whereisjodi.

The first time I gave more than a passing thought to ethanol as an alternative fuel source was when I was driving from Pennsylvania to Idaho last summer. I drove for four days, and it seemed to me a good portion of the time I was driving through corn fields with signs posted every so often identifying them as destined for ethanol production. That was right in the middle of the China food and toy scare, and almost as an aside I found myself wondering why we were growing all this corn that we wouldn't be eating. Why not have the Chinese grow the ethanol corn and have us grow our own food so we wouldn't have to check the labels on everything we eat?

Somewhere in the middle of my four day spree I filled up my motorhome with 10% ethanol fuel...not too much later I vapor-locked because of that self-same ethanol and lost an hour of travel time waiting for the engine to cool down.

Needless to say I was unimpressed with ethanol.

Continue reading "Ethanol Arrogance." »

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I'm pretty sure I haven't watched a full episode of Oprah since I was living in Scotland ten years ago teaching English to 25 Korean and Chinese adults. I'd been teaching in Seoul, but the Korean organization I worked for thought it'd be a good idea to take us to Scotland for English immersion.

Aberdeen is home to the thickest accent in Scotland so my teaching partner and I were really relieved to find the church we chose had a visiting Brit as interim pastor. We had difficulty understanding the announcements and singing, but at least we heard the sermon...so you can perhaps imagine how well our students did with their immersion experience. But I digress.

It was a fairly stressful episode in my life, and one thing my teaching partner and I did was institute routine whenever we weren't working. We got home to our flat around four, completely exhausted from the day's efforts, and flipped on Oprah. After that hour I'd drag myself off the couch to make dinner while she watched Star Trek, then she'd clean while we watched another American show I can't quite remember.

Continue reading "Oprah Does Her Best to Legitimize Polygamy." »

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The pithy worldnetdaily headline is worth a laugh by itself: "Bill Clinton: I have a dream, literally."

Poor President Clinton <former, not hopeful> has been campaigning too hard. He apparently fell asleep today during an MLK service. My favorite scene is around :41 where his head falls off his hand and he quickly nods like the speaker's made a great point. At the end he checks his watch, which is also snort-worthy. I understand he's been working hard and I'm all for giving a guy a break -- but you'd think sitting right behind the speaker when you know you're on camera would make you a little more circumspect.

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That's my new name for Simi Valley. I almost got blown off the road coming back to my lovely home. Three more nights in the hotel and I'll be on my way back to my real home. I'm hopeful that the snow hasn't passed me by -- I've got an invitation to try out snow-shoeing if enough snow piles up before spring showers.

Someone I find mostly entertaining and sometimes off-her-rocker-and-overboard is Ann Coulter. I see tonight that she's given her endorsement to Mitt Romney. I hope that carries at least as much weight as a snippet of news I saw last week when Will Smith endorsed Obama at a press conference for his new movie...

Read about a sweet contest I'd seriously consider entering if I had school-aged children. It's a video/essay contest called "The Sky's Not Falling" and it's designed to "highlight the absurdities, untruths and downright lies that children are being taught daily about 'climate change' in public school."

Reminds me of a silly story I saw on the news a couple months ago about the top "stressers" for young children. They put global warming as number one and showed some poor kid explaining what he'd learned in school -- something along the lines of "we're melting all the ice and killing all the animals." No wonder kids are stressed out! Click here for more details about the contest and to learn the meaning of Globaloney.

And finally, the ACLU is at it again. Now they're claiming folks who engage in sexual activity in a public restroom "have an expectation of privacy." Unreal.

Posted by authorjodi at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

QuickLink:

A German family has completed its flight to Great Britain after the mayor of their hometown filed a court action to give custody of the children to the state because the parents have been homeschooling...

Read more.

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I'm cackling as I sit in a hotel room in California watching the new version of American Gladiator. I remember watching the show as a child...and it's as campy now as my memories of it. And my oh my, they just showed a commercial for a remake of Knight Rider. Hopefully it'll be better than the disaster they made of my childhood fave: Bionic Woman...

Anyway. :p My old company called again so I flew down today for two weeks of consulting. Last year at this time I was living in my motorhome, so I guess living out of a hotel is sort of similar. There were two inches of fresh snow on the ground when I left Boise and I arrived to a deluge. Hopefully it'll stop raining long enough for me to enjoy a little sunshine.

On a much more serious note -- here's an interesting article you might want to read. It discusses a Canadian city considering some new guidelines for churches, including these doozies:

• A limit allowing only one "place of worship" for every 10,000 residents.
• Ban religious meetings in homes if they involve more than 20 people, children included.

Posted by authorjodi at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh now I really want to vote for this guy! :p <via WorldNetDaily>

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A friend forwarded this link. If you've got two minutes, it's a wonderful watch --- not just in the arena of Presidential politics, but for standing up for what you believe in a winsome, non-combative, but still firm way:

Posted by authorjodi at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to the diligent efforts of my friend Stacy over at Active Christian Media, I've just about settled on Mike Huckabee as my candidate of choice. I like everything I've heard and read about him so far -- I think I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were, the skeleton just about to come out <one thousand times bitten, one thousand and one times shy>. That, and the fact that I'm appalled to have to choose a candidate so stinking early!

That said, I've spent a couple hours over the past few weeks reading up on Mr. Huckabee and watching different speeches he's made. Last night I watched his interview with Charlie Rose on PBS and found myself a little bit tickled that Mr. 2nd-Tier GOP Candidate <according to the MSM> was the first in Rose's candidate series. 

Two things I enjoyed: his anecdote about how it's not much different going from Baptist Church politics into national politics -- because you can't find a more politically charged environment than a Baptist Church. I'm sure that's an old joke, but it was the first time I heard it and I laughed.

Second, I appreciated what he had to say about candidates who have no idea how a normal person lives. He got through college in just over two years because he couldn't afford to dilly dally, pastored for a number of years, sent his kids to public school, lost 100 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes -- all fairly normal pursuits.  

Shoot, I know I said two things, but now that I think of it there was one more that nearly caused me to stand up and cheer even though it was midnight and the folks were asleep -- he advocates the fair tax. He actually said the words "I'd abolish the IRS." Poor Charlie Rose looked apoplectic. 

Posted by authorjodi at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Although I do try to resist talking about the Presidential election <or even reading about it myself> so as not to become even sicker of the process than I already am...two recent articles made me snicker. Yesterday the Idaho Statesman had an article entitled "Just how unelectable is Hillary Clinton?" I've searched around and can't find the article online, but seriously, how negative is that headline? It made me laugh a little.

Kind of like the article I read awhile back that discussed why she was laughing more in appearances -- the article suggested it was her image-makers who'd told her she was too cold, so now instead of appearing cold she appears robotic: humorous anecdote coming, lean back head, open mouth and guffaw. How low have we sunk that we have to discuss whether a person is genuinely laughing instead of their political positions?

However, not quite so funny was an article I read this morning that quoted a number of terrorist leaders in Iraq and Palestine who went on record as stating they hoped Hillary won the election because it would further their goals for the region. What a terrible endorsement!

But there I go getting serious when I only wanted to have a little fun. There was one funny part to that last article -- one terrorist said if Hillary followed her husband's foreign policy and stood up to the evil Israelis, she might suffer a conspiracy like he did:

...White House intern Monica Lewinsky really was an Israeli Mossad implant sent to destroy President Clinton's career after he pressured the Jewish state to evacuate territory to the Palestinians.

and the piece de resistance: 

If Hillary goes too much against the Zionist interests, she will face the same conspiracy like her husband who fell into the trap of Lewinsky. I have no doubt [Lewinsky] was planted by the Zionists, who wanted to send a message to all future American presidents – do not go against the Israeli policy. Bill Clinton made the Oslo agreement and promoted peace but the Israelis did not give him a chance.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just kidding. Actually, the study says Prime-Time TV is not gay enough. ABC got graded "good" for having 171 hours, some 15% of their total programming, that was "gay-inclusive." Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters helped bump up the grade, including Betty's casting of the "first series regular transgender on a network comedy."

Other networks didn't come out quite so well which I assume is the whole reason GLAAD released their study. I've got a study I'm considering releasing -- about how every one of the major networks gets a failing grade for their negative <or absent> portrayals of Evangelical Christians. Maybe if I come up with a snappy acronym for my organization I can get some news coverage. How about ECAAD <Evangelical Christian Alliance Against Defamation>? Ok, I know, that's not very creative...

In other news: are your elderly relatives getting too difficult or expensive to take care of? Maybe you should outsource them to India. 

Posted by authorjodi at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A judge in New York has ruled evidence of "hatred" is unnecessary for a prosecutor to pursue a "hate crimes" case against three men arrested for the death of a homosexual man.

Because they allegedly thought "this is an easy way to rob someone," the three men apparently went onto a homosexual website to lure a man into meeting them, whereupon they robbed him. He then ran into the street trying to get away and was struck by a car, later dying from his injuries.

I'm all for throwing the book at these three men -- the book for premeditated murder in New York is 15 years to life and I'm inclined to vote for life. However, because the Big Apple has a Hate Crimes Act, the book ratchets up to 20 years to life.

So let me get this straight. Criminals have been looking for "easy targets" for centuries, but now the punishment for victimizing certain individuals is significantly higher. Those three men could have logged onto a knitting website and lured a little old granny out of her apartment, robbed and murdered her, and her life would be less valuable in the eyes of the law when looking at sentencing.

Continue reading "No 'Hate' Required in Hate Crime." »

Posted by authorjodi at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Blogging is very intense -- physically, mentally," she said. "You're constantly scanning for news. You're constantly trying to come up with information that you think will mobilize your readers. In the meantime, you're sitting at a computer and your *** is getting wider and your arm and neck and shoulder are wearing out because you're constantly using a mouse."

I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud when I read this story of bloggers trying to form a union. I'm not generally a fan of unions anyway, but one for nerds who sit in their closet or basement <or RV> writing in their freetime? Get real!

Not coming as a complete shock, the article says this movement is headed by a "loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers." I imagine most right-leaning bloggers, such as myself, are too busy trying to figure out how to get more readers so they can attract more advertising dollars so they can buy gas for their motorhome... ;)

Posted by authorjodi at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A new movie coming out has some folks up in arms. Adam Sandler and Kevin James play single fireman who pretend to be gay so they can get 'married' and qualify for partnership benefits. WorldNetDaily blasted the movie as anti-Christian, pro-homosexual propoganda here. You can decide for yourself by watching the trailer below -- one viewing was about all I needed.

In fact, the trailer reminded me of a phrase oft-quoted in the pro-homosexual movement: Ghandi's path for victory. I think it went something like first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

The most thought-provoking part of the article, in my opinion, was a 1772-era quote by John Adams:

"We see every day that our imaginations are so strong and our reason so weak ... the belief of future punishments so faint that men find ways to believe any absurdity … their reason becomes at last an eloquent advocate on the side of their passions, and they bring themselves to believe that black is white, that vice is virtue, that folly is wisdom, and eternity a moment. ... I dread the consequences."

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Why am I so put-out by Ted Kennedy's attachment of Hate Crimes legislation to a defense spending bill? Because in every other country where hate crimes legislation has been installed, religious liberties have taken a hit.

England has enacted several anti-discrimination laws, including the Sexual Discrimination Act of, I believe, 2003 that states "Equality rules bar bias against workers on grounds of sexual orientation." However, there was to be a religious exemption allowing churches "to turn down gay candidates for clerical posts."

Continue reading "Hate Crimes, Gay Pride Month & Persecution in Iraq." »

Posted by authorjodi at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm steering Bertha toward South Carolina today, but as there is one whale of a storm going on I decided to pull off at a rest area and do a little work. Of course, in the midst of sending follow-up e-mails to the contacts I made last week, I also found it necessary to read a little news and see what's up. ;)

Since I mentioned the Mickey Mouse-like character in this morning's post, this article caught my attention as I scrolled through worldnetdaily. It seems the poor fellow was recently 'martyred' by an Israeli 'terrorist' and 'killer of children.' Luckily his cousin Nahool, a bee, has come to town to continue to teach Palestinian children "the path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of Jihad warriors."

I know international politics, especially Middle East politics, are a tangled, tangled web -- but it just blows my mind that we haven't yet figured out a way to tell these people they're not getting one more red cent from us in aid until they yank this kind of death-worship indoctrination of their children.

I hear over and over lately how fundamentalist Islam and fundamentalist Christianity are the same, how they're both equally threatening to civilized, respectful and tolerant humanity -- but when was the last time <or ever> that you've heard of something similar being taught in Vacation Bible School?

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Read an interesting commentary on that Montgomery County sex-ed curriculum I wrote about a couple weeks ago. My favorite quote:

Those in eight grade, for example, may be asked to ponder their "gender identity." Is this the same thing as your actual gender, which should be, ummm, obvious by this time? No. Students are told that it's "your identification of yourself as a man or a woman, based on the gender you feel to be inside." You could be a boy trapped in a girl's body, or vice versa – or something in between, it seems. Since when did knowing one's gender get so … difficult? My goodness, isn't there enough out there to confuse our children without asking them to question whether they are really a boy or truly a girl? Have we gone mad?

You can read the whole column here. 

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How many times has a school district refused to allow a Christian club to meet on campus, or a student-requested, student-led prayer at graduation, or even a kindergartner to pray quietly over her morning snack? The issue is more and more often resolved, but only after someone like the Thomas More Law Center marches in and threatens a lawsuit to bring the district in line with prevailing legal precedent.

On the flip-side, how many times has the ACLU come to the rescue of some poor kid forced to sit through one minute of silence so other students could say a silent prayer if they so desired? 

Students at Carver Elementary public school are having the option to "read or write" during a 15-minute "non-instructional" time, created for the express purpose of allowing Muslim students to say their prayers. Can you imagine a public school taking even five minutes out of the day for a non-instructional prayer time, say before lunch, for students who wanted to pray before they ate? Oh my word! The ACLU could not get there fast enough. But maybe they don't have an office in San Diego...

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I always hate to even bring up the subject of Hillary Clinton, but her wildly hypocritical response to the President's pardoning of Scooter Libby is just too funny to let pass:

"This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

I'd say she needs reminding of the cronyism and ideology of her husband's administration...or a list of the crooks her husband found a <financial> reason to pardon in the last minutes of his Presidency...but I don't think it would do any good.

I chuckled several times reading some of the political responses, but I think my favorite comes from former VP-, current P-hopeful John Edwards:

"Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today." - former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.

Most of the time I fall into the sick-and-tired category when it comes to politicking, but I enjoyed today's stand-up-comedy-worthy soundbites.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland has made a breakthrough of earth-shattering magnitude. Somehow they've proven what hundreds of scientists and millions of dollars have, to date, been unable to confirm: homosexuality is present at birth and is unchangeable.

Oh wait. I guess there's different definitions of "prove." In this case, they've just decided the above fact is true and have instituted it into their curriculum.

Unit 8:2 of the new 8th grade textbook includes a definition of innate from the 2006 edition of the Merriam Webster's Dictionary as meaning "determined by factors present in an individual from birth." The curriculum then instructs teachers to "Say to students, 'Sexual orientation is innate and a complex part of one's personality."

I have a question for you. Suppose a Board of Education decided to institute a curriculum that threw the theory of evolution out the window and only taught creationism. I wonder if they'd get away with it? Or, sticking with the sex ed theme, suppose they decided to teach abstinence as the best and only way to prevent teen pregnancy, STD's and etc. Oops -- that one's actually empirically provable as true.

Homosexuality is not the same as math, it's a controversial issue with vehement feelings on both sides. Exposing children to curriculum that includes homosexuality is bad enough, but teaching them unproven theory as fact is unconscionable. (Thanks to Hal for mentioning the article)

Posted by authorjodi at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bertha will soon be back to her old self, guzzling large quantities of gas as she takes me down the road tomorrow. With that in mind, I just read an article whose headline caught my eye: "Top Gas Gouger? The Government!" Whaddya know, but that the government takes a larger cut than the oil companies. When gas is $3 at the pump, most companies profit about 10 cents a gallon, while the government pockets a national average of almost 46 cents.

Anybody remember Ms. Clinton's infamous speech wherein she stated about oil company profits: "I want to take those profits and..." blah blah, make better use of them blah blah. Personally, I'd like to get my hands on the record profits the government is "earning" and put them to better use.

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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is piloting a program that pays poor people for 'making good choices' such as going to the dentist, holding down a job, attending parent-teacher conferences, and etc. He's managed to raise more than $43 million in private donations for his pet project, scheduled to begin this fall.

An opponent of the bill was quoted as saying:

"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts."

Continue reading "Cash for Good Behavior." »

Posted by authorjodi at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't stand the fact that Presidential candidates are already vying -- it seems like campaigning never stops and since I'm no fan of that lie-laden endeavor it gets wearisome. However, I did read one story this morning that I found really interesting. Apparently undeclared candidates Al Gore and Fred Thompson are the new dream matchup. A recent poll put Fred one point ahead of Giuliani, who's been the front-runner...and poor old Hillary's negative numbers are reaching 50%. If I were Al Gore, I'd make sure I had Secret Service protection before I announced anything...but that's just me. ;)

What I find most interesting about this is that no single candidate on either side has managed to capture the hearts of their party. Most of them are incredibly astute, skilled in the political game <slide sideways, then duck> and have spent millions of dollars in their efforts to prove they should get the job. They speak in soundbites, morph in their positions like speedy chameleons, and have huge staffs advising them on what America is looking for. But again, not a single one is getting the job done. I dream a little dream that this is because America is looking for integrity and honest leadership instead of good hair and slick soundbites...but maybe that's just a pipe dream. 

Posted by authorjodi at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Unbelievable. In the wake of the failure of the amnesty bill, you'd think local politicians might take a breath before making any statements on illegal immigration. Sadly no. A village in New York has reached a "tentative agreement prohibiting police from routinely asking workers' immigration status or otherwise discriminating against them." This after ILLEGAL day laborers sued because the village closed a site where the illegals hung out waiting for jobs. Apparently this travesty resulted in "forcing the workers onto the streets."

First, I disagree with their argument that closing an illegal site is wrong. That'd be like suing because a bank hired a security guard...thereby forcing the robber to hold up the next bank down the line. Second, how is asking someone their immigration status discrimination? Again with the bank robber metaphor: if a policeman walked into a bank and saw someone standing there with a gun and a sack of money...would it be discrimination to ask that person if they were a robber? In fact, the policeman might not even ask, he might just assume and make an arrest.

Some might say it's not an apt metaphor, but an individual standing in a place where ILLEGAL immigrants are known to congregate while looking for work is in danger of guilt by association. An ILLEGAL standing there looking for work IS breaking the law, so a policeman's ability to ascertain their status is a necessity.

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In anticipation of a vote this week on the Amnesty Bill -- excuse me -- Comprehensive Immigration-Reform Bill, Grassfire.org has launched a tv and internet ad campaign. I find their ad completely hysterical. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you take five minutes to call the number at the end to report your concerns.

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When I lived in Southern California there was a furor raised over Spanish-language channel Unavision broadcasting tips for illegal immigrants who wanted access to free healthcare and other government services generally reserved for legal citizens. The Mexican Consulate is working hard at the same game.

Not satisfied with issuing consular id's sometimes mistaken for US driver's licenses that allow illegals to "establish credit and apply for government services," the consulate is now straightforwardly teaching illegals how to get free healthcare.

Continue reading "Free Healthcare for Illegals." »

Posted by authorjodi at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was just reading an article about Senator turned actor turned possible Presidential candidate Fred Thompson. Speaking about why he left politics for acting, he said:

"After eight years in Washington, I long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. That's no joke, my friends."

I know it's completely irresponsible to vote for someone on the basis of a single quote, but Mr. Thompson just leaped above several other hopefuls in my book. ;)

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What I wrote last night about leaving LA too soon -- I take that back. According to worldnetdaily, today the California Senate passed SB 777 which redefines sex from it's current definition:

"Sex means the biological condition or quality of being a male or female human being."

...to a new, more tolerant gender-based definition:

"A person's gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth."

In other words, if a boy feels like he's really a girl at heart, he should be allowed to use the girl's bathroom, go into the girl's locker room and be elected prom queen. 

Continue reading "SB 777." »

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Once again, the tolerance police have decreed that we should be tolerant of everyone except those who express a belief in Biblical truths. In opposition to their school's participation in the National Day of Silence, 100+ students at San Juan High School in California wore t-shirts with "Biblical quotations against sodomy and homosexuality." One t-shirt proclaimed "Don't touch God's rainbow."

Now you may or may not agree with student activism -- peaceful or otherwise -- in public high schools. Honestly, I'm not certain myself where I stand on that issue. However, let me tell you a little bit about what these students were protesting when they decided to put on those t-shirts.

Continue reading "Tolerance Schmolerance." »

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"I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately."

So says Joel Becker, associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA. Why?

"Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway...I want to encourage you to all have healthy, sexual behavior."

If this was Joel Becker's psychology class at UCLA, that'd be one thing, but he made these remarks to a Boulder High School assembly that students were required to attend. Interestingly enough, when a mother went before a school review to complain, as she read excerpts from Becker's presentation she was asked to stop "because the language was inappropriate." Inappropriate for an adult review board, but not inappropriate for teens as young as 14?

My favorite quote: "Teenage abstinence was dismissed as an unwise choice and indicative of religious hang-ups."

The final quote is so bad I'm going to put it on the next page so you have the opportunity to skip it if you want. However, instead of keeping our collective heads in the sand, I think we need to be aware of what's going on out there.

Continue reading "Public School Strikes Again." »

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Well I'll be a horn-swaggled magpie! Ok, so I've been in the South too long... ;)

But seriously, I'm impressed with something a Frenchman said and that hasn't happened in as long as I can remember. Brice Hortefeux, head of the newly created Ministry of Immigration and National Identity, has made a statement regarding illegal immigrants that our politicians would do well to pay attention to:

"We have to put aside massive legalization. It doesn't work and it penalizes, even immigrants."

Newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy created the Ministry "to manage the inflow of immigrants and protect French values and cohesion." I'm glad to see someone's taking action -- from the toleration of the riots over the past couple years I'd begun to wonder whether the French had any values and cohesion left.

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I've never been a believer in global warming caused by man. The issue seemed to me too politicized, the science too debatable, to blame everything solely and completely on our piddly little influence. My opinions became more entrenched when I read of the measures believers were willing to go to to reverse this so-called man-made rush to destroy the planet. Measures like keeping third-world countries in their natural state of poverty and despair, rather than letting them better their lives with industrialization. Measures like setting our own standard of living back hundreds of years.

Continue reading "Global Warming." »

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"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

Has there ever been an ex-President as critical and irresponsible with their remarks as Jimmy Carter? Does he not understand the adverse impact on the nation around the world that his continually critical and highly inflammatory statements have made? What if we'd listened to his opinion on Reagan's handling of the Cold War? We'd still be sitting in a world where all nuclear weapons pointed at us or them. I won't even get into his deluded opinions about why Israel should leave the front door unlocked so the suicide bombers won't have any trouble getting in.

That the man won a Nobel Peace Prize has mystified me almost as much as Yasar Arafat being awarded the same. That he shares my faith tradition is even harder for me to understand. And the final straw, that he made this statement while promoting his most recent product -- Bible studies.

U