There are many interesting articles that have been written as of late
Intel chief: Harsh techniques brought good info

All providing different insight. But in the comments section of this article
A tortured debate over the 'torture memos'

We find this interesting question.

A quick quiz for everyone.

You are at the top floor of the Empire State Building when terrorists fly an airplane into the building. You are trapped with no way to get out. Then God comes down and offers you 3 choices.
A) Burn to death in the resulting fire.
B) Jump off the building
C) Torture Kahlid Sheik Mohammed to get information about the attack which in turn prevents the attack and thus allows you to avoid the first 2 choices.

Which would YOU choose? Please respond truthfully.

I find this story interesting on so many different levels. The first as a Christian who does not home-school his kids but applaud those who do. Secondly as a political story and how this can potentially make life difficult for the Obama administration. I hope that some reporter sees fit to put him on the record regarding his stance on this issue.

German family seeks asylum to homeschool kids in Tennessee
http://tennessean.com/article/20090331/NEWS0401/90331009
By Rose French • Associated Press Writer • March 31, 2009



MORRISTOWN, Tenn. -- Homeschooling is so important to Uwe Romeike that the classically trained pianist sold his beloved grand pianos to pay for moving his wife and five children from Germany to the Smoky Mountain foothills of Tennessee.
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Romeike, his wife, Hannelore, and their children live in a modest duplex about 40 miles northeast of Knoxville while they seek political asylum here. They say they were persecuted for their evangelical Christian beliefs and homeschooling their children in Germany, where school attendance is compulsory.

When the Romeikes wouldn't comply with repeated orders to send the children to school, police came to their home one October morning in 2006 and took the children, crying and upset, to school.

"We tried not to open the door, but they (police) kept ringing the doorbell for 15 or 20 minutes," Romeike said. "They called us by phone and spoke on the answering machine and said they would knock open the door if we didn't open it. So I opened it."

The Romeike asylum case is expected to go before an immigration judge in Memphis on Thursday, according to Michael Donnelly, an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association representing the family.

Flunking the Global Test
he left repeatedly spoke about a global test and how GWB was an embarrasement and how their guy would pass the global test. This article goes on to list test that Obama has failed, but forgot to mention the embarrsing episode with Prime Minister Gordon Brown of England (a boxset of CD from the bargain bin as a gift), and misspelled Brazil´s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva name

O'S FOREIGN FAILURES: NEW PREZ FLUNKING GLOBAL TESTS
Ralph Peters
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_foreign_failures_161154.htm?&page=1

AMERICA'S enemies smell blood and it's type "O."

All new administrations stumble a bit as they seek their footing. But President Obama's foreign-policy botches have set new records for instant incompetence.

Contrary to left-wing myths, I wasn't a fan of the Bush administration. (I called for Donald Rumsfeld to get the boot in mid-2001.) But fair's fair. Despite his many faults, Bush sought to do good. Obama just wants to look good.

Vice President Dick Cheney was arrogant. Vice President Joe Biden is arrogant and stupid. Take your pick....

Politics and Religion

A Republican walked into a bar and asked the bartender, "Isn't that Jesus over there?" When the bartender said "Yes," the Republican sent over a drink. "Put it on my tab," he said.

A little later a Libertarian walked in. "Say," he said, "Isn't that Jesus sitting over there?" The barman said, "Yes," so the Libertarian sent over a hamburger.

Presently a Democrat showed up, noticed Jesus and sent over a plate of french fries.

Jesus soon left. On his way out he stopped to talk to the Republican. "Thanks for the drink," he said; "It was really good. Is there anything I can do for you?" "Well," said the Republican, "I'm facing knee surgery..." "Don't say another word," said Jesus as he laid a hand on the man's knee. "You are healed."

Jesus came to the Libertarian and said, "Thanks for the hamburger. It was really good. Is there anything I can do for you?" "Well," said the Libertarian, "I have cataracts..." Jesus placed his fingers on the man's eyes and said, "You are healed."

Finally, Jesus came to the Democrat. He thanked him for the fries and offered him any help he needed. "Don't touch me!" shouted the Democrat, "I'm on Disability!!"

Imagine if the Bush White House had done this. There would have been compliants about what a redneck the President was and how stupid and inept his staff are. Here we have a diplomatic blunder that just keeps getting worse. In the word of Bart Simspon "

Gordon Brown is frustrated by 'Psycho' in No 10
While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies – including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington.

Tim Walker
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5011941/Gordon-Brown-is-frustrated-by-Psycho-in-No-10.html

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words "wrong region" came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or "special partnership", as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.

Deregulation myth: Here is more proof that the claim that deregulation laid to the banking col apse is pure fictions.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/03/023103.php

Scott Polakoff, Acting Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. Appeared before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets conducted a hearing on "AIG's impact on the global economy."

HENSARLING: I believe I heard in an earlier answer to one of the questions, I believe I heard you say that OTS in 2004 should have stopped the book of business that I think you were alluding to to CDS and the AIG securities lending commitments. Did I understand you correctly?

POLAKOFF: Yes, sir.

HENSARLING: So if you said you should have stopped it in 2004, that implies you could have stopped it in 2004. Is that correct?

POLAKOFF: Yes, sir.

HENSARLING: So there were not limits on your power. Perhaps, there were limits on your knowledge or insight, but there was not limits on your power to stop what you cite, as I believe AIG's liquidity -- I'm reading from your testimony -- was the result of AIG's business lines. So you did have the power to stop those business lines. Is that correct?

POLAKOFF: Yes, sir. ***

HENSARLING: Again, it appears, if this is correct, it was not a lack of supervisory authority that caused you not to take action with respect to these two lines. Is that correct?

POLAKOFF: Yes, sir.

HENSARLING: And I think I also heard you say in your testimony that you did not have [in]sufficient manpower and expertise. Is that correct?

POLAKOFF: Yes, sir.

HENSARLING: So, again, in retrospect, it wasn't the lack of authority. It wasn't the lack of resources. It wasn't the lack of expertise. You just flat made a mistake. Is that a correct assessment?

POLAKOFF: In 2004, we failed to assess how bad the mortgage economy, the real estate economy would become in 2008. Yes, sir.

It's never been clear why liberals have so much faith that regulators are smarter or better able to foresee the future than businessmen.

Stupid politician of the day
Pelosi Tells Illegal Immigrants That Work Site Raids are Un-American
The speaker of the House told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants recently that enforcement of immigration laws in the United States is "un-American."
By William Lajeunesse
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/18/pelosi-tells-illegal-immigrants-work-site-raids-american/

Video-Click to view Pelosi Video

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is "un-American."

The speaker, condemning raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as "very, very patriotic."

So is the Obama administration extremely arrogant or just plain stupid? We have an administration that has put forth multiple nominees for this position or that only to see them go up in flame. You had underlings put forth the false notion that Obama's choices had been overly scrutinized, only to find out that the process has not changed. The nominees tax problems were known and that the Obama team thought that these tax cheats would get a pass by the public.

Why tax problems have plagued Team Obama
By Byron York
http://www.dcexaminer.com/politics/Why-tax-problems-have-plagued-Team-Obama-nominees-41336037.html

It’s been a recurring question about the young Obama administration: Why have so many of its nominees come down with tax problems?...

For their part, some Democrats have suggested that the Senate Finance Committee, which investigates nominees before confirmation, has gotten so nit-picky in examining tax returns that good candidates have gone down in flames. “The Finance Committee has gone a bit overboard, and I find it a little striking that a Democratic committee is doing this to a Democratic administration,” one anonymous insider told the Politico recently. “This has been a lot more in-depth and detailed, to the point of being silly.”

Now, we find out that neither Cantor nor the unnamed Democrat was correct. The problem is not with Democrats in general, nor with the Finance Committee in particular. The problem is the Obama White House, which, fully aware of its nominees’ tax issues, decided that those problems were trivial, or that the public wouldn’t care about them, and pushed forward with nominations that in the past would have been quietly shelved.....

“I want to stress that the Finance Committee is not doing anything different now from what it has always done under the leadership of either Senator Baucus or me,” Grassley said, referring to Democratic chairman Max Baucus of Montana. “We are vetting nominees for the current administration the same way we vetted nominees for the previous administration.”

I always thought of Camille Paglia as just another lefty writer until recently. During the election cylce she had insightful comments regarding the wraglings of the Clinton and Obama camps. She had positive things to say about Sara Palin and chastised her party for going after someone who represented Middle America. Still she remained in my mind as a Bush Bashing lefty. When you could not find anyone on the left willing to critize the stimulus bill she was there picking at it like the rest of us. But as surprised as I was by the afore-mentioned I was pleased that in her latest article she has chronicled many of the follies of the Obama administration. Things that have been virtually ignored by many of the MSM outlet. It is good to see that not all the journalist on the left are Obama Kool-Aid drinkers.

Heads should roll
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=17015349

President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him -- and resurrecting a deflated GOP! Plus: Lay off Rush! And a Brazilian diva, up close and electric

By Camille Paglia

...First it was that chaotic pig rut of a stimulus package, which let House Democrats throw a thousand crazy kitchen sinks into what should have been a focused blueprint for economic recovery. Then it was the stunt of unnerving Wall Street by sending out a shrill duo of slick geeks (Timothy Geithner and Peter Orszag) as the administration's weirdly adolescent spokesmen on economics. Who could ever have confidence in that sorry pair?

And then there was the fiasco of the ham-handed White House reception for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which was evidently lacking the most basic elements of ceremony and protocol. Don't they read the "Iliad" anymore in the Ivy League? Check that out for the all-important ritual of gift giving, which has cemented alliances around the world for 5,000 years.

President Obama -- in whom I still have great hope and confidence -- has been ill-served by his advisors and staff. Yes, they have all been blindsided and overwhelmed by the crushing demands of the presidency. But I continue to believe in citizen presidents, who must learn by doing, even in a perilous age of terrorism. Though every novice administration makes blunders and bloopers, its modus operandi should not be a conspiratorial reflex cynicism.

THATCHER: The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

P.O.D. When Angels & Serpents Dance

My son is a rocker. Gone are the days when Kirk Franklin is king and everyone else just bows at his feet. Because I control the music that goes on his iPod, I was searching for some new music to load on it and rediscovered P.O.D. Payable on Death scored big with Satellite but there follow up album Testify, was unlistenable. That may have been in part to the departure of guitarist Marcos Curiel. Well Marcos is back after leaving or being kicked out (depending on who you ask) and the band is much better for it. When Angels & Serpents Dance kicks off with “Addicted”, and lead singer Sonny Sandoval giving his usual unusual inflictions to lyrics. Here he sings about how easy it is to get addicted to the temptations of sin. The album moves onto “Shine With Me” driving rhythm and its catchy refrain “My Love’s like la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la” Man those words are so simple even I can remember them. The boys from San Diego “It Can’t Rain Everyday” is the flip side to their big hit with “Youth of a Nation”. Where “Youth of a Nation” tells adults the consequences of ignoring the pain that young people are suffering “It Can’t Rain Everyday” lets you know how to handle life’s ups and downs.

1. Addicted 2. Shine With Me 3. Condescending 4. It Can't Rain Everyday 5. Kaliforn-Eye-A 6. I'll Be Ready 7. End Of The World 8. This Ain't No Ordinary Love Song 9. God Forbid 10. Roman Empire 11. When Angels & Serpents Dance 12. Tell Me Why 13. Rise Against

In these times where capitalism is coming under assault. I saw this quote in one of the responses to an article over at salon

Government is important but it is important in the same way a catalyst converter is important to an engine--it regulates but does not provide the power.

ehillesum

Coming to America, ineffectual costly health care. This goes in line with the old observation that the English have bad teeth. No you know why.

Man pulls out 13 of his own teeth with pliers 'because he couldn't find an NHS dentist'

He said: 'I've tried to get in at 30 dentists over the last eight years but have never been able to find one to take on NHS patients.'

But when Mr Boynton started suffering from toothache in 2006 he decided to take drastic action.

He said: 'I started having pain in a front tooth, which protruded slightly more than the others. I was constantly fiddling with it and wiggling it because it hurt so much.

'In the end I knew it had to come out and had to use the pliers to pull it. Amazingly, it did not hurt as much as you might think.

'I think I'd been prising it that much in the meantime that I'd been killing the nerve.'

In the last two years Mr Boynton has pulled out 13 top teeth including molars, incisors and canines. He now only has two teeth left in the roof of his mouth.

He served as a medic in Iraq in 2003, but six months after leaving the Territorial Army had an accident while working as a paint sprayer that aggravated an old back injury.

Unemployed Mr Boynton, who is single, said: 'It's a horrible situation to be in when you can't afford to go to the dentist when your teeth were so bad.'

The so called Stimulus bill contains a bunch of excrement that in no way stimulates the economy.

• $80 billion would be given out for "state fiscal relief”
• The House included $335 million in its package, which was later stripped, out for STD Prevention. The Senate has included $400 million for STD prevention in its bill.
• $5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud

I can understand Congressmen putting in their pet project but what I don't understand is the punditry on the left failing to acknowledge that this bill is laden with pork that will not stimulate the economy.They even dare to criticize republicans for not going along with it. It should be very apparent that the likes of Paul Krugman and EJ Dione are fraud, and that they are liberal partisan democrats first and above all else