Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin....all in one week. Gotta Go. On my way to Munich.

On vacation till July 2oth.

In the Mail

New Orleans Housing Loan Application

A New Orleans lawyer sought an Federal Housing Authority loan for a client who lost his house in Hurricane Katrina and wanted to rebuild. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to the parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down.After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.(Actual letter):"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title.While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803.
Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows.

(Actual Letter)"Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S., from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella. The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ' expedition.Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana .God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it AND the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?

He got the loan.

Can you spot he error that gives this one away as apochryphal?

Here's a historical coincidence:"When the FBI investigated the landmark 1972 porno movie 'Deep Throat,' the case touched the highest levels of the FBI, even its second-in-command W. Mark Felt ... ."

Something tells me we won't be seeing the U.S. Open at nearby (for me) Bethpage Black again in our lifetimes. Long Island is absolutely crammed with guys like this.

What are the public policy implications of this: Dads Are Key to Making Us Human ? Hint -they're politically incorrect.

In the Mail

Lou,
Below is my email to Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News and I took the liberty of adding your email to mine. I didn't realize this happened until the following morning when I went to the gas station before work and saw the front page of the paper. It's a disgrace beyond description.
Des


Sir,
While it's tradition for the World Series Champions to visit the White House each year there is also another tradition that happens in Washington, DC every May 15th. It is known as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and was signed into law on October 1, 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. That is the day that a ceremony is held at the United States Capitol to honor all law enforcement officers who made the Supreme Sacrifice the previous year. Historically, the President of the United States is the keynote speaker and welcomes the survivors as each officer's name is announced and the family places a flower in the FOP wreath in honor of their loved one.

The husbands, wives and children of the 134 officers killed last year in the Line of Duty were not the only family members who came to the ceremony. Their mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers also came to the Capitol to honor their hero. Also, the officers that served with them were in attendance. So there they were, almost 1,000 police survivors from every corner of the country, seated on the West Lawn of the Capitol waiting to be welcomed by the President only to find that he was unable to attend due to a photo opportunity and a 10 minute speech to a baseball team.

It's not the Phillies fault that the President of the United States was busy welcoming them to the Rose Garden, they deserved that, but if it was known that the Law Enforcement Memorial Service was scheduled for noon on May 15th I'm sure an adjustment would have been made to accommodate both.

My question is how do you tell a child whose parent was killed protecting his community, that the President would not be coming to honor his mom or dad because even though he was just down the street he was too busy taking a picture with a baseball team. The City of Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley and our country has seen way too many officers killed in the Line of Duty. FYI...there are 18,661 names on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, and one horrible fact remains. Every 53 hours a Police Officer is killed in the Line of Duty.

At every funeral you see the outpouring of grief and sympathy from our citizens. There are fund raisers at Geno's, Finnegan's Wake, the FOP and numerous establishments around the city to support the officer's family. We as Police Officers cannot thank the citizens enough for their kindness, generosity and support, but the men and women who were in DC for Police Week are reeling from the President's decision not to pay his respects by attending the memorial service but instead chose to welcome a baseball team to the Rose Garden. There is no comparison. There is no excuse. There is no justification. I don't understand his reasoning....go pay my respects to 134 Police Officers killed in the Line of Duty or take a picture with a baseball team.
THIS IS NOTHING BUT AN INSULT!!!

I became a Police Officer in 1974 and retired in 2001 and in those 35 years I may have missed 4 or 5 funerals but I've yet to miss the Memorial Service in DC. His disregard of the 134 Fallen Officers, their families and departments is beyond comprehension. IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

Sincerely,
Sgt. Richard G. Desmond
Camden NJPD/Retired

President/1994 - Present
Camden County Emerald Society

Past National President/2002-2005
National Conference of Law Enforcement Emerald Societies

Below is an email I received from Mr. Lou Walker, a Nassau County NY Officer, who served with me on the Executive Board of the National Conference of Law Enforcement Emerald Societies. ( www.nclees.org )

Friday, May 15th, was National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Each year, as a culmination of the events of Police Memorial Week in Washington, there is a memorial ceremony held on May 15th at noon on the steps of our capital. The families of the fallen, their friends and brothers and sisters in blue are there each year to honor their sacrifice. During the past eight years, President Bush made it a point to participate by addressing the gathering. I believe that he missed one year when he was out of the country. This year, something CHANGED. The President was unable to attend.
Where was Mr. Obama at noon on May 15th? Away visiting world leaders? No. Working on the financial crisis? No. Saving General Motors? No. Mr. Obama could not be at the Capital to recognize the sacrifices of the 18,600 men and women whose names are etched in granite on the Police Memorial because he was at the White House recognizing the sacrifices that the Philadelphia Phillies made to win last year's World Series ( a meeting which had been postponed once before ). Shame on him and anyone who even tries to justify this disgraceful insult.

Lou Walker

Me: but before you get too riled up, consider this.

What's wrong with the opening sentence of this story from AP this morning?

Facing a world of diplomatic woes from Iran to North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the opportunity to get some heavyweight advice at a dinner held by eight of her living predecessors.

To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, . . . Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman,in 2002.

From Andrew Breitbart on Twitter: "I wonder what Dave's bastard son thinks of the Palin kid sex jokes"?

John W. Kennedy on Letterman, Palin and double standards.

In the Mail

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives,
socialists, Marxists and Maobama supporters, et al:
We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this
latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot,and will not, ever agree on what is right. So let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.
Here is a model separation agreement: Our two groups can equitably divide up this country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement.
After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes. We don't like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah,
Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).
We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's, and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood. You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retainthe right to invade and hammer places that threat en us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters.
When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security. We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N... but we will no longer be paying the bill. We'll keep the SUV s, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volkswagon you can find.
We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World. We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag. Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall,Law Student and an American
P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with
you.

Kevin Hassert on Bloomberg.com:

U.S. firms have nonetheless prospered [despite the second-highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world] because our tax code allows a business to set up a subsidiary in a low-tax country. When that subsidiary earns profits, they are taxed at the rate of that country, and don’t face U.S. tax until the money is mailed home.
The economically illiterate partisan Democratic view is that this practice is unpatriotic and bleeds jobs from the U.S. The economic reality is that American companies use this approach to acquire market share overseas. The alternative is losing the business to foreign competitors.

Is it really economic illiteracy with Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress, or is it something else? Remember Obama's answer to ABC's Charles Gibson during one of the debates about the capital gains tax? It starts at about 0:40. Note that he does not deny that revenues increased each time the rates dropped. His true concern was "fairness." That's not illiteracy. That's willfulness.

Obama's not so cool when the press is not so fawning, like it is in America.

Societal Devolution Watch

A true outrage.

The free enterprise system has an orderly way to respond to a corporation's financial crisis, no matter how big the corporation, or the crisis: bankruptcy. that's why the US Constitution made a point of providing for federal bankruptcy courts, and preventing states from "impairing the obligations of contract." So, when, say, GM gets into trouble, everyone is supposed to be able to depend on established law, as enforced by those courts. It makes for the predictability and confidence on which a free enterprise economy depends.

Instead, the Obama administration overtly played favourites to get the United Auto Workers protection it would not have received under Section 1113, probably elevating costs in a way that will damage prospects for a successful reorganisation. It made and imposed business judgments on GM about what cars to make and what plants to close (and perhaps about suppliers and distribution) that no one in the government or on the task force had the experience to make and for which no one would be financially accountable. Worst of all, despite Sunday’s desperate attempt to distance itself from GM’s future decisions, it left its fingerprints all over the new plan. Inevitably the White House will take political and hence financial responsibility for its success, relieving pressure on management and labour to succeed. Ultimately it elected to adopt an industrial policy toward the industry that failed utterly in the UK, and has worked out badly and expensively in France and Italy.

Michael Levine

Newsweek: Snake oil Oprah.

A report from three weeks ago that I just caught: Are AIG FP Employees Using Bailout Cash To Get Jobs Elsewhere? Looks Like It...

Italy's PM "Berlusconi denies 'spicy' affair" with an 18 year old. I thought Bill Clinton's supporters pretty much established that things like this are no big deal. Or is it: late teens, big deal; early twenties, no big deal?

The more you get to know the background of Sonia Sotomayor, the more she remind you of Michelle Obama. Especially striking is that "minority in the Ivy League" chip on the shoulder. By the way, until Sotomayor started making news, I'd never heard anybody described as a "moderate leader of an activist group." Had you?
And since I can't see how she could possibly be stopped, I just hope she still believes this:

A candidate’s background or the position he or she seeks to fill should be no reasons for preferential treatment ... .

More evidence that Barack Obama holds some type of grudge against Great Britain. Or is it Michelle?

Hockey hit of the year. This hurts just to watch.

Pelosi knew, final chapter. Now, shut up.

In the Mail

Remember, this person probably voted for Obama, and may have already reproduced.

Another cool comment, this one from 'Koblog' to an Atlantic blog item from Daniel Akst, who fears that the death of newpapers will mean that there will be no one around to keep government honest:

Bankruptcy lawyer Tom Lauria:[']Let me tell you it’s no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States. In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent. That’s a moving target. I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.[']

The silence from the media concerning this charge--that the White House press corps could be wielded like a club to destroy an Obama enemy--proves how futile your argument is that without newspapers we can't stop politicians from lying and expose local corruption. You're not doing that now and you have the most target-rich environment in eight years.

You newspaper-types are literally a wholly owned subsidiary of either Barack Obama, the Democrat party or both.

You think we can't see that?

And SeanNC's comment on the comment is also a good one. I haven't found the original quote from from Lauria, but it sounds like something he would say.

Commenter "nonny" in a blog post about a blog post by Andrew Sullivan on the topic of Obama and you-know-what:

I'm straight and I want Gay Marriage legalized. I want gay couples to be publicly registered with the government. Just like the rest of us. For too long gays have been able to bounce from partner to partner, with none of the special trapped in misery feelings that so many hetro married couples have. I want Gays want to fully experience divorce court with all the life wrecking hell it has to offer. I want gays to think "Wow, your 18 year old son is really hot, but he's not worth my house and half of my remaining life's income." Gays just about never kill their ex-lovers. It's just too easy to dump and move on. I want to change that too. I want gays to share that special feeling of looking across the breakfast table in the morning and knowing that they're trapped for the rest of their lives... Or at least, the rest of their spouse's life... If we're lucky, gays will soon be able to adopt. Then you'll get to share custody battles and child support for other people's kids. You precious darlings have wanted equal treatment for a long time. Looks like you're finally getting it. Welcome to hell, *****es.

Howie Rich on "The United Feifdoms of America":

For the first time ever, federal aid – not property, sales or income tax – is the top revenue source for state budgets...

Glenn Reynolds asks rhetorically: If Obama were trying to wreck America as a superpower, what would he be doing differently?

Pelosi knew, Part II. I hate being governed by a person I can't vote against.

In the Mail

This is obviously just a parable, but It wouldn't surprise me if conversations like this actually took place:

Now some people are really stupid!!!! Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.
This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.
A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank.
Here is the exchange:
Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'
Citibank: 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.'
Family Member: 'So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'
Citibank: 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'
Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'
Citibank: 'Excuse me?'
Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'
Citibank: 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'
Supervisor gets on the phone:
Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed, and late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'
Citibank: (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'
Family Member: 'No,
I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)
Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'
Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was given )
After they get the fax :
Citibank: 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'
Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'
Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges will still apply.'
(What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank: 'That might help...'
Family Member: 'Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'
Citibank: 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???'
(Priceless!! )

And now you know why Citi Bank is going broke and needs the feds to bail them out!!

In the Mail

You can't make up stuff better than this! Jesse Jackson's Newest Staff Member Mel Reynolds.

Jesse Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat Congressman Mel Reynolds to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton's last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud, and lies to the Federal Election Commission.

He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer. This is a first in American politics: An ex congressman who had sex with a subordinate...won clemency from a president who had sex with a subordinate...then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a subordinate!

His new job? Ready for this?? *****YOUTH COUNSELOR****** IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT

I was surprised to hear that David Ogden Stiers, the prickly character who replaced the guy who played Frank Burns as the third roommate on MASH, has come out of the closet. I was surprised because I'd always assumed he was openly gay. I haven't been this surprised since Sir Elton came out.

Looks like we have another Joe the Plumber. The personal attacks on Miss California for not expressing unabashed enthusiasm for gay marriage (she holds views that are barely distinguishable from what their hero, Barack Obama, says he believes) are predictable, but this time, the MSM has sunk to new lows. They've found pictures of her in lingerie and bathing suits, and are using them to attack her "Christian credentials." As if the issue of whether gay marriage should be legally sanctioned hinges on the character and personality of one Carrie Prejean. Matt Lauer says that they are too racy for NBC to air. I guess he doesn't watch NBC when the Today Show isn't on. And I love this. When Preajean tries to defend herself, NBC gets an expert to respond: one of the judges at the pageant. “I can assure you they were quite inappropriate, and certainly not photos befitting a beauty queen,” [Alicia] Jacobs, a reporter for NBC’s Las Vegas affiliate, told NBC News.

I'm old enough to remember a time when ad hominim attacks were recognized for what they were. Those days are gone.

The future of marriage, from 1972 (4:10 to 8:05). A documentary based on Alvin Toffler's Future Shock, which was a big deal when it was published back then, as I recall.
Ask a gay marriage advocate to watch this, and then explain why group marriage should not be countenanced, but gay marriage should. I mean, many prominent gay marriage advocates lecture us that one has nothing to do with the other.
I'm willing to listen! Because I'm sure everyone on both sides of the issue of gay marriage agrees that that gay polygamous marriage would be an abomination. Well, no. Not an abomination, but certainly not something that should be recognized by the law. Ever. Right?

Ooops! Powerpoint users. Be careful!~

Me, I'd rather be waterboarded.

Bill Whittle on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, war crimes, and Jon Stewart. I'm getting tired of "comedy host"Jon Stewart.

Nina Totenberg: Souter's quitting:

Factors in his decision no doubt include the election of President Obama, who would be more likely to appoint a successor attuned to the principles Souter has followed as a moderate-to-liberal member of the court's more liberal bloc over the past two decades.
In addition, Souter was apparently satisfied that neither the court's oldest member, 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, nor its lone woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had cancer surgery over the winter, wanted to retire at the end of this term. Not wanting to cause a second vacancy, Souter apparently had waited to learn his colleagues' plans before deciding his own.

Instant analysis: the seat is vacated an old-fashioned New England yankeee liberal, to be occupied by a new-fashioned ACORN ultra-liberal.
Update: William A. Jacobson [citing Michael Dorf]:

Arlen Specter['s] switching may have given Republicans a trump card to block an unacceptable replacement.

Thomas R. Eddlam: Did Bernanke and Paulson Commit Bank Fraud?

In the Mail

The Irish Millionaire
Mick, from Dublin,
appeared on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and towards
the end of the program had already won £500,000.
'You've done very well so far,' said, Chris Tarrant, the show's presenter,
'but for a million pounds you've only got one life-line left - phone a friend.
Everything is riding on this question......
will you go for it?'

'Sure,'said Mick,'I'll have a go!'
Which of the following birds does not build its own nest?

a) Sparrow, b) Thrush,20c) Magpie, d)Cuckoo?'
'I haven't got a clue,' said Mick,''
so I'll use me last lifeline and phone me friend Paddy back home in Dublin.'
Mick called up his mate, and told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.
'F...... hell, Mick!' cried Paddy.
'Dat's simple......it's a cuckoo.'
'Are you sure?'
'I 'm f...... sure.'
Mick hung up the phone and told Chris,

'I'll go wit Cuckoo as me answer.'
'Is that your final answer?' asked Chris
'Dat it is, Sir.'
There was a long - long pause, and then the presenter screamed,

'Cuckoo is the correct answer!
Mick, you've won 1 million pounds!'
The next night, Mick invited Paddy to their local pub to buy him a drink.'
Tell me, Paddy? How in Heaven's name did you know it was da Cuckoo that doesn't build its own nest?'
'Because he lives in a F...... clock!'

In the Mail

SIMPLICITY AT IT'S BEST

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times
Newspaper on Sunday.

The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix
the Economy?"

I think this guy nailed it!


Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy.
Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following
plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. - Pay
them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto
Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing
Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in
Congress and their constituents pay their
taxes...

In the Mail

Muslim demographics.

I've been listening to NPR today. I hear some funny things, and I don't mean the liberal bias. That's just the background noise; I don't even notice it anymore.
I mean things like "President Obama and Vice-President O'Biden," which one NPR news reader said this morning. I also heard that St. Francis Prep in New York City has "44 or 45 confirmed cases of swine flu." Hmmm. "44 or 45"? I guess one of the confirmed cases is still unconfirmed.

Chris Cillizza on why Spector switched.
This could be it. Obama in control of the exectutive branch, Pelosi in control of the House, and the Dems in control of a filibuster-proof senate. And if the next vacancy on the Supreme Court comes from the loss of a conservative or swing voter. Wow.

We had some excitement here in New York yesterday. You know, the planes. My friend Pete directs my attention to this post from Just One Minute with a hypothesis about why it happened.
Actually, I got to meet the surviving Tuskegee Airmen when they visited the now-destroyed Shea Stadium last year. They were really great guys, although, of course, old as Hell. I hope their families can expect big hunks of money from the movie.

Sorry folks. I can't seem to get the comment function to work. Maybe it's my computer. BTW, I got a new one a few months ago with Windows Vista. Brutal, I tell ya. Never again. And I can post pictures on this blog, but not videos. Don't know why.

In the Mail

Somehow, I've gotten on the mailing list of the Americans for Democratic Action, the left wing of the Democratic Party (or, at least that's what it was when the Democrats had a right wing. It was founded as a result of liberal concerns that the party leadership had become infected with communists, which, we now know, was never really problem, 'cause Joe McCarthy and Dick Nixon were bad persons, etc. But I digress). One of this week's talking points comes under the heading "HATE CRIMES":

The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, will likely be voted on in the House on Wednesday. The law gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. ADA strongly supports the law. Call the Capitol at 202-224-3121 and tell your lawmakers to pass the Matthew Shepard Act.

which brings to mind how liberals just love their myths. Matthew Shepard, according to liberal mythology, was killed by a couple of guys (conservatives, no doubt) who met him in a Wyoming bar and decided that he was gay, and therefore needed killin'.
That is utterly false. He was murdered horribly, but his murder had nothing to do with his actual or perceived sexual orientation. It was a drug killing. But liberals cling to this myth as fiercely as Obama believes conservatives cling to their guns and religion.

Sort of like the Valerie Plame myth. you know, she was "outed" as a CIA agent by Karl Rove to punish her husband, Joe Wilson, for have the guts to tell the American people that Bush was lying about Saddam Hussein. Baloney.

More examples? My reader has asked me to enable comments, so, as an experiment, I hereby do so.

In the Mail

Ray Stevens has done it AGAIN!

Don Luskin raises questions about TARP . . . and Andrew Cuomo.

Stuart Taylor, Jr. on some things to consider before prosecuting waterboarders and their superiors.

Pelosi knew.