Reading assignments for mid-term exams:

Please -- I'm begging you -- here are three reading assignments you just have to pay attention to. I'll provide the links!! Failure to read all three gives you a zero in your class work today in the VRWC Institute for Insensitivity Training, as required for graduation.

First: Perhaps you don't really understand what this whole Valerie Plame thing is about. Was she a covert CIA agent. No. Why was Joseph Wilson sent to Africa to search out the truth about Saddam's search for uranium? You might be surprised. Why did Judith Miller sit in the clink for 85 days? What story didn't she write? Cliff Kincaid writes on "The Untold Story: Joseph Wilson, Judith Miller and the CIA."

Second: I'm amazed every time I read a column by Victor Davis Hanson. This column, "2,000 Dead, In Context" is excellent. Hanson compares the statistics with many of America's other wars, and points out that presidents always take the blame, even when the conflict is unavoidable. I especially urge those of you who are steadfastly opposed to the action in Iraq to read this, as well as those of you who are just flat-out tired of the conflict.

Finally: This may be one of Peggy Noonan's best columns yet, and that's saying something since they are generally excellent. The subtitle for this one is "America is in trouble -- and our elites are merely resigned." When you read this column you will find that Peggy has put in writing some of the very feelings that have been flooding your thoughts for some time now. Face it, America has outlived its life expectancy. Alexander Tyler warned us that no country can survive once its citizens learn that they can use the ballot box to take the property of others.

God Bless,
Dan'L

How Big IS a Weapon of Mass Destruction????

For those of you you are under the misconception that a weapon must be massive in size to be considered a weapon of mass destruction, think long and hard then have a talk with the Kurds of Northern Iraq or the Shiites in the Southeastern region of Iraq or what is left of them after Saddam had them slaughtered by the thousands by employing sarin gas as their weapon of choice. If he'd use it on his own citizens, then he'd be capable of using it on his neighbors as he did with Iran.

The attached photo shows how small this weapon of mass destruction can be. It wouldn't be hard at all to hid it from U.N. inspectors. Just put it in the trunk of a taxi and drive it around town while the inspectors are visiting. It is THAT simple. Now, . . . how hard would it be to smuggle the same substance in to the good ol' U.S. of A. considering all the drugs that come over our boarders every day.

This discovery was made in the town of Fallugah, Saddam's old tromping grounds and also one of two known locations where Saddam upper crust security forces assisted in training non other than Bin Laden's very own al-Qaeda . Of course we will never be an informed public when the likes of a main stream media spoon feeding us only what they want us to know.

You left wing-nuts can hate Bush all you want, but if you think for one moment this ugliness popped up its head after Bush took the oath of office, you really need to think twice. Or, . . . just remain in denial, the rest of the world doesn't much care.

The complacency of you neo-Nevilleites is the real danger facing the security of this nation.

All the politically correct social engineering in the world will not change the evil intent of the muslim extremists who have only one mission in life and it isn't a life of peace and tranquility for all of God's creation . . . .

May God Bless,
Dan'L

Fleeing suspect killed in Council Bluffs; two officers injured

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA - Sometimes, when you're a cop, you just never know what the day's gonna bring your way. Council Bluffs Police Officers Jack Price and Greg Schultz got the short end of the stick, when the reported for duty on Tuesday. Along with Officer Mark Stuart, they were in the right place at the right time, when Officer Terry Cozad recognized the man he saw walking down the street as being wanted.

Cozad yelled for a waste of protoplasm, he knew was named John R. Bothwell to stop. Cozad knew that misdemeanor warrants had been issued for the arrest of Bothwell, 33, of Council Bluffs.

But Bothwell took the opportunity to do what he's always done -- to run - a very personal decision that may have been successful in the past, but this time would leave two Council Bluffs police officers injured and Bothwell, himself, a very deserving lump of protoplasm soon attaining ambient temperature.

Cozad got out of his car, called for backup on his radio and began chasing Bothwell on foot. The chase started shortly before 10:55 a.m. just north of Mynster Street, near North Seventh Street. The area is just a couple hundred feet north of one of the city's busiest intersections, that of Seventh and Kanesville.

Bothwell was wanted on suspicion of driving while barred and eluding police, according to Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber, who came to the scene as a precaution against any outside efforts to report the crime in any but a truthful light, and to see the evidence, first hand.

Bothwell ran, as fast as his legs would carry him, in a southwesterly direction, and into the enclosed bay of the area's only drive-through liquor store, Brewski's Beverage, 726 Creek Top St. He apparently intended to escape at any cost, to include car-jacking any vehicle he could find running and available, . . . occupants notwithstanding.

Three officers in patrol cars responded immediately to Cozad's call for backup. Those officers were Jack Price, Greg Schultz and Mark Stuart, who all happened to be close enough to be on the scene within seconds.

At about the time the officers arrived, Wilber said, Bothwell was in the process of forcing his way into a white car in a drive-through bay. The officers were able to get the female driver out of the vehicle and move her away from the car, Wilber said. Wilber said the woman was not injured.

A neighbor said police first used pepper spray on Bothwell. Then, when the woman was out of her car, officers used a Taser to try to subdue Bothwell. The neighbor said he heard Bothwell scream after being hit by the Taser.

But that didn't stop this fine, not-so-upstanding citizen named Bothwell.

He intentionally backed the car into Price, pinning him against a beverage cooler inside the bay.

Price suffered a broken leg and numerous other injuries from being pinned and dragged by the high-jacked white car, said Bluffs Police Chief Keith Mehlin. Schultz hurt his arm, possibly from wrestling with Bothwell while he was still in the car, Wilber said.

A police cruiser blocked Bothwell's path out of the bay, so Bothwell swerved into the other bay.
As Bothwell headed out of the open bay, an officer who was standing near the divider shot twice into the car, the neighbor said. That officer was standing near the front of the car on the passenger side.

Wilber would not say how many shots were fired or who fired the shots.

Witnesses said that after Bothwell was shot, he drove the car across Mynster Street and over a sidewalk on the street's north side. The car hit the front porch of a house and came to a stop.
Police pulled Bothwell from the car, and he was declared dead at the scene.

Wilber said Bothwell was not carrying a gun.

Authorities from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation later checked all of the officers' service weapons and collected two of them, Wilber said. That's routine, he said, so that ballistics checks can be run on the weapons.

Price was in fair condition Tuesday at the Nebraska Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Schultz was treated at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs and released.

The state criminal investigators will handle the investigation, Wilber said. The Iowa state medical examiner will perform an autopsy on Bothwell's body this morning in Ankeny, Iowa, he said.

All of the officers involved in the incident will have today off. Chief Mehlin said he will decide later in the week whether any administrative action needs to be taken.

Wilber said that based on preliminary information, he does not think any of the officers did anything wrong.

"The officers should be commended for their actions," Wilber said.

Bothwell, who had an extensive criminal record, had been released in August from a Nebraska prison after serving a one-year sentence for third-degree arson.

The most recent shooting death involving Bluffs officers had been in December 2004, when the department's tactical team raided the home of a Mills County man. The man, Brett Pace, was wanted on a warrant. During the raid, a Bluffs officer shot Pace twice in the chest.

Iowa law, unlike Nebraska's, does not require a grand jury investigation of deaths involving police.

Yes, sometimes when you're a cop, things just happen to go a certain way. Thank God for saving the lives of these fine, experienced, dedicated police officers, and now Council Bluffs will be a safer place for the regular citizenry, after the righteously justified elimination of another lump of human garbage.

God Bless,
Dan'L

Nagin Defends Use of 'Phantom Police'

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, lashed back at critics after the FBI discovered that up to 700 so-called members of the city police force simply did not exist. Funding for many of these officers was provided by the federal government.

"During the storm and aftermath we'd heard reports that hundreds of New Orleans police officers had deserted their post," said an FBI spokesman."

Further investigation indicates that these posts had never been manned and the funds supposedly paid in wages has disappeared."

"Sure, we overstated the number of officers on the force,"said Nagin. "We did this to deter crime." As Nagin explained it, the "phantom officers" were used as a decoy to "frighten" would-be offenders.

"Just as George Washington lit fake campfires to lull the British troops before his surprise attack at Princeton, we in New Orleans have employed a similar strategy." The effectiveness of Nagin's alleged strategy is in doubt, though.

New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates per capita in the nation.

As for what happened to the funds that were supposed to have paid police salaries, Nagin asserted that they were used to hire consultants and purchase computer software needed to sustain New Orleans' "Virtual Police Force."

"The software had to be custom made," said Nagin. "It's not something you can buy at CompUSA. Software designers don't come cheap. Neither do the public relations experts who developed our media campaign."

The media campaign featured TV spots of various street people implying that they could be undercover cops. In one ad, an apparently toothless derelict looks into the camera and says, "I be watchin' you. So don't you go misbehavin'."

Unimpressed by Nagin's explanation, the FBI asserted it will continue its investigation.

And they want us to give them $40 Billion, no strings attached and no oversight, to rebuild New Orleans! Give Me A Break!!! The citizens of Louisiana need to wake up and smell the coffee, and get aboard the train headed for fiscal responsibility before all those taxpayers in all those red states do; because the tax dollars won’t be there, if they don’t.

God Bless,
Dan'L

Civil Rights Icon Dies at 92

As you may, or may not, know, Rosa Parks passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

What nearly all of us today don't understand is the tremendous courage this gentle lady showed 50 years ago when she refused to give up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

We would be well served to spend more time honoring people like Rosa Parks rather then hanging on every word of crass opportunists like Barak O'Bama, Louis Farakan, Al Sharpton, Harry Belefonte, and the biggest loser of all, . . . the (self-)Righeous Reverend Jesse Jackson -- none of whom could carry Rosa's dirty laundry, in reality.

Godspeed Rosa.

God Bless,
Dan'L

Let's all feel sorry for the Evacuees from NOLA

Yesterday's edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constipation featured a story entitled "Fear of Eviction: Evacuees worry aid will run out."

The story featured one Rolanda Cain, her one-year-old baby and her "boyfriend." Rolanda has been living in a motel on Fulton Industrial Blvd. in Atlanta since she left New Orleans. The article says that the federal government has been paying the hotel bill. Not so. It's the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for Rolanda and her boyfriend. The federal government merely seizes the money and passes it on.

Rolanda is worried about being evicted from the motel. She says "We have a place to stay. We have food. The only worry is how long it will last."

Say what? Rolanda's "only worry" is how long the handouts are going to last? Maybe it's just me, but if I were in her place I might be worried about, say, getting a job! Rolanda says that this is all very frustrating. "With no answers, you don't know which way to go." Well, Rolanda is quite the little self-starter, isn't she?

Apparently she's sitting around waiting for "answers," instead of spending time on the phone or hitting the streets looking for some work. I wonder if she's even gone so far as to ask the manager of the hotel where she's living at taxpayer expense if he might hire her as a housekeeper?? And her boyfriend?? Is he out there looking for a job while Rolanda stays at home with the kid? The article says nothing. For all we know he may also be just sitting around waiting for "answers."

Well .. the answers don't seem to be coming, and Rolanda says that she's fed up with the FEMA program. Oh my! Rolanda's fed up! Someone alert the media! Oh, wait. Someone did, . . . and the AJC is really pouring it on thick here.

The article does point out that Rolanda has spent hours in the motel's computer room searching for other housing. Other housing paid for by taxpayers. Question: If Rolanda is so hot with the computer, why isn't she spending some time looking for jobs! Don't tell me there isn't a Waffle House or fast-food restaurant somewhere on Fulton Industrial Blvd. that Rolanda could walk to to earn a few bucks. Her hard-working boyfriend could look after the child.

Oh, . . . and about that child. The article doesn't seem to mention where Rolanda's baby-daddy is. He's probably out there searching for Rolanda so he can catch his child support payments up.

At the end of the article the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a list of "What's available for evacuees."

The list contained the federal disaster assistance programs that were available to evacuees. Among them were cash grants, free hotel stays, expedited housing assistance, low-interest loans, grants for medical care and other goodies. Nowhere in the list did you see any mention of jobs programs or training.

God Bless,
Dan'L

"I Will Eat ALL Your Dollars"

The cyber scammers in Africa, and now the Middle East who trawl for victims on the Internet, consider Americans as easy targets. But one scammer had second thoughts.

FESTAC, Nigeria — As patient as fishermen, the young men toil day and night, trawling for replies to the e-mails they shoot to strangers half a world away.Most recipients hit delete, delete, delete, delete without ever opening the messages that urge them to claim the untold riches of a long-lost deceased second cousin, and the messages that offer millions of dollars to help smuggle loot stolen by a corrupt Nigerian official into a U.S. account.

But the few who actually reply make this a tempting and lucrative business for the boys of Festac, a neighborhood of Lagos at the center of the cyber-scam universe. The targets are called maghas — scammer slang from a Yoruba word meaning fool, and refers to gullible white people.Samuel is 19, handsome, bright, well-dressed and ambitious. He has a special flair for computers. Until he quit the game last year, he was one of Festac's best-known cyber-scam champions.

Like nearly everyone here, he is desperate to escape the run-down, teeming streets, the grimy buildings, the broken refrigerators stacked outside, the strings of wet washing. It's the kind of place where plainclothes police prowl the streets extorting bribes, where mobs burn thieves to death for stealing a cellphone, and where some people paint, "This House Is Not For Sale" in big letters on their homes, in case someone posing as the owner tries to put it on the market.

It is where places like the Net Express cyber cafe thrive.

The atmosphere of silent concentration inside the cafe is absolute, strangely reminiscent of a university library before exams. Except, that is, for the odd guffaw or cheer. The doors are locked from 10:30 p.m. until 7 a.m., so the cyber thieves can work in peace without fear of armed intruders.

In this sanctum, Samuel says, he extracted thousands of American e-mail addresses, sent off thousands of fraudulent letters, and waited for replies. He thinks disclosure of his surname could endanger his safety.

The e-mail scammers here prefer hitting Americans, whom they see as rich and easy to fool. They rationalize the crime by telling themselves there are no real victims: Maghas are avaricious and complicit.

To them, the scams, called 419 after the Nigerian statute against fraud, are a game.

Their anthem, "I Go Chop Your Dollars," hugely popular in Lagos, hit the airwaves a few months ago as a CD penned by an artist called Osofia:

"419 is just a game, you are the losers, we are the winners." They also
said, "White people are greedy, I can say they are greedy -- White man, I
will eat ALL your dollars, will take your money and disappear." Followed
by, " 419 is just a game, we are the masters, you are the losers."

"Nobody feels sorry for the victims," Samuel said.Scammers, he said, "have the belief that white men are stupid and greedy. They say the American guy has a good life. There's this belief that for every dollar they lose, the American government will pay them back in some way."

What makes the scams so tempting for the targets is that they promise a tantalizing escape from the mundane disappointments of life. The scams offer fabulous riches or the love of your life, but first the magha has to send a series of escalating fees and payments. In a dating scam, for instance, the fraudsters send pictures taken from modeling websites.

"Is the girl in these pictures really you?? I just can't get over your beauty!!!! I can't believe my luck!!!!!!!" One hapless American wrote recently to a scammer seeking $1,200.

The scammer replied, "Would you send the money this week so I may buy a ticket?"

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In my experience, having investigated only six of these types of cases, over the past seventeen years, but being familiar with many more, Americans who have attended government schools are the best victims. Those with more liberal backgrounds, who inherited their money are at the top of the list of potential victims. That is not to say that these scammers are looking for specifics, but that the shotgun approach they use, sending millions of e-mails, trolling for those people DOES pay off -- otherwise, they would starve to death. They are very successful, thanks to American liberal thought processes. That's a shame. Our government CANNOT protect you from these criminals.

Here we are in 2005, and anyone dumb enough to fall for one of these scams, generally deserves to be defrauded of their funds. I have literally four hundred of these things, stored in my e-mail archives, that I’ve accumulated over the past couple of years. The range widely in the approach, but the idea is that you could get vastly increased wealth, if you’ll just show a little interest in the sender, and his plight.

Essentially, they are offering something for nothing, then using a little bait and switch, and asking for a small investment, just to show your trustworthyness as a co-conspirator, before the transfer the MILLIONS into your account(s). Sure! Morons abound, . . . the Nigerian Scammers, (who have now branched out to many other countries, and include many terrorist organizations), are counting on your government education to carry them through. Wake up, America!! Fix our educational system.

God Bless,
Dan’L