Milosevic Dies in the Hague: Embarassing Performance for the International Tribune

Ex-Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his prison cell at the Hague this morning.

The inept ICC was no match for the former ruler of Yugoslavia as he turned his war crimes trial into a farce, and now they've lost their best chance to establish a bonafide record against an established war criminal and murderer.

They wasted years on this trial and have nothing to show for it but egg in their faces. 200,000 lie dead because of this man and he slipped through their fingers because they were not in charge of their own courtroom. Why? They successfully produced verdicts against fifty-six others accused of lesser war crimes during the Balkans wars.

They need to do some serious revisions to their court procedures to prevent something like this from happening again.

Even the trials at Neuremburg of Nazi war criminals didn't last as long as Milosevic's did, and there was no end in sight at the time of his death.

A historic opportunity has been lost.

No Doubt About It: Roe v. Wade Must Go, But What Happens Then?

South Dakota fired a massive broadside at the foundation of abortion rights (namely, the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision) in the form of a ban on most abortions. Mississippi and Tennessee appeared poised to follow suit. Good for them.

It should be noted that should South Dakota achieve victory and Roe is overturned by the Supreme Court, abortion will not end.

Rather, it would go back to the state level and each state would decide what it's laws on abortion would be, which is the way it should be. The federal government should stay out of this. If a state wishes to ban abortion, that's it's business.

Now, some are questioning whether the Religious Right would maintain it's strength and cohesion should their primary goal be achieved: the overturn of Roe v. Wade, or if it's strength as a national force would disappear as it focused on individual state campaigns to ban abortion.

They shouldn't be.

While it's very likely that the anti-abortion crowd will focus on banning abortions in as many states as possible, the Religious Right as a national movement isn't going anywhere.

The last time I checked, stem cell research, displaying the Ten Commandments and Nativity scenes on public property, preserving "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegience and "In God We Trust" on our currency, intelligent design, prayer in schools and creationism vs. evolution are a very long way away from being decided. Plus there's a war on.

Just because abortion would disappear from the national stage should Roe be overturned, that is no reason to believe that the Religious Right would go away, as some commentators have said they think would happen.

There will be lengthy court battles in many states which will end up in state Supreme Courts. Then there will be appeals in federal courts. Two questions: will the Supreme Court accept another abortion case based on those lawsuits, and what role will activist judges play in legislating from the bench? The courts will be tied up for years deciding all of these issues.

Roe's days are numbered, God be Praised, but the fight will really intensify when it does finally fall. The end of Roe will be the beginning of a messy new fight. Red and blue state maps will not apply as some states will quickly go one direction on legislating abortion, others will go the opposite direction, while others will duke it out in their state legislatures, in the offices of the various governors, in the courts, and out in the streets.

It'll be a huge mess.

Neo-Nazis Unwanted in Lansing: Take Your Signs and Stick 'Em Where the Sun Don't Shine

The neo-Nazis are in town, setting up signs which are publicizing their rally that will take place on the steps of the state capitol.

The collective IQ of the area is rapidly diminishing with the arrival of the skinheads.

They should crawl back under the rock that they came from and take their hate with them.

We don't need the domestic disturbances that will accompany their hate rally; Lansing and other surrounding communities have enough to deal with without the skinheads and anti-skinhead protestors trying to tear one another apart.

Breach vs. Overrun: Terminology Errors Didn't Help Clarify Situation in New Orleans

There has been (and continues to be) a great deal of confusion over who knew what and when as New Orleans was flooding.

Here's the latest picture:

The government says it was worried about the ocean overrunning the levee system surrounding New Orleans. They did not anticipate a breach, or outright break, in the walls.

According to dictionary.com, here are a couple of definitions:





breach: An opening, a tear, or a rupture. A gap or rift, especially in or as if in a solid structure such as a dike or fortification.









overrun: To overflow.







The results would be radically different: with an overrun, water would have come over the walls then stopped after the storm surge receded, while with the breach, the water would keep coming in until a levee was fixed or, in New Orleans' case, if Lake Pontchartrain emptied to a point just below the level of the breach. They fixed the levees before the lake emptied, but the damage had already been done.

So when President Bush said "No one could have anticipated that the levees would breach," he was being honest. They were worried about an overrun of the levees.

It doesn't excuse what happened, but it does clarify some points.

"Crash" Beats Out "Brokeback Mountain" At the Academy Awards: Why Were the "Experts" Shocked?

Many people were surprised that "Crash" beat out "Brokeback Mountain" for Best Motion Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

I wasn't.

Racism issues resonate with a more of the general population than gay issues do, and the Acadamy voters are a reflection of the general population.

That's simply the way it is.

Uniform Chain of Command Recommendation from 9/11 Report and Katrina Report NOT Implemented by Feds Yet

The 9/11 Commission report and the Hurricane Katrina Federal Response report both have one recommendation in common that should have been dealt with LONG before now: a unified chain of command for all agencies responding to a disaster.

It was originally recommended by the 9/11 report. Confusion reigned during and after the terror attacks happened; emergency response teams were on different radio frequencies, rescues efforts were duplicated while others who actually needed help didn't get it until it was too late, no one knew who was in charge, and the situation worsened after the World Trade Center towers collapsed into the streets below.

After the commission issued it's report, it was assumed that the government was addressing this issue and had fixed the problem.

Ninteen months later, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, leaving an area the size of Great Britain in ruins. And the same problems surfaced during and after the storm roared ashore.

And the official report from the White House recommended a unified chain of command.

Question: what the hell have the people in charge been doing for the last ninteen months? And what are they doing right now to fix the problem?

They need to quit screwing around, cut any red tape that it's in the way, fire some people and put people in who will carry out the reforms. And then all departments need to follow the plan.

Enough, already!

Gone Too Soon: Christopher Reeve's Widow Dies of Lung Cancer

Dana Reeve, the widow of the late Christopher Reeve, died Monday of lung cancer at the age of 44.

She won worldwide respect for her strength in caring for her actor-activist husband after his spinal cord injury eleven years ago. He died in 2004 and she had carried on his crusade to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

She leaves behind a teenaged son and two stepchildren.

May she rest in peace.

What Are We Not Being Told About Dubai Port Deal?

It's fair to say that everyone's gotten a large amount of political BS from Congress and the White House with regards to the Dubai Ports World acquisition of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in the last few days.

The political toilet surrounding this deal overflowed into the Oval Office and into the media as Democrats and Republicans attacked the White House position of supporting the purchase and transfer between two private firms.

Now, the question is this: what is REALLY going on?

Are we talking about TERMINALS, which is defined as "a facility where cargo containers are loaded or unloaded from ships to land vehicles, for further transport" or a PORT which is defined as "a natural or artificial harbor and its terminal facilities for the transfer of goods and passengers to or from waterborne means of transport?"

My understanding is that this deal is for the loading and unloading of cargo onto or off of ships at the terminals of six American seaports. The ports themselves remain under U.S. government/law enforcement control, while the terminals are administered by the Dubai company, which is controlled by the UAE government. The port security is handled by American security, while the security IN and AROUND the terminal itself are handled by Dubai Ports World.

The government must do a MUCH better job in explaining who would be in charge of what.

In addition, if only 5% of incoming containers are inspected by port authorities before they are handed off to the terminals for transport to their final destinations, then whose responsibility is it to get it up to 100%? The SAME government that is bellyaching about this terminal deal.

The government needs to quit screwing with itself and fix the problem NOW. They can start by passing legislation which prohibits foreign companies from controlling terminals that ship cargo across state lines. They can do that, you know. Then they should appropriate money in the budget to bring the inspection process up to scratch and keep it that way.

National security is not a political hot potato and it's quite disappointing to see the politicians wasting time arguing about this. They are behind schedule on meeting their obligations as it is. And if they don't do their jobs, let's FIRE 'EM ALL in November!

School Wrong to Suspend Students for Viewing Web Site on Their Own Time

Here's another strange one.

A school out in California suspended twenty middle school students for viewing a web site that contained "graphic threats" from one student at the school to another.

The student making the threat is under threat of expulsion for doing it. The incident happened on the popular MySpace.com site that many students use to post stuff on. The police are also trying to use anti-hate laws against the student as it contained several slurs. These investigations are entirely appropriate.

Here's the problem: the other students did not view the web site at school, nor during school hours. They viewed it from their own homes on their own time with their own family or personal computer.

Does the school have a right to do what it has done to the students? There was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of those students who simply viewed the post and then moved on to other sites on their own time, on their own computers outside of school.

It seems to me that the school already has their suspect in hand; the others shouldn't be punished, unless they made similar kinds of threats on the web too. Student safety is a valid school concern, but the information being presented suggests that there was no further threat to student safety once the original transgressor was caught.

This will probably end up in court.

Sticker on Bike Causes Terror Alarm: DUH

Four Ohio University buildings were evacuated when a bicycle was mistaken for a bomb.

The problem began when the bike was parked on the campus; it happened to have a sticker on it that said "this bike is a pipe bomb." People panicked, the buildings were emptied and the bomb squad was called in from 65 miles away before the administration at Ohio State realized it was the name of a band from Florida.

Come on, people.

THE SKY IS FALLING!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!

Some Common Sense IS Out There: States Moving to Limit Eminent Domain

Following the horrific Supreme Court decision which greatly increased the power of governments to seize private homes in favor of development and higher tax revenues, many states are limiting the scope of eminent domain seizures.

No government has the right to take away a person's home in favor of ripping it down and putting a shopping center or other development without the consent of the person that they are trying to remove.

The negotiations should be between the landowners and the developers; government shouldn't be involved. They should be protecting the rights of homeowners who decide to say 'no' to any offer that a developer gives them and punish developers who harass those landowners who decline the developer's offer.

The only way that the government should be involved is if it seizes a property for non-payment of property taxes.

It is unbelievable that the Supreme Court ruled to open Pandora's Box the way it did. And it's a relief that the states are applying a generous amount of common sense (that the Supreme Court was missing in their decision) to deal with the injustice being dealt to landowners.

Patriot Act Misapplied Again: Man Charged With Shining Laser into Jet Cockpit

Here they go again with misapplying the Patriot Act.

A court in New Jersey applied the Patriot Act against a man who was charged with firing a laser into a jet cockpit and a police helicopter and sentenced him to two months probation.

TWO MONTHS PROBATION??!

Existing statutes should have been applied; he would have gotten significant jail time AND probation. Instead this man is getting two months probation for endangering a commercial jetliner on landing approach and a police helicopter some time later.

They need to either upgrade the Patriot Act sentencing guidelines or stop applying it and let more stringent federal laws punish the transgressor.

Bird Flu Could Enter U.S. Through New Mexico or Louisiana: States Allow Cockfighting and Transportation of Fighting Birds

The U.S. has gaping holes in its efforts to keep avian bird flu out of the country.

It stems from the fact that New Mexico and Louisiana allow cockfighting (rooster fights) and the fact that the Animal Welfare Act allows for combat roosters to be transported over state and national lines to those states where the bloodsport is legal.

The concern comes from overseas, as some people have gotten bird flu from their contaminated combat roosters, mainly in Thailand.

The current conventional wisdom is that each time the bird flu jumps from an animal to a human, it increases the possibility of the bird flu mutating into a monster epidemic/pandemic that goes airborne, easily infects humans, and is resistant to antibiotics. This must not be allowed to happen.

The U.S. government should ban the import and/or transport of combat roosters to any U.S. territory, whether cockfighting is legal in the states or not.

Efforts to amend the Animal Welfare Act have failed thus far; cosponsors in the House and Senate tried to attach an amendment to a Department of Defense Bill, which they shouldn't have done. It should have been a stand-alone bill: the Senate unanimously passed the amendment, and the House amendment had two hundred cosponsors. But the amendment was killed in committee.

Hopefully the state governments of Louisiana and New Mexico do the right thing and ban both the import of foreign birds and criminalize cockfighting, since it has been shown to be an avenue for avian bird flu to contaminate humans.

But the U.S. government should get with the program and pass the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act regardless of what Louisiana and New Mexico choose to do.

Press Criticizes Decision to Delay News of Cheney Hunting Accident: So?

The press is complaining about not being notified that the Vice President was involved in a hunting accident immediately after it happened.

Too bad.

Perhaps they could point to the part of the Constitution or the law that requires the White House to inform the press IMMEDIATELY that the Vice President was involved in a hunting accident?

Maybe they would have dropped their cameras and rushed to the scene to render first aid? NOT!!

The press didn't NEED to be informed ASAP. They would have swarmed the scene and interfered with a rescue situation to get the story out.

Granted, this is a very interesting story; but the press can go jump in a lake with their demands. They're not next of kin.

Thousands of Displaced Katrina Victims Facing Eviction: This Isn't Right

Monday will be a national disgrace.

It's when thousands of Katrina families will be turned out into the streets to fend for themselves, in spite of the fact that the government hasn't done what it promised to help them. Many are still waiting for FEMA trailers that are currently sitting unoccupied at an airport in rural Arkansas.

What the hell are we paying taxes for?

Our government would rather spend money to rebuild Iraq (that will never be a true democracy), but not on fellow Americans who got ran out of their own homes because the government-built levees surrounding New Orleans failed. This isn't right.

Until the government fulfills it's pledge to rebuild the Gulf Coast, it shouldn't be putting ANYONE onto the streets just yet. They have a LONG ways to go before this should be even considered.

Yahoo Should Be Punished for Helping Chinese Government Jail Chinese Pro-Democracy Writers

Yahoo screwed up. Again.

The Internet company aided Chinese authorities in their persecution of Chinese dissidents by providing evidence that led to Chinese dissident Li Zhi being sent to prison for eight years for writing in favor of democracy and trying to join a pro-democracy group.

This is the second time that Yahoo has helped the Chinese communists put pro-democracy writers into jail. The first dissident was sentenced to ten years in prison for writing about what kind of effect that communist rule was having on average Chinese citizens and about protest movements that the Chinese government put down with extreme levels of violence. Yahoo helped lock him up too.

Yahoo needs to STOP assisting the Chinese communists in their oppression of people with different views than the official Chinese Communist Party line.

Yahoo is guilty of conspiring with the Chinese government and should be punished! And so should any Internet company that puts pro-democracy supporters under threat from their oppressive governments by giving assistance in convicting them of POLITICAL crimes.

If China becomes a democracy one day, hopefully the Chinese people will remember which companies were willing to sacrifice their freedom for the sake of profit.

Yahoo should be ashamed of what they have done for their bottom line.

Iranian Newspaper Plans on Holding Holocaust Cartoon Contest

Iran's Hamshahri newspaper announced an international contest for Holocaust cartoons to see if the same papers who printed the Mohammed cartoons would also print the Holocaust ones.

One clear result will come out of this for the entire world to see:

Jewish reaction to it will be much more mature than militant Islamic reactions to the prophet cartoons has been. Don't expect to see Jewish demonstrators burning down Iranian embassies, burning Muslim flags or parading children through the streets chanting anti-Iranian or anti-Muslim slogans as the militant Muslims have done in recent days. Nor will they attack the embassies of Western nations who do run the cartoons.

The international reaction will probably be very muted in contrast to the juvenile-like violence taking place in the Islamic world.

It should be noted that the hostage-taking Iranian President's friends control this newspaper, and that this also is not about freedom of speech, but keeping the hatred of Israel and Jews alive in the Muslim world.

Since Iran and most of the Muslim world have no free speech or free press, they have little credibility in making critical observations about the free press in other nations and have no right to ask Western media outlets to spread their anti-Jewish venom to make a point.

Freedom of speech is no more a weapon for Islamic nations to use against their enemies than it is for a Western newspaper to use as a shield to hide behind instead of admitting to a major screw-up.

So if this Iranian terrorist paper wants to publish their hatred and demand that Western newspapers republish them, they should probably print them into toilet paper form so that they'll have a practical use afterwards.

These Holocaust cartoons will probably be much worse than the prophet cartoons as the Holocaust cartoons will be based on revenge-style hatred and will be propaganda, not free speech.

Ricky Holland's Parents Charged with Murdering Him

The developing Ricky Holland story out of Williamston took another turn today when the prosecutor charged both parents with murdering Ricky. If convicted, they face life in prison.

Tests to determine how the boy died are continuing.

These people (the boy's foster-parents) have some nerve, watching as hundreds of volunteers from around the region turned out to search for the boy after the foster-parents reported him missing on July 2nd of last year and KNOWING full well that the boy was already dead.

Innocent until proven guilty, I know, but they told the cops precisely where to find the body and swore that the other had killed him. That's incriminating enough as it is. If there was an accident, why didn't they call the police straightaway, instead of inventing a bunch of HOOEY about what happened to this child?

Here's the LSJ collection of stories on this case.

European and American Use of "Freedom of Speech" in Real-World Situations are Clearly Not the Same

The ongoing cartoon row between the Islamic world and the West has illustrated major differences in how freedom of speech is applied in real-world situations.

One European newspaper after another ran the Mohammed cartoons simply because they could. After it blew up in their faces, they took the HOW DARE ANYONE ATTACK OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH!! defense. This militant approach isn't helping Europe's cause.

In contrast, American newspapers didn't run the cartoons simply because they could; a few outlets did run them, but, according to some of these newspapers, they ran them deep inside their papers with various explanations of why they did so, and to let readers decide for themselves if the cartoons were offensive or not.

For the most part, most American papers and broadcast outlets refused to air the photos as they subscribe to the notion that fighting words (or pictures) are not protected speech. Yelling FIRE in a packed room which leads to a stampede is not protected speech either. These cartoons have the same effect as fighting words. They shouldn't have, but they did.

The failure that happened was when the Western newspapers ignored what was already happening in the Islamic world and ran the cartoons. They did so regardless of the serious consequences that were playing out on the news right in front of their faces. If one is trying to extinguish a fire, does one throw gasoline on the fire to put it out? DUH!!!

This is not about a threat to freedom of speech. This is about newspapers realizing that they've made a catastrophic mistake but choosing to hide behind the freedom of speech instead of admitting their mistake and getting it right.

This also shows that in spite of what happened to it on 9/11, America is a more tolerant society than the Europeans give it credit for. The fact that most American news sources refused to show the photos out of respect for the various Islamic faiths is proof of it for one thing; American news media is also more open to admitting when they make a mistake.

Remember Memogate on CBS's 60 Minutes program during the 2004 U.S. Presidential election campaign? Remember the outrage following incorrect reports that the Quran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay? Both news agencies involved apologized there.

Europe needs to get their act together and get this right.

Using freedom of speech as an excuse to cover up deeply irresponsibile behavior should not be tolerated by any free society; especially if people are dying because of what the newspapers did. This is a sickening situation.

Conflict Over Anti-Islamic Cartoons: Newspapers Are Fueling the Fire

A major culture clash is taking place between Europe and the Islamic world.

It stems from European newspapers depicting caricatures of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, which are viewed as highly insulting to the Muslim world. A newspaper in Denmark ran the cartoons first, and other European newspapers in Germany, France and Norway ran them as well.

A rage far worse than what was seen during the Abu Gharib prison photo scandal has enveloped much of the Muslim world; militants are threatening to kill Westerners in reprisal in Palestine and other countries.

The outrage stems from Islamic law that strictly prohibits Mohammed from being portrayed visually.

The original idea was to see if cartoonists drawing the original cartoons would change their work in the face of "offending Muslim sensibilities" or if they would go all-out and do what they wanted. Most went all-out; the cartoons were printed and protests around the world began.

Then more newspapers printed the cartoons.

Consider: after the severe political backlash against Denmark, why did other newpapers in other nations run the cartoons as well, knowing that it would enrage the Muslim world even more and reinforce a Muslim-held belief that Europe was Islam-hostile? And that it would give Muslim extremists another excuse to kill Westerners?

The real problem is that the cartoons don't just insult Islamic extremists; it offends every Muslim, including moderate and neutral Muslims. The ban on Mohammed drawings and pictures is observed by the Shiite and Sunni sects of Islam.

I am sensitive to free-speech issues, but when free speech causes innocent people to die, then there's a problem, and the less said the better. For that reason, I will not post the photos here and contribute to an innocent person or persons being beheaded by sword-waving extremist idiots.

This should never have made it into print in the first place. The more the photos are reproduced, the worse this will get, and the deeper the divisions between Islam and the West will become.

Communities Devastated by the Loss of Ricky Holland; Parents Stand Accused

The nightmare surrounding the disappearance of seven-year-old Ricky Holland has turned a corner.

The boy's body was found six months after he disappeared; both foster parents are accusing the other of killing Ricky.

Things came to a head earlier this week when the mom tried to kill the dad; both spoke to the police, and after detailed conversations, police pinpointed the boy's exact resting spot, twenty miles from his adopted home. Both parents are under arrest; the mom is charged with assault with a deadly weapon for trying to kill her husband; both are charged with obstruction of justice with more charges to follow.

Many CERT team members, neighbors, friends, family members, law enforcement officials, community members and people from all over the area converged on Williamston to hunt for the boy when a massive search was initiated on July 2nd. A vigil was held Sunday night in Ricky's memory; his brothers and sisters are being cared for by other relatives.

Like many in our community, I was deeply saddened to learn of Ricky's fate. Many were holding out hope that the boy would reappear as mysteriously as he disappeared, but that hope was dashed when the Williamston police announced that Ricky was gone and that his foster parents were accusing the other of complicity in Ricky's death.

Ricky can be lain to rest now; he's in God's loving care.

The truth will soon be known as to exactly what happened to him, and the guilty will be punished for this act of unspeakable evil.

The complete story can be found at the Lansing State Journal.

Hamas Says No to Peace with Israel: Won't Renounce Violence

Hamas has said 'no' to peace with Israel and 'no' to renouncing their goal of destroying Israel.

Their stance has guaranteed that the bloodshed will continue.

Except now, the Palestinians are moving toward a civil war, so Palestinians will be killing each other in addition to the Israelis, who will continue striking back wherever and whenever they can.

The Palestinians fell victim to groupthink; the ruling Fatah party was widely seen as being corrupt, and the Palestinians voted for Hamas's platform of clean government, even though they didn't support the rest of Hamas's stated goals and ambitions.

Voting for a candidate on a single issue is extremely unwise; this is true anywhere in the world, including here. Here's an example of this kind of groupthink:

A candidate's stated goal is to change the U.S. flag, but is also a crime lord who has murdered politicians, judges and ordinary people for supporting strong laws against crime and against changing the Pledge of Allegience and the U.S. flag.

Johnny Voter and many like him decide to vote for the crime lord candidate because they don't like the current U.S. flag either. They ignore the crime lord's stand on abortion, gun control, the death penalty, taxes, and everything else because of the U.S. flag issue. This is in spite of the fact that they totally disagree with the candidate on his views of the issues mentioned above.

That's exactly what the Palestinian voters did. And now the entire peace process is in chaos because of their shortsightedness.

Mexico Must Stop Violating U.S. Territory and Close the Border to Illegal Border Crossings

Mexico shouldn't be providing maps of the southwestern U.S. to illegals preparing to go over the border into the United States.

Nor should the U.S. hesitate in arresting or firing on uniformed Mexicans OR Americans who appear to be protecting border crossers or drug dealers on our side of the border. Mexico has said that these men are imposters and that they are actually Mexican gangs who have access to military uniforms and weapons.

Mexican gangs are not welcome here; nor is Mexican government interference in the protection of our border. It could be argued that Mexico is helping al-Qaeda and other extremist groups around U.S. security measures, thereby weakening our civil liberties by forcing the government to tighten up security measures. It isn't right.

More to follow on this.

Scope of Hamas Victory Widens Overnight: Big Trouble in the Works

It appears that Hamas has captured 70-75 seats of the 132-seat Palestinian parliament, which means they will be running Palestine.

Last night, exit pollers were predicting that Hamas would capture 40% of the seats, but now it looks like Hamas got 57% of the seats.

The consequences are already beginning: the Palestinian cabinet has already resigned as Fatah does not wish to participate in a coalition government with Hamas. The peace process is definitely on hold as Israel and the U.S. have said that they will not deal with Hamas until it gets rid of it's platform of calling for Israel's destruction. Should that happen, however, both governments have signalled a willingness to deal with Hamas.

Any hope of a bi-lateral peace now rests with Hamas and their attitude toward Israel.

The sad part about this is that Fatah and Israel failed to work together to bring peace to the Holy Lands. They blew it.

Now they have radicals in charge of the Palestinian territories who have no interest in recognizing Israel or working toward peace. Additionally, Fatah's corruption problems and Israel's hard-line stance brought this about. So they shouldn't blame the Palestinian people too much for what has happened. Their own stubborn attitudes are more responsible than the Palestinians voting in free and fair elections for the government of their choice.

Hamas Victory in Palestinian Elections Should Cause U.S. to Reconsider Diplomatic Relations with Palestine

"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists."

That mantra has been the bedrock of U.S. conduct toward hostage takers, terrorists, and other scum who use terrorism to get the U.S. government to do their will for decades.

The huge question now is: what will the U.S. do now that the terrorist group Hamas is a legitimately elected force in the Palestinian territories?

If they capture control of the Palestinian government, we ought to be looking at breaking off relations with the Palestinians.

Hamas is still dedicated to destroying Israel; there can be no peace as long as Hamas is dedicated to this goal. If they change their tune and work WITH Israel to establish a viable Palestinian state that will be at peace with Israel, then the U.S. should do all it can to support peace in the Middle East.

But Hamas is at war with Israel; until that is resolved, peace will not be coming to the Middle East anytime soon. It leads one to wonder how many Palestinians and Israelis will end up dying because the Palestinians chose Hamas's message of hatred instead of electing those who are continuing to work for peace.

It's a sad state of affairs in the Middle East.

Utter Chaos: Saddam Trial Nearing Collapse as 2nd Chief Judge Steps Down

As was widely feared, the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has turned into an utter farce.

The trial has been delayed again with the removal of another chief judge after it was discovered he had close ties with Saddam's regime and was under investigation. The first judge in the trial stepped down due to political pressure being brought on the court by the new Iraqi government.

The new judge is a Kurd whose hometown (near Halabja, Iraq) was attacked with chemical weapons, leaving nearly 5,000 dead. The new judge has said that this will not affect his judgment. Maybe, maybe not, but the mere possibility cannot be tolerated. That leaves two judges left on the five-judge panel. And neither of those judges were properly vetted by Iraqi authorities either.

It's high time to end this fiasco, declare a mistrial and either wait until the judiciary is up and running properly, or send him to the Hague. Either choice is better than allowing him to get off for what he has done to his people.

Does the Iraqi government want the world to think that kangaroo court convicted him? That's how it looks right now. They've got to step in and get control of the proceedings before the court loses any more credibility in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the international community.

This man cannot be allowed to escape justice, and that's what is happening. More attention is being paid to the court itself instead of the trial and the testimony of the witnesses.

Iranian and Syrian Belligerence Will Lead to War

How far will this go?

Iran clearly intends to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency in developing nuclear weapons. There can be no other conclusion.

On Friday it was learned that Iran began transferring $50 billion out of European banks to protect it's foreign assets from possible (likely) U.N. sanctions.

In addition, the terrorist President of Iran met with Hamas and Islamic Jihad while visiting with the Syrians. You can bet that they were not swapping recipes for cajun gumbo; they were talking about destroying Israel. The meeting took place one day after a bombing killed 20 people in Israel; that attack was claimed by Islamic Jihad.

Fact: Iran doesn't need nuclear power to generate electricity. They want the weapons, pure and simple, and are telling the world to go screw itself. Their vast oil reserves are more than sufficient to meet their immediate needs; they have no need for nuclear power in the timetable that they're talking about. In fact, they have surplus energy already.

Israel is now hinting at military options to deal with the Iranians. And they won't be bluffing either.

Syria is also misbehaving, refusing to cooperate in the investigation that has implicated the top Syrian leadership in the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister. They've also publicly allied themselves to the Iranians, and have allowed Hamas and Islamic Jihad to operate out of their territory for years.

If these two countries are not careful, they may become the latest target for "regime change" and it won't just be the U.S. and Britain coming after them either.

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Castro Says U.S. is Afraid to Play Cuba in Baseball

Cuban President Fidel Castro accused the U.S. government of being afraid to let the Cuban national baseball team play at the World Baseball Classic, which is to be held in Puerto Rico and then in the U.S. itself.

Castro should be thanking the American government for considering not letting the Cuban team play: by the time the tournament is underway, the entire Cuban team will have defected to this country, as so many other Cuban baseball players have.

It would be so sad if the Cubans were to forfeit due to their entire team showing up in the Cuban exile communities in Florida en masse. . and they had signed major league baseball contracts in hand. The Cuban coach and Castro would have so much egg in their faces!

So it's only out of a sense of sportsmanship that the U.S. government may not want the Cuban team to show up, Mr. Castro. They want the Cubans to field a team elsewhere so that the U.S. team won't have to accept a forfeit from the Cubans due to lack of an entire team!

(I know, it's the embargo, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up!)

Clinton Unashamedly Uses MLK Day to Score Political Points

Senator Clinton used a speech at a MLK Day observance to call the GOP-dominated government 'one of the most corrupt in U.S. history' and said that the House and Senate were run like a 'plantation' where 'voices of dissent were quashed'.

It's simply amazing that Senator Clinton would toot her own horn on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and to launch an attack on her rivals by means of one the most mean-spirited and culturally insensitive ways imaginable. She also showed a unique misunderstanding of what plantations were and what was done to slaves there. Coming from a white southern woman, it was an incredibly dumb thing to say.

I don't see any Democrats in Congress being whipped, being forced to work out in the cotton fields, being shot, being raped by their overseers, being severely beaten, having parts of their feet being cut off to keep them from escaping, being starved (plenty of overweight Senators and Congressmen to go around), and other unspeakable terrors inflicted on African American slaves in the South.

Senator Clinton's side can't get their legislation through Congress, nor can they stop GOP legislation due to their lack of numbers. And they're whining about it. Consider this: if they had the same amount of control over both houses that the GOP has, they would be really sticking it to the GOP in the SAME way that the GOP is sticking it to them right now.

The Democrats ought to get over it, and campaign for what they believe in, not for what they think people want to hear. Honesty and establishing where they stand on specific issues will gain them more points than Senator Clinton's misinformed and insensitive comments will.

Next U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Should be Christened USS America

Construction is set to begin next year on the U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carrier (CVN-78).

The new vessel should be named to honor the ship that was sacrificed to improve the safety of the next generation of aircraft carriers, the Kitty Hawk-class carrier USS America, and to honor the veterans of today's wars.

Many do not realize this, but the Navy used the retired carrier for target practice last year, and then scuttled the ship in 6,000 feet of water, much to the resignation of veterans who served aboard her.

The ex-America is the largest warship to have been sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic ever.

Explosions above and below the waterline were carried out on the carrier, via explosives planted inside the ship, as well as from gunfire, missile and torpedo attacks from U.S. Navy warships, to determine how much punishment a supercarrier could take and what the effect of anti-ship missiles would have on such a huge ship. Detailed sensors relayed data to nearby Navy vessels for analysis.

After three weeks of tests, the sea chocks were opened and the USS America (CV-66) was sent to the bottom. The picture to the left was taken moments after the carrier sank on May 14, 2005.

The next Nimitz-class carrier that will come out of the shipbuilding yard at Newport News, VA, is to be the massive USS George HW Bush (CVN-77), named for the last war veteran President.

After that, CVN-78 is to be laid down.

It appears that CVN-78 will be a new class of carrier that will have incorporated the lessons learned from the USS America's final mission. Even in death, the ship served the Navy that had built her, so it seems appropriate that the next carrier be named to honor both yesterday's and today's veterans, as well as honoring the decommissioned USS America.

Hopefully the Navy does the USS America veterans justice and honors their sacrifice with the naming of an entire class of carriers after their famed ship.

Why Does Iran Need Nuclear Power at All?

With 125.8 billion barrels of oil in proven oil reserves, what does Iran need nuclear power for? It's not to generate electricity cheaply--they can already do that.

Iran's threat to shut off their oil taps to the West is another illustration as to why we should be developing native alternative fuels, so we can tell them to go screw themselves and their oil. Do we REALLY want to be held hostage (economically) by a terrorist leader of an oil-producing nation if we don't allow him to have nuclear weapons?

Silence of the House Ethics Committee is Deafening: Where Did They Go?

The swirling scandal about Jack Abramoff is causing some members of Congress to run and hide.

Most notably, the House Ethics Committee appears to be missing in action. This is the group of Congresspeople who should be working their butts off, crafting fixes to the problem that have been revealed in the wake of the Abramoff deal. Instead, they are silent. They're so paralyzed by infighting that a deal had to be reached to restore civility in the committee--at the cost of being able to do their work.

This committee needs to do a major revamp of the rules and get rid of gray areas to restore black and white in campaign finance and lobbying. Most of today's problems with ethics occur in the gray areas, as well as the arguments. And the rules should be applied to ALL, not just some.

An action is either right or wrong. There is no in-between, and that should be reflected in their rules.

This panel needs to quit hiding and set a speed record in getting stuff done and restoring public confidence in a flawed system if they wish to keep their jobs.

Does the phrase "We'll remember in November" ring a bell?

Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Last Week Were Useless

Did anyone catch the fact that the Democratic Senators had thirty minutes to ask Samuel Alito questions about his judicial philosophy and spent at least twenty minutes reading prepared statements, while spending a fraction of the time actually quizzing the Supreme Court nominee?

Was he really that unstoppable? Or was it because the Democrats fumbled the ball over and over, and asked all the wrong questions?

Or was it because they had already made up their minds, despite repeated statements that they had open minds?

In spite of Senator Biden's windbag routine during his time, he did say something afterwards that I generally agree with: do away with the hearings and have the nomination go straight to the Senate floor for debate.

While it's probably unwise to completely get rid of the hearings, they can probably be streamlined so that time isn't wasted on Senatorial windbag routines like what we saw last week.

But everyone knows that will NEVER happen; who has ever heard of a Senator or Congressperson who doesn't like to hear themselves talk? For them to lose the golden opportunity to get their names in the press...it would be like a preacher trying to impart a lesson from the Bible without using the Bible or any quotations or reasoning from it to a non-religious person. It will never happen.

Translation of What Iraqi Politician (Should Have) Said

Iraqi politician Harith al-Ubaidi recently made a grand statement about how the violence in Iraq was the fault of the Americans and that if "the occupier would leave, Iraqis would live as brothers."

In my humble opinion, what he meant to say was that if "the occupier would leave, Iraqis would turn their guns on their brothers."

This is because his political party, the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), is a front for Sunni insurgent groups who are targeting everyone in sight, including the international forces, ordinary Iraqis of every religious affiliation, non-combatants of every nationality and their enemies abroad.

The IAF is like Hamas in Palestine: a terrorist organization first, then a political party.

He denounced the bombing of a Shiite mosque by terrorists on one hand, while trying to shift the blame away from his allies who had carried out the bombing and focus it on the U.S. military in the other.

What a vicious circle. And the Shiites and the Kurds have to deal with the IAF in order to form the new government.

Postal Service Budget Shortfall is Artificial: Congress Needs to Correct Legislation to Get It Right

Most of the American public is now aware that the cost of sending a first-class letter jumped up two cents to 39 cents. Other rates were also changed, too, but for our purposes here, the rate increase affecting the most people will be the first-class rate hike.

According to the USPS, there will also be another rate hike in 2006.

Why? The Post Office is already a huge moneymaker for the government.

A few years ago, Congress had concerns that the USPS coudn't handle it's own money, and the post office had already made record profits (to the tune of $70 billion) that particular year. Congress passed a law that required extra moneys made to be put into an escrow account. So the postal system starting making regular deposits in this account.

That particular legislation expired in 2004, but still remains in effect until new legislation is passed. The problem is that the payments are now cutting into the profits that the postal system makes and has caused the Postal Service to go into negative territory, necessitating the need for rate hikes that are being paid for by the American public.

So with this hike and the next one, rates will have gone up by (up to) 15% in two years.

Two bills that fix the problem are in Congress, but they are stalled.

They ought to consider getting rid of the escrow, and LOWERING the rates for the American public. But there's no way that that will happen as the government likes the escrow as it is recorded as income for them. Yet the postal service belongs to them, so their profits end up with the government regardless. So what is the problem?

Health care? That can be paid for out of the huge surplus that they will be making. They will still have a huge surplus after health care costs are deducted too.

The feds created this problem; they should now fix it and quit screwing the American public.

Microsoft is No Friend of Free Speech: Company Shuts Down Blog of Chinese Blogger Deemed as an Enemy of the Chinese Government

Microsoft Corp. has shut down the blog of a Chinese journalist who expressed his opposition to Communist China's policies. Microsoft did so at the request of the Chinese government after the Chinese blogger supported the Beijing News staff who staged a one-day strike to protest the removal of an outspoken news editor who wouldn't keep quiet either.

The blogger also commented on China's planned war of aggression against Taiwan, which "offended Chinese sensibilities." China's policy toward Taiwan has been ANYTHING but sensible.

To hell with the Chinese government. Any government that fears the exchange of ideas between its citizens doesn't deserve to exist.

Microsoft and other companies shouldn't support immoral laws that stifle free speech and the exchange of ideas through cyberspace.

Washington Needs a Good Scandal to Expose the Corruption

The Abramoff scandal in Washington has many politicians shaking in fear as to what's going to happen to them for their participation in the graft.

GOOD!

Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington and many Representatives and Senators and other officials are much too cozy with them for comfort.

There's no doubt that both political parties have their fingerprints all over dirty money, so one party has no leverage over the other. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi shouldn't be crowing too loudly; read here and here as to why.

So let the chips fall where they may; those who have done wrong should be shown the door. This is what happens when people stay in office too long.

Aid and Comfort from the Dead: Miners Leave Notes of Comfort to Families

There is word that some of the trapped West Virginia miners left behind messages to loved ones and to family members of other miners who had already perished.

Most of the notes describe the men as simply falling asleep, which will be a tremendous help to families who are struggling with visions of their loved ones suffering before they passed away.

They knew that they weren't going to make it, and instead of sucumbing to despair, they reached out to their loved ones with their final thoughts and actions.

That is a precious gift that will aid the families in their time of grief.

Mining Company Releases More Information on West Virginia Mining Disaster

Company officials at the Sago Mine in West Virginia continued to release information as to what went wrong with the disasterous communications failure that added to the pain and anguish of the families.

Rescuers did their jobs and located the place where the survivors had gathered before they all died. We have no idea what they had to go through to find them, but it must have been extremely difficult.

The company says that because the rescue team had to keep their oxygen masks on in order to breathe, they had no choice but to communicate on their radios with the masks on. As a result, the communication was not clear, someone misunderstood the message and the families were notified with all the wrong information.

The company also added other reasons why things happened the way they did, but the above explanation makes the most sense.

Having worn a similar type of oxygen mask and having tried to communicate with others wearing similar types of masks, I can tell you that it isn't easy. One's voice is muffled quite badly. The experience was like being in a room with ten other people who all spoke different languages with only a few common words. I couldn't imagine trying to talk on a radio under those conditions.

Under those circumstances, why use code? Plain language would have been better in this instance. True, someone could have monitored the communication and reported it to the families themselves, taking that job out of the hands of the company, BUT the information would have been accurate and this screw-up could have been avoided.

Hopefully other mines are taking notes on all of this and upgrading their disaster plans.

Major Screw-Up in Communications at Scene of West Virginia Coal Mine Disaster: Cruel "Miscommunication" Dashes Hopes of Elated Relatives

Of all the incredibly STUPID blunders!

People all around the world rejoiced in the discovery that twelve miners were discovered alive in a West Virginia coal mine some 40+ hours after a major explosion rocked the mine and caused the ceiling to cave in. For some three hours, relatives of the trapped miners rejoiced in the knowledge that their loved ones would be returning to them in one piece.

But it was not to be. It never was.

A coal mine official came out at three o'clock in the morning and announced that the miners were all dead, save one who was barely alive. Fury, shock and grief overcame the jubilation that the mining company allowed to continue for three frigging hours. They blew it. It was a cruel and devastating turn of events.

The heart and soul of the mining community was torn to pieces. It should never have happened this way; it's bad enough that the miners didn't make it, but for their families and their community to suffer like this is utterly heartbreaking.

It is unknown who spread the story that the miners were alive, but the apalling damage they inflicted on the community is almost beyond belief.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and to this devastated community who have endured so much, had three hours of happiness and then lost all their hope. We also pray for the recovery of the miner who survived.

Conspiracy Theorists Point to Existing Executive Orders as a Way for a Future President to Establish a Dictatorship

Wandering around the Internet, I came across several web sites that were devoted to FEMA as being the instrument that would be used to establish a dictatorship in the United States of America.

Before exploring the subject in a future post, one has to know which Executive Orders have the conspiracy theorists so upset. All of these orders were prepared by the Kennedy Administration during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

The theorists are wrong in their arguments. They forget that the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, not FEMA, and not the President.

These particular Executive Orders were prepared for use if the United States fell victim to a massive nuclear attack from the Soviet Union and large parts of the country were destroyed in the resulting nuclear holocaust. Control would have to fall to the government to get the country back on it's feet.

So read the orders below with a grain of salt and understand that Executive Orders have no legal standing to supplant the Constitution. Executive Orders that attempt to make law are illegal as the Constitution trumps that notion. Also, Congress can override an Executive Order by passing a bill that directly opposes it and then is able to override a Presidential veto with a 2/3 majority.

Here are the Executive Orders in question:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

Take these orders as you will.

British Nutter Marries....Dolphin??!

A crazy British woman decided to marry a dolphin recently.

And it's amazing that the media coverage of this...story...is somewhat serious. This story is an example of what happens when environmentalism combines with mental illness.

It's gotta be a slow news week around the world for so many international media outlets to cover this.

And what kind of guy's name is Cindy??!

1992 Execution in Virginia May Have Been Wrong: DNA Tests Will Settle Issue Once and For All

Virginia is considering doing DNA testing to see if it executed an innocent man in 1992.

The case and execution stems from a brutal rape and murder of the executed man's sister-in-law. Police arrested him and charged him with raping and murdering her. A court convicted him and sentenced him to death. The sentence was carried out on May 20th, 1992.

DNA has apparently been preserved in a freezer and death penalty opponents want the DNA to be tested to determine whether the man they executed was the right man. The state justice system is opposing this action as it could (would) undermine faith in Virginia's criminal justice system IF the DNA pointed to another man.

It appears from the mountain of evidence against him that Virginia did have the right man and so would be vindicated...to a degree. The death penalty is an example of fighting evil with evil and should be outlawed.

If it's scientifically proven that the death penalty was misapplied in this case, it will energize the movement to ban the death penalty and begin to sway some hearts that are, thus far, in favor of the ultimate sanction.

If Virgina did it's job in convicting this man, then it shouldn't be afraid of what the tests will show. Should it?

Family Undergoes Terrible Experience and Reaches Out to Irresponsible (Unknown) Driver via Local Newspaper

I'm going to post a letter that was sent to my hometown newspaper from a family that has undergone a catastrophe due to the careless actions of someone who left the scene of an accident like a coward and left his victim to die.

This is the most powerful letter that I have ever read, and I hope the person responsible owns up to what he/she has done.

To the editor:

This is addressed to the person that drove into the back of Don Morlan's car around 10:30 p.m., Dec. 1. After ramming his car and forcing him to go directly into the path of the oncoming snowplow, you just sped away.

Did you even look back at the devastation you caused?

Have you been enjoying your holiday? Don has been lying in the ICU at Marquette General Hospital in traction, on a ventilator, fighting for his life. He sustained 39 broken bones.

Both of his arms and legs were broken in many places, including both femurs. He had compound fractures, a broken hip, pelvis, both elbows (one was also dislocated), and his sternum was split open. The doctor said that he never saw anyone with that many broken bones who was still alive.

Don has already had four long surgeries to try and put him back together and has more to look forward to. He will have a long, hard road of therapy ahead of him to try to get back the use of his arms and legs. It is very doubtful that he will ever fully recover.

Don is a father and grandfather. He will spend his 40th birthday next month still in the hospital. He has always worked very hard and was going to his job at the Goodwill Farm when you changed his life forever. Don often has nightmares of the accident. Everyday he relives seeing himself being pushed into the plow and feeling his bones being broken and crushed. He never lost consciousness, so he was awake the whole time they were cutting the roof off of his demolished car and pulling him out.

He was awake and screaming in pain on the ride to Keweenaw Memorial and the trip to Marquette in the ambulance when the muscle spasms set in. It was the first thing his mother, daughter and other family members heard when we walked in the emergency room.

Maybe you can live with yourself and what you have done. Maybe it doesn't bother you that you left him to die in a ditch on that cold, dark night. We want to make sure that you at least know how badly you have hurt a good and decent man. Our family would like to thank the driver of the snowplow who called for help and stayed with Don until they arrived. We would also like to thank everyone else who helped. We encourage anyone who saw anything or knows anything to contact the police, if they have not already done so.

Thank you.

KM Family

Hancock

Iran's Terrorist President Continues Verbal Assault on Israel; Says European Nations Created Jewish State to Finish the Holocaust

He's at it again.

Now instead of denying the Holocaust, Iran's hostage-taking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that European nations created Israel to rid the continent of Jews and that their intent was to have the Muslims in neighboring lands around Jerusalem finish the job.

He's been on the outs with the international community since he called Israel a "blot on the map" and said that Israel should be wiped off that map. Last month he called the Holocaust a myth; after the world protested he said that Europe should give up land to establish a Jewish state there and remove it from where it currently is.

This man is an idiot who doesn't know when to shut up. He's definitely the rudest leader on the planet with no concern about what he says and when he says it. And this man thinks the world will trust him with nuclear arms?

LSJ Story Riles Readers: Teen Girls Ejected from Lansing Mall and Acused of...Loitering

Question: At what age does age discrimination become age discrimination?

This is a question that has been plaguing shopping malls across the nation as they try to recapture control of their shopping areas from hoodlums who have turned malls into gang hangouts.

One such mall is the Lansing Mall.

In recent years gangs had a major presence there; shopping could get dangerous in and around the mall. Juvenile crime was hurting shoppers and retailers alike.

A few years ago the Lansing Mall underwent a major remodeling/face-lift and the management cracked down on troublemakers by bringing in security companies and law enforcement. The atmosphere has greatly improved, the mall looks great and shoppers (old and new) have come to the mall in greater numbers year after year.

One of the things that the mall did was institute a rule banning loitering on mall property by teens and children.

Lansing State Journal (LSJ) columnist John Schneider, who has exposed several major Lansing-area scandals this year (and is an excellent writer), wrote in his Thursday column that four girls (ages 11-15) were walking around the mall to spend several hundred dollars worth of gift cards that they had gotten for Christmas.

They were approached by a security guard and asked to leave the mall for doing "more loitering than buying."

Schneider wrote in today's column in the LSJ that dozens of e-mails and phone calls had come in from readers who were fired up about the incident. Some have come down hard on the mall policy as age discrimination; others came down hard on the girls' parents for dropping them off in the first place; yet others came to the mall's defense.

It's my turn.

The Lansing Mall management should be complimented for getting control of the dangerous climate that existed there previously. Getting the drugs and weapons out of there (along with their owners) has indeed made it safer for shoppers.

Errors were definitely made: the parents screwed up, the security guard didn't handle this right due to his not distinguishing between four girls who were slowly making their way around the mall and gang hoodlums who were in there looking for trouble, and the management of the Lansing Mall should have realized that not all teens are troublemakers. One solution doesn't fit every problem.

It's very unfortunate that this had to happen.

Katrina Causes 2,000 Gulf Coast Sex Offenders to Vanish

Law enforcement officials in Katrina-hit areas of the Gulf Coast are asking for help in locating 2,000 registered sex offenders who are no longer where they are supposed to be.

It is believed that many fled as the monster hurricane approached the coastline and were sent to states that took in Katrina evacuees, including Michigan.

Most have failed to register their whereabouts as they are required to by law. Officials are worried that these people will be more willing to strike again since they are no longer under supervision of the state that they were from.

FEMA has sent out a warning message to all fifty state governors apprising them of the situation and encouraging them to do what they can to locate the missing 2,000 offenders.

Hopefully this situation will be corrected soon.

CIA Considering Disciplinary Action for 9/11 Failures: Cover-Up Continues

The CIA is considering disciplining agents and officials for the failure to detect and stop 9/11 from happening.

In the end, it doesn't matter what the CIA does. The full story of 9/11 is still untold and the CIA's attempt to place blame is designed to bury the story.

Why is the full story of the events leading up to 9/11 not yet known?

Because Able Danger hasn't been explained fully yet; those who were asked to testify before Congress were denied permission by the military to do so.

This refusal to allow members of Able Danger to testify leads one to several possible conclusions:

• The military did know about one of the cells that launched the 9/11 attacks but did nothing to stop it.
• Able Danger broke the law and learned of the 9/11 operation.
• Able Danger is an ongoing military operation.
• The military doesn't want its' sources to be compromised.
  

As long as there is unexplored information out there, all CIA actions to point fingers and punish people for 9/11 is a railroad job. This CIA move to punish officials for their failures on or before 9/11 is therefore meaningless.

We shouldn't stand for this.

Canada Blames U.S. for CANADIAN Failure to Stop Guns From Coming into Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin blamed the U.S. for exporting violence into Canada via lax gun control laws, following a shooting in Toronto which left a fifteen-year-old girl dead and six other people wounded the day after Christmas.

Forgive the question, but isn't Canada in charge of securing it's own borders?

They need to take responsibility for their own failures and quit blaming the U.S. for Canadian social ills. Canada should address it's problem by better policing and doing a better job of running their side of the border. If that means searching every vehicle that comes across from the U.S. side, then so be it.

This story is a politician's way of dodging the problem.

Patriot Act Reconsidered: Change of Opinion

After studying the USA Patriot Act for the last year and looking at the impact that it's had on the lives on everyday Americans, I have concluded that some of my earlier opinions about the Act were incorrect.

I now think that the Act should be renewed for another two years "as is" with a couple of amendments.

The reasons for this change in position are twofold:

Has anyone checked the calendar to see when was the last time al-Qaeda hit the continental U.S.? It was on 9/11, wasn't it?

Has anyone noticed a change in their day-to-day activities and freedoms because of the Patriot Act?

Muslims might answer 'yes', but what about the 99% of the rest of America? Most would say 'no' unless they're doing something illegal.

Having said that, we should be concerned about the government following the rule of law, so there should be some additions to the Patriot Act that restrict the actions of the government. Namely, ALL wiretaps need to have the permission of a court, OR they need to report it to the court afterwards if it's an emergency (they have to prove to the court that it IS an emergency too). Presidential "authority" to order wiretaps without reporting it to the court should be banned.

The application of the Patriot Act in the cases of people pointing lasers into airline cockpits to blind the pilots was wrong; existing laws carried heavier penalties than the Patriot Act did. Misapplication of the Patriot Act is a problem and that should be addressed by Congress after the New Year.

Finally, they should rename the Act. "Patriot Act" sounds like something to honor patriotic Americans, not stop terrorists.

That's where it stands.

Declaration of Intent: ThunderFerret's Realm in 2006

In 2006, this blog will:

• Fight attempts to ban God from everything.
• Continue to speak out against abortion as opportunities present themselves.
• Continue to speak out against the death penalty.
• Draw attention to injustice in all of its forms.
• Point out policy errors in government.
• Draw attention to the best in people.
• Draw attention to the worst in people.
• Continue to support and criticize our government.
• Criticize attempts to amend the Constitution.
• Criticize those who continue to tout the deeply-flawed Kyoto Accords as the ultimate solve-all to the world's environmental issues.
• Demand that the government follow the rule of law, no matter how inconvenient it is.
• Encourage lawmakers to revise the Patriot Act to protect against abuses and to rename the Act as something else--"Patriot Act" doesn't cut it.
• Encourage the renaming of the Homeland Security Department so it doesn't sound so...foreign.
  
• Encourage lawmakers to make September 11th as a national day of rememberence with an official label: Rememberance Day or something appropriate.
• Point out hypocrisy coming from government and from public figures and international figures.
• Point out human interest stories.
• Encourage people vote against Hillary in 2008.
• Encourage people to vote incumbants out of office from time to time.
• Point out stupidity in society.
  
• Promote thinking that will shake up the status quo as it is today. The far left and far right do not represent the entire electorate and they need to be reminded of that.

Blurring of Battle Lines in Congress are a Sign of Things to Come in 2006

The last few weeks have seen some extraordinary alliances being formed and then broken between conservatives and liberals in both houses of Congress.

It really got started a while back when Republicans in the House of Representatives presented a resolution calling for an immediate termination of military operations in Iraq. Their intent was to force waffling Democrats to take a stand on the war. As the Republicans had anticipated, the measure failed by a very wide margin. It was a pure political move designed to get the Democrats on the record, but something unexpected began to happen.

Consider: in the last two weeks, there has been a tremendous amount of political bloodshed over the Patriot Act, the proposal to open parts of federal lands in Alaska to oil drilling, the defense appropriations bill, hurricane relief bills, a rehash of last year's disasterous transportation bill, and political dogfights over whether this person or that one is waving a white flag of surrender to insurgent terrorists in Iraq. In fact, Senator Murtha tried to alter the political definitions of "insurgent" and "terrorist." That ploy didn't work. In addition, Congress agreed to include a torture ban in the defense spending bill.

Both sides continued to attach amendments (or "riders") that were too weak to stand on their own to major bills; the oil drilling thing was attached to the defense bill. This lead to the defense department's biggest supporters in Congress promising to vote against their own bills.

It's all one huge mess and it will get much worse as election time nears.

People Develop Immunity to Bird Flu Vaccine, Leaving Them Open to Bird Flu Infection

Oh, great.

The much-vaunted bird flu vaccine (Tamiflu) may be a dud, according to bird flu experts. They said this because two people in Vietnam were given the vaccine after being exposed to bird flu, developed a resistance to the drug, got real sick and died. Both had been given "early and aggressive treatment" which makes this very troubling.

Governments around the world are stockpiling Tamiflu like crazy, but it may have a major problem. The low dosage allows the human body to develop defenses against it, leaving it wide-open to invasion from the bird flu that it is supposed to be warding off with the help of the drug.

If this is true, and there is a planet-wide outbreak of bird flu, we (humanity) are SO screwed. Now is not the time to be going back to the drawing board on this. Let's hope and pray that the experts are wrong.

Judge Rules Against Intelligent Design: Is Anyone REALLY Surprised?

A federal judge ruled against a Pennsylvania school district's "intelligent design" biology curriculum today, saying that it violated the Constitution.

Is anyone REALLY surprised that this was the ruling that the federal court came up with?

Intelligent design belongs in a cultures curriculum where it fits in, not in a biology class. Many churches have said this. National debate about the issue is ongoing and it isn't going away soon.

People on the right have to understand that trying to impose a religious belief on the secular world is something that is very dangerous to do and runs the risk of being overturned in court. The artificially created separation of church and state has decades of precident behind it, and, right or wrong, that precident is the one that most federal judges will follow to the letter, as demonstrated today with the 139-page opinion from the court.

So we shouldn't be too surprised when the courts rule like this. And don't expect this argument to go away anytime soon. Here's the story.

Bush's Explanation of Wiretapping Program is Easier to Understand than People Think

President Bush's explanation of a covert wiretapping program makes perfect sense, but many don't seem to be listening to what he's saying.

Consider this: Bush said that the program monitors incoming international phone calls from known terrorists or sympathizers to people who are already under observation in this country.

So if someone on the FBI's most wanted list of terrorists (like Ayman al-Zawahiri) makes an incoming phone call to someone in the United States, and voice recognition software identifies the caller's voice as al-Qaeda's theological leader (who is suspected of organizing the massacre of 67 foreign tourists in Luxor, and the bombings of two U.S. embassies in 1998), then the NSA had better be listening to the conversation in the event that the message that al-Zawahiri is giving is an attack order on targets in the United States.

Who would al-Zawahiri be calling? Not Johnny Average American. He's calling criminals in this country who are preparing to murder thousands of people if they can.

WHO GIVES A HOOT about wiretapping in that instance? Get over it and let the government do it's job. Johnny Average American isn't being monitored unless an international killer is calling him from overseas to order him to blow up a building and everyone inside it.

That's what Bush was saying and Congress is ignoring.

You'll have to forgive me if I don't seem to be concerned about the civil rights of Americans who are aiding the enemy. Providing aid and comfort to the enemy is treason, and Americans who engage in treason with known terrorists don't deserve protection from wiretapping.

Senator Reid Misses Point: INCUMBENTS are the Problem, Not One Party or Another

Democratic Senator Reid and many in Congress are trying to distance themselves from recent financial scandals that have painted Congressmembers in a very bad way.

He was pointing to Republican senators Cunningham and DeLay, who have been accused of finance crimes. Senator Reid took it one step further, saying that the current Congress is the most corrupt version in U.S. history and that the Abramoff scandal is a Republican scandal. More on that a little later.

It should be noted that scandals that have also touched Democratic Congressmembers: current members Senator Baucus, Senator Dorgan, Senator Clinton, Senator Reid himself, and others have shown up on the scandal radar as well. In fact, many other INCUMBENT Dems and Reps have been tainted by accusations of graft and other wrongdoing.

So before Senator Reid lets his imagination and selective memory run away with him, he ought to come clean on his own involvement with Jack Abramoff, the recently indicted lobbyist. Until he does, the pot is calling the kettle black.

The REAL problem here are the incumbents staying in power too long. The longer a person stays in Washington, the more corrupt they become, and they think they can take full advantage of the opportunities that come before them. This says something for term limits in every state, doesn't it?

With the exception of Senator Clinton, few freshman Senators and Representatives have faced questions of financial wrongdoing, and even then, Senator Clinton has distance between her and Whitewater and has kept her nose out of trouble, with the exception of the very bad memory of Whitewater and Monica.

Ten years ago, Jim Wright was forced to resign as were a couple of other Democrats, and Republicans were making the same charge of corruption in Congress. We won't even talk about President Clinton.

Freshman Congresspeople should be put in charge of campaign finance reform; their hands aren't greedily grabbing handfuls of cash. That's another issue for another day.

The world turns, does it not?

Michigan Board of Canvassers Disobeys Court to Put Initiative on November Ballot: Governor Must Act

For those who missed it, there has been a bit of drama happening in Lansing over an anti-affirmative action proposal that supporters want to have put on the November 2006 ballot in Michigan.

The initiative wants people to get government jobs based on their experience, and not because of the color of their skin.

Many elected Democrats are adamently opposed to the measure; many elected Republicans are strongly in favor of the people of Michigan voting on the measure.

There was some question as to whether the 500,000 signatures on a petition were collected honestly; some Democrats claimed that people signed the petition because they thought it was a pro-affirmative action petition and that the people who gathered the signatures misrepresented what the petition was for.

This argument was taken to court, and the courts decided that the initiative should be on the November ballot. It ordered the board of canvassars to certify the signatures of the petition; they refused. They were again ordered to do so following more court proceedings, and here's what happened:

A political group from Detroit arrived from Detroit with a busload of students to attend the meeting; their behavior was awful and they ended up disrupting the meeting. Police were called in to restore order; one person was arrested. The vote was finally taken, and it was two in favor, one against, and one abstained from voting.

They were ordered to uphold the constitution of the State of Michigan; they failed to do so. Now the two Democrats on the panel who voted no or abstained are facing possible contempt of court charges. Their side argued their case against the signatures and lost.

It didn't matter what their personal opinions were by that point; they were ordered to certify the signatures by a court in good standing in the State of Michigan, and that was what they were at this meeting to do.

Governor Granholm should insist that the board members who defied the court and failed to uphold the law resign immediately, or she should expel them from the board (as provided for in the Michigan constitution) and appoint their replacements.

Her appointees aren't DOING THEIR JOBS. And the group that disrupted the meeting should be ashamed of itself for pulling kids out of school to disrupt a government meeting.

Legislation should also be put into place to prevent future occurances of this disgrace; since this is not the first time this has happened, it should be dealt with to put this issue to rest permanently.

First Thoughts on Iranian Nuclear Problem: Let the EU Take the Lead

Iran's terrorist president has taken to the airwaves, suggesting that Israel be relocated to Europe and that the Holocaust never happened.

His remarks have unleashed a wave of fury in Western capitols that will ultimately result in a military conflict between Israel and Iran (at the very least), or a coalition of countries that are determined to stop Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions.

Analysis: Israel is ready to turn Tehran into glass right now. Iran is goading Israel into a military confrontation that will allow Iran to strike freely and openly at Israel. They also appear to be betting that Europe's pacifist movement will keep the EU from getting into a military confrontation with Tehran. AND they're betting that the U.S. military is too overstretched to take action.

Some off-the-wall thoughts: the U.S. should support Israel against Iran, regardless of what the EU decides. If this means reinforcing Israel's military by providing military hardware and ammo, so be it. But for all the noise the EU is making about Iran, their track record on supporting U.S. terror initiatives has been lukewarm at best. Why should we treat their terror initiatives any differently than they treated ours?

If the EU attacks Iran, they should do so without U.S. or British or Iraq-coalition support. Let the EU take the lead and THEN try to convince the U.S. of the worthiness of THEIR cause. That would be poetic justice.

In reality, that's not how it will unfold.

Israel will probably not wait for the rest of the world to catch on that Iran's president is about nine cans short of a six-pack. The EU will probably sit it out, the result of their unwillingness to use their militaries; and who knows what the U.S. will do? It will probably deal with Iran after shoving the Europeans out of the way and telling Israel to stay out of it unless it is attacked by Iranian missiles or aircraft.

In any case, Iran's clerics ought to be telling their hostage-taking bigmouth lunatic president to shut up and comply with UN and IAEA demands before it's too late. The Iranian people will suffer the most from cracked-open Iranian nuclear reactors and blown up nuclear fuel rods scattering radioactivity to the four winds.

While the Iranian president's comments about the Holocaust were absurd and motivated by pure hatred of Israel, it can be dealt with AFTER the nuclear problem is taken care of.

And the U.S. and EU should do what they must to keep Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. But if it becomes necessary to use military force OR force a UN Security Council resolution, the ENTIRE EU should be leading the effort, not the U.S. It's their turn.

Put a Moratorium on Death Sentences Until Problems With the System are Fixed

It's hard to believe that so many people support the death penalty when it's been shown to have flaws that have led directly to the deaths of innocent people at the hands of states that were sworn to protect them.

States often fall short on the mark; critical mistakes are made, people go to jail or are sentenced to death and it takes private organizations to do DNA testing to show that a person did not commit a crime (which EVERY death-penalty state should be doing ON IT'S OWN, no matter how much it costs.)

A jury convicts a person of a crime based on how the case is presented by both sides, testimony by eyewitnesses, evidence collected at the crime scene, testimony from the accused, and the maneuvers carried out by the attorneys in court.

But what happens when the evidence is circumstantial, the eyewitnesses identify the wrong person, evidence is supressed from the jury, or the defense attorney shows up to trial hung over or unprepared? Or attorneys put their clients on the stand and the other side is able to make the accused look REALLY bad to the jury through no fault of their own? The jury convicts the person based on the performances of the players and who does a better job of explaining how the evidence shows one thing or another.

THEN the state refuses to review the case and death row inmates are allowed to languish on death row for years, even though they are there because their attorney was outperformed in court and failed to sway jurors who have to judge what is presented to them and nothing else. Evidence is destroyed after a while, and then there is no opportunity to do DNA testing. Virginia's governor recently commuted the death sentence of a prisoner precisely because this happened.

A death penalty system that makes mistakes and refuses to go back to test itself is immoral. We should do everything we should to punish the guilty and set the innocent free. If this means putting a moratorium on all executions indefinitely until the problems are fixed, then it should be done. And states have no business adding to death row until these problems are fixed either.

One last thing--the case against Tookie Williams, plus his violent assaults on prison guards and other prisoners over the years showed that he belonged in prison. He's no innocent man, but I don't think anything positive will come from his scheduled execution in a few short hours.

Air Marshall Acted Correctly in Shooting of Passenger

Much noise has been made about sky marshalls shooting an airline passenger who said he had a bomb and reached toward his backpack, which led marshalls to open fire.

Much of the criticism is unfounded.

The federal agents involved in this incident appear to have followed their training to the letter when they attempted to resolve the problem.

In the end, it didn't matter if there was a bomb or not. The man created a disturbance on an aircraft filled with people, ignored lawful orders and instrutions, pushed his way off the aircraft and made a grab toward his backpack after disobeying instructions which would have saved his life. That backpack could have contained any number of weapons, including small bombs.

The only way to stop a suicide bomber from blowing himself up is, unfortunately, to kill him with a head shot. And law enforcement rules of engagement are clear. But the man just didn't listen and forced authorities to react to his aggression.

A TASER may not have worked and could have detonated an explosive device.

It's unfortunate that this passenger lost his life, but his wife should never have allowed him to come to the airport while he was off his medications. She should have told airline officials that he was off his meds IN ADVANCE. But she didn't. She'll probably sue for wrongful death, though she could have stopped this situation from happening as it did.

Some questions: was the backpack searched before he carried it on board? Did the sky marshalls talk to the person who (presumably) searched the pack? And can something like this be prevented in the future?

If one lesson is to be drawn from this unfortunate event, it's that airliners are no place for a person off their self-control medications to be.

Word Games The Democrats Are Playing: Insurgent vs. Terrorist

This is a clever one.

Liberal Democrats are now criticizing President Bush for calling the enemy terrorists and suggested that if the U.S. were to pull out of Iraq immediately that the insurgents would stop fighting, leaving the "true" terrorists significantly weakened.

If only that were so.

Terrorists are defined by what they do, not by a term put on them by deceptive liberals who are employing Bill Clinton's strategy of splitting hairs on terminology.

Someone who walks into a neighborhood pub in Baghdad and blows himself or herself up is not defending their country against Westerners. That's terrorism. They're killing people who live there, regardless of whether any Americans are there or not. And regardless of what they say afterwards, the innocent are just as dead. Words won't bring them back.

So don't fall for this "insurgent vs. terrorist" thing that Congressional Democrats are going on about. It's oversimplification to a radical degree by a group of Senators who have already surrendered and want everyone else to follow suit. They can go jump off a cliff by themselves, thank you very much.

Venezuela Follows Through on Promise to Sell Cut-Price Oil to American Poor

Venezuela has carried out a promise to deliver cut-cost heating oil to parts of New York. The first shipment of the heating oil was delivered to charity housing projects yesterday; thousands will benefit from the gesture.

American oil companies and politicians should be embarassed beyond belief.

Whoever is on President Chavez's staff and thought of this move is a diabolical genius. Venezuela denies it is trying to embarass the U.S. oil industry or the American government, but that's precisely what has happened.

What happens next?