Late Breaking Technology Stories

Public Outcry Against Sweden's New Eavesdropping Law"
http://news.aol.ca/article/swedes-protest-sweeping-e-mail-eavesdropping-law/270359/


Has Google Demoted Feed Burner?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=873


Is Bill Gates A Secret Cloud Convert?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=541


Goodbye, XP. Hello, Midori

New, Bigger Asus, Eee PCs in the pipeline
http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=267

U.S. Food Arrives In North Korea

Seoul, South Korea--The United States has sent thousands of tons of food to North Korea to help this starving nation.

The US food aid, being distributed by the United Nations, arrived Sunday. The ship carried 37,000 tons of wheat. It is part of 500,000 tons of wheat promised to this nation whose own wheat crops have not been getting to the people both due to flooding and North Korean bureaucracy and bungling.

This aid comes after the communist nation agreed to expanded international assistance for its impoverished people, the U.N. food agency said Monday.
Read the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_us_aid

Just A Moment of Prayer...

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT....
This is the scariest election We as Christians have ever faced. From the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values. We all need to be on our knees. Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, then stand back and watch His wonders to behold. His scripture gives us, as Christians, ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I challenge you to do so. We have never been more desperate than now for God to heal our land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 :

If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England , its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America . The United States of America and our citizens need prayer more than ever!

If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, 8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific, stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, for wisdom and courage for our leaders, the up-coming election, and that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land and that Christianity will grow in the U.S.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.
Thank You

Please pass this onto anyone who you think will want to join us. God Bless You!!!

Supreme Court Affirms Guns Are Okay, But Only In A 5-4 Decision And That Should Concern Everyone

Gun rights advocates and opponents hold up signs while the press is briefed on the ruling from the Supreme Court that Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms -- its first ruling on gun rights in 70 years. The court's 5-4 decision -- on whether the right to keep and bear arms is fundamentally an individual or collective right -- said the city's law violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which the court's majority said guaranteed citizens the right to keep guns at home for self-defense.

In a historic 5-4 ruling, the justices say the 2nd Amendment protects individuals' right to bear arms. In a Los Angeles Times Story by David G. Savage on June 27, 2008, the very liberal paper featured a photo of demonstrators, some for and some against the ruling. Here's part of the article. To read the article and the 254 comments it generated go to:
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for the first time that the 2nd Amendment explicitly protects Americans' right to own guns for self-defense -- resolving one of the Constitution's oldest disputes and reviving the debate over gun rights, crime and violence.

The landmark decision struck down a District of Columbia ordinance, the strictest in the nation, that barred homeowners from keeping handguns. The ruling brought immediate court challenges to similar laws in Chicago and San Francisco.http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-scotus27-2008jun27,0,7648354.story

Today in Political History

June 27, 1950: President Truman orders the Air Force and Navy into the Korean War following a call from the United Nations Security Council for member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North.

June 27, 1893: The New York stock market crashes.

June 27, 1998: During a joint news conference broadcast live in China, President Bill Clinton and President Jiang Zemin offer an uncensored airing of differences on human rights, freedom, trade and Tibet. (Source: NY Times)

Wise Words

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

-- Abraham Lincoln (Source: Good Quotes)

North Korea Takes First Step

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Friday destroyed a water cooling tower at a facility where officials acknowledge they extracted plutonium to build nuclear weapons, CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reported from the scene.The cooling tower was demolished at the Yongbyon nuclear complex near Pyongyang, North Korea.

The massive implosion, which came at about 5pm local time Friday at the Yongbyon facility, was intended to be a powerful public symbol of a move to end nuclear activities by the Communist nation once branded a member of an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The destruction of the highly visible symbol of North Korea's long-secret nuclear program came just a day after the country released details of its program.

"They fired a warning flare and then in three minutes the whole thing came tumbling down in a massive cloud of smoke," Amanpour said.

"There was a moment of stunned silence as the magnitude of what had happened sunk in," Amanpour said.

U.S. State Department officials and observers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watched from a reviewing stand on a ridge about 1,000 yards away, she said.

"This is a very significant disablement step," the U.S. envoy to North Korea, Sung Kim, said.

Nuclear experts say that the plant's destroyed central water-cooling tower would take a year or longer to rebuild if North Korea were to try using the plant again.

"This is a critical piece of equipment for the nuclear reactor," said analyst John Wolfsthal, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has been following North Korea since the 1980s. "Without this facility, the reactor can't operate and can't produce more plutonium for weapons." See some great related video and watch the tower being demolished.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear

It's About Time We Busted Those Kidnappers Who Have Been Forcing Our Kids Into Prostitution And Slave Labor. They Should All Get The Death Penalty...

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a news conference at the FBI headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution. Maybe some of my readers can tell me what penalties are available for them. In a 5-4
decision our liberal five jurists voted we can't kill a rapist, even a child rapist. That's why we need another Republican president. We need to break the strangle hold the liberals have on these kinds of decisions. Get out and talk up the presidential candidacy of John McCain. If Obama becomes president he would have all the offenders over to the White House for tea and crumpets, forget the victims.
(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

America Will Have A Safety Net With President John McCain

Homer Hickam made an interesting comment on TV this morning. In case you don't know who he is, Homer was a poor West Va miner's son who worked his way up to being an employee/scientist for NASA. He wrote a book called "Rocket Boy" which was later made into a great movie called "October Sky."

This morning he was interviewed and said this, about the one-shot shoot down of the crippled satellite: "If this country's head was on straight, they would be holding a ticker tape parade for the Crew of the Cruiser, USS Lake Erie..."

"This one rocket firing boosted our National defense 100 fold . N Korea, Iran , China , Russia , all know now that we have a safety net that can accurately stop their incoming missiles even if they are out of the earth's atmosphere."

"Of course, that was the plan all along, and it was a dandy plan. I just hope that the next person in the White House doesn't scrap the system and begin baking cookies for the enemy."

If the wrong person wins they may do just that, and that makes me a little nervous."

"At any rate, Kudos to the Officers & Crew of the USS Lake Erie. WELL DONE, BLUE JACKETS!!"

Funny, just last week Obama reiterated how when he's elected he will stop all missile technology and push for nuclear disarmament. If he were president now, we wouldn't even have been able to shoot that satellite down AND show the world that we CAN protect ourselves and will do so if the need arises.

Obamba doesn't want the rest o f the world threatened by the creepy US of A. Something to run through the think-0-matic before you vote.


Jack S. Shipley, USN

Appropriate U.S. Flag Display

General Display
It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated
during the hours of darkness.
1. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea...for personnel of the Navy...when the church
pennant may be flown above the flag.
No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof; Provided, that nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.
2. When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak.
3. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's right.
4. The flag of the United Stares of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
5. The flag of the Unites States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
6. When flags of two or more nations are. displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size.
International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.


Churches, Auditoriums
7. When used an a speaker's platform. the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or the right of audience.


Half-Staff
The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day, the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the president, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law.
In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory or
possession may proclaim that the National flag may be flown at half-staff.

NOTE: the U.S. Flag should always be on it's own right in relation to other flags on adjacent staffs -- to the left of the observer -- except when displayed as in #5.

Excerpts From The Flag Code of
The United States --

"Why Are We In Here, George?"

Law Students Prepare Case Against Bush

Here is part of a Newsmax story indicating how far left some people in Boston really have become. See if you agree or disagree by making comments below following the blurg:

Law School Wants to Hang Bush — Literally
Also Democrats.com has a similar story: http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88
The Massachusetts School of Law at Andover is holding a conference in September to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other administration officials for war crimes.

“This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred,” Lawrence Velvel, dean of the school, said in remarks reported by the OpEdNews Web site.

“It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the earth.”

Velvel goes on to say, even more outrageously, “We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice. And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war criminals in the 1940s.”

He asserted that following the prosecution of German and Japanese leaders after World War II, those nation’s leaders changed their countries’ “aggressor cultures,” and said: “For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders.”

Yoo served from 2001 to 2003 in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. He contributed to the Patriot Act and wrote memos in which he advocated the possible legality of torture.

The conference will explore such issues as which high-level officials are chargeable with war crimes, and which foreign and domestic tribunals can prosecute them, according to OpEdNews.

The Massachusetts School of Law at Andover was established in 1988 to provide a legal education to minorities, immigrants and students from low-income families.

OBAMA KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT SECURITY OF U.S.

OBAMA WOULD LEAVE AMERICA UNPROTECTED

Monday, June 23, 2008 10:03 AM

By: Ronald Kessler Article Font Size

Like a Rip Van Winkle who is unaware of recent history, Barack Obama is citing the government’s prosecution of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as the correct way to deal with terrorism.

In an ABC interview, Obama said the government can crack down on terrorists “within the constraints of the Constitution.”

He said, “What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center — we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.”

Apparently, Obama has been asleep for the nearly seven years since 9/11. He missed having learned that the 9/11 hijackers are dead and thus could not have been prosecuted. He missed learning that they wanted to be martyrs and were prepared to be jailed or killed. No threat of prosecution would have deterred them.

Obama missed the 9/11 commission hearings and report, which excoriated both Presidents Clinton and Bush for a lack of imagination in pursuing terrorists after the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. In particular, the commission said that before 9/11, “Military measures failed or were not applied.”

Citing the military invasion of Afghanistan, the commission said, “The president and Congress deserve praise for their efforts in Afghanistan so far.”

In the future, the commission said that the government must identify potential or actual terrorist sanctuaries and use “all elements of national power” to “keep possible terrorists insecure and on the run.” Nothing here about reading them their rights.

Obama missed criticism of President Clinton for failing to do more than fire Cruise missiles at an al-Qaida paramilitary training camp in Khost, Afghanistan. The attack killed 21 al-Qaida trainees from Pakistan but missed Osama bin Laden.

Read the remainder of this great article:
http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/barack_obama/2008/06/23/106759.html

Obama Would Leave America Unprotected

Monday, June 23, 2008 10:03 AM

By: Ronald Kessler Article Font Size

Like a Rip Van Winkle who is unaware of recent history, Barack Obama is citing the government’s prosecution of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as the correct way to deal with terrorism.

In an ABC interview, Obama said the government can crack down on terrorists “within the constraints of the Constitution.”

He said, “What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center — we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.”

Apparently, Obama has been asleep for the nearly seven years since 9/11. He missed having learned that the 9/11 hijackers are dead and thus could not have been prosecuted. He missed learning that they wanted to be martyrs and were prepared to be jailed or killed. No threat of prosecution would have deterred them.

Obama missed the 9/11 commission hearings and report, which excoriated both Presidents Clinton and Bush for a lack of imagination in pursuing terrorists after the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. In particular, the commission said that before 9/11, “Military measures failed or were not applied.”

Citing the military invasion of Afghanistan, the commission said, “The president and Congress deserve praise for their efforts in Afghanistan so far.”

In the future, the commission said that the government must identify potential or actual terrorist sanctuaries and use “all elements of national power” to “keep possible terrorists insecure and on the run.” Nothing here about reading them their rights.

Obama missed criticism of President Clinton for failing to do more than fire Cruise missiles at an al-Qaida paramilitary training camp in Khost, Afghanistan. The attack killed 21 al-Qaida trainees from Pakistan but missed Osama bin Laden.

Read the remainder of this great article:

The Certainty of Rising Prices

The Certainty of Rising Prices
By Homer S. Schalazar


Around Christmas 2006, a friend posed a pertinent financial question: “You’re an investor, so where should I put my money?”

I told him without regret that even though I do invest, I don’t invest other people’s money. I hinted that commodities, like corn and soy beans, would do well, due to ethanol development and Asian and Indian surging demand for goods.

That was a simple answer to what clearly was a trend in the making. I also mentioned a military defense company. I look back at how simple it was to say that, and now I realize that those ideas that fall off your tongue after some study and thought usually hold some validity.

There was little for certain that I knew at that time—there seldom is--- except that the American economy was headed downward sometime that year. The housing market had topped. The construction of new homes had declined. Speculation was at an unprecedented high. Why? Stocks were being priced at unjustifiably high prices.

That was going against the grain. From 2006-2008 the S&P index prices fell and fluctuated from around 1280 to 1570 and back down again.

Christmas 2007, I was wiser, and when asked the same question after having seen commodities continue to rise globally as Jim Rogers had forewarned. He had touted them as his major holding, but as every good trader knows you can’t live and die on someone else’s wisdom. I had to lean on only one thing—my own judgment—this time in the light of what seemed obvious.

As an investor there are times that you have nothing except your own judgment and ability to make a decision. Hopefully, experience helps us make prudent choices.

I was faced with the question:. “Am I too late?”

My advice in every investment decision, especially real estate, is to invest in what you understand and have studied well enough to reach a conclusion from experience. Because of the volatility of everything, of necessity it must concern a time frame in which you are able to finance your decisions.

These decisions will come with opportunity costs as life goes on. Holding some real estate, grain, oil, or gold seems like good advice, depending on individual financial constraints. Right now it is obvious that it would have been a great play many months ago to have invested in gold.

There is one constant. Each investor must determine his/her own risk tolerance.

Globally, the impact that China and India will have on commodity trends in transportation, and household heating, cooling, cooking, and using electricity warrants consideration.

Stephen Leeb and Glen Strathy wrote a book called The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel. They think there is a real possibility of $200 per barrel oil and $10 per gallon gasoline in the near future. They say that the fundamentals behind the rising prices are very strong, simply because supplies are insufficient to meet future global demand. China and India together will surpass U.S. consumption of oil at a rate that in ten years will seem unbearable, unless we somehow disconnect our demand from oil supplies from countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria, and others that are subject to terrorism and political uncertainty. The U.S. must find alternative energy sources. China and India are growing so fast that they will surpass U.S. energy demand, and the United States will no longer be the world’s economic growth driver. The U.S. economy will plateau in growth, while China and India will continue to grow at a progressive rate.

Alternative energy stocks, gold, and commodity futures will help to energize investors’ financial accounts as these emerging economies feed growing populations. Also, stocks held for energy conservation investments, and currencies as a defensive investment strategy against inflation are recommended by Leeb and Strathy. Stocks like those that have fueled the American economic expansion during the 1970s to present times will also make these emerging economies strong.

I can only think of one scenario worse than rising inflation and high unemployment for the American people. This danger is embodied in this year’s presidential election, electing the wrong man. But perhaps this time Americans will learn to trust their values and core beliefs.

Would You Skip Lunch To Read An Important New Book?

The owner of this site collaborated with Carolyn White and Marcus White and wrote an important new book on selling houses in this market. It's called
SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too.
We have previously written on http://houseabcs.blogspot about a family down the street that used information found in our book and sold his house before the FOR SALE sign went up.

It happens all the time, but you must read the book and use the principles. There's a house a little ways from that one that has been listed for some time. They didn't read the book.

You must read SELLING FAST even before you list your house with an agent. Why? Because there are important pointers found in the book that can tip the scales in your favor about your relationship with your agent and what priority and importance she places on selling it fast;and the part her first impression of the house plays before listing it and how that relates to asking price,urgency of the sale, class of buyers and agents she will show the house to and much more. Selling a house in this market is really a science, and you'll make a lot more money and get the job done faster if you read SELLING FAST first.

This important book is now on sale as a Kindle book (ebook) at Amazon.com for the reduced price of $6.39, but only for a limited time so act now! What have you got to lose? Only the price of a fast-food lunch. What have you to gain? A sure sale of your house for YOUR price or close to it. Click below, go to Amazon and give them your credit card. Direct questions re: Selling Fast to USANOTES@yahoo.com
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1

Prominent and Not So Prominent Muslims

Who Are The Islamic Luminaries In the world, or are these all in America? Bloggers come to my rescue, please.

From Answers at Yahoo.com I can see that there are many Islamic believers.
Some may not avow to being Muslim, but I don’t know how they can get around it. A religion has a set of concepts and rules. In the Islamic tradition they call these the Sharia or ”the path to the water source.”. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070226230245AAm1Yv1

The acceptors or members of Islam include:

POLITICS
Aminah Assilmi - Activist
Omar Bongo - Gabonese, President of Gabon
Amir Butler
C. Jack Ellis - from Christianity, Mayor of Macon, Georgia
Keith Ellison - American, from Catholicism, Representative from Minnesota's 5th congressional district, first Muslim to be elected to Congress
Murad Wilfred Hofmann - from Catholic Christianity, NATO official
Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic activist
Iyasu V - Ethiopian, former Emperor of Ethiopia
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

(Malcolm X, Malcolm Little) - American, from Christianity to NOI to mainstream Islam, African-American civil rights leader

Betty Shabazz - Civil Rights Activist, wife of Malcolm X/El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
Johann von Leers - advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic polemics [6][7][8]
David Myatt - from Paganism, Neo-Nazi-activist [9]
Apisai Tora - Fijian politician
Leopold Weiss (Muhammad Asad) - Viennese Jew who became Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations

IN SPORTS
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), American, from Christianity to NOI to Sunni Islam to Sufism [10], SI's Sportsman of the Century
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) - American, from Christianity, retired basketball player & the NBA's all-time leading scorer
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) - American, from Chttp://i.a.cnn.net/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/11/22/gallery.tributeali/1960_001020816.jpg
Eighteen-year-old Muhammad Ali was all the rage in...http://www.achievement.org/achievers/abd0/large/abd0-012.jpg
The December 5, 1966 issue of Sports Illustrated celebrated Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and his first season at UCLA.hristianity, retired basketball player
Tariq Abdul-Wahad - originally from France, former basketball player for the Mavericks and Kings

Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar (Sharmon Shah) - American, from Christianity, former NFL football player
Nicolas Anelka - French football player
Celestino Caballero - current WBA super bantamweight boxing champion
Chris Eubank - British boxer
Mustafa Hamsho - Boxer
Bernard Hopkins - Boxer
Bruno Metsu - French coach of the Senegal team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup
Matthew Saad Muhammad - from Catholicism, former boxer
Anthony Mundine - Australian, from Christianity, boxer and former rugby player
Dwight Muhammad Qawi - Boxer
Robin van Persie - Dutch football player
Ahmad Rashad (Bobby Moore) - American, former NFL football player
Saleem Rasheed - American footballer
Franck Ribery - French football player, currently plays for Marseille
Ahmed Santos - American publicist & former boxer
Philippe Troussier - French, former football player & trainer of a Japanese football team
Mike Tyson American, former heavyweight boxing champion of the world
Danny Williams - British boxer
Mohammad Yousuf (Yousuf Youhana) - Pakistani, from Christianity, cricket player

ISLAMIC SCHOLARS
Umar Faruq Abd-Allah
Muhammed al-Ahari
Lois Lamya al-Faruqi - Scholar and expert in Islamic art
Hamid Algar - British professor at the University of California, Berkeley, expert in the Ja'fari school of thought & Iranian civilization
Aminah Assilmi - from Southern Baptist Christianity, scholar & director of the International Union of Muslim Women

Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker - professor of Urdu, former chair of the University of Minnesota's Department of South Asian studies and creator of the Tékumel fantasy world.
Kevin Barrett - Lecturer, conspiracy theorist
Vincent Cornell - Islamic scholar
Yusuf Estes - from Christianity, former pastor & prison chaplain
Shah Shahidullah Faridi - English Sufi scholar
Nuh Ha Mim Keller - from Catholicism to agnosticism to Sufism, Islamic scholar
Sherman Jackson - Islamic scholar & Academic, Near East Studies & Law School at the University of Michigan
Jeffrey Lang
Martin Lings - from Protestantism to Sufism
Ingrid Mattson – Canadian scholar and current president of the Islamic Society of North America (2006)
Thomas McElwain - (disputed) from Baptist Christianity, former minister, a Professor of History & Comparative religion.
Bilal Philips - from Christianity, Islamic scholar & author
Zaid Shakir - Islamic scholar
Abu Usamah - Imam of Green Lane mosque
Siraj Wahaj - from Christianity
Khalid Yasin - American, from Christianity, Executive Director of the Islamic Teaching Institute (ITI)
Abu Yahya (Jerald F. Dirks) - from Christianity, Hollis
Hamza Yusuf - from Orthodox Christianity - Islamic scholar
Michael Wolfe Author of The Hajj: An American's Pilgrimage to Mecca, and One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing About the Muslim Pilgrimage. Born of a Christian mother and Jewish father, he is most well known for his documentary on ABC’s Nightline which aired on April 18, 1997 called An American in Mecca.

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
Thomas J. Abercrombie - Photographer
Ivan Aguéli - Artist
Ali Bey al-Abbasi - Writer, explorer (disputed)
Muhammed al-Ahari - American, from Christianity, essayist
Dawud Wharnsby Ali - Canadian Singer/poet, from Christianity
Lewis Arquette - American film actor, writer and producer.
Maurice Béjart – Choreographer
Robert "Kool" Bell - Musician
Yahya Birt - Journalist and son of former BBC Director General John Birt
Art Blakey - Musician
Amir Butler - Australian, a Salafi author
David Chappelle – Comedian & television star
Ian Dallas - Writer
Sumita Devi - (Nilufar Begum) Bangladeshi Actress from Hinduism
Isabelle Eberhardt - from Lutheran Christianity, 19th century explorer & writer
John Coltrane prominent jazz saxophonist and composer
Everlast - American, singer/songwriter
Alys Faiz - Poet
Diana Haddad - Lebanese singer from Christianity
Knud Holmboe - 20th century Danish journalist & explorer
Abdullah Ibrahim (A. J. Brand) - South African pianist & composer
Jermaine Jackson (Muhammad Abdul Aziz) - former member of The Jackson 5 and brother of popstars Michael and Janet Jackson
Maryam Jameelah - from Reform Judaism, essayist, poet, journalist & author
Sarah Joseph - Commentator on women's issues and editor of emel magazine
Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood - British, from Protestant Christianity, author
Daniel Moore - from Christianity, poet
Preacher Moss - American comedian and comedy writer
Nadira - Bollywood Actress of Baghdadi Jewish Origin
Lev Nussimbaum - from Judaism, writer
Harry St. John Philby - from Anglicanism, Arabist, explorer, writer & British colonial office intelligence operative
Prince Buster - Musician
Q-Tip - hiphop MC; former leader of A Tribe Called Quest
William Abdullah Quilliam - from Christianity, poet, solicitor, ambassador & journalist

Yousef Estes, deep thinker
A. R. Rahman ( A.S. Dileep Kumar) – Indian, from Hinduism, music film composer and director
Yvonne Ridley - British journalist, converted from Anglicanism after being kidnapped by the Taliban [11]
Scarface - Rapper, producer, from Christianity
Omar Sharif – Egyptian actor
Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) - British, from Christianity, musician & singer
Kamala Suraiya – Indian, from Hinduism, writer
Idris Tawfiq - British writer, who lives and works in Egypt, was a former Catholic priest
Danny Thompson - Musician
Richard Thompson - Musician
Alexander Russell Webb - American, from Presbyterian Christianity, 19th Century U.S. journalist
Michael Wolfe - Writer & documentarist

SCIENTISTS
Rashid al-Din – Persian physician
Jeffrey Lang - American, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas
Susanne Osthoff - German archaeologist & former hostage in Iraq
Tejatat Tejasen - Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and is the former Dean of the faculty of Medicine, University of Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand

MILITARY RELATED
Mehemet Ali - German-born Ottoman general
Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley - British soldier
Józef Bem - Polish-Hungarian general
Claude Alexandre de Bonneval - French-born Austrian general
Radu cel Frumos – Wallachian ruler
Jacques-Francois Menou - French general
Omer Pasha - From Serbian Orthodoxy, Bosnian general
Suleiman Pasha - French-born
Poncke Princen – Dutch soldier
Rudolf Carl von Slatin - Austrian lieutenant and British colonial administrator (conversion nominal)
Alexander Litvinenko, lieutenant-colonel in the KGB (Russia's security service

Asker's Comment:
jazakallah :)
i wish i can give u 100 points :)
this list is really extensive..... thank u once again.
Is this what you are searching for?

Justice Scalia Dissent To Habeas Corpus For Detainees At Guantanamo Bay Prison

Justice Scalia: Terror Ruling ‘Endangers Lives’

Wednesday, June 18, 2008--Rick Pedraza tells us in a Newsmax article today that Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a blistering dissent to the Supreme Court 5-4 decision that awards habeas corpus rights to terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay.

In fact, he says the court’s decision is “laying the groundwork for the early release of some very dangerous people that will surely result in more Americans killed.

Read the full Rick Pedraza account at: http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Scalia_terror_Guantanamo/2008/06/18/105531.html?s=al&promo_code=648C-1

American Truth

Thanks to my friends Lee Eshbaugh and Skip Mierdink for these stories:
From: skipdink@bellsouth.net [mailto:skipdink@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:18 AM
To: Nielson
Subject: You Could Hear A Pin Drop

Here are several great stories...thought you'd like 'em

When in England,at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell
was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were
just an example of empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many
of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for
freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever
asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


There was a conference in France where a number of
international engineers were taking part, including French and
American. During a break, one of theFrench engineers came back into
the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has
done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 5,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could ha ve heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.

He then asked,'Why is it that we always have to speak English in
these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY

FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in
his carry on.

'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'

The American said,''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.'

'Impossible! Americans always have to show passports on arrival in
France!'

The American senior gave the Frenchman a &nb sp; long hard look Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Democrats Are Responsible For $4 Gas

Washington--H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer, reported that again George Bush has called on the Congress to allow oil drilling. "For a quarter-century," he said, "drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills."

Gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon this summer and drivers and others began clamoring for federal lawmakers to do something positive for the people. Today, America is suffering due to the inaction of Democrats in Congress. When we realize this fact, it will all turn around. and we won't have to depend on foreign oil as much. And the oil cartel will be busted and will no longer control prices.

Next fall when the Democrats start pointing fingers of blame, they can blame their own lame Congress. This isn't the first time President Bush has called for a renewal of drilling, including along our coasts. Again yesterday he renewed his call to open U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas development, arguing that it's high time to battle high prices with increased domestic production. As this is being written, he is asking Congress to lift the drilling moratoria that have been in effect since 1981 in more than 80 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf and to let states help to decide where to allow drilling.

"The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time," White House press secretary Dana Perino told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He will explicitly call on Congress to ... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling."

The AP reported that for their part, some lawmakers (the liberals) have their own plan: Legislation that would continue the ban into late 2009 was scheduled to be considered Wednesday (today) by the House Appropriations Committee.

To read the AP story click below:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_go_pr_wh/offshore_oil

Associated Press Trying To Define Guidelines For Blogging

The following is something we rarely do on Political Disconnect, a complete AP story copied onto the blog. It is done for a purpose, to let all of our readers--some of whom have their own blog site--to know what may be coming down the pike. To most of them it won't change anything they are doing because they don't violate common courtesy or normal journalistic mores anyway. But to some who copy verbatim everything, it may be more of an interest. Don White

The Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Using Its Articles in Blogs
Blogrunners: Read the article and then voice your opinion below in the comments section.
By SAUL HANSELL
Published: June 16, 2008

The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the Web
Bits: The A.P., Hot News and Hotheaded Blogs

The A.P.’s effort to impose some guidelines on the free-wheeling blogosphere, where extensive quoting and even copying of entire news articles is common, may offer a prominent definition of the important but vague doctrine of “fair use,” which holds that copyright owners cannot ban others from using small bits of their works under some circumstances. For example, a book reviewer is allowed to quote passages from the work without permission from the publisher.

Fair use has become an essential concept to many bloggers, who often quote portions of articles before discussing them. The A.P., a cooperative owned by 1,500 daily newspapers, including The New York Times, provides written articles and broadcast material to thousands of news organizations and Web sites that pay to use them.

Last week, The A.P. took an unusually strict position against quotation of its work, sending a letter to the Drudge Retort asking it to remove seven items that contained quotations from A.P. articles ranging from 39 to 79 words.

On Saturday, The A.P. retreated. Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of The A.P., said in an interview that the news organization had decided that its letter to the Drudge Retort was “heavy-handed” and that The A.P. was going to rethink its policies toward bloggers.

The quick about-face came, he said, because a number of well-known bloggers started criticizing its policy, claiming it would undercut the active discussion of the news that rages on sites, big and small, across the Internet.

The Drudge Retort was initially started as a left-leaning parody of the much larger Drudge Report, run by the conservative muckraker Matt Drudge. In recent years, the Drudge Retort has become more of a social news site, similar to sites like Digg, in which members post links to news articles for others to comment on.

But Rogers Cadenhead, the owner of the Drudge Retort and several other Web sites, said the issue goes far beyond one site. “There are millions of people sharing links to news articles on blogs, message boards and sites like Digg. If The A.P. has concerns that go all the way down to one or two sentences of quoting, they need to tell people what they think is legal and where the boundaries are.”

On Friday, The A.P. issued a statement defending its action, saying it was going to challenge blog postings containing excerpts of A.P. articles “when we feel the use is more reproduction than reference, or when others are encouraged to cut and paste.” An A.P. spokesman declined Friday to further explain the association’s position.

After that, however, the news association convened a meeting of its executives at which it decided to suspend its efforts to challenge blogs until it creates a more thoughtful standard.

“We don’t want to cast a pall over the blogosphere by being heavy-handed, so we have to figure out a better and more positive way to do this,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy said the company was going to meet with representatives of the Media Bloggers Association, a trade group, and others. He said he hopes that these discussions can all occur this week so that guidelines can be released soon.

Still, Mr. Kennedy said that the organization has not withdrawn its request that Drudge Retort remove the seven items. And he said that he still believes that it is more appropriate for blogs to use short summaries of A.P. articles rather than direct quotations, even short ones.

“Cutting and pasting a lot of content into a blog is not what we want to see,” he said. “It is more consistent with the spirit of the Internet to link to content so people can read the whole thing in context.”

Even if The A.P. sets standards, bloggers could choose to use more content than its standards permit, and then The A.P. would have to decide whether to take legal action against them. One important legal test of whether an excerpt exceeds fair use is if it causes financial harm to the copyright owner.

“The principal question is whether the excerpt is a substitute for the story, or some established adaptation of the story,” said Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School. Mr. Wu said that the case is not clear-cut, but he believes that The A.P. is likely to lose a court case to assert a claim on that issue.

“It’s hard to see how the Drudge Retort ‘first few lines’ is a substitute for the story,” Mr. Wu said.

Mr. Kennedy argued, however, that The Associated Press believes that in some cases, the essence of an article can be encapsulated in very few words.

“As content creators, we firmly believe that everything we create, from video footage all the way down to a structured headline, is creative content that has value,” he said.

But he also said that the association hopes that it will not have to test this theory in court.

“We are not trying to sue bloggers,” Mr. Kennedy said. “That would be the rough equivalent of suing grandma and the kids for stealing music. That is not what we are trying to do.”

Reagan's Leadership Traits

The following is taken from Utah Policy Daily. It was a column called Tuesday Buzz written by LaVarr Webb & Associates.

As a young White House advance team member, Jon Huntsman, Jr., was able to observe Pres. Ronald Reagan up close and personal. On Monday, Gov. Huntsman reflected on his time spent working for Reagan in a speech before the Ronald Reagan Club of the Republican Party.

No leader is perfect, and Reagan wasn’t either, Huntsman said. Reagan received much criticism because he wasn’t necessarily detail-oriented or a policy wonk. But Reagan embodied certain leadership traits that allowed the Reagan Revolution to succeed, Huntsman said.

He noted that a president can buy tacticians; you can buy policy experts; you can buy clever speech-writers. … But what you can’t buy is courage; you can’t buy character; you can’t buy conviction, or vision or decency or perseverance. Those character traits, plus a deep belief in individual freedom and a focus on expanding the U.S. economy, allowed Reagan to rebuild the military, which ultimately brought an end to the Cold War, dissolution of the Soviet Union, and an expansion of freedom across the world, Huntsman said. Today, we see Reagan’s greatness “through the rear-view mirror of history.”

Buy Don and Carolyn White's New Book, SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too, a new Amazon.com book
click here: http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1

Cheap Oil In Bagdad, $4 Plus In America

The Oxford Club is trying to get people to buy their newsletter listing five great oil bets "set to gush." I'm not suggesting anything. It may be a great investment, but yet again if oil prices suddenly plummet, it's another story...

Since 2002, the price of crude has climbed relentlessly from $20 a barrel to more than $120-plus. It's tempting to blame big oil under our breath as we pump our tanks full.

But rather than complain, they suggest you invest in this sector...

"Shares of firms that find, drill, refine and distribute oil are looking at yet another year of record profits." Yet don't the reports coming out of Washington say Big U.S. Oil makes only 4 cents profit on each gallon sold?

"A handful of companies in this group - the "best of breed" - should continue to accelerate," says the Oxford Club. "These five companies in particular," they say, "are set to blow away estimates."

If the environmentalists didn't have such a strong hold on Washtington Democrats and RINOs, we could greatly increase our oil by drilling in and around the United States as suggested by the above graphics.

Get hold of Don and Carolyn White's successful new book,a must read for our economic times, "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House in One Day And You Can Too." Click here:

Many historians see little chance for McCain, but who set them up as the authority on who should and who shouldn't win a race.

Professors believe it's a Democrat's turn, so, McCain, you may as well call the whole thing off. Or should he? The smart money, do you remember, was on Big Brown just a couple weeks ago to win the Triple Crown at Belmont. He lost the race, though the smart money was on him to win. This professor says he's picked correctly a half dozen times, but I say the odds are greatly against him picking correctly a seventh straight time. What do you say? Read the article below from Yahoo.com and leave your opinion.

Obama is not a horse, but a presidential campaign is a "horse race." The following article from Yahoo News takes an entirely different slant.


by David Paul Kuhn

One week into the general election, the polls show a dead heat. But many presidential scholars doubt that John McCain stands much of a chance, if any.

Historians belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to the Republican. Several saw Barack Obama’s prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.

“This should be an overwhelming Democratic victory,” said Allan Lichtman, an American University presidential historian who ran in a Maryland Democratic senatorial primary in 2006. Lichtman, whose forecasting model has correctly predicted the last six presidential popular vote winners, predicts that this year, “Republicans face what have always been insurmountable historical odds.” His system gives McCain a score on par with Jimmy Carter’s in 1980.

“McCain shouldn’t win it,” said presidential historian Joan Hoff, a professor at Montana State University and former president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency. She compared McCain’s prospects to those of Hubert Humphrey, whose 1968 loss to Richard Nixon resulted in large part from the unpopularity of sitting Democratic president Lyndon Johnson.

“It is one of the worst political environments for the party in power since World War II,” added Alan Abramowitz, a professor of public opinion and the presidency at Emory University. His forecasting model — which factors in gross domestic product, whether a party has completed two terms in the White House and net presidential approval rating — gives McCain about the same odds as Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and Carter in 1980 — both of whom were handily defeated in elections that returned the presidency to the previously out-of-power party. “It would be a pretty stunning upset if McCain won,” Abramowitz said.

What’s more, Republicans have held the presidency for all but 12 years since the South became solidly Republican in the realignment of 1968 — which is among the longest runs with one party dominating in American history. “These things go in cycles,” said presidential historian Robert Dallek, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. “The public gets tired of one approach to politics. There is always a measure of optimism in this country, so they turn to the other party.”

That desire for change also tends to manifest itself at the end of a president’s second term. Only twice in the 20th century has a party won a third consecutive term in the White House, most recently in 1988, when George H.W. Bush replaced the term-limited Ronald Reagan, who was about twice as popular in the last year of his presidency as President George W. Bush is now.

Americans Are Disgusted With High Gas Prices, Yet Liberal Lesgilation Would Drive Prices Higher

Many old folks remember when Conoco, Standard, and Mobile sold gas for 15 cents a gallon. Now, the prices have busted the pumps and stations are resorting to paper signs.

The American people are rightly screaming over $4.00 per gallon prices at the pump.

But what exactly are some of our so-called elected leaders in Washington doing about it?

Unfortunately, instead of working to reduce the burden on your pocketbook...

... liberals and RINOs (Republicans in name only) in Congress are actively and aggressively trying to RAISE THE PRICE OF GASOLINE!

That's right!

Just last week, the Senate attempted to pass the Boxer Climate Tax bill, a deceptive piece of legislation that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged would raise the price of gasoline at the pump BY ANOTHER $1.40 a gallon!

McConnell summarized the economic consequences of the Boxer bill by saying:

"It is, at its heart, a stealth and giant tax on virtually every aspect of industrial and consumer life. It would result in massive job losses. And it seeks to radically alter consumer behavior, without any measurable benefit to the environment in return."

"And that's why it's so hard to comprehend the Majority's decision to move to a bill, at the start of the summer driving season, that would raise the price of gas by as much as $1.40 a gallon, home electricity bills by about 44 percent, and natural gas prices by about 20 percent.

Saudis Experiencing Their Own Political and Economic Disconnect

Plan Would Lift Saudi Oil Output to Highest Ever

A New York Times Article today by Jad Mouawad predicts Saudi Arabia will soon increase oil production, a move administration officials hope will help to lower prices that have already increased more than 40% this year.

He said Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is planning to increase its output next month by about a half-million barrels a day, according to analysts and oil traders who have been briefed by Saudi officials.

The increase could bring Saudi output to a production level of 10 million barrels a day, which, if sustained, would be the kingdom’s highest ever. The move was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices. In recent weeks, soaring fuel costs have incited demonstrations and protests from Italy to Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia is currently pumping 9.45 million barrels a day, which is an increase of about 300,000 barrels from last month.

While they are reaping record profits, the Saudis are concerned that today’s record prices might eventually damp economic growth and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries. The current prices are also making alternative fuels more viable, threatening the long-term prospects of the oil-based economy.

Last week, King Abdullah also took the unprecedented step of arranging on short notice a major gathering of oil producers and consumers to address the causes of the price rally. The meeting will be held on June 22 in the Red Sea town of Jeddah.

(What he will say may go something like this: "Fellas, this makes absolutely no sense at all. Our oil prices are being manipulated by the commodity market, people who care nothing about our little oil business. Let's be sensible. The only way we can increase oil prices is a little at a time. Here's the solution. We all increase our oil production so that prices will fall. If we don't, lack of demand like what the U.S. has demonstrated will cause a major oil price drop. Instead of $140 oil it will be $40 oil. Yes, our plan is to eventually kill the giant, but to do so we need to look at how they killed the cat. They put it in a pot of warm water and turned up the heat gradually. If you put the cat in boiling water what happens? It jumps out. That's just what America is doing. At this rate, soon we won't have any markets for our oil. They'll go out and do something foolish, like invent a 100-mile-per-gallon car. Or starting riding bicycles.}

The last part of this is not from the New York Times. It's Don White editorializing, but we at Political Disconnect think he's right on. The Saudis are having a little political disconnect of their own right now.

Read the entire NY Times article here:
http://us.mc513.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showMessage?fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&.rand=948498269&midIndex=2&mid=1_832165_AHonvs4AAInuSFOP%2BwE%2BjUXJ0QM&eps=&prevMid=1_844768_AKgmvs4AAPJmSFPT0wd4cV%2BjfaA&nextMid=1_833563_AK0mvs4AABsRSFOxZQ8cumjF3AU&m=1_847356_AKgmvs4AAVwASFPcQgkiRCWa5o8,1_844768_AKgmvs4AAPJmSFPT0wd4cV%2BjfaA,1_832165_AHonvs4AAInuSFOP%2BwE%2BjUXJ0QM,1_833563_AK0mvs4AABsRSFOxZQ8cumjF3AU,1_830895_AKsmvs4AAM2TSFOEZAQ3%2BxIIPYU,1_830272_AK0mvs4AAS6YSFOENQv6Ok68fPI,1_831500_AHYnvs4AARx2SFOGUwiXHzjgb6I,1_829171_ALAmvs4AATbjSFNnLQub7BuXTrQ,

Check out Don White's newest book at Amazon.com--"SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too" by clicking here:
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1

George Bush Was A Great President

June 12, 2008
Bush's America: 100 Percent Al-Qaida Free Since 2001
By Ann Coulter
Share Your Comments

In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.

I generally don't write columns about the manifestly obvious, but, yes, the man responsible for keeping Americans safe from another terrorist attack on American soil for nearly seven years now will go down in history as one of America's greatest presidents.

Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for seven years, and I'll consider downgrading Bush from "Great" to "Really Good."


Merely taking out Saddam Hussein and his winsome sons Uday and Qusay (Hussein family slogan: "We're the Rape Room People!") constitutes a greater humanitarian accomplishment than anything Bill Clinton ever did -- and I'm including remembering Monica's name on the sixth sexual encounter.

Read the complete article on Human Events and then come back and make
some comments here at Political Disconnect, where we try hard to keep you connected and the disconnected Democrats confused and off your back.

Click Here: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26979

Obama Is No John F. Kennedy

The above is taken from a Human Events story that debunks the myth that Barak Hussein Obama is another John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy was far more exciting to listen to and, indeed, did offer the country a young new face--including the same old discredited Democratic Party lines of before. Some say they both are excellent public speakers. But I say Obama should have been born during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the long, ponderous way he orates. He almost puts me to sleep the way he pauses to remember his lines. Kennedy was far more direct and able to move people to action like no other before him. But as we look at Kennedy's record--3 years of mostly failed policies, plus the Marilyn Monroe sex scandal--one is reminded of Bill Clinton, a weak president. Here's part of Human Event's story. Click the link at the end to read all of it.

Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the "mainstream" media. In its pursuit of oversimplification, there are only so many heroes to choose from, particularly when it comes to liberal politicians. With the last lion of the Kennedy clan terminally ill and the next generations of the family proving inept at best, it's time for a new Kennedy. Meet Barack Obama.

For months now it seems everywhere you turn someone has been making comparisons between the senator from Illinois and John F. Kennedy. Just Sunday the New York Times even compared Michelle Obama's fashion sense with that of the legendary Jackie O.
Read the Full Story Here

Click below:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26941

Snoopy Flag Redux

Snoopy Is Patriotic

In recent years, liberals have mastered the art of lying. A lefty blog writes a story, then two dozen other blogs pick-up. Next thing you know, the libs in the mainstream media are echoing the charges that started in the blogosphere without mentioning that they're false.

At that point, we're in a Catch-22 because liberals very seldom challenge lies about Republicans, no matter how obvious they may be, and when conservatives point out inaccuracies, it's treated as immaterial because we "must" be biased. Since the mainstream media works this way and is so heavily slanted to the left, it makes it very difficult for conservatives to get their side of the story out.

Then, a few months later, after the lies have been repeated ad nauseum, even conservatives who are uninformed may start to mistake the untrue charges for the truth. That's why these modern liberal myths, like the ones you are about to read, need to be countered with the truth.

George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: This is actually one of the most easily disproved myths because after looking at the same intelligence George Bush was given, many prominent Democrats said almost the exact things Bush did about Iraq's WMDs.

For example, here's Hillary Clinton,

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security." -- Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

Now here's John Edwards,

"Saddam Hussein's regime represents a grave threat to America and our allies, including our vital ally, Israel. For more than two decades, Saddam Hussein has sought weapons of mass destruction through every available means. We know that he has chemical and biological weapons. He has already used them against his neighbors and his own people, and is trying to build more. We know that he is doing everything he can to build nuclear weapons, and we know that each day he gets closer to achieving that goal." -- John Edwards, Oct 10, 2002

They weren't tricked by the Bush Administration and they weren't part of some cover-up designed to lie us into war. To the contrary, they looked at our intelligence reports and came to the same conclusions the Bush Administration did. That's why both of them voted for the war. If the Democrats were honest, they'd be willing to admit that Bush told the truth.

Al Gore would have won the election in 2000 if all the votes had been counted: The problem with this assertion is that all the votes were counted after the fact -- by mainstream media organizations that are hostile to the Bush Administration. What was their conclusion? That George Bush would have won had the unconstitutional full recount been allowed to go forward.

The Miami Herald did a recount and here's the headline and the first paragraph from their article describing the results,

"REVIEW SHOWS BALLOTS SAY BUSH

Republican George W. Bush's victory in Florida, which gave him the White House, almost certainly would have endured even if a recount stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court had been allowed to go forward."

There was also a 2nd recount done by eight media groups. Here's what the New York Times, one of the participants, had to say about it. Again, I am quoting the headline and the first paragraph,

"Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote

A comprehensive review of the uncounted Florida ballots from last year's presidential election reveals that George W. Bush would have won even if the United States Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount of the votes that the Florida Supreme Court had ordered to go forward"

So, the reality is that even if the unconstitutional recount of the Florida ballots had gone forward, Bush still would have won the election.



Click here for the full story:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2008/06/13/tackling_five_modern_myths_created_by_liberals?page=full&comments=true

Harry Reid Is No Lyndon Johnson

Harry Reid:
Blog Purpose Personified

I created my Political Disconnect blog precisely because of one man, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev); and for the reasons that Robert Novak described today in his Washington Post article, “Decline of The Senate.”

In it he describes Senator Reid’s misuse of a parliamentary device called “filling the tree.” It means instead of debating issues and compromising, he intentionally fills the bill up with his own amendments, precluding anyone else’s. Partly because of people like Reid, it is Novak’s contention that the U.S. Senate is a miserable failure. Or in other words, the Senate, once called the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” is now largely worthless.
Reid complains that he has to resort to these tactics because he only enjoys a one-vote margin in the Senate.


But Novak describes the Senate when it was run by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson who also operated with a one-vote margin. What made Johnson different from Reid is that the former majority leader made his reputation as, in biographer Robert Caro's words, "master of the Senate" because he relied on maneuver and negotiation, not dirty tricks.
“In contrast, Reid uses arcane parliamentary tactics to transform the Senate into another House of Representatives,” said Novak, “where the majority can dictate what amendments its members have to vote on.”


Sen. Arlen Specter, age 78, was feeling miserable Monday following chemotherapy the previous Friday. But believing the best antidote was hard work, Specter took the Senate floor with a speech that contrasted sharply from the partisan oratory now customary in the chamber.

Novak said Specter, a Republican centrist, has never been much of a partisan, but during five terms he has become a protector of the Senate's faded reputation as the "world's greatest deliberative body." On Monday, Specter deplored Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's use of a parliamentary device called "filling the tree" to prevent the Republican minority from offering amendments to a bill.


As Specter spoke, the Senate chamber, as is typical, was empty, except for freshman Democrat Ben Cardin, there as presiding officer. Specter departed from customary Senate self-congratulation: "The American people live under the illusion that we have a United States Senate. The facts show that the Senate is realistically dysfunctional. It is on life support, perhaps even moribund. The only facet of Senate bipartisanship is the conspiracy of successive Republican and Democratic leaders to employ this procedural device known as filling the tree. It is known that way to insiders, and it is incomprehensible to outsiders."

The device was used last week when Reid called up the bill responding to global warming, producing the state of futility that has haunted his year and a half as majority leader. Characteristically, Reid neither found the support needed to pass the bill nor attempted a compromise with opponents.



Debating an energy tax as gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon defied political logic. But Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, insisted and Reid bowed to her.

To prevent his Democratic colleagues from having to face politically difficult votes, Reid "filled the tree" with interlocking amendments staving off all other proposed changes. The procedure has been used by majority leaders of both parties since 1985, but it's never been invoked as often as it has by Reid. This marked the 12th time he has resorted to the device.
What followed illustrates the decline of the Senate under Reid.
The Senate fell far short of the 60 votes needed to close debate on the bill. Though Reid blamed Republican intransigence, 10 Democratic senators -- including five-term liberal stalwart Carl Levin of Michigan -- had written Reid last Friday telling him they could not "support final passage of the bill" because of the economic impact it would have on their states. Reid set aside climate change legislation and moved to a bill that would impose an excess-profits tax on oil companies. He next asked senators to close off debate Tuesday, an effort that predictably fell short of the needed 60 votes.


When Republicans said Reid broke his pledge to confirm three of President Bush's appeals court nominees by Memorial Day,Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell retaliated by requiring the entire climate-change bill to be read into the record (consuming more than 10 hours). This kind of squabbling would have been unheard of under Lyndon Johnson. But Novak pointed out that last week it was barely noticed.

An unusual result of the current parliamentary situation is that the climate-change bill remains the pending business of the Senate because of Republican refusal to let Reid dispose of it. The GOP strategy is to keep the issue at hand because of its political toxicity. Specter, trying to be an old-fashioned legislator, really wants to detoxify the bill but cannot because of the no-amendment rule. On Tuesday, he asked for hearings on his 16-month-old proposal to prohibit the majority leader from filling the tree.

Even an expected bigger Democratic majority next January in itself may not reverse this institutional decline.

Jim Johnson Leaves Obama's VP Search Team Over Political Controversy Allegations

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 12, 1:06 AM ET

WASHINGTON - A former CEO leading Barack Obama's search for a vice presidential candidate resigned abruptly Wednesday after questions about his home mortgage deals became a distraction for a candidate who argues he's not influenced by special interests.

Jim Johnson's resignation came a day after Obama defended Johnson and dismissed the Republican criticism of him.

"I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages," Obama said Tuesday.

He accepted Johnson's resignation on Wednesday, leaving the search at least temporarily in the hands of two other prominent Democratic attorneys who also had been scouting candidates — former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy.

"Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept," Obama said. "We have a very good selection process under way, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead."

Johnson, the former chairman of mortgage lender Fannie Mae, came under fire from GOP candidate John McCain and the Republican Party after The Wall Street Journal reported last Saturday that Johnson got mortgages with help from the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp.

McCain had accused Obama of hypocrisy for speaking out against Countrywide's role in the subprime mortgage crisis.

Read another version of the story at the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/print/?nav=globetop

Obama Causing His Own Race Divide

Obama Coverage Underscores
Racial l

Jun 11, 2008

The fact that a black man is a serious contender for the U.S. presidency is a historic achievement that signifies progress in race relations. But in emphasizing Barack Obama’s skin color around the clock, the media, some Democratic politicians, and to some extent Obama himself, have magnified rather than diminished the racial divide.

At some point in our lives, most of us have come to recognize that in conversation, gratuitously identifying a person as being black is inappropriate. A person’s skin color is irrelevant. For that same reason, in considering a new CEO for a company, no one would be so classless as to mention race.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY:

http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/obama_racial_divide/2008/06/11/103547.html

Get High Up In The Air For A Change of Perspective

Digg Dug It

The Unknown Obama

This story was written before Hillary Clinton dropped out.

Ken Blackwell - Columnist for the New York Sun

It's an amazing time to be alive in America . We're in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.

We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender. Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.

The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.

Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.

Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton . Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.

Yet Mr . Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant. Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America . But let's look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial 'beauty.'

Start with national security, since the president's most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists - something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.

Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on 'the rich.' How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.

Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, 'All praise and glory to God!' but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have 'hijacked' - hijacked - Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois , he refused to vote against a statewide ban - ban - on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood , and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.

The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of 'bringing America together' means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.

But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and - yes - they're talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

It 's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war .

Oil Prices Reach Record High, $138 Plus

G-8 to fight oil prices with efficiency, tech

By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer

AOMORI, Japan - The world's top industrialized nations and leading oil consumers pledged Sunday to fight skyrocketing energy prices by increasing efficiency and accelerating investment in new technologies, while urging producers to expand production.

Energy ministers from the Group of Eight countries, joined by China, India and South Korea, voiced concerns over record oil prices and said both producers and consumers would benefit from greater market stability.

To read Joseph Coleman's complete story click the link below:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_meeting style="font-weight:bold;">href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_meeting">

Stop Driving To Work, Stay At Home

http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_ten_hot_home_office_jobs.html

TEN GREAT WORK-AT-HOME JOBS

Gas prices are like to continue their upward spiral before they come down. Wouldn't it make sense for you to go to your boss right now and suggest he either pay you more or allow you to work at home?

Many Americans want to keep their paychecks in their pockets and out of their gas tanks. This gas crunch comes at a good time because we have cheap Internet access and fast computers here in America.

Many workers can perform their jobs just as well from home as they can in the office. Government analysts recently identified ten fast-growing jobs that combine higher-than-average hourly wages with the benefits of working from home. Go to Yahoo.com Education News for the entire story:
http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_ten_hot_home_office_jobs.html


#1: Administrative Services Manager
They oversee support staffs in law firms, hospitals, etc. All you need is a bachelor's degree in business to ern $30 per hour.

#2: Computer Systems Analyst
Computer systems analysts often test new ideas at their own home offices and can make upwards of $30 an hour. You usually need a computer science degree.

#3: Database Manager
They maintain databases, and many of them work remotely. We have a friend who works for IBM in Germany doing this. They can earn considerably over $30 an hour, but need specialized training along with business degree and computer expertise. Some freelance from home.

#4: Public Relations Specialist
Pr people use phone and email and can adapt what they do to home. Expect somewhat more than $22 per hour, but come armewd with a PR degree or equivalent experience.

#5: Paralegal
This is a job that can be done at home as a salaried or freelance worker. You don't need a law degree to be a paralegal, but you should have experience as an adjuster and at least an associate degree. Some law firms like their paralegals to work from home. Expect to earn over $20 an hour.

#6: Probation Officer
This job typically pays $20 an hour plus government benefits.

#7: Web Design Professional
They earn about $20 per hour working from home. Need to know computer programming and have some experience designing and working with Web sites.

#8: Desktop Publisher
You can make $20 an hour writing brochures and press releases for various employers who can't afford a staff or a desk.

#9: Medical Transcriptionist
As many doctors' offices and health care facilities struggle to meet the demands of increased patient loads, home-based medical transcriptionists ride to the rescue. By leveraging skills gained in campus-based or online medical transcription training programs, these specialists can earn $14 or more per hour without leaving home.

#10: Virtual Assistant
Bootstrapping a business in today's economy often requires creative thinking. Some of the most creative and successful professionals in consulting, real estate, and health care have realized that they can reap the benefits of having full-time administrative assistance without the costs of expanding their own offices. Virtual assistants provide high-end secretarial tasks on demand for clients, usually from home offices and earn $13 or more an hour. C

Unemployment Jumps To 5.5% as 49,000 People Lose Jobs

WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May — the biggest monthly rise since 1986 — as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs.

The latest snapshot of business conditions showed a deeply troubled economy, with dwindling job opportunities in a time of continuing hardship in the housing, credit and financial sectors.

Read the Associated Press Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

Gas Prices--We Get What We Deserve

The Gas Prices We Deserve

Washington--Writer George F. Will of the Washington Post is right: rising gas and oil prices are a function of either inaction or faulty thinking of the Democrats.

He noted that New York Democrat Chuck Schumer rose in the Senate and tried to explain: "I rise to discuss rising energy prices." Will said "the president was heading to Saudi Arabia to seek an increase in its oil production, and Schumer's gorge was rising."

Saudi Arabia, he said, "holds the key to reducing gasoline prices at home in the short term." Therefore arms sales to that kingdom should be blocked unless it "increases its oil production by one million barrels per day," which would cause the price of gasoline to fall "50 cents a gallon almost immediately."

The ever astute Will asked: Can a senator, with so many things on his mind, know so precisely how the price of gasoline would respond to that increase in the oil supply? "Schumer does know," he said, "that if you increase the supply of something, the price of it probably will fall. That is why he and 96 other senators recently voted to increase the supply of oil on the market by stopping the flow of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which protects against major physical interruptions. Seventy-one of the 97 senators who voted to stop filling the reserve also oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
If in 1995 President Bill Clinton had not vetoed legislation to permit drilling there, one million barrels is what might today be flowing from ANWR. Figure it out--one million barrels produce 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. Seventy-two of today's senators -- including Schumer, of course, and 38 other Democrats, including Barack Obama, and 33 Republicans, including John McCain -- have voted to keep ANWR's estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market. Do they know something the rest of the world doesn't know?

No, they don't. They are just being stupid. Will believes that Schumer, according to Schumer, is complicit in taking $10 away from every American who buys 20 gallons of gasoline. "Democracy," said H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."

Will says, "The common people of New York want Schumer to be their senator, so they should pipe down about gasoline prices, which are a predictable consequence of their political choice."
Click below to read the rest of this fine article by Georg Will:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060403052.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

GOOD WRITERS ARE MADE NOT BORN

I like those words of Ray Bradbury. Take him seriously and start blogging to perfect your logic and writing ability. It doesn't matter how trite you think you may sound. That's not the point. The point is to stand up and be counted, stand for something. And say something in this blog and get recognized.
Don White

Tips For Accessing Government Information On The Web

Washington--There was still one thing that wasn't right. If we needed a copy of a bill in Washington we had to phone a crony to fax us a copy. We employed the senators and representatives and they worked for us, did they not? Then why were they so difficult to work with?

Yes, many of them sent around these expensive brochures--at public expense--touting how well they had done in office. They really liked you to call their press people and request little things like actual bill language. Know Why? Because that made them smarter than the rest of us. It was leftover elitism working. They acted like royalty and treated us like serfs, not even vassals.

If you wanted to wait for your state legislature to reveal these bills, they came out six months after the legislative session was over. And it might not have contained the text of the bill as it passed, either. That's the way it used to be. But now, if someone needs actual text of bills or proposals, it's out on the Net a few minutes after it is introduced. Wow, we're out of the Dark Age already.It's all there and it only takes a few minutes to access.

Tips For Accessing Government Information on The Web

In the past, there have been so many plaes to go. Do you have to rely heavily on bookmarks?

Most reporters now keep bookmarked files on their intranets. On the government page you should be able to click on laws or on bills, and it will show you the best places to go.

You should list alternatives, highlighting the best ones. Search Engines have a lot of what you need, but you still should keep a catalog to tell you where to go for information. One person on the floor of a newspaper should be charged with keeping the catalog current of resources on the Internet that they know their reporters are going to need. One person? Yes, because things keep changing and one person can keep her eyes on these changes better than having everyone do it.

Instead of trying to search for things, think in terms of which agency is going to deal with a particular topic and go to that agency's Web page and start looking there.

The general search engines are not the answer for government documents. If you don't know which agency to start with, there are some good government-only search engines, such as govSearch [82] from Northern Light ; Uncle Sam from Google [81]; and FedWorld [65]. Each of these sites can help you find things more quickly than using a general search engine.

When You Do Use A General Search Engine, What Techniques Work Best?

Start out with the largest or broadest possible search. If you're searching for a news story in the Web version of Nexis, Dialog or Dow Jones, do a simple word, phrase, or AND/OR search. If it's a large topic, you should limit your search to the Major Story category, which searches headline and/or idea or lead paragraph. If you get too many hits, go back and add additional terms, story length qualifiers, and so on.

The same is true with Web search engines. We suggest AltaVista [7] because it can do very special searches. But mostly, you should just put in a few words. If your search contains a phrase, put it in quotes. The search engine's relevancy ranking will quickly find what you're looking for. There is no need for complex searches.

Searches that are too specific can eliminate citations you want. But evaluating the result requires a bit of intuition, sometimes to recognize which ones might have the information you want. If it's not clear, maybe it's time to try refining the search.

All of this comes with practice!

Next time we will discuss metasearch engines, bookmarking Internet guides, and dealing with the authority and data integrity of materials found on the Internet. We'll help you to evaluate sources and sites.


Don White was a reporter for the Associated Press and editor of three magazines. He is author of two books, including his latest book: SELLING FAST, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE IN ONE DAY AND YOU CAN TOO.

Peter Peterson: GOP And Dems Hurt America

Democrats and Republicans Hurt America
Posted by Don White on Monday, June 02, 2008 2:44:14 PM
BOY ARE WE DUMB!

Former New York Fed official and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations Peter G. Peterson blames both parties for America's financial mess, but particularly George W. Bush.

In his book Running on Empty, conservative chairman of the Blackstone Group points to the fact that when Bush came to Washington the US had a $5.2 trillion-dollar surplus. By 2004 when his book came out we had reversed it and had that much in deficit and four years later it's probably skied to $12-15 trillion dollars.

It's so bad we've gone to borrowing money--unofficially, of course, from our arch enemy the Chinese. They are laughing all the way to the bank while we suffer with a weak dollar and $4-dollar gas prices at the pumps which surely will double before it comes down.

Meanwhile, what is the Democratic Congress doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, except criticizing Bush and laying the blame for our financial mess on his administration. Do they understand that much of the dollar drain is due to the war that is keeping us safe? Do they count the devasting effects of 9/11 and the housing recession--and now the oil speculation? No, they don't. But neither do they have any answers. It's better for Democrats to have a Republican president in the White House. Otherwise, who're they going to blame. They thrive on the "blame game." Financial messes hurt the poor and help the Demos.

It keeps the illiterate poor coming to the voting booths to vote for these left wing liberals who have never done any good for America.

But the Republicans are no better. They had their chance and dropped the ball. If we have Demos in office it is, to some degree, the fault of dishonest and ineffective Republicans. Now that's quite a statement. One that a conservative like me shouldn't make, but it's true. When will America wake up and start voting these moderate and liberal Republicans out of office--along with the Democratic counterparts.

Though Congress has no answers, Russia does. They recently lowered taxes on "rich" oil companies with one provision and challenge. They can receive $4 billion in tax cuts, but they must find ways to deliver cheaper oil and gas to the Ruski consumers. Now what didn't Democrats think of that? It's not an original idea. We've long known that you don't stop the financial bleeding by taxing the rich. If you do you make things worse, because they're the very people who create jobs with their surplus money. And lately, our oil companies haven't had any excess money--sounds ridiculous, doesn't it, given the huge oil prices they're getting. But it's true. Our oil people haven't had money to invest in plant and equipment for years. That's why all our refineries are 50 years old and inefficient.

Get real, Democrats. Get off George Bush's case. Part of our economic woes derive from the war in Iraq, a war that is helping us remain free from terrorist attacks. Or haven't you noticed, Dems, we haven't had another 9/11 in America for 7 years and won't have as long as we are fighting the Arabs on their turf. That war costs us $12 billion a month. Why wasn't Bush smart enough to charge it all off to the Iraqis? Remember, oil? That was supposed to have been the reason Bush invaded Saddam Husein's Republican Guard. To get at the oil. We not only didn't get the oil, we're left holding the bag for now protecting those people when we should be charging back all costs of our Military from 2003 forward.

Yes, we also had 9/11 and the worst housing recession in 50 years, not to mention the current gas crunch--$4.00 gas at the pumps that's sure to hit six before summer's out when I expect prices to fall to or slightly below $4.00 but never below that.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7650837144875627751

How The Fourth Estate Rescued An Election

Judge Orders New Miami Mayoral Election

Miami, 1988--This is a story about how a news gathering organization, the Associated Press, mobilized to force a re-election in the Miami Mayoral contest ten years ago.

Officials were tipped off concerning potential fraud by the absentee ballots that came in, and the AP's investigation at first centered on that.

Evidence was presented to a Florida judge and he overturned the mayoral election of Xavier Suarez over colorful Miami mayor Joe Corolla. That repeat election was ordered following a November, 1987 election.

"The evidence presented in the case clearly demonstrated fraud and abuse of the absentee ballot laws," the judge wrote. He said no evidence was presented to indicate that Suarez knew about, or participated in, the fraud.

Carollo claimed that absentee ballots were forged and even paid for by representatives of the Suarez campaign. AP project editor, Judy Miller, said it looked fishy and the AP decided on a full-fledged investigation.

It started as a computer-assisted reporting (CAR) project. Dan Keating, the city desk's CAR editor (now at the Washington Post) got the voter registration and voting database. he ran those records against felony records, city employee records, real estate records, and social security death records databases. He came up with a list of people who appeared to be dead but who had still voted: people who worked for the city of Miami, didn't seem to live in the city, but had still voted there; addresses that seemed to house more voters than there was room for; and people who had voted despite having felony records.

That's when the real project started: All those people had to be backgrounded to find out if they truly were felons, or if they truly were dead, or if they truly didn't live in the city of Miami.

What A Huge Research Project!

Judy Miller got several departments to lend her reporters for a couple of months, and put them all on the vote fraud team. Their job was to do the reporting on these people. They had to do background checks on all of them, which meant going through some of the public records databases that they had online, like AutoTrack [20], and county databases.

Miller said her job was to train all these people in how to use online public records. "Over the years we had been training reporters to do background checks as they covered elections. So we had a group of reporters who were trained, but we had to update them on changes in online records, as well as train those who were new at it.

She had to give them access to some databases that aren't available online, like the voting records database. The AP set up an intranet server and their systems department gave them access and they put the voter database on the intranet with searchable databases on it for a couple of years. Reporters could put information they had found on it so that the whole investigation could be coordinated and everyone was on the same page.

Reporters would go out knocking on doors. Sometimes they came to a house that had nine voters in it, yet it had only two bedrooms. Reporters called Miller and asked who owned the house, who lived in the house?

Miller admitted it was a "huge project--one that won them the Pulitzer Prize for reporting. It involved 20 reporters who all got credit.

Many of the files that were critical to their research are not available on the public Internet, but were databases that the AP had to purchase. Miller said that in many cases you can get them from government agencies for a minimal charge--usually just the cost of transferring the data. As the fraud project went on, they added more and more of these databases to the AP intranet.

Our next article will be about what you can find on the Net that you couldn't find a few years ago, and tips for accessing government files.

We suggest you read a fine book by Paula J. Hane, Supersearches In The News, The Online Secrets of Journalists and News Researchers, Cyberage Books, Medford, N.J., 2000.

Government Warms to Global Warming

Report Documents Effects of Climate Change in U.S.

NPR.org, May 30, 2008 · A new report published by the federal government states that climate change is already affecting U.S. water resources, agriculture, land resources and biodiversity. Some forests are seeing more fires and insect infestations. Water use is on the rise, and invasive weeds are spreading.

But where's the scientific proof? Maybe we'll get some bloggers who can fill us in or object to this blatant confusion that "government" employs to get us off alternative sources of fuel such as coal and oil shale.

High Gas Prices

By Utah Representative Lauri Fowlke

Why are gas prices so high?!!!

Each day I, like you, are concerned about the price of gasoline. Just when we think it cannot go any higher, it creeps up again. Diesel gasoline is already over $4.00 a gallon. Why is this happening and what can be done about it?

This problem is related to what I believe may become one of the most pressing concerns of our century - energy. Our quality of life depends upon its use; almost all activities require energy of one type or another. At a time when demands for energy are increasing, as more materials that we use require it and more countries are becoming technologically advanced, environmental extremists are insisting on limits to the use of several sources of energy [coal, for example], and limits on exploration and drilling [in the Alaskan tundra, for example]. The Democrat majority in Congress have continued to pursue this type of legislation, which further hampers our ability to find and provide the sources of energy our country requires to maintain our life style. While Utah currently has access to enough petroleum to meet its needs, prices are increasing and supplies are diminishing. A useful report on this issue is available from Utah Foundation, entitled " Utah's Energy Use & Resources: Powering Our Standard of Living."

Because the cost of fuel has risen so high, the formerly too-expensive cost of extracting oil shale from the Uintah basin in Utah has become more feasible. The Intermountain region has enough oil shale to supply the country for years to come and would terminate our dependence on foreign sources of oil. The problems are related, again, to environmental impediments to extracting the shale.

Of course, there are many others who also believe it is time we looked to nuclear power for our energy needs. Europe has built dozens of new nuclear power plants while none have been built in the U.S. in decades.
Please be assured that many people in authority are concerned about the rising gas prices and related issues. I have spent considerable time discussing and reviewing this issue with our federal congressional delegation. Congressman Cannon has done much to try and address this problem, I believe.

On May 20th, 2008, Congressman Cannon, as Chairman of the Western Caucus, led House Republicans in highlighting the availability of domestic energy. Congressman Cannon, along with Congressmen Smith, Peterson, and Bishop, showed their colleagues the availability of energy in America. Congressman Cannon will soon introduce legislation allowing the President to bypass regulation and authorize the immediate extraction of oil from shale. Shale oil contains 3 to 5 times the amount of oil as Saudi Arabia and can bring gas prices down this year.

Peter G. Peterson Blames Both Parties For the Financial Mess This Country Is In--But Particularly, George W. Bush

BOY ARE WE DUMB!

Former New York Fed official and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations Peter G. Peterson blames both parties for America's financial mess, but particularly George W. Bush.

In his book Running on Empty, conservative chairman of the Blackstone Group points to the fact that when Bush came to Washington the US had a $5.2 trillion-dollar surplus. By 2004 when his book came out we had reversed it and had that much in deficit and four years later it's probably skyed to $12-15 trillion dollars.

It's so bad we've gone to borrowing money--through international money markets--from our arch rival and enemy the Chinese. They are laughing all the way to the bank while we suffer with a weak dollar and $4-dollar gas prices at the pumps which surely will double before it comes down.

Meanwhile, what is the Democratic Congress doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, except criticizing Bush and laying the blame for our financial mess on his administration. Do they understand that much of the dollar drain is due to the war that is keeping us safe? Do they count the devastating effects of 9/11 and the housing recession--and now the oil speculation? No, they don't. But neither do they have any answers. It's better for Democrats to have a Republican president in the White House. Otherwise, who're they going to blame. They thrive on the "blame game." Financial messes hurt the poor and help the Demos.

It keeps the illiterate poor coming to the voting booths to vote for these left wing liberals who have never done any good for America.

But the Republicans are no better. They had their chance and dropped the ball. If we have Demos in office it is, to some degree, the fault of dishonest and ineffective Republicans. Now that's quite a statement. One that a conservative like me shouldn't make, but it's true. When will America wake up and start voting these moderate and liberal Republicans out of office--along with the Democratic counterparts.

Though Congress has no answers, Russia does. They recently lowered taxes on "rich" oil companies with one provision and challenge. They can receive $4 billion in tax cuts, but they must find ways to deliver cheaper oil and gas to the Ruski consumers. Now what didn't Democrats think of that? It's not an original idea. We've long known that you don't stop the financial bleeding by taxing the rich. If you do you make things worse, because they're the very people who create jobs with their surplus money. And lately, our oil companies haven't had any excess money--sounds ridiculous, doesn't it, given the huge oil prices they're getting. But it's true. Our oil people haven't had money to invest in plant and equipment for years. That's why all our refineries are 50 years old and inefficient.

Get real, Democrats. Get off George Bush's case. Part of our economic woes derive from the war in Iraq, a war that is helping us remain free from terrorist attacks. Or haven't you noticed, Dems, we haven't had another 9/11 in America for 7 years and won't have as long as we are fighting the Arabs on their turf. That war costs us $12 billion a month. Why wasn't Bush smart enough to charge it all off to the Iraqis? Remember, oil? That was supposed to have been the reason Bush invaded Saddam Husein's Republican Guard. To get at the oil. We not only didn't get the oil, we're left holding the bag for now protecting those people when we should be charging back all costs of our Military from 2003 forward.

Yes, we also had 9/11 and the worst housing recession in 50 years, not to mention the current gas crunch--$4.00 gas at the pumps that's sure to hit six before summer's out when I expect prices to fall to or slightly below $4.00 but never below that.