Florida prison tries new tack

WorldNetDaily reports that the new Lawtey [Florida] Correctional Institution will be a faith-based prison. Govenor Jeb Bush praises, ill-named American Civil Liberties Union bristles, and "church-state separatists" jeer.

Security Concerns Force Flight Cancellations

Six specific Air France flights, to and from Los Angeles International airport, have been cancelled. Reuters is reporting that U. S. officials had information that an Air France flight had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda.

This morning, David McIntyre, 38, of Westchester, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon. When he attempted to pass through a metal detector in Miami Internation Airport, an alarm sounded. Authorities asked him to remove his shoes and discovered a razor blade and a hacksaw blade. McIntyre "told authorities he forgot the blades were in his shoe."

Yeah. R-i-i-i-i-i-ght!

w.bloggar

Great desktop client for bloggers. New version released today. Lots of features. Did I mention that it is free?

Cyber bullies prey on girl

The above referenced story is an example of undisciplined democracy in action.

Would You Let Your Kid Bunk With Jacko?

Most of the media attention focused on Michael Jackson is tawdry and boring, yet, there is an interesting article on FOXNews.com that looks at the story of his alleged molestation of a young boy from an angle which I have yet to see pursued by other media mavens: the possible culpability of the parents of the boy who was allegedly molested.

I can't believe they gave a wrong address!

Massachusetts has lost track of where one-third of their registered sex offenders live or work.

I went to the coin-operated laundry this afternoon. One of my pet peeves is the lack of consideration someone shows when they leave their laundry in a washer or a drier after the cycle has finished when someone is waiting to use that machine.

Well, both of the four dollar washers were in use when I got there. One of the machines finished, and no one took the clothes out. I waited for ten minutes. Still no one looked to see if the cycle had ended, so I removed the clothes and put them in one of the wheeled laundry baskets which the management provides.

My clothes were halfway through washing when a woman came looking for her clothes. I mentioned that I had removed her clothes. She was not a happy camper. Instead of apologizing for leaving her clothes in the washer after they had finished washing, she told me that I should have asked around to see if the clothes belonged to anyone in the laundry! I told her that I wasn't about to poll those in attendance and that I had only removed the clothes ten minutes after they had finished washing and when no one had shown any interest in them.

I should mention that in the laundry there is a sign stating that clothes may be removed from machines when patrons are waiting to use them. Harrumph!

Way to go, Reuters!

The United Methodist Church signed a contract through an agency to run a series of ads during the Thanksgiving season on the giant Times Square video billboard belonging to the Reuters news service. Reuters quickly nixed the deal, citing its long-standing policy against accepting religious or political advertising, but, when faced with withering criticism from religious liberty and free-speech groups, Reuters flip-flopped and will now permit the ads.

A statement by the National Council of Churches read, in part, "To imply that religious and political speech might be in the same class with messages that are ‘pornographic… libelous, misleading or deceptive in nature,’ as Reuters did in explaining its refusal to carry the United Methodist ad, is a frightening use of the power of media ownership."

Now, Reuters said that perhaps the company should accept any ads, as long as they aren’t confused with Reuters’ news coverage. If that happens, and if Reuters accepts messages that are pornographic, then, I predict, legitimate advertisers like the United Methodist Church will pull their ads, and Reuters will be left with nothing but ads that are "pornographic… libelous, misleading or deceptive in nature."

An Increase in the Number of Beggers?

This is getting ridiculous! I was panhandled out in the front yard, this morning! I went out to the car to put Mother's library books in the trunk, and a man came across the street from the store with a "sob story" about his car breaking down. He asked me for a ride. I told him that I couldn't give him a ride, because my eighty-two year old Mother lived with me, and I couldn't leave her. So he asked for some gas money, five dollars worth, to be exact. I didn't have a five, so I gave him two one-dollar bills, after getting him to agree not to replay me.

That's not too bad, but it comes on the heels of the man that panhandled me yesterday. It was at the Burger King restaurant on High Street. When he asked for help, I suggested that I buy him something to eat. Instead of saying, "Thank you," he wanted to know what I was going to buy him. I asked him what he needed. He replied that he was hungry enough to eat three sausage biscuits. I told him that was two too many and walked into the store. I bought my breakfast and got another to go. When I finished eating and went outside, the guy was nowhere to be seen. I took the breakfast back to the office and gave it to the company secretary, who was glad to get it!

The day before that, which was Thursday, I was panhandled in the parking lot of the Shell convenience store on High Street. I could go on. My point is that there seem to be more people asking for a handout than there used to be. If that is the case, I wonder why?

Woman dressed as clown robs bank

Think of the Children

Chicago teachers take first step toward strike

Hatch proposal angers activists

"Conservatives are furious over a Republican proposal to create two new Michigan-based judicial seats in exchange for getting Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, to lift his blockade on four of President Bush's nominees from that state."

Huge fires continue to burn in California.

Officials said that as of Wednesday night there were 18 confirmed deaths in Southern California, two in adjoining areas in Mexico and that a total of 2,427 homes were destroyed along with 634,000 acres.

Horrors! New study reveals that "more than a third of kids under 6 have a TV in their bedroom." Is it just me, or are children younger than six years of age probably not very discerning judges of what would be good, and what would be harmful, for them to watch on television?

Years ago, the then-Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minnow, proclaimed television to be "a vast wasteland." In my opinion, it hasn't changed for the better.

From an Associated Press article on MSNBC.com

The international Red Cross said Monday it is considering cutting back its operations in Iraq after a bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters that shook the neutral Swiss-run organization.

Maybe it is self-evident; even so, it bears repeating: That's exactly what the terrorists want! That is why the Red Cross absolutely, positively must not cut back its operations.

After the Baghdad headquarters of the United Nations was bombed, that organization cut their staff back to a skeleton crew, and, sadly, I wouldn't be suprised if the International Red Cross did the same, which would, once again, leave the United States of America to do to do the work of others, with scant appreciation.

From the BBC, by way of Drudge Report, comes this story about how a Muslim in Italy succeeded in getting the courts there to ban crucifixes from classrooms in a state kindergarten, a move which has "shocked" the Roman Catholic Church.

"You cannot remove a symbol of the religious and cultural values of a people just because it can offend someone," said a leading prelate, Cardinal Ersilio Tonini.

A number of government ministers were similarly outraged.

"It is unacceptable that one judge should cancel out millennia of history," said Labour Minister Roberto Maroni.

Why didn't the Roman Catholic Church take such a stand in the United States of America were making the same types of rulings?

I took Mother to a Radio Shack store in the neighborhood, and she bought a new, big-button, corded telephone. The one that she had was worn out. It has one-touch buttons for fire, police, and ambulance, which are nice. The phone is caller ID-ready, but she won't use that capability, since she doesn't pay BellSouth for that service. We bought the phone from Tamika, a nice saleslady.

The number of arrests made by agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, under the leadership of Frank Melton, continues to mount.

Eric Stringfellow writes in The Clarion-Ledger newspaper about the lack of cooperation and the incompetance between and among criminal "justice" agencies and personnel in Jackson, Hinds County, and Mississippi.

UFO seen by several people in Colorado.

What a bunch of maroons!

War protester says, "The U. S. government has no right to try and recolonize Iraq." I've got a news flash for the protesters: The war was against the regime of Saddam Hussein; it was not about "recolonizing" Iraq. As usual, the war protesters resort to lies and obfuscation, because the truth will not support their position.

U.S. readies program to track visas

The federal government is about to unveil a blueprint for one of its largest information technology projects ever, a vast automated system that will track every foreigner entering the United States with a visa. The program, which is designed to prevent terrorists and criminals from obtaining visas, is likely to cost $3 billion to $10 billion, analysts said.

Census: Miss. poverty rate up to 17.6%

The Associated Press reports that the percentage of the number of people in Mississippi living in poverty over the last three years has increased to 17.6%. The federal poverty level, which changes periodically, is currently about $17,000.00 for a family of four. Marianne Hill, a senior economist with the State College Board, said, "We lost more manufacturing jobs than any other state." She was referring to the time period August 2002 to August 2003.

Anti-Affirmative Action Bake Sale Shut Down

Somebody got their feelings hurt, so it is O. K. to violate constitutionally protected freedom of speech? That appears to be the attitude of officials of Southern Methodist University.

Abuse of the elderly

Elder abuse is just as bad, just as sickening, and just as repugnant as child abuse.

Mazzio's restaurant in Bryam held up by two armed men

Two men armed with handguns and wearing ski masks used duct tape to tie up three Mazzio's employees in robbing the Byram restaurant late Tuesday night, authorities said.

Transcript: Bush Weekly Radio Address In his weekly radio address, President Bush vowed to "fight and win the war on terror ... for the benefit of all mankind." He reiterated that , in this war, "there is no neutral ground." He closed by saying, of the terrorists in Iraq, "They must, and they will, be defeated."

Restraining order against Melton sought

Jackson lawyer Cynthia Stewart says the state's drug czar has targeted her in his sweep of alleged gang members because of her client and she's asking a judge to bar him from harassing her, federal court records show.

Guerrillas Killed in Afghanistan Fighting

This story on FOXNews.com calls them "anti-government guerrillas" and "insurgents." Why don't they just call them what they are: terrorists?

How black is black?

Race-based affirmative action policies raise fraud concerns. Some may claim black ancestors to gain edge.

A Moral Failure

Why did so many on the left want Saddam Hussein to win?

Time magazine has a good article that deals with the efforts of U. S. troops in Iraq to kill or capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In my opinion, Abdul Rehman is a liar. Rehman was recently released from the U. S. military jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He claims that he was beaten, "but he refused to show scars that may have resulted from any abuse." Why? Because there weren't any scars, because he wasn't beaten.

Why are so many Americans overweight? Here's a headline that offers a clue:

Americans clean their plates, no matter how full

I started reading Pontius Pilate today. I am on page thirty-five. It seems that little is known about the man, not even where he was born. So far, I have read of three possibilities: Italy, Spain, or Germany. One difficulty that I am having relates to the names of persons. I don’t know how to pronounce them, and not knowing how to pronounce them, it is almost impossible for me to remember them. Otherwise, the book is interesting. More to follow...

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Reaction sharp to 'gay' sex ruling

Supreme Court decision said to 'awaken sleeping giant'

I Dare Call It Treason

Ann Coulter reveals that Democrats smeared Senator Joe McCarthy to save their sorry hides.

Motorist given 60 year-sentence in windshield murder trial

The defendant swigged booze, smoked pot, and took the drug Ecstasy. Then, while driving home, she hit a man. His body lodged in the windshield of her car, but he was still alive. Instead of taking him to a hospital, she drove her car into her garage and let him die there.

I took my Mother to a regularly scheduled appointment with her primary care physician yesterday. Her appointment was for 8:45, so I took the morning off from my job.

Yesterday, my Mom and I went to the cemetery and put new foliage on the graves of my Father and my sister. Next Sunday, if the weather is nice, we plan to go out there again, so I can clean the grave markers. While we were out there, we also located my maternal Grandparents' graves and those of some other family members.

After doing all that they could to obstruct the United States from deposing Saddam Hussein and freeing the people of Iraq from his cruel oppression, the French now want to suspend the sanctions that were imposed against his regime. Why? You can bet that it is not out of the goodness of their hearts. "Follow the money," is a phrase that probably applies here.

This is the fourth full day of military action by the United States of America, and others, most notably Britain, to liberate the people of Iraq from the regime of the sadistic, murderous dictator Saddam Hussein and to enforce United Nations Security Council resolution 1441.

War is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, and, yet, some fairly certain information is coming out of Iraq, even as military action continues. Several thousand Iraqi troops have either capitulated or surrendered; many times that number are thought to have simply left their posts and returned to their homes. A smaller number are resisting, some fiercely. There have been some coalition casualties; some coalition troops have been captured by the enemy.

The regime of Saddam Hussein has already violated the Geneva Conventions, according to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield.

So-called "anti-war" protests continue throughout the world, although to a lesser degree in the United States since the actual onset of hostilities, but the protests are increasingly seen as "anti-American" or "anti-Bush," rather than actually "anti-war."

In the middle of the afternoon, I was sitting at my computer, when, suddenly--crash, bang, crack-em-up! The computer monitor flickered and died. I looked outside and saw a candy apple red Chrysler PT Cruiser sitting in the front yard.

The utility pole was cracked. I telephoned to the electric company, to report the outage. Soon, there was a crowd of people in the front yard, some of them erstwhile passengers in the PT Cruiser, some merely onlookers. The other car involved in the accident, a black Pontiac Grand Am, was across the street, in the parking lot of the convenience store. Presently, there were three police cars, an ambulance, a fire truck, and two wreckers on the scene. I went across to the convenience store, ostensibly to get a soda pop, but, in reality, to talk to the clerk and to look at the other car to see what kind of condition it was in. The front of it was messed up pretty badly.

The emergency medical technicians put the driver of the Pontiac on a stretcher and took him away in the ambulance. I don't know how badly he was injured. Someone from the electric company came in a truck that had one of those devices consisting of a bucket on the end of an arm, designed to lift a person up to the power lines. He surveyed the situation, told me that some of the wires were shorted out, and that a crew would have to come to restore the power. Then he left.

One of the wreckers backed up to the curb, in front of the house, and removed the car from the front yard. I had been concerned that the car might have damaged the house, but it didn't touch it. Now, the lights are back on, and the only evidence of a wreck, other than the cracked utility pole, are a few shallow ruts in the front lawn, which I will fill with dirt in a day or two.

I have been sick since this past Thursday, when I went home from work an hour early. I called in sick on Friday. I don't know exactly what I've got--haven't been to the doctor. I ache, have a cough, and my head is stuffy. I'm taking liquid cold medicine. I hope that I'll be well enough to go to work, tomorrow!

There was a car crash in front of the house on Friday evening, about 5:30. A small car turned in front of a sport utility vehicle, sending the sport utility vehicle skidding. When it slammed up against the curb, it flipped over. There were lots of emergency vehicles, including three police cars, a big fire truck, and two tow trucks, but, amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

Today, I got up at 4:50 a.m. News of the space shuttle disaster filled the headlines.

Mother saw a bird in her bedroom. She said that it perched on top of the door to her bedroom, before zooming off in the direction of the kitchen. We looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it. I turned off the computer, and sat very quietly, trying to hear it. I heard chirping coming from the direction of the back bedroom. Also, I heard what seemed to be rustling inside the computer room, from some boxes that are behind the computer table, and, therefore, very difficult to get to--so difficult, in fact, that I didn't make the effort.

It has been quite a while since I have heard the rustling. From where I sit, at my computer, I can see a gap between the top of the door leading to the back bedroom and the door frame--a gap which looks big enough for a small bird to go through. Since we haven't been able to locate the bird, I suppose that it is possible that it went through that gap, into the back bedroom. Still, I can't figure out what caused the rustling noise that I heard.

10:40 a.m. - Just finished helping Mother to wash her hair, which involves filling several pots and pans with water and pouring the water over her head, while she leans over the kitchen sink. We ate a lunch of Campbell's Chicken and Dumplings soup, before washing her hair.

I plan to take our dirty clothes to the coin-operated laundry, this afternoon, but I told Mother that I would wait as long as possible to see if the bird showed itself. I do want to leave early enough so that I can be back before nightfall.

All your base are belong to us.

As you can tell by the date of the previous post, my New Year's resolution lasted exactly one day! Oh, well. In other news, CNN, MSNBC, and other news portals report that Saudi Arabia is working behind the scenes to orchestrate a coup in Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein.

Today, being the first day of the new year, I have an unhealthy desire to resolve to post to this weblog every. single. day. of 2003 (but I won't--promise, that is).

Traditionally, we have black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread on New Year's Day. Since we didn't have any of those things, I went to the grocery store today to get them. Actually, I went twice, because the delicatessan didn't have the cornbread ready the first time I went. Mom brought out some of the sliced, smoked turkey from our Christmas feast. We spooned the liquid from the peas and turnip greens over the warm cornbread and had milk to drink. Since today is a holiday, I said what was always called, in our family, the "special" blessing, because my Dad only used it on special occasions.

Hey, there goes what we used to call the "air raid" siren, but which, now, is activated to alert to severe weather. It is also cranked up at noon on the first of every month, supposedly to test it.