“I just asked my nanna. She said that Jesus made the persimmon so the apostles had desert with their fish and bread thing. The trick is to hold the seeds in your hand while walking on water. If you sink immediately, the winter will cause at least two school closings, but if you sorta float for a split second before you sink, then you should hold your stock until spring and then sell only after confirming with a tarot card reader. (Don't use that Jackson girl, she caused our pastor to over-indulge with alcohol and we had to use a rabid coyote to expel the demons.)”
From my wife, who found it drifting in the ether, but she didn’t copy the link, and then it was gone. I hate when that happens. Just like the site on how the Agriculture Department faked the Moon landings and Mars landings and the Venus colony. I went back to the site, but there was a 9-1-1 error.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Cleaning lady is coming tomorrow
That means I have to get stuff picked up and put away today so the house won’t look like we never clean. We do, but things stack up, aren’t put away.
The breakfast room table was piled with … things. We’ve had breakfast there maybe three times in four years, so the table is a good place to just pile stuff.
The dining room table has two bankers’ boxes full of consumer fraud forms and supporting documents, 70-something forms and 300+ documents stapled to the forms. Instructions say not to submit originals, but I don’t want the originals, nor can I afford to copy 300+ documents.
With those boxes are two other boxes of fraud letters not attached to forms. Going through lies and intimidation, my mind reached a point of “I can’t do this any more.”
And on the office floor are: several small plastic trash cans I used to sort the fraud letters; two green metal cans of 400 rounds each .30-caliber ball ammunition in bandoliers for M1 Garand; a large plastic/rubber box holding several hundred rounds of various calibers, .22, .32, .38, 9mm, .45 ACP, 7.62mm NATO and probably several more; a laptop that got virused when I downloaded Adobe Flash – that’s about it.
The breakfast room table was piled with … things. We’ve had breakfast there maybe three times in four years, so the table is a good place to just pile stuff.
The dining room table has two bankers’ boxes full of consumer fraud forms and supporting documents, 70-something forms and 300+ documents stapled to the forms. Instructions say not to submit originals, but I don’t want the originals, nor can I afford to copy 300+ documents.
With those boxes are two other boxes of fraud letters not attached to forms. Going through lies and intimidation, my mind reached a point of “I can’t do this any more.”
And on the office floor are: several small plastic trash cans I used to sort the fraud letters; two green metal cans of 400 rounds each .30-caliber ball ammunition in bandoliers for M1 Garand; a large plastic/rubber box holding several hundred rounds of various calibers, .22, .32, .38, 9mm, .45 ACP, 7.62mm NATO and probably several more; a laptop that got virused when I downloaded Adobe Flash – that’s about it.
Gee, it’s good to be back home again says Texan after4-plus years in Europe
“It’s not that Europeans are exactly un-friendly, especially Italians, who are in fact very polite and kind to strangers, and warm to friends and family, but I lived in Texas for 15 years before moving to Europe and being openly friendly to complete strangers was (is) deeply part of my personality, and I had to shut that part down until I got back here last week. It was really difficult those first few weeks in southern England, not being able to say 'hi' to people I passed on a sidewalk because if I did, they’d avoid eye contact, veer away, and sometimes even give me a pointed look of rejection.”
“Anyway, now I’m back in Texas, and OH MY GOD. I am drunk on the smiles and the ‘hey how’s it going?‘s from complete strangers everywhere I go. Some people, I know, really hate that about the South and Texas, thinking it’s all fake and annoying, but tough shit, I love it. It makes me happy.”
“And don’t even get me started on the difference in food prices over here – for $55, I bought the same amount of food yesterday for myself and my parents that I buy for myself and my husband back in Italy, where that particular grocery list cost me 80 euro every time (about $105). HALF!! What sorcery is this?!?”
http://www.rachellucas.com/2013/08/damn-i-love-this-country/
Found at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
“Anyway, now I’m back in Texas, and OH MY GOD. I am drunk on the smiles and the ‘hey how’s it going?‘s from complete strangers everywhere I go. Some people, I know, really hate that about the South and Texas, thinking it’s all fake and annoying, but tough shit, I love it. It makes me happy.”
“And don’t even get me started on the difference in food prices over here – for $55, I bought the same amount of food yesterday for myself and my parents that I buy for myself and my husband back in Italy, where that particular grocery list cost me 80 euro every time (about $105). HALF!! What sorcery is this?!?”
http://www.rachellucas.com/2013/08/damn-i-love-this-country/
Found at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Dealing with doofuses
Or, the rest of the world goes, “Wha …?”
Twenty-seven years ago, President Regan’s national security advisor Robert McFarlane went to Iran. McFarlane bore a cake shaped like a key, a symbol of opening new relations.
Charles Krauthammer mentions McFarlane and the cake in his column regarding U.S. State Department’s continuing search for an “Iranian moderate.” Iran’s present president, Hassan Rouhani, has been so blessed by big time American press.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/30/iranian-moderate-20130930/?f=news-columnists
In his ability to use the American press, Rouhani is like one of the new Russians who appeared after Brezhnev died, a man who knows how to play the “I’m like you” card. Except he isn’t. Rouhani is a leader who can follow suit; he saw Putin get away with bitch-slapping Obama, and he saw Assad laughing when the slap landed. Now, he figures it’s his time.
As for the cake, when things went bad, it would have been easier to swallow than Obama’s “Reset”button.
Twenty-seven years ago, President Regan’s national security advisor Robert McFarlane went to Iran. McFarlane bore a cake shaped like a key, a symbol of opening new relations.
Charles Krauthammer mentions McFarlane and the cake in his column regarding U.S. State Department’s continuing search for an “Iranian moderate.” Iran’s present president, Hassan Rouhani, has been so blessed by big time American press.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/30/iranian-moderate-20130930/?f=news-columnists
In his ability to use the American press, Rouhani is like one of the new Russians who appeared after Brezhnev died, a man who knows how to play the “I’m like you” card. Except he isn’t. Rouhani is a leader who can follow suit; he saw Putin get away with bitch-slapping Obama, and he saw Assad laughing when the slap landed. Now, he figures it’s his time.
As for the cake, when things went bad, it would have been easier to swallow than Obama’s “Reset”button.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Tall tales from a small man
While reading The Cold Dish, the first Walt Longmire western by Craig Johnson, scenes describing the Cheyenne people reminded me of a 6th Armored Cavalry sergeant I knew in 1968 at Fort Meade, Md.
His name doesn’t matter. We’ll call him R. He was from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. He ran a good con of getting money from other soldiers by being friendly and talkative, telling stories of his life in Coeur D’Alene, and whomever he was talking to reminded him of a friend from high school.
R. drove his mother’s 1966 Cadillac de Ville from Idaho to Maryland. He brought a set of skis, too, a gift from his mother. Within a short time of arriving at Fort Meade, he sold the skis to a civilian and then told his mother the skis had been stolen. His mother sent money for replacements. When he was again running short, he told his mother somebody had slashed two tires on the de Ville. Replacement money soon arrived.
I specifically remember R. one day talking about living in Coeur D’Alene, and he and his friends getting Indian girls to go for rides.
“The bucks didn’t like that,” he said.”They didn’t have cars.”
I had never heard anyone use the term “bucks” before. Or since.
Over the course of 10 months, I loaned R. $100. He didn’t repay any of it.
After leaving the Army the first time, I wrote a letter to R.’s father, a business man in Coeur D’Alene. I told him his son owed me$100. A few weeks later, R. called. He was in Hollywood, pitching some sort of deal that promised a big return. He said he would send the$100 as soon as the deal went through. I guess it never did.
His name doesn’t matter. We’ll call him R. He was from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. He ran a good con of getting money from other soldiers by being friendly and talkative, telling stories of his life in Coeur D’Alene, and whomever he was talking to reminded him of a friend from high school.
R. drove his mother’s 1966 Cadillac de Ville from Idaho to Maryland. He brought a set of skis, too, a gift from his mother. Within a short time of arriving at Fort Meade, he sold the skis to a civilian and then told his mother the skis had been stolen. His mother sent money for replacements. When he was again running short, he told his mother somebody had slashed two tires on the de Ville. Replacement money soon arrived.
I specifically remember R. one day talking about living in Coeur D’Alene, and he and his friends getting Indian girls to go for rides.
“The bucks didn’t like that,” he said.”They didn’t have cars.”
I had never heard anyone use the term “bucks” before. Or since.
Over the course of 10 months, I loaned R. $100. He didn’t repay any of it.
After leaving the Army the first time, I wrote a letter to R.’s father, a business man in Coeur D’Alene. I told him his son owed me$100. A few weeks later, R. called. He was in Hollywood, pitching some sort of deal that promised a big return. He said he would send the$100 as soon as the deal went through. I guess it never did.
This headline is so written by a dumb(shot)
‘Dallas County Police Department Gets $600,000 Military Tank For Free’
“Dallas County sheriff's deputies reportedly traveled to Fort Hood earlier this month to pick up their very own International MaxxPro MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected).”
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/dallas-county-police-department-gets-600000-military-tank-free-video
(First, it ain't a tank. Second, Dallas County does not have a "Police Department.)
“Dallas County sheriff's deputies reportedly traveled to Fort Hood earlier this month to pick up their very own International MaxxPro MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected).”
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/dallas-county-police-department-gets-600000-military-tank-free-video
(First, it ain't a tank. Second, Dallas County does not have a "Police Department.)
When a store stops being a store, but then again becomes one
Priscilla and I bought a new television Friday afternoon. We have a 50-inch Samsung, but it is four years old and developed a brown hockeystick bar about three inches wide and two feet long. And when the TV is first turned on, almost half the screen is black. So we needed a new one.
We went to Best Buy. I probably would have gone to Wal-Mart, but I wasn’t driving.
A salesman asked if he could be of assistance. I was prepared to say, “My wife says we need a big-a$$ television.” Priscilla had told me she wanted a bigger one, and I figured since most buyers of big-a$$ TVs are men, the statement might be found humorous and the salesman would laugh.
But Priscilla said, “We want to look at TVs.”
The salesman gestured at the big-a$$ back wall filled with big-a$$ televisions and said the store had quite a few to choose from. He talked a lot. He mentioned a bunch of stuff Priscilla and I were not interested in; so much stuff I don’t remember what any of it was.
We settled on a 60-inch … Virgo? Vertigo? Something like that, and the salesman got two checkout men to take to TV to a kiosk of cash registers. There was some talk going on, but my back hurt, so I sat on a pony wall. (I didn’t know it was a pony wall until Priscilla said, “If your back hurts, why don’t you sit on that pony wall?” So I did.)
In all of the talk, I heard something about the warehouse not having that model in stock. I thought: In stock? It’s sitting right there. What’s this in-stock business? I stood and walked to the conversation. Turned out, if we had the TV delivered, we would not get the one right in front of us, but one from the warehouse.
Priscilla and I decided we could get the thing out of her car. “We don’t have to carry it in the house,” she said. “We can leave it in the garage until the installation people get to the house.”
That sounded good to me. After all, right here in front of us is the TV we looked at, the TV whose price we are about to add to a credit card. We haven’t seen the warehouse TV, which Best Buy doesn’t have any of anyway.
So the place where we were buying a TV (a TV store) but wouldn’t get the TV we bought if we had it delivered (from a warehouse) once more became a TV store when we decided to skip delivery (from a warehouse). Got it?
I have to tell you, a 60-inch television is a big-a$$ TV.
Oh. The salesman said 3-5 years is the expected life of a TV today. Ain’t progress great?
We went to Best Buy. I probably would have gone to Wal-Mart, but I wasn’t driving.
A salesman asked if he could be of assistance. I was prepared to say, “My wife says we need a big-a$$ television.” Priscilla had told me she wanted a bigger one, and I figured since most buyers of big-a$$ TVs are men, the statement might be found humorous and the salesman would laugh.
But Priscilla said, “We want to look at TVs.”
The salesman gestured at the big-a$$ back wall filled with big-a$$ televisions and said the store had quite a few to choose from. He talked a lot. He mentioned a bunch of stuff Priscilla and I were not interested in; so much stuff I don’t remember what any of it was.
We settled on a 60-inch … Virgo? Vertigo? Something like that, and the salesman got two checkout men to take to TV to a kiosk of cash registers. There was some talk going on, but my back hurt, so I sat on a pony wall. (I didn’t know it was a pony wall until Priscilla said, “If your back hurts, why don’t you sit on that pony wall?” So I did.)
In all of the talk, I heard something about the warehouse not having that model in stock. I thought: In stock? It’s sitting right there. What’s this in-stock business? I stood and walked to the conversation. Turned out, if we had the TV delivered, we would not get the one right in front of us, but one from the warehouse.
Priscilla and I decided we could get the thing out of her car. “We don’t have to carry it in the house,” she said. “We can leave it in the garage until the installation people get to the house.”
That sounded good to me. After all, right here in front of us is the TV we looked at, the TV whose price we are about to add to a credit card. We haven’t seen the warehouse TV, which Best Buy doesn’t have any of anyway.
So the place where we were buying a TV (a TV store) but wouldn’t get the TV we bought if we had it delivered (from a warehouse) once more became a TV store when we decided to skip delivery (from a warehouse). Got it?
I have to tell you, a 60-inch television is a big-a$$ TV.
Oh. The salesman said 3-5 years is the expected life of a TV today. Ain’t progress great?
All those riches and no one to take them
1.5 billion barrels of oil, 2 percent of the world’s copper, rich iron ore and nobody will bid on the stuff.
“(T)he 2012 Transparency International ‘TI Corruption Index’ ranks Afghanistan ‘174/176 (Tied for last place with Somalia and North Korea.)’”
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/1-5-billion-barrels-of-oil-and-no-takers.html/?a=viewall
Ah, the vicissitudes of murderous Islamists and a government that functions on bribes and payoffs.
Even China is backing away, at least for now.
“(T)he 2012 Transparency International ‘TI Corruption Index’ ranks Afghanistan ‘174/176 (Tied for last place with Somalia and North Korea.)’”
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/1-5-billion-barrels-of-oil-and-no-takers.html/?a=viewall
Ah, the vicissitudes of murderous Islamists and a government that functions on bribes and payoffs.
Even China is backing away, at least for now.
46 years later ...
Yesterday (Saturday), Priscilla scheduled pedicures for her mother, her brother John and me, and her, of course. I had never before had a pedicure, and I can say that if the rest of me was as comfortable as my feet are, I would sleep for a couple of days.
The young woman doing my feet was, I decided, Vietnamese. A man doing Priscilla’s feet was old enough to be the young woman’s father. A not-Vietnamese woman took care of John, while a Vietnamese man probably in his late 50s did Mrs. R.
A few minutes into nail caring, the young woman asked, “Where are you from?”
“Little Rock,” I said. “And you?”
“We are from Vietnam.”
I said, “I had that part down.” I gestured at my Blackhorse cap on a table. “I was in Vietnam, but that was way, way long before you were born.”
She said, “You were soldier?” I said I was. She asked, “Where in Vietnam were you?” The man I supposed her father was now interested. The older man continued working on Mrs. R.’s feet.
“I don’t remember the province, but Xuan Loc was the provincial capital.”
The young woman said, “Near Saigon?”
“We were about 35 kilometers east.”
The presumed father said, “Bien Hoa?”
“We were about 35 kilometers south east,” I said.
That seemed to satisfy everybody.
It was one of those strange life things, sitting in a fancy massage chair in the mall in Texarkana, Texas, having my feet done by a young Vietnamese woman. I hadn’t had my feet done by a young Vietnamese woman 46 years ago, so maybe Saturday was catch-up.
But then, how many opportunities had I had to have my feet done. There was a convoy to Long Binh ... three days in Vung Tau ... That pretty much is it.
The young woman doing my feet was, I decided, Vietnamese. A man doing Priscilla’s feet was old enough to be the young woman’s father. A not-Vietnamese woman took care of John, while a Vietnamese man probably in his late 50s did Mrs. R.
A few minutes into nail caring, the young woman asked, “Where are you from?”
“Little Rock,” I said. “And you?”
“We are from Vietnam.”
I said, “I had that part down.” I gestured at my Blackhorse cap on a table. “I was in Vietnam, but that was way, way long before you were born.”
She said, “You were soldier?” I said I was. She asked, “Where in Vietnam were you?” The man I supposed her father was now interested. The older man continued working on Mrs. R.’s feet.
“I don’t remember the province, but Xuan Loc was the provincial capital.”
The young woman said, “Near Saigon?”
“We were about 35 kilometers east.”
The presumed father said, “Bien Hoa?”
“We were about 35 kilometers south east,” I said.
That seemed to satisfy everybody.
It was one of those strange life things, sitting in a fancy massage chair in the mall in Texarkana, Texas, having my feet done by a young Vietnamese woman. I hadn’t had my feet done by a young Vietnamese woman 46 years ago, so maybe Saturday was catch-up.
But then, how many opportunities had I had to have my feet done. There was a convoy to Long Binh ... three days in Vung Tau ... That pretty much is it.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Two Afghan tours, CIB, Bronze Star – Don’t even think about building your house in my neighborhood
“Not in my backyard, say the Woods’ prospective neighbors in Morton. At least some of them who have signed a petition against the new house going up in their neighborhood. The reason? The house is planned to be built of wood, not brick like other homes there.”
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/morton-ill-neighbors-protest-new-home-returning-afghanistan-combat-vet-brian-wood
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/morton-ill-neighbors-protest-new-home-returning-afghanistan-combat-vet-brian-wood
One of the stupidest things ever; hands down
Two girls in Massachusetts find a mercury thermometer. They break it. Mom calls somebody – the story isn’t clear. HAZMAT shows up, full gear, locked and loaded. Mom is looking at a possible $4,000 bill.
http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1281957321/State-fire-marshal-urges-passage-of-homeowner-exemption-for-hazmat-response
I remember playing with liquid mercury from broken thermometers two times, maybe three. It was neat, because you cannot pick it up with your fingers, and it runs back together (like a couple of Terminator characters). Eventually we got tired and swept it up and put it in the trash. Of course, none of us had peanut allergy or diagnosed ADHD or autism.
EPA says you need this stuff to clean up a small mercury spill:
1. 4-5 ziplock-type bags
2. trash bags (2 to 6 mils thick)
3. rubber, nitrile or latex gloves
4. paper towels
5. cardboard or squeegee
6. eyedropper
7. duct tape, or shaving cream and small paint brush
8. flashlight
9. powdered sulfur (optional)
http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/#thermometer">http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/#thermometer
http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1281957321/State-fire-marshal-urges-passage-of-homeowner-exemption-for-hazmat-response
I remember playing with liquid mercury from broken thermometers two times, maybe three. It was neat, because you cannot pick it up with your fingers, and it runs back together (like a couple of Terminator characters). Eventually we got tired and swept it up and put it in the trash. Of course, none of us had peanut allergy or diagnosed ADHD or autism.
EPA says you need this stuff to clean up a small mercury spill:
1. 4-5 ziplock-type bags
2. trash bags (2 to 6 mils thick)
3. rubber, nitrile or latex gloves
4. paper towels
5. cardboard or squeegee
6. eyedropper
7. duct tape, or shaving cream and small paint brush
8. flashlight
9. powdered sulfur (optional)
http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/#thermometer">http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/#thermometer
Read the last paragraph and wonder:
“Why write the story if you wind up saying it doesn’t matter anyway”?
‘How you take your coffee speaks volumes about you’
http://www.wtop.com/1228/3465441/What-your-coffee-says-about-you
From www.fark.com
‘How you take your coffee speaks volumes about you’
http://www.wtop.com/1228/3465441/What-your-coffee-says-about-you
From www.fark.com
Iranian president has US president figured out
“UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran's new president said Friday that President Barack Obama struck a new tone in his U.N. speech this week that left him optimistic about easing tensions between the two countries.”
http://hosted2.ap.org/ARLID/a5050f4ad4f44dafab85bb41a15281cf/Article_2013-09-27-UN-United-Nations-Iran/id-cac7aa638c2544d79fdd370e3454e87e
(Say nice things, let Obama know you know how smart he is, make him believe he thought of something, say he’s not like those other presidents … The usual ways of controlling an arrogant politician.)
http://hosted2.ap.org/ARLID/a5050f4ad4f44dafab85bb41a15281cf/Article_2013-09-27-UN-United-Nations-Iran/id-cac7aa638c2544d79fdd370e3454e87e
(Say nice things, let Obama know you know how smart he is, make him believe he thought of something, say he’s not like those other presidents … The usual ways of controlling an arrogant politician.)
Long, rounded concrete barriers look like …
Well, not to me they don’t, but somebody in Scott, Pa., says, “They do so!”
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/09/26/scott-township-concrete-posts-the-talk-of-the-town/
The public services director says the city can put covers over the barriers. Maybe the city should try something waterproof and with elasticity. Plain white wrapper, of course. Ribbed covers and ticklers might cost more.
At http://drudgereport.com/
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/09/26/scott-township-concrete-posts-the-talk-of-the-town/
The public services director says the city can put covers over the barriers. Maybe the city should try something waterproof and with elasticity. Plain white wrapper, of course. Ribbed covers and ticklers might cost more.
At http://drudgereport.com/
Bureaucrats, Part … whatever
A woman in Fort Wayne, Ind., rescued and raised a squirrel. Indiana wildlife bureaucrats want the squirrel, since state law says people must get a permit to have squirrels. The woman asked what she had to do to get a permit. State bureaucrat: You have to get the permit before you get the squirrel.
http://www.wane.com/news/local/woman-upset-she-has-to-give-up-pet-squirrel?hpt=us_bn9
Link at http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/
Found at Drudge.
http://www.wane.com/news/local/woman-upset-she-has-to-give-up-pet-squirrel?hpt=us_bn9
Link at http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/
Found at Drudge.
$300 million going to Detroit
Well, who saw money flow to Detroit coming?
It’s OK. All of the money is not free, Federal, your tax dollars. Some will be Michigan tax money. And some from “private business and charitable foundations.”
http://www.freep.com/article/20130926/NEWS01/309260199/white-house-bankruptcy-aid-for-detroit-blight-removal
“The funding will include $150 million in blight eradication and community redevelopment, including $65 million in Community Development Block Grant funding — which had already been awarded over two years but could not be accessed by the city. An additional $25 million could help hire as many as 150 firefighters in the city.
“Some $24 million in federal resources that had been tied up will go to repairing buses and installing security cameras, part of an overall $140-million investment in transit systems. And several charitable groups — the Ford Foundation, Kresge Foundation and Knight Foundation — will put millions into spurring entrepreneurship and creating jobs.”
Gov. Rick Snyder on previous tons of money thrown at the Motor City: “Detroit historically had some major problems deploying grants and other resources, and so there could be a fair amount sort of stuck in the pipeline,” said Snyder, who was in Washington on Thursday. “Financial systems, accounting systems for the city of Detroit? They are a disaster.”
(I think those “major problems deploying grants” might have something to do with cousin and uncle and brother-in-law contracts. The sort of thing that goes along with Northern Democrat-run cities.
(The linked headline infers money is for "blight removal." Well, maybe half of it.)
Also at drudge.
It’s OK. All of the money is not free, Federal, your tax dollars. Some will be Michigan tax money. And some from “private business and charitable foundations.”
http://www.freep.com/article/20130926/NEWS01/309260199/white-house-bankruptcy-aid-for-detroit-blight-removal
“The funding will include $150 million in blight eradication and community redevelopment, including $65 million in Community Development Block Grant funding — which had already been awarded over two years but could not be accessed by the city. An additional $25 million could help hire as many as 150 firefighters in the city.
“Some $24 million in federal resources that had been tied up will go to repairing buses and installing security cameras, part of an overall $140-million investment in transit systems. And several charitable groups — the Ford Foundation, Kresge Foundation and Knight Foundation — will put millions into spurring entrepreneurship and creating jobs.”
Gov. Rick Snyder on previous tons of money thrown at the Motor City: “Detroit historically had some major problems deploying grants and other resources, and so there could be a fair amount sort of stuck in the pipeline,” said Snyder, who was in Washington on Thursday. “Financial systems, accounting systems for the city of Detroit? They are a disaster.”
(I think those “major problems deploying grants” might have something to do with cousin and uncle and brother-in-law contracts. The sort of thing that goes along with Northern Democrat-run cities.
(The linked headline infers money is for "blight removal." Well, maybe half of it.)
Also at drudge.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Iranian news agency: CNN fabricated president’s response
Lies, we tell you! All lies! Fearless Leader President Rouhani did not say those things!
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920703001316
From: 'Christiane Amanpour and Hassan Rouhani: almost there, only to get a slap on the face'
http://www.simplyjews.blogspot.co.il/
(What is the world coming to when you can’t trust CNN or Iran’s official news agency?)
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920703001316
From: 'Christiane Amanpour and Hassan Rouhani: almost there, only to get a slap on the face'
http://www.simplyjews.blogspot.co.il/
(What is the world coming to when you can’t trust CNN or Iran’s official news agency?)
‘Unfunny Comedian Punches Crappy Reporter’
That’s the link headline at “Thursday Morning News Dump, www.ace.mu.nu
Otherwise, the story is “So?”
Otherwise, the story is “So?”
He should have just taken its picture
Last Saturday, a Little Rock man harpooned a 13-foot-9 1/4-inch alligator southeast of Millwood Lake dam in southwest Arkansas.
The headline here http://www.thv11.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=280818
says the alligator was “found in Little River County.” Maybe TV news audience is a little squeamish about “killed.” Normally, you might think “found” goes along with “Look over there! That looks like a 13-foot alligator! Let’s get the heck out of here!”
That’s what I would have done. If I was in an area where old maps noted: “Monster alligators be here.”
The other thing about killing an alligator that big: You have to get it out of the water.
When will these people become civilized?
Story in today’s Texarkana Gazette notes: “Boy Scouts’ shotgun competition is Oct. 12.” That’s right. A bunch of redneck parents and Scout leaders will take impressionable boys to a shotgun range for competitive shooting. I’d bed firearms safety might be involved, too.
Even more redneck was a cover story in Texarkana Parent Magazine
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Texarkana-Parent-Magazine/100491873376858
about teaching kids how to hunt.
I tell you what – You got that state line down there, Arkansas on one side and Texas on the other – those people got some strange ideas. You know, American stuff.
The headline here http://www.thv11.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=280818
says the alligator was “found in Little River County.” Maybe TV news audience is a little squeamish about “killed.” Normally, you might think “found” goes along with “Look over there! That looks like a 13-foot alligator! Let’s get the heck out of here!”
That’s what I would have done. If I was in an area where old maps noted: “Monster alligators be here.”
The other thing about killing an alligator that big: You have to get it out of the water.
When will these people become civilized?
Story in today’s Texarkana Gazette notes: “Boy Scouts’ shotgun competition is Oct. 12.” That’s right. A bunch of redneck parents and Scout leaders will take impressionable boys to a shotgun range for competitive shooting. I’d bed firearms safety might be involved, too.
Even more redneck was a cover story in Texarkana Parent Magazine
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Texarkana-Parent-Magazine/100491873376858
about teaching kids how to hunt.
I tell you what – You got that state line down there, Arkansas on one side and Texas on the other – those people got some strange ideas. You know, American stuff.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Sun Tzu said something about …
“Armed Russian military have stormed a Greenpeace ship protesting against oil exploitation in remote Arctic waters.
“According to the last communications from the Arctic Sunrise before all contact was cut at around 4.30pm BST, the Russians dropped guards on to the deck of the vessel by rope from a helicopter, rounded up the Greenpeace crew and broke into the wheel house and communications rooms.
“Tweets from three people who locked themselves into a secure area on the ship said: ‘This is pretty terrifying. Loud banging. Screaming in Russian. They're still trying to kick in the door’. Another said: ‘Crew are sitting on their knees on the helipad with guns pointed at them.’
“Frank Hewetson, British action coordinator on the vessel, later said that 29 of the crew were being held under armed guard in the canteen.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023700539
Link from www.thisainthell.us
Oh, yeah. If you know your enemy and yourself, you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles.
(In planning the protest, apparently none of the Greenpeacers said: “Dude. We’re dealing with the Russians here.”
(And: “action coordinator”? Does that not spell out all we need to know about plans to keep Russian military away from the Greenpeace ship? Irony: “Action coordinator” is a title Bolsheviks would use in the early days.
(And: "Russia's powerful Investigative Committee said border guards had seen evidence the Arctic Sunrise crew may have committed piracy - which carries a prison term of between five and 15 years in Russia - after members of the protest group scaled an oil platform to protest Arctic drilling.")
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/armed-russian-guards-lock-up-aussie-activists-on-ship-greenpeace/story-fndir2ev-1226723480423#ixzz2fpnDJM5d
“According to the last communications from the Arctic Sunrise before all contact was cut at around 4.30pm BST, the Russians dropped guards on to the deck of the vessel by rope from a helicopter, rounded up the Greenpeace crew and broke into the wheel house and communications rooms.
“Tweets from three people who locked themselves into a secure area on the ship said: ‘This is pretty terrifying. Loud banging. Screaming in Russian. They're still trying to kick in the door’. Another said: ‘Crew are sitting on their knees on the helipad with guns pointed at them.’
“Frank Hewetson, British action coordinator on the vessel, later said that 29 of the crew were being held under armed guard in the canteen.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023700539
Link from www.thisainthell.us
Oh, yeah. If you know your enemy and yourself, you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles.
(In planning the protest, apparently none of the Greenpeacers said: “Dude. We’re dealing with the Russians here.”
(And: “action coordinator”? Does that not spell out all we need to know about plans to keep Russian military away from the Greenpeace ship? Irony: “Action coordinator” is a title Bolsheviks would use in the early days.
(And: "Russia's powerful Investigative Committee said border guards had seen evidence the Arctic Sunrise crew may have committed piracy - which carries a prison term of between five and 15 years in Russia - after members of the protest group scaled an oil platform to protest Arctic drilling.")
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/armed-russian-guards-lock-up-aussie-activists-on-ship-greenpeace/story-fndir2ev-1226723480423#ixzz2fpnDJM5d
Monday’s mail also brought …
… a recommendation that my mother-in-law Mrs. R. subscribe to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter, 11 issues for “just $1.97 a copy.”
I wanted to return the letter in the postage-paid envelope, with this notation: “Received request mailed to Mr. R. I am informing you the true addressee is an 87-year-old woman, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and in an assisted living facility. Therefore, your newsletter ain’t going to do her a heck of a lot of good.”
Those people who want someone else’s money just shotgun these things. There is no research for accuracy, no looking to see if an addressee is a man or a woman.
Those people who want money don’t care about truth or accuracy, only about getting more money.
I intended writing the above snarky note, and then checked the return address: a subscription service center in Big Sandy, Texas. Big Sandy is northwest of Longview and has a population of around 1,300.
I’m pretty sure Mayo Clinic doesn’t have an office there.
I wanted to return the letter in the postage-paid envelope, with this notation: “Received request mailed to Mr. R. I am informing you the true addressee is an 87-year-old woman, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and in an assisted living facility. Therefore, your newsletter ain’t going to do her a heck of a lot of good.”
Those people who want someone else’s money just shotgun these things. There is no research for accuracy, no looking to see if an addressee is a man or a woman.
Those people who want money don’t care about truth or accuracy, only about getting more money.
I intended writing the above snarky note, and then checked the return address: a subscription service center in Big Sandy, Texas. Big Sandy is northwest of Longview and has a population of around 1,300.
I’m pretty sure Mayo Clinic doesn’t have an office there.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Fixin supper
Pinto beans, cornbread, collard greens and pan fried pork steak tonight. Don’t get too excited about bad, bad pan fried pork. I used a zero-calorie non-stick spray and cut off some of the fat. Not all, because if you’re having greens and cornbread with your pork, a little fried fat is OK.
(I had to step away from this machine for a couple of minutes. The oven timer went off, hinting that the cornbread was probably done. It was. So were the pork steaks. The frijoles have been done for a while, as have the greens. Supper will be served as soon as my wife gets home from work. The time is 6:44. She puts in 9 to 12-hour days, generally.)
Priscilla sometimes joins in conversations when she hears people talking about their ethnic food, as though one group can lay claim to certain foods.
“It’s not ethnic,” she says. “It’s being poor. I grew up on cornbread, greens and pork. I have eaten squirrel stew and squirrel dumplings and had to watch out for lead shot. I have eaten raccoon and I have eaten possum.”
Mostly, those foods were when she visited older relatives, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Mrs. R., though, did fix squirrel recipes when Mr. R. shot some and brought them home.
I had squirrel stew one time. I was six. An aunt told me to watch for lead shot.
My mother fixed coon one time. That made my list of worst food ever eaten. The list has two – raccoon and chicken a la king.
Chicken a la king I was served three times during a year in Korea. The first time, it was good. The second and third times caused great displeasure in the ranks. Prevailing opinion was the cooks let Korean KPs fix the second and third batches. Supporting evidence was the overwhelming amount of garlic, more than in kimche.
I hope Priscilla gets home soon. I’m hungry.
(She got home as I was editing another post. A good meal was had by both of us.)
(I had to step away from this machine for a couple of minutes. The oven timer went off, hinting that the cornbread was probably done. It was. So were the pork steaks. The frijoles have been done for a while, as have the greens. Supper will be served as soon as my wife gets home from work. The time is 6:44. She puts in 9 to 12-hour days, generally.)
Priscilla sometimes joins in conversations when she hears people talking about their ethnic food, as though one group can lay claim to certain foods.
“It’s not ethnic,” she says. “It’s being poor. I grew up on cornbread, greens and pork. I have eaten squirrel stew and squirrel dumplings and had to watch out for lead shot. I have eaten raccoon and I have eaten possum.”
Mostly, those foods were when she visited older relatives, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Mrs. R., though, did fix squirrel recipes when Mr. R. shot some and brought them home.
I had squirrel stew one time. I was six. An aunt told me to watch for lead shot.
My mother fixed coon one time. That made my list of worst food ever eaten. The list has two – raccoon and chicken a la king.
Chicken a la king I was served three times during a year in Korea. The first time, it was good. The second and third times caused great displeasure in the ranks. Prevailing opinion was the cooks let Korean KPs fix the second and third batches. Supporting evidence was the overwhelming amount of garlic, more than in kimche.
I hope Priscilla gets home soon. I’m hungry.
(She got home as I was editing another post. A good meal was had by both of us.)
Today’s messages from thieving bastard political lobbyists
“Please – for your sake – listen to me.” Wanda Powe, American Federation of Senior Citizens.
“Practically no time for the most dangerous political situation we may ever face …” Political Headquarters 2013. (Literally, there is practically no time for this thing we might face.)
“Leftists in American high schools and colleges are teaching young people to be ashamed of the U.S. Flag – the very flag that hangs over the coffin of every brave soldier who died defending our liberty. As a new school year begins, please sign and return the enclosed flag so I can rush it into the hands of a young American heading to high school or college.” (A small cloth flag was enclosed. I’ll keep it.)
“White House cover-up exposed. Grounds for impeachment established. Proceed without delay.” No return address.
“IMPEACHMENT BALLOT. On Whether Congress Should Launch an Impeachment Inquiry Into Barrack Hussein Obama’s Unconstitutional Acts.” No return address.
“Your Impeachment Documents Enclosed.” Impeach Obama Campaign.
“FINAL WARNING. Copy of certified letter enclosed.” Judicial Watch.
“WARNING: BENEFITS FOR YOUR ZIP CODE ARE NOT PROTECTED. Fast trac initiative to save Social Security.” National Campaign to Guarantee Social Security.
“ADDENDUM TO THE DRAFT ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT FOR SUBMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.” White House Investigative Unit.
“Will you stop Barrack Obama from getting a third term?” National Committee.
Thirty-two letters received today.
“Practically no time for the most dangerous political situation we may ever face …” Political Headquarters 2013. (Literally, there is practically no time for this thing we might face.)
“Leftists in American high schools and colleges are teaching young people to be ashamed of the U.S. Flag – the very flag that hangs over the coffin of every brave soldier who died defending our liberty. As a new school year begins, please sign and return the enclosed flag so I can rush it into the hands of a young American heading to high school or college.” (A small cloth flag was enclosed. I’ll keep it.)
“White House cover-up exposed. Grounds for impeachment established. Proceed without delay.” No return address.
“IMPEACHMENT BALLOT. On Whether Congress Should Launch an Impeachment Inquiry Into Barrack Hussein Obama’s Unconstitutional Acts.” No return address.
“Your Impeachment Documents Enclosed.” Impeach Obama Campaign.
“FINAL WARNING. Copy of certified letter enclosed.” Judicial Watch.
“WARNING: BENEFITS FOR YOUR ZIP CODE ARE NOT PROTECTED. Fast trac initiative to save Social Security.” National Campaign to Guarantee Social Security.
“ADDENDUM TO THE DRAFT ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT FOR SUBMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.” White House Investigative Unit.
“Will you stop Barrack Obama from getting a third term?” National Committee.
Thirty-two letters received today.
After the September 11 attacks ...
News networks and others talked about “What might terrorists attack next?”
I had an answer, maybe the answer when it comes to most likely to succeed.
I told my wife, and maybe my children, although only Michael was in uniform at the time.
The terrorist attack I mentioned would be successful because it would be so simple.
The attack would take six or eight people. The attackers would need only rifles, six or so magazines each, three or so bandoliers for reloading, maybe a pistol each, with extra magazines.
Now days, they would need cell phones, too, in order to call TV stations.
The terrorist attack I mentioned would be so damned simple and so damned successful. Not one expert on TV news ever mentioned that kind, maybe never imagined that kind of attack.
The attack would leave much of the country fearful of “Will it happen in my town?”
I’m not going to tell you what it is.
I am surprised it hasn't already happened.
I had an answer, maybe the answer when it comes to most likely to succeed.
I told my wife, and maybe my children, although only Michael was in uniform at the time.
The terrorist attack I mentioned would be successful because it would be so simple.
The attack would take six or eight people. The attackers would need only rifles, six or so magazines each, three or so bandoliers for reloading, maybe a pistol each, with extra magazines.
Now days, they would need cell phones, too, in order to call TV stations.
The terrorist attack I mentioned would be so damned simple and so damned successful. Not one expert on TV news ever mentioned that kind, maybe never imagined that kind of attack.
The attack would leave much of the country fearful of “Will it happen in my town?”
I’m not going to tell you what it is.
I am surprised it hasn't already happened.
As with other things, no one in government knows
My wife said the insurance company announced individual employee health rates will double, in order for the company to ensure it has enough money to cover whatever comes up when Affordable Health Care gets to full steam. My wife’s company right now pays 80 percent of each employee’s individual health care and, under the new law, may not lower that percentage.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas Insurance Department says rates using federal dollars are “as much as 25 percent less than what had been initially requested.”
“State officials have said they expect about 500,000 people to sign up for coverage in the exchange. About half of them will be covered under a plan to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance for private workers.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/23/state-officials-releases-rates-insurance-exchange/?latest
Maybe this isn’t an apples and apples comparison, but if company’s rates are expected to double, while private insurance companies expect federal dollars to pay for a quarter million people in the state … Where is the incentive not to drop everybody into the Federal pot?
Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We need to pass (the act) so you will know what is in it.” Passage of Affordable Health Care did not let the citizenry know what was in it; implementation is the only way of finding out what the act does.
Sort of like being on the gallows and the hangman says, “I’m pretty sure the rope will hold, but we won’t know until we drop you.”
If it doesn’t hold, they’ll just buy another rope and try again.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas Insurance Department says rates using federal dollars are “as much as 25 percent less than what had been initially requested.”
“State officials have said they expect about 500,000 people to sign up for coverage in the exchange. About half of them will be covered under a plan to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance for private workers.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/23/state-officials-releases-rates-insurance-exchange/?latest
Maybe this isn’t an apples and apples comparison, but if company’s rates are expected to double, while private insurance companies expect federal dollars to pay for a quarter million people in the state … Where is the incentive not to drop everybody into the Federal pot?
Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We need to pass (the act) so you will know what is in it.” Passage of Affordable Health Care did not let the citizenry know what was in it; implementation is the only way of finding out what the act does.
Sort of like being on the gallows and the hangman says, “I’m pretty sure the rope will hold, but we won’t know until we drop you.”
If it doesn’t hold, they’ll just buy another rope and try again.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Headlines
‘Man charged with having sex with patients’
He is a medical technician at a mental health clinic. Since the suspect/perp is ID’d as “Man,” I suppose only “Men” have sex with “patients.” The story http://www.fox4now.com/news/local/Man-charged-with-having-sex-with-patients--224472771.html
doesn’t say what kind of medical tech, nor if sex was consensual. If the sex was not consensual, you would think the charge would be sexual assault.
‘Contractor nearly electrocuted in Cape Coral’
“A contractor working on a road project in northeast Cape Coral today was shaken after the earth-moving equipment he was operating came in contact with high-voltage power lines.”
The equipment didn’t actually contact the lines. The excavator came “in close proximity to overhead power lines” and an arc resulted.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20130909/NEWS0101/130909026/Cape-Coral-construction-worker-nearly-electrocuted-construction-accident
(No one is quoted as saying the worker was “nearly electrocuted.”)
He is a medical technician at a mental health clinic. Since the suspect/perp is ID’d as “Man,” I suppose only “Men” have sex with “patients.” The story http://www.fox4now.com/news/local/Man-charged-with-having-sex-with-patients--224472771.html
doesn’t say what kind of medical tech, nor if sex was consensual. If the sex was not consensual, you would think the charge would be sexual assault.
‘Contractor nearly electrocuted in Cape Coral’
“A contractor working on a road project in northeast Cape Coral today was shaken after the earth-moving equipment he was operating came in contact with high-voltage power lines.”
The equipment didn’t actually contact the lines. The excavator came “in close proximity to overhead power lines” and an arc resulted.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20130909/NEWS0101/130909026/Cape-Coral-construction-worker-nearly-electrocuted-construction-accident
(No one is quoted as saying the worker was “nearly electrocuted.”)
We’re almost there
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." – Claire Wolfe
Don’t know anything about C. Wolfe, but she writes here:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/
Don’t know anything about C. Wolfe, but she writes here:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/
Just stop with the doing of stuff
“We are so short of real discontents nowadays, we have to make problems up. There aren’t any hungry children. There aren’t any people dying because they can’t afford an operation. There aren’t any Joad families on the road desperately seeking work and homes. There aren’t any workers being exploited by unscrupulous bosses or tenants being evicted by unscrupulous landlords. Nobody’s being lynched or denied due process or forced by poverty to give up a child for adoption. I wouldn’t say nobody’s poor anymore, but there is no longer what the Victorians called a “deserving poor.” To be in dire straits nowadays, you have to be really, really feckless.”
http://takimag.com/article/the_lost_art_of_stasis_john_derbyshire/print#axzz2fGIggmKo
From www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
(War Story: WW2, an American officer and a British officer working on invasion plans, the Britisher says, “You Americans think you have an answer for everything.” American: “Well, yeah.” We do have an answer for everything, but possession doesn’t mean we need to use the answer. Government has an answer for every-thing. You don’t even have to ask.)
http://takimag.com/article/the_lost_art_of_stasis_john_derbyshire/print#axzz2fGIggmKo
From www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
(War Story: WW2, an American officer and a British officer working on invasion plans, the Britisher says, “You Americans think you have an answer for everything.” American: “Well, yeah.” We do have an answer for everything, but possession doesn’t mean we need to use the answer. Government has an answer for every-thing. You don’t even have to ask.)
Saturday, September 21, 2013
In defense of Nancy Pelosi
She is from California; she is a Democrat; and she is batwing crazy.
Which explains her reasoning on Why Republicans don’t like Obama:
“’You know why it is. You know why it is. He’s brilliant, … he thinks in a strategic way in how to get something done … and he’s completely eloquent. That’s a package that they don’t like.’…
“’He has been … open, practically apolitical, certainly nonpartisan, in terms of welcoming every idea and solution. I think that’s one of the reasons the Republicans want to take him down politically, because they know he is a nonpartisan president, and that’s something very hard for them to cope with.’”
www.ace.mu.nu
Which explains her reasoning on Why Republicans don’t like Obama:
“’You know why it is. You know why it is. He’s brilliant, … he thinks in a strategic way in how to get something done … and he’s completely eloquent. That’s a package that they don’t like.’…
“’He has been … open, practically apolitical, certainly nonpartisan, in terms of welcoming every idea and solution. I think that’s one of the reasons the Republicans want to take him down politically, because they know he is a nonpartisan president, and that’s something very hard for them to cope with.’”
www.ace.mu.nu
Friday, September 20, 2013
Here is a maddening piece of ‘journalism’
“Larch March, there was an almighty uproar in Europe and around the world when the small island nation of Cyprus suddenly found themselves on the brink of exiting the eurozone …”
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/19/eu-imf-to-cyprus-so-sorry-to-be-the-bearer-of-bad-news-but/
(There are two p-offs, one more than the other. “Larch” must be “Last.” OK. A not-paying-attention mistake or an editor-is-a-dumbish mistake. But the real p-off is “island nation … found themselves …”
(How in the world is an island a “themselves”?
(This is part of the greater malady in the world: Don’t know, don’t care.)
(I tried to access the Hot Air comments section but was told the page was “Unavailable.”)
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/19/eu-imf-to-cyprus-so-sorry-to-be-the-bearer-of-bad-news-but/
(There are two p-offs, one more than the other. “Larch” must be “Last.” OK. A not-paying-attention mistake or an editor-is-a-dumbish mistake. But the real p-off is “island nation … found themselves …”
(How in the world is an island a “themselves”?
(This is part of the greater malady in the world: Don’t know, don’t care.)
(I tried to access the Hot Air comments section but was told the page was “Unavailable.”)
No, no! You have to be offended!!
“And I definitely don't know how I'll tell the athletes at Wellpinit (Wash.) High School -- where the student body is 91.2 percent Native American -- that the "Redskins" name they wear proudly across their chests is insulting them. Because they have no idea.
"’I've talked to our students, our parents and our community about this and nobody finds any offense at all in it," says Tim Ames, the superintendent of Wellpinit schools. '”Redskins” is not an insult to our kids. “Wagon burners” is an insult. “Prairie n-----s” is an insult. Those are very upsetting to our kids. But “Redskins” is an honorable name we wear with pride. … In fact, I'd like to see somebody come up here and try to change it.’
“Boy, you try to help some people …
“And it's not going to be easy telling the Kingston (Okla.) High School (57.7 percent Native American) Redskins that the name they've worn on their uniforms for 104 years has been a joke on them this whole time. Because they wear it with honor.
"’We have two great tribes here," says Kingston assistant school superintendent Ron Whipkey, ‘the Chickasaw and the Choctaw. And not one member of those tribes has ever come to me or our school with a complaint. It is a prideful thing to them."
"’It's a name that honors the people,’ says Kingston English teacher Brett Hayes, who is Choctaw. ‘The word “Oklahoma’ itself is Choctaw for “red people.’ The students here don't want it changed. To them, it seems like it's just people who have no connection with the Native American culture, people out there trying to draw attention to themselves.
"’My kids are really afraid we're going to lose the Redskin name. They say to me, “They're not going to take it from us, are they, Dad?'”’
“Too late. White America has spoken. You aren't offended, so we'll be offended for you.”
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9689220/redskins-name-change-not-easy-sounds
"’I've talked to our students, our parents and our community about this and nobody finds any offense at all in it," says Tim Ames, the superintendent of Wellpinit schools. '”Redskins” is not an insult to our kids. “Wagon burners” is an insult. “Prairie n-----s” is an insult. Those are very upsetting to our kids. But “Redskins” is an honorable name we wear with pride. … In fact, I'd like to see somebody come up here and try to change it.’
“Boy, you try to help some people …
“And it's not going to be easy telling the Kingston (Okla.) High School (57.7 percent Native American) Redskins that the name they've worn on their uniforms for 104 years has been a joke on them this whole time. Because they wear it with honor.
"’We have two great tribes here," says Kingston assistant school superintendent Ron Whipkey, ‘the Chickasaw and the Choctaw. And not one member of those tribes has ever come to me or our school with a complaint. It is a prideful thing to them."
"’It's a name that honors the people,’ says Kingston English teacher Brett Hayes, who is Choctaw. ‘The word “Oklahoma’ itself is Choctaw for “red people.’ The students here don't want it changed. To them, it seems like it's just people who have no connection with the Native American culture, people out there trying to draw attention to themselves.
"’My kids are really afraid we're going to lose the Redskin name. They say to me, “They're not going to take it from us, are they, Dad?'”’
“Too late. White America has spoken. You aren't offended, so we'll be offended for you.”
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9689220/redskins-name-change-not-easy-sounds
Thursday, September 19, 2013
From a school in Texas??
“U.S. history: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Exam”
“Second Amendment: The people have a right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.”
http://www.dailypaul.com/299365/high-school-ap-history-book-rewrites-the-2nd-amendment
“Second Amendment: The people have a right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.”
http://www.dailypaul.com/299365/high-school-ap-history-book-rewrites-the-2nd-amendment
Ohio State gets an MRAP
It’s for those campus security things, such as … uh, floods, officer rescue, blizzards, hostage takings, shooter on campus, maybe fire-hosing drunk students … the usual college stuff.
“No one who will presumably be using the vehicle wanted to answer questions about it, nor would anyone say if any of these scenarios has actually occurred on campus in recent (or non-recent) years.”
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/17/the-cops-at-ohio-state-have-an-armored-fighting-vehicle-now/
A spokesman said the MRAP was “acquired at no cost from Military Surplus.” Well, why didn’t you get a couple more? Didn’t officials consider human wave attacks by drunk students?
“No one who will presumably be using the vehicle wanted to answer questions about it, nor would anyone say if any of these scenarios has actually occurred on campus in recent (or non-recent) years.”
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/17/the-cops-at-ohio-state-have-an-armored-fighting-vehicle-now/
A spokesman said the MRAP was “acquired at no cost from Military Surplus.” Well, why didn’t you get a couple more? Didn’t officials consider human wave attacks by drunk students?
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Do Arkansas schools teach stupid in driver education?
I ask, because every driver I’ve seen entering an interstate highway or other multiple-lane road does so stupidly.
Here’s how it works: You are driving at the speed limit or just below, in the right-hand lane. A car appears on your right; a driver about to enter the highway. The car travels at 45-50 mph down the entire length of the access lane and then eases to the left, regardless of any traffic already occupying the right-hand lane.
Sometimes you can change lanes, allowing the entering car easy access. Sometimes you cannot change lanes.
The entering driver does not care if you change lanes. He will ease into your lane whether or not you are there. That is when you hit your brakes and … It’s good that cuss words do not break glass.
Arkansas folks will not like this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I learned to drive in Texas. Here’s how it works in Texas: Get on and get out of the way. Easy. None of that lollygagging along the access lane and then easing into a lane that might be already occupied.
Get on, get out of the way.
And another really, really p!ssoff thing about Arkansas drivers – When that driver has eased into the right-hand lane, he will continue driving at 50 mph for a half mile or so and then kick it up to 70 or 75, and I’m wondering why the heck didn’t he do that to start with?
Another thing about driving in Texas is the recognition of reality, the signs that say “Drive Defensively.” That means make sure you know where other drivers are and what they are likely to do.
I’ll probably not send this as a letter to the editor of the statewide newspaper.
Should soldiers carry weapons at all times? No
This guy says yes, but he is not a soldier.
“(W)e’ve got a brand of stupid in this nation that I doubt you’d find anywhere else on Earth, let alone the galaxy. Requiring military members to be disarmed on military bases and in military installations? Two mass murders in the span of a few years, and yet this policy remains? Back in the Roman days, soldiers were required to be armed at all times, under penalty of death. Yet here we confiscate their personal firearms and tell them to keep their military issued weapons locked away, which leads DIRECTLY to these sorts of situations. What the hell is wrong with us? The first responders got there in seven minutes, which is an incredible response time. But there should have been return fire immediately. We trust these people to fight wars, operate battleships, fly jets, drop bombs, use drones, go on Special Forces missions, but we don’t think they’re competent or psychologically stable enough to carry a weapon to work without accidentally shooting each other?”
http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/09/17/military-members-trusted-to-fight-wars-not-trusted-to-carry-weapons-at-work/
Link from www.xbradtc.com
(Not every soldier should carry a pistol or a rifle. Just carrying the thing every day and qualifying once a year does not make a soldier proficient. Most combat arms soldiers – infantry, armor, engineers and military police -- can be trusted with rifles and pistols and ammunition, plus other soldiers who know what firearms are for and how to use and safely carry them. Over the years, the military has considered the guaranteed accidental shooting now and then, if soldiers were armed when not in field training. Soldiers in combat zones sometimes die in shooting accidents. Wearing a uniform does not make a soldier a proficient shooter.
(Soldiers carrying concealed weapons while on post … The services are not likely to change that prohibition.)
“(W)e’ve got a brand of stupid in this nation that I doubt you’d find anywhere else on Earth, let alone the galaxy. Requiring military members to be disarmed on military bases and in military installations? Two mass murders in the span of a few years, and yet this policy remains? Back in the Roman days, soldiers were required to be armed at all times, under penalty of death. Yet here we confiscate their personal firearms and tell them to keep their military issued weapons locked away, which leads DIRECTLY to these sorts of situations. What the hell is wrong with us? The first responders got there in seven minutes, which is an incredible response time. But there should have been return fire immediately. We trust these people to fight wars, operate battleships, fly jets, drop bombs, use drones, go on Special Forces missions, but we don’t think they’re competent or psychologically stable enough to carry a weapon to work without accidentally shooting each other?”
http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/09/17/military-members-trusted-to-fight-wars-not-trusted-to-carry-weapons-at-work/
Link from www.xbradtc.com
(Not every soldier should carry a pistol or a rifle. Just carrying the thing every day and qualifying once a year does not make a soldier proficient. Most combat arms soldiers – infantry, armor, engineers and military police -- can be trusted with rifles and pistols and ammunition, plus other soldiers who know what firearms are for and how to use and safely carry them. Over the years, the military has considered the guaranteed accidental shooting now and then, if soldiers were armed when not in field training. Soldiers in combat zones sometimes die in shooting accidents. Wearing a uniform does not make a soldier a proficient shooter.
(Soldiers carrying concealed weapons while on post … The services are not likely to change that prohibition.)
This is very insensitive
Maybe more insensitive than Larry the Cable Guy fake praying for the pygmies in New Guinea.
Here goes: Michael J. Fox is on the cover of Good Housekeeping. I wonder how the photographer got Fox to stay still long enough to get the picture?
For everybody who is “Shame! Shame!” just remember Fox said he skips dosages of his Parkinson’s drugs before some interviews or congressional testimony so he will have uncontrollable movements for cameras and bleeding hearts. “Oh, look. It’s so terrible what has happened to him.”
Here goes: Michael J. Fox is on the cover of Good Housekeeping. I wonder how the photographer got Fox to stay still long enough to get the picture?
For everybody who is “Shame! Shame!” just remember Fox said he skips dosages of his Parkinson’s drugs before some interviews or congressional testimony so he will have uncontrollable movements for cameras and bleeding hearts. “Oh, look. It’s so terrible what has happened to him.”
This dude is so busted
“Authorities are searching for a suspect in a reported armed robbery that occurred Sunday in Searcy.
“Searcy police say the female victim met the male suspect on the Internet, then later met him for dinner. Afterward, the two went to the woman's residence to watch a movie, and the man pulled a gun on her and forced her to drive to a local ATM and take out cash, police said.
“The suspect then fled with an unknown amount of money .
“Authorities said they believe the suspect — who in several photos provided by Searcy police appears to be a black male with short black hair and brown eyes — lives in North Little Rock and answers to the name "Truuu."
“Individuals with information regarding this case may call Searcy police at (501) 268-3531.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/18/searcy-police-investigating-dinner-date-turned-rob/
(There are three pictures of “Truu” being cool. Hope he is soon cool behind bars, where he’ll be somebody’s “Truu” love.)
“Searcy police say the female victim met the male suspect on the Internet, then later met him for dinner. Afterward, the two went to the woman's residence to watch a movie, and the man pulled a gun on her and forced her to drive to a local ATM and take out cash, police said.
“The suspect then fled with an unknown amount of money .
“Authorities said they believe the suspect — who in several photos provided by Searcy police appears to be a black male with short black hair and brown eyes — lives in North Little Rock and answers to the name "Truuu."
“Individuals with information regarding this case may call Searcy police at (501) 268-3531.”
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/18/searcy-police-investigating-dinner-date-turned-rob/
(There are three pictures of “Truu” being cool. Hope he is soon cool behind bars, where he’ll be somebody’s “Truu” love.)
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
O-bama-care, O-bama-care, long may your profits reign …
“(W)hile millions of Americans loathe every facet of The Affordable Care Act, as it's officially titled, another group of Americans see it as a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to get rich: Investors.
“According to most Wall Street experts, Obamacare will create unheard of fortunes for investors who tap into the right companies.
“That's because the U.S. will spend billions, even trillions of dollars implementing, regulating, and enforcing Obamacare.
“Select companies and their investors are set to make a fortune in the next several months - and years - as the full Obamacare plan gets underway.
“Even main street investors will have a chance to reap big paydays - provided they know which sectors stand to benefit most.”
http://moneymorning.com/ob-article/obamacare-buffett.php?code=t-oc-buffett
“According to most Wall Street experts, Obamacare will create unheard of fortunes for investors who tap into the right companies.
“That's because the U.S. will spend billions, even trillions of dollars implementing, regulating, and enforcing Obamacare.
“Select companies and their investors are set to make a fortune in the next several months - and years - as the full Obamacare plan gets underway.
“Even main street investors will have a chance to reap big paydays - provided they know which sectors stand to benefit most.”
http://moneymorning.com/ob-article/obamacare-buffett.php?code=t-oc-buffett
Fixing the country
According to Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023679832
Link from www.thisainthell.us
"The prescription to fix so much of what's wrong with this country is simple
“but it won't happen. That's what's so frustrating.
“Taxes need to be hiked on the wealthy. We need cuts in defense, including the security agencies. We need to raise the federal minimum wage and we need to invest in infrastructure. We need to invest in renewable energy.
“But this country is owned lock, stock and barrel by the wealthy/corporations and they have the power to control politics.
“It's worse than the gilded age.
“What would it take to change this dynamic?”
(Definition of “the wealthy” would require a national convention. Definition could be changed. And changed.
(Cuts in defense. Sure. There are no enemies.
(Raise the federal minimum wage. Price hikes follow. Are you willing to spend $15 for that Big Mac? Everybody always hits McDonalds when minimum wage talks arrive. Are hamburger turners the only workers paid minimum? And are they paid only minimum wage?
(Invest in infrastructure. What does that mean?
(Invest in renewable energy. Dude, that stuff don’t work.)
“What would it take to change this dynamic?”
(I’m not sure what “this dynamic” means.
(So left and right and center believe we need to fix stuff. Little government not in my face v. more government agents collecting more taxes to pay for stuff. Pay people what they’re worth v. everybody gets the same.
(I’ll be out of here in a few more years. Don’t mess up what I’ve got left.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023679832
Link from www.thisainthell.us
"The prescription to fix so much of what's wrong with this country is simple
“but it won't happen. That's what's so frustrating.
“Taxes need to be hiked on the wealthy. We need cuts in defense, including the security agencies. We need to raise the federal minimum wage and we need to invest in infrastructure. We need to invest in renewable energy.
“But this country is owned lock, stock and barrel by the wealthy/corporations and they have the power to control politics.
“It's worse than the gilded age.
“What would it take to change this dynamic?”
(Definition of “the wealthy” would require a national convention. Definition could be changed. And changed.
(Cuts in defense. Sure. There are no enemies.
(Raise the federal minimum wage. Price hikes follow. Are you willing to spend $15 for that Big Mac? Everybody always hits McDonalds when minimum wage talks arrive. Are hamburger turners the only workers paid minimum? And are they paid only minimum wage?
(Invest in infrastructure. What does that mean?
(Invest in renewable energy. Dude, that stuff don’t work.)
“What would it take to change this dynamic?”
(I’m not sure what “this dynamic” means.
(So left and right and center believe we need to fix stuff. Little government not in my face v. more government agents collecting more taxes to pay for stuff. Pay people what they’re worth v. everybody gets the same.
(I’ll be out of here in a few more years. Don’t mess up what I’ve got left.)
Hey, it’s the Balkans, OK?
What happens there can blow up the world, but if there are criminals we can use to keep the area kind of stable …
“(I)n three decisions handed down over the past year regarding high-ranking Croatian and Serbian defendants, the ICTY has essentially thrown the notion of command responsibility out the window, now in effect ruling that superiors can be found guilty of war crimes only if they give specific orders for those crimes to be committed.”
And if we wait long enough …
“(I)n November 2000, ICTY prosecutor Graham Blewitt noted that there was enough evidence to indict former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman for war crimes; Tudjman had conveniently died a year earlier, so the issue was moot. On October 22, 2003, a spokesperson for the ICTY announced that Bosnia’s former Islamist president, Alija Izetbegovic, was under investigation for war crimes; the spokesperson also announced that the investigation was being closed because Izetbegovic had conveniently died three days earlier.”
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/trials-and-tribulations-politics-justice-icty?utm_source=World+Affairs+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1dbd871735-September_16_2013_WAJ_Bardos&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f83b38c5c7-1dbd871735-294583209
“(I)n three decisions handed down over the past year regarding high-ranking Croatian and Serbian defendants, the ICTY has essentially thrown the notion of command responsibility out the window, now in effect ruling that superiors can be found guilty of war crimes only if they give specific orders for those crimes to be committed.”
And if we wait long enough …
“(I)n November 2000, ICTY prosecutor Graham Blewitt noted that there was enough evidence to indict former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman for war crimes; Tudjman had conveniently died a year earlier, so the issue was moot. On October 22, 2003, a spokesperson for the ICTY announced that Bosnia’s former Islamist president, Alija Izetbegovic, was under investigation for war crimes; the spokesperson also announced that the investigation was being closed because Izetbegovic had conveniently died three days earlier.”
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/trials-and-tribulations-politics-justice-icty?utm_source=World+Affairs+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1dbd871735-September_16_2013_WAJ_Bardos&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f83b38c5c7-1dbd871735-294583209
Monday, September 16, 2013
Good grief, get over yourself
Paramour of Erskine … uh, Holden Caulfield (doing time as J.D. Salinger) still boo-hooing over … something.
“I was 18 when he wrote to me in the irresistible voice of Holden Caulfield, though he was 53 at the time. Within months I left school to live with Salinger; gave up my scholarship; severed relationships with friends; disconnected from my family; forswore all books, music, food and ideas not condoned by him. At the time, I believed I’d be with Jerry Salinger forever. “
“Jerry.” Ah, yes. The closeness of here’s $100, now be on your way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/was-salinger-too-pure-for-this-world.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0
A couple of things I can (in my own smugness) brag about – I never watched an episode of Seinfeld, and I never read Catcher in the Rye. Both nevers have a single reason: Too many people talked and/or wrote about how great Seinfeld/Catcher were. Way too many people. Catcher was the epitomical story of Every Boy Passing into Manhood. I didn’t need anybody else’s story. Also on never watching Seinfeld – he is not funny. He is, however, overwhelmingly all Me, Myself & I, the man for whom mirror was invented.
“I was 18 when he wrote to me in the irresistible voice of Holden Caulfield, though he was 53 at the time. Within months I left school to live with Salinger; gave up my scholarship; severed relationships with friends; disconnected from my family; forswore all books, music, food and ideas not condoned by him. At the time, I believed I’d be with Jerry Salinger forever. “
“Jerry.” Ah, yes. The closeness of here’s $100, now be on your way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/was-salinger-too-pure-for-this-world.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0
A couple of things I can (in my own smugness) brag about – I never watched an episode of Seinfeld, and I never read Catcher in the Rye. Both nevers have a single reason: Too many people talked and/or wrote about how great Seinfeld/Catcher were. Way too many people. Catcher was the epitomical story of Every Boy Passing into Manhood. I didn’t need anybody else’s story. Also on never watching Seinfeld – he is not funny. He is, however, overwhelmingly all Me, Myself & I, the man for whom mirror was invented.
At CNN, history never happened if Costello wasn’t there
“During CNN's live coverage of Monday's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, anchor Carol Costello asked when the last time was that a gunman wreaked ‘havoc at a U.S. military facility.’ In 2009, a jihadist killed 13 in a mass-shooting at Fort Hood in Texas.
"’I used to work in Washington, live in Washington. This seems so unusual to me that a gunman could create this kind of havoc at a U.S. military facility,’ Costello stated. ‘Have you ever heard of it happening before, Brian?’ she asked correspondent Brian Todd, reporting live from the vicinity of the shooting.”
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2013/09/16/fort-hood-2009-cnn-anchor-cant-remember-last-shooting-us-military-facili#ixzz2f603zzQk
Link from www.ace.mu.nu
"... this kind of havoc ..."
Many of those people have no idea about the meaning of words. They can find impact words, but do not know how to fit the right words to specific events.
"’I used to work in Washington, live in Washington. This seems so unusual to me that a gunman could create this kind of havoc at a U.S. military facility,’ Costello stated. ‘Have you ever heard of it happening before, Brian?’ she asked correspondent Brian Todd, reporting live from the vicinity of the shooting.”
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2013/09/16/fort-hood-2009-cnn-anchor-cant-remember-last-shooting-us-military-facili#ixzz2f603zzQk
Link from www.ace.mu.nu
"... this kind of havoc ..."
Many of those people have no idea about the meaning of words. They can find impact words, but do not know how to fit the right words to specific events.
Missing the point on anti-Christian rulings
“’A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read ‘Jesus is Lord’ and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.
…
“’Daly and her staff sat in stunned disbelief as the government agents also informed them that the Christian Service Center could no longer pray or provide Bibles to those in need. The government contract also forbade any references to the ministry’s chapel.”
“This is part of an clear and chilling pattern of anti-Christian animus on the part of this Regime.”
http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/obamas-war-on-god-continues-fl-christian-ministry-must-choose-between-jesus-and-usda-aid/
It is not as simple as governments waging war on Christianity. The big thing is this -- All things new are equal to traditional. No belief or philosophy is any more “right” than any other. Hinduism is as “right” as Christianity; Islam is as “right” as Judaism; paganism is as “right” as Zoroastrianism.
It isn’t just anti-Christian, but there are more Christians in the U.S. than any other religion, so Christians are loaded with the burdens of Progressive equality.
And, you have bureaucrats with sudden power and authority, bureaucrats who were made to go to church or bureaucrats who felt bad in school because other kids went to church, and now they can take out their frustrations and guilt on church organizations. That’s pretty much where SA and SS personnel came from, the disgruntled and guilty classes.
…
“’Daly and her staff sat in stunned disbelief as the government agents also informed them that the Christian Service Center could no longer pray or provide Bibles to those in need. The government contract also forbade any references to the ministry’s chapel.”
“This is part of an clear and chilling pattern of anti-Christian animus on the part of this Regime.”
http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/obamas-war-on-god-continues-fl-christian-ministry-must-choose-between-jesus-and-usda-aid/
It is not as simple as governments waging war on Christianity. The big thing is this -- All things new are equal to traditional. No belief or philosophy is any more “right” than any other. Hinduism is as “right” as Christianity; Islam is as “right” as Judaism; paganism is as “right” as Zoroastrianism.
It isn’t just anti-Christian, but there are more Christians in the U.S. than any other religion, so Christians are loaded with the burdens of Progressive equality.
And, you have bureaucrats with sudden power and authority, bureaucrats who were made to go to church or bureaucrats who felt bad in school because other kids went to church, and now they can take out their frustrations and guilt on church organizations. That’s pretty much where SA and SS personnel came from, the disgruntled and guilty classes.
Obama is an arrogant idiot
Of all the assholeness Barrack Obama has served up, none is as infuriating as his comments on murder in the Navy Yard.
"So we are confronting yet another mass shooting. …”
"They know the dangers of serving abroad," he said, "but today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home."
You f’n duck! Wasn’t it workplace f’n violence!
Words … Unbelievable sht from President Duck. I hear his bored, so-what voice in this part – “today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home."
Or: I gotta say some words that sound good when strung together, so, you know, people will know I care.
“the dangers of serving abroad…” You f’n duck. You know how much arugula costs out here?
He is the president … He is the president … etc. and etc.
"So we are confronting yet another mass shooting. …”
"They know the dangers of serving abroad," he said, "but today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home."
You f’n duck! Wasn’t it workplace f’n violence!
Words … Unbelievable sht from President Duck. I hear his bored, so-what voice in this part – “today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home."
Or: I gotta say some words that sound good when strung together, so, you know, people will know I care.
“the dangers of serving abroad…” You f’n duck. You know how much arugula costs out here?
He is the president … He is the president … etc. and etc.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
One president knows what he’s doing; another, not so much
In fact, the other hasn’t a clue. And that is scary.
A few pearls from Marc Steyn:
“Vlad is telling Obama: The world knows you haven’t a clue how to play the Great Game or even what it is, but the only parochial solipsistic dweeby game you do know how to play I can kick your butt all over town on, too.”
“It never occurred to him (Obama) that out there in the world beyond the Republic of Cool he’d set an actual red line and some dime-store dictator would cross it with impunity.”
“Putin has pulled off something incredible: He’s gotten Washington to anoint him as the international community’s official peacemaker, even as he assists Iran in going nuclear and keeping their blood-soaked Syrian client in his presidential palace. Already, under the ‘peace process,’ Putin and Assad are running rings around the dull-witted Kerry, whose Botoxicated visage embodies all too well the expensively embalmed state of the superpower.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/358480/print
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Remember back when we were bombing Serbia because people in the White House and in the State Department had no idea what Kosovo meant to Serbs, and the same people bought the Albanian/Muslim propaganda of bloodthirsty Orthodox Christians killing innocent peaceful Albanian Muslims? One night a Russian motorized infantry unit appeared in Belgrade, and US/NATO intel people were, “Where the hell did they come from?” It was to laugh, seeing LIVE FROM BELGRADE, where Serbs welcomed BRDMs and BTRs, crewed by their Slavic cousins.
Well, Putin as Bart Maverick beats that in spades. The president of Russia bitch-slapped the president of the UsofA, and ours doesn’t even know what happened.
I didn’t vote for Obama, but he is my president. He embarrassed all of us.
A few pearls from Marc Steyn:
“Vlad is telling Obama: The world knows you haven’t a clue how to play the Great Game or even what it is, but the only parochial solipsistic dweeby game you do know how to play I can kick your butt all over town on, too.”
“It never occurred to him (Obama) that out there in the world beyond the Republic of Cool he’d set an actual red line and some dime-store dictator would cross it with impunity.”
“Putin has pulled off something incredible: He’s gotten Washington to anoint him as the international community’s official peacemaker, even as he assists Iran in going nuclear and keeping their blood-soaked Syrian client in his presidential palace. Already, under the ‘peace process,’ Putin and Assad are running rings around the dull-witted Kerry, whose Botoxicated visage embodies all too well the expensively embalmed state of the superpower.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/358480/print
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Remember back when we were bombing Serbia because people in the White House and in the State Department had no idea what Kosovo meant to Serbs, and the same people bought the Albanian/Muslim propaganda of bloodthirsty Orthodox Christians killing innocent peaceful Albanian Muslims? One night a Russian motorized infantry unit appeared in Belgrade, and US/NATO intel people were, “Where the hell did they come from?” It was to laugh, seeing LIVE FROM BELGRADE, where Serbs welcomed BRDMs and BTRs, crewed by their Slavic cousins.
Well, Putin as Bart Maverick beats that in spades. The president of Russia bitch-slapped the president of the UsofA, and ours doesn’t even know what happened.
I didn’t vote for Obama, but he is my president. He embarrassed all of us.
Lakota helicopter is OK, but Indians and Braves baseball teams are insulting
I don’t understand. Well, of course I don’t. I’m not an Indian/Native American/First Peoples.
Something that brings death and destruction is OK, but a football team named after a hotdog is racist. Tomahawk cruise missile v. Washington Redskins. OK, the football team has a representative of a sort-of Indian on its helmets. They could have a weenie in a bun, but who knows which people that might p off?
All Army helicopters (except the Cobra) are named after Indian tribes – UH-1 Iroquois, CH-47 Chinook, OH-58 Kiowa, UH-60 Blackhawk, and etc. Those are OK, but sports teams are not.
I was graduated from Arkansas State University, which had Indian as its team name. Now, the team name is Red Wolves. I thought the name should have been change to the ASU Bend Overs.
Something that brings death and destruction is OK, but a football team named after a hotdog is racist. Tomahawk cruise missile v. Washington Redskins. OK, the football team has a representative of a sort-of Indian on its helmets. They could have a weenie in a bun, but who knows which people that might p off?
All Army helicopters (except the Cobra) are named after Indian tribes – UH-1 Iroquois, CH-47 Chinook, OH-58 Kiowa, UH-60 Blackhawk, and etc. Those are OK, but sports teams are not.
I was graduated from Arkansas State University, which had Indian as its team name. Now, the team name is Red Wolves. I thought the name should have been change to the ASU Bend Overs.
M35 operates under water
Yeah, but … What about the cargo?
‘Glub, glub’
http://xbradtc.com/
If you’ve been afield for a length of time, you know you can’t take an operational vehicle, slap on a snorkel and extended exhaust and head straight under water. Think about that APC or Bradley you rode around in. Would you trust its bilge pumps after a few days of dust and dirt at Fort Hood or Bliss or Irwin? And the ramp and engine compartment seals … Not bloody likely.
An M35 2-1/2 ton would be the same.
Tell Joe Driver he’s going to take his truck across a river – underwater.
Plus there is the river bed, entrances, current speed …
A looks-good idea, but in the neighborhood of a mid-1950s idea of supplying forward units with a zipline-like setup -- from beachhead to frontline battalion, ammunition and supplies delivered by a motorized box riding beneath a steel cable.
‘Glub, glub’
http://xbradtc.com/
If you’ve been afield for a length of time, you know you can’t take an operational vehicle, slap on a snorkel and extended exhaust and head straight under water. Think about that APC or Bradley you rode around in. Would you trust its bilge pumps after a few days of dust and dirt at Fort Hood or Bliss or Irwin? And the ramp and engine compartment seals … Not bloody likely.
An M35 2-1/2 ton would be the same.
Tell Joe Driver he’s going to take his truck across a river – underwater.
Plus there is the river bed, entrances, current speed …
A looks-good idea, but in the neighborhood of a mid-1950s idea of supplying forward units with a zipline-like setup -- from beachhead to frontline battalion, ammunition and supplies delivered by a motorized box riding beneath a steel cable.
Is this guy a duck, or what?
Minneapolis mayoral candidate (D) promises he won’t go to strip clubs any more. Remembering that the D party is the one that is not waging a war on women, it’s sort of ironic that a woman takes the candidate’s empty coffee cup and later brings a pitcher and refills the cup. Woman, thy name is coffee deliverer.
‘Video: The greatest political ad ever?’
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/13/video-the-greatest-political-ad-ever-4/
‘Video: The greatest political ad ever?’
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/13/video-the-greatest-political-ad-ever-4/
With Obama foreign policy:
“Each act just seems to run on until the next intermission, when the exhausted audience is told only: To Be Continued.”
(Snip.)
“To know where we are headed would mean knowing where we are, and that much nobody seems to know. Certainly not this president, who says he's waiting for the Russian president, or Congress, or the United Nations, or maybe all of the above to tell him.” -- Paul Greenberg
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg091313.php3
(Snip.)
“To know where we are headed would mean knowing where we are, and that much nobody seems to know. Certainly not this president, who says he's waiting for the Russian president, or Congress, or the United Nations, or maybe all of the above to tell him.” -- Paul Greenberg
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg091313.php3
Christians and Jews – More than brothers in faith
Egyptian Christians see 45 church buildings attacked in one night.
“Minya's streets are now lined with burned-out hulks. Church interiors have been reduced to ash. The once-cheerful turquoise exterior of a Christian orphanage is now streaked black from the fire that gutted it. Destroyed wheelchairs sit outside a burned-out Jesuit center that worked with disabled people. Torched schools, shops, and monasteries lie in ruins. On one street, several Christian-owned shops are reduced to scorched rubble. Nearby, an untouched snack shop blares a song that proclaims ‘Egypt is Islamic’."
(Snip)
"They will always try to burn churches, whether in power or not. But in power, they increased the discrimination and the humiliation of Christians. You can't go worse than the Islamists." -- Church member Magdy Shafiq Saad
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0913/pews_ash.php3
(Well, the Christians just shouldn’t be where they’re not wanted. It’s not like Egypt was ever Christian. It’s always been majority Muslim. Right?)
“Minya's streets are now lined with burned-out hulks. Church interiors have been reduced to ash. The once-cheerful turquoise exterior of a Christian orphanage is now streaked black from the fire that gutted it. Destroyed wheelchairs sit outside a burned-out Jesuit center that worked with disabled people. Torched schools, shops, and monasteries lie in ruins. On one street, several Christian-owned shops are reduced to scorched rubble. Nearby, an untouched snack shop blares a song that proclaims ‘Egypt is Islamic’."
(Snip)
"They will always try to burn churches, whether in power or not. But in power, they increased the discrimination and the humiliation of Christians. You can't go worse than the Islamists." -- Church member Magdy Shafiq Saad
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0913/pews_ash.php3
(Well, the Christians just shouldn’t be where they’re not wanted. It’s not like Egypt was ever Christian. It’s always been majority Muslim. Right?)
Thursday, September 12, 2013
I’m being followed!!
Some channel had a program on UFOs in Fresno, Calif., where (reportedly) there are not only ETs flying around, but also a SECRET UNDERGROUND U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATION!!
Wait just a minute. SECRET UNDERGROUND U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATION!! In Fresno? Population 500,000+ Fresno? Fifth-largest city in California, Fresno? (Search is wonderful.) Oh, ho. Search is so good I found the channel -- National Geographic -- and the show – “Chasing UFOs.” A story at
http://www.kmph-kfre.com/story/18762334/ufos-in-fresno-yes-says-new-national-tv-series
begins: “It seems fruits and nuts aren't the only things people think they can find here in the Valley.
“The National Geographic Channel will feature Fresno in one or more episodes of its new series ‘Chasing UFOs’.”
That is really snarky.
Here’s what I was getting at: One of the people interviewed about Fresno UFOs said he is being followed “by white vehicles.” That’s right. The UFOlogist is being followed by cars, trucks and vans painted the most popular color in the US of A.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewdepaula/2012/12/21/top-10-most-popular-car-colors/
For some time now I knew feds were following me. FBI, DHS, MI, DIA … All agencies that frown upon dissidence. But until watching the UFO program, I was not sure what kind of vehicles the feds used in their surveillance.
WHITE PICKUPS.
That’s right. They’re using WHITE PICKUPS so they can blend in.
From now on, I will be especially leery of WHITE PICKUPS.
Except my own, of course.
Wait just a minute. SECRET UNDERGROUND U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATION!! In Fresno? Population 500,000+ Fresno? Fifth-largest city in California, Fresno? (Search is wonderful.) Oh, ho. Search is so good I found the channel -- National Geographic -- and the show – “Chasing UFOs.” A story at
http://www.kmph-kfre.com/story/18762334/ufos-in-fresno-yes-says-new-national-tv-series
begins: “It seems fruits and nuts aren't the only things people think they can find here in the Valley.
“The National Geographic Channel will feature Fresno in one or more episodes of its new series ‘Chasing UFOs’.”
That is really snarky.
Here’s what I was getting at: One of the people interviewed about Fresno UFOs said he is being followed “by white vehicles.” That’s right. The UFOlogist is being followed by cars, trucks and vans painted the most popular color in the US of A.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewdepaula/2012/12/21/top-10-most-popular-car-colors/
For some time now I knew feds were following me. FBI, DHS, MI, DIA … All agencies that frown upon dissidence. But until watching the UFO program, I was not sure what kind of vehicles the feds used in their surveillance.
WHITE PICKUPS.
That’s right. They’re using WHITE PICKUPS so they can blend in.
From now on, I will be especially leery of WHITE PICKUPS.
Except my own, of course.
Bureaucrats
John went to a group home in Texarkana, Texas, about two years ago. He pays around $700 a month to live at the home, with Medicaid paying the remaining cost.
John’s mother, Mrs. R., remained in the same house where she has lived since 1959. She brought John home on weekends, took him to church every Sunday and to bowling every other Saturday.
In late March, my wife and I found out political lobbyists had stolen more than $23,000 from Mrs. R.’s checking account. Mrs. R. agreed to a change of address so we could filter her mail and keep the wolves from her Social Security and Teacher Retirement money.
We knew nothing about the brains of bureaucracy.
In August, a letter addressed to John arrived in the mail. Bureaucrats who run Medicaid in Texas decided John had moved to Arkansas.
Logic: Mrs. R. changed her address to Arkansas; therefore, John had moved from the group home, to a place near Little Rock.
The fact is, no one moved. Mrs. R. stayed with Priscilla and me for six weeks, but neither she nor John moved anywhere.
The bureaucrats did not see that fact; they assumed an address change meant a physical move. No one within the system of bureaucrats talked with anyone else. A couple of telephone calls from an office in Austin to an office in Texarkana would have shown John still lived in the group home.
Instead, bureaucrats in Austin removed John from Medicaid because, a letter stated, he “had not proved that they lived in Texas.” That’s right. John had not proved “they” lived in Texas.
Grammatical ineptitude aside, bureaucrats were not to be persuaded by phone calls from my wife, nor from Texarkana offices. Proof! Proof we must have!
Eventually, the incorrect ruling was … Not fixed, because bureaucrats never saw a mistake. Change in mailing address equals an interstate move. What happened was, Priscilla filled out explanation forms and, with help from people in the Texarkana offices, got the forms to whoever could and would make a decision.
The decision was not that John was reinstated into the Medicaid system, but that the forms and calls instituted a new application.
The situation was resolved, though, and with bureaucracy that’s often the best thing.
John’s mother, Mrs. R., remained in the same house where she has lived since 1959. She brought John home on weekends, took him to church every Sunday and to bowling every other Saturday.
In late March, my wife and I found out political lobbyists had stolen more than $23,000 from Mrs. R.’s checking account. Mrs. R. agreed to a change of address so we could filter her mail and keep the wolves from her Social Security and Teacher Retirement money.
We knew nothing about the brains of bureaucracy.
In August, a letter addressed to John arrived in the mail. Bureaucrats who run Medicaid in Texas decided John had moved to Arkansas.
Logic: Mrs. R. changed her address to Arkansas; therefore, John had moved from the group home, to a place near Little Rock.
The fact is, no one moved. Mrs. R. stayed with Priscilla and me for six weeks, but neither she nor John moved anywhere.
The bureaucrats did not see that fact; they assumed an address change meant a physical move. No one within the system of bureaucrats talked with anyone else. A couple of telephone calls from an office in Austin to an office in Texarkana would have shown John still lived in the group home.
Instead, bureaucrats in Austin removed John from Medicaid because, a letter stated, he “had not proved that they lived in Texas.” That’s right. John had not proved “they” lived in Texas.
Grammatical ineptitude aside, bureaucrats were not to be persuaded by phone calls from my wife, nor from Texarkana offices. Proof! Proof we must have!
Eventually, the incorrect ruling was … Not fixed, because bureaucrats never saw a mistake. Change in mailing address equals an interstate move. What happened was, Priscilla filled out explanation forms and, with help from people in the Texarkana offices, got the forms to whoever could and would make a decision.
The decision was not that John was reinstated into the Medicaid system, but that the forms and calls instituted a new application.
The situation was resolved, though, and with bureaucracy that’s often the best thing.
That day, 12 years ago
40 Americans
By Paul Greenberg
Editorial Page Editor
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
It was one of those morning flights. Routine. The ETD went up on the computer screens along with all the others. The airport didn’t even have a familiar name like LaGuardia or Kennedy, Logan or O’Hare, but was lesser known Newark. Just a footnote to New York, like so much of grimy North Jersey across the Hudson.
The passengers on United Flight 93, the regularly scheduled morning flight to San Francisco, drifted by or dropped out or rushed over at their own pace, depending on their own state of composure or hurry. Some called home, others the office. Many were already entering that altered state of consciousness that airline passengers will slip into once they’ve checked their baggage and have nothing to do but wait, read a newspaper, get a cup of coffee, turn on their laptops . . . . Yes, routine.
From here on in, they could leave the driving-or rather flying-to others. To the pilots, flight attendants, ground crew, air traffic controllers . . . . They were in that strange
country called In Transit, or call it life in pause.
All in all, it can be a nice break, air travel, once you’re past the check-in hassle and have given yourself time to relax. If you’re not the too-active type with something always to do.
Unlike the flight attendants. They have checklists to go over and a host of other details to tend to. One of them, CeeCee Lyles, still had time to call her husband, which she did several times a day. They were that kind of couple. A cop, he was just finishing a quiet overnight shift as a patrolman in Fort Myers, Florida, when CeeCee phoned him as she was getting aboard the flight attendants’ shuttle to the airport, telling him which bills to be sure to pay, what was on his Honey-Do list that day, that kind of domestic detail.
When she got to the airport, she called again. There didn’t seem to be too many passengers on the flight list for United 93, she told him. “I’ve got an easy day,” she said.
The crew was well-trained, their instructions in case of an emergency spelled out long ago: If they found themselves in the middle of a hijacking, they were to Stay Calm and phone the cockpit, using an innocuous word like “trip” to alert the pilots, as in “I need to talk to you about the trip.” The crew’s order of priorities in such a case was clear: Take care of yourself and the passengers. Get the plane down without further incident. Do whatever the hijackers wanted. Don’t try to be a hero. The flight attendant’s manual was quite specific on that point: “Be persuasive to stay alive. Be released or escape. Delay. Engage in comfortable behavior. Be yourself. Maintain a professional role. . . .” This manual was a step-by-step guide to passivity. Everything had been anticipated. Almost.
When it happened, word got out phone call by phone call. Fred Fiumano, who ran Fred’s Auto Repair in Queens, picked up the phone to find an old friend, Marion Britton, on the line. She was sobbing. Her flight had been hijacked, she told him, and two people aboard had already been killed. “They slit their throats.” It’s one of those details that stays in your mind, and gut, even a dozen years later.
It’s something else to remember if and when the trials begin for some of our cosseted guests at Guantanamo, with their regular exercise periods, certified diets, prayer breaks . . . all of them treated like Prisoners of War even if they’re not. Even if they’re illegal combatants. The kind who don’t wear the uniform of the enemy, if it has one, and who slit women’s throats with box cutters. Oh, brave jihadi!
The cowardice, the bloodthirstiness, the death worship of these fanatics . . . . all of those provide another reason to vow never to imitate them, but to do justice without a trace of vengeance, by the book, without passion or malice. Cold, correct, legal. For we are Americans, and have a civilization to defend, not dishonor.
There were 40 Americans aboard United 93-two pilots, five flight attendants, 33 passengers. All ordinary people, we would be told, who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances, and rose to the challenge. But looking over their concise biographies, a newspaperman who needs and wants to write about them, who must write about them, especially today of all days, realizes anew that there is no such thing as an ordinary American, or an ordinary human being for that matter. The Ordinary American is a mythic creature, invented by people too lazy to see the uniqueness of Creation. For each of God’s children is different, unique, one of a kind.
Every time you hear some talking head or a certified pundit or distinguished politician talk about how Ordinary Americans think or feel about this issue or that, you can be sure only that you’re hearing from somebody too lazy to think this thing through.
Todd Beamer, a crackerjack salesman, would lead the charge down the aisle with a cry that is now part of American history. “Let’s Roll!” No, he was not ordinary. Neither was Toshiya Kuge, a 20-year-old college exchange student from Japan who was returning home to complete his sophomore year as a science-and-engineering major at a university in Tokyo. “He longed to come to America,” his mother Yachiyou would say later. “Perhaps he liked the freedom.” She would add: “He had a very strong sense of what the right course in life was.” He was already an American in spirit.
Nor was there anything ordinary about Jeremy Glick, who’d been a college wrestler. He would join the charge down the aisle with everything he had, which was considerable. A man’s man, he was just a great big softie when he was with his infant daughter. Being a daddy will do that-turn the roughest roughneck, the burliest tough guy, into a gentle giant.
There was nothing gentle about the fury these passengers unleashed when they realized what was going on, and what had already happened to other flights, those that had crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and what these cutthroats - literally - had in mind: an attack on another emblematic American landmark, maybe the Capitol, maybe the White House.
Whatever their objective, they never reached it. Instead, the 127-ton Boeing 757 with a fuel capacity of eleven thousand five hundred gallons of high-octane aviation fuel went down in a fiery crash in a Pennsylvania field that is now hallowed ground.
Did the passengers ever breach the cockpit? All the voice recorder caught was the sounds of struggle and confusion. Did they wrestle with the hijackers for the controls? It doesn’t matter. They fought back.
Ordinary? These first Americans to fight back in the war against terror? These 40 Americans who were told to be quiet and do as the enemy told them? Never.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/11/40-americans-20130911/
By Paul Greenberg
Editorial Page Editor
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
It was one of those morning flights. Routine. The ETD went up on the computer screens along with all the others. The airport didn’t even have a familiar name like LaGuardia or Kennedy, Logan or O’Hare, but was lesser known Newark. Just a footnote to New York, like so much of grimy North Jersey across the Hudson.
The passengers on United Flight 93, the regularly scheduled morning flight to San Francisco, drifted by or dropped out or rushed over at their own pace, depending on their own state of composure or hurry. Some called home, others the office. Many were already entering that altered state of consciousness that airline passengers will slip into once they’ve checked their baggage and have nothing to do but wait, read a newspaper, get a cup of coffee, turn on their laptops . . . . Yes, routine.
From here on in, they could leave the driving-or rather flying-to others. To the pilots, flight attendants, ground crew, air traffic controllers . . . . They were in that strange
country called In Transit, or call it life in pause.
All in all, it can be a nice break, air travel, once you’re past the check-in hassle and have given yourself time to relax. If you’re not the too-active type with something always to do.
Unlike the flight attendants. They have checklists to go over and a host of other details to tend to. One of them, CeeCee Lyles, still had time to call her husband, which she did several times a day. They were that kind of couple. A cop, he was just finishing a quiet overnight shift as a patrolman in Fort Myers, Florida, when CeeCee phoned him as she was getting aboard the flight attendants’ shuttle to the airport, telling him which bills to be sure to pay, what was on his Honey-Do list that day, that kind of domestic detail.
When she got to the airport, she called again. There didn’t seem to be too many passengers on the flight list for United 93, she told him. “I’ve got an easy day,” she said.
The crew was well-trained, their instructions in case of an emergency spelled out long ago: If they found themselves in the middle of a hijacking, they were to Stay Calm and phone the cockpit, using an innocuous word like “trip” to alert the pilots, as in “I need to talk to you about the trip.” The crew’s order of priorities in such a case was clear: Take care of yourself and the passengers. Get the plane down without further incident. Do whatever the hijackers wanted. Don’t try to be a hero. The flight attendant’s manual was quite specific on that point: “Be persuasive to stay alive. Be released or escape. Delay. Engage in comfortable behavior. Be yourself. Maintain a professional role. . . .” This manual was a step-by-step guide to passivity. Everything had been anticipated. Almost.
When it happened, word got out phone call by phone call. Fred Fiumano, who ran Fred’s Auto Repair in Queens, picked up the phone to find an old friend, Marion Britton, on the line. She was sobbing. Her flight had been hijacked, she told him, and two people aboard had already been killed. “They slit their throats.” It’s one of those details that stays in your mind, and gut, even a dozen years later.
It’s something else to remember if and when the trials begin for some of our cosseted guests at Guantanamo, with their regular exercise periods, certified diets, prayer breaks . . . all of them treated like Prisoners of War even if they’re not. Even if they’re illegal combatants. The kind who don’t wear the uniform of the enemy, if it has one, and who slit women’s throats with box cutters. Oh, brave jihadi!
The cowardice, the bloodthirstiness, the death worship of these fanatics . . . . all of those provide another reason to vow never to imitate them, but to do justice without a trace of vengeance, by the book, without passion or malice. Cold, correct, legal. For we are Americans, and have a civilization to defend, not dishonor.
There were 40 Americans aboard United 93-two pilots, five flight attendants, 33 passengers. All ordinary people, we would be told, who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances, and rose to the challenge. But looking over their concise biographies, a newspaperman who needs and wants to write about them, who must write about them, especially today of all days, realizes anew that there is no such thing as an ordinary American, or an ordinary human being for that matter. The Ordinary American is a mythic creature, invented by people too lazy to see the uniqueness of Creation. For each of God’s children is different, unique, one of a kind.
Every time you hear some talking head or a certified pundit or distinguished politician talk about how Ordinary Americans think or feel about this issue or that, you can be sure only that you’re hearing from somebody too lazy to think this thing through.
Todd Beamer, a crackerjack salesman, would lead the charge down the aisle with a cry that is now part of American history. “Let’s Roll!” No, he was not ordinary. Neither was Toshiya Kuge, a 20-year-old college exchange student from Japan who was returning home to complete his sophomore year as a science-and-engineering major at a university in Tokyo. “He longed to come to America,” his mother Yachiyou would say later. “Perhaps he liked the freedom.” She would add: “He had a very strong sense of what the right course in life was.” He was already an American in spirit.
Nor was there anything ordinary about Jeremy Glick, who’d been a college wrestler. He would join the charge down the aisle with everything he had, which was considerable. A man’s man, he was just a great big softie when he was with his infant daughter. Being a daddy will do that-turn the roughest roughneck, the burliest tough guy, into a gentle giant.
There was nothing gentle about the fury these passengers unleashed when they realized what was going on, and what had already happened to other flights, those that had crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and what these cutthroats - literally - had in mind: an attack on another emblematic American landmark, maybe the Capitol, maybe the White House.
Whatever their objective, they never reached it. Instead, the 127-ton Boeing 757 with a fuel capacity of eleven thousand five hundred gallons of high-octane aviation fuel went down in a fiery crash in a Pennsylvania field that is now hallowed ground.
Did the passengers ever breach the cockpit? All the voice recorder caught was the sounds of struggle and confusion. Did they wrestle with the hijackers for the controls? It doesn’t matter. They fought back.
Ordinary? These first Americans to fight back in the war against terror? These 40 Americans who were told to be quiet and do as the enemy told them? Never.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/sep/11/40-americans-20130911/
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Anti-Semitism rampant at California colleges
UC Irvine: “Jewish students were physically threatened and assaulted. One student was surrounded by Arab students who cursed and threatened, ‘I am going to kill you, you f__king Jewish bitch.’ Another Jewish student endured screams of ‘Go back to Russia where you came from,’ "Burn in hell,’ and ‘F__king Jew.’ A Holocaust memorial was vandalized. Posters obscenely proclaimed that ‘Zionism is Nazism’ and equated the Star of David with the swastika.”
(Several other examples, and the Office of Civil Rights sides with the anti-Semites.))
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/09/u-s-government-fails-to-enforce-law-to-protect-jewish-students/
(Several other examples, and the Office of Civil Rights sides with the anti-Semites.))
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/09/u-s-government-fails-to-enforce-law-to-protect-jewish-students/
I’ll not make that mistake again
I’ve been internetless since yesterday. I downloaded something that really screwed up everything.
But it wasn’t my fault. (As Han Solo said when the Falcon refused to go to light speed.)
For several weeks, every video site said I needed to download a newer version of Flash. The sites were so insistent, none would let me watch anything – not You Tube or Metacafe or political sites or military sites. I wanted to hear Tannhauser Overture. Not gonna happen until you download Flash, said You Tube.
I gave in. I did search on ‘download adobe flash’ and opened a link and followed directions. I wound up with something called ‘conduit.com’. It took over. It eliminated goodsearch as my web page. Ads started popping up every time I opened a news story or searched for specific items. I was reading information on a Balkan country and an ad popped up telling me I needed to talk to Serbian women. I don’t speak Serb.
Yesterday afternoon, the computer would not allow me to access the internet. Every address I entered brought the response that the address was not listed in my proxy settings.
I got into the control panel, but I could not eliminate coduit.
So, I disconnected the computer and connected this one. Both belong to my wife. Her IT people said they could fix my (older) computer (not on company time), but they installed some stuff as per SOP, and unless my computer is attached to the company system, I can’t get internet. We’re going to get that fixed.
So … I don’t care what message pops up in the future, I ain’t downloading it.
But it wasn’t my fault. (As Han Solo said when the Falcon refused to go to light speed.)
For several weeks, every video site said I needed to download a newer version of Flash. The sites were so insistent, none would let me watch anything – not You Tube or Metacafe or political sites or military sites. I wanted to hear Tannhauser Overture. Not gonna happen until you download Flash, said You Tube.
I gave in. I did search on ‘download adobe flash’ and opened a link and followed directions. I wound up with something called ‘conduit.com’. It took over. It eliminated goodsearch as my web page. Ads started popping up every time I opened a news story or searched for specific items. I was reading information on a Balkan country and an ad popped up telling me I needed to talk to Serbian women. I don’t speak Serb.
Yesterday afternoon, the computer would not allow me to access the internet. Every address I entered brought the response that the address was not listed in my proxy settings.
I got into the control panel, but I could not eliminate coduit.
So, I disconnected the computer and connected this one. Both belong to my wife. Her IT people said they could fix my (older) computer (not on company time), but they installed some stuff as per SOP, and unless my computer is attached to the company system, I can’t get internet. We’re going to get that fixed.
So … I don’t care what message pops up in the future, I ain’t downloading it.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Conversation in a dream
There is ivory in the park.
I’m on my way to London.
May I give you a lift?
Really? I hadn’t heard that.
Yes, she wore boots of red leather. Can’t imagine where she got them.
At Parkinson’s, perhaps?
Oh, no. Parkinson’s would never sell boots to a woman. Where would they get woman’s boots of that size?
It’s a closely guarded secret.
I’m on my way to London.
May I give you a lift?
Really? I hadn’t heard that.
Yes, she wore boots of red leather. Can’t imagine where she got them.
At Parkinson’s, perhaps?
Oh, no. Parkinson’s would never sell boots to a woman. Where would they get woman’s boots of that size?
It’s a closely guarded secret.
Education
In line with teachers required to wear something under:
When my wife ran a non-profit in Texas, she hired high school girls for summer work when the budget allowed. One girl she said she had to take aside and tell to wear a slip. “I do not need to know the color of your underwear,” she told the girl. That was June, July, August weather and summertimey dresses of a weave to allow coolness and somewhat on the loose side of translucent. I had not noticed the girl’s lack of cover, since from when my wife introduced me to the girl, I made sure my eyes were averted to something less full and curved, say a blank wall or the floor. Like my momma always said, “It’s not nice to stare.”
When my wife ran a non-profit in Texas, she hired high school girls for summer work when the budget allowed. One girl she said she had to take aside and tell to wear a slip. “I do not need to know the color of your underwear,” she told the girl. That was June, July, August weather and summertimey dresses of a weave to allow coolness and somewhat on the loose side of translucent. I had not noticed the girl’s lack of cover, since from when my wife introduced me to the girl, I made sure my eyes were averted to something less full and curved, say a blank wall or the floor. Like my momma always said, “It’s not nice to stare.”
‘Global warming cleverly hides itself with 1 million sq miles more arctic ice’
“Only six years ago, the BBC reported that the Arctic would be ice-free in summer by 2013, citing a scientist in the US who claimed this was a ‘conservative’ forecast. Perhaps it was their confidence that led more than 20 yachts to try to sail the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific this summer. As of last week, all these vessels were stuck in the ice, some at the eastern end of the passage in Prince Regent Inlet, others further west at Cape Bathurst.
“Shipping experts said the only way these vessels were likely to be freed was by the icebreakers of the Canadian coastguard. According to the official Canadian government website, the Northwest Passage has remained ice-bound and impassable all summer.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/08/global-warming-cleverly-hides-itself-with-1-million-sq-miles-more-arctic-ice/
And:
“The North West Passage seems to be reversing its recent warming trend and is threatening to end the dreams of dozens of adventurous sailors. A scattering of yachts trying to transit the legendary Passage are caught by the ice, which has become blocked at both ends and the season may be ended early.
“Douglas Pohl tells the story: The passage has become blocked with 5/10 concentrated drifting sea ice at both the eastern and at the western ends of Canada’s Arctic Archipelago. At least 22 yachts and other vessels are in the Arctic at the moment. Some who were less advanced have retreated and others have abandoned their vessels along the way. Still others are caught in the ice in an unfolding, unresolved drama.”
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/shock-news-arctic-melt-has-reversed-the-global-warming-scam-is-toast/
Save the Teddy Bears!
It's not nice to laugh at someone else's misfortune, but you have to at least chuckle for those people who bought the ice-free Northwest Passage exaggeration.
“Shipping experts said the only way these vessels were likely to be freed was by the icebreakers of the Canadian coastguard. According to the official Canadian government website, the Northwest Passage has remained ice-bound and impassable all summer.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/08/global-warming-cleverly-hides-itself-with-1-million-sq-miles-more-arctic-ice/
And:
“The North West Passage seems to be reversing its recent warming trend and is threatening to end the dreams of dozens of adventurous sailors. A scattering of yachts trying to transit the legendary Passage are caught by the ice, which has become blocked at both ends and the season may be ended early.
“Douglas Pohl tells the story: The passage has become blocked with 5/10 concentrated drifting sea ice at both the eastern and at the western ends of Canada’s Arctic Archipelago. At least 22 yachts and other vessels are in the Arctic at the moment. Some who were less advanced have retreated and others have abandoned their vessels along the way. Still others are caught in the ice in an unfolding, unresolved drama.”
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/shock-news-arctic-melt-has-reversed-the-global-warming-scam-is-toast/
Save the Teddy Bears!
It's not nice to laugh at someone else's misfortune, but you have to at least chuckle for those people who bought the ice-free Northwest Passage exaggeration.
Witold Pilecki
Polish officer who fought Nazis and Communists, volunteered to go to Auschwitz, escaped, fought in the 1944 Warsaw uprising, remained in Poland after the Russians took over, arrested for espionage, tried, found guilty and executed.
“When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory.” – Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.
“Beyond Bravery,” www.thisainthell.us
“When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory.” – Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.
“Beyond Bravery,” www.thisainthell.us
Spy bird found dead
(AP) Stork detained as spy in Egypt found dead
CAIRO
A stork once detained by Egyptian authorities on suspicion of being a winged spy has been found dead.
Mahmoud Hassib, the head of Egypt's southern protected areas, said Saturday that local residents found the dead bird on an island in the Nile, south of the ancient city of Aswan.
In August, a local resident found the stork in Egypt's Qena governorate, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Cairo. Both he and police were suspicious of the European wildlife tracker found on it. Authorities later let the bird go.
However, controversy trails the bird into death. An Egyptian wildlife organization claimed on its Facebook page the bird was "eaten by local villagers." Hassib denied that the bird had been eaten, though he didn't know an exact cause of death.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/07/Stork-detained-as-spy-in-Egypt-found-dead
(This might be the same bird earlier identified as a swan. Or, it might be an entirely different spy from Israel. So far, camels and donkeys rmain loyal Muslims.)
UPDATE: Mystery solved.
From Aug. 31 AP story:
“The bird remains caged for now, as Abdallah said authorities must receive permission from prosecutors to release the animal.
“But one mystery still remains: Abdallah and others called the bird a swan. Photographs obtained by The Associated Press showed what appeared to be a stork locked behind bars in the police station.”
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23307566/egyptian-authorities-detain-suspected-spy-swan#ixzz2eIesdSgy
(What that means is, Egyptian intelligence offials don't know their swans from their storks.
(Poor bird.
CAIRO
A stork once detained by Egyptian authorities on suspicion of being a winged spy has been found dead.
Mahmoud Hassib, the head of Egypt's southern protected areas, said Saturday that local residents found the dead bird on an island in the Nile, south of the ancient city of Aswan.
In August, a local resident found the stork in Egypt's Qena governorate, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Cairo. Both he and police were suspicious of the European wildlife tracker found on it. Authorities later let the bird go.
However, controversy trails the bird into death. An Egyptian wildlife organization claimed on its Facebook page the bird was "eaten by local villagers." Hassib denied that the bird had been eaten, though he didn't know an exact cause of death.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/07/Stork-detained-as-spy-in-Egypt-found-dead
(This might be the same bird earlier identified as a swan. Or, it might be an entirely different spy from Israel. So far, camels and donkeys rmain loyal Muslims.)
UPDATE: Mystery solved.
From Aug. 31 AP story:
“The bird remains caged for now, as Abdallah said authorities must receive permission from prosecutors to release the animal.
“But one mystery still remains: Abdallah and others called the bird a swan. Photographs obtained by The Associated Press showed what appeared to be a stork locked behind bars in the police station.”
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23307566/egyptian-authorities-detain-suspected-spy-swan#ixzz2eIesdSgy
(What that means is, Egyptian intelligence offials don't know their swans from their storks.
(Poor bird.
Indians are OK with Tomahawk cruise missile, as long as it doesn't play in the NFL
Like we should really care?
“The American Indian tribe pushing to change the name of the Washington Redskins is not offended by President Obama’s potential use of ‘Tomahawk’ cruise missiles in Syria.”
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/06/indian-tribe-not-offended-by-term-tomahawk-cruise-missile/#ixzz2eILlmhzZ
(It's a nice irony. Now, if Bush were contemplating missile strikes ...)
“The American Indian tribe pushing to change the name of the Washington Redskins is not offended by President Obama’s potential use of ‘Tomahawk’ cruise missiles in Syria.”
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/06/indian-tribe-not-offended-by-term-tomahawk-cruise-missile/#ixzz2eILlmhzZ
(It's a nice irony. Now, if Bush were contemplating missile strikes ...)
We gotta wear what? Underwear? Are you serious?
“The school district in Little Rock, Ark. has announced plans for a dress code that will require teachers to wear underwear. Every single day. Female teachers will have to wear bras, too.
“T-shirts, patches and other clothing containing slogans for beer, alcohol, drugs, gangs or sex will also be prohibited. Other verboten garments will include cut-off jeans with ragged edges, cut-out dresses and spaghetti-straps if teachers aren’t wearing at least two layers.”
These rules are for teachers. Teachers have to be told not to wear this stuff.
And, somebody doesn’t like the rules.
“Organized labor vocally opposes the new universal underwear requirement and the rest of the non-draconian dress code.”
http://news.yahoo.com/little-rock-school-district-now-teachers-wear-underwear-030208103.html
“T-shirts, patches and other clothing containing slogans for beer, alcohol, drugs, gangs or sex will also be prohibited. Other verboten garments will include cut-off jeans with ragged edges, cut-out dresses and spaghetti-straps if teachers aren’t wearing at least two layers.”
These rules are for teachers. Teachers have to be told not to wear this stuff.
And, somebody doesn’t like the rules.
“Organized labor vocally opposes the new universal underwear requirement and the rest of the non-draconian dress code.”
http://news.yahoo.com/little-rock-school-district-now-teachers-wear-underwear-030208103.html
Get your fear-mongering straight
September 19 2012, ABC News: ‘Arsenic in Rice – New Report Finds “Worrisome Levels”’: “According to a sobering report released to ‘Good Morning America’ by Consumer Reports magazine this morning, rice eaten just once a day can drive arsenic levels in the human body up 44 percent. Rice eaten twice a day can lead to a 70 percent increase in arsenic.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/arsenic-rice-report-finds-worrisome-levels/story?id=17267872
(Can’t you hear Diane Sawyer reading that “Worrisome Levels”? And “sobering report”? The best part – for ABC News – is “released to Good Morning America.” We got it and you didn’t, nah nah nah nah nah nah.)
Flash forrwaaaard:
September 6, 2013, New York Times: ‘No Immediate Risk Is Found From Arsenic Levels in Rice’ – “The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had found no evidence that current levels of arsenic in rice pose an immediate health risk.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/health/arsenic-levels-in-rice-products-not-a-health-risk-fda-says.html?_r=0
“Arsenic is a carcinogen when consumed in large enough quantities. It occurs naturally in the environment, but it can also be an effect of industrial contamination.”
(So everything is OK, right? Well, if you are a national news person or organization, you hedge your writing with things like “No immediate risk” and “current levels” and “industrial contamination.” I wondered about that “public outcry” in Paragraph Two. The definition of “public outcry” in Major National Media is “something that fits our agenda and we can get an expert to say the government should do something.”)
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/arsenic-rice-report-finds-worrisome-levels/story?id=17267872
(Can’t you hear Diane Sawyer reading that “Worrisome Levels”? And “sobering report”? The best part – for ABC News – is “released to Good Morning America.” We got it and you didn’t, nah nah nah nah nah nah.)
Flash forrwaaaard:
September 6, 2013, New York Times: ‘No Immediate Risk Is Found From Arsenic Levels in Rice’ – “The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had found no evidence that current levels of arsenic in rice pose an immediate health risk.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/health/arsenic-levels-in-rice-products-not-a-health-risk-fda-says.html?_r=0
“Arsenic is a carcinogen when consumed in large enough quantities. It occurs naturally in the environment, but it can also be an effect of industrial contamination.”
(So everything is OK, right? Well, if you are a national news person or organization, you hedge your writing with things like “No immediate risk” and “current levels” and “industrial contamination.” I wondered about that “public outcry” in Paragraph Two. The definition of “public outcry” in Major National Media is “something that fits our agenda and we can get an expert to say the government should do something.”)
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Packing heat
The other day my daughter said, "I guess I'd better start packin' heat now that I have a heat packin' license."
I said, "Do you have a good heat packin' holster?"
She said, "I've got a purse."
Me: "Pardon my French, but do you have a big-ass purse?" (Her heat is of the 9mm Glock variety.)
Her: "It fits right into the zipper part."
Me: "And an extra magazine?"
Her: "If I need more than one magazine to get to the parking lot and my car, I am in the wrong part of town."
I said, "Do you have a good heat packin' holster?"
She said, "I've got a purse."
Me: "Pardon my French, but do you have a big-ass purse?" (Her heat is of the 9mm Glock variety.)
Her: "It fits right into the zipper part."
Me: "And an extra magazine?"
Her: "If I need more than one magazine to get to the parking lot and my car, I am in the wrong part of town."
Parker and Barrow got around
In 2000, a man in Lamar County, Texas, mentioned the time Bonnie and Clyde came to Paris.
“The sheriff got word from Oklahoma law officers that Bonnie and Clyde were seen headed for Texas. Well, the sheriff got some men together and deputized them and sent them to various places where Bonnie and Clyde might get across the Red River. He told them to stop every car that came along.
“The sheriff took a few old boys out to the Highway 271 bridge and set up a road block. He put his new deputies behind the cars.
“Highway 271 wasn’t paved then. It was dirt and gravel, so you could see a long way off when a car was coming. There’d be a big plume of dust in the air.
“The highway was a pretty well-traveled road, you know, between Paris and Hugo. Cars and trucks made the trip every day.
“The sheriff stopped every car and every truck that came along. His deputies were real interested in what was going on, but they didn’t find anything unusual.
“Well, sometime around noon they saw a big plume of dust that meant a car traveling fast. The sheriff told his deputies to get behind the cars. He walked to the middle of the road and waited. The car slowed and then stopped. The sheriff could see two people in the front seat. He walked up to the driver’s window. There was a man and a woman in the front seat. In the back seat was a man with a bloody bandage around his right arm.
“The driver said, ‘Good morning, Sheriff. Is there a problem?’ The sheriff said, “Nope. We’re just checking cars coming from Oklahoma.’ The driver said, ‘We’re looking for a doctor. Our friend got shot in a hunting accident.’
“Now, there wasn’t any hunting season at that time, not in Oklahoma or Texas. The sheriff knew that. He looked at the man driving the car and he looked at the woman in the passenger seat and he looked at the man with the bloody bandage. He thought about the five men behind the cars. They had shotguns and never shot anything but dove and quail and such.
“The sheriff stepped back from the car and he said, ‘Paris is a few miles down the road. You can find a doctor there.’ The driver smiled and he said, ‘Thank you, Sheriff. We’ll be on our way.’”
The man telling the story said, “I think the sheriff showed good judgment.”
A few months later, I was in Honey Grove, a few miles west of Paris, in Fannin County. I don’t remember what I was covering there, but at some point an older man said, “Say, you ever hear about the time Bonnie and Clyde came to Fannin County?” I said I had not. The man said, “Well, I don’t remember what year it was, probably 1933 or ’34, the sheriff got word Bonnie and Clyde was driving across Oklahoma, headed for Texas. The sheriff deputized several men and took them up to the bridge north of Bonham …”
Bonnie and Clyde were busy people, making trips to Paris and Bonham, at both river crossings met by a rural sheriff with deputies inexperienced in all facets of law enforcement. Probably, Parker and Barrow made the same drive into Red River County and Bowie County to the east, and into Grayson County and Cooke County to the west, maybe into every county that had a bridge across the Red River.
“The sheriff got word from Oklahoma law officers that Bonnie and Clyde were seen headed for Texas. Well, the sheriff got some men together and deputized them and sent them to various places where Bonnie and Clyde might get across the Red River. He told them to stop every car that came along.
“The sheriff took a few old boys out to the Highway 271 bridge and set up a road block. He put his new deputies behind the cars.
“Highway 271 wasn’t paved then. It was dirt and gravel, so you could see a long way off when a car was coming. There’d be a big plume of dust in the air.
“The highway was a pretty well-traveled road, you know, between Paris and Hugo. Cars and trucks made the trip every day.
“The sheriff stopped every car and every truck that came along. His deputies were real interested in what was going on, but they didn’t find anything unusual.
“Well, sometime around noon they saw a big plume of dust that meant a car traveling fast. The sheriff told his deputies to get behind the cars. He walked to the middle of the road and waited. The car slowed and then stopped. The sheriff could see two people in the front seat. He walked up to the driver’s window. There was a man and a woman in the front seat. In the back seat was a man with a bloody bandage around his right arm.
“The driver said, ‘Good morning, Sheriff. Is there a problem?’ The sheriff said, “Nope. We’re just checking cars coming from Oklahoma.’ The driver said, ‘We’re looking for a doctor. Our friend got shot in a hunting accident.’
“Now, there wasn’t any hunting season at that time, not in Oklahoma or Texas. The sheriff knew that. He looked at the man driving the car and he looked at the woman in the passenger seat and he looked at the man with the bloody bandage. He thought about the five men behind the cars. They had shotguns and never shot anything but dove and quail and such.
“The sheriff stepped back from the car and he said, ‘Paris is a few miles down the road. You can find a doctor there.’ The driver smiled and he said, ‘Thank you, Sheriff. We’ll be on our way.’”
The man telling the story said, “I think the sheriff showed good judgment.”
A few months later, I was in Honey Grove, a few miles west of Paris, in Fannin County. I don’t remember what I was covering there, but at some point an older man said, “Say, you ever hear about the time Bonnie and Clyde came to Fannin County?” I said I had not. The man said, “Well, I don’t remember what year it was, probably 1933 or ’34, the sheriff got word Bonnie and Clyde was driving across Oklahoma, headed for Texas. The sheriff deputized several men and took them up to the bridge north of Bonham …”
Bonnie and Clyde were busy people, making trips to Paris and Bonham, at both river crossings met by a rural sheriff with deputies inexperienced in all facets of law enforcement. Probably, Parker and Barrow made the same drive into Red River County and Bowie County to the east, and into Grayson County and Cooke County to the west, maybe into every county that had a bridge across the Red River.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Sometimes lack leads to more
Our daughter is building a house. Today she got an email from her builder saying the refrigerator she ordered would not arrive until after she closes on the house.
Aw rats! Using an ice chest for a week, huh.
Not so fast! The builder said the appliance dealer would upgrade to another, on-hand, refrigerator, and included a manufacturer's link (GE) so she could compare the two refrigerators.
That is, if she wanted to upgrade.
Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
Aw rats! Using an ice chest for a week, huh.
Not so fast! The builder said the appliance dealer would upgrade to another, on-hand, refrigerator, and included a manufacturer's link (GE) so she could compare the two refrigerators.
That is, if she wanted to upgrade.
Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
Wednesday’s top headlines from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette online
Man found dead in Little Rock park identified
Fisherman’s body pulled from Arkansas River
Woman accused of putting gun to man’s head, pulling trigger
Man robbed girlfriend’s father, police say
Robbery injures man at Sharks restaurant in Little Rock
Jonesboro man charged with fracturing baby’s skull
Fort Smith picks builder for $8 million water park
Memphis woman gets 18 years in sex trafficking
(It's a good thing Fort Smith signed that contract; otherwise, who knows what kind of happy story the newspaper might have had to run?
(The gun misfired in Story#3.
(The 20-year-old Memphis woman got 18 years for trafficking juveniles for sex.)
Fisherman’s body pulled from Arkansas River
Woman accused of putting gun to man’s head, pulling trigger
Man robbed girlfriend’s father, police say
Robbery injures man at Sharks restaurant in Little Rock
Jonesboro man charged with fracturing baby’s skull
Fort Smith picks builder for $8 million water park
Memphis woman gets 18 years in sex trafficking
(It's a good thing Fort Smith signed that contract; otherwise, who knows what kind of happy story the newspaper might have had to run?
(The gun misfired in Story#3.
(The 20-year-old Memphis woman got 18 years for trafficking juveniles for sex.)
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Yeah, it might be one of them spy swans
Egyptian authorities are quizzing a swan suspected of being a spy.
Police detained the alleged feathered agent after a concerned citizen suspected the bird of spying.
Officials say a man brought the bird to a police station believing it to be an undercover agent because it carried an electronic device
Mohammed Kamal, head of security in Qena, said that officials examined the bird and concluded that the device was probably a wildlife tracker, not an explosive or spying device.
The swan is not alone in having difficulties with the Egyptian law, with a security guard having filed a police report after capturing a pigeon he said was carrying microfilm.
And it's not just in Egypt that birds are ruffling feathers – in July a kestrel was detained in Turkey on suspicion of being an Israeli spy.
In 2010 eyebrows were also raised after Egyptian officials claimed Turkey had sent sharks to kill tourists.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/31/swan-spy-egypt-detained_n_3849638.html
(Iran busted US spy squirrels and Egypt said attack sharks were trained by Mossad. Turkish-trained sharks – That’s a new one.)
Police detained the alleged feathered agent after a concerned citizen suspected the bird of spying.
Officials say a man brought the bird to a police station believing it to be an undercover agent because it carried an electronic device
Mohammed Kamal, head of security in Qena, said that officials examined the bird and concluded that the device was probably a wildlife tracker, not an explosive or spying device.
The swan is not alone in having difficulties with the Egyptian law, with a security guard having filed a police report after capturing a pigeon he said was carrying microfilm.
And it's not just in Egypt that birds are ruffling feathers – in July a kestrel was detained in Turkey on suspicion of being an Israeli spy.
In 2010 eyebrows were also raised after Egyptian officials claimed Turkey had sent sharks to kill tourists.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/31/swan-spy-egypt-detained_n_3849638.html
(Iran busted US spy squirrels and Egypt said attack sharks were trained by Mossad. Turkish-trained sharks – That’s a new one.)
It was a hot day in August
While sort of hearing TV news people talk about Martin Luther King Jr.’s Aug 28, 1963, speech and reflecting on the fact that their birth dates had not yet arrived, many of the TV news people who informed an audience what King meant and so many of his dreams were not yet realized, I remembered that day as particularly hot in North East Texas.
It was the end of August, the hottest part of the year, but that day more so than usual.
I was 17 and about to enter my senior year in a week. I watched the televised speech on NBC. TV news seldom gave several hours of live time to events outside manned space craft launches or national political conventions. There were World Series games, NFL championship games and the new AFL championship, but those were sports events. Political events did not get that much coverage.
But that gathering in Washington, D.C., was something entirely new in the age of television.
Not new are the things politicians and news people warp around to fit King’s “I have a dream speech.” I remember King talking about how one day white children and (Negro? African-American?) children would walk hand in hand across the red clay hills of Georgia. I remember most of all the dream that “one day my four children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
I am white, and believe most white people remember that part above all others.
What the wrap-arounds made a part of the dreams:
• I have a dream that one day Negro women will be paid by the government to have children out of wedlock.
• I have a dream that one day Negro families will be fenced behind psychological brick walls of black ghettoes.
• I have a dream that one day Negro families will be systematically destroyed by a government that will not allow fathers to be part of raising their own children.
• I have a dream that one day education theorists and government bureaucrats will become more important than ensuring Negro children receive good schooling.
There are more and more things we all can add to the list.
No leader’s beliefs and philosophy remain unchanged with his death.
I remember, too, April 5, 1968. I was sergeant of the guard at Fort Mead, Md. At 2 a. m. the officer of the day woke me up and said, “Martin Luther King has been killed and there’s hell to pay.”
It was the end of August, the hottest part of the year, but that day more so than usual.
I was 17 and about to enter my senior year in a week. I watched the televised speech on NBC. TV news seldom gave several hours of live time to events outside manned space craft launches or national political conventions. There were World Series games, NFL championship games and the new AFL championship, but those were sports events. Political events did not get that much coverage.
But that gathering in Washington, D.C., was something entirely new in the age of television.
Not new are the things politicians and news people warp around to fit King’s “I have a dream speech.” I remember King talking about how one day white children and (Negro? African-American?) children would walk hand in hand across the red clay hills of Georgia. I remember most of all the dream that “one day my four children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
I am white, and believe most white people remember that part above all others.
What the wrap-arounds made a part of the dreams:
• I have a dream that one day Negro women will be paid by the government to have children out of wedlock.
• I have a dream that one day Negro families will be fenced behind psychological brick walls of black ghettoes.
• I have a dream that one day Negro families will be systematically destroyed by a government that will not allow fathers to be part of raising their own children.
• I have a dream that one day education theorists and government bureaucrats will become more important than ensuring Negro children receive good schooling.
There are more and more things we all can add to the list.
No leader’s beliefs and philosophy remain unchanged with his death.
I remember, too, April 5, 1968. I was sergeant of the guard at Fort Mead, Md. At 2 a. m. the officer of the day woke me up and said, “Martin Luther King has been killed and there’s hell to pay.”
It's Obama's way, or ... There is no other way
When President Obama was in Africa earlier this year, leaders of at least two countries did not like his comments on rights of homosexuals.
“You might do things that way in America,” the leaders said, “but in our country, things are different.”
One leader even chastised Obama for trying to foist American ways onto Africans.
Now, the president “intends to meet with several LGBT groups during his trip later this week to St. Petersburg.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319899-report-obama-to-meet-lgbt-activists-in-russia#ixzz2dqFKc9Cm
The story also says Obama will meet with several “human rights” activists. By placing homosexuals in the “human rights” category, news media have now made sexual activity equal to race and religion.
On Russia’s anti-homosexual laws, Obama said: “One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there."
(Same source.)
That is such a ridiculous statement, Mr. President. I’m not going to take it apart. Just read the parts and you will see an utterance without substance, a collection of nice phrases to satisfy the True Obama Believers.
“You might do things that way in America,” the leaders said, “but in our country, things are different.”
One leader even chastised Obama for trying to foist American ways onto Africans.
Now, the president “intends to meet with several LGBT groups during his trip later this week to St. Petersburg.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319899-report-obama-to-meet-lgbt-activists-in-russia#ixzz2dqFKc9Cm
The story also says Obama will meet with several “human rights” activists. By placing homosexuals in the “human rights” category, news media have now made sexual activity equal to race and religion.
On Russia’s anti-homosexual laws, Obama said: “One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there."
(Same source.)
That is such a ridiculous statement, Mr. President. I’m not going to take it apart. Just read the parts and you will see an utterance without substance, a collection of nice phrases to satisfy the True Obama Believers.
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