I can’t remember a more bizarre story than this foot-tapping saga involving Sen. Craig. Whether he’s gay or not is not the issue. What I want to know is, since when is foot tapping a crime? Even if Sen. Craig was interested in some guy on guy action in a public restroom (an activity made popular by MTV stars), doesn’t public lewdness have to involve some sort of lewd behavior? What’s lewd about toe tapping? I don’t get it. And as a member of the heterosexual community, I have no idea what the “signals” for picking up members of the same sex are. What if I inadvertently do this at some point? What if I touch my hair in a certain way, or hum a show tune while in a public place? Can I be arrested for that?

Craig probably is a puff. The way the Republicans have been embarrassing me for years now it would be par for the course. But even so, if he is and all they got him for was toe tapping, I’m going to go out on a limb and declare this “sting” a gynormous waste of taxpayer money. I can think of 10 things off the top of my head on which our money would be better spent.

1. Starting a task force to more thoroughly screen Middle Eastern Muslim men at airports.
2. Funding a campaign to remind people why we need to screen Middle Eastern Muslim men instead of 80-year-old blue hairs.
3. Investigating the militant Muslim training camps springing up across America.
4. Closing the borders.
5. Castrating child molesters
6. Finding a solution to the poisonous junk coming out of China
7. Deporting illegal criminals
8. Teaching our children how to read (remind me to tell you later about the 5th graders I know who can’t read)
9. Buying our military even bigger bombs
10.Alerting the public to the “Secret Bathroom Language of Gays” so that more of us don’t end up in the paddy wagon because we didn’t know that wearing blue socks on a Thursday is “lewd”.

I could think of more, but I think you get the point. The weirdest part of the whole thing is the liberals salivating over Craig’s predicament. They love to point fingers and laugh when it’s a Republican being raked over the coals. What they fail to see is their own hypocrisy. I thought they loved gays! I thought they want to teach the world it’s okay to be gay? Isn’t it dangerous for them to deny Sen. Craig his right to pick up a consenting adult male in a bathroom? How did the police know he wanted to have a tryst in public? Maybe he wanted to go to his hotel. That would have been perfectly legal. Is it only okay to be gay if you’re a liberal Democrat? Have we finally found a gay guy the liberals don’t like?

According to liberals‘ “tolerant” views, they should be embracing Craig, defending his right to be gay, and asking him to lead the Washington D.C. March of the Gays (or whatever it is they do with all the giant inflatable dildos they parade down the street.) Instead, they are treating the Craig drama as a shameful event! To gays, there is nothing shameful about coming onto a strange male in a restroom. It’s called “dating”.

Bill Clinton got a hummer from a barely legal intern WHILE engaging in important business and everybody loves him to this day. They can’t get enough of him and anyone who objected to his actual and proven lewd behavior was called a prude. They’ve always been so tolerant of the vices of their own, while Republicans are notoriously opposite. The moment one of ours falls into immorality we kick him/her unceremoniously to the curb. Republicans have never been the party to suffer from the hypocrisy affliction. For all the real hypocrites, look to the left.

[Discuss this article with Little Fox over at The Intolerant Fox...]

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Fox News is reporting that Tony Snow will resign on September 14th and will be replaced by Dana Perino. This is all I have at the moment. I will update as soon as more news becomes available.

CNN has the announcement on their political ticker:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will step down from his post Sept. 14 and be replaced by Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino, the White House announced Friday.

See Also: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air
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Despite the fact that we live in a vaccine age, Britain is facing an outbreak of measles, a disease can cause life long damage to its victims:

Parents were urged today to give their children the MMR jab before they returned to school after figures showed measles cases have more than trebled in the last 11 weeks.

There have been 480 confirmed cases in the UK so far this year, compared to 756 cases during the whole of 2006 - the highest year on record.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the number of confirmed cases of children suffering measles was higher than expected for this time of year and urged parents to ensure their children were vaccinated.

Up until June 10 this year, 136 cases of measles, which can be life-threatening, had been confirmed by the HPA.

But as of today, just over 11 weeks later, this had more than trebled to 480.
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Dr Mary Ramsay, a consultant epidemiologist at the HPA, said: “Over the summer holidays we have seen more cases of measles being reported than we would normally expect.

“This means it is crucial that children are fully immunised with two doses of MMR before they return to school.

“Measles is a highly infectious and dangerous illness and, as there is increased close contact in schools, it can spread easily.”

The HPA said while was difficult to confirm reasons why there has been such a jump in recent weeks, a high number of cases has been noted in communities where vaccine uptake is lower, including travelling families. (Emphasis mine.)

My question, stated in my post title is, what is a “traveling family”? Is this a British term that everyone there understands or is it a PC euphemism aimed at obscuring, not clarifying, an important fact related to British public health? As it stands, it has no meaning for me at all. Does it for you?

UPDATE: By the way, avoiding vaccinations isn’t just a British problem. I’m a big believer in vaccinations. There’s no doubt that some carry with them risky side effects, but these side effects pale compared to the risks of an epidemic. I know some people like to point out that there are no longer epidemics, so they no longer need vaccinations, but these people miss the point that they are benefiting from herd immunity: that is, if enough kids in the herd have taken the risk of a vaccination, an epidemic cannot take hold, which protects the ones who refuse the shot. The thing is, if the latter become the largest proportion of the population, herd immunity vanishes. Mother nature quickly takes advantage of that fact. The huge resurgence in Nigeria of polio, one of the historic childhood scourges, after a Muslim paranoia attack about the West stopped the vaccination program, is a good example of that fact.

[Discuss this article with Bookworm over at Bookworm Room...]

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Spurred by Amanpour’s CNN series on religion, DQ, who is a very astute analyst and a thinker who is truly open minded to new information and ideas, wrote his impressions of the show, which led to a lively and very fact intense discussion about Amanpour’s errors, both explicit and implied, regarding Israel’s borders. Regular readers gave detailed answers better than anything I could ever have put together and I urge you to read them all. From these comments, DQ went on to write another post asking very specific questions about Gaza and the West Bank.

Ocean Guy, who has a great blog called Somewhere on A1A, took on the challenge in this second post and wrote here, as comment #4, what I think is one of the best summaries about the border dispute, including why it is reasonable for Israel to have continued to exert control over the West Bank and Gaza during the dispute. Indeed, I like his argument so much, I’m elevating parts of it here to a stand alone post. Reading it, I was struck by how lucidly it exposes the weakness of the Palestinian claims of righteousness regarding that land, as well as explaining Israel’s weak approach to territories that could rightly be seen as the spoils of an endless border war, with Israel the defender, not the aggressor. Read the whole Ocean Guy comment, but please pay specific attention to these points:

You are right, there was no claim to the territories prior to the ‘67 War… although there was a universal Jewish cry for access to Jerusalem, which the Jordanians forbade. (Which is another bone of contention.. comparing Arab administration of Jerusalem between ‘47 and ‘67 to Israeli governance since… but that’s another volume.)

So, no claim prior to ‘67… and if the Arabs had decided to accept Israel, and live in peace, there would NOT have been a “claim.” However, continued hostilities, terrorism, and ultimately another breakout of the war meant that SECURE and DEFENSIBLE borders were required. Still, even after the ‘67 war, Israel tried to give Judea and Samaria back to Jordan… despite ancient ties to the land, Israel was willing and happy to trade the land for peace… Again the Arabs rejected it.

In ‘67 the world stepped in and, once again, bailed the Arabs out by negotiating another cessation of hostilities… 242 came into the picture then and basically told the disputants that the status of the land occupied during the war (’67) needs to be settled through negotiation. The Arabs refused to negotiate… still refuse to negotiate… and have instead continued the war they started in 1947 with different tactics. The main problem throughout has been “Who does Israel negotiate with?”

Egypt took the Sinai back but didn’t want Gaza… Gaza wouldn’t/couldn’t rule itself. Jordan wouldn’t take the West Bank back, and the West Bank wouldn’t/couldn’t rule itself. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Lebanon, all were happy keeping all authority from the palestinians yet steering the focus towards the wretched state of their Arab brothers. Meanwhile Arafat and the PLO terrorized their way into the international discourse.

Thrown out of Jordan, Thrown out of Lebanon… no one wanted them… they were simply corrupt terrorists and murderers with the goal of destroying Israel. The PLO/Black September, were given the recognition they had not earned. For Arafat and the PLO, ALL of Israel was illegally occupied lands. That is why so many of us put so much emphasis on the maps the PLO used to teach their children, the way Arafat war his Keffiyah, the rest of the school curricula… everything indicated they thought all the land belonged to Arabs… NOTHING they said ever gave Israel any acknowledgment, let alone official recognition.

Why did Arafat continually turn down generous peace offers??? Because he had promised his “people” ALL of Israel… the West Bank wasn’t enough… Sadly the western media kept feeding us the fantasy that Jenin and Ramallah, the West Bank and Gaza, was all they wanted, when in reality Arafat had promised the Arabs Haifa and Tel Aviv too. But the “overwhelming consensus” of western media was more in line with the fiction that Arafat fed to them in English. He was tremendously successful in getting the myth of his palestinian narrative to be accepted as truth.

So, the terror campaign and media campaign against Israel continued… it was working marvelously, giving the Arabs victories they could never win on a battlefield. But Israel just wanted peace, was/is willing to give up almost all of the gains from ‘67 in exchange for peace. And for another 20 years they absorbed the terror, endured the lies and prayed for peace. Then came Oslo.

When the Oslo process was concluded everyone was ecstatic…well the majority was… finally there would be an Arab “government” in the territories… Arafat was given the tools to set up a functioning government and the recognition as the negotiating partner… But it didn’t quite happen that way…

Arafat proved he was still a corrupt, murderous thug even as the world’s heads of State welcomed him. The trouble was, and still is, that Arafat’s and the Arabs’ idea of living in peace was completely different from everyone else’s. We thought and assumed the Arabs wanted to live in peace with Israel and we just needed to find the right price in land and concessions to buy it. But, on the other side, what Arafat wanted and the Arabs want, is to live in peace WITHOUT Israel.

So the main point is… The Disputed Territories for the Arabs include ALL of Israel. Even though so many, like you, limit the disputed/occupied territory to the ‘67 cease fire lines… The Arabs want it ALL.

If they don’t want it all… If the Arabs are really interested in peace, they would recognize Israel, set up embassies in Israel, allow Israeli embassies in their own countries… they would trade with Israel and allow free travel. They would grant citizenship to their “palestinian” brothers who want it. They would set up a viable government in a nascent Palestine who would be the negotiating partner with Israel. None of that is even close to happening.

The territories are disputed because the world and the UN kept the belligerent parties from settling it on the battlefield and demanded that they settle it peacefully. One side refuses to talk peacefully…

The Arabs have never acknowledged defeat, indeed they have never really been defeated. Hell, in Egypt they still celebrate their “victory” in the ‘73 war. At every outbreak of hostilities, the UN has stepped in to save the Arabs from the humiliation of defeat. Having never lost, the Arabs continue the war by whatever means they can get away with… and the western press and governments let them get away with a lot.

Many in Israel would like to annex the territories. Yes, there is dispute in Israel today on that matter, but virtually EVERYONE would gladly trade the land for peace… REAL peace. The fact Israel is willing to bargain much of the land away for peace does not mean the territory is not disputed.

Again… Where are the borders? Who exercises Sovereignty now? Who will have Sovereignty when the final status is negotiated? Who is the negotiating partner for ending the State of War that has been ongoing since ‘47? If Israel were to withdraw every person from territory outside the ‘67 cease fire lines, would the situation be settled? I don’t think so. That to me sounds like disputed territories…

[Discuss This Topic With Bookworm and Ocean Guy Over at Bookworm Room]

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It appears that U.N. inspectors found vials of weapons grade chemical choking agents in Iraq as late as 1996. The chemical is known as Phosgene. It was the most widely used chemical weapon during WWI and was responsible for most deaths.

Somehow the vials ended up in U.N. diplomatic offices in New York instead of labs for analysis. They sat there for 11 years until someone came across them recently. The vials were suspended in glass containers and oil as characteristic of packaging for use as a chemical weapon.

A chemical warfare agent recovered from an Iraqi munitions factory in 1996 was accidentally shipped to the United Nations, instead of the Army laboratory in Maryland where it was supposed to end up, officials announced today.

The toxic substance, known as phosgene, remained for more than a decade in the East 48th Street offices of the United Nations agency that was responsible for overseeing the removal of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. Today, a joint hazardous-materials team from the F.B.I. and the New York City Police Department went in to remove the substance. The authorities said there was no threat to the public.

According to the United Nations, the materials were discovered on Friday, as employees at the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission were archiving files of the United Nations special commission that had been set up in 1991 to monitor the cease-fire that followed the first Persian Gulf War.

While filing the materials, the U.N. employees found two small plastic packages, with metal and glass containers — ranging in size from small vials to the length of a pen. Inside the containers were “unknown liquid substances.”

An initial investigation determined that U.N. inspectors had recovered the items from the Al Muthanna chemical weapons plant in 1996. Chemical weapons experts sealed the packages and placed them in a safe on the sixth floor of the monitoring commission’s headquarters, at 866 East 48th Street. Experts tested the air around the package and “found no concentration of toxic vapors.”

Only today did United Nations officials locate the inspection reporting containing an inventory of the items. The inventory showed that one of the items “may have contained” phosgene and that one package contained nuclear magnetic resonance reference standards in sealed glass tubes.

The CDC details its toxicity and use:

* Phosgene is a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides.
* At room temperature (70°F), phosgene is a poisonous gas.
* With cooling and pressure, phosgene gas can be converted into a liquid so that it can be shipped and stored. When liquid phosgene is released, it quickly turns into a gas that stays close to the ground and spreads rapidly.
* Phosgene gas may appear colorless or as a white to pale yellow cloud. At low concentrations, it has a pleasant odor of newly mown hay or green corn, but its odor may not be noticed by all people exposed. At high concentrations, the odor may be strong and unpleasant.
* Phosgene itself is nonflammable (not easily ignited and burned).
* Phosgene is also known by its military designation, “CG.”

Where phosgene is found and how it is used

* Phosgene was used extensively during World War I as a choking (pulmonary) agent. Among the chemicals used in the war, phosgene was responsible for the large majority of deaths.
* Phosgene is not found naturally in the environment.
* Phosgene is used in industry to produce many other chemicals such as pesticides.
* Phosgene can be formed when chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds are exposed to high temperatures. Chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds are substances sometimes used or created in industry that contain the elements chlorine, hydrogen, and carbon.
* The vapors of chlorinated solvents exposed to high temperatures have been known to produce phosgene. Chlorinated solvents are chlorine-containing chemicals that are typically used in industrial processes to dissolve or clean other materials, such as in paint stripping, metal cleaning, and dry cleaning.
* Phosgene gas is heavier than air, so it would be more likely found in low-lying areas.

Another blow to the life was peachy keen under Saddam Hussein narrative? I doubt it, someone will come up with some bogus excuse. How long until they blame the U.S.?

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Soon to be deported

This story may make you sick. Literally.

It turns out that many peoples’ original inclination to wonder about the citizen status of a Mexican teen that refused to take TB medicine was correct; Francisco Santos is an illegal immigrant who came to this country to work illegally. I’m sure all the people that came in contact with the youth can rest easy knowing that an American employer facilitated the potential spread of a deadly disease by opening the door for an unscreened illegal immigrant.

I hope they get sued by every American citizen that was put at risk. That is what it will take to send the message that Americans an legal immigrants aren’t going to take this flouting of the law sitting down.

Deportation proceedings have begun.

The Mexican day laborer jailed in Gwinnett County for refusing tuberculosis treatment is an illegal immigrant and officials have begun the deportation process, officials said Wednesday.

Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway said Francisco Santos acknowledged to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he is in this country illegally.

Conway said federal immigration agents placed a “detainer” on the 17-year-old Santos, meaning he will be held and that the deportation process begins. But he said Santos’ condition and his status as a minor could complicate a process that can take months.

Because of Santos’ age, officials would have to make sure before his return that he has family in Mexico or that the Mexican government would take a role.

Gwinnett County health officials jailed Santos Friday after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to flee to his native Mexico. Santos, who lives in Duluth, has since started taking medicine, but will remain in jail at least until a Sept. 5 hearing in Gwinnett Superior Court on his isolation.

Attempts to reach the ICE agency were unsuccessful Wednesday. Two ICE agents are stationed at the Gwinnett County jail and screen each foreign-born person taken into the jail.

Conway said he does not believe any significant action will be taken to deport Santos until he is “medically clear,” meaning that he is no longer contagious. Santos’ treatment is expected to last about a year until he is cured, but he is expected to be no longer contagious in about three weeks. (src. AJC)

For those of you out there who want to sweep the risk under the covers and claim that this is being over-exaggerated pay attention:

Also on Wednesday, four family members of Santos tested positive for the disease, but they are not showing symptoms, are not contagious and will not be isolated, health officials said.

Lets mark this up as another advantage of illegal immigration. I wonder if the teen was attending school, comforted by illegal immigrant sympathizers whose short sighted agenda is completely ignorant of the ramifications of unfettered access to this country?

See also: Michelle Malkin

TB, illegal immigrant, Gwinnett County, tuberculosis, Francisco Santos    Sphere: Related Content

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