You're a hypocrite Gregory Bork

This was one of the candidates for the Knucklehead of the day award. Mr Bork is the principal of a Lutheran High School in California which expelled two girls for violating the 'Christian code of Conduct. The two girls aren't accused of being lesbians but loving one another. Now they are suing the school to be re-admitted.

So they are being immoral? How? Loving your fellow human being? Isn't that what God teaches? And about that Christian Code Mr. Bork is upholding for the school. Well the school allows Jewish students. Isn't that a violation of the Christian Code?

Mr Gregory Bork is a hypocrite, pure and simple.

Open Post- Basil's Blog,

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Two 16-year-olds who were expelled from a Lutheran high school because they were suspected of being lesbians have sued the school for invasion of privacy and discrimination.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks the girls' re-enrollment at the small California Lutheran High School, unspecified damages and an injunction barring the school from excluding gays and lesbians.

Kirk D. Hanson, an attorney for the girls, said the expulsion traumatized and humiliated them.

"Their entire support network was pulled out from under them because of suspicions about their sexual orientation," said Hanson, who declined to say whether his clients are lesbians.

The school is on Christmas break until next week, and messages left for school officials Thursday were not immediately returned.

The lawsuit alleges that the school's principal, Gregory Bork, called the girls into his office, grilled them on their sexual orientation and "coerced" one girl into saying she loved the other.

The next day, the lawsuit says, Bork told the girls' parents they could not stay at the school with "those feelings." In a Sept. 12 letter to the parents, Bork acknowledged that officials had seen no physical contact between the girls but said their friendship was "uncharacteristic of normal girl relationships and more characteristic of a lesbian one."

"Such a relationship violates our Christian Code of Conduct," Bork wrote in his letter, which was included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. He called the girls' behavior "scandalous" and "immoral."

Hanson said the 142-student school in Wildomar, Calif., must comply with state civil rights laws because it functions as a business by collecting tuition.

"There's a lot of hypocrisy going on here," Hanson said. "The school is claiming the girls were expelled because their conduct wasn't within the Christian code. But at the same time, (the school) has students who aren't Christians and are even Jewish."

An end to run-offs in Florida

Among the changes in Florida law for 2006, is the elimination of election run-offs. Till recently if no primary candidate got a majority, a second run-off election was held.

State-wide runoffs had been waived for about the last 10 years by the legislature but now the change is permanent. Florida runoff elections have had an interesting history. Three of the most powerful Democratic politicans in this state since 1970- Ruben Askew, Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham were first elected to state-wide office when they finished second in the first primary but won the second run-off. Now that tradition is gone.

Runoffs were notorious for low turnouts. Maybe its good they are being eliminated but a little bit of Florida Political history dies with it.

Open Post- Bright & Early

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Picking the final Knucklehead of 2005 wasn't an easy matter. There were at least three good choices available.

Today's winner is Arthur Vanmoor. Mr. Vanmoor who has pleaded no contest to charges he ran a prostitution business here in South Florida, is now being sued by the FDA. The reason? Vanmoor is one of the people who own and run Flu Fighter Corp. and Flu Fighter Laboratories, a company selling cancer and migraine cures on the internet. They promise cures, of course its all fake.

As a cancer survivor I find this despicable. Vanmoor is taking advantage of desperate people, that makes his things alot worse than Knucklehead or 'Pimp' as the Palm Beach Post describes him.(Fox News has also covered this story but I couldn't find the link) For being one of the lowest human beings possible, Arthur Vanmoor is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Samantha Burns, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Wizbang, Point Five, Basil's Blog, TMH's Bacon Bits, Bloggin Outloud, Adam's Blog, Jo's Cafe,

After they deported him to Amsterdam last year, South Florida law enforcement officials thought they'd heard the last of Big Pimpin' Pappy.

But Arthur Vanmoor, who pleaded no contest to charges that he ran one of the largest prostitution rings in the Southeast, has been sued by federal officials over his involvement in a Boca Raton company they say is illegally selling drugs online that claim to cure cancer, the flu and migraines.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors filed suit to shut down three Web sites — cancercure.org, flufighter.net and migraine cure.org — that claim to sell FDA-approved drugs. The sites define the FDA as the Fighting Diseases Association.

The federal Food and Drug Administration said in the suit it never approved any of the drugs and has no record of any applications seeking their approval.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Vanmoor, 45, is one of six defendants listed in the federal case against Flu Fighter Corp. and Flu Fighter Laboratories, which operate the sites. The Boca Raton address listed for the companies — 22 S.E. Fourth St., No. 219 — is the same mailing address Vanmoor used to run numerous escort services, including Florence Dating Service and Gold Escorts. Those corporations remain active, according to state records.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on the federal injunction.

Sidney Fleischman, Vanmoor's Fort Lauderdale-based attorney, said Thursday his client denies all the charges but declined to elaborate, saying the issues will be addressed at the hearing.

Fort Lauderdale police spent years trying to shut down Vanmoor's call-girl ring, which at one time had more than 50 prostitutes, authorities said at the time. They sent in female undercover detectives, but the women always failed his employment test: He required all applicants to have sex with him, police said.

In July 2004, Vanmoor, a Dutch national, pleaded no contest to charges that he used his escort services as a front for a highly organized prostitution ring that authorities say raked in millions of dollars. He was deported to the Netherlands in October.

Crystal Ball time

TFM will make some predictions for 2006

1- Justice John Paul Stevens retires from the US Supreme Court. President Bush nominates Janice Rogers Brown to replace him.
2- Elliot Spitzer is elected Governor of New York.
3- John Kerry says he will not run for President in 2008.
4- The Miami Dolphins have a losing season in 2006.
5- The Florida Marlins lose 95 games or more.
6- My cat Tenten goes to heaven and still finds laps to sit in.
7- TFM gives out over 300 Knucklehead awards for the year but not one for having sex with a horse.
8- Charlie Crist is elected Governor of Florida.
9- Bill Nelson is re-elected as one of Florida's two US Senators.
10- The Palm Beach Post editorial board wins at least 5 Knucklehead awards for the year.
11- My wife says I spend too much time blogging or playing chess.
12- Brokeback Mountain wins Best film, Reese Witherspoon Best Actress, Michelle Yeoh Best Supporting Actress.
13- A cast member of Gilligan's Island or Hogan's Heroes passes away.
14- Florida Congressman Robert Wexler wins another Knucklehead award. He has two so far.
15- The NY Times editorializes that the NSA leak investigation is politically motivated.
16- Tampa Bay stuns Indianapolis in the Super Bowl.
17- Michelle Wie wins her first professional golf tourament.(Women's not Men)
18- Se Ri Pak returns to form.
19- Tiger Woods is PGA Player of the year and wins the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot.
20- Joe Paterno announces his retirement.
21- Jack Abramoff/Congressional scandal widens to at least another half dozen Congressman or Senators.
22- ER announces the 06-07 season will be its last.(Long overdue)
23- At least two hurricanes strike Florida but Southeastern Florida is spared.
24- I break at least three glasses.
25- Maureen Dowd falls in love. With a man not herself.
26- The stock market reaches 11,500 before year's end.
27- Gas prices stay about the same as they were at the end of 2005.
28- AOL still fails miserably in trying to block pop-ups.
29- Blogspot goes haywire/has a major outage at least 3 times during the year causing me to lose at least two posts.
30- Another MSM story hoax on the scale of Baby 81 but this time the public finds out the truth. Outrage follows.
31- Judith Miller has a book come out on her part in the Valerie Plame affair. The book draws a lot of media attention but isn't a best seller.
32- US Troop levels in Iraq fall below 100,000.
33- Jeb Bush announces he will not run for President in 2008.
34- VP Dick Cheney is hospitalized for chest pains at least one time. Resignation and sucessor rumors swirl again. Condoleeezza Rice's name figuring most prominently.
35- Japan moves closer to allowing women to suceed to the Chrysantheumun Throne.
36- Nuclear Talks with North Korea continue to go no where.
37- The first major aviation disaster in the US since 2001 happens killing over 100 people.
38- My wife tells me at least once in every week to clean my desk.
39- I reach the 1,000 Correspondence Game lifetime barrier. That's easy, I have 946 at the moment and 60 games on order.
40- Someone in the MSM comes out and accuses the US military of murder.
41- Another DC politician compares our troops to Nazis, Khemer Rogue etc.
42- Terrell Owens signs with the Oakland Raiders.
43- I have at least one friend pass away from Malignant Melanoma.
44- The New York Yankees win the World Series.
45- Another scandal strikes the administration of Philippine President Arroyo. A coup attempt happens shortly afterwards but fails.
46- More Muslim rioting occurs in France or another major European country.
47- My sister-in-law Leonette becomes engaged if not marries before the end of 2006.
48- A bill gets sent to the President with a clause ending automatic birthright citizenship. Bush signs the bill and a legal battle ensues over this clause. It won't be resolved in 2006.
49- Denny Hastert steps down as Speaker of the House.
50- At least half of these predictions are wrong.

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No thanks

Is my answer to the question in this article's first paragragh. Hat tip- Dr. Taylor who shares my tastes.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia?

Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat.

"People like coffee. And when they want to treat themselves, they order the Kopi Luwak," said Isaac Jones, director of sales for Tastes of The World, an online supplier of gourmet coffee, tea and cocoa.

Despite being carnivorous, civets eat ripe coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal.

Civet droppings are found on the forest floor near coffee plantations. Once carefully cleaned and roasted, the beans are sold to specialty buyers.

Jones said sales for Kopi Luwak rose three-fold just before the Christmas holiday compared with the first half of the year. The company started selling the rare coffee in February 2005.

He expects to sell around 200 pounds of the coffee this year, with orders coming from North America and Europe. So far, most of the orders have been from California.

Indonesia produces only about 500 kilograms, or roughly 1,100 pounds, of the coffee each year, making it extremely expensive and difficult to find.

"It's the most expensive coffee that we know about in the world," said Jones.

Horse nookie sells?

TFM is definitely feeling alright. My sanity is the same as it was yesterday when I wrote this.

One of my most infamous knucklehead winners and a finalist for Knucklehead of the year is James Michael Tait. Mr. Tait was the knucklehead who filmed a friend having sex with a horse.

Thanks to blogger Hooah Wife, I learned about an article at Editor & Publisher. The news reports of Mr. Tait and his co-horts were the most viewed stories at the Seattle Times website!

After reviewing the number of hits top local stories at his newspaper's Web site got in 2005, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat concludes today, "As I look back at the year in news, it's clear I should have focused more on people having sex with horses."

Indeed, four of the most-clicked stories on the Web site this year, including the No. 1 finisher ("by far"), had to do with the same incident: the man who died from a perforated colon while having sex with a horse in nearby Enumclaw. The farm was known on the Internet as a "destination site" for all kinds of sex with animals.

Westneat says, referring to the most popular list, "It's not a survey of what news you say you read. It's what you actually read.

"In fact, the No. 1 horse sex story may have been "the most widely read material this paper has published in its 109-year history. I don't know whether to ignore this alarming factoid or to embrace it." He added: "Or, maybe, some of us are not giving readers enough of what you really want."

Incredible, right? The article goes on to say this is misleading. Saying the traffic spike was due to a link by Drudge to one of these stories. How do they know it wasn't TFM readers, all 144 of you and our obsessive compulsiveness? Remember E&P is the same website that overhyped that NYT blog piece a few weeks back.

No its not really due to us. The article concluded with-

No doubt the stories gained a tremendous number of local eyeballs beyond Drudge. But editors need to analyze where traffic is coming from before jumping to conclusions on what a core audience really wants. Besides, how many horse sex death cases can you count on?

Very few I suspect. I doubt we'll have a generic Knucklehead finalitst quite like James Michael Tait ever again.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Wizbang,

The 2005 Knucklehead of the year award

The time has finally come to crown the Grand Knucklehead(s) of 2005. Who will it be?

It all began at my other blog with this post about a truck driver. Since that day I've given out over 100 awards. It hasn't always been a daily award but TFM tried hard to find one every day. If you'd like an explanation of how the awards evolved, click here.

Our judging panel is still unchanged. They are- Jo at Jo's Cafe, Don Surber, John in Carolina, Greta aka Hooah Wife, plus Yours Truly.

Our seven Knucklehead finalists are-

James Michael Tait (Generic)
The management of Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital (Bureaucratic)
Amnesty International (Organizations, Corporations, Associations)
Baseball Pitcher Kenny Rogers (Sports & Entertainment)
US Senator Richard Durbin (Politics)
Washington Post Style writer Robin Givhan (MSM)(Appropriately attired in clothes picked by the Roberts children.
Scotus Justices Kennedy, Ginsberg, Breyer, Souter, Stevens

Update- Welcome Captains Quarters and Betsy's Page readers.

Here are the original semifinals for the seven finalists were picked. There were six semi-finalists in each field.
Generic, MSM, Judiciary, Politics, Sports & Entertainment, Org, Corp & Assoc, Bureaucratic

First I'll give some of the Judge's comments

Greta- On Tait she wrote- This guy also deserves a Darwin award and surely can't have an IQ higher than a common farm animal. Lock him up and throw away the key. Or better yet - make him attend PETA conventions!
On Amnesty Intl- Oh come on - do terrorists treat others humanely?
On Senator Durbin- Dick the Dick is a hazard to himself and the world!
On Kenny Rogers- Athletes get way too much press as it is!
On Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital- Stalin would be proud.
On Robin Givhan- The fact that she is paid to write this rubbish from the WaPo is much worse than the garbage she spews from her mouth!
On the Supreme Court Justices- can't believe these morons. We should take all their houses and build parks! Nothing gets me going more lateley than eminent domain!

Don Surber wrote- I picked Halifax because it was just so stupid. Eminent domain will be overturned and Durbin will be diselected

John in Carolina-

The Justices- The five justices who convinced themselves our founding fathers placed in the Constitution something none of us had ever noticed: A provision allowing City Councils and County Commissions to seize our homes and businesses whenever wealthy developers needed a little extra profit. Who would have thought Madison, Jay, and Hamilton would have done that?

Senator Durbin- Because he so outrageously attacked the organization that’s both the essential defender of our freedoms and the world’s greatest human rights organization: The Untied States Military.

Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital- Because the management’s “Don’t coo” edict is part of a leftist, behavior-control movement that we know best in America as “political correctness.” Think university professors who tell students the McCarthy era was “a time of fear and intimidation” while they enforce the campus speech code.

Amnesty International- It can’t distinguish between a Soviet Union that ran a gulag that killed upward of 20 millions people and America where Amnesty staffers are free to viciously and falsely attack the government while living a very pretty comfortable life courtesy of the protection provided by the US Military

Robin Givhan- Givhan represents most of MSM but she didn’t win because she’s not as bad as CBS telling us for days that Bill Burkett was an “unimpeachable” source.

Kenny Rogers and James Michael Tait- The following two Knuckleheads are deserving of recognition but they didn’t do nearly the harm of the others. And they don't represent near the threat to a free and strong America that the other “winners” do.

Is the suspense killing you yet? The envelope please.

Our Grand Knucklehead of 2005 is.......................................................

Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and David Souter!

Come on down Justices we have your trophies for you. You are the Grand Knuckleheads of 2005. For your majority decision in Kelo vs The City of New London, already one of the most infamous decisions in Supreme Court History. It is the hope of this judge that all of you get the most fittng reward for your Kelo decision. To see your homes bulldozed to make way for a factory or parking lot. That is the kind of chaos Kelo will bring to homeowners and you should suffer too.

The first runner-up for the 2005 Knucklehead of the year was Senator Richard Durbin. Amnesty International was second runner-up.

That's it folks. God willing I'll be back in a year to give out the 2006 Knucklehead of the year award. Till then have a Happy New Year and God bless.

Open Post- Samantha Burns, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Wizbang, Point Five,

Guiness world records time

Some news from Boston. This guy must really like being in jail. He set a record for the shortest bail.

Hat tip- Wizbang
Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog,

FRAMINGHAM — Anger management classes, anyone?

Eight minutes after being bailed out on charges of assaulting a car dealer Wednesday, a Framingham man got busted again, this time for allegedly hitting a cop with a door as he was being sprung.

Justin Fish, 21, went back to the clink for his alleged act of violence as Officer Robert Kelleher was escorting him out of the station.

The cops had been called to Route 126 Auto Sales at 9 p.m. for a report of an assault. Dealership owner Richard Souza said Fish had been yelling at him about the number of cars on the lot. Souza claimed Fish punched him, then threw a rock through his window. Fish was charged with assault and malicious mischief.

“As I was assisting Fish out of the booking area and to the front lobby he was staring me down and called me a ‘tough guy,’ ” said Kelleher. “As I went to open the door for Fish, he grabbed the door handle, swinging it open and hitting my hand.”

Oh my goodness

Hurricane season isn't over.

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MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Zeta formed Friday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, another installment in a record-breaking hurricane season that officially ended last month.

Zeta, the 27th storm of the season, formed Friday about 1,000 miles south-southwest of the Azores islands, the National Hurricane Center reported. At noon EST, Zeta had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northwest near 8 mph.

It was not likely to threaten land, hurricane center forecaster Martin Nelson said.

``We believe this will be simply a problem for maritime interests,'' Nelson said.

Although some strengthening was possible, Zeta was expected to begin weakening Saturday, forecasters said. Tropical storms develop when their winds exceed 39 mph.

Exhibit A in why unions are bad news

Four months ago I gave Northwest Airlines' mechanics union the Knucklehead of the day award. The union was going on strike as their company was facing bankruptcy.

Over four months has passed and the union is still on strike. Northwest Airlines is still flying, and has replaced the strikers at the same time going through bankruptcy court. The union just rejected Northwest's latest contract offer too. But read this news carefully, if the union had voted yes the mechanics would have still been out of work. Northwest has replaced them.

Just proves that I was right giving the mechanics union a Knucklehead award. 4,400 workers are out of work, that's what the union has to show for their strike. Labor union orgnaizers shouldn't be shocked then that most people find these organizations of little use.

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MINNEAPOLIS - Mechanics at Northwest Airlines Corp. voted to remain on strike Friday, a move that will have little impact on the bankrupt airline's operations.

Leaders of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association lobbied against the company's latest offer, which would not have brought back any of the 4,400 union members who went on strike Aug. 20.

Of the 2,223 votes cast, 1,258, or 56 percent, of union members rejected the offer while 965, or 43 percent, voted in favor, according to a news release from the union.

"Our striking members refused to bow down to Northwest's arrogant, self-enriching management and will continue the strike against this renegade, union-busting airline," said AMFA National Direct O.V. Delle-Femine in a prepared statement.

The contract would have re-classified the strikers as laid-off rather than on the strike. The designation would make those that hadn't found other work eligible for unemployment benefits.

The bankrupt airline has been flying more-or-less normally for weeks with 880 replacement mechanics and outside vendors.

The latest offer would also have paid the strikers four weeks severance pay, accrued vacation time and guaranteed that they would be first in line for future job openings at the airline.

From the Silly news desk

This sounds like a scene from a bad movie.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bloggin Outloud, Is it Just me?, Third World County,

FREMONT, Calif. - A pack of angry Chihuahuas attacked a police officer who was escorting a teenager home after a traffic stop, authorities said.

The officer suffered minor injuries, including bites to his ankle, Detective Bill Veteran said.

The five Chihuahuas escaped the 17-year-old boy's home and rushed the officer in the doorway Thursday, authorities said. The teenager had been detained after the traffic incident.

The officer was treated at a hospital and returned to work less than two hours later.

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Nazir Ahmed. He has reportedly murdered his three young daughters and one step-daughter in Pakistan. Ahmed did this to salvage his family's honor?

Honor in slitting a four-year-old's throat? What society or person believes in such a thing. It is sick and Mr. Ahmed is scum. That's too kind a word as is knucklehead too. Michelle Malkin calls this unspeakable evil and I have to agree.

I hope Mr. Ahmed meets a barbaric and hideously painful death. For commiting a heinous and unthinkable act, Nazir Ahmed is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, 10ft2ft, Bloggin Outloud, TMH's Bacon Bits, Cao's Blog , Is it Just me?, Adam's Blog, Third World County,

MULTAN, Pakistan - Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" — a crime that shocked Pakistan.

The 40-year old laborer, speaking to The Associated Press in police detention as he was being shifted to prison, confessed to just one regret — that he didn't murder the stepsister's alleged lover too.

Hundreds of girls and women are murdered by male relatives each year in this conservative Islamic nation, and rights groups said Wednesday such "honor killings" will only stop when authorities get serious about punishing perpetrators.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that in more than half of such cases that make it to court, most end with cash settlements paid by relatives to the victims' families, although under a law passed last year, the minimum penalty is 10 years, the maximum death by hanging.

Ahmed's killing spree — witnessed by his wife Rehmat Bibi as she cradled their 3 month-old baby son — happened Friday night at their home in the cotton-growing village of Gago Mandi in eastern Punjab province.

It is the latest of more than 260 such honor killings documented by the rights commission, mostly from media reports, during the first 11 months of 2005.

Bibi recounted how she was woken by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter Muqadas and cut her throat with a machete. Bibi looked helplessly on from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls — Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 — pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm.

"I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters," Bibi, sobbing, told AP by phone from the village. "I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you.'"

"The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me," she said.

The next morning, Ahmed was arrested.

Sometimes I hate blogging

Are you ready for a mood swing after my earlier post? Actually nothing has changed, I been planning to write this post for a couple of days.

I blog on whatever strikes me as interesting or funny. Many of my leads come from other bloggers, and I hat tip these people. Probably my second biggest source comes from newspaper reading. Either the Palm Beach Post at home, Yahoo news or checking mostly Florida newspaper websites. On any given day I check papers in Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee. I'm a Florida blog after all and I lean to talking about Florida issues.

Anyone who reads the daily newspaper or watches the evening news knows about the daily dose of bad news that comes with it. Murder, rape, violent crimes. We try to innoculate ourselves against letting these tragedies get to us. But does it always work? For me it doesn't, and my blogging exposes me to lots of bad news. Some of which gets me very angry or very upset or both.

The worst for me involve children. Especially the very young or pre-kindergarten ages. Crimes against them or people neglecting them in some way. How can people do this? It just drives me insane. Like today's Knucklehead winner. Knucklehead doesn't do justice to scum like this man.

Why does it bothers me? My wife and I lost two children. Our son Daniel was born almost three years ago, he lived 14.5 hours. I'd do anything to have Daniel back. At the holidays dear wife really feel the pain of not having our son. We miss our child and it is upsetting to see other people not appreciate what a miracle life is.

The other day I was checking newspapers in Florida and I came across this. By now many of you have probably heard the story of two-year-old Luke Andrews. He was found in his parents home after a 911 brought police there. The boy's parents were murdered and now Luke is an orphan.

Luke Andrews is alright physically but his parents are dead. The boy probably don't realize the impact of what has happened, but at some age he will find out. The boy was irreprably harmed that day by who ever killed his parents. I stumbled into this story and for all the reasons above I find it gut wrenching.

As I said in my post's title, sometimes I just hate blogging. Otherwise I wouldn't feel so terrible and depressed after reading news like what happened to Luke Andrews. I guess I got to just not let this get to me or stop blogging or limit my news surfing. Don't think any of this will work, I can't cut myself off from the tragedies that are out there in the world. No one can.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early,

Wearing Stiletto Heels, dressed in leather and carrying a whip

"Repeat after me," Said a female voice with a heavy German accent. "We must tact."

"We must have tact." The students say.

"Louder!"

"We must have tact!"

"Louder!" The teacher then cracks her whip.

"We must have tact!!"

"You swine," The teacher cracks her whip again. "Louder!!!!"

What is this post all about? Has TFM lost his mind or is he having some crazy sexual fantasy?

No I'm just picturing a class at the Buckley School.

I guess you're still clueless. Remember yesterday's Knucklehead Kathleen Parker? Read what it says at the bottom of her Townhall piece from earlier this week. It says- she is director of the School of Written Expression at the Buckley School of Public Speaking and Persuasion in Camden, South Carolina.

Now go to this part of the Buckley School website. Half way down the page it reads-

Tact: nobody enjoys being made a fool of; all instruction is gentle.

My little skit above is how I see Ms. Parker teaching at the Buckley School. Do you understand the title of this post now and what do you think?

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Is it Just me?, Bright & Early, Adam's Blog, Third World County, Outside the Beltway,

Pass me the cookies

AP is reporting that the NSA places webtracking cookies on the computers of people who visit the agency's website.

The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most files of that type.

The files, known as cookies, disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week. Agency officials acknowledged yesterday that they had made a mistake.

Nonetheless, the issue raised questions about privacy at the agency, which is on the defensive over reports of an eavesdropping program.

"Considering the surveillance power the N.S.A. has, cookies are not exactly a major concern," said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington. "But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government's very basic rules for Web privacy."

Until Tuesday, the N.S.A. site created two cookie files that do not expire until 2035.

As Federal law stands, the NSA shouldn't be doing this. A spokesman said it was due to a recent software upgrade.

But why should the agency get defensive? Why should the MSM be giving this story coverage as yet another invasion of people's privacy? I'm no computer expert, but I know cookies being put on one's computer by commercial websites is just part of what a web surfer puts up with when using the internet.

As Captain Ed and Don Surber point out, its funny the MSM is covering this story. For their own websites, like Washingtontimes.com, NYtimes.com etc put cookies on people's computers too. Isn't the MSM invading people's privacy too? Well who says the MSM applies the same rules to itself that it applies to others right?

Steven Taylor at Poliblog takes a slightly different stance. Saying cookies aren't a big deal but in the context of the NSA and data mining this wasn't very comforting. Wizbang notes the DNC website leaves cookies too. Those scoundrels!

Just let me have my glass of milk.

Open Post- Cao's Blog , Is it Just me?, Liberal Common Sense,

How I spent my winter vacation

Best describes the adventures of 16-year-old Farris Hassan of Fort Lauderdale. The youth using money given to him by his parents travelled all the way to Baghdad.

This kid has balls I will say that. You have to read the Sun-Sentinel coverage of Hassan's story. Click here.

The teen traveled throughout the Middle East for two weeks before walking into a war zone office of The Associated Press news agency in Baghdad on Tuesday. The Associated Press immediately called the U.S. Embassy.

"I would have been less surprised if little green men walked in," editor Patrick Quinn said.Few details of the teen's journey during the two weeks prior could be confirmed through official channels. But Navy Cmdr. Robert Mulac, who works in the Multi-National Force-Iraq press office in Baghdad, said Thursday night that the youth was staying at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"He's here, and he's safe. The only reason he probably got away with it without getting killed is because he looks native," Mulac said. "We're going to send him home."

*****

After Farris Hassan landed in Kuwait City, the teen attempted to get into Iraq by taking a taxi across the border. He couldn't cross because of the security surrounding Iraq's elections, and called his father.

"I said, `You go to the [American] Embassy right now! The border is closed," the father recalled. "He said, Yes Sir! Yes, Dad!"

Then something even more extraordinary happened. Instead of ordering his son home, Redha Hassan said he gave him the choice to go to Beirut for a week to stay with family friends, and then go to Baghdad once the border opened and private security could be arranged.

"I felt it would leave a scar, disappointing him in his young life," Redha Hassan said of sending his son home. "I learned long ago that if you say no, they stick to the point and insist on doing it. Nothing fazed him."

*****

I find the father's comments amazing. Later in the article Farris' brother says the boy will get a ass-whoopin when he gets home. I have to agree with Donnah at Florida Cracker, I'd do the same if I was Farris father or mother.

Just incredible. All well that ends well if Farris gets home safe and I pray he does. He's going to have some tales to tell when he goes to school. Michelle Malkin suggested someone get Hassan a blog.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Adam's Blog, Third World County,

Keeping the lions....or idiots safe

Lion Country Safari a popular tourist destination in Palm Beach County has errected a fence in part of its park. The park which is nearly forty years old, allows cars to drive through areas where wild animals freely roam.

Read the entire Palm Beach Post article. In spite of warnings, visitors to LCS sometimes risk their own lives to get pictures. How dumb can people be? These aren't house pets. The park put it up the fence for fear of litigation. I don't blame them, some fool would get killed because of their own stupidity and then a jury would give a multi-million dollar verdict. Says a great deal about our society on more than one level. Morons and imbeciles rule.

Personal note- I've been to LCS just once in my life. It was in 1970 or 1971. While driving through part of the park, traffic suddenly stopped. A girafe was was walking between cars. I just wish I could find that photo.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Third World County, Diane's Stuff,

LOXAHATCHEE — In the competition for most-feared creature at a popular drive-through safari, lawyers have now eclipsed lions.

If Lion Country Safari can't stop people from opening their car windows in front of the dangerous cats, it can put up a fence to prevent a potentially frightful outcome — lawsuits.

The big warning signs, ever-present lion keepers and real roaming lions didn't convince people to follow the rules. But the danger that a daring guest would go too far and get hurt became too scary for park operators.

Fearing an attack would cause a traumatic injury and trigger litigation, the park put up a fence between cars and lions last month, substantially taming a quirky South Florida attraction.

"We had some guests taking risks and maybe getting a little too risky," park spokeswoman Jennifer Berthume said. "If you had one incident where something did happen, it would be very tragic. We didn't want to wait for that to happen."

The animals in the rest of the preserve still can roam next to vehicles.

When Lion Country opened in 1967, it was the first of its kind in the country and had nothing but lions. In nearly 40 years, it added hundreds of other animals and rides, but always gave guests the novelty of driving dangerously close to a lion. Most other wild animal safaris that followed have since closed, and only one, in Winston, Ore., still allows people to drive among the kings of the jungle.

The new Lion Country setup takes cars on the same path but encloses the lions on a 660-foot-long island with more room, swinging toys and no vehicle access.

This is one of the busiest times of the year, when up to 40,000 cars are expected to pass through within two weeks.

Lion Country Wildlife Director Terry Wolf said the park has considered fencing off the lions for years, but it finally was done in November after signs, lights and a loudspeaker didn't seem to be enough to ensure guests behaved safely. He said the for-profit park can't afford the liability.

This year, a judge held a similar Canadian attraction, African Lion Safari, liable for $2.5 million after two guests were bitten by a tiger. In the 1996 incident, the visitors said they accidentally lowered the automatic window when a tiger bumped the car. Though that case didn't prompt the decision to fence off the lions, Wolf said it illuminated the risk.

"That park suffered tremendously from that one case. We know about it, but it's always been in our head," Wolf said. "To me, this isn't an overnight decision."

On a recent drive through Lion Country Safari, one out of every dozen vehicles had a window partially down. One driver cracked open a van door to photograph the lions. A man in a zebra-striped truck quickly admonished the guests, and they moved on. Lion keeper Brian Dowling said it has been a constant struggle to keep the lions and visitors safe.

"You really have to stay on your toes all the time," he said. He calls his work a "white-knuckle job" that makes him clutch the steering wheel.

In rare cases, people have exited their cars and attempted to feed the lions. The wild animals have rubbed against vehicles, bitten bumpers and nearly been run over.

Since the chain-link fence went up, about a half-dozen people have complained to park management.

"Once you explain there's more area (for lions) to roam, less stress, they're like, 'OK, cool,' " Wolf said. "From the lions' point of view, this is supreme. This is the cat's meow."

The park is trying to come up with ways to get people closer to the 14 lions, possibly using a tram, gondola or guided tour.

Robert Novak's source has been found!

Read this news. Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson are outed by their five-year-old son. I await the Grand Jury investigation.(Insert sarcastic laughter)

Hat tip- Michelle Malkin who says kids say the darndest things. Amen to that.
Open Post- Is it Just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits, Liberal Common Sense, Bloggin Outloud,

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Washington couple at the heart of the CIA leak investigation had their cover blown by their small son as they tried to sneak away on vacation on Thursday.

"My daddy's famous, my mommy's a secret spy," declared the 5-year-old of his parents, former diplomat Joe Wilson and retired CIA operative Valerie Plame.

The former spy, who just retired from the agency, and the diplomat have been at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has reached into the White House.

They said they were headed to an undisclosed vacation location with their twins but stopped for a brief interview inside the airport terminal.

The Knucklehead of the Year award- Org., Corp. & Assoc.

The first Knucklehead of the year awards is back. Today's category is Organizations, Corporations and Associations. Knuckleheads are definitely not limited to humans.

Read this post if you want an explanation of how I set up this year's awards. Our judging panel remains the same.

Jo at Jo's Cafe, Don Surber, John in Carolina, Greta aka Hooah Wife, plus Yours Truly

Our six nominees are-

1- Amnesty International
2- Jostens Inc.
3- The Board of American Gold Star Moms
4- Virginia Mason Medical Center
5- Remedy Intelligent Staffing
6- Ladies Professional Golf Association

This was a close vote. The Board of American Gold Star Moms got two votes for Knucklehead of the year here. That was my choice. However the winner is......................

Amnesty International

Amnesty International originally won the Knucklehead award on June 6th for a report stating that prisoners at Guantanamo in Cuba were being mistreated and Amnesty compared it to Soviet Gulags. The only problem was and this was admitted by the organization's leader was that Amnesty had no proof for their accusations. Our troops get slandered by people who don't know what they are talking about. What a Knucklehead!

Way to go Amnesty International! They are the seventh and last Knucklehead finalist for 2005. They join Robin Givhan, Senator Richard Durbin, James Michael Tait, Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital, five supreme court justices and MLB Pitcher Kenny Rogers. Two days from now on December 31st we will announce the Grand Knucklehead of 2005. Please come back to see who it is.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Is it Just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits, Liberal Common Sense, Outside the Beltway, Bloggin Outloud, Bright & Early, Diane's Stuff,

172

Today I just ordered 60 2006 Golden Knights Correspondence Chess games. I've played in at least 60 of these games every year since 2006.

You'll probably think me insane for playing that many games all together at one time but that isn't half of it. See the number in my post. If you take those sixty and add it to the amount of games I am playing at the moment, that's the total games I would be playing.

172? Am I insane or do I need a life?

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Is it Just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits, Liberal Common Sense

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker. She gets it for her hateful attack column on bloggers that was published yesterday.

It's been the talk of the blogosphere. LaShawn Barber, James at OTB and Dr. Steven Taylor to name just three. Read their highly intelligent analysis of Ms. Parker's misguided diatribe.

The beginning of one paragraph says a great deal- I mean no disrespect to the many brilliant people out there - professors, lawyers, doctors, philosophers, scientists and other journalists who also happen to blog. Again, they know who they are.

These are the brilliant people in Ms. Parker's mind. Some of the best blogs out there are written by members of our military. Ms. Parker shows her true colors right here. She is an intellectual snob. If you don't meet her criteria, we're barbarians.

And her use of the words baby bloggies. Never been heard of or used by many 'brilliant' bloggers. So who is the intellectual here?

And I thought I liked this columnist up till now. I'm no barbarian and I'm no great intellectual. But there is one thing I'm good at. Sniffing out stupidty and Ms. Parker showed plenty of it in her hate filled invective. For being a elitist snob and trashing people many people she knows little about, Kathleen Parker is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Mudville Gazette,

Bad Kitty!

Some news from West Virginia.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Pursuing Holiness,

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Locking yourself out of your car is bad enough, but Jeanna Stewart was even more embarrassed when the culprit was not her, but her cat.

The Morgantown resident said she was getting a spare house key out her car's trunk on Monday when her cat Mork, one of three in the car, stepped on the automatic door lock. She couldn't unlock the door because she had left her car keys on the driver's seat.

"He wouldn't unlock the door for me," Stewart said Tuesday. "He was standing there, saying why aren't you opening the door? I want to go inside."

Stewart went into her house and called the Morgantown Fire Department for help. She said she was mainly concerned about freeing Mork and the other cats, Minday and Alex.

"They rescued my three little kitties," Stewart said. "I didn't need a rescue for me, just for them."

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Republican State Senator from Tennessee Jeff Miller. Unhappy with the reporting done by a small newspaper of his marriage breakup, Miller sent letters to the Bradley News Weekly's advertisers requesting they stop advertising with the newspaper. The letters in part said-

"Myself and many others are going to be watching in the next several weeks to identify and remember those in this community that wish to subsidize the destructive nature of this type of publication in our community."

Some recipients of the letter took it as a threat. Reading the above I'd agree. State legislators have alot of power that can be used and abused and I wouldn't take the above lightly. Rep Miller is making threats. For abusing the powers of his office, Tennessee State Senator Jeff Miller is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Outside the Beltway, Jo's Cafe, Bright and Early, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits,

The Knucklehead of the Year award- MSM

The first Knucklehead of the year awards is back. Today's category is the MSM. Many bloggers myself included have a field day picking on the MSM. Their transgressions are both large and small and there rarely goes a week without some scandal occuring. At TFM I've left most MSM criticism to the more eloquent bloggers out there. I know the bias is there, but pointing it out has been done by others and in a much better writing style than my own. When I've criticized the MSM, its on a case by case basis, and most often the local media in Florida. The nominees in this category reflect that.

Read this post if you want an explanation of how I set up this year's awards. Our judging panel remains the same.

Jo at Jo's Cafe
Don Surber
John in Carolina
Greta aka Hooah Wife plus Yours Truly

Our six nominees are-

1- Evan Cohen
2- Helen Thomas
3- Washington Post Style writer Robin Givhan
4- Darlene Superville and her employer the Associated Press
5- Diana Griego Erwin
6- Palm Beach Post columnist George McEvoy

Again one Knucklehead got a majority of three votes. Single votes went to George McEvoy of whom Greta wrote- Duh - Bush is the Commander in Chief - he should speak in front of the soldiers

Veteran White House Correspondent Helen Thomas also got one vote.

The MSM Knucklehead of 2005 is..................................

Washington Post Style writer Robin Givhan!

Ms Givhan originally won the Knucklehead award on July 22nd for criticizing how the children of John Roberts were dressed when their father was announced as President Bush's nomination to the US Supreme Court. Apparently Givhan has never heard of dressing one's children in their Sunday best. This Knucklehead was a particular favorite of my dear wife.

John in Carolina wrote of Robin Givhan saying- Givhan can only do what she does because of The Washington Post which really deserves the award with Givhan accepting on its behalf. What do you think she would wear? I say let the Roberts kids choose her award ceremony outfit.

LOL John. This is a virtual awards ceremony so you get your wish. Ms. Givhan will be appropriately attired by the Roberts children.

Way to go Robin Givhan! You join Senator Richard Durbin, James Michael Tait, Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital, five supreme court justices and MLB Pitcher Kenny Rogers as Knucklehead finalists of the year. Come back tomorrow to find out who our last finalist is. The Grand Knucklehead of 2005 will be announced on December 31st. Till next time.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright and Early, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits,

More Florida Democratic Party bungling

The Democrats are out of power in Florida. With the exception of US Senator Bill Nelson, Republicans hold all almost all major offices in this state. The GOP also holds an over 2-1 edge in seats in both the State House and Senate.

And with party Chairmen like this, you don't wonder why the Democrats are in disarray in Florida. Now here comes the latest example of ineptitude thanks to Blogger Peer Review.

Rod Smith, a candidate for Governor sent me this email today:

Rod Smith would be harder [for Republicans] to beat than Jim Davis"
--Former Republican Governor Mel Martinez

Over the weekend, former Republican Governor Mel Martinez gave his handicap on the 2006 Gubernatorial General Election:

"Rod Smith would be harder to beat than Jim Davis,"

.....

This is our last quarter of 2005--let's show the Republicans that we won't back down, that we're ready to win in 2006!

Happy Holidays--we can't wait for 2006!

Paul NeavilleCampaign Manager
Rod Smith for Governor

It would be nice if a Democratic candidate for governor would hire a campaign manager who actually knew something about Florida Political History. The person being quoted is former Florida Governor Bob Martinez(elected in 1986 and defeated for re-election in 1990. Sorry Peer Review you goofed on the years. Its not 84-88), not current US Senator Mel Martinez who has never been Governor.

I don't think much of Smith to start with. Congressman Jim Davis is the Democrats best hope next year, but unless Gallagher-Crist gets too bloody I don't see the Republicans losing the Florida Governor's race in 2006.

Open Post- Bright and Early, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, TMH's Bacon Bits,

Ten Worst Americans or Ten Knucklehead Americans

Alexandra at All Things Beautiful is challenging the blogosphere to come up with this list. Its based on a BBC article about Professors in the UK picking the worst Britons over the last thousand years.

This isn't so easy, are are many candidates over the history of the United States. We'll start with some more recent history, 2005.

2005 Top 10- US Supreme Court Justices Souter, Stevens, Breyer, Kennedy and Ginsberg. James Michael Tait, Senator Richard Durbin, Kenny Rogers. Well that's eight. They are also my Knucklehead of the Year finalists.

For the last 230 years- Timothy McVeigh, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Jefferson Davis,

11 am update- Add Richard Nixon and Aaron Burr to the four above.

Well that's a start. There are many names popping in my head, but its hard to sort them out. I'd need more time.(Or more coffee or preferrably both). Go to ATB and have fun or post here in my comments section.

December 31st Update- The Knucklehead of 2005 has been chosen.

Open Post- Basil's Blog, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, Pursuing Holiness,

The Knucklehead of the Year awards- Generic

The first Knucklehead of the year awards is back.

Today's category is Generic. That means Knuckleheads who fit none of my other six categories. There are some real winners(or losers) out there among the ordinary citizenry.
Read this post if you want an explanation of how I set up this year's awards. Our judging panel remains the same.

Jo at Jo's Cafe
Don Surber
John in Carolina
Greta aka Hooah Wife plus Yours Truly

Our six nominees are-

1- Wafa al-Biss
2- Debra Lefave
3- James Michael Tait
4- Jaimie Reynolds
5- Pat Robertson
6- Mike and Sharen Gravelle

Our winner received three votes from our panelists. Don Surber did a write-in for Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan.

John in Carolina voted for Pat Robertson and wrote-

I wish you had included Robert F. Kennedy, Jr in this category for his remarks in the first hours after Katrina hit when MSM was reporting great damage in Mississippi with little mention of damage to New Orleans.

Kennedy said:

“As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol.”

He concluded his remarks, made in this post at The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/for-they-that-sow-the-_b_6396.html

“In 1998, Republican icon Pat Robertson warned that hurricanes were likely to hit communities that offended God. Perhaps it was Barbour’s memo that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New Orleans and save its worst flailings for the Mississippi coast.”

When Kennedy learned of the damage to New Orleans he added an unintentionally revealing update to his post:

“[UPDATE: Alas, the reprieve for New Orleans was only temporary. But Haley Barbour still has much to answer for.]”

I’m told Kennedy is not only a leading environmentalist but one of the sharpest thinkers on the political left and a likely future Democratic Party candidate for state-wide office in New York.

Well, who would doubt any of that

Our Generic Knucklehead winner is.....................

James Michael Tait

Mr. Tait originally won the Knucklehead award on December 1st. Tait pled guilty in a Washington Court to the charge of trespassing. Seems Mr. Tait and some friends visited a neighbor's farm where our Knucklehead filmed one of his friends having sex with a horse!

As Greta said- Mr Ed says a horse is a horse and not for human intercourse!

I couldn't agree more.

Way to go Mr. Tait! You now join Senator Richard Durbin, Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital, five supreme court justices and MLB Pitcher Kenny Rogers as our Knucklehead of the year finalists. Please come back December 28th and 29th to find out who our other three finalists will be. On December 31st the Grand Knucklehead of 2005 will be announced. Till next time.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Third World County, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, Uncooperative Blogger, Outside the Beltway,

Jeff Reardon

The former MLB pitcher was arrested yesterday after he held up a jewelry store in nearby Palm Beach Gardens.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Jeff Reardon, one of the top relief pitchers in history, blamed medication for depression after his arrest for a jewelry store robbery.

Police said Tuesday that the 50-year-old Reardon, retired since 1994 and sixth in career saves, walked into Hamilton Jewelers at the Gardens Mall on Monday and handed an employee a note saying he had a gun and the store was being robbed.

Reardon, who starred with the Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, fled the store with $170 in cash, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post.

Police found him at a nearby restaurant, recovered the stolen money and charged him with armed robbery.

Lt. David O'Neill said Reardon did not have a gun and offered no resistance when he was handcuffed.

"He said it was the medication that made him do it and that he was sorry,'' O'Neill said.

According to the arrest report cited in the Palm Beach Post, Reardon told police: "I am taking medication and am sorry for what happened ... I completely lost my mind and tried to rob (a) jewelry store. I flipped on my medications and didn't realize what I was doing."

O'Neill said Reardon has lived in the city for more than 20 years and has never caused any problems.

Reardon's attorney, Mitchell Beers, said that Reardon had taken antidepressants since his son's death in early 2004. In addition, he had taken additional medication after surgery last week.

"He asked me to apologize to his fans and friends,'' Beers said. "This bizarre incident is completely uncharacteristic of Jeff Reardon.''

Reardon made a brief appearance in court Tuesday and was to be released on $5,000 bail, Beers said. A judge ordered Reardon to undergo a mental health evaluation, according to the Post.

I heard about Reardon's arrest on the morning news but there was no mention of motive in those news reports.

As a parent who lost a son I can sympathize with Jeff Reardon. That don't condone what he did, if that's what drove him to his act. James Joyner at OTB is more accepting of Reardon blaming it on depression and medications. I've been depressed(and angry to boot) for the three years since Daniel died plus taken anti-depressants and we have had financial issues too. Nothing has driven me to commit a felony. I am always skeptical of those who blame a crime on depression.

Open Post- Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Pursuing Holiness,

Still a bad and dangerous idea

AP is reporting that birthright citizenship will be back before Congress again soon.

A proposal to change long-standing federal policy and deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface — kindling bitter debate even if it fails to become law. At issue is “birthright citizenship” — provided for since the Constitution’s 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Section 1 of that amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Some conservatives in Congress, as well as advocacy groups seeking to crack down on illegal immigration, say the amendment has been misapplied over the years, that it was never intended to grant citizenship automatically to babies of illegal immigrants. Thus they contend that federal legislation, rather than a difficult-to-achieve constitutional amendment, would be sufficient to end birthright citizenship.

With more than 70 co-sponsors, Georgia Republican Rep. Nathan Deal tried to include a revocation of birthright citizenship in an immigration bill passed by the House in mid-December. GOP House leaders did not let the proposal come to a vote.

James Joyner calls this debate silly. I'll go further and call it dangerous. I've made my opinions known in posts here and here. Steve Benen clearly points out that Supreme Court precedent is not on the side of any changes proposed by Congress because of the 14th ammendment. An anchor baby can't apply for their parents till the child becomes an adult. So isn't this pure demagogurey if not bigotry by some on the right? I think its the former by our politicians, and the majority of those who support it just haven't thought this issue through.

Open Post- Third World County, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, Uncooperative Blogger,

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Goes to Mark Klander. He was executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing in Canada. What caused Mr. Klander's resignantion was a blog post of his where he had a picture of Olivia Chow a NDP candidate in Toronto and below it a picture of a Chow Chow(A breed of dogs). The post was captioned Seperated at Birth.

Such lovely tolerance from liberals. Don't ever be a minority and anything but a liberal or you get compared to dogs. Whether Mark Klander was just an idiot or a bigot it don't matter, he is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Hat tip- Michelle Malkin
Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Third World County, Adam's Blog, Is it just me?, Uncooperative Blogger,

Some Football broadcast comments

*- Cheerleader shots are obligatory with any football forecast. Has anyone noticed how much makeup some of these women wear? I mean many of them look like they have another job......

*- Two minute television timeouts. That is what they should call it because thats what it is. I mean does a coach need to be told how much time is left on the clock by having a warning every game? Oh and when you're down 41-0 I'm sure these timeouts are really vital. "Thanks ref for letting me know, I can get my two-minute 42 point offense on the field now."

*- If you watch the NFL enough you can time the length of commercial breaks so as to get food or a snack. CBS during last Sunday's Dolphins game came back too early from a two-minute warning, showed one play and went back to commercial.

That really fouled up my tomato juice break. Thanks for nothing CBS.(Time for sarcastic laughter)

*- CBS' promos for their sitcoms. Why did I not find a single one of them funny?

*- Tonight marks the final ABC Monday night football game. I won't say I'll miss it, because I won't. Living on the east coast and having the games run past midnight has made me miss most broadcasts except if I follow one of the teams involved(Jets or Dolphins). Tonight will be no different and I'll be asleep by 11 p.m.

Open Post- Bloggin Outloud, Third World County, Uncooperative Blogger, Is it just me?,

The Knucklehead of the Year award- Politics

The first Knucklehead of the year awards is back. We hope everyone had a blessed holiday.

Today's category is Politics. As we all know there is no lack of candidates for this award. Some may even say all politicians are knuckleheads!

Read this post if you want an explanation of how I set up this year's awards. Our judging panel remains the same.

Jo at Jo's Cafe
Don Surber
John in Carolina
Greta aka Hooah Wife plus Yours Truly

Our Six nominees for today are

1- Philippine President Gloria Arroyo
2- US Senator Richard Durbin
3- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
4- Indiana State Representative Patricia Miller
5- French President Jacques Chirac
6- Prince Charles

This was a close vote with two of the above six garnering all five votes. Two votes going to French President Jacques Chirac.

Our Politics winner is...........

United States Senator Richard Durbin

Senator Durbin originally won the Knucklehead award on June 16th for when speaking on the Senate Floor, this knucklehead compared our brave fighting men and women to the likes of the Nazis and Pol Pot. The absurdity of that analogy is beyond words and only a knucklehead would say them.

Greta said- Dick the Dick Durbin hands down!

John in Carolina said- Knucklehead is too nice a word for a US Senator who attacks the American military at Gitmo while paling with the guy who runs one of the most notorious jails in America. The jail happens to be in Durbin’s state.

Chirac is very bad but Democrat Durbin is worse.

John also wrote on this here.

Way to go Senator Durbin! He joins Halifax Calderdale Royal Hospital, five supreme court justices and MLB Pitcher Kenny Rogers as our Knucklehead of the year finalists. Please come back December 27th-29th to find out who our other three finalists will be. On December 31st the Grand Knucklehead of 2005 will be announced. Till next time.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Right Wing Nation, Is it Just me?, Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway,

Dirt

One of the joys of blogging is coming across headlines or stories that make you want to laugh. Here is today's chuckle from The Fort Myers News-Press.

School needs $2.5M for dirt

I laughed very hard on after reading this. Its when you read the article that you start to get annoyed. Our schools need to educate students and their spending money on dirt. What does ecologically sensitive mean? I think that could be applied to almost anything in nature.

Its just absurd how our tax dollars are wasted sometimes.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Right Wing Nation, Is it Just me?, The Right Nation, Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog,

Armed with $2.5 million, the Lee County school district could hire 46 more teachers, buy 3,794 new student computers or purchase about 20 acres in the eastern part of the county for a future school site.

Instead, the district will buy dirt.

Tons upon tons of fill dirt.

The South Florida Water Management District is requiring the school district to raise East Lee County High's 46-acre campus by an average of a foot-and-a-half to preserve wetlands and area waterways. That's 269 dump-truck loads of dirt per acre that will be spread across much of the Lehigh Acres property.

School officials estimate the dirt's cost at $2.5 million.

It's not the first time Lee schools have spent a big chunk of money on dirt. In 2004, the district paid $1.7 million to raise a portion of Lexington Middle's property by 6 feet, raising the new south Fort Myers school above the 100-year flood plain.

Another low-lying, 76-acre property in Estero might need a sizable amount of fill dirt before an elementary school opens there in 2010. That site has been in the environmental-permitting stage for more than a year.

East High's elevation change has as much to do with campus flooding as general wetlands preservation issues and waterway protection. Water district spokesman Randy Smith said major developments like schools must have minimal or no impact on wetlands. Once completed, rainwater from East High's campus will drain through adjacent canals into the Orange River, which connects to the ecologically sensitive Caloosahatchee River.

The school project has drawn significant attention from the water district and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which haggled about which agency should have primary control of a drainage ditch splitting the property. The Corps ultimately won jurisdiction.

"We have a responsibility to protect aquatic systems," said Kelly Finch, outreach specialist for Corps regulatory projects.

But all of the permitting and environmental work has delayed site work and construction at East High, originally slated to open its doors in just nine months. The district has sat idle while the agencies sorted out jurisdictional issues.

"It causes us significant time delays," Superintendent James Browder said. "Our issue is timely opening; their issue is, 'This is how we do it.' "

East High's construction delays have hit the school district squarely in the pocketbook. The school's price tag earlier this year was projected at $49.7 million but has since climbed to $58.3 million. A shortage of labor and materials following Hurricane Katrina has driven up construction costs for businesses, homes and schools alike.

Bill Moore, executive director for school support services, said the cost of fill dirt at East High, along with utilities and other site preparatory work, will represent a total of $6.8 million of the $58.3 million construction project.

No use crying or driving over spilled milk

A milk truck has overturned in my hometown of Lantana. The area just west of I-95 on Lantana Road is covered with gallons of milk. For many non-retail businesses today is an off day and traffic is usually light except around the mall areas. It didn't prevent this crash from happening. I post pictures as soon as they become available.

As I say Welcome to Florida, the rules are different here.

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The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winners are Jan Amator and the Arizona Board of Education. They get the award for the absurd rules they have in place that make it difficult for experienced out of state teachers to get certification in Arizona.

Take for instance the case of Neil W. Manzenberger. Mr. Manzenberger applied for a teaching job in Arizona after teaching music in Indiana for 30 years. He underwent a background check and submitted his teaching certificate from Indiana. Manzenberger was allowed to teach for a year at an elementary school under an emergency state certification rule.

But after one year if Mr. Manzenberger wanted to continue teaching, he would have to take an education course that he never has taken: methods of teaching elementary music. Arizona rules require it.

That's how crazy state teacher certificiation rules are. Mr. Manzenberger had 21 years experience teaching elementary students and Arizona wants him to take a college course in it. But here's the kicker.

Manzenberger taught the very class they are requiring him to take! At Purdue University for nine years. How absurd.

Jan Amator don't think so. The Deputy Associate superintendant(Lots of names in that title, sounds like a bureaucrat/paperpusher alright) said "This is a state board rule, it is not something we are doing arbitrarily. These are rules we have to follow."

Your rules are made by imbecilles Ms. Amator and you're enforcing them. What does that say? For taking rules to absurd bureaucratic extremes, Jan Amator and the Arizona Board of Education are today's Knuckleheads of the day.

Hat tip- Joanne Jacobs
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