Word Games and the Federal Budget: Dems & Reps Love ‘Em

When reading about President Bush’s $2.6 trillion federal budget being signed into law, one must read between the lines. Whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, the other side ALWAYS criticizes the President’s budget.

Here’s the real deal:

The way that politicians define a “cut” is if this year’s increase in funding is smaller than last year’s. For instance, if the Federal Gobbledegook Program (my example, not a real program) got a 10% increase in budget last year, and will get a 7% increase this year, in political terms that’s a “cut.” Politicians ignore the fact that the Federal Gobbledegook Program is still getting a 7% increase over last year’s budget. It’s a nasty word game that they play.

Further, they take the 3% “cut” and multiply it out by five or ten years and then get on TV and say that the budget will take billions out of a program over five years or ten years.

Republicans did the same thing when Clinton was in office; now the Democrats are raking Bush over the coals for his “cuts” to health, education and so forth. Yet, miraculously, all of the programs that received “cuts” this year are still ahead of where they were in last year’s budget.

Word games are a politician’s favorite game. And the media plays right along.

Gone But Not Forgotten: MIAs Remembered on 30th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War

Thirty years ago today, North Vietnamese troops entered Saigon and ended the Vietnam War. In observances over there and over here, both sides remembered the horror of war and the loss of so many.

The loss of over 58,000 U.S. soldiers still haunts our nation and the 1,800 men still missing and unaccounted for is a reminder of what still needs to be done.

The recovery of all the men listed as “Missing in Action” will finally close a painful chapter of American history. Until this is accomplished, those families will continue to languish. That isn’t right.

Thirty years is too long to wait to learn that a love one died on some distant battlefield or died in a prisoner of war camp. This issue must be resolved; we owe it to those families, to the men who fought and died there, and to the tens of thousands of veterans who made it home.

NASA Moves Launch of Space Shuttle From May to July

NASA is backing away from its overaggressive launch schedule for the space shuttle Discovery by moving the launch date from May to July. This is not a set-back; it is a very good move.

NASA needs more time to complete the modifications to the Discovery and work to implement all the recommendations of the Columbia Disaster commission that NASA put together to investigate the causes of the break-up of shuttle Columbia over Texas two years ago.

The space agency had been making noise recently, saying that they were going to have to water down the recommendations in order to be able to launch the shuttle in May. Unacceptable!

NASA shouldn’t even consider igniting a rocket booster that blasts seven human beings, a 4.3 million pound machine with three engines and tens of thousands of moving parts, a large fuel tank filled with 1.6 million pounds of propellant, two solid rocket boosters and the hopes and dreams of an entire nation into space by weakening their own safety rules.

Hopefully they’ll delay it again (if they have to) in order to fix the problems.

Prosecution’s Star Witness Testifies in Favor of Jackson

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife is causing the prosecutors in his child molestation case to have kittens.

Her testimony today is not what the prosecution expected to hear. She admitted that what she said in a 2003 Jackson-produced rebuttal video to Martin Bashir’s “Living with Michael Jackson” production was NOT scripted as the prosecution has said. Here’s the story.

This is another indication of what's going to happen when the jury gets the case.

There will be a hung jury; Jackson will walk away a free man.

The prosecution case is falling apart faster and faster. Judging from the parade of highly questionable witnesses, it's safe to say that the prosecution killed their own case.

And the circus continues (on the taxpayer dime, mind you). It doesn't matter if Jackson did what they say he did or not. Not anymore. The prosecution made that possible. And all in the name of settling a decade-old grudge. So much for justice being served.

If by some stroke of fate Jackson is convicted (highly unlikely), there's enough prosecutor screw-ups floating around to have Jackson appeals for years to come. Also on the taxpayer dime. Celebrity justice, anyone?

House Ethics Committee Needs to Get to Work and Quit Wasting Time

The politically powerful (and influenced) House Ethics Committee needs to get to work. They’ve been arguing about which rules to follow for months. Enough!

Here’s a few thoughts: the idea of politicians sitting in judgment of their own peers is utterly stupid and self-defeating. That committee should vote itself out of existence and a committee of judges should take over that job (IF the House is serious about ethics).

That panel of judges should be independent and not have any relationships with anyone in Congress. It would be like an independent counsel and their recommendations would be passed on to the full House for consideration.

The half-measures and changing of rules when an investigation is in progress must end!

Chemical Safety Bill Needs to Pass in Congress Soon

The two houses of Congress have been batting around a bill that will require additional security at the nation’s 15,000 chemical plants. It has been stalled due to the introduction of amendments to the bill that attempt to regulate the chemical companies themselves.

Security concerns need to be separated from all other considerations at this time.

The bill should focus on getting more security fences, guards, cameras, and emergency response services in place to stop terrorists from trying to start huge chemical fires or explosions near the population centers.

The focus needs to move away from the government trying to tell the companies which chemicals they can use and which ones they cannot.

Instead, chemical plants should have an assigned classification based on the chemicals that are there and build the new security measures around that rating. The classifications should be based on chemicals that have the most potential to be damaging or destructive to humans should those chemicals be set on fire or blown up by terrorist bombs. The higher the plant is on the classification list, the more security it needs.

There may already have such a classification system in place, but security must be upgraded at all plants, not just some of them.

This bill needs to happen NOW. And this should be part of the Homeland Security budget as well. Protecting America’s chemical plants should be a joint operation between the companies and the government. This cannot wait any longer.

Michigan Newspaper Suffers Anthrax Scare

The Midland Daily News was partially closed yesterday as HazMat teams removed an envelope containing a white powder that was sent to the editor of the paper.

The substance proved not to be anthrax, but no chances were being taken. Seven workers at the Daily News were sent to the hospital and everyone else was quarantined for several hours.

It's very unfortunate that people continue to do stuff like this; it's another form of domestic terrorism. Hopefully the police will be able to get some fingerprints and make an arrest. They need to make an example of someone for this "joke" that was in very poor taste.

Midland is home to the world headquarters of Dow Chemical as well as several Dow chemical plants, so the powder is being tested for other properties other than anthrax as well.

Here's the story.

Doctor Proposes New CPR Technique

MSNBC reported a story about a doctor who wants to change how CPR is done. Currently the American Heart Association and the Red Cross teach adult CPR with a 15:2 chest compression to rescue breath ratio. To review, here is the technique from start to finish (for an unconscious adult who is NOT choking) :

• Survey the Scene
• Determine Responsiveness
• Call 911
• Head Tilt/Chin Lift
• Look, Listen & Feel for Breathing
• 2 Rescue Breaths
• Check Pulse--No Pulse, Start CPR. (We'll assume there is no pulse).
• Start four cycles of 15 chest compressions to 2 rescue breaths.
• After the fourth cycle of 15:2, recheck pulse. If pulse present, continue rescue breathing. If no pulse present, go for another four cycles of 15:2.

The doctor in this story says to skip the rescue breaths and just do chest compressions. He says that the current CPR technique is causing more people to die and has convinced Tucson, AZ, to use his technique. Early results appear promising, but more research needs to be done.

A note to all CPR-trained people: unless/until the American Medical Association says otherwise (as well as the Red Cross and American Heart Association), continue the current technique. If they go with any new techniques, you'll get the new training the next time you go to recertify. This is still in the early stages of development.

GOP Control of Congress Remains in Danger Over Schiavo Case

During the debate over Terri Schiavo's fate, GOP lawmakers tried to intervene in the case by transferring the case from district into federal courts.

The federal judges subsequently thumbed their noses at the Congress and allowed Terri to die. The culture of death won another victory.

The general feeling out there is that the GOP intervened for the wrong reasons; and that it has given the general public the impression that the Republicans have gone too far to the right. This situation is on the same level as that funeral service for Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone which the Democrats hijacked and turned into an all-out political rally. Democrats lost big-time in the elections after that debacle.

In the Schiavo controversy, the politically damaging memo that was circulated in GOP ranks said that Republican lawmakers should intervene as it would play well with their conservative supporters back home. Bad move. The aide who circulated this memo was sent packing.

Then came the attempt to call the comatose Terri to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress. They knew full well that Terri wasn't going to be able to speak to them, but they did it to get the tube re-inserted. It was a delaying tactic; nothing more. Terry's deterioration continued while this was happening. This was totally ineffective and caused the loss of precious time.

Then came the quick decision from Congress to transfer the case from state into federal courts via a newly passed law, for which President Bush cut short his holiday and returned to Washington so he could be on hand to sign it. The GOP went out on a limb on this one and hoped that the courts would take advantage of their "good" legislation to get the case into their courtrooms and save Terri's life. They didn't. Schiavo died.

Congress should have gone about this differently. The sad truth is that from the moment the case was transferred to federal court, Terri was doomed. This was a state matter, not a federal one. Those federal judges who thumbed their noses up at Congress were not about to tell Congress that it was out of line because they might have been impeached by the same lawmakers who passed this ill-considered and hastily drawn-up bill.

The GOP really needs to move a little left; the Democrats need to move a little right and the moderates need to raise hell with the leadership of both parties for leaving them behind. As it stands now the GOP will probably lose some seats because of their blunders in the Schiavo case, but how many depends on what they do to court ALL their bases of support.

Make no mistake: that tube should have been reinserted; the judges in Florida were wrong to allow the tube to be removed; this was no woman in a mere coma. Some think Terri's condition was something new or was a twist on something old, but now that she's gone, further research on Terri's condition is not possible.

Someday, someone else will display the same signs and symptoms as Terri and it may be recognized as a new medical condition that is worthy of study. And hopefully Terri's name will be remembered when that day comes.

Get your act together, Congress, and knock off the stupid political games and grandstanding!

NASA Still Rushing to Get Shuttle Operational--Bad Move

A New York Times story indicated that documents leaked to the paper show that NASA is having problems meeting the standards laid out by the space shuttle accident board and that they are looking for ways to loosen up some of the standards to get the shuttle into space faster.

Bad move.

NASA really ought to delay launching any shuttles for a year and fix the problems. What's it going to take to really change the culture at NASA? Another destroyed shuttle? Another seven bodies? People on the ground getting killed by another Columbia-style break-up? A seven-ton piece of the shuttle crashing into a school?

Perhaps it is time to retire the current shuttle fleet in favor of a stronger design that is more resistant to penetration by debris. If NASA can't operate it's equipment with minimal actual risk and has to play with rules to get the shuttles off the ground, it is not acceptable.

The other part of this is that there are risks to space flight. Those risks have to be dealt with as things happen. Softening the rules increases those risks unnecessarily.

Myanmar Government Accused of Using Chemical Weapons on Rebels

The government of Myanmar (in southeast Asia bordering Thailand) has been accused by human rights watchdog groups of using chemical weapons on rebel forces two months ago.

There has been a long-running war between the government there and rebels who represent a wide variety of interests, including the country's fledgling democracy movement. It is feared that mustard gas canisters were airbursted inside rebel lines as the government fights to maintain its military junta that came to power in 1962.

If it is found that they did use chemical weapons, the international community should isolate Myanmar diplomatically and economically until all of their stockpiles of chemical weapons are either destroyed or surrendered.

Any country that uses chemical weapons for any reason should be barred from possessing them in the future.

Here's the report.

Endgame Approaching in Jackson Case: Culkin to Testify

Sources are saying that Macaulay Culkin will be testifying on Michael Jackson's behalf soon in the molestation trial of the singer.

Endgame.

Culkin's testimony could make or break either side's case. If he says that nothing happened and isn't destroyed by the prosecution's cross examination, it'll be another nail in the coffin of the prosecution's case.

If he testifies that Jackson did abuse him, it could be enough to revive the prosecution's dying case IF he survives the defense's proven ability to destroy the credibility of witnesses.

In either case, it will be interesting to hear what he has to say. Here's the CNN story.

Interesting Note on Bolton Confirmation Hearings

It's interesting to note that President Bush's nominee to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is being criticized for being a screamer to his subordinates.

Managers and owners should sit up and take note of this situation. How they treat their employees may come back to haunt them when they least expect it. Bolton's nomination may be terminated over that very possibility. There's a lot of politics in play, but in the end, here's the bottom line:

No one likes a jerk for a boss.

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." --Scott Adams

World Press Did a Decent Job of Covering Announcement of New Pope

Thank you to the world press for observing Catholic traditions on electing a new Pope. No one violated the secrecy edict that the cardinals had put into place, so everyone learned of the new pope at the same time.

They did a good job of covering the news of the new pope's election, but the analysis of Benedict XVI's possible direction of the future Catholic church was mixed at best. Liberal observers were much more critical while conservative observers were much more supportive.

The players all fell in as expected: CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and ABC all highlighted the negatives of the new Pope's past writings and actions, while Fox News covered the new Pope in a party atmosphere. The Fox News coverage was much more enjoyable. They were also able to cover the "controversies" (disagreements actually) around Benedict XVI without ruining the moment.

Someone needs to explain to the networks that there is no such thing as a "liberal" Catholic. Either a person is or is not a Catholic. And that person has to live with and by their decision.

DeLay's Criticism of Justice Kennedy Raises Important Questions

Tom DeLay went on the attack yesterday, criticizing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's decisions from the bench, saying that the Justice uses the Internet to do scholarly research on legal issues and bases his decisions on international law.

While DeLay's criticisms are political and part of a huge political firefight between Democrats and Republicans, his comments do raise a couple of red flags:

• Is the Supreme Court supposed to look at international law when deciding on U.S. Constitutional issues? The supreme law of the land is the United States Constitution, not the United Nations or any international treaty that the U.S. has signed. There have been rumblings that some of the Justices were researching international treaties and basing their decisions on those treaties, and not the Constitution. That is hard to believe, but the Justices should be basing their decisions exclusively on the U.S. Constitution. There should not be an international flavor to American legal practices.

• Looking on the Internet for ironclad legal insight is a risky thing to do for a Supreme Court Justice. Anyone can change information posted on the Internet. Doesn't the high court have its own database with every legal decision ever made in it, that is constantly scrutinized by batteries of attorneys and so forth for accuracy? Justices should be looking at legal opinions there, and not at web sites that may have glaring mistakes or personal opinions mixed in there.

So DeLay's comments, while aimed at his detractors who want him out of his job in the House, did raise some good talking points. Here's the original story.

German Cardinal Is Elected Pope--First German Pope in 1,000 Years

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany was elected as the Catholic Church's new leader and assumed the papal name of Pope Benedict XVI.

Benedict XVI is much older than when John Paul II was elected; he's 78. The last pope to be in his upper 70's when he was elected was back in 1730.

And yes, he is an ultra-conservative. Many liberals around the world are dismayed over the new Pope's stand on abortion, homosexuality, female priests, celibate priests, the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, and other polarizing issues. Conservatives are pleased that the church won't be undergoing radical changes and will continue to fight against secularism and will not give in to so-called "liberal" Catholics who want to "modernize" the church.

Some people don't seem to realize that the cardinals are dead-set against relativism and chose a man who would fight it tooth and nail. People also have to understand that the cardinals did not want another long reign and so chose an older man as the pontiff.

Also, because Pope John Paul II's reign was so long, his influence will be felt for a long time to come. To have a more liberal pope at this time would have risked splitting the church even more than it is already. By introducing change more slowly, the church can adapt better in the long run, instead of rocking the boat so soon after John Paul II's death. That's what some of the cardinals are saying.

For those who were hoping for a Latin American, African or Asian pope, they still might. But in the meantime, Benedict XVI is the rightful leader of the Catholic Church and deserves the religious allegiance of the world's Catholics.

May his voice protect the innocent and defend the weak; may he use his his strength as the leader of a billion Catholics worldwide to continue the church's opposition to polarizing issues (abortion, death penalty, gay marriage, etc), and resist the same type of secularization that has taken hold of some of the other Christian religions.

Finally, may he take steps to bridge the gaps between Catholics and Jews by opening up the Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII to scholars to settle the matter of the Holocaust. Only after the truth is known can there be moves toward settlement of differences between the Vatican and the world's Jewish people on this divisive issue. For this pope to come out and directly apologize for the Vatican's inaction during World War II would mean a great deal to the survivors.

The smart money says this pope will live up to his reputation on some issues and bend a bit on others. Changes will probably be minimal, but new ways of thinking about issues may come out. This man is said to be a brilliant theologian, so the church may reflect that in it's thinking.

World Press Should Honor Vatican Traditions of Electing New Pope

The world press should respect the secrecy of the papal conclaves going on in Vatican City as they strive to elect Pope John Paul II's successor. In today's day and age, the rush is always on for the networks to be the first to break the news to their viewers.

There's no need to "scoop" their competitors in this case. All they need to do is focus their cameras on the Sistine Chapel's chimney twice a day (1200 and 1900 GMT+2). If the smoke coming out of the chimney is white, the new Pope will be presented to the world one hour later.

The cardinals and attendants face excommunication from the church if they reveal what's happening in there. They're not going to talk. The Swiss Guards won't either. So the media should wait like everyone else.

Tom DeLay Situation: Get Rid of 'Em All

The Democrats are currently engaged in a campaign to get the GOP leader of the House to step down for perceived abuses of power. The Republicans have done this to Democratic leaders in the past too.

The Republicans in charge of the ethics committee keep switching rules back and forth to suit their particular needs and to shield their people from the full weight of the ethics committee from coming down on their offending members. Democrats have done this in the past too.

It's been said that vulnerabilities are exploitable weaknesses. That saying holds water in the U.S. Congress.

Here's how the American people should handle this: next election time, vote for a breath of fresh air and get new people in there who aren't moldy from too much time in politics. This is why there is a strong push for term limits in many U.S. states.

Congress should follow its own rules and not be allowed to change rules to protect their people.

Changes Needed in Judicial Confirmation Process

There should be a law requiring the Senate to have a 'yes' or 'no' vote within a certain timeframe of EVERY nominated person under consideration for a federal judgeship.

For members on both sides of the aisle to delay judicial nominees is not right and it is not fair. If there is a problem with a particular nominee, bring it up, ask the nominee about it, then allow the vote to happen.

Let these people get on their lives instead of making them wait months or even years for a Senate vote.

Filibustering should end at the end of the timeframe and the vote should then be taken.

Two Families Declare War on Each Other After Their Teens Begin Dating

Talk about something from the pages of Mark Twain, who wrote of family blood feuds in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn!

Two families who don't like each other went at it with guns blazing after a teen from one of the families began dating another teen from the other family. The shoot-out left six wounded and no one is talking to the police.

The Crescent City Police Department in Florida is watching members of both families very closely to make sure that this feud is over and that there will be no reprisals.

Here's the story. Unbelievable!

Violent Chinese Demonstrations at Japanese Embassy & Businesses in Beijing Prompt Japanese Call for Apology

In the latest escalation between Japan and China over a blazing World War II history row, Japan is demanding a Chinese apology for the damage done to its embassy in Beijing, for the damage to their ambassador's residence and for damage to Japanese-owned Beijing companies and shops. The Japanese are also demanding compensation to foot the bills for repairing everything.

This was after thousands of angry rock and bottle-throwing Chinese civilians pelted the Japanese embassy and destroyed several businesses as an anti-Japanese rally quickly became violent. Here's what happened.

Japan angered China by its apparent "whitewash" of Japanese atrocities before and during World War II with regards to its invasion of China in Japanese middle-school history texts. The situation has not improved and has caused severe diplomatic problems between Japan and China.

There was already tension over disputed islands in the South China Sea, the recent incursion of a Chinese Navy submarine into sovereign Japanese waters, and disputes over underwater gas fields which lay beneath the seabed and between the two Asian economic superpowers. The history textbooks, written by Japanese nationalists, are causing no small amount of headaches in Beijing and Tokyo.

It's too bad all of these things are happening at the same time. It has not been helpful to the six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear problem, nor has it helped ease tensions between China and Taiwan. In addition, Beijing and some of the other Asian nations are uneasy about Japanese troops going overseas on peacekeeping missions or Japan's limited participation in the Iraq War.

Japan could throw water on the fire by taking another look at the textbooks and perhaps delay the release of the offensive textbooks for a while until a suitable alternative can be found. The two nations are trading partners, but that may be affected next if things don't improve on the other issues.

Hopefully they settle their differences without it escalating any further.

KKK & Nazi Auction Cancelled For the Wrong Reasons

Recently an auction that was to be held in Mason, Michigan, and featured Nazi and KKK auction items was cancelled due to apparent KKK efforts to recruit new members in the area that the auction was to be held. Here's that part of the story.

It was a good decision made for bad reasons.

It's unfortunate that the auctioneers even scheduled the event, which drew very negative international press attention to the area, and was an insult to all the victims of Nazi genocide and KKK atrocities over the years.

It's very appropriate for it NOT to be held since ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp by the advancing U.S. 3rd Army are being held in Germany today.

Some 56,000 people were killed at the Buchenwald death camp. Some were worked to death, others were shot, others were killed in sickening medical experiments by Nazi doctors. Here's the story.

THAT'S why the auction in Michigan should have been cancelled. Not because the Ku Klux Klowns put out literature, or because someone who was attempting to pressure the auction to be cancelled produced and distributed some venomous literature which looked like it was KKK material.

The KKK and other white supremacist groups adopted Nazi ideas, symbols and beliefs; they need to be fought aggressively and having a KKK auction is not conducive to accomplishing that.

For Nazi and KKK auctions, rallies and parades to be accepted by mainstream America is a bad precedent and gives a green light to malcontents to come in, have their parades and protests and then to leave the area (that didn't want the auctions and protests in the first place) in worse shape than they found it.

The auctioneer is wondering what to do with the "artifacts." Destroying them seems to be a good solution.

Michael Jackson May Get Off: Case Not Going Well for Prosecution

Defense attorneys in the Michael Jackson case have demolished several of the prosecution witnesses, getting them to admit to lying on the stand. The accuser's brother, an ex-guard, an ex-maid and a few others have been painted in a very bad way, and it can only help the defense case.

The prosecution's notion of bringing up past accusations to gain ground is not working. While the tabloids have enjoyed printing every detail of every accusation, money appears to be a huge factor in this case and it's crippled the prosecution's effort to convince the jury that Jackson is a child molester.

The Jackson defense has said that $20 million was paid out to the 1993 accuser to make the case go away because Jackson didn't want his name dragged through the mud back then. He did not admit that he abused the kid; he just wanted the accusations to go away.

Jackson's accuser's mom has a reputation for suing people for everything in sight. The accuser himself has a lengthy juvenile record. So many prosecution witnesses have credibility issues that it's downright shocking that the prosecution put them on the stand, knowing full well that an experienced defense attorney would zero in on those weaknesses. Here's one story. Many have tried to sue Jackson; some succeeded, most failed.

The defense case is about to begin, and a star-studded celebrity circus seems likely. The prosecution will have to attack the credibility of the defense witnesses.

One person could make or break the entire case: former child-star Macaulay Culkin. The prosecution seems unwilling to call Culkin as a witness but the Jackson defense might since two or three prosecution witnesses have testified seeing Jackson abusing Culkin. He has released statements saying that nothing happened. His testimony could turn the tide in either direction.

There's no doubt that Jackson is odd. There's almost universal agreement on that point. Lapses in judgment...definitely. Having someone else's kid sleep in his bed with him was not a brainstorm on Jackson's part. And Jackson himself is his own worst enemy. He will lose the case if he takes the stand. Most of his press conferences on these cases have been unbelievable disasters.

If the prosecution wants to win this case, it needs to stop the parade of unreliable witnesses, and focus on presenting facts in the current case. The strategy of presenting past accusations has distracted attention from the "here and now" and the prosecution must do a better job of communicating what it feels Jackson may have done to the twelve jurors. That's a huge job. And they need to prosecute Jackson in court, not in the media.

The defense has to keep Jackson in his seat and continue doing what it's been doing. They need to settle the Culkin question by getting him on the stand and take him out of the equation. Here's another story.

No matter which way this thing goes, it's doubtful that the truth will emerge from the garbage in this case and real closure will not happen. Celebrity justice is like that. Remember OJ?

Rwanda Observes Horrific Anniversary of Start of Genocide

On this date in 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana 's aircraft was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda, and within hours of that assassination, machete-wielding Hutus took to the streets of Rwanda and began slaughtering their Tutsi neighbors and moderate Hutus who protested the killings. The Rwandan military joined in

Close to a million people lost their lives over the following one hundred days.

Eleven years later, 760,000 people are accused of participating in the slaughter. That's 10% of Rwanda's remaining population.

Here's the story.

How can the U.N. NOT change the way it confronts genocide in the face of such a colossal failure?

NASA Rush to Launch Discovery Next Month Is A Bad Idea

NASA is in a huge hurry to get the space shuttle Discovery off the ground and back into space, despite being worried about foam coming off the shuttle's external fuel tank and causing the type of damage that doomed the Columbia two years ago.

According to NASA, a repair kit that could allow spacewalking astronauts to repair damage to the wings or body of the shuttle is still two years away from being completed.

Discovery was scheduled to be rolled out today, but NASA engineers detected a crack in the external fuel tank. This does not bode well for NASA's over-aggressive schedule to launch the shuttle and get the shuttle program back on track. After some delay, the engineers decided to continue the roll-out despite the "inperfections" in the tank.

The shuttle design has not been altered so that it deflects foam coming off the external fuel tank at 500 mph; the external tank has not been altered enough either. It's a disaster waiting to occur again. It's amazing that the Columbia disaster didn't happen long before it did. Two hundred changes have been made, but they're still worried about the foam problem.

NASA should slow things down and get the problems fixed properly.

Too Much Pope Coverage? NOT!!

There is an online debate going on as to whether the TV networks are covering the Pope's funeral too much and ignoring other stories from around the world.

Not according to the ratings.

Early indications are that 2 billion people will watch the funeral Mass on Friday, which would be the largest audience in the history of television.

All the networks are reporting increased ratings since the Pope passed away on Saturday.

John Paul II has earned the coverage he's getting. Saturday's post on the Pope explains why.

Opposition to Patriot Act Grows

With the Patriot Act coming up for renewal at the end of 2006, civil libertarians are revving up their campaign to either stop that from happening or make significant alterations that bring it back into line with the Constitution.

Some of the controversial aspects of the current bill include: unlimited federal access to medical records, library records, school records, video store rental records, credit reports, limited restrictions on wiretaps, electronic eavesdropping, surveillance without due cause, reduced reasons for search warrants, pen/trap orders (written phone tap orders) and subpoenas with limited veto power from the judge. All they have to do is tell the judge that the person is a suspect under the auspices of the Patriot Act and BOOM! The investigators can take a liberal interpretation of Constitutional protections. They can also "sneak and peek" (secretly enter a house, look around for what they want, without a warrant) under the current Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act has already been abused by the FBI. It's been used to charge people with crimes who would be better charged under prior laws. Take for example the multiple cases of lasers being fired at aircraft cockpits from the ground as the aircraft were taking off or landing.

Instead of charging the individual with crimes such as interfering with a flight crew, public endangerment, negligence and so forth, the FBI used the Patriot Act. In the first case, they admitted that there was no terrorism involved, but the man's actions were "foolhardy and negligent." (Here's that story.)

The man involved was also not under investigation for terrorism beforehand, as the Patriot Act was intended for. He may well get off for his stupidity and for the FBI misusing the Patriot Act. The penalties under the other laws are more severe than violations of the Patriot Act in that case.

It should be noted that five state governments and 375 communities in 43 other states have passed anti-Patriot Act measures to register their displeasure with the Act.

The new Attorney General wants it renewed in its entirety (here's that part of the story), but that's not a smart idea. The government is already taking liberties with it's new power to fight terrorism.

A government having that much power available and is as secretive as this one is something to be feared and should be denied further power UNLESS there is a checks-and-balances system to correct abuses.

Either change it or get rid of it.

Japanese Rewrite of School History Texts Angers China and South Korea

Japan is rewriting history...literally. And they are angering their neighbors.

Middle-school text books have continued to minimize wrongs done in Japan's role in World War II and have chosen to gloss over the more unpleasant parts of Japan's wartime role. South Korea and China have expressed disappointment that Japan continues to "...justify and glorify wrongs committed in the past." (BBC Story)

China and South Korea were two nations that were invaded and occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army during the years prior to and during the war. The Chinese were particularly offended by the textbook describing the Nanjing Massacre, in which 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered, as an "incident." China also doesn't want Japan to get a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council because of ongoing border and history disputes.

South Korea is upset because the textbook describes an ongoing border dispute between Japan and South Korea as an "illegal South Korean occupation" of disputed islands that are between the two countries and are claimed by both nations. The texts also skip over the part where 200,000 Korean women were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers.

Protests have been occurring in both South Korea and China in the last few weeks over these problems.

Japan should really tone it down if it wants to have the support of its neighbors in other matters. Why Japan is doing it now is a mystery, but it undermines Japanese democracy, openness and credibility when it tries to rewrite history in this way.

Darfur Referred to International Criminal Court: Too Little, Too Late

The U.N. Security Council referred the slaughter in the Darfur region of Sudan to the International Criminal Court, abrogating its responsibility for dealing with the situation.

Once again the United Nations failed to stop the attempted slaughter of one ethnic group by another. And it dares to say that Sudan failed to stop the slaughter from happening? Did the pot just call the kettle black??! Here's the Reuters story.

Sudan was participating in the annihilation of the Christians and had no interest in heeding the warnings of the United Nations. It's a paper tiger and Sudan knew that. The government of Sudan has no issue in blaming certain individuals so long as it doesn't get caught in the same net. It watched as the U.N. went running out of Rwanda in 1994 and saw an opportunity to use the Arab militias to get rid of a group of people that it didn't like.

300,000 dead later, the inept U.N. Security Council turned the situation over to the Hague. Sudan's going to get away with this. Somehow "miscarriage of justice" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Rwandan Hutus Declare End to Their Armed Struggle

Rwandan Hutus who participated in the killing of 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 have declared an end to their armed struggle after promises of safety from the Rwandan government.

This was achieved after the Hutus moved into the eastern part of Congo and began killing people there too after being driven from Rwanda by government military forces. They quickly wore out their welcome in Congo and had engaged in a guerilla war against the Congolese military.

This particular faction is referred to as the FLDR and has some 10,000 members. The FLDR was filmed killing Tutsis with machetes by international camera crews who were covering the genocide in 1994.

It should be noted that the Rwandan government did not promise amnesty, only safety from retaliation from their victims' families who survived the slaughter. Ethnic strife has plagued the region since before 1994 and the end of hostilities is a good start to rebuilding the region.

Having said all that, hopefully the U.N. war crimes tribunal will begin holding trials for the guilty and begin the long process of establishing the rule of law to make certain that something on this scale does not reoccur.

Since the U.N. failed to stop the killing in 1994, they should do their jobs now and make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Minuteman Project Update: Volunteers Partially Deployed, No Problems Yet

Law enforcement agencies in the southwest are reporting that Minuteman Project volunteers are fanning out along the Mexico/Arizona border. Just moments after a group of Minutemen arrived at their posts, a group of illegals was spotted and the Minutemen contacted the Border Patrol. Eighteen arrests were made.

It's still too soon to see if this project will help stem the tide of illegals coming over the border, but early indications look fine.

There is also a question as to whether a smear campaign is going on against the Minutemen. Some have accused them of being white supremacists, others have called them vigilantes. Some undoubtably do have those characteristics, but not all of them. For the media and the government to label them all as troublemakers is wrong.

If the government were to do a better job of keeping control of the border, these civilian groups coming in to "assist" would be unnecessary.

Just watch: if there is a single incident, the media, government and ACLU will be quick to brand the entire idea as racist, unfair and vigilante. They will also take action to end the Minuteman project in a New York minute.

Here's the update.

End of an Era: Pope John Paul II Passes Away

Catholics around the world are mourning the passing of Pope John Paul II, who taught the world how to live and then taught the world how to die.

The world has lost a champion of the poor, of the unborn, of the helpless, of decency and optimism; in a world beset by evil tidings, he was often the lone voice of compassion for those who had no voice of their own.

He will always be remembered as a leading international advocate of human rights, as a scholar and writer, as a major catalyst in the fall of communism, as a healer of divisions that lasted for over a thousand years; of healing rifts between Catholics, Jews, Muslims and other Christian denominations that split off from the Catholic faith hundreds of years ago.

He is also the most-seen man in existence, visiting at least 125 countries for a total of over 200 foreign visits during his reign as supreme pontiff.

John Paul II knew that the job of the pope was not to make decisions that were popular; it was to make people more conscious of sin and to turn people away from it. Some did; others exercised their God-given free will and ignored the voice of wisdom.

John Paul II’s strength on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity will be missed.

Farewell, Holy Father.