A Hint of WMD? Close, But Not Quite Yet

A Hint of WMD? Close, But Not Quite Yet

Iraqi Scientist Has Nuclear Materials/Documents in His Backyard

WASHINGTON — An Iraqi scientist has led the CIA (search) to nuclear materials buried in his backyard, Fox News has learned.

Mahdi Obeidi (search) told U.S. agents in Iraq he was ordered in 1991 to hide documents and parts for a centrifuge to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

"A box of parts and a bunch of documents were buried under the rose bushes in his backyard," one U.S. official told Fox News.

Obeidi also said he was told the materials should remain buried in the backyard of his Baghdad home until sanctions against Iraq ended, when they would be dug up and used to reconstitute a program to enrich uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

"This shows how hard a job it will be to find stuff when it's under people's rose bushes," the U.S. official added.

Obeidi told the CIA he was one of four Iraqi nuclear scientists told to hide such plans and parts. He did not know the identities of the other three and the CIA has so far been unable to locate them, a senior U.S. official told Fox News.

Big Spenders? Yep. The Reps.

Big Spenders? Yep. The Reps.

While many people point out larger items that the Reps throw money at willy nilly like Medicare Scrip Benefits, Social Security, etc. this article talks about $1.5B for "marriage promotion" and makes goo dpoints about why the gov't should not be in this business. Read on.

FOXNews.com

If leftists were smart, they’d point out the hypocrisy of conservatives on the issue of marriage incentives. They’d ask why conservatives trust people to make smart decisions without state intervention about how they spend and invest their money, but can’t muster a similar trust when it comes to how people live their personal lives. They’d ask why conservatives -- who claim to be skeptical of government and its power of coercion -- insist on bringing that same state and those same powers of coercion into the most personal, intimate and important decision we make in our lives -- the decision to commit to another person.

Pesticides Killing Sperm? Nope.

Pesticides Killing Sperm? Nope.

As usual, a thorough debunking of a current pseudo-science scare. Read on.

FOXNews.com

Though anti-pesticide activists (search) have tried for years to link pesticides with declining sperm counts, one key fact stands in their way -- there’s no evidence that sperm counts are even declining, much less that pesticides are involved.

In 1999, researchers published in the Journal of Urology (search) a review of all 29 studies from 1938 to 1996 reporting semen analyses of fertile men. They concluded, “there appears to be no significant change in sperm counts in the U.S. during the last 60 years.”

Rights Issues - Blackface in NYC

Rights Issues - Blackface in NYC

A judge today proclaimed what may be the most profound freedom of speech statement in many years. Read this quote and understand the hope that it gives to those who oppose the PC Police.

FOXNews.com

U.S. District Judge John E. Sprizzo said the government "may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because a segment of society finds it offensive."

Sprizzo added:

"It's so easy to slip into a kind of political correctness (search) that sooner or later will be the end of the First Amendment," the judge said at the time.

FIlibuster/Court Nominee News

FIlibuster/Court Nominee News

Thank goodness the Reps finally did it. They voted to change the judicial nominee filibuster rules so as to force the senate to vote on the candidates. This rule changes still has to pass a vote on the Senate floor but I think it will pass. As for doing this while the Dems were missing . . . . It was a scheduled meeting. They knew when and where it was to take place. They did not show up but the Reps did. Tough. If they felt that it was not important enough for them to show up to their committee meeting, that was their decision.

FOXNews.com

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee with all its Democratic members absent voted to limit filibusters (search) of President Bush's judicial nominees (search) Tuesday, a move Republicans hope will usher future federal judges through the Senate faster, even if Democrats want to stop them.

Democrats oppose changing Senate filibuster rules for judicial nominees, but Republicans have a one-vote majority on the Senate Rules Committee (search) and expected to win Tuesday's committee vote in any case. Democrats are expected to fight the measure on the Senate floor.

The Rules Committee officially voted 10-0 for the measure, which would reduce the number of senators needed to force a vote on a judicial nominee with each successive vote until only a 51-member majority is needed.

Medicare - Scrip Issues

Medicare - Scrip Issues

An excellent prediction from Neal Boortz. We'll see if it comes true . . . and just for those so inclined, I wouldn't bet against it.

WorldNetDaily: Socialized medicine: The fix is in

The American people want it, and the Congress is going to give it to them. Stand by for prescription-drug coverage under Medicare. The initial cost, we're told, will be about $40 billion a year. Look for $100 billion a year before you buy your next car.

Abuse Issues

Abuse Issues

It's bad no matter who does it but now it seems that an ugly truth is coming out of the closet: women abuse men as well. One detractor of the studies asks, "Where are all the make victims?" Did she ever stop to think that maybe they were embarrased to come forward? That their egos were already broken and that they could not bear to admit their weakness? Don't we hear constantly that abuse is underreported in women? Why? Because they are ashamed that their men hit them and abuse them. Doesn't she think that that would go triple for men?

USATODAY.com - Studies shatter myth about abuse

The number of women who hit first or hit back is "much greater than has been generally assumed," Capaldi says. She says she is surprised by the frequency of aggressive acts by women and by the number of men who are afraid of partners who assault them.

Capaldi and two other female researchers call for a re-evaluation of treatment programs nationwide. Such programs focus on men and ignore women. Men are court-ordered into some type of rehabilitation, and their women are told in support groups or shelters that they had nothing to do with the violence, Capaldi says.

Smoking Issues

Smoking Issues

I have heard of the "smoking police" before but this is ridiculous. do you mean to tell me that the police in Massachusetts have to forgo the entire population of smokers who could be able bodied, competent, industrious workers simply because they smoke? The cops must turn away bright and good candidates just because they light up sometimes? What madness is this? Maybe they could just impose rules about when and where the officers could smoke, like not in the squad car or police station. But no, this guy gets fired for smoking at a party . . . OFF DUTY!!!! Insane. Only in Mass. Well, ok, maybe Colorado or California. Or New York. New Jersey maybe? Ugh.

Boston.com / Latest News / Northeast / Police officer fired for smoking tobacco

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) A police officer who was fired for violating an obscure state law banning smoking among public safety workers plans to fight his dismissal, which was based on an anonymous letter.

Hillary 2008 News

Hillary 2008 News

I saw Dick Morris speak the other day and he said this about Hillary 2008: she will run and she will win unless the Reps run Colin Powell or Condi Rice against her. I do not know if he is right or not but this man does know a thing or two about politics and Presedential elections. I think he may be on to something. He said the Dems know tht 2004 is a lost cause and that it will be used primarily to "clear out the underbrush" so that Hillary can be mostly unopposed in '08. Imagine a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton succession in the White House. Scary.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article

As a general-election candidate, she is less than a sure thing. In an ABC News poll 53% said they did not want her to run for president. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed her trailing George W. Bush 53% to 40%. Her enthusiasts might dismiss this as due to Mr. Bush's current strength, but the fact is that 100% know her and 60% are not supporting her. She ran 5% behind Al Gore in New York in 2000; if she ran 5% behind him nationally, she would win 43% of the vote--not enough to win absent a second Perot candidacy. She remains one of the most polarizing figures ever in American politics. In 14 Gallup polls taken between December 1999 and June 2003, the percentage expressing negative feelings about her has ranged between 39% and 53% and averages 45%--very high negatives, far higher than any Republican nominee is likely to have going into the race. This makes it hard for her to maximize the Democratic vote in a year when the Democrats will not be, as they were in 1996 and 2000, the incumbent party in a time of apparent peace and apparent prosperity. And in those years the Democratic presidential candidates won only 49% and 48% of the vote.

Iraq Issues

Too Soon to Tell

On the positive side, street life is coming back all over, restaurants and shops are reopening, Baghdad is getting about 18 hours of electricity now, and gasoline lines, a mile long four weeks ago when I was last in Iraq, are now virtually gone. Security has improved, but it still has a long way to go. Schools have been operating. Newspapers are exploding and political parties forming.

The regional news is also net positive. The student uprising in Iran, the stutter-step movement toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace, the ferment within Saudi Arabia, yesterday's elections in Jordan, are all trends that were enhanced by the downfall of Saddam's regime. Far from the Arab street, or press, rising against the U.S., the Arab media are replete with introspection and even self-criticism of how the Arab world mishandled Saddam.

SCOTUS on Discriminative Action

SCOTUS Falls Short

Look, either discrimination is wrong or it is not. Either you can do things automatically because of someone's skin color or you can't. "But wait," you say. "We only want to help people." Isn't that the same raitonale that racists used to keep blacks out of schools in the 50's? They only "wanted to help the little white kids get a better education by not having to be in school with those negroes?" Now it is non-minorities (mostly whites and Asians) who are held out of school in favor of another, based solely on skin color. SCOTUS is wrong on this one. It should be banned.

Court Limits Race As Factor in Admissions (washingtonpost.com)

WASHINGTON - In two split decisions, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that minority applicants may be given an edge when applying for admissions to universities, but limited how much a factor race can play in the selection of students.

The high court struck down a point system used by the University of Michigan, but did not go as far as opponents of affirmative action had wanted. The court approved a separate program used at the University of Michigan law school that gives race less prominence in the admissions decision-making process.

Death Tax Issues

Death Tax Issues

Will this die in the Senate? Email your Senators today!

Yahoo! News - Estate Tax Repeal Faces Fight in Senate

"I think they'll end up with 56 votes on this," said Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth. "The Senate is always the holdup on this."