Via the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Painkiller use soars in U.S.
People in the United States are living in a world of pain and are popping pills at an alarming rate to cope with it.
The amount of five major painkillers sold at retail stores rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of Drug [...]

I had the intention of posting this a few days ago, but server problems (we all know those days) made a different decision for me.
I have met many individuals over the years who have asked me how I could handle being raised in a military family, never really having a “home” or not having the [...]

Michael Vick may be innocent until proven guilty but this video is a must see for animal lovers everywhere.
Check it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

After all this time I find out that my research tool, Wikipedia, can be written and edited by anyone.
It’s been said history is written by the victors. However, in 2008’s presidential contest, history is increasingly being written, rewritten and argued by the supporters, friends, relatives, and maybe even the staffs of presidential hopefuls.
Every day on [...]

Michael Totten has posted another terrific piece.
This time the take is a bit different as he shows how our military is garnering some of their intelligence in Iraq. A fascinating read with lots of human elements.
The night was reasonably cool for Baghdad in the summer. The temperature rarely drops below 100 degrees [...]

Here is one for you.
A new court decision could begin to roll back some post-9/11 government secrecy that has forced nearly two dozen intelligence-related cases out of federal courts without rulings.
In a ruling unsealed last month, a federal appeals court questioned the application of the so-called “state secrets” privilege, which government lawyers can use to [...]

I’m having a crisis right now with a sick dog. Not just any dog, but my favorite dog.
Right now she’s in the hospital for vomiting and Monday she stopped eating. She has a history of cancer that has been in remission for over three years now.
Wednesday our vet is probably going [...]

You talk about frivolous lawsuits. This is just plain stupid.
Liberal blogger Lane Hudson has filed a complaint against Fred Thompson with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the “testing-the-waters” candidate of violating election law. Hudson is the same activist who posted instant messages between former Rep. Mark Foley and a congressional page.
The AP reports: “The [...]

I guess when they say that the economy has been grateful Wall Street and not for the average American, they weren’t kidding.
Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, [...]

This post is from a friend of Js new blog. Truman invokes a lot of thought. I’ve put his link at the end of this post. Please visit and give him your support.
The first time I met Greg Stier, I thought he was energetic, full of passion for teenagers, and the type [...]

The sharing of marriage…
The old man placed an order for one hamburger, French fries and a drink.
He unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half, placing one half in front of his wife.
He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in [...]

Here is a different take on global warming from WorldNetDaily.
A major new scientific study concludes the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on worldwide temperatures is largely irrelevant, prompting one veteran meteorologist to quip, “You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.”
That comment comes from Reid Bryson, [...]

I just don’t understand this administration. I try but I just can’t. Why can’t we take just a few billion from Iraq and put it towards full coverage for our children?
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it [...]

I know I’m a Democrat but I love this guy. He seems to give off a persona of honesty and I like that.
– What success Mike Huckabee has found as a presidential candidate stems largely from his homespun charm – a folksy populism that gets heads nodding when he muses about the [...]

Here is something to ponder from the Right Wing Nut House.
For those who actually understand what the term means, there is no reasonable ground for objecting to the term “imperial” to describe America’s role in the world. Even our Foreign Policy Community elites have begun acknowledging that we are acting as an empire and are [...]

Much more interesting than politics and a lot less controversial. I must admit that when I read the headline I thought they were talking about someone like Gary Coleman. I know it’s a stupid thing to say.

Astronomers have spotted a space oddity in Earth’s neighbourhood - a dead star with some unusual characteristics.
The [...]

This is an editorial by Rich Lowry written in the New York Post.
I wouldn’t vote for John Edwards but I think that all presidential candidates on both sides could be a little less hypocritical. I must say though, John Edwards is especially guilty of it.
FRANCOIS de La Rochefoucauld had a point when he said, [...]

I don’t know what to think about this story. I’ve never been able to figure out why we don’t trade with Cuba. Would it be such a bad thing? I do know one thing. It is not going to get you very many votes in southern Florida.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama [...]

I would love to see someone running that isn’t beholding to anyone. Wouldn’t that be something?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said _ again_ that he’s not running for president, adding in a television interview that he wouldn’t win anyway.
“Nobody’s going to elect me president of the United States,” he told Dan Rather for a program [...]

This man scares the hell out of me.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) writes today in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. “road to victory” in Iraq goes through Damascus, and urges Congress to “send a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime“:
The United States is at last making significant progress against al Qaeda [...]

This is a very interesting piece written in the Washington Times. May be the Democrats and Republicans can come together and find a solution that makes everyone happy.
Top Senate Democrats have started to acknowledge progress in Iraq, with the chairman of the Armed Services Committee yesterday saying the U.S. troop surge is producing “measurable results.”
Sen. [...]

If ever I wanted someone to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, this was it.
We’ve had a few days to grow accustomed to the notion of Michael Vick going to jail, but it’s nonetheless a stunner to hear the actual admission of guilt in the form of a plea bargain. We’re now [...]

It couldn’t happen soon enough. Who knows? With a new leader peace might be possible.
Declaring the government of Iraq “non-functional,” the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that Iraq’s parliament should oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his cabinet if they are unable to forge a political compromise with rival factions [...]

I guess the once gutless wonders are coming out swinging. Good for you.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., has been summoned to court on assault and battery charges after an incident at Dulles Airport on Sunday night where he allegedly pushed a United Airlines bag claim employee.
Filner allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside an [...]

God I hope that this pimple comes to a head, soon.
A top Senate Democrat on Monday threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for not producing subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush’s secretive eavesdropping program.
“When the Senate comes back in the session, I’ll bring it up before the committee,” [...]