My high school biology teacher was never this cool (even though she let me dissect a pregnant cat, it was already dead when it got to me).

Superintendent Alvin Lievsay said a student's parent promised to bring in a raccoon for the exercise, but surprised teacher Jerick Hutchinson by bringing the animal in a live trap. Lievsay said Hutchinson, "who used to work in a slaughter house," took the animal outside to the back of his truck Friday and shot it with the nail gun. Lievsay said no students witnessed the raccoon's death.

"He used the nail gun to, as they say, to dispatch the animal," Lievsay said. "It wasn't like he held a nail gun against the head of a cute little animal in front of the class."

Heh.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:34 AM | Comments (22)
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The Inevitability Express seems to have jumped the tracks thanks to Eliot Spitzer.

From today's Rasmussen poll:

Senator Hillary Clinton’s lead in Iowa has fallen seven points over the past few weeks. This is consistent with the six-point slide measured in New Hampshire.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the Iowa Democratic Caucus for 2008 finds Clinton on top with support from 29% of Likely Caucus Participants. That’s down from 33% in mid-October.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is supported by 25% and Illinois Senator Barack Obama attracts 21% of the Likely Caucus participants. For both men, those figures reflect a three-percentage point gain. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also gained three points and is now at 10% in the poll

The Iowa numbers mirror similar results from last week in New Hampshire following the blowup of the licenses for illegal aliens issue.

This is far from the end of the Clinton campaign but it will be a test for her. In her two ‘campaigns’ for the Senate, she basically traveled around New York and waved to the crowds while waiting for election day to come and go This is the first time she has faced adversity as the candidate on the ballot. How will she handle it?

The last two weeks have been awful from her. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on her at the debate tonight. A good showing probably puts this behind her and at least stops the hemorrhaging. Another ‘yes, no, maybe, I don’t know’ moment and she could be in real trouble.

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:17 AM | Comments (20)
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The Inevitability Express seems to have jumped the tracks thanks to Eliot Spitzer.

From today's Rasmussen poll:

Senator Hillary ClintonÂ’s lead in Iowa has fallen seven points over the past few weeks. This is consistent with the six-point slide measured in New Hampshire.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the Iowa Democratic Caucus for 2008 finds Clinton on top with support from 29% of Likely Caucus Participants. ThatÂ’s down from 33% in mid-October.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is supported by 25% and Illinois Senator Barack Obama attracts 21% of the Likely Caucus participants. For both men, those figures reflect a three-percentage point gain. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also gained three points and is now at 10% in the poll

The Iowa numbers mirror similar results from last week in New Hampshire following the blowup of the licenses for illegal aliens issue.

This is far from the end of the Clinton campaign but it will be a test for her. In her two ‘campaigns’ for the Senate, she basically traveled around New York and waved to the crowds while waiting for election day to come and go This is the first time she has faced adversity as the candidate on the ballot. How will she handle it?

The last two weeks have been awful from her. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on her at the debate tonight. A good showing probably puts this behind her and at least stops the hemorrhaging. Another ‘yes, no, maybe, I don’t know’ moment and she could be in real trouble.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:17 AM | Comments (20)
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Clinton finally settled on a firm no, but Obama is standing by his earlier support for providing licenses for illegal aliens. He's got a great talking point to draw Far Left voters:

"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

Given the widespread opposition to the license plan, I'm fairly certain this issue will sink his campaign, especially if the numbers coming out of Ohio are as common as I suspect.

That's an interesting coincidence, too. On Tuesday Quinnipac finds that Ohio voters oppose 84 - 11 percent issuing driverÂ’s licenses to illegal immigrants, and on Wednesday Clinton is "firmly opposed" to such a plan. It's John Kerry all over again.

Second tier Democratic candidate Chris Dodd agrees:

Later in the day, Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan offered a further critique of Clinton's position on the licenses. "It's flip-flopping cubed. She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it. It's been weeks now, and she still hasn't offered up a serious, principled answer to the question," she said.

Mitt Romney continues to press his advantage on the immigration issue. He's been throwing "amnesty" at McCain and mentioning "sanctuary cities" as often as he can. Today was no different:

"States that provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants act as a magnet for more illegal immigration and frustrate our country's efforts to control the borders. Unlike Senator Clinton, I oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. As president, I will adopt policies that discourage states from turning into sanctuaries."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:13 PM | Comments (21)
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Clinton finally settled on a firm no, but Obama is standing by his earlier support for providing licenses for illegal aliens. He's got a great talking point to draw Far Left voters:

"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

Given the widespread opposition to the license plan, I'm fairly certain this issue will sink his campaign, especially if the numbers coming out of Ohio are as common as I suspect.

That's an interesting coincidence, too. On Tuesday Quinnipac finds that Ohio voters oppose 84 - 11 percent issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, and on Wednesday Clinton is "firmly opposed" to such a plan. It's John Kerry all over again.

Second tier Democratic candidate Chris Dodd agrees:

Later in the day, Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan offered a further critique of Clinton's position on the licenses. "It's flip-flopping cubed. She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it. It's been weeks now, and she still hasn't offered up a serious, principled answer to the question," she said.

Mitt Romney continues to press his advantage on the immigration issue. He's been throwing "amnesty" at McCain and mentioning "sanctuary cities" as often as he can. Today was no different:

"States that provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants act as a magnet for more illegal immigration and frustrate our country's efforts to control the borders. Unlike Senator Clinton, I oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. As president, I will adopt policies that discourage states from turning into sanctuaries."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:13 PM | Comments (20)
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For the past three years, the Seattle School District has sent a letter to teachers and staff, telling them "Thanksgiving can be a difficult time for many native students."

The letter also asks teachers to understand that Thanksgiving is a "time of mourning" for many Indian people and a "reminder of 500 years of betrayal."

Local Native American leaders add that not everyone in their community sees Thanksgiving negatively, but there is still plenty of hurt that can only be healed by a deeper understanding of our history.

"We need to free ourselves so that we can manifest that true love and kindness and compassion that's necessary to heal the wounds," said said Phil Lane, Jr., United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

But in the mean time, how about restoring the ancestral monopoly on slot machines for all of this nation's Casino-American population? That might ease some 500 year old pain.

An image of the original school district letter is here.

H/T Orbusmax

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:22 PM | Comments (61)
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Thanks to Fast Squirrel, who seems to have quit blogging before I even got to read him.

Posted by: Ace at 05:15 PM | Comments (16)
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Meanwhile, a lot of buzz over this Salon takedown of Huckabee by an "alternative" daily writer (read: very left).

I'm less impressed by the ethical slams against him on page 1 (Forget it, Jake, it's Arkansas) than the praise by this lefty writer of Huckabee's quite-liberal record on page 2.

Ironically, I have many good things to say about the governor... He raised taxes for schools, highways and children's health. Inevitably, this expanded government. I say bravo on all counts, though the conservative Club for Growth has delighted in quoting my liberal newspaper when it attacks Huckabee's fiscal record.

He was kind to immigrants and favored state help for college-going children of illegal immigrants. He once even briefly departed from Republican dogma to suggest to a newspaper in libertarian New Hampshire that, while he opposed gay marriage, he was open to civil unions. He's since denied he ever intended such apostasy, but the comment is on tape.

Not exactly a spotless record on these issues, though he has been stalwart on abortion, apparently.

Still, given that we have to choose between several flawed candidates who each depart (or who have departed) substantially from core mainstream conservative thinking, I'm not thinking Huckabee is my guy.

Posted by: Ace at 05:08 PM | Comments (83)
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Intelligence:

n an embarrassing breach of national security, a former metro Detroit woman whose family is suspected of having links to a Lebanese terrorist group got sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA despite being an illegal immigrant, authorities said Tuesday.

Worse, they said, Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, of Vienna, Va., used her position at the FBI to access a classified computer system to find out whether she or her family members -- including fugitive La Shish restaurant chain owner Talal Chahine -- were being investigated for terrorist activities. She also took home classified FBI information.

Prouty accessed the system a second time to find out about a Detroit-based investigation involving Hizballah.

Prouty, who resigned from the CIA last week, pleaded guilty to the charges Tuesday in Detroit.

Although there is no evidence that Prouty was a Hizballah operative, the episode raised questions about how she cleared multiple federal background investigations to acquire U.S. citizenship and land jobs at two of the nation's most sensitive intelligence agencies without someone discovering that she had engaged in marriage fraud to become a citizen.

Partly due to general institutional incompetence and probably partly due to PC attitudes.

And likely due too as Allah says to our woeful lack of Arabic speakers.

It's been six years since 2001. We're still short on Arabic speakers? We could be graduating our third class of a dedicated four-year intensive immersive language training college by now.

Heh: Yes, it's been more than four years since 2001, as I first wrote.

No, no cocktail. I just haven't eaten and I'm a bit goofy from starvation.

Posted by: Ace at 04:54 PM | Comments (19)
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No, not the jihad-sponsoring moon god. The other one.

Much is known about the Big A's desire for an Iphone. Many a tooth has been gnashed and many a tear has been shed (mainly by Allah, I grant you) over his plight.

But, my friend, has the question ever presented itself to you so starkly.

Would you, A-double-lizzle? Would you?

Two-thirds say they'll do it for a year's tuition. And for a few, even an iPod touch will do.

That's what NYU students said they'd take in exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found.

Only 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch.

But 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

Hah. Anything that disenfranchises NYU students is OK in my book. Shall we pass the hat around?

What about you, morons? What would it take to convince you to give up your right to vote? Would you sell out this right for anything at all?

Put me some knowledge in the comments. Let me know what it would take to rid the electoral gene pool of your mutant ballots.

Especially you Paultards. Although I think I know the answer: a date with a real, live girl.

UPDATE: Allah responds! Although, once again, he fails to namecheck me. I'm beginning to develop a complex.

Your exit question- Does Allah snub me out of jealousy or out of insecurity?

Posted by: Jack M. at 04:38 PM | Comments (40)
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