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October 31, 2007
Poll in Butte County
http://www.topix.com/forum/county/butte-ca/T9B4S46SSGF61A44Q
The above is a link to a Butte County website where the poll is located.
The poll running is not mine, but I am on it. If you like my political articles I sure would appreciate it if you visited that site and voted for me. The real election is not till next June, but it would be helpful to see how we're doing so far.
If you don't know me already and you are wondering what I stand for? Well, for now I just want to sum it all up and say I am a very conservative Republican that honors the Constitution like a Libertarian! And for the rest you will have to visit one more site... JackLeeElection.com Or I guess you could read the last 100 or so articles I've written here! Just about every political thought I've had is here somewhere, on immigration reform, water rights, property rights, prison reform, how to get the most for our tax money, etc. The best part is I'm here every day and always willing to try to answer any questions or post your suggestions.
PS Currently I'm the only candidate from Chico in the Assembly race and it would be great if we could keep a Chicoan in the Assembly! Your current Assemblyman is Rick Keene and he is termed out...so I am not running against Rick, I am just running for his seat. If term limits get extended in the next election and Rick stays in office I will drop out because I won't run against a fellow republican.
Thanks for your support!
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:25 PM | Comments (10)
FBI Corruption Probe
by Aaron Park
3 1/2 years of investigations, no indictment
Your house gets raided and files relating to the associate that got you into this investigation in the first place are left behind. Of course, your young daughter is terrorized during the whole ordeal and no one cares.
You are a Republican Congressman and three of your colleagues resigned in disgrace, two of whom went to jail, so therefore you are presumed guilty.
And so it goes, instead of idealogical attacks which had never worked in the past… the tactics change to throwing it through the fan and alleging corruption. John Doolittle did the same thing we do in my office, pay relatives for consulting… that’s the worst of it.
Jack Abramoff took down Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham and Tom DeLay. All three of them went down within a year of discovery, but not John Doolittle. You have to ask yourself that question to be intellectually honest. (Don’t tell me it is because John Doolittle is so powerful, Ney and DeLay were at the highest level of GOP leadership when they went down.)
Larry Craig was forced out of office in a week after being exposed for being a pervert. Mark Foley was forced out of office several weeks after it was revealed that he was out of control sexually.
John Doolittle is still in office.
Could it be that John is innocent? Could it be because the government has egg on its’ face over this investigation and they refuse to exonerate John because they will look bad?
“If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”...
The sad fact is reading the bee commentary and the hyperbolae of Eric Kerry-Egland for example, it looks like other people’s ambitions are at work to deny John Doolittle due process. (after 3 1/2 years no less)
The fact that the media has so much power that they can take down a congressman by simply attaching his name to every negative Republican story is absurd. Even more absurd is when Republicans contribute by skewering that congressman before he has had his day in court.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:17 PM | Comments (2)
"Reagan 21" Launched
by Tina Grazier
Human Events is reporting the launch of a group of Senators and Representatives dedicated to:
"the advancement of a new and invigorated Republican Party fighting for Reagan’s principles of liberty and a 21st Century vision for America, including individual freedom, free enterprise and common-sense values. The Partnership’s goal is to give Americans a positive choice in public policy by advancing the integrity and optimism of the Republican Party.
Members include Senators Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint and Representatives Paul Ryan, Jim Shadegg, Jeb Hensarling, Tom Price and John Campbell.
“Restoring integrity and common-sense to Congress, Reagan21 will provide hope for the future as we work to invigorate America in a call to action. We will lead by example in support of strategies and policies that will allow our nation to lead and succeed in the 21st Century.” - Tom Price
“Americans are crying out for leadership with courage, principle, and integrity. The members of Reagan 21 will provide that leadership.” - John Campbell
"...Reagan 21 is an organization dedicated to articulating and fighting aggressively for freedom Integrity, Principle, and Freedom and every American who shares those values is welcome to join this effort.” - Jeb Hensarling
We wish "Reagan 21" Godspeed. They already have the agreement of a good number of Americans...they will need resolute constancy to regain our support and trust.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
Anti-Mask Law, Halloween & Internet
Continuing from Free Speech Article of 30 Oct 07
by Jack Lee
Talk about good timing, here we are on Halloween eve talking about anti-mask laws! Forgive me, but I couldn't resist making the connection even though this law has nothing to do with Halloween. However, it does have to do with public safety, so it's worth the read.
The mask laws (and there are many across the nation) generally go something like this, "The wearing of mask shall be prohibited whenever 2 or more persons, in a public place, engage in conduct without a permit and not related to entertainment, a theatrical performance, social gathering, ...." The law has been tested and found to be not overly broad and that it is in the public interest because it deters violence by facilitating the apprehension of lawbreakers.
These anti-mask law have been on the books for years and have been proven Constitutional and necessary. Now let's fast forward to the internet where people routinely post anonymously or under a false name. There's a real good chance that we've all done this for our own non-criminal reasons, but what about those people who do it as operatives for a major political organization like MOVEON.org or A.N.S.W.E.R. to create false impressions, distort facts, libel others or cause disruption, should there be an anti-mask law for them?
Freedom of speech or freedom to do evil?
Virtually every important law on the books is there because somebody regularly abused a freedom and the law became necessary for the protection of life and property. Now consider the abuses on the internet. Criminals hide behind fake names with little or no fear of being caught and held accountable. Sooner or later the damage to the public and to the protection of our democracy will be so compelling that we will have to take some affirmative action. I have no doubt this will happen, it is only a matter of time.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2007
Ralph Nader Sues Democratic Party
Consumer advocate and 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party on Tuesday, contending officials conspired to keep him from taking votes away from nominee John Kerry. ** Nader's lawsuit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, also named as co-defendants Kerry's campaign, the Service Employees International Union and several so-called 527 organizations such as America Coming Together, which were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket. ** The lawsuit also alleges that the Democratic National Committee conspired to force Nader off the ballot in several states.
"The Democratic Party is going after anyone who presents a credible challenge to their monopoly over their perceived voters," Nader said in a statement. "This lawsuit was filed to help advance a free and open electoral process for all candidates and voters. Candidate rights and voter rights nourish each other for more voices, choices, and a more open and competitive democracy."
Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the DNC tried to bankrupt Nader's campaign by suing to keep him off the ballot in 18 states. It also suggests the DNC sent Kerry supporters to crash a Nader petition drive in Portland, Ore., in June 2004, preventing him from collecting enough signatures to get on the ballot.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
Buffets Political Tax Demand
Posted by Tina Grazier
I should pay more tax, says US billionaire Warren Buffett
The Guardian (UK), by Andrew Clark
The United States' second-richest man has delivered a blunt message to the Bush administration: he wants to pay more tax. ** A leading Democrat, the Harlem congressman Charlie Rangel, published alternative plans this week that would impose a 4% surcharge on people earning more than $200,000 a year. ** Mr Buffett's remarks drew a robust response from the US Chamber of Commerce, which said the top 1% of US earners accounted for 39% of tax revenue - and the highest earning 25% of the population delivered 86% of the tax-take. ** The chamber's chief economist, Martin Regalia, said: "Mr Buffett has made an awful lot of money and if he wants to pay more taxes, I think that's fine. But I think he should get his facts straight." He added: "There's no question in my mind: if you were to impose [the Democrats'] tax increases, you would see the US go into a recession."
Mr. Buffet, here’s a BLUNT MESSAGE for you…make a contribution…no one is stopping you.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
Unpopular “Law of Sea” Causes Flip Flop
Posted by Tina Grazier
McCain caters to GOP voters
Washington Times, by Stephen Dinan
Sen. John McCain has quietly been piling up flip-flops, including ditching his long-held support for the Law of the Sea convention and telling bloggers he now opposes the DREAM Act to legalize illegal alien students. ** But after the rest of the Republican presidential field took a stand against the treaty this month, Mr. McCain had little choice but to change, conservatives said.
Keep pressing back!
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
Our Cousins Are Smarter Than We
Posted by Tina Grazier
How the spooks keep tabs on Scots would-be bombers
Scotland on Sunday [Edinburgh, UK], by Richard
It was the computer specialists at Britain's top-secret listening station, GCHQ, who uncovered the existence of Scotland's first home-grown terror suspect. Mohammed Atif Siddique's cover was blown after his e-mails to a man in the north-west of England, who was already suspected as an al-Qaeda operative, were intercepted. ** Anyone who ''meets the criteria'' will find themselves under much more intense scrutiny, with enquiries being made into their family background as well as any mobile, text and e-mail messages that they may make or send.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)
”Archaic Provisions” the Source of America’s Difficulties
One progressive’s assertion…and his answer...to replace the United States Constitution.
by Tina Grazier
The Constitution has become a secularly sacred document, as though God handed it to Moses in a third tablet on the Mount. The 2008 presidential candidates have been offering us prescriptions for everything from Iraq to health care over the past several months. But here is the problem: Their fixes are situational and incremental. In the meantime, underlying structural problems with America's governmental and political system are preventing us from solving our most intractable challenges. ** If progress as a society is to be made, it is time for elemental change. The last place we look to understand why the U.S. system isn't working well anymore - the Constitution - should be the first place. A careful look at constitutional reform should begin now and culminate in a new Constitutional Convention.
I don’t think Professor Sabato ever gets around to telling us how the “system” keeps us from solving our “most intractable challenges.” He does quote Jefferson and Washington but without offering a hint of the context in which their words were uttered. I suppose he wished only to lend an element of authenticity to his suggestions for changing our Constitution; for changing what he obviously sees as a living/breathing document:
Does this sound radical? If so, then the framers were radicals, too. They would be both disappointed and amazed that after 220 years, the inheritors of their Constitution had not tried to adapt to new developments they could never have anticipated in Philadelphia in 1787.
I think he’s wrong about this.
I believe our founders had incredible insight into human beings and the future. They managed to construct a document that need not be radically changed. It is a perfect document and stands as a solid base on which to build society. If the founders were here today I think they would be disappointed and dismayed at the way we have misused, abused and trampled upon this perfect document. They would reaffirm the warning that we have been given a republic “if” we can hold on to it…and they would lament our lack of due diligence.
The following represents what I believe is Mr. Sabato’s most pressing idea:
Limit the president's war-making authority by creating a provision that requires Congress to vote affirmatively every six months to continue U.S. military involvement. Debate in both houses would be limited so that the vote could not be delayed. If either house of Congress voted to end a war, the president would have one year to withdraw all combat troops.
This idea from the progressive’s tool box is so transparent. Those enamored with socialist policy and the notion that humans can achieve perpetual peace will do anything to wrench presidential power from President Bush and the conservative side of the aisle. The little anti-war darlings were silent when the former president chose to make war; they did not raise even an eyebrow. This alone makes both their protestations about war and their designs on changing the Constitution in order to stop war laughable. Additionally, the particulars of this proposed change regarding military involvement are an impossible farce.
The second most pressing of his ideas relates to elections:
We should give each of the 10 most populated states two additional Senate seats and give each of the next 15 most populated states one additional seat. Sparsely populated states will still be disproportionately represented, but the ridiculous tilt to them in today's system can be a thing of the past.
The red state areas just cannot be allowed to have power…no matter what! This idea screams: “we are losing! Something must be done!!” Nothing more needs to be said on this one.
One more of the professors statements about voting must be explored, however, just for the sheer fun of it:
If the 26 least populated states voted as a bloc, they would control the U.S. Senate with a total of just under 17 percent of the country's population. This small-state stranglehold is not merely a bump in the road; it is a massive roadblock to fairness that can, and often does, stop all progressive traffic.
What Professor Sabato just said is: if something that doesn’t happen did happen, it would be terribly unfair to progressives. This bit of silliness, according to Sabato, is one of the reasons that the Constitution needs to be changed. Incredible!
For those of you with kids heading off to college soon, Professor Sabato teaches at the University of Virginia where he is founder and director of the 'Center for Politics."
Folow the link to Larry J. Sabato’s article, “RETOOLING AMERICA'S MANDATE,” and decide for yourself if he successfully makes the case for changing the Constitution.
The founding fathers gave the American people recourse. Having lived under a monarchy this right was very important to them. We do not need Constitutional Conventions to clean up our messes and solve our problems. We do not need to expand, change or stretch the Constitution to meet our every whim. With incredible wisdom the founders realized that giving the people power to change the Constitution “willy-nilly” would place the nation in great peril. Instead they devised a system with three distinct divisions and multiple layers for process; a system of checks and balances to thwart sudden and wild shifts in policy and law. It has served this nation for over 200 years. What is needed in America is a movement to return the Constitution to its rightful place of honor in our society and a reawakening to the beauty of the document that would inspire the desire to defend and protect it. The Constitution is a jewel that we have been so very fortunate to inherit. It must be preserved, not changed.
Some of Larry Sabato’s ideas may in fact be worth considering. If you care to explore them more fully his book, “A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals to Revitalize Our Constitution and Make America a Fairer Country,” (Walker & Company, 2007) would be the place to begin. However, it must be stressed that his ideas can be addressed within our current system, in the usual fashion, through the processes laid out in the Constitution. It does require that an idea be compelling enough to merit attraction. In other words, the professor will have to sell his ideas. My advice is that he pick his favorite...and go for it.
In the mean time I’d like to say that the obvious source of our nations “difficulties” is the inability of most Americans to accept personal responsibility. Too many of us have lost the power that comes from relying on ourselves, our families, our friends and associates. Instead we rely on government to “fix” our problems; we seek out government solutions first. By opting for victimhood, we have relinquished that which makes us strong and confident.
If our progressive friends really want to make a difference they might try rediscovering the joy and the “change” that comes from relying upon ones self and upon those closer to home. As for issues of war…and this is the one area of "America's difficulty" addressed by the Constitution...our president is doing his best to defend our nation in the prescribed way. If you don't like it petition! If you fail to gain sufficient support for your petition it might just mean you are the minority...you get to live with that.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
Free Speech - Where Do You Draw the Line
by Jack Lee
Once upon a time in Iraq 100% of the people voted for Saddam Hussein and about the same time nobody inside North Korea disagreed with Kim Il Jung's economic policy, not even the starving NK peasants. These are the extreme examples of no free speech. Now on the flip side (and across the big pond) in America, we openly allow anyone to take a soap box and criticize the government about almost anything. America has to be the most tolerant country on the face of the earth when it comes to free speech; we even tolerate those who abuse free speech and say false and irresponsible things.
So, what about that abuse of free speech, how far do we let it go before it becomes intolerable and illegal? We know we can't say anything we want about anything or anyone when it's clearly wrong, malicious and slanderous. However, we do give much wider latitude to free speech when it concerns our government.
The Supreme Court has established very generalized limits for us. In order for it to be illegal it must fit into one of these categories:
Clear and Present Danger, (Endangers the lives of others by inciting to riot or panics a crowd)Fighting Words( Likely to provoke the prudent person to violence)Obscenity Defined by community standards) Conflict with Other Legitimate Social or Governmental Interests(This is used mostly during a time of war )
The picture on the left is of Steve and Virginia Pearcy. They received a lot of media attention when they hung an effigy of a U.S. soldier hanging from a noose with the words "Your Tax Dollars At Work". Somebody tore it down. Then they tried again days later, sans the noose, and that was torn down too. Now they have nailed this effigy high up on their house and it says, Bush lied - I died! They also fly the old Iraq flag which they say is just to get the word out. Note: The Pearcy's live in Berkely (who wouldda guessed?) and seem only to come to their Sacramento house to hang their anti-war, anti-Bush, material.
Do you see anything with the Pearcy's from expressing their opinions if if others find it offensive? Or how about Rosie O’Donnell going on national TV and charging the Bush Administration committed murder and treason by deliberately killing American citizens on 9/11? She has pretty much said that as she called 9/11 an inside job. She said 9/11 was done just so Bush could justify imperialistic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and she most definitely is not alone in this sort of big conspiracy talk!
Is all this so-called free speech really healthy for our society? Must we be ever tolerant of the rantings of anti-government anarchists or radical extremists who want to topple a president, compromise our foreign policy or provide aide and comfort to our enemies while our troops are engaged in battle? I'm just asking the question. Now I can see how some soldier who is about to raid a terrorist hideout in Iraq might think Americans calling him [the] terrorist and the terrorists [freedom fighters] is a clear and present danger to his mission. But, what do you think, is he right? Is this just hate speech and should it be banned by law or should we ask that soldier to accept the consequences even if it means his death because this is the price of free speech?
Do we owe that soldier on the battlefield protection from those Americans who would place him more at risk by their dangerous actions/demonstrations/statements on the homefront?
Obviously tolerating the random crank is one thing, but when cranks form a movement and take on the persona of a mob is it time to remind them of the rules? How about if they number in the thousands as they march on Washington with effigies of George Bush hanging by a noose, calling him a traitor and demanding his ouster? Is this enough to warrant invoking a limit on free speech?
Are such influential personalities who express extreme unsupportable commentary on national TV or angry protest marches somehow strengthening our democracy or are they undermining it? I pose the question to you and ask you...where would you draw the line?
I have my part ready and Tina is going to weigh in on this one too, but before we post we want to hear from you! Any opinion is welcome, don't be afraid to say whats on your mind. This is important stuff and you need to be heard...then I am going to call the guys in the black helicopters and... hey, just kidding.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:26 AM | Comments (8)
October 29, 2007
Euros Verses Greenbacks
by Jack Lee
The U.S. dollar dropped to $1.4426 per euro, the weakest level since that currency was introduced in 1999. A weak dollar and strong Euro makes it easier for US manufacturers to export at competitive prices. Conversely, products coming from Europe cost more and there is less incentive to buy them here in the U.S.
In other areas of the financial news the U.S. inflation rate is low and it is expected that another prime rate cut is in the making for this week to further stimulate a faltering home sales market. 2008 has every indication as being a recovery year if the current trends among key indicators continue in the green.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:50 AM | Comments (2)
October 28, 2007
Woman Finds $65,000 in Bag
AP- A county garbage operations employee found a plastic bag on the road stuffed with $65,000 Thursday — and immediately turned it in to authorities.
It turned out the money had fallen off a Loomis armored car a half hour before Debbie Cole found it near the Pinellas County solid waste operations facility where she works. First she thought it was a turtle in the road.
The 53-year-old Largo woman found the bag just before 7 a.m., full of enough $50 and $100 bills to pay her salary for two years. She immediately contacted a supervisor, who called deputies.
It's not clear how the bag fell from the truck, said Mark Clark, spokesman for Loomis, a Houston-based cash-handling company.
Cole's boss, Bob Hauser, said he can't give her a raise or a bonus for her good deed because she's a government employee. But maybe, he said, he can arrange some extra time off.
Cole, who grew up in Long Island, said she was raised to be honest. She said she raised her four daughters the same way.
Did she think for just a minute about keeping the money?
''Everyone keeps asking me that,'' Cole said. ''To be honest, no. It didn't even cross my mind.''
PS You would have done that same thing, right?
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:15 PM | Comments (8)
This Could be A Kids Best Friend
by Jack Lee
(Featured is Snickers a 9 year old quarterhorse out here at the Rocking G)
Horses and kids make a natural match as friends because of their mutual needs. Kids need to learn early on in life things like responsibility, compassion and respect. A horse requires those things in order to be the kind of animal you will enjoy and appreciate for those many years you may have him. It's also a healthy diversion in this day of video games and overweight teens and especially for kids complaining they never have anything to do!
It's a big responsibility to own a horse, they need a lot of care and training and if you don't understand that when you buy a horse you may be in for a rude awakening! However, just about everybody I have ever known that has owned one has said the rewards more than justified the time and cost.
Kids and horses bond quickly and I think that makes the woork part a lot easier, like the daily chores of mucking out the stall, the twice daily feedings, a little grooming before and after riding, checking their hooves for stones and such. But, the big pay off is in exercising. Exercising is basically just riding and having fun.
Consider that the average horse is a 1000 lbs. plus of muscle and go power! If you don't respect that, well, lets just say trouble is never far away! Most of the time the scrapes and bruises that will result from that lack of respect are just great reminders of what not to do... next time! There's nothing like being thrown from a horse to teach a kid not to push his luck or act stupid. This builds good judgement in a child and a healthy respect for danger. Kids can be big risk takers and a horse can really moderate some of that because riding and dealing with the unexpected makes a kid think about what they are doing. If they learn this lesson well, it can pay big dividends throughout their life, especially when you're not around and they are behind the wheel of a car.
Around this place the kids started riding around age 8, but only after they were duly schooled in caring for the animal and earned the right to ride. By the time they were around 11 they could ride with the best of them...uh, as long as their horse was about 20 years old and docile as a lamb. Parents have to be smart about this stuff you know. (You shouldn't stick a 10-year-old on a crazy Arabian and stay go have fun.) But, in the kids minds they might be as good the bronc riders at the rodeo on that pokey old quarter horse and that's good enough.
Unfortunately the opportunities for kids to grow up around horses is getting rare and it's a shame because we're losing something very valuable in developing character. I guess building character is really what it's all about when it comes to kids and horses. The overall effect of a child bonding with an animal (and it could be most any animal) is caring compassion, patience and responsibility. It just happens that iwith a good horse kids can do things they couldn't with other animals and the challenges they face together just brings out the best in them.
Last summer my grandson had the chance to help me load hay. We took a truck and flat bed trailer to a neighbor's ranch and hand loaded about 60 bails of alfalfa weighing about 80 lbs. each... for the horses. He was 13 at the time and he had not been exposed to any real hard labor, but he got right into the program and when we were about 75% done he was tossing the bails like a cowhand. When we came through town he made me stop at his house to show his Mom what [he] had loaded and we took a picture just so he could remember the moment. He was so proud he didn't want to unload it...least that is what he told me, maybe he was just really tired?
Well, that's another page from life in the country and we will feel eternally grateful for the all work, worry, sweat and... fun!
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2007
DUI Gets 25 to Life (and rightly so)
by Jack Lee
Stanley Barrymore Newton, 49, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent and it was his 3rd DUI, only this time he attempted to evade arrest and sped from officers at speeds up to 120 mph as he narrowly avoided a number of potential deadly accidents. Fate prevailed this time for the innocent as numerous drivers maneuvered out of his way. Motorists twice saw him running red lights and saved their own lives by stopping in time, only because police sirens alerted them.
Officers reported they were alerted to Newton as a possible DUI when they observed his Toyota Camry cross over the solid yellow lines near an intersection in San Jose. Newton refused to stop for their red lights and sirens and got onto Interstate 280, (Santa Clara) "where he sped away at up to 120 mph", prosecutors said.
Eventually officers stopped chasing him because of safety concerns but later caught up to him on a side street. Newton pleaded guilty in March to felony reckless driving while evading a peace officer and driving under the influence of alcohol, the later two were misdemeanors.
The reckless charge counted as Newton's third strike. He was sentenced Monday by Judge Andrea Bryan of Santa Clara County Superior Court under California's sentencing law that requires a term of 25 years to life for any convicted felon who has previously committed two serious or violent felonies, or strikes.
"This is exactly what the voters were thinking of, a scary kind of person who can harm anyone at any point," said Kevin Smith, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted Newton.
According to a SF Gate Story, "In 1988, Newton was driving with a 0.12 percent blood-alcohol level when he crashed a Chevrolet Camaro into a light pole on the Capitol Expressway, prosecutors said. A passenger in the front seat, 36-year-old Richard Frable - his then-wife's cousin - was killed. Two back-seat passengers sustained head injuries. Newton's driver's license had been suspended at the time because of a previous DUI conviction. He was convicted of vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and causing injury to multiple victims, as well as a misdemeanor of driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years' probation. But after he violated his probation in part by not attending mandatory alcohol awareness classes, Newton was sentenced to three years in prison."
"He was on the road, drunk again, and he was more drunk than the last time," said Assistant District Attorney David Tomkins. "It's easy to see what a danger and menace this individual was, and the court felt the same way."
Posted by Post Scripts at 05:56 PM | Comments (2)
October 26, 2007
Record California Foreclosure Activity
October 26, 2007
La Jolla, CA.--Lenders started formal foreclosure proceedings on a record number of California homeowners last quarter, the result of declining home prices, sluggish sales and subprime mortgage distress, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 72,571 Notices of Default (NoDs) were filed during the July-to-September period, up 34.5 percent from 53,943 during the previous quarter, and up 166.6 percent from 27,218 in third-quarter 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla.
Last quarter's default level passed the previous peak of 61,541 reached in first-quarter 1996. A low of 12,417 was reached in third-quarter 2004. An average of 34,781 NoDs have been filed quarterly since 1992, when DataQuick's NoD statistics begin. For the rest of this story follow this link.
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
A Few Thoughts on the Assembly Race
by Jack Lee
Some have characterized me as not being a serious contender because I didn't seek out the big money (aka special interest). I'm also not independently wealthy, so I guess I can't buy my way into the "credible" level either. However, I do have something I think is even more valuable to contribute to this race than money. I bring in new ideas. And I do it without any self-serving agendas or alliances. I'm more representative of the [typical citizen], standing up for what he believes without backing of powerful connections and big money.
Speaking of money, over the decades I've come to understand what an insidious role big money plays in buying political favors, drafting legislation and even in determining election outcome. I get it, I really do and I don't like what I see. I could have taken an easier path and raised several hundred thousand by now, but that goes against my principles. I don't think [buying elections] is what the founding fathers had in mind either.
That's why, as a life-long Republican and after serving in every position of our Central Committee, including Chairman, and being active at the State level when I served on the Crime and the Justice Committee and now as a CRA member I knew we needed to make some fundamental changes in how we elect people. Because the old way wasn't serving the interests of the people, in fact it is just the opposite, it was serving the special interests.
So, here I am, taking a stand against what I see is an encroaching threat to our free elections. I am doing that by how I BEHAVE in THIS election and I am taking the moral high road at every opportunity.
Now consider that to run for the State Assembly takes a lot of money, about $500k, sometimes twice that, depending on the opposition. This daunting financial part gives voters the perception the candidate was bought and paid for before his first day in office! It also has the effect of pushing too many potentially great candidates right out of the running before they even have a chance to be heard. This is really wrong on a fundamental level!
Our government "of the people and by the people" is becoming more like an exclusive membership club where the price of admission is a little bit of your soul and we just can't keep marching down this dead end road.
Since I started running I discovered the process of [candidate] selection" by those [in] power was based more on what the candidate could [do for them] or [had done for them] than what he could do for the people. That’s not good for democracy is it? No, and the results speak for themselves...look at the dismal performance coming from Sacramento!
For too many years elections have manipulated and as a result they have not been producing the kind of good, independent candidate that we desperately need. Haven't you ever wondered why?
This victory of the ad men has resulted in a failure at the ballot box and that has not only resulted in waste and corruption scandals, it's threatening our very future. That part pushed me into this race!
In your heart of hearts you must know what I am saying is true.
I CHOSE to run a low budget campaign and simple campaign, not because I was FORCED to do it. But because I needed to do it to restore some of that lost trust and distain for politicians. I need to demonstrate by example that I can make do with less now so I can make do with less later in Sacramento! My intention is to run hard, take risks, be blunt, discuss in detail the tough issues and listen to the people. And to do all this without a coach or a net.
Example: Nobody wrote this for me...this is me talking to y-o-u.
Sure, I will make mistakes and I will tick people off, but then what you see is exactly what you will get. And the best part is anything you need to know about me and my thoughts are all out here on the net for anyone to see. I've published well over 500 articles on good government in just the last 3 years.
Who else has expressed themselves so openly while raising questions and giving answers?
That being said, the bottom line is my loyalties are with the people first, the party second and all else a distant 3rd. I can't do it any other way.
California is facing a real crisis in border security, economics, education and even at the cultural level that defines who we are as a people. To win we need the best minds with the highest standards we can get in Sacramento, not the best fund raisers nor the best avoiders of tough issues or controversy.
It will take a certain amount of courage for voters to depart from the old "status quo" campaigns of the past that we've come to expect and support a new ethical campaign like ours, but I'm trusting the people will come through for us. So much is riding on the outcome.
Jack Lee
Candidate for the 3rd Assembly District
PS Thank you Aaron for the nudge to put my thoughts down. I look forward to meeting you and other Republicans in Placer County very soon.
Posted by Post Scripts at 06:16 PM | Comments (2)
A Story Of Compassion and Courage Under Fire
By streiff @ redstate.com
Luttrell's mission had begun routinely. As darkness fell on Monday, June 27, his Seal team fast-roped from a Chinook helicopter onto a grassy ridge near the Pakistan border. They were Navy Special Operations forces, among the most elite troops in the military: Lt. Michael P. Murphy and three petty officers -- Matthew G. Axelson, Danny P. Dietz and Luttrell. Their mission, code-named Operation Redwing, was to capture or kill Ahmad Shah, a Taliban leader. U.S. intelligence officials believed Shah was close to Osama bin Laden.
The four Seals zigzagged all night and through the morning until they reached a wooded slope. An Afghan man wearing a turban suddenly appeared, then a farmer and a teenage boy. Luttrell gave a PowerBar to the boy while the Seals debated whether the Afghans would live or die.
If the Seals killed the unarmed civilians, they would violate military rules of engagement; if they let them go, they risked alerting the Taliban. According to Luttrell, one Seal voted to kill them, one voted to spare them and one abstained. It was up to Luttrell.
Part of his calculus was practical. "I didn't want to go to jail." Ultimately, the core of his decision was moral. "A frogman has two personalities. The military guy in me wanted to kill them," he recalled. And yet: "They just seemed like -- people. I'm not a murderer."
Luttrell, by his account, voted to let the Afghans go. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about that decision," he said. "Not a second goes by."
At 1:20 p.m., about an hour after the Seals released the Afghans, dozens of Taliban members overwhelmed them. The civilians he had spared, Luttrell believed, had betrayed them.
In the ensuing fight three SEALs died. An additional 16 men, SEALs and members of 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, died in a rescue attempt.
Did Petty Officer Luttrell make the right decision? In the final analysis was his decision moral? What does his conscience tell him when he wakes up at 3 am trembling and in a cold sweat? What do his team mates tell him when they enter his dreams late at night?
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:35 AM | Comments (2)
October 25, 2007
Culture Wars – A Progressive Test
by Tina Grazier
When a story begins with Che Guevara’s kids and a celebratory meeting in Iran the writer has my attention. I've wondered how godless communist leaders like Fidel Castro and the ever ridiculous Hugo Chavez could maintain a conciliatory relationship with (extreme) religious Islamic leaders. The two seem inevitably incompatible, even given the hatred they share for America. An article out of the UK, “Where do you stand in the new culture wars?” by Sarah Baxter provided some insight and proved to be very entertaining peek at the progressive's challenge as well.
The story begins, as I said, with the children of Che Guevara traveling to Iran...
A glorious culture clash took place in Iran recently that made me laugh out loud. The children of Che Guevara, the revolutionary pin-up, had been invited to Tehran University to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their father’s death and celebrate the growing solidarity between “the left and revolutionary Islam” at a conference partly paid for by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president. ** There were fraternal greetings and smiles all round as America’s “earth-devouring ambitions” were denounced. But then one of the speakers, Hajj Saeed Qassemi, the co-ordinator of the Association of Volunteers for Suicide-Martyrdom (who presumably remains selflessly alive for the cause), revealed that Che was a “truly religious man who believed in God and hated communism and the Soviet Union”. ** Che’s daughter Aleida wondered if something might have been lost in translation. “My father never mentioned God,” she said, to the consternation of the audience. “He never met God.” During the commotion, Aleida and her brother were led swiftly out of the hall and escorted back to their hotel. “By the end of the day, the two Guevaras had become non-persons. The state-controlled media suddenly forgot their existence,” the Iranian writer Amir Taheri noted. ** After their departure, Qassemi went on to claim that Fidel Castro, the “supreme guide” of Guevara, was also a man of God. “The Soviet Union is gone,” he affirmed. “The leadership of the downtrodden has passed to our Islamic republic. Those who wish to destroy America must understand the reality and not be clever with words.”
Isn’t it amazing how one truly devoted to his god can simply dismiss little pesky details…and then quickly hide the evidence under the rug! What a great story!
But this article contains so much more. It’s just a hoot to read, including a link to a pdf file containing a quiz. Answers determine whether one is a phony progressive...or not. The quiz contains questions such as:
1. Is it OK for Muslims to be homophobic because of their culture?
4. Is anti-semitism a legitimate response to frustration with American and Israeli policy?
6. Can you be a people’s champion if your people can’t get rid of you?
Any sane person can immediately see the petard upon which the left has climed. Sarah goes on to say, “There used to be a clear dividing line between conservatives and liberals. It defined the culture wars of the late 20th century…That fault line is becoming as dated as the flower power of the 1960s.”
Fer sure! I only hope I hang in long enough to see how the lines divide in the future. I would think that the phrase “you’re either with us or agin us” would begin to sink in. What was it that Qassemi said…“The leadership of the downtrodden has passed to our Islamic republic. Those who wish to destroy America must understand the reality and not be clever with words.”
It does have a certain ring...so, what's not to get?
Oh! And by the way, Hajj...if anyone has championed the "downtrodden" in recent times it is the AMERICAN PEOPLE...ALL of the American people...not just those who trumpet their giving and caring with self-congratulatory progressive conceit.
Hey, if that link didn’t work just cut and paste:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2701379.ece
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:52 PM | Comments (2)
More on the Law of the Sea Treaty
by I. L.
You and your readers may find enjoyable the following new entry at the ITSSD Journal:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - European Collectivism at the Expense of U.S. Individual Rights – Resistance is Futile?
http://www.coin.dk/blogs/index.php?title=resistance_is_futile&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 ****
If the link doesn't work, just paste it into your browser.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:46 PM | Comments (2)
Speed Trap Site for USA
Want to find a speed trap in a city near you or on your route to visit Gramma? Check out this site:
http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
This weeks reflection..
If not us, who? If not now when ?
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
SIGN THIS PETITION !
Watch for an "electoral vote petition"...hopefully, coming soon
by Tina Grazier
"If the Republicans were sincere about [electoral reform] they'd be starting this in Texas and Florida, where they control the legislature and the governor's office." *** WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
I guess this means Howard Dean is in another state of panic. You see, there's an initiative in the works to change the way electoral votes are awarded here in The Golden State. So what does the Dem Party leader do? He blames the GOP...and Rudy Giuliani. Do democrats ever get tired of their whining? It's an initiative, dude! A way for the people to be the deciders...something you libs are always claiming as a birth right for your party. So, put a lid on it, Howard, while we the people take a look at the gist of the proposed initiative:
California is a big state with the most electoral votes in the nation (55). We currently award all 55 electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state. This of course means that the heavily populated areas of the state get to pick the candidate. The new proposal would grant 2 electoral votes to each of the various districts to be awarded independently to the candidate that wins the popular vote in the district with 2 extra votes given to the candidate who wins the overall popular vote in the state. The arguments favoring the move are well worth our consideration.
1. The current system does not reflect California’s regional differences or diversity
2. It impedes and discourages third party candidates
3. Two states already award their votes by district. (precidence)
4. The district system would give candidates more incentive to campaign in CA to address our diverse concerns while seeking our votes. Right now they take CA voters for granted.
This initiative, if put on the ballot and passed, would give all Californians a greater sense of power and involvement in the election process. I think it's a great idea. So what's the bug up Deans heinie? Perhaps this offers a clue:
According to Dean: the eventual Democratic nominee can't win the White House without all of California's 55 electoral votes. NUF SAID!
Follow the link to the article discussing Dean's AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Find the INITIATIVE proposal in pdf format HERE.
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:31 PM | Comments (6)
Applause, Applause!!
Posted by Tina Grazier
Audiences reject Iraq war— at the box office
Washington Times, by Christian Toto
It doesn't matter how many Oscar winners are in front of or behind the camera — audiences are proving to be conscientious objectors when it comes to this fall's surge of antiwar and anti-Bush films. Both ''In the Valley of Elah'' and, more recently, ''Rendition'' drew minuscule crowds upon their release, which doesn't bode well for the ongoing stream of films critical of the Iraq war and the Bush administration's wider war on terror.
Last Friday rather than wasting my time and money on “Rendition” I saw “We Own the Night” with River Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg cast as brothers who find themselves on opposite sides in a drug war. Robert Duvall plays their father. (adult themes, language, etc.)
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:09 PM | Comments (3)
Code Pink Freak Show – Booooooo!
The witches decided to fly a little early this year!
by Tina Grazier
Code Pink member, Desiree Farooz, hands covered in fake blood, managed to “invade the space” of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this morning as she was testifying at a hearing in the House of Representatives. She accused Secretary Rice of killing millions of Iraqi's. Secretary Rice was a perfect lady, unruffled and calm. What a difference maturity and grace make. One significant question:
Why was this person allowed to get so close to Secretary Rice? The dems have some splainin to do if you ask me.
Posted by Post Scripts at 03:38 PM | Comments (3)
October 23, 2007
“Reform, no – democracy, yes!”
Students clash with Chavez police
BBC News, by Staff
Sean Penn's good bud isn't so popular with students...
Thousands of students have clashed with police and government supporters in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in protest at constitutional changes. Police fired tear gas at students angry at plans to let President Hugo Chavez stand for indefinite re-election as bottles and stones were thrown. Mr Chavez would also be allowed to bypass legal controls on the executive during a state of emergency. (Snip) Students had chanted ''Reform, no - democracy, yes''
Gee…wonder who has the power to declare a “state of emergency”?????
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
More Thoughts On California Water Crisis
by Jack Lee
This is one of those pay me now or "PAY ME LATER" situations. By 2030 we will have a severe water shortage in SoCal given current growth proejctions, unless . . . we increase our surface water storage capacity in the North state and regulate the winter runoff for more even distribution. The overall cost will have to be funded by bond debt initially, but it can be repaid by the end users in their monthly water bills. This would cover the cost of the entire water project with no taxpayer debt.
Keep in mind, the North State has a problem with our aging levee system and if we don't build surface water storage we are increasingly relying on these old levees to keep us out of harms way.
Summer drought and winter flooding are only part of the pay me later plan.
California also needs clean energy and hydroelectric is about as clean as it gets. Dams and hydro power are a natural match. If you don't want that, the second option is nuclear plants. Right...hydroelectric it is! But, whatever the energy choice the facilities ought to be eventually paid by the end users, not taxpayers.
There are other options of course, but they get more draconian as we go down the list. One is to place a moratorium on new home construction in those drought prone areas like anything south of the east bay. Can't see that happening. Or maybe we could abandon the environmental mandates that now consume about 50% of our surface water. That's right, nearly half our current water is mandated for use in environmental projects like keeping river water temperatures colder for certain types of fish or flushing the brackish water from the delta, to name but a few. Nah, can't see that happening either.
Now aside from the expected protests and legal hurdles that will cost extra millions, we face an equal, if not a more daunting challenge. That would be stopping our politicians from attaching earmarks (pork) to legislation destined to fund the water projects. You can't appropriate big bucks for anything these days without some sly politician trying to siphon off some of it for his personal glory. A big appropriations bill like water management is like chum in the ocean for these sharks.
The Gov's latest water project allocating about 10.1 billion dollars is almost half consumed by pork before the money even get's out of Sacramento. Ideally an anti-pork bill should precede any major funding for a major water project just to make sure the money gets spent where its supposed to be spent!
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:11 PM | Comments (4)
Pete Retrieves The Cheese
by Tina Grazier
On October 18th I reported Pete Starks malicious remarks under the title, "Pete Starks Cheese Done Fell Off His Cracker." I am pleased to report that he has come forward to make amends. It took awhile. He had to defend, then retreat, before he was made (somehow) to feel...well who knows what he actually felt...but I have to say Pete Stark managed to make a decent sounding apology. The most noteworthy comment:
"I hope that with this apology I will become as insignificant as I should be."
Posted by Post Scripts at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Waxman Targets Blackwater
This time it's a tax thing.
by Tina Grazier
The tax code is a convoluted piece of junk and this investigation into Blackwater USA proves the point. The bone of contention (beyond mere harassment) is that Blackwater has named some of the people they train, and who work as guards in the Middle East, as “independent contractors” rather than “employees.”
Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a March letter from the Internal Revenue Service that states the company's classification of a security guard as an independent contractor, instead of company personnel, was "without merit." ** "By classifying its armed guards and other personnel as independent contractors instead of employees, Blackwater has apparently evaded withholding and paying these taxes," Waxman, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to Blackwater chief Erik Prince.
Naturally, Blackwater USA disagrees:
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said in an e-mail statement to The Associated Press that the company has appealed the IRS ruling and that no final determination has been made. Further, she said, the U.S. Small Business Administration has told the company that Blackwater security guards do not have to be classified as company employees. "It is unfortunate that the chairman has relied upon a one-sided description of the issue to color public perception without all the facts being presented," Tyrrell said.
The rules governing independent contractor status include issues of company control over a workers time and schedule. OK…fine and dandy...businesses do their best to comply. The problem I have is the kind of “control” that government has over private business affairs.
I don’t believe government should have the power to decide when and how and to what degree an employee and employer work out scheduling and compensation. Every business is different and every employee has different skills and needs that he brings to the job. A one size fits all code, a code that serves the governments needs rather than those of the employer and employee is limiting, adversarial, and often hard to interpret or fit into the structure of the business.
The Big Brother nature of the IRS is bad enough, but add to that the complexity of the tax code and you have the perfect hammer for harassment, fines, penalties and interest.
I went online to check the tax code regarding employee designation and found a helpful tax attorney website:
After the usual disclaimer about using or citing the information to determine the status of workers for tax purposes (it was designed as a “training” tool only) the file went on to say things like:
…must be determined accurately…important for accurate, timely, legal filing and paying…the legal standard can be difficult to apply…also, standards can change…
One hundred and sixty pages later and the “training” is done…but, subject to change as previously noted.
If you want to know why business owners are frustrated at government just take this one case. Multiply it by thousands of times and you will begin to get a feel for the ways that government rules and regulation make being in business a hassle and a headache...and at times, very expensive in terms of time and money. If you think you don’t care or it’s not your problem, consider the many products you buy that cost more because of the complexities associated with government's BIG BROTHER interventions.
Find the original AP story that inspired this piece HERE.
(George) Harrison was inspired to write "Taxman" when he discovered how much he was earning after accounting for taxes. As Harrison said, "'Taxman' was when I first realised that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical."
On the song, Harrison sings as if he is the taxman, who is depicted as a malicious man looking for ways to rob people of their money, with lines like "If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat". *** "Should five percent appear too small / Be thankful I don't take it all" *** "one for you, nineteen for me" *** He even goes as far as advising those who die to "declare the pennies on your eyes."
Waxman..the Taxman? Big Brother is watching and will make you pay. .
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:49 PM | Comments (3)
Market Update
by Jack Lee
On Friday at the close of the market I announced that Monday would see an uptick as bargain hunters entered the scene. However, Monday opened with sellers pushing the market lower yet, despite the 266 point drop on Friday. But, by mid morning the bears gave way to the bulls as the market rebounded and closed higher across the board, thus fullfilling my Friday prediction,
DJ Indu 13,566.97 +44.95 Nasdaq Comp 2,753.93 +28.77 S&P 500 1,506.33 +5.70
Stocks to watch, SNCR which posted a minor .38 cent or .99% gain riding the momentum of the market. SNRC is in the oversold category but some downside is still expected. For the long term buy and hold it is probably not a bad price now, but for my money I want a further drop of about 2-3%. I think GM could see a pull back to $33 easily enough in the coming weeks. A possible short play after it crosses $38.25? Speaking of a short play, I have loved OMEX, but it's been swinging up and down recently and that has provided me with an opportunity to make money on the buy and sell. SHRP might be on the rebound, worth a look, it spiked today with a 15% gain. ITB could be the come back kid when the housing market gets it's second wind. Keep this one in mind, but be patient before buying. It's really low, but could be far lower by years end. May or June will tell us how the rest of the year will go for housing and it is likely to indicate a modest recovery has started. I'll let you know when I buy it. For a local stock watch DMND. It's too high at the moment for me to be interested and too strong to be a good short. However, any dip under $19.75 would be a reasonable buy in my book. DMND was down about .65 cents today to $20.65.
Remember, due your own due dilligence! Stock buying and selling carries a risk. You should not buy or sell based soley on my comments, this is just an opinion column.
Disclosure: I have a position in GM.
Do you have a stock question? Ask Jack
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
Home sales plummet 40% in Bay Area
By Sue McAllister - Mercury News - Article Launched: 10/19/2007 01:30:18 AM PDT
Wary buyers and a shaky mortgage market slammed the brakes on Bay Area home sales in September, which reached their lowest level of any September in the past two decades.
Sales have picked up a bit this month, but it's still a buyer's market and will remain so for some time, experts say.
Among all types of Bay Area homes - new and resale houses as well as condos - just 5,014 properties changed hands last month, according to DataQuick Information Systems. That was a 40 percent drop from a year ago, and made it the slowest September in the company's records, which go back to 1988.
MORE....
Housing sinks deeper
Homes sales were down 31.3 percent in September compared with August as tightness in the loan market kicked in
By Barbara E. Hernandez - STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 10/19/2007 03:02:42 AM PDT
Two homes for sale on the 800 block of Chianti Way in Oakley, Calif., on Thursday, October 18,...«1» Bay Area home sales sank to their lowest point in about 20 years in September and homes bought with mortgages of more than $417,000 fell by almost 50 percent, DataQuick Information Systems reported Thursday. Homes purchased with jumbo mortgages, or those of more than $417,000, dropped from 3,762 in August to 1,935 last month, a decline of 48.6 percent.
"There's just not that much jumbo money out there right now," said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick.
A total of 5,014 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area in September. That was down 31.3 percent from 7,299 in August, and down 40.1 percent from 8,374 for September a year ago.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
TERRORIST VERDICT REACHED - SEE STORY
THIS JUST IN....
DALLAS (Reuters) - A Dallas jury found one defendant not guilty on all charges against him on Monday but failed to reach a decision on many of the counts against other defendants in a complex trial involving a U.S. Islamic charity accused of illegally channeling money to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
District Judge A. Joe Fish sent the jurors back one more time to see if they could reach unanimous agreement after some of the jurors signaled the decisions he read were not theirs, confusing matters further in a trial has dragged on for three months, including 19 days of jury deliberations.
Only one defendant, Mufid Abdulqader, was found not guilty on all counts, in his case 32, in the verdict read by the judge.
Two of the accused were found not guilty of most counts with the jury hung on some. The jury said it could not reach any verdict against the Holy Land Foundation itself and two of the defendants.
Supporters of the defendants have said the case highlights the unfair scrutiny that U.S. Muslims have been subjected to since the September 11 attacks and that it criminalizes legitimate charitable activities which are central to the Islamic faith.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
Scalded Woman Gets Millions in Lawsuit
by Jack Lee
Remember the lady that was awarded millions after spilling hot coffee in her lap? Well, here's the rest of the story the media didn't tell you. As it turns out McDonalds was aware that the bottoms of their coffee cups had a high potential to melt out with the extremely hot temperatures they felt customers wanted. Changing the cups to a safer type would be really costly and they made a corporate decision to deal with the harm from a potential lawsuit rather than change the cups. The lady that was scalded suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to her vaginal area when the bottom melted out of her coffee cup and now you know why she got the big award.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2007
McCain "All Tied Up"
At the debate tonight the quote of the evening goes to John McCain. Quiping about the failed attempt by Hillary Clinton to earmark one millian dollars for a Woodstock music museum to commemorate the 1969 festival he said:
"I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time,"
McCain earnied a standing ovation for the not-so-veiled reference to his five-and-a-half year confinement in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp.
The Woodstock museum — officially called the Museum at Bethel Woods — is due to open next year. Bethel is the town in upstate New York where organizers eventually put on the three-day Woodstock Music and Art Fair, featuring Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Band and others.
When Schumer and Clinton trumpeted the $1 million earmark for the museum back in June, she said in a statement that it would "continue to promote education, the arts, culture and tourism in the region."
Billionaire Alan Gerry is the force behind the project. He and his family have contributed almost $30,000 to Clinton and a committee headed by Schumer dedicated to electing Democrats to the Senate.
Gerry is a longtime major political donor. The contributions — $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $9,200 to Clinton's presidential campaign — came just days after the earmark was inserted into the legislation.
Read the story on FOX
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:07 PM | Comments (3)
VERDICT MONDAY
DALLAS — After four days of waiting, leaders of a group that was once the nation's largest Muslim charity will soon learn whether a jury found them guilty or innocent of charges that they funneled millions in illegal aid to Middle Eastern terrorists.
The federal court jury delivered a verdict to a magistrate on Thursday after 19 days of deliberations. But the verdict was sealed until Monday so that the judge and all the prosecutors who handled the case could be present.
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)
Free speech, hate speech, and UCI
by Chuck Devore
For the past few years I have been carefully noting the frequency with which hate speakers used the University of California, Irvine to stir up their venom. A typical visit would feature a speaker calling for death to America and the destruction of Israel. Recording the speech in any way would be prohibited, if the sponsoring group, such as the Muslim Student Union (MS), demanded so. This no-record policy was backed up by university officials.
I decided to test this no-record policy myself at an MSU meeting last May. As the speaker began, I took out a video recorder and started to record. I was told to cease recording by the MSU student leader.
I responded, "Under whose authority?"
He replied, "We will talk about it later outside."
I replied, "Good, then I will keep recording!"
At that point, the event went on and I remained in my seat recording.
This incident prompted me to contact UCI Chancellor Michael Drake to urge him to change UC's policy to be like that of UC Riverside's, a campus that does allow recording of events. Chancellor Drake agreed to review this policy.
Well, I am very pleased to report that the no-record policy is no more. The students, faculty, and the media now have greater protection for their First Amendment rights (press rights). While people wanting to engage in hate speech will perhaps be less likely to do so knowing that anyone may freely record their words so as to hold them, and their sponsors, accountable for their words.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
Interesting Factoids About Our Hands
From Netscape...
Our hands are a miracle of natural engineering, from our fine motor skills to the ability to swing an axe.
You can tell a lot about a person, just by looking at their hands.
Left-handed.
August 13th is World Left-Handed Day, where the aim is to raise awareness of how many things in the world are
designed just for right-handed people. There is some research that says that left-handed people tend to be more intelligent. St Lawrence University in New York have found that there are more lefties in the 140 IQ bracket (genius level) than righties. There certainly seems to be a predominance of left-handed people in some professions, music, art and writing. Left-handers dominate in world leaders, with 5 of the last 6 US presidents being left-handed.
Palms.
Palmistry has been dismissed by some but there seems to be some relevance to the lines in your palm and the shape of it. Square palms are thought to exhibit high energy, creativity, short temper and strong ambition.
Finger Length.
This is thought to indicate some interesting character traits. Kings College, London did research that showed that women whose ring finger is longer than their index finger are more likely to excel at sports. On the other hand, the length of men's fingers are more likely to indicate how aggressive they are. The shorter the ring finger compared to the index finger indicate more aggressiveness. While young boys with short fingers are more likely to suffer a heart attack in later life.
Wash your hands!
People who don't wash their hands after visiting the loo double the amount of germs and hands that are not dried properly can have 1,000 more germs. It is thought that 50% of men and 25% of women do not wash their hands.
Nails.
Nails that are ridged, cracked or covered in white spots indicate a deficiency, most likely Vitamin A, iron, zinc and (because nails are made of it) protein.
Knuckles.
The old wives wern't far wrong when they said that cracking your knuckles would lead to arthritis. When you do it, you are either pushing your joint into or out of it's normal position and the popping noise is the release of gasses or the ligament moving over the bone. Cracking puts stress on the joints and ligaments causing inflammation, so leave well alone.
Dry hands.
This is a sure sign of dehydration and hands are usually one of the first parts of the body to suffer. Natural oils from our hands is soaked up by things and people we touch every day (I wonder why all mine seems to end up on my glasses lens?). Drinking more water and regularly moisturising your hands will solve the problem.
Posted by Post Scripts at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)
Terror Surveillance by Our FBI
Democrats what to tie their hands by gutting FISA
by Tina Grazier
Whose side are they on on? Are they on your side? Do they want to protect Americans from attacks like the World Trade Center bombing or the triple hit on 911? Their ideas regarding FISA would suggest that no, they are not interested in keeping Americans safe…only in playing political games.
Investors Business Daily reports the following:
The FBI field office in Newark has foiled terror plots by al-Qaida agents operating in the northern part of the Garden State and communicating with al-Qaida leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan. They say easier FISA monitoring is critical to disrupting plots and ferreting out the bad guys living among us. ** "There are people in your county who are affiliated with known al-Qaida members overseas," Jack Jupin, the FBI agent heading the counterterror squad for Bergen County, N.J., told a reporter for The Record newspaper. And they've been communicating with them by phone and e-mail. ** "There are definitely facilitators in this state," said Kevin Cruise, the FBI official heading Newark's 100-member terrorism task force of FBI and CIA agents as well as state and local police. ** Squad leader William Sweeney described how U.S. soldiers confiscated a laptop computer when they captured a suspected al-Qaida operative in Iraq. When the laptop's files were examined, investigators found several New Jersey phone numbers.
This information takes you and I beyond the world of policy debate and into the actual arena where the fight to keep Americans safe takes place.
It’s smack dab in the middle of our own backyard. Do Pelosi, Reid, Chris Dodd, the ACLU and others think that this war is a “business as usual” matter? Do they honestly believe the FBI has either the time or inclination to listen in on our private conversations and if so, to what possible end? Phone or email chat about Aunt Polly’s Yule Log recipe or the latest argument between your daughter and her current boyfriend are hardly hot items of interest. Actual suspects, if later found innocent, will get over any inconvenience they might have suffered and should, if they too are truly American, be forever thankful that they have an FBI on the job to keep them safe. But I’m ranting now, so I’ll move on….
The Weekly Standard reports the following:
Senator Dodd has decided to use this issue (FISA) to suck up to the Democratic grassroots who have so far mostly ignored his presidential campaign. *** Senator Dodd says he will block the measure through a hold or a filibuster
The left has a lot of negative things to say about our president abridging civil rights and destroying the Constitution. The left is like that when republicans are in the White House. But they are not at all consistant. They did not care that domestic “wiretapping” without a warrant occurred under Bill Clinton. They did not care about the rights of the people at Waco Texas. They did not care that the Clintons illegally had in their possession some 400 FBI files…abridging the rights of those 400 individuals. These examples were ALL domestic "abridgments". Not one of them involved foreign, much less terrorist, suspects. The far left members of the Democrat Party only object to this surveillance as a means to discredit the President. In doing so they dismiss as irrelevant the importance of keeping the American people safe...they just do not care. Our FBI does care...and they need this important tool. I’d sooner take my chances with them.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:14 AM | Comments (2)
October 20, 2007
HADITHA
Posted by Tina Grazier
If you care about facts you must read the Wall Street Journal article, “What Happened at Haditha.” Here’s the bottom line:
" The allegations of a deliberate massacre are entirely unfounded. They are contradicted by credible testimony, and remain a "story unsupported by evidence." *** If any of the reduced cases do move to courts martial, as some likely will, they will turn on the rules of engagement. Decisions made in the heat of battle are hard to judge from the outside. At the critical moment, hesitation can result in a soldier or his unit getting killed. Thus military justice usually presumes a benefit of the doubt if decisions that were reasonable in the line of fire appear wrong in hindsight. A bad result does not imply a bad decision.
And the awful political and media shame is this:
Innocents were killed at Haditha, as they inevitably are in all wars--though that does not excuse or justify wrongdoing. Yet neither was Haditha the atrocity or "massacre" that many assumed *** --overall the highly disciplined U.S. military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion. When there have been aberrations, the services have typically held themselves accountable. *** The same cannot be said of the political and media classes. Many, including Members of Congress, were looking for another moral bonfire to discredit the cause in Iraq, and they found a pretext in Haditha. The critics rushed to judgment; facts and evidence were discarded to fit the antiwar template. *** Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmospherethat exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
USAF STORY CENSORED
Sometimes we get things forwarded to us and they look really interesting and worthy of publishing, even though they might be from "leftwing" origins. But hey what doesn't these days? (lol) Well, I try to bring you readers interesting stories and as long as the story appears to be factual, i.e., coming from multiple news sources, I will generally go with it to promote a healthy discussion.
We had such a story today that dealt with the transporting of nuclear weapons by the USAF and that [said] transport was in violation of a prior presidential order. That much we know is 100% factual, people in the military have acknowledged it, people were reprimanded, and it sparked an investigation by the USAF. Also the Pentagon admitted it... so I'm going with, it was real in at least that context.
However, this particular story I posted, that was forwarded to me, (not that that should excuse me for posting it), frequently referred to what it claimed was "classified information." It went into great detail, almost too much detail, about officers' names and "code" names for special classified operations and detailed a real scary plan. I posted it quickly without giving it enough thought and now at my discretion I decided to pull the story.
I censored a news story and I am completely to blame for it.
Why did I do this? Well, it was definitely a good story and it was a national publication too, so I wasn't putting anything out that wasn't already widely known, but after reading the story and re-reading it and going to other news stories on the same subject, I had to concluded that either the story was planted by the government or it was a real leak that contained way too much information that was correct and therefore should never have been disclosed or was incorrect and drew too many unsupportable conclusions. In the latter case it definitely should not have been disclosed here!
Until such time as I have a better handle on this story, I prefer to err on the side of caution and I will be doing some follow up on it, you can bet on that!
In closing, there seems to be a considerable number of folks on the net who think this USAF nuke story was deliberately leaked to send a message to Iran to gain a response favorable to our national security. Maybe... but at this point it should be considered just speculation. So there it is, a very rare censor by yours truly...my appologies, but I had to do it.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2007
SHE'S LOOKING FOR MARRIAGE OR A LEASE?
The below article posting even made the papers of the country, last week!......
ORIGINAL INQUIRY APPEARED ON CRAIG'S LIST
THE POSTING:
What am I doing wrong?
Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy.
I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all.
Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?
Here are my questions specifically:
- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my feelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?
- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY
Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests PostingID: 432279810
THE RESPONSE:
Dear Pers-431649184:
I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how I see it.
Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a cr@ppy business deal. Here's why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!
So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!
So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease. In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage. Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful" as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.
By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation. With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way. Classic "pump and dump."
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:06 PM | Comments (2)
Market Forecast
by Jack Lee
Friday, 19 Oct - Closing stock report, the dow was down 366.94 to 13522.02. NASDAQ comp drops 74.15. The energy sector was the hardest hit, losing a total of 3.8% on the day. The ten-year note closed up 26/32, pushing its yield down to 4.39%. One of todays big losers was Sandisk, (SNDK) closing at $42.71 down $7.60 (-15.11%). This was on news that the flash memory card maker reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $84.6 million, or 36 cents a share. Revenue grew 38% to $1.04 billion. During the same period a year ago, the maker of flash memory and digital media devices earned $103.3 million, or 51 cents a share on $751 million in revenue. I think SNDSK could be a buy very soon, but would wait till to see how the market settles out.
Google Inc. shares surged and hit a new record. Can you believe it? The company said its third-quarter profit and sales both rose sharply from the same period a year earlier. Google said net income for the period ended Sept. 30 rose to $1.07 billion, or $3.38 a share, compared to $733.4 million, or $2.36 a share in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 57% to $4.23 billion.
My market indicators say Monday should be an up day due to an "oversold" condition based on Friday's close. This should bring out the bargain hunters. However, the market will not stabilize until we see some good earnings; reports next due week from some market movers and we need a retreat in oil price.
Speaking of...Oil hit a high yesterday at $90 a barrel. Speculation says at $100 a barrel we could see $5 a gallon gas price. If that happens or anything close to it, watch the market head south like General Sherman to the sea.
Posted by Post Scripts at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)
Extremist politics will be our ruin
by Jeff Ackerman (The Union Nevada County Local)
If - and it is looking more like a question of when - this nation finally collapses, it will be a result of extremists. Far Left and Far Right politics are destroying us, and the media is being played like a fiddle in the hands of the Grim Reaper.
For examples we need look no further than in our own backyard, where three former leaders of the Republican Central Committee blasted Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne and her conservative colleagues on the five-member board for - get this - not being conservative enough.
Horne is running to replace Rick Keene in the state Assembly. She'll face Yuba County resident Dan Logue in the primary. Chico farmer Jack Lee has also thrown his hat into the GOP Assembly race.
In an "open letter" to district Republicans last week (see www.theunion.com for a copy of this letter, click on this story), former Central Committee chairmen Tony Gilchrease, Dick Marshall and Greg Marks said Horne "has abandoned the Republican Party and its values." The letter didn't give many examples of how Horne and the other four county supervisors betrayed their fellow Republicans or values, except to suggest they should have fired all of the "liberal" county department heads. There was nothing in the letter specifying what the department heads had done to deserve losing their jobs. Nor did it go into any detail to help us distinguish the characteristics of, say, a liberal public works director from a conservative public works director. Most of us just want to make sure our sewage goes where it is supposed to go (somewhere awful, I suppose) and could care less about the political views of a front-line manager of a municipality.
Gilchrease, Marshall and Marks obviously do not share that opinion, which makes me wonder if maybe they have a personal agenda. Marks is, after all, a county employee.
For more on this story click here
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:42 PM | Comments (11)
Health Insurance Unaffordable
by Jack Lee
How do we fix the high costs of health care insurance in California? This is the question posed with increasing frequency as health insurance premiums has been rising five times faster than inflation in the last 6 years. Thanks to the skyrocketing cost of insurance it's estimated now that 20% of this state's population is without health insurance. But, is this high cost a failure of the free market system or of government? I think it's government.
If we focus on deregulation it appears we could lower premium costs dramatically. For example, in Connecticut which has the fewest regulations, a person aged 35 can purchase health insurance for about $50 a month. Of course it's a no frills policy that does not cover many of this state's mandated things, like alcohol treatment, drug rehab or invitro fertilization programs.
For many of us we don't need or want these things anyway, we just want a basic health insurance policy in case we get hit with a major expense. For the rest of what ails us we can handle out of pocket. Medi-cal ought to operate this way. I'm fed up seeing Medical patients over use medical services because they don't have to pay anything. They run their kids in for a sniffle and we pay for it. The rest of take care of the little stuff at home because we can't afford to see the doc every time we get a scraped knee or a cold.
Deregulation will allow more insurance companies to compete in California and this means lower health insurance premiums. This is not the only reform needed of obviously, but it's a major start in the right direction and it would provide some immediate relief.
The next step should be tort reform. We're getting to letigious in this state and we have to stop frivilous suits to hold down the cost of medical malpractice insurance! The third step and by no means the last, is get more people to participate in the low cost system. Why? Because those who are uninsured often default on the payment and that means hospitals and doctors take those non-paying patient costs into consideration when adjusting your bill...which translates to a higher cost for service.
We got into this mess incrementally and it looks like we will have to crawl back out of it incrementally too, however it will be a tough fight. The alternative to this fight is to do nothing and then the socialized medicine people are going to win by default. Think things are bad now? This would be one expensive mess coupled to lower standards of care.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:49 AM | Comments (1)
October 18, 2007
Pete Stark’s Cheese Done Slid Off His Cracker
As S-CHIP bill goes down to defeat.
by Tina Grazier
Democrats failed to gain enough support to override President Bush’s veto of the S-CHIP bill today and I think it must have driven ol’ Pete Stark over the edge. Not content to argue the differences of opinion on the SCHIP legislation he decided instead to say the following:
``You don't have money to fund the war or children,'' *** “But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement.''
The American people deserve better representation than this.
The remarks are despicable and speak to Starks character without need for further comment.
The underlying outrage is that this typifies an all too common attitude and failure to maintain respect for opposing positions. It also demonstrates total disregard for the people who expect excellence and results from elected officials. Rather than comment on what he believed were the merits of the bill, or the differences of opinion that caused the bill to fail, he chose to attack his opponents.
Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio called for Stark to retract his statement and apologize, saying, “Congressman Stark's statement dishonors not only the commander in chief, but the thousands of courageous men and women of America's armed forces who believe in their mission and are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security.''
Starks response to boehner was just more of the same, referring to the: “chicken hawks in Congress who vote to deny children health care.''
Putting the namecalling aside, this assertion is an absolute lie. Inserting tongue in cheek I have only this to say to Stark:
Pete Stark you have certainly offered great insight and illumination on this important issue. The American people understand it much better now. Your leadership qualities are simply astounding and considering the entire world is watching, I’m sure this has added greatly to our international reputation.
The editors of NRO have a great article, “Beating Back S-CHIP” that is short, sweet, and actually illuminating:
the S-CHIP expansion is a perverse solution to this problem. ** Its design guarantees that it will transfer money from poor states to rich ones, and from poor people to middle-class ones. It will lead to worse health care for some children. It will reduce social mobility by creating a poverty trap (wherein getting raises leads to a loss of benefits and thus of total income). And there are better alternatives: letting people buy cheaper insurance by reducing regulations, and ending the tax penalty for individually purchased insurance.
Find a more balanced alternative approach in detail from the Heritage Foundation here.
Posted by Post Scripts at 10:29 PM | Comments (6)
Class Action Action
This little blurb on class action lawsuits and democrats was in the NYT yesterday:
Over the years, as it became Exhibit A for critics of shareholders’ class action lawsuits, the law firm of Milberg Weiss often enjoyed the support of Democrats who called the suits an invaluable weapon in the universal conflict between big business and the little guy. The Democrats, in turn, enjoyed the support of Milberg Weiss and its partners, who together have contributed more than $7 million to the party’s candidates since the 1980s. -- Mike McIntire, New York Times
That alliance looks like pretty "big business" to me...maybe even monkey business.
Posted by Post Scripts at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2007
Ron Paul (Part 2)
by N. Freitas
In my first post regarding Ron Paul I addressed the legality and constitutionality of the Iraq war, specifically why I disagree with Rep. Paul’s characterization of the war as unconstitutional.
Next I would like to address why Rep. Paul’s position on foreign policy is a dangerous one.
A “non-interventionist” policy is attaining greater popularity with many Americans. Libertarians and traditional conservatives have traced the validity of such a policy back to Washington’s farewell address where he warns against “entangling alliances”.
I consider myself a traditional conservative, and have a great deal of respect for such a position. However the term “non-interventionist” foreign policy is somewhat subjective. I do not believe that we are responsible for bringing democracy to the world. I do not believe in deploying US troops for what ever any mid level staffer at the state department considers the “good of mankind”. On the other hand I recognize that those wars throughout our history that have enjoyed the most popularity tend to be large existential struggles. The problem with such conflicts is that there is a real risk of losing; and as such produce a greater price in blood and treasure. Small wars which have the effect of dissuading dictators tend to be less popular since their necessity is always in question.
Determining which wars or conflicts are necessary and which are not is not always an easy decision. Because many are incapable or unwilling to recognize a threat when it presents itself, leaders are forced to make difficult decisions regarding the deployment of military power to deal with threats worldwide.
In addition to the difficulty of deciding which threats require military involvement and which are better handled by other means, a leader must determine a desired end-state. Nothing would have been easier, than to simply overthrow Saddam, and replace him with a dictatorship friendly to the US. Many objectivists and “realists” would have preferred such a strategy. Instead we sought a comprehensive and lasting solution to our ongoing problems in this region of the world. It was by far the more difficult decision, and it also happened to be the right one.
It may prove unworkable. If that is the case then our strategy in dealing wit this threat will have to be adapted to a new reality. One that will include the understating that Islam as we know it is not compatible with representative government. A reality that will include US military power in the Middle East as a constant in order to protect our homes and families. We are working desperately to try and create an environment where terrorism does not flourish in the Middle East. If we fail our critics will be able to say they told us so, but after the gloating has finished, they will have to understand the new reality that such a position will usher in. This new reality will have to include an understanding that as long as radical Islam maintains a position of intellectual and military dominance in the Middle East; we will be at a perpetual state of conflict with this region. Under these circumstances is it not better that we should try to provide an alternative?
But this is not just a question of Iraq, it is a question of philosophy. I am willing to wager that if Rep. Paul had been in a position of leadership during the 40’s he would have been against military action against Hitler in 1938 when he re-militarized the Rhineland against treaty (I have no doubt that Ron Paul would have done the right thing later however). The benefit of hindsight tells us that Hitler used this action to determine the resolve of western democracies to oppose him. How different might the world now look if politicians had had the foresight and fortitude to choose the hard right at that critical point in history?
It is easy to support those grand wars of existential struggle. Those conflicts which clearly pit evil against good in a battle of survival. It makes for great movies and literature. I prefer the leader who understands that the world is a dangerous place and will require unpopular decisions in order to keep such epic conflicts from taking place. Sometimes that will mean fighting conflicts that with the help of a partisan media will become unpopular quickly, but it is worth it. And in a war such as this one, fought entirely by volunteers, I’m afraid I don’t understand or even respect the outcry of a population which simultaneously refuses to respect the opinions of their warriors, while undermining their mission.
I believe the principles of our founders to be timeless, I also believe that they would have fought in Iraq, because their understanding of human nature and the evil to which it is capable of achieving must be opposed in its infancy, before it is able to mature to such a degree whereby it becomes a legitimate threat to the peaceful existence of the innocent.
Posted by Post Scripts at 09:06 AM | Comments (4)
October 16, 2007
Home No Longer Castle
We’ve been nibbling at the edges with smoking bans extending even into ones own car or apartment…but this pretty much makes it official:
Potty mouth! Woman cited for cursing at toilet -- AP, by AP
SCRANTON, Pa. - A Scranton woman who admitted shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said. Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300.
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
Wow, Sanchez Bashes Bush Then The Press!
"LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ (RET.), FMR. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war. For some of you just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases, or agendas." Fox News
Posted by Post Scripts at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
Randi's Teeth Knocked Out - Turns Out to Be Accident
Randi Rhodes featured on the left is a popular far left talk show host in New York City.
She has been off the air for several days and it has now been revealed that Ms. Rhodes was attacked and severly beaten while walking her dog on a public sidewalk near her home. She carried no purse and no motive has been determined.
She reportedly had several teeth knocked out and is recovering at home.
FLASH UPDATE: The above is pure leftist baloney: "On Sunday, October 14, 2007, Rhodes was walking her dog when she fell and sustained injuries that kept her off the air for several days. Air America host Jon Elliott erroneously claimed on his October 15 show that Rhodes had been the victim of a savage mugging. Elliott went on to speculate that this was not just a random event, but that it may have been politically motivated by conservative right wing factions. Left wing blogs and websites like democraticUnderground.com ran with the initial story claiming it was a deliberate attack by right wing extremists. A lawyer for Rhodes subsequently confirmed that the incident was an accident and no crime had taken place. At no point did Rhodes herself falsely claim to have been attacked."
Posted by Post Scripts at 02:16 PM | Comments (13)
War Powers Act - Reference Material For Discussion
This joint resolution may be cited as the
"War Powers Resolution".
PURPOSE AND POLICY
- SEC. 2. (a)
It is the purpose of this joint resolution to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective
judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the
introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into
situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by
the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or
in such situations.
- SEC. 2. (b)
Under article I, section 8, of the
Constitution, it is specifically provided that the Congress shall have the
power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution, not
only its own powers but also all other powers vested by the Constitution in
the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer
thereof.
- SEC. 2. (c)
The constitutional powers of the President as
Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities,
or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly
indicated by the circumstances, are
exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory
authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United
States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.
CONSULTATION
- SEC. 3.
The President in every possible instance shall
consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into
hostilities or into situation where imminent involvement in hostilities is
clearly indicated by the circumstances, and after every such introduction shall
consult regularly with the Congress until United States Armed Forces are no
longer engaged in hostilities or have been removed from such situations.
REPORTING
- Sec. 4. (a)
In the absence of a declaration of war, in any
case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced--
- (1)
into hostilities or into situations where
imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the
circumstances;
- (2)
into the territory, airspace or waters of a
foreign nation, while equipped for combat, except for deployments which
relate solely to supply, replacement, repair, or training of such
forces; or
- (3)
- (A)
the circumstances necessitating the
introduction of United States Armed Forces;
- (B)
the constitutional and legislative
authority under which such introduction took place; and
- (C)
the estimated
scope and duration of the hostilities or involvement.
- (1)
- Sec. 4. (b)
The
President shall provide such other information as the Congress may
request in the fulfillment of its constitutional responsibilities with
respect to committing the Nation to war and to the use of United States
Armed Forces abroad.
- Sec. 4. (c)
Whenever United States Armed Forces are
introduced into hostilities or into any situation described in subsection
(a) of this section, the President shall, so long as such armed forces
continue to be engaged in such hostilities or situation,
report to the Congress periodically on the status of such hostilities or
situation as well as on the scope and duration of such hostilities or
situation, but in no event shall he report to the Congress less often than
once every six months.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
- SEC. 5. (a)
Each report submitted pursuant to section
4(a)(1) shall be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
and to the President pro tempore of the Senate on the same calendar day.
Each report so transmitted shall be referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate for appropriate action. If, when the report is
transmitted, the Congress has adjourned sine die or has adjourned for any
period in excess of three calendar days, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate, if they deem it
advisable (or if petitioned by at least 30 percent of the membership of
their respective Houses) shall jointly request the President to convene
Congress in order that it may consider the report and take appropriate
action pursuant to this section.
- SEC. 5. (b)
Within
sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be
submitted pursuant to section 4(a)(1), whichever is earlier, the President
shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which
such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress
(1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of
United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or
(3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the
United States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an
additional thirty days if the President determines and certifies to the
Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the
safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such
armed forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such
forces.