PSoTD

Oh, he bombed? Right. That's why everyone's talking about it today. That's why he's being championed at half the blogosphere and belittled in the other half - because he bombed.

No, Colbert's comments have a life that will extend the remainder of Bush's life. When GB II dies (or goes to jail), think anyone will remember any of the lines of Steve Bridges last night? Hardly. Bush? No. Think Colbert's lines will resurface? I do. This one:

When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday.

I'm just wondering if this race might be a cold slap in the face to the National GOP on Tuesday...

Despite a federal investigation into his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Republican Rep. Bob Ney is confident he'll win re-election in his 18th Congressional District.

But this year is different. Unlike recent campaigns, when the six-term congressman had no opponents or only token opposition, Ney this year faces what could be one of his hardest political contests.

He has a challenger in Tuesday's GOP primary - financial analyst James Brodbelt Harris, who has attacked Ney for his ties to Abramoff and stance on taxes. But Harris hasn't raised any money compared with the $474,000 Ney has in the bank.

"Yeah, he is a Goliath with a Goliath-sized war chest. And I am sort of like David, I suppose, but I'm going to take my shot and we'll see what happens," said Harris, who didn't file a campaign finance report.

We'll see how Ney Referendum I goes.

I think he's going to be the first President to give himself a pardon while in office for all actions taken during his term.

Sometimes I wonder if eventually every Republican in the 05-06 Congress is going to end up in jail.

Or... The National Conservative Student Conference.

The 2006 National Conservative Student Conference will be held July 30 - August 5 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The incredibly low cost of $325 covers everything: your housing, food, tuition, and material costs.

The National Conservative Student Conference is the signature college conference of Young America’s Foundation. The only event of its kind, the intensive six-day conference brings young people together with conservatism’s biggest stars, and provides an entry point into the Conservative Movement.

Confirmed Speakers As of April 27

Walter Williams
John Stossel
Michelle Malkin
Peter Collier
Harvey Mansfield
Alexander Haig
Robert Novak
Bay Buchanan
David Brooks
Amanda Carpenter
Herman Cain
Marji Ross
Kirby Wilbur
Burt Folsom
Paul Gourley
Michelle Easton
Morton Blackwell
T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Ron Robinson

I see it advertised as the place to get the education you can't get in college. It's time to point out something here - conservative mothers and fathers, you're shelling out $325 for an education that your kids can get just about anywhere. Television - radio - newspapers - magazines - Internet. And I would be willing to bet that you're already paying for it.

So here we go, with Republicans teaching their next generation early on about the values of how to waste money on a duplication of something that already exists. And wasting time as well. How can the next generation of Republican politicans expect to be any less disastrous to the budgets of the governments of the United States than the current crop of "leaders" when this is what they learn?

Maybe Americans should sing Silent Night as "Stille Nacht", in original German.

Maybe Americans should sing "Adeste Fideles", not "O Come All Ye Faithful"

Maybe Americans should read the Bible in the original language(s) various parts were written in. Or... maybe people should quit looking to manufacture divisive issues.

If this case goes forward, it could be a VERY big deal across the nation. It's plainly obvious that if government can provide incentives to specific companies, that practice does discriminate against all other companies, and is complete governmental B.S. as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to see the practice abolished, so best of luck to this lawsuit.

This is the creativity that the U.S. Congress shows for solving the gasoline price problem: a rebate.

Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

So... assuming that since there was no rebate even suggested when gas was a dollar a gallon less, apparently Congress feels that they need to resolve the price issue for Americans for... the next 100 gallons. How far-reaching. How forward looking. Can we people Congress with even more simpletons? Hard to see how.

Wonder if that money could be spent in a better way, for a more productive, more long-term resolution? Why... this proposal probably only will salve Americans until maybe... early November?

If Congress can't come up with better solutions than just throwing money at voters, then they should be fired. Period. If I get a rebate check, I'm sending it to a candidate for Congress who has real ideas about energy for this country and who opposes this rebate.

Announce that you're running for President in 2008. Don't be coy about it. Don't worry about Hillary. Put it out there, publicly, and dare the other candidates that are interested to do the same. Get the first strike advantages.

It isn't that I'm necessarily in the John Edwards camp. But he's an interesting candidate that still has a lot to prove, and this is a good window for his audition - so he should announce already. Americans don't want coy. We want direct and honest and intelligent. We NEED that.

Congress must keep the Internet free and open by voting for meaningful and enforceable Network Neutrality.

About Tony Snow - enough already.

It doesn't matter if it's him or it isn't him. Frankly, the press again has been snookered by the Bush Administration into wasting valuable press coverage into a non-story. This is going to be the goddamn press secretary. This person will respond to and cloud press questions. This person will replace Scott McClellan. That's how important the job is - you get to replace Scott McClellan. The story has no legs beyond that, unless, of course, the press wants to give it legs beyond that, which is exactly what it has been doing.

Enough. Quit chasing the mechanical bone already.

I suspect this little comment is going to strike 70% of America as an outright lie.

President Bush today said he had tried to avoid war with Iraq "diplomatically to the max."

Bush is so grody, man.

I've been wondering, with our country's history, why Americans think that the current "structure" for determining foreign policy for the United States is adequate. We're in the second war of the last 40 years in which a great chunk of the population thinks the effort is politically misguided. There's considerable angst about economic foreign policy, there's human rights and environmental issues and all sorts of other items that fall into a general heading of "foreign policy." Why is Cuba still an enemy? Can that possibly be considered successful foreign policy?

Do we have any standards for foreign policy that Americans can even declare with any confidence? "To help America" isn't a standard, it's a slogan. Standards have goals and benchmarks and often are monitored for success or failure. Can Americans say, with any confidence, that any of that really happens today?

And so... I wonder why the question of structure of foreign policy determination doesn't come up more often with Americans. It's not just that executive branch "deciders" fail on their own accord, but it's that they bring relatively short-term agendas to the office, must "pander" to their base on many foreign policy issues, and in large part don't really have a check or balance from either the Congressional or Judicial branches. It seems to me that it's built weakly, and could be better constructed.

So... imagine it was the early days of America again, and you're partly responsible for writing the Constitution. Would you have written the Constitution to better structure how America's government determines foreign policy? How?

There must be some money to be made in building huge pink pigs for groups who want to protest government spending.

See? I'm not kidding.

I'm really getting sick of the conservative complaints about Republican members of Congress going spending-crazy and lacking fiscal control. Quit your bitching, and say the magic words. Vote those people out.

Otherwise, it's just more slipknot ropetricks by conservative pundits.

I think there's a good point in here about homeowners' associations going too far. I also think that the issue of the enforcement capabilities and responsibilities of homeowners associations is going to be a sizeable issue for state legislatures across the country in the next 20 years. They are unofficial mini-governmental entities in many ways, with a lot of legal issues to be defined..

No surprise.

I'm all for a Crawford Rocking Chair Facility after Bush leaves office. Put all of his administration on the porch and keep them there.

Anyone else find this story pretty damn discouraging? From the Carthaginian:

Grove could host new labor

New sources of labor for a Sebastopol plant struggling to fulfill operation capacity may bring a touch of the Orient to Walnut Grove.

'Grove city officials Thursday night gave tacit support of a plan to turn a warehouse in the town into dormitories for Chinese nationals brought to the area to work at Peco Foods of Mississippi, Inc.

According to Alderman Marcus Ellis, Jimmy Wilcher, partners with Dale Rogers in ownership of a building used by CamoKids, a sewing operation, appeared before the town board in a special meeting Thursday. Wilcher, the alderman said, explained a plan that is in the works between Peco and "the Chinese consulate" to bring 50 to 100 Chinese nationals to work at the company's plant in Sebastopol.

For the 'Grove the plan would mean turning a warehouse into a dormitory, Ellis said. The building, he said, is privately owned, so the town's permission wasn't required, but Wilcher wanted to get a feel for reaction to the plan. "He just wanted to know what we thought of it,"

Ellis said. "They didn't want to go forward with it if there was opposition."

The board, minus Jerry Darby, who was out of town, voiced no objections, Ellis said. "We kicked it around for awhile," he said, "and we couldn't find any why-nots in it."

Rogers, in a Tuesday telephone interview, emphasized the plan was in the most preliminary stages. "It really isn't a done deal yet," he said. Peco, Rogers said, had recently constructed a third processing line at its Sebastopol plant on Highway 21, but had not been able to use the line.

"They're trying to open a line," he explained, "and they're trying to branch out in the Chinese labor force." Telephone calls from the newspaper to a Peco official and Mayor Grady Sims were not returned Tuesday. Housing concerns for the potential labor force, Rogers said, brought Peco officials to him and Wilcher.

What exactly is Peco going to pay their Chinese workforce? Room and board?

I really wonder if Republicans will appreciate the irony in Melvin Laird's editorial wrap-up in today's Washington Post:

We do not advocate a silencing of debate on the war in Iraq. But care must be taken by those experienced officers who had their chance to speak up while on active duty. In speaking out now, they may think they are doing a service by adding to the reasoned debate. But the enemy does not understand or appreciate reasoned public debate. It is perceived as a sign of weakness and lack of resolve.

It's Bush-backing conservatives that are not appreciating this reasoned debate, suggesting it is a sign of weakness and lack of resolve. Is that who Laird means as "the enemy"?

He hasn't made it clear to his boss that when Bush isn't seen as particularly competent by a majority of Americans, Bush's endorsement of Rumsfeld's competency ain't worth squat to those Americans.

If Bolten was good, he'd have McCain and Lieberman cued up already. But then again, it's the Bush Administration.

Times have really changed. Even small town areas. What's the impact on the kids?

Courtesy of the Dakota County Tribune

It's Newt Gingrich.

One thing about Klein: it seems to me that he can't distinguish between political tactics and governing policies.

I don't often post about religion, but I found this to be a rewarding story.

States are trying to curb roadside memorials for traffic accident victims. It was bound to happen. I'm not quite sure where or when the practice of memorializing the spot where someone died on the road, but there's little corollary anywhere else. You don't see homemade semi-permanent memorials at people's homes when they die, or on golf courses or at supermarkets or almost anywhere else that people die, often tragically.

There is a safety issue involved. Often the memorial is eyecatching but has a tiny sign, almost impossible to read from the road, and yet human curiousity draws the eye to the sign. Eyes on the road? No. Eyes on the sign not made for reading from the road traveling at speeds and a location where obviously bad things can and do happen. People stop at the memorials and then return to the road, often not at a place expected or built for exit and return.

It is a tough balance for the government to try to meet. Those grieving want to honor the dead. Often, it is more than one victim to be memorialized. But government does have an obligation to make sure that roadside memorials don't cause a less-safe environment for drivers.

I'm a big believer in the power of active team recreation as it benefits the body and soul. For me, at this time, it is my 35 and older basketball league, Wednesday nights. Sure, today, like almost every Thursday morning, I'm a bit sore and gimpy, but my mind is relaxed, and, if anything, I wish I could play again tonight... but the rest of my worldly obligations must be satisfied.

I think the power of active team recreation could also benefit our society as well if applied with intent. Take any major schism of philosophy and break it down into the common denominators of physical humanity. When I play basketball, I judge other people by the amount of effort they're giving, their sense of fair play within the rules of the game, and their control of themselves as they strain to perform physically against another. Yes, I like to win. But more importantly, I like to have a good time, I like to see everyone else have a good time, and most of all, I don't want to see anyone get hurt by the actions of another.

In basketball, you can have "good" players, meaning they can score, pass and defend, and they provide effort. Too much effort. They lose their sense of fair play and/or their control of themselves, and they end up edging up tension within the rest of the group, because they freeze out "lesser" players and they try to intimidate defenders with banging. They can become hotheads, getting angry at perceived fouls and the slights of not receiving the ball when they're set. Basketball isn't a game for the timid, but you have to recognize who you're playing with, and try to improve everyone on your team while finding an enjoyable level to play for yourself. You have to work within the realm of everyone's reality.

Almost everyone decries that our nation, politically, has fumbled its ability to work within the realm of the electorate's reality. What we have today in Washington has a corollary in basketball. We have two teams, relatively evenly matched, but one team has the ball. That team has a forward that can shoot and dribble but will very, very rarely pass. That player is continually trying to score, and the other team, knowing this, has set their defenses to stop that player. Every time the forward fails to score, he calls a foul. Ticky tack perhaps, but every time.

What you end up having is one team with the ball the whole time, an incredibly boring game for most everyone, and no progress in the score. Sound like Washington?

In the 1970s, ABC had a sports program called The Superstars or something like that, where it took the best athletes around the world from various sports and made them compete against each other in sports where they didn't compete.

America would benefit greatly if all members of Congress were taken to some remote spot of the country to do something similar today. Put them in a sports complex for three weeks, and have them compete at different team sports. NO PARTY TEAMS. All squads have Republicans and Democrats. Have them play softball, basketball, tag football, swimming relays, aquatic ballet, whatever, but they have to be team sports.

Make them play every day, and different sports.

Think the world would be better if this happened? I do.

Apparently FEMA has not told some Louisiana local government officials what should be done with the FEMA temporary housing trailers in the possibility of another large hurricane landing there at this point, even though those local government officials are requesting that info in order to plan for the upcoming hurricane season.

The National Review editors are wetting themselves.

Oh, and by the way, if Berlusconi, as the incumbent, "had little to show for his five years in office except noise and laughter and paralysis", then how could anyone logically believe that "a Berlusconi majority might have been able at the eleventh hour to address the country's many dilemmas"? Do the editors of the National Review all take turns, writing one sentence each, only paying attention to the sentence previous to it?

From The Hill:

Conservative activist Grover Norquist is seeking a trademark on “K Street Project,” saying Democrats and Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) have wrongfully acquired the term to describe unethical practices that have nothing to do with his organization.

“Some people say Kleenex when they mean tissue,” Norquist said. “We will jealously guard the real phrasing the way Kleenex and Coca-Cola do. We will sue anyone who says it wrong and make lots of money.”

I hope this fails. How many cities in the United States have a "K Street"? How many cities have construction projects in which they call the project by the location? Will Norquist sue these cities too?

BTW, has the name Grover Norquist been trademarked?

Kudos. I believe this is an effort to crush the underground worm planning of one Chris Matthews as he hopes to ascent to Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator in 2010, using the "Lynn Swann celebrity supposed liberal Republican candidate" technique.

It's important for any Matthews for Senate trial balloon be quickly popped before it fills too greatly with his political flatulence.

Rich Lowry displays his patriotism in describing what Bush should do - not for the country, but for Republicans - and just for appearances.

AMERICAblog and Bark Bark Woof Woof weigh in as well.

Researchers looking for clues in effort to cut manure odor

The smell from the big cattle feedlots found in many parts of western Kansas can be exceptionally powerful, which residents of Hays know all too well because Kansas State University's Agricultural Research Center is there.

But a Fort Hays State University professor, two of his students and a beef cattle scientist at the Kansas State center are working on a project to isolate the chemical that causes the strong odor from the manure.

...

The strong odor in Hays results from decomposition of the organic matter, particularly the anaerobic breakdown of proteins by bacteria, something that can be sped up by heat on a sunny day or by high levels of moisture. Certain anaerobic compounds in the manure cause the smell, and the problem for the researchers is determining which compounds are responsible.

"There's actually been over 168 compounds that have been identified by other researchers that contribute to the odor of feedlots," Jaeger said. "Different feedlots can smell for different reasons. There's a lot of reasons out there, so for Dr. Olmstead and his students to be able to tell me what's the most prevalent here is a good first step in reducing that odor."

This is actually a big issue anywhere that development is encroaching on farming. Housing is placed on land used previously for farming, but sometimes livestock farms still remain nearby, and after a few years, the homeowners actually have the gall to complain that the other farmers should leave because of the odor. Anything like this might actually help with the political issue.

Just get to pick one reason...

Running For Congress
What Is The Main Reason That Convinced Most Current Members of Congress To Originally Campaign For Their Seat?	To Make Specific Changes in Federal Law To Help Their Area To Have a High Paying, High Benefit Job To Help Their Friends Other
	Current Results

If true, this ought to be a bonus for the "online bill payment" industry...

Rumors are circulating that the next postal rate increase will be higher than what postal officials have previously suggested. Rather than an increase in the mid-single digits, some sources are saying the increase could be in the double digits.

The Postal Service could base its rate request on projected costs for the 2008 fiscal year, beginning October 2007. “It is not surprising that the Postal Service would want to get its rates as high as it can, in case postal reform, with its CPI-based price cap, actually passes,” says David Straus, Washington counsel for American Business Media. "Clearly, the Postal Service will want the base as high as possible if it is to be limited to strict percentage increases thereafter."

The rate filing is expected this month, followed by the postal Rate Commission beginning a 10-month review process, with new rates most likely taking effect in spring 2007.

Is Kirk Ferentz, head coach of football at Iowa, really the state of Iowa's highest paid state employee?

Kinda funny. When people complain about the high cost of government, and wasted government money, you never hear them mention the price of football coach salaries.

Of course, we've seen this act before. Senator Specter talks tough about Bush. Bush shows him a few trinkets. Senator Specter acts satisfied that everything is legit. Will this just be another rerun of that show?

A lawyer knowledgeable about the case said Saturday that Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Libby be the one to disseminate the information.

"I think that it is necessary for the president and vice president to tell the American people exactly what happened," Specter told "Fox News Sunday."

"I do say that there's been enough of a showing here with what's been filed of record in court that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people ... about exactly what he did," Specter said.

Others on this story: Slantblog, The Truth Will Set You Free, Daily Grit, Keystone Politics, Thoughts of an Average Woman, Brouhaha

Seriously, is it worth the prosecution costs? Wouldn't we be better off if we spent the federal money in a mental health capacity for this guy?

A patient at the Alton Mental Health Center has been charged with threatening President George W. Bush.

Arafat Nijmeh, a Palestinian who lives in Belleville, had been temporarily committed to the mental health center when he made the threat on March 18. Two psychiatric technicians called the Secret Service.

Nijmeh told federal agents the next day that "to cut off his (appendage) is not too harsh, considering what he has done to my country," according to the indictment.

After the agents began reading Nijmeh his rights, Nijmeh claimed it was a joke.

A federal grand jury this week indicted Nijmeh, 26, of 1000 Royal Heights Road, Apt. 5, on two counts of threatening the president, which carries a prison sentence of up to five years.

Two other questions... how much of this decision is about Nijmeh's name and place of birth?

Finally, this question... Let's say this guy said this about the Governor of Illinois while committed to a mental health facility. Or the Mayor of Chicago. Or Tom Cruise. Or Sammy Sosa. Or anybody else in this country. Does he get hit with two counts of some crime then?

Also weighing in on this story: State of the Day, Explore for Truth, Freak Typography

Gort42 has a post about our country's policy of locking up those in the illegal drug trade, and how it doesn't appear to make much of a difference. I believe the whole issue would be better resolved by sociologists than law enforcement officials at this point. The issue isn't mainly about supply - it is demand. Why does this country have a persistent marketplace for illegal drugs? And how does that relate to the growing marketplace for legal drugs that actually provide similar effects?

It's considerably more complicated than just trying to dry up supply and throw dealers in jail, which is why those efforts only work in the short-term and don't seem to make a dent in the persistence of the situation. If our country could come up to some sort of consensus about the rights and responsibilities for each of us for our own body, and apply the laws consistently to that consensus, we might be able to make some headway on policy then. But until then, the problem won't change.

I just find Mr. Richardson's story very, very sad. Some people just don't understand that it is one's actions, not one's labels, that people remember.

From the Idaho Press-Tribune:

Gem County gubernatorial candidate Marvin Pro-Life Richardson will be just plain Marvin Richardson on the election ballot in November. And the organic strawberry grower and Constitution Party member is not happy about it.

The Idaho Secretary of State Office says a ballot is for identifying candidates and not for political slogans. So Richardson, who legally changed his middle name to Pro-Life two years ago, will not be able to use his full name. Richardson, 64, said he's thinking about taking the state of Idaho to court over the matter. And he said he may even legally drop the Marvin and Richardson from his name just to see what the Secretary of State's Office, which is responsible for creating voting ballots, would do.

Bulworth points out the evidence of the Amazing Shrinking Judge Roy Moore (election chances).

Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Let's take the leap here, and assume that this is accurate. Will it matter?

Will it matter to Bill Frist? Will it matter to Dick Lugar? Will it matter to Arlen Specter? Will it matter to John McCain? Will it matter to Denny Hastert? Will it matter to John Boehner? Will it matter to Peter King? Will it matter to the backbencher Republicans in Congress? Will it matter to the elected Republican leadership around the country?

Oh sure, maybe Chuck Hagel will say something. Newt Gingrich might throw a little spew around. But honestly, can Americans expect their elected Republican leadership to do anything other than try to sweep this under the rug with generalities and deceptions and the newest laboratory-developed phony controversy?

No.

And so... if this is true, ordinary Republicans are going to have a chance to rethink Bush and the national Republicans. We shouldn't blame them that Bush has abused their trust in him. We shouldn't blame them that they believed what the Republican press has told them.

But... there's going to be a load of crap coming from Republicans and their media outlets about this story in order to cover, vent, refocus, bury this story. Are these ordinary Republicans going to continue to trust Bush? Are they going to continue to trust the Congressional Republicans? Are they going to re-elect these people?

If so, they deserve blame. They owe America a greater level of responsibility than that.

Both Kevin Drum and Susie Madrak picked up on John McCain's appearance on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show last night. Crooks and Liars has the video.

Two thoughts about it. First of all, when Stewart puts his mind and heart into an interview, and sets it up for both laughs and content, there's just no beating him. One of McCain's best political assets is his ability to play interviewers. It didn't work last night... at all.

And McCain knew it. You have to wonder if he went into last night's interview thinking he was going to get another powderpuff interview, since I've seen Stewart go pretty lightly on him before. But by halfway through the interview, it appeared McCain knew that he was in deep, that he wasn't going to be able to work himself out of it with his own "jokes", and most importantly, the audience was laughing at him, not with him.

It will be interesting to see how well this sticks. Did Stewart make it "cool" to laugh at John McCain? It worked last night. We shall see. Most comedians tread VERY lightly with McCain.

This is fan club territory. The White House Press Corps has to do a better job of explaining to new coverage reporters what constitutes a question, and what constitutes gushing. From yesterday...

Goyal.

Q Thank you. First of all, I'm really thankful to President Bush. I will never forget the ride of my life on Air Force One. And I've been staying there to review his visit in India, talking to thousands of Indian --

MR. McCLELLAN: Had a great visit to India. Do you have a question?

Q My question -- also, President was covered widely by Zee News in India, and I have a special CD for the President and also am thankful to my friend (inaudible) and others in the community. My question is that, officially, can you state now how President feels or felt, and officially how the visit -- we can view, or the view -- as far as his point of view?

I've been thinking about my role as a blogger in asking candidates for state office questions I think are important. It may seem to some that I'm too focused on the lobbyist regulation/registration issue with these Pennsylvania state candidate "interviews". However, as a blogger, I think this is probably my most "useful" time to ask and get responses to questions on an issue that most elected officials don't publicly discuss much. Candidates need publicity. Online candidates appreciate online publicity. The fact that they're responding to an issue of my concern is a benefit to them and to me.

It seems to me that more bloggers ought to take a structural approach to asking candidates about the "quiet issues" they find of interest and importance, because this is probably the best time to get answers on the table and to raise the issue in the first place. This is a good time for bloggers to leverage their candidate promotional position to ask questions. Not just in Pennsylvania, but in any state.

What possible benefit is there to the majority of people to change from income, and particularly corporate taxes, completely to a national sales tax? What is the upside? Is that going to change how much money needs collected? If not, then somebody is going to have to pay taxes. It's just a shift from earning to buying. How is that better? I wouldn't pay a penny to read the content of the Jacksonville Business Journal. Anyone that thinks we need incentives to move to a barter economy - which is the gigantic loophole that would immediately arise - can't be taken seriously.

I would (and did) guess that these two were the next ones out for the Bushies:

Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow could be next in a shake-up in the Bush administration, according to White House and GOP sources.

The possible departure of both men could be among "several senior-level staff" announcements to come within the next couple of weeks, said former White House staff members, GOP strategists and administration officials.

Both have been, to be charitable, less than apt with message control for the Bushies. When incompetence is description of the Administration, it doesn't help Bush to put either of these two guys out there, but the problem still remains, since both appear more competent than the boss.

I have a suggestion after the blurb.

From the Delaware State News:

A Downstate lawmaker’s legislation to give school districts the ability spank misbehaving students has set off a stinging debate.

Rep. John C. Atkins, R-Millsboro, said he recently filed House Bill 376 at the behest of officials from the Indian River School District, which he represents.

“They are having a hard time controlling students and this would serve as a deterrent, especially if the kids see a teacher or administrator holding the paddle in the hallway when they walk by,” he said.

“A lot of parents get upset when you talk about disciplining kids, but we are talking about a paddling, not a beating.

“Right now, what can you do? You can suspend or expel kids, but that takes them out of the classroom, which is what they want, and they don’t learn anything.”

Delaware joined about 30 other states in 2003 when it passed legislation outlawing corporal punishment in public schools.

Rep. Atkins, who voted against that bill, and other supporters say they are not advocating abuse.

They are talking about a couple of swats on a student’s buttocks, done in the privacy of an administrator’s office.

Two things. Okay, define paddling. Spec it out for code. It is clearly an eye of the beholder thing, different people are going to see the "abuse versus paddling" differently.

Then, before it is ever used on minors by non-parental adults again, test it. Not on kids. On adults. Specifically, on adults that are in state legislatures that fail to balance a budget, fail to meet legislative deadlines for movement of bills, who fail to fund programs that are required by law to be funded. Let the Governor spank them, just a couple of swats on the buttocks, as defined in the code hard enough to teach them a lesson but not hard enough to be "abuse". Do this for several years. Monitor results. If it turns out that this changes legislator behavior, then maybe Mr. Atkins in on to something. If not, then maybe he should be satisfied with his status for swatting his kids in private.

One turned him into a newt.

He didn't get better.

It's tough to be President when your own party says this about you...

From the Connecticut Post:

President Bush will be in the city Wednesday to deliver a speech on health savings accounts to business leaders.

Bush is scheduled to arrive at the downtown Playhouse on the Green at about 11 a.m. About 150 business leaders have been invited to listen to the address at the State Street theater.

As of Friday, there was no indication whether Bush planned other events in the city or Connecticut. Secret Service agents were at the Playhouse Friday making security arrangements.

..

Rick Torres, chairman of the Bridgeport Republican Town Committee, said he hasn't been invited to the speech.

"I don't know why he's coming. People are generally running from him," said Torres, who owns a market in Black Rock and is a former GOP candidate for mayor. "This was not organized by a political organization in the state."

Of course, the big question is: Where will Lieberman be?

ACCORDING to the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Association of Psychologists, about 160,000 students do not attend school every day because they are in fear of being bullied. This behavior has become a pervasive and serious form of harassment in many schools.

Middle school students are the most frequent targets of bullying by their peers. The best way to safeguard your children from becoming a victim is to teach them how to be assertive. Bullies are less likely to intimidate kids who are confident and resourceful.

Imagine that somebody threatened a city of 160,000 people - say Las Cruces, New Mexico - that they would be physically hurt if they went anywhere the next day. Imagine those people then did not leave their houses.

Would we call that terrorism? How different is this?