kimsch

100 Days

As you can see by the “clock” above, it has been 100 days since Senator Kerry promised on national TV to sign his form 180.

Blogs for Bush has all the information necessary to send a fax…

Tim Russert, why aren’t you pushing this? Kerry made the promise to you…

Best Friends Forever

Krystal Tobias (9) and Laura Hobbs (8) of Zion, Illinois, best of best friends, went for a bike ride together on Mothers’ Day. They never came home. Sometime in the middle of the night, whoever had prevented them from going back to their mothers, repeatedly stabbed both of them and left them in a park near their homes. Laura’s father and grandfather found them at dawn Monday.

Laura and Krystal
May they rest in peace. Our prayers go out to their families and friends.

Update: The Chicago Tribune has this:

Source: Charges to come in Zion slayings

Tribune staff report
Published May 10, 2005, 9:53 AM CDT

An individual will be charged today in connection with the stabbing deaths of two young girls from north suburban Zion, police sources told the Tribune this morning. Details to come.

Related:
Best Friends Forever
Best Friends Forever – Mr Hobbs Charged?
Father is being charged in deaths of best friends
Hobbs Confesses to Killing Best Friends

Inside the Actor's Studio Questions

The Anchoress has answered some James Lipton, Inside the Actor’s Studio type questions also answered by Greg at What Attitude Problem. So here are my answers:

1. What is your favorite word?
Love.

2. What is your least favorite word?
any of the 7 words you can’t say on television

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
helping others

4. What turns you off?
lack of taking responsibility for one’s own actions

5. What is your favorite curse word?
skboochie-dinkelflopper-dia-flappatoodas-superbyhumpdickle
-elephantisimos (My great-grandmother made my great-grandfather put money in a jar every time he cursed, so he made up a new curse word to substitute so he wouldn’t have to “contribute” to the jar. If something small happened, he’d use the first part, the worse the curse, the longer the curse though).

6. What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sweet sound of the gentle snores my four year old makes when he finally falls asleep.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
rolling boom-boxes shaking the house

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
teaching

9. What profession would you not like to do?
any kind of sales.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Welcome Home.

Bill to keep illegals driving in California

I found this one over at Red State. Apparently there is a bill in the system to exempt illegals from having their vehicles impounded.

California State Sen. Gil Cedillo is sponsoring S.B. 591 to amend the CA Vehicle Code to prevent illegal aliens who are caught driving without a license from having their cars impounded:

…This bill would require a city or county to exempt a person from the impound period where the offense involves a person who has never been issued a driver’s license due to an inability to meet the requirement that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law

Exempting a lawbreaker from the consequences of a law because the are breaking another law just by being in California… What will they think of next?

Read the whole thing.

This is also at Michelle Malkin’s Immigration Blog (same post as at Red State).

Blogspotting at BusinessWeek

A few weeks ago we added Blogspotting, Business Week’s newest Blog to the blogroll. This is a very interesting blog, dedicated to blogging in business, blogging as business and blogging and the media. Go check it out.

Social Security Reform

An outfit called ProtectYourCheck.org has bought airtime on Fox News recently. Their website says they are:

…a non-profit advocacy organization established to oppose the White House’s effort to dismantle Social Security, the most successful retirement and anti-poverty program in our nation’s history. ProtectYourCheck.org will educate Americans on the financial health of Social Security, promote policies to strengthen Social Security and encourage citizens to speak out about this issue to ensure that Congress doesn’t pass legislation that weakens the Social Security Trust Fund.

They state that if private accounts are allowed benefits will be slashed by 45% and if the stock market tanks, then “Whoah”. ProtectYourCheck.org wants you to contact your senators and representatives to vote against personal accounts because

Slot Machine
Social Security. It’s a guarantee you earned. Don’t let them make it a gamble.

I recently received my Social Security Statement in the mail (everyone should receive one a couple of months before their birthday).

ProtectYourCheck’s ad states Social Security is a guarantee that you’ve earned. My Statement has this part:

It says:

Your estimated benefits are based on current law. Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so any time. The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2042, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 73 percent of scheduled benefits.

My youngest child will be 18 years old in 2018. I will be 62 in 2024. Under the current structure, if I die anytime between 2018 and 2024 we lose everything that I have “contributed” to social security, except for the special one time death benefit of $255 that my spouse or child may be eligible for. If I die before 2018, my youngest is eligible for payments only until he’s 18. If I die after 2024, I get payments until I die then my spouse gets nothing from my contributions. He will continue to receive payments from his own account, but mine’s gone (his payment will be larger than mine will be).

Personally, I would far prefer to put some of my contributions into a personal account. ProtectYourCheck.org warns that if the stock market tanks, “Whoah”. Except that your voluntary contributions would be put into a mutual fund similar to the Thrift Savings Plan fund choices that are available to your elected representatives! You would think that if it’s good enough for them it would be good enough for their constituents.

I agree with President Bush’s suggestion that lower wage earners have a faster track to increases in payments (indexing on wages). The lower wage earners are either at jobs that don’t offer a 401(k) or equivalent, or if they do, the lower wage earner needs every cent to pay the bills and can’t afford to save for retirement. Personal accounts would allow the lower wage earner the opportunity to save on his/her own behalf for retirement. Higher wage earners benefits being indexed on inflation also makes sense. These workers have access to additional retirement savings plans. Where the cut-offs are, of course, subject to negotiation.

The MSM and the Dems are playing this as a reduction in benefits. It’s not a reduction in benefits, it’s a reduction in the pace of increasing benefits for those who can afford a smaller increase while benefitting those who need the higher level of increases. Benefits that can be left to your children. Benefits that can be left to your spouse, even while your spouse is receiving benefits of his/her own.

Michelle Malkin’s Look Who’s Defending the Rich Now has a round up of lefty blog spin and a round up of the MSM anti-Bush headline spin The Roar of MSM Demagogues

Yeah Judge Andrew!

A thirteen year old pregnant girl in DCF custody wants an abortion and Florida DCF won’t let her. From the Fox News DaySide website:

Tuesday morning she was scheduled to have the abortion when the state intervened, citing Florida law that says “in no case shall DCF consent to a sterilization, abortion or termination of life support” on behalf of someone who’s under DCF’s care. Sounds pretty clear. But the girl’s lawyers argue that, under the state’s privacy law, minors have a right to decide for themselves whether to continue or abort a pregnancy.

Judge Andrew Napolitano on DaySide with Linda Vester today, said the following:

It’s obvious that DCF can’t control the people that it’s charged with controlling, but it is following the statute which says that it can not consent to this procedure. That’s why we have judges to evaluate what the law is and to make a call on it. Look, this is an abortion, it’s not an appendectomy. This is a living being growing within her that has a right to live under Florida law and under normal principles of morality.(emphasis mine)

Good on you Judge Andrew! (btw – this statement drew a lot of applause from the audience).

The President and Polls

Last night, in President Bush’s press conference, he was asked:

Is the poll troubling?

My first thought was, “Yes, if the polls were honest, but since they don’t seem to be, no.”

President Bush’s answer was far better.

Polls? You know, if a President tries to govern based on upon polls, you’re kind of like a dog chasing your tail. I don’t think you can make good, sound decisions based on polls. And I don’t think the American people want a President who relies upon polls and focus groups to make decisions for the American people.

mm-5