Not exactly a stunning decision by the judge but he has ruled that Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner is not competent to stand trial. This will most probably result in his being sent to a mental hospital for a long long time. Although I am generally a law and order kind of guy, this seems a reasonable ruling. The man is clearly deranged and we do not punish people with prison for acts they have no control over.

I don’t think I can possibly add to his eloquence, so let a war hero explain it.

One of the suspects in the brutal beating of Bryan Stow has been taken into custody. One down, one to go. We will give them the rights that they did not accord their victim, but if guilty I hope they spend a long long time in prison.

I’m not sure which is worse, the fact that his statement was somewhat unprofessional or the fact that the statement is about as profound as saying the sky is blue.

When I was young I used to read a series of books called “The People’s Alamanac” and “The Book Of Lists”. Each book offered hundreds, if not thousands of interesting factoids. These books came to mind when I was perusing the shelves at my local library and made a great discovery. Have you ever had a moment where you wondered about the things that are part of our everyday lives ? Why do forks have 4 prongs, why not 5 or 3 ? Why do we say that we ‘make our bed’...

This video is pretty amazing, a fully loaded 747 with no brakes still manages to abort takeoff safely.

Today Queen Elizabeth II becomes the 2nd longest reigning monarch in British history, the only one who served longer was Queen Victoria and given the good health she seems to retain, I would not be surprised if Elizabeth makes that mark too. Some fun facts about the Queen for your reading pleasure.

Ever since word broke of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the fact that he’d been living in full view of a major Pakistani military facility people have wondered how this was possible. The prevailing (and probably true) view is that the Pakistani military and intelligence community has Bin Laden sympathizers that not only ignore him but aided him. Beyond that a larger element of the Pakistani government and society adopted the ‘easier to ignore than risk the outcry from his supporters’...

A collection of cartoons to celebrate the amazing being that is a Mom. Dedicated to all the Moms out there, and most especially to my own.

That is what one writer suggests is happening in Missouri. I’m sure there is a more complex political story here but it does seem odd that Democrats in the state legislature would vote to approve a plan that costs the Democrats a house seat.

The events of the past few days have brought about the difficulties often faced by a President, having to face the decision to send troops into harms way. I reflected on the topic as I was watching an old HBO movie called By Dawn’s Early Light, which presented a couple of interesting hypotheticals. The film is set in the 1980′s and the basic story is that a group of dissident Soviet military officers launch a nuclear missile from Turkey against a target inside the USSR. The Soviets, making...

Former President George W. Bush has declined an invite from President Obama to join him at Ground Zero on Thursday for a ceremony marking the death of Osama Bin Laden. While I am sure some will find a way to use this to attack or make fun of Bush, I consider it a classy decision. I am reminded of a scene in the West Wing where one character says to another “The country is best served by seeing only one President at a time” Good for him.

Just to illustrate what happened Conservatives came into campaign with 143 seats, they will now have 165-168 NDP came into campaign with 36 seats and will end with 105-110 (tripled their ranks) Liberals came into campaign with 77 seats and will end with 25-30 (cut by 2/3rds) and their leader (the potential next PM had the Liberals won) lost. Bloq Quebecois came into campaign with 47 seats and will end with 3-5 (cut by 90%) and their leader lost. So the Liberals and BQ suffered massive loss, the NDP...

Just another Orwellian move by the nut from the North.

Word just coming in that the Navy Seal who killed Bin Laden was named Ralphie…. I’ll be here all week folks….

As several of my colleagues have already reported, Osama Bin Laden is finally dead. There will be plenty of ink (or around here I suppose electrons) will be spilled over the topic in the coming days I’d like to ask for what may be impossible. Don’t turn this into a political thing. We don’t need anyone on the left talking about how Obama did what Bush did not. We don’t need anyone on the right talking about how Obama is faking it or is in on some conspiracy. We found and defeated...

A truly touching story and one which shows just how special those who serve us are and how much they deserve our respect.

Sounds like he took on both sides, which is something I can appreciate.

The planned launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour has been scrubbed for at least 48 hours due to problems with one of the auxiliary power units. This means that Congresswoman Giffords and President Obama, two of the more prominent viewers will have to wait to see Gifford’s husband take the shuttle on it’s last flight (last of the Endeavour that is). NASA tends to be fairly conservative with launches and I have to assume in this case they would be even more so.

Polls in the Canadian elections show the NDP surging to an unexpected 2nd place finish with Conservatives in 1st place, Liberals in 3rd. If true this would likely mean a coalition government with the NDP and Liberals and as leader of the bigger party NDP leader Jack Layton would be in position to become the first NDP Prime Minister. It would also mean a sharp leftward turn for Canada, as the NDP is rather liberal even by Canadian standards. Other projection sites have not accepted the surge is real...

The latest in the Proposition 8 battle is a filing by supporters which argues that the ruling by Judge Walker should be set aside because he is gay and has a partner. The logic being that he could have benefited from the ruling by marrying and thus he should not have ruled, or at least should have disclosed his sexuality and relationship status (both from what I understand were well known to most of the legal community). Now I see this is as a ridiculous argument. By that theory a straight judge...

The next time you feel like calling all Southerners prejudiced maybe you ought to check this story out. What a remarkable series of coincidences….

Just a little historical footnote, it was 30 years ago that we tried, and failed, to rescue the hostages in Iran Video of the President’s statement on the attempt.

This morning I was listening to the Armstrong and Getty show (as I do many mornings) and an interesting topic came up. The hosts had been on vacation for a week and so of course much of the discussion was about what they did on the week off. One of the hosts had gone to Washington DC and was relating his experience touring the various sites. One place that he went was Arlington National Cemetery and he discussed an incident that happened to him while touring the site. As you walk along the grounds...

To those who mark this day as I do, let us rejoice for Christ is Risen !! For those who do not celebrate it as I do, Happy Easter anyway.