Kim lets us in on his idea of the perfect day. Other than dumping the frenchy drinks and throwing a cigar or two in there, I wouldn't change a thing.

U.S. Rep Corrine Brown, who apparently has never heard of Condaleeza Rice or Colin Powell, referred to the Bush Administration as being full of "a bunch of white men". When Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, a Mexican-American challenged her comments, Ms. Brown responded, "you all look alike to me".

Today, she offered a luke warm apology for her comments, which seem to stem mostly from her anti-Bush rancor. Her bitterness about the 2000 election was unequivocal in her back handed 'apology'.

"It simply mystifies me how President Bush, a president who was selected by the Supreme Court under more than questionable circumstances — in my district alone 27,000 votes were thrown out — is telling another country that their elections were not fair and that they are therefore undeserving of aid or international recognition."

Brown will most likely get a pass from the liberal media and this will die out in a few days (if it hasn't already). CNN doesn't appear to even be interested in covering the story.

Just once, I'd like to see Democrats held to the same standard as the rest of us when it comes to saying boneheaded things like this.

Senate OKs Handgun Locks Legislation

Village Established by Portland Homeless Is Legalized

Rep. Brown Apologizes for 'White Men' Comment

Bartman ball blown up at Harry Caray's

Howard Stern is crying because Clear Channel chose to drop his show, rather than face backlash for the crap he spews on the radio. Showing his ignorance as part of his whine to Fox News, Stern made the claim, "It is 100 percent a freedom of speech issue". It never ceases to amaze me how someone in broadcasting could not understand what freedom of speech is.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects people from government persecution with respect to religion and expression. It doesn't say anything about compelling Clear Channel to provide Stern with a forum. In taking Stern off of his stations, Clear Channel President John Hogan said, "Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content and Howard Stern's show blew right through it. It was vulgar, offensive, and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency."

Frankly, I think Howard Stern's shtick is a bit played out. Whether or not Clear Channel feels the same way remains to be seen, but according to their statement, they just don't want to be associated with the shock jock any more. In trying to read between the lines, I think they're probably starting to see his ratings dip and decided to yank him rather than put up with all the complaints. The bottom line is that Hogan and Clear Channel no longer want to carry his show, and that is their right. Stern can express himself all he wants, but he cannot force Clear Channel to carry it, no more than he can force us to listen. Personally, I turned him off years ago.

The AP reports that Rosie O'Donnell is the first gay celebrity to take advantage of San Francisco's renegade policy on gay marriage. But in reading the article, it sounds like she accomplished another first.

O'Donnell and Carpenter, who have four children together, walked hand in hand down the grand marble staircase in the rotunda to thunderous applause from hundreds of spectators who came to witness the city's first celebrity same-sex wedding.

Perhaps I really don't want to know the answer, but just how do two women "have four children together"? Is this some sort of human asexual reproduction?

Canada's military is faced with a half a billion dollar budget shortage, yet as Kevin Baker points out, they still managed to find more than $620 million (that's more than half a billion for you government educated kids out there) to fund their national gun database.

For the record, Canadian gun registration was estimated to cost a mere $2 million. That estimate balooned to $1 Billion by 2005, and was further revised to $1 Billion by 2004. Also, the gun registry is such a miserable failure that several Canadian provinces are refusing to enforce it.

"I have been deeply troubled by what I hear coming out of Iraq. When I was there and met with women members of the national governing council and local governing councils in Baghdad and Kirkuk they were starting to express concerns about some of the pullbacks in the rights they were given under Saddam Hussein.

"He was an equal opportunity oppressor, but on paper, women had rights. They went to school, they participated in the professions, they participated in government and in business; as long as they stayed out of his way, they had considerable freedom of movement. -- Senator Hillary Clinton, longing for a return to the days of Saddam Hussein.

I've always thought that scientists will eventually link everything to cancer, but I must admit that I never figured this one would be on the list. As if women need another excuse not to do those things we like.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made a suggestion yesterday that caused just about every politician on Capitol Hill, Democrat and Republican, to shriek in horror. Greenspan looked at the rising federal deficit, spend-thrift politicians, and ever increasing entitlements, and recommended that politicians knock it off.

As a young professional, I came to terms long ago that I'll never see a dime of the thousands of dollars I'm pouring into social security each year. By confirming my suspicions, Greenspan is likely to be fired, especially if the Democrats take the White House in November.

Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry said the way to address the deficit was to roll back tax cuts for the wealthy and "the wrong way to cut the deficit is to cut Social Security benefits. If I'm president, we're simply not going to do it."

Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., called it "an outrage' for Greenspan to call for cuts in Social Security while at the same time endorsing making Bush's tax cuts permanent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, went even further and called for Greenspan to resign as Fed chairman, saying his comments were "a disgrace."

While the federal budget deficit worsens the social security problem, the relation between the two is not as direct as Kerry and Edwards would have you believe. Raising income taxes on the rich won't fix the inevitable social security bankruptcy. Social Security runs a huge surplus ever year, but the money is quickly snatched up and spent by power hungry politicians on both sides of the aisle. The IOUs of all the money taken from Social Security add up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $26 Trillion. Balancing the federal budget is only the first step in solving the problem.

Social Security has never been more than a huge ponzi scheme. If a private company tried to run a similar scam, they'd be thrown in jail faster than you can say "lock box". The aging baby boom means that more and more people are going to be drawing social security benefits, with less people paying into the fund. The end-game is a point when there aren't enough of us young people paying in to cover the expenses. That means that unless the benefits are cut, taxes are dramatically increased, or the money is privatized to take advantage of a higher rate of return, those of us in Generation X and Generation Y are just pouring money down a rat hole.

So let me get this straight. It is not okay for Presidential Candidate John Edwards to pat the heads of crippled people in wheelchairs. Contrast this to when it was okay for President Clinton to pat the butts and breasts of any woman that crossed his path.

Meanwhile, Scott Ott points out that Edwards shares their burden of being handicapped.

Should a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage be a priority? Some people seem to think so. Personally, I agree with this guy that there are much better Amendments we should be pushing. I don't want to quote the whole thing, so I'll paraphrase:

Repeal the Seventeenth
Amen to that. The Seventeenth allows for the popular election of Senators, and shifted political power away from the states to the all knowing federal government. Repealing it would not only restore some of the power to the states, but would also help limit ths size and scope of the fed.

Enact the Bricker Amendment
This Amendment basically states that our Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and that no foreign treaty can override it. It sounds like common sense, but this Amendment was actually defeated in the Senate along party lines, 42-50; with Republicans voting for it, and Democrats voting against it.

Limit the government's power to seize private property
Many people don't realize it, but if a policeman stops you and discovers that you are carrying a large sum of money (with no real definition of large) he can seize it without due process. How would you like it if you just sold your car for $3000 cash and got stopped on the way to the bank. The officer could take your money and send you on your way, and according to the Supreme Court, it's all perfectly 'legal'.

Limit the government's power to seize real property
Eminent domain abuses are on the rise. Let's say Wal-Mart wants to tear down a few houses in your neighborhood to build a new store. They make an offer to buy your property, but you refuse. Rather than look for a different location, they head over to city hall and strike a deal with your local government. The town council decides to condemn your property and force you to sell to Wal-Mart. Their justification is that they can seize your property under 'eminent domain' because the town is better served by the tax revenue and jobs created by Wal-Mart, than with the paltry property taxes they collect from you each year. Not only is this happening, but our Supreme Court has said that it's okay.

Neal has some good ideas, but why stop there. I would add several more proposed Constitutional Amedments, all of which are more important than the "defense of marriage".

Limit the government's power to usurp private property rights
Right now there are numerous state and local governments telling people what they cannot do on their own property. New York, California, Florida, and other state and local governments have passed laws telling people they cannot smoke on their own property. Some government employees have been told they cannot smoke at all, and if they do they'll be fired. Smoking may be a disgusting habit, but it's legal, and telling someone that they cannot allow people to smoke on their property or on their own spare time is no business of the government. I would wholeheartedly support an Amendment that tells the Pleasure Police nannies that they cannot usurp the rights of property owners and individual citizens. I could call it the "If you don't like it, carry your ass" Amendment.

Re-affirm the Bill of Rights
How about we re-affirm the Bill of Rights, and put some of these arguments to bed forever. Wouldn't it be nice if you could speak out against a politician within 60 days of a general election? How about if in spite of the fact you live in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, or California, you could buy a gun and use it to defend your life, liberty, and property? How about we restore the States Rights Amendment (Amendment Ten)? Over the past several years the Bill of Rights has been just about gutted, and it's time we restored the enumeration of our rights to their former glory. Wouldn't it be nice if the phrase "Congress shall make no law" actually meant that Congress shall make no law. Would that be so bad?

Whether you support gay marriage, or are vehemently opposed to it, can you honestly say that an Amendment on the subject is more important than any one of these?

When Ralph Nader entered the political fray, it was inevitable that Democrats would be upset. They largely blame Nader for Al Gore's loss in the 2000 election, despite Mr. Gore's failure to win his own state.

That the Dems would be upset is understandable, but as the Media Research Center notes, some of the major networks are steamed about it too. (emphasis theirs)

When ABC and NBC interviewed Nader today, they didn't ask a single question about the issues that drove his candidacy. They only echoed Democratic angst that Nader would drain votes from their nominee. On NBC's Today, Matt Lauer cited only disgruntled Democrats: "Howard Dean, who dropped out of the race recently, said he will actively campaign against you and urge his supporters not to vote for you. Al Sharpton says he will go on a nationwide campaign to make sure people don't vote for you. This is from Scott Maddox, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Florida: 'I think that Ralph Nader is proving the only master he serves is his enormous ego.'"

On Good Morning America, ABC's Charles Gibson began: "We all watched you yesterday and come down to this, realistically. You don't have a chance of winning, and realistically, you can keep the Democratic candidate from winning. Is that okay with you?...I heard you just a moment ago make the case that you wouldn't cost John Kerry the presidency, but the simple fact is four years ago you did cost Al Gore the presidency, didn't you?" Didn't anything Al Gore said or did play a role in his defeat?

Gibson added: "Even your friends, Mr. Nader, are asking that you not run. You're very familiar, I know, with the Ralph Don't Run Web site. I just want to play a little bit of the ad that's on that Web site right now." The ad sounded like Gibson (or vice versa) in emphasizing so-called simple fact: "The simple fact is, if Nader had not run, Gore would be President, not Bush. This time in 2004, the stakes are far too high."

The Virginia Citizens Defense League is reporting (and the AP is confirming) that Conservative stalwart and long time Republican Senator John Warner has confirmed that he will work to extend the Clinton Gun Ban a/k/a 'Assault Weapons Ban'. In their email alert, VCDL reports that Senator Warner's office has confirmed that he is working with Chuck Schumer and Dianne 'gun in the purse' Feinstein to renew the gun ban.

Not only did aides at Warner's office not understand the difference between a 'silencer' (suppressor) and a flash hider, but they balked at the idea of paying any political price. VCDL President Phillip Van Cleave writes that when threatened with the idea of voting against the Republican Party aides responded, "What would you do, put a Democrat in as President?"

I don't know why there has been a liberal shift in the Republican Party lately but with attitudes like that, I'm staying home in November.

Editor's Note: For those of you that don't know what an 'assault weapon' is, it is best described as a gun that looks scary. The term itself is designed to be very misleading in that the guns are all semi-automatic, which means they fire one round per pull of the trigger. Thus they have no more functionality than your average hunting rifle. Politicians and GFWs however, would have you believe that cosmetic features such as a pistol grip or bayonet lugs make the bullets that come out of the end of the gun much more lethal than they would normally be. In trying to further their cause, they typically lie and describe the guns as fully automatic, which is not true. Automatic firearms have been heavily regulated since 1934.

The news that Senator Warner and other Republicans are poised to support the so-called 'Assault Weapons Ban' serves to bolster the claim by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners that the NRA is in silent compicity to passage of the ban. RMGO reports that the NRA is so dead set on passing the gun makers protection act, that they have given their silent blessing to amendments on the bill that will not only extend the Clinton Gun Ban, but also wipe out gun shows. It seems too over the top, but then again the NRA did support the original ban.

When I said I quit the NRA because they were too liberal, I wasn't kidding.

When Virginia Democrat Governor Mark Warner was campaigning for election, he promised not to raise taxes. Since being elected in 2001, he's tried raising taxes three different times. Virginia voters have already shot down referendums to increase taxes, and they haven't been buying into Warner's class warfare rhetoric. But the same can't be said for the GOP controlled legislature. Warner asked for a $1 Billion tax increase, and the GOP in the Senate is ready to give him almost $4 Billion. So you may be asking yourself, why this is important to you; especially if you don't live in Virginia.

Well, one reason is that other politicians, including Presidential wanna-be John Kerry, are paying very close attention to how it plays out.

Despite having a GOP controlled legislature, and Republican Governor (up until 2001), state spending has increased $6 Billion, or 30%, over the past five years. $2.5 Billion of that increase has come during Democrat Governor Warner's term which started in 2002.

This year lawmakers hope to increase taxes and spending once more, even though it isn't necessary. The money will be used to fund their pet programs and other big spending increases.

Peter Ferrara of the Virginia Club for Growth, a fiscal watchdog group, notes that even without the proposed tax hikes the state could increase spending annually by 5.5% over the next two years. He also predicts that current revenue trends would bring in twice as much money as Mr. Warner's tax increases. "We should be talking about tax cuts, not tax increases," says Mr. Ferrara.

So what we have in Virginia is a formula whereby a Democrat executive has been able to enlist the conservative legislature into taxing and spending. If he's successful this year, it could be coming to your state very soon. (Not that the same formula isn't already playing out with George Bush at the national level.)

With all the talk of George Bush going AWOL or being a deserter because he served in the lowly National Guard, something John Kerry likens to summer camp, little has been said of Kerry's absence from his job. As of November 2003, Kerry had missed 300 votes in the Senate. Now that he's the Democrat front runner, how many votes will he miss in 2004? Better yet, how much of his annual salary will he voluntarily forfeit because he's not doing the job he was elected to do?

John Leo takes a humorous look at 21st century euphemisms from 'wardrobe malfunction' to 'exfiltration'.

Mike Adams reports that UNC-Wilmington administrators think they have too many christians. So many people have turned to religion after September 11th, that UNCW school officials are considering banning new christians from forming student groups with some sort of school mandated quota.

Upon hearing this account of the meeting, I immediately dismissed the report as inaccurate. It seemed difficult to imagine that such a sentiment would ever be publicly expressed by even the most brazen and reckless of administrators. Despite my generally low level of confidence in college administrators' respect for religious liberty, this report simply seemed too far-fetched to believe.

Unfortunately, on December 8, 2003, a member of the Student Organization Committee (SOC) at UNCW told me that the university was indeed considering a possible quota on Christian organizations at UNC-Wilmington. During our conversation, this tenured faculty member casually stated that the university had too many Christian organizations to manage. He claimed that it would soon be necessary to stop recognizing new Christian organizations and instead have students conform their religious beliefs to those of existing organizations.

Adams, who is a professor at the University verified that school officials are aware of the First Amendment. They just don't think that it applies to them. He also notes that the Director of the University Union has instructed the Student Organization Committee (via email), to quit sending out emails. Apparently he's upset that they keep ending up in Adams' column.

Woo hoo! After hundreds of purchases and years of buying music CDs at artificially high prices, I finally received my anti-trust settlement. After at least 5 years of price fixing by the music pigopoly, Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore proudly proclaims, "It is a pleasure to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion and to return value to consumers who purchased CDs while the challenged pricing policies were in effect."

So, how much did I get? Well I hate to brag, but I cleaned up to the tune of $13.86. Ironically, it isn't even enough money to purchase a single music CD. Not even one that's on sale.

This one looks legit.

The 2004 Shelby Cobra concept should definitely turn some heads on the street. The front/mid engine car should zoom to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds. Unfortunately though, that's about it. The vehicle is electronically limited to 100 mph, and comes with very few frills.

This production-feasible roadster has a 427-inspired 605-horsepower, all-aluminum V-10 engine mounted at the front of an advanced aluminum chassis modified from the rear-engine Ford GT.

It weighs slightly more than 3,000 pounds and is about as long as a Mazda Miata. There's no roof, no side glass, not even a radio. "That's the formula," said Carroll Shelby. "It's a massive motor in a tiny, lightweight car."

(click to supersize)

I don't really understand the reason for building a 600 hp muscle car that will only go 100 mph. Personally, I'd rather spend my money on something a little more classic, like this 1966 Shelby Cobra.

(click to supersize)

It may only have about 450 horses, but the classic car is a bit lighter weight. It also has the classic styling, with the pipes down the side where they belong. The conventional style exhaust on the Ford Concept is sacrilege.

Travelers who forget to remove their nail file will be facing hefty fines from the TSA. USA Today notes that customer's absent mindedness could result in stiff penalties from the professionalized, federalized Transportation Security Agency.

A year ago, the TSA quietly began assessing fines against airline passengers who violate security policies. But it wasn't until this week that it issued guidelines that specify which of the thousands of passengers who turn up every day with knives, box cutters and other banned items will be fined.

"Attitude" is listed among the "aggravating factors" that can result in a fine. Other criteria include the type of item, evidence of a passenger's intent and history of previous violations. Civil penalties now range from $250 to $10,000.

Since fines are not being applied equally to travelers, some lawmakers are concerned about equal treatment concerns. I can only imagine how this will impact airline revenues. Then again, the airlines did ask for it. When the government floated the idea of nationalizing airport security, they jumped at the chance.

World Net Daily reports that New Hampshire may deregulate the concealed carry of firearms and go to a 'Vermont-style' approach. Currently Vermont and Alaska are the only states that allow persons to carry firearms without requiring a permit.

The bill, Senate Bill 454, eliminates all government involvement in a person's decision to carry a concealed pistol or revolver. [...]

The bill was opposed at the hearing by the New Hampshire Police Association, the New Hampshire Women's Lobby and the Million Mom March of New Hampshire, the Manchester paper reported.

It isn't surprising that the policeman's union and the Million Dozen Mom March are opposed to the law. They usually frown on any gun rights legislation. Police organizations often times feel that policemen should have 'super citizen' status, and be the only ones allowed to own a gun, while the MMM was founded as a gun ban organizatin. But the Women's Lobby should be ashamed.

The mission of the New Hampshire Women's Lobby is to "improve the economic and social well-being of New Hampshire women and their families." Preventing women from protecting themselves against an abusive husband or boyfriend is counterproductive to that goal. It has long been known that teaching women to rely on the 9-1-1 emergency system can have deadly results.

Liberals deny that they are using government schools to indoctrinate children to their liberal agenda. But denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Five-year-old Martin Patino threw his toy machine gun into a trashcan marked "armas no," Spanish for "no guns," and he promptly picked up a coloring book to replace it.

Martin was one of about 30 Alisal Community School kindergartners from four classes Wednesday who traded in their fake guns for gentle toys such as stuffed animals and Play-Doh.

You see the message that this conveys to young children. Toy guns are evil; toy animals and play-doh are good.

Kindergarten teacher Myriam Kennelly came up with the idea of the "peace toy trade" as a way of letting kids and parents know that guns of any kind are not permitted at the school.

Even the name, "peace toy trade", makes me want to puke. We aren't talking about guns in school, we're talking about toys. Toy guns, which they insist on mis-labeling "fake guns", are just toys.

In a vain attempt to appear non-biased, they bring in the misguided gun store owner who sides with their opinion.

Brian Jones, owner of Salinas gun store Trigger Hill Trading Post, applauded the toy-gun exchange.

"Personally, I think it's a great idea," Jones said at his store on South Main Street.

"There are too many kids that think guns are toys."

I guess that no gun store owners taking the opposite position were available for comment.

Now, I would agree that guns are not toys. But the kids aren't playing with guns, now are they. They are playing with toys. And just like guns are not toys, toys are not guns. Ok that may be a bit confusing, so allow me to illustrate.

Lawn mowers are not toys. If a person didn't know what he was doing, he could be seriously injured with a lawn mower. Should toy lawn mowers be banned? Are those plastic toy lawn mowers that children push around inherently dangerous? Do they send the children the wrong message, that playing with lawn mowers is okay?

Guns are a necessary tool in our society. If it weren't for guns, our country would likely still be under British rule. Or perhaps we'd all be speaking German. We didn't win our independence with coloring books. It wasn't play-doh that our dough boys carried into battle in WWI and WWII, it was a rifle. The policemen that patrol our streets, aren't armed with stuffed animals. They keep the peace with a real gun, with real bullets. If guns are evil, then what does that say about our men and women in uniform? What does that say about policemen?

Letting children play with toy guns is no different than letting them play with toy cars, toy power tools or toy lawn equipment. Besides, if toy guns teach kids to play with real guns, what do toy bears teach them to play with?

"The Republican Party seized control of state government in the late 1990s, promising to end the annual tax on cars, support business and reduce government spending. Now, Senate Republicans are pushing a tax increase that dwarfs one offered by the Democratic governor, Mark R. Warner. The House GOP is targeting business, insisting they pay their fair share." -- The Washington Post, on the Virginia Senate Republican's proposal to increase taxes by $3.6 Billion. The Democrat Governor had only asked for $1 Billion.

Actually, the Republican Party didn't seize control, they were voted in democratically by conservative Virginians lured by the promise of lower taxes and smaller government. The GOP has, however, proved that they are just like Democrats, and are willing to sell their soul for votes in the next election cycle. Considering they got most of the votes in the last election cycle, why they are pandering to the Democrat constituency is anyone's guess. But the result is that conservatives may be left without a conservative candidate. (Who say's primary elections aren't important?)

Oh, and businesses don't pay taxes. They collect them. Taxes are paid by either the shareholders, employees, or customers.

Hoping to solve their DWI problem, New Mexico legislators passed a bill requiring every motor vehicle in the state to be fitted with a breathalyzer. The devices would require that motorists submit to an alcohol breathalyzer test each time they want to start their vehicle.

The Staff Writers at Ravenwood's Universe are highly skeptical. Even if New Mexico passed such a mandate, it would be extremely difficult to implement. Sure, you could force people who registered their vehicle in the state to have the devices installed, but keeping them installed would prove to be impossible. Even if by some chance the program worked, what's to keep drunks from leaving their cars running in the parking lot?

Calif. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a Democrat, doesn't consider Stewart Pearson to be a criminal. Pearson is the son of one of her aides, and upon hearing of his conviction she wrote a letter to the judge presiding over the case, pleading to him for leniancy. So, just what did Pearson do?

Last July, a 20-year-old thug named Stewart Pearson soaked a rag in toilet bowl cleanser and Ajax and used it to smother 17-year-old Tina Phan while she was sleeping in her Terra Linda, Calif., home. Tina gasped, trying to fend off Pearson, but he wielded a knife and overpowered her. Pearson raped and brutalized her. According to Phan, Pearson told her he had committed the same crime before and planned to do it again. Phan bravely persisted in pressing charges against Pearson. He initially denied raping Phan, but admitted guilt last fall.

Pearson, who in Rep. Woolsey's mind is "not a criminal", was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Starting March 29th, Ireland is going to unilaterally use the threat of lethal force to compel businesses to ban smoking. Restaurant owners and other critics of the ban say that it will destroy Ireland's pub culture, which may prove to be an accurate prediction. Health Minister Micheal Martin demonstrates just how one sided the decision was:

"There can be no dispute over the damaging effect of tobacco and second-hand smoke. The speculation and debate are over."

Both the WHO and CDC, despite years of trying, have been unable to prove that second hand smoke is harmful, yet there is no debate on a decision that will prove financially disastrous to thousands of business owners.

Changing the Georgia wildlife license plate from a bobwhite quail to a bald eagle and American flag has been a boon to sales of the environmentally friendly tag. Sales of the license plate have been brisk, with a large chunk of the fee going to the Georgia Wildlife Fund. But while Georgians typically like the new tag, environmentalists scowl at the new design.

Environmentalist Mike Moody wants to contribute to Georgia's wildlife protection fund, but he's not sure he wants to do it by buying and displaying a license plate adorned with a bald eagle and an American flag. [...]

"Why did [the state] pick that tag? I have friends who refuse to buy it because it's so rah-rah," Moody said. "I'm a patriot, but I'm not a gun-toting, flag-waving, Bush-loving patriot."

The thought of having an American flag adorning their rear bumper is presenting the hard core environmentalists, formerly known as communists, with a huge dilema. Their anti-capitalist crusade is benefiting from the increase in contributions and exposure, but at the expense of what they consider jingoistic flag waving.

It's no wonder the left hates Fox News.

John Edwards and John Kerry are trying to appeal to the common man with their populist notions and messages on the campaign trail, but the two multi-millionaires don't live like most Americans.

The top Democratic presidential hopefuls both own mansions in tony Georgetown, the Washington, D.C., neighborhood known for its prime real estate and high-end fashion boutiques.

On one historic cobblestone street lives Edwards, whose 184-year-old, 13-room home is valued at $3.8 million. About a block away is the residence where Kerry lives, a 104-year-old, four-story home with 23 rooms that is conservatively estimated to be worth $4.3 million.

Kerry's home isn't really his own, however. Technically, it belongs to his wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz.

Reader Tom Scott points out that in Alaska, the National Parks Service is trying to force out the local residents by closing roads to their lands.

In Nevada, Dudley Hiibel is fighting a charge of refusing a cop's "Papers Please" request. Hiibel's conviction for refusing to give identification on demand will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in March.

The smoke nazis are giving Arnold hell about his love of cigars.

"That's very frightening that would even think about smoking inside the heart of our state Capitol," said Jim Walker, the director and founder of Stop Tobacco Abuse of Minors Pronto. "He could do more good by championing our cause rather than trivializing it."

Frightening? He's got to be kidding. The American Cancer Society is giving him the business too.

"We are deeply disappointed at several recent public depictions of your use and promotion of cigars and urge you to refrain from modeling this dangerous habit," the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the American Lung Association wrote in a recent letter to Mr. Schwarzenegger.

If there were ever a time for a politician to use the words "bite me", this is the time.

Antitobacco groups are worrying about the impact he can have among young fans by making smoking looking cool.

"Schwarzenegger has been one of my heroes through the years, thanks to his confidence and his positive attitude, and I would hope that rather than turning this back on the thousands of families that have lost loved ones, he would take up and champion our cause," Mr. Walker said.

That's because smoking, especially cigars, is cool. So is drinking and gambling. They are personal vices, and we don't need guys like Walker forcing their rules on us because he's "frightened" over something so trivial as smoking cigars.

Does smoking cause cancer? No. But it does increase your risk. But then again, so does everything else, and you have to die of something.

A few days ago Virginia House Republicans sang Kubaya with Democrats after passing a $520 Million two year tax hike by closing "tax loopholes" for businesses. Yesterday, Virginia Senate Republicans proposed a two year $3.6 Billion tax hike on individual Virginia taxpayers. ($3.6B according to the Post, $2.5B according to the Times.)

The House plan, championed by Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, is being sold vis-a-vis a Democrat mantra that sounds very familiar. The Times reports:

Mr. Hamilton argues that his plan does not constitute a tax increase; it simply eliminates tax breaks to generate revenue for a budget projected to be $1.2 billion short of its needs.

According to House Republicans, a $520 Million increase in taxes is not a tax increase. Democrat Governor Mark Warner, who has been pushing for a $1 Billion two year tax hike, says it's not enough. So Senate Republicans answered his call by proposing an increase 7 times the size of the one passed in the House.

If the bill is passed by the full Senate, that means Virginians will face a 'perfect storm' of tax increases when the budget is finally reconciled. I'm not the first to say this, but the nation's economic turnaround would be much more effective if the states didn't keep increasing taxes to erase any benefit provided by the federal tax cuts.

Virginia Tech QB Marcus Vick, running back Mike Imoh, and receiver Brenden Hill have been charged with misdemeanor charges for serving alcohol to young girls, and having sexual relations with a 15 year old, reports the Washington Post. I think that if they're guilty, they should be suspended from the team. This isn't Florida State, where players are allowed to play as long as they can get out of jail.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I got my laptop back from the Best Buy repair shop and the creeps were too lazy to load the software back on it. I've still got a lot to do to load all my programs from backup.

Here are some leftovers for you.

Cinnamon Stillwell notes that Berkeley 'tolerance' only goes one way. Their treatment of a Jewish speaker was downright thuggish.

Mike S. Adams shows just how hypersensitive the 'liberal elite' can be to 'hate speech'. He calls it Hate Speech 101, but to me it looks more like a senior level course in over reaction.

Walter E. Williams asks just what should the role of government be? It used to be about providing citizens with a fair set of rules, but lately it's more about who gets the biggest slice of cake.

The Mayor of San Francisco may have gotten himself into somewhat of a pickle over the city's issuance of marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. While I don't think any public official should willingly violate his oath of office and state Constitution, I think San Francisco is doing the right thing.

In accordance with libertarian principles, allowing gays to marry does not deny anyone else of life, liberty, or property. I've heard argument after argument against gay marriage, and not one has yet been able to demonstrate that gay marriage should be prohibited. In fact, I don't see where government has any business regulating marriage at all. That numerous states are lining up to pass widespread discriminatory laws prohibiting gay marriage, deems that the time for civil disobediance may be at hand. The city of San Francisco, which has a huge homosexual population, needs to take care of their own.

When a minority group is being denied their basic civil rights through the will of the majority, Dr. Martin Luther King said, "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority compels a minority group to obey, but does not make binding on itself." Dr. King also said, "I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

By defying the state Constitution and granting civil rights to gays that are already available to all heterosexual couples, San Francisco is doing just that. They are breaking an unjust law and risking legal consequences, in order to force the hand of the oppressive majority.

In case you missed it, Ford rolled out the 2004 Bronco Concept at the North American International Auto Show. Diesels aren't very popular in the United States, but that doesn't stop Ford from trying to blaze the trail with this rugged 2.0 liter turbo diesel.

"The Bronco concept showcases significant advanced powertrain technologies, mating a 2.0-liter intercooled turbo diesel with an efficient six-speed PowerShifttm transmission and Intelligenttm four-wheel-drive system for a powerful, sure-footed off-roader," said Graham Hoare, director, Powertrain Advanced and Research Engineering. "Then comes the fun part. We've added nitrous-oxide injection for a burst of power at your fingertips."

Diesels are usually known for having high torque and modest acceleration, although the nitrous injection system should more than make up for that.

(click to supersize)

When Warner repeatedly said, as a candidate and as governor, that he would "not raise taxes," Virginians took him at his word. When Republican candidates for the state Senate and House declared during the 2003 campaigns that they were "opposed to increasing taxes," they were reelected. Now safely elected, they believe that they can break their word and that their terms of office are long enough that no one will remember by the next elections. -- Former Virginia Governor, James Gilmore responding to the plans to increase taxes $1 Billion that are being championed by Virginia Democrats and their Republican willing accomplices.

"Atheism has been the official stance of most communist countries, including the now defunct Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Karl Marx, an atheist, wrote that religion is "the opiate of the masses", meaning that it exists in order to blind people to the true state of affairs in a society, and thus make them more amenable to social control and exploitation." -- Definition of Atheism, Wikipedia.

"Atheism lessons planned for schools" -- Headline, The Independent (UK).

The New York Post notes that the NY State Restaurant Ass. has flip flopped on their "no smoking" position. Having previously supported mandatory smoking bans in restaurants, now they've changed their tune.

In a recent statement by the New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA), Executive Vice-President Chuck Hunt noted that "the city's bar, tavern and nightlife operations have suffered mightily as a result of the smoking ban."

In a membership survey the group conducted in November and December of 2003, 76 percent of the respondents reported a decline of 25 percent or more in bar sales and 15 percent or more in food sales.

The cries are falling on NYC Mayor Bloomberg's deaf ears. In fact, Bloomberg, who once referred to business owners as a minor economic issue, is preparing to make matters worse. Currently smokers who still enjoy the NYC night life are taking to the streets to light up, which has local residents complaining about late night noise. One final solution being batted around by Heir Bloomberg will be to crack down on establishments that are open after 1 AM.

(What's next, a curfew for smokers? Perhaps we could tattoo them, or make them wear some sort of badge on their clothing.)

While big government nanny bureaucrats are busy banning the use of cellphones while driving, Arkon Resources gives us the Laptop Steering Wheel Mount.

Apparently now even President Woodrow Wilson is under fire. Bureaucrats in P.G. County don't want Wilson's name on the Wilson Bridge.

The county's director of public works and transportation, Betty Francis, says Wilson defended segregation and deserves less attention. While she isn't opposed to naming the new bridge for Wilson, she doesn't want the P.G. County side of the new span to sport the huge bronze medallion that currently bears his profile on the existing bridge.

For the record, P.G. County is named after the Danish Prince George, husband of Princess Anne, heir to the throne of England. It is located in the state of Maryland, named after Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I of England. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but at the time England was best known for kicking the Indians off their land and for tyrannical rule over the colonies of the New World.

I'm pretty sure they were also segregationists.

Leave it to Venomous Kate to find some cool online video games.

"Study the Constitution. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislatures, and enforced in courts of justice." -- Abraham Lincoln.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington.

Here is a useful tip for reading news articles. If you are reading articles on a site that requires registration, try entering 'newslinks' as the login and password. If they ask for an email address, try '[email protected]' as the login and 'newslinks' as the password.

It comes as no surprise that the left leaning Washington Post is still beating the drums that President Bush was a deserter. Like others in the liberal media, they want Bush to prove a negative. That is, he is presumed guilty until he can prove he's innocent. He is presumed to have never even been to Alabama, until he can find someone to prove he was there. However, in trying to make this specious argument, the Post admits that the records he released show that he was there.

But the hundreds of pages of documents did little to answer questions about Bush's military history. Why, for example, is there no definitive documentation -- except a single dental exam -- that places Bush at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in 1972-73 and shows how he performed his temporary duty in the Alabama Guard?

Is definitive proof falling on deaf ears at the Post, or do they really not know what the word definitive means?

When Universal announced that they were slashing the prices of CDs, it was lauded as a step in the right direction for an industry that routinely prices movie soundtracks as much as $10 higher than the movie itself. But the price cut has yet to be realized in the mass market.

That sounded good to album buyers who had long lamented steep costs. But more than four months later, many price tags still top $18 - even for Universal's own artists, such as rapper Eminem - and show no signs of falling.

Universal is blaming the retailers for not cutting their prices, but the retailers claim they are just preserving the same profit margin they had before. Meanwhile, price conscious consumers are buying less high priced CDs, which the RIAA predictably blames solely on music downloading.

Of course, they are also the ones that have yet to pay up on their price fixing settlement.

I feel like puking. Virginia's House Republicans, known scientifically as spineless republicus, came to terms with Democrats and are endorsing an increase in taxes. That their tax hike is "hailed by Democrats" should be all you need to know, but hearing just how lovey dovey the Republicans and Democrats have become is revolting.

"I am so grateful, Mr. Speaker, that we are all coming together," Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. (D-Chesapeake) said as several GOP lawmakers -- punchy from a committee meeting that ended at 2 a.m. -- began singing "Kumbaya" on the House floor. "I am so glad we have taken the first step."

No shit. They actually sang Kumbaya.

Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax) said: "We have truly made progress. We recognize that in order to balance our budget . . . we do, in fact, need a tax increase."

Aides to Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), who wants to raise $1 billion with higher taxes on goods, income, corporations and smokers, said the governor is not embracing the Republican tax plan and has concerns about its impact on the economy.

But they said the question no longer seems to be whether the state needs more money and higher taxes, but how much money and who should be tapped to pay it.

What the legislature is saying is that spending cuts are too politically unpopular. No one wants to risk losing re-election because they decided to cut spending to certain programs. Remember that taxes are seized with the threat of lethal force. What the Va Legislature is saying is that they would rather seize more of your money for their pet programs than risk the political fallout of cutting budgets.

When I was out of work last year, the first thing I did was cut my discretionary spending. Even though I had plenty of money in savings, I knew that I had to cut my spending habits to make that money last through tough times. When governments go through tough times, they don't have to make those sacrifices. They're allowed to seize more money to make ends meet; at the point of a gun, no less.

For those pickup lovers out there who think they are being left out of the retro revolution, take a look at the 2004 Chevy SSR. Retro styling has been all the rage this year, and the SSR is full of it. Modeled after their 1947 to 1953 pickup the SSR will definitely turn some heads. As a pickup though, it may leave a bit to be desired.

(click to supersize)

The Chevy SSR makes 300 horses and 331 ft-lbs of torque out of it's 5.3 liter V8. Cruising around town to show it off, you'll only get about 15 to 19 miles to the gallon, which is sure to make the enviroweenies cry. The compact pickup isn't exactly a workhorse though, with a truck bed that's only about 3 ft by 5 ft. With 300hp under the hood, it should be somewhat quick. But keep in mind that the tiny vehicle also weighs over 5000 lbs, so it isn't exactly the corvette of pickups like some reviewers have claimed.

Also, with a pretty steep base price of over $41,000, it is getting mixed reviews.

Maryland, which has some of the toughest gun laws in the United States, is actually considering becoming a shall issue state. If the bill passes (a huge IF), Marylanders will be able to apply for and receive concealed carry permits. Maryland currently only issues gun permits to friends of politicians and celebrities.

I sure am getting a lot of hate mail from angry newsgroup readers who didn't like my response to being hotlinked. They link an image on my server and steal my bandwidth, and suddenly I'm the one who did something wrong.

Sheesh. Get over it.

If you want to bitch at someone, bitch at the hotlinker or the site moderator (who for this site [GROSS] has yet to remove the offending link.)

States with ever expanding budgets and dwindling revenue have been chomping at the bit to tax internet sales. Most states use the honor system whereby internet purchasers are supposed to voluntarily send in their hard earned money as a tax on their internet purchases. Not surprisingly, that doesn't raise much revenue.

Revenue rarely rises above a few hundred thousand dollars as taxpayers ignore the law when ordering books, CDs, computers and gourmet food on the still mostly tax-free Internet. New York's Legislature, for example, estimated last year that $25 million could be reclaimed, while the governor guessed it would be no more than $5 million. [...]

The 18 states besides New York that have added lines on their income tax forms seeking to recover some of the estimated $10 billion lost nationally each year on uncollected sales taxes for purchases on the Internet and through mail order:

Notice how they refer to money that they have been unable to seize from Americans with terms like "reclaimed" and "lost", as if it was somehow stolen from them. In the eyes of government, it isn't your money, it's theirs. They just haven't yet found a way to get their hands on it yet. Remember forty percent of all money earned in this country is being seized by some level of government.

An obscure, badly photoshopped picture.

A single, one line post with a fortuitous headline... written way back in October.

A Drudge Report about John Kerry and an unnamed intern.

#3 on Google.

#4 on AOL.

Hotlinks from at least 16 22 different newsgroups.

Instalanche (another hotlink, sigh.)

And 20000 of visitors in only a few hours.

Nothing like getting almost two months worth of traffic in one day.

Day	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
09 Feb 2004	1080	2672	14987	90.76 MB
10 Feb 2004	895	2161	12105	72.97 MB
11 Feb 2004	938	2881	13033	81.21 MB
12 Feb 2004	18773	43448	174493	1.25 GB
13 Feb 2004	13167	29450	108550	1.01 GB

UPDATE: Geez, I was even "Linked!" by AZCentral.

The U.S. Mens Olympic Soccer Team has been eliminated from Olympic competition by Mexico (who errantly refers to the sport as "football"). The game, which was so important to Americans that it wasn't even broadcast on TV in the U.S., was marked with boos during the Star Spangled Banner, and the chanting of "Usama! Usama!", in support of the Saudi Arabian terrorist who killed 3000 Americans on September 11, 2001.

In other news, George Bush plans to continue his pandering to Mexican citizens living illegally in the United States.

British researchers spent months commissioning a study to find out what most of us already knew. Plants benefit from increased carbon dioxide. This is bound to make the global warming chicken littles cry foul, but British researchers have concluded that the Earth can take care of itself. Apparently the increased levels of carbon dioxide (the substance that plants breathe) have been a boon for plants.

Global warming may be slowing as trees in the tropical forests of the Amazon are growing and dying much more quickly, new British research suggests.

The growth rate of trees in the Amazon Basin has nearly doubled in recent decades, which may have helped slow the earth from heating up, according to the research published by The Royal Society.

Of course, I've been saying that for years, and it didn't take me who knows how many months and millions of dollars to reach that conclusion.

When I lived in Atlanta, you couldn't rent a passenger van on election day. The reason being, Democrats would rent all the vans in town to drive people to and from the polls. The core of their no Democrat left behind strategy was to get as many potentially Democrat voters to polls as possible. That said, rocker and Democrat campaigner, Moby, offers up a different strategy.

"No one's talking about how to keep the other side home on Election Day," Moby tells us. "It's a lot easier than you think and it doesn't cost that much. This election can be won by 200,000 votes."
Moby suggests that it's possible to seed doubt among Bush's far-right supporters on the Web.

"You target his natural constituencies," says the Grammy-nominated techno-wizard. "For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you're an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion.

"Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, 'What's all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?'"

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but if I went on the web and started posting lies about Moby in an attempt to lower sales of his next album, that would be slander. If proven, I could be sued for damages.

For all you Buckeye's, Tazteck has the skinny on the Ohio concealed carry permits.

I was raised by Democrats, grew up as a Democrat, voted Democrat, and thought Democrat. Then, between the years 1990 and 2000 the Democrat Party slowly drifted away from me. I had never really believed in all of their principles, and was genuinely split on the issues. During that decade, I was truly disgusted with the actions of some during Gulf War I, and of a select group of others who supported the Clinton Gun Ban of 1994. During the 1998 impeachment of President Clinton, I pretty much hated all politics. The last straw was when Clinton admitted that he had duped all his supporters into defending his sexual promiscuity.

Today, I cannot believe what a wretched, morally bankrupt group of people the Democrats have become (on average). While my list of grievances is growing ever so longer, what has really flamed my shorts lately is the argument over President Bush's military service. I'm no big fan of President Bush, but I grew up in a military family. I've got several friends with military and national guard service, and cannot help but retch whenever I hear the Democrats denigrating the military. Lately there has been a lot of talk that the National Guard is not the real military. John 'F the South' Kerry himself claimed that the National Guard was akin to draft dodging.

"I've said since the day I came back from Vietnam that it was not an issue to me if somebody chose to go to Canada or to go to jail or to be a conscientious objector or to serve in the National Guard or elsewhere."

Kerry continues to dwell on his own service in Vietnam, while pointing out that Bush only served in the National Guard. This is a far different tune than what he was singing in 1992, when he defended Bill Clinton's European Vacation, and complete lack of military service during Vietnam. Back in 1992, Kerry claimed that military service wasn't important.

"We do not need to divide America over who served and how. I have personally always believed that many served in many different ways."

Kerry's attempt to portray himself as a great patriot is laughable. I have no doubt that his military service was admirable, but his behavior after leaving the Army was indeed deplorable. Kerry protested with the likes of Hanoi Jane, and helped found a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The group was lauded by the Communist Vietnamese as being crucial to their will to fight. While our boys were fighting and dying, Kerry testified before Congress that U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were committing war crimes. His testimony gave comfort to our enemies abroad.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam...

Kerry went on to conclude that "we cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now". If you wonder what kind of President Kerry would be like, read that again and substitute the word communism with terrorism.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no Bush lover. I feel he is doing a good job on the war and tax cuts, but other than that, he's no different than any other big government democrat. But when some Democrats would try to convince you that Bush dodged the draft (by signing up for military service) and that he was AWOL from the National Guard, I cannot support them. Even after Bush released his military records, Democrats like Terry McAuliffe balked. While McAuliffe cannot prove his guilt, all we hear in the liberal media is that Bush cannot "prove" his innocence.

Meanwhile, I think we are all still waiting for Bill Clinton's military records.

UPDATE: Apparently I'm not the only one upset with Kerry's anti-Guard slander.

If there's a point to this story, I can't find it.

"He betrayed this country! He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place." -- Former Veep Algore, who apparently is still a bit bitter.

Of course the preordination he's talking about would be the plan to oust Saddam passed on by the Clinton Administration.

The liberal denizens in the media were quick to seize on the inept report from the GFWs at Americans for Gun Banning which claimed that a small fraction of gun dealers were responsible for a large percentage of guns used in crime. The fallacy behind the report is obvious in that it neglects to put the numbers into perspective. That is, without acknowledging how many guns a dealer sold overall, the raw numbers are meaningless.

Well now some of the targeted gun dealers are fighting back with defamation and libel suits against the media, who in many cases implied there was some sort of corruption. Specifically, John Monson, owner of Bill's Gun Shop and Range in Robbinsdale is suing the Minneapolis Star Tribune And Fox 9 KMSP for defamation.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune filed a remarkable story defaming Bills, entitled "Robbinsdale Shop Named in Study of Guns, Crime". They falsely implied, among other things, that Bills is or has been involved in illegal gun trafficking.

Equally remarkable was Channel 9, KMSP TV's defamatory statements regarding Bills, falsely calling into question compliance with federal firearms regulations and falsely implying among other things, that Bills "is a bit shady", an actual quote.

Proving that the perpetually liberal Minneapolis Star Tribune (who refuses to call a suicide bomber a terrorist, and declines to report on the Washington "Redskins" or Cleveland "Indians") may prove difficult. While I have little doubt that they defamed the store, it is hard to prove both the implications and intent. But KMSP's use of the phrase "a bit shady" seems reckless. While it's not a slam dunk, it'll be harder for them to hide behind the First Amendment.

Traffic "safety" cameras may be nearing extinction in Virginia, reports the Washington Times. The move will probably be welcomed by just about everyone except the cash greedy politicians (Va. Gov. Warner included) and the nanny crowd that seems to think anyone with a smile on their face must be up to no good.

A committee in the Virginia House of Delegates has killed a bill that would have expanded red-light traffic cameras statewide. The Virginia Senate, which passed the pro-traffic-camera bill that the House rejected, has also voted to extend pilot programs that allow traffic cameras in some areas. The test cases are set to expire next year. If the House rejects the extension bill, traffic cameras will be banished from the Old Dominion.

Lets hope the House lets the cameras wither on the vine and die. They've never been about safety any way.

Metrosexual men are once again demanding the freedom to wear skirts. Well, technically they already have the freedom to wear skirts, and are just demanding that they be able to wear skirts without being scoffed at.

Related articles:
Sissificaton of America IV - 11/04/2003

Fox News carries the AP report on Ronald Reagan's 93rd Birthday. Oddly enough, I cannot find it anywhere at CNN. I've searched through all their main pages, and even did a search query for Ronald Reagan, and came up dry. (Unless you count the 3 year old article from 2001.)

If CNN recognized his birthday, they buried on their site where no one would find it.

UPDATE by Steve Gigl: "Found it -- http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/06/reagan.birthday.ap/ -- via Google News; just looks like you checked too early (like, when people might actually read their website). So was Reagan born in the afternoon, or are they just really slow?"

Whenever you try to cut government programs, or in most cases simply keep spending increases to a minimum, you hear lots of wailing and moaning. Francis Porretto asks that we keep one thing in mind.

The United States racked up about $10.5 trillion in Gross Domestic Product in 2003. The federal government will spend about $2.4 trillion -- nearly one-fourth of GDP -- in 2004. Our 88,000 state and local governments will spend about $1.6 trillion in the same period. So roughly forty percent of everything Americans produce is being seized by some level of government.

Gun grabbers are setting their sights on paint ball guns. The hapless media is too quick to be willing accomplices. Check out this passage from the Christian Science Monitor.

To be sure, boys who once would have thought nothing about pelting each other with BB guns are today picking up the kid version of a .50 caliber Howitzer: the 320-feet-per-second paintball gun, or "marker." But as injuries rise, a debate over the limits on the games boys play - and how badly they should be punished for capers gone awry - is also heating up.

For those of you that don't know anything about guns, a Howitzer is a piece of artillery. The term ".50 caliber Howitzer" is akin to calling a television set a "13-inch High Definition Big Screen". It serves only to show the ignorance of the media.

While a Howitzer may have a .50 caliber gun mounted on top of it, it is by no means a .50 caliber firearm, nor is it used for drive by shootings. I hate to be a stickler, but this is just another example of using exaggerations and out-right lies to further your anti-gun agenda.

Don't worry though, not being one to limit themselves to just one anti-gun buzz word, they also got their Wild West/Dodge City cliches in.

For officials in Garner, the key is to discourage turning cul-de-sacs into OK Corrals.

Augh. For the record, the OK Corral is where local law enforcement gunned down members of the "Cowboys" gang while trying to enforce their gun ban.

Australian gestapo have backed away from doing random safety audits of safe storage of firearms. Now, they contend, the audits will be done with "cooperation" of the gun licensees.

Of course they failed to define cooperation. Government cooperation usually means you either give them what they want or go to jail (or lose your license). Giving them the power to license your rights to you, gives them the power to deny them. Australians may be off the hook for now, but you know the gun grabbers won't give up. This is a temporary victory.

A federal judge unilaterally ruled that the NFL's hiring practices are descriminatory and violate anti-trust laws. For those of you that don't know, the ruling was a response to a lawsuit by former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett. Clarett was declared ineligible for NCAA competition in 2003 after it became known that he may have violated NCAA regulations by accepting "improper benefits" and then lying to investigators about it.

NFL rules require players to be out of high school at least three years prior to entering the NFL draft. Clarett had been out of high school only a year. I don't think that Clarett has enough experience for the NFL, but I'm sure that there are plenty of teams out there willing to take a chance on him.

Personally, I think it poses more of a threat to the NCAA than it does the NFL. The ruling opens the door for college players to start leaving after one or two years, or jumping to the NFL straight from high school (as do NBA players).

The TSA is doing everything in their power to snub Congress and block commercial pilots from carrying firearms on their aircraft. The Washington Times points out that many of the pilots that are willing to jump through the TSA hoops are being disqualified.

Pilots already trained to carry guns and operate sophisticated weapons systems are among 100 applicants rejected from a federal program to arm flight-deck officers to protect aircraft from terrorist attacks.

Former police officers, firearms instructors and military pilots have filed written complaints with the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) program questioning its psychological- and background-test system, as well as its generic rejection letter that doesn't explain an applicant's purported shortcomings.

One pilot, a retired Air Force colonel and fighter wing commander responsible for multimillion-dollar jet fighters, said he was allowed to carry his pistol aboard military aircraft.

"The USAF considered me psychologically sound enough to be directly responsible for nuclear weapons," the pilot wrote. "Yet a TSA psychologist has determined I am unreliable to carry a weapon in my own airliner."

Of course, Congress isn't turning a blind eye to the bureaucratic slight. South Carolina Republican, Rep. Joe Wilson, is drafting new legislation to force the TSA to implement the old legislation they are currently ignoring.

"We are talking about professionals here, but it's just been roadblock after roadblock at TSA. The only thing I can think of is, it's a liberal, knee-jerk reaction to guns," said Wilson.

Of course some of us have known about the GFW roadblocks at the TSA for months.

From the files of Kim du Toit:

And speaking of peaceniks, let's just remember that likely Democrat candidate John Fuckface Kerry (ex-Lt. Governor under MassGov Michael Dukakis) may have been a brave soldier (okay, squid) at one time -- but then he allied himself with Satan Jane Fonda and the other anti-military assholes. His voting record since then has not been what you might call "military-friendly", either.

He may refer to himself as a military man -- so did Hitler -- but since he quit the service, he's been nothing but a neo-socialist asswipe.

But let me not attempt to influence your vote. Just read the facts for yourselves.

This may be why.

Keep in mind that those federal funds they're talking about are taxpayer dollars.

The United Nations:

The Bush administration's new budget includes a $1.2 billion, 30-year loan to renovate the aging United Nations headquarters and build a new annex, although U.N. officials expressed disappointment that Washington will charge interest on the loan.

Since the United States already covers 22% of the U.N. budget, the Washington Times reports that we're on the hook for "$265 million on the principal alone."

The State Assembly of Wisconsin failed to override Governor Doyle's veto of concealed carry legislation by a single vote. Last month the State Senate had voted to override the veto, but the Assembly vote was 65 - 34, one vote short of an override. The Badger Herald reports that the Governor was obnoxiously cooing about his victory afterward.

"The vote ensures that we will not let lethal weapons into our shopping malls, movie theaters, playgrounds and other public places where our kids would be in danger."

Doyle deserves two swift kicks to his nuts. One for putting people's lives at danger by outlawing their right to defend themselves. And a second kick for being stupid enough to think that criminals will obey his ban.

One of the Assemblymen who voted in favor of protecting criminals was Rep. Gary Sherman, a Democrat (as if there was any doubt) from Port Wing. Sherman had originally voted in favor of the ban, but in a bout of hypocrisy, switched his vote. He later claimed that the failed effort wasn't his fault. (From here on out every time a woman is sexually assaulted, they both deserve to be gang raped.)

Not counting places like New York or California (where celebrities and politicians are given special status) Wisconsin is one of only four states that totally bans the carry of concealed firearms.

A few years ago when I lived in Georgia, Lawmakers were pushing for a measure to ban smoking in cars where children were present. Now it appears as though they will finally pass such a law, under the mistaken premise that secondhand smoke causes cancer.

Georgia lawmakers are considering a first-in-the-nation law that would require drivers who smoke to roll down the windows before lighting up with children in the car.

The measure, approved 9-0 Wednesday by a state House committee, would impose a $15 fine.

Supporters say toddlers need legal protection from secondhand smoke. Opponents consider the measure intrusive.

The measure passed because they were able to soften it by stipulating the driver had to roll down the window. (They don't say if that means all the way down, or just cracked a bit.)

Of course the concession is only temporary. Anti-smokers know that they could never get a total ban, so they'll settle for this. The next step is to change the law to completely ban smoking in a car when children are present. Eventually the ban will extend to your home, and "children" will be slowly expanded to include everyone.

I'm beginning to think that total prohibition cannot be avoided.

"Confederate history is nothing more than exultation of one of the most shameful episodes in this country's history." -- Virginia Democratic Sen. Henry L. Marsh, rejecting the idea to designate April as Confederate History and Heritage Month in Virginia.

No state suffered more than Virginia during the Civil War between the States. Virginia was the site of some of the bloodiest battles, and had she not seceded from the Union, the Confederacy never would have stood a chance against the invading Union Army. In addition to losing more than 17,000 sons, Virginia was also the only state to lose territory as a direct result of the war.

Fox News reports that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that state Lawmakers must "give gay and lesbian couples full and equal marriage rights", and the reaction from Republicans and many Democrats is disturbing.

"We've heard from the court, but not from the people," [Republican Governor Mitt Romney] said in a statement. "The people of Massachusetts should not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to our society as the definition of marriage."

As a non-gay unmarried person, I stand at odds with most people on this issue. First, I think it's foolish to try to deny gays the legal protections and perks that conventionally married couples enjoy under the law. Frankly, I'm a little sick and tired of couples and people with children enjoying their elite status at my expense. (Where is my child tax credit?) When a gay couple seeks to commit themselves to each other, they don't cause any harm to me or anyone else. Other than being different, or a little gross, their behavior doesn't deprive anyone else of life, liberty or property. Conservatives will undoubtedly try to argue differently, but they have yet to be able to prove it.

Second, I don't like the idea of government sanctioned marriage to begin with. Marriage dates back thousands of years. In the old days, marriage was defined under common law. If you presented yourself as a married couple, townspeople generally accepted you as married. Today, you have to beg the state to sell you a piece of paper that says they've given you the right to marry.

Romney's attitude that the sanctity of marriage, gay or otherwise, should be put to a popular vote is horrifying. Basic human rights should never be subject to the horrors of majority rule. It is majority rule that brings about progressive taxation and other pillars of communism. Enjoying your freedom of expression sometimes means putting up with idiots that desecrate the flag. Enjoying your right to a trial by jury sometimes means that people who commit double murder will walk away free. But we take the good with the bad, and our basic freedoms of life and liberty should never be put to a vote.

Traffic has just about doubled in the past few days. Is it thanks to my hard work and constant updates? Nope. It's because of all the perverts out there looking for nudie pics of Janet Jackson, or Catherine Bosley, or the Lingerie Bowl. Both AOL and Google currently have me ranked higher than Drudge, who actually posted the photo of Janet Jackson.

Search Keyphrases (Top 10)
888 different keyphrases Search Percent janet breast 353 15 % janet s breast 310 13.2 % janet jackson s boob 156 6.6 % janet jackson boob 69 2.9 % lingerie bowl 63 2.6 % janet jackson s breast 38 1.6 % janet breast photo 30 1.2 % sperm whale explodes 28 1.1 % wisconsin concealed carry 21 0.8 % catherine bosley 21 0.8 % Other phrases 1249 53.4 %

These stats are just for the first 3 days of February. God bless those gun lovers in Wisconsin for cracking the Top 10 and preventing a shutout.

UPDATE: Okay, this is getting rediculous. Here are the numbers through 2/4/2004.

Search Keyphrases (Top 10)
1192 different keyphrases Search Percent janet s breast 958 22.1 % janet breast 900 20.8 % janet jackson s boob 215 4.9 % janet breast photo 92 2.1 % janet jackson boob 92 2.1 % lingerie bowl 70 1.6 % janet s breast photo 49 1.1 % janet jackson s breast 44 1 % heyyacb.mov 34 0.7 % sperm whale explodes 31 0.7 % Other phrases 1833 42.4 %

Day	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
01 Feb 2004	684	1188	11135	66.82 MB
02 Feb 2004	1111	2124	19563	120.73 MB
03 Feb 2004	1983	3106	32313	194.60 MB
04 Feb 2004	2851	4404	40017	209.87 MB

684 visits is a bit light for a Sunday, but hey, it was the Super Bowl. Mondays usually get about 900 to 1000 visits, so 1100 is a tad bit high, but not abnormal. Tuesday, was about 200% of normal, and Wednesday was over the top.

Normally, I wouldn't make a big deal about htis. After all, a 300% jump in traffic isn't all that incredible if you get a prominent link on Opinion Journal, or Instapundit. But this is all search engine traffic.

With the liberal media being as anti-gun as they are, I am amazed at the progress that gun rights proponents have made in recent years. In Virginia, concealed handgun permit holders are currently not allowed to carry concealed firearms in any restaurant that serves alcohol. (Open carry is legal.) There is a bill making it's way through the General Assembly that would remove the stipulation, and leave it up to the business owners to decide whether or not to permit patrons to carry concealed in their restaurant. The 'wild west' analogy being carted out by the liberal denizens in the media isn't very surprising, but the Virginian Pilot, which has a history of being gun-unfriendly, takes it to the hysterical extreme.

Their bill (SB579) would allow sober Virginians with a concealed weapon permit to carry their guns into a bar. Its flaw is that it ignores what happens when one of them gets sloshed and refuses to leave.

This is exactly the predicament the law should outlaw.

Why is the liberal answer to gun violence always involve banning guns? It doesn't seem to work for bars in Georgetown, where all handguns are banned every where. For the record, Virginia doesn't have any bars, and there are already plenty of laws that cover outlaw drunken trespassing criminals who refuse to leave peaceably. In Virginia getting sloshed in public, with or without a gun, is already illegal. An officer can enter any restaurant and place you under arrest for being over the legal limit of 0.08; whether or not you are driving, carrying a gun, or whatever. (That actually happened several times in Fairfax). Of course, trespassing is also illegal. And when a patron refuses to leave when asked, armed or not, you should call the police. (As opposed to having your bouncer beat him to within an inch of his life.)

What this really is, is yet another anti-gun news outlet shoveling propaganda down the throats of their readers.

Governor Warner appears to be pulling out all the stops to try to get a $1 Billion tax INCREASE (a term the Post refuses to use) through the Virginia Assembly. According to one Delegate, he even threatened to withhold disaster relief for families impacted by Hurricane Isabel.

Lawmakers say Warner has been relentless in his pursuit of votes for his tax package, taking Republican members to dinner, meeting with them one-on-one and pressuring them at every meet-and-greet function. The $59 billion budget the governor presented in December links many projects for GOP districts to the passage of his tax plan.

The pressure appears to be getting to some anti-tax lawmakers in the House. Del. Thomas D. Gear (R-Hampton) today stood up on the House floor to denounce Warner for "political extortion of the highest order" for what he said was Warner's attempt to hold hostage $800,000 to help rebuild 2,000 homes destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in the tiny town of Poquoson.

Gear said Warner told him and the town's mayor that the hurricane relief money would come only if Gear voted for the tax package.

To be fair, the Mayor of Poquoson said that he didn't feel like he was being extorted to support Warner's $1 Billion tax hike. But then again, Warner already has a history of bribery. Late last year, he announced his intention to bribe 65% of Virginians with a tax "reform" plan that would pay them cash directly from the pockets of their neighbors.

When you subjugate your rights to government regulation, you give them the power to deny you those rights. Australians are finding that out, as the bureaucratic goons will be invading people's homes to make sure their guns are unloaded, locked in a steel vault, and buried in a concrete bunker in the back yard.

POLICE will target gun owners in a series of surprise weapon safety audits across the Oxley Local Area Command and the State in coming weeks.

The audit is aimed at preventing theft and injury caused by the unsafe storage of firearms, such as under a bed or in a cupboard, an unfortunate circumstance of improper firearm storage that police often have to deal with.

Note that this bigotry only happens with guns. Would people be so quick to accept the government beating down your door to see if you have an unsafe gas can in your garage, or keep your household chemicals under your sink?

Bank robberies have increased so much in New York City that in 2003, there was one bank robbery for ever three banks. Since New York City is "gun free", most banks are robbed by strong-armed thugs wielding only their fists or perhaps a pencil. But as USA Today reports, cops are blaming the banks for creating a lax environment.

In May, police and the city bankers' association adopted a 15-point list of security practices. They include bandit barriers, personnel to greet each customer, better-maintained video cameras and dye packs, which are slipped into bags of cash and later explode, marking the money as stolen.

Of course none of those expensive security measures would be necessary if New York hadn't outlawed guns and self defense. Here in the South where pistol packers are free to roam, bank robbers are forced to target gun-free self-defense free killing zones like Wachovia or BB&T.

It has long been known what criminals fear most. It's not 'bandit barriers', video cameras, or third rate Wal-Mart greeters, but guns. Criminals will be the first to tell you, an armed victim is feared more than both the police and 'three strikes' laws. Unfortunately for New Yorkers, those words fall on deaf bureaucratic ears.

Related articles:
Area bank robber enjoying Wachovia 'No Guns' policy -- 01/26/2004

How many of you Tivo users out there feel comfortable with this story?

When Justin Timberlake tore at Janet Jackson's leather outfit during Sunday's Super Bowl half-time show, TiVo users took notice.

Then they took notice again and again, using the digital video recorder to replay the event and to pause at the crucial moment in order to discern just what it was that Jackson had revealed to millions of Americans.

TiVo said that particular halftime stunt was the most replayed moment not only of the Super Bowl but of all TV moments that the young company has ever measured.

That's right, Tivo keeps tabs on your viewing, pausing, and replay habits. Remember that next time you keep playing back the steamy moments of your Skinemax 'After Dark' movie.

How long before a viewers playback habits are used by the government? Perhaps Tivo data could have been used to see whether Timothy McVeigh had an affinity for violent movies. Or perhaps we could have seen if Jeffrey Dahmer was attracted to scenes of violence and cruelty against humans or animals.

With emphasis being increasingly placed on "hate crimes", it's only a matter of time before Tivo data will be subpoenaed by courts to testify against a person's frame of mind.

With technology like this, the only limits are your imagination.

Stumbling across a post that's over a year and a half old, an environmentalist wacko, karma, hugs a tree and whines:

Well here's why I hate republicans: They call us liberals a bunch of "tree huggers" and "environmentalist wackos". Correct me if I'm wrong here but last time I checked, we were all living on the same planet. How is it that environmental problems only concern the liberals?? I dont know about you but that's a frightening realization to know that half of this country sees all the pollution and destruction we are doing to this planet and the other half is completely blind to it. I mean we're not talking about creationism here. Its a fact. Take a walk in any urban city and smell the air.What's all that mercury in tuna come from? How do the ice glaciers in the north melt? How did skin cancer come about? Do you know what Bush said in the 2000 debates concerning environmental protection? He said " I dont believe we have all the facts to prove that we are solely responsible for global warming." Do you not find that comment insane? Since the industrial revolution we've just been spraying the air with black smoke but global warming has nothing to do with us.....O-kay. you're screwed.

Sorry for the name calling karma, but I feel the need to correct you when you're wrong. We're not living on the same planet.

Charles R Stith, a Clinton appointee, says that blacks need to vote on the issues and not racial solidarity. In wrapping up his point, he waxes rhetorically:

Finally, while the issue of the lack of black appointed officials in Vermont made for titillating television during the debates, the more urgent question is this: Why after decades of African-American loyalty to the Democratic Party has it yet to produce its own Colin Powell or Condi Rice with the gravitas to realistically compete for the presidency?

For those of you that watched the Super Bowl commericals, do you remember the Pepsi/Apple spot featuring the illegal music downloaders? It was the one that paraded the child victims of the RIAA lawsuits to the tune of "I fought the law and the law won."

Well, The Register points out that it seems to be having the opposite affect that Apple and Pepsi had hoped for.

It comes as no surprise that red light cameras are a financial windfall for the District of Columbia. Mayor Anthony Williams has admitted several times that the red-light and speeding cameras are about generating revenue. Then again, Williams also lobbied to increase the number of government agencies and personnel down town, and then whined that a commuter tax was needed to pay for the increased burden.

The Washington Times has the skinny:

The District has collected more than $66 million in fines from its automated traffic-enforcement program since installing red-light cameras in 1999 and speeding cameras in 2001.

That's 66 million reasons why the cameras are here to stay.

Metropolitan police and city officials have long said that safety, not revenue, drives the District's automated traffic enforcement, which they say has helped them create safer streets with less manpower.

"With the technology we have now, it's no longer necessary to pull over [speeding motorists] one by one," Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said in a recent interview. "It's allowed us to effectively reduce speeding without having to occupy officers."

If you don't pull them over, just how does the camera stop someone from speeding? I guess in the same way that gun control, cameras and armed guards stopped D.C. school shootings.

According to police statistics, the red-light cameras are issuing about 22,800 fewer citations a month than they did when they were first installed in 1999. In addition, about 5.4 percent of the nearly 1 million vehicles monitored by photo-radar cameras last month were speeding, compared with 25.5 percent when the city began issuing citations based on photo-radar in 2001.

But is that really a measure of safety, or does it mean that people have learned where the cameras are?

While showing that fewer vehicles are being photographed running red lights or speeding, the police statistics don't necessarily indicate whether automated traffic enforcement has reduced the number of traffic accidents, traffic fatalities or otherwise made city streets safer.

"We don't have any substantial statistics of crashes predating the use of the cameras, so we can't draw a direct [correlation] between cameras and number of crashes," said Kevin P. Morison, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department.

If there was no pre-camera data to draw on, how do they know the cameras are making things safer? How do they know there was even a problem in the first place. (They don't.)

Also, governments routinely sweep crash statistics under the rug because pundits are trying to show that red light cameras actually increase crashes caused by people slamming on their brakes unnecessarily.

However, Mr. Morison said that traffic deaths attributable to speed are on the decline.

"Preliminary investigations by our crash unit show that traffic fatalities in which speed is identified as the primary cause have steadily declined [since the cameras were implemented]," he said. "In 2001, 39 of 71 deaths were attributed to speed; in 2002, 30 of 50. Last year, only 21 of 69 were caused by speed."

Talk about trying to have it both ways. First they don't have any statistics; now they have statistics.

Over the past 10 years, D.C. traffic fatalities have fluctuated between a high of 72 in 1994 and a low of 47 in 1999, according to police statistics.

So traffic fatalities were on the decline from 1994 to 1999, but the continued decline post-1999 is attributed to the newly installed cameras. Don't you just love how that works. Meanwhile modern cars now feature numerous mandatory safety features such as driver and passenger side airbags. ABS brakes are also becoming more of the norm. I wonder, could that have anything to do with the decline in fatalities??

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams in September 2002 said he wanted to expand the use of automated traffic cameras because the city needed the money.

"The cameras are about safety and revenue, and the way not to pay that tax is to not be speeding," the Democratic mayor said at a news conference. But Mr. Morison said that city officials' "motivation [for using the cameras] is and always has been safety, whether some people choose to believe that or not."

So at least Williams is honest, whereas Morison is a shyster.

The Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas manages the city's automated traffic-enforcement program and splits the fines with the District, which deposits the revenue into the general fund.

That's code for a commission. That means the manufacturer of the camera gets a cut of every ticket, and thus has a vested interest in maximizing revenue at the expense of D.C. drivers.When it comes to safety, the common sense approaches are still the best. For red lights, the easiest way to make an intersection safer is to lengthen the yellow light to allow the johnny-come-lately drivers to clear the intersection. But there's no money in that. (In fact, some governments actually made a shorter yellow to maximize camera profits.)

To cut down on speeding, nothing makes people step on the brake quicker than seeing a police car on the side of the road. Even if the car is empty or even just a cardboard cut out, it is still more effective than a camera that will mail you a ticket 4 weeks after the fact. But then that doesn't bring in much money either.

Related articles:
Automated enforcement is about money, not safety - 08/26/2003
L.A. County caught in red light scam-era - 05/16/2003
DC Mayor admits red light cameras are cash cow - 10/17/2002
Red Light Cameras - 08/18/2002

Traffic increased quite a bit in January. As you can see, it was up about 20% from the November high last year.

Month	Unique visitors	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
Jan 2004	15984	26115	55065	446704	2.51 GB

Traffic improved dramatically in 2003. By the end of the year, it was triple what it had started out as.

Month	Unique visitors	Number of visits	Pages	Hits	Bandwidth
Jan 2003	3765	7361	21104	89111	1.91 GB
Feb 2003*	2366	4355	11308	53703	913.63 MB
Mar 2003	4404	9229	23839	153815	2.04 GB
Apr 2003	4231	8796	20557	153538	1.97 GB
May 2003	6044	12962	31460	359407	2.69 GB
Jun 2003	6214	14006	41873	430032	3.35 GB
Jul 2003	7765	14804	36422	368681	2.83 GB
Aug 2003	8931	16868	37440	317234	2.23 GB
Sep 2003	10066	18936	39900	319826	2.43 GB
Oct 2003	11725	20079	41867	359407	2.39 GB
Nov 2003	12726	23152	47866	379223	2.54 GB
Dec 2003	11855	21595	45681	323498	1.92 GB
Total	90092	172143	399317	3307475	27.18 GB

*The stats script went FUBAR in February 2003, and didn't run for several weeks.

Democrats are returning to their roots of voter intimidation, and forcing would be primary voters in South Carolina to sign a loyalty oath to the Democrat Party. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Democrat party member said that they got the idea from the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. "Saddam made voters sign similar loyalty pledges, and he routinely got 100% of the vote. We aren't shooting for 100%, but we think it will help improve the numbers."

Democrats haven't said if they'll enforce their loyalty pledge after the results of November's general election are in, but party leaders note that they will have the records on hand, should they be needed for any recounts or legal challenges.

In November and December of 2000, Florida ballot counters had trouble determining who voters had intended to vote for in counties like Duval and Palm Beach. "If we'd had similar loyalty pledges back then, it would have been much easier to declare Al Gore the winner," said an anonymous Democrat source.

In his bid for the title of Ubergeek, a Michigan man named his newborn son Version 2.0.

Jon Blake Cusack talked his wife, Jamie, into naming their son Jon Blake Cusack 2.0. [...]

"I wanted to find something different to name him besides Jon Blake," [...]

"I wrote in the birth announcement e-mail stuff, like there's a lot of features from version 1.0 with additional features from Jamie," Jon Cusack said.

Isn't it nice to know that politicians on both sides of the aisle are falling all over each other to court the felon vote.

The Florida Black Caucus selected rapper Maurice "Trick Daddy" Young to speak to children at an FCAT event. In justifying the selection, Rep. Edward Jennings said:

"Whether we like it or not, because of his lyrics and what he does, he's a role model to kids."

Trick Daddy agreed to give the speech because it counts toward the community service hours he has to put in, after his "conviction on drug and firearm charges last year."

The New York Times anti-gun agenda is spreading to their foreign coorespondents. Last week, they issued a mandate to their foreign reports in war zones that the carrying of firearms is strictly prohibited. The anti-gun policy change for the Times comes right after several reporters were killed in Iraq.

Earlier this week in Iraq, two CNN employees died from gunshot wounds when their vehicle was ambushed. A third employee in another vehicle was injured. A security adviser traveling with the convoy was credited for saving the lives of the other journalists and employees.

"There is no doubt in my mind that if our security adviser had not returned fire, everyone in our vehicle would have been killed," said CNN correspondent Michael Holmes in a statement. "This was not an attempted robbery; they were clearly trying to take us out."

The security officer returned fire WITH A GUN. Had he worked for the Times under their new policy, his only means of defense would have been begging for mercy and peeing himself. Have they learned nothing from the murder of Daniel Pearl? (Ironically, a Times reporter won the Daniel Pearl Prize last year.)

So what is the Times reason for disarming their reporters the week after several U.S. foreign coorespondents were murdered in Iraq? Well apparently they think the CNN guys brought it on themselves.

"The carrying of a weapon, for whatever reason, jeopardizes a journalist's status as neutral," Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis told CNSNews.com. "For the same reason, it's also important that Times journalists do not travel with or accompany other journalists they know to be carrying weapons."

Murderous fanatics like their victims unarmed, and the NY Times is happy to oblige in the interest of neutrality.

Do citizens really need a disabilities agency?

[Maryland] Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s proposal to create a Cabinet-level Department of Disabilities would fulfill a campaign promise while slightly increasing the size of the government he promised to streamline.

Not being a resident of the People's Republik of Maryland, normally I wouldn't give a hoot how they spend their tax dollars. But since this a "first of it's kind" agency, I wonder how many other lefty states are going to follow suit? New Jersey, New York, Californiastan? Of course there will be those calling for a similar position in the Federal Government.

You know it's a slow news day when Congressmen start sharing their junk mail with the Associated Press. Apparently Democrat Congressman John Dingell got the same type of George Bush campaign propaganda that I got last month. (Only I didn't rush off to the AP to share stories about my junk mail.) The only reason I mentioned it here, is because I also got a solicitation for a Bill Clinton commemorative Liberian coin on the same day.

Either I don't get the joke, or Dingell doesn't get the concept of junk mail.

"I was very surprised that the (Republican National Committee) is so desperate for money that it is now soliciting sitting Democratic Congressmen for donations. With all the special interest giveaways to contractors like Halliburton, energy companies like Enron, or the pharmaceutical industry, I would think the Bush-Cheney re-election fund would be flush with contributions. ... This makes me very sad."

Don't forget that evil Martha Stewart. I'm sure she takes time away from her railroading federal trial to send millions to George Bush in exchange for insider stock tips.

It comes as no big surprise that California Democrats are sore at Governor Schwarzenegger. But the SF Gate reports that they are cutting of their own noses, so to speak. Democrats are backing away from a $12 Billion education bond that had been a cornerstone of the Democrat agenda. $12 Billion was enough for Arnold to get support from the teacher's unions, but key Democrats are opposed to the idea, even though it was their idea to begin with.

"They're just being ornery because now it's 'Arnold's bond,' '' said one Democratic pollster -- in other words, it's a "Republican'' bond.

Another sore point with Democrats: Arnold's rollback of the vehicle license fee. Not only did it add $4 billion to the state's budget deficit, but he kicked the Democrats around when he did it.

Oh to understand the mind of a liberal Democrat. Gray Davis tripled the car tax by bureaucratic fiat. Schwarzenegger repeals his executive decision a few months later, and all of a sudden it's Arnold's fault for adding $4 Billion to the budget deficit.

This is just another case of politicians playing politics; something that George W. Bush is finding out the hard way. You can advance your opponent's agenda, and you can champion their ideas; but they still aren't going to like you. They ask for $12 Billion, so you give it to them. Next thing you know, they refuse to vote for it while blaming you for not giving them $20 Billion. (Does the Medicare expansion ring a bell?)

Why do these "compassionate conservatives" give them anything to begin with? It's turning out to be bad for everybody.

You gotta love how CBS touted their "must see" half time show all week, and now they claim they had no idea that Janet Jackson's boob was the mystery guest.

UPDATE: It looks like I'm not the only Doubting Thomas. Drudge (link has photo*) claims that the CBS brass knew all along about the breast baring stunt. (not that there's anything wrong with bare breasts.)

Top CBS executives approved a musical skit where Janet Jackson would expose her breast during the MTV-produced Super Bowl half-time concert, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

"The decision to go forward went to the very top of the network," a well-placed source explained from New York.

The groundbreaking scene came during the most-watched television broadcast of the year -- and during the dinner hour for the nation's west coast viewers.

That photo is probably safe for work.. but if in doubt, don't say I didn't warn you.

Sorry Pats fans. While I really don't care who wins, I have to admit that Carolina has been getting it done on the road.

Plus they're from the South, and I ain't rootin' for no Yankee.