RIP Dom DeLuise:

Dom DeLuise, the portly actor-comedian whose affable nature made him a popular character actor for decades with movie and TV audiences as well as directors and fellow actors, has died, a son told two broadcasters Tuesday. He was 75.

DeLuise died Monday night, Michael DeLuise told KTLA-TV and radio station KNX on Tuesday. The comedian died in his sleep after a long illness.

The actor, who loved to cook and eat almost as much as he enjoyed acting, also carved out a formidable second career later in life as a chef of fine cuisine. He authored two cookbooks and would appear often on morning TV shows to whip up his favorite recipes.

As an actor, he was incredibly prolific, appearing in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voicing chracters for numerous cartoon shows.

Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise’s talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several of his films, including “The Twelve Chairs,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Silent Movie,” “History of the World Part I” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks’ “Star Wars” parody, “Spaceballs.”

The actor also appeared frequently in films opposite his friend Burt Reynolds. Among them, “The End,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” ‘Smokey and the Bandit II,” “The Cannonball Run” and “Cannonball Run II.”

Reynolds fondly recalled DeLuise in a statement issued by his publicist.

“I was thinking about this the other day,” Reynolds said. “As you get older and start to lose people you love, you think about it more and I was dreading this moment. Dom always made you feel better when he was around and there will never be another like him. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much.”

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If you thought things couldn’t get anymore idiotic, well hold onto your hats!

Janet Napolitano and some foreign governments are upset at the official name of the flu epidemic that is spreading around the globe.

Apparently it isn’t kosher to say swine especially when this strain of the flu has more human and avian components and it is not specifically caused by pork or pork food products.

I say – who cares?  Call it the Flying Meatball Virus for heaven’s sake – does it really matter?

What’s in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu.

At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the “H1N1 virus.”

“This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that’s not what this is about,” Vilsack said.

Israel has already rejected the name swine flu, and opted to call it “Mexico flu.” Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.

The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.

And there is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus — although disease expert Anthony Fauci told a Senate hearing the “swine flu” designation reflected scientific naming protocol.

Give me a break!

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WorldNetDaily

Attorneys representing two students who have been threatened with expulsion by a California college because of a prayer for a sick professor say a federal judge has refused the school’s efforts to have the case dismissed.

“It’s outrageous,” said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which is working on the case brought by students Kandy Kyriacou and Ojoma Omaga of the College of Alameda in Alameda, near Oakland.

“Since when does praying for a sick teacher to get well – with her consent – earn a suspension? This is not just a constitutional violation; it is a complete lack of common sense. These students were not looking for a fight, but since the school to this day insists that it can expel them if they pray again, we will have to resolve it in federal court,” he said.

The public-interest legal group said the decision by a San Francisco federal judge means the lawsuit will move forward.

The case was prompted by an incident just before Christmas in 2007 in which the students went to deliver a Christmas gift to a professor.

“Kandy found the instructor alone in her shared office,” according to Pacific Justice. “When the instructor indicated she was ill, Kandy offered to pray for her. The instructor bowed her head, and Kandy began to pray – until she was interrupted by another faculty member, Derek Piazza, who walked in and said, ‘You can’t be doing that in here!’ Kandy quickly left and rejoined her friend and fellow student, Ojoma Omaga. Piazza followed Kandy outside and repeated his rebuke.”

While the students reported they were surprised by the teacher’s aggressive behavior, they were stunned when, days later, they both got letters notifying them of the college’s retroactive “intent to suspend” plan.

The letters, however, provided no facts on which to make such a threat, listing only vague references to “disruptive or insulting behavior” and “willful disobedience.”

School officials informed them during administrative hearings that Kyriacou was being disciplined for praying for the sick teacher. Omaga was not part of the prayer, and her offense apparently was that she was with Kyriacou a short time later.

The lawsuit was filed when the college refused to rescind the letters, leaving the students in peril of suspension or expulsion for any other offense, such as praying on campus. The decision from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston turned back college attempts to deny the students a hearing on their complaint.

“To this day, the College of Alameda has never provided a real explanation for its threats to expel these students,” said Steven N.H. Wood of the Walnut Creek firm of Bergquist, Wood and Anderson, which is working with Pacific Justice on the case.

“But it has disciplined them for non-disruptive, private prayer between consenting adults. We will not stand by and let a college trample these fundamental rights,” he said.

Said Dacus, “It is alarming that a publicly-funded college would seek to suspend and expel students for praying on campus, then dig in its heels to defend an untenable, unconstitutional position. We are encouraged that the federal court has given us the green light to pursue this case.”

http://www.worldnetdaily.com

Well let’s hear it for a Judge (in Californina of all places) who has some common sense and cares about the Constitution.

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For the last decade or so, Christian Values (belief in God, Marriage, Pro-Life, Prayer….the list goes on) have been under constant attack from the left (ACLU, Atheists and others).  In case after case, any reference to “God” or prayer in school, Nativity scenes at Christmas, or the Ten Commandments in public places, has been slowly removed from everyday society.  It is an alarming trend and one in which I think Christians need to stand up to and say enough is enough.

The founding fathers made it extremely clear as to the intent of the founding documents. The founding fathers guaranteed us “freedom OF religion” and not “freedom from religion.”

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This striking quote is exactly right. We, as a new nation, ensured that those who come to our shores to start a new and better life, would not be persecuted for practicing the religion of their choice. They were not creating a system by which we would shield people from religion or God.

This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles; they have been a part of our heritage and culture since the Mayflower. Our third President, Thomas Jefferson, who many historical illiterates claim created the statements in the Federalist papers supporting a ‘separation of church and state,’ said the following: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?…Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

How true. Freedom, liberty, life, are God given and so shall they be protected. It is that belief, those convictions, which has made this nation strong, wealthy (in spirit, hope, and quality of life), and the model for all nations who want to have those same gifts.

French historian and American observer Alexis de Tocqueville opined, “liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” Americans of all faiths must stand together with the understanding that no religion is safe when even one comes under attack. Josef Stalin disclosed an ominous plot many years ago: “America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” We’ve stood by as Christianity takes a beating in the town square. It’s high time we turn the tide. Our very liberty depends on it.

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Had she been born a generation earlier, Kim Hoffman might have had a shotgun wedding. As it turned out, she and Steve Miller took the time to plan their dream nuptials — outdoors, on an organic farm, and with their 10-month-old daughter in tow.

A pre-marriage birth certainly wasn’t what her father wanted for his only daughter, said Hoffman, of Oakland, California. But seven months into her relationship with Miller, the unplanned pregnancy simply changed life’s course.

“We would have headed down this path. The pregnancy just accelerated things,” she said of the couple’s cohabitation, the birth of Sadie and their 2005 wedding. “It was the way it was meant to be.”

Along with magazine-cover grabbers like Angelina Jolie and Bristol Palin, Hoffman, today a 39-year-old mother of three, is part of a now record-breaking trend of women who give birth outside of wedlock.

Now, as usual, they lead off this adventure with sugar coating and rose colored glasses. This is a very A typical situation in America. I do applaud this mother of 3 (on what seem to at least a 2nd marriage) for doing the right thing. But obviously, they had plans and preparations and the means and where-with-all to successfully care for a new baby. This is where the breakdown occurs. By invoking the likes of Jolie, or other “celebrity” types, it sends a signal that this behavior is deemed healthy for the mother and child. However, it has been pointed out time and again, that the average woman in this situation, is by no means able to care for a child properly, does not have the support of a significant other, and the child ends up living life in less than loving and ideal conditions.

Nearly 40 percent of babies born in the United States in 2007 were delivered by unwed mothers, according to data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 1.7 million out-of-wedlock births, of 4.3 million total births, marked a more than 25 percent jump from five years before.

Percentages of births to unwed mothers among race groups, 72% rate for Blacks, 65% rate for Native Americans , 51% rate for Latinos , 28% rate among white and 17% among Asians.(1)

Statistics such as these, which include for the second year in a row a bump in teen pregnancies, after a 14-year decline, leave Sarah Brown concerned. She worries about the children born to unwed parents — about the disadvantages they often face, including increased likelihood of poverty and greater high school dropout rates.

Statistics show that a majority of these young unwed mothers, end up in situations where improving their life, while trying to shelter, feed and cloth an child proves overwhelming. Career, educational, and relationship (that would work) opportunities fall by the wayside in favor of the need to bring home a paycheck. Factor in the associated inflationary costs of raising a child where since the mid-70′s a two income household is pretty much required to have a modest home and car, these young women to often end up in dire straits.

Janet Kaufman wasn’t looking to influence anyone else; her personal decision, after loads of research, became a “practical matter.”

The University of Utah English professor was in her mid-30s, single and figured even if she met someone immediately it might be a couple years before she’d feel comfortable having a child with that man.

Here, yet again is another example of someone who “can” do this. A tenured professor, who could take a sabbatical, is well paid, well educated, and well situated. Now take the 17-22 year old, incomplete education, little job experience, probably living at home or in a low rent apartment, poor or no health care benefits and a low paying entry level job. That is the difference. Many of these girls are just in a losing proposition.

“I had some concerns and fears,” said Kaufman, 44, who ended up marrying one year after she had a second child by the same anonymous donor. “But I felt like with the right kind of support … somehow I would make it work.”

And many of these young women do not have a support network. So lets educate our children about choices and decisions they make. Lets shed light on the majority of these mothers who are in a situation where they are dependant upon aid to make ends meet, where there is no support, no significant other, and no chance to really improve their lives because it takes resources to do that. Many married or co-habitating couples are having difficulties. This new age of go it alone, among celebrities and well off women sends the wrong message. It is not about being cool with a baby, it is about being responsible enough to raise that baby for the next 18 years (and sometimes more).

(1) National Center for Health Statistics
(2) Block Quotes – Jessica Ravitz

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President Obama’s current nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary, is under fire for unpaid taxes.
In a letter to the Senate, Gov Sebelius explains that the $7,000 plus “oversight” was due to business and other personal transactions.
The point here, is these are supposed law makers, and most of whom are independently wealthy (to some extent) who pay tax lawyers to keep their taxes on track (or so it would seem). To us, what this hi-lights is that these nominees have all either been ripped off by these tax accountants or they all think they can shave off tax money owed to the IRS. Since it such a prevalent problem among many of Obama’s nominations, it would seem the latter would be a good choice.
It is of particular interest because these are the very same income brackets that President Obama wished to raise the tax rates on. So then we must start to wonder what tax loopholes will the Democrats put into the the tax code to protect themselves.
It does not bode well that the Tax and Spend administrations major nominations are less than honest on their personal taxes when they sure want to spend our tax dollars into oblivion.

After news broke Tuesday of Sebelius’ letter admitting the errors, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., quickly issued a statement supporting her nomination.

“Congress is going to need a strong partner at the Department of Health and Human Services to achieve comprehensive health reform this year, and we have that partner in Gov. Sebelius,” Baucus said. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Gov. Sebelius has the political experience, determination, and bipartisan work ethic to get the job done with Congress this year. She’s the right person for the job.”

In other words, despite all of these tax issues, she is going to sail through confirmation in the Senate. There will be no Democrat opposition to this nomination.

Another major issue with Gov Sebelius, is that she is a staunch Pro-Choice supporter. In the interim run up to Senate hearings she signed a feel good bill in the wake of Dr Death’s acquittal two weeks ago.

The bill requires abortion providers to offer women seeking abortions the option of viewing an ultrasound and listening to a fetal heartbeat monitor.

Well there is a bill with some teeth. Yes you can choose to have a picture and listen to the sound, if you so desire.

Sebelius in the past has vetoed antiabortion-rights legislation. Beth Martino, a spokesperson for Sebelius, said the governor signed the bill because it included no constitutional flaws and did not jeopardize patient privacy or block access to health services (AP/Los Angeles Times, 3/28). By signing the bill, Sebelius — who is expected to begin U.S. Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday — “steered clear of one final showdown with anti-abortion lawmakers as she exits Kansas politics,” the Star reports.

She signed the bill because it did nothing to strengthen pro-life positions, of which she is staunchly opposed to. This was simply a feel good measure designed to provide some smoke and mirrors for the Senate confirmation hearings. To me this is a bigger issue than the taxes. She is an liberal who allows partial birth abortions to take place in her state and did nothing about it. In what turned out to be a joke trial over partial birth practices in her state, it only makes you wonder what protection she will offer the unborn.

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