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We're getting ready to Move!

We have a new site at www.musing-minds.com. Our dual blogiversary is coming up on Saturday, February 11^th and we are slowly moving posts over and getting the template all set up. Please come by and see...

First, They Came For...

Michelle couldn't sleep last night and put together a 2 minute movie that you just have to see (link to Michelle's site, download there). Excellent Job Michelle!

Muhammed Cartoons Blogburst

Michelle is hosting the Muhammed Cartoon Blogburst

If you've posted some or all of the forbidden Muhammad cartoons on your blog in support of Denmark and the Jyllands-Posten, send a track back or e-mail me your link. It'll actually be a very useful road map for the enormous number of Internet users around the world who are trying to find the cartoons (just check Technorati and you'll see what I'm talking about).

Here are the cartoons. Click the image to go to Human Events Online's Cartoon Gallery. Jyllens-Posten Mohammed, Mohammed cartoon

Boehner New Majority Leader

Fox News is reporting that Boehner has been elected the new House Majority Leader. Blunt will remain the Whip. Vote was 122-109. This was the second round of voting. Shadegg received about 40 votes in the first round and dropped out. Cross-posted at Wizbang Bomb Squad News & Politics

Groundhog Day

...and it's sunny. Always is. Six more weeks of winter. What a surprise. Today is February 2. Spring officially begins on March 20 this year. That's 46 days. Divide by 7 (for weeks) 6.571429 weeks.

"There's a Better Way"

Update! Ian at Expose the Left has a montage of Tim Kaine's "better way". Be sure to check out the eyebrow in the screen shot before you download the video... Tim Kaine repeated this mantra over and over in the Democratic Response to the State of the Union Speech last night. Ok, Tim, if "there's a better way", could you please tell me what it is? Then there was the democrat side of the house cheering and applauding their inaction on Social Security, Hillary making faces, and Charlie Rangel refusing to stand when the President said,

There is no peace in retreat. And there is no honor in retreat. By allowing radical Islam to work its will -- by leaving an assaulted world to fend for itself -- we would signal to all that we no longer believe in our own ideals, or even in our own courage. But our enemies and our friends can be certain: The United States will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil.

Cross-posted at Wizbang Bomb Squad News & Politics, SOTU

Welcome to SCOTUS Justice Alito!

Mrs. O'Connor, enjoy your retirement. Final Vote: 58-42. He should be sworn in this afternoon and join his fellow justices at the SOTU tonight. Roll Call will be here.

RIP Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King has died. She was 78. She had suffered a heart attack and stroke last August. She is now with her late husband Martin Luther King, Jr. and with the Lord. Rest in Peace Coretta. cross-posted at Wizbang Bomb Squad

Alito Cloture Vote: 72-25!

...so says the headline at C-Span. No rollcall available yet. Roll Call here via Bench Memos. Vote is tommorow at 11 eastern.

One Year

365 days ago, John Kerry promised, on national TV, to sign form SF-180 and release his military records. He has yet to do so. 255 days ago, John Kerry signed form SF-180 to release his military records. When will we see the records? Will the Globe post the documents? Will Kerry release the 180 so we can see exactly what he authorized for release (and to whom)? Polipundit asks, 'Where are the missing pages?' Mark at USS Neverdock asks, 'Did Kerry sign Part III of the Form 180?' Scott Johnson at Powerline says 'something is missing from his file' Captain Ed says: 'This release by Kerry still doesn't answer key questions about what he's claimed about his service.' So Senator Kerry, it's been a year. All we know is that George W. Bush got better grades than you did at Yale. Isn't it about time that you released those records to the public? After all, you are running for President again. The public has a right to know.

Kerry Wants to Fillibuster Judge Alito

John Kerry, from Davos, Switzerland no less, is calling for a fillibuster of Judge Samuel Alito. He was calling back to the States trying to muster support (who's paying that bill?) According to CNN Kerry has the support of his co-Senator, Kennedy. Easy for Kerry, there in Davos, attending the World Economic Forum, to call for a fillibuster. He won't be taking part in the "debate", will he? He won't have to stand there talking until his bladder just can't take it anymore. By the way Mr. Kerry, where are those records? The clock currently reads 361 days... Come Monday, it'll be a year since you made that promise... Senator Frist, It is time to invoke the Byrd Option and change the Senate Rules again to remove fillibusters against judicial nominees. Stop the ACLU has the story.

Others blogging: Blogs for Bush : Sore Loser Syndrome Don Singleton : Sen. Kerry calls for filibuster of Alito Michelle Malkin : (Fili)Blusterer of the Day PoliPundit : Kerry Oh How I Love Jesus : Message to Sen. Kerry: Bring It On! OpiniPundit : It's All Over But The Cryin The Anchoress : Headlines You May Have Missed Glen Dean : Kerry to Lead Filibuster

Transcript: Brian Maloney on The O'Reilly Factor

Political Teen has the video. O'Reilly: In the Back of the Book Segment tonight, as we have been telling you, the liberal radio operation Air America is having major problems. Ratings in most major markets with the exception of New York City were down big in the latest survey. And the operation is losing tons of money despite being propped up with good publicity by liberal news operations like the New York Times. Joining us now from Boston with some data is Brian Maloney who runs a blog called The Radio Equalizer. Mr. Maloney is not a fan of Air America. First, what is the latest... Maloney: {laughter at the "not a fan" comment} O'Reilly: Well I want to, full disclosure, you're coming at it, you don't like them... Maloney: Sure. O'Reilly: And I don't like them either. The latest in the New York State investigation of Air America and their charity problem. What's the latest on that? Maloney: I actually couldn't get anyone at the New York City Department of Investigations to respond to inquiries about that. If the investigation is ongoing, they have a policy of not talking about it until they're done. But essentially, $875,000 from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx ended up in Air America's coffers about two years ago and ever since then the big tug of war has been about how to get the money back. Meanwhile the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club is out of business. They've been, ah, you know, in real trouble because of this. This money had no business ending up in Air America's bank accounts. O'Reilly: It was an interest free loan I understand. Maloney: Yeah, right. {laughs} O'Reilly: Air America says that they have put the money in escrow to pay it back. Is that true? Maloney: That's right, but only after a tremendous amount of stalling, only after the DOI late last year put its foot down and said, you know, put all the money in an escrow account now. No more messing around here. O'Reilly: Okay so they were forced to pay it back... Maloney: That's right. O'Reilly: The stats we have on Air America is [sic] that they pay their San Francisco station $250,000 a quarter to carry the radio program. Usually the radio stations pay -- you, but they're paying the stations. Maloney: Right. O'Reilly: In L.A. they're paying $320,000 a quarter. And Al Franken makes more than $2 million. Garafalo makes $225,000, and this Randi Rhodes person makes $350,000. So the money coming out of Air America, they couldn't possibly cover the bills. How do they stay on the air? How do they stay solvent? Maloney: Well, that's exactly right, Bill. It's impossible. On the essay that I wrote for my website today, essentially what we're laying out here is, yeah, they are paying the station in New York City $2.5 million a year to be on the air. And as you pointed out, San Francisco and L.A., paying them a lot of money. That number's gone down a little bit with local morning shows in there now. But it is a lot of money. The fact is Franken's salary has gone through the roof and that's what's new today. That has never been disclosed. Franken's salary has gone up and up and up. It is now a base salary of $2 million a year. I've talked to guys in syndicated radio with the same number of stations or more as Franken, same audience. They're making one-tenth of the amount. O'Reilly: Here are the stats from summer to fall - these are the latest ratings. Franken's program in L.A. in the key demo of 25-54 persons is down 33 percent. In San Francisco, Franken's down 24 percent. In Boston he's down 42 percent. In Portland, Oregon he's down 18 percent. And in San Antonio, Texas they dropped the whole network, Air America, altogether. Maloney: That's right. O'Reilly: So I'm not understanding this. If they're not doing well, and they're not, and they're not making any money, they can't sell advertising because they don't have many stations and they're paying huge money to keep their format on these stations... What is it, Rob Glaser? Some millionaire bank-rolling them? Maloney: That's right. They don't want to give us the victory Bill. {laughs} So what they're doing is Rob is writing the checks. He's very wealthy from Real Networks in Seattle. He is writing big fat checks to keep Air America on the air. The fact is Al Franken is paying his main producer, executive producer, Billy Kimball, $600,000 a year. O'Reilly: I don't care about that... Maloney: Who makes that kind of money? O'Reilly: I just want to, I just want to, so we have one guy Brian [sic] Glaser, a far left guy, like George Soros - unlimited funds - he's keeping this radio network on the air by just kicking money in and paying all the bills. That's where we are, correct? Maloney: That's right. He had a little bit of money still coming in from the Durst Organization, wealthy property owners in Manhattan, a little bit from that, but a lot of the other guys have bailed out at this point. There's no new Soros money and he knows better now. O'Reilly: Prediction? Is thing going to fold anytime soon? Maloney: I think, I don't see how they can keep it going. Pay, 2008 Franken's salary goes up to $3 million a year. He is 50 percent of their programming budget right now. A huge bloated step staff. Even if the ad revenue came in, how could they possibly ever make a profit? O'Reilly: Well, that's your thought. It's a propaganda unit being paid for by a far left guy and not making any money and not doing real well. And that's the bottom line. All right Mr. Maloney. Thanks very much, we appreciate it. Welcome Pardon My English readers! Please have a look around. Transcripts, Media

Beautiful Sunset

Sunset from the plane window as we were coming home.

Snowing Again

But 80's are forecast for Orlando for the next four days!

Jawa Report Helps Nab Terrorist!

Just go there and read it! Yeah Jawa! And Happy Second Blogiversary!

Blogging Will Be Light Until Wednesday

The hubby and I have an opportunity for a mini-second honeymoon. My wonderful sister is kidsitting so we can spend a couple of days at Universal in Florida. Since I have school work to do too, I'll be bringing the laptop and might be able to fit in a little blogging, but don't expect much.

Take a Stand

Straight from Malkin

Debbie Schlussel, blogger/investigative writer/lawyer, is extending an invitation to citizens interested in intervening in the ACLU’s NSA lawsuit. She practices in Eastern Michigan, where the suit was filed.

Also be sure to read Schlussel’s exposé of some of the shady plaintiffs in the ACLU’s suit. Stop The ACLU will be the first intervening party. Per email of Debbie:

Jay: For sure. I will make you and/or Stop the ACLU the first intervening party (It will be Stop the ACLU etal vs. . . . .). But I gotta work on this over the weekend. I’ll get back to you on this.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already on-board. ACLU, Law, NSA

Who Do You Look Like?

Laura Lee Donoho at the Wide Awake Cafe links to a site where a face recognition program compares your photo to those of celebrities and lets you know who you look like. The first one was Nicole Kidman which was very nice for me. Others were Julie Christie, Sean Astin and Benjamin Netanyahu. They do give you a percentage for the match. Nicole was 65%, Julie was 54%, Sean was 48% and Benjamin was 45%

Nagin on Dayside

Mayor Ray Nagin was on the phone with Dayside today. Present in the studio were Montel Williams, Juliette Huddy and Steve Doocy. Huddy: On the phone right now is Mayor Ray Nagin. Good to have you on the phone with us sir. Nagin: Good to be here. Huddy: All right. So we saw you explaining what you meant by, by "Chocolate City". You've been getting some flack for that. We have an email: "His comments are inflamatory and inappropriate. Imagine a white mayor referring to his city as a vanilla city." We've recieved a few of those. But are you okay with your comments? Do you feel like you have any regrets about making them? Nagin: Let me just kind of quickly get to the three issues that I was trying to communicate yesterday. First of all, I was trying to get a message that African-Americans are welcome in the city of New Orleans. Secondarily, I was talking about the violence that happened the day before, and thirdly, this whole undercurrent of who should come back and who shouldn't come back. I used some analogies and probably didn't hit the mark on my message, but I never intended to offend anyone. And I think if they look at the entire context of what I said they'll understand the points I was trying to make. Williams: Mr. Mayor, it's Montel here. You know we know each other and I gotta make this comment, there's a lot of anger based on what you said yesterday, but let's stop for a second and remember that Hillary Rodham Clinton, the day before, called the entire Republican party a plantation. Okay? So, what we've now proven is that politicians sometimes shoot from the hip. I'll bet you Mayor Nagin would like to take some of those comments back and re-do them and say them exactly like he said them here. Huddy: What did you say Mayor? Nagin: Especially the God comment. If I could take anything back, that's what I would take back. Doocy: So the comment that you made where you said that God was mad at the United States for invading Iraq, you would like a do-over on that? Nagin: I would like to take those back because that was a private conversation that I had with a minister a few weeks ago and for some reason at the moment that came forth. Williams: The spirit hits you. You know, I was down in New Orleans and saw Mayor Nagin enduring Katrina, I was down there five days after, worked with this man, talking with this man. Like a lot of politicians in America, and I'm not saying this as a negative to you sir, but a lot of politicians get caught up in the moment, they're caught up in the fever. He was caught up, he made some statements that he shouldn't have made. I think now that we can understand that he's at least willing to back up and say 'I made a mistake'. News & Politics, Transcripts, Nagin Welcome PoliPundit, Don Singleton and Don Surber readers! Please have a look around.

Carnival of the Insanities

Dr. Sanity has a Carnival of the Insanities Extravaganza! (with bonus mini-carnival included at NO EXTRA CHARGE!)

Dems Have Already Had Their Delay in Alito Vote

GOP Bloggers points us to a Forbes piece which states:

Democrats confirmed Friday that they will make a last-ditch attempt to slow Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's momentum by delaying the first vote on his candidacy. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in the waning minutes of Alito's confirmation hearing that unnamed Democrats will "exercise their rights" to put off next week's scheduled Alito vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Dems have already had their delay, however. Watch this video from 11/03/05. (Political Teen) In it, Senator Specter says,(emphasis mine)

Our staffs have been stretched very, very thin, having given up August and we had to go through a difficult scheduling process to have Chief Justice Roberts seated by October 3rd, but we did that. And then we had a difficult process with Miss Harriet Miers, and we finally worked that out with the consent of Senator Leahy to start on November 7th. And I said to Pat a few minutes ago, after all these years of training and practice, I've turned into being a professional scheduler, that's all I do is schedule. So we have worked through the process and my preference on a starting date is January 2nd, which would have given us hearings on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, with an exec on Tuesday the 10th, and floor action on the 11th, 12th and a vote on the 13th, but that allows for a week's holdover as a matter of right by any senator. And January 2nd is a difficult day, technically it's a holiday. We could work on a holiday around here,if we really had to. And it implicates Hanukkah, I'm told. But we could have done that. Not me, I'm not giving up Hanukkah. But at any rate, Senator Leahy and I have worked through it, and since it could be delayed for a week in any event, by any senator, who wants to hold it over for a week that we would put that week back at the start, on the 9th, with the good faith understanding that our intent would be to go to an executive committee meeting on the 17th, the day after Martin Luther King holiday. So that the schedule will be we will start hearings on at noon on the 9th. And we'll have them Tuesday the 10th, Wednesday the 11th, Thursday the 12th, Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th if necessary. We will then go to the exec on the 17th, and here we can't get everybody bound in writing to waive it in advance, but Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter have had had no problems, nor have we anybody on the committee, of not fulfilling what we've said we'd do as a matter of good faith intent which will put the executive session on the 17th, we finished that with Chief Justice Roberts in the morning, and then we would go to the 18th, 19th, and 20th for floor debate with the vote on the 20th. Now that would require senators coming back. Senator Frist has been apprised of this every step of the way, as has Senator Reid. Senators Frist, Reid, Senator Leahy and I met earlier today, and there are a lot of people...

(the video ends there) Senator Specter does say,

...we can't get everybody bound in writing to waive it in advance, but Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter have had had no problems, nor have we anybody on the committee, of not fulfilling what we've said we'd do as a matter of good faith intent which will put the executive session on the 17th...

which gives the Dems an out of a sort, but does leave them reneging on a "Good Faith" agreement. Leahy in particular, agreed to this. Now he's allowing some "unnamed"democrats to renege on the good faith agreement for him. Good Faith just doesn't mean anything to them, does it? Blogs for Bush has more.

Term Limits for Congress?

John Hawkins has a post on term limits (as part of his Friday Q & A series). He says that imposing term limits might be tough, 1. because reps would have to vote themselves out of a job and 2. that a constitutional amendment is tough to pass. He is correct on those points, but I would like to add that the Founders didn't want representatives to make a career out of politics. Granted, I am remembering this from high school (way too long ago), but I remember that the terms set for the House and for the Senate were set that way for a reason. House members terms were set for two years so that someone could take some time out of their regular life to represent their neighbors in Congress, but not too much time. The doctor, lawyer, business owner, farmer, could take a few years and be part of the process. The Senate term was set at six so that there would be some continuity in congress. The founders did not want the entire congress to change every two years. Look at what we have now: professional politicians rather than real representatives of the people. News & Politics

Appeal from Right-Center Bloggers

NZ Bear has the following: An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street. We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members. But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process. As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future. Signed, N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com Kevin Aylward, Wizbang! La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber's Corner Beth, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Lorie Byrd, Polipundit Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom Stephen Green, Vodkapundit John Hawkins, Right Wing News John Hinderaker, Power Line Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO James Joyner, Outside The Beltway Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarters Scott Ott, Scrappleface John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!! go here to sign on.

Helpful Hints

Sigmund, Carl, and Alfred have a great post of helpful hints. I've been thinking of posting these for a few days, and Sigmund, Carl, and Alfred have given me a great opportunity to do so. These two hints are processed food related. Hint # 1: When making instant oatmeal for a child, put the dry oatmeal and half the water called for in a bowl. Mix well. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. When it's done, add cold milk for the other half of the water called for. Mix well again. The oatmeal has a good consistency and is cool enough for a small child to eat. Hint #2: When preparing boxed macaroni and cheese, drain the macaroni and leave the strainer in the sink, full of noodles. Put the butter (or margarine) and the milk in the pot and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat. Add the cheese powder and stir until creamy. Take the strainer full of noodles out of the sink, dump into the pot of cheese sauce, stir and serve. This ensures that the cheese sauce is creamy and not lumpy at all. Family & Friends, Children, Cooking

Israel - Iran - Palestine - Middle East

As you know, in October, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for Israel to be "wiped out from the map." Now, he's restarted his "research" by breaking the IAEA seals on the Isfahan nuclear power plant. This map (click image for original) has been cropped to show Israel and its more immediate surroundings. I haven't seen any mentions of the fact that if Israel were to be "wiped out from the map", so would Palestine. Also affected could certainly be, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Depending on what Ahmadinejad and his "goons" could possibly come up with in terms of the size of any warhead used against Israel, Cyprus, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia may be affected as well. Perhaps even Turkey. Iran needs to be reigned in immediately. The U.S., France, Germany, and the U.K. can not be the only ones dealing with Iran's delusions. Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Saudis must start bringing pressure on Iran. Iran, News & Politics Welcome A Lady's Ruminations and Gateway Pundit readers! Please have a look around!

Action and Cutter

Yesterday, when the little guy and I got back from running some errands, the little guy decided to play. I was starting the chili for dinner and he said to me, "OK, you be the scener and I will be the action and cutter." I asked him what he was talking about. He said I would be the scener because I was the "guy in the scene" and he would be the action and cutter because he would say "action" and "cut". Then he started his directing... I was to walk to the edge of the cliff (the kitchen rug), open the pretend door, and crawl across the bridge (one line of tiles on the floor). I told him I wasn't going to crawl across the bridge, but I would walk across it. He said, "Action!" and away we went... Children, Family & Friends

January Weather

Yesterday the temperature was in the mid-fifties. This morning it has sleeted, and is now snow mixed with rain. January weather... Musings

Fredericksburg City Counselman Fights for Right to Pray in Jesus' Name

It is happening all across the nation. The ACLU sue city counsel after city counsel over praying in Jesus name. They don't sue to stop all prayer, but in every case the target has been Christian prayer. They even fought for the right of a Wiccan to pray at a counsel meeting. Many times it doesn't even take a lawsuit. They just type up a threatening letter and that does the trick. This was the case in Fredericksburg. But one man isn't taking things lying down.

Fredericksburg City Councilman Hashmel Turner has filed suit against his fellow council members, saying the council's newly adopted prayer policy violates his constitutional rights. Turner is being represented by the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression issues. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, asks the court to rule that the city's prayer policy is unconstitutional, and to order that Turner be allowed back into the council's prayer rotation. The council voted 5-1 in November to adopt a policy of offering non-denominational prayers devoid of any Christian or other specific religious references. Turner abstained from that vote, and Councilman Matt Kelly voted against the policy. The vote came after Turner had been excluded from the council prayer rotation for more than a year. The council got a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union in July 2004 saying that the civil liberties group would file suit if Turner continued to invoke the name of Jesus Christ in his prayers. Turner, who is pastor at First Baptist Church of Love in Fredericksburg, had always closed his prayers before council meetings by invoking the name of Jesus Christ before the ACLU complaint. On the same night of the November vote for the nondenominational prayer policy, Turner asked to be put back into the prayer rotation, and to give the opening prayer before the Nov. 22 council meeting. Mayor Tom Tomzak said today he asked Councilwoman Debby Girvan to give the prayer at that meeting instead of Turner, because, "I did not want to unleash a 1,000-pound gorilla-the ACLU-on the City Council." However, Tomzak said he does believe Turner's rights are being violated, and the suit filed today is "a lawsuit that I probably agree with." "He's a very passionate man, a man of faith and a man of principle, and he believes his rights have been violated," Tomzak said of Turner. Neither City Council members nor City Attorney Kathleen Dooley had seen copies of the lawsuit earlier today. The suit calls the new prayer policy "an unlawful attempt by the City Council to prescribe the content of prayers given at City Council meetings by Turner and other members of City Council." John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said Turner approached his organization last fall, saying he believed his rights were being violated. "All he wants is to say Jesus Christ at the end of the prayer," Whitehead said. "He's not asking for any money. ... It's a very simple suit."

One would think that it would be simple, yet the ACLU don't seem to get that. Religious expression in America is under attack. It is a shame that an organization that claims to protect our rights are the number one censor of Christian religious expression. If they were trying to get rid of all prayer at counsel meetings, we would have a different argument, but they are targeting Christian prayers and individual expression. It is good to see this man is standing up for his rights. More people should do so. Currently there is legislation, introduced by Representative Hostettler that could put a stop to these ridiculous lawsuits. Hostettler's proposal would amend the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorney's fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings. This would prevent local governments from having to use taxpayer funds to pay the ACLU or similar organization when a case is lost, and also would protect elected officials from having to pay fees from their own pockets. SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF THE ACLU This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already on-board. Crossposted at Stop The ACLU Religion, ACLU, Law

ROFL

The best ever Blonde joke at Donald Sensing's...

"Lost" is Found

Lost is back! Tonight (ABC) at 8 eastern will be a "catch-up" episode. Then, at 9 eastern, we will see the next episode... "The 23^rd Psalm"

Mr. Eko interrogates Charlie about the Virgin Mary statue, Claire begins to lose faith in Charlie when she discovers his secret, and Jack is an interested observer when Kate gives the recovering Sawyer a much-needed haircut.

Was it really Walt on the other end of the computer communication with Michael? We might find out tonight.

The Museum of Science & Industry

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry the other day. We saw the new (since the last time we were there) U-505 exhibit. It was wonderful. The U-505 is a German Sub that was captured on June 4, 1944. It was brought to the M of S&I in 1954 and was outside in Chicago weather for years. Tours were available, accessible from inside the museum. You didn't see the actual sub from the outside unless you were in the Space section. Then you could see it from a courtyard. The sub was moved from its courtyard home to a new, 75 by 300 foot, 42 foot deep pit located 1,000 feet from its previous home. It is now accessible from within the museum with a two story ramp that allows one to walk completely around the sub and view artifacts associated with the sub. They also have the Enigma machine that was captured with the sub. You can take a virtual tour here. Here's the little guy, driving the sub... The old model train set in the main hall has also been completely redone. The new 3,500 foot layout features the trains running from Chicago to Seattle and back again. Here's a picture of the downtown Chicago section, with the Sears Tower in the middle. More on the trains can be seen here. The Museum site is here.

Going To The Museum of Science & Industry

We're going to the Museum of Science & Industry today. As we were driving south on the Tri-State, there was a message on an over-the-lanes electronic signboard. The message said: "for traffic info log on to NBC 5 website" How safe is that? Now, I am writing this while in the car (Treo blogging) but I am not doing the driving...

Happy New Year!

We here at Musing Minds wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2006!