cow:
Putin, Russia's most powerful politician who now serves as prime minister, said Washington's decision to scrap the antimissile plans of George W. Bush's administration was a correct and brave decision.
...
Putin told an investment forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi he now expected further steps from Washington including the complete removal of all trade restrictions and full U.S. backing for a joint bid by Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"The latest decisions by President Obama to cancel plans to build the third positioning region of the missile-defense system in Europe inspires hope and I do anticipate that this correct and brave decision will be followed by others," Putin said.
Any guesses/bets on what Pres. Obama(a.k.a. 'Dumbass') will give on next?
As to the 'new' system that will replace this one,
So excuse me if I don’t buy this “redefinition” of the threat the Obama administration is claiming is better addressed by its focus on short and medium range Iranian missiles. Any defense against missiles is a layered defense. That means you address all possible missile threats.
The fact remains that the only threat to Europe, for whom the Bush-era anti-missile shield was intended, is ballistic missiles. Iran (or Russia) must use them to reach that continent. Iranian short and medium range missiles are not a threat Europe.
The point, of course, is should Iran develop an ICBM, Europe would be defenseless because the systems which are designed for the short and medium range missiles aren’t designed to go after ICBMs.
Or said another way, the proper announcement would have been “the US is adding the missing two layers to the anti-missile defense system, thereby making the system complete.”
Instead we pulled the long-range system. Why?
So now politicians who had no problem standing at a podium and announcing "The war is lost" when Bush was President are demanding we have to back Obama on this or 'it will damage his ability to deal with other nations', which apparently wasn't important when Reid and Pelosi and Obama were screwing our troops in the field a while back.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
This case had to be a setup by CAIR
A popular national chain of clothing stores is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly not hiring a Muslim Tulsa teenager because she wears a hijab, a religiously mandated head scarf.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Abercrombie & Fitch in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, modified in 1991, as the basis for the action.
The suit says that Samantha Elauf, 17, applied in June 2008 for a sales job at the Abercrombie Kids store in Woodland Hills Mall.
A district manager allegedly told her that the hijab, which Elauf wears in observance of her religious beliefs, did not fit the store's image.
"Defendant refused to hire Ms. Elauf because she wears a hijab, claiming that the wearing of headgear was prohibited by its Look Policy, and, further, failed to accommodate her religious beliefs by making an exception to the Look Policy," the lawsuit states.
A: If she's a devout muslim, why the hell would she want to work at that place?
B: I'd imagine the rules for employees are laid out; if you don't like them, why want to work
there? Unless you're setting them up for the suit.
C: This fits what CAIR & Co. have done other places; try to force a business to change the rules to accommodate muslims.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Abercrombie & Fitch in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, modified in 1991, as the basis for the action.
The suit says that Samantha Elauf, 17, applied in June 2008 for a sales job at the Abercrombie Kids store in Woodland Hills Mall.
A district manager allegedly told her that the hijab, which Elauf wears in observance of her religious beliefs, did not fit the store's image.
"Defendant refused to hire Ms. Elauf because she wears a hijab, claiming that the wearing of headgear was prohibited by its Look Policy, and, further, failed to accommodate her religious beliefs by making an exception to the Look Policy," the lawsuit states.
A: If she's a devout muslim, why the hell would she want to work at that place?
B: I'd imagine the rules for employees are laid out; if you don't like them, why want to work
there? Unless you're setting them up for the suit.
C: This fits what CAIR & Co. have done other places; try to force a business to change the rules to accommodate muslims.
Riehl asks "What is Olympia Snowe smoking?"
I don't know, but this attempt to blow smoke up our kilts... she either thinks nobody pays attention or thinks she can lie and not be called on it. As to her not changing,
But the first part? Senator Snowe, you lie. I have seen your American Conservative Union rating. Your lifetime score is 47.88%, and your 2008 score of TWELVE PERCENT. That's one heck of a change.
And how does that $787 billion stimulus bill that you, Arlen Specter (still a Republican at the time) and Susan Collins voted for embody limited government and fiscal responsibility?
Snowe is just another RHINO squish.
But the first part? Senator Snowe, you lie. I have seen your American Conservative Union rating. Your lifetime score is 47.88%, and your 2008 score of TWELVE PERCENT. That's one heck of a change.
And how does that $787 billion stimulus bill that you, Arlen Specter (still a Republican at the time) and Susan Collins voted for embody limited government and fiscal responsibility?
Snowe is just another RHINO squish.
House guests and lathe progress
not connected, just same time period.
Ex and daughter are at a con in Texas, and so I have these two here for the weekend
Xoco, on top, no longer looks like a bobblehead, and Rhapsody has grown considerable. Her right ear tends to stand up and the left is folded about halfway. Most of the time. And they think Security Staff is going to eat them. I haven't had to resort to duct tape as yet, but the roll is handy.
The 'chance of showers tonight, becoming partly cloudy tomorrow' turned into dry overnight and it's raining lightly off & on now. Dammit. I had some mowing to do, but unless it stops now and the stuff dries by afternoon, I can forget that.
The lathe bits came in a couple of days ago, and so did the books. "How to run a lathe" has been started, and it's exactly what I needed: "You don't know anything, so here's how you start". The bit that came with the thing it turns out is a right-cut, and I needed a left-cut, so I took one of the new bits and ground it yesterday and tried it out. Instead of a wheel, I used the belt grinder, on one of the rollers so I had a hard surface with a square corner. It does grind on a curve so you have to shift it back & forth a bit to keep it flat, but did a nice job on that tool steel; then used a diamond stone to hone and polish it. On aluminum it cut beautifully, so I guess I got the angles and spindle speed right. Angles thanks to the book, which has very good drawings and explanations.
I need to get some delrin and brass rods for making punches. And when I have time I'm going to figure out the gears for some thread setting and try that out on pvc(thanks to Og for that suggestion) and find out what I'm doing before I try it on steel. I did find a lube hole in the housing for the backgears, so can take care of that. And I may make a handle for the hand wheel that advances the compound along the bed. Get a spindle for the tailstock(eventually) that's threaded to hold a chuck so I can center-drill pieces. Damn, I wish I'd had this for knife pommels and such years ago.
I think it stopped raining. It was a given that it would rain since the state fair opened the other day. Standard rule here: you can be in the midst of the worst drought in memory, but when the fair gets here it WILL rain. Often a lot.
Aw, crap. Metrosexuals have discovered the canteen. "...woven canvas, leather trim, and fitted with retro-chic metal grommets" for God's sake. Over here you can get an actual insulated arctic canteen(with cover) for $22.50 and shipping. Or for actual water carry, a 2-quart with cover for $17.50. Of course, they don't have anything retro-chic about them, but...
Crap, it's raining again.
Unrelated to any of the above, I've got a mold that throws 125-grain .38 roundnose bullets, which- except for targets- are just about useless; it's a lousy profile for small game or self-defense. And it's a bit too small diameter for the .38S&W. So I tried something: I set the drill press vise in the bench vise so the jaws were horizontal, set a bullet in and gave it a half-turn, producing a flat-nose bullet. According to the caliper it didn't expand the body, so gave another half-turn; body expansion, not exact in all dimensions(no surprise) but fairly consistent. I'm going to make a batch of these up to try out. For exact diameter you could drill a hole in a 3/8" steel plate and ream it to the exact diameter you want(adjustable reamers are inexpensive at Harbor Freight), set the bullet in and then squeeze it. I'd lube it first, as that'd help keep the lube grooves from getting too squished and probably help remove the bullet. I've got a reamer set, so I need to find some suitable plate. I've got some spring stock that thick, and it's annealed so shouldn't be too hard to cut a suitable rectangle.
If you had a suitable press, maybe a big, heavy-duty drill press, you could make a nose punch with a point; then, if you could make a jig to hold the plate centered you could produce flat-nose hollowpoints. If nothing else, out of a .38 Special or .357 rifle they'd really do a job on rabbits and such.
Ex and daughter are at a con in Texas, and so I have these two here for the weekend
Xoco, on top, no longer looks like a bobblehead, and Rhapsody has grown considerable. Her right ear tends to stand up and the left is folded about halfway. Most of the time. And they think Security Staff is going to eat them. I haven't had to resort to duct tape as yet, but the roll is handy.The 'chance of showers tonight, becoming partly cloudy tomorrow' turned into dry overnight and it's raining lightly off & on now. Dammit. I had some mowing to do, but unless it stops now and the stuff dries by afternoon, I can forget that.
The lathe bits came in a couple of days ago, and so did the books. "How to run a lathe" has been started, and it's exactly what I needed: "You don't know anything, so here's how you start". The bit that came with the thing it turns out is a right-cut, and I needed a left-cut, so I took one of the new bits and ground it yesterday and tried it out. Instead of a wheel, I used the belt grinder, on one of the rollers so I had a hard surface with a square corner. It does grind on a curve so you have to shift it back & forth a bit to keep it flat, but did a nice job on that tool steel; then used a diamond stone to hone and polish it. On aluminum it cut beautifully, so I guess I got the angles and spindle speed right. Angles thanks to the book, which has very good drawings and explanations.
I need to get some delrin and brass rods for making punches. And when I have time I'm going to figure out the gears for some thread setting and try that out on pvc(thanks to Og for that suggestion) and find out what I'm doing before I try it on steel. I did find a lube hole in the housing for the backgears, so can take care of that. And I may make a handle for the hand wheel that advances the compound along the bed. Get a spindle for the tailstock(eventually) that's threaded to hold a chuck so I can center-drill pieces. Damn, I wish I'd had this for knife pommels and such years ago.
I think it stopped raining. It was a given that it would rain since the state fair opened the other day. Standard rule here: you can be in the midst of the worst drought in memory, but when the fair gets here it WILL rain. Often a lot.
Aw, crap. Metrosexuals have discovered the canteen. "...woven canvas, leather trim, and fitted with retro-chic metal grommets" for God's sake. Over here you can get an actual insulated arctic canteen(with cover) for $22.50 and shipping. Or for actual water carry, a 2-quart with cover for $17.50. Of course, they don't have anything retro-chic about them, but...
Crap, it's raining again.
Unrelated to any of the above, I've got a mold that throws 125-grain .38 roundnose bullets, which- except for targets- are just about useless; it's a lousy profile for small game or self-defense. And it's a bit too small diameter for the .38S&W. So I tried something: I set the drill press vise in the bench vise so the jaws were horizontal, set a bullet in and gave it a half-turn, producing a flat-nose bullet. According to the caliper it didn't expand the body, so gave another half-turn; body expansion, not exact in all dimensions(no surprise) but fairly consistent. I'm going to make a batch of these up to try out. For exact diameter you could drill a hole in a 3/8" steel plate and ream it to the exact diameter you want(adjustable reamers are inexpensive at Harbor Freight), set the bullet in and then squeeze it. I'd lube it first, as that'd help keep the lube grooves from getting too squished and probably help remove the bullet. I've got a reamer set, so I need to find some suitable plate. I've got some spring stock that thick, and it's annealed so shouldn't be too hard to cut a suitable rectangle.
If you had a suitable press, maybe a big, heavy-duty drill press, you could make a nose punch with a point; then, if you could make a jig to hold the plate centered you could produce flat-nose hollowpoints. If nothing else, out of a .38 Special or .357 rifle they'd really do a job on rabbits and such.
Friday, September 18, 2009
From where Great Britain used to be, let's start with a truly dumbass cop
shooting someone in a classroom demonstration:
PC David Micklethwaite, 52, blasted telephone operator Keith Tilbury at point blank range after mistakenly loading a live round into a 'Dirty Harry' style .44 Magnum revolver.
They had a Model 29?
He shot Mr Tilbury while attempting to show civilian recruits how the chamber spins in a Magnum made famous by Clint Eastwood.
Because he was the Only One in the room qualified...
When he reached into a Quality Street tin Thames Valley's armourers used to keep assorted ammunition,(a lot of you are cringing at this point) he grabbed a live round.
He then took the Magnum .44 out of a holdall in order to demonstrate the difference between a revolver and a pistol, loading what he thought was a dummy round into the chamber.
Mr Tilbury, a former electronic defence industry worker who had shot in the Berkshire County rifle team, later told investigators he saw Micklethwaite aiming the weapon at him(Good grief!).
'I was getting up to move from my chair to move when I heard two clicks and then a loud bang.' As Mr Tilbury's classmates looked on in horror, he was thrown back onto the chair and collapsed to the floor.
Leaving behind this example of Prime, Grade A idiocy, we move on to
A mother and her disabled daughter died in a blazing car after police decided a campaign of terror against them by local yobs was not worth prosecuting, an inquest heard yesterday.
Fiona Pilkington, her family and neighbours asked for help more than 30 times but she was accused of 'overreacting'.
And just what, in their wisdom, was not worth prosecuting?
The yobs, some as young as ten, threw stones and eggs at her home in Barwell, Leicestershire, urinated on a wall, invaded the garden and pushed fireworks through the letter box, leaving the family 'under siege'.
Anthony was beaten up in the street and locked in a shed at knifepoint.
The final call to police came on the day of Miss Pilkington's death in October 2007, when she was told to 'ignore' girls trampling over her hedge and mocking Francecca, who had developmental delay and a mental age of four.
Whiskey Tango Bleepin' Foxtrot?
Yesterday coroner Olivia Davison put a series of searching questions to Chris Tew, who was then assistant chief constable of Leicestershire Police.
She said it must have been 'common sense' to want to help a family who were feeling 'victimised'.
Mr Tew, now retired, said: 'Anti-social behaviour often occurs in residential areas when no actual crime is being committed. There's no damage or assault and it doesn't pass the threshold for a crime.'
So. Really. So in (fG)Britain nowadays, trespassing and property damage being beaten and assault with a deadly weapon(let me note, I think that over here in Dodge City Land forcing someone to go somewhere at knifepoint could be considered kidnapping, for that matter) and so forth don't count as 'damage or assault' and 'don't pass the threshold for a crime'.
Shit.
'It must be a motivating factor in being a police officer to stop a situation like this...So I wonder why someone did not decide this needed to be stopped?'
Mr Tew replied: 'I cannot answer that, sorry.' He said it was ' unfortunate' police had not linked Miss Pilkington's calls. An investigation had found 'too many cases were closed without further contact or additional resources offered'.
'Unfortunate'. Yeah, that's the word.
The inquest heard that none of the 16-strong gang was ever prosecuted. At one point one told Miss Pilkington: 'We can do anything we like to you and you can't do anything about it'.
Because the British government and police are apparently not worth shit in the case of plain citiz- excuse me, subjects of the Crown being threatened and attacked and having their homes damaged.
And finally, to some more of that wonderful National Health Service:
Two care workers who covered a dementia sufferer’s mouth with sticky tape to keep him quiet were convicted of assault yesterday.
Derek Maynard, 89, had a three-inch piece of Sellotape placed over his mouth because he had made a fuss about wanting to go to bed.
And, for my conclusion,
A young woman died in hospital after waiting almost two hours for a blood transfusion that could have saved her.
Sally Thompson, 20, bled to death after a doctor accidentally punctured her jugular vein during a bungled procedure.
Despite an urgent request to the blood bank at Manchester Royal Infirmary, she died one hour and 45 minutes later, before any arrived.
...
they sent an order down for blood but the bank said they were having trouble finding any crossmatched blood because of her disorder.'
I'm going to go into a bit of bitching here. 'Way back in the Cretaceous when I worked at the blood bank in Lawton, I was on call every other week. One of the hospitals in town needed blood, they'd call and I'd be paged. We kept a list of our own inventory plus what the hospitals had, so I'd go wherever and get it and take it over. In an emergency- for instance, someone bleeding out and needing desperately blood we didn't have, I'd call the nearest places that might have it, find it, and if I couldn't get it in time, or it was too far away, we called the Highway Patrol for an emergency pickup and delivery; they'd call the nearest trooper, by the time he got to the hospital or blood bank office it'd be packed and ready, and they went. If it crossed county or district lines, another trooper would be waiting, they'd move it over and blow. If no trooper available for a stretch, they could usually get the local sheriff's office to relay it. They'd hit the ER door and run it to the lab, where a quick & dirty check was done to make sure it could be used and in it went.
That was in the 1970's, in southwest Oklahoma; we got it done. And yet the National Health Service couldn't manage to.
'No crossmatched or uncrossmatched O-negative blood was supplied, despite it being requested during the resuscitation, and this was a significant failure,' Mr Meadows said.
No SHIT?
I've got a friend who accuses me of cherrypicking bad stories about health care in Britan(he loves the idea of socialized medicine); I keep telling him all I have to do is pull up the British news sites and the stuff is there. All the damn time. Jeez, what a mess.
PC David Micklethwaite, 52, blasted telephone operator Keith Tilbury at point blank range after mistakenly loading a live round into a 'Dirty Harry' style .44 Magnum revolver.
They had a Model 29?
He shot Mr Tilbury while attempting to show civilian recruits how the chamber spins in a Magnum made famous by Clint Eastwood.
Because he was the Only One in the room qualified...
When he reached into a Quality Street tin Thames Valley's armourers used to keep assorted ammunition,(a lot of you are cringing at this point) he grabbed a live round.
He then took the Magnum .44 out of a holdall in order to demonstrate the difference between a revolver and a pistol, loading what he thought was a dummy round into the chamber.
Mr Tilbury, a former electronic defence industry worker who had shot in the Berkshire County rifle team, later told investigators he saw Micklethwaite aiming the weapon at him(Good grief!).
'I was getting up to move from my chair to move when I heard two clicks and then a loud bang.' As Mr Tilbury's classmates looked on in horror, he was thrown back onto the chair and collapsed to the floor.
Leaving behind this example of Prime, Grade A idiocy, we move on to
A mother and her disabled daughter died in a blazing car after police decided a campaign of terror against them by local yobs was not worth prosecuting, an inquest heard yesterday.
Fiona Pilkington, her family and neighbours asked for help more than 30 times but she was accused of 'overreacting'.
And just what, in their wisdom, was not worth prosecuting?
The yobs, some as young as ten, threw stones and eggs at her home in Barwell, Leicestershire, urinated on a wall, invaded the garden and pushed fireworks through the letter box, leaving the family 'under siege'.
Anthony was beaten up in the street and locked in a shed at knifepoint.
The final call to police came on the day of Miss Pilkington's death in October 2007, when she was told to 'ignore' girls trampling over her hedge and mocking Francecca, who had developmental delay and a mental age of four.
Whiskey Tango Bleepin' Foxtrot?
Yesterday coroner Olivia Davison put a series of searching questions to Chris Tew, who was then assistant chief constable of Leicestershire Police.
She said it must have been 'common sense' to want to help a family who were feeling 'victimised'.
Mr Tew, now retired, said: 'Anti-social behaviour often occurs in residential areas when no actual crime is being committed. There's no damage or assault and it doesn't pass the threshold for a crime.'
So. Really. So in (fG)Britain nowadays, trespassing and property damage being beaten and assault with a deadly weapon(let me note, I think that over here in Dodge City Land forcing someone to go somewhere at knifepoint could be considered kidnapping, for that matter) and so forth don't count as 'damage or assault' and 'don't pass the threshold for a crime'.
Shit.
'It must be a motivating factor in being a police officer to stop a situation like this...So I wonder why someone did not decide this needed to be stopped?'
Mr Tew replied: 'I cannot answer that, sorry.' He said it was ' unfortunate' police had not linked Miss Pilkington's calls. An investigation had found 'too many cases were closed without further contact or additional resources offered'.
'Unfortunate'. Yeah, that's the word.
The inquest heard that none of the 16-strong gang was ever prosecuted. At one point one told Miss Pilkington: 'We can do anything we like to you and you can't do anything about it'.
Because the British government and police are apparently not worth shit in the case of plain citiz- excuse me, subjects of the Crown being threatened and attacked and having their homes damaged.
And finally, to some more of that wonderful National Health Service:
Two care workers who covered a dementia sufferer’s mouth with sticky tape to keep him quiet were convicted of assault yesterday.
Derek Maynard, 89, had a three-inch piece of Sellotape placed over his mouth because he had made a fuss about wanting to go to bed.
And, for my conclusion,
A young woman died in hospital after waiting almost two hours for a blood transfusion that could have saved her.
Sally Thompson, 20, bled to death after a doctor accidentally punctured her jugular vein during a bungled procedure.
Despite an urgent request to the blood bank at Manchester Royal Infirmary, she died one hour and 45 minutes later, before any arrived.
...
they sent an order down for blood but the bank said they were having trouble finding any crossmatched blood because of her disorder.'
I'm going to go into a bit of bitching here. 'Way back in the Cretaceous when I worked at the blood bank in Lawton, I was on call every other week. One of the hospitals in town needed blood, they'd call and I'd be paged. We kept a list of our own inventory plus what the hospitals had, so I'd go wherever and get it and take it over. In an emergency- for instance, someone bleeding out and needing desperately blood we didn't have, I'd call the nearest places that might have it, find it, and if I couldn't get it in time, or it was too far away, we called the Highway Patrol for an emergency pickup and delivery; they'd call the nearest trooper, by the time he got to the hospital or blood bank office it'd be packed and ready, and they went. If it crossed county or district lines, another trooper would be waiting, they'd move it over and blow. If no trooper available for a stretch, they could usually get the local sheriff's office to relay it. They'd hit the ER door and run it to the lab, where a quick & dirty check was done to make sure it could be used and in it went.
That was in the 1970's, in southwest Oklahoma; we got it done. And yet the National Health Service couldn't manage to.
'No crossmatched or uncrossmatched O-negative blood was supplied, despite it being requested during the resuscitation, and this was a significant failure,' Mr Meadows said.
No SHIT?
I've got a friend who accuses me of cherrypicking bad stories about health care in Britan(he loves the idea of socialized medicine); I keep telling him all I have to do is pull up the British news sites and the stuff is there. All the damn time. Jeez, what a mess.
Why we don't trust the "Illegals won't get health care
under this bill" crap:
Maddow then played an audio clip of Section 246 from the bill. This section, which liberals keep brandishing like a DNA-stained dress, states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
In other words, illegal aliens are excluded from precisely one section of the thousand-page, goodie-laden health care bill: Section 246, which distributes taxpayer-funded "affordability credits" to people who can't afford to pay for their own health care.
Even this minor restriction on taxpayer largesse to illegals will immediately be overturned by the courts. But the point is: Except for vouchers, the bill does not even pretend to exclude illegals from any part of national health care -- including the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan.
The current post
Maddow then played an audio clip of Section 246 from the bill. This section, which liberals keep brandishing like a DNA-stained dress, states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
In other words, illegal aliens are excluded from precisely one section of the thousand-page, goodie-laden health care bill: Section 246, which distributes taxpayer-funded "affordability credits" to people who can't afford to pay for their own health care.
Even this minor restriction on taxpayer largesse to illegals will immediately be overturned by the courts. But the point is: Except for vouchers, the bill does not even pretend to exclude illegals from any part of national health care -- including the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan.
The current post
Why we don't trust the "Illegals won't get health care
under this bill" crap:
Maddow then played an audio clip of Section 246 from the bill. This section, which liberals keep brandishing like a DNA-stained dress, states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
In other words, illegal aliens are excluded from precisely one section of the thousand-page, goodie-laden health care bill: Section 246, which distributes taxpayer-funded "affordability credits" to people who can't afford to pay for their own health care.
Even this minor restriction on taxpayer largesse to illegals will immediately be overturned by the courts. But the point is: Except for vouchers, the bill does not even pretend to exclude illegals from any part of national health care -- including the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan.
Maddow then played an audio clip of Section 246 from the bill. This section, which liberals keep brandishing like a DNA-stained dress, states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
In other words, illegal aliens are excluded from precisely one section of the thousand-page, goodie-laden health care bill: Section 246, which distributes taxpayer-funded "affordability credits" to people who can't afford to pay for their own health care.
Even this minor restriction on taxpayer largesse to illegals will immediately be overturned by the courts. But the point is: Except for vouchers, the bill does not even pretend to exclude illegals from any part of national health care -- including the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan.
And why should WE trust these people?
'Beliefs and commitments' of nation's leader should supersede judges - The interpretation of federal law should be made not by judges but by the beliefs and commitments of the U.S. president and those around him, according to President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein.
That whole 'separation of powers' thing just doesn't seem important to them, does it?
That whole 'separation of powers' thing just doesn't seem important to them, does it?
Gee, I just don't understand why allies(current and potential) don't trust
Obama...
The United Nations Human Rights Council, a putrid perversion of every high ideal upon which it was founded, has issued a report calling the Israelis war criminals. The HRC has also, in obedience to the wishes of Chávez and Castro, ejected the representative from Honduras. In the very week the U.N. has committed these outrages, the Obama administration has announced that the United States, which quit the organization in 2006, will rejoin. Brilliant.
And from Weasel Zippers,
The United Nations Human Rights Council, a putrid perversion of every high ideal upon which it was founded, has issued a report calling the Israelis war criminals. The HRC has also, in obedience to the wishes of Chávez and Castro, ejected the representative from Honduras. In the very week the U.N. has committed these outrages, the Obama administration has announced that the United States, which quit the organization in 2006, will rejoin. Brilliant.
And from Weasel Zippers,
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries.
"Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back,"the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page.Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama's new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.
An editorial in Hospodarske Novine, a respected pro-business Czech newspaper, said: "an ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid."
The move has raised fears in the two nations they are being marginalized by Washington even as a resurgent Russia leaves them longing for added American protection.
Is Britain still a sovereign state?
Denis MacShane, a former Europe minister, has claimed that just nine per cent of UK laws derive from Brussels and based this on research by the House of Commons Library of the number of Statutory Instruments through which most regulations are now enacted. However, this ignored the fact that many EU rules take direct effect. The Lithuanian government, which has been counting since it joined in 2005, reckons the amount of laws affecting it directly attributable to the EU is about 30 per cent.
According to research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), there are currently 16,980 EU acts in force and between 1998 and 2007 there was a net gain of 9,415 EU laws. In 2007, 3,010 EU laws became UK law, while only 993 EU regulations were repealed - a net gain of 2,017 extra laws.
The pace at which new EU laws were promulgated also increased at a record speed, with a net gain of over 2,000 new laws in both 2006 and 2007, compared to an annual average net gain of only 942 new laws between 1998 and 2007. Almost half of the extra 9,415 EU laws created in the 10 years to the end of 2007 were introduced in 2006 and 2007. Ben Farrugia, a policy analyst at the TPA, says: “Despite EU rhetoric about reducing regulation, it is growing at a record rate.”
Our Immigration Department: is there anything they can't crap up?
A Marine's Japanese widow is fighting to raise her son in the nation her husband died protecting. Hotaru Ferschke and Sgt. Michael Ferschke had a proxy wedding, filing marriage papers after he deployed. He was killed in Iraq. Now U.S. immigration refuses to acknowledge the marriage.
These bastards... Go to Blackfive for the rest.
These bastards... Go to Blackfive for the rest.
I wonder how long it'll take to hear the PM of Poland called racist
for not taking calls from President Obama's underlings? I mean, c'mon, I know you'd rather he had the balls to tell you directly but don't you know those people work for The One?
Not only did the timing suck, but the New York Effing Times can't make up its mind:
UPDATE: The NYT reports on the unfortunate timing as well.
SECOND UPDATE: The NYT story linked above no longer makes reference to the timing, but this other NYT story does.
ACORN: the criminals that keep on stealing and helping illegals:
GOP California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now wants an investigation. But neither the Terminator nor any other California public officials raised a peep when the very same San Diego ACORN office publicly announced a partnership with Citibank to secure home loans for illegal aliens. In 2005, Citibank and ACORN Housing Corporation – which has received tens of millions of tax dollars under the Bush administration alone — began recruiting Mexican illegal aliens for a lucrative program offering loans with below-market interest rates, down-payment assistance and no mortgage insurance requirements. Instead of Social Security numbers required of law-abiding citizens, the program allows illegal alien applicants to supply loosely-monitored tax identification numbers issued by the IRS.
"Telling the truth is a smear, you right-wing bastards!!"
Big protests in Iran; people there haven't given up yet.
President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
He really does want to ruin this country, doesn't he?
Damn, what a morning.
Not only did the timing suck, but the New York Effing Times can't make up its mind:
UPDATE: The NYT reports on the unfortunate timing as well.
SECOND UPDATE: The NYT story linked above no longer makes reference to the timing, but this other NYT story does.
ACORN: the criminals that keep on stealing and helping illegals:
GOP California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now wants an investigation. But neither the Terminator nor any other California public officials raised a peep when the very same San Diego ACORN office publicly announced a partnership with Citibank to secure home loans for illegal aliens. In 2005, Citibank and ACORN Housing Corporation – which has received tens of millions of tax dollars under the Bush administration alone — began recruiting Mexican illegal aliens for a lucrative program offering loans with below-market interest rates, down-payment assistance and no mortgage insurance requirements. Instead of Social Security numbers required of law-abiding citizens, the program allows illegal alien applicants to supply loosely-monitored tax identification numbers issued by the IRS.
"Telling the truth is a smear, you right-wing bastards!!"
To hell with civility, to hell with politeness, and to hell with the hand wringing over whether we’re going to lose some kind of moral authority if we’re only three times better, fairer, and more moral people than the Democrats rather than four times better.
The future of the country hinges on stopping Barack Obama’s socialistic agenda, including Chappaquiddickcare. If the Democrats’ feelings get hurt in the process, too bad. I didn’t see any Democrats worried about decorum or upsetting Republicans during the Bush years. Heck, there still aren’t any Democrats who care about it now.
Big protests in Iran; people there haven't given up yet.
President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
He really does want to ruin this country, doesn't he?
Damn, what a morning.
General Electric: "We can get along with the new Stalin
just fine!"
Shortly after the pullback on the shield programme was announced, Russia's government said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet several U.S. executives on Friday from firms including General Electric, Morgan Stanley as well as TPG, one of the world's largest private equity firms
Shortly after the pullback on the shield programme was announced, Russia's government said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet several U.S. executives on Friday from firms including General Electric, Morgan Stanley as well as TPG, one of the world's largest private equity firms
General Electric may be the company with the closest ties to the Obama administration (if not, GE is second only to Goldman Sachs), and here we see the company benefiting from an abrupt foreign policy change made by President Obama. But GE isn't the only company benefiting. Reuters paints the broader picture:
The article also notes GE CEO Jeff Immelt sits on Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and GE owns MSNBC, the network famously friendly to Obama.
Add this to some of the other crap GE is/has been involved in, maybe we should all stop buying GE products and send them a letter telling them why?
Damn, I just tried to bring up the GE contact information, and it keeps timing out; I wonder if people are telling them things...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A lefty speaker lies about O'Keefe and Giles to try to cover for ACORN
Anybody surprised?
Far Left mouthpiece Marc Lamont Hill told Bill O’Reilly that Big Government investigative reporters James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles went to “hundreds of ACORN offices” before they were able to catch “low level” ACORN workers for their damning reports on the scandal-plagued organization. When asked how he knew this Hill told O’Reilly that, “They admitted it.”
This is not true.
James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles did not go to “hundreds of ACORN offices” to acquire material for this project. They went to the four offices that were shown in the series of videos. Also, at no time did O’Keefe, Giles or any representative of Big Government give such a statement to the press or to anyone.
The accusations by Marc Lamont Hill are completely false.
And, considering another video has been released, and there are apparently more on the way, it would seem that Hill really is a lying leftist boob.
Speaking of lying boobs, here's a rundown of some of the connections Obama is trying to downplay- or deny- with ACORN.
Far Left mouthpiece Marc Lamont Hill told Bill O’Reilly that Big Government investigative reporters James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles went to “hundreds of ACORN offices” before they were able to catch “low level” ACORN workers for their damning reports on the scandal-plagued organization. When asked how he knew this Hill told O’Reilly that, “They admitted it.”
This is not true.
James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles did not go to “hundreds of ACORN offices” to acquire material for this project. They went to the four offices that were shown in the series of videos. Also, at no time did O’Keefe, Giles or any representative of Big Government give such a statement to the press or to anyone.
The accusations by Marc Lamont Hill are completely false.
And, considering another video has been released, and there are apparently more on the way, it would seem that Hill really is a lying leftist boob.
Speaking of lying boobs, here's a rundown of some of the connections Obama is trying to downplay- or deny- with ACORN.
Didn't Obama pick a wonderful date to crap on Poland and
the Czech Republic?
Seventy years ago, in the morning hours of September 17, 1939, the Red Army troops crossed the Polish border and over the following weeks, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, occupied and annexed large swathes of what was then eastern Poland and is now western Ukraine and Belarus and southern Lithuania. The outgunned and outmaneuvered Polish army was already by that stage collapsing under the onslaught of the first German blitzkrieg, so from a military point of view the Soviet invasion did not materially affect the outcome of the struggle. It did, however, provide a dastardly coup de grace for the first chapter of the Second World War.
But don’t expect much news and commentary about September 17; not in the West, and certainly not in Russia.
I wonder, how many of the major media weenies mentioned this fact in their 'news' broadcasts today?
The anniversary is an uncomfortable reminder that for around one third of the duration of the war, the Soviet Union was one of the aggressors — first against Poland, then against Finland, and finally against the Baltic states and Romania — and that during that time it provided invaluable material aid to further the Nazi aggression against the West, while at the same time committing mass war crimes within the newly occupied territories, of which the so called “Katyn massacre” of some twenty thousand Polish army officers taken prisoner of war is only the most widely known.
Very few others have been investigated, none have been prosecuted (if one excludes the farcical attempt by the Soviets to pin the blame for Katyn on the Germans during the Nuremberg trials), and not one person responsible has ever been held to account. To add insult to injury, the very memory of the Soviet atrocities committed east of the Ribbentrop-Molotov line had been banished and criminalized after the war, right up until the fall of the Berlin Wall. For years, September 1, not the 17th, was the only date to remember, and for many it remains the only date that matters and the only date they know.
I'm curious; did Obama & Co. not know this date, did nobody around them know? Or did they like the date for telling two eastern European allies that they were screwed?
Seventy years ago, in the morning hours of September 17, 1939, the Red Army troops crossed the Polish border and over the following weeks, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, occupied and annexed large swathes of what was then eastern Poland and is now western Ukraine and Belarus and southern Lithuania. The outgunned and outmaneuvered Polish army was already by that stage collapsing under the onslaught of the first German blitzkrieg, so from a military point of view the Soviet invasion did not materially affect the outcome of the struggle. It did, however, provide a dastardly coup de grace for the first chapter of the Second World War.
But don’t expect much news and commentary about September 17; not in the West, and certainly not in Russia.
I wonder, how many of the major media weenies mentioned this fact in their 'news' broadcasts today?
The anniversary is an uncomfortable reminder that for around one third of the duration of the war, the Soviet Union was one of the aggressors — first against Poland, then against Finland, and finally against the Baltic states and Romania — and that during that time it provided invaluable material aid to further the Nazi aggression against the West, while at the same time committing mass war crimes within the newly occupied territories, of which the so called “Katyn massacre” of some twenty thousand Polish army officers taken prisoner of war is only the most widely known.
Very few others have been investigated, none have been prosecuted (if one excludes the farcical attempt by the Soviets to pin the blame for Katyn on the Germans during the Nuremberg trials), and not one person responsible has ever been held to account. To add insult to injury, the very memory of the Soviet atrocities committed east of the Ribbentrop-Molotov line had been banished and criminalized after the war, right up until the fall of the Berlin Wall. For years, September 1, not the 17th, was the only date to remember, and for many it remains the only date that matters and the only date they know.
I'm curious; did Obama & Co. not know this date, did nobody around them know? Or did they like the date for telling two eastern European allies that they were screwed?
Starting with a big one, Pres. Obama, Jimmy Carter II, craps on allies
yet again:
It now looks as though the president has surrendered to Russian demands to kill off Third Site. Michael Goldfarb at The Weekly Standard is reporting that:
“According to reliable sources, Obama administration officials are on their way to Poland and the Czech Republic to deliver very bad news. The administration intends to cancel completely the missile defense sites that had been promised to these governments by the previous administration.”
Soft on dictators and crapping on allies: yep, he either studied at Carter U., or they have the same mindset. Either way, it sucks.
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she is clueless about an amendment to prohibit government funds for embattled ACORN, although it overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday and the White House is calling for the group to be held accountable.
"I don't even know what they passed," Pelosi told The Post yesterday. "What did they do? They defunded it?"
The amendment to suspend housing grants was a stunning blow to the community-activist group -- and came as some Democrats and the White House have been backing away from the group.
If she, Speaker of the House, truly knew nothing of this, then she's deaf and/or stupid, and so is her staff.
...ACORN 'chief organizer' says 'We're gonna go after this videographer and Fox',
just before the NEXT tape comes out, this one in San Diego.
I think the old saying is "Once is chance, twice could be coincidence, three times is enemy action"; this is five, and the big reaction of ACORN seems to be to try to kill the messenger; typical for a socialist group, isn't it? Remember this statement:
Former Acorn board members tell me the group has always been confident it will be protected. After the Nevada voter-registration fraud indictment last May, Bonnie Greathouse, Acorn's chief organizer in the state, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that "we've had bad publicity before" and survived. "People always come forward to our defense. We're just community organizers, just like the president used to be."
Not so much, anymore.
Obama & Co. lowballed the costs of Cap & Trade to the US? No surprise:
Well, it looks like he low-balled the costs of this horrid piece of legislation.
The Obama Administration this week admitted cap and trade would actually cost American households around $1,761 a year.
CBS reported:
Back to Jimmy Carter the Second, more formally known as Pres. Barack Obama:
Next week the Obama Administration will allow Ahmadinejad, Castro, Chavez, Gaddafi and several other international thugs into New York City to speak in front of the United Nations General Assembly. However, one country's president will not be allowed into the United States.
President Roberto Micheletti from Honduras will not be allowed to enter into America. The Obama Administration revoked his visa back in July.
For the first time in our nation's history, the Obama administration is siding with Marxist leaders Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Raul Castro and Evo Morales in condemning our democratic ally Honduras.
A while back there was a bunch of noise that the new rules of engagement may have been a big factor in the deaths of Marines in Afghanistan; Uncle Jimbo doesn't think so:
...The new directive specifically states that if a unit cannot safely disengage, then they can use fire support against civilian locations.
...But the mistakes were in improperly applying the ROE and in disregarding the commander on the ground saying that there were no civilians in jeopardy regardless. If as reported they were denied this fire support due to an overly tight and wrong interpretation of the ROE, and worse if the chain of command failed to listen to the unit in contact advising that the call for fire would not harm civilians, then heads should roll. But let's find out if that is the case before we jump to judgment.
I hope not; I hate the thought that the commander would put rules in effect that would cause troops to die. Other problem: if the rules did allow the use of arty and air but the commanders either thought it wouldn't be allowed or were worried that if civilians died they'd be hung out to dry, then we've got- in the second case- a real big problem.
While Rep. Maxine Waters(Socialist-CA) is bitching that those people who disagree with The ONE's plans need to be investigated,
The ethics committee did not indicate what allegations it is examining involving Waters, but a series of news reports earlier this year questioned the California lawmaker’s role in the decision to provide $12 million in federal bailout funds to OneUnited Bank, where her husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the board and owned a minimum of $500,000 in stock in 2007.
...
As reported in March by the Los Angeles Times, the California lawmaker, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, arranged a September 2008 meeting between OneUnited Bank’s chief executive, other financial institutions and Treasury Department officials.
The newspaper quoted a former Treasury official who attended the meeting as saying that it was intended to focus broadly on problems facing minority-owned banks, but instead focused primarily on OneUnited Bank.
Translation:"Yeah, if ACORN had been a conservative group we'd have been all OVER it, but since ACORN isn't we were just to busy with everything else to bother with, y'know, investigating them. Or reporting on what someone else brought up."
Senator Baucus(Evil Party Dirtbag-MT) really thinks screwing you is a good idea:
The Baucus proposal would impose, starting in 2013, a 35 percent excise tax on insurance companies for "high-cost plans" -- defined as those above $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for family plans.
...
The tax contemplated by Baucus is also a big revenue raiser. It is expected to raise $200 billion, money that Baucus is hoping to use to pay for subsidies for the uninsured.
And Baucus thinks it's a good idea; Baucus needs to be recalled by MT voters.
And the New York Effing' Times can't be trusted. At all:
Here's what ACORN claimed... before the revelation of the NYC video:
It now looks as though the president has surrendered to Russian demands to kill off Third Site. Michael Goldfarb at The Weekly Standard is reporting that:
“According to reliable sources, Obama administration officials are on their way to Poland and the Czech Republic to deliver very bad news. The administration intends to cancel completely the missile defense sites that had been promised to these governments by the previous administration.”
Soft on dictators and crapping on allies: yep, he either studied at Carter U., or they have the same mindset. Either way, it sucks.
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she is clueless about an amendment to prohibit government funds for embattled ACORN, although it overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday and the White House is calling for the group to be held accountable.
"I don't even know what they passed," Pelosi told The Post yesterday. "What did they do? They defunded it?"
The amendment to suspend housing grants was a stunning blow to the community-activist group -- and came as some Democrats and the White House have been backing away from the group.
If she, Speaker of the House, truly knew nothing of this, then she's deaf and/or stupid, and so is her staff.
...ACORN 'chief organizer' says 'We're gonna go after this videographer and Fox',
just before the NEXT tape comes out, this one in San Diego.
I think the old saying is "Once is chance, twice could be coincidence, three times is enemy action"; this is five, and the big reaction of ACORN seems to be to try to kill the messenger; typical for a socialist group, isn't it? Remember this statement:
Former Acorn board members tell me the group has always been confident it will be protected. After the Nevada voter-registration fraud indictment last May, Bonnie Greathouse, Acorn's chief organizer in the state, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that "we've had bad publicity before" and survived. "People always come forward to our defense. We're just community organizers, just like the president used to be."
Not so much, anymore.
Obama & Co. lowballed the costs of Cap & Trade to the US? No surprise:
Well, it looks like he low-balled the costs of this horrid piece of legislation.
The Obama Administration this week admitted cap and trade would actually cost American households around $1,761 a year.
CBS reported:
The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.
A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.
Back to Jimmy Carter the Second, more formally known as Pres. Barack Obama:
Next week the Obama Administration will allow Ahmadinejad, Castro, Chavez, Gaddafi and several other international thugs into New York City to speak in front of the United Nations General Assembly. However, one country's president will not be allowed into the United States.
President Roberto Micheletti from Honduras will not be allowed to enter into America. The Obama Administration revoked his visa back in July.
For the first time in our nation's history, the Obama administration is siding with Marxist leaders Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Raul Castro and Evo Morales in condemning our democratic ally Honduras.
A while back there was a bunch of noise that the new rules of engagement may have been a big factor in the deaths of Marines in Afghanistan; Uncle Jimbo doesn't think so:
...The new directive specifically states that if a unit cannot safely disengage, then they can use fire support against civilian locations.
(NOTE) This directive does not prevent commanders from protecting the lives of their men and women as a matter of self-defense where it is determined no other options (specific options deleted due to operational security) are available to effectively counter the threat.In the case under discussion an advisory unit and it's Afghan counterparts were ambushed and called for fire support from Apache gunships and artillery. They got neither in a timely fashion and almost certainly that was a factor in the deaths of the four Marines.
...But the mistakes were in improperly applying the ROE and in disregarding the commander on the ground saying that there were no civilians in jeopardy regardless. If as reported they were denied this fire support due to an overly tight and wrong interpretation of the ROE, and worse if the chain of command failed to listen to the unit in contact advising that the call for fire would not harm civilians, then heads should roll. But let's find out if that is the case before we jump to judgment.
I hope not; I hate the thought that the commander would put rules in effect that would cause troops to die. Other problem: if the rules did allow the use of arty and air but the commanders either thought it wouldn't be allowed or were worried that if civilians died they'd be hung out to dry, then we've got- in the second case- a real big problem.
While Rep. Maxine Waters(Socialist-CA) is bitching that those people who disagree with The ONE's plans need to be investigated,
The ethics committee did not indicate what allegations it is examining involving Waters, but a series of news reports earlier this year questioned the California lawmaker’s role in the decision to provide $12 million in federal bailout funds to OneUnited Bank, where her husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the board and owned a minimum of $500,000 in stock in 2007.
...
As reported in March by the Los Angeles Times, the California lawmaker, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, arranged a September 2008 meeting between OneUnited Bank’s chief executive, other financial institutions and Treasury Department officials.
The newspaper quoted a former Treasury official who attended the meeting as saying that it was intended to focus broadly on problems facing minority-owned banks, but instead focused primarily on OneUnited Bank.
Translation:"Yeah, if ACORN had been a conservative group we'd have been all OVER it, but since ACORN isn't we were just to busy with everything else to bother with, y'know, investigating them. Or reporting on what someone else brought up."
Senator Baucus(Evil Party Dirtbag-MT) really thinks screwing you is a good idea:
The Baucus proposal would impose, starting in 2013, a 35 percent excise tax on insurance companies for "high-cost plans" -- defined as those above $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for family plans.
...
The tax contemplated by Baucus is also a big revenue raiser. It is expected to raise $200 billion, money that Baucus is hoping to use to pay for subsidies for the uninsured.
And Baucus thinks it's a good idea; Baucus needs to be recalled by MT voters.
And the New York Effing' Times can't be trusted. At all:
Here's what ACORN claimed... before the revelation of the NYC video:
This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
The statement was embarrassing enough that ACORN seems to have disappeared it forever from their site -- a pretty good red flag about the statement's "operativeness."
But that won't stop the NYT. The statement's great -- we just need to edit out a couple of words:
In a statement over the weekend, Bertha Lewis, the chief organizer for Acorn, said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for.
And just like that, ACORN's clear lie about O'Keefe and Giles striking out in New York City is airbrushed out of the picture, and the statement is presented as still possibly operative.
You know, worrying about "Can I stop this dino that's about to eat/mulch me?" would be simple compared to worrying about all these people who want to 'save' me...Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Maybe the education speech was just the first step
This week the House is scheduled to approve H.R. 3221, an education lending bill that CBO reports will increase the deficit by $50 billion. The bill includes a little-known provision to give the Secretary of Education $500 million - to be provided to to any entity he deems “appropriate” - to develop and disseminate free and “freely available” online courses.
This is unprecedented.
Federal curriculum is contrary to longstanding government policy - and it’s unnecessary. For decades, Federal law has prohibited the U.S. Department of Education from exercising control over the “curriculum, program of instruction . . . or over the selection or content of library resources, text books, or other educational materials by any educational institution or school system.”
Now the Obama Administration and Congress are poised to provide the Secretary of the Education half a billion dollars, and give him the authority to enter into contracts with any entity he deems “appropriate” to “develop, evaluate and disseminate” “freely available” “education courses.”
Why?
This is unprecedented.
Federal curriculum is contrary to longstanding government policy - and it’s unnecessary. For decades, Federal law has prohibited the U.S. Department of Education from exercising control over the “curriculum, program of instruction . . . or over the selection or content of library resources, text books, or other educational materials by any educational institution or school system.”
Now the Obama Administration and Congress are poised to provide the Secretary of the Education half a billion dollars, and give him the authority to enter into contracts with any entity he deems “appropriate” to “develop, evaluate and disseminate” “freely available” “education courses.”
Why?
Went to the Sam Noble Natural History Museum
in Norman, hadn't been there for several years. Nice place, lots of American Indian exhibits, lots of general natural history and a big section for dinosaurs and their ancestors. This building was opened about eight years ago(I think) to replace the original building, which was tiny. They also had samples and fossils and whatever in storage that'd been there, in many cases, for decades. And a lot of it, the labels or listings having been lost, they didn't know what was. As in, once they had the new facility far enough along to start opening things up, they found what turned out to be the biggest dinosaur skull known. I quote:
The newest record-holder is also a ceratopsian; Pentaceratops sternbergi, based on a new specimen just readied for display by the Sam Nobel Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. The skull, including the 2-meter frill, is about 3.1 meters long.
...
The entire skeleton was dug up in the Four Corners region of New Mexico in July 1941. But the skull, still embedded in its rock matrix, was left in storage in the museum for years
because of the U.S. entry into World War II and the shutdown of the
scientists' funding source, the Works Progress Administration.
A ten-foot long skull, still in rock, sitting there since WWII. It's an impressive thing, I'll tell you.
The centerpiece of the dinosaurs is a full-size diorama of an apatosaurus being attacked by a saurophaganax, smaller than a tyrannosaur but still a big(36' long), impressive predator
which somebody decided should be the State Dinosaur of Oklahoma.
On that time & space problem? I think this was originally found in the 1930's, and not really examined until the 1990's.
One of the other dioramas includes a pair of dienonychus, one of them with a kill
these little suckers only stand about four feet in normal stance; but I'd hate to meet one when unarmed. Small, fast, lots of sharp teeth & claws, including the big one on each foot.
There's a full-size bronze statue of a mastadon with a man, woman and dog nearby; just not enough distance for my camera to take the whole thing in.
It's a nice museum, well set-up. Like I said, it could probably stand to be at least twice the current size(I'm wondering what all else is still in crates somewhere.
Now, down to something I was thinking about, having recently read Time Safari and Tyronosaur(again): if you could go back to that time, what would you take?
Personal choices: for the big stuff, either a .30-06 or .375H&H with really good solids(maybe actual AP bullets), and a 12-gauge shotgun with slugs and buckshot. The rifle because the only way you'd actually be able to stop one of these, especially a big predator, is hitting the heart, spine or brain, and that means something with penetration out the wazoo that you can shoot quickly and well, for repeat shots if needed; with that, I'd rather have one of those than something heavier that I can't recover from as quickly. I'd spend a LOT of time practicing before making the trip, and studying drawings to know the aiming points.
The shotgun? If you ran into some smaller predators, up close, I tend to think a scattergun would be a very comforting thing to have available.
The newest record-holder is also a ceratopsian; Pentaceratops sternbergi, based on a new specimen just readied for display by the Sam Nobel Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. The skull, including the 2-meter frill, is about 3.1 meters long.
...
The entire skeleton was dug up in the Four Corners region of New Mexico in July 1941. But the skull, still embedded in its rock matrix, was left in storage in the museum for years
because of the U.S. entry into World War II and the shutdown of the
scientists' funding source, the Works Progress Administration.
A ten-foot long skull, still in rock, sitting there since WWII. It's an impressive thing, I'll tell you.
The centerpiece of the dinosaurs is a full-size diorama of an apatosaurus being attacked by a saurophaganax, smaller than a tyrannosaur but still a big(36' long), impressive predator
which somebody decided should be the State Dinosaur of Oklahoma.
On that time & space problem? I think this was originally found in the 1930's, and not really examined until the 1990's.One of the other dioramas includes a pair of dienonychus, one of them with a kill
these little suckers only stand about four feet in normal stance; but I'd hate to meet one when unarmed. Small, fast, lots of sharp teeth & claws, including the big one on each foot.There's a full-size bronze statue of a mastadon with a man, woman and dog nearby; just not enough distance for my camera to take the whole thing in.
It's a nice museum, well set-up. Like I said, it could probably stand to be at least twice the current size(I'm wondering what all else is still in crates somewhere.
Now, down to something I was thinking about, having recently read Time Safari and Tyronosaur(again): if you could go back to that time, what would you take?
Personal choices: for the big stuff, either a .30-06 or .375H&H with really good solids(maybe actual AP bullets), and a 12-gauge shotgun with slugs and buckshot. The rifle because the only way you'd actually be able to stop one of these, especially a big predator, is hitting the heart, spine or brain, and that means something with penetration out the wazoo that you can shoot quickly and well, for repeat shots if needed; with that, I'd rather have one of those than something heavier that I can't recover from as quickly. I'd spend a LOT of time practicing before making the trip, and studying drawings to know the aiming points.
The shotgun? If you ran into some smaller predators, up close, I tend to think a scattergun would be a very comforting thing to have available.
One of those round plastic hangers
laying on a wood floor turns into a pretty fair skate when you step on it.
Rep. Maxine Waters(Commie-CA), who wants to socialize oil companies
wants you gone after if you speak against Obama and the health care takeover:
The media should investigate the racial views of conservative activists like the ones who descended on Washington last weekend, one liberal congresswoman said Wednesday.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that it's not enough for African-Americans to levy allegations of racism against the right-leaning protesters, and that the media must look into their views.
"I want those people talked to; I want them interviewed," Waters told the liberal Bill Press Radio show in a podcast. "I want journalists to be all over those rallies and the marches with the birthers and the teabaggers."
Because if you oppose The One and his schemes, you must be a racist, right?
The media should investigate the racial views of conservative activists like the ones who descended on Washington last weekend, one liberal congresswoman said Wednesday.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that it's not enough for African-Americans to levy allegations of racism against the right-leaning protesters, and that the media must look into their views.
"I want those people talked to; I want them interviewed," Waters told the liberal Bill Press Radio show in a podcast. "I want journalists to be all over those rallies and the marches with the birthers and the teabaggers."
Because if you oppose The One and his schemes, you must be a racist, right?
It should be noted, there really are people too stupid
to be out if not on a leash(to keep them out of traffic).
Mayor Bloomberg of NYeffingC lies? Uses people's names
without permission? Damn.
It would appear that at least 19 of the mayors whose names ran in the USA Today ad were not actually mayors of the cities listed. At least one was attributed to a city he has never represented while most were long booted from office. That’s not a policy spin dispute, that’s a matter of flat out lying.
Add to the fact that at least two mayors have directly said they never approved their signature to the advertisement, and I would say that USA Today should be asking some serious questions before accepting any other ads from Mayor Mike.
It would appear that at least 19 of the mayors whose names ran in the USA Today ad were not actually mayors of the cities listed. At least one was attributed to a city he has never represented while most were long booted from office. That’s not a policy spin dispute, that’s a matter of flat out lying.
Add to the fact that at least two mayors have directly said they never approved their signature to the advertisement, and I would say that USA Today should be asking some serious questions before accepting any other ads from Mayor Mike.
I mowed the front yard yesterday when the grass dried enough,
got the back today, and now it's 30%-ing all over the place again, and it's only 67 outside.
Which means in about two days I'll have to mow again.
Global warming my ass.
Which means in about two days I'll have to mow again.
Global warming my ass.
General notes, starting with Jimmy Carter is still an asshat
His current story of moronity is among the many "Is our Right racist?" stories Rodger put together.
I've heard stories about how teacher certifications are often flat BS; here's some proof that at least some of it is.
Politico is apparently playing "Do what we want or else!" with people; somehow, I don't think this will go over too well.
This came out the other day; points out that a sword(or axe, for that matter) with an edge is still a seriously nasty weapon. A tool that can cleanly lop off a branch more than an inch thick won't have much trouble with body parts.
Wheee!
“I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink,” Kent said today, responding to an audience question at the Rotary Club of Atlanta. “If it worked, the Soviet Union would still be around.”
A good question: Why is mainstream media silent on ATF corruption charges?
The incompetence of journalists when writing about guns is staggering. It never ceases to amaze me.
Speaking of journalistic BS...
I think I'm going to the museum. See you later
I've heard stories about how teacher certifications are often flat BS; here's some proof that at least some of it is.
Politico is apparently playing "Do what we want or else!" with people; somehow, I don't think this will go over too well.
This came out the other day; points out that a sword(or axe, for that matter) with an edge is still a seriously nasty weapon. A tool that can cleanly lop off a branch more than an inch thick won't have much trouble with body parts.
Wheee!
“I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink,” Kent said today, responding to an audience question at the Rotary Club of Atlanta. “If it worked, the Soviet Union would still be around.”
A good question: Why is mainstream media silent on ATF corruption charges?
The incompetence of journalists when writing about guns is staggering. It never ceases to amaze me.
Speaking of journalistic BS...
I think I'm going to the museum. See you later
Terrorist attack possibly broken up in NYeffin'C?
Lots of bits & pieces, not much solid. Some links here, here and here. If I'm understanding this right, they didn't actually find any bombs or materials, from the second link
In all, authorities said Monday night there were no arrests, and that they have not detected a specific plot or target.
"I would characterize this raid as preventative. There was no imminent action that they attempted to stop," King said.
We'll see.
In all, authorities said Monday night there were no arrests, and that they have not detected a specific plot or target.
"I would characterize this raid as preventative. There was no imminent action that they attempted to stop," King said.
We'll see.
Day late, but Happy Independance Day, Honduras
It was yesterday. Now if we can get the Obama administration to stop trying to destroy them as a free country...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Oh, the story on the acoustic weapon the San Diego SO
deployed just gets better. According to what I just read at Confederate Yankee,
Deploying the Long Range Acoustic Device to local events has provided ammunition to critics of Police Sheriff Bill Gore, who was the agent-in-charge of the FBI's infamous 1992 Ruby Ridge siege.
Damn, doesn't that give you a lot of confidence in the SO having this weapon? Especially considering the following passage I'll repeat:
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
Not a damn word about what the 'required' training is, and he pretty flatly admits the primary purpose of the thing is as a weapon.
As CY says, My gut reaction s that full-power military grade LRADs do not belong in the hands of civilian law enforcement at benign public gatherings any more than fully-automatic M4s do, and that having such systems in place will only encourage agitators to bring weaponry sufficient to counter these systems, putting the population at large at a much great risk than there would have been if LRADs was never introduced to the situation at all.
Makes you wonder, does the San Diego SO have any M4's around? Or MP5 subguns? Any bets?
Deploying the Long Range Acoustic Device to local events has provided ammunition to critics of Police Sheriff Bill Gore, who was the agent-in-charge of the FBI's infamous 1992 Ruby Ridge siege.
Damn, doesn't that give you a lot of confidence in the SO having this weapon? Especially considering the following passage I'll repeat:
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
Not a damn word about what the 'required' training is, and he pretty flatly admits the primary purpose of the thing is as a weapon.
As CY says, My gut reaction s that full-power military grade LRADs do not belong in the hands of civilian law enforcement at benign public gatherings any more than fully-automatic M4s do, and that having such systems in place will only encourage agitators to bring weaponry sufficient to counter these systems, putting the population at large at a much great risk than there would have been if LRADs was never introduced to the situation at all.
Makes you wonder, does the San Diego SO have any M4's around? Or MP5 subguns? Any bets?
NPR: "You can't actually expect poor people to know right
from wrong.
It's also important to keep in mind that ACORN's workers are coming from the same low-income neighborhoods the organization serves, with all that entails -- poor schools, high crime and the sorts of social problems that have been documented for decades.
So the flaws conservatives are pointing out about ACORN are not so much problems associated with that organization per se but more about the problems of being poor and minority in urban America.
Ah, so according to NPR we can't expect low-income inner-city folks to care about things like child sex slavery, and tax evasion; that's just asking too much of them. And expecting ACORN to try to weed out people who would assist a pimp in smuggling child prostitutes into the country, and evade taxes, well, that would be bigoted or something.
It's also important to keep in mind that ACORN's workers are coming from the same low-income neighborhoods the organization serves, with all that entails -- poor schools, high crime and the sorts of social problems that have been documented for decades.
So the flaws conservatives are pointing out about ACORN are not so much problems associated with that organization per se but more about the problems of being poor and minority in urban America.
Ah, so according to NPR we can't expect low-income inner-city folks to care about things like child sex slavery, and tax evasion; that's just asking too much of them. And expecting ACORN to try to weed out people who would assist a pimp in smuggling child prostitutes into the country, and evade taxes, well, that would be bigoted or something.
The Congress that can't do anything about corrupt Rep. Rangel
after a bloody year, can decide that freedom of speech requires restrictions when there's a Democrat President:
Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:
• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”
Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:
• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”
I wonder, since we haven't heard of any 'sexual misconduct'(at least as yet), are they just trying to immunize future Presidents? Or does Pelosi know something we dont?
There's always the option of They're just a bunch of oppressive-minded morons, too, but you have to wonder.
Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:
• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”
Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:
• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”
I wonder, since we haven't heard of any 'sexual misconduct'(at least as yet), are they just trying to immunize future Presidents? Or does Pelosi know something we dont?
There's always the option of They're just a bunch of oppressive-minded morons, too, but you have to wonder.
It should be noted, Sen. Arlen Specter(Turncoat-PA)
is a slimeball:
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter took another step in his political transformation on Tuesday, telling hundreds of labor activists that he will support legislation that would make it easier to form unions.
Card Check: union thuggery given government assistance.
Hey, PA, like who you put in office? And former President Bush: your assistance to this backstabber is one of the things you need a kick in the ass for.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter took another step in his political transformation on Tuesday, telling hundreds of labor activists that he will support legislation that would make it easier to form unions.
Card Check: union thuggery given government assistance.
Hey, PA, like who you put in office? And former President Bush: your assistance to this backstabber is one of the things you need a kick in the ass for.
#4 is the San Bernardino branch of ACORN
Video here; and it says 'updates to follow'...
Also, can anyone actually believe that Charlie Gibson(Biased Journalist-ABC) was telling the truth here?
Don: Okay, here’s my news question. A Senate bill yesterday passes, cutting off funds to this group called ACORN. Now, we got that bill passed and we have the embarrassing video of ACORN staffers giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel with 13-year-old hookers. It has everything you could want – corruption and sleazy action at tax-funded organizations and it’s got government ties. But nobody’s covering that story. Why?
Gibson: HAHAHAHAHA. HEHEHE. I didn’t even know about it. Um. So, you’ve got me at a loss. I don’t know. Uh. Uh. But my goodness, if it’s got everything including sleaziness in it, we should talk about it this morning.
He even claims he didn't know about the Senate vote to de-fund ACORN. So is he an absolute friggin' out-of-touch fool, or just another damned liar journalist?
Also, can anyone actually believe that Charlie Gibson(Biased Journalist-ABC) was telling the truth here?
Don: Okay, here’s my news question. A Senate bill yesterday passes, cutting off funds to this group called ACORN. Now, we got that bill passed and we have the embarrassing video of ACORN staffers giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel with 13-year-old hookers. It has everything you could want – corruption and sleazy action at tax-funded organizations and it’s got government ties. But nobody’s covering that story. Why?
Gibson: HAHAHAHAHA. HEHEHE. I didn’t even know about it. Um. So, you’ve got me at a loss. I don’t know. Uh. Uh. But my goodness, if it’s got everything including sleaziness in it, we should talk about it this morning.
He even claims he didn't know about the Senate vote to de-fund ACORN. So is he an absolute friggin' out-of-touch fool, or just another damned liar journalist?
Agree with Riehl; Pres. Obama got one right
Navy Seals from US Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in southern Somalia on Monday that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of 4 co-conspirators wanted in the 2002 bombing of an Israel owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, two senior U.S. military officials told Fox News.
Ten days ago President Obama signed the Execute Order for Nabhan, who since 2006 was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. He was also wanted for the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998.
I do wonder why an order had to be signed- wasn't the guy on a list already?- anymore than whacking the pirates did, but fact is he did the right thing here.
Ten days ago President Obama signed the Execute Order for Nabhan, who since 2006 was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. He was also wanted for the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998.
I do wonder why an order had to be signed- wasn't the guy on a list already?- anymore than whacking the pirates did, but fact is he did the right thing here.
So this is what Sen. Reid thinks is REALLY important
The Senate has been ordered, by Reid, to hold no votes after 3pm tomorrow, September, 15 so as not to disrupt the high-dollar fundraiser for Republican-turned-Democrat, Specter.
According to an e-mail sent to supporters from organizer David L. Cohen, the event features a $1,000 cocktail reception, another VIP reception for those who raise at least $10,000, and a dinner for which "an individual must write (not raise) a minimum of $10,000 or raise $50,000" to attend.
The majority party’s move to cut out of work tomorrow delays progress on next year’s transportation spending bill and health care reform. If senate leadership is so willing to make room on its schedule for one senator’s fundraiser you have to ask, Where exactly do the priorities of this Democrat-led senate lie?
According to an e-mail sent to supporters from organizer David L. Cohen, the event features a $1,000 cocktail reception, another VIP reception for those who raise at least $10,000, and a dinner for which "an individual must write (not raise) a minimum of $10,000 or raise $50,000" to attend.
The majority party’s move to cut out of work tomorrow delays progress on next year’s transportation spending bill and health care reform. If senate leadership is so willing to make room on its schedule for one senator’s fundraiser you have to ask, Where exactly do the priorities of this Democrat-led senate lie?
And yet another ACORN video surfaces
We've seen Baltimore, New York City and D.C., now I just heard of another tape from a California ACORN office. I wonder if they'll claim this one was 'edited' or 'taken out of context', too?
Speaking of militarization of law enforcement,
SONIC WEAPONS USED IN IRAQ POSITIONED AT CONGRESSIONAL TOWNHALL MEETINGS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY
“Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.
The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). The Davis Rally drew an estimated 1,300-1,500 people, including vocal conservative and liberal protest groups.
Hmmm. When they spoke to the incident commander at that meeting,
...“It’s a really loud speaker,” he said, adding that the device is used to assure that announcements can be heard over the din of a crowd. “We’ll often use a helicopter, but this is something portable,” he explained. The device has also been present at a sand-castle building competition in Imperial Beach and could be deployed at any large event locally, since the Sheriff’s office is sometimes subcontracted by other cities within San Diego County to provide security.
Asked if he was aware that the device had a deterrent capability that includes a directed sound loud enough to cause hearing loss, he replied, “You mean like they use in Iraq? I can’t imagine we’d do that, because it would hurt our own people at the same time…I can’t believe that we would use the kind of thing on a crowd that the military does,” he said, adding that the deputy on the Rhino was not wearing protective earphones. “There were deputies right in front, too,” he observed, but added that he would have to “go home and look this up on Google” to learn more.
???
When they spoke to the Sheriff about it,
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
Well, if your lieutenants don't know what the damn thing really is, then I'd say the training has some holes in it, wouldn't you? Or somebody's not telling the truth.
Also, the manufacturer rep said
He also denied that the company’s LRADs can cause hearing problems or other health concerns. “No, not true,” he said. “You’d have to be in close proximity for several minutes in order to have any damage at all. If you willingly stand in that beam for an extended situation, then that’s your choice.
Well, bullshit. 148db, or for that matter quite a bit less, can cause real hearing damage, and it doesn't take 'several minutes'; a quick search says gunshots can produce levels of '130 to 153 decibels', and it's been known for a very long time that that can cause hearing damage, often in a single exposure(which is why we're so picky about "Wear plugs or muffs!"). This man either doesn't know what the equipment can do, or is lying about it.
So we've got some law enforcement agencies buying sonic weapons that can cause real damage to people and- sometimes- claiming "it's just a big speaker". Yeah. a big speaker than can cause deafness and possibly brain damage.
Curiouser and curiouser, isn't it?
“Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.
The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). The Davis Rally drew an estimated 1,300-1,500 people, including vocal conservative and liberal protest groups.
Hmmm. When they spoke to the incident commander at that meeting,
...“It’s a really loud speaker,” he said, adding that the device is used to assure that announcements can be heard over the din of a crowd. “We’ll often use a helicopter, but this is something portable,” he explained. The device has also been present at a sand-castle building competition in Imperial Beach and could be deployed at any large event locally, since the Sheriff’s office is sometimes subcontracted by other cities within San Diego County to provide security.
Asked if he was aware that the device had a deterrent capability that includes a directed sound loud enough to cause hearing loss, he replied, “You mean like they use in Iraq? I can’t imagine we’d do that, because it would hurt our own people at the same time…I can’t believe that we would use the kind of thing on a crowd that the military does,” he said, adding that the deputy on the Rhino was not wearing protective earphones. “There were deputies right in front, too,” he observed, but added that he would have to “go home and look this up on Google” to learn more.
???
When they spoke to the Sheriff about it,
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
Well, if your lieutenants don't know what the damn thing really is, then I'd say the training has some holes in it, wouldn't you? Or somebody's not telling the truth.
Also, the manufacturer rep said
He also denied that the company’s LRADs can cause hearing problems or other health concerns. “No, not true,” he said. “You’d have to be in close proximity for several minutes in order to have any damage at all. If you willingly stand in that beam for an extended situation, then that’s your choice.
Well, bullshit. 148db, or for that matter quite a bit less, can cause real hearing damage, and it doesn't take 'several minutes'; a quick search says gunshots can produce levels of '130 to 153 decibels', and it's been known for a very long time that that can cause hearing damage, often in a single exposure(which is why we're so picky about "Wear plugs or muffs!"). This man either doesn't know what the equipment can do, or is lying about it.
So we've got some law enforcement agencies buying sonic weapons that can cause real damage to people and- sometimes- claiming "it's just a big speaker". Yeah. a big speaker than can cause deafness and possibly brain damage.
Curiouser and curiouser, isn't it?
Let's add a name to the list Rep. Wilson should demand
be 'disciplined' by the House: Rep. Pete Stark(Evil PartyHypocrite-CA (any surprise?) ):
The House democrats will vote today to discipline Rep. Joe Wilson for calling President Obama a liar on the House floor during his speech to the nation that was riddled with misleading statements, misrepresentations and, well... lies.
But, of course, democrats didn't bat an eye when Rep. Pete Stark called President Bush a liar on the House floor... Twice... In the same speech.
This is like when a Democrat Rep., in a speech on the floor of the House, called ATF agents 'jack-booted thugs' and not a word was said; but when NRA quoted him in a fund-raising letter, you'd have thought they'd walked into church and peed on the altar. Serious double standard.
The House democrats will vote today to discipline Rep. Joe Wilson for calling President Obama a liar on the House floor during his speech to the nation that was riddled with misleading statements, misrepresentations and, well... lies.
But, of course, democrats didn't bat an eye when Rep. Pete Stark called President Bush a liar on the House floor... Twice... In the same speech.
This is like when a Democrat Rep., in a speech on the floor of the House, called ATF agents 'jack-booted thugs' and not a word was said; but when NRA quoted him in a fund-raising letter, you'd have thought they'd walked into church and peed on the altar. Serious double standard.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Child-Whoring Pimp-Assistance 7 of the Senate
voted against a bill to strip federal funding from ACORN.
Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced an amendment to the HUD and Transportation appropriation bill to strip ACORN of all federal funding. A week ago, Johanns wouldn’t have gotten the amendment to the floor. Today, however, after three straight days of BigGovernment.com’s video exposés of ACORN offices in Washington DC, New York City, and Baltimore offering assistance to pimping, tax evasion, and trafficking in underage Salvadorean girls, Johanns not only got his vote — but he got an impressive bipartisan showing. The Senate passed the Johanns amendment 83-7.
And those seven are
* Dick Durbin (D-IL)
* Roland Burris (D-IL)
* Robert Casey (D-PA)
* Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
* Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
* Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
* Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Gee, all Democrats and Socialists(some difference with them, huh?), isn't that a surprise...
I wonder what'll happen if there are more videos waiting to be released?
Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced an amendment to the HUD and Transportation appropriation bill to strip ACORN of all federal funding. A week ago, Johanns wouldn’t have gotten the amendment to the floor. Today, however, after three straight days of BigGovernment.com’s video exposés of ACORN offices in Washington DC, New York City, and Baltimore offering assistance to pimping, tax evasion, and trafficking in underage Salvadorean girls, Johanns not only got his vote — but he got an impressive bipartisan showing. The Senate passed the Johanns amendment 83-7.
And those seven are
* Dick Durbin (D-IL)
* Roland Burris (D-IL)
* Robert Casey (D-PA)
* Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
* Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
* Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
* Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Gee, all Democrats and Socialists(some difference with them, huh?), isn't that a surprise...
I wonder what'll happen if there are more videos waiting to be released?
In other news,
***(Hades Fria, New Mexico) Cheif Climatologist Jack De Thermastadt at the National Institutes of Hype gave Americans something else to worry about today.
“You know how we were pushing Global Cooling in the ’70’s until we changed our minds and settled in on Global Warming? Well, it occurred to me that we should be scientifically consistent on the Ozone Hole. We were always scaring everybody with the Ozone Hole back then, so I think it’s time we worried about the Ozone Cover. The Hole has been sealed up so tightly that we now have a dangerous, impenetrable Cover of Ozone. We only have months to fix it.”
When asked how it could be fixed, Thermastadt explained “Just like all other crises–by turning over all power and money to ever-more unaccountable bureaucrats, the more distant and unaccountable the better.”
He added “And that’s nothing compared to the threat posed by Alkaline Rain.”
***(Moscow, Russher) Russia announced today that it had invaded the tiny principality of Bonda, where it wiped out every man, woman and child, killed all the livestock, burned all the buildings to the ground, whereupon the Russian troops salted the earth and returned to Russia.
The White House urged Bondagers to use restraint.
Sharpening the bit worked,
and a bit of experimenting proves both that, and that I've got a lot to learn.
Along with another piece of pvc, I found a piece of small-diameter aluminum rod and faced it, then turned it to a step. Which all worked nicely. Helped by having it fairly well centered; a tool store called Steve's Wholesale had a sale this weekend on a dial indicator and magnetic stand so I now have a basic one. Adjusting that four-jaw chuck isn't too bad, just a bit time-consuming, and once I get used to it that'll go faster(you were right, Gerry).
Looking at the little chart for what gears cut what threads is enough to cross your eyes. Unfortunately, the manual I found doesn't have an enlarged chart, so I'll have to blow it up a bit.
In other news, from afternoon Saturday till now my rain gauge shows right at 2", and it all(for a change) came down slowly enough to soak in; the few times it came down heavy it only lasted a couple of minutes, then eased off. The bad thing is the grass in front looks like it grew about three inches since Friday, and the back's almost as tall.
Son's currently out west at Fort Irwin and is enjoying 60's at night and 90's for highs; which should be just wonderful while wearing armor, helmet, etc. At least the humidity looks to be low. And daughter's starting a new job soon, which she's excited about. So if I mangle myself on the lathe("You did this on something that small? Moron") I hope to be able to get one or the other to take care of me. And drive me to the range and such("Ok, I'll hold the bullet in place in the case mouth, and you pull the lever down...AHHH!")
Along with another piece of pvc, I found a piece of small-diameter aluminum rod and faced it, then turned it to a step. Which all worked nicely. Helped by having it fairly well centered; a tool store called Steve's Wholesale had a sale this weekend on a dial indicator and magnetic stand so I now have a basic one. Adjusting that four-jaw chuck isn't too bad, just a bit time-consuming, and once I get used to it that'll go faster(you were right, Gerry).
Looking at the little chart for what gears cut what threads is enough to cross your eyes. Unfortunately, the manual I found doesn't have an enlarged chart, so I'll have to blow it up a bit.
In other news, from afternoon Saturday till now my rain gauge shows right at 2", and it all(for a change) came down slowly enough to soak in; the few times it came down heavy it only lasted a couple of minutes, then eased off. The bad thing is the grass in front looks like it grew about three inches since Friday, and the back's almost as tall.
Son's currently out west at Fort Irwin and is enjoying 60's at night and 90's for highs; which should be just wonderful while wearing armor, helmet, etc. At least the humidity looks to be low. And daughter's starting a new job soon, which she's excited about. So if I mangle myself on the lathe("You did this on something that small? Moron") I hope to be able to get one or the other to take care of me. And drive me to the range and such("Ok, I'll hold the bullet in place in the case mouth, and you pull the lever down...AHHH!")
From what I'm reading on the case of a girl named Rifqa,
Governor Crist of Florida should be ashamed. And should be kicking the ass of the people in the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement and Florida Dept. of Children who were involved in this mess:
“FDLE/DCF Investigators were accompanied to the Bary residence by Sgt. John Hurst of the Columbus P.D. Child Abuse Squad. The residence is located in an apartment complex. Mr. Babak Darvish, Executive Director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Columbus and Mr. Romin Iqbal, Staff Attorney for CAIR OHIO were present. Investigators interviewed Mr. Bary in a non-custodial setting.”
What makes this decision by FDLE and the FL Dept of Children and Families to allow CAIR - who is not a party to the legal dispute and has not notified the court that they are representing the Barys in any legal capacity - is that FDLE/DCF conducted a three and a half hour interrogation of Rifqa, the victim in this case, without her attorney and guardian ad litem being present. We reported on that revelation 10 days ago.
I first read of this case the other day, and it's a bloody disgrace.
The Ghost Fleet of the recession
The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year
...
...
It is so far off the beaten track that nobody ever really comes close, which is why these ships are here. The world's ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world's economies.
So they have been quietly retired to this equatorial backwater, to be maintained only by a handful of bored sailors. The skeleton crews are left alone to fend off the ever-present threats of piracy and collisions in the congested waters as the hulls gather rust and seaweed at what should be their busiest time of year.
Found at Chicago Boyz.Monday mornings tend to have a lot of stuff to mention,
and this one's no different. The major media is playing 'minimize the 9/12 protest and insult everyone involved'.
Obama is paying back unions, and screw the economy.
As a result of “Buy American” provisions in Obama’s porkulus law, Canadian companies have “retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts — the first shot in a larger campaign that could shut U.S. companies out of billions of dollars worth of Canadian projects.”
Now, the tire war is on with China.
Make no mistake: This is not about protecting consumers or American jobs.
It’s about paying off Big Labor again.
This time, it’s the United Steelworkers cashing in.
Yes, the same United Steelworkers union that backed the “Buy America” provisions in the porkulus law.
And the same United Steelworkers union that employed union hatchet man-turned auto czar-turned-manufacturing czar Ron Bloom.
One more fun fact: United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard “also serves on the U.S. National Commission on Energy Policy and is a founding board member of the Apollo Alliance, a non-profit public policy initiative for creating good jobs in pursuit of energy independence.”
And speaking of unions, let's not forget the teacher's unions:
Teachers unions have contributed over $1.3 million to ACORN and its affiliates, since 2005, according to U.S. Labor Department financial disclosure forms.
But there is no guarantee that the $1,333,112 million in donations from the National Education Association (NEA) and Teachers AFL-CIO unions are actually being used for their stated purposes, according to present and former Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) officials.
At least teachers know their money is going to an organization that seems to have no problem with sneaking underage girls into the country to be hookers.
Obama & Co. are planning, either after seizing control of health care or to console themselves if they don't, to 'reform' immigration. I like this line:
...These incredibly harsh detention facilities that are there and treating people like criminals.
Uh, Rep. Schakowsky(Amnesty Party-IL), they are criminals; they came into this country illegally, which is, like, a crime, y'know? You moron.
It's not political, but Kanye West is a friggin' idiot. And an ill-mannered jerk.
Rep. Charles Rangel(Evil Party Tax Cheat-NY) is still the gift that keeps on giving:
Rep. Charles Rangel reported no rental income for eight years on his rundown Harlem row house, even though public records show tenants were living there.
The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he received nothing from 1993 to 2000 on the six-unit building, according to federal financial disclosure forms.
But one current tenant told The Post she had lived at the building for 20 years -- and paid rent during that period.
Another said her former boyfriend called 74 W. 132nd St. home for many years, paying about $500 a month in rent.
A real scientist who had a truly incredible impact on civilization died. Suggestion in his memory:
A fitting tribute would be to mulch Paul Ehrlich into fertilizer for a Third World wheat farm.
More later, have to head to the dentist for checkup
Obama is paying back unions, and screw the economy.
As a result of “Buy American” provisions in Obama’s porkulus law, Canadian companies have “retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts — the first shot in a larger campaign that could shut U.S. companies out of billions of dollars worth of Canadian projects.”
Now, the tire war is on with China.
Make no mistake: This is not about protecting consumers or American jobs.
It’s about paying off Big Labor again.
This time, it’s the United Steelworkers cashing in.
Yes, the same United Steelworkers union that backed the “Buy America” provisions in the porkulus law.
And the same United Steelworkers union that employed union hatchet man-turned auto czar-turned-manufacturing czar Ron Bloom.
One more fun fact: United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard “also serves on the U.S. National Commission on Energy Policy and is a founding board member of the Apollo Alliance, a non-profit public policy initiative for creating good jobs in pursuit of energy independence.”
And speaking of unions, let's not forget the teacher's unions:
Teachers unions have contributed over $1.3 million to ACORN and its affiliates, since 2005, according to U.S. Labor Department financial disclosure forms.
But there is no guarantee that the $1,333,112 million in donations from the National Education Association (NEA) and Teachers AFL-CIO unions are actually being used for their stated purposes, according to present and former Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) officials.
At least teachers know their money is going to an organization that seems to have no problem with sneaking underage girls into the country to be hookers.
Obama & Co. are planning, either after seizing control of health care or to console themselves if they don't, to 'reform' immigration. I like this line:
...These incredibly harsh detention facilities that are there and treating people like criminals.
Uh, Rep. Schakowsky(Amnesty Party-IL), they are criminals; they came into this country illegally, which is, like, a crime, y'know? You moron.
It's not political, but Kanye West is a friggin' idiot. And an ill-mannered jerk.
Rep. Charles Rangel(Evil Party Tax Cheat-NY) is still the gift that keeps on giving:
Rep. Charles Rangel reported no rental income for eight years on his rundown Harlem row house, even though public records show tenants were living there.
The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he received nothing from 1993 to 2000 on the six-unit building, according to federal financial disclosure forms.
But one current tenant told The Post she had lived at the building for 20 years -- and paid rent during that period.
Another said her former boyfriend called 74 W. 132nd St. home for many years, paying about $500 a month in rent.
A real scientist who had a truly incredible impact on civilization died. Suggestion in his memory:
A fitting tribute would be to mulch Paul Ehrlich into fertilizer for a Third World wheat farm.
More later, have to head to the dentist for checkup
ACORN is such an ethical organization,
isn't it?
Hey, maybe they'd give Barney Frank and his new boyfriend help getting a place so the boyfriend can run his brothel somewhere other than Franks' place.
So, we headed up to New York…This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
-Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN
Hey, maybe they'd give Barney Frank and his new boyfriend help getting a place so the boyfriend can run his brothel somewhere other than Franks' place.
The simplest way to put this is "Senate Democrats want more people to die,
so they're trying to screw anybody who develops medical tech."
As we have long predicted on this blog, the health care "reformers" propose to finance at least part of the "savings" or new benefits -- it is impossible to know which -- by decreasing the rate of return on medical technology. There are many ways in which this might be done, but the Senate Democrats are proposing to do so directly, by levying a "value added tax" on medical device companies according to their proportion of U.S. sales. This tax would be without regard to profitability, so it would amount to a capital tax on start-ups and a massive income tax surcharge on profitable companies, varying as net margins do. In the case of my own mid-sized company, the tax would be the equivalent of a roughly 20% surcharge on our net income (in all likelihood raising our economic tax rate well above 50%) or 50% of our research and development budget, depending on how you want to look at it.
So tha clown Baucus(Evil Party-MT and Montana, what are you saying to this clown?) thinks it's wonderful to have a health care takeover bill that includes fining you if you don't buy insurance like they tell you, AND wants to do this? And we're supposed to be thankful for this crap? Because it means they're 'taking care of us, for our own good' or some such bullcrap?
Any way you look at it, the proposed tax is a calculated effort to divert capital from the medical technology industry to other uses in the economy, because new medical technology drives costs that are now going to be assumed by the government (or at least will be if the Senate leadership gets its way). Of course, innovative medtech also extends and saves lives, and makes them more comfortable and more productive. Which is, after all, the point of medicine.
As we have long predicted on this blog, the health care "reformers" propose to finance at least part of the "savings" or new benefits -- it is impossible to know which -- by decreasing the rate of return on medical technology. There are many ways in which this might be done, but the Senate Democrats are proposing to do so directly, by levying a "value added tax" on medical device companies according to their proportion of U.S. sales. This tax would be without regard to profitability, so it would amount to a capital tax on start-ups and a massive income tax surcharge on profitable companies, varying as net margins do. In the case of my own mid-sized company, the tax would be the equivalent of a roughly 20% surcharge on our net income (in all likelihood raising our economic tax rate well above 50%) or 50% of our research and development budget, depending on how you want to look at it.
So tha clown Baucus(Evil Party-MT and Montana, what are you saying to this clown?) thinks it's wonderful to have a health care takeover bill that includes fining you if you don't buy insurance like they tell you, AND wants to do this? And we're supposed to be thankful for this crap? Because it means they're 'taking care of us, for our own good' or some such bullcrap?
Any way you look at it, the proposed tax is a calculated effort to divert capital from the medical technology industry to other uses in the economy, because new medical technology drives costs that are now going to be assumed by the government (or at least will be if the Senate leadership gets its way). Of course, innovative medtech also extends and saves lives, and makes them more comfortable and more productive. Which is, after all, the point of medicine.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Two new kids books
Tonight’s bedtime story was “The Three Little Pigs Learn That If You Own A Rifle, You Can Build Your House Out Of Any Damn Material You Want”.
Tomorrow, we’ll do a reading of “Goldilocks Violates Some Property Rights And Is Lucky She Doesn’t Get Shot In The Face”.
Tomorrow, we’ll do a reading of “Goldilocks Violates Some Property Rights And Is Lucky She Doesn’t Get Shot In The Face”.
Since Obama wasn't there,
having fledleft town before the 9/12 Gathering, I think I'll take note of two things here; first, someone describing the health care speech as showed the American people “the policy equivalent of the middle finger.” Exactly.
...
Perhaps the most striking–and disturbing–thing about the speech was the unblinking confidence Obama exuded while breaking key campaign promises he made to voters. He had raked poor Hillary Clinton over the coals for admitting that her road to universal coverage was paved with an individual mandate. “Everyone would be forced to buy coverage, even if you can’t afford it,” warned Obama in an ad. “You pay a penalty if you don’t.”
Yet, there he was last night scolding “individuals who can afford coverage but game the system by avoiding responsibility.” Never mind that the prime gamers are not the uninsured (whose unpaid bills cost “the system” less than $40 billion every year) but the underinsured covered by Medicare and Medicaid (whom private insurers cross-subsidize to the tune of over $90 billion annually because the government refuses to pay the full cost of their care). Still, he hectored: “Improving our health care system works only if everybody does their part.”
Second, it appears that not only did politics play a big part in the case against the Black Panthers being dismissed, but DOJ doesn't exactly show enthusiasm for the dismissal being investigated:
Last week, the Commission’s General Counsel contacted the Justice Department to inquire if a response would be forthcoming and to advise the Justice Department that on Friday the Commission would meet to decide an issue left open at its meeting last month, namely whether to designate its already expanding investigation into the New Black Panther case as an issue for a year-long study and special report. (By statute the Commission must complete at least one such study and report each year on a matter of federal civil rights enforcement.) Later that day the Justice Department sent a one paragraph letter to the Commission advising that an OPR investigation would be opened and “accordingly” no answer would be forthcoming until OPR concluded its investigation.
A source familiar with the Commission’s deliberations tells Pajamas Media that a number of the commissioners were aghast by the response. An OPR investigation is, of course, no basis for declining to co-operate with the Commission in its statutorily authorized obligation to investigate enforcement of civil rights laws. Moreover, during the Bush administration many controversial issues were the subject of investigation and litigation on multiple “tracks” (e.g., the firing of nine U.S. attorneys triggered both congressional inquiries and an inspector general’s report, investigations of embattled former Voting Rights Section chief Jack Tanner were conducted by both Congress and OPR).
Moreover, the Commission’s concerns, including whether the dismissal marks a deviation from past policy and whether the underlying case did concern a serious civil rights violation, are beyond the ordinary purview of OPR. OPR, in contrast to the Commission, will examine the narrower issue of whether politics or other improper considerations played any role in overriding the decision of the career attorneys who opposed the dismissal.
Why, they act almost like they have something to hide...
...
Perhaps the most striking–and disturbing–thing about the speech was the unblinking confidence Obama exuded while breaking key campaign promises he made to voters. He had raked poor Hillary Clinton over the coals for admitting that her road to universal coverage was paved with an individual mandate. “Everyone would be forced to buy coverage, even if you can’t afford it,” warned Obama in an ad. “You pay a penalty if you don’t.”
Yet, there he was last night scolding “individuals who can afford coverage but game the system by avoiding responsibility.” Never mind that the prime gamers are not the uninsured (whose unpaid bills cost “the system” less than $40 billion every year) but the underinsured covered by Medicare and Medicaid (whom private insurers cross-subsidize to the tune of over $90 billion annually because the government refuses to pay the full cost of their care). Still, he hectored: “Improving our health care system works only if everybody does their part.”
Second, it appears that not only did politics play a big part in the case against the Black Panthers being dismissed, but DOJ doesn't exactly show enthusiasm for the dismissal being investigated:
Last week, the Commission’s General Counsel contacted the Justice Department to inquire if a response would be forthcoming and to advise the Justice Department that on Friday the Commission would meet to decide an issue left open at its meeting last month, namely whether to designate its already expanding investigation into the New Black Panther case as an issue for a year-long study and special report. (By statute the Commission must complete at least one such study and report each year on a matter of federal civil rights enforcement.) Later that day the Justice Department sent a one paragraph letter to the Commission advising that an OPR investigation would be opened and “accordingly” no answer would be forthcoming until OPR concluded its investigation.
A source familiar with the Commission’s deliberations tells Pajamas Media that a number of the commissioners were aghast by the response. An OPR investigation is, of course, no basis for declining to co-operate with the Commission in its statutorily authorized obligation to investigate enforcement of civil rights laws. Moreover, during the Bush administration many controversial issues were the subject of investigation and litigation on multiple “tracks” (e.g., the firing of nine U.S. attorneys triggered both congressional inquiries and an inspector general’s report, investigations of embattled former Voting Rights Section chief Jack Tanner were conducted by both Congress and OPR).
Moreover, the Commission’s concerns, including whether the dismissal marks a deviation from past policy and whether the underlying case did concern a serious civil rights violation, are beyond the ordinary purview of OPR. OPR, in contrast to the Commission, will examine the narrower issue of whether politics or other improper considerations played any role in overriding the decision of the career attorneys who opposed the dismissal.
Why, they act almost like they have something to hide...
"The revolution will not be televised... But it will be blogged"
as the man from the Volksrepublik puts it; just scroll down.
It's been interesting to read newspapers and media weenies here talking about 'thousands' or 'tens of thousands' while stuff from Britain flatly gives estimates of '1.2 to 2 million'; it's like the in-country media outlets don't want to acknowledge- or admit to- the real numbers.
I include in the 'not be broadcast' a lot of the RHINO weenies who're just about to wet their pants in outrage that people who don't agree with- or answer to- them are daring to actually make their thoughts known.
The Geek points to a three-panel declaration of what's become the case:
It's been interesting to read newspapers and media weenies here talking about 'thousands' or 'tens of thousands' while stuff from Britain flatly gives estimates of '1.2 to 2 million'; it's like the in-country media outlets don't want to acknowledge- or admit to- the real numbers.
I include in the 'not be broadcast' a lot of the RHINO weenies who're just about to wet their pants in outrage that people who don't agree with- or answer to- them are daring to actually make their thoughts known.
The Geek points to a three-panel declaration of what's become the case:
And while people like Lt. Adamson are fighting,
politicians are sliming and betraying:
The Foreign Office has been forced to refute allegations that it agreed Britain would never attempt to try the murderer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago.
However, Anthony Layden, Britain's former ambassador to Libya, has said that he signed an agreement with the Libyan government in 2006, when Jack Straw was the foreign secretary and Britain was in the midst of negotiating trade deals with Libya worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
The Foreign Office has been forced to refute allegations that it agreed Britain would never attempt to try the murderer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago.
However, Anthony Layden, Britain's former ambassador to Libya, has said that he signed an agreement with the Libyan government in 2006, when Jack Straw was the foreign secretary and Britain was in the midst of negotiating trade deals with Libya worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)