A NEWS BLIP IF YOU'RE SPEEDING OR IF YOUR KIDS ARE SPEEDING

Just be aware that if you're stupid enough to endanger your life, the lives of lots of innocent people, as well as the lives of police officers, you cannot sue the police officers who are chasing you at speeds in excess of the speed limit.

Even if they nudge the rear end of your car to force you into a tailspin or onto soft grass, you are out of legal luck if you think you're gonna sue.

So says the U.S. Supreme Court today. The police officers did not use unreasonable force while trying to get this high speed maniac off the road. Then the officers nudged the car from behind. The car looks like it hit a tree or a light pole. Then the driver of the speeding vehicle had to go to the hospital. The driver ended up a quadraplegic. He sued the police officer who nudged him and the police department.

Didn't work.

So parents, listen up. Take the keys away from your kids if they are speeding. Or tailgating. Or running red lights. Or driving recklessly. Or endangering innocent people.

Maybe what we need to do is take drivers permits away from kids under the age of 18. Some states are entertaining that notion. Sounds like the streets would be a lot safer.


AND THEN THERE'S THE ONE ABOUT GOVERNOR CORZINE:

His office says he's "not in the habit of wearing his seat belt."

Then he had a wreck. Actually a state policeman was driving the vehicle.

Corzine was sitting in the passenger seat in the front. Then, at 92 mph, came the crash.

In a nanosecond, both Corzine's legs were hanging out the passenger window. Now he's in a wheelchair for an indefinite period of time.

So, let me refresh a very simple law of physics.

If you are a vehicle going 92 mph and the car, or in this case a SUV, makes an immediate stop, if you have your seatbelt fastened, you stop when the vehicle does.

If you don't, then you continue to travel at the same pre-crash rate until you hit something that does stop you.

So even if the airbags deployed, it didn't help the governor's legs that were dangling outside the vehicle. Now they're both badly broken and he's had surgeries to repair the damage.

In just a split second, your life changes forever when you're in one of these high speed crashes.

You do not have time to react!

Remember that.

##


HARRY'S GOING!

"That would be Lt. Windsor to you, ma'am."

"Okay, okay. As long as I don't have to curtsy. I wouldn't anyway, since I'm not an English subject. It's not a disrespect. It's just that I'm American. I do not pledge allegiance to any flag but Old Glory, and do not bow my knees to foreign governments."

Now, having said all that in this imaginary conversation buzzing around in my head, I have two reactions to Prince Harry insisting that he be allowed to head on over to Iraq. He says he's be proud to serve his country.

Now that's what I call a true patriot.

Sure, he'll be in harm's way. But so are all the military personnel in Iraq.

I, for one, will keep Prince Harry in my daily prayers. He most certainly deserves that from each and every one of us.

You go, Harry!

##


THE WASHINGTON D.C. MADAM HAS 10,000 NAMES IN HER LITTLE BLACK BOOK

Over a period of some ten years, she has had one busy little "escort service."

And she's now talking.

I just wonder how many of our illustrious Under-the-Domers from the hallowed halls of congress are going to show up on the list of her johns. I did hear on the radio this morning that she said she was not going to spend one second in federal prison to protect these guys.

Now I'm beginning to understand where these congressmen might be when they're absent from roll call votes.

Go check out the hotel/s where she operates and see how the elected officials want to vote.

Oh, they actually have to be present in the chamber? The Capitol Chamber, that is. They probably misunderstood.

I'm putting together a lit of people I think are on that list. Any bettors out there?

##

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE -- PRIVATE JETS HEAD FOR SOUTH CAROLINA

No one carpooled.

No one took commercial flights.

Biden had a private jet. All the other candidates took charters.

Well sure, they've got millions to blow on such things. Each charter could cost the campaigns between $7,500 and $9,000. Each.

Some of the candidates hobble along on private jets. When they do that, they're supposed to pay full charter rates. Obama and McCain avoid corporate jets. But Edwards doesn't. The jet he flies around on is owned by a trial lawyer named Fred Baron (his campaign's finance chairman). Mitt Romney flies in a corporate jet and reimburses the price of a first class ticket.

Neither Clinton nor Biden have explained to Newsday just what their policies are far as jet travel when they're hithering and thithering.

But even if they stand at their podiums espousing to be so deeply connected to the people, voters ought to ask themselves when the last time was that they flew (1) first class to anywhere, (2) by private jet, or (3) knew some big bucks corporate person who would loan them a company jet for the day.

In our 65+ years here on earth, Quint and I have flown first class only once. That was owing to a very generous daughter, Teri, and her husband, Rick, who gave up 30,000 miles each on their flight rewards programs so we could upgrade our coach tickets to first class and visit them when they lived in California.

Of course, like a couple of I-don't-know-whats, it took us some little while to just figure out how to get the food tray up and out of the arm rest. I sure hope noone was watching us do that.

But back to the politicos. They could ask for a show of hands of first class travelers from the audience that they're giving a speech to.

Then I'd like to know when any politician flew on a commercial flight to anywhere. In coach.

What a great way to impress about 250 people instantly. Not to mention all the publicity they could get free when they are photographed just getting on and off the plane. Or standing in line at the airport ticket counter line.

And going through the safety zone metal detectors. Then they could say, legitimately, "I feel your pain. This is really frustrating."

Well, yes, it is, but being safe is a healthy trade-off to inconvenience.

But I can assure you that safety is not the reason the bigwigs fly around on corporate or private jets.

And they only say they want to be connected to us little guys. They don't actually want to sit down in Row 23, Seat E on a flight to anywhere.

##

JUST A FOOTNOTE ON THE ECONOMY --

But it's a really big footnote.

And that is, tax collections hit an all-time high of $48.7 billion dollars. The previous high water mark was $36.4 billion.

This year's historic high was noted on April 24. It included payments of individual income taxes, plus dividends and capital gains taxes for income during 2006.

Keep in mind that our economy is still sailing on a high tide of 13,000 on the Dow.

Keep this in mind when you hear the nitwits say they want to raise your taxes to decrease the deficit.

The way to decrease the deficit is to get more people to work. Those are the people who pay income taxes.

And how do you get more people to work?

Simple. You stimulate the economy. And how do you stimulate the economy?

Simple. You lower taxes. And why does that work?

Simple. Companies have more money to invest back into businesses that employ workers.

So much for Econ-99.

##

WHY IS REPLACING BODY ARMOR FOR OUR SOLDIERS TAKING SO LONG?

The Army says it's going to take a whole 18 months to get all the soldiers outfitted with the new lighter weight body armor.

The present body armor weighs about 25 pounds; the new would be at least three pounds lighter.  When you're adding on 25 pounds at a time, and walking around in the desert heat, I would imagine that ounces count.

Especially when you think that the additional gear they haul around on their bodies adds another ten to twenty-five pounds.

The new gear is lighter and also more protective, according to the U.S. Army.

My question is: why does it take eighteen months to get everybody outfitted?

I'll just bet that if all the senators and all the representatives donated back to the U.S. Treasury just the money they ought to be forfeiting for days when they don't show up for work, the project could move along a whole bunch faster.

Or how about this: what if the politicos took the view that this project was at least as important, if not a thousand times more important, as any one of their pork barrel projects, then you just absolutely know the military would be outfitted pretty quick.

It just depends on where Congress puts its priorities.

Obviously, it's not the same place as where the voters puts its priorities. We're line up solidly behind our servicemen and women.

Where in the world is Carlos Politico?

##


JUST SO YOU KNOW: THERE'S A WARRANT OUT FOR RICHARD GERE

In India, that is.

Seems like ol' Sugar Lips really planted one on a beauty by the name of Shilpa Shetty.

Well, you can't do that. Even if your name is Richard Gere. It happens to be against the law, here in Indian, to do such vulgar things as engage in public displays of affection. (PDAs)

Photo of the big kiss is at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1823933/posts

Well, if the Indians think that's bad, they ain't seen nothin' yet. Hollywood can be a lot more vulgar.

It's just another reminder, folks, that when you leave the sovereign borders of the United States of America, you'd better know what the laws are in countries you are going to.

In this case, the arrest probably won't amount to much, what with it being the Mr. Richard Gere who is the guilty party. But if it were just average Mr. and Mrs. Joe Citizen, that might be another matter.

Just be on the lookout for roving arresting persons who may be watching you.

##

THE REFRESHING PROMISES OF THE LAST ELECTION HAVE ALL GONE AWAY

The Democrats promised that they would most certainly bridge the gap between the two parties and were more than willing to work together.

Not sure what the Republicans were promising. Maybe to stop doing stupid things like the scandalous behaviors they found themselves up to their armpits in.

Then comes the election. The Democrats took back a majority they hadn't had for quite some number of years. It was a razor thin majority. But no matter. Working the math according to the Democrats way of thinking, it amounted to a voters' mandate for the liberal point of view.

And now we're down to the nitty gritty of Iraq.

Harry Reid, the know-it-all from Nevada who happens to be the Senate Majority Leader, says that the Iraq war is lost.

Oh really? That must be news to the soldiers in Baghdad.

Did anyway tell them?

Then President Bush, the Commander in Chief, invites Reid to come on over to the White House and let's get caught up. There's apparently some fine points that Reid was missing. Just so happens that General David Petraeus would also be available to fill in the gaps of Reid's missing info.

And what does Reid say: "Nope. Can't make it. I'm too busy doing ultra-important things like running the Senate."

Same goes for the other one -- the most powerful woman in America who practically lives at the other end of the building. That is, when she's not going for dental checkups in Syria and inflaming the middle east with her side-stepping diplomacy.

How very un-Logan of her.

Well, HerNancy can't make it to the White House either. Just couldn't be bothered, I guess. All of a sudden, she's got too many things to do running the country. But she did talk to the General for about a half hour.

And if there are any hearings, she'll call them for the benefit of her House. And Petraeus had just better come over her and bring us up to date.

Hey, you two nitwits. I have an idea for both of you. When the President/Commander in Chief calls a conference with his head general just for your benefit, why don't you come on over to the White House like a grown-up and sit down and listen to what he has to say.

After all, you did promise to try and work together and, you know, set partisanship aside. So quit bickering and licking your bruised-ego-wounds.

Just for a little while.

And, in my reverie, Bush says, "I'm still going to veto anything that comes out of either one of your chambers if there's even a hint of your telling the military what they have to do and when they have to do it.

"If you want to be the Commander in Chief, then run for President. Otherwise, stop acting like fools. You are not the President and you are not the Commander in Chief.

"Rather, you are emloyees of the people of this great land. How can I make that more clear?"

##

YIKES! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE

At least that's what the gloom-and-doomers would have you believe.

I read a recent article by Andrew Jack in The Financial Times that says deaths and injuries that result from climate changes will more than double in the next 25 years. In fact, the World Health Organisation says these shifting weather patterns could cause more than 300,000 deaths a year by 2030.

Well that surely means there's a big urgency to have debates about weather changes and patterns for better health, so says the WHO.

I got news for the WHO. It's not the melting icebergs running up the Hudson River that's going to be the problem.

And to Al Gore, you can put all the solar panels you want on top of your little hut in Chattanooga. Won't matter all that much.

Do you want to know where the biggest, hugest death toll comes from on this planet?

It's abortions.

That 300,000 deaths caused by climate changes will be like a little trickle because the dams of moral (mis)behavior are causing about 1.5 million deaths a year just from abortions.

It's safer to spit into the wind of a hurricane than to be a baby in what is supposed to be the safety of your mother's womb.

Since Roe v. Wade was passed, there have been more than 43 million abortions in the United States.

Shame on us.

##

ROSIE IS LEAVING THE VIEW

This is one of those little pieces that you may not have read about elsewhere.

So in my ever-vigilant vigilance, I will tell you that the queen of potty-mouth is leaving her spot on The View.

Supposedly she and ABC have not been able to reach some accord about her staying.

Maybe it was money. Maybe it was the filth that dribbled out of her mouth. Who knows. I, for one, could not watch her. It was like watching a freak show. Definitely not entertaining.

Just my opinion.

Would anyone at ABC ever admit that she was fired? Not on your life! But I'll bet it gets out. Somehow. Someone will spill it.

##

THE DOW DID IT! FINALLY HIT 13,000

Wow!

It isn't that we're an industrial nation anymore. What are the economists calling us -- information processing nation or something like that.

But the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been a thermometer for seemingly eons as a way of telling how the economy of the United States is doing.

On Tuesday afternoon, Quint watched the Dow inch closer and closer and closer to the new high. Then finally, this morning, it crossed the line.

Madlen Read, an AP business writer, says that the milestone was fueled mainly by really good news about corporate earnings. This almost always makes investors feel good about the economy so they buy buy buy. To their little hearts' content.

Oh the Dow didn't close over 13,000. It did retreat some by the end of the trading day. But the point is, it crossed the line. For the first time ever.

##

IN MY GAME OF "WHAT IF" -- HARRY REID COULD BE OUT OF A JOB

Do you realize that Harry Reid's party's "win" in the senate is so razor thin that if just one senator is "lost" to his side, he would no longer be Senate Majority Leader?

Wow!

It could happen to, folks.

Take for instance, Senator Joe Lieberman. If he just happened to decide to run on over to the Republican side of the aisle, that would do it.

That would make the vote 50-50. Dick Cheney, President of the Senate, would break any and all tie votes. I could be wrong, but if that were to happen, I think the Republicans would then name the Senate Majority Leader from the Republican party.

(Note to myself: research that)

Harry Reid's latest foot-in-mouth trick was saying that the way in Iraq is lost.

Huh?

How'd he figure that? It's not even over yet.

I'm sure that all my friends/readers in the middle east would also like to see how he's figuring that. After all, they're the ones -- not Reid and certainly not Pelosi -- who are walking the streets of the war zone.

I just pray that our men and women in uniform have enough support wrapped around them so that they don't believe the Domes who are running around preaching their gloom and doom.

I am so proud of each and every person -- each one of you -- for what you are doing to make America strong and free. Fight them over there. We don't want the Iraqi homicide bombers over here in our neighborhoods and town squares.

##



HERE'S A HINT TO CONGRESS: FIND SOMETHING YOU DO WELL AND DO IT

Obviously, running (or governing as some would say) isn't it.

We can't even rely on congressional administrative organizations to get safe pet food here from China. Now I read that chow from the orient for human consumption is not that safe either.

Oh that's just great. Contaminated gluten from China. And that's coming into a country that's in love with its doughnuts and breadsticks.

Thank you, domed ones. I thought there was some kind of FDA for imported stuff.

And then, running the military is most definitely not your area of expertise. The best you can, militarily, is lob insults and snide remarks and inuendos and other verbal stink bombs across the aisle at each other.

Well you just wait. There are gonna be lots of military experts coming back home when they finish the last of the mopping up in Iraq. Some of those military experts are -- hopefully -- going to run for congress.

Remember General Eisenhower? Now there was a military man.

Now there was a president.

In the meantime, here comes your veto from the seated president. You had to go and try to bluff him out with your timetable.

How dare you!

And don't even think you're going to convince the American people that you support the military -- just not the war.

You had better get a bill onto the president's desk that he will sign. That is, a bill that's just for the military needs -- not including your pig pen of little porkers.

And no deadlines. That's something you know nothing about. Let the military do its job. There are generals, majors, lieutenants, sergeants, privates, etc. They're living the life over there. They're in tents eating army rations.

What are you doing? Tripping the light fantastic with 4-star restaurants, vintage wine on air force planes that fly back and forth to wherever The Nancy decides she wants to go, and who knows what else.

Please pass the escargot.

##



BUT WAIT -- THE PRIMARIES AREN'T UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

If the primaries have months and months and months to go, then why has the hype begun for the debates -- which arent' really debates at all -- just consecutively running monologues that give candidates air time.

A couple of weeks ago, Fox News said it was going to sponsor a debate. Then the Democrats said they'd be no shows. They didn't think Fox News would be fair and balanced enough.

But if you are a presidential candidate, wouldn't you want to be on the news channel that is the absolute runaway giant in market share? If for no other reason than name recognition?

And where did they ever get the idea that Fox News was not fair? Did CNN tell them that?

Oh well. Who knows. There they go with their wha wha wha again.

There'll be a debate though. Do you want to know where?

Of all places, MSNBC. If CNN is on the first floor of market share, then MSNBC is in the sub-basement. Hardly any viewers.

For instance, Bill O'Reilly gets an average viewership in the millions. Chris Matthews, MSNBC's O'Reilly wannabee, might (on a good night) get 300,000 viewers. That's across the entire, whole country of the USofA.

Chris Matthews and Brian Williams are going to co-host the debates.

Chris Matthews will broadcast from the Simi Valley. That will be the Republican date from the Reagan Library.

Brian Williams will broadcast from South Carolina State University for the Democrat debate.

My question is how many of the candidates that are out there running around the presidential campaign field will be left by the time either debate comes to pass?

Hopefully someone will provide a transcript so that I don't have to listen to all those squeaky little voices, or shreikers, or look at beady little eyes staring at the cameras like bats and rats.

##


YIKES! THERE REALLY IS A KRYPTONITE

Well, they aren't going to actually be able to call the stuff kryptonite. The international rules are pretty strict about how new substances are named.

The new mineral was discovered in a Serbian mine. In a place called Jadar. Hence the name of the new element will be jadarite.

And no, it doesn't have any fluorine in it, so it's not going to glow with that radioactive greenish cast.

But it's fun, don't you think?

I think it's still worth a Nobel prize just for finding a new mineral that's made up of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide.

Besides, I believe in Superman. I'm married to him. He's in disguise most of the time though, so you'd never see him with his cape on.

Read more:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/24/kryptonite_found/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1822572/posts

##

DID NOT KNOW THE CITADELS HAD UNLOCKABLE DOORS

It's about honor among the students.

It's about the sparseness of military life.

Until just very recently, it was about not being able to lock dorm rooms from the inside. That is, unless you are female. Then you can lock your dorm room.

I did not know that the Citadel's president is retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Rosa.

So now the Citadel will have locks on the dorm rooms. The cost? $125,000.

Good.

The terrorist who started blowing things up at Virginia Tech last week shot off 100 rounds, I heard on the radio this morning.

I would think just that thought alone would raise the level of care and concern on every college campus in this country. Maybe even the world.

Gun control? Forget gun control for the moment. In the instant case at Virginia Tech, this was a shooter who, legally, was not supposed to be possession of a slingshot, much less a 9 mm handgun.

In gun-free zones, do you want to know who's walking around with guns?

Not the law-abiding citizens.

But having a gun and strapped on bandoliers might very well run up the flagpole of a weak egoed freak who thinks he can prove something by starting a monologue of rapid fire. The shooter came without warning.

The innocents couldn't fire back.

There was nowhere to hide.

There was no time to summon help.

Stricter gun laws are not the answer. But getting homicidal individuals out of our society will go a long, long way toward restoring peace and transquility, whether it's in a little Amish village or on a large metropolitan university campus in Virginia.

##


SPECTER AND SCHUMBER CALL FOR GUN REFORM

Politicians do it all the time -- close the gate after all the horses stampede out of the corral.

I've seen it when the state legislatures put layers and layers of "driving while impaired" laws that are supposed to "catch" drunk drivers. They fill the airwaves with campaign rhetoric when they run for re-election and promise changes in the way things are by adding yet more stiff penalties that somehow don't get enforced.

But naive voters re-elect them anyway. Their rhetoric sounds good.

Now, in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, along comes Opportunists Specter (R-Pa) and Schumer (D-NY). They're going to tell us that state and federal laws ought to be more communication with each other's data bases.

They're saying that people with mental health problems ought not to be able to buy a handgun.

Their solution? Create a database that will list people with mental health problems who ought not to own a handgun.

And what do you think the reality is going to be?

If this legislation passes, we're going to end up with another group of people who are going to get their guns on the black market. Kind of like convicted felons and parolees do already.

I have a question about who's going to be on this list anyway. The kiddos who took medication for ADD/ADHD.

How about the people who took medication for anxieties and depression when trying to resolve grief issues surrounding the loss of a husband or a wife?

I have grave concerns about how this legislation would identify people who have ever -- even for the briefest period of time -- sought the help of a mental health professional for counseling.

How will this legislation differentiate counseling from psychotherapy?

How will this legislation help people who want to learn new strategies that will help them cope with life problems versus people who are genuinely a dangerous threat?

I can tell you this: an election year is coming up in 2008 and everybody will want to take credit for safety-minded legislation. Life-saving legislation.

What this legislation will do is give those people who are teetering on the edge of going for counseling a reason why they won't because it will put them in a this database.

##

TAKING A POSITION OF ACCOUNTABILITY -- ONE PERSON AT A TIME

Mountains are made up of millions and millions of tiny little pebbles, all wedged in together.

People who live in a society remind me, in some ways, of those little pebbles on the mountain. We all kind of fit together and form something really big.

We reach for the stars above us. We rest on the shoulders of those who have gone before us and blazed trails that give us providence.

It's not that I spend my days waxing poetic thoughts, but when I heard that the parents of a survivor cancelled their appearance on NBC -- sorry, don't even know their names -- because of the footage of the videotape the shooter had sent to NBC being aired.

It is an incredibly honorable thing for them to do that. They didn't want their kiddo to be subjected to the rants of this horrible person.

Did NBC need to show that video over and over and over? Absolutely not.

Did we need to watch a very unstable murderer blame his victims for everything that had gone wrong in his life that left him feel persecuted, eventually murderous? Absolutely not.

Did NBC have a "right" to show the video? Sure they did. It was their property because the shooter had mailed it to NBC. According to the postmark, he mailed it in between the first shootings and the second about two hours later.

So what did he do in that two hour gap? Well, the authorities are trying to put those time pieces together.

But for a national broadcasting news service to give a multiple mass murderer a forum to air his discontent is outrageous. In my view.

Kudos to the parents of the survivor who didn't want to be a part of such a dishonorable thing.

The survivors are the ones who deserve to be honored for the courage of the ordeal they went through. The families of the victims deserve to be honored for the horrific tragedy they are enduring.

But for NBC to take the position that the "public has the right to know -- or see this" is the height of tastelessness. Or worse.

That's just my own opinion. I'll bet there are many who disagree with me. And you're entitled to your opinion. If you do, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Honor is always a good thing to see rising to the top.

News scoops are down there at the bottom, close to trash in this instance.

But as Quint says, "Gee, Jane, what do you really think about that?"

##

GALLUP POLLS NOT GOOD FOR HILLARY

Hillary's unfavorability is rapidly rising. That is not the shooting statistical star that any politician wants to hear.

In fact, if she keeps it up she won't even be a primary contender.

So, Rush Limbaugh, would you like to reconsider your prognostication that there's an 80% chance that Hillary would be the next president?

Don't feel bad. We all have to eat our predictions every now and then. I just recently did because I had been soooooo sure that Prince Wills would be marrying his Miss Kitty. And I gave that higher odds than you did Hillary.

So we're both wrong. Me for the third time this century. Millennium for that matter.

But back to The Hillary.

According to the new USA Today/Gallup survey Hillary's unfavorable ratings have climbed 12 points since she first announced her presidential run. Read Ian Bishop's article in the New York Post at http://www.nypost.com/seven/04192007/news/nationalnews/hillarys_popularity_ratings_go_negative_nationalnews_ian_bishop______post_correspondent.htm
for more information. Hillary now has an unfavorable rating of 52%.

What's going to be bothersome for Hillary is that while her favorability is going down (by 9%), her unfavorabiity is going up at a greater rate (12%).

But hey, if she and hubbybill can't have power, at least they can sit around their campfire in the living room and count their money. That is, until their fundraising popularity starts to drop too. Eventually, their friends will get tired of being tapped out because everytime they see a Clinton coming toward them, it costs them money. Big money.

My advice to the Clintons: don't use those 20s to light your cigars with.

The Clintons may, in fact, become more like Jane Byrne, one of Chicago's former mayors. Eventually she became so unpopular that when she campaigned for her political buddies, their popularity dropped overnight. So she became Dreaded Jane.

Across the pond something similar happens with Princess Anne. Well, okay, the princess doesn't get elected. But when her photo was on a magazine cover, the publication sold less copies than what was usual. Unlike Princess Diana who could sell our a press run completely just by being on the cover.

See, Camilla of Cornwall Woods can't do that. Unless the publication is National Enquirer or something. Then we have to suffer through the details of her having a hysterectomy or something equally unpleasant to contemplate. Believe me, that doesn't sell newspapers!

So I guess Hillary's done. Well done. Time to put her on the platter of has-beens and go looking for another trainwreck.

##

IT'S NOT ILLEGAL TO BE WEIRD

By now, the world knows that the killer at Virginia Tech is a guy named Cho Seung-Hui. You won't see him described as an "Asian" anymore. The group that protects the Asians have voiced a protest for fear of casting aspersions on all Asians.

I think I've read enough about the massacre to know that Hui was a loner. He talked in monosyllable responses when asked questions. His roommate says he wasn't particularly interactive.

He wrote a story for an English assignment that apparently was a bit over the top. So much so that his prof felt the need to alert authorities about the murderous prose writer in her class.

At that point, either the teacher removed Hui from the class or the university did. Don't know yet. Point is, the prof started tutoring him.

My point is, and some of you may have had similiar experiences, when you have noisy nuisances going on in your neighborhood, or if someone is acting really weird and it makes you feel awfully uneasy, the police won't/can't do anything about it.

"Sorry," they say, "but no one's broken any laws."

And for the most part, nuisances are and remain just that. A petty bother for living close in to neighbors who are sometimes annoying.

Hui didn't make any threats to anyone specifically. Leastwise, not that we have heard about up to this point.

Instead, he had this slow-churning volcano of rage living inside his head. Just waiting for lava-like murderous thoughts to become real life situations of human drama spilling over onto horrific reality.

There, you've finally done it, Hui. You broke the law. But did you have to go this far?

Couldn't you have just played out your rages onto paper like you did the first time? After all, murder and suspense stories are a whole genre unto their own. Didn't you know -- America is obsessed with scary stories. And the xxxier the better.

You could have made millions if you'd just been able to contain yourself.

Now look what you've done!

Each of your victims has at least a minimum of five first degree relatives -- that is, immediate family members -- who will grieve themselves into numbness because of your insanely uncaring last moments.

And you big coward! You couldn't even face the music. You took no accountability at all for what you'd done. And the lava kept flowing through your head.

Finally, in one big huge chicken moment, you put your gun to your own head and blew half the volcano off the top of your neck.

##

FIRST STAGE OF GRIEF IS DISORGANIZATION, NOT DENIAL

We have too many photos that make us confront the reality of what happened on campus yesterday at Virginia Tech.

Besides, that isn't what Kubler-Ross meant when she called the first stage of grief denial.

The denial she was talking about is that feeling of numbness that it doesn't hurt so much. Surprise that we're able to cope as well as we are and not suffer all that psychological and mental bruising. So in that sense, denial is a good word, except that it's misunderstood in the grief concept.

Rather, I think disorganization is a better word to describe how we first confront the horror of death and mayhem. Especially if it's been violent. Especially if it could have been us.

There will be plenty of time later to work through survival guilt. That's a counseling matter that can be hit pretty much head-on. Later.

There will be plenty of time later to work through the invasive thoughts of post-traumatic stress syndrome. That's a counseling matter that may take months for survivors to even get near to the comfort zone they were in prior to the shootings.

But for right now, there will be lots of disorganization. There will be fear and anxiety about even going to sleep because the visuals will invade the peaceful respite of slumber.

There will be fear of wide open spaces, like that big drill field. And the wide open spaces will become smaller and smaller. Until it becomes an agoraphobic condition where people are afraid of even venturing out of a comfort zone that is so tight it fits like a womb or coccoon around them. That's a counseling matter too.

Right now what's needed most is for all the survivors on campus to get back to their loved ones. They need to be surrounded by loving embraces. They need to let their loved ones love them.

The survivors have been traumatized. They have lost friends who have become dear ones to them. They have lost friends who have become surrogate sisters and brothers went they went off to university and made new family-like connections.

For many, this is the first major loss they've ever felt. At least I would hope that their lives have been that innocent and that they have not been blemished by trauma up to this point. 

The loss of innocence is grievous on the one hand. On the other hand, if there has been too much trauma for some students, they come to tragedy with a repertoire that gives them a numb place to go. 

Each and every student who survived this murder is going to ask themselves quietly, "What if it had been me? It could have been me." Those kinds of thoughts will plague the survivors as they go through this first step of disorganization.

And then they will feel the anger of the tragedy. They will try to make sense of it and when there is no sense to be had, the anger will fill them in response to their helplessness.

Quint and I lift each and every student who survived up in prayer. We lift in prayer the loved ones of those who died.

##

 

STORY UNFOLDING ABOUT A SHOOTING AT VIRGINIA TECH

If you are a frequent reader at Free Republic, you already saw this as breaking news, but for those who don't, there is a shooter on campus at Virginia Tech, apparently in the area of the women's dorms.

People on the way to the hospital. Warning that the campus is locked down, stay in your dorms and away from windows.

Here's the web site for the Free Republic thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818131/posts



WHEN WILL THE POLITICOS QUIT DANCING ON IMUS' GRAVE?

Metaphorically, that is.

For instance, The Hillary mosied on up to Rutgers the other day to commiserate with all the basketball players who had, by the way, forgiven Imus for the ingrate's comments about them.

But have you noticed a big giant hypocrisy here?

Nobody, but nobody, is going after the liar who accused the Duke Lacrosse team. What about her? There was multiple multiples of DNA in her body.What did she think -- that once inside her, all those little sperma would have an atomic war and wipe each other out. Then there'd be nothing left of multiple semen samples.

And now Jesse Himself Jackson says that Operation PUSH is going to pay for her tuition so that she won't ever have to stoop that low again.

You foolish, foolish man. Don't you know that this is not the way victim-hunters operate. I'll bet you ten dollars to a doughnut she didn't think she was "stooping that low." Nope. My money says she had a game plan.

She ought to be banned from campus, if anything. And charged with obstruction of justice. And perjury. Maybe entrapment. And anything else they can throw at her.

The Hillary didn't go down to Duke to console the lacrosse players. So does that make her a sexist for going to the girls' basketball team, or is she just a plain old hypocrite?

Or both?

But that's not the really clear case of hypocrisy that I see. 

Let's compare what Imus said to what the airwaves dish out every minute of every day from the rappers.

Don't the rappers say just about the same thing or worse?

I remember when Quint and I had a teen Sunday School class -- yeah, we're goody two-shoes -- what of it -- and one of the young men was defending the rappers to the high heavens. 

We asked him to bring in one of the CDs and read the lyrics to the class. Could be his choice of any of the CDs in his collection. He did the following Sunday.

He was so embarrassed. Couldn't read the lyrics out loud in mixed company. He apologized and said he was going home and destroying all the CDs and would never buy another one.

Rap music is trash.

Rappers make some pretty heavy donations to the political candidates. I heard that on the news -- don't know who gave what to whom, though.

Hmmm. Now I'm beginning to understand why the presidential candidates aren't saying anything negative about the rappers.

I'd sure like to see a list of rap donations to presidential candidates. Wouldn't you? Do you think we ever will?

I'd bet that.

But then, I'd like to be wrong for the third time this century if either rappers would publish a list of their political donations, or the presidential candidates publish a list of their receipts.

##

THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS IS NOT DEFINED BY THE POLITICIANS

Hey, politicos: your speeches reek of hypocrisy. It's almost as if you truly believe that the middle class taxpayers in this country actually believe the rhetoric that falls out of your mouths.

One of these days, the politicians will realize that there is really a moral high ground. Fighting all these fox-hole battles with cheap shots at each other doesn't get them votes.

There is a huge block of voters in this country. It's not the far right wing conspiracy as the leftists would have you believe. It's not even a far left wing liberal conspiracy that the far right would have you believe.

It's just us, and millions more like us. We don't really fit into the divided little groups you try to plug us into.

We are one America. We have our differences and we have our dialogues. We're the ones who actually talk to one another. You know, dialogue.

Politicians don't know how to dialogue. They shut down and go off pouting and skulking. Wah wah wah.

For instance, the majority leader of the senate said he was not going to meet with the president, after having been invited to the White House to discuss something the other day. That is, he wasn't going to come to the White House until the president came around to the senator's way of thinking. He accused the president of using "bait and switch" tactics. Whatever that means.

Then there's that all-powerful, truth twisting speakerette of the house. She said she wasn't going to meet with the president either.

I guess they've since changed their minds. Maybe their constituents called them and said, "Listen, looney tunes, what do you think we elected you to do?? Sit in your ivory tower and pretend you don't have to talk to anybody. Uh, like the president?"

We're the middle income majority and we hate that kind of an attitude. We thought we made that clear during the last election when we asked, before we went to the polls, "Why can't you guys get along up there?"

Then you, the politicos, said, "Oh, you're absolutely right. Elect me (and me and me and me and me, and so on) and I'll do everything within my power to work with those guys across the aisle."

Well, it's not happening. You're at least as divisive as the people you replaced.

Just be careful. You got elected by slim margins. And there's another election coming. It's just around the bend.

And we have the technology to really watch the political antics very closely. So when you come back to your districts with more promises next time, don't be surprised if we've gone across the street to listen to the non-encumbents talk about hope and optimism. And maybe a promise about working with people across the aisle.

We are smart. We are educated. We are deductive; that is, we are pretty good at figuring things out.

So don't sit up there under the Dome and think the constituents back home aren't paying attenting and even if we did, don't risk thinking that we wouldn't be able to make sense of it anyway.

So here's a clue. Cut the pork. If you want funding for a project, try to pass a bill and see if it will fly on its own merits. Bring it to the floor and talk about it. And who knows, it may just be a bad idea that won't make it.

You're costing us taxpayers billions of money in waste. The American middle class is getting more and more fed up with your antics. Like when you don't show up for work. How many of you are absent for votes? Part of holding any job is at least showing up for work. Just remember, your job is governing. In order to do that, you at least have to be in the workplace. That is, under the Dome.

We, the middle income taxpayers, have come out of the dark ages of controlled and managed news. We have stepped into a new renaissance of the blogosphere. Now we are enlightened.

We are not going to let you put us into your little sub-groups and perpetuate a divided America any longer.

##

HEY, POLITICIANS, WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE VOTES WERE TAKEN?

My guess is you were out on the campaign trail.

Senator John McCain, R-Ariz, missed 42 votes
Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del, missed 33 votes
Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kan, missed 28 votes
Senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn, missed 22 votes
Senator Hillary Clinton, D-NY, missed 3 votes
Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill, missed 3 votes

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif, missed 32 votes
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo, missed 13 votes
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, missed 10 votes

Aren't you paid to be governing, not out on the campaign trail eating all that gourmet rubber chicken and potato salad?

There used to be a law, dated all the way back to 1856, that says legislators are supposed to forfeit a day's pay when they don't show up. According to Politico. com, two dozen House and Senate members frittered away more than a half million dollars by missing votes.

So what did this august body of power do?

Simple, in August 2005, they tucked a little proviso into an appropriations bill that said they weren't going to be beholding to that old law anymore.

That was Section 39 of the U.S. Code which says, "The secretary of the Senate and the sergeant of arms of the House, respectively, shall deduct from the monthly payments of each member the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House, respectively, unless such member assigns as the reason for such absence the sickness of himself or of some member of his family.

Well, there you have it.

That smacks too much of accountability. Can't have that. Toss that law. But where can we slip it in? How about an appropriations bill, nobody reads those things anyway.

And so it was done. The year was 2005. About that time, John Kerry would have owed some $90,000 for time missed during his run for the president in 2004.

C'mon taxpayers. Let's call for some accountability in the elections.

##


WOLVES DO WHAT WOLVES DO -- THEY EAT RABBITS

There were twenty little rabbits. Rare little rabbits. They had been cuddled and nurtured by caring caretakers.

Then, last month, they were reintroduced back into the wild at the Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area, according to the pigmy rabbit coordinator for the State of Washington Fish and Wildlife Department.

Pigmy rabbits are very rare, you know.

In fact, they have been federally protected since 2003, after having enjoyed status on the endangered species list.

So now they were dubbed ready to go back to the wild.

But nobody told the wolves to leave the little four-legged tidbits alone.

The wolves ate them.

read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265456,00.html

##

IMUS APPARENTLY ON THE WAY OUT

Don Imus looks like he's about to hit the old Dan Rather trail and fade into the west, or wherever it is that radio jock weasels go after they stick their foot in their mouth one time too many.

Or, in fact, in the case of both Dan Rather and Don Imus, they stuck both their feet in their mouth. At the same time. Somebody should tell these clowns that they don't have a leg to stand on when they perform such journalistic acrobatics.

No one, absolutely no one, should be allowed to call any woman a whore and get away with it. I don't care if it was couched as "ho." We all know what that means.

Are you out of your mind, Mr. Imus? How do you know about the sexual habits, or lack of them, of a team of basketball students from any university. I'd be willing to bet that the basketball players keep themselves busy studying to keep their GPAs up. That doesn't spell sexual escapading to me.

Nope. You've gotten away with sticking your spear-tipped tongue into the airwaves of the general public far too long.

What you did is no longer about freedom of expression. It's about the fact that you just plain old don't have the right to insult people the way you do.

Next on my list is Rosie-O. She is fat-bellied wrong when she says people can say anything they want to and it's freedom of expression. Maybe there are special rules that apply to public people like politicians and movie stars and celebrity types who go clammering for the mention of their names or people taking their pictures.

But you cross the line when you go after private citizens. We are off limits to you.

And you'd better think twice before you call anybody a "ho." Saying it today and figuring you can go on the air and apologize tomorrow will get you off the hook?

Nope. Times are changing. Haven't you noticed?

Here's another little tidbit about freedom of expression: your sponsors don't like it when they get lots and lots and lots of letters from customers complaining about your big mouths. In an article released by Associated Press, Staples and Procter & Gamble have pulled their advertising from the Imus Show. Bigelow Tea is looking at the future too, and Bigelow says it's sponsorship is in jeopardy.

So how's that for freedom of expression? Theirs, not yours.

Sure, you can arrogantly say anything you want. Even in the unemployment line.

##

CHINESE BAPTIZE THOUSANDS ON EASTER SUNDAY

From Asia News comes a report that literally thousands of people were baptized in Beijing on Easter Sunday.

The wave of new conversions to the Catholic faith is making it difficult to find enough godparents, they say. It's not unusual for a single godparent to be sponsor to a dozen or so newly baptized.

No doubt, this is tied to the Pope's letter to China's Catholics.

An unnamed priest points out to Asia News that there is a thirst for God that is spreading throughout China. The Christians, through expression of their faith, are showing that a healthy collaboration exists between faith and reason and that this improves human life..."

But there's another side of this story. That is, some priests in the underground church are being persecuted and even imprisoned. As many as 17 have disappeared, while as many as 20 are under arrest. according to the news source.

read more: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8953&size=A

##


AND HERE'S ANOTHER VICTORY FOR CHRISTIANITY

It happened in Eastern York, Utah.

According to an article by Joseph Maldonado in the York Daily Record/Sunday News, a fifth grader, Tawney Lehman, had been forced by her teacher to remove a magnet that she put on her desk that said, "Smile, God loves you."

The magnet is about the size of a bumper sticker. So then the principal at Wrightsville Elementary School has all the students take all the magnets down off their desks.

Then Lehman's mom took the matter to the local school board meeting. Then the lawyers had to research the matter. Then the school board said that it was, in fact, freedom of expression and that the magnets could be put up again.

So there.

##

SOMEONE OUGHT TO REMIND THE SENATORS THEY WERE ELECTED TO GOVERN

I could not believe my eyes when I logged on to Fox News.

Yet there is was. The article says that Senator Harry Reid has turned down President Bush's invitation to come to the White House to talk about Iraq.

Reid gave some blunderbuss reason about not going because of preconditions that were imposed.

Like he never had anything to do with setting preconditions to agendas of his own?

I think that all these shenanigans going on in Washington are going to cost the politicians dearly. They ought to remember that once they are sworn in, they have a duty to govern.

Refusing to meet with the President of the United States sends a message, "I don't have to compromise with you."

Boy, is that a dialogue buster or what?!!

source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265072,00.html

##




AMERICANS DON'T APPROVE OF DEMOCRATS ON IRAQ

In fact, 57% of the American people polled said they disapprove of how the Democrats in congress are handling the Iraq situation. 40% say they're doing okay and 2% have mixed views.

The poll was conducted for Associated Press by Ipsos Public Affairs. (N=1,000)

With only 1,000 people actually surveyed, it may or may not be reflective of how Americans across the country actually think. That is, unless there was randomness in selection process of Americans selected.

Other interesting polls are available at: http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm

##

DEMOCRATS DON'T LIKE FOX NEWS, I GUESS

Leastwise, it certainly doesn't look like it.

Fox News, the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to evening viewers, teamed up with the Congressional Black Caucus Institute to sponsor two debates. The other two were designated to CNN.

So far so good.

Then the democrats started pouting. CNN treated them better than Fox News. Kind of softer, I guess.

First it was Jon Edwards. Remember when he declined to participate in the debate in Nevada?

Now, the debate scheduled on September 23 on Fox News, has hit a burr again. Not only will Edwards not participate, but neither will Obama and Hillary.

Obama says it didn't like Fox News airing a false report that he had gone to an Islamic school when he was a little boy.

And Hillary says she's not going anywhere that isn't approved by the Democratic National Committee.

I say good for them. If they don't want to be on the show, let them stay home.

CNN can't touch Fox News in the ratings war anyway, so it will mean much less exposure for them. So much the better for the Republican party. You know, the bad guys that sit on the other side of the aisle.

Gee, you'd think if the Democrats had their way about it, they'd make the Republicans sit outside on the veranda. That is, if they have a veranda on the Capitol Building.

If not, I'll bet the Democrats would give up some of their slippery fat little pork projects to build one.

We have become so politically polarized in this country that our political candidates can't even have a debate unless it's aired on a news station that biased to the liberal left. What kind of a debate is that?

But then, after having watched the last several presidential debates, I can't really agree that they're debates at all. It seems to me that they're just moderated monologues with a timekeeper present to tell them when to sit down and shut up.

The candidates just show up with their talking points and they don't really seem to speak to each other's points of view.

It ought to be easier to moderate with all the pouters going only to CNN.

##


WHY DO THESE GUYS UNDERESTIMATE THE BODY'S CHEMISTRY?

And my second question is how in the world can a person swallow a baggy filled with drugs?

But there was this 34-year-old guy, Dustin, in jail in the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area, who just kind of collapsed at dinner. An autopsy showed that he had baggies filled with some kind of drug inside him.

Even a very brief introduction to the biology of the human body tells us that some of the meanest, most concentrated poisons known to man live in the human stomach. These chemicals can break down just about anything, short of lead, concrete and uranium. And probably a few other chemicals.

But for the most part, God designed Adam's stomach to break up lots of chemicals before sending them off to the liver for metabolizing.

Too bad Dustin wasn't in school that day. He was picked up for a routine traffic stop. Lo and behold he was wanted for a parole violation that had something to do with possession of methamphetamine and driving under the influence of drugs.

And how much meth would be fatal? Three baggies full, for sure.

Maybe the baggies were the snack size. Don't know. Whichever size, they were too big.

Or too full.

##


DON IMUS OUGHT NOT TO CALL ANYBODY A "HO"

And Chris Rock needs to quit calling white people "crackers."

Why? Because it's mean. It's not polite. It's bad manners.

Is it racist?

No. It's just bad manners. If that won't have anything at all to do with how people comport themselves, then I can turn my beady little eyes in a different direction and watch someone else.

I'm tired of the vulgarity on the airwaves. I quit listening to Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams. Not because they aren't funny. They're actually very funny.

But I am sick to death of their vulgarity.

I'm also tired of the inappropriateness of the setting where they voice their political points of view. I think that if they want to voice a political point of view, then they should pick another venue. Not one where people have paid hard-earned cash to be entertained.

SMART IS AS SMART DOES

One of the things that smart people do is change behaviors when what they are doing doesn't get the results they want.

So it goes for Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich). He's been a senatorcahuna for a long, long time. Long enough to read tea leaves of what voters really really want. Either that or he just has the cranial fortitude to just know what he believes is the right thing to do.

In a Fox News report, Levin says, "We're not going to cut funding, period."

Got that, Mr. Harry Reid, the senatorial hotshot who thinks it's his mandated task to keep President Bush knocked off center.

Hey, Mr. Reid, that is the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee speaking to you.

He is joined by Senator Chuch Schumer (D-NY) who says that nothing will stop him from supporting our troops.

See, these guys are smart after all. They believe that President Bush will veto the pork barrel projects that's stuffed into the troop spending package as if it were a giant Christmas stocking for all their little buddies' pet projects back in the home districts.

I say smart because they know the Democrats don't have the votes to override the veto with the required supermajority.

Both the House and the Senate have enough votes to sustain the president's veto. So they may as well look patriotic.

Senator Jon Ayl, (R-Ariz) says that it's old news that the Iraqis are not cooperating with the United States. He says he was over there about a month ago and he sees that they are, in fact, cooperating. "It's old news that they aren't cooperating," he said.

I, for one, don't think I care all that much what the political motivations are at this point. As long as they support the troops in the field, give them all the money they need for bullets and food and armor and big tanks.

If they want to entertain the idea of cutting funding to our military, don't do it while our soldiers are out of the country and fighting a way. Instead, wait til they get back and then bring it to the floor of the senate, and house, for debate.

But be warned. You'd better listen to any message you send anywhere in the world that the United States is cowering in the corner.

Look what happened the last time a president cut the defense and military budgets. The American military is the biggest and the brightest and the strongest.

The American people intend to keep it that way.

read more: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21527543-2703,00.html

##

IF YOU'RE A NORMAN ROCKWELL FAN ...



This artwork hangs in the White House.

Source for this and the Rain artwork below: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812840/posts?q=1&;page=201

##

LIKE THIS PAINTING? SO DID THE CLINTONS

It's Fifth Avenue in the Rain by Childe Hassam. It used to hang in the Oval Office during the Clinton Administration. Right next to the door going out to the Rose Garden.

They stole it when they left office.

Alberto Gonzalez made them bring it back.

The painting is public property. It belongs to us, the citizens of the United States.

Now it's back in the White House and it hangs to the left of the main door going into the Oval Office.

Guess Nancy Pelosi isn't the only person around who thinks politicians are above the law.

##

NANCY WENT TO SYRIA BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO -- AND IT'S A FELONY

Without rules that are applied to and followed by everyone within a society, anarchy develops. Children learn this very early in the families they live in. They flourish when there are boundaries for acceptable behavior. Without boundaries and rules that are uniformly enforced, children develop into spoiled brats and little miniature tyrants who don't follow any of the rules unless it suits them.

It's the same principle as we go all the way up the ladder to the very pinnacle of social order.

But what happens when the lawmakers become the rule-breakers?

That's the big deal with Nancy Pelosi's trip to the Middle East, and specifically to Syria. When Pelosi met with Syria's President al-Assad, she was, in fact, committing a felony.

Why a felony?

Because the Constitution of the United States of America gives sole authority to develop foreign policy to the tenent in the White House. Ummmm, namely the president. And he has a Secretary of State to make visitations to foreign governments to discuss foreign policy issues.

If you don't like that constitutional idea, then you need to do whatever you can to change the constitution. But even if you're the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and you walk around telling everyone that you're the Biggest Big Shot in Town, you cannot go to a foreign government to discuss foreign policy.

That would be the job of the Secretary of State.

There most definitely is precedent that makes what Nancy Pelosi did a felony. Specifically, it's the Logan Act.

The text of the Logan Act reads as follows:

Section 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

18 U.S.C. Section 953 (2004).

It probably won't happen but she needs to be arrested the moment she sets foot on American soil. Then she can explain to Congress, and to the White House, why she chose to go to Syria when she was told that it was a bad idea. She can also explain to the American people why she chose to defy the authority of the Constitution of the United States.

But even underneath all that, what is most disturbing is that this woman who is supposed to be shepherding legislation through the halls of Congress has decided that she does not have to obey the Constitution of the United States.

Didn't she take an oath of office to do exactly that? She had Representatives from the House with her too. They are equally felonious.

##

THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS -- BRINGING REVERENCE TO MEANING

It does not matter what your religion is for you to embrace the Stations of the Cross.

Granted, the stations are steeped in Catholic tradition. Pope John Paul II celebrated a series of scriptural stations on Good Friday 1991 and again in 1994 in the Coliseum at Rome. These stations include:

1.  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
2.  Jesus betrayed by Judas
3.  Jesus condemned by the Sanhedrin
4.  Jesus denied by Peter
5.  Jesus condemned by the people
6.  Jesus crowned with thorns and clothed in purple
7.  Jesus carries the cross
8.  Jesus assisted by Simon of Cyrene
9.  Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
10. Jesus is crucified
11. Jesus speaks to the thief
12. Jesus speaks to his mother
13. Jesus dies on the cross
14. Jesus is buried



This is one of the Stations of the Cross near the Basilica of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec. (photo shared by ELS on www.freerepublic.com)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1811719/posts





In the final analysis, it doesn't matter if you are Protestant or Catholic. It's about your faithfulness.

I've added a few links to the top of the Devotionals page and hope that you click on them. You'll find some truly inspirational links to help you prepare for Easter.

God's richest blessings to you all. And special thanks to all of you who are serving the people of the United States of America by your service in the military. We pray for your safety and well-being and yearn for the day when you will be able to come home.

##

MAUNDY THURSDAY -- WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

I grew up calling the Thursday before Easter Maundy Thursday.

So today Quint asked me what Maundy meant? It's one of those words that I used to know the definition of. Didn't take long to recapture and re-learn the meaning, thanks to the wealth of information out there on the internet.

Basically it's a word with Latin roots, mandatum. This particular Thursday is so named because it is considered to be the anniversary of the Lord's Supper -- as Jesus put it, he brought a "new commandment" -- a mandatum novum.

In churches that are steeped in traditions, Maundy Thursday is an important event. The host is often consecrated on this day and placed in a special container for Good Friday observances.

In many churches, washing each other's feet is also observed since this was also one of the elements of the Last Supper initiated by Christ. This ritual underscores that need, at Christ's admonition, for Christians to be servants to each other.

Observing Maundy Thursday is part of our journey of faith during Holy Week which culminates with the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

##

THIS PET FOOD SCARE IS A SITUATION THAT TURNED BAD FAST

At first, the thinking was that the contaminated pet food could be traced back to a Chinese supplier of a wheat gluten product imported from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company. That's what Katy Byron at CNN News found out.

The Chinese suppliers say that's just a rumor. It distributed the wheat gluten to the U.S. through ChemNutra Inc., a Las Vegas-based company.

The chemical culprits? melamine and aminopterin. Otherwise known as rat poison.

Imagine the horror if you are a pet owner! Just to think that you might have given your little four-legged friend such a deadly dinner is incomprehensible to anyone who has a furry little loved one.

And I do mean loved one. If you've ever been a pet owner, you know darned well that these little darlings aren't mere animals. We welcome our pets into our homes and anthropomorphize them. (That's a psychobabble term which means we given them darned near human qualities.) Besides, who's to say. Maybe they truly can feel our pain.

To date, the FDA has received thousands of consumer complaints. At last report, I believe the number of pet deaths is under fifty.

If you want to stay on top of this tragedy, go to this website:

www.menufoods.com/recall

You'll see several opportunities to check out pet food recalls. If you follow the links to the sites offered at Menu Foods, you'll be able to get e-mail notifications if or when other pet foods get on recall lists.

I went to the National Pet Foundation link and was amazed at how much beneficial information is available to pet lovers.

Quint and I no longer have pets. We did have a goldfish, Larry, that got bigger and bigger and bigger. Larry lived in a ten-gallon tank even though he was a big fat five-year old that almost couldn't turn around in the tank anymore.

When we returned from vacation one year, it seems that Larry had bumped up against the tube that connected his air filter to the bubble machine.

Anyway, as odd as it sounds, Larry drowned. Lack of oxygen in the water, my fish mortician husband announced.

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THE BRITISH 15 ARE BACK ON HOME SOIL

There is much rejoicing in Great Britain this morning as the sailors from the HMS Cornwalllanded safely at Heathrow, then were taken by helicopter to the Royal Marine Barracks Chivenor in Devon.

They'll get a thorough debriefing, you can be assured of that. They'll also get a very thorough physical. 

Not only that but they each brought a goody bag from the self-designated great Persian, Capt. Marmalade himself. Now isn't that nice?!! Just like on Oscar night.

So now that his Famous Fifteen are back on home soil, I'll just betcha Mr. Blair has a few other thoughts about the ordeal that he's not going public with right now. We'll just have to wait for his memoirs. That ought to be a good read, believe me.

So just how big a boat was this Cornwall?



First of all, it was commissioned in 1988 by Diana, the Princess of Wales. That alone makes it special, right?

Basically, it's an anti-submarine boat. Ummm, er, frigate. It's a Type 22 Frigate. Over the past several years, the Cornwall has morphed into an anti-surface, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons craft.

But what I really enjoyed the most was learning that the Cornwallis affiliated with the Light Infantry and the Worshipful Guild of Leathersellers.

I just have one question: If it's 485.9 feet long and has great big Quad Harpoon missile launchers, then how did they get caught in Iraqi waters by a rubber ducky boat driven by three Iranian coast guards who had to come into Iraqi waters to get them?

source: BBC News

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SO NANCY, NANCY -- DO YOU THINK THE DENTIST IS GOING TO TAKE YOU ON AN EASTER EGG HUNT?

While you're over there on your spring break, ask your host, the Dentist al-Asad if he will take you out in the desert and show you where he allowed Iraq to bury its weapons of mass destruction.

How appropos, Nancy, to be in the Middle East for an Easter Egg Hunt at this time.

Even though you may have this delusional notion that you are the most powerful woman in America, you need to know that the Lebanese, Jordanians, and Egyptians hold a very negative view of your traipsing around the Middle East.

In fact, the view over there is that you are strengthening Syria's hand by holding your little tea party with the president of a country that has been identified as harboring terrorists.

You used to be a national embarrassment here in the U.S. (except in your beloved bay area). Now you've gone international.

And even though you've got your cute little Hermes headscarf on, the men over there are probably thinking, "Stupid woman. We can work this one." (Kindly note that they did not say "work with this one.")

Get real, Nancy, you are way outside the United States. And things are not the same in other countries. Especially right now, at this point in time. In fact, right about now, you ought to be really really grateful that our men and women in the armed forces are also in the region. It's probably the only thing that's saving your silly hide.

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HILLARY LAUNCHES HER "GET BUSH" CAMPAIGN

Here's what she put on her campaign website: "The American people have had enough of the president's failed strategy in Iraq...Join Hillary in telling him to listen to the will of the people and to Congress, withdraw his veto threat, and begin phased deploymnet of the troops out of Iraq."

Hillary, Hillary, what are you doing.

Don't you know?

Here's a hint: you're putting a bulls eye on the forehead of every man and woman serving in the military of the United States.

You're darned right the president will veto the funding package the way you yokels padded it in with millions of dollars for spinach research, and road projects in your states or districts. Not to mention the way you just kind of slipped in the $100 million item for the national conventions.

Will somebody please tell me what any of those earmarked porky items have to do with supplying our military with equipment, body armor, and bullets.

And the pull-out date of March 2008? What in God's name do you know about military strategies?

I truly believe that the Democrats are going to be absolutely everything they can do to make sure that the war in Iraq fails -- they have forgotten at at least one of the missions is to bring democracy to a culture that is not accustomed to resolving conflicts peacefully, albeit dialectically. So it has become Bush's war.

They are so wrong.

Somewhere along the line, they truly believe they are connected to the "will of the people." And they mis-read that too. Keep in mind that the disapproval rating for the U.S. Congress is in the high 70%.

We absolutely need to do all we need to do, as voters, to protect our military as they are protecting us.

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BOB PARKS PUTS FORTH A PATRIOTIC PERSPECTIVE FOR OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ARMED SERVICES

And he quotes what Bill Clinton had to say. And Madeline Albright. And Nancy Pelosi.

They had some pretty strong words to say about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. And the need to do whatever is necessary to get Saddam Hussein out of power and to dismantle any WMD program he had.

Watch this video. You will not be bored.

http://blackandright.mensnewsdaily.com/2007/04/01/the-video/

This video has Bob Parks from Black & Right discussing

Bob Parks is a Navy veteran. He stands firmly in support of you, America's best and brightest.

And I thank God for you every day and I pray for your safety and well-being.

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IRAN "PARDONS" 15 BRITISH SAILORS -- THEY'RE FREE

At this point, it's probably a secondary issue for the Iranians to "pardon" the British sailors. They were never really found guilty in a court of law, so there is no conviction to pardon anybody from.

But so be it.

They can sort that out later. In the meantime, fifteen happy sailors and their much relieved loved ones back home have cause to rejoice.



source: BBC News


Okay, so the Iranians had to change their story and move the HMS Cornwall a whole mile so they could plant the charge in international media outlets that the British spies were in Iranian territorial waters, when, in fact, the British sailors were in Iraqi waters.

At some later point, the GPS certainty will prove or disprove the location of the British ship.

But in the meantime, the Iranians have surely ratcheted up the unease in the region.

I wonder if Madam Speaker Pelosi is going to head for Iran and tell Captain Marmalade to just "stay calm." She seems to have a tendency to order powerful leaders to shut up, stand down, and stay calm. (My words, not hers, except for the "stay calm" part to President Bush. That was broadcast on tape.)

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THE REPUBLICANS WHO WENT TO SYRIA

They are Frank Wolf, Virginia-10th; Joe Pitts, Pennsylvania - 16th; and Robert Aderholt - 4th.

The three official Syrian dailies -- Al-Ba'th, Tishrin, and Al-Thawrah didn't have much to say about the meeting with The Dentist, President Bashar al-Asad, although one report that was in Al-Watan by Thana al-Imam says the the visit was something "like a slap in the face of the hoped-for dialogue between Syria and the United States."

Thana says that the congressmen's call for stopping support for Hizballah and HAMAS, preventing fighters from crossing into Iraq, recognizing Israel's right to live in peace, and refraining from intervening in Lebanon means that 'we are back to square one.' For, these American demands have not changed for more than three years."

So we have three congressmen who think they ought to help the Secretary of State out?

Would somebody please explain to me what these congressional delegations are doing traipsing around the Middle East acting like a bunch of busybodies and undermining the foreign policy making tasks of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government?

Do they think their middle name is Nobel or what?

Another thought that occurs to me is that this could be just a diversion to take the eye of the newsies off Chavez in Venezuela -- and then, Captain Marmalade, the Persian, will stealthily get lots of his Iranians into Venezuela, and then they travel up through Mexico and cross our borders, then apply for friendly status, and look like just plain ol' poh workin' folks.

While they build a dirty bombs by the dozen in the U.S.

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PRESIDENT BUSH -- FOREVER THE CLASS ACT

Isn't this a touching photo? You have to realize that this is Robert Byrd that President Bush is helping. Did you see it in any newspaper? I doubt it. So, you can say you saw it here.

source: Free Republic, Day in the Life of President Bush, 4/2/07

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HEY, NANCY -- YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE TO SYRIA

Hey Nancy, this is the voice of your president calling. You should not have gone to Syria. What you are doing is counterproductive. We've already tried sending delegations to speak with Bashar Assad and he has yet to rein in the terrorist funding.

Since President Bush is a lot nicer than I am, I would have added, "Just who do you think you are, consorting with the president of a terrorist country. Kind of making nicey nicey and sipping tea. Are you kidding? Get yourself home and get back to the job you were elected to do. Which, by the way, does not include posturing yourself as if you were engaging in treaty making deals. And another thing, if I were you, I wouldn't tell the President of the United States to just calm down."

I also want to know how many carbon credits you burned up.

And I also want to know how much it cost you to take your little spring break to Syria, and how many people were in your entourage? And how many bottles of wine did you entourage order up from the wine steward on the best military jet that you had available to you?

Total costs, please.

See, the mainstream media will probably never touch this part of the story. But haven't you heard? The internet has just about replaced the newsies who don't really report what's happening anymore. That's why there's an 83% disconnect from the newspapers and broadcast news medium in this country.

Real people have a way of finding out what the real news is.

So if I were you, all of you under the Dome, I'd get real busy going about the business of governing the United States, instead of taking our money and running around the world looking like idiots, sipping tea with terrorist regime presidents.

I know, you said there were some Republicans who went to Syria just only last week.

Name them, please.

But even so, does that make it right for you. The President already said he told them not to go either.

So you're pulling what looks like a teenagers favorite ploy, "Well, Johnny gets to go, so why can't I?"

And then mom says, "Well, if Johnny jumped off a cliff, does that mean you would too."

read more: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O96BGG0&show_article=1

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U.S. SENATE THREATENS TO DENY FUNDING OUR TROOPS

His name is Harry Reid. He's a Democratic senator from Nevada. Like many other politicians sitting up there, in Washington, under their beloved Dome, he keeps metaphorical company with lots of rattlesnakes.

After all, they grow 'em big in his home state.

Reid is the Senate Majority Leader. He likes that title.

Since we don't have royalty in these United States, he probably likens his position to being a mini-king.

Actually, it appears that he thinks he has more power than President George Bush. Bush is not a king either. But in this one instance, since he is Commander in Chief of the best armed forces in the whole world, Bush's mojo outshines the Head Senatorial Wah Wah Guy who says that if he doesn't get his way Bush just better look out.

He, Wah Wah Reid, is going to withhold funding for all of Bush's troops.

Oh, good, Wah Wah Reid, that'll really show the free world what you're made of.

Wah Wah Reid really wants the American people to believe that Bush is going to veto the Supplemental Appropriations Bill for troop funding because Bush doesn't want the troops to have the money they need.

What Wah Wah Reid is never going to reveal is that the famous troop funding bill has so much pork in it that it barely looks like a money package for our troops at all. (I gave a partial list of the add-on porky projects in a previous blog.)

And then there's that really big problem of the March 8 deadline that Wah Wah Reid wants to impose.

Bush says, "No can do."

Actually, if you guys keep messing around under the Dome, March 2008 will come and be gone by the time you figure out that you can't override Bush's veto.

Not only that, but the Republican representatives in the house have lined up solidly behind President Bush. In fact, they sent him a letter saying just that. Actually put their little John Hancocks on a sheet of paper that says, "We're behind you all the way, Mr. Prez."

I'm guessing that pursuing this blunderbuss of an idea would be political suicide for Wah Wah Reid.

Then he could go back on out to his desert and commune with the rattlesnakes. And the gila monsters. And the scorpions.

Maybe he could talk them into letting him represent them. Wah Wah Reid certainly doesn't have the best interests of our military at heart. It's all about the showdown at the O.K. Corral with the President/Commander in Chief Bush.

See, the domed ones keep running around saying that Iraq is just another Vietnam. Don't you believe it, my friends. Under the Democratic congress, it's true that the funding was just cut off for the troops in Vietnam. And now they think they're going to do to President Bush what they did to President Ford.

I don't think so.

Read my lips: This is not Vietnam!

Wah wah wah.

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SOMEONE SHOULD TELL KING HILLARY THAT DOLLARS DON'T VOTE

If you saw the headlines this morning, you may have gotten the idea that Hillary is way out in front because she's been on a fund-raising tear. She's burning up zillions of carbon credits getting from one gimme gimme to another.

(Not good imaging Hillary. Haven't you heard, your old buddy Al Gore has announced that such frivolous overconsumption is killing the planet.)

So she says that because she's collected more in campaign contributions in this first quarter of 2007, she's winning. Nobody else has collected that much.

Okay, so Hillary says she raised $26 million between January 1st and March 31st.

Romney raised $23 million in that same period of time.

Giuliani raised $15 million.

What Hillary is not telling anybody is that she transferred $10 million from her old senate campaign funds. That takes her actual gravy take to just $16 million. That's way behind Romney's $23 million. Unless, of course, Mr. R. took some of his own money and donated to himself for a presidential run like Hillary did.

Haven't seen that story.

And Giuliani? He's only $1 million lower in real dollars from Hillary.

Hillary's contention that she's winning kind of fits the old joke of "How can you tell if a politician is lying?"

The answer: "Their lips are moving."

But the fund-raising is only part of the story. The other part is that Hillary continues to fall in the polls.

I know -- polls don't vote either. And there are lots of people who give little or no credence to polls. I personally would like to know who these pollsters are calling. In all my years, I have never been polled. And I don't know anyone who has either.

The latest Harris poll sys that a majority of American voters say they will not vote for Hillary. A Gallup poll shows that among Democratic voters, her popularity has slipped to 74% in March, where it had been 82% in January.

We had a politician like her out here in Chicago land one year. First female mayor ever. She had snowflakes to help her get into office. It happened to have been the year that we had a particularly giant snow season and the city was not the one that worked that winter.

Chicago was the great snow barrier. Six lane roads were down to one lane in each direction. Imagine what that did for commuting.

Jane Byrne had a captive audience. Literally. She was able to get everybody riled up right where they were standing. On the el platforms. At the bus stops. On the commuter rail platforms. She could have walked between lanes on the expressways if she'd wanted. Cars weren't moving either.

After she was elected, the snow equipment started rolling at the first hint of the first little snowflake. "How dare you show up in my town again," she shouted from Mt. City Hall. Bad snowflake! Didn't you know I banished you."

As more and more people got to know the Ice Queen, as she was dubbed by her soon-not-adoring public, she dropped farther and farther in the polls.

In fact, when she'd go out campaigning to help her politibuddies out, they'd start dropping in popularity too. Like a rock. She was no longer asked to help anybody in their campaigns.

Hillary needs to take a look at what the polls are saying to her. Voters don't like her. Never did. Never will.

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