Karla Comfort received a lot of looks and even some salutes from people when she drove from Benton, Ark., to Camp Pendleton, Calif., in her newly-painted, custom Hummer H3 March 2. The vehicle is adorned with the likeness of her son, 20-year-old Lance Cpl. John M. Holmason, and nine other Marines with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division who where all killed by the same improvised explosive device blast in Fallujah, Iraq, in December
We've put up a poll on Power Line News. The question is, "What should be our highest priority in formulating policies on immigration?" There are eight possible responses. We tried to make the poll valuable by avoiding the usual pitfall: slanted questions and answers that turn the survey into a push-poll. We tried to phrase the question and all of the answers fairly, so that each answer is a plausible response. Our hope is to get a more meaningful and nuanced picture of conservative opinion on the subject of immigration than is currently available, for the benefit of Congressmen. Especially Republican Congressmen.
There have been seven illegal alien amnesties passed into law since 1986:
·The 1986 Immigration and Reform Control Act blanket amnesty for an estimated 2.7 million illegal aliens
·1994: The "Section 245(i)" temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens
·1997: Extension of the Section 245(i) amnesty
·1997: The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act for nearly one million illegal aliens from Central America
·1998: The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti
·2000: Extension of amnesty for some 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed eligibility under the 1986 act
·2000: The Legal Immigration Family Equity Act, which included a restoration of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty for 900,000 illegal aliens]
"I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina."
I haven't blogged for several days because I've just been too busy. The weekend was really nice so I worked in the garden and did some spring cleaning in the house. It was perfect weather to air out the house. I even managed to take the dogs for a walk. It was very warm and muggy and just going a few miles wiped them out. 
Coming In! When the days are nice I leave the window to the porch open. I leave it open just enough so the cats can go out while I'm gone. Casey decided he had to try to get in through the window. Heh,Heh! He's a clown! I had to take Casey to vet to take care of his infected ear. He's nearly completed the antibotics and the ear is clearing up nicely.
Yup, it's true. There is one of those infamous New Orleans buses on sale on eBay. There are people actually bidding on it too. What would they do with it? As far as I'm concerned, one should just make a monument out of a couple of them. Call it the Monument of Incompetence and Stupidity.
Undercover investigators slipped radioactive material _ enough to make two small "dirty bombs" _ across U.S. borders in Texas and Washington state in a test last year of security at American points of entry.
Radiation alarms at the unidentified sites detected the small amounts of cesium-137, a nuclear material used in industrial gauges. But U.S. customs agents permitted the investigators to enter the United States because they were tricked with counterfeit documents
I attended the opening of the Republican Party of Arkansas and the Washington County GOP headquarters this afternoon.
The room was crowded. I estimate that approximately 60 to 70 people were there. 
A number of candidates showed up. I was able to meet quite a few of them, even some of their wives too.
Of course there was the announcement of candidates running and introducing those that were present. Also, "you need to volunteer" and "you need to donate". OK, now that's over, we can have the featured speaker.
Asa spoke briefly mostly about his Grow Arkansas campaign. He spoke how his ideas were different from Beebe's(he has ideas?) He said we want to move Arkansas forward instead of going back to the days of corruption, broken highways and unaccountablity in schools. 
What is the distinction between grand strategy and strategy per se? Grand strategy is the strategy of the long view, derived from national policy, involving a nation's long-term goals, its ideals, and its place in the world. As defined by B.H. Liddell-Hart, grand strategy involves
the actual direction of military force, as distinct from the policy governing its employment, and combining it with other weapons: economic, political, psychological.
George W. Bush's grand strategy for defeating terrorism is of the same order: to remake the region, replacing dictatorships with democracies in order to deprive terrorists of support – in Maoist terms, drying up the water in which the insurgent fish swim.
It is a bold concept, as sweeping as anything that has occurred in the Middle East since the collapse of the Ottomans. Its execution will require years, if not decades – it's no accident that the administration has taken to calling the effort “the Long War.”
A political solution is necessary to secure the military victories already won. This strategy will require patience, understanding, and willingness to overcome setbacks. Things are going to happen that we do not like. There will be disappointments and failures. These are not products of policy, but aspects of the human condition. None of them will be any reason to turn back or abandon the effort. Errors can corrected, failures can be overcome. And it should never be forgotten that, in the words of Churchill, the ongoing liberation of the Middle East remains “one of the great unsordid acts of history.”
Now the two strangers had to work together to accomplish a goal Iraqis knew almost nothing about; they knew that America wanted to topple Saddam and secure the oil fields but that's all they knew while America was thinking of a huge transformation for the entire Middle East with Iraq being the key to that transformation.
There was a wide gap between the two but we had no choice but to work together, because in a moment Iraqis didn't choose, America and a group of Iraqi ex-pat leaders were suddenly replacing a regime that controlled everything for too long.
We had to accept the change and live with all that would come along with it whether good or bad.
The democracy we're practicing today in Iraq is the exact opposite of what we had for decades and until three years ago. This democracy carries the essence of life, the differences, the dynamics and yes, the failures but also the seed of a better future.
After pulling weeds for a few hours I decided it was time to go for a walk. I took Casey and Trixie to Lake Fayetteville. The sun shines through the leafless trees, making it comfortable to walk through the woods even though it's a bit cool. With it being spring break there weren't very many people on the trail. What a beautiful day! Tomorrow promises to be just as great!
Bows was just waiting for a bird to land on the ground. Here birdie, birdie!
Older women who say talk shows and soap operas are their favorite TV programs tend to score more poorly on tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills.
A study of 289 older women without dementia found that those who rated talk shows and soaps as their favorite programs performed more poorly on tests of memory, attention and mental quickness than their peers who cited other types of shows.
What's more, they were at greater risk of showing signs of clinical impairment. For example, compared with women who preferred to watch news programs, those who favored soaps were more than seven times more likely to show signs of impairment on one of the tests, while talk show fans were more than 13 times more likely to demonstrate impairment.
Although the calendar says Spring, the weather is winter. Thunderstorms kept me off the computer last night and tonight is colder than this morning. I worry about my early bloomers such as this Bleeding Heart. I hope they don't get killed off.
But if Hollywood is so pitifully out of touch, how does the industry's economic train keep chugging along? Why don't market forces come crashing in on Hollywood executives?
The answer's in the numbers. The average budget for these five films was about $20 million. Their average worldwide gross? Just over $80 million - and that doesn't even include DVD revenues.
Trixie is doing what all my other children are doing, sleeping.
OK, look straight ahead! Open your eyes wide! Good, Good!
Alright, shift to the right! No, No, my right! Fantastic! You're doing great!
Now, look to the left! Yeah, that's it. You're looking hot! Man, they're going to love you!
Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.
1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.Mission
The bill, sponsored by Delegate James W. Hubbard, D-Prince George's, would force businesses with fewer than 10,000 employees to put at least 4.5 percent of their payrolls toward health benefits for their workers, or pay the difference into the state's Medicaid fund.
Amy Weaver, president and director of the Daily Discoveries, said that her business, which already provides healthcare to its 40 employees, would be forced to pay an additional $16,000 per year under Hubbard's bill. Imposing another payroll tax would be devastating," she said. "I'm not willing to pay my employees less. Childcare is already an underpaid industry."
Research from economists at Dartmouth University and the University of Michigan found that healthcare mandates increase labor costs for employers, which they must pass on either to customers in the form of higher prices, or to employees through reduced hours, lowered wages, or other cutbacks in benefits.
The slide in American moviegoing was an open wound at the ShoWest convention, and was addressed with unusual directness by John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, and Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, in their speeches here. The decline in attendance for three consecutive years "is a trend that must be reversed," Mr. Glickman declared in his address Tuesday.
The future of the industry, many here seemed to agree, lies with understanding consumer behavior toward what has been a leading entertainment choice for almost a century. "That's the real question: What do you do to stir attendance, to get people in theaters?" asked Peter C. Brown, chairman of AMC Entertainment, which has 4,400 screens across the country.
I hope that they figure this out because they're going to keep losing money and go belly up if they don't start listening to us.
Globat.com(R in a very unique effort to raise awareness to cervical cancer prevention, today announced the world's first sponsorship of a gynecological visit for Shimmer, a long-time eBay celebrity from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Shimmer will be riding to and from her gynecologist in a limo, will undergo a gynecological exam and will be promoting Globat.com and cancer prevention throughout the day.
During her visit to the doctor, she will be wearing a temporary tattoo of the Globat.com logo on her chest, and will then hit the clubs handing out St. Patrick's Day-themed Globat.com t-shirts, hats and stickers and, of course, promoting the necessity for women over 18 to get tested frequently.
Shimmer sells advertising on her body on e-bay. It appears that her favorate place to put the tattoo is on her chest.
"I think we're getting closer to a realistic figure on what's actually being spent," Pickett said. "Still, the whole report is wrought with inconsistencies. Some of them are just flagrant."
Pickett said 10 percent of that amount is too much to direct toward athletics."I think it bothers me more now than when we first started looking at this because the school districts now have come back to us ... saying they don't have enough to operate," she said.
State Education Board member Ben Mays of Clinton, a longtime crusader for accountability in athletic spending, said he suspects districts are raiding funds intended for education to pay for sports programs. Mays contends that most districts did not fully disclose their athletic expenses. He estimates districts are spending at least $3,500 for each student involved in varsity sports. The Department of Education figures are "horribly underreported," he said.
Wal-Mart's strategy to repair its public image through the blogosphere has resoundingly backfired. News like this makes the company sound sneaky and underhanded, out to launch the equivalent of a corporate propaganda campaign, which of course fires up Wal-Mart's detractors even more. Meanwhile, bloggers who don't disclose their relationships with certain entities or individuals lose a heck of a lot of credibility, tarring the entire blogosphere by association, and making blogs seem that much less reliable as a source of information.
So my first reponse{response} is to help bloggers with advice:.
If you write a post inspired by what you get from a company or its PR agent, say so. If you use facts or quotes from a company, politician, PR agent, or press release, say so (better yet, link to it). If you get anything from a PR agent — things, business meetings, social events — say so. Your public has a right to know where your information comes from so they can judge it accordingly.
And then you know what? You will be way ahead of the press
"There's a tone of gleeful relish in the way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries, their appetite for withholding information, and the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors," said New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, in a statement responding to questions from The Washington Post. "I don't know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values it professes to be promoting abroad."
Tigger looks all pooped out from a hard day. I wonder what these cats do when I'm gone?
Eli sneaked into the garage and I didn't find him until a few hours later. He didn't seem bother at all. He just found himself a place to sleep.
Bow's is meditating in the morning light or just counting all the dust particles.
He(Mr. Hubbard) began our conversation by pointing out that the Wal-Mart bill--which forces companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8% of their payroll on health care or pay the state the difference--was always intended to be just the first step.
It passed last year and was enacted last month, when the Legislature overrode Gov. Robert Ehrlich's veto. Two weeks ago Mr. Hubbard was at it again, this time introducing a new bill to mandate that companies with at least 1,000 employees spend 4.5% of their payroll on health care or pay the state the difference. Once this piece is in place, Mr. Hubbard told me, the next step will be to create a similar mandate--perhaps 2% or 3%--for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Each year, Mr. Hubbard hopes to expand the mandate to include ever smaller companies with the ultimate goal of "health coverage for all Marylanders."
LITTLE ROCK AP About 81 percent of Arkansas households are "food insecure," meaning they don't have reliable access to food, according to an anti-hunger group in Arkansas..
The national rate is 70 percent, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance says
* Arkansas has seen a 77% increase inAccording to a press release from the National Governors Association. The first two days of the meeting were dedicated to Gov. Huckabee's chairman's initiative Healthy America. Huckabee said "nearly 129 million adults in the United States are overweight; of these, more than 60 million are obese and 9 million are severely obese."
obesity from 1991-2000.
* Over 60% of Arkansas adults are at an
unhealthy weight and 37% of these are
obese.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- In a Feb. 23 story about hunger in Arkansas, The Associated Press reported erroneously that 81 percent of Arkansas' households and 70 percent of the nation's households did not have reliable access to food..
A report by the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance said food banks provide assistance to about 10.6 percent of the state's population and that, among their clients, a survey showed that 81 percent did not have reliable access to food. The national figure is 70 percent among food-bank clients
