Here is video from a video camera taken yesterday after Pelosi closed down the House, including the lights, microphones and C-Span.

The Republicans responded by video taping the action on the floor. Listen to the response from the gallery.

If you think Pelosi is playing fair and allowing debate on serious issues, then you should vote for your Democratic congressman this year.

If you think she is acting like a two-bit Russian dictator in order to not listen to the will of the people of the United States of America then vote Republican for your Congressman and stop the Gestapo tactics of Ms. Pelosi.

The New York Times has refused to publish an op-ed piece by Sen. John McCain which rebuts an op-ed piece written by Barack Obama and published in the Times the previous week.

ABC’s Rick Klein and Sara Just report: This is not the easiest week for John McCain to get equal time in the media - not with so many journalists in the Middle East to report on Barack Obama’s trip there. And the New York Times op-ed page isn’t making it any easier.

As first reported by The Drudge Report, Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, submitted an opinion piece to the New York Times last week and the paper has rejected it.

A week earlier, the paper published an op-ed by Obama, about the Democrat’s plans for troop draw-down in Iraq. A few days later, the McCain campaign submitted a column rebutting the Obama piece.

According to McCain campaign staffers, the Times rejected the McCain piece and asked for a rewrite to respond directly to some of the claims in the Obama piece, and include an outline of the Republican’s timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq and conditions for withdrawal.

According to McCain campaign staffers, the rejection came Friday night from New York Times oped editorial page editor David Shipley via email:

“I’d be very eager to publish the Senator on the oped page. However I’m not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written,” Shipley writes, according to a copy of the message provided to ABC News.

“It would be terrific to have an article from Sen. McCain that mirrors Sen. Obama’s piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms how Sen. McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troop levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate.”

The McCain campaign has refused to rewrite the piece, saying that the Times’ suggestions are tantamount to insisting that he change his position in order to get his opinions published.

“John McCain believes that victory in Iraq must be based on conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables. Unlike Barack Obama, that position will not change based on politics or the demands of the New York Times.” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

The New York Times has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Drudge has published McCain’s piece and I am posting it here:

In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.

Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.

The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact finding” trip to that country in more than three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance.

To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future.

Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military’s readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.

No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”

The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.

I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies.

Fairness in the media? When all three major network anchors follow Obama on his foreign campaign trip and treat it as though he were already president? Then McCain can’t even publish his thoughts on the Iraq war? Fairness? What is fairness? Only the media know for sure.

The teacher should be fired and the administration fired also for not doing anything about it. The teacher didn’t think she did anything wrong? Where did she get her teaching certificate? From the JC Penney catalog?

I hope the mother does sue and the teacher and administrators are the ones required to pay for any psychological damage done to any of the children–especially Alex and his friend who was forced to vote him out of the class.

By now most of us have heard the story of the Saudi woman who was in a car with a man not in her family when their car was stopped, they were kidnapped and she was brutally raped twice by seven different men.

Oh, the rapists got jail terms alright. Terms ranging from two to nine years.

Originally the victim was sentenced to 90 lashes for being with a man not in her family. Since her attorney appealed and the press was told her sentence was increased to 200 lashes and six months in jail.

Her testimony with Human Rights Watch is compelling and sickens your stomach.

Here are her words about the entire crime:

“I [was] 19 years old. I had a relationship with someone on the phone. We were both 16. I had never seen him before. I just knew his voice. He started to threaten me, and I got afraid. He threatened to tell my family about the relationship. Because of the threats and fear, I agreed to give him a photo of myself,” she recounted.

“A few months [later], I asked him for the photo back but he refused. I had gotten married to another man. He said, ‘I’ll give you the photo on the condition that you come out with me in my car.’ I told him we could meet at a souk [market[ near my neighborhood city plaza in Qatif.

"He started to drive me home. …We were 15 minutes from my house. I told him that I was afraid and that he should speed up. We were about to turn the corner to my house when they [another car] stopped right in front of our car. Two people got out of their car and stood on either side of our car. They man on my side had a knife. They tried to open our door. I told the individual with me not to open the door, but he did. He let them come in. I screamed.

“One of the men brought a knife to my throat. They told me not to speak. They pushed us to the back of the car and started driving. We drove a lot, but I didn’t see anything since my head was forced down.”

“They took us to an area … with lots of palm trees. No one was there. If you kill someone there, no one would know about it. They took out the man with me, and I stayed in the car. I was so afraid. They forced me out of the car. They pushed me really hard … took me to a dark place. Then two men came in. They said, ‘What are you going to do? Take off your abaya.’ They forced my clothes off. The first man with the knife raped me. I was destroyed. If I tried to escape, I don’t even know where I would go. I tried to force them off but I couldn’t. [Another] man … came in and did the same thing to me. I didn’t even feel anything after that.

“I spent two hours begging them to take me home. I told them that it was late and that my family would be asking about me. Then I saw a third man come into the room. There was a lot of violence. After the third man came in, a fourth came. He slapped me and tried to choke me.

“The fifth and sixth ones were the most abusive. After the seventh one, I couldn’t feel my body anymore. I didn’t know what to do. Then a very fat man came on top of me and I could no longer breathe.

“Then all seven came back and raped me again. Then they took me home. … When I got out of the car, I couldn’t even walk. I rang the doorbell and my mother opened the door. She said you look tired.’ I didn’t eat for one week after that, just water. I didn’t tell anyone. I went to the hospital the next day.

“The criminals started talking about it [the rape] in my neighborhood. They thought my husband would divorce me. They wanted to ruin my reputation. Slowly my husband started to know what had happened. Four months later, we started a case. My family heard about the case. My brother hit me and tried to kill me.”

Her lawyer has also been punished by the Saudi court.

As a woman who was acquainted with a lady who had been raped by several men while she was working behind a hotel desk, I can tell you I can think of no more horrifying experience. The woman I knew said all she could do was beg her rapists not to kill her.

Your body is being violated repeatedly against your will until you can no longer feel anything. That’s bad enough, but then the court that should be protecting you sentences you to 200 lashes and six months in prison for being with a man who is not a relative.

This girl was trapped by 8 different men on the same night. Once by the ex-boyfriend and 14 times by the seven rapists.

Her only hope at this stage is a pardon from the king or the provincial governor. Now the Justice Ministry says her sentence will be reviewed again. I pity her as the sentences just get worse. Maybe she’ll be the next beheading victim in this country we dare not speak against or we won’t have enough oil.

How much are we willing to watch and ignore because of almighty oil?

May God have pity on this girl and release her from her sentence and may she be able to get out of that country and someplace that is free and treats women the way they should be treated.

The remarks made today by Representatative Stark on the floor of the House are reprehensible.
To accuse a sitting President of amusing himself with the death of our troops goes well beyond behavior which should ever be condoned by any of our elected officials.

These words were uttered during the debate to override the President’s veto of the expansion of the S-CHIP program. The leadership in the House should demand an apology from Rep. Stark but I certainly will not hold my breath. Republicans need to make clear that remarks such as these if made by their side of the aisle would receive calls for at the least an apology if not censure. It is outrageous that this should stand on any level without serious challenge.

At this time it appears the House has not succeeded
in their attempt to override.

12:16 - House fails to override, 273-156. The Democrats picked up 8 votes, and I believe the Republicans gained 11. This means that Congress will have to act quickly to maintain S-CHIP benefits to current qualifiers — and that means some horse trading with the White House.

*Update: Senator Reid is in no mood for compromise with the White House:

The bill is bipartisan, and the Senate has shown it could override a veto. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has replied with an emphatic “no” when asked if he would seek a compromise with the administration.

I would like to say I’m surprised but this House vote was a stinging defeat for the Majority Leader. He may find in order to save this program he will have to deal with a President who continues to thwart many of his efforts [HT: AJ Strata] not ony on this program but also attempts to threaten our national security.

So much for that lame duck President we heard so much about.

*Update 2:Republican Leader in the House issues a statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement regarding remarks made on the House floor by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) during the debate on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP):

“Our troops in Iraq are fighting against al-Qaeda and other radical jihadists hellbent on killing the people we are sent here to represent. Congressman Stark’s statement dishonors not only the Commander-in-Chief, but the thousands of courageous men and women of America’s armed forces who believe in their mission and are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security. Congressman Stark should retract his statement and apologize to the House, our Commander-in-Chief, and the families of our soldiers and commanders fighting terror overseas.”

During debate on the SCHIP children’s health care legislation today, Rep. Stark stated: “You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.”

The above is a Drudge Report flash. I will update accordingly if there are changes.

I can’t believe this is actually happening in the state where I was born and raised.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.

The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

I have a sixth-grade granddaughter, and I can tell you (if you don’t already know) she is by no means capable of understanding what sex is all about and is nowhere near ready for sex.

A supporter, Richard Verrier, said it’s not enough to depend on parents to protect their children because there may be students who can’t discuss things with their parents.

Condoms have been available since 2002 to King students who have parental permission to be treated at its student health center.

About one-fourth of student health centers that serve at least one grade of adolescents 11 and older dispense some form of contraception, said Mohan, whose Washington-based organization represents more than 1,700 school-based centers nationwide.

At King Middle School, birth control prescriptions will be given after a student undergoes a physical exam by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland’s student health centers.

Students treated at the centers must first get written parental permission, but under state law such treatment is confidential, and students decide for themselves whether to tell their parents about the services they receive.

I’m sure because if they told their parents they wouldn’t get the pill.

Then again Maine has become a liberal bastion and is not the same state it was when I was a child and young adult.

I blame a lot of this on the people from surrounding states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut who have moved to Maine and taken over the politics there.

At least I hope there are still some native Mainers with common sense. I’m not so sure anymore.

They keep electing a democrat governor and legislature that is taxing them out of their homes practically, so what do I know?

I do know this is wrong and is something the parents should handle at home.

Why would any adult, regardless of color, put a noose around a small child’s neck to show why nooses are important to their history and because some stupid rednecks put up nooses in Jena?

GRAMBLING, La. — Officials at Grambling State University were meeting Monday after the school newspaper ran photographs of adults at a campus-run elementary school putting a noose around at least one child’s neck.

Kindergarten and first-grade students at Alma J. Brown Elementary School were being taught why nooses are a symbol of racism, an article from the historically black university’s student newspaper said.

The article said the children also were being taught about the “Jena Six” — black high-school students who are accused of beating a white schoolmate. Court proceedings brought about 20,000 to 25,000 people to Jena, about 70 miles from Grambling, for a civil rights march in September.

A press release posted on the Gramblinite’s Web site said three photographs from the event were removed after a staff conference call. Ten others were re-posted to the site Monday after the university’s president ordered the removal of all the photos and the story over the weekend, according to the Gramblinite press release.

I can understand teaching children about racism, but this doesn’t help us to fulfill Martin Luther King’s dream of everyone working and playing together regardless of the color of their skin.

This is an outrage! What do the parents think of their child being put into a noose?

How much fear did they put into this little girl, all to prove a senseless point that could have been discussed and shown in drawings for illustration purposes?
Shame on the lot of them! The whites who did what they did with nooses and the African-Americans who did what they did to this little girl and how many others?

From Patterico’s Pontifications is the following quote from a returning Marine chaplain:

“As we came in for the final approach to Oakland a Lieutenant who served in Afghanistan with the same unit in 2006 mentioned how when they landed in Oakland they were not allowed in the terminal. He said, “they made us get out by the FED EX building and we had to sit out there for 3 hours”. He also indicated he was almost arrested by the TSA for getting belligerent about them not letting the Marines into the terminal.

Well the same thing happened again. This time we did not park by the FED EX building, instead we were offloaded near the grass that separates the active runway from the taxi ramp, about 400 yards from the terminal. When we inquired why they wouldn’t allow us in the airport they gave us some lame excuse that we hadn’t been screened by TSA. While true, the screening which we did have was much more thorough than any TSA search and was done by US Customs. Additionally, JFK didn’t seem to have a problem with our entering their terminal, nor did security in Germany.

It felt like being spit on. Every Marine and soldier felt the message loud and clear, “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OAKLAND!”

Add to that the fact I read an article the other day that stated the US Marine silent drill team was not allowed to film on the streets of San Francisco because of traffic concerns when the traffic officer in charge of filming movies said it has never been a problem before. The Marines were allowed to film on the streets of New York City during rush hour.

These Marines have served their country and most didn’t ask to go to Iraq. We are treating today’s military the very same way some treated our military returning from Viet Nam and it is wrong!

These guys would lay down their lives to save yours or mine and we treat them like we’re ashamed of them. I’m proud of every single one of our military who has or is serving with honor.

When a University of Florida student asked John Kerry if he was a member of the Skull and Bones as is President Bush, the university police moved in to grab him for arrest.

He resisted, asking what he had done to be arrested, was wrestled to the ground and told he would be tased, begged not to be tased, all while John Kerry tried to answer his question.

My questions are these: First, why didn’t John Kerry tell the police to let him alone to ask his questions? Second, why didn’t John Kerry stop talking over the melee and insist they let the student go as he had done nothing shown on the film that was illegal except resist an arrest that shouldn’t have taken place. Third, why did the campus police use a taser on the student?

Have we become Mother Russia, where no one is free to question any politician in a public forum?

Here’s even more disturbing video of the incident. The police said he was inciting a riot. He seemed to me to be asking a question .

When a supposedly talented “comedian” who has declared herself to be an atheist says, “Suck it, Jesus” and people laugh at it, is that acceptable?

The discussion that takes place on this video makes it sound as though it’s a statement made against the Catholic church. The last time I checked Jesus had no religion, but is the Savior of the world.

This is an attack by Kathy Griffin (whoever she is) on Christianity and not on any specific branch of Christianity.

And we wonder why our country is in the shape it is. It’s a wonder it’s not a lot worse with people like this feeling free to say what she said in public.

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.

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.

This is so outrageous that I can’t find the words to describe my anger.

father said he asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Also Thursday night, a report on ESPN.com cited an unidentified ESPN source saying Vick will not admit to killing dogs or gambling on dogfights when he enters a guilty plea in a Richmond, Va., federal court Monday.

The source told ESPN that Vick’s defense team met with federal attorneys Thursday afternoon to determine the “summary of facts” to which Vick will plead. But the source says Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dog fight. The source said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback will plead guilty to the charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting.

On Monday, Vick agreed to plead guilty Monday in the federal dogfighting case in Richmond. He faces up to five years in prison and the possible end of his football career. Three co-defendants already pleaded guilty and were expected to testify against Vick if the case went to trial. In addition, a Virginia prosecutor is considering bringing state charges against Vick.

In The Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper’s Web site Thursday night, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback’s mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va.

Story

This guy was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A CIA inquiry has accused the agency’s ex-chief George Tenet and his aides of failing to prepare for al-Qaeda threats before the 9/11 attacks on the US.
“The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner,” the CIA inspector general wrote in a scathing report.

The document was completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now. Its release was ordered by Congress.

Mr Tenet, former CIA director, said the inspector general was “flat wrong”.

But some former CIA employees have told the BBC that the criticisms are justified.

Mr Tenet, who enjoyed strong support from President George W Bush, resigned in 2004 citing “personal reasons”.

The review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found no “single point of failure” that would have stopped the attacks on 11 September 2001.

Story

I love football and I can never wait for the preseason to start in August. If anything will turn me against the NFL it will be if they let Vick play again.

An NAACP leader said Michael Vick should be allowed to return to the NFL, preferably the Atlanta Falcons, after serving his sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation.
“As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football,” said R.L. White, president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter. “We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country.”

White said the Falcons quarterback made a mistake and should be allowed to prove he has learned from that mistake.

On Monday, Vick said through a lawyer that he will plead guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.

Three Vick associates have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and say Vick provided nearly all the gambling and operating funds for the “Bad Newz Kennels” dogfighting enterprise. Two of them also said Vick participated in executing at least eight underperforming dogs, raising the possibility of the animal cruelty charges.

Last month, state and local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urged the public not to rush to judgment in the Vick case. The civil rights organization said animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media were vilifying the embattled athlete, and that his team and corporate sponsors were prematurely punishing Vick.

White said the Atlanta chapter supports Vick’s decision to accept a plea bargain if it’s in his best interest, but he questioned the credibility of Vick’s co-defendants, saying an admission of guilt might be more about cutting losses than the truth.

Story

If this is true and he did change the plans then he needs to be punished.

Robert Murray insists that his company did not change the mining plan at Crandall Canyon after purchasing a joint interest in the mine last August.
But documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune clearly contradict Murray’s assertion, and show that Murray’s company sought and received approval from federal regulators to make a significant, and, experts say, risky change to the mining strategy.
Records of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) show that, after Murray acquired a 50 percent ownership in the mine on Aug. 9, 2006, his company repeatedly petitioned the agency to allow coal to be extracted from the north and south barriers - thick walls of coal that run on
both sides of the main tunnels and help hold up the mine.
That stands in stark contrast to statements Murray made Monday asserting that his company’s mine plan, and that of the previous owner, were one and the same.
“Some have incorrectly reported that after I bought the mine I changed the mining plan. That is not correct,” Murray said. He said the mining plan was developed by its previous owners, Andalex Resources, in conjunction with the Colorado mining engineering consultant Agapito Associates and approved by MSHA.
Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining show Andalex had previously decided not to mine those barriers, determining it posed a risk to worker safety.

Story

I’ve got a simple solution. Put the so-called people that are doing this in a ring and force them to fight for their lives. At least by doing this, we could cut the amount of dirt bags in half.
If I sound a little extreme it’s because this really ticks me off.

It’s a disturbing narrative, the 19-page indictment of football star Michael Vick and three of his friends. Perhaps the details shocked people unfamiliar with the secretive world of illegal dogfighting: the breeding and training of pit bulls for savage, high-stakes combat and the brutal executions of dogs that fail to measure up.

Dogs shot, hanged, drowned, beaten, electrocuted. An awful story.

Yet to animal-welfare workers, the ugly particulars were far from surprising. They said the dogfighting subculture is deeply entrenched in the United States. And in that shadowy realm, they said, the sort of business allegedly conducted on property owned by Vick in rural Surry County, Va., has been going on for generations, especially in the rural South.

“For us, the Vick case has had tremendous value,” said Jeff Dorson, a Louisiana Humane Society official. “We’ve been trying to tell the public how typical this is, how widespread it is, the horrors the animals go through. . . . It’s opened the curtain so everyone can see what’s going on.”

Vick, quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons and a former Virginia Tech all-American, is scheduled to plead guilty Monday to dogfighting-related offenses, with federal guidelines calling for a prison term in the range of 12 to 18 months, according to his attorneys and sources familiar with the case. His co-defendants have pleaded guilty.

The blood sport goes on.

Story