That seems to be the position of the genocide-denying Sudanese ambassador to the United States. And i love Dana Milbank's nickname for this creep -- Khartoum Karl!

Now, the genocidal Sudanese government has an entry in this category. Let's call him Khartoum Karl.

Karl -- a.k.a. John Ukec Lueth Ukec, the Sudanese ambassador to Washington -- held a news conference at the National Press Club yesterday to respond to President Bush's new sanctions against his regime. In his hour-long presentation, he described a situation in his land that bore no relation to reality.

Genocide in the Darfur region? "The United States is the only country saying that what is happening in Darfur is a genocide," Ukec shouted, gesticulating wildly and perspiring from his bald crown. "I think this is a pretext."

Ah. So what about the more than 400,000 dead? "See how many people are dying in Darfur: None," he said.

And the 2 million displaced? "I am not a statistician."

Khartoum Karl went on to say that, all evidence to the contrary, his government does not support the murderous Janjaweed militia. "It cannot happen," he said, "so rule it out." As for the Sudanese regime itself: "We are the agents of peace, people like me, my colleagues who are in the central government of Sudan."

What's more, the good and peaceful leaders of Sudan were prepared to retaliate massively: They would cut off shipments of the emulsifier gum arabic, thereby depriving the world of cola.

"I want you to know that the gum arabic which runs all the soft drinks all over the world, including the United States, mainly 80 percent is imported from my country," the ambassador said after raising a bottle of Coca-Cola.

A reporter asked if Sudan was threatening to "stop the export of gum arabic and bring down the Western world."

"I can stop that gum arabic and all of us will have lost this," Khartoum Karl warned anew, beckoning to the Coke bottle. "But I don't want to go that way."

Personally, I'm willing to give up my soda fix -- it isn't particularly good for me. i wonder, though, how my Coca-Cola swilling spouse would respond to this development? I suspect she would be in the streets demanding massive retaliation.

This case certainly concerns me because of the public health issues it raises.

A man who may have exposed passengers and crew members on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month to a highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis knew he was infected, and had been advised by health officials not to travel overseas.

The man flew to Paris from his home in Atlanta on May 12 for his wedding and honeymoon, even though health officials told him they “preferred” that he not get on the flight, he said in an interview published today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Days later, while he was in Italy, he was contacted by officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was told that he had a rare and potentially virulent form of the disease and should turn himself over to Italian health authorities immediately.

Officials of the centers said at a news conference today that they had begun to make arrangements with the Italian authorities to isolate and treat the man in Rome. But instead of cooperating with the plans, the man traveled to the Czech Republic and took a flight from Prague to Montreal.

He said in the published interview that he did that in the belief that he had been put on a no-fly list and would not be allowed to board a flight bound for the United States.

From Canada, he drove to the United States, and then turned himself in at a tuberculosis isolation hospital in New York City.

This is precisely the sort of entitlement-fueled arrogance that allowed the AIDS epidemic to spread -- the idea that the public does not have the right to be protected against highly communicable diseases because of the purported right of the plague carrier to be free of limitations on their freedom, the rest of society be damned. Knowing that he was ill and carrying the disease, we have a guy knowingly and intentionally exposing hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people to a didease that is drug-resistant and can kill its victims.

And the ACLU wants to make such a self-indulgent "license to ill" the law of the land in America. Just look at this suit.

A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that Maricopa County officials have violated the rights of a quarantined tuberculosis patient for months by treating him as a criminal.

The U.S. District Court complaint on behalf of Robert Daniels alleges health officials and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office have violated numerous constitutional rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The suit asks that Daniels be housed in appropriate accommodations, rather than the severe and "inhumane" jail conditions.

"It's good news for me," Daniels said Wednesday evening. "I finally have a chance to get out of this black hole."

Robert England, the county's tuberculosis control officer, declined comment. Other county health officials were not immediately available.

Daniels, 27, has been isolated in a jail ward at Maricopa Medical Center for 10 months under court order, although he was not convicted or charged with any crime.

Linda Cosme, an attorney for Daniels, said her client has been victimized by constitutional violations. "Robert is helpless," she added. "And he's at the mercy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He needs as much support as possible, and the ACLU is supplying that support."

Arpaio said Daniels is confined under court order, and must abide by security measures. "I run a safe jail, and he's going to be treated like anyone else," he said.

The problem is that the only facility equipped to handle such a severe health issue in that county is the secure ward. And while Daniels thinks it is good news for him that someone is trying to spring him from the most appropriate medical facility in the region, it is bad news for every person that Daniels will come in contact with in a less secure setting -- those who may die due to the disease that Daniels passes on to them.

If terrorists ever want to do a biological attack on the US, all they have to do is send in a dozen guys with Ebola. The ACLU will quickly file suit to ensure the attack is a success. After all, public health and public safety can't trump the freedom to pass on deadly diseases.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Right Pundits, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Colloquium, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Pet's Garden Blog, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Wake Up America, stikNstein... has no mercy, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

They were supposed to be the root of all evil -- and Democrats campaigned against them and promised to end them.

Guess what? Earmarks are the hallmark of Democrat pork-barrel spending. Not only that, but they want to hide it from you.

Sailing into majority status by running against the GOP “culture of corruption,” which included charges of widespread abuse of earmarks, Democrats have since turned their backs on promised reforms and instead have adopted rules that guarantee a continuation of the practice.

In the House Appropriations Committee, Chairman Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., has made it clear that anonymous earmarking will continue, as will the practice of including the extra spending in the House-Senate conference report — behind closed doors with no debate whatsoever on the efficacy of the earmark while the bill is under consideration on the floor.

Obey’s arrogant response to questions about abandoning a major campaign pledge of the Democrats? “I don’t give a damn if people criticize me or not.”

Guess what, America -- they didn't mend it, they didn't end it. Obey and the rest have said "Screw you" to the American people. There's no better example of that than the refusal to condemn Jack Murtha's threats against a GOP colleague for exposing his earmarks to the public.

Turn them out in 2008 -- and elect real conservatives who have been acting to end earmarks.

At last -- a potential presidential candidate I can treat with less seriousness than Ron Paul!

On May 25, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney participated in a 23-minute interview on Radio Station WBAI. The hosts asked her about the possibility that she may seek the Green Party presidential nomination in 2008. She said, “With the failure of the Democratic Congress to repeal the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, the Military Tribunals Act, I have to seriously question my relationship with the Democratic Party. The idea has not been ruled out. All the current Democrats running for president support the principle of potential military action against Iran; none of them is for impeachment of the President. They can’t speak for me. I am open to a lot of ideas in 2008.”

The Hit & Run blog over at Reason.com offers these questions.

Remaining questions:

1: Would McKinney get more or fewer votes than Nader did in 2004?

1a: Would the Libertarian candidate actually win fewer votes than her? Her? Really?

2: Would a McKinney candidacy make the LP look, by the mainstream media's lights, like the serious third party?

My answers?

1. More.

1a. Probably -- she takes all the right positions for the netroots, and the LP voters can't stuff a real ballot box like they do for Ron Paul in online polls.

2. No -- because the MSM actually likes McKinney, while they find the Libertarians insufficiently socialist -- though they do like the stuff about legalizing pot and prostitution.

Perhaps we can get a Cynthia/Cindy ticket in 2008 -- I doubt that Cindy Sheehan can keep herself out of the limelight more than two or three weeks and this would get her a platform.

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i guess I've gotten a little more interested in the whole topic of cyber-bullying in the last few weeks, since a couple of my colleagues had MySpace accounts opened in their names -- one rather funny, one pornographic, and one accusing a respected educator of pedophilia. The sites have all been wiped out, but it got me to thinking in a new way about how my students can be bullied on-line.

It is therefore somewhat fortuitous that this evening I was asked to take a look at material on cyber-bullying from the Kamaron Institute. I had not realized how widespread the problem really is -- 18-49% of students in grades 4-12 may have been the victims of online contact designed to deliberately and repeatedly hurt, taunt, ridicule, threaten or intimidate them.

The Kamaron Institute has created a webpage designed to help parents, educators, and others deal with cyber-bullying. In it, there are links to all sorts of good resources, including lesson plans for teachers like me. There is also a glossary of terms related to cyber-bullying, so that responsible adults have the vocabulary to begin talking about the problem.

And in what I consider to be the most important feature, and one that I wish they played-up a little bit more, they also offer ways of tracing the cyber-bullying to its source, which will greatly enable victims and their families to put a stop to the victimization of the innocent.

Overall, I'm pleased by what I see -- I just wish there was more of it, given the problem that bullying of all sorts creates for young people.

Around here, I'm reasonably sure that neither my wife nor I are top dog.

As the demographics of America have changed, so too has the nature of pet ownership. It used to be that most pets were bought by families. Now, the majority of pet owners, 61 percent, are childless—singles, unmarried couples waiting to have kids, gay couples, empty-nesters. Invariably, these owners tend to treat their pets like surrogate babies, and they spoil them accordingly. To help these childless pet-parents spend their disposable income, the pet products industry has mushroomed in the past decade. This year we’ll shell out more than $40 billion to keep our furry friends fed, adorned, amused and healthy—the latter a huge growth category, with more and more owners paying top dollar for elaborate medical treatments to forestall that inevitable last visit to the vet. By the end of the decade, we’ll be spending $50 billion on pet products, according to the APPMA. Walk the aisles of Petco or PetSmart, past the Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses for your dog and the $140 Catnip Chaise Lounge for your cat, and you’ll discover just how well-trained we Americans have become. “I don’t know who’s been domesticated: the animals, or the humans?” says Jeff Corwin, Animal Planet’s globetrotting wildlife biologist.

Let's be honest here -- the adorable ball of fur pictured above is our child -- to the point that folks are surprised to find that my wife and I don't really have any kids (unfortunately). And my students are amused by the (small) framed picture of our pampered pooch on my desk. However, we are nto quite this goofy.

Some 56 percent of dog owners and 42 percent of cat owners buy their pets Christmas presents. Pets can listen to their own Internet radio station (Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” is one of the more popular songs on DogCatRadio.com), post their pictures and make play dates on dogster.com and catster.com, and earn frequent flier miles on United. They even have cell phones now: PetsCell is a bone-shaped telephone that attaches to your dog’s collar and allows you to ring him up (sorry, incoming calls only). And there’s a new beer for dogs (from Amsterdam, no less), called Kwispelbier, which is Dutch for “waggy tail” brew. The recent scare over tainted pet food has made feeding your animal a pricey proposition: I’ve switched Samantha to “holistic” kibble and wet food, hormone-free chicken strips and handmade cookies from a local dog bakery, along with the occasional whole-roasted chicken that we share for dinner. She also gets dried pig hearts, which cost $5 apiece (those, we don’t share).

Still, we do get Carmie the best of vet care, and ensure that she has good food and plenty of treats. And if she is getting a bit chubby, what can I say -- she is 11 years old, which would put her somewhere in her mid-70s if she were a person. It's OK that she has lost her girlish figure.

And the adoration of the canine is certainly preferable to this sort of disgusting display.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Right Pundits, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, DeMediacratic Nation, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Colloquium, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Pet's Garden Blog, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Wake Up America, stikNstein... has no mercy, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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For all I complain about blocked websites at school, I can't argue that some sort of internet filter and/or firewall is necessary when you are dealing with kids. Let's be honest -- even the most innocent end up places they shouldn't, so parental control of what is accessible is a must.

That is where FilterGuide.com comes into the picture. The provide parental control software reviews for you, so that you can learn which of the many services out there is the right one for you and your family. There are so many choices out there – some with definite “point-of-view” biases – so you need to make sure you get the right one.

Can't sue the government for legal actions? Well, then, let's just sue anyone who did business with them and performed any services connected with that legal action.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday it is suing Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing Co., claiming it secretly flew three of the CIA's terrorism suspects overseas, where they were tortured.

The cases involve allegations of mistreatment of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen, in July 2002 and January 2004; Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen, in May 2002; and Ahmed Agiza, an Egyptian citizen, in December 2001.

Mohamed is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Britel in Morocco; and Agiza in Egypt, the ACLU said in a news release.

Mike Pound, a spokesman for Englewood, Colo.-based Jeppesen, said company officials had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment. He said Jeppesen, a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, provides support services, rather than the flights themselves.

"We don't know the purpose of the trip for which we do a flight plan," Pound said. "We don't need to know specific details. It's the customer's business, and we do the business that we are contracted for. It's not our practice to ever inquire about the purpose of a trip."

What next -- lawsuits against the companies that fueled the planes? How about against any company that manufactured a part for the plane? Or better yet -- lawsuits imposing individual personal liability against each and every employee of the companies in question?

Dismiss the suit, disbar the lawyers -- and by the way, lock their terrorists clients away forever if not longer.

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I love my wife's perfume, almost as much as I love her. It is called Crush, and I have to tell you -- in the couple of years she has used it I have come to understand how a cat responds to catnip. Meeeee-oooowwwww!

You can get it and more over at SendMeScent.com. Their selection is unbelievable -- and they have something to bring out the feline in everyone.

Looks like your boy-toy is going to need a bit of cash to pay back the American people for some lawbreaking by his campaign.

John Kerry spent $1.4 million more than federal rules allowed during his 2004 presidential bid, primarily on customizing two campaign planes, according to a draft audit by the Federal Election Commission.

If the commissioners approve the staff findings at a meeting Thursday, Kerry’s campaign could have to repay the overspending to the U.S. Treasury, since his unsuccessful general election campaign was funded by tax dollars.

In order to receive the public funds, Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, and his running mate, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, agreed to spend $74.6 million or less on their general election campaign against President Bush.

Of course, Kerry aides object.

Marc Elias, a lawyer for Kerry-Edwards, says the campaign stayed within the limits and accused the commission’s auditors of taking “an unsupportably aggressive view of the law.”

Yeah -- we wouldn't want to aggressively enforce teh law against a Democrat, would we.

By the way, when it comes right down to it, he either over-spent or he didn't. What do the numbers say? Exactly what the auditors claim. Maybe Kerry just wants them to use fuzzy math.

But then again, he's just a gigolo, everybody knows...

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Looking for online backup? The check out IDrive-E. They have a phenomenal deal there on Online Backup services -- 2 Gigabytes free, $4.95 a month for unlimited online storage. Good grief, if only I had known and availed myself of the service before my hard drive crash last spring! I wouldn't have lost all of my materials for my college course, or my wife's extensive collection of graphics that she uses for her crafting projects. Indeed, I still regularly get asked if I've backed up her stuff -- because she has a fear of losing so many graphics that she had spent years collecting.

Imagine if you were running a business, and lost everything. Say goodbye to your accounts receivable spreadsheets, your other financial records, and your crucial correspondence that you've been keeping an eye on. Imagine the lost good will with customers as orders went unfilled and leads went unanswered. It would be enough to put the small businessman out of business -- or worse. So seriously, you have got to take a look at getting some Online Backup now. And now, you can even create and manage multiple accounts for small business -- making IDrive-E an even better service for you.