Catching up on news

Well, I went home over the weekend and with Thunder over Louisville festivities, I was away from my computer for long periods of time. As such, blogging was much too light but that's the Kentucky Derby Festival for you.

By the way, I did recieve one of those Lunsford DVDs, a waste of mail as it went straight to the trash can.

Congress passed a resolution last week to commemorate the Shoah.

The main speaker at the even was Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, who said, "Today, again, we see people around the world being singled out and murdered on the basis of their religious, sectarian, or ethnic identity, in places as diverse as Darfur and Iraq.

"In Iran we hear a president—an Islamist extremist—denying that the Nazi Holocaust happened, and then threatening the annihilation of Israel and death to America."

Israeli Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor warned that the lesson of the Holocaust had not been learned in full and that the world was not standing up to evil.

When a regime filled with hate denies the Holocaust and openly declared that it plans to wipe Israel off the map, when is threatens the world's security and looks to destroy values and a way of life, is the world doing enough to recognize the extent of the danger and doing all it can to prevent it, Meridor asked during the ceremony.

During his speech at the Congress, the Israeli ambassador suggested that Holocaust Memorial Day become a day of commitment.

We must make sure to fulfill the commitment that "never again" will not be an empty promise, he said. We must promise today that the Jewish people will not be defenseless again and that the State of Israel will forever be safe and strong, he added.

Evan Bayh and Dick Lugar are pushing for a nuclear fuel bank.

The soon-to-be-built Chabad House at Virginia Tech will be named for Professor Liviu Librescu.

A new Chabad House at Virginia Tech will be named for an Israeli Holocaust survivor killed in Monday’s shooting rampage. The center, to be named the Levi Librescu Chabad House, will operate under the auspices of Lubavitch of the Virginias, based in Richmond, and is expected to open in coming months.

"In times of sorrow we act quickly and we accomplish things that normally take much longer to accomplish," said Yossel Kranz, the Chabad emissary in Richmond. Kranz said plans for a Chabad center at Virginia Tech had been the works for some time, but this week’s events prompted him to "fast-track the plans so it can happen immediately."

Three quarters of a million dollars have been donated to presidential candidates from voters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Congressman Henry Waxman was not all that happy when he saw former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Jonathan Miller was out campaigning in Pikeville this past week.

While many of the Democratic candidates spent yesterday stumping at the Hillbilly Days event in Pikeville, two candidates -- Jonathan Miller and Gatewood Galbraith -- had competing booths at the Bluegrass Festival of Books.

Miller, the state treasurer, was there to hawk his book, Compassionate Community.

"I've done a scientific poll" at the book fair, Miller joked, "and 85 percent of the people say they're for me, and the other 15 percent are Republicans who say they'll vote for me in November."