Ok, maybe not. But he did say he’s been to “57″ states during his campaign. Huh?

There are no more despicable people than those who sexually exploit children:

Bernie Ward, the most prominent liberal voice on Bay Area talk radio for more than two decades, admitted Thursday to distribution of child pornography by e-mail in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years.

[...]

At a 30-minute hearing in federal court in San Francisco, Ward admitted he was guilty of a single charge of distributing child pornography, saying it involved “exchanging an image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit activity” in December 2004. The plea agreement he signed, quoted in court, contained an admission that he had sent between 15 and 150 pornographic images via e-mail.

I guess it wasn’t just “research,” as he initially claimed.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, perhaps still reeling from a recent rebuke by the country’s powerful Islamic clerics, has today returned to his more “terrestrial” talk of wiping Israel off the map.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the state of Israel is a “stinking corpse” that is destined to disappear, the French news agency AFP reported.

“Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said.

“Today the reason for the Zionist regime’s existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation.”

Do you see why it might be a good idea to keep this man from getting his grubby little mitts on nuclear weapons?

Democrat Party strategists Paul Begala and Donna Brazille had an interesting exchange the other night on CNN, with Begala claiming that Democrats can’t win with Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill) current coalition of “eggheads and African-Americans.”

Don’t you just love it when Democrats blatently play the electoral race card and then accuse Republicans of being racist (“monochromatic,” as Begala more subtly puts it) in the same breath?

We needed a court to decide this?

Saying “I divorce thee” three times, as men in Muslim countries have been able to do for centuries when leaving their wives, is not enough if you’re a resident of Maryland, the state’s highest court ruled yesterday.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals rejected a Pakistani man’s argument that his invocation of the Islamic talaq, under which a marriage is dissolved simply by the husband’s say-so, allowed him to part with his wife of more than 20 years and deny her a share of his $2 million estate.

The justices affirmed a lower court’s decision overturning a divorce decree obtained in Pakistan by Irfan Aleem, a World Bank economist who moved from London to Maryland with his wife, Farah Aleem, in 1985.

What sort of chaos would result if most of us were required to live under the laws of this country while other residents could live under the laws of their country of origin?  Thank goodness the Maryland court had a little sense in this case.

NBC recently aired this story about the effects of Global Warming at the North Pole.  They even showed some poor, defenseless penguins floating on an island of ice!  The only problem is that penguins don’t live at the North Pole, but in Antarctica near the South Pole.  Oops…

(Note: Sorry about the delayed YouTube audio)

Still don’t believe the media has an agenda?

 A new study shows that Conservatives are happier than Liberals because we’re able to “justify economic inequalities.”

To justify economic inequalities, a person could support the idea of meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance.

In that way, one’s social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be perceived as totally fair and justified.

If your beliefs don’t justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of New York University.

I couldn’t have said it better myself!  Apparently we’re happier because we’re not socialist! 

I realize this study was more intended to malign Conservatives by saying that we just don’t care, but the truth is we do believe that, in America - the greatest land of opportunity mankind has ever known - people have a lot of control over their own destiny.  If you work hard, make responsible life decisions, and yes, even make sacrifices, then there’s a good chance that you can improve your financial status.

If you’re lazy, make poor lifestyle decisions, and seek every luxury right now with credit cards or an excessive mortgage, then it’s not the job of government to insulate you from the consequences by taking more from those who have sacrificed and achieved and giving it to you.

I’m certainly not rich, but I do think that the hard work, sacrifices, and good decisions I’m making now will pay off for my family and me down the road.  It’s not a difficult concept, and yes, I’m happy to share it…

A Huffington Post blogger, Jeffrey Feldman, seems to think that Rush Limbaugh’s call for Republicans to vote in the Dem’s presidential primary is the same as the Hutus using the radio to call for genocide against Tutsi civilians in Rwanda.  What?

How does Limbaugh’s bid to incite political violence with radio broadcasts differ from previous instances where radio has been used to that end (e.g., Rwanda)?

Most Americans would agree that using radio to incite political violence is not only wrong, but the attempt itself represents a massive failure in our democracy. How Limbaugh’s broadcasts differ from, say, radio broadcasts that incited violence in Rwanda and Kenya, for example, can help us to understand exactly what Limbaugh was doing and the exact danger it poses.

Now, I’m no Limbaugh apologist (we appear on the radio with one of his local competitors here in Des Moines), but this is one of the most ridiculous moral “equivalence” arguments I’ve heard.  Limbaugh hasn’t called for violence and genocide.  Rev. Al Sharpton said he would demonstrate if the superdelegates “steal” the nomination from Obama or if Michigan and Florida’s delegates are seated for Clinton in violation of party rules.

If Limbaugh were using his program to incite actual genocide, then Mr. Feldman would have a point.  Using it to encourage people to vote though, is something different altogether.  Just ask the Paul Rusesabagina…

Here’s a nice little story about Duvall County in Florida, where 54% of their 10th graders couldn’t read well enough to pass a standardized test.  Parents are pissed!

This Ribault High School sophomore - is about as quiet as a teenage girl can get. She barely speaks. But the tears streaming down her face say a lot.

“I am not going to be successful,” says the 17 year old student.

She thinks that – because she can’t read well enough to pass the 10th grade FCATS.

“I was sad. It made me feel like I’m dumb,” she says.

Her score is as low as it can get – a 1 out of a possible 5. All that says is she’s at least two years behind in reading comprehension. If she can’t catch up and pass the FCAT - she may not graduate high school. That’s news to her grandmother Eunice – who’s become guardian of her education.

“They were going to wait until we thought she was getting ready to march across the stage to tell us?” says Eunice.

[...]

“I want heads to roll. I want someone to be held accountable for what they have done to this child,” says Eunice.

Uh, if your 17-year-old student can’t read and you haven’t even invested enough time in her education to know that before the tenth grade, then that’s your own fault!  Yes, it’s obviously an awful school district (open enrollment and vouchers anybody?), but the government can’t even balance a budget… why in the world would you make them the sole trustee of your child’s education?

Take a little responsibility yourself…

Ok, so I was a little off on my predictions yesterday but I did predict Obama as the nominee well before a single primary or caucus had been held, and when Hillary was still the presumed front runner… and he basically has it wrapped up now.