R.I.P. Tony Snow
Tony Snow smiles as he is introduced by President Bush as his new Press Secretary in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington in this April 26, 2006, file photo. Fox News is reporting today that conservative commentator and former White House press secretary Tony Snow has died of cancer. He was 53. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, FILE)
Tony Snow died this morning. He was 53. My thoughts are with his family.
Former Bush press secretary Snow dies of cancer
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer. He was 53.
"America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character," President Bush said in a statement from Camp David, where he was spending the weekend. "It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work."
Snow died at 2 a.m. at Georgetown University Hospital, according to former employer Fox News.
Snow, who served as the first host of the television news program "Fox News Sunday" from 1996 to 2003, would later say that in the Bush administration he was enjoying "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."
Read the whole story here.
Where do you stand?
Apparently some people do not understand where they stand politically.
To find out if you are liberal, conservative, libertarian or something else, take this 10-question quiz at: http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html.
Report back your results, if you like. You can even post a copy of your results. Even if you aren't surprised, you will still have some fun.
The image above shows the results of my test. The red dot is where I stand politically. As libertarian as you can get.
Dann best kind of Democrat
Former Attorney General Marc Dann is the best kind of Democrat ...
... out of office.
Dann should go, but not because of sex
Attorney General Marc Dann should resign or be impeached, but not because he cheated on his wife.
During 2007 and early 2008, Attorney General Dann flew on the state's Beechcraft King Air 90 twin-engine airplane at least 13 times. Many of the flights shuttled the attorney general to in-state events. Former Attorney General Jim Petro never used it. These flights cost taxpayers nearly $25,000. And this was from several months ago. It is unlikely he stopped abusing the use of that plane.
Dann also sees no problem with the state determining how much profit oil companies should make and is willing to sue those companies if he thinks they make too much money. Who is he to make that determination? And is it only oil companies or any company he thinks is making too much money? He is striving to make the state more anti-business than it already is and his clampdown on lenders who he thinks are predatory is just another attack on business.
A man of integrity would resign after the sex scandal. Clearly, Dann has demonstrated he is not a man of integrity and he is not about to leave the his cushy government job.
U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum Dead
(Photo courtesy of U.S. Senate Historical Office)
U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum died this evening at his home near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 90.
While I rarely agreed with his politics, I honor him for his many years of service to his fellow man, fighting for what he believed in and doing it in an honorable way.
Text of the State of the Union Address
White House photograph
Following is the prepared text of President Bush's State of the Union address on Jan. 28, 2008, as provided by the White House:
Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We have faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered that call. Yet history will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government.
All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. And it remains our charge to keep.
Read more!
Sheriff To Hang Up Jackboots
Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck said he will be retiring his jackboots at the end of the year. (Read story here.)
I for one am disappointed to see him go. After all, I can't get all my comic relief from Lima's Three Stooges -- Derry "Curley" Glenn, Tommy "Larry" Pitts, and Ray "Moe" Magnus.
However, I suspect we haven't heard the last from Beck.
When is that Lima mayoral election?
Air conditioning ruined America
Photo by José Gregoria Sánchez Duarte, of San Cristobal, Venezuela
That's right. Air conditioning ruined America.
From TheHill.com:
It's official: Not a single conversation took place Monday that did not involve the weather. It's hot. It's gross. We know.
But let it be a comfort that Washington has always steam-cooked its inhabitants in August -- and some say that had some decent policy implications for the country.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) recalled chatting with former Sen. Jim Eastland, a Southern Democrat from Mississippi, asking the long-serving politician what was the most significant thing that happened since he took office in 1941.
"He looked at me and he said, ‘Air conditioning,'" Biden recounted on MSNBC Aug. 3.
"‘Before we had air conditioning,' he said, ‘that sun would beat down on that dome, heat up that place,' he said. ‘It would get too hot and we'd leave Washington, and we'd leave for the year,'" Biden quoted Eastland as saying.
"‘Then we got air conditioning, stayed year-round and ruined America.'"
I long for the days when the Congress would only meet for a few months every year. That way, we would avoid much of the dastardly deeds the Congress commits against the American people.
The case to impeach the president
Thanks to the History News Network, I found this excerpt from the July 13 edition of Bill Moyers Journal in which Bruce Fein, a constitutional scholar, who was Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan and is a weekly columnist for The Washington Times, and John Nichols, a Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine and author of The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism
An interesting watch. View the whole segment here.
Communication not Bush's strong point
President Bush and his dog Barney at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Where is the president's seat belt? (Photo courtesy of the White House.)
While eloquence is not necessarily a prerequisite to being president, it certainly is a desired trait. I can't help but think this whole mess in Iraq could have been avoided if the president had done a better job of explaining himself.
In his speech saying farewell to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush said:
"This guy can really [pause] ... he can talk. He's much more kind of lofty and eloquent than I am."
It's a sad indictment of the American political system that such a poor public speaker can become president.
Perhaps his inability to express himself is at the root of his need to kill other people for dubious reasons. ...
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.lucente.org/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
