September 07, 2008
We have a commenter
I swiped this post: A simple question to Barack Obama from Neanderpundit a few days ago as I thought it was funny and relevant.
Today, Phyllis Jones offered the following comment:
I have noticed that all the Conservative News Reporters when they report on anything that Barack Obama does, they always show his name as B. Hussein Obama. I read two articles on Friday and they both showed his name as “Hussein”. They specifically use “Hussein” in their reporting of him, I don't like that because they want to implicate him as being a part of the enemy or the muslim religion which we know he's not. Barack's mother and father gave him that middle name years ago before anybody knew anything about the history of Hussein so they are not being very fair to him. Also, Sarah Palin and company are intentionally not letting her have interviews with the press or news media. I feel she has things to hide and John McCain is protecting her from the media. If she says she's strong and hangs with the “Good Old Boys” then she should be strong enough to stand up to the media questions. How are we suppose to evaluate her in the next 58 days if she doesn't speak afterall she is running for the second most important job in the country, and possibly, the first if anything happens to John McCain. John McCain wants everyone to think he has changed, but you and I know he hasn't. He is using this Palin choice as a cover job in hopes that she'll steal the limelight from him and not show his flaws. He cannot, which he is doing, use his military story to run the country - it was very historic - but come on, enough is enough. Another note, when John McCain took so long to make his decision or inform the public about his pick for VP, everyone in the Democratic party should have known that he was going to pick a woman - he was just waiting to see if Barack was going to pick Hillary as a choice for VP, the first woman VP choice (this move would have been historic as well as a good move for the Democrats (18 million votes) - we messed up on this one and McCain knew it. Barack could have picked Joe Biden as his Secretary of State, like Condoleeza Rice is. So to steal his thunder, he picked Palin because he knew all the women were waiting for a first pick woman in this position. Barack Obama should definitely show in all of his ads the picture of McCain and Bush together as often as possible so the people will get the message. You need to get the message out there that this is what America is voting for on the McCain/Palin ticket - 4 years of the same old thing. Palin's views on everything must be explored and exposed - she is not off limits just because she is a woman and a mother (aren't we all mothers). She accepted the nomination for VP and has hung with the “Good Old Boys” as she has stated over and over again, so she should be treated the same as any man would running for the same position and answer all the questions that are thrown her way. I'm not comfortable with her avoiding the media and not answering questions because she is hiding something that the public needs to know. Democrats please don't just register to vote, go out on election day and “VOTE”, that is the only way we are going to win for White House. Let's do what the Republican's do - get out and show we really want something really big and historical for the country - get out and VOTE on election day, don't just talk about it “DO IT” - we can win the White House if we all stick together and vote for Barack Obama.
Just wow… Og at Neanderpundit noticed my link, came for a visit and had this reply to Phyllis:
Phyllis: I gotta know. Does it physically pain you to be this ignorant? I mean, I would certainly hope that your level of bloodymindedness would cause you some pain, or are you so sedated/numb that you have no idea?
Phyllis — the Hussein is used because that is his name. Of course he was named way before Saddam Hussein was in the public eye; that is not the point. The point is that, while growing up, he had connections with Islam, attended a Muslim school in Indonesia from 1967 to 1971. His twenty-year connection with Jeremiah Wright's church opens the possibility of connection with the Nation of Islam as there was a good measure of cross-pollination between the two.
As for Sarah Palin not granting interviews; she has only been the Republican V.President candidate for a few days (nominated on Sept 2nd) Since then, she has made several campaign stops as well as hunkering in and learning more about her job. She has several interviews scheduled.
As for (your words) “using this Palin choice as a cover job”; McCain got inside the Obama OODA loop and disrupted it. A good and unconventional but wise decision and one that successfully tripped up the Obama campaign.
You said: “when John McCain took so long to make his decision or inform the public about his pick for VP, everyone in the Democratic party should have known” OODA loop again, McCain waited until the last moment and then struck — successfully too if current poll numbers are accurate.
You: (aren't we all mothers) I'm not. About half of the people I know aren't either.
A two-fer for Obama
From Charles
#1) - A Freudian slip?
Obama: 'My Muslim Faith'
Oops!
Luckily, he has ABC News and George Stephanopoulos to jump in and correct him.
An excerpt of the interview can be found at YouTube.
#2) - What year is it again?
Obama Suddenly Remembers: He Almost Joined the Military
He’s never mentioned it before, not even in two autobiographies, but Barack Obama has suddenly remembered that he considered joining the military.
Obama disclosed that he had once considered serving in the military.“You know, I actually did,” Obama said. “I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii. And I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there.
“And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honorable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”
There is a wee bit of a problem here.
Just one problem with Obama’s little story.
Registration for selective service was not reinstated until 1980.On March 25, 1975, Pres. Gerald Ford signed Proclamation 4360, Terminating Registration Procedures Under Military Selective Service Act, eliminating the registration requirement for all 18-25 year old male citizens. Then on July 2, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771, Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act, retroactively re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18-26 year old male citizens born on or after January 1, 1960. Only men born between March 29, 1957, and December 31, 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration. The first registrations after Proclamation 4771 took place on Monday, July 21, 1980, for those men born in January, February and March 1960 at U.S. Post Offices.
Ya' know, some days things just don't go your way…
UPDATE: Turns out that he registered in 1980. Bob Owens at Pajamas Media:
After contacting the Selective Service System for an answer several times since late June, Pajamas Media obtained official confirmation from the Selective Service System via email that Barack Obama did indeed register for the Selective Service as required by law, and is eligible to run for the presidency.Mr. Owens,
Barack Hussein Obama registered at a post office in Hawaii. The effective registration date was September 4, 1980.
His registration number is 61-1125539-1.
Daniel Amon
Public Affairs Specialist
Cool archaeological find - the oldest skeleton in North America
A couple weeks ago, I posted about an article in National Geographic about an underground labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves—some underwater.
Well, it turns out that there was somebody home.
From National Geographic:
Oldest Skeleton in Americas Found in Underwater Cave?
Deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas.
Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, the female skeleton has been dated at 13,600 years old. If that age is accurate, the skeleton—along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula—could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.
She opens up some interesting ideas about our origins on this landmass:
Clues from the skeletons' skulls hint that the people may not be of northern Asian descent, which would contradict the dominant theory of New World settlement. That theory holds that ancient humans first came to North America from northern Asia via a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Sea.
“The shape of the skulls has led us to believe that Eva and the others have more of an affinity with people from South Asia than North Asia,” González explained.
Some fascinating geology as well:
The remains were found some 50 feet (15 meters) below sea level in the caves off Tulum. But at the time Eve of Naharon is believed to have lived there, sea levels were 200 feet (60 meters) lower, and the Yucatán Peninsula was a wide, dry prairie.
The polar ice caps melted dramatically 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, causing sea levels to rise hundreds of feet and submerging the burial grounds of the skeletons. Stalactites and stalagmites then grew around the remains, preventing them from being washed out to sea.
González has also found remains of elephants, giant sloths, and other ancient fauna in the caves.
Cool!
Sometimes just the headline is enough
This headline certainly tells the story. From the Associated Press:
Palin's pastor urges flock to pray for the media
Heh…
Let them eat Cake
Actually, no.
From the Boston Globe/Associated Press:
Don't let them eat cake, Saudi cleric says
When Hala al-Masaad invited her girlfriends over to celebrate her 18th birthday with cake and juice, the high school student was stepping into an unusual public debate. Is celebrating birthdays un-Islamic?
Saudi Arabia's most senior Muslim cleric recently denounced birthday parties as an unwanted foreign influence, but another prominent cleric declared they were OK.
That has left al-Masaad with mixed feelings about her low-key celebration last month. She loves birthday parties, she says, because they make her feel that she has “moved from one stage of life to another.”
“But I sometimes feel I'm doing something haram,” she said sheepishly, using the Arabic word for banned.
The Saudi ban on birthdays is in line with the strict interpretation of Islam followed by the conservative Wahhabi sect adhered to in the kingdom. All Christian and even most Muslim feasts are also prohibited because they are considered alien customs the Saudi clerics don't sanction.
Talk about being sanctimonious uptight old prick. These people have no love, no sense of humor, no passion except for their 9th century moon worshiping.
Heh - read the numbers and weep
The tide is turning — from USA Today:
Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama
The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year.
McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.
The 2004 election was between dumb and dumber and I am glad that dumb won.
This time around, we have an inexperienced political hack (with great speech-making skills) v/s two genuine leaders
Nice people - nine-year-old bride murdered at 17
Proof once again that Islam is truly the Religion of Peace.
From news.com.au:
Married at 9, slain by parents at 17
Despair among human rights workers in Pakistan over a rash of so-called “honour killings” intensified yesterday when it was disclosed that a girl forced into marriage with a 45-year-old man at the age of nine had been killed by her parents because she asked for an annulment.
The girl, 17, who had been fighting a lonely but successful legal battle, was coming out of court in the Punjabi city of Sahiwal after being granted the annulment by a judge when she was surrounded by a group of men and shot in view of police.
Despair but no action — nobody had the stones to arrest these sons of pigs and monkeys?
For a list of the last two months of Islamic violence check out this page at The Religion of Peace. In just the last six days — September 1st through September 6th, there have been 118 murders and 270 people injured. It's not just Iraq — there are Buddhists getting murdered in Thailand, Farmers trying to pump water getting blown up by a booby trapped pump, nine year old boys getting killed.
These are not intelligent and thinking people — these are people that make a Neanderthal look good by comparison.
And one presidential candidate has expressed interest in sitting down and talking with these people — as though that will have any effect…
September 06, 2008
Another video - the Mythbusters team
Major geekdom — they were commissioned by NVidia to do a demo representing the difference between a CPU and a massively parallel Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
Check out Adam and Jamie as they paint the Mona Lisa
Hat tip to Neatorama for the link.
Been there, done that, got the Microsoft tee-shirt
Great seven minute YouTube here: Digital Grunt
Like I said, got the tee-shirt…
A warning - cats are evil and planning world domination
It's true - if you do not believe me, go here: Purple Slinky
Ignore at your peril!
Well DOH!
I have been noticing a large uptick in the level of comment spam attempts here.
Just hit me today, all the students returning to school with shiny new laptops…
About 30% of yesterday's spam was from .EDU addresses — 10% from Europe and Latin America. The rest from the Zombie net at Comcast and Roadrunner, et. al. (ip addresses in the 60's and 70's)
September 05, 2008
Bill Whittle is back - at the National Review!
Essayist Bill Whittle is an amazing writer but he doesn't post that frequently. He hones his essays until they are word-perfect.
He just had a piece published at National Review Online:
Proud of the GOP
For the first time, I feel like we deserve to win more than they deserve to lose.
Two masterstrokes were accomplished in the last two days of this year’s Republican National Convention. In her first appearance on the national stage — which can only be called a tectonic event — Sarah Palin secured the conservative base for maverick John McCain, while also reaching out to Democratic women. Then on Thursday night, John McCain struck again, making a play for the rest of the Democratic party.
When John McCain was sewing up the nomination in the early spring, I spent a lot of time in many comment sections defending him in as many ways as I knew how. He wasn’t my first choice (Fred) or my second (Rudy), but he was the GOP nominee, fairly elected, and looking at the table I thought he was the only man who had a chance to win in November — because frankly, we Republicans don’t deserve to be this lucky.
Many conservatives were arguing that it would be better to sit this one out, and let the country go to hell, so that we could send the Republican party a message and re-emerge from the ashes in 2012 with “the next Reagan.” I pointed out that there were two problems with this theory:
First, you may not like the fact that Grandma smokes in bed, and you may indeed want to get her attention. But if that message consists of letting her set the bed, the house and the grandchildren on fire, perhaps there was a better way to “send a message.” Second, it pained me to point out that there was no “next Reagan.” Ronald Reagan was on the political scene for almost two decades before he became President. Who was waiting in the wings to magically fill this role? No one.
Newt Gingrich’s fire-breathing army of young reform Republicans who stormed congress in 1994 grew, in about a decade, into the party of Duke Cunningham, Trent Lott, and the Bridge to Nowhere. I watched this unfold — especially after 2004 — and time and time again, the core conservative values of discipline and responsibility were betrayed, mocked, and ignored. Restraint is not an easy sell in a society this affluent — not compared with the view of government as a bottomless bag of candy. That’s why we’re supposed to be the party of adults.
Power corrupts, and I believe there is no power more intoxicating and corrosive than the ability to spend other people’s money at will. If Newt’s Army could go so far astray, you can bet the country was disillusioned, disappointed, and furious — not just ready for change, but eager for it, even change as ethereal and diffuse as what Senator Obama has been peddling. We lost the Senate and the House in 2006 because of this. We were going to lose the presidency in 2008 for it. And we deserved to lose it.
And so — prior to this week — all we had was a grim determination to vote against a dangerous, socialized vision of the future. We were portrayed — largely accurately — as old, tired, out-of-touch, out of ideas, out of candidates . . . too white, too male, too square. It doesn’t matter how true or false that caricature was. That was the narrative, and there was enough of it that fit.
And then the earthquake came.
Two bits more:
Sarah Palin has done more than unify and electrify the base. She’s done something I would not have thought possible, were it not happening in front of my nose: Sarah Palin has stolen Barack Obama’s glamour. She’s stolen his excitement, robbed his electricity, burgled his charisma, purloined his star power, and taken his Hope and Change mantra, woven it into a cold-weather fashion accessory, and wrapped it around her neck.
And:
And, finally . . . what of John McCain? I’ve read many comments about his speech being a disappointment. I don’t know how it looked or played from the floor. But I know how it played from my Los Angeles living room. I believe — and we’ll know soon enough if I’m right — that John McCain did something Thursday night more powerful and astonishing than Sarah Palin did the previous evening. Sarah stole Obama’s glamour. McCain stole his message. (Granted, that may not be a lot, apart from the glamour, but it was all Obama had left.)
What he said… The essay is three pages long - about five or ten minutes and well worth reading.
Unemployment numbers
Coyote Blog notes a coincidence between the recent spike in unemployment and the recent 12% raise in the mandatory Minimum Wage:
New Unemployment Numbers
US unemployment in August “jumped unexpectedly” to 6.1%, by the oddest of coincidences in the first full month just after new, 12% higher US minimum wages took effect.
The unemployment rate is higher than it has been in the United States in the last 5 years, but substantially lower than the rate most Western European countries like France and Germany experience even during peak economic times.
In response, the Obama campaign is urging further increases to the minimum wage and emulation of labor policy and legislation in France and Germany.
Cause and effect — goes hand in hand and people wonder why…
For those who don't want to click on the links above, the unemployment numbers are: France - 8% and Germany - 9.1%.
Makes our 6.1% look good…
Don't mess with Texas - homeowner 1, burglar 0
From FOX News:
Texas Man Kills Home Intruder With His Own Gun
When two gunmen smashed through the glass front door of her suburban Fort Worth home, Kellie Hoehn didn't think twice.
The 34-year-old mother of two grabbed a shotgun that had been pointed at her face early Wednesday, starting a struggle that ended with one intruder killed with his own weapon and another in the hospital.
“I wasn't going to let them get to my babies,” she said, recalling the moment when she pushed up the muzzle of the shotgun, pointing it away from her children's rooms.
I love Heinlein's comment: An armed society is a polite society.
Had the household been armed, there would not have been the scuffle — it would just have been the removal of two goblins from the gene pool.
A questionable alliance? Obama and Khalid al-Mansour
An interesting report from Newsmax:
Obama Had Close Ties to Top Saudi Adviser at Early Age
New evidence has emerged that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was closely associated as early as age 25 to a key adviser to a Saudi billionaire who had mentored the founding members of the Black Panthers.
In a videotaped interview this year on New York’s all news cable channel NY1, a prominent African-American businessman and political figure made the curious disclosures about Obama.
Percy Sutton, the former borough president of Manhattan, off-handedly revealed the unusual circumstances about his first encounter with the young Obama.
“I was introduced to (Obama) by a friend who was raising money for him,” Sutton told NY1 city hall reporter Dominic Carter.
“The friend’s name is Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, from Texas,” Sutton said. “He is the principal adviser to one of the world’s richest men. He told me about Obama.”
Sutton, the founder of Inner City Broadcasting, said al-Mansour contacted him to ask a favor: Would Sutton write a letter in support of Obama’s application to Harvard Law School?
“He wrote to me about him,” Sutton recalled. “And his introduction was there is a young man that has applied to Harvard. I know that you have a few friends up there because you used to go up there to speak. Would you please write a letter in support of him?”
Sutton said he acted on his friend al-Mansour’s advice.
And a bit more:
Although many Americans have never heard of Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour (his full name), he is well known within the black community as a lawyer, an orthodox Muslim, a black nationalist, an author, an international deal-maker, an educator, and an outspoken enemy of Israel.
How many more of these skeletons are in Obama's closet?
Why doesn't he disclose these relationships?
A simple question to Barak Obama
Neanderpundit asks a simple question:
Bring on the Duh.
From Obamessiah, reacting to Palin’s speech:I have a question for you, Mr Obama:“We’re into the final day of the convention, and not one serious word about the state of the economy, not one serious word about where they would lead,”
WHY THE FUCK DID GOD ENDOW YOU WITH THOSE SPECTACULAR EARS IF YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF EVER USING THEM?
Simply put…
September 04, 2008
That's it for tonight
The meeting went well — it was run by the County and was addressing future plans and zoning. Most of the people out here moved out here for a reason and the interest in preserving “rural character” is high.
The county planners are looking at adding housing and an industrial area.
Needless to say, the meeting was well attended with about 100 residents showing up.
I have to be in Bellingham for an 8:30AM doctors appointment so it's off to the DaveCave™ to check email and then to bed.
Had a bit of a glitch with the hospital — over a year ago, I had a chronic ingrown toenail get really infected so went and had it taken care of (the podiatrist removed a chunk of the nail and it has been fine ever since). The infection didn't respond to the prescribed Cephalexin so two weeks later, I went in, got a culture swab taken and whoop-de-dooo MRSA… A couple weeks of Vancomycin sent that little gift packing and everything was fine.
Unfortunately, I was never “cleared”. I should have had two nasal swabs taken a week apart to verify that I no longer had an MRSA infection. Today is the 4th. My surgery is on the 15th. Since there is no time to get cleared, I will be spending my time in isolation…
The plan was to get a group of joint patients together so we could act as mutual support through our three days in the house of pain but I will not have this option.
Well crap…
Nice guys
These mokes should be given mental health screening and then institutionalized for a while…
From the Minneapolis TwinCities.com:
Sheriff's investigation: Anarchists discussed kidnapping delegates
A year ago, the Ramsey County sheriff's office began looking closely at a group called the Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee.
What it found, according to an 18-page search warrant application and affidavit, led to weekend raids on two Minneapolis homes and a temporary St. Paul office for the self-described anarchist group.
According to the document, investigation learned:The main sources for the information were “regular surveillance” of the group and three people who posed as members — two informants and an undercover investigator. The informants monitored e-mails and conversations.
- The self-described anarchist group — whose main goal was to “crash” the Republican National Convention,” according to its Web site — traveled to or communicated with affinity groups in 67 cities to recruit members and raise money.
- Group members discussed the possibility of kidnapping delegates, blockading bridges, using liquid sprayers filled with urine or chemicals on police and throwing marbles to trip police and their horses.
- At an “action camp” held from July 31 to Aug. 3 in Lake Geneva, Minn., one member talked of concealing inside giant puppets “materials” that could be used on the street. Others discussed the need for Molotov cocktails, paint, caltrops (devices used to puncture tires), bricks and lockboxes for protesters to lock themselves together.
- Erik Oseland, one of the six group members arrested here, produced a video called “Video Map of the St. Paul Points of Interest.” It included such major companies as Travelers Insurance and Qwest, hotels such as the Embassy Suites and the Crowne Plaza. Also included: the Pioneer Press building.
Geneva Finn of the National Lawyers Guild, which represents many of those arrested, said it was hard for her to weigh the evidence in the affidavit because “it's all based on the testimony of people who are not identified, and that's a real problem.”
Police and the Sheriff's Department characterized the anarchists as troublemakers who had come from other cities and states to disrupt the convention.
“Yesterday, there was a group of people, not the protesters … but a group of criminals who came here with a very express goal and intent,” St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington said Tuesday. “They came here to try to stop the convention, to crash the gates, to stop the buses and the delegates. … They failed.”
And of course, the ACLU is getting into the picture:
The ACLU and the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild also criticized the police response to the protesters.
ACLU of Minnesota Executive Director Chuck Samuelson said he believes an excessive number are being charged with serious felonies such as conspiracy to commit riot.
Of the 284 arrests Monday, 130 were made on suspicion of felonies and 51 on gross misdemeanors. Samuelson said that in similar mass arrests during demonstrations, two-thirds are charged with misdemeanors.
Hey Chuck — the ratio changed because this is not some home-grown protest. These are professional anarchists who traveled from other cities to cause havoc and they talked about kidnapping delegates. These mokes were taking things to the next level and fortunately, the police response was measured and appropriate.
I am still sad that the arrests happened when they did — they gave the left some ammunition for P.R. among themselves. Better to watch the persons of interest and catch them in the act. Sill, that would have required a lot more manpower and you cannot have eyes everywhere.
As for the ACLU, they are in the same boat as the labor unions, MADD, Greenpeace, they started out doing great work and their efforts were needed but once their agendas were met, they didn't disband, they suffered scope creep and a corruption of their original ideals.
Light posting today
Been working at the store and there is a community meeting in 30 minutes.
That will probably take a couple hours.
Great comment from Victor Davis Hanson
Maggie's Farm found the link to this great idea from Victor Davis Hanson:
Want Real Change? Quit Nominating Lawyers
The 2008 presidential campaign is supposed to be a referendum on “change” — who brings it and who doesn't.
Real change, however, hasn't yet proven to mean new politics.
The “hope and change” Barack Obama sounds like a traditional Northern liberal who always wants to raise taxes on the upper classes and businesses, expand government services and provide more state assistance to the middle class and poor.
“Maverick” John McCain talks like a conventional Western or Southern conservative in favor of spending cuts, across-the-board lower taxes and smaller government.
This year the media seem to think change means race and sex — whether Barack Obama's background of mixed racial ancestry or the gender of Democratic primary candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
It's certainly true that either the next president or next vice president will not be a white male. But does that mean de facto that the country will be run any differently?
There is, however, one area where we might have seen real change. The Democrats could have not nominated another lawyer. This may partly explain why former military officer John McCain and working-mom Sarah Palin are polling near even with Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, in a year that otherwise favors the Democrats.
A snowmobiling, fishing and hunting mom of five who was trained as a journalist seems like a breath of fresh air — and accentuates the nontraditional background of former naval officer John McCain. If the Republicans win, it may well be that, like George Bush and Dick Cheney, or Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, they weren't members of the legal culture.
On the Democratic side, Barack Obama got out of Harvard Law School, worked for a firm, offered his legal expertise as a community organizer and went into politics. Joe Biden graduated from law school and almost immediately ran for office.
What do you call 100 dead lawyers piled at the bottom of a cliff?
A good start… (cue rimshot)
An interesting idea and may well be part of the McCain/Palin success.
The horrible death toll in Iraq Chicago
From Instapundit comes a link to this story at CBS2Chicago:
Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq
An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.
In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps. Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.
According to the Defense Department, 65 soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq. About the same number were killed in Afghanistan over that same period.
In the same time period, an estimated 245 people were shot and wounded in the city.
It's time to pull out I tell you!
A wonderful analysis from Dr. Mercury
Over at Maggie's Farm, frequent technology poster Dr. Mercury sums it up nicely.
Go here and read: From Sparks To Flame
What he said…
September 03, 2008
And while we are looking at 17 year old mothers, look at this
Both campaigns have an issue with an unmarried 17 year old mother.
Bristol Palin is pregnant.
Barrack Obama's Mom was preggers with him at 17 and not married.
When you read here, there really should not be any comparison — from the UK Telegraph:
From the “It's a small family matter — we will deal with it at home really”
Pakistani women buried alive 'for choosing husbands'
A Pakistani politician has defended a decision to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands.
Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told a stunned parliament that northwestern tribesman had done nothing wrong in first shooting the women and then dumping them in a ditch.
“These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them,” he said.
“Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.”
The women, three of whom were teenagers and whose “crime” was that they wished to choose who to marry, were still breathing as mud and stones were shovelled over their bodies, according to Human Rights Watch.
The three girls, thought to be aged between 16 and 18, were kidnapped by a group of men from their Umrani tribe and murdered in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district.
According to some reports, Baluchistan government vehicles were used to abduct the girls, and the killing was overseen by a tribal chief who is the brother of a provincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's Party.
Some accounts said that two older relatives had tried to intervene, but they too were shot and buried alive with the teenagers.
So “cultural relevance” is all about supporting pig-ignorant 9th century thugs and giving them their way.
Hey — sound like a Democrat to me…
(cheap shot I know but I am tired and feeling good
The ownership of the Democratic National Party
An interesting eddy to the flow of the news.
From Classical values come these two posts:
#1) - A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of The Chicago Machine
This happened a while back but I'm just catching up. The DNC has moved a considerable portion of its operations to Chicago.Isn't that interesting. So the Democrat Party is now a wholly owned subidiary of the Chicago Machine.“This is part of the implementation of the plans Paul [Tewes] discussed last week with the state party chairs,” Finney said. “As part of the efforts to fully integrate DNC operations with the Obama campaign here in Washington, in Chicago and in the states, political, field and constituency operations are moving to Chicago to work in the Obama headquarters. The goal is to consolidate these efforts into one operation and effectively drive one national strategy.”
#2) - MoveOn.Org Has Taken Over Democrats
Newsweek reports that John Coale, a major Hillary fund raiser, has gone over to John McCain. There is a video from the Republican Convention at the link showing a five minute interview with Mr. Coale.And what do you know, Clinton's own brother has been meeting with the McCain campaign. Huge.John Coale, a prominent Washington lawyer, husband of Fox TV host Greta Van Susteren and a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, announced today that he was supporting John McCain for president. Coale, who traveled with Sen. Clinton, President Clinton and her family through out the primary season, complained of sexism, and said the Democratic Party is “being taken over by the moveon.org types” in an exclusive interview with Newsweek.com's Tammy Haddad. He said he tried to prevent Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, from attending an August 18th meeting in Scranton, Pa. with McCain campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina. “I urged him not to go and told him it would embarrass his sister, but he has a mind of his own.”
And a bit more:
Let me add that I think it is Hillary's intention to destroy the Democrat Party. Why? Because George Soros has bought the party. It is no good to her any more. Here is a report on it from 2004.Who is behind the MoveOn PAC? George Soros. Another is the Tides Foundation which is funded by John Kerry's wife, Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz Kerry.In a December 9th e-mail signed by “Eli Pariser, Justin Ruben, and the whole MoveOn PAC team,” the Soros front group stated: “In the last year, grassroots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the Party doesn't need corporate cash to be competitive. Now it's our Party: we bought it, we own it, and we're going to take it back.”
Not a big fan of the Clintons but they do play a good devastating game of political hardball when needed and they are doing it now. Hillary is pissed like we have never seen her before. I smell a faint whiff of burning sulfur as I am typing this.
Hat tip to Maggie's Farm for the link.
A big chunk of glass
A large telescope is being built in Chile - the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
The numbers on this puppy are huge — the primary mirror is 27.5 feet in diameter.
Today they announced a major milestone — from Brookhaven National Laboratory:
Giant Furnace Opens to Reveal 'Perfect' LSST Mirror Blank
The single-piece primary and tertiary mirror blank cast for the LSST is “perfect”, say project astronomers and engineers.
The LSST, or Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a large survey telescope being built in northern Chile, requires three large mirrors to give crisp images over a record large field of view. The two largest of these mirrors are concentric and fit neatly onto a single mirror blank. The single-piece primary and tertiary mirror blank emerged from the oven at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in Tucson, AZ, where team members gathered to celebrate this major milestone.
The Mirror Lab team opened the furnace for a close-up look at the cooled 51,900-pound mirror blank, which consists of an outer 27.5-foot diameter (8.4-meter) primary mirror and an inner 16.5-foot (5-meter) third mirror cast in one mold. It is the first time a combined primary and tertiary mirror has been produced on such a large scale.
To get an idea of the size, here is a photo of the mirror blank:
Like I said, a big chunk of glass.
Obama supporters hit bottom and start digging
The web page in question is not an official Obama page but it's still very classy… NOT
From Mere Rhetoric:
Progressives Passing Around Fake Palin Bikini Pic, Gloating About Inexperience And “Patriotic Valley Trash”
I got the photo this morning from one of the progressive listservs that I subscribe to, complete with the snarky subject line “ready to lead from day one.” Because obviously any woman who wears a bikini is unqualified for leadership. A little searching confirmed that it's just what it looks like - an amateurish fake based on someone's pool party Flickr photo. Which isn't stopping pro-Obama bloggers from displaying some absolutely exquisite hypocrisy:
Click for full size.
If you look very closely you can see a link to a post titled “McCain's ugly jokes AGAINST women.” This screencap is from “The Bruce Blog,” where the lead blogger is a self-described “yogi, a satirist, and militant.” I don't think he's affiliated with the Obama campaign as much as he just really, really hearts it. He's got “Republicans for Obama”, “Muslims for Obama”, “Jews for Obama”, and “Christians for Obama” widgets posted - so you can tell that he's also really, really into unity. Unless you're a woman who shamelessly wears bikinis and bitterly clings to guns. Then you're excluded on the basis of your gender, your social position, and your economic circumstances. Bummer.
Like I said, classy.
Memo to self - when burglarizing a truck, here's where not to hide
From Tampa Bay Bay News Nine:
Police: Burglary suspect trapped in portable toilet
A man was arrested Saturday afternoon after police said he broke into a truck and then was chased into a portable toilet by the owner and his friend.
Police said 22-year-old Lorenzo Earl Knight broke into a 1999 Ford F-150 in the parking lot of International Plaza and stole a digital camera. They said that he then broke into 2000 Ford F-150, and in the process he was seen by the owner of the second truck.
And of course, the inevitable:
According to reports, the owner of the truck and his friend chased Knight to a nearby construction site, where the suspect tried to hide in a portable toilet. Police said the victim and his friend found the portable toilet and turned it over, covering Knight in a “large amount of human waste.”
Flushed with embarrassment?
Bristol Palin's future husband
Didn't take long for his identity to be discovered.
From the New York Daily News:
Bristol Palin's pregnancy was an open secret back home
He's a superhunky bad-boy ice hockey player from cold country; she's a chestnut-haired beauty and popular high school senior.
The all-American teen twosome will make GOP vice presidential pick and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a grandma at age 44 - just in time for Christmas.
Doe-eyed Bristol Palin, 17, and ruggedly handsome Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old self-described “f—-in' redneck,” have been dating a year, locals in Wasilla, Alaska, told the Daily News.
And the pregnancy? An open secret in the close-knit town of 9,780.
A bit more:
“They've been together quite a while, more than a year,” she said. “I hope everything comes out well. These are local kids.”
And the two of them:
He certainly looks like he can take care of himself, his future wife and his child. She looks lovely.
As I had said in an earlier post:
Given the way that Sarah Palin turned out and given the way that her kids are being brought up, the kids have got to be a lot more mature for their respective ages than equivalent kids in a nanny-state “protect them at all costs” environment.
I just hope the media will stand back a ways and let them get on with their lives.
Back from the sleep-apnea test
Turns out I have a very mild case of sleep-apnea. Not enough to require or even suggest that a CPAP machine be used which is wonderful. I got to try one for 15 minutes and it was a downright strange sensation. I suppose I could get used to it, especially given the alternatives, but I sure hope I don't have to use one ever…
The mattress was unreal, I have found better ones at a cheap No-Tell Motel.
The technician was a lot of fun — he was born in Lynden (the Dutch community about 20 miles away near the Canadian border). Son of a dairy family, he knew our dairyman. Spent some time in the army traveling the world and then moved back to Lynden and does this. He had done metalwork and knew my blacksmithing teacher and now does cabinetmaking in his spare time.
I have been getting a lot of comment spam recently so I disabled comments while I was away.