WAYNESBURG, Ky. — Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle's tires and stop an intruder.
Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man on her farm in south-central Kentucky last week after she saw her dog run into a storage building where thieves had previously made off with old farm equipment. MORE...
As a mother I, of course, thought about how horrendous this whole nightmare is to the families of the victims as well as all the emotional damage to the survivors. From listening to the reports on this heinous occurrence, I heard repeatedly that the shooter had to reload several times and went from classroom to classroom. As a military mom, I immediately wished that our young people had the same obligation and experience that all young folks in Israel have: two years of military training and service. Those reloading and trolling periods were windows of opportunity that only young folks trained militarily would have been able to use to subdue or terminate the perp and save many lives. MORE HERE
Journalist Cora Daniels stumbled on the first raw material for her new book quite literally on her Brooklyn doorstep, where teenagers found it terrifically fun and "ghetto" to play cards, drink beer and cuss into the wee hours on school nights.
Several months and a few thousand miles later, she argues in Ghettonation that a "ghetto" mind-set — which she says celebrates the worst of human nature — has taken hold coast to coast.
"Ghetto" styles, from wearing gaudy jewelry to using the n-word in ordinary conversation, have caught on with teens and young adults who aren't black, yet who seem to enjoy imitating famous hip-hop artists such as 50 Cent and Three 6 Mafia.
The "ghetto-ization" of America, which includes everything from baggy clothes to racial slurs and slacker attitudes, is triggering concern far beyond urban neighborhoods. Last week, white radio host Don Imus lost his job at CBS after he used "ho" (hip-hop slang for "whore") on the air, and drew widespread condemnation. MORE . . .
Horrible - hip-hop is not a good thing!
According to MetroActive, she resigned quietly (where was the MSM?) from a Military Construction Appropriations committee after a conflict of interest involving her husband, tens of millions of dollars in defense and construction contracts, etc. surfaced in January.Hmmm - let me see, it'a ok for Feinstein's husband to benefit from military contracts, but it isn't ok for Cheney to benefit from military contracts. Is that right?
MetroActive speculates that the resignation was due to the impending release of a scathing expose (funded by The Nation) that threatened to blow the lid off the air-tight kettledrum of ethical problems.
“The Bush administration is embroiled in the most ridiculous non-scandal scandal in human history—set off when the administration stupidly apologized for firing its own employees. U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president... Democrats have the breathtaking audacity to claim that Bush’s replacing his own political appointees is ‘politicizing prosecutions.’ They say this as Sandy Berger walks free after stealing and destroying top-secret national security documents—but Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby faces decades in prison for not outing a covert agent. (Let’s hope he’s learned his lesson!)... They say this while Sen. Teddy Kennedy is still at large (and getting larger)... The president has absolute authority to fire U.S. attorneys, hold investigative hearings and grant pardons. What’s he worried about? That the media will be hysterical and Democrats will call him names? Constantly apologizing doesn’t seem to have worked out too well for him either. How about doing something for the Americans who elected him? Ah, but I see he has! As we go to press, news comes across the transom that Bush has withdrawn the nomination of Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium because Democrats are upset that Fox gave a donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. There’s no hope.” —Ann Coulter
“The jump in ethanol use certainly didn’t come about because of a groundswell of popular demand; it came about, like so many bad ideas, because of a government mandate. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required that 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel (mostly ethanol) be added to the gasoline supply last year. It goes up to 4.7 billion this year and to 7.5 billion in 2012. But ethanol lowers fuel economy—according to the Department of Energy, a gallon of ethanol contains only two-thirds the energy content of a gallon of gasoline. And you’re actually paying more for less performance. It’s difficult... to transport ethanol from its Midwestern home base to far-off markets, and that adds to the price you pay at the pump. Ethanol can’t be sent in an energy-efficient way through pipelines like gasoline can, because it would be contaminated by moisture along the way. Ethanol must be shipped instead by trucks, barges and railroads. And that brings us to ethanol’s environmental impact. After all, shipping by truck, barge or rail uses... well, fossil fuels. So the more ethanol we move, the more fossil fuel we use—which, Al Gore and Company tell us repeatedly, spews the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In addition, all that extra corn farming means more fertilizer and pesticide use, along with increased irrigation. More diesel fuel will be needed to run the tractors and the harvesters. In the end... ethanol may wind up putting about as much carbon dioxide into the air as it takes out. So, from an environmental perspective, we’ll be paying more to more or less maintain the status quo.” —Rebecca HagelinWe've been suspicious of ethanol for quite a while. This editorial makes sense, and it is well researched. Check it out!
