Wackos vs Terrorists

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fight that has to be seen to be believed: the wackos of PETA vs the terrorists of Hamas. The Hamas-run television station ran a video of a man in a bee suit abusing animals. PETA to the rescue. The organization is writing letters.

First of all, do you really think writing letters to a terrorist organization is even remotely likely to accomplish anything.

Second of all, this same television station has been instructing children to martyr themselves and blow people up, but that's okay with PETA. No outrage over instructing kids to commit murder, but harm an animal and they're up in arms.

This is probably the only time I've sided with PETA on anything, because you can't root for evil, but you can root for stupidity.

Imus Should Have Said Money Grubbing

Kia Vaughn is suing Don Imus. As the collective sound of people asking "who" settles down, I'll explain that Kia Vaughn is one of the Rutgers women's basketball team who was referred to as "nappy headed hos" by Don Imus back in April. At the time, I defended Don Imus' right to free speech. Now I say not only does he have the right to free speech, he should have called her stupid and money grubbing.

"This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn," said her attorney, Richard Ancowitz, in an interview with ABC News. How was her reputation damaged when no one knew her name? If she had kept her mouth shut, she would have suffered no damage. Now, people know she is a lawsuit-happy idiot. If her ego is so fragile that a comment that didn't call her by name from a shock jock she didn't know caused her damage, deal with that in therapy, not the courts.

Of course Vaughn isn't the only idiot clogging up the courts. Leroy Greer sent his girlfriend flowers, and is suing 1-800-flowers because they told his wife. Customer service followed up on a sale, and his wife saw the note. If he was stupid enough to cheat on his wife, and give 1-800-flowers his home address, that's not the court's problems.

Judge Roy Pearson has refused to let sleeping dogs lie. This is the moron who sued the dry cleaners for $54 million because they lost his pants. After losing the lawsuit, he stands to lose his job as well. But this wasn't enough for him. He has filed a notice of appeal. And this after the dry cleaners dropped their countersuit so that the whole matter could be closed.

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," Shakespeare, Henry VI.

Congestion Pricing Moves Closer

The U.S. Department of Transportation overwhelming endorsed the plan for congestion pricing in New York City. Not only did Mary E. Peters, the transportation secretary, praise Mayor Bloomberg's plan, but the federal government put its money where its mouth is, ponying up $354 million to help fund the plan.

She said of the plan, "Unlike building new roads, this plan can be implemented quickly and will have almost an immediate impact on traffic. That's something our current approach has failed to deliver. It seems the only thing growing faster than transportation spending -- which has doubled since 1991 -- is traffic congestion along our cities and highways. Mayor Bloomberg is that rare politician willing to take on taboo topics like congestion pricing, because he knows that commuters need solutions that work, not promises that do not."

The department of transportation all but said congestion pricing must be part of the plan if NYC is to receive the money. Ms. Peters made it clear that she believed congestion pricing was an essential element of that plan, saying "it would be difficult for them to meet those performance objectives" if the commission arrives at a plan that is "substantially different" from the mayor's.

The question that remains is will dinosaurs like Sheldon Silver and Walter McCaffrey get out of the way of progress, or will they be run over by it.

Elected To Serve The People

Liberal activists are up in arms over the failure of the Democratic Congress to enact the changes they want. It seems that the elected officials are realizing what the activists refuse to admit. Congressmen and senators are elected to serve all of the people, not just the activists.

Democrats who were elected to Congress on anti-Iraq platforms neglected to remind these activists that Congress doesn't control the military. Activists also fail to realize that this is a country of laws and elected officials need to follow them. An excellent example of this is the impeachment laws. You can't simply impeach a president, there has to be just cause and due process. Impeachment doesn't mean you don't like the president, it means he broke the law.

Activists are great about insisting their will is followed. It's too bad more of them don't have an understanding of how things really work.