]> http://greasy.com/ancient1/index.html ancient1's Blog en-us © 05:43:42 Greasy.com All rights reserved. Wed, Jul 05:43:42 9 GMT 30 http://greasy.com/ancient1/independence_day_2008.html If our nation’s Founders could visit us on this, our 232nd Independence Day, what would they make of us? What would they declare of us? A hint can be discerned in a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, as the Declaration of Independence had just been approved. “It ought to be commemorated,” said the man who would become our second president, “as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade ... Fri, 4 Jul 2008 11:29:42 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/lives_fortunes_sacred_honor.html It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall, bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home. Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72 and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The cha ... Wed, 2 Jul 2008 11:46:06 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/the_people.html “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” —Second Amendment to the United States Constitution Thursday, in a narrow 5-4 vote (Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Thomas and Kennedy), the Supreme Court reaffirmed, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that the people’s inherent right to keep and bear arms is plainly enumerated in our Constitution. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment ensu ... Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:32:01 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/congressional_hearings.html "Hi, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." Congress held hearings Monday on the role that speculators play in shaping the oil market -- specifically, the role they play in driving prices up. Like most commodities, oil can be purchased and sold not simply for immediate delivery, but for receipt at some point in the future. The issue of the day rests in this "futures" market. Normally, most of the players in the futures markets are industry players -- largely shippers and refine ... Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:53:58 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/election_iraq.html In his St. Paul victory speech, Barack Obama pledged again to pull out of Iraq. Rather than “continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians,... [i]t’s time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future.” We know Obama hasn’t been to Iraq in more than two years, but does he not read the papers? Does he not know anything about developments on the ground? Here is the “nothing” that Iraqis have been doing i ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:13:12 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/countrywide_scandal.html Congressional Democrats have a scandal brewing, and two top senators are caught up in it. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Budget Committee and member of the Finance Committee, have both received highly favorable loans from Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender and a hot target for blame in the whole sub-prime mess. Both senators claimed not to know that they received loans much more favorable ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:09:47 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/notable_legislation.html The House passed a $162-billion bill Thursday providing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, in the parlance of the swamp, “war bill” includes completely unrelated domestic spending, such as extending unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks and increased education benefits for veterans. Democrats claimed victory over the president, who gave up his threats to veto the bill over the unemployment benefits. “He is reversing three distinct veto threats and signing t ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:07:39 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/campaign_watch_gop_cash_situation.html Congressional Republicans can’t seem to keep pace in the race for cash this election cycle. Their inability to get a grasp on earmark spending, their failure to support President Bush’s veto of the multi-billion-dollar agricultural bill, and their utter lack of an agenda for the fall have brought them more angry letters than checks. Recent high-profile losses in special elections in districts once considered safe have led many donors to believe that Republicans don’t have what it tak ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:03:58 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/want_vp_slot_ill_give_vp_slot.html Barack Obama, who this week broke his word and became the first candidate to opt out of public financing since it began more than 30 years ago, may have put to bed rumors that he’s holding out for Hillary Clinton to take the bottom slot on his presidential ticket. Obama’s campaign hired Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to his yet-to-be-named vice-presidential running mate. Doyle, you may recall, was Clinton’s campaign manager until she was fired in February. She has not spoken wit ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:01:47 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/convention_money.html Denver received a $50-million federal grant for security for the August 25-28 Democrat National Convention. That’s close to the price tag of the convention itself, courtesy of the American taxpayer. The police are using some of the funds to stock up on pepper-spray-like projectiles that will be used should the thousands of expected protestors get unruly. The armory will include the dreaded crap cannon as well. Other crowd control measures as yet undisclosed will also be deployed, but the ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:59:39 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/race_hustler_sharpton_owes_back.html The “Reverend” Al Sharpton, professional race hustler, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for owing nearly $1 million in federal taxes and $365,000 in New York City taxes. On top of that, Sharpton’s National Action Network owes $1.9 million in payroll taxes and penalties. Several companies that have been subjected to the Sharpton shakedown, including Anheuser-Busch, have received subpoenas for records of charitable donations to his Network. The beer maker gave bet ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:55:15 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/khan_affair.html In January 2004, Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to being the ringleader of a clandestine nuclear proliferation network that provided sensitive uranium enrichment technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Khan’s admission was the result of a decade of surveillance by American and British intelligence, though these agencies stopped short of claiming that Khan’s network provided actual designs for nuclear weapons to rogue states. After the dissolution of the Khan network ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:52:55 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/charges_dropped.html Seven down, one to go. The case of the “Iraq My Lai Massacre,” in which U.S. Marines were accused of illegally gunning down Iraqi civilians in Haditha, continued unraveling this week. For the seventh time, charges against one of the eight Marines accused in the incident were dismissed, leaving just one case left. Military judge Colonel Steven Folsom dismissed charges without prejudice against Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a general who was overseeing the Haditha inves ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:45:39 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/ohio_judicial_activism.html Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge of Ohio has ruled that the state must change the way criminals are executed, after determining that the three-chemical cocktail used in prior executions might cause discomfort. However, the Supreme Court ruled in April that similar methods of lethal injection are constitutional. Burge merely ignored the ruling and prescribed the use of a single massive dose of barbiturate—a legal first and with no small resemblance to animal euthanasia. “Let ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:41:12 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/als_big_house.html The Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) reported this week, “In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%.” TCPR noted Al’s hypocritical use of energy before, and Gore shortly thereafter “scurried to make his home more energy-efficient.” Ironically, however, “Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient mod ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:34:38 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/hoosier_village_idiot.html Some criminals just aren’t very bright. Such was the case with an Indiana man who was apparently so hard up for cash that he knocked off a lemonade stand. “The guy came up and was, like, ‘Give me your money’,” said one of the girls running the stand. The crook’s haul wasn’t exactly a big one—he took $17.50 and started running. What he didn’t expect was that one of the girls would give chase. “I was shocked,” she said later. “It was just my immediate reaction to chas ... Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:28:02 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/sleepless_indiana.html I’m up too early this morning. It was another restless Sunday night. Sleepless nights have been with me for a very long time now. Others have told me, ”I’ve heard that the elderly don’t require as much sleep as those younger than them.” Well, I won’t say what comes to mind when I hear that said. Yet, I can’t help but wonder how I can be so sleepy that I’m not able to keep my eyes open at eight PM and wake up at 9:20 PM wide awake and unable to return to sleep mode. If, this ... Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:53:42 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/elder_demo_statesman_gets_alpha.html Jimmy Carter, fresh from his meetings with Hamas in April, gave Israel another poke in the eye last weekend, when he publicly stated the number of Israeli nuclear weapons, thereby breaking an unwritten code of silence that has been maintained by U.S. statesmen and diplomats for over 25 years concerning Israel’s nuclear capability. Not satisfied with causing problems for a close ally, Carter then claimed that the United States should talk directly to Iran and persuade the Iranian regime t ... Sat, 31 May 2008 18:49:58 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/know_hillarys_village_idiots.html For all their lauded political acumen, the Clintons have a nasty habit of getting tripped up by their own anatomy. For Bill, it’s his roving, er, eye; for Hillary, it’s her mouth. This time she caused a stir by making a comment that was widely interpreted to mean that she’s staying in the presidential race because Barack Obama might get assassinated: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all ... Sat, 31 May 2008 18:38:55 GMT http://greasy.com/ancient1/short_cuts_2.html “McCain is still being vilified for referring to Iran-supported terrorists in Iraq as al Qaida, as if the vast majority of Americans care about the distinction between a Sunni and a Shiite terrorist.” —Doug Patton “Barack Obama was speaking to a Jewish group, and he told them that his name Barack is the same as the Jewish word ‘baruch,’ which means one who’s blessed. Obama had a harder time explaining his middle name, Hussein. Things got quiet there.” —Conan O’Brien “ ... Sat, 31 May 2008 18:18:37 GMT