J's Cafe Nette

Archive for August 8th, 2007

Ya right. I don’t know about you but this guy reminds me of a shyster.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons’ decision not to enlist in the military, saying they’re showing their support for the country by “helping me get elected.”

Romney, who did not serve in Vietnam due to his Mormon missionary work and a high draft lottery number, was asked the question by an anti-war activist after a speech in which he called for “a surge of support” for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also saluted a uniformed soldier in the crowd and called for donations to military support organizations. Last week, he donated $25,000 to seven such organizations.

“The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that’s the way we’re going to keep it,” Romney told some 200 people gathered in an abbey near the Mississippi River that had been converted into a hotel. “My sons are all adults and they’ve made decisions about their careers and they’ve chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard.”

He added: “One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.”

Romney’s five sons range in age from 37 to 26 and have worked as real estate developers, sports marketers and advertising executives. They are now actively campaigning for their father and have a “Five Brothers” blog on Romney’s campaign Web site.

Romney noted that his middle son, 36-year-old Josh, was completing a recreational vehicle tour of all 99 Iowa counties on Wednesday and said, “I respect that and respect all those and the way they serve this great country.”

The woman who asked the question, Rachel Griffiths, 41, of Milan, Ill., identified herself as a member of Quad City Progressive Action for the Common Good, as well as the sister of an Army major who had served in Iraq.

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Speaks for itself.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with officials in Iran on Wednesday to seek help in reining in violence in his country, reaching out to a nation the U.S. accuses of fueling Iraq’s turmoil by backing Shiite militants.

It was al-Maliki’s second visit to Tehran in less than a year, coming days after U.S. and Iranian experts held talks in Baghdad on improving Iraq’s security.

Al-Maliki and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that dominate his government are closely linked to predominantly Shiite Iran, and he has struggled to balance those ties with the United States, Tehran’s top rival in the region.

The U.S. has recently stepped up its allegations that Iran is arming Shiite militiamen, but the Iraqi government has taken a low-key stance without outright backing the American claims, which Tehran denies. One al-Maliki adviser, Sami al-Askari, said last month that the government “doesn’t rule out” Iranian arming of militants.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.S. troops and warplanes struck suspected militants in the Shiite district of Sadr City, killing 32 of them and detaining 12 others. The U.S. military said the militants were involved in smuggling weapons from Iran and sending militiamen to Iran for training.

Al-Maliki’s visit came as officials from Iraq and its neighbors, including Iran, held a conference in Damascus, Syria, on improving Iraq’s security. At the gathering, Iraq’s Deputy Foreign Minister Labib Abbawi pressed countries to do more to stop infiltration of fighters and weapons over their borders into Iraq.

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What is wrong with these people? Just when you think it can’t get any worse, another one comes up.

The chairman of the Clark County Republican Party — who last month was elected president of the Young Republican National Federation — has resigned both posts, apparently in the wake of a criminal investigation.

On Tuesday afternoon, Glenn Murphy Jr. e-mailed media outlets a letter announcing his resignation from both positions, citing an unexpected business opportunity that would prohibit him from holding a partisan political office.

However, the Clark County Sheriff’s Department on Friday began investigating Murphy for alleged criminal deviate conduct — potentially a class B felony — after speaking with a 22-year-old man who claimed that on July 31, Murphy performed an unwanted sex act on him while the man slept in a relative’s Jeffersonville home.

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Unlike a lot of my Democratic friends, I think this is a good thing. Down through the years Christians have always gone into places that were dangerous and unhealthy and sometimes they were taken captive and killed for their beliefs. This is an act of bravery that goes far beyond what I hold inside. I admire you for what you’re trying to do.

On the most dangerous soil in our world, we’re taking a team of performers, professional athletes, and evangelists on a mission that will be both entertaining, as well as lend tremendous solitude to our men and women stationed in this war torn country of Iraq. We are most excited about this crusade and yes we are willing to go to the front lines with a very encouraging word straight from God, to our troops. We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war torn region. We’ll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq. No one needs a boost in morale more than our military troops that are stuck in Iraq away from their families and in harms way. At no greater time is our military acceptant of the principles of God and prayer, than when under extreme danger and concerned about their loved ones at home. No one can give lasting meaning to the heartache these troops are suffering than can Jesus Christ. Only our God can give back the sanity of our brave men and women, that risk coming home with mental issues because of what they have witnessed on the battle fields of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Fallujah. We believe our armed forces need this kind of boost mentally and spiritually, that offers far more than mere entertainment.

Our goal during these events is to give a deeper rest from the battlefield, comforting the hearts of the weary, and delivering an encouraging word from God to press on to victory.

Our desire is that the prayers of mothers, fathers, and these soldiers’ children, not be in vain, and they would return home with a complete wholeness that only comes through Jesus Christ – whole in mind, body, and spirit.

Our hope is to be an instrument that would prepare a healthy mind to return home to their loved ones. That the journey back to civilization would bring home Godly fathers to their children and Godly husbands to their wives; and returning Americans that will continue to serve our country and their communities by God’s own design.

Our Belief is that this event will put a fire for things of God into the hearts of our next generation of leaders as well as Christian’s that need a renewal of the spirit.

Our Speakers that have already committed to this event and are extremely excited to serve our country in this capacity are:

Make a donation here

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Speaks for itself.

The state Republican Party is forming a loyalty committee so that it can punish officers who endorse or contribute to Democrats.

The GOP’s conservative-dominated state committee also is accusing a prominent moderate of trying to undermine the party’s fundraising. It has adopted a resolution criticizing Steve Cloud, a Lenexa businessman and former legislator who represents Kansas on the Republican National Committee.

The state committee’s anti-Cloud resolution and its decision to form the loyalty committee came as Republicans continue to feel the sting of election losses last year. Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius easily won a second term; Paul Morrison switched parties to win the attorney general’s office as a Democrat; and Democrat Nancy Boyda ousted five-term Republican Rep. Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District.

Before taking office in January, chairman Kris Kobach promised to reorganize and reinvigorate the Kansas GOP. He and other Republicans have said GOP activists need to show unity in elections so that Democrats don’t take advantage of their disagreements.

“The motive behind this is, ‘Let’s make sure Republicans are supporting Republicans,’ ” said Christian Morgan, the state GOP’s executive director. “If you want to hold a party post, you should at least be supporting Republican candidates.”

The state committee’s actions struck a sour note for some Republicans, particularly moderates on issues such as abortion. Bob Beatty, a Washburn University political scientist, suggested the loyalty committee could prove a “public relations disaster.”

“Ironically, it smacks most of the Communist Party,” Beatty said Monday. “That’s the kind of public irony that most parties try to avoid — the party of freedom telling people they have no freedom.”

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Sometimes you just wish you could take back something you said. I have a feeling this may be the way Mrs. Edwards feels right now.

The Web can be liberating. “It’s about bypassing the sieve of the mainstream media,” says Elizabeth Edwards, wife and confidant of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards. “The idea that you have people standing between you and the voter is diminished, and the capacity to speak directly empowers candidates to trust their own voices.” With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hogging media coverage, campaigns can push their messages without paying for ads.

“In some ways, it’s the way we have to go,” Edwards says. “We can’t make John black, we can’t make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars. Now it’s nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all.”

Mrs. Edwards, we know you love your husband and believe in his ability to be a good president, but maybe Hillary and Obama are doing better because they are better candidates and their messages resonate among the Democratic voters.

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If you have an extra 27 minutes or so to watch a video of Tony Snow talking about his cancer please go to this link.

Or you can just watch a few minutes of it.

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As Guss would say, this piece speaks for itself.

MONTHS ago, I observed on my blog that I think John Edwards is a phony — a make-believe Man of The People.

It’s not so much that he’s lying when he says he wants to help One America — the Deserving Poor, whom he wants to vote for him — get what it has coming to it from the Other America (that of the Really Rich, to which he disarmingly admits he belongs). I think he believes it. But I don’t, and here’s why:

Strike One: Sept. 16, 2003. The candidate was supposed to appear on a makeshift stage on Greene Street in front of the Russell House.

He was supposed to arrive at 4 p.m., but it was past 5 before he showed. When his appearance was imminent, his wife appeared on the stage and built expectation in a manner I found appealing and sincere. Then I saw Mr. Edwards step to an offstage position just behind the bleachers to my left. None of the folks in the “good” seats could see him.

His face was impassive, slack, bored: Another crowd, another show. Nothing wrong with that — just a professional at work.

But then, I saw the thing that stuck with me: As his introduction reached its climax, he straightened, and turned on a thousand-watt smile as easily and artificially as flipping a switch. He assumed the look of a man who had just, quite unexpectedly, run into a long-lost best friend. He stepped into view of the crowd at large, and worked his way, Bill Clinton-like, from the back of the crowd toward the stage — a man of the people, coming out from among the people — shaking hands with the humble, grateful enthusiasm of a poor soul who had just won the Irish Sweepstakes.

It was so well done, but so obviously a thing of art, that I was taken aback despite three decades of seeing politicians at work.

Not enough for you? OK.

Strike Two: Jan. 23, 2004. Seeking our support in the primary he would win 11 days later, he came to an interview with The State’s editorial board.

He was all ersatz-cracker bonhomie, beginning by swinging his salt-encrusted left snowboot onto the polished boardroom table, booming, “How do y’all like my boots?” He had not, it seemed, had time to change footwear since leaving New Hampshire.

The interview proceeded according to script, a lot of aw-shucking, smiling, showing of genuine concern, and warm expressions of determination to close the gap between the Two Americas. Then he left, and I didn’t think much more about it, until a week later.

On the 30th, Howard Dean came in to see us for the second time. Again, I was struck by how personable he was, so unlike his screamer image. I rode down on the elevator with him afterward, along with my administrative assistant and another staffer who was a real Dean fan (but, worse luck for Gov. Dean, not a member of our board). I paused to watch him take his time to greet everyone in our foyer — treating each person who wanted to shake his hand as every bit as important as any editorial board member, if not more so. I remarked upon it.

“Isn’t he a nice man?” said our copy editor (the fan). I agreed. Then came the revelation: “Unlike John Edwards,” observed the administrative assistant. What’s that? It seems that when she alone had met then-Sen. Edwards at the reception desk, she had been struck by the way he utterly ignored the folks in our customer service department and others who had hoped for a handshake or a word from the Great Man. He had saved all his amiability, all his professionally entertaining energy and talent, for the folks upstairs who would have a say in the paper’s endorsement.

At that moment, my impression acquired stony bulwarks of Gothic dimensions.

Read strike three here.

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From Frank Newport of Gallup at USA Today comes the news the president’s approval ratings have bottomed out and are now on the uptick. It’s still nothing to write home about but the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

We’re seeing some slight hints of positive news for the Bush administration. For one thing, Bush’s job approval rating has stopped its downward trajectory. Bush hit bottom with his administration low point of 29% in early July (based on our USA Today/Gallup poll readings). Now – in the data just about to be released from our weekend poll – Bush’s approval rating has recovered slightly to 34%. That’s not a big jump, but it is the second consecutive poll in which the president’s numbers have been higher rather than lower.

Also, we are seeing a slight uptick in the percentage of Americans who say the “surge” in Iraq is working. That may not be a total surprise given the general tone of news out of Iraq recently, including the positive light on the situation put forth by Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack in their widely-discussed New York Times op-ed piece “A War We Just Might Win” on July 30. But it represents a change.

Indeed, the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll itself found a slight increase in the percent of Americans saying that the U.S. did the right thing in taking military action in Iraq, and were so uncertain about it that they redid the survey. And found the same results. (See this discussion by the Times’ Janet Elder).

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He should be brought up on charges and dealt with severely. Our soldiers go through enough without having someone libeling them in a most disgusting way.

Army investigators have concluded that the private whose dispatches for the New Republic accused his fellow soldiers of petty cruelties in Iraq was not telling the truth.

The finding, disclosed yesterday, came days after the Washington-based magazine announced that it had corroborated the claims of the private, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, except for one significant error.

An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by Pvt. Beauchamp were found to be false,” an Army statement said. “His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims.”

But New Republic Editor Franklin Foer is standing his ground. “We’ve talked to military personnel directly involved in the events that Scott Thomas Beauchamp described, and they corroborated his account,” Foer said. The magazine granted anonymity to the other soldiers it cited.

A military official, who asked not to be identified because the probe is confidential, said no charges were filed against Beauchamp. Instead, the official said, the matter is being handled administratively, with Beauchamp punished by having his cellphone and laptop confiscated for an undetermined period.

The Army probe provides ammunition to conservative critics who have accused the liberal magazine of publishing Beauchamp’s “Baghdad Diarist” essays without adequate checking and being too quick to believe that American soldiers would engage in questionable conduct. It also revives fading memories of the magazine’s 1998 fabrication scandal involving writer Stephen Glass.

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Some could say that happy days are here again.

Four years ago, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz challenged the conservatives who dominated the federal appeals court in Richmond, urging her colleagues to reverse a decision backing the Bush administration’s detention of a U.S. citizen as an “enemy combatant.” She called the ruling unprecedented and “chilling.”

Her arguments went nowhere.

In June, Motz, the leader of the court’s moderate-to-liberal wing, gave her views the force of law, ruling against President Bush in another major terrorism case involving an enemy combatant. The administration might be unable to get the full court to overturn her ruling — there aren’t enough sympathetic judges left.

Motz’s ascension illustrates a remarkable turnaround: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, long considered one of the nation’s most conservative appellate courts, is shifting to a moderate direction with the balance up for grabs. A growing list of vacancies — now five — has left the court evenly divided between Republican and Democratic appointees.

With an election year approaching, experts predict the court will tilt decisively to the left if Democrats keep control of Congress and reclaim the White House.

“There is a very good chance that this court will be solidly Democratic for many, many years,” said Arthur D. Hellman, a University of Pittsburgh law professor. He said the current 5-5 split — which began July 17 when Judge H. Emory Widener Jr., a Republican appointee, took semi-retirement — is “tremendously significant.”

Until recently, the 4th Circuit was known as a conservative stronghold that tended to defer to law enforcement and rule against many plaintiffs. Some of the court’s best-known rulings, upheld by the Supreme Court, include striking down a law allowing rape victims to sue their attackers in federal court and preventing the Food and Drug Administration from regulating tobacco.

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Speaks for itself.

The Bush administration is becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of an imminent British withdrawal from southern Iraq and would prefer UK troops to remain for another year or two.
British officials believe that Washington will signal its intention to reduce US troop numbers after a much-anticipated report next month by its top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, clearing the way for Gordon Brown to announce a British withdrawal in parliament the following month. An official said: “We do believe we are nearly there.”

It is not known whether George Bush expressed concern about the withdrawal of the remaining 5,000 British troops when he met Mr Brown in Washington last week. But sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the administration was worried about the political consequences of losing British troops.

One source said: “If the difference is between the British leaving at the end of the year or staying through to next year or the year after, it is a safe assumption that President Bush would prefer them to stay as long as the Americans are there.”

The Bush administration – focused on the north, west and central Iraq and the “surge” strategy that has seen 30,000 extra US troops deployed – has until recently ignored the south, content to leave it to the British. Now, however, it is beginning to pay attention to the region, amid the realisation that what has been portrayed as a success story is turning sour.

The UK government no longer claims Basra is a success but denies it is a failure, with British troops forced to abandon Basra city for the shelter of the airport.

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If you want to know where the money is coming from and where it is going. Here is an excellent summary from the Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post’s FundRace 2008, which enables users to easily find the names and addresses of contributors to presidential candidates, is a powerful weapon in the arsenal available to the public to understand the complex world of campaign finance.

While newspapers and other websites examine the big picture – how much has been raised and spent overall – FundRace provides a means to look at campaigns from the bottom up.

HuffPost viewers can search specific neighborhoods by zip code, and track the donations of individuals, whether they are friends, enemies, your doctor, dentist, rock stars, bloggers, professors, the neighbor with the barking dog, a suspected closet Republican, your poker buddies, folks who owe you money, your rich uncle, the guy you date, the people who report to you, and the people you report to.

FundRace will give private citizens a chance to augment poll data by providing access to the premier political futures market where people put up real money to bet on election outcomes: Intrade, the Dublin, Ireland-based online electronic prediction market. A number of studies have shown that such markets are more accurate that polls.

Another database provided by FundRace is a tabulation of each candidate’s MySpace mentions, YouTube views and Facebook friends. These are less predictive than the trends on Intrade, but each is a useful measure of campaign intensity and enthusiasm.

The zip code search engine on FundRace provides concrete evidence of how much more influence the rich exercise than the poor. Look at such upscale communities as Greenwich, Conn., 06830, Beverly Hills, 90210; or a swath of Manhattan’s upper east side, 10021.

If money is power, the folks in these zip codes have got it in spades — and they use it by the bucketful. In Beverly Hills, for example, there have been 543 donations totaling $1,212,014 to 2008 presidential candidates, including 326 contributions of $2,300 or more. (Primary contributions are limited by federal election law to $2,300 per candidate.)

Read the rest of this entry »

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We need to protect Mother Earth.

At 8 on a Saturday morning, just as the heat was permeating this sprawling Orlando suburb, Denise Kirsop donned a white plastic moon suit and began sorting through the trash produced by Northland Church.

She and several fellow parishioners picked apart the garbage to analyze exactly how much and what kind of waste their megachurch produces, looking for ways to reduce the congregation’s contribution to global warming.

“I prayed about it, and God really revealed to me that I had a passion about creation,” said Kirsop, who has since traded in her family’s sport-utility vehicle for a hybrid Toyota Prius to help cut her greenhouse gas emissions. “Anything that draws me closer to God — and this does — increases my faith and helps my work for God.”

Her conversion to environmentalism is the result of a years-long international campaign by British bishops and leaders of major U.S. environmental groups to bridge a long-standing divide between global-warming activists and American evangelicals.

The emerging rapprochement is regarded by some as a sign of how dramatically U.S. public sentiment has shifted on global warming in recent years. It also has begun, in modest ways, to transform how the two groups define themselves.

“I did sense this is one of these issues where the church could take leadership, like with civil rights,” said Northland’s senior pastor, Joel C. Hunter. “It’s a matter of who speaks for evangelicals: Is it a broad range of voices on a broad range of issues, or a narrow range of voices?”

Hunter has emerged among evangelicals as a pivotal advocate for cutting greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are warming Earth’s climate. A self-deprecating 59-year-old minister who can quote the “Baby Jesus” speech that Will Farrell delivered in the 2006 movie “Talladega Nights” as readily as he can the Bible, Hunter regularly preaches about climate change to 7,000 congregants in five Central Florida sites and to 3,000 more worshipers via the Internet. He even has met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to talk about environmental issues

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Michael J. Totten blogs from Iraq. Today he has a post up that is an interview with an Iraqi interpreter.

There are many eye-opening comments made by this interpreter, but the following is the one I chose to quote:

MJT: What’s it like out there now for the average Iraqi?

Hammer: If you give average Iraqis electricity right now it will be enough. This is the most important thing. Give them power for seven days in a row and there will be no fights.

After the US came and Saddam fell they earned 3 dollars a month. Now they earn between 100 and 700 dollars a month.

Giving them electricity would reduce violence. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself what would happen to this Army base if the power was cut off forever and the soldiers had to spend the rest of their lives in Iraq. Do think think these soldiers would still behave normally?

Iraqis are paid to set up IEDs. They do it so they can buy gas for their generator and cool off their house or leave the country. Their hands do this, not their minds.

TV is the most interesting thing to Iraqis. They learn everything from the TV. Right now they only have one hour of electricity every day. Do you know what they watch? Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera pushes them to fight. If they got TV the whole day they would watch many things. Their minds would be influenced by something other than terrorist propaganda.

Right now they have no electricity. They have no dreams. Nothing. And Saddam messed with their minds. For more than 30 years he poisoned their minds.

You can’t understand Iraq because you can’t get inside their mind. When you get inside their mind…it is a crazy mind.

MJT: Why is Iraq such a mess? Is it the Americans’ fault?

Hammer: No. You can’t blame it on the Americans. Iraqis are number one at fault for this mess. They are greedy and will do anything for money. They are like people who were in jail for 30 years, were suddenly set free, were given money, then had their money taken away. What will they do next? They will kill for money. They are selfish.

They got selfish from Saddam. Iraqi people used to be different. I am the same person I always was, but most Iraqi people are different now. They feel that no one will help them so they help themselves.

MJT: Is there a solution to the problem in this country?

Hammer: Nuke Iraq.

MJT: Be serious.

Hammer: I am serious. If you screen all Iraqis, 5 million of them would be good people. Clear them out, then kill everyone else. Syria and Iran would surrender. [Laughs.]

Right now they see 100 corpses every day in the streets. It’s not okay to kill the bad people who do that?

Ok, if you want a serious solution try this:

Charge money to the families of insurgents. Fine them huge amounts of money if anyone in their family is captured or killed and identified as an insurgent. Make them pay. You can put it into law. Within one week they won’t do anything wrong because they want money. Their familes will make them stop.

The militias pay them 100 dollars to set up IEDs. Fine them thousands of dollars if they are caught and their families will make them stop. Give them that law. Go ahead. Try it.

Sounds pretty reasonable. Give the people electricity so they can be comfortable and watch their TVs and they might stop working for the insurgents to buy the gas to run their generators.

Fine the families of the insurgents and soon the insurgents will quit.

Will it happen? I don’t know, but it seems it’s worth a try.

Read the whole thing.

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I wonder who borrowed all of that? Didn’t we have a surplus not to long ago?

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning – for the first time – that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China’s “nuclear option” in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.

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OLD TOWN – Benoit J. Bouchard, 95, died Aug. 6, 2007, in Orono. Benoit was born April 11, 1912, in Old Town, the son of John and Henedine (St. Pierre) Bouchard. He graduated from Old Town High School in 1931 and Washington State Normal School, Machias, in 1934. He received his bachelor’s degree from Farmington State Teachers’ College and a master’s degree from the University of Maine. His first teaching position was in East New Portland, where he taught for three years. In 1937, he returned to Old Town to teach the sixth grade at the Herbert Gray school and was made principal of that school in 1938. Ben served in that position until his retirement in 1972. After his retirement, until he reached age 80, he substituted in Old Town schools in all grades from kindergarten through high school. He loved children. In all, he gave 55 years of devoted service to the youth of Old Town. During his years as principal, Ben brought many innovations into his school. He started annual operettas, which were mammoth musical productions held yearly in the city hall. Then, his sixth grade class produced a marionette show every year for several years. He introduced the Parent/Teacher’s Association, PTA, in his school and this was soon adopted in all the elementary schools in Old Town. Ben was a fine musician and played both the violin and trombone. In his high school days he was a member of both the orchestra and the band. In college, he was an active member of the Kappa Delta Phi fraternity. He earned his way through college by giving violin lessons and playing for dances. After college he was connected with two musical organizations, one an orchestra, which was composed of members of the Bouchard family and the other the Duffy orchestra in Orono.

I’ve heard it’s what you do with the dash in your life that matters. This obituary of Mr. Bouchard doesn’t begin to talk about what he did with the dash in his life.

From kindergarten through sixth grade Mr. Bouchard was the principal of Herbert Gray school, where Guss and I attended, as well as our aunts, uncle and mothers.

He walked with a big limp, which I found out recently was from polio.

He played his violin for us in class. Did I mention that in addition to being the principal he taught sixth grade half a day?

He was a stickler for penmanship and I fear he would be horrified by my lack of good penmanship. He taught us other topics too.

How well I remember the marionette show we put on! It was the most fun I had ever had up to that point. Everyone had a part.

He was a great teacher and a kind man. He once told me he played in my grandfather’s orchestra, and knowing someone who knew my grandfather made me feel special.

He loved Studebakers and I cannot think of a day when I didn’t see a Studebaker in the parking lot of our school.

He had a stroke several years ago and was in a nursing home where he was the life of the party.

On Monday he took a bad turn and on Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock he went home to Heaven. He left behind 2 children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His beloved wife predeceased him by sixteen months.

Mr. Bouchard, some fifty plus years later your dash is still making a difference in my life. The world is a sadder place now that you have left it. I’m going to miss you.

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I do not think the words “bitch” and “ho” are proper words to use when referring to women, but I fail to see why the New York City Council has decided to attempt to legally ban the words in their city.

The New York City Council, which drew national headlines when it passed a symbolic citywide ban earlier this year on the use of the so-called n-word, has turned its linguistic (and legislative) lance toward a different slur: bitch.

The term is hateful and deeply sexist, said Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word, saying it creates “a paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women.

But conversations over the last week indicate that the “b-word” (as it is referred to in the legislation) enjoys a surprisingly strong currency — and even some defenders — among many New Yorkers.

And Ms. Mealy admitted that the city’s political ruling class can be guilty of its use. As she circulated her proposal, she said, “even council members are saying that they use it to their wives.”

The measure, which 19 of the 51 council members have signed onto, was prompted in part by the frequent use of the word in hip-hop music. Ten rappers were cited in the legislation, along with an excerpt from an 1811 dictionary that defined the word as “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman.”

While the bill also bans the slang word “ho,” the b-word appears to have acquired more shades of meaning among various groups, ranging from a term of camaraderie to, in a gerund form, an expression of emphatic approval. Ms. Mealy acknowledged that the measure was unenforceable, but she argued that it would carry symbolic power against the pejorative uses of the word. Even so, a number of New Yorkers said they were taken aback by the idea of prohibiting a term that they not only use, but do so with relish and affection.

“Half my conversation would be gone,” said Michael Musto, the Village Voice columnist, whom a reporter encountered on his bicycle on Sunday night on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street. Mr. Musto, widely known for his coverage of celebrity gossip, dismissed the idea as absurd.

NYC is fast becoming a socialist city within a state. First the tobacco ban, then the trans-fat ban and now this.

When are policemen going to be able to actually prevent real crimes or catch criminals with stupid rules like this?

NYC is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

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I’ve been hearing a lot from Congress and some presidential candidates that we need to undo the tax cuts of the Bush Administration to make things fair.

I have a proposal for all the millionaires and multi-millionaires in Congress and on the presidential trail. It’s quite simple, really.

When they publicly show they have returned their tax cuts and paid the higher rate I will do the same.

I still have the old Turbo Tax software that shows the old rate and I’ll calculate it to get to the rate it would have been before the tax cuts.

Until then I don’t want to hear about tax cuts from any politicians.

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