Apparently one of the most watched videos this weekend, Miss Teen USA South Carolina demonstrates, well, you decide…

I knew our new liberals-in-power were planning another massive push for socialized medicine - one step at a time seems to be the new mantra. You’ve probably heard the radio and TV commercials bemoaning how millions of “children” are “forced” to seek medical treatment at hospital emergency rooms ‘cause they don’t have health insurance, and how we need to “help the children” by succumbing to another tax to pay for an insurance plan for them. I think it’s abundantly clear that the referenced “children” in the ads are those of the 12-20 million illegal immigrants choking our hospital system and that a new tax is the dim’s way of responding to the desperate cries of hospital administrators, many of whom have been forced to close their hospitals under the pressure of illegals using emergency rooms like free socialized medicine.

A tried and true method of levying taxes has always been to tie them to either helping an impoverished group, like poor children, or to attach them to a group that’s fairly easily vilified (usually “the rich”, or smokers or drinkers.) So I’m not at all surprised to learn that one such group being targeted to “save the children” is the cigar industry, including cigar smokers. They’re a minority, we don’t smoke the nasty ol’ things, so it’s no skin off our teeth if they get taxed, right?

When are we going to get mad - I mean really mad - about the failure of our elected officials to fix problems rather than just impose new taxes to finance their perpetual growth? Our hospitals (among other agencies) are being strangled by illegal aliens because they use emergency rooms as free doctor’s offices. Get rid of the problem, the illegal aliens! Don’t just levy another new tax on us to give illegals an insurance card so we (that’s us!) can pay for their health care. That’s just sticking another finger in yet another hole in our severely leaking dam to avoid actually doing the hard work of fixing the underlying problem.

I remember hearing Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor when the shamnesty bill was going down in flames shouting, “What are you going to do with them? Send them back where they came from?” Yes, Ted! Exactly!

Anyway, the first of what will undoubtedly be many proposed new taxes is upon us. Here’s some info from Michael you should think long and hard about. Then tell your elected officials, “No new taxes, dammit!”

“Currently before the United States Senate is a proposal to fund health insurance on the backs of tobacco products to the tune of $35 billion (that’s Billion with a B). Most egregious is the proposed tax rate on cigars of 53.1%, including a breathtaking 20,400% increase in the cap. This would make handmade cigars - a true mom-and-pop industry, a product enjoyed by choice an average 3 times per week - the single largest excise taxed item in the entire Internal Revenue Code… by a long shot.

This piece of legislation is called SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Plan). Tonight this bill is being marked up in the Senate Finance Committee and is expected to come to the Senate floor for a vote as early as end of week. We urge you to call both of your U.S. Senators today and express your opposition to funding “SCHIP legislation” with punitive cigar taxes. As a constituent your voice will be heard.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Eric’s situation, he is an American citizen languishing in a Nicaraguan prison having been, as the evidence would overwhelmingly seem to suggest, wrongly convicted of raping and killing his former girlfriend. He was convicted in February and is awaiting an appeal court’s ruling due sometime this month. You can review the issues and facts in an article I posted in March.

For Eric’s family and those of us convinced of his innocence, the ruling cannot come too soon. Once it’s announced, I’ll post another update. Meanwhile, take some time to review the case and this related recent newspaper article.

And please keep Eric and his family in your prayers. If all goes well, he’ll be a free man by month’s end.

It sounds like a dubious distinction, but for owners of really ugly dogs, it’s a serious, high stakes competition and winning the coveted title of “World’s Ugliest Dog” is no laughing matter.

You see, each year the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California hosts a contest to discover and crown the absolute ugliest dog in the world. Readers of my AFP website remember “Sam,” also a Chinese Crested, who won his third title in 2005.

This year’s winner, Elwood, is a rescued Chinese Crested-Chihauahua mix from New Jersey. Dark colored and hairless, he’s homely beyond description but his owner claims he’s beautiful on the inside. Resembling the fictional character “Yoda” from Star Wars, he serves as a good will ambassador for homeless and special-needs animals in his home state of New Jersey.

This was Elwood’s second year vying for the coveted title. He placed second in last year’s competition.

Not surprisingly, most of the competing canines were also Chinese Crested, a breed that features a mohawk, bug eyes and a long, wagging tongue. Profuse drooling apparently helps.

Beyond the regal title of ugliest dog, Elwood also earned a $1,000 prize for his owner.

The 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee was held May 30-31 at the Grand Hyatt Washington. The nation’s largest and longest running spelling bee was won by Evan O’Dorney, a 13-year-old speller from Danville, California. We congratulate Evan and all the contestants for their accomplishments.

What caught my eye, though, was a photo of young David Brokaw who, advancing to the third round, correctly spelled “marathon.” Notice anything unusual in the photo? Look closely…

David’s sponsor, Catapult Online, is the nation’s leading provider of live, at-home tutoring for NCLB supplemental educational services (SES). I suspect the Scripps organization provided the sponsorship signs.

LOS ANGELES - Poor Paris Hilton has been ordered to return to the dirty old jail and serve the remainder of her original 45 day sentence. She’ll likely spend the weekend in the medical ward pending an appeal to be filed by7 her attorneys later today of Monday.

Most consider this a win for justice and a blow to celebrity special treatment although the spectacle of it all, complete with the usual Hollywood drama, has been difficult to stomach. For crisake, the little twit’s ridiculous parents should be serving in adjoining cells!

              Click to enlargePeople were glued to their TVs and radios all morning as it all played out, but not for the reasons many believe. Few, I suspect, care much for Miss Hilton. But most were anxious to see whether she’d get her usual pampered treatment or be forced to suffer the consequences of her bad behavior like the rest of us.

Bully for the judge! Had he not roared, I’d have been surprised.

Apparently there was much sobbing and shouting as the judge reaffirmed his original order. But the judge didn’t rule on whether the Sheriff will be held in contempt of court for changing the judge’s order. My guess is that he won’t, but (imho) he should be. Consequences for inappropriate actions. It applies to all of us.

Michael alerted me to this CBS news clip (Pardon the preceding ads):

Of course, the inconvenience of wearing Latex gloves to use it may prove problematic. But I’m sure the guys at Sony will work that out…

I received this story from wifey. It made the news last week, I suppose because of the amount of work involved to repair the damage caused by one mother’s failure to watch her toddler. It seems that a little boy spotted the pretty pile of colored sand on the floor of the vast hall and, slipping under a protective rope, danced all over it, ruining the creation of eight Tibetan monks who had spent two days cross-legged on the floor of Union Station, meticulously pouring the sand into an intricate design as an expression of their Buddhist faith.

They were more than halfway done with the design - called a mandala - on Tuesday when they ended their work for the day and left. The little boy showed up sometime later with his mother who was taking a package to a post office within the hall. A security tape shows the boy’s mother returning to the mandala, grabbing her son by the arm and walking out of camera range.

The monks, on a year long tour of the United States and Canada to raise money for their Tibetan monastery which had been destroyed, saw the destruction Wednesday and said they would start over. In a ceremony Saturday, they will sweep up the sand design and offer bits to onlookers for their gardens. The rest will be placed in the Missouri River, they say, to carry the blessings all over the planet.

If you’ve ever raised little boys, you know how easily something like this can happen although, in all honesty, Mom should have been watching the little rascal closer. I’d like to think she used the experience as a teaching tool and that both she and the little boy learned a valuable lesson…

Since this embedded CBS News clip is an AOL News link, I’m not sure how long they’ll keep it up. Once they decide to take it down it’s, well, gone.

If you’ve been filling your tank lately, you’re well aware that gas prices are at an all time high and are projected to go even higher this summer. An article in Marketwatch yesterday says that average retail gas prices jumped by 12 cents to a record $3.26 a gallon last week alone according to the Energy Department. Gas prices are up nearly 50% since late January, one of the largest sustained increases ever recorded by the government.

Over the past two decades, gasoline price spikes have proved to be relatively temporary, so consumers didn’t really change their behavior by cutting back their discretionary spending in other areas. By the time consumers got around to changing their behavior, prices had fallen back.

This time, it could be different.

Cox & Forkum

From CNN: Size matters, so does shape under new postal rates.

The postal rate increase that kicks in Monday is shaping up to be a big headache for many businesses. Many companies say they are confused and frustrated as they try to adjust to the new rules, and some say mailings could be severely curtailed due to higher postage costs.

The new regulations mean larger envelopes and packages will automatically cost more than smaller mail. Currently, postage is determined by weight, unless it’s an especially large or odd-shaped package that warrants special handling.

If your solution come Monday is to stuff the same amount of material into a smaller envelope, the Postal Service could get you there, too: There are new thickness restrictions. For first-class, letter envelopes, the allowed thickness is a quarter inch. If you go over a quarter inch, you run into more costly large envelope or parcel rates.  […]

Cindy Golebiewski, an office manager in Wilmington, Delaware, said her company faces much higher postage costs under the new rules. “The price is just doubling,” she said. If not for the new thickness limits, “we would be better off stuffing a 6-by-9-inch envelope than putting it into a big brown envelope,” she said.

The Direct Marketing Association in New York is “very, very unhappy,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Hendricks. “The rates go into effect on Monday under protest.”  […]

Even mailing a simple brochure may pose a problem for businesses. Postage for a three-panel brochure weighing an ounce might cost the new rate of 41 cents — up from 39 cents — unless it’s not folded well and the envelope puffs up to half an inch. If the mail can’t be easily flattened, then the postage would shoot up to 80 cents. Under the old rules, the envelope could puff out and still cost the same.

Details of the new rates are available at http://www.usps.com/ or (800) 275-8777.

Here’s a promising article. Seems two professors at the University of Oklahoma say they’ve developed a protein that can stop the spread of certain cancer cells without damaging normal cells. The new fusion protein keeps some types of cancer cells from ingesting a vital protein called methionine and doesn’t affect normal cells because, unlike cancer cells, normal cells can be healthy without that protein.

The research started with breast cancer and expanded to include other types of solid tumors. They found the fusion protein to be just as helpful in fighting lung, prostate and pancreatic cancers and could be applicable to other forms of cancer as well.

Of course, more animal, clinical and human testing are required as well as FDA approval, so it may be ten years before it’s brought to market. Still, it’s a very encouraging breakthrough.

I haven’t yet driven downtown this morning to check out the gathering demonstrators, many illegal aliens, demanding amnesty and socialism. Most expect a smaller turnout than the ones launched in major cities last year. If I get any good pictures, I’ll post them. Meanwhile, here are six images from last year’s, uh, “event.”

This may come as a surprise to Rosie O’Donnell…

Oakland, Calif. —- A stretch of highway near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed Sunday after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames, a loss officials said could leave freeways leading to one of the nation’s busiest spans in near paralysis at rush hour. Officials said traffic will be disrupted for weeks, if not months. Flames shot 200 feet in the air and the heat was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck’s driver walked away with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported in the 3:45 a.m. crash. …

What? Fire actually melted steel for the second time in history? Rosie must be feverously typing on her website about the Bush administration being responsible, an obvious conspiracy to discredit her.

Authorities said the damage could take months to repair and would cause the worst disruption for Bay Area commuters since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged a section of the Bay Bridge. Nearly 75,000 vehicles use the portion of the road every day. But because the accident occurred where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause commuting problems for hundreds of thousands. State transportation officials said 280,000 commuters take the bridge into San Francisco each day.

I can’t wait to hear Rosie’s explanation. A bomb? Uh huh. That’s it.

Shannon has been following the pet food recall news and sends some additional information for pet owners wondering what foods are safe and whether they should consider making food for their pets at home.

As most of you have read or heard, melamine, a chemical usually associated with the manufacture of plastic dinnerware, has been found in pet foods, in particular the ingredient wheat gluten,  imported from China by some major U.S. pet food companies.

Why melamine? Apparently, it has a high nitrogen content and, since nitrogen content in pet foods is measured to determine the food’s protein level, adding melamine to pet foods produces a higher, albeit false, protein reading.

Recently, however, UC Davis veterinary toxicologists have discovered melamine in rice gluten used in certain pet foods. Accordingly, they recommend against feeding any store-bought pet food containing wheat, corn or rice (no grains.) In addition,  pet owners making their own dog and cat food should check with their veterinarian to make sure the homemade food contains the right balance of nutrients. 

Researchers and pet monitoring agencies believe about 200 dogs and cats have died from consuming tainted pet food and over a thousand others have become sick. Veterinarians say the contaminated food causes kidney failure, vomiting and lethargy in dogs and cats. And cats, being smaller, are especially susceptible.

I don’t know how I missed this  last month, but Captain’s Corner had it. Apparently, a 2,000 horsepower drug running inflatable boat was confiscated by British authorities with over 300kg of cocaine aboard!

The Euro drug runner was whipping across the English Channel several times a week, basically a blur on British Coast Guard radar. After taunting the BCG for some time, a specialized chopper was brought in to catch it.  Here’s more on the story:

Richard Davidson, director of Crompton Marine, was arrested in 2004 by Spanish authorities conducting anti-drug smuggling operations. Seems they had confiscated a number of these boats and determined that he was producing them specifically for drug runners. He even advertised them as high speed and low profile, able to avoid radar. 

Despite his arrest, an associate apparently kept the business going under the name Nautexco Marine. Boats range from 30-60 feet, cost upwards of $680,000 and are powered by as many as eight 250hp outboard motors delivering speeds of 70mph! Their purpose seems to be high speed transport between north Africa and southern Spain.

Surprisingly, Crompton Marine still maintains an active website so if you’re in the market for such a specialized craft, check them out. I’ll bet waterskiing behind one would be an adreneline rush!