The Nigh Seen Creeder

The Maryland legislature recently enacted a law to end the state's participation in the electoral college. Said law will award the state's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote ... if and when a bunch o' other states agree to do the same.

Maryland's decision to sidestep the electoral college is welcome news to Hendrik Hertzberg. Indeed, Hertzberg tells us in the April 16 New Yorker that the United States will not be a "mature democracy" until it scraps the electoral college entirely.

Far from being archaic, the electoral college is a crucial part of our Republic's machinery for combining democracy with constitutionalism and the rule of law. Indeed, as the Claremont Institute's Charles Kesler opined during the 2000 election imbroglio, "[The electoral college] ensures that the president will be chosen not by a plebiscitary majority but by a constitutional one, distributed by states and moderated by the need to accommodate a variety of interests and viewpoints."

Liberal bellyaching about the electoral college didn't start until it, well, worked. As you may recall, in the months leading up to the 2000 presidential election, many pundits were predicting that George W. Bush would win the popular vote and Al Gore would prevail in the electoral count. When the exact opposite occurred (we all know the story by now), Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and other lefties began calling for the abolition of the electoral college. We were then treated to months of liberal bellyaching about how democracy had been subverted and such. Far from being subverted, our nation's particular brand of democracy had worked just as the founders had envisioned.

To appreciate the electoral college's relevancy - nay, necessity - in these modern times, one need only examine a county-by-county map from the 2000 election. The famous red/blue map reveals a sea of Bush-red counties, while Al Gore's support is concentrated in a select number of large metropolitan areas. The electoral college ensured in 2000 - and again in 2004 - that the overwhelmingly liberal voters who live in and around Boston, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angles, and San Francisco did not trump red-state America's interests. Hertzberg says eliminating the electoral college will ensure "truly national" elections. But is an election in which a president is more or less chosen by the folks living in a half-dozen or so cities really a "national" election?

Finally, I often recommend Dr. George Grant's The Importance of the Electoral College to those who express interest in the subject. Methinks Hendrik Hertzberg needs to pick up a copy as well. Here are two of my favorite passages:

“Direct popular election of the president was rejected by the Framers because it failed to protect the states from the intrusion of massed centralized forces. They reasoned that a pure democracy was more easily corrupted than a federal republic. It would essentially eliminate state borders and state prerogative, and whenever more centralized government directly governs the people, they thought that there was likely to be more opportunity for corruption. And electing the president by the Legislative or Judicial branches would violate the separation of powers. Thus, the federal solution was to elect the president by a balanced representation of the States and the people. Electors, independent from either the states or the national government, were elected in accordance with standards established by the State legislatures, and the electors then elected the president. This federal approach carefully avoided direct dependency upon either the states or the people, but kept both represented in the process. Giving each State the number of electors as they have representatives in Congress was also in harmony with this balance.”

Grant explains further: “The federal nature of the American Constitutional covenant enables the nation to function as a republic - thus specifically avoiding the dangers of a pure democracy. Republics exercise governmental authority through mediating representatives under the rule of law. Pure democracies on the other hand exercise governmental authority through the imposition of the will of the majority without regard for the concerns of any minority - thus allowing law to be subject to the whims, fashions, and fancies of men. The Founders designed federal system of the United States so that the nation could be, as John Adams described it, a ‘government of law, not of men.'"

Errol Phillips, an "Independent Jewish Conservative" with whom I regularly trade e-mails, wrote today telling me that I need to pick up a copy of Schmucks!, a new book penned by comedian Jackie Mason. According to Phillips, these folks are on Mason's schmuck-list:

Bill Clinton
Mel Gibson
Barbra Streisand
Katie Couric
Reform Jews
Jimmy Carter
Al Sharpton

Here's more 'bout Schmucks! from the book's dust jacket:

"Jackie Mason, one of the true kings of comedy, and his partner in crime, federal prosecutor and celebrity attorney Raoul Felder, go after America's lowlifes, scumbags, and everything else that really gets on their nerves.

"This book spares no one. Politicians, sports stars, celebrities, corporations, publishers, crossing guards—they're all fair game. If you are a scumbag, or just someone who Jackie and Raoul find annoying, there is a fair chance you are on the list.

"Schmucks! combines Mason's and Felder's nails-to-the-wall political satire with insightful observations on the foibles of modern life to create material that will leave you crying with laughter."

Five years ago, Victor Davis Hanson published a seminal essay in which he examined the impact unchecked immigration was having on the state of Mexifornia, er, California.

In the current issue of City Journal, Hanson gives his original essay an update. He was too optimistic, he says; things are worse than he thought ... and he has the data to prove it. A sample:

"But the downside surely is apparent. Truck drivers, carpenters, janitors, and gardeners— unlike lawyers, doctors, actors, writers, and professors—correctly feel that their jobs are threatened, or at least their wages lowered, by cheaper rival workers from Oaxaca or Jalisco. And Americans who live in communities where thousands of illegal aliens have arrived en masse more likely lack the money to move when Spanish-speaking students flood the schools and gangs proliferate. Poorer Americans of all ethnic backgrounds take for granted that poverty provides no exemption from mastering English, so they wonder why the same is not true for incoming Mexican nationals. Less than a mile from my home is a former farmhouse whose new owner moved in several stationary Winnebagos, propane tanks, and outdoor cooking facilities—and apparently four or five entire families rent such facilities right outside his back door. Dozens live where a single family used to—a common sight in rural California that reifies illegal immigration in a way that books and essays do not."

Apparently, Blade Runner is a film that will never be finished.

Actress Joanna Cassidy, who played the replicant Zhora in the movie, recently confirmed that she and director Ridley Scott reshot all of her scenes, using the original costume, for a 25th Anniversary theatrical release later this year.

As we all know, a Blade Runner "director's cut" was released at the dawn of the DVD age. It's difficult to see how anyone can improve on that. Ridley Scott, however, thinks he can - and needs to - do just that.

When it comes to yet another Blade Runner "cut," I have to throw my lot in with the folks at G4TV: "You know, for a film that almost everyone on the planet thinks is a classic, it seems that Ridley Scott might never be happy with it."

Indeed.

Dennis Kucinich has one positive attribute -- and that's his wife's many positive attributes. She's hot! (And she kinda favors the purty nutbucket whose picture I posted yesterday!) See for yourself:

"U.S. prosecutors charged 22 people in Chicago with allegedly selling fake identity papers to thousands of illegal aliens," UPI reports.

"An indictment unsealed Wednesday said the Chicago branch of a Mexican crime family had sold thousands of fake identification papers annually since 2003, netting $2 million to $3 million per year.

"As many as 20 illegal immigrants at a time were sold phony driver's licenses, green cards and Social Security numbers in a Chicago mall parking lot for $200 to $300 a set, court papers said, USA Today reported."

So, how did Hispanic "activists" react following the arrests? They protested, of course:

"In what could be a warm-up for a planned [pro-illegal] immigration march next week, about 300 protesters shouted and waved signs for several hours in Little Village on Tuesday after a federal raid inside a shopping plaza. ...

"Neighborhood residents and local activists, however, saw the action in the heart of Chicago's Mexican community as an attempt to intimidate people in advance of a planned May 1 march to Daley Plaza in protest of recent federal raids nationwide.

"Word of the Tuesday raid quickly spread through the neighborhood, with organizers of next week's march arriving with ready-made signs, drums and megaphones. The crowd closed the intersection of 26th Street and Albany Avenue for hours, chanting in a semicircle as Chicago police directed traffic away."

I never thought I'd live to see a day when people would take to the streets to protest the enforcement of U.S. laws. To borrow a line from Judge Robert Bork, America is quickly becoming a country I no longer recognize.

A loyal Nigh Seen Creeder reader send the following pictures of a young lady protesting in San Francisco recently. She's a lot easier on the eyes than the she-beasts who usually show up at nutbucket-sponsored protests and parades, n'est-ce pas?!:

How in God's name - er, Allah's name - do you reason with and try to understand people who think like this:

"American commanders cite al-Qaida’s severe brand of Islam, which is so extreme that in Baqouba, al-Qaida has warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders, Col. David Sutherland said."

We're in the midst of a clash of civilizations, and then some.

Dave Gaubatz, who served for 12 years as an agent in the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, knows for a fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Spectator (UK) says this:
 
"Saddam’s WMD did exist. [Gaubatz] should know, because he found the sites where he is certain they were stored. And the reason you don’t know about this is that the American administration failed to act on his information, ‘lost’ his classified reports and is now doing everything it can to prevent disclosure of the terrible fact that, through its own incompetence, it allowed Saddam’s WMD to end up in the hands of the very terrorist states against whom it is so controversially at war."
 
I don't need Dave Gaubatz to tell me that WMD were present in Iraq prior to the U.S.-British invasion.  Indeed, I did a pretty good job of putting the Saddam-had-no-WMD puppy to sleep in October 2003. Here's what I said then (on a Web site that's no longer in business): 
 
Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? This is the question being asked by a slew of liberal pundits, politicians, and laypeople. According to the New York Times editorial board and every Democrat running for president, Iraq was not a threat to the United States; and we were all misled and deceived by the Bush Administration during the lead-up to the Iraq war.

However, when one digs for information beyond what's been offered by the mainstream media - most of which presents a skewed Upper West Side view of the world anyway - it is apparent that Iraq not only had WMD, but these weapons were dispatched in a most disturbing fashion.

We know that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed large quantities of chemical and biological weapons when U.N. inspectors were kicked out in 1998. According to a report released by the CIA, Iraq possessed 3.9 tons of VX nerve gas, 812 tons of sarin nerve agent, 3,080 tons of mustard gas, and 2,200 gallons of anthrax.

In a 1998 New Republic article, turncoat weapons inspector Scott Ritter confirmed Iraq's ongoing weapons program: "Iraq is not … disarmed. Based on highly credible intelligence, [U.N. weapons inspectors] suspect that Iraq still has biological agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, and clostridium perfringens in sufficient quantity to fill several dozen bombs and ballistic missile warheads. Iraq probably retains several tons of the highly toxic VX substance, as well as sarin nerve gas and mustard gas. And Iraq has significant dual-use industrial infrastructure that can be used to rapidly reconstitute large-scale chemical weapons production."

So, where are Iraq's WMD? Captured Iraqi officials have indicated that all of Iraq's WMD were destroyed in the weeks prior to the U.S.-British invasion. This theory simply begs another question: Why would Saddam Hussein secretly destroy his deadliest weapons knowing that a massive force was ready to overthrow him if he didn't show evidence that he had completely disarmed? To learn what happened to Iraq's WMD, one must search beyond the conventional headlines.

In March 2003, National Review reported, "General Yossi Kuperwasser, head of research at Israeli intelligence, told the Knesset as early as last October [2002] that Iraq was moving WMDs into and building facilities in Syria."

In April 2003, former United Nations chief weapons inspector Richard Butler told the Sunday Times (London), "There is evidence Syria helped hide Iraqi chemical weapons." The Times added, "Mr. Butler said he had seen intelligence during his time as chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria had helped keep Iraq's weapons of mass destruction hidden."

On August 25, 2003, a headline in the International Herald Tribune announced, "U.S. suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley." Apparently, the CIA had evidence of large numbers of tractor-trailer trucks moving from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon in January, but "the significance of this sighting did not register at the time."

And finally, as reported in the Washington Times on September 17, John Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control, told a House International Relations subcommittee that U.S. intelligence services are examining "reports that Iraq sent weapons to Syria to hide them from U.N. inspectors and coalition troops."

We're now learning that streams of foreign fighters are entering Iraq from Iran and Syria. Earlier this year, the Bush Administration was criticized when it issued stern warnings against Syrian interference in Iraq. President Bush was on to something though. Syria may play nice when the international press comes calling, but there is every indication to suggest that Syria is actively aiding subversive elements in Iraq. It is highly possible that Iraqi chemical and biological weapons will remain hidden in Syria and Lebanon until Hussein - or his sympathizers - decides to unleash a deadly attack against U.S., British, or U.N. officials in a final display of force.

The daily attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq should convince us all that the war on global terrorism shows no sign of abating. As it becomes clear that other nations are subverting American efforts to rebuild Iraq, we should make it known that we have the resolve to do what's necessary to protect our soldiers - even if that means combat operations beyond Iraq's borders.

Finally, we must ignore the bluster of the leftist naysayers who are convinced that there were no WMD in Iraq. Ample evidence exists to suggest that Iraq had active weapons programs prior to the U.S.-British invasion. Coalition forces should use all means necessary to discover what actually happened to Hussein's weapons of terror. Failure to do so will indeed have deadly consequences.

An old adage tells us that a lie told often enough eventually becomes truth.  Unfortunately, a great many left-wing canards and outright fibs, i.e., budget deficits lead to increased interest rates, gun-control measures reduce crime, the Constitution mandates a "wall of separation" between church and state, etc., have been repeated with such frequency that vast numbers of the citizenry have bought into them.

The April 13, 2007, Entertainment Weekly - which I thumbed through in my doctor's office last week - gleefully prints two leftist-inspired untruths, if you will, that, unfortunately, have a lot of traction in mainstream circles 'cause said untruths have been repeated so very often with nary an opposing opinion in sight, not to mention in print. To wit:

First, in an essay 'bout 1980s teen-sex comedies, EW's Chris Nashawaty says this:
 
"There was ... a president who could barely bring himself to mention the word AIDS, much less make it a national priority."

Anyone who suggests that President Ronald Reagan did nothing to combat AIDS is guilty of propagating a myth of epic proportion. The first case of AIDS was diagnosed in 1981; and it took a couple of years for the medical community to discern how widespread - and God-awful - the new disease was. That said, the Reagan Administration spent $6 billion on AIDS research -- more than on any other disease. (Repeat: the Reagan Administration spent $6 billion on AIDS research -- more than on any other disease.)

Second, EW's Owen Gleiberman tells us that Sacco and Vanzetti were "executed for a murder they almost surely didn't commit." I'll let National Review's Jonah Goldberg take it from here:

"I'd forgotten about [the Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent] declaration until I read in the Los Angeles Times a fascinating story about how the father of journalistic muckraking, Upton Sinclair, not only knew that Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were guilty but withheld his information for the good of the 'movement,' for his personal safety and his professional success. Sacco and Vanzetti, if you recall, were Italian anarchists sentenced to death for the 1920 murders of a paymaster and his guard in Braintree, Mass.

Sinclair, the Pulitzer Prize-winning crusader who penned the famous novel The Jungle, prompting Teddy Roosevelt to coin the term 'muckraker,' had, quite simply, lied. But before he lied, he was a true believer. He'd gone to Massachusetts to research his book Boston, which was set against the backdrop of the trial — the trial, that is, of two supposedly innocent men. Unfortunately for Sinclair, Sacco and Vanzetti's lawyer told him the unvarnished truth: The pair were just plain guilty, and their alibis were a pack of lies.

"'I faced the most difficult ethical problem of my life,' Sinclair wrote to his attorney. 'I had come to Boston with the announcement that I was going to write the truth about the case.' But the truth would cost him too many readers. 'It is much better copy as a naive defense of Sacco and Vanzetti because this is what all my foreign readers expect, and they are 90% of my public.'

"That Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty is no surprise to those who've looked into the case (though some die-hards claim Vanzetti was merely a co-conspirator after the fact). But that didn't stop the martyrdom campaign. Their execution was used to galvanize everyone from establishment liberals to the very, very hard left. Josef Stalin publicly lamented it. Protests erupted in the capitals of Europe and across the U.S. A young Felix Frankfurter staked his reputation on their innocence. Sacco and Vanzetti became props in a passion play about the evils of the U.S. in the 1920s, and the myth endured."

'Nough said ...

Ms. [Jessica] Fender:

Two things disturb me about your labeling Rep. Stacey Campfield as an "archconservative" ("State Rep. Campfield can't pass his bill but still gets heard," Tennessean, April 22):

First, you make no effort to qualify who is and who's not worthy of being dubbed an "archconservative." What must one do to be considered an archconservative, as opposed to just an ordinary conservative?

Second, I'd be willing to bet a dollar to your nickel that you've never used the term "archliberal" to describe a leftist member of the General Assembly. If there are degrees of conservatism, surely there are degrees of liberalism as well. If you were asked to pick a member of the State Senate or the State House whose views "fall toward the hard-left of the Democrat spectrum," whom would you pick?

I eagerly await your reply.

Cordially,

Joltin' Django
aka The Nigh Seen Creeder

"Our planet's prospects for environmental stability are bleaker than ever as the world celebrates Earth Day," reports Live Science.

"[An] international panel of scientists predicts the global average temperature could increase by 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and that sea levels could rise by up to 2 feet.

"Scientists have even speculated that a slight increase in Earth's rotation rate could result, along with other changes. Glaciers, already receding, will disappear. Epic floods will hit some areas while intense drought will strike others. Humans will face widespread water shortages. Famine and disease will increase. Earth’s landscape will transform radically, with a quarter of plants and animals at risk of extinction."

Let's not forget that many of these same scientists told us that a high number of powerful hurricanes would develop in the Caribbean and along the eastern coast of North America in 2006. In May 2006, Steve Miller of the Canadian Hurricane Centre predicted that the number of named storms for that year's hurricane season would be "double the average of the past 50 years." As it turned out, 2006 was the quietest hurricane year in over a decade.

That said, let's also not forget what "concerned" scientists were telling concerned citizens in the 1970s. Global cooling was the immanent disaster du jour in the Age of James Earl Carter; and concerned citizens were told to prepare for a new Ice Age, which would trigger a whole lot of "oh, the humanity" suffering.

We're still waiting for God-awful hurricane seasons and new ice ages to test the mettle of modern man.

When thirty years have passed and the plague and pestilence that's currently being predicted hasn't transpired, will the doom-and-gloomers say "We were wrong" ...? Of course not. First of all, being right is not as important as being concerned. Second, thirty years from now a new crop of scientists will've come up with a whole new batch of things about which earth's inhabitants should be aware, concerned, alarmed, all head up over, etc.

If you're scared now, just wait ... !

The Nigh Seen Creeder will return on Monday, April 23.

"Fred Thompson, a Republican registering well in national polls as he flirts with a presidential run, is the talk of [Washington, D.C.'s] political elite," reports the Associated Press.

"It's a different story in early primary states where voters will choose the GOP nominee.

"'You really don't hear much about him at all from people around here,' said Irene Blom, chairwoman of the Republican Party in Marion County, Iowa. Added Paul Hogan, her counterpart in Georgetown County, S.C.: 'He's mentioned a little, but there's no crescendo yet.'

"Should the actor and former Tennessee senator enter the race, he will be months behind his top competitors in building a campaign organization, raising money and securing support in key states.

"Nevertheless, a Thompson bid could dramatically shake up the already wide-open field of Republicans. Conservatives who make up a significant part of the GOP base may be willing to rally around Thompson, who was known as reliably right-of-center in the Senate, given that they are underwhelmed with the leading GOP candidates."

The Campaign for Working Families PAC weighs in on Harry "Sleepin' at the Ritz" Reid's shipdittery:

"On Capitol Hill yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) joined a press conference hosted by anti-war liberals and declared, 'This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.'  First of all, the surge has just started and fewer than half of the reinforcements that the president ordered to Iraq are there.  Most are still on the way. ...

"Now, let’s consider the message Senator Reid is sending.  He’s just announced to the world that in the view of the leader of the United States Senate, the nation thought of as the world’s sole super power is incapable of stopping at most 25,000 to 30,000 men in Iraq. 

"What are the implications of that statement for dealing with Iran?  Or a growing and more powerful China?  In keeping the ocean trade routes open?  What does it mean for any beleaguered democracy in the world facing a threat right now?  Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe are counting on us to defend them.  Would America stand with Israel if attacked again?  Senator’s Reid’s statement that America has lost will make a great jihadist recruiting slogan on Al-Jazeera!

"Are the liberals so lacking in stomach and resolve that they are willing to give up and surrender Iraq to the Islamofascists?  Do they have any degree of comprehension about what it would mean for the United States and the civilized world if a nation with Iraq’s resources fell into bin Laden’s hands? 

"If the United States leaves Iraq in defeat, radical Islam would surge throughout the region as we retreat, and other Middle Eastern nations would fall like dominoes, potentially collapsing the global economy.  Perhaps that is a risk Reid is willing to take.  Regardless, I find the rush by many on the radical Left to embrace America’s defeat repugnant."

Rich Galen tells us 'bout them Dems up in D.C.:

"This White House and this Congress have not gotten off to the kind of Era of Good Feeling we had been promised in the run up to the mid-term elections last November.

"The Democrats in the House and Senate have spent - it seems - every hour of every day looking for some way to (a) embarrass the President in world opinion and (b) figure out any mechanism by which they can get Karl Rove to appear before any committee to testify about any thing under oath.
    
"All this while (a) getting almost nothing of substance accomplished except (b) raising vast amounts of contribution dollars from the very givers of contribution dollars which led the GOP to the Jack Abramoff scandal(s)." [Emphasis mine]

Unfortunately, there are a great many souls who've bought into the lie that Islam is a "religion of peace." I only wish that I could force these sad souls to visit this Web site: www.theirownwords.com.

Theirownwords.com is a project of Let Freedom Ring, Inc., a non-profit public policy organization that seeks to educate Americans about the world-conquering ideals of Islamists the world 'round.

On the same day that Senate Majority Leader Harry "Sleepin' at the Ritz" Reid said this:

"I believe ... this war is lost and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq" ...

Comes this news:

Iraqis handed control of fourth province

BAGHDAD (UPI) -- British forces Wednesday handed Iraqi commanders security control of the province of Maysan.

A couple of days ago, I asked my readers to ponder this question:

"What will Hollywood do when every movie in existence has been re-made?"

I'm pondering the same question, and I can only ask my readers to do likewise, upon learning that the 1980 horror crapfest Terror Train, starring scream-queen Jamie Lee Curtis, is scheduled for a re-do.

Hollywood's now officially scraping the bottom of the barrel:

"[Terror Train] will revolve around a group of American college athletes who find themselves on a dangerous train in Europe.

"The original thriller was helmed by Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, 48 HRS) and setup the scenario that a failed fraternity prank sent one of their fellow students to a mental institute. Three years later they celebrate graduation by having a costume party on board a train, which allows for the killer to stalk and kill them off one-by-one using the costumes of the victims.

"David Copperfield [!] had a memorable appearance as a magician doing tricks to entertain the students (and became a prime suspect). The eventual twist reveal however is unlikely to be repeated as high-definition filming would render it easy to guess right from the start."

I wish the Tennessee General Asembly had beer-loving legislators like Scott Newcomer!

"Beer lovers of Wisconsin, rejoice! You're a step closer to getting a free half-can of suds.

"Both chambers of the Legislature unanimously gave key approval Tuesday to allow grocery and liquor stores to hand out beer samples up to 6 ounces to a person of legal drinking age.

"'It's a good bill. It's a Wisconsin bill. It's a beer bill,' said Republican Rep. Scott Newcomer one of the measure's main sponsors."

Can we all now agree that Barack Obama is not ready for prime time?!

"In a speech yesterday, Barack Obama compared what happened at Virginia Tech to Don Imus’s 'verbal violence,' and the undefined kind of 'violence' that outsourcing effects. According to Obama, the latter is 'violence' because 'men and women who have worked all their lives and suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them because their job is moved to another country.' Offering these types of comments while 32 families are grieving? Astonishingly inappropriate at best. 'Appalling' probably hits closer to the mark for most people."

God help us if Obama's ever elected to another office other than Chicago's dogcatcher.

Yes, there are two Americas: one America in which gentlemen get $10 haircuts in barbershops, and one America in which the rich get fancy coiffures in upscale salons. John Edwards resides in the latter ...

"Looking pretty is costing John Edwards' presidential campaign a lot of pennies. The Democrat 's campaign committee picked up the tab for two haircuts at $400 each by celebrity stylist Joseph Torrenueva of Beverly Hills, Calif., according to a financial report filed with the Federal Election Commission."

John Travolta says he's as big a star as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. What's kept Mr. Travolta from becoming a dead celebrity, a la Presley and Monroe? Scientology, of course!

"I have fame on the level of a Marilyn Monroe or an Elvis, but part of the reason I didn't go the way they did was because of my beliefs. People make judgments about [Scientology], but often they don't know what they're talking about. I would advise anyone who wants to know about it to read up on it. We are only getting bigger and we help people all over the world, from disaster zones to drug rehabilitation."

Those who really want to know what Scientology's all about should check out Operation Clambake. OC will set you straight 'bout John Travolta's "religion." A sample:

"The Church of Scientology is a vicious and dangerous cult that masquerades as a religion. Its purpose is to make money. It practices a variety of mind-control techniques on people lured into its midst to gain control over their money and their lives. Its aim is to take from them every penny that they have and can ever borrow and to also enslave them to further its wicked ends.

"It was started in the 1950s by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard in fulfilment to his declared aim to start a religion to make money [see below]. It is an offshoot to a method of psychotherapy he concocted from various sources which he named 'Dianetics.' Dianetics is a form of regression therapy. It was then further expanded to appear more like a religion in order to enjoy tax benefits. He called it 'Scientology.'

"Scientology is a confused concoction of crackpot, dangerously applied psychotherapy, oversimplified, idiotic and inapplicable rules and ideas and science-fiction drivel that is presented to its members (at the 'advanced' levels) as profound spiritual truth."

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.

-- Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Reader's Digest, May 1980

William Whittle gives loopy left-wing conspiracy theorists a good bitch-slapping:

"I want to forgo the niceties of the hot towel and go straight for the jugular on this one. My goal here is not to bust any of these four conspiracy theories; that has all been done much more effectively elsewhere. What I am trying to do here is to build a chain of evidence to show a progressively deteriorating epidemic of world-wide insanity, of truly diseased thinking -- not just a misunderstanding or difference of opinion but real, diagnosable mental illness.

"I want to get to that disease in a minute - and the cause of it too – but first let’s examine what some people claim to believe in and the mountains of sand one has to carry in order to bury one’s head so deep."

This is for the Rosie O'Donnells of the world.

Senator John "Droopy" Kerry, seen passing the "global test" in the picture above, says he may be a 2008 presidential candidate after all:

"Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) reopened the door to a possible 2008 presidential campaign during a book signing in Denver and then again, in an interview with 9NEWS.

"The 2004 Democratic nominee told a crowd of more than 250 at the Tattered Cover bookstore in lower downtown Denver that he had no desire to endorse any candidate for the office right now, choosing to wait to see how they addressed the issue of global warming."

What will Hollywood do when every movie in existence has been re-made?

Did this crappy movie really need an update:

"Screenwriting hero Lawrence Kasdan has been tapped to pen Clash of the Titans for Warner Bros. Pictures. Basil Iwanyk is producing via Thunder Road.

"A remake of the 1981 cult classic, the story revolves around Zeus' son, Perseus, and his journey to save Princess Andromeda during which he must complete various tasks set out by Zeus, including capturing Pegasus and slaying Medusa. The original marked the final film on which Ray Harryhausen did special effects."

As John Hawkins opined, this sounds like something from an Ayn Rand novel:

"Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the percentage could rise within ten years to pass 55 percent, where it stood in 1980 on the eve of President's Reagan's move to scale back the size of government."

"What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will. The market gives people what the people want instead of what other people think they ought to want. At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself."

-- Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1961

"The unfettered free market has been the most radically destructive force in American life in the last generation."

-- First Lady Hillary Clinton on C-Span in 1996 stating her troubles
with the free market

Read more here.

"There is some discontent among Republicans with the current choices for the party's nominee in 2008. The complaints are well known: Senator John McCain, the maverick Republican, is too much maverick and not enough Republican. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is thought to be too willful and too liberal: He recently suggested he would allow his new wife to attend cabinet meetings and reaffirmed his support for federal funding of abortion. Mitt Romney seems pleasant and competent, but pleasant and competent doesn't beat Hillary Clinton. Senator Sam Brownback is unknown and uncharismatic. And former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is from Arkansas."

Read more here.

Fred Thompson is sounding more and more like a presidential candidate every day:

"[T]here is reason to smile this tax season. The results of the experiment that began when Congress passed a series of tax-rate cuts in 2001 and 2003 are in. Supporters of those cuts said they would stimulate the economy. Opponents predicted ever-increasing budget deficits and national bankruptcy unless tax rates were increased, especially on the wealthy.

"In fact, Treasury statistics show that tax revenues have soared and the budget deficit has been shrinking faster than even the optimists projected. Since the first tax cuts were passed, when I was in the Senate, the budget deficit has been cut in half.

"Remarkably, this has happened despite the financial trauma of 9/11 and the cost of the War on Terror. The deficit, compared to the entire economy, is well below the average for the last 35 years and, at this rate, the budget will be in surplus by 2010."

G4TV's The Feed tells us 'bout a tattoo scandal in the Windy City:

"The Feed doesn't want to impugn everyone who wears tattoos. Some tats can be pretty cool, especially gunmetal blue pictures of hula girls on the forearms of the ancient sailors we like drinking with. Also, FeedBoss Gentle's arm tat of Neil Diamond*.

"But we do want to slander the following two classes of tattoo-bearers:

"1. People with 'tribal' tattoos around their arms. What tribe are you in, anyway? TheFeed regards these tattoos as haircuts from the 70s, only permanent.

"2. People in chicago who got the words "Chi-Tonw" inscribed on their bodies because a tattoo artist made a mistake on a stencil.

"3. Other people who intentionally had the mispelled moniker inscribed on their flesh as a show of solidarity with the offending tattoo artist.



"See, after bad-spelling artist Sam Hacker was sued for the error, Several of Hacker's friends got Chitonw tattoos together, Then the Chicago Tribune wrote several stories on what some call 'Chi-Tonw-gate,' strangers started dropping into Hackers's parlor to get their very own 'Chi-Tonw' tattoos.

"'They want it spelled wrong,' said Hacker. 'They insist on it. They want it spelled the right way, now is what we're saying. They want it spelled C-H-I-T-O-N-W.'

"The Feed rarely beats on people for typos (pot calling teh kettle black) but we're making an exception for the literally hundreds of people who receieved 'Chi-Tonw' tats without taking a second to read 'em. It's only one word...or one hyphenate, anyway, and you're having it permantly inscibed on yourself. And for the people who got them put on that way on purpose? Words fail us."

Who's crying for Don Imus? Democrats, that's who:

"And today, with Imus’ career in tatters, the fate of the controversial shock jock is stirring quiet but heartfelt concern in an unlikely quarter: among Democratic politicians. That’s because, over the years, Democrats such as [Harold Ford, Jr.] came to count on Imus for the kind of sympathetic treatment that Republicans got from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Equally important, Imus gave Democrats a pipeline to a crucial voting bloc that was perennially hard for them to reach: politically independent white men."

What has the Democrat majority in Congress accomplished after 100 days in office? Not much:

"It has been 100 days since Democrats in Washington, D.C. have taken control of the House and Senate with empty promises of real change and real results for the American people. But 100 days later, Tennesseans and the rest of America are still waiting as not one bill has been passed yet. [Emphasis mine]

"'Instead of enacting real solutions for America, the Democrats have not been able to get one bill signed into law since taking control of Congress. Instead, they have worked tirelessly to implement the largest tax increase in American history, undermine the intelligence of our military officials by setting a timeline in Iraq and initiating countless partisan investigations,' said chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.

Rich Galen gives us his take on l'affaire Imus:

"Playing the 'race card' has become a full-time occupation for professional Angst-Agitators like Jesse 'Get Me a First Class Ticket to Hymietown' Jackson and Al 'Tawana, Who?' Sharpton who are always looking for an opportunity to generate media attention (read income) for themselves in the guise of standing up for the people who can't stand up for themselves."

Here's why Mitt Rom-nee sounds good to me:

"GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney urged renewed support Tuesday for the war in Iraq and a major U.S. military expansion.

"'Running away from Iraq now would embolden our enemies, giving them the sanctuary they need to plan more devastating attacks against our country,' Romney said in remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday night at the George Bush Presidential Library. 'In this difficult time, some in Congress are trying to deny our troops the resources they need. This is a grave error. We need to rally behind the effort, and support our men and women in uniform in this time of war.'

"Romney, the 60-year-old former governor of Massachusetts and a leading candidate for his party's presidential nomination, also proposed a major military buildup to offset what he called a 'dangerous decline' under the Clinton administration, and the strains of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Romney proposed in his speech an increase of 100,000 troops and the dedication of at least 4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product to defense spending." [Emphasis mine]

"The Duke lacrosse rape case finally collapsed Wednesday, with North Carolina's top prosecutor saying the three athletes were railroaded by a district attorney who ignored increasingly flimsy evidence in a 'tragic rush to accuse," the Associated Press reports.

"There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado," [Attorney General Roy] Cooper said. "In the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly."

The true victims of this sordid affair are the three - innocent - young men whose names will always come tagged with "accused of rape in the Duke lacrosse scandal." When former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan was acquitted after being targeted by a federal Mike Nifong-style prosecutor, he famously asked, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?" Where do the Duke Three, as the guys at Power Line have dubbed them, go to get their reputations back? That is indeed the question of the year.

Unfortunately, the Duke Three have amassed sizable legal bills. If you'd like to help them out, financially, here's a link.

"Andy Richter's latest bid for sitcom success has been cut short by NBC, which has pulled his new show 'Andy Barker, P.I.' from its Thursday slot after just four airings," the Yahoo! News reports.

"The critically acclaimed 'Barker' starred the former 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' sidekick as an accountant who accidentally becomes a detective. O'Brien co-created the show."

The demise of Andy Barker after only four episodes got me to thinkin':

If Cheers and Seinfeld came down the pike these days, they'd never make it. Both of these shows had dismal ratings during their early years, and they had to work - by using witty writers and relying on strong character development - to build an audience. Thank goodness circa 2007 TV execs weren't around to judge these shows during their early iffy days, if you will.

Andy Barker was a funny, funny show. It deserved more than a month-long go. Man, I hate network TV.

"Republicans actually support our troops. Democrats, however, have to tell people over and over again that they support the troops, because their actions say the opposite."

-- Matt Margolis

Bobby Eberle, one of my favorite bloggers, tells it like it is:

"America's racial 'crusaders,' Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, are at it again. If there's a racial injustice to right, they are on the scene to save the day. But... who is doing the saving, and who is doing the self-promoting? If Jackson and Sharpton really cared about ridding America of words and actions which are degrading to women, they would realize that Don Imus' idiotic comments are small potatoes."

"Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam 'Pacman' Jones was suspended without pay for the entire 2007 NFL season Tuesday by Commissioner Roger Goodell," the Nashville City Paper reports.

Here's what I think Adam Jones - I refuse to refer to him by anything but his Christian name because "Pacman" is, without a doubt, the dumbest nickname in professional sports history - should do during his time off:

1) Study the Beat writers and wear out a copy of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme -- since he can now spend A LOT of time in jazz clubs.

2) Take a speech/diction class. I'm sure I'm not the only one who cannot understand a single f'in' thing that comes out of his mouth.

3) Join a fantasy baseball league and be a cutthroat competitor (hell, join two or three fantasy baseball leagues) -- it's hard for a feller to get into trouble when he's sitting behind a computer all day.

4) Start chewing tobacco. Mr. Jones like to expectorate; thus, he might be able to launch a second career on the tobacco juice-spitting contest circuit.

5) Learn how to play the guitar or mandolin (or get a 5-gallon bucket and some drum sticks). Broadway/2nd Avenue street musicians can make twenty or thirty bucks a night!

6) Take up gardening. He can use this skill to get extra "in the yard" time if and when he ends up in the hoosegow.

7) Take karate or a self-defense class -- see number 6.

8) Find a big-legged (or small-legged) woman to come home to. Women tend to notice, and take appropriate action, when the men in their lives aren't going to work and aren't bringing home paychecks.

9) Enroll in Financial Peace University. I have a feeling Dave Ramsey would caution against spending sprees in Las Vegas strip clubs.

10) Catch Fang Fever -- at least ONE Nashville professional sports franchise is going to the playoffs this year!

Mr. and Mrs. John Edwards fancy themselves a man and woman o' the people ... unless the people are gun-toting Republicans:

"Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the 'rabid, rabid Republican' who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor."

When told about Mrs. Edwards' comment(s), the Republican neighbor in question, a Mr. Monty Johnson, said this about The Man Who's Stuck in Third Place in New Hampshire:

"I thought [John Edwards] was supposed to be for the poor people. But does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me."

U.S. Rep. Tom Price dubs the Democrat Party the Party of Firsts:

"The Democrat Party is beginning to define themselves as the party of firsts. They were first to declare Congress as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. They were first to strip the right to a free and secret ballot from American workers. And, today, they are making a name for themselves by being in first place, again, to be the party foisting upon the American people the largest tax increase in American history."

A few months back, I said this about one Larry Daughtrey:

"Larry Daughtrey wants us to believe that he is an unbiased observer of all things political in the state of Tennessee. Mr. Daughtrey is many things, but it takes a great leap of, well, something, to call him unbiased. Daughtrey proves such each and every time he finds himself published in the Sunday Tennessean. ...

"You have to be quick to pick up on Larry Daughtrey's left-wing bombs; but you can count on at least one in virtually every column he pens."

In his most recent Tennessean Opinion piece, Daughtrey uncorks this little bit of left-wing nitwittery:

"Dick Armey, majority leader for the Gingrich Gang that voters ousted from control in Washington in November," blah, blah, blah.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich had been missing from Congress for almost eight years when voters turned the GOP out of power last November. Former Majority Leader Dick Armey had been gone for over three and a half years. Why, oh why, is Larry Daughtrey still kicking folks who're now all but forgotten in the Here Today, Who Cares Tomorrow world of Washington politics? Because he's a left-wing hack who hasn't penned an original thought in over a decade, that's why.

With that said, I recently happened upon a picture of Larry Daughtrey's wife, Martha Craig Daughtrey, which was taken when she was a Tennessee Supreme Court Justice. Here 'tis:



Now take a look at a picture of Larry Daughtrey:



There are a couple of very tacky things I could say when comparing the Mr. and Mrs. Daughtrey pics, but I'll save said tacky things for another day!

The Nigh Seen Creeder will return on Monday, April 9.

Have a happy and safe Easter weekend.

"A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore 'a gross alarmist' Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.

"'He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about,' Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech. ...

"Gray, an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science department at Colorado State University, has long railed against the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm. ...

"Rather than global warming, Gray believes a recent uptick in strong hurricanes is part of a multi-decade trend of alternating busy and slow periods related to ocean circulation patterns. Contrary to mainstream thinking, Gray believes ocean temperatures are going to drop in the next five to 10 years."

"Fighting back was not an option."

That's what the British marines who were held hostage in Iran said during a post-release press conference. They were outmanned and outgunned, and the Iranians had them surrounded. Forgetting that history is chock full of episodes in which determined soldiers fought and won despite overwhelming odds against them, the Brits ... gave up.

Somewhere, Sir Winston Churchill is gritting his teeth.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

-- Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 4 June 1940, following the evacuation of British and French armies from Dunkirkas the German tide swept through France

When, oh when, will President Bush get credit for the stellar performance of the U.S. economy over the past four years?

The guys at Power Line tell us about the latest good news vis-à-vis the economy:

"The Department of Labor has just announced this month's job figures, and it's more good news. March saw the creation of 180,000 new jobs. This means that since August 2003, more than 7.8 million jobs have been created, with nearly 2 million jobs created over the last 12 months. The economy has now added jobs for 43 straight months, and the unemployment rate remains at 4.4 percent, which is low by historical standards.

"The news is also good on the pay and productivity fronts. Specifically:

"Real after-tax income per person has risen by 10 percent since President Bush took office. Real wages rose 1.8 percent over the past 12 months through February, which is substantially faster than the average rate of the late 1990s economy.

"The economy has now experienced more than five years of uninterrupted growth, averaging 3.0 Percent a year since 2001.

"Since the first quarter of 2001, productivity growth has averaged 2.8 percent, which is well above average productivity growth in the 1990s, 1980s, and 1970s."

John Hawkins says Mitt Romney's campaign has already peaked and is on the "downside of the mountain." Ol' John obviously hasn't seen the latest poll to come out of New Hampshire, which will hold the first presidential primary in February 2008:

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has rocketed to the top of the field of contenders for the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary crown, running dead even with Arizona Sen. John McCain at 25% each, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. With Romney’s ascension, the GOP presidential race looks just like the Democratic contest – a three–way battle!"

Many a truth is said in jest:

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ... is leading the money primary among Republicans," UPI reports.

"Romney reported raising almost $21 million in the first three months of 2007. That does not include $2.35 million that he has lent his own campaign. ...

"'Clearly, Romney has surprised the field,' said Anthony Corrado, a political scientist at Colby College in Maine. 'Not only has he raised more money than the others, it is fair to say he raised substantially more.'"

"When members of Congress speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines, or other arbitrary measures, they're telling the enemy to simply watch the clock and wait us out. It's time the self-appointed strategists on Capitol Hill understood a very simple concept: You cannot win a war if you tell the enemy you're going to quit."

-- Vice President Dick Cheney

In an effort to make its economy more "competitive," Sweden, of all places, has decided an onerous class warfare-inspired economic policy. We can only hope that House Speaker Nancy "Mama Moonbat" Pelosi and Senate leader Harry "Sleepin' at the Ritz" Reid are paying attention:

"Maybe the next Bjorn Borg won't feel compelled to move to Monaco now that Sweden plans to scrap a decades-old 'wealth' tax that imposes levies on assets - not just on income.

"The tax, which a handful of developed countries retain, was designed to keep the rich from getting richer - but is increasingly seen as harming primarily the not-quite-rich upper middle classes.

"The move, expected to be approved by parliament later this year, underscores the country's efforts to keep successful Swedes and their capital at home by changing its fabled but costly welfare state." [Emphasis mine]

Have you heard about the statue of Barack Obama in a Christ-like pose? Well, said statue actually looks like Stymie from the Little Rascals. You be the judge (details follow the pic):



"He wears Jesus' robes and a neon blue halo, looks like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and is causing a stir at a Chicago art school.

"An undergraduate student's papier mache sculpture of Obama as a messianic figure - entitled 'Blessing' - went on display Saturday at a downtown gallery run by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. By Monday, word of the piece had spread on political blogs, and the school had been flooded with calls.

"David Cordero, 24, made the sculpture for his senior show after noticing all the attention Obama has received since he first hinted he may run for the presidency.

"'All of this is a response to what I've been witnessing and hearing, this idea that Barack is sort of a potential savior that might come and absolve the country of all its sins,' Cordero said. "In a lot of ways it's about caution in assigning all these inflated expectations on one individual, and expecting them to change something that many hands have shaped."

Somewhere, Jesus - Christ, that is - is rolling his eyes.

In an interview published in yesterday's New York Times, Matthew Dowd, a former Bush campaign strategist, discusses how completely disappointed he is in the president's leadership.  Due to the president's low poll numbers, Bush-bashing is currently a growth industry.  Thus, I'm sure Mr. Dowd's anti-Bush moralizing will not be the last mea culpa issued by a former Bush Administration "insider."

Matthew Dowd makes several ridiculous claims during the course of his interview -- too many to list here without boring the piss out of my readers (not to mention making them very, very angry).  I'll simply take issue with what I feel is his most ridiculous claim: that President Bush has failed "to reach across the political divide to build consensus."

President Bush has reached out to - and collaborated with - Democrats in Congress throughout his term in office:  he signed McCain-Feingold, which was pet legislation for Democrats during the 2000 campaign; he allowed Ted Kennedy to remove vouchers from the No Child Left Behind Act; he's championed amnesty for illegal immigrants (another pet project for Democrats); he supported a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients, which represents the largest expansion of a federal program since the Great Society; and during the run-up to the Iraq War, he agreed to the Democrats' demand that no military operations in Iraq could begin until Congress passed pro-war legislation, which it did.

What has President Bush gotten for his "build consensus" efforts?  Firm kicks between the legs on an almost daily basis, that's what. Democrats convinced themselves that Bush's operatives "stole" the 2000 presidential election. They were further enraged when Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate 2002 and when President Bush was re-elected in 2004. To punish the president for getting their goat in 3 consecutive national elections, the Democrats arose - and continue to arise - in hyper-partisan opposition to practically everything the Bush Administration said or did.

President Bush has done his level best to "reach across the divide." The Democrats have done their level best to see that the president retrieves his hand with a few fingers missing whenever he reaches out. For Matthew Dowd - nay, for anyone - to assert that today's toxic political environment is a result of President Bush's failure to "try to build consensus" is indeed a tall tale of the first order.

Tommy Thompson, that is ...

"Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson on Sunday joined the crowded field of Republicans running for the White House in 2008," the Associated Press reports.

"I am the reliable conservative," [Thompson] asserted.