Why Arlen? Arlen is the TV home of "King of the Hill." It's a small conservative town that is threatened with ruination on a regular basis by twig boys, enviro wackos, diversity nuts, "PC" police and other ivory tower liberals. I like to think of Arlen as a metaphor for this here great nation of ours. |
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Posted
5:55 PM
by Hank
For the forseeable future I will be blogging with the fellas over at http://www.federalreview.com/ Monday, May 22, 2006
Posted
8:52 AM
by Hank
The Finger Lakes Times reports that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer "sent 'a final notice' to concessionaire Darlene DiFederico of Geneva, notifying her that she needed to settle a $2,058.28 debt or a lawsuit would be initiated against her." According to the paper, DiFrederico ran the concession stand at Cayuga Lake State Park. The stand was forced to close, the paper reports, after the state shut down its "sprayground" attraction at the site. The sprayground was closed last year, the Times noted, "after about 40 people complained of a gastrointestinal illness. In subsequent weeks, reports of the outbreak grew to more than 3,869 people in 35 counties — with 612 cases confirmed. The state Health Department determined the illness was cryptosporidiosis, caused by a microscopic parasite." “I closed because there was no business down there,” DiFederico said, adding she ultimately lost $12,000 following the sprayground’s closing Aug. 16. “Everybody bailed out. It was like we had the plague.” Several lawsuits and claims have been filed against the state, alleging that the state's negligence caused the outbreak. After the outbreak, the state Health Department decided to rewrite regulations governing water quality at all sprayparks. Spitzer's office said last week it hopes that it and DiFederico "can resolve the dispute before it gets to court." New York State is often viewed as unfriendly to business. Despite this lawsuit, Spitzer, a candidate for governor this year, has claimed he will turn that unfriendly climate around. Sunday, May 21, 2006
Posted
7:40 AM
by Hank
According to the article, Americans may simply be perceived as sicker because our medical system does more tests, and is quicker to label a patient as "sick": The question of which country is healthier...turns out to be a perfect illustration of an issue that has plagued American medicine: the more health problems you look for, the more you find. And Americans, medical researchers say, are avid about looking. The article goes on to note: Some people call it disease-mongering, says Dr. Lisa Schwartz of Dartmouth Medical School. She once calculated that if everyone had the recommended tests for blood cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index and diabetes, 75 percent of adults in the United States would be labeled as diseased. And new diseases arise by the minute, she says In other words, it may be that the United States is actually more diligent about diagnosis, treatment and reporting illness. This, in turn, skews the statistics to make our nation look less healthy than it is. Though unspoken in the article (it is the Times, after all), this also sheds doubt on the theory that socialized medicine in Europe keeps their citizens healthier. If anything, it's possible that they are missing diseases that American medicine catches and treats. Its something worth looking into. Saturday, May 20, 2006
Posted
9:23 AM
by Hank
Joseph's comments came despite studies that show taxes, including local taxes, up to one third of the cost of gas. Many experts consider the gas tax a “regressive” tax, meaning it disproportionately affects the poor and middle class. Joseph did not offer any proposals for cutting the local cost of gas. He did, however, volunteer his belief that “oil companies continue to drive up the cost of gasoline.” The average price for gasoline in Ithaca is currently over $3.02 per gallon, approximately ten cents a gallon higher than the national average. Sunday, May 07, 2006
Posted
6:43 PM
by Hank
In my opinion, that's a long shot. However, given how willing Wilson is to trade on his wife's alleged "covert" status even to this day, it's not completely impossible. Monday, May 01, 2006
Posted
9:14 PM
by Hank
This proves that the Bond movies are fiction. In real life, if you run over a terrorist with a bulldozer, their family sues the manufacturer. Thursday, April 20, 2006
Posted
6:58 AM
by Hank
Writing in the Ithacan, Stephen D. Mosher, a Professor in the Department of Sports Management and Media, claims the use of the flag on sports uniforms violates athletes’ right to free speech: Many non-citizen athletes are expected to wear the national flag of the country where they play, yet cannot participate in its democracy. Most importantly, the process attaching the flag to uniforms during the buildup to the first Iraq War, in 1990, was almost always done without the participation of the players who wear the uniforms, thus denying them their free speech rights. The professor also mocked the people who choose to wear the flag: It is laughable to hear this action is an expression of patriotism when it is so closely associated with supporting war. This is not the first time employees at Ithaca College have attacked the flag and what it represents. In 2001, shortly after September 11, a faculty member reported being accused of “jingoism” by other employees for “simply flying the American flag.” Friday, April 07, 2006
Posted
7:08 AM
by Hank
According to the Ithaca Journal, a federal appeals court ruled that the city unfairly singled out preacher Kevin Deegan with its noise law in October, 1999, and threatened him with arrest if he continued to preach in public: The appeals court noted that Deegan said he had heard a singing group 200 feet away and people talking more than 25 feet from him but they were left undisturbed. Ithaca, a small college town in upstate New York, often boasts that its far-left politics make it "the most enlightened city in America." Conservatives, meanwhile, often refer to it as "the City of Evil." Monday, April 03, 2006
Posted
11:31 AM
by Hank
Hobart and William Smith Colleges President Mark Gearan has sent a letter to faculty and staff decrying the use of the word "fruit" on t-shirts worn by Hobart lacrosse fans to the game against Syracuse last week at the Carrier Dome. It would be easy to laugh at Gearan's fear of offending produce. However, maybe there is something to to this. In 2002, the Associated Press reported that Syracuse U banned the Boy Scouts from the Carrier Dome for excluding gays. So maybe the "Orangeman" actually is a little bit of a "rainbow warrior." And, damn, if that mascot doesn't look a little light in the loafers. Saturday, March 04, 2006
Posted
2:37 PM
by Hank
ABC News is reporting that an Iranian former student at University of North Carolina is in police custody "after he allegedly drove a sport utility vehicle through a popular gathering spot on campus Friday, clipping and scattering startled bystanders." Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22... was in the custody of campus police. They intended to charge him with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Taherir-azar's nationality would probably be irrelevant, except, as ABC also notes: ABC's local affiliate had additional information: The scene of the alleged attack, UNC, was recently the site of protests by Muslim students, after the school paper published a Muhammad cartoon: Because the attack may have been religiously or politically motivated, the F.B.I. has been called in the case, ABC notes. The local Muslim student group has condemned the attack, and insisted that Taheri-azar is not a member. Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Posted
5:44 AM
by Hank
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that "ArtStart," a St. Paul-based nonprofit organization that provides art classes to the school changed its classes because of Muslim law: [S]ome Muslims ...refrain from producing images of ordinary human beings and animals, citing Islamic teaching. As a result of those meetings, the paper reports, the curriculum was revamped: Out the window right away went masks, puppets and that classic of elementary school art class, the self-portrait, said Sara Langworthy, an artist with ArtStart. Revamping the curriculum "definitely requires stepping outside of the normal instincts that you fall back on," she said. The curriculum applies to all elementary students regardless of religion. It is unclear at this time whether the American Civil Liberties Union, which normally opposes the mixing of "church and state," will weigh in on the matter. However, in regard to schools teaching Judeo-Christian religionn, the ACLU has previously stated: While people have a right to teach their religious beliefs to others in churches, mosques, synagogues and private schools, public schools should not be used by people to teach their personal religious beliefs to other people's children. One art teacher at the school called the new curriculum "narrowing." "But then within that, you can find the depth," she added.
Posted
5:44 AM
by Hank
According to the Cornell Daily Sun, Nathan Poffenbarger, Class of '08, a regular contributor to the campus magazine, “Turn Left” was charged with second-degree assault, a class "D" felony, after allegedly stabbing a visiting student on West Campus during an altercation on Saturday (February 18). Police said the attack stemmed from a racial incident. “Witnesses told police Poffenbarger was yelling racial remarks at someone else, when the victim, a black male student, stepped in to stop him. The victim's name has not been released,” News10 reported. According to the Ithaca Journal, Poffenbarger is white. Capt. Kathy Zoner of the Cornell Police Department, told the Sun that the current charges could be elevated to class "C" under hate-crime statutes "if racial motivations are proven." Wayne Huang , the former editor-in-chief of "Turn Left," confirmed that Poffenbarger was a regular contributor to the magazine. Huang and "Turn Left" staff member Josh Perlman both said they were “shocked” to learn Poffenbarger had been arrested in this matter: "He had written a lot of good news pieces for us," said [Perlman]. "I had spoken to him earlier that day about a new article he was going to be doing. He didn't seem weird or anything when I spoke to him, just enthusiastic to be writing as he usually was. I was extremely shocked to hear about all this. This seems really out of character." According to "Turn Left’s" website, its mission statement is to “uphold and maintain tolerant and respectful political dialogue on the campus, promote and practice an ideology rooted in the belief of equality and freedom." Emergency workers took the victim to Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira where he is in stable condition, the Sun reported. Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Posted
1:16 PM
by Hank
WASHINGTON--Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ted Kennedy publicly mocked Vice President Cheney's hunting accident, the same day that the shooting victim suffered a mild heart attack brought on by the incident. According to New York Newsday: Clinton stopped by the Senate Armed Services Committee ...to listen to ...Kennedy...ask questions about Humvee safety. During the session, both shared a public chuckle at Cheney's expense. Kennedy and Clinton's comments came the same day that Cheney's friend and hunting partner, Harry M. Whittington, age 78, suffered a minor heart attack caused by birdshot lodged in his heart. According to the the New York Times: Whittington, was moved back into the intensive care unit at Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Tex., to be monitored for up to a week in case the birdshot shifted or additional pellets in his body moved into other organs Neither Clinton nor Kennedy are strangers to gun-related tragedies. Kennedy's brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s.
The press reports today that Cheney's friend is expected to make a full recovery. Monday, February 13, 2006
Posted
8:19 AM
by Hank
Unfortunately, the man who claims to have invented the internet has probably not been sane since at least the 2000 elections. As a result, we have former Vice President Al Gore over in Saudi Arabia, making trouble: Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience yesterday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after 9/11....So, apparently, Gore thinks that, post-9/11, we do not have enough potential terrorists entering the United States? It would be easy to dismiss Gore's comments as the ravings of a "sore loser." Unfortunately, the former Vice President is still a figure of prominence in the Democratic Party. In fact, an unscientific "presidential primary poll" at Democrats.com has him the party's frontrunner for 2008. Therefore, his comments both reflect his party and send a message to our enemies, and our allies, that terror against the U.S. is justified. Once again, the leadership of the Democratic party is putting its politics ahead of the American people Saturday, February 11, 2006
Posted
8:37 AM
by Hank
The details did little to counter skepticism from Democrats and some law enforcement officials who have questioned whether the reported scheme had ever been put into operation before it was thwarted. Let's look at what, basically, these democrats are saying. The same Democratic leadership that constantly whine that the President should have somehow "prevented" 9/11 are downplaying the fact he did, in fact, prevent a similar event. In fact, they almost act as if it would have been better, or at least more believable, for the President to have waited for the terror plot to progress further before stopping it. Similarly, the same Democratic leadership that constantly demands public hearings about our intelligence programs and defends leaking top secret information about the programs is now taking umbrage that the President, after the fact, revealed an incident where those intelligence programs worked, on the premise that information about the programs "isn't helpful." It seems as if, to the Democratic leadership, information about the programs is only helpful when it makes the President look bad. This is just one more example of how the Democratic leadership isn't fighting the war on terror. They're fighting a war on the President. Sunday, January 29, 2006
Posted
10:36 AM
by Hank
Since then, however, Sheehan has become a growing thorn in the Democrats’ side, as her extremist views and bizarre behavior are increasingly targeted at democrats who, in Sheehan’s opinion, are not sufficiently “anti-war” for the “peace mom.” First, Sheehan publicly attacked Hillary Clinton for her vote in support of the Iraq war. Since then, Clinton, crisscrossing the country in support of her 2008 presidential ambitions, has faced regular protests and even heckling from her own anti-war “base.” Now, Sheehan is actually considering a primary run for the Senate against California Senator Diane Feinstein, “to protest what she called the California lawmaker's support for the war in Iraq.”
That respect is creating the impression, in the minds of both Sheehan and her supporters, that she is a figure of stature and a serious voice in the national debate on the war in Iraq. Now, however that stature is being used against the very people who created it. As such, it will be interesting to see whether her mainstream supporters can escape this “peace monster” of their own creation. Monday, January 09, 2006
Posted
10:00 AM
by Hank
Liberals fear and hate conservative thought and red state values. That’s the message to be gleaned from two guest editorials with opposing political viewpoints. The Ithaca Journal recently printed a “guest editorial” from Janis Kelly, who complained that “liberal” Ithaca, which claims to celebrate diversity, did not extend that diversity to political or cultural thought: This provincial, almost tribal, insularity deprives us of a certain social richness, as well as of opportunities to hone our political thinking. As Ann Althouse noted, to many of the true-blue, “(A)dmitting that I don't share every one of their views ... would be tantamount to admitting that I am no longer a good person or a potential friend. ... Deep down, I don't think most of them believe that it is possible for anyone to be a worthwhile person who holds political views different from their own.” Kelly urged the liberal, or “blue” residents of Ithaca to try and see the “other side” of the political divide, the “red” areas and suggested, somewhat tongue in cheek:
This, Kelly suggested, might help the Democratic party understand the rural areas of the country and bring them greater success at the polls:
Kelly’s suggestion, however, did not sit well with at least one Ithaca Writing a response in the Journal, Jud Kilgore stated: I am proud to be Blue for whatever reason…than to be Red and all that label implies: deception in the highest offices, government sold to the highest corporate bidders; a war on science… economic insanity that allows an Everest of deficit in pursuit of tax relief for the fortunate at the expense of health care and education for the less fortunate…. My fear is of our elected leaders. Perhaps without realizing it, Kilgore proved Kelly correct. No where in his editorial did he say what he, and his fellow liberals, were for, only what he, and they, “hate” and “fear.” Furthermore, instead attempting to find common ground with his conservative neighbors, even on something as potentially non-controversial as the great Johnny Cash, he belittled them, proving himself every bit as “condescending… and contemptuous” as Kelly worried liberals could be seen as. As Kelly noted in her original editorial, many Democrats have been trying to find a way to bridge, or at least pay lip service to, the gap between themselves and “red state” America. Fortunately for Republicans, however, if Kilgore, and the rest of Ithaca, speak for the Democrats and liberals of America, that gap will be there for quite some time.
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