Funny stuff over at Cute with Chris. I've been laughing my way through his archive. The host reminds me a lot of Greg Kinnear on "Talk Soup" back in the day, and only if he were to wear a cap like Col. Hogan from "Hogan's Heroes" could the viewing experience be better.
Classical Values has two posts of interest today. One on the AP's super-double-secret police captain Jamil Hussein and the non-existent (and very quotable) George Harleigh; and the other on those around the Kathryn Johnston killing making the mistake of framing it as a civil rights issue rather than a human rights one applicable to us all. I'd touched on that earlier with a more country observation. His will make more sense to those of you who've never been around farms enough to have a working reference to either a farmer's focus on his own surroundings or the attainable height of a manure pile, and we can all enjoy a little eloquence around here for a change, goldarnit.
Several sheriff's deputies in Polk County, Fla., are being credited with saving the life of a 45-year-old man who was attacked by an alligator early Wednesday and was being pulled deeper into a lake, according to a police report. Authorities said the Polk County Sheriff's Office received multiple calls at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday concerning screams for help coming from an area of Lake Parker County Park near the Moose Lodge on East Lake Parker Drive.When officers arrived, they heard a man in the lake screaming for help and saying he was being attacked by an alligator.
The deputies dove into the alligator-infested waters and searched for the man, the police report said. Once the deputies found the victim, they were able to pull him from the alligator's jaws and swim about 40 feet to shore.
The report said Adrian Apgar was transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center in critical condition with an apparent broken arm, partially amputated left arm and major trauma to his leg.
He's lucky he had the air to scream with. Hopefully he'll pull out of this all right -- sometimes they survive the trauma only to overwhelmed by the bacteria.
UPDATE:
Owen sends a video of Sheriff Grady Judd and the deputies telling what it's like to wade out into a lake in the pitch black to wrestle a guy from a 12-foot, 600-pound alligator's jaws. Mr. Apgar was naked and on crack at the time of the attack. The crackodile has been caught and will be destroyed.
Also: the area's local paper fleshes the story out.
(Thanks to Owen and Cindy for the links.)
UPDATE II:
"I don't know what the fuck he's doing in the goddamn water to begin with." -- The amusing 911 call.
The tribe giveth and the tribe taketh away, and there's no calling in the lawyers allowed:
Native American tribes are facing allegations of greed and racism as they purge members from their rolls and deny the applications of others.The expulsions have sent tremors through Indian country. Thousands of Native Americans have lost their cultural identities and access to tribal benefits, such as medical care, housing and education. Certain gaming tribes divide casino profits among members, in some cases thousands of dollars a month per person. Those expelled lose their cut.
Tribal officials say they're protecting legitimate members by making sure everyone in the tribe is qualified.
As sovereign nations, tribes have the final say in who can and cannot join. Each tribe determines what degree of Indian blood is necessary for membership, a requirement that varies among the 561 federally recognized tribes.
Some of the people disenrolled were getting gaming cuts of $15 grand a month, so their pain and suffering is very real. Of course the loss of cultural identity is the truly hurtful thing, hence their attempts at the ancient Indian tradition of litigation.
I think he was probably less magenta in real life.
Wail on, Skydog!
The Virginian-Pilot has a fascinating series of articles on the forensic detection being done on a group of newly-discovered skeletons from the earliest fatalities at the Jamestown colony, to include attempting to identify them by name. It's interspersed with entries from the colonists' diaries as they got off the ships and began to drop like flies.
The science and the history together make for a riveting read.
My husband reminds me that he has an ancestor from the Jamestown colony:
-"Her name was Elizabeth. They named Elizabethtown after her."
--"What about the queen?"
-"I don't know. They might've named the queen after her too."
I've pulled my pajama bottoms snug to my rump and am now enjoying a leisurely scratch.Posted by Tree-Hugging Sister at November 27, 2006 08:47 AM
I was going to write a post about Coalition of the Swilling, but Michael Kinsley beat me to it.
Incidentally, Hog on Ice has a heart-wrenching Thanksgiving tale about orphans and puppies crying over their dry and zestless turkey sandwiches because they're out of Miracle Whip. Don't miss it.
Jose Varela, whose former position as cartoonist at the Nuevo Herald is now being described as "contract" and "free-lance," was released from jail today on $75,000 bond four days after storming the Herald building and barricading himself in the editor's office with a toy machine-gun and a knife. His bail was posted by a local Cuban radio station and upon his release he announced to the media that 1.) He hadn't eaten for several days prior to his crime, 2.) The Nuevo Herald had censored a cartoon, and 3.) Today's his birthday.
I hope that Mr. Varela enjoys his hacksaw-free cake, but he should watch the sugar -- it might make him go on a rampage.
Just remember: if not having eaten is ever allowed as diminished capacity, the fashion models have won.
***
Prior postings:
Cartoonist Draws Police
"This is now an FBI investigation."
--US Attorney David Nahmias
Undoubtedly they stepped in on the Civil Rights angle. Hopefully they'll be able to see the broader view over the top of that particular manure pile. The issues in this case apply to everyone.
Video of the confidential informant making his claims that he never went to Johnston house can be found here. Using a journalism term, CNN has labeled the video as "snitch."
***
Previous postings:
Deadly Warrant II
The Kathryn Johnston Thanksgiving Open-House Thread
Death Warrant
Self-righteousness: it's not just for the religious:
The Children's Commissioner for England is preparing a dossier for the United Nations to back his case that parents who smack their children are abusing their human rights.Prof Sir Al Aynsley-Green says parents must be banned outright from smacking. His report, that existing laws fail to protect children from harm, will be submitted to UN officials next autumn. He is supported by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish "child tsars".
Sir Al said: "Children and young people in England should have the same right to protection under the law on common assault as that afforded to adults."
The dossier comes after a poll found most parents believed smacking was an acceptable way to discipline children.
...
Dr Miriam Stoppard said parents who did smack should "never have had children in the first place". The key, she said, to good behaviour was knowing how to "achieve co-operation" and that involved a lot of talking.
Ms. Stoppard's a little too big for her britches.
My most memorable smacking? Dropping the F-bomb on my mother on a ride home from the mall when I was 9 prompted her to conduct a swift surgical strike to my mouth. Thus was I nudged back onto the path of wisdom and lingual control.
(Via FR.)
The case of Kathryn Johnston, the elderly Atlanta woman killed in a no-knock raid, grows stranger:
An informant who narcotics officers say led them to the house where an elderly woman was killed in a drug raid is accusing the officers of asking him to lie about his role, Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington said Monday.The informant, who has not been identified, complained to department officials that the drug investigators involved in the bust had asked him to go along with a story they concocted after the shooting, said Pennington. He said the informant had been placed in protective custody.
The informant told an Atlanta television station that the officers asked him to lie to provide them cover in the shooting.
Pennington confirmed the television station's account of what the informant had claimed and said it mirrored what the informant had told his Internal Affairs Unit over the weekend.
"The informant said he had no knowledge of going into that house and purchasing drugs," Pennington said. "We don't know if he's telling the truth."
All seven narcotics investigators involved in the raid have been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, Pennington said. Their names were not made public.
...
In a court affidavit released Monday, Jason R. Smith, an Atlanta narcotics officer, said that the informant had used $50 of city money to buy crack cocaine from Sam at the house at 933 Neal Street. Smith, who could not be reached for comment Monday night, described the informant as a reliable source of information who has helped police make drug arrests in the past.In the affidavit, Smith said Sam greeted the informant at the front door and spoke briefly to him on the porch. Sam disappeared into the house and reappeared with two bags of crack cocaine, which the informant later turned over to the officers, according to the affidavit. Smith's statement also said that the informant had alleged that Sam had installed surveillance cameras at the house and monitored them constantly.
Smith's affidavit was sufficient to persuade Fulton County Magistrate Kimberly Warden to sign a warrant allowing the officers to enter the house without knocking on the door. Smith asked for the special "no knock" authorization because of the possibility that officers would be injured or evidence would be destroyed. Warden signed the warrant shortly before 6 p.m., about an hour before the shooting.
However, the informant has since denied to police and a local television station that he purchased the drugs. He also said there was no person named Sam.
The informant, who said he worked with Atlanta police for four years, also told WAGA-TV that he hadn't been to 933 Neal Street. His identity hidden, he told the TV station that one of the drug officers called him soon after the shooting with instructions.
Quoting the police officers, the informant told Fox 5 News: " 'This is what you need to do. You need to cover our (rear). ... It's all on you man. ... You need to tell them about this Sam dude.' "
Pennington said investigators were trying to determine the truth. "I don't know if he went in or not," he said.
If the informant is telling the truth, things look very bad for the Atlanta PD. Of course, if he's lying things don't look so great either, as they found no narcotics in Mrs. Johnston's house.
I'm as fond of casual no-knocks and subsequent escalation to deadly force as I am of using Eminent Domain to give a developer someone's property.
Lots more over at the Agitator.
(AJC login/pswd=nojuan@spammenot.net/nojuan.)
***
Previous postings:
The Kathryn Johnston Thanksgiving Open-House Thread
Death Warrant
Ixnay on the Iraqi crispy critters. This is what happens when reporters never leave the hotel: AP became fond of quoting "official spokesman" who weren't, and never ventured out to look at things themselves. In the end, they became dupes.
Excellent work from Flopping Aces. Please go to his site to read of his investigation, and the Centcom letter to AP, in full.
(Via Hot Air.)
UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has more, as does Gateway Pundit.
UPDATE II:
Centcom requests another retraction from AP for a different story.
It's always fun to go back and look at the predictions of famous "psychics" and see how wrong they were. Their wrong predictions never put them out of a job, of course: they earned their money by thrilling the reader. Here are some of the prominent prognosticatory flops from 1970:
*"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years."
*"Between 1980 and 1989, some 4 billion people, including 65 million Americans, would perish in the "Great Die-Off."
*"By 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions....By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine."
More predictions here, including legislation once suggested to stave off doom.
Little Ahmed almost exploded with pride when his instructor told him he had beautiful hands for swarming.
I'll let Mark Steyn explain how Scarlett Johansson's butt ties into this.
Great news! Convicts and the homeless are getting honest employment:
A south Georgia poultry plant is busing in felons on probation and homeless men to fill jobs left empty when federal immigration agents arrested illegal Mexican immigrants in raids two months ago.Each day, about 40 convicted felons from the Macon Diversion Center are bused in to work at the Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore. Sixteen men from the Garden City Rescue Mission in Augusta have worked in the plant, and the mission is looking to send more.
Crider President David Purtle said that's just a drop in the bucket for a plant operating at 450 employees, less than half of the 1,000 workers there before the raid.
Half his plant's workers were illegal aliens, huh? They should be busing in David Purtle from work-release as well. His job can be ringing the dinner bell: those pay books should be ready to eat by now; they've been cooked so long.
(Via Lucianne.)
Ain't that the way of it? You always find what you've been hunting in the very last place you look:
A woman's body was found wedged upside-down behind a bookcase in the home she shared with relatives who had spent nearly two weeks looking for her.A spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Mariesa Weber's death was not suspicious. Family members said they believe she fell over as she tried to adjust the plug of a television behind the bookshelf.
(Herald login/pswd=crockett@tubbs.com/miamivice.)
First you binged, now you purge. Let the Agitator give you an emetic with his short history of no-knock warrants gone bad.
It's an acknowledged fact that police often have to make split-second decisions; what's not being acknowledged is that when their doors are being broken down, homeowners do too.
Meanwhile in the Johnston case, police are still not releasing the statement they provided to the judge to get the no-knock, even though it is a public record.
(AJC login/pswd=nojuan@spammenot.net/nojuan.)
***
Previous postings:
Death Warrant
There isn't enough of this sort of thing in modern film. I can't account for the oversight.
Sounds of the season from Junkyard Blog.
How did everyone's feast go? In the canine version of the organ grinder's monkey carrying a tin cup for donations, one of my dogs, a shepherd named Lilly, thoughtfully carried a paper plate around with her the entire day to make it easier for people to share food with her.
She's changed her tactics since our last family get-together where she stole the cake off my elderly father's plate even as he was looking down at it, fork in hand. How clever of her to subscribe to the human notion of "you snooze, you lose." In a previous life she led a gang of street urchins.
The skeleton crew at the Miami Herald building is getting some extra time off this Thanksgiving as cartoonist Jose Varela is visiting the Nuevo Herald editor's office with what has variously been reported as a handgun, shotgun, or machine gun. Ironically, employees who were present at the takeover and then released have been instructed not to talk to reporters:
Miami Police have begun evacuating the sixth-floor of The Miami Herald building after a man claiming to be armed walked into a sixth-floor newsroom, police said.Employees identified the man as El Nuevo Herald cartoonist Jose Varela.
They said Varela appeared agitated and demanded to see El Nuevo Herald's executive editor, Humberto Castello. He appeared to be armed with a handgun, employees said. El Nuevo Herald is a Spanish-language newspaper published by The Miami Herald Media Co.
''I thought it was a joke,'' one employee said.
Another employee said Varela walked in and started talking to employees. Then, he began ordering women out ''for their own security,'' the employee said.
It's One Herald Plaza's first gun incident since former-commissioner Art Teele Jr. fatally shot himself as he stood in the lobby demanding to speak to then-Miami Herald-columnist Jim DeFede in July 2005. DeFede was later fired for taping a telephone conversation with the commissioner without his knowledge.
Prediction: Mr. Varela will someday soon be grateful for his talent as he draws sketches to ingratiate himself with the other prisoners. Meanwhile you can enjoy his humor and artistry here.
(Herald login/pswd=crockett@tubbs.com/miamivice.)
UPDATE:
Gunman surrenders; gun finally identified as toy machine gun; Telemiami camera crew enters building in search of circus.
Throughout history paternal hegemony has denied women the glory due to them as pioneers and trailblazers. At Florida Cracker every month is Women's History Month, and today I want to honor the daring and heretofore unacknowledged woman who blazed a trail later trod upon so famously by many men.
Before Robert Altman, before Eddie Vedder, before Alec Baldwin, a woman's voice rang loud and clear with the threat to leave the country if a candidate she didn't like were elected president. The despised candidate was John F. Kennedy, and that voice, uncompromising, unwavering, belonged to Margaret Sanger. For some reason she later changed her mind about leaving, but in that too she pioneered, blazing the backtrack that so many others have followed.
Pause for a moment as my ovarian follicles do the wave in honor of the standard-bearer who lead the way in celebrities who threaten to leave the country if a guy they don't like gets elected, a true Shero of Herstory, Margaret Sanger.
I hope all y'all have a wonderful day today feasting with people you love, but only if cornbread dressing is being served. Those who are using other types of breading for turkey stuffification are shadow people dwelling outside of the range of human acuity.
UPDATE:
Something for coffee and pie:
Allman Brothers - "Don't Keep Me Wondering"
Allman Brothers - "Elizabeth Reed"
Allman Brothers - "Little Martha"
Allman Brothers - "Statesboro Blues"
.38 Special - "Caught Up In You"
.38 Special - "Hold On Loosely"
Blackfoot - "Highway Song"
Georgia Satellites - "Keep Your Hands To Yourself"
Little Feat - "Dixie Chicken"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird" Pt.1
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird" Pt. 2
Lynryd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "That Smell"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Working For MCA"
Marshall Tucker - "Fire On The Mountain"
Ozark Mountain Daredevils - "If You Wanna Get To Heaven"
Cornbread stuffing is the only way to go. Cooking anything else will get you banned and/or delinked.
The first English-language trailer for the new Harry Potter film is out, and it has two shots of the real star of the series: Severus Snape. They need to crank these films out faster, or in the final one Sev will be looking jowly when he's saving the day.
It's hateful this isn't coming out for Christmas. That's like shooting Santa through the heart with a crossbow. And raping his corpse while Rudolph watches.
When you bring dope for show-and-tell, better remember to have enough for everybody:
Authorities were investigating where a first grade student got a bag of cocaine that he brought to school.The 6-year-old boy was found at Beverly Shores Elementary School [in Leesburg] on Tuesday with half a gram of cocaine after a classmate saw the drugs, Capt. Ginny Padgett said. The boy said he either found the drugs while playing at his apartment complex or someone slipped it into his pocket, Padgett said.
The little darlin' needs to work on his lying to the police. Not to worry, I'm sure he'll get lots of practice.
In related news, it's snowing in Central Florida.
The Atlanta PD might look into revamping their warrant-serving procedures:
A 92-year-old woman was killed after she shot three Atlanta narcotics officers Tuesday night when they broke down the front door of her home trying to serve a search warrant, police said.One officer was hit in the arm, one was struck in the shoulder, and one was shot in the thigh. All were rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, where they were in stable condition late Tuesday night. Police did not release their identities.
Police investigate the scene on Neal Street in northwest Atlanta where a 92-year-old woman was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Three officers were shot serving a warrant at her house.
Atlanta assistant police Chief Alan Dreher, in a news conference outside the hospital emergency room, declined to confirm the identity of the woman, but he said the warrant was served at the correct address. He said he did not know what name was on the warrant. He said the woman was the only one in the home at the time.
Sarah C. Dozier identified the dead woman as her aunt, Kathryn Johnston. Dozier said she had been looking forward to going to her aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner as she does every year.
What a mess. You folks in Georgia let me know how this is playing there.
(Via FR.)
(AJC login/pswd=nojuan@spamnot.net/nojuan.)
UPDATE:
It turns out it was a no-knock warrant after all. Not that a knock-and-announce, immediately followed by breaking the door down would have made much difference to an extremely elderly person. If someone yelled "police" outside my door, I sure wouldn't be able to hear them. If police are not wearing uniforms when they charge in, it looks a heck of a lot like a home invasion. I'd be worried about my dogs getting hurt, more than anything else.
Much more here.
Dilated pupils make for very pretty eyes.
Wail on, Skydog!
To her point of view she was shooting a turkey at Thanksgiving:
Now comes another reason to stay put in the La-Z-Boy: A man sitting in his easy chair was shot in the head by his wife, but the sturdy recliner absorbed most of the bullet's force and left him virtually unscathed.The couple had been arguing at home on Sunday evening, said Contra Costa County sheriff's Lt. Charles Skuce. Then Jan Kamp stood behind her seated husband and fired a gun at the back of his head, Skuce said.
Because she fired through the recliner, the bullet only slightly wounded Norman Kamp, 57, Skuce said.
Norman stood up from his chair, followed his wife into the kitchen and declared, "You shot me," according to authorities.
A heck of a way to get out of cooking, isn't it? She'll get a nice meal down at the lock-up.
The caliber of the gun isn't mentioned in the article and it should be. If it were some little pop-gun, of course a chair would stop it.
On submarines they use dense metal sinkers to sink the garbage. I had an acquaintance who when his sub would come into Subic Bay liked to toss those sinkers through the bottoms of the sampans that would crowd around. Why'd he do that? Because no one likes beggars crowding around. Plus he was an asshole.
It took me about five seconds to get the gist of this video. You'll encounter a few jerks just by going out to run your errands -- don't be surprised that there are some of them in the military.
What's the deal? I don't see Michael Richards in here anywhere. Maybe because I've never watched his show and wouldn't know him from Adam.
Always seeking the road back to his jet-setting, glitterati days of yore, flamboyant Super 70's superstar Henry "Super K" Kissinger is now splashing around Iraq opinions like handfuls of Hai Karate. Willing to do whatever it takes to get himself back in the public eye, next up for Henry: a commercial for Old Navy wherein he'll touch their new line of $19.99 crew-neck tees and proclaim them "aphrodisiacs."
Hopefully he'll get an elder statesman gig in Outer Botswana that'll keep him busy. I've no nostalgia for the guy.
(Pic via The Memory Hole.)
Tennie Pierce is so upset by his co-workers' prank, only millions can take away the hurt. But just when he could hear the squeak of a wheelbarrow full of cash heading in his direction, the mayor vetoes his windfall after photos of him being equally prankish surfaced:
The mayor has vetoed a $2.7 million settlement the City Council awarded to a black firefighter who said he suffered racial harassment after co-workers served him spaghetti laced with dog food.Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he wanted the council to reconsider its decision in light of photographs recently posted on a Web site showing the firefighter, Tennie Pierce, engaged in hazing pranks.
A Los Angeles radio show has thoughtfully provided the photos for our enjoyment.
Ever had a co-worker unexpectedly show his deeply sensitive side, perhaps after a bad evaluation? Let's hear it.
Bad guy Jeffery Cheshier, 41, is going down thanks to a couple of Arkansas abortion clinic protesters:
The Arkansas cop admits he was just taking a chance when he called the couple that protests at the abortion clinic here.Turns out, it might have paid off
Detective Jimmy Long, an investigator in Bryant, Ark., was building a case on a man suspected of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. Long had a tip that the man got her pregnant and brought her to the Hope Clinic for Women here for an abortion.
That happens to be where Daniel and Angela Michael have camped out for years photographing just about every car that comes in the parking lot. As founders of Small Victories Ministries, they oppose abortion.
This week, Long stumbled across the couple while doing an Internet search on the clinic.
"When I called them, I thought my chances were slim to none," Long said in a telephone interview. "But I called anyway. And it turns out they had them."
What the couple had, police and Daniel Michael said, were three pictures that could prove to be critical.
I bet it's going to gall a lot of people that the Michaels have done something praiseworthy.
(Via Fark.)
This raises some questions about our society, doesn't it? Questions like "what's with guys attending baby showers?" and "do they like the clothespin game?"
One person died and four people were injured during a shooting at a baby shower, authorities said.A group of 15 people apparently arrived at the celebration and had a verbal confrontation with guests attending the baby shower, which was being held at a local hall Saturday evening.
At some point, individuals retrieved an assault type weapon and other handguns from their vehicles and shots were exchanged, according to a statement from the Miami-Dade Police Department.
It was unclear what led to the shooting.
Vilfort Leosthene, 26, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Another individual, Jason Joseph, 20, was in critical condition. Two other men and one woman were in stable condition, the statement said.
William, a photo-journalist from New York, heads South and learns about cakewalks and jumping parties.
I saw this once long ago and nearly peed from laughing. Having no idea what show you're watching makes for a interesting search to find something from it later.
Intro here, and horror-filled finale here.
Sound-sleuthing has solved a riddle in New Zealand:
Those with exceptional hearing have long been plagued, but so few people could hear the mysterious low rumbling sound that their complaints fell on deafer ears.Now Tom Moir, a Scottish engineer and signals processing expert living in New Zealand, has succeeded in recording the hum finally validating the complaints of many affected people from New Zealand to England and America, some of whom believed that they were losing their minds to the noise.
People are deeply troubled by this sound, said Dr Moir, of Massey University Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences. It is not just a little thing. It is really quite a major thing in their life, he told The Times.
It turns out the range of the hum is so low, most people can't hear it. There's a recording of it included in the article. I couldn't hear it: not surprising when my former occupation had me with earphones on my head, rolling through loud static all day. Still unknown is whether the Kiwis will be given the same advice offered to hum-sufferers in Bristol, England -- a good, old-fashioned tinfoil hat.
I completely understand these people being driven mad by mysterious phenomena no one else is experiencing, as several years ago such events began occurring right here in this very house.
Secret, illegal blasting had been a problem in the region, with people's homes getting cracks in them from the vibrations. They blast for dirt to use as fill in construction. It hadn't been done in my town, but later I came to conclude they'd started up, as late one night as I was drifting off to sleep, I was shook with such a vibration that at first I thought I was in an earthquake. I had to grip the bed, such was the strength of the temblor. When morning came and there was no news of an impossibly freak quake in South Florida, I knew those illegal blasters had set up shop nearby. Right I was, as they were back with their nocturnal criminality at my next bedtime. I complained to Mr. Cracker about them, but he said he'd felt not a thing.
So it went on. Sometimes I'd think they'd been put out of business, but back they were the next week, with never a word about it in the newspaper. I adjusted to the irritation as best I could, and was always grateful when they used less dynamite than usual. I'd spread my arms out to anchor myself before attempting slumber; I slept in various parts of the house in an attempt to determine which room was farthest away from the blast radius; I slept on the floor, thinking that perhaps mattress springs and couch cushions were exacerbating the effect with conduction.
As bad as things were, things changed for the worse several years later when they got a permit and began daytime blasting. After losing so much sleep at night, I naturally required the odd nap when I could get it. On the couch and cozily drifting off to sleep one afternoon, I suddenly found myself sitting bolt upright, being shook almost until my teeth rattled. Diurnal torment! It was a startling experience, and my heart raced from the adrenaline. I cursed Alfred Nobel. He did deserve to feel guilty about his invention, the jerk. I began making new adjustments. One couch has extremely high and padded sides, and I determined it gave me the best protection from their activities. It turned out that sleeping sitting up was the best solution all around, as it allowed me to catch my breath during those terrible moments, first of being shook awake by blast-vibrations just as I was falling asleep, then the minute or so it took for the vibrations to subside. It didn't help my poor heart, though, as it flapped in my chest like a cat-watched bird in a cage from the startlement of it all. I'm sure many of you have been rudely shaken awake as you were dropping off and know just how I felt. The only bright spot for me was that while the blasts could come night or day, they were effective in displacing enough dirt to keep the crew busy scooping it up with bulldozers and hauling it away with dumptrucks, allowing me to many times fall to sleep unmolested. Also, after all this time, the daytime blasting would finally give the awake Mr. Cracker a chance to experience the phenomena I'd become so familiar with.
His first chance came, but he failed spectacularly. He was working in the next room, and I had settled in for a nap. The blast-vibrations reached our house, just as I was almost asleep. I squeaked through clenched teeth for him to come in. He did, and when I had recovered I said to him, "There! They're blasting!" He looked at me blankly. "You didn't feel that?" He said he didn't. He walked back to his den, leaving me to marvel at his total disconnect from his environment.
A better chance came several weeks later when I sleepily closed my eyes while we were watching a movie. The vibrations reached our house. I looked over at my husband, who was amazingly still watching the film, with only a glance or two in my direction. I squeaked and squealed to draw his attention. They'd used extra dynamite in that one! The validation of my suffering would be forthcoming.
He came over to look at me. "Now do you feel the blasting?" I asked. "No," he answered, "there's no blasting." He felt the couch, but the couch doesn't conduct the vibrations very well, which is one of the reasons it made such a good slumber-pad. I knew that would be no good. "Feel my arms and legs!" I yelled. He performed his examination, and with a bedside manner so shoddy it would make even the most egocentric brain surgeon jealous, said, "They're not vibrating," and sat right back down in his chair to resume watching his ridiculous movie.
My mind, along with my heart, was racing. Clearly some new experiments were in order. At the next occurrence I would attempt to gather empirical evidence on my own. What could I use? Pieces of paper might work. Every time I lay down to snooze I'd simply put sheets of writing paper on my legs and torso. A blast would undoubtedly make them visibly vibrate and I would show myself not only to be a better scientist than my scientist husband, but a better person as well, for having endured so much with no few words of complaint.
Thomas Edison said that genius was one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Unhappily I came to the conclusion that all that great man and I had in common was an ability to sweat: my experiments were failures. Though I shook from head to toe, the papers did not vibrate. The papers did not vibrate! Suddenly the pieces fell into place: it was internal.
Keyser Soze, pass me the estrogen.
The WAPO reviews the new Dixie Chicks documentary:
One of the excellent attributes of "Shut Up and Sing" is that it lets the cards fall where they may and really doesn't try to spin the Chicks themselves. It's quite possible, then, to watch the film and come to the conclusion that Natalie Maines has a big mouth. Spectacularly talented, the young singer is also a spectacular blowhard, and documentarian Barbara Kopple almost subversively focuses on Maines blabbering away at meetings without a serious thought in her head, no impulse control anywhere in sight, and, for some reason, always supine, as if her great status grants her the right to encounter the world from bed.
We are not amused.
(Via Tim Blair.)
Since I probably spent a collective year of my life listening to Blondie's first four albums, I'll share some favorites from each. While the band's good live, Debbie Harry's not, so the offerings have been whittled down.
First album (1976):
"In the Flesh"
"In the Sun"
"X Offender"
Plastic Letters (1977):
"Denis"
"Detroit 442"
"(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear"
Parallel Lines (1978):
"Hangin' on the Telephone"
"Heart of Glass"
"Picture This"
Eat to the Beat (1979):
"Dreaming"
"Eat to the Beat"
"The Hardest Part"
"Living in the Real World"
"Shayla"
"Slow Motion"
"Union City Blue"
"Victor"
North Carolina, home of the Tar Heel Terrorist, is back in the news for some strange goings-on:
A Spanish teacher at Smithfield-Selma Senior High School resigned this week after handing out an assignment that some students and parents said teaches hate.Khalid Chahhou, who was in his first year of teaching in Johnston County, gave students a worksheet in which they were to translate words and find them within a word-search puzzle.
Some students started uncovering strange words in the process.
"There were words like 'kill,' then I saw it said 'destroy America,'" Eric Herrera said.
As they read on, students found the puzzle contained a paragraph that contained the following phrases:
*"Sharon killed a lot of innocent people," a possible reference to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
*"Palestine is not a terrorist group."
*"Allah help destroy this body of evil making humanity miserable."
Though he's no longer a public school teacher, he's still teaching -- at a local Islamic school.
(Via Fark.)
Why would anyone defend radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham's suggestion that her listeners all call at once the Democrats' voter hotline? Would trying to jam a Republican line be a good thing? Of course not; that behavior is obnoxious.
Ingraham's too long in the tooth to still be needing to sit at the little table for Thanksgiving.
UPDATE:
Here's some info on the phone-jamming fools from the 2002 New Hampshire senatorial election. They're currently incarcerated.
Only a Jarhead would send me this. Take some potassium, Sister; the mental effort expended surely depleted your electrolytes -- which is the perfect time really for me to deal you a decisive blow with my pugil stick! My training at last pays off!
UPDATE:
Pretty much on-the-money oaths of enlistments.
(Via 91B30 amid funny comments here.)
*Does your livelihood depend on good tips? Sit down and let this pizza delivery man show you how it's done.
*The Purple Avenger shines a light on the final taboo.
*Some schools have a zero-tolerance policy for creepiness. Now give me a hug, sexy.
*More UN books for children!
*Corruption on the Las Vegas police force is about to take three turns for the worse, then lie down.
*What retired products do you miss? Sadly, the first example given here is my number one choice. I treasured my frequent wistful reminiscences on Jello Pudding Pops as an indicator of my snowflake-like uniqueness. Please pick another product of which to lament the passing.
UPDATE:
Have they relocated Bok Tower to Pensacola? No, that's just Tree-Hugging Sister chiming in again.
Oh, dear. Things are off to a poor start for new Speaker of the House Pelosi. Despite inserting herself in the selection of House Majority Leader and attempting to strong-arm the incoming freshman class of Democratic reps into voting for John Murtha, he has been resoundingly defeated by her rival Steny Hoyer.
Murtha was a terrible choice for such an important position, and she's getting a well-deserved smack for having made it. Would that the Republicans give one to President Bush for his equally ludicrous choice of Mel Martinez for head of the RNC.
More background and reactions to the news over at Mary Katharine's.
Because Ramsey Clark's busy:
As Palestinian Arab rockets struck two Israeli towns yesterday, U.N. bodies prepared to launch no fewer than two overlapping "fact-finding" missions to second-guess Israel's anti-terrorist tactics. President Carter could head one of those missions.The U.N. General Assembly is expected to convene a special emergency session tomorrow to deal with the November 8 Israel Defense Force artillery strike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, which killed 19 civilians. A draft resolution for the assembly session calls on the U.N. secretary-general to establish a fact-finding mission into the event and requests that he report back to the assembly in a month.
And yesterday in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council, which in its five months of existence has failed to pass one resolution on any country other than Israel, concluded its third emergency session on the Jewish state. In the session's resolution, the council called on its president, Ambassador Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, to establish a fact-finding mission to investigate the incident at Beit Hanoun.
A diplomat in Geneva who requested anonymity said the sponsors of the resolution are planning to ask Mr. Carter to head the investigation. Other candidates include the diplomats Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and Sadako Ogata of Japan.
The rest of the article is a very interesting explanation of how Arab countries use the General Assembly to convene courts of law against Israel. We'll see if Carter will let his post-presidency reputation to be further tarnished by allowing them to use to their own ends the prestige of the office of the pre...aw hell, who am I kidding; if he's asked, he'll be there with bells on. The Arabs aren't funding the Carter Center for nothing.
(Via Lucianne.)
Nice legions of fact-checkers and editors toiling away chez Joel Havemann and the LA Times:
The Blue Dog Coalition was founded in 1995, a year after the election that cost the Democrats the majority they had enjoyed for decades. The name refers to the founding members' sense that they had been "choked blue" by extremists in both parties.
If Mr. Havemann had bothered to check, the Blue Dogs state on their own site that the one who was choking them blue was their own party:
The 35 conservative and moderate Democrats in the group hail from every region of the country, although the group acknowledges some southern ancestry which accounts for the group's nickname. Taken from the South's longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat, the "Blue Dog" moniker was taken by members of The Coalition because their moderate-to-conservative-views had been "choked blue" by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election.
The reporter might want to work the PTA-meeting beat until he gets up to snuff on this journalism gig.
(Login/pswd=latimes@dodgeit.com/password.)
Bill, do you like chicken?
Pearls of wisdom from the man of the hour:
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, running in a bitter race against Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, for House Majority Leader, told a group of conservative Democrats that the ethics reform legislation that Democratic leaders have made a top priority was "total crap."
That this man is being put forward to hold a position of influence and importance is beyond me. This does go past being a Blue Dog. Any rank and file Democratic in Congress who supports him should be asked why.
No, I don't want guys like this running my party.
UPDATE:
In tomorrow's NYT, Carl Hulse manages to report on the Murtha quote without quoting him. Nice trick, that.
Now that Al-Jazeera is launching an English-language channel, perhaps we will at last have access to programs like this.
Also: now that I know that they're out there; where, where, where can I get an artificial hymen? Christmas is right around the corner.
Berlin's art hotel: this room looks inspiring. It's art, not kitsch, so only click if you can stand culture.
Left and right agree: after having John Murtha over to the house, count the silverware. And put the lid back on the cookie jar.
The choices being made by both sides make them all look daffy. This is shaping up to be the silliest Congress on record. Case in point: guess who's third in line to the presidency?
Poor Jon Carry kicked to the curb. And after all he's done for the party:
Here comes the new leadership of the Democratic Party - and look who's been reduced to a mere background player.Foot-in-mouth former presidential candidate John Kerry yesterday appeared stunned to find himself left in the dust by the party's top new power players, whose leaders include New York's Sen. Charles Schumer.
Just because he's a perennial source of embarrassment is no reason for them to stick him in the corner.
Duane misheard Mr. Scratch when he said he could make him the best guitarist or singer ever.
Wail on, Skydog!
(Thanks to Greg for reminding me of this pic of Duane with the Allman Joys.)
Gaia would scream, but she has such poor lung-capacity:
Special effects explosions, idling vehicles, teams of workers building monumental sets -- all of it contributes to Hollywood's newly discovered role as an air polluter, a university study has found.The film and television industry and associated activities make a larger contribution to air pollution in the five-county Los Angeles region than most of the other sectors studied, according to a two-year study released Tuesday by UCLA.
Although Hollywood seems environmentally conscious thanks to celebrities who lend their names to various causes, the industry created more pollution than each of four other sectors -- aerospace manufacturing, apparel, hotels and semiconductor manufacturing -- the study found.
(Via With Cheese.)
There are lots of things that if you lined them end to end would circle the globe. For instance, the jellybeans eaten in this country at Easter would go around it three times. Another of those things might be people who think Mel Martinez is a sorry choice to head the RNC.
Keep drilling; they're there:
The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) has managed to look back to the future. Their analysis of the ice core drilled at the Kohnen Station has revealed a significant link between temperature variations in Greenland and Antarctica -- a mechanism that governs the oscillation between warm and cold phases in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. "We call it the bipolar seesaw", says Hubertus Fischer, a researcher at Germanys Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the main author of the new study.His main concern was with the evidence of unusual climate change Greenland ice cores had revealed a few years ago. Temperatures during the last Ice Age, the cores revealed, had swung repeatedly up and down -- "by more than 10 degrees within a few decades," Fischer explains.
You can read the rest of the article if you want. If contains information about how they think ocean currents affect temperature, but aren't really sure; how the Antarctic ice plates aren't as stable as all the scientists always thought they were; and something about a global warming conference in Africa.
WWII veteran Arthur Glatfelter received a surprise gift for Veterans Day: a reunion with the dog he'd gone off to war with over 60 years before. It wasn't their first reunion, and their story is a remarkable one. Having no one to leave him with, Glatfelter had taken his German shepherd dog Pal on a Greyhound bus to Marine bootcamp with him, and though not a doghandler himself, had signed the dog up in the military. Twice on beaches in the South Pacific they'd had, as Glatfelter has described them, emotional reunions. After the war, to the sorrow of the Marine K-9 handler who wanted to keep him for himself, they went home together ("'I would've let him [keep him],' Glatfelter says, 'if I didn't want him so bad myself.'") Pal lived a happy five post-war years, and a few years ago his exploits were recorded in the book "Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII." Now came another, very unusual reunion:
On Saturday, more than 60 years after Glatfelter and Pal served in WWII, Glatfelter, now is in early 80s, was surprised with a permanent reminder of the dog he could never forget.The City of York and several area residents, as a tribute to Glatfelter and Pal for their service during the war, and to thank the insurance-company founder for his many contributions to the York community, unveiled a sculpture of Pal during a Veterans Day program at the York Expo Center.
Glatfelter appeared stunned - he stared at the image of his dog and held out his hands when Dallastown sculptor Lorann Jacobs unveiled the life-sized statue. It will be placed beside the rail trail.
After the program, Glatfelter touched the statue while he talked about Pal.
"It brings memories back," he said. "That dog was a very, very serious part of my life.
"He was something else."
What a lovely tribute to two very faithful creatures.
In an insulting coincidence, the only Republican who's ticked me off enough to cause me write him my solemn pledge that I'd never vote for him again is now in charge of the whole RNC. Perhaps he'll declare his new parking spot an illegal-alien sanctuary:
Sen. Mel Martinez, the first-term Florida lawmaker who previously served in President Bush's Cabinet, will assume the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, GOP officials said Monday.Martinez, 60, will replace current chairman Ken Mehlman, who will leave the post in January at the end of his two-year term, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement.
Martinez will remain in the Senate. Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will run the day-to-day operations at the party's Capitol Hill headquarters.
The illegal immigration issue is going to take the bottom right out of their boat if they're not careful.
Another blogger picks up the lazy media's slack: INDC Bill is embedding with the Marines who're training the Iraqi troops and policemen. As the whole of the media has exactly nine embeds in Iraq, he'll never have to worry about anyone scooping his stories.
The surveillance video that caught the shooters of two Broward County deputees shows a group of black males running holding their pants up. The deputees were, perforce, gunned down from a seated position.
A little body English from Rumsfeld during his visit to Kansas State?
In further enjoyment of catching big boy pundits Hewitt and Steyn talking codswallop about the voting proclivities of Floridians, over at Coalition of the Swilling, more conservatives are checking in to say they were more than happy to cast a vote for the Democratic candidate.
One would be wise to remember that Bob Graham never lost an election in his entire career. He got my vote quite a few times.
Take a moment to visit the Korean War Project's "Letters to the Lost."
Here's my father during the Korean War with Item Company, 8th Cavalry, called "Scrappy Blue." He came home safe and sound and went off to fight again elsewhere:
Cleaning a weapon. I don't know what else he's doing, but that's his mischievous face.
What an untidy camp. You can see a larger image of it here.
Wishing he were back in the Navy, perhaps.
Korea was his least favorite war: it was mighty cold over there for a South Florida boy. Once when I complained to him about my freezing my tail off during a long maneuver, he asked if I had to piss on my weapon to make it work. No, Dad, of course not. He outwars me every time. (Larger image here.)
Another man from this company, Hungarian-born Tibor Rubin, received the Congressional Medal of Honor. I'll honor this man's bravery while at the same time being thankful that my father never had to prove his courage to that degree, first by trying to hold a hill alone against a full-scale assault to try to buy his retreating unit some time, and then later as a prisoner of the Chinese. Before joining the American Army, Rubin, God bless him, had been liberated by the same from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
UPDATE:
INDC Bill has excerpted the comments made at the MOH ceremony and links to the rest. It's a beautiful summation of the life of man whose legacy is life to others.
Where do I sign up?:
All day, the midtown Manhattan traffic swirled unnoticed beneath the windows as these men and women which included not only America's pre-eminent climate experts but two psychologists and other experts too wrestled with what they call a crisis.Convened by Yale's Project on Climate Change at the Yale School of Forestry and Environment Studies, its purpose was not to debate global warming science but to figure out how to convey its most important findings to the public "with appropriate urgency and sustained for the long haul."
It is a goal these scientists see constantly thwarted by what they dubbed "the forces of darkness" a persistent disinformation campaign, waged by some fossil fuel companies and cooperating politicians that downplays the gravity of global warming.
Oh, there might be a few dark scientists in the ranks.
There's a lovely bit in there where they accuse the famously sensationalism-loving media of not being enough of a "bridge" for their views; it seems journalists are being naively "tricked" when they attempt even-handed coverage of the issue -- by the trolls under the bridge, evidently.
By the way, there are 16 supercomputers that support their opinions, so it must be true; the longstanding computer science fact of "garbage in, garbage out" is suspended on this topic and it all becomes gospel.
After dying scores of times on the screen as the bad guy in film noir, westerns, and horror, real-life good guy Jack Palance has passed away.
Go rent "Sudden Fear," "Shane," and "Dracula" and enjoy his delicious, menacing evilness. He was one of a kind.
UPDATE:
The hero's best friend:
Some of you will remember him as Jack Wilson, the relentless bully in 1953's "Shane" who drew guns on Alan Ladd -- that reluctant White Hat -- and took two in the gut. It was always Palance's role to be the dead guy in the final reel. He was the hero's best friend, in a way. After you shot Palance dead, there wasn't much left to do except walk into the sunset. You had gunned down Palance; you were the man.
*Go wish a happy five-year anniversary to the folks who coined the beautifully evocative appellation "moonbat." Tom Wolfe couldn't have said it better.
*A very cool "day of flights." Watch the whole thing.
(Both via Gmac.)
*The Iraq chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders is a three layer cake of coolness. With mint frosting.
*The global incident map keeps track of suspicious events and acts of terrorism.
(Both via Owen.)
*The worst police dog in the world.
(Via INDC Bill.)
Did you vote by absentee ballot in Broward County? Did you perhaps send it off with a stamp that had a little airplane on it? A little upside-down airplane?
How much is one vote worth?In the case of an absentee ballot and an antique stamp, it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That's the value of a 1918 Inverted Jenny, one of the rarest stamps in the world, which Broward County elections officials said was affixed to an envelope containing an absentee ballot.
The stamp, similar to one sold in mint condition for $525,000 last year, was canceled. So was the ballot, which contained no clue to the identity of the voter.
Although probably a fake, as nowadays you can print your own photo stamps, it's still caused quite a stir downtown due to our having large, dotty elderly population to absentmindedly throw out treasures.
There will be a recount for Katherine Harris' former House seat, after a large undervote in Sarasota county for that particular race. The loser, alleged adult Christine Jennings, has already waxed hysterical about the situation, saying, "Sarasota voters have been victimized by not having their votes count." I myself skipped the bottom half of page two and had to go back. It's best to ask for a recount and let the supervisor of elections have a look at things before screeching victimization. It's possible to get people to act without throwing a tantrum.
Articles on womb transplants remind geeks of Monty Python. Cool people, however, are reminded of this.
Tampa TV has a nice story on Zakia Hakki, an Iraqi congresswoman who is visiting relatives in the area. She might be more relevant a feminist than Gloria Steinem, but it's hard to tell since she's not wearing her "This is what a feminist looks like" t-shirt.
Pinky the cat is up for adoption!
Vamos al sacrificio! Somebody's head had to roll, might as well be Rumsfeld's.
Robert Gates has been nominated as his replacement. A good choice, by the looks of it.
(Via Mary Katherine Ham.)
Good morning! Montana's been called for the Democratic candidate John Tester. That means that it all rests on the shoulders of none other than Senator Macaca -- a truly pitiful state of affairs. Looking for a 50-50 split in the Senate with Dick Cheney as the tiebreaker, I won't say, "May the best man win," because that, my friends, would be James Webb.
UPDATE:
Webb declared the winner.
From Mark Steyn via Instapundit:
Hugh made another sharp point, noting that in Florida the Republicans in effect gave away a Senate seat. Given the way the GOP have held the Governor's mansion, and Katherine Harris' House seat, and Foley's seat, it seems clear that almost any credible Senate candidate could have swiped that seat out from under the Dems. There's no sixth-year wave, no blue realignment, no Bush repudiation going on here.
I couldn't disagree more. Bill Nelson has been in Florida politics since 1972 and is very well liked. He's very moderate politically, which suits a lot of people. Not everybody politician is extremely left or right, and not every voter votes a straight ticket.
Me and my husband both voted for Nelson and we're poles apart politically. Nelson's a known quantity, a good guy, and appeals to both parties. He also never embarrasses himself or his constituency out in public.
That he won wasn't just because it was Katherine Harris that he as up against. Who wants to throw out their most comfortable and reliable pair of shoes?
[The GOP didn't hold Foley's seat, by the way.]
Is Duane wearing a long-sleeve shirt under that tee, is it a trick of the light, or was he going through a Casper phase?
Duane and the boys with Tom Dowd in the studio.
Wail on, Skydog!
(Via Blue Sky Guitars.)
I'd love the smell of hysteria in the morning if it didn't smell like a really tight girdle.
How's everyone's voting going?
UPDATE:
While I voted and was back home within 20 minutes, I have to report I was almost disenfranchised by the 107-year-old man who was directing people to the appropriate precinct room. First he told me I was in the wrong place, then he told me I had an old card. Neither is correct. I considered phoning an attorney and a TV station about this attempt to deprive me of rights gained for me by ladies who went on real hunger strikes, the kind where you actually shrivel up and die; but instead stood by quietly while the Old Man of the Hills studied my card for a couple of minutes before his crying out triumphantly "Aha!" and pointing me into the correct room. Still processing the printed word at his age -- isn't that amazing?
Also, Mr. Cracker came home wearing two "I Voted" stickers, and this fiscal conservative would like to remind Supervisor of Elections Brenda Sykes and all her little elves that money doesn't grow on trees.
UPDATE II:
Here's a sack of shit blogger I know you'll love.
UPDATE III:
*Congrats to classy Joe Lieberman for getting the last laugh after what he's been put through during this race:
Today, the Lieberthugz tried to force themselves in front of cameras that were trying to interview Ned after he voted. Lieberthug Life never ends - even on election day. You stay classy, Joe Lieberman - oh, and make sure to wipe that last smudge of politics of unity and purpose off your face before your concession speech tonight.
Yeah, someone's making a concession speech tonight, but it ain't Joe.
*"Punch Foley for Negron" looks to be doing well in Florida. They're neck-and-neck at this time. ("With 44 percent of the expected vote counted, Mahoney had 48.7 percent compared to Negron's 48.5 percent.") Negron's a better legislator than Foley ever was. I really was pleased to see him chosen as replacement.
*In the Virginia race I'd be more than happy if moderate-Democrat Webb won over Allen. What exactly is Allen offering besides a "R" beside his name? Gotta do better than that.
*Can someone enlighten me about term limits and Teddy K? Isn't his time ever up?
*In Florida, the Democrat Rep incumbents didn't even have anyone running against them. They just got to coast it on in.
Is that sound policy on the part of the Florida Republican Committee or just laziness? None of the Republican incumbents got to coast.
UPDATE IV:
*This is nice. The chicken-counters have called the race for Cardin when Steele is up, and only 37% of the precincts having reported in:
And now, at 48% of the precincts, same story:
*This has Rep. Clay Shaw losing here in Florida. He's a good guy who's long held bi-partisan support. We'll be sorry to see him go, but hopefully he'll be back in some other capacity.
*CNN has Mahoney as the winner over Punch Foley for Negron, but it's such a tight race I don't see how they can.
*Joe Negron has conceded.
Cindy Sheehan's shilling for Mercedes:
Tim Blair's keeping track of the left's public homages to the car company. Mercedes should start selling replicas of their hood ornament as a necklace; it would do quite well with the right crowd.
It's official: the Gannett newspaper chain decides the smell of the great unwashed isn't so bad after all:
Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, plans to create stories with information from bloggers, people who post in Internet discussion groups and other non-journalists in hopes of winning readers from the Internet, television and other news sources, officials with the company said.Gannett, which operates 90 newspapers, including the nation's largest, USA Today, is hoping "citizen journalism" will reverse the company's part of an industrywide trend of declining circulation and advertising revenues, The Washington Post reported Tuesday
"It's pretty big," said Michael Maness, Gannett's vice president of strategic planning. "It's a fairly fundamental restructuring of how we go about news and information on a daily basis."
My hometown paper the Fort Myers News-Press gets a shout out in the article for being the first to move ahead with the times:
The most intriguing aspect of Gannett's plan is the inclusion of non-journalists in the process, drawing on specific expertise that many journalists do not have. In a test at Gannett's newspaper in Fort Myers, Fla., the News-Press, from readers such as retired engineers, accountants and other experts was solicited to examine documents and determine why it cost so much to connect new homes to water and sewer lines. The newspaper compiled the data and wrote a number of reader-assisted articles. As a result, fees were cut and an official resigned. Maness called it a "pro-am," approach, referring to a golf tournament in which professionals play alongside amateurs."I am very impressed with the Fort Myers" experiment, said Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor. "If that becomes the direction at a lot of Gannett papers, we could learn a lot from that."
It's good to see an acknowledgment that a newspaper reporter isn't necessarily the smartest person in the room. That might be too bitter a pill for the denizens of the NYT to swallow, even as its circulation and stock value continues to decline.
Ersatz simple girl Faith Hill didn't have a good time at last night's CMAs.
I've got my candidates picked out for tomorrow. Have you?
Was this picture taken from a balloon? Not on your life. What better way to say you care about the environment than to mass on an ecologically sensitive and protected state park beach with a CO-belching helicopter hovering above to take your picture. The endangered Loggerhead turtles say, "Thanks for making our nesting grounds just that much filthier.
(Herald login/pswd=crockett@tubbs.com/miamivice.)
From a Newsweek article assessing John Kerry's future presidential chances in the aftermath of his 'botched' joke:
"...Amateur hour doesn't begin to describe John Kerry."
Pretty bad for a guy who's been a professional politician for 25 years. Here's a more appropriate (and much cuter) representative of amateur hour.
Swapping his military fatigues for jeans, Daniel Ortega's back:
Former Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega appeared headed for victory Monday in his longtime quest to regain power, 16 years after a U.S.-backed rebellion helped drive the former Marxist revolutionary from office.Early results from Sunday's presidential election gave the Sandinista leader a strong lead over his four rivals. His victory, if confirmed by final results, would expand the club of leftist Latin rulers led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has tried to help his ally by shipping cheap oil to the energy-starved nation.
Ortega, who led Nicaragua from 1985-1990, has repeatedly said he is not the Marxist revolutionary who fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels, a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles.
But while he has toned down his leftist rhetoric and pledged to continue free-trade policies, the United States remains openly wary of its former Cold War foe. Washington has threatened to withhold aid to t
