For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in where she purchased the coffee. That's right. These are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts that happened during 2006. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. Here are the "Stellas" for the past year: To kick things off the right way, there was a three-way tie for 5th place. Kathleen Robertson was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict considering the running toddler was Ms. Robertson's son. Also in 5th place is Carl Truman, 19, who won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps. Go ahead. Grab your head scratcher. The last of the 5th place winners was Terrence Dickson, who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to subsist for eight -- count 'em, 8! -- days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more. Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the "Stellas" when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch. 3rd place went to Amber Carson because a jury ordered a restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on soft drink and broke her tailbone (coccyx). The reason the soft drink was on the floor? Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there, there are only two more Stellas to go. 2nd place goes to Kara Walton after she sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000 and... oh, yeah dental expenses. Go figure. Finally (may I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please) this year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home - from an OU football game, no less - having driven on to the free way, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Don't look so incredulous. Remember, we're talking about Oklahoma here. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The jury awarded her -- you are sitting down, right? -- $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit. Just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might buy a motor home.

Last year, 2006, it was estimated that over 50 million foreign tourists visited our country. They spent over $138 billion. Now, that's no small potatoes and www.FairTax.org explains how we can get a huge chunk of that money to help us pay our federal taxes. You understand, of course, that the more people there are paying tax on American goods purchased, the less we Americans have to come up with. And if tourists are involved, that's certainly a great possible Fed "cash cow". If the Congress institutes the federal consumption tax, exactly as described in the FairTax book, this is a no brainer. (Available at any good bookstore.) It would also involve the repealing of: corporate taxes, gift taxes, the estate tax, capital gains taxes, Medicare taxes, the individual income tax in all its forms including the alternative minimum tax, self-employment tax, and Social Security taxes. All these would go away and be replaced by a simple nation-wide sales tax. In other words, all present federal income taxes would be replaced with a federal consumption tax. Moreover, the tourists will become directly involved, yet would not know the difference because prices would remain the same. So when a tourist rented a car, purchased a meal, or bought camera film, he'd be adding money to our tax base. Can you imagine foreigners paying federal taxes on the 138,000 billion they spend here? Can you imagine all the illegal drug money being taxed? Can you imagine all the cash made by illegals being taxed as soon as it reaches a cash register? And as a result of tourists paying federal sales tax, illegals paying, and the drug money thrown in, the Tax rate would be much lower then the predicted 25% they will start with. The more people paying into it, the less we will have to pay, as is explained in the book. Get a copy, you will be impressed, so impressed --- you will ask everyone to read it. This is an idea ten years in the making. It's time has come. Please do your part to help it along. Get a copy of the Fair Tax book, get excited, then spread the word.

One beautiful morning, Rush Limbaugh was playing golf at his favorite course, the impossibly exclusive Gold Doubloons and Pieces of Eight Links. A gorgeous blonde caddy gently drew near, followed by a large, rough-looking man with a bristling beard. She smiled at Rush, causing him to forget about golf - but only for a moment. “Mister Limbaugh?” Her voice was a sweet song. He champed down on his ever present cigar and, scowling intently at his putter, replied, “Yeah, Melody. What can I do for you?” “There’s a gentleman here who wishes to speak to you, Sir... please allow me to introduce the world famous fisherman, Alaska Al.” The men met, shook hands, then sighed, as together they watched Melody gracefully glide away, her tiny caddy uniform barely containing her soft, firm curves. As it turns out, Alaska Al wanted to trade a day on the golf course for a day of fishing at his secret location off the coast of Alaska. Called Jurassic Park, it held the promise of great excitement with fish so huge that the only other place they were found was in Heaven. Rush quickly agreed, and Melody was called back to witness the I.O.U. scrawled on the back side of a golf score card by Al. It guaranteed Rush a day of excellent fishing and promised to be a welcome break from the humdrum of golf. But, in spite of his momentary excitement at the prospect of doing something worthwhile (fishing) instead of wasting his time (golf), Rush stuffed the I.O.U. away and forgot about it. Several years later, his new cleaning lady, a beautiful blonde, flowed up and smiled, “Mister Limbaugh?” Her voice had the warble of a song bird. Rush looked up from his copy of Jude Wanniski’s book, The Way the World Works, and growled, “Yeah, Melody, what can I do for you?” “Sir, I found this. It fell out of an old golf bag.” It was Alaska Al’s I.O.U., tattered but still in one piece, still as good as gold. The story continues, but I stop here to make the point: no matter that the I.O.U. was years old, it still had the same worth as the day it was written. It hadn’t inflated, deflated, floated, or any of the other things that happen when money is involved. This comparison shows something is wrong with our dollars. Our monetary system should be at least as sound and reliable as that promissory note. We shouldn’t have to tolerate our money becoming worth less from day to day and year to year. Its value should be at least as solid over time as the I.O.U. written by Alaska Al.

I wrote this when Molly was still alive. I miss you Molly, even though I didn't agree with you a lot of the time. Molly Ivins is usually one of left’s less hateful columnists. So I was surprised at this astonishingly nasty little comment: The $70 billion tax cut is part of a continuing right-wing fantasy going back to the Laffer Curve. Of course, clinging to demonstrably false economic precepts is understandable when you benefit from them, but at some point reality does intervene. Pretty obvious who’s fantasizing once you understand the Laffer Curve. She fails to wrap her brain around this fact: if taxes are raised too high, the government will collect less money. This is easy to understand and is the point of the Laffer Curve. As a nationally syndicated columnist, Ivins sits at the center of a liberal hive with a large audience happily buzzing around her, but which doesn’t know squat about basic economics, Arthur Laffer’s curve, or its demonstrated success historically. She is dangerously ignorant because of her influence. The fact is that the rich and successful have always found ways to avoid paying taxes when they’re confiscatory. The higher the tax rate the greater the incentive to use weaknesses and loopholes in the tax code or to quietly, simply cheat – an added risk of doing business. Reasonable taxes, however, are willingly paid by companies and their owners. President Bush knows this and has lowered taxes, resulting in the good economy we have at present. But he has had to fight liberals every step of the way who, under the influence of clueless queen bees such as Ivins, clamor for ever higher taxes and more government. I ask you to support the president on this, and encourage him to stay the course. Our goal is low taxes and a stable non-inflating dollar. In history, this has always resulted in prosperity and will do so again today. Let Molly Ivins and her readers find something else to hiss about. Grimgold

We used to have doctors that actually liked people. They had a passion to help others, to heal the sick, to be of service. No more. Today’s doctors like money. They go to medical school because of money. They serve their internships because of money. They “stack” their patients because of money. If you insist on spending more than 20 minutes with one, he’ll become nervous and irritated because secretly he wants to get to his next patient. And if he works out of an office, it’s jammed with people. This isn’t because he’s popular but because he “stacks’ his patients, causing a backlog. This way if there is a cancellation he can easily fill the hole in his schedule, and keep a continuous flow of patients helping him make his next Mercedes payment. Doctors aren’t interested in cures or preventative medicine; they’re interested in the cash that comes from illness. For this reason you’ll seldom hear the word nutrition spoken with any real seriousness. Instead you’ll get pills to swallow. Lots of pills. Expensive pills. But what astounds me is I keep bumping into people who are well acquainted with doctors and their drugs but know very little about nutrition. The basics of nutrition are: vitamins, minerals / trace elements, and Omega fatty acids. Depending on who you read and listen to, it’s estimated that proper nutrition will prevent 80% of illnesses. The principle: if given the proper materials, the body will always try to rebuild itself, to heal itself. Nutrition builds health. How To Begin Vitamins. You get what you pay for in vitamins. Spend the money and get vegetable derived ones. For example, you want your calcium from broccoli, not clam shells, your vitamin C from rose hips, not ascorbic acid. Whole Foods sells excellent vitamins. Go and ask. Study. Minerals and trace elements. We need small amounts of chromium, zinc, selenium, etc. I buy kelp powder and make my own pills. Kelp (seaweed) contains all of the trace elements. Kelp tablets are available, but they aren’t nearly as good. Omega fatty acids. I purchase fish oil pills at Costco and swallow one each day with food. There is lots else, of course, such as getting enough fiber (vegetables) in your diet, cutting sugar, and spending time reducing stress. But if you begin with the three above, then get on the net and learn about nutrition, your doctor will have to find someone else to pay his golf course green fees. Remember: the body will always try to heal itself; it needs the proper materials to do so. Nutrition builds health. Grimgold

In 1980, after Von Reagan's two faces won the White House, a SNL-like sketch show called "Fridays" mocked his overt-Fascist ass. The skit was called, "The Ronnie Reagan Horror Show." |If you're a kid, here's a chance to see what TV looked like before lefty Hollywood went all gelding on "fighting the system." If you're old enough to remember hating Nixon, you'll love it. The best news is - you'll know if the first minute if you'll want to sit thru the next 16 minutes of the best sketch ever. Plus it's killer but it's rated G. Get Grandma & the kids, everybody will like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sVAslUphUQ It's been my favorite skit for 27 years.

And no one in any responsible capacity has called anyone "unpatriotic" just for criticizing America. Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed during the last Democratic presidential debate that the Defense Department called her "unpatriotic" for asking whether the Defense Department has a plan to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Yet the term "unpatriotic" was not only not used in the response to the senator, it was not even hinted at. The fact remains that the term "Islamophobia" has one purpose – to suppress any criticism, legitimate or not, of Islam. And given the cowardice of the Western media, and the collusion of the left in banning any such criticism (while piling it on Christianity and Christians), it is working. for more: Why 'Islamophobia' is a brilliant term Dennis Prager explains how label compares critics to anti-Semites, racists

A couple arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts at a July 4, 2004 speech in Charleston, West Virginia by President Bush (R-Chickenshit) have won their lawsuit against the White House. This is typical Bush Administration paranoia. Sometimes the Constitution wins out in the end. Check it out. http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc082007

What Freedom Of Speech Means To Muslims (The U.S. Edition) By The Stiletto (bio) Following the riots in Denmark over cartoons depicting Mohammed, death threats against Pope Benedict XVI – accompanied by a nun’s murder and firebombings of several churches – over an obscure reference in a lecture, and fears of violence that caused the Deutsche Oper in Berlin to cancel performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo, The Stiletto observed: [W]hether Muslims are in the majority or minority, living in a Western nation or in the Middle East, governed under laws that are secular or Islamic, “moderate” or fundamentalist they are all too often hostile to free speech rights. Battles over freedom of thought and expression are not just occurring in Europe, which woke up to the threat of “Sharia creep” too late. Muslims are now waging their global jihad against free speech in the U.S., using any means necessary to intimidate and silence people. † Herndon, VA: CAIR Threatens Lawsuit Over Speech Robert Spencer, who runs the JihadWatch.org Web site had been invited to give a speech on “The Truth about the Council on American-Islamic Relations” at the 29th National Conservative Student Conference, Young America’s Foundation. The day before his August 2nd speech, YAF president Ron Robinson received a fax from CAIR attorney Joseph E. Sandler threatening to sue if Spencer’s speech was not yanked from the program: “You should be aware that Mr. Spencer, a well-known purveyor of hatred and bigotry against Muslims, has a history of false and defamatory statements. Several of those statements have falsely accused CAIR of activity that would constitute a federal offense.” … “For these reasons, we demand that YAF cancel the subject session (at which Spencer is speaking), or else take steps to ensure that false and defamatory statements are not disseminated at that session. Our clients have instructed us to pursue every available and appropriate legal remedy to redress any false and defamatory statements that are made at the session. Please let us know by the close of business today whether you intend to comply with these requests.” Noting that the threatening letter does not cite even one “false and defamatory statement” by Spencer, investigative journalist Joel Mowbray points out that this is hardly the first time CAIR has sought to stifle free speech in America: For years, CAIR has attempted to stifle debate and prevent inquiry into the domestic spread of radical Islam. Conservative columnist Cal Thomas was the latest target, when CAIR attempted to drum him out of his role as an official commentator at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C. The group was emboldened by its success in the same city two years earlier, when it got then-Disney-owned WMAL to can talk host Michael Graham. Similar such smear campaigns are legion. … Political commentator and University of North Carolina (Wilmington) criminology professor Mike Adams writes: This notion of preventing “offense” by forcing people to relinquish their First Amendment Rights is itself offensive. Certainly, when one of my Muslim friends offends me - by forcing his wife to leave the room without speaking as soon as I come over - I just let it go. But maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I should start my own organization called CAIRS, The Council Against Islamic Repression and Sexism. Adams urges people to join him “in the fight against Muslim censors (and the lawyers who love them)” by contacting Sandler (sandler@sandlerreiff.com; 202-479-1111) to “tell him to stop helping Muslim extremists wage a Jihad against the First Amendment in the United States of America.” In case you’re wondering, Spencer spoke as scheduled. Says YAF spokesperson Jason Mattera, “CAIR picked the wrong group to bully and intimidate.” † Oakland, CA: Newspaper Editor Gunned Down In The Street In a scene eerily reminiscent of Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink’s assassination in broad daylight on an Istanbul street by a hate-filled teenage boy who got caught up in Turkey’s Nationalist movement, black journalist Chauncey Bailey was shot in broad daylight on an Oakland street by a hate-filled teenage boy who got caught up in the radical Black Muslim group. In his confession, 19-year-old Devaughdre Broussard told detectives he considered himself “a good soldier” when he killed Chauncey Bailey for writing negative stories about Your Black Muslim Bakery, reports Inside Bay Area, adding: Go to Stiletto for rest of story

I am feeling better and I might get my computer back tomorrow. Woo Hoo! That would be cool. I also have a radio show waiting to be recorded if I can just stop coughing.

Bart, I have figured out whay all the candidates (with few exceptions) love Bush so, They ALL work for the same guy...Satan. I think you must have to sell your soul to be a candidate for president of any denomination. Whaddya think? supergraphicdude Bart says: I agree.

Link Donald Trump wants to invite Britney, Paris and Lindsay to join his monkey show. According to an interview with the New York Post’s Page Six, he’s serious.

“We're negotiating with Britney right now.” The Donald told Page Six. (Doesn’t he know that’s almost enough to get a subpoena from K-Fed’s lawyer?!) “Can you imagine her doing it? We're not sure what will happen. She's a f-ing mess. And that little reality show she had did nothing. But she likes the idea of being on television and I think she'd be great.”

Bart says: Trump know how to woo the hotties, doesn't he? Calling them "a f-ing mess" and implying they can't get a job without him?

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20326315/site/newsweek/

Now, with his former livelihood in ashes and his college degree in Arabic languages all but useless, he makes ends meet the same way his father did nearly half a century ago—as a boatman on the Tigris River. The boat itself is the very one that his father operated when Ritha was just a baby. Now it's Ritha who ferries passengers back and forth across the river, past the ruins of bridges that used to be heavy with traffic. Corpses drift with the current, many of them bound and blindfolded, and the sight of them horrifies Ritha. But every time insurgents blow up another bridge, his ferry business gets busier.

Dear Bart Cop, You know Hillary voted for this war (another obvious lack of balls). I wanted to know about the candidates views on military action with Iran. You would have to be an idiot not to. I want know, that the next President isn't going to get us in the same senseless mess of a war, as we are in Iraq. It's obvious she is your candidate but, that dosen't make her the right one. I don't read much on your site about Rep. Kucinich... your not just another media whore are you??? He's the only one that has it right. Sincerely Rudy H Bart says: I like Dennis, but people laugh when you mention his name. Besides, he's too honest to be president. BTW, on that war vote, do you hold everyone who voted yes responsible for that? I'm asking - did you vote for Kerry in 2004? Thanks for the note...

How To Reduce Your Medical Costs. We used to have doctors that actually liked people. They had a passion to help others, to heal the sick, to be of service. No more. Today’s doctors like money. They go to medical school because of money. They serve their internships because of money. They “stack” their patients because of money. If you insist on spending more than 20 minutes with one, he’ll become nervous and irritated because secretly he wants to get to his next patient. And if he works out of an office, it’s jammed with people. This isn’t because he’s popular but because he “stacks’ his patients, causing a backlog. This way if there is a cancellation he can easily fill the hole in his schedule, and keep a continuous flow of patients helping him make his next Mercedes payment. Doctors aren’t interested in cures or preventative medicine; they’re interested in the cash that comes from illness. For this reason you’ll seldom hear the word nutrition spoken with any real seriousness. Instead you’ll get pills to swallow. Lots of pills. Expensive pills. But what astounds me is I keep bumping into people who are well acquainted with doctors and their drugs but know very little about nutrition. The basics of nutrition are: vitamins, minerals / trace elements, and Omega fatty acids. Depending on who you read and listen to, it’s estimated that proper nutrition will prevent 80% of illnesses. The principle: if given the proper materials, the body will always try to rebuild itself, to heal itself. Nutrition builds health. How To Begin Vitamins. You get what you pay for in vitamins. Spend the money and get vegetable derived ones. For example, you want your calcium from broccoli, not clam shells, your vitamin C from rose hips, not ascorbic acid. Whole Foods sells excellent vitamins. Go and ask. Study. Minerals and trace elements. We need small amounts of chromium, zinc, selenium, etc. I buy kelp powder and make my own pills. Kelp (seaweed) contains all of the trace elements. Kelp tablets are available, but they aren’t nearly as good. Omega fatty acids. I purchase fish oil pills at Costco and swallow one each day with food. There is lots else, of course, such as getting enough fiber (vegetables) in your diet, cutting sugar, and spending time reducing stress. But if you begin with the three above, then get on the net and learn about nutrition, your doctor will have to find someone else to pay his golf course green fees. Remember: the body will always try to heal itself; it needs the proper materials to do so. Nutrition builds health. Grimgold

Link At a time when there are no real- istic actions on impeachment likely to spring from the U.S. House of Representatives, the concept is merely the issue out of context with the cur- rent political circumstance. It would be like asking whether the Department of Education should be abolished. The questions are pointless because neither is going to happen—certainly not any- time soon. So what is the point? Bart says: What's the point of ANY poll? To see what people are thinking - so why is Zogby so afraid? I'll bet he's asked, "Do you believe in UFOs?" but have any landed? Zogby won't ask the BIG questuion because he's afraid the answer might be 75% and then what would Bush's MSM do?