Right Mind

Quite a Thunderstorm!

For my readers who are not on the Palouse.

The little boys and I were sitting out on the deck tonight enjoying the thunderstorm that was rolling in.

It was fun watching the lightning play, the wind pick-up, and the rain gently sprinkling.

Then all of a sudden, “WHAM!” The wind was blowing really hard and the rain started to dump hard.

When I was a kid in Florida (where the rain was very warm), I used to love to run in the rain. So the boys got to enjoy running and playing in the rain — well, until the lightning got too close.

What a fun evening!

Florida Students Face Explosives Indictment

Do you remember when I posted about the explosives found near Goose Creek (SC)? This is of interest to me personally since I was stationed in Charleston, and two of the ballistic missile submarines I served on were home-ported out of the Naval Weapons Station in North Charleston.

Well, here’s the update.

Nick: do you think these guys attended Liberty University, Peninsula Christian College, or New Saint Andrews?  After all — if you’ve seen one fundamentalist, you’ve seen them all.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, right, talks to his attorney as co-defendent Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, looks down during a bond hearing Aug. 6, 2007, at the Berkeley County Court House in Moncks Corner, S.C. The two Egyptian students from the University of South Florida were indicted Friday Aug. 31, 2007, on charges of carrying explosive materials across states lines and Mohamed was accused of teaching Megahed how to use them for violent reasons.

WASHINGTON -- Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida were indicted Friday on charges of carrying explosive materials across states lines and one was accused of teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.

He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, S.C., where they have been held on state charges.

The two men were stopped with pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base in South Carolina where enemy combatants have been held. They were held on state charges while the FBI continued to investigate whether there was a terrorism link.

Mohamed was charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, which is a terrorism-related statute, a Justice Department official said. The crime carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

He and Megahed both face with charges of transporting explosives in interstate commerce without permits, which carries a 10-year prison penalty. Their defense attorney, Andy Savage, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

HT: RFB

Sen. Craig's Resignation

From the Associated Press:

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, three state GOP officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The announcement follows by just five days the disclosure that he had pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his arrest June 11 at the Minneapolis airport.

The three-term Republican senator had maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appeared Friday to have already settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, but Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support.

There has been virtually none publicly.

Asked Friday at the White House if the senator should resign, President Bush said nothing and walked off stage.

Republican officeholders and party leaders maintained a steady drumbeat of actions and words aimed at persuading Craig to vacate his Senate seat.

GOP lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts on Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig’s actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig complied with the request.

With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, he said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty “in hopes of making it go away.”

Breaking News: Craig will resign Saturday

The following is from the online edition of the Lewiston Tribune.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, three state GOP officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Larry Craig's Announcement about His Future

From KREM News in Spokane:

According to Senator Larry Craig's press secretary, Craig will make an announcement about his future Saturday morning from Boise, ID.

Jim Risch is Otter's Choice to Replace Craig

From the Associated Press:

The Associated Press reports Lt. Governor Jim Risch is Idaho Gov. Butch Otter's top choice to replace Larry Craig should he resign from the Senate.

Keeping Her Hands Clean

How Do I Find My GOP Representative?

FairTax Gaining Traction in the GOP

Not familiar with the FairTax? Check it out: www.fairtax.org

There’s been much debate among libertarians about which kind of tax — flat tax or national sales tax — is the least regressive kind of tax at the federal level.

Six years ago, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) endorsed and has championed the FairTax.

As reported in the New York Times:

Three elections later, the Iowa Republican still stands in the vanguard of the FairTax, a tax revolution that has taken hold of the 2008 Republican presidential debate and turned from outcast to kingmaker, including aiding presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's surprise second-place showing in this month's influential Iowa Republican presidential straw poll.

Of the major candidates on the Republican side six, including all-but-announced candidate Fred Thompson, have said they are either active supporters or would at least be willing to sign a FairTax bill if it reached their desks as president.

If a Republican wins the White House in 2008, there may be a chance of fixing our broken income tax system.

It would almost tempt me to vote Republican…

HT: WorldBlog

URA recommends urban renewal district

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The Moscow Urban Renewal Agency decided unanimously today to move forward with creating a downtown URA district.

The agency forwarded a resolution to City Council requesting that a large swath of central Moscow be considered URA-eligible.

Harlan Mann, a community development consultant from Boise, presented a report assessing the conditions of two areas.

Area A Stretches south from West A Street to Sweet Avenue and continues east along the Troy Highway and follows the boundaries of the University of Idaho to the west and the alley between Jackson and Main streets to the east. Area B stretches north to south from Morton Street to Spotswood Street, and east and west from the alley between Jackson and Main streets to Jefferson Street.

City Supervisor Gary Riedner said the boundaries were in no way set in stone.

"You are not, by approving that resolution today, accepting the size of the area or accepting a particular plan," he told the agency commissioners.

Riedner said the agency decided to look at two areas so if the first area worked out, they had the option of moving to the second area.

An area must be deteriorated or deteriorating to be eligible for a URA district.

"Deteriorated in my mind is abject slum conditions, and I don't think you have any deteriorated buildings, ones that should be torn down now," Mann said. "You have older buildings throughout your downtown and almost by definition they are deteriorating."

Moscow, a slum?

Seems like they are playing Gumbi with the definition of deteriorating. Anything is deteriorating by their definition.

Convenient.

It takes a Chinese village

From the Associated Press:

QIAN'AN, China — Yang Zhongchen, a small-town businessman, wined and dined three government officials for permission to become a father.

But the Peking duck and liquor weren't enough. One night, a couple of weeks before her date for giving birth, Yang's wife was dragged from her bed in a north China town and taken to a clinic, where, she says, her baby was killed by injection while still inside her.

"Several people held me down, they ripped my clothes aside and the doctor pushed a large syringe into my stomach," says Jin Yani, a shy, petite woman with a long ponytail. "It was very painful. ... It was all very rough."

Some 30 years after China decreed a general limit of one child per family, resentment still brews over the state's regular and sometimes brutal intrusion into intimate family matters. Not only are many second pregnancies aborted, but even to have one's first child requires a license.

Seven years after the dead baby was pulled from her body with forceps, Jin remains traumatized and, the couple and a doctor say, unable to bear children. Yang and Jin have made the rounds of government offices pleading for restitution — to no avail.

Truly, it takes a village.

HT: Chris W.

Space fireworks

Leave it to the Japanese.

From Pink Tentacle:

People in Japan this Saturday evening will be treated to a “space fireworks” show consisting of three balls of red light in the sky, each glowing as bright as the moon.

These luminous orbs will be the result of three clouds of lithium vapor released into the ionosphere by a rocket launched in an experiment to study the atmosphere. The red glow will be caused by sunlight striking the lithium vapor clouds as they disperse. “In the first few seconds after each lithium release, the light should become as large and bright as the moon,” says team member Masayuki Yamamoto, a professor at Kochi University of Technology.

 

 

World shocked: Fugitive raises money for a Clinton

Is anyone surprised? Just look at the history of Clinton donors, including the 1996 democrat fundraising scandals: “Asian moneymen were accused of funneling suspect donations into Democratic coffers as President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were running for re-election.”

Is this just the Al Gore thing all over again?

As reported in the New York Times:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign said yesterday that it would give to charity $23,000 it had received from a prominent Democratic donor, and review thousands of dollars more that he had raised, after learning that the authorities in California had a warrant for his arrest stemming from a 1991 fraud case.

The donor, Norman Hsu, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates since 2003, and was slated to be co-host next month for a Clinton gala featuring the entertainer Quincy Jones.

The event would not have been unusual for Mr. Hsu, a businessman from Hong Kong who moves in circles of power and influence, serving on the board of a university in New York and helping to bankroll Democratic campaigns.

But what was not widely known was that Mr. Hsu, who is in the apparel business in New York, has been considered a fugitive since he failed to show up in a San Mateo County courtroom about 15 years ago to be sentenced for his role in a scheme to defraud investors, according to the California attorney general’s office.

Mr. Hsu had pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft and was facing up to three years in prison.

Too bad Bill isn’t still President. He could swap a presidential pardon for Hsu’s donation money.

2007 Not Worst Floods

There are many claims that the floods of 2007 are “the worst in a lifetime.” Perhaps if you are only 10 years old (since the flood of 1997 was even worse than this one).

My family was in the midwest during the “500–Year Great Flood of 1993.” We drove along the Mississippi river at that time. I saw the devastation first hand. The damage from this summer’s flood doesn’t come close.

But it’s a convenient thing to preach if you are trying to sell the Global Warming hysteria.

From the Coeur d’Alene Press, where Cliff Harris publishes his weather gems:

Our nation's worst floods overall were in 1993, 1927

No, Senator Ropes, despite your claim that the current floods in the Upper Midwest are "the worst in a lifetime," my trusty weather scrapbooks say otherwise detailing the so-called 'GREAT FLOODS OF 1993 AND 1927' as the two worst flood disasters in our nation's history. The floods of April 1997 near the Canadian border were likewise much more damaging than now.

…

The so-called "500-YEAR GREAT FLOOD OF 1993" was the worst disaster in the Midwest in the entire 20th Century with total damages exceeding $16 billion, even worse than 1927 or 1997.

The mighty Mississippi River and its many tributaries went over their banks following unusually heavy spring and early summer rains across the nation's midsection between April and mid-July of 1993.

More than a dozen states suffered extensive losses from this massive flood, which changed the very course of the Mississippi River forever. Fifty-two lives were lost. More than 75 towns were flooded. At least 70,000 people were left homeless and 60,000 square miles of valuable, mainly corn and soybean, farmland were ruined beyond repair, washed into an 'erosive oblivion.'

Simply stated, the deluge made 1993 the costliest year ever as far as flooding was concerned in the 400-year history of the U.S., far more damaging than the hurricane Katrina-related damage in 2005. However, in terms of loss of life, Katrina was 10 times more deadly.

HT: Dave G.

Dem's Hit List

HT: Dave S.

Weather

Odd weather this morning in Moscow.

Our winds are normally from the west and southwest. Today they were from the East. There was a lot more humidity than normal. And it didn’t cool off at all over night. Also, there is a smell of smoke (fires) in the air.

Waking up this morning felt like waking up in Florida.

Arabic-themed school

There are many issues coming to light in this article. One of which is naming a government school focusing on the Arab world after a famous Lebanese-Christian poet who was staunchly against the jihadist inclinations of the school board. For instance:  

• The Khalil Gibran International Academy’s (KGIA) principal recently stepped down after her ties to a group glorifying Palestinian terrorism were revealed. A native of Yemen, Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser defended the "intifada" – a Palestinian terror campaign that left 1,221 Israelis dead.
• A local imam advising the school has been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a worldwide jihadist movement.

More troubling is this. From World Net Daily:

KGIA's program will integrate intensive Arabic language instruction and the study of Middle Eastern history and historical figures – which Brooklyn teacher and activist Sara Springer says will include the life and teachings of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Text books, lesson plans and teacher materials will be adapted from publications supplied by the Council on Islamic Education, Springer says. CIE's chief consultant is Susan Douglass, a Muslim activist whose husband is on the Saudi government payroll as a teacher at an Islamic academy that has graduated terrorists.

It’s one thing to teach Arabic. Go for it! It’s quite another thing to have an Islamic school and teach Islamism.

Can you imagine the outcry if someone were to have suggested all of the above, substituting Christ and Christianity?

Yet we roll over and play dead when it’s for Islam and Muhammad.

I just don’t get it.

HT: Chris W.

Colorado Springs elementary gives tag a timeout

Funny, I thought part of educating kids was teaching them how to behave and act when they don’t win. But I guess that when schools tell them that they are all winners, you’ve got to remove any games or activities that demonstrates otherwise.

I’m sure that musical chairs will be eliminated next.

From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

On the playground of a northern Colorado Springs elementary school, tag is not “it.”

The touch-and-run game and any other form of chasing was banned this year at Discovery Canyon Campus’ elementary school by administrators who say it fuels schoolyard disputes.

“It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was banned, she said students would complain to her about being chased or harassed.

Fesgen said she would hear: “Well, I don’t want to be chased, but he won’t stop chasing me, or she won’t stop chasing me.”

Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the demise of tag, but she said that generally, parents and children didn’t fuss about the new rules. Running games are still OK, she said, as long as students don’t run after one another.

The Academy School District 20 elementary school isn’t the first in the Pikes Peak region to take issue with traditional recess games.

In 2005, two elementaries in Falcon School District 49 adopted a structured recess program, Trouble-Free Playground, that did away with games like tag in favor of alternative activities that cut down on physical contact. Evans and Meridian Ranch elementaries said the program encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.

Nationally, several schools have done away with tag and other games because of the accidents and arguments they can lead to. It’s a trend that has rankled some parents and childhood experts who say games such as tag contribute to children’s social and physical development.

Fesgen, who has supervised playgrounds for more than 20 years, said this is not the first school where she’s restricted chase games. She still believes in free play. Students can run races and run around with friends, she said.

“There is plenty for them to do,” she said.

HT: David D.

The Big Easy's Billion Dollar Boondoggle

Here’s an incredible article from Larry Kudlow.

The question I keep asking: why are we spending over $127b to rebuild a city that’s below sea level and will likely be flooded again?

From Real Clear Politics:

Here's a pop quiz: How much money has Uncle Sam spent on New Orleans and the Gulf region since Hurricane Katrina ripped the place apart?

I'll give you the answer because you'll never guess it. The grand total is $127 billion (including tax relief).

That's right: a monstrous $127 billion. Of course, not a single media story has highlighted this gargantuan government-spending figure. But that number came straight from the White House in a fact sheet subtitled, "The Federal Government Is Fulfilling Its Commitment to Help the People of the Gulf Coast Rebuild." Huh?

This is an outrage. The entire GDP of the state of Louisiana is only $141 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. So the cash spent there nearly matches the entire state gross GDP. That's simply unbelievable. And to make matters worse, by all accounts New Orleans ain't even fixed!

You might be asking: Where in the hell did all this money go?

If you are interested in knowing where all the money went to rebuild New Orleans, read Kudlow’s entire article.

It’s truly unbelievable. And very few Americans would have been willing to write a check for $127b+ to rebuild that city.

HT: David B.

Castro's tip: Clinton-Obama the winning ticket

The Communists say that a Clinton-Obama ticket is a winner.

Will the American public follow the Communists’ campaign advice?

Via Reuters:

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is tipping Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to team up and win the U.S. presidential election.

Clinton leads Obama in the race to be the Democratic nominee for the November 2008 election, and Castro said they would make a winning combination.

"The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate," he wrote in an editorial column on U.S. presidents published on Tuesday by Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

At 81, Castro has outlasted nine U.S. presidents since his 1959 revolution turned Cuba into a thorn in Washington's side by building a communist society about 90 miles offshore from the United States.

He said all U.S. presidential candidates seeking the "coveted" electoral college votes of Florida have had to demand a democratic government in Cuba to win the backing of the powerful Cuban exile community.

But since the Dems have refused to count Florida’s votes, they can afford to tick-off the Cuban-American voters and cow to Castro.

HT: Michael

The Summer of Love -- 40 Years Later

Dedicated to Moscow’s liberals — who wish it were still the 60’s but who’s looks belie that fact.

One Year Ago Today

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The Moscow School Board approved a new contract for teachers. The new contract offers more health care benefits and provides a 3.4 percent increase to the base of the salary schedule.

Moscow’s underpaid teachers have a 3.4% kicker over the base that the State of Idaho set. Not bad.

Bill Sali pays a visit to the Palouse

I was one of the sponsors of last night’s Bill Sali event here in Moscow.

So what do you think? Is #1 son a potential candidate to be a congressional aid? He wants to be a lawyer. Being a congressional aid would be good training and experience, I would think.

From today’s Daily News:

Bill Sali said he has learned a lot eight months through his freshman term in Congress.

The Republican from Idaho's first district visited the area Tuesday, spending the afternoon with his constituents in Troy at the Troy Lions Club before heading to Moscow for an evening dinner with local supporters.

Sali touched on several issues during his talk in Troy, including the difficulty of getting things done in the nation's capital. He said it did not take long to figure out how things work in Washington, D.C.

"One of the things you realize as a freshman is there are a lot of bigger dogs out there," Sali said. "It is really something to be part of that process up there."

Sali said the "big dogs" can make it difficult for newer members of Congress to get legislation passed, or even into the formative stages.

He also said too many members of Congress no longer act on principle and what is right for the country.

"We've got a problem in Washington, D.C., and it did not take me long to realize that," Sali said. "At the end of the game, I think the keys of Congress need to be handed back to the people."

Sali said those problems won't stop him from representing the people of Idaho and the nation's Constitution.

"I do everything I can to be a good steward of the people and the authority you have entrusted in me," Sali said.

Sali said one of the first bills he attempted to get passed would have required single-subject legislation, meaning each bill put to vote before Congress would be related to only one subject. The bill would have prevented members of Congress from adding amendments to bills that have nothing to do with the bills' original intent.

Sali said he realized he would not be able to gain support for the legislation, so he introduced an alternate bill, which if passed will divide bills so that members of Congress can vote on each issue individually.

Sali said he also introduced legislation that would require a complete version of each bill to be available for viewing prior to voting.

"After being in Congress for eight months I have never seen a red-line version of a bill," Sali said. "I think it will help you to be able to know what Congress is doing."

Sali said he also is working on a bill that will require a waiting period between a bill's introduction and voting. In some cases, bills are voted on 15 minutes after introduction, leaving no time for members of Congress to digest the legislation.

"I kind of think that it is important to be able to read a bill before I vote," Sali said.

City Council candidates Steed, Holmes identify areas of focus -- Part 2

Part 2 focuses on Evan Holmes.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Holmes said the city should be talking about economic stability more than development. He defined economic stability as combining social, governmental and developmental decisions to "ensure the continued success of Moscow."

He said there are some impediments to stability in the city. A major one is the changing expansion and enrollment at the University of Idaho, which Holmes said can no longer be relied on to carry the city.

"We will be lucky if they maintain their same presence," he said. "The expansion of public education is changing, and we need to look at that here."

Holmes, who restores homes and runs an interpretive plan business with his wife, Nancy, lost council bids in 1999, 2003 and 2005, and he unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2001. He also has been a member of the Moscow Board of Adjustment.

He said he decided to run again for many reasons, including that he likes to be involved in city government, likes to give voters options and thinks he's well-suited for the job.

Holmes said too many council decisions have been made with a lot of emotion and not enough data. He would like to be the person to "crunch numbers" and gather statistics so the council has more facts to consider when discussing contentious issues.

Another concern of Holmes' is the cost of housing. As housing costs go up, people are able to spend less on other things and it hurts local retail, he said.

Holmes said he thinks people should be optimistic about Moscow because it's a place where people get excited and get involved.

He said running for office is like getting together with a group to start a club or a project.

"The process is so worthwhile and fulfilling that makes the whole thing, regardless of the outcome, worth it," he said. 

City Council candidates Steed, Holmes identify areas of focus

Part 1 focuses on Walter Steed.

As reported in today’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Walter Steed and Evan Holmes want to see some things done differently in the Moscow City Council.

Holmes and Steed have filed for the two-year council position for the November election. So far, they are the only candidates for the council's only two-year seat. Candidates have until Friday to officially file for the four positions on the November ballot.

Steed said he chose the two-year seat because if he wants to get something done, he'd like to get it done in two years.

"I'm very project-oriented. It's identify it, fund it, move it," he said.

Steed, who lost his bid for the two-year council seat in 2005, has been on the city's Transportation Commission for nine years and currently serves as its chairman. He's written grants for projects such as low-income housing on White Avenue and the Friendship Square renovation. As a self-employed water, sewer and street-project consultant, he has worked in Moscow and throughout the state.

Steed said he's seen many projects ignored by the council during his time in city government. The commission has made recommendations that "for the most part seem to fall on deaf ears."

Steed said a ring road is a concept he'd like to see the council consider. A ring road would reroute east-west traffic around the city instead of through arterials.

The council also needs to change its image and direction on economic growth, he said.

"Moscow is perceived both statewide and locally as being anti-growth," he said. "I believe that we should welcome into Moscow any business that would like to come here."

He said the city should consider businesses' effects and locations, but welcome them regardless.

Breaking News: Senators McCain & Coleman call for Craig's Resignation

From KREM News in Spokane:

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota are now urging Larry Craig to resign after his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a men's restroom.

Mike Simpson: One of the Most Economically Liberal Republicans in Washington

Given the events surrounding Sen. Larry Craig, I thought my readers might find this evaluation of his possible replacement as interesting reading.

Sen. Craig was conservative fiscally. Not so for Simpson.

Via the Club for Growth:

Washington – With talk of Senator Larry Craig possibly resigning in light of recent controversy, there is speculation of Rep. Mike Simpson (ID-2) filling the seat. In light of these developments, the Club for Growth PAC believes it is necessary to remind the public just how liberal Mike Simpson’s economic record truly is.

Since he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998, Mike Simpson has been a reliable big-government economic liberal, not just by Idaho’s standards, but by the standards of the United States Congress. On Citizens Club for Growth’s 2005 congressional scorecard, Simpson ranked a dismal 217th, with 95% of House Republicans boasting a better record on economic issues. In 2006, Simpson’s rank was still poor, ranking 168th with a score of 49 out of a possible 100. From out-of-control spending to heavy-handed government regulations to anti-growth protectionism, the laundry list of Simpson’s sins is long. Some of his most salient offenses include:

• Scored a humiliating 4% on the Club for Growth’s recent RePORK Card, voting against 48 out of 50 anti-pork amendments offered during the FY 2008 appropriations process
• Voted for the Medicare Drug Bill (RC #669, 11/22/03)
• Voted for a minimum wage increase (RC #18, 01/10/07)
• Voted against protecting property rights in the wake of the Kelo decision (RC #350, 06/30/05)
• Voted against the line-item veto (RC #317, 06/22/06)
• Voted for the massive subsidy-infested 2002 Farm Bill (RC #123, 05/02/02)
• Voted for mohair subsidies (RC #383, 07/11/00)
• Voted against numerous free trade deals, including CAFTA (RC #443, 07/28/05); normal trade relations with Vietnam (RC #441, 07/26/00); normal trade relations with China (RC #255, 07/19/01); and free trade with Australia (RC #375, 07/14/04)
• Voted from the so-called “527 Reform Bill” that would restrict political free speech (RC #88, 04/05/06)
• Voted to criminalize “price-gouging” by oil companies (RC #115, 05/03/06)

“Idaho voters expect a U.S. senator who believes in limited government, free enterprise, and pro-growth policies,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Unfortunately, Mike Simpson’s record in the House falls woefully short. Given his liberal record on economic issues, it is hard to imagine how Mike Simpson wins a Republican primary in the event that this Senate seats opens up.”

Why the Wait for a Changing Mole Exam but not for Botox ?

Today’s New York Times reports that:

Patients seeking an appointment with a dermatologist to ask about a potentially cancerous mole have to wait substantially longer than those seeking Botox for wrinkles, says a study published online today by The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Researchers reported that dermatologists in 12 cities offered a typical wait of eight days for a cosmetic patient wanting Botox to smooth wrinkles, compared to a typical wait of 26 days for a patient requesting evaluation of a changing mole, a possible indicator of skin cancer.

And what’s the reason?

Dr. Michael J. Franzblau, a dermatologist in San Francisco, said doctors typically charged $400 to $600 for a Botox antiwrinkle treatment, for which patients pay upfront because insurance does not cover it.

Meanwhile, doctors have to wait for health insurance to reimburse them for mole examinations, for which they receive an average of $50 to $75, Dr. Franzblau said.

Can imagine the wait if our entire medical system were placed under HillaryCare^TM?

Oh, wait, we don’t have to imagine. Just look at the waiting lines in other socialized countries.

Online Support for Candidates

From ReadWriteWeb.com:

Similarly, check out the Spartan Internet Political Performance (SIPP) Index

Illegal immigrants self-deporting from Arizona

There’s an exodus of illegals from Arizona. How was it accomplished? By cracking down on employers who hire illegal aliens.

From Sunday’s Arizona Republic:

Undocumented immigrants are starting to leave Arizona because of the new employer-sanctions law.

The state's strong economy has been a magnet for illegal immigrants for years. But a growing number are pulling up stakes out of fear they will be jobless come Jan. 1, when the law takes effect. The departures are drawing cheers from immigration hard-liners and alarm from business owners already seeing a drop in sales.

It's impossible to count how many undocumented immigrants have fled because of the new law. But based on interviews with undocumented immigrants, immigrant advocates, community leaders and real-estate agents, at least several hundred have left since Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the bill on July 2. There are an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona.

Some are moving to other states, where they think they will have an easier time getting jobs. Others are returning to Mexico, selling their effects and putting their houses on the market.