As a preview to it's "Planet in Peril" series, CNN offers a story entitled, Overpopulation could be people, planet problem.

Consequences of overpopulation
Overpopulation occurs when a population's density exceeds the capacity of the environment to supply the health requirements of an individual, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmentalists have long been concerned about the resources threatened by rapidly growing human populations, focusing on phenomenon such as deforestation, desertification, air pollution and global warming. But the worst-case scenario for people experiencing overpopulation, according to Lawrence Smith, president of the Population Institute, is a lack of fresh, clean water.

"If the water goes, the species goes," he said.

This all sounds a bit familiar. Oh yeah, party like it's 1968.

The Population Bomb (1968) is a book written by Paul R. Ehrlich. A best-selling work, it predicted disaster for humanity due to overpopulation and the "population explosion". The book predicted that "in the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death", that nothing can be done to avoid mass famine greater than any in the history, and radical action is needed to limit the overpopulation.

In 2001, President Bush makes a state visit to Mexico. During the visit, Mexican President Vicente Fox gave Bush a pair of Ostrich skin boots especially made for Fox, his bodyguards, cabinet members, and friends.

In 2007 the bootmaker was arrested in Mexico for having skins and boots made from endangered species. The CNN headline:

Bush's bootmaker arrested for illegal skins

Rudy gets a call from his better half in the middle of an NRA speech. Geez, getting all lovey dovey with his wife while speaking to the NRA. He could only be more transparent if he were fire-bombing. . .er picketing Planned Parenthood at the same time.

He's a liberal pretender and anti-gun and he will NEVER get my vote.

Whatever you do, don't ask President Kerry questions about the 2004 election or he'll have the cops taser your ass. Watch the video as Kerry makes jokes while the poor guy (who appears to be a Kerry supporter) is tasered repeatedly while restrained.

For those of you who receive Ravenwood's Universe via RSS feeds, please note I changed the file names. Please check out the feed links from the menu on the main index. Links to the legacy feeds have been removed and the files will be deleted soon.

I haven't spoken much about the whole Michael Vick dogfighting scandal. Problem is that whenever I do mention it I always come off sounding like I'm defending Vick. I have pointed out to others, with limited success, that people were more concerned with Vick's ties to dogfighting than they were with other professional athlete's ties to murder, robbery, cheating, etc.

And that brings me to Patriot's coach Bill Belichick. Belichick and the Patriots were caught spying on other teams and the NFL swiftly levied fines and penalties against the team. I realize we're talking team versus individual behavior, but Michael Vick's indefinite suspension seems harsh contrasted to Belichick's $500,000 fine. Vick is left to wonder if he will ever play again and effectively being fined millions of dollars in lost salary and bonuses, for an off-field incident that occurred during the off-season.

On the other hand, Belichick was pretty much caught cheating. The actions of him and his team have a direct affect not only on the outcome of football games, but on the league as a whole. Is the message here that cheating is not as bad dogfighting?

Or could it be that liberal thoughts and mindsets are playing out? I mean Vick was alleged to have killed poor defenseless doggies. (Nevermind that the SPCA and PETA do this every day.) The dogs have no choice in the matter and are poor dumb animals.

It's ironical, because pit bulls used to be canina non grata, having been the subject of bans, confiscation, and breed specific legislation throughout the U.S. In fact, the City of Denver not only banned the dogs, they started rounding them up and exterminating them. They took good dogs out of loving homes.

But I digress. Belichick is also a victim. He's a victim of a win-at-all costs society. Before the football season even started, the Patriots were the favorite to win the Super Bowl. With that kind of pressure, he had no choice but to cheat. He was forced into it.

At least that appears to be the mindset of the NFL, who opted against suspension in favor of a team punishment.

I'm not trying to defend Vick or what he did. I hate dogfighting and think they should throw the book at him. But the punishment should fit the crime. Using RICO statutes to go after a life sentence, or destroying his NFL career for an off-field incident seems a bit extreme. Especially when there are other athletes who seemed to get away with murder.

Former Democrat speechwriter Chris Matthews is going out of his way to show people he's a complete perv. Media Mutters reports on his latest leering at Laura Ingraham:

Matthews opened the interview with Ingraham by saying, "You are -- I'm not allowed to say this, but I'll say it -- you're beautiful and you're smart. And you've got a huge radio audience." When the interview ended, he asked: "Can I sing your praises?" adding, "I get in trouble for this, but you're great looking, obviously. You're one of the gods' gifts to men in this country. But also, you are a hell of a writer."

Last month Matthews exhibited his creepy side by asking the comely Erin Burnett to move closer to the camera so that he could get a better look at her.

MATTHEWS: Could you get a little closer to the camera?

BURNETT: My -- what is it? Is it zooming in strangely?

MATTHEWS: Come on in closer. No, come in -- come in further -- come in closer. Really close.

BURNETT: What are you -- what are you doing?

MATTHEWS: Just kidding! You look great! Anyway, thanks. Erin, it's great to -- look at that look. You're great.

BURNETT: I don't even know. I'm going to have to go look at the tape here. I'm in a strange location.

MATTHEWS: No, you're beautiful. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You're a knockout. Anyway, thank you, Erin Burnett.

You have to see the video to believe it.

When Warner announced his plans to retire, I kinda figured that Warner would try to capitalize on a little name recogntion. Now it's official. Former Democrat Governor of Virginia Mark Warner is once again running for Republican Senator John Warner's seat in 2008. (The two had run against each other in 1996.)

Personally, I don't like either Warner. John Warner has been Senator of Virginia for about 114 years. He was a ranking member on the Senate Armed Services committee and has historically looked out for our veterans. Growing up in a military town, we were taught to admire John Warner. But during his last term he's taken a big swing to the left. His having spoken out against the war, in favor of gun control, and in favor of bigger government has left me wanting a true conservative. Frankly, I'm glad he's stepping down.

But that no-good lying son of a bitch Mark Warner isn't any better. CNN follows the liberal media template by constantly referring to him as the "popular" former governor. But I wonder how popular he really is. At one point he was considered to be Virginia's golden boy. Media pundits were talking about a Mark Warner - George Allen matchup for the 2008 Presidential election. We all know that Allen's political career was torpedoed by the Washington Post's constant harping on his use of the non-sensical term "macaca" (which is sometimes considered offensive in remote regions of the Congo). But what happened to Mark Warner? If Warner is so popular why did he decide against running for the White House in favor of a quest for the Senate?

The answer may be taxes. Mark Warner ran for governor on a "no new taxes" platform. On the campaign trail he said, "I will not raise taxes, I will not raise taxes, I will not raise taxes." (Although he later tried to deny he'd ever even said it). But once he was elected, Mark Warner changed his tune.

Almost immediately after winning election, Mark "I will not raise taxes" Warner asked the General Assembly to raise the state sales tax. Although that effort failed, he vetoed a repeal of the death tax. Warner thought that dead people weren't paying their fair share. They had won life's lottery and even death is no excuse for not paying confiscatory taxes.

Then he pushed for and received the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN VIRGINIA'S 400 YEAR HISTORY. Warner claimed that Virgina's financial situation was grim. He said our AAA bond rating was at risk and that if we didn't immediately raise taxes, we'd suffer a disaster of biblical proportions. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. . .mass hysteria. And it worked. Hapless Republicans gave him what he wanted.

Just weeks after Warner signed the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN VIRGINIA HISTORY, it was discovered that Virginia was actually running a budget surplus. A big surplus. A $1 Billion (with a "B") surplus. And Warner knew it all along. The reason he pushed the tax hike through so quickly was to beat the good budget estimates being made public. And when constituents complained and asked that the tax increase be canceled in light of the "new" information, their pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead Warner and the other money-grubbing politicians began planning out new new ways to spend the extra money. Our money.

Whats more, while all this played out Virginia's roads completely deteriorated. Every time the subject of transportation funding came up, Warner and other Virginia politicians (Republicans included) claimed there was no money for roads. Warner told us if we wanted our roads fixed, we'd need to dig a little deeper.

And deeper we dug. Warner's legacy was his Democrat protoge Tim Kaine and subsequent years of tax hikes. And our roads? Well, they still suck because there's never enough money.

Ravenwood's Universe has been given a Thinking Blogger Award (link in Spanish):

Ravenwood's Universe, por Ravenwood. Liberalismo americano (alli dirian libertarianism) en estado puro. Defensa a ultranza de la segunda enmienda, critica sistematica a los progres americanos (alli dirian liberals) y gobierno limitado a su funcion primordial tal y como fue disenada por los padres fundadores. Y como buen liberal que es (libertarian), Ravenwood critica por igual a los democratas y a los republicanos, igual que aqui con PP y PSOE.

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, it says: "Ravenwood's Universe is great".

Okay, okay, actually it says:

Ravenwood's Universe, by Ravenwood. American liberalism (there they would say libertarianism) in a pure state. Ultimate defense of the Second Amendment, systematic criticism to politically correct Americans (there they would say liberals) and limited government to its fundamental function as it was designed by the Founding Fathers. And as a good liberal that is (libertarian), Ravenwood equally criticizes Democrats and Republicans, the same as our Popular Party and Spanish Socialist Party.

Chris Knight posted some of his original content to You Tube. VH1 grabs his content and features it on their show "Web Junk 2.0", without his permission. Knight captures the VH1 segment and posts it to You Tube, who promptly deletes it after getting a cease and desist request from parent company Viacom. Viacom claims that Knight is violating their copyright by using their feature which violated his copyright.

Via Slashdot.