THE MINING DISASTER

The media continues to play the fool in the reporting of the aftermath of the Sago mining explosion in West Virginia. Now we have the victims' relatives being interviewed on a regular basis. Can someone tell me exactly what journalistic function this serves? They're being asked how they feel, what they think about the notes their loved ones left behind, and so forth. Other than voyeurism, there is no reason anybody needs to know any of that and the press should leave them alone. Fat chance.

Then we have the stories about the mine itself. Apparently there were quite a bit of violations in the mine (use id #4608791) and it should have been shut down. Well, here's a news flash for you...every mine has violations, and if they were all shut down, there wouldn't be enough coal to provide the electricity that we all use everyday. I've looked at the list of violations for this mine and most of them were so minor that they didn't even elicit a fine! A rock in the pathway that someone could trip on is a violation. If these mine inspectors were to inspect your house with the same criteria you would have a pantload of violations also. We've heard now that the Bush administration is lax on mining regulation enforcement, which of course means George Bush is directly to blame for the death of the 13 miners. Give the left a few days...and we'll start hearing the president himself planted the charges that caused the explosion. If the miners had been black I guarantee you Louis Farrakhan (The BET man of the year) would have already made that charge.

Brian Ross of ABC News interviewed the owner of the mining company on TV yesterday. It turns out he's a billionaire named Wilbur Ross, based in New York. The mining company has put $2 million in a fund to help out the victim's families. That was immediately dismissed as being insufficient by Brian Ross and he scolded the billionaire for not putting more of his own money in.

Perhaps it's because the owner of the mine knows he is going to be sued...and sued mightily. He'll have 13 wrongful death suits and just about every other legal action you could imagine on his doorstep just as soon as the bodies are buried. Once we find out how long the miners were alive in the shaft...if it's anywhere close to the time they were found, expect every rescuer and fire department to be sued as well.

Such a wonderful legal system, isn't it?

PAT ROBERTSON'S GET WELL WISH

As many of you know, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is undergoing emergency surgery for bleeding in his brain. The prognosis is not good. He won't be returning to power and is fighting for his life. Get well messages are pouring in from around the world. Except for two places.

One is from Pat Robertson, the well-known TV preacher. The '700 Club' host and shining beacon of stupidity came out and said that Sharon's stroke may be God's retribution for giving away land to the Palestinians. Well isn't that just nice. Such a kind, caring and compassionate Christian, that Pat Robertson. Just to refresh your memory, here are a few of Pat Robertson's previous utterances:

--Last October, Robertson said that the recent rise in natural disasters meant the end of the world was near and the second coming was upon us. No word on either. So far.

--This past August, Robertson said the U.S. should assassinate Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela. Chavez is scum, but we need the oil. We'll call this one a draw.

--When the people of Dover, Pennsylvania booted the Intelligent Design wackos off their school board, Pat Robertson said the citizens of that town should not expect God's help in the event of a disaster.

Oh, and the other not-so-nice statement made Ariel Sharon's way was from the president of Iran, who said he hoped the Israeli prime minister would die. Such a kind, compassionate Muslim!

Pat Robertson, doing his part for the image of Christianity in America.

ARNOLD BECOMES A GIRLY MAN

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had several referendums on the ballot last year...and all of them failed. They were for various much-needed reforms like taking away the ability of politicians to redraw political districts and reigning in public employee unions. Well, now Arnold has decided to respond....and he has ended up looking weak.

In his annual state of the state address to the California assembly, the Governator said that he has heard the voter's message loud and clear, and he actually criticized himself for not listening to the public. An uncharacteristic lack of confidence from Schwarzenegger. Arnold faces an uphill battle for re-election this fall...so what is he to do?

Naturally, the one sure fire route to prolonged incumbency in this country is to buy some votes. To get the money to buy the votes, you can do one of three things: cut spending (yeah right,) raise taxes (not popular) or you can borrow it. And so it is that Schwarzenegger is proposing a 10-year spending plan in California that would make George W. Bush proud: $222.6 billion dollars in new spending over the next 10 years, with $68 billion of it borrowed.

So now the Governator has officially joined the ranks of the RINOS, or Republicans In Name Only. Who would have thought the Terminator...Conan the Barbarian...Arnold Schwarzenegger..could be such a wimp and a pushover. Oh well..it was fun while it lasted.

AND JUST A FEW INTEMPERATE THOUGHTS

David Letterman is clever and popular. Nice. And Bill O'Reilly is a pompous ass. Fine. But did you hear what Letterman said to O'Reilly earlier this week? He actually said that while he has never watched O'Reilly's show, "I have the feeling that about 60 percent of what you say is crap." What a guy. [transcript | video (real)]

You've heard about that judge in Vermont, haven't you? Edward Cashman. The convicted criminal was a child molester. He was convicted of raping --- hell, the rapist, Mark Hulett, admitted to raping a little girl many many times when she was between 7 and 10 years old. So .. what was his sentence? Sixty days. That's right. Sixty days in jail. Judge Cashman says he just doesn't believe in punishment any more.

That Tulsa Baptist preacher who got nabbed soliciting sex from an undercover police officer? Remember him? Oh .. and it was a male undercover police officer at that! Well, we now have his official excuse/explanation. He was out there doing God's work ... ministering to the police. So, that's a new word for it! Ministering.

A huge victory for teacher's unions. The leftist Florida Supreme Court has struck down a voucher program that would have allowed children to use those vouchers to attend a private school. Bear in mind, those vouchers were only available if the government school these kids were attending were failing to do the job. So ... the government tightens its grasp on your child. Nothing surprising there. The surprise is that you allow this to happen.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

The listeners have spoken. You overwhelmingly voted in yesterday's poll to keep the Redneck Scrap Book. So today we offer you this ingenious roof rack. More in the Redneck Scrap Book. We're looking for more submissions to keep this going. Our preference is for actual photographs not photoshopped images.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Looks like Vermont is a good place for child rapists to hang out....one judge there recently handed down only a 60-day sentence for a man who confessed to raping a 7-year-old.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace let fellow Marine and Congressman John Al-Murtha have it in his press conference.  It's about time.

Uh-oh...despite the media's attempts to hide it, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has been caught with contributions from Jack Abramoff.  This could put a dent in 2008...or not.

The left-leaning Florida Supreme Court...best known for trying to steal the 2000 election away from George W. Bush has struck down Florida's voucher system.  Can't have competition in government schools, you know.

President Bush called in past secretaries of defense and state from both parties...going back 40 years, in order to get differing viewpoints and advice.  Since this bit of information makes George Bush look good, the mainstream media has ignored it.

Charles Krauthammer calls Ariel Sharon's stroke possibly one of the greatest disasters in that country's 60-year history.  Read on to find out why.

The Abramoff scandal will suddenly make everyone a lobbying reformer...but as Byron York points out, it won't do any good.  Money always finds a way into politics.

Tom DeLay deserves the benefit of the doubt...and shouldn't be abandoned.  Why is that?  Because, as Mark Levin says, he hasn't done anything wrong.

People who are opposed to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito are actually making the case for his confirmation.  David Limbaugh tells us how.

The Jack Abramoff scandal has rocked K Street, and caused it to examine its relationships with every political on Capitol Hill.  We're about to have us a scandal.  John McCaslin reports

Coach resigns after accusations that he encouraged players to brand themselves.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
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