Day: September 11, 2007

New Site Helps Brides Figure Out How to Vote

Trish

You know how most young women who are planning a wedding are totally consumed by candidates’ positions on Iraq, health care, and global warming? And how their fondest wish is to be able to compare and contrast platforms and then examine their findings in online discussion groups?

According to a new web site the last thing on today’s bride’s mind is seating charts or engraved matchbooks. She’s not looking for the perfect photographer, just the perfect presidential candidate.

BridesDecide.com is helping brides “get engaged in the 2008 election.” The site is surprisingly good, though the bizarreness is hard to ignore.

Where else could you find out that Bill and Hillary met in the library, and only had 15 guests at their 1975 wedding? And also that Hillary supports a guest worker program allowing illegal immigrants to participate in Social Security while tightening borders, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers, and allowing illegal immigrants a chance to pay fines and back taxes, learn English, and wait in line for legal status?

Oddly, only one wedding date is cited for Rudy Giuliani — May 24, 2003 — although listed are children Andrew, 21 and Caroline, 18.

This site makes me want to propose a toast to the new couple of voters: May they have many years of nonpartisan happiness!

Petreaus Says He Doesn’t Know If the War in Iraq Is Making the U.S. Safer

Jon Ponder

During the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today:

WARNER: I hope in the recesses of your heart that you know that strategy will continue the casualties, stress on our forces, stress on military families, stress on all Americans. Are you able to say at this time, if we continue what you have laid before the Congress, this strategy, that if you continue, you are making America safer?

PETRAEUS: Sir, I believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objections in Iraq.

WARNER: Does that make America safer?

PETRAEUS: Sir, I don’t know actually. I have not sat down and sorted out in my own mind. What I have focused on and been riveted on is how to accomplish the mission of the Multinational Force in Iraq.

If the head of our military in Iraq doesn’t know if the war there is making us safer, who does?

Cross posted at the BRAD BLOG

Looking for a Dogfight This Weekend?

Buck Banks

There are four states where it’s perfectly legal to watch a dog fight: Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho and Montana. In 26 other states, it’s only a misdemeanor to watch. Of course, it’s a felony to organize dogfights in 49 states; it’s a misdemeanor in Idaho. It’s legal to possess fighting dogs in Georgia and Idaho.

Vick’s longest-lasting legacy will be accidental but far more important: bringing political pressure to bear upon a most repulsive pastime.

But in the wake of NFL star quarterback Michael Vick’s arrest for breeding, training and fighting dogs, the few remaining states that allow the blood sport are considering bolstering enforcement, and even the generally worthless congress has got three bills moving through the Senate and House that would strengthen federal restrictions on dogfighting.

The Politico suggests that such legislation will be what Vick is remembered for:

There was a time when it was thought Vick would revolutionize his position in pro football with his unique athleticism. It is turning out that his longest-lasting legacy will be accidental but far more important: bringing political pressure to bear upon a most repulsive pastime.

Vick, who faces federal jail time because his dogfighting operation crossed state lines, represents just the tip of the iceberg in U.S. dogfighting:

Although there’s no national tally of enforcement numbers, Pet-Abuse.com, a Web site that attempts to keep track of dogfighting citations, recorded 167 police cases so far this year, on a pace ahead of 2006, when a total of 127 cases were filed against organizers, and 2005 with 129 cases.

Still, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimate there are as many as 40,000 people who stage organized dogfights in the country and many more having impromptu dogfights on the street.

Maybe, with legislative task forces at the state level and tougher federal legislation coming down the pipe, law enforcement can take a bite out of this heinous crime.