential bid. In the case of Hillary Clinton it may be that we actually agree…“the crown,” (the throne) has always been the name of her game.
Vote wisely pilgrims.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:12 PM | Comments (2)
Shroud of Turin
Posted by Tina
The Shroud of Turin, one of the most sacred and mysterious relics of Christendom, may not be a medieval forgery after all, according to a new BBC film.
Internationally renowned Swiss textile conservator Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, who was interviewed for the film, always doubted the results the carbon-14 dating tests carried out on the shroud in 1988. ** At that time three leading laboratories – in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona - concluded that the shroud must have been made between 1260 and 1390. New evidence from various sources suggest that it could go back to the first century. ** "If I had had the decision I never would have done carbon-14 dating on the shroud," Flury-Lemberg told swissinfo. The fact that the shroud has been exposed to its surroundings could have falsified the data, she explained. ** The shroud suffered its greatest damage in 1532, when the chapel it was kept in caught fire, and drops of molten silver from the case which held it burnt large holes in the fabric. Nuns repaired the shroud by sewing it onto a backing cloth and placing patches over the holes. ** These patches remained untouched for over 450 years until Flury-Lemberg and her assistant removed them. Underneath they found accumulated carbon dust, which had also got into the backing and into the fabric of the shroud itself as it had been rolled and unrolled over the centuries to be exhibited to the faithful. ** She believes this dust could very well have skewed the data used in the carbon-14 tests. She also points to the corner that was used for the tests, which was part of a water stain. "When the water runs over the textile it takes all the dirt with it. So at this corner you have the whole concentrated dirt. You can imagine that it was an extremely dirty sample, and also because at the corners of course people always held it," she explained. "Therefore it made no sense to analyse this piece using carbon-14."
Find the article here: “Sacred relic still shrouded in mystery,” by Julia Slater, swissinfo
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:57 PM | Comments (1)
Radical Islam a Criminal Enterprise
by Jack Lee
Given the many thousands of undeniable and grossly violent criminals acts committed by Islamic extremists over an extended period of time, the question begs to be asked, is their form of the Islamic religion nothing more than a criminal enterprise?
The FBI defines a criminal enterprise as "a group of individuals with an identified hierarchy, or comparable structure, engaged in significant criminal activity. These organizations often engage in multiple criminal activities and have extensive supporting networks.
The Continuing Criminal Enterprise statute, or Title 21 of the United States Code, Section 848(c)(2), defines a criminal enterprise as any group of six or more people, where one of the six occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management with respect to the other five, and which generates substantial income or resources, and is engaged in a continuing series of violations of subchapters I and II of Chapter 13 of Title 21 of the United States Code."
This definition appears to fit a number of fundamentalist Islamic Mosques here and abroad. If radical Islamic Mosques and their membership are a criminal enterprise, and obviously some are, we should not allow them in the United States and why we do speaks to political correctness taken to an absurd end. Those criminal enterprises ought to be considered for what they are, organized crime, and prosecuted under the RICO act!
Peaceful, lawful, Islamic sects within the U.S.A. deserve to be recognized as not involved with terrorism and protected from being defamed or attacked because of the deeds of those violent sects that are criminal enterprises. And in that case isn't it reasonable to identify those illegal groups wherever in the world they exist so they can be distanced from the peaceful sects in Islam?
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:37 PM | Comments (3)
Rrrripped! Democrat NAFTA Pandering.
Posted by Tina
Michael Den Tandt has written a very amusing (and very truthful) piece in the Edmonton Sun online, “No president will rip up NAFTA.”
This article contains useful information we can all use when choosing the next president of the good old U.S. of A. He starts out with a bang:
First there was Barack Obama in Ohio, threatening to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now, with another rust-belt primary in the offing -- Pennsylvania -- Hillary Clinton has made the same threat. NAFTA must be renegotiated. If that isn't done, she'll rip it up. ** Please, kids. Can we get serious?
And continues to a logical conclusion:
The fact that Canada's reserves are geographically accessible, in a stable democracy, and sheltered by a free trade agreement, is a priceless strategic asset to the United States. No president -- Democrat or Republican -- will jeopardize America's access to that resource. Clinton is no more "serious" about abrogating free trade than she was about landing "under fire" in Bosnia. It's campaign hooey, and not to be believed.
Talk about stepping on the toes of our allies…neighbors…friends. Is this how the Democrat candidates hope to “restore Americas reputation around the world”? As Mr. Den Tandt might say, “get serious!” Nice rip, sir.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
PUBLIC DEBATE HEALTHY
by John Freitas, LAPD (Homicide) Ret.
Tina and Jack,
I felt compelled to write and thank you for having a forum for people of different opinions. A place where debate is welcomed and encouraged. And the only restriction I have seen you place on posts is no gratuitous profanity. I feel this compulsion, because for the second time, I have strayed onto one of the other “Northern California Blog” sites, This time told, begrudgingly, “They have a policy against posting unoriginal thoughts which have already had enough play” but that they would make an exception, once they had had a chance to form their response and post my comment." The email I received was dripping with condescension, which I still recognize, even when someone calls me “Mr. Freitas”
Anywho, I digress...The irony is that these two “Progressive” oriented blogs, actively censer thought which does not mirror their own, while simultaneously calling anyone who doesn’t agree with them fascists or dittoheads or whatever the acceptable derogatory name for a conservative is today. I will say again, that the most recent blog administrator did say he would go ahead and post my comment, the other one flat out banned me when I pointed out the legal flaw of an argument they had promulgated.
Anyway I again want to thank you for having a forum for anyone who wants put an idea forth and all you ask is that the author be prepared to back up their assertions with reason and/or facts. What a novel idea! And for those who want to take the path of least resistance and have all of your “long on feelings, short on experience” ideas validated without being questioned. These sites will protect you and keep you comfortable in your ignorance.
Wow, the conservative’s blog doesn’t censor. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT???
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:48 AM | Comments (5)
How To Lower Your Blood Pressure
Posted by Jack
The results of the most recenty says: Men and women in happy marriages scored four points lower on the 24-hour blood pressure test than did single adults. Having a network of supportive friends did not translate into improved blood pressure for singles or unhappily marrieds, which surprised Holt-Lunstad and her two student collaborators, Wendy Birmingham and Brandon Jones. The study also found, unsurprisingly, that unhappily married adults have higher blood pressure than both happily married and single adults.
"There seem to be some unique health benefits from marriage," said Holt-Lunstad. "It's not just being married that benefits health. What's really the most protective of health is having a happy marriage."
With the monitors recording blood pressure both day and night, the researchers could see that blood pressure for married adults--especially those who were happily married--dipped more during sleep than happens with singles. "Research has shown that people whose blood pressure remains high throughout the night are at much greater risk of cardiovascular problems than people whose blood pressure dips," Holt-Lunstad said.
Why does a happy marriage make us healthier? Spouses can promote healthy habits, such as encouraging each other to see a doctor and to eat healthy foods. The marriage relationship is also a source of emotional support in good and bad times. Sharing good news, for example, generates positive emotions, which in turn boosts the body's functioning.
The study findings were published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2008
Terror Threat 911
Posted by Tina
As if on cue the Wall Street Journal features a story covering a talk given by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco:
...the former judge who once tried terror cases told the Commonwealth Club audience that even he had no idea of the extent of the threat. ** Speaking of what he hears in his national security briefings, Mr. Mukasey said, "It is way beyond – way beyond anything that I knew or believed.
For those who hate the Patriot Act listen up:
...he also offered a perspective, partly personal as a former Manhattanite, on the necessity of warrantless antiterror surveillance. Before 9/11, Mr. Mukasey said, "We knew that there had been a call from someplace that was known to be a safe house in Afghanistan and we knew that it came to the United States. We didn't know precisely where it went. We've got" – here the Attorney General paused with emotion – "we've got 3,000 people who went to work that day, and didn't come home, to show for that." ** The AG also addressed why immunity from lawsuits is vital for the telecom companies that cooperated with the surveillance after 9/11. "Forget the liability" the phone companies face, Mr. Mukasey said. "We face the prospect of disclosure in open court of what they did, which is to say the means and the methods by which we collect foreign intelligence against foreign targets." Al Qaeda would love that. The cynics will call this "fear-mongering," but most Americans will want to make sure we don't miss the next terror call.
When your President says the terror threat is real...believe him!
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Those “Nazi” Ways
by Tina Grazier
Recently I was likened to those who were fooled by the Nazis. This assertion was made by a visitor to Post Scripts who couldn’t get his mind wrapped around the Patriot Act, a tool that targets specifically in defense of our nation. For some odd reason he worried that this meant he himself might be targeted, willy nilly, as if the Constitution itself had been suspended, done away with completely, and as if the government had either the time or an interest in pursuing average citizens. I was not insulted by our friends assertion in fact I take it as a sign that I’m making progress.
It is difficult, however, to imagine someone fearing the likes of me. What power do I posses that could actually threaten? I look for ways to contrast the conservative view with the liberal view as a means to greater understanding. I continually ask the question: how is it that people who champion individual freedom and small government are considered to be controlling? And, how is it that people from the other side of the political spectrum think themselves non-tyrannical when they advocate redistribution of wealth, are enamored with controlling rules and regulations, and celebrate special rights for special groups? I tell you it’s a puzzle, but I don't see how it could be threatening. Well…in any case, you can imagine how delighted I was this evening to read the following in an article posted at
What happened in the 1930s in Nazi Germany, however, was preceded by what happened in Oregon in 1922. The Ku Klux Klan supported and passed the Compulsory Education Law which required that parents send their children to public schools and not private schools. The avowed purpose of this law was to get children "while their minds are plastic" and to turn the child into "a true American."
What was the Klan really after? It wanted to close parochial schools. It wanted to close yeshivas. It wanted to take away from parent the right to have their children not only educated in basic skills, but also to have their children learn those skills in an environment in harmony with the religion and beliefs of the parents. Public schools, which did not serve fish on Friday or Kosher food, would break down the stubborn resistance of recalcitrant groups that did not convert themselves into the Klan's image of America. ** The Supreme Court on October 1, 1925 ruled that the Oregon law was unconstitutional, holding that parents and guardians had the right to direct the education of the children and further holding that the child was not a mere creature of the state. That was when federal courts believed individual liberty trumped social engineering. ** Many on the Left today see public education as primarily a mechanism to mold children into people who will better fit into the vision that these Leftists have for America. Those tinkerers should know what good company they keep: they are following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany and of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Educational monoculture is an invitation to tyranny.
“An invitation to Tyranny”…words that make bells sound in my head. Summed up in these four powerful words are the collective pleadings, panderings and promises of the candidates HRC and BHO. Have I joined my paranoid friend? Hardly! The platforms of each of these two candidates read like formulas for tyranny…implementation of these plans would move America ever closer to tyranny…total government control. These candidates give us words like progressive, hope, and change, but they are really telling us proudly that they represent socialism. The Nazis were socialists. They believed in the redistribution of wealth, special rights for special groups and of course lots and lots of controlling rules and regulations. These candidates are both saying we need to unite as a country.
I’d say we better take notice of what exactly that means to folks like our visitor who like to hurl that word Nazi around.
Please read the article, “Some Wicked Friends of Public Schools,” by Bruce Walker. It is definitely filled with “information you can use.”
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND CLEAN ELECTIONS
by Jack Lee
Here's a thought, imagine running for political office is like a big poker game (at least in the pre-primary). The same party candidates all qualify to run against each other by putting up an ante' to play. What is the ante? The ante' could either a given number of signatures of XXX amount of money or a portion of each. This part must be significant inorder to demonstrate their electability. A 1000 signatiures or $5000 for example or a scaled back portion for 3rd party candidates. .
The money is then placed into a pot and it is then divided up equally among the players. As they bet (raise MORE CAMPAIGN MONEY) that money is then divided by the number of (same party) players in the race. The money is divided up equally until after the primary. Then it's winner take all and the opposing party candidates slug it out as usual.
Example, lets say you raise a 100k during the primary season and there is just one other opponent from your party running against you. That means under the new rules you get to spend $50k and your opponent gets to spend $50k. Therefore, there is no advantage to raising money to try and buy an election and this false argument that you (the candidates) need a huge amount of money to get your message out is put to the test and exposed for what it really is, buying your way into office.
Suddenly instead of candidates raising $500,000 to buy an Assembly seat through mass advertising and name recognition the costs are scaled back to a more realistic amount and what it really takes to get the message out and that is a fraction of what is spent now. This is a good thing too! Let me explain:
This very simple system restrains the skyrocketing campaign spending that makes it all but impossible for the person of average means to even consider running. It makes the candidate's themselves work to EARN their election and not their money buying their way in.
It reduces the influence the campaign money has on legislators in office who too often try to "repay" their massive campaign debts owed to those very select few who got them there, with special interest legislation that winds up costing you and me (Joe Blow Taxpayer) one heck of a lot more than if the candidates had run their election honestly on the up and up, without the corruption that goes with the big money and it's dominant and overriding influence on outcome!
We the people. . . will save money by getting improved legislation because we're limiting the special interest appeal for candidates seeking their support/money/endorsements. That will slow the temptation for corruption as we return more influence back to ourselves and take it away from the special interests now holding the big bucks to buy candidates who in turn use it to buy elections (a vicious cycle that is killing democracy).
Under this system, there is also no pre-primary limit on how much money a person can raise or give to election because the playing field is self leveling (pre-primary) and that was the reason for restrictions on contribution amounts in the current laws. Incumbents must play by the same rules too, no incumbent advantage due to money anymore. After their election they must start from zero in the next election cycle just like everyone else! The excess or left over campaign money from candidates is either returned to the donors or given to their party.
There may be some glitches here, but remember this is just something I am tossing out as food for thought...thoughts are made to be improved and refined into a working invention.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2008
Brothers Sitting in “Faith and Sincerity”
A proposal for peace and tolerance by King Abdullah
Posted by Tina
After tiring of the "failed policy" blather it's nice just to sit back and notice changes occurring on the horizon. Real progress can often be measured by noticing shifting attitudes and positions. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has made a proposal; one I think has a good chance of making a real difference in the Middle East...if indeed, he is sincere. Read the editorial,
“A Saudi initiative to be encouraged” posted at opinion.jpost.com
Here’s the basic proposal and opinion:
On Monday, at a seminar on "Culture and the Respect of Religions" in Riyadh, Abdullah explained: "The idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same God."
...It is significant that the king of a state that has for decades promoted an extreme and intolerant form of Islam might have decided to reverse course and combat the monster it helped create. ** Osama bin Laden came from Saudi Arabia, as did most of the 9/11 terrorists. This is not a coincidence. Saudi Arabia remains the seat of the Wahabi strain of Islam. The extreme intolerance of this strain has not only led to the glorification of mass murder, but to atrocities directed against other religions, such as the destruction of ancient Buddhist stone carvings in Afghanistan. ** An analysis released in February by MEMRI found that "in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been making intense efforts to fight both terrorism and its religious and ideological underpinnings. ... Among the results of this comprehensive anti-terror campaign are the uncovering of several terrorist cells in the country; a government warning to Saudi youth to refrain from engaging in jihad outside the country; and fatwas and declarations by senior religious establishment clerics stating that engaging in jihad outside Saudi Arabia is a grave offense that does serious damage to Saudi Arabia and to the entire Muslim world." ** A prominent Saudi cleric has rejected suicide bombings as un-Islamic, as have columnists in the Saudi media. The MEMRI paper also noted that Saudi authorities have called on preachers to stop cursing Jews and Christians, and that the Education Ministry has developed a program to fight terrorist ideology in the schools. ** the Saudis have said that they are interested in Jewish participation in the new dialogue, but don't want anyone involved in "oppressing Palestinians." If this is code for excluding all Israelis, Jewish invitees should refuse to participate. ** The reason for this is simple: It is not possible to have a dialogue with the Jewish people that deliberately excludes the Jewish state. The first step of tolerance and understanding is to accept that the Jews are a people, that Israel is the Jewish state, and that the denial of Jewish national rights not only constitutes anti-Semitism, but the most virulent form of anti-Semitism today.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
McCain’s Foreign Policy
Posted by Tina
Some of what McCain said today regarding his foreign policy was unfortunate, in my opinion, but one or two of the bigger things I did like:
“We have incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq. It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible and premature withdrawal. (Those who want to leave too soon)…as both Democratic candidates do, are arguing for a course that would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would entail far greater dangers and sacrifices than we have suffered to date.” ** “We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.” – JOHN McCAIN
Read the full editorial, “McCain’s World,” over at Investors Business Daily. I also found the following IBD opinion about a “League of Democracies” interesting:
We thought this was a great idea back in 2004, when columnist Jonah Goldberg first proposed it, and we think it's an even better one now. The views of governments that legitimately represent their countries' peoples should far outweigh those of corrupt, troublemaking tyrants looking for global handouts for themselves. The latter are why the UN is a cesspool of waste, thievery and moral impotence, for which U.S. taxpayers foot so much of the bill.
Think about it. This is a real proposal, not just some vague pretty sounding notion of “hope”…or another negative screed about failed policies.
Please, vote wisely in November.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)
DECLARE WAR OR DON'T GO
by Jack
I will never support another protracted war like Iraq unless it is a declared war!
We should have declared in 2003 and we should have declared on Al Qaeda after 9/11. A declaration of war assigns responsibility on Congress and it allows us to use all our resources to win swiftly and decisively. All this political wrangling that leads to half measures is stupid and it’s brought us nothing but trouble. If Congress doesn't have the guts to back up our military with CLEAR conditions as may be set forth in a declared war then I guess it wasn't all that important and we don't need to go there.
Next, as for the Americans now whining how they have been damaged by the Patriot Act, how about showing us where your rights have been violated and it's either there or it's not. I don't want to hear how you "feel" your rights have been damaged. "Feel" and "fact" are two different things for a reason. The same test of fact v fiction goes for government. In this case they have shown us "fact" how the Patriot Act works, who it targets and why. I'm ok with it and if it is ever abused by someone, then we punish the abuser not the tool that was designed to help us. That is basic, smart and it is how we win!
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:24 AM | Comments (5)
Deceptive Obama Political Ad
Posted by Tina
An article in National Review, “Factory-sized Deception,” by Stephen Spruiell offers more than the revelation that the Obama campaign is engaging in obvious fabrications (LIES) to fool voters and pander to Union workers and anti-NAFTA voters. It demonstrates the difference between the “gimmie” mindset and the “can-do” mindset. First we’ll take a look at the ad:
In the days leading up to the March 4 Ohio primary, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign aired a TV ad that featured a man named Steven Schuyler standing in front of a Delphi Packard Electric plant in Warren, Ohio. In the ad, Schuyler says he worked for Delphi, an automotive supplier, for 13 years until NAFTA enabled the company to ship his job to Mexico. “Barack Obama was against NAFTA,” Schuyler says, adding, “We need a president that will bring work into this country.”
To the average citizen this ad might provoke a negative response toward corporations, NAFTA and republicans without providing a single bit of substantial or truthful information…here’s why:
It was part of General Motors until it was spun off as an independent supplier in 1999. Second, foreign competition did not drive the company to eliminate American jobs. It declared bankruptcy in 2005 because the legacy labor costs it inherited from GM made it impossible to compete against other U.S.-based suppliers. Third, workers at the Warren, Ohio plant were offered generous buyouts and early-retirement packages.
It was unworkable, over the top union contracts that made it impossible for this company to compete in America with other American companies. Given that situation what does a company do? The ad says it moved to Mexico and impies it scre*ed the workers...but, the company did not move to Mexico and workers were NOT tossed into the street...kicked to the curb...treated without compassion or care by the big nasty corporation. No, those who chose to leave were given generous severance packages. How much is "generous"? How about one hundred forty thousand bucks! Not peanuts by any standard, this money is certainly a sizable nest egg for transition into a new job or profession…depending on behavior.
All but 700 of the plant’s 3,800 employees took buyout offers or early-retirement packages. Those who stayed on accepted a new labor contract that brought wages and benefits closer to the prevailing rates in the supply business.
I cannot report what Mr. Spruiell did with his money, and yes, according to a co-worker, he chose to take the money. I can tell you what another worker did with hers:
In April 2007, the Youngstown Vindicator ran a story about a former Delphi employee named Karole Kowalski who took a $140,000 buyout and invested it in an associate’s degree at Youngstown State University. “She’s excited about her plan,” according to the report, “and is hopeful the cutbacks at Packard were the best thing that could have happened to her. She couldn’t work as a laborer any more because of her back, and the buyout has given her the chance to retrain.”
After making this ad I’m sure Mr. Schuyler prefers to remain in hiding. KUDOS to the can-do American Karole Kowalski!
Please read the article in National Review, it offers an alternative perspective, uncovering erroneous claims made about NAFTA’s effects on jobs in America and explains the truthful reason that Delphi eventually declared bankruptcy.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2008
Freedom in America
Posted by Tina
A recent discussion about supposed repression of our freedoms by the Bush administration prompted me to post this story out of New York City:
“U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate,” Fox News, by Staff
On any given day, log on to RevolutionMuslim.com and a host of startling images appear:
The Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side ** Video mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled "Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :) " ** Video of a puppet show lampooning U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq ** The latest speech from Sheikh Abdullah Faisal, an extremist Muslim cleric convicted in the UK and later deported for soliciting the murder of non-Muslims.
Even more surprising is that RevolutionMuslim.com isn't being maintained in some remote safe house in Pakistan. Instead, Yousef al-Khattab, the Web site creator, runs it from his home in the New York City Borough of Queens. ** And, because al-Khattab enjoys the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, all the authorities can do is watch.
If the Bush Administration hasn't yet sicked the "Bush SS" on this anti-American lunatic, spreading his hateful propaganda on US soil, I think it's safe to say our “guest commenter’s" freedom worries are demonstrated to be completely unfounded.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)
Saddam's Oil Paid for Lawmaker's Iraq Trip
Posted by Tina
“US: Saddam Paid for Lawmakers' Iraq Trip,” by MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. ** The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling, they called for a diplomatic solution. ** Prosecutors say that trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a Michigan charity official, who was charged Wednesday with setting up the junket at the behest of Saddam's regime. Iraqi intelligence officials allegedly paid for the trip through an intermediary and rewarded Al-Hanooti with 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil. ** The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam. ** "Obviously, we didn't know it at the time," McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. "The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
Gallup Pole
It’s a long way to November but this is… interesting!
"A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination," the pollsters at Gallup report this morning. "This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters," they add, "more than a quarter of whom currently say they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee." - reported by Mark Memmott, USA Today
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:42 PM | Comments (2)
March 25, 2008
Got a Smart Cat?
Is your cat a genius or blissfully ignorant? Melissa Miller's helpful book, The Superior Cat, may satisfy your curiosity about your cat's intelligence and let you see how you measure up as a cat owner, too. The cat quiz (to be filed out by the human companion) covers visual skills, audio abilities, social and domestic behaviors, and a handy scoring table and conversion graph are provided. An especially useful section recommends various cat breeds based on the owner type (ranging from practical to fanatical).
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)
1/3 of Men Frightened of Women-Survey
Posted by Tina
Results of a survey reported in the London "Telegraph" suggest that the women’s movement has messed with the natural order, something I’ve long believed. Here are some of the findings of the report:
“Modern men feel emasculated, study claims,” by Sarah Womack
Many men believe the world is now dominated by women and that they have lost their role in society, fuelling feelings of depression and being undervalued. ** more than half thought society was turning them into "waxed and coiffed metrosexuals" ** 52 per cent say they had to live according to women's rules. ** Once fatherhood arrives, men say they would prefer a more traditional role of either being the sole breadwinner with their partner a full-time mother and homemaker (34 per cent), or the main breadwinner with their partner working part-time (24 per cent). ** Men said they "felt handcuffed" by political correctness - only 33 per cent felt they could speak freely and say what they thought, whereas two thirds found it safer and to conceal their opinions. ** According to the survey, men hold other men who speak their mind in high regard…their biggest hero is Churchill.
I don’t know how many men in America suffer from some of these symptoms but I do believe that the feminist movement has made a royal mess of things. My problem with the movement is that it was founded on lies and perpetrated with ugly female nastiness. Lacking strength of character and confidence in their gender, they became fem-bullies and spawned the mess that passes for male/female relationships today…
But this is for another article I have in mind. If any of you men and women out there would care to share your own thoughts on this subject I’d appreciate hearing them. If you’d prefer to share directly just post a simple comment to that effect below and I’ll contact you via email.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:44 PM | Comments (1)
Is Your Colon Plastered? Gastrointestinal Quackery
Colonics, Laxatives, and More,. by Stephen Barrett, M.D.
The importance of "regularity" to overall health has been greatly overestimated for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians associated feces with decay and used enemas and laxatives liberally. In more recent times, this concern has been embodied in the concept of "autointoxication" and has been promoted by warnings against "irregularity." [1]
The theory of "autointoxication" states that stagnation of the large intestine (colon) causes toxins to form that are absorbed and poison the body. Some proponents depict the large intestine as a "sewage system" that becomes a "cesspool" if neglected. Other proponents state that constipation causes hardened feces to accumulate for months (or even years) on the walls of the large intestine and block it from absorbing or eliminating properly. This, they say, causes food to remain undigested and wastes from the blood to be reabsorbed by the body [2].
Around the turn of the twentieth century many physicians accepted the concept of autointoxication, but it was abandoned after scientific observations proved it wrong. In 1919 and 1922, it was clearly demonstrated that symptoms of headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite that accompanied fecal impaction were caused by mechanical distension of the colon rather than by production or absorption of toxins [3,4]. Moreover, direct observation of the colon during surgical procedures or autopsies found no evidence that hardened feces accumulate on the intestinal walls.
Today we know that most of the digestive process takes place in the small intestine, from which nutrients are absorbed into the body. The remaining mixture of food and undigested particles then enters the large intestine, which can be compared to a 40-inch-long hollow tube. Its principal functions are to transport food wastes from the small intestine to the rectum for elimination and to absorb minerals and water. Careful observations have shown that the bowel habits of healthy individuals can vary greatly. Although most people have a movement daily, some have several movements each day, while others can go several days or even longer with no adverse effects.
The popular diet book Fit for Life (1986) is based on the notion that when certain foods are eaten together, they "rot," poison the system, and make the person fat. To avoid this, the authors recommend that fats, carbohydrates and protein foods be eaten at separate meals, emphasizing fruits and vegetables because foods high in water content can "wash the toxic waste from the inside of the body" instead of "clogging" the body. These ideas are utter nonsense [5].
For the rest of this article click here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:30 PM | Comments (2)
March 24, 2008
Anti-War Sentiment KILLS
by Tina Grazier
Here at Post Scripts we’ve been saying from the very beginning that support for the war is important. The collective will of the people to press boldly on, to present a firm, united resolve, makes all the difference. Now, a new study by Radha Iyengar, a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in health policy research at Harvard and Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at the university's Kennedy School of Government strongly indicates the validity of this premise. The study shows that the opposite, that is, anti-war sentiment in news reporting caused an upsurge in violence by terrorists in Iraq. I thank these researchers and scholars for publishing their findings; they could have buried it.
“Negative U.S. media linked to increased insurgent attacks,” by Shawn Waterman - UPI
Researchers at Harvard say that publicly voiced doubts about the U.S. occupation of Iraq have a measurable "emboldenment effect" on insurgents there. ** Periods of intense news media coverage in the United States of criticism about the war, or of polling about public opinion on the conflict, are followed by a small but quantifiable increases in the number of attacks on civilians and U.S. forces in Iraq, according to a study by Radha Iyengar, a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in health policy research at Harvard and Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at the university's Kennedy School of Government. ** The increase in attacks is more pronounced in areas of Iraq that have better access to international news media, the authors conclude in a report titled "Is There an 'Emboldenment' Effect? Evidence from the Insurgency in Iraq." ** The researchers studied data about insurgent attacks and U.S. media coverage up to November, tracking what they called "anti-resolve statements" by U.S. politicians and reports about American public opinion on the war. ** "We find that in periods immediately after a spike in anti-resolve statements, the level of insurgent attacks increases," says the study, published earlier this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a leading U.S. nonprofit economic research organization. ** In Iraqi provinces that were broadly comparable in social and economic terms, attacks increased between 7 percent and 10 percent following what the researchers call "high-mention weeks," like the two just before the November 2006 election.
"The researchers conclude that the increases in attacks are a necessary cost of the way democratic societies fight wars and say they are concerned that the research may be seized upon by the Iraq war's supporters to try and silence its critics.," ** We are a little bit worried about that Mr. Monten said in an interview. "Our data suggests that there is a small, but measurable cost" to "anything that provides information about attitudes towards the war."
I’m not sure what the “worry” is all about…Code Pink is not going away and the media certainly won’t quit covering their childish and flamboyant “look at me” protests. Big moneybags types like George Soros aren’t about to be shamed into silence anytime soon. Certainly the left leaning journalism crowd isn't going to shut up and the talking heads literally delight in making this "George Bush's war"...a clear signal to our enemy that "America doesn't have the stomach for war". So this is not a "necessary" way democracies fight wars. It is a willfull brand of undermining a national effort to defend the country.
I’d have more respect for anti war types if they would adopt the more mature position of conscientious objector, a person who objects for personal reasons...quietly. There isn't much of a chance that this report will change behaviors or that it will cause anyone to admit that the loud and proud antiwar stance has cause our enemy to be emboldened. It should act as a wakeup call or at least give reason to pause. Personally, I believe there is a very good chance that a lack of unified resolve has caused the war to continue longer than it may otherwise have gone causing more injuries and deaths. There is no way to prove it…but there is now strong evidence to support these claims.
Anytime you go to war you go with the added resolve to end it as quickly as possible. Efforts to undermine our leaders and soldiers only prolongs war. So I say it boldly and with certainty: Anti-war sentiment kills!
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:32 PM | Comments (16)
Shifty Democrat Mind
Posted by Tina Grazier
Chris Suellentrop has revealed on his NY Times blog, “opinionator,” that there might be a loophole in the Constitution that would allow a Clinton/Obama presidency to continue for sixteen years (giving Al Gore yet another reason to be angry).
According to Yale Constitutional professor Akhil Reed Amar:
“The Constitution’s 25th Amendment allows for a new paradigm of political teamwork,” he writes in Slate. “The two Democratic candidates could publicly agree to take turns in the top slot.” ** Adopted in 1967 in the shadow of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment allows presidents unilaterally to transfer presidential power to their vice presidents and enables presidents, with congressional consent, to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency should one arise. By creatively using the constitutional rules created by this amendment, the Democrats can, if they are so inclined, present the voters in November with a new kind of balanced ticket. ** Here’s how it would work: In August at the Democratic National Convention, the party would nominate one candidate for president and the other for vice president in the time-honored way. In their acceptance speeches, the nominees would announce that they intend to alternate. For example, they could tell the voters that the person heading the Democratic ticket would, if elected, take office in January 2009 but would serve as president for only the first three years of the four-year term. In January 2012, the teammates would use the 25th Amendment to switch places, and the person elected vice president would assume the presidency for the final year of the term. There is nothing magical about these dates. Almost any date would do. For maximal democratic legitimacy, however, the candidates should inform the voters before the election of the specific date when their planned shift of power will occur. ** Of course, if this dream team proved popular in office, the teammates could run for re-election in 2012. This time, it might make the most sense for the ticket to be the inverse of 2008. Thus, the person at the bottom of the 2008 ticket could top the 2012 ticket. If re-elected, our initial-VP-turned-president might then serve until, say, January 2016—four consecutive years in all—and then our initial-president-turned-VP would resume the top spot for the final year of the second term. (Thus, this person, too, would end up serving four years, albeit not consecutively.) ** And here’s the icing on the constitutional cake: Nothing in the 25th Amendment or elsewhere in the founding document would prevent this team from presenting themselves to the electorate in similar fashion in 2016. If the voters were to endorse the pair yet again, then at this point one of the teammates would have been elected twice as president and would become ineligible in any future presidential race; but the other teammate would in fact remain fully eligible to run in 2020. With the result that, if voters so chose, the teammates could, between themselves, share power for a total of four full terms.
This is how the democrat mind works. We see it in the way they are running their primary. * We see it in the way they legislate. * We see it in the statements they make: “I voted for the war before I voted against it.” * We see it in the way they believe the Constitution should be changed "for the times”…changing the law to fit needs or desires of the moment...tra la.
They are shifty, groundless, and in my book NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
Please…vote wisely in November.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
Woman Gets Wrong Surgery
Submitted by CoffeeSnob
Woman Goes for Leg Operation, Gets New Anus Instead?
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - A German retiree is taking a hospital to court after she went in for a leg operation and got a new anus instead, the Daily Telegraph is reporting.
The woman woke up to find she had been mixed up with another patient suffering from incontinence who was to have surgery on her sphincter.
The clinic in Hochfranken, Bavaria, has since suspended the surgical team. They have not commented on how well the surgery went or if the women in need of the anus got a leg fixed..
Now the woman is planning to sue the hospital. She still needs the leg operation and is searching for another hospital to do it.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Signs Similar to Recession of the 80's
Post by Jack (from Oxford Analytica)
(Mar 24-hot news information) The combination of slowing growth and rising inflation has raised the specter of "stagflation," a pernicious problem in the U.S. in the 1970s and early 1980s. Stagflation is puzzling to economists because slowing growth should mean weakening demand for labor, lower wage inflation, and softer product demand. This, in turn, should mean falling inflation--not rising inflation.
1980 Precedent
The year 1980 epitomized the stagflation process. Real GDP fell by a sharp 1.6%, meaning that a serious recession was taking place. The unemployment rate jumped to 7% in 1980 from 5.8% the year before. Yet on top of this economic weakness, consumer price index (CPI) inflation accelerated to 13.5% from 11.3% the year before.
Recently, similar trends in the data have renewed U.S. stagflation fears:
--CPI inflation was 4% in February; the annualized rate of inflation was 4.7% over the previous six months--up from a 3.5% annual rate of inflation in the six months ending August 2007, and the 2.6% year-on-year rate of inflation as of December 2006.
--The unemployment rate has crept upward, from 4.5% in May 2007 to 4.8% in last month.
--The pace of job creation has eased sharply from 175,000 net new jobs per month in 2006 to 107,000 jobs per month in the first half of 2007 to 76,000 jobs per month in the second half of 2007. In January and February of this year, an average of 43,000 jobs per month were lost.
--Meanwhile, commodity prices have soared. The price of gold has recently breached the $1,000-per-ounce mark--up from around $650 in January 2007. Oil prices have broken $100 per barrel barrier and the Goldman Sachs commodity price index has recently surged to an all-time high.
Overblown Fears
Any assessment of the prospects for stagflation depends heavily on a theoretical understanding of the inflation process. Some economists believe that price shocks--like oil surges and rising food prices--can boost underlying inflation. However, most say that inflation spikes rarely become persistent if higher prices do not become embedded in workers' wages. Accepting this latter view, there are reasons to believe the current surge in inflation may be temporary.
Wages Contained
For all workers, total compensation was up 3% in the 12 months ending December 2007--less than the 3.1% increase in the 12 months ending September 2007.
Absent Danger Signal
The wage demands of the most technically sophisticated and skilled workers (those in management, professional and technical occupations) are a key indicator. When labor markets become tight and wage inflation starts to become a problem, it is the wages of these workers that show inflationary trends first, before the population at large.
To date, there is no evidence that the wages of highly skilled workers are accelerating. In the 12 months ending December 2007, total compensation for these workers was up 3.2%--less than the 3.4% increase experienced in the 12 months ending September 2007 or the 3.5% increase they enjoyed in the 12 months ending December 2006.
Productivity
Combined with the 1.6% annual productivity gains for the economy in 2007, these wage patterns suggest an underlying, annual "inflation impulse" into the U.S. economy of just 1.5% per year (roughly 3% wage gains, less 1.6% productivity gains).
Changed Labor Market
Another key difference between the current period and the late 1970s and early 1980s is that labor markets have changed dramatically:
--Union Decline. In the earlier period, unions represented approximately 20% of the labor force, and were often successful in pressing for higher wages, even in the face of slowing economic conditions. Just 12.1% of U.S. workers are currently members of unions, and union bargaining power has been significantly reduced.
--Few COLAs. A related factor is that cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) were a feature of labor markets in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when approximately 60% of union workers enjoyed COLA benefits. These COLA provisions made inflation difficult to combat, because it quickly worked its way into wages, which had subsequent effects on future inflation. Today, few workers have COLA clauses in their contracts, meaning that there are few automatic links between inflation and wages.
To read an extended version of this article, log on to Oxford Analytica's Web site.
Oxford Analytica is an independent strategic-consulting firm drawing on a network of more than 1,000 scholar experts at Oxford and other leading universities and research institutions around the world. For more information, please visit oxan.com.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
Morning Market Update - Dow Surges
by Jack
The DOW lept out of the starting gate this morning on good news! The housing market had it's first significant increase in home sales in Feb., due to a drop in interest rates and falling home prices that apparently attracted a few buyers. Currently the market as of 8:56 a.m. is up 235 points.
Although the home sales were only up 2.9% in Feb. it was still the largest increase in over a year and any good news here is greated by Wall Street with wild enthusiasm. Tomorrow is another day and the big question is, will investors be left holding the bag on the stocks they bought today? Greed and panic move the market is an old saying and for good reason. The prudent investor knows the opportunity for bad news far outweighs the potential for more good news as the economy teeters on recession.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2008
Dollar At 12 Year Low
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
More Social Security Thoughts
Posted by DHB, AZ
We all knew that the Social Security fund did not exist. It was a pay-as-you go welfare plan for the elderly, but it seemed justified since those people had worked and paid into the plan. What astonished me was learning how many people are receiving Social Security benefits who never paid anything into it.
There are all kinds of people getting SS checks who never paid anything into the "fund."
When my wife started receiving her measley SS check because she had always worked at low-paying jobs, she talked to her old friend from high school, who had never worked for wages even one day in her whole life. She was also receiving SS, but at a higher rate (spousal SS based on husband's earnings, even if the husband was still alive). That is only the beginning. There are all kinds of people getting SS checks who never paid anything into the "fund." It gets worse. Just yesterday, the Senate voted to allow illegal aliens to receive SS benefits based on their illegal wages, working illegally at jobs they had no right to, using phony SS numbers.
That is felony upon felony, but it was rationalized because they had "earned" it. As one person put it, it is like making sure that someone who hijacks an airline plane at least gets his frequent flyer miles. Our hero, John McCain, voted for it too.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
Social Security – What to Know Before You Vote
Posted by Tina Grazier
Fortune Magazine is featuring a very informative (and easy to understand) article on the pending problems of the Social Security system. It describes the problem, proposed unworkable fixes, and finally a sound solution. Read the full article to discover the “tell”…that one thing that will tell you which of the candidates takes this issue seriously.
Here’s the reason we should be concerned:
Because the trust fund is invested in Treasuries, the real problem starts not in 2040, but a decade or so from now.
Social Security's negative cash flow becomes so horrendous - hundreds of billions of dollars a year - that our nation's twenty- and thirtysomethings aren't going to let the government cover it, regardless of how many Treasuries the trust fund holds. ** You see that the system's cash flow is projected at about positive $92 billion this year. Nice. But by 2020 it's negative $96 billion, rising to about negative $280 billion in 2025, half a trillion in 2030. That is unsupportable, unless we plan to devote the federal budget to baby-boomers' retirement. ** I'll spare you the history lesson about why no one worried much about how to invest the huge - albeit temporary - surpluses that Social Security began to rack up in the 1980s, when Social Security taxes were raised and future benefits trimmed as a result of the famous Greenspan Commission report. It would be nice to have $2.3 trillion in useful assets in an equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund - but we can't turn back time. *** We can still buy time by investing current cash surpluses in non-Treasury assets. But that would require a change in the law and a change in the Washington mindset, neither of which seems to be in the offing.
We the people can make this issue a high priority...we can demand change. To do that effectively we must be informed and resolute.
Find the story posted at money.cnn.com/ - “Social Security's running out of time,” by Allan Sloan, senior editor at large
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:51 PM | Comments (1)
Freedom’s Enemy – Slavish Addiction to Multiculturalism
by Tina Grazier
What would you be willing to give up simply to appear inclusive? Some things are worth sacrificing in order to get along. It’s wise to give up things like pride or a contentious attitude within a family, business or organization, in neighborhood settings, on playgrounds and in meetings. But is it wise to cower when faced with uncomfortable or difficult situations, to run from reason, to allow the demise of structures that support and secure our liberties?
Salim Mansur,Toronto Sun, has written a brilliant piece, “Multiculturism is a sedative.” It offers sustenance to those who continue to act with courage in defending our culture. America was born of the concepts of individual freedom: life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are worth defending.
Read the article, fellow pilgrims, and feed the warrior within. Mr. Mansur, recalling the words of Malcom Muggeridge, adds the following from his own warrior spirit:
The strength of the West measured in terms of freedom -- of Prometheus unbound and its creative spirit unleashed soaring upwards despite risks -- resides in its assimilative capacity and openness to share its freedom with those beyond its cultural boundaries seeking the same. ** Yet keeping the West strong requires perseverance and vigilance. The spirit that soars also can sag through fatigue, the creative can begin to lose fecundity, freedom can become corrupted in time, and decay can loom over that culture ever larger. ** It is in these circumstances that false hope readily may be planted and false remedy readily sold. The curative unthinkingly bought turns out to be medicine hastening the end. ** Multiculturalism is in appearance the most pleasing of liberal barbiturates offered to stave off the West's demographic decline through immigration. For it to work the requirement demanded is suspension of critical and discriminating thinking replaced by politically correct speech that must offend none except, if need be, the patient (the West) requiring the cure. (emphasis mine)
Assimilation is a reasonable expectation for the purpose of keeping American values and culture alive. If we give up this demand we give up the very things that make America unique and wonderful. Let others come here to embrace our culture. Let them take the steps necessary to ensure their inclusion into our culture. The beauty of America is that no one is required to give up his heritage...only to expand to include and adopt another, putting it first. In America we are Americans who, at times, celebrate and share our foreign roots. We cannot defend the freedom that supports and celebrates our differences if we do not defend our borders, welcoming others to our shores by legal and measured means.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
Will You Continue to Pay for the Control Factor?
by Tina Grazier
Quick, think of an item, any item. You can bet that Americans either own one (or more) or they want one…or more! Back in the eighties we gladly began to pay over eighty dollars a pair for athletic shoes, a scandal by usual standards. Today we’re doing the same thing, paying big for ipods, flat screen TV’s and other items. There’s really no doubting it…we live in the land of plenty! Plenty of stuff for plenty of bucks.
These were my thoughts as I read an article, “Red Tape Rising,” in the Wall Street Journal today. But this article isn’t about stuff, the products that corporations and businesses bring to the marketplace. It’s about the hidden costs, many of them unnecessary, which drive prices higher than they would naturally be.
If current popular trends continue, we are about to enter a time when these hidden costs will soar. How much will Americans put up with…how much more will we pay for the “control factor” in the price of goods (and goodies) we buy? Keep in mind that the red tape industry doesn’t just effect businesses and consumers…it also raises the cost of government. A few items of interest from the article:
The Small Business Administration calculates that the total cost in 2005 of complying with 145,000 pages of federal rules and procedures was $1.1 trillion. This is the rough economic equivalent of imposing a second federal income tax on the economy.
Just last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new ozone rules for the first time in 10 years. ** (the new rule) is 0.075 parts per million instead of the old 0.080 ppm. The cost in lost economic output from this new more stringent rule is estimated at $6 billion a year, and many communities are still struggling to meet the demands of the old rule. Whether the health benefits of the new rule will exceed these costs is unknown because Congress refuses to allow a cost-benefit analysis for air quality regulations.
George Mason University's Mercatus Center reveals in a soon-to-be released study that every measure of regulatory activity is up in recent years -- agency staffing, budgets, pages of rule making and compliance costs. Those numbers contradict the stream of attacks against this Administration for "weakening" federal consumer and environmental protections. ** Excluding homeland security regulations, the budgets of Uncle Sam's 50 largest agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Consumer Products Safety Commission, are up almost one-third since 2001. There are now some 200,000 full-time government employees writing and enforcing federal commandments.
Many Americans roll their eyes when they hear such figures. It doesn’t bother them, they say. Somehow I think that if they actually had to write out checks for these things every month it would suddenly become a very big deal. People pay…they just don’t experience it. Unfortunately, a lot of very bad law is written because of this one little thing…and the price tag for the control factor just keeps getting bigger.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:16 AM | Comments (2)
March 21, 2008
Cartoon of the Week
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
Another Problem Area - Taiwan
Posted by Jack
Yokosuka (Japan) – The USS Kitty Hawk and the Nimitz are headed to Taiwan for training exercises. According to Reuters, the carriers will be “responsibly positioned” off the coast just in case something happens (cough Chinese invasion cough) during this weekend’s elections.
The carriers themselves are devastating platforms of aerial firepower, but they accompanied by several cruisers, destroyers and submarines that can also be used offensively. The Nimitz will have a full battle group accompanying it, while the Kitty Hawk will have just the USS Curtis Wilbur. This basically puts most of the United States 7th Fleet near Taiwan.
Military theorists and bloggers have speculated how China would attack Taiwan if independence was declared. The most common theory is that China would rain down thousands of missiles on military targets while simultaneously landing troops on the coast. Taiwan would have to slow down the offensive long enough for international help to arrive. Of course, having two aircraft carriers nearby would complicate any combat for the Chinese.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
Bob Barr - Libertarian Hope
Posted by Tina
The Washington Times reports this about Representative Bob Barr:
Former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia is considering a third-party presidential run — a bid that could steal support from Republican John McCain and potentially offset the damage Ralph Nader's candidacy is predicted to have on the Democratic candidate. Mr. Barr...yesterday confirmed his interest in running as a Libertarian but said he is unwilling to talk about any "polling we may have done or may do, not at this point."
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
Pairing Right Wine with Right Food
Posted by Jack (From Menshealth.com)
1- Match flavors and tastes One of the best rules of thumb to follow when pairing wine with food is to think of the wine as another condiment for the meal. In other words, you should select varietals that will enhance the flavors of the dish. Instead of standing firmly by the old rule that you should always serve white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat, try pairing lighter wines with lighter foods and more full-bodied wines with heavier foods. So, while pairing a Pinot Noir with halibut violates the rules, it does follow the "light with light" rule. But, by the same token, pairing a white wine with game is just wrong. Period.
As far as sweetness goes, the general rule holds that you don’t serve a dish that is sweeter than the wine. This is why sweet dessert wines are usually only brought out at the end of or after a meal. On balance, this is one rule you’ll want to stick to as much as possible, but you can get away with pairing dark chocolate with a full-bodied red wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Finally, match similar flavors. A nice white wine with citrus notes, such as a Riesling, works a treat with fish dishes that have lemon or other citrus tastes. Some full-bodied red wines, like Merlots, carry chocolate or dark berry notes that complement darker sauces, especially Mexican moles. And by the same token, earthy wines -- like Cabernet Sauvignon -- go really well with foods like mushrooms and steak, and herbs such as oregano.
A word of warning: Don’t try to pair wines with tastes like oak, grass or other non-food notes (such as in a more mature Pinot Noir) with food. These generally aren’t tastes we think of in a meal and it is very difficult to match them; it’s best to save these wines for sipping.
2- Take your cues from the kitchen
This idea dovetails nicely from the first and takes things a bit further. Instead of only basing your pairing on whether the dish is bold or light, you may also want to consider how it’s prepared. Chicken, for example, could be prepared as a rich cacciatore or with another robust tomato sauce, in which case you’d want to match it with a nice red, such as Chianti. On the other hand, chicken also works well with a white wine sauce or a butter sauce, both of which are light. In that case, keep the wine light and bright (and sharp if it’s a rich sauce); Sauvignon Blanc is a good match.
In short, keep in mind the dominant flavor of the dish and select the wine to match it. Generally, if wine is used in the sauce, a glass from the same bottle is a perfect pairing. This is called a flavor bridge.
Aside from the different components of the dish, you may also want to consider how it’s being cooked. Different wines are better matches for grilled, roasted and fried foods. Think of the difference between a piece of steamed fish and a grilled one. Poached or steamed foods naturally call for lighter wines because these methods typically emphasize the simplicity of the dish, while grilled meats are a bit more versatile and call for more body. Foods cooked in a wok usually lend themselves to clean white wines (think of the crispness of a sake and how well it complements Japanese foods), while fatty or fried foods usually demand a wine with some acidity, such as a Sauvignon Blanc.
3- Offset tastes
Part of the reason that pairing wine with food is so important is that one always affects the taste of the other. Particular nuances of a given wine -- such as sweetness, acidity and tannins -- can greatly influence and enhance (or overpower) the tastes in your food. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Sweet foods will make a wine seem drier, stronger and less fruity. Balance dishes with glazes or teriyaki with an off-dry wine, like a White Zinfandel or a Riesling.
Foods that are highly acidic will make wines taste less sour, richer and more mellow. Consider pairing fish with a citrus sauce -- or any salad or tomato-based dish -- with a high-acid wine; Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris will work well.
Bitter flavors in food will bring out a wine’s bitterness. Pair bitter foods with a full-bodied, fruity wine like a Chardonnay or a Cabernet Sauvignon. Additionally, acidic wines will help balance the bitterness and bring down the sweetness.
Salty foods will make your sweet wines taste sweeter. Match salty and smoky flavors with fruity, low-tannin, low-alcohol wines.
You may want to consider going completely off the map by balancing opposing tastes. Try pairing a light, hot Asian curry with a sweet dessert wine or a nice Indian curry with a fruity, low-tannin wine like a Merlot. You might also pair sweet wine with acidic food or balance a complex wine like an ice wine with simple foods.
4- Start light and build up
Just as you would normally start a multiple-course meal with a light appetizer and build up to a robust main course, you should do the same with wines. Build up in intensity as the courses become heartier; this way, you won’t be left with the aftertaste of your previous glass ruining the taste of your next.
Also, keep in mind that dry wines are usually served before sweet ones and wines with less alcohol before wines with more alcohol. These rules aren’t set in stone, but they will help you balance the tasting experience.
do what makes you happyAfter taking the time to explain the basic rules of pairing, let me say that the most important rule to follow is to do whatever makes you happiest. Let your palate tell you which are the best wine pairings for you. Remember that if your pairings don’t stand up to the basic rules, it doesn’t mean that it’s the wrong thing to do.
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:31 PM | Comments (2)
Militant Wright Hurting Obama
by Jack Lee
Obama has surrendered 10 percentage points among independent voters shifting to Hillary's camp. This is a direct result of one man's untimely and ill considered divisive, biggoted comments coming from the infamous Rev. Wright.
John McCain has been the ultimate benefactor here, because his popularity is growing faster than either Hillary's or Obama's.
Obama's failure to address the specifics of Rev. Wright's militant diatribe has given pause to many of his present and possibly future supporters who actually know little about their candidate. These people are now questioning his background thanks mostly to the hate speech from Rev. Wright.
When it comes to establishing his credentials for being the head of state, Obama is extremely vulnerable. He has almost no credible legislative achievement to his name and he is a junior Senator. Obama has no significant accomplishments in the private sector and he has no demonstrable ability to show leadership in Congress.
Much of his recent political success is coming only from one area, an emotional appeal as an articulate, educated and charismatic young black legislator. This may be good enough for some, but most voters want to see more substance before trusting him to the most powerful position in the world.
Obama's close relationship to a racist like the Rev. Wright is just the opening the Clinton camp needed to question his judgement in connection with his limited experience and they are exploiting this area for all it's worth. This is something the Republican's can't do for fear of looking like they are picking on a black candidate and risk losing more than they would gain, even though they have a legitimate issue here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:24 PM | Comments (2)
Here's One You Don't Hear Every Day
NESS CITY, Kan. - A man whose girlfriend authorities say spent nearly two years in a bathroom in their trailer house, sitting on the toilet so long that the seat adhered to her body, has been charged with mistreatment of a dependent adult.
Kory McFarren, 37, was charged Monday in Ness County District Court.
McFarren called the Ness County Sheriff’s Office in late February to say something was wrong with his girlfriend. When authorities arrived at the home, they found Pam Babcock, 35, stuck to the toilet, which they think she had sat on for about a month.
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McFarren told authorities that Babcock feared leaving the bathroom and may not have left it in two years, although he said he was unsure how long she was in there. He said that he took her food and water daily, and that he repeatedly asked her to come out but that she usually replied “maybe tomorrow.”
“The only thing I am guilty of is I didn’t get her help sooner,” McFarren told The Associated Press nearly a week ago.
Ness County Attorney Craig Crosswhite said the mistreatment charge most closely fit the situation.
“I looked at the statutes and spoke to the attorney general’s office,” he said. “This was a very unusual set of circumstances, and this is the law that most closely applied to the situation.”
Authorities said Babcock sat on the toilet so long that open sores developed and caused her to become attached to the seat. Sheriff Bryan Whipple has said that he used a pry bar to remove the seat from the toilet, and that the woman was taken to the hospital with the seat still attached.
“She would have to be sleeping on the toilet,” Whipple said.
Doctors at a Wichita hospital where Babcock was taken told McFarren that an infection in her legs had damaged her nerves and could leave her in a wheelchair. She was still at the hospital Wednesday night.
McFarren’s first court appearance will be in April, Crosswhite said.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
Dollar Falling After Prime Rate Cut
The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and to its lowest level in 12 1/2 years against the yen Monday as investors reacted nervously to news that JP Morgan Chase is buying rival investment bank Bear Stearns.
The move, aimed at averting a bankruptcy, sparked renewed worries among traders about the full extent of the credit crisis, sending Asian stock markets tumbling.
The U.S. currency also was hit by word that the Federal Reserve on Sunday cut its discount rate, or its lending rate to financial institutions, by a quarter point to 3.25 percent.
The dollar fell as low as 95.72 yen, its lowest point since August 1995, in morning trading in Tokyo before recovering to 96.76 yen in afternoon trading. The dollar finished in New York trading on Friday at 99.17 yen. It broke below 100 yen just last Thursday.
The euro rose to a record against the dollar, climbing as high as $1.5903.
Japanese officials quickly called for calm in the currency markets, but did not announce any plans for intervention to shore up the greenback by buying up dollars.
"Excessive fluctuation is never favorable for the Japanese and world economy," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said. "We are concerned about the current situation with currencies fluctuating too much."
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
The Rev. Wright - Militant and Surrogate Father
by Jack Lee
Obama's bid for the presidency could be derailed by one man, the militant Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his political mentor and surrogate father. A man who focused on Muslim studies to get his master's degree at the University of Chicago and this has "white" America more than a little concerned.. it scares the H- - out of some people!
In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the Western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just “disappeared” as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns. Rev. Wright
Race was bound to become an issue in this presidential campaign, we've more or less been pussy footing around it for months, then Geraldine Ferraro's comments made the headlines, followed by the Rev. Wright's diatribe against "white" America and his long list of absurd anti-white allegations. As one blog commenter said, "If Wright were white, he’d wear a sheet".
Obama is placed in a tough spot. He has responded by placing his words over Wright's, but he does not address the specifics of Wrights allegations. Like, America caused 9/11, that we should abandon Israel, that we were wrong for dropping the A-bomb on Japan in WWII, that 3 Strikes was a racist law aimed mostly at blacks, that "white" America has no tolerance or use for black Americans and that we're more like the old "white" Roman Empire.
There's more, much more, but either you get it or you never will. Wright is a racist. He's a blanco-phobe of the worst order and he calls on God to damn "white" America. For this man to be a leading presidential candidate's surrogate father raises questions at a time when that candidate would just as soon be focusing on something else...anything else, but this!
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:40 AM | Comments (1)
March 18, 2008
Happy Days Are Here Again! Aren't they?
by Jack Lee
The Feds could be dropping the prime by one full point today and the stock market is rallying and up 265 points early in the day. Happy days are here again!
The way the prime rate is falling, I calculate in 55 days they will be paying you to take out a loan!
.
The besieged dollar is really going to tank overseas when the feds drop the prime rate this time. However, we all should know by now this is good for exporting, our goods are cheaper. But, there is a point at where there are diminishing returns on all things and this next drop in our dollar could be it.
When the ol dollar finally falls to a critical point there will be a run on greenbacks by nations wishing to swap them for something else. Then, when hope is all but lost for its recovery there will be only one option to save the day and American's will jump at the opportunity presented by our glorious and beloved leader! Enter the Amero, our answer to the Euro. The great union of Canada, USA and Mexico for trade and currency will be born, thus completing the objective that was begun years earlier. Nonsense? Impossible? Maybe. But, the more deliberate acts I see by our federal government that I believe will crush our economy... the more paranoid my thinking.
On the broader scale of things, we see Asian markets in distress, European markets are weakening and they are our trading partners. New Home starts in the US are significantly down again, the consumer price index is rising ominously (check your grocery bill, it's way up) and our oil monopoly is having their way with us. Then we see a rock solid 85 year old company like Bear Stearns, allegedly led by one of the most brilliant bankers on Wall Street that goes almost belly up in 48 hours. BSC has been steered upon the financail rocks with a big load of sub-prime mortgages bundled and fraudulently marketed as AAA securities , while the feds entrusted with preventing such fraud were apparently turning a blind eye? This is one of the greatest robberies of all time and hardly an FBI eyebrow is being raised? What's up with that?
How could a humble putz like me way out here in little Chico see this day coming almost 2 years ago and yet the most educated and informed federal watchdogs in history could not see it coming? My only conclusion is, deliberate ignorance, perhaps fostered by some self-serving immediate gain and/or coercion by key managers to advance their hidden agenda, such as the tri-lateral trade union...I can only guess, but it's not a totally implausible theory is it?
If you think that $600 per tax filer is going to reverse all this I've got some Amero's to sell you.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:32 AM | Comments (1)
March 17, 2008
Iraq Veterans for Congress
Posted by Tina Grazier
The mission:
Whether Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine, we all shared a common goal in Iraq: victory. As Republican candidates for Congress we share a vision for America's future, her security, and that of future generations. We are unified in our commitment to relieve the Democrats of their command of Congress.
This is a "band of brothers" we can be very proud to support. To learn more about these young men and their new mission go to the website, Iraq Veterans for Congress. Their fund raising plan is concise and clear:
4,000 individual contributions of just $25 to each Iraq Vet for Congress by 3/31/2008 will make us all extremely competitive and send a clear message to our opponents that Republicans are going to take back the House and our squad of Iraq Vets will be leading the way. ** Of course, we will accept smaller and large contributions but we are hoping that the $25 contributions will be the backbone of our efforts.
Support These Candidates and Begin To Take Back The House by Contributing $25 To Each Candidate Today.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)