"I didn't know big guys had groins," he told Newsday. "I'm finding out today that I actually have one."The FReepers are having predictable fun here.
The community support officers reacted immediately. They behaved as if they had never seen a penknife before, pulling out the bottle-opener, the corkscrew, the thing that gets stones out of horses' hooves. "This device has a locking blade," said the constable. My goodwill towards the police began to give way to alarm. I reached for my mobile to call the lawyers and explain that I was going to be late but the constable stopped me. "Turn that phone off," he said. "You're about to be arrested for possessing offensive weapons and carrying a bladed instrument in public. You'll be allowed one call when we get you to Charing Cross police station."Later he calls the constable in charge of this farce a wanker. Seems pretty mild to me. On the other hand, it would be cool to show the "community support officers" what the folks around my neck of the woods carry in their vehicles. If the officers didn't have weak hearts.
In 1986, Defence Minister Robert Coates was hounded out of office after he visited a strip club in Germany. Eighteen years later, the immigration minister - a Liberal female, no less - is defending a policy which allows women to emigrate to Canada to work as exotic dancers. I leave it to you to determine whether this should be considered progress.Especially noteworthy is:
Ms. Sgro maintains the federal program is needed to fill a labour shortage of native-born exotic dancersUrine may lead to collapse of major bridge in Indonesia's Sumatra. I know it's AFP, but when did "take a leak" become accepted usage in news articles?
This marks the end of the beginning of the scandal. Its end will not begin until Kofi Annan, even if personally innocent, resigns - having, through initial ineptitude and final obstructionism, brought dishonor on the Secretariat of the United Nations.That's coals to Newcastle.
"This is life-and-death stuff. To see U.N. officials involved in a program that was used to pay off families of Palestinian suicide bombers, to discover that money from this program is now being used to fund the people killing our troops in Iraq is very troubling," Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told The Post. "I definitely feel that people are fed up." Flake has sponsored legislation that would reduce U.S. funding to the United Nations by 10 percent, and claims the bill already has 75 co-sponsors. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.Why not 100%?
Bob Graham
A former cattleman, real estate developer and Senator, Graham knows about starting over. He will teach government at Harvard and, drawing on 10 years' experience on the Intelligence Committee, start up spy-training centers in Florida
Al Sharpton
The reverend is offering career advice to men on Spike TV's I Hate My Job who are hoping to land a dream job. People seeking his help on the reality show have included a Harvard lawyer with comic ambitions and a manure shoveler who wants to be a supermodel
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Howard Dean
The man behind the legendary howl in Iowa parodies himself in a new radio ad promoting Yahoo. "Next week I'm doing a book signing in OHIO!" he shrieks and then goes on to yell the names of other states. Can this man run the Democratic Party?
Inspired by a public pledge from Ukrainian TV journalists to provide unbiased reporting from now on, CBS News has launched an internal investigation to assess the potential impact of such a move.Michelle Malkin spots MORE B.S. FROM CBS NEWS
"If it tests well in our focus groups, you can bet that Dan Rather will break the story," said an unnamed spokesman for CBS.
Yes, believe your eyes! It's the latest publication from the trustworthy narrators of history at CBS News--who are cravenly attempting to cash in on President Reagan's death in time for the holiday book-buying season.So long, Dan: We are rather glad you’re going
Americans abandoned this sinking ship for good reason. Rather was more than an inept interviewer, lobbing ridiculous softball questions to the likes of Fidel Castro. He was the most blatantly partisan and politically biased anchor of them all, and that is saying a lot.Some Democrats still suffering the post-election blues: Escaping reality is becoming a way of life after loss
The first sign that something might be different about these post-election blues was the click of hundreds and hundreds of televisions being switched off.Before You Flee to Canada, Can We Talk?
Well-known local environmentalist Cynthia Plockelman tuned out.
Real estate attorney Mark Garret went cold turkey, too. Upon learning Bush had won, he uttered an oath favored by Harry Truman, went to the phone and canceled his New York Times subscription.
"I have also completely stopped watching television except C-Span's Book TV on the weekends," Garret said.
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There's a reason Democrats are taking the loss of the White House personally. This time, it is personal, Dashev said.
"The big difference between 2000 and now is that, if you were given the choice between having your wallet stolen or losing your wallet, you would choose to have your wallet stolen," he said.
"Clearly, if it is stolen, it has nothing to do with you. If you lose it, well then you feel like you are just a bumbling fool."
The anti-Americanism I experience generally takes this form: Canadians bring up "the States" or "Americans" to make comparisons or evaluations that mix a kind of smug contempt with a wariness that alternates between the paranoid and the absurd.Hmmm, some of the western provinces would be nice.
Thus, Canadian media discussion of President Bush's upcoming official visit on Tuesday focuses on the snub implied by his not having visited earlier. It's reported that when he does come, he will not speak to a Parliament that's so hostile it can't be trusted to receive him politely. Coverage of a Canadian athlete caught doping devolves into complaints about how Americans always get away with cheating. The "Blame Canada" song from the "South Park" movie is taken as documentary evidence of Americans' real attitudes toward this country. The ongoing U.S. ban on importing Canadian cattle (after a case of mad cow disease was traced to Alberta) is interpreted as a form of political persecution. A six o'clock news show introduces a group of parents and children who are convinced that the reason Canadian textbooks give short shrift to America's failed attempts to invade the Canadian territories in the War of 1812 is to avoid antagonizing the Americans -- who are just waiting for an excuse to give it another try.
Among the evidence for societal decline during Washington's 33-year absence from the major league baseball scene is this: that many in the area took to rooting for the team at the other end of the Parkway, the Baltimore Orioles. In and of itself, this is perhaps no great travesty, at least until Orioles ownership passed to the horrid Peter Angelos.I may have to restart my series of "Pond Scum" posts.
Currently attempting to buy a Washington-area racetrack and install slot machines, scumbag Angelos surely finishes dead last among baseball moguls when it comes to patriotism, too. The worst sort of left-wing Squeegee Boy lawyer, he made his megabucks as a veritable pioneer of the litigious society that currently afflicts America. So complete is Angelos' radical ideology that he refuses to sign any Cuban defectors to his roster, lest he upset his friend Fidel Castro, with whom he communed during the home-and-home series he set up between the Orioles and the Cuban national team in 1999.
At the east end of Forty-second Street, there's a patch of Manhattan real estate that serves as a reminder of the way the world should be. To black, white, yellow, brown and every colour in between, it's hallowed ground, a place where anger is restrained by reason and, when needed, the just application of superior force. Equality prevails, corruption is unknown, favouritism unthinkable. It is a sanctuary of freedom.But the United Nations wants to build a big building on the dog run as part of its grand remodeling plan. Shall we guess the reaction to that?
No, not the United Nations, which is on the opposite side of the street. In the light of the world body's recent crop of scandals, it clearly doesn't match the above description to even an incidental degree.
What we're talking about here is the dog run in Robert Moses Park, an undeveloped plot that somehow, years ago, escaped the developers' bulldozers and has remained ever since a mecca for East Side mutts. For the dogs, it's a place to shed the leash and do what comes naturally - a rare treat in a city where it is the lot of man's best friends to spend most of every day alone inside the high-rise kennels that are their owners' plush apartments.
"Have you signed the petition to stop this land grab?" a woman who belongs to a bulldog asked last week when I arrived with my spaniel. "Those corrupt bastards," said another dog owner. "They're not going to get away with it."Put the hammer down! But hold on a sec...
Maybe you had to have spent the past year or so in Manhattan to appreciate the irony. Over that time, on those rare occasions when dog-run talk ran to politics, the presidency of George Bush and his invasion of Iraq were the subjects of no small amounts of ridicule and derision. This is Manhattan, after all, where John Kerry trounced the President by a four-to-one margin.Bwahaha! Welcome to the party, Sue!
The invasion would have been above-board, a woman with a golden retriever told me a few months ago, if the Security Council had only bestowed its blessing on the campaign. Last week, however, while no more fond of Bush, she was suddenly up to speed about the UN's eruption of scandals, not to mention the institution's "ethical bankruptcy".
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When the UN was condemning Bush, none of those ethical inconsistencies raised an eyebrow among the dog lovers in Robert Moses Park.
Now? Well it's a different story, as a Yorkie-owning, Bush-hating corporate headhunter called Sue made clear, albeit with unintentional irony. "How can the UN pre-emptively seize our park?" she wondered.
The New York State Legislature has come in for quite a lot of brickbats lately, most of them deserved. But no one can accuse them of equating Zionism with racism, nor making excuses for bloody tyrants, nor looking the other way during genocide. Or, for that matter, taking bribes from Saddam Hussein. This is why it warms our hearts to see those battered Albany pols questioning the continued utility of the welcome mat that New York has extended this past half-century to the United Nations.and related - Anti-U.N. Drive Is Spreading in Legislature
"I intend ... to get up on the floor and to speak out as strongly as I possibly can against this cesspool called the United Nations," Mr. Hikind said. "I intend to speak on the subject and to do everything humanly possible to stir things up and get people excited. I don't want to do anything to help the United Nations."Congress threatens to cut aid in fight over criminal court whines the Guardian:
"I do believe in international cooperation," he said. "I do believe in a perfect world where nations would work together. ...But that's not what the United Nations is all about. ...On principle, I want to do everything to make their life miserable."
The US Congress has launched a fresh attack on the international criminal court at The Hague, threatening to cut off development aid to countries who refuse to guarantee immunity from prosecution for Americans at the tribunal.Gosh, it sounds like a win-win to me!
Frustrated by deadbeat foreign diplomats, the U.S. Congress has voted to cut aid to their countries by about the sum they owe in unpaid parking tickets.They only quote Schumer, but senators implies Hillary!
At the urging of New York lawmakers, Congress tucked the measure -- to cut aid to countries next year by 110 percent of the amount their diplomats owe in parking tickets and penalties -- into the huge $388 billion spending bill lawmakers approved over the weekend.
New York City, which houses the United Nations, would stand to recover about $195 million from about 200 countries, New York's senators said.
As they're sprung from prison, job-seeking New York-area ex-cons are being advised in a manual given them by parole officers to fill that questionable gap on their résumés by lying about the time they've done, The Post has learned.Or you could just say you worked at the United Nations.
An ex-prisoners' manual, published by the New York Public Library under a state contract, is filled with useful tips on how to cook up whoppers to explain time spent in the big house — such as saying you freelanced, worked for a bankrupt company or were self-employed.
The ordeal of Dan Rather goes far beyond the man himself. It speaks to the presumption of guilt that now rules the day in America. Because of a ruthless and callow media, no citizen, much less one who achieves fame, is given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to allegations or personal attacks. The smearing of America is in full bloom.Er, Bill, Captain Dan got caught reporting an egregious fraud as fact. He did it just before the election when ordinarily it would have been hard to refute in a timely fashion. When caught red-handed he tried to stonewall. The "ruthless and callow media" presumed he was innocent until the obviousness of the fraud was manifest, although some are still in denial. Dan got a fairer "hearing" than he was providing to President Bush. The verdict went against him. End of story.
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Rather was found guilty without a fair hearing. Charges that he intentionally approved bogus documents that made President Bush look bad were leveled and widely believed. It was chilling.
All famous and successful Americans are now targets. Unscrupulous people know that any accusation can be dumped on the Internet and within hours the mainstream media will pick it up. A click of the Internet mouse can wipe out a lifetime of honor and hard work. Just the accusation or allegation can be ruinous. Let me ask you something: In the future, do you think potential public servants and social crusaders are going to risk being attacked within this insane system? I don't. I think many good people are simply going to walk away from the public arena.Somehow, I don't think he's really talking about Dan Rather or President Bush. Someone get the lad a loofah. (Beldar has a detailed analysis of ole Bill's settlement of his loofah problems.)
We have studied the background of Thanksgiving day- to express gratitude toMaryland Renames Thanksgiving 'Lucky Thursday'
the favours of the natives of the 16th century. IN principal to express
gratefulness and gratitude for favours rendered is encouraged. However,
Thanksgiving being a national holiday express its salient position in the
American culture, which has many unislamic values and principles.
Celebrating Thanksgiving purposefully or subordinately is an expression of
accepting the general American Culture. It is not celebrated independent of
the American Culture. In view of the above it is not permissible to
celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
FATWA DEPT.
Faced with the constitutional prohibition against teaching about the Christian origins of Thanksgiving in public schools, the Maryland State Department of Education has rewritten its curriculum, and renamed the holiday 'Lucky Thursday'.Less whimsically, Conservative, Liberal Lawyers Resume Christmas Clashes
Starting in 2005, 'Lucky Thursday' lessons in public schools will instruct children in the random, yet fortuitous, events which led a band of deranged religious fanatics (called Pilgrims) to beach their boat on an unexpected continent where the native people stumbled upon, then rescued them.
"The Pilgrims jumped on a boat, spun the wheel of fortune, and whammo...they ended up here," said an unnamed professor at the University of Maryland who directed the curriculum adjustment project. "Then they knelt in the sand and thanked their lucky stars."
Often referred to as the "Christmas Tree wars," the annual clashes are about to resume between lawyers from pro-Christian groups on one side and attorneys determined to keep any religious references out of public life on the other side.Forget about Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
The conservative Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) reports that it has notified more than 3,600 school districts nationwide about the rules regarding the school-sponsored celebration of Christmas. It's part of the ADF's Christmas Project, initiated last year.
Seven hundred attorneys will be available "to combat any attempts to censor the celebration of Christmas in schools and on public property," according to an ADF release.
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"The bottom line," according to the pamphlet, is that, "It's okay to say 'Merry Christmas,' regardless of the legal threats from the ACLU and its allies."
A school district's long-standing policy banning Christmas songs with religious references is under scrutiny after officials clarified that it includes the prohibition of the performance of instrumental numbers without lyrics.Meanwhile in Winnipeg, a 'Holiday tree' travesty
Instead of tunes about Jesus, and even Santa Claus, the 40-member Columbia High School brass ensemble will be limited for the first time to seasonal selections such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman," the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
What do you call a 40-foot spruce tree decorated with Christmas lights on display in a public place over the Christmas season? A "holiday tree" of course.Meanwhile in the UK, it's "Time of Gifts" (original link has expired)
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So why put up a Christmas tree at all? We had the same problem a few years ago at the Manitoba Legislature when they started calling the Christmas tree there a "multicultural tree."
BOSSES at the Eden Project tourist attraction have banned the word Christmas. They do not want any mention of what they call the C-Word because they are worried it will offend followers of other faiths.
Management have renamed Christmas “Time of Gifts” — claiming this will appeal to everyone at the domed eco project in Cornwall which gets millions of pounds in funding each year from taxpayers.
A gift shop at the site has been re-named the Great Gift Grotto.
Staff have been told to stop visitors saying Christmas.
When Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented Grateful Nation Awards last week to six young members of the U.S. military for their outstanding service in the war on terrorism, many of those attending the ceremony were taken aback by their youthful appearance.The Federalist Patriot
Each of the soldiers, sailors, and Marines who were honored at a dinner sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs was cited for bravery in combat conditions in the Persian Gulf region. Some, like Marine Cpl. Gary Spangler, looked as if they could not have been over 18 years old.
They are conspicuous but not atypical examples of the selfless and courageous young men and women who are putting their lives on the line daily in Iraq and Afghanistan as American and coalition forces battle the Islamic nihilists who want to prevent democracy from taking hold in the Middle East.
As Americans pause this week for a day of national thanksgiving, they should keep in mind the sacrifices being made by our military personnel as they confront violent insurgents in Fallujah and other cities and begin the massive reconstruction efforts aimed at beefing up security to allow Iraqis to hold a national election on Jan. 30.
Which is the quintessential American holiday? The Fourth of July, our nation's recognized birthday? No, a typical Independence Day celebration now turns more toward recreation than to original customs of patriotic reflection on the debt we owe both to our Founding Fathers and our Heavenly Father. But Thanksgiving...this holiday, more than any other commemorated in our country, has retained -- even if in attenuated form -- the sentiments present from its first celebration on our shores. On Thanksgiving, we still stop to give thanks for our blessings; we still take pause to hold our family and friends dearest in our hearts; and we still acknowledge, expressly or implicitly, the Author of life and liberty who has heaped bounties on us beyond our deserving.President Bush:
This Thanksgiving, we express our gratitude to our dedicated firefighters and police officers who help keep our homeland safe. We are grateful to the homeland security and intelligence personnel who spend long hours on faithful watch. And we give thanks for the Americans in our Armed Forces who are serving around the world to secure our country and advance the cause of freedom. These brave men and women make our entire Nation proud, and we thank them and their families for their sacrifice.
On this Thanksgiving Day, we thank God for His blessings and ask Him to continue to guide and watch over our Nation.