Google and Baby Jesus

Question? Would someone at Google purposefully manipulate the search results so that if anyone, even a child, were to type in - Baby Jesus - the number one link would be for the Baby Jesus butt plug?

I'd like to think not. Others think so. I gather the problem lies in the offensive page itself not having all the bells and whistles that would put it on top. Yahoo has the same page on number 9.

Confederate Yankee sez: - quote - Other results on this search results page have more link traffic. A quick review of page's code shows no HTML meta information that should give it a favorable ranking. The page itself has a raw relevance ranking (search word divided by total words) of less than five percent. The only conclusion I can draw is that this page position ranking was done manually by a Google staffer. - end quote -

Can Google manually manipulate rankings? Have you heard of the French Military Victories search and the 'I'm feeling lucky' button? Try the 'I'm feeling lucky' button with Baby Jesus.

At the time of this posting I found this disturbing search result, as have many others, since this hit the blogosphere. I'm hoping Google decides to do the right thing and change what needs to be changed to fix this problem. As soon as I get the tip I will update this post.

When you type - jew - into Google some anti-Semitic sites come up and Google explains it thus - quote - If you use Google to search for "Judaism," "Jewish" or "Jewish people," the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for "Jew" different? One reason is that the word "Jew" is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word "Jewish" when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these: - end quote -

I doubt if an explanation like that would be acceptable to any good thinking person no matter their religion over the result of a search for - Baby Jesus -.

If you wish to give feedback to Google over this or any other search results near the bottom of each Google page is a link that says, Dissatisfied? Help us improve - I would suggest that you first view the search results (You do not need to view the offensive page) prior to sending them a message. Hopefully they have fixed it. If so, Please write and tell them thanks!


UPDATE: Google has fixed the problem. They did not want to manipulate the search results but they did for this issue and a few others. Thanks Google! (update posted 2-23-07)

Hat tip to Verum Serum who tips Confederate Yankee & wizbang...

Season's Greetings & Happy Holidays Oh, and Merry Christmas...

Don't know who wrote this but I had to post it. I'd love to give credit. It conveys my feelings exactly!

I can say, I recieved it from this eBayer, who always has some great items listed!

For My Democratic Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Republican Friends:

Here's wishing all of You a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Sacred Cows of the Left Put on the Barby!

John Lennon wrote 'Imagine' - A couple lines he left out were: -

"Imagine liberals are in power,
when North Korea gets the nuke...
They will kiss hineys and cower,
chanting good vibes till they puke..."

I get ticked off when I come across blogs that have the self righteous and condescending attitude of the left. Came across one tonight that was so full of logs stuck in pinko eyes that I had to come home to vent.

It starts off real nice on how America (U.S.A. for you PC Nazis that like to differentiate between the north and south continents.) was built on 'HOPE'. Goes on to say how wonderful 'HOPE' is and how 'HOPE' built this country. Sounds nice until the speal turns to (quote) "the Bush Administration, guided by their neo-con warmongers and evangelical Christian base, found in the attacks an opportunity to pursue their agenda of advancing their prophecies and ideology and exploited our fear." (end quote)

Hate Bush diatribe is so predictable. The rest of the sputum is Bush & Christians are filling our nation with fear and driving us to...

First off I'd like a definition of neocon. That seems to be the newest throw away word of the liberal lefties these days. It has no definition except, "People that disagree with me politically". 'Mindless drivel' is what I think as soon as I see the word neocon.

then the vacuous liberal poster sez:
Lets throw the Christians into the mix because everybody hates them. Hell, nobody has ever really met one to know that they really are not the way I'm describing them.

What the hell is:
"Agenda of advancing their prophecies and ideology" as if every Christian feels it is his God given duty to work towards nuclear annihilation of this planet so Jesus can come back and start over.

The next paragraph our intrepid liberal fills with conflicting statements that fails to recognize the achievements of the current Republican, "conservative" administration. And this post was on 21-Dec-05. After recent Iraq elections - It failed to recognize:

A dictator is no longer in power and his 2 sons are no longer on planet Earth raping 11 year old daughters of his country's citizens.

The citizens of a country now have the right to choose their own government.

A countryside ecologically ravaged through draining of marshes is being brought back to life just by opening dams.

The feminine gender can go to schools that were closed to them.

Mass graves are no longer being filled but instead being found and the remains of loved ones given proper burial.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I could go on but liberals refuse to recognize these good things. I doubt if any liberals will stop by to comment and say that these things are true without adding, "But Bush"...

Makes me want to whap them upside the head with my shoe.

Intrepid liberal sez:
(quote) "Religion and it's promise of a glorious afterlife is supposed to alleviate the fear of dying, and theoretically, the evangelical base of the administration'’s supporters look forward to the apocalypse so that they can be with their god." (end quote") Please note the small 'g' on God. This will help you understand where this person comes from. He hates religion and denies the good things it has done through the ages. - Prior to Jesus there is NO record of ANY charitable organizations. Not one!. Prior to Jesus there was nowhere on mother Earth (note small 'M') that did NOT have slavery. Cannibalism and infanticide were common practices throughout the planet!

Excuse me? If the Christian base was so anxious for the apocalypse why didn't they (and Bush) start throwing nukes the day after 9-11? The day of 9-11 I knew Christians and non Christians alike that would have cheered had we bombed Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt and any other stinking third world country that had Muslums in it...

Thank God we had cooler heads in Washington D.C. than in the neighborhood I live in.

Near the closing of his post this person says, (quote) "As much as I recognize and fear the terrorists who would destroy America, I also fear that the politicians of today will do nothing to make things whole again. (end quote)

HEY! WAKE UP! YOU ASLEEP? AN ENTIRE COUNTRY HAS BEEN FREED FROM TYRANNY! MORE FREEDOM IS ON THE WAY FOR OPPRESSED PEOPLES IN THIS WORLD.

Except for liberals like you. Liberals in America (no apology to the PC Nazis) are oppressed by their own minds. Those on the right are free! Or at least a lot more free than these close minded, self righteous liberals that are caught up in fear and loathing of all things Bush.

- All quotes came from: Common Sense - The posting is called politics of fear

(prying1 sez: Common Sense missed it in this one. This posting of his was anything but!!!)

Heads Up On iTunes and QuickTime Bugs

A heap overflow vulnerability in Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes and QuickTime media players could put millions of PC and Mac users at risk of malicious hacker attacks, security experts warned Wednesday. -

In English this means that a lot of information is stuffed into a space too small for it and the system crashes.

For those who use these programs keep your eyes peeled for patches and updates.

Full story from eWeek.com is here.

Space.com 2005 Best Images Photo Contest

Space.com is looking for people that like to look at pictures. - Throughout the year people send photos from the surface of Earth, to the sky's above and beyond the stars. Quite a collection. The photos in this contest all appear to be of space however but if you tool around Space.com you will find the submissions from people just like you and I. Some would make nice desktop scenes.

- On each of the photos there is a short description, a click to enlarge button and above on the right is a row of five stars for you to rate the pics.

- Might want to save this page to favorites so you can come back to it at a time you can relax and enjoy.

Liberals Are Wrong Again

It has been a while since I've posted. In the interim quite a bit has happened in the political world. A NYT's article came out claiming that the President of the United States has illegally ordered spying on U.S. citizens without warrant. The lefty blogs went wild! Rush Limbaugh noted that the writer of the article has a book coming out in a few days with this news in one of it's chapters. Hmmmm...

Well, waiting to blog on a subject is something I often do. I like to think it is to get a few more facts to either back up my original thoughts or find out I'm wrong. The real reason is because I have a lazy streak.

NewsMax.com came out with an interesting article that shows this action by bush is not new.
Clinton NSA Eavesdropped on U.S. Calls - During the 1990's under President Clinton, the National Security Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program code-named Echelon. -

Hugh Hewitt has a fine article on the Powers of the President. This is presented in series form which has 5 parts at the time of this posting. The opening gambit of the series says: - Overlooked in most of the commentary on the New York Times article is the simple, undeniable fact that the president has the power to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign powers conspiring to kill Americans or attack the government. The Fourth Amendment, which prohibits "unreasonable" searches and seizures has not been interpreted by the Supreme Court to restrict this inherent presidential power. The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (an introduction from a critic of the Act is here) cannot be read as a limit on a constitutional authority even if the Act purported to so limit that authority.

prying1 sez:
I remember times past where the government had wiretaps on home grown terrorist groups such as the Black Panthers and the Weathermen. A lot of shouting happened then too. In the group of friends I hung with the real fear was that government thugs would soon come after us for being pot smokers. They didn't. The government was looking for real bad people. Murderers and terrorists.

From what I see our current government is doing the same thing. Looking for bad guys. People that would love to destroy even more than the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. People that would love to destroy all governments and rule the world. (Please don't think I'm exaggerating. What is the goal of these Muslum extremists if not ultimately world domination? They cannot leave any countries free to oppose them.)


Imagine this. During the operations of wiretapping, listening in on cell phone calls, reading emails, etc. someone in our government learns than a U.S. citizen is having an affair. Or that someone else has homosexual tendencies. Or that someone is smoking pot. Are they going to care? I doubt it. They are busy looking for terrorists.

Now in my own business. A terrorist whose wires are being tapped calls the printing shop I work for and orders business cards. Now our shop is on the list. Throw a switch, ZAP, and all our calls are being tapped. Within 1/2 hour whoever has the job of listening will know for a fact that we are not related in any way to the terrorist and they won't bother with us again. I can only hope that the conversations recorded will lighten the day of the person whose job it is to listen in. We joke around quite a bit with our customers.


So I'm left with a choice. Oppose the policy of our government to spy on it's own citizens and give more power to people that want to kill me (and you too dear reader!) or support the policy that allows one branch of the government to use it's constitutional authority to protect the nation.

I vote to support it.

GLOBAL WARMING IS OVER!

P.S. - Update - Check this out from The Penultimate Genius -

Hat tip to - SNAFUBAR - (Disclaimer: SNAFUBAR/William Young is no relation that I know about- unless we go back closer to Adam)

On Tookie and the Death Penalty

Tookie Williams, murderer and co-founder of the CRIPS (an L.A. street gang) was spiritually removed from planet earth on 13 DEC 05 at 12:35 AM. Can't live on planet earth without your earthsuit. His earthsuit was made inhabitable through a lethal injection.

Surfing Technorati for 'tookie' I checked out a few other blogs to see the general tone out there. - Should have guessed. Some are glad he is gone and some are not. Some want the death penalty rescinded while others want to see it used more often. - Although I didn't see it I'm sure there is a scattering that doesn't care -

prying1's 2 cents:

I'm a firm believer in the death penalty when it is used as punishment for murder. Especially for a multiple murderer like Tookie was.

I think that the courts in California need to be told through the voting process to incorporate some rules concerning death row inmates. 20 years on death row is TOO much! Person is found guilty and sentenced to death there should be 1 automatic appeal consummated within 6 months. Only 2 more appeals allowed only at the request of the condemned. The only testimony allowed at all 3 appeals must deal with the facts of the case. None of this "The poor boys are orphans" crapola like the parent murdering Menendez lawyer pulled. No 'abused as a child' excuses. Just the facts of the case.

From the time of the sentence, through the appeals process to killing the guilty party no more than two years can pass. Memories fade after a bit of time and people involved in the case, especially loved ones of the victims, should not have to be dragged through life with a chain held by a murderer and his lawyer.

Both Liberals and Conservatives Demand Government Handouts!

Envoys from the two major camps of American politics converged on Washington DC today to make demands of the government. Both the liberals and conservatives met at the gates of the White House and quick thinking gate guards averted a riot by separating the groups to the right hand and left hand sides of the gates. Slight jostling as positions were taken was all the contact between the opponents.

Conservatives demanded free kits for washing out ear wax be distributed to all liberals throughout the country.

"It is obvious that liberal groups need these kits because they cannot hear the words, 'Bush didn't lie'.", said a man identifying himself as Red Stater. "It has been shown over and over again for the past couple years that everyone, even leaders of other countries, thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. He even gassed his own countrymen. The libs keep screaming, 'Bush Lied, NO WMD's', and can't hear when they are told it is not an issue. Bush did not lie. He may have been misled but he did not purposefully mislead the people of the U.S.A.. We want their ears washed out and we feel that the only way they will do it is if they get the kits for free on the government dole."

The liberals on the other hand were demanding that bottles of Ipecac be distributed to everyone left of center. The leader of the group, Chuck Tupp, stated, "We need this stuff because it is getting harder and harder to regurgitate the pap the Democratic party and the mainstream media keeps feeding us. It is the government's duty to supply us with Ipecac as part of health care entitlements."

Many Democrats have been looking at the news, listening to Dean, Polosi and Kerry and finding it hard to spit the talking points out. Some are not even swallowing the daily transcripts from the DNC.

Said one recent convert from Democrat to Republican, "I had to switch parties. I couldn't swallow the garbage any more. The dry heaves are not fun."

Pick Your Side!

You are faced with a choice. Which side will you pick? The side that gets scammed and loses money or the informed side?

Click here for the answer!!!

Christmas Jokes?

Thanks to Mild Mannered Reporter of the Rosemead Times for the inspiration on this post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young lad crept up to his community's nativity scene and plucked the Baby Jesus from the manger. He ran home and hid the ceramic piece in his closet. Then going to his desk he started a letter.

"Dear Virgin Mary, If you want to see your Son again bring me a bike for Christmas."
~~~~~~~
OK, I know it is a an old joke. How about this one?
~~~~~~~
What kind of jerkwater town hires the village idiots to run it's libraries?

Memphis, Tennessee...
~~~~~~~
What? You don't think that is funny? Well every good joke has to have a bit of truth in it. The first joke is what the library officials in Memphis did. They plucked the Little Baby Jesus from his bed of straw. Woke Him out of a sound sleep too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World Net Daily has the story which I will summarize in the following few lines

Saying it would be "inappropriate" to include them, Memphis, Tenn., library officials have banned Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the wise men from a promotional nativity scene leaving only the stable animals and a shepherd boy.

According to a statement from Alliance Defense Fund, the controversy arose when Brandi Chambless, a member of the music ministry at Broadmoor Memphis Church, submitted an announcement for display on the library's community shelves regarding the church's upcoming Christmas show. Library officials accepted the announcement but told Chambless that she would have to remove the "inappropriate" figures of the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, and the wise men from an accompanying nativity scene and limit it to farm animals alone.

Now I don't know about you but I have to wonder about the IQ of these people and if it reaches the level of a cabbage? Well I guess it does come close to cabbage level because the so called 'library officials' have backed off after the news went out and the Alliance Defense Fund informed them that stupid is not the way 'librarian officials' should act.

In all fairness it was the Memphis Library Branch in the backwater town of Bartlett,Tennesseee where all this brouhaha took place not at the Memphis City Proper.

BUT WAIT!!!

The story is not over yet!!! Is this a great country or what? There is always more fun to be had!

WMCTV.com has a blurb on the story which gives credit to the Mayor of Bartlett for the resolution and does not mention the letter the ADF sent informing the parties about the Constitution of the United States. - Hmmm??? Would the station be ignorant of the ADF and their part in this? Does the Bartlett Branch of Memphis Library System have a copy of the Constitution on their shelves?

- quote from WMCTV.com - Brandi Chambless is one happy woman after hearing her nativity scene will be now allowed in the Bartlett Library. It took an order from Bartlett's mayor to put Christ back into this Christmas display. Chambless is thrilled, "It means so much and we're very thankful to the mayor for doing that." Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald heard the library had banned the religious figurines from a nativity display and would only allow barnyard animals to be shown. That's when he picked up the phone and called Betty Anne Wilson at the Central Library, "Mayor McDonald has requested the library put back the nativity scene at the Bartlett Branch library and the library is going to honor his request." That's great news to the folks at Broadmoor Baptist but Chambless says this crusade may not be over yet, "We don't believe it would be fair to have the citizens of Bartlett have one set of rules and have the citizens of Memphis have another set so we're gonna look at it a little closer." The concern is the Memphis library system still has a policy banning overt religious items from public display. Could that change? Wilson says the matter could be reviewed, "If someone asks us to review our policy we normally do but will we change our mind? That's hard to tell. It depends on a whole lot of circumstances both in the library and the city of Memphis." Right now, Brandi Chambless' priority is to put this figurine where she says it belongs, "We're going to go in and place this figurine in the window and I think that's a great step for us." But it may not be the last in this Christmas controversy. - end quote -

prying1 sez:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

- Oh! Excuse me a moment. Someone is pounding on my front door and hollering in German.

Con Artist Caught

- 9 AUG 08 had a hit from N. Las Vegas via a Yahoo Search for David Napstead - PLEASE - Leave a comment if you would. -

~~~~~~

Last October I posted a blog on a con artist called "David Napstead". Typing the name into search engines brought up my post. AND a site from Kentucky saying he was on parole from that fair state. I had a few hits a week on the name mostly through Google and Yahoo search engines. I was able to watch the hits through Site Meter. It showed where the hits were coming from and I encourage you, Dear Reader, to get Site Meter. Quite a handy Blog tool!

One Google search for the name David Napstead was from New Zealand. How'd That Happen?

On my post I encouraged people reading it to comment on his whereabouts. A few did.

Wasn't until this evening that the message came through that The Wynn in Las Vegas was where the fun stopped for 'David'. I will recommend The Wynn as a place in Vegas that does not put up with nonsense. Something 'David' should have known.

Guess he didn't watch enough TV...

Update: - Comments have a way of disappearing so I thought I'd bring them up into the post itself. -

Comments follow:
~~~~~~~~~
Good post.
mild mannered reporter | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 5:44 am | #

Another thought. Good work on tracking this guy. A lot of criminals go to Las Vegas to blend in and scam, but Las Vegas has cameras everywhere. Good for Las Vegas. Take care.
mild mannered reporter | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 5:49 am | #

Seems to me if I were a crook Vegas is tha last place I'd go. I imagine there is more communication between the casinos than we know. The casinos want the money and are not about to share it with small time hoodlums.
prying1 | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 11:18 am | #

Casinos have some of the most high tech security available and they always update it and hire top quality people to man it.

Besides that they don't tolerate much nonsense.

Our friend should have stayed somewhere less watched
Ted Richardson | Homepage | 12.10.05 - 1:20 am | #

What do you mean "OUR" friend?
prying1 | Homepage | 12.10.05 - 10:15 pm | #

Could This Really Happen?

In the middle of the atheist meeting one member stood up to give a testimony.

"Gentlemen!" He said, "I wish to share with you that on the day I received nothing into my heart nothing happened! The guilt and shame I had felt for past offenses against others were left standing. Any relationships that were deteriorating due to my self centeredness continued to deteriorate. I felt nothing influencing me to live a better life. Nothing touched me and nothing changed. I want to recommend to you that you allow nothing to come into your heart and you too can experience nothing."

Whuz it mean?

It will do the reader well to consider this. The following paragraph would have been easily read and understood by well over 75% of the people in the New Land prior to the U.S. Constitution being authorized by the people. Education in the Colonies was that good at the time. School was mandatory and the students learned so that the common man, male or female, became educated.

Little challenge for you. Can you read through this one time and catch all that the writer meant?

James Madison wrote in the Federalist #51

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

Please leave a comment on your thoughts.

Buy Me One (OR BOTH) of These for Christmas!

Buddy of mine has a couple "Just Right Gifts" that I'm hoping one of you wonderful blog surfers will buy for me. Don't worry about the price. It is the thought that counts. If the pic is covered by the sidebar you can right click and view the full image...

1992 HARLEY DAVIDSON HERITAGE SOFTAIL.
Please don't forget I will need a helmet also. California has a brain bucket law.

OR

get this 1954 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe 2 Door Coupe for me and save on the helmet cost! Such a deal!

Lightninges also has a few other items on eBay that you might find interesting. (A Moto Cross ramp for example (at the time of this posting - Check near the bottom for open auctions) Cruise around his page and feel free to email him with questions. Lightninges Can Value Engineer Your Electrical Project And Save You $$$. Not to mention if you live in the Erie,PA area You can contact him about his eBay Trading Assistant Program.

FREE MONEY! I clicked the link...

What the line really said was, "Believe in Jesus?
We'll pay you $75 right now to complete a simple survey!

It was right between two other adverts for Islam. Well, I'm a Christian and not ashamed of it most of the time. (OK! I'm working on it. Still. After 35 years.) so I clicked on it wondering if my virus alert would go off. It didn't. (It should have!)

No Virus but no survey either.

What I got was a page for PaidSurveysOnline.com - (I'm somewhat loathe to put the link here but I feel it necessary for truth in blogging!)

So I read a bit of their spiel and then Googled - PaidSurveysOnline.com scam - Top'O'the List was GOOGLE'S OWN "Google Answers" - (and people are worried about Haliburton taking over the world. Pikers! prying1 sez. Google will be the AntiChrist!!!) - (read 'Late Great Planet Earth' by Hal Lindsey) -

BUT I DIGRESS!

I need not bore you with too many of the complaints. This line says it all:

- quote from Ripoff report.com - "I paid paidsurveysonline.com for surveys to make money and so far I have not receive any money I paid the amount of $34.95 on 10/11/2004 for surveys and to get paid to read email and for free samples and I
have been doing noting but filling out applications for surveys or
getting surveys that require me to keep buying thing that I don't have
the money for and I was told I would be receiving money right away and I haven't and its been a month an a half almost 2 months."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

prying1 sez: I would suggest first that 'Remedial English' is in order for David of Niles, Ohio (Author of the above sentence). And second, learn to Google a company name with the word scam after it! - Do this before you put your money down!!!

Piece Falls From Supreme Court Facade

From SFGate.com - A basketball-sized piece of marble moulding fell from the facade over the entrance to the Supreme Court, landing on the steps near visitors waiting to enter the building.

No one was injured when the stone fell. The marble was part of the dentil moulding that serves as a frame for the frieze of statues atop the court's main entrance. - end quote -

After reading this I wondered what the blogs had to say on it so I utilized Technorati.

SSquirel sez: - Quote - A large chunk of the facade of the US Supreme Court Church has crumbled and fallen away. Coincidence? Or is God sending us a sign? Either way it seems an appropriate commentary on the total lack of ethics and honesty reflected in Fearless Leader'’s latest nominations and Scalia'’s lame attempts to justify his political rulings and failure to recuse himself from ruling on cases in favor of Cheney and Bush and Repugs in general. - End Quote -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The View from the Seven-and-a-Halfth Floor sez: According to a breaking news report on cnn.com, a large chunk of the marble facade of the United States Supreme Court fell off the building this morning. Far-right organizations like to argue that their narrow interpretation of the Bible belongs in our judicial branch, and they also like to argue that disasters are God's way of punishing us for our sins. Then what, I ask, will they say about the crumbling of the Supreme Court building? Could this be God's way of telling us that She doesn't want us to pack the Court with right-wing ideologues who use Her name to justify the abridging of civil rights?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

prying1 sez: This is proof that gravity works and shoddy workmanship is not something that just started when Bush was elected to his chair in the Oval Office.

P.S. I love the way Richie Jay has modified the gender of God. What is that all about?

Tecnorati Email Security Advisory

From Technorati Weblog

It recently came to our attention that the Technorati brand name is being used in an attempt to inject a virus onto Windows computers. Although I personally have not received these emails, Technorati takes these false emails seriously.

The email in question states that Technorati has suspended your email account, lists some reasons why this may have happened, and invites you to open an attached file for more details on how to reactivate your Technorati account. The attached file, "important-details.zip," contains the W32.Mytob.LD@mm virus, opening a back door on your computer, lowering security settings, and allowing your computer to be used by the attackers for local access or distributing other content online.

Washington Post Continues Pressing 'Bush Lied' Diatribe

Someone needs to let the Washington Post know that the 'Bush Lied' line is dead.
I heard a caller to Hugh Hewitt's Radio show ask the following question and I thought it a good one.

Where is the smoking gun evidence that President Bush was the only person in the world that KNEW Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction? Where is the evidence that Bush had that information and still went forward with WMD's as one of the points/reasons for invading Iraq?

The premise of the leftist/socialist argument that we are in a war that is a "mistake" is based on "No WMD's... - All the rest of the points are left out of their argument.

In the Washington Post OP-ED piece, The Phony War Against the Critics (Friday, November 25, 2005), Michael Kinsley proves this throughout his pro Saddam Hussein diatribe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~quote~~~~~~~~~~~
Interestingly, the administration no longer claims that Hussein actually had such weapons at the time Bush led the country into war in order to eliminate them. "The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight," Cheney said on Monday. So-called WMD (weapons of mass destruction) were not the only argument for the war, but the administration thought they were a crucial argument at the time. So the administration now concedes that the country went to war on a false premise. Doesn't that mean that the war was a mistake no matter where the false premise came from?
~~~~~~~~~end quote~~~~~~~~~~

What Michael Kinsley does in this little paragraph is to make a statement, ignore it, and make a point based on his opinion. At least it was on the op-ed page this time instead of on the front page.

prying1 sez: Please don't worry about Michael's infecting the country with his Pro Murderous Thugs commentary. The Washington Post is fast losing readership.

The Post stands to lose millions of dollars in ad revenue because Hecht'’s, the last local department-store chain, is changing to Macy'’s, which will spend more of its ad dollars nationally. And the Post continues to lose readers. Sunday circulation has dropped 3.5 percent in the first half of 2005, falling below 1 million readers for the first time in years.

The day may soon come when Michael Kinsley and others on the Post will be vying for the Moron dot org crowd to read their blogspot posts.

US Marines Cross Syria Border

Hat Tip to AubreyJ Who links to DEBKAfile for this bit of news.

DEBKAfile Exclusive: - November 25, 2005, 12:27 AM (GMT+02:00) - US Marines are locked in battle with Syrian troops after crossing the border from Iraq into Syria at a point west of al Qaim



Both sides have suffered casualties. US soldiers crossed over after Damascus was given an ultimatum Thursday, Nov. 24, to hand over a group of senior commanders belonging to Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda force. According to US intelligence, the group had fled to Syria to escape an American attack in Mosul. Syrian border guards opened fire on the American force.

prying1 sez: -

- ??? - re: reliability of this news. AubreyJ states, "First saw this news at Debkafile... who more times than not are right on their reporting." Glenn Reynolds states, "I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't trust Debka as a source."

Time and updates will tell. It appears to be over 10 hours since the original story and no other news sites that I could find have jumped on it.


I am hoping that Syria will do the right thing and work towards stopping terrorists and murderous thugs.