The Nigh Seen Creeder

When she's not feeding her fat face, The View's Rosie O'Donnell apparently spends most of her time ruminating upon left-wing conspiracy theories. Or, perhaps, she conjures left-wing conspiracy theories while she's feeding her fat face. Who knows. What I do know, however, is this: Rosie's now a confirmed member of the Nutbucket Brigade.

On Friday's View, Rosie uncorked this gem during a discussion about the destruction of the World Trade Center:

"I do believe that it was the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics for the World Trade Center tower 7, which collapsed in on itself -- it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved. Miraculously, the first time in history steel was melted by fire."

Assuming Ms. O'Donnell can read, she should check out Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts, which was edited by Popular Mechanics' David Dunbar and Brad Reagan. Here's the "book description" from the back of the book itself:

"The first conspiracy theories about September 11 began to emerge while the wreckage was still smoldering. Today, nearly five years later, hundreds of books and thousands of Web pages are devoted to the idea that the U.S. government encouraged, permitted, or actually carried out the attacks. These theories claim to be based on hard evidence. But an in-depth investigation by POPULAR MECHANICS—first published in the magazine’s March 2005 issue, and now greatly expanded into book form—definitively proves that the evidence most often cited by conspiracy theorists is inaccurate, misinterpreted, or false.

"The original article in Popular Mechanics caused a huge groundswell of interest, setting off online debates that continue to this day. Debunking 9/11 Myths expands that investigation to include the 20 most prominent and persistent claims underlying the conspiracy theories, focusing on concrete, physical facts rather than political hypothesizing."

Concrete, physical facts are usually lost on - or ignored by - your average nutbucket. Thus, I'm not sure if ol' Rosie would change her mind even if she did read the above-mentioned book.

"Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday dropped some names of potential running mates in the 2008 race," reports the Los Angeles Times.

"Among those Romney mentioned for the second slot on the Republican ticket were three Southerners: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"'There's some wonderful people right here in this state, as you know, Gov. Sanford being one of them,' said Romney, formerly governor of Massachusetts, to a round of applause. He had been asked about vice presidential picks by a member of a crowd of about 400 people gathered for his campaign stop in the earlyvoting state."

According to a report released by the World Economic Forum, the United States has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology" and moved down the global tech ranking to seventh place.

Blamed on the "deterioration of the political and regulatory environment," the U.S. now finds itself behind the likes of Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

While I have no doubt that the United States' regulatory environment is harming the tech sector (as well as other members of the business community), I refuse to believe that Switzerland is kicking America's ass vis-à-vis computers and ****.

As the Nigh Seen Creeder opined a few months ago, the World Economic Forum's pronouncements need to be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Bobby Eberle tells us that Mitt Romney is not the only GOP presidential candidate whose Christianity is in question:

"Just as the 'Draft Fred' movement has entered another gear, it appears that Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson (a Gingrich supporter) is trying to set it back. In a recent interview, Dobson opined that, although conservative, former Sen. Fred Thompson is not a Christian.

"As noted in the story 'Focus defends Dobson’s skepticism of Fred Thompson’s Christian faith,' Dobson told Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News and World Report:

"'Everyone knows he’s conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for. … [But] I don’t think he’s a Christian — at least that’s my impression.'"

The American Conservative's Taki Theodoracopulos says he's rooting for Gov. Mitt Romney (subscription required):

"My favorite [presidential candidate], of course, is Mitt Romney. He is a Mormon, which I would be if I could choose my religion. ... Romney is no one's gofer."

I almost feel bad for last week's TAC "nutbucket" quip!

Can we all now agree that Senator John McCain is not going to be the Republican presidential nominee? The nails in the McCain '08 coffin are accumulating like so many, well, nails:

"Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (VT) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.

"In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-NY) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.

"Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them." [Emphasis mine]

Looks like all those folks who never tire of saying that Hillary Rodham, er, Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president don't know what they're talkin' 'bout:

"[A]ccording to a new Harris Poll, half of U.S. adults say they would not vote for Senator Clinton if she was the Democratic candidate, while only 36 percent say they would, with 11 percent unsure. Her own party is not unanimously behind her either, as 21 percent of Democrats say they would not vote for her. In the all-important contest for Independents, 48 percent say they would not vote for Senator Clinton, while 37 percent say they would." [Emphasis mine]

You don't have to be a Red Sox fan to appreciate this:

"Curt Schilling is the star pitcher for the Red Sox. Dan Shaughnessy is the star reporter of the Boston Globe who is uniformly loathed by Boston baseball fans for his laziness, negativity and relentless insistence on being the turd in every punchbowl.

"One more thing you have to know about Shaughnessy regards his appearance. The mop of red hair that tops his head makes him look like a discolored Chia pet. Former psychotic Sox outfielder Carl Everett gave Shaughnessy the nickname 'Curly Haired Boyfriend.' The name stuck, even if Everett didn’t.

"Schilling has started a blog which is actually quite good. Shaughnessy devoted an entire column to mocking said blog. Schilling responded:

"'The only response I have to the Curly Haired Boyfriend is this.

“'First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win.

"'Putting his inherent toolness on display for all the world to see did far more than I could ever hope to do by trying to explain what a dope he is.'"

The AP's Nedra Pickler suggests that presidential wannabe Barack Obama is an empty suit, which is something I said a couple of months ago:

"The voices are growing louder asking the question: Is Barack Obama all style and little substance? The freshman Illinois senator began his campaign facing the perception that he lacks the experience to be president, especially compared to rivals with decades of work on foreign and domestic policy. So far, he's done little to challenge it. He's delivered no policy speeches and provided few details about how he would lead the country."

"A former Republican senator predicts Arizona Senator John McCain's presidential campaign is destined to collapse because he has alienated conservative voters," Agape Press reports.

"A new Rasmussen poll shows former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading Senator McCain by 18 points in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. ...

"Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum attributes Giuliani's large lead to John McCain's weakness as a candidate -- despite being viewed the Republicans' 'heir apparent' after George W. Bush was elected to a second term in 2004."

WorldNetDaily.com has the latest on the Draft Fred Thompson movement:

"Fred Thompson plans to travel to Washington April 18 to meet with 40-members of Congress interested in a Thompson campaign."

If Fred Thompson decides not to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2008, the collective groan from Republicans will reach Al Capone's Vault proportions.

A heating company in Ukraine is using a picture of Joseph Stalin on its invoices to encourage delinquent customers to settle their accounts. Wonder if it's working?!

I'm engaged in a spirited tête-à-tête with a Thompson supporter over at Elephant Biz. Check it out here.

The war supplemental bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives was larded (pun intended) with $20 billion in pork spending, including $75 million for "peanut storage". Captain Kevin Calvey, who is stationed in Iraq with his National Guard unit, posted the following on his blog (thanks to the Club for Growth for the tip):

"If Nancy Pelosi and company succeed in their idea for how to fund the troops, I guess we will be using a new kind of ammunition here in Iraq."

$2611.18.

That's how much the average Tennessean's tax burden will increase if the Democratic majority in Congress passes the largest tax hike in U.S. history.

Pity the poor souls who live in Connecticut. Their tax burden is set to increase to almost $4,311.23 per taxpayer.

Americans for Tax Reform has posted a chart showing the state-by-state impact of the Democrats' fiscal machinations.

Fire up the earth-mover and push Michael Moore and Al Gore aside. A rookie documentarian will soon release a film that will "tell the story of how, in the name of education, schools from coast to coast ruthlessly compel conformity of thought."

"When we think of college, we think of intellectual freedom. We imagine four years of exploring ideas through vigorous debate and critical thinking," filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney told CNSNews.com regarding his upcoming movie, Indoctrinate U.

"But the reality is very far from the ideal," he said. "What most of us don't know is that American college students surrender their rights to free thought and free speech the minute they set foot on campus."

Amen.

Apparently, all the time I spent listening to Armored Saint, Black 'N' Blue, and Y&T (pictured above) was a good thing.

According to a recent study by psychologists at the University of Warwick (UK), teenagers who listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with adolescence are more intelligent.

The results of a study of more than 1,000 of the brightest 5 percent of young people says that “far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent ‘metalheads’ are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders."

"There is a perception of gifted and talented students as being into classical music and spending a lot of time reading,” psychologist Stuart Cadwallader told a British Psychological Society conference this week. “I think that is an inaccurate stereotype. There is literature that links heavy metal to poor academic performance and delinquency but we found a large group that contradicts that.”

Throughout its four-year history, Pat Buchanan's The American Conservative has published a nutbucket's barrel full of "out there" statements regarding world events. An editorial in the current issue (subscription required) features what is perhaps the Queen Mother of TAC out there statements:

"[Iran has] a long history of moderate international behavior."

Moderate international behavior? Iran? Uh, do what?!

As NewsMax.com pointed out several months ago, "Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Tehran has seized American diplomats, ordered American hostages to be taken in Lebanon, assassinated Iranian opposition leaders at home and abroad, and supported a stealthy terrorist war against the United States, Israel, and other nations."

Iran is the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism. For anyone to imply that Iran is a "moderate" international player not only displays an enormous amount of naïveté, but a great deal of stupidity as well.

"[I]t was all T-shirts, Lycra and sneakers streaming into the SoulCycle spinning studio on the Upper West Side in Manhattan last evening, as about 35 women and 5 men paid $2,300 apiece to hear former President Bill Clinton speak ... on behalf of the Democratic presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton," the New York Times reports.

Women who attended the Bill Clinton gab-fest were required to cover tight-fitting outfits with large T-shirts. Charla Krupp, a writer who attended the event, thought the baggy shirts were a good idea:

"People tend to wear sexy spandex outfits with midriffs showing. But in deference to the president, we wore these shirts that said, 'Exercise Your Vote.'"

To show true deference to Bill Clinton, the young ladies in attendance should've been nude. I bet ol' Bill was ready to wring the neck of the person(s) who came up with the baggy shirt idea.

Charlie Sheen has agreed to narrate a mass-marketed version of Loose Change, an underground conspiracy documentary about how a shadowy branch of the Bush Administration destroyed the World Trade Center to legitimize their case for a war against Iraq.

The New York Post's Page Six has the scoop:

"Sources say Sheen - whose father, Martin Sheen, has been arrested 63 times protesting on behalf of various leftist causes - is in talks with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures to distribute Loose Change. Sheen has called for a new independent probe of the attack, telling Alex Jones' radio show: 'It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions.'"

"A week after swearing it would never happen, former Spice Girl Melanie 'Sporty' Chisholm is saying there is indeed a Spice Girls reunion in the works," reports Star Pulse.

"'I've spoken to all the girls and yes, we'll do a one-off reunion for a big enough occasion or cause,' Chisholm told the UK press this week.

Apparently when she first brushed off the idea, she was angry with the band's creator, Simon Fuller, who accused her of delaying a comeback because she is still trying to start a solo career. But it seems she changed her mind about reuniting with girl group."

The Spice Girls were/are not a band. Members of bands play instruments; and as near as I can tell, none of the Spice Girls play instruments ... unless a certain type of flute qualifies. (I'm so bad!)

"Congress job approval is back down to levels quite similar to where it was in 2006," Gallup reports. "Democrats have lost a good deal of the positivity exhibited in the first two months of the year after their party took over."

"According to Gallup's monthly update on job approval of Congress -- in a March 11-14, 2007, national poll -- 28% of Americans approve of the job being done by Congress and 64% disapprove. This marks a substantial change from January and February, with approval down nine points and disapproval up nine points." [Emphasis mine]

Al Gore is a big, fat hypocrite (literally):

"Former Vice President and full-time environmental alarmist Al Gore was eager to tell members of Congress how they should use their legislative powers to change the way Americans live but refused to take a pledge to lower his own energy consumption to the levels equal or below the average American household.

"He said his family would pay more for 'clean energy' instead."

The New York Sun says Mitt Romney will have a tough slog if Fred Thompson decides to enter the '08 presidential sweepstakes:

"On virtually every issue, Mr. Thompson is as far right, or further, than Mr. Romney, and he has been for some time. Mr. Romney's claim to fame so far in the campaign has been that he's the 'true conservative' in the race — in contrast to Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain. If Mr. Thompson jumps in, however, the rationale behind Mr. Romney's candidacy drops out.

"'Romney would want [Mr. Thompson] in the race the least,' the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Peter Brown, told me yesterday. According to Mr. Brown, Mr. Thompson 'potentially has the profile that no other candidate in the race has yet demonstrated, to appeal to the mainstream conservative.'"

CFWPAC reports this ugly news from Baghdad:

"Jihadist car bombers are now putting kids in their cars to cause decent U.S. soldiers to lower their guard.  One such vehicle got through a checkpoint in Baghdad this past weekend.  The bombers then abandoned the car in a marketplace with two children in it and detonated the bomb, killing the kids and bystanders. These murderers will run the [Iraq] if the U.S. loses its resolve."

"As expected, Republican Tennessee Congressman Jimmy Duncan has jumped ship from the Mitt Romney campaign and is now backing former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson for president - even though Thompson hasn't even said if he's going to run," Elephant Biz reports.

I can abide many things, but disloyalty insn't one of them. I might - might - be willing to cut Duncan some slack if ol' Fred had announced that he's fo' sho' going to run for president. Thompson could well decide that he simply hasn't the stomach for a presidential run. What a damn dirty trick Duncan's defection will be at that point.

Meanwhile, the Hotline recently reported that uber-GOP fundraiser Ted Welch will not ditch Mitt Romney, no matter what Fred Thompson decides vis a vis the 2008 campaign:

"Many Tennessee Republicans appear ready to support Thompson if he runs, and that's led to speculation that Welch would stop picking up the phone for Romney and chair Thompson's campaign.

"'Ted Welch is with us,' said Matt Rhoades, Romney's communications director.

"To go an inch deeper: he has committed to Romney even if Fred Thompson runs?

"'Ted Welch is solidly with us,' Rhoades said."

Welch personally confirmed his commitment to VolunteerVoters.com's A. Kleinheider:

"No, I wouldn't switch. I've committed to Romney. That's what commitment means."

Well stated, Mr. Welch.

As Serr8d mentioned in a comment on yesterday's "Silent Majority" post, a gaggle of moonbats organized an anti-war rally in Washington, DC over the weekend. Here're some of the participants:



Tattooed hairheads: check.
America-Nazi Germany comparison: check.
Anti-Semitism: check.

These folks are truly moonbats from central casting.

"A political analyst and former Democrat insider says actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson is a solid conservative who would be a formidable candidate for president in 2008, should he choose to run," reports GOPUSA.

"Political analyst Keith Thompson says his namesake reminds him of Ronald Reagan. 'He has a solid conservative voting record on issues of life, on issues of international security and national defense, the terrorism issue, the war,' says the analyst, concluding with the observation: 'I don't know of an issue that he has fallen short of in the broadly defined sort of 'Reaganesque' conservative mantle.'

"The political analyst sees both similarities and contrasts between Fred Thompson and Ronald Reagan -- a.k.a. 'The Great Communicator' -- under whose watch the Cold War came to an end and the Berlin Wall came down.

"'Like Ronald Reagan, he has chosen acting,' says Thompson; '[but] unlike Reagan, who started in acting and then turned to politics, Thompson has sort of moved back and forth between the two.' He also believes the former senator's current role of a district attorney on Law & Order will enhance his chances."

"Old-school comedy broad Carol Burnett is suing the producers of Family Guy, alleging the cartoon show used her well-known Charwoman character in an April 2006 episode without her permission," reports G4.

"The bit on the family guy features The Charwoman mopping a porno emporium.

"It's amazing that Carol Burnett, whose well-known 1970s sketch comedy show often featured parodies of well-known movies and TV shows, takes offense when the shoe is on the other foot and she's the target of a parody." [Emphasis mine]

What's the difference between the Islamists and the Israeli Defence Force? Well, here 'tis (pic courtesy of IDF Israel):

"Things didn't go as planned for the far Left this weekend here in the nation’s capital," the Campaign for Working Families reports. "An assortment of 'blame America first' groups expected tens of thousands of leftists to take to the streets to demand that the U.S. withdraw from Iraq in defeat. March organizers had originally expected 50,000 plus to flood into town, but most unofficial estimates put the crowd closer to 10,000 to 15,000."

It gets better:

"The defeatists and their allies didn't have the streets to themselves. Thousands of pro-troop, pro-victory, pro-American counter-demonstrators came from all over the country to take a stand. The big TV networks ignored what happened, but the liberal Washington Post could not without losing all credibility.

"On the front page they reported, 'Thousands of demonstrators … marched on the Pentagon yesterday, jeered along the way by large numbers of angry counter-protesters.' And this: 'Much of the passion yesterday was supplied by thousands of counter-demonstrators, many of them veterans who mobilized from across the country to gather around the Vietnam veteran’s memorial.'

"As the so-called anti-war crowd crossed the Memorial Bridge into Virginia toward Arlington Cemetery, they were again confronted by a large crowd of vets who unfurled a banner reading, 'You dishonor our dead on hallowed ground.'"

"I doubt if 10 percent of the American public realizes that we have a 20 to one kill ratio in Iraq, or that American battle deaths are one-tenth what they were in Vietnam after this long in combat. Nor does the American media cover acts of valor by American service personnel. The net result of this amounts to libel. Our service personnel are being cheated of the honor they deserve for the courage they have shown, and the American public is being cheated of the pride they deserve to feel for the young people who fight for them. In WWII if you won the Medal of Honor they made a movie about you. If you win it today you won't even make the evening news."

-- Jim Morris

John Hawkins' latest latest column at TownHall.com informs Republicans that there a few things they from their left-wing counterparts. I'm partial to Number 5:

"Attack, Attack, Attack! We might as well change the Republican Party symbol from an elephant to a punching bag because the Republican wimps in DC just refuse to fight back. The base may have no qualms about going after liberals, but when we look for Republican pols on the Hill to show some leadership in this area, we're almost always sadly disappointed.

"Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy treat politics like a street fight in an alley. They wrap a chain around their fist, grab a broken bottle with the other hand, and then aim for the eyes and the throat. Meanwhile, George Bush and Company are wearing boxing gloves stuffed with extra foam and try not to hit anybody too hard for fear of making them mad. The Bushies aren't afraid to go after terrorists, but when Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton attacks, they tremble like John Edwards after he runs out of mousse.

"C'mon, guys, you don't have to start comparing Howard Dean to Hitler or anything, but how about showing a little moxie instead of cringing, apologizing, and rolling over like French poodles every time the Democrats go after someone? You Republicans on the Hill: the Democrats have spent the last 2 years smacking you in the mouth, taking your lunch money, and pushing you down while you keep hoping people will give you brownie points for being 'nice' and 'bipartisan.' At what point does it dawn on you guys that it's time to go after the Democrats as hard as they're going after you?"

John Fund interviews Fred Thompson in today's Wall Street Journal. Joseph Knippenberg gives us his take on the interview:

"[Thompson] ... comes across a little like the GOP’s version of Barack Obama (by which I mean the anti-politician politician, the straight shooter who says he’s not afraid to speak the hard truth to the American people). Thompson has more of a record than Obama does and more liabilities, but he can sure deliver a line.

A few weeks back, the Concord Monitor's Katy Burns had a crow-fest because Governor Mitt Romney was attracting the support of a "paltry" 13 percent of New Hampshire voters, according to a February University of New Hampshire poll.

What a difference a month makes. According to a poll conducted this past week by Franklin Pierce College and WBZ-TV New Hampshire, Governor Romney is nipping at the heels of the two GOP front-runners, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain. If the New Hampshire Primary was held today, here's where the candidates where the candidates who're actively seeking the Republican nomination would finish:

John McCain -- 29 percent
Rudy Giuliani -- 28
Mitt Romney -- 22
Mike Huckabee -- 2
Sam Brownback -- 1
Duncan Hunter -- 1

Provided no other candidates jump into the GOP presidential race (see Thompson, Fred and Gingrich, Newt), the race in the Granite State will be a two-man dance by year's end: Giuliani vs. Romney. You read it here first ...

"Centralized planners seeking to 'rule from above' are operating under the guise of environmentalism and other fashionable 'isms' in a bid to attack freedom and liberty, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said," reports CNS News.

"Fashionable and trendy 'isms' like environmentalism seek to 'radically re-organize human society' in a way that is detrimental to the freedoms that were secured just 17 years ago when Soviet communism fell, Klaus argued.

"Proponents of the environmental ideology were attempting to sell the public on 'catastrophic scenarios' that could be used to justify the restoration of statist practices, he said.

"'The hypothesis of global warming, and the role of man, is the most powerful embodiment of environmental ideology,' Klaus observed. Although the environmental movement invokes science as a way of advancing policy goals, the arguments in favor of catastrophe rest on 'ill-founded assumptions,' he said.

"'Environmentalism is a religion. It does not belong in the natural sciences and is more connected with social science.'

"Klaus said very few politicians and journalists understand that environmentalism is a political ideology masquerading as a natural science.

Other 'isms' that he argued pose threats to order include 'social democratism,' 'human rightism,' 'internationalism' and 'multi-culturalism.' These movements all proceed from a desire to 'centrally organize, mastermind, regulate and control society,' he said."

In a speech in which he announced his retirement from, well, whatever in the **** he's been doing for the past 40 years, Louis Farrakhan said President Bush  should be impeached or at least censured for his "wicked policies."

During his years as leader of the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan became notorious for calling Judaism a "gutter religion" and the "Synagogue of Satan; he suggested crack cocaine was a CIA plot to enslave blacks; he met with dictators like Moammar Gadhafi, Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein, which prompted the State Department to rebuke him for "cavorting with dictators"; he denounced the white man as the anti-Christ; he refused to distance himself from subordinates like Khalid Muhammed, who called Pope John Paul II a "no good cracker"; he fully subscribes to the Nation of Islam's belief that an evil black scientist created the white man in a lab accident some 6,500 years ago; and he has reiterated his belief that a huge "mothership" will soon come to rain destruction and mayhem on the earth's white peoples.

So, as you can see, Louis Farrakhan calling anyone "wicked" is indeed a case of the pot calling the kettle black. (Oops! Can I use that analogy here?!)

During the run-up to the 2006 congressional election, Democrats took great exception to any suggestion that tax-and-spend politics would return to Washington with a New Democrat Majority. Well, it hasn't taken them long to break yet another campaign promise ...

Tax:

"Senate Democrats, led by Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, are now proposing ... to increase taxes by over $900 billion over the [next five years]."

Spend:

"Senate Democrats announced plans for the biggest increase in domestic discretionary spending in at least three years."

Tennessee's regulations on the sale of alcohol are some of the most ass-backward in this glorious nation of ours. The City Paper reports on how one lonely legislator, State Senator Shea Flinn (D-Memphis), attempted to change the most egregiously awful liquor laws yesterday:

"[Flinn's] first bill would allow liquor stores to be open on Sundays, as well as holidays such as the Fourth of July. The second would allow grocery and convenience stores to sell wine."

The Senate's State and Local Government Committee did not allow Flinn's bills to come up for discussion because no committee member would give a motion or second for the bill to be heard.

Allowing booze to be sold on the Fourth of July, and allowing people to purchase wine when they're purchasing food, seems like a logical idea. This being Tennessee, logic has flown completely out the window. Why? Two words: liquor lobby.

Tom Hensley, the liquor lobby's main man on Capitol Hill, not only helped craft most of Tennessee's current liquor laws, he's known as the "Golden Goose" because of the checks he so freely distributes to legislators who're willing to protect those laws.

Not surprisingly, Hensley was sitting in the front row when Senator Flinn's billed were killed yesterday. Speaking to reporters following the State and Local Government Committee's meeting, Hensley said, “If [the liquor laws] ain’t broke, don't fix it.”

If you're a liquor lobbyist, or a legislator who receives money from the liquor lobby, Tennessee's al-kee-hol laws are indeed not "broke." However, if you're an ordinary Joe who wants to buy a bag of groceries and a bottle of red wine at the same place, Tennessee's liquor laws are broke ... really broke.

According to PowerLine, "Iraqi officials today released data on violence in Baghdad since the "surge" began a month ago." To wit:

"In an upbeat assessment of the first 30 days of the security plan, Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said the number of Iraqis killed by violence in Baghdad since February 14 was 265, down from 1,440 killed in the previous month. The number of car bombings, a favorite weapon used by suspected Sunni Arab militants fighting the Shi'ite-led government, was down to 36 from 56, Moussawi told reporters.

"That's more than an 80% reduction in fatalities in Baghdad."

Doug Patton has a great take on the Walter Reed "scandal":

As I read about the scandal surrounding the Walter Reed Army Hospital, I was reminded of Hillary's 1994 fiasco, and why so many of us were motivated to action against her blatant power grab. Can you imagine huge government hospitals, whose services all of us would be forced to utilize, with mold growing up the walls and vermin infesting the rooms like some third world medical facility? Liberals will never admit that this will be the result of their vision for our nation's health care system, but that is exactly what our wounded military heroes have been enduring at Walter Reed. Why should we believe that dictatorial Hillary-care would be any different?

Isn't it ironic that the folks who've been beating their chests hardest during the Walter Reed imbroglio (see Congressional Democrats) are the same people who want to impliment a system whereby all Americans receive their health care from the federal government?

"Those who want to go directly to hell, they can follow capitalism," Mr Chavez said in the town of Trinidad in Bolivia. And those of us who want to build heaven here on earth, we will follow socialism."

-- Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez

Where are Nixon and Kissinger when you need them? (hint, hint)

The Agriculture Department is warning consumers that strong demand for corn from ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken.

As the Associated Press reported on Friday, "Meat and poultry production will fall as producers face higher feed costs, the department said in its monthly crop report. Ethanol fuel, which is blended with gasoline, is consuming 20 percent of last year's corn crop and is expected to gobble up more than 25 percent of this year's crop."

Now, the whole meat product-increase situation has got me to thinkin'; and I have a few questions for anyone who cares to answer 'em for me. To wit:

How come I can't find a poll in which 20 percent of Americans blame the Bush Administration for the rising cost of meat? (A Gallup poll conducted last summer indicated that 20 percent of the voting public blamed President Bush for high gas prices.)

When should we expect congressional hearings seeking to expose nefarious price-gouging schemes initiated by the meat industry's corporate honchos?

When will Senator Harry "Sleepin' at the Ritz" Reid and Representative Nancy "Madame Moonbat" Pelosi flout common sense and suggest that America should dip into its Strategic Meat Reserve ... ?

All kidding aside, the spike in prices for meat products, due to increased grain prices, is no different from last summer's spike in gasoline prices, which was caused by a worldwide increase in the price of oil.

Americans may not (don't) know it, but the Agriculture Department is affording them a valuable tutorial in basic economics: growing demand, coupled with supply pressure, will increase the cost of goods and services.

Southern Ledger reports on a group of individuals who worship at the Church of Pi:

"This is a story about love. About inscrutable complexity and remarkable simplicity, about the promise of forever. It is about obsession and devotion, and grand gestures and 4,000-word love letters.

"It is about a curious group of people with an almost religious zeal for a mind-numbing string of numbers. Actually one number, made up of a chain that is known _ so far _ to be more than one trillion digits long.

"They are the acolytes of the church of pi.

"And once a year many of them gather to talk about pi, rhapsodize about it, eat pi-themed foods (actual pie, sure, but so much more), have pi recitation contests and, just maybe, feel a little less sheepish about their unusual passion.

"That day falls on Wednesday this year: March 14. Or 3.14. Obviously."

Imagine what transpires when pi enthusiasts get together. Oh, the debauchery!

"Democrats seeking votes for their Iraq-withdrawal plan have stuffed the bill it's in with billions of dollars for farms, flu preparedness, New Orleans levees, home heating and other causes," ABC News reports.

"[C]ritics say the Democrats are simply being opportunistic using a must-pass measure for funding U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry items that can't advance as easily on their own."

I thought Democrats were going to restore "fiscal discipline" in the halls of Congress. Didn't take 'em long to break that campaign pledge, did it?

Hypocrisy has a peculiar stench; and right now, Democrats stink to high heaven.

"Brothel owners in Bulgaria are blaming global warming for staff shortages," reports the Sunday Metro (UK).

"They claim their best girls are working in ski resorts because a lack of snow has forced tourists to seek other pleasures.

"Petra Nestorova, who runs an escort agency in Sofia, said: 'We have hired students, but they are temps and nothing like our elite girls.'"

I won't say anything. You can provide your own punchline.

Remember when I said the Democrat Party is controlled by left-wing moonbats? Well, here's even more proof:

"After receiving heavy pressure from the netroots, the Nevada Democratic Party has cancelled a debate for the presidential contenders on Fox. After the Democrats caved under pressure, MoveOn.org declared victory -- which in all fairness, they should, because they won. Apparently, they really do own the Democratic party. [Emphasis mine]

"But, what did they win? They won the right not to have their candidates heard in a debate on the highest rated cable news network, which may be the left side of the blogosphere's biggest 'victory' since they helped knock off Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Primary.

"Congrats guys! May you keep winning "victories" like this for the Democrats for years to come!"

"The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a D.C. gun control law that prevents people from keeping handguns in their own home. In doing so, the Court found that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to bear arms and not just a collective right to 'militias,'" RedState.com reports.

The D.C. Circuit was correct to assert that the right to bear arms is a personal right. I'm sure their ruling, however, will agitate the anti-gun left to no end. For those who think guns should be owned by "militias" only, I have a question:

As a document, the Bill of Rights is the single greatest enshrinement of personal freedoms known to man. Thus, why did the Founding Fathers, in all of their infinite wisdom, decide to insert a group right into the Bill of Rights?

The answer, of course, is they didn't. Sadly for liberals, the D.C. Circuit agrees.

If you want to know why I'm workin' for the Romney for President campaign, look no further than Donald Lambro's latest post on TownHall.com:

"After his well-received speech before the conservative political action conference ... last week, former governor Mitt Romney met with two key leaders in the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.

"Romney's dinner guests were Jack Kemp, the architect of the Reagan tax cuts that lifted the economy out of a deep recession, and former congressman Vin Weber of Minnesota, a key leader in the Opportunity Society band of House warriors who fought for lower tax rates to spur economic growth and entrepreneurial expansion. ...

"You can tell a lot about politicians by the people around them, and that is especially true in presidential politics. Romney has already put together a stellar team of economic heavyweights:

"-- Vin Weber, who is chairman of Romney's domestic policy board in charge of providing him with a broad range of economic proposals and advisers.

"-- Cesar Conda, a longtime economic policy and tax-cut strategist on Capitol Hill who was chief domestic policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and a key player in Republican tax-cut battles of the past two decades.

"-- R. Glenn Hubbard, President Bush's first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers who was on the short list last year for Fed chairman. A staunch tax cutter, he has been a key consultant to the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System.

"-- N. Gregory Mankiw, a free-market economist at Harvard who chaired Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, and has been an adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Congressional Budget Office.

"-- John Cogan, a Hoover Institution economist who was one of Bush's 2000 campaign policy advisers and one of the architects of the Bush tax-cut plan. He brings broad economic and budget expertise from a variety of key posts in the Reagan administration."

"John Edwards continues his effort to carve out a niche as the Democratic contender who will kowtow most cravenly to leftist bloggers," Powerline reports. "[H]e's agreed under pressure to boycott a Fox News candidates' debate in Nevada."

Who was applying said pressure? The Moonbat Brigades, of course. In an e-mail to the DailyKos blog (!), Edwards had this to say 'bout his Fox boycott:

"We're definitely going to debate in Nevada, but we don't see why this needs to be one of them."

Edwards is quickly emerging as the Huey Long of '08 presidential politics. His Two Americas campaign was phase one; now he's moved on to phase two: moonbat throne-sniffing.

Remember when I said the Democrat Party is controlled by left-wing moonbats and unions? Weeeeeeeeell ...

This morning, House Democrats turned down an invitation to meet with General David Petreaus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq. Yesterday, however, Democrats found time to hold an Iraq War strategy session with labor unions and left-wing activists. This from the Washington Post:

"But any dilution of [U.S. Rep. John] Murtha's original proposal [to devise standards of troop readiness strict enough to force President Bush to delay some deployments and bring some troops home] is likely to infuriate the antiwar wing of the party, which wants dramatic action now. After a conference call yesterday, antiwar and labor groups all but gave up on Murtha's approach, concluding they could only support a war-funding 'supplemental' bill if it contains a deadline for withdrawing troops.

"Participants -- including the Service Employees International Union, MoveOn.org, Win Without War and the Iraq veterans group VoteVets -- insisted there would be more support for a straightforward approach to ending the war than the roundabout efforts Murtha champions."

Those folks who e-mailed me to say that the Democrat Party is not controlled by unions and the MoveOn.org crowd must now acknowledge that I was right. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for such to happen.

If you've not yet viewed Hillary Clinton's Kentucky Fried speech in Selma, Alabama, you simply must check it out:



In the same speech, Senator Clinton made it known that she thinks climate change is "tinkering with God's creation." If that's indeed the case, aren't those folks who perform abortions and engage in stem cell research tinkering with God's creation?

Hmmmm, Senator?!

If the media scrutinizes U.S. Senator Barack Obama's church membership the same way it's ceaselessly harped on Governor Mitt Romney's membership in the Mormon church, ol' Barack's going to have a rough time in the weeks and months to come. To wit:

Barack Obama is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL. Anyone who knows anything about the United Church of Christ is well aware of the fact that it is just a shade to the right of the Unitarian-Universalist Association in terms of its fealty to left-wing political causes. Obama would be in pretty good shape, politically speaking, if he simply attended a church with left-of-center political leanings. He should be so lucky.

As the New York Times recently reported, Trinity Church of Christ is "more Afrocentric ... than standard black congregations." Indeed, Trinity's senior minister, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, has been criticized for espousing theological views that "some say are overly Afrocentric to the point of excluding whites." Here are Trinity's covenantal statements:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System

I'm not sure what "middleclassness" is, but of this I am sure: If a Republican presidential candidate attended a church that stood behind covenantal statements pledging allegiance to the "White Community" and "White Institutions," the mainstream media's roar would be deafening.

Thanks to John Hawkins for this very funny picture:

I don't begrudge left-wingers for continuing to be disappointed that Al Gore wasn't elected President. However, I am getting tired of the ongoing liberal fantasy that Al Gore "won" Florida's electoral votes in 2000.

Writing in the March 5 New Yorker, David Remnick repeats the Gore-won-Florida canard thusly:

"[Al Gore was] the almost certain winner of any reasonable or consistent count in the state of Florida."

It is indeed time for liberals to accept the fact that Al Gore did not win the state of Florida in 2000. Not only did Gore come up short in each and every post-elelection recount conducted by the state of Florida, he lost "independent" recounts conducted by left-leaning newspapers, including the Miami Herald.

Remnick is also wrong to suggest that the U.S. Supreme Court acted extra-constitutionally when it brought an end to the 36-day election imbroglio. It's important to remember just what was transpiring when the 2000 recount was finally halted: the Gore campaign had convinced the Florida Supreme Court to order recounts in a handful of Gore-friendly counties; and each of the cherry-picked counties were using wildly divergent standards to count votes. The U.S. Supreme Court correctly ruled that the final Florida recount ran afoul of the Constitution's "equal protection" provisions.

That said, I wonder if Mr. Remnick remembers the Gore campaign's revolutionary notion that a voter's "intent" in presidential balloting could be divined based on his or her choices in other state and local races. I shudder to think how profound the "historical damage" would have been had such a precedent found its way into our electoral process.

Today, I am announcing that I will be supporting former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for President.  Governor Romney will not only receive my vote when Tennessee holds its presidential primary, I have agreed to assist his campaign as it seeks to spread his message of common sense conservatism across the Volunteer State.

I'm sure many of my readers would like to know why I've chosen to sign on with the Romney for President campaign.  I had originally planned to post a long pro-Romney treatise in which I would explain my reasons for supporting Romney.  Instead, I'm going to tell my readers why "I'm for Mitt" in a question-and-answer format.

Readers should also take note that I've posted several Romney for President links in my toolbar.  I encourage you to check them out to learn more about Governor Mitt Romney.

Governor Mitt Romney? What'd he ever do?

Mitt Romney has been widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments in private enterprise and as a public servant. 

Romney received his B.A., with Highest Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president at Bain & Company, Inc., a leading management consulting firm. In 1984, Romney founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful venture capital and investment companies. Bain Capital helped launch hundreds of companies on a successful course, including Staples, Domino's Pizza, and The Sports Authority. He was later asked to return to Bain & Company as CEO in order to lead a financial restructuring of the organization. Today, Bain & Company employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices worldwide.

In 1994, Romney led a gutsy campaign against Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, garnering 41 percent of the vote to Kennedy's 58 percent.  The 17-percentage point winning margin was the smallest in Kennedy's nine election contests for the U.S. Senate.

Romney first gained national recognition for his role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics. With the 2002 Games mired in controversy and financial crisis, Romney left behind a successful career as an entrepreneur to take over as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. In his three years at the helm in Salt Lake, Romney erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, galvanized community spirit and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11 attacks.

On January 2, 2003, Mitt Romney was sworn in as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts.  During his four years in office, Governor Romney presided over a period of sustained economic expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth in Massachusetts, Romney got the economy moving again and transformed deficits into surpluses.

One of Governor Romney's top priorities was reforming Massachusetts' education system. In 2004, he established the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a tuition-free scholarship to any Massachusetts public college or university. He also championed a package of education reforms, including merit pay for teachers, an emphasis on math and science instruction, and English immersion for foreign-speaking students.

Governor Romney was elected Chairman of the Republican Governors Association for the 2006 election cycle, and raised a record $27 million for candidates running in gubernatorial contests around the country.

You do know that Romney's a Mormon, right?

Yes, I do.

Someone told me that Mormon's aren't Christians. Is this true?

It's difficult to argue that someone who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints isn't a Christian.

Mormons believe some pretty strange things, don't they?

I do indeed disagree with some of the LDS's theological constructs.  However, what they believe is no more "strange" to me than such extra-Biblical concepts as the Rapture and Tribulation, which many of my fellow Protestants have latched onto with great conviction.

Romney ran as a pro-choice Republican during his campaign against Ted Kennedy. He now claims to be pro-life. How can you support someone who flip-flops on an issue so near and dear to your heart?

I support Romney just like I supported Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, both of whom adopted pro-life positions late in their respective political careers.

That being said, Mitt Romney consistently pursued pro-life policies as Governor of Massachusetts:  he vetoed a bill providing state funding for embryonic stem cell research; he vetoed a bill that provided for the "morning after pill" to be sold without a prescription; he vetoed legislation which would have redefined Massachusetts' long-standing definition of the beginning of human life from fertilization to implantation; and he fought to promote abstinence education in high school classrooms.  Romney's actions as Governor have lead important pro-life groups in Massachusetts - including the Massachusetts Family Institute, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and the Knights of Columbus - to announce that he not only shares their values, he is also determined to protect them.

While we're on the subject of the Gipper, do you really think Mitt Romney is a worthy successor to Ronald Reagan?

Here's Romney on Reagan Conservatism:



You promote supply-side economic theory with the zeal of a missionary. What's so great about Mitt Romney, economically speaking?

As I discussed earlier, Governor Romney balanced four budgets in a state dominated by tax-happy Democrats. (How many of his GOP rivals can lay claim to a similarly successful fiscal record?)  He did so without raising taxes or increasing Massachusetts' debt burden.  Romney's stated that keeping taxes low and simplifying the tax code "will grow the economy and enhance our competitiveness." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Finally, you flirted with the idea of supporting former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich for President. What changed your mind?

I'll let Governor Romney answer this question: "If ever there was a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now.  I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician." 

Indeed.

The Tennessean's Joe Biddle reports on one Florida prep football player's, ahem, unique nom:

"I don't know what kind of prospect he is, but Rivals.com lists an outside linebacker in the 2008 class from Bushnell, Fla., with an All-World name.

"You have to like Yourhighness Morgan."

I can't be the only one who thinks that someone should take Yourhighness' parents aside and ask them, "What the **** were you thinking?!"

I can't be ... !

"Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural - and not a human-induced - cause, according to one scientist's ... theory," reports National Geographic.

"In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide 'ice caps' near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.

"Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets. ...

"'Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance,' Abdussamatov said."

By now we all know that Al Gore purchases "carbon offsets" to make up for his massive use of electricity and natural gas. Well, as someone revealed in the comments section of my last Gore post, it turns out that the former Vice President is purchasing the offsets in question ... from himself:

"Al Gore defends his extraordinary personal energy usage by telling critics he maintains a "carbon neutral" lifestyle by buying 'carbon offsets,' but the company that receives his payments turns out to be partly owned and chaired by the former vice president himself. ...

"[I]t turns out he pays for his extra-large carbon footprint through Generation Investment Management, a London-based company with offices in Washington, D.C., for which he serves as chairman."

Wanna know why Congress should end the United States Postal Service's monopoly over first-class mail delivery? Well, because of stunts like this:

"The missing clock didn't stop postal customer Al Cunningham from noticing the amount of time spent waiting for service.

"'It's always long here,' said Cunningham, 49, an insurance adjuster and former postal employee who was standing in line at the Watson Post Office in Fort Worth.

"The Watson Post Office is one of the nation's 37,000 post offices in which clocks have been removed from retail areas as part of a 'retail standardization program' launched last year. The effort is designed to give the public-service areas a more uniform appearance, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Thursday editions."

So, the USPS reckons it can "fix" long waits by removing clocks from its offices. Isn't that akin to a person putting a piece of tape on a dashboard warning light to fix his or her car?

Jules Crittenden has a great roundup of the news from Iraq (thanks to Powerline for the tip):

"[Here's] the Good News out of Iraq: too many al-Qaeda dead to count in a village in Anbar, where Iraqi security forces just kept killing them all day. US and Iraqi forces raiding into Sadr City, just messing around right now, a death squad leader here, a death squad leader there, gearing up for the big push. And the Iraqi Foreign Minister says 1,000 former Iraqi Army officers are coming back, a “sign of reconciliation.” It’s gotta be good news when it gets so quiet in Baghdad they are forced to admit it and make news out of it."

Paging Pat Buchanan. Paging Pat Buchanan. Adam's Smith's take on trade deficits, first published over 225 years ago, is well worth keeping in mind when punditing. (Is "punditing" even a word?!) To wit:

"Nothing, however, can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade, upon which, not only these restraints, but almost all the other regulations of commerce are founded. When two places trade with one another, this doctrine supposes that, if the balance be even, neither of them either loses or gains; but if it leans in any degree to one side, that one of them loses, and the other gains in proportion to its declension from the exact equilibrium. Both suppositions are false. A trade which is forced by means of bounties and monopolies, may be, and commonly is disadvantageous to the country in whose favor it is meant to be established...But that trade which, without force or constraint, is naturally and regularly carried on between any two places, is always advantageous, though not always equally so, to both."

The Electric Al Gore story just gets juicier and juicier. After being criticized for his profligate energy usage, the former Vice President insists he has a clear conscience because he purchases "carbon offsets" to fund projects and activities elsewhere that may reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. So, as the Wall Street Journal opines (subscription required):

"[O]ne might burn up hundreds of dollars worth of natural gas to keep one's poolhouse toasty, but then do penance for this carbon sin by paying someone else to put up solar panels."

Is it just me or is the whole idea of an individual purchasing carbon offsets akin to the same individual justifying bank robbery by touting how many tickets to the policemen's ball he or she's bought? Or, using Gore-style logic, one can safely go whoring on Saturday night so long as a big check is placed in the collection plate on Sunday morning.

The leftist blogosphere has risen in defense of Al Gore. A post on today's HuffingtonPost says Al Gore's hefty electric bill isn't that big of an issue because "most of the electricity in T[ennessee] comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn't generate all that much CO2 anyway." As Bill Hobbs points out, Tennessee is anything but a hydro/nuclear paradise:

"Gore's home gets its electricity from Nashville Electric Service, which does not generate power but rather gets it from the Tennessee Valley Authority. According to the TVA's own website, TVA's 11 coal-fired power plants generate 60 percent of all TVA electricity. TVA says its coal-fired plants 'have been the backbone of the power system since the 1950s.'"

Speaking of the leftist blogosphere, I can only imagine what they'll say upon learning this:

"George Bush may be a nemesis of the global green movement and Al Gore its hero, but the president's home is arguably far more environmentally-friendly than the home of the man he defeated in the 2000 election. ...

"An April 2001 article in USA Today described the president's 4,000-square-foot single-story limestone house in Crawford as an 'eco-friendly haven.'

"'Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into purifying tanks underground -- one tank for water from showers and bathroom sinks, which is so-called gray water, and one tank for black water from the kitchen sink and toilets,' it said. 'The purified water is funneled to the cistern with the rainwater.'

"In addition, 'the Bushes installed a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses about 25 percent of the electricity that traditional heating and air-conditioning systems consume.'"

Thus, President Bush is more eco-friendly than braying, bloated Al Gore. How's that for irony?!

In the latest issue of British Elle, Madonna says she's worried 'bout what's in her daughter's drawers (her daughter's dresser drawers):

"My daughter is going through a phase of wearing jeans that are so tight she can't bend her knees in them. I have a go at her and say, 'Can't you wear something else? ... And please wear a belt because I don't want to see your butt crack when you bend over.'"

The guys at the Superficial have a good take on Madonna's sudden prudishness:

"Madonna getting upset with her daughter for dressing too slutty is like Mr. T getting upset with his son for pitying too many fools. I think there was a period in Madonna's life where all she wore was spaghetti pasta and condoms." [Emphasis mine]