Liberal SOP -- Looks like fraud to me.

Seems like the friendly folks at AirAmerica, the latest leftist attempt to crash the talk radio market, are going to stiff the creditors!

Reports indicate that the company will sell all assets to a newly created company and leave all debts to with the old, which will then fold. This sweetheart deal, which involves allowing most of the original investors (except frontmen Evan Cohen and Rex Sorensen) to retain their investment while leaving those who did business with the 15 station network high and dry.

Since there will be no audits conducted to see that assets are fairly valued, no auction to get a market price, and not court oversight by a bankruptcy judge, I wonder who is keeping an eye on this sweetheart sale of assets between corporations owned by the same individuals. Where is the SEC and the attorneys general of the appropriate states? This appears to be nothing less than bankruptcy fraud mapped out in advance.

Penn State decides "No more Christians here!"

In a troubling move that strikes at the very heart of free exercise of religion on the campus of a public university, Penn State University has decided to refuse recognition to DiscipleMakers, an evangelical Christian group. Why? Because a university administrator has decided that there are enough Christian groups to meet the spiritual needs of university students! The organization is being represented in a lawsuit by the Alliance Defense Fund.

How does this differ from the Catholic University case I commented on below? Why do I support the DiscipleMakers but not the NAACP? After all, the uniqueness requirement is one of the two reasons given by CU for denying recognition to the NAACP. The answer is simple -- it is the difference between public and private.

Catholic University is a private school, and as such is not bound by the requirements of the First Amendment. If a decision were taken to ban all non-Catholic religious groups as inconsistent with the schools mission, it could do so. In the case of the NAACP, it objects to the parent organizations activity in support of abortion, activity which conflicts with the teachings of the Catholic Church. That alone is sufficient reason for denying recognition, and is a standard applied to all organizations.

Penn State, on the other hand, is bound by the First Amendment because it is a state school. It is not the place of the university to be denying religious groups recognition because they are not sufficiently unique (nor, I daresay, should it do so with political groups). In addition, Penn State creates a special hoop for religious groups to jump through, because the consent of the director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs is required above and beyond what non religious groups must do for recognition. As such, there is clear discrimination. And as for the uniqueness requirement, what next? Will the university decide that there need be only one group for liturgical Christians, be they Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, or Orthodox?

Congratulations to the Fincke Family!

Best wishes to new parents Mike and Renita Fincke and new brother Chandra Fincke on the birth of little Tarali Paulina Fincke!

She arrived today at a local hospital while the proud pappa listened from his perch aboard the International Space Station.

NASA officials said it was the first time to their knowledge that a U.S. astronaut was in space during the birth of his child. NASA also arranged two video conferences so that he could see mother and child, and videos and pictures will be sent to him aboard the space station.

We folks who live near NASA view every crewmember as a part of the extended family, for we see them in the grocery store, at church, and in lot's of everyday settings -- it's nice to have some good news to report after the events of February 1, 2003.

Not free to disagree, part 2

Apparently our degenerate Democrat buddy, John Aravosis (try this address if you don't get a response to the one I linked earlier), doesn't want to limit his personal attacks on conservative gays and lesbians to members of the Bush and Cheney families. No, he wants to go after any gay member of Congress who supports the Federal Marriage Amendment, their gay staff members, and their gay associates/contributors. So does activist Mike Rogers, who views the right to privacy that he demands for homosexuals to be contingent upon their supporting the politically correct position on gay marriage.

Again, we see the hypocrisy of the Left. Rights, if you are a leftist, are contingent upon espousing the proper politics and causes. On the other hand, conservatives (or at least most of us) are content to respect privacy and struggles of gay and lesbian friends and family members provided they are equally willing to respect our beliefs about moral and legal questions surrounding homosexual conduct. But somehow WE are the intolerant ones.

Not free to disagree, part 1

Leftist low-life John Aravosis (go ahead and email the scumbag) has decided that there is only one acceptable position for a homosexual to have on both gay marriage and the reelection of the Bush/Cheney ticket. Even if your father is on the ticket.

The result is a series of internet ads attacking Mary Cheney for working for the campaign and attempting to "compel" her to speak out against the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Now I can understand Aravosis disagreeing with the campaign, but I find his attack on Mary Cheney repulsive. After all, haven't we repeatedly been told that homosexuals are "just like everyone else"? Doesn't this include disagreeing on policy issues? Or are homosexuals supposed to live in fear that their failure to act in lockstep with the "gay agenda" will result in a public shaming as disgusting as the use of the term "Uncle Tom for conservative blacks? In short, are we, as Americans, going to stand by and permit the leftists to infringe upon the human right of Mary Cheney and other conservative homosexuals to think for themselves?

NAACP Head: Freedom For Me, But Not For Thee.

The NAACP often bills itself as the nation's premiere civil rights organization. It certainly places itself in the forefront of the movement to protect the rights of Americans. Apparently, though, that is only the case if you are liberal, pro-abortion, and black.

Consider the case of Catholic University, the officially sanctioned school of the Catholic Church in the United States. A group of students petitioned CU for recognition of a campus chapter of the NAACP, as required by campus policy. After careful consideration, the University rejected the application on the grounds that another organization existed on the campus that focused on civil rights and African American heritage, and the fact that the NAACP is an active and vocal organization in support of abortion. It was the latter that became the sticking point for the school. And as a private Catholic university, that should be the end of matters.

Enter NAACP president Crazy N'Fuming. Not satisfied that the Catholic University of the United States has a right to be Catholic and insist that student groups do the same, he demanded a meeting with the university. Now he is threatening lawsuits and public protests -- all because a Catholic school is acting the way a Catholic school is supposed to act.

Apparently my mom's sarcastic comment was right all those years ago when I complained that her grounding me was a violation of my civil rights. You have no civil rights if you aren't black. That certainly seems to be the position of the NAACP.

Bill Clinton -- The First Sociopath President

“I did something for the worst possible reason — just because I could,” he said of his romps with Lewinsky. “I think that’s just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing something — when you do it because you could," a contrite Clinton told CBS newsman Dan Rather in an interview about his hotly anticipated memoir that airs Sunday on "60 Minutes."

And you liberals thought we conservatives were out of line for calling him unfit to be President of the United States. Doing something wrong just because you can is the hallmark of a sociopath.

But They Just Have Different Learning Styles!

I can already hear some of my colleagues, folks who gush on about learning styles and the need to help every student learn "their own way" expressing horror over this story from Georgia. Not over the dead chickens -- over the criminalization of the learning process. After all -- wasn't this just another tactile-kinesthetic learning opportunity?

A Little Reality Check for the Reagan Haters

Now I know that the "Reagan was a Racist" crowd will complain, but I encourage folks to look at Larry Elder's column on Reagan and blacks. In it he does something anathema to liberals -- he offers evidence and statistics.

Consider the results of his policies in the black community:

From the end of 1982 to 1989, black unemployment dropped 9 percentage points (from 20.4 percent to 11.4 percent), while white unemployment dropped by only 4 percentage points. Black household income went up 84 percent from 1980 to 1990, vs. a white household income increase of 68 percent. The number of black-owned businesses increased from 308,000 in 1982 to 424,000 in 1987, a 38 percent rise vs. a 14 percent increase in the total number of firms in the United States. Receipts by black-owned firms more than doubled, from $9.6 billion to $19.8 billion.

Couldn't the black community use a little more of that sort of racist abuse?

Next Up -- Who is Buried in Grant's Tomb?

One would naturally assume that St. Mark is buried int he Tomb of St. Mark. Guess what -- a new book claims it is really Alexander the Great, who died some 300-400 years earlier!

How did this happen? Author Andrew Chugg has a theory:

Mr Chugg, the author of several books on Alexander, believes the confusion occurred when the warrior's body was disguised as St Mark to protect it from destruction during a Christian uprising.

"Both bodies were said to be mummified in linen, and one seems to disappear at the same time that the other appears - in almost exactly the same place, near the central crossroads of Alexandria," he writes. "It's a strong possibility that somebody in the Church hierarchy, perhaps even the Patriarch himself, decided it might be a good plan to pretend the remains of Alexander were those of St Mark.

"If this is true, then it was Alexander's remains - not those of St Mark - that were stolen by Venetian merchants and taken back to their native city some four centuries later." In fact, three early Christian sources state that St Mark's body was burnt after his death.

If true, it would be one of the great archaeological finds in recent memory.

From the Department. of Lousy Excuses

New Zealand -- A man caught driving at more than 120kmh (75 mph) in a 50kmh (31 mph) zone claimed he was trying to blow-dry his car, Whangarei District Court was told.

We've all come up with pathetic excuses for a cop -- but do they all sound this stupid?

Inappropriate Words and Conduct

We teachers do not tolerate some things. In this day of litigation over sexual harassment among students, we crack down on such conduct. We crack down (to varying degrees -- school isn't curse free by any means) on inappropriate language. But we recognize kids will be kids.

But TEACHERS??????????

Now I know that teachers are not angels. We've had kids catch on to "adult" relationships between teachers. I know one administrator who got locked into a closet with a married teacher (they are married now, working in different schools) and another who was caught with a secretary in his office by a janitor one night (neither employed by the district any longer). But with the exception of one married couple who walks down the hall holding hands, teachers at my school restrain themselves. Hey, when my wife used to substitute in my building, she used her maiden name -- until 8 months into the school year a kid noticed the woman across the hall looked an awful lot like the one in the wedding picture on my desk.

Looks like New Dorp High in New York has a pair of real peaches. The verbally abuse kids. They cuss in class. The grope in the hallway and make out in their classrooms. And then they tried to obstruct the investigation. Come on! I thought that we were all adults, and that we knew there are some basic rules of civil conduct you don't violate. Apparently these clowns don't -- or at least didn't.

The good news? Tenure not withstanding, they are recommended for termination. But they claim they are being framed, so will be mounting a vigorous defense. So it may only take a year or two to get rid of them. Good riddance!

Hmmmmm! Maybe the Democrats could try this next.

Well, the friendly folks at Newsmax.com found an intriguing one for us. Seems that the Brazilians have found a new twist old quid-pro-quo method of buying votes. Politicians are providing mobile sterilization clinics. Women promise their vote in exchange for getting their tubes tied.

After decades of vote fraud, illegal registrations, votes for cash/booze/cigarettes among the homeless, and registered dead folks, maybe the pro-abortion Dems will go this direction. I can see it now -- D&X courtesy of the DNC.