Cultural Learnings of New York for Make Glorious Ass Whipping

The British comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, who stars in the surprise comedy hit, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" , was surprised himself when he tried his Romanian news reporter act on a no nonsense New Yorker. This month, after taping a Saturday Night Live segment, Cohen and a friend, "House" star Hugh Laurie, were walking to a local bar.

Going into his Borat character, Cohen approached a complete stranger on the street and asked him:

“I like your clothings. Are nice! Please may I buying? I want have sex with it.”

The stranger, obviously believing that he was being accosted by a pervert, responded by pounding Cohen in the face several times. Hugh Laurie intervened, sparing Cohen from serious injury. It is not known if Cohen received medical care for the thrashing.

Cohen had been warned by his managers not to pull this kind of prank outside of a television studio. He has been criticized (and is being sued) for duping people into saying ridiculous things on which he based his movie. This controversial art form has been labeled "ambush humor."

French (Not So) Civil Servants

A demonstration by so called professional firefighters in Paris, Tuesday, demanding higher wages, a premium for dangerous assignments (combat pay?) and better pension benefits turned into a riot.

Police say fifteen officers were wounded and two are in serious condition after protesters hurled flares, street signs and other heavy objects at them. A police vehicle, another car and several trash cans were also set ablaze. Thirty-five firemen have been taken into custody.

Sounds like the firefighters union has taken a page from the muslims.

Several dozen fire fighters attacked security forces with flares, bottles, stones and anything else they could find, including street signs and traffic cones. Police countered with tear gas, but were only able to disperse the mob after 30 minutes.

Many of the 6,000 firefighters who attended the demonstration wore their issued gear. This serves also to protect them from the water cannons, tear gas, night sticks, etc. that police officers use to disrupt violent demostrations. It also helps to protect their identities from police surveillance.

One gendarme suffered a head injury from one of the projectiles, while another had his leg broken after being hit in the knee by a sledgehammer.

Some how I doubt that the normally cordial relations between police and fire in Paris will be restored shortly.

This was not the first demonstration of French fire fighters in recent memory.On September 25, pompiers from all over France gathered in Paris, and after an altercation with police forces also managed to block the peripheral road.

So twice in two months the firefighters have tussled with the gendarmes. I'm hoping this is atypical behavior, but does it seem to you that french society is becoming a bit unraveled?

Our Government In Action

It seems that when the US Government is really, really concerned about something, it will find a way to address it. No matter is so trival that the US Government won't throw a few million, or ten, at it. So the subzero cockles of my heart were warmed when I read this story about the measures our government is willing to take to track another public menace .... cows.

The USDA is developing the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) to identify and track individual animals, the aim being to allow the USDA to track a diseased animal back to its source, through every location it's been, within 48 hours. Under NAIS, a national database maintains animal ownership and location histories.

How's that for service? Our government was so concerned over the possible loss of life resulting from Mad Cow Disease (or BSE) that a national database was created in order to protect us. Using techniques that

would combine GPS, cellular and radio frequency technologies to track cattle as they are in transit,

government officials will be able to track the location of any one of the 100 million cattle in the country, and do so within 48 hours. Just think of it, 100 million cows being tracked by the latest high tech so that you and I can rest easy in our beds.

Obviously what we need is a new disease to spur our government to additional action.

I have discovered such a disease: Mad Mexican Disease.

If we can track 100 million cows in freight cars, we can find 11 million illegals in pick up trucks.

Break out the RFID ear tags, errr, earrings.

My Kinda Guys

The new Haggar commercials are a scream. The ads feature Pete and Ted, two well dressed dads (clad in Haggar pants of course), giving self help lessons on loud stereos, lazy boyfriends, dogs crapping on your lawn and washing your car.

Go there, it's a stitch. And the pants come with a life time warranty? Maybe I'll get a pair.

Medical Advances

The National Review Online has an article detailing a new advance in British medical science, the elimination of undesireable children. These are not children still in the womb; these are infants, new borns.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology (RCOG) has recommended that a debate be had about whether to permit “deliberate interventions to kill infants.”

Deliberate intervention? I've seen those. Interventions with knives, shotguns, hammers, you name it. What we have here is another euphemism by the medical profession for murder. As the London Times reports, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology recommendation said:

A very disabled child can mean a disabled family. If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late term abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome.

And if you are not pleased with the outcome? Kid not to your liking? Still no problem if the RCOG has its way.

Some people advocate that parents be given up to a year to decide whether or not to allow their child to live. Princeton University's Peter Singer is one of them. But in some instances this has gone beyond the discussion stage.

[...] the March 10, 2005, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine published an article by Dutch physicians who have admitted to having euthanized 15-20 disabled infants. The NEJM provided them with a respectable forum in which to propose formal regulations to govern what amounts to eugenic infanticide.

This goes way beyond discussion. They are proposing regulations for the murder of new borns. Read 'em and weep:

The so-called “Groningen Protocol” (named after the Dutch hospital where the infanticides took place) posits three categories of killable infants: babies “with no chance of survival”; infants with a “poor prognosis and [who] are dependent on intensive care”; and “infants with a hopeless prognosis,” including those “not depending on intensive medical treatment but for whom a very poor quality of life…is predicted."

Sanctity of life meet quality of life. This is the battle ground between Christians and humanists. What is sacred because it was created in God's image is sacrificed because it may not have a good time.

For example, the July 10, 2005, New York Times Magazine published a column by frequent contributor Jim Holt proposing the merits of the Groningen Protocol. Holt suggested that the decision to kill ill or disabled babies should be governed by “a new moral duty,” namely, “the duty prevent suffering, especially futile suffering.”

And of course the only way this new duty can be discharged is through the death of a child. These so called moralists will line up at all hours of the day and night to protest the execution of a vicious serial murderer, but will allow the deilberate killing of an infant because it is the "kind" thing to do. Does this make any sense?

The Bone Yard

I was thinking of a tribute to our vets this week. I just wanted something with a little different emphasis on the service these men and women have made.

To the rescue.

A friend of mine, Al Hammel, sent me some pics of this, the Davis-Monthan AFB, Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AKA the USAF Bone Yard) located in Tucson, AZ. Additional views are , here, and here. Kodak has put together a very interesting tour of the facility here. These aircraft were serviced and flown by our vets.

They provided food and ammunition to our fighting troops.
They flew the wounded to hospitals.
They dropped thousands and thousands of tons of bombs.
They strafed enemy positions and blew up tanks.
They destroyed radar facilities.
They interdicted the resupply of opposing forces.
And a lot more...

Total American Air Force aircraft losses during World War II:

27,694 aircraft, including 8,314 heavy bombers, 1,623 medium and light bombers,
and 8,481 fighters as destroyed in combat.

Out of 135,00 men assigned to the 8th Army Air Force, 30,000 men lost their lives in combat.

Flying is a dangerous business. Just in training missions during WWII there were 6,351 fatal accidents with over 15,500 fatalities and the loss of over 7,100 aircraft.

These aircraft are a lot like our vets. They don't complain and they still serve as best as they can. Like the men who flew them, these craft are a credit to our nation.

This is the only AFB facility that makes a profit.

Davis-Monthan is where military aircraft are stripped down and prepared for storage in the hot, dry desert climate. With over 1,600 aircraft, the USAF Bone Yard is is the third largest air force in the world. Most of the aircraft that come into the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center are flown in under their own power. Some are refitted and readied for sale to other nations. Others, such as B-52's, are stripped of vital parts and used to keep their brothers alive and flying. Some planes are reassembled for use as target practise or in movies.

America built approximately 300,000 aircraft during WWI, most of them for the armed services. Approximately one half of them lasted through hostilities and downsizing and became surplus. Some of the aircraft stationed overseas were destroyed or off loaded out in the middle of the ocean. Some aircraft were sold; after the war you could buy a BT-13 combat trainer for $450 or a B-32 bomber for $32,500.

After WWII, the US had several facilities where surplus aircraft were stored and/or scrapped. Hundreds of millions of pounds of aircraft aluminum were recovered in this fashion.

By 1959, Davis-Monthan alone had 4,000 aircraft. In 1965 it was chosen as the single, primary facility for storage of all USAF surplus planes.

Cop Jokes

Got these in an email. Not bad.

My father always loved fast cars. Taking advantage of the empty roads one morning, he accelerated down a wide-open stretch. Unfortunately, a youngpolice officer was waiting at the other end, and Dad was flagged down. He greeted the officer with a cheery "Good morning!" "And a good morning to you, Wing Commander," replied the officer. "Having trouble taking off?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A police recruit was asked during the exam, "What would you do ifyou had to arrest your own mother?" He said, "Call for backup."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

John Screwbrake got pulled over for speeding. He showed the cop his driver'slicense, told him his name and said his wife was having a baby at the local hospital and he needed to get to there fast. The cop didn't believe him, but decided to check out his story before he gave him a ticket. The cop went down to the hospital and rushed on inside. The first person he met was a nurse in the hallway. So he asked "Do you have a Screwbrake here?" She said "Hell no! We're so busy, we don't even have time for a coffee break."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about six years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, "Are you a cop?" "Yes," I answered and continued writing the report. "My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?" "Yes, that's right," I told her. "Well, then," she said as she extended her foot toward me,"would you please tie my shoe?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

My brother was a Police Officer for some thirty years. One of my favorite stories of his was when his Grandson saw an early picture of him in uniform he stated, "Barney Fife!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

One Officer,while writing a speeding ticket, was being berated by the driver: "Why did you stop me and all these other people are speeding? Why didn't you stop them?"
The Officer replied, "Ever been fishing?"
Response, "Yes"
Officer, "Ever catch ALL the fish?'

Let The Seething Begin

From the UK's Cambridge Evening News, a young Muslim girl ordered a meatless burger at McDonalds and got the extra value meal instead.

Sixteen-year-old Jasmin Athas ordered a veggie melt meal at the chain's restaurant in Rose Crescent, Cambridge - only to find it contained a large rasher of bacon.

Maybe I could understand the controversary if an entire pig dropped out of the burger into her lap, or a moose, or a half eaten Republican congressman; but a piece of bacon?

Jasmin, who was visiting the UK from Sri Lanka and had spent the day in Cambridge because she plans to apply to university here, was shocked and felt sickened when she realised what she was eating.

There's no bacon in Sri Lanka? Sorry, but bacon is a food. Bacon is not a mouse turd. Or the headless corpses of three Christian school girls in Jakarta. Please spare me the outrage.

I hate lima beans and refuse to eat them, but sometimes my wife sneaks them on the table disguised in a can of mixed vegatables. I eat them. And I keep my mouth shut.

Mr Tillekeratne, 39, an accountant, said: "Jasmin was devastated. She felt sick for a week afterwards at the thought of eating bacon, which she has never eaten in her life. She has been a vegetarian for 10 years and somebody just destroyed that.

For six years of her life she was NOT a vegetarian. Is she disgusted and dismayed at her life prior to age seven? Is the accountant? Is she seeking therapy and compensation for those little tiny processed meat sausages she had in her high chair? And if she is so concerned about her food intake, then why is she eating at Mickey Dee's? I'd rather have a meat patty then trans fat laden deep fried french fries anyway.

A McDonald's spokesman told the News: "Naturally we were very concerned to hear of this customer's experience and that on this rare, isolated occasion we did not meet our usual high standards. We also appreciate how upsetting it must have been for her to consume a product that is against her religious beliefs and we offer our sincerest apologies.

"This was a case of genuine human error and we are taking the matter extremely seriously. The restaurant launched a full investigation at the time of the incident, with the staff members working on that shift."

Hey, bacon happens... Now lets see how the Religion of Peace handles this latest outrage.

Take A Breath

That goes especially for me. It was disappointing, but the Republican Party was asking for a drubbing.

I tend to associate the GOP with conservatism; that hasn't been true for years. The Contract With America died a slow, miserable death; it's rotting corpse is still twisting in the wind. UNder the Republicans the largest entitlement in history was passed. And thirty days after it was approved, the government admitted that they underestimated its cost by a third.

Perhaps its the smirk on the faces of Pelosi, Kennedy, Frank, Byrd, et. al. that gets to me.

But God is still on the throne, the democrats can't change that...

Vote

THIS IS WHY WE MUST VOTE.

As we vote today we must keep this foremost in our minds. If the democrats win, it's all over.

Please take the time to read the attached essay by Dr. Vernon Chong, a retired Air Force Major General and past Commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio.

Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA.

Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII). The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means. First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United State is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:
Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
New York World Trade Center 2001;
Pentagon 2001.(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?
Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslim extremists.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World?
25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated . There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons, including 7,000 Polish priests (see here and here).

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities.

Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else.

The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?
There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major questions:
1. Can we lose this war?
2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions. We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get.

What losing really means is: We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorists to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them. We would, of course, have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us.

However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast! If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims?

If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else? The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation. President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war!

For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently. And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head. Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means.

Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause. Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying.

We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can this be for real? The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense.

If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can. To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife.

Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.

Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United State, but throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world! We can't! If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.

If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve.

Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power.

They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"? I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose.

I hope now after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.

After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world.Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that includes the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!

Al Gore - Global Warming Whore

In a Sunday Telegraph article (UK), Christopher Monckton has started a series detailing the lies of global warming. He starts off with:

"Last week, Gordon Brown and his chief economist both said global warming was the worst "market failure" ever. That loaded soundbite suggests that the "climate-change" scare is less about saving the planet than, in Jacques Chirac's chilling phrase, "creating world government".

Chris Monckton hits the nail right on the head with that single sentence. Global warming is nothing more than a Trojan Horse for internationalists to change the way we are governed. Chris explains that his series will expose:

"how politicians, scientists and bureaucrats contrived a threat of Biblical floods, droughts, plagues, and extinctions worthier of St John the Divine than of science."

St. Gore, are you listening? Your "visions" are from those midnight chilidogs you slam down. Your cross-country travels alone have produced more Gaia killing jet exhaust gases than ten thousand SUV's. Chris goes on to state that:

"I'll show how the UN undervalued the sun's effects on historical and contemporary climate, slashed the natural greenhouse effect, overstated the past century's temperature increase, repealed a fundamental law of physics and tripled the man-made greenhouse effect."

[...]the UN abolished the medieval warm period (the global warming at the end of the First Millennium AD). In 1995, David Deming, a geoscientist at the University of Oklahoma, had written an article reconstructing 150 years of North American temperatures from borehole data. He later wrote: "With the publication of the article in Science, I gained significant credibility in the community of scientists working on climate change. They thought I was one of them, someone who would pervert science in the service of social and political causes. One of them let his guard down. A major person working in the area of climate change and global warming sent me an astonishing email that said: 'We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period.' "

What is significant about the Medieval Warm Period is that it ruins the "hockey stick" graph that so called climate experts used to prove their delusional theories. Chris continues:

So they did. The UN's second assessment report, in 1996, showed a 1,000-year graph demonstrating that temperature in the Middle Ages was warmer than today.
But the 2001 report contained a new graph showing no medieval warm period. It wrongly concluded that the 20th century was the warmest for 1,000 years. The graph looked like an ice hockey-stick. The wrongly flat AD1000-AD1900 temperature line was the shaft: the uptick from 1900 to 2000 was the blade."

This is the basis for their argument: if we don't do something NOW, it will be too late. We will all die. We will either 1) drown from the melting ice caps, 2) bake in the blistering greenhouse heat, or 3) be smothered in poo when all the other environmental disasters hit the fan.

And how did they get rid of this embarrassing information? Chris reconstructs the deceit:

1)They gave one technique for reconstructing pre-thermometer temperature 390 times more weight than any other (but didn't say so).

2)The technique they overweighted was one which the UN's 1996 report had said was unsafe: measurement of tree-rings from bristlecone pines. Tree-rings are wider
in warmer years, but pine-rings are also wider when there's more carbon dioxide
in the air: it's plant food. This carbon dioxide fertilisation distorts the calculations.

3) They said they had included 24 data sets going back to 1400. Without saying so, they left out the set showing the medieval warm period, tucking it into a folder marked "Censored Data".

4) They used a computer model to draw the graph from the data, but scientists later found that the model almost always drew hockey-sticks even if they fed in random, electronic "red noise."

These are the graphs shown in the Telegraph. The top one is the Hockey stick, showing the alleged sudden uptick in temperatures starting in 1900. Please note that the temperature in this graph shows an increase of perhaps .75 degrees Celsius over the last 30 years or so.

The second graph Shows the Medieval Warming period where average temperates increased from about 1000 AD to 1200 AD, and then decreased for the next 200 years. Bear in mind that the average temperature increased by 1 degree Celsius during the Medieval period.

"Even after the "hockey stick" graph was exposed, scientific papers apparently confirming its abolition of the medieval warm period appeared. The US Senate asked independent statisticians to investigate. They found that the graph was meretricious [emphasis mine], and that known associates of the scientists who had compiled it had written many of the papers supporting its conclusion."

mer‧e‧tri‧cious - adjective
1. alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions; tawdry.
2. based on pretense, deception, or insincerity.
3. pertaining to or characteristic of a prostitute. [Again, emphasis mine]

And there's more, lots more. The number of accurate weather/temperature stations has declined by 2/3 since a high of 6,000 in 1970. It is suspected that many of the 2,000 remaining stations are located near major populations centers which would generate more heat than rural setting, thus artificially skewing temperature recordings.

"The UN [...] says the graph isn't important. It is. Scores of scientific papers show that the medieval warm period was real, global and up to 3C warmer than now. Then, there were no glaciers in the tropical Andes: today they're there. There were Viking farms in Greenland: now they're under permafrost. There was little ice at the North Pole: a Chinese naval squadron sailed right round the Arctic in 1421 and found none."

"The Antarctic, which holds 90 per cent of the world's ice and nearly all its 160,000 glaciers, has cooled and gained ice-mass in the past 30 years, reversing a 6,000-year melting trend. Data from 6,000 boreholes worldwide show global temperatures were higher in the Middle Ages than now. And the snows of Kilimanjaro are vanishing not because summit temperature is rising (it isn't) but because post-colonial deforestation has dried the air. Al Gore please note."

Al Gore - Global Warming Whore. And his pimp is The UK's Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair has accepted the advice of Environment Secretary David Miliband to impose environmental taxes on English rate payers.

Typical families with two children could have to pay up to £1,300 more every year, [that's $2,471.07 USD using a currency conversion site tonight] according to estimates. The move came on the eve of today's publication of a major study on climate change which some experts blame on harmful man-made emissions. Tony Blair describes the report drawn up by former world bank chief Sir Nicholas Stern as the most important he has seen since becoming Prime Minister.

I will keep on top of this mess as it develops...

Crime Story

Crime stats can be used in various ways to describe the quality of life in your community. Sometimes these stats can be misleading without a proper perspective. In this post I will try to provide you with such a perspective.

Morgan Quitno came out this week with a list of the safest cities in the USA. Quitno produces this list of the safest and least safe cities with populations over 75,000 after the FBI publishes the latest annual Uniform Crime Report (2005 UCR).

Brick, NJ (actually a Town, not a City) was listed as the safest with a violent Part I index crime rate (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) of 55.9 per 100,000 population and St. Louis, Missouri, being the least safe with a violent Part I index crime rate of 2,405.5 per 100,000.

You can look at the national crime states for your state/town or city at the aforementioned link, or go here and download the entire file as an excel spreadsheet.

The FBI publishes crime stats for almost 8,200 jurisdictions. Quitno only uses about 380 of them in their comparative city listings (those being over 75,000 population). All told, there are 1,485 jurisdictions with a lower violent crime rate than Brick Township. The smallest jurisdiction (Teterboro, NJ) has a population of only 18. There were no reported violent felonies in Teterboro but there were 2 burglaries, 7 larcenies and 8 stolen cars. Huh? There are only 18 people in Teterboro. Someone must have stolen every car they owned! Twice!

And the least safe jurisdiction in the USA? It is Vernon, California (pop. 94) where police reported 28 robberies and 20 aggravated assaults last year for a violent crime rate of over 51,000 per 100,000 population. Either the crime reporting out of Vernon is all screwed up or there are two bars in town where every one gets the crap kicked out of them and robbed every Friday night. Twice.

But these listings leave out property crimes from the total "serious" Part I crime picture. Once you add burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft the crime listings change somewhat. There are 91 jurisdictions that reported no Part I crimes at all during 2005. The largest of these is Kingwood, West Virginia, population of 2,916.

If we use Quitno's criteria of safest cities over 75,000 population, the most crime free community is.... in New York. The Town of Ramapo (pop. 74,388 - okay I cheated a wee bit, it was short by 622 people) had a total of 749 Part I crimes for a total Part I crime rate of 1,006.9 per 100,000.

Looking at the jurisdictions with the highest rate of total Part I crimes brings us back to California. It's good old VERNON! Population of 94 wicked souls! They had 52 burglaries, 260 larcenies and 232 motor vehicle thefts! Crikey! Everyone here must cover themselves with $20 bills and then fall asleep in their cars in front of the town's two bars with the engine running and the car doors wide open. Their total Part I crime rate is 629,782.2 per 100,000!

The lesson here is that some statistical measures do not fit every situation.

Using total Part I crimes in the same format as Quitno, the safest, most crime free city in the USA (population over 75,000 and lowest total incidence of Part I crimes) is Lake Forest, California (Pop. 77,523) with a Part I crime rate of 1,408.6 per 100,000. The most crime ridden city in the USA is .... again St. Louis, Missouri (pop. 346,005) with a Part I crime rate of 13,458.8 per 100,000. That is an incredible victimization rate. It is five times higher than New York City's rate(2,675.5 per 100,000) and almost double that of Houston, TX.

There is something else misleading about these statistics. You are only seeing what are known as Part I crimes. Part I crimes are murder (and nonnegligent manslaughter), forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft. Arson was added in 1986. No mention is made of Part II crimes. Except for drug offenses, Part II crimes do not usually show up in the evening news.

Quite simply, Part II crimes are everything else:
Simple Assaults
Forgery and Counterfeiting
Fraud
Embezzlement
Stolen Property Offenses
Vandalism
Weapons Offenses
Prostitution and Commercialized Vice
Sex Offenses (except rape and prostitution)
Drug Abuse Violations
Gambling
Offenses Against the Family and Children
Driving Under the Influence
Liquor Laws
Drunkenness
Disorderly Conduct
Vagrancy
All Other Offenses (except traffic)
Curfew and Loitering Laws (Juveniles only)
Runaways (Juveniles only)

The Part II crimes are often used as an indicator for the quality of life in a community. Just because no one is shot to death or no one breaks into your house doesn't mean that everything is hunky dory in YourTown, USA.

There is another problem with the FBI Uniform Crime Report. The entire state of Illinois is under reported. The reason for this is simple; Illinois has refused to comply with federal crime reporting standards for forcible rape. Illinois reports "criminal sexual assault" instead of forcible rape so the feds do not include it in the national stats for violent felonies. In addition, the State of Illinois only has seven jurisdictions reporting crime stats to the FBI. These jurisdictions are Aurora (pop. 167,266), Chicago (pop. 2,873,441), Joliet (pop. 130,026), Naperville (pop. 140,654), Peoria (pop. 113,161), Rockford (pop. 153,048) and Springfield (pop. 115,187). The 2000 US census lists Illinois as having over 12 million people living in 102 counties! To get an idea what is happening in Illinois you should go to their State's UCR web site.

Please don't get me wrong. The State of Illinois is not trying to hide anything. They compile a very comprehensive report on crime. It's because of the difference in the way they classify their forcible rape crimes that makes their stats incompatible with the rest of the nation. But I am rather mystified why only seven Illinois cities are reported in the UCR. The FBI does not provide much information either. All they say is this "Limited data for 2005 were available for Illinois." It could be that Illinois also has a different timetable for agencies to report their crime stats. Going back to 1995 (page 148) I see that Illinois only had four cities providing the UCR to the FBI. I guess they're getting better about it.

My whole reason for this is simple.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet or hear on the news.

God's e-mail

One day God was looking down at earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So he called one of his angels and sent the angel to earth for a time. When he returned, he told God, "Yes, it is bad on Earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not."

God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion." So God called another angel and sent him to earth for a time, too. When the angel returned he went to God and said, yes, it's true. The earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good."

God was not pleased.

So he decided to email the 5% who were good, because He wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going.

Do you know what the email said?

No?

Okay, just wondering. I didn't get one either.

By Saying Something Stupid

The Junior Senator from Massachusetts and his wife have recorded a duet.
Hope you like it:

We know you sit around
Dreaming up something profound
For the evening news
You tax your little brain
Trying not to wax insane
And end up sounding confused.

Then afterwards you try to save some face
And drop a lie or two.
But then we’re just real thankful
That Bush is now the President
Instead of you

We can see it in your eyes
You still dispense the same old lies
We heard in two thousand four
And though your wife bites through the straps
And slips her meds
She still has tons of money galore

You practice every day to find some slanderous
Lies to say
Against our soldiers so true
But bloggers hear and spread the word
And then
You find you’re totally screwed

The democrats were posed
To take the House
And Heaven knows
How many seats they'd accrue
And then you go and blow it all
By saying something stupid
Like you always do!

Take A Minute...

Take a minute in your busy lives to give a small prayer of thanks for the men and women of our armed forces. And while you're at it, think about this young man and the Eagle Lake, Texas, family who still grieves for him.

His name is Clint Gertson (he is with God, he still has his name). He served as a sniper in a Stryker Brigade. He was killed in Mosul, Iraq, on 19 FEB 05.

Cookie over to the Cook Shack knows the family; they are outstanding Americans, you know the type - average hardworking citizens - and would appreciate your acknowledgement of their son/brother's sacrifice. The Gertson's have another son, Matt, who also served in Iraq as a medic.

So humor me, take a walk over to the Cook Shack where there is a brief tribute to the memory of Clint Gertson and drop a line for these folks. Let them know that their loss was our gain, and that we share their grief. And let me know how you like the Taco Soup recipe.

Carmen

The wife and I went to see the opera "Carmen"(by Georges Bizet), on Friday night. It was excellent and it played to a packed house. There are only two performances, Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Last Wednesday was Bizet's birthday (October 25, 1838) and the local radio classical music station played a special selection of his music to honor him. I looked up Bizet and was surprised to learn that he died at the age of 36. He was a genius, a child prodigy. He died in 1875, several months after his greatest work, "Carmen", played to disappointing reviews, believing that it was a failure.

I really love the music to this opera; my favorites are the following (YouTube videos so give them a chance to load up):

L'amour est un oiseau (Habanero) - where Carmen first tempts Don Jose,
Près des remparts de Séville - where she persuades Don Jose to free her from jail,
Les tringles des sistres tintaient (The Gypsy Song) - where the gypsy girls dance in the tavern,
Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (The Toreador Song) - sung by Escamillo, and
La fleur que tu m'avais jetée (The Flower Song) - where Don Jose pledges his love for Carmen.

Update: Most of the links were not working so I removed them from the post.

These are the lyrics to the Gypsy Song:

The rods of the sistrums
With a metallic brightness
And to this strange music
The gypsy girls get up.
Tambourines keep the beat
And the frenzied guitars
Grinding under persistant hands,
The same song, the same refrain,
Tra la la la.
Tra la la la.
Tra la la la.

Rings of copper and silver,
gleamed on brownish skin,
of orange and of red stripes,
the fabrics (of their garments) fluttered in the wind.
The dance to the song was wed ,
At first indecisive and timid,
more lively then and more rapid,
it climbed, climbed, climbed, climbed!
Tra la la la , etc.!

The gypsy men, with all their might
caused their instruments to rage,
And this dazzling uproar,
bewitched the gypsy women!
Beneath the rhythm of the song, ardent, crazy,
They let themselves, intoxicated,
Be carried away by the whirlwind!
Tra, la la la, etc.

Copper Jacketed Navel Lint and Other Concerns

I was over reading LawDog's blog regarding a female officer who wanted to take a day off because she didn't know how to change a tire and her dad and boyfriend couldn't do it for her. Another officer drove out to her house and told her how to do it.

I cannot get used to the way that some cops want to be coddled. Thirty some odd years ago it wasn't that way. But times have changed. I remember talking to a cop who was only on the job for two years when she'd had enough of police work. It was too hard and stressful. She ended up teaching in the academy.

Just before I retired, we had a female officer working on the third platoon (1500 - 2300) who told the shift sergeant that she couldn't work the road that day. She wanted to stay inside and man the front desk, handling walk-in complaints. When asked why she couldn't work her assigned beat, she stated that she couldn't wear her gun belt.

When asked why her gun belt was giving her problems, she stated that she just had her navel pierced and the stud post was making her sore. Therefore, she didn't want to wear her gun belt.

But I must admit, the navel piercing was a lovely accoutrement to her barbed wire tattoos.

I myself would have made her burn a furlough day but the Sergeant let her work inside that night.

Several months after that, my secretary came into my office with a frightened look on her face. Seems she had found a handgun in the lady's room. I entered the facility and, sure enough, there was an officer's duty pistol laying on the sink. I'll give you one guess as to whom that gun was issued to...

You got it, seems she didn't like wearing a gun whether her belly button was sore or not. Rather than a navel stud, she should have had a surgical steel eyelet embedded in her hip so the gun could be chained to her.

Rip 'Em Out

Between 1907 and 1983, approximately 65,000 peopel were forcibly sterilized in 33 States across the nation. Some criminals were sterilized but most sterilizations were forced upon mental patients and Native Americans. Starting in 1942 provisions of compulsory sterilization laws were declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. The last forced sterilization occurred in 1981 in Oregon.

You may agree with the abolition of compulsory sterilization until you read this story about an Aussie mom who stopped performing CPR on her six month old son so she could have a cigarette break.

A methadone-addicted mother stopped for a cigarette while attempting to resuscitate her baby as instructions were relayed on the phone from a triple 0 operator, a Supreme Court jury was told yesterday.

Triple o must be similar to our 911 emergency communications system here in the States.

The child was born with a host of problems brought about by his mother's substance abuse:

Opiate-dependent at birth - his mother was a registered methadone user before and during her pregnancy - the baby spent his first six weeks in the neo-natal intensive care unit of Nepean Hospital, [...] Medical evidence would show that the baby died of methadone poisoning exacerbated by benzodiazepines ...

The last category of drugs are sedatives in the same family such as Valium and Halcion.

At least sterilization would stop crack whores and the like from having more kids. I have never believed that they should retain custody of these poor little children. So many boys grow up to be troubled adults, criminals and substance abusers themselves. As for some of the girls, their mothers' boyfriends rape and sodomize them even as young as one year old. Or they turn up dead at an early age like this one.

Back To The Future

Like the movie, the more you consider the attitudes of people indoctrinated under the precepts of Islam, the more you can see where these individuals are trying to return. This Australian news item further illustrates the 7th century mindset of Islam.

The nation's most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don't wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attracts voracious animals.

There is room for debate here, is the key ingredient the abandoned meat or the voracious animal? Chicken or the egg? But no matter, Australia's most senior cleric, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali , hits bottom and keeps right on digging.

[...]brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilali said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and immodest dress ... "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years".

I wish we had some judges like that in the USA. There are far too few judges who are willing to lower the boom on men who brutalize women in this fashion. The Sheik's comments were made in response to a series of brutal gang rapes in Sydney where at least six woman (actually teenagers) were attacked by a group of Lebanese immigrants. The rapist ring leader, Bilal Skaf, was originally sentenced to 55 years in prison. This was reduced after an appeal.

In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?

Cats? What about dogs and flies? If you are looking for an appropriate metaphor for rapists, I believe "cats" falls somewhat below the horizon. My problem is that this nutcase who represents the worshippers of Allah throughout Australia, refers to women as inanimate pieces of flesh, possessing no will, no soul. Simply receptacles for whomever comes strolling by. Mohammed had at least sixteen wives. Perhaps this attitude is infectious.

"It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)."

Leave it to a fruitcake muslim cleric to rate an saucy look and lack of a headdress as more effective than a gun, a knife or closed fist in committing a crime. In all fairness the cleric, once the storm of criticism had reached a peak, backtracked like crazy, saying that in all circumstances a man must control himself. But the damage was done. One muslim woman said she was

"disgusted and offended" by sheik Hilali's comments. "I find it very offensive that a man who considers himself as a mufti, a leader of Australia's Muslims, can give comment that lacks intelligence and common sense."

This was said by Ms. Iktimal Hage-Ali , a Muslim advisor who has forsaken the wearing of the traditional headscarf (hijab). Ms. Hage-Ali also stated that:

[...] the Islamic headdress was not a "tool" worn to prevent rape and sexual harassment. "It's a symbol that readily identifies you as being Muslim, but just because you don't wear the headscarf doesn't mean that you're considered fresh meat for sale,"

That about sums it up. The Sheik's initial remarks were perhaps the most revealing about his attitudes towards women. Judging by the status of women in many muslim nations, it appears that this attitude is pretty dominant among muslim men.

A Look Into The Future

This is truly remarkable. It is a General Motors modular concept vehicle that runs on water. Watch the video (it's not the red Mazda although it is a beautiful car) and see for yourself.

This video should be shown on every tv station in America. Then watch the price of oil drop down to $20 a barrel.

I want this technology implemented asap! Then sit back and watch the OPEC nations cut their throats. Let them drink that slick black stuff 'cause they'll never get another dime from me!

Never Have, Never Will

Even though I was an adult all through the 70's, I never owned a leisure suit.

I don't know why, but I just had to say that.

More Bad News From Across The Pond

The Brits continue their slide into dhimmitude with more pandering to Islam.

Police in Manchester have been warned by their head office not to arrest Muslims wanted on warrants at prayer times during Ramadan.

Gee, are Catholics and Protestants going to get a free pass during the Christmas holiday?

An internal email from Greater Manchester police (GMP) tells officers in the metropolitan divisions to be 'sensitive' during the Muslim holy month.

Well, the police must not give the Religion Of Peace a reason to jump out of their skulls with rage and trash the city like they are doing to Paris, right? But God forbid a kid brings too many mini-cheese biscuits in his lunch.

Ramadan began at the end of September and is due to end with the holy festival of Eid-ul-Fitr next week.

And how are the fwench muzzies reacting to the so called holy month of Ramadumb? Burning 112 cars and assaulting 15 police officers EVERY DAY. That's how the followers of the peaceful prophet conduct themselves during their holy days.

The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.

As far as I'm concerned, if they are in groups of more than three, shoot on sight.

“The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists."

Our politicians are closing their eyes and whistling past the grave yard. If we continue to let these violent islamofacists immigrate to our country, we'll see the same thing. It's only a matter of time. This is their means of subjugating their host country. The likes of CAIR see to that. Islam must renounce violence and the killing of non-muslims before its followers can be allowed to settle in any civilized nations.

Texas Goblin Uses Speed Pass

Deciding he didn't have the courage to take the last gurney ride, a goblin goes with Plan B.

Texas inmate kills self day of execution

A death-row inmate slit his own throat with a makeshift knife early Thursday, committing suicide about 15 hours before he was scheduled to be executed, a prison official said.

Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was on death row for the 1995 killing of a convenience store clerk near Waco.

Early Thursday, he slashed his own throat and arm with a makeshift blade fashioned from a small piece of metal attached to a wooden stick, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville.

I only have two questions.

1. Why not just save the taxpayers more money and issue all death row inmates razor blades in the "Welcome (to death row) Wagon Care Package". Think of about 10 years of food, lodging and medical bills for this scumbag they could have saved. But, we'll take what we can get.
   
2. Can we negotiate Pay-Per-View on death row TeeVee?
   

Prison guards had been checking on Johnson's welfare every 15 minutes, as is customary, when they found him unresponsive in a pool of blood in his cell, Lyons said. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Livingston, where he was pronounced dead, Lyons said.

That's about the right timing for a good arterial exsanguination. Pizza for the COs.

"At a 2:30 a.m. check, Mr. Johnson was talking to prison staff, and had just eaten breakfast," Lyons said. "He had made noindications that he was contemplating suicide, nor has a note or other explanation been found."

I'm sure the staff is absolutely devastated. Poor goblin was just misunderstood and unappreciated, how terrible of the good citizens of the Lonestar State ensuring recidivist miscreants are dealt true justice.

Johnson's execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday. His last-minute appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

His was at least the seventh suicide on death row in Texas.

We strongly approve of death row suicide. Maybe there is an even faster track to ultimate justice.

In a recent prison interview, Johnson had denied gunning down 27-year-old Jeff Wetterman, who helped pump gas at the family store off Interstate 35 near Waco. Johnson blamed his companion, David Vest, for the killing.

"I never even saw the dude," Johnson said. "(Vest) jumped back into the car and we took off. He hollered: 'Go! Go! Go!'"

No remorse eh? Tell it to St. Peter , but I doubt you had a full hearing there either. Enjoy the weather, hope you brought along some SPF 1,000,000 sun block.

Vest blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a plea deal and testified against his friend. Vest is now free.

Johnson's attorney Greg White argued in his client's Supreme Court appeal that Vest had admitted to the shooting but that the confession was improperly suppressed, depriving Johnson of a fair trial.

Hey Greg, you should check with your office. That last retainer you invoiced just became a write-off on your taxes.

Johnson would have been the 22nd Texas inmate executed this year. The state now has 390 people on death row.

I don't know about our great readers, but I'll count this as #22 with extra points for style to Texas.

TSA - Slapping The Wrong People

For some reason, Move America Forward, has chosen to support a video that attacks the competency of America's transportation safety workers. I know a bunch of retired cops that do this work and they simply do what they are told.

My family went to the airport when one of my daughter's flew overseas in August. I can assure everyone reading this blog that the TSA employees at Syracuse International Airport did not behave in the manner so indicated on MAF's video. They were very polite, professional and courteous. And they did their job. Granted, my daughter was chosen to go through a random search, but there was nothing intrusive about it. I know because I watched.

I was given a pass to go sit with her at the gate until her plane left. I had to be searched also. Yes it was a pain to be scanned and take my sneaks off. But I didn't make the rules and neither did the people manning the stations.

There's plenty of blame to spread around any public agency no matter what the mission. But the grunts doing the work are merely following orders, and a lot of the TSA grunts are former military and cops who, if nothing else, know how to follow orders. If you have a problem with their orders, then go after the managers and executives who issue them, not the grunts who have to obey them.

Give us all a break MAF, eh?

The Road To Poverty: Update

Harry and Harriet had their baby last month, a beautiful little boy. We were one of the first people that they brought their baby to see. I found that very touching.

The baby is in good health. We heard that Harriet dropped out of her senior year in high school, but are not certain. Harry still has not worked on his GED, but he has a much better job with some good benefits. At least he is not working several minimum wage jobs. He has some odd notions about the responsibilities of fatherhood. I say nothing, my daughter carps at him though.

They have not married but are entertaining the notion. It's unbelieveable, but they both come from broken homes where the mother abandoned the children while they were infants and the father raised them.

And as it turns out, I recently discovered that one of my wife's cousins is married to one of Harriet's relatives.

My wife has a ton of cousins. If her cousins were ten dollar bills, I could retire right now.

Interplanetary Worming

Now it is official! We have polluted our planet so badly that it is affecting other bodies in our solar system! Even Mars is now facing dramatic climatic change!

Images provided by the new Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter offer clarity often better "than what you would see flying over the surface of the Earth from a commercial airliner," said Richard Zurek, a NASA scientist. Although the spacecraft did not start sending images back to earth until late Septemeber, these images show layers of ice and dust that indicate that changes to the Martian climate have occurred relatively recently.

"So what this is telling us is that at the north polar cap over the last 100,000, or so years, there has been a really dynamic history of change in climate that is recorded in the layers of ice, much like the way we would determine Earth's climate change by going back and looking at a core of ice in Greenland."

Since Man does not live on Mars, the only possible reason for this dramatic climate change is the environmental perturbations caused by Man on Earth. According to the Martian Ambassador, Al Gore, the biggest threat to any planetary system is the internal combustion engine. If we can change the climate on Mars with only two decades worth of SUV's on Earth, just think what we can do to Jupiter and Neptune in 100 years! We're gonna rock the star system!

We need to get up to speed on this...

As the gravitational pull of Mars is only 38 per cent of Earth's, a gallon of gas will go a lot further on the Red Planet. Go figure, a 7,213 pound military style H1 getting 12 miles per gallon on Earth will weigh only 2,741 pounds on Mars! Heck, a Toyota Prius loaded with fuzzy baby ducks weighs 2,857 pounds on Earth and gets over 50 mpg.

With that kind of weight differential we can have huge, high sulphur content bituminous coal-burning RV's bounding over virgin Martian soil killing baby Martian snail darters (whatever) on their way to a non-returnable, no deposit glass bottle dump site. As there is no rain on Mars, even an acid rain reeking of coal burning byproducts is better than nothing.

To take advantage of the news, Ford and General Motors announced a new line of concept MUV's (Martian Utility Vehicles) while AM General is introducing the Mummer M1 at the New York Auto Show this fall.

Auto manufacturers can really jack up the size of vehicles exported to Mars. Just think of driving while seated in one area code and the kids in the back seat sleeping in another.

A Look Across The Pond

On a fairly regular basis I read a European blog called the Brussels Journal. What I read this morning falls in perfectly with the New York City Board of Health initiative to prohibit restaurants from using trans fatty acids in the preparation of food.

As all levels of government in the USA become more and more intrusive, we have but to take a glance at our European cousins to see what is in store for us as our personal freedoms continue to erode. This from the Brussels Journal:

A boy aged 10 has been banned from his school dining hall because his packed lunch broke the government's healthy eating guidelines.

Well we can't have that happen now, can we?

[...]because his lunch contained two snacks, instead of one.

Two! Two snacks! Ye Gods how are we to contain ourselves! Reminds me of the scene from "Oliver!" where the lad is threatened with punishment because he dared to ask for more.

Ryan's lunch consisted of a sandwich, fruit, fromage frais, cake, mini cheese biscuits and a bottle of water. The cake and the biscuits broke the snack limit.

Well. the limit's been broken all right, and it has nothing to do with baked goods. Why the carbohydrate deprived multitudes aren't seething and boiling right now is beyond me. Is there anyone who doesn't believe that if it were a Mooselimb child that wanted both rogig and topig snacks in his luncheon, nothing would have happened? Mini cheese biscuits? Thrown out of the dining hall for Criminal Possession of Goldfish?

They were discovered when a teacher checked his lunch box.

The UN Snacking Police are back from their star-studded tour of the Congo and are now exercising their particular skills in taking care of English schools. If threatened by mini cheese biscuits, the British Empire can now rest easy. If it comes to murder, rape and robbery, you're all on your own. But we already knew that...

Wrapping Up the Week

ITEM 1
Buffalo, just two hours west of here, set a new record for October snowfall with 22 inches of the white stuff falling within the last 24 hours. Over 100 miles of the NYS Thruway had to be closed. The City of Syracuse sent some snow removal equipment to help out. Winter's a coming.

ITEM 2
A recent article in the Post Standard reports that downstate NY counties pay the highest property taxes in the nation while Upstate NY counties pay the highest property taxes as a percentage of their homes' value.

In fact, Upstate New York counties made up nine of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation's Top 10 list of counties with high property taxes as a percentage of home values, out of 775 nationwide.

ITEM 3
Had another nosebleed at about 5 this morning but it stopped after a few minutes. Thank the Lord.

SUMMARY
Between nosebleeds, hemorrhoids, Upstate NY taxes and winters, there ain't a part of me not bleeding or freezing somewhere sometime.

No wonder NY has lost two Congressional seats due to declining population in the last census.

Mom Accused of Swinging Baby as a Weapon

tap..tap..tap...Is this thing on?.....ahh still working I see....ohh you're expecting a Post?

Sorry for the unconscionable lapse over here, not enough hours in the day, but I have applied for a special exemption to move into the 30 hour Men-In-Black day, so there is hope.

A woman used her 4-week-old baby as a weapon in a domestic dispute, swinging the infant through the air and striking her boyfriend with the child, authorities said.

The boy was in serious but stable condition Monday at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said.

"Never, never, never. I can never remember anything like this," District Attorney Bradley Foulk told the Erie Times-News.

Chytoria Graham, 27, of Erie, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. She was held Monday in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Doesn't sound like a high enough bond to me. That worthless excuse for a baby-factory should be on a $100,000 bond for that little trick. Obviously she isn't safe around anything remotely humanoid, let alone an infant.

The infant, whose name was not released, suffered a fractured skull and some bleeding in the brain, authorities said. His head hit Graham's boyfriend, the baby's father, police Lt. Dan Spizarny said.

Authorities removed four other children from Graham's home and placed them with the Erie County Office of Children and Youth, Foulk said.

Sorry, too angry just reading this to even be civil enough to post my thoughts.

Lets put is this way- Our society requires one to get a license to drive, but nothing is necessary to reproduce except functioning plumbing and a willing partner of the opposite sex.

A Bad Night

Back on September 23, I posted in reference to a wacky vice sting that went down in Syracuse. It even got mentioned on The Drudge Report. On that post I remembered my temporary assignment to vice back in the mid 80's and drew upon some of my experiences. This is another one of them. Remember when I told you, never, ever let the hooker in your car?

This is why.

Working the whore detail, many nights we would procure a different vehicle for the john to use in approaching a hooker. As I was the "Designated John" I would get a different used car every night. This way the hookers wouldn't recognize ("make") any particular car. When a vice car got made, every hooker downtown would know the make, model and plate number within hours. I was not allowed to carry police ID nor a weapon. All I could carry was a walkie talkie that I would hide under the front seat, but I had to keep it turned off when near a target.

If it was a slow night, say a Tuesday, a spotter car would sometimes go out and see where the hookers were operating. His car was usually made so the girls would look and point him out to each other and keep an eye out for him. Like a herd of tuna eyeballing the circling sharks. We'd have maybe three or four cars that did this on a regular basis, especially during warm weather. They'd call in the hookers and the John would respond. But they would not usually approach them. I was one of the guys that did that.

Well, on this particular night I was given a 1970-something Pontiac Grand AM to drive. It was a two door, automatic, power nothing POS (Plain Ordinary Sedan, if you please). One of the regular vice cops, Geoff, was my backup/spotter and he directed me to a corner where a notorious wackjob hooker was approaching traffic during the red lights. His job was to find a target, give me her description and any other information he may know about her. He would keep her in surveillance as I approached, observe the transaction and come to my assistance if he saw anything bad going down.

She was fresh out of the nuthouse and had wasted no time in returning to work. He told me her name was Carmen and said she was an EDP (Emotionally Disturbed Person). She was dangerous in that she had stabbed a john previously. Geoff also specifically reminded me, that whatever I do, don't let her in the car!

I acknowledged the message and went off the air, stashed the radio under the seat and drove up the block to the hooker, slow and easy like. I eyeballed her real good and drove by. I circled around the block and came around again, real slow, waiting to see if she'd give me a sign. She sure did. She almost came out of her clothes, frantically waving me around the corner. The EDP warning still very fresh in my mind, was getting stronger.

Carmen was on the right side of the car so I had to lean waaaay over (cars were a bit wider then) to roll down the window a bit to talk to her. She was a small, black woman, about 5'2", 110 lbs, frizzy disheveled hair, wearing shorts and a long sleeved sweat shirt, which was unusual on a hot August night. Most of the girls liked to display their wares to prospective customers, but not her, she just looked nuts. She didn't try in the least bit to look attractive. And she was far too eager to get a "date." We talked and made the deal very quickly. I told her I'd met her down the block behind a building and started to put the car in gear.

What should have happened next is this. Geoff, my back up, would see me give the high sign (I'd wave goodbye to the hooker) and alert the other cars. At least two vice cars and maybe a marked unit would swoop down and take her down to the salley port in booking. One officer would stash his car and accompany the transporting officer to booking. This way, no one is alone with the whore. One vice cop would stay to do the paper work and the others would go back into the target section for more arrests. When the paper work was completed, he'd call for someone to pick him up. He'd bring out the accusatory instruments for me to sign, or I'd do it at the end of the detail, prior to arraignment.

That didn't happen. Well it did, but not for a while.

As I skootched across the bench seat to get behind the steering wheel, Carmen looked up and spotted Geoff down the street. She panicked, reached in through the window with her skinny little arm, unlocked the door and slid in next to me. She said over and over, "The cops seen me! The cops seen me!"

I was a bit apprehensive myself. I'm thinking, "I hope the cops saw her!"

So I drive slowly down the street to the corner bar and she's getting very agitated, She starts yelling, "Go faster! Go faster!" while looking out the back window. I also have an eye on the rearview mirror hoping Geoff shows up behind me in the spotter car (an old Ford Fairlane - we had the crappiest cars imaginable).

Well, now she's cooking real good right next to me and I can almost see the steam rolling off her. Geoff's warning is ringing in my ears and I don't even have a tooth pick on me. On this day I'd only been married two years and I'm wondering what my wife will say if this goes down real bad. She worries about me and didn't like the idea of me working undercover, even on a temporary basis.

Geoff is close behind me now, flashing his lights, motioning me to pull over and the hooker is flipping. It's like I got a frigging circus act with an insane clown only six inches away from me and the ringmaster has fled the premises. And I know she likes to use a knife.

I pull in behind the bar and Geoff is right there behind me. The area we stopped in is a parking lot that wraps right a round a corner bar. There is easy access from either street. Since Geoff pulled in behind me I moved my car closer to the street just east of us, a rather well-traveled north/south route.

I turn to the nut act beside me and say, very calmly, "I'm a police officer and you're under arrest."

It was like she grew a dozen arms and legs and started dancing. I turn the car off, yank the keys and bail out of the car. Geoff is out and running to her side of the car. He hears the screaming and now she's out of the car like someone shoved a cactus up her ass and set the desert on fire.

We grab her arms trying to restrain her. We don't know if she is armed. We do know that she is like an eel. She is a wee bit of a girl and we're not out to hurt her. But we still must protect ourselves. I yell to Geoff, "You got cuffs?" He looks at me, looks at his car, looks at me again and I know the answer. "NO!"

"You got the walkie on you?" I ask. "NO!" is the answer.

"SHIT!" is my reply.

She is twisting and thrashing inside this large, loose sweatshirt and it is very hard to hold her without putting a lot of pressure on her arms. She throws herself right to the pavement, pushes her legs against us and comes completely out of her sweatshirt. And there is nothing else there.

At first I was surprised at the size...

But now she's up and running into the street. The busy street. She stops in the middle of the street all flopping around like and starts screaming, "Rape!! They're raping me!!!" Geoff and I run into traffic and try to pick her up and carry her off the road. But cars are stopping and people are getting out to see just what the hell two white guys and a half naked black women are fighting about.

Just at this point a sedan stops in front of us and about a half dozen of the largest males I have ever seen pile out and start towards us. I swear it was the entire Syracuse University defensive line. They looked young enough and big enough.

I have another question for Geoff, "Do you have your badge?" I really hated his answer.

Now I'm looking for backup 'cause I know Geoff called it in as soon as she crawled inside my car. Geoff is a great cop and knows his stuff. But I don't see any red flashing lights yet.

Now Geoff and I start screaming at the top of our lungs. "Police! She's under arrest! We're police! Get back in your cars or you're next! Get out of the road!" Of course the expletives are omitted.

This slows down the linebacker blitz and we carry her out of the road and now I see the troops arriving. The downtown cars pull in as well as one of the west side cars, six-eight, is there. A patrol supervisor arrives shortly thereafter as well as the vice detail supervisor. The whore is cuffed with her hands behind her back. The show is over and people start to leave.

So I thought. There is one more act to this circus.

John gets out of the marked patrol car that will transport Carmen (the hooker of note) to booking. John has worked downtown for years. He knows all the whores and they know John. John is a big fellow, low key, good sense of humor. The whores trust him and give him information to stay on his good side. John knows this hooker also. He is laughing as he gets out of his car, shaking his head at the situation. He is laughing as he puts his light uniform jacket around Carmen to cover her nakedness. He stops laughing when Carmen brings her hands from behind her back, over her head, grabs John by the front of his shirt and drives her knee right through his nuts and into his throat. Carmen's shoulders are double jointed.

There is another Carmen goose pile. This time when the cuffs go behind her back, another set is attached to the ass of her shorts. No more surprises.

John gets up off the asphalt rather gingerly and still offers to transport Carmen to booking. After about a half hour I also drop by booking. Carmen is in a holding cell. She recognizes me and wants to talk. She acts as if nothing ever happened, like I'm her best friend. I think she is bipolar. Carmen died a few years ago.

Not Up To Par: Part II

Well, the packing got yanked out of my honker this morning. It was a delightful experience. As it passed my line of sight, I checked the disgusting bloody wad to make sure that my eyeball wasn't still attached to it. The ENT doc was very, very nice and I am sure he is extraordinarily competent. But he wasn't very reassuring.

I was surprised to learn that these types of nosebleeds (epistaxis) are fairly common. The causes aren't completely understood. Obviously since my blood does not want to stay where it belongs (inside), this is an circulatory problem, specificially the carotid artery. There are two major branches of this artery, the internal and external. My problem lies with a lesser branch of the Internal Carotid Artery, which supplies blood to the nose. For some reason a portion(s) of the arterial wall has broken down. Why? Lots of different reasons:

Infection
Trauma
Allergic and non-allergic rhinitis
Hypertension
Use of "blood thinning medications"
Alcohol abuse
Less common causes include, tumors and inherited bleeding problems.

I don't have an infection.

I haven't been in a fight in many years so trauma is out. I never had my nose broken. The resident ENT in the ER asked me that because the top of my septum (the interior wall of the nose separating the nostrils) is screwy. I think it excited him.

I am not allergic to anything other than fools.

I do not have high blood pressure, except when I'm around fools.

I had recurring nosebleeds over two years ago and my cardiac doctor reduced my aspirin dosage from 325 mg (which is the normal adult tablet) to 81 mg (baby aspirin). I haven't been on Plavix for over five years and I take no other blood thinners.

I don't drink (stopped in 1979). No, I wasn't an alkie, I made a promise to God. I kept my end of it and so did He, Bless His Name.

I stopped smoking when I had my heart attack in 2001.

So far there is no evidence of a tumor and as far as I know, no one in my family has had bleeding problems. My mom was an only child after her brother and sister died from congenital birth defects. My uncle weighed almost 90 pounds when he died at age 5; he was 18 pounds at birth. My aunt died at the age of nine from a "hole in the heart." Back in the 30's there were no surgical procedures to correct this.

Too much sex ain't on the list and even if it was, I'd still be okay.

Maybe I just pissed my nose off.

The bleeding does seem to be under control for now. I can feel a seepage of some kind that is annoying and I am very congested, but at least that red crap isn't pouring out of my face. If it starts up again there is an escalating scale of more aggressive treatments that the doctor will use. They are:

Nasal Humiliation:
Using this technique reduces the nostril's self esteem. The ENT will call my right nostril names, comparing it to the other nostril – the “good” left nostril. He will tell it that I always loved the left one more than him.

He will stuff a box of Tampons up the right nostril and call it “The Girlie Hole.” “So Ya Wanna Bleeeeed?!?!?! Here ya go!!!” This treatment is very similar to what I just went through.

Nose Porn:
He will shock the nostril and force the artery to shrink by showing classic pornographic and horror nasal videos such as A Fist Full Of Tissues, Any Hole Will Do, Sinuses Gone Wild I & II, Kathy Does Kleenex, Sleepy and Grumpy Snuff Sneezy, and of course, Boogers: The Movie.

All kidding aside, he said I may have to be admitted for surgery. Out I go under a general anesthetic and they bring out the Deep Bore Sinus Excavator to really take a look at my upper plumbing.

I am so not looking forward to this.

Why Isn't This In The Front Page Of The Times?

This is why some investigations are better left to non-political offices. The New York Post reports that NYS Attorney General, Elliot Spitzer, who is also the Democratic cadidate for governor, has delivered a savage wrist slapping to the upper management of a not-for-profit organization that services needy children and the elderly in the Bronx. These disgusting excremental human beings made off with over $1.2 million in funds stolen from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club; two of them were sentenced to non-prison terms and a mere pittance in restitution. Four others were let off scot free - zip, zilch, nada. And they get to keep the money!

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were taken in no show jobs, expensive cars, home improvements and, in a brazen display of arrogance, the Director of the Club, Charles Rosen, used $875,000 of the not-for-profit's money as start up funds for the left wing radio network, Air America.

Meanwhile the health records of thousands of needy children were falsified and the elderly and inform were denied services to cover the theft.

It's reads like a shopping list for greedy pigs: $45,000 to renoavate their apartments, $36,000 to buy and store a new car, $1,500 in tennis lessons, over $6,000 in bathroom fixtures alone. And these pigs were making salaries of over $240,000 and $185,000 as the Director and Deputy Director!

But where is the outrage? It is precisely where you'd expect it from the liberal MSM... no where. There is no outrage, no reporting, no nothing as the Radio Equalizer reports on the findings of the NYC Department of Investigations.

Elliot Spitzer likes to portray himself as a tough prosecutor to the public. What happened here? Perhaps the voters should be asking Mr. Spitzer the same questions.

UPDATE:
The Daily News is covering this also. And the Times has it, although back in the regional news section.

Haven't Been Up To Par Lately

The past two weeks have been rough for me.

First, an abscessed tooth that required a root canal. For three days it felt like the top of my head was coming off. I was supposed to go in this morning for the final visit and a temporary filling, but instead wound up in the hospital. All over a nose bleed.

The blood running out of my nose woke me out of a sound sleep before six this morning and by eight I was in the emergency room. Unfortunately the meds I take for my heart attack also affect my clotting ability, at least that's what they tell me. I didn't leave the ER until after five pm; it took the hospital staff almost eight hours to stop the bleeding. I can't believe that someone can actually pack that much wadding into one little nostril.

And once again my head feels like some one is driving a railroad spike into it. I'll post later when I'm feeling better.

10/06/06 Update:
Much better, thank you all! I have to wait until Monday to have the ENT guy yank all the packing out. Still sleeping on the livingroom sofa though. It's just easier on my wife as I am up most of the night anyway. With two sleep deprived people in the same house it just wouldn't be safe...