Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government.

Read the rest here.

Here’s why I swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. So, that I can one day meet Cpl. Jason Dunham in God’s house, shake his hand, and thank him for his sacrifice.  What an honor it will be to meet this man in Heaven.

An occupant of one of the cars attacked Dunham and the two fought hand to hand. As they fought, Dunham yelled to fellow Marines, “No, no watch his hand.” The attacker then dropped a grenade and Dunham hurled himself on top of it, using his helmet to try to blunt the force of the blast.

Still, Dunham was critically wounded in the explosion and died eight days later at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

This marine was awarded the Medal of Honor today.  Please take time this weekend to attend any event that honors our veterans.  We owe them so much, and I only wish these California college students could understand.  Today, I attended a celebration at my kid’s school, and it brought tears to my eyes.

God Bless Our Veterans. 

Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

Woman drowns her kids in a bathtub.

Woman is found NGBROI.

Woman is being released because she is “cured”

And no, it is not Andrea Yates (at least not yet.)

(hat tip Jason)

UPDATE: In today’s Chronicle there is an article about calls to change the law to guilty by reason of insanity. Let’s hope Dan and others take up this cause.

The latest telephone poll taken by the Governors of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California yielded results on whether or not people who live in in these states think illegal immigration is a serious problem:

41% of respondents answered: “Yes, it is a serious problem.”

59% of respondents answered: “No es un problema serio.”

It’s not a real poll but it is probably true enough….

(seen at Clayton Cramer’s blog)

Go let the GOP know what you think (in no uncertain terms)

If this is all true, this is one of the most outrageous things I’ve read, just about ever! (And that is saying a lot!!)

Via Drudge:

Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse

• Alberto Gonzales and George Tenet to be named
• Former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski to testify on behalf of plaintiffs (if that is true, she needs to be tried on Treason charges)
• Focus on roles of abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib

So this is how it is done? From now on we sue those in office? We give them the offical equivalent of an anal exam?

Who is going to run our country with any kind of integrity? Who wants to be part of this kind of crap?

I just heard that the Democrats are about to institute Congressional oversight over the President. i.e. investigate him with the intent to harm his reputation irrevocably.

Who will step up to the plate and run for office?

Not anyone decent that is for sure……

See for yourself!

Today is the 231st birthday of the US Marines. Give a marine a handshake and tell him thank you and happy birthday.

As you might recall, I posted a while back that NHMCCD and its union had been served with two ethics complaints. Well, Houston Community Newspapers has picked up the story (after the election of course, couldn’t have possibly influenced the election could we?). Stay tuned, I don’t think this roller coaster ride is quite over yet.

UPDATE: But there is one quote in the article that is not even correct (spin spin spin…):

“It is unfortunate that so many taxpayer dollars have been spent complying with Mr. Blanton’s numerous Open Records Requests and Ethics Complaints.”

Mr. Taylor knows this to be false. Fred Blanton has paid every penny of the “reasonable fees” he was invoiced in preparing the responses to the requests. If the college district did not charge the actual costs incurred, that was their choice, not Fred Blanton’s.
Now I ask you, how much did the failed election cost the taxpayers? Last time I checked, it was about a million dollars of taxpayer money that was wasted.  And if this election gets thrown out because of these two (and possibly more) complaints, then again how much taxpayer money has the district wasted? LOTS!

You can always count on Krauthammer to cut to the quick:

This is not realignment. As has been the case for decades, American politics continues to be fought between the 40-yard lines. The Europeans fight goal line to goal line, from socialist left to ultra-nationalist right. On the American political spectrum, these extremes are negligible. American elections are fought on much narrower ideological grounds. In this election the Democrats carried the ball from their own 45-yard line to the Republican 45-yard line.

The fact that the Democrats crossed midfield does not make this election a great anti-conservative swing. Republican losses included a massacre of moderate Republicans in the Northeast and Midwest. And Democratic gains included the addition of many conservative Democrats, brilliantly recruited by Rep. Rahm Emanuel with classic Clintonian triangulation. Hence Heath Shuler of North Carolina, antiabortion, pro-gun, anti-tax — and now a Democratic House member.

The result is that both parties have moved to the right. The Republicans have shed the last vestiges of their centrist past, the Rockefeller Republicans. And the Democrats have widened their tent to bring in a new crop of blue-dog conservatives.

In case you aren’t fully aware of the type of “blue-dog  conservative Democrat” he’s talking about, here’s a good overview of some of them.

For the sake of our country, I hope these new voices successfully influence the direction of the Democratic party.

For the sake of the GOP, it’s hard not to hope that the lefty-liberal Old Guard on capitol hill goes bonkers, over-reaches, and ends up returning a re-energized and reformed Republican party to power in Congress in 2008.

George McGovern, a former South Dakota congressman and leading opponent to the war in Vietnam, will meet with 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June.

If Democrats don’t take steps to end the war in Iraq soon, they won’t be in power very long, McGovern told reporters before a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“I think the Democratic leadership is wise enough to know that if they’re going to follow the message that election sent, they’re going to have to take steps to bring the war to a conclusion,” he said.

McGovern will present his recommendations before the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a 62-member group led by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.

“The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there,” McGovern said. “That’s what’s driving this insurgency.”

McGovern told the audience Thursday that the Iraq and Vietnam wars were equally “foolish enterprises” and that the current threat of terrorism developed because _ not before _ the United States went into Iraq.

McGovern’s plan _ as written in his new book, “Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now” _ also calls for the United States to remove hired mercenaries from the region, push for the removal of British troops and establish a temporary transitional force, similar to police, made up of Muslims from the region.

“I’ve talked with a lot of senior officers _ generals and admirals _ in preparation for this book, that say this war can’t be won, that the problems now are not military problems,” McGovern told reporters. “There isn’t going to be any decisive victory in Iraq.”

It is vital that Republican and Democratic legislators find common ground with one another and President Bush, McGovern said.

“Never let the new class of Democrats forget that they’re there in considerable part because of the war the American public has now turned against,” McGovern said. “That’s going to have to be something that they have to explore with Republicans and with the White House.”

I was hoping that the Democrats carping on the war was a function of their political braying. I was hoping that once they got their “power”, they would settle down and become more responsible. It was a hope.

I cannot believe how irresponsible these people are. If this happens, we will never be able to get an ally in the field of battle again (because we will ultimately betray them).

Will the American people be that fickle to allow it?

It also validates Osama bin Laden’s war strategy. 

I first became aware of these sorts of facts several years ago, but I’ll admit–I had pushed the issue out of my mind.

From today’s New York Times:

The toilet and the latrine, which helped revolutionize public health in New York, London and Paris more than a century ago, are among the most underused tools to combat poverty and disease in the developing world, says a United Nations report released yesterday.

“Issues dealing with human excrement tend not to figure prominently in the programs of political parties contesting elections or the agendas of governments,” said Kevin Watkins, the main author of the report. “They’re the unwanted guests at the table.”

The human cost of that taboo, however, is more unspeakable than the topic itself, he said. Every year, more than two million children die of diarrhea and other sicknesses caused by dirty water and a lack of “access to sanitation.”

That is the common euphemism for the reality that more than a third of the world’s people — 2.6 billion — have no decent place to go to the bathroom, while more than a billion get water for drinking, washing and cooking from sources polluted by human and animal feces. [snip]

In Kibera, the sprawling slum in Nairobi, Kenya, people defecate in plastic bags that they dump in ditches or toss into the street — a practice known as “the flying toilet.” In Dharavi, the vast slum in Mumbai, India, there is only one toilet per 1,440 people — and during the monsoon rains, flooded lanes run with human excrement.

Across the countryside in Asia and Africa, people are forced to squat in streams, backyards and fields, befouling the water they drink, the places where their children play and the plots where their food grows.

My God–it is just mind-boggling to truly contemplate.

Fred R.; James M.; John F.; Clif A.; William L.; Robert G.; John B.; Sandra R.; Rob L.; Michael H.; Edna S.; Gene R.; Matt C.; Michale S.; Earle E.; Gerald W.; Thomas J.; Frances O.; Robert B.; Ken R.; John O.; Joe H.; Todd G.; Toby H.; James Q.; Amanda V.; Linda G.; Gerald H.; Benjy A.; Bobby C.; Kenneth P.; Charles G.; George B.; Angela P.; David H.; “Passion” P.; Don G.; Eric J.; Lance J.; Jane B.; David S.; Eddie W.; Scott C.; Lange K.; Phillip B.; Wink M.; Edd Hendee; David D.; Don M.; Viktor S.; Sonia A.; Rolla L.; Kathrine B.; Lloyd L.; Khoa N.; Douglas F.; Kyle M.; Randy B.; Jim L.; and Dave M. for donating to our 2006 Fall Begathon!

Bottom row, left to right:
Bramanti, Squawkbox, Weidenhof

Folks–entertainment like the above picture doesn’t just happen… it takes hours and hours of meticulous research and careful comedy crafting. It’s the type of thoughtful, nuanced amusement you’ve come to expect from LST. And that we’re happy to provide you, every day, for free.

But twice a year we pass the hat and ask you to voluntarily throw a few bucks in, by way of showing appreciation. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t. Please don’t start whining if you don’t want to. We couldn’t force you to if we tried. Last year–after server costs and taxes–I made $3 bucks an hour working on LST. And I’m not complaining, please understand–I enjoyed every minute of it.

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We came across this photo a while back and never posted it; today seems as good a day as any.

Caption: “He’s giving the sign of ‘coercion’ with his left hand. These hand signs are taught in survival school to be used by POWs as a method of posing messages back to our intelligence services who may view the photo or video. This guy was obviously coerced into shaking hands with Hillary Clinton.”

Heh. If he can resist, so can we.

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