Every once in a while I remember to look at the Advice Goddess blog, and see what she's writing about. Found a link at Insty to this post on the SWAT raid that resulted in the death of Tarika Wilson. She concentrated on one point in the post:
Who Places A Lower Value On Black Lives?
Would that be a police officer who accidentally shoots and kills a black woman, or that woman herself, a mother of six children by five different drug-dealing fathers, who takes up with yet another drug dealer?
That woman's most recent boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was arrested and pleaded guilty in March to charges of drug trafficking. And yes, before him, all the fathers of her children were drug dealers...and this according to her mother!
Her point is a good one. She was wrongly killed; doesn't change that it was her own actions that had her in that house at that time.
Of course, the usual suspects are making this into a 'black lives have low value here' thing; that's what the usual suspects do. Ignore all the other cases all over the country with people of all races being victimized by wrong address, bad tip or badly carried-out raids: that doesn't fit what they're pushing. And Miss Alkon is catching all kinds of the usual stuff from the 'progressive' types: "You're a racist, you hate blacks," etc. Added to this, the Wiki page on her having stuff added, along with the above, that she's a tranny, and any other thing the morons can slander her with. AND, in a usual tactic by these people, spam and other attacks on her site. She's done two bad things, you see: she's pointed out that Wilson(female, so Alkon must be self-hating woman) was in that place, in that situation, due to her own choices and actions AND she criticized the refusal to hold women like this responsible for what they do, choices they make.
Few years back, when Mike Tyson was on trial for rape, I made the mistake of saying something to one of the women at work along the lines of "What did the girl think was going to happen when she went with him?" For which I caught hell for 'blaming the victim'. I said no, if he raped her then he should go to jail for that crime: that doesn't change the fact that even though he'd been hitting on every woman in the place all night, specifically asking for sex in many cases, and that made her a fool for going to his room with him.
That just pissed her off worse. "So if this happened to your daughter, you'd blame her!" "No, I'd support her and do what I could to get the rapist in prison(or a grave; that part unspoken); but I'd also ask her "What were you THINKING when you went with him?" " That was simply Not Acceptable; you're not supposed to hold a woman responsible for her actions, even to say "You made a bad decision".
Either you're intelligent and responsible, or you're not; you can't have it both ways. People can play the word game that you're both, but life won't. One way or another, it always catches up to you.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Apparently the previous "We have proof" conference
didn't settle the questions on the case against Bruce Ivins.
Growing doubts from scientists about the strength of the government’s case against the late Bruce E. Ivins, the military researcher named as the anthrax killer, are forcing the Justice Department to begin disclosing more fully the scientific evidence it used to implicate him.
In the face of the questions, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have decided to make their first detailed public presentation next week on the forensic science used to trace the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks to a flask kept in a refrigerator in Dr. Ivins’s laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Maryland. Many scientists are awaiting those details because so far, they say, the F.B.I. has failed to make a conclusive case.
Be interesting to see what the experts say after the stuff is released.
Growing doubts from scientists about the strength of the government’s case against the late Bruce E. Ivins, the military researcher named as the anthrax killer, are forcing the Justice Department to begin disclosing more fully the scientific evidence it used to implicate him.
In the face of the questions, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have decided to make their first detailed public presentation next week on the forensic science used to trace the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks to a flask kept in a refrigerator in Dr. Ivins’s laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Maryland. Many scientists are awaiting those details because so far, they say, the F.B.I. has failed to make a conclusive case.
Be interesting to see what the experts say after the stuff is released.
Weaned off Wal-Mart
Since Wal-Mart decided to kiss the ass of in attempt to buy favor'cooperate' with Nanny Bloomberg and his gun-ban group, I decided- especially after that form-letter response*- to stop shopping there; preferably entirely. So far, so good.
I'll say what a number of people have pointed out: what Wal-Mart has over about everyone else in this area is convenience; groceries, oil & filter, clothes, garden stuff, some ammo & sporting goods all in one place. And on occasion I miss it. However, it's not missing the products, just them being in one place. Groceries are no problem, happily; Oklahoma City has all kinds of markets, from chain to mom & pop stores to ethnic markets(if you haven't been here, you might not believe how many of those). Need something for curry or whatever, or just Basmati rice at a good price? There's Indian markets, one no more than 5-10 minutes from here depending on traffic, for example. Pretty much anything I've needed, can get somewhere else at the same, sometimes a bit better, price. Auto parts places are all over, and if they don't have something you need they can get it in, often the same day from the warehouse. Clothes I don't have to shop for often, but lots of places for them, too. Ammo? Shops around town, gun shows and places like AIM.
I doubt very much anyone from Wally World will read this, but if you do: I'd been a customer for a bunch of years, spending(I'm guessing) somewhere between $150-300 a month at your stores. And you've lost that. You've made it plain you don't care what I think about your attempt to get into New York by screwing your customers; well, I don't put that money in your pocket anymore, and a lot of other people don't, either. Hope the taste of Bloomberg's butt makes up for it.
*Two things about that letter: One was the insulting 'we don't think our law-abiding customers will mind' garbage. The other, didn't it strike you as being like the clowns who say "If you don't have anything to hide, you won't mind the police searching your home/car/self?"
I'll say what a number of people have pointed out: what Wal-Mart has over about everyone else in this area is convenience; groceries, oil & filter, clothes, garden stuff, some ammo & sporting goods all in one place. And on occasion I miss it. However, it's not missing the products, just them being in one place. Groceries are no problem, happily; Oklahoma City has all kinds of markets, from chain to mom & pop stores to ethnic markets(if you haven't been here, you might not believe how many of those). Need something for curry or whatever, or just Basmati rice at a good price? There's Indian markets, one no more than 5-10 minutes from here depending on traffic, for example. Pretty much anything I've needed, can get somewhere else at the same, sometimes a bit better, price. Auto parts places are all over, and if they don't have something you need they can get it in, often the same day from the warehouse. Clothes I don't have to shop for often, but lots of places for them, too. Ammo? Shops around town, gun shows and places like AIM.
I doubt very much anyone from Wally World will read this, but if you do: I'd been a customer for a bunch of years, spending(I'm guessing) somewhere between $150-300 a month at your stores. And you've lost that. You've made it plain you don't care what I think about your attempt to get into New York by screwing your customers; well, I don't put that money in your pocket anymore, and a lot of other people don't, either. Hope the taste of Bloomberg's butt makes up for it.
*Two things about that letter: One was the insulting 'we don't think our law-abiding customers will mind' garbage. The other, didn't it strike you as being like the clowns who say "If you don't have anything to hide, you won't mind the police searching your home/car/self?"
Found a bit more on the DA in McAlester demonstrating
he doesn't quite get what he's done.
District Attorney Jim Miller was so outraged by what people wrote about him on a local message board that he filed a police complaint.
The ensuing investigation and subpoena targeting 35 anonymous posters have caused a firestorm stretching far beyond McAlester's city limits.
A journalism professor and First Amendment advocate calls Miller's actions "the kind of thing you'd expect in a police state."
Miller counters that free speech has restrictions. The allegations written about him on a site called the McAlester Watercooler (mccooler.net) are so offensive that he is the victim of a crime, Miller claims.
It's pretty much a given that, for a public figure like a DA, you're going to have people say things about you, good and bad. For him to get so bent out of shape about anonymous comments on a website that he does this... At the least makes him look pretty thin-skinned. At the most?
Miller said he provided police with comment threads on the site about him from 10 dates since October 2007.
That prompted two McAlester police detectives to show up at McCooler administrator Harold King's door Tuesday. They delivered a subpoena requiring King to produce identifying information about 35 people who posted under pseudonyms on the site.
King filed a formal objection Thursday, saying he won't comply because the subpoena doesn't indicate on whose authority it was issued.
A legal expert told The Oklahoman that only a judge or a prosecutor can authorize such a subpoena. Miller said he didn't authorize it; he simply filed a police complaint "like any other citizen.”
Whether Miller formally authorized the subpoena or not, it "smacks of intimidation,” said Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma and an associate professor of journalism at Oklahoma State University.
Yes, it does. And there's also the question, if he didn't authorize the subpoena, and a judge didn't, where the hell did it come from? Did the police pop out the form because the DA wanted it done? Questions that need answers.
District Attorney Jim Miller was so outraged by what people wrote about him on a local message board that he filed a police complaint.
The ensuing investigation and subpoena targeting 35 anonymous posters have caused a firestorm stretching far beyond McAlester's city limits.
A journalism professor and First Amendment advocate calls Miller's actions "the kind of thing you'd expect in a police state."
Miller counters that free speech has restrictions. The allegations written about him on a site called the McAlester Watercooler (mccooler.net) are so offensive that he is the victim of a crime, Miller claims.
It's pretty much a given that, for a public figure like a DA, you're going to have people say things about you, good and bad. For him to get so bent out of shape about anonymous comments on a website that he does this... At the least makes him look pretty thin-skinned. At the most?
Miller said he provided police with comment threads on the site about him from 10 dates since October 2007.
That prompted two McAlester police detectives to show up at McCooler administrator Harold King's door Tuesday. They delivered a subpoena requiring King to produce identifying information about 35 people who posted under pseudonyms on the site.
King filed a formal objection Thursday, saying he won't comply because the subpoena doesn't indicate on whose authority it was issued.
A legal expert told The Oklahoman that only a judge or a prosecutor can authorize such a subpoena. Miller said he didn't authorize it; he simply filed a police complaint "like any other citizen.”
Whether Miller formally authorized the subpoena or not, it "smacks of intimidation,” said Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma and an associate professor of journalism at Oklahoma State University.
Yes, it does. And there's also the question, if he didn't authorize the subpoena, and a judge didn't, where the hell did it come from? Did the police pop out the form because the DA wanted it done? Questions that need answers.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
New Orleans; somebody remind me why the feds,
if they have to do something, can't do something about that place?
Murder and attempted murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers, accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, were tossed out by Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, who concluded that an Orleans Parish prosecutor tainted the secrecy of the grand jury process by showing a piece of testimony to another officer.
"The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," Bigelow said, reading his ruling from the bench.
...
He concluded former Assistant District Attorney Dustin Davis improperly gave immunity to three officers for their testimony before the grand jury, which subsequently indicted those officers, as well as four others. Bigelow also found that the instructions that Davis gave to the grand jury considering the attempted murder charges were flawed.
...
While the officers have all maintained their actions were justified, the police investigation into the incident conducted by the NOPD's homicide unit was incomplete and, in many ways, questionable, according to a review of the 53-page report obtained last year by The Times-Picayune.
Homicide detectives limited their extended probe into the incident to mostly police witnesses. The investigate report, which cleared the officers, based its conclusions, in part, on the statements of a man who was pretending to be a St. Landry Parish sheriff deputy, but who in fact turns out to be an impostor with a criminal record.
Physical evidence wasn't picked up by police right after the shooting. Instead, officers went back to the scene seven weeks later. At the same time, the police department allowed some evidence to be discarded, such as the rental truck used by officers after the storm, which they drove the bridge when they received a call about officers in possible distress.
I said it once before: remember the movie The Big Easy? I didn't know it was a documentary...
Murder and attempted murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers, accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, were tossed out by Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, who concluded that an Orleans Parish prosecutor tainted the secrecy of the grand jury process by showing a piece of testimony to another officer.
"The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," Bigelow said, reading his ruling from the bench.
...
He concluded former Assistant District Attorney Dustin Davis improperly gave immunity to three officers for their testimony before the grand jury, which subsequently indicted those officers, as well as four others. Bigelow also found that the instructions that Davis gave to the grand jury considering the attempted murder charges were flawed.
...
While the officers have all maintained their actions were justified, the police investigation into the incident conducted by the NOPD's homicide unit was incomplete and, in many ways, questionable, according to a review of the 53-page report obtained last year by The Times-Picayune.
Homicide detectives limited their extended probe into the incident to mostly police witnesses. The investigate report, which cleared the officers, based its conclusions, in part, on the statements of a man who was pretending to be a St. Landry Parish sheriff deputy, but who in fact turns out to be an impostor with a criminal record.
Physical evidence wasn't picked up by police right after the shooting. Instead, officers went back to the scene seven weeks later. At the same time, the police department allowed some evidence to be discarded, such as the rental truck used by officers after the storm, which they drove the bridge when they received a call about officers in possible distress.
I said it once before: remember the movie The Big Easy? I didn't know it was a documentary...
I guess on some things McCain and Obama read from the same
'Screw the Constitution'-type manuals:
"Answering a question about his approach to combatting crime, John McCain suggested that military strategies currently employed by US troops in Iraq could be applied to high crime neighborhoods here in the US. McCain called them tactics 'somewhat like we use in the military...You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement.'
Yeah, that's the ticket; we don't have enough militarization of law enforcement now, so let's do this.
This guy just seems to go out of his way to piss off people whose votes he needs.
"Answering a question about his approach to combatting crime, John McCain suggested that military strategies currently employed by US troops in Iraq could be applied to high crime neighborhoods here in the US. McCain called them tactics 'somewhat like we use in the military...You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement.'
Yeah, that's the ticket; we don't have enough militarization of law enforcement now, so let's do this.
This guy just seems to go out of his way to piss off people whose votes he needs.
Friday, August 15, 2008
I've got news for the mayor:
I've had to go to or from work at 3a.m., and you suck.
"Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I'm fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here," Mayor James Valley said. "The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."
...
"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."
Just bloody lovely, isn't it?
"Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I'm fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here," Mayor James Valley said. "The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."
...
"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."
Just bloody lovely, isn't it?
Under the heading of 'Law Enforcement- Sorry Excuse For'
Kevin found this crap in Maryland. You really ought to read it, and consider this is the kind of thing hoped for/planned on by the 'reasonable restrictions' people:
Then I heard one of them say he had some papers for me or needed to speak with me,so I got up to speak with them 6 or 7 officers in full assault vests, etc. and NO ONE in uniform. Four heavily armed police came into the house while at least two others walked around outside of our home.
...
Well this Trooper said that I had purchased a "large amount" of ammunition recently and wanted to know why. When I questioned why he was asking, then he changed his tune to what type of Handguns I had. I told him I just purchased my first handgun in Maryland last week, but had not even picked it up from the Store . He questioned me about other handguns I might own and I realized that he was "fishing" to match his list of my ammunition purchases with handguns that I owned. Then I told him about my C&R license that I had purchased 2 with that but was not required to register them with ST. Police. Moreover, I told him it was the MD. ST. Police who approved me as a "designated collector" so why are they here in storm trooper fashion at 12:30 pm maybe to kill me because I legally bought some handgun ammo? He told me that most of the ammo I purchased was for weapons that they had no record of me having registered so the "SYSTEM" Flagged me. Flagged me for what? Death, Harassment at midnight by 7 Storm Troopers?
...
The Trooper (plain clothes), had a list of ammo calibers that he referred to and I agreed, there's no secret that I bought the ammo, but so what? And I'm still not sure of the States definition of a "large amount". Look, I'm not outfitting a Militia, hate group, or giving it to someone who can't buy it, or even buy ammo for a stolen weapon I don't want to register. Any weapon I have every owned has either been purchased at a Gun Store or I personally knew the individual I bought it from and its origin. And, last time I looked it is not illegal to buy handgun ammo, even if you don't own the caliber weapon OR you don't own a weapon at all !! So unless the law is changed, Police cannot harass people who do so.
Oh yes, they can; they just proved that.
And two followup excerpts:
That being said, the young Trooper told me I "should" voluntarily register all my weapons or this would happen again... because the "system" flagged me. And another thing, he kept asking where I kept my weapons, in a safe? I never answered him and he asked me three separate times as to the locations of any weapons I might have. I got the distinct impression he wanted me to voluntarily let him see/inspect the handguns for the calibers I bought ammo for, but I was ready for that. No warrant, no see. I mean, I would hope you could trust the Police, but why should I let six or seven or so strangers know where I keep guns? If indeed I had the calibers he was inquiring about?
You didn't answer their every question? What kind ofsubjectcitizen are you? "And you haven't registered everything you own? Just because we want you to? Well, we'll keep an eye on YOU!"
Funny the last thing he said to me before leaving was "... Mr. Curtis, sorry to have HARASSED you, you have a good night." Now that struck me as an odd thing for a Police Officer to say, especially if he was justified in doing his job. The last thing I'll say was that Trooper was courteous and having worn the badge, he and the team were sent by someone else, they're just following orders. However, whoever sent them to my home at 12:30 at night left a very bad taste in my mouth and NO ONE IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES TO ME NOR DO I KNOW THEIR NAMES. But rest assured they WERE the Maryland State Police. Word has it that there is a Special "Firearms" squad within the State Police and they have been asking gun dealers to keep a log of people who purchase handgun and other regulated weapon ammunition by making them show ID and signing their name when purchasing ammunition (not required under Maryland Law). Their MVA / DMV information is put in the log by the FFL Dealer right beside the ammunition you buy. Then once a week they (Police) come back to the stores pick up the logs of ammunition purchases and as in my case, they are comparing handgun ammunition purchases against known handgun registration files.
Bold mine. You get the import of that? It's not required, but "We request you do this", with the unspoken "Or else."
This is just freakin' unacceptable. Nobody in uniform, no actual 'you did something wrong', not giving names- and I wonder how they'd have reacted if he'd taken pen and paper and asked for their names?- and showing up at his house in assault gear at 12:30 in the morning because he bought an unspecified amount of ammo. The only reason for this bullcrap is intimidation: scare hell out of people and push for them to waive their rights and let you browse around. Which is frikkin' disgusting behavior from 'law enforcement' personnel.
Maryland. One of those states on the list of "Hell no, I will not live there."
And please note, at the top of Kevin's post, this from a former Attorney General for MD:
...As attitudes have slowly but surely undergone radical transformation regarding such critical public health issues as smoking and using seatbelts, bicycle helmets, and child car restraints, so too must owning and carrying handguns come to be seen as dangerous and aberrant behavior. We must change people's minds about how far they are willing to endanger themselves in tolerating the choice of others to carry a gun.
Standard socialist nanny bullcrap: list something as a 'public health issue' and stomp anyone who doesn't want to toe the line. Just effin' wonderful.
Then I heard one of them say he had some papers for me or needed to speak with me,so I got up to speak with them 6 or 7 officers in full assault vests, etc. and NO ONE in uniform. Four heavily armed police came into the house while at least two others walked around outside of our home.
...
Well this Trooper said that I had purchased a "large amount" of ammunition recently and wanted to know why. When I questioned why he was asking, then he changed his tune to what type of Handguns I had. I told him I just purchased my first handgun in Maryland last week, but had not even picked it up from the Store . He questioned me about other handguns I might own and I realized that he was "fishing" to match his list of my ammunition purchases with handguns that I owned. Then I told him about my C&R license that I had purchased 2 with that but was not required to register them with ST. Police. Moreover, I told him it was the MD. ST. Police who approved me as a "designated collector" so why are they here in storm trooper fashion at 12:30 pm maybe to kill me because I legally bought some handgun ammo? He told me that most of the ammo I purchased was for weapons that they had no record of me having registered so the "SYSTEM" Flagged me. Flagged me for what? Death, Harassment at midnight by 7 Storm Troopers?
...
The Trooper (plain clothes), had a list of ammo calibers that he referred to and I agreed, there's no secret that I bought the ammo, but so what? And I'm still not sure of the States definition of a "large amount". Look, I'm not outfitting a Militia, hate group, or giving it to someone who can't buy it, or even buy ammo for a stolen weapon I don't want to register. Any weapon I have every owned has either been purchased at a Gun Store or I personally knew the individual I bought it from and its origin. And, last time I looked it is not illegal to buy handgun ammo, even if you don't own the caliber weapon OR you don't own a weapon at all !! So unless the law is changed, Police cannot harass people who do so.
Oh yes, they can; they just proved that.
And two followup excerpts:
That being said, the young Trooper told me I "should" voluntarily register all my weapons or this would happen again... because the "system" flagged me. And another thing, he kept asking where I kept my weapons, in a safe? I never answered him and he asked me three separate times as to the locations of any weapons I might have. I got the distinct impression he wanted me to voluntarily let him see/inspect the handguns for the calibers I bought ammo for, but I was ready for that. No warrant, no see. I mean, I would hope you could trust the Police, but why should I let six or seven or so strangers know where I keep guns? If indeed I had the calibers he was inquiring about?
You didn't answer their every question? What kind of
Funny the last thing he said to me before leaving was "... Mr. Curtis, sorry to have HARASSED you, you have a good night." Now that struck me as an odd thing for a Police Officer to say, especially if he was justified in doing his job. The last thing I'll say was that Trooper was courteous and having worn the badge, he and the team were sent by someone else, they're just following orders. However, whoever sent them to my home at 12:30 at night left a very bad taste in my mouth and NO ONE IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES TO ME NOR DO I KNOW THEIR NAMES. But rest assured they WERE the Maryland State Police. Word has it that there is a Special "Firearms" squad within the State Police and they have been asking gun dealers to keep a log of people who purchase handgun and other regulated weapon ammunition by making them show ID and signing their name when purchasing ammunition (not required under Maryland Law). Their MVA / DMV information is put in the log by the FFL Dealer right beside the ammunition you buy. Then once a week they (Police) come back to the stores pick up the logs of ammunition purchases and as in my case, they are comparing handgun ammunition purchases against known handgun registration files.
Bold mine. You get the import of that? It's not required, but "We request you do this", with the unspoken "Or else."
This is just freakin' unacceptable. Nobody in uniform, no actual 'you did something wrong', not giving names- and I wonder how they'd have reacted if he'd taken pen and paper and asked for their names?- and showing up at his house in assault gear at 12:30 in the morning because he bought an unspecified amount of ammo. The only reason for this bullcrap is intimidation: scare hell out of people and push for them to waive their rights and let you browse around. Which is frikkin' disgusting behavior from 'law enforcement' personnel.
Maryland. One of those states on the list of "Hell no, I will not live there."
And please note, at the top of Kevin's post, this from a former Attorney General for MD:
...As attitudes have slowly but surely undergone radical transformation regarding such critical public health issues as smoking and using seatbelts, bicycle helmets, and child car restraints, so too must owning and carrying handguns come to be seen as dangerous and aberrant behavior. We must change people's minds about how far they are willing to endanger themselves in tolerating the choice of others to carry a gun.
Standard socialist nanny bullcrap: list something as a 'public health issue' and stomp anyone who doesn't want to toe the line. Just effin' wonderful.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I have to wonder, did the DA think it wouldn't get out,
or that it wouldn't look bad?
McALESTER — Police detectives seeking the identities of bloggers who criticized McAlester officials on an online message board delivered a subpoena to the site's operator, who says he won't cooperate with investigators.
Two police detectives delivered the subpoena Tuesday to Harold King, who operates the Web site www.mccooler.net. The subpoena orders him to provide details by Saturday on 35 bloggers posting under pseudonyms on King's site.
King said he researched posts under those pseudonyms and found one common denominator: All had written critically about Pittsburg County District Attorney Jim Miller.
Just bloody wonderful. Found through Insty
McALESTER — Police detectives seeking the identities of bloggers who criticized McAlester officials on an online message board delivered a subpoena to the site's operator, who says he won't cooperate with investigators.
Two police detectives delivered the subpoena Tuesday to Harold King, who operates the Web site www.mccooler.net. The subpoena orders him to provide details by Saturday on 35 bloggers posting under pseudonyms on King's site.
King said he researched posts under those pseudonyms and found one common denominator: All had written critically about Pittsburg County District Attorney Jim Miller.
Just bloody wonderful. Found through Insty
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Further on the Gallatin PD bullcrap
ColtCCO reports
It’s not merely a NICS database check, but rather an ATF trace, which is handled in a much less rushed fashion through the ATF National Tracing Center. They start with the manufacturer, and work their way forward to the purchaser, be it distributor, gun store, or individual, and then contact THEM to determine the next link in the chain. It can days, weeks or months to follow a decade-old gun across a dozen or more transactions. This procedure it used with firearms that have been used in a crime, and determines if at any point the firearm was stolen but not reported, used in a crime, or in the wrong hands.
You've got an actual crime committed, this may be justified; in a case like this, it's bullcrap. And I suspect done for either the "We don't like people carrying guns, legal or not, so we'll make this difficult for him" or "We'll make this so difficult he gives up" reasons.
It’s not merely a NICS database check, but rather an ATF trace, which is handled in a much less rushed fashion through the ATF National Tracing Center. They start with the manufacturer, and work their way forward to the purchaser, be it distributor, gun store, or individual, and then contact THEM to determine the next link in the chain. It can days, weeks or months to follow a decade-old gun across a dozen or more transactions. This procedure it used with firearms that have been used in a crime, and determines if at any point the firearm was stolen but not reported, used in a crime, or in the wrong hands.
You've got an actual crime committed, this may be justified; in a case like this, it's bullcrap. And I suspect done for either the "We don't like people carrying guns, legal or not, so we'll make this difficult for him" or "We'll make this so difficult he gives up" reasons.
Gee, so Pelosi has personal reasons to support Picken's plan
But what benefits one piece of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on permanent federal subsidies.
Pickens is banking on ‘em. And Pelosi’s banking on him.
As reported on #dontgomovement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering:
“She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”
So A: Pickens is counting on tax dollars subsidizing his plan and B: Pelosi is pushing a plan she has a big financial interest in. Kind of like Feinstein was on a board that awarded contracts to the family business.
'More ethical' my ass.
Pickens is banking on ‘em. And Pelosi’s banking on him.
As reported on #dontgomovement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering:
“She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”
So A: Pickens is counting on tax dollars subsidizing his plan and B: Pelosi is pushing a plan she has a big financial interest in. Kind of like Feinstein was on a board that awarded contracts to the family business.
'More ethical' my ass.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
I have to get these up before I crash
This one does seem to illustrate our major media at work in this election
And since some of our media andsocialist scumleftists seem to be delighted to cheer on a commie dictatorship again,
And since some of our media and
There was an episode in 'Band of Brothers' titled
Why we fight; it was about their finding a small camp after the Germans had fled. Things like this would make an episode for the current situation:
Most seriously, Sheikh al-Hayyes said: "I saw them slaughter a nine-year old boy like a sheep because his family didn't pledge allegiance to them."
There really are people of whom the words of that comedian are true: Some people just look better dead.
Most seriously, Sheikh al-Hayyes said: "I saw them slaughter a nine-year old boy like a sheep because his family didn't pledge allegiance to them."
There really are people of whom the words of that comedian are true: Some people just look better dead.
Oleg has a fine illustration of a saying I once read:
"You get more peace with a smile and a gun in your hand than with a smile alone", something like that.
Someone in the comments at ColtCCO had an idea:
I’ve blogged about this. So should everyone else. Because it would be nice if the first thing people come across when searching for “Gallatin, TN Police Dept” is “they’re a bunch of crooks.” Bad publicity encourages people to behave better.
Ok, how's this: someone at Gallatin, TN Police Department may have stolen this mans pistol.
I can see three possibilities:
1. Someone took a liking to it, and they or a friend is delaying ColtCCO getting it back until it's too expensive in time & money for him to continue, and he gives up.
2. Someone at the department doesn't like giving firearms back to people, and is doing the above so they'll have an excuse to see it destroyed.
3. Someone already took it, and they're covering it up by the tactics noted in 1.
Those are the three I can think of outside of one mentioned in the earlier post: flat incompetence. There is no way that checking that pistol for stolen- which is done electronically- takes that long. Even if they, for some reason I cannot comprehend, sent a letter to the TN Bureau if Investigation instead of doing it electronically, why would it take that long to get an answer back?
At this point, Uncle and Insty have noted this(I originally got to Colt's site from Uncle), and a bunch of other people are writing about it. Can't hurt, at the least can cause the department some embarrassment. Which, from the sound of it, at least some members of it have coming.
Ok, how's this: someone at Gallatin, TN Police Department may have stolen this mans pistol.
I can see three possibilities:
1. Someone took a liking to it, and they or a friend is delaying ColtCCO getting it back until it's too expensive in time & money for him to continue, and he gives up.
2. Someone at the department doesn't like giving firearms back to people, and is doing the above so they'll have an excuse to see it destroyed.
3. Someone already took it, and they're covering it up by the tactics noted in 1.
Those are the three I can think of outside of one mentioned in the earlier post: flat incompetence. There is no way that checking that pistol for stolen- which is done electronically- takes that long. Even if they, for some reason I cannot comprehend, sent a letter to the TN Bureau if Investigation instead of doing it electronically, why would it take that long to get an answer back?
At this point, Uncle and Insty have noted this(I originally got to Colt's site from Uncle), and a bunch of other people are writing about it. Can't hurt, at the least can cause the department some embarrassment. Which, from the sound of it, at least some members of it have coming.
Ok, since they're so bothered by Egypt's current methods
of closing tunnels, how about, oh, how 'bout throwing ebola-infected monkeys in them? Or some Brown snakes? Or, even better, you bitter little dirtbags stop using tunnels to smuggle weapons and explosives?
People not being quiet little peasants just brings out the fascist
in some people.
Rainey suggested that the city might want to consider printing the names of all those who have state firearms cards in the local paper.
"Do you want your grandchild going to visit someone who has a gun?" Rainey asked. But no action was taken on that suggestion.
Probably because the other aldermen considered A: how much that'd piss off people who already have lawsuit on their minds and B: having their own personal information- everything someone could dig up- published. Gun bigots like Rainey just can't stand not controlling people who don't behave as they should.
Added: hmmm, petty tyrant; I like it.
Uncle points to the ObamaGun blog, dedicated to keeping track of the socialists' actual record on the ownership of arms.
Breda notes one of those "I love my country more than I despise McCain" moments, and a goblin assuming ambient temperature.
ColtCCO has a bit of trouble with incompetents causing his carry permit to be cancelled- without notice- and people trying to keep his sidearm because "the evidence officer told me they were running a stolen gun check on my own firearm, and it hadn’t come back yet." After three weeks. Which is flat bullcrap. Remember I mentioned having once been a LE dispatcher? Running a stolen check on a firearm takes about thirty seconds. Unless the system is down, of course, which does not take that long to fix. Which means they're playing games for some damn reason.
And we finally got some rain the other day. 'Some rain' in this case being more than three inches in this area in three hours, followed by sprinkles and mist the rest of the day and night. So everything got watered down, the lakes should be up, and I'll soon have to mow.
Ending with Chicago sucks. On multiple levels. Along with Bryan Miller.
Rainey suggested that the city might want to consider printing the names of all those who have state firearms cards in the local paper.
"Do you want your grandchild going to visit someone who has a gun?" Rainey asked. But no action was taken on that suggestion.
Probably because the other aldermen considered A: how much that'd piss off people who already have lawsuit on their minds and B: having their own personal information- everything someone could dig up- published. Gun bigots like Rainey just can't stand not controlling people who don't behave as they should.
Added: hmmm, petty tyrant; I like it.
Uncle points to the ObamaGun blog, dedicated to keeping track of the socialists' actual record on the ownership of arms.
Breda notes one of those "I love my country more than I despise McCain" moments, and a goblin assuming ambient temperature.
ColtCCO has a bit of trouble with incompetents causing his carry permit to be cancelled- without notice- and people trying to keep his sidearm because "the evidence officer told me they were running a stolen gun check on my own firearm, and it hadn’t come back yet." After three weeks. Which is flat bullcrap. Remember I mentioned having once been a LE dispatcher? Running a stolen check on a firearm takes about thirty seconds. Unless the system is down, of course, which does not take that long to fix. Which means they're playing games for some damn reason.
And we finally got some rain the other day. 'Some rain' in this case being more than three inches in this area in three hours, followed by sprinkles and mist the rest of the day and night. So everything got watered down, the lakes should be up, and I'll soon have to mow.
Ending with Chicago sucks. On multiple levels. Along with Bryan Miller.
Monday, August 11, 2008
So the chief has apologised
for terrorizing the family and killing the dogs; isn't that nice? Doesn't that make it all better? Hmmm?
I mean, just because they only did it after the bungled mess became big news, and they've undoubtedly caught hell from people all over the place and wound up looking like the proverbial jack-booted thugs, well, we shouldn't hold that against them. Even though they'd done something similar before, dog killing and all? "All right, I've apologized, now can you drop it? It's bad for morale when people know about all this, and it makes us look bad. So shut up, already."
No, you moron, it's not enough.
I mean, just because they only did it after the bungled mess became big news, and they've undoubtedly caught hell from people all over the place and wound up looking like the proverbial jack-booted thugs, well, we shouldn't hold that against them. Even though they'd done something similar before, dog killing and all? "All right, I've apologized, now can you drop it? It's bad for morale when people know about all this, and it makes us look bad. So shut up, already."
No, you moron, it's not enough.
Tis the season for the weenies to whine about the use
of the atomic bomb on Japan. "WE are the only nation mean enough to use it", "Look at all the poor people we killed with it", etc. ad bullcrap. An awful lot of these people seem to care nothing for the death toll an invasion would have brought(they also seem to write off what Japan had done in every country they stomped over, but that's another gripe), just that "WE are the only country that has been unfeeling enough to actually use one of these weapons!"
A year or so ago I ran across Downfall: the end of the Imperial Japanese empire. Interesting book; takes the information used to plan the invasion and updates it with stuff that had not been declassified until a few years ago. Short version: the Japanese had a lot more troops in reserve in the home islands than we knew, well-supplied, and a lot more aircraft held back. And since there are only a few places you can make a massive amphibious invasion, they had prepared/were working to upgrade an in-depth defense plan with prepared positions. All of which means the toll on Allied troops invading would have been much worse than calculated; and the toll on Japanese, military and- especially- civilian, far worse yet.
I realize for the serious 'No Nukes No Matter What' people it won't matter, but it does to a lot of others. Dropping the bomb was a big decision, and I'm glad we did. It ended the fighting sooner, with much lower casualties. And if a lot of boobs can't deal with that, that's too damn bad.
A year or so ago I ran across Downfall: the end of the Imperial Japanese empire. Interesting book; takes the information used to plan the invasion and updates it with stuff that had not been declassified until a few years ago. Short version: the Japanese had a lot more troops in reserve in the home islands than we knew, well-supplied, and a lot more aircraft held back. And since there are only a few places you can make a massive amphibious invasion, they had prepared/were working to upgrade an in-depth defense plan with prepared positions. All of which means the toll on Allied troops invading would have been much worse than calculated; and the toll on Japanese, military and- especially- civilian, far worse yet.
I realize for the serious 'No Nukes No Matter What' people it won't matter, but it does to a lot of others. Dropping the bomb was a big decision, and I'm glad we did. It ended the fighting sooner, with much lower casualties. And if a lot of boobs can't deal with that, that's too damn bad.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
The double level of stupidity displayed in NYEffin'C
is just amazing: first, that they keep arresting people illegally, even though they're getting sued already- multiple times- for it, and that some moron cop thought it was a good idea to arrest an Olympic competitor for legally transporting a firearm:
Three or four weeks ago a young competitor on the National Shooting Team was training and being coached at the Coast Guard Academy. Upon finishing the training program he properly stored the firearms and headed for the airport and his home in the western United States. After declaring his legally transported firearms, at a NYC airport, he was arrested by a New York City Transit Authority Officer. This young American competitor after explaining what he was doing with the firearm and showing his credentials was arrested, handcuffed and spent a number of hours in custody until some public official realized the perfect public relations storm brewing in a scummy detention cell in NYC.
Kid's lucky; as pointed out, the only reason he didn't keep sitting in a cell was someone decided locking him up was 'bad publicity' for them illegally arresting people.
There are a number of law suits and criminal cases in litigation at this time both in NYC area as well as Albany County because New York State refuses to recognize FOPA (The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986). Why? It is apparently easier to prosecute a legal and lawful gun owner than a criminal with a gun.
Yep, this is Bloomberg Country: only politically correct civil rights recognized, and then only if they don't get in Bloomberg & Buttmonkeys Co. way.
And these are the people Wal-Mart decided to sell out a bunch of their customers to, to try and buy favor from Bloomberg.
Three or four weeks ago a young competitor on the National Shooting Team was training and being coached at the Coast Guard Academy. Upon finishing the training program he properly stored the firearms and headed for the airport and his home in the western United States. After declaring his legally transported firearms, at a NYC airport, he was arrested by a New York City Transit Authority Officer. This young American competitor after explaining what he was doing with the firearm and showing his credentials was arrested, handcuffed and spent a number of hours in custody until some public official realized the perfect public relations storm brewing in a scummy detention cell in NYC.
Kid's lucky; as pointed out, the only reason he didn't keep sitting in a cell was someone decided locking him up was 'bad publicity' for them illegally arresting people.
There are a number of law suits and criminal cases in litigation at this time both in NYC area as well as Albany County because New York State refuses to recognize FOPA (The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986). Why? It is apparently easier to prosecute a legal and lawful gun owner than a criminal with a gun.
Yep, this is Bloomberg Country: only politically correct civil rights recognized, and then only if they don't get in Bloomberg & Buttmonkeys Co. way.
And these are the people Wal-Mart decided to sell out a bunch of their customers to, to try and buy favor from Bloomberg.
Friday, August 08, 2008
And the 'SWAT shoots dogs as policy'(it seems) story
is the gift that keeps on giving.
This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.
You know why: they're huddled with lawyers who're crapping themselves at the thought of an apology because it would involve some level of admitting they screwed up. Which they did. But God forbid they actually try to deal with the screwup and make it right, as much as possible.
Here's something else that makes this crap even worse:
Berwyn Heights police Chief Patrick A. Murphy appeared with the mayor Thursday and said his agency was never informed of the investigation, despite an existing memorandum of understanding to work together on such operations.
He said not knowing about the raid could have led his officers to fire upon the sheriff's SWAT team because its members were wearing street clothes, masks and carrying weapons as they approached the mayor's house.
...
...Porter, 50, was cooking artichokes in the kitchen and screamed when she saw the approaching masked men with guns.
The door was kicked in and gunshots rang out, Calvo said. Police killed one dog, Payton -- named for football running back Walter Payton -- even though Porter was standing next to him.
A lot of people have asked the question before, why masks all the time? There are circumstances they might be called for, but not always. And here, you've got a raid on a house in a neighborhood where they didn't actually need(from what I've read) a 'dynamic entry' raid in the first place, and yet no uniforms. Apparently not even armor and whatever that might make people think 'police'; just masked, armed men charging into the house.
Yeah, it was 'just a mistake'; just like if the guy had 'made a threatening move' while backing down the stairs he'd probably have been shot, and that would have been his 'fault'. Or if he'd met these masked home invaders with a weapon and killed one, they'd be trying to hang him for not knowing they were police and submitting properly.
Calvo said he wants federal officials to examine policies that he said have led Prince George's police officials to serve warrants on wrong addresses and kill family pets before.
In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.
There needs to be an investigation, not only here but nationwide on this crap. As Insty put it We need federal civil rights legislation stripping officials of immunity in cases like this. Maybe now that they're raiding politicians' houses, we'll see some action.
Maybe. And it really sucks that it takes something like this to stir things up on these actions.
This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.
You know why: they're huddled with lawyers who're crapping themselves at the thought of an apology because it would involve some level of admitting they screwed up. Which they did. But God forbid they actually try to deal with the screwup and make it right, as much as possible.
Here's something else that makes this crap even worse:
Berwyn Heights police Chief Patrick A. Murphy appeared with the mayor Thursday and said his agency was never informed of the investigation, despite an existing memorandum of understanding to work together on such operations.
He said not knowing about the raid could have led his officers to fire upon the sheriff's SWAT team because its members were wearing street clothes, masks and carrying weapons as they approached the mayor's house.
...
...Porter, 50, was cooking artichokes in the kitchen and screamed when she saw the approaching masked men with guns.
The door was kicked in and gunshots rang out, Calvo said. Police killed one dog, Payton -- named for football running back Walter Payton -- even though Porter was standing next to him.
A lot of people have asked the question before, why masks all the time? There are circumstances they might be called for, but not always. And here, you've got a raid on a house in a neighborhood where they didn't actually need(from what I've read) a 'dynamic entry' raid in the first place, and yet no uniforms. Apparently not even armor and whatever that might make people think 'police'; just masked, armed men charging into the house.
Yeah, it was 'just a mistake'; just like if the guy had 'made a threatening move' while backing down the stairs he'd probably have been shot, and that would have been his 'fault'. Or if he'd met these masked home invaders with a weapon and killed one, they'd be trying to hang him for not knowing they were police and submitting properly.
Calvo said he wants federal officials to examine policies that he said have led Prince George's police officials to serve warrants on wrong addresses and kill family pets before.
In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.
There needs to be an investigation, not only here but nationwide on this crap. As Insty put it We need federal civil rights legislation stripping officials of immunity in cases like this. Maybe now that they're raiding politicians' houses, we'll see some action.
Maybe. And it really sucks that it takes something like this to stir things up on these actions.
Gee, a bunch of Republicans 'compromise to get a
bipartisan agreement'; haven't we heard that before? And been screwed by it before?
I just heard about this on Rush's show, and Sen. Chambliss called in to 'set the record straight'. Which basically boiled down to "We had to give away all the big stuff so we could get a bipartisan compromise on some small stuff; we just HAD to!"
Among othertreasontreachery, it looks like Lindsay Grahamnesty got tired of kicking people in the face on amnesty, and changed over to stabbing us in the back on energy.
I'd start a label of 'Two-faced miserable backstabbing politicians who should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped', but it's too long.
I just heard about this on Rush's show, and Sen. Chambliss called in to 'set the record straight'. Which basically boiled down to "We had to give away all the big stuff so we could get a bipartisan compromise on some small stuff; we just HAD to!"
Among other
I'd start a label of 'Two-faced miserable backstabbing politicians who should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped', but it's too long.
Political correctness and 'freedom of speech' in Canada
Up to this point there had been no store employees sitting in on the lecture. A couple had earlier come by and stood at the periphery of the seats for a few minutes each. One of them, a young woman, was wearing a hajav, the head-covering worn by many Muslim women.
That was the end of the lecture. I said something to the effect that I would not be called a “f****** Jew” at my lecture. The store manager came over to me and told me not to swear. I told him that I was the one being sworn at; he said that it didn’t matter. He gathered up the books on the table and escorted me to his office at the back.
“I want you to call the Police.” I said.
“What for?” he replied.
“Because these totalitarians just stopped my right to lecture, and are swearing at me, and who knows what they will do next?” I said.
“I don’t have the number,” he claimed.
I couldn’t believe this. “Try 911,” I suggested.
You've really got to read the whole thing. The store not willing to stand up, the police not wanting to be bothered, and the uselessness of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws. And how those laws can be used to bite both ways.
Found through Bloodthirsty Liberal, who I'd not read before.
That was the end of the lecture. I said something to the effect that I would not be called a “f****** Jew” at my lecture. The store manager came over to me and told me not to swear. I told him that I was the one being sworn at; he said that it didn’t matter. He gathered up the books on the table and escorted me to his office at the back.
“I want you to call the Police.” I said.
“What for?” he replied.
“Because these totalitarians just stopped my right to lecture, and are swearing at me, and who knows what they will do next?” I said.
“I don’t have the number,” he claimed.
I couldn’t believe this. “Try 911,” I suggested.
You've really got to read the whole thing. The store not willing to stand up, the police not wanting to be bothered, and the uselessness of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws. And how those laws can be used to bite both ways.
Found through Bloodthirsty Liberal, who I'd not read before.
Some more on the Ivins suicide
and the anthrax case over at Ace, here and here.
No scientist, am I. I do tend to agree with Ace, that
To suggest that this silly shit constitutes evidence of any sort makes me doubt the strength of the rest of their case. If they're offering this nonsense as evidence, how strong can the rest of their evidence really be?
I always operate on the assumption that no one offers weak "evidence" if they have strong evidence at hand, and if they're offering the weak stuff, well, that must mean they don't have anything much stronger than that.
Which, as he says, makes the rest of the stuff suspect.
No scientist, am I. I do tend to agree with Ace, that
To suggest that this silly shit constitutes evidence of any sort makes me doubt the strength of the rest of their case. If they're offering this nonsense as evidence, how strong can the rest of their evidence really be?
I always operate on the assumption that no one offers weak "evidence" if they have strong evidence at hand, and if they're offering the weak stuff, well, that must mean they don't have anything much stronger than that.
Which, as he says, makes the rest of the stuff suspect.
If I hadn't woke up with a headache, the Obamites would have
given me one.
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.
Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions. . . . The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.
Yeah, that's a very 'liberal' thing to do: try to scare people from donating because "We'll screw with your life if you do!" As Insty says,
No doubt they all go around exchanging Obama Salutes and clicking their heels . . . .
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.
Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions. . . . The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.
Yeah, that's a very 'liberal' thing to do: try to scare people from donating because "We'll screw with your life if you do!" As Insty says,
No doubt they all go around exchanging Obama Salutes and clicking their heels . . . .
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Turns out the T. Boone Pickens wind-power plan has a lot
more involved than wind:
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
Check it out. And if you live in Texas, you ought to contact your legislator about this.
Found thanks to Kim.
Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion. But there’s more to earning such a profit than simply acquiring the water. Rights-of-way must be purchased to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be overcome. Here’s where it gets interesting, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.
Purchasing rights-of-way is often expensive and time-consuming -- and what if landowners won’t sell? While private entities may be frustrated, governments can exercise eminent domain to compel sales. This is Pickens’ route of choice. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Are you sitting down?
Check it out. And if you live in Texas, you ought to contact your legislator about this.
Found thanks to Kim.
Range day
Any day at the range, etc.
Besides the general joy of making loud noises and holes in targets, wanted to try out three things in particular. First off, remember the plastic bullets? I loaded some of those in 7.62x54r, using the same 6.0 grains of 2400 I'd used in .30-30, and tried them in the M39 at 50 yards.
You can't see the first two, as they were below the paper, about eight inches low. It required putting the rear sight at 500 meters to bring them up to here. I've noticed that in some rifles a cast bullet load will shoot to one side or the other, seems to be the case here. Recoil was almost nonexistent; it rocked the rifle slightly. Pressure was so low the case didn't seal very well, there were signs of a fair amount of leakage around the case necks. I didn't try this at 100, as with the added 50 yards and what wind there was I had no idea how high I'd have to raise the rear sight. For short range for easy practice, not bad.
After the success of the 150-grain cast load I tried in this rifle, I loaded some Sierra 150-grain Gameking softpoints up; let's just say accuracy was not acceptable. Cast bullets sized to .309" work great, but not the jacketed stuff; have to use .311 I guess.
The other test was some loads for the M1. GI Brass had some 172-grain boattail match bullets a while back(none since, dammit), and I wanted to try something. I used the 43.0 grains of IMR4895 that worked so well before, in different cases, HXP(Greek) surplus and Federal commercial. The HXP case load gave this at 100:
I pulled the first shot, I must confess; the other four went into 2", not bad for an M1 with a standard GI barrel. The Federal case load gave the below result:
Somehow, I seem to have pulled the first shot on both today. This group overall a bit tighter, though the one opens it back out to 2". I'm going to load some more of these- only did five each to try, since don't have all that many of these bullets- for further testing.
The rest of the rifle was largely .22 and the .30 Carbine. I took the Martini for .22, and discovered over the course of the day that the mounting screws for the rear sight were loose(found that one first), and then discovered that the stock was loose. The stock fits into a socket in the butt of the receiver, and a bolt goes through the stock into the receiver, like a lot of shotguns, and how I didn't notice it earlier I have no idea. And, of course, no screwdriver in the kit is long enough to deal with this.
Ah, well, good day overall. And picked up a bunch of brass, some of which is in the tumbler as I write. Now I just need to finish cleaning and putting things away.
Besides the general joy of making loud noises and holes in targets, wanted to try out three things in particular. First off, remember the plastic bullets? I loaded some of those in 7.62x54r, using the same 6.0 grains of 2400 I'd used in .30-30, and tried them in the M39 at 50 yards.
You can't see the first two, as they were below the paper, about eight inches low. It required putting the rear sight at 500 meters to bring them up to here. I've noticed that in some rifles a cast bullet load will shoot to one side or the other, seems to be the case here. Recoil was almost nonexistent; it rocked the rifle slightly. Pressure was so low the case didn't seal very well, there were signs of a fair amount of leakage around the case necks. I didn't try this at 100, as with the added 50 yards and what wind there was I had no idea how high I'd have to raise the rear sight. For short range for easy practice, not bad.After the success of the 150-grain cast load I tried in this rifle, I loaded some Sierra 150-grain Gameking softpoints up; let's just say accuracy was not acceptable. Cast bullets sized to .309" work great, but not the jacketed stuff; have to use .311 I guess.
The other test was some loads for the M1. GI Brass had some 172-grain boattail match bullets a while back(none since, dammit), and I wanted to try something. I used the 43.0 grains of IMR4895 that worked so well before, in different cases, HXP(Greek) surplus and Federal commercial. The HXP case load gave this at 100:
I pulled the first shot, I must confess; the other four went into 2", not bad for an M1 with a standard GI barrel. The Federal case load gave the below result:
Somehow, I seem to have pulled the first shot on both today. This group overall a bit tighter, though the one opens it back out to 2". I'm going to load some more of these- only did five each to try, since don't have all that many of these bullets- for further testing.The rest of the rifle was largely .22 and the .30 Carbine. I took the Martini for .22, and discovered over the course of the day that the mounting screws for the rear sight were loose(found that one first), and then discovered that the stock was loose. The stock fits into a socket in the butt of the receiver, and a bolt goes through the stock into the receiver, like a lot of shotguns, and how I didn't notice it earlier I have no idea. And, of course, no screwdriver in the kit is long enough to deal with this.
Ah, well, good day overall. And picked up a bunch of brass, some of which is in the tumbler as I write. Now I just need to finish cleaning and putting things away.
And the latest SWAT dog-shooting raid just gets better
better and and better.
Prince George's County authorities did not have a "no-knock" warrant when they burst into the home of a mayor July 29, shooting and killing his two dogs -- contrary to what police said after the incident.
Well, isn't that just frikkin' wonderful?
A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.
But a review of the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission from Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup to enter without knocking. Northrup found probable cause to suspect that drugs might be in the house and granted police a standard search warrant.
So add either lying about the warrant, or not bothering to find out before speaking to the media.
Police spokesman Henry Tippett said yesterday that the statement about the warrant that public affairs officers released Friday was based on information provided by Maj. Mark Magaw, commander of the narcotics enforcement division. A request to interview Magaw was not immediately granted yesterday, and Tippett said he could not explain the discrepancy.
Wonder how long he'll be unavailable for interview?
Greenbelt Police Chief James R. Craze said yesterday that county officers contacted his 54-member department the day of the raid to ask whether his emergency response unit could serve the warrant. County police have said the Sheriff's Office was asked to participate because its team was busy at the time. Craze said it is not unusual for agencies to cooperate in such cases.
"From what I know, their SWAT team wasn't available, and that's why they were out shopping," he said.
The obvious question here is why was a SWAT team needed in the first place?
Were Calvo or his wife, Trinity Tomsic, to be charged in the case, the issue of the search could come up if prosecutors tried to introduce the box of marijuana as evidence. More likely, experts said, the issue could form the basis of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family against the county in the incident.
You think maybe?
Another issue that could arise in court is whether officers provided Calvo a copy of the warrant at the time of the raid, as required by law. Maloney said they did not, even though a detective signed a sworn statement to the judge indicating that he had. Instead, the detective brought the warrant to Calvo several days later, Maloney said.
Maloney said that Calvo and Tomsic are waiting for an explanation from law enforcement and that it would be premature discuss legal action.
That's an awful lot of lying going on in this case, on top of the idiocy of a SWAT raid when a "Sir, we have a search warrant" would have done, and shooting the dogs, and so forth. If anything, the more information comes out, the less professional and less competent and less lawful this bunch sounds.
Prince George's County authorities did not have a "no-knock" warrant when they burst into the home of a mayor July 29, shooting and killing his two dogs -- contrary to what police said after the incident.
Well, isn't that just frikkin' wonderful?
A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.
But a review of the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission from Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup to enter without knocking. Northrup found probable cause to suspect that drugs might be in the house and granted police a standard search warrant.
So add either lying about the warrant, or not bothering to find out before speaking to the media.
Police spokesman Henry Tippett said yesterday that the statement about the warrant that public affairs officers released Friday was based on information provided by Maj. Mark Magaw, commander of the narcotics enforcement division. A request to interview Magaw was not immediately granted yesterday, and Tippett said he could not explain the discrepancy.
Wonder how long he'll be unavailable for interview?
Greenbelt Police Chief James R. Craze said yesterday that county officers contacted his 54-member department the day of the raid to ask whether his emergency response unit could serve the warrant. County police have said the Sheriff's Office was asked to participate because its team was busy at the time. Craze said it is not unusual for agencies to cooperate in such cases.
"From what I know, their SWAT team wasn't available, and that's why they were out shopping," he said.
The obvious question here is why was a SWAT team needed in the first place?
Were Calvo or his wife, Trinity Tomsic, to be charged in the case, the issue of the search could come up if prosecutors tried to introduce the box of marijuana as evidence. More likely, experts said, the issue could form the basis of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family against the county in the incident.
You think maybe?
Another issue that could arise in court is whether officers provided Calvo a copy of the warrant at the time of the raid, as required by law. Maloney said they did not, even though a detective signed a sworn statement to the judge indicating that he had. Instead, the detective brought the warrant to Calvo several days later, Maloney said.
Maloney said that Calvo and Tomsic are waiting for an explanation from law enforcement and that it would be premature discuss legal action.
That's an awful lot of lying going on in this case, on top of the idiocy of a SWAT raid when a "Sir, we have a search warrant" would have done, and shooting the dogs, and so forth. If anything, the more information comes out, the less professional and less competent and less lawful this bunch sounds.
Anyone who trusts the "We can predict the climate in 100 years"
morons is a bigger moron. Just before I left for the range this morning it was '50% chance of storms today, 70% chance tonight'. Since I got home that has changed, and in the last hour I've heard it change from 30% to 50% to 40%.
Weather weenies, bah humbug.
Weather weenies, bah humbug.
Let's give Mexico something to really bitch about,
since executing murderers upsets them so: lets give the Border Patrol some serious backup, and the next time the Mexican Army crosses our border, shoot them.
We've got clowns putting BP officers in jail for doing their jobs, but the .gov weenies don't seem to want to do much about this garbage(State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.) Hell with this noise; the Mexican Government is violating our border with armed troops, and that requires(not 'needs', REQUIRES) a serious response.
We've got clowns putting BP officers in jail for doing their jobs, but the .gov weenies don't seem to want to do much about this garbage(State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.) Hell with this noise; the Mexican Government is violating our border with armed troops, and that requires(not 'needs', REQUIRES) a serious response.
Brit 'progressives' make deal with enemy;
surprised when it doesn't work very well.
US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.
The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.
Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.
Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.
Gee, you think maybe?
US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.
The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.
Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.
Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.
Gee, you think maybe?
Let's see, we demand politicians, prosecutors, etc. be held to account
when they do something wrong: Democrat weenies who get along with terrorists threaten children.
“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.
...
Gravel told FOX News that he doesn’t want people to break the law and that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended — but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials.
“How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldn’t protest. I don’t believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. … Don’t rely on your elected officials,” the former senator said.
Pardon a descent into bad language: chickenshit, miserable, stinking, cowardly little piece of crap. Lets turn this around, shall we? "While I personally wouldn't do it, wouldn't it be an effective way to change the behavior of Mr. Gravel if he were dragged out in the street and beaten with a flagrum? Or used to decorate a lamppost?"
I don't know squat about Gordon Kromberg, the prosecutor, and it doesn't matter: YOU DO NOT THREATEN THE KIDS. Period. And if someone decides to find Mr. Gravel and kick his ass, he deserves that. At the least.
“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.
...
Gravel told FOX News that he doesn’t want people to break the law and that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended — but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials.
“How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldn’t protest. I don’t believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. … Don’t rely on your elected officials,” the former senator said.
Pardon a descent into bad language: chickenshit, miserable, stinking, cowardly little piece of crap. Lets turn this around, shall we? "While I personally wouldn't do it, wouldn't it be an effective way to change the behavior of Mr. Gravel if he were dragged out in the street and beaten with a flagrum? Or used to decorate a lamppost?"
I don't know squat about Gordon Kromberg, the prosecutor, and it doesn't matter: YOU DO NOT THREATEN THE KIDS. Period. And if someone decides to find Mr. Gravel and kick his ass, he deserves that. At the least.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Some things have different effects when you're tired
Or sleep deprived. Breda had a rude awakening from the storm siren. Which, waking you from a sound sleep, can be a bit disturbing.
Few years back had some storms come through that caused a series of small twisters to hopscotch through town. I'd worked 0100-0900, and on the first day back it went like this:
Wake up usual time, around 7-8(no matter what I tried).
Spend day up & around.
Try to take a nap- usually unsuccessfully- before work.
Work.
Since I can't sleep during the day, stay up till 3-4, then go to bed.
So I'd been up from Wednesday morning until almost 4 Thursday afternoon. I'd been asleep for about two hours when the phone rang, mom calling: "There are tornadoes not far from you, is everything ok?" I actually looked up, then said "The ceiling's still there, so yes."
For some reason that was not reassuring to her, so I promised to turn on the weather- which was doing the expected squealing- for a minute and heard they were all north of me, so I looked out the back window. The dogs absolutely hated severe storms, and hid if anything was coming; they were in the back yard playing. So I went back to bed.
Thus ends my storm story.
Few years back had some storms come through that caused a series of small twisters to hopscotch through town. I'd worked 0100-0900, and on the first day back it went like this:
Wake up usual time, around 7-8(no matter what I tried).
Spend day up & around.
Try to take a nap- usually unsuccessfully- before work.
Work.
Since I can't sleep during the day, stay up till 3-4, then go to bed.
So I'd been up from Wednesday morning until almost 4 Thursday afternoon. I'd been asleep for about two hours when the phone rang, mom calling: "There are tornadoes not far from you, is everything ok?" I actually looked up, then said "The ceiling's still there, so yes."
For some reason that was not reassuring to her, so I promised to turn on the weather- which was doing the expected squealing- for a minute and heard they were all north of me, so I looked out the back window. The dogs absolutely hated severe storms, and hid if anything was coming; they were in the back yard playing. So I went back to bed.
Thus ends my storm story.
Since I've been noting a lot of law enforcement BS
over the last few days*, let's now look at the way the NY authorities seem to be acting like political operatives in the Spitzer case:
More than 8,500 pages of Dirty Tricks Scandal documents released yesterday by the Albany district attorney reveal kid-gloves treatment for then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and little interest in aggressively pursuing criminal charges against any of his aides.
The documents, forced into the open by Freedom of Information requests filed by The Post and other news organizations, confirm earlier reports that Albany DA David Soares was reluctant to probe the explosive plot in which Spitzer's top aides used the State Police to gather purportedly damaging information against then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
...
The tone of the interview was also sympathetic and unquestioning, as when Spitzer was asked, "Did you ever direct any type of surveillance by anyone on Senator Bruno?"
Spitzer responded, "Absolutely not," and there was no follow-up questioning.
But Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director, has repeatedly insisted, both publicly and in sworn testimony to the state Public Integrity Commission, that Spitzer was aware that his own top aides were using the State Police to orchestrate a campaign against Bruno.
That Spitzer was allowed to get away with a lot of the crap he pulled before this was bad enough; that he's gotten the kind of treatment he has by the 'authorites' in this disgusting matter is flat horrible. And the people involved ought to be kicked the hell out of their offices.
*Spent a lot of time indoors the last few days; it's been damn hot, and humid enough to make it more miserable.
More than 8,500 pages of Dirty Tricks Scandal documents released yesterday by the Albany district attorney reveal kid-gloves treatment for then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and little interest in aggressively pursuing criminal charges against any of his aides.
The documents, forced into the open by Freedom of Information requests filed by The Post and other news organizations, confirm earlier reports that Albany DA David Soares was reluctant to probe the explosive plot in which Spitzer's top aides used the State Police to gather purportedly damaging information against then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
...
The tone of the interview was also sympathetic and unquestioning, as when Spitzer was asked, "Did you ever direct any type of surveillance by anyone on Senator Bruno?"
Spitzer responded, "Absolutely not," and there was no follow-up questioning.
But Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director, has repeatedly insisted, both publicly and in sworn testimony to the state Public Integrity Commission, that Spitzer was aware that his own top aides were using the State Police to orchestrate a campaign against Bruno.
That Spitzer was allowed to get away with a lot of the crap he pulled before this was bad enough; that he's gotten the kind of treatment he has by the 'authorites' in this disgusting matter is flat horrible. And the people involved ought to be kicked the hell out of their offices.
*Spent a lot of time indoors the last few days; it's been damn hot, and humid enough to make it more miserable.
Let it be noted, you're still not supposed to/allowed to
write things that upset the fundie muslims and their suckups:
After he got the call from Ms. Spellberg, Mr. Amanullah dashed off an email to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students, acknowledging he didn't "know anything about it [the book]," but telling them, "Just got a frantic call from a professor who got an advance copy of the forthcoming novel, 'Jewel of Medina' -- she said she found it incredibly offensive." He added a write-up about the book from the Publishers Marketplace, an industry publication.
The next day, a blogger known as Shahid Pradhan posted Mr. Amanullah's email on a Web site for Shiite Muslims -- "Hussaini Youth" -- under a headline, "upcoming book, 'Jewel of Medina': A new attempt to slander the Prophet of Islam." Two hours and 28 minutes after that, another person by the name of Ali Hemani proposed a seven-point strategy to ensure "the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise all the muslims across the world."
Yup, preemptive calls for apology, etc.
Meanwhile back in New York City, Jane Garrett, an editor at Random House's Knopf imprint, dispatched an email on May 1 to Knopf executives, telling them she got a phone call the evening before from Ms. Spellberg (who happens to be under contract with Knopf to write "Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an.")
"She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the building and staff and widespread violence," Ms. Garrett wrote. "Denise says it is 'a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.' Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons. Does not know if the author and Ballantine folks are clueless or calculating, but thinks the book should be withdrawn ASAP." ("The Jewel of Medina" was to be published by Random House's Ballantine Books.) That day, the email spread like wildfire through Random House, which also received a letter from Ms. Spellberg and her attorney, saying she would sue the publisher if her name was associated with the novel. On May 2, a Ballantine editor told Ms. Jones's agent the company decided to possibly postpone publication of the book.
I understand the company being worried about the situation; I'm also very pissed that the possibility of screaming muslims calling for blood and threatening death is pretty much expected anymore. And that belly-crawling bullcrap, 'declaration of war', etc., is enough to make you puke. "We must not upset them with a work of fiction(or fact, either one) they won't like, as they will call us names. And threaten to kill us."
I'm getting pretty damn tired of the sensitivities of these clowns being used as reason not to publish something. Same group of people have no problem publishing stuff that upsets Christians or Jews or Buddhists or whoever; hell, sometimes they delight in it. ButGodGaia forbid they upset muslims, at least the group that screams and yells and threatens.
After he got the call from Ms. Spellberg, Mr. Amanullah dashed off an email to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students, acknowledging he didn't "know anything about it [the book]," but telling them, "Just got a frantic call from a professor who got an advance copy of the forthcoming novel, 'Jewel of Medina' -- she said she found it incredibly offensive." He added a write-up about the book from the Publishers Marketplace, an industry publication.
The next day, a blogger known as Shahid Pradhan posted Mr. Amanullah's email on a Web site for Shiite Muslims -- "Hussaini Youth" -- under a headline, "upcoming book, 'Jewel of Medina': A new attempt to slander the Prophet of Islam." Two hours and 28 minutes after that, another person by the name of Ali Hemani proposed a seven-point strategy to ensure "the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise all the muslims across the world."
Yup, preemptive calls for apology, etc.
Meanwhile back in New York City, Jane Garrett, an editor at Random House's Knopf imprint, dispatched an email on May 1 to Knopf executives, telling them she got a phone call the evening before from Ms. Spellberg (who happens to be under contract with Knopf to write "Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an.")
"She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the building and staff and widespread violence," Ms. Garrett wrote. "Denise says it is 'a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.' Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons. Does not know if the author and Ballantine folks are clueless or calculating, but thinks the book should be withdrawn ASAP." ("The Jewel of Medina" was to be published by Random House's Ballantine Books.) That day, the email spread like wildfire through Random House, which also received a letter from Ms. Spellberg and her attorney, saying she would sue the publisher if her name was associated with the novel. On May 2, a Ballantine editor told Ms. Jones's agent the company decided to possibly postpone publication of the book.
I understand the company being worried about the situation; I'm also very pissed that the possibility of screaming muslims calling for blood and threatening death is pretty much expected anymore. And that belly-crawling bullcrap, 'declaration of war', etc., is enough to make you puke. "We must not upset them with a work of fiction(or fact, either one) they won't like, as they will call us names. And threaten to kill us."
I'm getting pretty damn tired of the sensitivities of these clowns being used as reason not to publish something. Same group of people have no problem publishing stuff that upsets Christians or Jews or Buddhists or whoever; hell, sometimes they delight in it. But
Couple of thoughts on the anthrax mailing case,
and the suicide of the 'chief suspect':
The fact that he committed suicide doesn't mean guilt; it wouldn't be the first time someone was driven to that out of despair. He might have been guilty, but... considering the record the FBI has compiled on things of this type, I have doubts.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.
In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.
Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.
Put enough pressure on someone's family, you might get them to 'confess' to something just to get relief for the family, and hey! case closed!
The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.
Awww, isn't that a nice, lawyerly way to make excuses for the Bureau?
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a friend and former supervisor of Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said he had heard from other Ivins associates that investigators were going after Ivins' daughter. But Byrne said those conversations were always short because people were afraid to talk.
"The FBI had asked everybody to sign these nondisclosure things," Byrne said. "They didn't want to run afoul of the FBI."
Because the Bureau, like the IRS, can screw you over bigtime regardless of guilt or innocence. Ask the aforementioned Jewell & Hatfill, and God knows how many others.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
Naw, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his suicide, could it?
Questions about the FBI's conduct come as the government takes steps that could signal an end to its investigation. On Wednesday, FBI officials plan to begin briefing family members of victims in the 2001 attacks.
The government is expected to declare the case solved but will keep it open for now, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Several legal and investigatory matters need to be wrapped up before the case can officially be closed, they said.
"Solved but still open", hmmm.
During its focus on Hatfill, the FBI conducted what became known as "bumper lock surveillance," in which investigators trailed Hatfill so closely that he accused agents of running over his foot with their surveillance vehicle.
FBI agents showed up once to videotape Hatfill in a hotel hallway in Tyson's Corner, Va., when Hatfill was meeting with a prospective employer, according to FBI depositions filed in Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. He didn't get the job.
One of the FBI agents who helped run the anthrax investigation, Robert Roth, said FBI Director Robert Mueller had expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation. He also acknowledged that, under FBI guidelines, targets of surveillance aren't supposed to know they're being followed.
"Generally, it's supposed to be covert," Roth told lawyers in Hatfill's lawsuit.
And so on.
I'll admit, I've gotten awfully cynical about much of law enforcement, and the feds in particular; and they've earned it. Look at all the people who've wound up in jail because "We can't prove you committed the crime, but your story wasn't quite the same here and here, so we'll charge you with 'lying to a federal investigator'." Look at the PC bullcrap that's affected terrorism investigations. And look at the cases like this. The FBI is going to have to show actual evidence, some kind of actual proof, before I'll believe this guy was guilty. If he was, if your investigation actually turned up proof, so be it. But if, after all this, they've got nothing but conjecture...
It is unclear how the FBI eliminated as suspects others in the lab who had access to the anthrax. It's not clear what, if any, evidence bolsters the theory that the attacks may have been a twisted effort to test a cure for the toxin. Investigators also can't place Ivins in Princeton, N.J., when the letters were mailed from a mailbox there.
Richard Schuler, attorney for anthrax victim Robert Stevens' widow, Maureen Stevens, said his client will attend Wednesday's FBI briefing with a list of questions.
"No. 1 is, 'Did Bruce Ivins mail the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens?'" Schuler said, adding, "I've got healthy skepticism."
I understand some things need to be kept confidential; I also understand that the FBI needs to be able to look this family in the eye and say "Yes" to that question, and show the evidence. If they can't do that, then they may well have driven an innocent man to suicide in the name of 'Solving the Case and adding Luster to the Bureau'. And there's probably a place in hell for people who do things like that.
The fact that he committed suicide doesn't mean guilt; it wouldn't be the first time someone was driven to that out of despair. He might have been guilty, but... considering the record the FBI has compiled on things of this type, I have doubts.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.
In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.
Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.
Put enough pressure on someone's family, you might get them to 'confess' to something just to get relief for the family, and hey! case closed!
The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.
Awww, isn't that a nice, lawyerly way to make excuses for the Bureau?
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a friend and former supervisor of Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said he had heard from other Ivins associates that investigators were going after Ivins' daughter. But Byrne said those conversations were always short because people were afraid to talk.
"The FBI had asked everybody to sign these nondisclosure things," Byrne said. "They didn't want to run afoul of the FBI."
Because the Bureau, like the IRS, can screw you over bigtime regardless of guilt or innocence. Ask the aforementioned Jewell & Hatfill, and God knows how many others.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
Naw, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his suicide, could it?
Questions about the FBI's conduct come as the government takes steps that could signal an end to its investigation. On Wednesday, FBI officials plan to begin briefing family members of victims in the 2001 attacks.
The government is expected to declare the case solved but will keep it open for now, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Several legal and investigatory matters need to be wrapped up before the case can officially be closed, they said.
"Solved but still open", hmmm.
During its focus on Hatfill, the FBI conducted what became known as "bumper lock surveillance," in which investigators trailed Hatfill so closely that he accused agents of running over his foot with their surveillance vehicle.
FBI agents showed up once to videotape Hatfill in a hotel hallway in Tyson's Corner, Va., when Hatfill was meeting with a prospective employer, according to FBI depositions filed in Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. He didn't get the job.
One of the FBI agents who helped run the anthrax investigation, Robert Roth, said FBI Director Robert Mueller had expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation. He also acknowledged that, under FBI guidelines, targets of surveillance aren't supposed to know they're being followed.
"Generally, it's supposed to be covert," Roth told lawyers in Hatfill's lawsuit.
And so on.
I'll admit, I've gotten awfully cynical about much of law enforcement, and the feds in particular; and they've earned it. Look at all the people who've wound up in jail because "We can't prove you committed the crime, but your story wasn't quite the same here and here, so we'll charge you with 'lying to a federal investigator'." Look at the PC bullcrap that's affected terrorism investigations. And look at the cases like this. The FBI is going to have to show actual evidence, some kind of actual proof, before I'll believe this guy was guilty. If he was, if your investigation actually turned up proof, so be it. But if, after all this, they've got nothing but conjecture...
It is unclear how the FBI eliminated as suspects others in the lab who had access to the anthrax. It's not clear what, if any, evidence bolsters the theory that the attacks may have been a twisted effort to test a cure for the toxin. Investigators also can't place Ivins in Princeton, N.J., when the letters were mailed from a mailbox there.
Richard Schuler, attorney for anthrax victim Robert Stevens' widow, Maureen Stevens, said his client will attend Wednesday's FBI briefing with a list of questions.
"No. 1 is, 'Did Bruce Ivins mail the anthrax that killed Robert Stevens?'" Schuler said, adding, "I've got healthy skepticism."
I understand some things need to be kept confidential; I also understand that the FBI needs to be able to look this family in the eye and say "Yes" to that question, and show the evidence. If they can't do that, then they may well have driven an innocent man to suicide in the name of 'Solving the Case and adding Luster to the Bureau'. And there's probably a place in hell for people who do things like that.
Miserable murdering piece of illegal alien crap
assumes ambient temperature. If I had time, I'd figure out how to have this play Another One Bites The Dust.
You'll notice the article doesn't say 'illegal alien' or anything like it; it says 'Mexican-born.
Now to move on to the others.
You'll notice the article doesn't say 'illegal alien' or anything like it; it says 'Mexican-born.
Now to move on to the others.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
It's about 2200, and it's still almost 90 outside
This last week or so has been fairly nasty. High for the last few days was 107, mostly days the last bit have been at or over 100 and the humidity is high enough to make it even more miserable. God knows how the troops handle 120's with all the armor and gear, and the humidity in much of the region.
One of the nasty things about this? Last couple of years I've had it forced on my attention that I can't handle this kind of heat very well any more. I'm not having the level of trouble Kim does, but where I used to go out and sweat and as long as I drank enough I was fine, now I work a while and then have to find some shade or a cool place to drink and rest.
This getting old stuff sucks.
One of the nasty things about this? Last couple of years I've had it forced on my attention that I can't handle this kind of heat very well any more. I'm not having the level of trouble Kim does, but where I used to go out and sweat and as long as I drank enough I was fine, now I work a while and then have to find some shade or a cool place to drink and rest.
This getting old stuff sucks.
It seems that the building son & unit are moving into
came with a pre-installed insect control system
He added, "They squeak like a mouse at you when they're pissed."
He added, "They squeak like a mouse at you when they're pissed."
a little further on the current Hollywood Blacklist
Breitbart has this post on the mess, including this on page 2:
Mr. Wells - whose unsolicited anti-GOP mass e-mailings have reached my inbox in previous election cycles - responded by doubling down:
"It's been said in this town many times that the right has a debt to pay for the blacklisting of lefties in the '50s, and that in all fairness it's probably going to take a long time to make amends. The fact is that the philosophical grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's right-wingers ruined the lives of many Hollywood screenwriters in the '50s, and so their descendants now have to suffer and make up for that," Mr. Wells wrote in his Hollywood-Elsewhere blog.
Jeffrey, are you aware that Bobby Kennedy was McCarthy's right-hand guy? Or that many Democrats and Republicans were concerned about the verifiable infiltration of Soviet spies into our government and cultural organs? Or that, as Mr. Voight points out, commies were actually mass murderers greatly deserving of our vigilance?
And while I'm at it, will my great-grandchildren point to this incident in 50 years when they attempt to thwart the livelihoods of your progeny? In your mind, do two wrongs make a right?
Those who argue that Mr. Wells' point of view is not representative of a larger mind-set among the Hollywood elite should think back to 2005, when Barbra Streisand publicly canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times for the crime of hiring a conservative to pen editorials a few times a week. That writer, Jonah Goldberg, went on to write the book "Liberal Fascism," which hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Perhaps the title resonated with the masses.
Is it any wonder Jon Voight didn't have his opinions published in a hometown rag?
Mr. Wells - whose unsolicited anti-GOP mass e-mailings have reached my inbox in previous election cycles - responded by doubling down:
"It's been said in this town many times that the right has a debt to pay for the blacklisting of lefties in the '50s, and that in all fairness it's probably going to take a long time to make amends. The fact is that the philosophical grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's right-wingers ruined the lives of many Hollywood screenwriters in the '50s, and so their descendants now have to suffer and make up for that," Mr. Wells wrote in his Hollywood-Elsewhere blog.
Jeffrey, are you aware that Bobby Kennedy was McCarthy's right-hand guy? Or that many Democrats and Republicans were concerned about the verifiable infiltration of Soviet spies into our government and cultural organs? Or that, as Mr. Voight points out, commies were actually mass murderers greatly deserving of our vigilance?
And while I'm at it, will my great-grandchildren point to this incident in 50 years when they attempt to thwart the livelihoods of your progeny? In your mind, do two wrongs make a right?
Those who argue that Mr. Wells' point of view is not representative of a larger mind-set among the Hollywood elite should think back to 2005, when Barbra Streisand publicly canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times for the crime of hiring a conservative to pen editorials a few times a week. That writer, Jonah Goldberg, went on to write the book "Liberal Fascism," which hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Perhaps the title resonated with the masses.
Is it any wonder Jon Voight didn't have his opinions published in a hometown rag?
Remember the two labs shot by the SWAT team
in the raid? There's some followup, including this:
The package was addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife. But law enforcement sources said last week that they are now investigating the possibility that the mayor and his wife were unwitting recipients and that a deliveryman might have intended to intercept the package as part of a drug smuggling scheme.
Isn't it just effin' wonderful that they've decided, AFTER smashing doors, threatening people and killing dogs, that this just might be a possibility?
The package landed on Calvo's doorstep after police posing as deliverymen brought it to the door and Calvo's mother-in-law asked that it be left on the porch. Police recovered the unopened package from the home Tuesday night but made no arrests. Calvo has said he was interrogated for hours while handcuffed and surrounded by the bloody bodies of his dogs.
In other words, they could have walked up when the guy came home and handed him the warrant, etc., but that just wasn't good enough. After all, I guess they needed some door-kicking practice.
A spokesman for the sheriff's office has said that the department regretted the shooting of the dogs but that deputies felt threatened by them. The spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
Yeah, guess they felt very damned threatened by the one that ran away so they had to chase it to shoot it. Anyone surprised they wouldn't return the call?
The package was addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife. But law enforcement sources said last week that they are now investigating the possibility that the mayor and his wife were unwitting recipients and that a deliveryman might have intended to intercept the package as part of a drug smuggling scheme.
Isn't it just effin' wonderful that they've decided, AFTER smashing doors, threatening people and killing dogs, that this just might be a possibility?
The package landed on Calvo's doorstep after police posing as deliverymen brought it to the door and Calvo's mother-in-law asked that it be left on the porch. Police recovered the unopened package from the home Tuesday night but made no arrests. Calvo has said he was interrogated for hours while handcuffed and surrounded by the bloody bodies of his dogs.
In other words, they could have walked up when the guy came home and handed him the warrant, etc., but that just wasn't good enough. After all, I guess they needed some door-kicking practice.
A spokesman for the sheriff's office has said that the department regretted the shooting of the dogs but that deputies felt threatened by them. The spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
Yeah, guess they felt very damned threatened by the one that ran away so they had to chase it to shoot it. Anyone surprised they wouldn't return the call?
Speaking of lines in the sand,
THIS garbage has got to count. Corps of Engineers couldn't be bothered to pass on to new people about the situation, one of their morons tries to prosecute the guy, EPA decides to exercise their power by screwing the guy, a disgusting example of a judge who "instructed the jury, believe it or not, to disregard every bit of information from 1980 to 2002, including the Corps’ denial of jurisdiction and the mandate from local government for Mr. Moses to maintain the flood channel."
And it's not bad enough the EPA just had to do something; they lied.
Worse, Mr. Moses has been convicted of “pollut(ing) a spawning area for Yellowstone cutthroat trout,” despite the fact that there have been no fish in this stream bed for more than 150 years. Mr. Gagner, who has lived near the flood channel for 18 years, says he has never seen fish in this stream bedStepeh. And it’s not even possible for the stream bed to serve as a spawning ground since it only has water two months out of every year in the first place.
Although the director of the EPA in Idaho, Jim Wernitz, asserts that Mr. Moses had damaged “wetlands” associated with the stream, there are no wetlands there! The very word requires that land be, well, wet, but the stream bed is bone dry for at least 10 months out of every year. Wernitz is apparently ignorant of the fact that the Government had previously stipulated that there are no wetlands surrounding the storm channel, nor any “aquatic environment” that could be damaged.
In court. Under oath. With no penalty.
As someone said, how many would blame the man if he decided to do something about some of these people?
And it's not bad enough the EPA just had to do something; they lied.
Worse, Mr. Moses has been convicted of “pollut(ing) a spawning area for Yellowstone cutthroat trout,” despite the fact that there have been no fish in this stream bed for more than 150 years. Mr. Gagner, who has lived near the flood channel for 18 years, says he has never seen fish in this stream bedStepeh. And it’s not even possible for the stream bed to serve as a spawning ground since it only has water two months out of every year in the first place.
Although the director of the EPA in Idaho, Jim Wernitz, asserts that Mr. Moses had damaged “wetlands” associated with the stream, there are no wetlands there! The very word requires that land be, well, wet, but the stream bed is bone dry for at least 10 months out of every year. Wernitz is apparently ignorant of the fact that the Government had previously stipulated that there are no wetlands surrounding the storm channel, nor any “aquatic environment” that could be damaged.
In court. Under oath. With no penalty.
As someone said, how many would blame the man if he decided to do something about some of these people?
Monday, August 04, 2008
This mess
is sad, and if the information here is accurate, was preventable. Here's the key part:
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia heard gunshots that two fellow SWAT team officers fired at pit bulls released from a first-floor back bedroom by drug dealer Anthony Terry, defense attorney Bill Kluge said during opening arguments in Chavalia's trial.
The dogs were released as Chavalia headed upstairs. He saw movement and fired through stairway railings into a second-story bedroom where Wilson was with six children, said Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh.
'...saw movement and fired' into a room. There's a reason for that 'Be sure of your target' part of the basic rules, and this is it.
Remember a few months ago, the moron on a LE board talking about 'suppressing fire' into a house if you're fired at? This is the kind of thing that would lead to. It's one thing for a military unit assaulting an objective to fire at movement: it's a whole 'nother thing for law enforcement officers, in a house where they were told children were present(it'd be bad in any case, worse under that circumstance).
So a woman is dead, a child lost a finger- not counting the blood and terror at the time- and an officer stands a fair chance of losing his career and going to prison. God, what a mess.
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia heard gunshots that two fellow SWAT team officers fired at pit bulls released from a first-floor back bedroom by drug dealer Anthony Terry, defense attorney Bill Kluge said during opening arguments in Chavalia's trial.
The dogs were released as Chavalia headed upstairs. He saw movement and fired through stairway railings into a second-story bedroom where Wilson was with six children, said Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh.
'...saw movement and fired' into a room. There's a reason for that 'Be sure of your target' part of the basic rules, and this is it.
Remember a few months ago, the moron on a LE board talking about 'suppressing fire' into a house if you're fired at? This is the kind of thing that would lead to. It's one thing for a military unit assaulting an objective to fire at movement: it's a whole 'nother thing for law enforcement officers, in a house where they were told children were present(it'd be bad in any case, worse under that circumstance).
So a woman is dead, a child lost a finger- not counting the blood and terror at the time- and an officer stands a fair chance of losing his career and going to prison. God, what a mess.
I've noted east coast and flyover country nonsense
so let's look in granola country:
Over the past 2 1/2 years in Southern California, three people have been killed after trying to stop graffiti vandals in the act. A fourth died after being shot while watching a confrontation between crews in a park.
"We have seen a marked increase in these graffiti-tagging gangs taking to weapons and fighting to protect their walls, their territory, their name," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Rifkin. (bold mine)
This is just friggin' rediculous.
For some taggers, protecting their work is akin to defending their names and their honor.
"If we see someone calling the police, then we target them," said Mario Garcia, 20, who describes himself as a former tagger trying to become a professional artist. "You are trying to stop me from what I live, what I believe in and what I breathe? We are not going to let no one get in the way."
You, Garcia, are a miserable little jerk. You think you have some privilege to damage public and private property, and now you think you have some right to hurt people who object. And, if we're lucky, one of the people you decide to target is going to return a load of buckshot and remove you from their misery.
Artist Dartagnan Curiel, 31, said he used to scrawl graffiti and grew sick of the violence. He now paints murals with positive messages as a way to speak out against the bloodshed in his Los Angeles neighborhood and to encourage graffiti vandals and gang members to lay down their arms.
"Why would you want to put spray paint on a kid's face?" he says. "We live in the same community. We are all in this hellhole together."
Hey, 'artist' dumbass, who helped make it a hellhole?
Over the past 2 1/2 years in Southern California, three people have been killed after trying to stop graffiti vandals in the act. A fourth died after being shot while watching a confrontation between crews in a park.
"We have seen a marked increase in these graffiti-tagging gangs taking to weapons and fighting to protect their walls, their territory, their name," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Rifkin. (bold mine)
This is just friggin' rediculous.
For some taggers, protecting their work is akin to defending their names and their honor.
"If we see someone calling the police, then we target them," said Mario Garcia, 20, who describes himself as a former tagger trying to become a professional artist. "You are trying to stop me from what I live, what I believe in and what I breathe? We are not going to let no one get in the way."
You, Garcia, are a miserable little jerk. You think you have some privilege to damage public and private property, and now you think you have some right to hurt people who object. And, if we're lucky, one of the people you decide to target is going to return a load of buckshot and remove you from their misery.
Artist Dartagnan Curiel, 31, said he used to scrawl graffiti and grew sick of the violence. He now paints murals with positive messages as a way to speak out against the bloodshed in his Los Angeles neighborhood and to encourage graffiti vandals and gang members to lay down their arms.
"Why would you want to put spray paint on a kid's face?" he says. "We live in the same community. We are all in this hellhole together."
Hey, 'artist' dumbass, who helped make it a hellhole?
Ok, at the LEAST these Only Ones
need to be fired. At LEAST.
When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.
When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.
...
However, Ozark police say the wounded boy was a threat.
"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him," Capt. Thomas Rousset said. "He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."
Authorities say their use of a Taser weapon should not be questioned, because they were trying to help Hutchinson to safety.
"It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," Rousset said.
Captain Rousset, you suck. And your officers who did this suck. They should be fired for doing it, and you ought to be fired for this bullcrap defending it, AND for that 'should not be questioned' garbage.
When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.
When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.
...
However, Ozark police say the wounded boy was a threat.
"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him," Capt. Thomas Rousset said. "He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."
Authorities say their use of a Taser weapon should not be questioned, because they were trying to help Hutchinson to safety.
"It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," Rousset said.
Captain Rousset, you suck. And your officers who did this suck. They should be fired for doing it, and you ought to be fired for this bullcrap defending it, AND for that 'should not be questioned' garbage.
So we find out that Rep. McCarthy(Evil Party GFW-NY)
is a liar, as well as screwing people over for daring to cause her difficulty.
The letter made no mention of the 911 call, and in fact, a judge had to order McCarthy’s office to identify the employee who had called 911—after McCarthy had denied any involvement.
And the Chief of Police, who's fairly obviously both sucking up to McCarthy and indulging his own "You civilians are not Only Ones" feelings, does indeed suck:
The police took all of his legally registered guns—nine rifles and 15 handguns, and they also seized his fiancée’s handgun. This despite no statutory authority to do this-- It’s important here to note that this was not a domestic or any other kind of violence incident. Razzano didn’t even get a receipt for the seized property until a week later—after he requested one.
A little over a month after the seizures, he received notice from Chief Anthony Rocco that his pistol license had been revoked. This has been done with no adjudication under “authority” of the chief, who indicated he believed Razzano to be “obsessed with the day laborer situation” and offered his unqualified opinion that Razzano’s actions had raised “concerns” over his “suitability” to have a license.
You could not pay me enough to live in that part of this country.
The letter made no mention of the 911 call, and in fact, a judge had to order McCarthy’s office to identify the employee who had called 911—after McCarthy had denied any involvement.
And the Chief of Police, who's fairly obviously both sucking up to McCarthy and indulging his own "You civilians are not Only Ones" feelings, does indeed suck:
The police took all of his legally registered guns—nine rifles and 15 handguns, and they also seized his fiancée’s handgun. This despite no statutory authority to do this-- It’s important here to note that this was not a domestic or any other kind of violence incident. Razzano didn’t even get a receipt for the seized property until a week later—after he requested one.
A little over a month after the seizures, he received notice from Chief Anthony Rocco that his pistol license had been revoked. This has been done with no adjudication under “authority” of the chief, who indicated he believed Razzano to be “obsessed with the day laborer situation” and offered his unqualified opinion that Razzano’s actions had raised “concerns” over his “suitability” to have a license.
You could not pay me enough to live in that part of this country.
Naw, no slippery slope,
now shut up and hand your guns in.
Cattle station owners and workers throughout remote WA are in a legal stand-off with WA Police in the State Administrative Tribunal after being stripped of their handguns and revolvers, which they say are integral to working and living on the land.
Lawyer Ross Williamson, who is representing the group, said police had taken guns from dozens of people in the past 18 months, including some who worked in water where crocodiles lived and mining prospectors who travelled down shafts into pits with snakes.
...
Mr Williamson said most of the men had had the guns for up to 20 years and were bewildered as to why they were being taken from them under laws introduced after Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.
Det-Sen. Sgt Shane Atkins said police had taken handguns and licences from about 400 people. He said legislation no longer provided for pastoralists to have handguns but stressed the group was not being singled out.
“Some of these people have had firearms for quite a period of time but it is not in compliance with what legislation says at this point in time,” Det-Sen. Sgt Atkins said. He added that other professionals had traditionally held firearms but now could not, citing jewellers as an example.
...
Gindalbie Station owner Steve Tonkin, who still has a handgun he has owned for 27 years, has been told that Kalgoorlie police have a letter requesting he turn in his gun.
He said the lack of trust was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Mr. Tonkin, you better watch it: not only did you have one of those very-politically-incorrect-and-disapproved-by-the-nanny-state handguns, you've now said that their lack of trust in you is 'ridiculous'. You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't matter: you've been told by yourbettersnannies what to do, and they'll be very upset if you cause them problems.
Cattle station owners and workers throughout remote WA are in a legal stand-off with WA Police in the State Administrative Tribunal after being stripped of their handguns and revolvers, which they say are integral to working and living on the land.
Lawyer Ross Williamson, who is representing the group, said police had taken guns from dozens of people in the past 18 months, including some who worked in water where crocodiles lived and mining prospectors who travelled down shafts into pits with snakes.
...
Mr Williamson said most of the men had had the guns for up to 20 years and were bewildered as to why they were being taken from them under laws introduced after Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.
Det-Sen. Sgt Shane Atkins said police had taken handguns and licences from about 400 people. He said legislation no longer provided for pastoralists to have handguns but stressed the group was not being singled out.
“Some of these people have had firearms for quite a period of time but it is not in compliance with what legislation says at this point in time,” Det-Sen. Sgt Atkins said. He added that other professionals had traditionally held firearms but now could not, citing jewellers as an example.
...
Gindalbie Station owner Steve Tonkin, who still has a handgun he has owned for 27 years, has been told that Kalgoorlie police have a letter requesting he turn in his gun.
He said the lack of trust was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Mr. Tonkin, you better watch it: not only did you have one of those very-politically-incorrect-and-disapproved-by-the-nanny-state handguns, you've now said that their lack of trust in you is 'ridiculous'. You're absolutely correct, but that doesn't matter: you've been told by your
The socialists are making another grab
at the kids:
There's too much here for me to take bits out, go take a look at the post and the links.
Moreover, she sees these programs as not helping children, but using subjective behavior or emotional measures to identify children who can be given “the myriad harmful and ineffective psychotropic drugs that are being prescribed to children at alarmingly younger ages.” These mental health screening tests have been shown to incorrectly label large numbers of children and have been shown to have high false positives, she said.
One commonly used screening instrument has a 73% false positive rating, meaning that for every 27 children supposedly correctly identified as having an emotional problem on this screening test that follow admittedly "subjective" criteria that are "value judgments based on culture" according to the Surgeon General, other families are falsely told that something is wrong with their child and referred for further evaluation and treatment which more and more commonly involves ineffective and sometimes lethally dangerous drugs.
There's too much here for me to take bits out, go take a look at the post and the links.
At this point, I think there ought to be an open season on
animal rights weenies:
SANTA CRUZ -- Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.
Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.
And why attempted homicide?
In one incident, a faculty member's home on Village Circle off High Street was intentionally firebombed at about 5:40 a.m., according to police. The residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop.
...
The family was home at the time of the firebombing and the victims, including two young children, escaped on a fire ladder from a second-story window, according to police. One family member suffered injuries during the escape and had to be hospitalized briefly, police said. That bombing is being considered an attempted homicide because the family was home, police said.
That's why.
This isn't the first time these freaks have deliberately tried to kill people. And it won't be the last, and sooner or later they'll manage to kill some of the nasty humans who don't share their views. And with crap like this, they'll probably manage to kill some kids when they do.
In February, masked demonstrators rattled the front door of another UCSC researcher, whose husband chased the intruders away while the researcher protected her children in the back of the Westside home.
'Chasing away' should not be the aim anymore; 'shot while breaking into home' should.
Clark would not say what kind of bombs were used on Saturday, but said this isn't the first time Santa Cruz police have seen them.
"It's consistent with what animal rights people use," Clark said. Police officers described the firebombs as "significantly larger than a Molotov cocktail."
Last year, arsonists filled a milk jug with flammable liquid, inserted a wick on the top and placed it under a police car. In that case, the wick was lit but went out before the bomb blew up.
Yup, just fun-loving, "We care!" people.
And(of course) the answer, according to some politicians, is another law:
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who has been championing legislation to increase civil and criminal penalties in cases where academic researchers are attacked because of their work, said Saturday that he was saddened and surprised by dual firebombings.
But, he added, violence against researchers has been on the rise and while condemning the acts, predicted Saturday's firebombings likely would prompt legislators to move on the bill.
You don't need a new law, dammit, there are already laws on arson and threats and attempted murder; just use those. And put these clowns in prison for a long damn time.
Added: more here
SANTA CRUZ -- Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.
Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.
And why attempted homicide?
In one incident, a faculty member's home on Village Circle off High Street was intentionally firebombed at about 5:40 a.m., according to police. The residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop.
...
The family was home at the time of the firebombing and the victims, including two young children, escaped on a fire ladder from a second-story window, according to police. One family member suffered injuries during the escape and had to be hospitalized briefly, police said. That bombing is being considered an attempted homicide because the family was home, police said.
That's why.
This isn't the first time these freaks have deliberately tried to kill people. And it won't be the last, and sooner or later they'll manage to kill some of the nasty humans who don't share their views. And with crap like this, they'll probably manage to kill some kids when they do.
In February, masked demonstrators rattled the front door of another UCSC researcher, whose husband chased the intruders away while the researcher protected her children in the back of the Westside home.
'Chasing away' should not be the aim anymore; 'shot while breaking into home' should.
Clark would not say what kind of bombs were used on Saturday, but said this isn't the first time Santa Cruz police have seen them.
"It's consistent with what animal rights people use," Clark said. Police officers described the firebombs as "significantly larger than a Molotov cocktail."
Last year, arsonists filled a milk jug with flammable liquid, inserted a wick on the top and placed it under a police car. In that case, the wick was lit but went out before the bomb blew up.
Yup, just fun-loving, "We care!" people.
And(of course) the answer, according to some politicians, is another law:
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who has been championing legislation to increase civil and criminal penalties in cases where academic researchers are attacked because of their work, said Saturday that he was saddened and surprised by dual firebombings.
But, he added, violence against researchers has been on the rise and while condemning the acts, predicted Saturday's firebombings likely would prompt legislators to move on the bill.
You don't need a new law, dammit, there are already laws on arson and threats and attempted murder; just use those. And put these clowns in prison for a long damn time.
Added: more here
The the moron in the black hummer going north on May
Avenue the other day: If you look to your left, you will see what appears to be a lane with yellow lines on each side, and there are arrows pointing to the left painted at intervals; intervals which, amazingly, coincide with places where the curbs are open to allow access to parking lots.
You see, you are supposed to move over into these appropriately-named ‘left-turn lanes’ BEFORE you stop to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before you turn left. That way you do not BLOCK A WHOLE LANE OF TRAFFIC, you moron.
The other day I wrote on that marvelous little bit of truth-telling by the socialists infesting- and often running- the ‘Green’ movement that they don’t want people to become more wealthy, and they really don’t like the idea of people actually getting sources of abundant energy. I think it was Paul Erlich, that “We must act NOW!” dumbass who’s been wrong on every apocalypse he’s predicted, who said something like “Giving people a source of cheap, abundant energy would be like giving a machinegun to a monkey”; they keep insisting we wait on ‘clean alternative energy sources’ because they don’t WANT us to find clean, abundant energy; they want us to keep waiting for the PFM to happen, and they’d prefer we wait forever. After all, they want to keep people in third world countries living in mud and dung huts, spending hours each day finding wood or charcoal to cook with; why would they want us to keep using air conditioners and heaters and computers and all those other conveniences so many of them seem to think we’d be better off without? They tell us they think so; they do it by posting on websites. Which means they’re using electricity and computers and data circuits*, which seems a bit wrong for them, but hey, they’re trying to save us from ourselves so I guess theydemanddeserve some slack.
Also, the ‘more equitable distribution of wealth’ garbage demonstrates that it really is true: the Green movement really is the current home of the Communist Party. The Greens truly are watermelons: green on the outside, red to the core.
Gun show this weekend, and I passed up a very good price on a .351 Winchester rifle. Nice piece, but I just did not want to add one more cartridge into the mix. Factory ammo would be a bit expensive, and adding more dies and brass and bullets to the reloading stuff… barring finding something unique or wonderfully interesting, not gonna do it. I’ve also decided that the one thing I’m still going to plan on buying- assuming I can find one I can afford- is a S&W Model 57 with a 6” barrel. THAT I’d happily add to the mess for.**
Looking at the comments on my post about SWAT teams seeming to make a special point of killing dogs, it strikes me just how much those four-legs affect people. The general responses cover two categories:
1. “I can’t believe they do that! It’s terrible! How CAN they do that?”
2. “Sonsabitches shoot my dog, they’d better watch their back.”
I think this would have to count as one of those lines Kevin speaks of, that are crossed only at peril. And I guarantee, somebody finds the SWAT weenie that killed their dog and either beats the crap out of him or kills him, there’ll be an awful lot of people cheering them. Which is sad on two points: that someone can be pushed to the point that they’ll see the life of a human as fair price for killing their dog, and that some people will deliberately push others to that point.
I’ll add to that last: in some cases, at least I think they must be deliberately pushing it. Take the case in the post: a couple of labs, not exactly attack dogs; one shot as they came in, so you can make the argument that it was being aggressive to protect his pack, but the other was running away, trying to hide. In this culture, it takes a certain kind of person to deliberately follow and kill a dog that’s not a threat. They’ve either got orders to kill the dog and don’t question them, or they’ve turned off all empathy for both the dog and the people.
If you’ve got that kind of mindset added to people who’ll run a no-knock raid without bothering to make sure they’ve got the right people and the right place and a real reason for it, that’s a formula for some of the abuses that’ve been documented. And one of these days that’s going to blow up completely. There’s going to be a raid on a bum tip, or the informant had a grudge against someone, or the wrong damn address and there’s going to be several of a family killed. Or someone, after they’re told “Yes, they smashed your doors in and terrified and threatened your family and killed the dog in front of the kids, but they were following procedure so screw you, stop causing us problems”, decided that since the system won’t do anything, he or she will. And it will get real, real ugly.
And no, I’m not looking forward to it. Not in any way.
Back to the gun show, it’d probably drive the politically correct types even more nuts to see blacks and whites and orientals and indians all roaming around saying the same things:
“What’ve you got there?”
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“How much?” or “What are you asking?” and, in many cases
“Honey, look at this one” and/or
“No, no, you’re not old enough yet.”
*Of course, the Superior Beings taking care of making sure we don’t have any of those nasty corrupting tech things will have to have them; after all, how can theykeep their boot on our neckssave the peasants if they can’t properly controlmonitor them?
**I would, of course, consider an H&H double in .470 reason to add to the mix also; but the chances of my being able to afford that are, let us say, extremely low. Hell, if someone gave me one I don’t know if I could afford to buy much brass for the thing.
And yeas, there might be an exception for a very “OOOOH, Shiny!” moment.
You see, you are supposed to move over into these appropriately-named ‘left-turn lanes’ BEFORE you stop to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before you turn left. That way you do not BLOCK A WHOLE LANE OF TRAFFIC, you moron.
The other day I wrote on that marvelous little bit of truth-telling by the socialists infesting- and often running- the ‘Green’ movement that they don’t want people to become more wealthy, and they really don’t like the idea of people actually getting sources of abundant energy. I think it was Paul Erlich, that “We must act NOW!” dumbass who’s been wrong on every apocalypse he’s predicted, who said something like “Giving people a source of cheap, abundant energy would be like giving a machinegun to a monkey”; they keep insisting we wait on ‘clean alternative energy sources’ because they don’t WANT us to find clean, abundant energy; they want us to keep waiting for the PFM to happen, and they’d prefer we wait forever. After all, they want to keep people in third world countries living in mud and dung huts, spending hours each day finding wood or charcoal to cook with; why would they want us to keep using air conditioners and heaters and computers and all those other conveniences so many of them seem to think we’d be better off without? They tell us they think so; they do it by posting on websites. Which means they’re using electricity and computers and data circuits*, which seems a bit wrong for them, but hey, they’re trying to save us from ourselves so I guess they
Also, the ‘more equitable distribution of wealth’ garbage demonstrates that it really is true: the Green movement really is the current home of the Communist Party. The Greens truly are watermelons: green on the outside, red to the core.
Gun show this weekend, and I passed up a very good price on a .351 Winchester rifle. Nice piece, but I just did not want to add one more cartridge into the mix. Factory ammo would be a bit expensive, and adding more dies and brass and bullets to the reloading stuff… barring finding something unique or wonderfully interesting, not gonna do it. I’ve also decided that the one thing I’m still going to plan on buying- assuming I can find one I can afford- is a S&W Model 57 with a 6” barrel. THAT I’d happily add to the mess for.**
Looking at the comments on my post about SWAT teams seeming to make a special point of killing dogs, it strikes me just how much those four-legs affect people. The general responses cover two categories:
1. “I can’t believe they do that! It’s terrible! How CAN they do that?”
2. “Sonsabitches shoot my dog, they’d better watch their back.”
I think this would have to count as one of those lines Kevin speaks of, that are crossed only at peril. And I guarantee, somebody finds the SWAT weenie that killed their dog and either beats the crap out of him or kills him, there’ll be an awful lot of people cheering them. Which is sad on two points: that someone can be pushed to the point that they’ll see the life of a human as fair price for killing their dog, and that some people will deliberately push others to that point.
I’ll add to that last: in some cases, at least I think they must be deliberately pushing it. Take the case in the post: a couple of labs, not exactly attack dogs; one shot as they came in, so you can make the argument that it was being aggressive to protect his pack, but the other was running away, trying to hide. In this culture, it takes a certain kind of person to deliberately follow and kill a dog that’s not a threat. They’ve either got orders to kill the dog and don’t question them, or they’ve turned off all empathy for both the dog and the people.
If you’ve got that kind of mindset added to people who’ll run a no-knock raid without bothering to make sure they’ve got the right people and the right place and a real reason for it, that’s a formula for some of the abuses that’ve been documented. And one of these days that’s going to blow up completely. There’s going to be a raid on a bum tip, or the informant had a grudge against someone, or the wrong damn address and there’s going to be several of a family killed. Or someone, after they’re told “Yes, they smashed your doors in and terrified and threatened your family and killed the dog in front of the kids, but they were following procedure so screw you, stop causing us problems”, decided that since the system won’t do anything, he or she will. And it will get real, real ugly.
And no, I’m not looking forward to it. Not in any way.
Back to the gun show, it’d probably drive the politically correct types even more nuts to see blacks and whites and orientals and indians all roaming around saying the same things:
“What’ve you got there?”
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“How much?” or “What are you asking?” and, in many cases
“Honey, look at this one” and/or
“No, no, you’re not old enough yet.”
*Of course, the Superior Beings taking care of making sure we don’t have any of those nasty corrupting tech things will have to have them; after all, how can they
**I would, of course, consider an H&H double in .470 reason to add to the mix also; but the chances of my being able to afford that are, let us say, extremely low. Hell, if someone gave me one I don’t know if I could afford to buy much brass for the thing.
And yeas, there might be an exception for a very “OOOOH, Shiny!” moment.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
So the People's Republic of China is acting like the
PRC; nobody should be surprised.
Years ago, the Chinese government promised there would be open access to the Internet during the games. This despite the fact that the Chinese Internet is designed to be easily monitored by a huge (over 30,000 people) bureaucracy that does nothing but monitor Internet use (and imprisons those who say anything the state does not approve of.)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologized to member nations for China's failure to allow free access to the Internet during the games. The IOC is meeting with Chinese officials to try and resolve this matter.
Yeah, the PRC is just shaking in their shoes at the thought of the IOC being upset with them. This is real simple: the PRC lied. They had no intention of allowing open access.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are trying to figure out what the Chinese are up to here, as none of the facts presented so far fit together.
I realize I'm just a dummy from flyover country; but if I can figure this out, why can't the boobs at the IOC? Or anywhere else?
In one of the Matt Helm books, Helm tells someone he was amazed at the shock and outrage when the Soviets shot down KLA flight 007; near as I can recall the line was "They're a communist dictatorship, and they acted like one; so why was anybody surprised?" Well, the PRC is a commie dictatorship, too; so why is anybody surprised they're acting like one?
Years ago, the Chinese government promised there would be open access to the Internet during the games. This despite the fact that the Chinese Internet is designed to be easily monitored by a huge (over 30,000 people) bureaucracy that does nothing but monitor Internet use (and imprisons those who say anything the state does not approve of.)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologized to member nations for China's failure to allow free access to the Internet during the games. The IOC is meeting with Chinese officials to try and resolve this matter.
Yeah, the PRC is just shaking in their shoes at the thought of the IOC being upset with them. This is real simple: the PRC lied. They had no intention of allowing open access.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are trying to figure out what the Chinese are up to here, as none of the facts presented so far fit together.
I realize I'm just a dummy from flyover country; but if I can figure this out, why can't the boobs at the IOC? Or anywhere else?
In one of the Matt Helm books, Helm tells someone he was amazed at the shock and outrage when the Soviets shot down KLA flight 007; near as I can recall the line was "They're a communist dictatorship, and they acted like one; so why was anybody surprised?" Well, the PRC is a commie dictatorship, too; so why is anybody surprised they're acting like one?
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