Damn that Bush Economy!

166,000 new jobs in October.

Factory orders up by .2 %, better than the .4% decline predicted.

Hourly wages up .2%

 This is great.  It was passed on by a friend of mine in Dayton:

 A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like
so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal
Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in
favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other
words, redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch
Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures
that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a
professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil,
selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher
taxes on the rich and the need for more government pr ograms. The
self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be
the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by
asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0
GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she
was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying,
which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew.
She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have
many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"
She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy
classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is
so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always
invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show
up for classes! becau se she's too hung over."

Her father asked her, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and
ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend
Audrey, who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA
and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily
fired back, "That's a crazy idea. How would that be fair? I've
worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and
a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her
degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently "Welcome to the
Republican Party."

WSJ- All of the Democratic Presidential candidates have come out against the distinguished judge, and Democrats on the Judiciary Committee appear ready to block his nomination from even reaching the Senate floor. This is remarkable not for what it says about Judge Mukasey but for what it reveals about Democrats and the war on terror. They'd disqualify a man of impeccable judicial temperament and credentials merely because he's willing to give U.S. interrogators the benefit of the legal doubt before he has top-secret clearance.

Could there be a clearer demonstration of why voters don't trust Democrats with national security? In the war against al Qaeda, interrogation and electronic surveillance are our most effective weapons. Yet Democrats have for years waged a guerrilla war against both of these tools, trying to impose procedural and legal limits that can only reduce their effectiveness. Judge Mukasey is merely collateral damage in this larger effort.

The information concerning details of such interrogations is obviously classified, it would not be sensible to permit our enemy to learn and therefore prepare against such techniques. This requires Judge Mukasey to be briefed after being confirmed. If the libs are against our most successful interrogation technique, one which does not inflict injuries, then focus on it separately.

JDW

Sen Clinton: Founder of Media Matters

Wanted to hear some comments from some of you on your thoughts on the list of 100 most infuential conservatives and liberals that's posted on Drudge. I certainly had a laugh or two.

Thought you might be interested in this tidbit from  Montgomery County, MD.  This is a news advisory from PFOX (Parents and friends of ex-gays and gays -  www.pfox.org

BILL WOULD ALLOW MEN ACCESS TO WOMEN’S BATHROOMS, SHOWER ROOMS, LOCKERS

Montgomery County, MD --  Males who self-identify themselves as females will have open access to women's and girls' public restrooms, locker rooms and showers.  A new bill proposed by the Montgomery County, Maryland Council would augment the state’s existing non-discrimination laws by adding ‘gender identity’ as a protected class for transgenders if it passes on November 13.  

In addition to prohibiting discrimination in the areas of employment and housing, Bill 23-07 adds “public accommodation” to the list, causing many to question the judgment of allowing men who merely claim they feel female to have complete access to women’s restrooms, showers, and locker rooms in schools, and other places of public accommodation such as health clubs, swimming pools, and store dressing rooms. 

The Council defines “gender identity” as “an individual’s actual or perceived gender…,” meaning biologic males who see themselves as females, including cross-dressers, would obtain the right to use facilities now designated solely for women or girls.  Gay activists have long derided using genitalia to define one’s sex.  Instead of relying on “gender assigned at birth,” they believe it is up to oneself to determine his or her gender.

The Montgomery County Council has voiced callousness and arrogance to the concerns of parents who object.  When asked by a mother concerned about her 10-year-old daughter who swims at the Germantown Indoor Pool, where she must undress in front of women since there are no separate changing rooms, if under this law she could be changing next to a person with male genitals, Council member George Leventhal responded via email:  “I cannot absolutely put to rest your concern that girls might find themselves in a locker room or dressing room in the presence of a person who expresses or asserts herself as a woman but who still has male genitals, but based on my own sense of the prevalence of that condition in the population, I think the likelihood of that occurring is remote.”

Council member Leventhal's opinion that we should not worry if a child comes face to face with a nude male stranger (who merely has expressed he feels he is a woman) seems nothing short of condescending.  Opponents of the bill have been told that to challenge a male’s entry into a female area could be considered “harassment” against the male.

Dr. Ruth Jacobs, an infectious disease specialist and CRC’s representative, testified before the Council on October 2.  She told the Council that the American Psychiatric Association recognizes Gender Identity Disorder as a mental illness.  “No one has studied the effects of having a grade teacher Bob one day, and a cross-dressing Susan the next.  No one has proven that early introduction of gender change as normal and healthy is safe for children’s long term health and for their own gender identity development.  This bill forces the school to hire a mentally ill person.”   

I weep for our children.

This is a conservative blog?I thought it was centralist.

Not earth-shaking, but curious….

Two, front-page New York Times articles, same day (Monday, Oct. 29). Laid out one inch apart.

The seventh paragraph of one begins: “But cultural change does not come smoothly.” The seventh paragraph of the other begins: “His fall is also a reminder of how dangerous it is to tinker with a firm’s culture.”

The first is about a Massachusetts principal who requires students to take yoga. (Sigh) The second is about the ouster of Merrill Lynch CEO E. Stanley O’Neal. Different settings, obviously, but clearly what got the Times excited was the notion of heroic culture-changers running afoul of stodgy protectors of the status quo. (The paper helps the theme along by noting the principal, Paul Richards, was criticized by Rush Limbaugh when the school stopped publishing the honor roll in the local newspaper to protect the fragile psyches of average students.) 

Again, not shocking, but interesting to see the “culture change” theme practiced in such synch.

BONUS: The Times has a thing for our yoga-mandating, esteem-nuturing principal, Paul Richards. They turned to him before, in this 2005 call to class warfare series, “Class Matters:” 

The former principal of Nantucket High School, Paul Richards, and his wife, Martina, a nurse, moved last year to Needham, Mass., after renting here for five years. "The expense of that together with having two little children made a home beyond reach," Mr. Richards said.

 I guess when you find yourself a true Culture Crusader, you stick with him. 

AP- FBI Was Told Of OJ Simpson Plan In Advance

Just off the wire... Federal agents knew three weeks in advance that O.J. Simpson and a memorabilia dealer planned a sting operation to retrieve personal items Simpson said were stolen from him, according to FBI reports obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Riccio was advised to contact a lawyer before taking any action and was told that alerting the FBI would not absolve him of any potential crime, Special Agent Linda Kline wrote of the meeting, which occurred in Los Angeles. ...

JDW

Sen Clinton: Founder of Media Matters

Looks like Mukasey has got the nod...

Feinstein and I have heard Schumer are going to vote him out of committee.

I'm still not sure what to think of him.

Oh well..time will tell.