Connections, connections...

We already knew that BP and its folks were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Barack Obama's 2007-08 campaign.

Now, we learn the details of a connection of Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer.

Shortly after Obama's happy inaugural, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg.

For an ordinary American, that would likely raise some obvious tax liability questions. But like Emanuel, the guy overseeing the Internal Revenue Service now is another Obama insider, Tim Geithner, who had his own outstanding tax problems but skated through confirmation anyway by the Democratic-controlled Congress.

Remember this was all before the letters BP stood for Huge Mess. Even before the Obama administration gave BP a safety award.
...
Greenberg's company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit -- GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry's 2004 campaign manager.

According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you'll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.

Ok, here's more

Stung by a series of inquiries, nearly half the members of the Congressional Black Caucus want to scale back the aggressive ethics procedures that Democrats trumpeted after gaining control of Congress.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and 19 fellow black lawmakers in the all-Democratic caucus quietly introduced a resolution last week that would restrict the powers of the new independent Office of Congressional Ethics. The office, formed by Congress in 2008, is run by a panel of private citizens.

Black caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is among the sponsors, but the full 42-member caucus did not endorse the measure. Lee declined comment through a spokesman.
Translation: "Dammit, we're tired of you actually investigating when we pull something! So stop!!"
Since its inception, the ethics office has investigated at least eight black caucus members, including veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., and five others in that group over privately funded trips to the Caribbean.


Dammit, there were half-a-dozen more things I wanted to post on, and I've lost track of them.

Sigh.

Blogger having been bloggered since last night,

this may be a long one, there's just so damn much out there. Of all kinds.

Like why the Brits need Americans to, y'know, actually shoot the bad guys.


Why the Israelis don't trust people claiming to be 'humanitarian workers':
A senior officer of the Israel Defence Forces has accused the peace activists on the Mavi Marvara of being military personnel trained in Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe.

The officer, quoted in the Hebrew newspaper Maariv on Sunday, claimed, “These men were trained in camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bulgaria. We are talking about more than fifty persons in their thirties, very strong, dressed in bullet-proof vests, and equipped with night-vision goggles, masks and protective clothing.” According to the unnamed officer, blank cartridges of US origin but different to those used by Israeli forces were found on the Turkish ship when it was hijacked by Israel last week.


Sandra Bullock seems to be a class act. And darlin', that dress sure didn't hurt any...


Senior civil servants warned ministers that if they ordered a public inquiry into the July 7 suicide bombings it could "focus negatively" on Britain's Muslim community, it can be revealed.

The warning was delivered in a briefing paper to Charles Clarke, the then-home secretary, as he considered whether or not to launch an inquiry into the 2005 bombings, in which 52 innocent people were killed.

In the paper, Sir John Gieve, the Home Office permanent secretary, said that upsetting Muslims would be a "potential cost" of ministers agreeing to demands for a full inquiry.
Yeah, screw the truth, can't do anything that might upset the muzzies, can we?
(why no, I don't care if that pisses anyone off; they don't like being called muzzies, tough shit)
As an alternative to a public inquiry the Home Office published, a year after the bombings, a "narrative" drafted by its own officials which merely set out the events leading up to the bombings, with little analysis of underlying causes.

Sir John's note, written four months after the bombings but newly-released under Freedom of Information laws, outlines the determination of senior civil servants to ensure that any inquiries into the atrocity were "low key".


An Iranian is caught smuggling weapons from Canada into the US; major media silence ensues. And those wonderful Canadian gun-control laws don't seem to be working too well.


With the investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel nearing its second anniversary, the New York Democrat and the House ethics committee face a new challenge — the political calendar.
...
If the ethics committee releases a damaging report on Rangel before the Sept. 14 primary, it could be a death blow to the Harlem congressman’s storied career and open the door to a serious Democratic challenge, Democratic colleagues and party strategists said.

But if the ethics committee’s findings come out after the primary, Rangel will very likely survive and win a 21st term in the House. Still, that timing would raise questions about the ethics committee’s process and whether the investigative panel was too aware of the political calendar.
'Raise questions'? Ya think MAYBE? After all the other delays and bullcrap pulled to try to get this corrupt bastard off?


Speaking of chickenshit politicians,
If the time-honored tradition of the political meeting is not quite dead, it seems to be teetering closer to extinction. Of the 255 Democrats who make up the majority in the House, only a handful held town-hall-style forums as legislators spent last week at home in their districts.

It was no scheduling accident.

With images of overheated, finger-waving crowds still seared into their minds from the discontent of last August, many Democrats heeded the advice of party leaders and tried to avoid unscripted question-and-answer sessions. The recommendations were clear: hold events in controlled settings — a bank or credit union, for example — or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects.

And to reach thousands of constituents at a time, without the worry of being snared in an angry confrontation with voters, more lawmakers are also taking part in a fast-growing trend: the telephone town meeting, where chances are remote that a testy exchange will wind up on YouTube.
Translation: "If we do it this way, we can control who's there to some extent AND control the questions! And make ourselves look better!"


In the world of reptiles who don't want to control your life(just occasionally eat someone),
Researchers have now for the first time discovered the true extent of the epic journeys made by saltwater crocodiles and uncovered how they manage to cover such large distances.

By analysing data from satellite tracking tags, the scientists found that the crocodiles exploit surface currents around coastlines and out to sea to help them travel large distances.

By riding these currents, the crocodiles are able to hop between oceanic islands and make long migrations around the Australian coastline.

One 12ft long crocodile tracked by researchers travelled 366 miles in 25 days around the Australian coast while another 15ft reptile rode seasonal currents off Australia's Cape York Peninsula for 20 days, travelling 255 miles.


Miserable bigoted excuse for a reporter Helen Thomas retires. Wonder which it was: slipping and telling what she actually thinks, the praise from Hamas, or the word there may be more video coming?


Heard about this woman claiming she was fired for looking too good? Well, bullcrap. Yeah, she's hot; so are lots of other women at lots of places of work. And from the pictures she was dressed professionally, nothing showing that shouldn't. So I tend to think she did something she shouldn't have, got canned, and is blaming this. And hoping to make some money off it.


Well, well, well...
Ha’aretz has revived the mystery surrounding the inability to find weapons of mass destruction stockpiles in Iraq, the most commonly cited justification for Operation Iraqi Freedom and one of the most embarrassing episodes for the United States. Satellite photos of a suspicious site in Syria are providing new support for the reporting of a Syrian journalist who briefly rocked the world with his reporting that Iraq’s WMD had been sent to three sites in Syria just before the invasion commenced.

The newspaper reveals that a 200 square-kilometer area in northwestern Syria has been photographed by satellites at the request of a Western intelligence agency at least 16 times, the most recent being taken in January. The site is near Masyaf, and it has at least five installations and hidden paths leading underneath the mountains. This supports the reporting of Nizar Nayouf, an award-winning Syrian journalist who said in 2004 that his sources confirmed that Saddam Hussein’s WMDs were in Syria.


Baltimore PD; wonderful group of people. No, not feeling too tolerant: every time some jerk like this finally crosses the line and winds up paying a price, it turns out he'd pulled crap in the past and the other cops covered up for him, the union covered for him, or both. I'm sick of good cops giving protection to bad ones.


There's more out there, but I'm out of time for now.

Heard of Mahindra? Thinking about one of their trucks?

Might reconsider. At least until the nasty bastards get over their attitude problem.

Hey, Sen. McCain: if you think pretending to support people like me now

is going to make me forget you crapping all over us in the recent past, you're nuts.
Reporters speculated on Meet the Press on Sunday that McCain wants to make amends with conservatives well before he officially announces his candidacy for president next year. So can he convince people he is still sufficiently conservative?

Let’s consider just one of these issues: McCain’s claimed pro-gun record. This was true a decade ago, but since then, on issues such as regulating gun shows, banning less expensive guns and so-called assault weapons, and requiring gunlocks, McCain has supported central portions of the gun-control agenda. Indeed, in a couple cases, McCain authored the proposed legislation himself.
You've had multiple chances, John. And the last time you were so busy playing 'hands across the aisle' that you couldn't be bothered to actually RUN because doing so might upset 'moderates' like your idiot adviser who said "If you bring up these things about Obama, I'll quit!" The proper response to that would have been "Don't let the door hit you on the way out", but nooooo, you caved.

And now we're supposed to believe and trust you? Bullcrap. And take that idiot 'progressive Republican' daughter with you when you go.

June 6, 1944, the D-Day invasion

Bad weather, fortified targets full of experienced troops, no guarantee of success. The biggest amphibious action in history. Lots of inexperienced troops, including officers.

And they did it.

It's hot outside still, so I'm going to sit here and browse through some things

A bit more on the disgusting journalist Helen Thomas.

Women can use the men's room, but don't you DARE try to use the ladies' room; it's not FAIR!


AG Eric Holder, still full of crap. And playing the victim game.


There's a guy named Larry Richter running for office in SC, and he's apparently a first-class asshole.


The Tiananmen Square Massacre, twenty-one years ago.


Ah, but Israel is an "apartheid state", and the Palestinians are the Europeans' unending adopt-a-Third-World-pet project. I write in the new National Review (on sale now-ish) that, if old-school judenhass was a by-product of more or less traditional racism and conventional nationalism, the new judenhass advances under the cover of "anti-racism" and "multiculturalism". The oldest hatred didn't get that way without the ability to adapt.


More on the wonders of socialized medicine:
Millions of patients face losing NHS care as bosses prepare to axe treatments to make £20billion of savings by 2014, a top doctor has warned.

Among procedures being targeted by health trusts are hernias, joint replacements, ear and nose procedures, varicose veins and cataract surgery.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee, warned NHS bosses wanted ‘wholesale reductions in budgets’.

He said primary care trusts – which commission care – are already compiling lists of ‘low value’ operations that would no longer be provided.

And now, I think I'll go out back and scratch dog ears.

Among the reasons Obama doesn't seem to want to stand by Israel

is all his friends who want to destroy Israel:
Former Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, helped organize the Free Gaza Movement, which launched the six-ship flotilla from Turkey to Israel that ended in a violent clash with Israeli Defense Forces, BigGovernment.com reported.

In January, the trio were spotted in Egypt attempting to stir up crowds on the streets with 1,400 other left-wing activists after the Egyptian government refused to allow Free Gaza Movement members to enter the Gaza Strip. About 100 marchers were eventually allowed to cross the border, where they were met by former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Between these terrorists and traitors and Wright and Calypso Louie, we're probably lucky we haven't found Obama quietly trying to ship aid to Hamas.

Apparently British cops not only have forgotten Peel's Principles,

but they flat suck at their job.

FOLLOWING HIM? Where were their vaunted Armed Police Units? Where were all the "You don't need to protect yourself, WE will protect you" lecturers?

The average police or sheriff's department over here would have found the clown and whacked him, so why couldn't those "We're SO superior to you American lawmen" Brits do it? To borrow from Tam,
"If you are going to disarm your subjects like inmates in the maximum security wing of the loony bin, then you had best step up to the plate when something like this goes down. You refer to self-defense as "vigilantism" or "taking the law into one's own hands"? Well, if you're just going to leave it lying on the ground with the corpses, somebody needs to take it into their hands. "

One of the other sad things about this? If some British subject with a firearms certificate had grabbed his scattergun or rifle and stopped the goblin, you KNOW some dickless wonder in the government would be trying to hang him for 'taking the law into his own hands', etc. ad bullshit.

If I were in the Israeli government,

considering we've got 'journalists' like this saying things like this, and a lot of idiots- some well- meaning and some Jew-hating fools- in government agreeing with her, I think I'd
A: Next blockade runners get met with all necessary force; no more Mr. Please Stop Condemning Us No Matter What.
B: "Mr. President, we're not going to commit suicide for you just because it would make Rev. Wright and Calypso Louie happy; get used to it."
C: "Attention world: this nation will do what is has to to survive; we suggest you think long and hard about what that means if you attack us. We're tired of being marked for extinction, and we're not going."

And would somebody explain to me why that bigoted fool Thomas is still allowed to sit in those press meetings?

Added: Does this- can't really find a proper descriptive- Thomas have no freakin' idea where the Jewish people originally came from? Or doesn't it matter to this hateful bitch and those she speaks for?

Wonderful, another artsy jackass crapping on Christianity

while being a chickenshit coward on islam.
I saw a segment on Fox and Friends this morning with the gallery owner displaying this "art" and was struck at her silence when Steve Doocy asked her whether she'd display Mohammed toting a gun. Of course she wouldn't show Mohammed waving a gun. But the Virgin Mary? How edgy!
No, couldn't possibly do something like that with Mohammed, oh no!

Marilyn Artus, you're nothing more than another clown artist who'll only attack a politically-correct and safe target; screw you.

By the way, McCartney?

Shut the hell up and sing; one thing we do NOT need is crap from you on our politics.

Translation: "I will meet with you to cut down on the bad publicity,

but I still want your border open so shut up and stop causing me problems."
"The president urged Gov. Brewer to be his partner in working in a bipartisan manner on comprehensive immigration reform to implement the type of smart, sensible, and effective solutions the American people expect and deserve from their federal government," the White House said.
Bull crap. From a clapped-out bull. With scabies.

By the way, the globular warmering roundup

as of June 3.

Here in OK, there's Dr. Johnny Roy running for Congress

and I sent the other day asking what his position is on the 2nd Amendment.

No answer.

So I sent again today, we'll see if they answer, and what the answer is.

Just a quick note: if you see any Russian Vostok ammo

and want to give it a try, don't.

Worst crap I've ever shottried to shoot. More misfires than the worst ANYTHING else I've ever seen. And real sticky on ejection. Does seem fairly accurate, when you can get it to go bang.

On the misfires, you can get a round to fire(sometimes) if you rechamber it, but don't count on it.

Does anyone actually believe this will NOT be abused?

THE State Government is quietly compiling a mathematical map of almost every adult's face, sharing information that allows law enforcement to track people by CCTV.

Experts said yesterday few people realised their facial features were being recorded in an RTA database of drivers licence photos that the Government has allowed both state and federal police to access.

The federal body CrimTrac has asked NSW for its database so it can be mined nationally by police using the facial recognition information contained in it.
...
Dr Carolyn Semmler from the University of Adelaide said police wanted to eventually use facial recognition in smart CCTV cameras allowing people to be tracked anywhere there was a camera.
Lots of "If you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have to worry about this" idiocy in the comments. Yeah, so I guess you won't mind if the police show up and search your house; after all, if you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have to worry about it. Right?

From a comment Semmler left:There should be some acknowledgment of the fact that the technology may help to keep everyone safe and that police and other agencies adhere to the Privacy legislation in place to protect the individual's information stored. 'May help'. Yeah. Don't worry about lost privacy and the police tracking you, it 'may help'. And do the police always adhere to the legislation? WILL they?

Damn, what a mess.

'Cartel plotted to blow up Texas dam'

Mexican and U.S. authorities were "secretly scrambling" last month to thwart a Mexican drug cartel's plot to blow up a Texas dam that would have flooded an area with about 4 million inhabitants, according to the Houston Chronicle's Dane Schiller and James Pinkerton.

Law enforcement officials were reportedly tipped off to a plot when they found one of the handbills that the drug cartel Los Zetas was distributing on the Mexican side of the river, warning residents to clear out ahead of the explosion. Authorities found "small amounts of dynamite near the dam," the Chronicle said.
'Small amounts' isn't a real comforting thing, as we don't know what they're calling 'small'.
Police Capt. Francisco Garcia of Roma, Texas, told the Chronicle that the traffickers would have needed a tractor-trailer full of dynamite to pull off the explosion.
A: Considering everything else they can get, lots of explosives wouldn't be much of a problem, I'd think.
B: If they've got someone who knows his stuff, I doubt it would take that much; setting it properly would be tricky, but...

And if they just damaged the dam, can you imagine the storm? Got to be an Obama and illegal-alien lobby nightmare.

Let's see, they add new charges now;

gee, I wonder why?
It's not like the government has maintained unchallenged credibility in this case, starting with the lead FBI agent not being able to recall key details when called to the stand to testify, an officer of the court filing an affidavit to counter prosecutorial misrepresentation of facts, and the release of four of the nine accused on bail...Plus, why are we suddenly finding out about all this now? Here it is June, the busts happened in late March...when did the federal grand jury first get this information and why has what would appear on the surface to be relatively straightforward evidence taken this long to be deliberated?

As for "illegal" machine guns and unregistered short-barreled rifles, how do they know who to charge?
And so forth. As he says, this has all the markings of "We've already screwed up, so lets start throwing everything we can think of into this. Besides, since this now seems to involve the NFRTR,
If the US loses this case, there is some speculation on whether the BATFE will seek to appeal the decision because an appellate ruling that the NFRTR is insufficient would have disastrous consequences for the BATFE and the NFRTR. It is this author's opinion that the BATFE would likely not appeal so to protect the integrity of the NFRTR in other court proceedings.

"Other court proceedings..."

Like these?

I have a feeling we're going to see a full-blown "integrity" protection effort.

Further evidence that any bill Sen. Schumer(NSD Bastard-NY) likes

is a freakin' disaster for this country.
There is one key to the Schumer-backed DISCLOSE Act that makes it dangerous for gun owners who want to organize in any meaningful manner: disclosure of all donors/members whose money may have funded independent expenditures to the FEC.

According to The New York Times, a “reform” bill might require advocacy groups (such as NRA) “to identify all their financial donors or set up separate accounts to handle political spending and identify the donors to that account.”

Simply put: If NRA wants to use its general funds from member dues to speak out during election season, then NRA would have to give the federal government a list of every single NRA member.

The FEC donor databases are open to all, and the most user-friendly that makes looking up individuals easy and fast is the database available at OpenSecrets.org. Kopel uses the example that your boss could decide to cross-reference you to find out what you’re up to outside of work hours. At that point, you just have to hope he/she isn’t anti-gun, or you may find yourself in the unemployment line. Even if NRA maintains a separate fund for campaign expenditures, you can’t donate if you value your privacy.
The bastard and his friends just can't stand it that people have the right to oppose them without paying a penalty, so they want to create at least the threat of penalty to try to shut people up.

One of the rear turn signal stems on the Vulcan broke,

and the other one is looking like it's getting there. So I checked prices.

Bleep.

Let's just say the factory parts have not been ordered; aftermarket parts that should work quite well have. For a lot less.

Well, if you're in the market for a scattergun,

I'd say we should make sure we do NOT buy one made in Turkey.
I was somewhat taken aback that the prime minister could not bring himself to condemn a fictional blood libel. I should not have been. He and his party have traded on America and Israel hatred ever since. There can be little doubt the Turkish flotilla that challenged the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza was organized with his approval, if not encouragement. Mr. Erodogan's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is a proponent of a philosophy which calls on Turkey to loosen Western ties to the U.S., NATO and the European Union and seek its own sphere of influence to the east. Turkey's recent deal to help Iran enrich uranium should come as no surprise.
Since the government of Turkey seems to be determined to join the islamist 'kill the unbelievers, and especially the Jews' movement, we can make sure that(preferably) none of our money goes to that nation.


Shame; the Huglu shotguns I've looked at seemed to be quite good; but damned if I'll give them my money.

Rape, biologically speaking,

is a trespass into the body of another: penetration of his anatomical boundary without his consent. We deem rape to be a heinous crime because the victim's right to the control of his own body, derived directly from his right to life, is sacrosanct. To one who concedes that sovereignty -- a nation's right to exist, independent of control by other nations -- must include the right to defend a national border, the parallel to invasion is obvious.

Inversely, a nation denied the right to defend its borders against uninvited intruders has been denied sovereignty. By the standards of the Westphalian nation-state system, it's not a nation at all. It's a No-Man's-Land, wherein the "law" is whatever the strongest force in any particular locale deems it to be.

It's a helpless victim of rape.

Just friggin' great; remember the 5th Gen fighter the PRC

couldn't have anytime soon?

Wrong.

So our JSF is behind schedule, WAY over budget, AND the geniuses decided we didn't need all those F22 aircraft because 'nobody will have anything nearly as good as these for decades!'...

My hand is messed up, so not much today

Mainly links.
In a special meeting of the Security Cabinet it was disclosed that a group of 40 people on board the Mavi Marmara with no identification papers belong to Al Qaeda. The terrorists were equipped with bullet proof vests, night-vision goggles, and weapons.
Also,
In footage captured on the Mavi Marmara, activists are seen attacking the soldiers with a stun grenade, a box of plates, and water hoses as the soldiers attempt to board the ship. the activists are also waiving around metal rods and chains later used to attack the soldiers with.


I've heard the name Tavis Smiley, didn't know what a bigoted asshat he is.


Postal match!

Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences.

I’ll make a prediction:

Most likely, the Turks will soon be told or will otherwise figure out how stupid their idea of letting their navy get used by terrorists is and forget they ever mentioned it.

Otherwise, these two options are placed on the table.

1: The Israelis will let the ships through, and then search search them. When the weapons are found, Turkey will get all red-faced and “We didn’t know about those.” and stop letting terrorists use their navy as dupes.

2: The Israeli Navy will deftly cruise between the Turks and the pirate vessel and the first Turk ship to fire upon an Israeli ship will soon see the bottom of the Med. After that, is where it actually get unpredictable.

news math: (Nazi - competence) x (PR savvy + hipster wardrobe) = Palestinian peace activist

And now family things to deal with, see you later

Generally, threatening bloggers this way is fairly dumb

Story here, see what you think


(link fixed)

Yeah, I'm sure this'll never be misused

A massive auto safety overhaul bill has made its way out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives for voting. According to Automotive News, the biggest changes that the bill proposes is the mandatory addition of black boxes and brake override mechanisms to all new cars and trucks. The event-data recorders would track information shortly before and after an accident for a specified period of time in order to help investigators determine the cause of an accident.
And what will that 'specified period' be? And will it STAY at whatever they currently decide, or start creeping up(all for the public good, of course)?

For that matter, will it also track location? If they say no, how will we know that's true? We're supposed to trust these clowns?

Thanks to Insty for pointing to a marvelous example of the socialists Obama wants

in power over all of us: the dirty bastard Donald Berwick(‘Absolutely Right Leader At This Time’ to Run Medicare' says the idiot Sebelius):
The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly.
...
...any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must, MUST redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is, by definition, redistributional."
...
I am romantic about the [British] National Health Service; I love it.

He particularly loves how the Brits purposefully under supply their patients' health care needs:

You cap your health care budget, and you make the political and economic choices you need to make to keep affordability within reach. You plan the supply; you aim a bit low; you prefer slightly too little of a technology or a service to too much; then you search for care bottlenecks and try to relieve them.

...Really? He loves it? Let's take a closer look at Great Britain and the results of their purposeful under supplying of their patients' needs.. Here's what I wrote in The Washington Times:

Britain's higher cancer mortality rate results in 25,000 more cancer deaths per year compared to a similar population size in the United States. But because the U.S. population is roughly five times larger than the United Kingdom's, that would translate into 125,000 unnecessary American cancer deaths every year. This is more than all the mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, cousins and children in Topeka, Kan. And keep in mind, these numbers are for cancer alone. America also has better survival rates for other major killers, such as heart attacks and strokes.

And Berwick simply loves it. By “it” I presume he means the economic redistribution rather than the unnecessary deaths but that is not entirely clear.

A point on stopping the blockade runners

Those who sent an elite unit into a hostile confrontation armed with toy weapons made an incredibly stupid decision. And a uniquely Israeli one. In recent memory, Israeli military action has been violent but not decisive, bloody enough to provoke the outrage and condemnation of the world (at this point, a stubbed toe will do), but not enough to actually change facts on the ground (the Hamas and Hezbollah wars being prime examples). These halfhearted wars and battles have earned Israel demerits in world opinion without enough to show in improved strategic position.
There's an old saying, 'Never do an enemy a small injury', and I think the Israelis are going to have to follow that advice. Remember the sign from a tea party "It doesn't matter what my sign says, you'll call us racists anyway"? Well, no matter what the Israelis do, the EU and UN and so forth are going to call them names and blame them for whatever the problem is.

The Isrealis know this, but they've tried to work within self-set boundaries anyway; they've put troops at greater risk to try to avoid civilian casualties(generally a good thing) but they've taken it to the extent of, in many cases, preventing the military from largely or fully accomplishing the job; which means they don't wipe out a nest of terrorists, they don't clean out an area, and they catch all the crap anyway. I think they're likely to stop this in the near future(I hope). Next blockade runners are likely to be hit by the same troops, but with more clear-cut "Stop the bastards, and don't get hurt trying to play nice anymore" orders.

Among the reasons politicians should never be trusted,

and 'for the public good' is such a line of crap to excuse/demand things:
The system, which would place 220 cameras across the state to photograph the license plates of passing vehicles,is designed to catch insurance scofflaws, those without the mandatory vehicle insurance.

But privacy advocates and civil libertarians see a much more sinister use of the information that would be gathered by the cameras. They note the apparent ease of tracking the movements of motorists, and the ability of the state to harvest unrelated information about the vehicle owner and place it into a computer database. That fear appears to be reinforced by advocates of the "Automated License Plate Recognition" (ALPR) system.

Governor Henry proposed the system as part of an effort to raise new revenue. The push to put the system in place, and those involved, was not revealed in full until The McCarville Report Online published a series of stories about it. (Access those stories by clicking on the Highway Cameras label below.) Norman blogger Kaye Beach first reported on the plan; she and Oklahoma City blogger Andrew Griffin followed its development. Journal-Record columnist Scott Carter also called attention to the plan.

This started off not long ago, apparently there wasn't much knowledge of this outside of those setting it up until TMRO started talking about it.
Governor Henry's spokesperson said there hasn't been a final decision, but a legislative source close to the Department of Public Safety told FOX23, Governor Henry has already told the Department of Public Safety to move ahead with the installation of the cameras.

The idea is to check for uninsured motorists and make some money doing it. The proposal is to install 200 cameras on highways. The cameras read every license plate as you drive by, checking your license plate with an insurance database. But some worry it may find other personal information.

It's called automatic license plate recognition.

Now, there are a number of arguments to be made on this, but one thing that's caused a lot of problems with red-light cameras in many places is money:
The state wouldn't pay for the system; the company would be reimbursed from funds received from fines or administrative penalties.
Which opens up all kinds of possible problems. But one of the most basic problems is "If this is such a good idea, why wasn't it openly brought up and debated?
No attention was drawn to the $50 million-in-new-revenue plan until The McCarville Report Online began a series of articles about it last Friday.

No attention in a major way, that is. But months ago, Norman blogger Kaye Beach was asking pointed questions about the plan. She, along with fellow blogger Andrew Griffin, delivered a letter to Governor Henry's office asking that "sunlight" be allowed to shine on the plan. She never got a response.

In retrospect, Henry might today wish he had addressed the subject then because today, the lack of public discussion about the plan figures in the theory by some that Henry and others wanted the plan to "fly under the radar" and they hoped few outside state government would notice it.

Even some in state government didn't have a clue about the program until TMRO reported on it. Said one House member: "I had never heard of this until I saw your first story."

So we've got something real interesting going on, that- it appears- the Governor wanted to slide in with as little notice and attention as possible. Happily, some people are blowing that up.

Hadn't heard of the company before, but glad LOKI

is moving here.
LOKI Weapons Systems, Inc. will hold its ribbon cutting ceremony today at 11 a.m. at the old Wrangler plant in Coalgate. Local leaders, including Gumm and Rep. Paul Roan are expected to be in attendance.

Gumm and Roan, who represent Coal County in the Legislature, wrote legislation in 2004 to create the Oklahoma Firearms Manufacturer Recruitment effort. LOKI Weapons Systems, Inc. is one of the first companies to locate in Oklahoma based largely on that recruitment effort.

Among other things, another " 'Humanitarian' my ass"

point on the mess the other day:
Look, the proof of that is the fact that if you look at a map of Gaza, you’ll see that Israelis only control three sides of this rectangle. There’s a fourth side on the Egyptian side. So it is an Egyptian-Israeli blockade. The Egyptians have the same problem with Gaza. People accuse Israelis of having a blockade because they’re racist, they’re anti-Muslim, anti-Arab. The Egyptians are Muslim and Arab, and they’ve gone to war three times on behalf of the Palestinians.

So why do they have exactly the same blockade? Because Gaza is run by Hamas, a terror entity that wants to import weaponry and resume the war against Israel. The man who made the announcement that we saw earlier, explaining the commando raid, is the defense minister of Israel. He’s not right winger. He’s Ehud Barak, who’s the leader of Labor, the party of Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir, the party of the left, the man who 10 years ago this summer offered the Palestinians a peace agreement that would provide a Palestinian state, division of Jerusalem and an end of the conflict. The Palestinians said no, and Gaza two years ago declared war on Israel. That’s why you’ve got a blockade, and the flotilla was not about humanitarian needs. It was about smashing the blockade.


On the 'explanation' of what Sestak was offered,
In addition, a spokesman for Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, who on Friday asked FBI director Robert Mueller to investigate the Sestak matter, says:

“This is just another strike against the Administration’s story. Why bring in a big gun, like former President Clinton, to offer a meager job to Sestak that he wasn’t even eligible to accept? Either the administration is completely incompetent or there is a cover up. That’s why I’ve called for the FBI to get involved. We’re clearly not going to get a straight story from Sestak or the White House without an official investigation.”
(hey, how can you NOT read a blog called Snark and Boobs?)


Yeek! How'd you like to have THAT appear in the yard? Or under the house?


Andrew Sullivan demonstrates once again what a fool he's become. Possibly that should be 'tool', but whatever.

More later