Kurdistan

If you have a second you should check out these pictures (hat tip Andrew Sullivan) from the Kurdish areas in Northern Iraq. They are pretty immpressive and much different than what is shown on the news or what is happening in Baghdad. pics

High School Exit Exam

In order to graduate high school, students in California need to pass an exam proving that they are ready to graduate. Students who do not speak English are claiming the test is biased. story

Apparently there are about 40,000 students that do not speack much english that have yet to pass. They believe that this test is unnecessary and punitive.

Here is a quote from the student they profiled:
"I need a diploma," said Iris, a chestnut-haired girl who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Mexican state of Jalisco. "I want it. I deserve it. I've been going to school and studying. I want to have a profession."

And this one:
"My heart just breaks, because many of these students have been in this country just six months or a year," Martinez-McCoffey said later, her eyes welling with tears.


If you have only been in this country six months to a year than you probably should have waited to finish school if that was not possible then you must find another way. A high school diploma is not a right but a privilage that must be earned. Truthfully, I dropped out to take the GED. But here is a plan for any that cannot pass the test. Simply enroll in community college by the time you finish the required curriculum for the school your high school credits will be earned. What good is a diploma if you dont speak English?

First it was Irving...

Now a 61 year-old man from Germany has been convicted for insulting Islam. story

Although these cases are in Europe the threat is real here as well. There is no doubt that many would like to see racism or hate speech a convictable offense in this country as well.

Black History Month

Am I the only one that finds Black History Month offensive?

Perhaps there was a time when it was needed. But blacks should see it as a slap in the face. All black history and any other different racial history should be incorporated into American history and be taught at the appropriate time slot. For example, when teaching the 19th century throw in Fredrick Douglass, etc...

Civil War

It seems as though the Sunni's and the Shia's might just get it on after this Mosque attack. story

The angle that I am concerned with is how will this effect Middle Eastern politics? Certainly, the Sunni dominated region must really be aprehensive to Shia Iran acquiring a bomb. I wonder if the Sunni countries will push the U.S or Europe to strike their nuclear facilities sooner rather than later?

Also, what does that mean for the US military if a civil war breaks out?

Hypocrisy

Europe cannot scream about freedom of expression while locking up people for denying the holocaust. story

Keep Your Laws Off My Body

A 31 year-old Illinios woman wants doctors to circumcise her 8 year-old son against the objections of his father. story

This is outrageous! Girls are allowed complete control over not only their body but seperate bodies growing inside of them and boys are not even allowed dominion over their penis? This makes no sense to me. First, why does this woman want to have her 8 year-old son circumiced? This sounds border line sexual to me.

I think that all arguments over the health ocncerns are void in this country. Perhaps in Africa where AIDS is everywhere and the foreskin does help spread the disease it is necessary, but in this country it is only for cosmetic purposes. There has been no recent studies pointing to a need for circumcision. If a boy wants part of his penis snipped it should be for him and him alone to decide (when he is an adult).It is dehumanizing to allow mothers or fathers dominion over their childs penis.

I realize the Jewish religion has ceremonial traditions that demand that babies get this done, but I think it should be illegal for parents to force this on their children. Certainly the covenant would mean more if it was undertaken by an adult fully aware of this implications of this decision than a child who has no idea of what is happening. Religous ceremonies should not be legally protected when they give away a humans rights. Nobody in this country believes for a second that Muslims should be able to cut off the clitoris, why is the foreskin any different?

Certainly, parents should not have complete control to force cosmetic surgery on their children. A just society would allow boys control over their own penis, would it not?

Dick Cheney

I do not get all of the hysteria about Cheney taking a day to notify the press. Of course the press corps and many others are going nuts, Andrew Sullivan writes: "...You are not a monarch; and you are not a Pope. You have seriously wounded another human being. The news was kept from the public for a day. The man is in intensive care. There are many serious questions about the incident: How did it happen? What happened immediately thereafter? Why the decision to keep it secret for so long?..."

Maybe Cheney did not want the hospital to become a circus, which it would have.
It seems that there are many issues that are more important to be spending so much time on this. I really dont care that he shot someone on accident. Maybe the press should focus this much attention to Iraq, the Sudan, etc...

Batman

Batman writer FRANK MILLER tells the New York Post, "It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a piece of propaganda. Batman kicks al-Qaeda's ass."

It is nice to finally see some Americans comic book heroes getting into the propaganda. Long over due!

Spelling Bee update

Well the parents succesfully scared the school district into submission. The school will now be sending the three finalists to the state spelling bee. story

"In this case, we found it really unfortunate that the parents of this child did not follow the rules. I don't believe they had a leg to stand on, but we're trying to do what's right. We did not want this to affect the other students in the spelling bee."School official

"I spent a really long time studying for all of this," Sara said Wednesday. "If I would have gone down by misspelling the word, I would have been fine with it. Someone would have been a better speller than me. But I didn't get that word wrong and it is really not fair that I got sent down because I would have really like the chance to go to state."

I hate to sound unsypmathetic but this girl is going to have to learn that life is not fair. I think her parents missed an excellent opportunity to parent and instill some character in her. It seems to me that they missed the boat and actually could have set a bad example for her. It has been my experience that life will always try to knock you down. There will not always be mommy and daddy around to hire a lawyer and threaten law suits.

Perhaps, I am overreacting after all she did spell the word right and I do not even have children, then again maybe I am not.

Hope is on the way!

It seems that the us conservatives who believe that the "war on marijuana" is foolish are no longer in the minority, well at least we have allies. story

I for one think it is a huge waist of resources. As long as people are able to go out and drink shots of Tequila and whiskey people should be able to smoke a joint.

Great Example

Parents of an 8th grade girl in Reno, are threatening to sue the school district because their child was mistakenly kicked out of the spelling bee. I guess she spelled the word right and the judges got it wrong. Now the parents lawyer is threatening legal action unless the school bord does the last round over. story

What a great example the parents are setting. Is it any wonder that people in this country think that everyone owes them something?

Made in China

The NYT has an excellent article discussing the growing trade deficit with China. The gist is that most stuff is only assembled in China not made there so the large deficit numbers are misleading.

Here is a telling statistic quoted from the article.

"In fact about 60 percent of this countries (China) exports are controlled by foreign companies according to Chinese customs data."

The author goes on to say that the Chinese workers average about .75 an hour. While that is certainly low and should continue to be raised that is much higher than I believed it was.

Anyway it is an extremely interesting article and I encourage everyone to read it. complete story

note: you need a subsription to read the NYT on-line, however it is free

The hypocrisy of Gambling

For anyone that does not know, Wayne Gretzky and other NHL officials and players have been caught running a gambling ring. story

According to the reports the players did not bet on NHL only other sports. I don't care! furthermore it is disturbing to me that people can be arrested for gambling. It is 2006, shouldn't adults be able to decide if they want to risk their money?

I am a die-hard sports fan and I would never want the integrity of the game questioned, but players betting on other sports does not bother me.

Joe Montana

Let be start by saying of all the players I hate in the NFL, there are two above all that I hate Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, with Tom Brady quickly rising on the list.

That being said I think he is taking too much flack for missing the Super Bowl pre-game show. The NFL invioted all of the former SB MVP's and reportedly Joe did not show because he wanted 100K. Everyone has been saying it was bush league for him to do that, or that the NFL gave him everything he should give back, etc...

Joe made himself, the NFL is a for profit business so excuse me if I dont begrudge someone trying to make a profit. Maybe he does not want to be involved with the NFL, that is his choice. He is in no way obligated to make appearances or attend NFL events.

Modern Civil Rights Movement

As a minority I cringe whenever these phony civil rights leaders open their ignorant mouths. It has not changed. At the King funeral these "civil rights leaders" used the occcasion to insult President Bush. I understand that politics is nasty but have some class because they are denigrating the entire movement. They have been reduced to ignorant whiners.

Viva La France

I will not draw the prophet 

Muslim Protests

Michelle Malkin has some nice photos from some of the demonstrations against newspapers running cartoons of Muhammed. The scary part is these are pictures from a London protest. The pictures speak for themselves. pics

Props to Europe (updated)

Say what you will about the courage of the Euros, but it is the European press that has the balls to challenge the muslims. In our country the press and the left will only attack Christianity. For some reason the left is always quiet when it comes to Islam but not in Europe. Papers in France,Germany, Spain and Switzerland have all backed the Danes and repreinted all of the cartoons about the prophet Muhammed (I am not sure on the spelling because it changes all the time). pics

This is courageous and needs to be done. Of course the Muslims are going ape shit. They are boycotting Danish goods and some are escalating to violence. article

CNN does not have the balls to show the photos, they have them blurred out when covering the story.

"A Danish government can never apologise on behalf of a free and independent newspaper. This is basically a dispute between some Muslims and a newspaper," said Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Compare that to the US governments position.

"Inciting religious or ethnic hatred in this manner is not acceptable," said State Department press officer Janelle Hironimus.

Now compare to Egypts ambassador to Denmark

"Mona Omar Attia, Egypt's ambassador to Denmark, said after a meeting with Rasmussen that she was satisfied with the position of the Danish government but noted the prime minister had said he could not interfere with the press. 'This means the whole story will continue and that we are back to square one again. The government of Denmark has to do something to appease the Muslim world,' Attia said."

Do they now?

And to the Arab street.

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.


"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.