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In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. BetiseNoun a stupid mistake Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... Review Threads: Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!) Review Thread Two: Word...

The Spiritually Lazy Saint "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . ." —Hebrews 10:24-25 We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been very critical of Sonia Sotomayor, appears to be changing his tune on the Supreme Court nominee. The Miami Herald reports that Graham, unlike some other Republican senators who continue to gear up for a fight over Sotomayor's confirmation, is weakening in his opposition. Here is what Graham said, per the Herald: "The only way she can get derailed is if she performs poorly next week," acknowledged Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Senate Judiciary Committee member. He said he was still undecided, but added, "I honestly think I could vote for...

Haley Barbour emerged victorious this past week. While states nationwide were issuing IOUs, the Mississippi legislature actually passed a balanced budget albeit kicking and screaming from the pressure levied on them by Governor Barbour. This may be viewed historically as Governor Barbour's second greatest accomplishment of his term (the first being of course the response to Katrina). It will likely further serve to raise his stock among conservatives in the 2012 Presidential conversation. Remember where we came from before the Special Session. The Billy McCoy-led House wanted $0 hospital assessment on Medicaid. Governor Barbour got $60M that will increase to...

IS HONDURAS more important than Iran is to Washinton? Does a military putsch in a small Central American republic rate more attention than a stolen election and cry for freedom from the biggest, and a well-advanced, country in the Middle East? Honduras gets the nod on these outlandish questions. President Barack Obama has set his heart on change in Washington’s relations with Latin America, and Honduras is his first test of purpose. Mr. Obama is not personally involved in the diplomatic game now nearing the climax. He had a summit in Moscow this week and the G8 summit in Italy...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran armed forces chief who ousted President Manuel Zelaya said the decision to throw him out of the country was made by "the state" to save lives, because violence would have erupted had he remained. General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, leader of the joint chiefs of staff, told Reuters it was a difficult decision for him to topple Zelaya on June 28, because the two were friends. But he said he was following orders from the Supreme Court and Congress, which have accused Zelaya of violating the constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits. "The outside...

Such allegations underscore the one-sided nature of the news that has been served up to Hondurans during the crisis. According to results of a Gallup poll published here Thursday, 41 percent of Hondurans think the ouster was justified, with 28 opposed to it. In Honduras, though, the country's new leaders, the security forces and the clergy argue that Zelaya's removal had legal justification the rest of the world does not understand. Local media largely "slanted coverage" to favor that position, said Carlos Lauría of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "The de facto government clearly used the security forces...

Mayor Bill White on Thursday sought to calm and reassure the city in the wake of this week’s discovery of racist, sexist graffiti at a north Houston fire station. But at least some of his suggestions to boost harmony and smooth administration raised sparks with the nearly 4,000-member firefighters union. Rules meant to assure due process for firefighters suspected of wrongdoing have the potential to slow the investigation, White said. Also, rules requiring that promotion decisions be based largely on test scores make it difficult to put the best leaders in place, he said.

Last Sunday, Honduras removed its would-be dictator, Mel Zelaya, who flouted court rulings by using intimidation to try to get Hondurans to change their constitution to allow him to extend his tenure in office. The country’s Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya, which the military enforced by removing Zelaya. The country’s legislature then voted almost unanimously to replace him with its legislative speaker, in accord with the country’s constitution. Now, Obama, who knows nothing about Honduran law, is ignorantly claiming that Zelaya’s removal was “illegal,” and demanding that Zelaya be reinstated as president. His demand is joined in...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2009 DECLARATION OF THE LEADERS THE MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE We, the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States met as the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in L’Aquila, Italy, on July 9, 2009, and declare as follows: Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our...

Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan recently replied to a fan letter on the band's website and seemed to throw a barb at the late Michael Jackson in the process. In a post on Thursday, Corgan responded to a fan article entitled "Pumpkins by Any Other Name" that addressed the recent changes in personnel the band underwent, as well as the music created from the changes. "In the center of any of it has been for me, personally speaking, my music," Corgan wrote. "Yes, MY music. The music that came out of this being and body. I've called the umbrella the...

California attorney Orly Taitz, who has pursued multiple legal challenges to Barack Obama's eligibility to be the president, is attracting some high-level attention, with the Justice Department trying to add itself onto one of her cases and the legal counsel for the Joint Chiefs of Staff being assigned to review another issue. Taitz has filed multiple legal actions around the country alleging Obama does not meet the constitutional requirements to occupy the Oval Office. One of her cases, filed against Obama as an individual for actions before he took office, is scheduled for a hearing in a California court on...

The right to an abortion is not different than any other “fundamental right,” according to a legal brief issued by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), in a case regarding Missouri state funding restrictions on abortion from 1988 when attorney Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the group’s governing board. Sotomayor, now a U.S. court of appeals judge nominated by President Barack Obama to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, served on the board from 1980 to 1992, during which time the organization weighed in on five abortion cases. These included the 1988 case...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2009 NATIONAL SUMMER LEARNING DAY, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Like an athlete out of practice, a child who takes long breaks from learning can face academic setbacks. This problem is especially prominent during the summer, when students may lose more than two months of progress. Children must remain engaged to maintain and build upon their current academic achievement. Learning loss can...

Just go to the LINK here, hit the little arrow below the photo, and video will stream from Japanese TV today. Takes a few seconds to load.Lots of action.Link will be good for another 24 hours or so.Goes inside the command/control center for nuclear launch of ICBMs from Montana (Malmstron AF Base, US Air Force) and also shows US commandoes in action in anti-nuke terrorist training. A "don't mess with us" statement is also issued by a US nuke command military spokesman--thankfully so.Eagles Up.

Why was the "collapse of Communism" staged in the Soviet Union and not China? Well, I believe first, because the Soviet Union, especially Russia, is the fountain-head of Communism; if the Soviet Union collapses, one could loosely say Communism had collapsed, But there's another reason, according to Golitsyn:

A nurse has filed a lawsuit against the medical records provisions of President Obama's stimulus bill alleging it not only gives government officials access to personal health records, it would open the door for bureaucrats to make health care decisions. The lawsuit was filed in federal court for the Southern District of New York by Beatrice Heghmann, a nurse from Durham, N.H. It targets the health sections of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that demand all health care records be put into an electronic format. The recently filed claim cites the authorization of the "Office of the National...

The US military recently released five Iranian Qods Force agents who had posed as diplomats and were detained in northern Iraq in late 2006. The Iranian agents were released to the Iraqi government, which is expected to promptly turn them back over to Iran. In January 2007, the five Iranian agents were detained by US forces in the Kurdish city of Irbil. Iran claimed the men were part of a diplomatic mission in Irbil, and protested the arrest. The men were operating from a liaison office that did not enjoy diplomatic privileges, however. The US military accused the five Iranians...

A unilateral attack by Israel against Iran to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions would be an "absolute catastrophe," AFP quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as warning on Thursday. Sarkozy was speaking after a summit of the Group of Eight and other leaders in Italy at which they agreed on the need to pursue a negotiated deal with Tehran to halt its nuclear program.