Durka-Durka-Muhammed-Jihad!!
Cheney Weighs in on Judicial FilibustersTo me, this isn't the 'interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances' - it's more like a scorched-earth policy. Looked at in a more simplistic manner, it's the Senate Dems throwing a hissy fit.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney warned Democrats Friday that he will cast the tie-breaking vote to ban filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees if the Senate deadlocks on the question.
Republicans are moving the Senate toward a final confrontation with Democrats over judicial nominations. Internal GOP polling shows that most Americans don't support Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's plan to ban judicial filibusters - a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member Senate.
"There is no justification for allowing the blocking of nominees who are well qualified and broadly supported," Cheney told the Republican National Lawyers Association. "The tactics of the last few years, I believe, are inexcusable."
"Let me emphasize, the decision about how to proceed will be made by the Republican leadership in the Senate," Cheney said. "But if the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up or down vote."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the White House "has stepped over the line by interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances."
While I'm not too keen on the Republicans using a 'nuclear policy' to get rid of this road-block - it could easily come back and bite the GOP in the ass down the road - I can understand their getting irritated enough to utilize such tactics.
But while the decision rests with the Republican leadership in the Senate as to whether to 'kick ass & take names', it will also rest squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee since they don't appear to be moving at all on this and as such will prompt the Republicans to do something - anything - to get an UP or DOWN vote on those remaining nominees.
In all honesty, I can understand why the Dems are pulling these childish tricks - they're trying to wage a war of attrition on the Republicans.
Pragmatism - in any form, big or small - would dictate that eventually the Dems would realize that they've got a snowball's chance in Hell and will capitulate and give an up or down vote. I'm guessing that they're afraid to face the reality of the situation and that by 'holding the fort' for a long enough time that Al Gore or John Kerry will come riding in in the nick of time to save them.
Maybe someone should perform an intervention on the Senate Dems and make them face their fears...? Just a thought.
Moussaoui pleads guiltyHere is a thought: let's put Moussaoui and Hasan Akbar in a cage for an all-out death match and the winner gets to live for a month - but the catch is that he'll be sodomized daily by angry goats....THEN he'll be hung from the nearest flagpole....
Entering a guilty plea today, Zacarias Moussaoui became the only person convicted in the U.S. in connection to the 9-11 attacks.
The French citizen told U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema he realized he could be put to death.
"I expect no leniency," he said. (And you'll get none - Ed)
Moussaui, charged with six felony counts, said he was trained on a Boeing 747 "to use this plane to strike the White House."
He explained the training was in preparation for an attack planned to occur after the 9-11 attacks.
His defense lawyer, Alan Yamamoto, said he was satisfied the defendant understood what he was doing.
"When I have spoken to him, we have disagreed,” Yamamoto said. "He is facing the possibility of death or life in prison. He has told me that he understands that."
Brinkema said, "The court is accepting today the defendant’s six pleas of guilty to the six counts of the indictment."
Now ain't this F'd up?
GI: I held migrants in self-defenseWTF is the world coming to when someone does what the freakin police are supposed to do and gets arrested?
Patrick Haab said he was a victim, not a vigilante, when he drew a pistol on several undocumented immigrants who he said rushed toward him out of the darkness of an Arizona rest stop this week.
"I acted in self-defense," the 24-year-old Army Reserve sergeant said during a news conference filled with contradictions Wednesday at the Maricopa County jail where he is being held on seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. "I thought they were going to attack me."
Dressed in prison stripes and shackled with chains at his ankles, Haab said he had no idea that the men were undocumented immigrants at the time he drew his pistol from a holster he often wears.
"I was not looking for any trouble," he said. "I'm not prejudiced in any way."
Patrick does what most Americans would do - detain criminals - and he's the bad guy? Give me a freakin break...next thing you know people will get arrested for looking cross-eyed at illegal aliens undocumented migrants.
Patricks' website can be located here. Send him a quick note of support.
UPDATE: It would seem that someone in the district attorney's office fired some neurons and made a smart (and obvious) choice:
Reservist who held migrants at gunpoint won't be prosecutedSmart move Mr. Thomas.No criminal charges will be filed against an Army reservist who held seven undocumented immigrants at gunpoint this month at an Arizona rest stop.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Thursday that Sgt. Patrick Haab had the legal right to make a citizen's arrest because the man smuggling the immigrants into the country was committing a felony and the immigrants themselves were conspiring with the coyote to commit a felony.
Arizona law allows a private citizen to make a legal arrest if a felony has been committed and the citizen believes that the person he is arresting committed the felony.
"I do not want the message to go out that people can start rounding up illegal immigrants whether or not they think they're here legally, whether or not they know all the facts," Thomas said. "This is a very unusual case with a narrow set of facts and very unusual circumstances that allow Mr. Haab to avoid prosecution."
I posted something last week about using Google to take a sky-high peek at any place here in the United States.
I was showing a friend of mine (let's just call her Elly) this feature on Google. I zoomed in on UCSD and showed her the Price Center and the parking lot where she parks. I then zoomed in on the Navy base where I work and showed her different landmarks on the base that look itty-bitty from orbit, specifically the static aircraft mounted on pedestals on the main drag.
As I was driving into work this afternoon and going past those static planes the thought occured to me: what is to stop someone from using this Google Map function to plan a terrorist attack?? Granted, the resolution of the satellite imagery isn't great, but it's still good enough to get a idea of the layout of any specific area.
For instance:
Not the best way to express one's opinion:
Police: Man Arrested For Spitting On Jane FondaJane, considering how betrayed most Vietnam Vets feel when they're reminded about your actions back in early 70s, you're lucky he didn't power puke on you. And if he had, you'd deserve it.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police said they arrested a man for spitting on two-time Academy Award-winning actress Jane Fonda during a book-signing stop in Kansas City Tuesday night.
Fonda, 67, spoke at Unity Temple, in The Plaza shopping district, about her new best-selling book, "My Life So Far," and her new movie with Jennifer Lopez called "Monster-In-Law."
At about 9 p.m., police said, a man who had been waiting in line for about 90 minutes, passed a book to Fonda and then spit a large amount of tobacco juice into her face.They said the man then ran away and was taken into custody by off-duty officers, who were providing security for the event.
Fonda declined to prosecute the man.
Sage words:
Ted Speaks
He drew the most cheers when he told gun owners they should never give up their right to bear arms and should use their guns to protect themselves if needed.
"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
Damn Ted - it cannot be said any simpler....
I've talked about this numb-nuts before and here's the Karma Train coming into the station:
Calif. student gets 8 years for SUV vandalismI would do anything to earn any leniency the court...
LOS ANGELES - An aspiring physicist was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Monday and ordered to pay $3.5 million for his role in a spree of arson and vandalism that targeted gas-guzzling Hummers and other sports utility vehicles.
Rejecting pleas for clemency from William Cottrell, a 24-year-old doctoral candidate in physics at the California Institute of Technology, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner added more time to the sentence after finding that Cottrell was trying to sway consumers with his anti-SUV message.
The slogans Cottrell spray-painted onto vehicles included “Fat Lazy Americans,” “No Respect for Earth” and “SUV = Terrorism.”
Cottrell, who admitted only spray-painting and testified he did not know that two friends were bringing Molotov cocktails, promised he would never break the law again. The two friends have fled the country to avoid prosecution, authorities said.
“I want nothing more than to be a physicist,” Cottrell said. “I would do anything to earn any leniency the court could show in this matter.”
William (or as you'll be addressed in prison: BITCH), now is when you'll have a lot of time to really think about how 'neat' and 'cool' it was to pull such a mindless stunt. If you had been possibly framed for this, I'd give you some benefit of the doubt especially considering that you've flushed all that education down the toilet. But you didn't - you thought it out and I'm certain that you thought it over for quite a while and decided to do it.
And in between getting sodomized by thugs in your cell each night, you'll have lots of time to pay for your lack of vision [/Darth Vader]...
The notion of talk being 'cheap' is appearing to be quite true:
Schwarzenegger talks tough on illegal immigrationAnyone can 'talk' about nadding up and doing something about illegal immigrants, but here's a suggestion Mr. Governor: put the California National Guard down here on the border. Belive it or not, as the Govenor of California you have the command and control of the state's
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the nation's policy on preventing illegal immigration is too lax, telling a group of newspaper publishers the United States needs to "close the borders."
"Close the borders in California and all across Mexico and in the United States," Schwarzenegger said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America. "Because I think it is just unfair to have all those people coming across, have the borders open the way it is, and have this kind of lax situation."
And while I'm sure there will be some that will whine, gnash their teeth, and froath from the mouth like a rabid gerbil, you'll have a LOT of people here in San Diego backing you on this.
Honestly Mr. Governor - what have you got to loose?? Considering that anyone left-of-center wants you out of office, nothing.
(Hat tip to Right Wing News for the pointer)
UPDATE: It would appear that the governor is saying that he spoke incorrectly due to his 'substandard English':
Schwarzenegger Sorry for Border CommentNo Governor, you need to stop listening to the people on your staff that are a biscuit away from having a stroke over the damage control.laming his faulty English, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said he misspoke when he suggested that California's border with Mexico should be closed to help solve the nation's illegal immigration problem.
Schwarzenegger made the remark while speaking to newspaper editors and publishers Tuesday. He said he intended to say the border should be secured.
"Yesterday was a total screw-up in the words I used," the Republican said at a news conference. "Because instead of closing, I meant securing. I think maybe my English, I need to go back to school and study a little bit."
Stick to your guns - put the National Guard on the border and ignore the whinging/schreeching/yelling from your critics.
The dingbats in the anti-war cabal like to spout how their supporting Iraqi insurgents when they fight 'American aggression'. I wonder where they stand on this:
Report: Over 60 Bodies Found in IraqI can just hear the spin now: Oh, they were working in conjuction with American imperialist forces.....
BAGHDAD, Iraq — In a bloody day in Iraq, the bodies of 19 executed Iraqis were reportedly found in a soccer stadium in a town northwest of Baghdad while at least six others died in a series of violent episodes in the Iraqi capital. Also, Iraq's president says the bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered from the Tigris River and were believed to have been hostages.
In the town of Haditha, an Iraqi reporter and residents said they believed the 19 dead people were executed Wednesday. There are no details on when or where the victims recovered from the river were abducted.
Taxi driver Usama Rauf said he heard gunshots and rushed to the stadium where he saw the bodies lined up against a bloodstained wall. The reporter and other residents counted 19 bodies and said all appeared to have been shot.
Makes me wonder if these dorks will ever see the situation for what it is and not what they'd like to imagine is happening over in Iraq.
Took a second read of this to get it to sink in:
Police in Ariz. Seek Monkey for SWAT Team
MESA, Ariz. (AP) - The Mesa Police Department is looking to add some primal instinct to its SWAT team. And to do that, it's looking to a monkey.
"Everybody laughs about it until they really start thinking about it," said Mesa Officer Sean Truelove, who builds and operates tactical robots for the suburban Phoenix SWAT team. "It would change the way we do business."
Truelove is spearheading the department's request to purchase and train a capuchin monkey, considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee. The department is seeking about $100,000 in federal grant money to put the idea to use in Mesa SWAT operations.
The monkey, which costs $15,000, is what Truelove envisions as the ultimate SWAT reconnaissance tool.
Since 1979, capuchin monkeys have been trained to be companions for people who are quadriplegics by performing daily tasks, such as serving food, opening and closing doors, turning lights on and off, retrieving objects and brushing hair.
Truelove hopes the same training could prepare a monkey for special-ops intelligence.
Kind of reminds me of the line from the Disney movie Aladdin: "The monkey's got a sword!!"
It is a smart move, but the animals-rights psychos (read: PETA) will be howling about endangering the poor monkey.
And as a pre-emptive strike against this stupid arguement from them, I offer this: instead of using a Capuchin monkey to do recon around a corner to see if a bad guy is there holding a weapon, the Mesa Police Department can use PETA members instead.
No wait,that wouldn't work out: that would mean that PETA members would actually have to work...
Good news...while at dialysis this afternoon, I got my monthly lab report and there was good stuff in it:
March 2005
Cholesterol: 290
Triglycerides: 1543
April 2005
Cholesterol: not recorded
Triglycerides: 840
They don't check cholesterol except for every three months, but cholesterol and triglycerides always track together.
What does this mean: it means that once the triglycerides drop below 500 I get on the national transplant list!!
Ted Nugent Slays Burglar At Houston McDonalds
"Ted was eating a hamburger and I wanted to get his autograph," said local auto supply store manager Charles Kuff. "All of the sudden, this weird guy in a mask shouts 'Robble Robble' and grabs his hamburger. That's when Ted pulled out a gun and shot him."
Nugent was in town to speak at the National Rifle Association Convention to promote gun ownership rights and campaign for increased membership among responsible gun owners. At a press conference after the shootingm Nugent was characteristically unrepentant for his actions.
"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
Because of Houston's lenient self-defense laws, Nugent has not been charged with any crime at this time according the District Attorney's Office. Furthermore, the slain baby-faced burglar has yet to be identified by Houston's Crime Lab, but a spokesman for the lab says they might have a good guess by mid-2007.
"We think it might be the elusive Ronald McDonald," said spokesman Bob Hardesty. "We've been looking for him for a long time."
To get myself out of a funk sometimes, I'll intensely listen to some song that really grooves and attempt to figure out the bass line to it.
Case in point: the recent remake by No Doubt of the song It's My Life originally by Talk Talk. Since I haven't really picked up my bass in quite a long time, I sometimes rely on others to figure it out for me; maybe it's a 'cheat', but in the end I figure if I'm blasting out the tune and those that hear it enjoy it as much (if not more) than I do, then everyone benefits.
What I dig about this particular bass line is the pre-chorus which has this tight yet rambing segment.VERSE
G|--------|--------|--------|--------|
D|--------|--------|-------7|--7--7--|
A|7-7-57--|--7-57-9|--9-79--|----9---|
E|-------7|--------|--------|-------7|
After-verse
G|--------|--------------|
D|--------|--------------|
A|8-8-6-88|8-6-----------|
E|--------|----8-----6-8-|
B|--------|------6-9-----|
Pre-chorus
G|--------|---------|--------|--------|
D|---8-6--|---------|---4----|--4---6-|
A|-68---8-|--34-64--|-46--64-|-4-4-6-6| X2the last without the 4th arpeggio
E|6------4|-6-----2-|-------2|----4---|
Chorus
G|------------|------------|
D|------------|------------|
A|-----6---6-6|-----4---4-4| X4
E|-6-9---9----|-4-6---6----|
bridge
E|-7-7-5-7--|
B|---------7|after the bridge go to the second part of After-verse
This is one thing that I'm looking forward to once I graduate: being able to rattle plaster on my bass.
(This bass tab glommed from Taborama.com)
Oklahoma City Marks 10 Years Since BombingHere's hoping that all those that were murdered in the attack are at peace and that the perpetrator of the attack, Timothy McVeigh, is experiencing anguish like no other souls have in the history of time.
OKLAHOMA CITY — With 168 moments of silence and the message that goodness can overcome evil, victims of the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history were remembered Tuesday at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Some 1,600 people inside the First United Methodist Church fell silent at 9:02 a.m., the moment the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed exactly 10 years earlier.
My Navy buddy Time Keeper is wishing he'd taken me seriously about putting those twin-.50 caliber machine guns on his car:
Thing that make me go hmmmph
If you are one of those flaming anuses who must listen to your bass-heavy, Two-Nikes-in-a-Kenmore music at a deafening level, I am sure that there is a special ring in hell reserved for you, wherein you will be forced to listen to Lawrence Welk and the 101 Strings for eternity, at the same mindsplitting volume you inflicted your aural dreck upon the rest of us.
(This screed brought you by the idiot who drove down the street behind me with his music—and I use the term loosely—blasting loud enough to cause all of the windows in the house to rattle in sync. I think it would have set the alarm off if it had been armed.)
A comment that surprisingly hasn't been quickly deleted by those fine, upstanding bastions of intellect over at San Diego Indy Media; it's located in a thread about 'Discuss SD Peace & Justice Movement April 18':
liarsFunny - they don't strike me as RACISTS, but then again they think that all Protest Warriors are out to crush all sorts of free speech so there is no accounting for logical thought with these folks.
In 1991, near the end of the so-called Persian Gulf war, it became shamefully obvious that the anti-war movement in the US had some deep problems regarding class and race.
Demonstrations were largely lily-white affairs. San Diego’s anti-war movement back then, which was led by the San Diego Coalition for Peace in the Middle East (SDCPME), was no exception.
The issue was addressed at a SDCPME open meeting toward the end of the war. To try and remedy the problem a motion to change the march route from Downtown/Balboa Park to Logan was proposed. Marches in this community of color and others would help build solidarity with working class people. The motion was voted on by the body and approved. The new march route was to take effect in the upcoming weekend protest.
But something happened that remains a stain in the anti-war movement in SD. Three or four days after the new march route was approved, leaders of the SDCPME held a secret meeting. At that meeting the new march route was overruled and the original (safe for whitey) march route was reinstated.
Democracy had been hoodwinked by the despotic leadership of the SDCPME.
The SDCPME disbanded in the 1990s for dubious reasons. The real reason may have been because its misleaders wanted to wash their hands of their treachery to the peace movement and start out with a clean slate. In other words it seems that they did what many misleaders do - disband and regroup under a different name.
The new organization’s name is the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (SDCPJ). The leaders of SDCPJ say they want to have an open meeting to discuss: “The Political Message” and “Movement Tactics” as “…only the beginning of a process of building a democratic movement that says no to war, so please join us to express your ideas and have your voice heard!”
Or so reads an invite to their April 18, 2005 open meeting that was suddenly placed in the SDIMC Newswire archives on April 12, 2005 after comments about the 1991 affair had been posted.
Now, after the comments have been wiped clean, the invite has reappeared as above.
To SDIMC and ne1,
You people don’t have the integrity to deal with this issue. You subverted democracy in 1991 and now you pretend to be interested in democracy. Yet when I mentioned your treachery in 1991 you censored it. You haven’t changed one bit from 1991. The lily-whiteness of your protests speaks volumes.
I doubt they'll answer but here goes: What do you folks have to say about this, hmmmm?
Of course, this comment - like most/all of mine - will be deleted as soon as they catch wind of this because we all know that they're like squirrels: chatter and scurry away at the first sign of a response.
If you're feeling funky, give them a call and see if they're willing to talk: (619) 263-9301
Today I walked into work and was peeling back the day-by-day calendar featuring historic aircraft and was reminded that today was the 63rd anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.
.jpg "B-25 Lifting off the deck")
On April 18, 1942 sixteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers performed a first-time take off from the USS Hornet while 600 miles off the coast of Japan. The initial plan was to have the Hornet close to within 400 miles and launch Doolittle's bombers, but the discovery of the task force by a Japanese picket boat hastened the departure. Better to launch now instead of having the bombers on the Hornet's deck when the presumed air attack came.
.jpg "B-25 revving up for takeoff (Note white lines painted on the deck to guide the pilot during the rollout)")
The B-25 crews hurried to take anything non-essential off the planes to lighten the load enough to accommodate the extra gasoline that would be needed to cover the extra distance to their targets in mainland Japan. This even included the .50-calibre machine guns, which left the planes virtually defenseless while flying into the heart of the enemy airspace.
Most of the planes were to target military targets around the Tokyo area. And while their payload was light - four 500-pound bombs, one of which was an incendiary bomb intended to make as much damage as possible to the multiple wooden buildings near the target areas - and there wouldn't be much strategic damage done, the mere presence of American bombers over Japan would not only strike a blow to Japanese moral, but would give American moral a much needed boost.
There's a ton of information on the Internet about this raid and it's always been fascinating to me ever since I read '30 Seconds over Tokyo' by Ted Lawson as a kid.
Sadly, this historic raid was somehow tied into the storyline in the movie Pearl Harbor and I cringe whenever I think about how these brave crews were minimized for a Hollywood plotline. The one aspect (that I spotted) that was preserved was that one of the B-25s was dubbed 'The Ruptured Duck' and this was retained in the movie.
This is the kind of bravado that distinguishes American soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the rest - doing what is deemed impossible, doing it with panache, and making sure that everyone knows it was American know-how that got the job done.
Everybody - be a mensch and click on some of those Google Ads on the left-hand side - Mikey needs a new kidney....[/shameless plugging]
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Cheney Weighs in on Judicial FilibustersTo me, this isn't the 'interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances' - it's more like a scorched-earth policy. Looked at in a more simplistic manner, it's the Senate Dems throwing a hissy fit.
Republicans are moving the Senate toward a final confrontation with Democrats over judicial nominations. Internal GOP polling shows that most Americans don't support Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's plan to ban judicial filibusters - a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member Senate.
"There is no justification for allowing the blocking of nominees who are well qualified and broadly supported," Cheney told the Republican National Lawyers Association. "The tactics of the last few years, I believe, are inexcusable."
"Let me emphasize, the decision about how to proceed will be made by the Republican leadership in the Senate," Cheney said. "But if the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up or down vote."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the White House "has stepped over the line by interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances."
While I'm not too keen on the Republicans using a 'nuclear policy' to get rid of this road-block - it could easily come back and bite the GOP in the ass down the road - I can understand their getting irritated enough to utilize such tactics.
But while the decision rests with the Republican leadership in the Senate as to whether to 'kick ass & take names', it will also rest squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee since they don't appear to be moving at all on this and as such will prompt the Republicans to do something - anything - to get an UP or DOWN vote on those remaining nominees.
In all honesty, I can understand why the Dems are pulling these childish tricks - they're trying to wage a war of attrition on the Republicans.
Pragmatism - in any form, big or small - would dictate that eventually the Dems would realize that they've got a snowball's chance in Hell and will capitulate and give an up or down vote. I'm guessing that they're afraid to face the reality of the situation and that by 'holding the fort' for a long enough time that Al Gore or John Kerry will come riding in in the nick of time to save them.
Maybe someone should perform an intervention on the Senate Dems and make them face their fears...? Just a thought.
Moussaoui pleads guiltyHere is a thought: let's put Moussaoui and Hasan Akbar in a cage for an all-out death match and the winner gets to live for a month - but the catch is that he'll be sodomized daily by angry goats....THEN he'll be hung from the nearest flagpole....
The French citizen told U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema he realized he could be put to death.
"I expect no leniency," he said. (And you'll get none - Ed)
Moussaui, charged with six felony counts, said he was trained on a Boeing 747 "to use this plane to strike the White House."
He explained the training was in preparation for an attack planned to occur after the 9-11 attacks.
His defense lawyer, Alan Yamamoto, said he was satisfied the defendant understood what he was doing.
"When I have spoken to him, we have disagreed,” Yamamoto said. "He is facing the possibility of death or life in prison. He has told me that he understands that."
Brinkema said, "The court is accepting today the defendant’s six pleas of guilty to the six counts of the indictment."
Now ain't this F'd up?
GI: I held migrants in self-defenseWTF is the world coming to when someone does what the freakin police are supposed to do and gets arrested?
"I acted in self-defense," the 24-year-old Army Reserve sergeant said during a news conference filled with contradictions Wednesday at the Maricopa County jail where he is being held on seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. "I thought they were going to attack me."
Dressed in prison stripes and shackled with chains at his ankles, Haab said he had no idea that the men were undocumented immigrants at the time he drew his pistol from a holster he often wears.
"I was not looking for any trouble," he said. "I'm not prejudiced in any way."
Patrick does what most Americans would do - detain criminals - and he's the bad guy? Give me a freakin break...next thing you know people will get arrested for looking cross-eyed at illegal aliens undocumented migrants.
Patricks' website can be located here. Send him a quick note of support.
UPDATE: It would seem that someone in the district attorney's office fired some neurons and made a smart (and obvious) choice:
Reservist who held migrants at gunpoint won't be prosecutedSmart move Mr. Thomas.No criminal charges will be filed against an Army reservist who held seven undocumented immigrants at gunpoint this month at an Arizona rest stop.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Thursday that Sgt. Patrick Haab had the legal right to make a citizen's arrest because the man smuggling the immigrants into the country was committing a felony and the immigrants themselves were conspiring with the coyote to commit a felony.
Arizona law allows a private citizen to make a legal arrest if a felony has been committed and the citizen believes that the person he is arresting committed the felony.
"I do not want the message to go out that people can start rounding up illegal immigrants whether or not they think they're here legally, whether or not they know all the facts," Thomas said. "This is a very unusual case with a narrow set of facts and very unusual circumstances that allow Mr. Haab to avoid prosecution."
I posted something last week about using Google to take a sky-high peek at any place here in the United States.
I was showing a friend of mine (let's just call her Elly) this feature on Google. I zoomed in on UCSD and showed her the Price Center and the parking lot where she parks. I then zoomed in on the Navy base where I work and showed her different landmarks on the base that look itty-bitty from orbit, specifically the static aircraft mounted on pedestals on the main drag.
As I was driving into work this afternoon and going past those static planes the thought occured to me: what is to stop someone from using this Google Map function to plan a terrorist attack?? Granted, the resolution of the satellite imagery isn't great, but it's still good enough to get a idea of the layout of any specific area.
For instance:
Not the best way to express one's opinion:
Police: Man Arrested For Spitting On Jane FondaJane, considering how betrayed most Vietnam Vets feel when they're reminded about your actions back in early 70s, you're lucky he didn't power puke on you. And if he had, you'd deserve it.
Fonda, 67, spoke at Unity Temple, in The Plaza shopping district, about her new best-selling book, "My Life So Far," and her new movie with Jennifer Lopez called "Monster-In-Law."
Fonda declined to prosecute the man.
Sage words:
Ted Speaks
"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
Damn Ted - it cannot be said any simpler....
I've talked about this numb-nuts before and here's the Karma Train coming into the station:
Calif. student gets 8 years for SUV vandalismI would do anything to earn any leniency the court...
Rejecting pleas for clemency from William Cottrell, a 24-year-old doctoral candidate in physics at the California Institute of Technology, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner added more time to the sentence after finding that Cottrell was trying to sway consumers with his anti-SUV message.
The slogans Cottrell spray-painted onto vehicles included “Fat Lazy Americans,” “No Respect for Earth” and “SUV = Terrorism.”
Cottrell, who admitted only spray-painting and testified he did not know that two friends were bringing Molotov cocktails, promised he would never break the law again. The two friends have fled the country to avoid prosecution, authorities said.
“I want nothing more than to be a physicist,” Cottrell said. “I would do anything to earn any leniency the court could show in this matter.”
William (or as you'll be addressed in prison: BITCH), now is when you'll have a lot of time to really think about how 'neat' and 'cool' it was to pull such a mindless stunt. If you had been possibly framed for this, I'd give you some benefit of the doubt especially considering that you've flushed all that education down the toilet. But you didn't - you thought it out and I'm certain that you thought it over for quite a while and decided to do it.
And in between getting sodomized by thugs in your cell each night, you'll have lots of time to pay for your lack of vision [/Darth Vader]...
The notion of talk being 'cheap' is appearing to be quite true:
Schwarzenegger talks tough on illegal immigrationAnyone can 'talk' about nadding up and doing something about illegal immigrants, but here's a suggestion Mr. Governor: put the California National Guard down here on the border. Belive it or not, as the Govenor of California you have the command and control of the state's
"Close the borders in California and all across Mexico and in the United States," Schwarzenegger said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America. "Because I think it is just unfair to have all those people coming across, have the borders open the way it is, and have this kind of lax situation."
And while I'm sure there will be some that will whine, gnash their teeth, and froath from the mouth like a rabid gerbil, you'll have a LOT of people here in San Diego backing you on this.
Honestly Mr. Governor - what have you got to loose?? Considering that anyone left-of-center wants you out of office, nothing.
(Hat tip to Right Wing News for the pointer)
UPDATE: It would appear that the governor is saying that he spoke incorrectly due to his 'substandard English':
Schwarzenegger Sorry for Border CommentNo Governor, you need to stop listening to the people on your staff that are a biscuit away from having a stroke over the damage control.laming his faulty English, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said he misspoke when he suggested that California's border with Mexico should be closed to help solve the nation's illegal immigration problem.
Schwarzenegger made the remark while speaking to newspaper editors and publishers Tuesday. He said he intended to say the border should be secured.
"Yesterday was a total screw-up in the words I used," the Republican said at a news conference. "Because instead of closing, I meant securing. I think maybe my English, I need to go back to school and study a little bit."
Stick to your guns - put the National Guard on the border and ignore the whinging/schreeching/yelling from your critics.
The dingbats in the anti-war cabal like to spout how their supporting Iraqi insurgents when they fight 'American aggression'. I wonder where they stand on this:
Report: Over 60 Bodies Found in IraqI can just hear the spin now: Oh, they were working in conjuction with American imperialist forces.....
In the town of Haditha, an Iraqi reporter and residents said they believed the 19 dead people were executed Wednesday. There are no details on when or where the victims recovered from the river were abducted.
Taxi driver Usama Rauf said he heard gunshots and rushed to the stadium where he saw the bodies lined up against a bloodstained wall. The reporter and other residents counted 19 bodies and said all appeared to have been shot.
Makes me wonder if these dorks will ever see the situation for what it is and not what they'd like to imagine is happening over in Iraq.
Took a second read of this to get it to sink in:
Police in Ariz. Seek Monkey for SWAT Team
"Everybody laughs about it until they really start thinking about it," said Mesa Officer Sean Truelove, who builds and operates tactical robots for the suburban Phoenix SWAT team. "It would change the way we do business."
Truelove is spearheading the department's request to purchase and train a capuchin monkey, considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee. The department is seeking about $100,000 in federal grant money to put the idea to use in Mesa SWAT operations.
The monkey, which costs $15,000, is what Truelove envisions as the ultimate SWAT reconnaissance tool.
Since 1979, capuchin monkeys have been trained to be companions for people who are quadriplegics by performing daily tasks, such as serving food, opening and closing doors, turning lights on and off, retrieving objects and brushing hair.
Truelove hopes the same training could prepare a monkey for special-ops intelligence.
Kind of reminds me of the line from the Disney movie Aladdin: "The monkey's got a sword!!"
It is a smart move, but the animals-rights psychos (read: PETA) will be howling about endangering the poor monkey.
And as a pre-emptive strike against this stupid arguement from them, I offer this: instead of using a Capuchin monkey to do recon around a corner to see if a bad guy is there holding a weapon, the Mesa Police Department can use PETA members instead.
No wait,that wouldn't work out: that would mean that PETA members would actually have to work...
Good news...while at dialysis this afternoon, I got my monthly lab report and there was good stuff in it:
March 2005
Cholesterol: 290
Triglycerides: 1543
April 2005
Cholesterol: not recorded
Triglycerides: 840
They don't check cholesterol except for every three months, but cholesterol and triglycerides always track together.
What does this mean: it means that once the triglycerides drop below 500 I get on the national transplant list!!
Ted Nugent Slays Burglar At Houston McDonalds
"Ted was eating a hamburger and I wanted to get his autograph," said local auto supply store manager Charles Kuff. "All of the sudden, this weird guy in a mask shouts 'Robble Robble' and grabs his hamburger. That's when Ted pulled out a gun and shot him."
"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
Because of Houston's lenient self-defense laws, Nugent has not been charged with any crime at this time according the District Attorney's Office. Furthermore, the slain baby-faced burglar has yet to be identified by Houston's Crime Lab, but a spokesman for the lab says they might have a good guess by mid-2007.
"We think it might be the elusive Ronald McDonald," said spokesman Bob Hardesty. "We've been looking for him for a long time."
To get myself out of a funk sometimes, I'll intensely listen to some song that really grooves and attempt to figure out the bass line to it.
Case in point: the recent remake by No Doubt of the song It's My Life originally by Talk Talk. Since I haven't really picked up my bass in quite a long time, I sometimes rely on others to figure it out for me; maybe it's a 'cheat', but in the end I figure if I'm blasting out the tune and those that hear it enjoy it as much (if not more) than I do, then everyone benefits.
What I dig about this particular bass line is the pre-chorus which has this tight yet rambing segment.VERSE
G|--------|--------|--------|--------|
D|--------|--------|-------7|--7--7--|
A|7-7-57--|--7-57-9|--9-79--|----9---|
E|-------7|--------|--------|-------7|
After-verse
G|--------|--------------|
D|--------|--------------|
A|8-8-6-88|8-6-----------|
E|--------|----8-----6-8-|
B|--------|------6-9-----|
Pre-chorus
G|--------|---------|--------|--------|
D|---8-6--|---------|---4----|--4---6-|
A|-68---8-|--34-64--|-46--64-|-4-4-6-6| X2the last without the 4th arpeggio
E|6------4|-6-----2-|-------2|----4---|
Chorus
G|------------|------------|
D|------------|------------|
A|-----6---6-6|-----4---4-4| X4
E|-6-9---9----|-4-6---6----|
bridge
E|-7-7-5-7--|
B|---------7|after the bridge go to the second part of After-verse
This is one thing that I'm looking forward to once I graduate: being able to rattle plaster on my bass.
(This bass tab glommed from Taborama.com)
Oklahoma City Marks 10 Years Since BombingHere's hoping that all those that were murdered in the attack are at peace and that the perpetrator of the attack, Timothy McVeigh, is experiencing anguish like no other souls have in the history of time.
Some 1,600 people inside the First United Methodist Church fell silent at 9:02 a.m., the moment the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed exactly 10 years earlier.
My Navy buddy Time Keeper is wishing he'd taken me seriously about putting those twin-.50 caliber machine guns on his car:
Thing that make me go hmmmph
(This screed brought you by the idiot who drove down the street behind me with his music—and I use the term loosely—blasting loud enough to cause all of the windows in the house to rattle in sync. I think it would have set the alarm off if it had been armed.)
A comment that surprisingly hasn't been quickly deleted by those fine, upstanding bastions of intellect over at San Diego Indy Media; it's located in a thread about 'Discuss SD Peace & Justice Movement April 18':
liarsFunny - they don't strike me as RACISTS, but then again they think that all Protest Warriors are out to crush all sorts of free speech so there is no accounting for logical thought with these folks.
Demonstrations were largely lily-white affairs. San Diego’s anti-war movement back then, which was led by the San Diego Coalition for Peace in the Middle East (SDCPME), was no exception.
The issue was addressed at a SDCPME open meeting toward the end of the war. To try and remedy the problem a motion to change the march route from Downtown/Balboa Park to Logan was proposed. Marches in this community of color and others would help build solidarity with working class people. The motion was voted on by the body and approved. The new march route was to take effect in the upcoming weekend protest.
But something happened that remains a stain in the anti-war movement in SD. Three or four days after the new march route was approved, leaders of the SDCPME held a secret meeting. At that meeting the new march route was overruled and the original (safe for whitey) march route was reinstated.
Democracy had been hoodwinked by the despotic leadership of the SDCPME.
The SDCPME disbanded in the 1990s for dubious reasons. The real reason may have been because its misleaders wanted to wash their hands of their treachery to the peace movement and start out with a clean slate. In other words it seems that they did what many misleaders do - disband and regroup under a different name.
The new organization’s name is the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (SDCPJ). The leaders of SDCPJ say they want to have an open meeting to discuss: “The Political Message” and “Movement Tactics” as “…only the beginning of a process of building a democratic movement that says no to war, so please join us to express your ideas and have your voice heard!”
Or so reads an invite to their April 18, 2005 open meeting that was suddenly placed in the SDIMC Newswire archives on April 12, 2005 after comments about the 1991 affair had been posted.
Now, after the comments have been wiped clean, the invite has reappeared as above.
To SDIMC and ne1,
You people don’t have the integrity to deal with this issue. You subverted democracy in 1991 and now you pretend to be interested in democracy. Yet when I mentioned your treachery in 1991 you censored it. You haven’t changed one bit from 1991. The lily-whiteness of your protests speaks volumes.
I doubt they'll answer but here goes: What do you folks have to say about this, hmmmm?
Of course, this comment - like most/all of mine - will be deleted as soon as they catch wind of this because we all know that they're like squirrels: chatter and scurry away at the first sign of a response.
If you're feeling funky, give them a call and see if they're willing to talk: (619) 263-9301
Today I walked into work and was peeling back the day-by-day calendar featuring historic aircraft and was reminded that today was the 63rd anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.
On April 18, 1942 sixteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers performed a first-time take off from the USS Hornet while 600 miles off the coast of Japan. The initial plan was to have the Hornet close to within 400 miles and launch Doolittle's bombers, but the discovery of the task force by a Japanese picket boat hastened the departure. Better to launch now instead of having the bombers on the Hornet's deck when the presumed air attack came.
The B-25 crews hurried to take anything non-essential off the planes to lighten the load enough to accommodate the extra gasoline that would be needed to cover the extra distance to their targets in mainland Japan. This even included the .50-calibre machine guns, which left the planes virtually defenseless while flying into the heart of the enemy airspace.
Most of the planes were to target military targets around the Tokyo area. And while their payload was light - four 500-pound bombs, one of which was an incendiary bomb intended to make as much damage as possible to the multiple wooden buildings near the target areas - and there wouldn't be much strategic damage done, the mere presence of American bombers over Japan would not only strike a blow to Japanese moral, but would give American moral a much needed boost.
There's a ton of information on the Internet about this raid and it's always been fascinating to me ever since I read '30 Seconds over Tokyo' by Ted Lawson as a kid.
Sadly, this historic raid was somehow tied into the storyline in the movie Pearl Harbor and I cringe whenever I think about how these brave crews were minimized for a Hollywood plotline. The one aspect (that I spotted) that was preserved was that one of the B-25s was dubbed 'The Ruptured Duck' and this was retained in the movie.
This is the kind of bravado that distinguishes American soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the rest - doing what is deemed impossible, doing it with panache, and making sure that everyone knows it was American know-how that got the job done.
Everybody - be a mensch and click on some of those Google Ads on the left-hand side - Mikey needs a new kidney....[/shameless plugging]
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Comments on Embrace Your Fears Dude
Considering that over 95% of Bush's nominations have been passed, something like 205 of them, this to me is more like the Republicans throwing a hissy fit... Frist seems to forget that he used a filibuster in March 2000 against Paez... 10 of President Bush, Inc.'s nominees have been blocked as opposed to 65 during Clinton's time, with such rules as the blue-slip system and anonymous holds, among others that the Republicans did away with when President Bush, Inc. came into office. New Hampshire Republican Bob Smith blocked a vote on 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Richard Paez for months by putting an anonymous hold on the nomination. When Trent Lott couldn't maintain the hold any longer Smith and 13 other Republicans tried to filibuster, but cloture was voted and Paez was confirmed, something like two years after being nominated.
|| Posted by scroff, April 23, 2005 12:06 PM ||The Republicans are pissing and moaning because the Democrats aren't just rolling over and playing dead. Fuck em, buncha whining little brats. And didn't Cheney already say he wouldn't interfere in the process? I believe he did, I believe he told Harry Reid he wouldn't become involved in Senate politics. Now he flip flops, or was it an outright lie?
Just an afterthought... the Dems still represent at least 48% of this country, the Republicans don't rule the roost.
|| Posted by scroff, April 23, 2005 12:17 PM ||You got a point Scroffmeister, but what boggles me is that you'd think that Dems would 'rise above it and play nice'.
I guess my point of this post was to point out that it's getting ugly and BOTH sides are to blame to one degree or another, both past and present.
To me and my semi-simplistic mind set is that any one person or group could try to be civil about it and attempt to dialogue about it rather than calling press conferences time and again to vent their spleens...
|| Posted by Mad Mikey, April 24, 2005 10:01 AM ||If they play nice, idiots like Bolten are confirmed. This is not the time to play nice. IMNSHO, the Republicans need to make the first 'nice' move by realizing that by not being willing to debate and give an inch or two on some of Bush's ultra-right nominees, they are not representing the US, but the Republican party, which is less than half of the US citizens, once you account for Independents, Libertarians, and those not counted or committed.
|| Posted by scroff, April 24, 2005 03:43 PM ||Being 'willing to debate' would mean that the issue (the nominee in question) is up for a up or down vote on the floor.
'Willing to debate' in the Judiciary Committee is also opening up the nomination to some sort of discussion that would eventually lead to a Senate floor vote.
|| Posted by Mad Mikey, April 24, 2005 05:41 PM ||No offense, Mad One, but "Willing to Debate" to a Senate Republican means no debate, just a vote, in which all, or practically all, Republicans will follow the party line. Bush is trying to push through 20 judges that didn't make it through last time, and the Republicans are willing to do away with the filibuster, which has been around for 200 years, to do so. There can be an 'up or down' vote on cloture, if it passes, then the nominee is in, if not, then the Senate has 'Advised' against the nominee and not 'Consented'. Simple process. The people Bush is trying to appoint are whack jobs that belong nowhere near a lifetime appointment.
Just tonight, Frist went on the rampage talking about the godless democrats, pushing for these radical right wing judges. A judge is appointed for life, and their decisions will affect everyone in the country, not just Republicans or the Religious Right. The Senate has a duty to keep that in mind and vote the interests of the country, not the likes of Frist...
|| Posted by scroff, April 24, 2005 08:08 PM |||| , 10:24 AM || Permalink || Hide Comments || Add your comment