We all know about J-Lo's love live, thanks to E! & Entertainment Tonight, but most people don't know as much about Anthony.

Anthony just got a quickie divorce in the Dominican Republic from his prior wife of four years, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres.

Considering that Lopez is the contemporary version of Elizabeth Taylor, hopping from beau to beau with the frequency of a locust in heat, I suppose that Anthony's being on the rebound shouldn't be much of a surprise.

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Why!?!!???

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The left has lost little time in beginning their smearing of Reagan.

CNN: Reagan will be remembered for his action against the air traffic controller's union

Reagan not only fired the controllers but also refused to negotiate with the union while it was on strike. "You can't sit and negotiate with a union that's in violation of the law," he said.

ABC blamed Reagan for the deaths of the Marines in the barracks bombing in Lebanon in their highlight reel.

Iran Contra came the cry from CBS, followed by sneering highlights of Reagan "capitolizing financially" after leaving office.

The only positive note to come from the "alphabet networks" on Reagan was that he was responsible for the end of the Cold War. No mention of the beginning of the upward trend for the economy; no mention of the surge in jobs; no mention of America's excellence under Reagan.

I won't even mention the cheering coming from places like Democratic Underground.

No matter. Rest well, Gipper. God has a wonderful place prepared for you.

More coverage from Wizbang, Zygote, VodkaPundit, Useful Fools, Lopsided Poopdeck (in their new location!), Spot On, Kevin McCullough, Ipse Dixit, Incite, Oliver Willis, Outside the Beltway, DC Thornton, and a bazillion other folks...

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From CNN's profiles of Democratic Vice Presidential contenders:

Bill Clinton
Few vice-presidential possibilities boast the accomplished resume -- or political baggage -- of former President Bill Clinton. Clinton studied at Georgetown, Yale and Oxford (as a Rhodes scholar) before returning to his home state of Arkansas. He taught at the University of Arkansas' law school for three years before, at 30, being elected the state's attorney general. Clinton later served six terms as Arkansas' governor (he won in 1978, lost a 1980 race, then was re-elected two years later), before defeating incumbent George H.W. Bush to become U.S. president, starting in January 1993. While federal law prohibits a person from seeking a third presidential term, the Constitution does not specify whether or not a former commander in chief can become vice president.

...no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Sounds more and more like impartiality is not part of the vocabulary down at the Death Star downtown.

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As expected, crowds of protestors have greeted President Bush in Italy, where he is on a state visit ahead of this weekend's D-Day anniversary ceremonies in France.

CNN is reporting that protesters are numbering around a half-million.

Protesters swarmed the streets of central Rome after Bush met with Pope John Paul II, one of the strongest critics of the war. Police estimated the number of demonstrators at 500,000.

Organisers say 150,000 people have turned out for the protest, while police put the figure at 25,000.

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Remember that billboard facing CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta from a few weeks back? You know the one, that said, "Come Home Connie, CNN Needs You."

The billboard had been the subject of a dispute between the sign's owner and Fox News Channel, the primary tenant of that billboard since 1999.

FNC wanted to place a message that, like it's predecessors, poked fun at CNN, but at the end said "Send resumes to 'Resumes-AT-foxnews.com.'"

The sign's new owners didn't think the message was funny and refused to place the billboard. Fox threatened to sue, claiming that the new owners were in cahoots with CNN.

The story went quiet for awhile; the new FNC billboard went up late last week without the resume line, only to be replaced with a CNN billboard early this week.

No one's talking about how it played out, but I'm sure some dollars exchanged hands across the board. And now that CNN's got the billboard, I'm sure no one else will get to put a message on it anytime soon.

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OJ Simpson, in an television interview with Greta Van Susteren to be broadcast this week on Fox News Channel, says that he's working on a new television show.

Simpson said, "It's a takeoff on something called 'Punk'd,' " an MTV hidden-camera show featuring Ashton Kutcher pranks on celebrities. "It's me doing gags as Juice ... what they call 'juicing' people."

"There are times I am angry at her," the NFL Hall of Famer said in comments Fox News Channel aired last night. "There are things that she could be doing with the kids better than I, you know? When it's emotional stuff, especially with my daughter, I am angry with her. I am angry that she found herself hanging out with the group of — who are these people?"

Since families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were awarded $33.5 million in damages in 1997, Simpson and his children have lived quietly in Miami on a $4 million pension that is exempt from civil-court judgments.

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Everyone's favorite former mayor-turned-druggie (remember "The bitch set me up!"), former DC mayor Marion Barry is floating suggestions that he's going to run for a city council seat in the Nation's Capitol.

Barry was forced out of office after an undercover drug arrest in 1990.

Barry is not saying he's running himself; he seems to enjoy playing coy with the local press.

No, the most recent rumblings come from Council member Sandy Allen. Allen told reporters this week that Barry said that he was definitely going to run against Allen for her 8th Ward seat in the September 14 Democratic Primary.

A showdown between Barry, 68, and Allen, 53, in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary would make for fascinating political theater. Barry is, of course, the former "mayor for life" who was disgraced after being videotaped smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting at the Vista Hotel in 1990.

Barry was convicted of one misdemeanor count of drug possession later that year and served six months in prison. But he ran for and won the Ward 8 council seat in 1992 and was reelected as mayor in 1994. Three years later, he announced that he would not seek a fifth term, opening the door for the election of Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

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George Tenet, director of the CIA, has finally figured out how to use the doorknob.

I hope it doesn't hit him in the ass on the way out.

More coverage from Herr Puppy Blender, Smash, A Small Victory, AlphaPatriot, Bushblog, Mon Capitain, Crow, Bill Hobbs, that Other King guy, Oliver Willis, Rob Bernard, Wizbang and damn near everybody else on my blogroll...

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From this morning's NY Post:

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At the "Take Back America" conference in Washington yesterday, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond compared Republicans to the Taliban, the terrorists who used to rule Afghanistan.

"Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side," Bond told a cheering audience. "They've written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution."

Bond called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 two of America's greatest achievements. Of course, he neglected the simple fact that the Republicans of the day were instrumental in pushing both Acts through. Had the Democrats of the 1960s prevailed, neither act would have become law, and blacks would have continued to be relegated to the "back of the bus."

"The passage of these two laws in 1964 and 1965 marked the beginning of the dependence of the Republican Party on the politics of racial division to win elections and gain power," Bond said. "By playing the race card in election after election, they've appealed to that dark underside of American culture, to that minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality. They preach racial neutrality and they practice racial division."

"We have a president who talks like a populist and governs for the privileged," Bond said. "We were promised compassionate conservatism; instead, we got crummy capitalism."

After similarly partisan statements by Bond at their convention last summer, a number of critics of the civil rights organization called for the removal of their tax exempt status. In an interview on MSNBC's Scarborough Country last July, I pointed out (much to the chagrin of fellow guest Roland Martin) that Bond's statements would make it easy for the federal government to withdraw that exemption.

Bond's statements make it crystal clear that the NAACP has no desire to work together with Republicans to make things better for all people.

The NAACP's 2004 National Convention is July 10-15 in Philadelphia. I'm sure we will hear much more in the way of venomous rage and true hate speech from Bond and his cohorts then.

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Residents of the Atlanta north side neighborhood have been seeing what they have nicknamed "Sasquatch" for the past week or so now.

Fulton County Animal Control Director David Smith says it's probably a lynx, a wildcat native to Canada and the northern US. It's diet is mostly rodents.

"It's a really big kitty cat," said Fulton Animal Control director David Smith. "They do have real sharp teeth and real big claws and they can hurt you if they want."

This one appears tame, Smith said, but could be dangerous because wild animals are unpredictable. People should not approach it, nor should they run away from the animal since that could provoke a chase. The best thing to do is ignore it, keep away from it and call the authorities, he said.

It can chase me if it wants. But I don't think it'll catch me.

It's like outrunning a dragon when you're walking with a hobbit. You don't have to beat the dragon -- you just have to run faster than the hobbit.

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Colorado state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle agreed with defense attorneys in the Kobe Bryant sexual abuse trial that using the term "victim" to describe the woman who has accused the LA Lakers' star of rape implies guilt on Kobe's part.

"Its use under these circumstances could improperly suggest that a crime had been committed such that the presumption of innocence might be jeopardized," Ruckriegle said. He said the 19-year-old woman must be referred to by name at trial and as a "person" in jury instructions.

And a trial date still has not been set.

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U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton in San Francisco, has struck down the partial-birth abortion law on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. How, you might ask? Because it is vague and creates an "undue burden" on abortion rights.

Hamilton sided with Planned Parenthood in its suit against the federal government, in relation to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The act was signed into law by President Bush late last year, and bans the controversial method of late-term abortion.

Pro-choice defenders claim that the measure is an overall assault on abortion rights in this nation.

The National Abortion Federation, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union praised Hamilton's ruling, saying they were "pleased that the court in San Francisco recognized that this ban is a broad attack on abortion beginning as early as 13 weeks in pregnancy."

Dr. LeRoy Carhart, the lead plaintiff in the Nebraska challenge to the federal law, said, "The court in San Francisco recognized this federal ban for what it is: a threat to women's health. The court understood that the government has no business trying to come between doctors and their patients and telling doctors that they can't put their patients' health and safety first."

On the other hand, Judge Hamilton, in her reasoning, makes me question her judgement. The US District Court in San Francisco seems to come up with plenty of decisions that cite "feelings" and "emotions" as opposed to logic and reasoning.

Is this how judges are supposed to work?

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Crawford, TX is well known as where President Bush owns his ranch.

It pisses off the press that they've had to go to the hinterlands of Texas (actually about 20 miles out of Waco) every year during the heat of the summer.

Some people actually criticize the location of Crawford in their bashing of the President -- not realizing how stupid they sound. After all, all other presidents have had "western" or "southern" or other "vacation White House" type retreats for themselves.

Now you can add the mayor the sleepy little town to the list of those who don't like President Bush.

Robert Campbell was recently named by the John Kerry campaign as one of 100 black mayors across the nation that will be supporting his candidacy for the nation's highest office.

"I don't see where I'm better off than I was four years ago," Robert Campbell said Tuesday. "I don't see where the city is any better off."

Some people simply don't think before they open their mouths to spew their hatred. They can't -- otherwise they'd realize how stupid they sound.

"I have the right to vote for who I want to be president," he said. "If some people around here don't like it, they can vote for someone else for mayor."

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Yassir Arafat has been given a deadline of June 15 -- by EGYPT -- to clean up his act.

...or else his future will be "left in the hands of Ariel Sharon."

"Go ahead. Make my day."

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The Texas Conservative is dealing with Islamic terrorism rather close to his heart this week.

My cousin Owen, and his wife Dianne, live in the Khobar compound that was attacked in Saudi Arabia today. Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Dianne was shot.

She survived, but has serious wounds to her legs. The gunshots broke both bones in one leg, and she suffered a flesh wound in the other.

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Remember that Freedom is not Free.

The quote here has even greater meaning for me; General Stark is a distant ancestor of mine, by way of the Wilkinson family.

I'm part of the "woodpile."

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