Archdiocese Scolds Father Pfleger

Uh oh! Rev. Pfleger got his hand spanked by the Archdiosese of Chicago over his comments about Hillary Clinton last Sunday. But he promises not to do it again.

... Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago issued a press release Friday in which he criticized both Pfleger's involvement in a political campaign and a "personal attack" on Clinton. George said Pfleger has promised not to campaign or even mention any candidate by name.

All of that aside, the Father has taken on some impressive challenges over the years and if people want to call him crazy, he'll probably cop to it given the battles he's faced to rid the community he serves of vice and violence. Wannabe brother preacherman or not, I commend the body of his good works:

Pfleger has invited criticism with his words and actions in the past, even before Sunday's fiery sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ.

He has hit the streets, sometimes with busloads of parishioners in tow, to protest Jerry Springer's television show, stores that sell drug paraphernalia and gun violence. He's been arrested for acts of civil disobedience, such as smearing red paint on alcohol and tobacco billboards. Last year, he and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were arrested during a protest of a suburban gun shop; charges were later dropped.

Pfleger's fight to make the community safe is an intensely personal one. He's adopted three children, one of whom was gunned down near the church in 1998.

Pfleger has urged parishioners to pay prostitutes and drug users so they could share their faith with them. He has offered his church as a place where controversial figures can express their views. Farrakhan spoke there, as did the Rev. Al Sharpton.

At times, there has been talk of diocesan officials reassigning Pfleger, but he is immensely popular in his parish and has helped it thrive over the past quarter-century as many other congregations have struggled.

In March, as Wright's inflammatory comments were making national headlines, St. Sabina gave Wright a hero's welcome after Pfleger invited him to give the benediction.

And in early May, Pfleger posted a letter on the parish Web site calling Obama and Wright "two friends who I respect, admire and have a deep love for." He wrote that neither man should be held accountable for the other's words.

"The truth is we need Senator Barack Obama and we need Reverend Jeremiah Wright and, if we are serious about wanting a new America, we cannot afford to throw either one of them under the bus!"

The Mope Gets A Backbone

I had honestly hoped that when Ari Fleischer left his post as press secretary, he'd be the one to write the explosive tell all book but he didn't. Who decides to spill the beans but the man who seemed least comfortable in the job. I found it positively excruciating to watch Scott McClellan in those press briefings. He didn't even come off as a good liar. He never seemed quite prepared and the press seemed to swarm around him like sharks who smelled blood as they treated him with disdain. I'm not sure where I thought he went after they replaced him with the Fox News, slick and savvy Tony Snow but the mopiest press secretary ever has the White House shocked and appalled!

Mr. McClellan’s book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” is the first negative account by a member of the tight circle of Texans around Mr. Bush. Mr. McClellan, 40, went to work for Mr. Bush when he was governor of Texas and was the White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006.

The revelations in the book, to be published by PublicAffairs next Monday, were first reported Tuesday on Politico.com by Mike Allen. Mr. Allen wrote that he bought the book at a Washington store. The New York Times also obtained an advance copy.

Mr. McClellan writes that top White House officials deceived him about the administration’s involvement in the leaking of the identity of a C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. He says he did not know for almost two years that his statements from the press room that Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr. were not involved in the leak were a lie.

“Neither, I believe, did President Bush,” Mr. McClellan writes. “He too had been deceived, and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth — including Rove, Libby, and possibly Vice President Cheney — allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.”

He is harsh about the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, saying it “spent most of the first week in a state of denial” and “allowed our institutional response to go on autopilot.” Mr. McClellan blames Mr. Rove for one of the more damaging images after the hurricane: Mr. Bush’s flyover of the devastation of New Orleans. When Mr. Rove brought up the idea, Mr. McClellan writes, he and Dan Bartlett, a top communications adviser, told Mr. Bush it was a bad idea because he would appear detached and out of touch. But Mr. Rove won out, Mr. McClellan writes.

A theme in the book is that the White House suffered from a “permanent campaign” mentality, and that policy decisions were inextricably interwoven with politics.

If find it funny that the White House's response has been one of shock and disbelief that Scotty would write a book like this. They feel someone else must have written it for him ... that this is not the person they knew. They are surprised that the man who they hired because he was a mope didn't express concerns while in the job. They are surprised that the man that they hired to be a mule for false information stopped acting so mopey.

I know this is one big, fantastic comedy because I found myself agreeing with Tucker Carlson the other day. He basically said that the Bush administration got what it deserved for hiring someone because of their loyalty instead of their qualifications. I guess Scott's loyalty only went so far and his conscience got the best of him.

Iraqis Aren't Stupid

They see the writing on the wall.

Tens of thousands rallied in several cities Friday against a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, raising doubts that negotiators can meet a July target to finalize a pact to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after the current U.N. mandate expires.

Although U.S. officials insist they are not seeking permanent bases, suspicion runs deep among many Iraqis that the Americans want to keep at least some troops in the country for many years.

"We denounce the government's intentions to sign a long-term agreement with the occupying forces," Asaad al-Nassiri, a sheik loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said during a sermon in Kufa. "Our army will be under their control in this agreement, and this will lead to them having permanent bases in Iraq."

Ignorant. Pathetic. Self-absorbed.

This is something you'd say to a kindergartener in front of the entire class, right? Apparently one teacher felt it was appropriate.

Ignorant. Pathetic. Self-absorbed.

Those are some of the harsh names an Indiana kindergarten teacher called one of her students, and the boy's parents captured it all on tape.

Five-year-old Gabriel Ross complained over the school year that his teacher, Kristen Woodward, was being mean to him, said his mother Tabitha McMahan and stepfather J.R. Edwards. Gabriel told them other kids didn't like him because he was "bad and stupid."

When he began acting out at home, they decided to take action and try to find out what was going on in the classroom. So in mid-April, McMahan and Edwards sent Gabriel to school with a tape recorder in the pocket of his cargo pants.

What they heard over four hours of tape shocked them. Woodward can be heard telling Gabriel that he had "tortured and tormented" her and other teachers all year.

"I've been more than nice to you all year long and you've been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing! I'm done!" Woodward says to Gabriel on the tape.

She continues: "Something needs to be done because you are pathetic! If me saying these words to you hurt, I hope it does because you're hurting everyone else around you."

Gabriel can be heard crying on the tape.

"You think it's bad when you see it on paper, but when you are hearing the way she says it to him. I can't even talk about it," McMahan told ABC affiliate WHAS, breaking into tears.

Edwards said that the worst part of the tape was when Woodward singled Gabriel out in front of the whole class.

"So you guys think, is that somebody you want to be with?" Woodward asks the class.

In unison, the other students reply, "Noooo."

"See, your friend doesn't want to be with you. I don't know what else to tell you. So you're not going to have friends because of your actions."

After 13 years of teaching, Woodward has been suspended indefinitely, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association.

I'll bet my last two dollars this isn't the first child that she's done this to. She may be perfectly nice to other students and have a good reputation. But adults often have as many issues as children do and they will pick one child out of a crowd to bully and torment - probably due to some deep seated wound they are still nursing from childhood. Whatever the case, she needs a break, perhaps permanently, from the classroom. If there are behavioral issues with a child that age, the parents and the school administrators need to have a sit down. The way she treated that "baby" (no matter how demonic she said he behaved) was cruel.

That's What I Call Loyalty

Whoa! Pat Buchanan gets his face "broke!"

“It‘s great to hear Pat Buchanan complaining about the lack of courage in a White House, where White House staff did not come out and try to expose that White House. Pat was part of the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States, the Nixon administration, luckily, Pat wasn‘t one who went to jail.

But to this day, you can‘t get Pat Buchanan to say one negative word about the criminal operation called the Nixon administration that he worked inside of. That‘s what I call loyalty.”

Father Pfleger Does Chris Rock

For the Pastors, Priests and Reverends who cannot close their mouths ...
Lord hear our prayer ...

Ultimately, this is not much more than a stand-up act. But now, despite the decades of activist work on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, Father Pfleger will be on You Tube in perpetuity for his Chris Rock impersonation ...

Sen. Barack Obama sought Thursday night to extinguish a burgeoning controversy over another Chicago minister who supports him, denouncing the comments of a Catholic priest who said “a whole lot of white people [are] crying” because a black man was within reach of the Democratic presidential nomination.

The remarks by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a white minister known as “Chicago’s renegade priest” for his liberal social activism in the city’s black community, came from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ, the same church where sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright came under scrutiny from critics who called them anti-American and racially divisive.

Pfleger, pastor of predominantly black St. Sabina’s Catholic Church, who fiercely defended Wright even as Obama eventually rejected his support, sounded similar themes Sunday in a guest sermon at Wright’s church.
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Saying he was seeking to “expose white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head,” Pfleger mocked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for appearing to weep at a campaign appearance before the New Hampshire primary in January, saying she was crying because “there’s a black man stealing my show.”

“She always thought, ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife, I’m white and this is mine,’” Pfleger said in his fiery sermon.

As the racially mixed congregation responded “Amen!” and “Yes, sir!” Pfleger pretended to cry and shouted: “And then out of nowhere came him, Barack Obama. And she said: ‘Damn! Where did you come from?! I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a black man stealing my show!’

“She wasn’t the only one crying!” he said. “There was a whole a lot of white people crying!”

I was watching the white Irish Catholic pundits on MSNBC this morning and I'm sure Father Pfleger is unlike any priest they've ever seen. Heck, he's not like any of the priests, black or white, that I was exposed to while growing up Catholic. But, he's serving and pandering to his "community." The Obama campaign can call him divisive or "backwards" but he was getting lots of laughs and the "Amens." The Obama campaign is going to have to stop running from how many black people, young and old, feel. I don't agree with the comments made in this little side show but he was regurgitating the things I've heard for months from black folks. Luckily, Pfleger denounced his own comments and hopefully I won't have to see this being looped on the news over and over for weeks on end.

Top Notch, Second Spot

At first read, I was ready to pounce on how unfair this seems ...

Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year.

In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.

It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.

Her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she's the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.

Anjali rocketed through high school in only three years.

But a school district policy states: "The valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade-point average for four years of high school."

The dispute over Anjali's status as valedictorian comes down to interpretation: Does four years mean calendar years of school attendance or does it mean completing the credits it takes most students four years to earn?

However, what I think that a lot of these new, competitive and high achieving students need to learn is that high school, and school in general, is not just about grades, being the best and finishing the fastest. High school is a journey that normally takes four years. Each year has meaning and senior year is the culmination. Kids who've spent four years together in classes, at sports events and at parties will end their childhood with a prom and a graduation. The student who endures this right of passage by completing Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years and has the highest GPA gets to stand before his/her peers and present them with an inspiring message that will take them into the next phase of their lives.

There will always be students who hate school and want to get out as fast as they can. Some drop out and get a GED and some complete all requirements and get an early diploma. Many forfeit the festivities of senior year because they really aren't interested in being a part of them - particularly since they will not be graduating with the students they entered high school with. Yes, Miss Anjali finished the race first but she skipped the journey and the journey is what high school is all about.

Why?

What lessons aren't we learning here? If the "surge is working," why complicate matters by injecting the religion of the "occupiers" on people who have a snowball's chance in hell of converting? Are they trying to cause a flare up?

At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

Will someone tell these guys to please, please, please stop?

The Whistler Dies

I watch Andy Griffith on TVLand all of the time so the whistler will whistle on in my head ...

Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

I can't whistle to save my life now but my mom says I could whistle my heart out when I was a toddler. They thought it was kinda spooky ...

Spam On The Rise

I can't say I've never tried it and it certainly wasn't at the hands of my mom. I might buy it again when I have an odd hankering for this salty mess but I cannot see working it into the menu for budgetary reasons. That's what Vienna sausages are for! But seriously, it's a hot item in my area and it's always been in many a basket at Costco. I spied a guy with two multi-packs in his basket the last time I went and wondered why he needed all of that Spam. I guess I now know.

Love it, hate it or laugh at it — at least it's inexpensive.

Sales of Spam — that much maligned meat — are rising as consumers are turning more to lunch meats and other lower-cost foods to extend their already stretched food budgets.

What was once cheeky, silly and the subject of a musical (as Monty Python mocked the meat in a can), is now back on the table as people turn to the once-snubbed meat as costs rise, analysts say.

Food prices are increasing faster than they've risen since 1990, at 4 percent in the U.S. last year, according to the Agriculture Department. Many staples are rising even faster, with white bread up 13 percent last year, bacon up 7 percent and peanut butter up 9 percent.

There's no sign of a slowdown. Food inflation is running at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent as of April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The price of Spam is up too, with the average 12 oz. can costing about $2.62. That's an increase of 17 cents, or nearly 7 percent, from the same time last year. But it's not stopping sales, as the pork meat in a can seems like a good alternative to consumers.

Kimberly Quan, a stay-at-home mom of three who lives just outside San Francisco, has been feeding her family more Spam in the last six months as she tries to make her food budget go further.

She cooks meals like Spam fried rice and Spam sandwiches two or three times a month, up from once a month previously.

Pulling Spam from the shelf prevents last-minute grocery store trips and overspending, said Quan, 38, of Pleasanton, Calif.

"It's canned meat and it's in the cupboard and if everything else is gone from the fridge, it's there," she said.

Winston Churchill Caused The Holocaust

This is an interesting hypothesis but I can't say I buy it.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, as the old saying goes. Former presidential candidate and current professional Republican pundit Pat Buchanan is one of the few voices on the right that agrees with us on the left about the uselessness of the Iraq invasion and occupation. Unfortunately, to arrive at the same conclusion we have, Buchanan has to hop on the bus to CrazyTown, by way of Isolationist-Ville via the Godwin Express.

Buchanan has written a new book: Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War where he places blame for the Holocaust and WWII at an unconventional target: Winston Churchill. Though I can’t claim to be a history buff to say definitively, Buchanan’s reasoning is a little shaky at best. All this time, I thought it was Hitler that caused the Holocaust. Who knew?

Somehow, Buchanan manages to pull from this Godwin nightmare that had England not promised to save Poland, Hitler would not have exterminated 6 million Jews, and like that unnecessary World War II, the lesson that we should take from that is that Bush is making similar imperialistic entries and taking us into an unnecessary war in Iraq.

Okay ... he's just crazy. Pat needs to get over his fixation on the illusion of a utopian "western civilization" that never really existed. If he's such a historian, he'd know that civilizations and empires rise and fall/come and go. For someone who is an Irish Catholic, he certainly worshipped the folks who treated his people like dirty dogs. I wish he'd come to grips with the fact that he is not now and will never be a WASP!

What's His Point?

I don't get it ...

Senator Joseph Lieberman is scheduled to headline Pastor John Hagee's 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit this July 22. In accepting Hagee's invitation, Lieberman became the most senior elected representative confirmed to appear at the annual gala. Last year, when Lieberman spoke at Hagee's summit, he compared the Texas televangelist to the biblical prophet Moses, dubbing him "an Ish Elochim," or "a man of God." Unless he rescinds his pledge to appear at this year's summit, Lieberman can be expected to deliver another soul-stirring tribute.

Hagee's vitriolic condemnation of Catholicism, his jeremiad declaring Hurricane Katrina divine punishment for New Orleans' hosting of a "homosexual rally," and his generally disturbing apocalyptic theology became national news last February when John McCain accepted his endorsement in a widely publicized ceremony.

While initially resisting pressure to reject Hagee's endorsement, McCain finally ended his relationship with Hagee when a sermon by the preacher describing the Holocaust as the will of God registered on the mainstream media's radar (Hear the now-infamous sermon here).

[...]

At the time, prior to McCain's sweeping renunciation, Lieberman could have reasonably claimed to be unaware of the preacher's repugnant views on the Holocaust. Now, he has no excuse for ignorance. As a key McCain surrogate who McCain may select as his running mate, Lieberman must know why Hagee is no longer welcome on the so-called Straight Talk Express.

So why the silence? Why won't Lieberman, who is married to the daughter of Holocaust survivors, end his relationship with Hagee as well? Why, in apparent defiance of the McCain campaign, does he remain scheduled to headline Hagee's upcoming summit? If Lieberman plans to continue touting his moral fiber and independence as his greatest assets, he must renounce the hate-mongering Hagee.

Shine McCain's Shoes?

Shoe shine boy, water boy, stage hand ... all the same to me ...

Chalk up Kevin Madden, former aide to Mitt Romney and regular Hannity & Colmes guest, as the latest FOX News pundit to make a racially insulting remark about Barack Obama. In a Hannity & Colmes discussion last night (5/27/08) about John McCain’s invitation to Obama to visit Iraq together, Madden said, “I’ll tell you why (Obama) doesn’t want to go.... He would look like a stagehand standing next to (John McCain).” An astounded Alan Colmes suggested Madden apologize but he did not. With video.

Madden, who looks young enough to be serving in the military but isn’t, called Iraq “the most important theater in the war against terrorism.” He and chickenhawk Sean Hannity extolled the glorious success of our military operation there that Obama, according to them, is too naïve to understand.

The Democratic guest, Bob Beckel acknowledged the surge has brought about some success but asked, “To what end? I mean, what is victory? That’s the thing nobody – McCain can’t explain.” Neither of the war cheerleaders answered.

Near the end of the segment, Madden piped up with what seemed like a pre-planned line. “I’ll tell you why (Obama) doesn’t want to go. ‘Cause John McCain’s gonna go there and he would look like a Commander in Chief and Barack Obama will look like a stagehand standing next to him.”

Colmes said, “A stagehand? A stagehand, Kevin?”

“Yes,” Madden calmly responded.

“You want to correct that?” Colmes asked.

Madden did not answer.

Of course he did not answer because even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't correct it. This is what we can expect until November, folks!

Succumbing To Stupidity

Dunkin Donuts is dunkin' dumb! I cannot believe they pulled this ad.

Does Dunkin' Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin' Donuts boycott. "The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons." The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin' Donuts decided it'd be easier just to yank the ad. Said the suits in a statement: "In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial." (In case you're wondering, the stylist who selected the offending scarf was not Gretta Enterprises boss Gretchen Monahan, who appears on Ray's TV show as a style consultant.) For her part, Malkin was pleased with Dunkin's response: "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

What about John McCain's daughter? She's wearing one too!

How about we just send Michelle Malkin to an interment camp? She's a threat to national intelligence.

Well, I Prefer Champagne With My Chitlins!

EX-CUSE me?

When an upscale neighborhood committee tells an upscale black lounge that they don't need a liquor license because you don't need a martini when you're eating Chitlins... what is one to think?

[...]

Hilliard reveals that the Soho Alliance, a community action group, has little tolerance for the liquor license crowd. Apparently, the area in Soho where Lola resides has been inundated recently with new, hip spots to drink and lounge. However, in the case of Lola, folks are crying racism. Why? Well, Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney has been very critical about Lola's need for a liquor license. Allegedly, he's gone on record to say: "I don't think you need a martini to go with chitlins and collard greens." And... "What type of wine pairs with Jambalaya?" He's even been accused of spearheading an aggressive anti-Lola campaign: somebody's been posting anti-Lola flyers all over Soho.

Many of Lola's supporters believe the neighborhood group is concerned the martini-drinking black crowd will get rowdy and spill violence into the street because that's what martini-drinking professional black folks do on Hump Day. Get lit and create lots of ruckus just to irritate The Man ...

Tell 'Em Mr. Jimmy

Poor, poor Israel. Stuck in the middle of a region where no one wants them and are armed to the teeth. Their enemies, by contrast, have the equivalent of sticks and stones yet we act as though Israel needs our protection?

Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its arsenal.

The Israelis have never confirmed they have nuclear weapons, but this has been widely assumed since a scientist leaked details in the 1980s.

Mr Carter made his comments on Israel's weapons at a press conference at the annual literary Hay Festival in Wales.

He also described Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "one of the greatest human rights crimes on earth".

Mr Carter gave the figure for the Israeli nuclear arsenal in response to a question on US policy on a possible nuclear-armed Iran, arguing that any country newly armed with atomic weapons faced overwhelming odds.

"The US has more than 12,000 nuclear weapons; the Soviet Union (sic) has about the same; Great Britain and France have several hundred, and Israel has 150 or more," he said.

Further, President Carter brought up the horrible human rights conditions that the Western world seems oblivious t:

During the press briefing, Mr Carter expressed his support for Israel as a country, but criticised its domestic and foreign policy.

"One of the greatest human rights crimes on earth is the starvation and imprisonment of 1.6m Palestinians," he said.

The former US president cited statistics which he said showed the nutritional intake of some Palestinian children was below that of children in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as saying the European position on Israel could be best described as "supine".

Mr Carter, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, brokered the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, the first between Israel and an Arab state.

This is another thing I don't see changing no matter who is elected president. My views on Israel have evolved significantly since the first Gulf war and now, I think President Carter speaks, quite well, for me.

He's Not Going To Testify

... and if he does, he will play stupid or lie.

Karl Rove, the former trusted adviser to President George Bush, will be compelled to testify on Capitol Hill in a high-profile investigation of alleged political meddling by the White House in decisions made by the US Justice Department.0523 03 1

John Conyers, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, yesterday took the unusual step of issuing a subpoena compelling Mr Rove to testify in a case that threatens to disgrace the Bush government. He had tried in vain for a year to persuade Mr Rove to come forward voluntarily.

The committee is looking into what role the White House may have played in the sacking of nine US attorneys during 2006 - an affair which eventually led to the resignation of Mr Bush’s last attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez. Also under scrutiny are the circumstances of the prosecution and subsequent imprisonment of the former governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman.

“This will make Watergate look like child’s play when it is fully investigated,” Mr Siegelman told an Alabama newspaper last week, referring to his case and the dismissal of the prosecutors. He has repeatedly insisted that the White House, and Mr Rove in particular, was behind his legal woes.

Mr Conyers said he had no choice but to order Mr Rove to appear on Capitol Hill and testify under oath on 10 July. The scandal could prove embarrassing for media organisations who have recently hired Mr Rove as a political commentator, including Fox News and Newsweek.

“It is unfortunate that Mr Rove has failed to co-operate with our requests,” Mr Conyers said. “Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters.”

I don't know what it will take for the crooks and liars in this administration to get their comeuppance but I suppose it wouldn't be wise for me to turn blue by holding my breath.

Edwards: We Shouldn't Be Writing Anybody's Obituary

Agreed!

Silly!

Okay, she apologized. Happy now?

"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.

If this is the only kind of stuff people have against Hillary, it's sad. I have no banners, bumper stickers or t-shirts but I would like, even at this late stage in the game, for people who don't like Hillary (or Barack for that matter) to talk about the issues and policies they are presenting. But, I guess since they have platforms that are nearly identical, it has to be reduced to this. Let's hope people can have better reasons to vote for Barack in the general election.

Oops! Hillary Said Assasination!

Lord! The screaming memes are going to have a field day now because she brought up a historical fact. Who is offended and why?

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out

On one of my discussion groups, someone took it as an Obama slight ... because he's gotten death threats! I think some folks need to take a nap until this election is over. They cannot handle it. Yes, I'm going to get irritated when the GOP machine gets down and dirty. But, I am not going to walk around with every nerve exposed in the primary race between Obama and Clinton. I like them both, slightly prefer one and will vote for whomever wins.

La-Di-Da-Di Gov. Paterson Likes To Party ...

I have no idea why this is cracking me up!!!

Veteran rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters received a full and unconditional pardon from New York governor David Paterson today (May 23) for the attempted murders of two men in 1991, apparently ending a long legal sega.

Walters has already served approximately five years in prison and was released in 1997 on parole and discharged in 2000. But he faces deportation under a federal statute mandating the removal of a lawful resident alien upon conviction of an aggravated felony or a weapon offense.

In 1995, an immigration judge ended Walters' deportment proceedings but the decision was later overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Walters can still be deported despite Paterson's pardon, which is expected to slow efforts to return him to the United Kingdom, the country he left at age 11.

"My family and I are eternally thankful to Governor Paterson, my attorneys and all of the people who have supported me throughout the past 17 years," says Walters. "This has been a long and difficult road and I am happy for this to be settled once and for all. I look forward to enjoying this time with my family and friends and to continue leading an honest and productive life."

Paterson said in a statement that Walters is now an artist and landlord in New York who has not had any criminal problems since his release from prison. Walters has also volunteered to counsel youths against violence.

Walters is best known for albums like "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" and songs like "La-Di-Da-Di" and "The Art of Storytelling," which have influenced artists such as Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and OutKast.

McCain Hates Catholics But Loves ...

It was okay that Hagee made disparaging remarks about Catholics (even though he supposedly took them back ... yeah, right) but God forbid he spew psycho rhetoric about Jews!

CNN reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has finally rejected the support of radical pastor John Hagee. McCain’s repudiation comes as recent attention has turned to a sermon in which Hagee said that Hitler was fulfilling God’s will:

McCAIN: Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.

[...]

Hagee has put out a statement saying that he withdraws his endorsement from McCain because he has “become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues.”

Should it have taken this long? I'm still hearing about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and nothing he said was as foul as what Hagee said. No, Hagee was never his pastor but he went out of his way to accept his endorsement despite what people were telling him over and over and over ...

None of this would be an issue if we'd take religion out of politics. There is no universal faith or belief system. It's silly to make it a part of public debate.

Only $5000?

I don't have a price but if I did, it would take more than $5K to hook myself up with some man looking for a wife on Craigslist.

A 39-year-old man from Wells is looking for love -- in the classifieds.

Charles Haeberle hasn't been able to find Miss Right since moving to Maine six years ago, so he's taken out a newspaper ad offering $5,000 to the woman he marries. Actually, he says he'll pay $400 after the fourth date, $1,100 at the engagement and $3,500 at the wedding.

Haeberle manages a hotel in Kennebunk, travels widely and likes to hike, kayak and stay physically active.

He knows his ad sounds silly, but says it costs no more than an online dating service. He hasn't had much luck with those, so he figures he's simply cutting out the middleman.

In the ad, Haeberle says he's no Brad Pitt, but he's "not the elephant man, either." The ad says he already has a four-carat engagement ring and a 1-year anniversary gift.

He put the ad in the York Weekly, and he's also running it on the Craigslist classified ad Web site.

Maybe he should just order himself a bride from The Philippines or Russia.

Israel The Appeaser?

My, my. Israel is holding talks with Syria.

Israel and Syria announced on Wednesday that they were engaged in negotiations for a comprehensive peace treaty through Turkish mediators, a sign that Israel is hoping to halt the growing influence of Iran, Syria’s most important ally, which sponsors the anti-Israel groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Are they "appeasers?" If they can talk to their enemies, so can we. I think it's time we "stand down" when it comes to Israel because it is pretty clear that they can "stand up" for themselves.

All About The Benjamins

This is kind of funny but, I agree with Ah-nold. California has money issues and if letting Ellen and Portia get married can help my bottom line, it works for me.

Speaking in San Francisco yesterday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said he hopes that the state Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing gay marriage will lead more couples to come to the state to be wed:

You know, I’m wishing everyone good luck with their marriages and I hope that California’s economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married.

The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau also expects a tourism boom this summer, and its website now “promotes a gay travel section” and “explains that same-sex couples are ‘officially allowed to marry in the state of California.’” Schwarzenegger has promised to oppose any amendments banning gay marriage.

Speaking in San Francisco yesterday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said he hopes that the state Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing gay marriage will lead more couples to come to the state to be wed:

You know, I’m wishing everyone good luck with their marriages and I hope that California’s economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married.

The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau also expects a tourism boom this summer, and its website now “promotes a gay travel section” and “explains that same-sex couples are ‘officially allowed to marry in the state of California.’” Schwarzenegger has promised to oppose any amendments banning gay marriage.

There's A Time To Get Over It!

I forgot to post this a few days ago. This WACKO has been sending threatening letters to black men for the past 20 frickin' years ... all because some white chick left him for a black man. Hello? Was she really all that? There weren't any other white women around? Did he, at any point in 20 years, consider that the woman left him because he is crazy?

A man who wrote hundreds of hateful letters to black and mixed-race men seen with white women apparently was motivated by a girlfriend who left him for a black man, the FBI said Friday.

David Tuason, who is of Filipino descent, admitted his motive when he was
captured two months ago, said Frank Figliuzzi, the head of the FBI in Cleveland.

"One of the first phrases out of his mouth was, 'You wouldn't understand 'til it happened to you,' and when they inquired what that meant, he said, 'My girlfriend left me for a black man,'" Figliuzzi said.

The FBI was surprised that a jilted man was behind the hundreds of letters that
went to, among others, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Letters sent over two decades
In many of the letters sent over 20 years, he posed as an angry white woman threatening violent acts such as castration or explosions in buildings.

FBI agents arrested Tuason on March 14 after tracking e-mails sent from a public library. The agency's behavioral experts had developed several theories about the
letter writer, but a jilted lover wasn't in the mix, Figliuzzi said.

"It's a lesson in considering the obvious," he said. "You can overcomplicate
profiles and assessments and when you arrest the guy, he says, 'My girlfriend left me for a black man.'"

Whoosah!

Is Lieberman Losing His Bearings?

Just as a new non-marverickish John McCain is emerging in this campaign, a new Joe Lieberman is emerging too. Who is the Joe who wrote this?

[...]
This was the Democratic Party that I grew up in – a party that was unhesitatingly and proudly pro-American, a party that was unafraid to make moral judgments about the world beyond our borders. It was a party that understood that either the American people stood united with free nations and freedom fighters against the forces of totalitarianism, or that we would fall divided.

This was the Democratic Party of Harry Truman, who pledged that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

And this was the Democratic Party of John F. Kennedy, who promised in his inaugural address that the United States would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of freedom."
[...]

Naturally, he couldn't help but get a few digs in at Barack Obama by putting more words in his mouth and misinterpreting his intent ...

When total victory did not come quickly in Iraq, the old voices of partisanship and peace at any price saw an opportunity to reassert themselves. By considering centrism to be collaboration with the enemy – not bin Laden, but Mr. Bush – activists have successfully pulled the Democratic Party further to the left than it has been at any point in the last 20 years.

Far too many Democratic leaders have kowtowed to these opinions rather than challenging them. That unfortunately includes Barack Obama, who, contrary to his rhetorical invocations of bipartisan change, has not been willing to stand up to his party's left wing on a single significant national security or international economic issue in this campaign.

In this, Sen. Obama stands in stark contrast to John McCain, who has shown the political courage throughout his career to do what he thinks is right – regardless of its popularity in his party or outside it.

John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately – the difference between America's friends and America's enemies.

There are of course times when it makes sense to engage in tough diplomacy with hostile governments. Yet what Mr. Obama has proposed is not selective engagement, but a blanket policy of meeting personally as president, without preconditions, in his first year in office, with the leaders of the most vicious, anti-American regimes on the planet.

Mr. Obama has said that in proposing this, he is following in the footsteps of Reagan and JFK. But Kennedy never met with Castro, and Reagan never met with Khomeini. And can anyone imagine Presidents Kennedy or Reagan sitting down unconditionally with Ahmadinejad or Chavez? I certainly cannot.

The Democratic Party still is "proudly pro-American" however it does not need to be blindly pro-Israel and the enemy of all of Israel's enemies in order to prove it. Anyone, including an unrecognizable Joe Lieberman, who wants another four to eight years of a foreign policy that plays the juvenile game of sticking our fingers in our ears and turning our backs to anyone we don't like or agree with is, indeed, losing their bearings.

It's Quick Draw And El Kabong All Over Again

At the 2004 Republican National Convention those crass, tacky people showed up with flip flops to mock John Kerry who had unjustly been labeled a flip flopper by the GOP. But John McCain has done outright about faces. Even his friends noticed, that there are two John McCains.

There’s one that was my colleague in the Senate that was good on the environment, that voted with me, the only other Republican to vote against the tax cuts, and had the Gang of 14. And now there’s the senator McCain that’s running for the Republican nomination. It’s almost like two people, kow-towing to the Republican base. It’s a different John McCain, hearing the rhetoric I hear now. Make the tax cuts permanent and distancing himself from his environmental record. And being a different candidate, and talking as he is now about how we need to not engage anybody on the world. …

I'm Paying For This War At The Pump

I just paid $3.89/gal for regular gas at Costco which is generally at least 10-12 cents lower than most other stations. It's inching towards the $4.00 mark and has been rising each week for the past few months. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper since I drive 30+ miles to work each way - each day. This war was supposed to pay for itself. Instead, I'm paying for it at the pump.

The other winners in this folly have been the oil kingdoms that Hussein periodically threatened, led by the Saudi royal family. Seizing upon the opportunity presented by the 9/11 attacks, Bush knocked off not the Saudis, who had produced Osama bin Laden and 15 of his hijacker minions, but rather the royal family's sworn enemy in Iraq, who had absolutely nothing do with 9/11.

And how did the Saudis thank us? Just check the price of oil, which has increased more than sixfold since 9/11. On Friday, Bush went to dine at Saudi King Abdullah's bizarrely opulent horse farm and pleaded for an increase in oil production, but to no avail. Bush received the same rebuff in April 2005, when oil was selling for $54 a barrel. On Tuesday, it sold for $129, and the price rise is a good measure of Saudi gratitude for the Bush family's unwavering support over past decades. Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, couldn't have been more condescending when he turned down Bush's request with the observation that "presidents and kings have every right, every privilege, to comment or ask or say whatever they want." He added at a press conference, "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?"

Enough to get the price back down to where it was when we saved your sorry oil-well excuse for a country, you ingrate, Bush might have retorted. But our bold leader was too polite for anything like that. "He didn't punch any tables or shout at anybody," said Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. "I think he was satisfied." Why? Instead of pointing out that the Saudis could easily open their spigots in gratitude for our keeping them in power, the president threatened the Saudi king not with an invasion but with a U.S. recession. "My point to His Majesty," Bush warned in an interview with The New York Times before encountering the great man hi