The RoanokeSlant

Roanoke Times, 12/23/06, Pg 1: Selective Service quashes draft rumors.
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Who writes this mis-and-dis-information for the Roanoke Times headlines?
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First: the selective service does what Congress mandates them to do by law. There is currently and has been for many years a law requiring that all youngsters register with their draft board. There are no current laws requiring the draft system be operational by any date or for any potential draft candidates.
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Second: the draft rumors are not rumors. They are proposals by Democrat Charlie Rangel of NYC, the next chairman of the House tax-writing committee. Charlie has been on national TV talk-shows telling us that he will reintroduce bills (again) to restart an active draft and he expects his new Democrat majority to enact his bills.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-%20dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900376_pf.html
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Charlie-in-charge is not an aberration. He’s just one more “adverse consequence” that many voters didn’t anticipate when they voted Democrat in November. And this is just the tip of the pile – there’s a whole list of Democrats taking over key positions in Congress that are not even close to the views of mainstream Americans.
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Just another coup based on false advertising by a very effective liberal media.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/11/congratulations.html
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Prior items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/lets-play-hide-new-leaders.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/yet-more-hypocrisy.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/22/06, Pg Va 7: Very well written article by S. Blanding: How do we allow Darfur to continue?
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Her article compliments a steady stream of this view including many full page ads in USA-Today.
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My prior blog item on this same point was:
Roanoke Times, 4/29/06, Pg Va 7: Editorial: Never again. The RT Editor lamenting about our lack of direct action to stop the genocide in Darfur.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/profoundly-conflicted-editor.html
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Ms. Blanding and others seem to have difficulty with two basic facts of life.
1. The world media were adamant that something should be done about Sadam Hussein’s genocide against the Kurds. But now those 180,000 Kurds are no longer important. Even our 3000 lost on 9/11 are history. The media even excludes coverage of the details of these crimes against humanity during Sadam’s trials. What’s important now is to focus on the adverse consequences of war and maneuver for political advantage.
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2. Now, after years of media focus on "Blackhawk down” folks want US intervention in Darfur. Can you just imagine the headlines as US troops kill thousands of black insurgents and the associated collateral black civilian deaths and injuries? Who will be blamed for genocide then?
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Can you image the media feeding frenzy with Jesse Jackson, Al Twana Sharpton, Maxine Waters and all their associates. Just reflect for a minute on the Black Congressional Caucus’ nasty reaction to the US airlifting Aristede out of Haiti last year!
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Perhaps we should finish one Genocide windmill at a time. Then President Clinton and Vice President Obama can send the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions into Darfur and the many other areas of African tribal strife.
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She relates in her text that the Norwegians were pulling out. Very interesting, Norway is the third richest country in the world. During WW2 Norway contributed approximately 15,000 troops to Hitler’s SS Waffen Division. http://www.nuav.net/volunter.html. With their money and manpower, why don’t they take the lead as the UN force to resolve this humanitarian disaster? Perhaps it’s time for Norwegian UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland and his friends to put up or shut-up!
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Prior Related Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/lets-hide-genocide.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/profoundly-conflicted-editor.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/07/singing-for-africa.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/22/06, Pg A 3: Rain flooding streets around New Orleans. Pumps can’t handle 6-inches of rainfall. Picture of people wading up to waist in uptown area of New Orleans.
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Even Roanoke finally got the message that buyout and relocation of facilities that are constantly getting flooded is the reasonable and prudent thing to do for all concerned.
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Roanoke Times Prior Article:
ROANOKE PURCHASES 15.5 ACRE TRAILER PARKPublished on December 6, 2006. Article 1 of 625 found. Page: B1 Roanoke has purchased an often flooded mobile home park for $1.8 million, partly for an extension of the ongoing flood control project, and partly for another public park. The purchase, completed last week, triggers what residents of Hannah Court Mobile Home Park have been dreading -- the relocation of the people, many of them elderly, disabled or on fixed incomes, who live in 67 mobile homes. That's by far the largest displacement of residents anywhere along the 10-mile Roanoke
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And, Roanoke Times, 10/24/05, Pg Va 8: Editorial: Through National Flood Insurance Program taxpayers are supporting bad decisions about building in flood-prone and hurricane-prone areas.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/10/subsidizing-bad-behavior.html
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So, why are Gov. Bonco and Mayor Nogin and their supporters continuing to insist that the sections of New Orleans that were flooded with more than three-feet of water should be rebuilt and restored with taxpayer’s money?
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It’s way past time to clear-off and fence-off the deep flooded areas and return them to their prior wetland state. At what point are these people going to start making good decisions? And if they can’t, then others need to make the decisions for them.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/flood-control.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/still-stuck-on-stupid-in-new-orleans.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/22/06, Pg 1: Rep. Goode stands behind his letter expressing concerns that a newly elected Congressman was going to use the Koran for his swearing-in.
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The key to US history is not that we have had large numbers of immigrants coming here.
The key to our success is that in the past most immigrants have made major efforts to assimilate into the US culture and lifestyles.
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The word assimilate is closely related in meaning to: adsorption, incorporation, digestion, integration, adaptation, and adjustment.
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This is what my family did in the 1920’s as they learned English, took courses and the tests to become citizens and swore allegiance to the USA.
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Teddy Roosevelt made his views very clear about this in a speech in 1907: Click to view:
http://www.roanokeslant.org/American.jpg
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Substituting the Koran for the Bible for a national elected office is not a good thing. Few if any courts would allow one to take the oath to tell the truth on other than a Bible.
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Many European countries are now under great stress and intimidation by large numbers of Muslim immigrants who have not assimilated and have no intention of doing so. We are also now feeling the impact of Hispanic immigrants who are not making any effort to assimilate.
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One only need attend the Colors Function in Roanoke to appreciate the fact that hundreds of ethnic and religious groups have assimilated into our communities and our culture while still respecting their native origins.
However, as Teddy Roosevelt clearly articulated, you must choose, you cannot be both! To try to be both creates a chronic long-term conflict that will result in major social, economic and political turmoil as demonstrated throughout history.
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Congratulation to Rep. Goode for joining Teddy Roosevelt 100 years later on the very same platform and position.
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The Mohamed cartoon exercise was an excellent example of how not only the European governments were intimidated by their "domestic Muslims" but the "free press" totally collapsed and begged for forgiveness to avoid radical-Islamic retribution. Reminds one of the European black-shirt and brown-shirt folks of the 1930's!
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/pope-and-mohamed.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/02/mocking-muhammad-and-jesus_06.html
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Prior similar items:
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/refugee-demonstrations.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/20/06, Pg A 6: US special forces crush Taliban suicide cells
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The media hype that we can’t keep or expand our 130,000 troop level in Iraq raises some interesting questions.
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Why can’t we redeploy our troops that are still in Afghanistan? Why haven’t NATO and the UN totally taken over the military mission there?
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/nato-responsible-for-afghanistan.html
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Why can’t we redeploy our troops that are still in Kosovo? Why haven’t NATO and the UN totally taken over the military mission there?
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Why can’t we redeploy our troops that are still in South Korea? Why haven’t the South Korean’s taken over responsibility for their own security?
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Why can’t we redeploy our troops that are still in Japan? Why haven’t the Japanese taken over responsibility for their own security?
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Why can’t we redeploy our troops that are still in Europe? Why haven’t the Europeans taken over responsibility for their own security?
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The bottom line is we have a lot of troops serving all around the world. It’s long past time for many of these countries to take responsibility for their own security and their commitments to their security treaties.
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Roanoke Times, 12/18/06, Pg Va 7: Commentary by R. Saul: Sabato: a credible pundit.
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Mr. Saul supports Larry Sabato relative to a prior commentary article critical of Sabato’s comments and role in the Webb-Allen contest.
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It’s not clear to me in what role Sabato is being analyzed. I thought he was supposed to be a scientific pollster, which implies he does statistically based polling in an attempt to measure public opinion and try to extend that data to predictions about voting outcomes.
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That image was doused by his appearance on MSNBC Hard-Ball in which he claimed to have personal knowledge about Allen’s’ use of the n-word.
Of course no one challenged him on his first-hand knowledge assertion which was indeed a critical element in the election.
Since he did not nor has not explained this “knowledge” I assume it was a political hatchet-job and that in fact he no longer has credibility as a pollster or as a political science professor at UVa.
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Interesting that in that same national TV broadcast he neglected to talk about the Washingston Post’s allegations about Jim Watts Webb’s trips into Watts LA and the n-word language and gun-brandishing vile behavior.
Apparently Sabato had convenient selective political amnesia about that!
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/tar-baby-webb.html
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Of course Sabato’s political assistance to Webb will keep him in good standing with Gov. Kaine and ensure he’s not challenged as a member of UVa as was the State UVa Climatologist who was ostersized by Kaine because of his politically incorrect global warming comments.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/hypocritical-left-wing-media.html
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Apparently Larry Sabato knows who butters his bread, but does that give him credibility?
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Roanoke Times, 12/18/06, Pg 1: Dem Sen Reid (new “leader” of the US Senate) said sending more troops to Iraq is OK with him
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He then said it really doesn’t matter because we can’t win anyway
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Is this not the poster boy during the entire election cycle of we can’t win so get out now!
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The new Congressional “leadership” is already a study in how surprised many people will be over the results of the last election and the unintended consequences of their vote.
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Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Teddy Kennedy, Maxine Waters, the new leadership list goes on with folks who are not representative of the views of the average voter. Hopefully the “Blue Dog” Democrats will be a key factor in this equation.
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During the last session the Democrats established 60 votes as the basis for passing any legislation in the Senate. Prior to the last session this was unusual and we called in “filibustering”. However, now we don’t us that term anymore because now it’s just standard procedure. You think this might continue on with a 51/49 split?
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Rhetorical question: why hasn’t the press made a big deal about the fact that Jim Watts Webb didn’t get 50% of the vote? It’s interesting that Republicans who don’t get 50% of the vote are deemed not legitimate office holders.
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And, Sen. Reid’s news conferences regarding Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, is absolutely ghoulish! What’s wrong with this jerk? Multiple times Reid has declared that Johnson “looks good”. Johnson just had major invasive brain surgery for major bleeding within his brain. How “good” can he look?
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/incredibly-hypocritical.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/iraq-study-group.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/11/stay-course_116251966463423492.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/17/06, Pg Horiz 1: Editorial: Christian bullies manufactured this “War on Christmas”
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Dan R uses over 100 sq. inches of prime tree-fiber to tell us that hundreds of years of Christmas is not being undermined by those who want to take the Christ out of Christmas. It’s just our imagination and a hoax by Christian bullies.
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The real bad actor in all this is FOX’s Bill O’Reilly. Strange, each time a Christ-related item is removed from some public place it seems to me like the ACLU is the instigator.
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Apparently Dan’s view is that Christmas has nothing to do with Christ and that the relationship is actually hurtful to others. Apparently that’s why “they” are also removing the cross’ from Virginia College Chapel’s.
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Dan thinks that Henry Ford started this false concern about taking Christ out of Christmas when he was purportedly writing anti-Semitic tracts.
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Haven’t seen any articles by Dan on Jimmy Malaise Carter’s new book “Palestine – Peace not Apartheid” (or is it a “tract” and not a book). Jimmy lambastes the “American-Israel Political Action Committee” and the “editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines” for not only ignoring serious dialogue about US-Israel policy, but for actually suppressing it.
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Is Dan going to tell us that Jimmy has become anti-Semitic? That he has become another David Duke? And, that Jimmy has some white sheets and pointy hats in his closet down there in Plains?
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And at the end of his ‘tract’, Dan threw-in a reference to the John Birch Society just in case we’re not yet intimidated or dissuaded from finding fault with his “tract”. Apparently he thinks folks who do not agree with his point of view might be a “Bircher”.
It might be interesting for folks to know that John Birch was a US Army Captain on duty in China at the end of WW2. He was killed by the Communist Chinese after the end of the hot-war and as a start to the cold-war.
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Apparently Dan is having The Roanoke Times change to a new calendar soon.
After all 2006 is after what? After the birth of Christ! How politically incorrect!
Let’s get the ACLU working on this right away!
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An Example of just how far down the Jewish Hanukah bush Jimmy has fallen:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=25994
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/jimmy-and-jews.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/17/06, Pg 1 & 10: Big article that graduation rate in Roanoke Schools is 57%, fifth worse in the state.
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9/17/06 – It seems like yesterday that the Roanoke School Superintendent and the Roanoke Times declared “mission accomplished” with announcements about how well the school system was doing:
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/roanoke-school-grades.html
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The Roanoke Times, school superintendent and school board continue on in denial about the basic teaching-learning-environment in classrooms today.
Each member of The RT editorial board should be substitute teachers one day each week for a month. Then they should each draft a white-paper on their view of how to return the classrooms to an environment conducive to teaching and learning.
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The real interesting part of this dilemma is the rejection of the no-child-left-behind program by many, including The Roanoke Times. Without that program we would just continue to hide the inconvenient truth that we are spending over $100,000 ($8K/yr X 13 years) on youngsters who cannot read, write or do basic math.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-measurement-stupid.html
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There needs to be a focused effort on Educational Triage. We have the saints, the sinners and the savables.
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The Saints are like Abe Lincoln. They’ll get the information somewhere and they’re learn it without very much assistance even if by candle-light.
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The Savables need tutoring, one-on-one help, encouragement and prodding. They are probably not getting any help at home and there is probably a big return on investment for focusing on them. More emphasis on "learn to do by doing" may be a key to their learning style.
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The Sinners are a major challenge. They demonstrate the old adage that 20% of the people cause 80% of the problems. Our laws, judges, ACLU and others create an environment in which these folks cause major disruptions with little or no effort by administrators to exercise behavior improvement. As an experienced and very professional teacher once told me: “If you try to engage them, they will wear you down to their level and then beat the hell out of you with their experience.”
When I went to public school the administrators were able and willing to engage in behavior modification with folks like these. That’s no longer true today and our schools and teaching-learning are suffering as a result.
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How can that be fixed? Keep watching the Roanoke Times for the answer right after they complete their first month's tour as substitute teachers.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/09/school-failures.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/15/06, Pg 1: Breast cancer rates plunge 7% in 2003. May have a connection to stopping hormone therapy in 2002.
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It is highly unlikely that a significant change would occur within one year of stopping hormone therapy. Most cancers take considerable time to develop.
There also are other data trends for breast cancer and prostate cancer and lung cancer that indicate we may be close to a major downturn in cancer diagnosis and illness and death.
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The most likely cause of the major cancer pandemic we have experienced during the last 50 years is the nuclear fallout from 500 nuclear-air-bursts that occurred from 1944 through 1965.
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This fallout from US and other country tests swept across the US for 20 years moving west to east with the prevailing winds and jet-stream.
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The primary sources of exposure for people came from food chain “accumulators”. The two accumulators that caused the most damage was milk cows and tobacco products.
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Anyone doubting the grass-to-milk pass-through should try drinking raw milk the first week cows are let out to pasture in the spring. The onion taste and odor is so strong that typically many batches of milk are dumped and not allowed to go to market.
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The tobacco products are a significant risk because the large leaves catch large amounts of dust falling on them and the growing and processing systems do not scrub or washout these particles. They then are inhaled directly into the lungs and plastered there with tars.
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The government clearly understood the fallout-milk connection and belatedly had a funded program in place to compensate farmers who were required to dump nuclear-contaminated milk. I lived in the Catskills and the first time I remember the news reports of milk dumping across Pennsylvania (directly upwind from us) was after nuclear-air-burst tests in the Pacific in the late 1960's. Apparently this program was way too little and way too late.
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This problem was well understood back in the 1950’s and in 1963 Kruschev and Kennedy signed the treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests. It appears that the data upon which this treaty was based has not been made public. This data was clearly so disturbing that at the height of the Cold War the US and USSR stopped this activity.
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Radioactive-Iodine appears to be the only material that the government accepts as directly related to nuclear testing. This is of course totally inconsistent with the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident and the major secret studies of children’s teeth that have been conducted for many years and the government hysteria over home-radon.
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If you were born between 1930 and 1950 you were probably consuming large amounts of milk during the 1940’s and 1950’s. That would make you between 75 and 55 now. So the bottom-line is that those most affected by the milk issue will soon be gone. And IF the fallout is the “primary” contributor to the breast and prostate cancer rates then they should drop significantly after we’re gone. The tobacco time-frame is shifted by approximately 20 years and there are considerable differences in smoking rates between men and women over time. Also it appears that tobacco may continue to be a problem even without the fallout component. A key indicator of the connection was made many years ago in studying and comparing uranium miners who smoked with those who didn’t smoke with non-miners.
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This hypothesis makes sense from a government point of view. It was the government(s) that did the testing, they had massive data in the 1960’s that they acted upon, they could not fix what was already consumed, and admitting the cause-and-effect relationship would have resulted in massive costs and adverse reactions from the populace. Perhaps someone some day will use the FofI Act to get all the data JFK had when he made the most important decision of his life and ours.
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Roanoke Times, 12/3/06, Pg 1: Women fight with vigor for equality. Serving in Iraq by the tens of thousands, they are proving themselves on the battlefield.
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USA Today, 12/13/06, Pg 1: Slain Marine Maj. Megan McClung is the highest-ranking female to be killed in Iraq. She was a 1995 graduate of the Naval Academy.
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In reflecting on Maj. McClung, one wonders how Jim Watts Webb feels now about his nasty letters as Secretary of the Navy that the women in the service academies were only there for the sex!
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What a disappointment that the great Commonwealth of Virginia should be represented in the US Senate by such a crude and uncouth person who was clearly put into office by a media who had no interest in professional journalism or fair and balanced reporting.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/jim-watts-webb.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/question-answered.html
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Roanoke Times, 11/14/06, Pgs: 9A, 10A: Brighter spotlight shines on Pelosi
Roanoke Times, 11/17/06, Pg 10 A: Pelosi elected House’s 1st female speaker
USA Today, 11/17/06, Pg 11 A: As new Congress organizes, Pelosi backslides on ethics
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The-Broom is off to a great start! She immediately selected John Murtha, Dem. Pa, to be the new Democrat House leader. While she was selling him to the party faithful that very evening TV news programs were running FBI ABSCAM sting videos of John in a motel room, sitting in front of a pile of money. He wound-up as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the case. What a great start for the “clean house” we voted for!
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Then The-Broom selected Alcee Hastings of Florida to replace Cal. Rep. Jane Harmon as head of the Intelligence Committee. Ms. Harmon has great integrity and is well respected by the majority of bipartisan Congresspersons.
We remember Hastings. He was the impeached Federal judge (small j). Nothing like having an impeached former Judge in one of the most sensitive positions in the Congress. Another great start for the “clean house” we voted for!
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The “Blue Dog” Democrats (we’re going to hear a lot about them during the next two years) then quickly killed the Hastings fiasco.
The-Broom then selected Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
Talk about an oxymoron --- Reyes and Intelligence! At one of his first news conferences he had no idea what religious group Al Qaeda was based on and supporting and should have stuck with the old adage: “why remain silent and be thought a fool, when you can speak-up and dispel all doubt”.
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Then there’s William Jefferson (a New Orleans Democrat Congressman) who is under investigation for corruption by FBI. He can be seen on video of FBI sting. He had $90,000 in marked sting-money in his home freezer. Apparently that’s where you put hot money. What’s The-Broom going to do about him?
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Then there’s Alan Mollohan, the former top Democrat on the House ethics committee the frocus of an ethics investigation! One would think that the ethics committee Democrats would know what the rules are wouldn’t you? What’s The-Broom going to do about him?
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For a view of recent Congressional ethics issues click:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/03/corrupt-congressmen.html
Sure doesn’t look very good for anyone but especially bad for the Democrats.
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The bottom line is that the Democrats have no creditability on the ethics issue and only through the liberal media, who either would not or could not publish the truth, were they able to present this totally bogus issue to the voters.
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So much for fair, balanced and honest journalism.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/pattern-of-democrat-corruption.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/vote-for-what-change.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/1/06, Pg Va 8: Editorial: Acknowledging AIDS, the fight to stop the spread of HIV continues, 25 years after the first cases were reported.
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The article contains some poignant statistics. Comments about complacency and unprotected sex are appropriate.
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However the heading of “the fight to stop the spread of HIV” is totally misdirected. There is no fight to “stop the spread” in most areas of the country.
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If we used the public health systems invented to address the “Typhoid Mary” pandemic and E.coli problems to isolate the “spread” of HIV the pandemic would be manageable. These processes and systems are used for all other STD’s, why not HIV+AIDS?
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It is discouraging that the Roanoke Times continues to avoid these simple facts. One is left to wonder what their motivation is to not address the issues involved and thereby allow innocent people to get sick and die. What are they thinking? Why don’t they and the rest of the liberal media have the intestinal fortitude to take a stand and say: “enough is enough”!
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After all, this is the most deadly concealed weapon in our society!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/02/hivaids.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/fine-tuning-hivaids.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/hivaids.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/7/06, Pg 12A: Taco Bell removes green onions to quell E.coli.
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No, that’s not it! Would the FDA and the CDC and all the pundits like to guess again?
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It’s the spinach, it’s the onions, it’s the lettuce, NO -- it’s the poop – stupid!
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Organic fertilizer (manure) contains E.coli. Some even contains strains that are dangerous. Manure that has migrated into water supplies that are used to irrigate and/or wash vegetables is a potential problem. Direct application of manure or having animals defecating in the crop fields can be a source of this problem. Have we not heard of Montezuma’s revenge?
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We always used manure for fertilizer. We couldn’t afford store-bought fertilizers and we needed to do something useful with the manure pile behind the barn! From time to time we would get a “stomach flue”. Perhaps it wasn’t the flue! You think? The CDC hadn’t kicked-in yet, so, we just made do!
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Isn’t it wonderful to have all these high-priced government agencies? And how about all these media outlets who are eager to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater. Life is good.
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Too bad about Taco-Bell. They should have used the little dog as a mine-canary! How crude – PETA would have gone postal, much better that people are getting sick than a poor little dog!
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Prior Item:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/some-poop-on-ecoli-and-organic-foods.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/9/2006, Pg 4A: The 367 to 45 vote on the bill to extend the expiring tax breaks reflected widespread bipartisan support.
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Wow! Didn’t I just live through a national election in which the Democrat platform was that the tax breaks were obscene and an affront to middle and lower income people and that they were just an advantage for the rich and the Democrats were going to kill them?
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I’m a high school graduate and not just with a GED either. How could I have misunderstood the massive Roanoke Times and liberal media propaganda on this issue?
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It’s amazing what can change in just four weeks!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/its-economy-stupid.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/13/06, Pg Va 5: Roscoe Reynolds readies for reelection competition.
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Several years ago Roscoe was a speaker at a SML function. This occasion was memorable because that week he had commentated to the press about his two votes on very interesting legislation that was voted on, one in the AM and the other in the PM of the same day.
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One was the notification of parents before their minor daughter could have an abortion; the second was notification of parents before their minor daughter could have a tattoo.
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Roscoe voted that parents should NOT be notified about an abortion, and he voted that parents should give written approval before a tattoo.
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When asked about his votes his answer was that: a tattoo has life-long implications and should require an informed family decision, but an abortion is a personal matter.
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With intellectual prowess and moral judgment like this, how could anyone vote against Roscoe for even the highest public office? What a pillar of family and community standards! Could an appointment to the Supreme Court be in his future
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Roanoke Times, 12/13/06, Pg A5: Embattled Democrat
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Little-bitty print article back on pg 5: Democrat Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans just won reelection by 57% to 43%.
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Jefferson (a Democrat Congressman) is under investigation for corruption by FBI. He can be seen on video of FBI sting. He had $90,000 in marked sting-money in his home freezer. Apparently that’s where you put hot money.
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But the people of New Orleans love him and returned him to Washington again. Mayor Nogin appeared with him at his reelection rallies. What a team!
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Apparently New Orleans voters are not concerned about the “culture of corruption” issue. Are these the same folks who keep voting for Marion Berry in DC. Could be! After all, there’s no requirement for an ID to vote and as they say in Chicago: vote early, vote often.
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And guess who’s coming to dinner with Nancy the-broom Pelosi – William Jefferson.
What’s Nancy going to do to get this guy out of the “clean house” she has promised.
If she and her friends are so anxious to start an impeachment – why not start with William?
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Prior items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/still-stuck-on-stupid-in-new-orleans.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/13/06, Pg 1 & 8: Va. State Sen John Edwards says the intermodal site must comply with local ordinances.
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After many months of media harping about the need for a railway component to the I-81 corridor, NS proposed a local intermodal site for the cargo transfer between trucks and rail cars. One might think the so called “environmentalists” would be assisting in getting this site established. Hold on! Not so fast! There are adverse consequences to the proposed site. What a surprise. So, NS has identified another dozen potential sites that they are evaluating as an alternative. That has resulted in twelve-times as many complaints and now we have help from Sen. Edwards who adds absolutely no value-add to the issue except to hopefully collect some votes by representing the “downtrodden and victimized” against the big bad NS.
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This all looks just like the power-plant heifer-dust situation. We have an aging power-plant industry and we have been adding 2-million people per year to our population for over 50 years. As a result there are now 150 new US coal-fired power plants in the approval process. Many have expensive carbon dioxide reduction components designed in. Why are be building coal-fired plants while the rest of the world is building nuclear plants as fast as they can?
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The current flap over AEP’s rate increase is also indicative of the “we want good service, but we don’t want to pay for it” mentality. The significant increased cost of fuel, new emission controls facilities and power line construction would certainly result in higher electric rates. These are all the things that the “public” says they want but doesn’t want to pay for.
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What’s Va. State Sen John Edwards’ solution to all this?
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Prior items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/global-warming-fixed.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/06/wind-power.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/plant-emissions.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/12/06, Pg 3A: Annan critical of Bush in farewell speech.
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Look who’s throwing stones! What a great set of accomplishments Kofi and the UN have had under his leadership. The Sadam-Kofi oil for food scandal, the total lack of action on Iraq for Sadam’s genocide of the Kurds and the 18 resolutions on Sadam’s military actions.
The total lack of action on the UN resolutions to keep Hamas arms out of Lebanon.
The UN troop abuse of women in Africa.
The total lack of UN action in handling the ongoing Darfur disaster and genocide.
The total lack of UN action on the two biggest threats to world peace: the nuclear weapons development and deployment by North Korea and Iran.
The inability to get UN and NATO forces to fully take on their peace keeping mission in Afghanistan.
The obscene membership of the UN human rights committee by the most abusive governments in the world.
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One could go on for pages on Kofi Annan and the UN’s total impedance in doing required world-work and their total lack of accountability to anyone. The only thing it appears they are able to do well is spend US money. Don’t expect any improvements.
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Roanoke Times, 12/12/06, Pg 4A: Sago mine blast, investigators believe lightning triggered the Sago Mine explosion.
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After all the yellow-journalism and all the political knee-jerking and all the irresponsible accusations it turns out that the explosion was an “act of nature” and clearly the media coverage of this tragedy was irresponsible and unprofessional.
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Why can’t the media just stick to the facts and leave out their biases? Perhaps it has something to do with making money at the expense of responsible journalism!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/mary-jo-bill.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/03/mine-explosion-hacks-exposed_22.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/01/knee-jerk-reaction.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/12/06, Pg 1: Roanoke City turning green. Very good and comprehensive article by John Cramer on the actions being taken by the City to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and city water. Kudos to them!
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Isn’t it interesting that the Roanoke Times, a very large manufacturing and distribution company, has not yet decided to make a commitment to going-green. The amount of fuel, water, energy and natural resources consumed by the Roanoke Times is very large and represents a worthy target for green-action.
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Why not start by doing and publishing: an “environmental footprint” and start a major focus on recycling.
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http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/ecological_footprint_calculator.htm
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These analysis would then be the basis for a set of doable and reportable action plans similar to the items in this article. What a nice piece of corporate-responsibility that would be! Let’s not! Lot’s more fun to write about and critique others!
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Prior Items:
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/local-kyoto.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/01/clean-air.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/01/global-warming.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/7/06, Pg 1, 10: A grim picture of Iraq.
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Eight months of study and the result is:
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1. Current US policy not working. Situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.
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US policy is to help the new Iraqi government to help itself. As terrorists actions and ethnic conflict continue the Iraqi government will either succeed or fail.
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2. The US should launch a diplomatic effort to engage Syria and Iran in some form of negotiations.
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Syria and Iran are major sponsors of terrorism in the region and within Iraq. Syria is working diligently to annex Lebanon and destroy Israel. Iran is working diligently on developing nuclear weapons.
(Exactly what should we talk about with them?)
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3. The US must try harder to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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A major public acknowledgement by the Study Group that we have become a target of Radical-Islam because of our bipartisan dogmatic support for Israel and that we are going to have to change our positions and attitudes about Israel.
( This is the most dramatic new component of The Study and its recommendations; it also fits in with Jimmy Malaise Carter’s new book).
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/jimmy-and-jews.html
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4. Milestones must be set for Iraqi progress or US support will be reduced.
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However, in the details of the report The Study Group rejects withdrawal before conditions on the ground ensure Iraqi government survival. So what’s new?
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5. All combat brigades not necessary for force protection COULD BE pulled out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, DEPENDING ON THE SECURITY SITUATION.
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We needed an 8-month Study Group for this? Is this not our current plan and strategy!
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6. Substantially more US combat troops should switch to training Iraqi’s.
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Our generals have been telling us that training Iraqi’s is a primary US mission and that it is being done a quickly as the Iraqi’s can proceed.
The key to effective fighting forces are officers and noncommissioned officers. How long are some of our best in training at West Point, VMI, The Citadel and the many ROTC programs. And after these 4-years they are sent to extensive branch-specific training programs.
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It appears that there are very limited practical and implemental proposals in this “Study” that are materially different than what we are already doing.
The bottom line is: do we have the will to help this new government to win the peace or are we ready to drive away and let our enemies win.
The Study Group is very clear that “loosing is not an option”. Didn’t we already know that!
An interesting election result that the media doesn’t highlight is that in one of the “bluest” states Joe Lieberman who voted for the war and ran on the premise that “loosing is not an option” was overwhelmingly reelected over a Dean-picked get-out-now guy.
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Prior Item:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/11/stay-course_116251966463423492.html
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Not found in the Roanoke Times but covered everywhere else!
There are major outbursts over Jimmy Malaise Carter’s new book on the Palestinians and Israel.

It appears the Jewish community has been shocked into the realization that Jimmy has sided with deceased-Arafat and blames Israel and the Jewish-American political action organizations and politicians for the failed peace efforts in the middle-east and the US’s one-sided-support for Israel. What was Jimmy thinking? Can dementia be far away?
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And talk about bad timing! This comes on-top-of the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations that the US directly negotiate with Iran and Syria (the sworn-Israeli-Annihilators) to obtain their assistance in the Iraq conflict. A very strange recommendation, since both those governments are making maximum efforts to destabilize Iraq and to support terrorists throughout the middle-east and to destroy Israel as soon as possible.
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What would Iran and Syria demand from US for their assistance? How about the US helping do what both those governments and many others in the region want – relocate the Jews to someplace else! We put them there, so why can’t we move them to another place? And here they have Jimmy Malaise Carter’s book that supports their premise that Israel is a very bad actor and the US their godfather. As one of their examples: does anyone have a count of the US-UN- vetoes of anti-Israel resolutions unanimously supported by everyone else?
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The Arab-Palestinian view is that Israel treats them like we once treated our slaves. That Israel is not a real-Democracy because they gerrymander non-Jews out of voting and participating in government, including those who though they were Jews but are disenfranchised by the mother-only rule. This is really strange because historically women have not been equal partners with men within Judaism but apparently it’s a real good way to disenfranchise the “I thought I was a Jew” who might be too liberal and pacifist to participate in a Netanyahu-Hassidic team.
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The inconvenient truth that we all know but refuse to acknowledge is that our support for Israel is the key to Arab hatred for US. It’s not our TV’s, cars, houses, music and technology. If we were not Israel’s number one supporter the Arabs could care less what we do or who we are.
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So, the key question now is: do we collaborate with the governments of Iran and Syria as the Iraq Study Group recommends we do, or do we continue our bipartisan dogmatic support for Israel that Jimmy says is a bad thing?
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This decision begs another question: Is this war really about religion? And if so, are we now back with Charlemagne and “Onward Christian Soldiers”? Perhaps the foreboding answer can be seen in the efforts to hide Christ, Christianity, The Natively, and The Cross. Wouldn’t want those things around when our enemies takes over. After all, they shared with us the video of what they did to Daniel Pearl.
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An Example of just how far down the Jewish Hanukah bush Jimmy has fallen:http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=25994
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Prior Items
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/israel-us-loose-big.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/bill-jimmy-did-it-better.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/one-war-two-fronts-two-stories.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/07/jewish-extremists.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/7/06 and 12/8/06, Pearl Harbor Remembered
Kudos’ to The Roanoke Times for their coverage of Pearl Harbor Day.
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It would have been appropriate to relate that attack and subsequent world war to the attack on America on 9/11 and the current world war with the terrorists.
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http://www.roanokeslant.org/Infamy/
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Just as 9/11 was not the start of the present conflict, Pearl Harbor was not the start of WW2. By Dec 1941 Hitler had taken a major portion of Europe and Japan had taken a major portion of China.
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WW2 took over 15 million lives and in the end we felt compelled to use nuclear bombs to end it in a way that would avoid our having to endure additional hundreds of thousands of casualties as a trade-off to the annihilation of two large Japanese cities.
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A major difference between then and now is that during our darkest and most difficult days on the Normandy beaches, the Bulge at Bastogne and Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima we didn’t have significant numbers of folks broadcasting that we were loosing, that we couldn’t win and that we should be sitting down and talking to Hitler, Missouli and ToJo about how to bring our troops back home.
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But then again, that war was fought at home and abroad by our Greatest Generation!
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Prior Items:
http://www.roanokeslant.org/Infamy/
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/pres-lincoln-stay-course.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/terrorist-war-and-ww2.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/5/06, Pg Va 1: Webb may want to work on his timing.
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The muted whining about Jim Watts Webb by the editors of the Roanoke Times is hilarious. It’s clear that the liberal press is very proud of their major contribution in putting Jim Webb in the Senate. He is already making Virginian’s so proud.
The liberal media’s minimization of Webb’s flaws including: anti-women letters he wrote when Sec. of Navy, allegations of his anti-black forays into Watts during his college days, the content and tenor of his books, his current behavior and demeanor and his total lack of proposals to improve our country were all given a pass in the quest to get him elected with millions of dollars worth of “free positive slanted news” coverage.
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“How is your son doing?” The father of a volunteer (not drafted or forced to serve) Marine who is engaged in freeing 35 million people from Sadam’s tierney should be able to answer that question in a civil and personal manner.
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In reflection: A good friend here at SML would answer: He was a young firefighter that was killed by our enemies in the World Trade center on 9/11.
Another good friend from IBM Kingston NY would answer: He was a young businessman that was killed by our enemies in the World Trade center on 9/11,
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Not to worry, Jim will fit in nicely with Maxine Waters, Howard Dean, Michael Moore and the many other nasty folks who play in that left-wing band.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/tar-baby-webb.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/11/congratulations.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/11/stay-course_116251966463423492.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/10/vote-for-what-change.html
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