is just amazing: first, that they keep arresting people illegally, even though they're getting sued already- multiple times- for it, and that some moron cop thought it was a good idea to arrest an Olympic competitor for legally transporting a firearm:
Three or four weeks ago a young competitor on the National Shooting Team was training and being coached at the Coast Guard Academy. Upon finishing the training program he properly stored the firearms and headed for the airport and his home in the western United States. After declaring his legally transported firearms, at a NYC airport, he was arrested by a New York City Transit Authority Officer. This young American competitor after explaining what he was doing with the firearm and showing his credentials was arrested, handcuffed and spent a number of hours in custody until some public official realized the perfect public relations storm brewing in a scummy detention cell in NYC.
Kid's lucky; as pointed out, the only reason he didn't keep sitting in a cell was someone decided locking him up was 'bad publicity' for them illegally arresting people.
There are a number of law suits and criminal cases in litigation at this time both in NYC area as well as Albany County because New York State refuses to recognize FOPA (The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986). Why? It is apparently easier to prosecute a legal and lawful gun owner than a criminal with a gun.
Yep, this is Bloomberg Country: only politically correct civil rights recognized, and then only if they don't get in Bloomberg & Buttmonkeys Co. way.
And these are the people Wal-Mart decided to sell out a bunch of their customers to, to try and buy favor from Bloomberg.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
And the 'SWAT shoots dogs as policy'(it seems) story
is the gift that keeps on giving.
This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.
You know why: they're huddled with lawyers who're crapping themselves at the thought of an apology because it would involve some level of admitting they screwed up. Which they did. But God forbid they actually try to deal with the screwup and make it right, as much as possible.
Here's something else that makes this crap even worse:
Berwyn Heights police Chief Patrick A. Murphy appeared with the mayor Thursday and said his agency was never informed of the investigation, despite an existing memorandum of understanding to work together on such operations.
He said not knowing about the raid could have led his officers to fire upon the sheriff's SWAT team because its members were wearing street clothes, masks and carrying weapons as they approached the mayor's house.
...
...Porter, 50, was cooking artichokes in the kitchen and screamed when she saw the approaching masked men with guns.
The door was kicked in and gunshots rang out, Calvo said. Police killed one dog, Payton -- named for football running back Walter Payton -- even though Porter was standing next to him.
A lot of people have asked the question before, why masks all the time? There are circumstances they might be called for, but not always. And here, you've got a raid on a house in a neighborhood where they didn't actually need(from what I've read) a 'dynamic entry' raid in the first place, and yet no uniforms. Apparently not even armor and whatever that might make people think 'police'; just masked, armed men charging into the house.
Yeah, it was 'just a mistake'; just like if the guy had 'made a threatening move' while backing down the stairs he'd probably have been shot, and that would have been his 'fault'. Or if he'd met these masked home invaders with a weapon and killed one, they'd be trying to hang him for not knowing they were police and submitting properly.
Calvo said he wants federal officials to examine policies that he said have led Prince George's police officials to serve warrants on wrong addresses and kill family pets before.
In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.
There needs to be an investigation, not only here but nationwide on this crap. As Insty put it We need federal civil rights legislation stripping officials of immunity in cases like this. Maybe now that they're raiding politicians' houses, we'll see some action.
Maybe. And it really sucks that it takes something like this to stir things up on these actions.
This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.
You know why: they're huddled with lawyers who're crapping themselves at the thought of an apology because it would involve some level of admitting they screwed up. Which they did. But God forbid they actually try to deal with the screwup and make it right, as much as possible.
Here's something else that makes this crap even worse:
Berwyn Heights police Chief Patrick A. Murphy appeared with the mayor Thursday and said his agency was never informed of the investigation, despite an existing memorandum of understanding to work together on such operations.
He said not knowing about the raid could have led his officers to fire upon the sheriff's SWAT team because its members were wearing street clothes, masks and carrying weapons as they approached the mayor's house.
...
...Porter, 50, was cooking artichokes in the kitchen and screamed when she saw the approaching masked men with guns.
The door was kicked in and gunshots rang out, Calvo said. Police killed one dog, Payton -- named for football running back Walter Payton -- even though Porter was standing next to him.
A lot of people have asked the question before, why masks all the time? There are circumstances they might be called for, but not always. And here, you've got a raid on a house in a neighborhood where they didn't actually need(from what I've read) a 'dynamic entry' raid in the first place, and yet no uniforms. Apparently not even armor and whatever that might make people think 'police'; just masked, armed men charging into the house.
Yeah, it was 'just a mistake'; just like if the guy had 'made a threatening move' while backing down the stairs he'd probably have been shot, and that would have been his 'fault'. Or if he'd met these masked home invaders with a weapon and killed one, they'd be trying to hang him for not knowing they were police and submitting properly.
Calvo said he wants federal officials to examine policies that he said have led Prince George's police officials to serve warrants on wrong addresses and kill family pets before.
In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.
There needs to be an investigation, not only here but nationwide on this crap. As Insty put it We need federal civil rights legislation stripping officials of immunity in cases like this. Maybe now that they're raiding politicians' houses, we'll see some action.
Maybe. And it really sucks that it takes something like this to stir things up on these actions.
Gee, a bunch of Republicans 'compromise to get a
bipartisan agreement'; haven't we heard that before? And been screwed by it before?
I just heard about this on Rush's show, and Sen. Chambliss called in to 'set the record straight'. Which basically boiled down to "We had to give away all the big stuff so we could get a bipartisan compromise on some small stuff; we just HAD to!"
Among othertreasontreachery, it looks like Lindsay Grahamnesty got tired of kicking people in the face on amnesty, and changed over to stabbing us in the back on energy.
I'd start a label of 'Two-faced miserable backstabbing politicians who should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped', but it's too long.
I just heard about this on Rush's show, and Sen. Chambliss called in to 'set the record straight'. Which basically boiled down to "We had to give away all the big stuff so we could get a bipartisan compromise on some small stuff; we just HAD to!"
Among other
I'd start a label of 'Two-faced miserable backstabbing politicians who should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped', but it's too long.
Political correctness and 'freedom of speech' in Canada
Up to this point there had been no store employees sitting in on the lecture. A couple had earlier come by and stood at the periphery of the seats for a few minutes each. One of them, a young woman, was wearing a hajav, the head-covering worn by many Muslim women.
That was the end of the lecture. I said something to the effect that I would not be called a “f****** Jew” at my lecture. The store manager came over to me and told me not to swear. I told him that I was the one being sworn at; he said that it didn’t matter. He gathered up the books on the table and escorted me to his office at the back.
“I want you to call the Police.” I said.
“What for?” he replied.
“Because these totalitarians just stopped my right to lecture, and are swearing at me, and who knows what they will do next?” I said.
“I don’t have the number,” he claimed.
I couldn’t believe this. “Try 911,” I suggested.
You've really got to read the whole thing. The store not willing to stand up, the police not wanting to be bothered, and the uselessness of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws. And how those laws can be used to bite both ways.
Found through Bloodthirsty Liberal, who I'd not read before.
That was the end of the lecture. I said something to the effect that I would not be called a “f****** Jew” at my lecture. The store manager came over to me and told me not to swear. I told him that I was the one being sworn at; he said that it didn’t matter. He gathered up the books on the table and escorted me to his office at the back.
“I want you to call the Police.” I said.
“What for?” he replied.
“Because these totalitarians just stopped my right to lecture, and are swearing at me, and who knows what they will do next?” I said.
“I don’t have the number,” he claimed.
I couldn’t believe this. “Try 911,” I suggested.
You've really got to read the whole thing. The store not willing to stand up, the police not wanting to be bothered, and the uselessness of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws. And how those laws can be used to bite both ways.
Found through Bloodthirsty Liberal, who I'd not read before.
Some more on the Ivins suicide
and the anthrax case over at Ace, here and here.
No scientist, am I. I do tend to agree with Ace, that
To suggest that this silly shit constitutes evidence of any sort makes me doubt the strength of the rest of their case. If they're offering this nonsense as evidence, how strong can the rest of their evidence really be?
I always operate on the assumption that no one offers weak "evidence" if they have strong evidence at hand, and if they're offering the weak stuff, well, that must mean they don't have anything much stronger than that.
Which, as he says, makes the rest of the stuff suspect.
No scientist, am I. I do tend to agree with Ace, that
To suggest that this silly shit constitutes evidence of any sort makes me doubt the strength of the rest of their case. If they're offering this nonsense as evidence, how strong can the rest of their evidence really be?
I always operate on the assumption that no one offers weak "evidence" if they have strong evidence at hand, and if they're offering the weak stuff, well, that must mean they don't have anything much stronger than that.
Which, as he says, makes the rest of the stuff suspect.
If I hadn't woke up with a headache, the Obamites would have
given me one.
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.
Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions. . . . The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.
Yeah, that's a very 'liberal' thing to do: try to scare people from donating because "We'll screw with your life if you do!" As Insty says,
No doubt they all go around exchanging Obama Salutes and clicking their heels . . . .
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.
Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions. . . . The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.
Yeah, that's a very 'liberal' thing to do: try to scare people from donating because "We'll screw with your life if you do!" As Insty says,
No doubt they all go around exchanging Obama Salutes and clicking their heels . . . .
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Turns out the T. Boone Pickens wind-power plan has a lot
more involved than wind:
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
Check it out. And if you live in Texas, you ought to contact your legislator about this.
Found thanks to Kim.
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
Check it out. And if you live in Texas, you ought to contact your legislator about this.
Found thanks to Kim.
Range day
Any day at the range, etc.
Besides the general joy of making loud noises and holes in targets, wanted to try out three things in particular. First off, remember the plastic bullets? I loaded some of those in 7.62x54r, using the same 6.0 grains of 2400 I'd used in .30-30, and tried them in the M39 at 50 yards.
You can't see the first two, as they were below the paper, about eight inches low. It required putting the rear sight at 500 meters to bring them up to here. I've noticed that in some rifles a cast bullet load will shoot to one side or the other, seems to be the case here. Recoil was almost nonexistent; it rocked the rifle slightly. Pressure was so low the case didn't seal very well, there were signs of a fair amount of leakage around the case necks. I didn't try this at 100, as with the added 50 yards and what wind there was I had no idea how high I'd have to raise the rear sight. For short range for easy practice, not bad.
After the success of the 150-grain cast load I tried in this rifle, I loaded some Sierra 150-grain Gameking softpoints up; let's just say accuracy was not acceptable. Cast bullets sized to .309" work great, but not the jacketed stuff; have to use .311 I guess.
The other test was some loads for the M1. GI Brass had some 172-grain boattail match bullets a while back(none since, dammit), and I wanted to try something. I used the 43.0 grains of IMR4895 that worked so well before, in different cases, HXP(Greek) surplus and Federal commercial. The HXP case load gave this at 100:
I pulled the first shot, I must confess; the other four went into 2", not bad for an M1 with a standard GI barrel. The Federal case load gave the below result:
Somehow, I seem to have pulled the first shot on both today. This group overall a bit tighter, though the one opens it back out to 2". I'm going to load some more of these- only did five each to try, since don't have all that many of these bullets- for further testing.
The rest of the rifle was largely .22 and the .30 Carbine. I took the Martini for .22, and discovered over the course of the day that the mounting screws for the rear sight were loose(found that one first), and then discovered that the stock was loose. The stock fits into a socket in the butt of the receiver, and a bolt goes through the stock into the receiver, like a lot of shotguns, and how I didn't notice it earlier I have no idea. And, of course, no screwdriver in the kit is long enough to deal with this.
Ah, well, good day overall. And picked up a bunch of brass, some of which is in the tumbler as I write. Now I just need to finish cleaning and putting things away.
Besides the general joy of making loud noises and holes in targets, wanted to try out three things in particular. First off, remember the plastic bullets? I loaded some of those in 7.62x54r, using the same 6.0 grains of 2400 I'd used in .30-30, and tried them in the M39 at 50 yards.
You can't see the first two, as they were below the paper, about eight inches low. It required putting the rear sight at 500 meters to bring them up to here. I've noticed that in some rifles a cast bullet load will shoot to one side or the other, seems to be the case here. Recoil was almost nonexistent; it rocked the rifle slightly. Pressure was so low the case didn't seal very well, there were signs of a fair amount of leakage around the case necks. I didn't try this at 100, as with the added 50 yards and what wind there was I had no idea how high I'd have to raise the rear sight. For short range for easy practice, not bad.After the success of the 150-grain cast load I tried in this rifle, I loaded some Sierra 150-grain Gameking softpoints up; let's just say accuracy was not acceptable. Cast bullets sized to .309" work great, but not the jacketed stuff; have to use .311 I guess.
The other test was some loads for the M1. GI Brass had some 172-grain boattail match bullets a while back(none since, dammit), and I wanted to try something. I used the 43.0 grains of IMR4895 that worked so well before, in different cases, HXP(Greek) surplus and Federal commercial. The HXP case load gave this at 100:
I pulled the first shot, I must confess; the other four went into 2", not bad for an M1 with a standard GI barrel. The Federal case load gave the below result:
Somehow, I seem to have pulled the first shot on both today. This group overall a bit tighter, though the one opens it back out to 2". I'm going to load some more of these- only did five each to try, since don't have all that many of these bullets- for further testing.The rest of the rifle was largely .22 and the .30 Carbine. I took the Martini for .22, and discovered over the course of the day that the mounting screws for the rear sight were loose(found that one first), and then discovered that the stock was loose. The stock fits into a socket in the butt of the receiver, and a bolt goes through the stock into the receiver, like a lot of shotguns, and how I didn't notice it earlier I have no idea. And, of course, no screwdriver in the kit is long enough to deal with this.
Ah, well, good day overall. And picked up a bunch of brass, some of which is in the tumbler as I write. Now I just need to finish cleaning and putting things away.
And the latest SWAT dog-shooting raid just gets better
better and and better.
Prince George's County authorities did not have a "no-knock" warrant when they burst into the home of a mayor July 29, shooting and killing his two dogs -- contrary to what police said after the incident.
Well, isn't that just frikkin' wonderful?
A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.
But a review of the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission from Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup to enter without knocking. Northrup found probable cause to suspect that drugs might be in the house and granted police a standard search warrant.
So add either lying about the warrant, or not bothering to find out before speaking to the media.
Police spokesman Henry Tippett said yesterday that the statement about the warrant that public affairs officers released Friday was based on information provided by Maj. Mark Magaw, commander of the narcotics enforcement division. A request to interview Magaw was not immediately granted yesterday, and Tippett said he could not explain the discrepancy.
Wonder how long he'll be unavailable for interview?
Greenbelt Police Chief James R. Craze said yesterday that county officers contacted his 54-member department the day of the raid to ask whether his emergency response unit could serve the warrant. County police have said the Sheriff's Office was asked to participate because its team was busy at the time. Craze said it is not unusual for agencies to cooperate in such cases.
"From what I know, their SWAT team wasn't available, and that's why they were out shopping," he said.
The obvious question here is why was a SWAT team needed in the first place?
Were Calvo or his wife, Trinity Tomsic, to be charged in the case, the issue of the search could come up if prosecutors tried to introduce the box of marijuana as evidence. More likely, experts said, the issue could form the basis of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family against the county in the incident.
You think maybe?
Another issue that could arise in court is whether officers provided Calvo a copy of the warrant at the time of the raid, as required by law. Maloney said they did not, even though a detective signed a sworn statement to the judge indicating that he had. Instead, the detective brought the warrant to Calvo several days later, Maloney said.
Maloney said that Calvo and Tomsic are waiting for an explanation from law enforcement and that it would be premature discuss legal action.
That's an awful lot of lying going on in this case, on top of the idiocy of a SWAT raid when a "Sir, we have a search warrant" would have done, and shooting the dogs, and so forth. If anything, the more information comes out, the less professional and less competent and less lawful this bunch sounds.
Prince George's County authorities did not have a "no-knock" warrant when they burst into the home of a mayor July 29, shooting and killing his two dogs -- contrary to what police said after the incident.
Well, isn't that just frikkin' wonderful?
A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.
But a review of the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission from Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup to enter without knocking. Northrup found probable cause to suspect that drugs might be in the house and granted police a standard search warrant.
So add either lying about the warrant, or not bothering to find out before speaking to the media.
Police spokesman Henry Tippett said yesterday that the statement about the warrant that public affairs officers released Friday was based on information provided by Maj. Mark Magaw, commander of the narcotics enforcement division. A request to interview Magaw was not immediately granted yesterday, and Tippett said he could not explain the discrepancy.
Wonder how long he'll be unavailable for interview?
Greenbelt Police Chief James R. Craze said yesterday that county officers contacted his 54-member department the day of the raid to ask whether his emergency response unit could serve the warrant. County police have said the Sheriff's Office was asked to participate because its team was busy at the time. Craze said it is not unusual for agencies to cooperate in such cases.
"From what I know, their SWAT team wasn't available, and that's why they were out shopping," he said.
The obvious question here is why was a SWAT team needed in the first place?
Were Calvo or his wife, Trinity Tomsic, to be charged in the case, the issue of the search could come up if prosecutors tried to introduce the box of marijuana as evidence. More likely, experts said, the issue could form the basis of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family against the county in the incident.
You think maybe?
Another issue that could arise in court is whether officers provided Calvo a copy of the warrant at the time of the raid, as required by law. Maloney said they did not, even though a detective signed a sworn statement to the judge indicating that he had. Instead, the detective brought the warrant to Calvo several days later, Maloney said.
Maloney said that Calvo and Tomsic are waiting for an explanation from law enforcement and that it would be premature discuss legal action.
That's an awful lot of lying going on in this case, on top of the idiocy of a SWAT raid when a "Sir, we have a search warrant" would have done, and shooting the dogs, and so forth. If anything, the more information comes out, the less professional and less competent and less lawful this bunch sounds.
Anyone who trusts the "We can predict the climate in 100 years"
morons is a bigger moron. Just before I left for the range this morning it was '50% chance of storms today, 70% chance tonight'. Since I got home that has changed, and in the last hour I've heard it change from 30% to 50% to 40%.
Weather weenies, bah humbug.
Weather weenies, bah humbug.
Let's give Mexico something to really bitch about,
since executing murderers upsets them so: lets give the Border Patrol some serious backup, and the next time the Mexican Army crosses our border, shoot them.
We've got clowns putting BP officers in jail for doing their jobs, but the .gov weenies don't seem to want to do much about this garbage(State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.) Hell with this noise; the Mexican Government is violating our border with armed troops, and that requires(not 'needs', REQUIRES) a serious response.
We've got clowns putting BP officers in jail for doing their jobs, but the .gov weenies don't seem to want to do much about this garbage(State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.) Hell with this noise; the Mexican Government is violating our border with armed troops, and that requires(not 'needs', REQUIRES) a serious response.
Brit 'progressives' make deal with enemy;
surprised when it doesn't work very well.
US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.
The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.
Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.
Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.
Gee, you think maybe?
US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.
The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.
Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.
Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.
Gee, you think maybe?
Let's see, we demand politicians, prosecutors, etc. be held to account
when they do something wrong: Democrat weenies who get along with terrorists threaten children.
“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.
...
Gravel told FOX News that he doesn’t want people to break the law and that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended — but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials.
“How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldn’t protest. I don’t believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. … Don’t rely on your elected officials,” the former senator said.
Pardon a descent into bad language: chickenshit, miserable, stinking, cowardly little piece of crap. Lets turn this around, shall we? "While I personally wouldn't do it, wouldn't it be an effective way to change the behavior of Mr. Gravel if he were dragged out in the street and beaten with a flagrum? Or used to decorate a lamppost?"
I don't know squat about Gordon Kromberg, the prosecutor, and it doesn't matter: YOU DO NOT THREATEN THE KIDS. Period. And if someone decides to find Mr. Gravel and kick his ass, he deserves that. At the least.
“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.
...
Gravel told FOX News that he doesn’t want people to break the law and that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended — but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials.
“How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldn’t protest. I don’t believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. … Don’t rely on your elected officials,” the former senator said.
Pardon a descent into bad language: chickenshit, miserable, stinking, cowardly little piece of crap. Lets turn this around, shall we? "While I personally wouldn't do it, wouldn't it be an effective way to change the behavior of Mr. Gravel if he were dragged out in the street and beaten with a flagrum? Or used to decorate a lamppost?"
I don't know squat about Gordon Kromberg, the prosecutor, and it doesn't matter: YOU DO NOT THREATEN THE KIDS. Period. And if someone decides to find Mr. Gravel and kick his ass, he deserves that. At the least.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Some things have different effects when you're tired
Or sleep deprived. Breda had a rude awakening from the storm siren. Which, waking you from a sound sleep, can be a bit disturbing.
Few years back had some storms come through that caused a series of small twisters to hopscotch through town. I'd worked 0100-0900, and on the first day back it went like this:
Wake up usual time, around 7-8(no matter what I tried).
Spend day up & around.
Try to take a nap- usually unsuccessfully- before work.
Work.
Since I can't sleep during the day, stay up till 3-4, then go to bed.
So I'd been up from Wednesday morning until almost 4 Thursday afternoon. I'd been asleep for about two hours when the phone rang, mom calling: "There are tornadoes not far from you, is everything ok?" I actually looked up, then said "The ceiling's still there, so yes."
For some reason that was not reassuring to her, so I promised to turn on the weather- which was doing the expected squealing- for a minute and heard they were all north of me, so I looked out the back window. The dogs absolutely hated severe storms, and hid if anything was coming; they were in the back yard playing. So I went back to bed.
Thus ends my storm story.
Few years back had some storms come through that caused a series of small twisters to hopscotch through town. I'd worked 0100-0900, and on the first day back it went like this:
Wake up usual time, around 7-8(no matter what I tried).
Spend day up & around.
Try to take a nap- usually unsuccessfully- before work.
Work.
Since I can't sleep during the day, stay up till 3-4, then go to bed.
So I'd been up from Wednesday morning until almost 4 Thursday afternoon. I'd been asleep for about two hours when the phone rang, mom calling: "There are tornadoes not far from you, is everything ok?" I actually looked up, then said "The ceiling's still there, so yes."
For some reason that was not reassuring to her, so I promised to turn on the weather- which was doing the expected squealing- for a minute and heard they were all north of me, so I looked out the back window. The dogs absolutely hated severe storms, and hid if anything was coming; they were in the back yard playing. So I went back to bed.
Thus ends my storm story.
Since I've been noting a lot of law enforcement BS
over the last few days*, let's now look at the way the NY authorities seem to be acting like political operatives in the Spitzer case:
More than 8,500 pages of Dirty Tricks Scandal documents released yesterday by the Albany district attorney reveal kid-gloves treatment for then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and little interest in aggressively pursuing criminal charges against any of his aides.
The documents, forced into the open by Freedom of Information requests filed by The Post and other news organizations, confirm earlier reports that Albany DA David Soares was reluctant to probe the explosive plot in which Spitzer's top aides used the State Police to gather purportedly damaging information against then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
...
The tone of the interview was also sympathetic and unquestioning, as when Spitzer was asked, "Did you ever direct any type of surveillance by anyone on Senator Bruno?"
Spitzer responded, "Absolutely not," and there was no follow-up questioning.
But Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director, has repeatedly insisted, both publicly and in sworn testimony to the state Public Integrity Commission, that Spitzer was aware that his own top aides were using the State Police to orchestrate a campaign against Bruno.
That Spitzer was allowed to get away with a lot of the crap he pulled before this was bad enough; that he's gotten the kind of treatment he has by the 'authorites' in this disgusting matter is flat horrible. And the people involved ought to be kicked the hell out of their offices.
*Spent a lot of time indoors the last few days; it's been damn hot, and humid enough to make it more miserable.
More than 8,500 pages of Dirty Tricks Scandal documents released yesterday by the Albany district attorney reveal kid-gloves treatment for then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and little interest in aggressively pursuing criminal charges against any of his aides.
The documents, forced into the open by Freedom of Information requests filed by The Post and other news organizations, confirm earlier reports that Albany DA David Soares was reluctant to probe the explosive plot in which Spitzer's top aides used the State Police to gather purportedly damaging information against then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
...
The tone of the interview was also sympathetic and unquestioning, as when Spitzer was asked, "Did you ever direct any type of surveillance by anyone on Senator Bruno?"
Spitzer responded, "Absolutely not," and there was no follow-up questioning.
But Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director, has repeatedly insisted, both publicly and in sworn testimony to the state Public Integrity Commission, that Spitzer was aware that his own top aides were using the State Police to orchestrate a campaign against Bruno.
That Spitzer was allowed to get away with a lot of the crap he pulled before this was bad enough; that he's gotten the kind of treatment he has by the 'authorites' in this disgusting matter is flat horrible. And the people involved ought to be kicked the hell out of their offices.
*Spent a lot of time indoors the last few days; it's been damn hot, and humid enough to make it more miserable.
Let it be noted, you're still not supposed to/allowed to
write things that upset the fundie muslims and their suckups:
After he got the call from Ms. Spellberg, Mr. Amanullah dashed off an email to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students, acknowledging he didn't "know anything about it [the book]," but telling them, "Just got a frantic call from a professor who got an advance copy of the forthcoming novel, 'Jewel of Medina' -- she said she found it incredibly offensive." He added a write-up about the book from the Publishers Marketplace, an industry publication.
The next day, a blogger known as Shahid Pradhan posted Mr. Amanullah's email on a Web site for Shiite Muslims -- "Hussaini Youth" -- under a headline, "upcoming book, 'Jewel of Medina': A new attempt to slander the Prophet of Islam." Two hours and 28 minutes after that, another person by the name of Ali Hemani proposed a seven-point strategy to ensure "the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise all the muslims across the world."
Yup, preemptive calls for apology, etc.
Meanwhile back in New York City, Jane Garrett, an editor at Random House's Knopf imprint, dispatched an email on May 1 to Knopf executives, telling them she got a phone call the evening before from Ms. Spellberg (who happens to be under contract with Knopf to write "Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an.")
"She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the building and staff and widespread violence," Ms. Garrett wrote. "Denise says it is 'a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.' Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons. Does not know if the author and Ballantine folks are clueless or calculating, but thinks the book should be withdrawn ASAP." ("The Jewel of Medina" was to be published by Random House's Ballantine Books.) That day, the email spread like wildfire through Random House, which also received a letter from Ms. Spellberg and her attorney, saying she would sue the publisher if her name was associated with the novel. On May 2, a Ballantine editor told Ms. Jones's agent the company decided to possibly postpone publication of the book.
I understand the company being worried about the situation; I'm also very pissed that the possibility of screaming muslims calling for blood and threatening death is pretty much expected anymore. And that belly-crawling bullcrap, 'declaration of war', etc., is enough to make you puke. "We must not upset them with a work of fiction(or fact, either one) they won't like, as they will call us names. And threaten to kill us."
I'm getting pretty damn tired of the sensitivities of these clowns being used as reason not to publish something. Same group of people have no problem publishing stuff that upsets Christians or Jews or Buddhists or whoever; hell, sometimes they delight in it. ButGodGaia forbid they upset muslims, at least the group that screams and yells and threatens.
After he got the call from Ms. Spellberg, Mr. Amanullah dashed off an email to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students, acknowledging he didn't "know anything about it [the book]," but telling them, "Just got a frantic call from a professor who got an advance copy of the forthcoming novel, 'Jewel of Medina' -- she said she found it incredibly offensive." He added a write-up about the book from the Publishers Marketplace, an industry publication.
The next day, a blogger known as Shahid Pradhan posted Mr. Amanullah's email on a Web site for Shiite Muslims -- "Hussaini Youth" -- under a headline, "upcoming book, 'Jewel of Medina': A new attempt to slander the Prophet of Islam." Two hours and 28 minutes after that, another person by the name of Ali Hemani proposed a seven-point strategy to ensure "the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise all the muslims across the world."
Yup, preemptive calls for apology, etc.
Meanwhile back in New York City, Jane Garrett, an editor at Random House's Knopf imprint, dispatched an email on May 1 to Knopf executives, telling them she got a phone call the evening before from Ms. Spellberg (who happens to be under contract with Knopf to write "Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an.")
"She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the building and staff and widespread violence," Ms. Garrett wrote. "Denise says it is 'a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.' Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons. Does not know if the author and Ballantine folks are clueless or calculating, but thinks the book should be withdrawn ASAP." ("The Jewel of Medina" was to be published by Random House's Ballantine Books.) That day, the email spread like wildfire through Random House, which also received a letter from Ms. Spellberg and her attorney, saying she would sue the publisher if her name was associated with the novel. On May 2, a Ballantine editor told Ms. Jones's agent the company decided to possibly postpone publication of the book.
I understand the company being worried about the situation; I'm also very pissed that the possibility of screaming muslims calling for blood and threatening death is pretty much expected anymore. And that belly-crawling bullcrap, 'declaration of war', etc., is enough to make you puke. "We must not upset them with a work of fiction(or fact, either one) they won't like, as they will call us names. And threaten to kill us."
I'm getting pretty damn tired of the sensitivities of these clowns being used as reason not to publish something. Same group of people have no problem publishing stuff that upsets Christians or Jews or Buddhists or whoever; hell, sometimes they delight in it. But
Couple of thoughts on the anthrax mailing case,
and the suicide of the 'chief suspect':
The fact that he committed suicide doesn't mean guilt; it wouldn't be the first time someone was driven to that out of despair. He might have been guilty, but... considering the record the FBI has compiled on things of this type, I have doubts.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.
In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.
Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.
Put enough pressure on someone's family, you might get them to 'confess' to something just to get relief for the family, and hey! case closed!
The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.
Awww, isn't that a nice, lawyerly way to make excuses for the Bureau?
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a friend and former supervisor of Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said he had heard from other Ivins associates that investigators were going after Ivins' daughter. But Byrne said those conversations were always short because people were afraid to talk.
"The FBI had asked everybody to sign these nondisclosure things," Byrne said. "They didn't want to run afoul of the FBI."
Because the Bureau, like the IRS, can screw you over bigtime regardless of guilt or innocence. Ask the aforementioned Jewell & Hatfill, and God knows how many others.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
Naw, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his suicide, could it?
Questions about the FBI's conduct come as the government takes steps that could signal an end to its investigation. On Wednesday, FBI officials plan to begin briefing family members of victims in the 2001 attacks.
The government is expected to declare the case solved but will keep it open for now, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Several legal and investigatory matters need to be wrapped up before the case can officially be closed, they said.
"Solved but still open", hmmm.
During its focus on Hatfill, the FBI conducted what became known as "bumper lock surveillance," in which investigators trailed Hatfill so closely that he accused agents of running over his foot with their surveillance vehicle.
FBI agents showed up once to videotape Hatfill in a hotel hallway in Tyson's Corner, Va., when Hatfill was meeting with a prospective employer, according to FBI depositions filed in Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. He didn't get the job.
One of the FBI agents who helped run the anthrax investigation, Robert Roth, said FBI Director Robert Mueller had expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation. He also acknowledged that, under FBI guidelines, targets of surveillance aren't supposed to know they're being followed.
"Generally, it's supposed to be covert," Roth told lawyers in Hatfill's lawsuit.
And so on.
I'll admit, I've gotten awfully cynical about much of law enforcement, and the feds in particular; and they've earned it. Look at all the people who've wound up in jail because "We can't prove you committed the crime, but your story wasn't quite the same here and here, so we'll charge you with 'lying to a federal investigator'." Look at the PC bullcrap that's affected terrorism investigations. And look at the cases like this. The FBI is going to have to show actual evidence, some kind of actual proof, before I'll believe this guy was guilty. If he was, if your investigation actually turned up proof, so be it. But if, after all this, they've got nothing but conjecture...
It is unclear how the FBI eliminated as suspects others in the lab who had access to the anthrax. It's not clear what, if any, evidence bolsters the theory that the attacks may have been a twisted effort to test a cure for the toxin. Investigators also can't place Ivins in Princeton, N.J., when the letters were mailed from a mailbox there.
Richard Schuler, attorney for anthrax victim Robert Stevens' widow, Maureen Stevens, said his client will attend Wednesday's FBI briefing with a list of questions.
"No. 1 is, 'Did Bruce Ivins mail the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens?'" Schuler said, adding, "I've got healthy skepticism."
I understand some things need to be kept confidential; I also understand that the FBI needs to be able to look this family in the eye and say "Yes" to that question, and show the evidence. If they can't do that, then they may well have driven an innocent man to suicide in the name of 'Solving the Case and adding Luster to the Bureau'. And there's probably a place in hell for people who do things like that.
The fact that he committed suicide doesn't mean guilt; it wouldn't be the first time someone was driven to that out of despair. He might have been guilty, but... considering the record the FBI has compiled on things of this type, I have doubts.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.
In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.
Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.
Put enough pressure on someone's family, you might get them to 'confess' to something just to get relief for the family, and hey! case closed!
The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.
Awww, isn't that a nice, lawyerly way to make excuses for the Bureau?
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a friend and former supervisor of Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said he had heard from other Ivins associates that investigators were going after Ivins' daughter. But Byrne said those conversations were always short because people were afraid to talk.
"The FBI had asked everybody to sign these nondisclosure things," Byrne said. "They didn't want to run afoul of the FBI."
Because the Bureau, like the IRS, can screw you over bigtime regardless of guilt or innocence. Ask the aforementioned Jewell & Hatfill, and God knows how many others.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
Naw, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his suicide, could it?
Questions about the FBI's conduct come as the government takes steps that could signal an end to its investigation. On Wednesday, FBI officials plan to begin briefing family members of victims in the 2001 attacks.
The government is expected to declare the case solved but will keep it open for now, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Several legal and investigatory matters need to be wrapped up before the case can officially be closed, they said.
"Solved but still open", hmmm.
During its focus on Hatfill, the FBI conducted what became known as "bumper lock surveillance," in which investigators trailed Hatfill so closely that he accused agents of running over his foot with their surveillance vehicle.
FBI agents showed up once to videotape Hatfill in a hotel hallway in Tyson's Corner, Va., when Hatfill was meeting with a prospective employer, according to FBI depositions filed in Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. He didn't get the job.
One of the FBI agents who helped run the anthrax investigation, Robert Roth, said FBI Director Robert Mueller had expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation. He also acknowledged that, under FBI guidelines, targets of surveillance aren't supposed to know they're being followed.
"Generally, it's supposed to be covert," Roth told lawyers in Hatfill's lawsuit.
And so on.
I'll admit, I've gotten awfully cynical about much of law enforcement, and the feds in particular; and they've earned it. Look at all the people who've wound up in jail because "We can't prove you committed the crime, but your story wasn't quite the same here and here, so we'll charge you with 'lying to a federal investigator'." Look at the PC bullcrap that's affected terrorism investigations. And look at the cases like this. The FBI is going to have to show actual evidence, some kind of actual proof, before I'll believe this guy was guilty. If he was, if your investigation actually turned up proof, so be it. But if, after all this, they've got nothing but conjecture...
It is unclear how the FBI eliminated as suspects others in the lab who had access to the anthrax. It's not clear what, if any, evidence bolsters the theory that the attacks may have been a twisted effort to test a cure for the toxin. Investigators also can't place Ivins in Princeton, N.J., when the letters were mailed from a mailbox there.
Richard Schuler, attorney for anthrax victim Robert Stevens' widow, Maureen Stevens, said his client will attend Wednesday's FBI briefing with a list of questions.
"No. 1 is, 'Did Bruce Ivins mail the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens?'" Schuler said, adding, "I've got healthy skepticism."
I understand some things need to be kept confidential; I also understand that the FBI needs to be able to look this family in the eye and say "Yes" to that question, and show the evidence. If they can't do that, then they may well have driven an innocent man to suicide in the name of 'Solving the Case and adding Luster to the Bureau'. And there's probably a place in hell for people who do things like that.
Miserable murdering piece of illegal alien crap
assumes ambient temperature. If I had time, I'd figure out how to have this play Another One Bites The Dust.
You'll notice the article doesn't say 'illegal alien' or anything like it; it says 'Mexican-born.
Now to move on to the others.
You'll notice the article doesn't say 'illegal alien' or anything like it; it says 'Mexican-born.
Now to move on to the others.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
It's about 2200, and it's still almost 90 outside
This last week or so has been fairly nasty. High for the last few days was 107, mostly days the last bit have been at or over 100 and the humidity is high enough to make it even more miserable. God knows how the troops handle 120's with all the armor and gear, and the humidity in much of the region.
One of the nasty things about this? Last couple of years I've had it forced on my attention that I can't handle this kind of heat very well any more. I'm not having the level of trouble Kim does, but where I used to go out and sweat and as long as I drank enough I was fine, now I work a while and then have to find some shade or a cool place to drink and rest.
This getting old stuff sucks.
One of the nasty things about this? Last couple of years I've had it forced on my attention that I can't handle this kind of heat very well any more. I'm not having the level of trouble Kim does, but where I used to go out and sweat and as long as I drank enough I was fine, now I work a while and then have to find some shade or a cool place to drink and rest.
This getting old stuff sucks.
It seems that the building son & unit are moving into
came with a pre-installed insect control system
He added, "They squeak like a mouse at you when they're pissed."
He added, "They squeak like a mouse at you when they're pissed."
a little further on the current Hollywood Blacklist
Breitbart has this post on the mess, including this on page 2:
Mr. Wells - whose unsolicited anti-GOP mass e-mailings have reached my inbox in previous election cycles - responded by doubling down:
"It's been said in this town many times that the right has a debt to pay for the blacklisting of lefties in the '50s, and that in all fairness it's probably going to take a long time to make amends. The fact is that the philosophical grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's right-wingers ruined the lives of many Hollywood screenwriters in the '50s, and so their descendants now have to suffer and make up for that," Mr. Wells wrote in his Hollywood-Elsewhere blog.
Jeffrey, are you aware that Bobby Kennedy was McCarthy's right-hand guy? Or that many Democrats and Republicans were concerned about the verifiable infiltration of Soviet spies into our government and cultural organs? Or that, as Mr. Voight points out, commies were actually mass murderers greatly deserving of our vigilance?
And while I'm at it, will my great-grandchildren point to this incident in 50 years when they attempt to thwart the livelihoods of your progeny? In your mind, do two wrongs make a right?
Those who argue that Mr. Wells' point of view is not representative of a larger mind-set among the Hollywood elite should think back to 2005, when Barbra Streisand publicly canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times for the crime of hiring a conservative to pen editorials a few times a week. That writer, Jonah Goldberg, went on to write the book "Liberal Fascism," which hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Perhaps the title resonated with the masses.
Is it any wonder Jon Voight didn't have his opinions published in a hometown rag?
Mr. Wells - whose unsolicited anti-GOP mass e-mailings have reached my inbox in previous election cycles - responded by doubling down:
"It's been said in this town many times that the right has a debt to pay for the blacklisting of lefties in the '50s, and that in all fairness it's probably going to take a long time to make amends. The fact is that the philosophical grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's right-wingers ruined the lives of many Hollywood screenwriters in the '50s, and so their descendants now have to suffer and make up for that," Mr. Wells wrote in his Hollywood-Elsewhere blog.
Jeffrey, are you aware that Bobby Kennedy was McCarthy's right-hand guy? Or that many Democrats and Republicans were concerned about the verifiable infiltration of Soviet spies into our government and cultural organs? Or that, as Mr. Voight points out, commies were actually mass murderers greatly deserving of our vigilance?
And while I'm at it, will my great-grandchildren point to this incident in 50 years when they attempt to thwart the livelihoods of your progeny? In your mind, do two wrongs make a right?
Those who argue that Mr. Wells' point of view is not representative of a larger mind-set among the Hollywood elite should think back to 2005, when Barbra Streisand publicly canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times for the crime of hiring a conservative to pen editorials a few times a week. That writer, Jonah Goldberg, went on to write the book "Liberal Fascism," which hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Perhaps the title resonated with the masses.
Is it any wonder Jon Voight didn't have his opinions published in a hometown rag?
Remember the two labs shot by the SWAT team
in the raid? There's some followup, including this:
The package was addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife. But law enforcement sources said last week that they are now investigating the possibility that the mayor and his wife were unwitting recipients and that a deliveryman might have intended to intercept the package as part of a drug smuggling scheme.
Isn't it just effin' wonderful that they've decided, AFTER smashing doors, threatening people and killing dogs, that this just might be a possibility?
The package landed on Calvo's doorstep after police posing as deliverymen brought it to the door and Calvo's mother-in-law asked that it be left on the porch. Police recovered the unopened package from the home Tuesday night but made no arrests. Calvo has said he was interrogated for hours while handcuffed and surrounded by the bloody bodies of his dogs.
In other words, they could have walked up when the guy came home and handed him the warrant, etc., but that just wasn't good enough. After all, I guess they needed some door-kicking practice.
A spokesman for the sheriff's office has said that the department regretted the shooting of the dogs but that deputies felt threatened by them. The spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
Yeah, guess they felt very damned threatened by the one that ran away so they had to chase it to shoot it. Anyone surprised they wouldn't return the call?
The package was addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife. But law enforcement sources said last week that they are now investigating the possibility that the mayor and his wife were unwitting recipients and that a deliveryman might have intended to intercept the package as part of a drug smuggling scheme.
Isn't it just effin' wonderful that they've decided, AFTER smashing doors, threatening people and killing dogs, that this just might be a possibility?
The package landed on Calvo's doorstep after police posing as deliverymen brought it to the door and Calvo's mother-in-law asked that it be left on the porch. Police recovered the unopened package from the home Tuesday night but made no arrests. Calvo has said he was interrogated for hours while handcuffed and surrounded by the bloody bodies of his dogs.
In other words, they could have walked up when the guy came home and handed him the warrant, etc., but that just wasn't good enough. After all, I guess they needed some door-kicking practice.
A spokesman for the sheriff's office has said that the department regretted the shooting of the dogs but that deputies felt threatened by them. The spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
Yeah, guess they felt very damned threatened by the one that ran away so they had to chase it to shoot it. Anyone surprised they wouldn't return the call?
Speaking of lines in the sand,
THIS garbage has got to count. Corps of Engineers couldn't be bothered to pass on to new people about the situation, one of their morons tries to prosecute the guy, EPA decides to exercise their power by screwing the guy, a disgusting example of a judge who "instructed the jury, believe it or not, to disregard every bit of information from 1980 to 2002, including the Corps’ denial of jurisdiction and the mandate from local government for Mr. Moses to maintain the flood channel."
And it's not bad enough the EPA just had to do something; they lied.
Worse, Mr. Moses has been convicted of “pollut(ing) a spawning area for Yellowstone cutthroat trout,” despite the fact that there have been no fish in this stream bed for more than 150 years. Mr. Gagner, who has lived near the flood channel for 18 years, says he has never seen fish in this stream bedStepeh. And it’s not even possible for the stream bed to serve as a spawning ground since it only has water two months out of every year in the first place.
Although the director of the EPA in Idaho, Jim Wernitz, asserts that Mr. Moses had damaged “wetlands” associated with the stream, there are no wetlands there! The very word requires that land be, well, wet, but the stream bed is bone dry for at least 10 months out of every year. Wernitz is apparently ignorant of the fact that the Government had previously stipulated that there are no wetlands surrounding the storm channel, nor any “aquatic environment” that could be damaged.
In court. Under oath. With no penalty.
As someone said, how many would blame the man if he decided to do something about some of these people?
And it's not bad enough the EPA just had to do something; they lied.
Worse, Mr. Moses has been convicted of “pollut(ing) a spawning area for Yellowstone cutthroat trout,” despite the fact that there have been no fish in this stream bed for more than 150 years. Mr. Gagner, who has lived near the flood channel for 18 years, says he has never seen fish in this stream bedStepeh. And it’s not even possible for the stream bed to serve as a spawning ground since it only has water two months out of every year in the first place.
Although the director of the EPA in Idaho, Jim Wernitz, asserts that Mr. Moses had damaged “wetlands” associated with the stream, there are no wetlands there! The very word requires that land be, well, wet, but the stream bed is bone dry for at least 10 months out of every year. Wernitz is apparently ignorant of the fact that the Government had previously stipulated that there are no wetlands surrounding the storm channel, nor any “aquatic environment” that could be damaged.
In court. Under oath. With no penalty.
As someone said, how many would blame the man if he decided to do something about some of these people?
Monday, August 04, 2008
This mess
is sad, and if the information here is accurate, was preventable. Here's the key part:
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia heard gunshots that two fellow SWAT team officers fired at pit bulls released from a first-floor back bedroom by drug dealer Anthony Terry, defense attorney Bill Kluge said during opening arguments in Chavalia's trial.
The dogs were released as Chavalia headed upstairs. He saw movement and fired through stairway railings into a second-story bedroom where Wilson was with six children, said Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh.
'...saw movement and fired' into a room. There's a reason for that 'Be sure of your target' part of the basic rules, and this is it.
Remember a few months ago, the moron on a LE board talking about 'suppressing fire' into a house if you're fired at? This is the kind of thing that would lead to. It's one thing for a military unit assaulting an objective to fire at movement: it's a whole 'nother thing for law enforcement officers, in a house where they were told children were present(it'd be bad in any case, worse under that circumstance).
So a woman is dead, a child lost a finger- not counting the blood and terror at the time- and an officer stands a fair chance of losing his career and going to prison. God, what a mess.
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia heard gunshots that two fellow SWAT team officers fired at pit bulls released from a first-floor back bedroom by drug dealer Anthony Terry, defense attorney Bill Kluge said during opening arguments in Chavalia's trial.
The dogs were released as Chavalia headed upstairs. He saw movement and fired through stairway railings into a second-story bedroom where Wilson was with six children, said Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh.
'...saw movement and fired' into a room. There's a reason for that 'Be sure of your target' part of the basic rules, and this is it.
Remember a few months ago, the moron on a LE board talking about 'suppressing fire' into a house if you're fired at? This is the kind of thing that would lead to. It's one thing for a military unit assaulting an objective to fire at movement: it's a whole 'nother thing for law enforcement officers, in a house where they were told children were present(it'd be bad in any case, worse under that circumstance).
So a woman is dead, a child lost a finger- not counting the blood and terror at the time- and an officer stands a fair chance of losing his career and going to prison. God, what a mess.
I've noted east coast and flyover country nonsense
so let's look in granola country:
Over the past 2 1/2 years in Southern California, three people have been killed after trying to stop graffiti vandals in the act. A fourth died after being shot while watching a confrontation between crews in a park.
"We have seen a marked increase in these graffiti-tagging gangs taking to weapons and fighting to protect their walls, their territory, their name," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Rifkin. (bold mine)
This is just friggin' rediculous.
For some taggers, protecting their work is akin to defending their names and their honor.
"If we see someone calling the police, then we target them," said Mario Garcia, 20, who describes himself as a former tagger trying to become a professional artist. "You are trying to stop me from what I live, what I believe in and what I breathe? We are not going to let no one get in the way."
You, Garcia, are a miserable little jerk. You think you have some privilege to damage public and private property, and now you think you have some right to hurt people who object. And, if we're lucky, one of the people you decide to target is going to return a load of buckshot and remove you from their misery.
Artist Dartagnan Curiel, 31, said he used to scrawl graffiti and grew sick of the violence. He now paints murals with positive messages as a way to speak out against the bloodshed in his Los Angeles neighborhood and to encourage graffiti vandals and gang members to lay down their arms.
"Why would you want to put spray paint on a kid's face?" he says. "We live in the same community. We are all in this hellhole together."
Hey, 'artist' dumbass, who helped make it a hellhole?
Over the past 2 1/2 years in Southern California, three people have been killed after trying to stop graffiti vandals in the act. A fourth died after being shot while watching a confrontation between crews in a park.
"We have seen a marked increase in these graffiti-tagging gangs taking to weapons and fighting to protect their walls, their territory, their name," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Rifkin. (bold mine)
This is just friggin' rediculous.
For some taggers, protecting their work is akin to defending their names and their honor.
"If we see someone calling the police, then we target them," said Mario Garcia, 20, who describes himself as a former tagger trying to become a professional artist. "You are trying to stop me from what I live, what I believe in and what I breathe? We are not going to let no one get in the way."
You, Garcia, are a miserable little jerk. You think you have some privilege to damage public and private property, and now you think you have some right to hurt people who object. And, if we're lucky, one of the people you decide to target is going to return a load of buckshot and remove you from their misery.
Artist Dartagnan Curiel, 31, said he used to scrawl graffiti and grew sick of the violence. He now paints murals with positive messages as a way to speak out against the bloodshed in his Los Angeles neighborhood and to encourage graffiti vandals and gang members to lay down their arms.
"Why would you want to put spray paint on a kid's face?" he says. "We live in the same community. We are all in this hellhole together."
Hey, 'artist' dumbass, who helped make it a hellhole?
Ok, at the LEAST these Only Ones
need to be fired. At LEAST.
When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.
When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.
...
However, Ozark police say the wounded boy was a threat.
"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him," Capt. Thomas Rousset said. "He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."
Authorities say their use of a Taser weapon should not be questioned, because they were trying to help Hutchinson to safety.
"It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," Rousset said.
Captain Rousset, you suck. And your officers who did this suck. They should be fired for doing it, and you ought to be fired for this bullcrap defending it, AND for that 'should not be questioned' garbage.
When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.
When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.
...
However, Ozark police say the wounded boy was a threat.
"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him," Capt. Thomas Rousset said. "He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."
Authorities say their use of a Taser weapon should not be questioned, because they were trying to help Hutchinson to safety.
"It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," Rousset said.
Captain Rousset, you suck. And your officers who did this suck. They should be fired for doing it, and you ought to be fired for this bullcrap defending it, AND for that 'should not be questioned' garbage.
So we find out that Rep. McCarthy(Evil Party GFW-NY)
is a liar, as well as screwing people over for daring to cause her difficulty.
The letter made no mention of the 911 call, and in fact, a judge had to order McCarthy’s office to identify the employee who had called 911—after McCarthy had denied any involvement.
And the Chief of Police, who's fairly obviously both sucking up to McCarthy and indulging his own "You civilians are not Only Ones" feelings, does indeed suck:
The police took all of his legally registered guns—nine rifles and 15 handguns, and they also seized his fiancée’s handgun. This despite no statutory authority to do this-- It’s important here to note that this was not a domestic or any other kind of violence incident. Razzano didn’t even get a receipt for the seized property until a week later—after he requested one.
A little over a month after the seizures, he received notice from Chief Anthony Rocco that his pistol license had been revoked. This has been done with no adjudication under “authority” of the chief, who indicated he believed Razzano to be “obsessed with the day laborer situation” and offered his unqualified opinion that Razzano’s actions had raised “concerns” over his “suitability” to have a license.
You could not pay me enough to live in that part of this country.
The letter made no mention of the 911 call, and in fact, a judge had to order McCarthy’s office to identify the employee who had called 911—after McCarthy had denied any involvement.
And the Chief of Police, who's fairly obviously both sucking up to McCarthy and indulging his own "You civilians are not Only Ones" feelings, does indeed suck:
The police took all of his legally registered guns—nine rifles and 15 handguns, and they also seized his fiancée’s handgun. This despite no statutory authority to do this-- It’s important here to note that this was not a domestic or any other kind of violence incident. Razzano didn’t even get a receipt for the seized property until a week later—after he requested one.
A little over a month after the seizures, he received notice from Chief Anthony Rocco that his pistol license had been revoked. This has been done with no adjudication under “authority” of the chief, who indicated he believed Razzano to be “obsessed with the day laborer situation” and offered his unqualified opinion that Razzano’s actions had raised “concerns” over his “suitability” to have a license.
You could not pay me enough to live in that part of this country.
Naw, no slippery slope,
now shut up and hand your guns in.
Cattle station owners and workers throughout remote WA are in a legal stand-off with WA Police in the State Administrative Tribunal after being stripped of their handguns and revolvers, which they say are integral to working and living on the land.
Lawyer Ross Williamson, who is representing the group, said police had taken guns from dozens of people in the past 18 months, including some who worked in water where crocodiles lived and mining prospectors who travelled down shafts into pits with snakes.
...
Mr Williamson said most of the men had had the guns for up to 20 years and were bewildered as to why they were being taken from them under laws introduced after Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.
Det-Sen. Sgt Shane Atkins said police had taken handguns and licences from about 400 people. He said legislation no longer provided for pastoralists to have handguns but stressed the group was not being singled out.
“Some of these people have had firearms for quite a period of time but it is not in compliance with what legislation says at this point in time,” Det-Sen. Sgt Atkins said. He added that other professionals had traditionally held firearms but now could not, citing jewellers as an example.
...
Gindalbie Station owner Steve Tonkin, who still has a handgun he has owned for 27 years, has been told that Kalgoorlie police have a letter requesting he turn in his gun.
He said the lack of trust was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Mr. Tonkin, you better watch it: not only did you have one of those very-politically-incorrect-and-disapproved-by-the-nanny-state handguns, you've now said that their lack of trust in you is 'ridiculous'. You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't matter: you've been told by yourbettersnannies what to do, and they'll be very upset if you cause them problems.
Cattle station owners and workers throughout remote WA are in a legal stand-off with WA Police in the State Administrative Tribunal after being stripped of their handguns and revolvers, which they say are integral to working and living on the land.
Lawyer Ross Williamson, who is representing the group, said police had taken guns from dozens of people in the past 18 months, including some who worked in water where crocodiles lived and mining prospectors who travelled down shafts into pits with snakes.
...
Mr Williamson said most of the men had had the guns for up to 20 years and were bewildered as to why they were being taken from them under laws introduced after Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.
Det-Sen. Sgt Shane Atkins said police had taken handguns and licences from about 400 people. He said legislation no longer provided for pastoralists to have handguns but stressed the group was not being singled out.
“Some of these people have had firearms for quite a period of time but it is not in compliance with what legislation says at this point in time,” Det-Sen. Sgt Atkins said. He added that other professionals had traditionally held firearms but now could not, citing jewellers as an example.
...
Gindalbie Station owner Steve Tonkin, who still has a handgun he has owned for 27 years, has been told that Kalgoorlie police have a letter requesting he turn in his gun.
He said the lack of trust was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Mr. Tonkin, you better watch it: not only did you have one of those very-politically-incorrect-and-disapproved-by-the-nanny-state handguns, you've now said that their lack of trust in you is 'ridiculous'. You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't matter: you've been told by your
The socialists are making another grab
at the kids:
There's too much here for me to take bits out, go take a look at the post and the links.
Moreover, she sees these programs as not helping children, but using subjective behavior or emotional measures to identify children who can be given “the myriad harmful and ineffective psychotropic drugs that are being prescribed to children at alarmingly younger ages.” These mental health screening tests have been shown to incorrectly label large numbers of children and have been shown to have high false positives, she said.
One commonly used screening instrument has a 73% false positive rating, meaning that for every 27 children supposedly correctly identified as having an emotional problem on this screening test that follow admittedly "subjective" criteria that are "value judgments based on culture" according to the Surgeon General, other families are falsely told that something is wrong with their child and referred for further evaluation and treatment which more and more commonly involves ineffective and sometimes lethally dangerous drugs.
There's too much here for me to take bits out, go take a look at the post and the links.
At this point, I think there ought to be an open season on
animal rights weenies:
SANTA CRUZ -- Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.
Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.
And why attempted homicide?
In one incident, a faculty member's home on Village Circle off High Street was intentionally firebombed at about 5:40 a.m., according to police. The residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop.
...
The family was home at the time of the firebombing and the victims, including two young children, escaped on a fire ladder from a second-story window, according to police. One family member suffered injuries during the escape and had to be hospitalized briefly, police said. That bombing is being considered an attempted homicide because the family was home, police said.
That's why.
This isn't the first time these freaks have deliberately tried to kill people. And it won't be the last, and sooner or later they'll manage to kill some of the nasty humans who don't share their views. And with crap like this, they'll probably manage to kill some kids when they do.
In February, masked demonstrators rattled the front door of another UCSC researcher, whose husband chased the intruders away while the researcher protected her children in the back of the Westside home.
'Chasing away' should not be the aim anymore; 'shot while breaking into home' should.
Clark would not say what kind of bombs were used on Saturday, but said this isn't the first time Santa Cruz police have seen them.
"It's consistent with what animal rights people use," Clark said. Police officers described the firebombs as "significantly larger than a Molotov cocktail."
Last year, arsonists filled a milk jug with flammable liquid, inserted a wick on the top and placed it under a police car. In that case, the wick was lit but went out before the bomb blew up.
Yup, just fun-loving, "We care!" people.
And(of course) the answer, according to some politicians, is another law:
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who has been championing legislation to increase civil and criminal penalties in cases where academic researchers are attacked because of their work, said Saturday that he was saddened and surprised by dual firebombings.
But, he added, violence against researchers has been on the rise and while condemning the acts, predicted Saturday's firebombings likely would prompt legislators to move on the bill.
You don't need a new law, dammit, there are already laws on arson and threats and attempted murder; just use those. And put these clowns in prison for a long damn time.
Added: more here
SANTA CRUZ -- Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.
Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.
And why attempted homicide?
In one incident, a faculty member's home on Village Circle off High Street was intentionally firebombed at about 5:40 a.m., according to police. The residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop.
...
The family was home at the time of the firebombing and the victims, including two young children, escaped on a fire ladder from a second-story window, according to police. One family member suffered injuries during the escape and had to be hospitalized briefly, police said. That bombing is being considered an attempted homicide because the family was home, police said.
That's why.
This isn't the first time these freaks have deliberately tried to kill people. And it won't be the last, and sooner or later they'll manage to kill some of the nasty humans who don't share their views. And with crap like this, they'll probably manage to kill some kids when they do.
In February, masked demonstrators rattled the front door of another UCSC researcher, whose husband chased the intruders away while the researcher protected her children in the back of the Westside home.
'Chasing away' should not be the aim anymore; 'shot while breaking into home' should.
Clark would not say what kind of bombs were used on Saturday, but said this isn't the first time Santa Cruz police have seen them.
"It's consistent with what animal rights people use," Clark said. Police officers described the firebombs as "significantly larger than a Molotov cocktail."
Last year, arsonists filled a milk jug with flammable liquid, inserted a wick on the top and placed it under a police car. In that case, the wick was lit but went out before the bomb blew up.
Yup, just fun-loving, "We care!" people.
And(of course) the answer, according to some politicians, is another law:
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who has been championing legislation to increase civil and criminal penalties in cases where academic researchers are attacked because of their work, said Saturday that he was saddened and surprised by dual firebombings.
But, he added, violence against researchers has been on the rise and while condemning the acts, predicted Saturday's firebombings likely would prompt legislators to move on the bill.
You don't need a new law, dammit, there are already laws on arson and threats and attempted murder; just use those. And put these clowns in prison for a long damn time.
Added: more here
The the moron in the black hummer going north on May
Avenue the other day: If you look to your left, you will see what appears to be a lane with yellow lines on each side, and there are arrows pointing to the left painted at intervals; intervals which, amazingly, coincide with places where the curbs are open to allow access to parking lots.
You see, you are supposed to move over into these appropriately-named ‘left-turn lanes’ BEFORE you stop to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before you turn left. That way you do not BLOCK A WHOLE LANE OF TRAFFIC, you moron.
The other day I wrote on that marvelous little bit of truth-telling by the socialists infesting- and often running- the ‘Green’ movement that they don’t want people to become more wealthy, and they really don’t like the idea of people actually getting sources of abundant energy. I think it was Paul Erlich, that “We must act NOW!” dumbass who’s been wrong on every apocalypse he’s predicted, who said something like “Giving people a source of cheap, abundant energy would be like giving a machinegun to a monkey”; they keep insisting we wait on ‘clean alternative energy sources’ because they don’t WANT us to find clean, abundant energy; they want us to keep waiting for the PFM to happen, and they’d prefer we wait forever. After all, they want to keep people in third world countries living in mud and dung huts, spending hours each day finding wood or charcoal to cook with; why would they want us to keep using air conditioners and heaters and computers and all those other conveniences so many of them seem to think we’d be better off without? They tell us they think so; they do it by posting on websites. Which means they’re using electricity and computers and data circuits*, which seems a bit wrong for them, but hey, they’re trying to save us from ourselves so I guess theydemanddeserve some slack.
Also, the ‘more equitable distribution of wealth’ garbage demonstrates that it really is true: the Green movement really is the current home of the Communist Party. The Greens truly are watermelons: green on the outside, red to the core.
Gun show this weekend, and I passed up a very good price on a .351 Winchester rifle. Nice piece, but I just did not want to add one more cartridge into the mix. Factory ammo would be a bit expensive, and adding more dies and brass and bullets to the reloading stuff… barring finding something unique or wonderfully interesting, not gonna do it. I’ve also decided that the one thing I’m still going to plan on buying- assuming I can find one I can afford- is a S&W Model 57 with a 6” barrel. THAT I’d happily add to the mess for.**
Looking at the comments on my post about SWAT teams seeming to make a special point of killing dogs, it strikes me just how much those four-legs affect people. The general responses cover two categories:
1. “I can’t believe they do that! It’s terrible! How CAN they do that?”
2. “Sonsabitches shoot my dog, they’d better watch their back.”
I think this would have to count as one of those lines Kevin speaks of, that are crossed only at peril. And I guarantee, somebody finds the SWAT weenie that killed their dog and either beats the crap out of him or kills him, there’ll be an awful lot of people cheering them. Which is sad on two points: that someone can be pushed to the point that they’ll see the life of a human as fair price for killing their dog, and that some people will deliberately push others to that point.
I’ll add to that last: in some cases, at least I think they must be deliberately pushing it. Take the case in the post: a couple of labs, not exactly attack dogs; one shot as they came in, so you can make the argument that it was being aggressive to protect his pack, but the other was running away, trying to hide. In this culture, it takes a certain kind of person to deliberately follow and kill a dog that’s not a threat. They’ve either got orders to kill the dog and don’t question them, or they’ve turned off all empathy for both the dog and the people.
If you’ve got that kind of mindset added to people who’ll run a no-knock raid without bothering to make sure they’ve got the right people and the right place and a real reason for it, that’s a formula for some of the abuses that’ve been documented. And one of these days that’s going to blow up completely. There’s going to be a raid on a bum tip, or the informant had a grudge against someone, or the wrong damn address and there’s going to be several of a family killed. Or someone, after they’re told “Yes, they smashed your doors in and terrified and threatened your family and killed the dog in front of the kids, but they were following procedure so screw you, stop causing us problems”, decided that since the system won’t do anything, he or she will. And it will get real, real ugly.
And no, I’m not looking forward to it. Not in any way.
Back to the gun show, it’d probably drive the politically correct types even more nuts to see blacks and whites and orientals and indians all roaming around saying the same things:
“What’ve you got there?”
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“How much?” or “What are you asking?” and, in many cases
“Honey, look at this one” and/or
“No, no, you’re not old enough yet.”
*Of course, the Superior Beings taking care of making sure we don’t have any of those nasty corrupting tech things will have to have them; after all, how can theykeep their boot on our neckssave the peasants if they can’t properly controlmonitor them?
**I would, of course, consider an H&H double in .470 reason to add to the mix also; but the chances of my being able to afford that are, let us say, extremely low. Hell, if someone gave me one I don’t know if I could afford to buy much brass for the thing.
And yeas, there might be an exception for a very “OOOOH, Shiny!” moment.
You see, you are supposed to move over into these appropriately-named ‘left-turn lanes’ BEFORE you stop to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before you turn left. That way you do not BLOCK A WHOLE LANE OF TRAFFIC, you moron.
The other day I wrote on that marvelous little bit of truth-telling by the socialists infesting- and often running- the ‘Green’ movement that they don’t want people to become more wealthy, and they really don’t like the idea of people actually getting sources of abundant energy. I think it was Paul Erlich, that “We must act NOW!” dumbass who’s been wrong on every apocalypse he’s predicted, who said something like “Giving people a source of cheap, abundant energy would be like giving a machinegun to a monkey”; they keep insisting we wait on ‘clean alternative energy sources’ because they don’t WANT us to find clean, abundant energy; they want us to keep waiting for the PFM to happen, and they’d prefer we wait forever. After all, they want to keep people in third world countries living in mud and dung huts, spending hours each day finding wood or charcoal to cook with; why would they want us to keep using air conditioners and heaters and computers and all those other conveniences so many of them seem to think we’d be better off without? They tell us they think so; they do it by posting on websites. Which means they’re using electricity and computers and data circuits*, which seems a bit wrong for them, but hey, they’re trying to save us from ourselves so I guess they
Also, the ‘more equitable distribution of wealth’ garbage demonstrates that it really is true: the Green movement really is the current home of the Communist Party. The Greens truly are watermelons: green on the outside, red to the core.
Gun show this weekend, and I passed up a very good price on a .351 Winchester rifle. Nice piece, but I just did not want to add one more cartridge into the mix. Factory ammo would be a bit expensive, and adding more dies and brass and bullets to the reloading stuff… barring finding something unique or wonderfully interesting, not gonna do it. I’ve also decided that the one thing I’m still going to plan on buying- assuming I can find one I can afford- is a S&W Model 57 with a 6” barrel. THAT I’d happily add to the mess for.**
Looking at the comments on my post about SWAT teams seeming to make a special point of killing dogs, it strikes me just how much those four-legs affect people. The general responses cover two categories:
1. “I can’t believe they do that! It’s terrible! How CAN they do that?”
2. “Sonsabitches shoot my dog, they’d better watch their back.”
I think this would have to count as one of those lines Kevin speaks of, that are crossed only at peril. And I guarantee, somebody finds the SWAT weenie that killed their dog and either beats the crap out of him or kills him, there’ll be an awful lot of people cheering them. Which is sad on two points: that someone can be pushed to the point that they’ll see the life of a human as fair price for killing their dog, and that some people will deliberately push others to that point.
I’ll add to that last: in some cases, at least I think they must be deliberately pushing it. Take the case in the post: a couple of labs, not exactly attack dogs; one shot as they came in, so you can make the argument that it was being aggressive to protect his pack, but the other was running away, trying to hide. In this culture, it takes a certain kind of person to deliberately follow and kill a dog that’s not a threat. They’ve either got orders to kill the dog and don’t question them, or they’ve turned off all empathy for both the dog and the people.
If you’ve got that kind of mindset added to people who’ll run a no-knock raid without bothering to make sure they’ve got the right people and the right place and a real reason for it, that’s a formula for some of the abuses that’ve been documented. And one of these days that’s going to blow up completely. There’s going to be a raid on a bum tip, or the informant had a grudge against someone, or the wrong damn address and there’s going to be several of a family killed. Or someone, after they’re told “Yes, they smashed your doors in and terrified and threatened your family and killed the dog in front of the kids, but they were following procedure so screw you, stop causing us problems”, decided that since the system won’t do anything, he or she will. And it will get real, real ugly.
And no, I’m not looking forward to it. Not in any way.
Back to the gun show, it’d probably drive the politically correct types even more nuts to see blacks and whites and orientals and indians all roaming around saying the same things:
“What’ve you got there?”
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“How much?” or “What are you asking?” and, in many cases
“Honey, look at this one” and/or
“No, no, you’re not old enough yet.”
*Of course, the Superior Beings taking care of making sure we don’t have any of those nasty corrupting tech things will have to have them; after all, how can they
**I would, of course, consider an H&H double in .470 reason to add to the mix also; but the chances of my being able to afford that are, let us say, extremely low. Hell, if someone gave me one I don’t know if I could afford to buy much brass for the thing.
And yeas, there might be an exception for a very “OOOOH, Shiny!” moment.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
So the People's Republic of China is acting like the
PRC; nobody should be surprised.
Years ago, the Chinese government promised there would be open access to the Internet during the games. This despite the fact that the Chinese Internet is designed to be easily monitored by a huge (over 30,000 people) bureaucracy that does nothing but monitor Internet use (and imprisons those who say anything the state does not approve of.)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologized to member nations for China's failure to allow free access to the Internet during the games. The IOC is meeting with Chinese officials to try and resolve this matter.
Yeah, the PRC is just shaking in their shoes at the thought of the IOC being upset with them. This is real simple: the PRC lied. They had no intention of allowing open access.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are trying to figure out what the Chinese are up to here, as none of the facts presented so far fit together.
I realize I'm just a dummy from flyover country; but if I can figure this out, why can't the boobs at the IOC? Or anywhere else?
In one of the Matt Helm books, Helm tells someone he was amazed at the shock and outrage when the Soviets shot down KLA flight 007; near as I can recall the line was "They're a communist dictatorship, and they acted like one; so why was anybody surprised?" Well, the PRC is a commie dictatorship, too; so why is anybody surprised they're acting like one?
Years ago, the Chinese government promised there would be open access to the Internet during the games. This despite the fact that the Chinese Internet is designed to be easily monitored by a huge (over 30,000 people) bureaucracy that does nothing but monitor Internet use (and imprisons those who say anything the state does not approve of.)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologized to member nations for China's failure to allow free access to the Internet during the games. The IOC is meeting with Chinese officials to try and resolve this matter.
Yeah, the PRC is just shaking in their shoes at the thought of the IOC being upset with them. This is real simple: the PRC lied. They had no intention of allowing open access.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are trying to figure out what the Chinese are up to here, as none of the facts presented so far fit together.
I realize I'm just a dummy from flyover country; but if I can figure this out, why can't the boobs at the IOC? Or anywhere else?
In one of the Matt Helm books, Helm tells someone he was amazed at the shock and outrage when the Soviets shot down KLA flight 007; near as I can recall the line was "They're a communist dictatorship, and they acted like one; so why was anybody surprised?" Well, the PRC is a commie dictatorship, too; so why is anybody surprised they're acting like one?
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