GORE'S NEW BOOK HITS THE STANDS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAuzdGYrMjA

You might have an interest in taking a look at this video. Don't look, though, if you're absolutely convinced the Al Gore, the inventor of the universe and all things bigger, is infallible.

Truth is, Saddam Hussein was doing his WMD dance when the Clinton/Gore team was in town running things to their little hearts content.

If you have trouble believing this, and if you have trouble believing that there was weapons of mass destruction, then don't pick up any of the fact-based historical type books either. You won't like the real facts.

Better to stick with the cartoon version of the news.

Do I know this for a fact? Nope. I have never been to Iraq.

I have never talked with President Bush. He certainly has not sought out my counsel or opinions about anything.

Have I ever talked with Madam Secretary Rice. Nope. She's far too big-brained for me.

So do I know any of this, for sure? Not really. Remember, folks, we only know what our senses give us for information. We either see it, feel it, or hear it.

You've heard the old saw, Seeing is believing? Well, seeing is knowing.

If you didn't see something happen, you don't know for sure it did. If you believe something happened and you didn't see it, then you are relying on a trusted source for your information.

Or you are speculating.

##


WELL, WELL, WELL -- FRED THOMPSON'S IN THE RACE

At least that's what the leakers are saying.

In my many and several years of working as a volunteer in various elections, I can tell you that the people who are allowed to get reallythisclose to a candidate are very trustworthy and loyal. They wouldn't leak any tidbit of information about their candidate for all the tea that's buried in the harbor.

So when media sources started quoting anonymous "leakers" who are throwing tidbit bones out there about FDT announcing on the 4th of July that he'll be making a run for the Rose Garden, my most immediate first cynical thought is that this is the announcement before the announcement.

There is no way that anyone would leak anything from Fred Thompson's campaign unless they wanted to be immediately banished from Thompsonville.

And if FDT has leakers and they're leaking before he has even announced, he'd better get his broom out real early and make a clean sweep. People who spring leaks tend not to be the loyal type.

He wouldn't want those kind of people within a hundred yards of his office, or chair, or red pick-em-up truck, or tomato patch, or anywhere else he hangs his hat.

I'm not a leaker, have never talked to Mr. Fred Himself Thompson, but I wrote months ago that he would be running, that this country needs Fred Thompson, and the generation of my grandchildren most certainly needs this man.

It will continue to be safe to go to sleep at night in the United States if Mr. Thompson becomes Mr. President.

##

CLEANING TIPS -- from Alice Stubbe

Tomorrow I will do the housework. NO EXCUSES!!! (unless they're good ones.)

1. It is time to clean out the refrigerator when something closes the door from the inside.

2. If it walks out of your refrigerator, let it go!

3. The best mini-vac for an after meal clean up is the dog.

4. Keep it clean enough for healthy, dirty enough for happy.

5. Never made fried chicken in the nude.

6. Do not engage in unarmed combat with a dust bunny big enough to choke the vacuum cleaner.

7. You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later, you have to start all over again.

8. If guys were supposed to hang clothes up, door knobs would be bigger.

9. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

10. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

11. Simplify. Hire a maid.

12. My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.

##

CINDY SHEEHAN GIVES UP ALL THAT PROTESTING

She made a speech over the weekend about going back to where she used to be and try to recuperate her normal life.

She also wrote in her daily diary that she publishes on Daily Kos that she just can't make the sacrificies anymore. It appears that she has finally realized that one person cannot change a culture or a society or even (probably) the people who live down the block.

In fact, adults can't change anybody unless -- and this is a really big "unless" -- the person wanting to make the change has control of the environment of the person they want to change.

Did I say that right?

Think about it. We were able to change our developing children because we had control of their environment.

What did Sheehan have control of? George Bush, the president. Nope.

Just try to get into the White House to have a chat with him. Not going to happen. And if you think you can ride over the Andrews Air Force Base with the dream of boarding Air Force One so you could bend his ear on a long flight, think twice about that one too.

But change the president's behavior? Not going to happen. Change his point of view. Not likely either.

Or how about congress? You are definitely going to zero out on that one too.

What could Sheehan possibly do to get the attention of anybody in congress? And even if she did, how would she motiviate them to make any changes?

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have enough troubles doing that and they each have great big political sticks to wave around. Sheehan doesn't have any political clout.

My personal opinion is that she is probably stepping down because she can't draw a crowd anymore. And when you're in the protest business, if you can't draw a crowd you can't get funding.

Bread and butter decisions overshadow ideologies.

Sheehan realized a critical point of view -- the far left is just as out of touch as the far right. Ideologies don't live on the extremes of the political -- oxygen deprivation, I guess.

I hope that Sheehan is going home to finish her grief work at the loss of her son Casey. For that I will keep her in my prayers.

She is more fragile than she appears to be.

##

WELL, MY GOODNESS -- LOOK WHO'S CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK!

Most of you probably don't regularly read the Israel News. Truthfully, neither do I. But every once in a while one of its headlines is captured on another site like ynetnet.com.

In this particular case, old Iranian President Captain Almond Marmalade (that would be short for Ahmadinejad which is too difficult to pronounce) has said that the Jews are acting like beastly persons.

What makes this such a beastly quote is that Marmalade has said in the recent past that he's going to eradicate the U.S. and Israel off the map of the world. That was before his approval ratings -- even in Iran there are such things -- started to sink like a rock.

Don't know if the Ayotollah got ahold of him or the voters did whatever they are able to do by way of protesting, but Marmalade seems to have toned down his rhetoric a tiny bit. Now he's coming back up again and he's saying the Jews are beastly persons because they don't have any faithi n God or the Bible.

Since it looks like the pot calling the kettle black, maybe marmalade ought to mind his own beeswax and see if there's anything else he could focus on that would improve his ratings with the voters over there.

Anything at all? Nope. His Rogueness may have a tough time just getting re-elected.

Read more at:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3404396,00.html

##


McCAIN FINDS HIS WAY BACK TO WASHINGTON

After missing a month of senate votes, Senator John McCain found his way back to Washington and actually voted three times on Thursday.

During that month of his self-imposed sabbatical (in which he was taking care of campaign duties like fund raising), he missed about half of the scheduled votes so far this year.

Doesn't matter. He said his constituents understood why he missed all those votes.

But wait, Mr. McCain. When you are a senator of the United States of America, aren't you supposed to be working for all of us? Seems like we're all chipping in some of the $162,500 salary you're drawing from the U.S. payroll.

Oh, you're not? You only work for the people in your state who elected you?

That explains everything. I guess.

But the only senator who's missed more votes than you is that guy who is recuperating from a brain hemorrhage. Tim Johnson.

Well, I just decided I'm not voting for you for anything. What you're doing smacks of the unethical.

In fact, the way I see it, is theft of time and theft of service is just downright stealing.

##


ABOUT THE LOBBYIST CAMPAIGN REFORM: IT'S ABOUT TIME

Oh they're squealing like little stuck pigs.

The lobbyists don't like the package that the House voted through yesterday by a margin of 382-37. Now they have to 'fess up about how much money they're trying to "strong arm" on behalf of political candidates.

The Democrats don't like the bill because they're afraid that it will actually discourage lobbyings from helping them raise campaign cash.

The Republicans aren't in the clear either. They don't like the bill for the same reason.

But you see, turkey reps, that's exactly the point.

The voters in America don't want their congressmen/women beholding to the lobbyists.

Oh, you say you're not beholding to them. It's all "free" money? Who do you think you're kidding? Us folks back home?

Didn't anyone ever tell you that nothing is free in Washington, D.C.?

Think turnip patch. We didn't come from there. You take money. You owe somebody. And the lobbyists do come calling when it's time to vote on legislation.

That line is so thin between your free money and corruption that it might as well not even be there.

The bill is called a "bundling" bill. Not sure what's in the bundle but my guess is a lot of audacious hope that the people back home will think their congresspersons are good guys once again who are sticking with good old American law and order.

But here's the real point: the elected people in Washington have finally gotten the idea that the internet has created a lot of transparency about what they're doing, who's in attendance and who's voting for what.

It's really, really hard for the big wig newspaper publishers of the mainstream media to manage the news anymore. The internet has replaced a lot of the news sources and big newspapers in major markets across the country are having to lay off reporters because the paper print versions of the news don't hold up to the scrutiny of the light of day.

The internet did that. News is factual again. Wasn't that what newspapers used to provide?

##

THE SADDEST OF NEWS OUT OF BAGHDAD

The body of Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack, Jr., 20 years old, has been identified as the soldier who was pulled from the Euphrates River. His two fellow soldiers are still missing and a massive manhunt in the Triangle of Death continues for the two remaining kidnapped victims.

Please join me in praying for the family and friends of Private Anzack as they grieve the loss of this brave young man. He was a gunner from Torrance, California.

The other two missing soldiers are:

Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts
Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan

read more at http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/24/iraq.main/index.html

##


AWWWW, MURTHA SAYS HE'S SORRY

It was a tirade against a fellow congressman (Mike Rogers, R-Michigan) who had tried to remove a $23 million earmark because it amounted to redundant spending for an intelligence gathering facility in Murtha's Pennsylvania district.

Murtha then threatened to deny Rogers any future spending projects in defense bills. Ever. Forever.

Now Murtha says he was out of line and he's sorry.

Rogers tried to have Murtha reprimanded under the House Ethics Rules violation.

Remember when Pelosi said she was going to clean up the ethics rules in the House? Didn't happen folks. It's as bad as it ever was.

I know you can't vote in Murtha's district. But I will tell you this. Each and every congressman is up for re-election in 2008.

You're going to get a chance to go to the polls and voice any discontent you may have with these politicians who promise you the moon and give you sawdust instead.

It is time to clean house. And by that I do not mean with Nancy Pelosi's broom. She's bringing the approval rating for the House of Representatives to new lows. And her buddy, Mr. Reid, on the other end of the building, is doing the same thing for the senate side.

Can anybody trust a politician? Do you think they care? Nope. They just keep counting their money.

##


LOOKS LIKE WE'RE HEADING FOR A RECORD SNAKEBITE SEASON

In an article posted on PrimeNewswire, we can expect a busy season with snakebites from rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths/water moccasins. These venomous bites can be treated with CroVab(r), an antivenom. This particular antivenom is not used to treat coral snake bites.

There are some 45,000 snakebites in the United States each year. Of these, between 7,000 and 8,000 are from poisonous snakes. And of that number, maybe a dozen will be fatal.

The snakebite season starts about mid-March and runs through the cooler weather in the fall.

The article quotes snake wrangler Bo Slyapich in Los Angles as having logged in three times the number of emergency calls so far this year. You don't think of Los Angeles as having a particularly big snake population. Maybe rattlesnakes? There is a rattlesnake that's native to Southern California. That I know.

The point is, be careful out there this year. Warm weather patterns bring snakes out more as they search for food, and also water.

read more: http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=120143

##

FOX NEWS REPORTS BODY OF MISSING SOLDIER FOUND

It's the news that we all prayed wouldn't come.

According to Fox News, the Iraqi police have discovered a body floating in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad.

The man was executed with shots to the head and whip marks on his back.

Dear Lord in Heaven, please be with the other soldiers and bring them back safely.

Three soldiers went missing on May 12. Their kidnapping launched a massive manhunt from their fellow soldiers.

Identity has not been made as yet, pending positive identification and notification of family members.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274914,00.html

##


GAS PRICES AROUND THE WORLD -- from Patti

Oslo , Norway - $6.82 a gallon for unleaded regular, in US dollars

London , UK $5.96

Rome , Italy $5.80

Brussels , Belgium $6.16

Hong Kong $6.25

Tokyo , Japan $5.25

Sao Paulo , Brazil $4.42

Buenos Aires , Argentina $2.09

Mexico City $2.22

Sydney , Australia $3.42

Johannesburg , South Africa $3.39

New Delhi , India $3.71

Here's the kicker!

Caracas $0.12!!!

Kuwait $0.78!!

Riyadh , Saudi Arabia $0.91!!

##


AD FROM MOVE AMERICA FORWARD POSITION: SURRENDER IS NOT AN OPTION TO REID/PELOSI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF_frpUoMIg&NR=1

##


VIDEO: HOW TO DRIVE A HUMMER IN IRAQ

I have to put a caveat in here, though, for my grandson Jerry not to watch this video. You already have enough ideas of how to get through heavy traffic and no matter what you think, your pickup truck is not a Hummer.

This is a great site for all sorts of photos and videos, though.

The rest of you can watch and enjoy. Jerry, go do your homework. Love, Grandma.

http://www.strategypage.com/military_photos/2007522225120.aspx

##


EDWARDS SAYS WAR ON TERROR IS JUST SOMETHING BUSH MADE UP

He's joined by fellow Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden (Delaware), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio Rep.) and former Senator Mike Gravel (Alaska) who say they do not believe there was a global war on terror.

However, not so fast, say Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They indicate that they do believe there is a global war on terror.

Edwards said in New York, "We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq military that is mission focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats..."

But wait a minute, Mr. Edwards. How do you propose to protect Americans from 21st century threats when you just said there isn't a war on terror?

Terrorism is the threat!

You don't get it and it's just another reason -- maybe the primary reason -- why you'll never be elected president of the United States.

In fact, you're not even a front-running contender.

Get the sand out of your eyes, sir. There's an ill wind blowing and just the thought of weakies like you sitting in the Oval Office scares the bejeebers out of me and millions like me who will be going to the polls to vote for someone we believe will protect us from terrorists.

Uh, that will not be you.

source: AP, Permalink

##

HEAVY-HANDED REP. MURTHA VOTE FOR REPRIMAND MAYBE TODAY

It's a $23 earmark. The project was removed from a resolution headed for the house floor, except that another representative (Mike Rogers, R-Mich) made a motion to take the earmark out because there was already one in a bill. So it was a redundancy.

Well, I can tell you that Murtha (D-Pa) did not like that. Things sound of like they exploded. Lots of intimidating-type yelling and finger pointing where Murtha threatened to take all the earmarks from this other guy. Forever.

The forever guy brought a resolution to the floor to cite Murtha with an ethics violation.
 
So we'll just see if the reprimand goes through. Could be showdown time between Hoyer and Pelosi at the OK Corral. The representatives just aren't playing nice.

I expect that the Democrats will circle the wagons and tell the Republicans to leave their best buddy alone.

Ethics rules, schmules.

##


THE DO-NOTHING 110TH CONGRESS IS ABOUT TO TAKE A BREAK

From what? Certainly not very much work!

But they head out for the Memorial Day break May 28 - June 1. Too bad their breaks aren't tied to how much productive work they do.

I do think, though, that they are going to try to pass a resolution on the Iraq budget, sans a withdrawal deadline. That's what President Bush asked for in the first place and if the senators hadn't been so bullheaded about playing their own war games with the White House, the budget package would have been ready for signing by now.

Anyway, there are a lot more interesting things going on in the world that watching the 110th Congress playing shenanigans.

For instance --


IT'S BEEN 17 YEARS ALREADY -- HERE COME THE CICADAS

Supposedly, just in the Chicago area alone, there will be 1.5 million per acre of the 17 year variety. But then, there's also a 13 year variety. Not sure what they're up to yet.

Actually, they're going to come up out of the ground all over the midwest -- from eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, northwestern Indiana, and southern Michigan just about now and into early June.

Suburban backyards and parks will feel the assault. And assualt it is. These little critters have been buried underground where they've been drinking the sap from tree roots.

They're about to come up out of the ground, attach to the nearest twig they can find, climb up in the nearest tree and shed their ugly little shell of skin. After that, they'll mate and the female will lay about 600 eggs. When the eggs hatch, they fall to the ground and burrow underground. Thus, another cycle starts.

They only live underground about a foot down. It's not like they burrow all the way to China.

Wikipedia says there are 2,500 varieties of cicadas. They do a lot of damage because the females cut slits in tree twigs where all these eggs are laid. Trees do not find this a happy circumstance.

You'll know they're in your backyard because they sing a very loud chorus. If your windows are open, they'll annoy you thoughout the night with their little one note samba which is really a mating call for you know what.

After they've crawled out of their skin, the old shell will usually fall to the ground. There will be lots of crunching sounds underfoot.

But what I absolutely do not understand is why in the world would anyone want to eat cicadas? Yucko! But there are recipes out there for the crunchy little delicasies.

##

DUMB LAWS -- to make you chuckle (I hope)

In Alaska:

While is is legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking its picture is prohibited.

In Anchorage, no one may tie their pet dog to the foot of their car.

Also in Anchorage, persons may not live in a trailer while it is being pulled through town.


In Illinois:

In Chicago, all businesses seeking to do business with the city must sift through their records to see if they had any dealings with slaves during the slave era.

The law forbids eating in a place that's on fire.

It is illegal to burn bird feathers.

There is a $1,000 fine for beating rats with baseball bats.

In Kenilworth, a rooster must step back 300 feet from any residence if he wishes to crow.

Bees are not allowed to fly over Kirkland or through any of the city streets.

In Normal, it is illegal to make faces at a dog.

##

IMMIGRATION BILL HAS TO WAIT; SENATE DELAYS DEBATE UNTIL JUNE

What with the Memorial Day holiday and recesses looming on the horizon, the Senate agreed to invoke cloture this afternoon on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

The truth of the matter is, it doesn't look like they have enough votes to pass it anyway.

So what does that mean?

The country is still full of about 12 million illegal aliens. Now, what are they going to do about that?

Well, it apparently isn't all that pressing an issue. They're going on vacation, or back to their districts for some R&R Golf Outings, or wherever senators go to play.

Your tax dollars at work. This is one of the reasons why the approval rating for congress is down around the ankle level of 25%.

But you have to admit that all this anticipation made this a real nail-biter of a day, don't you? I mean, who would have ever thought that they'd just shut down the senate for the holiday and do absolutely nothing about immigration.

Couldn't they at least have scheduled hearings or something.

After all, what does C-Span do when the lights under the dome get turned off?

##


UPDATE: ONLY 20 (!!!) SENATORS HAVE COMMITTED TO
IMMIGRATION BILL?

And late this afternoon, a trail balloon is supposedly going to be launched to see just how much support there is for this thing-of-a-bill. Actually the vote today is whether to even allow the debate (war-games) to begin. That vote needs a total of 60 votes just to proceed to commence to begin. And then the big bags of wind start talking. And talking. And talking.

Their first task, in my view, is going to be to define amnesty. That's the sticking point.

Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's going to insist -- absolutely insist -- that the guest-worker proviso be reduced from 400,000 to 100,000. But Reid is not in any position to rally 'round a slug fest on the floor of the senate. He's not likely to get anything he wants on this matter.

What I don't understand is about this guest-worker proviso. The senators are going to let them stay and work for two years. Than they've have to go back home and stay for a year. Then they's be able to renew their guest-worker status.

But folks. These are people who are here illegally. What makes you think they would ever voluntarily go back to a country they escaped from and then wait for the proper time to come back to the U.S. legally when they already know how to get here and stay here and hide for years and years and years and years. The immigration service can't find them. Won't deport them. And if this is passed, won't find them anymore. Still.

One could say that the law is unenforceable, wouldn't you think?

The rumor mill that's being touted all the way from Rush Limbaugh on the air to the Washington Times article filed by Stephen Dinan and S.A. Miller say that there are a grand total of 20 senators who have said, "I'll vote for it." Forty have said, "Not."
So 20 + 40 = 60. That only leaves 40 senators left behind. McCain's not in the building (again) and Senator Johnson is still recuperating from his AVM. Sixty minus 98 is only 38 senators left.

Anyway, the senators are rushing around trying to get some kind of legislation passed before they go on their Memorial Play Day break.

##



THE IMMIGRATION BILL IS ABOUT AMNESTY FOR MILLIONS
OF ILLEGALS WHO ARE HERE RIGHT NOW

So let me see. We're going to give amnesty to about 12 million illegal aliens who are here in this country at this very moment. Mostly from Mexico, but there are quite a few from El Salvador and Honduras and other places that are not on the U.S. border.

And after the amnesty provision, then we're going to seal the borders?

How.

I mean, if you know how to do that, then explain how the 12 million got in.

The other side of the debtate, at least it seems so to me, is that if we don't grant amnest and make the 12 million illegals go back to wherever they came from, what are we going to do with their children who are American citizens because they were born here.

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the illegals have an average child/per/household of 3 children. That would be 36 million children born to illegal aliens while they are in this country.

Would we have to build orphanages if we make their padres and mudres go back home. (Pardon my Spanish, I only speak English.)

It's a really big problem caused mainly by the fact that there have been a whole bunch of people not doing their jobs at the borders in the first place for a long time. By that I mean that it took 12 million illegals longer than a weekend to cross the border.

See what a fine mess this is now.

Last I read, though, there has been a compromise package ironed out in the Senate. Ted Kennedy must be gloating. He hasn't gotten this much press in I don't remember when.

The question is whether or not is will have enough votes to pass and send over to the house. The House hasn't added its two cents worth in yet. Then it goes back to a conference committee and see if things can even be worked out.

It's not over until it's over folks.

##

RECORD TAX RECEIPTS -- HERE'S THE NUMBER

I mentioned a few blogs ago that the U.S. Treasury took in a record amount of tax receipts in April.

That number is $383.6 billion. I think the context I was using was the fact that the more people there are who are working, the more taxes are paid into the treasury, which ultimately reduces the deficit.

Lower taxes mean business expansion, which, in turn, means more people are hired.


GERMANENESS -- HERE'S A FINE WORD FOR YOUR VOCABULARY

Basically, in a debate tournament, if you wander off the germaneness of your topic, you'll get points deducted.

As far as Congress is concerned, the need for germaneness goes back about 185 years to when Henry Clay introduced it into House Rules. Pelosi announced recently that she was going to change the House Rules by doing away with the minority's ability to use this parliamentary procedure to alter bills.

So the Republicans, now in the minority in the House, said that if you do that, Ms. Speakerette, then we will call for procedural votes and they threatened to keep doing it until there was assurances that the Democratic leadership would not change the rules about germaneness.

Minority Whip Say Blunt (R-Mo) said in a Jackie Kucinich article in The Hill, "...the change is horrifying..."

About 2 pm yesterday, Blunt sent an alert out to the members of Congress that the test of germaneness was about to be introduced.

The call for procedural votes continued. Finally, word came down from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) that there hadn't been any rules change proposal.

So I guess all is well, and everybody is back at work under the dome.

Just hope that the politicians don't start pouting again. They can be such big babies, you know.

Somehow the threat of gridlock isn't what I'd call working out a compromise on anything.


POPE BLISTERS POLITICIANS WHO FAVOR ABORTION

In a "Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" type position aimed at Pope Benedict, 18 House Democrats fired a message back to him that Catholic bishops or clergy who withhold communion from politicians "...clashes with [religion] freedoms guaranteed in our Constituion. Such notions offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done."

Well, okay then. So now the domed ones are trying their hands at theology.

Uh, if I were Catholic, which I am not, I don't think I'd get into a theological tug-of-war with the Pope. Somehow, I don't think the politicians in the United States have much say in dictating what the Pope says is the position of the Catholic church.

Here's the list of the 18 who took the Pope to task, and the text of their message:

[letterhead of the Congress of the United States] 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                  

Thursday, May 10, 2007

CONTACT:

Adriana Surfas 202-225-3661

Catholic Members of Congress Express Concern

Over Church Sanctions

Washington, D.C. – Catholic members of the U.S. House of Representative, including  Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Joe Baca (CA-43), Tim Bishop (NY-1), Joe Courtney (CT-2), Anna Eshoo (CA-14), Maurice Hinchey, (NY-22), Patrick Kennedy (RI-1), James Langevin (RI-2), John Larson (CT-1), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Jim Moran (VA-8), Bill Pascrell (NJ-8), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Linda Sanchez (CA-39), José Serrano (NY -16), Hilda Solis (CA-32), and Mike Thompson (CA-1) issued the following statement in response to Pope Benedict’s warning that Catholic elected officials risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion for their pro-choice views.  The majority of these Members also supported the Statement of Principles issued on February 28, 2006, that expresses the signers’ commitment to the dignity of life and their belief that government has moral purpose. 

“We are concerned with the Pope's statement warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views. 

“Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission.  As we said in our Statement of Principles, ‘We envision a world in which every child belongs to a loving family and agree with the Catholic Church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion – we do not celebrate its practice.  Each of us is committed to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and creating an environment with policies that encourage pregnancies to be carried to term.’  That is precisely what some of us are doing with our initiative ‘The Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act’ – which includes policies that promote alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, improve access to children’s healthcare and child care, as well as encourage paternal and maternal responsibility.  

“The fact is that religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America – it also clashes with freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution.  Such notions offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”

source: www.house.gov/delauro

##

SENATORS LOSE THEIR BID TO DEFUND THE TROOPS IN IRAQ

When the vote tally finally got added up, it came to 29-67. That's a major blow to all the senatorial hopefuls. The measure couldn't even get passed the procedural part of the process.

The senators would have needed 31 more votes to go forward with this particular version of its legislation. The House already passed a package supporting the troops in Iraq last week.

So maybe now the domed ones will stop crowing about shoving anything down President Bush's throat. That was the threat recently when Bush vetoed the package that came from Capitol Hill demanding that Bush call the troops home. There was even a veiled threat to defund the war in Iraq.

Didn't happen.

##


SOME USEFUL LEGISLATION ON THE HORIZON -- I HOPE

People who have credit cards and others who have also jumped on the low teaser rates for balance transfers have discovered to their horror that the different transaction types carry different finance charge rates.

That's not so bad. The rub comes in when debtors realize that all the payments go toward paying on the balance of the lowest finance charge rates. The other, higher interest rates keep going up because the finance charges get added to the balance.

Talk about feeling helpless. It's possible to send in a monthly payment and actually see the overall credit card balance increase.

Now comes news that those people up on Capitol Hill are in the process of changing the rules.

Ordinarily, I don't like the idea of a lot of congressional regulations encroaching on our private lives, but, folks, there have been too many with double tiers, even triple tiers, of finance charges. There is no way that they can get out from underneath the horrific credit card scheme that plagues them every month.

It goes something like this: the debtor starts out with a visa -- maybe at an 18% rate if the debtor doesn't have that great a credit score. Then, along comes some checks that the debtor can use -- maybe at 12% -- to buy some Christmas presents or send to another creditor.

Now we have the double tier. While all the payments every month go to the part of the bill that has a 12% finance charge. The other tier -- at 18% -- continues to accrue finance charges being added to that part of the balance.

Where some debtors have gotten into further trouble is when they get a balance transfer at a next to nothing rate, like maybe 2%.

Now, disaster looms on the horizon. All the payment goes to the 2% part of the balance, and the other two tiers have the finance charges added to the balances of each sub-total.

I have had clients who actually have declared bankruptcy because they get these double tiers, some triple tiers, disasters going.

They end up in my office for help with changing behaviors. Especially shopping habits.

You'd think that a homeowner could get a home equity loan to pay everything off and start over. The problem with that is -- statistically -- unless some major changes occur with shopping habits, credit balances get back to where they had been in a couple of years.

Well, you can bet the banks and credit card companies aren't too excited about changing this little scheme.

It looks like the heavy hands of our congressional banking committee members are going to have to come to bear on the highly profitable schemers.

It looks like the legislation is going to require that payments be applied to the higher finance charge part of the balance.

Folks, that's a huge improvement. Getting rid of the tiers would be better. Just roll them all into one balance. For my clients, I'd prefer that.

We'll see what the legislation looks like by the time it gets through the banking committe, then on to the senate, then back through a conference committee finally for a vote.

##

NEW APPROVAL RATINGS -- CONGRESS LOWER THAN BUSH

The new Gallup Poll data are out and guess what? Congress has sunk to a low 29% approval rating. Last month is had been 33% and the all-time high for the year was 37%. (www.galluppoll.com)

So what was all this crowing about after the last election about delivering a new direction for the American people?

Let's see -- the stock market is soaring high. In fact, it recently crashed through the 13,000 threshold. What new direction would congress want to take us?

Then there's the unemployment rate. It's hovering around the full employment figure of 4.5%. What new direction would congress want to take us?

Tax receipts for April of this year also hit an all-time high. Mainly because more people are working. This is a direct result from lower taxes. More people work, more people pay taxes. Lower taxes puts more money in the hands of businesses that employ people. Lower taxes means they can expand their businesses. Good for businesses. Good for government because more taxes collected means the deficit gets lower. What new direction would congress want to take us?

In the meantime, Bush's approval rating is running steady at 33%.

If you think that's way too low, keep in mind that Billy Clinton's approval rating had hit a rock bottom of 25% at about this point in time during his second term.

##

YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT PRESIDENT BUSH READS SHEET MUSIC

He refers to himself as "just an ole' cowboy." But he surprised everybody, including the conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra on Sunday afternoon when he took the podium and conducted the orchestra through a couple of minutes of the Stars and Stripes Forever.

On Sunday afternoon, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were in attendance at the 400th Anniversary Ceremonies on the founding of the Jamestown settlement.

Naturally, Free Republic got some gorgeous photos of the event.

In an article written by Sonja Barisic, an Associated Press writer, JoAnn Falletta, conductor of the symphony, said, "We didn't expect him to know the score so well...He conducted with a great deal of panache."

This particular orchester was made up of about 50 members of the Virginia Symphone plus musicians from youth orchestras from around the country.

So our President impressed the orchestra members with how well he knew the music and how well he cued the different sections -- like the brass, and the percussion. Did a good job keeping the tempo going, apparently.

That, I would loved to have seen. Maybe it will mean a career change after his White House days are behind him.

Check out these photos posted by Wolfstar on Free Republic -- from WhiteHouse.gov and Yahoo News:



Say, Madam Conductor, mind if I have a go at this?




You over there in the back row, I'm not hearing you.




Okay, everybody, at the same time, here we go.





Now, just one blissful moment before we get into a rousing thunderous drum roll!




There was a huge crowd who came to hear President Bush speak at Jamestown.





President and First Lady inspect some 17th century weapons.

##

NEW DRUGS FOR WOMEN -- from Mark Stubbe
>
> > >> DAMNITOL
> >> Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 full hours.
> >>
> >> EMPTYNESTROGEN
> >> Suppository that eliminates melancholy and loneliness by reminding you
>of  how awful they were as teenagers and how you couldn't wait till they moved out!
> >>
> >> ST. MOMMA'S WORT
> >> Plant extract that treats mom's depression by rendering preschoolers unconscious for up to two days.
> >>
> >> PEPTOBIMBO
> >> Liquid silicone drink for single women. Two full cups swallowed before an evening out increases breast size, decreases intelligence, and prevents conception.
> >>
> >> DUMBEROL
> >> When taken with Peptobimbo, can cause dangerously low IQ, resulting in enjoyment of country music and pickup trucks.
> >>
> >> FLIPITOR
> >> Increases life expectancy of commuters by controlling road rage and the urge to flip off other drivers.
> >>
> >> MENICILLIN
> >> Potent anti-boy-otic for older women. Increases resistance to such lethal lines as, "You make me want to be a better person. "
> >>
> >> BUYAGRA
> >> Injectable stimulant taken prior to shopping. Increases  potency, duration, and credit limit of spending spree.
> >>
> >> JACKASSPIRIN
> >> Relieves headache caused by a man who can't remember your birthday, anniversary, phone number, or to lift the toilet seat.
> >>
> >> ANTI-TALKSIDENT
> >> A spray carried in a purse or wallet to be used on anyone too eager to share their life stories with total strangers in elevators.
> >>
> >> NAGAMENT
> >> When administered to a boyfriend or husband, provides the same irritation level as nagging him, without opening your mouth.
> >>
> >> Now, send these to any woman who needs a good laugh, and any man who can handle it.

##

NOW THE GOVERNOR OF KANSAS JUMPS ON THE BLAME BUSH BANDWAGON!

Why can't people just tell the truth?

This time it's Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius who said that her response to the tornado that came ripping through Greensburg -- no less than an F5 that was 1.7 miles wide and cut a path 22 miles long -- was hampered because the National Guard had been deployed to the Middle East.

The truth is, there are no less than three military bases in Kansas that had personnel immediately available to her (if she'd asked for federal help) -- Ft. Riley and Ft. Leavenworth are army bases and Ft. McConnel is an air force base. There were all kinds of help available and the governor should know that all she had to do was ask for help. She should also know that the feds don't come barnstorming into local sovereigns without being asked.

Especially after Katrina. If you're a governor, you can't just sit around and say, "We don't need help -- we can handle this ourselves," then get mad at the White House for not sending help.

Again, federal help does not automatically come marching into sovereign states to "take care of things." But such help is certainly there for the asking.

And then, whether it's really true or not, or if she just continued to compound her big stories, she supposedly said that Howard Dean called her at 5 a.m. and instructed her to blame the war on Iraq, and of course, blame Bush. My question is: Does Howard Dean really get up at 5 a.m.?

And where was Governor Sebelius' compassion for her fellow Kansans? Didn't see any pictures of her hugging anybody, praying with anybody, talking with anybody, doing anything that could be construed as caring.

But then, I don't subscribe to any of the newspapers in Kansas, so maybe there were photos. Here are some photos, though. There photos of a man who most certainly does care. Eyeball to eyeball. Heart to heart.

Here's President Bush with Governor Kathleen Sebelius. First she applauds him for signing a disaster relief package for her Kansans within 24 hours, then she criticizes the White House for not sending disaster help (national guard) when, in fact, she hadn't ask for the guard's help.

Question: If she had asked for the guard's help immediately, could any of the ten lives have been saved? Even one?

These photos come fron Free Republic's daily photo threads of our Comforter-in-Chief. A picture is worth a thousand words, don't you think?














A man who prays. A man who's honest all the way to his core. He looks you in the eye. And the people of the United States of America love President Bush.



But why does he have to get blamed for everything?

Maybe it helps to just look at the people who are blaming him for each and every little thing.

Somehow, with lots of prayers from fellow believers, he rises above the political rhetoric and draws his strength from God above. I think it helps him to know that there are so many of us who are praying for him to have strength to endure.

##

UH OH -- HERE WE GO AGAIN -- ANOTHER SCHOOL LOCKDOWN

Seems like I just did this. But news from CNN says that a high school in Boulder, Colorado, is under lockdown. It's a developing story. The only thing known at this point is that two masked men went into the building and police officers are at the scene. Boulder High School named by breitbart.com.

Try CNN. That's where this headline started.


IS IT REALLY HEROD'S TOMB?

I admit I'm a skeptic, but it just seems to me that if an archeologist discovers what is announced to be Herod's tomb, it ought to have two things: 1) some bones in it and 2) some kind of inscription that says, "here lies the body of ..."

Okay, so some piece of news might be missing. Some clue that would lead the Israeli archeologists in Jerusalem to announce that they had found the mean old Herod who had been the king of the Holy Land around 40 B.C.

Herod is one of those characters who plays a heavy hand all through my Bible studies. I shadowed him through Sunday School lessons and then Confirmation Classes, but I never knew his tomb went missing.

And yes, it would be quite a find. Especially for Ehud Netzer who has been digging in the dust at Herod's known compound since 1972. That would be just about a capstone for Netzer's career, don't you think?

I, for one, wish Netzer every success in his pursuit of historical finds.


YOU CAN'T EVEN GO TO A CONCERT THESE DAYS WITHOUT SOMEONE HAVING A TEMPER SNIT

The Boston Pops, of all places. And the very fancy schmancy opening night, at that.

Where did the time go? The season opened just this past Wednesday. Amazing.

And then someone screamed. Sounded like it was coming from the balcony.

Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart turned and looked up that way. But he kept on playing. After all, the show must go on, you know.

Then another scream. This one was louder than the first.

"What is going on up there?" he must have wondered. This time he stopped the orchestra, turned and looked up in the audience again. Chairs were crashing to the floor.

All that racket was definitely interfering with his interlude.

He waited patiently for the rent-a-cops to get up there and personally escort the noisemakers out to the street.

After the old heave ho, the concert resumed. None the worse for wear, but you can bet the whole incident sparked many a conversation at many an after-show cocktail party.

As for the temper tantrum twosome, you ought to at least learn a bit of decorum before you go off and try to ruin opening night, for crying out loud!

Didn't your mothers teach you anything?



##

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: NOW NANCY'S GONNA SUE THE PRESIDENT!

And over all things -- President Bush's signing statements.

Hey, Nancy, it's just not all that unusual for presidents to write signing statements when they veto congressional bills. Like the most recent War Spending Package that you guys sent to him that was chock full of little piggy barrel projects for your pet (big donors) constituents.

So, since you're so vested in freedom of speech as an American virtue, you intend to censor the president and commander-in-chief?

Courts traditionally don't even hear such nonsensical garbage suits. And what a waste of the taxpayers' money! In fact, in an article in today's The Hill written by Jonathan E. Kaplan and Elana Schor, we are reminded that "the courts ruled that dissident lawmakers could not sue solely to obtain outcomes they could not secure in Congress." The authors were referring to a ruling way back in the 1970s when Congress tried to force President Nixon to stop the bombing in Cambodia.

In other words, Ms. Nancy, if you can't get a law passed through Congress, you aren't going to be able to make case law through the judicial system.

Did you completely miss American Government, Social Studies and Civics classes? Since you're about the same age as I am, Ms. Nancy, it would most likely have been Civics. 

Civics is where we learned that there are three branches of the U.S. government. Each branch has certain responsibilities and are accountable to the people of the United States.

If and when Congress passes laws that the president believes are not constitutional, then, yes, he has not only the right to veto the law, but also the responsibility to do so.

If he wants to make a statement as to why he's vetoing it, then he also has that right. Like in the most recent case, when he said in his signing statement that he was vetoing the law because it was unconstitutional.

But I will give you credit for giving high school and college students some great opportunities to see how governmental offices run and who has what obligations, power and rights.

For instance, there's going to be one tiny little problem that's gonna slow you down and that is a two syllable word called standing. In any court proceeding, someone has to have "standing." That is, someone has to be the injured party who's looking to the courts for a remedy of some sort.

Somehow, passing a law that's not constitutional and having the president veto it while telling you why he vetoed it is not exactly an injury, you big bunch of uninjured sore losers.

Now get back to work and do what you were hired to do by the taxpayers!

##

HERE WE GO AGAIN -- ANOTHER SHOOTING IN PROGRESS

This time in California -- Fresno, in fact.

One dead, two injured. Apparently a 19-year-old, Jon Quel Brooks, involved -- maybe a disagreement with his roomate? Fox News just said that he escaped into the neighborhod.

Brooks was a criminology major.

News story developing. If you're in the area, stay indoors where you're safe. And don't let anybody into your building if you don't know who they are or what they want. And it's not a good idea to go stand outside to see if you can see what's going on.

##


AND PARIS HILTON IS GOING TO JAIL!

Okay so it's only 45 days but it's the point.

These celebrities just can't go running up and down the coast out there thinking they don't have to obey the very same laws the rest of us do.

She didn't even convince the judge that she really didn't know that her driver's license was suspended.

How could you not know that?

Of course she knew it! Good judge call.

Now go to jail. And I don't agree with your mother who said it was a total waste of taxpayer money. Not!

I'll tell you what's a waste of time. You obviously have relied on police authority and judge/bench authority to teach your overgrown child to have some respect for authority.

Obviously it didn't work.

##


NOW PELOSI IS TRYING TO BETTER HER HUSBAND'S WATERFRONT POSITION

Don't you just love it! First congress passes laws that lets them better their positions and their spouses piggy banks too. Then they turn around and take advantage of bilking the taxpayers out of millions of dollars and say "It's not illegal, you know."

These little loopholes in the laws they pass become little pockets where they can stash millions and mega-millions of tax dollars that somehow get through all those ethical filters that are supposed to keep their hands clean.

But it apparently doesn't work like that.

In this instant case, there's a certain water redevelopment bill that concerns San Francisco.

That's her district, of course.

And the waterfront improvements were requested by the Port of San Francisco.

We're actually being asked to believe that Paul Pelosi's waterfront rental properties don't have anything to do with the Port improvements that are in the works. In fact, the two properties are at least a mile apart. Mr. P.P. gets rental income from four different buildings in a nearby commercial district.

So how could they possibly be related?

And so, the little people have now become the "stupid little people," I guess.

Just a mile. That's hardly any distance at all. After all, this is a woman who can hop on a U.S. military jet and soar all the way to Syria -- halfway around the planet -- and they're using one mile as a political safety zone of ethical behavior?

Preposterous. Absolutely proposterous.

How many days does this clownette have left in office?

And the monumental understatement of the year comes out of Senator Tom Coburn's office (R-Okla). He said, "On its face, it appears to be a conflict of interest."

No kidding. I'll just betcha any fifth grade ethics student would agree with that comment. Nancy's part of this multi-million project is a $25 million earmark and, yeah, it most definitely would benefit her husband's little waterfront projects.

In the end, it would benefit her too, since they probably file a joint income tax return and share their monies.

##


WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE STARBUCKS PEOPLE?

It was supposed to be one of those little thought-provokers. You've seen those cute little sayings that coffee sellers -- not just Starbucks -- put on the cups to help stimulate conversation.

Well, this went too far. And the firestorm followed. This is the little thought provoker that Starbucks figured would wake up some interesting conversations:

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search insider ourselves for the power to overcoem? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.

In my view, that's not a thought provoker. That's a real head spinner.

What was Starbucks trying to do? Turn off its entire Christian customer base?

If Starbucks is going to try to tell me that I don't need to talk to God in prayer because I seem to cause most of the problems I'm praying about, then one of those problems is going to find a new place to get my coffee. 

I am deeply offended by Starbucks. Actually, I already was since I learned that they can't even bother sending some good old American coffee to our soldiers in Iraq.

Want to see how fast a big fat juicy corporate entity can go under?

Remember Wieboldts? Remember Goldblatts? Two corporate giants that went bankruptcy.

I've always thought Dunkin Donuts coffee was better anyway. Besides, I just want plain black coffee. None of that latte stuff, and none of those little caramel stripes going across white foam.

## 

AN F-5 TORNADO IS A NIGHTMARE'S NIGHTMARE

I've only lived through one F-5 tornado in my life. Believe me, once in a lifetime is more than plenty.

Even those little rope tornadoes that twirl around on the ground like little ballerinas are very dangerous. You definitely don't want to mess with them.

But the F-5 that marched through the little hamlet of Greensburg, Kansas, was enough to flatten the town, according to an Associated Press story filed by Roxana Hegeman. The following video is probably part of the same bunch of tornadoes that wreaked havoc across the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070507/D8OVL61O0.html

Rubble piled up in 20 to 30 foot towers. The only thing left standing was the grain elevator.

If I lived in Greensburg, when it came time to rebuild, I'd want my house made out of the elevator stuff.

But get this: this deadly tornado was nearly two miles wide (1.7 miles) and it went grinding through the countryside for 22 miles.

That's awesome. This is not the tornado in Greenburg, but rather,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmv72Xqx9fI

Here's a photo of the Greenburg tornado. I got it from Free Republic just a while ago. It's huge!

http://www.kotv.com/newsimages/640/5beb8a57-1b53-4ca2-bb0f-8d9e78249169.jpg

This is not a video of any tornadoes this year, but it is one of the most spectacuar wall clouds I've ever seen captured on film by Robert Prentice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtvk56ztKr4&mode=related&search=

Another video by sonicbomb.com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVppfnXtPZ4&mode=related&search=

Mother Nature at her most ferocious. Even if you are pretty complacent about storms, a tornado -- especially one at night backlighted by lightning -- will humble you.

Special prayers are lifted for those who died in the tornado. At last count, there are ten believed dead. And for all the people who have to live with the devastation of losing everything that was precious and dear to them. But then, life is the most precious of all. Everything else is just stuff, precious stuff yes, but stuff nonetheless.

It's not like a husband or a wife, or a child, or a best friend, or a neighbor. That's what's truly precious.

##


NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER -- IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Not all of us could go to Washington, D.C. to celebrate teh 56th annual Day of Prayer on May 3, 2007.

So, check this link and you can hear the theme song with graphics:

http://www.ndptf.org/press_room/Index.cfm?Entity=4&Department=4&Dept_Order=1&This_TopicOrder=1&This_SubtopicOrder=3&flash=1

Gives me a chill when I see and hear the song and videos behind the music and words.

There's also a message from Mrs. Shirley Dobson, this year's spokesperson for the National Day of Prayer.

##

HERE'S A THOUGHT: THE WHITE HOUSE COULD REINSTATE THE SALE OF WAR BONDS

You know, if these congress critters sitting up there under the Dome aren't real careful, and insist on "jamming their views down the throats" of not just the president but the American people as well, then I suggest President Bush go to the American people and ask for the money direct.

The sad part is that the taxpayers have already funded the Treasury. And it's not like the money belongs to Congress.

Wouldn't that just really surprise Congress if millions and millions of Americans bought hundred dollar war bonds?

Do you think the Domed Ones would get the idea that all their political horsing around about not paying to support our military in Iraq is a day late and a dollar short?

If there were war bonds and if buyers were to come up with money tonnage, what message do you think that would send to congress? Especially working its way up to the election in 2008?

After all, it's not a new idea. WWI and WWII were funded by war bonds.

I'm telling you, folks, there's a lot more support out there for keeping our military safe and loaded with bullets and whatever else they need, than listening to a bunch a politicos talk 'til their heads rattle.

In short, we do not have to wait until the next election to stand up and be counted as Americans who support our military. Buy a war bond if they go on sale.

##

HEY HILLARY: YOU CAN'T REVERSE DECLARE A WAR

On October 11, 2002, the Congress of the United States voted to approve Bush's plan to invade Iraq.

I didn't think that Congress has the constitutional authority to de-authorize the action in Iraq except to defund it.

And, in fact, they did pass legislation that authorized new billions for the war effort in Iraq. Just within the last several weeks. They even laced the spending bills with deadlines and so much pork that had nothing to do with Iraq that President Bush told them and told them and told them that if they kept those stipulations in the bill, he would veto it.

Congress said, "Go ahead. We'll override your veto."

The White House said, "Go ahead. If you can."

(The quotes are mine, not those of real people.)
 
Actually one congress critter said, and this is a real quote, "We'll shove it down your throat."

Now, isn't a nice way for a politico to talk to the president?

So now Hillary Schmillary is going to try to repeal the authority that congress took in 2002 and end U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Stay tuned, folks. That will trigger a huuuuuuuuuge constitutional debate. And it will be settled in federal courts, not in congress.

Congress will not like that one bit. It will mean giving up all that limelight and all those hearings and no more mike time, etc. etc.

So here's an idea. When these politicos come around wanting our votes, let's ask them how important civility is to them. And let's ask them about how important it is to work together with their congressional colleagues.

And if they say something like, "I know I've made mistakes in the past, but if you re-elect me, I promise I will make every effort to reach across the aisle to my colleagues."

If they have not done that up to the point of election day, don't vote for them.

I think that politicians ought to be held accountable for the promises they didn't keep, not hoped for promises that they have no intentions of keeping.

As for The Hillary, she can't seem to make up her mind which way the political wind is blowing. But she's going to try to be on the train when it leaves the station, no matter where it's going.

##

TODAY IS NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

It's an official observance -- since 1952.

Before then, there were times when national prayers were called for and observed. The Continental Congress called for a day of prayer in 1775 to designate a "time for prayer in forming a new national."

It was President Truman who, on April 17, 1952, signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law.

And it was President Reagan who, in 1988, designated the first Thursday of May as National Day of Prayer.

So whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever your religion or creed or faith is, take a moment to quietly reflect in a moment of prayer.

We are all God's children. He loves each of us equally. And we are all forgiven children. We absolutely need to believe that our sons are forgiven because he sent his son to die for us and wash away all the blemishes of our sins.

All we need to do is ask and he is ready, willing and most authoritatively able to forgive our sins.

If you are not a praying person, then today is a very good day to turn over a new leaf and develop a prayer life with the God, our Heavenly Father.

I pray for God's richest blessings to be with each one of you as you go through your day today.

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_Prayer
##


OH MY GOODNESS! LOOK WHO'S OBJECTING TO IRAQ'S PARLIAMENT TAKING SOME LEAVE TIME

None other than the good ole U.S. legitarians. When they found out that the Iraq parliament intends to take a summer break, there was a great hue and cry under the dome.

"They can't do that," some cried.

"Not while our soldiers are over there getting killed," others said.

So our politicos ran for their bewailments, those little outfits that are hidden in the back of the closets under careful lock and key and only taken out when there's to be great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

(Bewailments are kind of like albs that priests and pastors wear, except that bewailments are off-white in color and only come down to the knees. That's so the politicos can run and duck better if they see newsies coming at them, or better yet, their constituents.)

Amidst all the furor, I decided to go to the House's web site to see what days the legitarians gave themselves as holidays and breaks this year.

here's the list of the politicos' days off:
http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml

Guess what? It comes to 61 days counting holidays that do not fall on Sundays. I figure that even congressionals are entitled to take a Sunday break as long as they go to church.

They do go to church and worship, don't they?

In August, for instance, our legitarians will be closed down from August 6 to August 31 for what they call their "Summer District Work Period."

That would be golfing and sailing and going on picnics at the beach.

Maybe even a quick junket up to Alaska to measure how much the glaciers are really melting.

Maybe Harry Reid will go back to Peru to check out an Indian fort's security systems, or wherever he went.

And who knows where Pelosi will end up. Maybe she'll go see Captain Marmalade in Iran. On her way back to San Francisco, she might stop to see Vasquez Chavez (Hugo for short) in Venezuela. I hear rumors that she really likes money and since he just over took all the banks in his country, he ought to have buckets of billions lying around.

Psst. Hey, Nancy. Take Feinstein with you. Put on your best little summer frocks and go down there and help him count his cash. Feel the burn. Feel the power.

It's a lie. Don't you know that?

##


HEY MR REID: YOU SAID IRAQ WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA

Now, I never claimed to be a military genius, but I'm just wondering what Reid could possibly have in mind by drawing up a plan for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Then a waiting period of 21 months.

Then a sweeping new surge in Iraq that would wipe out all of the new AQ  headquarters and the training camps in Iraq. This surge would begin in January 2009, providing, of course, that there were an appropriate outcome for the November 2008 election.

So, let's see -- first he wanted all the troops to be withdrawn, starting in October of this year. Nary a mention in the old Reid Bill for any kind of re-attack plan.

Now he wants an immediate withdrawal of troops and -- after a little while -- a gangbusters redeployment.

Good Great Geronimo!

Reid sounds like he got ahold of Custer's Big Battle Plan.

We're doomed, folks.

##

JUST IN: NANCY'S GANG COULDN'T PULL IT OFF

The vote was 222 - 203. The House of Representatives was not able to override the president's veto.

So much for all the comments about jamming the War Package with the Pull-Out Deadline in it down President's throat.

What they fail to realize is that it is not the President's bill. It's about Americans protecting the soldiers out there in harm's way. 

And the politicos just don't get it.

Want to check to see how your representative voted? Go to this site:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll276.xml

##


FEINSTEIN'S OOPS MOST CERTAINLY SMELLS LIKE CORRUPTION TO ME

First of all, if you want to see what her humble little house looks like, go to the photo on www.counterpunch.

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank02282006.html

Nice digs, Diane!

So you and your husband, Richard Blum, live in this quiet little house with its formal gardens. That would be out there by the bay -- San Francisco, that is.

You are, to put it bluntly, a sham. You sat on the very committee -- no, wait, you chaired the very committee that kind of just quietly appears to have steered some $1.5 billion in government business toward your husband's two companies, URS of San Francisco and the Perini Corporation of Framingham, Massachusetts.

David Keene writes in The Hill on April 30, 2007, that you appear to have been up to the same old shenanigans that put California Re. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R) in jail. http://thehill.com/david-keene/

I, for one, would love to see you filling out a change of address form from your current palozzo to the prison of the prosecutor's choice.

So you, Turned-Scumbag-Just-Like-The-Rest-Of-Them Feinstein, were the big cahuna Democrt on the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and other sub-committees that had something to do with companies that your husband controlled.

And isn't it just plain old downright amazing that you suddenly recognized that you had a conflict of interest and you resigned in late 2005 just about the same instant time that your husband sold his stake in those two companies that had you two joined together at the money-hip?

Gee, let me see, according to Keene's article, you guys got richer by about $40 million.

So when you go to jail, you're gonna leave a lot more than your heart in San Francisco.

As far as I'm concerned, I hope you get about twenty years in the slammer.

You'll be old and wrinkled by then since you won't have spa treatments on your less-then-millionaire budget in jail.

You'll even have to trade your pinstriped Armani suits into something a bit more humbling. I don't think you can call prison garb two inch stripe "pin stripe."

Apparently you're just a big fat greedor like so many of your colleagues up there under the Dome.

What do you guys do all day up there anyway? Sit around and count your ill-gotten money and laugh about the "dumb little guys?" You know, us voters.

If this isn't a clear call for term limits, there never was one!

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WHY IN THE WORLD SHOULD JOAN BAEZ BE SURPRISED?

First of all, it was supposed to be a benefit for our soldiers who are being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Baez, an over-the-hill 66-year-old war protestor from the Vietnam era, thought she'd be welcomed on the Mellencamp program at Walter Reed. At least that's what she told the Associated Press.

Baez says she has always been an advocate for nonviolence..

She actually believes that her anti-war protests back then probably helped get a better welcome home for the soldiers from Vietnam.

Well, that's okay. If that's what you believe.

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Baez Baby, Iraq is not Vietnam. And no matter how much the politicos under the Dome say it, it does not make it so.

If the soldiers from Iraq are offended by your shenanigans, then just go away.

If it has to be explained to you, you probably wouldn't understand it anyway.

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YOU JUST KEEP BURNING UP YOUR CARBON CREDITS, HILLARY!

Oh, silly me. Why would I expect Hillary to do anything different than hop around on private jets, going hither and thither. Across the country. Then back again.

Then up and down the east coast.

Then up and down the west coast.

Then trading one jet for another because she didn't like the way the cabin was configured.

Huh?

Gone are the days when politicians made whistle stop tours, right?

Now we have campaign war chests that have tidy little bundles of millions and millions just sitting there waiting to be spent. It's as if these cute little bundles are begging, "Spend me, spend me next. I'm a jet bundle of cash."

In an article by Ian Bishop in today's New York Post, Hillary has been having lots of fun jetting around. In lots of little jets.

First there was a Gulfstream II. That just would not do, I say there.

A swankier Gulfstream III would be a lot better.

And then there's the Hawker 800. Now if you want to see swank, get on a corporate jet. They are built to coddle even the tiredest of all aching bones.

And oh my goodness, we all know how hard it is to stand at a podium and debate all those guys about so many picky little subjects.

They can be just downright picky over all those little details! They don't cut any slack at all.

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PELOSI JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET AROUND TO READING THE WAR BILL

At least in an article by Kahryn Jean Lopez in the National Review, Pelosi's spokesman says that she has to read the legislation line by line and wants to go through it word for word.

She promised to get the bill to President Bush by Tuesday.

Uh, that would be today, Your Speakerness.

Even though Bush has promised a quick veto, Pelosi seems to be stalling for goodness only knows why.

But let me guess. Today is the anniversary of Bush's famous flight onto the deck of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln in 2003. In that speech Bush addressed thousands of servicemen as their Commander In Chief.

What's wrong with that?

Well, plenty if you don't want Bush to be Commander In Chief, or President, or anything else short of Sagebrush George.

These politicos just can't get it through their heads that George W. Bush won his re-election in 2004 by getting more votes than any other person seeking the office of presidency. Ever. In the history of the United States.

George W. Bush got 62,040,661 in 2004; had received 50,460,110 in 2000.

Bill Clinton got 44,909,889 in 1992; 47,402,357 in 1996.

And that great communicator himself, Ronald Reagan got 43,899,248 in 1980; 54,455,075 in 1984.

So all the politicos who are trying their best to discredit George W. Bush ought to remember that the people of the United States of America hold this man dear to their hearts.

If you have an interest in election information going all the way back to George Washington, take a look at this web site:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781450.html

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CAN THIS REALLY BE TRUE?

Is it possible that a Catholic girls school really told a commencement speaker that she was "disinvited" because of her position on abortion and embryonic stem cell research?

I've not been able to get confirmation yet but it's been reported in the St. Louis Post Dispatch Today that Sen. Claire McCaskill is no longer going to be the speaker at McCaskill's daughter's high school graduation ceremonies.

The reason: McCaskill's views contradict church teachings.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1826401/posts

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HILLARY THE RODHAM, NOW I'M JUST PLAIN CLINTON
SAYS BUSH'S SPEECH TO NAVY CREW WAS A POLITICAL STUNT

And pray tell what would The Hillary know about political stunts?

The Commander In Chief goes to the USS Abraham Lincoln to talk to his all-aboard-buddies and she calls it a political stunt!

Oh, she's talking about that sign. The one that said "Mission Accomplished."

There it was -- right out there in plain view -- for all the world to see.

And why not? If it were her in the driver's seat and it had been her idea to oust Saddam Hussein and give an entire country back to its people, she'd have done no less.

But now, all of a sudden, the politicos seem to have gotten the idea that the people of Iraq weren't worth it. That freedom only works when it's here in the United States.

And better yet, freedom only really counts if the correct party is in power. We can't have no double sided balance of power. What's Hillary's plan? To take out the middle aisles in the halls of congress?

Somehow I don't think that's what the framers of the constitution had in mind.

And I also think that the politicos ought to get their houses in order and stop all the bickering. They promised the American public that there would be more civility in the 110th Congress.

Haven't seen it yet.

Maybe they don't speak in four syllable words yet. Civ-il-i-ty. Would be a good word for all of them to learn, don't you think?

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