Bicyclists Endanger Their Lives With Poor Driving Skills

As a motor scooterist who is required to obey all the motorized vehicle rules of the road, as well as being licensed and insured, I respect that these rules help to make driving orderly and safe. Driving motor scooters and motorcycles require many careful skills far beyond that required to drive a car. A motorcyclist must always pay attention. All of these advanced driving skills as well as the increased safety regulations are for the good and are life saving. But by comparison, bicycles which have compleltely unregulated drivers, have a huge share of poor drivers who endanger their lives through very poor driving skills and adherence to safety precautions.

Many choose to ride bicycles for health, enjoyment or for environmental reasons. But a very poor commitment to goo driving skills or basic safety precautions are daily endangering the lives of bicyclists. Yesterday, I nearly witnesed a serious accident near my home when yet another bicyclist ran a stop sign and was nearly hit by a oncoming car through the intersection. From my experience, far more than 95% of bicyclists fail to obey the basic rules of the road such as respecting stop signs or red lights. This failure to obey the basic rules of the road directly contributes to more than 500,000 injuries to bicyclists each year and more than 700 deaths. Whether bicyclists think that it is too much work to slow down and stop for a stop sign or to procede with caution through any intersection, regardless, this is a dangerous and potentially deadly poor driving practice. Police in some communities are beginning to crack down on this illegal and potentially deadly habit of most bicyclists who run stop signs or red lights with fines that can easily excede $200 or more. It is a potentially dealy practice for bicyclists not to abide by the same rules of the road as motorists do, and creates an unnecessary hazzard for motorists who begin to expect that most bicyclists will not obey the rules of road and grow to expect stupid behavior on their part on the road. This becomes a potentially deadly distraction in congested traffic.

Another big contribution to bicyclist injury or death is failure to wear a safety helmet. Although bicycle helmets are made up of lightweight materials such as foam and plastic, this is a vital thin line of protection that can mean the difference between life or death in a fall or accident. The human brain is very sensitive, and when it splashes against the skull like Jello in an accident, brain surgery to remove the resulting blood clot or to prevent brain swelling is vital to saving a life. Often simply bothering to wear a bicycle helmet can make all the difference and avoid this possible emergency brain surgery.

On Monday, I witnessed an adult female bicyclist who attempted to pass traffic in a congested dangerous intersection on the wrong side, and nearly lost her balance and fell off. She was of course not wearing helmet as well. A bicyclist with such poor driving skills is a real danger to herself, and it is only a matter of time before she causes herself a serious accident unless her driving skills soon improve.


Another big problem is bicyclists driving at night. Small battery-operated bicycle lights are hardly noticeable by many motorists. In addition, the poor general repair of many streets and roads, as well as the thin tires on bicycles make any pothole or road imperfection that could be easily seen during daylight a real danger at night. Many deadly accidents with bicyclists take place after dark. A bicycle should really only be operated during daylight hours for safety reasons. Small bicycle lights or reflectors are hardly a good line of safety at night compared to faster moving motorized vehicles, some of which may even be exceeding the legal speed limits by poorer motorists.

Many bicyclists either try to pass on the wrong side of traffic, ride the wrong way in traffic, or impede faster motorized traffic by riding too far out in traffic and endanger their lives with these dangerous and poor driving skills. Any of these poor driving skills could prove deadly if a bicyclist should run into a motorist not paying attention or who is not as highly skilled such as motorcyclists generally are.

Many bicyclists simply endanger their lives with their poor driving skills. If they cannot begin to show some improvement very soon and begin to reduce their high yearly death and injury rates, then lawmakers might have to consider some sort of licensing system which would not only improve rider safety through education, but will provide some tax revenue for the roads that bicyclists now use for free and do not contribute to the basic repair of.

Bicycling can be a fun form of transportation, or it can be dangerous and potentially deadly. If bicyclists would simply wear a helmet and follow the basic road rules, they can make a huge difference in their own safety and make their use of a bicycle less annoying to many motorists. Bicyclists need to start taking some real action to reduce their role as the worst hazzard on the road and the worst danger to themselves on the road.

Idaho's Larry Craig The Latest Chapter In Right Wing Hypocrisy

The latest situation involving Idaho's very conservative Republican Senator Larry Craig is another good example of right wing hypocrisy. For years, Craig was known as a sharp critic of Gay rights and other "family issue" morality issues in the U.S. Senate. But a damning police report as well as Craig pleading guilty to the equivalent of lewd acts in a public place seem to indicate that Craig is yet another of conservative moral shortcomings and hypocrisy.

Why any man would engage in weird conduct in a public men's room is outrageous and simply not the place to express homosexual conduct. Most Gay men express their sexuality in much more normal ways than Craig chose to use according to the damning police report which sounded downright "creepy" according to former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough in a news interview.

Once again another member of Congress has disgraced the institution with awful personal conduct.

FOX's ANCHORWOMAN Joins The TV Hall Of Shame As Only Airing Once Before Cancellation

FOX made history this past week, when the simply awful new reality series, ANCHORWOMAN, about a blonde bikini model who became a news anchor at a Tyler, Texas TV station was cancelled after only one airing. Very few TV shows have ever been so bad as to face a one airing cancellation. The ratings were simply awful for this show compared to other FOX programs which have proven much wider popularity in recent years to establish FOX as a major contender.

As far as the performance of this model, she was friendly enough, but a fellow female newscaster felt that she was unqualified to anchor the news. As a whole, she wasn't completely awful, but the show certainly had no audience appeal.

During the 1950's, of all persons, Jackie Gleason who used to call himself "the great one", faced a one show cancellation after a game show of his failed. But his later shows all proved to be major hits by comparison.

Maybe the worst TV show of all time that was cancelled after just one showing was a terrible British comedy where Hitler and Eva Braun move in next door to a Jewish couple. This disgusting premise both angered the public as well as drew only a few viewers. It was perhaps the worst idea ever for a TV show.

ANCHORWOMAN is proof positive that not every TV show goes on to become a big hit or can even draw an audience. Some shows simply lack the magic required to click with viewers.

Senator Warner's Plan To Pressure Iraqi Government Probably Won't Work

After his latest visit to Iraq, veteran Republican Senator John Warner is proposing a token cutback of 5,000 U.S. tropps by December to pressure the Shitte dominated government which is on a month long vacation in August to make the needed political reforms and changes. But likely this will not work.

Iran likely has made enough political overatures towards Iraq that Tehran can provide any military or financial aid to the Sunni dominated Iraqi government that even if the U.S. was gone, would make little difference. Iran has proven the ability to reverse engineer a wide variety of arms, and may be able to provide the Shiites with arms far beyond what the U.S. provides to crush the Sunni minority if the U.S. was gone.

What is really needed in Iraq is a secular and inclusive government, much like what Iraq had under the past leadership of Dr. Ayad Allawi. A lobby and law fim headed by Haley Barbour, former GOP head, is hoping to bring Allawi back into power for example.

Senator John Warner, like most Americans is disgusted with Iraq. But there needs to be a wholesale change in the government there. Iran still waits in the wings to take advantage of the situation and pick up the pieces in the absence of any international forces there to police matters.

The American role in Iraq cannot be openended for sure. But on the other hand, Iran should not be allowed to exploit the nation's weaknesses and fuel more sectarian war between the Shiite and Sunni community either.

Camel Even Names Their New Cigarette For Women After A Murder Weapon: The Stiletto

Leave it up to a R.J. Reynolds, the producer of Camel cigarettes to choose to name their new slim cigarette for women after a weapon historically used to commit murders; the stiletto. Already, U.S. Rep. Lois Capps(D-CA) and 40 members of Congress have voiced their concerns to 11 magazines for women urging them to discontine running ads for Camel No.9 cigarettes and other new cigarettes that hope to hook women on the deadly drug addiction to nicotine. Some women believe that smoking keeps them slim, but especially so when their bodies are eaten alive by cancer and they are reduced down to just a few pound before dying a horrible and painful death that cigarettes create.

R.J. Reynolds and similiar death merchants have no desire to stop marketing deadly new products to create new drug addicts to buy their products. In cases where the settlement with tobacco bans advertising attached to a publication that many young readers read, some tobacco companies beat this settlement by enclosing colorful printed material on card stock thaty is not actually affixed to the publication. This is nothing but playing lawyer tricks with the intent of the tobacco settlement in limitations on advertising.

Some medical evidence suggests that women may even be more likely to develop certain cancers than men, which makes it especially insidous that this new demographic is being targeted by the tobacco death merchants. Despite all of the serious evidence of cigarette injury and damage to both users and nonusers alike, this industry has no intent to stop finding new markets to increase their sales. This industry often owns other products such as food, and should really concentrate on those more healthy markets instead of the promotion of death through nicotine drug addiction.

Bush Makes An Absurd Comparison With Iraq And Vietnam

Today Bush offered an absurd comparison with Iraq and Vietnam if the U.S. withdrawals too quickly. Besides no one from from the Bush family serving in either Iraq or Vietnam, the comparison is absurd based on the threat. Both are a form of civil war, except that the Shiite dominated government of Nouri al-Maliki that the U.S. supports is the problem.

If a bloodbath takes place after the U.S. withdrawals from Iraq, then it will be from this government that the U.S. is supporting that fails to stop the sectarian violence against the Sunni community and fails to prevent the ongoing Sunni violence as well is the problem. If the uncooperative government in Iraq is the roadblock to peace in Iraq, then maybe the U.S. should have prevented such a government from taking power in a nation not yet ready for democracy.

The "Surge" Continues To Fail For Those In Iraq

While American deaths have dropped somewhat since March in Iraq as a result of the "surge" and supporters of the "surge" cling on to this as some sign of the "surge" working, the honest fact is that the deaths of those in Iraq only continues to worsen. Last month, 1,641 Iraqi deaths were noted by the official count by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which often understates the number of Sunni deaths.

If the role of the U.S. in Iraq is for the people of Iraq, then shouldn't any sign of progress be a reduction in the deaths of those living in Iraq. Any claims that the "surge" is working that don't include the increasing deaths of those living in Iraq is clearly not an honest evaluation.

New AMC Gremlin Diecast From Johnny Lightning

A hot brand AMC Gremlin diecast is just now appearing on Ebay and soon at dealers across America. One Ebay dealer Diecast-713, a specialist is fine diecast automobiles on Ebay is one of the very first dealers in the U.S. to offer this great new AMC Gremlin collectable. This model is of a 1972 prostock drag racing Gremlin. Some of the 1970's prostocks like the one from Wally Booth were able to do crowd pleasing wheelstands back in those days.

In recent times, the unusual little Gremlin from AMC has seen a revival as one of the great unique cars from the 1970's and has seen a steady rise in collector's price values. The car was first launched on April Fool's Day in 1970 as a 1971 model. It was created by cutting a foot and a half from the compact Hornet cars. The little Gremlin was the first modern Volkswagon sized automobile from Detroit, predating the Pinto by Ford and Vega by Chevrolet by months, and lower in price than either car at just $1,879 for the basic model. But while both the Pinto and Vega were mainly four cylinder cars, except for those modified with a V8, the little Gremlins were strangely overpowered by AMC with much bigger 6 cylinder and V8 engines. This endeared these cars to those who like a little car with plenty of power. Both the unusual "chopper" half wagon body design and overpowered engines made Gremlins a draw with fans.

In the last few years an explosion of new diecast Gremlins from Johnny Lightning as well as Motor Max have hit the market and delighted Gremlin fans. The Fresh Cherries line from Motor Max has revived a whole number of great 1970's cars including the Pinto, Vega, AMC Matador, Ford Maverick, AMC Hornet and many more classic Detroit iron. Motor Max even revived the dying tradition of model car building with some excellent 1/24th scale diecast metal model kits of the Gremlin. For any guy around 50 or older, model car building is something of a lost art from their childhood during the 1960's. Model car building took a huge turn for the better when AMT began to add engines to their 1/25th scale line of cars and "3 in 1" kits soon followed, where the builder could build the car either stock, custom or racing. Usually the custom or racing extras were just too good to ignore, and probably most of the cars ended up being built this way. The Motor Max metal model kits can only be built as stock, and are more similiar to the old pre60's models from AMT.

As the kids from the 50's, 60's and 70's age, they can't help but be impressed with the small market revival of some model kits and diecasts of the cars they loved as kids. Sometimes being an aging babyboomer is not half bad.

Obama Plans To Cut Back On Democratic Debate Appearances

The campaign of Democrat Senator Barack Obama may claim that it's only a move meant to free up more time for campaign appearances, yet for other political analyists, it may spell real trouble in the Obama campaign that there are plans to cut back on his Democratic debate appearances. The fact of the matter is that the youth and inexperience of the young senator has shown up in every debate performance so far with Hillary Clinton, and Obama's numbers only seem to have tumbled with each performance. Obama's handlers may feel that exposure by only himself to audiences to prevent comparative analysis by the voters may be a new strategy, but it is also a possible bad sign that the Obama campaign is running into serious problems appealing to enough voters to realisticly win the nomination.

Obama continues to draw big cash donation members, but simply has fallen short in every debate performance compared to Hillary Clinton each time when the two were matched up onstage. Reality must be setting into the Obama campaign that he is unlikely to win the nomination with the current strategy. Yet giving up on some debates hardly seems like a good strategy. This seems like a blowback to 1968 when Richard Nixon refused to debate Hubert Humphrey, remembering how his bad performance in 1960 narrowly cost him the election. But this hardly seems like good news for the Obama campaign. So far neither Obama or John Edwards seem to have made much inroads into the lead of Hillary Clinton other than in the area of fundraising. In polling numbers, every new debate seems to only strengthen Clinton's lead as most likely Democratic nominee. And with two quick victories in Iowa and New Hampshire early in 2008, she can easily cement the nomination for herself and eliminate her challengers.

Here's Some Way Cool Diecast From Ebay

One of my favorite sellers on Ebay just added some unusual diecast that is certainly worth bidding on. Mashinski, a Michigan dealer in fine diecast is offering this excellent replica of the 1958 Messershmitt Figer TG500 Sun Star at auction #190142119586 and is certainly worth the opening $9.95 bid asking price.

After WWII, Messershmitt slowly climbed back into production by building strange little automobiles while BMW was involved in the strange Isetta cars, where the only door was on the front of the car and you had to connect the steering to drive the car. I once rode in one of these cars. A strange but enjoyable experience.

For post WWII, Germany it was some stumbling attempts to rebuild their war damaged imdustrial base of the nation with these strange experiments in automobile design. Both cars had some real shortcomings, but are interesting curious history vehicles. The Messershmitt is especially an interesting design and this diecast replica is more than worthwhile to bid on and claim for your very own. You could do worse things today.

The Problems At The Utah Nonunion Mine Only Grow Worse

Unknown to many persons was that among the dead from last week's doomed rescue attempt was a federal mine safety inspector. I can't think of any worse way to impress federal mine safety officials then to have an inspector killed while observing safety conditions at the mine.

There are also some unconfirmed rumors that possiby the mine did not file plans with the federal safety agency for some of the "retreat" mining activity from someone with close knowledge of this mining company. However, this is not public information yet, and has not been confirmed by the federal mining regulators yet, and is only a potential news tip to me.

For legal reasons, I will not name this company by specific name, as the official federal report has not yet been issued as to the causes of the accident. But I will report any authoritive rumors and information from unnamed sources with close knowledge of the mining company and management and only speak in generic terms about the accident as taking place in a nonunion Utah mine. But once the official federal report is out, I will offer more open commentary on this subject. Since this involves sensitive issues such as worker deaths or potential major issues for management, I feel that this is the most responsible way to handle this tragic matter.

Elvis Is Still Dead

Yesterday, marked 30 years since the death of Elvis Presley at the young age of 42. Yet it was a wholly preventable death as he overused prescription drugs as well as engaged in a highly destructive diet. At some point, family members have an obligation to prevent a family member from killing themselves with an unhealthy lifestyle. The alternative is what happened to Elvis; an untimely death at an early age. Think about it.

Is Dr. D. James Kennedy The AntiChrist?

A new outrageous spam Email is circulating worldwide by a self=proclaimed 27 yesr old prophet from Zambia claiming among other things, that right wing televangelist, Dr. D. James Kennedy is the AntiChrist. But is there ant truth to this?

Certainly in the text of the Bible some references to the Devil or Satan involved mere wrong interpretation of God's Word in Scripture, not a proposal of evil of some sort. But is mere wrong interpretation of Scripture grounds to claim that some preacher is the AntiChrist? Not likely.

Dr. D. James Kennedy, a former dance instructor turned head of a $37 million dollar a year "nonprofit" religious organization that heavily involves itself in right wing politics certainly uses a form of "bait and switch" Christianity to lure persons to his organization and then diverts them into his own brand of personal politics. But this is merely spiritual deception. Members of his church or other political ganizations should be concerned if their level of spiritual discernment is so low that they cannot tell the differnce between learning about God or learning about politics.

Certainly D. James Kennedy advances some disturbing opinons as well, most notably that the U.S. is "Christian nation", when the nation was in fact founded on the concept of religious freedom for all, but largely by a group of early Christians known as the Pilgrims.

And D. James Kennedy often raises funds by appeals to right wing passions when he has not proven the ability to even impact his own neighborhood. For example, he continues to rail against homosexuality and pornography, yet one of the nation's largest mail-order Gay adult video businesses operates right in his own community, as well as many other Gay or adult entertainment oriented businesses. And on abortion, Kennedy has hardly had much impact on slowing the availability of legal abortion in his community either. At some point, contributors to Kennedy must realize that he is merely a huckster who makes broad claims about being able to impact social concerns of his contributors if you send him milions of dollars in donations, but has little proven track record of any success, even in his own community.

So Kennedy is certainly not any AntiChrist by any means, but just some politico huckster who uses religion to advance his fundraising and political ambitions. Just another bad figure on the religious right who use God for their own fundraising purposes and will have to answer to God someday for all of this.

More Don Imus Fallout

Reportedly, CBS has agreed to pay radio shock jock, Don Imus, $20 million dollars to settle his breach of contract and wrongful termination case against CBS after they bent over to the demands of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson after he made a joke about the tough, competitive appearance of the Rutgers's Women's Basketball Team. In the contract with CBS, Imus was encouraged to be edgy and make outrageous and controversial comments for comedy value, but was then wrongfully terminated for doing his job.

In another development, a member of the Rutger's Women's Basketball Team has filed a lawsuit against Don Imus claiming her reputation was damaged by his controversial on-air joke. However since a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Hustler Magazine, the court expanded the legal protections of free expression to offer wider protections against libel and other claims for material classified as comedy or satire. Further, since the plaintiff was not specifically named in the Imus joke, then it is very difficult to contend damage to her reputation as well. With no real legal grounds for this lawsuit to proceed, it likely faces a very quick dismissal by a judge. And the plaintiff may even be forced to pay the court costs of Imus if the suit is ruled to be highly frivolous enough in nature by a judge in some court districts as well. Any lawsuit should be well reasoned before being filed or could backfire on the plaintiff.

Conservatives Fear Any Revival Of The Fairness Doctrine

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan ended a principle known as the Fairness Doctrine which meant that any opinions presented over the public airwaves were subject to offering time to counter opinions. Since that time there has been a growth of right wing radio such as Rush Limbaugh that often presents half-truths, misrepresentations and outright falsehoods without any real counter opinions to set the record straight.

All of this has helped to spur calls to bring back the Fairness Docrine to give a fair opportunity to other sides of arguments to respond to some unfair and one-sided opinions that paint liberals, progressives and others in a unfair negative light with gross misrepresentations of their views or records if they are elected officials.


Today, HUMAN EVENTS is sending out Emails from Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.d, President of The Heritage Foundation claiming that any return to the Fairness Doctrine could bring about the death of conservative talk radio and comparing fairness in allowing any side to respond to censorship with a graphic. This is nonsense. Is any opinion is a good one, built on good facts, then it can withstand a factual challenge.

If some opinions can only stand on their own by eliminating opposing opinions, then it should be quickly assumed that these opinions were not all that good and sturdy to begin with. Any return of the Fairness Doctrine should be no threat to reasonable and good opinions founded on solid fact.

China's Distain For Taiwan Independence Cements Ties To A Former Soviet Republic

The government of China's strong antiTaiwan independence sentiments seem to drive the new cooperative relationship of China and the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. The president of this largely Muslim state issued some strongly worded statements that echo China's oppposition to a two China's policy, and Kyrgyzstan promised international support in blocking any entry of Taiwan into international organizations that reflect stateship by nations as members.

Little Kyrgzstan can use the economic support for it's small 5.2 milion person nation that a relationship with China will bring. But buying this friendship by helping to foster an ongoing conflict with China and Taiwan is not a good path. Both countries should be free to manage their own affairs as independent entities with their own economies and government.

Kyrgzstan's government has been plagued with political assasinations and connections to competing organized crime organizations among many of the goverment members, and is hardly any role model of an effectively run nation. Like other former Soviet republics, little Kyrgzstan struggles to find it's own identity as a nation and to effectively manmage both their own government and build a successful economy. Whether this new, closer relationship to China will bring the needed improvements to this nation is yet to be seen.

Tommy Thompson's Exit From GOP Race Has Some Important Messages

Certainly Tommy Thompson lacked charisma as far as potential presidential candidates go. But he was also a serious mainstream conservative with decent credentials who sought to offer some serious and workable proposals on issues such as health care compared to the single issue fringe candidates of the far right who ran almost solely against abortion or illegal immigration. The Republican Party candidates for president will have to seriously look at where they want to bring their party this year. Do they want to foster a group of single issue candidates and spur and harvest these type of voters and prove that they are incapable of being serious candidates for president, or do they want to prove that they could actually rule the country if elected?

Certainly the major candidates such Giuliani, McCain and Romney are running better quality campaigns that the smaller fringe issue candidates such as Huckabee, Brownback or others who seem to be running only issue pro-life campaigns, antiGay marriage, or others with anti-illegal immigration campaigns. But the message to the larger group of all voters is that many of the candidates in the GOP race are not really ready for prime time and make the average lower tier Democratic campaign by even the likes of Dennis Kucinich look like a professional and broadbased issue effort by comparison.

The GOP must seriously consider where they want to define their party by appealing largely to fringe single issue voters this year. But some are not well serving their party very well at this point by attracting the wrong type of voters to the party. And Tommy Thompson's exit is that of one serious candidate in a mostly foolish field.

Serious issues like health care, Iraq, terrorism, etc. all require serious answers and serious candidates.

Food Imports From Mexico, India and the Dominican Republic Top The List With The Most Safety Violations

While China has received some bad PR recently for some of their imports, it has been the food imports from Mexico, India and the Dominican Republican that actually top the list with the most safety issues according to U.S. Food And drug Administration statistics within the last 12 months. l,099 food products from Mexico, including candy made with filty conditions or packaging and cantalopes with salmonella, amonmg other products have been the subject of violations within the last year. India imports many spices to the U.S. and again salmonella has been a concern with a reported 902 violations in the last 12 months. And the Dominican Republic sends in many vegetables, with pesticide concerns often present in the reported number of 785 food safety violations.

Some other nations such as Vietnam, Canada, Italy, Indonesia, Brazil Thailand also have fairly significant numbers of imported food safety violations according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration statistics in the last 12 months. And of course many American products made with spinach or other scares have alse been recalled as well due to health concerns.

2008 Olympics May Help Clean Up Chinese Pollution Problem

The world will be putting China under a magnifying glass in the coming months as the Olympic near one year from now. And the serious problem of Chinese air pollution due to their very rapid industrialization remains a huge problem that the Chinese government will likely make huge inroads against before the Olympics start.

The easy answer would be for the government to order many factories closed during the Olympics, however a better bet will new pollution curbs to clean up the air quality, which is now as deadly to a child in many Chinese cities as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. 400,000 persons die each year from air pollution related illnesses. Such air quality is hardly fit to stage summer Olympic events in. However, the government will likely surprise the world community by some crash programs to improve the air quality as well as order some factories closed around the actual Olympic time as well.

The world community expects real action by China on this serious matter. And the people of China will likely respond with some real solutions to salvage their reputation and prove to the world that they are responsible society that wants very much to be among the most respected nations in the world.

Hillary Clinton Leads In All State Polls; Giuliani In All But Iowa

In current state polls from Iowa, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton holds a prohibitively large lead in all the polls, easily outdistancing both Barack Obama and John Edwards. Rudolph Giuliani leads in all those states except Iowa, where he loses to a heavy effort by Mitt Romney to make a decent showing in this early causas state.

Most importantly, John Edwards seems to have little coattails strength in Florida, where his role as the only candidate from the South seems to have no impact. And Barack Obama seems to be drwaing insufficient strength from African-American voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania to wrest the race from Clinton as well.

Giuliani ssems to have poll strengths in all regions of the country, despite serious character or political leanings doubts among many GOP voters.

It is highly likely that both Clinton and Giuliani will easily wrap up their party nominations, although Giuliani could suffer from a third party challenge from the right wing, and Clinton could face a strong left wing third party candidate that could drain her votes as well making it a very close race in 2008, with Clinton probably able to win the election by a tight margin.

Iowa Straw Poll Will Likely Winnow GOP Hopefuls

Although the Ames straw poll tomorrow is Iowa is little more than a fundraiser for the Iowa Republican Party, and campaigns are busing in their voters and paying their $35 fee to vote, and giving them free entertainment, meals or other gifts, it will still help to winnow down the GOP hopefuls somewhat and could force a few to leave the race after a poor showing. Mitt Romney has invested the most in the Iowa effort, and should see a positive PR bounce from the newsmedia after his big expected win tomorrow.

But for marginal candidates like Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter and Tommy Thompson, it could spell near curtains to their campaigns. Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul and John Cox all need a good showing to survive their lower tier campaign efforts as long shot entries in the GOP nomination sweepstakes.

National poll leader, Rudolph Giuliani will skip the poll. And John McCain even refered to the straw poll as a mere "scam". And in the end, Fred Thompson probably won't get off the fence and actually run because it would involve an effort that he is not willing to put in to run for office.

The Iowa straw poll looks sort of like a causas or primary, but certainly is not. It should be meaningless, especially when the campaigns pay to vote, but will still receive more media attention than this event really deserves.

Fred Thompson's Lazy "Noncampaign" Slides In Polls

On Sunday, Fred Thompson missed yet another opportunity to enter into the Republican debates if he really was a serious candidate for president, but of course he is not. Unlike the other Republican candidates who are willing to put in a tough effort of wearing down shoe leather, meeting with voters, giving speeches and preparing for an upcoming debate, Thompson has so far run a very lazy effort from just a website.

Thompson has been condemned by critics before for having a terrible work ethic. And it will be by early February that both the Democratic and Republican nominations will be settled. Any serious candidate for president simply does not have the time to putter around as important footwork for the Iowa causas and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary must be done. By time the South Carolina primary comes, both the Democratic and Republican nominess should be set in stone for the 2008 general election, and Hillary Clinton and Rudlph Giuliani could have both nominations locked up at the time and begin trading shots for the general election free-for-all by then.

A few weeks ago in June, Thompson's support peaked at about 28% among voters according to the authoritive Rasmussen polling data, but has since sunk below that of Rudolph Giuliani to 24% in the latest polling data out today by Rasmussen. About the same time that Thompson's support peaked, he engaged Michael Mooore in a lazy debate from his office with a cheap web cam and was too lazy to take the cigar out of his mouth while exchanging a few select insults. His attack on Moore won him some support amomg conservatives at the time, but as the weeks passed by, and Thompson missed more debate opportunities such as the one on Sunday, and some potential Thompson voters might just be finally getting it that he's not really a serious candidate for president. Even maverick Republican Ron Paul has put in a far better effort so far to win a hopeless GOP nomination.

The fact of the matter is that many GOP voters do not like Giuliani on either the issues or his character. Thompson has a real chance to shore up the conservative wing of his party, but has so far proven himself to be an extremely poor candidate. Thompson simply seems to lack the work ethic required to win the presidency, just as his critics have long figured. So far Thompson is simply not proving to be the "Right Wing" savior for some in the GOP as some have hoped. If Thompson really wants the Republican nomination, then he certainly needs to get busy in the next few days. By the first of September it may well be too late to build a credible effort in Iowa, New Hamshire and South Carolina as Romney and others are firmly entrenced with strong organizations in all three early primary ans causas states.

New Study Disproves "Birdbrains" Myths

The old sayings about birdbrains don't appear to be true. A new study done by a scientist wearing a caveman mask who gave some crows a hard time proves that they can recognize human faces and argue and heckle those that give them a hard time and that crows can hold grudges.

The study is an important new proof that birds are a more highly intelligent animal than first believed and fuels more pressures for persons to protect bird life and become vegans.

It also seems that the glass cleaner ad where the crows play pranks on the human by closing the glass door may be more true to life than previously thought.

There's Still Great People Out There

Last wek when my father suffered a fatal massive stroke, 911 firemen offered what help that they could before declaring him dead. Yesterday, some average citizens again offered me help when I was involved in a sudden and unexpected motor scooter accident when the front wheel bearing malfunctioned and caused the bike to throw me over the handlebars on a city street. By good fortune, this happened across the street from a fellow biker who drives a motorcycle. This is brotherhood among those on two wheels, they picked the bike up off me as I got run over by my own bike and it landed on me. There was a lot of blood, and today I can count at least 16 injuries. And their kind help to offer me bandages to stop the bleeding until I could baby the damaged bike home and get the car to drive to the doctor was much appreciated.

Folks didn't just come out to see how bad I was injured, like some sort of free show. But they offered me real help. I'm very grateful to their kindness. And beyond the brotherhood of a fellow biker assisting another, local residents were great at offering genuine help to an injured motorist.

I have one leg that is pretty bad after it got run over by the bike as well as twisted in the accident and I can hardly walk on it anmong the 16 injuries I have today. It will take a few days for the more serious injuries to heal. Not the best way to spend my 52nd birthday.

Sometimes some are concerned that civility is dead. But I say that plenty of great folks still exist. God bless them all.