Last month, a Republican lawyer in Mississippi who previously lived here in Washington, infiltrated a Howard Dean for President "meet-up" in Jackson. He took charge of more than the meeting.Priceless!
"I'm basically now head of Central Mississippians for Dean," J. Kevin Broughton tells Inside the Beltway.
The handful of Dean supporters on hand included a political consultant who was state chairman of Al Gore's 1988 presidential campaign, a retired Army colonel, a local broadcaster and a pair of middle-aged women.
Honest lawyer he is, and feeling a bit guilty, Mr. Broughton decided to come clean.
"I disclosed that I was a Republican, interested in seeing Dean take Mississippi's delegates and win the nomination. I had to take charge of the meeting," he explains.
"They were all talking about how [President] Bush lied about WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] and how sick it was that Arnold [Schwarzenegger] got elected [governor] in California.
" 'Listen,' I said, 'it'll be a four-man race at most by Super Tuesday. Dean will be one ... [but] we'll have an incredibly low turnout. We need 25 percent of the black vote, and that will get us the 30 [percent] to 32 percent plurality that will take the delegates.'
"Blank stares," Mr. Broughton recalls. "I'm trying to walk them through the mechanics of winning a primary. 'Look, let's divide up the counties in the middle third of Mississippi. Each of us can contact the Democrat county chairs, and get the voter and donor lists.'
"The retired colonel said, 'Kevin, tell us what it is that has disaffected you with the current administration.'
" 'Not a darn thing,' I said, finally getting through. 'My motivation may be different than yours, but our goal is the same, at least until next summer. Your guy can't be president if he doesn't win the nomination. I want him to get the nomination.' "
Wouldn't you know, Mr. Broughton was crowned chairman of the Dean club. They meet again next week.
The odds of winning something - most often, a free ticket - in the Tennessee Millionaire game are 1-in-4.Huh. I've played the lottery. Yeah, even though I opposed it. I've only invested $6 and I haven't won a DAMN THING. So, I'm not playing any more. Probably.
Another inaugural game is Tennessee Treasures, which features $2 tickets bearing scenic photos from around the state. The maximum prize will be $25,000. Overall odds of winning will be 1-in-4.
A third game, called Lucky 7's, requires the player to find three 7s in a tic-tac-toe-winning arrangement and will pay out up to $7,000. Those tickets will cost $1 and will carry overall odds of 1-in-5.
The fourth game is the $100,000 Jackpot. Tickets will cost $5. Overall odds are 1-in-3.
Freshman year: 85%There's some confusion about the way the data is presented, but still, this is disheartening. Read the report for yourself; it's a brisk read with lots of tables.
Sophomore year: 38%
Junior year:22%
Senior year:18%
Twenty-seven truckloads of wreckage were hauled to Kennedy Space Center between Feb. 5 and May 6. More than 25,000 searchers, who scoured a debris "footprint" that was 645 miles long, found 84,900 individual pieces, about 38 percent of the space shuttle. Each piece or component was cleaned, decontaminated, bar-coded, photographed and entered into a computer database....It isn't long, but it is saddening.
The foam measured 21 to 27 inches long by 12 to 18 inches wide. It was tumbling at 18 revolutions per second. Before the foam separated, the shuttle -- and the foam -- had a velocity of 1,568 mph, about twice the speed of sound. Because of its low density, the foam rapidly decelerated once in the airstream, slowing by 550 mph in that two-tenths of a second....
At 8:48:39 a.m., just four minutes and 30 seconds after Columbia had dipped into the atmosphere, a sensor mounted behind the forward spar, near the point where RCC panel 9 was bolted to the other side, measured an unusual increase in stress. The spar was softening....
On the flight deck, shuttle commander Rick Husband and rookie pilot William "Willie" McCool remained oblivious to their ship's ongoing destruction. They might have noticed the elevon movement on their forward computer displays, but the adjustments were small and would not have caused concern....
Investigators concluded the module fell intact for 38 seconds after main vehicle breakup, plunging 60,000 feet to an altitude of 26 miles before it began to disintegrate from the combined effects of aerodynamic stress and extreme temperatures. From the debris analysis, investigators believe the module was probably destroyed over a 24-second period beginning at 9:00:58 a.m. During that period, the module fell another 35,000 feet, to an altitude of 19 miles or so.
The Christ pictures of recent can?t just tell the story. They seem to need to fix things, make Jesus not raise from the dead, make him the lover of Mary Magdalene, make him whatever. But Gibson leans on the simplicity of the original story. He?s not shackled to the scriptures, because he boldly throws in details here and there that blend with the original story. He?s respectful, but he?s not afraid. This is a movie that secular Hollywood could not make, but it?s also a movie that the Christian community could not make either.Warning! This review mentions a couple of spoilers from the film, but the author does give clear notice before he gives them. Just keep your eye out.
The Christ pictures of the 40s and 50s were too busy glorifying the spectacle of Jesus. Every time he turns around he?s doing this neato miracle, like it?s a magic show. The Passion of Christ downplays the miracles to focus on Jesus' terrestrial dilemma. This is a story about the son of God stuck on Earth with only one way out and he knows it?s coming.
Even a faithful repetition of the Gospel stories of the death of Jesus can do damage exactly because those sacred texts themselves carry the virus of Jew hatred. ''Crucify him! Crucify him!'' Matthew has the Jewish crowd shouting. ''Let his blood be upon us, and upon our children!'' The murderous Jews force the hand of a compassionately reluctant Pontius Pilate, who then, famously, washes his hands, saying, ''I am innocent of this man's blood. It is your concern.'' (Matthew 27: 23-26).You can find some excellent pics and stills from the movie here, at a British movie site. Some of these stills are breath-taking. The framing, lighting and composition resemble medieval and Rennaisance paintings. On purpose, I'd guess.
A momentous challenge confronts the Christian conscience faced with what scholars now assert with near unanimity -- that the death of Jesus did not happen as the Passion narratives recount. ''The Jews'' did not sponsor the death of Jesus. The dramatic trials are unlikely to have occurred. Control-obsessed Romans would have instantly smashed anyone drawing restive crowds in the volatile Passover season. Pilate, no humanitarian, was noted in non-Christian sources for brutality surpassing even the Roman standard. The Gospels tell the story as if Jesus, in conflict with ''the Jews,'' was not himself a Jew. The Gospel of John goes so far as to characterize the Jewish people as allies of Satan, a slander to which Jesus of Nazareth could have in no way given his assent.
After two of its representatives attended a screening of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of The Christ" at a religious gathering in Florida, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today renewed its concerns about the film's potential to promote anti-Semitism through its "painful portrayal of Jews" as being responsible for the death of Jesus. The film is scheduled for national release on Ash Wednesday, February 25.You have to go to NewMax.com to get the full story:
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, who attended the screening at the Beyond All Limits Conference in Orlando along with Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL Interfaith Consultant, issued the following statement:
[SNIP]It's sad that we could not see this film at the invitation of Mel Gibson, but instead by finding an opportunity to be part of an audience.
In their press release, ADL National Director Abrahama Foxman and another ADL official said they saw the film while attending a "religious gathering" in Orlando, Fla., called the Beyond All Limits Conference.It makes for good media circus for the ADL, but tarnishes their purpose, which I will admit some sympathy to. It will be interesting to see if any incidents happen (I hope not.) and how they are reported.
As it turned out, Hirsen informs us, the religious conference is organized by the Global Pastors Network.
Sources at Icon Productions were surprised to learn that the uninvited ADL officials had registered for the Christian conference under the name "The Church of Truth."
For those in the thick of the debate, it's long been obvious that vouchers are an attack on teacher unions. Even Wisconsin State Representative Annette "Polly" Williams, an African American who helped start the Milwaukee voucher program, the country's first, now admits as much. "The main motivation of some of the choice supporters was to weaken public education unions," she wrote in a letter this summer to Governor Jim Doyle.But she also says this:
While both teacher unions overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party, conservatives especially hate the NEA. It is larger, more geographically diverse, with members in every Congressional district in the country, and more likely to push a liberal agenda that includes social issues such as gay rights....Gee, wonder why the Right wants to go after the teachers' unions? Maybe it's opinions like this:
The teacher unions back up their support for the Democratic Party with money and grassroots organization. After all, public schools exist in every municipality and county in the nation. Unlike manufacturing, teaching cannot be outsourced to Mexico, China, or Bangladesh.
Eliminating public education may seem unAmerican....Yeah, wanting change that serves kids, trying to budge some of the very folks blocking progress, it's UnAmerican.
Skull and Bones is America's most powerful secret society. It's based at Yale, where it's headquartered in a building called the Tomb, and Skull and Bones has included among its members, presidents, including presidents George W. Bush and his father, as well as William Howard Taft, Supreme Court Chief Justices, C.I.A. officials, cabinet members, congressmen and senators. What makes it so staggering that we could have a Skull and Bones versus Skull and Bones, Kerry versus Bush election is that this is a tiny tiny club. There are only 800 living members. Only 15 per year. It's staggering that two of them could be facing off for the presidency and so many of them have achieved positions of prominence. One of the interesting and I think disturbing things about Skull and Bones is that its purpose is to get members into positions of power and have those members hire other members into prestigious positions. This is something we have seen with George W. Bush since his ascendancy to the presidency, he has put several Bones members into prestigious positions, such as Bill Donaldson, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The number two and number three guys in the Justice Department, the guy that puts out all of Bush's secrecy memos. His assistant Attorney General is a major Bonesman. Bonesman Frederick Smith was Bush's top choice for Secretary of Defense until he had to withdraw for health reasons. The general council of the Office of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense’s representative to Europe. The list goes on and on and on. That's something that's interesting, because George W. Bush likes to feign his distance from Yale, from Bones, from Northeastern establishment elite connections, and yet he's going ahead and following Skull and Bones to the letter.Kerry is completely mum on his connections. It's a chilling reminder of just how small is the pool of people who end up at the top of the power heap in America.
