We Owe Ya' IOWA - Leading A War Footing Strategy

Photo Credit: flickr.com

Iowa's state senate does Kansas one better.

Yesterday, Iowa voted to place a strategy to embrace the availability of E85 Ethanol fuel mix (85% Ethanol, 15% petroleum fuel) at the forefront of its fuel consumption agenda. Through aggressive incentives given from the state tax code, Iowa expects to have 25% of all fuel sold be from "renewable" resources by 2020. The incentives are targeted toward the development of the distribution infrastructure designed for E85 and Bio-diesel.

Kansas, last month, put in place incentives that address the consumer side of the debate and by giving additional incentives on the distribution side, hopes to have 33 stations that are E85 capable by the end of the year (up from only 10).

Ethanol E85 cars use less petroleum fuel and emit less hydrocarbon emissions (when running on E85) than cars using Hybrid technology claim officials at General Motors. GM is the leading producer of flexible fuel automobiles able to use standard gasoline and E85 when available.

Excerpts from The Gazette -

Senate raises renewable fuel bar
Published: 04/11/2006 12:46 PM
Updated: 04/11/2006 3:12 PM
By: Rod Boshart - The Gazette

DES MOINES, IA - The Iowa Senate voted 49-1 today to set a more-aggressive renewable fuel standard and provide incentives for stations to sell more ethanol-based fuel without mandating its use or boosting the state's gas tax on regular unleaded gasoline.

"It's a pretty good compromise," said Senate Co-President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, who favored mandating ethanol-blended fuel use for all vehicles in Iowa. He said he would have preferred a mandate, but believed the aggressive timeline would hasten more ethanol use.

"This is the most aggressive renewable fuels program in the country," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
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Senators also beefed up state money to assist service stations in upgrading infrastructure for delivering 85 percent blended ethanol and biodiesel products to consumers. The Senate nearly doubles the available funding to $16 million - providing $4 million annually for four years.
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The revised version of House File 2754 sets a 10 percent standard beginning in 2010 and would increase it by 1 percent annually until 2014, when the requirement would jump by 2 percent each year to achieve the 25 percent threshold by 2020.
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Political Movements In Iraqi Government Formation Seen

This from The Fourth Rail -

Declining Jaafari
By Bill Roggio

Sistani, Talabani and Sunni parties call for an end to the political deadlock for the selection of the Iraqi Prime Minister

Pressure on Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to withdraw his nomination as the United Iraqi Alliance candidate as the next prime minister increases, this time from some very influential quarters. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most respected and influential Shiite religious leader in Iraq, has reluctantly entered the fray. This indicates the gravity of the situation, as Sistani does not wish to become the arbiter of Iraqi politics.
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Further calls for Jaafari's resignation come from outside the UIA. President Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Kurdish alliance, has "informed a committee from the Alliance that the Kurdish bloc's decision to reject Jaafari was final," and, according to Reuters, "I think the majority of other groups, or all the other groups, are rejecting Dr Jaafari as prime minister."
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Previously, the calls for Jaafari's resignation came from different factions within the UIA, including SCIRI's AbdulMahdi and Jalal al-Deen al-Saghir, Mohammed Ismail Khazali of the Fadhila party, and independent UIA member Kasim Daoud. Now that Sistani has openly withdrawn support, Jaafari's time is short. Jaafari's Dawa party must decide if it will support him to the bitter end, in defiance of Sistani's council and the united factions outside the UIA. Will Jaafari and Sadr stand against Iraq?

Sadr must decide if it will bring the Mahdi Army to the streets of Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala and force a showdown with the U.S. Army and Marines, and the Iraqi security forces. Iranian plans to gain influence via Jaafari and Sadr are close to being in shambles. The real questions are will Iran risk an open confrontation with the Coalition and Iraqi government by backing an open insurrection by supporting Sadr's Mahdi Army and elements of the Badr Brigades said to be under their control, and will they risk losing their most influential and powerful pieces on the Iraqi chess board?
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Click 'Read All' link to read 'comments' to the above item as well. This is quite enlightening.

When Buying, It's Your "State" Of Mind That Matters

My Brand, My Cause - For some Americans, how you vote is a big influence on what you buy ... and where - Image Credit: Business Week

Many companies factor in the capitol consequence of corporate activism. Marketing and public relations departments throughout the business world are beginning to realize that customers are allowing their political views color or shape their purchasing patterns.

Red state, blue state, it is all a state of mind when a customer makes the choice to shop at your store or buy your products. People, more often than not, are voting with their pocket books in real time.

Excerpts from Business Week, issue release APRIL 17, 2006 -

NEWS: ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY
Companies In The Crossfire
The politically passionate are taking aim at businesses they see as repugnant. Red or blue, they can be a PR nightmare

When Martha E. Ture took a road trip from Indiana to California on I-80, she ate at Subway restaurants rather than Wendy's (WEN ) or McDonald's (MCD ). When she last flew to Las Vegas, she took United Airlines, not American or Continental. When she drinks beer, Ture, who describes herself as a "writer, singer, guitar picker, nature lover, [and] politico," eschews Coors (TAP ) for Sierra Nevada. She stays at Hyatt hotels (never Marriott), and, when she visits a big-box discount store, she always patronizes Costco (COST ), not Wal-Mart (WMT ).

Then there's Jennifer Giroux of Madeira, Ohio. The mother of nine, a registered nurse and Christian-bookstore owner, always gets her pizza at Domino's. She never takes the kids to Ben & Jerry's, opting instead for Cincinnati hometown favorite Graeter's Ice Cream. At the mall, she won't allow the family to walk anywhere near Abercrombie & Fitch, famous for its suggestive advertising. And when she does laundry, and she does a lot, she never buys Procter & Gamble's Tide detergent or Bounce fabric softener.Ture and Giroux don't have much in common. But they do share a trait: Their product choices are driven not by low price or customer service, but by politics.

Like millions of Americans, these two consumers choose -- or avoid -- certain companies because of the political donations of their management or the controversial causes they support.
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Crisis communications strategists say some companies get it right. They cite P&G and Miller Brewing Co. for responding to incipient crises by reaching out to angry consumers and communicating a concise, consistent, nonpolitical response. But others only compound their woes. Ford (F ) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) changed positions in their attempts to appease critics, only to face an even stronger backlash from the other side.
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Boycott efforts sometimes veer into slapstick. In 2004, Teresa Heinz Kerry, widow of Senator H. John Heinz III, made headlines campaigning for her second husband, Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kerry. Conservative talk-show hosts told red voters to buy new W Ketchup instead of H.J. Heinz' signature product. The upstart's slogan: "You don't support Democrats. Why should your ketchup?" Heinz limited the damage by quickly issuing a statement noting that Mrs. Kerry had nothing to do with the company. One corporate counselor says Heinz let the world know that "Teresa is not on the assembly line stomping tomatoes, and the money is not going to her.

"Three conservatives angry at Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the liberal founders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. (UL ), launched Star Spangled Ice Cream in 2005. Its flavors include Iraqi Road, I Hate the French Vanilla, and Smaller GovernMINT. "We're trying to appeal to conservatives, red states, and NASCAR dads who like Ben & Jerry's ice cream but can't [swallow] their politics," says Vice-President Richard Lessner. The boutique brand is available online, at retail outlets in the Mid-Atlantic region, and at 10 military bases in Texas. Lessner says its sales continue to build as conservatives talk it up and spoon it down.
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Take Wendy's, for example. Although the hamburger chain's PAC has given 93% of its campaign contributions to Republicans over the past five years, it views itself as a "nonpolitical company" that does not take positions on controversial issues, says spokesman Denny Lynch: "We serve customers on both sides of the aisle." Wendy's backs winners, he says, and today those incumbents are mostly Republican. "We're not a red company," Lynch says. "If Democrats start winning, we'll move our money to Democrats. It's just business."

Other companies say it's better business to steer clear of politics. Costco has won praise from liberals as the un-Wal-Mart, with higher wages and better benefits. But Costco CEO James D. Sinegal has not created a corporate PAC because "we don't believe a public company should take shareholders' money and support political candidates or causes." He and Chairman Jeffrey H. Brotman donate heavily to Democrats, Sinegal says, "but we do it with our own money. I'm a merchant, not a politician." Most American merchants would agree -- if only the activists would leave them to their business.
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Life's A Wire-To-Wire Beach For Bourdais!

Jumbotron celebration (L to R) with Justin Wilson (2nd), Sebastien Bourdais (1st) with his team owner - Paul Newman, and Alex Tagliani (3ird). Photo Credit: ecj

... and it really was never that close, not even on the re-starts after the yellow flags.

Excerpts from AP via the Globe And Mail -

AUTO RACING ROUNDUP
Bourdais wins Grand Prix after pileup derails three
Associated Press

Long Beach, Calif. -- Sébastien Bourdais keeps getting better.

The Frenchman began the quest for his third Champ Car World Series title in a row with an overpowering victory yesterday in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Winning here for the second year in a row, Bourdais trailed only after a mid-race pit stop, leading 70 of 74 laps on the 1.986-mile (3.196-kilometre), 11-turn circuit that threads its way through city streets tucked between downtown and the Pacific Ocean.

The 27-year-old driver was dominating throughout the weekend, leading nearly every practice and winning both sessions of qualifying. Through most of the race, he was as much as a half-second faster than runner-up Justin Wilson on each lap.
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Likely championship contenders Paul Tracy of Toronto, Bruno Junqueira and A.J. Allmendinger didn't even make it through the first turn of the first race of the season.

As the leaders approached the left-hand turn, Mario Dominguez hit the rear of Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Tracy's car, lifting his rear tires off the ground and sending Tracy careering into Bourdais's teammate Junqueira.

Junqueira slammed into RuSport's Allmendinger and Oriol Servia also got caught in the accident that sent all of them to the garage.

"It's definitely not the way to start the season," said Tracy, a four-time Long Beach winner. "That accident took out a lot of championship contenders, and it's a real shame."
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Additional Anaylsis from Robin Miller at the CCWS website .

NOTE: Paul Tracy's Forsythe Championship Racing teammate, Mario Dominguez, comes in 4th. Mario said, "This was a strong way to start the season. I'm a little disappointed because we were very close to stepping on the podium. We were saving fuel for most of the race to make sure that we could stay out one lap longer than the guys in front of us. We managed to run quick and consistent laps and at the same time stay within our fuel mileage target and it paid off, we stayed out one more lap and came out in front of Tagliani. Unfortunately our tire choice didn't work very well."

Cristiano da Matta, back from a try at Formula 1, had a strong showing in a second tier team car. It was a very good day for Dale Coyne Racing as the Champion driver line up of Cristiano da Matta and Jan Heylen deliver 5th and 7th place finishes.

O' Canada - Kyoto No Mo'

Power bloc ... WESTPAC, the business roundtable, meets with journalists last Thursday and issues supportive initiatives to combat global warming (Sydney Morning Herald – second article excerpted below). Photo: Lee Besford

Is it just a more conservative new government or the weight of sixty scientific experts that put the kabash on Kyoto in Canada?

Excerpts from the Telegraph -

Kyoto is pointless, say 60 leading scientists
By Philip Sherwell(Filed: 09/04/2006)

Canada's new Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been urged by more than 60 leading international climate change experts to review the global warming policies he inherited from his centre-Left predecessor.

In an open letter that includes five British scientists among the signatories, the experts praise his recent commitment to review the controversial Kyoto protocol on reducing emissions harmful to the environment.
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They emphasised that the study of global climate change is, in Mr Harper's own words, an "emerging science" and added: "If, back in the mid 1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary." Despite claims to the contrary, there is no consensus among climate scientists on the relative importance of the various causes of global climate change, they wrote.
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"'Climate change is real' is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified.

"Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural 'noise'."
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So, who are these guys listening to?

Excerpts from The Sydney Morning Hearld -

Business warms to change
New research on global warming has caused a split at the top end of town, writes Deborah Snow.

WESTPAC chief executive David Morgan had an interesting story to tell at an invitation-only breakfast for a handful of journalists in Sydney last week.

The anecdote concerned a recent private conversation with the head of the giant General Electric Company in the US, Jeff Immelt.

"He said to me he was virtually certain that the first action of the next president of the United States, be it Republican or Democrat, would be to initiate urgent action on climate change. And he wasn't saying that as a casual political comment ... he is [allocating] billions of dollars worth of investment in the confidence of that development."

George Bush and John Howard have both cold-shouldered the case for more direct government intervention to combat global warming.

But last Thursday Morgan - and five other top businesss executives - put their heads above the parapet with the launch of the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change, a powerful new voice which wants business and government to respond more rapidly to inexorably rising world temperatures.
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It is also an open rebuke to the Business Council of Australia, the body which represents the chief executives of Australia's top 100 companies. The council was so wracked with division the last time it debated the issue nearly four years ago that it wound up deadlocked and decided not to take a position at all.

Morgan told journalists last week that the council's debate had been "immature", and signalled that he and other members of the roundtable would now be going back into that forum to try to move it forward. "The thing that has been missing is some fact base about the economics," he said.
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The fact that these business leaders are basing their action and opinions on "a recent private conversation with the head of the giant General Electric Company in the US, Jeff Immelt" is pretty scary!

Let me see, who would MAXINE listen to about "global warming" ... 60 scientists or ... the head of a company that left Katie Couric on the air for fifteen years just to have her bolt off to be the on-air cornerstone of the competition’s news division.

Palm Sunday

Photo Credit: http://www-bfs.ucsd.edu/pur/sbo/images/lone_palm.jpg

This from The Anchoress -

7 Days that Shook the World
by Greg Kandra - April 9, 2006

After spending the last few weeks in the desert of Lent, suddenly we find ourselves in an oasis, clutching long leaves of palms.

But like so many things you see after being in the desert, it’s a mirage. What we see, or think we see, is about to shift before our eyes.

Soon enough, the palms will be whips. The leaves will be thorns. Jubilation will become jeers. That is the paradox and the mystery of Holy Week.

The liturgies of this week are powerful and primal. In the days to come, there is silence and smoke, fire and water, shadow and light. We are a part of something both ancient and new, and what we do this week reminds us of that. The altar will be stripped. The cross will be venerated. The tabernacle will be emptied. The Blessed Sacrament will be moved. Bells will be stilled.

And yet here we stand, at the gates to Jerusalem, palms in our hands and hosannas on our lips, beginning the arduous trek to Calvary.

It is easy to be distracted by the events of the world, and not really pay attention to what we will do this week. Somewhere, wars are raging, and politicians are squabbling. Somewhere, Easter eggs are being sold, and chocolate is being inventoried, and plastic grass is lining wicker baskets.

But not here. Not now. Not yet.

This week, take the time to wonder about what we are doing, and what we are remembering.

For close to two thousand years, we have gathered like this, in places like this, to light candles and chant prayers and read again the ancient stories of our deliverance and redemption.

But are we aware of what we are doing? Do we understand what it means? Do we realize the price that was paid? A proper accounting is impossible. The ledger—His life, for our souls—seems woefully unbalanced.

So try this. This week, take a moment in each day that passes to wonder: What was He doing during this time of that one week all those centuries ago? What was crossing His mind on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday? What sort of anguish? What kind of dread?

Has anything we have ever worried about, or lost sleep over, or agonized about, even come close?

He was a man like us in all things but sin. He must have been terrified, His mind buzzing with questions. Long after the others had drifted off to sleep, did He stay awake and worry? Maybe He sat up alone, late at night, whittling a piece of wood, the way His father had taught Him, until a splinter sliced His skin, drawing a rivulet of blood. He might have flinched and thought: Well, this is nothing. And still it stings. How intense would the pain of death become? How long would it last? How much humiliation would He be forced to endure, stripped and bleeding? And: What about His mother? Is there anything He could do to spare her from this?

As you shop for Easter baskets and dye, think of this. Ponder this. Wonder about it. Make it a kind of prayer.

And then, remember what we are doing, and why.

Because, of all the calendars in all of human history, this is the week that changed the world.

Wilson Breaks Up Newman/Haas Front Row

Sebastien Bourdais wins the pole position - Photo Credit: CCWS

Sebastian Bourdais sets new track record on his way to keeping the provisional pole position he earned yesterday, and scoring the 19th pole of his career (tying him for 10th all time with Rex Mays and Danny Sullivan). Tracy drops to a disappointing sixth position in the starting grid.

This from the CCWS website -

A Champ Car driver gets 15 laps around any given track in order to set a fast time in qualifying, but two-time defending Bridgestone Presents Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford champion Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), used just six of them to establish his dominance in Long Beach.

Bourdais set a new track record on his sixth trip around the 1.968-mile Long Beach street circuit, then decided to spend the rest of his day admiring his handiwork, getting out of car after just one stint on his red-walled Bridgestone Potenza tires. His top lap of 1:06.886 (105.924 mph) was nearly a half-second better than anything anyone else in the 18-car field was able to muster on a sunny Saturday, giving him the Bridgestone Pole Position for tomorrow's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The defending Long Beach champion earned his 19th career Champ Car pole with the effort, moving him into a tie for 10th on the all-time Champ Car list. He will be joined on the front row for tomorrow's 76-lap affair by RuSPORT's Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), who snared the second spot in today's qualifying with a best lap of 1:07.208 (105.416 mph). Bourdais' Newman/Haas Racing teammate Bruno Junqueira (#2 Hole In The Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) rounded out the top three after posting a top effort of 1:07.225 (105.389 mph).
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Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) was the first driver to wrest the top spot away from Bourdais, vaulting to the top of charts at the halfway-point of the 35-minute session.

Tracy's best lap triggered a furious run of quick circuits that saw his Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Mario Dominguez (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) jump ahead before Bourdais decided to put his cards on the table. Using the red-walled option tires from Bridgestone, the Frenchman went to the point on his third lap, got into the 66-second range on his fifth and set his eventual pole-winning time on his next pass.
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Tomorrow's season-opening Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will take the green flag at 1 p.m. local, 4 p.m. Eastern. The race can be seen live on NBC as well as the official website of the Champ Car World Series, www.champcar.ws, using the popular Race Director feature.
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The top nine positions are within one second of each other making this first race for ChampCar more competitive than the IndyCar qualifying at the St. Pete street course last week. IndyCar only managed to have the top six cars post times within one second of the top qualifying time.

Tomorrow, MAXINE will be on the streets of Long Beach! Yeah!

Audio Stalking - A New Way To Watch You

Photo Credit: London Times

It always feels like ..., someone is watching meeeeeee!

We are aware that businesses and municipalities have been installing cameras all over for security purposes, but did you know that if you are in the proximity of a cellphone user that, inadvertently, your conversations might be picked up and monitored as well?

You may become a part of a larger survey to gage advertising exposure without your permission, and worse, without your knowledge.

At least, when you are out in public, you know you may be watched ... for your own safety. With this new technology it is possible that you may now be exposed to monitoring within your own home ... without your knowledge.

This from the Wall Street Journal -

Ad Measurement Is Going High Tech
Explosion of Media Offerings Complicates Finding Whether Message Is Getting Through
By DON CLARK - April 6, 2006; Page B4

Media companies have long searched, with mixed results, for proof that advertising works. Some high-tech help may be on the way.

A number of established audience-measurement companies and industry newcomers are developing tools to better gauge the connection between media exposure and consumer behavior. The audience-measurement job is more complicated these days because of an explosion of media offerings in and outside the home.

A dark horse in the race is Integrated Media Measurement Inc., a start-up led by some prominent technology entrepreneurs that is using specially adapted cellphones to measure what consumers listen to and see. The company has developed software that helps the phones take samples of nearby sounds, which are identified by comparing them against a database.

Besides television and radio, IMMI, as the San Mateo, Calif., company calls itself, says the technology can track exposure to CDs, DVDs, videogames, sporting events, audio and video on portable gadgets and movies in theaters. The closely held company has been testing its system for nine months with about 200 consumers in Sacramento, Calif., and hopes to help answer some tricky questions. They include:

• How often are TV shows watched outside the home?

• Which songs prompt listeners to change radio stations?

• Which movie trailers get viewers to go to the theater?

"For the first time, you may be able to get an answer to one of the holy-grail questions -- is my promo working?" says Alan Wurtzel, president of research for General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal unit, who has been briefed on the IMMI system. "It's a very interesting methodology."
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Some companies argue that cellphones could lead to distorted research. Survey participants, for example, could change how often they carry or converse on phones or download content to them.

Arbitron Inc. instead proposes a special-purpose gadget called the portable People Meter, which it has been testing in Houston. GfK AG's Mediamark Research Inc. also is developing a pager-size media-measurement device.
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With conventional media ratings, "we don't have the opportunity to take a look at cause and effect," said Artie Bulgrin, senior vice president of research and sales development at ESPN, which has been evaluating IMMI's service. "What we see so far is very interesting and very compelling."
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Say again? What's that program you're watching?

Technology creep and privacy, it is becoming a big issue.

Of Flag Burning To Flag Banning In Colorado

A group of students hold an immigration protest across the street from Skyline High School in Longmont, Colo., on Friday, after school officials denied the students to protest on campus. Daily Times-Call photo by Richard M. Hackett via Associated Press

Civil protests take on many forms. The displaying our nation's flag, for ANY reason, should not be considered to be an insightful or negative act.

In Colorado, the nationally mandated education establishment felt it was perfectly ok to ban the display of the American Flag.

In the morally equivalent world of academia, if the Mexican Flag waved in protest to the wish of American citizens of having our immigration laws be respected, then the display of the American Flag in support of the American rule-of-law must be insulting as well.

This is a prime example of why "home schooling" and "vouchers" alternatives to the present education system have been gaining popularity. The "inmates" have come to run the asylum!

Excerpts frim the Washington Times Insider -

Colorado school drops ban on flags
By Valerie Richardson - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - April 8, 2006

DENVER -- Students at Shaw Heights Middle School wore Old Glory on their T-shirts without fear of reprisal yesterday after their principal bowed to community pressure to drop the school's flag ban.

Principal Myla Shepherd canceled the ban late Thursday night after an outcry from parents, students and state leaders, including Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who said the school rule violated state law.
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Ms. Shepherd said she changed the dress code March 31 after nationwide immigration rallies led to "some unrest and increased tensions among students." Some students taunted each other with U.S. and Mexican flags, while several dozen students wore camouflage one day in support of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Another Colorado school, Skyline High School in Longmont, enacted a ban on flag displays after some students threw U.S. and Mexican flags in each other's faces. Skyline also lifted the prohibition yesterday.

The about-face came shortly after Mr. Suthers sent letters to the schools Thursday along with copies of the state statute, which states that the right to display the U.S. flag "shall not be infringed with respect to the display: (a) On an individual's person; (b) Anywhere on an individual's personal or real property."

"While schools can and should act to prevent conduct by students that interferes with the education process, their remedy must be narrowly tailored and cannot include a general ban on displaying the American flag," Mr. Suthers said.
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Eric Golgart, whose sixth-grade daughter, Katie, was suspended Thursday for wearing a Marines T-shirt, said the superintendent promised to expunge the suspensions from the students' records.

Still, Mr. Golgart said he wanted to see Ms. Shepherd resign her post and issue an apology to the U.S. Marine Corps.

"As soon as she started suspending kids, it got personal," said Mr. Golgart. "One girl who was suspended has a brother and sister-in-law fighting in Iraq. She's been wearing these shirts all year."
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So now, in Colorado anyway, it is ok to NOT be suspended from attendance to the nationally mandated education system for showing support for our military (national employees) or displaying our American flag (our nation’s symbol). Thank GOD!

Please tell Mr. Golart that he will be waiting until the U.S. becomes part of Mexico, or a Muslim nation for the principal (Mrs. Shepard) to resign her post and give that apology to our troops.

Of course, if the "inmates" carry the day with their version of Ward Churchill like attitudes and philosophy ... the apology may not be that far off!

Is It Racism, Or "Just Another One Of Them Racing Deals"?

(ht: Michelle Malkin)
From COX & FORKUM on Dateline planting Muslims in the stands to gage reaction.

As MAXINE sees it, given the three-fer in the middle, we'd be giving the 'raspberry' to the NBC camaraman (not the Jeff Gordon fan ... or the Muslim)!

Frenchie Lays It Down - Gains Seasons First Point

Sebastien Bourdais qualifies at Long Beach - Photo Credit: CCWS

The day was cool and so was the challange to be at the top of the point standings after today's first qualifing session of the season.

Excerpts from Champ Car website -

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

It took just 30 minutes for two-time defending Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford champion Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) to resume his place at the top of the point standings, as the Frenchman claimed the first available point of the 2006 season by leading Friday qualifying at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Bourdais earned the first point of the year and guaranteed himself a front-row starting spot for Sunday's season opener after posting a best lap of 1:07.675 (104.689 mph) to lead Friday qualifying at the 1.968-mile street circuit in Long Beach. Bourdais' fast lap ended a furious game of leapfrog atop the time charts, ending a chase that saw six different drivers hold the pole at various times throughout the 30-minute outing.

Bourdais headed a 1-2 Newman/Haas Racing sweep on a sunny Long Beach Friday, besting his teammate Bruno Junqueira (#2 Hole in the Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) by 0.066 seconds. Junqueira, who ran his first Champ Car session since his devastating accident in last year's Indianapolis 500, hung up a time of 1:07.741 (104.587 mph) on just his fifth lap of the year, slipping into the second spot.

Four-time Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach winner Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) showed his customary speed on the Southern California streets, ending his day in the third spot despite the fact that he banged the wall and shredded his right-rear tire with six minutes to go in the session. Tracy's best lap of 1:07.947 (104.270 mph) was the last of the 18-car field to card a time in the 67-second range on the day.
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So, tomorrow is the run for the pole, but Sebastian will get to be in the front row no matter what happens. Someone needs to break up the Newman/Haas Racing front row! Pray for our neighbor from the north (Tracy) doesn't keep banging the walls.