GOP Straw Poll

Driver's Fondling May Have Caused 8 Traffic Deaths

Here’s my nominee for Illegal Immigrant Of The Week

SALT LAKE CITY -- The driver of a sport utility vehicle that rolled and killed eight of 14 passengers was charged Tuesday with transporting illegal immigrants resulting in death.

Survivors told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Rigoberto Salas-Lopez was fondling a woman while driving, contradicting the driver's claim that he was trying to avoid an animal when the vehicle went off the road and rolled at least five times early Monday.

Salas-Lopez, 30, was arrested after fleeing into the desert in the Four Corners area of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, police said.

Authorities said Salas-Lopez is from Guatemala as are most of the passengers, and the rest are from Mexico.

BlackBerry emails about marital infidelity implicated in NJ Governor’s car crash

BlackBerry emails about marital infidelity implicated in NJ Governor’s car crash by ZDNet's Russell Shaw -- According to reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Newark Star-Ledger New Jersey State Police are investigating an allegation that the trooper who was driving Gov. Jon Corzine's SUV two weeks ago when it crashed going 91 m.p.h. may have been distracted by e-mails sent to his mobile phone or BlackBerry. It gets juicier. The [...]

Giuliani To Social Conservatives: Take It Or Leave It

Here's the story: Giuliani to social conservatives: Take it or leave it

Here's a quote:

Rudy Giuliani's message to social conservatives: If you don't like my views, don't vote for me.

The Republican presidential frontrunner Thursday reaffirmed his support for federal funding for some abortions, a position which puts him at odds with many conservatives. During a press conference at the State Capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, he said he didn't expect to win over 100 percent of the voters.

"If that's real important to you, if that's the most important thing, I'm comfortable with the fact that you won't vote for me," the former mayor said.

Although Giuliani said he is does not like abortion, he said he would not change the standing law. Specifically, he said would not change the Hyde amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortion to cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.

"I'm against abortion, I hate it, I wish there never was an abortion and I would counsel a woman to have an adoption instead of an abortion," the former New York mayor said. "But ultimately I believe it is an individual right and the woman can make that choice."

Rudy Giuliani on public funding of abortion

Rosie O'Donnell offensive rant at Matrix awards

Is this the straw that broke the camel's back?

JV & Elvis Suspended After Prank Call

Did these guys cross the line?
Should they be fired?

'Atlas' At 50

"Who is John Galt?"

With that enigmatic opening line, author-renegade philosopher Ayn Rand began her 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged," which remains a controversial book 50 years after publication.

Critics slam Rand for poor writing. Intellectuals ridicule Rand for sophomoric philosophy. And readers gobble it up.

More than 700,000 copies of Rand's books sold in 2006, 25 years after her death. Several years ago, when the Modern Library published readers' choices for the best novels of the 20th century, four books by Rand made the list: "Atlas Shrugged" (No. 1), "The Fountainhead" (No. 2), "Anthem" (No. 7) and "We the Living" (No. 8).

A survey in 1991 by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found "Atlas Shrugged" the second most influential book in the United States. The Bible was first.

Have you read the book yet? Why not? What are you waiting for an invitation?
Please visit The Ayn Rand Institute.

Teacher Resigns Over Student Affair Allegations

ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orlando high school teacher resigned on Thursday amid accusations that she had an inappropriate relationship with a female student.

Allison Reopel, 25, taught and coached softball at Oak Ridge High School in Orlando.

The allegations surfaced after a teacher said he witnessed Reopel and an 18-year-old student involved in what he believed to be a sex act, police said.

She allegedly was caught having oral sex with a female student in a classroom. Please watch the Local6 video. I was blown away by the Oak Ridge High School student who said "If they're going to do that kind of thing they should take it off campus", oblivious to the fact that Teachers shouldn't be having sex with students. This predatory lesbian has not been charged because of the age of the student. The State should immediately revoke her teaching licence and see that she never has access to kids again. You have to wonder if there are other victims.

Jason Whitlock About Imus

The best defense is offense

Rape-Stopper's Razor-Sharp Bite

Scumbags of South Africa, you have been warned. Later this month, women there "will be able to arm their vaginas with the Rapex device, a product priced at 1 rand (around 14 cents) and sold over the counter," the Guardian reports. "Shaped like a female condom and worn internally, its hollow interior is lined with 25 razor-sharp teeth, which fasten on to an attacker's penis if he attempts penetration."

Some people - including women's campaigners - have criticised the device for being "vengeful". Well, as its inventor, Sonette Ehlers, has said, it's "a medieval device for a medieval deed". If any rapist finds himself hopping with pain as a result - as well as facing the fact that the only way to remove the device is said to be a highly awkward and incriminating hospital visit - that seems just fine to me. Yes, it's vengeful. Yes, it hurts rapists. Oh well.

The device is "inserted with an applicator like a tampon, and removed with the same applicator," according to the Rapex website. It can stay in for up to 24 hours. And it will be "available in various sizes... small, medium and large."

Once intruders realize they can’t come in through the front door, won’t they simply look for another entrance?

Robert Rector on the Cost of Low-Skill Immigrants

Col. Jack Jacobs unhappy with UK Navy

Freed British Sailors Criticized For Saying They Trespassed in Iranian Waters, Apologizing
As Britain celebrated the return of its 15 sailors and Marines yesterday (April 5th) after 13 days of captivity in Iran, some of their countrymen were critical of the former captives' apparent confessions and apologies while being held. During the sailors' captivity, several videos were broadcast of them admitting to have crossed into Iranian waters and apologizing for doing so. Letters purportedly written by the only woman captive, Faye Turney, were also released, in which she apologized, and several of the crew praised their treatment in interviews with Iranian broadcasters. The Sun tabloid wrote in an editorial, "The sight of the illegally detained British forces thanking Iranian tyrants for their freedom will sicken the nation."

However, defense officials dismissed the criticism, and said none of the sailors and Marines would be punished for making the apologies. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defense staff, said, "They did exactly as they should have done from start to finish and we are proud of them." But Britain steadfastly maintained throughout the crisis, and still says, that the sailors hadn't violated Iranian waters, and had instead been in Iraqi waters when they were captured on May 23rd.

The freed crew arrived at London's Heathrow Airport yesterday on a British Airways jet after leaving Iran in the morning, following a surprise announcement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he was releasing them as an Easter gift to the British people. Although they left in suits provided to them by Iran, in which they appeared shaking hands with Ahmadinejad and smiling before they left, they changed on the plane and arrived in London in their uniforms. They also were holding bags with candy and gifts apparently given to them by the Iranians.

Questions:

Do you agree that the British sailors and Marines were wrong to have given in and made videotaped confessions and apologies, saying they trespassed in Iranian waters?

Is the British military right not to punish the former captives?

Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater is a thirteenth century Roman Catholic sequence attributed to Jacopone da Todi. Its title is an abbreviation of the first line, Stabat mater dolorosa ("The sorrowful mother was standing"). The hymn, one of the most powerful and immediate of extant medieval poems, meditates on the suffering of Mary, Jesus Christ's mother, during his crucifixion.

This translation represents the meter (trochaic tetrameter), rhyme scheme, and sense of the original, but it is not a word-for-word translation. For a literal translation, see http://www.shrinesf.org/stabatmater.htm.

Stabat mater dolorosa
iuxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,
mater Unigeniti!
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.

Quae maerebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati poenas inclyti.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?

Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.
For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Jesus wracked with torment,
All with scourges rent:

Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.
She beheld her tender Child,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.

Eia, Mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.
O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum
ut sibi complaceam.
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.
Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:

Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
poenas mecum divide.
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.

Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:

Iuxta Crucem tecum stare,
et me tibi sociare
in planctu desidero.
By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgo virginum praeclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,
fac me tecum plangere.
Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passionis fac consortem,
et plagas recolere.
Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.

Fac me plagis vulnerari,
fac me Cruce inebriari,
et cruore Filii.
Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;

Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defensus
in die iudicii.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire
ad palmam victoriae.
Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
by Thy Mother my defense,
by Thy Cross my victory;

Quando corpus morietur,
fac, ut animae donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.
When my body dies,
let my soul be granted
the glory of Paradise. Amen.

'US ready to strike Iran on Good Friday'

From THE JERUSALEM POST for your discernment.

The United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6," according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday.

According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a security official as saying, "Russian intelligence has information that the US Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory."