NBC's Irresponsible Airing of VTU killer's tape

Rather than devoting the majority of its airtime to the victims of the killer at Virginia Technical University, instead NBC and with the rest of themediapiling on gave massive coverage of the killer's video taped ranting.

While the killer may have created this massacre and video as the ultimate post-modern English project, there is no excuse for NBC to broadcast his rantings, as they held no real information of value.

The problem is the glorification by notoriety of these deranged mass shooters.

Quick, now without googling/wiki'ing do the following:

1. Name the killer at VTU

2. Now, name the victims.

1. Name the killers at Columbine

2. Now name the victims

3. Name the killer at Thurston High in Oregon

4. Now, name the victims.

How did you do? Remember more of the killers names than their innocent victims? Why - due to the incessant media coverage of these sociopaths, and concordantundercoverage of their victim's lives.

While the media itself is not responsible for these killings, certainly the massive coverage of them is leading to copycats, especially among the deranged seeking their claim to fame.

It would be far better if the names of the killers were reviled and suffered damnatio
(a total eradication from memory) and not given the publicity they clearly craved and instead focus on the innocents who were killed. While it won't stop all, it may stop those who believe that this act of mayhem is the key to fame and publicity.

Providing such publicity sends the message to these deranged individuals that the
way to achieve fame is to go out while taking as many people with you as possible in order to knock Don Imus out of the news and to get attention. Since these killers seem to think its "all about me and my greivances" real, or imagined, the message that if you go and kill enough people you'll get a massive airing of your delusions and dislikes is not a message that the media should send.

Dive Report Saturday and Sunday

Diving in a wetsuit is much more pleasant when the sun is shining.

Saturday and Sunday both had excellent weathe - sunshine and temps in the 76 degree F plus range. The water was also a bit warmer at around 45-46 degrees, and that made all the diffefence in the dives comfort-wise.

On Saturday the dive went well - I did the basic 5 skills (1. reg out & in; 2. reg out, change, clip off and reverse; 3. Long hose deployment; 4. mask flood and clear; and 5. mask removal, replacement and clear). The buoyancy was getting better, but still plenty to work on.

And on Sunday it all went to hell. It was Earth Day and the divers go out and clear trash off the bottom of the lake. The plan was to do a dive working on the buoyancy skills, then make our way back picking up trash as we went.

It did not work out that way.

Sunday started off decent, get in the water, swim out and quickly lose sight of everybody in the silt, which after not nearly enough time looking, I surfaced. This was a sign and I should have understood right then that the dive was not going to get any better.

So off we went and at the designated spot I began the basic skills while hovering. Skills 1 and 2 went ok, with being a little too buoyant from taking too deep a breath.

Skill 3 began well enough - reg out, full longhose deployment, and as I went to switch back and stow the hose it all went to hell in the prverbial handbasket. I began a really wicked out of control spin towards the surface (we're talking full 360 degree circles here). With thoughts of WTF? Oh F!, oh F!, Oh F-ity F! (this is a family audience blog so I'll keep the exact transcript censored), I kept heading up, spinning all the way, dumping air like hell from the wing, finally I was able to get it under control and descended back down.

We called the dive shortly thereafter, cause it was not going to get any better, not to mention that all those gyrations caused me to go through air like crazy, dropping me down to turnaround pressure much too quickly.

Lessons learned - I suck at hovering, while ok during movement. As my instructor said, even a trained monkey can be neutral while moving, to which I reply - "oo, oo, oo, eek eek eek!"

More practice, lots more practice is needed, as this precision buoyancy stuff ain't easy, no matter how easy they make it look. The plus side, for the first time this dive season I was at a comfortable temperature both in the water and on departure.

Dive Report - stating the obvious: 41 degree water in a wetsuit is cold!

So last night I went Scuba diving with my fellow DIR scuba divers in Union Lake, Michigan. All of them wore drysuits while I continued on with my humble Henderson Hyperstretch 7mm Farmer John Wetsuit. Some of the divers were looking at me quizzically at my sanity to dive wet, some admiringly at my endurance and fortitude, and others pityingly as they adjusted their drysuit seals before we proceeded in.

The water was a balmy 41 degrees Fahrenheit. i.e. as soon as I stepped in the reaction was "Yeouch that's cold". followed by "I really need a drysuit for this". Thankfully with the wetsuit it was bearable and I went on with the dive.

Visibility was very good for Union Lake with the viz exceeding 6 feet. Plenty of sunken boats to see each of which had a story many of such I suspect most likely had alcohol involved in one form or another. In addition to the boats there was other assorted stuff on the bottom, including the remains of a Model T Ford.

The downside to wearing so much neoprene is that after the suit compresses as you descend, on the way back up when you ascend to about 15 feet, the bubbles in the neoprene expand and make you very buoyant very quickly, which makes it hard to maintain your depth.

On getting out of the water I experienced the other significant downside to the wetsuit - it was darn cold. The ambient air temperature was similarly in the low 40s and I had a little shivering going on as I fevereshly jumped in my car, set the heater to full blast and changed. Luckily I followed the advice of both Terry and Lagniappe's keeper and poured a thermos of hot water into my wetsuit after I left the water but before I started to change - it helped a lot.

Not a bad dive, but as is the case for this time of year, getting out of the water in a wetsuit simply sucks. On the plus side, the diving practice is paying off and I'm getting better at my buoyancy control - if I cna hack it in the 40s, the 60s and 70s water temps of summer will be feeling positively tropical.

Obama, Edwards snub Fox and Detroit to play to their base

In the Washington Post Obama to Skip Fox-Sponsored Debate its reported that both Barak Obama and John Edwards are not going to attend the Democratic presidential debate sponsored by Fox and the Congressional Black Congress (hardly a stronghold of the right) to be held in Detroit (Detroit is a liberal stronghold).

Democrats have been under pressure from liberal activists to avoid Fox-hosted debates. . . . Democratic critics complain that the network displays a conservative bias in its news broadcasts.

yeesh, its democratic debate, its not even going to have any republiucans participate, whats the complaint?

Barak's representative gave the following non-explanation:

Obama, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, will take part in a different debate hosted by the CBC Institute and CNN in January.

"CNN seemed like a more appropriate host," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

Nice to see acknowledgement of CNN's liberal bias by the left, but this banning of Fox from hosting Democratic Party debates is petty and vindictive at best, and kow-towing to the far-left nutroots in an effort to make a few cheap political percentage points in the presidential primary race at worst.

Let's see if Hillary Clinton follows the trend or defies the complainers and shows up on Fox, debates and gets her message across.

Update: Ah, that was quick, Clinton, not one to dissappoint expectations when it comes to playing to the base, showed the same level of courage as her fellow candidates and is also skipping the debate: As reported in the Washington Post

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) yesterday joined former North Carolina senator John Edwards (D) in deciding to skip a debate scheduled for September that Fox News is co-sponsoring with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Liberal activists, particularly the online group Moveon.org, have called for Democratic presidential candidates not to participate in debates by Fox

Michigan Dems upset about AG's Proposed Gym make a Mountain out of a Treadmill

Much Dem ado about fitness, signifying how petty Michigan politics continues to be.

The Detroit Free Press Reports in Gym pumps up anger of Dems, that the Democrats are in a tizzy as Attorney General Michael Cox has plans to install a fitness center in the Attorney General's Headquarter's office in Lansing.

But it's Democrats who are exercised over Attorney General Mike Cox's plans for a gym, noting that the state faces a $686-million budget shortfall and that Cox plans to let go of 21 full-time secretarial and clerical workers, effective April 20.

"It's just outrageous that he would spend tens of thousands of dollars on facilities like this when he's laying off attorney general employees," said Mark Brewer, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Talk about apples and oranges, a deficit for the entire state in the amount of 686 Million, a deficit that is certainly not AG Cox's fault nor of his making, but rather than of the current Democrat Governor 9and to be fair others as well), and "tens of thousands of dollars" for excercise equipment for which there is a perfectly good reason:

Rusty Hills, a spokesman for Cox, a Republican, made no apologies. He said the gym would be geared, initially at least, to the 37 gun-toting investigators on staff.

"We buy books for attorneys, we have no problem buying weights for cops," Hills said. "We want the cops on our payroll to be in better shape than the criminals they're chasing."

Hills said the investigators' cases include child support, cold-case homicides, Internet predators and consumer and health-care fraud.

"They execute search warrants, transport prisoners, conduct interviews in the field," Hills said. "They are in situations that are dangerous with people who are very dangerous. We don't make a lot of arrests in Bloomfield Hills."

Hills said the Attorney General's Office has yet to determine where the funding will come from in its budget, or how much the gym will end up costing.

Indeed, excercise facilities for use by the entire Ag's office, not just the investigators would make sense: fit employees equals lower occurences of injuries and health problems and thus lower insurance claims, thus reducing health costs for the department and saving the department money. Given that health care is a major expense statewise and always a large compoent of employee expenses, its amazing Cox is not being lauded for progressive thinking by encouraging his employees to get in shape and offering them an oppotunity to do so.

The tens of thousands of dolaars will likely offer a far greater savings in reduced health costs and lost time from work accidents.

In addition, it appears in the comments accompanying the article in the Free press that the money for the gym may not even be from public funds but from private sources. If so, its not just the Dems making a mountain out of a treadmill, but a wholly false smear by the Dems against a very popular and effective Attorney General.

Tanks but no Tanks?

Canada may be updating its 20-year old Leopard C2 tank fleet by leasing 20 (yes twenty) Leopard C6 tanks from Germany. The main reason for the long-overdue replacement is that the C2 tanks lack air conditioning, making them unsuitable for operations in Afghanistan in the summer. This has the lib-left and the Toronto (red) Star all-a-flutter.

In Whether new or old, tanks just not for this war Star columnist James Travers opines that the tanks will not help win the hearts and minds of Afghanistanis and that's the vital point of Canada's participation.

Tanks, contra Travers, are an excellent force protection option and perfect for kicking Taliban ass and disrupting their actions, which is indeed a mission in addition to nation building that the lib-left in Canada dearly loves.

Travers undercuts his own arguments with the fact he reports that

It's no coincidence that Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor stressed this week that Canadian casualties have dropped since September when the nearly 30-year old Leopards were pressed into service. While the reasons for that happy decline have more to do with changed enemy tactics and limited winter fighting, any equipment that saves soldiers' lives is both welcome and a persuasive part of the continuing military campaign for more procurement.

Travers notes that the Tanks can be vulnerable to mines and antitank weapons - true, but the presence of a tank in a mutually-supporting combined arms unit can offer protection to the rest of the force while that force screens the tank from the mine and RPG threat, and reduces the overall threat that would exist if the tanks were not present.

Travers then states the long-held but erroneous belief that Tanks cannot operate in urban environments:

Designed for set-piece, Cold War confrontations, the 55-tonne behemoths are hardly the weapons of choice in the close and often urban encounters of today's hearts-and-minds wars.

(not that Afghanistan is completely full of cities, its not, but Travers seems to make you want to think with this objection that a city or village is the only place the tank would operate). Tanks can do well in Urban or village settings - read Thunder Run the story of how US tanks won the battle of Baghdad and helped bring a quick end to the Saddam regime - victory for armor in the ultimate urban environment.

Canadians in Afghanistan need tanks for protection and force flexibility. While Travers argues the touchy-feely objection that such tanks will be

weapons that alienate soldiers from the Afghans they must make friends.

In the best-case scenario, modern tanks will keep troops cooler and safer. In the worst, Canada will lease expensive weapons it decided it didn't need and lose a war that must be fought and won among the people.

The tanks aren't for nation-building but for defeating those who seek to prevent any nation-building or any progress at all beyond the level of medieval fundamentalist Islam in Afghanistan. The best way to win the "hearts and minds of the people" is to decisively defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements at every possible encounter - showing the people that they are no longer a viable threat. For that you want the best weapons available - including tanks.

Oh Canada, and the Kyoto Forests for the Trees

I've just spent a week in Toronto, and I've had a chance to examine the view of events in Canada especially by reading the Toronto (red) Star

One interesting bit of news is that Canada is removing its forests from the Kyoto carbon calculation as

the federal government has decided against using Canada's forests in the calculations for totalling up the country's greenhouse-gas emissions.

So the Kyoto treaty apparently lets you practice Enron-type accounting when totaling up your co2 emissions.

The reason:

"The problem is that ultimately we're going to have to include our forests because forests and ecosystems can be bigger emitters (of greenhouse gas) than industry," said Brinkman.

In 2003, Brinkman said, forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and Canada sent more emissions into the atmosphere globally than any other source, including industry.

Brinkman, a recognized specialist in sustainable forest management, is married to Joyce Murray, who is contesting the federal Liberal nomination in Vancouver Quadra riding.

Yes, you read that right: forests "sent more emissions into the atmosphere globally than any other source, including industry."

But don't worry it can all still be blamed on Global Warming and the general catch-all of "climate change" (ie it isn't getting provably warmer, but were se:

Louise Comeau, a climate-change expert in Ottawa, said Canada had always assumed it would realize a greenhouse-gas benefit from managed forests.

But she said damage caused by climate change has turned that assumption on its head. "We've got more trees being destroyed than we have growing, and so our forests are turning into a source of emissions as opposed to a sink for carbon."

Forests account for 402 million hectares of Canada's 909-million-hectare land area. Managed forests take up 240 million hectares.

Canada, a nice place if you like trees, but it forests are an evil source of arboreal CO2 emissions, exempted from Kyoto, so environmentally conscious visitors beware.

First Dives of 2007

On Thursday night and this morning I made the first two dives this year.

A group of divers and I dove Union Lake here in Michigan.

The water was a balmy 45 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, it was cold, and I was diving in my 7mm Farmer John Wetsuit. Everyone else was sanley diving in their drysuits, but given I do not own one yet, I had to make do with what I had.

I was also diving in my new Backplate and Wing, as a beginning DIR diver, which made the dives very interesting. The BP/W was new to me but had been owned by an instructor of mine and it unknown to myself given my ignorance of how such a setup should fit, was set up much too large for me. Actually it was probably too large for two of me. I knew I had lost some weight but the fit was ridiculous, and the wing and tank slid from side to side messing up my buoyancy.

By this morning I had adjusted it a lot but it was still not quite right and will take some time to get it full adjusted just right. However, the fit was such that I was certainly doing better in the water but I've got a lot of practicing yet to do on improving my buoyancy.

The best part of both dives was getting out of the water into air that was in the 50s. Now that was cold. I was comfortable enough if a bit cool while in the water, but getting out was real cold, as was changing out of the suit while sitting in the car with the heater going full blast. Cold enough to convince me I need to start saving up for a drysuit now, but that I can survive the season diving wet for now while I save up.

$21 in Income Tax as a Crushing Burden

The Detroit Free Press in its editorial Find Tax Relief for State's Poor bemoans that Michigan's Income tax kicks in at one of the lowest income levels in the Country, and subjects the working poor to pay income tax like everyone else.

The press then has this nice chart showing the income amount and taxes imposed by such a low cut-off for levying the tax.

From the chart it seems a family of three making $11,645 or the minimum wage for one worker would pay a whopping $21, yes all of twenty-one dollars,
in income tax.

The Freep then states the new Michigan Earned Income Tax credit effective next year will "rectify" this problem by sheltering more of the income from tax and essentially removing many completely from the income tax rolls while they will still enjoy the benefits and subsidies from the State.

It is appropriate that all working residents of Michigan pay some income taxes, as long as we have an income tax, so that we do not continue our progression to where those with less can vote themselveslargess through tax increases that will not effect them. If you live here and work here, you should be subject to the same taxes as anyone else.

One Tone Deaf Administration

The Bush Administration has unnecessarily embroiled itself in a new scandal: that of the firing of the 8 United States District Attorneys by declaring that the were fired for performance reasons and then denying the possibility that the firings were political and possibly influenced by the White House.

Who gave the administration such asinine advice? The administration should have done what most employers do in similar circumstances: merely verify past employment and that the attorneys involved were no longer employed. To do otherwise in today’s hyper-partisan and hostile media environment was I=simply inane, and has created a scandal -- including the possibility of a Senior Justice Official taking the Fifth Amendment when questioned by Congress -- where one did not exist.. If necessary and when pressed the Administration could and should have simply announced that:

The United States District Attorney serve at will, at the will and pleasure of the Office of the President, and it was determined that they were no longer going to be retained for reasons which will not be discussed. The President appreciates their service and wishes them well.

That is all that should have been said and it would likely have headed off the entire brouhaha over performance issues, politics and what role if any the White house had in the decision.

Then when asked if politics had anything to do with it they, instead of heatedly denying it, should have responded: These are political appointments, so of course there are political considerations, once again we will not discuss the reasons for their removal but note that they serve at will, and the Presidnet thanks them for their service.

In doing so the administration would have likely headed off this current faux scandal, and also prevented casting these attorneys in a bad light due to claims they were fired for performance issues. In contrast, their current tone-deaf approach of blithely declaring the situation was purely due to performance issues, and without political considerations, has opened them to this attack by the Media and Democrats when it is almost unquestionable that politics did have some role in their firings.

A New Jersey Court's Polemic Against Unmonitored Homeschooling

An interesting article from Constitutionally Correct was forwarded to me by Scott at Providentia Blog the posting on CC links to an unpublished decision by A New Jersey court that, in the decision, was shocked, simply shocked that a mother is homeschooling her 7 children and that

no one from any Board of Education in Montclair (where they lived until October 2006) ever visited the home. Ms. Hamilton never went to any school or board office, no lesson plan was ever reviewed and no progress report or testing of the children was ever performed. This is shocking to the court.

The Court apparently expresses this dismay based on an interesting concern:

In this day and age where we seek to protect children from harm and sexual predators, so many children are left unsupervised. . . . In today’s threatening world, where we seek to protect children from abuse, not just physical, but also educational abuse, how can we not monitor the educational welfare of all our children? A child in New Jersey, who recently was found unfed and locked in a putrid bedroom was allegedly “home schooled” and because no one, such as a teacher or nurse, was able to observe any abuse in a school setting, it went undiscovered.

There was no allegation of physical or emotional abuse in this case and at most an allegation from the father that the mother was unable to educate all of their children at the appropriate level. Stretching real concerns of physical and emotional abuse of children to this court's new issue of educational abuse certainly goes too far.

The Court then goes on to state measure it would like to see the state adopt - all of them quite intrusive. This would not be proper for a Court to impose but rather properly within the sphere of the legislature.

The court then finishes with a suggestion to the husband to file an educational neglect action against the mother in municipal court to involve the local public school system and force the mother to show she is giving the children an education equivalent to public or parochial schools. The court then suggests that

"if the district does not take affirmative action, and the Department of Education is unresponsive then this court will consider, by formal motion, a request to join those parties to this action."

i.e. Should the father do so and the educational authorities do not react and do something the court will.

Of course, the question of equivalent to public school education would be interesting - would the equivalent be based merely on the type of curriculum taught or the comparative testing of the home schooled children vis-a-vis the public school kids, and if so what yardstick would be used? Would the children simply have to do better academically than the worst student at the public school, meet the average or do better than average? The court doesn't say.

There is after all, a constitutional right to direct the education of one's children, and especially given the religious background of the parents involved this would potentially implicate the Supreme Court's decision in Wisconsin v Yoder that religious parents can direct the education of their children.

On the other hand, the court does seem to express a valid concern that was raised by the father that some of the children have possible dyslexia - if so the mother should likely seek some testing. The father even "stipulated the he does not object
to continue home schooling, but only if each individual child is receiving
equivalent instruction to what is offered in the public or parochial schools." Which is quite reasonable on his part.

The court essentially gave a guide to the father in how to pursue an educational neglect case against the mother, and nothing more and concluded that "Here it is the child’s best interests for the court not to exercise its discretion, and allow the parents and the school district to resolve this educational issue." Most likely the father will involve the school district in the dispute and there may very well be further court action in the case.

While I do not home school my kids, as one is in preschool now, and the other is but six months of age, and I'm quite happy with the quality of education my child is getting at preschool, but I know quite a few people that do or who were themselves home schooled. The majority of home schooled people I know are just as well educated as anyone else -- if not more so. One colleague of mine at University went on to become a Professor of History, has a position at a well-known university and can intellectually and socially hold his own with anyone and was home schooled (very rigorously I might add).

On the other hand I've seen a home school situation where the kids were not well educated and were taught by parents who while loving did not have a structured or successful approach, and as a result their younger child is seriously behind now that the child is in regular school and the older one as an adult has a serious educational, not to mention employment deficiency and is very underemployed given his innate abilities and potential.

For the court to go on a diatribe about the unmonitored nature of home schooling in New Jersey is quite outside the scope of the true issue raised in the case, and likely has raised the ire of many home schooling parents - after all many pulled their children out of public school due to the lousy education the children were, or would have received in the public system.

The parents clearly disagree about the quality of the education the children are receiving and unfortunately were, and probably still are, unable to resolve the issue without outside (i.e. court) involvement. By taking the dispute to court the parents opened up the question of the measure of the education given to the children and the court essentially gave the father a road map to deal with his concern should it not be resolved outside the legal system including a pretty pointed warning to the parents that it would be best that the court is not involved in the decision - which is rather reasonable rather than the court forcing a situation on the parents. Aside from the diatribe the decision is neither terrible nor particularly troublesome and hopefully will get the parents to come to a resolution on their own.

Southern Poverty Law Center's Diminishing Relevance

When its hunting for racists and it goes after a University Campus' conservative group with a very flimsy rationale for labeling it racist and white-supremacist, you know they're stretching and playing to more ideological concerns by going after a right-leaning student group than truly ferreting out racist groups.

MSU student group on hate list
YAF is 'white supremacist,' according to legal center
By Matthew Miller - Lansing State Journal
When the Southern Poverty Law Center releases its annual list of hate groups next month, the Michigan State University chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom will be on it.

The MSU group is "white supremacist," "have a lot of anti-gay beliefs" and "a
lot of anti-immigrant sentiment," said Heidi Beirich, with the SPLC.

Last year, the MSU chapter of the conservative student organization drew national attention, much of it negative, for its plans to sponsor a "Catch an
Illegal Immigrant Day" on campus.

...

However, Beirich, deputy director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said it
was several proposals put forward by the YAF's MSU chapter, among them that MSU
should defund minority student organizations and that there should be a white
student council on MSU's student government, that earned the group a place on
the list. "Our interest in determining a hate group is, 'Do they have an ideology that denigrates an entire class of people for their inherent traits?' " she said.

Kyle Bristow, chairman of the group, called the SPLC's characterization of his
chapter "ridiculous."

"We're a center-right group, politically," he said. "We've done nothing hateful. We've advocated for beliefs that most Americans believe: the sanctity of marriage, border security."

He added that he believes the proposal for a white student council was misconstrued by the SPLC. Because MSU's student government gives unelected seats to other racial and ethnic groups, Bristow said, he proposed that "every single group should be recognized."

The majority of MSU's student government seats are held by whites.

'Character defamation'
Bristow said he's considering filing a lawsuit against the SPLC because "what they're doing is character defamation."

William Allen, a professor of political science who serves as the group's adviser, said in an e-mail sent Wednesday that, "It is evident to any fair observer that YAF, whether nationally or in this chapter, does not deserve to be on this list."

Thankfully MSU is showing some common sense and not paying attention to this laughable SPLC labelling:

Terry Denbow, MSU's vice president for university relations, said that
registered student groups are required to adhere to the university's
nondiscrimination policy and that, to his knowledge, the YAF had not violated
that stipulation. He also said the hate group designation would not change the
group's status.
"An institution must be allowed to set forth its own values-based criteria for
student organizations and not to assume or impose criteria - agreed with or not
- of external affairs groups," Denbow said, "because there will be many, many
groups willing to tell us what the criteria should be."

In addition, one wonders why the various Arab and anarchist student groups at Berkley that disrupted pro-Israel speakers there with anti-Israel and anti-semitic rhetoric and violent demonstrations did not make the list - they must not fit the SPLC's notion of what a racist or hate group is.

In the past, the SPLC did yeoman work in fighting real racists: neo-nazis, klansmen, and the like. Now, to list a college student group that opposes illegal immigration and affirmative action as racists seems to be an overreach for relevance once all the true dragons are slain or forced back under the rocks they crawled out from.

US Mint Mistake - Some Dollars don't Trust in God.

A number of the new US One Dollar Coins, the first in the new Presidential series featuring George Washington, escaped the Philadelphia mint and entered circulation missing the inscription "In God we Trust" on the Edge of the coins.

U.S. Mint goof: Unknown number of new dollar coins missing 'In God We Trust'

Joann Loviglio / Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were
mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including "In God We Trust,"
and are fetching around $50 apiece online.

The properly struck dollar coins, bearing the likeness of the nation's first
president, are inscribed along the edge with "In God We Trust," "E Pluribus
Unum" and the year and mint mark. They made it past inspectors and went into
circulation Feb. 15.

The U.S. Mint struck 300 million of the coins, which are golden in color and
slightly larger and thicker than a quarter.

About half were made in Philadelphia and the rest in Denver. So far the mint
has only received reports of error coins coming from Philadelphia, mint
spokeswoman Becky Bailey said.

These coins are currently selling for a premium on Ebay:

Ron Guth,
president of Professional Coin Grading Service, one of the world's largest coin
authentication companies, said he believes that at least 50,000 error coins
were put in circulation.

"The first one sold for $600 before everyone knew how common they actually
were," he said. "They're going for around $40 to $60 on eBay now, and they'll
probably settle in the $50 range."

So don't expect a fortune if you find one, and given there were at least 50 thousand released with the missing inscription, its unlikely they will appreciate much beyond the expected $50 premium anytime soon, so if you got 'em, join the hordes now on ebay where they are selling like crazy for $200 plus.

Happy Purim!

Yesterday night marked the beginning of the holiday of Purim. The family went to synoguage were we had a boisterously good time with dancing, food, and many games, which is traditional for the celebration of Purim.

The story of Purim, contained in the Scroll of Esther, retells the story of an evil Persian man, Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people. Some things never change. There always seems to be a ready supply of evil Persians:


Perhaps in the future there will be a Purim Amhadinejad, where his name is blotted out like that of Haman.

For an excellent retelling of the Story of Purim, see The Aish website Purim section.

Purim follows the standard Jewish holiday framework:

1. Someone tried to kills us

2. They didn't succeed (typically due to divine intervention).

3. Let's Eat.

Happy Purim!

Bill Maher - Idiot

Bill Maher continues his descent into idiotarian madness, approving the comments on HuffPo that wished that Cheney had been assassinated in the recent bombing at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.

From Newsbusters go to the site for the full recap and video of this disgusting episode.

Maher: Well, what did they say?

Ridley: They said “We wish he would die.” I mean, it was (?) hate language.

Barney Frank: They said the bomb was wasted. (laughter and applause)

Maher: That’s a funny joke. But, seriously, if this isn’t China, shouldn’t you be able to say that? Why did Arianna Huffington, my girlfriend, I love her, but why did she take that off right away?
....
Maher: But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow. (applause)

Scarborough: If someone on this panel said that they wished that Dick Cheney had been blown up, and you didn’t say…

Frank: I think he did.

Scarborough: Okay. Did you say…

Maher: No, no. I quoted that.

Frank: You don’t believe that?

Maher: I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact.

So Can We Finally Question Their Patriotism Now?

Coin of the Week- A Denarius of The Roman Republic

Continuing to post my collection in chronological order, here is a silver coin of the Roman Republic, dating to 101 BCE:

Moneyer: L. Julius
Obverse: Head of Roma facing right, ear of wheat (the Romans and most coin books refer to it as "corn") behind
Reverse: Victory in a biga (a 2 wheeled chariot) with the inscription L.IVLI below.

Catalog: Roman Silver Coins Julia 3

The denarius was the silver coin of the Roman Republic and was typically a day's wages for a Roman Legionary.

UFOs, Global Warming and Former Canadian Defense Ministers

Oh my.

OTTAWA (AFP) - A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday.

"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.

. . .

Hellyer became defense minister in former prime minister Lester Pearson's cabinet in 1963, and oversaw the controversial integration and unification of Canada's army, air force and navy into the Canadian Forces.

As the article states, Paul Hellyer oversaw the unification of the Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force into the Canadian Forces.

The Navy and Air Force never forgave him for his unification of their proud and independent arms into the Canadian Forces,and most especially for his making them wear green uniforms. Not to mention turning the name of the once proud Canadian Navy (all 3 kayaks and the canoe) into "Maritime Command".

His reported UFO encounter may explain a lot of his past actions.

The Infield Fly Rule, Law Reviews and Biblical Baseball References

While doing some legal research I happened upon this hilarious law review article, suitable for both lawyers and non-lawyers, and most especially for baseball fans of both groups.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INFIELD FLY RULE TO WESTERN CIVILIZATION (AND VICE VERSA)
By Professor Anthony D’Amato. (link opens a .pdf version of the article).

Professor D'Amato does make one eggregious error in the article, that of agreeing with previous authors' mistaken conclusion that the Bible does not mention Baseball.

....despite the fact that the authors are technically correct in noting that baseball itself is not mentioned in the Bible, they overlook the more specific biblical reference to the Infield Fly Rule.

In fact, the game of Baseball is the very first thing mentioned in the Bible:

Genesis 1:1 In the Big Inning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Later this event was mistransalated as the Big Bang, instead it should be correctly referred to as it was originally: God throwing out the First Pitch.

Coin of The Week - A Tetradrachm of Lysimachos

Its been a long time since I posted a coin. Now that I have a new digital camera, a Canon A540, I thought it would be fitting to feature some coins from my own collection.

This is my Oldest Coin:




It is a Tetdracham (4 drachma) silver coin of Lysimachos from 323-281 BCE.

Lysimachos was one of the successor kings after the death of Alexander, and he ruled Thrace in Greece and parts of northwest Asia minor.

Details of the Coin:
Silver, 16.76grams, Kalchedon mint, in Good VF condition.

Obverse: Head of the deified Alexander The Great (the horn of Zeus on the side of his head in the picture shows his ascension to deity-like status).

Reverse: Athena Seated bearing a spear and shield. DI monogram in left field and grain ear in exergue. Legend: Basileus Lysimachoy - Of King Lysimachus.

This coin is over 2000 years old. Simply holding this heavy coin and staring at the portrait of Alexander the Great takes one back in time to the days of the end of Alexander's empire when his generals divided his empire and its spoils among themselves.

Armed Idiot and an Annoying Tailgater is a bad mix

What not to do when someone tailgates you:
Armed woman: 'I'm tired of people tailgating me'

Authorities say Bernadette Houghton Headd had an explanation for them when she was arrested on charges of pulling out a handgun and firing at another car:

"I'm tired of people tailgating me," she told police.

Headd, 39, of Macomb Township was charged Thursday in 41-B District Court with assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle and using a firearm during a felony. She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

People, there are only three reasons why you may use deadly force to protect yourself from harm. They are:

1. a reasonable and honest belief that you are about to suffer imminent Death

2. a reasonable and honest belief that you are about to suffer imminent grievous bodily harm

3. a reasonable and honest belief that you are about to suffer imminent forcible sexual penetration.

Suffering imminent tailgating did not make the list.

Headd, who you can see from her picture on the Detroit Free Press site, and from her actions does not appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed to say the least, clearly did not absorb this basic rule of the use of deadly force and certainly deserves a very stiff punishment and should never be allowed to carry a firearm again.

Luckily her aim was as bad as her judgment and no one was hurt.

Tailgating sucks, and can be horrendously dangerous in bad conditions, but it is not grounds for using deadly force.

Don't Melt or Export Your Pennies....

A new regulation from the US Treasury:

NEW FEDERAL REGULATION PROHIBITING EXPORTATION, MELTING, OR TREATMENT OF UNITED STATES ONE-CENT AND 5-CENT COINS

On December 12, 2006, United States Mint Director Edmund Moy approved an
interim rule that generally prohibits the exportation, melting, or treatment of
United States one-cent coins (pennies) and 5-cent coins (nickels), which became
effective upon publication in the Federal Register on December 20, 2006.
Because of the rising commodity prices of copper, nickel and zinc, the value of
the metal content of both pennies and nickels now exceeds their respective face
values. Accordingly, there is concern that speculators could remove pennies and
nickels from circulation and sell them as scrap metal for profit. Widespread
withdrawal of pennies and nickels from circulation could cause coin shortages,
and it would be extremely costly to replenish them, given prevailing metal
prices and production costs.

This measure has been implemented to protect the coinage of the United States.
A violation of the new restrictions can lead to a fine of up to $10,000,
imprisonment of up to 5 years, and forfeiture of the subject coins or metal.
The authority for implementing this regulation is Title 31 of the United States
Code, Section 5111(d).

Now I doubt this regulation prohibits you from taking some spare change across the border when you go to Canada or Mexico, but if you take more than $5 in change in these coins out of the country, or if you ship more than $100 in these coins out of the country in any one shipment for legitimate coinage and numismatic purposes you're in trouble.

A copy of the Federal Register with this regulation can be found here.

Must-Read Accident Analysis - A Review of Diver Down

A good way to learn is from your Own mistakes.

The best and often far safer way to learn is from Somebody Else's mistakes.

In Diver Down, Michael R. Ange analyses 20 accidents, fatal and non-fatal
that befell scuba divers in both recreational and technical dives. He
recounts in detail the series of events that caused the accident as
well as the aftermath.

Many of these accidents occur due to the divers disregarding the basic safety
rules of diving, such as attempting activities for which they lacked
training or equipment (wreck penetration, cave diving), taking
shortcuts with their equipment, or of breathing gas management.

Many of the accidents are such that the reader will think to himself "I
can't believe the diver just did that!". The choices made probably made
perfect sense at the time to the diver involved, but through either
ignorance or bravado the choices led to at best a near-death experience
or to injury or even death. Reading about these mistakes helps one spot
and prevent themselves from making similar bad decisions.

From these accidents Mr. Ange, a highly experienced scuba diver and
instructor, clarifies and reemphasises the "rules" of Scuba Diving.When
followed the rules keep diving a safer and much less dangerous,
although scuba diving is always an inherently dangerous activity.

Such rules include:

-Plan the Dive and Dive the Plan.

-The rules of thirds (use one third of your breathing gas to get there, one
third to get back, and one third for the emergency you didn't expect).

-The dive will not get any better. If there's something wrong fix it or
terminate the dive right there, don't let problems cascade into a
disaster, the dive isn't worth it.

-Listen to people who know. The divemaster or captain of the boat is giving a safety briefing for a reason. In addition, a more experienced diver telling you about the conditions or pointing out errors in your diving methodology is well worth listening
to, and your instructor is teaching you skills and impartingwarnings to you for a reason.

The only detraction to my enjoyment and learning from the book were the technical digressions (He has them labelled as "Special Topics")that were inserted into each incident. These shaded pages separated and slowed down the action involved in the accident story and distracted from it. While the technical sections were each relevant to their particular story and informative, inserting them inside the story was needlessly distracting and caused much flipping of pages (much like reading a magazine) to find the rest of the article. Placing these technical digressions either before each accident story or after them would have been much more reader-friendly.

This is a must-have book for a Scuba Diver's library. As divers, we can all learn from these mistakes and avoid repeating them.

US to Release new one dollar coins

Base metal dollar coins have not had a history of success in the United States.

Since the demise of the silver dollar, both the old quarter-sized Susan B Anthony dollar and the recent Sacajawea Dollar met with very little sucess and even less common usage.

Since these base metal coins have no intrinsic value and are heavier and more cumbersome than dollar bills, they have not been well received or circulated.

Not letter past performance stop them, the Treasury is about to release a new series of dollar coins with portraits of the Presidents on them.

While I believe this will be a hit with collectors and may get the general public's interest much like the State Quarter series has done, I don't believe these will be accepted any better than the dollar coins that have gone before.

Short of removing the Dollar Bill from circulation as Canada did when they introduced the Loonie, The American public will not replace paper fiat money bills with metallic fiat money coins.

Who was that nut?

On the Lighter Side, Lagniappe's Keeper has a Interesting Theory as to the identity of the anti-semitic, holocaust-denying nutcase attacker of Elie Wiesel.

Too good to miss.

Apparently Global Warming is now beyond repair.

If so, then why the fuss? Just enjoy the warmer temperatures.

Look atthese great headlines and subheadlines: Earth's status beyond dire

Best case? Try to ease worst fallout of warming

Alan Zarembo / Los Angeles Times

Everybody in the United States could trade their cars for bicycles.

The Chinese could close all their factories.

Europe could give up electricity and return to the age of the lantern.

But all those steps together would not come close to stopping global warming.

Ok, so it won't help so lets quit worrying about it unless these "expert" truly propose taking these drastic measures, and attendant consequences.

A landmark report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released last week warned that there is so much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that even if concentrations could be held at current levels, the effects would continue for centuries.

There is hope. The report notes that a concerted world effort could stave off the more dire consequences of global warming, such as widespread flooding, drought and extreme weather.

To reach the ultimate goal, however, of eliminating the threat of global warming would require radical action.

Stabilizing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide -- the primary contributor to global warming -- would require reducing CO2 emissions 70 percent to 80 percent, said Richard Somerville, a theoretical meteorologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

Such a reduction would bring emissions into equilibrium with the planet's natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide. The last time the planet was in balance was more than 150 years ago, before the widespread use of coal and steam engines.

What would it take to bring that kind of reduction?

"All truck, all trains, all airplanes, cars, motorcycles and boats in the United States -- that's 7.3 percent of global emissions," said Gregg Marland, a fossil fuel pollution expert at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Scrapping all fossil fuel-powered electricity plants worldwide and replacing them with windmills, solar panels and nuclear power plants would make a serious dent in the problem -- "a 39 percent reduction globally," Marland said.

Of course, that calculation doesn't include all the fossil fuels that would have to be burned to build the green facilities, he said.

Given the scale of the problem, experts said there is no realistic way to lower the concentration of atmospheric carbon.

In fact, Robert Socolow, a carbon mitigation expert at Princeton University, said that even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels, it would take several hundred years for carbon levels to approach those found before the Industrial Revolution.

So the Global Warming theorists's goal from this seems to be getting CO2 emissions down to below the Industrial revolution period - i.e. to eliminate Industrialization and have us go back to pre-industrialized society and all of its wonderful associations such as disease, lousy standards of living and peasants living in hovels.

No. Thanks.

Such hysterics and proposed costs far outweigh any benefit to stop the very marginal increase in the earth's temperature that is caused by man-made CO2.

Never mind that the Global warming theory still can't explain and account for the Medieval Warming period or the little ice age, both of which occurred before the industrial era, when they go over the top predicting doom and the only solution is wholesale de-industrialization, you can see their real goals, and the anti-human and anti-western aim of their theory.

Today's AP Misleading Headline Award

Headline: 200 Israeli police descend on thousands of Muslim worshipers

What a wonderfully loaded and biased headline. Israeli police "descend" on thousands of Muslim worshipers - conveying an image of these Muslims simply peacefully worshiping.

What were these worshippers doing? The usual -

thousands of Muslim worshippers who hurled stones, bottles and trash in an eruption of outrage over Israeli renovation nearby.

The clash at the end of noon prayers came after days of mounting tensions over the work and raised concern that protests at the site could spread to the West Bank and Gaza, as they did at the start of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. No serious injuries were reported. About 200 police streamed on to the hilltop compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, to try to quell Muslims rioting over the repair work on a centuries-old ramp, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

So it wasn't the Police descending but rather responding to the riot of these "worshipers" who after prayer apparently continue to worship by

"thr[owing] stones, iron bars and at least one firebomb"

Of course, the headline is both misleading and biased as to what actually occurred. Not that we should expect any better from the AP.

Granholm's solution to economic woes - release prisoners and raise taxes

Yep, in order to alleviate the economic state of Michigan the Governor among other things wants to:

Levy a 2% sales tax on services

Great - exactly what the state needs - a tax to further drive businesses away and further costs on citizens.

Release prisoners

The releasing prisoner part is also quite troubling. While this will save costs of incarceration to the State, it will almost surely impose direct and indirect costs on the citizens of Michigan by increasing the criminal population in civil society.

Those to be released include:

3,400 prisoners who are serving time for such crimes as drug offenses, larceny, bad checks, home invasion and car theft. They would be placed in halfway houses and supervised with electronic tethers.

Sounds like a great idea. This would save the State $122 million in costs and likely lead to more crime, causing the citizens to demand the Governor to do something about crime, so she'll raise taxes to hire more police and pay for incarcerating those who she let out - its a brilliant solution!


If the governor believes that nonviolent criminals for such things as drug offenses, larceny, bad checks, home invasion and car theft etc., should not be in prison or should have lesser sentences, she should have the courage to request her party (in charge of the Legislature) have bills introduced to change the law accordingly, not do this early release game.

As if you were expecting a different result

So what does Governor Granholm's blue ribbon panel say about how to deal with Michigan's economic situation?

Raise Taxes of Course.

From the Detroit Free Press:

A financial emergency advisory panel appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm concludes that Michigan policy makers have no choice but to raise taxes to address the state’s looming budget deficits without sacrificing essential services.

A definite example of a Governor handpicking a panel to get the Governor's desired result.

Doctor Who and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Season 2 Disc1 of the new Doctor Who series that I received from Netflix has a problem, and its not a Netflix error but a mistake in the pressing of the disc.

On the Disc if you go to special features, the disc shuts off and you need to open it again.

Then when you watch episode 2 on the Disc New Earth, an interesting thing happens.

Right after the cat creature blames Rose for ruining everything (about 32 minutes in), the Doctor Disappears and in return is a a scene from the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in all its gory glory, and then the disc reutnrs to the main menu.

Looks like a bad mastering job on the part of the BBC along with lousy quality control. It certainly turns the episode into a cliff-hanger ending, as you can never know what happened at the end of the epidsode with this set.

On the otherhand a face off between a sonic screwdriver and a Texas Chainsaw could have been fun to watch.

Legal Argument of an Indiginous Moor of America

I have heard of this, and had even read some cases on it but this is the first time I've seen this tried in court.

I'm waiting in a packed court room in Eastpoint, Michigan awaiting to be called for my motion to enter judgment based on an arbitration award, when the case of STI v Jerome Monroe gets called.

Now I always listen with some attention as other motions are called to get the flavor of how the Judge makes rulings and to see other attorney's styles and see how various matters might be argued -- it is a valuable occasion to learn while awaiting your turn.

So up walks the attorney for STI and up walks MR. Monroe, a tall and wide man of African-American ancestry well dressed for court as he is clad in jeans and a parka,
holding some kind of blue binder type book.

The attorney begins to speak as its his motion for a default entry, but Monroe cuts him off claiming the court has no jurisdiction over him.

"How so?" inquires the Court.

Sayeth Monroe - "I'm a sovereign indigenous Moor and I demand an Article 3 court and this court has no jurisdiction over me."

The Court then takes him through exactly how it has jurisdiction over him - the amount owed is under $25,000, he lives in Eastpointe even though he claims he doesn't reside there as he's a sovereign Moor, not a resident. The Court gets him to admit he has a drivers license, and also gets him to admit that he does in fact have the Harley Davidson Motorcycle, the debt for which he is being sued for by STI (You've figured out by now that he was trying to avoid paying for something with this argument right?).

He continues to interrupt throughout this line of questioning saying that not only the court has no jurisdiction and he demands an Article 3 court and a change of venue, but he doesn't
consider himself bound by the Constitution but rather international
treaty as he's indigenous to this land.

The Judge at this point tries to figure out the indigenous part and asks if he's a native American then. He says no he's a Moor. When asked to explain he claims the Moors were here before white people and he's sovereign in this land. The Judge doesn't buy it and states there's lots of people in this court and society of various ethnicities and that he's enjoying the benefits of this society including the Motorcycle and income.

Our Moor states he has no income but the sweat of his brow and he's paid in Federal Reserve Notes, not money.

At this point the Judge lets him know she has jurisdiction and that's it and then sets discovery. he then asks to be on the record. The judge points out that everything he's said is on the record as the court clerk is taking it all down. He of course doesn't believe her, so the judge points out the court clerk duly taking everything down.

He then claims for the record that under the UCC he doesn't owe any money as the debt is invalid. The judge points out he's getting somewhere and actually making a legal argument, even
though he's citing a part of the UCC that completely does not apply to the situation.

Meanwhile, the attorneys in court and the other spectators are having a hard time not bursting out laughing.

Moor Monroe then continues and states for the record that attorneys and the court are all in cahoots. At which point the Judge, beginning to lose patience notes for the record that it is not so and is a ridiculous allegation.

The Court then sets discovery and our Moor claims he will send his requests to the creditor directly not the attorney as the creditor isn't present. The Judge succinctly and carefully explains the concept of agency and legal representation and declares he needs to start
following the rules and if he has any submissions they must be filed on the attorney.

Monroe then states he never got any notice of this hearing. The Judge then asks how he happened to be here in the court on time. Our Moor states he occasionally checks at the Court for things.

At this point people are laughing out loud, and the Judge didn't buy it either, and notes he clearly did get notice of the hearing and sets a scheduling order for discovery, dispositive motions and trial accordingly.

He won't accept the scheduling order from the court, but the court states he better comply with it so it may be in his interest to take it.

Kudos to Judge Redmond for putting up with this Moor-on in a restrained and judicial manner. Many Judges that I've seen would have laughed him right out of court or even held him in contempt for some of his statements toward the court.

Watching a pro per litigant argue a crackpot legal theory in order to get out of paying money he owes for a motorcycle he had no problem accepting is rather fun to watch.

Note to others, this crackpot "I'm a Sovereign whatever and demand an Article 3 Court as there's no jurisdiction here!" argument really doesn't wash with the courts, so save the time you spend surfing the net for it, and definitely save your money on the crackpot "How to Claim You're a Sovereign Citizen in Court" books, and use the money instead to pay your debts.

Flying NWA while not Muslim

As Lagniappe's keeper notes on his blog, and as Reported by Debbie Schlussel on her blog, NWA just Caved to the 40 Muslims who showed up at the gate 20 minutes before their international flight, offering apologies and compensation as noted in the Detroit News:

Reacting swiftly to allegations of discrimination, Northwest Airlines apologized to 40 local Muslims on Wednesday for barring them from a plane in Germany on their return trip from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

The airline said it will reimburse the pilgrims for the additional costs for flights and "reasonable" costs for accommodations.

Lagniappe's Keeper on his blog now recounts my similar tale of woe with a mistimed flight:

Anyone showing up late doesn't board even though the plane is still sitting there, as my friend, keeper of The Shekel blog found out when he was here visiting me a few months ago. I dropped HIM off at Northwest's Dulles terminal half an hour prior to departure of his flight to Toronto and they refused to let him board. I guess that he should have taken a towel out of his suitcase, made a funny hat out of it, and claimed to be a Muslim cleric. Then he would have either been allowed to board (and probably given a seat right next to the cockpit, knowing Northwest) or given financial compensation like these screaming twelfth century throwbacks were.

But my friend wasn't a Muslim so he just had to sit and watch his plane leave without him and wait for the next one, earning no small amount of wrath from his lovely wife (who reads this blog so I'll say no more) when he finally did arrive in Toronto several hours late.

Actually, he got me there 45 minutes before the flight, but they refused to let me board as I was apparently required to be there an hour before at a minimum and would have to go through security screening and they would not accept my 1 piece of checked baggage -- checked of course due to stupid TSA regulations regarding liquids and the presence of a safety razor for shaving (A Gillette Fusion if you must know - it does work).

I offered to run for the gate and have Lagniappe's Keeper come and get the checked luggage and hold on to it for me so I'd only need my carry on. They politely refused, noting I could not leave the bag with them while he turned around and came back to the airport to get it.

So I was well and truly stuck.

However, they were helpful in getting me on the next flight, 4 hours late, so I had 4 hours of time to spend around the airport, which can be fully explored and experienced in far less than 4 hours.

However this change did cause me great stress due to the above mentioned wrath of my wife., who is still really pissed (OK, just a little sore still) that Lagniappe's Keeper had an issue with timing and couldn't get me to the airport on time, and with me for not getting him in gear to get me there. Since I was in Toronto at the time with here and he was in DC, I got the brunt of the royal beat down due to the missed flight - and far more importantly, the missing of the family dinner due to missing the flight. That was not good.

Now did I make a big fuss? No, after all it was Lagniappe Keeper's fault for my getting there late, not Northwest's. After a small amount of pleading to figure out how to get on the flight made it very apparent that I wasn't getting there on time, I politely asked what could be done and they politely got me on a later flight.

if you're late for your flight, you have only yourself (or the person who is supposed to get you there on time) to blame.

Claiming that Northwest Airline is wrong for not allowing 40 people to board 20 minutes before the flight departs, especially 40 people coming back from a religious pilgrimage whose ccoreligionists in their zealotry for that religion have successfully used aircraft as weapons to kill Americans is ridiculous.

If only Northwest had had the fortitude to hold strong in the face of Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini's threat to have Muslims boycott the Airline - that boycott might have been something to promote as a safety feature.

Judge Miller honored by the FAA for 50 years of flight

Judge Donald Miller of Macomb County, Michigan has just been honored by the FAA as a Master Pilot for 50 years of fliying without an incident.

Judge Miller is the former commander of The Air National Guard at Selfridge Air Force base here in Michigan, and there's some great pics in his chambers of his standing by F16s that he used to (and possibly still does)fly.

In addition, Judge Miller is a judge's judge and a gentleman's gentleman who conducts his court with decorum, order, and respect for all parties.

Judge Miller is well deserving of this safe flying honor.

Tim Minear's Drive soon to come on Fox

Tim Minear, one of the fine writers who worked on Firefly, has just had Fox greenlight his new show Drive.

Impressively the Show will star, among some other very strongly cast actors, Nathan Fillion (formerly Mal of Firefly).

Any show written by Minear and starring Fillion has got to be good. Tim can write, and Nathan can act, so I can guarrantee I'll be watching this one when it comes out.

My only hope is that Fox gives Drive some gas so it doesn't run Out of Gas like Fox did to Firefly.

FDNY Administration bans display of flag, memorials for 9/11 Firefighters

Going way to far on this one, and as a public employer, likely infringing on the Fire Fighters' First Amendment rights.

From Fox News:New York Firefighters Outraged by Ban on American Flags, Pictures of Fallen Colleagues on Lockers

In a stunning crackdown, the FDNY has demanded that all personal decorations, including flags and pictures of colleagues killed on Sept. 11, 2001, be removed from lockers.

The controversy began two weeks ago when a sexually explicit slogan was reported at Engine 230 in Brooklyn. In response, FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta banned all decorations, including American flags, "Support Our Troops" stickers, pictures of family and Mass cards.

Typical bureaucratic overeaction. It is valid to prohibit sexually harrasing material, but don't do this ham-fisted, overbroad, "let's ban everything at every firehouse" approach to what seems to be a small problem at one engine company.

Scorpions on a M*****ing Plane!

As if Snakes on a Plane wasn't bad enough:

From the Detroit Free Press

A scorpion stung David Sullivan on the back of his right leg, just below the knee, then continued up that leg and down the other, he believes, before getting him again in the shin.

It wasn’t what he was expecting on a flight from Chicago to Vermont.

And you think you've had a bad flight.

This boarding of unwanted arthropod stowaways happens more often than we think:

Such incidents are not unheard of. An American Airlines flight was delayed for an hour in Toronto on Sunday after a passenger was stung by a scorpion that had made its way onboard. Paramedics treated the man when the flight from Miami landed. The delay came when officials searched the aircraft to ensure no other critters had stowed away.

Yeesh, illegal stowaway terorrist scorpions.....what will air travel face next?

Strawberry Shortcake and the MPAA

So my just-turned 3 year old daughter goes to the Library and wants me to sign out a Strawberry Shortcake DVD so she can see it at home. Just-turned 3 year old girls like Strawberry Shortcake. . . . a lot.

So being a big girl, she proudly takes it out of the box by self and puts it into the DVD player. The first thing that comes on after the disc is put in the player: This MPAA Anti-Piracy Ad (Without the clever text addition by the poster at Youtube).

Understand, the flashing lights, blaring music and alarm sound served to scare the living heck out of this kid.

She did not understand what it was and was very upset, including saying "where is Strawberry Shortcake?" in a tremulous voice.

I couldn't just hit the title button to jump to the main title to get her to the movie, as I first had to find the elusive, child moved remote. I then had to fast forward it past, as the helpful disc manufacturer had overridden the title button so you couldn't go direct to the title but had to fast forward through this ad and some previews, thanks for that trick as well guys. Oh, and every single time you put this disc in, the ad starts...EVERY single time.

Last time I checked, just-turned 3-year-olds are not big into movie piracy. In fact, counting past 20 and spelling their names are new challenges and she just learned how to put a disc in the DVD player by herself, but now she's scared to do it because of this ad.

The MPAA just missed its target audience for the ad on this one by about, oh at least thirteen years but succeeded in scaring a toddler and royally pissing off her parents. Yes, when something unreasonably scares their kids for no damn good reason, parents get really pissed off.

Great job there MPAA.

Happy New Year

With less that 5 hours remaining in 2006, may 2007 be an even better year for all of you.

Still backing the losers

Guess who is in mourning for Saddam?

Yep, you guessed it: Palestinians mourn execution of their ally, Saddam

Though much of the world regarded him as a tyrant, Saddam Hussein was mourned by Palestinians Saturday as a generous patron who remained one of their staunchest allies -- right up until the moment of his death.

Saddam had rejected peace with Israel, sent money to the families of suicide bombers....

There was at least one parade in his honor in Gaza, where some Palestinians displayed a poster with his image next to that of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

During the first Gulf War in 1991, Saddam attacked Israel in a failed ploy to force his Arab brethren to abandon the U.S.-led coalition arrayed against him and join Iraq in fighting the Jewish state. As Saddam's Scud missiles flew overhead en route to Israel, Palestinians chanted: "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv."

He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising against Israel by giving $25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and $10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends totaled an estimated $35 million.

Saddam's support for the Palestinians -- whose cause is deeply popular with Arabs throughout the Middle East -- was at least partially aimed at cultivating grass-roots support for his regime.

Saddam's downfall -- his defeat by America, his capture in a filthy hole, his conviction and his execution -- dismayed Palestinians.

They just never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and they never miss an opportunity to back a loser.

Now She Tells Us....

Granholm: Budget deficit huge

Conveniently after the election, no?

From the Detroit News

Gov. Jennifer Granholm warned today that Michigan could face a huge, combined budget deficit of $1 billion or more in the current and upcoming fiscal years, worse than earlier predictions.

More from the Brits have lost their Minds File: Cop killer escapes by dressing in Islamic women's robes and fleeing Britain by plane

Simply unbelievable: From Little Green Footballs: Murder Suspect takes advantage of UK Dhimmitude

A man who was being hunted for the murder of a policewoman is understood to have escaped from Britain by disguising himself as a veiled Muslim woman.

Mustaf Jama, a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, assumed his sister'’s identity --— wearing the niqab and using her passport -- to evade supposedly stringent checks at Heathrow, according to police sources.

The use of the niqab, which leaves only a narrow slit for the eyes, highlights flaws in British airport security. At the time, Jama was Britain's most wanted man, while Heathrow was on a heightened state of alert after the 7/7 terrorist atrocities in London five months previously.

The Times has learnt that British immigration officers rarely carry out a visual check to match a passport photograph with a departing female passenger'’s veiled face.

If you fail to identitfy those boarding an aircraft, you have no aviation security, and if you do not probe the identity of those wearing full coverings, you have absolutely no border control as to who enters or leaves your country, and leaving it open to attacterroristsrists who can move freely while dressed as women.

Slain Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky deserves far better than for the authorities to let her murderer slip their grasp due to their failure to check the identity of the person beneath the veil due to politically correct concerns.

New Windows, or tax credits and incentives on behavior

Who says tax policy does not provide incentives or disencentives to action.

Thanks to The Energy Policy Act of 2005, I will receive a tax credit for upgrading the windows of my house this year.

The existing windows were original to the house or very close to it - aluminum frame single pane that leached heat like a sieve, complete with winter condensation and frost buildup. Clearly a waste of energy.

Thanks to the Energy Policy Act, I'm going to get a nice $200 tax credit for replacement of the windows, as the credit is for $200 or 10%, whichever is less, and in this case the $200 was definetly less. Regardless, its certainly a nice benefit that certainly encouraged me to spend the money now to get the upgrade, and as a result not only do I get a $200 credit, but I also get the savings from lower energy costs and consumption (which is the point of the Act after all), and the house looks a lot better.

An unanticipated benefit of this Act is because my A/C decided to die off this year, during the hottest part of the summer, I'm going to get a credit on its replacement. The A/C unit was apparently 17 years old and decided it had worked long enough. I replaced it and voila, not only do I garner the efficiency of newer cooling technoogy and lower power consumption, but also a tax credit.

The Act certainly helps incentivize people (at least in my case) to make their homes more energy efficient, which is a good thing, and if people can save on their taxes while doing so - even better!

President Bush signs civilian nuclear cooperation bill with India

A foreign policy victory for the President and for the USA.

This sharing of civilian nuclear technology - The U.S.- India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act cooperation is certainly a positive step for relations between the two countries.

Given that India is a democracy, has a growing economy, is one of the worlds largest countries by population, and shares many of the anglosphere values, it can and should be a most useful ally of the US.

"The United States and India are natural partners," Bush said at a signing ceremony in the East Room attended by lawmakers, diplomats and Indian Americans. "The rivalries that once kept our nations apart are no more -- and today, America and India are united by deeply held values."

The President is right about that.

The US should continue to work with India to develop and further an alliance between the two countries as India will be a useful bulwark against expansionist Chinese and muslim extremism in the region - and that is good for both India and the United States.

Impressive Shipwreck Found in Lake Ontario

Detroit Free Press: 160-year-old Lake Ontario shipwreck intact

After more than 160 years, the twin masts of the Milan still stand erect -- all the more remarkable because the commercial sailing ship sits in the dark depths of Lake Ontario.

"It almost looks like it could be floated" to the surface, said shipwreck explorer Dan Scoville on Monday.

Scoville and fellow explorer Jim Kennard located the schooner in the summer of 2005 off the southern shore of the lake. They videotaped the 93-foot-long, square-stern vessel this year using an unmanned submersible built with the help of college students.

The ship sits upright on the lake bed at a depth of more than 200 feet. Its masts extend 70 feet upward in the dark waters.

An image of the ship taken by remote operated vehicle can be seen here (From The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle). And a further article with more pictures and sketches of the vessel can be found at Shipwreck World.

A very impressive find on the part of Messrs. Scoville and Kennard.

Talk about Screwing the Pooch

In this case quite literally: Man convicted of dog sodomy fights order to register as sex offender

A 33-year-old man convicted of sodomizing a dog in Eastpointe will appeal an order requiring him to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison term.

Delbert John Holliday was sentenced to 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison Tuesday by Judge James Biernat of Macomb County Circuit after pleading guilty to sodomy and animal torture for an incident in August at his brother's house, where he was staying. Biernat ordered him to register on the state sex offender list when he is released even though sodomy by law does not address instances in which the victim is an animal.

. . .

(one of the home's resident's) said the 7-year-old pit bull that was sodomized suffered serious injuries but has recovered.

(Source: The Macomb Daily)

Certainly this fellow is one sick puppy.

As one would expect, drugs were involved. This fellow probably should be on the sex offenders list, if he'd do this do an animal, who knows what he'd do to kid. If by chance the Judge is overruled, the legislature should quickly amend the law to make it clear that sex with an animal in such a fashion makes one a sex offender (after all, the dog is underage, was violently assaulted and clearly didn't give consent).

A New Jacksonian Plan For Iraq

For a great article, read The Jacksonian Party's The Plan to Stabilize Iraq.

The *Jacksonian* viewpoint, which is the contrary side to the other strains of thought and reviews the struggle the Nation is in within the context of the actual, real modern world, and thus offers the way out and points out the incorrectness of the other strains lacks, is that: if the game is going against you, then it is time to change the operational parameters of the game itself, and then *play harder*. Jacksonians see that the US has been at war with Islamic Fundamentalism since 1979 and with Islam, periodically, all the way back to Thomas Jefferson. Strange that Jefferson could send the US Marines to 'kick butts and take names' TWICE and modern day Jeffersonians will not stand up for the SAME.

Jacksonians have a simple but not *simplistic* view of Foreign Policy based on HONOR not on things too complex to talk about to the common man. From that I put together a very basic set of Goals on the Global War on Terrorism that depends upon the strengths of the 18th Century Republic of the United States to still EXIST as it was enshrined in writing and we still hold to that to this very day. From that conception comes the plan of enaction which uses the enemies paradigm of 'asymmetrical warfare' against them in a way that *they* cannot combat effectively.

Read the rest of it, for it is very, very, good. Would that it were the course we were pursuing now.

Ah, the first lasting snowfall of winter. . . . . .

Timed of course before, during and after rush hour, resulting in one massive traffic mess.

Only about an inch fell to welcome Detroiters to winter, but it wasn't a nice friendly dusting of snow. Instead it was a sticky slippery snow that quickly turned the roads into parking lots during rush hour. A commute of 25 minutes quickly turned into one lasting over an hour.

Of course the first snowfall means everyone forgets how to drive, which is simple - drive slower and keep your distance from the car in front of you. Still many dirivers forgot this which accounts for quite a few accidents including a car that slid right through a wooden barrier at the entrance to my workplace parking lot(just long 2x4 board painted yellow, but that had to hurt).

Nice of winter to start us off with a slap in the ol' commute. It couldn't snow after rush hour, when most drivers were off the road, oh no, it had to snow before and right through it. Thanks a lot.

On the upside, I got some excercise quickly speed shoveling snow off my driveway and spreading some salt so the wife and kidlets could make it up once they arrived home.

Speaking of Lebanon

It looks like Lebanon is going to hell in the proverbial handbasket, courtesy of Hezballah and its sponsors Iran and Syria.

See the many postings at Michael Totten's Middle East Journal blog for detailed postings on what is going on.

Senators get steamed up about Global Warming

Two US Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olivia Snowe sent a nastygram to ExxonMobil, claiming that Global Warming is a fact and ExxonMobil must cease supporting any scholarship that denies its self-evident truth. As reported in the Wall Street Journal:

Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else.

We reprint the full text of the letter here, so readers can see for themselves.But its essential point is that the two Senators believe global warming is a fact, and therefore all debate about the issue must stop and ExxonMobil should "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] 'deniers.' " Not only that, the company "should repudiate its climate change denial campaign and make public its funding history." And in extra penance for being "one of the world's largest carbon emitters," Exxon should spend that money on "global remediation efforts."

The Senators aren't dumb enough to risk an ethics inquiry by threatening specific consequences if Mr. Tillerson declines this offer he can't refuse. But in case the CEO doesn't understand his company's jeopardy, they add that "ExxonMobil and its partners in denial have manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years." (Our emphasis.) The Senators also graciously copied the Exxon board on their missive.

This is amazing stuff. On the one hand, the Senators say that everyone agrees on the facts and consequences of climate change. But at the same time they are so afraid of debate that they want Exxon to stop financing a doughty band of dissenters who can barely get their name in the paper.

This is simply an amazing intimidation attempt against dissenters from the Global Warming party line, a party line based not on hard science and which is not in fact a foregone conclusion, nor indeed is it "an inconvenient truth".

Put me on the side of free scientific inquiry, not of kow-towing to intimidation or to a consensus that is formed more of politics than science.

Iraq Study Group - Almost Trying to Lose

QAn interesting article by Mark Steyn: Iraq is just test of will for America

Or, as one Baker Commission grandee told the New York Times, ''We had to move the national debate from whether to stay the course to how do we start down the path out.''

An ''exit strategy'' on those terms is the path out not just from Iraq but from a lot of other places, too -- including Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela, Russia, China, the South Sandwich Islands. For America would be revealed to the world as a fraud: a hyperpower that's all hype and no power -- or, at any rate, no will. According to the New York Sun, ''An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the 10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria and Iran to a regional conference . . .''

On the face of it, this sounds an admirably hard-headed confirmation of James Baker's most celebrated soundbite on the Middle East ''peace process'': ''F - - k the Jews. They didn't vote for us anyway.'' His recommendations seem intended to f - - k the Jews well and truly by making them the designated fall guys for Iraq. But hang on: If Israel could be forced into giving up the Golan Heights and other land (as some fantasists suggest) in order to persuade the Syrians and Iranians to ease up on killing coalition forces in Iraq, our enemies would have learned an important lesson: The best way to weaken Israel is to kill Americans. I'm all for Bakerite cynicism, but this would seem to f - - k not just the Jews but the Americans, too.

It would, furthermore, be a particularly contemptible confirmation of a line I heard Bernard Lewis, our greatest Middle Eastern scholar, use the other day -- that ''America is harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.'' To punish your friends as a means of rewarding your enemies for killing your forces would seem to be an almost ludicrously parodic illustration of that dictum. In the end, America would be punishing itself. The world would understand that Vietnam is not the exception but the rule.

Steyn offers an excellent idea as to what should have been done, and indeed, should be done:

Three years ago, when it was obvious Syria and Iran were violating Iraq's borders with impunity, we should have done what the British did in the so-called ''Confrontation'' with Indonesia 40 years ago when they were faced with Jakarta doing to the newly independent state of Malaysia exactly what Damascus and Tehran are doing to Iraq. British, Aussie and Malaysian forces sent troops on low-key, lethally effective raids into Indonesia, keeping the enemy on the defensive and winning the war with barely a word making the papers. If the strategic purpose in invading Iraq was to create a regional domino effect, then playing defense in the Sunni Triangle for three years makes no sense. We should never have wound up hunkered down in the Green Zone. If there has to be a Green Zone, it should be on the Syrian side of the border.

Why we haven't already adopted such a course in dealing with the foreign (read Iranian and Syrian) supplied, trained and led insurgency is a great puzzle. Perhaps its a matter of simple incompetence in carrying out policy, perhaps it is due to a hostile domestic and media environment, or perhaps it is as Steyn suggests, a lack of will.

Unfortunately the Iraq Study Group and its report seems not to be focussed not on how to win, but instead how to lose, and apprently its losing formula includes sacrificing both Lebanon and Israel to Iran and Syria to do it.