It was a mistake, but my hats off to him for trying to make a positive difference in these kids lives:

An Atlanta, Georgia, judge who ordered white lawyers out of his courtroom so he could lecture African-American defendants called that decision a “mistake” Tuesday night.

“In retrospect, it was a mistake,” Judge Marvin Arrington told CNN. “Because my sheriff said to me, ‘Judge, that message should be given to everybody’ — ‘Don’t violate the law, make something out of yourself, go to school, find a role model, somebody that will help you advance your life.’”

Arrington, who is African-American, is a judge in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes the city of Atlanta.

He said he got fed up seeing a parade of young black defendants shuffle into his courtroom and decided to address them one day last week — out of the earshot of white lawyers.

But I guess you are mandated under that constitution to send your kids to failing schools where gang bangers are the law? H/T to MM for this story:

Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California’s home schooling families.

Advocates for the families vowed to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Enforcement until then appears unlikely, but if the ruling stands, home-schooling supporters say California will have the most regressive law in the nation.

“This decision is a direct hit against every home schooler in California,” said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the Sunland Christian School, which specializes in religious home schooling. “If the state Supreme Court does not reverse this . . . there will be nothing to prevent home-school witch hunts from being implemented in every corner of the state of California.”

Two lesbians, married in Canada, living together in New York, want to divorce. What’s the problem? New York does not recognize gay marriage. The solution? Find yourself an activist judge:

“Donna M.” had argued her marriage to “Beth R.” should be declared void because New York doesn’t allow gay nuptials, but Drager disagreed.

“[T]his court’s decision [is] that out-of-state same-sex marriages are properly recognized under our law,” and therefore Beth R. can proceed with her divorce and custody action against mother of two Donna M., the ruling says.

Drager noted that there are only two exceptions where New York does not recognize an out-of-state marriage - if it is specifically named by the Legislature as prohibited or is “abhorrent to New York public policy.”

The Legislature hasn’t specifically outlawed out-of-state same-sex marriages, and “the abhorrence exception is so narrow that it has been applied only to marriages involving polygamy or incest,” the judge wrote.

I read this article in the Grand Rapids Press, and was left stunned:

Did the asphalt divide and swallow your Bug? The concrete crack and crunch your Chevy?

Driving U.S. 131 this week is a tie-rod twisting, shock-shaking, Goodyear-grinding demolition derby that could use reflexes and vehicles better fit for the Baja 1000.

And as another thaw-freeze cycle makes mincemeat of our asphalt, a statewide transportation group wants your nomination for the state’s worst pothole.

Winners get $318 — the average annual cost to each and every Michigan driver from pothole havoc, the group says.

This is nothing short of insulting and criminal. Ben Beversluis, the reporter, must not be aware of the fact that the majority of his readers pay taxes to build and maintain our infrastructure.

FormerArmyOfficer has added some new items to his store:

Please visit his store

From Cao’s Blog:

click here to watch video

The exact Mecca orientation of the Flight 93 Memorial

A person facing directly into the giant central crescent of what was originally called the Crescent of Embrace will be facing 1.8° north of Mecca. Defenders of the crescent have used the inexactness of its Mecca orientation to dismiss concern.

•Patrick White, Vice President of Families of Flight 93, argues that the giant crescent cannot be seen as a tribute to Islam because the inexactness of its Mecca orientation would be “disrespectful to Islam.”

•Both major Pittsburgh newspapers are denying that there is any such thing as the direction to Mecca.

•The internal investigation conducted by the Park Service denies that there is any such thing as “almost”:

…mihrab orientation either points to Mecca or it does not … [it] cannot be off by “some” degrees. [From page 2 of report summary. Page 1 here.]

NEW YORK – Oscar Wyatt, the 83-year-old Texas oilman charged with paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime to win oil contracts under the Oil-For-Food Program, will enter a guilty plea, WNBC.com has learned.

According to law enforcement sources, Wyatt will plead guilty to wire fraud and other federal charges. He is on trial in federal court in Manhattan.

At the time of Wyatt’s indictment in October, 2005, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said, “The Oil-For-Food Program was designed to provide humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people; these defendants undermined those relief efforts to line their own pockets with oil profits.”

Here are some links that I found to be of interest. I gave you excerpts, but hope that you take the time to read the entire piece.

Religion of Peace Strikes Again in Algeria from Little Green Footballs~ Five dead and five injured today in a series of bombings and shootings by emissaries of the Religion of Peace™ in Algeria.

Would Hillary Choose Obama For Veep? from Captain’s Quarters~Roger Simon at the Politico says no, but goes through a lot of reasons why Hillary Clinton might select Barack Obama as her running mate once she wins the nomination. Simon mentions the need for unity after a fractious primary, Obama’s draw among black voters, and his organizational skills. Simon waits until the concluding paragraphs to give what he sees as the countervailing argument (via Memeorandum):

Mahmoud’s “A” List from Hugh Hewitt~So, which journalists does the fanatic from Iran consider easy marks? From Time:

Via ALLAHPUNDIT:

Ahmadinejad addresses the National Press Club

You can catch it over the web if you’re not at home by clicking here. And to follow up on my earlier bleg, it looks like the Columbia speech at 1:30 will be carried on the website of CBS’s NY affiliate. I’ll post a reminder of that in the next hour.
MM and Bryan are stationed outside the campus and may — may — work up a livestream for us but you’ll have to make do with photos for now. And if you’re already Mahdi’d out and want a palate cleanser, here you go. It haunts my dreams

Watch video

Under The News has more

Don’t recognize Israel because they kill people and attack their neighbors..
Why are your visits to Ground Zero and Columbia so controversial? Everyone should have the capacity to listen to everything.

This Norman Hsu scandal is a very tangled web of illegal fundraising for Democratic candidates. Flip has done, what I consider to be, the most extensive investigation by the netroots. Hsocking Hsu Secrets Revealed is Flip’s latest post on the Norman Hsu scandal. I am reprinting it here so that we can discuss the complexitity of the situation. This is Flip’s work, not mine:

Two of the biggest open questions were always 1) where is Hsu - a convicted con man and fugitive with no documented ability to turn a legitimate buck - getting these gobs of money, and 2) why is he squandering it on all these Democrats?

These specific Democrats.

PETRAEUS TAKES THE STAGE…

Iran fighting ‘proxy war in Iraq’…

Military objectives of surge ‘are in large measure being met’…

Premature drawdown would be ‘devastating’…

Believes U.S. can reduce forces to pre-surge levels by next summer — to about 130,000 troops… MORE…
TESTIMONY [PDF]…
SLIDES [PDF]…
Surge to peak at 172,000 in mid-October…
Hearing starts with Democratic criticism…
CINDY SHEEHAN ARRESTED AT HEARING…
——————————————————————————–
Maliki says civil war averted… ——————————————————————————–
Dems make pre-emptive strike on Iraq reports…Question impartiality…

Antiwar leaders stymied, frustrated; Vent about Pelosi on private call…
——————————————————————————–
IRAQI POLL: 47% want American forces to leave the country immediately… ——————————————————————————–

Although illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema has now been officially released from prison in Afghanistan, it seems the US State Department is doing everything in its power to prevent him returning home.

Earlier today, Jack’s Afghan lawyer, Rahim Ahmadzai, put out an affidavit which confirms many of the things the Free Jack campaign has been saying all along. Before presenting the facts, though, I’ll let Ahmadzai introduce himself:

My name is Rahim Ahmadzai. I am an attorney licensed to practice law in all courts of Afghanistan. Prior to 2005, I was employed as an administrative member of the Supreme Court and by the National Security Courts of Afghanistan. I received my degree in Shariat law in 1979, and my Masters Degree in Islamic Religious Jurisprudence in 1988, and have practiced law or been a judge since.

This is the post that those of us who’ve campaigned for Jack Idema’s release have always dreaded we’d have to write. However. The Kabul Times is reporting the following:

Persistent rumors support an armed confrontation at Pul-e-Charki Prison in Afghanistan, which resulted in the death or serious injury of an American Citizen.
While the exact days are unclear, one unnamed source in the Afghan Ministry of Justice has stated an American held at Afghanistan’s Central Prison was killed during a stand-off with government forces. Another source, in the paramilitary division of the Ministry of Justice has stated that although the American appears to be seriously wounded, he is still barricaded inside his prison area and holding off a large ANA, Afghanistan National Army, contingent sent to extract him by President Hamid Karzai.
[…]
General Mohammed Kaiz at the Ministry of Justice claims “Mr. Jack freed our people, the terrorists hated him. They tried to kill him many times. The people of Bamiyan will miss his him and remember his courage.” Bamiyan is a province dominated by the Hazara tribe in western Afghanistan. Kaiz would not comment on the actual fate of Idema, only offer his sympathy to Idema’s family, quite possibly the only comment needed to sort out the mystery. 

We’re Muslim-Americans - kill us, too: I complain that the American Muslims don’t speak up against the radicals..here is an example of a Muslim speaking out!~Peejz

Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks: While not specifically referring to the rapes, brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilali said there were women who “sway suggestively” and wore make-up and immodest dress … “and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years”. “But the problem, but the problem all began with who?” he asked. The leader of the 2000 rapes in Sydney’s southwest, Bilal Skaf, a Muslim, was initially sentenced to 55 years’ jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal. In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: “If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? “The uncovered meat is the problem.” The sheik then said: “If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.”

Here are some links for the latest updates on the terror plot thwarted in London!

Plan to blow up 6-10 planes in mid-flight over ocean…‘Mass murder’ bomb plot…

May have been ‘the Big One’…

‘Suggestive’ of al-Qaida…

UK police hold 21…
REPORT: Citizens of Pakistani Descent…
Britain on highest alert…
USA raises air security alert to red for first time…
Statement by Homeland Security…

Text: Chertoff’s Statement…

FLASHBACK MONDAY: London-to-Boston flight returns to Heathrow because of security issue

Britain facing ‘most sustained threat since WWII’…

Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in Caribbean…

It never ceases to amaze me, how quickly we forget things. This Israel/Hezbollah conflict started on July 12, 2006. Based on the news coverage, one would think that it was Israel that fired the first shot and did the first invasion, when in reality, it was Hezbollah!

The latest chapter in the ongoing Arab-Israeli Conflict began on July 12, 2006, when guerillas from the Islamic Lebanese group, Hezbollah (Party of God), crossed into Israel and attacked an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) patrol, killing three and capturing two others. They then returned to southern Lebanon with their prisoners. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the men were taken in order to set up a prisoner exchange with Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, declared the attack an “act of war” on Lebanon’s part, and promised a strong response.

Pfizer
This is the website with the product listing for Pfizer.
I found it somewhat disturbing the this company is part of the land grab. They went to the Kalamazoo, MI area with all kinds of promises. People lost their jobs because of plant closings. Now they want to take a persons home or business?

Dan LeRoy over at National Review Online did an excellent article on the rise of Black Conservative Bloggers, and he showcases on of my peers over at La Shawn Barber’s Corner. La Shawn has a fabulous blog, very well written and well informed writings from a 37-year-old legal assistant and reformed liberal from Washington, D.C., whose own “Corner” features a Christian conservative’s perspective on the issues of the day.

Right-of-center black bloggers, in fact, seem to be entering that public eye almost daily. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given statistics on growing Internet usage among black Americans, and the revelation that a quarter of young blacks consider themselves conservative (from an eye-opening study conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and released last month at the Democratic National Convention.)

Blogging Brothers (and Sisters)

Go give her a read and tell her I sent you

This is our one thousandth post - believe it or not! To celebrate - I’m sharing some of the Bush blogging that I’ve run across during my travels through the blogosphere. There are other fine blogs out there offering up voices of reason amid the irrational liberal spewing out there:

John Cole over at Balloon Juice pens a letter to President Bush about how foolish John Kerry is for thinking that releasing any of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will do anything appreciable regarding the current gas prices.

My Orkut friend, Dodd, is guest blogging for Vinny He writes a thoughtful post hoping that our enemies in Fallujah finally learn the lesson that you can get more with a kind word and a two-by-four than you can with just a kind word.

Blogs for Bush has Eric debunking John Kerry. Not hard to do, really.

Lee has an easy little quiz on his site that you shouldn’t find too difficult.