The WeekEnder: August 10-12, 2007

We are 81,000 hours away from Election Night 2016, so it must be time for Issue #7 of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you.

• Making America more competitive
• Weapons not accounted for
• Is it really a crime to steal that?
• Lieberman's inevitability
• The #1 guide to electoral politics
• Raindrops
• Obama clears things up - and then some
• Use your talents
• Bush is no Treasury bond
• Good for Barry

Bush signs America COMPETES Act

Another accomplishment of the Democratic Congress:

"Today, the President signed into law the America COMPETES Act – yet another American priority put forward by the Democratic-led Congress that has taken our country in a New Direction after years of stalled progress in Washington. In the past few weeks, the President agreed to finally implement the independent 9/11 Commission recommendations – signing into law the first bill we voted on in the House, helping us make America safer – and the first federal minimum wage increase in a decade took effect, giving millions an overdue pay raise.

"Nearly two years ago, House Democrats launched our bipartisan Innovation Agenda. It helps guarantee our national security and economic prosperity, expands markets for American products, reasserts our leadership throughout the world in the decades to come, and gives future generations greater opportunity to achieve the American Dream. The America COMPETES Act fulfills much of the Democrats’ Innovation Agenda.

"By focusing and investing in four key areas – math and science education, research and development, energy independence, and small businesses – the America COMPETES Act will launch new thriving industries that will produce millions of good jobs here at home and a better future for the next generation."

Pentagon loses track of weapons
Proof that you can't trust Republicans with money or weapons:

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

Man accused of stealing urine samples

Urine good hands:

A man confessed to breaking into a Porter County probation office and stealing two urine samples, including his own, police said.

...

"He'd been in a few hours before and gave a urine sample," Balon said. "He saw they were testing for a drug he didn't think they were testing for. He panicked."

...

Chief Probation Officer Neal Hannon said he had never seen such a theft in his 37 years on the job.

"Generally, people don't have a desire to retrieve their own urine," he said.

Really?

Blog highlight of the week: Lieberman's Commanding Lead
Polling at this stage in the election cycle is very unreliable. A user at Daily Kos looks back at a 2003 poll and notes:

The Iowa Caucus may be five months away, but Joe Lieberman is walking away with the Democratic nomination. According to a national, August CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll:

August 2003, Likely Democratic Voters:
Howard Dean: 12
Wesley Clark: 2
Joe Lieberman: 23
John Kerry: 10
Dick Gephardt: 13
John Edwards: 5

With a lead like this in a national poll, what could possibly stop Lieberman? In fact, nearly every national poll shows Lieberman as the inevitable nominee.

Link of the week: Politics1
Have you ever wondered who, exactly, is running for Congress or Governor where you live? Politics1 has complete lists of everyone who holds and is running for office in the next election cycle. Owner Ron Gunzberger also provides a rundown of electoral news on the home page.

Photo of the Week: Raindrops



Video of the Week: Obama v. Dodd v. Hillary
This is the second-biggest highlight of the AFL-CIO Debate, next to Steve Skvara asking how the candidates intend to fix what's wrong with America:



Quote of the week: Henry Van Dyke
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

Government bonds vs. Bush
What's the difference between George W. Bush and government bonds?

Government bonds mature.

Final thought
I watched Barry Bonds hit #756 on Tuesday night. Let me just say this about the whole Bonds/steroids issue: He's innocent until proven guilty - if not in the court public opinion, than at least in my own opinion.

The WeekEnder: August 3-5, 2007

We're just four days away from the primaries here in Michigan - and it's time for the sixth installment of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you.

• Freshman senators seek to check use of private contractors in Iraq
• Senate leader supports censorship of opposition blog
• A different kind of communion
• Are the Tigers being cursed?
• The premier progressive blog
• I Scream for Howard Dean
• Can this kid play soccer!
• LuberalLucy's words of warning
• How would they respond?
• For Freedom?

Senate's Freshman Democrats seek to curb private contracting

Don't tell me that freshmen don't get it:

The Senate’s nine freshman Democrats announced a new effort Wednesday to rein in the use of private contractors to rebuild Iraq and to do an array of war-related jobs normally assigned to the military, The Virginian-Pilot reported Thursday.

According to the report, the group will ask Congress to create a "Commission on Wartime Contracting" that would assign auditors already employed by the federal government to ferret out waste and mismanagement in the more than $300 billion Iraq reconstruction effort.

A special inspector general on Iraq reconstruction reported two years ago that $9 billion of $32 billion spent by the State Department on Iraq reconstruction “could not be accounted for,” Jim Webb, D-Va., is reported as saying. “I think we all deserve better than that.”

The panel also would explore legal questions surrounding the use of contractors to do such jobs as interrogate prisoners and provide security for top U.S. generals, Webb is reported as saying.

State Senate GOP leader blocks Blogging for Michigan
What is Mike Bishop afraid of?

Apparently bankrupting the state isn't all Michigan State Senate Republican Leader Mike Bishop wants to do. This time he's gone after one of Michigan's best lefty blogs, Blogging for Michigan.

After a post went up today on BFM about the wrong-doings one of Bishop's cronies, out-of-touch Senator Bruce Patterson (R-Canton), Mike Bishop's Chief of Staff Matt Miner, called Secretary of the Senate Carol Viventi and instructed her to block access to all blogs from the Senate offices.

Pastor serves marijuana as communion
Can we get the Pope to bring this to Catholicism?

The mail-order minister of a Hollywood church that burns marijuana during services and allegedly sells it to members says that’s protected under federal law because the drug is a religious sacrament.

But Judge Mary Strobel has ruled that the Reverend Craig X. Rubin can’t use federal law as a defense because he faces only state charges.

Rubin, who’s representing himself at his drug trial, says members of his Temple 420 believe that marijuana is the tree of life mentioned in the Bible.

Blog highlight of the week: The Decider Curse?
Last year Michigan gubernatorail candidate Dick "Amway Guy" DeVos cursed the Detroit Tigers. Now is his pal Dubya Bush doing the same?

The Red Sox had the Curse of Bambino it took them 86 years to shake that. The Cubs still have the Curse of the Billy Goat that has been running since 1908. Now we have the curse of the "Decider." After the 2007 Allstar break President Bush once again proved he could F*ck a junkyard. He took one the hottest team's in baseball heading into the break and turned them into the Bad News Bears. The "Decider" must have realized he cannot do anything right and new picking our Tigers to win the World Series would of course send them into a spiraling trend crushing the hearts, of all those, Union loving, Clean air appreciating, Blue Staters in Michigan.

Lets just hope he manages this Curse like he manages the Department of Justice. If that is the case I think Jim Leyland can overcome this.

Link of the week: Daily Kos
What can I say for Daily Kos? In five years the site has grown into being the premier blog for the Left. A community of over 100,000 persons, Daily Kos (AKA Kos or dKos) is one of my favorite blogs, if not my favorite, besides my own (of course). In addition to several stories and open threads, some of my favorite Kos features include (but are not limited to) Diary Rescue, Presidential Straw Polls, Cheers and Jeers, Teacher's Lounge, Forgotten Founding Fathers, and many, many more.

Many Kossacks are currently in Chicago as part of YearlyKos2007; Presidential candidates, Howard Dean, and many othes are speaking at YearkyKos.

Photo of the Week: Dean at YearlyKos
And speaking of which, this appeared on Kos's front page:




Video of the Week: Soccer Prodigy
Related story here.



Quote of the week: LiberalLucy (a.k.a. Julielyn Gibbons
"Hell hath no fury as a lefty blogger scorned."

Joke of the Week: How would Hillary and Barack react?
(Hat tip: JustWinBaby at Daily Kos)

Both Obama and Clinton were asked what they would do first if a major US highway bridge collapsed while they were President.

Obama said he would make sure first responders had everything they need.

Clinton said the first thing she would do is retaliate.

Final thought
The so-called "Young Americans for Freedom" may be young, and they may be Americans, but they're not for freedom... at least not freedom of religion.

The WeekEnder: July 27-29, 2007

Only 151 days remain until Christmas - so it must be time for the fifth episode of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you.

• Congress acts to implement 9/11 recommendations
• 9/11, Katrina rescue hero dies
• I'll drink to that
• Do you recall...?
• Searching for Good
• Who needs work when you can vacation?
• Blumenthal at the College Republicans Convention
• Advice from a General
• Leno tells it like it is
• Not a victim to what's popular

Good news: Congress gets serious about protecting America

Which party do YOU trust to keep America safe?

Congress sent President Bush legislation Friday to intensify anti-terror efforts in the U.S., shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo to stave off future Sept. 11-style attacks.

The measure carries out major recommendations of the independent 9/11 Commission.

The bill, passed by the House on a 371-40 vote, ranks among the top accomplishments of the six-month-old Democratic Congress. The Senate approved the measure late Thursday by 85-8, and the White House said the president would sign the bill.

Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks and three years after the 9/11 Commission made its recommendations, "Congress is finally embracing what the 9/11 families have been saying all along," said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "It takes a willingness to do things a different way."

It's great to have a majority in Congress that actually cares about protecting America.

Bad news: You Were A Good Dog, Jake
There's a special place in doggie heaven for Jake the Rescue Dog:

A black Labrador who became a national canine hero after burrowing through white-hot, smoking debris in search of survivors at the World Trade Center site died Wednesday after a battle with cancer.

"But against all odds he became a world-class rescue dog," said Flood, a member of Utah Task Force 1, one of eight federal search-and-rescue teams that desperately looked for human remains at ground zero.

On the evening of his team‘s arrival, Jake walked into a fancy Manhattan restaurant wearing his search-and-rescue vest and was promptly treated to a free steak dinner under a table.

After Hurricane Katrina, Flood and Jake drove 30 hours from Utah to Mississippi, where they searched through the rubble of flooded homes in search of survivors.

Maid busted for serving boss water with urine
I hope your dinner has digested:

An Indonesian maid has been jailed for six days in Hong Kong for serving her boss a cup of water containing urine, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of "administering poison or other destructive or noxious substance with intent to injure," but insisted she had used the urine to treat a skin condition and its appearance in her employer's cup was a mistake.

Her boss, Szeto Ching-han, smelled the urine after asking for a cup of water, and then asked the maid to drink it -- which she did. Szeto, however, kept the liquid to have it tested in a lab, the South China Morning Post said.

Blog highlight of the week: Recalls
Given recent threats by extreme-right tax-haters to recall state lawmakers, Rich at Honest Errors has a few words of satire poking fun at Michigan's most prominent anti-tax figure, Leon Drolet:

Asked if he thought those moves might be considered extreme by Michigan’s voters, he replied, “Not my Michigan voters.” When it was pointed out that he didn’t have voters anymore now that he is retired from the state House, he exclaimed, “It doesn’t matter. When are you guys [in the press] going to get it? I want my way, dammit!”

Link of the week: GoodSearch
Ever wish you could raise money for your favorite charity just by doing something you already do everyday? With GoodSearch, you can. I’ll let the site’s About page do the talking:

GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. It's a simple and compelling concept. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it’s powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime!

Photo of the Week: India's Media Gets It





Video of the Week: Generation Chickenhawk with the College Republicans
Who's afraid of a little Max Blumenthal?



Quote of the week: George S. Patton
"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

Joke of the Week: Leno on Bush's approval rating
"Things not looking good for President Bush. His approval rating has dropped so low the only thing he's above now is the law."

Final thought
Whosever idea it was to start News From Around the Blogworld deserves kudos. It's a weekly series pf highlights from statewide progressive blogs from around the country (here's this week's edition on Michigan Liberal). It's yet another great way to see what's happening in other parts of the country - and a reminder that all politics really is local.

The WeekEnder: July 20-22, 2007

With exactly eighteen months until the end of one of the most diatrous Presidencies in American history, I welcome you to the fourth installment of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you.

• Congressional Dems support students
• State court to voters: you need ID
• Oops - forgot about that
• A pricier alternative
• Achieving your goals
• Who needs work when you can vacation?
• Tim Ryan, champion of students
• Arnold Bennett dispenses some advice
• Cows and Enron
• Not a victim to what's popular

Good news: Congress passes relief for students

Thank you Democrats in Congress!

On Wednesday, July 11th, the House passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, and the Senate has now followed suit. The bill will provide the single largest increase in college aid since the GI bill in 1944. The legislation invests about $18 billion dollars over the next five years in reducing college costs, helping millions of students and families. It comes at no new cost to taxpayers, and is funded by cutting excess subsidies paid by the federal government to lenders in the student loan industry.

It's great to see a majority in Congress that actually cares about students!

Bad news: Michigan Supreme Court moves to disenfranchise voters

In case you needed a reminder of where Republicans stand when it comes to election reform:

The high court split along party lines in a 5-2 decision, with Republican justices voting to uphold the ID requirement and Democrats dissenting.
The Michigan Democratic Party is weighing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Having a driver's license is a luxury not a right," said Pete Vargas, chairman of the Lansing school board's Chicano/Latino Advisory Committee. "Voting is a right."

City Commission candidate forgets about debate
Well, at least he's honest.

Second Ward residents hoping for a rip-roaring debate among the four candidates for their City Commission seat were disappointed Thursday.

Only two candidates -- David LaGrand and Ruth Kelly -- showed up at Clancy Street Ministries for the 90-minute televised forum, and both went out of their way to be polite to each other and the no-shows.

Contacted at home afterward, candidate Michael Booker said, "I just plain forgot about it." (emphasis added)

Blog highlight of the week: How much more do you want to pay?
I don't know anyone who loves paying taxes. But as former Michigan House candidate Dan Scripps reminds us, taxes are preferable to the alternative:

The choice in the ongoing budget debate is not whether our costs will go up, but how. Are we willing to pay a modest increase in taxes that all of us share in to build our future and get Michigan moving again, or are we going to pass the buck to make the skills we know we need to compete that much more expensive to obtain? How our representatives answer that question will tell the citizens of this state much about where our priorities are and whether we care more about our children's future than our present situation.

Link of the week: 43Things
So what do you want to do with your life?

Recently (i.e. less than 24 hours ago!) I discovered 43things.com. Create an account on 43Things, and you will be able to list things you would like to do during the course of your life (i.e. get married, write a book, visit a certain place). You can also see how many other people want to do the same thing, and hear from people who have done it.

Photo of the Week: Senators On Vacation
This photo won me $25 on a recent contest on Michigan Liberal:








Video of the Week: Tim Ryan speaks out for ordinary Americans
You go Congressman Ryan:



Quote of the week: Arnold Bennett
"The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one's sympathy the gloom of somebody else."

Joke of the Week: Economics explained
Feudalism: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.

Communism: You have two cows. You must take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

Enron Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt-equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred through an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The Enron annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

Final thought
I don’t care about Harry Potter. There, I said it.

The WeekEnder: July 13-15, 2007

Bonjour! Happy Bastille Day, and welcome to the third installment of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you.

• Victory for election integrity!
• Poor bear brunt of housing crunch
• Can't we all just get along?
• What national security really means
• Keeping yourself organized
• Call him LonelyBoy08
• Ask George
• Thoughts from a dearly departed Lady Bird
• Convent
• Something magical

Good news: Judge orders revote in 2004 county race

Three cheers for voting integrity!

Late news this afternoon, sent to The BRAD BLOG moments ago, reveals that a judge in an Alameda County, California election contest is set to rule that a contested ballot measure election from 2004 must now be reheld since the county destroyed data from the election when they sent the Diebold DRE voting systems back to the company in Plano, Texas.

All but 4% of election data, records and audit logs was overwritten in subsequent contests, according to the following release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation which has supported the plaintiffs in the contest.

The unprecedented decision to re-hold an election after plaintiffs were denied the right for a proper recount could have reverberations around the country.

May this signal the demise of unverifiable electronic voting.

Bad news: Nation's poor hit by housing crunch

Once again, Michigan is NOT in a "single-state recession."

Growing numbers of the nation's poorest households are using more than half their earnings for rent while waiting years for federal housing assistance that may never come.

The phenomenon is largely playing out in urban and suburban locales, but has exploded recently in rural areas as coveted rental assistance becomes harder to get due to high demand and scant funding from Congress.

The lack of affordable homes for poor families is the nation's No. 1 housing problem and undermines the stability and security of families and communities nationwide.

A new report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development describes the startling growth of the problem since 2003. It found that 6 million impoverished households used most of their monthly earnings for housing or lived in substandard conditions in 2005. That’s an increase of 16 percent, or 817,000 families, since 2003.

Attempted robbery ends in bear hug
Aww, how lovely.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses.

Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. Then one guest spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina Cha Cha Rowan, 43, told the man. Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

Blog highlight of the week: The Party of National Security
Nail, meet head. Turkana at Daily Kos concludes a diary on national security as such:

We are not fear-mongers. We are speaking calmly about real threats. The risk of terrorism should not be misconstrued as excuses for militancy, Constitutional abuses or the undermining of individual liberty. That was Bush's way. It didn't work. It was, in fact, counter-productive. That's what we need to talk about. That simple fact creates one of the greatest political opportunities Democrats have had in decades. This is a political paradigm shift. The Republicans have long been the party people turned to, when they were afraid. We can tell them to stop being afraid. Because we have a better way.

Strength does not mean staggering around like a drunken frat boy with a sledgehammer. It means being smart. On national security issues, it means being surgeons with scalpels. Having the world's greatest weapons arsenal means nothing if we are inept at diplomacy and intelligence. The facts speak for themselves. The Bush Administration is an utter failure and a continuing danger. The Democratic Party is now the party of national security.

Link of the week: Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Ever wish you could save your documents easily and access the from any computer with Internet access? Whether analyzing the results of last November's election or writing a paper, Google Docs and Spreadsheets has been an important tool for me. Anyone with a Google account can use it, so give it a try! ;-)

Photo of the Week: All alone
With a hat tip to Jeffrey Feldman, I am pleased to introduce you to:


Tom Tancredo. Tancredo was the only Republican to attend the presidential candidates forum held by the NAACP in Detroit this week. That's right - the same Tancredo who is considered the most anti-immigrant of the 2008 candidates.

Video of the Week: Ask George
Rep. Geeorge Miller (D-CA) is seeking your questions regarding Iraq policy:



Quote of the week: Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007
"I'm optimistic that the world of native plants will not only survive, but will thrive for environmental and economic reasons, and for reasons of the heart. Beauty in nature nourishes us and brings joy to the human spirit."

Joke of the Week: Leaving the convent
In the convent a young nun went to see the mother superior.
"Mother, I want to quit the veil."
"But why, my child?"
"To become a prostitute."
"What? What are you saying?"
"I said I want to become a prostitute, Mother."
"Oh. You had me worried for a moment. I thought you said Protestant!"

Final thought
As of tonight, the Detroit Tigers' magic number for winning the American League Central pennant is 74. In other words, if the Tigers won 74 more games this season, they would win the division. If your favorite team is in first place, it's easy to determine its magic number. Simply add your team's number of wins with the second-place team's number of losses, and subtract that from 163 (the total number of games played plus one).

The WeekEnder: July 6-8, 2007

Welcome to the second edition of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you. Highlights of The WeekEnder include:

• Some good news;
• Some bad news;
• A funny or unusual news item;
• A highlight from the blogosphere;
• A Link of the Week;
• A Photo of the Week;
• A Video of the Week;
• A Quote of the Week;
• A joke; and
• A random thought from yours truly.

In this week's WeekEnder:

• Granholm works to revitalize Michigan cities
• Libby-rated
• A uniquely-flavored ice cream
• Keeping church and state separate
• Following Senate races
• An interesting view of Bush
• Lighting up the sky
• Wisdom of a Founding Father
• A plea for funds
• My idea for fame and fortune

Good news:
Governor Jennifer Granholm is working hard to fix Michigan's cities and make the state more attractive to those who would otherwise leave:

Governor Granholm Tuesday that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority will fund up to $25 million over the next four years to help eliminate blight in her eight "Cities of Promise."

The cities targeted are Detroit, Pontiac, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Flint, Benton Harbor, Saginaw and Muskegon Heights. These cities were identified based on conditions of declining population, extreme poverty, loss of industry and jobs, crumbling infrastructure and blighted neighborhoods.

Cities of Promise Initiative is a five year program that Governor Granholm kicked off in 2006. The program has the following goals:

• Improving neighborhood safety for children
• Substantially increasing the number of blighted residential structures demolished in each of the cities through strategic demolition activities
• Increasing income and skills of homeless persons in the cities
• Increasing the use of deconstruction (salvaging/recycling usable materials) in place of and/or in conjunction with demolition to remove unwanted structures and rebuild communities
• Increasing the use of holistic, market-based neighborhood revitalization plans tied to the neighborhoods where blight is being addressed with MSHDA funds

Bad news:
As we all know, Scooter Libby got the Get Out of Jail Free card from his friend Dubya. LiberalLucy and others are none too happy about it, and neither am I. This guy compromised our national security, and Bush proved once and for all that he is not all that strong when it comes to protecting America.

Of course, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson are happy.

Michigan ice cream truck driver may have sold pot
"Mommy, this ice cream tastes weird. What flavor is it?"

Southwestern Michigan authorities say they arrested an ice cream truck operator who was selling marijuana along with his frozen desserts.

After authorities got tips about the alleged pot-peddler, a deputy "heard jingling bells" about 2 p.m. Thursday and saw the ice cream truck entering a mobile home park, Berrien County sheriff's Lt. Keith Hafer said in a written statement.

Deputy John Hopkins stopped the truck, spoke with the driver and "detected the odor of marijuana coming from the truck (along with tutti-frutti and a couple other flavors)," Hafer wrote.

Blog highlight of the week: Accepting people of all religious persuasions
Tim Caldwell, an officer with thge Isabella County Democratic Party, gets it when it comes to patriotism and religion:

This day celebrates a time when a cluster of colonies banded together to tell England that they would not tolerate a system that oppressed people because they had different religious or political views then the majority. This would become a nation ruled by law, where a theocracy would not exist. This would be something not seen before among nations: a secular government where all religions could flourish, and where even the non-religious could find refuge.

Link of the week
We're just 487 days away from Election Day! I mentioned last week that if you want the Democrats in Congress to do more, they need to be backed up by bigger majorities in Congress, especially in the US Senate.

Senate 2008 Guru is a blog dedicated to tracking all 34 US Senate races set to appear on next November's ballots. What races are shaping up to be key? Have any GOP senators up for re-election in 2008 had a 'macaca' moment? You can find out the latest numbers and news on next year's US Senate races at Senate 2008 Guru.

Photo of the Week: Birthday Boy

Today is the 61st birthday of one of the greatest Presidents America has seen since - well, Clinton! So here's to the one who embarrasses himself as much as he embarrasses the nation he 'leads.'

Video of the Week: July 4th in Kentwood
Ithought I'd delight you with a video I shot of fireworks in my hometown of Kentwood on Wednesday:



Quote of the week: Thomas Jefferson
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

Joke of the Week: Bush's monument
I have the distinguished honor of being on the committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument of George W. Bush.

We originally wanted to put him on Mt. Rushmore until we discovered there was not enough room for two more faces.

We then decided to erect a statue of George in the Washington, D.C. Hall Of Fame. We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be placed. It was not proper to place it beside the statue of George Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Dick Cheney, who never told the truth, since George could never tell the difference.

We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He left not knowing where he was going, and when he got there he did not know where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been, and did it all on someone else's money.

Thank you,
George W. Bush Monument Committee

P. S. The Committee has raised $1.35 so far.

Final thought
Okay, confession time. Mom and I have become big fans of the Fox game show Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? If you haven't seen the show, a contestant answers up to eleven questions on subjects ranging from "1st Grade Animal Science" to "5th Grade Astronomy." The top prize is $1 million. If you don't win the $1 million - which no one has to this point - you have to look into the camera and say "I am not smarter than a fifth grader."

I was watching the show last night, and of the 20 questions I saw, I knew the answers to all but one of them. I think I just might put my name in to be a contestant. (Actually, I'm considering putting my name in to be a contestant on the college versions of Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.)

The WeekEnder: June 29-July 1, 2007

Welcome to the premiere edition of The WeekEnder! The WeekEnder is a weekly series that will provide a hodgepodge of information to fill your soul, make you laugh, make you cry, and inspire you. Highlights of The WeekEnder will include:

• Some good news;
• Some bad news;
• A funny or unusual news item;
• A highlight from the blogosphere;
• A Link of the Week;
• A Photo of the Week;
• A Video of the Week;
• A Quote of the Week;
• A joke; and
• A random thought from yours truly.

In this week's WeekEnder:

• A Democratic pickup opportunity in Michigan
• Scalia et. al. v. Common Sense
• A rather interesting way to solve the AIDS epidemic
• A personal reflection on stem-cell research
• Vice Presidents: America's Second Bananas
• Old Glory
• Michigan Democratic chair reaches out
• William Sprague motivates you
• How Jesus cools off
• Where I think Bigfoot really is

Good news:
If you want Congress to do more, the Democratic majority will have to grow. Jordan discusses one race in Michigan where we Dems have the potential to knock off a long-time GOP incumbent despite a GOP-gerrymandered map.

Bad news:
Adam discusses the just-completed Supreme Court term:

In one full term, this Court has severely curbed local efforts to promote racial diversity in schools, upheld a right-wing ban on a necessary medical procedure for women, curbed students' free speech rights, crippled Congress' ability to keep corporate money out of political advertising, prevented taxpayers from challenging the constitutionality of Bush's faith-based initiatives, made it almost impossible for women to prevail on claims of longterm sex discrimination . . . and they're just getting started.

Downright un-American.

Forget Mr. Right - how about Mr. Condom?
Anything to combat AIDS:

India, struggling to promote greater condom use among its population, is looking to hire its own "condom man" to follow the example of a former Thai cabinet minister who successfully pushed for safer sex.

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) chief Sujatha Rao said that India needed to find someone like Mechai Viravaidya, famous for getting Thais to talk about sex, condoms and AIDS.

{snip}

"He has to feel passionately about the cause as Mechai does ... have a dynamic personality to change both government policy and public perceptions about HIV/AIDS, sex and condoms," Rao was quoted in The Times of India as saying.

Mechai became famous in Thailand as the "Condom King" for actions such as taking condoms to World Bank talks as well as for the name of his Bangkok restaurant "Cabbages and Condoms," where condoms are a major part of the decor.

Blog highlight of the week: The people who matter to us
Talk about one brace woman. LiberalLucy has been affected by Crohn's disease, requiring countless hospitalizations. Yet she remains a tireless advocate of progressive causes. In one of her latest blog posts, she discusses her suffering and that of a friend of hers whom she lost. Reflecting on his death:

Just as with all things in life, I will not let Dave's life or death go unnoticed. He will be sorely missed by many, many people. I will remember his light, his smile, and his kindness. There are so many things that we can and must take from every single experience, good, bad, and the tragic, otherwise, they are all in vain and we're left asking ourselves 'what's the point?'

Dave was worth more than that, and so are we.

Link of the week
Believe it or not, eight months from now, the crowded field of 19 presidential candidates will be narrowed down to just two... and one year from now the speculation as to whom the nominees pick as running mates will be in full force. Whomever the nominees pick for the #2 slot will vouch for the right to hold an office held by such greats as George Dallas, Thomas Hendricks, James Sherman, and Charles Dawes.

VicePresidents.com has almost everything you want to know about our nation’s 46 Vice Presidents, including biographies, trivia, and news items surrounding Deadeye Dick.

Photo of the Week: Old Glory on Flag Day

In honor of our nation's 231st birthday, I give you the Stars and Stripes, here shown at my house two weeks ago.

Video of the Week: Michigan Dem Chair reaches out
In his fifth video podcast, Michigan Democratic Party Chair and DNC Vice Chair Mark Brewer tells us how he is reaching out to young Michigan Democrats on Facebook:



Quote of the week: William B. Sprague
"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."

Joke of the Week: Lie-Clocks
A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, "What are all those clocks?" St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's President Bush's clock?" asked the man.

"Bush's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

Final thought
Researchers are looking for evidence of Bigfoot in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Hey guys (and gals) - let me save you the trouble: If you’re looking for any kind of foot, try Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley’s mouth.