YOUR CORRESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE A DELAY IN GETTING TODAY'S ITEM POSTED inasmuch as the cable-modem connexion which Your Correspondent useth failed for about an hour's time.

And apologises as well.

Meteorologically, last night's showery and dreary look has since turned to clear skies and generally mild conditions up here in the Minnwissippi as I write you all @ this time. And things should be slightly nicer heading into the weekend, with maxima in the low 70's possible (though rain could be possible again on Sunday).

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WITH COMMENCEMENT SEASON NOW IN FULL-ON MODE, perhaps it was time that Your Correspondent used this occasion to send his best wishes to those who will be graduating as the Class of 2008, never mind their being from high school or university.

And those of you looking for gifts for that special graduate in your heart can look to Amazon.com, Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk for what you may need to give. And, in so doing, show your support for The Exaggerator in the process.

Likewise with Mallratz, my new online mall which will serve to compliment this blog--and help support same.

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IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE SO-CALLED "UNION OF MYANMAR" MAY BE SEEING A DOUBLE WHAMMY as risks not just a major humanitarian crisis on top of that already wrought ... but also pose a threat to the Myanmari military regime.

Especially as new estimates suggest where some 125,000 may have been killed in this past weekend's cyclone and reports from international humanitarian aid organisations about the Myanmari regime taking too much of the relief supplies for themselves, and with reckless and utter disregard for the suffering.

So what rationale does the regime actually have for such behaviour in the face of tragedy?

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YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ADVERTS ONLINE FROM NEWSMAX IN A CONTEXTUAL SENSE over recent weeks asking "Should Hillary Quit? Vote Here Now!"

The which, if we are to believe ConWebBlog, is really nothing less than an "opt-in" survey, which can be notoriously inaccurate and flawed, perhaps fatally, by virtue of the methodology being used. As well as the results therefrom perhaps being deceptive.

In any event, Hillary Rodham-Clinton, notwithstanding her Presidential campaign being in debt to the tune of $20 million after winning West Virginia's Presidential primary yesterday, remains committed to sure victory heading into the Democratic convention in Denver this August ... and one option which has been suggested as a way for her campaign to regain some financial stability (per CNN) would be to have Barack Obama's Presidential campaign fund loan Rodham-Clinton's such the amount of the debt, conditional on her leaving the race.

Nonetheless, the forces of conservative Zealotry and True Belief are getting rather ballisto to the point of paranoid about the prospect of a black Presidential candidate, which they see as being a Clear and Present Danger to the White Male Christian Power Structure regarded as an Antient and Pecuilar with American Soverignty and Soverign Identity.

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AND ANOTHER THING:

Whence comes the argument that only White Male Christians (especially so the Low Church stylee) can be True and Loyal Patriots?

Doesn't this suggest that the Lower Classes can't be trusted when it comes to loyalty and/or patriot love because of their dependency on State welfare @ the expense (or so perceived) of a "healthy respect for industry, self-reliance, personal responsibility, thrift based on cash economy and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life"?

Can the same be said of Jews? Muslims? Homosexuals?

After all, James Boswell reminds us in his Life of Samuel Johnson that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

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PLANNED PARENTHOOD DOESN'T FIND FUNNY PRANK PHONE CALLS TO LOCAL CHAPTERS offering donations to provide abortions to those of colour; the better, presumably, to whip up racist feelings in Those Who Should Know Better.

Which have been recorded on YouTube, in two parts:

En laat ons nie vergeet waar apartheid Suid-Afrika was vir ewig roep op "regter-dink" wit families om te Maak Babas vir Botha. . . .