Archive for May 9th, 2007
Here We Go Again!
May 9th, 2007
The Democratic House of Representatives is hell-bent on confrontations with the president as to what authority belongs to whom.
Now they are set to approve a bill that would fund the troops only until July, a scant two months away.
President Bush would veto a bill drafted by House Democratic leaders that would fund the Iraq war only into the summer months, his spokesman said Wednesday.
The Democrats’ proposal would pay for the war through July, then give Congress the option of cutting off money after that if conditions do not improve. Bush requested more than $90 billion to fund the war through September.
“There are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said on Air Force One traveling with Bush.
Asked directly if Bush would veto the House bill in its current form, Snow said, “Yes.”
Bush vetoed an earlier bill because it set deadlines for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq.
The new proposal is aimed at appeasing Democratic lawmakers who want to end the war immediately and are urging leaders not to back down after Bush’s veto. But lacking a firm endorsement by the Senate, the challenge by House Democrats seemed more for political show than a preview of another veto showdown with Bush.
If you know it’s going to be vetoed and you can’t override the veto, why engage in fruitless effort?
Congress has the power of the purse and, as such, can withdraw funding for the war at any time. If they don’t want to compromise to make our troops safe longer than two months then use the constitutional power they have and defund the war.
All this other nonsense is just that.
Posted in 
Tammy Faye Bakker Dying
May 9th, 2007
The woman in the midst of the fall of Jim Bakker’s empire on earth is dying from cancer.
The cancer started in her colon and has now spread to her lungs.
She’s down to sixty-five pounds, and the doctors have told her they are stopping treatment on her.
I make no judgment for or against Tammy Mesner, as that is up to the Lord and whether or not she actually repented of her sins.
She knows her time is near and as a Christian and a person of compassion I will pray her passing will be gentle.
Many people don’t get the opportunity to cleanse their souls with the Lord before passing, so God has given her a gift even in her last days.
Now for the Sentence
May 9th, 2007
It was refreshing to see the British got this right and I wish our Justice department would do the same.
A civil servant and an MP’s researcher have been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
They leaked an “extremely sensitive” memo about talks on Iraq between Tony Blair and President Bush.
What is even more troubling was that a man running for the Presidency here in the United States was on the list as a possible recipient of this information.
He also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.
While there is no proof that Senator Kerry had any knowledge of the plan for this information to land in his hands, or that he ever received any documents relating to this conversation, the significance to a US election could be staggering.
Recognizing that information is relayed with relative ease today, comprehensive investigations are necessary to identify and prosecute those leaking for spite or political gain.
What serious action has been undertaken by the Justice Department concerning this leak or these or perhaps this.
An investigation here or there, a grand jury convened and no word on any action. Look at the Sandy Burger case. What information did he steal and destroy from the National Archives? Did the Justice department stop short of gaining a stiffer penalty for this crime in deference to a former President? We will never know.
Where is the outrage when a politician in this country travels to a known terrorist state and gives them the heads up on the Presidents Foreign Policy:
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) on the November 14, 2005 edition of “Fox Sunday” divulged “I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq–that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11.”
While I have been a supporter of AG Gonzalez, I wish he would take more aggressive action on any leak where information is deemed of a sensitive nature. Elected officials no matter what letter follows their name, private citizens and members of the press must be held accountable and pay a price for wrongdoing. It is a simple matter of trust.
Pope Warns Pro-Abortion Lawmakers
May 9th, 2007
The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.
“Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ,” he said.
“They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church… which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)”.
Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as “automatic excommunication” on themselves.
I’m not Catholic so if someone is please let us know if these people can get back into the good graces of the Roman Catholic Church and receive last sacraments etc, assuming they continue to support abortion up until their dying moments.
I’m thinking of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi who are both pro-abortion and both Catholics.
The Latest on an Immigration Bill
May 9th, 2007
It seems Arizona Senator Jon Kyl and not Senator John McCain is the White House go-to man for immigration legislation.
Last year the Senate passed a pretty liberal immigration bill that allows a path to citizenship for just about anyone who wants it. If not for the Republican House last year this bill would have become law.
For two years, the White House thought the chances of getting an immigration bill passed in Congress lay with Arizona’s Republican senator. Unfortunately for President Bush, he was counting on the wrong one.
While the White House was working with Sen. John McCain, Arizona’s other senator, Jon Kyl, emerged this year as the most important player in the immigration debate, showing that even as the Congress has grown more liberal with Democrats in control, the immigration debate has shifted to the right.
It’s also a recognition that as Mr. Kyl goes, so go a number of Republicans.
“If it’s good enough for Kyl, it’s going to be good enough for a lot of conservatives,” said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican and one of the top House lawmakers pressing for a bill this year.
The debate starts today when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is expected to use a parliamentary procedure to resurrect one of last year’s bills. His move is designed to pressure Republicans to get something done, but they said they can’t meet the deadline.
Mr. Kyl is leading a group of Republicans working with the White House, two Cabinet secretaries and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats’ leader on immigration, to try to write a tough and workable bill.
“There’s only one way that there’s going to be legislation adopted this year, and that’s in a bipartisan way,” Mr. Kyl said yesterday, warning that Mr. Reid’s move could “break up any chance” for such an agreement.
Excuse me for not having the intellect to understand how Sen. Reid, the Majority Leader in the Senate is resurrecting one of last year’s bills (without hearings) so he can get the Republicans to get something done. 8-|
Feel free to explain that one to me.
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Cheney in Baghdad
May 9th, 2007
Vice President Dick Cheney has made an unannounced visit to Baghdad presumably to press for reconciliation between the various factions in Iraq.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday on an unannounced visit, at a time when pressure from Washington is growing on the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks aimed at healing sectarian divisions.
John Roberts, the U.S. embassy information officer in Baghdad, said Cheney would meet with senior Iraqi officials. He gave no further details.
Cheney is on a tour of the Middle East.
It can’t hurt and it may help.
Update: For a more in-depth report please go here.
A Real Hero
May 9th, 2007
A Marine and his wife and daughter were at Atlantic Beach in North Carolina enjoying a day at the beach when the Marine, Master Sgt. Michael Wert, an Iraq War veteran, noticed two boys struggling in the surf.
According to this report Sgt. Wert went to the boys’ rescue while his wife went to call 911 and his daughter went into the water with a boogie board to help her Dad.
“She managed to help the boys onto the board, but didn’t see her dad with them,” Debbie Wert said in the statement. “The one little boy told her (Michael Wert) had to let them go and had died.”
Rescue personnel found Wert but could not revive him.
Sergeant Wert is survived by his wife, three children, parents, and two siblings.
Rest in peace, Sgt. Wert. You are a true hero.
We All Make Gaffes
May 9th, 2007
With everyone chuckling about President Bush almost saying the Queen was here in 1776, but caught himself first and a lot of his other “Bushisms”, I wonder what the reaction will be when people read that Sen. Barack Obama told a crowd on Tuesday about the devastating tornado that hit Greensburg, Kansas, and said 10,000 people died. The actual count so far is 10.
He said he gets tired and he sometimes misspeaks. I can understand that. How come no one seems to understand the president also gets tired and sometimes misspeaks and it’s funny when he does. Funny in an endearing way and not in the way some try to make it look as though he’s stupid.
Just wondering.
A Mini-Mystery
May 9th, 2007
Outside of working on my computer for the last two hours because it wasn’t opening any programs and if it did it would lock up, I have a question to toss out to anyone who can come up with any kind of answer.
Our nine-year old granddaughter calls me every night between 7:30 and 8:00 to tell me good-night. This is when we talk about her day.
Tuesday night she told me her principal came to school with a black eye on one side and “half a black eye” on the other, with his arm in a sling.
When the kids asked their teachers what happened they were told he had surgery.
The kids are speculating he a.) got into an accident or b.) got into a fight. They have observed he has no cuts or stitches on his body (that they can see) and we’re trying to figure out what kind of surgery would blacken both eyes and hurt his arm.
The arm is what makes it so interesting. Any ideas?
Trouble on the Tube
May 9th, 2007
A huge decline!
Data Says 2.5 Million Less Watching TV.
NEW YORK (AP) – Maybe they’re outside in the garden. They could be playing softball. Or perhaps they’re just plain bored. In TV’s worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show.
Everyone has a theory to explain the plummeting ratings: early Daylight Savings Time, more reruns, bad shows, more shows being recorded or downloaded or streamed.Scariest of all for the networks, however, is the idea that many people are now making their own television schedules. The industry isn’t fully equipped to keep track of them, and as a result the networks are scrambling to hold on to the nearly $8.8 billion they collected during last spring’s ad-buying season.
“This may be the spring where we see a radical shift in the way the culture thinks of watching TV,” said Sarah Bunting, co-founder of the Web site Television Without Pity.
The viewer plunge couldn’t have come at a worse time for the networks—next week they will showcase their fall schedules to advertisers in the annual “up front” presentations.
If you are an avid TV watcher i mean no disrespect. Each person finds enjoyment in a venue of their choice, however, the lack of quality and family oriented programming eventually had to take its toll on the national networks.
Perhaps conversation, good music and great literature are making a comeback…we shall see.
Balance of story.
HT: Drudge Report
19 Years of Tiny Miracles
May 9th, 2007
It is wonderful when you hear a parent refer to their child as a gift from God and a true blessing. Well, this family has certainly had their share of “presents.”
LITTLE ROCK — The Duggars are once again pulling out the pink ruffles and lace as they prepare for the birth of baby number 17.
Michelle Duggar said Monday in a telephone interview from her northwest Arkansas home that the whole family is excited about the arrival of the baby girl they will name Jennifer Danielle, keeping with the family tradition of giving the child a name that begins with J.
I cannot begin to tell you the admiration I have for these parents and the obvious time and energy they have devoted to these children:
The Duggars home school their children at their 7,000-square foot home in Tontitown. The couple’s oldest child, Joshua, is 19, and their youngest, Johanna Faith, is 19 months. Their children include two sets of twins.
It’s become less common to hear of large families due mostly I believe to financial and time constraints. How heartwarming to read a story of people so willing to accept their “gifts” with such grace. May God continue to bless this whole clan for years to come.
