When I read or hear a statement such as this:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said. “Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

it just adds to the list of things which leave me less than inspired about our choices in the upcoming election. Knives and guns interjected into a presidential race. Nice.

Helen Thomas. That name evokes many emotions in people on both sides of the aisle.

For a Friday laugh, you must read this post at Riehl World View.

I won’t include any blockquotes as the entire Q and A involving Ms. Thomas should be read at once.

Hope you had yourself a good chuckle!

Sometimes the headlines are deliberately misleading, other times they define an article well and then there are the times when it is difficult to imagine what the body of the piece is based on the bold print.

I was certainly intrigued when I read the following:

N.J. College Requires GOP Cell Phones

This was a must read for me as I had never heard of a GOP cell phone. Couple that with the fact that I could not imagine what college in the State of New Jersey would be installing this requirement and this was an instant click and read.

Here is what I found.

It was after 1 a.m. on a Sunday when college freshman Amanda Phillips arrived at the train station. She was nervous about walking alone in the dark to her dorm at Montclair State University.
So Phillips activated a GPS tracking device on her school-issued cell phone that would instantly alert campus police to her whereabouts if she didn’t turn it off in 20 minutes. After a five-minute walk, she safely reached her dorm room, locked the door behind her and turned off the timer.

“I think this is a great idea. It makes me feel a lot safer. And it’s not even that expensive,” said Phillips, an 18-year-old from Delaware.

Had she not turned the device off, an alarm would have sounded at the campus police station, and a computer screen would have displayed a dot with her location, along with her photo and other personal details.

Anything which provides an extra layer of security for these students is a great idea.

Too bad it wasn’t really a GOP cell phone. It would have been one of the most interesting stories tied to a political party in quite a while.

Thanks Liberty Pundit for pointing us to what might be the most ridiculous story so far this week:

A two-meter shark has been caught in a river in southern Iraq more than 200 km (160 miles) from the sea.

Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark’s presence.

Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a “75 percent chance” Americans had put the shark in the water.

“This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter,” said fisherman Hatim Karim.

How absolutely absurd.

Every once in a while you find one of those stories that make you shake your head and say, huh?

This was one of those:

A man who was out on bail following a drunken driving arrest is back behind bars after he was caught drinking a 12-pack of beer on the Douglas County Courthouse lawn. Martin Ruiz asked the judge to release him on his own recognizance, promising not to drink another beer or drive

The judge had a different idea:

But Judge Michael Gibbons set his bail at $100,000 on Monday, saying he was surprised Ruiz was released on recognizance the first time.

Some good old fashioned common sense on the part of Judge Gibbons, don’t you think?

Sometimes there simply are no words to express how you feel as you read a news article.

This is one of those times.

AN Indian couple has been charged with the murder of one of their sons after they tried to transfuse his blood into his elder brother to make him smarter.[Emphasis added]

The Indian Express newspaper said the couple were both doctors and the mother had a dream in which a guru advised blood transfusion to make their elder son do better at his studies.

Police said the couple initially claimed the 11-year-old boy was killed in an attack on the family, but later the father confessed.

Seriously, no words, although many come to mind and those I would not insert in a post on this blog.

HT: Lucianne

Certainly whoever chose this name for a line of bedding must have had a temporary brain freeze.

It doesn’t sound as if it was intentional, but boy, it was not too bright.

From the “I thought I’d seen, read or heard it all it all” files:

Check out what is for sale on ebay.

Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay.be this week was an unusual item: “For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts … free premium: the king and his court (costs not included).”

Can you guess who spoke these words and what it pertained to?

Sort of like that. But they’re space invaders. They have laser weapons and stuff and bust down your doors and rough up your women and throw you on the ground, really, I mean.

I’m not surprised.

It seems Jack Hanna had a bit of trouble with an airport turnstile.

“I was stuck like a worm. My eyes were as big as grapefruits,” he said. “I can’t describe the feeling in my stomach. I can’t move up or down. The bars are on your face.”

That description doesn’t sound too funny, but believe me when you read the story and find out how this happened you might just have your Sunday laugh.

And in conclusion, do you suffer from parakavedekatriaphobia?

I was glad I don’t. Just attempting to pronounce it was enough to bring on an anxiety attack.

Have a great Sunday all!

It’s not the lawsuit I consider newsworthy, it’s a few of the claims which prompt me to post on this article from TVNEWSER:

Here’s a look at some of the claims in the 32-page lawsuit filed today by former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather against CBS and Viacom: (as excerpted from Jacques Steinberg’s NYTimes.com story)

• CBS committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed story on Pres. Bush’s National Guard record

• CBS and its executives made him “a scapegoat” in an attempt “to pacify the White House”

Biased, flawed, scapegoat, pacify? Just sayin!

If I lived in Arizona and had children attending school, I would certainly keep a close eye on this situation.

Hundreds of students in Arizona are trying to learn English from teachers who don’t know the language, state officials say.

The kids are taught by teachers who don’t know English grammar and can’t pronounce English words correctly. Last year, for example, a Mesa teacher stood in front of a class of language learners and announced, “Sometimes, you are not gonna know some.” A teacher in Phoenix’s Creighton Elementary District asked her kids, “If you have problems, to who are you going to ask?” A Casa Grande Elementary District teacher asked her kids to “read me first how it was before.”

Each year, the state evaluates a sampling of classrooms where kids are learning English. Last year, officials visited 32 districts and found similar problems at nine. Some teachers’ English was so poor that even state officials strained to understand them. The state also found that students learning English at all ages were being taught by teachers who did not have appropriate training or materials. At a dozen districts, evaluators found teachers who ignored state law and taught in Spanish.

So, we have teachers who are instructing students in an English class but they are teaching in Spanish? Are there no principals in these schools who do random checks on their teachers and the progress of their pupils? I could understand if you only observed for a very short time that you may not notice a slight language deficiency, but come on, can these folks not distinguish betweeen two separate languages?

Children will use their language skills throughout their lives. As long as we live in America, we should provide educators who not only teach English well but never instruct in a foreign language on a continuous basis unless teaching such a class. For the sake of the children, I hope Arizona corrects this situation and sooner rather than later.

Proceed with caution if you are a coffee drinker or enjoy a bit of cheese with your meal or as a snack.

$600-a-pound coffee

Human hands don’t harvest the beans that make this rare brew. They’re plucked by the sharp claws and fangs of wild civets, catlike beasts with bug eyes and weaselly noses that love their coffee fresh.

I think I’ll leave the rest to the reader but for those weak of stomach, please do not eat while reading. I would like to say enjoy, however….

We have already had a long, tedious Presidential campaign thrust upon us. Issues abound (I suppose), positions change with the weather and candidates speech and appearance are altered to fit their surroundings.

It seems the candidates on both sides of the aisle have now presented us with proof they are capable of taking a firm stance on one issue. This will influence many voters I am sure.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE REALITY TV PROGRAM?

DEMOCRATS:

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden: “Don’t have one.”

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: “American Idol.”

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd: ” ‘American Idol,’ which I say often reminds me of running for president sometimes.”

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: College basketball.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich: C-SPAN coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives. No time for other TV.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama: “Other than the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN? I don’t watch them too often.”

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: “Fox News.”

REPUBLICANS:

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: “None this season; too busy. Last season it was ‘The Amazing Race.’ ”

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Baseball.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: “Nashville Star,” USA Network’s country music competition.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter: Watches Versus, previously called the Outdoor Life Network.

Arizona Sen. John McCain: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “American Idol.”

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: “None.”

I really, no I mean really needed to have this information before I cast my vote in November 2008, although I will always be left to wonder what Fred Thompson would have chosen.

But wait there is more!

Up next: Favorite fitness activity

Oh please, I just have to know now..and perhaps next you could ask their favorite food or color or make of car..the voters will be waiting.

Time Magazine has taken this opportunity to grace us with their choices for the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

If there ever was a question in my mind that my decision was correct years ago to discontinue my subscription to this publication, it was wiped away by their omission of President Bush from this list. Have we come to the point where the media blinded by their hatred for this man, simply wishes to demean the Office of the Presidency? It matters not the man or woman who occupies the Oval Office, the day Americans do not find them persuasive on the world stage, I believe we are headed for disaster.

Some might say this is laughable, I do not agree. When Osama bin Laden is more influential in the world than our Commander in Chief in the opinion of this publication, I see no reason to smile. Others would say this list has no actual meaning, again I respectfully do not concur. Time is distributed worldwide and I am certain has influence in regions which we cannot imagine. Are they to believe that the President of the United States of America has little or no influence in the world? According to Time, the answer is Yes.

Call me old fashioned if you like, but I would prefer to return to the days when even with our disagreements we were able to unite as a country behind our duly elected President. Given the difficult times we face ahead as a nation one would like to believe we could achieve that plateau once more. The press recognizing that there are two political parties in this country and they do not consist of “perfect” and “imperfect” might be a great start.

Update: Captain Ed says:

Let’s see if we can make sense of this. Two Senators who want to win a nomination for the next presidential election are more influential than the man who currently holds the position? I’m not saying that Hillary and Obama do not have influence — after all, they are the frontrunners for the Democrats. However, arguing that they have more influence than George Bush is simply unrealistic, and it betrays the bias of Time in its attempt to sell their list. Bush just demonstrated that he has equal influence as the entirety of Congress in vetoing the supplemental bill.

Love him, hate him, or feel indifferent, but one cannot deny that the President of the United States has a great deal of influence. This one in particular has toppled two brutal dictatorships and currently runs a controversial war in Iraq. He has worked with four other nations to isolate North Korea and pushed the UN Security Council to isolate Iran. Bush has, for better or worse, negotiated free-trade agreements with most of the rest of the world during his six years in office, and has even begun to attract nations like Canada to his policy on greenhouse gases.

In case you are wondering where your last pork chop “really” came from, Don Surber gives us a hint.

The Food and Drug Administration is likely to allow farmers to sell meat and milk from cloned cows, pigs and goats without any special labels. Well, not pig’s milk. I don’t think anyone sells pig’s milk. But I digress.

Congressional Democrats are all upset. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., wants cloned food to carry a label: “This product is from a cloned animal or its progeny.”

Sure, label everything.

Not to be outdown, Democrats in the California legislature are calling for even more explicit labels, the AP reported.

State Sen. Carole Migden, D-SF, (of course) said, “Wouldn’t you like to know if you’re drinking milk from a cloned cow, or feeding your children pork chops from a somatic cell nuclear transfer event?”

More hysteria. This time over somatic cell nuclear transfer events, which I’ll admit sound scary.

After going on with this nonsense for 14 paragraphs, AP reporter Aaron Davis finally gave the opposition — the California Cattlemen’s Association — a chance to chime in.

“We’re sort of a little ahead of ourselves,” said Matt Byrne, the association’s executive vice president. “There’s no meat or milk from cloned animals on the market, and there’s no expectation that this will be an issue any time soon.”

So there you have it. Having solved all of the many real problems in government, Democrats are ready to protect us from imaginary ones.

America will have its label guns ready to fire at the next challenge to freedom: cloned meat — if it ever is produced.

For their next Luddite law, I want them to work to protect the working poor from exploitative fares should time travel ever become a reality.

The original story can be found here.