Tom McMahon

The Miami Herald: "Of the survivors in the car, John Connally, seriously wounded, lived until 1993; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in 1994. So it has come to pass that Nellie Connally is the last living soul to have experienced, firsthand, one of the seminal events of the 20th century. Two days after bringing her husband home from the hospital, Nellie went to a quiet corner of the governor's mansion, picked up a legal pad and recorded her account of the events, thinking that maybe her grandchildren and their children might want to know what had happened on that day. ''I left Austin at noon on Thursday, Nov. 21, 1963,'' she began, with the harrowing account to follow. Then she put her memories in a drawer.

Then, one day in 1996, she came across some papers torn from a legal pad. ''What in the world is this stuff?'' Nellie asked herself. She pulled the pages from the file folder and looked closer: It was the notes she had written after the assassination. . ." 

Chuck Colson: "Forty years ago, November 22, 1963 , a paralyzed world watched the horror of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, a dark day in American history many of us remember. That same day two other notable personalities quietly breathed their last and exited the world almost without notice. British writer Aldous Huxley, author of the grim, futuristic novel Brave New World, died in Los Angeles . C. S. Lewis, now regarded as the most influential Christian writer of the twentieth century, also died that day at his home in Oxford." 

"Everyone thinks they know what the mob is like. It's something you learn from watching The Sopranos and GoodFellas, something that involves Joe Pesci, baked manicotti, and a dead guy in the trunk. But that's not what I've seen during my two years working for organized crime. My sense is that the mob works a lot like GE or Time Warner. It's more Jack Welch than John Gotti."  

"Humane Trophies, by designer Dianne Shapiro, are a dramatic and enjoyable group of functional and/or decorative animals. Their special designs, superior materials and workmanship capture the true nature and distinctive characteristics of each animal. They are produced in Vermont by a hard-working, enthusiastic team of artisans and each piece receives individual attention. Materials include top-quality acrylic faux fur, vinyl, select fabrics, hypo-allergenic polyester fiber filling and plywood or other wood products where needed." 

 

Jackie Mason was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan surrounded by rabbis. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great, great-grandfather were all rabbis, as are his three brothers. No surprise that at age 25, Jackie Mason was ordained a rabbi. Three years later, he quit his job in a synagogue to become a comedian because, as he says, "Somebody in the family had to make a living."

The Secret? He was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. 

"This is the Roger Staubach issue of LIFE that never was." as related by an individual who worked for the publisher in New York City at the time it came off the press. After the assassination of JFK, virtually all of the 'early run' copies of that issue were destroyed. However, when I arrived at the office on Monday there was a bundle of about ten copies there. (This was not unusual, we always received 'early run' copies to show to our advertisers running in the issue.) Naturally, none of this occurred to me at the time--being preoccupied with the momentous events of the weekend. But I did put the bundle in a file cabinet and forgot about it for a few years."

This was the newsstand version which carries the features that were to appear prior to the assassination of Present Kennedy on November 22, 1963. However, there might possibly have been some copies that did eventually make their way into the mail, these of course would have a mailing label attached. Also, an edition without the sidebar and feature copy might also exist. This issue, is without a doubt, the LIFE's rarest edition.

Update: Priorities & Frivolities has additional info about the production of the JFK issue.
 

"If you're into dead presidents (and gosh, who isn't?), you came to the right place. By simply clicking your mouse button, you can see pictures of me, Manus Hand, visiting the final resting places of every one of them (save three -- I'm still working on it!) Prepare yourself for a bunch of pictures of me standing in cemeteries, tombs, crypts, and mausoleums. And yes, you read it correctly! On the pages you're about to visit, you will be able to read the obituary text published at the time of the man's death -- fascinating and excellent sketch biographies and accounts of the tragedies that befell the men who held the office." 

Presidential Biographies	Presidential Coloring Book	Teacher and Parent Guide

 

John Fund: "Kennedy's edge in the nationwide popular vote was the equivalent of less than one vote per precinct. The Associated Press reported that Kennedy's plurality was just 112,827 votes nationwide, a margin of 49.7% to 49.5%. But was Kennedy, like George W. Bush, actually a "minority president," elected without a popular-vote plurality?

It's uncertain because in Alabama, JFK's name didn't actually appear on the ballot. Voters were asked to choose between Nixon and a slate of "unpledged Democrat electors." A statewide primary had chosen five Democratic electors who were "loyalists" pledged to JFK six who were free to vote for anyone. The Democratic slate defeated Nixon, 324,050 votes to 237,981. In the end, the six unpledged electors voted for Sen. Harry Byrd of Virginia, a leading Dixiecrat, and the other five stuck with their pledge to Kennedy. When the Associated Press at the time counted up the popular vote from all 50 states it listed all the Democratic votes, pledged and unpledged, in the Kennedy column. Over the years other counts have routinely assigned all of Alabama's votes to Kennedy.

But scholars say that isn't accurate. "Not all the voters who chose those electors were for Kennedy--anything but," says historian Albert Southwick. Humphrey Taylor, the current chairman of the polling firm Louis Harris & Associates (which worked for Kennedy in 1960), acknowledges that in Alabama "much of the popular vote . . . that is credited to Kennedy's line to give him a small plurality nationally" is dubious. "Richard Nixon seems to have carried the popular vote narrowly, while Kennedy won in the Electoral College," he concludes.

Congressional Quarterly, the respected nonpartisan chronicler of Washington politics, spent some effort in the 1960s to come up with a fair way of counting Alabama's votes. Reporter Neil Pierce took the highest vote cast for any of the 11 Democratic electors in Alabama--324,050--and divided it proportionately between Kennedy and the unpledged electors who ended up voting for Harry Byrd.

Using that method, Kennedy was given credit for 5/11ths of the Democratic total, or 147,295 votes. Nixon's total in Alabama of 237,981 remained the same. The remaining 176,755 votes were counted as being for the unpledged electors. With these new totals for Alabama factored in with the vote counts for the other 49 states, Nixon has a 58,181-vote plurality, edging out Kennedy 34,108,157 votes to 34,049,976. Using that calculation the 1960 election was even closer than we thought. " 

"Jelly Belly jelly beans are made in our kitchens in Fairfield, California and North Chicago, Illinois. We make everything from scratch and use natural ingredients whenever possible. We produce all Jelly Belly flavors in both factories. Here's a map so you can see the making of Jelly Belly beans for yourself if you are not able to take a walking tour at our northern California plant. Click on the numbers in the map to read about the details in the steps of our bean-making process!"  

Transits of Venus have a strange pattern of frequency. A transit will not have happened for about 121 years (the last one was 1882). Then there will be one transit (such as this one in 2004) followed by another transit of Venus eight years later (in the year 2012). Then there will be a span of about 105 years before the next pair of transits occur, again separated by eight years. Then the pattern repeats. If Venus and the earth orbited the sun in the same plane as the sun, transits would happen frequently. However, the orbit of Venus is inclined to the orbit of earth, so when Venus passes between the sun and the earth every 1.6 years, Venus usually is a little bit above or a little bit below the sun, invisible in the sun’s glare. 

Wired News: Sim Soars as Learning Tool: "So, you want to learn how to fly a plane? No problem -- just find yourself a flight instructor and get ready to spend about $7,000 to get your private pilot certificate. Or you can go out and buy a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and a specialized controller for about $150, and learn on your PC. Even though it's marketed as an entertainment title, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight is a highly effective tool to help student pilots learn how to fly. 'Flight Simulator started as a very basic program,' said Bruce Landsberg, executive director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation. 'Over the years, it's evolved phenomenally. It's my observation that someone wanting to become a pilot could save some considerable time and money by using Flight Simulator before starting flight lessons.' " 

The Independent: "The growing craze for high protein, low carbohydrate slimming regimes such as the Atkins diet is threatening the market for one of the staple foods of the West - bread. Consumption of bread plummeted in America in the past year with an estimated 40 per cent of Americans eating less than in 2002. The US bread industry is to hold a crisis 'bread summit' tomorrow to discuss measures to curb falling sales. In Britain, the Federation of Bakers launched a promotional campaign last month to counter the Atkins effect. " 

"What we have here are 460 unusual graphic icons, just for you. Choose gif versions for your homepage, or specially formatted packages for your Mac, Windows, or Unix desktop."  

 

The German Cult of Michael Moore: "It's probably safe to say that few countries have embraced the work of American author and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore as feverishly and enthusiastically as has Germany. His diatribe against U.S. President George Bush Stupid White Men sold nearly 1.1 million copies in German – comprising an astonishing one-third of the book’s total global sales. Compare that with the 630,000 copies he sold in the United States, with its far larger population and you can begin to see why industry magazine Publisher’s Weekly compared his popularity here to that of comedian Jerry Lewis in France. " (via Matthew Stinson)
 

A neat little Flash Animation 

(via Larry's Pretty Good Web Log)

 

The Story of Ramon Mercader "It seems a constant throughout history, that an assassin have a grand name. John Wilkes Booth, Charles Julius Guiteau, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, Mark David Chapman; the list goes on. It was the executioner of Lev Davidovich Trotsky, however, who had the grandest name of all.

Jaime Ramon Mercader del Rio Hernandez.

Certainly people know this, right? Ramon Mercader (as he is more frequently referred to) did, after all, end the life of a man with more political and historical significance than any of the Kennedy boys could have ever hoped to possess. In spite of this, Mercader is virtually unknown. On the topic of Trotsky’s demise, books generally suffice it to say that the great revolutionary was killed by a stalinist agent wielding and ice pick, few texts bother to mention the assassin’s mouthful of names." 

"In the world according to Raymond Damadian -- businessman, doctor, and inventor -- he should have a Nobel Prize on his desk. Dr. Damadian is founder and president of the Fonar Corporation, which makes magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) scanners. For three decades, he has been trying to write himself into the history books as the father of MRI, and he has had some success. In 1988, he shared a National Medal of Technology for developing the medical scanner, and a decade later won a $128-million patent lawsuit, one of the largest such awards at the time. The Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm -- which awards the annual Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine -- takes a different view of the past, however. Last month it honored two other scientists -- Paul C. Lauterbur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Sir Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham, in England -- as the key originators of the imaging technique now used in 60 million examinations every year. The award omitted any mention of Dr. Damadian. "I've been stricken from history," says Dr. Damadian. "My life's work has been stricken." "

So, is Damadian an unheralded visionary or a self-aggrandizing, combative, egotistical, spiteful, mean, bitter, paranoid, underhanded asshat? You decide. 

 

Animations.com: "Animations.com is a fun collection of animated GIFs that are perfect for your email messages, web pages, PowerPoint presentations, and more. With 250,000 animations at your fingertips, you'll never run out of ways to use Animations.com content. Try them in email, instant messages, websites, chat rooms, and PowerPoint presentations. Our images work wonderfully with Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Photoshop, ImageReady, and more!" 

David Brooks: "Interestingly, though, the magazines that are thriving these days have an entirely different sensibility. This is the golden age of the smiling magazine. O, the magazine named after the historically important first initial of Oprah Winfrey's name, is so relentlessly encouraging it is like being hugged to death by the Care Bears. InStyle, the celebrity and fashion magazine that is now as thick as Vogue, is an ink and paper version of Prozac Pop-Tarts. And the hottest new magazine in the land is called Lucky. It's so peppy and chipper it makes going down the Hallmark card aisle in the drugstore feel like a trudge through Germanic philosophy. "

Jay Bryant "Rather a lot has been said about Senator Ted Kennedy's characterization of prominent Federal judges as "Neanderthals," but not quite enough to simply move on. It's easy to dismiss the comment as just one more example of a prominent Democrat making an absurd and insulting remark, and to sputter that a comparably disgusting statement made by a Republican would lead to calls for his resignation. It's also easy to dismiss it as just another boorish moral judgment by a man who long ago disqualified himself from the right to judge anyone else. When he was a younger man, Kennedy was surely an excellent swimmer, but for the past thirty-odd years, his principal value has been to serve as an object lesson on the inherent weakness of any political system based on heredity."

Anaova: "A brain scan that can apparently root out racists has been developed by scientists. The technique was used on white volunteers shown photographs of black individuals. In those with racist tendencies, a surge of activity was seen in part of the brain that controls thoughts and behaviour. Scientists believe this reflected volunteers' attempts to to curb their latent racism. The scan experiment employed a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map brain activity. 

TIM'S TV LIST: "Forget about great. Never mind best this and best that. What this country wants most from its television watching experience is entertainment - if it's mindless, that's just a bonus. We are a weary, work-hard people. The Nielsens have historically borne out this fact: Difficult, smart and literate TV offerings are fine for the 5 percent of the people who've got that kind of brain power left at the end of the day. The Great Masses -- they'll take a groin thwack on 'America's Funniest Home Videos' over Bill Moyers pretty much any day of the week. In that mindset, and because there's just no stopping our 'List Week Hootenanny,' here then the 39 most entertaining things on TV. And, of course, a couple of other lists. It's like a sickness: We can't stop. " 

 

 

Peter Robinson "Derb, your remarks about the Soviets in Austria remind me of my only trip inside the Warsaw Pact, a visit to Hungary in the mid-1980s, when Pat Buchanan, then my boss at the White House, arranged for me to join a group of my fellow twentysomethings on a boondoggle.

In Budapest, we twentysomethings all kept looking for signs of the Soviet presence, but we could never find any-no soldiers on street corners, let alone jeeps or tanks-and our handlers, all of whom worked for the Hungarian government, assured us that, since the Soviets were present only to defend the country against the West, not to intimidate the Hungarian people, the Soviets always remained on bases outside the city.

Then one morning a member of our group joined the rest of us at the hotel breakfast table to tell us about an event the night before that had left him shaken. Unable to sleep-he was still jet-lagged-he'd stepped outside the hotel in the small hours of the morning for a smoke. At first the street had been quiet. Then he'd heard a rumbling in the distance. The sound had grown louder. And then from around a corner had come a convoy of dozens of jeeps and armored personnel carriers, all bearing the red star.

After occupying Hungary for four decades, we realized, the Soviets had refined their act, staying out of sight during the day so as not to frighten the tourists but sending a convoy rolling through Budapest every so often to remind the Hungarians who was boss."  

"I like many of you, enjoy great digital sound and a great variety of music through my PC while at my desk at work. The problem is, up till now, you were limited to whatever speaker system your computer had. Not only that, you were also limited to listening to music in whatever room your computer was in. I spent a lot of money on a great stereo system in my den but was unable to use it to hear music from my PC. Well, our Wireless Audio Transmitter now enables you to turn on your PC, select a station from the Internet or CD or MP3 and then wirelessly transmit the signal to any FM radio or stereo in the house. Brilliant. It's one of those items we wonder why it wasn't available sooner. And, of course, it's perfect for MP3 and CD listening as well. Simply a must-have item for any audiophile or gadget enthusiast." 

The Rush Limbaugh 12-Step Program 

Ever since the early days of Atari, there's been a tradition known as "Easter Eggs" - almost completely hidden surprises, requiring some unanticipated combination of clicks and presses, known only to the programmers and the select few. The Easter Egg Archive lists over 6500 Easter Eggs to be found in software, movies, TV, books and even art (e.g. - did you know that in every Dali painting there's a portrait of the artist?). DVD Easter Eggs lists more than 1400 Eggs. (via Bernie DeKoven's Fun Findings) 

Dear Mr President,

Today you arrive in my country for the first state visit by an American president for many decades, and I bid you welcome.

You will find yourself assailed on every hand by some pretty pretentious characters collectively known as the British left. They traditionally believe they have a monopoly on morality and that your recent actions preclude you from the club. You opposed and destroyed the world's most blood-encrusted dictator. This is quite unforgivable.

I beg you to take no notice. The British left intermittently erupts like a pustule upon the buttock of a rather good country. Seventy years ago it opposed mobilisation against Adolf Hitler and worshipped the other genocide, Josef Stalin.

It has marched for Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov. It has slobbered over Ceausescu and Mugabe. It has demonstrated against everything and everyone American for a century. Broadly speaking, it hates your country first, mine second.

Eleven years ago something dreadful happened. Maggie was ousted, Ronald retired, the Berlin wall fell and Gorby abolished communism. All the left's idols fell and its demons retired. For a decade there was nothing really to hate. But thank the Lord for his limitless mercy. Now they can applaud Saddam, Bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il... and hate a God-fearing Texan. So hallelujah and have a good time.

Frederick Forsyth
Novelist
 

"The Dean deck is a casino quality deck of playing cards containing 52 cards each with its custom image celebrating Howard Dean for President. You'll get a smile from each one of the cards. A great gift for any Democrat or Dean supporter that the Boston Globe called the "must-have" souvenir for the 2004 primaries. Order your deck today." 

Solomon Grundy
Born on Monday
Christened on Tuesday
Married on Wednesday
Took sick on Thursday
Worse on Friday
Died on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
And that's the end
Of Solomon Grundy!

 

"In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing the third week in November as Geography Awareness Week. Every year since then, the National Geographic Society has promoted the importance of geography to the public and to schools throughout the United States and in Canada during Geography Awareness Week. During that time approximately 1.5 million students have participated in geography-related activities. " (via Tim "My Quote Was In Reader's Digest" McMahon) 

The Oscar Mayer Multicultural Center 

Miami Herald: Although new stadiums have brought increased revenue to baseball teams, more times than not in the past five years it was not the answer for assuring a winning product on the field. In the past few years, it has become obvious new ballparks do not guarantee on-field success. Eight Major League Baseball teams opened new stadiums in the past five seasons. Only one -- the San Francisco Giants -- made the playoffs this past season. The combined record of the eight teams in 2003 was 619-676 (47.7 winning percentage).

Of the eight teams that opened parks since 1998, four -- Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Cincinnati -- finished with losing records this past season, and none has made the playoffs since their stadiums opened. The Tigers went 43-119, barely avoiding the 1962 New York Mets' modern-day record for losses (120)." 

 

 

What a great gift!!! and Mr. T is very happy about this product, although he does feel a little sympathetic sorrow for any person lacking in judgment who doesn't buy one of these great devices... or as he would say... "I pity the fool who don't buy a Mr. T In Your Pocket". 

Atkins.com: "Interestingly, although there are nearly 10,000 drugs on the market, it is just a few costly medications that are driving both the increasing number and cost of perscriptions. In fact, the 50 best-selling prescription drugs are responsible for about 45 percent of all retail drug spending. " 

Roadside America "Since 1992, the Guinness Book of Records has recognized the world’s largest scale model of the solar system as the one emanating from the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in Peoria, Illinois. It begins with a 36-foot high sun painted on one side of the museum. The scale of the model is 1 mile per 125 million. So Pluto, an inch in diameter, is displayed in a furniture store in Kewanee, some 35 miles to the northwest. In between are the orbits of the other eight planets.

In June 2003, a larger scale model of the solar system was dedicated in northern Maine, extending more than 40 miles along US Highway 1. It was hailed as an embodiment of “the can-do spirit of Aroostook County.” Maine’s scale is 1 mile per 93 million, and it’s only a matter of time before the people at Guinness take notice. Maine has learned from Peoria’s shortcomings. While all of Maine’s planets are outside, most of Peoria’s planets are indoors. Which means you can’t always see them. When we visited, we learned too late that the barbershop housing Venus was closed Sundays and Mondays.

But Peoria’s is the still only solar system model with a bikini-clad Uniroyal Gal along the trek between Saturn and Uranus. Were she part of the scale model, her real measurements would be 142,000 miles x 95,000 miles x 142,000 miles. Too bad there’s no Guinness category for that." 

BaseballLibrary.com: "Babe Ruth took the mound on June 23 against the Washington Senators. He was coming off a complete-game victory three days earlier, one in which he hadn't walked a single batter. But despite Babe's confidence his first pitch to leadoff man Ray Morgan was called a ball. The second pitch -- ball two. The third pitch -- ball three. Fuming at umpire Brick Owens, Ruth tossed his fourth pitch of the night. Ball four.

Ruth rushed at Owens, screaming, "Keep your eyes open!" Owens threatened that he'd eject Ruth if he continued his tirade, and Ruth responded that if he got kicked out of the game he would punch Owens on the way out. Sure enough, Owens tossed Ruth and sure enough, the Sultan of Swat delivered a right-handed blow that nailed Owens on the side of the head.

With twenty-seven outs left to go and Boston's best player out of the game, the Sox turned to Ernie Shore, who was coming off two days of rest. As soon as Shore took the mound Morgan took off for second. He was gunned down by the Red Sox catcher, and Shore retired the next two batters to end the inning. Incredibly, Shore proceeded to reel off six more perfect innings, becoming the only reliever in major league history to ever pitch a perfect game. " 

The Buck Stops Here Here's an extended quote from Justice Scalia's dissent in the 1992 decision of Planned Parenthood v. Casey:

The Court's description of the place of Roe in the social history of the United States is unrecognizable. Not only did Roe not, as the Court suggests, resolve the deeply divisive issue of abortion; it did more than anything else to nourish it, by elevating it to the national level where it is infinitely more difficult to resolve. National politics were not plagued by abortion protests, national abortion lobbying, or abortion marches on Congress before Roe v. Wade was decided. Profound disagreement existed among our citizens over the issue -- as it does over other issues, such as the death penalty -- but that disagreement was being worked out at the state level. As with many other issues, the division of sentiment within each State was not as closely balanced as it was among the population of the Nation as a whole, meaning not only that more people would be satisfied with the results of state-by-state resolution, but also that those results would be more stable. Pre-Roe, moreover, political compromise was possible.

Roe's mandate for abortion on demand destroyed the compromises of the past, rendered compromise impossible for the future, and required the entire issue to be resolved uniformly, at the national level.* * * Roe fanned into life an issue that has inflamed our national politics in general, and has obscured with its smoke the selection of Justices to this Court [*996] in particular, ever since.

 

The New York Times Book Review
Books Reviewed	Books Not Reviewed
Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth by Joe Conason	Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity by David Limbaugh
The Clinton Wars by Sidney Blumenthal	High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton by Ann Coulter
The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton by Joe Klein	Coloring the News: How Political Correctness Has Corrupted American Journalism by William McGowan
The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman	The Savage Nation: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Borders, Language and Culture by Michael Savage
Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins	Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism by Ann Coulter
Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore	The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life by Bill O'Reilly
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken	Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN are Subverting America by Laura Ingraham
Source: All Books Not Fit to Review

 

 

Click Here to see the entire message! 

You might be a Yankee if:

1. You think Heinz Ketchup is SPICY!


2. You don't have any problems pronouncing "Worcestershire sauce" correctly.


3. You don't know what a moon pie is.


4. You've never, ever, eaten okra.


5. You eat fried chicken with a knife and fork.


6. You don't see anything wrong with putting a sweater on a poodle.


7. You would rather vacation at Martha's Vineyard than Six Flags.


8. More than two generations of your family have been kicked out of the same prep school in Connecticut.


9. You would rather have your son become a lawyer than grow up to get his own TV fishing show.


10. You don't think Howard Stern has an accent.


11. You think more money should go to important scientific research at your university than to pay the salary of the head football coach.


12. You don't have any hats in your closet that advertise feed stores.

 

Cal Thomas: "After two decades of being "tough on crime" by "locking them up and throwing away the key" - to recall two of the effective political slogans of the past - the bill has come due. Many states have become incapable or unwilling to pay the cost of housing record numbers of inmates. Twenty-five states have already passed laws easing or eliminating the minimum sentencing requirements that were politically popular in the 1980s and '90s. They are also considering early parole for nonviolent, non-dangerous offenders to ease overcrowding and the cost of warehousing so many convicts.

What are taxpayers getting for their money? They get a false sense of security, as if putting current criminals behind bars insures there won't be future criminals. If locking up everyone now committing crimes would eliminate crime, I'd be all for it, but new criminals are born, or made, every day. Something is wrong with the system.

Violent and dangerous offenders should be locked up and, in capital cases, executed. But violent offenders are just 49 percent of the prison population. Again, according to BJS, the rest of the prisoners are behind bars for property crimes (19 percent), drug crimes (20 percent) and crimes affecting the "public order" (11 percent). This half of the prison population ought to be doing something else besides sitting in prison and costing the law-abiding money.

We do retribution well. We should be focusing on restitution." 

Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas too! The Turkey mold is the size of a Rock Cornish game hen as it was cast from an actual game hen. This mold makes gelatin turkey molds that show every bump, line and fold of the actual bird. Surprise everybody by making a cranberry flavored gelatin turkey mold for dessert. Approx. size 7"x5"x3". Durable mold is dishwasher safe and can be used over and over again. 

Associated Press "Republicans called the special session to protest the stalling tactics. But in three successive votes, they never got close to the 60 votes needed to overcome the Democratic resistance and get a final yes-or-no vote on the judicial nominees. After the votes, top Democratic senators stuck to their guns. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said Democrats will continue to resist what he describes as "any Neanderthal" the president nominates."

For the record, let it be shown that none of the judicial nominees being held up by Mr. Kennedy's unprecedented filibuster ever drove off a bridge and left a woman to die while spending nine hours trying to cover up their involvement. Mr. Kennedy, of course, cannot say the same.