4/28/2006:   A Spanish-language version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was released Friday by a British music producer, Adam Kidron, who said he wanted to honor America's immigrants. When the president was asked whether the anthem should be sung in Spanish, he replied: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."

Because he's a uniter, not a divider.

I'm going to cut the Prez some slack here. In business, government, and legal dealings, the primary language should be English. I don't have a problem with supporting other languages where the percentage of the population that speaks a given language is sufficiently large, but Bush's comment was probably unnecessary. Like so many Bushisms, he's put his foot in his mouth once again. He's using divisive issues to solidify support from white rich and upper middle class America. And you can bet that immigrants from all over the world, legal and illegal, are upset right now.

But if you voted for Bush, it's your fault. See, Bush clearly came from the school of thought that says, "If you vote for me, you're not voting for me to represent you, you're voting for what I represent." And it was no mystery from the very beginning what Bush represented. So if you voted for the Monkey Faced Frat Boy, you should be ashamed of yourself.

4/27/2006:   Gas prices are soaring, even though there's plenty of crude available. Gas companies pulled in a $1.2 trillion dollar profit this quarter, and their CEOs are taking home bonuses measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. Price gouging is obvious, rampant, and unchecked.

So Bush says he's going to cut the subsidies for gas companies, stop putting oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months to increase the nation's oil supply, and the Republicans in Congress are pushing for a $100 gas rebate.

Translation:

Bush is cutting oil company subsidies for research and development. This is money Exxon and Mobil and Chevron and Shell have NEVER NEEDED ANYWAY! It was the Republicans' way of making you pay for your fuel twice. Those subsidies turn around and are paid back into the legislators elections funds via the oil lobby's contributions. So in effect, on the heels of the Abramoff scandal, Bush is asking the Republicans to pull big oil off the tax teat and themselves off the oil teat. Which they won't do, because it's the only example of trickle-down economics that has ever really worked -- your money trickles down through big oil bank accounts and into legislators election funds. It's a sweet deal; don't expect it to actually go completely away. It might be scaled back, but it will pop up again in a different form, guaranteed.

Bush is cutting oil deposits into the federal reserve. Bush is leaving more crude oil on the open market, increasing supply and bringing down the price that oil companies pay for crude. Assuming this will bring down oil prices is a fuel version of trickle down economics. The prices won't come down, though, because oil companies have to "make up" for the subsidies they're being asked to give up. So crude prices go down, gas prices stay up, and subsidies get rerouted. It's a win-win for big oil.

Republicans are putting forth a measure to give taxpayers a $100 gas rebate. In other words, they're going to give you some of your tax money back, enough for a tank or two of gas, so you'll feel better about giving it to the big oil companies. This is tax revenue that could be used for education, environmental projects, funding alternative energy research, etc., but instead it will be taken out of government circulation and put back into your pocket so you'll be less likely to curb your driving habits. The proposed measure also, by the way, includes a provision that allows the FTC to prosecute price gougers -- probably the only good part of the entire bill.

Bill Frist said about his proposed legislation, "Our free market system works, but it works best when there's full accountability and full transparency." The problem with his statement is that the business of big oil is not a free market. The government is far too involved in helping big oil maximize their revenues to call it a free market. There is insufficient competition, to the point of collusion, and the answer always given is not that cars need to burn something else, but that we should despoil every last natural resource we have to dig up more oil domestically.

If our government really wanted to fix this problem, they'd do it like this:

1. Cut oil subisidies to zero. They don't need them. Never did, never will.

2. Reroute those subsidies into alternative fuel research like ethanol, hydrogen, and solar power. The proposals being voted on by Congress today give some funding to this, but not nearly enough.

3. Regulate the oil industry. It is a demonstrable fact that our national security requires that our fuel supply be reliable and affordable.

4. Force the oil companies to give consumers a rebate. If you are given your own taxes back, it's you paying you so you'll feel better, and that's just stupid. Instead, make the oil companies pay you back for gouging you. It will punish them for price gouging and help you, and that's how it should be.

5. In the interest of securing our power supply and cutting countries like Iran off at the knees, we should be helping third world nations develop their own domestic fuel and power programs. If you want to stop countries from getting nukes, make it so they can't afford them.

If I was President, that's what I'd do...

4/26/2006:   Scenario #1: George survives. With ratings that make him a political Typhoid Mary, this is unlikely, but if it happened his ratings would dip down into the teens at best. The Republicans still look bad by association, the Democrats look like a dead party, and in November the Libertarian Party takes 10% of the Congressional seats on a platform of "Out With The Old, In With The New!"

Scenario #2: George resigns. This is the least likely of scenarios. He's not bright enough to figure out on his own that he should dodge the bullet, and his party needs for him to take one for the team, so they'll encourage him to stand tall and not "listen to public opinion polls." But if he does, he'll take all the blame onto himself, Cheney will become President, he'll pardon Nixon... erm, Bush... and it's 1972 all over again.

Scenario #3: Bush and Cheney get charged and both are impeached. In this case, a special election is held and the Dems have a chance to slap down the Republicans but good. By the time the impeachment process is finished, the nation will hate the current crop of Republican politicians thoroughly, the Dems will be seen as the abused-but-now-free-and-empowered-wife, and they will roar back into office, the heavens will open, the angels will sing, and little Timmy will get the operation he needs to walk again! Ok, maybe not that last part....

Scenario #4: Bush and Cheney survive and the Republicans, who, by the way, have gerrymandered districts in various states to an absolutely obscene level, manage to hang on through the November elections. The nation, shocked by this development, begins to protest. The 60's are back, and the hippies are tattooed, pierced, and pissed off. Forget Woodstock; there will be a distinct lack of love in the masses that gather in the major cities of the nation. The Patriot Act provisions for strengthening the Secret Service and weakening the Bill of Rights will encourage the abuse of power to monitor activist groups and arrest hundreds of people without warrants or charges, all in violation of the Constitution. If you think the protests in San Jose and Sacramento last week were impressive, wait until mid-2007 when you see half a million in Berkeley, 750 thousand in Chicago, a million in the streets of New York and over two million converge on the steps of Washington. Bush better treat the National Guard with a little more respect between now and then because the Secret Service won't be enough. I don't want to postulate on the extremes to which that scenario might lead this nation. It would be the crescendo to one of our nation's darkest operas, the turning of our nation, almost as a whole, against its executive and congressional branches. The terrorists of the world will heap scorn on us, but they will not interfere. The final echo of Bin Laden's attack on the U.S. will be the sound of the welds of this nation beginning to twist apart. I can't honestly credit the concept that Bush's legacy would be the end of the United States of America, but it will certainly spawn a wave of backlash against the Republican antics of the last 3 decades.

4/25/2006:   Oh... my... God....

Illinois is making history this week, leading the charge of 13 states to pass resolutions submitting charges and calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush under section 603 of Thomas Jefferson's Manual of Rules of the United States House of Representatives.

And introducing this history making resolution to the State Assembly is Illinois State Representative Karen Yarbrough, an American patriot and hero, a woman with the spine to stand up to evil, do the right thing, an icon setting the course for this country and leading the way to the PROMISED LAND!!! (Yeah, I'm pretty jazzed; can you tell?)

Wow.

WELL IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

Ok, so here's what this means. Thomas Jefferson, wise, learned thinker and anti-federalist, included in the federal H.R. rules the power, given to the states, to intercede and demand the commencement of impeachment proceedings if the Congress is ever derelict in its duties to balance the power of the President, as with our current government.

And you can bet George is out. Because -- and this is key -- impeachment of the president doesn't affect the vice president. That's right. The Republicans can shed George, and Dick will still pass every bit of elite-enriching, environment-destroying, school-impoverishing piece of legislation that the Repubs come up with. And they'll look as though they actually did something effective. While this will certainly slow the NeoCon machine down a bit, it doesn't kill it, and depending on what comes out of the impeachment investigation, it might even save some Republican congressional seats in November.

If, on the other hand, the charges are applied to George and Dick, a special election is held, and someone like Newt Gingrich can be dusted off and trotted in as the white knight to save the Republican Party. He'd lose, but he'd make a better showing than John McCain, and McCain is the only other viable candidate the Republican Party has.

But at least the Monkey Faced Frat Boy will finally be kicked out of the office he stole. Until George, Dick, Rummy, and Rove are permanently excised from the White House, this nation isn't safe.

The Revolutionary War II has begun, and King George is in trouble. Yeehaw!

4/10/2006:   Sen. Russ Feingold has floated the idea of censuring the president in response to the unconstitutional and illegal wire taps.

This is a bad idea.

There aren't enough people in Congress right now that are willing to pass such a resolution, so it's doomed to failure from the outset. Unless the monkey faced frat boy is caught drowning kittens in the very near future, I can't see Congress passing any kind of resolution at all against the president. In fact, if it's drawn out long enough, it may cement the Republican Party behind the president and irritate the American people into supporting George just so the censure debate will go away. Failure of the resolution will be seen as proof that George was right, and any future attempt to censure or impeach him will meet with high scepticism. For that reason, if I was a NeoCon, I'd see a censure measure as a gift, not a problem.

Russ, we like what you're doing, we really do. But please sit down and shut up for a while. When the mid-term elections are done, that's the time to pull the trigger on an impeachment, not a censure. Don't wuss out. Do your level best to remove the worst president in history. If the 2006 elections leave us with a minority in both houses, then attempt censure as a last resort. But don't trip us up by jumping the gun.

And where is Dean right now? Why isn't he managing a concerted effort to get Bush out of office? He might have a tight rein on Democratic Party policy right now, but you wouldn't know it to see Reid running around on the talk show circuit talking about how he's just sure a censure vote is the right thing to do right now.

On the flip side, Bill Frist has come out trying to make it sound like the American people want to give up their constitutional freedoms, and we support a president that would break the law and abuse his power to cover up his crimes.

Bill Frist, you are a moron.

4/10/2006:   In a speech regarding the failed deal in which Dubai would purchase rights to U.S. seaports, Bush chastised Congress saying, "You can't let the public opinion polls cause you to abandon what you believe!"

So basically your elected leader has told your elected representatives to ignore you.

Let's review, shall we? "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people" is the principle our government was founded on, first and foremost, was it not? I mean, did I read it wrong? It didn't say, "government of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite?" No... no, I'm pretty sure that's not how it reads. But that's what George W. Bush would tell Congress when he advises them on how to do their jobs. Do you think they shake their heads when they see a monkey faced frat boy standing up at the podium, like a child that's given his parents the slip at Walmart and managed to find the microphone for the PA system, telling them to completely ignore the people of this nation and just do what he tells them to do? Why not just come right out and say what he really means?

"This is a time of war. I am the Commander in Chief. I have unitary executive powers. That makes me the King, and as King George, I am commanding you to sell our ports to people that aid and abet terrorists!!"

What an ass. You Republicans surely must be ashamed of yourselves. How did you manage to screw it up this bad? Amazing....

4/7/2006:   This month's Spine Award goes to Harry Taylor. Harry belongs to "The Charlotte World Affairs Council" in Charlotte, NC, and found himself with tickets to a speech that Bush was given, and then at the Bush PR session, he found himself with the microphone in his hand and the world's ear at his command. And he began, in his quiet and subdued and eloquent way, to wave the truth right in Bush's face.

Man, it was beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes...

From what little video coverage I could find, here's a quick and dirty transcript:

transcript

Taylor: I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by, my leadership in Washington, including the Presidency, by the Senate, ...

Bush: [people booing] Let him finish, let him speak...

Taylor: ...and I would hope that, I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. And I would hope from time to time you would have the humility and the grace to.... to be ashamed of yourself, inside yourself. You talk of freedom. I see you assert your right [Bush is looking concerned, flushed, takes a drink of water, the people behind him look flabbergasted and are looking to Bush for a response] to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, ...

Bush: [shields his eyes trying to get a good look at the speaker] Yeah?

Taylor: ...to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you'd like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice...

Bush: I'm not your favorite guy, go ahead... hehe... [grins like a chimp. some of the sycophants behind him chuckle, some just sit grim faced.]

end of transcript

Harry Taylor, you are a real man, a patriot in the truest sense, and a hero to America. Well done. Thank you.

4/7/2006:   Scooter Libby made the biggest non-splash in history yesterday.

Mr. Libby, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and author of disturbing pornographic prose, told Congress that Dick Cheney had told him that George W. Bush has authorized the leak of the identity of Valorie Plame as a CIA operative to the press.

Earth-shattering, right?

Well, not so much.

It's certainly gratifying and validating to those of us that recognize the profound evil of our current occupier of the office of President, but I guarantee you it will come down to a case of Libby's word against Cheney's. Cheney is going to tell Congress Libby had clearance for access to such information but no authorization from him to release it. Even if Libby can prove that Cheney is lying, Cheney will fall on his sword and say that Bush never really authorized anything. Bush is safe, no burden of proof can be supported against him, and the Democrats will come out looking completely ineffective.

Again.

So while it's great to hear the bloody obvious being stated out loud and in public, it won't really change anything.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to working to get the current Republican and DINO legislators out of office so we can affect real change, starting with (oh, I'm getting chills now) the impeachment of the Monkey Faced Frat Boy.

4/7/2006:   Now that a grand jury is being called to investigate the shoving match between Cynthia McKinney and Capitol Hill Police, Mrs. McKinney has realized that all her noise about racial profiling has put a huge focus on the incident, a focus that forces the officials involved to press charge that might otherwise have been dropped and forgotten. Now she's starting to think clearly. She sent Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover home, she has issued an apology, and she just hopes everyone can get along. She wants very badly to drop the whole thing -- and by whole thing I mean the felony charge that could put her in jail -- and let bygones be bygones.

See, no matter what color each person is, it's still a felony to strike a police officer. And while the Capitol Hill police might have just ignored the entire incident, now that Mrs. McKinney has called them racists on national television, it's personal and it's very, very public. Did she think that she was going to get an apology from them by calling them racists?

Really?

What a loser...

4/4/2006:   Over the weekend I was at the street faire they have here every year, and at one point I found myself walking past the Republican registration booth. There were the usual dorks standing next to a life size cardboard stand-up of the Monkey Faced Frat Boy. And because my wife is a die-hard Republican, and because we've had more than a few arguments about politics, and because she has expressly asked me not to make a big deal out of my views locally, I bit my tongue and kept walking.

But in a perfect world....

I would have walked up to the fellow at the front and asked loudly, "Aren't you just a little ashamed to be seen standing next to a cut-out of the WORST PRESIDENT EVER?! Don't you feel just a bit stupid representing a party that has USED you and tossed you aside in favor of enriching the people at the top of that party? Does it feel a bit weird knowing that you voted for a man that would kill off our entire military just to keep the American people freaked out and off balance so he can stay in office? Don't you love your kids at all? Do you miss your Constitutional rights yet, or are you comfortable with the notion that your president fancies himself the new King George? Do you actually buy the load of snake-oil crap called the "Plan For A New American Century" that the NeoCons have been marketing? ARE YOU F****** RETARDED?!!"

On the inside....

On the outside, I just steamed under the surface and walked by.

To my wife's credit, she actually bought me a sticker modeled after the W04 stickers that says, "Worst President Ever."

Now that's modern-day romance for you.

4/4/2006:   Cynthia McKinney, a Black Congresswoman, decided that she didn't need to wear the ID pin that Congressmen wear to identify themselves, a pin that allows them to circumvent the metal detectors and search procedures used on vistors to the capitol. Instead, she felt that they should recognize her face and let her through.

This is a classic case of, "Do you know who I am?"

And when Capitol Hill police wouldn't let her through and sought to detain her long enough to verify her identity, she threw a hissy fit, even striking one of the officers. And when that hissy fit drew the attention of the media, she held a press conference to which she invited Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover, and accused the Capitol Hill police of being racist.

Hang on.

So she invited Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover to accompany her to a press conference? Why? Are these two actors experts on security procedures? Are they versed in protecting the legislative members of our government from terrorist attacks? Could they give a relevant discourse in the missteps of the security guards on the day in question?

No. But they're Black.

And, maybe I'm wrong, but I guess that's really all you need to make a stink about not being able to circumvent a system that's been put in place to secure our nation's capitol.

Lou Cannon, President of the D.C. Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police released a statement that included, "There was no excessive force here. If she's trying to turn this into a racial issue, people should ask, "Why is she doing this?" This is an insult to all police officers."

Sounds like Lou is a bit keyed up, y'know? I have no doubt that some police officers could stand to check their prejudices at the station, but I doubt such is the case here. Displaying any hint of racism in the course of working on the Hill would be a career ending move. No, the "why" is easy: she struck a police officer, and she doesn't want to go to jail. Crying "racism" is just the easiest way to embarrass everyone into letting her get away with acting like a bratty child.

But that's not the real reason I'm writing. It's because Mrs. McKinney has taken the stance that the security guard should have known who she was. She feels she's being singled out. How incredibly arrogant of her. There are hundreds of legislators, and to expect each security guard to know them all by face may be asking a bit much, especially when the woman in question looks quite a bit different depending on how she wears her hair and makeup. I manage a tee-ball team, and I have trouble keeping the names of the ten kids straight until half-way through the season. If one of the kids is black, does that make me racist for not recalling his name?

I also thought it was funny that, when asked repeatedly, "Did you strike one of the officers," she and her attorney ducked and weaved and avoided answering at all costs. She should resign, just for being stupid.

I think this particular case should be prosecuted. I think a message needs to be sent to Congressmen that they are not above the law. Imagine if Tom DeLay had gotten that straight earlier in his career?

4/3/2006:   Tom DeLay is announcing he's going to resign from Congress in May of this year.

Ding dong, the witch is dead.

So why would he roll over after handily winning the primary for re-election? Well, that's easy. It's because the GOP is trying to clean up it's appearance before November, and if he wins, his corruption will stink up any efforts they make to market the party. So he had to go. Promises were probably made, he'll be taken care of, blah, blah, blah. Hey, if it was me, I'd use my position as a potential torpedo to force the GOP to pay me off. And DeLay is no stranger to fraud, graft, and dirty money.

Well, I say good riddance. But, People of the United States of America, never forget that the GOP not only tolerated such individuals, they protected them, changing the Congressional rules as they saw fit to keep such men in power. Perhaps he was too great a liability, but the party that gave rise and succor to him has not changed. They have forgotten their purpose and their place in serving the you, the People. Throw the bastards out. Send a message that we will not be conquered by terrorists simply because the GOP reads into terrorist attacks opportunities to enrich themselves.

4/3/2006:   Don't like the weather in California? Blame Bush. No seriously, The Monkey Faced Frat Boy has done more to harm the environment than any president in history. He's to blame as global warming accelerates.

See, it's been rainy and chilly outside for the last month, a time when central California usually sees warm, Spring weather. Here's what's happening: the Pacific is warmer than usual. Warmer water creates more evaporation and larger high pressure cells. The high pressure forces changes in atmospheric flow, causing cold fronts to migrate downward from Alaska along the coastline. That cold air meets all those clouds, and what do you get? Rain, hail, sleet, and in some cases, snow in areas that haven't seen snow in 20 years.

The uninformed might think things are actually getting colder, but the overall heat budget of this planet is skyrocketing.

Remember those warm high pressure systems moving northward? People above the Arctic Circle are finding more and more drowned polar bears because the ice is disappearing. And the Greenland ice sheet is evaporating several times faster than the most dire predictions. Less ice, lower albedo, less sunlight reflected back into space, and therefore the planet retains more heat. As that ice, along with the ice in the Antarctic, adds to the sea levels, coastal cities are going to be inundated. As things get warmer, hurricane season is going to last longer and be more violent. Does this sound like your planet is still stable?

I have a theory on why FEMA still hasn't gotten temporary housing to thousands of displaced persons in New Orleans 6 months after Katrina hit. I think it's because they know they can't possibly build levies big enough and fast enough to hold the ocean out once it rises 20 feet. If you've never been to a Mardi Gras, you better make your flight arrangements this year, because I predict New Orleans is going to get permanently erased in the next five years. After that, the graveyard tours will be conducted with glass bottom boats...

And Bush is still standing his ground because anything he does to slow or stop the problem or address the fallout will affect his big money buddies. And they couldn't care less about the coastal towns, the economy, or anything else for that matter.

Elitism is the highest form of cannabalistic survival.

4/3/2006:   There's been a lot of noise lately about immigration. After watching all the hoopla, I've been dying to find a chance to comment.

1. Illegal vs. Legal
If you're in this country illegally, you are breaking our laws and that makes you a criminal. Period. End of story. We'll treat you humanely, but you do not have the rights afforded to citizens of this country.

2. If you were born here of parents that entered illegally, you're a citizen, but your parents are still criminals.
They started your life while breaking the laws of the country you in which you are a citizen. Squirting out a baby doesn't give them the rights of a U.S. citizen. Get used to it. (That Fourteenth Amendment should be changed to read, "All persons born of parents who are citizens of the U.S. or have entered legally into the U.S., or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof...."

3. This country was built by immigrants.
Of those that came willingly, most of them entered legally. Ever heard of Ellis Island? And most of the rest were slaves, but they didn't break in, and so weren't criminals. But no one can say, "This country was built by illegal immigrants." It wasn't, and just saying it was built by immigrants leaves out that important qualifier.

4. No one wants to disenfranchise the Hispanic population.
If you're here legally, we welcome you. I'm a big believer in the concept of a "big melting pot." I like the idea of mixing in the best of every culture. I believe everyone has something positive to add to the mix, and it makes this country the strongest and best in the world at its very foundation.

5. No one wants protests in which you wave the flag of another country at the citizens of this country in anger.
A bunch of snot nosed kids skipped class and protested loudly while waving the Mexican flag and proclaiming themselves all Mexicans. I would have laughed my butt off if INS has calmly scooped up every one of them, stopped by their houses to pick up their relatives, and shipped them all over the border. You want to yell in my face that you're a Mexican? Watch this...

People supporting these kids point to St. Patrick's Day parades in which the Irish flag is waved. What they are ignoring is that those people are celebrating the cultural richness they bring to this nation, not proclaiming themselves separate and defiant. I've seen the Mexican flag waved during Cinco de Mayo celebrations, and I've always thought it was cool. These punk kids defying the nation they live in -- not the government, but the people of the nation -- by waving these flags, are showing that they are being raised poorly. It's a reflection on the parents, and those parents need to either correct their kids, or, in my opinion, leave the country they hate so much and go back to the country they so proudly protect. Because right now they're coming across as hateful invaders rather than guests or immigrants.

Going back to the "melting pot," if you're here, you should be willing to become part of the population here. Learn the common language, which is English. Learn to speak, read, and write it. Do not give up your heritage or culture, insofar as it doesn't interfere with your neighbors' abilities to enjoy their own heritage and culture. But try to become a part of the whole without losing your identity.

6. The border needs to be sealed.
If our "president" were really interested in national security, he'd have buttoned access to this nation down tight, and I mean north, south, east and west, and would be screening every individual that wanted to come across. And *that* would be the post-9/11 world. As part of that, people already in the nation illegally would be rounded up and forced to identify themselves and go through the same vetting process that everyone else has to go through.

You've got kids, you say? Kids that were born here? Hey, great! They can sit in the camps with you and keep you company. No problem. The idea here is not to let Bin Laden win, and at the same time make sure that everyone that's here is not a terrorist. It would also give us a chance to eliminate illegal aliens by converting them to legal aliens. Once you've been issued some form of visa or been ok'ed to seek citizenship here, you can leave the camp and find a residence here.

You say that's a hardship? Yeah, we know. Thing is, we don't care. Funny thing about losing 2000+ innocent lives at the hands of a religious whack job -- you get kind of protective of your own. And apparently you didn't care either when YOU DECIDED to come here. Things must have been rough in your country before you made the choice to brave the law enforcement at the border. So a few months of "3 hots and a cot" should be no big deal, right?

And to make things even more callous, the men and women should be separated. No making U.S. citizen babies while interred, thanks. And if you're already pregnant, we'll accelerate the process just for you. That way, if you don't qualify to be here, you can have that baby on the soil of your native country.

Notice I didn't mention Mexico in any of this point. I don't care where you're from. I think the process should be slanted towards leaving people in this country if they're already here -- I'm actually not for uprooting people -- but if you can't stay, then regardless of where you're from, you should be sent back.

7. If you qualify to stay, Welcome To America!

4/3/2006:   They just announced that the jury has reached a verdict in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial. Before they actually announce the verdict, I wanted to say that I hope they let him live. If they sentence him to die, he will be a hero and a focal point to the entire radical Muslim world. Execute him, and he will become a martyr, revered for all time. Let him rot quietly in jail, and he will fade into obscurity.

So let him rot.

4/3/2006:   Is this what Scientology does to people? I think Tom is a bit nuts, but not a bad guy really. No, I think his over-the-top displays were a case of poor judgement, but nothing to really disparage him over.

But the Scientology thing is just... Weird.

It's well documented that L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction fanatic and author, and that his "religion" was invented whole-cloth as a means of getting and obtaining power and wealth. The poor schmoes that buy into it are practically wearing a badge that says, "I want to believe, and X-Files got cancelled, so here I am."

And now Katie Holmes is having a baby. According to Scientology, the mother must make no sound during the birth.

Sorry, had to take a moment while I gut-laughed until I nearly puked up my pizza.... Yeah, ok, Katie's going to squirt out a watermelon, and she's going to grin and bear it. I suspect that right in the middle of the "ring of fire" moment, her faith in Tom's choice of religion will, shall we say, "waver."

And then, and I might be getting this wrong so feel free to correct me, but the mother isn't supposed to touch or nurse the child for 24 hours after birth.

Yeah, I know. Stupid. During that all-important initial bonding, the child is kept from the mother. Uh huh....

And here's the thing that got me to write: Tom's priorities. According to an interview last Monday, they are, in order:

Wow. Tom really knows how to make a gal feel special, doesn't he? More like he knows how to make a gal feel like she's trapped in the frikkin' Twilight Zone... Actually, his words were, "I won't let this woman get away." Kind of gives you chills, doesn't it?

4/3/2006:   In Black Jack, Missouri, an ordinance has been passed that defines a family as, "An individual or two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, or a group of no more than three persons." In Black Jack, an unmarried couple living together for, say, 13 years, with 3 kids, is NOT a family. And that's important, because you can't live in Black Jack unless you fit their definition of a family. You can buy a house, but you can't obtain the city-required "occupancy permit" to live in it.

Yes, that's right. If your family resembles the example family I just gave, you can own property in Black Jack but you can't occupy it. In that example, if Mom and Dad marry, or if they give up two of the kids for adoption, they can move into the house they bought.

A single mother of two children had to leave Black Jack when her boyfriend moved in with her, uprooting their family and leaving their jobs so they could have control over their own lives again.

Another family appealed to the Black Jack Board of Adjustment, and they were asked questions like, "Why have you not married in 13 years?" And they were told, "I do not see her advantage of living with a man without a marriage license." In other words, rather than accept that the city counsel's decision was discriminatory, Ms. Norma Mitchell, the Board of Adjustment representative, took the opportunity to question the manner in which the family had chosen to live their lives. She questioned their religious choices. She forced herself into their private lives. She passed judgement on them from her fundamentalist position. She abused her position of power to take them task for not living a lifestyle she approved of. She ridiculed them and discriminated against them and refused to allow them the simple freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a single phone call.

Norma, you should be profoundly ashamed of yourself. This is America, not the Middle East. We do not live under Sharia law, thank God, and you have no right to meddle in other people's private affairs.