Presidential candidate John Edwards’ wife Elizabeth is giving up tangerines to do her part to help global warming.

The politics of global warming got very concrete, and oddly difficult, in a meeting with local environmentalists in the coastal town of McClellanville today, where Elizabeth Edwards raised in passing the importance of relying on locally-grown fruit.

“We’ve been moving back to ‘buy local,’” Mrs. Edwards said, outlining a trade policy that “acknowledges the carbon footprint” of transporting fruit.

“I live in North Carolina. I’ll probably never eat a tangerine again,” she said, speaking of a time when the fruit is reaches the price that it “needs” to be.

What about other citrus fruits, a good source of vitamin C which is the only vitamin our bodies can’t store?

I live in S.C. and I know I can’t buy citrus here, so I’ll take the trucked-in variety of fruit or I’ll drive to Florida to buy it.

Then I’ll plant a tree to erase my carbon footprint.

Seriously, this global warming trend is becoming a religion to some people.

I’ll still be buying orange juice and citrus fruits from the market and I won’t worry about it at all.

Are you kidding me? This has got to be wrong.
Well people, if you want something outrageous to comment on, this story is it.

Twenty soldiers deployed to Iraq from this Army base were killed in May, a monthly high. That same month, the base announced a change in how it would honor its dead: instead of units holding services after each death, they would be held collectively once a month.
The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers’ families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had delayed the plan.

[Its commander, Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, was expected to decide Wednesday whether to go through with it.]

“If I lost my husband at the beginning of the month, what do you do, wait until the end of the month?” asked Toni Shanyfelt, who said her husband was serving one of multiple tours in Iraq. “I don’t know if it’s more convenient for them, or what, but that’s insane.”

Military historians and scholars say the proposal and its fallout highlight the tender questions facing the armed forces as casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan mount, and some soldiers and their families come to expect more from military bases than in past conflicts.

During Vietnam and Korea, the historians say, many bases were places for training soldiers and shipping them out, rarely to see them return, with memorial services uncommon. Now, in the age of the all-volunteer force, the base has become the center of community. The Army and other branches have fostered the idea that military service is as much about education, job training and belonging to a community as national defense.

“It wasn’t considered the Army’s business in any of the other wars to conduct these services,” said Alan H. Archambault, director of the Fort Lewis Military Museum, which is supported by the Army. “It was the hometowns of the soldiers that died that had these. Now I think the Army bases are trying to be the hometowns.”

Army officials said the idea to hold monthly services reflected a need to find balance between honoring the dead and the practical reality that the services take time to plan, including things like coordinating rifle salutes and arranging receptions for family members who attend.

“As much as we would like to think otherwise, I am afraid that with the number of soldiers we now have in harm’s way, our losses will preclude us from continuing to do individual memorial ceremonies,” Brig. Gen. William Troy, who was the interim commander at Fort Lewis at the time, wrote in an e-mail message announcing the policy in May.

SAD

Almost a week ago I read this article in the Washington Times but, except for other blogs, I didn’t see it anywhere else. None of the major newspapers except the Washington Times picked up the story.

The thrust of the story is that while the Homeland Security bill was in conference for House-Senate reconciliation an important provision approved in the House by a 304-121 vote, called the “John Doe” provision, was taken out of the bill by the Democrats.

Congressional Democrats today failed to include a provision in homeland security legislation that would protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that may lead to a terrorist attack, according to House Republican leaders.

“This is a slap in the face of good citizens who do their patriotic duty and come forward, and it caves in to radical Islamists,” said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Republicans wanted the provision included in final legislation, crafted yesterday during a House and Senate conference committee, that will implement final recommendations from the September 11 commission.

Mr. King and Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, sponsored the provision after a group of Muslim imams filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against US Airways and unknown “John Doe” passengers. The imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on Nov. 20 after fellow passengers on the Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight complained about the imams’ suspicious behavior.

Republicans persisted in what seemed like a long-shot, but a report in the Washington Post shows that the conference committee has reached a tentative agreement to keep the language in the bill, but you have to go to the twelfth paragraph to find it.

The last obstacle was cleared when negotiators crafted language to satisfy a Republican demand giving immunity from lawsuits to people who report suspicious behavior. The issue grew out of an incident last fall where six Muslim scholars were removed from a flight in Minneapolis after other passengers said they were acting suspiciously. The imams have since filed a lawsuit, saying their civil rights were violated.

I have no problem with the provisions of this bill and the news should be reported without proclaiming it to be a victory for one side or the other when an important provision would have been left out had it not been for Rep. Peter King, Rep. Steve Pearce, and Rep. John Boehner, all Republicans, who insisted this language remain. Kudos also go to Sen. Joe Lieberman who chaired the Senate part of the conference committee.

It should go without saying our citizens should be protected from mad mullahs and any other suspicious people from civil lawsuits just because they report their suspicious behavior.

You have got to see this. Video It surely will make you laugh.

During an exchange this morning between Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Durbin misspoke when referring to the increased strength of Osama Bin Laden: “Obama, er, Osama Bin Laden - excuse me - is still at large.”

Omar Fadhil of Iraq the model has written a post at Pajamas Media detailing his experiences while travelling to Amman, Jordan.

While I understand that Jordan might be skeptical of those arriving in their country from Iraq given the terrorist activity there, treating people like animals when you claim to be a civilized country is another thing.

In my opinion, that is exactly the treatment Omar and evidently many other citizens of Iraq have suffered when doing no more than attempting to have a Visa cleared for travel, or just trying to get home.

I was used to the mild discrimination the Jordanians have been practicing against Iraqis at the airport in Amman in recent years. Passengers on a flight coming from any airport in Iraq do not exit from an ordinary gate like other passengers. Instead we are taken by bus from the plane parked hundreds of meters from the terminal under the watch of guards armed with automatic guns. Then we pass through extra security X-ray, metal detection, and a body search - before they get to the passports counters, even though all of us had passed through the strictest airport security system on earth before getting on board.

But that’s OK and we got used to it.

But recently our Jordanian brothers came up with a truly outrageous practice of discrimination against Iraqis. All disembarking Iraqi passengers now are taken to special passport counters in a hall separated from the rest of airport facilities regardless of the origin of their flights or the airlines they came aboard. Attached to this hall is what Iraqis call “the prison”.

As Omar goes writes further he details the conditions experienced in “the prison.”

I would immediately say shame on Jordan with all of its technology and sophistication that they would resort to this type of treatment for anyone, let alone fellow Middle Easterners, but to one Iraqi travelling home with Omar, the thoughts were a bit different.

No, the guy sitting to my right objected. “They were mean to us and they hurt us, but if we do the same we’ll have sunk to their level. Let’s instead hope that one day our country will become a better place.”

Omar was right when he replied “Amen.”

Ward Churchill has been relieved of his teaching duties at the University of Colorado.

The University of Colorado Board of Regents voted to terminate controversial professor Ward Churchill on Tuesday evening.

“This case was an example not of mistakes, but an effort to falsify history and fabricate history and in the final analysis, this individual did not express regret or apologize,” said Brown. “This is a faculty that has an outstanding reputation and this move today protects that reputation.”

I have personally found this man to be a black mark on an Institute of Higher Learning and I believe his (through his attorney) behavior following today’s hearing just continued his pattern of arrogance.

“It sends absolutely an atrocious message to the academic community all over the country, which is: if you stick your neck out and make politically inflammatory comments, your reputation will be destroyed by the university bent on destroying you and ultimately your tenured position will be forfeited,” said Lane. “To the public at large the message is: there will be a payback for free speech.”

Mr. Churchill needs to accept personal responsibility for the real reasons he was terminated.
Details of the allegations which aided the Board of Regents in their decision to release the Professor can be found here with a synopsis of this report at this site.

I wonder if they are related to the dead voters

The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.

The findings by the Government Accountability Office were released Monday as the House prepared to debate farm legislation this week that would govern subsidies and the department’s programs for the next five years. GAO auditors reviewed payments from 1999 through 2005 in the report,

“It’s unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming,” said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

Story

There have been numerous theories over the years about aliens and what might be their planet of origin. What if we found out that planet was none other than earth and they were living right beneath us?

Since ancient times the exploration of the North was of immense interest to humans. It was an attraction for adventurers and researchers seeking mysterious land and unexplored islands there.

Legends say that an entry to the underground realms was located somewhere in the North, and legendary ancient tribes living on the planet centuries ago used the entries to have a good shelter under the Earth’s surface. Mystics believe that the entry to the legendary Hyperborea, Shambala and Plutonia is carefully concealed from outsiders somewhere close to the North Pole. Recently, a reliable edition reported that UFOs coming to this planet start not from space but burst out from huge holes under the surface in the North Pole.

While I have my reservations about this theory it was nonetheless an interesting and entertaining read at Pravda.

I’ve been reading about the storms that have caused serious flooding in Great Britain.

Thousands are without power, buildings are flooding and more rain is in sight.

Since so many people thought Hurricane Katrina was caused by President GW Bush, I wonder how many Britons are blaming him for their floods?

At least, from other articles I’ve read, the Brits are taking this in stride and not asking for a handout.

When I was a union member and then a union officer I had to walk the picket line. When I was an officer I was in charge of two picket lines and walked them both.

This is hot, tiring and discouraging work. People couldn’t receive union benefits for pay unless they walked the picket line.

Things have changed. Now the unions outsource their picket lines and for more money than I ever got for union benefits to walk the line.

The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message.

Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. Another bangs a tambourine, while several drum on large white buckets. Some of the men walking the line call out to passing women, “Hey, baby.” A few picketers gyrate and dance while chanting: “What do we want? Fair wages. When do we want them? Now.”

Although their placards identify the picketers as being with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, they are not union members.

They’re hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs.

“It’s about the cash,” said Tina Shaw, 44, who lives in a House of Ruth women’s shelter and has walked the line at various sites. “We’re against low wages, but I’m here for the cash.”

Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a “shift in the paradigm” of picketing.

I guess the unions are collecting so much in dues these days they can afford to hire temps to do their picketing. The problem is, as you can see, they don’t have the fire in their bellies a real union member would have about these issues.

The New Republic has been publishing stories written by someone who goes by the pen name of Scott Thomas.

Evidently the Weekly Standard read these posts and questioned them. They went to the base where this writer is supposed to be stationed and started checking.

The claims made by this phantom poster are pretty hard to believe, such as a soldier wearing the remains of a child’s skull under his helmet. That one would tip me off immediately.

Here’s what the New Republic has to say now:

Franklin Foer, the editor of The New Republic, will not reveal the author’s identity but says the magazine is investigating the accuracy of his articles. In the late 1990s, under different editors, the magazine fired an associate editor, Stephen Glass, for fabrications.

“Now that these questions have been raised, we’ve launched an inquiry. We’re putting the full resources of the magazine to look into the story,” Mr. Foer said. “It’s taking me a little bit longer than I wish it did. The author, not to mention some of the participants in the anecdotes he described, are active duty soldiers and they’re on 20-hour active combat missions sometimes, and it’s very difficult for me to get them all on the phone to ask them the questions that I’d like to ask.”

I’m not a journalist, but it seems to me before they run stories they should check the veracity of them first and not after the damage has been done.

This is like the AP reporter who never existed except in someone’s mind. I forget the name, but I’m sure someone will help me out in the comments.

It’s time to call a spade a spade in a headline and I’m doing it the best way I can.

I’m going to give you a partial quote from this article, which I haven’t read yet and probably will not:

While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.

The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador,

Classified plan. How stupid is the Times to not realize a classified plan is not for public consumption? How traitorous is it for the unnamed sources to leak this information to that rag of a paper?

When is the justice department going to investigate who made the leak, find two witnesses (the writer of the Times and the editor should be two) and prosecute the leaker for treason? Since everyone is reading the Times article, finding two witnesses to that shouldn’t be a problem and they should be brought up on treason charges too.

Sure, all the liberals and all the newspapers will cry foul, but when our national secrets are at stake let them cry all they want. The truth of the matter is they have broken laws and betrayed the secrets of the United States so they can sell newspapers and some scumbag is feeding them the information.

A couple of sentences for treason might stop this from happening.

I admit it, I am a sucker for a child’s smile.

When I saw these beautiful little ones at Jack Army this morning, it reminded me once again that the simplest things in life can bring delight to such precious cargo.

While the pictures are few, they are precious. Thanks Sgt. Nichols, for sharing with them with us.

The story pretty much speaks for itself but my heart does go out to his family.

The latest wrinkle in the recovery of Tim Johnson is his still-to-be-determined return to the Senate after a debilitating brain hemorrhage — and the complications of it for South Dakota Republicans who are considering challenging him.

Two Republicans, Joel Dykstra and Sam Kephart, have declared their intent to challenge him, but many consider GOP Gov. Mike Rounds the most formidable opponent. And even Johnson’s declared challengers carefully avoid any comments slighting the recovering senator.

In his absence this year, surrogates offer plenty of projections about when he will make his comeback. But their scenarios add to the uncertainty — even for Democrats who might eye the seat.

In a lengthy interview last week, Johnson’s wife, Barbara, told the Rapid City Journal that her husband remains committed to returning to the Senate, but she shied away from announcing whether the Democrat plans to run for reelection in 2008.

Barbara Johnson acknowledged in the interview that his recovery has been difficult and that his speech remains noticeably slow.

Johnson has been convalescing in the Washington area since falling ill last December, and he attends daily sessions at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Almost everyone interviewed about his health suggests it continues to improve, despite the persistent physical challenges.

Story

I know that lately visiting here seems like your in liberal territory. That’s not the case. Most of the posts you see are liberal because my fellow conservative Bloggers are either sick or have other obligations that need to be attended to. Please don’t stop visiting if you are conservative because things will change. Until then I’ll try to be a non biased liberal. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it.

Someone needs to chide this bugger. I wish the Democrats would vote someone else in as leader.

Senate Republicans are preparing to take aim at Majority Leader Harry Reid over the August recess for being “all talk but no action” and helping drag the Democrat-led Congress’ approval rating to a historic low, according to a document distributed to caucus members.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, is meeting with members yesterday and today to disseminate a message critical of Democrats for endlessly debating the Iraq war, stalling judicial nominations and squandering time on at least 300 investigations of the Bush administration.

“We really ought to be asking why this Democrat leadership won’t allow Congress to move forward on serious policy debates,” Mr. Kyl said, when asked about the talking-points memorandum he is circulating.

“Americans have been disappointed by a majority leadership that stages one show debate after another, while the only consistent legislative work getting done is the renaming of post offices.”

Story

Seems like this administration is breaking new ground everywhere.
I’ve posted this under disloyalty because these people aren’t helping President Bush. I only wish that he could see what the people around him are doing.

White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration’s top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008 and a “general political briefing” at the Peace Corps headquarters after the 2002 midterm elections.

The briefings, mostly run by Rove’s deputies at the White House political affairs office, began in early 2001 and included detailed analyses for senior officials of the political landscape surrounding critical congressional and gubernatorial races, according to documents obtained by the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The documents show for the first time how the White House sought to ensure that even its appointees involved in foreign policy were kept attuned to the administration’s election goals. Such briefings occurred semi-regularly over the past six years for staffers dealing with domestic policy, White House officials have previously acknowledged.

In one instance, State Department aides attended a White House meeting at which political officials examined the 55 most critical House races for 2002 and the media markets most critical to battleground states for President Bush’s reelection fight in 2004, according to documents the department provided to the Senate committee.

On Jan. 4, just after the 2006 elections tossed the Republicans out of congressional power, Rove met at the White House with six U.S. ambassadors to key European missions and the consul general to Bermuda while the diplomats were in Washington for a State Department conference.

According to a department letter to the Senate panel, Rove explained the White House views on the electoral disaster while Sara M. Taylor, then the director of White House political affairs, showed a PowerPoint presentation that pinned most of the electoral blame on “corrupt” GOP lawmakers and “complacent incumbents.” One chart in Taylor’s presentation highlighted the GOP’s top 36 targets among House Democrats for the 2008 election.

Story