as the nation readies itself for the pomp of former president reagan's state funeral, you'll see lots of pictures of president bush paying his respects. regardless of his sincerity (and i don't for a minute question his grief or sympathy for the reagan family), bush will, of course, benefit by association with the event--especially through poignant images that show bush in close proximity to the casket. the image that's not visible above the text is bush paying the same respect to t...

an australian named jack roche might have helped prevent both the 9/11 attack on the world trade center...and the bali bombing of 2002. instead of being lauded as a hero by both his government and ours, roche is serving a 9 year sentence...a self-confessed attempted bomber who once had lunch with osama bin laden but was unable to get us or australian intelligence officials to take his calls. its a very strange story that underscores just how little the west knew about al-quaida and its ...

"Let me further make it plain to the assassins in Beirut and their accomplices, wherever they may be, that America will never make concessions to terrorists -- to do so would only invite more terrorism -- nor will we ask nor pressure any other government to do so. Once we head down that path there would be no end to it, no end to the suffering of innocent people, no end to the bloody ransom all civilized nations must pay."-- ronald reagan, june 18, 1985 while listening to and reading trib...

if you are at all into exotic cars (a lotus body with a celica engine for the us market is about as exotic as it gets) , attack helicopters, bizarre use of military hardware, you really want to see this. the car does 150mph (roughly) costs 30k uk pounds (im not sure how much that is in dollars), looks beautiful from the outside, very spartan inside (sun visors are among the options),. the spoilers and dams actually work, it comes with stock racing slicks and corners 'like a fly'. the ...

the discussion about bill cosby's speech at the naacp commemoration of the supreme courts ruling on brown vs board of education (those of you who havent continued to follow the thread may have missed a comment by 'bill cosby' ) has shaken loose a couple of memories that have not much to do with the topic but arent totally out of the park in that they relate to education in general and the way people are taught to learn. the first involves the young son of a friend who was supposed to be ...

heres's the deal. charles mingus was raised by his grandmother who refused to let him eat anything but church food--grape juice and bread. then she relented to the extent she permitted something someone brought to a church potluck...the infamous green bean casserole discussed in another article. other article according to the source of this story, mingus quickly returned to the bread and grape juice

the opinions of anyone with even the vaguest connection to 'american idol'' quilting shows on pbs bocce ball any thing sold by ll bean john milton's poetry foosball unitarians everything in avon catalogs world wrestling federation vs other wrestling organizations socks poptarts reba mcintire daytime drama awards green bean casseroles topped with french-fried onions fabio whether wilfred brimley checks his blood sugar and tests it often if all th...

"It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." --abraham lincoln nearly 141 years later, ev...

sunday night, the cbs newsmagazine '60 minutes' featured a steve kroft interview with retired general anthony zinni usmc, former commander-in-chief of us central command (in charge of all american forces in the middle east) and former special envoy to the middle east under george w bush. zinni and tom clancy recently co-authored "Battle Ready": a book about his 40+ years of service as a warrior/diplomat. in the book, he blames senior civilian pentagon officials for having failed the pre...

cheaper than maps to the star's homes too (wanna make one with your own message? go here )

this is a totally subjective opinion and may or may not be correct: all things being equal, more voters will choose a republican over a democrat when voting in an election to fill an executive office. this is a conclusion based on solely on personal observation but i think its accurate: successful republican candidates for executive positions like us president and governor of california seem to share an unusual common characteristic it's a relatively recent phenomenon and very much...