April 25, 2011

• Union Tries to Stop 3,000 New Jobs
• Former Soviet Aircraft Carrier Rebuilt As China’s First
• China’s J-20 Stealth Jet Could use U. S. Technology
• Mexico’s Lawsuit Against US Gun Makers Disgraceful.
• RDA Scheme Shutdown\
• Surrogates Chose Sides In Libya
• Taxpayers To Lose $11 Billion On GM Sale
• Jeb Bush Leads Obama
• Personal Airline Revenge
• Brown Pinches off Teat For State Workers
• Syria Gets Even More Complicated
• AZ Sheriff Says “Big Sis” Laughable
• Something Old-New-Borrowed-Blue: Sixpence In Her Shoe

Saying it is a painful and unnecessary thing to do to babies a group of San Francisco- where else -  activists want to ban circumcision, or what they call male genital mutilation. These activists are hoping to acquire 7,168 signatures to get a proposed measure on the November city ballot that would impose a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to one year in jail for anyone who performs a circumcision.

The complaint filed Wednesday alleges Boeing decided to build the plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, because it was concerned about strikes by union workers in the state of Washington.

Graham said he will work with other lawmakers to make sure Congress knows about what he called “this outrageous decision by the NLRB — unelected bureaucrats that have put in motion a precedent that will destroy American businesses.”

The complaint filed Wednesday alleges Boeing decided to build the plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, because it was concerned about strikes by union workers in the state of Washington.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said the agency’s request for a court order forcing the aerospace company to build the line in the Pacific Northwest shouldn’t be taken seriously.

The Plague (black death) is a bacteriological infection that wracked Europe and much of the world in the Middle Ages. But, it is still carried by infected fleas in New Mexico.

China is moving ahead rapidly with deployment of its first aircraft carrier, the refurbished Soviet ski-jump configured carrier formerly known as the Varyag.

Adm. Robert Willard, U.S. commander of the Pacific Command, said during a Senate hearing last week that the carrier development has raised concerns among U.S. allies and other states in Asia.

“Based on the feedback that we receive from our partners and allies in the Pacific, I think the change in perception by the region will be significant,” Willard said of the carrier deployment.

The Chinese have rebuilt the carrier at the port of Dalian and will begin sea trials and test and evaluation as early as this summer, Willard said. The carrier will require a long period training and exercise “preceding any operational capability that it could demonstrate.”

“But I think as a symbol, the feedback that we receive in our dialogue throughout the region is that the regional partners regard this step by the Chinese in the midst of what has otherwise been a remarkable growth in their military capability as significant,” he said.

The Kuznetzov-class carrier was purchased in 1998 by a Macau-based Chinese company for $20 million and the Chinese put out word that the carrier would be converted into a floating gambling casino, amusement park, hotel and restaurant.

The original contract with Ukraine prohibited the buyer from using the carrier for military purposes. - China lied.

In a cartoon-like moment an Alaska Airlines jet was evacuated Friday afternoon at the Orange County, Calif., airport after a suspicious powder was reported in a lavatory. It turned out to be toilet paper remnants

The U.S. military is conducting assessments of China’s new stealth jet, the J-20, to determine its capabilities.

Additionally, U.S. intelligence agencies do not know if the Chinese fifth-generation prototype, rolled out during the recent visit to China by Defense Secretary Gates, is based on covertly-acquired technology from a U.S. F-117 jet fighter that crashed during military operations in the Balkans, according to Adm. Robert Willard, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific.

Asked by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whether the J-20s technology was obtained from the United States, Willard said: “I read an account that indicated that perhaps there was an exchange of information as a consequence of the Kosovo campaign and the loss of a 117 that occurred there. I don’t know that that’s the case. We’re viewing the outline of that aircraft and attempting to ascertain its low-observable characteristics. But to answer your question directly, Senator, we don’t know.”

The J-20 flight test Jan. 11 took place during the visit to China by Gates and, as in the past, was said to appear to be the PLA’s attempt to send a political message to the Pentagon.

Gates earlier canceled production of the F-22, the United States’ most advanced fighter-bomber, stating that the jet was not needed because China would not field a comparable jet, like the J-20, until 2020. That time frame has been largely refuted.

President Obama is in Los Angeles raising money for his campaign and meeting with Dr. 90210 about an ear tuck.– Kimmel

Middle America is bleeding buckets due to high gasoline prices while Obama has launched an investigation to find a boogie man to blame.

 Clearly Obama who thinks those high prices can force America to his vision of green energy and electric vehicles pushing the beer drinking, pickup driving fo;ks he abores because they are white and will not vote for him.

An Ohio man is fighting a misdemeanor citation for taunting a police dog (he was barking at it) claiming the K-9 started it and his citation infringes on his right to free speech.

The Mexican Government has retained an American law firm to explore filing civil charges against U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors over the flood of guns crossing the border into Mexico. Sources say Mexico’s frustration with U.S. efforts to stop the flow of weapons has pushed them into this novel approach. The law firm is looking at charges that may include civil RICO.

The law firm retained by Mexico - New York based Reid Collins & Tsai - believes the federal law won’t stand in the way of their case.

 According to the Mexican government database, there were 15,273 drug-related killings in 2010.Overall, a total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in the four years since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a stepped-up offensive against drug cartels.

 Corruption in Mexico runs wide and deep, and this stunt by Calderon is an effort to deflect criticism and emasculate any serious effort to close the border which would end unwanted imports. But, he nor Obama want that to be effective because Obama  panders to Mexicans. For Latino votes regardless of costs in lost jobs, and the crippling costs to cities, counties and states due to the flood of illegals across the boirder.

For the first time in Israel’s 63-year old battle against terror, its external security agency Mossad Thursday night, April 21, issued a strong warning to travelling Israelis to beware of a major terrorist attack which Hizballah had already set in motion at some undisclosed location. The only information offered was that Hizballah had consigned a high-profile team for an operation to avenge the slaying of its top commander Imad Mughniyeh three years ago for which it blames Israel.

In theory, RDAs spearhead blight removal. In fact, they divert billions of dollars from traditional services, such as schools, parks, and firefighting; use eminent domain to seize property for favored developers; and run up California’s debt to pay those developers to construct projects of dubious public value, such as stadiums and big-box stores. Most Californians have long been unaware that these agencies exist. As the activist group Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform puts it, RDAs constitute an “unknown government” that “consumes 12 percent of all property taxes statewide,” is “supported by a powerful Sacramento lobby,” and is “backed by an army of lawyers, consultants, bond brokers and land developers.”

As of late March, the outcome of Brown’s battle against the RDAs was in question, with the state legislature lacking the votes to approve it. Too bad. It’s high time that the agencies were shut down.

California’s redevelopment agencies got their start in 1945, when the state legislature authorized their creation to combat urban decay. At the time, politicians nationwide touted urban-renewal projects as a way to jump-start development in impoverished inner cities. Today, many urbanists recall these projects as a national travesty, a failed experiment in top-heavy government and liberal social engineering that obliterated neighborhoods, eroded property rights, gave developers downtown land on the cheap, uprooted city dwellers, and exacerbated urban problems.

In some states, property taxes are frozen at prior rates for 30-years past the useful life of new construction it requires a new rollover of more taxpayer subsidized FDA moneys.

Kohler’s $6,400 “Numi” toilet has a luxury car-worthy list of amenities, among them: a motion-activated lid and seat, deodorizer, feet warming, music and “advanced bidet functionality.” (Don’t ask.) Oh, and if you forget to flush before you leave the bathroom, there’s a REMOTE CONTROL

China, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Serbia are keeping the pro-Qaddafi camp’s arsenals stocked with new hardware along with combat personnel from Eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia.

Building up in Libya is a confrontation that recalls the 1999 war in Yugoslavia (Serbia today) when NATO’s four-month Operation Noble Anvil hammered Yugoslav forces to force their retreat from Kosovo. The Serbs too were backed then by clandestine Chinese-Russian support in tactical advice, intelligence, fighting men and arms.

Just like 12 years ago, our military sources report that from mid-March, hundreds of “volunteers” - professional soldiers ranking from colonel down to corporal - have joined the army loyal to Qaddafi. Calling themselves “nationalists” operating in paramilitary organizations without the knowledge of their governments, these foreigners claim they have come “to repulse the Western-Muslim onslaught on Qaddafi’s regime.”

Of course, they are handsomely paid from Muammar Qaddafi’s plentiful war chest.
One group says it is in Libya for unfinished business with the West, especially the United States, for their role in the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts.

China is helping the Libyan ruler with arms, mostly through African neighbors, and intelligence on NATO strikes in order to limit the damage they inflict (a service like that performed for Serbia in the 1990s). Beijing has a stake in helping the Libyan ruler after being informed that the Obama administration seeks to sever Chinese-Libyan oil ties before Beijing sinks tens of billions of dollars in Libya’s transformation into its primary oil and gas supplier on the African continent.

On the other side of what has become dueling mercenaries are US, British, French and Qatar forces

Protests from the fringy People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, caused the Tacoma, Wash.-based Harmon Tap Room to cancel its weekly goldfish races. The idea is to race down two 10 footvtroughs spurring and guiding then with squirt guns.

PETA says the “loud noises and bright lights” are terrifying to the tiny creatures. When PETA tried to shutdown another nearby gol fish race that taproom owner told it to “screw off.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has gone public with its stance on Islamic rule in Egypt.

Leading Brotherhood members have called for Egypt to come under Islamic law similar to that in Saudi Arabia. The appeal came during interviews as well as rallies by the Brotherhood just months after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

“The implementation of the Islamic Sharia punishments comes after taking over the territory,” Brotherhood deputy general guide Mahmoud Izzat said. “The punishments have to be implemented after Islam enters the lives, ethics, and dealings of the people.”

 If such radicals takeover what has been a relatiovely stable western ally it will lead to ddecades of war and violence against Israel and U. S. interest.

 The Feds plans to sell most of its remaining stake in General Motors in the coming months and lose $11 billion in the process, The Wall Street Journal reports.

With taxpayer money, the government rescued General Motors for $50 billion in 2009

 To get that money back, the U.S. Treasury will need to sell its remaining stake of around 500 million shares at $53 apiece.

GM is currently trading around $30, even dipping below that figure, on the New York Stock Exchange, below its $33-a-share November initial public offering.

“Planning for the sale of our remaining GM stock is still at an early stage, and the IPO lock-up does not expire until late May,” says a Treasury spokesperson, according to the Journal.

“At that point, we will consider all of our options, based on our twin goals of protecting taxpayers’ interests and exiting as soon as practicable.”

 Rising fuel prices, production snags and management turnovers have hurt the company’s stock price.

 GM’s $23.1 billion IPO in November reduced the U.S. government’s stake in the automaker to 26.5 percent from 61 percent.

 As a condition of the IPO, the Treasury isn’t able to sell additional holdings before May 22.

 The company, meanwhile, raised discounts to $400 per vehicle in January and February with the aim of boosting sales, which didn’t help stock prices at all.

Second fiddle (SEK-uhnd FID-uhl) noun: A secondary role. A person in such a role. Etymology In an orchestra, the first violins carry the main melody while second violins are considered to be in a subordinate position. Earliest documented use: 1809.

 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would run circles around the Democratic incumbent in the Sunshine State, according to a poll cited in The Buzz blog of the St. Petersburg Times. Bush beats President Barack Obama 57 to 38 percent and wins in every region of the state.

Bush ranks ahead of Obama among independents, 46 to 40 percent, and peels off a far higher percentage of Democratic voters (more than 1 out of 4) than Obama draws from the Republican electorate (fewer than 1 in 10), GOP polling firm Viewpoint Florida found.

Bush wins easily among men, with 66 percent, and is chosen by half the women polled. The only demographic that prefers Obama is 18-34, an age group that doesn’t vote in numbers comparable to people 34 and older.

The 2011 Pulitzer prizes were given out for excellence in journalism and as usual, I didn’t win a thing.

New federal regulations on lost bag and delayed flights or being stranded for hours or kicked off a flight are designed to protect passengers.

Years ago Continental airline slost my luggae beginning a “screw you” sch eme that finally ended when I sued and won a cash award from them. Even then they refused to oay until I perfected my claim and then hired a marshal to impound all their cash at Santa Barbara aitport.

Then the marshall collected $45 per hour to impound their cash and give it to me.

Obama tried to block Standard & Poors  from issuing a critical report on his debt debabcle. S & P did anyway lopwering the nation’s debt rating to lowest since just after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Obama accused the rating agency of playing politics.

 California Governor Brown’s office says audits have found agencies are falling behind in collecting debts owed by State employees and vendors, costing the state millions of dollars. One 2009 audit, posted here, found 11 departments had failed to recover more than $13.3 million in advances.

The executive order directs agencies and departments to process expense and other advance claims within 30 days. If the request is not cleared during a specified time frame, agencies and departments have been told to deduct the money owed from the employee’s paycheck.

This is similar to abuses by members of Congress who use a Capitol Hill  bank (set up for a by Congress) to cash checks, olften with insufficient funds, and then neglect repayments often for yearsand occassionally until they have left office.

The U. S. has the world’s biggest fossil fuel reserves (oil and natural gas) followed by Russia. China, Iran and #5 Saudi Arabia.

President Bashar Assad, while abrogating Syria’s detested 48-year old emergency laws Tuesday, April 19, immediately replaced them with new draconian measures banning any kind of public protest against his regime and permitting midnight arrests. His bloody showdown with widening circles of protesters is in its final act, Middle East sources report, and threatens to explode into a sectarian war.

In the last crucial stage of his fight for survival, Assad has persuaded Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon to seal their borders to stem the smuggling of arms and provocateurs to Syrian opposition groups - a closure planned also ro block the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria in the next stage of the crisis.

State TV interrupts regular broadcasts to show horrific images of smashed bodies alleged to be of army officers and troops murdered by the protesters. The authorities are gambling on the people rising up against the protesters for laying hands on soldiers. But the risk factor is great because military personnel watching the pictures are just as likely to decide that the better part of wisdom is to save themselves rather than the regime.  

 In any case,  Military sources report that the decision to deploy the army for cracking down on the protests racing from city to city is a final act of despair because the troops and their officers’ loyalty to the president is far from assured.

 Nonetheless it was taken Tuesday, April 19, after the heads of the regime discovered that some of the arms and fighters smuggled into Syria had been diverted from mixed-bag opposition groups to specific Syrian ethnic, religious and tribal communities who were getting ready for the unrest to change in character and tip over into sectarian warfare.

The Lebanese Druzes, for instance, are pumping weapons to their brethren in southern Syria; Lebanese Sunni Muslims are arming Syrian Sunnis in the coastal towns of Banias and Latakia; the Alawites who live mostly in the Aqar district of Lebanon are taking care of their coreligionists on the Syrian side of the border; Christians of the ”Lebanese Forces” grouping are smuggling weapons to Syrian Christian villages; while Iraqi and Turkish Kurdish tribes have stepped up their consignments of weapons, fighters and activists to the Kurdish community of northern Syria.

Damascus also accuses Saudi Arabia of keeping the protest movement afloat with smuggled arms and funds.

Because his military and security strength cannot be stretched two ways - both to block the smuggling routes and  suppress the raging demonstrations, Assad appealed to the King of Jordan, the Lebanese President and the heads of government in Turkey and Iraq for action to “hermetically seal” their borders. Although they obliged by redoubling their guards, it is unlikely that they can stop the arms smuggling altogether.

 The opening shot for sectarian strife came from the regime itself. Tuesday, shortly after the emergency laws were lifted, Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar characterized the uprising as “an armed revolt by Islamist radicals seeking to establish an Islamic state in Syria.” Syrian citizens must “refrain from taking part in all demonstrations or sit-ins under any banner whatsoever,” said al-Shaar. “The laws in force in Syrian will be applied in the interest of the safety of the people and the stability of the country.”

More demonstrations thereupon spread across the country.

Wednesday, Iranian and Syrian sources predicted an escalation of the unrest. The fact that this information was relayed by Iranian sources indicated that Tehran had pitched in to help Bashar Assad cope with the massive opposition before it topples him.

Acting under the annulled emergency laws, Syrian security forces in civilian garb went into action before dawn Wednesday, April 20,  knocking on the doors of Sunni clerics in Homs, the third largest city in the country, and taking them to out-of-town prisons. When relatives inquired about their whereabouts, officials replied they were “missing.” According to some reports, up to 100 people have been killed in Homs in the last 24 hours. The injured are hiding in private homes afraid to go to hospitals where security men either finish them off or detain them. The fate of some 5,000 detainees remains unknown and many believe several hundreds may have been killed and buried without the knowledge of their next of kin, some of them taken out of overcrowded prisons.

 In Lebanon, Sunnis and other anti-Assad elements allied to opposition groups in Syria fear President Assad may send his agents to purge them too.  Associates of the ousted Sunni prime minister Saad Hariri, the Christians’ Samir Geagea and Druze chiefs have gone underground and begun evacuating their families to Europe for fear of being targeted for assassination.

 After giving up on Obama and Israel ever confronting Iran, Saudi Arabia has struck out against the Obama administration for a Gulf campaign to cut down the Islamic Republic’s drive for a nuclear bomb and its expansionist meddling in Arab countries, sources report. King Abdullah is confident that combined Gulf missile, air force and naval strength are capable of striking deep inside Iran. Its nuclear program is seen in Riyadh as gaining momentum after recovering from a cyber attack.

 Saudi Arabia recently cut daily oil production by 500,000 barrels as a symbol of its disgruntlement with Obama a move that will punish Americans with even higher fuel cost.

This week, the NY Times Magazine is running an excerpt of the book, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother, which not only illuminates the life of Stanley Ann during her time in Indonesia, but provides new insights into the childhood of the man who would eventually become president.

We learn that the Indonesian children would throw rocks at him and call him racial slurs, but that the experience may have shaped Obama’s calm demeanor.

Then there’s this anecdote:”What do you want to be when you grow up?” [Obama's stepfather] Lolo asked Barry one evening, according to Saman.

“Oh, prime minister,” Barry answered.

It would seem that at that point in his childhood, Obama assumed his stay in Indonesia was permanent and envisioned his future there. But concerned about his education, Stanley Ann sent Obama back to Hawaii when he was 10, and he would have to settle for becoming president of the United States instead.

The FAA suspended an air traffic controller for watching a movie on the job. The controller said he was only watching a movie because he couldn’t sleep. - Conan

The Egyptian Army captured two rockets, two bombs and four rocket-propelled grenades. The Army was also said to have seized four gun sights, three machine guns and ammunition.

Britain plans to send military officers from special forces to Libya to help the revolt against Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The British mission was meant to help the rebels form a fully-fledged military force.

The British action marked the first military contingent by a NATO member in Libya since the alliance’s no-fly zone mission, which began in mid-March.

The British military deployment in Libya came amid an admission by NATO that it was unable to stop the advance by Gadhafi forces.

Despite intensified air operations, Gadhafi’s estimated 20,000-member military has continued attacks on major rebel strongholds, including Misrata. A reality that no one seriously believed could be accomplished with boiots on the ground.

France has reiterated its opposition to ground troops in Libya. But France has characteristically called for an intensification of NATO air strikes.

“We are absolutely opposed to a deployment of troops on the ground,” French Foreign Minister.

Gadhafi’s opposition has accused Algeria of sending military equipment to the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

War profiteering is not new and fortunes and political careers have been made selling to both sides.

The IMF has told France that the USA has no viable plan to repay its debt.

 One century ago, on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War, historian Wilhelm Kaufmann concluded that without his 216,000 German-born soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln could not have won that conflict. More recently, Thomas Adam, professor of history at the University of Texas in Arlington, suggested that this might be an exaggeration, and German historian Wolfgang Helbich rated Kaufmann’s finding as an indication of “how filiopietism then and ethnic politics now can mangle straight facts;” the word, filiopietism, means immoderate reverence for forebears or tradition.

Kaufmann made his observation in his book, “Die Deutschen im amerikanischen Bürgerkriege” (the Germans in the American Civil War), the seminal work on this subject. He was not alone in his assessment. “Take the Dutch out of the Union army, and we could whip the Yankees easily,” said Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate forces, meaning “die Deutschen” (the Germans), not the Dutch, who hailed from the Netherlands.

In 1869, Benjamin Gould, a Union army physician, analyzed official reports about the Civil War. He found that 2,018,200 men served in the northern regiments. Of these, he concluded, German-born men were the most loyal Union supporters. German immigrants, Gould added, provided 50 percent more soldiers than they would have had to by law. According to Kaufmann, every tenth Union trooper was a German. “Germans fought almost exclusively on the side of the Union and outnumbered all other ethnic groups significantly;” only a few thousand served in the Confederate forces.

“Their unity placed [German immigrant soldiers] in a unique position,” Kaufmann wrote. While native Americans and members of all other immigrant groups split into two hostile military camps… Germans found [themselves] only on the side of the Union. Hardly anybody among them supported secession, and there were almost no German Slave owners.”   

 Their loyalty to the northern cause also paralleled the sentiment in their homeland. “In most German states public opinion was strongly pro-Union,” Adam wrote in his book, “Germany and the Americas.” He related how Frankfurt became a hub of pro-Union activities, in part due to the influence of U.S. consul general William Walton Murphy who “made sure that the press remained friendly,” wrote articles in the leading local newspapers and convinced Frankfurt banks to support large war bonds.

 Not that their loyalty earned German Civil War soldiers much gratitude from their Anglo-American comrades-in-arms, who reviled them as “bloody Dutchmen” and blamed their alleged “cowardice” for the disasterous defeat of 76,000 Union forces by 43,000 Confederates during the battle of Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863, a claim not supported by today’s military historians.

German commanders such as Col. Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker reported that their units were deprived of supplies and had to find their own provisions as a result of “know-nothing” prejudices against immigrants prevalent among American-born bigots, called responsible for logistics.

Tales of open anti-German bias by American anti-immigrant “nativists” two generations before Hitler’s rise to power in Germany mar the otherwise upbeat story about the powerful contribution by the largest ethnic group in the United States to the eradication of slavery.

 rman units were often mirror images of the Turnvereine, or gymnastics associations, that emerged during the German revolutions in the first half of the 19th century. At first, German was the command language of many of these regiments. Their soldiers wore uniforms resembling those of the armies of the different German principalities. The German-language press in the United States praised them for being better led, fighting better, keeping their camps better and their bodies in better condition than their English-speaking counterparts in the Union army.

So well regarded were some of the German units that the Jewish community in Chicago raised a company of volunteers on the condition that they be integrated into a regiment commanded by Col. Hecker, a lawyer and former leader of the failed revolution in the German Duchy of Baden.

On the other hand, throughout the Civil War German troops were the target of ridicule by the English-language press and derogatory pamphlets circulating among the military, though Lincoln strongly comdemned such tendencies, and Gen. William T. Sherman praised the bravery of his German soldiers. He also called on of their commanders, Col. Edward Siber, the “best trained officer in this army.”

 It seems that the Germans’ insistence on the maintenance of their distinctive lifestyle, on cultivating their language, their music and educational system, and on drinking lots of beer, have caused this antagonism, which 50 years later, in World War I, has produced heinous forms of persecution, including lynching, out of all places in Missouri.

Yet it was in Missouri where 10 primarily German-speaking regiments saw to it that this state under the leadership of its pro-Confederate Governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson did not change sides. Their most famous commander was Col., later Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, a Baden revolutionary who was instrumental in turning “Turnvereine” into combat-ready forces.

It was in Missouri, too, where two German-language newspapers, “Anzeiger des Westens” and “Westliche Post”, were instrumental in upholding pro-Union sentiment among the German population; of the 170,000 inhabitants of St. Louis, 60,000 were Germans.

Among the editors of “Westliche Post” were men who played pivotal roles in the conflict: Carl Schurz, a general, later Senator from Missouri and then U.S. Secretary of the Interior; Emil Praetorious who organized German troops in the Civil War, but also Joseph P.Pulitzer, a German-speaking Hungarian who joined the paper after the War as a court reporter.

Considering that Missouri was on the verge of joining the Confederacy, and that the Union might not have prevailed in such a catastrophe, historian Wilhelm Kaufmann could well be right: Abraham Lincoln might have lost the Civil War; so perhaps he owed his victory indeed to Germans.

As you noodle this consider that fully 19% of American forces in World War II WERE OF German extraction, and without them - including General Eisenhower - Hitler might well not have been defeated.

The governor of Hawaii said he first met President Obama just days after he was born. He knew it was Obama because he kept pointing to his diaper and calling for “change.” - Conan

Border Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County Arizona has a message for Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who claims the U.S. - Mexico border is safer than ever - “that is an outright laugh!”

Last month, Janet Napolitano told an audience in El Paso, Texas that the security on the southern boarder “is better now than it ever has been” and that Mexican violence has not had a serious effect on neighboring towns.

“These are foreign-born criminals that are here in our country,” Babeu said, “That’s what we’re finding is going on here, and not only is it unacceptable, it has created a situation where now, there are as few as 75, as many as 100 lookout posts from drug cartels just for this one smuggling corner- drug cartels hold high positions on terrain features or mountains to provide safe passage for their drug cartels. That a cartel from Mexico can have this mature an organization in our country is outrageous.”

Cartels derive much of their power by violence and instilling fear into the law enforcement officials. Indeed, Babeu and his team of deputies have had numerous threats on their lives. Babeu says he never is unarmed.

“They kill police chiefs, they kill judges, they kill journalists, and mayors of small communities. That violence clearly is coming to America,” he said. ” We’ve had people that have been kidnapped, people that have been murdered, largely illegals. We’ve had, in Chandler, Arizona, a beheading that is now confirmed…. So the violence isn’t coming here, the violence is here. It’s not going to get better; it’s going to get worse until we secure this border..”

A black Angus cow in Montana is the proud mother of triplet 40-pound calves.- two females and male are all healthy.– such births only happen once in 165,000 births. Mom iks nursing all three of her calves.

According to a New York Times/ CBS poll released on Thursday, 56% of Republicans said they do not “feel enthusiastic” about any of their party’s likely presidential candidates. Further, no candidate cracked double-digit support in the survey, which left the question open-ended by not providing respondents with a list of candidates to choose from.

Nine percent of Republicans said they were excited about Mitt Romney, while 8% said the same about Mike Huckabee. Donald Trump came in third with 7%, followed by Newt Gingrich (6%) and Sarah Palin (5%).

Likely factoring into that finding is this year’s delayed primary season. Only a handful of candidates have even announced exploratory committees thus far, leaving the field very nebulous at this stage. And with nine months to go before the first primary contest, it’s also possible that Republicans haven’t been paying much attention to their party’s candidates just yet.

Consider that over three-fourths of all Republicans had no opinion of six likely GOP contenders when they were presented later in the New York Times/ CBS poll. Jon Huntsman, envoy to China turned potential GOP candidate, was virtually unknown to 94% of all Republicans surveyed.

On the other hand though, the well-known candidates aren’t necessarily well liked, according to the poll. Only two of the big-name GOPers posted favorability ratings about 50% — and even then, just barely.

Fifty-four percent of Republicans viewed Huckabee favorably, while 51% said the same about Palin. Forty-two percent said they liked Romney and Gingrich each, while 35% had a favorable impression of Donald Trump.

Of course Republicans’ attitudes toward their candidates will change as the field comes into focus later this year. But for now, they largely don’t know who’s running, or don’t care for those who are.

The New York Times/ CBS poll was conducted April 15-20 among 543 Republican adults. It has a margin of error of 4.0%.

The first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eight decades were opened on Wednesday as part of efforts to reverse the decline of New York City’s world-famous theme park. Last summer was Coney Island’s biggest in nearly a half century, and this year — with the addition of the first new roller coasters since the Cyclone opened in 1927.

Barbara Wagner, is covered through the state of Oregon’s government health care plan, was denied an important cancer drug she requested and instead was offered a drug for assisted suicide.  Below is an excerpt from the KATU.com article:

Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved.

Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including “physician aid in dying,” better known as assisted suicide.

“I told them, I said, ‘Who do you guys think you are?’ You know, to say that you’ll pay for my dying, but you won’t pay to help me possibly live longer?’ ” Wagner said.

I think these storms are God’s way of sending us a message. I think that message is that when warm humid air masses surge northward from the Gulf of Mexico and combine with a strong jet stream, it can result in severe weather conditions-Kimmel

With the Royal Wedding close it seems worthwhile the origins of the ancient wedding poem:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. So this wedding tradition is definitely English, and many sources say that it began in the Victorian era.

Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy. “Something old” symbolizes continuity with the bride’s family and the past. “Something new” means optimism and hope for the bride’s new life ahead. “Something borrowed” is usually an item from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune in marriage is supposed to carry over to the new bride. The borrowed item also reminds the bride that she can depend on her friends and family.

 As for the colorful item, blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. In ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity. Christianity has long dressed the Virgin Mary in blue, so purity was associated with the color. Before the late 19th century, blue was a popular color for wedding gowns, as evidenced in proverbs like, “Marry in blue, lover be true.”

 And finally, a silver sixpence in the bride’s shoe represents wealth and financial security. It may date back to a Scottish custom of a groom putting a silver coin under his foot for good luck. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be in the left shoe. These days, a dime or a copper penny is sometimes substituted, and many companies sell keepsake sixpences for weddings.

Highfalutin (hy-fuh-LOOT-n) Also spelled as hifalutin or highfalutin’ or hifalutin’ or highfaluting.adjective: Pompous; bombastic. Etymology Of uncertain origin, perhaps from high-fluting, from flute. Earliest documented use: 1839.