One Guy Likes Alito

Charles Krauthammer was a leading voice against appointing Harriet Miers. Tonight on Fox, Krauthammer said, "I'm a pretty happy guy. I think this is a terrific choice."

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Dems For Alito

Patrick Ruffini has the RNC online and fighting back. Staff member Katie MacGuidwin sent out these testimonials on Judge Sam Alito from these Dems:

SEN. TED KENNEDY (D-MA):

“You Have Obviously Had A Very Distinguished Record, And I Certainly Commend You For Long Service In The Public Interest. I Think It Is A Very Commendable Career And I Am Sure You Will Have A Successful One As A Judge.” (Sen. Ted Kennedy, Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 4/5/90)

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-NJ):

“I Believe Mr. Alito Has The Experience And The Skills To Be The Kind Of Judge The Public Deserves – One Who Is Impartial, Thoughtful, And Fair. I Urge The Senate To Confirm His Nomination.” (Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Congressional Record, 4/27/90, p. S5281)

FORMER SEN. BILL BRADLEY (D-NJ):

“[T]he Confirmation Of Sam Alito As U.S. Attorney For New Jersey Is Testimony To The Commitment He Has Shown And The Success Of His Efforts As A Law Enforcement Official. I Am Confident That He Will Continue To Do All He Can To Uphold The Laws Of This Nation With The Kind Of Determination And Vigor That Has Been His Trademark In The Past.” (Sen. Bill Bradley, Congressional Record, 12/8/87, p. S17427)

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

You Gotta See This

Hat tip to Fark (and with an apology to the host) but you must see this video from Hurricane Wilma. Everyone, outa the pool for the adult swim.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Mehlman On Alito

Ken Mehlman, the RNC chairman, came out swinging this afternoon for Judge Sam Alito in his bloggerview this afternoon. He said Alito is the most experienced person to be nominated for the Supreme Court in 70 years. Looks like Republicans want to rumble.
Some points:

1. "This guy's been unanimously confirmed twice."
2. "Get the word out as to who he is."
3. Ginsburg of the ACLU was confirmed 96-3, so there.
4. What was done to Bork politicized what should be a constitutional order.

I asked if the Harriet Miers nomination was a setup. Mehlman gave a long answer -- executive privilege, yada yada yada -- so I asked again: "No, absolutely not."

Fine.

My opinion? Let’s set the Wayback Machine for Nov. 5, 2004. Bush just won re-election with the most votes ever. Poca’s political columnist (that would be me) wrote: "The Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances in the Constitution. Bush must steer the nation back to that by recruiting and appointing a generation of judges who respect the Constitution."

WaPo has details on Alito. Good job, George.
Only 94.7% of the people at the Ruffini online poll at Hugh Hewitt support Alito. I voted twice. So sue me.

Cross posted and longer at Don Surber.

Knucklehead of the Day

"Reid Calls For Rove To Resign"

Oh yea? Well, Rove calls for Reid to resign.

Not even indicted, let alone convicted. After two years of investigation, dummy. Here's your award, Harry Reid.

Cross-posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

How Bloggers Saved The President

Or to be more precise, how bloggers saved the president.

First, Karl Rove has been given a clean bill of health. So has the president. Only 12% say he broke the law. Move On apparently is smaller than I thought.

Read the rest at Don Surber.

Knucklehead of the Day

Meet Christina Goodenow. This 38-year-old resident of White City, Ore., bought a lottery ticket worth $1 million. And it may land her in prison.

You see, police say she bought the ticket with a stolen credit card.

Oops.

"I'll be fascinated to see how this shakes out," Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann said. "In my 12 years with the Oregon Lottery, this is the first time I've encountered something like this."

Police said Goodenow used the credit card of her mother-in-law who died a year ago.

They searched her house, found some methamphetamine but not the $33,500 from the first of 20 annual installment payments. Gee, wonder where the money went. So she'll be charged with possession as well.

Cross posted at Don Surber and new and improved Basil's Blog.

Linked to bRight & Early and Jo's Cafe and Mudville Gazette and NIF and Political Teen and Wizbang!

No Frogmarch

After two years of hoping to see Karl Rove frog-marched in a perp walk, liberals got the veep's chief of staff hobbling on crutches. The New York Times had to admit: "Even after the indictment on Friday of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Mr. Bush has no immediate plans to bring in fresh faces or fire any top aides, especially if his senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, is not charged in the C.I.A. leak case."

Remember, this is the newspaper that instigated this investigation, demanded a special prosecutor and sent a reporter to jail to try to nail Karl Rove. Nope. But they have not given up trying. The summary for Frank Rich's column today reads:

"Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation is just one window into the genesis of the smoke screen that the White House used to sell the war in Iraq."

And of course, over at the Nation, Tom Englehardt:

"Think of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of the Vice President's Chief of Staff as but a judicial wade-in-the-water; and yet the charges against Libby already bring to mind the cover-up charges that unraveled the Nixon White House during the Watergate era."

No, pal. Not. Within two years and two months after the Watergate break-in, Nixon had resigned. Within a year of perjuring himself in a deposition, Clinton faced impeachment. This case is not just beginning. It is ending. Indicted on five counts, pleads on two.

WaPo's Dan Balz rightly points out that the failed Miers nomination, hurricanes, gas prices and war have taken their toll on the president. But this thing? It must be sad to see a friend depart the White House, but scandals happen. If anything, Bush emerges from this investigation with a clean bill of health. So does Rove. They faced the proctology of federal prosecution and survived.

Jo at Jo's Cafe said something I have been thinking about for a long time:

"I feel sorry for the loony left - really I do. Must be so hard to walk around with such a black, cold unfeeling heart all the time. To hate so much that you would do and say anything to win is so sick."

At some point you have to get over it. The election is over. We have a president. Move On!

Liberals are the reactionaries now. But the first public opinion poll shows only 12% believe the president did something illegal. Move On needs to do just that.

How a few others see it:

California Conservative would like to tell Scooter: "You’re not a Democrat, Scooter, you’re a Republican. We expect much more from each other."

The Unalienable Right: "Top Dems are already lying about Scootergate."

It is worse than that. As Wizbang pointed out, "None of the things that Libby has been indicted for occurred before the start of the investigation. In other words, as of right now there was apparently no crime committed in the actions that triggered the investigation."

Can we just get rid of the special prosecutors already? This case is a waste of time.

Cross posted at Don Surber.

Knucklehead of the Day

Meet Debra Wooldridge. She was sentenced to serve 3-5 years for burglary. While a Lancaster County (Omaha, Neb.) sheriff's deputy was transporting her to the York Women's Correctional Facility when she jumped from the transport van, which was traveling 75 mph.

She broke her leg. What was interesting was this, from the AP report:

She was restrained by handcuffs, belly chain and leg irons. The investigation continues to determine how Wooldridge was able to get the door of the van open. Wooldridge was the only prisoner in the van.

This is one scary person whom I never want to meet. I mean, people who willingly leap from vans doing 75 are not to be messed with.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Linked to: bRight & Early and Jo's Cafe and NIF and Political Teen.

Drug War

Via Balloon Juice, I learned that a site called Stop the Drug War said: "More than half a million people were behind bars for drug offenses in the United States at the end of last year, according to numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In a report released Sunday, Prisoners in 2004, the Justice Department number-crunchers found that people sentenced for drug crimes accounted for 21% of state prisoners and 55% of all federal prisoners."
Ah the myth of prisons crowded by pot smokers continues.
So what are the real numbers? More than 1 in 10 of the nation's criminal are in prison for murder -- 148,300 all told. Let's all agree that if you murder someone, you go to prison.
Indeed, 624,900 of the nation's 1,237,500 felons behind bars committed violent crimes. Another 253,000 committed property crimes.
That leaves 265,000 drug offenders. That is less than 1 in every 1,000 Americans. Hardly common practice.
Stop the Drug War plays with the numbers: "Even as violent and property crime rates have declined, drug arrests have continued to climb, reaching more than 1.7 million last year. The consequences of those arrests show up in the ever-increasing drug war prisoner numbers."
But an arrest is not the same as a sentencing. It seems that less than a quarter of the arrestees wind up in jail. (1.7 million arrested in a year and only 265,000 in prison for all years). Seems to me we are going after the officers in the drug wars and letting the grunts go free.
All in all, 486 of every 100,000 American adults is behind bars. I think most of the 99,514 out of 100,000 who aren't in prison appreciate that we incarcerate so many of our criminals, especially considering that the crime rate is now down to where it was 40 years ago, when we started this Rehabilitation Rubbish.

Linked to Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Smokin' Economy

Buried in the backpages of the newspapers today was reports of the July-September (third quarter) growth of the economy up 3.8% after rising 3.3% in the second quarter (April-June).

Now I realize news is the unexpected and skews toward the bad things that happened. But after weeks of daily pounding of the nation by news of investigations, a withdrawn nomination, deaths in Iraq, rising gasoline prices, and hurricane, hurricane, hurricane, the resilliency of the economy is unusually good news misplaced on the back pages.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Ritchie Blackmore Day

Today, the greatest guitar riff in rock-and-roll history will be played in Melbourne, Australia by 2,000 guitarists as they play the opening bars of "Smoke on the Water." This will break the 11-year-old record set by 1,322 guitarists in Canada in 1994.
Take a bow, Ritchie Blackmore.
OK, air guitarists, dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-de-dun, dun-dun-dun, dun-de.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Halloween Trackback Party

Come to see the puking pumpkin. Stay to post a link. Then we go and TP Daily Kos.

All The Other Kids Are Doing It

Ever catch a kid doing something wrong only to hear: "All the other kids are doing it."
That is how I felt when I read WVU President David Hardesty's excuse about why he's taking $70,000 a year to sit on the board of a big coal company:
"This is not an uncommon arrangement. If you look at other universities with whom we compete, you would find their presidents sitting on corporate boards as well. It's becoming increasingly common for university presidents to serve on the boards of corporations."
All the other kids are doing it? Fine. Take away his allowance -- the entire $275,000-a-year that he rakes in as the university's president.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Click to see video at Political Teen

Is it that Byrd is so old or Reid is so boring?

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Goes to the San Antonio based company Remedy Intelligent Staffing. They hired illegal aliens to work producing, MREs. The food often eaten by our soldiers. An obvious security risk, but the Tollin Group aka Remedy Intelligent Staffing seemed not to think of this. Their profit was more important. For that, they are today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe and Political Teen

McALLEN, Texas - A Texas employment agency was sentenced to five years of probation for hiring illegal immigrants to work at the nation's top producer of military battlefield rations, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The Tollin Group was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $414,000 in civil penalties Wednesday. It has been barred from Department of Defense contracts for three years.

The San Antonio-based company, which does business as Remedy Intelligent Staffing, pleaded guilty in January to hiring illegal immigrants and trying to cover it up by falsifying employment eligibility forms. The workers were hired for Wornick Co., which makes MREs — or "meals ready-to-eat."

The investigation was initiated in February 2003 after an al-Qaida operative was arrested with information pointing to McAllen and Wornick as terrorist targets. Wornick had been awarded a $47 million contract to produce more than 1.1 million MREs for U.S. forces in Iraq.

The FBI' Joint Terrorism Task Force ran background checks on Wornick employees and found hundreds of temporary employees with fraudulent documentation.

Indictment Update

Looks like Scooter falls on the sword, Rove dodges the bullet and CNN got it wrong.
Democrats will throw out hypocrisy, corruption and in the case of the real nutballs, treason. Republicans will throw out media bias, Bush vindicated and the crime is minor.

Yawn. I'm going to bed.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Another One Bites The Dust

A year ago, South Charleston Mayor Richie Robb made news by saying he might not vote for Bush in the Electoral College. This embarrassed the state Republican Party which named his as one of the state's five Republican electors. He was a good boy and voted Bush in December. But last month, he led his city to adopt an anti-war resolution ... Read More Here.

Knucklehead of the Day

From the Detroit News on Jan. 4, 2002: "Last month Katie Couric, host of NBC's Today show, signed a deal that will reportedly pay her $65 million over the next four years. That's an annual salary in excess of $15 million."
From News Busters today:

Katie Couric: "They say one man's pain is another man's pleasure. And it turns out the pain we all shared at the gas pump this summer brought an awful lot of pleasure in the form of big profits to the nation's oil companies.

Yea, Katie. You really felt that pain as your chauffeur filled the tank of your limo. I guess phantom pain feeling is quite lucrative.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Miers Withdrawn

My reaction at my blog.

Florida Masochist Survives Wilma

He posted this and asked me to link it:

We got struck by Hurricane Wilma and good on Monday. We lost power around 9:30 a.m. that morning and still don't have power back. I'm blogging from a friend's home in Atlantis.

Just a quick update- My family is physically fine. Our house has roof damage, not catastrophic but still serious enough. We lost a fence and otherwise we're fine at home. No flooding issues.

Don Surber will continue to guest blog. We may be moving in with our friend tomorrow, if so I'll give a more detailed update then. Thanks in advance to all you wished us well. God bless all residents of Florida.

Linked to NIF and Templar Pundit and Political Teen and Oblogatory Anecdotes and Mudville Gazette and Cao's Blog and bRight & Early and of courseDon Surber..

Note: I had to post this again in order to link it.

How am I doing?

We got struck by Hurricane Wilma and good on Monday. We lost power around 9:30 a.m. that morning and still don't have power back. I'm blogging from a friend's home in Atlantis.

Just a quick update- My family is physically fine. Our house has roof damage, not catastrophic but still serious enough. We lost a fence and otherwise we're fine at home. No flooding issues.

Don Surber will continue to guest blog. We may be moving in with our friend tomorrow, if so I'll give a more detailed update then. Thanks in advance to all you wished us well. God bless all residents of Florida.

The failure before Rosa Parks' victory

My Daily Mail Column Today:

Newspapers across the country were warm with glowing words used to pay homage to Rosa Parks. She earned it through her willingness to go to jail to right a wrong. Lincoln said, upon being introduced to Harriet Beecher Stowe, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!"

Read more here.

Clark "Can't"

KNUCKLEHEAD OF THE DAY!

Look, down on the ground. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s … Superdrunk.

AP reports, quite soberly, from Graz, Austria, that a 23-year-old man consumed several bottles of red wine, stood on the ledge of a 4th story window at 4 a.m., and shouted: “I am Superman! Nothing can happen to me!"

Well, apparently the ground in Austria is made of kryptonite because that sucker fell like a stone. He landed on a roof a few stories below, sparing him more serious injuries.

Cross Posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

CNN Ambushes Bush

Headline of the Day from CNN, the least trusted name in cable news, Poll: Bush would lose an election if held this year

Well, it is a good thing we held that election last year when he was actually campaigning for the job and was elected by the first presidential majority in 16 years.

But wait, there’s more.

Turns out CNN ignored the bigger news: Bush’s approval rating rose. Paragraph 5 said:

“In the poll, 42 percent of those interviewed approved of the way the president is handling his job and 55 percent disapproved. In the previous poll, released October 17, 39 percent approved of Bush's job performance -- the lowest number of his presidency -- and 58 percent disapproved.”

Even Drew Curtis at Fark, which is aimed for the college set, noted: “CNN stumbles over itself to spin polls showing Bush's approval going up as bad. Claims margin of error, something never mentioned that when the numbers go down.”

Meanwhile, approval ratings for CNN fell to 0.39 percent, which is roughly the percentage of the 300 million Americans who actually watch it.

(Actually 1 million is 0.33 percent but not as funny.)

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Wal-Mart: Always Low Down. Always.

Wal-Mart’s CEO is calling for a raise in the national minimum wage and is expanding health benefits for its workers.

Isn’t that nice?

But wait, Wal-Mart already pays its workers above minimum wage because it cannot attract the workers it wants for $5.15 an hour. If it could, it would. Always low prices. Always.

But some of its competitors can attract good workers at $5.15 an hour. Better hours, closer to the home and not having to wear the blue vest offset the financial difference.

So what Wal-Mart really wants to do is have the government force higher costs upon its competition. Hey, every big, huge company wants the government to erect barriers to competition. Environmental regulations are embraced by big companies because they can absorb the costs better than smaller companies.

By posing the issue as helping his customers, the Wal-Mart CEO gains media brownie points. But you know something? We pay clerks more to sell this stuff than the Chinese pay to make it. Something is awry here.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

It's Snow Good

WaPo: Early Snow Hits Md., Va. Mountains

Oh sure, leave off West Virginia, you elitist jerks. See if we’ll print you next time a strike closes your presses.

(Of course we will. We need the work.)

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Jolly But Dead

The Jolly Green Giant is dead.
Elmer Dresslar, the voice of the Jolly Green Giant, died at 80.
Long before there were any rappers, Elmer was singing of Ho, Ho, Ho.
One daughter said: "He never got tired of it. If nothing else, it put my sister and I through college."
Remember the song?

"Good things from the garden.
"Garden in the valley.
"Valley of the Jolly -- Ho, Ho, Ho -- Green Giant."

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

James Blond

David Craig, the new James Bond, is blond, does not drink martinis and now says he hates handguns.

Tell me again why they hired him.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Rest In Peace?

James Taranto smacked Brent Scowcroft upside the head for saying, “we've had fifty years of peace.”

Taranto then lit into him. Between 1953 (when the Korean War reached its truce, now in year 62) to 2003 in the Mideast alone we’ve had, Taranto said,

“the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, the two Palestinian intifadas against Israel, the Algerian Civil War, the Yemen Civil War and two Sudanese civil wars. That doesn't even count acts of terror against non-Mideastern countries, from the Iranian invasion of the U.S. Embassy to the attacks of 9/11.”

Peace through appeasement never works. Give ‘em hell, Taranto.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Name That Party

A politician in Philadelphia has been indicted. It is federal, so it counts. The AP story does not mention his party affiliation in the lead. It is a 9-paragraph story.
For 10 points, name his party affiliation.
For 20 bonus points, name the paragraph in which AP finally tells readers he's a Democrat.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

Chris Matthews Praises

Chris Matthews praises Fox!

Speaking at Temple about the news, Matthews said, “You have to sell it. You have to present it with more gusto, more zest. You have to let viewers know, `This is important.' You don't just report every story like it's a weather forecast.”

Next, Kmart says Wal-Mart is doing an OK job.
Matthews over-does his Fox-wannabe act on MSNBC. News Busters flat-out asks: “What Are They Putting In Chris Matthews's Water?”

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

"There are gradations of perjury"

Franken: "So I think that Rove and Libby will be executed."

Ah, book tours.

When they cannot prove a crime in Washington, they prove a cover-up. And if someone complains, they cry hypocrisy. And so Howard Kurtz of CNN crying hypocrisy. His target, Kay Bailey Hutchison.

To read more, please visit my blog.

Queen of the Day

She plays football, is crowned homecoming queen at halftime, and plays some more football.

It does not get better than that.

Cross-posted at Don Surber.

Speaking of Perjury

US Senate 'finds Iraq oil cash in Galloway's wife's bank account'
Ah, but he's not a Republican. Nevermind.

Cross posted at Don Surber.

Which headline?

Which of the two headlines do you like best?

Draft Constitution Approved by Iraqi Voters

U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Hits 2,000

Draft Constitution Approved by Iraqi Voters

U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Hits 2,000

Draft Constitution Approved by Iraqi Voters

U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Hits 2,000

Draft Constitution Approved by Iraqi Voters

U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Hits 2,000

Draft Constitution Approved by Iraqi Voters

U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Hits 2,000

Cross-posted at Don Surber.

Knucklestate of the Day

Well, it is bear season again in Maryland. And who takes out the first bear? And 8-year-old girl! What a bunch of wimps. A 4-foot-6 third-grader -- a girl! -- has to save all those big, bad men in Maryland from a raggedy old bear.

Sierra Stiles put two bullets in the 211-pound bear at 50 yards. I mean, we're talking Boo-Boo here, not Yogi.

"I was scared," she said, then paused for dramatic emphasis. "Because bears will eat anything!"

Yea, but she is far braver than the alleged "men" of Maryland. Metrosexuals, not übersexuals.

(Uh, no, I never went hunting. Why do you ask?)

Cross posted at Don Surber.

Carnival of Liberty XVII is hosted by Eric's Grumbles Before The Grave. Cross posted at Don Surber.

Before Rosa Parks

Many are the tributes to Rosa Parks today. But it is of import to remember the man who came before her: Homer Plessy, an octoroon, and if you are too young to know what that means, you are blessed with ignornance.

On June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railway from New Orleans to Covington. He sat in the whites only section and was arrested. He was convicted of breaking the law and fined $25.

Read more at my blog, Don Surber. Linked to Basil's Blog.

Knucklehead of the Day

Courtesy of Fark comes the Knucklehead of the Day: Jerry Stewart, a 59-year-old attorney from Benton, Ark. Now nobody likes lawyers except their own, but in a profession marked by hucksters, sheisters and charlatans, Jerry Stewart stood out last Thursday when he showed up in court -- drunk.

The Associated Press reported:

Stewart faces a total of six years in prison and could be disbarred if convicted of a fourth felony offense, prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said.

AP also said it was not known whether Thursday's court appearance involved two pending drunken driving charges.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Bad News For Social Security

From the Drudge Report Cambridge Scientist says people can live for thousands of years. Yea, our luck it would not be Einstein who lives that long but Genghis Khan.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Still Wilma Blogging

This is a continuation of yesterday's post.

6 a.m. update- We're getting thrashed with wind and rain as I type. Our power has begun to flicker occasionally. My family and I ate breakfast already. We're not counting on having power before morning ends.

The latest forecast is not very re-assuring. Wilma is now a high category 3 storm. Please pray for all the residents of Florida in this storm's path.

Florida Power and Light aka FPL is saying it could be weeks before power is restored after Wilma departs Florida. I believe it, we were without power for parts of 9 days after Francis.

Michelle Malkin has lots of Wilma links.

8:15 a.m.- Still have power but Wilma is really blowing now. My wife's employer/our church is without power. Another friend in nearby Atlantis is without power but a friend in Lantana does have power.

The eye is expected to cross Palm Beach County. God help us.

We may bug out to Miami or Miramar after Wilma is clear.(If they have power there) I may be back up and posting within 24 hours. Just playing everything by ear.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe and Bright &Early

If This Be Treason

For a guy whose radio show draws too few listeners in D.C. to register with Arbitron, Al Frankin sure got mouthy on the Letterman show. (Transcript courtesy of News Busters.)

Al Franken: “Right. So they wanted to smear the guy who came back with the report, and so they out his wife and said she sent him there. This is essentially, you know, George H.W. Bush, the President's father, was the head of the CIA and he has said that outing a CIA agent is treason.”

Letterman: “It is treason, yes.”

Franken: “And so basically, what it looks like is going to happen is that Libby and Karl Rove are going to be executed."

Oh that Franken. I remember when he was funny. But then again, I am an old man. A very old man.

Cross posted at Basil's Blog and Don Surber.

UPDATE: I'm getting some lengthy responses at my home blog to a very short post. I added this one: Franken May Not Be Funny, But His Fans Are A Hoot.

Couric: Exploit Me, Too, Waaaaaaa

Hey, remember that story about the clown who ran up a $241,000 credit card bill for one night at a strip joint? Well, News Busters reports that Katie Couric complained that was discrimination against female executives, who also want the right to drop a quarter-million on lap dances. Says News Busters:

Couric compared this "issue" to male executives that take their clients golfing, thus gaining an advantage over female executives.

Twilight Zone time. Indeed.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Cold, Dead Finga's!

Wisely, Brazilians rejected a proposal to take their guns away. The vote was 64-36 against. Voters were clear:

"Você fará exame de meu injetor quando você o ergue de meus dedos frios, inoperantes."

(That's Portugeuse for: "You will take my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.")

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Carnival

Louisiana Libertarian hosts this week's RINO Sightings. Many good posts are there.

Florida the rules are different here Chapter VIII or Send out the Clowns?

The City of Sarasota has a controversy right now. It is about clown statues. Yes clown statues. The Southwest Florida city wants to put up 70 clown statues as part of an exhibit and some artists and residents are protesting it.

If you don't know Sarasota Floriada was once the home of the Ringling Brothers Circus. Right now I'm not sure who the clown is in this story, the people who want to put up the statues or the ones protesting it. I'll let you decide by leaving me a comment.

Below is a Miami Herald article. Click here if you want to read a slightly older article on the story. Hat tip- Florida Cracker who like me is riding out Hurricane Wilma.

SARASOTA - With his monklike fringe of carroty hair, red ping-pong ball of a nose and stenciled smiley mouth, Chuck Sidlow looked every bit the jolly fellow. But he was not a happy clown.

Feelings of rejection and dismay have gripped many show folks of late in the storied circus town of Sarasota, which earned its reputation as a big-top hub after becoming the wintertime home for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus 75 years ago.

At the root of Sidlow and his brethren's woes is a small but vocal group of local artists who object to a seemingly innocuous plan. To raise money and celebrate their 25th anniversary, Hospice of Southwest Florida wants to place up to 70 large fiberglass clowns -- painted by artists and sponsored by businesses -- around town. The concept has ample precedent, from Chicago's cows to Miami Beach's flamingos to Washington D.C.'s donkeys and elephants, and beyond. For hospice directors, clowns unquestionably captured Sarasota's spirit and history, and the city commission easily embraced the plan.

ARTISTS ATTACK PLANS

But the dissenting artists say the mass-produced figurines are overly commercial and hackneyed. Sarasota's plan is made worse, they believe, because the figures in question would be clowns, which they say would cheapen a city that bills itself as the ``cultural coast.''
Plus, they noted, there are children and adults who harbor coulrophobia -- a serious fear of clowns.

''The clown phobia thing is huge, I had no idea. There are people who just plum hate the images of clowns,'' said Virginia Hoffman, a sculptor and chair of Sarasota's Public Art Committee. ``I'm concerned about fallout. What if there are protests by clowns haters, or people who want to vandalize clown statues?''

Controversy over the proposed figures swept Sarasota this month, with news of the plan drawing heated reaction from locals, both pro- and anti-clown. Amazed city commissioners fielded complaints from locals professing an ungodly fear of clowns. A television crew showed up at a Public Arts Committee meeting -- dumbfounding its members -- where a handful of artists begged the city to abandon what they described as an ''ill-conceived'' and ''Disney-esque'' plan.

An editorial in The Sarasota Herald-Tribune cautioned that ``there's a fine line between taste and prejudice, and clown foes are at risk of crossing it.''

''I've gotten e-mails from people who say they have a phobia of clowns. And I'm stunned,'' said Ken Shelin, a city commissioner. ``I don't know whether these people are pulling my leg or telling the truth.''

STRONG FEELINGS

The commotion struck a raw nerve throughout the circus community here, and many feel that those who are grumbling about the clowns have snubbed an integral part of the city's past. Though the circus moved its winter home 20 miles south to Venice in the 1960s -- it left that town in 1991 -- John Ringling left an indelible imprint on Sarasota. A major roadway, a museum and an arts school, to cite a few examples, bear his name. Untold thousands of Sarasota locals either performed in the circus or are descendants of elephant trainers, acrobats and workers, and many hundreds still perform in traveling shows while calling Sarasota home.

''Clowning and the circus are vital to the community. We have embraced the community and they have embraced us,'' said Sidlow, 46, a full-time clown and graduate from the now-shuttered Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. ``It was very hurtful, them saying that clowns put the fear of god in some people. It's disrespectful. I don't think they realize how hurtful it comes out.''

Part of the debate boils down to whether clowns -- and clowning -- constitute art. Sidlow and his fellow performers insist their work is a craft, albeit one with a reputation sullied by the perception that anyone can slather on ghostly greasepaint, don a fright wig and rubber nose and become a clown. Picasso, they note, painted clowns.

Dolly Jacobs, an aerialist with Circus Sarasota and daughter of Lou Jacobs, a legendary clown whose face graced a U.S. postage stamp, compared clowns to the court jesters of yore, and said their work ''comes from the core, the heart.'' Karen Bell, a clown who works at hospitals and old-age homes, said clowns serve a deeper purpose than mere diversion.

Knucklehead of the Day

Newsbusters reports that director Spike Lee continues to be a Martian. Headline: "Spike Lee: “Not Far-Fetched” to Say New Orleans Levees Deliberately Destroyed."

Appearing on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect -- whoops, lost that gig after people stopped watching after Maher's 9/11 remarks that we're cowards. Anyway, on whatever-they-call Maher's HBO mealticket, Lee said, "it's not far-fetched" that teh federal government did this. Lee said of the flooding of the 9th Ward, “a choice had to be made, one neighborhood got to save another neighborhood and flood another 'hood, flood another neighborhood.”

What? Newsbsuters reported:

"Presidents have been assassinated. So why is that so far-fetched?" To hearty applause from the Los Angeles audience, Lee asked: "Do you think that election in 2000 was fair? You don't think that was rigged?" Lee argued: “If they can rig an election, they can do anything!"

ABC reporter Michel Martin dismissed this theory, but added, "Anybody with any knowledge of history can understand why a lot of people can feel this way, that that's a reasonable theory."

So who is the knucklehead? HBO, which is part of the Time-Warner-AOL-Turner consortium. But it also has CNN, the least trusted name in TV news, so there you are.

Cross posted at Don Surber and Basil's Blog.

Linked to bRight & Early.

Wilma Blogging

Below is my first day of Wilma blogging. My post for October 24th is here.

This post will remain at the top of my blog all day. Others Florida bloggers blogging on Hurricane Wilma include

Florida Cracker
Something... and Half of Something
Theodore's World
Boudicca's Voice
Right wing of the Gods
The Laughing Wolf(He has a long list of Florida Blogs and a map of where all of us are located)

I'll add blogs to the list as the day goes on. If you're a Florida blogger following Wilma trackback to me and I'll link to you on the front page.

This isn't my first try at hurricane blogging. Check here and here for our brush with Katrina in August. Click here for my comments on Hurricanes Jeanne and Francis from last year. I didn't blog back then.

The newest forecast at 5 a.m. has Wilma staying more to the south. They say don't pay attention to the redline, its hard not to when it runs through the middle of Palm Beach County where I live.

We're under a Hurricane warning now. The Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel have lots of excellent Wilma coverage.

There is even a Tropical Storm Alpha now. They should have named him Fred instead, and then we wish both him and Wilma a safe trip to Bedrock.

I'll continue blogging throughout the day as long as I have power, so look for updates. Dear wife is planning on church today and we still have to make last minute preperations for the house. Don't you just love Filipino women. :)

7:10 a.m. update- Blogspot is still acting up. I have a backup site for my postings. Its under construction, so please ignore the mess.

9:00 a.m. update- Welcome Michelle Malkin readers. Thank you Michelle for linking here.

I've started preperations. Brought things in from outside. Our shutters aren't closed yet, but this is a two-person job. Someone has to hold them shut on the outside while a person inside fastens them with a screw and bolt.

Dear wife and I will do this as soon as she returns from Miramar. She is on the way home now. We may not be going to mass.

I'm running laundry.(Yes this man does laundry) If power is lost, I need as much clean laundry as possible. After Hurricane Francis last year we had no power for parts of 9 days.

Noon update- Wife came home and we went to mass. She also brought home ALOT of food from his sister's birthday party. We got leftovers for a week(Filipinos + Party= Lots of Leftovers), that's if we have power to heat them after tomorrow.

3:45 p.m. update- Our shutters are up, yard cleared and garage prepared. The last is so we can pull our car inside. Its too tight a squeeze under normal circumstances but we cleared a path now.

Weather outside is alot more cloudy and the wind is picking up. However we do have sun.

Local television stations have the football games on.

In the event I lose power, I've made Don Surber a guest blogger here at TFM. Don writes excellent posts and I'm sure you will like him. He will try posting daily knucklehead winners till I'm back. Welcome Don and thank you.

6:40 p.m. update- Welcome Poliblog readers. No rain or wind yet, Sun is still out. They are expecting Wilma to make landfall tomorrow around 6-7 am on Florida's southwest coast. She'll cut acroos the state. Good news, Wilma is moving fast. Bad news, she probably won't be weakened much while hitting Florida.

11:15 p.m. update- Wind is picking up. No heavy rains yet. The latest advisory has Wilma back at Category 3 status. Nor has the storm changed course.

I'm usually asleep by now but can't sleep. It looks like a long night and then day ahead of us.

All preperations are done here.

God bless all residents of Florida.

Wilma blogging continued here.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Outside the Beltway and Cao's Blog

übersexual kicks metrosexual butt

Florida and West Virginia are Red Meat states. Salad? Rabbit food. So tonight's post over at My Blog is "übersexual kicks metrosexual butt."

I didn't upper case it because I wanted to keep the umleut.

A few years ago, the New York Times introduced us to that unfortunate word, metrosexual, which is the pansy way of saying pansy. If it had been anyone but NYT, I might have been concerned. But here is a newspaper that cannot even get its own Judy Miller story straight.
So I ignored it.
Now of all things, the London Guardian, aka al-Guardianazeera, has a report, Metrosexual man bows to red-blooded übersexuals.

Read the rest here.

King Rat or a Tall tale?

I'll let you decide after reading this news. Hat tip- Truth Laid Bear

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighboring island, researchers have said.

Scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the Norway rat on the 23.5-acre island of Motuhoropapa to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate.

They got more than they bargained for...

Despite all their efforts, including fitting the rat with a radio collar, they couldn't catch the crafty creature.

After 10 weeks on the island the rodent decided it had had enough. It swam 400 meters, the longest distance recorded for a rat across open sea, to another rat-free island where it was eventually captured in a trap baited with penguin meat several weeks later.

Knucklehead of the Day

Penelope Keane, 49, is a nurse in England. Oh wait. Make that past tense. The Cambridge News reported:

On Wednesday, a professional conduct committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council struck her off the register after finding her guilty of eight charges of misconduct.

Well what exactly did Penelope Keane do? Well on one occasion she "had to be propped up by staff after she arrived to look after frail pensioners and tearfully admitted she had just downed a bottle of vodka."
(Makes me wonder about the rest of the staff.)
Oh and then there was the time she, um, I'll let the newspaper report that:

After boasting she had been lounging in her garden sunbathing Keane pulled up her T-shirt and yanked down her bra to expose her breasts to stunned colleagues and an elderly male resident.

Now in Penelope's defense, she ... well, I cannot think of another defense. Getting drunk and flashing was not the worst of it. She snored. The newspaper said:

The committee had also heard how Keane broke strict rules when she was frequently caught asleep and snoring on duty in a reclining chair instead of caring for patients.

The story ended with this line, "Keane, from Chatteris, did not appear at the disciplinary hearing in central London."
How much you wanna bet she was sleeping another one off? Don's helpful home hint: Don't show up drunk for work and don't flash your breasts -- well, unless you are working at the Mardi Gras.

Linked to Cao's Blog and Don Surber and Stop the ACLU and California Conservative and Basil's Blog.

Harriet Miers, a pro view

Hurricane Katrina er, Rita um, Wilma has chased the host away. Florida Masochist turned to the hills to look for a guest poster. How many hurricanes, he figured could there be in Putnam County, West Virginia.

Exactly one. Yea, it is a town of 1,200 people (or as we call it in Putnam "the big city") and is pronounce Hurri-cun.

So what does a guest post do? I figure I give you a taste of what I have at my blog Don Surber:

Hey, Truth Laid Bear, I support the Miers nomination.

As a supporter of Harriet Miers, I wrote a long response to George Will's screed of intolerance toward anything Miers. "Perfect perversity" and "cannot be dignified as arguments" and "reveal a deficit of constitutional understanding" and "gross misunderstanding of conservatism" and "masquerading as its defenders" -- and that was just the first paragraph.

But why respond in kind? He raises one good point about reversing Roe as judicial activism. But Miers is silent on Roe as every judicial nominee must be. It comes down to trusting Bush. I say let the antis rant and watch some football this afternoon.

The rest is here.

Linked to Linked to: Big Dog and bRight & Early and California Conservative and Cute Puppy Link Fest and Cao's Blog and Basil's Blog.

When the Saints go marching out....

The NFL franchise displaced by Hurricane Katrina may not return to New Orleans even when the SuperDome is fixed.

Saints owner Tom Benson declared this week that nothing will be decided on the franchise's future until after the season. But ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that, based on information from key league sources, the team has probably played its last game in New Orleans.

According to Mortensen, San Antonio is a likely home for 2006 and Los Angeles is the preferred destination beyond that. The NFL could still include New Orleans as a Super Bowl site when the city is reconstructed, and expansion might even be a possibility, but that's 10 to 15 years away.

If the Saints relocate to San Antonio or elsewhere, New Orleans has only a slim chance of ever seeing another NFL team, according to a major sports consultant.

Marc Ganis of SportsCorp Ltd. in Chicago served as a consultant to Cleveland in 1996 when that city's NFL team moved to Baltimore and the NFL guaranteed Cleveland a new team and allowed the city to keep the Browns' logos, colors and nickname.

Earlier this week, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said he wanted the "Cleveland deal" if the team relocates. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she supported Nagin on such a plan.

But Ganis questioned the strategy.

"If I were advising Mayor Nagin, I would have given him the same advice that someone should have given the mayors of Baltimore and Houston," Ganis said. "Hold on to what you have. Do everything you have to hold on to what you've got, because there's no certainty to what will come next or what will come at all."

Houston lost the Oilers to Tennessee and later got the expansion Texans.

Ganis said New Orleans is already viewed as a small market struggling to remain financially competitive -- and most NFL owners oppose expanding beyond the present 32 teams.

I am sure no matter how small the market, the team's fans would be upset by a move. Remember the days of the aints when fans wore bages over their faces? The team has a following whether they have been a winner or most of the time a loser.

Hat tip- Outside the Beltway

The Knucklehead of the Day award

I have had a tough time finding one, so I fell back on this standby.

Today's winner is Dr. Kamau Kambon. Recently he espoused the belief that Blacks need to exterminat whites before they get killed themselves.

RALEIGH — A Raleigh activist and bookstore owner told a panel at Howard University Law School on Oct. 14 that the solution to many of the problems faced by black people is the extermination of “white people off the face of the planet.” Dr. Kamau Kambon, who taught Africana Studies 241 in the Spring 2005 semester at North Carolina State University, also said this needs to be done “because white people want to kill us.”

Addressing a panel on “Hurricane Katrina Media Coverage,” broadcast in its entirety on C-SPAN, Kambon told the audience that white people “have retina scans, they have what they call racial profiling, DNA banks, and they’re monitoring our people to try to prevent the one person from coming up with the one idea. And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.”

Kambon’s solution received slight applause in the room, to which he responded, “I don’t care whether you clap or not, but I’m saying to you that we need to solve this problem because they are going to kill us.”

Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo. Other bloggers Sister Toldjah, Michelle Malkin, and Betsy have covered this more extensively. I think the Professor is an idiot but can say whatever he wants. See I'm pretty much a 1st ammendment absolutist except for things like screaming fire in a theater etc.

As to the recent Bill Bennett episode, its not a good analogy. The MSM has ignored this professor unlike the former cabinet Secretary. One is a public figure, the other just another academic. That's my two bits.

Sorry I am too distracted by Wilma to find a more timlely knucklehead than Professor Kambon.

Open Post- Political Teen

Your Florida Tax Dollars at work- Toll plaza cost goes from 8 million to 21 million

I know these estimates never come in at their original price but an over 250% difference? The Lee County officials saying there is no waste in the project doesn't persuade me either. When is our government ever efficent?

When the cost of building the new Sanibel toll plaza jumped to nearly $21 million from its initial $8 million estimate, it may have evoked visions in taxpayers' minds of marble floors and gold-plated fixtures.

Lee County transportation officials said there are several reasons for the increase, but bureaucratic waste or fraud isn't one of them.

Of the $20.96 million, only about $6 million is for construction of the toll building. The rest is for road work, traffic maintenance, management costs, contingency money, and an unrelated boat ramp project that won't be paid with toll proceeds. When the total job was estimated at $8 million more than a year ago, the toll building cost was $4 million.

The new toll plaza is part of a more than $120 million project to rebuild the Sanibel Causeway, the only way on and off the island, with the plaza being bid separately from the bridge.

The cost jump came mainly from construction cost increases and the fact other projects were added in that weren't in the initial $8 million estimate, said Paul Wingard, project manager for the Sanibel bridge reconstruction.

This surprise in cost not only means borrowing more money, it will cause reduction of the $6 cash toll on Sanibel bridge to be delayed by two years to cover the extra expense of the toll plaza.

The county will pay for it by pushing back the cash-toll change from $6 to $5 until 2011-12. It would have gone into effect in 2009-10. The discount-toll reduction, for those for buy an annual pass, will not change. It is set to be reduced from $3 to $2 on Nov. 1.

CHANGING COSTS

From the time when initial costs are estimated for a job to when it goes to bid, cost changes are common. But the kind of increase that came with this job is very telling of the current climate for building costs, Wingard said.

"That kind of increase is very abnormal," Wingard said. "What we have been experiencing in the past two years (in the construction industry) is very abnormal."

The cost jump was partly because several projects lumped into the $21 million figure weren't included in the initial $8 million figure. Add-ons such as contractor fees, a retention pond, sea wall construction, and an unrelated project to revamp the parking area at the Punta Rassa boat ramp, weren't considered in the first estimate.

Contractor fees weren't initially included because the county had not planned to hire a construction manager and had anticipated bidding every aspect of the job in-house.

Because of deterioration of the bridges and the controversy surrounding them, transportation officials later decided to go with a construction manager to speed up construction, said Amy Davies, transportation program manager for Lee County Department of Transportation. A construction manager personally bids all subcontracts.

But the drastic price jump is attributed mostly to sharp construction cost increases in the last year, material shortages across the country, and — with private development booming in Lee County — a huge demand for local construction labor, Wingard said.

When Jack Fenwick heard of the price difference, he believed "going from $4 million to $6 million is a pretty sizeable jump, but it's certainly not unheard of.

My stance on Harriet Miers- I oppose the nomination

NZ Bear is surveying the blogosphere to see if bloggers favor or oppose Presdient Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court. My view hasn't changed one bit, I oppose the Miers nomination. My previous posts are here, here, and here.

Wilma, Wilma, Wilma,

She's coming to Florida after she gets through with the Yucatan. It looks highly unlikely now we'll not be affected here in Lantana by this storm. It will passing over Florida on Monday in all the forecasts.

Schools are going to be closed Monday plus those living in mobile homes are being ordered to evacuate. The residents of the Florida Keys appear to have heeded the warnings and have evacuated. With with some exceptions. The brave or the foolish depending on how you look at it.

My sister-in-law turns 33 today. My wife and mother-in-law went to Miramar to celebrate it. They will be all back tomorrow and that's when we'll batton the house down.

I'll live blog on Wilma as the storm approaches till either she passes or I lose power. Pray for all of us down here.

Give the ball to Sage

The Dolphins lost 30-20 last night to Kansas City. The team has now fallen to 2-4.

Miami has problems at almost every level of the football team with the exceptions of WR, Placekicker, Tight End and Running back. The team is getting old, and even the vaunted defense is not as good as its stats.

What Miami should do now is stop wasting time with Gus Frerotte and give Sage Rosenfels a chance at QB. I said this before the season started. Now the chorus is getting louder with Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, and Sun Sentinel columnists echoing what I been saying all along.

Gus Frerotte is a 34 year old nobody. He hadn't started a game in 7 years and had been with 6 teams in that period of time. He was a Pro Bowler they say, but in 1996! Last night against the 30th(of 32 teams) ranked defense in the NFL he went 11 for 29 with a QB rating of 39! The rest of 2005 hasn't been a hell of alot better. Miami's problems are alot deeper than Frerotte. The team faces a rebuilding process. But tell me will Frerotte be around when Miami is done with that phase in 2-3 years? Not likely, Gus will be over 35 and the vast majority of pro athletes at that age are ex pro athletes.

Frerotte isn't Miami's future. Lets find out if Rosenfels is.

The Florida Masochist Hurricane Wilma Open Trackback festival Part II

As we await the hurricane and the punishment it will inflict here, I've decided to have another trackback festival.

Blogger's note and apology- This morning starting around 10 a.m. Blogspot began going haywire. I was unable to either post new posts or edit existing posts. During this mayhem my original trackback post was lost.

I wasn't the only Blogspot blogger with this problem, three of my favorites Don Surber, John in Carolina and Hooah Wife were experiencing the same.

Before all of this happened at least 6 people connected to my original post, I'm going to post their links below. If any of you read this, re-edit your link to me. I know some of you won't be able to but I won't hold that against you.

Any other trackbacks other than those six are totally lost. Feel free to trackback here.

To those bloggers with Weekend Open trackbacks, I sent a second ping out to your sites with this link now. I wouldn't have done it except for the problems I was having. If you can fix your links to me, I'd appreciate it.

Now the rest is pretty simple, use Wizbang or Haloscan to send your posts to me. My trackback URL is- http://haloscan.com/tb/williamje/112999867590284351

Blogspot doesn't have on line trackbacks but I'm going to do this. Bloggers who send trackbacks, I'll update the post on to my front page with a link to the blog post your trackbacked to me. If you want to see an example of how I work this, click here.

All I ask in return is you link to my blog in your post. Any topic is open. The only posts I'll delete are spam or porn posts and trackbacks that don't link to me.

Pretty simple isn't it?. So start sending me those trackbacks. While you're here check out today's knucklehead winner.

Other blogs with Open trackbacks- Jo's Cafe, MVRWC, Wizbang, Cafe Oregano, Mudville Gazette, Cao's Blog, California Conservative, Basil's Blog, Stop the ACLU, Point Five, Outside the Beltway, Soldiers' Angels, Indepundit, One Big Dog, Political Teen, Mac Stansbury, Euphoric Reality, The Blue State Conservative and Bright & Early.

*****

Original 6 links

Don Surber links with Iraqi Semper Liberi
TMH's Bacon Bits links with Saturday Bacon Break
Capital Region People links with The Toxic Friend
Keith D. Milby :: blog links with Democrat's doing great under Dean
California Conservative links with Open Posts: Weekend Edition
Mac Stansbury links with OPEN THREAD-OPEN TRACKBACKS 4
Don Singleton links with Week of milestones

The Caption of the Day

The words on the sign say it all. LOL.

Thanks to Holly Aho who I borrowed this from. She admits to being a bad girl. There's a saying-
"Good girls go to heaven, Bad girls go everywhere."

The Knucklehead of the Day award

For the second day in a row, we have another less than brilliant criminal. Today's winner is Anthony R Roberts of Hialeah Florida. He raped a woman in Davie Florida this week but also had his victim make out a check to him. Mr. Roberts was arrested after he tried to cash the check. What a Knucklehead, he now faces life in prison.

Open Post- Political Teen

Davie -- Police say a man who broke into an apartment and raped a woman at gunpoint Wednesday night was so brash he forced his victim to write him a check for $1,400 -- in his own name.

Officers arrested Anthony R. Roberts minutes after the crime at a check-cashing store two miles from his victim's home. He had ordered the woman to make out a check to "Anthony Roberts" and write on the memo line that it was "for electrical work," according to a police report.

"I don't know what the guy was thinking," said Davie police spokesman Lt. Bill Bamford. "I don't know if he thought that he put her in that much fear, ... [but] to walk into a check-cashing store like nothing happened, like she paid him for a job. That's one of the lowest forms of life."

When Roberts, 25, presented the check at the Check Cashing Store on South University Drive, a clerk got suspicious. The clerk called the phone number on the check to make sure it was legitimate.

A police officer investigating the rape answered the call at the woman's apartment. Police cruisers swarmed the Check Cashing Store, and Roberts was taken into custody after a short foot chase.

The Hialeah man is being held without bail on a host of charges, including sexual battery with a weapon, kidnapping, home invasion and aggravated assault.

Soldiers Angels needs help

Holly Aho has a letter posted from Soldiers Angels founder Patti Bader. Go over and read it and if you have any spare cash, please donate it. Remember you'll be helping our brave fighting men and women. God bless them all.

The no class show

Katie Couric interviewed Bill O'Reilly this morning. Note the typo.

This is a week after the same show had a staged scene with a canoe in ankle deep water. Again the MSM shows its true colors. Today won't have any reputation left if it even has one now.

Thank you to Politcal Teen who has the video also.

Miami Dolphins prediction and some sports notes

The Dolphins are playing their game tonight rather than on Sunday. This is due to Hurricane Wilma. This is the team's first Friday night game in 22 years but one of a half dozen times in last 12 years that Miami has had to re-schedule a game due to weather.

My opinion is the short week will affect both teams equally. Miami is going to get thrashed also, my prediction Kansas City 34, Miami 14.

*- The game will be broadcast on television in Kansas City, Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Myers television markets. But as James Joyner and the Tampa Tribune notes, the game won't be on NFL Sunday ticket live tonight or broadcast in the Tampa or Orlando areas. The NFL really needs to re-vamp their television rules.

*- How pathetic is it when a team that traded away a 2nd round pick to get a player have to turn around barely a year later by giving away a 6th to get rid of the same player. That's what Miami did the other day to unload AJ Feeley. A 6th round pick and Feeley for a QB that's never played a down in the NFL and is not likely to do so this year either. Why not release Feeley out right or just keep him to the end of the year. Just another dumb personel(or pardon the pun a lemon.) decision by Miami, and it looks like nothing has changed but the names of management for this team.

*- Houston Astros vs Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Two very dissimilar ballparks in my old Strat-O-Matic days. A lefty homer park vs. a Righty homer park. Creative managing and lineup juggling would be needed.

But we're talking real-life not a board game. I pick the White Sox in 6.

*- The Golf tours are winding down. The LPGA is off this week after seeing Annika stomp the field last weekend. They play in South Korea a week from now, then Japan before coming back to the US for the final two weeks of the year. Four weeks to the ADT Championship here in West Palm Beach. I will be attending.

This weekend's PGA tour stop is in Orlando. Tiger Woods is playing but Hunter Haas is leading so far. So there will be golf for me to watch this weekend.

Why do they mail these bills out?

My mother-in-law(She lives with us) had a cat scan done some time back. Today we get a bill in t he mail. For $0.00. Why do hospitals or medical facilities mail out bills like this? I get 2 or 3 of them a year at least. One of life's mysteries, like why there are interstate highways in Hawaii.

Waiting on Wilma or Is this Groundhog Day?

Fellow Florida Blogger Bright&Early is beginning to ask that question. It seems we're stuck in a time loop with Wilma always three days away from Florida.

The wait could prove to be good for Florida. Wilma stalling over the Yucatan is taking away most of the storm's punch. It should only arrive here in Florida as a Category 1 or 2 storm. That is alot less destructive than the original forecasts were two days ago.

On the other hand all the forecasting computer models have Wilma coming to Florida. One way or another some parts of this state or in for a destructive storm. Please pray for all the residents of this state.

Because of the storm, many people are re-arranging their schedules. That includes the Miami Dolphins. They will be playing their game originally scheduled for Sunday, tonight instead. I'll have my weekly prediction up later.

Overall the waiting on Wilma game continues here in Lantana. I'll post more updates here as news happens.

Open Post- Indepundit, Mac Stansbury, Cao's Blog

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Michael Drennon. Mr. Drennon held up a bank in Bensalem PA last Friday. Guess what he used for the note for the bank teller? An old paycheck stub with his name and address on it!

Open Post- Political Teen, Outside the Beltway and Mudville Gazette

BENSALEM, Pa. - A note handed to a bank teller demanding $20, $50 and $100 bills "the quicker the better" was written on a pay stub that led police to a robbery suspect even though the name and address were crossed out with a marker.

"It wasn't a huge forensic undertaking," Steven Moran, Bensalem director of public safety, said Wednesday. "We just put it under a light."

The FBI charged Michael Drennon, 26, of Philadelphia, with robbing the Wachovia Bank in Bensalem on Friday. Drennon, who had been living in a halfway house while on probation, was being held at the federal detention center in Philadelphia pending a hearing scheduled for Friday. It couldn't immediately be determined if he had an attorney.

The man who slipped the teller the note Friday left the bank with about $2,500, authorities said. Police said Drennon had about $1,800 on him when he was arrested.

Will their next child be named yahoo?

Some news from Sweden. Do parents ever think when naming their children? Specifically how it would feel to be called by their name. In this case, I don't think the parents gave much consideration to that. Giving a child an odd name is almost like cursing them to have other children pick on them or tease them.

Hat tip- Leopold Stotch at OTB who quips there should be sterilization for morons.
Open Post- Jo's Cafe

KALMAR, , Sweden, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A couple in Sweden who uses computers a lot have chosen to name their firstborn son Google, after the world-dominant search engine.

Elias Kai, who is Lebanese, told The Local newspaper he's a "great fan" of the search engine, but the name means more to him than that.

"The word 'googol' means 1 followed by 100 zeros, and I want my son to have lots of friends -- I want him to be social, so the name also symbolizes this."

The Swedish tax authority, known for being iffy about allowing unusual baby names, did not stand in their way after the birth on Sept. 12.

"They just thought it was funny," Elias told the newspaper.

And so did management at the Silicone Valley, Calif.-based software company.

Wilma Watch

The storm is still in the southwest Carribean but slowing down. Wilma is expected to stall over the Yucatan before turning to the Northeast. That's at least what the computer models are saying now. With this slowing down, Wilma wouldn't reach Florida before Monday. Earlier forecasts had it here on Saturday.

We're still watching it. Below is an article from today's Sun-Sentinel website. I'll update this post as news develops.

Open Post- Cao's Blog and Bright&Early

7:30 p.m. update- Little new to report. All computer models have Wilma coming to Florida. The question is where, the models are split between the storm passing through the key or hitting Florida's southern tip or going up the coast to around the Tampa area. The forecast maps split the difference and having it come to West Palm Beach.

We're prepared. We'll put up the shutters and clean out the yard Saturday morning. The wife prefers to sit this one out at home. She may still her mind, women do that all the time.

Now the Palm Beach Post needs a civics lesson

A week ago I blogged about a Post editorial that made me laugh. Here is another example. The topic is tasers and who should be making guidelines for their use. I'm only going to quote the very end.

But the leap from voluntary guidelines to questionable law could prove more of a shock to the public than the Taser-related deaths that spurred action toward standards and training. The questions are as basic as the legislation's lack of clear requirements regarding the civilians to whom the electric gun increasingly is being marketed. Tallahassee could make matters worse once lobbyists for the various interests enter the mix.

The problem is that there's no telling what might end up in the final bill. There's also no compelling reason why lawmakers, rather than professional law enforcers at FDLE and the Standards and Training Commission, should establish uniformity for Florida.

There is one compelling reason. Our legislators make the laws, not law enforcement. Our elected officials have the right to make the law here, get over it Palm Beach Post.

Open Post- Outside the Beltway and Bright&Early

No respect for the law

And he is a judge in Spain. This story hasn't gotten much talk in the blogosphere with the exception of Indepundit and Outside the Beltway.

MADRID, Spain - A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, which is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where many journalists were staying to cover the war.

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.

Pedraz had sent two requests to the United States — in April 2004 and June 2005 — to have statements taken from the suspects or to obtain permission for a Spanish delegation to quiz them. Both went unanswered.

He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

The warrant "is the only effective measure to ensure the presence of the suspects in the case being handled by Spanish justice, given the lack of judicial cooperation by U.S. authorities," the judge said in the warrant.

The Pentagon had no immediate information and said it was looking into it.

U.S. officials have insisted that the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.

Following the Palestine incident, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said a review of the incident found that the use of force was justified.

In late 2003, the National Court, acting on a request from Couso's family, agreed to consider filing criminal charges against three members of the tank crew.

Fort Stewart spokeswoman Jennifer Scales said the three no longer are assigned to Fort Stewart or the 3rd Infantry Division.

De Camp, who is now an adjunct mathematics professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said three investigations into the incident — two military investigations and one by the Committee to Protect Journalists — had exonerated all three men.

"We had no clue there were journalists over at that hotel," he said. "We would not have shot at them."

I had originally planned to give Judge Pedraz today's knucklehead award except that a better candidate came forward. He is a runner-up knucklehead.

Just proof the US doesn't have a monopoly on out of control judges. What is it about the black robes that gives people like Santiago Pedraz a power trip like in this case. Three investigations cleared these soldiers. Plus living and working in a combat zone is dangerous. These journalists know that.

Most of all Judge Pedraz has no jurisdiction in the matter. He has to know that yet he moved forward with these warrants. A judge who has no respect for the law has no business being on the bench. These warrants are proof of just that with Judge Pedraz.

This gives new meaning

to the expression pissing away taxpayer money. The House wants to appropriate 2 million dollars to study flushless urinals. The company is in Michigan, so I guess its a congressman or congresswoman from that state pushing this idea. This would save Navy ships the cost of storing water but as James Joyner points out why is the taxpayer funding the study instead of the contractor?

Open Post- Indepundit

The House wants to divert $2 million in the Navy's FY06 operations accounts to boost a rapidly growing Michigan environmental technology firm that markets itself as the "world leader for waterfree urinals." In an unpublicized portion of the House version of the FY06 Defense appropriations bill, lawmakers added a conservation initiative that would pay for a Navy study exploring the use of "no flush" urinals. Advocates say the product could save thousands of gallons of water onboard ships and at military installations where water is scant. The initiative, which could help Falcon Waterfree Technologies expand its budding military contracting business, was added by appropriators even as they cut $2.9 billion from operations and maintenance accounts across the military services in an attempt to focus more spending on the global war on terrorism.

The search continues

With Joe Girardi now out of the picture, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue to look for a new manager. The next candidates to be interviewed will be former MLB manager Bobby Valentine and California coach Joe Maddon.

Because of MLB rules, no announcement will be made till after the World Series is over. Who ever the Devils hire faces an uphill path. I don't envy anyone who tries to manage in that clueless organization.

ST. PETERSBURG - Joe Girardi went to the Marlins on Wednesday and the Devil Rays went on with their search for a manager, receiving permission to talk to Angels bench coach Joe Maddon and acknowledging that an announcement won't be made until after the World Series.

Both teams had serious interest in Girardi, though the Marlins appeared to want him more, identifying the Yankees bench coach immediately as their frontrunner and pursuing him aggressively.

The Rays' talks with Girardi were more advanced than with their other candidates, including a discussion of contract parameters, but they are not believed to have made a formal offer and did not seem especially surprised, or particularly disappointed, that he went to the Marlins.

"We thought he was a candidate who might fit with our organization and that's why he was on our list. He made his decision and we'll continue our search," Rays president Matt Silverman said.

"We didn't have any frontrunners in mind when we got into this process. Joe was someone we knew we needed to speak to early in our first round because of the Marlins' interest. I wouldn't characterize him as a frontrunner."

The Marlins, who will introduce Girardi at a news conference today in Miami, felt more strongly.

"Joe was known as an intelligent player with great leadership skills and he will bring those traits to his new position," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement. "He is the right man to lead our team and I'm proud that he will start what will be a long, successful managerial career here in south Florida."

The Rays received permission from the Angels to contact Maddon, who could emerge as a strong candidate, and are in the process of arranging an interview. Silverman said they also plan to talk with Bobby Valentine, but will wait until his Chiba Lotte team completes play in the Japan postseason. They have interviewed six others - internal candidates Bill Evers, Tom Foley, Billy Hatcher and John McLaren, former Tigers manager Alan Trammell and Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

Maddon, 51, a member of the Angels organization for 31 years, including 12 on the major-league coaching staff, has hoped for a chance to manage and is intrigued by the Rays' opportunity.

"Absolutely," he said. Valentine, former manager of the Rangers and Mets, has also expressed interest.

While the Rays were poised to make a quick decision on Girardi if necessary, they now sound like they will take their time. "Until we get to talk to Maddon and probably Valentine we're not going to make any decisions about the current group or bringing in any other candidates," Silverman said.

While the Rays may continue talks, teams are barred from making major announcements during the World Series. The Rays may also use that time to start formal interviews for a senior front office official, with White Sox farm director Dave Wilder joining former Astros GM Gerry Hunsicker, former Angels GM Mike Port and Yankees executive Gene Michael as likely candidates.