It appears that the plans for America to return to the Moon by 2020 may be meeting up with financial and time constraints.

Congressional auditors on Thursday challenged NASA's readiness to move ahead with development of the Ares I rocket that will propel the new Orion moonship into Earth orbit with astronauts.

The $14.4 billion that NASA plans to spend on the craft's development may be inadequate based on the space agency's aggressive development schedule and technical risks, said a report by the General Accountability Office.

The agency's auditors urged the space agency to postpone plans for a key July 2008 design review of the rocket, if necessary, to remedy a list of 51 unknowns, including 31 issues considered high risk to the success of the program.

The milestone "preliminary design review" is intended to spur the project toward detailed planning.

This, of course, raises the question of whether or not we can meet the 2020 deadline for returning to Earth's nearest neighbor. And given the number of competitors out there, it also raises the question of whether or not the United States will be the first to return there. And with the space shuttle fleet less than thre years from retirement, this leaves the issue of manned space flight by the United States in question as well.

But then again, if Nancy Pelosi keeps holding up NASA funding legislation, we may not have a space program left.

Posted by: Greg at 11:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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But I feel fine!

Scientists say that there is still a chance of a close encounter of the devastating kind with an asteroid in 2036.

When it comes to 22-million-ton asteroids, the small stuff, it turns out, can make a huge difference in a potentially disastrous path toward Earth.

Using limited observations and lots of high-end computer modeling, astronomers have gotten a better handle on the limitations of asteroid-track forecasting in a new study of a potentially threatening asteroid called 99942 Apophis.

In this high-stakes game of Whack-a-Cosmic-Mole, just knowing exactly what it is you don't know can be useful.

Apophis' chance of hitting our planet in its first pass in 2029 is now slim to none, but astronomers will have to wait four to six years before they can predict what it might do during a second pass in 2036.

A team of scientists arrived at the conclusion after accounting for small influences like the solar wind, gravitational drag of smaller asteroids and human error.

In other words, we really can't be sure if the big space rock is going to result in the end of the world as we know it -- or whether we can divert Apophis away from earth. At this point, the variables are just too great.

Still, it does raise the point that mankind and the planet are more likely to face a calamity not of our making than to suffer extinction due to man-made global warming as proposed by the Branch AlGorians.

Posted by: Greg at 10:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You can accuse the United States of torture n YouTube. Just don't accuse a Muslim country of worse acts -- and provide video documentation. It will get your account closed and your proof deleted.

The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said.

Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations. YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google Inc , did not respond to a written request for comment. A message on Abbas's YouTube user page, http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas, read: "This account is suspended."

"They closed it (the account) and they sent me an e-mail saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview. Abbas, who won an international journalism award for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.

Abbas was a key player last year in distributing a clip of an Egyptian bus driver, his hands bound, being sodomised with a stick by a police officer -- imagery that sparked an uproar in a country where rights groups say torture is commonplace.

That tape prompted an investigation that led to a rare conviction of two policemen, who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture. Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes police against whom it has evidence of misconduct.

YouTube, which is more than willing to allow posts on the antics at Abu Ghraib to be posted, insists that video of ACTUAL torture, exposing ACTUAL human rights abuses, is inappropriate for its service. So I guess we have the company's official stand. Seditious, anti-American nonsense is fine, but courageous and ground breaking journalistic efforts are not.

Posted by: Greg at 10:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Take this story.

A troublesome trio of transvestites allegedly laid siege to a Memphis McDonald's restaurant Sunday night, sparking a brawl with the restaurant's crew, according to reports.

Police said they were working on a more detailed description of three men dressed in drag who came into a McDonald's restaurant and started swinging.

Restaurant employee Martez Brisco was working the drive-through window when he reportedly got into an argument with the suspects. When Brisco ignored them tapping at the window, they came in.

"They come to the window, 'Tap, tap, tap.' I'm still ignoring them," Brisco told WMC-TV. "I guess that just pissed them off worser."

The transvestites allegedly struck the manager with a tire iron, and when he swung back, the drag queens took off their stiletto boots, removed their earrings and prepared to attack. The manager, Albert Bolton, was covered with scratch marks after suspects clawed him with their fingernails.

Bolton grabbed a pot of scalding french-fry grease and hurled it at his attackers. One of the cross-dressers then smacked Bolton with a wet floor sign, sending him to the hospital in an ambulance, WMC-TV reported.

Before driving off, the three attackers smashed the drive-through window.

It is a good thing this is a news story. If some television show included a scene like this, every P.C. Sensitivity group would be out protesting the horrific mistreatment and oppression such a storyline contained. Maybe they can picket the perps instead.

Posted by: Greg at 12:49 PM | Comments (206) | Add Comment
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He shot up his school years ago, killing five.

Now he's on drugs and packing heat in violation of the law.

A man convicted as a 13-year-old for killing four Arkansas middle-school students and a teacher in an ambush and released from a juvenile detention center two years ago on his 21st birthday, faces new weapons charges.

Mitchell S. Johnson, 23, was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on charges of possession of a firearm while being either a user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The indictment came after his arrest earlier this year during a traffic stop in Fayetteville, Ark.

Officers found a loaded 9 mm pistol in Mr. Johnson's van and 21 grams of marijuana inside a personal bag. State prosecutors dropped the original misdemeanor arrest charges against Mr. Johnson when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fayetteville decided to seek a federal indictment in the case.

Mr. Johnson pleaded not guilty last month to the federal charges and was released on $5,000 bond. A trial has been scheduled to begin Dec. 3 before U.S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren in Fayetteville. If convicted, Mr. Johnson faces up to 10 years in prison — more than the seven years he served for the 1998 school killings in Jonesboro, Ark.

This guy is a stone cold killer, who set up an ambush of his school for fun. He walked away with a minimal sentence because he was a juvenile. Let's hope that the book gets thrown at Mitchell Johnson here, and that he gets to spend the full ten years behind bars. Too bad he'll be allowed to walk the streets again.

Posted by: Greg at 02:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There is a little secret under a small town in Italy. It began as the work of one man and expanded over the years. And the beauty that has been created is stunning -- and all done in secret by a small, tight-lipped group.

Nestling in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy, 30 miles from the ancient city of Turin, lies the valley of Valchiusella. Peppered with medieval villages, the hillside scenery is certainly picturesque.

But it is deep underground, buried into the ancient rock, that the region's greatest wonders are concealed.

Here, 100ft down and hidden from public view, lies an astonishing secret - one that has drawn comparisons with the fabled city of Atlantis and has been dubbed 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' by the Italian government.

For weaving their way underneath the hillside are nine ornate temples, on five levels, whose scale and opulence take the breath away.

Constructed like a three-dimensional book, narrating the history of humanity, they are linked by hundreds of metres of richly decorated tunnels and occupy almost 300,000 cubic feet - Big Ben is 15,000 cubic feet.

Few have been granted permission to see these marvels.

Indeed, the Italian government was not even aware of their existence until a few years ago.

But the 'Temples of Damanhur' are not the great legacy of some long-lost civilisation, they are the work of a 57-year-old former insurance broker from northern Italy who, inspired by a childhood vision, began digging into the rock.

You have got to look at the pictures that go along with the article. They are truly stunning, and testify to the ingenuity of those involved in creating what some call the eighth wonder of the world.

Posted by: Greg at 10:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And this one is just pathetic.

Armando Florido said he is about as respectable as you can get — he's been a Houston police officer for 24 years, and has owned and operated Italian restaurants, Fornos of Italy, for 17.

Proud of his eateries, he put vanity plates reading "FORNOS" on his Hummer two years ago. He ordered a second set of plates this year reading "FORNO 1" for a Plymouth Prowler.

The plates are in, and he's even paid for them. But a clerk at the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector's office told him this week that she could not give them to him.

"She told me she couldn't release them because a TxDOT committee found them obscene," said Florido, a sergeant, on Friday.

Last week, we saw some bureaucrat in New York put the kibosh on "GETOSAMA". Around the country, there have been disputes over plates offering variations of "JN316". I even remember one (many years ago) in Illinois where the state denied a musician "JAZZME" because "jazz" could be interpreted as a sexual reference.

Good grief! Give the guy his plates.

Posted by: Greg at 01:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's not just the world we are destroying -- it is the entire freakin' universe!

Just by looking at it.

Forget about the threat that mankind poses to the Earth: our activities may be shortening the life of the universe too.

The startling claim is made by a pair of American cosmologists investigating the consequences for the cosmos of quantum theory, the most successful theory we have. Over the past few years, cosmologists have taken this powerful theory of what happens at the level of subatomic particles and tried to extend it to understand the universe, since it began in the subatomic realm during the Big Bang.

But there is an odd feature of the theory that philosophers and scientists still argue about. In a nutshell, the theory suggests that we change things simply by looking at them and theorists have puzzled over the implications for years.

They often illustrate their concerns about what the theory means with mind-boggling experiments, notably Schrodinger's cat in which, thanks to a fancy experimental set up, the moggy is both alive and dead until someone decides to look, when it either carries on living, or dies. That is, by one interpretation (by another, the universe splits into two, one with a live cat and one with a dead one.)

New Scientist reports a worrying new variant as the cosmologists claim that astronomers may have accidentally nudged the universe closer to its death by observing dark energy, a mysterious anti gravity force which is thought to be speeding up the expansion of the cosmos.

The damaging allegations are made by Profs Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and James Dent of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, who suggest that by making this observation in 1998 we may have caused the cosmos to revert to an earlier state when it was more likely to end. "Incredible as it seems, our detection of the dark energy may have reduced the life-expectancy of the universe," Prof Krauss tells New Scientist.

Is it just me, or is this a call for humanity to stop scientific research? After all, we've shortened the life expectancy of the universe with our curiosity, and elsewhere in the article we are told that humanity is responsible for a loss of mass in the universe equal to about 20% of its expected mass. So we should stop studying the universe -- or better yet, voluntarily render ourselves extinct by species-wide suicide.

Can we get Al Gore and the IPCC to lead this movement?

Posted by: Greg at 06:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My wife has always wanted to take a cruise to Antarctica. It is probably a dream that is out of our reach financially. And this certainly doesn't make me anymore enthusiastic about the possibility.

More than 150 passengers and crew took to lifeboats in Antarctic waters on Friday after their cruise ship hit an object and began taking on water through a hole in the hull, Britain's coast guard said. No injuries were reported.

It was believed that the passengers of the Explorer, a Liberian-flagged vessel, included at least 22 British citizens, and undetermined numbers of Americans and Canadians, the Coast Guard said.

The evacuees were boarding another cruise ship, the Endeavor, near the South Shetland Islands, and were expected to be transferred later to a larger ship, said Henry Purbrick, watch officer at the coast guard center in Falmouth, England.

Everyone is safe. Reports indicate that the ship may have hit an iceberg.

I'll refrain from making any Titanic jokes.

And I'll hope my wife will settle for a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.

Posted by: Greg at 04:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This year I will be sitting out Black Friday.

The Black Friday 2007 bargain frenzy kicked off just after midnight as throngs of shoppers shrugged off Thanksgiving Day fatigue to grab early bird sales on flatscreen TVs, clothes, jewelry and toys.

Electronics - especially high-definition plasma and LCD TVs, GPS navigation devices, Apple's iPhone and MP3 players - were expected to be among the most sought-after items.

At 4:45 a.m. ET, more than 150 people waited outside both a Circuit City and a Best Buy in New York for the 5 a.m. opening.

Many retailers offered "doorbuster deals," which are special sales offered only for the first few hours on Black Friday. Some chains, including Kohl's and J.C. Penney , opened at 4 a.m. nationwide.

Over the last couple of years, I've gone out to get new televisions and a DVD player, as well as a few other items. That was when Wal-Mart was putting its specials on at midnight, rather than waiting to start at 0500. But the reality is that the only attractive things I saw in the ads were unneeded (I don't need a flat-screen television or a new computer monitor) or not sufficiently important to go out for (do I REALLY want to fight the crowds for a $10 1GB flash drive?) to tempt me out. And it isn't about money or the economy. It is just about priorities.

Posted by: Greg at 02:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Believe it or not, I'm going to support Gov. Granholm on this one.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has issued an order that bars discrimination against state workers based on their "gender identity or expression," which protects the rights of those who behave, dress or identify as members of the opposite sex.

The order adds gender identity to a list of other prohibited grounds for discrimination that include religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, marital status, politics, disability or genetic information.

"State employment practices and procedures that encourage nondiscriminatory and equal employment practices provide desirable models for the private sector and local governments," says the resolution, which Granholm signed Wednesday.

Government -- at any level -- should not be discriminating against citizens. Period. End of sentence, paragraph, and discussion.

That even includes against folks whose sense of self is so warped that they cannot figure out their gender or feel the need to have their genitalia mutilated.

Every citizen deserves equal treatment from the government.

That said, I oppose any attempt to impose such a non-discrimination policy on the private sector. Heck, I support the repeal of any law that imposes non-discrimination requirements on any private sector employer -- and that includes gender identity religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, marital status, politics, disability, genetic information or any other category you like (with the exception of those related to military service -- that has a national security aspect to it that makes such policies imperative).

Not, may I state for the record, that I support such discrimination by the private sector. I simply don't believe the government has a legitimate interest in interfering with the right to control one's property (a business) or association (which is one aspect of the employment relationship).

Besides, I want to know who the folks doing the discrimination are. In most instances, I will probably want to take my business elsewhere.

Posted by: Greg at 06:45 AM | Comments (189) | Add Comment
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Because I have no problem with license plates reading GETOSAMA.

Retired New York City police officer Arno Herwerth hit a major roadblock this week when he tried to dress up his ride in patriotic style.

Arno, a 21- year veteran of the NYPD, wanted to add vanity license plates reading "GETOSAMA" to the 1993 Ford Aerostar he had already hand-painted red, white and blue. But New York's DMV red-lighted the anti-Usama bin Laden plates, banning them under an agency regulation that prohibits anything "obscene, lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic or other group or patently offensive."

Obscene? No.

Lewd? No.

Lascivious? Again, no.

Defamatory to an ethnic group? Well, only to Terrorist-Americans – and they are not an ethnic group.

Patently offensive? Only if you love terrorists and support the 9/11 attack.

Give the man his license plates and registration – and quit being politically incorrect weenies.

Posted by: Greg at 01:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Because the race hos are involved.

Three young black men break into a white man's home in rural Northern California. The homeowner shoots two of them to death - but it's the surviving black man who is charged with murder.

In a case that has brought cries of racism from civil rights groups, Renato Hughes Jr., 22, was charged by prosecutors in this overwhelmingly white county under a rarely invoked legal doctrine that could make him responsible for the bloodshed.

"It was pandemonium" inside the house that night, District Attorney Jon Hopkins said. Hughes was responsible for "setting the whole thing in motion by his actions and the actions of his accomplices."

Prosecutors said homeowner Shannon Edmonds opened fire Dec. 7 after three young men rampaged through the Clearlake house demanding marijuana and brutally beat his stepson. Rashad Williams, 21, and Christian Foster, 22, were shot in the back. Hughes fled.

Hughes was charged with first-degree murder under California's Provocative Act doctrine, versions of which have been on the books in many states for generations but are rarely used.

The Provocative Act doctrine does not require prosecutors to prove the accused intended to kill. Instead, "they have to show that it was reasonably foreseeable that the criminal enterprise could trigger a fatal response from the homeowner," said Brian Getz, a San Francisco defense attorney unconnected to the case.

Personally, I think that Edmonds deserves a medal for helping to clean up the environment. After all, scum like Williams, Foster, and Hughes are clearly an environmental contaminant that need to be removed from society for the betterment of everyone elseÂ’s life.

But the NAACP and the associated race-baiters are out in force, wanting to charge the victim and let the criminal off with a slap on the wrist.

The NAACP complained that prosecutors came down too hard on Hughes, who also faces robbery, burglary and assault charges. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

The Rev. Amos Brown, head of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP and pastor at Hughes' church, said the case demonstrates the legal system is racist in remote Lake County, aspiring wine country 100 miles north of San Francisco. The sparsely populated county of 13,000 people is 91 percent white and 2 percent black.

Brown and other NAACP officials are asking why the homeowner is walking free. Tests showed Edmonds had marijuana and prescription medication in his system the night of the shooting. Edmonds had a prescription for both the pot and the medication to treat depression.

"This man had no business killing these boys," Brown said. "They were shot in the back. They had fled."

Here in Texas that would not mater under the Castle Doctrine. There is no duty to retreat, or to let the criminals escape.

And let’s be really clear about who was victimized here, since the fake “man of God” Amos Brown wants to help a violent criminal from his church escape a just punishment for his crimes.

The district attorney said that race played no part in the charges against Hughes and that the homeowner was spared prosecution because of evidence he was defending himself and his family, who were asleep when the assailants barged in at 4 a.m.

Edmonds' stepson, Dale Lafferty, suffered brain damage from the baseball bat beating he took during the melee. The 19-year-old lives in a rehabilitation center and can no longer feed himself.

"I didn't do anything wrong. All I did was defend my family and my children's lives," said Edmonds, 33. "I'm sad the kids are dead, I didn't mean to kill them."
He added: "Race has nothing to do with it other than this was a gang of black people who thought they were going to beat up this white family."

Well, IÂ’m sure that fake man of God Amos Brown and company would argue that if only the white family hadnÂ’t been in their home with legally prescribed medication, there would have been no need to shoot the thugs who attacked them. Or maybe he believes that Edmonds, Lafferty, and the rest of the family just plain had an obligation to allow the animals to kill them.

Here’s my question for the fake man of God Amos Brown – if this situation had been reversed, and a white man were charged with the murder of his accomplices because a black man killed them after they broke into his house and nearly killed a family member, would you be objecting to these charges and demanding that the homeowner be charged with murder instead? Or would you be praising the prosecutor for trying to ensure that justice was done in a case of shocking and senseless violence.

No, Amos, don’t bother answering – the sort of appeal you’ve made in this case already tells us what would happen. Now drop to your knees and pray to God to be forgiven for and converted from your grievous sin of RACISM. And while your at it, show you have really repented by offering a prayer for Dale Lafferty as he sits in a rehabilitation center, the victim of the dead men and the man you falsely claim is a victim.

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When you are representing a body in an international tournament or competition, it is not the time to make political statements. If you do, it is appropriate for that group to reprimand you for abuse of your position as an official representative of the group.

Unless, of course, the New York Times agrees with your sentiments -- which is why they question the patriotism and Americanism of the United States Bridge Federation for acting against competitors at an international tournament who used the opportunity to bash the President at an official event.

Three of the seven team members have expressed regret for the sign. The United States Bridge Federation has decided to get tough on the others. It is demanding that the players say who came up with the idea of the sign and has ordered a one-year suspension from play for the team members who refuse to apologize.

This sort of censorship is un-American, unsporting and counterproductive. It will only confirm the far-too-common belief that America is no longer committed to free speech — or fair play.

Sorry, folks, but that conclusion is wrong-headed. None from the USBF is saying that members or competitors must support the President -- merely that they refrain from political activity while representing the group in an official capacity. That is a reasonable position to take -- and it is unreasonable for the New York Times to oppose it.

Posted by: Greg at 11:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And in doing so is forced to admit that cooperation with Chinese authorities to crush political dissent is wrong.

Yahoo Inc., reeling from a growing backlash over human rights and its China operations, settled a lawsuit Tuesday that accused it of illegally helping the Chinese government jail and torture two journalists.

Neither side disclosed details other than to agree Yahoo would pay the attorneys fees of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning and the family member who sued on their behalf. Yahoo also said it would "provide financial, humanitarian and legal support to these families."

The settlement has reopened debate over Internet companies cooperating with governments that deny freedom of speech and crack down on journalists.

It marked a dramatic change of heart for Yahoo, which had steadfastly maintained it had to comply with a request from Chinese authorities to share information about the online activities of the two Chinese nationals.

Personally, I believe Yahoo's actions that led to this settlement are the equivalent of revealing the names and whereabouts of Jews to the Nazi regime in 1938. As such, I'm unhappy with the settlement. After all, a more just outcome would have involved Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning becoming the new owners of Yahoo. However, if the outcome is a refusal of American companies to stop becoming agents of oppression, I think millions of people living in repressive regimes around the world can live with the outcome.

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That's what it looks like, if NewsCorp's current plans are carried out.

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the News Corporation, said today that he intended to make access to The Wall Street JournalÂ’s Web site free, trading subscription fees for anticipated ad revenue.

“We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having one million, having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth,” Mr. Murdoch said, referring to The Journal’s online readership.

The News Corporation has signed an agreement to acquire Dow Jones & Company, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. A special shareholders meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13 in New York.

Mr. Murdoch said he believed that a free model, with increased readership for wsj.com, will attract “large numbers” of big-spending advertisers.

What this means is that one of the better sources of news and business information will be available to the common man.

What this means for me is that I will be able to access some of the better pieces of news and commentary that get overlooked by the mainstream media.

And for NewsCorp? Well that is easy -- a 10-15-fold increase in readership online will more than offset the loss of subscriber revenue.

In the end, everyone wins -- with the possible exception of the competitors of the WSJ, who will all face increased competition.

Posted by: Greg at 10:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Some folks are going to scream about this being an over this case, and argue that this was an overreaction. IÂ’ll have to disagree. It looks like the cops behaved reasonably here.

Officers received the 911 call from the teen's mother around 7 p.m. Monday, police spokesman Paul Browne said. The 911 operator could hear the teen yelling in the background, claiming he had a gun, Browne said.

When officers arrived at the Brooklyn apartment building, they could see the 18-year-old, Khiel Coppin, pacing inside the first-floor apartment. His mother was outside.

The teen's mother had attempted to have him hospitalized earlier in the day, Browne said. He said the teen had a history of mental illness.

The teen began screaming from a window at his mother and officers before climbing out of the window and heading toward the officers holding a black object in his hand, police said.

The officers ordered him to stop, Browne said. When the teen refused and kept approaching them, they opened fire, he said.

Police said it was not immediately known how many of the 20 bullets struck Coppin, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.

So what have you got?

A young man carrying on, claiming to have a gun and making threats.

Cops trying to safeguard the public, ordering him to drop his weapon and quit advancing on them.

When he refused, they engaged in the reasonable defensive action of firing their guns.

Only later is the object identified as not being harmful.

But for those of you wanting to hang the cops out to dry, let me ask – how many officers needed to be shot (or stabbed) before firing on this threatening individual? How many widows and orphans needed to be made before you would accept that their actions were reasonable? It is really easy to say they were wrong now, in the clear light of day, after it has been discovered that there was no gun. Unfortunately, those officers didn’t have that luxury – all they had was their knowledge of the situation and their training, which it appears they followed appropriately.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Knock yourself out, folks. WeÂ’ve seen how (little) youÂ’re colleagues have been missed in the entertainment end of the business.

CBS News writers could be joining their enter tainment colleagues on the picket lines.

The writers, members of the Writers Guild of America, East, are expected to vote unanimously Thursday to authorize a strike on both the national and local levels.

They've been working without a contract since April 2005.

There are writers for the news shows. Gee – I thought that it was all done by reporters. Maybe they will have to start doing the actual job of reporting themselves.

But we do have to ask -- is Katie Couric really just a talking head, and an empty one at that?

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Fortunately his choice of tools didn't make him an award winner -- the guy who used a shotgun to loosen a lug nut is going to survive.

A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, sheriff's deputies said.

The 66-year-old man had been repairing a Lincoln Continental for two weeks at his home northwest of Southworth, about 10 miles southwest of Seattle, and had gotten all but one of the lug nuts off the right rear wheel by Saturday afternoon, Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said.

"He's bound and determined to get that lug nut off," Wilson said.

From about arm's length, the man fired the shotgun at the wheel and was "peppered" in both legs with buckshot and debris, with some injuries as high as his chin, according to a sheriff's office report.

"Nobody else was there and he wasn't intoxicated," Wilson said.

I don't know about you, but that last line concerns me deeply. After all, I could understand the decision if he was drunk. Doing it stone cold sober is a whole lot harder to justify.

Posted by: Greg at 11:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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From the UK comes this example, one which I think sums up the problems with the notion that some crimes should be treated more harshly than others because of the "hateful" motive of the perpetrator.

There are of course violent offenders who specifically select gay men as targets: but are they any worse than those who pick on women, or homeless people? To create politically-approved hierarchies of culpability on such matters is to make a kind of nonsense of the law.

Take for example the case of the late David Morley, a gay bar manager who had survived the Admiral Duncan Soho pub bombing in 1999, which killed three people. That bombing was carried out by David Copeland, a 23-year-old engineer and Nazi sympathiser who had deliberately sought to murder gay men.

Five years later, Mr Morley and a friend were walking home near Waterloo in the small hours, when they encountered a four-strong group of teenage thugs who were "out to beat up tramps, druggies or just people on the street" and film the attacks on their phones. Mr Morley was a person on the street, and they beat him to death for it. There was no suggestion at the trial that they attacked him because he was gay.

What I find extraordinary, however, is any suggestion that Mr Morley's vicious killers are somehow less culpable because they didn't attack him for his sexual orientation. Yet that is the skewed logic of the "hate crime" legislation.

I know nothing of Mr. Morley beyond what was written in this article. But I also know that his death was no less a tragedy when he was murdered by a band of street thugs than it would have been if he had died in that 1999 anti-gay bombing. In each case, the motive can only be defined as contempt for one's fellow man -- and the basis for that contempt is strikingly irrelevant. Indeed, I'd argue that the sort of random street crime that took Morley's life is in some ways even more shocking to the conscience than the murderous attack on the bar he managed five years previously.

Why should his murder by rampaging hooligans bent on random mayhem be seen as less corrosive to society than an attack on a gay bar?

Why should his death at the hands of criminals with no regard for human life be seen as less worthy of harsh treatment it would have been if it had happened at the hands of a criminal with no regard for homosexuals?

So as I've said before, while I applaud those who want to end hatred for their efforts, I can't help but find their methods wrong-headed. After all, Morley isn't dead because his assailants loved him. And Morley's death was no less a offensive and worthy of punishment due to the fact that he was murdered because he was convenient rather than because of his sexual preference.

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Between their lead editorial and Frank Rich's commentary, it is clear that their Bush Derangement Syndrome has metastasized. It's a pity that there is no option for euthanizing the once-great Grey Lady. I mean, they shoot horses, don't they?

Let's start with the editorial.

It is extraordinary how President Bush has streamlined the Senate confirmation process. As we have seen most recently with the vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as attorney general, about all that is left of “advice and consent” is the “consent” part.

Once upon a time, the confirmation of major presidential appointments played out on several levels — starting, of course, with politics. It was assumed that a president would choose like-minded people as cabinet members and for other jobs requiring Senate approval. There was a presumption that he should be allowed his choices, all other things being equal.

Before George W. BushÂ’s presidency, those other things actually counted. Was the nominee truly qualified, with a professional background worthy of the job? Would he discharge his duties fairly and honorably, upholding his oath to protect the Constitution? Even though she answers to the president, would the nominee represent all Americans? Would he or she respect the power of Congress to supervise the executive branch, and the power of the courts to enforce the rule of law?

In less than seven years, Mr. Bush has managed to boil that list down to its least common denominator: the president should get his choices. At first, Mr. Bush was abetted by a slavish Republican majority that balked at only one major appointment — Harriet Miers for Supreme Court justice, and then only because of doubts that she was far enough to the right.

* * *

We are not suggesting the Democrats reject every presidential appointee, or that the presidentÂ’s preferences not be taken into account. But Democrats have done precious little to avoid the kind of spectacle the world saw last week: the Senate giving the job of attorney general, chief law enforcement officer in the worldÂ’s oldest democracy, to a man who does not even have the integrity to take a stand against torture.

Which, of course, all comes down to a single question -- is waterboarding torture? The New York Times has decreed ex cathedra that it is. The Bush administration disagrees. Refusal to subscribe to the position taken by the Times is considered to be heresy, and indication of unfitness for office, according to the editors of the NY Times, and therefore a nominee that they supported initially ought to be rejected. Frightening, isn't it, that the President might have nominated an attorney general who agrees with him, isn't it?

And then there is Frank Rich. Scary as it may seem, he makes the editorial look moderate and rational!

AS Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrested judges, lawyers and human-rights activists in Pakistan last week, our Senate was busy demonstrating its own civic mettle. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, liberal Democrats from AmericaÂ’s two most highly populated blue states, gave the thumbs up to Michael B. Mukasey, ensuring his confirmation as attorney general.

So what if AmericaÂ’s chief law enforcement official wonÂ’t say that waterboarding is illegal? A state of emergency is a state of emergency. YouÂ’re either willing to sacrifice principles to head off the next ticking bomb, or youÂ’re with the terrorists. Constitutional corners were cut in Washington in impressive synchronicity with General MusharrafÂ’s crackdown in Islamabad.

* * *

To believe that this corruption will simply evaporate when the Bush presidency is done is to underestimate the permanent erosion inflicted over the past six years. What was once shocking and unacceptable in America has now been internalized as the new normal.

This is most apparent in the Republican presidential race, where most of the candidates seem to be running for dictator and make no apologies for it. TheyÂ’re falling over each other to expand Gitmo, see who can promise the most torture and abridge the largest number of constitutional rights. The front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, boasts a proven record in extralegal executive power grabs, Musharraf-style: After 9/11 he tried to mount a coup, floating the idea that he stay on as mayor in defiance of New YorkÂ’s term-limits law.

What makes the DemocratsÂ’ Mukasey cave-in so depressing is that it shows how far even exemplary sticklers for the law like Senators Feinstein and Schumer have lowered democracyÂ’s bar. When they argued that Mr. Mukasey should be confirmed because heÂ’s not as horrifying as Mr. Gonzales or as the acting attorney general who might get the job otherwise, they sounded whipped. After all these years of Bush-Cheney torture, theyÂ’ll say things they know are false just to move on.

So got that -- George W. Bush = General Musharraf. Deviation from that point of view is to demolish the Constitution and support dictatorship. To the barricades, comrades, to overthrow the fascist oppressor!

See what happens when you let the theater critic pretend to know something about politics and world affairs? Drama queen commentary!

Earlier I asked about euthanizing the New York Times. I was not, of course, serious. After all, the continued publication of this subversive rag is the surest proof that our constitutionally protected liberties are secure.

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After all, just because victims of the Chandler Rapist say that their attacker was Hispanic doesn't mean that he should be described that way.

Spanish-language radio station has protested the police description of the "Chandler Rapist" as a "Hispanic," claiming it amounts to racial profiling.

The man, believed responsible for five attacks on teenage girls since June 2006 and possibly a sixth on Thursday, is described as Hispanic, 28 to 40 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, muscular, with a mustache and black hair.

Radio station 1190AM refused to use the word "Hispanic" when it broadcast the description.

"We need to be fair when we describe the person and saying this person is Hispanic, is, I think, profiling," said Mayra Nieves, vice president of programming for New Radio Venture, which owns 1190AM.

She said the man may look Hispanic, but may not be.

"It's feeding more into the anti-Hispanic sentiment that everybody's saying is not there, but is seen everywhere," Nieves said. "For me, saying he's Hispanic because the victims are saying he's Hispanic, is actually doing racial profiling."

yeah, we wouldn't want to risk racial profiling by giving credence to the statements of those brutally assaulted by a rapist. Political correctness must trump legitimate law enforcement needs. I sure hope that the cops are pulling in a sufficient number of white, black, and Asian men to ensure that there are no accusations of racial profiling when the case is brought to trial.

But I think the radio station should go a bit further in its protest -- why describe the Chandler Rapist as male? After all, he could be a woman with a very large clitoris or a strap-on sex-toy.

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We know, of course, that the reason for all of the intriguing geological formations and geysers around Yellowstone national park is the history of volcanism in the area. Well, is the pressure building for another big blow?

Yellowstone National Park, once the site of a giant volcano, has begun swelling up, possibly because molten rock is accumulating beneath the surface, scientists report.

But, "there is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption," said Robert B. Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

Many giant volcanic craters around the world go up and down over decades without erupting, he said.

Smith and colleagues report in Friday's issue of the journal Science that the flow of the ancient Yellowstone crater has been moving upward almost 3 inches per year for the past three years.

That is more than three times faster than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923, the researchers said.

"Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock," Smith said in a statement. "But we have no idea how long this process goes on before there either is an eruption or the inflow of molten rock stops and the caldera deflates again."

It has been 642,000 since the last major eruption, but scientists tell us not to worry about an imminent cataclysm. Still, such swelling was detected at Mount St. Helens before it erupted in the 1980s, and the three documented major eruptions in the last 2 million years all exceeded that event. Scientist do keep a close watch on the area, so we should have plenty of warning before a major event does occur.

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After all, why else would they want to require a reporter to disclose the identity of confidential sources before releasing what is, by law, public information available to any citizen?

A South Texas public television station has refused to turn over financial documents to the Valley Morning Star unless a reporter reveals confidential sources, the newspaper reported Nov. 3.
Reporter Bruce Lee Smith on Nov. 2 tried to pick up financial documents he had requested from KMBH television and radio, run by RGV Educational Broadcasting Inc. as the local Public Broadcasting System affiliate.
When Smith arrived at the television studio, he was told KMBH officials would release the documents only if the reporter signed a letter in which he agreed to disclose confidential sources who provided background information to him about the stationÂ’s finances and operations.

This was not even a Freedom Of Information Act request – these are records that are required to be available for public inspection as a condition of receiving federal grant money to operate as a PBS station.

Now I donÂ’t know whether there is actually any wrong-doing in the use of the grant money. What I do know is that there seems to be some problem with their willingness to follow the laws under which they receive tax money to operate.

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Even if it does not really mean what they want it to mean. After all, as we have documented, deaths among American troops in Iraq have been trending sharply downward after a spike earlier this year.

The U.S. military announced six new deaths Tuesday, making 2007 the bloodiest year for American troops in Iraq despite a recent decline in casualties and a sharp drop in roadside bombings that Washington links to Iran.

With nearly two months left in the year, the annual toll is now 853 — three more than the previous worst of 850 in 2004.

But the grim milestone comes as the Pentagon points toward other encouraging signs as well — growing security in Baghdad and other former militant strongholds that could help consolidate the gains against extremists.

It takes until 3/4 of the way through the article to get to the good news about Iraq casualties.

The noticeable drop in U.S. and Iraqi deaths in recent months follows a 30,000-strong U.S. force buildup, along with a six-month cease-fire order by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, among other factors. There were 39 deaths in October, compared to 65 in September and 84 in August.

And as noted by military officials, the reason for the spike in deaths had been the increase in contact with enemy forces following the implementation of the Surge strategy. The results of that strategy, though, constitute strong steps on the road to victory in Iraq. Something that this story is designed to minimize by quoting statistics without context. And counting on the sort of reaction that any decent individual will have -- that each death of a serviceman is a tragedy -- those involved in writing the article want to lead folks to the conclusion that each death is a wasteful, needless one, and that the numbers indicate defeat.

They would have been great to have around on D-Day.

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First it made the politically ignorant sportscaster Keith Olbermann the host of a political show, where he regularly misrepresents opponents and spouts racist insults.

Now they may make someone even less qualified into a regular show host and commentator.

Riding a ratings wave from “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” a program that takes strong issue with the Bush administration, MSNBC is increasingly seeking to showcase its nighttime lineup as a welcome haven for viewers of a similar mind.

Lest there be any doubt that the cable channel believes there is ratings gold in shows that criticize the administration with the same vigor with which Fox NewsÂ’s hosts often champion it, two NBC executives acknowledged yesterday that they were talking to Rosie OÂ’Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC.

During the nine months she spent on “The View” before departing abruptly last spring, Ms. O’Donnell raised viewership notably. She did so while lamenting the unabated casualties of the Iraq war and advocating the right to gay marriage, among other positions.

Under one option, Ms. O’Donnell would take the 9 p.m. slot each weeknight on MSNBC, pitting her against “Larry King Live” on CNN and “Hannity & Colmes” on Fox News.

Gee, maybe we can get the same sort of anti-Asian racism from Rosie that Olbermann deployed against commentator/blogger Michelle Malkin -- and which she was already famous for on The View.

And I can't help but notice that "ratings success" is defined by the network as consistently coming in behind both Fox and CNN on a nightly basis.

And I wonder, will liberals trot out the new MSNBC lineup as part of their case for reimposing the fairness doctrine, perhaps insisting that Chris Matthews be replace with an hour-long Rush Limbaugh show to balance out Olbermann and O'Donnell. Or will this be the model for "fair broadcasting" -- shows that the network publicly acknowledges are intentionally slanted to the Left.

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It appears that the repressive Red Chinese government intends to violate the human rights of participants the 2008 Olympics in some of the same ways it violates those of its own citizens. One example? Religious freedom will be forbidden in the Olympic Village, with Bibles and other religious material and insignia banned for "security reasons".

Organizes of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing have published a list of “prohibited objects” in the Olympic village where athletes will stay. To the surprise of many, Bibles are among the objects that will not be allowed.

According to the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, organizers have cited “security reasons” and have prohibited athletes from bearing any kind of religious symbol at Olympic facilities.

Other objects on the list include video cameras and cups.

The Spanish daily La Razon said the rule was one of a number of “signs of censure and intolerance” towards religious objects, particularly those used by Christians in China. Currently in China five bishops and fifteen priests are in prison for opposing the official Church.

One of the low moments of Olympic history was the decision to allow Hitler to endorse his views on racial superiority while hosting the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The IOC should step in to protect the human rights of Olympians -- and should cancel or move the 2008 games if the Red Chinese will not respect the internationally recognized human rights in the Olympic Village.

H/T Christian Persecution Blog

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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But I have to say, I'm not terribly disturbed to see this one die out.

My only concern is the reason for the death -- and its implications for other holidays.

Deep in the bowels of the York Dungeon, visitors were being treated to a dramatic rendition of the horrific torture and bloodcurdling screams of Guy Fawkes, the cityÂ’s most famous deceased resident. Up at the cash register, Kate Stapylton, the duty manager, was talking about the health and safety regulations governing the attraction.

No wet floors. No obstructions in the passageways. Many well-lighted emergency exits. But even with her respect for such policies — “You don’t want anyone to hurt themselves,” she said — Ms. Stapylton said it was a bit much that, apparently because of health and safety rules, York would not be sponsoring a traditional fireworks celebration for Guy Fawkes Night on Monday.

“Personally, I think it’s a bit silly,” she said.

York, along with many other municipalities, has often been the scene of huge events — fireworks, bonfires, the burning of creepy effigies of Fawkes — to commemorate the failure of Fawkes’s plan to blow up Parliament and the king in 1605, a shocking moment in British history. But in the face of increasingly onerous regulations, none are taking place in the city this year.

No one — not the local government, nor any local group — wanted to spend the money to “address the health and safety measures of having large numbers of people in close proximity to the fireworks,” a spokeswoman for the City of York Council said.

Yep -- safety regulations have ended the celebration. That, and the nearly quarter-million dollar cost associated with complying with all the regulations that would have to be met in order to hold it. So the tradtional celebration -- with its anti-Catholic overtones -- is dying out.

But the regs will also raise questions about the hanging of Christmas lights in many communities this year.

Christmas-light displays in towns, as much a seasonal feature as eating plum pudding and slumping in front of the television with the family after lunch, are another fraught issue. Stephen Alambritis, a spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said many municipalities and businesses were unwilling to spend the money to comply with safety rules governing their installation.

Only registered electricians can put up the lights, and they are required to use cherry pickers, not ladders, Mr. Alambritis said in an interview. Every bulb has to be tested every year to ensure that it is electrically safe and that “it won’t flash in someone’s eyes,” he said.

He said he heard of one municipality that left its Christmas lights up year around rather than pay the $100,000 or so to put them up and take them down.

At this rate, safety regulations will guarantee that every holiday tradition comes to an end. How sad.

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One more sign that things are going right in Iraq.

In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.

Saad al-Azawi, his wife and four children are among them. They fled to Syria six months ago, leaving behind what had become one of the capital's more dangerous districts — west Baghdad's largely Sunni Khadra region.

The family had been living inside a vicious and bloody turf battle between al-Qaida in Iraq and Mahdi Army militiamen. But Azawi said things began changing, becoming more peaceful, in August when radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to stand down nationwide.

About the same time, the Khadra neighborhood Awakening Council rose up against brutal al-Qaida control — the imposition of its austere interpretation of Islam, along with the murder and torture of those who would not comply.

The uprising originated in Iraq's west and flowed into the capital. Earlier this year, the Sunni tribes and clans in the vast Anbar province began their own revolt and have successfully rid the largely desert region of al-Qaida control.

It would appear to me that the Iraqi people are saying NO to the terrorists who have been attempting to bleed them into submission. It would appear to me that this is less a civil war than it is an attempt by outside forces (most al-Qaidas in Iraq are foreigners) to impose something the Iraqi people don't want. And it would appear that the surge has worked -- not that we needed any more evidence to prove that.

So why isn't this front page news in the United States and around the world? Why isn't the truth about the successes in Iraq being trumpeted in the media? And why is one political party in this country still seeking surrender as a strategy for victory at the polls?

And are those things related?

H/T Malkin

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Since our Navy is now chasing down Somali pirates, perhaps the time has come to follow the traditional methods for dealing with such folks.

For that matter, maybe we can apply the same rules to terrorists, too.

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And I'm sure that there are plenty of folks out there who find it particularly galling that we are headed towards success in that country.

President Bush offered an upbeat assessment on Friday of progress in Iraq, saying that while corruption remained a problem and unemployment was high, the economy was growing, violence was down and, “slowly but surely, the people of Iraq are reclaiming a normal society.”

Speaking to 1,300 graduates of the ArmyÂ’s basic training camp here, Mr. Bush gave his first progress report on Iraq since September, when he announced that his troop buildup would come to an end by next spring, with reductions beginning at the end of this year.

In the September speech, the president called the new strategy “return on success,” a phrase he reiterated in his remarks here on Friday.

To make his case that the strategy is working, Mr. Bush ticked off a litany of statistics. Since the buildup was completed in June, he said, the number of attacks each week involving I.E.D.Â’s, or improvised explosive devices, had dropped by half. The number of American military deaths, he said, had fallen to its lowest level in 19 months.

With Karbala Province moving to Iraqi control this week, Mr. Bush said Iraqis were now responsible for security in 8 of IraqÂ’s 18 provinces.

“The Iraqis are becoming more capable, and our military commander tells me that these gains are making possible what I call ‘return on success,’” Mr. Bush said. “That means we’re slowly bringing some of our troops home — and now we’re doing it from a position of strength.”

The article does make a snippy comment about finding friendly audiences on military bases, but at least the NYT reporters have the integrity to mention the progress in Iraq. Frankly, I'm surprised the editors didn't dump the entire story due to the fact that it doesn't fit with the narrative that the paper wants -- one that supports retreat and surrender, not victory.

And there are these additional details, of course, that get planted at the end of the article.

“We’re seeing improvements in important economic indicators,” he said. “Inflation has been cut in half. Electricity production in September reached its highest levels since the war began — and higher than it was under Saddam Hussein.”

And here we keep being told by the Left that things are so bad in Iraq -- I guess that is only true if you ignore the facts on the ground, like Half-Wit Harry Reid does in this article.

I wonder -- how did America fight wars in the day when it had a loyal opposition party in Congress?

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