July 26, 2006

Single city block hosts world's longest race
Jul 25, NEW YORK- The longest foot race in the world is 3,100 miles, long enough to stretch from New York to Los Angeles. Those who run it choose a different route: they circle one city block in Queens -- for two months straight....they stop for virtually nothing except to sleep between midnight and 6 a.m.

"I think this is what they're looking for: The feeling that you're living life for real," runner Pranab Vladovic said of himself and 13 other athletes now competing in the 10th annual Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race in Jamaica, Queens. (how sad and misguided to have to do that to feel “you’re living life for real.”…)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060725/sp_nm/athletics_run_dc

The previous story reminds me of aJerry Clower story-
Clower tells of a rich rancher in Texas whose pride and joy was his Cadillac. The rancher loved the Caddy so much he even had the windshield ground to his eyeglass prescription so he wouldn't need to wear his spectacles when he drove. This rancher died and in his will he stipulated that before anyone got any of his money he had to be buried in his Cadillac, sitting up in the drivers seat.

At the grave site as the Cadillac was being lowered into the huge hole one ranch hand said to another hand, "Man, that's really living."
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To the woman at the well Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:13-14

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10b

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Our Bible: A Message by Billy Graham
http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=704&BA=632&QR=120

It's dangerous to be a young male worldwide
07/26/2006 - Young men worldwide have higher death rates than women but the causes vary according to their age and where they live, researchers said on Tuesday.

Accidents and suicide are the leading killers in men aged 15 to 34...
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14025729/?GT1=8307

Teens Admit To Carving Crop Circles
July 25, 2006 SANDYVILLE, Ohio -- An unexplained crop circle carved in a northeast Ohio field isn't a mystery anymore. Four teens have admitted to carving the geometric design in a field south of Canton. The crop circle created some buzz about UFOs and attracted aerial TV coverage. One clue that the crop circle wasn't otherworldly was that it was created near an elevated bridge, offering convenient viewing. Authorities said they expect to charge the teens with misdemeanor damaging.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9570475/detail.html

Consumer confidence, home sales beat forecasts
Tue Jul 25, 2006 NEW YORK - U.S. consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in July and existing homes sales fell less than forecast in June, reports showed on Tuesday, boosting market expectations for an August rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

"Both numbers are stronger-than-expected -- and confidence does matter, and it increases the odds of an increase by the Fed," said Robert Macintosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Management in Boston.

Tuesday's data suggested the economy remained resilient...

...The Conference Board said its index of consumer sentiment climbed to 106.5 in July, up from 105.4 in June. Sentiment indexes have traditionally been seen as a gauge of U.S. consumer spending, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of overall economic activity.

Analysts had expected the index to fall to 104.0.

"Present day conditions remain favorable..."said Lynn France, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center...

The business research group's present situation index rose to 133.0 from 132.2 in June, while the expectations component improved to 88.8 from 87.5 in June.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.62 million units in June from an upwardly revised rate of 6.71 million units in May. Analysts had expected home resales to slow even further to a 6.58 million unit rate from May's originally reported 6.67 million unit pace.

...Also released on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's monthly manufacturing and service index for July rose to 12 from a reading of 4 in June.

U.S. chain store sales rose in the third week of July, boosted by some back-to-school buying, according to Redbook Research.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-07-25T155844Z_01_N25166243_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECONOMY.xml&src=rss&rpc=23

Washington State Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban
July 25, 2006 OLYMPIA - The state Supreme Court upheld a ban on gay marriage Wednesday, saying lawmakers have the power to restrict marriage to unions between a man and woman. ...Forty-five states have laws banning gay marriage or limiting marriage to between a man and a woman...http://komotv.com/stories/44579.htm

Hezbollah Didn't Expect War, Won't Lay Down Arms
July 25, 2006
A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrillas did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers.

Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of the Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press that his group will not lay down arms.

His comments were the first time that a leader from the Shiite militant group has publicly suggested it miscalculated the consequences of the July 12 cross-border raid in which two Israeli soldiers were captured and three were killed.

"The truth is - let me say this clearly - we didn't even expect [this] response . . . that [Israel] would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati.

He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel.

In the past, he said, Israeli responses to Hezbollah actions included sending commandos into Lebanon, seizing Hezbollah officials and briefly targeting specific Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/7/25/163706.shtml?s=ic

AIPAC MAP Shows Reality of Israel's Precision Bombing
Israelis Target Hezbollah Not Civilians; 99% of Beirut Unscathed (Note: The Map PDF is from July 21, but it makes the point.)http://download.premiereradio.net/guest/rushlimb/pdf/Beirut.pdf

Lebanese Expatriates Condemn Syria, Iran; and Praise Israel
26 Jul 26, '06...In addition to the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), the press release was endorsed by eleven Lebanese groups from the USA, Europe and Lebanon itself. The LCCC represents the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation, the Canadian Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement (FPM-Canada), the Phoenician Club of Mississauga (PCOM), the Canadian Phoenician Community Services Club (CPCSC), the Canadian Lebanese Christian Heritage Club (CLCHC), the World Lebanese Cultural Union-Canadian Chapter. The Lebanese Foundation for Peace (LFP), an international organization of Lebanese Christians, issued a press release last week that called upon Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to hit them hard and destroy their terror infrastructure. It is not [only] Israel who is fed up with this situation, but the majority of the silent Lebanese in Lebanon who are fed up with Hizbullah and are powerless to do anything out of fear of terror retaliation." The LFP also said that "thousands of volunteers in the Diaspora" are "willing to bear arms and liberate their homeland from [Islamic] fundamentalism," with the logistical support of Israel...
complete article at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108367
Gee...the press makes it sound like the Lebanese are condemning Israel...

Tax cuts: Then & Now
…John F. Kennedy believed that "an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits." So he proposed income tax rate reductions, which the Democratic Congress enacted the year after JFK's death. Back then, Democrats were for them: more than 80% of Democratic senators and representatives voted for the Kennedy tax cuts…

…As Pete DuPont explains in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, since George Bush signed the most recent tax cuts into law in the spring of 2003:

* In the past 33 months the size of America's entire economy has increased by 20 percent. He quotes National Review Online's Larry Kudlow as reporting, "In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy."

* In the 2 1/4 years before the 2003 tax cuts, economic growth averaged 1.1 percent annually; in the three years since, it has averaged 4 percent per year, and in the first quarter of this year it was 5.6 percent on an annualized basis; inflation-adjusted per capita gross domestic product (GDP) has grown 7.8 percent from 2003 through the first quarter of this year.

* According to the government's establishment survey, in the 36 months since the tax cuts became law, 5.3 million new jobs have been added to the economy.

* According to its employment survey, 288,000 jobs were added in May and 387,000 in June alone.

* The unemployment rate dropped from 6.1 percent in 2003 when the bills were signed to 5.4 percent at the end of 2004 and 4.6 percent today, and that rate has gone down for men, women, blacks and Hispanics.

* Incomes are up too. As Stephen Moore noted in the Wall Street Journal, "the percentage of Americans earning more than $50,000 a year rose from 40.8% to 44.2%" between 2002 and 2004. As for very wealthy families, the portion of total income "captured by the richest 1%, 5% and 10% of Americans is lower today than in the last year of the Clinton administration."

In spite of claims that the tax cuts would starve the federal government, disastrously reducing revenue from taxes, federal tax receipts jumped a hefty 15 percent – $274 billion – last year and 13 percent – $206 billion – in the first nine months of this fiscal year, which, as the Journal points out, means the nine-month increases for the past two years represent the highest growth rates in 25 years. Looking ahead to the end of this fiscal year, total inflation-adjusted government receipts will likely be 23 percent above 2003 when the Bush tax cuts were signed into law.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=110008699

David Bennett <><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

July 25, 2006

True Love
Two elderly people were living in a mobile home park in Florida. He was a widower and she was a widow. They had known one another for a number of years. One evening there was a community supper in the Club House, and the widower and widow made a foursome with two other singles. They had a wonderful evening and the widower sent a few admiring glances across the table, and the widow smiled coyly back at him. Finally, he plucked up his courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"

After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes. Yes, I will. "

The meal ended with a few more pleasant exchanges and they went to their respective homes.

The next morning, the widower was troubled. Did she say 'Yes' or did she say 'No'? He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank. He remembered asking the question, but for the life of him he could not recall her response.

With fear and trepidation, he picked up the phone and called her. First, he explained that he didn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say 'Yes' or did you say 'No'?

"Why, you silly man, I said 'Yes. Yes I will.' And I meant it with all my heart. "

The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat. Then she continued, "And I am so glad you called because I couldn't remember who asked me."
--------------------------
The rate of homeownership in America now stands a record high of 68.4 percent.
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How Much Is That?
Cost of cars: If we wanted to consider the costs of the Model T using today's prices we would find that the $850 cost in 1908 is $17,900 in today's prices using the CPI.

http://eh.net/hmit/compare/ (this is a pretty neat website)

Disney lay-offs mean R-rated films out
July 21, 2006 Famed family-film maker Disney is headed back to its roots, with confirmation yesterday of cuts of 650 employees that will include a phase-out of its R-rated movies.

Oren Aviv, newly appointed president of production at Walt Disney Pictures, told the Hollywood Reporter that the company's coming productions will be along the lines of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Chronicles of Narnia," "National Treasure" and "Miracle."

"If it's a great idea and it's done with quality and care, then it qualifies to be a Disney movie," he told the newspaper.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51167

Housing downturn 'appears orderly'
7/20/2006 WASHINGTON — Softening in the housing market has been gradual and has been marked by little increase in mortgage delinquencies or home foreclosures, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

"The downturn in the housing market so far appears orderly," Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee. "The level of (housing) activity is still relatively high on a historical basis."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2006-07-20-bernanke-housing_x.htm

Judge stops irrigation project over possibly extinct bird
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A woodpecker that may or may not exist has brought a temporary halt to an Arkansas irrigation project.

A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the 320 million-dollar plan because it may wipe out a habitat for the ivory-billed woodpecker -- which scientists thought was extinct.

Hopes that the woodpecker might still exist were raised when a kayaker reported spotting one in 2004. Avid bird-watchers flocked to the White River area, but couldn't find proof of the bird's existence.

The federal judge says, for the purposes of the lawsuit, he has to presume the woodpecker exists. And he says federal agencies may have broken the nation's endangered species laws by dismissing the possibility.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=5176173&nav=0RYb
If we’ve gotten along this long without that woodpecker…

Tiny jumping mouse may trump developers
July 24, 2006 A tiny mouse vying for survival in the Rocky Mountains may have gained an upper hand over Western developers.

Scientists hired to review contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies, limited to parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute would help justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The mouse uses its 6-inch tail and strong hind legs to jump a foot and a half in the air.

Fish and Wildlife is expected to decide by early August whether the mouse should stay on the endangered species list. The decision affects nearly 31,000 acres designated as critical habitat to help the mouse recover. Its population has dwindled to an average of 44 mice per mile of stream.
(the question not asked: is there any benefit to this mouse? Most people I know try to kill mice...)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NATION/607240365/1020

USHCN Temperature Record of the Week: Milledgeville, GA
This issue's temperature record of the week is from Milledgeville, GA. During the period of most significant greenhouse gas buildup over the past century, i.e., 1930 and onward, Milledgeville's mean annual temperature has cooled by 1.15 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much global warming here!http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/data/ushcn/stationoftheweek.jsp

Excuse me, can you tell me the way to Disneyland?
…Iran has been quite busy in Lebanon of late. The Lebanese Tourism Ministry’s Research Center announced an amazing statistic in early July: in the first six months of the year, 60,888 Iranian tourists visited Lebanon. No other Asian country came close (the Philippines ranked second, with a bit over 12,000). I don’t think that there’s enough disposable income in mullahland to cover the expenses of more than ten thousand people a month headed for the Beirut beaches. Do you think, as I do, that a goodly number of those “tourists” were up to no good? Maybe some of them were working for the Revolutionary Guards Corps? Or were Hezbollah operations people? I’ll bet you your favorite farm that one of them was the world’s most wanted man, Imad Mughniyah, the operations chieftain of Hizbollah, the world’s most lethal terrorist organization.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDE4MDA3NDUyYjA0ZGY1MzQ4NjM5NjM1MWY4NDVkZGM=

BBC Admits Many Lebanese Casualties are Terrorists
Jul 23, '06 / 27 Tammuz 5766(IsraelNN.com) The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has admitted that many of the victims of Israeli retaliation in Lebanon are terrorists and not innocent civilians. A BBC reporter said he saw Hizbullah terrorists using a private home and added, "It is difficult to quantify who is a terrorist and who is a civilian."

Media reports have emphasized that Israeli air strikes have killed more than 350 Lebanese civilians, prompting accusations that the IDF is carrying out "collective punishment" on the country
http://arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=108122

Iran leader asks Merkel for help on Zionism -German official
20 Jul 2006 BERLIN, July 20 - A letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism, a German government official said on Thursday...

"It's all related to Germany and how we have to find a solution to the Palestinian problems and Zionism and so on. It's rather weird," the official, who has seen the letter, said.

...Berlin's relations with Ahmadinejad have been complicated by his denial of the Holocaust, in which Germany's Nazi regime killed six million Jews, and his call for Israel to be wiped off the map.

…In February, Merkel compared Ahmadinejad's statements and stance to Adolf Hitler's rise to power when he and his Nazi party began threatening to exterminate European Jewry.

"Remember that in 1933 many people said it was just rhetoric," Merkel said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20811361.htm

Hezbollah trained for 6 years, dug deep bunkers
July 21, 2006 JERUSALEM -- Hezbollah has dug dozens of bunkers in the difficult hill country in Lebanon close to the Israeli border, some as much as 130 feet deep, from which fighters can emerge at night for forays against Israeli positions, according to Israeli military officers.

Numerous mines have been planted by Hezbollah against personnel and armor, and their mortar squads have the area zeroed in.

According to Israeli intelligence sources cited in newspaper reports, the bunkers were dug deep apparently to withstand the bunker-buster bombs such as the ones Israel dropped on suspected Hezbollah bunkers this week.

"They've been preparing for this battle for six years, ever since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon," a senior Israeli officer said.

When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, it was after years of skirmishing with Hezbollah... Since then, thousands of Hezbollah fighters have undergone training in Iran, which has also provided Hezbollah advanced armaments as well as intelligence and communications capabilities it did not have previously.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060720-095532-3181r.htm

Iran squeezed paying for refined products
Iran makes money every time oil prices go up, giving it an incentive to keep turmoil roiling, and keep oil prices at terror-threat levels. But Iran also imports 40% of its refined products. And those imports keep going up in price too, and are underwritten by huge government subsidies, to keep Iranians happy behind the wheels of their cars. Domestic gasoline prices are a fraction of actual cost at world levels.

Accordingly, Iran is dipping into reserves (fattened by high oil prices) to pay for refined imports (also driven up in price) and keep domestic prices low.

Unchanged is the strategic vulnerability of Iran to a cutoff of refined products imports.http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5632

U.S. Successfully Completes Missile Test
Jul 20, VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early Thursday.

The Minuteman III dummy warheads were fired at 3:14 a.m. and traveled about 4,200 miles before hitting a water target in the Marshall Islands.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSILE_LAUNCH?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-07-20-08-49-31

Having accomplished their mission of taking our society down a few more steep steps along the slippery slope...
Same-sex marriage pioneers separate
July 20, 2006 BOSTON — The lesbian couple whose lawsuit led to legal same-sex marriage in Massachusetts have announced they have separated. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4061953.html

what about Katie?
Katie Couric, who takes over the CBS Evening News in September told Access Hollywood that at this point, she would not venture into the Middle East hot spot.

"I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing," Katie said.http://www.accesshollywood.com/television/ah950.shtml

I guess she can't handle being a "real journalist".

Senate Committee: Brokaw's Objectivity Compromised In Global Warming SpecialU.S. Senate Comm. on Env & Public Works
7/12/6
Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw’s lack of objectivity and balance on the issue of global warming appears to have tainted his upcoming Discovery Channel documentary called: “Global Warming: What You Need To Know” airing on July 16.
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=258440

Pictures of pro-Hezbollah rallies in the world
http://precaution.ch/wp/?p=57

Inside Hezbollah in pictures, Time Magazine, last August:
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_hizballah/

David Bennett <><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

July 12, 2006

New StudyA South American scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late!

Police arrest cement soccer ball pranksters
7-5-2006 BERLIN - Police in Berlin said on Wednesday they had arrested two men on suspicion of placing cement-filled soccer balls around the city and inviting people to kick them. At least two people injured themselves by kicking the balls, which were chained to lampposts and trees alongside the spray-painted message: "Can you kick it?"

Police said they had identified a 26-year-old and a 29-year-old and had found a workshop in their apartment where they made the balls. The two are accused of causing serious physical injury, dangerous obstruction of traffic and causing injury through negligence, police said. http://reuters.excite.com/article/20060705/2006-07-05T180917Z_01_L04727574_RTRIDST_0_ODD-GERMANY-BALLS-DC.html

Why Worry? (Oil Prices)
Forbes ^ July 24, 2006 Daniel Fisher
...Even with oil's startling surge, from $10 a barrel in 1999 to the $70 range lately, the resulting rise in gasoline prices has had nowhere near the impact of the last oil crisis, back in the early 1980s. Gas was at 7.2% of consumer spending 20 years ago--but it is at only half that rate today (3.7%). As a slice of the U.S. GDP, gasoline is down by a third, to 3%...

...Nor is growth a problem. Industrial production in May was up 4.3% over a year ago, and capacity utilization is at 82%, above the historical average. Corporate profits keep growing despite the oil inflation that was supposed to roil business. Companies in the S&P 500 have racked up a record four years of up earnings and look to increase profits another 12% this year...

One key: This time around oil prices have risen at a slower and more stable pace, says Hillard Huntington, director of the Energy Modeling Forum at Stanford University . In the Arab oil embargo in 1973 prices more than doubled in three months. That spread economic mayhem because makers had to seek new efficiencies even as sales slumped.

"The unexpectedness and the inability of people to adjust quickly caused problems," says Huntington . "And I don't see that happening in this economy."

entire article at http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2006/0724/052.html?_requestid=871

WHY BIN LADEN WANTS HOME DELIVERY OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.deletehillary.com/nytosama.html

http://www.deletehillary.com/hcnytnew.html

I guess Abraham was on to something...
Circumcision may stop millions of HIV deaths-study
Jul 10, 2006 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Circumcising men routinely across Africa could prevent millions of deaths from AIDS, World Health Organization researchers and colleagues reported on Monday.

They analyzed data from trials that showed men who had been circumcised had a significantly lower risk of infection with the AIDS virus, and calculated that if all men were circumcised over the next 10 years, some two million new infections and around 300,000 deaths could be avoided.

Researchers believe circumcision helps cut infection risk because the foreskin is covered in cells the virus seems able to easily infect. The virus may also survive better in a warm, wet environment like that found beneath a foreskin...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyid=2006-07-11T000623Z_01_N10391567_RTRUKOC_0_US-AIDS-CIRCUMCISION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Studies show that rockfish thrive with offshore platforms as their home base (UCSB Professor)
June 29, 2006
( Santa Barbara , Calif. ) While some observers consider offshore oil and gas platforms to be an eyesore on the horizon, new data shows they are performing a critical function for marine life.

For the first time, scientists have documented the importance of oil and gas platforms as critical nursery habitat for some species of rockfishes on the California coast. Two articles documenting the importance of the platforms are published in the current issue of Fisheries Bulletin, with lead authors from the University of California , Santa Barbara . Available on-line at http://fishbull.noaa.gov/, Fisheries Bulletin is a quarterly publication of the U.S. government that is sent out worldwide.

The rockfish species called bocaccio (Sebastes paucipinis), which can live up to 50 years, was, until recently, an economically important rockfish species along the West Coast of North America and was abundant from Oregon to northern Baja California. Overfishing has reduced the stock to less than one-tenth of its former population, according to Milton S. Love, a marine biologist with UCSB's Marine Science Institute (MSI). However, the platforms are helping to restore this species...

...The results showed that, on average, about three-quarters of the young bocaccio settling around Platform Irene would not survive in the absence of the platform...http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/uoc--sst062806.php

12 Year Old Points Gun at (Armed) Burglars; Group Takes Off (SC)
Fox21 ^ July 10, 2006
An accused group of thugs-- thwarted by a 12-year old with a gun. It happened in Greenville when police say five masked men stormed into a house and started beating up the child's father.

FOX Carolina's Jamie Guirola reports, Try and picture it. A 12 year old walks into the living room, sees his mother frantically protecting the baby, and several strangers attacking his father. The 12 year old rushes out of the living room-- but comes back pointing a gun at the five suspects. As of Monday night-- all but one are in jail.

These are the alleged home invaders without their masks. The youngest barely seventeen, the oldest just 20. George Dickert didn't have time to think about their ages when he tells us they broke into his home and tried to rob his family.

George Dickert/Victim: "F*$# you! That's what I was thinking."

Sunday night, George says, one of the suspects in the group followed him into his house after he smoked a cigarette. He tells us the man pulled out a gun, threatening him. When George reached for a different gun in self-defense a fight broke out.

George: "I work five days a week and my wife works six days a week. We're an honest couple. We do what we have to do to make a living and some idiot decided he wanted what I had."

When the struggle started, police say, two other men came into the house and started beating on George. That's when George's 12 year old made the move credited with scaring the accused thugs out of the house-- and stopping the burglary-- without even firing the gun.'

George: "He did what he had to do to protect his family last night. And a 12 year old child should never have to go through that. Even if he does know what to do, he should not have to do that."

Police later found these four near George's home sweating and breathing heavily. Something George hopes they'll do again if they're convicted and sentenced to the max.

George: "...And I will press and push and do whatever it takes to make sure every individual in it gets it."

Police aren't releasing details about the fifth person they're looking for. George says he has five guns in the house. His taught his son how to use each of them.http://www.fox21.com/Global/story.asp?S=5134073&nav=2KPp2Qjt

87-year-old woman fatally shoots man in her home (IL)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch February 7, 2006 An 87-year-old East St. Louis woman fatally shot a man early this morning as he was trying to break into her house.

Police said they found the man, Larry D. Tillman, 49, of East St. Louis on the enclosed front porch of the woman’s house in the 2100 block of Gaty Avenue . He had pulled the telephone wires from the side of the house, then removed security bars from a porch window.

As the man was breaking through a storm door that leads into the house itself, the woman fired several shots through her front door, striking Tillman once in the chest.http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/metroeast/story/9DB79EBF400323848625710E006F5E3A?OpenDocument

Madeleine Albright: Now and Then

1. Albright says Iraq war biggest mistake in US history
Arabic News quoting Frankfurter Rundschau ^ 7/5/2006

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today harshly criticized the Iraq war, calling it the "biggest mistake in US history."

...She called it "fatal" that the Iraq war is seen in the Arab states as an example of a western crusade against Islam....
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060705/2006070505.html

2. Town Hall Meeting on Iraq at Ohio State University
Madeleine Albright, President Clinton's Secretary of State February 18, 1998
"Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/02/20/98022006_tpo.html

3. The U.S. Will Stand Firm on Iraq , No Matter What
By MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT President Clinton's Secretary of State
August 17, 1998
...Our assessment will include Saddam's capacity to reconstitute, use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In considering our response, we have ruled nothing out, including the use of force. We have reconfigured our forces in the gulf so that we can react swifly and forcefully when necessary.

In the meantime, Saddam's decision to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and U.N. special commission violates the agreement he reached with Secretary General Kofi Annan less than six months ago and represents a direct challenge to Security Council authority. This is a confrontation between Iraq and the United Nations. It is therefore up to Mr. Annan and the Security Council to make sure that Saddam reverses course and cooperates with Unscom. And if they fail to persuade him to back down, we will have laid the foundation for taking our own decisive action.

Supporting Unscom is at the heart of our efforts to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening his neighborhood, and the United States has always been its strongest backer. Because the U.N. special commission has been so effective in disarming Iraq , despite Iraq 's elaborate efforts to hide and lie about its weapons of mass destruction programs, Saddam has sought to discredit the organization. Unfortunately, while this is patently untrue, some in the Security Council have lent support to this effort.

...Unscom has in fact been very effective. It has carried out a range of inspection activities, some of which turned up very serious evidence that Saddam has still not accounted for many undeclared chemical warheads. Other evidence demonstrated that Iraq had weaponized deadly VX gas, directly contradicting Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz's claims to have fully disclosed Iraq 's weapons-of-mass-destruction programs.

...Our purpose now is to get the Security Council to face up to its responsibilities to the U.N. special commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency. These organizations have been clearly mandated by the Council to carry out the necessary measures to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems. If the Council fails to persuade Saddam to resume cooperation, then we will have a free hand to use other means to support Unscom's mandate.

Let's be clear: what Saddam Hussein really wants is to have sanctions lifted while retaining his residual weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities. We will not allow him to achieve these objectives....

This denies Saddam one of his most urgent objectives: to regain control of Iraq 's revenues so he can reconstitute his ability to threaten his neighbors...

Madeleine K. Albright is the Secretary of State.
http://www.usembassy-amman.org.jo/Alb-York.html

Ronald Reagan was right; we need anti-ballistic missile defense
By Phyllis SchlaflyMonday, July 10, 2006
...This North Korean threat dramatically confirms the need for the anti-missile defense system that President Ronald Reagan called for in his famous nationally televised address of March 23, 1983. At the time Reagan made that landmark speech, our national strategy for dealing with the Soviet nuclear threat was called Mutual Assured Destruction, known by its acronym MAD. ..

...Reagan and most conservatives believed it was, indeed, MAD to continue with a plan that simply threatened the Russians that if they bombed the United States , we would bomb them back and kill millions of Russians. We had no Plan B. Reagan exposed the fallacy in MAD when he posed the crucial question, "Would it not be better to save lives than to avenge them?"

...Sen. Edward M . Kennedy, D-Mass., and the anti-defense claque ridiculed Reagan's plan as Star Wars, but Reagan's vision was accurate and his goal was and is essential. That was the start of our anti-ballistic missile defense, known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI. We now know that Reagan's determination to build a U.S. anti-missile system, which he staunchly defended at summits in Geneva and Reykjavik , was the fundamental reason he won the Cold War without firing a shot. Mikhail Gorbachev realized the Soviets could not compete with the United States , and that started the collapse of the Soviet empire...

...A functioning ABM system might be even more necessary in the post-Sept. 11 world than in Reagan's world. In 1983, the terrible nukes could be built only by superpowers with a sophisticated technological base, Today we are in an era of rogue nations with irrational dictators and poor man's missiles that can be built and launched relatively inexpensively, and might even be bought from cash-hungry Russians...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2006/07/10/ronald_reagan_was_right;_we_need_anti-ballistic_missile_defense

David Bennett <><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

July 9, 2006

Scorpions, worms and ants on the menu at club
Thu Jul 6, 2006 -NEW YORK (Reuters) - A discerning guest at a Manhattan cocktail party removed a scorpion from its bed of cheese on an endive leaf and popped it in his mouth, determined to savour the taste unadulterated.

"Nutty, sweet," was the verdict of Gourmet magazine food editor Ian Knauer at the recent soiree.

"That's an antenna," he added, pointing to a morsel of cricket left poking through lips of his companion at the Explorers Club in New York, which likes to entertain its well-traveled members with exotic culinary adventures.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-07-06T113345Z_01_N28409647_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-SCORPIONS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Streisand Fans Unhappy With Tour Tix
Fans are turning their backs on Barbara Streisand's new tour because of outrageous ticket prices, according to reports.

The diva is struggling to sell out concerts where tickets cost up to $800 each and promoters are concerned, claims PageSix.com.

Fans are also annoyed the tour comes six years after her official 'farewell tour' and frustrated by Streisand's reluctance to commit to promised charity donations, which means ticket-buyers can't write off the cost as a tax deduction.

...the 64-year-old is facing lawsuits from disgruntled fans who bought tickets to her 2000 tour believing it to be her last.
http://www.fox23news.com/entertainment/story.aspx?content_id=5706AAB0-C098-4CF1-88C0-F9B5D31E4E87

They want their cake and eat it too...
Expatriate Mexicans worry about election
Jul 7, LOS ANGELES - Many expatriate Mexicans who supported Felipe Calderon weren't celebrating after the conservative presidential candidate was declared winner...
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/mexico

Hunting Norwegian Whalers Shock Tourists
Jul 05 OSLO, Norway- Hunters shocked a boatload of tourists on a whale watch off Norway's Arctic during the weekend, harpooning a whale in front of them.

About 80 tourists were aboard the trawler Reine, which was headed for areas off the Arctic Lofoten Islands known for their abundance of whales, when the incident happened on Saturday, the boat's skipper Geir Maan said by telephone on Wednesday.

"We were on our way out to the whale watching area when we passed a whaling boat," Maan, the boat's skipper, told The Associated Press. Usually, whaling and tour boats maintain a distance between them.

...The whaling boat fired, and Maan said he later learned through the hunters that it had made a kill in front of the tourists...

"This was definitely not what we came to see," Leontien Dieleman, of the Netherlands, was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Andoeyposten newspaper. "We wanted to see live whales."

"It was a little unlucky," Maan said of the incident, adding that the whalers usually wait until tour boats have passed to make a kill.

On the way back, the tourists also saw another whaling boat hauling a dead minke aboard, he said...

[Quit wailing and blubbering!! This is something they'll remember for a long time, much longer than watching a whale expel air or what ever from it's blow hole... This kind of reminded me of the little seal pup rescued from the Exxon Valdez spill. After six weeks and over $50,000, the animal was released back into its natural environment with all due fanfare of speechifying and posturing; only to have it swim off shore and get hit broadside by the gaping maw of a killer whale.]
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/05/D8IM37CG0.html

Private sector adds 368,000 jobs in June: survey
Wed Jul 5, NEW YORK - U.S. private sector employers created an estimated 368,000 jobs in June, compared with 122,000 jobs in the previous month, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.

The monthly ADP National Employment Report is based on payroll data and measures the change in total private sector nonfarm employment each month.

The report is released each month, two days before the government's own job survey of a net gain in nonfarm jobs in the U.S. private and public sectors.

"These findings indicate a strong acceleration of employment in June," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, said in a statement. Macroeconomic Advisers developed the ADP report together with ADP Employer Services.

He separately told Reuters that private sector jobs growth in June was "broad-based," averaging around 218,000 over the last six months. "I'm pretty confident that jobs growth on Friday would be healthy and I wouldn't be surprised if it shows an acceleration."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060705/us_nm/economy_employment_adp_dc;_ylt=AktuxtmQCrKj_hKIdCGY0c2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Reporting on the economy is worse than the economy
Forty-seven percent of Americans, according to a recent poll, believe the economy is doing "badly." Or, as a woman I encountered at a party recently put it, "Bush put the economy in the toilet." Really?

The feds just revised upward -- again -- the economic performance of the last quarter. From January through March 2006, the economy grew at a rate of 5.6 percent -- higher than any in the last two-and-a-half years. Despite recent inflation scares, inflation remains low, at a 2.1 percent core rate. Unemployment, at 4.6 percent, represents a lower rate than the average during the '60s, '70s, '80s and the '90s. Since August 2003, the economy has created more than 5.3 million jobs.

States report record tax receipts. Sixteen states report revenue growth of more than 10 percent, with the strongest -- Georgia -- showing a 20.5 percent increase. Increased tax revenues occur during economic prosperity, with increasing incomes and therefore larger personal and corporate tax payments, as well as increased revenues from sales tax.

see rest of article at: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2006/07/06/reporting_on_the_economy_is_worse_than_the_economy

This proves John F Kennedy was correct, to raise revenue cut taxes... and relative to the NYT it illustrates even a broken clock is correct twice a day, though they still find a way to cast this news in a negative light...
Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit
NYT- WASHINGTON, July 8 — An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.

On Tuesday, White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year's levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion less than what they projected six months ago. The rising tide in tax payments has been building for months, but the increased scale is surprising even seasoned budget analysts...

...Tax revenues are climbing twice as fast as the administration predicted in February, so fast that the budget deficit could actually decline this year.

The main reason is a big spike in corporate tax receipts, which have nearly tripled since 2003, as well as what appears to be a big increase in individual taxes on stock market profits and executive bonuses.

On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that corporate tax receipts for the nine months ending in June hit $250 billion — nearly 26 percent higher than the same time last year — and that overall revenues were $206 billion higher than at this point in 2005.

Congressional analysts say the surprise windfall could shrink the deficit this year to $300 billion, from ...an all-time high of $412 billion in 2004...

...Nevertheless, the short-term change has been striking. At the beginning of the year, the Congressional Budget Office projected that this year's deficit would be $371 billion and the White House Office of Management and Budget put the figure at $423 billion.

Corporate tax payments are expected to exceed $300 billion, up from $131 billion three years ago. The other big increase is an extraordinary jump in individual taxes that were not withheld from paychecks, usually a reflection of taxes on investment income and executive bonuses.

The jump in receipts is providing Mr. Bush and Republicans in Congress with a new opportunity to assert that tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 are working and that Congress should make them permanent.

Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative political fund-raising group, said: "The supply-siders were absolutely right. All the major sources of revenue have grown, especially in areas where we said they would."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/washington/09econ.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

Severe labor shortages in Calgary and Edmonton
Alberta, Canada’s oil-rich economic powerhouse, is in the midst of a boom that has created severe labor shortages. The oil and gas industry, including the vast tar sands with more reserves than Saudi Arabia, is hiring at a prodigious rate.

Many businesses, such as restaurants, cannot compete with the wages in the resource industry, and are threatened with closing down in Calgary. City hall also has problems staying staffed. Word from a friend recently back from Edmonton tells me that business there all complain of losing staff and being unable to replace them.

Alberta is on the rise, in Canada and beyond. Its wealth funds other provinces and its growth fires the Canadian economy.
see rest of article at:http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5511

Gene study shows sex differences go deep Jul 7, WASHINGTON - Thousands of genes behave differently in the same organs of males and females, researchers reported on Friday, a finding that may help explain why men and women have different responses to drugs and diseases...

"This research holds important implications for understanding disorders such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, and identifies targets for the development of gender-specific therapies," said Jake Lusis, a professor of human genetics who worked on the study.

Writing in the August issue of Genome Research, the researchers said that even in the same organ, scores of genes varied in expression levels between the sexes.

The smallest differences were in brain tissue, they found.

"We saw striking and measurable differences in more than half of the genes' expression patterns between males and females," said Dr. Thomas Drake, a professor of pathology. "We didn't expect that. No one has previously demonstrated this genetic gender gap at such high levels."http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060707/sc_nm/science_sex_dc

FBI Disrupts NYC Tunnel Terror Plot
Friday, July 7, 2006 NEW YORK -- Authorities have disrupted foreign terrorists plotting to attack the transportation tunnels running beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, the FBI announced Friday.

"For most of the year, we have been focusing on a group of al-Qaida followers who have targeted the Hudson River tubes," FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said Friday. "We believe we intercepted this group early in their plotting and, in fact, the plan has largely been disrupted."

...The New York Daily News had reported Friday that the plotters wanted to blow up the tunnel, the southernmost link between Manhattan and New Jersey, in the hopes of flooding New York's financial district.http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/7/91721.shtml?s=lh

Al Gore's Green Money Machine
July 7th, 2006- As Al Gore’s global warming alarm tour winds down for the summer, let’s pull back the curtain and see the real wizard. After you get past all the scare mongering, what is left is a giant scheme to tax the air we breathe. No wonder the tax and spend liberals are so enthralled with big Al. And everyone else thought he was tilting at windmills....

...Al Gore’s global warming scare is an elaborate scheme to impose more debilitating regulations and squeeze more taxes out of the people – especially Americans. The promoters want to ride roughshod over state and federal authority and impose a global authority accountable to no one...
complete article at http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5650

The shame of the Times
http://townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/07/04/the_shame_of_the_times

Captured docs expose Saddam and Blix
http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5530

David Bennett<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

July 1, 2006

Churches in Vegas (humor)
There are many churches in Las Vegas, not just casinos.

Not surprisingly some worshippers at Sunday services give casino chips rather than cash when the plate is passed.

Since they get chips from so many different casinos, the churches got together and devised a method to collect the offerings.

The churches send all their collected chips to a nearby monastery for sorting and then the chips are taken to the casino of origin and cashed in…this is done by the Chip Monks…

An Ancient Prayer
[found on the wall of an old Inn in Lancashire, England]

Give us, Lord, a bit o' sun
a bit o' work and a bit o' fun;
give us all in th' struggle and splutter
our daily bread and a bit o' butter.

Give us health, our keep to make
an' a bit to spare for poor folks sake;
give us sense, for we're some of us duffers,
an' a heart to feel for all that suffers.

Give us, too, a bit of a song,
an' a tale, and a book to help us along,
an' give us our share o' sorrow's lesson
that we may prove how grief's a blessing.

Give us, Lord, a chance to be
our goodly best, brave, wise and free,
our goodly best for ourselves and others
till all men learn to live as brothers.
Amen.

Revolutionary War battlefield objects pulled from Lake
6/30/2006 N.Y. - Gen. Benedict Arnold led a "wretched, motley" crew of sailors on Lake Champlain against a far superior British fleet near here on Oct. 11, 1776. The rebels lost.

But their dogged fight delayed British movement south for a year, when they would be defeated in the Battle of Saratoga. Historians today consider the Battle of Valcour Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valcour_Islan ) a "victory in defeat" that gave Colonial forces a chance to win at Saratoga — and eventually win the Revolutionary War.

Divers who have spent the last seven years combing the lake bottom in search of "battlefield scatter" from the pivotal fight pulled up dozens of artifacts this week. They displayed them by the shores of the battle site Friday: cannon fragments, solid iron cannonballs, a brass powder scoop, a trigger guard, spectacles, bombs… More at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060701/ap_on_sc/benedict_arnold_artifacts

The longest warAt 58 years and counting, the Karen conflict in Myanmar is the world's longest-running civil war…The Karen National Liberation Army has waged the longest fight for independence in the world. Now, 58 years later, they may be no closer to their goal than when they started. http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs6770

Red Cross laptop with donor data stolen
7/1/2006 DALLAS - A laptop containing personal information from thousands of blood donors — including Social Security numbers and medical information — was stolen from a local office of the American Red Cross, but officials said the information was encrypted. (I still don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about this. I've never felt like the Red Cross had any business with my SS number anyway.)

The data included matching names and birth dates of donors from Texas and Oklahoma, as well as donors' sexual and disease histories.

"We haven't viewed this as a security breach at this point," Darren Irby, spokesman for the national American Red Cross office, told The Dallas Morning News for its Saturday editions…

…Local officials alerted police and national Red Cross offices, Lundy said. Donors were not notified about the missing information, and the Red Cross had no legal obligation to do so…

…The Farmers Branch Red Cross also lost a laptop with encrypted donor information in June 2005, Lundy said, but she could provide no details on circumstances of that incident or any follow-up investigation…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060701/ap_on_re_us/red_cross_data_stolen

An Outdated Ban
It's time to allow more offshore drilling.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006; A24
FOR THE PAST quarter of a century, the federal government has banned oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters. Efforts to relax the ban have been repelled on environmental grounds, but it is time to revisit this policy. Canada and Norway, two countries that care about the environment, have allowed offshore drilling for years and do not regret it. Offshore oil rigs in the western Gulf of Mexico, one of the exceptions to the ban imposed by Congress, endured Hurricane Katrina without spills. The industry's safety record is impressive, and it's even possible that the drilling ban increases the danger of oil spills in coastal waters: Less local drilling means more incoming traffic from oil tankers, which by some reckonings are riskier. Although balancing energy needs with the environment is always hard, the prohibition on offshore extraction cannot be justified...
(the surprising thing is this is from the Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062701646.html

The wonders of socialized medicine...
Revealed: the true scale of NHS cancer waiting times
THE shocking extent of cancer treatment delays in Scotland has been revealed in official new figures which also lay bare the postcode lottery facing patients across the country.

Despite repeated promises and billions of pounds invested, the hospital-by-hospital breakdown reveals some patients are waiting more than a year between GP referral and treatment....
read the article at: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=927752006

Flex Fuel Fuzzy Math
Washington's ethanol addiction is giving cynicism a good name
6/28/2006 -The sticker looks mighty tempting -- a full-size, seven-passenger SUV with a V-8 engine rated at a hybrid-like 33 mpg! Too bad it's a sham.

Unfortunately, the shuck and jive isn't well-known, or apparent to consumers -- who might be gulled into believing they're helping cut down on energy consumption (and saving the planet to boot) when in fact all they're doing is supporting the latest government boondoggle for the sole and exclusive benefit of the politically powerful ethanol lobby.

Here's how it works: http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10011

Man, not beast
The mysterious tracks spotted on Clearwater Beach in the late '40s caused quite a stir. Were they left by a monster? A giant penguin? The answer eluded everyone. Well, almost everyone.

...The monster was the talk of Clearwater. A few citizens stepped forward to announce they had seen something mysterious on the beach that night, something alien, and if you didn’t believe them, why, you could jump in a lake.

...The Clearwater Monster was clever. The fiend left tracks, inflamed imaginations, then vanished. Just when people stopped thinking about him, he crept out of the surf again.

...Scientists were interrogated about the monster.

One said, “It couldn’t be real.’’ Another thought the tracks might have been left by a giant salamander.

“Plaster casts were made of some of the tracks,’’ Bothwell wrote, “and it was estimated by some that the beast — if beast it was — might have weighed some 2,000 pounds.’’

It was left to Ivan Sanderson , a self-taught zoologist, author and WNBC radio commentator, to render an intelligent opinion. As the flash bulbs popped he studied the tracks, furrowed his brow, did some measuring. He was photogenic, a Douglas Fairbanks for the beach set, with slicked-back hair, a pencil-thin mustache and wardrobe that all but announced “Adventure!’’ Only an ascot could have improved his look.

“Definitely not a hoax,’’ Sanderson announced. The tracks were so deep and wide, he opined, that only something heavy and tall could have made them.

“A giant penguin,’’ was his theory. (jump forward some 60 years…)

...“I'm 85 years old ….Back in, I want to say 1946, though it could have been '47, Al gets his hands on a National Geographic. There was a picture of dinosaur tracks. Al said, 'You know, we could have fun with this.'’’

…“We made them in the shop,’’ Tony said, looking at the weird boots his son lay on the table. “They were plaster at first, but you couldn't make a good track with plaster. It just didn't sink in the sand deep enough to look authentic.

We went to this blacksmith shop and poured lead in our molds. Each track weighed 30 pounds. We bolted black high-top gym shoes to each track.’’

“Al and I rowed out to the beach. I put on the shoes. I jumped out of the boat in shallow water. I was young then, about 25 or so, and much stronger than I am now, an old man. I had to kind of swing my legs out to the side and then forward to get going. Somehow I didn't break my legs. I left deep tracks about 6 feet apart. I made this big loop from the surf, up the beach, and then back into the water to the boat.’’
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Floridian/Man__not_beast.shtml

September 24, 2001 the NY TIMES Demanded Bush Admin Get Tough on Terror Financing... read http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014523.php

When Will NYT Reveal One of al Qaeda's Secret Programs?
6/28/06 Ann Coulter- The federal statute on treason, 18 USC 2381, provides in relevant part: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States ... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000."

Thanks to the New York Times, the easiest job in the world right now is: "Head of Counterintelligence -- al Qaeda." You just have to read the New York Times over morning coffee, and you're done by 10 a.m.

The greatest threat to the war on terrorism isn't the Islamic insurgency -- our military can handle the savages. It's traitorous liberals trying to lose the war at home. And the greatest threat at home isn't traitorous liberals -- it's patriotic Americans, also known as "Republicans," tut-tutting the quaint idea that we should take treason seriously.
(Excerpt) Read more at http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15823&o=ANN001

Were We Really Unified After 9/11?
…I know this is going to offend some people on the left -- but there are people in this country, elected and in the Drive-By Media, who are actively seeking to sabotage our effort and ability to win against this enemy and even wage war against him. I know this offends some of you. "Are you challenging our patriotism?" Say whatever you want. If you think it sounds like I'm challenging your patriotism, then yes. I'm challenging your patriotism, challenging your judgment and everything else. "Well, we're not doing it [undermining the war]." Well, then let me ask you a question. How would your actions be any different if you were trying to undermine our effort? Tell me that, you on the left. How in the world would your actions be any different than they are if you were trying to undermine? Senator Kennedy, it's one thing to go out there and be critical of Abu Ghraib. It's quite another to say it's worse under us than it was under Saddam. Dick Durbin, to go out there and criticize what's going on at Club Gitmo, okay, fine, to compare it and analogize it to Soviet gulags and Pol Pot and others, that's not by accident. That is not by accident. And don't think that it doesn't create harm and don't think that it doesn't provide impetus and morale for the other side in this. --Rush Limbaugh
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_063006/content/across_the_fruited_plain.guest.html

A Muslim Constitution in Europe (so much for assimilation)
6/21/2006 -The European Council for Fatwa and Research, a Muslim Brotherhood front group led by Tariq Ramadan and Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is working on a special constitution for European Muslims.

Islamists in Europe are working on a special legislation for muslims, that will be above national legislation. The initiative comes from the Fatwa-council for Europe, who claims that a “constitution for European muslims” is on its way. The Fatwa-council has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood organization. It’s spokesman is Tariq Ramadan, who among many westerners has a reputation of representing a more liberal european Islam.http://www.dr.dk/P1/P1Morgen/Udsendelser/2006/06/21/094932.htm

Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe
see http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1804078,00.html

Multiculturalism’s reward
The UK Guardian is reporting the results of a Pew poll that looked at relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in thirteen countries. The survey yielded some startling findings for Britain. It found, for example, that its Muslim population is among the ‘most embittered in the western world’ with most viewing westerners as ‘selfish, arrogant, greedy and immoral.’ In fact, so bitter these people are that their attitude ‘more resembled public opinion in Islamic countries in the Middle East.’

This may come as a surprise, since Britain is one of the most multiculturalism-conscious societies in Europe, often going into extreme lengths to accommodate its minorities and Muslims especially.

Obviously, this goodwill is grossly unappreciated and repaid with abiding hatred, with bloody carnage resulting on occasion.
http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5432

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow: 'The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know in some cases might override somebody's right to live.'

Congressman urges: Indict N.Y. Times!
King says for paper to release info on secret operations is 'treasonous'
U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., wants the New York Times and other newspapers indicted for reports on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists.

"We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told the Associated Press.

King is critical of last week's story that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to study messages within an international database of money-transfer records.

King, who serves as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he'd contact Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging him to "begin an investigation and prosecution of the New York Times – the reporters, the editors and the publisher."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50784

Yet another…What part of ‘classified’ doesn’t the NYT understand
According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/world/middleeast/25military.html?ex=1308888000&en=f51dc3bd1a5ff247&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead
Wed Jun 28, 2006 GAZA - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday...

...The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-06-29T013909Z_01_L29258645_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-ROCKET.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

The terrorist-tipping Times
The New York Times (proudly publishing all the secrets unfit to spill since 9/11) and their reckless anonymous sources (come out, come out, you cowards) tipped off terrorists to America's efforts to track their financial activities.

Guess what? It isn't the first time blabbermouth journalists have jeopardized terror-financing investigations since Sept. 11, according to the government.

entire article at http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2006/06/28/202909.html

David Bennett<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 30, 2006

Economy Zips Ahead at a 5.6 Percent Pace
Jun 29 WASHINGTON -- The economy zipped ahead in the opening quarter of this year at a 5.6 percent pace, the fastest in 2 1/2 years and even stronger than previously thought.

The new snapshot of gross domestic product for the January-to-March period exceeded the 5.3 percent growth rate estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The upgraded reading - based on more complete information - matched economists' forecasts.

The stronger GDP figure mostly reflected an improvement in the country's trade deficit, which was much less of a drag than previously estimated.

Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECONOMY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-29-08-45-40

Sales of New Homes Increase Unexpectedly
Jun 26 ...Sales of new homes rose in May, surprising economists who had been forecasting that housing would slow down because of rising mortgage rates.

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes increased by 4.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.234 million units...Analysts are still looking for sales of both new and existing homes to fall by around 10 percent this year as rising mortgage rates crimp demand. The lowest mortgage rates in four decades helped to propel sales to five straight annual records.

The 4.6 percent increase in sales pushed the sales rate to the highest level since last December and followed increases of 5.9 percent in April and 7.3 percent in March...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/26/D8IFVM7G0.html

Government Says Stolen VA Laptop Recovered
The government has recovered the stolen laptop computer and hard drive containing sensitive data for up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.

Nicholson said law enforcement officials were still investigating to determine whether data from the equipment, which included names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, had been duplicated or utilized in any way.

So far, he said there have been no reports of identity theft stemming from the May 3 burglary at a VA employee's Maryland home...
http://www.townhall.com/news/ap/online/gov/cabinet-state-pentagon/D8I4451G0.html

Who is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il?
from a 2004 article: SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) --North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ...was hailed as "the sun of the 21st century" and "the most prominent statesman in the present world" at official birthday celebrations in Pyongyang on Monday, while people from Nepal to Peru were marking the day with films and parties, state media said.

...North Korean publications describe Kim Jong Il as a renaissance man who has flown fighter aircraft, written operas and shot 11 holes-in-one in his first try at golf.

Despite Kim's reputed brilliance, his years in power have coincided with precipitous economic decline and deadly food shortages. About a third of all North Koreans are dependent on outside food aid, which is at risk of drying up…
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/kim.birthday.reut/

Judge bemoans lack of drivers ed for illegal who killed man
6-28-06 A Salem woman whose longtime friend and tenant was killed by an illegal alien driving without a license says she is shocked a judge not only reduced the man’s sentence, but took time to lament the lack of driver’s training for illegals during the sentencing.

...Judge Robert Cornetta used the occasion to decry the fact that illegal immigrants don’t have access to driver training, saying it raised public policy concerns. (uh oh, expect a judge to mandate tax payers pay for driver’s education for illegals soon…)

“What we will never know is whether Mr. Costa had some kind of driver training, if perhaps this tragedy would never have occurred,” the judge said, according to the Salem News. He could not be reached last night. (umm, people who have had drivers ed still have accidents)

Mullen, 68, who took in Golin (the deceased) as a boarder 20 years ago, was outraged over Cornetta’s comments.

“He’s not even supposed to be in this country,” an exasperated Mullen said about Costa.

She said Golin was a beloved neighborhood figure. “My mother lived to be 106 and a half and she loved Richie. He used to say ‘Hi Girdie,’ and she’d say ‘Hi Richie.’ She never forgot his name.”
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=145928

I suspect numbers are probably not much different for Protestants...
Study Reports More Bibles, Less Religious Literacy
Surveyed Catholics in France , Spain and Italy
ROME, JUNE 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Despite the increasing number of Bibles in circulation, knowledge of the Scriptures and the Church is weak among Catholics in three European countries, reports the Universal Biblical Alliance.

In a three-year study conducted by professor Luca Diotallevi, of the University of Rome Three, some 650 Catholics in Spain, France and Italy revealed low levels of Mass attendance and general religious knowledge.

The study, commissioned by the Universal Biblical Alliance, and carried out by Eurisko, also conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of the Catholic Church in the three countries.

Diotallevi, presenting the report at a press conference on Monday in Rome , said that in the 40 years following the Second Vatican Council, the Bible "entered massively in the families of many Christians, in homes where it had not been kept before. The pity is that in many cases it remains closed, a sacred object instead of a sacred book."

The study revealed that dissemination and knowledge of the Bible text takes place mainly at Sunday Mass, but less than half of all Catholics attend Mass regularly.

Some 49% of Spanish Catholics answered that they fulfill their Sunday obligation, followed by 29% of Italian and 26% of French Catholics.

Of those who attend Sunday Mass, the study said, barely half do outside reading of the Bible.
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=91776

the previous article reminds me of a good old Gospel song...

DUST ON THE BIBLE
by: J. Bailes & W. Bailes

1. I went into a home one day to see some friends of mine
Of all the books and magazines, not a Bible could I find.
I asked them for the Bible. When they brought it, what a shame!
For the dust was covered o'er it, not a fingerprint was plain.
CHORUS:

CHORUS: Dust on the Bible, dust on the Holy Word.
The word of all the prophets, and the sayings of our Lord.
Of all the other books you'll find, there's none salvation holds
Get the dust off the Bible and redeem your poor soul.

2. Oh, you can read your magazines of love and tragic things
And not one word of Bible verse, not a scripture do you know.
When it is the very truth, and it's contents good for you.
Dust on the Bible will doom your poor soul.


CHORUS: Dust on the Bible, dust on the Holy Word.
The word of all the prophets, and the sayings of our Lord.
Of all the other books you'll find, there's none salvation holds
Get the dust off the Bible and redeem your poor soul.

Court Agency Bans Prayers At 4-H MeetingsJune 26, 2006 CROWN POINT , Ind. -- Prayer has been banned at 4-H meetings in Lake County , Ind.

A memorandum issued last month by the Lake County Cooperative Extension Service said prayer is forbidden at all times, including to "begin or close meetings, fundraisers, camp sessions, including meals, and/or award ceremonies."

Stan Sims, the county extension director, said he issued the directive because: "We want to respect peoples' beliefs and be inclusive." (Really? Who complained? Bubba Mohamed?)

No single incident prompted his note. (oh, I guess no one complained...)

The formal prayers had been a tradition at various events, including 4-H, which has more than 800 youth members in Lake County ...
http://www.theindychannel.com/family/9427356/detail.html

State Agency Launches Probe After NY Rink Advertises 'Christian Skate'
June 28, 2006 (AgapePress) - The New York State Division of Human Rights has begun a probe of a privately owned skating rink that recently advertised a "Christian Music Skate" party. The agency is investigating Len Bernardo and his wife Terry, owners of Skate Time 209 in Accord, New York , apparently because the rink plays Christian music during certain designated hours.

The Division of Human Rights has warned the rink, which also advertises Christian skating on Sunday afternoons, that it may be violating anti-discrimination laws. The agency also threatened to charge a local weekly newspaper that published the rink's advertisement of its Christian music skate with "aiding and abetting" unlawful discrimination. However, pro-family supporters of the rink and its proprietors contend that if anyone is violating the law, it is the government agency.
More at http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/282006b.asp

Baseball Strikes Out in Reacting to Guillen's Comment, Says Family Activist
June 28, 2006 (AgapePress) - A pro-family activist in Illinois is criticizing Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig over his decision to require the manager of the Chicago White Sox to undergo "sensitivity training."

White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen was recently fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball (MLB) and ordered to attend sensitivity training for using the word "fag" to refer to Chicago Sun Times columnist Jay Mariotti. Selig said "the use of slurs embarrasses the individual, the club, and the game." Guillen told the Chicago Tribune this week that he intends to complete the training before the All-Star Game on July 11.

Pete LaBarbera, who heads the Illinois Family Institute, believes MLB went overboard.

"The fact that they're going to require this man to undergo sensitivity training -- pro-homosexual training, which will likely violate his moral and his religious beliefs -- is just astonishing," exclaims LaBarbera. "We're coming to the point in America now where people of faith can have their rights and their beliefs trampled over in the name of supporting the gay agenda..."I think it's astonishing to see the media in Chicago and maybe across the country bending so easily to this idea of when you say this word, which I don't say -- I don't say the word f-a-g -- but the idea that this is a slur analogous to racism is just ridiculous," says LaBarbera. "The fact is that Ozzie Guillen said something he shouldn't have said," he acknowledges, "but should he be going through re-education and having his religious beliefs trampled over in support of the homosexual agenda because he said this remark? No way."
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/282006c.asp

Bill Would Drop Lawyer Fee Damages in Religious Battles
The "Christmas tree wars," fought each year over public religious displays often end up in court, but congressional legislation taken up recently by a House Judiciary subcommittee would prohibit damages and attorney fees from being awarded to plaintiffs in such First Amendment cases….

…If PERA is not enacted, Staver said frivolous litigation by the ACLU will drain the funds that the federal government needs to spend on infrastructure and education.

Rees Lloyd, a former ACLU employee who went on to work as a judge advocate for the American Legion, also testified in favor of the bill; his written testimony stated that there is no need for the ACLU to have its attorney fees paid in religious display cases it challenges in court.

"As a former ACLU attorney, I know to a certainty that the ACLU's litigation is carried out by staff attorneys, or by pro bono attorneys who are in fact precluded from receiving fees under the ACLU's own policies," said Lloyd…

….Lloyd also cited the Redlands , Calif. , City Council, which voted to remove the cross in 2005 from its City Seal because the ACLU threatened to sue. Lloyd said the only reason given for the vote was the fear that court-awarded attorney fees would take away taxpayer funds needed for city services.

Because the city could not afford to change all of the seals, employees who had badges -- police, fire, emergency services -- were called in and had holes drilled through the crosses of their badges to comply with the ACLU's demands….

…Staver added that "some government officials will back down whenever they are threatened by the ACLU, even though they are right, simply because the law is confusing and they don't want to risk having to pay the ACLU's attorney fees."
entire article at: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200606/CUL20060626a.html

How to reduce CO2?
Put a cork in Al Gore !!!

AP INCORRECTLY CLAIMS SCIENTISTS PRAISE GORE’S MOVIE
June 27, 2006 -The June 27, 2006 Associated Press (AP) article titled “Scientists OK Gore’s Movie for Accuracy” by Seth Borenstein raises some serious questions about AP’s bias and methodology.

AP chose to ignore the scores of scientists who have harshly criticized the science presented in former Vice President Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.”

In the interest of full disclosure, the AP should release the names of the “more than 100 top climate researchers” they attempted to contact to review “An Inconvenient Truth.” AP should also name all 19 scientists who gave Gore “five stars for accuracy.” AP claims 19 scientists viewed Gore’s movie, but it only quotes five of them in its article. AP should also release the names of the so-called scientific “skeptics” they claim to have contacted…

… Former University of Winnipeg climatology professor Dr. Tim Ball reacted to Gore’s claim that there has been a sharp drop-off in the thickness of the Arctic ice cap since 1970.

"The survey that Gore cites was a single transect across one part of the Arctic basin in the month of October during the 1960s when we were in the middle of the cooling period. The 1990 runs were done in the warmer month of September, using a wholly different technology,” –Tim Ball said, according to the Canadian Free Press…

Entire article at http://www.epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=257909

The Truth about Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba561/