The best reason yet to break the filibuster

Froggy Ruminations posts an email from a reader that had been sent on the Senator Frist as encouragement to berak the Democrats filibuster using reasoning that neither Froggy, nor I for that matter, had heard yet: Dear Senator Frist, I am writing to exhort you, lest there be in your mind any thought of hesitation, that the hour has come to end this process of judicial filibuster, by which the enemies of this country continue to subvert its very foundations. I will not presume to lecture you on the constitutionality or even the fairness of this issue, nor will I condescend to addressing the fears of those who urge caution in this matter. I will, however, relay to you a perspective that I have not heard on the talk shows, nor read in the blogs, and that I hope will challenge you as an American and as a man of God. During the thirteen years that I spent serving my county in the SEAL Teams, I often contemplated the oath I had taken to, “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. I imagine that you look at that oath somewhat differently, but I hope with no less gravity, than I did. As I write, we have thousands of men and women risking everything they have to uphold their oaths. Some are losing marriages, some are losing relationships with their children and some are losing their very lives. What do we owe these men and women? What do we owe their widows and orphans? Do we owe them a land where we call right wrong and wrong right? We certainly do not; we owe them guidance, compassion, gratitude and above all truth. We owe their children a chance to grow up in a land not assailing their innocence and purity form every side. We owe them the same level of courage and commitment which we have asked of them and with which they have so selflessly responded. While they fight for us elsewhere, we should fight for them here. If some in the Republican majority want to falter, let them. Call them out. Cowardice under fire is a shameful thing but cowardice under pressure from a corrupt media and a minority of moral reprobates is, in my opinion, infinitely worse. I believe that if David (the one after God’s own heart) were here today he would have something to say. Who are these uncircumcised Philistines that they should defy the armies of the living God? This is a time for moral certainty. Do not fear, be of good courage - this should be the rallying cry of the day. This is not just a battle, this is the battle; many are praying for you. Lead. Respectfully, Once again I say God Bless our men and women in the armed forces. They have chosen a life in service to a country they love and respect. They have chosen to fight for citizens who can not or choose not to fight, as well as fighting for those who would rather spit on them for what they perceive as injustice. Oh and amen to the letter. Get on the ball Frist. I have a lot of respect for you, so I hope that there is agressive fighting behind the scenes with the RINOs in the party to get them on the boat.

Hey, it's physical fitness month!

By national decree everyone go dust off those running shoes, get out there and exercise! WASHINGTON, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona and Lynn Swann, Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS), will kick off National Physical Fitness and Sports Month by hosting a free public celebration featuring the Harlem Globetrotters. Members of the public are invited to attend and participate in activities including interactive sports demonstrations and to visit with health and fitness experts from over 80 organizations who will share health information at exhibits and conduct ongoing fitness demonstrations for adults and children on two different stages. I'll join you all as soon as I can hoist my butt off the couch. I'm supposed to keep off my feet thanks to doctor's orders. Seriously.... I broke my toe.

Giant Battle Monsters

JWookie is a Giant Robot that spits Ice, has Heavy Metal Armour, a Toughened Steel Skeleton and Black-and-White Stripes, and can Change Shape. Strength: 9 Agility: 4 Intelligence: 9 To see if your Giant Battle Monster can defeat jwookie, enter your name and choose an attack: fights jwookie using StrengthAgilityIntelligence Sweet. Ice breath and I can change shapes. Pretty accurate too. Smart as a whip, strong but not the most agile creature, especially considering that I broke my toe over the weekend tripping over a friggin' curb. Funny how art imitates life. (hat tip In Re, via Legal XXX)

Spotaneous combustion

This is too cool. BERLIN (AP) - More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and scientists still have no explanation for what's causing the combustion, an official said Wednesday. Both the pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find a bacteria or virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper, of the Hamburg-based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment. "It's absolutely strange," she said. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere before." The toads at a pond in the upscale neighborhood of Altona have been blowing up since the beginning of the month, filling up like balloons until their stomachs suddenly burst. "It looks like a scene from a science-fiction movie," Werner Schmolnik, the head of a local environment group, told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily. "The bloated animals suffer for several minutes before they finally die." Biologists have come up with several theories, but Kloepper said that most have been ruled out. The pond's water quality is no better or worse than other bodies of water in Hamburg, the toads did not appear to have a disease, and a laboratory in Berlin has ruled out the possibility that it is a fungus that made its way from South America, she said. She said that tests will continue. In the meantime, city residents have been warned to stay away from the pond. Frogs randomly exploding; that is quality humor... I wonder what the warning sign for that would look like... Too bad they throw the PETA-esque "suffering" bit in there, but how seriously can you take a report from a newspaper called the Hamburger.

Female Iraqi assembly member assassinated

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's transitional National Assembly suffered a difficult setback Wednesday when gunmen shot and killed a lawmaker on her doorstep -- the first assembly member assassinated since the entity was voted into power on January 30. Lamee'a Abd Khidawi, a member of outgoing interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's legislative bloc, was shot to death when she answered the door to her house, Baghdad emergency police said. No one has yet claimed responsibility. I'm waiting for NOW to send out the protestors to picket in front of "insurgents" locations due to the obvious civil rights violation of the this woman by the insurgents. I won't hold my breath though...

John Bolton under more pressure

I don't get it. I thought we wanted politicians who spoke their mind, who were straight-shooters, and who didn't heed all that political maneuvering mumbo jumbo. Based on Bolton's record he seems like that kind of guy (I think it's the mustache). But if you're the BBC, you just can't have people who tell it like it is: In the [July 2003] speech, Mr Bolton described North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a "tyrannical dictator" and the country as a "hellish nightmare" for its people. Pyongyang was incensed, labelling him "human scum" and refused to continue negotiating with him. Aaaaww, did widdle Boltie-woltie hurwt duh widdle commie-wommie's feewings? Just sounds like he was speaking the truth. I know truths and facts are tough for Democrats to handle, but they'd better get used to it. Diplomacy has led to the single largest scandal ever, the Oil for Food program, not to mention scores of allegations of abuses by UN officials including rape. Diplomacy in dealings with North Korea led to Pingpong getting nuclear weapons in the first place, because Democrats don't seem to understand bad guys do bad things... like lie (and it only gets worse from there). So what's not to like about a "cowboy" that's gonna call a spade a spade. The namby-pamby UN wusses had better get used to it. I'd threaten to cut our funding to the UN if they didn't shape things up over there (hell, I'd probably cut there funding just on principle, they already hate us, so we wouldn't be losing very much). Bolton's going to be the new mustache of diplomacy.

9/11 terrorist pleads guilty

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in the terrorism conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks, pleaded guilty Friday to all six counts against him. I can't believe he pleaded guilty. I thought for sure we'd hear one of those long screeds denouncing America as the Great Satan, proclaiming he was doing Allah's will, and let's not forget the virgins awaiting him in heaven for his work. Moussaoui, 36, could get the death penalty for his crimes -- a penalty he said he would resist. "I will fight every inch of the death penalty," he said in court Friday. Oh please resist. That will make it all the more satisfying watching the trial and sentencing. Moussaoui denied direct involvement in the attacks of September 11, 2001, but said he was part of a broader al Qaeda conspiracy to "use planes as weapons." Ah that old stand by defense of "I didn't do it, but that sure was a damn good idea." That works every time. Just ask OJ. When U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema asked how he was going to plead, Moussaoui said, "Guilty." In making the plea, Moussaoui gave up all rights of appeal and said he understood he could receive the death penalty. Good. Less court fees down the road. Can we raid his bank account to pay for every public hearing he's had thus far? Moussaoui's defense attorneys had objected to his decision to plead guilty and they filed papers Friday arguing that he was not mentally competent to enter his plea. No way, the defense attorney doesn't want his client dead? I guess it's harder to charge hours to a corpse. Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan heritage, had been accused of six conspiracies: to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft, to use weapons of mass destruction, to murder U.S. government employees and to destroy U.S. government property. Those damn frogs are behind it! The Middle East generally believes 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy, but maybe the French were behind it! That would explain their general standoffish, selfish, and their total lack of principles nature. For more evidence of their sneakiness check House of Wheels. He was arrested a month before the September 11 attacks after raising suspicions at a Minnesota flight school when he showed up paying close to $7,000 cash for Boeing 747 simulator training. Well we got one of the bastards. If only our intelligence agencies had been on their game a little more, we may have been able to stop the whole thing....

A new Pope has been chosen!

This just popped up on my desktop and I've got Fox News airing live in Vatican City with a subscript saying "We have a Pope". The white smoke is blowing and the bells are ringing. Stay tuned to see who has been selected. UPDATE 1: DJNewswire confirming bells came across at 9:12AM PST exactly. UPDATE 2: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is the new Pope. He chose the name Benedict XVI. UPDATE 3: This is an excellent choice. Hugh was quoting the homily from the day before of our new Pope Benedict XVI on air yesterday who talked of the "tyranny of moral relativism." I think we can expect this Pope to carry the torch of the Catholic church by honoring her history and tradition, and not caving to the pressures of secular society. The link above has the entire transcript of Pope Benedict XVI's homily.

Where in the world is Eason Jordan?

With all the crying he did a couple months ago over the US military supposedly targeting reporters you'd think he'd have been on this story like stink on poo. KIEV (AP) [off the wire, no link]--Ukrainian Security agents have detained three former police officers for allegedly poisoning a man suspected of involvement in the fatal beating of a television journalist in 2001, a prosecutor's spokesman said Monday. Authorities are questioning the three in connection with the death of Yuriy Veredyuk three years ago while he was in police custody, said Vyacheslav Astapov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Prosecutor General. He didn't say when the three officers were detained. See Eason. Not everybody is trying to kill reporters. These cops went all Kaiser Soze on this guy, all over a dead reporter. I'm waiting for the glowing write up in the NY Times recommeding citations for bravery for the cops. Amnesty International should be asking for their immediate release within the hour. UPDATE: And for the exact opposite of that story we turn to the US where criminals kill our police, judges, and judicial employees whenever they want apparently. PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- A detective was killed with his own gun at police headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, Sunday by a suspect who was not handcuffed and managed to get hold of the weapon, the police chief said. Esteban Carpio escaped after the shooting but was captured after a struggle a few blocks away and charged with murder on Sunday night, police said.

Surfers: 1, Sharks: 0

Gotta love those Aussies! CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- A surfer fought off a two-meter (7-foot) shark with his board at an Australian beach Saturday -- then continued surfing, a life guard said. The man in his 30s returned to Sydney's Bronte Beach 30 minutes after surviving the attack with a replacement board, despite the beach being closed because of the danger, life guard Aaron Graham said. I love it; he gets attacked by the shark and the only tragedy is he lost 30 minutes of surfing. Let's get some more Aussies over to Iraq STAT, huh, Howard? (hat tip to Ryanne for the link)

Someone thinks my opinion is important

If you've read my blog at all, you know I'm a big TV buff, and my favorite genres being medical dramas (ER, House, Grey's Anatomy), Comedies (South Park, Who's Line Is It Anyway), and supernatural mysteries (Medium, X-Files). I've also taken a liking to one of the religious TV shows, Joan of Arcadia. A great show that also delivers a positive. A true family show. NBC has a new show that premiered yesterday, Revelations. I dig it and I was able get my hands on an advance copy of the pilot. God and death and hell and the devil. Basically a nun thinks that all the signs are in place for the end of the world, and that Dr. Massey (Bill Pullman) is involved since his daughter was just murdered by the devil incarnate and there a girl in a coma channeling the word of God. This is fascinating stuff. I dig all this end of days stuff. Unfortunately it is definitely not a show for the family, at last not after seeing pilot. But give it a watch. I think you'll like it.

Bad things happen in threes

OK, I know that when life gives you lemons you're supposed to make lemonade, but this is friggin ridiculous. Back at the beginning of the month the fetching Mrs. Wookie was in a minor car accident on the freeway. No one was hurt, a fairly minor incident actually, but you've still got all the hassles that go with an accident: car rental, insurance, police reports. Then I go and total my car a week later when I get rearended on the freeway. I had to go get the x-rays and miss work and take pain meds, so it was a very slow and sore week for me. I'll get those pics scanned in soon, so you can see my poor little Saturn. And to top it off, I start back at work yesterday after the accident and when I get back to my apartment, and there are 5 maintenance guys in there drying my carpet because at some point there was a river of water flowing from the bathroom out my front door after a pipe burst in the floor. Perfect. So my carpet in ruined, my dog is scared stiff, and I'm praying that no furniture gets ruined by all this. That lemon cliche is stupid. "Shit happens" is probably more appropriate.

Car accident

... has unfortunately been the cause of the light posting for the past week. Being laid up and all drugged up doesn't lead to clear headed blogging. When I feel better I'll post the pics of my trashed little Saturn. I'll have lots for you later. Keep checking back.

LA unified really needs to stop whining

All we ever hear about from the LA unified school district and the teachers is compaining about a lack of money for the system. And with some of Ahhh-nold's recent travels, he's met with teachers and other government employees protesting some of his propositions and ballot measures. But hot off the wire comes stuff like this: SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2005--Advanced Placement(a) students from the Los Angeles Unified School District are using AP Exam Review from Apex Learning® to prepare for their 2005 AP(a) exams as a result of an agreement announced today by the nation's second largest school district and the leading publisher of online instructional materials for secondary education. "By offering AP Exam Review again this year throughout the District, we're providing our AP students with a high quality AP test preparation program," said Sheila Smith, district coordinator, Gifted/Talented Programs, Los Angeles Unified School District. "For students in our regular AP courses as well as those taking online courses from Apex Learning offered by the District, active use of AP Exam Review helps to ensure they have the best chance for success on their spring Advanced Placement exams," she said. Since when is it the job of the state to provide extraordinary materials while the state is in budgetary chaos. I went to a private high school and I took plenty of AP classes and for none of them did the school provide name brand study materials. I bought those on my own. If the schools are running short of money, why are they buying stuff they don't need to buy? If you're gonna spend money like it grows on trees, what do you expect Ahh-nold to do but cut your funding to stop the bleeding. Notice how Sheila said that they were "providing the students with a high quality AP test preparation program." Instead of just buying them all the possible study guides out there, maybe they shoud try teaching the kids. How's that for a novel idea?

Did you ever think there'd be a Kurdish president in Iraq?

Certainly wouldn't have happened in the previous regime BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president Wednesday, reaching out to a long-repressed minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years. Isn't democracy grand? Saddam was trying to eradicate them, now one is Iraq's president. Who knew? UPDATE: Does having Saddam watch Iraq elect a Kurdish president qualify as cruel and unusual punishment?

Blogging at work

In their latet public service announcement, CNN warns of the dangers of blogging at work giving us lowly bloggers 6 rules to live by: 1. Know where your company stands: Ask about the company blogging policy before you start, even if you are doing it anonymously, one dismissed blogger advises. Does your company establish boundaries? Is blogging acceptable? Is it OK to mention your employer? Are there topics that are off-limits? What are the consequences? 2. Blog on your own time: If you are using company hardware, a company network or doing it on company time, you are likely bound by company policy and could be reprimanded or terminated for wrongful use, Haefner says. 3. Practice safe blogs: "Employees who go around sharing negative or confidential information about their company, product or service -- either internal or external -- to the company would and should get fired," says Pete Quintas, CTO of SilkRoad Technology, creator of an enterprise blogging application called Silkblogs. "You need to be honest and not secretive about what you are writing unless you are willing to deal with the consequences." 4. Don't hide it from your boss: Quintas says you should be honest about your blogging and ask your employer if it is OK to do. "I would consider it analogous to asking your employer: 'I have been invited to speak on a panel at this industry conference; can I participate?' " 5. Use good judgment: If you consider blogs and the Internet an extension of your voice, what you say on your blog about your company, product or service should be kept within the guidelines of what you would say in public, according to Quintas. "Treat it with the same restraint of how you talk in person about your company, remembering that more people have access to what you say," he suggests. 6. Others will disagree with you: You can't please all people all of the time. As with any communications medium, the best advice is to be aware of the repercussions your decisions may have, Wright warns. "Anytime you post, you are effectively making a choice between being safe and having something worthwhile to say," he says. "It's a rare occasion where you can both please everyone and come up with a new and engaging line of thought. Sometimes things you say will offend people, no matter where you're saying them." As someone who does blog from work, let me just say now, I'm not a moron. That being said, what idiot is going to berate their office on their blog? That is a far cry from Blog'>Hugh's CEO blogger suggestion. There's a phrase for this: don't shit where you eat. You can't expect to say whatever you want without consequences. I fortunately have a job where I can blog while I work. Hell a lot of the time I study for exams while I work. But I don't let it stop me from working and I certainly don't bash my company. In fact I've never mentioned my company, other than to say I work in the financial arena. That's plenty. Other than that, blog away. (hat tip to Ryanne for the link)

Big Bang theory takes big hit

This could be very interesting. I'd really like to see how the hardcore, anti-creationist scientists and leftists try to discredit this: SANTA ANA, Calif., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A major scientific discovery made by a small team of researchers has revealed patterns in nearby galaxies that present an alternative to the big bang theory and the continually expanding universe that we have been living with for the past 80 years. A team comprising a mathematician, an amateur astronomer and a thermodynamicist -- all graduates of Georgia Institute of Technology -- has found patterns in the distribution of galaxies which indicate an entirely different structure to the universe. The team includes brothers Richard and David Moser who have decades of experience in the field. Now MEC Publishing is releasing the information used to construct this new model which uses all of the data used to construct the current big bang model and adds this new observation, patterns that can be observed by anyone, resulting in an entirely new and unexpected structure. Instead of the standard big bang model, which is based on the simplest interpretation of the red shift, this model constructs a whole new universe, one with definite limits, about 2,000 times smaller than the old continually expanding one. This universe is a closed, reflective space about 12 million light-years across one dimension. We are about 1.5 million light-years to the closest wall. The galaxy Andromeda (M31) is the first reflection of our own Milky Way Galaxy as it looked several million years ago. There is much more to be learned about the limits and boundaries. The observable evidence and the data is described at The Examined Universe. (This link has six pages of data, at the end is another link to eleven pages in a book that has the same data and a somewhat different viewpoint.) The implications of this discovery are enormous, opening up a whole new field of research using computer technology to analyze the mountains of data we have already accumulated to discover more about the boundaries of our new universe. They also discuss religion's importance and its role in concert with science. Wait, what's that I hear? Is that Darwin turning in his grave? UPDATE: You'll also notice that this was done by an "amateur astronomer" and they based their theories on patterns that can be observed by anyone. That will really chap the hide of those silly professional science type people.

Happy Anniversary!

No it's not a blogiversary, it's the fetching Mrs. Wookie and my 3rd wedding anniversary. Three years of wedded bliss; I can't believe it's been three years already. Love ya, babe!

Beauty queen stripped of her crown

This is too funny. Why was she stripped of her title you ask? She stood up. APPLETON, Wisconsin (AP) -- Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has been stripped of her title because pageant officials say she can stand -- and point to a newspaper picture as proof. Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, was snapped by The Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her high school math students. "I've been made to feel as if I can't represent the disabled citizens of Wisconsin because I'm not disabled enough," Lee said Thursday. I suppose even the disabled pageant people have to have standards, but that's funny. She raises a good question though; how disabled does she have to be? (hat tip to Ryanne for the link)

UN hiring standards

Once again we see that working for the UN means everywhere you turn you're knee deep into some probe for one sort of illegal activity or another (via DJ NewsWire sorry I pulled this one right off the wire and couldn't find a direct link): UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The head of the United Nation's internal watchdog agency, who faces allegations that he traded jobs for personal favors, on Friday launched a bitter counterattack. Dileep Nair, head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, said he was the victim of a smear campaign after a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the U.N. would launch an outside review of allegations that Nair had violated U.N. rules by showing favoritism in his recruitment and promotion of staff. [...] Last month Annan's chief-of-staff, Mark Malloch Brown, sent Nair a letter saying Annan would request an external inquiry in light of an "extended controversy" within the U.N. about the allegations, including claims that an earlier "desk review" had "improperly cleared" Nair of wrongdoing. [...] Nair is facing separate allegations of misconduct. A report released Tuesday by an independent committee probing the now-defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq found that Nair had paid an employee with money from the $64 billion program even though the man's work was not directly related to it. Wow, the UN can't even investigate internal convroversy without sparking more controversy. And why do we trust them in world affairs, again?

Pope near death

VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II's breathing is becoming shallow and several of his major organs -- including his kidneys and heart -- are growing weaker, the Vatican said Friday. "The general conditions and cardio-respiratory conditions of the Holy Father have further worsened. A gradual worsening arterial hypotension has been noted, and breathing has become shallow," the Vatican press office said. Just as the Pope gave us prinicples to live by, he shows us the prinicples to die by: with dignity. Death is not a right, it is but a passing; not to be rushed, but to be welcomed when it comes. UPDATE: The Pope passed on; a truly sad day since the world has lost a great leader.

April Fools: fo' shizzle

Gizoogle rocks. Take your favorite website and translate it. It translates my blog's title to "Cakes or Death" and the tag line "Well we're outta cake! We only had three bits and we didn't expect such a rush." Well that's not too different, but check out my Body World's post: This is stupid. LOS ANGELES, California (izzle -- Two bitchez stole a preserved 13-week-old fetus frizzay an acclaimed exhibit at tha California Science Playa authorities said Tuesday . Dogg House Records in the motha fuckin house. The fetus, its tissues infused wit brotha in a process called plastinizzles ta prevent decay indef, was pizzle of a perpetratin' display, "Body Worlds 2: The Anatomizzles Exhibition of Rizzy Human Bodies." [...]"There's no indication at this time of tha motives behind tha ridin' of tha plastinated fetus," [detectizzles Renda said. "There had bizzy no threats." If you read tha whole article it's hard ta tiznell who's dumba, tha ta bitchez who stole tha fetus or tha author of tha article. If tha two bitchez stole this in as a pizzle of some pro-life activism they're tha dumb ones coz tha fetus could not have bizzy aborted coz, perpetratin' seen tha specimen, it is whole n unharmed (so ta speak) . I started yo shit and i'll end yo' shit. It could only have died dur'n birth, miscarrizzles or some accident thizzay would hizzle claimed tha drug deala life as well . Keep'n it gangsta dogg. Or if tha author is simply imply'n thizzat tha two bitchez were pro-lifa n since he's written a shell of a story, who's shot calla? And can you picture tha "threats" tizzle may accompany this crime? I want 2 million in unmarked, non-seqizzle bills or tha dead, plastinated fetus... gets... melted. By tha way, if Bizzle Worlds is com'n ta a ghetto nizzle you, it is definetely wizzay tha trip. Two thumbs way up! How funny iz dat, yo! Fo' shizzle, happ-izzle April foozizzle.