Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 9:10 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
- Let's start with Mrs. Clinton's birthday. Today is the day she turns 60 and last night Mr. Clinton (the former POTUS) threw her a lavish birthday party at which Chelsea Clinton stood uncomfortably as the two stood upon the stage giving audience to those who donated about $1.5 million. - Iran says they are safe from attack. This comment was predicated on reports that and supposedly veiled threats of attack by the USofA because Iran won't stop their development of nuclear weapons. Well that and the recent non-attack on a Syrian nuclear facility in EASTERN Syria that completely avoided and/or neutralized all Syrian air defenses which just happen to be exactly like those deployed by Iran. The Mullas are likely shaking in their robes while at the same time they can't shut up their "trained" attack dog Ahmadinejad. For what it is worth we will be at war with Iran immediately following their attack on Israel. I'm betting that if they use a nuke we will, too (or is that two...). - Wildfires in California, at least some of which were set, again provided empirical evidence that one can't build flammable homes next to flammable forest and expect everything to be hunky-dory. One has to expect that there are deviant criminals who'd just as soon start fires as not. While I applaud the community spirit that dominated the news (in direct contrast to New Orleans) I have to wonder at people who can build earthquake proof buildings but not fire-proof buildings. Actually they can. If I might suggest the Monolithic Dome house, with a concrete exterior and steel storm shutters these would be impervious to wildfires. This would be especially true if they cleared the flammables back 100 feet from any structure. - O.J. Simpson is going to jail with all his criminal assiciates ratting him out. - Something is terribly wrong when a 7 year old boy commits suicide. - Oil hit $92 a barrel but gas (locally) didn't go over $2.65 a gallon... - The DOW Jones industrial average has gone up and down on the basis of the mortgage crisis, oil prices, the falling dollar and the endless number of things that either scare or comfort investors. Today it is rebounding a bit. I know some folks are worried but it was around 11,000 at the beginning of the year and when I was a kid 1,200-something seemed to have been the norm. - I can't find a single new-release movie that I want to see. Don't see any on the horizon either. Might be a long weekend...Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 3:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: Politics
¶ posted by Hobie 1:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
CNN MEMO: USE FIRES TO 'PUSH' 'PLANET IN PERIL' SERIES; DON'T 'IRRESPONSIBLY' TIE TO GLOBAL WARMING
Thu Oct 18 2007 14:11:42 ET
According to notes from CNN's Monday news meeting network president Jon Klein tells employees to use the California fire tragedy to "push" their "Planet in Peril" special, but warns reporters not to "irresponsibly link" the fires to "Global Warming."
Developing...
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 9:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: FavoriteArtist
¶ posted by Hobie 9:15 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: Politics
¶ posted by Hobie 7:41 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
"If Ellen wants to place dogs and decide what's a good home, then she should start her own rescue group," she told "Inside Edition.""But I'm the one doing this and I know what I'm doing."and
"There's got to be some sort of rational compromise," ABC's Diane Sawyer said on "Good Morning America."Ok, in the first place the whole controversy would have been moot if Ms. Batkis had simply acknowledged that the dog was in a loving home. But, and her quote makes this clear, she's the one who knows what she's doing. In other words, she has to control it. Of course, Ellen is a liberal, too, so of course she knew what she was doing as did her lover/girlfriend/housemate Portia deRossi (there's a subject for another time, maybe) and she also knows how to gin up support among her fans. Ms. Batkis apparently has no fans. And then Diane Sawyer makes the other thoughtless comment because among the emotional there are no rational thinkers. To top it off, this was an all day thing on the 24-hour news networks. Jeez.
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 8:33 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: Family
¶ posted by Hobie 8:24 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
The ethereal, beautiful voice of Loreena McKennitt has been a favorite of mine since I first heard her. While most folks are familiar with "The Mummers Dance" from "Titanic" she's released many other works and been around for over 2 decades. I like the fact that she is so personally involved with her music beyond the performance. Unlike many singers, she's apparently content to sit out whole songs because it isn't just about her voice. I like her music. I like her voice (and I prefer, most often, the female voice). I like her presentation. I have a couple of CDs and these are what I play when the car radio is too irritating. Of her songs, "Dantes Prayer" is a big favorite.It is one of those songs that can mean many things to many people. Mauser*Girl had one take.DANTE'S PRAYER
Words and music by Loreena McKennittWhen the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone
I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and fire
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars
Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Please remember me
Labels: FavoriteArtist
¶ posted by Hobie 8:32 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
In their book about Clinton’s rise to power, Her Way, Don Van Natta Jr., an investigative reporter at The New York Times, and Jeff Gerth, who spent 30 years as an investigative reporter at the paper, wrote: “Hillary’s defense activities ranged from the inspirational to the microscopic to the down and dirty. She received memos about the status of various press inquiries; she vetted senior campaign aides; and she listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of Clinton critics plotting their next attack.Of course the GOP isn't drawing that parallel but another...
A GOP official said, “Hillary Clinton’s campaign hypocrisy continues to know no bounds. It is rather unbelievable that Clinton would listen in to conversations being conducted by political opponents, but refuse to allow our intelligence agencies to listen in to conversations being conducted by terrorists as they plot and plan to kill us.”We shouldn't be surprised though, this is a recurring theme for both Bill and Hillary Clinton. I.e. do what I say, not what I do and the end justifies the means.
Labels: CultureOfCorruption, Politics
¶ posted by Hobie 7:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
From the People of the Gun topic at the High Road forum comes this info on a certain Ms. Washington's racist, hoplophobic rant which contained the phrase that pays which was co-opted by actual People of the Gun. Maybe I can get a phot of myself suitable for posting.Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 2:02 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Navy SEAL to receive Medal of Honor CORONADO — A Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan will be awarded the Medal of Honor, the first such award for troops serving in Afghanistan and the first for a SEAL since the Vietnam War, the White House announced Thursday.We would like to once again give our humble thanks for all those that serve. We would also like to express our heartfelt condolences to LT Murphy's family.
Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, who had SEAL training here and was assigned to a SEAL team in Hawaii, was killed in June 2005 during a mission in the Hindu Kush mountains to find a key Taliban leader.
Ambushed by insurgents, Murphy's four-man SEAL team engaged in a fierce firefight and was in danger of being overrun.
Although he was wounded, Murphy risked his life to save fellow SEALs and then maneuvered into an open position to send out an emergency call and to continue firing at the enemy. While making the call, he was hit again.
Only one of the SEALs on the team survived. Eight other SEALs and eight soldiers aboard a MH-47 Chinook helicopter sent to rescue Murphy's team also were killed when the craft was brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
The incident was the worst single-day loss of life for Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II.
Labels: MenOfHonor
¶ posted by Hobie 10:37 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
- Belmont, CA Bans Smoking In Some Homes. I wonder if that includes smoking pot? - Casselberry police Sgt. who fell on the job sues family of baby who almost drowned. I was hoping that this was an oddity brought about by the intracacies of tort law but it appears the officer just needs or wants more money. At least she's not gotten a rifle and shot the family. - U.S. Intelligence Officials Will Probe Leak of Bin Laden Video. Ya think? I mean, isn't it about time that the authorities actually fulfill their constitutional duty to defend the nation and get these traitors who leak secrets? However, I am not holding my breath for the chance that they might actually prosecute anyone. - Screen writers guild might strike. Let 'em. Most of what they put out is absolute crap anyway. I suggest hiring 8th grade special ed students as scabs. - Pelosi defends refusal to put "God" on flag certificates. I suppose that like the Egyptians we might one day awake to a multitude of stone workers striking all references to God from the walls of the Capitol building. While the policy might actually be worthwhile to avoid conflict Madam Speaker's statement "It's not about being anti-religion," Pelosi said, noting that each day in the Capitol starts with a prayer. "It is just about what the architect thought was appropriate for him to proclaim in a certificate."seems to be either naive or stupid. Doesn't she realize that 77% plus of the nation is Christian and only a very small minority are actually atheist? She could have made a more politically sensitive remark. Perhaps she just doesn't care.
- Uber liberal, lesbian Camille Paglia has set forth about the Dem/S. Why she doesn't include Diane Feinstein is beyond me but she has pretty much got this much right... The senators of my party, with a few stellar exceptions like Dianne Feinstein, may be a pack of vain, spineless, poll-puking, strutting peacocks, but they are not mass murderers.Actually, some are mass murderers. Teddy Kennedy for one and any other who was in office and voted to leave Vietnam and Cambodia to fend for themselves. Of course Teddy has managed to kill somebody all on his own.
- Hillary Clinton thinks she can form bipartisan coalition. $5000 per baby, health care, and nationalized 401Ks aside, this is an example of a serious misconception of how she is perceived by many of us. This woman doesn't think that we see her for what she is, a self-absorbed, power hungry, socialist who is so arrogant that she has no genuine appreciation of/for anyone else (perhaps not even her own daughter). We get it, but she doesn't understand that we get it. - That's not all from Hillary. In a brilliant example of truth telling (well almost), she said, I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all.She's almost got it right, she should have said, "the government can't afford any of them." You see, we already couldn't afford tax cuts so how can we afford more spending?
- Muslims tell Christians: 'Make peace with us or survival of world is at stake' This is news? That is all that the jihadists have been saying. I think the rest must agree, they aren't saying differently. In this article the Muslim scholars think we Christians aren't doing enough to promote peace between our religions. How about those suicide bombers, Iranians and jihadists? How's about you have a talk with them. Other than for them, we'd be all mellow and stuff. - 
This is just plain stupid.Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 5:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: Politics
¶ posted by Hobie 8:27 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Judge rules Gore climate film requires guidance notesWell, this is in the UK. Still, it gives one hope.
Oct 10 10:08 AM US/Eastern
A judge on Wednesday ruled that Al Gore's award winning climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" should only be shown in schools with guidance notes to prevent political indoctrination.
High Court judge Michael Burton's decision follows legal action brought by a father of two last month claiming the former US vice-president's film contained "serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush".
Stewart Dimmock wanted to block the government's pledge to send more than 3,500 secondary schools in England and Wales a DVD of the documentary to demonstrate the need to fight global warming.
Judge Burton said the Oscar-winning film should be accompanied by government guidance notes and to distribute it without them would breach education laws prohibiting the promotion of unbalanced political viewpoints.
But the victory was only partial, as Dimmock failed to get the film totally banned from schools.
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 11:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: Video
¶ posted by Hobie 4:02 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A couple convicted of tax evasion were arrested peacefully at their Plainfield home Thursday night after holing up at the fortress-like compound for months, the U.S. Marshals Service said.This whole story is very interesting.
Ed and Elaine Brown were convicted on federal tax charges in January and refused to turn themselves in to authorities when they were sentenced in April to five years and three months in prison.
It was not immediately clear how they were taken into custody.
"We had no indication that the Browns intended to voluntarily surrender, so we had to move forward with an operation that promised the safest possible outcome. That day was today," U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said in a news release.
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 10:32 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.and
The intelligence blunder started with what appeared at the time as an American intelligence victory, namely that the federal government had intercepted, a full four days before it was to be aired, a video of Osama bin Laden's first appearance in three years in a video address marking the sixth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. On the morning of September 7, the Web site of ABC News posted excerpts from the speech.
But the disclosure from ABC and later other news organizations tipped off Qaeda's internal security division that the organization's Internet communications system, known among American intelligence analysts as Obelisk, was compromised. This network of Web sites serves not only as the distribution system for the videos produced by Al Qaeda's production company, As-Sahab, but also as the equivalent of a corporate intranet, dealing with such mundane matters as expense reporting and clerical memos to mid- and lower-level Qaeda operatives throughout the world.
Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.
A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.What is it with government servants (not workers you might note) who can't keep a secret? Well one thing is that there is a widely held false belief that secrets are bad. There are folks who don't give a rip about anything will run shouting through the streets if you tell them some information is a secret. This is the primary reason you see the Dem/S and their operatives releasing what had been Top Secret information. They simply don't understand that some secrets are good for us and not good for our enemies.
Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.
The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.
"Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," said Rita Katz, the firm's 44-year-old founder, who has garnered wide attention by publicizing statements and videos from extremist chat rooms and Web sites, while attracting controversy over the secrecy of SITE's methodology. Her firm provides intelligence about terrorist groups to a wide range of paying clients, including private firms and military and intelligence agencies from the United States and several other countries.
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 9:10 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
CRANDON, Wis. (AP) - An off-duty sheriff's deputy went on a shooting rampage early Sunday at a home where seven young people had gathered for pizza and movies, killing six and critically injuring the other before authorities fatally shot him, officials said.Is it common for LEOs to do this? No. Is it possible? Obviously. So, tell me again, why we should be disarmed? You know, if being armed will save just one child's life...
The gunman, Tyler Peterson, was 20 years old and worked full-time as a Forest County deputy sheriff and part-time as a Crandon police officer, said Police Chief John Dennee.
Three of the victims were students at the small town's high school, and three were recent graduates, a school official said.
The gunman may have graduated from the same high school. Peterson was not working at the time of the shooting, Sheriff Keith Van Cleve said.
The survivor was in critical condition Sunday night at a hospital in nearby Marshfield, according to a nursing supervisor. A Crandon police officer who fired back was treated for minor injuries and released.
Gary Bradley, mayor of the city of about 2,000, said earlier Sunday that a sniper killed the suspect, but Van Cleve would not confirm that officers shot the suspect.
Peterson was killed Sunday afternoon eight miles north of Crandon in the rural town of Argonne, Dennee said.
The circumstances of the shooting were hazy Sunday and it wasn't immediately clear what the gunman's motive was, but the mother of a 14-year-old victim said the suspect may have been a jealousboyfriend. The shooting occurred in a white, two-story duplex about a block from downtown Crandon.
"It was a pizza and movie party," Dennee said.
Three of the victims were Crandon High School students, said schools Superintendent Richard Peters, and the other three had graduated within the past three years.
"There is probably nobody in Crandon who is not affected by this," Peters said, adding that students would be especially affected. "They are going to wake up in shock and disbelief and a lot of pain."
Peters did not know whether Peterson had also graduated from the 300-student high school. But Crandon resident Karly Johnson, 16, said that she knew the gunman and that he had helped her in a tech education class.
"He graduated with my brother," she said. "He was nice. He was an average guy. Normal. You wouldn't think he could do that."
One of the dead was 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl, said her mother, Jenny Stahl, 39. She said her daughter called her Saturday night and asked whether she could sleep over at a friend's house. Jenny Stahl agreed.
"I'm waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream," the weeping mother said. "All I heard it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out."
Dennee declined comment on whether Peterson had a romantic relationship with any of the victims.
A second victim was Bradley Schultz, 20, a third-year student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who was home to visit his friends, said his aunt, Sharon Pisarek.
"We still don't have many details, but from what they've told us, there was a girl next to him and he was covering her, protecting her," she said, sobbing. "He was loved by everybody.
He was everybody's son. Senseless."
Marci Franz, 35, who lives two houses south of the duplex, said gunshots awoke her.
"I heard probably five or six shots, a short pause and then five or six more," she said. "I wasn't sure if it was gunfire initially. I thought some kids were messing around and hitting a nearby metal building."
Then she heard eight louder shots and tires squealing, she said. "I was just about to get up and call it in, and I heard sirens," she said. "There's never been a tragedy like this here. There's been individual incidents, but nothing of this magnitude."
Her husband, David Franz, 36, said it was hard to accept that someone in law enforcement committed such an act.
"The first statement we said to each other was, how did he get through the system?" David Franz said. "How do they know somebody's background, especially that young? It is disturbing, to say the least."
The sheriff said he would meet with state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday morning to discuss the case. Dennee said the state Department of Criminal Investigation will handle the case because the suspect was a deputy and officer.
The Crandon School District called off classes Monday. The community, about 225 miles north of Milwaukee in an area known for logging and outdoor activities, is facing a trying time but is pulling together, Bradley said.
"We are a strong community. We always have been," he said. "This is agonizing, but we will prevail."
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 9:02 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Labels: CultureOfCorruption
¶ posted by Hobie 8:32 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.and
Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.and
Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.
"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.
That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement.
Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730. Now, six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it -- So have Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman.Lest anyone who has never been in the military misunderstand something let me explain.
Labels: Military
¶ posted by Hobie 8:04 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
- Ted Nugent, NRA Board member, rock star and TV personality has come out against HR 2640. I just re-read the legislation. A lot of what I read in it before seems to be missing. I'm not quite sure what happened. Supposedly the NRA was party to that earlier version. It concerns me that the NRA has not been a very good steward of "their" legislation and has done such a piss poor job of promoting this when they knew that association with rabid anti-gun owner Representative McCarthy would set off the membership. Read it. Contact your Senator and Representative. Tell them what you think. That's republican democracy at work. - More "athletes" are coming clean about steroid use. The latest is Marion Jones. This is why no professional sports and now few amatuer atheletic events interest me. How these people think that winning under such conditions is of any value is simply beyond me. - The Rush Limbaugh brooha just passed the 2000% too much written for what it is stage. I heard the broadcast. Rush had been talking about those parasitic liars that claim military feats they've never accomplished (aka phony) and then give a bunch of anti-war crap to liberal media. Rush, his caller, and I have correctly referred to these asses as "phony soldiers". The most widely known star of this atrocity is Jesse MacBeth aka Jesse al Zaid who served a grand total of 44 days. As anybody who's actually served knows, 44 days doesn't get you through basic and if you aren't through basic you aren't a soldier (much less a Ranger with combat experience, Purple Hearts, etc). Jesse has been CONVICTED of crime relating to this claim. If ever there was a phony soldier it is Jesse al Zaid. So the Dem/S have showed us just how much they resemble lying school-yard bullies by pushing this story even on the floor of the House and Senate. - The recording industry as represented by the RIAA has won an important case against a 30-year old single-mother for sharing music recordings via the internet. How this actually affects the "fair use" concept is beyond me and will likely be played out in our other ruling branch of government, the courts. I do find it interesting that the RIAA and artists think that if this theft didn't exist they would make more money. I doubt that, I don't think their music is worth anything or people would pay for it, but, that's another whole topic. - So Barack Obama (rhymes with Osama) has decided to quit wearing the American flag pin on his lapel. Why is not important but I'm betting he lost it and said to heck with the finding and pinning it on correctly every time he changed or had his suit cleaned. To bad he wasn't in the Army, now there's some pins to keep track of... Political "statement", yeah, right. - Most importantly this past week is the disclosure that 20% (i.e. 1 of every 5) Dem/S believes that we'd be better off if we lost the war in Iraq. Ok, maybe they think a baseball team is better off if it loses a game. Or, do they believe the labor unions would be better off if they lost their negotiations? Would the Dem/S be better off if they lost elections? Would everybody be better off if they lost their health insurance? Oh, I know, maybe everybody would be better off if we lost our lives? No, that's not it. Jeez, what sort of fuzzy logic comes up with the idea that losing is better than winning? Then, we must note, this is 20% of this group that calls itself Democrat. 20% or 1/5th (one-fifth) of their party. That's how many of these people want to lose to a bunch of religious fanatics that would kill these very same people first if they could get control here. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. This is the party that wants socialized medicine, gun control, abuses property rights, refuses to allow the country energy self-sufficiency and has a slate of possible presidential candidates who almost universally believe the general on whom they will be depending for military advice is a liar. - Marco Martinez lets us know that he supports the war. That's good, I'm glad he's turned around from gang life. I hope he keeps it up. Redemption is good, it is the goal of life. - This thing that most everyone has about saying "the War" and meaning/referring to Iraq and only Iraq, well, that bugs me. It ain't just about Iraq. You see folks, all this radical jihadist terrorist crap is tied up together. A puzzle yes, but like the jigsaw puzzle you get at the toy store all the pieces are there. You just need to take the time to put those pieces together. This war, this war for our survival, is world wide. It is being fought in every home in the USofA and in every home in the middle-East. It is being fought in the hearts and minds of those who will bear the next generation of fighters. Ask yourself, "do I want to be as I am or as somebody tells me to be?" The islamic jihadists will tell you how and what to be and if you refuse they will kill you. Just give them the chance.Labels: Culture
¶ posted by Hobie 10:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
