She's Still Doing Fine

Our daughter called again this afternoon. Her platoon learned how to dissemble an M16 this week; they will start Basic Rifle Marksmanship next week.

She is one of the fastest women in her company; she and another woman are the only two who can maintain the pace while running with the male recruits. The company is comprised of almost 200 persons and about 60% are male.

She has a problem keeping cadence in drill. At 5'2" her legs are so short that she has to take giant steps to keep up.

It Works For Me

Now about that school district in Texas that wants to arm its teachers; I think that is just a swell idea.

The entire nation of Georgia was a "Russian Armored Division Free Zone" and that worked real well for them.

Matter of fact, don't the laws here make America an "Illegal Alien Free Zone" also?

sonuvagun

They're Baaaaack

Someone blabbed about how they were going to "take it to the man" or an undercover cop was brought into the act. In any event, a group of urban terrorists was busted up by Minnesota cops yesterday.

Weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - were found in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today by Ramsey County sheriff's deputies.

Authorities said the items came from "key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee," a self-described anarchist group.

Five people have been arrested and four properties have been searched, according to the sheriff's office.

You wonder what possessed these young people (all between the ages of 21 and 26) to become involved in this type of criminal activity. Did they think that no one would be looking for this type of activity? Or did they think they were just too clever? My money is on this: that they are the same arrogant, self-styled revoluntionary jackasses that we had to deal with in the 60's.

"The 'Welcoming Committee' is a criminal enterprise made up of 35 anarchists who are intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention," said Sheriff Bob Fletcher in a statement. "These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers. They have recruited assistance in their criminal conspiracy from other anarchists groups throughout the country. Through their plans and actions they have exhibited a blatant disregard for the law and the safety of others."

To one degree or another most local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have criminal intelligence gathering capabilties. While it is true that small to medium sized local departments are usually very limited in the amount of resources thay can usae for this purpose, many larger agencies can and do provide a platfom for this activity. It is surprising what you can do with a small dedicated intelligence unit. In addition there are regional and national organizations dedicated to sharing criminal intelligence.

And much of this is in response to the WTC terrorists. The feds have quietly assembled an vast number of law enforcement agencies and provided a large amount of money for the sole purpose of developing the intelligence gathering capabilities of LEA's all across the nation and at all levels. I have had a small hand in some of that myself.

The statement said the items found in the searches included:

• materials to creating "sleeping dragons" (PVC pipe, chicken wire, duct tape), which is when protesters lock themselves together
• wrist rockets
• a machete, hatchet and several throwing knives
• a gas mask and filter
• empty glass bottles
• rags
• flammable liquids
• homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)
• metal pipes
• axes
• bolt cutters
• sledge hammers
• repelling equipment
• Kryptonite locks
• empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields
• material for protective padding
• an Army helmet.

This sounds crude (and it is) but there are enough dangerous instruments here to cause more than damage to property. They have supplies and equipment for a) making Molotov cocktails, b) breaking into secured areas; c) removing handcuffs; and d) weapons that are silent and deadly at short-range.

This reminds of the old Students for a Democratic Society (SDS and also DiscovertheNetworks) that I knew in college; and they are back in business. These are the students that are listed as SDS contacts in the Twin Cities Area (this list covers the entire country, scroll down to Minnesota):

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN
Contact: Tracy Molm tracy0581@gmail.com
Contact: Kyle Johnson john03125@umn.edu
Alt. Contact: john03125@umn.edu

I imagine the cops have had quite a conversation with these people recently. And rightfully so.

How come Obama and his stinking Weatherman buddy Bill "Blow It Up"Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn haven't had their terrorists asses dragged in by the cops??

Just take a look at this arrogant little prick after he was arrested by the Chicago PD almost exactly forty years ago (check the date on the chest board). The 1968 DNC convention was held from August 26 through August 29, 1968.

This is Dohrn's mugshot. She actually killed a cop and blinded another with a bomb she planted outside a San Francisco police station in February 1970. She was implicated by an informant but never charged.

This is the cute couple, together at last.

Hang'em both with a single rope.

Now This Here's Funny!

This is a scream!

JibJab

Who Is She?

I can't speak for anyone else, but my first thought on McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP was, "Huh? Who? Wha?" So I looked her up and found a few YouTube clips where perhaps we can get to know her. After viewing them I am not quite so panic striken.

Chew On The Dotted Line

I remember my wedding day 26 years ago.
I remember looking at the hundred and fifty or so people who sat in the church waiting for the ceremony to begin.
I remember the excitement.
I remember the sense of anticipation as I waited at the altar for her to come down the church aisle... I was going to spend the rest of my life with this beautiful woman.

For some reason I don't think the dems are feeling the same way about their new blushing bride as they wait at the DNC altar.

[...]The air of unease at the Democratic Convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments — bearing even fewer witnesses.

This isn't a matter where the closer he gets the better he looks. I have a funny feeling that behind the scenes many delegates are praying that someone gives an announcement to "speak now or forever hold your peace."

[...]Eerily missing at the Democratic Convention this year were people of stature who were seriously involved at some point in Obama's life standing up to say: I know Barack Obama. I've been with Barack Obama. We've toiled/endured together. You can trust him. I do.

Hillary Clinton could have said something like that. She and Obama had, after all, engaged in a historic, utterly compelling contest for the nomination. During her convention speech, you kept waiting for her to offer just one line of testimony: I have come to know this man, to admire this man, to see his character, his courage, his wisdom, his judgment. Whatever.

Anything.

Instead, nothing.

Poor Hillary. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

And so it will go. For the man has done nothing that would qualify him to occupy the highest elected office in the land. His two autobiographies (two?!) are about him his writing his autobiographies as he seeks a sense of himself. There is no one that he dare allow speak for him who really knows him.

[...]Who was there to speak about the real Barack Obama? His wife. She could tell you about Barack the father, the husband, the family man in a winning and perfectly sincere way. But that only takes you so far. It doesn't take you to the public man, the national leader.

Who is to testify to that? Hillary's husband on night three did aver that Obama is "ready to lead." However, he offered not a shred of evidence, let alone personal experience with Obama. And although he pulled it off charmingly, everyone knew that, having been suggesting precisely the opposite for months, he meant not a word of it.

Everyone knows the bride, and no dares to vouch for him.

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served on a board. He's out. Where are the others?

Wright? Ayers? That's like having two pimps showing up at the wedding to walk the bride to the altar.

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger — a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair.

There's an old joke that describes a man waking up one morning and finding himself next to a woman so ugly that he gnaws his arm off rather than risk the chance of waking her up to remove his arm from beneath her head.

Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night.

This is going to be even more fun when the dems wake up the morning after election day.

Wipe That Smirk Off Bob's Face

I'll bet someone isn't smiling anymore. The owner of Berkeley Premium Nutraceutical, who uses "Smiling Bob"in television ads to market a male enhancement supplement, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud. Steve Warshak, 42, was convicted on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

A business owner convicted of defrauding customers seeking male sexual enhancement products and a variety of herbal supplements was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison. Federal prosecutors accused the company of bilking customers out of $100 million through a series of deceptive ads, manipulated credit card transactions and refusal to accept returns or cancel orders.

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ordered the company, along with other defendants, to forfeit more than $500 million. He said it was impossible to calculate exactly how much money was lost by customers, so he accepted a figure based on how much Warshak and the company took in.

Berkeley distributes various products alleged to boost energy, manage weight, reduce memory loss and aid sleep. The company's main product, Enzyte, which promises sexual enhancement, has ads featuring "Smiling Bob," a happy man with an exaggerated smile.

"This is a case about greed," Spiegel said as he reviewed the case. "Steven Warshak preyed on perceived sexual inadequacies of customers."

I hope for Steve's sake that none of his prison "shower buddies" are using a male enhancement supplement that REALLY works.

Do NOT Thank The Drill Instructor!

Our daughter seems to be doing well in basic. She was the first in her group to get letters and cards from home and all the other girls were jealous. She was so excited to receive them that she said "Thank you Sergeant!"

You do not thank the Drill Sergeant for your mail. Twenty-five push ups helped her remember that fact.

At 23 she is the oldest female in her platoon and having spent almost a year in Egypt on her own is much more mature than most. She has been designated as one of the two "discipline leaders," or something like that, in her platoon. She is to counsel the others when they screw up so the whole platoon does not get disciplined. I hereby designate her as the official "Dominatrix O'Doom of the 4th Platoon."

She also made mention that Army food is "binding" up her squad. You really don't want to know more...

Someone Else Who Should STFU

I was hoping to see some closure in the Duke lacrosse players fiasco that showed justice being served on behalf of the three young men so despitefully used. Prosecutor Nifong has been disgraced and disbarred but ultimately dropped from the students' lawsuit after claiming bankruptancy.

But what about the stripper/hooker whose lies and obfuscation initiated the affair?

She is working the system again by writing a book.

In a press release, Crystal Mangum's manager has announced plans to release a tell-all memoir entitled "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story."

According to the book's co-author Vincent Clark, the book will be released in October.

"It is "the only definitive account of the life and struggles of the woman at the center of the Duke Lacrosse case, the alleged accuser," said Clark in a press release. " Were it not for the Duke Lacrosse Case, she likely would be described as a bright, young woman from Durham, North Carolina, who has had a difficult life."

What's this "alleged accuser" crap? She did it. She made the false accusations to the police; she lied in a sworn affadavit; she perjured herself before a grand jury. And then she kept her mouth shut about her lies for over a year while these men twisted slowly in the wind.

Clark, you are an idiot and you and your idiot client should STFU.

Gauging from her actions I will guarantee that is not how she will be described anytime soon. And I'll give you odds that Clark did most of the writing.

Miller Time

These clips are dated but still alot of fun.

Dennis Miller on the GWOT and Global Warming



Dennis Miller on Al Gore



Dennis Miller on Harry Reid

More Idiots Who Should STFU

I have written about the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner several times in this blog.

On December 9th, 1981, a 25 year old Philadelphia police officer by the name of Daniel Faulkner pulled over a Volkswagen driving the wrong way on Locust Street. In a few minutes, Officer Faulker was dead.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was found still at the scene of the shooting by officers who arrived there within seconds. The murderer was slumped against the curb in front of his brother's car. In his possession was a .38 caliber revolver that records showed Mumia had purchased months earlier. The chamber of the gun had five spent cartridges. A cab driver, as well as other pedestrians, had witnessed the brutal slaying and identified Mumia Abu-Jamal as the killer both at the scene and during his trial.

I belong to the CNY Fraternal Order of Police John C. Dillon Lodge #315 and am incensed by the actions of idiots who refuse to accept the account of eye witnesses that saw Abu-Jamal execute Officer Faulkner. Or even worse, believe the eye witness account and yet still support the release of this piece of filth from prison.

In response, the FOP is asking for everyone to enlist in a boycott of those who support the cause of this convicted murderer.

This missive from the NJ FOP was sent out to all members of my Lodge.

New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police
Lodge 59
Middlesex County Sheriff's Officers

The Fraternal Order of Police National Delegation in attendance, voted unanimously to begin a boycott of persons, products and companies associated with the supporting of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. In case you don't know, he was convicted in the 1981 killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner under overwhelming evidence.

The act was an especially brutal and sadistic murder that still haunts the family, friends and coworkers of Officer Faulkner. The New York Shields, a police brotherhood organization, presented Officer Faulkner's family with a Medal of Valor at their 1999 Police Memorial Breakfast.

Convict Abu-Jamal has written a book, "Live from Death Row," and attempted to place himself in a celebrity status as a result of his criminal behavior.

Others have supported his pathetic attempt to gain stardom and freedom, all the while spitting in the face of Officer Faulkner, his family and every single law enforcement officer in the United States .

The F. O. P. has announced the formal boycotting of the following:

1. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Products (donators to a defense fund for the killer).

2. Actor Paul Newman, and his products (an outspoken supporter of the killer).

3. Actress Susan Sarandon (supporter of this convicted killer).

4. Filmmakers Spike Lee, Oliver Stone and John Landis (supporters of the killer).

5. Writers Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates (supporters of the killer).

6. Super model Naomi Campbell (supporter of the killer).

7. Musicians Sting, David Byrne and Michael Stipe of REM (supporters of the killer).

8. The Backstreet Boys who are performing"free" benefit concerts for the killer's defense fund.

As a side note, one of their "benefit concerts" scheduled for Baltimore, MD had to be canceled when Baltimore police officers refused to work the overtime shifts for site security at the concert.

As you may not know, a tape recorded statement made by this heinous convicted killer, was played at the spring graduation commencement ceremony at Evergreen State College, in the State of Washington, June 1999. This resulted in over 800 graduates walking out and another two dozen turning their backs during the killer's three minute diatribe of hate.

The F.O.P.'s position is getting widespread coverage in the media, as well it should. The members of the New York Shields stand with our fellow brothers across this country in strongly supporting this boycott and honoring the memory of slain Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Hopefully the boycott will show that many, many Americans do not subscribe to your warped notions of justice and you should just make your money and otherwise STFU.

Yes, yes, yes - we all know Mailer is dead, good on him for finally doing something right for a change. You can still boycott his works and in doing so tell his friends and family that even in death he should STFU.

What Was He Thinking?

bun·gle –verb
1. to do clumsily and awkwardly; botch: He bungled the job.
2. to perform or work clumsily or inadequately: He is a fool who bungles consistently.

Whatever happened in Beaumont , TX, this was not bungled...

BEAUMONT - Officer Keith Breiner is expected to remain on the stand today after a Thursday of lurid testimony where the most intimate details of a bungled felony prostitution investigation were revealed.

You may bungle a pop up fly ball in the infield or an easy shovel pass in the end zone. You may even bungle your best friend's wedding by leaving the rings in your other pants pocket. You do not bungle your way into sexual intercourse while on duty and sober.

Breiner is one of two officers suspended indefinitely without pay for engaging in sex acts during the undercover investigation. Breiner is the only officer trying to stop the city from suspending him, saying that because he did what he was asked to do, the punishment violated his constitutional rights.

I don't agree that he should have had sex. I don't agree that (Lt. Curtis) Breaux told him he should have sex," Coffin said.

Breiner has said all along that Breaux told him he would have to have sex with the women to make the case.

Either this guy is a complete moron or he is a lying SOB.

I'll take "Lying SOB" for a thousand, Alex.

The Chief of Police, Frank Coffin, also stated under oath that the police department's

personnel files contained "junk" and the department's written evaluations were "flawed" and "antiquated."

Now that must be reassuring for any trial lawyer looking for an early retirement.

This is a police department that is in desperate need of an extreme makeover.

One of the commentors at the site had this to say...

Rmls34 wrote:
I myself am a retired police officer, and during the course of my employment worked vice operations like this one. Never during the course of an investigation of an adult escort service or spa did we permit, or ask our officers to complete the sexual act offered. In fact we advised them that it was not permitted. Outside of a grope by a suspect, none of the rest that Officer Breiner describes as being his duties is authorized by any professional police department. But with that said, maybe the true problem starts higher up the rank structure.

Been there and a big AMEN to that brother.

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Barack Obama's half brother lives in a hovel just outside Nairobi, Kenya. Sonehow or another he subsists on $1 a month. Apparently he gets nothing from his relatively wealthy relative who just happens to be running for President.

Obama is a typical liberal Democrat. He is generous with money when it is ripped from the pockets of the American taxpayer. But when it comes out of his own pocket, it's a different story. He wouldn't even send a "Sally Struthers" contribution of $13 a month (a cheap bottle of wine) to his own brother.

Pray For The Denver PD

As the 2008 Democratic National Convention draws nigh, please bear in mind that the men and woman of the Denver Police Department will be faced with a nearly impossible situation: how to guarantee the safety and Constitutional rights of thousands of ideologically motivated, insane, unwashed and unstable, screaming freaking idiots.

There is no doubt in my mind that the 1,500 members of the DPD will handle themselves professionally and with great restraint. But in confrontational situations such as what the idiots are planning, s**t happens, and it usually happens fast.

Obama Ain't Watching His Six

Not all the columnists north of NYC and south of the North Pole are bleeding socialists. The Canada Free Press has a dynamite article, written by J.B. Williams, on the democrat's Barock Star candidate for President. Barack seems to have developed a sense of entitlement but that does not lend itself to developing a sense of self preservation. And with the Clintons, that is usually fatal.

After Barockstar’s near fatal empty suit performance at Saddleback Saturday, the Obama spin machine is in damage control overdrive. I wonder if they‘ve had time to realize that they have been triangulated by the Clinton war room and set up to take a fall at the DNC convention?

That old Clinton war room stench is in the air again… It seems the empty suit and his empty headed staff is not quite up to speed on Clintonian strategeries.

Consider the latest Clinton maneuvers

• Camp Clinton convinced Camp Obama to help liquidate her campaign debts.

• Camp Clinton convinced Camp Obama to call for Florida and Michigan voters to be counted. It’s the right thing to do, of course. But had it already been done, Hillary would already be the nominee.

• Camp Clinton convinces Camp Obama to agree to a floor vote at the convention when all the cameras will be rolling. What if Clinton wins on the floor?

• Camp Clinton removes Obama supporter John Edwards from the equation, along with his scheduled convention speaking spot, on the basis that he is now a known lying cheater. But Bill Clinton (also a known lying cheater) is the headliner of the convention, and he’s not an Obama supporter at all.

• Barockstar tanks on national TV only days before the convention and his campaign staff is sent out to do damage control, leaving the super-delegates gasping in a holy crap moment, with the sudden realization that this empty suit is in no way ready for the big show. Only a promise to make a VP announcement this week can get his failed TV appearance off the front pages.

• Meanwhile, Camp Clinton is mobilizing millions of NObama minions and staging a convention coup in which Hillary can ride in on silver steed to save the party from complete implosion on an international stage… Even James Carville, Dick Morris and Oliver Stone combined, could not have written this script any better.

All we need is a second gunman on the grassy knoll. Howard Dean maybe?

That's what's waiting for Obama if he clinches the title at the convention.

The fact that millions of Democrat voters were intentionally disenfranchised by their own party in the primaries leaves the chosen one the prime target of too many in-house enemies. And nobody in American politics is better at organizing, mobilizing and exploiting in-house enemies than the Clintons.

Barockstar’s off-teleprompter performances consistently make George Bush look like a silver tongued genius. That fact makes even the most ardent Obama supporters second guess their early hypnotic socialist driven lust for the chosen one.

Ship Obama is taking on water faster than the spin machine can bail. The DNC is going to need a new savior by this time next week and guess who is positioned to save the party?

The super-delegates are not bound by their verbal commitments of support for Obama. With each passing hour, Barockstar convinces more and more Americans, including delegates, that his empty suit is only outdone by his empty head.

Without a teleprompter, Obama’s inexperience becomes glaringly obvious. Face it; Obama lost Saturday’s open forum discussion with a very friendly Rick Warren while McCain was still traveling to the location in his motorcade. Once McCain arrived, all he had to do to win was not follow Barockstar down the toilet.

Williams poses a wonderful question but doesn't follow up on it:

One must wonder who set this guy up in the first place?

Most Americans knew he had little chance of making it to the finish line from the start. Never in history has a less qualified individual sought the highest office in the land with such a blank résumé.

His over-inflated ego made him the perfect mark for a perfect storm. Accidents like this don’t happen in politics, where little is ever left to chance.

Who set this naïve freshman up? Whoever it is, they did it magnificently!

This is the problem with pompous pride. It always leaves you blind and vulnerable to your attackers. The freshman nobody had no chance. He was a minnow swimming among sharks. In today’s cutthroat DNC, which is caught in a perpetual power struggle, such an inexperienced individual was no match for career political deviants like the Clintons.

The only open question at this point is this; does Hillary have the votes to pull it off?

I wouldn’t lay my money against her!

Terrorist In Obama's Cupboard

Not much has been made by the MSM of Obama's close relationship with the 60's terrorist, Bill Ayers, but Stanley Kurtz at the NRO isn't letting this slide. Obama's off handed dismissal of his relationship with Ayers will not stand up to scrutiny.

Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn were terrorists for the notorious Weather Underground during the turbulent 1960s, turning fugitive when a bomb — designed to kill army officers in New Jersey — accidentally exploded in a New York townhouse. Prior to that, Ayers and his cohorts succeeded in bombing the Pentagon.

Ayers and Dohrn remain unrepentant for their terrorist past. Ayers was pictured in a 2001 article for Chicago magazine, stomping on an American flag, and told the New York Times just before 9/11 that the notion of the United States as a just and fair and decent place “makes me want to puke.”

Although Obama actually launched his political career at an event at Ayers’s and Dohrn’s home, Obama has dismissed Ayers as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” and “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” For his part, Ayers refuses to discuss his relationship with Obama.

Obama was the Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a radical organization that Ayers founded. And there is a paper trail that can document this relationship.

[...] a large cache of documents housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), is likely to flesh out the story. That document cache contains the internal files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The records in question are extensive, consisting of 132 boxes, containing 947 file folders, a total of about 70 linear feet of material. Not only would these files illuminate the working relationship between Obama and Bill Ayers, they would also provide significant insight into a web of ties linking Obama to various radical organizations, including Obama-approved foundation gifts to political allies.

But at the last minute permission access to these files was suddenly withdrawn.

Circumstances strongly suggest the likelihood that Bill Ayers himself may have played a pivotal role in this denial. Ayers has long taught at UIC, where the Chicago Annenberg Challenge offices were housed, rent-free. Ayers likely arranged for the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to be housed in the UIC library, and may well have been consulted during my unsuccessful struggle to gain access to the documents.

This reminds me of Kerry's refusal during the 2004 Presidential election to sign a Standard Form 180 which would have released his naval records and ended any speculation about what kind of discharge he received. Kerry eventually did sign the form a year later but only allowed three reporters to view the documents; the reporters stated that there was no indication that Kerry received anything other than an honorable discharge. But why didn't he do this during the campaign? Why a year later? Why only three reporters?

These circumstances only fueled more speculation that the records had been expunged.

(Good grief. It's the very beginning of the second quarter in the Giants/Browns game and the Giants just scored again, it's 30 to 3! Poor Browns.)

And Obama will most likely make the same mistake and the MSM will carry his water for him ... again.

Another Idiot

Ever since "Top Gun" I never thought much one way or the other about Val Kilmer. I generally do not care for his movies; overall he reminds me of a spoiled rich kid.

I was reading some comments at Hot Air on a piece regarding laser weapons when I stumbled over Madisonconservative ripping Kilmer a new one over some interview. I am a little leary of reacting right away to these kind of things but then I did a little searching on my own. After reading this, Kilmer reminds me of a turd that someone has tried to polish. The interviewer, Chuck Klosterman, asks a question and Kilmer responds:

You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?

I understand it more. It's an actor's job. A guy who's lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it [emp. mine~sig94]. He's some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that's why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn't get on the football team, couldn't finagle a scholarship. They didn't have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there.

I'd like to prepare his ass for my boot.

Whoo Whee, Another Letter

And we just got another letter from our daughter in Fort Leonard Wood today.

She is now in a barracks with 39 other females. She is one of the oldest (23) in the barracks and is not impressed with some of her younger mates.

She learned in Cairo how obnoxious males can be, particularly young Egyptian males, and is really starting to catch on about feminine interpersonal human dynamics and that the term "asshole" is a fairly complex and technically advanced term that defines a very specific range of behaviors.

She got sick of being harassed by one Egyptian teenager and knocked him on his ass (all 5'1" of her) on a Cairo subway. I hope she is not tempted to do likewise at Fort Leonard Wood.

Lest you think that my daughter is a super buff kid, she is in excellent condition but that is all (well, her attitude is pretty much like one of her close relatives). She is just a very determined female and in her experience, Egyptian men are scrawny. She posits that it must be that their diet really stinks nutrition-wise because she could out lift a lot of the males at the AUC gym. She compares them to her ex-USMC buddy who adopted her like a sister in Cairo. He is about 6'2" and goes 220 or so of rock slab muscle. The Egyptian men looked like children next to him. Hmmmm, I may have a picture of him somewhere.

Arkansas Politics

Some wingnut blew into the office of the Arkansas Democratic Party and shot the State Chairman.

Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, has been murdered.

A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic eadquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.

Police said they don’t know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released. However, they said moments after the shooting, he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager “I lost my job,” said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official.

Chairman Bill Gwatney died four hours after the shooting. The 48-year-old former state senator had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention later this month as a Hillary Clinton superdelegate.

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, issued a statement calling Gwatney “not only a strong chairman of Arkansas’ Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidante.”

Dang, but it seems dangerous to be a Clinton supporter in that state.

She's Okay

Today we got a letter from our daughter at boot camp in Fort Leonard Wood. From the date on the letter, she writes this after her first full day in the army.

The food is decent, her sneakers really rock and the sergeants yell at them a lot. She has learned how to sit at attention. We're so proud!

Science fiction has a way of becoming science fact. Stealth research is bearing fruit in ways that were thought impossible a few decades ago. Like becoming invisible.

INVISIBILITY devices, long the realm of science fiction and fantasy, have moved closer after scientists engineered a material that can bend visible light around objects.

The breakthrough could lead to systems for rendering anything from people to large objects, such as tanks and ships, invisible to the eye – although this is still years off.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, whose work is funded by the American military, have engineered materials that can control light’s direction of travel. The world’s two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week.

It follows earlier work at Imperial College London that achieved similar results with microwaves. Like light, these are a form of electromagnetic radiation but their longer wave-length makes them far easier to manipulate. Achieving the same effect with visible light is a big advance. Underlying the work is the idea that bending visible light around an object will hide it.

Xiang Zhang, the leader of the researchers, said: “In the case of invisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely around the object like a river flowing around a rock.” An observer looking at the cloaked object would then see light from behind it – making it seem to disappear.

Substances capable of achieving such feats are known as “meta-materials” and have the power to “grab” electromagnetic radiation and deflect it smoothly. No such material occurs naturally and it is only in the past few years that nano-scale engineering, manipulating matter at the level of atoms and molecules, has advanced sufficiently to give scientists the chance to create them.

The tiny scale at which such researchers must operate is astonishing in itself. Zhang’s researchers had to construct a material whose elements were engineered to within about 0.00000066 of a metre. The military funding that Zhang has won for his research shows what kind of applications it might be used for, ushering in a new age of stealth technology.

As I was reading the article, I started wondering to myself, how long before this technology gets into the hands of our enemies? I had in mind some examples of the transfer of US technology to nations inimicable to the US.

In the mid 1980's the Toshiba Corporation illegally sold secret propellor manufacturing technology to the Soviet Union, thus enabling the Soviet Navy to produce quieter submarines to elude US sonar. To this day I refuse to buy anything with the name Toshiba on it.

Under the Clinton Administration, the Hughes Corporation provided the Chinese government with sophisicated missle technology that was used to manufacture weapons that can be used against our own country.

U.S. intelligence information obtained during other DF-31 test flights showed the missile can also carry up to three independently targeted warheads. The DF-31 is also a mobile missile, carried by a large multi-wheeled truck that can deploy it to prepared launch sites. Again, ironically, much of what makes the DF-31 so dangerous was provided to Beijing by the Clinton administration. In 1996 President Clinton personally signed an executive order releasing a wide variety of space and missile technology for export to China.

Much of that technology is now serving the Chinese military onboard the DF-31 missile. The 1996 Clinton executive order was supported by the CEOs of Lockheed, Loral, and Hughes, and it allowed China to purchase sophisticated electronics, guidance and control systems for its military missiles.

According to a Hughes document sent in March 1995 to Clinton national security advisor Anthony Lake, space technology "has no military significance."

The Hughes document concluded control over the export of a wide range of advanced U.S. satellite technology should be moved to the Commerce Department. The U.S. technology sent by Clinton to China included the entire list of items sought by Hughes; anti-jamming capability, advanced antennas, crosslinks, baseband processing, encryption devices, radiation hardening, and perigee kick motors.

In fact, the CEOs of Hughes, Loral, and Lockheed co-wrote a letter to Bill Clinton in October 1995, expressing their desire for the president to "transfer all responsibility for commercial satellite export licensing to the Commerce Department."

The 1995 letter, signed by C. Michael Armstrong of Hughes, Bernard Schwartz of Loral and Daniel Tellep of Lockheed, states that "we understand you many soon be issuing an Executive Order intended to make further improvements to the process for reviewing export license applications.

"During a recent meeting involving Vice President Gore and representatives of the satellite industry discussing national/global information infrastructure, this was one of several issues raised. We clearly appreciate your administration's strong commitment to reforming the U.S. export control system, but we respectfully request your personal support for establishing the Commerce Department's jurisdiction over the export of all commercial communications satellites," states the letter from the three CEOs.

Hughes, Loral, and Lockheed all later paid massive fines for illegal exports of advanced missile technology to China. Hughes paid the largest fine after being charged with 123 counts of national security violations. Loral eventually had to declare bankruptcy in part due to the China-gate scandal.

Today, Loral's CEO, Bernard Schwartz, continues to make massive donations to the Democratic Party and its associated 527 liberal advocacy groups. Schwartz has donated nearly $4 million to the DNC and to various presidential hopefuls including Hillary Clinton.

Schwartz has a long donation history with the Clintons. In a September 1994 memo to the President Clinton, Harold Ickes, then White House chief of staff, informed him that Schwartz could be used to raise campaign donations "in order to raise an additional $3,000,000 to permit the Democratic National Committee to produce and air generic TV/radio spots as soon as Congress adjourns."

And who was the Commerce Secretary when this bit of treachery was authorized? Why no other than soon to be dead Ron Brown. Lockheed ended up being fined for $8 million, Loral was fined $14 million and Hughes was fined $20 million.

But to be fair, there are other companies who also have been guilty of the same thing. Some of these companies are: ITT Industries, Raytheon, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas (also sold technology to China), and International Signal and Control Corporation.

Getting back to invisible nanotech, just who is Professor Xiang Zhang? I can't find anything about his life prior to 1996 when he reveived his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. It's like he fell out of the womb with a doctorate. Can't find out if he is American, Chinese or Taiwan.

He Couldn't Wait Until She Was Cold

A Syracuse landlord couldn't wait to evict the 16 year old son of a woman who was just buried.

His mother had been laid to rest for less than five hours this week when Rich Hayes, 16, got a visit from her landlord.

Get your stuff and get out, the landlord said.

Ronald Reid, owner of the rental property at 901 Second St. in Solvay, called the police on Tuesday - the day of Kim Cavallo's burial in Woodlawn Cemetery. The Solvay officer who responded, Sgt. Curt Francemone, was stunned to hear that a landlord wanted to remove a teenage boy from his home on the day of his mother's funeral.

No doubt about it, this man is cold, stone cold.

"I pulled up and the landlord said, 'I want him arrested for trespassing,' " Francemone said. "I go, 'No, it doesn't work that way.' "

Hayes said he and his mother had lived in the home for the past year. His father died six years ago. Hayes said he'd been home from the funeral for about 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon when Reid showed up and demanded he get out.

Reid said he wanted Hayes out because he was an unsupervised minor who'd brought in a large amount of beer with his friends, and they'd broken windows. Reid denied asking police to arrest Hayes.

To make a long story short, he can't evict the kid right away.

State law requires landlords to give their tenants a full term's notice before they evict them, according to Ronald Van Norstrand, a lawyer who represents the Fair Housing Council. In this case, the term was a month. And to evict a tenant, the landlord has to go through the process of obtaining an eviction order, said Van Norstrand, who for years handled landlord-tenant disputes for Legal Services of Central New York.

I had rental property quite a few years ago and I have a lot of sympathy for landlords who must suffer with bad tenants. But this goes beyond the pale. It appears that Reid may have started in on the kid the same day his mother died.

Cavallo, 39, died of a heart attack around 9 a.m. July 31 at St. Joseph's Hospital, where she'd been transported the day before because she was threatening to kill herself. Cavallo had suffered mental health problems for five years, her son said.

Hayes got the news of her death around noon the day she died. Reid was at his door within two hours, Hayes said.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but we got to get this on the go," Reid said, according to Hayes.

"I need new tenants. You got 24 hours or else I'm gonna have you arrested."

Reid, 46, drove over to the property six times that day and at least twice a day for the next four days, Hayes said. Each time, he told Hayes to move out, Hayes said.

I wonder how Reid found out so quickly about the death of Mrs. Cavallo. Sounds like a ghoul to me.

A New SPEC 4

At least that's what she'll be when she gets out of boot camp. And that's Fort Leonard Wood, MO. We showed up at 1000 at the MEPS station at the 174th NYANG. Our daughter was there since 0500.


Then around 1030 Cpt. Whatshizname administers the oath and she's in. In all, nine recruits were sworn in. The families of only three showed up. I felt bad for the other kids. The nine people in our family that witnessed this was over half of all the civilians who showed up for the ceremony.




Then she eats her first GI lunch while we chat; at 1130 Sgt. Bilko sticks his head in the room and growls, "Leonard Wood, get going." And she's on her way to the airport which is only a quarter mile away.

Really... everyone was very nice. Her recruiter was there and gave me his card in case we have any questions down the line. He turned out to be a pretty decent guy.

We had lunch and went to the airport and waited (and waited) to see her off at 1700.

Tomorrow's The Day

Tomorrow my daughter goes into the Army; her MOS will be Linguist. The recruiter is picking her up at oh dark hundred and we'll meet her at the recruiting center later on in the morning for the ceremony. She is excited about going to boot camp which is at Fort Leavenwood, MO, and is anxious to attend the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, sometime in November. We are all very proud of her. But boy oh boy will we miss her.

Hang His Fat Ass

COLUMBUS-- A death row inmate scheduled for execution in October says he's so fat that Ohio executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs.

Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue in a federal lawsuit that Cooey had poor veins when he faced execution five years ago and that the problem has been worsened by weight gain.

They cite a document filed by a prison nurse in 2003 that said Cooey had sparse veins and that executioners would need extra time.

"When you start the IV's come 15 minutes early," wrote the nurse who examined Cooey. "I don't have any veins."

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Columbus, also says prison officials have had difficulty drawing blood from Cooey for medical procedures. Cooey is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 267 pounds, according to the lawsuit.

Cooey, 41, was sentenced to die for raping and murdering two female University of Akron students in 1986. After a federal judge granted Cooey a last-minute reprieve in 2003, Cooey was returned to death row. In May, he lost a challenge to Ohio's lethal injection process when the U.S. Supreme Court said he had missed a deadline to file a lawsuit.

Cooey's execution is scheduled for Oct. 14.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a strong length of rope and a sturdy tree limb. Anything to spare that poor man's veins.

Fill 'er Up

I found this at the PeoplesCube. Too, too true.

Lost Two Pounds

Since July 5th when we went on vacation I have been walking four or five times a week, a little jogging if my knees and COPD are cooperating, for about three miles a pop. I went for my quarterly checkup (mostly blood work) today and I lost two pounds. I gained 21 pounds in two years and the doc (a great guy) wants me down below 200. I got quite a ways to go.

I wish I was back up on Lake Ontario. Walking was such a great experience in a predominantly farmland setting along the lake. People would wave hello and you had no idea who they were. Just friendly folk. Idiots here in the village try to run you over if you don't cross the street fast enough for their liking.

In our neighborhood there's a crazy little gal that jogs every day. She really is short a cornflower blue from a full box of crayons (my daughters went to school with her kids). Last week while walking I noticed her coming up the road. Right smack dab in the middle of the road. On the sidewalk I passed her as she stumbled by and I said hello. She kept on muttering and ignored me. I'm waiting to see if she gets creamed by some senior citizen driving a Buick.

Life in this pissy little village. Here where I live, they got stop signs with little stop signs underneath the big stop signs that say "STOP MEANS STOP." Huh? And I thought stop meant go all these years. Pissy little stop signs for pissy little people. Next they got green day-glo signpost wrappers that say "SLOW DOWN". The speed limit is thirty. Slow down to what? Who paid for this idiot crap?

Pissy little people in a pissy little village. It's like idiot prying grandmothers are running the show. Next they'll have the cops checking to see if you eat all your veggies. I was talking to one of the village cops who is a transplant from a town PD near Atlanta, Georgia. He said he got a call from a woman who wanted the police to replace the electric fuses in her fuse box. And he did it. Pissy little village. He should have told her - call your idiot son-in-law you useless twit or learn how to unscrew a fuse.

After participating on a "Vision" committee, I was invited to join the local ordinance committee but I refused. They still send me the announcements for the meetings after five or six years of not showing up. The vision committee was a joke. All they wanted to do was put lipstick on a pig. Sorry, I want a wipe and reload.

The wife and I will be looking at moving to another town or even another state after my daughter graduates from high school. I am getting to the point where I really can't stand this pissy little village.