J's Cafe Nette

Archive for August, 2007

Last night I joined hundreds of others at First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester, Mo., to hear and meet Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man and president of the Christian Research Institute. Hank, as he’s usually called, is known by millions of Christians as a man with answers and a lion of the faith. He has a passion for the word of God that is rarely equaled in this age.

He’s made a lot of enemies within the faith because he practices what he preaches: Hank tests everything others preach in light of scripture. And quite often, what others preach is found wanting. Word-of-faith preachers, faith healers, end-times apocalyptics, slain-in-the-Spirit babblers and pure heretics and apostates have all come under criticism from Hank and CRI, and consequently, he is hated and persecuted and told he is going to hell.

There’s too much for me to talk about in a simple blog post, so you’d have to tune in to his Bible Answer Man radio broadcast or go to www.equip.org to learn more. I didn’t have time to stand in line to actually meet him and get his autograph, but I did get a halfway decent picture or two (though they’re a little blurry).

Last night, Hank hit on one major, overriding theme: Christians MUST know scripture and must have “a ready defense” for their faith. Otherwise, they fall for the fads of the heretics and apostates, or have no answers for the attacks of the scoffers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

“Jesus had an extraordinarily high view of scripture,” said Hank, “but in our culture, it is seriously and continually being challenged.”

For example, Hank described militant agnostic Bart D. Ehrman, in Misquoting Jesus, pointing to the passage in Mark 4 where Jesus Christ uses the parable of the mustard seed to describe how the church will go from the smallest speck to spread far and wide. Here’s the passage:

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Ehrman takes this passage and twists it to make the ridiculous claim that Jesus couldn’t possibly be God because God would know that the mustard seed is not the smallest seed. Well, DUH! That wasn’t Jesus’ point. The smallest seed that a 1st century farmer in Palestine would know of was the mustard seed, and Jesus Christ would naturally use the most common frame of reference. What’s more, He was using an analogy to illustrate how the church would start tiny, like the mustard seed, and grow to immense proportions, like the full-grown mustard tree.

Hank’s point was to demonstrate that Christians can easily shut down such objections and criticisms but only if we read and study the Bible for all that it is worth. We need to know who, what, when, where, how and why. We need to know context. We need to know history.

We need to be able to demonstrate, with confidence, that the Bible is divine, not human, in origin. Keep in mind, Hank says, that God supernaturally preserved the Bible. The manuscript evidence has proven conclusively that there are differences in style and spelling between various ancient copies, but absolutely no differences in substance. Any mistakes we have today are errors in modern translations.

I’ll talk more in-depth about that another time. But Hank, as some may know, is not a believer in the popular view of the end times that has gripped much of the evangelical church. My understanding is mostly in line with his, and this is yet another area where Christians really need to study their Bible for all that it is worth—and do so without today’s headlines in mind. I know many Christians hold to the end times scenario promoted by many leading evangelicals, including John MacArthur, but I am increasingly convinced that it comes from a fundamental misreading of scripture. I’m preparing a series of posts to that effect, but I’ll just use Hank’s example from last night that illustrates holding to a high standard of reading the Bible for all that it’s worth.

A frequent example the atheist scoffers cite to disclaim the deity of Jesus Christ is His description of the description of Jerusalem in Matthew 24. If that chapter speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem with all of the horrible things accompanying it, AND the “Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn” and “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” AND “this generation will not pass away until all of these things have happened,” the scoffers claim that Jesus is a false prophet. Why? They say that Jesus did not return as He promised before “this generation” died, so therefore He is not God.

Latter-day Christians have compounded the problem by taking that passage, and combining it with other passages from Revelation and Daniel, to say that the entire chapter applies to the Second Coming.

Neither reading is correct, says Hank, and I totally agree. Jesus was forecasting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and was using apocalyptic metaphors to describe the coming judgment upon the current generation because it was rejecting and would reject Him, the messiah. The Lord, says Hank, was employing the same kind of language that the Old Testament prophets used when prophesying judgment upon Israel, peoples and nations. Why would the Lord speak any differently than His own prophets?

Hank argues that Christians need to understand what kind of language is being used, and recognize when Jesus is speaking literally and speaking with prophetic hyperbole. I totally agree. While I don’t believe that end times debates are something to divide over (Hank says this is one of the things to debate over within the pale of orthodoxy, and not divide over) it is something that needs serious re-evaluation within evangelical circles.

So, anyway, there are more things that he said that I’ll save for another time. To sum: Christians must read scripture for all that it’s worth. If they do that, they’ll be much better “prepared to give and answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15)

Cross-posted at Crisis Christianity.

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According to this news report, Sen. Craig wil resign his Senate seat tomorrow.

Craig decided to resign with plans to make the announcement on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

Craig will hold a news conference in Boise on Saturday, his spokesman, Dan Whiting said, but he would not say whether the three-term senator planned to step down. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, however, appeared to have settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

If in fact this report is true and all goes as seemingly planned then I will only add that I wish the Senator and his family well.

Further reporting here.

Update: It has been confirmed, Senator Craig has resigned. Commentary and video can be found at Wizbang.

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John Warner has decided to not seek re-election.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Sen. John Warner, R-Va., announced Friday he will not seek re-election in 2008, concluding a long carreer that has hoisted him to one of the pre-eminent voices on U.S. foreign policy.

The announcement leaves open a seat that is likely to be hotly contested in the Republican-leaning state that has recenty had a tendency to elect Democrats to statewide offices.

Maybe George Allen will take another stab at being in the Senate.

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Democratic fund raiser Norman Hsu, who has been a fugitive for 16 years, has turned himself in to authorities in California.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) – A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million.

Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge.

In the ensuing years, Hsu became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates and was a fundraiser for presidential contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also had contributed to Sen. Barack Obama’s past Senate campaign and his political action committee.

On Friday, Hsu, who has an apparel business in New York, also resigned from the board of trustees of The New School and from the board of governors of The New School’s Eugene Lang College. The college received a federal appropriation secured by Clinton last year, but a spokesman for the school said Hsu was not involved in seeking money for the school.

After reports surfaced this week of Hsu’s fugitive status in California, Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch.

With a $2 million bond he’ll be out in an hour.

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I will be sorry to see Tony Snow leave his position in this administration.

Tony has been a very effective communicator for the White House and has had a flair for words at the Press Briefings which we haven’t seen in a very long time.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who has been battling cancer, plans to step down on September 14 and he will be replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, a U.S. official said.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto confirmed that Snow would be departing and said President George W. Bush would announce the news on Friday at 1245 EDT.

I wish him only the best in his future endeavors and in his battle against cancer.

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If what I saw in this post at Sweetness and Light is what passes for art today then I am sad for all of us.

Artworks depicting Osama bin Laden in a Christ-like pose and a statue of the Virgin Mary covered in a burqa have caused a stir in Australia after they were showcased in a prestigious religious art competition.

“Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross” by Priscilla Bracks is a “double vision” print that depicts both Jesus and bin Laden.

Luke Sullivan’s “The Fourth Secret of Fatima” is a statue of Mary, her head and torso obscured by a blue burqa like the one Afghan women had to wear under the militant Taliban.

The artworks were among more than 500 entries in the Blake Prize for Religious Art, and have been included in an exhibition at the National Art School in Sydney.

“The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Thursday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

While I agree with the Prime Minister, I think the word offensive probably is too mild for many Christians around the world not only in Australia.

I believe the following quote probably says it best.

“It’s really unfortunate people take liberties with the Christian faith they wouldn’t take with other religions,” Lobby spokeswoman Glynis Quinlan told reporters…

This is what “artists” Priscilla Bracks and Luke Sullivan consider “art”. It is nothing but blasphemous.

The Blake Prize entry titled ‘Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross’ by artist Priscilla Bracks is exhibited in Sydney August 30, 2007. The ‘double vision’ print, which depicts both Jesus Christ and Osama bin Laden, in a Christ-like pose, depending on which side the viewer looks at the artwork, has been criticised by Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard for undermining Australians’ religious beliefs.

The Blake Prize entry titled ‘The Fourth Secret of Fatima’ by artist Luke Sullivan is exhibited in Sydney August 30, 2007. The statue of the Virgin Mary, wearing a burqa, has been criticised by Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard for undermining Australians’ religious beliefs.

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Everyone has been wagging their tongues about Sen. Larry Craig. Republicans on the Hill have been calling for his resignation for his guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Police Dept. has released the audio and a written transcript of the interview between the arresting police officer and Sen. Craig.

Listen to the audio and then read the transcript because in the audio you are able to hear voice inflections etc. See if you can come to a certain conclusion, other than the fact he pled guilty to disorderly conduct, of any crime having been committed in that restroom.

Audio here.

Transcript here.

Now here’s a story about the arresting officer in the Craig case involving a man riding a bicycle from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

It’s a long piece and doesn’t mention this officer until later in the story. Be patient and read it, as it will give you some insight into the kind of “power trip” this officer and his subordinates seem to have.

Now go here and click on all the links at the top, i.e. Welcome, overview, etc. to see all the documentation this man has against these officers.

Hat Tip: Macsmind.

Here are some thoughts by one of Sen. Craig’s former interns as written at The Strata Sphere.

Thank you AJStrata for posting on this. I decided to wait a day or two and cool down so that I did not sound like a ranting lunatic. I was Senator Larry Craig’s high school intern in the spring of 2003. Senator Craig takes every intern out to lunch (no do not twist my words. He takes a group of interns, but every intern has the chance to go). At this lunch he will answer any questions you can ask. During my time in his office I realized that I wanted to be a politician like Craig. He serves his state and his people, not his own agenda. He worked his way up through the ranks rather than just buying in. I’m proud that I was able to work with him, even if it was for a short period of time. And I completely support him.

I am not condemning nor am I defending Sen. Craig. I have put this information here for you to decide for yourself.

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I will not elaborate as the post is only one paragraph and to the point. Check out the names being bandied about at Powerline.

For once Senator Specter and I just might agree.

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As ususal Mr. Yon gives us unbiased, concise reporting from his position as an embed. I appreciated the human element he incorporates in the following paragraph:

When you really talk with Iraqis, their problems (outside of the war) are mostly like people’s problems all over the world. The shepherds want the wild dogs to leave their flocks alone. They don’t want al Qaeda blowing up their villages and mosques. The farmers want the rains to start at just the right time and end at just the right time, and they want to be able to sell their crops and go about life. That’s just people. From Vietnam, to India, to Afghanistan to Iraq to Britain, the hierarchy of needs does not change.

The photos in this dispatch are some of the finest I have seen to date and if you are so inclined drop a bit in the tip jar so Michael can continue his fine work.

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If this report is true Fred Thompson will finally announce his entry into the presidential race on next Thursday, Sept. 6.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican Fred Thompson, whose entry into the presidential race has been long anticipated, will officially launch his candidacy Sept. 6 in a webcast on his campaign site, followed by a five-day tour of early primary states, The Associated Press has learned.

The preliminary campaign of the former Tennessee senator and “Law & Order” actor is to disclose details about how he will formally enter the race in a Thursday afternoon conference call with supporters.

House parties will be held nationwide on Sept. 6. A tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina will quickly follow the Internet announcement on www.imwithfred.com, with later stops in Florida, and a homecoming event in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., on Sept. 15.

Now let’s just see if it’s true.

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For those who wish for a little humor injected into their Thursday, check out this article from todays Daily Mail.

They’ve become de rigueur for churches around the world: the signs carrying snappy advertising slogans to attract worshippers.

Many show a surprising sense of humour, and here we present a collection of the funniest.

Enjoy!

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Maybe we should call for a complete investigation of the UN and their practices for storing WMD.

At the very least the weapons inspectors should be asked to explain the presence of an extremely dangerous chemical stored in the building in New York.

According to Reuters:

United Nations officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said on Thursday there was no danger.

The FBI was called in to help remove the substances.

The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a news conference.

Why on earth were these vials stored in any office at the UN? Was this just sloppy work or will we find other WMD weapons inspectors managed to store improperly or not dispose of?

Just one more reason to distrust one of the most corrupt organizations allowed to house themselves on American soil.

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China says the problems with the Mattel toys is the fault of Mattel and U.S. protectionism.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Mattel has only itself to blame for a huge toy recall that has stoked global alarm about Chinese-made goods, state media said on Thursday, charging that a slew of foreign safety scares had exposed a protectionist agenda.

Mattel Inc, the world’s largest toymaker, recalled over 18 million Chinese-made toys this month because of risks from small magnets that can injure children if swallowed, just two weeks after it recalled 1.5 million toys due to fears over lead paint.

Coming in the wake of warnings over Chinese-made toothpaste, pet food, tires, eels and seafood, and lethal chemicals that had found their way into medicine, the toy recall has magnified calls in Washington for much tougher scrutiny of such imports.

The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official paper, continued Beijing’s recent counter-offensive, putting the spotlight on multinationals that have used China as a production base.

“If it comes down to blame, then it all lies with the U.S. side,” the paper said of the Mattel magnet recall, noting that the problem was a design defect. “The Chinese manufacturer only produced according to those specifications.”

A China-based company that let lead in the toy paint would be punished, but even here Mattel must share blame, the paper said, noting that the U.S. firm had worked with it for over a decade.

The paper said foreign media reports about unsafe Chinese food and products were exaggerated and ignored the good record of nearly all the country’s exporters.

“People have reason to fear that some government officials and media in the United States hope to use doubts about the overall quality of Chinese goods to press for narrow trade protection.”

In a way they’re right about it being the fault of the companies because if they had made sure of quality control or used a company in our country the money they saved on labor wouldn’t have been lost in recalls, so I have no pity for Mattel.

I have said before and I’ll say it again, I will not buy anything that has a label that indicates any part of it was made in China.

I may have to pay four times as much for an American made item or may have to go without the product, but at least they won’t get a chance to poison me or my loved ones again.

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Unnamed sources have told the AP the GAO will give a mostly negative report about the progress made by the Iraqi government in the benchmarks set by Washington in January.

WASHINGTON — Congressional auditors have determined that the Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush’s Iraq war strategy, The Associated Press has learned.

The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure progress in the rush into Iraq of increased numbers of U.S. troops are unfulfilled ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline for Bush to give a detailed accounting of the situation eight months after he announced the policy, according to three officials familiar with the matter.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report is not yet public, also said the administration is preparing a case to downplay its findings, arguing that Congress ordered the GAO to use unfair, “all or nothing” standards when compiling the document.

The GAO is to give a classified briefing about its findings to lawmakers on Thursday. It is not yet clear when its unclassified report will be released, but it is due Sept. 1 amid a series of assessments called for in January legislation that authorized Bush’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Iraq. The Americans already have more than 160,000 in-country.

I guess it all depends on how one measures progress. How much legislation the people wanted when we elected our Congress has been passed since January?

We’re heading into September and no sign of an official budget has been seen as ready by our Congress.

What major accomplishments have our experienced Congress members made since January? Can you name them? Some would say the minimum wage increase but that was tacked onto a war funding bill and not done as a standalone.

The pork has been sliced pretty well for all those folks back home though. Served with gravy and all the other trimmings.

So far what I’ve seen from our Congress are members standing on steps or in offices or hallways to proclaim there’s a new sheriff in town or a new investigation being launched or they have a mandate to do certain things such as stop the war, and that’s all they’ve done.

If we compare the two maybe Iraq’s government comes out ahead or at least is equal to the dismal job our Congress has done.

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Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is going to give the contributions received from Norman Hsu to charity.

She didn’t have much choice after it was revealed in the Los Angeles Times he’s a fugitive.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign announced late Wednesday that it will give all money donated by a leading contributor to charity after it was revealed that the donor, Norman Hsu, was a fugitive from the law.

Hsu, who may have raised more than $1 million for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said he had done nothing wrong and had asked no favors in return.

A California prosecutor says Hsu pleaded no contest to grand theft and was facing a sentence of up to three years in prison when he disappeared, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

“In light of the new information regarding Mr. Hsu’s outstanding warrant in California, we will be giving his contributions to charity,” Phil Singer, from the Clinton Presidential Exploratory Committee, told FOX News.

This didn’t get a lot of attention from the newspapers or networks until it broke in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday and the LA Times did a story on Wednesday, but the bloggers kept the story alive and in this new medium it’s hard to keep anything quiet anymore.

Mrs. Clinton is right to donate the funds to charity and needs to be checking her donor lists for any other fraudulent activity just in case.

Update: It seems as though Mrs. Clinton, while she was a major benefactor of these funds, was not the only Democrat to receive campaign contributions from Mr. Hsu:

Al Franken, a Senate candidate in Minnesota, Reps. Michael Honda and Doris Matsui of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania said they would divest their campaigns of Hsu’s donations.

Hsu is a fundraiser for Clinton and is described as a devoted fan of the presidential candidate and New York senator. He had planned to co- host a money event for Clinton on Sept. 30. In a statement Wednesday, Hsu said he believed he had resolved his legal issues, but said he would halt his work raising political money.

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To view the entire video visit Townhall.

There has been no word to my knowledge from either of these camps as to their thoughts concerning this endorsement.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is tipping Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to team up and win the U.S. presidential election.

Clinton leads Obama in the race to be the Democratic nominee for the November 2008 election, and Castro said they would make a winning combination.

“The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate,” he wrote in an editorial column on U.S. presidents published on Tuesday by Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

Full printed story here.

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Yesterday I wrote about John Edwards saying we should sacrifice SUV’s in order to save on fuel.

Here are the cars in his driveway at his home. Four are circled but if you look closely around the barn and in the front driveway you will notice other SUV’s there.

Looks like gas-guzzling SUV’s to me. [-x :-\

Hat Tip to Hedgehog Report for the photo.

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Richard Jewell, the security guard at the Atlanta Olympics, who was praised as a hero and then vilified as the press as the primary suspect in the bombing at the Olympics has died at the age of 44.

Richard Jewell, the former security guard once suspected of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing — then cleared — died at his home Wednesday morning in Woodbury.

For the past three years, Jewell, 44, worked as a deputy sheriff for the Meriwether County Sheriff’s department, said Sheriff Steve Whitlock. He said Jewell had been out on medical leave.

Meriwether County coroner Johnny Worley said Jewell’s wife, Dana, discovered him unconscious at about 10:30 a.m. Worley said an autopsy would be performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to determine how Jewell died, but there was “no suspicion of foul play.

“He had been having some pretty serious medical problems,” Worley said.

He said Jewell had been diagnosed with diabetes in February and had a couple of toes amputated. “He had been going downhill ever since,” Worley said.

Whitlock described Jewell as “a good officer. A go-getter.”

“You know how they say people live their work. Richard ate and drank his job. He loved it,” Whitlock said.

Jewell was initially lauded as a hero after a bomb went off on July 27, 1996, during an Olympic celebration in Atlanta. He called attention to the suspicious knapsack that held a bomb and helped evacuate the area.

Days later, he became the FBI’s chief suspect, as The Atlanta Journal Constitution and other media outlets reported. The FBI cleared Jewell of any wrongdoing. He was never charged with a crime.

Eric Robert Rudolph pleaded guilty to the bombing in 2005 and is serving life in prison for it and other attacks.

After he was cleared, Jewell sued the AJC and other media outlets for libel, arguing that their reports defamed him. Several news organizations settled, including NBC and CNN.

The Journal-Constitution did not settle. The newspaper has contended that at the time it published its reports Jewell was a suspect, so the articles were accurate. The newspaper also has asserted that it was not reckless or malicious in its reports regarding Jewell. Much of Jewell’s case was dismissed last year. One claim, based on reports about a 911 call, is pending trial.

How ironic that the one newspaper that didn’t settle with him for making him look like a bomber is the one announcing his death.

Rest in peace, Mr. Jewell. Our prayers go out to your family and loved ones.

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Yesterday, Guss surprised all of us by saying he was going to stay away from blogging on this blog until after the election due to the tit for tat that has been going on.

We are in the process of setting up a separate blog for Guss that will be his alone to manage.

The URL for the new blog will be http://gussescoffeehouse.com, but we have to wait up to 72 hours for the name to be usable in order for anything to be uploaded to Word Press and get his theme up and running.

We will be linking to that blog from here as it will be our sister (brother?) blog.

Guss is very excited about it and says he will probably be asking if there are any Independents or moderates from ether side who would like to blog with him.

If you know of any, you can contact me at j@jscafenette.com and I’ll pass the information along to him. He still needs to set up an alternate email address so everyone doesn’t have his personal email and know his real name.

I’ll be putting up a post as soon as Kim from Musing Minds and Schratwieser Consulting has the site ready to go live.

We are still going to be under the same principles and Guss will probably operate under the same rules we do although you will probably see a few cuss words over there.

We look forward to this new endeavor and hope you will all go visit him and make comments as soon as he is up and running.

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I’m cautiously optimistic about this report.

BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops, aides said Wednesday.

The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, said on Iraqi state television that the goal was to “rehabilitate” the organization, which has reportedly broken into factions, some of which the U.S. maintains are trained and supplied by Iran.

“We declare the freezing of the Mahdi Army without exception in order to rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image within a maximum period of six months starting from the day this statement is issued,” al-Araji said, reading from a statement by al-Sadr.

In Najaf, al-Sadr’s spokesman said the order also means the Mahdi Army will no longer launch attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces.

“It also includes suspending the taking up of arms against occupiers as well as others,” Ahmed al-Shaibani told reporters.

Asked if Mahdi militiamen would defend themselves against provocations, he replied: “We will deal with it when it happens.”

The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives. Iraqi security officials blamed Mahdi militiamen for attacking mosque guards, some of whom are linked to the rival Badr Brigade militia.

A spokesman for al-Sadr, Ahmed al-Shaibani, denied the Mahdi Army was involved in the Karbala fighting. Al-Sadr called for an independent inquiry into the clashes and urged his supporters to cooperate with the authorities “to calm the situation down,” al-Shaibani said.

Tensions have been rising in southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups maneuver for power, especially in the oil-rich area around Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Maybe the Shiites are turning on him the way the Sunnis are turning on al Qaeda.

Or, more probably, our forces are breathing down his neck and he wants to cool off for awhile.

Either way, if his militia does indeed cease operations for at least six months that’s good news. In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll still be looking for him if he hasn’t run back to Iran.

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The political season has started with a bang and J and I have, sometimes, different points of view. If I stayed and continued to post, it would be nothing but tit for tat and I respect her too much to do that. Hopefully, after the election, I will try my hand at blogging again. I have enjoyed myself immensely and I have gained the utmost respect for Republican views. Catch you on the rebound.

~J~ says: Guss and I have discussed the heat that will happen during a campaign. I have offered to set him up with a liberal blog that he would run and would be a sister blog of this one.

He’s still deciding what he wants to do with that idea, so I hope no one gets the impression there has been a rift here.

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Turn on your speakers and just enjoy.

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He may be a beleaguered president, but don’t call him a lame duck yet, as he is still fighting for what he believes.

President Bush has said, in spite of Democrats asking for a say in the Attorney General pick, that he will nominate someone who agrees with his policies.

A half-dozen or so lawyers are being discussed among administration officials as possible candidates to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, but no clear favorite has emerged, and President Bush is willing to fight for the right candidate, administration officials and Republican advisers said yesterday.

Democratic Senate leaders have called on the White House to consult them closely during the selection process, but administration officials warned yesterday that the president intends to nominate an attorney general who agrees with his policies. “It is the president’s prerogative to appoint someone who shares his views,” a senior administration official said.

I suppose we could put Janet Reno back in. She should pass with flying colors.

We could also go the rest of the term with an acting Attorney General if the Senate wants to block his nominee.

Good for you, Mr. President. Now stick to it.

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The Republican leadership in congress has asked for an ethics investigation into Senator Larry Craig and his latest escapades.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Republican leaders announced they will launch an ethics review of the senator.

“This is a serious matter. Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig’s incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement on behalf of the party’s Senate leadership.

I like that I belong to a party that wants to discipline its own. I don’t like having people who are saying one thing and doing another representing me.

If you look across the vast right blogosphere you will see calls for Craig’s resignation or at least an investigation into his conduct. We don’t circle our wagons and defend the indefensible.

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Former Senator and current presidential candidate John Edwards has said Americans should sacrifice SUVs to save on fuel.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group that he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.

“I think Americans are actually willing to sacrifice,” Edwards said Tuesday during a forum held by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “One of the things they should be asked to do is drive more fuel efficient vehicles.”

The former North Carolina senator was asked specifically if he would tell them to give up their SUVs, he said, “Yes.”

Edwards was asked during his appearance how he explained the contradiction of asking Americans to sacrifice while he’s living in a 28,000-square-foot (2,600-square-meter) mansion.

He said he came from nothing, worked hard all his life, has always supported workers and fought big corporations as a lawyer.

“I have no apologies whatsoever for what I’ve done with my life,” he said to loud cheers. “My entire life has been about the same cause, which is making sure wherever you come from, whatever your family is, whatever the color of your skin, you get a real chance to do something great in this country.”

I don’t own an SUV and have never wanted one, but I’ll sacrifice for my country just as soon as I see Mr. Edwards move into a townhouse and fly on commercial planes.

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This is whats happening in the real world of scandal. People don’t care about who got a million here or there. They care about things that they can understand in one second of their busy lives. I think that we are going to need more than campaign finance scandal this time around to beat the Democrats because the Republicans seem to be in a self destruct mode.

Scott Reed, a Republican strategist, was at a dinner in Philadelphia on Monday night when his cellphone and Internet pager began beeping like crazy. Only later did he learn why. His party was buzzing with news of a sex scandal involving a Republican United States senator — again.
Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.

It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.

Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.

It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.

“The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” said Mr. Reed, sounding exasperated in an interview on Tuesday morning. “You can’t make this stuff up. And the impact this is having on the grass-roots around the country is devastating. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”

Story

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Many recalls later, Mattel has decided they need to get down to business and become serious about quality control. Given the magnitude of these defective products, manufactured mainly for children, I would say the time should have been many yesterday’s ago.

Now Mattel, which appears to have stumbled in part because it had become overconfident about its ability to operate in China without major problems, is in crisis mode. Toys for the coming holiday shopping season are already shipping across the Pacific, and Mattel wants to catch any other problems that may have slipped through — before those toys land on store shelves and cause even greater damage to its reputation.

A big problem was that some of Mattel’s trusted vendors had turned to cheaper paint suppliers outside the company’s approved list. Mattel is now racing to increase its supply and product testing, no longer giving local contractors several months at a time to do the tests themselves.

This appears to be a case of some of the sloppiest, laziest management one could imagine. Where were all the executives from Mattel all this time? Why were they not insisting that products sold under their brand were safe for our children and grandchildren?

Mattel makes its best-known toys, like Barbie dolls, in its own 12 factories. But even as it has increased the share of toys it makes itself to about half, it still relies on roughly 30 to 40 vendors to make the other half. Mattel now realizes it was not watching those companies closely enough, executives here said.

Mattel vetted the contractors, but it did not fully understand the extent to which some had in turn subcontracted to other companies — which in turn had subcontracted to even more. Mattel required its vendors to list subcontractors, so Mattel could visit them, but Mattel is investigating whether that procedure has been followed. A number of companies whose factories Mattel had never visited may have had a hand in making the toys that were shipped around the world.

“Mattel now realizes it was not watching those companies closely enough,” now that is an understatement. Maybe those on the Board of this company should be scrutinizing their executives closely. Perhaps a complete overhaul of management would be a first step towards rebuilding their credibility.

The complete story at the NYT is laden with more details than I have read before on this issue.

While I can appreciate that contractors in China may have played a role in manufacturing these unsafe toys, it will remain my opinion that Mattel should be held responsible for their lack of oversight. This is an absolute disgrace.

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Anyone who has had children who reach their teenage years, (or perhaps pre-teen), has probably noticed that their sleep habits change a bit.

This is not to say that as parents we relinquish control, but increased school assignments, social activities, clubs and sports sometimes make both parent and child wish the day was 10 hours longer.

Therefore, even if the reasons stated in this article do not apply, children can become a bit sleep deprived.

Teenagers often get as little as four hours of sleep a night because they secretly play video games or watch TV until the early hours.

One in three secondary school pupils survives on short bursts of “junk sleep” and turns up exhausted for lessons the next day, according to a survey.

The Sleep Council warned that its results showed parents were being too lenient compared to previous generations by failing to impose a strict “lights out”.

I believe this is an age old problem as I can remember many years ago (yes, many) when I was still in school there would be children who had to tough out the day due to lack of rest. I don’t think this problem is something for which only today’s generation of parents should be taken to task.

Teenage years can be a bit rough on parents and children alike. Proper rest is not only beneficial to a childs education but also their overall ability to cope with the day to day peer pressure they face. Parents are the ones who need to grab all the “junk sleep” they can just to keep up with the pace. That study will be for another day I am sure.

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The Wall Street Journal has a piece up today that appears to bring up questions about some of Hillary Clinton’s campaign contributions.

A mailman who makes $49,000 a year, his unemployed wife and their grown children have given a total of $45,000 to Mrs. Clinton since 2005, and a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, but they remortgaged their small home for $270,000.

This appears to track donations from one Norman Hsu who once used their address as his address and is a wealthy businessman in the apparel industry.

When asked about the donations, one of the couple’s children replied by email:

he had sometimes been asked by Mr. Hsu to make contributions, and sometimes he himself had asked family members to donate. But he added: “I have been fortunate in my investments and all of my contributions have been my money.”

Hsu denies asking anyone to make any contributions.

The grown children of the couple in question have jobs that include account manager at a software company to “attendance liaison” at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

I wonder why their parents had to remortage their house if their children are so successful?

DALY CITY, Calif. — One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

That total ranks the house with residences in Greenwich, Conn., and Manhattan’s Upper East Side among the top addresses to donate to the Democratic presidential front-runner over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of donations listed with the Federal Election Commission.

It isn’t obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple’s grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to “attendance liaison” at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws’ political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.

The Paw family is just one set of donors whose political donations are similar to Mr. Hsu’s. Several business associates of Mr. Hsu in New York have made donations to the same candidates, on the same dates for similar amounts as Mr. Hsu.
On four separate dates this year, the Paw family, Mr. Hsu and five of his associates gave Mrs. Clinton a total of $47,500. In all, the family, Mr. Hsu and his associates have given Mrs. Clinton $133,000 since 2005 and a total of nearly $720,000 to all Democratic candidates. …

No one in the Paw family had ever given a campaign contribution before the 2004 presidential election, according to campaign-finance reports. Then, in July 2004, five members of the family contributed a total of $3,600 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat. Five of the checks were dated July 27, 2004. About the same time, Mr. Hsu made his first donations to a political candidate, contributing the maximum amount allowed by law to Mr. Kerry in two separate checks, on July 21, 2004, and on Aug. 6.

From then on, the correlation of campaign donations between Mr. Hsu and the Paw family has continued. The first donations to Mrs. Clinton came Dec. 23, 2004, when Mr. Hsu and one Paw family member donated the then-maximum $4,000 to her Senate campaign in two $2,000 checks, campaign-finance records show. In March 2005, the individuals gave a total of $17,500 to Mrs. Clinton.

Since then, Mr. Hsu, his New York associates and the Paw family have continued to donate to Democratic candidates. This year, Alice Paw and four of the Paw children have donated the maximum $4,600 to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign.

I can’t help but remember the to-do about the Buddhist monks in 1996. Whatever happened to that investigation, anyway? Isn’t that the one Al Gore said there was no controlling legal authority that covered it? Just asking.

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I have sat back now for a long time and watched as too many decent individuals who have done nothing but give up their private lives and incomes to serve this country be treated in a manner unbecoming of those of us who are citizens of this great country. While I agree the Attorney General did nothing to help his own case during the Senate hearings, there still has been no proof that anything illegal was done by this man or anyone in this administration. As has become the nature of our society, beat the drum loud and strong and eventually you will be believed. That is, unless you are an appointee of the President or the President himself.

Politics have ripped this country to its core but when good people are destroyed because of their party affiliation then it is time for a serious evaluation of our direction.

I am not typically this partisan but I have absolutely had it with this President and his administration being vilified daily in the press and by partisan politicians. It has been said over and over again that this President lied. About what? Just because the press or members of the opposing party say so I must believe it? Sorry, I prefer to think for myself. Some find it acceptable to refer to this president at Hitler. I actually feel sorry for these people as it shows their lack of a grasp of history yet it infuriates me on the other hand that we have in this country been reduced to such hateful drivel.

And headlines, well they are worth nothing anymore. Read the meat of the article and you will find more often than not that the bold print at the top is contradicted by the writer themselves. Unidentified sources, writer opinion and downright repeated lies have reduced a once respected profession to nothing more than a sorry excuse for daily news. Liberal bias spewed in the morning papers is then regurgitated by evening newscasters without any substance for the words spoken with some air of authority which many seem to believe as gospel.

What ever happened to the respect for our nation, the Office of the Presidency, our elected leaders and yes even for ourselves? We have become all to quick to condemn anyone who does not agree with our viewpoint, many times handing out labels which could never apply to each person of any political, ethnic or religious persuasion. What’s next, do we tell our children that our neighbor who may be different in their thinking than us is not to be tolerated?

This is not a rant, it is how I truly feel. Every administration in the history of this country has had those who have served the President and have made mistakes or errors in judgment. Show me one who has not. This President has a capacity for being tolerant of those who hate him. My limit however, has been reached. Call it what you wish, I do not enjoy seeing anyone destroyed just for someone else to score political points and this has happened far too often to this administration.

Much of this hatred and vile comes from those who do not approve of the war on terror..(Yes I can call it that because Iraq is not our only battleground). You may not like war, neither do I, but I understand when it is necessary and so do the majority of the troops. If we go beyond what is force fed to us daily and read the words of the actual soldiers and commanders we find progress is being made. Perhaps it is time we give credit to those doing the heavy lifting and leave our partisanship on the doorstep.

I have never considered myself a person who felt they had to agree with another in order for us to be civil in our dealings. I refuse to always agree with one political party on all points as there is no perfection in this world. Am I a republican by affiliation, yes, but have never been adverse to the ideas of others.

Unfortunately, watching the attitudes and events of the last six years and the treatment of this President has pushed me further away from some independent thinking. It breaks my heart that some believe this is the route which will allow this country to flourish for generations to come. When the tide turns, will I be like so many who have worked to destroy those who have accepted responsibilities many of us could never imagine or handle? I hope not.

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