"The situation in Gaza is tragic," said Deputy Minister Abdullah Jarboa of the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.  Apparently, there is no cement to build graves.
-     Here's a thought.  Stop killing people!

Bill Clinton is outraged over Obama's surge in the polls, and he's rushing in to shake up her campaign.
-     Hey Hill, fix things yourself or get out of the race. 

The MSM is reporting that freezing winter storms have hit the Midwest and Northeast. 
-     There is a global warming crisis.  Any stories contrary to this consensus are false.

Last night I had the great misfortune to watch Kiki McLean on The O'Reilly Factor.  Never was the hypocrisy and stupidity of liberalism more on display!

O'Reilly was talking about waterboarding.  Of course, Ms. McLean considers it torture.  Therefore, we cannot use it.  When O'Reilly asked if it would be okay to use it if her kids were in danger, the answer was a resounding YES.  Waterboarding is okay to save her kids, but not to save someone else's.  Hypocrisy defined.

And then, she went on to repeat one of the more moronic canards of liberalism, i.e., if we're mean to them, they'll be mean to us.  Is she kidding.  They slaughtered 3,000 of us on 9/11 for no reason other than they could.  Was she in a coma when Zarqawi hogtied Nicholas Berg and sawed off his head?  Where was she when Daniel Pearl was beheaded?  The homeless in America should be as well taken care of as the detainees at Gitmo.

Hello Kiki!  These people are not only fanatics, they are blood-thirsty butchers who care nothing about human life.  They wanted to execute a woman for naming a teddy bear Mohammed.  A father murdered his daughter because she wouldn't wear a hijab.  We could bow down to them and give them everything they want, and they would still kill us. 

Get a clue!

I have been a legal secretary for more years than I'm going to admit to.  During that time I have been exposed to lawyers of all shapes and sizes and have come to heartily dislike female lawyers, which is maybe why I dislike Hillary Clinton. 

Right now, my office has two cases involving female lawyers representing defendants in civil cases.  One is so incredibly arrogant as to be unable to see any other side of the case but her own.  She is so convinced that her client is in the right that she views the plaintiff, and the plaintiffs attorney, with complete disdain, not worthy of a second thought.

The Good Book says that pride goes before a fall, and she's in for a big one next week.  She's about to get her arrogance handed back to her in spades.  I would love to be there to see how well she recovers from the shock.

The other female attorney is another story.  She has some complaint with the boss, so who does she take it out on?  That's right, little ol' me.  Despite how long I've been in this business, it never ceases to amaze me that people think they have the right to talk to and treat me however they feel.  Of course, they would never speak that way to the boss.

I was so taken aback by this women's rudeness that I was speechless, which my friends will tell you is a rare event.  She barely let me get a word in edgewise and then just abruptly hung up when she was done with her tirade.  I was so angry I was shaking.*

When I composed myself, I called her back to let her know that when she dealt with me in the future, she was to remember that she didn't pay my salary and was not going to be rude and unpleasant to me.  

Hey, got a problem, go abuse your own secretary.  Better yet, put on your big girl panties and actually yell at the person you're angry with. 
________

*  Once upon a time, I told a female lawyer that when talking with me she was to refrain from using the words, "You have until the end of the day to do" whatever it was she wanted done.  Taken aback doesn't begin to describe it.

In a case arising out of a car accident involving the death of a 10-year old boy, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the doctor of the man driving the car can be held liable if he failed to warn that patient about a drug's side effects.  According to the Boston Globe, this will greatly expand "potential liability for the medical profession."

You think.

Doctors are not babysitters.  The patient had the responsibility to inform himself of what he was putting into his body and what it could do to him.  I can fully envision this man seeking indemnity for the death he caused by claiming that the doctor didn't warn him.   "I wouldn't have been driving if only I had known." 

This ruling could open the floodgates of new litigation.  "My doctor didn't warn me, and _____________________ happened."  "If only my doctor had warned me, I wouldn't have done __________________________."  

People are always going to look for the deep pocket, and the guilty will always try to shift responsibility to someone else.  Even if doctors give warnings, how are they going to prove it?  Are they going to have to set up tape recording or videotaping systems in their offices?  Have a nurse present?  Have the patient sign a statement under penalty of perjury that they have been warned?

I can guarantee you that even if all of the above were put into play, judges would be more than happy to help patients find a way out.  That's what the cradle-to-grave mentality is all about.

Please don't think that I'm sticking up for doctors.  A scalpel-happy butcher killed my mother.  I'm sure the 6-figure fee he received for his services make up for his sorrow at her passing.


 

I do not believe that man is destroying the planet by breathing.  I do not believe that man is destroying the planet by driving, cooking, heating our homes, etc.  I do not believe that cows and sheep are destroying the planet by breaking wind.

In short, I do not believe that man is the cause of global warming.  In fact, I do not believe that we are having a global warming crisis.  I believe that all the stories to the contrary are just a bunch of hooey designed to separate the general populace from their money.

Into this overheated (excuse the pun) rhetoric steps Barry Walters, clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia, who has stated that having babies is bad for the planet.  He believes that parents of more than two children should be charged a birth levy and annual tax to offset the "greenhouse gases" their children will be responsible for over their lifetimes.  Would parents have to keep paying this tax after their children turn 18, or would the children themselves then be responsible? 

Those who use contraceptives or submit to sterilization would earn tax relief for their efforts to help keep the population down.

My gosh.  Is this man really serious?  Is he actually advocating that government use its coercive powers to bring about the end of humanity, or would a select few be allowed to reproduce and sterilization forced upon those who don't make the cut?

I have often stated, tongue in cheek, that if man is destroying the planet, then man must cease to exist.  I have said this because I don't believe the people espousing this tripe fully comprehend that that is the only logical conclusion to their arguments.

Now that someone has actually said it, will the alarmists embrace it?  If so, then we'll see just how far they have journeyed from reality.  If not, why not?

Barack Obama has two claims to fame.  The first is that he's black.  He's also white, but nobody ever mentions that because, as we all know, a white first-term senator from Illinois, or from anywhere else for that matter, would not be getting the play that Obama is.  Facts may be inconvenient, but facts are facts nonetheless.

His second claim to fame is his continued, insistent, and increasingly annoying mantra that he was always against the war in Iraq.  Big talk from a man who never had to make that decision.  He wasn't in Congress at that time and never had to put his money where his mouth is.  From what I've read, his record in the Illinois Senate was much the same, i.e., talk big but vote "present."

Which brings us to John Edwards, unfortunately.  While watching the news yesterday, I saw something on the ticker that made me look further to see if it was the truth.  This search took me to the websites of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, where I found out it wasn't.

After President Bush unveiled his plan regarding the foreclosure crisis, all the wannabes took to the internet to show that the President's plan was good, but not quite good enough.

I found Mr. Edwards' thoughts to be particularly galling, especially in light of the fact that he had an interest in or participated in an enterprise that was foreclosing in Louisiana, which in my book is more abominable than foreclosing on some idiot who bit off more than he could chew in the hopes of making a quick buck.

The website proclaimed:  "To bring accountability and results to the foreclosure crisis, Edwards will:"

Interesting choice of words that.  Senators Biden, Clinton, Dodd, and Obama, along with Rep. Kucinich and, maybe, Gov. Richardson, are actually in a position to do something.  John Edwards can do absolutely nothing about the crisis except talk.  If, God forbid, he is elected, he won't take office until January 2009, some 13 months away.  We have no idea what the crisis will look like then, or if there will even still be a crisis.   So, in actuality, Mr. Edwards' words mean nothing. 

Two men.  One, with the hindsight of the present, bragging about something he didn't do in the past, the other pontificating about a matter he can do nothing about.

Big talk.

Let's just assume for a moment that the NIE report is correct and Iran did discontinue its quest for nuclear weapons in 2003.  What else happened in 2003?

That's right.  America went to war in Iraq.  It's no secret that Libya gave up its nuclear weapons program in direct response to the Iraq war.  And now, if you believe what you read, President Bush's Iraq war could have had the same impact on Iran.

But, of course, no one will give him credit.  The Left will never publicly make the connection and will instead use this as yet another opportunity to deride the President.

As for myself, I don't believe for one nanosecond that Iran has given up its dream of nuclear weapons.  Fanatics never give up their dreams of world domination until they are deservedly crushed. 

Emotionally speaking, the Left is comprised of children and children take no responsibility whatsoever for their actions.  Today they will herald this report and back off Iran, leaving it free to do whatever it wants unperturbed. 

If, in a few years, that results in something very bad happening somewhere in the world, President Bush will be blamed for it.

Because, as you see, children will always blame the adults.

The authors of the 2005 National Intelligence Estimate said "with high confidence that Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure, but we do not assess that Iran is immovable."

The authors of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate said "with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.  Judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years . . .  Assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons."

The authors' disclaimer is that "a 'high confidence' judgment is not a fact or a certainty . . . and such judgments still carry a risk of being wrong."

Well, no kidding.

Two years ago you saw no signs that Iran had discontinued its nuclear weapons program two years previously, but now four years hence you are "confident" that it did.

One could almost be persuaded that the authors had no idea what they were talking about if it wasn't for the fact that this assessment was arrived at by consensus.

As with global warming, it must be fact.

The world, as we know it, is coming to an end.  So, why bother getting out of bed.

World leaders have hopped their private jets to Bali, where they will run their air conditioners 24 hours a day and litter the landscape with their empty water bottles, all the while talking about the global warming crisis.  Short of returning the world to the Stone Age or killing off half the world's population, there is no solution to this problem.  And, we only have 9 more years BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.  Scientists are even now complaining about how dying trees are adding to the problem.  And trees used to be such a good thing.  Clean air used to be a good thing, too, but now it's letting too much sun get to the ground and adding to global warming.

Tell you what, if you're a global warmist then you have an absolute duty to end your life so that you can be a part of the solution instead of a part of the problem.  And no, I don't think I'm being too extreme.  All we ever hear about nowadays is that man is the problem.  We drive too much.  We consume too much.  We use too much energy.  Blah!  Blah!  Blah!  Well, if man is the problem, then man must be eliminated, starting with those who believe this hogwash.  Go ahead.  Be a shining example to us deniers.  Show us that you really, really care about saving the planet.  No.  Then sit down and shut up.

And if that's not enough, oil is grossly overpriced at $100 a barrel, adding a dollar to a gallon of gas in just the last 11 months.  Dear Congress, thank you so much for this.  There aren't enough words to express how I feel about what you've done to this country in this regard.  And hey, let's not forget that Rep. John Dingell (D) wants to add another 50 cents or so to the price to pay for all the global warming legislation that isn't going to solve the problem.

And now, the coup de grace.  The dollar is perilously close to collapse.  I say let it.  Maybe if the dollar collapsed, the rest of the world would stop sucking us dry.  Where would the Chinese economy be without our dollar?  Where would the tinpot dictators of OPEC be without our dollar?  Where would the United Nations be without our dollar?  Where would most of the countries of the world be without the billions of our dollars Uncle Sam steals from us to give to them in foreign aid?

Is there anyone out there who can say something hopeful about the future?

P.S.  Don't forget that the subprime mess is going to make the banking system collapse.

A group of scientists at the National Observatory in Athens has studied the colors in more than 500 paintings of sunsets in hopes of gaining insight into climate change.  What's next?  Picasso for anatomy students?

The Surgeon General has declared that Santa Claus is a bad role model because he's overweight.  Next up, the Easter Bunny.

Rudy Giuliani has got some 'splaining to do.  Apparently, he was billing city agencies for security for his girlfriend back in 2000-01.  Analysts say this might endanger his frontrunner status because it could remind voters of his "very messy private life."  As though Hillary Clinton is not a living, breathing, walking, talking reminder of someone's "very messy private life."

According to a new Gallup Poll, Republicans are significantly more likely than democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent.  Well, duh!

Right hand to God, that was my first thought when I heard about the "hostage" situation at one of Hillary Clinton's campaign offices in New Hampshire.

Isn't that a startling thought?  Immediately, without any hesitation whatsoever, I pegged her as the behind-the-scenes manipulator of an event that would propel her to the top of the day's news heap.  And I was right, at least about the latter.

This is what Glen Johnson of the Associated Press had to say:  "When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis."

Where to begin!

Firstly, Mrs. Clinton was in Washington, D.C., about 400 miles away from the crisis.  Secondly, she didn't "stroll" out of her home until the crisis was over.  As for the "regal" part, it probably took her all day to get ready for that stroll.  She was going to be the top news story, and she was bloody well going to look good.  If she had come out looking haggard or tired, one just might believe that she had spent some part of the day worrying about the situation instead of primping for the close-up she knew was coming.

Mr. Johnson's slavish drivel continues:  "the Democratic (sic) presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner."  Is he for real!  She canceled a speech and stayed home all day.  Color me impressed!

She expressed "grave concern" when she first heard of the situation.  Of my gosh, give her a Nobel.  What did anyone expert her to say?  So what?  Ho hum?

Not to be outdone by the press, Larry Sabato said that she "looked and sounded presidential . . . this was an instance of the White House experience of this campaign . . . they knew how to handle this . . ."  Give me a break!

Hillary Clinton was nowhere near the event, nor did she do anything to bring it to an end.  She expressed "grave concern" at the beginning, relief at the end, and turned the whole thing to her political advantage.

Mrs. Clinton's calm and regal image was "broadcast just as the network news began."  Of course it was.  Mighty accommodating hostage taker, wouldn't you say.

Just read an article about the data coming from the European Space Agency's Venus Express, which has been orbiting that planet since April 2006.

Apparently, Venus "is an inferno of carbon dioxide" that has been "transformed from a haven for water to a fiery hell by an unstoppable greenhouse effect."

This can't possibly be true.  We have been told ad nauseam that global warming is caused by people driving cars powered by fossil fuels.  Okay, cows and sheep aren't helping things, but mostly it's us people.

Since there is no data coming from the Venus Express that mentions people driving SUVs, we must conclude that global warming is a naturally-occurring event.  And what's happening on Venus bodes very bad for us here on planet Earth.

Why?  I'm glad you asked.

According to this article, water vapour is a greenhouse gas that traps solar heat, which caused Venus to heat up even more, which caused more surface water to evaporate and eventually dissipate into space, "a vicious circle of self-reinforcing warming" which eventually caused Venus "to become bone dry."

Two-thirds of the Earth's surface is water.  Ipso.  Facto.  Ergo.  We're doomed.

Following in the footsteps of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, outgoing Philadelphia Mayor John Street officiated at a same-sex "commitment" ceremony for Micah Manjoubian, his deputy secretary of external affairs, and Micah's male partner.

Mr. Street emphasized that "It is not marriage.  It's not real marriage.  They can't be married.  It's not a religious ceremony.  I mean, it's not really marriage."

Then why do it?

Gay commitment ceremonies are just all the rage.  Everybody's doing it.  It's not really marriage, so what's the harm?

The harm is in the flaunting of the law.  Laws are put into place for the benefit and safety of the public.  We rely on those laws to know where we stand in relationship to each other.  When elected officials simply decide to start picking and choosing which laws they will uphold and which they won't, when and where will it stop?

By his actions, Mr. Street simply said that he didn't care about the law against gay marriage or civil unions.  That's pretty much the same thing a bank robber says when he decides to rob a bank.  Different degrees of severity and different results don't change the simple fact that one person has decided to ignore a law he/she doesn't like.

Of course, the Left lives in the moment, without a second thought to consequences.  For them, slippery slopes are something on which to ski.

Woman aborts child to save the planet,
     Thank God her genes are out of the pool.

There's another peace summit in the mid-East.
     Why?  All the others have worked so well.

Romney wants to incarcerate abortionists.
     If performing an abortion is a crime, then so is having one.

Trent Lott is leaving the Senate.
     Who knew he was still in it.

The decline in US casualties in Iraq is not a sign of progress.  Bill Richardson
     This from the man who thinks his presidential campaign is going somewhere.

Australia is pulling its troops out of Iraq.
     Next time you get in trouble, call Iran.

America is enslaved to Saudi oil.  Mike Huckabee
     Is this true?  Doesn't this fund terrorism?  Is anyone doing anything about this?

Saudi Arabia celebrated its 136th beheading of 2007.

Sheriff's Daily Log - Mariposa, California

Nov. 6 - A suspicious person was behind the apartments on Joe Howard Street.

Nov. 7 - A person walked up to another on Sierra Drive and slapped her.

Nov. 8 - A greenhouse on Bear Valley Road was broken into and six marijuana plants stolen.  (You actually told the Sheriff that someone stole your marijuana plants?) 

Nov. 9 - An ambulance was requested for someone who was bitten by an unknown kind of spider in the Jerseydale area.

Nov. 10 - An explosive device was found at Lake Don Pedro, but transported to a home in La Grange.  (Okay, this one has me worried.  Why was an explosive device transported to a home?)

Nov. 11 - Juveniles were knocking on doors and running away in the town area.