Wednesday, June 28, 2006
In Canada - the "nicest" person
So how do suspected terrorists act?...
Greg McArthur and Omar El Akkad do some interviewing:
"They have stories about all the times he joined them for soccer games and cricket matches, and all the lessons he gave at a nearby mosque. "He's the nicest person I ever met," one teen said."
"And if anyone talked to Jamal's neighbors, they would relate a similar story. From her vantage across the street from Jamal's bungalow, Kim Bastarache could see all the young men filing in and out of the house. She always had suspicions about Jamal - he rarely spoke or smiled at his non-Muslim neighbors - and when she saw a cardboard box leaning against his house with an illustration of a rifle on the side of it, she became even more alarmed."
Politically correct raids on suspected terrorists
I think this is a little much.
Non-suspected terrorists don't get this kind of consideration...
Non-suspected terrorists don't get this kind of consideration...
You don't have to register to get the drift. Colin Freeze reports:
"Before the raids came the sensitivity training: Tactical-squad Mounties learned how to properly handle Korans prior to arresting 17 terrorism suspects on the weekend."
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
OpinionJournal - The Journal Editorial Report
The Journal Editorial Report is broadcast on Sundays.
I don't normally watch, but I usually read the transcript at my convenience...
I don't normally watch, but I usually read the transcript at my convenience...
Here is the June 25th play-by-play:
"Paul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," Congress's earmark addiction. Will big spenders in the House spell trouble for Republicans this fall? And the debate over Iraq heats up with Senate Democrats divided on whether and when to end the military mission. Plus, all eyes are on the launch pad as North Korea prepares to test a ballistic missile that could reach American soil. How should the U.S. respond?"
Monday, June 26, 2006
New Evidence Emerges in Haditha Case
There are many forces (and agendas) at play in the reporting of this event.
This account seems at least as plausible as any other.
Hopefully, the truth will eventually be known...
This account seems at least as plausible as any other.
Hopefully, the truth will eventually be known...
At NewsMax.com, Phil Brennan reports:
"New evidence continues to emerge that U.S. Marines did not wantonly kill Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November - and the soldiers' accounts of what happened are backed up by videotape shot by an ultralight vehicle, NewsMax has learned."
Media - "The My Lai Lie"
In sports, one quickly learns not to judge the outcome of a game until it's over.
It seems like the media has never played any sports...
It seems like the media has never played any sports...
At the WeeklyStandard.com, Fred Barnes criticizes certain media outlets:
"THE MEDIA COVERAGE of the killing of 24 Iraqis at Haditha has given rich new definition to the phrase 'rush to judgment.' The coverage, plus the reaction of antiwar politicians like Democratic representative John Murtha, amounts to a public verdict of guilty, rendered against a handful of Marines, before an investigation of the bloody incident is completed or a trial (if there is one) held."
"An egregious example was MSNBC host Chris Matthews's interview with Murtha on May 17. Asked to 'draw us a picture of what happened in Haditha,' the congressman said he'd tell 'exactly' what occurred. 'One Marine was killed and the Marines just said we're going to take care. They don't know who the enemy is. The pressure was too much on them, so they went into houses and they actually killed civilians.'"
Media - Washington Post promotes Al Jazerra
From a psychological standpoint, I have to wonder how SO many in the media have become SO supportive of entities that are SO against America...
I found this at the Little Green Footballs blog:
"The Washington Post runs an unbelievable whitewash of Al Jazeera today, by former Nightline producer Joanne Levine (now a shill for JihadTV), with the headline howler of the week: Al-Jazeera, as American as Apple Pie."
Media - "The New York Times at War With America"
I can see both sides of this issue; but, I can't see the decision to publish rather than err on the side of caution.
After all, we ARE at risk from the bad guys...
After all, we ARE at risk from the bad guys...
At RealClearPolitics.com, Michael Barone asks:
"Why do they hate us? No, I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we refuse to treat women as second-class citizens, because we do not kill homosexuals, because we are a free society."
"No, the 'they' I'm referring to are the editors of The New York Times. And do they hate us? Well, that may be stretching it. But at the least they have gotten into the habit of acting in reckless disregard of our safety."
Media - A $40 billion scandal
We're not hearing much about this.
This article speculates as to the reason we're not...
This article speculates as to the reason we're not...
Dan Gainor has the story at the Washington Times:
"Welcome to Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage giant. As part of a scandal that's been running nearly two years, Fannie Mae has "misstated earnings" to the tune of $10.8 billion. That's some tune.
So far, the Fannie fiasco has cost Chief Executive Officer Franklin Raines and several other top executives their jobs. The stock has dropped from nearly $80 a share to around $50 -- roughly $30 billion in lost value. And the company recently settled with the federal government and agreed to pay $400 million in fines, stemming from allegations the firm fiddled with the books to ensure bigwigs got performance bonuses.
To top it off, the Fannie Mae leadership was quite well-connected in D.C., especially to the Democratic Party."
Media - UK Times smears our marines
Who checks anything out before publishing?
I understand mistakes;
But, I don't understand how they seem to always be the kind that make America look bad to the rest of the world.
More and more, the media seems to want to create news, instead of just reporting it.
And corrections rarely lessen the original inaccurate impact...
I understand mistakes;
But, I don't understand how they seem to always be the kind that make America look bad to the rest of the world.
More and more, the media seems to want to create news, instead of just reporting it.
And corrections rarely lessen the original inaccurate impact...
Michelle Malkin has a lot about this story (and the updates) on her website. Here's a part of it:
"Thank you for your prompt response. I am aware of your work, which is why I urged readers to contact you. I am glad to hear that you have asked for removal and apology. Please let me know when either or both of those steps are taken and I will update my post immediately.
I wrote:
If you are left with the impression that the dead bodies on the ground were massacred by our Marines, that is exactly what the Times intends.
This is an accurate statement. If the Times did not intend for readers to associate the photograph with the Nov. 19 Haditha incident, why did your newspaper use the photo?
I hope the paper provides a full explanation for exactly how it came to characterize and caption an April 2005 AP photo of fishermen murdered by insurgents as "victims of al-Haditha" of the "Massacre Marines blinded by hate" on Nov. 19, 2005."
Media - the Compost?
Here's another example of our biased media...
Cliff Kincaid writes at Accuracy in Media's website:
"The Washington Post on Monday ran a front-page story by Ellen Knickmeyer about allegations that Marines deliberately killed an Iraqi for absolutely no reason at all. To make matters worse, the Iraqi was said to be a disabled individual who had a bad leg. Charges that he was a terrorist caught in the act of concealing a roadside bomb are categorically rejected out of hand by the man's family and residents of the area, most of whom spoke to the paper on an anonymous basis. The Marines, who have been tried and found guilty by the paper, were portrayed as cold-blooded killers. No excuse or rationale was offered for their alleged conduct."
"By contrast, however, Rep. William Jefferson, who reportedly put $90,000 in bribery money into a freezer and was videotaped taking cash, is absolved of any ill intent in another page-one story in the Post. Anonymous sources are quoted in this story as saying that Jefferson, the 'son of impoverished Louisiana sharecroppers and a graduate of Harvard Law School,' may have taken the money because he didn't want to live on his public salary and did not 'want to leave his family in the financial straits he pulled himself out of...'In other words, poverty made him do it."
Media - Cheerleaders?
There was a lot of hype (maybe hope) in the media that Karl Rove was going to be indicted. Now that he won't be, the media bears some scrutiny...
Here's the opinion of the Washington Times:
"It is normal for Democrats as the party of opposition to inflate the possibility of the indictment of a figure as important as Mr. Rove. But the media's job is very different. They're supposed to be reporting the facts."
"Unfortunately, at times, some in the media sounded more like cheerleaders for Mr. Wilson, who said in 2003 that 'it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.' In October, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert referred to Mr. Rove as 'the administration's resident sleazemeister, who is up to his ears in this mess but has managed so far to escape indictment'; in November he declared that Mr. Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, were "clowns" who had been 'playing games with the identity of a CIA agent.'"
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Just shoot it down!
Not exactly a call for diplomacy...
A strong opinion from the editors of the Wall Street Opinion Journal:
"As we went to press in the U.S. last night, morning was breaking at the Musudan-ri launch facility in the remote northeast of North Korea. It's possible we'll wake up to the news that Pyongyang has tested the long-range ballistic missile that is fully fueled and which U.S. satellites have monitored for more than a month."
"If so, we hope we'll also learn that the U.S. responded by testing its newly operational missile defense system and blowing the Korean provocation out of the sky. What better way to discourage would-be nuclear proliferators than to demonstrate that the U.S. is able to destroy their missiles before they hit our allies, or the U.S. homeland. Even a miss would be a useful learning experience all around."
"Down Mexico Way"
Hard to believe. And there's much more...
Writing in the Weekly Standard, James Thayer tells how it is:
"Let's start with corruption. In its entire history Mexico has seen only one peaceful regime change, six years ago when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party won the presidency, with hopes of ending what his advisor Sergio Aguayo termed '70 years of corruption.' The Economist pointed out that Mexico was, in Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa's words, 'a perfect dictatorship.' It had the superficial appearance of a democracy, but the president could choose all the party's candidates, and so enjoyed nearly absolute power. There was no incentive to clean up the system."
"'There is a total lack of control over the police forces,' says Hiram Escudero, a representative in the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City. In a University of Wisconsin--Madison paper, Valentine Anozie and his colleagues note that 60 percent of crimes in Mexico involve policemen, that a survey indicates 90 percent of Mexico City residents have little or no trust in the police, and that 78 percent of Mexicans say it is normally necessary to pay bribes to resolve issues with the government. 'Mexicans do not trust their police either to protect them from harm or to solve crimes,' said National Secretary of Public Security Alejandro Gertz Manero, quoted in the BBC. Nelson Arteaga Botello and Adrián López conclude that 'corruption in Mexico is by now thoroughly institutionalized and operates at the local and state as well as federal levels.'"
Did Chris Matthews cross the line?
I think he might have...
At the AmericanThinker.com, Steven Sanders reviews a recent show:
"Introducing the physical appearance of a woman into a discussion about her political views? Yes, I believe that’s what just happened. I could be wrong but I believe this type of issue has been a settled question for quite some time. Didn’t women fight and win a remarkable battle in the last century to ensure future generations would have a political voice? Didn’t they struggle to have their voices heard and to be recognized for more than just their physical appearance? I believe they did."
"So does Mr. Matthews really believe in a special test for females; a test impacting their political arguments? Let’s hope not, because that would be unfair and it would also be sexism rearing its ugly head."
"Or do the rules only apply to liberal women?"
Louis Freeh reviews the Khobar towers events
The former Director of the FBI writes an opinion column for the Wall Street Journal.
You can read it here without registering for the WSJ's website...
You can read it here without registering for the WSJ's website...
As the 10 year anniversary of the Khobar Towers bombing approaches, Louis Freeh reviews the issues and how they were handled:
"Although a federal grand jury handed down indictments in June 2001 -- days before I left as FBI director and a week before some of the charges against 14 of the terrorists would have lapsed because of the statute of limitations -- two of the primary leaders of the attack, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mughassil and Abdel Hussein Mohamed al-Nasser, are living comfortably in Iran with about as much to fear from America as Osama bin Laden had prior to Sept. 11 (to wit, U.S. marshals showing up to serve warrants for their arrests)."
"The aftermath of the Khobar bombing is just one example of how successive U.S. governments have mishandled Iran. On June 25, 1996, President Clinton declared that 'no stone would be left unturned' to find the bombers and bring them to 'justice.' Within hours, teams of FBI agents, and forensic and technical personnel, were en route to Khobar. The president told the Saudis and the 19 victims' families that I was responsible for the case. This assignment became very personal and solemn for me, as it meant that I was the one who dealt directly with the victims' survivors. These disciplined military families asked only one thing of me and their country: 'Please find out who did this to our sons, husbands, brothers and fathers and bring them to justice.'"
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Media - "Just the facts, ma'am" - NOT
We are very much at the mercy of the media.
They decide what to publish and what NOT to publish.
The "news" that IS published now includes "opinion".
The "opinion" can be that of the writer or the writer of the paycheck.
Either way, Jack Webb's "just the facts, ma'am", is long gone...
I found this news item at "The American Thinker". Thomas Lifson speculates why we haven't heard about it:
"Something between 200,000 and one million people took to the streets of Madrid (see photo) for a demonstration against appeasement of terrorists."
Media - Biased; even in Australia
How can we ever get an honest appraisal of what's going on when the media twists every single aspect of a report?...
I found this snippet by Sean Fewster at News.com in Australia:
"'I'm wondering how you feel about your safety given that you've got armed guards there standing behind you, armed soldiers,' Rowe says."
"'Jessica, I feel quite safe, yes,' Brigadier Slater says. 'But not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good.'"
Media - Promoting racism?
This ex-cop seems to value the truth over political correctness...
At FrontPageMag.com, Jamie Glazov interviews Michael P. Tremoglie, an ex-cop from Philadelphia and author of the new novel "A Sense of Duty":
"A Time magazine article stated, 'The fiasco at Duke reminds us of the vulnerability of black women, of most minority women in America who have never been protected from sex crimes by (white) men.' An editorial about the Duke case in the April 13-19 2006 Wilmington Journal said, 'The racism …is beyond denial.'"
"Now these 'civil rights leaders' and 'civil libertarians' are supposed to be people who believe in civil liberties. Things like the Bill of Rights. Well where is their adherence to the right to a jury trial. Where is their commitment to 'innocent until proven guilty?'"
"It doesn’t exist. They are doing the very thing they condemn. If the accused were black and the victim white, this kind of reaction would evoke the specter of white lynch mobs."
Media - Lost in translation?
Well, that's SOUNDS plausible; but,
why are the mistakes so one sided?...
At a website named Iraq the Model, Omar asks a legitimate question:
"Does the CNN have problems with translation from Arabic to English or is it a case of deliberate twisting of facts?"
Media - Good citizens?
I find it difficult to agree with those who seem to argue against doing a right thing; especially, when children are involved...
Cliff Kincaid writes for Accuracy in Media, a website that monitors the media. In this article, he discusses media responsibilty (or not):
"As explained by William A. Donohue in his book, The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union (page 296), the ACLU adopted as its policy a statement that while it is appropriate to prohibit the production of child pornography by sexually exploiting children, 'It is inappropriate, unnecessary and unconstitutional to prohibit the publication, sale, or distribution of such printed or visual materials.'"
"In other words, once the child-porn material has been produced, it can be freely distributed under the First Amendment."
Media - "Another Fake Soldier Tale Debunked"
What is it with these people?...
Michelle Malkin is a sydicated columnist and often appears on your favorite talk shows. She a severe critic of false or misleading reporting:
"There's just one problem: According to Department of the Army spokesman Paul Boyce, there is no record of 'Jessie MacBeth,' a.k.a. Jesse Adam MacBeth, having served in either the Rangers or the Special Forces -- or in any part of the Army at all. Boyce told me Tuesday that a check on MacBeth's credentials came up empty. 'At a minimum, this appears to have been concocted' and 'some sort of hoax,' Boyce said. Special Operations Command and the State Department have been alerted.
MacBeth's story started to crumble after my colleagues at the Hot Air blog (www.hotair.com) called attention to the Peace Films video interview and asked military bloggers about MacBeth's appearance and claims. Harnessing the specialized knowledge of the blogosphere, military bloggers debunked a photo purportedly showing MacBeth in his official uniform (with his beret backward, incorrect flashes and tabs, and missing wings)."
Media - "Heard the good news"
Yep, everywhere but in the old media newsrooms...
At USNews.com, Michael Barone wrote this on May 29th. It appears that it's premise is current almost every day:
"Things are better than you think. Yes, I know, most Americans are in a sour mood these days, convinced that the struggle in Iraq is an endless cycle of bloodshed, certain that our economy is in dismal shape, lamenting that the nation and the world are off on the wrong track. That's what polls tell us. But if we look at some other numbers, we'll find that we are living not in the worst of times but in something much closer to the best."
Media - "Crank Call"
Looks like more of the same biased, agenda driven news reporting, that has been prevalent for some time now...
At TCS Daily, Michael Rosen discusses USA Today's coverage:
"Ever since USA Today broke a story on May 11 about the National Security Agency's (NSA) secret review of millions of phone records, the media and civil libertarians alike have gotten their knickers in a twist. But here's the problem: the story isn't news, it isn't accurate, and it isn't (or shouldn't be) troubling."
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Immigration - To President Bush: 'We don't trust you'
A lot of people have a lot to say about immigration.
Here's one of them...
Here's one of them...
Alan Keyes' remarks at Minuteman fence groundbreaking:
"At the May 27 groundbreaking of the new Minuteman fence to be constructed on private land along America's southern border, about 300 Minutemen and several dignitaries met to officially launch the privately-funded undertaking."
"Among those attending were Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leader Chris Simcox, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, Arizona governor candidate Don Goldwater, and Alan Keyes--all of whom addressed the group, along with a line-up of other secure-border supporters."
"Dr. Keyes delivered the keynote speech."
Immigration - The view from the street
Does anybody really know what's going on out there?
Do you?...
Do you?...
NewsMax.com talks to fake ID sellers:
"'We are not trying to do anything bad,' said Sergio Guitierrez, 35, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who sells IDs. 'Immigrants just need to work.'
'This is the government's fault,' said Maria Zuniga, 55, an illegal immigrant from Honduras who sells and transports documents. 'They won't even give us a number to work or a driver's license.'"
Immigration - Agency head slams Senate's alien bill
It seems like Mr. Gonzalez comments should be worth a lot of consideration...
In the Washington Times, Stephen Dinan talks to the head of USCIS:
"The Senate immigration bill makes the same mistake as the 1986 amnesty by restricting the ability of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to share information on illegal alien guest-worker applicants who are criminals and terrorists, the agency's director said yesterday.
Emilio T. Gonzalez, whose agency would have to administer a guest-worker program, said not allowing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to share information on someone who applies means they cannot begin the process of removing criminals and national security threats, even after they are rejected from the guest-worker program.
'It is important for us to be able to act on what we get when we run a background check on somebody,' Mr. Gonzalez said in a briefing with reporters in which he weighed in on the Senate immigration bill, which would offer a chance for citizenship to millions of illegal aliens, expand legal immigration and start a new foreign-worker program."
Immigration - Border citizens have opinions
So what DO the locals think?...
The Houston Chronicle gives us the ranchers opinion:
"HEBBRONVILLE — The Border Patrol is bigger than ever, but South Texas ranch manager Bill Hellen says he still sees more illegal immigrants than ever.
When the Border Patrol put up a new checkpoint along the highway, he said illegal immigrants simply slashed his cattle fences and sneaked through his ranch.
And he doesn't see that changing any time soon, even with President Bush's promise of 6,000 new agents along the border.
"All the ranchers surrounding the checkpoint say the same thing," he said. "It's just a constant strain of illegal aliens on our pastures."
Many experts and critics agree with Hellen that building up the Border Patrol hasn't done much good. Border Patrol has doubled in size between 1995 and 2005 to 11,500 agents."
Immigration - 'sanctuary' status
A "sanctuary city"! What's that all about?...
Jerry Seper writes in the Washington Times:
"A citizens group is seeking the end of a policy that prevents Phoenix police officers from detaining suspected illegal aliens, questioning a person under arrest about immigration status or notifying federal authorities that an illegal alien is in custody."
"Members of Protect Our City have started a petition drive to change the city's charter to require that police officers, along with all other city agencies and employees, assist federal authorities in enforcing U.S. immigration law."
"Phoenix is one of several cities in the United States listed as a so-called "sanctuary city," meaning it does not enforce federal immigration laws. Its charter says the investigation and enforcement of immigration laws is the business of the Department of Homeland Security."
"In Phoenix, police officers are not allowed to stop people to determine their immigration status, arrest people when the only violation is an infraction of federal immigration law, or notify Homeland Security that an illegal alien witnessed or was the victim of a crime, surfaced during a family disturbance, received a traffic ticket or sought medical attention."
"Mr. Pullen's measure would require all Phoenix officials, agencies and personnel to cooperate with and assist federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws within the city's boundaries. In addition, it would mandate that no Phoenix official, personnel or agent could be prohibited from sending, receiving or maintaining information regarding a person's immigration status, lawful or unlawful, or exchanging that information with federal, state or local governments."
Immigration - Time to Rethink Immigration?
Sometimes you read something that you wish (in the absence of intelligence) that you didn't read...
At VDare.com, Peter Brimelow writes a long informational article about immigration. He includes somes history:
"Today, it is astonishing to read the categorical assurances given by supporters of the 1965 Immigration Act. "What the bill will not do," summarized Immigration Subcommittee chairman Senator Edward Kennedy: "First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same ... Secondly, the ethnic mix will not be upset . . . Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia . . ."
"Every one of these assurances has proved false. Immigration levels did surge upward—they are now running at a million a year. Immigrants do come predominantly from one sort of area—85 per cent of the 11.8 million legal immigrants arriving in the U.S. between 1971 and 1990 were from the Third World, 44 per cent from Latin America and the Caribbean, 36 per cent from Asia—and from one country: 20 per cent from Mexico. And about 33,000 Africans arrived in 1990, which looks small only by comparison."
Immigration - Ann Coulter
Go Ahead. Disagree. If you can...
At Human Events Online, Ann Coulter writes:
"Why not use immigration the way sports teams use the draft -- to upgrade our roster? We could take our pick of the world's engineers, doctors, scientists, uh ... smoking-hot Latin guys who stand around not wearing shirts between workouts. Or, you know, whatever ..."
Immigration - on National Review Online
This particular paragraph struck me as just what we DON'T need...
From the editors at the National Review Online:
"The 'temporary' guest-workers will be eligible for citizenship. If they overstay their welcome, there is no guarantee they will be deported—especially when Congress will have signaled, by passing this bill, its view that deportation is draconian. So these “temporary” workers will permanently change America. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates that the bill would make for an inflow of 66 million immigrants over the next 20 years. Since much of this inflow would consist of poor and relatively uneducated people, one result would be, he says, the largest expansion of the welfare state in 35 years."
Immigration - "Cries"
The real immigration stories need to be publicised.
I don't know the reason, but I strongly suspect that the general public is being denied the whole truth about what goes on in the area of our borders...
I don't know the reason, but I strongly suspect that the general public is being denied the whole truth about what goes on in the area of our borders...
Leo W. Banks writes in the Wall Street Opinion Journal:
"As she prepared to submit "Cries" for an Academy Award nomination, a viewer told her it was too political. Translation: the wrong politics for Hollywood. Especially to the open-borders lobby, the film is deeply subversive. Ms. Maharis knows that playing the politically correct game would've won bigger audiences and media acclaim, and it would've played nicely into the PR machine of street protesters demanding "rights" for illegals."
"But she was committed to telling the whole truth. 'This isn't a political film,' she says. 'I'm on the side of suffering people everywhere.'"
Friday, June 16, 2006
In America
Can one be surprised and not surprised at the same time?
That how I feel about this story...
That how I feel about this story...
You can read it at Newsday.com. Here's the beginning:
"NEW YORK (AP) _ As firefighters searched for survivors after the Sept. 11 attacks, heat from the World Trade Center's smoldering ruins burned the soles off their boots. They needed new ones every few hours, and Chris Christopherson made sure they got them.
The disaster specialist was proud to dispatch replacement boots from the Long Island warehouse of a company paid by the government to manage rescue supplies donated by Americans. Then came the moment that crushed Christopherson's faith.
His employer dispatched trucks to the warehouse and loaded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donated bottled water, clothes, tools and generators to be moved to Minnesota in a plot to sell some for profit, according to government records and interviews.
Dan L'Allier said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being unloaded in Minnesota at his company's headquarters. He and Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to keep quiet. They persisted, going instead to the FBI.
The two whistleblowers eventually lost their jobs, received death threats and were blackballed in the disaster relief industry. But they remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done.
They were wrong."
"Tornado Bait"?
Some stories are so unbelievable that they are probably true.
I honestly don't know whether to believe this story or not.
You can decide for yourself...
I honestly don't know whether to believe this story or not.
You can decide for yourself...
From the website named the Eco-Enquirer:
"Thousands of trailers meant to house New Orleans evacuees never made it to their destination, but they will not go to waste: they will be deployed throughout the midwest and south to divert tornadoes away from residential areas."
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Politicians - Ted Kennedy: Build 'Wind Farm' Elsewhere
Can I say just one word here? Hypocritical!...
Apparently, Ted Kennedy doesn't want a wind farm in "his" backyard. NewsMax.com reports:
"'The problem was not aesthetic; the Kennedys wouldn’t be able to actually see the turbines from their home. Instead Robert Kennedy Jr., who had been beating the drum for alternative sources of energy for more than a decade, complained that the project would be built in one of the family’s favorite sailing and yachting areas.'"
Politics - Was the 2004 election stolen? No.
Who to believe; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or the guy that says, "his argument is filled with distortions and blatant omissions"?...
Farhad Manjoo picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent Rolling Stone article apart:
"If you do read Kennedy's article, be prepared to machete your way through numerous errors of interpretation and his deliberate omission of key bits of data. The first salient omission comes in paragraph 5, when Kennedy writes, 'In what may be the single most astounding fact from the election, one in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to stem the unprecedented flood of Democrats eager to cast ballots.' To back up that assertion, Kennedy cites 'Democracy at Risk,' the report the Democrats released last June."
"That report does indeed point out that many people -- 26 percent -- who first registered in 2004 did not find their names on the voter rolls at polling places. What Kennedy doesn't say, though, is that the same study found no significant difference in the share of Kerry voters and Bush voters who came to the polls and didn't find their names listed. The Democrats' report says that 4.2 percent of Kerry voters were forced to cast a 'provisional' ballot and that 4.1 percent of Bush voters were made to do the same -- a stat that lowers the heat on Kennedy's claim of 'astounding' partisanship."
"Such techniques are evident throughout Kennedy's article. He presents a barrage of seemingly important, apparently damning data to show that Kerry won the race. It's only when you dig into his claims that you see what thin ice he's on."
Polticians - "Al Gore's convenient fiction"
I don't think Al Gore is the only politician with behavior like this...
Debra J. Saunders writes:
"In 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' character Blanche DuBois depended on the kindness of strangers. In the newly released film, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Al Gore depends on their forgetfulness."
"Just 10 years ago, Gore told the Democratic National Convention that after his sister Nancy's needless death in 1984 from lung cancer, he committed himself 'heart and soul into the cause of protecting our children from the dangers of smoking.' In his new film, Gore again dredges up his sister's death and how it led his once tobacco-growing family to turn away from tobacco."
"After the DNC speech, reporters with memories intervened. America learned that contrary to his rhetoric, in 1988 Gore campaigned as a tobacco farmer who told his brethren that 'all of my life,' I hoed it, chopped it, shredded it, 'put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.' The year his sister died, Gore helped the industry by fighting efforts to put the words 'death' and 'addiction' on cigarette-warning labels. For years, Gore supported Big Tobacco in other ways."
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Computers - Online Poker can be bad for your PC
Beware!
If you're an online poker player, you may compromise the PC you're using...
If you're an online poker player, you may compromise the PC you're using...
John Leyden, warns about online poker:
"Security watchers have discovered a Trojan with built in root-kit functionality that's designed to steal the credentials of online poker players."
"This isn't particularly unusual in itself, but anti-virus researchers at Finnish security firm F-Secure discovered the malware was hidden in a ostensibly legitimate package offered for download at checkraised.com, a site which provides advice and tools to online poker players."
Computers - 'Spamford' Wallace fined $4m over spyware biz
This is the first federal prosecution of a spyware case.
Hopefully, we'll see many more...
Hopefully, we'll see many more...
John Leyden, writing for the Register.com, reports:
"Sanford 'Spamford' Wallace has been fined $4m and ordered to restrict the deceptive spyware practices of his company, Smartbot.Net, after losing a lawsuit brought by the US Federal Trade Commission."
Computers - Don't be an "Uncle Bob"
Computers connected to the Internet are very vulnerable...
At the Register.com. Kelly Martin describes how plain old home computers can easily be taken over from afar and become "bots":
"The computer hosting the next Citibank or credit union fraud might be tracked down to your Uncle Bob, who just got a new computer for Christmas but he didn't apply all the security patches fast enough"
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Lemming
For what it's worth [smile]...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Lemming populations go through rapid growths and subsequent crashes that have achieved an almost legendary status, largely because of the Walt Disney Pictures film, White Wilderness, which was produced in 1958 and reappeared on television at regular intervals for many years afterwards. White Wilderness popularized, using staged footage, the myth that during population booms Norway Lemmings become suicidal and leap en masse off cliffs into the sea. For this reason, the term 'lemming' is often used in slang to denote those who mindlessly follow the crowd, even if destruction is the result."
Monday, June 05, 2006
"If You Can’t Run Your Own House, How Can You Run a Nation?"
This is so true.
I've just become a fan of J.B. Williams...
I've just become a fan of J.B. Williams...
In the San Francisco Chronicle, J.B. Williams writes, "If You Can’t Run Your Own House, How Can You Run a Nation?":
"Likewise, would we hand our personal finances over to someone who has gone bankrupt numerous times? Would we ask the local television repairman to perform our much-needed brain surgery? Should we seek marriage counseling from people divorced three or more times, or people who have never been married at all? People all over the world, who have never known freedom, liberty, or self-governance, have all kinds of strange opinions about how America should function. Do any of these un-American opinions count for anything in America?"
"We have a right to do all of these things, but would we, and should we do them? We even have the right to commit complete national suicide though poor decisions made on the basis of poor information, but why would we do that on purpose?"
"Do we really expect people personally economically dependent upon our federal government for their every meal, to ever vote for anything other than a better free meal? Why do we want convicted felons to have a vote? Have they not demonstrated the very worst of decision making abilities? These ideas might be nice, in a politically correct but nationally suicidal sort of way. But are they wise?"
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Global Warming - It's Getting Harder to Hate Wal-Mart
Sounds like Wal-Mart is planning a "sea change"...
Lloyd Alter reports at "TreeHugger.com":
"Whether or not we shop there, we all feel the Wal-Mart Effect as it changes the way everyone buys and everyone sells. We don't shop there, and we also just read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, which demolishes any belief in the idea that big organic is any better than big industrial food production, so we are not particularly concerned about Wal-marts entry into this market. We do note that TreeHugger has done 9 posts this year about Wal-Mart going with Green Roofs, Bullfrog Power, Corn based plastics, sustainable fish and buying forests. They are replacing their trucking fleet to double its fuel efficiency. What's going on? Is this for real or greenwashing? Can we reconcile it with our world view of Wal-Mart as a union-busting, supplier-abusing, smalltown-destroying behemoth?
We recently read Wal-Mart President Lee Scott's October 'secret' speech to employees on '21st Century Leadership' where he lays out his plans to make Wal-Mart radically different. He asks the rhetorical question:
'What would it take for Wal-Mart to be that company, at our best, all the time? What if we used our size and resources to make this country and this earth an even better place for all of us: customers, Associates, our children, and generations unborn? What would that mean? Could we do it? Is this consistent with our business model? What if the very things that many people criticize us for – our size and reach – became a trusted friend and ally to all?'"
Canada: 'Unelectable' Harper firmly in control
The new conservative Canadian prime minister looks like the real deal.
I can't help wondering if their media is liberal and biased and will try to discredit his every move...
I can't help wondering if their media is liberal and biased and will try to discredit his every move...
The Canadian News network's Bruce Cheadle writes, 'Unelectable' Harper firmly in control as Tory government hits 100-day mark:
"As the focal point in an administrative system dubbed the hub-spoke, Harper has been churning out policy and personnel decisions with a methodical regularity since being sworn in Feb. 2."
"He's negotiated a softwood lumber deal with the United States, signed off on a compensation package for residential schools, announced a judicial inquiry into the Air India bombing, cut off Canadian aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and banned the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group."
"He has poached a senior Liberal cabinet minister, appointed a party fund-raiser to the Senate and his cabinet, stared down Parliament's ethics commissioner, inflamed public and military opinion by changing the protocol for soldiers killed in action, fired a communications director and scorned the national media."
"Critics are also quick to note that he has pulled the plug on a fledgling national daycare program, slashed funding for Kyoto climate-change programs and ditched the Kelowna aboriginal accord."
"He's travelled to Afghanistan to visit the troops, delivered a budget that makes good on election promises to cut the GST and pay parents of young children $1,200 a year (minus taxes), and he's signed an agreement with the Quebec government giving the province a presence at UNESCO."
Politics - Allen ain't nothin' but a hot dog
Political attack machines preparing for the future...
At Townhall.com, Kathleen Parker writes:
"Allen ain't nothin' but a hot dog."
"If you mention George Allen outside Washington and Virginia, most people still don't know who he is. Yet the spin machine trying to cast Allen as a racist - as prequel to his presidential candidacy - already is operating at full throttle."
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Politics - A new Dutch political party
I'm speechless...
From Reuters via Yahoo! News:
"AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals."
"The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: 'We are going to shake
The Hague awake!'"
"The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether."
Friday, June 02, 2006
Gun Control - Myth of the easy machine gun
We need more reporters like this.
Ones that are willing to research what we are being told, and publish what they find.
Then, we can form our opinions, based on facts, not agenda-driven PR...
Ones that are willing to research what we are being told, and publish what they find.
Then, we can form our opinions, based on facts, not agenda-driven PR...
Here's an article about assault rifles.
I'll let Michael Bowers tell it:
"...the assault rifle ban never dies. It's just wounded, waiting to come back when you're not looking. So I thought I would look into the validity of its major argument. That is, this notion that it's easy to convert a semi-automatic rifle (legal) into a fully automatic rifle (illegal), also known as a machine gun (illegal).
I've been following the debate. One point always seems to go unexplained. Once some concerned police chief declares that semi-automatic rifles are dangerously easy to convert, the discussion leaps elsewhere."
Health News - Robot performs heart surgery...by itself
I wonder if there will come a day when the patient is asked to choose; human or robot?;
and I wonder if there will be a cost differential;
and, if so, I wonder which will be least expensive;
or which brand of robot has Consumer Reports highest rating.
So many questions...
and I wonder if there will be a cost differential;
and, if so, I wonder which will be least expensive;
or which brand of robot has Consumer Reports highest rating.
So many questions...
The Discovey Channel's James Koole reports:
"Surgery performed using robots - even over long distances - is nothing new, but Italian doctors now say they've used a robot to perform heart surgery without any input from a human."
"During the 50-minute procedure, a 34-year-old patient in Milan underwent treatment for atrial fibrillation, or heart flutters, while doctors in Boston monitored the surgery via satellite."
Thursday, June 01, 2006
There are all kinds of businesses
This one is in Washington State...
In the Seattle Times, Cara Solomon writes about it:
"Under her watch, Aradia's budget grew from $300,000 to $1.2 million. She reached out to underserved women, including those in the gay, bisexual and transgender communities."
You be the judge
In case you didn't know it:
Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely...
There seems to be no limit to items like this.
But remember, we're all innocent until proven guilty...
Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely...
There seems to be no limit to items like this.
But remember, we're all innocent until proven guilty...
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Paul Hampel has the story:
"A suit filed secretly last month in Madison County Circuit Court that was unsealed this afternoon alleges that prominent trial lawyer and Democratic powerbroker Tom Lakin, 66, sexually molested minors at his home in East Alton last summer. The suit also alleges that Lakin gave cocaine to a girl and later to two adults to encourage them to have sex with a boy while he watched."
Say anything to win elections?
Trying to slip one by?...
Different policies for different audiences?...
Say anything to get votes?...
All of the above?...
If you have a policy and always tell the truth about it, how do you make a "misstatement?...
Different policies for different audiences?...
Say anything to get votes?...
All of the above?...
If you have a policy and always tell the truth about it, how do you make a "misstatement?...
KPHO in Phoenix reports: "Dean Misstates Party Platform on Gays":
"Dean told Christian Broadcasting Network News that the 2004 Democratic platform declares "marriage is between a man and a woman" — just one of the points he made in reaching out to religious conservatives who are largely hostile to the party."
"But the platform does not define marriage that way, and his remarks prompted the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to return a $5,000 donation from the Democratic National Committee."
