| Wild Card -- Weekend
He loved Christmas and he still loved being Santa after all of us kids were grown. He even bought his very own Santa suit which he kept with the beard and hat and wig in its own special suitcase. He became Santa Claus when donning the suit at shopping malls, church and community Christmas parties and for several years on Christmas Eve when we'd surprise the winner of the newspaper's Letters to Santa contest with a personal visit. For the rest of the column by Kerri Thoreson/Coeur d'Alene Press about Santa Claus (aka, the late Ron Rankin), click here. .
Lakota Sioux Secede From US, Declare Independence
I hope that bastard has so much to worry about he's created his own hell. And I wish the very best for the Lakota people. I cetainly recognise their independance. Little by little people are standing up straight. Little pieces of the truth come out drip, drip, drip. Now if we can keep the democrats from screwing things up… Now I'm depressed again. .
UF alum cooks for canines
Most working stiffs would probably prefer to wind down at the end of a rough week with a Bud Light, not a non-alcoholic brew that strengthens their joints and makes their hair extra shiny.But for frequenters of the Friday night Yappy Hour at Sweet Paws Bakery, Haile Village Center's newest dog bakery and boutique, the latter alternative is their beverage of choice.This pooch hooch is one of many refreshments Colleen O'Fallon serves at her bakery's weekly dog social hour. Her all-natural homemade treats, the bakery's chief selling point, are also in hot demand. .
VIEW: Will ballots win over bullets? —Paula R Newberg
Whether the result is good enough for Pakistanis to trust a desperately needed transfer of power remains an open question.
These are burdens that a simple election rarely must shoulder except in Pakistan. Twice before, an elected parliament tried to untangle the excesses of military rule; twice before, this burden has fallen on the Pakistan Peoples Party, which failed by confronting the army. Its successor, the Pakistan Muslim League, also failed first by accommodating the military and then by trying ineffectively to do an end-run around it.
The political costs of this election are particularly high not only because parties are weak, but also because dismantling the military-led economy is only one piece of a strategic puzzle created by terror from within and from without.
No change in Cuba policy, U.S. says
The lessons of this period we've gone through is that the Cuban revolutionary institutions are strong enough.'' One lingering question is whether Fidel's less charismatic brother can keep the socialist revolution going in the long-term. Raúl is known as a man who leads by consensus. Most experts believe he will use the strength of the military, the Communist Party and National Assembly to keep a tight rein on political power while embracing economic changes to improve the daily lot of Cubans. ''Although they have some differences, they are one of a kind. They have the same interests, to stay in power,'' said Tony Alfonso, 70, a former political prisoner in Cuba. ``As long as there are no consequences, nothing is going to change. Liberate all the political prisoners, set the foundation for free elections, other than that it will just be cosmetic changes.'' And again, no one is totally counting Fidel out of the picture.
Twisted adventures of Clinton cultists
I'd write about Mike Huckabee's continuing candidacy, but it comes down to the fact that he and his brood having nothing else to do. There's only one big story out there in American politics, and it's how Barack Obama has the Clinton cultists all strung out and twisted up.Lately the Clinton cultists have taken to ridiculing the inspiration that many take from Obama's rhetoric and movement. They call all of this eerily messianic. They make fun of that video in which assorted people recite softly to music a few of the more powerful portions of one of Obama's loftier speeches. "Yes, we can," say the Obamists. "No, we can't," reply the Clinton cultists.This is ironic, of course. You have cultists calling someone else eerily messianic. And the cultists doing the ridiculing extend their odd devotion to a candidate whose uplifting message is, like Michael Dukakis' before, competence.
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