As seen on Special Report with Brit Hume yesterday (paraphrased, but accurate):

Teddy Kennedy – the new senator from Illinois – Osama bin Ladin
I mean Osama Obama,
Oh, Obama.

I have heard from a couple of people that they couldn’t read my blog in Firefox (everything was squeezed down the left side) so I changed the template. I have also downloaded and used Firefox to check that it is now readable.

You can download Firefox for free here.

Direct Link to The Captain’s campaign. As of 7:30 am CST 1/13/05 the total is $34,223.16!

From the News & Observer in NC (last three paragraphs of story):

Taxpayers may be able to deduct donations to victims of the South Asian tsunami if contributions are made to tax-exempt U.S. charities. But these organizations must have “full control and discretion over the use of such funds,” according to the IRS.

Donations to individual victims or foreign charities that do not qualify as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code cannot be claimed.

Taxpayers making donations through Jan. 31, 2005, to aid tsunami victims will be able to claim deductions on their 2004 tax returns under legislation the House and Senate cleared Thursday for President Bush’s signature. Otherwise taxpayers would have to wait until 2006 to claim a tax deduction for tsunami contributions made this month.

So donations made to help The Captain with World Relief Day can be deducted on your 2004 taxes. Keep those donations coming…

Other stories on this site related to Tsunami aid:

US aid $350 million and counting – Updated
Another way to help with Tsunami Aid
Watch out for Tsunami Aid Fraud

The Anchoress has Dan Ra^ther’s ra^ther lame response to the “Report” (via TKS [formerly known as The Kerry Spot]). I agree that it’s lame, about as lame as his “apology”.

Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report, I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind.

Dan Rather

Of course the Report didn’t find any evidence of political bias, and that’s what he’s really interested in.

Lorie over at Polipundit has an excellent post on the massive differences between how the MSM covered Ra^thergate and the Swift Boat Veterans. Click here for More Thoughts on Ra^thergate.

In an earlier post (Nov 22) here I noted:

Newsweek’s Periscope on Unfit for Command
In Newsweek’s Persicope section, page 9 there is a short article by Susannah Meadows about the all the political books that used to be on the front tables at the bookstores. In this article she says: “Even the conservative imprint Regenery isn’t giving up yet on O’Neill’s book [Unfit for Command], the now largely discredited attack on Kerry’s military service. The publisher is planning to market its remaining copies as the book that brought the candidate down.” (emphasis mine). Is it largely discredited because the liberals say it is? I still haven’t seen any proof of its being discredited. Haven’t seen Kerry’s records (still hasn’t signed the Form 180) proving that what John O’Neill says isn’t true.

The MSM has always just dismissed the Swift Boat Veterans out of hand, yet even after 5 years of “investigation” Mary Mapes could never come up with anything valid about her accusations about President Bush. Yesterday on Fox News they had a regular DNC hack, Jenny. She keeps drinking that kool-aid. She repeated the line that Bush has never come out and said he wasn’t awol and he’s never said he didn’t get special treatment and the questions raised about his service are still valid… She never mentions that Kerry never signed the 180, that he hasn’t answered any of the questions that still hang over his head…

Drew at Darn Floor has a new post about the Dutch and physician assisted death. I wrote about the Groningen Protocol and my disabled daughter here.

Drew has written about an English assisted suicide law and now the Dutch are considering assisted suicide for “people who may not be ill, but consider themselves as ‘suffering through living.'”

Drew’s last paragraph:

When someone feels his life is not worth living, it falls to us — fellow members of the human race — to show him that his life has value. It is abhorrent and repulsive that anyone — but especially doctors — would inform someone in despair that, no, his life is not worth living and he ought to just kill himself.

CBS has finally released their report on Ra^thergate. Three executives and Mary Mapes have been fired. CBS version of the story here. Andrew Heyward and Dan Ra^ther have escaped further action.

The Anchoress has the text of Les Moonves’ memo to CBS employees

Michelle Malkin has a post on the connections between Mary Mapes, Col. David Hackworth, Ra^thergate and Abu Ghraib

(CBS) Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service.
The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.
The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Ra^ther, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.
“We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 MinutesWednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy,” said CBS President Les Moonves.
The panel said a “myopic zeal” to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Mr. Bush’s National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization’s internal standards.
The report said at least four factors that some observers described as a journalistic “Perfect Storm” had contributed to the decision to broadcast a piece that was seriously flawed. “The combination of a new 60 Minutes Wednesday management team, great deference given to a highly respected producer and the network’s news anchor, competitive pressures, and a zealous belief in the truth of the segment seem to have led many to disregard some fundamental journalistic principles,” the report said.

On Fox News this morning Jim Pinkerton highlighted the phrase: “great deference given to a highly respected producer and the network’s news anchor” indicating that this means Ra^ther really, really wanted this to be true and to go forward with it.

The CBS report also states that “the Panel cannot conclude that a political agenda at 60 Minutes Wednesday drove either the timing of the airing of the segment or its content.”

Mary Mapes was also faulted for a clear conflict of interest by coordinating with Joe Lockhart of the Kerry campaign.

They have decided that further action against Ra^ther is unnecessary because he has already stepped down and will no longer be the news anchor come March.

Fox News has a report as well here. pdf of the 234 page report is here.

Amber seems to be cashing in on the tragedy of Laci and Connor. This is sickening. Now she’s “written” a book and is making the rounds to promote it.

Got to extend those 15 minutes of fame (infamy) as long as you can.

And the Winner is…

A disposable toilet brush that states: “Do not use for personal hygiene.”

Read the rest.

(Via Overlawyered)

From La Shawn’s Blog: Social Security Reform as Reparations?

“Would liberals support Social Security reform if they thought of it as reparations for blacks?”

Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, asks a question I’d never thought of asking white liberals. Yet it seems so obvious. Liberals support “reparations” and any other idiotic idea complaining blacks come up with. I’ve always argued that blacks are receiving reparations: welfare, entitlements and all manner of skin color preferences.

She concludes with:

I want the power to use my own initiative, motivation and creativity in choosing how, when and where to invest the money I earn. But we live in an era where the government knows what’s best for us, right?

Attention Washington: Keep the criminals out of my neighborhood and away from me and family, protect us from terrorists and illegal aliens bankrupting the system, and I’ll be just fine. Jack part of my salary for various state duties, if you must, but let me and my brain come up with our retirement plan.

Get off my back and out of my pocket.

Ditto.