"Remember how we assumed you were guilty, suspended your team, and fired your coach? Yeah, about that, we're sorry. Are we good now?"

The understatement of the year award goes to Duke University President Richard Brodhead who finally apologized yesterday for his reprehensible actions.

Brodhead, speaking at the university's law school, said he regretted Duke's "failure to reach out" in a "time of extraordinary peril" after a woman accused three players of raping her at a March 2006 party thrown by the team.

"Given the complexities of this case, getting the communication right would never have been easy," Brodhead said. "But the fact is that we did not get it right, causing the families to feel abandoned when they were most in need of support. This was a mistake. I take responsibility for it and I apologize for it."

"Given the complexities of this case..." How complex it is to understand that, in the United States, people are presumed innocent? Not very. The article finishes with this paragraph:

Brodhead said the university is planning a national conference of lawyers, educators and student affairs leaders to discuss how schools should deal with students facing serious criminal charges.

Isn't that a crack up. Just hang up a big sign that says "Don't do what we did" and be done with it. No word yet from the Gang of 88 on their apology ETA.

I have all sorts of offsets for sale

WARNING: Heavy sarcasm ahead.

While pursuing the great Power Line, I came across this post that lead me to this article. Please read them both. Peter Schweizer is a wonderful author, so you won't be let down.

In this article, Schweizer has a fantastic proposal. He argues that carbon offsets are nothing more than a method of purchasing absolution of guilt. From the article:

Say you are wealthy and fly on a Gulfstream G400 jet. The plane will emit 1 ton of CO2 per passenger per hour. Flying commercial on a Boeing 777 will emit only .06 tons per passenger per hour. Wealthy environmentalists feel guilt about this, so they buy a carbon offset to supposedly reduce carbon emissions by an equal amount. The "offset" comes in the form of paying for solar panels or planting trees that "offset" the damage you have done. Buy an offset and — voilà — you are "carbon neutral."

Sounds like absolution to me. And there's already a market for this stuff. Schweizer continues:

Offsets are a brilliant idea: They allow people to carry on with their current behavior, buy their way out of their obligations, and along the way declare their moral cleanliness. As The Seattle Times put it, offsets are basically an "eraser."

We all have areas of our life that we feel guilty about. So why limit offsets simply to the carbon we produce? Why not expand offsets to erase our other sins? After all, why should environmentalists have all the fun?

Here are some suggestions:

• The Adultery Offset.

STOP RIGHT THERE! I read that line and instantly beheld a method of funding two college educations. To wit...

I am hereby announcing ADULTERY OFFSETS for sale to the highest bidder. You may purchase these offsets in daily, weekly, or monthly quantities. I have not committed adultery and will not as long as I am married to Mrs. Light Bulb. Therefore I have an eleven year supply (and building) of offsets. Serious purchasers only may contact me at thelightbulbblog at gmail dot com.

End of heavy sarcasm.

I may have to re-think this sarcasm thing.

Ahmadinenutjob at the Columbia Zoo

The circus came to town...and visited the zoo. But you really couldn't tell the difference.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger opened the program with a blistering introduction in which he lambasted Ahmadinejad for calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust and supporting the execution of children, and told the leader of Iran that he resembled "a petty and cruel dictator."

Bollinger levied repeated criticisms against Ahmadinejad, calling on him to answer a series of challenges about his leadership, blasting his views about the "myth" of the Holocaust as being "absurd," and saying that he doubted he "will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions."

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial. "Will you cease this outrage?"

After sitting through Bollinger's rebuke, Ahmadinejad rose to applause, and after a religious invocation, opened his remarks by objecting to the scolding, saying it was insulting to be spoken about that way.

"At the outset, I want to complain a bit about the person who read this political statement made against me," Ahmadinejad said. "In Iran, we don't think it's necessary to come in before the speech has already begun with a series of complaints ... It was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."

He said Bollinger's speech was full of "insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," and accused Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

He did not address Bollinger's accusations directly, instead launching into a long religious discussion laced with quotes from the Koran before turning to criticism of the Bush administration and past American governments, from warrantless wiretapping to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Just absolutely ridiculous.

This man is the leader of a nation that sponsors terrorism. His nation aids the enemy in Iraq. His government contributes to the death of Americans every day.

Why wasn't he arrested once he left the United Nations?

Why won't the amnesty monster just die already?!?

It's a really bad horror flick, but unfortunately it's not a film...it's reality.

Determined amnesty advocates who lost the fight for “comprehensive” immigration reform three months ago are now attempting to grant illegal aliens “amnesty on the installment plan.” Illegal aliens who entered the U.S. before age 16 and who have lived here illegally for five consecutive years will be the first to qualify under a bill the Senate is expected to vote on this week. Senator Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) will offer his Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act as an amendment to the defense-authorization bill. Later in the month, senators will attempt to extend amnesty to agricultural workers.

I thought that we, the people, made our thoughts known on this subject a few months ago. We were pretty clear, weren't we? Yep, I thought so.

Some questions. Has anything changed since then? Have the illegal aliens already in our country decided to go back to their country of origin and re-enter the United States legally? Have the taxpayer costs for illegal alien medical treatment suddenly decreased? Has the need for bilingual education evaporated overnight? Have drunk-driving illegal aliens vanished from our roads? No, I didn't think so.

Unfortunately, since neither of them can be depended upon to do the right thing as conservatives but instead must be hand-held on every issue of importance like the irresponsible political toddlers that they are, I cannot tell you how the senators from the state of Texas, Hutchison and Cornyn, will vote on this bill. But I know how they should vote, and I have told them so. Have you told them how you expect them to vote? If not, and you live in Texas, click here and here.

Ladies and gentlemen, Fred "the Snake" Hill has left the building.

Oh, happy day.

North Texas Rep. Fred Hill said Tuesday he won't seek re-election to the state Legislature, despite his bid to become Speaker of the House.

I am so grateful to say that I was there. I was there the day that Fred Hill showed himself to be the enemy of every tax payer in the state of Texas. I was in the room when he disrespected all of us who traveled from Harris county, Fort Bend county, Galveston county, and Montgomery county to speak to our elected representatives about how appraisal creep was taxing us out of our homes. His actions that day would, in part, enable me to be able to vote for Dan Patrick as my state senator.

Anyway, he's leaving. Here's a couple of his "thoughts" listed on the Dallas Morning News editorial blog:

• Spent a long time in public life -- 10 terms in the Legislature, two terms on Richardson school board -- and now feels a "need to move on."
  
  
• Sold his paper-products business in July after 35 years of ownership.
  
  
• Will be looking either for a new business or public-service challenge.
  
  
• Does not feel drawn to lobbying, but "you can't say never."
  
  
• Could get involved in two issues close to him: 1) transit goals for North Texas and 2) fight against limiting the property tax revenue that local governments depend on.
  
  
• Does not feel like a major commitment right away

And more "thoughts":

• Republicans on the state and national levels "need to do a better job of putting partisan concerns aside and concentrating on governance."
  
  
• Partisanship is hurting the GOP.
  
  
• An example is the call to curb local property taxes, which makes for great campaign rhetoric but can end up stranging local government's ability to deliver services.
  
  
• Local governments get no support from Austin but have to shoulder the burden of mandates passed by the Legislature. The best government is local government, not central government. "Local elected officials know what's best for their communities."
  
  
• One regret is not passing legislation letting North Texas have local elections on expanding rail service. The region is becoming too congested and opponents "have to look past the tax issue and focus on the benefits."
  
  
• The expanded Dallas-area House delegation (from one to six counties, beginning in 2005) has worked well for local interests. Passage of the water bill this year is an example.

How stupid. "Partisanship is hurting the GOP." No, Fred, you and your ilk are hurting the GOP by behaving like RINOs instead of conservatives. And you leaving is a giant step in the right direction.

I hope you have a wonderful retirement with your children and grandchildren. (And I truly mean that.) Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out. (And I truly mean that, too.)

Why is Barry Manilow afraid of a little girl?

Ridiculous.

"I had made a request that I be interviewed by (co-hosts) Joy (Behar), Barbara (Walters) or Whoopi (Goldberg), but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out," he said in a statement on his Web site (http://www.manilow.com).

"It's really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show [The View], but I cannot compromise my beliefs."

In an earlier statement to the news Web site TMZ.com, which broke the news, Manilow said Hasselbeck was "dangerous" and "offensive."

And for those of you who don't know (and I hope that's a lot of you), Elisabeth is the (more) conservative host of the show.

Typical liberalism. They can't defend their beliefs, so they certainly don't want any questions about them. I wonder (not really, but for the sake of argument) what would happen if someone said that Whoopi was "offensive" (which she is).

Algore could fart and win an award in Hollywood...

...and they wouldn't even make him use any carbon credits.

I'm watching the Emmy Awards this evening. And for the category of "Best Alternative Program" or something like that, who did the television academy choose to honor? None other than Algore, because he and another guy started MySpace. (I think. I can't remember the specific award, and I really don't care)

Could these people be any more transparent? Oh, and the applause went on for quite a while, of course. I guess they were trying to bring to life their warped version of reality, if only for 30 seconds on an awards show. I have now had my quota of the loony left for the weekend.

Both Texas senators blew it last night

Both senators from the state of Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, blew it last night with their votes to allow Mexican long-haul trucks to operate on our roads. Fortunately, the majority of senators got it right.

The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to block funding for a Bush administration test program to let Mexican long-haul trucks operate in the United States under 1994's North American Free Trade Agreement.

One day after a fiery truck accident killed dozens in Mexico, the Senate approved an amendment to a transportation spending bill that would cut off funding for the test, which the administration authorized last week to run for one year.

Worse yet, twenty-one other Republican senators joined them. When will they learn?

Never forget, we are at war

And in war, there are only two possible outcomes: we win or we lose.

I vote for us winning.

Governor 39% shows why he's Governor 39%

Rick "39%" Perry spoke in Mexico City this past Tuesday. Talk about not getting it.

Leading a large delegation of Texas executives trying to drum up business in Mexico, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Congress for failing to pass an immigration bill that would legalize millions of workers.

"I don't think this is that difficult an issue if Congress would have the maturity to sit down and really discuss it and cut out all the mean rhetoric," Perry said during a break in the third day of meetings with Mexican officials and business executives.

"We need those individuals to continue to grow our economy," he said of Texas' undocumented workers, most of whom hail from Mexico. "The vast, vast majority of those individuals want to come and work and take care of their families."

Perry made the remarks in Mexico City, where immigration is nearly as big a hot-button issue as it is in Washington. He spoke at a press conference shortly before meeting with President Felipe Calderon who, like past Mexican presidents, has lobbied for changes in U.S. immigration law that would include a guest-worker program.

Perry's statements seemed to put him at odds with many in the Republican Party's base who regarded the immigration overhaul bill that collapsed in the Senate in June as nothing more than an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

You know you're on the wrong side of the debate when the Houston Chronicle mentions your conservative opponents, even if it is in the fifth paragraph.

But wait, there's more! Now remember, we live in Texas. When people in this state commit heinous crimes, we execute them. As Ron White has so eloquently stated, "other states are trying to abolish the death penalty...mine's putting in an express lane."

Consider the case of Kenneth Eugene Foster. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996. He drove the getaway car for a botched robbery that resulted in the murder of Michael LaHood. He participated in the needless extinguishing of a human life. What did Rick 39% Perry have to say about it?

"Foster sought to have his death sentence commuted to a life sentence arguing that he did not shoot the victim, but merely drove the car ... that the actual killer was riding (in)," Perry's office said in a statement.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry was quoted as saying.

If you have the time, please read the entire article. Let me know if, in the eight paragraphs that form the article, you read a mention of Foster's earlier arrest and probation for shooting two men in 1994.

Worst of all, it might be that Rick 39% Perry commuted the sentence in response to pressure...from the European Union. (see: picante made in New York City)

If you're bored in Houston, it's your own fault.

Houston, my home town, is today's featured article at Wikipedia.


I tell many people who are unfamiliar with Houston this sentence: "if you're bored in Houston, it's your own fault." And it's true. Our housing costs are comparatively low in Houston, so we have more disposable income than in other cities. Here are some places that surplus income can be diverted to:

• the restaurant scene has really stepped up to the plate (sorry, punny) with over 4,000 restaurants featuring of a wide array of cuisines
• the sports scene (such as it is) covers all three major sports (football, baseball, and basketball) with tax-payer-built stadiums
• the museum district featuring the Grand Opera, the Symphony, and Ballet, plus numerous theater stages outside downtown
• Johnson Space Center between Houston and Galveston
• Galveston and its beaches (such as they are) only an hour south of town
• parks throughout and wilderness (camping and hiking) only an hour or two outside of town

Of course, there's a downside to everything. In Houston, there are three big ones: hurricanes, bugs and humidity. For hurricanes, we have satellites that tell us when and where they form and when they enter the Gulf of Mexico. And we all have cars, so we can use our brains and leave the city when needed. For bugs, we have bug spray. And for the humidity, we have air conditioning.

It's not perfect, but it's a great place to live.

Ron Paul is this generation's Woodrow Wilson School of Government flunkee with a Texas Twang Twist

Amazingly there are still a formidable number of people vying for the Presidential nomination on both sides of the aisle. I say amazingly, because I thought a number of them would have been weeded out by now. Indeed, some have been: Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, Tom Vilsack. But there are still eight Defeat-o-crats and eight Republicans in the race, not including Fred Thompson.

Anyway, at Playwriter Girl's Buh-Bye Chemo Pool Party Extravaganza a couple of weeks ago and after the "in an alternate reality" question, some folks and I got into a discussion of the current Republican candidates. And the name Ron Paul was mentioned, which was fortuitous timing for me. You see, earlier that day I had begun thinking about some of the Tier 2 candidates and how to sum them up. I came up with this summation for Representative Paul; he is this generation's Woodrow Wilson School of Government flunkee with a Texas Twang Twist.

Why do I call him this? Like Wilson, he would never have sent American troops into Iraq. (Wilson was forced into joining World War I, but kept us out of it for far too long.) He is an isolationist. Check out this snippet from his web site on "War and Foreign Policy":

Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women.

We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home. No war should ever be fought without a declaration of war voted upon by the Congress, as required by the Constitution.

Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.

Indeed, we should not abdicate our sovereignty to the United Nations, ever. But President Bush's policy of fighting the terrorists over there so that they don't attack us here is the correct one. "No-win police action"? Really. How about 79.6% voter turnout in a new democracy? For me, this issue alone disqualifies Mr. Paul. Additionally, he's the only 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate to have voted against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution.

But wait, there's more. Mr. Paul doesn't get anything done in Congress, because he doesn't work with anyone. Again like Wilson, he's an elitist. Oh, but he has worked enough with fellow representatives in order to make $400 million worth of earmark requests - check out this PDF. Some people describe him as a conservative. Yet his American Conservative Union rating for 2006 (and 2005) is 76. I'm not joking. Check out that link for yourself. But what really seals the deal for me is his 1988 Presidential candidacy. On the Libertarian ticket. Game over.

As I told a party attendee a few weeks ago, when choosing a presidential candidate the only question I ask myself is, "who would the terrorists fear?" For me right now, the only answer is Rudy Giuliani.

Katrina Second Anniversary

I'm hesitant to even mention it, but there will undoubtedly be all sorts of lies told about it, so...

Here's my post on the second anniversary of many citizens of New Orleans not having the common sense to leave their city before a hurricane hit and the governments of the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans deciding to not follow their previously agreed upon disaster plans in order to minimize loss of life and property. Does that sound harsh? Perhaps. Can anyone point out an error in that sentence? Let me know if you can, seriously.

We're bound to hear lots of wailing on the news tonight. For some balance, at Reason Online, Daniel Rothschild is doing a three-part series on "The Myths of Hurricane Katrina". The first one is "a lack of federal money". Should be good.

"In an alternate reality..."

Thus began a question posed to me by Playwriter Girl.

Before I continue, I haven't posted in quite a while, so let me get you up to date. Playwriter Girl has finished chemotherapy (complete with Pool Party) and is now in the radiation stage of her cancer treatment. Furthermore, her first PET scan was negative for disease. God is good.

Now to the subject of this post's title. While at the aforementioned Pool Party, Playwriter Girl began a question to me using this phrase. It seemed ominous at first, but then she continued.

In an alternate reality, where you are a Defeat-o-crat, which candidate would you like to see get the Defeat-o-crat nomination? [my paraphrase]

An alternate reality, indeed.

Well, it really comes down to just three names, doesn't it? Hillary, Barry, and John. But the Breck Girl is fading. I think people are sick of the two Americas hypocrisy. So I could scratch him off the short list. So that would leave Mrs. Bill Clinton and the Audacious Barry Obama.

It was at this point that I asked Playwriter Girl if I would be an intellectually honest Defeat-o-crat or a standard say-anything-and-do-anything-to-win Defeat-o-crat. This makes a difference, you see. If I'm the standard Defeat-o-crat, then it's Mrs. Clinton all the way, personal integrity and lack of accomplishment be damned. It's all about getting her in office. Whereas, if I'm an intellectually honest Defeat-o-crat, Barry is it. He is something new and brings a fresh perspective to the Executive Office, not to mention the fact that he's an incredible socialist. And, being intellectually honest, you'd have to think that getting the first black American into the White House would lend some momentum to the effort. Furthermore, continuing in the intellectual honesty vein, Mrs. Clinton's negatives are just to high. Sure she could win the nomination, but the general election?

And that's where we left it. On the Defeat-o-crat side. Other Pool Party attendees and I continued on the Republican side. More on that later.

Here we go again - Senator Craig regrets his guilty plea

Another day, another Republican politician caught in immorality.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he [Idaho Senator Larry Craig] said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Well, Senator Criag, you should never have had to handle the matter yourself, because you should never have pursued this behaviour in the first place. Your term ends in 2008. Please don't run for re-election.

I ask again, where are the men of character in the Republican party?

UPDATE - Here's the police report on the incident.

Hey Alberto, please take Johnny Sutton with you!

Alberto Gonzales has resigned.

I'm of two minds about this. First, it's sad that a seemingly good man can be forced to resign due to the unceasing din of lies manufactured by the opposition party. This whole mess about the fired District Attorneys has been completely manufactured by the Defeat-o-crats. District Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President - 28 U.S.C. § 541(c). End of story. This is yet another notch in the Defeat-o-crats' belt of criticising away their opponents (Scooter Libby, Don Rumsfeld). Meanwhile, William Jefferson, who was caught with cold, hard cash (litterally), still served in Congress.

And yet, Gonzales has been an absolute disappointment. As our nation's chief law enforcement officer, his performance in stopping the flood of illegal immigration across our southern border has been, to be quite charitable, pathetic. While he and the President went around firing District Attorneys, why didn't they fire Johnny Sutton?

Perhaps he just couldn't take the constant critcism. Hey, Alberto, it's called "Washington, D.C." and they're called "Defeat-o-crats". It's what they do. It's all they know how to do. Deal with it.

Anyway, good bye Alberto. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. And seriously, please take Johnny Sutton with you. Please.

The two words they dare not write

Read this article. Can you guess the two words that the drive-by media just can't seem to write?

The 28-year-old Peruvian national charged in the executions of three college students in a Newark schoolyard is to appear in court this morning for a hearing on unrelated assault and child-rape charges.

Jose Lachira Carranza was named in a 31-count indictment in July that accused him of sexually assaulting a little girl over a four-year period, beginning when the child was 5. He was charged in 2006 with assaulting four men with a chair and a broken bottle in a brawl at a West Orange restaurant.

Poor Jose. Or—as the amnesty-or-bust crowd would call him—poor, hard-working Jose. Committing the murders that Americans just can't seem to commit. Sexually assaulting the five-year-olds that Americans just can't seem to assault. Visiting our country from his native Peru only to find himself behind bars. Where is La Raza? Where is LULAC? Why won't they help this hard-working man return to providing for his family?

Is it perhaps because of those two nasty little words?

More of the usual from Mrs. Clinton

More breathtaking gall*, that is. She doesn't consider herself a liberal.

Early on in the CNN/YouTube-sponsored debate, a California resident posed these questions on his video: "Mrs. Clinton, how would you define the word ‘liberal’? And would you use this word to describe yourself?”

Hillary answered: "You know, it is a word that originally meant that you were for freedom, that you were for the freedom to achieve, that you were willing to stand against big power and on behalf of the individual.

"Unfortunately, in the last 30, 40 years, it has been turned up on its head and it's been made to seem as though it is a word that describes big government, totally contrary to what its meaning was in the 19th and early 20th century.

"I prefer the word ‘progressive,’ which has a real American meaning, going back to the progressive era at the beginning of the 20th century.

"I consider myself a modern progressive, someone who believes strongly in individual rights and freedoms, who believes that we are better as a society when we're working together and when we find ways to help those who may not have all the advantages in life get the tools they need to lead a more productive life for themselves and their family.

Progressive. As if there were anything she was for that would result in progress. I have just one word for this: HillaryCare. Just think "HillaryCare" after almost each phrase that Her Vileness says in the paragraphs above.

Indeed, breathtaking gall.

* a wonderful description used by Peggy Noonan in The Case Against Hillary Clinton.

Compean and Ramos are HEROES

I'm late to this subject, I know. But I can no longer be silent. First, please read this.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Compean/Ramos case. One of my senators, John Cornyn, sits on the Judiciary committee. The final witness at the hearing was the excreable Johnny Sutton, District Attorney for the San Antonio district.

Senator Cornyn should have been ready to skewer the excreable Sutton. Edd Hendee, co-host of the best morning talk show in Texas on "radio-active" AM 700 KSEV, went up to Washington, D.C. yesterday in order to help Senator Cornyn and his staff get prepared for today's hearing. Furthermore, others have written extensively about the excreable Sutton's lies, including this extensive list of 15 questions written by Jerome Corsi.

He should have been ready. But he wasn't; all he had was softballs. Instead, it was the liberal Diane Feinstein who led the charge against the excreable Sutton. Furthermore, she has committed to ask President Bush to commute the ridiculous sentences given the two border patrol agents.

Are there no more men of principle in the Republican party?

South Dakota, a civilized place

You can read the article, but the headline says all you need to know.

South Dakota carries out 1st execution in 60 years

Mr. Light Bulb, why are you so obsessed with execution?

Well, I'm truly not obsessed with executions. I'm just comforted to see appropriate and civilized penalty carried out by society.

Civilized? What can be civilized about an execution?

Everything. The fact that a jury of peers heard testimony and/or examined evidence, returned a verdict of guilty, and prescribed a punishment of execution hails to the very model of civilization. In South Dakota, civilization told Mr. Page that his actions were so heinous that they warranted his execution. (And if you read the article, you'll see that his actions were indeed heinous.) Furthermore, civilization told the family of Mr. Page's victim that their loved one was a valued member of society by showing Mr. Page the penalty of greatest magnitude. Civilization in South Dakota said, "because you destroyed the most precious commodity we have, you will pay with the most precious commodity you have."

Well done, South Dakota. The Light Bulb family will definitely come and visit you one summer.

Perspective

Some perspective on the War on Terror.

• Number of US casualties in the Battle of Iwo Jima - 6,825
  
• Number of US casualties on Omaha Beach on D-Day - 2,400
  
• Number of US casualties in Iraq this year - 525
  
• Number of automobile deaths in the US in 2005 - 43,443
  

Lady Bird Johnson - 1912-2007

All men marry up, by definition. And there was no better example than that of LBJ marrying Lady Bird.

Lady Bird was always a picture of grace, so much so that she made even her husband look good when she stood beside him. This woman was no push over. When LBJ was in the Senate, this brainy woman managed their business affairs here in Texas and did quite well at it.

Her life long efforts to beautify our nation, true and honest environmentalism, will bear fruit long into the future. The world has lost a wonderful woman and a beautiful Texan.

Run, Cindy, Run!!!

Looks like Bug Eyes might have some competition in 2008.

Cindy Sheehan bid farewell to her former "peace camp" near President Bush's ranch and began a nearly two-week trek Tuesday toward Washington, D.C., with her sights set on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sheehan, a Californian, officially announced that she intends to run as an independent against Pelosi in 2008 if the San Francisco congresswoman doesn't move to impeach Bush by July 23, the day she expects to reach Washington.

Of course, there's that July 23 caveat. But I'm not too worried.

In fact, I'm looking forward to it. This is California's Fifth congressional district—San Francisco. All sorts of human debris live and vote there. Raging Cindy just might have a chance. What fun.

Shame on you, Senator Vitter

Disgusting.

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, whose telephone number was disclosed by the so-called "D.C. Madam" accused of running a prostitution ring, says he is sorry for a "serious sin" and that he has already made peace with his wife.

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said Monday in a printed statement. "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there—with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."

...

A Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, the 46-year-old Vitter was elected to his current office in 2004, becoming the first Republican from Louisiana elected to the Senate since Reconstruction. He represented Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in the House from 1999 to 2004.

In the House, Vitter succeeded GOP Rep. Robert Livingston, who was in line to replace Newt Gingrich as speaker until Livingston admitted to extramarital affairs and quit Congress. Livingston had been a critic of President Clinton, calling on him to resign over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Vitter and his wife, Wendy, live in Metairie, La., with their four children.

In 2000, Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News Service she could not be as forgiving as Livingston's wife or Hillary Clinton.

Apparently, they don't teach fidelity at Harvard.

Now, before you start with "let him that is without sin...", I certainly do appreciate his seeking forgiveness from his family and wife and from God (hopefully in reverse order). And yes, he is a human. And humans sin. And I, Mr. Light Bulb, am a human. And I sin.

But come on. A Harvard-educated man, a former Representative, and now a Senator cheating on his wife? And, on top of all that, a Republican. Didn't he know that as a Republican he has to behave much better than any democrat would think of? Or maybe he wanted to . . . test drive a newer model. Maybe he and his wife didn't get along. Maybe she pushed him to it.

But what about this?

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.
— Proverbs 18:22

Again, I'm not perfect, so let me apply this to my life. Is Mrs. Light Bulb a beauty queen? Is she runway model quality? Is she a smokin' hot mama? Why yes, she is, as a matter of fact. And do you want to know why? It's not because of her outward appearances, stunning though they may be. It's because she is a gift designed specifically for me by the one true living God, the maker of the heavens and the earth, the creator of all things. Yes, that God. If I ever cheated on her, besides crumbling her heart to pieces and breaking the solemn vow I made to her and to Him in front of a whole lot of people, I would be telling God that his gift to me was not quite what I was looking for, that I didn't trust his taste, that I didn't particularly care for his choice.

Well, that's not gonna happen.

Shame needs to be brought back in vogue.

Freedom

The Light Bulb family is on vacation all week visiting, among others, my dear brother and sister-in-law in Missouri. Well, we couldn't visit the Show Me state with grade-school children and not see the Gateway Arch, also known by its official name as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. As we explained to the little Light Bulbs, the arch represents our nation's expansion westward. It's the symbolic door through which we as a nation walked on our journey west.


Eero Saarinen's design, a stainless steel catenary arch covering reinforced concrete, represents (at least to me) the strength our growing nation would seek and develop by being a freedom-preserving democracy. Wind will not fell it, nor will rust corrode it. The same is true for our democracy. There is little chance that outside elements could destroy the United States. But destruction from within is an unfortunate possibility.

I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger.
— Daniel Webster