by Regina Sztajer

How strange that an American President who was considered to be a fine upstanding human being, loyal to his family and country, should die an honorable death at about the same time that an Iraqi President, who was a horrible dictator should be executed for crimes against humanity. It causes one to stop and wonder why people make the decisions they do in life. Some very good and some very bad!

The 38th American President Gerald Ford died at the age of 93 on December 27, 2006, a nice man who in his lifetime hurt no one and was loyal to the friend’s and acquaintances he met in life. He was the vice president for Republican President Richard Nixon who faced the possibility of impeachment after the Watergate Scandal. Nixon resigned hoping to avoid further prosecution and Ford became an accidental president. Ford was sworn in on August 9, 1974 and on September 8, 1974, he granted Nixon a full pardon for all federal crimes he had “committed” or “may have committed.”

A large majority of American people opposed the pardon and Congress denounced the decision including members of the Republican party. Ford doomed his political career and in November 1976, he lost the general election to the Democratic governor of the state of Georgia Jimmy Carter. “For a nation that needed healing, and for an office that needed a calm steady hand, Gerald Ford came along when we needed him the most,” said President George W. Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney praised Ford’s “integrity and great rectitude and said the nation will always be grateful for his service. He embodied the best values of a great generation: decency, integrity and devotion to duty.” Cheney served as Ford’s Chief of Staff in the White House.( Washingtonpost.com, December 27, 2006.)

Ford was not obsessed with his legacy and did hot worry about how history would proclaim his accomplishments. He wanted to protect the country from shame and it took an act of deep political courage to pardon Nixon. He fought for his country and was sober minded , solid and deserving of our respect.

Saddam Hussein the “Butcher of Baghdad,” became the president of Iraq in 1979 and he was executed by hanging on Saturday December 30, 2006, in Baghdad. He was a dictator who carried on wars with Iran and Kuwait killing relentlessly. He left a legacy of terror and hatred. Women were raped and thrown into mass graves with children, sometimes buried alive. Millions of people died in the Middle East because of his extreme indulgence in killing. Two of his son’s followed his path of horrors only to be killed by American forces in a shootout. He ordered poison gas to be used on Kurds in the north of Iraq who were civilians. He had no mercy on the elderly, women and children. Anyone who opposed him met their deaths.

He was found guilty of his crimes by an Iraqi court and sentenced to be hanged before the traditional amnesty period of Eid al Adha. Also, in April he would have been 70 and at that age he could not by law be put to death. American Iraqi’s in Michigan celebrated his death because he made no repentance for his misdeeds. He ruled by fear and most Iraqi’s are glad he is gone. Some felt his trial had a narrow focus. But keeping this man alive who was responsible for such extended evil would serve no purpose.

Two men, two presidents, one evil, the other honorable, will share history in textbooks and memory. One with love and respect the other with fear and hatred.

by Curt at Flopping Aces

News that Saddam may be swinging by a rope within a few hours:

Saddam Hussein has been transferred from U.S. custody, his lawyers said, and an Iraqi judge authorized to attend the former dictator’s hanging said he would be executed no later than Saturday.

The physical hand-over of Saddam to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged, although the lawyers’ statement did not specifically say Saddam was in Iraqi hands.

“A few minutes ago we received correspondence from the Americans saying that President Saddam Hussein is no longer under the control of U.S. forces,” according to the statement faxed to The Associated Press.

“Saddam will be executed today or tomorrow,” said Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Saddam’s death sentence. “All the measures have been done.”

Haddad is authorized to attend the execution on behalf of the judiciary.

“I am ready to attend and there is no reason for delays,” Haddad said.

As I write this it’s about 10:00am on the West Coast which is about 9:00pm in Baghdad. Saturday is in a few hours. Rumors are that he will be hung late morning in Iraq which would put it within 12-15 hours from now. Hopefully we will all hear news that this evil man is dead very very soon.

Meanwhile the job of the hangman is a very coveted position it seems:

One of the most coveted jobs in Iraq does not yet exist: the executioner for Saddam Hussein. The death sentence against Saddam is still under review by an appeals court, but hundreds of people have already started lobbying the prime minister’s office for the position.

They have sent messages through Cabinet officials and their assistants, and by way of government guards and clerical workers. One candidate, an Iraqi Shiite living in London whose brother was killed by Saddam, telephoned an aide to the prime minister to say he was prepared to drop everything and fly to Baghdad to execute the former ruler. It would be an honor, he said, according to the aide.

“One of the hardest tasks will be to determine who gets to be the hangman because so many people want revenge for the loss of their loved ones,” said Basam Ridha, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki.

UPDATE: By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

New, grainy images appeared on the Internet showing the former Iraqi president being hanged in Baghdad less than 24 hours earlier, showing his body dropping through the trap, something the officially released video had not shown.

By several accounts, Saddam was calm but scornful of his captors, engaging in a give-and-take with the crowd gathered to watch him die and insisting he was Iraq’s savior, not its tyrant and scourge.

“He said we are going to heaven and our enemies will rot in hell and he also called for forgiveness and love among Iraqis but also stressed that the Iraqis should fight the Americans and the Persians,” Munir Haddad, an appeals court judge who witnessed the hanging, told the British Broadcasting Corp.

Another witness, national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told The New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: “You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.”

“I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans,” Saddam responded, al-Rubaie told the Times.

“God damn you,” the guard said.

“God damn you,” responded Saddam.

Saddam Hussein was buried in the dead of night early on Sunday in his native village Awja, near Tikrit in northern Iraq, local officials and family sources said.

by Frederick Meekins

It has been said that socially Evangelicalism is five to ten years “behind” the broader culture. John Warwick Montgomery once remarked that America was where old German heresies went to die, meaning that eventually the intellectual refuse of the elite came to infect the American church no matter how reluctant the bride of Christ in the United States might have initially been to such doctrinal fads.

Back in the 90’s, Evangelicals looked on in astonishment as Postmodernists from lofty chairs in academia went about undermining the notion that one should not be judged by the color of one’s skin but rather by the content of one’s character. Instead. these deconstructionists suggested that one should be assessed primarily as a member of one’s herd and judged in light of either the sins or disadvantages of one’s forefathers.

As a result, whereas in years previous those of certain backgrounds struggled to take their place in and recognized as full members of society, the trend reversed itself and those skilled in exploiting past resentments were able to shame the majority into allowing certain demographic classifications to cordon themselves off as they saw fit while denying this proclivity to the members of the most numerous group. Though conservative Christians initially bucked such a trend by admonishing that it is ultimately the individual that Jesus died and rose from the dead for and will whom be judged, they too are now succumbing to this social pressure.

Among Evangelicals eager for the accolades of the elite, one popular refrain invoked to show just how tolerant certain leaders can be is that 11 am Sunday is the most segregated hour in America, bemoaning the fact that most Christians prefer to worship with members of their own ethnicity even if they do not harbor blatant ill will or hostility to their fellow coreligionists of different backgrounds. Upon closer examination, one will see that it is a condemnation few ashamed of being White are reluctant to level at minorities as well.

Despite the fact that many denominations do not have the demographic ratios those so obsessed with race to prove to the world that they are not obsessed with race clamor for, a number of them do have memberships consisting of a variety of ethnic groups. But instead of capitalizing on this situation by not harping on racial differences and allowing believers to find their own dynamic equality, those running these religious associations as their own private ecclesiastical syndicates refuse to let sleeping denominations lie and hope to accrue power for themselves by playing the same racial spoils game popular in more liberal circles.

Commemorating the birth of the Lord of all mankind and the Savior of believers from every nation, tribe, and tongue, one would think that all Christians could celebrate Christmas without reference to color. However, even this cherished festival is degenerating into a front for radical social engineering.

On December 2, 2006, the Mid-Atlantic District of the Church Of The Nazarene held an African American Christmas Dinner. To those conditioned into embracing such directives from their handlers without question, such an affair might not seem all that out of the ordinary. But unless chitterlings and collard greens are going to be the main course on the menu, does an African American Christmas differ all that appreciably from the Christmas of any other American group?

As to whether or not a denomination should be hosting such a function, we should ask ourselves would it be appropriate to convene a “Caucasian” or more precisely, a “European American Christmas Dinner”? If the prospect of such an event leaves you a bit squeamish (as it probably should), then why do we put up with or, shall we say, tolerate such extravaganzas when they are convened for groups more favored by the ruling clique?

In James 2, the believer is warned against showing favoritism and in I Corinthians 11, the church is admonished regarding these matters in reference to the Lord’s Supper and meals eaten in His name. If this command applies to something that may be earned such as wealth, how much more so in pertaining to a characteristic the individual has absolutely no control over.

by Cheryl T

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo says, “We are facing a situation, where if we don’t control immigration, legal and illegal, we will eventually reach the point where it won’t be what kind of a nation we are, balkanized or united, we will actually have to face the fact that we are no longer a nation at all.” 

 Americans are beginning to feel like strangers in their own country as illegal aliens  refuse to assimilate and are demanding to be served in their native languages. 

David A. Denslow, a highly regarded economist at the Bureau of Economic & Business Research at the University of Florida concludes that immigrant households in Florida consume, on average, $1,800 more in state services (mostly in education and Medicaid services) than they pay in taxes.  And then we have Robert Rector, a formidable public policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation who feels that today’s immigrants differ greatly from historic immigrant populations in terms of education levels and consequently, ”occupy the low end of the U.S. socioeconomic spectrum.”

In his 1999 book “Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy,” Harvard

economist George Borjas (himself an immigrant from Cuba) wrote: “By the 1990s, immigrants received a disproportionately large share of the welfare benefits distributed, and had a severe fiscal impact on some immigrant-receiving states, particularly California.” Borjas noted that most of the 1996 reforms intended to exclude non-citizens from welfare programs were never enforced. He concluded that, counting both cash and non-cash benefits, “In  1998, almost 25% of immigrant households received some type of assistance, as compared to 15% of US citizen households.” 

Attrition through enforcement does work, the American people want it and the federal government officials need to accept their constitutional responsibility to enforce immigration laws currently on the books and stop importing poverty.  .
 

I’m having Computer Problems. I should have it fixed by Monday.

A bad day for Islamists is a good day for me…..

Mogadishu Set to Fall?

Ethiopian and Somali government troops have apparently routed the Islamic Courts forces, and now say that they expect to take Mogadishu without a fight:

Somali and Ethiopian troops drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town before Mogadishu on Wednesday, and the government predicted the capital and stronghold of the radical Islamists would fall without a fight. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said no assault was planned on Mogadishu because the forces of the Council of Islamic Courts were crumbling so fast.

“Islamic courts militias are already on the run and we hope that Mogadishu will fall to our hands without firing a shot,” he said.

The Islamic Courts movement had grown steadily in power for six months, until the dramatic entry into the war by Ethiopian troops last week. Since then, fortunes have changed dramatically with the Islamists in full retreat.

I have no idea how this will play out, but it is hard to see how Islamists being routed can be a bad thing. The Associated Press can’t resist a warning, however:

Any effort by the Somali government or Ethiopia to take the capital risks a disaster similar to the U.S. intervention in Somalia in 1992. As opposed, I guess, to the disaster of having the capital in the hands of fanatics who murder people for insufficient praying.

and even better news……

maybe……

Will Iran wither away?

According to an analysis by the National Academy of Sciences, Iran is experiencing a serious decline in revenue from its oil exports and, if the trend continues, income could virtually disappear by 2015. The author of the study is Roger Stern, an economic geographer at Johns Hopkins University and, as reported by the Washington Times, Stern seems a bit too eager to convince us that the U.S. doesn’t need to worry much about Iran’s development of nukes (and to argue for Iran’s need to develop nuclear energy for its own consumption).

If the United States can “hold its breath” for a few years, says Stern, it may find Iran a much more conciliatory country. Stern thinks that we should therfore control any instinct to take on Iran militarily, since “what they are doing to themselves is much worse than anything we could do” and “the one thing that would unite the country right now is to bomb them.” Stern concludes that this is “one problem that might solve itself.”

It might, at that. But does Stern really believe that Iran’s oil revenue is headed to zero by 2015. Isn’t it more likely that Iran will correct at least some of the flaws (e.g., poor management, refinery leaks, failure to reinvest in the industry) that are producing the decline in oil revenues? And, if it doesn’t, can we be confident that an impoverished Iran will lose interest in nuclear weapons and cease to be belligerent? That hasn’t been the case with North Korea.

I’m not discounting that possibility of regime change from within under either good or bad economic conditions. But I’m not sure how wise it would be for the U.S. to base its policy towards Iran on the assumption that Iranian oil revenue is going to dry up.
by Powerline

There has also been some reports that N. Korea’s regime of nutballs is losing the support of the military due to the economic sanctions. I however, still do not think we should sit on our hands regardless of what Iran or North Korea does. The dream that they might be more conciliatory as they become poorer might be just that, a dream. I have to agree with Powerline, often times the most dangerous enemy is the most desperate.

by Curt at Flopping Aces

Is anyone really surprised by this?

The FBI is missing nearly a quarter of its files relating to investigations of recent leaks of classified information, according to a court filing the bureau made last week.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the FBI said it identified 94 leak investigations since 2001, but that the investigative files in 22 of those cases “are missing” and cannot be located. “There is no physical slip of paper on the shelf which indicates that the file has been charged out to a particular FBI employee, so therefore there is no way of knowing where the file may actually be,” an official in the bureau’s records division, Peggy Bellando, wrote in a December 22 declaration.

“That’s an amazing number,” an academic who has studied the FBI’s record-keeping procedures, Athan Theoharis of Marquette University, said in an interview yesterday. “These are very sensitive investigations. … They could be called to account for whether they are monitoring reporters. These are records that should be handled very well.”

Sandy’s stuffing classified documents down his pants and hiding them under trailers while all of a sudden files about classified leaks turn up missing.

Just another day in a world brought to you by the Democrats.

But even though the article is about missing files pertaining to classified leaks (most often involving leaks that attempt to damage the Republicans) the article goes on to interview a professor who see’s the evil Government at work:

Mr. Theoharis, a professor emeritus of history, said that in the 1960s the FBI used procedures known as “do not file” and “summary memoranda” to avoid placing files in the central records system. As a result, he said, the bureau would tell judges or members of Congress that searches turned up no records, when files actually existed in a secondary system.

“There’s no reason to think they’re not doing the same thing today,” Mr. Theoharis said. “I don’t want to sound conspiratorial but I don’t think one can discount this.”

How do you explain then that almost every single leak was about the Bush administration? The only one in recent history that the left could even call their own would be the Plame case, but we already know who leaked that information out in the case….cough Joe Wilson cough.

I wonder what is in today’s Washington Times…….

Baltimore homicides rise; D.C. likely to record drop

Two killings in Baltimore over the holiday weekend pushed that city above last year’s homicide total, with 270, while the District is on pace to record its lowest number of killings in decades. With five days left in the year, the District has tallied 162 killings — well below the total of 194 at this time last year. “That’s still a lot of people,” Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said in an interview last week, adding that he was “very pleased with where our numbers are.”

Chief Ramsey, who has been the District’s police chief since April 1998, is serving out the last days of his term. Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, announced earlier this month that Cmdr. Cathy L. Lanier would replace Chief Ramsey. Mr. Fenty takes office Jan. 2. The District likely will finish the year with the lowest homicide total since 1985, when police recorded 147 killings in the city. Before that, the lowest total was in 1966, when 141 persons were killed.

Chief Ramsey said he remains optimistic about further declines in the District’s homicide totals. “I think we can get under 100,” he said, adding that he thinks the homicide total should be between 60 and 80 per year. “That should be average for a city this size.” Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, pledged upon talking office in 2000 to reduce the city’s annual homicide total to below 175. He never achieved that goal. Five permanent police chiefs served during his two terms as mayor, and the lowest homicide total recorded was in 2002, when there were 253 killings in Baltimore. Mr. O’Malley was elected governor in November and will take office Jan. 17.
by the Washington Times

Think you are going to see anything negative about the boy Mayor anywhere near the front page of the Democratic Sun? Nope….. Instead you see this…

Advice for Democrats: Look away: UMBC scholar tells party to dump South

And who says the Sun is biased……

By Steve Whisler; MSM, University of Phoenix Doctoral Candidate

Did you know that every taxpayer in Baltimore County has been the proud co-owner of apartment complexes in Dundalk? County government hopes to purchase a total of 56 complexes by the summer of 2007.

These new properties in your portfolio exist in a crime-infested neighborhood. Some call these apartments a blight and eyesore for the community. Critics question why the county failed to hold former property owners accountable to basic code enforcement laws. Why hold the current and former property owners accountable? Instead, let’s rely on the county to buy the properties, rebuild them, and revitalize the area. Great idea!

On March 27, 2006, county authorities thought they could purchase all 56 buildings in an 8-acre neighborhood for $11M. Well, their estimates were a bit off and they now expect to pay over $17M – a figure that will very likely increase since landowners are holding out for better offers, which the county seems willing to pay.

County Council Chairman, John Olszewski, seems to think, “It’s worth it … a great investment.” Call me cynical, but the first $7.6M spent on 20 buildings that contained just 79 units is not a great investment.

Would you invest your own money in this project? The estimated $17.2M is just to purchase the apartment complexes. What other related issues are taxpayers funding?

Tax dollars will also be used to move the families displaced by the county’s purchase of these apartment complexes. Citizens have already paid to move 51 families that likely already draw public assistance.

Displaced families will also receive rental assistance for one year, and they’ll receive vouchers for new units in February 2007. I’m sure the County Council and Executive are eager to call a press conference and let us know the total cost to purchase 56 apartment complexes in Dundalk.

How much will Baltimore County citizens pay to demolish those buildings this summer? How much will it cost to erect new Section-8 housing? The current estimate of $17.2M for this so-called Renaissance Redevelopment project is the tip of the iceberg.

When all the project costs are calculated, I wonder how many police officers could have been hired to suppress and/or eliminate that neighborhood’s crime activity. How many teachers could have been hired to reduce student-teacher ratios in our schools? How many Code Enforcement officials could have been hired to enforce standards in the Dundalk community? I’m willing to bet the price tag could have been substantially less … and the county could have created new jobs!

County Executive Smith has already touted $90M in renovations for Dundalk during his four years in office, and it appears that much, much more is on the way to a region that already garners the vast majority of public assistance funds in the Baltimore County budget.

Like it or not, Baltimore County citizens will pay for the Dundalk project, and I wonder if any of you or our politicians would stand in line and be first to move into one of the new apartments?

Some of wish that county government would get back to basics and manage the infrastructure of our communities – not seek to become a landlord and waste our tax dollars. Like it or not, the crime will still be there. The total price tag for the Dundalk project will not change statistics that drive local housing prices — statistics like local school test scores, shootings, robberies, and car thefts.

Nice try, Baltimore County government, but the tax dollars you’ve allocated and will allocate for the Dundalk project is not a great investment, but instead a social experiment that will merely erect a new landscape and do nothing for what is truly ailing this area.

Read these excellent related articles by Jaime Malarkey of the Baltimore Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/a-450876~County_moving_forward_with_demolition.html

http://www.examiner.com/a-204509~_Eyesore__laundry_facility_demolished.html

http://www.examiner.com/a-123132~County_progresses_on_Yorkway_project.html

http://www.examiner.com/a-95494~County_seeks_to_revamp_Concrete_Homes_Park.html

http://www.examiner.com/a-87206~Renaissance_not_always_good_news__some_say.html

Giving my critics equal time…..

just to be fair………..from one of my lib. critics…..

The lack of paragraph breaks, the plural disagreements, the possessive
pronoun problems, the unclear pronoun references, the misplaced modifiers,
and poorly chosen historical examples that undermine a half-baked thesis
can only mean that Robert Farrow has once again rubbed his two brain
cells together.

George Washington retreats in order to avoid a catastrophic loss. By
putting aside his pride and taking the sage advice of his subordinates,
George is given a chance to regroup and redeploy his forces. The
current

George would do well to follow the historical example Mr. Farrow cites.
But that would be an alternate history.

I don’t mind. Usually if you agree with the viewpoints you like the writer, and if you don’t like the writer’s views, he can’t write worth a damn. Yeah, I can be sloppy sometimes, but I am usually writing at 10-11 at night after working all day. But I do this to publish the news that the MSM ignores.

If you want perfectly written lies, then read the Sun.

by James H. Lilley

Is the death penalty for a savage, cold-blooded act of murder cruel vengeance or justice served? The debate over Capital Punishment has been argued on local, state and federal levels and still rages on almost daily. Our nation has served up the death penalty in many forms from hanging, to electric chair, to gas chamber and even firing squad. Over the years each of these methods was damned as cruel and inhumane treatment of the person who had committed a crime of violence. So along came lethal injection as an alternative to these “cruel” methods of carrying out a death sentence. Suddenly there was an outcry over the way the needles were inserted into the arm of the condemned because surely they were experiencing pain. Is the discomfort of lethal injection any more painful than a flu shot or giving blood? All require insertion of a needle into the arm or vein. Does the act of voluntarily taking a flu shot or donating blood make the pin prick less painful than death by lethal injection? Or does death ordered by the court for a violent crime somehow increase the level of pain for the condemned? Then came the argument over the dosage, the drugs employed and were they acting quickly enough to ensure the condemned didn’t suffer. Excuse me, but what horrible pain was being inflicted upon this person who’d been sentenced to death for violently taking the life of another?

Maybe it’s time to take a look at the death penalty from another side—the side of the real victim, their family and friends. Granted, not all victims of a violent crime that leads to their death are pillars of the community or innocent casualties. Still, this does not make them a lesser victim. Many suffer grave indignity and are often tortured for hours on end before they are finally killed. Some years ago in Washington, D.C. a few drug dealers had their own methods of dealing with rivals and were quite brutal in their form of execution. The death penalty imposed to send a message to others that thought of infringing on their territory was death by suffocation. The method used was biding the intended victim tightly to render them helpless and then wrapping their entire face and head in duct tape. Imagine if you will the sheer terror of lying there helpless while someone very calmly begins wrapping your head just above the eyes in duct tape. Think of how you’d feel as the tape wound lower and lower until there was no way to breathe in life’s precious oxygen. What would your suffering be like in the final moments of life? Still, this was a death sentence imposed and carried out by a cold-blooded killer, not a court of law after a trial and lengthy appeal process.

I think far too often the people who cry loud and endlessly to stop the nation’s death penalty have never spent a single moment of their lives at the scene of a brutal murder. They’ve been far away, sheltered from the blood, gore and stench of death. They’ve never spent hours walking through the spilled blood, spattered brains and broken body parts trying to make sense of what happened and collect evidence to catch a killer. And surely they’ve never knocked on a door and told a family member that a loved won’t be coming home because somebody stuck a shotgun against their head and pulled the trigger. If they had done any of these things the images would still be quite clear, because they’re etched forever in the minds of those who’ve been there. The sights, the smells, the sounds and the screams never really go away. And just when you think that last ghost has left you a sweat-drenching nightmare will rip you from your sleep and remind you of where you’ve been.

I still remember my first murder scene—in fact, I can remember all of them. Not that I’ve been to as many as a Baltimore City or Washington, D. C. homicide detective, but death is the same whether in the big city or the suburbs. I was a rookie not long out of the academy when I went to my first murder. The victim was lying at the bottom of a stairway, his feet still resting on the third and fourth steps, his head on the landing turned just a little to the left. At first it looked as if he’d just fallen down the stairs, but the very large hole in his throat told the tale of what had happened. He toppled backward down the stairs after being struck in the throat with a single blast from a 12 gauge shotgun. He was killed by his drinking partner who accused him of sneaking an extra drink from the bottle of whiskey they’d been sharing. A strange and senseless motive for murder I’d say.

I recall a woman in her mid 80s being terrorized by a prowler for several weeks. As it turned out the prowler was simply plotting a time to return and commit a far more sinister act. On a Friday evening he returned, cut the telephone lines to her home and attempted to break in. When she fled from her home and crossed the road praying to find help, he pursed her. There under a pine tree in her neighbor’s yard the woman was raped and beaten to death with the arm of a wooden lawn chair.

In the fall of 1987 a seventeen year old girl was working alone in the Highs Store at the Wilde Lake Village Green in Columbia, Maryland. A young man she knew well came into the store to commit a robbery. But she was unaware that he’d been receiving instructions from a prison inmate telling him how to avoid arrest for his crime—leave no living witnesses. He pulled a heavy bladed knife from under his jacket, chased her about the store until he cornered her in a back room. He began slashing at her with the knife and, as would be expected, she tried to ward off the attack with her hands. Her hands, arms and wrists were slashed repeatedly until she finally fell to the floor. While she lay bleeding on the floor he stabbed the knife deeply into her abdomen, ripped across and down, disemboweling her. He then went to the front of the store where he waited on customers as she lay dead only 30 feet away.

We hear of a mother who kills her baby by stuffing the infant in a microwave and turning it on. And a year ago in Virginia a husband and wife, along with their children, were murdered during a home invasion robbery. And almost everyday we hear of murders taking place near and far. Gunmen open fire in a shopping center, or children are killed in schools and workers are slain by disgruntled employees. Hostages are killed during a botched robbery or a parent kills their children in order to strike back at a spouse over a pending divorce. The list goes on and on.

Go back to September 8, 1992 and the carjacking murder of Doctor Pam Basu in Howard County. Doctor Basu was accosted at a Stop Sign by Rodney Eugene Solomon and Bernard Eric Miller, savagely punched, kicked and dragged from her car. While being pulled from her car, her left arm became entangled in her seatbelt. Solomon and Miller jumped into her car and began driving away. Yet Pam Basu wasn’t concerned for own welfare, but that of her 22-month-old daughter, Sarina, who was in the car. She cried out, “My baby! My baby,” as the car pulled away from the Stop Sign. And it isn’t that Solomon and Miller didn’t know there was a child in the car. Only moments earlier they had walked by the Basu residence and saw Pam placing Sarina in the car. They laid in wait for her at the Stop Sign, pulled her from the car and sped away with her child inside and Doctor Basu trapped beside the vehicle in the seatbelt. When they reached Gorman Road they stopped the car, ripped the car seat out and threw it and Sarina on the side of the road. They again drove off, dragging Pam Basu beside the car and before they finally stopped and removed her dead body from the car, they had dragged her for 1.7 miles. At the trial of Bernard Eric Miller when a witness to the crime described in vivid detail the body being dragged beside the car, Miller looked over his shoulder at friends seated in the courtroom and smiled.

If you look at the few murders described here you’ll not find even the smallest degree of mercy or sympathy for the victims, regardless of whether they were members of the criminal element or law-abiding citizens. Each met with death in a violent, heartless manner. Each and every one of these victims suffered from the pain inflicted upon them. The pain they endured was far greater than death by lethal injection. Lethal injection is no different than humanely destroying a beloved pet by the same method. The person, like the pet, lapses into a deep sleep and as the drugs continue to surge through the body, the body shuts down until the heart and breathing stops and all bodily functions cease. It’s far more humane than being beaten to death with the arm of a wooden lawn chair, or slashed and hacked to death with a knife. Lethal injection is certainly far more merciful than being dragged to death, or suffocated with duct tape. Yet, those who oppose the death penalty would have us believe that the persons responsible for these cold, calculated acts of violence are the ones that are really the victims. They showed no mercy and in many cases these killers showed no remorse for the violent act they’d committed.

But the courts are expected to show compassion because of the possibility that the damned soul might feel some pain and discomfort when put to death by lethal injection. I believe they should receive exactly the same consideration shown to their victim.

Our Governor Elect Martin O’Malley staunchly cries that the death penalty isn’t a deterrent to crime. Well, it sure as hell deters one person from ever committing a crime again and it eliminates one more burden from the taxpayer.

There are those who argue that even the most violent of offenders can be reformed and/or rehabilitated and turned back into society. This is absolute insanity to believe these people can be changed to such a degree that they will be able to function normally in society. Time and again violent predators have been released from prison, over the objections of prosecutors and doctors, only to kill again within days or weeks of their release.

Of course, there are those who scream that the death penalty is a violation of God’s law and God’s wishes. To those I say you’d better go back and read your Bible a little more carefully. Certain parts of the Bible, Genesis for one, clearly shows that people who anger God also suffer God’s wrath. Plainly translated—piss off the Big Guy and He’s going to strike you dead and he employed His own version of the death penalty on more than one occasion. Remember He turned Lot’s wife to a pillar of salt for merely looking over her shoulder after she was instructed not to look back. Certainly this makes any argument that God opposes utilization of the death penalty moot.

Still, I will also admit that not everybody who takes a life deserves to face capital punishment for their act. The taking of every life is not a cold, premeditated act and therefore the person taking the life shouldn’t face the death penalty. A life can be taken accidentally, in self-defense, or by means other than a calculated crime of violence. But those who kill without remorse, those who seek to inflict as much pain as possible on their victim, or kill without fear of reprisal for their actions should face the ultimate penalty. Bluntly—and most are afraid so say it—some people just don’t deserve to live.

By Robert Farrow

This is a world without America.

Submitted by: Regina Sztajer

Nancy Pelosi will be elected and sworn in as Speaker of the House on Thursday January, 2007 in Washington D.C. She is the Democratic Representative from the 8th district of California which includes the county and city of San Francisco. Pelosi as Speaker will rank second in the presidential line of succession behind the vice president.She will be the first Democrat in 12 years to hold the office of Speaker of the House.

She was born in Baltimore City to Italian American parents. Her father Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. was a U.S. Congressman and mayor of baltimore and her brother Thomas J. D’Alesandro was also mayor of Baltimore. While attending Trinity College ( now Trinity Washington University, ) she met her husband Paul Pelosi and they married and moved to his hometown San Francisco, California. Pelosi is an extremely wealthy women worth $25 million thanks to her husband’s investments. She has jointly owned shares of real estate in the San Francisco Bay area. and millions of dollars of shares in publicly traded companies such as Microsoft, ATT&T and Amazon.Com. She continues to top the list of the wealthiest members of the Congress.

Just before the election she disappeared from the public view and came back looking like a new person thanks to a few nips and tucks, botox, new hairdo and wardrobe from Armani. She was ready to accept her role and coronation as Speaker of the House. Far cry from Little Italy Pelosi!

Speaking of coming out she has scheduled a lavish four days of partying for herself as she ascends to the throne of Speaker of the House on Thursday, January 4, 2007, in Washington D.C. Monday January 1, 2007 she will arrive in Little Italy where she grew up in Baltimore city to dine in an Italian restaurant with her extended family and visit St. Leo’s Catholic Church. During the next three days she will be in Washington, D.C. visiting Trinity Washington University hosting 400 female politicians at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. An evening in the Italian Embassy hosting a dinner with Tony Bennett singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” She will also participate in a service at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capital Hill with a brunch for supporters in the Cannon House Office of the Library of Congress. Her election to Speaker of the House and swearing in will culminate with a fundraiser by the Congressional Campaign Committee for 1, 200 party goers in the evening who will pay $1,000, with Jimmy Buffet, Carole King etc. entertaining the quests.

Pelosi is grabbing the moment to present herself as, “the new face of the Democratic Party and to restore the party’s image as one hospitable to ethnic minorities, families, religion, the working class and women.”(Washington Post, 12,/22/2006.)

Does she mean honest Democratic politicians from now on not like the one who hid about $90,000, in his freezer of questionable bribe funds from the FBI. Or like a Sandy Berger in 2003 hiding and destroying National Archives documents from the Clinton Administration. Does she mean Democrats will no longer run around stealing money, padding statistics and driving drunkenly through the sidewalks in Washington D.C., and punching Capital Police? The Democrats have been given a free ride because of the liberal media and they will continue unless the American public rises up and says Pelosi no more of this nonsense. I’m from Missouri prove it to me!!!

What? No fireworks? I’m glad they canceled the tickertape parade. They probably couldn’t find bio gradable tickertape or a hybrid convertible.” said Mike Murphy Republican Political Consultant.The Democrat’s blamed George W. Bush in 2004 for being “wastefull” and “extravagant” during his inauguration during wartime. Pelosi is doing just that and no one says anything.

The lady appears to be a Narcissi’s by her behavior. She needs constant admiration and has a grandiose sense of self importance. She does expect to be recognized by her superiors and sees herself as special. She expects favorable treatment or compliance with her expectations.

Pelosi is in for a rude awakening, because some of her nominations have fizzled out and been embarrassing for her. Representative John P. Murtha, her ally in Congress, lost his bid for majority leader to Pelosi arch enemy Representative Stenny H. Hoyer of Maryland because Murtha had ethics issues in a vote of 149-86. Her involvement was divisive in nature and strong arm in tactics. Next she nominated Alcee Hastings to head the New House Committee on Intelligence but he was turned down because in 1989, during a Democratic controlled House and Senate he was impeached for accepting bribes while a federal judge. Pelosi snubbed the front runner Representative Jane Harman of California who was senior Democrat on the panel.

Silvester Reyes was the Democrat chosen to head the House Intelligence Committee. Pelosi insisted he had, “very strong credentials” for the job- ” credentials which could stand up to any body.” (www.foxnews.com 12/13/2006.) But Reyes who is expected to have an understanding of terrorist groups appeared ignorant of Al Queda and Hezbollah. He did not know if Al Queda members are Sunni or of the Shia branch of Islam.. In fact Al Queda founded by Usama bin Laden is a Sunni organization which views Shia Muslims as heretics. The feud is centuries old!

In regard to her judgement in nominating people I wonder about Pelosi’s credential’s to be Speaker of the House.

by Curt at Flopping Aces

More examples of the liberal mindmeld that our colleges are teaching our youth. This professor, Dr. Natana DeLong-Bas, who teaches at Boston college in Theology told a interviewer while in Saudi Arabia that Osama Bin Laden was NOT behind 9/11:

Dr. Natana DeLong-Bas was interviewed by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she said that the western media has given Osama bin Laden more status than he deserves. She added: “I do not find any evidence that makes me agree that Osama bin Laden was behind the attack on the twin trade towers. All we have heard from him was simply a praise and commendation of those who had carried out the operation.”

There ya go. This is the kind of beliefs that the teacher of our kids displays in Saudi Arabia. You think she changes her tune once in Boston? Not on your life. Hell, she wrote a book that tries to display Wahhabism in a good light.

Meanwhile you may recall Professor John Daly from a year ago. At the time he was teaching at Warren Community College in New Jersey and sent a email to a student in response to her announcement that a war hero would be making a presentation at the school. In that email Professor Daly wrote:

Dear Rebecca:
I am asking my students to boycott your event. I am also going to ask others to boycott it. Your literature and signs in the entrance lobby look like fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive. Your main poster “Communism killed 100,000,000″ is not only untrue, but ignores the fact that CAPITALISM has killed many more and the evidence for that can be seen in the daily news papers. The U.S. government can fly to dominate the people of Iraq in 12 hours, yet it took them five days to assist the people devastated by huricane Katrina. Racism and profits were key to their priorities. Exxon, by the way, made $9 Billion in profits this last quarter–their highest proft margin ever. Thanks to the students of WCCC and other poor and working class people who are recruited to fight and die for EXXON and other corporations who earning megaprofits from their imperialist plunders. If you want to count the number of deaths based on political systems, you can begin with the more than a million children who have died in Iraq from U.S.-imposed sanctions and war. Or the million African American people who died from lack of access to healthcare in the US over the last 10 years.

I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won’t dare show their face on a college campus. Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people’s needs–such freedom fighters can be counted throughout American history and they certainly will be counted again.

Prof. John Daly

This email was sent in November of 2005, soon after he resigned. A reader recently commented on my blog with an update of this scumbag:

In the interest of keeping track of thugs like this guy, I can tell you that John Daly is currently residing in Miami, FL. He is still a very active member of A.N.S.W.E.R., and still a rabidly anti-american self-styled socialist douche.

To the best of my knowledge, he is not now teaching, nor has he since this scandal. (Though I am not 100% certain of this)

I also happen to have found what is possibly the only source of photos of him. They are on his own myspace page, and can be found at the following URL.

I compared the picture of the guy that WorldNetDaily posted last November:

With the pictures on his MySpace page and it sure does appear to be the same guy. Get a load of some of what he has to say nowadays:

If you’re into socialist politics hit me up. If you’re about fighting back against racism, sexism, lgbt bigotry and war then let’s talk. Stop the US-Israeli Assault on the Lebanese and Palestinian people! Some quotes: “Déjeme decirle, a riesgo de parecer ridículo, que el revolucionario verdadero esta guiado por grandes sentimientos de amor.” –Che “The chickens have come home to roost. Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they’ve always made me glad.” –Malcolm X I believe that there will be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing.” –Malcolm X

Or:

I enjoy this contact with people, but really believe that health will only improve for the masses of working and poor people when we get rid of this rotten capitalist system and replace it with Socialism. Only then can we see the effectiveness of various health approaches–when the workers own the healthcare and pharmaceutical systems and run it in the interest of people, not profit. I am part of a small grouping in Florida who is determined to build a branch of our party in So. Florida. Check out our websites or give us a call. Join the PSL.

His heroes?

Lenin, Trotsky, Mao, Ho CHi Minh, Fidel, Che, Fred Hampton.

According to the commentor he doesn’t appear to teach anymore but his MySpace page says he still does it part-time:

I teach at the college level part-time. And full-time I work in public health research.

Still filling our young minds with Socialist drivel and the heroism of a Fidel Castro or a Lenin. He even lists a magazine that apparently he is involved in, “Socialism and Liberation”.

Our magazine, Socialism and Liberation, is promoting a subscription drive. You can check out the magazine at: http://socialismandliberation.org/mag/index.php To get a reduced price subscription send a check or money order for $24.00 for a year subscription to. You can also use paypal to jpd2005@gmail.com
PSL 14359 Miramar Parkway, No. 148

Miramar, FL 33027

I’ll personally see that you receive your subscription to a magazine that is written by the people for the people to challenge this rotten capitalist system and build a world free of racism, sexism, LGBT oppression and imperialist war. Anti-war coverage, Middle East, Latin America, Anti-racist struggles, LGBT movement, women’s right, fighting the bosses/defending labor……and much more.

Just think, your kid could go from learning that Osama wasn’t involved in 9/11 to learning about what a hero Lenin and Fidel were.

How special.

by Brujo Blanco

major burning question for the majority of the states is the problems associated with illegal immigration. Maryland has a major problem and I believe it stems from the fact that this is a real easy state for a person to get a driver’s license. Keep in mind that many of the illegals that have obtained driver’s licenses in Maryland have done so with no identification at all.

About six months ago I had some business at MVA and I spoke to someone there. I was

informed that MVA is granting great deal of latitude to Hispanics that come in for licenses. It appears as though they do not have to meet the same requirements as the rest of us. She told me that they do not have to provide birth certificates or valid social security numbers for the records. I was reading an article in the Examiner.com, Md. lawmakers face immigration questions when they return to work by Kristen Wyatt, December 24, 2006. Overall this was a good article however I took issue with portions of this article.

One of the questions being raised in this article is whether or not Maryland, under Martin O’Malley, will comply with the federal law which establish standards for issuing driver’s licenses. To me this is a no brainer. O’Malley, by law, has to enforce all the laws. He is required to obey the law.

It is unfortunate that I believe the answer is that O’Malley is likely to side with illegals and assist them in their mission to break our laws. One of the members of the O’Malley transition teams is Gustavo Torres who runs Casa de Maryland. This is the organization that is conspiring successfully to break our country’s immigration laws. His organization receives government money for these projects. What is he doing on the transition team?

This article also mentions that Jorge Ribas, president of the Greater Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who supports allowing individuals to obtain licenses without citizenship. I have news for Jorge citizenship is not required in any state for a driver’s license. One is only required to be here legally. A resident alien can get a license just like the rest of us.

Keep in mind that the whole thrust of the federal legislation is to prevent terrorists and other such criminals from obtaining bonafide identification to further their mission.

In this same article Democratic Senator John Astle of Anne Arundel County claims that it is the “guys down in Washington are really the ones that need to get a handle on this immigration stuff.” There is no point in passing laws that are going to be ignored by the states. States that do not comply with important legislation need to be cut from federal support when it comes to money.

There is a problem when people in government decide they want to cherry pick which laws to enforce and which laws not to support. If we do not enforce immigration laws and allow all to enter this country when they want to and in high numbers we will reach a saturation point. At that point we will not be able to sustain these illegals. When the illegals come here to work generally they are not on the books. Therefore officially they are not employed. This means they are constructively eligible to be placed on the dole. There are those in state and federal government that want to provide these illegals with social security benefits even though they have put nothing into the system. Social Security is a system that has projected shortfalls for the individuals that have contributed to the fund.

My overall solution to this problem is enforcement of laws on the books. Deportation of illegals as they are found, prosecution of those that provided false identification, prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegals, and asset seizures levied against such employers. Also, put the employers in jail as appropriate.

PS: The Maryland chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, mentioned in the article, supports across the board enforcement. This organization is not made up of gun toting whackos. They conduct backgrounds on prospective members and they have a policy of not breaking any laws. Stephen Schreiman the state director of this organization is a good man. His group needs legislative support and hopefully they will get it.

We will be off until December 26th!

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

(and for my liberal readers, Happy HaunaKawanaChristmaSolsticeNonDenominational Winter Holiday!)

by Curt at Flopping Aces

Who is surprised by this?

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists.

In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats.

“The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen — the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq — are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost,” Zawahri said, according to a full transcript obtained by ABC News.

“And if you don’t refrain from the foolish American policy of backing Israel, occupying the lands of Islam and stealing the treasures of the Muslims, then await the same fate,” he said.

Don’t you feel special Democrats? Think about this for a minute. Our enemy believes that the Republicans losing in the last election was a victory for them. Come on Mr. and Mrs. KOS, just marinade in that fact.

Does that make you feel like you support this country or that you actually support the enemy?

But at least you have the next ambassador to the terrorists in Mr. John Kerry. He has all that recent experience talking to Syria and North Vietnam. What a perfect posterboy.

As you pump fists in the air while declaring victor come January don’t forget to grab a hold of the hand of the nearest MSM reporter. The victory of Al-Qaeda could not have been accomplished without the help of the New York Times, the LA Times, al-Reuters, and the great AP.

How proud you must feel at this moment.

by Laryn

The Berger Dossier: Pajamas Media makes the Inspector General’s Official Report Public

by Richard Miniter

PJM is making public on this website for the first time the report by the Inspector General’s office regarding Sandy Berger and his theft and destruction of classified national security documents — named in the report as, “The ‘W’ Intelligence Files.” This document was obtained for review by Pajamas Media.

Berger, as the former National Security Adviser for the Clinton Administration, was granted sole access to these documents in order to vet them prior to their being turned over to the 9/11 Commission and congress. As this file shows, he used this position of trust to take a number of documents and destroy several.

[Editors’ Note: The ramifications of this report are profound when placed against the questions of who knew what and when did they know it in the Clinton years prior to 9/11.

As is common with all such documents, the pages have been heavily redacted following a security review. Still, enough facts remain to give readers a clear picture of Berger’s access and actions leading up to the crimes for which he has pled guilty.

Pajamas Media will be examining and investigating the leads and questions that arise from this document in the coming days. At the same time we recognize that our resources in this regard are limited.

Therefore we are making this document public and ask that it be reviewed by knowledgeable people to see what information can be gleaned from the facts that remain visible after the security review.

A few questions emerge on the first reading for which answers would, we believe, be telling and valuable to the public’s understanding of the deeper roots of 9/11.

Among these are:

What was role of Omar Bashir, President of the Sudan, and his relationship to Berger and President Clinton during the days when he offered to cooperate in the capture of Osama Bin Laden?

What was in the ten to twenty pages of notes Berger is believed to have taken out of the reviewing room against regulations during his first session?

Who was the person or persons Berger contacted during the numerous “private cell phone calls” he was allowed to make during his active review of the classified documents?

Exactly what was in the documents Berger stole from the archives, some of which he has confessed to destroying?

The list can be extended as one reads the OIG report carefully. We are confident that by releasing this document in this manner we can call upon the networked intelligence of the Web to find within these pages not only more questions, but the beginnings of the answer to the central mystery of this entire incident: “Who was Berger looking to protect from the 9/11 Commission’s inquiry? Was it just himself and his role in our National Security in the Clinton years? Or were there others that the documents would either embarrass or implicate? ]
by Pajama Media

Oh how the Repub Congress fell down on the job. They should have held hearings when they had the chance on this. How about demanding that the Repubs on Judiciary Committees grill A G Gonzales and any other representative from his office when they are appearing before the committees. The timing of this release during our Christmas preparation and celebration season is not optimal. Please keep this alive and in the blogs past the holidays.

I hope that many of your readers may also wish to contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators on support of the basic premises of Rep Goode’s letter and their opposition to Senator Boxer’s giving an award to an executive of CAIR.

For contact info for your representatives, go here: htp://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress and enter your zip code or address.

To send a copy of your email to your local media, as well as national media, go here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media and enter your zip code.

To send a copy of your email to the Republican National HQ, asking them to stand by Goode, go here: http://www.gop.com/ContactUs/

Please keep these stories alive past the holiday season when more eyes will on your
posts.

Merry Christmas,
Larwyn

by Regina Sztajer

This is Martin O’Malley’s new battle cry! But he has BIG plans for 2007, for education, transportation, health care and the environment. “We are spending at a much quicker rate then we can afford and he is hoping to be able to submit a balanced budget without any revenue sources,” he said. ( Baltimore Examiner 12/19/06.) Senate President Mike Miller seem to have contradicted O’Malley when he said, ” somehow, someway, somebody’s got to be paying for it, and it’s going to be the Maryland tax payer.” ( Baltimore Examiner 12/19/06.) Looks like O’Malley is trying to find someone to blame for new taxes other than himself! O’Malley is also admitting to the possibility little will be done during his governorship when he said, “residents know that no administration can accomplish everything in the first 90 days or even the first four years.” ( Baltimore Examiner 12/19/06.)

Maybe O’Malley should consider cutting spending to avoid raising revenues. If he borrow’s to pay for his pet projects it could increase the debt to pay for inflated expenses. That could drive Maryland’s credit rating down, making it more expensive to borrow money effecting all taxpayers. Taxpayers best beware of his poor judgement in spending our money hoping to make himself look good.

For example education, “left unchecked, aid to local education will consume 36% of the general fund budget by 2011, crowding out other spending priorities. (Baltimore Examiner 12/21/06.) Expect deficits when spending will grow by 41% and revenue by 25% from 2006 to 2011. Spending must be prioritized, waste cut and reforms enacted that will promote fiscal responsibility. The Democrats must recognize an increase in taxes will ultimately reduce revenues and the effect will slow the economy. This is evident in political history:

President John Kennedy cut taxes in the 1960′s and the economy boomed. President Lyndon B. Johnson raised taxes in the 1970′s and the economy failed. Also, President Ronald Reagan slashed taxes in the 1980′s and the economy boomed once again while President Bill Clinton in the 1990′s raised taxes and the economy had a free fall with the collapse of the Internet Dot com, no longer there to sustain the increases. President George W. Bush cut taxes again and the economy and government revenue are at record highs.

The Democrats must learn it takes courage to cut tax’s to spur economic growth. Then they would enjoy sustained revenue increases to fund their projects. Tax increases while producing revenue are considered short lived and might require additional increases to be sustainable. Beware of a new spending program cooked up by the Democrats it is called structural expenses, just another way to spend our money. Remember Democrats such as O’Malley are tax and spend politicians!

O’Malley never stops to amaze us with his political antics. What was his true motive for the enormous increase to State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamey’s annual salary by $83,000? As the city’s highest paid employee was this a re-payment for political favors at taxpayers expense or does he have another motive? At a Board of Estimate’s meeting he boosted her annual salary from $142,055 to $225,000. Why after years of struggle between them did he reward her with a 60% raise? The finance committee felt Jessamy had a tough job in a jurisdiction with the largest challenge of any in Maryland.

But I wonder if O’Malley was motivated to raise her salary in order to encourage others to run against her for her position. It’s one way of getting rid of her! Before the vote to approve her raise he said, “I don’t think we’ve had a competitive race for this very important job since 1983.” ( Baltimoresun.com 12/21/06.) Sounds suspicious to me.

Jessamy was asked if political strategy was behind her pay increase because she did not ask for such a large raise and this was her reply, “if it’s the salary that’s attracting people, then they don’t need to be in this position. This job requires someone who is committed to public service.”This job requires someone who is committed to public service.” (Baltimoresun.com 12/21.06.)

Her salary is paid for by city taxpayers and she will receive a higher salary then the top prosecutors in Philadelphia, Boston and Richmond Va. Sheila Dixon who will serve out O’Malley’s term as mayor next year while voting for Jessamy’s raise took a jab at her when she said, ‘hopefully, as a result of this increase in salary, we’ll see the state’s attorney’s office and the Police Department working a lot closer and we can reduce the crime that we face on a daily basis.” ( Baltimoresun.com 12/21/06.)

O’Malley dashed from the meeting avoiding questions from reporters. Interesting is the fact O’Malley as governor will receive a salary of $150,000 annually while Jessamy will enjoy $75,000 more yearly then he.

by Cheryl T

Kudos to Jay Ambrose for defining “cheated” in his Examiner article 12/20/06, Sympathy for the Cheated. Cheated are American citizens lacking the education, skills, and the opportunity to rise from poverty. Jay was referring to the recent government raid on six SWIFT meat packing plants and the liberal media crying “inhumane.” Well what about the inhumanity to poor American citizens who are struggling to find decent paying jobs because the 12-20 million illegal aliens our politicians welcome with open arms are suppressing wages and literally stealing jobs from American citizens?

Cheated would also be two dedicated Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos who are in dire need of a pardon from President Bush because they were doing their job and injured an illegal alien drug runner while attempting to apprehend him. This illegal alien drug dealer is now suing the US for $5 million dollars and will cost taxpayers a bundle.

And … what about law abiding small businesses who refuse to hire illegals because it’s … well … illegal? How can they compete on bids when less reputable firms are paying illegals under the table, below minimum wages with no benefits?

I feel cheated by Senator Barbara Mikulski, with an Immigration Report Card rating of (D+), Senator Paul Sarbanes (D), Ben Cardin (D-) and while not rated yet, I give Gov. Elect Martin O’Malley an F. Call, write, fax your reps in Congress and let them know YOU FEEL CHEATED!