This Day in History, August 24

79 A.D. - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneaum and Stabiae are buried in volcanic acid.

1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.

1682 - William Penn receives area that is now state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony in Pennsylvania.

1814 - British troops invade Washington, DC and burn down the White House and several other buildings.

1853 - Potato chips are first prepared.

1932 - Amelia Earhart is first woman to fly across United States non-stop (from LA to Newark). Who would want to fly to that dumphole (Newark).

1981 - Mark David Chapman sentenced to 20 years for murdering John Lennon.

1989 - Pete Rose banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner Bart Giamatti.

1990 - Sinead O'Conner refuses to perform at Garden State Arts Plaza in Holmdel, NJ if "Star-Spangled Banner" is played before her show, as is customary.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party of Soviet Union.

1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida as a category 5 hurricane.

This day in History, August 22

565 - St. Columbia reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland.

1775 - King George III declares the American colonies to be in open rebellion.

1831 - Nat Turner's slave rebellion revolt commences just after midnight in Southampton, VA, leading to the deaths of more than 50 whites and several hundred African Americans who were killed in retaliation for the uprising.

1848 - The United States annexes New Mexico.

1851 - The First America's Cup is won by the yacht America.

1902 - Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to ride in an automobile.

1942 - WWII: Brazil declares war on the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan)

1973 - President Nixon names Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State.

1989 - Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become first Major League baseball player to record 5,000 strikeouts.

2003 - Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with federal court order to remove rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.

This day in History, August 20

1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declares the War of Northern Aggression over.

1938 - Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd grand slam - a record that still stands today.

1953 - Soviet Union formally announces it tested a hydrogen bomb.

1969 - All 4 Beatles together in recording studio for the last time as they finished the "Abbey Road" LP.

1986 - In Edmond, OK, US Postal Employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his coworkers then commits suicide.

1998 - Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval. (They should have let them leave)

Michael Vick Pleads Guilty today

Today, Michael Vick announced he would plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, which is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 fine, although most legal scholars believe he will receive much less jail time.

While i find Vick's actions, if true, and we don't know if they are true, deplorable and barbaric, i find what the federal government is doing to him much, much worse. If Vick is guilty of dogfighting charges, then he's only guilty under Virginia state law, which outlaws dogfighting. There is no federal law outlawing dogfighting. The Feds have no jurisdiction in the matter. Why were there no state charges filed? The Feds constantly invoke the "Interstate Commerce Clause" of the Constitution in cases like this. The Interstate Commerce Clause was originally created so Congress could deal with issues involving commerce between the states, but now it is used by the federal government to increase federal authority over nearly every aspect of our lives.

It looks like Vick has plead guilty because the feds were promising more indicitments to follow under the RICO statute. Its another instance of the disappearance of a right to a fair trial. RICO is just a fancy way of charging people with a whole bundle of "imaginary" crimes. It was first used to go after the mob, but the statute has been perverted ever since then. The law is fashioned in such a way as to make it impossible for a jury to render a "not guilty" verdict. If Vick had gone to court to fight the charges, he most likely would have lost and could have faced up to 20 years in prison. This way, he only probably serves a year or so, then can possibly return to the NFL after a brief hiatus. Vick had no choice but to plead guilty.

I'm not for animal cruelty and if Vick was guilty of harming dogs, then he should have been punished by the state of Virginia. It was barbaric and sick what happened to those dogs, but is far more dangerous what the federal government imposes on us on a daily basis. This is the important issue in this case, not the dog fighting.

As a Virgina Tech fan, i've been disturbed by what the Vick family has done to the Tech name. It seems like Tech always has something hanging over it, and i think the success of the football program has put a microscope on all these things. I'm usually pretty sceptical of athletes and such anyway, but as we found out in the Duke lacrosse case, sometimes the story isn't as always as it seems. Hopefully, we will know the truth in a shorter time than it took to exonerate the Duke 3.

Bonds tonight hit 759

I have been negligent in my congratulations to Barry Bonds. He broke Hank Aaron's record and now he's eclipsing it. Tonight in Atlanta he hit #759 in the 6th inning. The greatest baseball of all time is still doing it. He could hit 30 HR this year, and it won't be because of steroids.

If you hear the people who are upset, its media people, not baseball players.

Congrats Barry, and keep 'em coming.

Nifong finally admits "no credible evidence"

On July 27th, disgraced former Durham, NC prosecuter Mike Nifong, finally admitted that there is "no credible evidence" that the 3 Duke lacrosse players committed any crimes he accused them of, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology. "I agree with the Attorney General's statement that there is no credible evidence that Mr. Seligmann, Mr. Finnerty or Mr. Evans committed any of the crimes for which they were indicted - or any other crimes against [the accuser] - during the party", said Nifong.

I believe he did this as the judge began considering whether to hold Nifong in criminal contempt or court for his handling of this case. But, as someone who closely followed this case, it is finally good to hear Nifong admit he was wrong and that the boys were innocent.

Guiliani says he can end Illegal Immigration

Guiliani said yesterday that as President he would end Illegal Immigration.

He says he would: require a Uniform I.D. card for foreign workers and students and he would create a central database to track the legal status of visitors to the United States. He wants a tamper-proof card that includes fingerprinting for everyone entering the country.

He said there would be a pathway to citizenship only for illegal immigrants who identify themselves as illegal, who learn English and who go to the back of the line to apply.

When on the campaign trail in SC, Guiliani said he would continue construction of the border fence, deporting illegal aliens who commit felonies and proposes that all immigrants who want to become citizens learn English.

Editors Note: We have to do something about all the illegal aliens who are killing Americans while drunk driving. Nothing has happened to the illegal who killed the 2 girls in VA Beach, the author of the great Christmas movie, "A Christmas Story" was killed by a drunk illegal in Los Angeles. We have to be able either to immediately deport them or try them here in America. Too many innocent Americans are dying at the hands of these illegal aliens. Also, When our politicians finally make ENGLISH the offical language of America and our national language, then we will be on the right track. Every illegal who works here, shops here, eats here, does anything here should have to speak English and we have to stop allowing the illegals in this country to only communicate in their native language. If you're in America, you speak English.

Iowa Straw Poll Results

The results of the Iowa Straw Poll are as follows:

Mitt Romney, the winner, with 4,516 votes. With the money he spent on votes, he should have one. Not a good sign for the future.

Mike Huckabee was the real surprise, coming in 2nd with 2,587 votes.

3. Sam Brownback - 2,192 (says the the "pro-life" candidate this time.)
4. Tom Tancredo _ 1,961 (The "immigration candidate")
5. Ron Paul - 1,305 (The candidate who we need to support this time. Could the "perfect storm" happen in '08.)
6. Tommy Thompson - 1,039 (now out of the race)
7. Fred Thompson - 203 (he didn't even go to Iowa till the Straw Poll. The question is, Does he really want to win this thing?)
8. Rudy Guiliani - 183 (He will be the Republican nominee)
9. Duncan Hunter - 174 (who??)
10. John McCain - 101 (He's finished. Its only a matter of time)
11. John Cox - 41 (Was this his family and immediate friends? Well, at least he had a pretty balloon at the Straw Poll.)