Protecting the Most Vulnerable Among Us

The Child Protective Service (CPS) in Texas will tell you they have a sacred obligation to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. They could not ignore the accusation of rape from the now curiously missing sixteen year old girl and they absolutely couldn't leave the 416 children at the Yearning for Zion compound in west Texas in harm's way.

Now we see the beautiful, well groomed, nostalgically dressed mother's and grandmothers weeping in genuine agony, their children ripped from them. We are left to imagine the tears and absolute terror of the children who have suddenly had their entire lives destroyed.

Television and reporters are now revealing to us the Yearning For Zion compound. Like the mothers weeping in the foreground, the compound is beautifully manicured, quaintly nostalgic and perfectly maintained. It reminds one of an Amish community.

And the similarity doesn't end there. As I write tonight there is an Amish teenage girl being forced into a marriage she doesn't want, being forced into a life she yearns to escape. A virgin, with virtually no sex education, she is terrified of the wedding bed. Her lifelong religious upbringing prevents her from seeing the event as rape, but many outside her community might see it as such.

This young Amish girl longs to go to college, longs to escape a life that seems like slavery to her. But society, her parents, her family, her church, her traditions will not allow her to escape.

And Child Protective Services will never be called. And, if they were, they would never intervene.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, a young teenage girl is preparing for a day in school. She is dressed in conservative traditional Islamic garb, but she has hidden modern clothing and she will change clothes as soon as she is out of her father's sight.

What this poor girl doesn't know is that her father knows of her sin and plans to take corrective action immediately. Instead of going to school, the girl will be swept off to Pakistan without warning, without a goodbye to friends or family. She will immediately be forced into marriage to a fifty five year old man.

It must be done today, before the young girl's flirtations with secular life goes to far and the family might be forced into taking more horrific action to save their honor. They genuinely believe they are saving the girl's life.

And Child Protective Services will never be called. And, if they were, they would never intervene. After all, a parent has the right to move anywhere they wish, even Pakistan. The child is a minor. We don't arbitrarily rip a child from her parents for something that might happen. Do we?

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, another child prepares to make a really horrific journey. She is going, alone, to have an abortion. Society will protect her for a few hours. She will be able to abort her unborn child without ever telling her parents. But she is terrified and lonely and, after the abortion, she will return to the drug invested, gang ruled neighborhood that led to her pregnancy in the first place.

She has no way out, at least no way she can see. To survive she will once again give her body to the gang. She sees no option.

Because society has decided abortion is such a sacred right, no one will dare call Child Protective Services. But, if they did, no one will help. They are no laws being violated.

As a society we've deciding polygamy is wrong. And there are only a few hundred members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. They have no version of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to lobby for their protection or to improve their public image.

But this much is certain. Somewhere tonight a six year old child cries for his mother. He is sick, lonely and frightened. He doesn't understand why the state of Texas decided his entire life should be destroyed.

I'm having a little trouble with it myself.

ALERT: Texas Child Abuse

I've been very concerned about the raid on the polygamous sect in Texas since the moment it began.... for a lot of reasons.

Certainly the hold that Warren Jeffs, the now imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has had over his followers, especially the women and children, is cause for great concern. Forced marriages and pre-arranged marriages between young teens and older men offends us all. And the horror stories from women and children who've escaped the cult-like religion are terrifying.

But, this raid seems to have been based on faulty, misleading or nonexistent information. And the resulting horror now being forced on 416 children and their mothers by Texas Department of Child Protective Services (CPS) is potentially much worse. Children are being forcibly separated from their mothers and crowded into living conditions that are simply pathetic.

The size of the relocation and the coming massive legal actions will do tremendous damage to the children. The Texas and federal officials were simply totally unprepared when they invaded the Yearning for Zion Ranch. Like the US troops that invaded Iraq, they were expecting massive resistance, but never figured out what to do once the families and children surrendered.

ABC NEWS is reporting today:

More than two dozen women who belong to a reclusive polygamous sect said in a rare public appearance that they felt lied to by state officials and pleaded for their 416 children to be returned to them.

The women returned to the sect's West Texas ranch Monday night after state officials separated them from their children who were taken into state custody after a raid on the compound last week.

Many of them sobbing, several of the mothers told ABC News that they weren't able to say goodbye to their children before being given the option to return to their ranch or be sent to another shelter.

"All we want is our children back, clean and pure," said a woman who identified herself as Sarah and said her five children were still in the state's shelter. "The last thing we have is our children."

This is being badly mishandled by the State of Texas and their CPS. FOX NEWS Reports:

"They said, 'your children are ours,"' said the sobbing 32-year-old whose three sons are aged 9, 7 and 5 and who would not give her last name. "We could not even ask a question."

She said the children at the ranch have not been abused, but she feels like "they are being abused from this experience." She said the children have been "have been so protected and loved."

The women believe the abuse complaint that led to the raid came from a bitter person outside their community.

What was needed here was a lot more investigation and a lot less Rambo-style raiding and massive relocation of children into poor conditions and terrifying isolation.

The State of Texas is crossing a dangerous line. While we fight on the left for more freedoms and opportunities for gays and lesbians and a greater choice of lifestyles and marriages, things are happening in Texas which seem to deprive us all of freedoms and civil rights and due process.

Are we damaging children in the name of protecting them? Are we denying people their civil rights?

I recognize that this post might make me very unpopular with both my readers on the left and on the right. Equating the plight of this polygamist cult with the fight for gay rights, women's rights and religious freedom may offend many people. But you cannot demand freedom for one group without at least protecting the civil rights of another, even when you disagree with their beliefs. No, ESPECIALLY if you disagree with their beliefs.

One World

Please just consider this singular reality as you weigh decisions that you must indeed make about the future of Iraq and the Middle East.

We're in a really tough situation in Iraq. But not nearly as tough as situation the Iraqi's are in themselves. Tragically the United States controls the future of the Iraqi's. They will have to live under the results of the decisions we make in the 2008 elections.

Here, without any further editorial comment are the words of Saudi cleric, Muhammad al-Munajid, aired on Al-Majd TV, March 30, 2008.



Here is a transcript the most important words of Muhammad al-Munajid:

"The problem is that they want to open a debate on whether Islam is true or not, and on whether Judaism and Christianity are false or not. In other words, they want to open up everything for debate. Now they want to open up all issues for debate."

"That’s it. It begins with freedom of thought, it continues with freedom of speech, and it ends up with freedom of belief."

"They say: Let’s have freedom of thought in Islam..."

"They say: I think, therefore I want to express my thoughts. I want to express myself, I want to talk and say, for example, that there are loopholes in Islam, or that Christianity is the truth."

"Then they will talk about freedom of belief, and say that anyone is entitled to believe in whatever he wants... If you want to become an apostate – go ahead. Fancy Buddhism? Leave Islam, and join Buddhism. No problem."

"That’s what freedom of belief is all about."

"They want freedom of everything."

"What they want is very dangerous."

Barrack Obama is Simply Wrong

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years. ... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Barrack Obama

This weekend, as you watch the Republicans and conservatives and Midwesterners and the Hillary Clinton camp rise up in unison to condemn the words of Barrack Obama keep one thing in mind, Barrack was completely, totally and entirely wrong.

He clearly fails at the most fundamental level to understand red state America and the people who live there. His remarks are condescending, but they are much worse than that. He has no respect for what is probably the majority of Americans.

Barrack and Michelle Obama simply don't understand Americans who didn't graduate from Harvard with $300,000 in student loans.

The Obama's don't understand Americans who don't attend a black radical church that routinely condemns the American experience.

By virtually any measure, I am an elitist. I admit it. I am not a traditional Christian. I'm not conservative. I attended a prestigious, very liberal college. I am in the upper percentage of Americans in terms of income, occupation and lifestyle. I know it.

But I have been relocated into very small town America. The folks who live in our little town lost most of their jobs and virtually all of their factories because of NAFTA. Due to this poorly thought out trade agreement, the jobs were exported south of the border.

These are the folks that Obama was talking about. It's simply tragic he was so horribly wrong about their values, their religion, their goals and aspirations, their lifestyle, their values and their patriotism. It simply isn't possible to be more wrong.

If Barrack Obama had lived my life for the last ten years he would have been incapable of making a mockery of these people who make up the very heart of our country.

If Barrack had joined these amazingly wonderful people for breakfast each morning, attended their weddings and funerals, helped them serve lunch to the Army reservists each month, joined them in community colleges as they retrained for new jobs..... and received their warmth and love and support in a time of deep personal crisis, he would never have made remarks that can only be described as stupid.

My friends, and coworkers and neighbors are not bitter. They do not cling to guns or religion out of fear or desperation or any misguided motive. They are most assuredly not anti-immigrant, nor are they anti-trade.

We (and I'm proud to be included in this group) are working hard to rebuild our community, We are looking forward and not living in the past. We are optimistic. Frankly, we are a hell of a lot more optimistic than Barrack Obama.

I am more than insulted. I have lost a great deal of respect for the Illinois Senator and this potential candidate for President.

As one television commentator said a few moments ago, this may well be Obama's "Macaca Moment."

The Joy of Blogging

"I think.... Well, I think that it would be swell,

If I could win the Nobel

For the books I've read,

When, instead of getting up,

I've stayed in bed."

Emma Wallace

"Come Here To Me (The Ice Cream Man)"

from the album "A Reason To Stay Up All Night

It occurred to me again this morning that the real benefit in blogging comes, not from what we write, but in what we read.

On a good Sunday morning (and this is a good one), I read through my favorites list of about twenty-two blogs, large and small. Many are political blogs, and that has become my favorite topic for most of my own posts.

And, of course, I read and weep each day as I read the blogs and posts from Darfur. I remain appalled that one after another our world leaders lament past genocides and demand that we must "never let it happen again." Then those same leaders find dozens of reasons to fail to intervene in Darfur, effectively enabling today's on-going genocide.

But I digress.... I also read several blogs on other topics like sports, music and movies. And I love blogs of general interest written by really talented and clever writers, a group to which I will never belong.

When a blog entry makes you stop dead in your tracks and think, that is a great moment. Rachel Lucas did that to me this morning with her blog entry "Conservatives are nicer than Liberals"

Her post stopped me in my tracks. Not only have I found that she is 100% correct, I've often intended to write the same thing. Leave it to Rachel to beat me to the punch.

Since I read a reasonably even number of liberal or progressive blogs and conservative blogs and I enter my comments on both, I think my experiences might be typical. And I do run the gamut from The Daily Kos to Michelle Malkin. While my experience in only anecdotal, I've done no studies, I've found this to be true nearly 100% of the time. If you really want to read death threats, vile and x-rated mudslinging, and demeaning insults aimed at an entire class of people (usually based on their religion or geographic residence), look no further than the comments sections of the progressive blogs.

It's not that such insults don't exist on conservative blogs, it's simply that they are rare. So rare I've virtually never read any.

So it was an eye-opener to read that Lucas has had the same experience. Rachel writes:

"Liberals are so much kinder. I know this because they are the only ones who ever send me hate mail, and are the only ones who link to me with statements like, “Rachel Lucas and her commenter's prove that there’s no need to dumb America down any further, they’ve already taken care of it.” They’re definitely the only ones with enough open-mindedness and love in their hearts to leave comments about how I’m a stupid Texan who needs to get laid and/or shot with my own gun. See, they’re all about hope! and change! It emanates from them."

If Lucas started me thinking , Susan Jacoby put my brain into overdrive. As I drove to my office to pick up a gift for my grandson, I was listening to a program called To the Best of Our Knowledge on National Public Radio this morning about the really pathetic state of public education in this country.

Susan Jacoby, the author of The Age of American Unreason, was quoting some alarming statistics that indicated, among other things, that most 15 year old's do not know that the American Revolutionary War preceded the American Civil War. When asked by the program host, Steve Paulson, why this is, Jacoby answered confidently that it was because we (the United States) have "too many" Christian fundamentalists who take the Bible literally.

She stated with supreme confidence that there were no fundamentalists in western European countries ( I guess she was excluding Islamic fundamentalists) and, therefore Europeans are much better educated.

Now we've all watched enough Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments to realize that a significant number of people are clueless about history. But I'm seriously doubting that Christian fundamentalists have a corner of poor history knowledge. If Jacoby had any statistics to prove her highly prejudiced viewpoint, she failed to discuss them.

The key to my "ah ha" moment was the incredibly condescending tone of Ms. Jacoby's commentary. She clearly looked down upon those who didn't hold her "reasonable" views.

Had similar remarks been aimed at blacks or Hispanics or gays, Jacoby would have been summarily dismissed. But her comments garnered no objections from the host, who seems to agree with her every word.

So what does this all mean? I'd be forced to guess. But my observation is that conservatives are actually more open minded, they don't lump progressives into some "brain dead" group. Lucas observations in her blog this morning makes the same point:

"As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, I’m on the record as NOT being either a conservative or a Christian. I’ve openly expressed disbelief in the Bible, total rejection of organized religion, serious beefs with Christian thought processes, a desire to legalize marijuana, no problem with gay marriage, loathing of children, and now even support for teenage girls being given contraception without their parents’ knowledge. Also, I cuss a lot and take the name of your Lord in vain on a near-daily basis."

"So how mean and intolerant are the right? I’ll tell you."

"The vast bulk of regular “traffic floods” to this site comes from none other than Conservative Grapevine and Right Wing News, both run by John Hawkins, a Christian who probably disagrees with at least a third of what I write, who’s also the only blogger to ever interview me and was the first blogger to ever link me. He sponsored me for BlogAds and has given me priceless advice."

"What a jerk! You just can’t reason with conservatives can you? If you don’t toe their line and share all their beliefs, why, they’ll….they’ll…do you huge favors on a regular basis. If that’s not intolerant and hateful, I don’t know what is."

There are large number of excellent liberal and progressive blogs that are every bit as open-minded and tolerant and helpful as the conservative blog Lucas mentioned. I frequent those blogs often and love the conversation and ideas and dialog.

But we all ought to be careful not to group people into stereotypes and dehumanize them or their writings based on ideology.

The Autism Disaster

Today, April 2, 2008, is World Autism Awareness Day. If there ever was a disease or affliction that needed a World Awareness Day, it is Autism.

Today autism will affect one out of every 150 children born in the United States. World wide rates are unknown, but clearly the incidence of autism is rising.

Autism is a developmental neurological disorder that appears, often suddenly, in children between the ages of two and three. Parents often speak of their "children being stolen from them, right before their eyes." And, indeed, it often seems that way.

Children who were highly verbal and socially interactive withdraw and lose their language skills. Autistic children often stop interacting with parents and playmates. They no longer look anyone in the eyes, instead turning away or even shrieking or crying when approached or hugged.

Unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests are common symptoms of autism. So are outbursts and fits of anger. Boys are affected four times more often than girls.

But what is most frightening about autism is what is not known about the disease. We do not know the cause. If fact there are more questions and debates than answers.

And parts of the medical community actually fight research into potential causes like childhood vaccinations, rather than support further investigations.

And we do not have any specific treatments or drugs to treat autism. In fact so little is actually known that parents are often left to attempt treatments and remedies on their own. Special diets seem to have helped some children. Physical therapy, including some unusual patterning therapies, have helped others.

But there isn't a single answer or therapy. And virtually none of the treatments or therapies have been researched or scientifically studied.

So here we have an epidemic that is poorly understood, its causes unknown and treatments unverified. And research is random, poorly coordinated, and underfunded.

I certainly urge you to get involved and I know many of you, like me and my family, have been personally touched by autism. I have a list of autism links at the end of this article.


The Autism Society of America is urging everyone to support and elect candidates who will support autism research and help break the log jams in the medical community. This is excellent advice.

Here are some links for those who want more information or wish to donate to support autism support and research:

Autism Society of America

Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children

Autism Speaks (an excellent resource)

Autism Research Institute

Autism Fact Sheet: National Institute for Neurological Disorders

Seeking Redemption and Salvation

Regardless of your faith, nationality, political philosophy, heritage or race, we all need salvation from the horrors so casually inflicted upon mankind by our fellow man. Why do we have the insatiable urge to control, dominate and often destroy other human beings? Why must we see them as so very different from ourselves?

And we ourselves need redemption. If only all the world could search for common understanding, tolerance and peace. We must learn to forgive one another.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI spoke with eloquence wisdom and truth today when he said......

"How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence! These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters."

"They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord (cf. 1 Pet 2:24-25) and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled. It is hoped that these are precisely the places where gestures of moderation and forgiveness will increase! "

"Dear brothers and sisters! Let us allow the light that streams forth from this solemn day to enlighten us; let us open ourselves in sincere trust to the risen Christ, so that his victory over evil and death may also triumph in each one of us, in our families, in our cities and in our nations."

"Let it shine forth in every part of the world. In particular, how can we fail to remember certain African regions, such as Dafur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon, and finally Tibet, all of whom I encourage to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good!"

May we all be blessed with the spirit and hope of Easter.

Hillary Clinton, A Neville Chamberlain For Our Time

From Wikipedia:

Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940) was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.

Chamberlain's legacy is marked by his policy regarding the appeasement of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany with his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding Czechoslovakia to Hitler. In the same year he also gave up the Irish Free State Royal Navy ports.

Chamberlain was forced to resign the premiership on 10 May 1940, after Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Hillary Clinton's major speech on Iraq scared the bejeezus out of me today. And, as frightening as that speech was, her staff's assertions later that she would follow her insanely aggressive withdrawal plan REGARDLESS of the advice of military leaders OR events on the ground , showed her to be totally unfit to be our Commander in Chief.

Clinton said, in part:

"The most important part of my plan is the first step, to bring our troops home and send the strongest possible message to the Iraqis that they must take responsibly for their own future. No more talk of permanent occupation, no more policing a civil war, no more doing for the Iraqis what they need to be doing for themselves. As president, one of my first official actions will be to convene the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my Secretary of Defense and my National Security Council and direct them to draw up a clear, viable plan to start bringing our troops home within the first 60 days of my taking office. A plan based on my consultation with the military to remove one to two brigades a month, a plan that reduces the risks of attack as they depart."

Clinton's plan would effectively turn one of the world's greatest, richest and most strategic countries over to al-Qaeda, the mortal enemies of the United States and the modern civilized world. And her plan would guarantee an unfettered civil war in Iraq that would likely kill tens of thousands, most especially anyone who ever cooperated with the United States.

Would Clinton actually follow such a stupid and dangerous plan? Clinton might just be playing one-upsmanship with Barrack Obama, whose credentials as an antiwar advocate are better established and more credible.

Still, as the current Iraqi government all but endorsed McCain for President, Clinton is fighting for her Presidential future.

I remain cautiously hopeful that both Clinton and Obama will heed wise counsel and plan for success in the middle east rather than just turn over a budding democracy to the tyranny of Islamic fundamentalism. But, at some point we must actually take the candidates at their word.

The Politics of Association

In the last 24 hours I heard Reverend Jeremiah Wright preach so much I feel like I need to tithe to his church, The Trinity United Church of Christ.

If, by some miracle (pun fully intended), you've missed the multiple replays of the last five years of Wright's sermons, Jeremiah Wright is the pastor of Barrack Obama's church and a man Obama credits for being his inspiration. Reverend Wright married Barrack and his lovely wife Michelle and baptised his children. I'm not going to bother to link to the many dozens of You Tube clips now available; you can easily find them if you actually have missed them.

So as I watched MSNBC, CNN and FOX turn into the Trinity Broadcasting Networks I meditated on the real responsibilities Obama might share for Wright's teaching and preaching.

Last week we watched the media and especially the blogosphere hound John McCain until he finally denounced ultra conservative Pastor John Hagee. And McCain never even attended Hagee's church. But earlier McCain had "welcomed" Hagee's endorsement.

As a Unitarian Universalist I've set through dozens (maybe hundreds) of sermons with which I disagree. Occasionally I've been deeply offended by the preacher. I wouldn't want to be judged by the words of the various ministers of my church. On the other hand, Unitarians have a unique concept, "freedom of the pulpit." Any speaker can speak from any religious (or atheistic or political) perspective.

So here is my view. We are not electing Jeremiah Wright President. I am deeply concerned about some of Wright's statements from the pulpit, but not from a Presidential politics perspective. I'll judge Barrack Obama from by his own words and his own actions, not by those of Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

The battle between Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton and John McCain is so tight and so intense it's bringing about a battle of details and nuances, relationships and associations instead of ideas and policies. That is tragic.

I was pleased to watch John McCain absolutely refuse to condemn Obama for the words of his pastor last night, in spite of intense pressure from reporters. Sadly, that won't stop MSNBC, CNN and FOX from endless replays and speculations. And it won't stop the Sean Hannity's and Rush Limbaugh's from exploiting Obama's relationship with his minister.

Turning Our Future Over to China

There is news today about actions being taken by the Chinese government in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics that I find so repulsive and sickening that I'm going to bury them deep into this blog entry. I am deeply saddened and totally disgusted.

But this is just another story out of hundreds that raise serious questions about how we, as a people and nation, interact with China. And, in fact, by any reasonable measure, we are turning our entire future over to China.

Ask yourself what is more disturbing: that food products, toys and now prescription medicine coming from China are tainted and poisoning our children and seniors?

Or that virtually 100% of our toys and significant portions of our food products and prescription drugs (not to mention clothes, jewelry, sporting goods, computers, electronics, furniture and housewares) are made in China and imported here?

Do we actually manufacture anything here anymore?

Even more disturbing is that China holds a gigantic portion of our ballooning national debt. If China called in our debt, the United States might be forced into effective bankruptcy and a depression that could last a lifetime.

Everyday we outsource our entire future to China. Now I'm a "free trade" kind of guy. But when you give this much control to a single country, it isn't free trade any more, it's indentured servitude.

I've written extensively that China has the ability to cripple or actually end the genocide in Darfur. China, through massive oil purchases that fund the genocide and a firm Security Council Veto that prevents the rest of the world from stopping the horror, controls the fate of two million people. And China continues to prove they just don't give a damn. Human suffering, rape, murder, torture, starvation? China just doesn't care.

Many people around the world can no longer tolerate China's greed and callous disregard for genocide. Steven Spielberg just resigned as an Artistic Advisor for the 2008 games.

"At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur," Spielberg explained.

With all this in mind, some might not even find this story important. But to me it's a clear and horrific example of how the Chinese government views every decision: cold, calculating, cruel and with absolutely no compassion.

As these the type of people with whom we should outsource or toys, food, drugs and debt?

What follows is from an investigative report by Simon Perry in the UK's Daily Mail:

Beijing's shocking death camp for cats

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

The cull of Beijing's estimated 500,000 cat population is certain to provoke international outrage as it comes just over a year after the Chinese were criticised for rounding up and killing stray dogs across the country.

Animal welfare groups in China are already protesting, but their members fear punishment from the authorities.

Officials say people can adopt animals from the 12 cat pounds set up around the city, but welfare groups say they are almost impossible to get inside and believe few cats survive.

One cat lovers' group negotiated the release of 30 pets from one of the compounds in Shahe, north-west Beijing, but said they were in such a pitiful condition that half of them died within days of their release.

"These cats are being left to die. It is very inhumane," said the group's founder Yan Qi, who runs a sanctuary for cats.

A Possible Replacement for Waterboarding

Actually, water boarding is still permitted (for now) since President Bush vetoed the bill that would have outlawed the practice.

But we can be confident that both McCain or Obama will sign such legislation in the future, so we might need a new, tested and proven method to gain information.

Could "Rick Rolling" end up being the ultimate weapon?

Barack Obama is NOT Ready to Be President Today

Another Primary Night and the Wizard opines again.........

Let me be perfectly clear. I believe Barack Obama will someday be President of the United States. And it might still be this year. But I don't think so.

Barack Obama has stumbled badly in the last few days. But, as sharp observers know, Obama's real problems began much earlier. The handwriting appeared on the wall in foreign press reports... from London and later, from Canada.

The American press at first refused to listen. They were so interested in covering the horse race, they neglected to actually look at the condition of the horses. And the American press fell absolutely involve with one candidate. This is always a huge mistake for reporters. Confronted with ugly truths, the American press simply looked the other way.

The blogosphere, however, did not. And eventually the press caught up. And only hours later the Clinton campaign also caught up. And the race for the Democrat nomination began anew.

Tonight as I watched CNN and I watched Paul Begala absolutely destroy Obama at the peak viewing hour, I realized that Begala was right. In order to become President.... in order to be worthy of being President.... Obama must begin to act like a President.

Begala maintained that Obama's staff had let him down. And that Obama's chief economic advisor had effectively betrayed him. But the ultimate failing was Obama himself who didn't quickly fire and replace people who simply were on the wrong page of his campaign.

Perhaps the best outcome for the Democrat Party would be for Obama and Clinton to work out a compromise and partnership. Let Obama accept the Vice President spot and give Democrats and America its Dream ticket.

Nominating Obama before he is ready could be a tragic mistake.