The Spanish Inquisition

Whoever would have thought that America could develop a "legal" process more demeaning and tortures than the Spanish Inquisition. We call it the grand jury.

At least, the Spanish Inquisition finished you off in short order with minor things like burning you at the stake or pulling you apart on the rack. The anguish only lasted a few short hours.

Grand juries go on for years. Federal Grand Juries have a seemingly unending pile of money, lengthy terms and rules that violate any semblance of due process.

People called before a grand jury do not have the right to counsel, no notes and testimony can drag on for hours. Questions can range to any topic over any time period and you are expected to have perfect memory.

Take the case of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief aide to Vice President Cheney [Granted if you have a nick name like Scooter, you already have problems.]. He was indicted for obstruction of justice in the Valeria Plame case. He was not indicted for outing a CIA agent. He was indicted for testifying to something on a Thursday that might have happened on Monday 2 or 3 years ago.

I'm not here to defend Libby. However, I think a process that essentially shreds the constitution should be done away with. Or maybe we should just go back to the torture chamber and get it over with quickly.

James Bond: Poster Child for Handgun Control Inc

Daniel Craig is the latest actor chosen to play James Bond, shaken not stirred, license to kill, 007 of Her Majesty's Secret Service.

He doesn't like guns. You know like Bond's Walther PPK. James Bond: gun grabber. It doesn't have the same appeal.

Of course, Pierce Bronson didn't let his looney-tune politics get in the way of rumbling down a street in a tank. At one point, Pierce came head-to-head with the Make-a-Wish Foundation that provided an Alaskan hunting trip to a terminally ill teenager. Pierce's alternative was a chair on the set of his new movie.

Hunting trip vs. Hollywood actors, let's go find some grizzly bears.

Ian Fleming, the creator of the Bond legend, wrote during the Cold War and had a background of fighting the Axis powers in World War II. It took a few guns to stop Tojo, Hitler and Mussolini.

Unfortunately, Sarah Brady and the wackos at Handgun Control Inc. conveniently forget that fighting men and women willing to do violence in defense of freedom secure their right to assault the Second Amendment and the Constitution. I guess a Bond that doesn't like guns isn't so far-fetched after all.

Old News?

The USS Cole came up again. You remember--October 12, 2000 a dhou full of explosives sails into the side of Guided Missile Destroyer, blows a huge hole in the side, kills seventeen American sailors.

The Clinton Administration feigned outrage and regret. The Navy blustered. America watched a US warship limp home to a Mississippi shipyard.

Everyone failed to mention that the Navy had been warned two weeks and then again two days before the Cole entered Aden Harbor. The warning was specific: DO NOT DOCK IN ADEN.

Now I know the U.S. Government is a bloated, ungainly monstrosity, but it has taken five years for this little tidbit to surface. The intelligence group that issued the warning was DIA operation called ABLE DANGER. They also issued a warning regarding Mohammed Atta in January 2000.

In both cases ABLE DANGER was ignored.

Incredibly, the current administration has muzzled the members of ABLE DANGER. They are not permitted to talk to Congress (usually a waste of time) or the media (which has largely ignored this story). However, I would love to hear what they have to say, and then I'd like to ask policy makers what they knew and when they knew it.

The Mohammed Atta warning came twenty months prior to September 11th. No one did a thing.

I'm angry and not in the mood for pat political answers. If the ABLE DANGER story is true, then the people responsible should be run out of power and/or kept out of power permanently. I don't really care who they are, Anyone in a position to have prevented either the Cole or September 11th should stand to answer for their negligence and incompetence.

Love Boat

Our local NFL club is not doing very well these days. One of the pre-season favorites for the playoffs and beyond, the Minnesota Vikings have stumbled out the gate.

Last week, seventeen players chartered 2 boats on Lake Minnetonka for a three hour cruise. This fiasco turned into a rude and lewd sex party.

We don't know who the players were. We don't even know if all seventeen players decided to leave their common sense on shore. These purple unworthies generated enough bad press and ill will, to make us forget that the last time they took to the field they gave up 9 sacks and 285 yards rushing.

Ziggy Wilf, the new owner, who wants a new stadium and paltry $300 million state contribution needs to decide on a course of action. To do nothing will ensure that no new stadium will ever be built. To apologize, quit stonewalling and clean house might be enough to salvage this team's public image.

During the off season, management told us the Randy Moss was the problem--a corrosive influence. Obviously, the rot goes much deeper than a single player. It looks to me like my favorite football team has developed a culture that cares nothing for public morality. It is a sad sad day, and it has nothing to do with what is happening on the field.

Once a commie...

How do you know a Russian is lying? Their lips are moving.

After giving President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon assurances that the Russians would not sell Syria SS-26 surface-to-air missile batteries, the Russian government signed an agreement to do just that.

The SS-26 is consider one of the most advanced missiles in the world. It is considered too fast and flexible for current electronic counter measures.

Our good buddies the Russians just sold these weapons to Syria--a front line state that American force might meet in combat. This is the same government that is delivering nuclear fuel to Iran, and slightly used (and hopefully leaky) blue water warships to China.

I;m sure glad the Cold War is over...

Gopher Madness

The Minnesota Gophers managed to defeat Michigan for the first time in 16 years. Most of the people who remember Gopher Rose Bowl appearances are either dead or close to it. No doubt this will add impetus to the stadium drive

The U of M is clamoring for a new stadium--a $300 million stadium. Years ago, they set the wrecking ball to Memorial Stadium. The Memorial was in remembrance of World War I veterans, but in this lap of liberal looney-dum anything associated with the military, guns or common sense is relegated to the category of angry-white-males.

The Gophers opted to play in the Metrodome--an oversized balloon that hosts the Twins and the Vikings.

Now they want a new stadium on the south side of campus which will be a tribute to local corporate sponsors.

To accommodate this misguided endeavor, Governor Pawlenty is proposing a 1 day, special session. The elected thieves and crooks would vote up or down on a Gopher Stadium and a new hospital.

I'm not sure why this could not have happened during the regular session. Oh yeah, I remember we were imposing health maintenance fees on tobacco (fees aren't taxes, but you still have to pay them).

My personal monniker for the legislature is the State Hazardous Waste Dump. These bozos want to race into session, stay for a day, spend a billion bucks and head for the hills.

Hospitals serve a public need. Stadiums serve something else, but I won't say what in polite company.

Blowhards blow their brains

Have you noticed the rise in gas prices?

Did you hear that two hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast region damaging the oil refining infrastructure?

Did anyone mention that due to draconian legislation and regulation no one has constructed a refinery in 25 years?

There is not a lack of oil in this world, but there is a real lack of refinery capacity to convert oil into usable gasoline. You cannot run an industry at 98% capacity and not expect a few bumps in the road, let alone a couple of hurricanes to ruin your day.

So how come when a bill comes up to make it easier to build refineries in this country DO WE GET 210 IDIOTS IN CONGRESS VOTING NO?

You might think these protectors of the public good could put aside their political correctness long enough to consider the best interests of the country. We no longer have time for the social tripe that passes for intelligence inside the Washington beltway.

I guess that's too much to hope for.

Primrose Path or ...

The Harriet Miers is either a betrayal of conservative ideals or a dagger in the heart of liberalism.

Predictably, firebrands from the left and right have shot off their mouths. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and New York's most obnoxious senator, Chuck Schumer, declared their approval.

Approval for a Bush nominee? There must be something in the water.

Ann Coulter labeled her a mediocrity. Pat Buchanan says she is unqualified.

I suspect the liberal's instant approval stems from Harriet's gender, and their perception that she will remain a swing vote on the court.

Coulter and Buchanan probably recoil at the possibility of another Bush blunder (shades of David Souter, haunting their thoughts).

This is what I know:

1. Harriet is a born again believer.
2. She has attended an evangelical church in Dallas since the late 1970s.
3. She led a fight to move the ABA's position on abortion to a neutral stance.
4. She was appointed to the Texas Lottery board in 1994 by Governor Bush.
5. Marvin Olasky of World Magazine and James Dobson of Focus on the Family have cautiously endorsed her.

So is this ideological pick?

Did Bush outsmart all of us again?

I don't know, but for the sake of the country I hope he is right.

Time to Panic

Vikings vs. Falcons and it isn't even half time yet, but the score is 21 - 0.

Once again the Purple comes to game unprepared, poorly coached and incapable of executing on offense or defense.

With the bye coming up, it is time to make the change. It is time to fire Mike Tice, to hire an offensive coordinator and write this year off.

This is the worst looking team since the ill-fated 1984 team coached by Les Steckel.

So I'll say the sad Viking refrain, "There's always next year..."