Ramblings' Journal

Red States v. Blue States: Iraq style

Barking Moonbat has a new Red State/Blue State map that brings home the importance of this past weekend's elections in Iraq.

Take that, Jabba the Drunk Kennedy...

NAACP refuses to cooperate with IRS request

The NAACP has formally notified the Internal Revenue Service that it will not be cooperating with an IRS investigation regarding activities that might cost the civil rights organization their tax exempt status. The NAACP insists that the timing of the investigation is politically motivated.

In a letter to the IRS dated this past Thursday, the NAACP attorneys said they would not hand over documents the IRS has requested, and countered with charges that the IRS had not followed proper procedure by launching their investigation prior to the filing of the organization's 2004 tax return.

The letter said the tax examiners aimed to influence the group's activities just before the November presidential election.

"We must conclude that the intention was to chill appropriate voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, whether conducted by the NAACP or by other organizations that are targeted by similar examinations in the program," they wrote.

The NAACP said the IRS challenged as improper campaign intervention a Bond speech this summer because it condemned the president's policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.

The IRS has indicated that they are looking at 60 different non-profit organizations and churches to determine if they had violated federal rules prohibiting them from political campaign activity.

Bond had made speeches (including a major speech before the NAACP's National Convention last summer) that implied an endorsement of Democratic candidates over the Bush Administration. Bond has also made speeches denouncing the President and the Administration.

I made the statement nearly two years ago on MSNBC that Bond's statements and speeches had opened the door, and that it could potentially be bad for the organization. I'll repeat that here and now -- Bond's foot-in-mouth disease is what brought this on, and may cause the downfall of the entire organization. Unfortunately, if that does happen, I'll look for Bond and the rest of the Soul Patrol to immediately cry racism and try to blame conservatives in general and the Bush Administration in particular for this series of events.

Freedom rings in Iraq, too...

Put Michael Jackson out of our misery! Please!

The circus that is the Michael Jackson child molestation trial gets underway with jury selection Monday morning. According to published reports, MJ has been ordered to be in court for the trial, which, undoubtedly will go on for months. It should provide plenty of fodder for CourtTV, Entertainment Tonight and the myriad of television analysts out there for the forseeable future.

CourtTV's Diane Dimond has found out some of the details regarding items confiscated from Jackson's Neverland Ranch during warranted searches.

One of the books confiscated from Jackson's home in 1993 is entitled "The Boy: A Photographic Essay." According to child erotica connoisseurs on the Internet, this rare book is considered to be "a homoerotic classic." The book, published in 1964, contains dozens of photographs of nude prepubescent boys, many in suggestive poses. There are nude boys captured outdoors, nude boys who appear to be posing for the camera, and boys displaying full frontal nudity.In addition to the book, CTV's I-Unit can confirm that investigators from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department also confiscated loads of pornographic material from various locations in Jackson's home.

Porn movies with titles like "Barely Legal" and "Pimp Up, Ho's Down" were taken from the entertainer's master bedroom. Pornographic materials were found in Jackson's master bathroom, his den and in a second-floor closet, as well.

Child porn. Plain and simple.

I have to echo my blog-sister Ambra.

For the love of the Lord crying out in the night...CONVICT Michael Jackson! Does God need to come down from the heavenlies in a burning bush and write it in neon letters for us all?

They found child erotica? CHILD EROTICA?! It still amazes me that despite mounting evidence to the contrary, researchers in this country refuse to draw any type of correlation between pornography and child molestation.

Michael Jackson is obviously every bit the scum and predator that everyone is finally starting to see him as.

The thousands of screaming, crying fans are insisting that there is a gigantic conspiracy against him, but for what!?

Michael Jackson is an eccentric on the order of Howard Hughes, which means he's got more money than the rest of us. That should not exempt him from the law, and especially if his actions endanger children in any way, shape or form.

What do we need, a heavenly bolt of lightning to strike him down in the middle of our television screens? For the love of God, put this man away where he won't see the light of day!

Press knocks Cheney over warm dress for Auschwitz ceremony

See! The press WANTS the Vice-President to catch something and keel over!

Vice President Dick Cheney's utilitarian hooded parka and boots stood out amid the solemn formality of a ceremony commemorating the liberation of Nazi death camps, raising eyebrows among the fashion-conscious.

Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower."

I don't know about you, but I'd rather be warm and healthy in awful weather than look good and be 'bout ready to keel over.

20 people on The Dead Pool think Cheney will keel over anyway.

Budweiser's ad deemed too hot for the Super Bowl

Budweiser has pulled a Bud Light ad from their Super Bowl lineup that would have spoofed last year's halftime "wardrobe malfunction" by Janet Jackson.

The ad featured a technician backstage who [spoiler deleted].

Anheuser-Busch (Research) pulled the ad after consultation with both the National Football League, which denounced last year's halftime show, and Fox, which is broadcasting this year's game Feb. 6.

"Why take the risk? All you need is one person to be offended," Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch vice president, told the newspaper. "Some people don't want to be reminded of the incident."

Still, Budweiser hasn't stepped away from the commercial altogether. It has it posted on its Web site, under the heading "Exclusive, watch the ad you won't see during the big game."

Want to see the ad?

Take a look here:

Real Player	28K  56K  100K  300K  600K
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QuickTime	28K  56K  100K  300K  600K

NYC actress smarts off at thug, gets killed

Logic dictates that you shouldn't argue -- let alone make a smart-assed crack - to a perp holding a gun on you, lest he shoot you for the hell of it.

Nicole DuFresne, of Brooklyn, had just left a trendy bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted at about 3:15 a.m. by four muggers — two men and two women — at the corner of Clinton and Rivington streets, police said.

One of the thugs, who was carrying a gun, demanded money.

DuFresne's fiancé, Jeffrey Sparks, 28, not seeing the mugger had a gun and not taking the request seriously, tried to push past the man.

"At that point, using both hands, he hit me in the face with the gun," Sparks said.

The grieving fiancé said he and his friend, Scott Nath, started walking away, thinking the trouble would pass.

But as they did, the man tried to grab the purse of DuFresne's friend, actress and playwright Mary Jane Gibson. That's when DuFresne protested, telling the thug, "What are you trying to do? What are you going to do, shoot us?"

Ten seconds later, a shot rang out.

Sad. Senseless. Stupid.

The perp got away. 28 year-old DuFresne was prounounced dead at Manhattan's Beth Israel Hospital.

Friend of Ronnie's? Yep. But not so "closeted"

Ned Rice at NRO suggests that Republicans and conservatives trying to remain closeted refer to themselves as "Friends of Ronnie," as in former President Ronald Reagan.

It occurs to me that we Hollywood Republicans could save ourselves a lot of trouble by agreeing on some term with which to discreetly identify ourselves in public, much the same way gay men describe themselves as "Friends of Dorothy," or AA members call themselves "Friends of Bill W." I hereby propose that closeted conservatives, whether in Los Angeles or elsewhere, agree to refer to one another whenever discretion is necessary as "Friends of Ronnie," in honor of our 40th president.

Imagine the wasted time and bad bean dip we could spare ourselves with a simple "Friend of Ronnie?" in place of the usual 45-minute dance around the buffet table trying to work "Milton Friedman" or "trust, but verify" into a remark about the weather. Not to mention the countless looks of horror from those who take our political beliefs to be not simply misguided, but actual evidence that we're evil. You know, the tolerant crowd.

Then, again, you can say f--- it, and sport one of my bumper stickers that say "Unapologetically Conservative," or "Black & Unapologetically Conservative."

And if you want one, you can go to my online shop (yes, this is a shameless plug).

I've got coffee mugs & t-shirts there as well. I'm looking at some other products over the next week or two to add to the shop, so if there's something you would like to see, let me know.

Life on the inside as an "Embed"

Houston radio talk show host Edd Hendee (from KSEV/AM 700) is an "embed" with the US Marines in Iraq.

His tales are being chronicled on the excellent (and new member of my blogroll) Lone Star Times.

At 4:14 am my friend Baraka shook me awake – “We have casualties.” was his grim statement.

Baraka is a reporter for WABC-7 New York. We met a week ago in Al Asad the first day in country and had become friends pretty fast. “I’ll meet you up on level 10.” he said as he rushed out of the room.

I threw on my clothes and grabbed my Bible – and began to pray for these fine men.

The hospital is right up on the roof – about 100 yds. from the helo pad. The area outside the doors was filled with quiet Marines listening to the Navy Corpsmen inside shouting instructions as they prepared the wounded for transport. One look at their faces told the story – this wasn’t routine.

I knelt to pray outside the door for these guys and their families. The thump-thump-thump of the inbound Blackhawk Med Evac helo was a comfort and promise of the best medical support in the world. But it was also a signal to immediately get ready to transport.

Tuesday had been an amazing day. We did 3 hours of broadcast beginning with a 6am Texas time (1500 Iraq) broadcast to KMSR in Dallas and then 2 hours back to Houston. We lined up Marines from their respective cities and hooked up phone calls to their loved ones at home. Sons talked to moms and dads, husbands to wives and their children. They were at ease in these responses yet they all stated again and again their conviction to be here and the importance of their mission. They make you so proud to be an American.

Edd's journey continues at Lone Star Times. It will show you what the MSM refuses to show you: the courage and true sacrifice of the men and women on the front lines.

Go read it. Now. It's that important, and that moving.

Just the commercials, ma'am...

Don't want to watch the Super Bowl next week, but you're interested in the commercials? Well you're in luck.

NFL Network has announced Super Bowl XXXIX Commercials, which will air immediately after the game concludes next Sunday night (2/6), roughly around 10P ET/9P CT.

The special will also air the next night (Monday 2/7) at 6:30P ET/5:30P CT, and twice on that Tuesday (2/8, times to be announced).

The half-hour long NFL Network special will present all the commercials that aired during the Super Bowl XXXIX telecast on Fox.

NFL Network is available on DirecTV and on many digital cable systems.

Motion Picture Academy calls grassroots Passion petitioners "Zealots"

Passion for Fairness is the home of a petition that was designed to get the attention of the members of the Motion Picture Academy (AMPAS) and to get them to consider Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in their Oscar nomination process.

Patrick Hynes from AnkleBitingPundits.com received a particularly nasty reply from one Stephen Norris representing the Academy though.

I am utterly delighted that our Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences has chosen not to yeild to the Bullying of you Christian Zealots to award this mediocre film just because it deals with your particular religious beliefs.

Rather snippy, ain't he?

Perhaps Stephen would like to deal with his own zealous beliefs, as opposed to condemning others.

Somebody took the BK "Chicken Fight" ad seriously?

More proof that state legislators, nationwide, are completely unhinged.

A state legislator in Oklahoma wants to revive the state's cockfighting industry by (get this) putting tiny, poultry-sized boxing gloves onto roosters.

You heard me -- and wait, it gets better. State Senator Frank Shurden wants to add chicken-sized vests to the roosters, in order to track punches in order to score the bouts.

The Oklahoma legislature outlawed the blood sport in 2002 because of its cruelty to the roosters, which are slashed and pecked to death while human spectators bet on the outcome.

But State Sen. Frank Shurden, a Democrat from Henryetta and a long-time defender of cockfighting, said the ban had wiped out a $100-million business.

To try to revive it, he has proposed that roosters wear little boxing gloves attached to their spurs, as well as lightweight, chicken-sized vests configured with electronic sensors to record hits and help keep score.

"It's like the fencing that you see on the Olympics, you know, where they have little balls on the ends of the swords and the fencers wear vests," said Shurden. "That's the same application that would be applied to the roosters."

Notice Shurden's party affiliation -- he's a Democrat.

Sounds like a career in national politics might be in the offing for him, once he's done in Oklahoma. After all, "idea men" like him are where US Congresscritters and Senators come from -- at least for the moonbats.

Entire radio morning show staff suspended over tsunami slurs

The entire staff of the WQHT Hot 97 Radio morning show in New York City was suspended indefinitely this afternoon, after an ongoing uproar over a bit the show's staff did to the tune of "We Are The World."

The bit ridiculed victims of last month's Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in the most vile terms, including racial slurs and with crass jokes about children watching their parents die.

"What happened is morally and socially indefensible," said Rick Cummings, president of Emmis Radio. The station is owned by Emmis Communications Corp .

"All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning show are truly contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable," Cummings said in a statement.

The piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and people watching their mothers die.

"You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim,'" was one line in the song, sung by staff of the show to the melody of the 1985 famine relief song "We Are the World."

The station declined to say when host Tarsha Nicole Jones, known on the air as "Miss Jones," would return to the air, or even if she would at all.

Here's hoping that she doesn't. What they did shouldn't pass for humor, but unfortunately, in today's society, there are those who would find their song funny.

Blogger gets attention from MSM on Hallums video

Jawa Report's head jawa, Rusty Shackleford, is getting some attention from the mainstream media behind the release of the Hallums video by terrorists in Iraq early yesterday.

In the past 24 hours I've gotten e-mails from producers at Fox News, CNN, NBC's Today Show, and several regional newspapers. Why me? Google.

Has Google become the foundation for MSM research? I certainly hope not.

That's how I do research.

So, tell me again why the MSM is superior to blogs?

Bloggers have become the vanguard of the new media. Many talk show hosts have embraced the format. Many newspeople publicly disdain the pajamahadeen (though, I suspect that they secretly read as many of our pages as they can get their grubby little paws on). The executives try to ignore us and hope we'll get tired and go away.

They do so at their peril.

Our presence continues to grow, and we become the "go-to" guys as time moves forward. Even though some of us might wear bathrobes and fuzzy slippers as we blog.

Boxer: "Waaaaa! Rice attacked me!"

After going on a temper tantrum against Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice, Senator Barbara Boxer (Drooling Crybaby-CA) is unbelievably claiming that Rice verbally attacked her.

"She turned and attacked me," the California Democrat told CNN's "Late Edition" in describing the confrontation during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

"I gave Dr. Rice many opportunities to address specific issues. Instead, she said I was impugning her integrity," Mrs. Boxer said.

According to the transcript and the aired video as shown on all the news networks and C-Span, Boxer was the one on the attack. Rice simply wouldn't stand still and play "punching bag" to Boxer's lazy attempts to verbally assault her.

"I personally believe — this is my personal view — that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth," Mrs. Boxer told Miss Rice, who has been President Bush's national security adviser since 2001.

Miss Rice responded that she "never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character."

"And I would hope that we can have this conversation and discuss what happened before and what went on before and what I said without impugning my credibility or my integrity," Miss Rice said.

Like I said the other day, Boxer got caught in her own lie, and is trying to backpedal and make certain that her lies stick in the media.

It won't work, Senator. And you continue to look more and more like a raving lunatic, and less an honorable statesman, the more you keep munching on your shoes.

The full Senate is taking up the Rice confirmation today.

Backwards, forwards, it still looks like a hooker special

Readers over at Wizbang took a look at the catalog for the dress designer and insist that the NY Post got it backward. Literally.

The claim is that the dress was worn backward by the model, and that it should have been worn the other way.

But upon further investigation, the dress catalog also has the prom dress shown as worn by the model in the Post article to begin with -- except in black.

Either way, it still looks like it belongs on a hooker, as opposed to my 16 year-old daughter.

Maybe if I have her wear a burlap sack that goes from the neck to the ankles.

Or perhaps a convent. I wonder if I can get a shotgun from Wal-Mart on short notice...

"F 9/11" gets ZERO Oscar nominations

Nominations for the Academy Awards were named today, and in a rare moment of clarity, the nominations included a big fat goose egg for Michael "Fathead" Moore's propaganda flick "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Fathead claimed that he'd get a nomination for the film, which did it's level best to slander the Bush Administration during the 2004 Presidential Campaign.

And like most of America, the Motion Picture Academy didn't buy it.

The Oscars will be handed out February 27 on ABC. The show will be hosted by Chris Rock.

Bad guys release video of US hostage

American contractor Roy Hallums, believed to have been kidnapped in November, was shown on a video released this morning by Islamist terrorists holding him captive in Iraq.

On the tape, Hallums pleads for his life.

"I have been arrested by a resistance group in Iraq," 56-year-old Hallums, dressed in civilian clothes and his beard flecked with white, says on the tape.

"I'm asking for help because my life is in danger because it's been proved that I work for American forces."

As he speaks, the barrel of an assault rifle is held inches from his head. Unlike other tapes made by militants of hostages seized in Iraq, no flags or banners of an organization appear in the picture and no demands are made.

"I'm not asking for any help from President Bush because I know of his selfishness and unconcern to those who've been pushed into this hell-hole," Hallums says.

"I am asking for help from Arab rulers ... so that I can be released as quickly as possible from this definite death."

No demands were released with the tape.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour says that there is no indication as to when this tape was produced. Hallums and four co-workers were kidnapped last November 1.

Hallams is from Westminster, CA, and according to Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report,

Bad words against Bush?? This does not sound like the Roy Hallums as described to me by his family and friends. I'm sure the rifle pointed at his head had something to do with his pleas.

Further, the intervention on the part of Ghaddafi may be a hidden plea for money. Robert Tarongoy, the Fillipino abducted with Roy, was released reportedly after ransom was paid. How else could Ghaddafi help??

Rusty has been on top of this and other kidnappings as they have taken place. He initially posted word of the Hallums kidnapping in November.

Hallums' family in California has put together a support website, and are asking donations be sent to:

Free Roy Foundation
Hallums Family
PO Box 947
Westminster, Ca. 92684

Four pair of long overalls would better for my daughter

Would you let your daughter wear something like this to the prom?

This dress, advertised in Seventeen Prom, YM Prom and Teen Prom magazines is a hot seller this year, according to an article in this morning's New York Post.

"I was shocked when I first saw it, but now it's one of our top 20 dresses nationwide," says Nick Yeh, the CEO of Xcite, the Stafford, Texas, company that designed the dress and some 200 other styles this season.

"I have a 15-year-old daughter and, no, I would not recommend she wear this dress.

"As a businessman," he adds, "I'm not judging what a teenager should wear or not wear. It's up to the parents to decide for their own children."

In fact, some shops in smaller cities require girls to bring in parental permission slips to buy the dress, Yeh told The Post.

You got that right, and I'll be damned if'n my 16 year-old daughter would even get to think about wearing something like this.

The dress runs $495, and comes in red and black.

Beware, parents. Beware.

I've got an even better suggestion that will be even better: Put her in four pair of long overalls. Until she's 30.

"Sheets" Byrd ain't as smart as he tries to be

I suppose Senator Robert Byrd (KKK-WV) might take offense at this. Then again, he seems to be at home pulling the sheets over people's eyes; he just might like it.

Boxer: "I'll call Rice a liar again."

US Senator Barbara Boxer (Stark Raving & Drooling Lunatic Moonbat-CA) said today that she would repeat charges that Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice deliberately lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"I will lay out again on the Senate floor [why] I do not believe [she] has been candid with the American people," Sen. Boxer told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"[She's] gone on shows like yours and made statements that I don't think were true, or they were half-true, didn't tell the whole story, didn't level with the American people."

Reacting to criticism from White House chief of staff Andy Card, who called her attacks on Rice last week "petty politics," the Marin County Democrat taunted, "Even though Andy Card would like me to go away, I'm not going to go away."

"[Rice] said things that were flat-out not true," Sen. Boxer continued. "When she said only one agency thought the aluminum tubes could not be used for nuclear weapons, that wasn't true."

Boxer's ravings were shown as lies and half-truths by posters across the blogosphere (including me) last week.

Boxer has some sort of personal grudge; in the eyes of some, she figures she's less vulnerable than most liberals, since she was just reelected to a six-year term by her constituents in California.

Goodnight, Johnny.

Johnny Carson
1925-2005

We missed you long before you were gone...

"ALLAH FUBAR!!!"

Wizbang and Rooftop Report have been all over this VW "commercial" since word of it surfaced.

The ad, a hoax viral ad not unlike last year's Ford Ka web ads that depicted a cat being beheaded and a pigeon being smacked into the street, is making it's way across the internet. The spot shows a man stepping out of a house in a nameless cosmopolitan European city and getting into a black VW Polo (a European-only sedan, similar to the American VW Golf).

After driving the Polo through the city, he stops in front of a sidewalk cafe packed with diners. Inside the car, you see that he is a suicide bomber with a bomb vest on and a detonator in his hand.

Outside the car again, the bomb detonates, and is completely contained within the car. A muffled "whumpf" sounds as the car remains intact. One diner looks up at the car casually.

The captioned tag reads, "Polo. Small but tough."

The ad plays on the established tagline for Volkswagen's Polo model, "small but tough". It shows a man in fatigues setting off in his Polo. He arrives outside a restaurant and pulls out a trigger. However, when he detonates the bomb, a flash is seen inside the car but the car itself does not explode. The strapline appears at the end. The campaign is the work of a duo known for their spoof advertising, called Lee and Dan. The pair run a website, LeeandDan.com, but the ad does not appear on the site at the time of writing. They have worked on a string of legitimate ads including Ford StreetKa, BP and Casio G-Shock, among others. Dan, from Lee and Dan, said: "The ad got out accidentally and has spread like wildfire. It wasn't meant for public consumption. "We think the spot reflects what people see in the news everyday, and in this instance the car is the hero that protects innocent people from someone with very bad intentions. We're sorry if the ad has caused any offence." Volkswagen stressed that the spot, which has been doing the viral email rounds this week, was made without any involvement from the company whatsoever. DDB London was also not involved in the spot.

It might be in bad taste, but as far as I'm concerned, it's certainly funny as hell!

Oh. And you can watch the ad here, or watch it here.

Terrorists behead Iraqi policeman in broad daylight

The bad guys are getting bolder and bolder with their attacks.

According to a Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) report today, they decapitated an Iraqi policeman in front of shocked onlookers on a Baghdad street today.

Witnesses said here Friday that a number of gunmen beheaded a policeman and stuck a note on his corpse describing as traitors those working with or helping the police.

About ten gunmen in two cars in the Ramadi area stepped out of their vehicles, attacked a soldier, tied his hands behind his back, and cut his head off before the eyes of shocked onlookers in the street, the witnesses said.

Do these animals have no shame?

And we're stuck with moonbats here worrying about the terrorists and how they are treated.

Just damn.

Is his name Bond...James Bond?

Is this face of the new James Bond?

According to insiders, it is.

6'6" Scottish actor Rory McCann is the unknown that is reportedly the top choice of producers of the as-yet-untitled 21st James Bond flick, set to be filmed later this year or early next year.

McCann may be known peripherally to American audiences for a part in Oliver Stone's much-panned Alexander this year, and for a role known to PBS/BBC America viewers of Monarch of the Glen. McCann has recently finished filming in Beowulf and Grendel, due to be released stateside later this year.

The previous Bond, Pierce Brosnan, was let go by EON Productions late last year, when they indicated they wanted to go in a "new direction" with the Bond character. The Hollywood Reporter has all but confirmed that Goldeneye director Martin Campbell will direct "Bond 21" as well.

Hail to the chief!

Newly sworn in, Bush offered an implied rebuttal to critics of his foreign policy and the war in Iraq. "Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty," (President Bush) said, "though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt."

"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom," he said in remarks that were shorn of all but the most glancing references to the dominant political issues of the day.

The spread of freedom and liberty were the oldest ideals of America, Bush said. "Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time."

President Bush was sworn into his second term at noontime today on the front steps of the Capitol. Ailing Supreme Court Chief Justice Williiam Rehnquist delivered the oath of office on a cold Washington day that left no doubt that the Republicans were in charge.

The US Senate, in an afternoon session, will take up cabinet appointments. Though Democratic Senator Robert Byrd (KKK-WV) suggested late yesterday that he would stall a vote on Bush' s choice for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, until sometime next week -- a blatantly transparent swipe at the President, designed to let the Administration know that Senate Democrats are still engaging in open warfare with the White House.

Boxer gets caught in her own lie

Senator Barbara Boxer (Raving Moonbat-CA), in her zeal to try to attack Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice during confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill yesterday, falsely insisted that WMD was the only thing that Congress voted on when authorizing military action in Iraq.

BOXER: Well, you should read what we voted on when we voted to support the war, which I did not, but most of my colleagues did. It was WMD, period. That was the reason and the causation for that, you know, particular vote.

Boxer has been so enamored by the notion of attacking the Administration that she obviously didn't do her homework before spouting her lies.

Boxer failed to note that seven different points were included in the authorization, contrary to her insistance otherwise.

To coin a phrase, let's go to the videotape!

1. Iraq's harboring of Al-Queda terrorists
2. Iraq's support for International Terrorism
3. Iraq's "brutal repression" of its citizens
4. Iraq's failure to repatriate or give information on non-Iraqi citizens detained and captured during Gulf War I, including an American serviceman;
5. Failing to properly return property wrongfully seized during the Kuwait invasion
6. The attempted assassination of former President Bush in 1993
7. America's national security interests in restoring peace and stability to the Persian Gulf

Mind you, this does not include the enforcement of the United Nations resolutions (that everyone from the Left to the UN itself seems to so conveniently forget in their ongoing endeavor to attack this President and this Administration).

In other words, Boxer either had a lapse of memory or she just plain lied.

But then again, as I've said before, a lie told enough times becomes the truth in the minds of those who are apt to believe it. And Boxer has shown that the left plans to continue to tell as many lies about this President and this Administration as possible in order to make him look as bad as possible, and enhance their own standing.

Rice politely tells Senate Dems to shove it

Secretary of State-designee Condoleezza Rice, testifying in today's confirmation hearings before a Senate subcommittee, got testy with several Democrats who seemed intent on attacking her character.

California Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer argued that the Bush administration had shifted its justification for the war because it had failed to find stocks of biological and chemical weapons it had asserted were there.

"You sent them in there because of weapons of mass destruction. Later the mission changed when there were none," Boxer told Rice. "Let's not rewrite history, it's too soon to do that."

"It wasn't just weapons of mass destruction," Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein supported terrorism, attacked Kuwait and Israel and needed to be removed given the new U.S. threat perception after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

"We can have this discussion in any way that you would like, but I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity," Rice told Boxer. "I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly."

Boxer wasn't the only moonbat to go after Rice during today's testimony, as Delaware Democrat Joe Biden and former presidential candidate John Kerry (Moonbat-MA) took their shots.

"We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom," Rice told the committee. "And the time for diplomacy is now."

Biden shot back: "Despite our great military might we are in my view more alone in the world than we've been in any time in recent memory. The time for diplomacy, in my view, is long overdue."

"We went in to rescue Iraq from Saddam Hussein, now I think we have to rescue our policy from ourselves," added Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who failed to unseat Bush. "I don't take any joy in this but it's ... the reality we've got to deal with. We've got kids dying over there."

It sounds like Ketchup Boy is still sore over losing the election, and wants to take it out on whomever he can. Mind you, he's still spouting his untruths about disenfranchised voters in Ohio and playing the martyred sore loser.

Though Rice's confirmation is all but assured, Senate Democrats have tossed veiled threats at the Republican leadership regarding White House nominees over the past few weeks, most notably over the possibility of the nomination of conservative Supreme Court jurist Clarence Thomas to the Chief Justice position on the retirement of ailing current Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Provided the GOP leadership on the Hill gets some backbone about themselves, this won't be the headache that it currently looks to be shaping up as.

Cobb school board appeals evolution sticker decision

In a 5-2 vote last night, the Cobb County School Board voted to appeal the decision of US District Judge Clarence Cooper, which would force the removal of a controversial sticker from science books in the county.

Cooper's decision insists the sticker, which reads "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered," violates the "Establishment Clause" of the US Constitution, which maintains the so-called separation of church and state.

On the heels of the school board vote, the board issued a statement which indicated that they felt "condemned . . . for taking a reasonable approach to address the concerns of citizens on a controversial issue."

The disclaimers stem from a petition drive begun in 2002 by Marjorie Rogers, who described herself during testimony in November as a creationist who believes the Bible's book of Genesis is factual. Rogers collected 2,300 signatures from supporters, prompting the board to print the disclaimers on stickers and place them in 13 science books used in middle and high schools.

Six parents sued to remove the stickers saying the disclaimers violated the principle of separation between church and state. Cooper heard three days of testimony, plus closing arguments, in November. He issued his ruling Thursday.

The board's decision Monday flabbergasted Jeffrey Selman, the leader of the parents who sued. "They're ludicrous," he said. "They're ignoring the ruling."

Board Chairwoman Kathie Johnstone read the board's statement aloud Monday, although both she and Laura Searcy voted against the appeal. Johnstone, the only one of seven members not on the board when the disclaimers were written, said she personally felt "it's time to move on."

"I'm worried about the toll it will have on the district," she said.

Board members said they would pursue the appeal at no additional cost, a promise stemming from board attorney Glenn Brock's pledge to do his remaining work on the case for free. Brock's law firm has charged the board roughly $74,000 so far.

Brock said he would request a stay either today or tomrrow on the judge's decision, pending the appeal.

My major beef with the issue has been addressed already, and that's the additional expenditure that we as Cobb County taxpayers would be saddled with, thanks to this entire process. Brock's firm won't be adding to the tax burdon with the appeal -- based on that, my feeling is that the appeal should move forward. There is no logical reason that the Judge Cooper should intervein in this matter - the stickers do not endorse any one theory of creation over another; it only suggests that the generally accepted theory is not the only one.

Or are the parents who filed the suit so afraid of a challenge to their own theories that they feel a zeal toward defending their theory? An almost religious zeal, perhaps?

This is wrong on at least six levels -- even for Bill Gates

Bill Gates, sporting his "come hither" look, and looking more like a child molester, showed up in a 1985 Teen Beat spread.

I wonder if the future Mrs. Gates had a copy...

Liberals love helping folks -- Yeah. Right.

Liberal feel-gooders love helping folks -- and this is not to say the tsunami victims don't need help. But do you hear a one of them - black or white - say anything about the genocide victims in the Sudan?

And you sure don't hear Jesse and the Soul Patrol saying anything...

100 pound girl downs 11 pounds of burger 'n fixin's at one sitting!

I'm a big man, and I'm in a constant struggle to lose weight these days.

But this waif of a girl, at a hundred pounds, soaking wet, won the challenge at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in State College, PA, and didn't look any worse for wear afterward!

19 year-old Kate Stelnick, a Princeton student downed a six-pound burger plus fixins -- bun and all -- in just under three hours last Wednesday.

Denny Leigey Jr., the owner of the bar 35 miles northwest of State College, had offered a two-pound burger for years and conceived of the six-pounder after his daughter went to college and phoned him about a bar that sold a four-pounder.

But nobody had finished the big burger in the three-hour time limit since it was introduced on Super Bowl Sunday 1998. In addition to the meat, contestants much eat one large onion, two whole tomatoes, one half head of lettuce, 1 1/4 pounds of cheese, two buns, and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish, banana peppers and some pickles.

I feel sick just looking at this. A rice cake and a glass of water doesn't sound so bad any more.

Idiot reporter makes MLK slur, gets fired

Las Vegas weather reporter Rob Blair was fired yesterday after making an offensive slur against Martin Luther King, in what he termed an "accidental slip of the tongue" in an on-air apology broadcast later.

Jim Prather, vice president and general manager of KTNV, said Blair "stumbled" during a weather update at 7:55 a.m. Saturday but added that "this kind of incident is not acceptable under any circumstances, and I'm truly sorry that this event occurred."

Blair was delivering the extended forecast when he said, "For tomorrow, 60 degrees, Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid-60s."

About 20 minutes later, Blair told viewers at the ABC affiliate, "Apparently I accidentally said Martin Luther Kong Jr., which I apologize about -- slip of the tongue."

He offered a full apology during Saturday's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

At 6:11 p.m., co-anchor Christina Brown, who is black, announced, "Right now we want to pause for a program note. Rob?"

Blair, seated at the news desk with co-anchors Brown and Shawn Boyd, said, "On a weather report earlier this morning, I made an accidental slip of the tongue when talking about the Martin Luther King holiday, and what I said was interpreted by many viewers as highly offensive. For that I offer my deepest apology. I in no way intended to offend anyone. I'm very sorry."

Moronic idiot.

National COGIC leader blames abortion for social security problems

National Church of God in Christ board member Bishop George McKinney said Social Security is in trouble today because of abortion.

"Part of the problem that we're seeing now with Social Security has to do with the fact that 40 to 50 million people who have been killed through abortions have not taken their role as productive citizens."

McKinney said the Democratic Party's support for legal abortion and gay marriage has cost it support in the black community.

Of course, this won't win him any friends among the Soul Patrol.

COGIC is the fourth largest denomination in the US with 5.5 million members.

King's dream of Christian service. How do you serve?

Martin Luther King's legacy is always the subject of much debate and deliberation at this time of year, when the national holiday to commemorate his birth takes place.

There are those who insist that it is not deserved, due to King's activities that some consider to be subversive; there are others who look at it as an excuse and means to denigrate and verbally attack those who do not agree with them politically or socially; and there are those who simply look at it as an excuse for a day off work on the heels of the Christmas/New Year holiday timeframe.

Then there are those who look on this as a day of service -- service to their home, to their community, to their way of life. Some participate by joining in commemorative services, some by reflective thought, some by serving their fellow man, and some - simply by partaking in the American Dream and going to work.

Contrary to the carpings of Jesse Jackson and others who pretend to know what Dr. King would be doing today, why not celebrate the man and his work? Why take the time, as Jackson did in a Jonesboro, GA pulpit yesterday, to attack the Bush Administration or anyone else who disagrees with you?

Dr. King worked so that I, and others, would have the opportunity to openly disagree with the status quo, and to disagree with each other. He worked so that voices wouldn't be silenced simply for being contrary to the larger whole.

I'd like to think that Dr. King would be proud of someone like myself, who takes the time to think and speak my own mind, and who encourages others to do the same.

Across town from me, at Atlanta's Turner Field, hundreds of volunteers work to put the finishing touches on a hot meal and to assemble resources for the city's homeless. The annual effort also provides access to showers and a haircut for those who would otherwise be forgotten. Volunteers with job service knowledge and skills to share, provide help where possible to those homeless, in order that they might be able to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps and remove themselves from the homeless population.

That is their service. They give voice and action to Dr. King's dream of Christian brotherhood, fellowship and mission to and for all. And though there are many who look past that portion of King's dream in favor of other, more "glory-seeking" goals, is it not better to serve yourself, your family and your fellow man? I would dare say it was better in Dr. King's eyes, and it certainly is far better in God's eyes.

Today, I sit in my office, at work. I work to better my company, to better myself and to better my family. I give voice to that work, and am proud to do so. That is how I serve. I am certain Dr. King would applaud my service.

And you? How do you serve?

Pentagon considered "aphrodisiac" and other chemical weapons

In the early-to-mid 90s, the Pentagon considered deploying a number of non-lethal chemical weapons, according to newly-declassified documents.

Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting halitosis", making it easy to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians. There was also the idea of making troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.

What you bet Amnesty International and other groups who go out of their way to hate the US would have vilified us even further for something like this?

Kennedy: "Osama Obama"

Ted Kennedy flubbed Osama Bin Laden's name in an interview this week, substituting freshman Senator Barak Obama's name instead.

"Osama bin … Osama … Obama."

Perhaps Jabba The Drunk needs to back off of the sauce for a little while.

How nerdy am I? Nerdy enough.

Figures...

How 'bout you? How nerdy are you?

Federal judge rules Cobb schools' "evolution disclaimer" stickers unconstitutional

My children attend schools in Cobb County, GA (makes sense, since I live in Cobb), and have been affected (for what it's worth) by the stickers placed in science textbooks. The stickers have a single paragraph on them: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

A federal judge in Atlanta has ordered the stickers to be removed from the textbooks, indicating that they are unconstitutional.

In a ruling issued today, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said the stickers violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"Adopted by the school board, funded by the money of taxpayers, and inserted by school personnel, the sticker conveys an impermissible message of endorsement and tells some citizens that they are political outsiders while telling others they are political insiders," Cooper wrote in a 44-page decision.

The stickers send "a message that the school board agrees with the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists and creationists," Cooper said. "The school board has effectively improperly entangled itself with religion by appearing to take a position. Therefore, the sticker must be removed from all of the textbooks into which it has been placed."

The lawsuit challenging the disclaimers, which call evolution a "theory, not a fact," was brought by six parents who believed the disclaimers violated the principle of separation between church and state. Cooper heard three days of testimony, plus closing arguments, last November.

My big problem with the whole thing is the tax money spent first putting the stickers in all of the books in the county, and now that even more of my tax dollars will be wasted snatching the stickers OUT of all of the books in the county.

There are far better things that my tax dollars should be spent on in the Cobb County schools than slapping in or yanking out stickers to satisfy the whims of overzealous school board members or judges.

Prince Harry, the Nazi idiot

Britian's Prince Harry, in a brainless show of monumental proportions, donned a Nazi uniform for a costume party last week. The photo showed up on the front page of London's Sun newspaper this morning.

The prince had intended to go to a military college this fall, but this may put a kybosh on Harry's military plans.

Labour backbencher and former armed forces minister Doug Henderson said the incident demonstrated that the prince was unfit to train as a British Army officer at Sandhurst.

"If it was anyone else the application wouldn't be considered. It should be withdrawn immediately," Henderson said.

"A quick way of nipping it in the bud is for Harry to make it clear he has withdrawn his application for Sandhurst," he told Sky TV.

Harry is due to begin training at the elite Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst later this year.

Harry has apologized for the costume, which he was pictured in, while holding a cigarette in this morning's newspaper.

Harry is third in line for the British throne, behind his father, Prince Charles, and his older brother, Prince William.

Don King, tired of shaming boxers, goes after ESPN for $2.5 billion

Don King is suing ESPN for $2.5 billion, claiming defamation of character.

The suit stems from a SportsCentury segment aired last year that called King "a snake oil salesman, a shameless huckster and worse," and claimed he had killed two people, instead of the one that he was convicted of.

Most of the material in the program had been printed or broadcast earlier about King, who has spent much of his career in court, but he said he had just had enough.

"I just felt that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and I can't take it anymore, and I'm going to fight back," King said at a news conference. "I seek justice."

The suit also says SportsCentury accused King of threatening to break the legs of heavyweight Larry Holmes and of cheating boxer Meldrick Taylor out of $1 million from a fight and then threatening to have Taylor killed.

King has represented fighters from Ali to Mike Tyson, and has been sued by several of them — including a $100 million lawsuit filed against him by Tyson. King paid $7.5 million to former middleweight champion Terry Norris in late 2003 to settle a suit. King sued former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis for libel.

King also has beaten federal charges, including tax evasion and fraud. He served nearly four years in prison for the 1967 beating death of a man who owed him money. In 1954, he killed a man who was robbing a numbers house he operated in Cleveland, but it was ruled self-defense.

I count pretty well, and it sounds like King actually did kill two people.

It also shows what everyone already apparently knows: that King is a shyster and showman cut from the P.T. Barnum mold.

More recently, King has become a Republican and much to the chagrin of many Republicans of all stripes (but most especially getting the goat of black Republicans), King was part of a Republican outreach program that toured the nation last summer during the Presidential campaign.

Michelle Malkin opens up the old mailbag...

Michelle Malkin gives the rest of us a glimpse into her mailbag today.

I thought I got lots of hate mail (indeed I do), but she gets plenty more, and just as juicy as what I get, too.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one who noticed. LaShawn & Baldilocks are just plain indignant about it, while DarkStar asks, "What makes her so special?"

I can't argue that -- Like I said, some of my hate mail would make the walls blister as well. And I'm sure most of us have received our share.

A sadly relavent question

CBS: Bias? What bias?

'Nuff said.

Bush names Judge Michael Chertoff to Homeland Security Secretary

Judge Michael Chertoff, the man who headed the Senate's Whitewater investigation has been tapped to head up the Department of Homeland Security.

Chertoff will replace the original choice of the White House, Bernard Kerik, who withdrew his name last month amid the emergence of his having employed an illegal alien as a nanny.

Chertoff has an extensive background in prosecuting terrorism-related cases, and in working with the FBI.

He was the head of the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003 until made an appeals court judge in 2003. As the administration's top anti-terrorism prosecutor during that time, he dealt with how to handle illegal immigrations involved in possible terrorism cases, and was involved in prosecuting such high-profile cases as that of Zacarias Moussaoui.

Chertoff has also worked on combatting cybercrime and was a member of former Attorney General Janet Reno's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. He earned his law degree from Harvard University.

During more than 10 years as a federal prosecutor in Newark and Manhattan, Chertoff pursued political corruption, health care fraud, bank fraud and savings-and-loan fraud.

Chertoff has to be confirmed by the US Senate prior to taking office.

Religious Action Figures? Huh?

 

In the same vein as LandoverBaptist.org and Betty "I'm A Better Christian Than You" Bowers, comes the apparently fictional Jesus Christ Superstore. The primary item up for "sale" are action figures for all the world's major religions.

The Christian section includes figures of "God Almighty," complete with Kingdom-Come Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle and wearing the "Hallowed cloak of invulnerability." There are also figures of "The Pope" (with Holy Cross Kali sticks, 'Meek and Mild' Walther PPK handgun and wearing his blood red Vatican Assault uniform) and Jesus Christ (includes Ninja-Messiah throwing nails and Death Killer-Cross pump action over-under shotgun).

Christians aren't the only ones these folks have gone after. Buddhists (Buddha, with Fighting Staff of Meditation, Magnum66 automatic Nirvana pistol, and Invincible Holy Orange Cape of Enlightenment; and Dalhi Lama, with 'Tibetan terror'AK-12 automatic machine pistol, Magnum66 automatic Nirvana pistol (complete with transcendental silencer), also fire and forget self-enlightening laser), Hindus (Krishna, with 'Jungly Colt' 45 pistol and laser sighted automatic 'Ganesh-garnish' S&W with silencer; and Shiva, In Four-Armed warrior incarnation with Untouchable-Toucher Uzi automatic), Jews (Chief Rabbi, with 'Kosher Kill' sniper automatic handgun and Jehova mklll silencer, also Staff of the Vengeful God), and even the vaunted 'religion of peace' (The Ayatollah, with Holy Struggle SZ-924 stun gun, 'Pokem' harpoon pistol and wearing Kohmeni Midnight Warrior yashmak; "Islamic Jihad," with Smith and Islamabad SLR rifle with 'Holy Vision' laser sight and plastic explosives included; and Allah, represented by an empty box and the caption "He who may not be shown") are shown.

Each figure has a caption above it, from "Cosmic Warrior and lover of many women" above the Krishna figure to "His is the kingdom, the power and the glory" above the God Almighty figure. Some of them might be considered to be out of line ("the father, the son, and the bad motherf..." over the Jesus Christ figure), but I'm guessing that this is the "next" religious satire site to try to offend everybody. After all, their overall slogan is "Putting the fun back into fundamentalism and laughter into sectarian slaughter."

CBS sacks four in wake of Rathergate report

The Rathergate report is out, and CBS News has dumped four employees (including infamous 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes) in it's wake.

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

Of course CBS anchor Dan Rather is stepping down from the center seat at CBS Evening News over the mess as well.

The full "independent report" is online for your perusal in PDF format.

Williams-gate fallout: Armstrong apologizes

Reaction to the Armstrong Williams-Department of Education scandal was swift and furious over the weekend, as I wasn't the only one to make a lot of noise on the issue (LaShawn Barber, Michelle Malkin, Rob Bernard, DC Thornton, Amy Ridenour, Sisu, Nate Livingston, Expertise, Booker Rising, Eduwonk, Wizbang, The American Prospect's Tapped column, Powerline & others too numerous to mention).

In the wake of Friday's revelations, Tribune Media Services, who syndicated his column to newspapers nationally, abruptly dropped his column, and most likely, his television show, The Right Side with Armstrong Williams (syndicated on Sinclair stations and aired nationally on cable/satellite networks TVOne and The Liberty Channel) will be cancelled as well. No word on his radio show, which airs on a handful of stations across the nation.

Williams was apologetic in this morning's column, appearing on TownHall.com.

I understand that I exercised bad judgment in running paid advertising for an issue that I frequently write about in my column. People need to know that my column is uncorrupted by any outside influences. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my bad judgment, and to better explain the circumstances.

The fact is, I run a small business. I am CEO and manage the syndication and advertising for my television show. In between juggling my commentaries and media appearances, I stepped over the line. This has never happened before. In fact, my company has never worked on a government contract. Nor have we ever received compensation for an issue that I subsequently reported on. This will never happen again. I now realize that I have to create inseparable boundaries between my role as a small businessman and my role as an independent commentator.

I accept full responsibility for my lack of good judgment. I am paying the price. Tribune Media has cancelled my column. And I have learned a valuable lesson. I just want to assure you that this will never happen again, and to ask for your forgiveness.

People have accused me, in various forums over the weekend, of wanting to 'throw Armstrong under the bus.' Nothing could be further from the truth. I certainly want conservative blacks of all stripes and from all quarters to thrive and succeed.

But at the same time, when ethical lines are crossed, I will call people on them. Period.

Many on the conservative side of the coin have railed on about people like Bill Moyers receiving tax monies to promote a political agenda in the past, yet those same voices are silent now.

The bottom line is that wrong is wrong.

I appreciate Williams' apology this morning, and his stock certainly rises a bit as a result. He has owned up to his mistake and is willing to move forward. I, too, am willing to move forward, and while I can certainly forgive his shortcoming in this case, I cannot ignore it.

I stand by my statement of Friday, when I indicated that his word would be suspect in the future.

While his apology appears genuine, only his actions as time moves forward will tell me if he truly has learned his lesson and is worth listening to again.

Williams admits to being paid White House shill

Armstrong Williams has admitted getting paid to the tune of $240,000 by the Bush Administration to promote the Administration's No Child Left Behind legislation in his syndicated column, on his radio and television shows and to "encourage" other blacks in the media to do the same.

The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.

The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA Today through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.

Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.

Williams' contract was part of a $1 million deal with Ketchum that produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars.

Black conservatives like myself work day-in and day-out to promote solid and beneficial causes, which have included NCLB, but with one-fell-swoop, Williams has effectively torpedoed much of that work.

We constantly come under scrutiny by others from both sides of the aisle, from some conservatives who are wary of our presence, and by many liberals who insist that we are "on the take" or "reaching for scraps from 'Massa's' table." We constantly have to prove that we are not some sort of 'spook sitting by the door' when Armstrong comes along and not only accepts taxpayer money, but doesn't see anything truly wrong with it!

Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."

"Something he believes in?"

My God! You mean to tell me that if you believe in something, no matter how illegal or wrong it may be, it's OK, because you believe in it!?

If Williams believed in NCLB so much, then he didn't need to be paid to tell folks about it in what was supposed to be a forum of his own opinion.

This calls into question any and all pundits that appear on behalf of the Bush Administration on television, radio and in print across the board. When those on the left call commentators on Fox News into question for being "paid operatives" what sort of defense is there? After all, Armstrong Williams claimed to be his own man, yet was a paid operative of the Bush White House.

Well, I can tell you with complete certainty that the folks that I know and associate with on the right aren't paid by the Administration. On the contrary. If I were, I wouldn't be scraping to get by like everyone else.

Armstrong's entire message becomes suspect as far as I'm concerned, though. And as far as I'm concerned, he becomes "damaged goods" in terms of any sort of conservative black message.

Just damn.

City of Anaheim taking Angels to court over name change

Major League Baseball's Angels now have a new name: "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."

The team, most recently known as the Anaheim Angels, continues to play their games in Anaheim's Angel Stadium. But the name change was supposed to reflect the team's representation of the entire Los Angeles area.

The inclusion of Los Angeles reflects the original expansion name awarded by Major League Baseball in December 1960 and again returns the Angels as Major League Baseball's American League representative in the Greater Los Angeles territory that Major League Baseball expects the team to serve.

The Los Angeles region, which is comprised of Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, is the second largest media market in the country. This name change will strengthen the Angels' long-term economic health by enhancing the marketability through this metropolitan area and beyond.

The 30-year lease the teams holds on Angel Stadium includes the requirement that the team remain the Anaheim Angels, according to city officials.

Not surprisingly, the city has taken the team to court.

An Orange County (CA) Superior Court judge is expected to rule on a temporary restraining order later today.

Cast of all six Star Wars movies together

The cover of the new Vanity Fair is another of their excellent foldout pictures, this time of the cast members of all six Star Wars movies, taken by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The photo includes SW creator George Lucas posing with actors and characters from all the films, photographed by Leibovitz. Included are Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), Jake Lloyd (young Anakin), Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), Ian McDiarmid (Supreme Chancellor Palpatine), Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker), Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn), Jimmy Smits (Senator Bail Organa), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian).

The whole photo is so big that I can't post it here, but the photo is available for your perusal.

My inner geek is happy.

Olberman: At least SIX Senators will challenge Ohio Electoral vote

The Electoral College votes are set to be certified before Congress tomorrow, but don't count on that to happen.

US Congress-critter John Conyers (Moonbat-MI) is seeking to challenge the results of the vote in the state of Ohio, and he's getting plenty of folks to line up behind him, according to MSNBC's Keith Olberman.

it appeared all but certain in early evening Wednesday that House Democrats had secured the support of up to half a dozen Senators to formally challenge the Electoral College slate from Ohio, when the votes are opened before a joint session of Congress tomorrow. Congressional sources tell this reporter that the house half of the written objection — which has the declared support of more than a dozen Representatives — is expected to be signed by Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. Republican leadership expects the Senate signatory to be Barbara Boxer of California, but this has not yet been formalized. The Majority is also worried about the possible absence of many of its members in both houses, and the prospect that a quorum might not be achieved, leading the process into uncharted, albeit not very threatening, constitutional grounds. There is a mathematical, if not practical, chance that the ratification of the Electoral College vote could be delayed past tomorrow. As it is, a written challenge would require the joint session to suspend for several hours, during which the Senate and the House would meet separately and debate the merits of the objection.

Apparently Barbara Boxer (Moonbat-CA) is leading the charge on the Senate side of the Hill, and will do her level best to get the charges to stick.

This is what you call a last minute "Hail Mary" to try to overturn the Presidential Election.

Of course, when you stop and ask them about states where the margin of victory was much closer than Ohio -- New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, even Pennsylvania, as examples -- they have nothing to say.

Why? Because Ohio is where they have concentrated their efforts; Ohio has enough electoral votes to overturn the election if they can pull this off.

Al-Zarqawi in custody?

For nearly 24 hours now, rumors have run rampant across the internet that Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi (who leads a cell that has claimed responsibility for this morning's assassination of the Baghdad provincial governor), who was publicly tapped by Osama Bin Laden to be the "go-to" guy in Iraq, has been captured by American forces in Iraq.

The story has come from several foreign and less than reliable sources, but has neither been proven, disproven or even mentioned by the traditional mainstream media sources.

As of this morning, Drudge is on the case, and presumably, we'll get a more definitive answer soon.

Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, whom the US occupation authorities declared to be the "target number one" in Iraq, has been arrested in the city of Baakuba, the Emirate newspaper al-Bayane reported on Tuesday referring to Kurdish sources. Al-Zarqawi, leader of the terrorist group Al-Tawhid Wa'al-Jihad, was recently appointed the director of the Al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq.

The newspaper's correspondent in Baghdad points out that a report on the seizure of the terrorist, on whom the US put a bounty of 10 million dollars, was also reported by Iraqi Kurdistan radio, which at one time had been the first to announce the arrest of Saddam Hussein.

There have been no official reports about the arrest of the terrorist.

Drudge slugs this "'TARGET #1': al-Zarqawi reportedly arrested in Iraq," and the implication is that this may indeed be true.

Stay tuned. Figure on something shaking loose within the next 24-36 hours.

Overreaction on Chick-Fil-A ad

Michelle Malkin (who saw a piece on LibertyBlog) seems to be overreacting a little bit to a Chick-Fil-A ad that aired over the weekend during the Peach Bowl telecast.

The ad (which itself is several years old, mind you) has a cow standing down first one, then a line of tanks. LibertyBlog points out a correlation between the ad and the infamous tank standoff at Beijing's Tianenamen Square years ago.

Call me clueless, but I've never seen the correlation 'til it was pointed out today.

I'm certain that Chick-Fil-A management, from founder Truett Cathy on down would have very quickly yanked said ad if the correlation were pointed out to them.

Cathy and the entire hierarchy of CFA are staunch conservatives, and devout Christians (as profiled in the November/December 2004 issue of Christian magazine New Man and elsewhere), and would have definitely not stood for something that would have evoked such negative connotations.

As I mentioned, the ad has run here in the Southeast (and here in their home market of Atlanta) for several years (and I'd presume nationally as well), with no repercussions. And quiet as it's kept, I actually thought that ad had been retired from CFA's regular tv ad run due to it's age. I'm honestly surprised it ran this week.

In any event, I'm sure they didn't mean any sort of harm, and that if contacted directly, would happily apologize for any offense.

Shirley Chisholm has died

Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to Congress has died.

Chisholm went to the Hill when Richard Nixon was elected, and stayed until two years into the Reagan Administration. She was a tireless advocate for women and minorities, and though a liberal, a tough yet fair woman fo whose like -- from either side of the aisle -- we need to see more of.

Chisholm, who was raised in a predominantly black New York City neighborhood and was elected to the U.S. House in 1968, was a riveting speaker who often criticized Congress as being too clubby and unresponsive.

"My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency," she told voters.

She ran for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1972. When rival candidate and ideological opposite George Wallace was shot, she visited him in the hospital — an act that appalled her followers.

"He said, `What are your people going to say?' I said: `I know what they're going to say. But I wouldn't want what happened to you to happen to anyone.' He cried and cried," she recalled.

And when she needed support to extend the minimum wage to domestic workers two years later, it was Wallace who got her the votes from Southern members of Congress.

In more recent years, Chisholm had retired to Daytona Beach, FL. Shirley Chisholm was 80 years old.