February 24, 2006

American Minute for today:
http://www.americanminute.com/

Dilbert cartoon: A good illustration of why gas boycotts don't work
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20060219.html

See what the #1 song was the day you were born (at least back to 1940) Scroll down for your year.
https://home.comcast.net/~josh.hosler/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

Intern fired for sharing faith
Cited for religious discussion during lunch, after hours
February 23, 2006- A former graduate student who lost an internship for discussing her Christian faith with co-workers has filed a federal lawsuit.

Jacqueline Escobar was completing a master's degree in social work at California State University Long Beach when she interned with the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS.

…she came under scrutiny for sharing her faith with co-workers during lunch breaks and after-hours, and for changing into a shirt with a religious message – "Found" – after signing out for the day, according to the Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing her.

Escobar was directed to stop sharing her faith, even during breaks and after work hours.

Also, the university ordered her to sign a document admitting she had "an inability to separate her religious beliefs from her role" as an intern.

She refused to sign the document, arguing she couldn't agree to such a sweeping prohibition that included her religious practice during non-working hours.

Consequently, Escobar was terminated from her internship and threatened with expulsion from the graduate program.

...As WorldNetDaily reported this week, a Christian former employee of Allstate has settled a lawsuit claiming he was fired because of an anti-homosexual, anti-same-sex marriage column he wrote on his own time.

...Though the original column's bio line did not indicate Barber worked for Allstate, editors at one of the sites where it was posted added that information, and a complaint about the piece made its way to Allstate management. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48954



Actually this is old news, glad the press and the scientists that hung their hats on this scare are finally catching up. The scare, like an e-mail hoax keeps resurfacing.
Teflon-Linked Dangers May Not Stick
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060223/hl_hsn/teflonlinkeddangersmaynotstick

Jobless claims dip 20,000 last week
2/23/2006— The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped a larger-than-expected 20,000 last week, indicating the labor market remains strong.The Labor Department said 278,000 laid-off workers applied for jobless benefits last week.

The drop was the biggest in five weeks, since a decline of 36,000 claims the week ended Jan. 14. Weekly jobless applications have been below 300,000 six straight weeks, a range that reflects healthy job conditions.

The unemployment rate fell in January to 4.7%, a 4 1/2-year low, as businesses added 193,000 jobs last month, up from 140,000 in December.

Analysts believe the level of layoffs this year is consistent with strong job gains in coming months of around 200,000 per month...
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2006-02-23-jobless_x.htm

Juan Williams: Most U.S. Blacks Thriving
Feb. 22, 2006- Political journalist Juan Williams– senior correspondent for National Public Radio– discussed the "rapid rate of change” in the U.S. in the past few years when he addressed the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches in Florida...

...Williams also spoke about the changes he has seen in Prince George County, Md., a Washington suburb. Thirty years ago the county was 80 percent white and most blacks were farmhands with little education. Today, the county is 60 percent black and the wealthiest black community in America, Williams said.

"So much focus in the country is [on] the impoverished minority community. But while 25 percent of the black community lives in poverty, 75 percent is outside of that. It doesn’t always get in the news.”
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/22/120330.shtml?s=ic

Student under fire for yelling:'Remember Chappaquiddick!'
Self-described liberal hollers phrase as Kennedy begins on-campus speech
February 22, 2006- A community college student in Massachusetts faces possible disciplinary action for shouting "Remember Chappaquiddick!" during an on-campus speech by Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday.

Paul Trost says he was upset by an introduction of Kennedy given by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., in which the congressman noted how the long-time senator overcame hardship in life on his way to success.

"Lynch said Kennedy had overcome such adversity to get to the place he was, and that's a bunch of bull," Trost said of the introduction, which occurred in the school's student center yesterday morning.

Just as Kennedy began speaking, Trost was walking out of the room when he shouted, "Remember Chappaquiddick!"

"Most of the crowd gasped," Trost said. "Then I walked out of the student center."

The student says a campus police officer went outside and stopped him. He also saw some state troopers go outside, the type who accompany Kennedy around the state to provide security.

...The student said one of his teachers confronted him after a class about the Chappaquiddick issue… "One of my teachers called me ignorant and told me this was an embarrassment to the school," Trost told WND. "She said to me, 'Can't you forgive him after all these years?' And I said, 'No, he killed somebody.'

...Trost, a liberal arts major who has protested the Iraq war, says he's not a right-winger…

"He didn't do it to be obnoxious," his father Edward Trost said. "He was really offended."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48959

Media Ignore Saddam's Uranium Bombshell
Feb. 20, 2006- Tape recordings released over the weekend show that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons program at least as recently as 2000 - but the press has decided the bombshell development isn't newsworthy.

Speaking at the Intelligence Group Summit in Arlington, Va., Saddam tapes translator Bill Tierney revealed that the Iraqi dictator can be heard discussing a plan to enrich uranium using a technique known as plasma separation.

...News that Saddam had an ongoing enrichment program comports with the account of Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, the nuclear physicist who ran Iraq's nuclear centrifuge program.

…Despite the staggering implications of the audiotaped uranium revelation, only one mainstream media outlet had covered the news as of Monday morning…
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/20/85636.shtml?s=ic

I suspect the UAE port brew-ha-ha is more emotional than factual… and as others have pointed out political. All of a sudden it's OK to do "racial profiling." UAE could blow up a container in a port anytime they want without spending $7 billion. It is also interesting that many of those objecting to the deal (not all) are those that have done everything in their power to see that we fail in Iraq. They are the same people that went ballistic because the government was listening in on overseas conversations with suspected terrorists. I think a bigger threat to our national security comes from people like former Vice-President al-Gore who goes to Arab countries and incites hatred for America by trying to convince them how America abuses Arabs in the US… If those people go apey over a few cartoons what do you think they’ll do when an ex-VP tells them we’re abusing Muslims in this country…?

Some Myths about the UAE Port Deal
(it may be a little slow coming up, be patient)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/22/opinion/meyer/printable1335531.shtml

Clinton leads Dubai praise
4 December, 2005- FORMER US president Bill Clinton praised Dubai’s leaders last week, telling them the way Islamic and Western values and cultures are being merged is “wonderful”.

...Clinton said: “Dubai is a role model of what could be achieved despite the other negative developments in the region. When I went to Dubai for the first time, I was taken to a technology facility where I hooked up to a bank kiosk and found that one can use a conventional banking service, while at the same time opt for an Islamic Sharia compliant service, which I thought was wonderful. This is a very good example of how cultures and values could be merged and offered to the rest. I was amazed and I have a lot of admiration for Sheikh Mohammed for what he’s doing in Dubai.”

Clinton also urged members of the YAL (Young Arab Leaders) to spread their message across the region. He explained: “I think much can be done by just telling others about your own achievements. They can share their experience and ideas with others and help them develop their economies as Dubai has done. YAL can leverage their experience to enlighten others.”
http://www.itp.net/business/news/details.php?id=18919&category=arabianbusiness

Joe Lieberman: Don't Trash Dubai Deal
...Sen. Joseph Lieberman was urging caution.

"Dubai and the United Arab Emirates are allies of ours in the war on terrorism," the Connecticut Democrat said, in little noticed comments three days ago on ABC's "This Week."

"So I don't think we want to just because it's a Dubai company, even owned by the government, we want to exclude them from doing business here," he added.

Lieberman reminded: "The more you look at it, the fact is that a lot of terminals in America are already owned by foreign companies."

...Lieberman insisted that the Dubai deal did nothing to increase the vulnerabilities of an already under-protected U.S. ports system.

"The truth is I worry more about the failure to invest enough in port security in America through the Homeland Security Department to detect dangerous items, WMD, coming in here than I worry right now about this, this sale," he told "This Week."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/22/112507.shtml?s=ic

David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

February 21, 2006

Fla. Man Kills Roommate Over Toilet Paper
Feb 21 MOSS BLUFF, Fla. -A man accused of fatally beating his roommate with a sledgehammer and a claw hammer because there was no toilet paper in their home has been arrested.

...Crow told investigators that the men were fighting about the toilet paper over the weekend when Matthews pulled out a rifle (that at least is one side of the story). Crow said he then began beating Matthews with the sledgehammer and claw hammer, according to an affidavit. Matthews was beaten so badly he had to be identified through his fingerprints, detectives said... (obviously hammers need to be banned, especially the assault claw hammers, the man with the gun didn’t stand a chance!)
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/21/D8FTFE180.html

The good news about Islam
February 21, 2006- I thought you might be ready for some encouraging words about Islam and its deadly branch, radical Islamism. So here it is:

The whole religion is heading toward collapse.

Actually, it's crumbling already. Take, for example, two hardcore Muslim countries, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Since 1997, by our count, 522,000 Bangladeshi Muslims have turned to Isa, the No. 2 Islamic prophet we know as Jesus. This is often a difficult step to take in a highly repressive Muslim culture. Currently, about 10,000 a month in Bangladesh are becoming Christians. That doesn't sound like a lot in a nation of 144 million, but it's a rising number, multiplying geometrically.
Also: Just in the last year, 500,000 Pakistani Muslims have recognized Isa as Lord and become His followers. Some 240,000 of them made decisions for Him in only three days of a crusade in Lahore, the capital, in November…. If you lack a reference point for these numbers, consider that until now, three or four Muslim converts a year was par for the course for most missionaries.

…I feel that in the long run, the spiritual salvation of large numbers of Muslims is our only hope. … The one-eighth of the Muslim world that accepts militant Islam must be stopped ... and then changed to the depth of their hearts.

Neither guns nor roses can do that – they can change the behavior of the peaceful seven-eighths to a great extent, but that doesn't get down to the root issue, which was prophesied so succinctly of Ishmael ("father of the Arabs") 3,900 years ago:

He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. – Genesis 16:12
Entire article at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48926

Muslim terrorists gun down 6 Christians
Victims 1st were asked if they believed in Christ, infant, teen among dead
February 21, 2006- At least six Christians have been gunned down at their homes by Muslim terrorists in the Philippines, reports the Voice of the Martyrs, a leading monitor of Christian persecution.

According to the report, at least five terrorists believed to be linked to al-Qaida murdered six or more Christians by gunfire after asking them if they believed in Christ on the front doorsteps of their homes.

The incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 2 in the village of Patikul on the small Philippine island of Jolo, which is predominantly Muslim. At least one witness said a baby girl was among the casualties. Five people were injured during the door-to-door questioning…
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48916

States Curbing Right to Seize Private Homes
February 21, 2006- In a rare display of unanimity that cuts across partisan and geographic lines, lawmakers in virtually every statehouse across the country are advancing bills and constitutional amendments to limit use of the government's power of eminent domain to seize private property for economic development purposes.

The measures are in direct response to the United States Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last June in a landmark property rights case from Connecticut, upholding the authority of the City of New London to condemn homes in an aging neighborhood to make way for a private development of offices, condominiums and a hotel. It was a decision that one justice, who had written for the majority, later all but apologized for… http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/national/21domain.html?ei=5065&en=8e1c224db19faa7b&ex=1141189200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Lupus Patients Respond Well to (adult) Stem Cell-Based Treatment
February 20, 2006 - A researcher at a Chicago hospital says bone marrow stem cells are proving to be an effective tool for combating life-threatening lupus.

…Dr. Burt says his study shows the blood stem cells can induce remission of lupus. "And about eight years ago we started a trial using autologous -- that is, a patient's own blood stem cells, to try to regenerate a new immune system and see if that could put their disease, in this particular case lupus, into a remission," he explains.

Burt says the study found that 50 percent of the patients, all of whom had exhausted all other available treatment options, were disease-free after five years. He calls those results "very encouraging."

…The study, he says, will now move on the randomized tests and compare the stem-cell therapy with the normal course of treatment. It may be several years before this becomes a treatment option, he adds.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/2/202006g.asp

Lithium battery could work in hybrid cars
-- U.S. researchers have developed a new type of lithium battery that could become a cheaper alternative to the batteries that power hybrid electric cars.Until now, lithium batteries have not had the rapid charging capability or safety level needed for use in cars, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hybrid cars run on nickel metal hydride batteries, which power an electric motor and can rapidly recharge while the car is decelerating or standing still.However, lithium nickel manganese oxide, could revolutionize the hybrid car industry -- a sector that has "enormous growth potential," says project leader Gerbrand Ceder.The new material is more stable -- and thus safer -- than lithium cobalt oxide batteries, which are used to power small electronic devices like cell phones and laptop computers.Scientists already knew that lithium nickel manganese oxide could store a lot of energy but the material took too long to charge to be commercially useful.

U.S. on Verge of Energy Breakthrough
Feb 20- Saying the nation is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that would "startle" most Americans, President Bush on Monday outlined his energy proposals to help wean the country off foreign oil.

...One of Bush's proposals would expand research into smaller, longer- lasting batteries for electric-gas hybrid cars, including plug-ins. He highlighted that initiative with a visit Monday to the battery center at Milwaukee-based auto-parts supplier Johnson Controls Inc.

Energy conservation groups and environmentalists say they're pleased that the president, a former oil man in Texas, is stressing alternative sources of energy…

...Later Monday, Bush was visiting the United Solar Ovonics Plant, which makes solar panels, in Auburn Hills, Mich., outside Detroit. The company also works on hydrogen fuel cells to power autos.

"Roof makers will one day be able to make a solar roof that protects you from the elements and at the same time, powers your house," Bush said. "The vision is this _ that technology will become so efficient that you'll become a little power generator in your home, and if you don't use the energy you generate you'll be able to feed it back into the electricity grid." http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/20/D8FT3GH02.html

Flush With Cash, States Make Pricey Plans
Feb 20 2006- Tax cuts, new cash to health care programs, blueprints for new roads and schools _ states have jumped into 2006 with ambitious plans to spend the money pouring into their coffers, a windfall that's just in time for governors and legislators as they start re-election campaigns.

The spending spree is the clearest proof yet that the gloomy days of cuts and budget-tightening that dominated the first half of the decade are over, even as some urge caution and others say states have yet to fully recover from the downturn.

Lawmakers are arguing for tax cuts in Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii and New York. California is looking at sweeping road improvements. Property taxes are being targeted in Maryland and Florida.

"It's a lot better having extra, let me tell you," said Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "My first few weeks in office we had to find immediate savings to avoid a financial crisis ... The last two years have seen a billion dollar-plus surplus."

...Republicans and Democrats alike are embracing tax cuts, though Democrats this year mostly argue for targeted cuts while Republicans push for more sweeping changes. Thirty-six states choose governors this year, and all states but four will elect legislators...
http://www.townhall.com/news/ap/online/regional/us/D8FT0P880.html

How PETA twists religion to push animal "rights."
...This eye-opening report includes an inventory of scripture contradicting PETA's claim that only vegetarians can be observant Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
The report is at http://consumerfreedom.com/downloads/pro/docs/050801_PetaReligion.pdf and the entire article at: http://consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm/article/174

More Good News From The Fish Wars
The science world is buzzing with the latest news from the Seychelles, a group of over 100 islands in the Indian Ocean whose inhabitants eat fish. Lots of fish. In fact, per capita they eat nearly ten times as much fish as Americans, and -- naturally -- the levels of mercury in their bodies are often higher than ours. But at this weekend's conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a University of Rochester professor of pediatrics announced that the children of Seychelles women who maintained high-fish diets during their pregnancies are perfectly healthy. Not only did they perform well on developmental tests, but they actually outperformed kids whose mothers had eaten less fish... more at: http://consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2975

Hansen's Hot Hype
2/21/2006 - NASA's Jim Hansen has gained a lot of attention for asserting that the Bush administration is suppressing his ideas on climate change. Most recently in the 8 February New York Times, Hansen accused his employer of destroying our democracy by censoring climate science, saying, "the foundation of democracy...is an honestly informed public."

But wait. Hansen has himself advocated the use of exaggeration and propaganda as political tools in the debate over global warming. In the March 2004 issue of Scientific American, Hansen wrote, "Emphasis on extreme scenarios may have been appropriate at one time, when the public and decision-makers were relatively unaware of the global warming issue....Now, however, the need is for demonstrably objective climate forcing scenarios..."

In other words, Hansen thought the public should be subjected to nightmare scenarios regardless of the scientific likelihood of catastrophe, simply in order to gain people's attention. And further, that the lurid pictures that have been painted aren't objective after all.

So now he says the time has come to tell the truth, and he is being censored.

Why should we believe him now? What evidence can he give us that his opinions and statements about climate change are suddenly true, when he admits to having misrepresented the facts in the past? The rest of the article at: http://spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9433

500 doctoral scientists skeptical of Darwin
Growing list of signatories challenges claims about support for theory
February 21, 2006- More than 500 scientists with doctoral degrees have signed a statement expressing skepticism about Darwin's theory of evolution.

The statement, which includes endorsement by members of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences, was first published by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute in 2001 to challenge statements about Darwinian evolution made in promoting PBS's "Evolution" series.

"Darwinists continue to claim that no serious scientists doubt the theory and yet here are 500 scientists who are willing to make public their skepticism about the theory," said John G. West, associate director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture.

…Other prominent signatories include U.S. National Academy of Sciences member Philip Skell, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow Lyle Jensen, evolutionary biologist and textbook author Stanley Salthe; Smithsonian Institution evolutionary biologist and researcher at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Biotechnology Information Richard von Sternberg, editor of Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum – the oldest still published biology journal in the world – Giuseppe Sermonti and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences embryologist Lev Beloussov.

The list include 154 biologists, 76 chemists and 63 physicists. They hold doctorates in biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science and related disciplines.

Many are professors or researchers at major universities and research institutions such as MIT, The Smithsonian, Cambridge University, UCLA, University of California at Berkeley, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, University of Georgia and University of Washington.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48911

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

February 21, 2006

Automatic Flatterer
This is what a computer should do first thing in the morning! Click on the line below and then type in your first name...
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

What do the Danish Call a Danish?
Vienna, Austria, is actually the birthplace of Danish pastry....the Viennese invoked the name of the Scandinavian country when branding the pastry.

... in Denmark, the Danish is called wienerbrod (Viennese bread). http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#danish

WHO IS THIS AMERICAN WARRIOR?
http://patriotfiles.org/WhoIsThisAmericanWarrior.htm

Gasoline falls below $2 in some spots

2/16/2006- Gasoline prices have slipped lower than $2 in a few places in a harbinger of lower prices nationwide.

The nationwide average has dropped to $2.269, down half a penny overnight, travel organization AAA said Thursday. Scattered stations already have posted prices starting with "1" rather than "2." Users of a fuel-price website Thursday reported $1.96 gasoline near Minneapolis, for instance.

Averages in a number of metropolitan areas are likely to fall to less than $2, perhaps as soon as today. Corpus Christi, Texas, averaged $2.006, and several other metro areas were just a few cents more.

...Petroleum traders, who control the price of oil from which gasoline is made, have been swayed more by healthy supplies than by unrest in oil countries, so oil prices have drifted down, and gasoline has followed.

...Motorists can expect "a further decline in retail prices for the next couple of weeks" until gas prices at the pump fully reflect the drop in oil prices, EIA says...http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-16-gas-prices-usat_x.htm

Gas-price controls backfire in Hawaii
Cost of fuel rises faster under new law, while drivers pay less in other 49 states
February 19, 2006- Hawaii's gas price controls, imposed last fall when the cost of fuel was hovering around $3 a gallon in many parts of the U.S., have actually triggered much higher costs for consumers.

As of Friday, Hawaii drivers were paying the highest per-gallon costs in the nation, with record-setting prices of as much as $3.39. A year ago, consumers in Hawaii were paying nearly $1 a gallon less. The national average today is $2.24 a gallon.

…Now there are moves afoot in the Hawaii legislature to scrap the price controls.

...In a recent check Hawaii's average cost per gallon was $2.84, followed by New York at $2.57, California at $2.53 and Connecticut at $2.47. The least expensive gas in the country is in Utah at $2.13... (ours is $2.10 today)
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48897

Kyoto flops

February 16, 2006- Europe's top environment official marked the one-year anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday by accusing the U.S. of not doing enough to combat climate change -- despite the fact that many of the treaty's most enthusiastic supporters have done significantly worse than America in dealing with "greenhouse gas" emissions.

The U.S. rejected Kyoto, saying the treaty's emission-reduction targets would harm the American economy and workers. Instead the U.S. is exploring alternatives with Asia-Pacific partners focusing on developing cleaner technology.

...The protocol …commits industrialized nations to cut their emissions by an average of five percent from their 1990 levels, by 2012.

...Major polluters China and India were exempted from emission-reduction targets, on the grounds they were considered developing rather than industrialized countries. Their exemption was another issue of concern cited by the U.S. as well as Australia, which followed the U.S. in rejecting Kyoto.

...according to 2003 figures cited by Friends of the Earth Europe this week, some countries which, unlike the U.S., do have legally binding Kyoto targets are doing as badly, or even worse.

For instance, Austria was set a Kyoto target of -13 percent, but emissions are running at +16.6 percent. Italy's target was -6.5 percent, and its actual emissions are +11.6 percent. Others that are off target include Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, while France, Britain and Germany are nearer to being on track.

..."If current trends continue, Europe will not meet its Kyoto target," the green group said, adding that "if emission levels continue to develop as they did over the last three years, the [15 E.U. members'] emissions in 2010 will be +2.8 percent above of what they were in 1990."

Other industrialized countries with Kyoto targets are doing no better. Canada was set a target of -6 percent but is emitting +24 percent of its 1990 levels. Japan's target is -6 percent, and emissions are running at +7.4 percent.

New Zealand's government announced in mid-2005 that it would be unable to meet its Kyoto commitment -- a target of no change from 1990 levels -- and the country was warned that compliance would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

In Washington, the Competitive Enterprise Institute said Kyoto's future looked bleak, as countries that have agreed to cut their emissions realize the costs involved.

"Even as they damage their economies with limits on energy use, emissions continue to go up," said Myron Ebell, the institute's director of energy and global warming policy... The sooner that Kyoto's supporters realize that it's a dead end, the better off the world will be."http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200602\FOR20060216a.html

Sunny Skies Cheer Up Home Building, Other U.S. Activity
2/16/2006- Warm winter weather prompted some positively sunny economic data Thursday.

The reports bode well for a powerful first-quarter rebound after an anemic fourth quarter — and more Federal Reserve rate hikes.

...Builders looked optimistic for new projects too. Permits rose 6.8% to 2.127 million.

...The employment picture looks more stable.Jobless claims rose by 19,000 to 297,000 last week, a bit above forecasts. But they've held below 300,000 for five straight weeks.

Factory activity also was strong. The Philadelphia Fed's regional factory activity index rebounded to 15.4 from 3.3 in Feb., more in line with national reports...

...Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his second day of testimony before Congress, repeated his belief that the U.S. expansion remains "on track." He again stressed that the Fed will rely heavily on incoming data for future policy moves.

The latest reports back up Bernanke's belief that the economy will roar back in the first quarter.

The recent drop in energy prices could spur growth while keeping some price pressures at bay...
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=5&issue=20060216

Wal-Mart
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=2&issue=20060216

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

February 16, 2006

Man who laughed at Cheney gets shot hours later
February 15, 2006- A Colorado man who laughed Monday when he first read Vice President Dick Cheney had shot a hunting companion was himself injured just hours later when he was accidentally blasted by his girlfriend in his own hunting mishap.

"I read that thing about the vice president and said to myself 'How can you shoot your friend with your gun?' And look what happened," said Josh Kayser of Lafayette, Colo...

According to the Longmont Daily Times-Call, the 21-year-old man was on the trail of raccoons that had been preying on chickens on his family's property.

As Kayser crouched down to look under a shed, his 17-year-old girlfriend, whose name was not released by authorities, crouched down behind him and accidentally shot him with a .22-caliber rifle…

Kayser was discharged from Avista Adventist Hospital after spending the night, and police decided against filing any charges against his girlfriend.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48851

Britain has new weapon against loitering youths -- Sonic Teenager Deterrent
Feb 15- Shopkeepers in central England have been trying out a new device that emits an uncomfortable high-pitched noise designed to disperse young loiterers outside their stores without bothering adults.

...The device... "doesn't cause any pain to the hearer," according to Inspector Amanda Davies, quoted by Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.

"The noise can normally only be heard by those between 12 and 22 and it makes the listener feel uncomfortable," she added.

Once in their early 20s, people lose their capacity to hear sounds at such a high pitch...

"Shop owners have reported fabulous results and we've been approached by some who are considering buying their own equipment," she said. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/15/060215133756.3rq2yx5p.html

Retail sales see best gains since late '99
February 15, 2006 ...retail sales soar[ed] by 2.2 percent -- the biggest jump in six years… The sales spurt, which coincided yesterday with a drop in premium crude oil prices below the psychological threshold of $60 a barrel, sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging by 136 points to 11,028.

"You have lower oil prices; you have a healthy employment situation; and you have a consumer that is still willing to do a little bit of spending," said Gordon Fowler, chief investment officer at Glenmede Trust Co. "That all adds up to a positive for the economy."

...Triggering the excitement yesterday was a Commerce Department report showing that retail sales, excluding autos, last month zoomed the most since December 1999 after inching up 0.2 percent in December. Including autos, sales were up 2.3 percent -- the biggest jump since May 2004.

...Aside from inspiring the urge to shop, one major boon from the mild weather was that a widely anticipated spike in winter heating bills never occurred. Many consumers had been bracing for big bills after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in August and September and sent the price of natural gas and heating oil spiraling to record levels...
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20060215-124718-1338r.htm

***This is the best article I've read in ages about what a joke the national press is. It's actually a very funny article...***
The shooting party By Tony Blankley February 15, 2006
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060214-102148-1710r.htm

Wow! Mr. Meany nominated for a Peace Prize, imagine that…I thought the UN was going to walk out on him...
John Bolton Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
February 08, 2006- John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is one of two Americans who have been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Last year, Democrats and a few Republicans refused to confirm Bolton to the U.N. post, forcing President Bush to resort to a recess appointment... In June 2005, Senate Republicans fell six votes in their second effort to end a Democrat filibuster of Bolton's nomination to serve as U.N. ambassador.

Bolton and Kenneth R. Timmerman were formally nominated by Sweden's former deputy prime minister Per Ahlmark, for playing a major role in exposing Iran's secret plans to develop nuclear weapons.

They documented Iran's secret nuclear buildup and revealed Iran's "repeated lying" and false reports to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a press release said.

...One of Bolton's Republican critics - Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio -- now says he thinks Bolton is doing a good job....In May 2005, the thought that Bolton might be confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations almost brought Voinovich to tears...Voinovich's emotional moment came one day after he sent a letter to his fellow senators, telling them, "In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to put at risk our nation's ability to successfully wage and win the war on terror with a controversial and ineffective ambassador to the United Nations." http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200602/POL20060208b.html

They know the dangers of giving up their sovereignty to a body they cannot control...
Tiny island that's ready to stop Europe in its tracks
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/15/waland15.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/15/ixnewstop.html

This site appears to be a private site so what's wrong if they have standards prohibiting same-sex Valentine? If people want Brokenback Valentines they can start their own Internet site... Must have violated some EU or UN law...
Lithuanian website bars same-sex Valentine's Day kisses
Feb 14- A Lithuanian ombudsman is to probe an Internet site for discrimination after users complained that they could not send a virtual Valentine's Day kiss to a friend of the same sex.

"We received two complaints that an Internet site, in its 'friends' section, offers to send a virtual Valentine's Day kiss to the friend, but only if the they are of the opposite sex," Valentinas Dambrava of the ombudsman's office told AFP.

"We are going to launch an investigation for sexual discrimination, although some Lithuanians may find this unusual," Dambrava added.

If the site is found to have discriminated, it could be fined up to 2,000 litas (579 euros, 690 dollars)...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060214175111.yaf4urht.html

'Able Danger' Identified 9/11 Hijacker 13 times
February 15, 2006- The top-secret, military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger" identified Mohammed Atta, the leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, 13 times before the 2001 attacks, according to new information released Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees.

Able Danger has been identified by Weldon and team member Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer as an elite group of approximately two dozen individuals tasked with identifying and targeting the links and relationships of al Qaeda worldwide.

On June 27, 2005, Weldon said that Able Danger had offered in the year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to share its intelligence with the FBI and to work with them to take down the New York City terrorist cell involving Mohammed Atta and two other 9/11 terrorists. Weldon said Clinton administration lawyers prevented the information from being shared with the FBI.

According to Weldon, the lawyers told Able Danger members, " [Y]ou cannot pursue contact with the FBI against that cell. Mohamed Atta is in the U.S. on a green card and we are fearful of the fallout from the Waco incident," a reference to the FBI's raid on the David Koresh-led Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., in April 1993.

...As recently as two weeks ago additional Able Danger material was found in files at the Pentagon, Weldon said. "[A] general was present as the information was taken out of file cabinets ..."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200602\NAT20060215d.html

Saddam general: WMDs in Syria
Another former confidant of ex-dictator makes claim, also links Iraq to al-Qaida
February 15, 2006- A former general and friend of Saddam Hussein who defected but maintains close contact with Iraq claims the regime supported al-Qaida with intelligence, finances and munitions and believes weapons of mass destruction are hidden in Syria.

Ali Ibrahim al-Tikriti, southern regional commander for Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia in the late 1980s, spoke with Ryan Mauro of WorldThreats.com.

Known as the "Butcher of Basra," al-Tikriti commanded units that dealt with chemical and biological weapons. He defected shortly before the Gulf War in 1991.

Last month, Saddam Hussein's No. 2 Air Force officer, Georges Sada, told the New York Sun Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were moved to Syria six weeks before the war started. Sada claimed two Iraqi Airways Boeing jets converted to cargo planes moved the weapons in a total of 56 flights. They attracted little attention, he said, because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in 2002...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48827

American clown journalism 101
Feb 15, 2006 by Michelle Malkin
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2006/02/15/186535.html

Valentine's Day 2006

Love

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16

Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life, that word is Love.
~ Socrates

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
~ Deuteronomy 6:5

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
~ Benjamin Franklin

There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
~ Mother Teresa

Love cannot endure indifference. It needs to be wanted. Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another's heart, or its flame burns low.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

A heart that loves is always young.
~ A Greek Proverb

One is very crazy when in love.
~ Sigmund Freud

To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
~ Mark Twain

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
~ John 15:34-35

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
~ Blaise Pascal

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I gain nothing Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...And now these things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13

Japanese women bitter at Valentine chocolate duty

Feb 14- TOKYO- Japanese women are fed up with a longstanding Valentine's Day custom requiring them to give chocolates to men without getting any in return...

...Nearly 60 percent said they felt unhappy as Valentine's Day approached, citing the cost and time it takes to shop for the gifts, which are finely calculated to express just the right emotions toward a boss, a colleague or a true boyfriend.

...A month later, on what is known as "White Day," men are supposed to return the favor, usually by giving sweets -- a task that they too are far from happy with, the survey found.

Fifty percent of men said shopping for a return present was bothersome, and they don't like to be compared with others...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060214/wl_nm/life_japan_valentine_dc

With Court's Permission, Children Can Hand Out 'Religious' Valentines

February 14, 2006- Today students in one Texas public school district are able to give their classmates Valentine's cards and gifts with religious messages -- the result of a district judge's ruling that protects the free-speech rights of students.

The temporary restraining order was issued against Katy Independent School District after a lawsuit was filed claiming years of discrimination against Christian children...The lawsuit claimed, among other things, that children were prohibited from drawing religious images in an art fundraiser and talking about Jesus with other children during free time. In addition, the district policy banned parents and children from bringing religious-themed items during class celebrations -- thus the request for the TRO so children would be permitted to distribute religious valentines to classmates without fear of disciplinary action from school officials...http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/2/142006a.asp

Couple Reunite After More Than 60 Years

Feb 13- Willard Mason and Ilah Ost are giving new meaning to the phrase: "Love is patient." More than 60 years ago, the couple were engaged to be married, but life's circumstances got in the way.

Now, after they each married others, raised families and their spouses died, the two are together again.

...in 1941, Mason moved to Ypsilanti to work at the Willow Run bomber plant. There, he met a woman named Helvi, and broke his engagement to Ost. He married Helvi in 1942...Ost later married her husband, Marvin, and had three children before he died in 1974.

Mason's wife died in 2003, and by chance, he ran into Ost's brother in Blissfield in 2004, and he encouraged Mason to call Ost.

..."We get along perfectly," Mason said. "We've never had an argument. She's a great cook, and she takes care of me."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/13/D8FOKHM02.html

Money really doesn't buy happiness, study finds (I'd be happy to take yours off your hands...)Feb 13 -Money doesn't buy happiness, and now there's a study to prove it. Australian researchers found that people in well-off Sydney are among the most miserable in the country, while those in some of the poorest areas are much more satisfied with their lives... http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/13/060213161821.uwwo6evl.html

Where Arab Americans Worship
Although many countries in the Arab world are almost entirely Muslim, the percentage of Arab Americans practicing Islam is said to be only 24 percent. Two out of every three Arab Americans practice Christianity, in one form or another.
(SOURCE: Arab American Institute)
http://www.cnsnews.com/ThisHour.asp#Sidebar:%20Where%20Arab%20Americans%20Worship

Great Video Site For Aviation Stuff
http://alexisparkinn.com/aviation_videos.htm#Videos

DePaul Investigates Mock Bake Sale for Possible 'Harassment'

February 13, 2006- ...The Chicago-based school is investigating whether senior Michael O'Shea may have violated the school's anti-discriminatory harassment policy with an "affirmative action bake sale" he organized with the DePaul Conservative Alliance (DCA).

Affirmative action bake sales, in which white and Asian students are charged more for baked goods than blacks and Hispanics, are popular among conservative activists on college campuses. They are designed to criticize affirmative action policies, not to raise funds.

...The DePaul anti-discrimination policy defines harassment as "any behavior (verbal, written, or physical) that abuses, assails, intimidates, demeans or victimizes or has the effect of creating a hostile environment for any person based on any of the above protected characteristics."

...The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a group that promotes free speech on college campuses, is urging DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider to apologize for stopping the bake sale and end the investigation of O'Shea.

In a Jan. 23 letter to Holtschneider, FIRE Program Manager Robert Shibley defended the bake sale as "a form of satirical political protest" and criticized the "dismaying disregard for freedom of expression and open debate at DePaul."http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200602\NAT20060213b.html

The pot calling the kettle black...
Today, Sen. Clinton blasted President Bush for not finding "the tallest man in Afghanistan," Osama bin Ladin. (that is of course making the assumption that he is both alive and not in another country...)

On his talk radio show this evening, legal scholar Mark Levin said, "She should be talking -- she couldn't find the Rose Law Firm records that were in her own bedroom for three years," a reference to Clinton's trouble as First Lady complying with a subpoena for her law firm billing records. Clinton claimed she didn't know where they were, but the records were found in her bedroom.
http://www.sierratimes.com/06/02/11/152_163_101_8_17642.htm

Progress Varies On Global AIDS Plan

Controversial Strategy Credited For Improvement

Monday, February 13, 2006- In its first two years, the Bush administration's global AIDS plan has spent $5.2 billion to help prevent 47,100 infections in infants, bring drug therapy to 471,000 ill people and care for more than 1.2 million children orphaned by the disease.

Those were among the highlights of a data-heavy report submitted to Congress last week describing early results of the $15 billion five-year project, formally known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

...Of the $294 million spent on prevention last year, $76 million, or 26 percent, went toward efforts to encourage sexual abstinence or faithfulness to a single partner. About $66 million was spent on the provision of condoms and prevention messages emphasizing their use.

This "ABC" strategy -- abstinence, be faithful, condoms -- is the program's most controversial aspect. Mark Dybul, a physician who is the program's deputy director, defended it in a State Department news conference.

"There are only three countries with generalized epidemics in Africa that have seen a decrease in [HIV] prevalence. In all three cases, the reason was exactly the same -- A, B and C," he said.

A study published in the journal Science about two weeks ago found that change in sexual behavior accompanied the recent drop in prevalence of HIV infection in Zimbabwe -- and probably helped cause it.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021201078.html

Ranking Democrat: NY Times Should be Prosecuted

Feb. 12, 2006- In a stunning break with her party, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that the New York Times should be prosecuted for damaging national security by revealing the National Security Agency's top secret terrorist surveillance program authorized by President Bush.

"If the press was part of the process of delivering classified information, there have to be some limits on press immunity," Rep. Jane Harman told NBC's "Meet the Press."http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/12/122953.shtml?s=ic&s=lh

Monday, Feb. 13, 2006 6:27 p.m. EST

Al Gore Event Funded by Bin Laden's Family

The Saudi Arabia seminar that was addressed by former Vice President Al Gore over the weekend in a speech that criticized the U.S. for being too tough on Arabs was sponsored, in part, by Osama bin Laden's family.

On Saturday, the state-run Saudi news outlet Arab News reported that the Jeddah Economic Forum, where Gore spoke, was funded by "Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Saudi Binladin Group, Gulf One Investment Bank, Saudi Basic Industries Corp." and an array of other big companies with ties to the Middle East.

The Saudi BinLadin Group - which is Saudi Arabia's largest construction company - is run by Osama bin Laden's brothers and cousins. Jeddah, the site of the forum attended by Gore, is Osama bin Laden's hometown.

Although family members claim they've disowned bin Laden, his mother told reporters after the 9/11 attacks that she received advanced warning from him that something big was about to happen.

A wealthy bin Laden niece also reportedly abandoned her lower Manhattan apartment three weeks before the 9/11 attacks...http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/13/182926.shtml?s=ic

US near full employment(If I remember my college economics 5% unemployment is considered "full employment)
Feb 13, 2006- The U.S. jobless rate is near historic lows and the economy close to full employment, a White House economic adviser said on Monday..."There's no law of physics that says what the exact equilibrium of unemployment is at which we're at full employment, but in January the unemployment rate was reported to be 4.7 percent, which is quite low by historic standards," he told a news conference after releasing the White House's annual economic report to Congress.

The drop in the unemployment rate in January to a 4-1/2 year low surprised most economists and sparked inflation concerns, as analysts speculated employers would have to bid up wages to attract increasingly scarce job applicants...http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-02-13T214054Z_01_N13271437_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-ECONOMY-EMPLOYMENT.xml&rpc=23

Retail sales surge

Feb 14, 2006- U.S. retail sales surged 2.3 percent in January, nearly triple the expected increase and the largest gain since May 2004, as post-holiday spending on cars, clothing, gasoline and furniture galloped ahead, a government report showed on Tuesday.

Excluding demand for cars and parts, retail sales were up 2.2 percent last month - the largest monthly gain in more than six years, the U.S. Commerce Department said.

Both overall sales and sales outside the auto sector were far stronger than Wall Street had expected. Economists had forecast a 0.8 percent overall increase and a 0.7 percent gain excluding cars...
...Non-store retailers - including electronic shopping and mail-order - were the only major category with declining sales, down 2.6 percent, the biggest drop since September 2001.http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-02-14T140204Z_01_N13285876_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECONOMY-RETAIL.xml&rpc=23

Proof of warming? "Warm weather continues" -

"Since the warm weather rolled into Central New York on January 20, temperatures have averaged 45 degrees - the high being 69 on February 4 and the low 34 on February 10. There is no snow in sight, crocuses are in blossom, willow buds are in fully developed catkin stages, pansy plants are in full bud, lilac bushes are tinged with green, soft maple buds are turning red, men and women walk about without overcoats, street sweepers are at work and windows of houses and offices are open all day." (Utica Observer Dispatch)

Well, it might have been warming proof - at the time - only trouble for current warming advocates is that the February in question was in 1906 but what's a century among friends?
Hat tip Bill S., who comments: All this warming out on the shaft of the famous "hockey stick" and nobody at the time as smart as Al Gore to call for immediate reduction of all that methane produced by all of those horses pulling wagons.
http://www.junkscience.com/

Scientists slam Gore

February 13, 2006- Two scientists in the Philippines are slamming former Vice President Al Gore for making a visit to Manila and presenting both a global-warming doomsday scenario and an analysis of local environmental conditions they say were way off the mark.

...Archilla and Fernando Siringan, Ph.D., both from the University of the Philippines, lamented Gore's Thursday appearance, saying his "exaggerated" global warming scenario is being given more attention in the nation than solutions offered by Filipino environmental experts.

According to the local report, the scientists assert too much use of ground water by typical Manila households and businesses – not global warming – was the bigger reason the metropolis is sinking.

"The problem with these exaggerated and very general pronouncements about environmental doomsday scenarios is that they distract us from the real local problems which we can really do something about," Arcilla told the Inquirer.

He said that global warming was "a serious threat to humanity, (but) it is certainly not in the terms that Gore presents."

...The scientists urged officials to consider local analysis before falling for everything Gore presented. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48807

Students reject honor to 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' hero

Member of Marines not 'sort of person UW wanted to produce'
February 14, 2006The University of Washington's student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school.

Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government's meeting last week, said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce."

Ashley Miller, another senator, argued "many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

Senate member Karl Smith amended the resolution to eliminate a clause that said Boyington "was credited with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record for most aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American Uniform," for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Smith, according to the minutes, said "the resolution should commend Colonel Boyington's service, not his killing of others."

...Brent Ludeman, president of the university's College Republicans, told WND in an e-mail the decision "reflects poorly on the university."

"Pappy Boyington went beyond the call of duty to serve and protect this country – he simply deserves better," Ludeman said. "Just last year, the university erected a memorial to diversity. Why can't we do the same for Pappy Boyington and others who have defended our country?"

The resolution points out Boyington, a student at the UW from 1930-34, served as a combat pilot in the 1st Squadron, American Volunteer Group – the "Flying Tigers of China" – and later as a Marine Corps combat pilot in charge of Marine Fighting Squadron 214, "The Black Sheep Squadron."

Along with the Navy Cross, Boyington was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his heroism. He was shot down and spent 20 months in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

...Commenting on the decision, a blogger who says he met Boyington on numerous occasions at a museum and air show over the years noted the famous flyer "was no rich boy," having grown up in a struggling family in which he was forced to work hard to make it through school. The blogger, who hosts the website Paradosis, also pointed out Boyington was part Sioux.

...The blogger wondered, "have our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington – or for that matter any of our WW2 vets – to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp ... they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific."

Boyington wrote a book in 1958 that reached the best-seller list, "Baa Baa, Black Sheep." In 1976, he sold rights to Universal, which aired a TV series for two seasons of the same name. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48808

City seeks safeguards on sale of bullets

Tracking technology is among possibilities

February 13, 2006- With firearm violence in Boston continuing to surge (where guns are banned), police and city officials are looking for new anticrime tools, potentially including limiting ammunition sales, recording who buys ammunition, and using a new technology that transfers a gun's serial number onto a bullet's shell casing any time the gun is fired, said two officials who know about the plans. (so obviously the criminals won't get ammo because they can't buy it in Boston city limits...)

''We want to tighten up how people can get ammunition," Police Superintendent Robert Dunford said. ''We're seeing loose rounds, a mix of ammunition. That might be a point of attack for us. . . . When you get the gun with ammunition and you fire it off, then you need to resupply. . . . That can be tough."

...Currently, vendors are not required to record who buys ammunition, and buyers can purchase as much as they want, said Sergeant Detective Ray Mosher, who supervises the Boston Police Licensing unit, which regulates ammunition sales in the city. Mosher also said the current law allows buyers with a license for one type of gun to buy ammunition for any type of gun.

...Horwitz said two members of Congress are preparing legislation that would require gun manufacturers to begin outfitting weapons with microstamping technology.

One of the most interesting features of microstamping technology is the ability it gives police to tap easily into existing databases, Horwitz said (would that be spying without a warrant?). In Massachusetts, buyers must list their name and the serial number of the weapon they're purchasing.

...But Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy group, said criminals will always find ways around systems such as microstamping.

''Schemes such as this do not work for a very simple reason: Criminals by definition don't follow the law," Arulanandam said. ''Therefore, the only universe of people who are affected by this are law-abiding. A criminal intent on committing a heinous crime is not going to be deterred by such laws."http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/13/city_seeks_safeguards_on_sale_of_bullets/

An experiment in tolerance
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/mikeadams/2006/02/13/186126.html

Clinton domestic spying against Republicans did not shock nearly as many people as intercepting phone calls from terrorists.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_14_06_TS.html

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

February 13, 2006

What's worse than Friday the 13th?
How about Monday the 13th?

David

Hunting For A Good Lawyer
I don't know why all the fuss about VP Cheney shooting a lawyer while quail hunting in Texas Sunday. It's not like there is a shortage of lawyers. Besides I didn't know you needed a permit to shoot lawyers, I thought varmints were pretty much fair game all the time.

Actually there is a precedent for VP's hunting lawyers. Vice-president Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton July 11, 1804 in a duel. Hamilton died the next day. Burr was never prosecuted, I assume because Hamilton was a lawyer and they were plentiful back then too.

It's still safer to go hunting with Dick Cheney than it is to go for a Sunday drive in the country with Ted Kennedy.

David

Shoes galore for Dutch beachcombers
Feb 11 -Thousands of shoes have washed up on the beaches of the Dutch island of Terschelling, to the delight of local residents who are scrambling over each other to find matching pairs, security forces said. The shoes ...fell into the sea when a container ship shed part of its load in a storm on Thursday night...Press reports said the ship had lost as many as 55 containers...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060211222535.vdc6458h.html

Men/woman height and weight with age.
http://www.halls.md/chart/men-height-w.htm

EPA invents battery-less hybrid system
December 22, 2005- Hybrid drivetrain uses compressed fluid instead of electricity. To be tested on UPS trucks. See article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/21/Autos/hydraulic_hybrids/index.htm

Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction
The key to kicking what President Bush calls the nation's oil addiction could very well lie in termite guts, canvas-eating jungle bugs and other microbes genetically engineered to spew enzymes that turn waste into fuel.

It may seem hard to believe that microscopic bugs usually viewed as destructive pests can be so productive. But scientists and several companies are working with the creatures to convert wood, corn stalks and other plant waste into sugars that are easily brewed into ethanol — essentially 199-proof moonshine that can be used to power automobiles.

Thanks to biotechnology breakthroughs, supporters of alternative energy sources say that after decades of unfulfilled promise and billions in government corn subsidies, energy companies may be able to produce ethanol easily and inexpensively.

...Using microbes may even solve a growing dilemma over the current ethanol manufacturing process, which relies almost exclusively on corn kernels and yielded only 4 billion gallons of ethanol last year (compared to the 140 billion gallons of gasoline used in the U.S.). There's growing concern throughout the Midwestern corn belt that the 95 U.S. ethanol plants are increasingly poaching corn meant for the dinner table or livestock feed.

The idea mentioned by Bush during his State of the Union speech — called "cellulosic ethanol" — skirts that problem because it makes fuel from farm waste such as straw, corn stalks and other inedible agricultural leftovers. Cellulose is the woody stuff found in branches and stems that makes plants hard...

...Those microbes or their genetic material can be used to produce ethanol-making enzymes..."We have this idea that microbes are pests," said Leadbetter, who has been studying termite guts for 15 years. "But most microbes are beneficial." (Just wait until PETA decides these little microbes need to be protected and not harmed in any way...)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060212/ap_on_bi_ge/bug_juice

Ever heard of throwing gasoline on a fire? Sounds like treason to me...
While Saudi Arabia Gore Laments U.S. 'Abuses' Against Arabs
Feb 12- JIDDAH, Saudi ArabiaFormer Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment. Gore said Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida's hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/12/D8FNUKEO0.html

Carter allowed surveillance in 1977
February 11, 2006- Former President Jimmy Carter, who publicly rebuked President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program this week during the funeral of Coretta Scott King and at a campaign event, used similar surveillance against suspected spies. ...in 1977, Mr. Carter and his attorney general, Griffin B. Bell, authorized warrantless electronic surveillance used in the conviction of two men for spying on behalf of Vietnam.

The men, Truong Dinh Hung and Ronald Louis Humphrey, challenged their espionage convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which unanimously ruled that the warrantless searches did not violate the men's rights.

In its opinion, the court said the executive branch has the "inherent authority" to wiretap enemies such as terror plotters and is excused from obtaining warrants when surveillance is "conducted 'primarily' for foreign intelligence reasons."

That description, some Republicans say, perfectly fits the Bush administration's program to monitor calls from terror-linked people to the U.S.

...When Mr. Bell testified in favor of FISA, he told Congress that while the measure doesn't explicitly acknowledge the "inherent power of the president to conduct electronic surveillance," it "does not take away the power of the president under the Constitution."

...Jamie S. Gorelick, deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, agreed. In 1994 testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Miss Gorelick said case law supports the presidential authority to conduct warrantless searches and electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes...
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060210-110722-2189r.htm

Woman Carrying Human Head Arrested in Fla.
Feb 10 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Airport baggage screeners found a human head with teeth, hair and skin in the luggage of a woman who said she intended to ward off evil spirits with it, authorities said Friday… "It still had teeth, hair and bits of skin and lots of dirt," Gonzalez said. Severe told authorities she had obtained the package in Haiti for "use as a part of her voodoo beliefs," ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. "Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," Hernandez wrote…
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/10/D8FMKTQOA.html

Ind. House Wrongly Valued at $400 Million
Feb 10 VALPARAISO, Ind.- A house erroneously valued at $400 million is being blamed for budget shortfalls and possible layoffs in municipalities and school districts in northwest Indiana. An outside user of Porter County's computer system may have triggered the mess by accidentally changing the value of the Valparaiso house, said Sharon Lippens, director of the county's information technologies and service department. The house had been valued at $121,900 before the glitch. County Treasurer Jim Murphy said the home usually carried about $1,500 in property taxes; this year, it was billed $8 million. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/10/D8FMLVLO0.html

New low-income family homes go begging for sale
OAKLAND — ...Oakland Community Housing Inc. has partnered with North Oakland Missionary Baptist Church to build eight large, family townhomes on Linden Street in West Oakland. Four are being offered for sale to people of any income, and four are set aside for low- and moderate-income buyers, with substantial down payment assistance thrown in to boot.

Although the neighborhood has its share of crime and blight, finding conventional buyers has been no problem, with three of the four units already under contract to singles or couples with no kids. But finding first-time home buyers who do not exceed affordable income limits and who meet other qualifications has not been as easy.

"This is supposed to be providing housing to families, and the buyers are all childless or single," said Sara Garabedian of Red Oak Realty, "The whole providing housing for families is just not happening."

...The three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhomes...prices range from $456,000 to $494,950, which represents a reduction from earlier listings.

Low-income buyers — those who cannot earn more than 80 percent of the area median income ($53,000 for a two-person household, $66,250 for a four-person household) — can qualify for $100,000 in down payment help if they have decent credit scores and 3 percent cash down. That comes to $13,680 for the lower-priced units.

The $100,000 down payment loan does not have to be repaid until the home is resold, whenever that may be.

Moderate-income buyers, limited to an income of $79,490 for a two and $98,650 for a family of four, also qualify for $60,000 in down payment assistance if they have good credit and can put 3 percent cash down — about $14,848.

But even with assistance, monthly payments will range from about $2,200 to $2,800, Garabedian said...
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3501626

Pa. man accused in terror sting
Feb. 11, 2006- ...The FBI believes that the unemployed Wilkes-Barre man tried to conspire with al-Qaeda to wreck the American economy. Agents say Reynolds plotted to blow up the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, a Pennsylvania pipeline, and a New Jersey refinery.

The sensational allegations, disclosed in a federal transcript obtained by The Inquirer on Friday, reveal a convoluted plot that includes cyberspace intrigue, an elaborate FBI sting, and a clandestine money-drop on a deserted Idaho road.

The case also involves a municipal judge from Montana who has devoted the last four years to snaring would-be terrorists online...

"Before 9/11, flying airplanes into a building might have seemed like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, but now you have to take these kinds of threats seriously," said Joseph Poluka, who is now a lawyer at the firm Blank Rome. "You can't treat these things as fiction unless something sounds plainly unbelievable."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13849323.htm

February 12, 2006

Here’s Your Valentine
The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery…One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France…
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/?page=history

ACLU takes on Boy Scouts in 9th Circuit
Lesbians want to nix city-owned camp because group 'religious'
February 11, 2006- An ACLU lawsuit on behalf of an agnostic, lesbian couple seeking to nullify the Boy Scouts' long-standing lease with a San Diego park will be heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, widely regarded as the nation's most liberal.

...Backers of the Boy Scouts argue that while the group promotes belief in God, it represents no particular denomination or religion. Individual troops can be sponsored by a church, synagogue, mosque or secular organization.

The local Desert Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts has used the northwest corner of Balboa Park, near the San Diego Zoo, since 1940. It has leased the land for $1 a year since 1957, and the city council approved a 25-year lease agreement at the end of 2001.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48787

Another Government Taking
February 9, 2006 -Conaway Ranch is a 17,300-acre spread north of Davis, Calif. On property that sidles up to Interstate 5 and provides a fine view of the Sacramento skyline, owners grow rice and alfalfa, boast rights to 50,000 acre-feet of water and extract natural gas. The gray sky and Sierra runoff are home to countless birds -- ducks, egrets and hawks -- some of which the owners hunt.
Yolo County wants the land... In 2004, county supervisors voted to seize the ranch by eminent domain. "We want to keep it from being developed," explained Supervisor Mike McGowan.

...Spokesman Tovey Giezentanner argues that while Kelo was outrageous -- for it allowed local governments to seize homes and hand them over to private developers -- if Yolo wins, it will be the first time the "government got into the business of trying to run an existing business." There will be nothing to stop governments from seizing other profitable businesses -- parking garages, farms, hotels -- and running them themselves...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_7_06_DS.html

Illinois Newspaper Rejects Sonogram Ads as 'Too Graphic'
February 09, 2006- A pro-life group in Illinois said a local newspaper refused to publish advertisements featuring sonogram images because executives at the paper considered the ads to be "too graphic."

When contacted by Cybercast News Service, the advertising manager of the Joliet-based Herald News did not deny using that description, but he said his newspaper reserves the right to reject any ad for any reason.

Jill Stanek, president of the Will County, Ill., chapter of the National Right to Life Committee, told Cybercast News Service that she contacted the advertising department at the Herald News in hopes of buying space to depict a sonogram photo and a box of tissues with text reading, "Excuse me America, this is tissue, this (the unborn child) is not."

According to Stanek, after the newspaper refused the ad, she offered a different ad reading, "She's a child, not a choice," along with a different sonogram photo, but that also was rejected.

A third submission was made with an ad reading, "I am an American," again with a different sonogram photo. Once again, the paper refused to run the ad, Stanek said, for the same reason - that it was "too graphic."

...Stanek argues that sonogram photographs are in no way "graphic."

"Ultrasound photos are beautiful," she said. "Parents post them on their refrigerators, enter them into 'Most Beautiful Baby' photo contests, and proudly display these 'first photos' in baby albums."

Steve Vanisko, manager of the Herald News's advertising department, at first denied that the term "graphic" was ever used in rejecting Stanek's ad. But when pressed on the subject, Vanisko amended his statement.

Stanek added, "The Herald News is apparently so paranoid about the abortion issue it has lost its sense of rationality on the topic. It has now gone so far as to censor the truth about the beauty of human biology."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200602\CUL20060209a.html

WMD Gear Found In British Mosque
Feb. 8, 2006- A radical British imam was stockpiling protection gear for a weapons of mass destruction attack in a notorious North London mosque, British police revealed on Wednesday.

London authorities told Reuters that the discovery of the WMD-gear actually happened in 2003, but could not be disclosed until Tuesday, after Abu Hamza al Masri was convicted of 11 charges related to terrorism - including soliciting murder and possessing a terrorist training manual.

Hamza preached jihad at the notorious Finsbury Park mosque, where convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid and alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui both worshipped.

According to Reuters, 150 police staged a dramatic raid on Hamza's mosque in Jan. 2003. Once inside, they discovered gas masks, chemical, biological and nuclear protective suits, blank passports, hunting knives, and blank-firing weapons, the news agency said...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/8/225420.shtml?s=ic

Why Iraq is not devolving into "civil war," and how we are systematically quashing insurgents
In an exclusive interview, Brig. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger discusses the training and motivation of Iraqi soldiers. He also explains why Iraq is not devolving into “civil war,” and how we are systematically quashing insurgents.

A conversation with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commander of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team in Iraqhttp://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/WThomasSmithJr/2006/01/30/184219.html

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

February 9, 2006

Maps
http://www.hurricaneimagery.org/
http://www.nga-earth.org/

Once you zoom in so far you can change from map to imagery to transition from map to photo.

Game of tag banned on playground
February 7, 2006- Dodge ball is out, it’s too aggressive. Ropes courses are out, they’re too much liability.

...the principal of Spokane's Washington's Adams Elementary School banned the playing of tag by students on the playground... Several other schools in the same district say they have banned the hazardous game of tag, too. Those that still allow it have strict rules such as no pushing or shoving and playing only on soft, grassy surfaces.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48701

Scientist predicts 'mini Ice Age'
Feb. 7 -- A Russian astronomer has predicted that Earth will experience a "mini Ice Age" in the middle of this century, caused by low solar activity.

Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg said Monday that temperatures will begin falling six or seven years from now, when global warming caused by increased solar activity in the 20th century reaches its peak, RIA Novosti reported.

The coldest period will occur 15 to 20 years after a major solar output decline between 2035 and 2045, Abdusamatov said.

Dramatic changes in the earth's surface temperatures are an ordinary phenomenon, not an anomaly, he said, and result from variations in the sun's energy output and ultraviolet radiation.
The Northern Hemisphere's most recent cool-down period occurred between 1645 and 1705. The resulting period, known as the Little Ice Age, left canals in the Netherlands frozen solid and forced people in Greenland to abandon their houses to glaciers, the scientist said.
http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060207-041447-2345r

GLOBAL WARMING HEATING UP
It has been announced that this January was the warmest on record. Last month came in with an average temperature of almost 40 degrees...some 8.5 degrees above average. You know what this means....the howls of global warming are set to begin. The Earth is heating up and we're all going to die!

But what you won't hear from our leftist environmentalist friends...is that temperature records don't go back that far. We could have had many warm Januarys throughout history, but we'll never know. Most records only go back a hundred years or so. Some more, some less. So based on limited data, they are concluding that the Earth is warming at an alarming rate.

Also going unexplained is the fact that February is headed back to normal. In a lot of places, temperatures have gone back to their normal winter highs and lows. But that doesn't matter to the left...

Experts Blame Cop Show For Educating Criminals
January 31, 2006 -- When Tammy Klein began investigating crime scenes eight years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a killer to use bleach to clean up a bloody mess.

Today, the use of bleach, which destroys DNA, is not unusual in a planned homicide, said the senior criminalist from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Klein and other experts attribute such sophistication to television crime dramas like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," which give criminals helpful tips on how to cover up evidence.

Prosecutors have complained for years about "the CSI effect" on juries -- an expectation in every trial for the type of high-tech forensic evidence the show's investigators uncover. It also appears the popular show and its two spinoffs could be affecting how some crimes are committed.

...in the six years since CBS introduced "CSI," there's been a trend of fewer clues like hair, cigarette butts and the killer's blood left behind at crime scenes, Peavy said.

The more sophisticated the television story lines get, the better equipped criminals will be, Peavy said, adding that he never watches "CSI" because it's too unrealistic.
http://www.nbc5.com/entertainment/6625350/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=entertainment

Study Finds Low-Fat Diet Won't Stop Cancer or Heart Disease
February 7, 2006- The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet reduces the risk of getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet has no effect.

The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.

...The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.

...Except for not smoking, the advice for a healthy lifestyle is based largely on indirect evidence, Dr. Howard said, but most medical researchers agree that it makes sense to eat well, control weight and get regular exercise...

That is also what the cancer society recommends. Dr. Thun, who described the study's results as "completely null over the eight-year follow-up for both cancers and heart disease," said his group had no plans to suggest that low-fat diets were going to protect against cancer...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/health/07cnd-fat.html?ei=5065&en=184edbaa85ef6995&ex=1139979600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Record Sales of Sleeping Pills Are Causing Worries
February 7, 2006- Americans are taking sleeping pills like never before, fueled by frenetic workdays that do not go gently into a great night's sleep, and lulled by a surge of consumer advertising that promises safe slumber with minimal side effects.

About 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled last year, according to the research company IMS Health, up nearly 60 percent since 2000.

But some experts worry that the drugs are being oversubscribed without enough regard to known, if rare, side effects or the implications of long-term use. And they fear doctors may be ignoring other conditions, like depression, that might be the cause of sleeplessness.

Although the newer drugs are not believed to carry the same risk of dependence as older ones like barbiturates, some researchers have reported what is called the "next day" effect, a continued sleepiness hours after awakening from a drug-induced slumber.
Ten percent of Americans report that they regularly struggle to fall asleep or to stay asleep throughout the night. And more and more are turning to a new generation of sleep aids like Ambien, the best seller, and its competitor, Lunesta. Experts acknowledge that insomnia has become a cultural benchmark — a side effect of an overworked, overwrought society… http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/business/07sleep.html?ei=5065&en=d2eba0f3facc30cf&ex=1139979600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Bush seeks to “slash” public broadcast funds (get out the crying towels)
(Hollywood Reporter) - President George W. Bush took a swipe at Big Bird and his ilk Monday as he proposed slashing funds to public broadcasting by more than $150 million… "Oscar the Grouch has been friendlier to the Sesame Street characters than President Bush, who has chosen to make huge cuts to children's television programming," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "In a world of fast-and-furious television with ratings-driven content, the public broadcasting system represents the last stronghold of quality child-oriented programming -- we owe this to America's children…"
http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?id=2006020707260002523410&dt=20060207072600&w=RTR&coview=

What public broadcasting is and isn't
Jul 1, 2005 by Jonah Goldberg
...Public television was created to help poor people, educate young people, and to promote diversity on TV. Today, the average PBS viewer is in his late 50s. Somewhere around two-thirds of the poor have cable or satellite TV. Even more have DVD or VCR players. When PBS was created in 1967, it increased the number of television stations by 25 percent. Today PBS stations constitute a rounding error among the choices available to most consumers.

More relevant, with the obvious exception of "Sesame Street," the target audience for PBS isn't remotely the poor…

And that's the great irony of the restored PBS budget cuts. Because budget rules said the money had to come from somewhere, Congress raided social programs for the poor to give Big Bird back his $100 million.

Which brings up another bogus argument. When public broadcasting's integrity is attacked, the PBSers harrumph that government money is only a tiny fraction of their budgets. But, they say without taking a breath, if you take even one penny of it away, it will destroy us…
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/jonahgoldberg/2005/07/01/154794.html

We have no more need for PBS
Mar 3, 2005 by George Will
…In 1967 public television did at least increase, for many persons, the basic television choices from three -- CBS, NBC, ABC -- to four. Not that achieving some supposedly essential minimum was, or is, the government's business. In today's 500-channel environment, public television is a preposterous relic.

The Public Broadcasting Service recently tried an amazingly obtuse and arrogant slogan: ``If PBS doesn't do it, who will?" What was the antecedent of the pronoun ``it"? Presumably ``culture" or ``seriousness" or ``relevance." Or something. But in a television universe that now includes the History Channel, Biography, A&E, Bravo, National Geographic, Disney, TNT, BBC America, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, The Outdoor Channel, Noggin, Nickelodeon and scads of other cultural and information channels, what is the antecedent?

Now PBS is airing some HBO films. There is a nifty use of tax dollars -- showing HBO reruns. Which contribute how to ``diversity"?

…Public television, its supporters say, is especially important for poor people who cannot afford cable or satellite television. But 62 percent of poor households have cable or satellite television and 78 percent have a VCR or DVD player.

….Big Bird. Never mind that the average age of PBS viewers is 58. ``Sesame Street'' -- see how its merchandise sells, and Barney's, too -- supposedly proves that public television can find mass audiences.

But the refined minority, as it sees itself, now has ample television choices for the rare moments when it is not rereading Proust. And successes such as ``Sesame Street'' could easily find private, taxpaying broadcast entities to sell them.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/georgewill/2005/03/03/14686.html

PBS, Pay your own way
Aug 3, 2005 by John Stossel
My cable company made me a remarkable offer: They want to add a new channel to my cable subscription -- and you will pay for it… Sounds insane, and yet the channel isn't new. It's called PBS. Public broadcasting is a classic example of welfare for the well-off. We PBS viewers are 44 percent more likely than other Americans to make more than $150,000 a year.

… As David Boaz, author of "Libertarianism: A Primer," points out, businesses and nonprofits deal with 15 percent revenue losses all the time. If NPR and PBS lost all their federal money, they wouldn't disappear."

…when anyone suggests cutting the PBS budget, people say, "they're trying to kill 'Sesame Street'!" But "Sesame Street" is big business and would survive in any environment. "Children's programming that has an audience does not need taxpayer subsidies," says Jacob Sullum of Reason. "Noggin, which is more 'commercial-free' than PBS stations, carries 12 hours of kids' shows (including two different versions of 'Sesame Street') every day. Parent-acceptable children's programming can also be seen on Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and ABC Family."

… PBS, on the other hand, is broadcasting by bureaucracy. This is not a good thing. We should have separation of news and state. "We wouldn't want the federal government to publish a national newspaper, writes Boaz, "why should we have a government television network and a government radio network? …When government brings us the news -- with all the inevitable bias and spin -- the government is putting its thumb on the scales of democracy. It's time for that to stop."
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/column/JohnStossel/2005/08/03/155090.html

PBS: The Profiteering Barney Scam
by L. Brent Bozell III November 13, 1997
...Have you seen the blitz of K-Mart advertisements with Rosie O'Donnell dancing around with Sesame Street characters? Maybe you saw the recent ad for Ford minivans, in which Big Bird tells parents to buckle up the kids. It used to be these PBS characters only sold themselves. Now they're shilling for other companies.

...Here's the irony. Free-market conservatives don't oppose merchandising, the catalogs, the stories in malls, the Asian-made Tickle Me Elmo, the Arthur underwear: WGBH is proving it can pay off in spades. It is the obvious solution, moving mere theory into reality, that public broadcasting doesn't need taxpayer dollars to operate.

So why, as Barney's Lyons Group goes to court and Children's Television Workshop is loaning its characters to K-Mart and Ford, are taxpayers paying corporate welfare to PBS? ......it's time for the taxpayer spigot to be turned off, once and for all.
http://www.mrc.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/1997/col19971113.asp

from the Muppets own website: The Muppets Amazing Staying Power
February 1, 2004 ...the Muppets have been a commercial tour de force for a half-century. Their popularity has eclipsed that of most other characters born in the television age...

...The $13.6 billion entertainment licensing industry is littered with one-hit wonders...But the Muppets, owned by the Jim Henson Co. of Hollywood, Calif., are in an exclusive club, with the likes of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, Charles M. Schulz's Snoopy, Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny and Johnny Gruelle's Raggedy Ann.

"They're one of the enduring licenses in the toy industry and several other industries as well," said Diane Cardinale of the Toy Industry Association in New York, which represents 400 toy manufacturers. "They're right up there with Disney characters in terms of worldwide appeal."

...The puppets' successes have ranged from TV's The Muppet Show to five movies that grossed $187 million...

In recent years, the puppets have starred in ads for the U.S. Mint, MasterCard, UPS, Starbucks, and Long John Silver and Denny's restaurants. Muppet versions of board and video games include Monopoly and Game Boy Advance...
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2004/020104.shtml

Kermit's big leap back toward the green
February 4, 2006 On Sunday, Kermit and his longtime love interest, Miss Piggy, will star in two new ads pitching cars and pizza during ABC's Super Bowl XL. Walt Disney Co., which acquired the rights to Kermit and other non-"Sesame Street" Muppet characters for a reported $60 million in 2004...

...their first feature, 1979's "The Muppet Movie," grossed more than $76 million in domestic box office.

...in 2000... Sesame Workshop, which had been paying Henson's company a license fee of up to $20 million annually to use Elmo and other Muppets, leaped in to buy the characters from EM.TV for $180 million.
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/cl-et-muppets4feb04,0,2965695,print.story?coll=la-tot-promo

Hot cross buns too offensive for school
February 7, 2006- A school in the United Kingdom has banned traditional hot cross buns for fear the religious symbol drawn on the top of each roll might offend some students.

Hot cross buns are normally served during the Easter season, especially on Good Friday. Without the white cross drawn with icing, the treat is just a plain currant bun.

The head teacher of the Oaks Primary School in Ipswich, UK, Tina Jackson, has asked her supplier to nix the crosses, the Suffolk Evening Star reported.

Hot cross buns, hot cross buns
One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48700

Myths of rich and poor
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/thomassowell/2006/02/08/185448.html

RU4 or against wiretaps of foreigners? (cartoon)
http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/stayskalimages/2006/Phone-Taps.jpg

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com