Media Bias In The Reporting of Israel

Studly Obama versus Workout Fanatic Bush: MSM Bias Again!

Michelle Malkin has posted a nice piece regarding the diverse view the MSM hold with regards to Obama's and Bush's workout regimens. She does an expert job in slamming the MSM for their drooling over Obama's recent beach shots, whereas in the past they criticized Bush's workouts as being a self-indulgent obsession.

Good reading!
"Tale of Two Presidential Workout Fanatics."

Atheists Suing To Stop Inaugural Prayers

You might remember Michael Newdow leading the unsuccessful charge a couple of years ago to get "under God" removed from The Pledge of Allegiance. Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom From Religion, has joined Newdow in his current injunction filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia in an attempt to prevent Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., along with the congressional sponsors of the Jan. 20 inaugural and several other defendants, from inserting the words "so help me God" into the oath. The Rev. Joseph E. Lowry, tagged to deliver the benediction at President-Elect Obama's inauguration, and Pastor Rick Warren, who will offer the invocation, have also been named in the injunction. Newdow made the same challenges to prayer and "so help me God" four and eight years ago for President Bush's inaugurations. (Both previous attempts failed.)

Besides the prayers, that challenge is also to the President's oath, which has traditionally included the phrase "so help me God." According to Tony Mauro of Law.com, the oath of office is included in the U.S. Constitution but does not include the controversial phrase; however, presidents and chief justices have traditionally included the words in every inauguration since 1933. According to historians, George Washington used the words in the first inaugural, but that is disputed by others who claim that it did not become common practice until FDR's inaugurations.

The 34-page lawsuit argues the prayers and religious references "are completely exclusionary, showing absolute disrespect to Plaintiffs and others of similar religious views, who explicitly reject the purely religious claims that will be endorsed, i.e., (a) there exists a God, and (b) the United States government should pay homage to that God."

As Mike Majchrowitz of FoxNews explains it, the plaintiffs claim that the government is picking a winner between "believers" and "those who don't believe" and subjecting atheists and agnostics to someone else's religious beliefs. Majchrowitz continues:

The 34-page legal complaint similarly seeks to enjoin Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., from adding the phrase "So help me God" to the presidential oath of office.

"We're hoping to stop prayer and religious rituals at governmental functions, especially at the inauguration," Barker told FOX News Radio.

"The inauguration is not a religious event. It is a secular event of a secular country that includes all Americans, including those of us who are not Christians, including those of us who are not believers," he continued.

Barker, who said government's not picking sides on the issue of religion is "hard wired into our Constitution," called the 29 members of the suit all atheists and agnostics who love their country and participating in the inauguration.

"Yet we are subjected to someone else's religious views with the endorsement of the government, which makes us feel like second class outsiders," he said.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the same group that fought to have atheist displays next to holiday displays, most notably in Washington state this year.

He said if Obama wants to hold a private religious ceremony, that would be more appropriate than having religious figures up on stage at his swearing in ceremony.

I am surprised by the rising tide of in-your-face atheism that has bubbled to our society's surface in the last couple of years. Not only are there the occasional books challenging belief in general and Christianity in particular, or the occasional Hollywood cheap shot, but there is now a plethora of atheist blogs on the Internet. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that, given that blogs bring together those of like mind, forming a virtual community.

I try to imagine and empathize with how difficult it must be for atheists, given that they are a small minority in a nation filled with people of faith. However, I am concerned by how mean-spirited the attacks are becoming. Just today I stumbled across a blog of a young, adolescent atheist with his symbol being a "I heart Roman lions." Wow ... I'm trying to attribute such intolerant feelings to his youth and hope that not all atheists are so filled with hatred toward believers.

[For updates on Obama's controversial pick of Rick Warren, go here, here, and here.]

McBride, B.C. Deserves A Medal!

Some 40 to 50 volunteers of McBride, B.C. spent the week before Christmas digging a 6-foot deep, half-mile long trench in order to lead two abandoned, emaciated horses to safety. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch carries the story:

Town Spends Week Rescuing Horses Abandoned On Moutain

ASSOCIATED PRESS

12/27/2008

MCBRIDE, British Columbia -- Two frostbitten, emaciated horses were recovering inside a warm barn on Saturday thanks to volunteers who spent the week before Christmas digging the animals out of snow in the mountains of northeastern British Columbia.

Birgit Stutz said Saturday the rescuers cheered when they finally finished digging a half-mile escape route through the snow for the animals. The horses had been abandoned by a hunter and faced almost certain death.

Stutz said the horses eagerly accepted being bridled and seemed to know they were safe as volunteers led them on a seven-hour hike down the mountain in freezing temperatures on Tuesday.

Stutz said about 40 or 50 people took part in the rescue over the course of a week.

"It was a big effort," Stutz said in a telephone interview.

Stutz said the horses were discovered on Dec. 15 by two local residents. They were above the tree line and had no shelter at first.

Logan Jeck and a friend stumbled across the horses while out looking for some snowmobiles left behind by tourists who had gotten stuck during a trip to the back country on the side of Mount Renshaw -- about 750 miles northeast of Vancouver.

At first, the young men thought the most humane thing to do would be to shoot the emaciated horses to put them out of their misery.

"They went up to assess the situation and to decide whether they were going to shoot them or give them hay. They decided they had enough life in them so that's when it all started," Stutz said.

Over the course of a week, a growing number of residents trudged up the mountain with shovels in hand to dig out an escape pathway through 6-foot-deep snow. Stutz said the volunteers had to dig a trench just over a half a mile long through the brush along the mountainside.

On Dec. 19, the local chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent up a couple of officers along with a veterinarian to consider whether the animals could be lifted out by helicopter.

Shawn Eccles, an animal-protection officer, said on a scale of 1 to 9, the horses' health rated about a 2.

The horses are now under a veterinarian's care and are being carefully fed and watered.

"They're doing well," Stutz said.

Stutz said she and her friends spent so much time and effort on the rescue that they really didn't have time to prepare for the holidays. Her family did not even put up a Christmas tree, but no one is complaining.

"This is probably the best Christmas gift a person could have, to be able to get these horses out of there," she said. "Just knowing that we managed to help these poor creatures out there in the cold and get them to safety, it's a better Christmas than you could have otherwise."

I wonder what these volunteers would do if they could get their hands on the guy who abandoned the horses ... perhaps they would be more compassionate towards him than he was to these two beautiful creatures. I suggest as the culprit's punishment that he be made to dig a similar trench on his own. Oh, and of course pay all veterinary and rehabilitation fees for the horses. Cleaning out their barn for the rest of his life might also be a good addition to his "sentence."

Tobacco Orbs: An Alternative for Smokers in Smoke-Free Environments

I am not a smoker, but with our society's increasing restrictions on smokers, some bordering on the ridiculous, I sometimes feel sorry for smokers. Luckily, Camel will be test-marketing a new product in January in some cities: "Camel Orbs." The aspirin-sized, dissolvable tobacco tablets will be in stores in Portland, Columbus, and Indianapolis, offering smokers a smokeless alternative in smoke-free spaces. The tablets are smoke-, spit-, and litter-free.

According to a recent story in USAToday, tobacco companies have spent the last two years developing smoking alternatives to meet customer demand (emphasis added):

In the past two years, the nation's two largest cigarette companies, R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA, have moved into the smokeless tobacco market as cigarette sales continue to fall. Each introduced smokeless pouches or "snus, " touted as spit-free products that sit inside the mouth. They also bought smokeless tobacco companies.

"We've been very pleased with the consumer response" to Marlboro Snus, says David Sutton, spokesman of Altria Group, which owns Philip Morris USA. He says smokeless is a "growing category" with sales rising 6%-8% annually. He says cigarette sales are falling 2%-3% each year.

It sounds like a wonderful idea; however, many health authorities are concerned. The USAToday story continues (emphasis added):

"These products are designed to enhance social acceptability of tobacco," says Connolly. "They've left the realm of traditional tobacco products" and are more akin to food. He says they may pose fewer health risks than cigarettes because they are smokeless, but he says they're dangerous because they keep people addicted. Also, he says, they're attractive to kids, because they're easy to hide.

Cigarette smoking rates among U.S. teens continued to fall last year but their smokeless tobacco use remained stagnant, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study at the University of Michigan.

Teens like risk-taking behavior and a tablet, unlike a cigarette, won't lure them, says Sara Troy Machir, spokeswoman of Star Scientific, a small tobacco company that sells two dissolvable products, Ariva and Stonewall.

After Ariva began selling in 2001, a coalition of public health groups asked the Food and Drug Administration to regulate it as a food but FDA said it was tobacco. Under a pending bill in Congress, which President-elect Barack Obama supports, the FDA would be given authority to regulate tobacco products.

Perhaps this will help smokers when they find themselves in situations where smoking is verboten, such as in restaurants, office buildings, or in communities that ban outdoor smoking in places such as football stadiums.

Dave Barry's Take on 2008

Today, Dave Barry has a humorous assessment of 2008 -- "Dave Barry Year in Review: Bailing Out of 2008." He asks his audience "how weird a year was it?" and proceeds with a month-by-month listing of odd occurrences, most of which focus on the election. His view of Obama versus Hillary, for me, is the highpoint.

JANUARY

. . . which begins, as it does every four years, with presidential contenders swarming into Iowa and expressing sincerely feigned interest in corn ...

On the Democratic side, the surprise winner is Barack Obama, who is running for president on a long and impressive record of running for president. A mesmerizing speaker, Obama electrifies voters with his exciting new ideas for change, although people have trouble remembering exactly what these ideas were because they were so darned mesmerized. Some people become so excited that they actually pass out. These are members of the press corps.

Obama's victory comes at the expense of former front-runner Hillary Clinton, who fails to ignite voter passion despite a rip-snorter of a stump speech in which she recites, without notes, all 17 points of her plan to streamline tuition-loan applications.

FEBRUARY

The battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton heats up as the two engage in a series of increasingly hostile debates, including one in which Secret Service agents have to tackle a large, angry, red-faced man who bursts from the audience shouting incoherently. This turns out to be Bill Clinton, who is swiftly dispatched by his wife's campaign to work his magic on voters in the crucial Guam caucuses.

Abroad, Fidel Castro steps down after 49 years as president of Cuba, explaining that he wants to spend more time decomposing. In selecting his successor, the Cuban National Assembly, after conducting an exhaustive nationwide search, selects Fidel's brother, Raúl, who narrowly edges out Dennis Kucinich.

MARCH

In politics, Barack Obama addresses the issue of why, in his 20 years of membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he failed to notice that the pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is a racist lunatic. In a major televised address widely hailed for its brilliance, Obama explains that . . . OK, nobody really remembers what the actual explanation was. But everybody agrees it was mesmerizing.

Obama's opponent, Hillary Clinton, gets into a controversy of her own when she claims that, as first lady, she landed in Bosnia ''under sniper fire.'' News outlets quickly locate archive video showing that she was in fact greeted with a welcoming ceremony featuring an 8-year-old girl reading a poem. Clinton's campaign releases a statement pointing out that it was "a pretty long poem.''

In environmental news, Earth Hour is observed on March 29, when cities around the world display their commitment to conserving energy by turning out their lights for one hour. When the lights come back on, Detroit is missing.

APRIL

. . . tensions run high in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, which all the experts agree is extremely crucial. Barack Obama gets into trouble with rural voters for saying that rural Americans are ''bitter'' and ''cling to guns or religion.'' Responding to charges that this statement is elitist, Obama responds: "You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy.''

MAY

. . . the International Atomic Energy Agency releases a report stating that Iran is actively developing nuclear warheads. In response, Iran issues a statement asserting that (1) it absolutely is not developing nuclear warheads, and (2) these are peaceful warheads. The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China convene an emergency meeting, during which they manage, in heated negotiations, to talk France out of surrendering.

JUNE

. . . Barack Obama finally claims the bitterly contested Democratic nomination when Hillary Clinton, behind on delegates and in debt to the tune of $25 million, including $9 million for hairspray alone, suspends her campaign and declares that she has ''no hard feelings'' and will do ''whatever it takes'' to help Obama get elected ''even though he is scum.'' Bill Clinton, at his wife's side, nods vigorously, but is unable to speak because of the restraining device. A gracious John McCain tells the press that he ''looks forward to a spirited debate with Sen. Mondale.'' Before he can take questions he is informed by his aides that he has an important meeting.

JULY

. . . Barack Obama, having secured North and South America, flies to Germany without using an airplane and gives a major speech -- speaking English and German simultaneously -- to 200,000 mesmerized Germans, who immediately elect him chancellor, prompting France to surrender.

AUGUST

. . . Barack Obama, continuing to shake up the establishment, selects as his running mate Joe Biden, a tireless fighter for change since he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1849. The Democratic Party gathers in Denver to formally nominate Obama, who descends from his Fortress of Solitude to mesmerize the adoring crowd with an acceptance speech objectively described by The New York Times as "comparable to the Gettysburg Address, only way better.''

But the presidential campaign is soon overshadowed by the troubled economy ... Why not give these institutions MORE hundreds of billions of dollars, generously provided by taxpayers?

This plan is discussed and debated in urgent meetings in Washington attended by the president, the cabinet, congressional leaders, Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain and all other concerned parties except the actual taxpayers, who are not invited because they are, with all due respect, way too stupid to understand high finance. The taxpayers are repeatedly assured, however, that unless they fork over $700 billion, the economy will go right down the toilet.

OCTOBER

The economy dominates the presidential campaign, with the focal point being ''Joe the Plumber,'' an Ohio resident who asks Barack Obama a mildly confrontational question about tax policy and within hours is more famous than the Dalai Lama. He draws intense scrutiny from the news media, which, using investigative reporters borrowed from the Palin-yeti beat, determine that ''Joe the Plumber'' is in fact (1) not named Joe, (2) not a plumber, (3) a citizen of Belgium, and (4) biologically, a woman.

In non-economic news, a Las Vegas jury convicts O.J. Simpson on 12 counts of being an unbelievable idiot. He faces more than 60 years in jail, which could end his relentless quest to find the killer of the people he stabbed to death in 1994.

NOVEMBER

. . . Barack Obama, in a historic triumph, becomes the nation's first black president since the second season of 24, setting off an ecstatically joyful and boisterous all-night celebration that at times threatens to spill out of The New York Times newsroom. Obama, following through on his promise to bring change to Washington, quickly begins assembling an administration consisting of a diverse group of renegade outsiders, ranging all the way from lawyers who attended Ivy League schools and then worked in the Clinton administration to lawyers who attended entirely different Ivy league schools and then worked in the Clinton administration.

DECEMBER

President-elect Obama, continuing to bring change in the form of fresh-faced Washington outsiders, announces that his secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton. The position of secretary of defense, currently held by Bush appointee Robert Gates, will be filled by Bush appointee Robert Gates. Responding to rumors that he also plans to retain Dick Cheney, Obama insists that he has tried to ask the vice president to leave, "but nobody knows where he is.''

*****************

Barry's spoof also covers topics such as NASA, O.J. Simpson, sports, and Iran. Go here for the full article.

Trophy Kids Entering The Work Force

Trophy kids, or "millennials," are the latest challenge among many that managers in the workplace are facing these days. Millennials, born between 1980 and 2001, are a group of young adults who were characteristically coddled by their parents, who instilled in their children a strong sense of entitlement. Ron Alsop has written a book about this special pack: "The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How The Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up The Workplace."

The Wall Street Journal's Careers section published a synopsis of Alsop's book, which details the workplace attitude's of millennials and employers' efforts to manage the new employees.

When Gretchen Neels, a Boston-based consultant, was coaching a group of college students for job interviews, she asked them how they believe employers view them. She gave them a clue, telling them that the word she was looking for begins with the letter "e." One young man shouted out, "excellent." Other students chimed in with "enthusiastic" and "energetic." Not even close. The correct answer, she said, is "entitled." "Huh?" the students responded, surprised and even hurt to think that managers are offended by their highfalutin opinions of themselves.

If there is one overriding perception of the millennial generation, it's that these young people have great -- and sometimes outlandish -- expectations. Employers realize the millennials are their future work force, but they are concerned about this generation's desire to shape their jobs to fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace.

Although members of other generations were considered somewhat spoiled in their youth, millennials feel an unusually strong sense of entitlement. Older adults criticize the high-maintenance rookies for demanding too much too soon. "They want to be CEO tomorrow," is a common refrain from corporate recruiters.

More than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com. The generation's greatest expectations: higher pay (74% of respondents); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%).

"They really do seem to want everything, and I can't decide if it's an inability or an unwillingness to make trade-offs," says Derrick Bolton, assistant dean and M.B.A. admissions director at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. "They want to be CEO, for example, but they say they don't want to give up time with their families."

This clash in the workplace is the result of Millennials butting heads with driven Babyboomers. However, Millennials outnumber Babyboomers: 92 million versus 78 million.

But, what about the current economic situation? Perhaps the Millenials' sense of superiority will help them weather the storm:

Millennials, of course, will have to temper their expectations as they seek employment during this deep economic slump. But their sense of entitlement is an ingrained trait that will likely resurface in a stronger job market. Some research studies indicate that the millennial generation's great expectations stem from feelings of superiority. Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Research Institute and MonsterTrak, an online careers site, conducted a research study of 18- to 28-year-olds and found that nearly half had moderate to high superiority beliefs about themselves. The superiority factor was measured by responses to such statements as "I deserve favors from others" and "I know that I have more natural talents than most."

For their part, millennials believe they can afford to be picky, with talent shortages looming as baby boomers retire. "They are finding that they have to adjust work around our lives instead of us adjusting our lives around work," a teenage blogger named Olivia writes on the Web site Xanga.com. "What other option do they have? We are hard working and utilize tools to get the job done. But we don't want to work more than 40 hours a week, and we want to wear clothes that are comfortable. We want to be able to spice up the dull workday by listening to our iPods. If corporate America doesn't like that, too bad."

Where do such feelings come from? Blame it on doting parents, teachers and coaches. Millennials are truly "trophy kids," the pride and joy of their parents. The millennials were lavishly praised and often received trophies when they excelled, and sometimes when they didn't, to avoid damaging their self-esteem. They and their parents have placed a high premium on success, filling résumés with not only academic accolades but also sports and other extracurricular activities.

What kind of adaptations are managers having to make with their Trophy Kids? Their heretofore unseen high expectations, due more to mindset rather than arrogance, demand such things as a flexible work schedule, frequent evaluations (but beware harshness), detailed steps to follow, and loads of praise.

Millennials want loads of attention and guidance from employers. An annual or even semiannual evaluation isn't enough. They want to know how they're doing weekly, even daily. "The millennials were raised with so much affirmation and positive reinforcement that they come into the workplace needy for more," says Subha Barry, managing director and head of global diversity and inclusion at Merrill Lynch & Co.

But managers must tread lightly when making a critique. This generation was treated so delicately that many schoolteachers stopped grading papers and tests in harsh-looking red ink. Some managers have seen millennials break down in tears after a negative performance review and even quit their jobs. "They like the constant positive reinforcement, but don't always take suggestions for improvement well," says Steve Canale, recruiting manager at General Electric Co. In performance evaluations, "it's still important to give the good, the bad and the ugly, but with a more positive emphasis."

Millennials also want things spelled out clearly. Many flounder without precise guidelines but thrive in structured situations that provide clearly defined rules and the order that they crave. Managers will need to give step-by-step directions for handling everything from projects to voice-mail messages to client meetings. It may seem obvious that employees should show up on time, limit lunchtime to an hour and turn off cellphones during meetings. But those basics aren't necessarily apparent to many millennials.

Gail McDaniel, a corporate consultant and career coach for college students, spoke to managers at a health-care company who were frustrated by some of their millennial employees. It seems that one young man missed an important deadline, and when his manager asked him to explain, he said, "Oh, you forgot to remind me." Parents and teachers aren't doing millennials any favors by constantly adapting to their needs, Ms. McDaniel says. "Going into the workplace, they have an expectation that companies will adapt for them, too."

Millennials also expect a flexible work routine that allows them time for their family and personal interests. "For this generation, work is not a place you go; work is a thing you do," says Kaye Foster-Cheek, vice president for human resources at Johnson & Johnson.

Here's another big difference between Millennials and Babyboomers: Millennials associate no stigma with "job surfing" -- changing jobs a lot in the ongoing search satisfaction:

Although millennials have high expectations about what their employers should provide them, companies shouldn't expect much loyalty in return. If a job doesn't prove fulfilling, millennials will forsake it in a flash. Indeed, many employers say it's retention that worries them most.

In the Michigan State/MonsterTrak study, about two-thirds of the millennials said they would likely "surf" from one job to the next. In addition, about 44% showed their lack of loyalty by stating that they would renege on a job-acceptance commitment if a better offer came along.

These workplace nomads don't see any stigma in listing three jobs in a single year on their resumes. They are quite confident about landing yet another job, even if it will take longer in this dismal economy. In the meantime, they needn't worry about their next paycheck because they have their parents to cushion them. They're comfortable in the knowledge that they can move back home while they seek another job. The weak job market may make millennials think twice about moving on, but once jobs are more plentiful, they will likely resume their job-hopping ways.

Justin Pfister, the founder of Open Yard, an online retailer of sports equipment, believes he and his fellow millennials will resist having their expectations deflated. If employers fail to provide the opportunities and rewards millennials seek, he says, they're likely to drop out of the corporate world as he did and become entrepreneurs. "We get stifled when we're offered single-dimensional jobs," he says. "We are multi-dimensional people living and working in a multi-dimensional world."

How did this all come about? Alsop points out the irony: the generational tension was created by grumbling baby-boomers that were the indulgent parents who created the current workforce.

Ms. Barry of Merrill Lynch sees the irony. She is teaching her teenage daughter to value her own opinions and to challenge things. Now she sees many of those challenging millennials at her company and wonders how she and other managers can expect the kids they raised to suddenly behave differently at work. "It doesn't mean we can be as indulgent as managers as we are as parents," she says. "But as parents of young people just like them, we can treat them with respect."

Christmas Stories of Hope

I'm one of those who loves those occasional Christmas news stories of someone doing something heroic for another person. Such stories are rare, given that our MSM love to present gloom and doom ... and, apparently we, the public, devour such bad news as the well trained little Pavlovian dogs that we have become. With all the horror stories hitting the news the past couple of days, as well as retailers and the MSM pounding on us again for the supposed low turnout on Christmas shopping (as they do every cotton-pickin' year), I thought I would share with you some of the heartwarming stories I have gleaned from the news.

Christmas Wish Granted, Fire Victims Get New Home
By Ann Rubin (KSDK)

A family in Troy, Missouri lost everything following a house fire Sunday. But what was gone in an instant was replaced less than three days later, thanks to the generosity of the community.

After the flames were out, fire and police officials did not believe their work was done. They spoke to the victim, Amanda Thomas, at the scene.

"I told her you don't worry about Christmas," said Officer Mike Priest, Troy Police Department. "We'll take care of Christmas. I promise you that."

It was a promise they kept. They began by finding a new place for the Thomas family to rent. Volunteers painted, prepped, and moved in new furniture. Meanwhile, checks and gifts kept pouring in.

On Wednesday afternoon, a patrol car brought Amanda, along with eight-year-old Tristan and two-year-old Macy, to see what they had done.

They presented the family with gift cards, renter's insurance and a check for $10,000 -- an unbelievable amount. The donations themselves might have been enough, but then the Thomas' got the grand tour. Their home was ready for them to move right in.

"I just want to thank everyone. I'm so grateful and so blessed. It's more than I could ever ask for," Amanda Thomas said.

So much so that she wants to use the generosity bestowed on her to help others.

"I'm going to do whatever I can to pay it forward. If I see someone in need I'm going to just go beyond measures to do whatever I can," Thomas said.

Officer Priest was pleased by what they accomplished.

... After the success of this effort, the Lincoln County Fire Protection District, Sheriff's Department and Troy Police plan to keep a year round fund to help other families in need.

Community Helps Build Wheelchair Accessible Home for Jerseyville Family,

Two Jerseyville, Illinois brothers can now move around their home much easier thanks to volunteers.

Duey and Colton Skinner both have neuromuscular disease that allows them to get around with their wheelchairs. But, the doors on their home were too small to accommodate the chairs.

The family made it to the finals of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but was not selected for the show. So friends and family members formed a committee and went out into the community. Volunteers helped them build a home for the Skinner's, so the brothers can move around more easily.

Duey and Colton each have their own bedroom and bathroom.

"They built this house so that they'll be able to move about in their power chairs," said Kim Skinner, mother. "We weren't able to get their powerchairs here today, but they'll be able to go anywhere in the house on their own actually."

The project began in February and the Skinners hosted an open house on Sunday. They said they'll spend Christmas there whether it's completely finished or not.

Anonymous Donor Drops $50,000 in Salvation Army Kettles

JOPLIN, Mo. — An anonymous donor has come through again for the Salvation Army, dropping five cashier's checks for $10,000 each into kettles at the city's two Wal-Mart stores.

It's the fifth straight year someone has given $50,000 to the Salvation Army's annual holiday fundraiser without taking credit for the generous gesture. And while Capt. Jason Poff says he doesn't budget for the money in advance, but he admits that it's something he does hope for each year.

"We try not to plan on it because it is a gift," Poff said.

The checks, purchased from Commerce Bank, were dropped into the kettles Thursday. The remitter identified the giver as "Santa Claus."

With only a few days left in the annual kettle campaign, the donation moves the agency within $25,000 of its goal of $216,000.

Fred Osborn, president of Commerce Bank of Joplin, said he didn't know the name of the person who bought the checks at the bank, but noted that even if he did know, the information would be confidential.

"It's Santa Claus," Osborn said. "He banks with Commerce. He has for years."

Poff called the contributions "tremendous" in light of an economic downturn.

A pattern has emerged for the annual donations. They are usually put into the kettles late in the Salvation Army's campaign, and usually at a Wal-Mart. They have come in the form of checks for the last three years, while in the two previous years large numbers of $100 bills were stuffed into various kettles throughout the city.

Poff said the Salvation Army believes those cash donations totaled up to $50,000 during those two years, though he acknowledged that it's hard to tell because they were in cash.

Last year two similar checks of $10,000 apiece were given to Souls Harbor and City of Refuge, two agencies that help with the homeless.

Souls Harbor director Joan Lewis said the shelter had not received such a check as of Friday.

"We have not as of yet," she said, "but we hope we will."

Such wonderful stories about the spirit of Christmas are rare in the MSM. Indeed, heartwarming stories of people doing the right thing, the "above-and-beyond" thing are rarely reported. I encourage you to keep your eyes peeled and search for them. We need to hear these. Positive stories offer us a shot of emotional B12 on a strict diet of negativity and fear-mongering.

Marley & Me: A Doggone Good Movie!

For Christmas, we went to the opening of "Marley and Me" starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston. It's a great movie for the family to see, although I would caution those folks who have recently lost a beloved pet. It's been about 7 years since I had to put my last dog down, and at the end of the movie I was sniveling away ... and so were a lot of other folks in the theater! If it weren't for the fact that I was surrounded by people in such a public place, I believe I would have bawled like a baby! (Kleenex is a must!)

I read John Grogran's book two years ago at Christmas time. I was recovering from major surgery, and the book was a great read -- hilarious antics of an insane dog. However, as the story neared its end as well as the end of Marley's life, I never got around to finishing the book. I just was not emotionally able to handle it, given my physical condition and anesthesia and drugs messing big time with my mind.

So, I tried to brave out the end of the movie. I had the quivering chin, the escaping tear, the occasional droplet wanting to sneak its way out of my nostril. Apparently, I wasn't hiding my tears very well, because after a while I was handed a Kleenex.

This morning, I'm pouring through the end of Grogan's book, trying to find the neat quotes at the end of the movie. Not able to find them (perhaps it was the screenwriter's literary license), I found a wonderful quote from when Grogan, a newspaper columnist who frequently entertained his readers with stories of Marley's wild antics, tried to write a final column after the passing of his beloved Marley.

"So many people remake their pets in death, turning them into supernatural, noble beasts that in life did everything for their masters except fry eggs for breakfast. I wanted to be honest. Marley was a funny, bigger-than-life pain in the ass who never quite got the hang of the whole chain-of-command thing. Honestly, he might well have been the world's worst-behaved dog. Yet he intuitively grasped from the start what it meant to be man's best friend."

I have a pain-in-the-ass dog. Hannah, my wild Chesapeake Bay Retriever, can infuriate the beejeebers out of me at times. She's unruly, wild, dominating, leaps wildly all over "Gramaw" as she does her wild Chessie shrieking. And, yet, she is so devoted to me. I am ashamed of how I have reacted at times to her bad behavior, behaving worse than she. But, this wild dog miraculously changed instantly into the world's best behaved dog when I had two major surgeries six months apart -- a rough hysterectomy followed by hip resurfacing. She knew I was "hurt" and vulnerable. She was unbelievably calm and restrained, heeled off leash when I walked her outside to clip her on her lead. I swore someone stole my Hannah and replaced her with a well-behaved imitation. At night, as I lay awake feeling a bit vulnerable due to my temporary incapacitation, I felt so safe having her in the room with me. I knew she would unhesitatingly lay down her life for me if I were in danger.

While recovering from the hip resurfacing, a few days following surgery I was lumbering down the hall on two crutches. I heard Hannah come bounding behind me. Fear struck me, imagining her knocking me down. But, the moment she reached me, she instantly slowed down to my pace, head down, heeling perfectly at my knee -- as she had never done before ... nor since. Whenever I dozed, which was quite frequent, I would wake and always find her curled up on the floor at my side. She was my Nurse Puppy.

Grogan continued his final column about Marley:

I gave a lot of thought to how I should describe him, and this is what I settled on: "No one ever called him a great dog -- or even a good dog. He was as wild as a banshee and as strong as a bull. He crashed joyously through life with a gusto most often associated with natural disasters. He's the only dog I've ever known to get expelled from obedience school." I continued: "Marley was a chewer of couches, a slasher of screens, a slinger of drool, a tipper of trash cans. As for brains, let me just say he chased his tail till the day he died, apparently convinced he was on the verge of a major canine breakthrough." There was more to him than that, however, and I described his intuition and empathy, his gentleness with children, his pure heart.

What I really wanted to say was how this animal had touched our souls and taught us some of the most important lessons of our lives. "A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours," I wrote. "Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things -- a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty."

Great book ... great movie.

Funny. When I think about my pets, I always recall their crazy antics that, at the time, were so infuriating. Now, they're funnier than hell! They put a smile on my face ... a bit of a tear in my eye and a tightness in my throat.

Tragic News From Up North!

[Hee, hee! Thanks, J!]

Obama: A Survival Plan

I found a great op-ed piece by Z. Dwight Billingsly of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is a Black man who obviously marches to the beat of a different drummer, refusing to follow the orders of the PC police and, instead, analyzing a situation for himself. He is not an Obama fan and resents the condescending comments (from Whites) of how he should be so proud that Obama won the election. His appraisal of Obama: an empty suit. (My sentiments exactly!)

Here's his post (emphasis added):

A Plan To Survive The Obama Years

by Z. Dwight Billingsly
11/27/2008

As Jack Buck once said, "I don't believe what I just saw!" Americans on Nov. 4 turned over control of the United States of America to a management team possessing no executive experience, having never run, as I liked to put it, nothing.

Well, Americans usually get the government they deserve, and I urge you all to get ready for this 21st century version of amateur hour. It's going to be an embarrassing and dangerous time for America and American ideals. There won't be much, I'm afraid, to be thankful for.

Bill Kristol, writing in The Weekly Standard, reminded me that every 16 years we get a Democrat president with no experience in national security or international affairs who's elected after Republican presidents have made and kept America safe: After Eisenhower, we got Kennedy; after Nixon/Ford, we got Carter; after Reagan/Bush, we got Clinton. And after Bush II, we get Barack Obama.

Every strong Republican president who succeeded in protecting America has allowed Americans to become complacent about national security, thereby opening the door for weak Democrats who allowed enemies to threaten and attack America without penalty. Obama will be no different, and Americans will have to learn again that there can be no economic security without national security.

That's not to say that Obama's election doesn't come with a couple of interesting side effects. For example, henceforth no black man in America may be called unqualified for any job that he might seek, no matter his prior education or experience level. Want to be a nuclear scientist but lack a Ph.D. in physics? If the applicant is a black man, it's no problem. Just offer hope to the profession and promise change from all those stuffy theorems that have given the discipline its structure over the years, and you're in.

That's on a par with throwing out the fact that tax cuts lead to more investment, job creation and increasing government revenues, just because the black man, that transcendent agent of change, says it's OK.

Another side effect has been white people contacting me to say that I should be proud to see a black man become president. Could there be a comment that is more condescending, more insulting, than that? If I believed that in America a black man could not be president, then I would be proud to see any black man elected president. But because I always have believed that nothing in America prevents a black man from becoming president or anything else he wants to be, I can be embarrassed, not proud, to see someone as unqualified and inexperienced as Obama become president.

Jackie Robinson, the first black man in modern-day major league baseball, illustrates my point. He was the right man with the right combination of talent, temperament and character at the right time to be successful for that important "first." Obama? An empty suit who will fail.

I'm going to approach the Obama years the same way liberals handled the Iraq war. Just as they claimed to support our troops while opposing the war, I'm going to support my country while opposing Obama and what he stands for in every way that I can. It's only four years and with the astute Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Senate minority leader, Republicans can stop the Obama extremists for two years until mid-term elections in 2010 give Republicans the boost in Congress that inevitably will come.

And in 2012, we'll have Sarah Palin to clean up Obama's mess and remind us again of America's exceptionalism.

Z. Dwight Billingsly is a principal of Branford Gateway Investment Co. and a financial services industry specialist for the Missouri Department of Economic Development. He serves as co-chair of the Missouri Spectrum political action committee, an auxiliary of the Missouri Republican Party.

An Op-Ed The New York Times Refused to Print

Earlier this year, the New York Times published an editorial by Bill Ayers -- a terrorist with the 60s/70s radical group The Weather Underground. (You'll recall how our press did not want to address and possible professional associations between Ayers and Obama, despite oodles of evidence to the contrary.)

After reading Ayers' editorial, FBI agent Larry Grathwohl, who infiltrated The Weather Underground in 1969, wrote a response to The New York Times. The NYT refused to publish Grathwohl's piece, but Bob Owens and Pajamas Media did (emphasis added):

The Op-Ed The New York Times Wouldn't Run

An FBI informant's response to Bill Ayers' rewriting of history got the cold shoulder — but you can read it here.

December 23, 2008 - by Bob Owens

Ayers would like to claim he participated in non-violent protests. But he omits the fact he helped organize and participated in the 1969 “Days of Rage,” which left innocents and police officers hospitalized and one man permanently crippled, a maiming his fellow Weathermen mocked with the crude lyrics of “Lay Elrod Lay.” One of the participants in the violence noted that the thugs armed themselves with “steel pipes and slingshots, chains, clubs, mace, and rolls of pennies to add weight to a punch.” The participant quoted was Bill Ayers describing the event he helped create in his own book, Fugitive Days.

The Greenwich Village blast Ayers pathologically claims was the catalyst that led to forming the Weather Underground was actually his group’s third botched attempt at mass murder. Ayers personally ordered mass murder attempts at the Detroit Police Benevolent Association and Detroit Police Precinct 13 in February 1970, using bombs comprised of 44 sticks of dynamite. It was only the Weathermen’s incompetence at constructing fuses that kept these blasts from going off and creating dozens of casualties.

Weeks later the Greenwich Village blast occurred when a terrorist cell of the Weather Underground accidentally detonated anti-personnel bombs they were assembling for an attack against soldiers and their dates at a non-commissioned officers dance at nearby Fort Dix that evening. Had the plot succeeded, the planned attack would likely have been the worst terrorist attack on American soil prior to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Bill Ayers would like to use the fog of time to plead his case that he was just another protester against the Vietnam war, a point that the Times is perhaps willing to let him make considering his longtime association with the president-elect they so nakedly support. No amount of inspired fantasy, however, can omit the simple truth that there is only one significant difference between Bill Ayers and Timothy McVeigh.

Competence.

***

“Response to ‘The Real Bill Ayers’”

By Larry Grathwohl

My name is Larry Grathwohl and I infiltrated the Weather Underground for the FBI. I had no idea when my journey began in August 1969 that I would see and experience the degree of violence and hatred of our democracy that existed in the Weather Underground. Bernardine Dorhn, Bill Ayers, and the other people I would meet had as their sole purpose the destruction of the United States. The fact that I ultimately became the only source of information regarding the activities of the Weather Underground and the fact that Bill Ayers now claims their goal was only to bring about the end of the war in Vietnam requires me to respond.

At least Bill admits the Weather Underground “crossed” the line of legality but mitigates this admission by stating that the effectiveness of the “symbolic acts of extreme vandalism” is still being debated. He further states that the selected targets were “property, never people” and that their only purpose was to end the war in Vietnam. Bill is simply not being truthful and is rewriting history to reflect a completely different role for himself and the Weather Underground from what actually took place. “Bring the war home, kill your parents” was the mantra being chanted when the group decided to go underground in December 1969 and there certainly isn’t anything anti-war in that statement. I’m also curious as to who is debating their status. When I think about the Weather Underground my immediate thought is “terrorism and death.”

Billy goes on about how the Weather Underground came into existence because “peaceful protests had failed” and “after an accidental explosion killed three comrades.” The explosion of the townhouse in Greenwich Village was the result of a bomb factory which was preparing bombs containing roofing nails for use at a Fort Dix enlisted club. The inclusion of roofing nails can have but one purpose and that’s to injure or kill people. Prior to this event Bill’s wife, Bernardine Dorhn, placed a bomb of the same design at the Park Police Station in San Francisco and killed Officer McDonnell. Additionally, I was still inside the Weather Underground when the townhouse blew up and the commitment to sabotage and terrorism had already been established and the purpose was the overthrow of the United States government.

Bill implies that the questioning of his activities is dishonest and that at worst he may have made some mistakes in judgment but his motivations were just. Personally, I can think of nothing that would justify the activities of the Weather Underground and am astonished by Bill Ayers’ attempts to corrupt the historical facts by making himself a misunderstood leader of the anti-war movement. Robert Kennedy, possibly the most notable anti-Vietnam war leader of the late 60s, was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968. The Weather Underground published Prairie Fire in 1974 and dedicated it to Sirhan Sirhan. Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dorhn, and others signed this dedication but now they would ask us to accept their explanation that all they wanted to accomplish was an end to the war in Vietnam.

I could go on with many other contradictions in the new history Billy is attempting to impose on us. Today we are supposed to believe that Bill is merely an educator with no interests in the political aspects of our society. If this is true then why the picture of him standing on our flag? Why the statement that his only regret is that they (the Weather Underground) hadn’t done enough? What is the meaning of “I now consider myself an anarchist”? I can only conclude that Billy is a confluence of contradictions and revised history meant to confuse us as to what he is really about. Consider “guilty as hell, free as a bird, America is a great country.” Do you think he really means that?

I must conclude by acknowledging that in one respect Bill is probably being absolutely truthful. When he says that “I never killed or injured anyone,” he is most likely being totally honest. Bill, like Charles Manson, never exposed himself to any kind of danger. He always gave orders and then left it to his then-girlfriend, Diane Oughton, and others to implement his plan. If you listen closely you can even hear the similarities in the arguments Manson and Billy use today to justify what they did: the 60s made me do it.

I imagine folks that think Bill Ayers is an OK guy are also the same dipsticks that are fans of Che Guevara. "Useful idiots" I believe is the term Lenin coined to refer to such folks.

Animals As Healers

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Here's a nice "feel good" video clip about how animals help troubled children learn, grow, and adapt .... but, it's something we animal lovers have known all along.

I still firmly believe that if we could get back to more of the "good ol' days" when we were more agrarian, there would be fewer troubles in the world. There would be more compassion and respect for life.

Meth Lab: A Homebuyer's Right to Know?

The state of Illinois is planning one of the country's most comprehensive online databases that will list homes that could be toxic, having once been raided as methamphetamine labs. However, Missouri, home to the nation's most meth labs, is not planning such a database.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has finalized plans with the Illinois Health Department and Illinois State Police to launch an Internet database of addresses where police have found meth labs. The list, dating back to 2001, will launch early in 2009, detailing the address, date of the raid, county and city. Users will be able to search the database by county and by city.

Why the need for such information? Meth labs produce hazardous byproducts that many times require fire, police and rescue personnel to don hazmat suits when in response. These byproducts are considered by 18 states to be so dangerous that they require home owners to clean residences found with trace amounts of residue. Missouri and Illinois, however, lack such standards. In fact, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that most residents moving into former meth labs are never told of their properties' pasts.

Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch reports:

Since 2001, about three-fourths of the state's police agencies have voluntarily sent reports about meth raids to the Health Department.

Those addresses along with the state's existing meth offender registry and recommended meth lab cleanup guidelines will be posted on the site, making it one of the most comprehensive in the nation, compared with databases in other states, said Illinois State Police Sgt. Eric Hall.

"We truly understand this is a consumer issue, and we're putting our best foot forward to make sure that consumers are aware of potential hazards that may be in these homes," Hall said.

He said the database will be updated weekly or monthly, and he is researching ways to give residents more information about what police found at a given address if it appears on the registry.

But Missouri residents will have no such tools.

The Missouri Highway Patrol funnels meth lab reports from across the state to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which publishes only some of the addresses raided since 2006 online.

The Highway Patrol won't release the full list to the public. Sgt. Steven Frisbie said state law forbids it because some cases may be pending and it would be too costly to ask each police department which ones are still under investigation.

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but the state's Sunshine Act prevents us from doing it," Frisbie said.

For now, Missouri residents living in Jefferson County are the only ones who can find whether their home was ever raided for meth.

The Sheriff's Department has posted addresses dating to 2006, although some still under investigation have been withheld.

"We don't want anyone to come in and purchase a home without prior knowledge that there could be possibly be contamination in that residence," Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer said.

[Go here to read more of the Post's reporting on meth labs, meth, and addiction.]

I wonder if in the near future, sellers and buyers will be required to sign off on "meth-free" property just like we've done for decades with regards to lead paint. Could there one day be penalties for "failure to disclose?" I think having such a database is a wonderful idea.

Peterson Engagement Saga Continues: Girl's Dad Speaks Out

UPDATE: Thank God for this girl's dad! He's speaking out about his daughter's engagement to Drew Peterson. The girl, Christina Raines is denying it, but her father confirms that they are engaged. And he's going to fight it!

Report: Chicago Dad Says Waitress Daughter Is Peterson's Fiancee

A Chicago father says his daughter is Drew Peterson's fiancée, though the young woman denies the claim, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ernie Raines, 53, of Chicago said his daughter was the woman engaged to the ex-cop suspected in the disappearance of fourth wife Stacy Peterson.

"That ain't going to happen," Raines told the paper. "I'm doing everything I can to try to get her away from him. . . . I'd like to say to him: 'Stay away from my daughter, take his ring back and look for his wife before he's out trying to get another young girl.'"

His daughter Christina Raines said she isn't Peterson's fiancée, though a police source told the paper she is. The 24-year-old waitress said she and Peterson are just friends.

Stacy Peterson disappeared last year. Peterson's third wife's bathtub death was ruled a homicide after initially being deemed accidental.

On Wednesday, sources confirmed to FOXNews.com that the former Bolingbrook, Ill., officer was engaged, prompting his missing wife's family to express their shock.

"I’m shocked, but I’m not surprised," family spokeswoman Pam Bosco told FOXNews.com.

Drew Peterson, 54, refused to answer questions about the engagement in an interview with MyFOXChicago.com.

"This is something that’s very personal to me and very private, and until — I really don’t want all this coming out," he told the station.

He told MyFOXChicago.com that "the media has kind of ruined every relationship I've had, so it scares people."

Stacy Peterson was 23 when she disappeared from the couple's Bolingbrook home in late October, 2007. The couple have two children, Anthony, 6, and Lacy, 4.

After Stacy's disappearance, the body of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, was exhumed, and her 2004 bathtub drowning was re-labeled a homicide.

Earlier this year, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow issued a statement about the Savio and Stacy Peterson cases, indicating that a special grand jury is still weighing evidence in both.

Drew Peterson remains married, though he met with met with high-profile Chicago attorney Jeffery M. Leving — a lawyer in the Elian Gonzalez case — earlier this year to see what his rights to a split might be.

Leving told FOXNews.com that Peterson had not yet filed for divorce.

Desertion for at least one year is grounds for divorce under Illinois law — though Peterson, as the divorce petitioner, would have to show he wasn't at fault for causing his wife to leave, Leving said.

Ernie Raines told the Sun-Times his daughter met Drew Peterson at a Bolingbrook laundromat and the ex-police officer took her to the "Blue Man Group" show and promised to buy her a car.

Again, I say: "Girl! Run for your life!!!" Whatever this creep is offering you is NOT worth a car!!!! Fer cryin' out loud!!!!!

In America, Winning Doesn't Make The News

Investor's Business Daily, a British organization, reports what our MSM and politicians here in the States are loathe to tell the public: we have been winning in Iraq, the surge has been working, but there's almost either a media blackout on the story or Talking Heads that are almost morose to report the good news. [Thanks for the tip, Mom!]

Here's a piece from July's Investor's Business Daily:

Winning Isn't News

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, July 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq.

London's Sunday Times called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.

The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.

We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.

Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks — a big change for the better from a year ago.

Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates, which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad — an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks" that signaled political progress.

The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.

Girl! Run For Your Life!!!!

Drew Peterson is engaged again. AGAAAAIIIINNNN, I say! Yeah, this is the guy that is under suspicion for having murdered his wife.

Here's the story from the Associated Press:

Drew Peterson Says He's Engaged to Be Married

CHICAGO (AP) -- Drew Peterson's publicist says the former police sergeant suspected in the disappearance of his wife is engaged to be married again.

Glenn Selig says the 54-year-old Peterson proposed within the last week after dating the woman for about four months.

He says the woman is 23 -- the same age as Stacy Peterson when she disappeared in October 2007. Selig wouldn't provide any details about the woman and Peterson wouldn't comment.

The engagement was first reported in a news release Wednesday morning by Derek Armstrong, the author of a book about Peterson.

Peterson claims his wife left him for another man. He has met with an attorney to discuss filing for divorce on grounds of abandonment. But he and Stacy Peterson are still legally married.

I won't even repeat some of the readers' comments that followed the story ... but, if you're looking for some pretty funny stuff, this will get you chuckling.

[Seriously ... that girl must be dumb as a rock!]

Burger King

Just in time for the holidays! Need that special, last-minute gift for that special man in your life? Well, Burger King announced yesterday its special "Whopper" body spray: Flame. The story has even made headlines in the UK:

Burger King releases meat-scented cologne

American fast-food chain Burger King has come up with a novel Christmas gift idea for the meat-loving man who has everything: barbecue-scented cologne.

Just in time for the festive season, the company has released its very own men's body spray, Flame.

Not recommended for vegetarians, Flame is being promoted as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broilled meat".

While the smell itself might not inspire confidence, the price will.

Flame is on sale for the credit crunch-busting sum of just $3.99 (£2.65), suggesting the Burger King promotions department has realised their contribution to the fragrance market might work best as a novelty stocking-filler.

Flame, a body spray for men, was launched this week online and in a selection of US stores – it is sadly not available in the UK, and now even has its own website, the appropriately named firemeetsdesire.com.

The site proudly proclaims to prospective buyers: "The Whopper sandwich is America's favourite burger," before going on to extol the virtues of a perfume that smells like cooked meat.

"Flame by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold ... now you can set the mood for whatever you're in the mood for."

Hmmmm ... could be quite the aphrodisiac for those women on Atkins!

Burger King has set up a funny website with a Barry White-type of seductive atmosphere: Fire Meets Desire.

Adolf Hitler Is My Name -- And My Parents Are My Shame!

Could this constitute as child abuse? Some morons ... er, "parents" ... decided to name their child Adolf Hitler Campbell. Can you imagine the abuse this little guy is going to take? It almost seems like intentional infliction of emotional harm.

Check out the story:

Little 'Adolf Hitler' Denied Birthday Cake at New Jersey Grocery Store

EASTON, Pa. — The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance.

Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, are upset not only with the decision made by the nearby ShopRite, but also with an outpouring of angry Internet postings in response to a local newspaper article about the cake.

Heath Campbell, who is 35, said in an interview Tuesday that people should look forward, not back, and accept change.

"They need to accept a name. A name's a name. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what [Hitler] did," he said.

After ShopRite refused the request for the cake as inappropriate, the Campbells got a cake decorated at a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania, Deborah Campbell said.

About 12 people attended the birthday party on Sunday, according to Heath Campbell.

The Campbells' other two children also have unusual names: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell turns 2 in a few months and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April.

Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because "no one else in the world would have that name."

Campbell said his ancestors are German and that he has lived all his life in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, which is across the Delaware River from Easton.

"A name's a name?!?" Would you, therefore, name your kid "Douche Bag" or "Shithead?!?" We all remember the goofy names Frank Zappa named his kids -- Moon Unit and Dweezle. But, at least those were only "funny." The Campbells are just being cruel!

"No one else in the world would have that name?!?" Ya think?!?

Oh, and did you catch the name of one of their other kids? -- "JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell." The picture is becoming clearer about these people ... I wonder if their family time together includes reciting "Sieg heil!" with cute little arm and hand gestures? (Sorry, this just makes me want to spit.)

This puts an end to all those lame jokes about different ethnic names. At least those parents were trying to be creative. The Campbells are either cruel or just plain stupid. Gee, I wonder if they ever heard the old Johnny Cash classic "Boy Named Sue."

This whole sad case really smacks of narcissism and exhibitionism -- pretty creepy. I see in the near future a forlorn young man going before a judge to have his name legally changed.

Blagojevich's Christmas Carol

There's word that Illinois is considering a new state motto: "Illinois, where our governors make our license plates."

And now, for Blago's Christmas Carol --

To the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Get packin', Rod Blagojevich
The state's in disarray
The Tribune wants you unemployed
At least by Christmas Day.
The TV pundits want your head
Could there be pay to play?
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Good riddance Rod Blagojevich
Your Elvis look's inane,
The Senate's mad, so's Lisa's dad.
You drive us all insane.
Our transit's broke, the state's a joke,
The Tollway's one big pain.
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Good luck old Rod Blagojevich
The feds have quite a place.
Fitzgerald's poked his nose around
And if he has a case,
George Ryan's moving stuff around
Creating extra space.
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

New Animals Found Or Re-Discovered!

It's been a hectic school year. I keep reading (nay, skimming) really interesting articles and bookmark them, but I rarely have time to get them posted to my blog. Anyway, last month I found it providential that on the same day, two different animals were reported as being discovered. Well, I should say that a new primate was discovered, and a penguin thought to be extinct for some 500 years, was re-discovered.

First, there's the new primate that was recently found in the rainforest of Indonesia: the mouse-sized pygmy tarsier, weighting only 2 ounces! Here's the story from Jeanna Bryner of FoxNews:

Unlike most other primates that sport fingernailsThe last sighting of this primate alive was in 1921 when live specimens were collected and processed for a museum collection. pygmy tarsiers have claws, which scientists say might be an adaptation to grasping onto moss-covered trees.

The recent sighting has conservation implications. And researchers said they hope that with new information about where the species lives, the Indonesian government will protect them from the encroaching development occurring in the animals' home range.

...

From the radio collars and observations, the researchers are learning more about the animals' behavior. For instance, even though the pipsqueaks weigh just one-half the body weight of other tarsiers, their legs are just as long. The tiny tots use their super-long legs to bound from treetop to treetop high up in the forest canopy.

And for sleeping, the nocturnal creatures tuck into hollowed-out trees. They also are much quieter than other tarsiers, such as the spectral tarsier that vocalizes for up to five minutes when returning from a night of foraging.

The recent re-discovery of a type of penguin was reported by the Associated Press last month: the Waitaha penguin of New Zealand, thought to have been extinct some 500 years ago. Here's the scoop:

The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands.

But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

The team was testing DNA from the bones of prehistoric modern yellow-eyed penguins for genetic changes associated with human settlement when it found some bones that were older — and had different DNA.

Tests on the older bones "lead us to describe a new penguin species that became extinct only a few hundred years ago," the team reported in a paper in the biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Yes, we have lost a lot of animals. But, I wonder how many are yet to be discovered? How many are yet to come?