Well I went out this weekend and bought some heavy drapes from JCPenny (Plug). I put them up, and they seem to help the draft issue a little bit, but not enough. I still have to try caulking and the plastic. We'll see how it goes.

So now that the turkey has digested, remember that apocalyptic election we had some weeks ago? Yeah the one where shrub gets another four years to mercilessly wreck this great country? Yeah well if you want an idea of where we might be going, look no further than the comments of one of our fine Supreme Court Justices.

Justice Scalia Rejects Separation of Church and State

"U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Monday that a religion-neutral government does not fit with an America that reflects belief in God in everything from its money to its military."

Hmmm ok, yeah so because our money has the words In God We Trust, does not mean our government should operate under the direction of the Bible. It just isn't a good idea.

On another topic, I have become increasingly concerned with the hostility of many Americans towards the world. It seems to me that after the tragedy of September 11th 2001 we can not afford to thumb our nose at the rest of the world. In order to defeat terrorism we need an unprecedented cooperation among all of the world's nations. This go it alone attitude, is in my opinion, a terrible, horrible viewpoint. We cannot continue to isolate ourselves like this, and stick our middle finger up at the rest of the world. We must become engaged in the world community, not shun them with insults such as calling them "old Europe" or the like. Having said that I question the intelligence of what this following article talks about.

Congress Seeks to Curb International Court

"The Republican-controlled Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords shielding U.S. personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.

The move marks an escalation in U.S. efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge American citizens for crimes committed overseas. More than two years ago, Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that vow not to transfer to the court U.S. nationals accused of committing war crimes abroad."

This is called bullying, and it is not the way to win friends and allies.

"The criminal court was established by treaty at a 1998 conference in Rome to prosecute perpetrators of the most serious crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The treaty has been signed by 139 countries and ratified by 97. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of Argentina has begun investigating widespread human rights violations in Congo and Uganda.

The Clinton administration signed the treaty in December 2000, but the Bush administration renounced it in May 2001, citing concern that an international prosecutor might conduct frivolous investigations and trials against American officials, troops and foreign nationals deployed overseas on behalf of the United States. 'This is a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors could pull our troops, our diplomats up for trial,' Bush said in his first campaign debate with Sen. John F. Kerry."

But this is just a poor excuse.

"The court's advocates maintain that the Bush administration's fears of frivolous prosecution are overstated. They say that the tribunal was created to hold future despots in the ranks of Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Idi Amin accountable for mass killings, not to pursue U.S. officials responsible for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They note that the court will take on cases only when a state is unable or unwilling to do so.

'The continuing attempt to cut aid to countries that do not support the International Criminal Court is unnecessary; the U.S. doesn't have anything to worry about,' said Sally Eberhardt, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. 'There are enough safeguards built into the treaty, which the United States helped draft.'

Brian Thompson, a specialist for the court at Citizens for Global Solutions in Washington, said, 'They are taking another swing at international relations that I think are already damaged by cutting off economic support programs that promote American ideals.'"

Ah where am I? Is this not a fair and just world community that we should be joining and helping a civilized world order take hold? What is wrong with the International Court?

Until next time America!