Be still my beating heart...

Literally. Check it out:

From Hamburger Today:

What you are looking at, ladies and gents, is what we at A Hamburger Today are calling the Hamburger Fatty Melt. Lemme give you the smack on this meat stack. From top to bottom:

* Grilled cheese sandwich as bun top
* Four-ounce beef patty
* Grilled cheese sandwich as bottom bun

Got that? It's a burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as its bun.

I really need this in my life. My shortened, heart-attack-anticipating life.

This Just In: "Mr. Troll" Finds Fish

I don't have any details other than this picture which he just sent in. I know what you're having for dinner!

Kratovil's compromise on Health Care

The Congressional Blue Dog Caucus has written a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer on what they would like to see happen in the health care bill. It's a break from the Liberal Caucus on policy, to be sure. The Blue Dogs are Conservative Democrats, and, like I talked about ALL last fall, Frank Kratovil is not a Liberal... no matter how much Andy Harris lies about him.

Check it out here

Representative Kratovil's signature is the last one on the left hand side of page 3

Read the compromise and tell me if you think it's good or bad, and whether or not our Congressman should or should not be supporting it.

My opinion? It opposes a public option like Medicare, and therefore, it's not real reform.

The Daily Times decides to make stuff up. Again.

DISCLOSURE: I was Jim Ireton's Media Relations staffer during his general election campaign, and I also worked for The Daily Times from July 1990 - December 1993. - DuckAround

In today's edition of The Daily Times, Laura D'Alessandro writes (not reports, mind you, writes) about the existence of a list of complaints against Salisbury PD Chief Allen Webster. She writes that two Salisbury City Council members, Terry Cohen and Debbie Campbell, have prepared the document presumably in preparation of leading an effort to oust the Chief.

Ms. D'Alessandro apparently doesn't have a copy of the document, and asks Mayor Jim Ireton about his role, if any. I will quote the relevant passage, and see what jumps out at you:

Cohen and Campbell said they had filed no formal complaint, and Mayor Jim Ireton said earlier Thursday the document does not exist.

"I'm not getting in the middle of Terry Cohen, Debbie Campbell and The Daily Times," Ireton said. "I don't have anything to do with it."

So, go back and read it again.

Now, your job is to tell me where Mayor Ireton says the document doesn't exist.

I'll admit, Ms. D'Alessandro does a masterful job of shaping the narrative a few ways. To wit:

1) Her opening paragraph reminds us of just how expensive and how ineffectual the last attempt to remove Webster was.

2) She's really gotten good at loaded language. In Tuesday's story on health insurance, Cohen and Campbell were "notorious foes" of former mayor Barrie Tlighman. Today, D'Allesandro writes the following:

"Similar to the vague sentiments expressed in the 2002 letter are Campbell and Cohen's public criticism of Webster."

Well, if she hasn't seen the document, how can she reliably describe its contents?

3) After reminding us, at length, just how much the last investigation cost, she continues to disparage any criticism of the chief. But as she's dong so, she takes Mayor Ireon to task for NOT having fired Chief Webster already:

"Despite campaign claims for drastic change and an immediate attack on crime, Ireton's approach has been slow. He said he wants to work together with Webster to bring crime down through a coordinated plan.

"People didn't elect me mayor to sit around all day and look for cause to fire people," he said. "The circus-like atmosphere that has permeated the government for the last 11 years has stopped."

So now not firing department chiefs within 2 months of taking office is "slow." I tell you, if Jim isn't walking on the Wicomico River AND balancing the State of California budget by the end of next weekend, The Daily Times may lead with stories about his disappointed followers.

4) D'Alessandro ends the piece giving Gary Comegys the last word, basically daring Mayor Ireton to try and fire Webster:

Comegys said the police chief does not work for the five-member council.

"The charter says he works for the mayor and the city administrator (John Pick), and if there's any alleged impropriety by the chief, a course of action needs to come from the mayor," he said. "In fact, any personnel action needs to come from the mayor; and this is a personnel matter, and I will be waiting to be briefed on it by the mayor."

During the campaign, in my function as media guy for Jim Ireton, I often counseled my fellow staff members that no, The Daily Times really wasn't out to get us, they were trying to sell papers, and their writers and editors well, to put it kindly, not that good. Honestly, I always thought D'Alessandro was attempting to write Washington Post pieces for Salisbury, and find or create controversy where none necessarily existed. She struck me as a person trying to be important, rather than someone trying to report objectively.

But the coverage this week show an endemic bias in the reporting and editing of The Daily Times. They didn't want this mayor elected, and they sure don't want him to succeed.

Your thoughts?

Fox's Brian Kilmeade on Eugenics

A study on Alzheimer's disease was released recently, showing that people who were in committed long term relationships and marriages had lower incidences of the disease than those who were divorced or separated. These studies were conducted in Sweden and Finland.

But Brian Kilmeade, of the Fox Opinion Channel (I won't use the word "News" for them anymore), says that those findings shouldn't apply to America. Why you ask? Because, according to the INSANE Kilmeade, Americans marry other "species" and "ethnics"... and the Swedes and the Finns have "pure genes" in a "pure society".

Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.



And the other talking heads on that show didn't even try to call him out on it. What the hell?

Now, let's put aside the obviously racist undertones of Kilmeade's remark, and take a look at the Scientific underpinnings (or complete lack thereof) of Kilmeade's assertion. I think Jed Lewinson, at the Daily Kos, sums it up the best:

Apparently, Kilmeade is so hung up on his belief that people of different colors belong to different "species" that he failed to grasp that even if his views were right, this study measured the influence of a lifestyle choice (i.e., the environment) on Alzheimer's and dementia. In other words, even if you accept Kilmeade's demented predicate, the conclusion he's drawing is moronic.

Yeah. Racist AND Stupid. Stay classy, Fox.

Oh... and I like how this PRIME EXAMPLE of the media screwing up a story on a topic of research dovetails perfectly into my post directly below this showing Scientists believe people like Kilmeade are the reason why scientific literacy is so low in the U.S. It's almost like I planned it.... :)

Pew Data on Science in America

These are some fascinating poll numbers.

Did you know that only 6% of Scientists are self-proclaimed Republicans?

How about the fact that only 20% of Scientists list "private industry" as being the most important source of money for research into their specialty... with 84% listing "government" as the most important source of money? (they could pick more than one answer)

85% of Scientists believe that the public does not know very much about science and 76% believe that the news does not distinguish between well founded findings and those that are not.

Whoa! Easy, B., easy...

Guess the song

Yet another new series here on Two Sentz: Guess the Song. I'll provide a section of a song and let you guys guess who it is.

I see you move, I'm checking your smile
Working your back like it's going out of style
Shake just a little bit faster
Shake just a little now girl
Dying to meet you, so let's mess around
I've got an obsession of us getting down
Come just a little bit closer
I just need permission so just...



No search engines! (that's cheating)

Arghk, ye'll never gits me spinach... Arghk...

Wow.

Number 2 politcal blog on Delmarva yet again...

I don't really pay much attention to the BNN ranking, but it always makes me smile when I see us up there at (or at least near) the top of the heap. Go, go, Power-Sentzers!

No, wait... Wonder Sentz Powers ACTIVATE! Form of: wet-pants-commie-liberal-Obamabot-traitorblog!

No... That's not it either.



Damn. It'll come to me...

Flordia Church Displays Ignorance, Proud Of It Too

from The Independent Florida Alligator

About 125 people of diverse religions, ages and races gathered in front of the Dove World Outreach Center Wednesday evening for a prayer vigil in response to a sign recently posted by the center.

The sign reads “Islam is of the Devil” and was placed Sunday in the church’s front lawn. It was vandalized and torn down that evening but was re-erected on Monday, said Terry Jones, the pastor at the church.

Jones said that the church, located at 5805 NW 37th St., does not plan on taking down the sign, and that more messages will be displayed in the future.

“We think we are losing our heritage as a Christian nation,” Jones said as one of the reasons the church put up the sign.

Jones said Islam’s growing popularity in the United States needs to be addressed because Christians are not standing up for what they believe in.

“To be a Christian, you would have to agree with that sign,” Jones said.

Eve MacMaster, pastor at Emmanuel Mennonite Church who organized the prayer vigil, said she wants people in the community to know most Christians do not agree with the message that the Dove World Outreach Center is sending by posting the sign.

“It troubles me that my faith is represented by such a negative message,” MacMaster said.

Personally, it blows me away a "christian" organization would be that intolerant and promote such misunderstanding and ignorance of and entire religion and as a side effect an entire ethnic group associated with it. Just doesn't seem right.

Germany Wants to Limit U.S. Free Speech

Infringement of freedom, or just the right thing to do?

BERLIN — Germany's Justice Minister is calling for Internet service providers in the U.S. and elsewhere to remove neo-Nazi images, text and other content that can be viewed inside the country in violation of laws forbidding any Nazi symbols.

Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said her office would appeal to foreign Internet providers to use their own terms of service as grounds for eliminating content promoting the far-right ideal.

"The general terms of service that they have issued themselves say that hate should be discouraged, so take things down that go against that," Zypries said.

A separate debate over Internet monitoring in Germany broke out last month as federal lawmakers approved legislation to allow Web sites containing child pornography to be blocked.

Using ideology or symbols from the Nazis is forbidden in Germany, but far-right groups that do not associate themselves with Nazis directly have more leeway. Stefan Glaser, spokesman for a youth-protection group called jugendschutz.net, said it catalogued 1,600 sites run by far-right extremists last year, and that the number was growing.

"The Internet has become the No. 1 propaganda platform for far-right extremists," Glaser said.

National laws routinely conflict over the borderless Internet.

France, too, has laws restricting Nazi symbols and paraphernalia, and it tried in 2000 to force Yahoo Inc. to prevent French Internet users from seeing such items on its auction pages. Although Yahoo eventually banned Nazi material, saying it did not want to profit from it, it continued to challenge the application of French law to the U.S. company.

from The Current

Conservatives Want to Close Gay Marriage Loophole

Conservatives Warn Quick Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays, Marriage

On a serious note, Gov. O'Malley is probing the legality of MD recognizing legal same-sex marriages from other states.

Death By Chocolate?

A 22-year-old factory worker died Wednesday after he fell into a vat of boiling chocolate at a manufacturing plant in New Jersey, police said.

The Camden County prosecutor's office identified the victim as Vincent Smith II. He was a temporary worker at the Cocoa Services Inc. plant.

Smith had been in the melting pot for about 10 minutes by the time rescue crews arrived, MyFOXPhilly.com reported.

Prosecutor's spokesman Jason Laughlin says a co-worker tried to shut off the machine and two others tried to pull Smith out of the 8-foot-deep vat. He was hit and fatally injured by the agitator that mixes the chocolate.

By the time he was pulled out of the tank just after 11 a.m., he was already dead.

The plant is owned by Lyons and Sons.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was called in to investigate, MyFOXPhilly.com reported.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXPhilly.com.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars

Via LA Times Travel

Dave Carroll has a problem: Last year, while he was flying from Nova Scotia to Nebraska on United Airlines, somebody broke his $3,500 guitar.

In spring 2008, Carroll and company headed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Omaha, by way of (shudder now, frequent fliers) Chicago. Just after landing at O’Hare airport, says Carroll, one of his bandmates and another passenger looked out their windows and saw baggage handlers heaving around guitars with wanton disregard.

Carroll says he complained immediately to three flight attendants, but was met with indifference. Some time after arrival in Nebraska, Carroll says, he discovered that, sure enough, the base of his 710 Taylor acoustic guitar had been smashed.

But he had gigs to play, so he found a way to do that. As Carroll acknowledges, he didn’t attempt to complain again until beginning his return flight a week later.

Over the following days, weeks and months, Carroll made many phone calls to United representatives in Chicago and (who didn’t see this coming?) India, but basically he says United did nothing for him.

Meanwhile, Carroll spent $1,200 getting the guitar repaired “to a state that it plays well but has lost much of what made it special.”

The capping blow, Carroll says, was an e-mail from a Ms. Irlweg, who denied his claim for compensation because he didn’t complain in the right place, or at the right time. The airline wouldn’t even give him $1,200 in travel vouchers, Carroll contends.

So he vowed a sort of musical revenge - not one protest song, not two, but three, with a video for each, all to be posted on the Web. Carroll says he told Ms. Irlweg all about it, but got the usual response.

The video was posted on July 6. In its first 23 hours, “United Breaks Guitars” had drawn 461 comments on YouTube, most of them maligning the airline, and one of them hearkening back to Tom Paxton and his tune of aerial guitar trouble, “Thank you, Republic Airlines.” (The viewer counter appeared to be stuck at 3,441, but the video quickly went viral, with the Consumerist showing more than 24,000 views by Tuesday night.)

Among the comments: “Revenge is a dish best served with country accompaniment.”
So what does United have to say about the song?

“This has struck a chord with us, and we’ve contacted him directly to make it right,” said Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United. (Urbanski also said she “loved” the video.)

Urbanski said a phone meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday, and that before the airline decides exactly what to do for Carroll, “we need to have that conversation with him directly.”

Meanwhile, Carroll’s website says he’s written and recorded the second song, with video to follow soon. And he has all sorts of other plans for a third song, and various tactics to achieve a million Web hits, which he believes will give some sense of revenge.

In fact, he writes, “I should thank United…. If my guitar had to be smashed due to extreme negligence I’m glad it was you that did it.”

By the way: In the U.S. Department of Transportation’s tally of lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage in April 2009, United ranked 10th among 19 carriers, with 13,517 “baggage reports” among 4.03 million passengers.

How to talk like a Politician

Name That Flick

Click on the image to enlarge. Can you name the flick?



If you guessed "Empire Records", you are correct. Points awarded this round:

Reconciled1 - No longer has to go to LasagnaCat.com
Two Sentz - The Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding quality in a Blog or Webcast
chuck - $2,500 fine, and possible 6 week suspension


Next round begins tonight!

City of Brotherly Love?

"A potentially upsetting story coming out of Philadelphia: a group of 60 young campers, many of them minorities, were told to leave a private swimming club apparently because of their race."

You can view the rest of the story here.

"Potentially"? This is downright disgusting.

You think I can't criticize Obama?

Well, he pissed me off yesterday when Michael R Taylor was named as a Senior Adviser to the FDA Commissioner.

Who's Michael Taylor? Well, between stints at the USDA, he worked at the law firm King & Spaulding, who represent the Monsanto Corporation, and, in 1998, he worked DIRECTLY for Monsanto as the Vice President for Public Policy (Senior Lobbyist).

So, the new Senior Adviser to the FDA is a corporate shill for a multi-billion dollar Agricultural empire who has been known to sue farmers claiming that the cross pollination of their crops by way of wind or insect consisted of those farmers "stealing" their intellectual property.

Yeah, Obama doesn't get a pass from ME on this one.

New Series: Whur in da 'Bury?

Identify this location:

The Two Sentz Crew Goes on a Camping Trip!

For your viewing pleasure, a secretly filmed camping trip of the entire Two Sentz Crew. That is me at the beginning, Chuck huddled in the fetal position on the ground, Two Sentz comforting him, and Champs (after the sex change) at the very end. If you look close enough, you will see Dusty, LE, Duck, and R1 also in the crowd. I believe Albero was doing the filming, with a voiceover by JT.

Poll: 7 Out Of 10 Republicans Likely To Vote For Palin In 2012

What is she running for?

from USA Today

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin's bombshell that she is resigning as Alaska governor actually has boosted her a bit among Republicans, a nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, though it also has dented her standing among Democrats and independents.

Two-thirds of Republicans want Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2008, to be "a major national political figure" in the future. Three-fourths of Democrats hope she won't be.

Independents by 55%-34% would prefer she leave the national stage.

The findings underscore how polarized opinions of Palin were even before Friday's surprise announcement. Seven in 10 polled say their views weren't affected by her decision. Among those whose opinions shifted, Democrats by a 4-1 ratio and independents by 2-to-1 view her less favorably. Republicans are somewhat inclined to see her more favorably.

"For independents and Democrats, she's already not their candidate, and with Republicans her support is not based on her record as governor of Alaska," says GOP consultant Alex Castellanos.

Restaurant Review: Sobo's Wine Beerstro

We went to Sobo's (1015 Eastern Shore Drive) last week as part of a birthday celebration, and just happened to be there on the night they debuted their new "wine beerstro" menu. The "beerstro" concept is to acknowledge their added microbrewery content, since the owners of Sobo's are also the owners of the new Evolution Craft Brewing Company. Although I am not a beer drinker, I have to give two thumbs up for the changes!

Sobo's is rather upscale for Salisbury (which is a sad commentary in and of itself), but the staff is super friendly and the prices reasonable for a dinner that is not simply microwaved. We started with two shared appetizers for the four of us: calamari and shrimp flatbread. The calamari was quite tasty: lightly breaded with panko, a garlic chili sauce similar to kung pao drizzled alongside it. The shrimp flatbread was definitely the star: huge shrimp (I know, an oxymoron), a tasty light sauce with a spicy kick, lump crabmeat, all on top of flatbread. Awesome.

The entrees included NY strip with some of those same shrimp, crab salad, an awesome shrimp soup (made with some of their beer), and a special of the night: scallops and curried rice. The scallops were perfectly cooked: a nice seared brown outside, juicy on the inside. Curried rice: tasty, but it was nothing special. together, though, the dish was really great. The shrimp soup was akin to a jambalaya without the rice and veggies: someone over at Sobo's knows how to make a great roux and shrimp stock! The crab salad was ok, but there's not much you can do there. I'd stick with the appetizers and the nightly specials.

Since I am not a beer drinker (I know, I really cannot be from Wisconsin, can I?), I usually stick with the wine. My favorite at Sobo's is the Silver Palm cabernet. So tasty. We did not have room for dessert, but in the past I have been a fan of their chocolate souffle. I'd pass on the cheese plate (here is evidence of my Wisconsinhood): the cheeses are often too cold and the selection is rather limited. Let's hope they get that figured out soon, because a good cheese plate is a great way to start or finish a meal.

It can get a little loud in the restaurant (concrete floors do not help), so if you can get a table in the elevated section, it is much quieter. A great place to take a date or celebrate something special. For those of us on a budget, Sobo's has a good Happy Hour with discounted drinks and appetizers. Why people choose to eat at Brew River is beyond me. For a little more, you can get a much better meal at Sobo's.

Republicans Finally Catching On?

Staunch Republican Michael Schwartz, who owns the ultra-righty blog Monoblogue (named in honor of Rush Limbaugh, geez), recently received a comment on his newest post about the Salisbury T.E.A. Party that I found very encouraging. The comment was from his number one reader/commenter Marc and went like this:

One thing — our side would do well to disassociate ourselves from the nutjobs who think Obama is some kind of foreign secret-Muslim. Obama’s a Christian who was born in the U.S. Anyone who doesn’t think this isn’t a conservative or a libertarian — that person is an idiot....Let’s worry about the issues, not about the non-issue of Obama’s birth certificate.

You don't get more conservative than Michael and Marc so it's nice to see at least one of them showing some sense, fairness, and a spirit of working towards a better future. Curiously, Michael has yet to respond to his commenters.

Why we don't like Palin

Since Gov. Palin stepped down last friday, a lot of speculation has been made about why Sarah Palin is dismissed by so many people. Where does this antipathy come from? Why do Liberals (and a growing chorus of Conservatives) find her to be so exceedingly objectionable as a valid politician worthy of respect. Is it sexism? Is it her no-apologies Conservative viewpoints?

No. It's the fact that she's a complete and total political lightweight. Not Ready For Prime Time.

In a recent interview with ABC news she talked about the cost she has incurred defending herself against the 16 ethics complaints filed against her. She noted that if she were Vice President she wouldn't have had to incur those costs because...

I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out.

Um... Governor Palin... There's no "department of law" in the White House.

Half Price Sale? / Also Michael Jackson

A Letter From Grandma

Grandma is eighty-eight years old and still drives her own car. She writes:

Dear Grand-child,

The other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a 'Honk if you love Jesus' bumper sticker ..

I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting...

So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience that followed.

I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn't notice that the light had changed.

It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed..

I found that lots of people love Jesus!

While I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy,and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, 'For the love of God!' 'Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!'

What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!

Everyone started honking!

I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving people.

I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!

There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach.

I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air.

I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant.

He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.

Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii , so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign right back.

My grandson burst out laughing..

Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.

I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed.

So, grinning, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection.

I noticed that I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared.

So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!!

Will write again soon,

Love, Grandma

A Time For Reflection - by Robert Harris

Independence Day is a time for reflection. A time to put away our petty differences and remember the sacrifices made by so many over 200 years ago to assure that the foundation of a free nation could be laid for future generations. We are among those generations as are our children. It is incumbent upon us to teach our children that our flag is the symbol of freedom recognized around the world and that the cost of our independence was paid for by the lives of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, and should not be taken lightly. We're Americans first and foremost.

In honor of this, and as a tribute to our nation and our forefathers, The Wicomico Eastside Chamber of Commerce sponsored the 2nd annual Independence Day Celebration at the Willards Elementary School. It was once again a success and stands to serve as a shining example of what can be accomplished when a community pulls together.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people without whom this event would not have been possible:

All of those members of the Wicomico Eastside Chamber of Commerce who donated so generously during this incredibly tough economy.

-The Willards Volunteer Fire Company for providing.....too much to list.
-Wicomico County Board of Education.
-Wicomico County Sheriff's Office for providing security.
-Bay Fireworks for a spectacular show.
-The Tabernacle Church for live music that never ended until the fireworks were half over.
-Sbynews, the TwoSentz crew, the Wicbury Crapper, WBOC, and the Daily Times for giving us the coverage with the PSA.
-Erika Parks, her mom Vicki Harris, and The Community who came together and helped raise over $200 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation - fighting childhood cancer one cup at a time.
-Cobbs Hill Bison who provided an outstanding Buffalo Chip Tossing contest.
-The Gathering Tree Church who provided children's games such as the three legged race.
And last but not least, the nine volunteers who showed up at the Willards Elementary School at 10:00 a.m. the following day to clean up the grounds so that we can use the property again next year.

Thank you all so much. Again, without your efforts and continued support this event wouldn't have been possible.

Robert Harris, President
Wicomico Eastside Chamber of Commerce

Afghanistan: 7 US casualties on the day.

From the Associated Press:

KABUL (AP) — Bombs and bullets killed seven American troops on Monday, the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in nearly a year — and a sign that the war being fought in the Taliban heartland of the south and east could now be expanding north.

Separately, Taliban militants claimed on a militant Web site that they were holding an American soldier whom the U.S. military says insurgents might have captured last week. The Taliban statement, however, did not include any proof, such as a picture or the soldier's name.

Four of the deaths Monday came in an attack on a team of U.S. military trainers in the relatively peaceful north, bringing into focus the question of whether the U.S. is committing enough troops to secure a country larger than Iraq in both population and land mass.

A sad day . May God bless the soldiers, and welcome them home.

Suspected S.C. serial killer shot to death in N.C.

From MSNBC:

The man believed to be responsible for a series of five slayings in South Carolina in six days was shot and killed early Monday by police in North Carolina, law enforcement officials told NBC News.

The man, whose identity was not released, opened fire when police in Gaston County, N.C., west of Charlotte, questioned him shortly before 3 a.m. about an open arrest warrant, police said. Police, who were questioning the man after responding to a reported burglary, returned fire, killing him, they said.

Ballistics tests showed that a gun recovered at the scene was a match for the weapon that was used to kill five people in Gaffney, S.C., officials of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division told NBC station WCNC of Charlotte early Monday evening.

Editor's note: Not to make light of the situation, but this guy totally looks like my 9th grade civics teacher.

Full story HERE.