Chuck wrote on Jul 18, 2008 5:56 AM:>>>Church music needed in our prisons>>
No, I'm, sorry Mrs. Cowles, the liberals would never have that. Christian music is banned in prisons, but the handing out of the Koran by the wheelbarrow full is a daily occurrence.

Chucks World wrote on Jul 18, 2008 6:39 AM:Chuck lives in a very paranoid world. One wonders if he suffered a bad batch of mushrooms back in the day.

Paul wrote on Jul 18, 2008 6:48 AM:Come on, Chuck, your comment is inaccurate and ridiculous-liberals favor freedom of religion (and from religion) for everyone

Church Lady wrote on Jul 18, 2008 6:49 AM:On one hand Marian Crowley advocates helping to keep the teenagers out of jail and then finishes up with the possibility that they may kill themselves if they have to listen to (the inspiring church music of her youth) but that's ok because they have no life anyway. At least the would help with the prison overpopulation problem.

There are so many things wrong with this lady's thinking it boggles the mind.

Well I think that jails should start serving carrot cake to the inmates because then they will be sweet and if they don't like cake then well maybe they will starve and that will decrease the prison population.

If anyone has a better idea than THAT, I'd like to hear it!

Munir wrote on Jul 18, 2008 6:56 AM:Chuck: Absolutly. We want you conservatives to suffer. Insulah Allah.

Average Joe wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:02 AM:Ya, oil price back up due to shut down Nigeria pipeline. Sure glad I filled up my tanks during those three days it was down, saved a lot of money, yesiree!

Thanks for the head's up, Reardon.

Chuck wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:09 AM:>>The news is reporting that a Veterinarian reached into shark’s stomach to remove a hook>> and was heard to say, "This was no boating accident" or "We're gunna need a bigger boat"

Poor Marian wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:33 AM:Once a person enters prison the hymn Amazing Grace will not be of any help to them. We need to start programs in our communities to help these young people before they get to prison. We need community run resource centers to mentor these young people. They need direction, guidance, purpose and a sense of belonging. None of this will be done by piping Christian music into our prisons. Contact your city officials and find our how you can help deter just one of these young people from a life of crime.

Finally Pelosi wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:36 AM:According to Nancy Pelosi, offshore drilling vote is off the table. My respect for her just raised one notch up from the basement.

Paul wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:42 AM:Dear Mr Welker,

while environmentalists care about the land we also care about people. The idea is that what is good for the land, air, and water is also good for people.

Environmental legislation HELPS the economy by driving innovation, while improving the quality of life for everyone.

Were environmentalists wrong to get DDT banned? How about mercury?

We are presented with a false choice by big business: environmental health or economic growth. The truth is that both are not only possible, they go hand in hand.

Gotta Wonder wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:47 AM:Big Boy back in town! Oh yeah! Let's get some Pappy Fried Chicken.

Bad news for yahoos wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:48 AM:Well I see that President Bush has finally come around to agree with Obama on yet another key matter. We have sent diplomats to participate in talks with Iran about their nuclear program, joining the Europeans. If only Bush had appointed Obama as his foreign policy advisor right after 911 instead of listening to Cheney and the neocons, we'd be in so much better shape now. Oh, well: better late than never.

Church music wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:11 AM:First of all, Chuck is wrong, per the Title 15, christian music is not banned in CDCR prisons. Ms. Cowles, you are either extremely naive or totally clueless. Inmates already do and have been doing the whole religion thing for hundreds of years. Once they parole it lasts about a week then they forget religion and they are back to their old ways. It does not work for these individuals, they have no hearts or souls that can be reached.

OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:11 AM:ESCONDIDO: ACLU says city policy violates free speech rights

to Paul wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:39 AM:I get the feeling that conservatives are locked into an either-or, competitive view of themselves and the world. Living, to them, can only mean "me versus them". Others are after their stuff. The environment only exists for what it can do for "me". They don't believe that when my countrymates face less poverty or violence, that makes my life happier. They don't believe that preserving the natural environment, even if it means less stuff or money for me, is better in other ways, and WAY better in the long run. From reading their books, articles, and posts here, I'm convinced that they find it all but impossible to change their basic view of the world. Because this is, in some core way, a paranoid position, they are very easily manipulated by politicians and their corporate employers via fear and hatred, which come so easily to this worldview. They've been persuaded, for example, to think that "every man for himself" is equivalent to "freedom". This is why, in their view, "freedom" is SO tied to having weapons. It's crazy, really, when you think about it.

Question for OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:40 AM:I'd like to know more about the ACLU-Escondido-free speech matter. Thanks in advance.

More bad news for yahoos wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:47 AM:From the AP QUOTE The United States and Iraq have agreed to seek "a general time horizon" for further withdrawals of American troops from the war. ENDQUOTE A time "horizon" is not, of course, a time "table". Bush insists this depends on how things go, and is not arbitrary, as if anyone ever suggested a random or arbitrary pullout. I guess Bush is giving up his mission of making Iraq a permanent military colony. Instead, and in agreement with the government and people of Iraq, we will leave them to their sovereignity. Here again, as in the talking with Iran, Bush is finally coming around to the Obama perspective, giving up the neocon dream of people like Rumsfeld, Cheney, and McCain. Better late than never. Seems like Bush is betting on having one thing to be remembered positively for: fighting AIDS.

Question for Realist wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:56 AM:And where would we be today if, 10, 20, or 30 years ago we'd invested whole hog in solar and wind sources of energy? Every dollar today that we taxpayers give to oil instead of these sources adds to our problems, and detracts from the solutions which we all agree are inevitable anyway.

OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:01 AM:Question for OBSERVATION
[-] wrote on Jul 18, 2008 8:40 AM:It is one of ths stories in today's paper. My post is an encouragement for the bloggers to read and to comment upon it.
Thank you for your inquiry.

Gotta Wonder wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:03 AM:Congress needs to grab bull by horns
Congress has tried to grab the bull by the horns. Every time that they did,however, GWB, goored them.

Efficiency of the free market wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:07 AM:It's always good to hear that the government outsources its activities to private companies, ensuring quality work. From the NY Times QUOTE WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents. During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis. ENDQUOTE It seems this has been going of for some time, and the electrical work has continued, even as the Pentagon knew and covered up the problem. Iraq must be seen as little but a big payday for some people, with American deaths a trivial matter. As has been pointed out here often, our government seems to be in the employ of the companies it subsidizes. I don't know about you, but I am more than offended that my tax dollar is used to pay profiteers to kill our kids with shoddy work. Anyone outraged by this?

Gotta Wonder wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:17 AM:Efficiency of the free market It is obvious that our government is facist.
I wonder if this was another substandard no big contract?

Chuck is right. wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:18 AM:Keep it up, Chuck! When liberals start launching personal attacks you know you hit a nerve!

Alf wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:21 AM:Just in case anyone is looking, at least for now the NCT letters for the 18th are listed with the Faith and Values letters. They did it again. Regards, Alf.

Chuck wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:21 AM:>>>According to Nancy Pelosi, offshore drilling vote is off the table>>>>

Well, your saviours name is now Hussein Dukakis. Not many will rush to the polls to vote for liberals when they are paying $5 for gas, layoffs are rampant, no pay raises are in sight, and their 401-K is now a 201-K-- all because of Pelosi and Hussein

Gotta Wonder wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:30 AM:Gotta Wonder
[-] wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:17 AM:
Efficiency of the free market It is obvious that our government is facist.
I wonder if this was another substandard no bid contract?(corrections.)

To Jim wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:34 AM:Answer me this. How can a massive open pit mine in my back yard equate to LESS trucks on the road? Are there plans for an air strip or a canal to replace the constant trucks? The new widened off ramps on I-15 and access road must only be for the security guards at the reservoir right?

Question for OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:36 AM:Oh, gosh, there's the story right there! Thanks for pointing to it. So the ACLU wants to reduce the fee for using meeting space, the fees being higher for political and religious meetings than for other meetings. I hope the usual yahoos pay attention to this. Here's the ACLU, as is typical, fighting to make it easier for ALL political meetings to happen, liberal, conservative, or otherwise. And here's the ACLU fighting to make it easier for RELIGIOUS groups to meet. Now I bet the yahoo knee-jerkers were just positive that the ACLU fought only for leftist groups and just hated religion. Well, how about that? Reality strikes again.

WHERE ARE NORTH COUNTY LETTERS TO THE EDITOR wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:37 AM:Yeah, where are they????

OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:39 AM:FYI: NCT BLOGGERS. To find our blog site select the Faith and Values button which will bring up a subcatogroy for today's NCT letters. This is fun.

McCain and Women wrote on Jul 18, 2008 9:45 AM:From Judith Warner's column in the NY Times QUOTE [McCain] is committed, he added on his campaign bus, “to encourage the participation of women in all walks of life and make sure that any barriers to their advancement are eliminated.”That’s all good, in the abstract. In real life, it’s another story.McCain has opposed legislation aimed at helping women sue in cases of pay discrimination on the grounds that it could make businesses vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits. He criticized Barack Obama’s latest woman-friendly proposals — guaranteed sick days and more family leave — as “big-government” extravagances. He has voted to restrict women’s access not just to abortion but to birth control and affordable prenatal health care, and — though his own memory failed him in recalling this last week — he voted against legislation that would have required insurance companies to include contraceptives as part of their prescription drug coverage.
In other words, he has time after time put up roadblocks to any legislative measures that could help make women’s abstract equality a reality. ENDQUOTE Plus he finds rape jokes humerous! But that's a matter of political correctness. The votes and positions McCain has taken make clear that he is dead set against the proposition that women matter as much as men. His position on maternity and family leave show what his "family values" really are as well. And we know that if he had the chance to appoint Supreme Court Justices, they'd be strongly anti-Roe. Why ANY woman would vote for McCain is a complete mystery to me. I guess there are still some that identify with the aggressor, sick as that is.

He Said wrote on Jul 18, 2008 10:15 AM:TO McCain and Women RE: < Why ANY woman would vote for McCain is a complete mystery to me.>> Probably because they don't read the New York Times and believe everything they read before it's retracted.

OBSERVATION wrote on Jul 18, 2008 10:22 AM:OBSERVATION: I have now observed that NCT now has our correct designation available.

Alf wrote on Jul 18, 2008 10:22 AM:Well folks, now they moved the NCT letters for the 18th back to its rightful spot. Gotta keep us on our toes! Regards, Alf.

TO CHUCK... wrote on Jul 18, 2008 12:00 PM:I couldn't agree with you more. Seems now a days you have a "right" to be accommodated to practice any religion you like..........so long as it has nothing to do with Christ. Funny, how people respond to your comment as "paranoid" or "ridiculous" simply because it states fact. Tell me, Paul, Chuck's World, and the like....are you blind to the fact that schools DO allow for special religious activities yet prayer in school (Christian) IS banned? Ha, it amazes me the simplicity and ease people have of being swayed away from God, usually so as not to "offend" others. And, yes, I AM a Christian. Before you say "that's not a very Christian attitude" as I am sure some will, know this, Christians DO have opinions that you may not agree with,and they may offend, but if one just wants to give up and hide to accommodate the masses, then where have we gone? One nation, Under God.....think about it. I know, I know, you don't want to hear it, but that IS what our country was founded upon....like it, or not.

Ms M wrote on Jul 18, 2008 12:08 PM:WASHINGTON - The United States and Iraq have agreed to seek "a general time horizon" for deeper reductions in American combat troops in Iraq despite President Bush's once-inflexible opposition to talking about deadlines and timetables....OMG - So tell me all you hawks - just who knows what they are talking about when it comes to foreign policy. It seems like Obama KNEW and KNOWS how to fix this mess. This is just too funny. Now just what is McBomb going to run on - LMAO - it's all over cons. And yes, I am FULL OF GLEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Set An Example wrote on Jul 18, 2008 1:06 PM:If all those 14 year olds drinking, doing drugs, and having babies had better role models maybe they would make better choices. If the parent is mixed up over what is right and wrong and doesn't believe in being held accountable for one's actions, the child likely won't either. If the parent has a live and let live, anything goes attitude, the child picks up on that pretty early in life. The kids learn all about their personal rights but nothing about their responsibility to others. Look around at the parents and it should be no surprise that our prisons are bursting at the seams.

Gotta Wonder wrote on Jul 18, 2008 1:31 PM:Set An Example[-] wrote on Jul 18, 2008 1:06 PM: Did you over look one important factor? 52% of families do not have a father resident in the home. Even if they found the missing dads, I am not sure that any kid would want him for a role model.

to He Said wrote on Jul 18, 2008 1:32 PM:I would invite you to look at the Congressional Record or the Vote Smart website and have a look at what McCain's votes on these matters have actually been. Those are not matters of opinion. Let us know if Ms Warner of the Times needs to retract her statements. You know, even when a liberal tells the truth, it's still the truth. LOL

Pigs fly wrote on Jul 18, 2008 2:38 PM:I would suggest that Mr. Welker read the information from Granite Construction before making silly comments. They themselves say that when the Liberty Quarry is finished (75 years from now) it could, I repeat,"COULD". be filled with water
I say that in 75 years from now, 'Pigs could fly'

Miner wrote on Jul 18, 2008 2:46 PM:Did Jim Welker miss out on putting 'Doctor' before his name, or 'PHD' after it.
To say that the silica argument is a fraud, is insulting to the 60 local Doctors that say different. Get educated Jim Welker.

Ron wrote on Jul 18, 2008 3:46 PM:Hey "Paul" @7:42 AM, I got a question.

If environmentalists care about the land & people.
And their point is to drive "innovation", while at the same time improving the quality of life for everyone.

Then Yes.. "How about mercury?"
Our own Government has foisted upon all Americans these mercury bulbs, supposedly to save the planet.

Now, if that ain't a false choice by enviromentalists, I don't know what is.

Ron wrote on Jul 18, 2008 3:51 PM:I don't doubt your full of glee today, "Ms M" @12:08 PM.
But apparently, the Iraqi's might be able to "stand up, while we stand down." It is the frutition of GWB's policy of not quitting that has brought us to this point. And on top of that, Aren't you just a little proud of our country that we have helped 25 million to now have a shot at democracy? That sends chills down my spine.
Hopefully, yours too.

Oh Ron wrote on Jul 18, 2008 4:07 PM:GWB's policy? Which one? How many times did he resist adding troops? For how many years? Then, having fired his Secretary of Defense and many Generals, he finally gets dragged, kicking and screaming, to a surge, and the surge helps, now you want to give him the medal of honor as a great C-in-C? LOL Not only that, the Iraqis insisted he agree to pull out despite his every effort to become a permanent military presence there, immune from Iraqi law. That is also Bush's policy. Also a total dud. As for those chills down your spine, I hope there are also tears for all that have died and been maimed. I'm glad it's so easy for you to say it's worth it. Now, as Iraq gets rid of us and takes its place as Iran's ally, I will sit back and wait for you to insist we go back in there and kill all those Ayatollah-friendly terrorists in your policy-du-jour. Had we never set foot in Iraq, Saddam would be sitting on his little throne, no weapons, completely contained by the UN and us, impotent, his evil days a memory. Then he'd have died. Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of currently dead Iraqis would've been alive, along with thousands of our kids. Millions of Iraqis would not have been displaced (20% of the population have had to leave their homes, including most of the professional classes). The entire nation would not have to rebuild its infrastructure from scratch. Al qaeda and the Taliban would not have been an increasing problem in Afghanistan. Glad you have your little spine-chills, Ron, glad it was all worth it to you.

Karl Rove wrote on Jul 18, 2008 4:09 PM:The Democratic Party holds narrow majority in both legislative chambers.

The Republican Party holds enough seats in both Congressional House and Senate to frustrate any executive oversight or legislative reform resulting from override.

The Presidency can preemptively halt any legal enforcement of any passed law. To accomplish enforcement of existing law, the Democrats will need to increase their majority margins in the Congress and acquire the Presidency.

Then to ensure enforcement, Congress needs to immediately impeach and convict the four extreme Supreme Court judges currently weakening the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Ms M wrote on Jul 18, 2008 4:13 PM:Ron
[-] wrote on Jul 18, 2008 3:51 PM: It is the frutition of GWB's policy of not quitting that has brought us to this point....now I'm really, really LMAO!

To Ron wrote on Jul 18, 2008 5:34 PM:Proud of our country for what we have done in Iraq? You must be kidding. You have a very deep capacity for denial as you collect your bounty from the defense contractors. I guess it makes you feel better to make believe that you are "helping 25,000 achieve democracy". You are a sorry, sorry excuse for a human being, Ron.