It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

Uh-oh. Look out all you fat foreign chicks with low self esteem...

AP: Senatrix Hitlery Schicklgruber (N-NY) sees diplomatic role for husband if elected in '08

Former President Clinton has said his wife wants him to lead efforts to rebuild the United States' tarnished reputation abroad — if she is elected to the White House next year.

The former president made the comments in interviews released Friday in Britain where he was fundraising for Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for next year's presidential election.

Wait a minute... I don't see any quotes from Hitlery!

Clinton was asked what his public role might be if his wife becomes president, in interviews with The Guardian newspaper and British Broadcasting Corp. television.

He joked to The Guardian that Scottish friends have suggested his title could be "first laddie."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

"What Hillary has said is that if she were elected she would ask me, and others — including former Republican presidents — to go out and immediately try to restore America's standing, go out and tell people America was open for business and cooperation again," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

He said for the first time in his political experience, "ordinary Americans in the heartlands" were concerned about how the world sees the U.S. after years of unilateralism of President Bush's administration on issues such as Iraq, climate change, and nuclear nonproliferation.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

This guy is a regular Dane Cook.

"The collective effect of that was to enrage the world at the very moment when we had more world support than we've had in recent memory because of 9/11. It was an unbelievable turnaround," Clinton said.

As an example of how the U.S. can win by working with others, Clinton pointed to the six-nation North Korea arms talks this week, where the country committed to disabling its main nuclear facilities by year-end.

"You can see in the recent success of the North Korean nuclear effort that when America moved from unilateralism to working through, and with, others it works pretty well," he said on the BBC.

He must have her all drugged up and locked in the basement. Why else would anyone attribute this harebrained scheme to ol' Hit?

Unless she wants him out of the country...I smell a a Ron Brown plane crash coming...

Just because you don't get any mail on Monday, it does not mean it is Columbus Day.

Columbus Day is really October 12.

Every year.

I was not going to use this one, but it just got weird...

Sure, the whole thing is weird....But where do you think the weirdness is kicked up a notch?

UPI: Man sees amputated leg as moneymaker

A North Carolina man who claims he bought an amputated leg fair and square says he wants to use it to help his town.

Shannon Whisnant lives in Maiden, a small town near Charlotte. He apparently did not know what he was getting when he bought a barbecue smoker at an auction. The leg was inside.

Whisnant would like to put the leg on display. He told the Charlotte Observer that he would charge adults $10, seniors $5 and children $3. Amputees would get in for free.

I vote for this spot right here. Read that last line again.

"It'd be a great for tourism," he said. "Maiden could use some fresh money. We've got nothing but old money around here, and we could use a little extra cash flow."

John Wood of Greenville, S.C., has other ideas. He lost the leg in 2004 when it was amputated after a plane crash and again this year when the storage facility sold his smoker.

Wood, who got the leg back from police, says he does not see the leg as a moneymaker.

Whisnant says the pair should share it.

"I told him I'd share custody of it," Whisnant said. "Kind of like young'uns."

Speaking of Allen Keyes...

Another conservative black Catholic gets the Clarence Thomas high-tech lynching treatment from the Democrasses...

RenewAmerica: Alan Keyes excluded from Oct. 9 Michigan Presidential Debate

In the wake of the exclusion of presidential candidate Alan Keyes from next week's Dearborn, Michigan, Presidential Debate, conservative leaders in the Wolverine State today criticized Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, whose neutrality in the presidential race has been repeatedly called into question.

"I think it is shameful that someone with Dr. Alan Keyes' experience in government and credentials in the conservative movement is being kept out of the debate," said Judy Zabik, Genesee County Republican Party Board member . . .

What? It's the Repansycans? Why, those little...!

Senator Token Update.

Everybody's favorite Melanin-Enriched American candidate for president [Allen Keyes prefers the simple yet elegant "American"] finds a surefire way to erase Senatrix Hitlery Schicklgruber's (N-NY) thirty point lead in the polls...

AP: Obama stops wearing flag pin
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he no longer wears an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for "true patriotism" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Fake Indian Update.

The Washington Times: Fired professor back at Colorado

It's going to take more than getting fired to stop former professor Ward Churchill from teaching at the University of Colorado.

Let us try jail time.

The ex-professor was back on campus Tuesday at the invitation of students to teach an unsanctioned course, "ReVisioning American History: Colonization, Genocide and Formation of the U.S. Settler State."

Hee hee!

Always a popular figure on campus, Mr. Churchill, 52, was met with applause by the 30 or so students and well-wishers who attended the first session.

Must have been a Komsomol meeting.

"This course is an entirely voluntary [Sure. Now. - F.G.] exercise for all parties involved," Mr. Churchill said. "It carries no credit, fulfills no institutional requirements, involves payment of no tuition, entails no paycheck to its instructor."

Call it Sugary Sugarcoated Sugar For The Soul.

Student organizers reserved a classroom at the Eaton Humanities Building for the unofficial course. According to the syllabus, Mr. Churchill will teach every Tuesday evening through the month of October, with class topics to focus on colonialism, genocide and racism.

Bad-will offerings will be accepted.

Mr. Churchill ignited a national outcry for an essay comparing September 11 victims to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. In July, the university's Board of Regents voted 8-1 to fire him for unrelated academic misconduct, including plagiarism and fabricating research.

"Unrelated"? Ha! Every single dopey socialist thought in Little-Fawn-Who-Lies-Through-Forest-And-Classroom's feverish brain is related.

His supporters accused the university of violating Mr. Churchill's free-speech rights. The professor, who had been chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department, has since filed a lawsuit challenging his dismissal.

"We were deprived of his teachings and critical analysis of common thought," Aaron Smith, a 24-year-old senior political science and ethnic-studies major, told the Campus Press, the student newspaper. "I disagree with the decision to fire him."

Golly, Junior, your sophomoric argument in favor of the arch-moron Churchill has immediately changed my mind.

The university released a terse statement yesterday emphasizing that Mr. Churchill is no longer employed as a professor.

"Again.? I thought we canned this fool. Why won't he just leave?"

"Any CU student is at liberty to invite Ward Churchill to campus to speak, but this should not be viewed by anyone as a resumption of employment or of his former professorial role at the University of Colorado at Boulder," the statement read.

Not everyone was welcome at the event. A newspaper photographer and several students described as "agitators" were turned away by event organizers, according to the Boulder Daily Camera.

The fascist left always puts the hobnailed boot to the groin of a free press.

Attendees also were warned to leave recording devices, including cell phones, at home.

Ward has obviously learned a valuable lesson from his oppression at the hands of Almighty Whitey: It's not a lie if it's not recorded.

Jessica Peck Corry, who heads the Independence Institute's Campus Accountability Project, called it "ironic" that Mr. Churchill's class would be closed to the public, given his claims of free speech during the fight over his dismissal.

I think I am in love...

"It's certainly offensive that someone who's as much a free-speech activist as Ward Churchill is prohibiting people from hearing him speak," Mrs. Corry said.

Rats! Corry, you lucky dog...

It is not fascism if you own the copyright.

Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Time for Brainerd woman to face the music: A $222,000 fine

In a verdict the recording industry praised as a warning to people who illegally download and share songs on the Internet, a federal jury in Duluth on Thursday found that a Brainerd, Minn., woman violated the copyrights of six recording companies and should pay them $222,000.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated less than five hours before deciding that Jammie Thomas, operating under the user name "Tereastarr" on the Kazaa file-sharing network, copied or distributed all 24 songs for which the companies sought compensation, and it set damages at $9,250 per song.

This was the first case of its type to go to trial, and whether such verdicts will change the habits of many music downloaders or help alter downward trends in the recording industry is uncertain. Richard Gabriel, lead attorney for the industry on the case, seemed to acknowledge as much in his closing argument to the jury.

"People who do this on Kazaa don't think they're going to get caught, and with the millions of them out there, the odds are slim we're going to catch them all."

Thomas, a single mother of two who works for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, steadfastly denied downloading or distributing any music and declined to comment as she left the courthouse with her attorney, Brian Toder of Minneapolis. Asked if they're considering an appeal, Toder replied: "We haven't talked about it."

Where are Russell Means and Ward Churchill when we could use a laugh?

Another zoning related tragedy.

WBIR: Man commits suicide at city council meeting

A business owner shot himself fatally in the head during a City Council meeting in Clarksville after members voted against his request to rezone his property.

Bo Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop, had told the council -- which approved first reading of the zone change last month -- that his business would go under if the change was not granted.

Following the vote last night, Ward approached the council and said, " ... Ya'll have put me under, I'm done."

Ward then shot himself with a small handgun in front of the council members and about 50 people attending the meeting.

Nothing is worth this, kiddies, not even the business you have struggled to build your entire life. Only perdition awaits.

The commie bastards from Slave China continue their war against us by other means.

FOX News: Boy Scout Badges Pulled Over Lead Paint Concerns

The Boy Scouts of America said Thursday that a painted, plastic badge commonly worn by some of its youngest scouts is being voluntary recalled after a test revealed high levels of lead in the paint.

As many as 1.6 million of the badges, which are made in China, may be affected by the recall.
"We're doing everything we can," Boy Scouts spokesman Gregg Shields said.

The plastic totem badge is given to Cub Scouts, who are usually between the ages of 7 and 8. The badge has a yellow and blue border, includes a picture of a bear and wolf and reads "Progress Toward Ranks."

NOW Larry Craig is the Repansycan of the Year!

It is now official, kiddies. Everybody's third favorite toe-tappin' restroom dweller claims his prize...

The Idaho Statesman: Sen. Larry Craig plans to finish term, could face ethics inquiry
Sen. Larry Craig will stay in the U.S. Senate through the end of his term, despite a Minnesota court's strongly worded denial of Craig's effort to clear his name after his arrest and guilty plea in a men's room sex sting.

Just go back to Idaho and your Bareback Mountain fantasies, you pinhead.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

You get what you vote for, kiddies...

KDKA: Head Of PHEAA To Resign

The head of PHEAA is on his way out after the release of a scathing audit of the agency’s spending.

Richard Willey, chief executive of the agency, announced that he will resign after the audit revealed a $108,000 party at Hershey Park in April.

"There is no benefit to Pennsylvania students with an event like that,” State Senator and PHEAA Vice Board Chairman Sean Logan said. He called Willey's actions "inexcusable."

“Dick Willie needs to resign immediately. He feels that the board is not important, that he doesn’t have to run these ideas past the board, and that the board is kind of secondary and he makes the decisions,” Logan said.

Auditor General Jack Wagner says the group’s spending took money from the pockets of taxpayers and students.

“That $6.4 million given out over the past three years could have paid for 1,702 grants or it could have been used to forgive 2,563 loans of $2,500 each,” Wagner said.

KDKA’s Marty Griffin reports Willey retires from PHEAA with a pension about $400,000 per year.

PHEAA says it is looking into whether or not it can take away any of the pension because of these actions.

Ah...I smell Art!

NBC 10: Artist Sentenced For Secret Mall Apartment

An artist spoke publicly Tuesday about the secret apartment he built inside Providence Place nearly four years ago.

"Under better circumstances, no one would know about it," Michael Townsend told NBC 10.

Townsend said talking about the apartment means he's been found out. The artist was arrested Thursday for setting up an apartment-style space in a 750-square-foot storage area in the mall's parking garage.

Townsend and some fellow Providence artists enjoyed the space for nearly four years. It was outfitted with the comforts of home, including a television and furniture. The artists came and went without being detected by mall security.

Townsend said the artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the apartment hidden from the outside world.

Townsend, 36, posted video of the apartment on a Web site. Someone outside of his circle of friends reported him to mall security.

Townsend said his biggest regret is that he was found out and that he was in this for the long haul. He said he had big plans for that little space.

"By Christmas, the kitchen would have been installed. We already had the cabinets marked out ... The big move was getting the running bathroom going. We had a water tank planned out. It was all measured. It was just a matter of bringing water to it," Townsend said.

Whether his ambitious plan would have succeeded will never be known now that he's been caught.

"What he did was an illicit, illegal act. He was charged with breaking and entering. It's something that we truly discourage," said mall spokesman Dante Bellini.

Townsend pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of trespassing and given probation. He's not allowed back on the mall premises, something he said he understands completely.

Providence Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said he and other detectives were so intrigued they visited the apartment to see for themselves.

"I was surprised at what he was able to accomplish," Campbell said. "But what he did was clearly criminal. The mall is private property."

Townsend said he never intended to put the mall and its security in a negative light.

"Never once did we ever think, 'Oh, wow, I really duped these guys. Oh, wow, we're really getting away with something,'" Townsend said. "Not even in our vocabulary."

Townsend said he just wanted to explore the idea that you could take any space and make it a place to call home.

President of the Nam Prik Pao Anti-Defamation League, call your office.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Spicy chili smell leads to evacuation

Super spicy chili sauce being cooked at a London Thai restaurant sparked road closures and evacuations after passers-by complained that the smell was burning their throats, police said Wednesday.

London Fire Brigade's chemical response team was called after reports that a strong smell was wafting from the restaurant in the heart of London's Soho district Monday afternoon, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy.

Authorities sealed off several premises and closed roads. The Times of London described shoppers coughing and spluttering as firefighters wearing special breathing masks sought the source of the smell.

The paper said firefighters smashed down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant and seized extra-hot bird's eye chilies which had been left dry-frying. It said they were being prepared as part of a batch of Nam Prik Pao, a spicy Thai dip.

"The smoke didn't go up into the sky because of the rain and the heavy air," The Times quoted Thai Cottage owner Sue Wasboonma as saying. "It's the hottest thing we make."

The police spokesman said no arrests were made in the case.

"As far as I'm aware it's not a criminal offense to cook very strong chili," he said.

The walking embarrassment that is Little Jimmy Malaise strikes again.

A noted redneck and anti-semite pretends he cares about the little people once again.

Boston Globe: His path blocked in Darfur, Carter confronts security
Former President Jimmy Carter confronted Sudanese security services on a visit to Darfur yesterday, shouting "You don't have the power to stop me" at some who blocked him from meeting refugees of the conflict.

Heat Nazis menace the blind!

The Pantagraph: Blind people: Hybrid cars pose hazard

Gas-electric hybrid vehicles, the status symbol for the environmentally conscientious, are coming under attack from a constituency that doesn't drive: the blind.

Because hybrids make virtually no noise at slower speeds when they run solely on electric power, blind people say they pose a hazard to those who rely on their ears to determine whether it's safe to cross the street or walk through a parking lot.

"I'm used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate accordingly. I hadn't imagined there was anything I really wouldn't be able to hear," said Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the National Federation of the Blind's Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety. "We did a test, and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn't hear it.

"The tests - admittedly unscientific - involved people standing in parking lots or on sidewalks who were asked to signal when they heard several different hybrid models drive by.

"People were making comments like, 'When are they going to start the test?' And it would turn out that the vehicle had already done two or three laps around the parking lot," Stein said.

Sport is dying.

International Herald Tribune: Marion Jones expected to plead guilty to charges linked to doping
The former track star Marion Jones, one of the most accomplished female athletes in the world, was expected to plead guilty on Friday to lying to U.S. agents about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to two lawyers connected with the case.


FOX 31: Allen Iverson Sued
Denver Nuggets star Allen Iverson has been sued for missing a speech in Omaha, Nebraska. Event promoter Dave Chambers and his entertainment group contend Iverson failed to appear for the speaking engagement in August which shortchanged about two-thousand fans.


Newsday: Broncos running back Travis Henry sues NFL to withold drug test results
Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry is embroiled in a lawsuit to keep the NFL from using the results of a drug test to suspend him, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court.


Covers.com: With suspension looming, Warriors' Stephen Jackson is back
Stephen Jackson reported to the Golden State Warriors ' training camp Monday with a new tattoo covering much of his chest. With a church window as the background, two praying hands are inked on his sternum - and they're holding a gun.


The Charlotte Observer: Player won't be charged after a pot plot emerges
Prosecutors won't charge Jacksonville University running back Rudell Small after teammate Cecil Coltrane admitted planting more than 20 grams of marijuana in Small's dorm room, authorities said Thursday. Prosecutors were investigating possible charges against Coltrane. Small, a freshman, was arrested last week after deputies acting on a tip discovered marijuana in his room. He was suspended ...

The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.*

Divine Mercy In My Soul: The Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska

You may read this beautiful book at the above site.


*Huh?

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of Saint Faustina, one of Pope John Paul II's favorites. Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in a small village west of Lodz, Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added, "of the Most Blessed Sacrament", as was permitted by her congregation's custom.

In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. It was not a glamorous prospect. Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others.

At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her personal sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others; in her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again. Her special devotion to Mary Immaculate and to the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear all her sufferings as an offering to God on behalf of the Church and those in special need, especially great sinners and the dying. She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life.

After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.


Today's reading is Baruch 1:15 - 22.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 78.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 10:13 - 16.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome



Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."


Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints.
May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament
Be praised, adored and loved
With grateful affection at every moment
In all the tabernacles of the world
Even to the end of time. Amen.

Fyodor's Unsolicited Music Review of the Day.

Songs About Girls by will.i.am


I will get the bad news out of the way first because there is so much more bad than good in this one, kiddies.


There is a parental warning label on this album because of several gratuitous uses of the word nigger as well as a couple of colorful euphemisms for human genitalia normally favored by eleven year old boys.


The album should have been entitled Songs About Strippers because a significant number of them are.


There are a few too many throwaway generic dumbass raps. I would think one would be the proper limit for a debut album.


There is a monumentally stupid global warming "song" that is blasphemous as well as scientifically unsound - quite a hat trick for a rookie.

The good news?

The guy appears to have some talent and it sounds like actual musical instruments are used in some of the songs.

There are a couple of catchy melodies and at least three of the album's selections seem destined to be strip club anthems.

The bottom line?

Buy a used copy and do not pay more than $4 for it.

The Pelosi/Reid Era of Sunshine and Gumdrops continues apace.

When they kick at your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun?
When the law break in
How you gonna go?
Shot down on the pavement
Or waiting on death row?
(From The Guns of Brixton by The Clash)

The Politico (via CBS News): Whoopi wants to "do" Nancy Pelosi

Paul Pelosi is accustomed to playing second fiddle to his famous wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But on Tuesday’s episode of the daytime talk show The View, Mr. Pelosi stole the show.

“We have an older man in the audience who I think is so attractive,” said Barbara Walters, one of the show’s five female panelists. “You wanna take a look at Nancy Pelosi’s handsome husband?” she asked as cameras turned to a bashful Paul Pelosi and the audience cheered.

“I see you eying me,” quipped Whoopi Goldberg, another panelist. “That’s cool.”

After a few ads for home pregnancy tests and shower gel, the Paul Pelosi adulation continued.

With Speaker Pelosi now seated with the panel, Walters quipped about Goldberg, “I think she’d like to do your husband.”

Retorted Goldberg, “I would do her as well, but we should wait on that because you’re still in office, I don’t want to cause a problem.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

That's what happens to you after you've been married to Ted Danson.

Sometimes I think Bill Gertz is the only journalist who gives a damn about this country.

The Washington Times: Merger opens U.S. defense to China
By Bill Gertz

A Chinese company with ties to Beijing's military and past links to Saddam Hussein's army in Iraq and the Taliban will gain access to U.S. defense-network technology under a proposed merger, Pentagon officials say.

Huawei Technologies will merge with the Massachusetts-based 3Com network-equipment manufacturer in a deal announced last week. Huawei has been linked to the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, which involved millions of dollars in payoffs to Saddam's regime during a time of U.N. sanctions.

The Slave China regime has a plan and they are working on it all the time.

The announced merger follows a July computer attack on the Pentagon that U.S. intelligence officials say involved Chinese military hackers. The hackers were detected breaking into Pentagon computers, including an e-mail system close to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

"Huawei is up to its eyeballs with the Chinese military," said a defense official concerned about the deal. Huawei was founded in 1988 by a Chinese military officer and got its start building military communications networks.

A second official said the deal comes as the Pentagon has mounted an aggressive effort to thwart large numbers of computer intrusions from Chinese hackers and spies.

"And now we are proposing to sell the PLA a key to our front door. This is a very dangerous trend," the official said, referring to the People's Liberation Army, as the Chinese military is called.

3Com announced Friday the $2.2 billion merger with Bain Capital Partners LLC and noted in a statement that Huawei Technologies will acquire a minority interest and "become a commercial and strategic partner of 3Com."

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is worried the deal will lead to the loss of sensitive technology to China.

"Specifically, I have some concerns surrounding the minority position of Huawei Technologies and what control the Chinese company might have over America's sensitive information," Mr. Hunter said. "In addition to encouraging the Pentagon to review how this deal may affect any of its classified contracts, I would encourage the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to conduct a thorough review."

Duncan Hunter for President anyone? Anyone?

A Pentagon spokesman said he is not aware that anyone in the Defense Department has asked Treasury's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to investigate the merger. A Treasury spokesman had no comment.

3Com, through a subsidiary, provides the Pentagon and the Army with intrusion-detection equipment, and the merger potentially will provide Huawei access to strategic computer-network vulnerabilities, said defense officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Spokesmen for 3Com did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment. A spokesman for Bain had no immediate comment. A Huawei spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Defense officials said Huawei's past is the main cause for concern. Huawei technicians were involved in violating U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the early 2000s by illegally providing a fiber-optic network in Iraq that linked the Iraqi military's air-defense network.

The CIA-led Iraq Survey Group stated in its final report that Huawei and two other Chinese firms "illicitly provided transmission switches" for fiber-optic communications in Iraq from 1999 to 2002.

U.S. and British warplanes bombed the Chinese-made fiber-optic network in August 2001 after it was found to be part of Iraqi air-defense missile sites that were firing at U.S. and allied aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone.

Huawei also was involved in building a telephone-switching system in Kabul, Afghanistan, for the ruling Taliban militia prior to its ouster in 2001, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The defense officials said it is unlikely that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would block the deal because 3Com is being advised on the merger by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., whose former chairman is Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten also is a former Goldman Sachs executive.

Gary Milhollin, an arms-proliferation specialist with the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, said Huawei was founded by a Chinese military officer and got its start with U.S. technology exports.

"In the past, Huawei has shown it's willing to help America's enemies after importing U.S. technology," he said. "And it has done so in defiance of U.N. regulations. So before we make more U.S. high technology available to Huawei, we should make sure it has changed its ways."

Fyodor Garibaldi Presents One Of The Greatest Webpages EVER.

No, it is not one of mine...

DID LIFE START BY CHANCE?

Molecular biophysicist, Horold Morowitz (Yale University), calculated the odds of life beginning under natural conditions (spontaneous generation). He calculated, if one were to take the simplest living cell and break every chemical bond within it, the odds that the cell would reassemble under ideal natural conditions (the best possible chemical environment) would be one chance in 10 to the 100,000,000,000th power. [Emphasis mine.]

Check the math, kiddies. That is 10 to the hundred billionth to one. Even Pete Rose and Art Schlichter would not like those odds.

You will have probably have trouble imagining a number so large, so Hugh Ross provides us with the following example. If all the matter in the Universe was converted into building blocks of life, and if assembly of these building blocks were attempted once a microsecond for the entire age of the universe. Then instead of the odds being 1 in 10 to the 100,000,000,000> power, they would be 1 in 10 to the 99,999,999,916th power.

In Chuck Misslers book "The Creator Beyond Time and Space" he looks at this number a little differently. "This number is so large it would take several thousand blank books just to write it out. To put this number into perspective, it is more likely that you and your entire extended family would win the state lottery every week for a million years than for a bacterium to form by chance."

Missler also states in his book "Mathematicians tell us that if an event has a probability which is less likely then one chance in 1,050, then that event is mathematically impossible. Such an event, if it were to occur, would be considered a miracle." [Emphasis mine.]

A few words on Ken Burns' "The War".

New York Daily News: In Ken Burns' 'War,' passion is MIA
by David Hinckley

Next time PBS has enough cash to hire Ken Burns for a project like the 15-hour World War II series that ended last night on Ch. 13, here's a suggestion: See if it's enough to buy Steven Spielberg....

While I would not do something as silly as hiring Senor Spielbergo to make a film on a serious subject like a war, or baseball, or the Shoah, I know what Mr. Hinckley means.

For someone who actually reads books, "The War" was not satisfying. The personal stories are good to hear, but the big picture is lost. Mr. Burns' latest magnum opus is an excellent place to start for those who know nothing of American history, [i.e. children trapped in our hideous government indoctrination centers] but little else.

Of course, grainy film and black and white photos from sixty-five years ago will probably have little effect on kids reared on blood soaked video games [with graphics that make Saving Private Ryan look like a Smurfs cartoon] and Quentin Tarantino movies. But we can hope.

On the other hand...

A twenty-something new mom who lives near my secluded dacha mentioned she and her husband had watched the whole thing from start to finish. The thing that struck her imagination most forcefully? She was thunderstruck by the fact Americans could not buy new cars during the war!

Ouch.

As I have said before: The last war America will ever win ended in 1945. Pray for our country, kiddies, because she needs all the help she can get. Big time.

While I am no fan of the conservatives' favorite serial adulterer, Rush Limbaugh..

...I can smell left-fascist totalitarians when they try to silence all dissent. Just wait until Hitlery and her brown shirts re-impose Affirmative Action for Un-American Socialist Ideas in Media. [Of course they'll call it something all sunshiny and gumdropy - like "The Fairness Doctrine".]

The boys over at Investor's Busness Daily can smell 'em too.

Investor's Business Daily: Rush Limbaugh Vs. The Real Phonies

Congress: The anti-war left is trying to slime a major conservative pundit, but Rush Limbaugh was right about the left's "phony soldiers," and Kerry, Murtha, Durbin et al. have called our troops far worse.

Macbeth, in this case, is not the name of a Shakespearean tragedy, but rather the name of one of the "phony soldiers" Limbaugh spoke of in a recent radio broadcast.

Jesse Adam Macbeth was a hero of leftist blogs after he claimed in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq that he said included slaughtering innocent civilians in a Fallujah mosque.

Iraq Veterans Against The War and other leftist groups trumpeted his charges as proof we were no better than Saddam Hussein.

When his true discharge papers were released, they contradicted his story. They said Macbeth was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his "entry-level performance and conduct." He didn't serve in Iraq. He didn't win a Purple Heart. And neither he nor any other U.S. soldier massacred civilians in a mosque.

Like Dan Rather's phony story about George Bush and the National Guard based on documents proven to be forgeries, the anti-war left wanted Macbeth's story to be true. The motive in both cases was to slime the president and those who defend his policies.

It was Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment that has caused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others to call for the conservative commentator's head. But Reid & Co. had no problem with the Piss_On.orgy [Yep. I did it again. - F. G.] ad sliming a genuine soldier and hero who has served his country valiantly, Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus was the victim of the "Gen. Betray Us" ad Piss_On.orgy [And again. - F.G.] placed in the New York Times, an ad lefties in the Senate including Reid refused to vote to condemn.

While Limbaugh exposed the left's exploitation of a phony, the likes of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., are free to slander the Marines who defended themselves against a jihadist ambush in the Iraqi town of Haditha, claiming they had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Sounds like the phony charges Macbeth made, doesn't it?

No one has been found guilty in the Haditha incident, and there has been no proof of innocent civilians being murdered. Several of the Marines have been found innocent as the case has unraveled. But is Murtha condemned by his colleagues or asked to apologize?

Sen. John Kerry once told Bob Schieffer on CBS' "Face the Nation" that "there is no reason that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women ... ." This was a more modest reprise of his post-Vietnam charges that U.S. troops had raped, tortured and pillaged in the tradition of Genghis Khan.

Then there's the famous utterance by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., after the incident at Saddam's Abu Ghraib prison: "We now learn that Saddam's torture chamber (has) reopened under new management."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., once said of our prisoner of war camp at Guantanamo that "describing what Americans had done to prisoners under our control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by the Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings."

Limbaugh's hypocritical critics aren't concerned about the demeaning of our troops in Iraq. They want to demean those who support our war on terror, whether in Iraq or the broadcast booth.

Despite their efforts, we will know the truth, and the truth will keep us free.

Sport is dying.

WLBZ: Tyson Pleads Guilty To Drug, DUI Charges
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year as he was leaving a nightclub.


AP: O.J. Simpson ordered to surrender Rolex
O.J. Simpson was minus one Rolex watch — real or otherwise — Tuesday after a judge ordered him to hand it and other assets over to the father of slaying victim Ron Goldman.


WJBF: Florida Gators' Joiner Arrested
Florida safety Tony Joiner was arrested early today and charged with felony burglary. Gainesville police say the senior captain of the ninth-ranked Gators was arrested around 5 a.m. outside the fenced impound lot of a towing company.


19 Action News: Jury Awards $11.6 Million to Former New York Knicks Executive in Sexual Harassment Case
A federal jury decided Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit. The jury also found Knicks coach Isiah Thomas subjected Browne Sanders to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but that he did not have to pay punitive damages.


Pocono Record: Ex-Northern Colorado backup puntersentenced to seven years in prison
Former Northern Colorado backup punter Mitch Cozad was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday for stabbing a rival in what prosecutors said was a brutal attempt to take over the starter's role.


Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Texas A&M's Franchione sold insider knowledge to boosters
The Texas A&M athletic director said he didn't know coach Dennis Franchione was providing inside information on the Aggies in a newsletter to boosters who paid $1,200 per year until two weeks ago.

"Boosters", huh? Is that what they call guys who like to bet on football these days?


ESPN: Big Ben allowed to wear headband
One of the biggest questions facing the Bulls in the coming season has been answered: Big Ben's headband is back.



Covers.com: Texas Tech LB Tillman arrested on marijuana charge
Texas Tech linebacker Kellen Tillman was arrested on a marijuana possession charge, two days after being suspended for the Red Raiders' last game. Tillman, a 23-year-old senior, posted $750 bond on a Class B misdemeanor charge...


Washington's other newspaper: NFL's Newest Promotion
With new captain's patches, the NFL tries to "support and recognize" leadership among players. What do the players think? It depends ...

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update. (Part Four)

Do you live in Totalitarian Pennsylvania?
Are you always whining and moaning about not having any political power?
Do you think our moral and intellectual superiors in public office are beyond the common sense reach of mere mortals like you?
Are you registered to vote?

NOVEMBER 6, 2007 IS YOUR CHANCE TO STRIKE A BLOW FOR REALITY!

Visit PACleanSweep for a list of judges [by PA county] who accepted the unconstitutional pay raise and need to be removed from office. Not only will it punish the guilty, it just might make some others think twice before they try to screw the taxpayers.

Here is a list of judges in my little corner of Flyover, USA who need to be forced into the private sector...


Vote NO!!! on retention for these judges in Lancaster County:

Thomas G Saylor [Supreme Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

John L Musmanno [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2012

Correale F Stevens [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Bonnie B Leadbetter [Commonwealth Court]

Bernard L McGinley [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Doris A Smith-Ribner [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2015

Leslie Gorbey [Common Pleas Court]


Vote NO!!! on retention for these judges in York County:

Thomas G Saylor [Supreme Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

John L Musmanno [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2012

Correale F Stevens [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Bonnie B Leadbetter [Commonwealth Court]

Bernard L McGinley [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Doris A Smith-Ribner [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2015

John H Chronister [Common Pleas Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2014

Sheryl Dorney [Common Pleas Court]

Stephen P Linebaugh [Common Pleas Court]

Richard K Renn [Common Pleas Court]

Gregory M Snyder [Common Pleas Court]

John W Thompson Jr [Common Pleas Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016


Vote NO!!! on retention for these judges in Dauphin County:

Thomas G Saylor [Supreme Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

John L Musmanno [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2012

Correale F Stevens [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Bonnie B Leadbetter [Commonwealth Court]

Bernard L McGinley [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Doris A Smith-Ribner [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2015


Vote NO!!! on retention for these judges in Lebanon County:

Thomas G Saylor [Supreme Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

John L Musmanno [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2012

Correale F Stevens [Superior Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Bonnie B Leadbetter [Commonwealth Court]

Bernard L McGinley [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2016

Doris A Smith-Ribner [Commonwealth Court]
- cannot serve entire ten-year term; must retire in 2015

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update. (Part Three)

Lancaster Ignorancer-Urinal: Activists target Gorbey

Two notable reform activists are pushing Pennsylvania voters to send 67 judges — including a Lancaster County jurist — out of office on Election Day.

Russ Diamond, who heads PA CleanSweep, and Gene Stilp, leader of Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, say the judges — ranging from the Supreme Court to county courts of common pleas — unfairly received pay raises from the Legislature in 2005.

Visit PACleanSweep for a list of the ne'er-do-wells in your neighborhood.

On their hit list is Judge Leslie Gorbey, the second woman ever to serve on Lancaster Court of Common Pleas, who faces a retention vote on Nov. 6.

Monday, Gorbey echoed the opinions of Pennsylvania Bar Association, Lancaster Bar Association and many newspaper editorials across Pennsylvania, saying the law prohibits judges from hiking their own pay.

"As a county judge, we didn't have any say. We didn't have any role in the entire matter of the pay raise," Gorbey said. "It's the role of the Legislature to deal with compensation."

Jim Thomas, chairman of the Lancaster Bar Association's judiciary committee, said the movement is "single-minded."

Darn right, shyster.

"I wonder if they know Judge Gorbey," Thomas said. "They seem to be judging judges very unfairly and in a way they would not like to be judged."

He is absolutely correct. If I stole money from the taxpayers, I would not want to be caught or punished either. Thanks for putting that in perspective, genius.

Thomas said 246 of 269 bar members in an anonymous poll voted recently to retain Gorbey for another 10-year term.

And 4 out of 5 dentists choose Dentyne.

"When over 90 percent of the people vote to retain, that's as clear of a signal as you can get from the people who know her, work with her and are judged by her," Thomas said.

Diamond, however, said the pay raise violated the state constitution, and he slammed Gorbey and other judges who did not give back the extra money they received.

"In our book, her support, her obedience, to the constitution comes first," he said. "If she's not doing that, how can we trust her to follow any other law?"

Exactly!

Gorbey is one of 60 county judges up for retention. One Supreme Court justice, three Superior Court and three Commonwealth Court judges also are seeking new terms.

Voters are asked a simple yes-or-no question on the ballot about retaining a judge.

"The idea of a retention election is to allow the judges to keep out of the political fray and to allow voters to evaluate judges based on the judges' performance," Gorbey said.

Nice try, sweetie. You injected yourself into the political fray and now you will pay the price.

The judicial pay raise came in 2005 as part of a bill that also raised legislative pay. The bill generated considerable outrage among constituents, which prompted legislators to repeal it.

The bill raised the pay of common pleas judges $14,000 annually, according to published reports. A common pleas judge now makes $152,115.

Although lawmakers rescinded the bill, the state Supreme Court last year upheld the constitutionality of the judicial raise, saying the state constitution prohibits the Legislature from reducing judges' pay.

"At the end of the day, the court that dealt with it and the court that had jurisdiction said it was properly done," Thomas said.

Diamond, though, said the pay raise bill originally was designed for another purpose — to make sure employees of the governor's office didn't make more money than the governor. Legislators gutted it, rewrote it and passed the pay raise without giving enough time for the Senate and House to debate it.

The manner in which they passed it violated provisions in the state constitution, Diamond said.
"The average citizen … sees our elected officials in the three branches not giving a hoot about the law we've laid down for them, the constitution," Diamond said.

"This takes us one step closer to lawlessness and anarchy."

Gorbey said she asks voters to look beyond the pay raise debate and to judge her record as a family court jurist.

"They will be fair to me," she said. "I'm very prompt with my decisions. I give people a fair shake to bring in their cases."

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update. (Part Two)

Herald Standard: Committee approves bonus ban bill

Six-figure bonuses for executives at the state's student loan agency drew the ire of Gov. Ed Rendell and some lawmakers.

Yeah...eventually.

The $3.6 million in bonuses the House and Senate handed out to aides drew the attention of the state Attorney General and sparked a grand jury investigation.

Ditto.

Now, Republican state senators are looking to draw a line when it comes to bonuses for all state employees.

Yippee!

On Tuesday, the state Senate State Government Committee unanimously approved a bill that would ban state employees from receiving bonuses.

The bill still has to go to the full Senate and the state House of Representatives before making it to Gov. Ed Rendell's desk.

We must keep the pressure on the Slow One and the other kleptocrats, kiddies. Never give them the chance to breathe.

Sen. John Eichelberger, a freshman Altoona Republican, introduced legislation that would have banned bonuses for state employees without a written payroll procedure for awarding extra pay.

But Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, a Dauphin County Republican, revised the bill to go farther, completely banning bonuses for all state employees.

Yes!

Both lawmakers said the bill is necessary in the wake of this year's bonus scandals.

"We generously compensate public servants in the commonwealth," Piccola said.

"If you want a system of bonuses in the private sector, no problem."

Simple, no?

Eichelberger used a reform platform to upset Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer in the May primary election and captured the seat last November.

He supported Piccola's push for a stricter bonus ban.

"The citizens of Pennsylvania don't trust us, and I wouldn't either," Eichelberger said during the committee meeting. "People sign on knowing what the (state) salary is going to be and to do public service. . .we don't need to reward them at the end of the year."

I hope Mr. Eichelberger will run for higher office someday.

Executives at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which administers student loans, received bonuses totaling $573,838, according to published reports.

Rendell and some lawmakers called the raises outrageous and suggested a shakeup in leadership at the agency.

Meanwhile, a grand jury in Harrisburg is investigating staff bonuses paid to legislative aides totaling $3.6 million in 2005 and 2006. Attorney General Tom Corbett said he wants to find out if the bonuses were paid for legislative work or as rewards for staffers who worked on lawmakers' campaigns.

Legislative leaders have argued the bonuses were merit-based for legislative work.

HA!

However, leaders in both the House and Senate announced earlier this year they were eliminating all bonuses.

Exit "merit". Enter cronyism, stage left.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update. (Part One)

Bringing casino gambling to the Keystone State was crooked from the get-go, kiddies. Slow Eddie Rendell, his Democrass cronies, and various Repansycans were all in on it. The more things change in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the more they stay the same.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pennsylvania gambling info stifled, ex-trooper says

The Rendell administration in 2005 imposed what one lawmaker called a "gag order" preventing the Pennsylvania State Police from talking with lawmakers about gambling issues, a former top-ranking state trooper told a legislative panel Monday.

Former Lt. Col. Ralph Periandi, who oversaw gambling enforcement for the state police, said during a hearing of the House Republican Policy Committee that state police could not legally give information gathered in investigations to state gambling regulators.

The 2005 directive kept state police from talking with lawmakers during a period when the lawmakers were considering updates to the 2004 slots law. At the time there was disagreement over what information about slots license applicants police could share with regulators.

Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell, said that there was no gag order -- as Rep. Douglas Reichley of Allentown described it -- and that it is commonplace for state agencies to be directed to act through the governor's office so they "speak with only one voice."

At issue is whether a prominent Scranton businessman with a criminal past would have received a gambling license if the state police had been able to share intelligence with the state Gaming Control Board.

A grand jury in Dauphin County is said to be investigating whether Louis DeNaples, who won a license for Mount Airy casino in the Poconos, lied on his application about having ties to organized crime, according to published reports. DeNaples assured the gambling board he has no connection to a reputed crime figure in northeastern Pennsylvania, William "Big Billy" D'Elia. The Morning Call of Allentown has reported a federal grand jury is also exploring DeNaples' statements to the gambling board.

Although DeNaples' name was not mentioned yesterday, GOP lawmakers specifically cited his casino, which is scheduled to open next month.

Asked by Rep. Michael Vereb of Montgomery County whether state police involvement in investigating applicants would avoid the "mess we have on our hands now," an implied reference to the Mount Airy casino in the Poconos, Periandi said "yes." Vereb later said he was referring to Mount Airy.

"There is no tie to organized crime," said Kevin Feeley, a spokesman for DeNaples. "I can't speak whether a grand jury may or may not be operating. But he's been investigated exhaustively. (DeNaples) was found suitable to have a gaming license."

Reichley asked Periandi whether Mount Airy was the only applicant about whom the state police had information that should have gone to the gambling board. "Probably not," said Periandi, who served as state police deputy commissioner of operations from 2003 until March.

With or without state police intelligence, information about DeNaples isn't difficult to find. Entering his name in one Internet search engine, for example, yields more than 15,000 results.
DeNaples was mentioned in three Pennsylvania Crime Commission reports between 1983 and 1990. One report cited his 1978 fraud conviction, for which he received a suspended sentence.

Pennsylvania's slots law bars people with felony convictions from owning a casino, unless they completed their sentence 15 or more years ago.

The slots law allowed the gambling board to choose whether state police or its own investigators would do background checks. The board chose its own Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, Periandi said.

That was "problematic," he said, because the board's investigation unit isn't a criminal justice agency authorized to receive investigative files.


Phillyburbs.com: Tougher checks urged for gaming figures
For state Rep. Paul Clymer, R-145, a strident gambling opponent, a July 2004 law legalizing slot machines in Pennsylvania had a foul odor from the start.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Toulon, France, in about 516. He began his career as a monk at St. Victor’s in Marseilles and was well known as an opponent of Semi-Pelagianism, a heresy of the time. Cyprian wrote a life of St. Caesarius of Arles. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.


Today's reading is 2 Esdras [Nehemias] 2:1-8.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 136.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 9:57-62.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."


Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints.
May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament
Be praised, adored and loved
With grateful affection at every moment
In all the tabernacles of the world
Even to the end of time. Amen.

The Wiz gets it.

If you ever wondered how Dane Cook makes a living...

The Return of Pearls Before Swine.

More Classic Herman.