PunditGuy

Yep, I see it. I had one of those ‘inner ear boils’ myself once, but mine didn’t have big black hairs growing out of the center like yours.

Via The Plain Dealer:

Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich says he is surprised by the fuss he stirred with his unexpected announcement Tuesday that he wasn’t prepared to vote to confirm John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

“I feel real good,” he said Thursday. “My conscience told me this is what I think I should do.”

Voinovich said he changed his mind for various reasons, including “hearing some things that bothered me” at the committee meeting. He cited complaints about Bolton’s interpersonal relationships that made him question whether Bolton treats people “with dignity and respect.”

The Senator didn’t attend the first three committee meetings (where the allegations against Bolton were debunked). No matter. It’s clear that a few helpful Democrats ‘filled him in’.

Voinovich said he also was disturbed by the outrage on the faces of Democrats on the panel who complained that they weren’t being given a chance to examine allegations about Bolton.

“This was very serious business,” said Voinovich. “These are guys who have been on this committee for a long time.”

Intimidated by the “outrage on the faces of Democrats”; That’s called ‘lacking a spine’, Senator.

Voinovich said he feared that failing to give Democrats a chance to explore their concerns could undermine “a sense of decency” that often has prevailed on the foreign relations panel and “do real damage to the possibility of having a bipartisan foreign policy.”

He felt that Bolton and the Bush administration would be better off if questions about the nomination were resolved by the committee.

The alternative, he said, was a “free-for-all” on the Senate floor.

And? Debate is what the Senate is all about. Warm up the C-SPAN cameras and bring in the announcer – “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!” 

Voinovich, who has periodically infuriated conservatives by straying from the party line, declined to say whether he is being pressured by the White House to support Bolton. And he laughed off a question about whether GOP colleagues are upset with him.

“My colleagues know I’m the same old George,” he said.

No George, I think your colleagues are finding out who you really are.

Voinovich wanted his 15 minutes in the spotlight, his name in the papers and his mug on TV. He got all of that. Now, he’s surprised at the reaction? Gimme a break. Your episode is about to be cancelled sir.

Voinovich now joins club ‘gutless’ alongside Chuck Hagel and Lincoln Chafee.

Via TVNewser:

Tony Snow is returning full-time to host The Tony Snow Show beginning Monday, April 25, 2005, Fox News announced today. Snow took a brief hiatus for cancer treatments. “I’m feeling great — I mean REALLY great — so great that I’m ready to go back on the air full-time, Snow says…

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Hey everybody, it’s Earth Day!! HAPPY EARTH DAY!!! The best thing about holidays is that the kids enjoy them so much. Take this 14 year-old interviewed in Tucson about what his teachers have shared about this joyous celebration:

Aquiles Alvarez, 14, said he worries that people aren’t taking their commitment to the Earth seriously enough. “If people drive a car, it causes pollution. If they use chemicals to clean their houses, they’re causing pollution. If they use a lawn mower or a gas-powered weed eater to clean their yard, they’re causing pollution.”

And how about this sixth grader’s Earth Day arts & crafts project:

“I think maybe we should stop polluting our water and maybe we should stop wasting water,” concluded Ricky Chavez, a sixth-grader at DeGrazia Elementary School who won a first-place prize among middle schoolers for his science project on groundwater contamination. Chavez and his best friend, Travis Windle, poured blue-tinted water and cooking oil into milk jugs filled with sand or gravel to see what would trickle through into the “groundwater.” His project showed 10 times more contamination in the gravel mixture than in the sandy mixture, but he wouldn’t have been willing to drink the end result of either of them.

Evidently, schools are now teaching the two ‘R’s and the two ‘A’s:ReadingwRitingArithmeticActivismWhatever happened to wax paper over leaves and rubbing them with crayons or ‘Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute’? Who are these teachers? No wonder our kids are committing suicide. Can our kids go one day in the public school system without feeling guilty for living in a wealthy nation or having opposable thumbs? Evidently, unlike Administrative Professionals Day next Wednesday (we could keep calling it Secretaries Day, but we changed the name instead of giving them a raise), you can’t just buy the Earth flowers and take her out to Chili’s for lunch and expect her to forget about all the terrible things you’ve done. C’mon, the Earth being a supposed living breathing entity surely knows we all have our stapler throwing moments now and again.No, Earth Day is not a celebration. The first event was observed by twenty million Americans in 1970, most of them students. The event, spearheaded by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson and Harvard University student Denis (rhymes with Dennis) Hayes, involved teach-ins, inspired by the ones used during the Vietnam War, addressing decades of environmental pollution.I suppose we won’t have a Solar System Day until someone thinks we’re destroying it.In essence, isn’t that what we have these ‘Days’ for anyway? To try and get out of the doghouse with our secretaries, sweethearts, mothers, fathers, deities, et al and make ourselves feel better about being the bastards we are?I would normally observe Earth Day, but I’m too spent from Tax Day earlier this month. I sent a nice note but I don’t think it helped. I think they were expecting a check.

An innocent water stain on a cement wall underneath a typical freeway…yet people are bringing their sick and dying loved ones down to touch it in hopes that they’ll be ‘healed’.

So many are searching for something, someone…anything which will give them meaning in their life. They want it so bad that they’ll resort to worshipping a cracked concrete slab marked with salt water.

Via Fox: 16 Breast-Feed in Protest at Public Meeting

A city commission candidate was criticized for breast-feeding her daughter during a public meeting, so 16 other mothers turned up and nursed their children at another gathering as a show of support.

Reportedly there were too many willing protesters and not enough kids to go around, so a few volunteers were found down the street at Billy Joe Bob Jr.’s Burger, Buns and Brew, where happy hour was well underway.

John Kerry, who is keeping the door open to another future run for the presidency, won’t have a chance if he continues to take his foot and stuff it immediately in his mouth.

“I am sick and tired of a bunch of people trying to tell me that God wants a bunch of conservative judges on the court and that’s why we have to change the rules of the United States Senate,” Kerry told a group of Bay State residents who travelled to Capitol Hill…

“I am sick and tired of (them saying) they somehow have a better understanding of Christianity, of the Judeo-Christian ethic, of values,” Kerry added. ‘ ‘We’re talking about values? You show me where in the New Testament Jesus ever talked about the value of having taxes and taking money from poor people to give to the rich people in this country.”

Yep, that’s what he said. Brilliant huh? Can’t wait until Tim Russert pulls this one up the next time Kerry is on Meet The Press talking about why he should be the next president of the United States because he ‘connects’ with people of faith.

Matt Margolis would like Kerry to show him where in the New Testament it says that abortion is a “value” or that support of gay marriage is a “value.” 

Somehow, I don’t think Matt will get an answer from Kerry, or anyone in the Democratic Party.

Sometimes she’s on the money, sometimes she’s not. Today, Peggy’s got too much pixie dust and not enough reality for me.

Via Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer

Google Inc. is experimenting with a new feature that enables the users of its online search engine to see all of their past search requests and results, creating a computer peephole that could prove as embarrassing as it is helpful.

Whenever a user is logged in, Google will provide a detailed look at all their past search activity. The service also includes a “pause” feature that prevents it from being displayed in the index.

Users will be able to pinpoint a search conducted on a particular day, using a calendar that’s displayed on the history page. The service sometimes will point out a past search result related to a new search request.

Google is hoping the service becomes so valuable that people will use its search engine even more frequently than they already do, giving the company more opportunities to display text-based ads that boost its profits.

“We think there is some value in providing people with visibility into their past activity on Google,” said Marissa Mayer, the company’s director of consumer Web products.

But privacy rights expert Pam Dixon is worried the service will make it easier for mischief makers, snoops and perhaps even the government to get their hands on a user’s entire search history.

“It’s really a bad idea,” said Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. “If you need to keep track of your past searches, I recommend using a notebook. It would be a lot more private and a lot less risky.”

So, Google knows how many times you’ve been searching for chicken soup recipes. Whoop-de-doo. Where’s the risk in that?

If you are searching for ways to hack into computers, bust open the TIVO case to pirate movies from HBO, build an atomic bomb or cook crystal meth, then maybe you shouldn’t use Google.

Duh.

Next subject please.