Shots Across The Bow

Check this out

Go to south Knox Bubba's page. Now.

Trust me....

Jesse slaps around Minnesota Dems

Jesse Ventura may nominate an Independant to fill Paul Wellstones seat until after the elections.

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura was so offended by the political rally that evolved out of a memorial service to honor Wellstone that he said he will try to appoint an independent instead of a Democrat to fill out Wellstone's term until a replacement is certified.

"I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally ... I think the Democrats should hang their heads in shame," Ventura told Fox News on Wednesday.

Of course, the organizers claim it was an accident that the memorial turned into a political rally, but the state Republican party is now asking for equal time.
Here's a nice bit of p[olitical hypocrisy to add to the mix:

Polls appearing in Wednesday's Minneapolis Star Tribune showed Mondale leading Coleman 47 percent to 39 percent, a wider margin than separated Wellstone and Mondale. The poll of 639 adults conducted on Monday, the same day Republicans conducted an internal poll that was criticized by Democrats as callous, found that 98 percent of Minnesotans recognized Mondale's name and 66 percent had a favorable image of him, including several Republicans surveyed. [Emphasis mine]

Of course, it goes without saying that the legal wrangling over absentee ballots will carry on long past election day.

I don't know how the race will turn out. It depends on how long the sympathy bounce lasts.

Best Halloween Cartoon

Foxtrot

Halloween

This one is going to get me into trouble.

I like Halloween. I think it is a blast. Dressing up in costumes, going to parties, taking the kids trick or treating, 'inspecting' their candy (my first encounter with graft, by the way, was having my parents skim all the good stuff from the pile, a tradition I proudly carry on with my own kids), making caramel popcorn, enjoying the crisp evening; it's just a good time.
The first Halloween I can remember my brother sister and I walked the entire neighborhood. We were using pillowcases to carry our loot, and they were full by the time we got home. Mom would only let us eat a few pieces that night, so we made sure to cram as much down as we could before we got home. Later, our parents tried to scare us with tales of razor blades in apples to keep us from eating the candy.
We just didn't eat the apples.
Since then, I've taken my kids trick or treating every year, and had just as much fun, watching them go. I've escorted angels, princesses, witches, dead rock stars, aliens, skeletons, ghosts, pumpkins, and big orange M&Ms on nocturnal candy missions. We live out in the country, so we have to take our kids to the mall, or to a nearby trailer park to trick or treat. I never imagenied I would have to bus my kids for trick or treating!
I know there are people who don't like Halloween. One group doesn't like how it seems to glorify death.

"The gravestones and people coming out of the ground are upsetting to some of our members," said Nancy Ruhe-Munch, executive director of Parents of Murdered Children. "I just think it's sad when we make a game or a costume out of death."

What Ms. Ruhe-Munch doesn't realize is that it is our ability to laugh at death which makes us human. Think about it; every other species, when confronted with the inevitibility of it's own demise, sinks into apathy and dies. Man is the only exception to this rule. We know we are going to die; we know it from the time we reach maturity, yet we go on living, when every other organism would quit. Why is that?
Because we can laugh at death. We can evolved the ability to look past death. We can minimize it, trivialize it, ward it off with laughter.

Others object to it's pagan origins, and I can respect that. But there is a sub group of these people that I don't understand, and do object to.
Several of the churches in my area run "Judgment Houses" as a replacement for the typical haunted houses. The portray scenes of torture and damnation, the fate awaiting any sinner who refuses to be born again. Now, in a typical haunted house, the terrors are imaginary, fiction, they aren't real, and even the younger kids know this. Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy; they're all fake. They've seen monsters unmasked by Shaggy and Scooby, so the scare is temporary. Mom and Dad are there to tell them it isn't real, it's just makeup and special effects.
In a Judgment House, kids don't get that. They get hellfire and damnation, everlasting torment, and Mom and Dad this time tell them it's real.They're told every Sunday by the preacher that these things are real. What a terrible thing to do to a child!
Being scared is fun when you know it isn't real. You get the adrenaline rush, and the endorphine high afterwards. Being scared for real isn't fun at all. The difference between going to a haunted house and a Judgment House is the difference between bungee jumping in Gatlinburg, and falling out of a 10 story window.
There's another risk to the whole Judgment House thing. By presenting it as entertainment, don't you devaluate it? Aren't you putting the fires of Hell on the same level as Scooby Doo?

More typecasting

No comment needed:

Futurama returns November 10, with former Vice President Al Gore appearing in cartoon form as a preserved head in a jar.

More new math

According to this story, the economy grew at 3.1% in the third quarter, pushed by strong consumer spending. This is good news, right?
Not according to this story. The bulk of the column continues to ptell how bad things are, and that they are going to get worse. Let's see, unemployment is around 6%, and the economy is growing at about 2%. Yep, times sure are tough!
The article also brings up this piece of garbage:

Democrats, however, point to the tax cut as a key reason why the federal government posted a $159 billion deficit in the 2002 fiscal year, ending four straight years of surpluses.

The war on terror and Sept 11 had absolutely nothing to do with that, right?
Another quick question: If we had four years of surpluses, how come the National debt kept going up? Does Arthur Andersen do the government's accounting?

UN = useless nitwits

The US drafted resolkution on Iraq is running into a stone wall in the UN Security Council.

The three veto-holding Security Council members want to ensure that Iraq is given a chance to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors before any military action is authorized — and they're now waiting to see what the United States and Britain are going to do to address their concerns.

After a third meeting council session Wednesday on the U.S. proposal, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Gennady Gatilov said Moscow still has "quite a number of problems" with the U.S. draft, centered on the automatic authorization to use force.

I keep hearing people ask us to justify going to war with Iraq. When we point out that Iraq is in violation of the cease fire accords, these people dismiss that as irrelevant, and ask for further justification. In thier minds, since Iraq has ignored the resolutions for so long, they must be null and void. In fact, some members of the coucil object to the fact that the US brings up the old resolutionsin the text of the new. I guess they don't like being reminded of their own spinelessness.
The UN, by their own actions, are proving their irrelevance. What good is a resolution when you've demonstrated repeatedly that you don't have the will to back it up?

Hooray for New Math!

From the mail bag (she hates it when I call her that):
Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M." The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment:
Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living?
Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees?
There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2000: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine
that his profit margin is $60?

Teaching Math in 2010: El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de production es...

Overkill?

A frat at UT has beensuspended for committing the heinous crime of having some members dress up as the Jackson 5 for a costume party on Cumberland Ave. Here's my problem with the whole thing:

Crabtree also pointed out measures that UT has taken over the past few months to widen the African and African-American Studies program and a planned semester-long program beginning in January to "celebrate Africa's cultural, entertainment and educational contributions to non-African cultures around the world."

Isn't that what these guys were doing? 50 years ago, would a bunch of Southern frat boys seek to emulate a black pop group? Not unless they were suicidal. They may have mocked the group, but not impersonated them. Note that the article does not describe the behavior of the frat boys. There is nothing to suggest that they lampooned or degraded the Jackson 5. Instead, the fact that they wore black makeup is treated as sufficient offense to warrant suspension.
I saw a show in Las Vegas which featured a Michael Jackson impersonator. He was white, using black makeup. I guess he should go to prison.
I've seen Eddie Murphy imitate white folks, with the aid of makeup, in several of his movies. I guess we should boycott his movies.
Now, had the frat boys done an Al Jolson impersonation, there might be a point to this mess; as it is, this is just another example of political correctness run amuck on our campuses.

Meditations on Matrimony

Two old bachelors were discussing their lives, and how they'd stayed single so long.
One sighed and said to the other, "once, long ago, I met a woman and fell in love at first sight."
The other asked, "Why didn't you marry her?"
"I took a second look!"
---------

The honeymoon was over, and she had discovered that two cannot live as cheaply as one. Disappointed, she became a terrible nag. Nothing was ever good enough. Finally, one night in the midst of a major argument, she cried, "Before we were married, you told me you were well off!"
"I was," he replied bitterly. "I just didn't know it!"
---------

I haven't spoken to my wife in years.

I don't want to interrupt her!
---------

Two for the ladies

Women's faults are many
Men have only two
Everything they say
And everything they do!

A husband is proof that a woman can take a joke!
---------

From the Devil's Dictionary:
LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.
---------

Love is blind, but marriage is an eye opener
---------

Love is a sweet dream. Marriage is the alarm clock!
---------

He promised to go through hell itself for her. She married him and now he's doing just that.
---------

A bachelor thinks he's happy, until he gets married.
Then he knows he was.
---------

Marriage means commitment. Then again, so does insanity.
---------

And finally:

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. -- Guitry
---------

No, I'm not bitter, why do you ask?

FedEx truck explodes on the I-270

This just came over on the FoxNews site
They don't think it was a bomb because the blast wasn't big enough.

We'll see.
UPDATE: The driver fell asleep and ran over a light pole, igniting the gas tank.

Of course, they're completely impartial....

A British group has analyzed the probable course and consequences of a war with Saddam Hussein, and declared that it simply isn't worth the cost.

LONDON - A U.S.-led war on Iraq would heighten the risk of regional conflict and increase support for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, researchers warned Monday.

The independent Oxford Research Group said conventional war would kill 10,000 civilians in Iraq, and could trigger a desperate and destructive response from Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Baghdad regime was bent on survival at any cost and would retaliate using "all available military means," including chemical and biological weapons, which could in turn trigger a nuclear response from the United States and Britain, the group warned in a new report.

Isn't it interesting that the peace movement tells us over and over that there are no links between Iraq and alQuaeda, but that if we attack Iraq, al Quaeda will respond.
Fascinating stuff.

Anyway, I went to the group's website, and found their mission statement

O.R.G combines rigorous research into nuclear and international security decisions with an understanding of the people who make those decisions. Since O.R.G.’s foundation in 1982, we have contacted key decision-makers worldwide and developed a personal dialogue with them on global security issues. We bring together government officials, senior military officers and diplomats with nuclear physicists, independent defence analysts and non-government organisation (NGO) representatives to debate steps towards building a more secure world through the elimination of nuclear weapons, reduction and control of the arms trade and effective non-violent resolution of conflict.

It comes as no surprise that any report commisioned and executed by this organization will be opposed to war. But maybe they did a real review of the facts, and just happened to get the conclusion they wanted. Let's look at the report itself.
We'll start with the executive summary

Regime termination is thought necessary, in part, because of Iraq's likely development of weapons of mass destruction, but the control of the region's oil resources is also a major factor.

It will be interesting to see how well Rogers proves this contention. Off hand, if we had wanted control of the oil fields, we could have taken it the first time around.

Conflict in Baghdad will involve the use of area-impact munitions as well as precision-guided munitions and the civilian casualties will be high. A civilian death toll of at least 10,000 should be expected but this may be a low estimate, given the experience of urban warfare in Beirut and elsewhere.

We've been here before. In Afghanistan, it was the brutal winters, and urban fighting that were going to lead us into an unwinnable quagmire. Instead, superior tactics and weapons kept civilian casualties to a bare minimum. And Beirut is probably not a good comparison as the mission objectives are completely different.

Evidence from the 1991 war indicates that it is highly likely that the regime will use all available military means, including chemical and biological weapons, if its very survival is threatened. Such weapons may be used in tactical warfare to hinder invading forces but may, in extreme circumstances, be used strategically against forces in other countries.

This is called "cowardice." In effect Professor Rogers is admitting that Hussein is holding Israel and the peace of the region hostage. This is terrorism by proxy, and warrants intervention, not restraint.

In such circumstances, and especially if high casualties result, there is a possibility of a nuclear response.

What's the probability, and how do you evalute it? Should make for some interesting reading. Again off hand, why would the US use nukes if they want the oil? Wouldn't crapping up the entire country sort of defeat the "major factor" driving the US intervention?

The United States has sufficient forces to ensure regime destruction but the regime's replacement by occupying forces or by a client regime, even if the war is not greatly destructive, should be expected to increase regional opposition to the US presence. It is likely, in particular, to increase support for organisations such as al-Qaida and to prove counter-productive to peace and stability in the region.

If the US went in and took over Iraq, then yes, that could be a problem. But that isn't the plan, and it is disingenuous to claim it is. If the US goes in, gets rid of Hussein and the Baath party, then withdraws and allows the UN to oversee the building of a new Iraqi gov't, as they did in Bosnia, then this concern should be alleviated. Unless Rogers assumes that any state friendly to the US will be perceived as a client state.

OK. Those are his main points. Next step is to read the report itself and see if he backs up his claims. The report is available here as a pdf file. After I get a chance to read through it, I'll see if the good professor makes his case or not.

Winning isn't a sin

As for the lottery issue, I just have one question: How long will it take after the amendment passes before we see the same groups campaigning against a lottery start holding raffles, cakewalks, and other now illegal games of chance? About as long as it takes for the ink to fdy on the raffle tickets is my guess. A congregation in my neighborhood has outgrown their old building and is moving to a larger building. Maybe it's just coincidence that their pastor is in favor of allowing lotteries, and gaming for charity.

But I doubt it

A buddy of mine at work asked an interesting question: Where in the bible does it forbid gambling? I did some searching on the web and found this page containing several links to verses which the author purports to be anti-gambling.
Most notable is that the Bible never specifically mentions gambling, except that the soldiers cast lots for Jesus' clothing as he was crucified. Other than that New testament reference, there is no mention of gambling in the Bible.

So, where do they get their belief that gambling is a sin? Well, based on the page referenced above, there are several factors.

1. We should work to get ahead.
   
2. We should trust God to take care of us.
   
3. Gambling relies on greed and covetousness, wanting something for nothing.
   
4. It focuses us on material rather than spiritual wealth.

Just off hand, it looks like 1. and 2. are contradictory. We are supposed to let God take care of us, but work our tail ends off to survive. Sounds like holding down a job is a sin according to 2, but being unemployed is a sin by number 1. Puzzling.
Gambling does have a component of greed, but so does investing. Is investing in the stock market a sin as well? How about buying corporate or government bonds? What about putting your money in a savings account that pays interest? Isn't that something for nothing?
Number 4 gets the cart before the horse. We gamble because we are already concerned with material things. Or because we like the excitement. Or because we like the entertainment. Or because we are bored. Or because we don't know how to calculate the odds. Or for any of a dozen other reasons.
Personally, I don't gamble much, because I have better things to do with my money than give it to a slot machine. But I do make the occasional wager with my brother or father, and I did gamble some in Vegas on a business trip, and in the Bahamas on a trip with my wife. I will even purchase a lottery ticket every now and again, just for the fun of dreaming. It's just entertainment.
If you are gambling to take the other guy's heart out, then you're sinning whether you sit at the table or not. If you are throwing away money you need to support your family, you are sinning whether you are spending that money at the track or giving it to a charity. The sin is not in your actions, but in your heart.
I think it comes down to this; some folks believe that success in this life means failure in the afterlife, that winning is of itself a bad thing. To have a winner, we must have a loser, and that's bad. We have non-competitive sports leagues for our kids now. How ridiculous is that?
There is nothing wrong with winning, with success. It's OK to get ahead, whether you work for it, or win it. All of life is a risk; every decision we make is a gamble.
"Do I accept this promotion, or move to another job?"
"Do I ask for a raise now, or wait for 6 months?
"Should I take this job, or wait for a better offer?
"Do I get married now to her, or do I establish my career first?"
"Do I go to college, or into business?
"Should I wear the blue tie, or the red one?"
These decisions all affect our lives and fortunes, and all are gambles we accept as a matter of course. Gambling, whether directly or indirectly is an inherent part of life.

Voting

The early voting period is a great convenience for me. Between my wrok schedule (doubles every Tuesday) and my commute (from Sevierville to Johnson City) the chances of my being able to vote on election day are roughly the same as John J Hooker's chances of being elected governor. Or Senator.

Yep, he's on the ballot twice.

Anyway, even though I already voted, I'm still following the elections, particularly the commercials. Last night I saw a couple of Phil Bredesen's latest ads, and I have to wonder: Is he running against Van Hilleary or Don Sundquist? The tag line on his latest ads goes something like "After 8 years of Don Sundquist, we can't afford Van Hilleary."
Now, if Hilleary had been Sundquist's right hand man over the last eight years, then I could see the comparison. Or if Hilleary had been a vocal supported of Sundquist, then too, the comparison would be apt. But Hilleary has been an extremely vocal opponent of the centerpiece of the last four years of the Sundquist administration: the income tax. In fact, it would be difficult to find a person in the legislature more adamantly opposed to the governor's agenda.

Ah well, all's fair in love and war, and even more so in politics.

Movable Type rocks!

I just embedded my first picture in a post, and I'm very pleased with hoe easy it was. Blogger made it difficult, with everything done manually, but MT handled it all automatically. I just downloaded the pic to my desktop, then clicked Upload File on my control panel, and MT did the rest.

Gotta be happy with that!

The coolest warbird ever

This P-38 Lightening was encased in ice for 50 years after crashing in England Greenland. She was recovered and restored over the last 10 years, and now flies out of Middlesboro KY. Looks like it's time for a road trip!

Here's more info from the P-38 association

I've built a couple models of P-38's, and eventually, I'll build an RC version.

Voter Fraud in Wisconsin

Check out this story in the WSJ Opinion Journal:

The progressive citizens of Wisconsin have reason to worry that Chicago-style vote-buying is creeping north from Illinois. The NBC affiliate in Milwaukee has just filmed Democratic campaign workers handing out small amounts of money and free food to residents at a home for the mentally ill in Kenosha after which the patients were shepherded into a separate room and given absentee ballots. One of the Democratic Party workers fled when she saw the NBC camera. The local district attorney is investigating.

Continuing:

Robert Jambois, the Kenosha County District Attorney, says the case is a headache for him because he has endorsed Jim Doyle, the Democratic candidate for governor, and because the Democratic worker who fled the scene was an intern in his own office. He will decide later if he needs to recuse himself.

That should be a pretty easy decision.

Bribing developmentally disabled folks to vote democratic.
Buying cigarettes for the homeless to get them to vote democratic.
Scamming votes in the old folks home.

Are the Democrats that desperate? Shouldn't they be able to win elections based on the merits of their platform?

I guess I'm just too naive.

And here all this time I thought they were brilliant!

I love watching Whose Line is it Anyway? I first watched the BBC version on The Comedy Channel several years ago, and have followed the American version for the last couple of years. I was amazed at how quickly these guys, and the occasional gal, could come up with such funny stuff so quickly. Now I find out that they tape about three hours of material, and edit it down to 30 minutes.

So dies another illusion...

It's still pretty funny though.

If you'd like to see a live version of the show, come out to Patrick Sullivan's Saloon in The Old City every Tuesday night at 8:30 for "Einstein Simplified", an improv comedy troupe. The show is free, and this week all donations will go to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Simply Surreal

A recurring collections of news stories that confirm we are living in the "Crazy Years"

How do you control an erupting volcano?

CATANIA, Italy (Reuters) - Rivers of boiling lava poured down Mount Etna Sunday, engulfing small buildings and threatening a mountain lodge after a series of earthquakes awakened Europe's highest and most active volcano.
.....
Catania's airport was shut until Monday morning for safety reasons after a think blanket of volcanic ash gathered on the runway.
.....
The volcano, Europe's highest at 10,900 feet, pumped out huge dark clouds of ash and spurted streams of boiling magma 300 to 600 feet into the air.

More than 15 hours after the first eruptions, an immense mushroom-shaped cloud still hung over the mountain top, and in Catania, city workers were sweeping thick layers of ash from the streets.

Three tongues of lava were seen snaking down the mountain from fissures at a height of around 7,545 feet to 8,200 feet. Cracks were also found at about 4,900 feet but no lava activity was reported at that altitude.
.....
The heaviest flow was descending on Piano Provenzana, a popular area for tourists to take mountain walks in summer and for skiing and other activities in the winter.

The flow pushed over ski-lift pylons, knocked down power lines and swallowed a ski-school hut before surrounding an empty mountain hotel and lodge. Officials said no one was injured.

....
"The situation in Catania is completely under control and our city is not threatened in any way," [Mayor] Umberto Scapagnini said.

Yeah, sounds like it....

Don't you know who I am?
It seems Bill misses the perqs of the presidency. Or maybe not:

Bill Clinton created quite a stir recently down in Little Rock, when he showed up at a popular eatery with a party of 12, found the table he wanted already occupied and had an aide demand that the seated party be moved. The offending diners agreed once they realized who wanted their seats.

"You'd think he'd be nice enough to thank them, or perhaps send us back a little something to show his gratitude," says a diner who witnessed the turn of events. "They got nothing, and then Clinton was so busy talking on the phone and socializing, I don't know that he even ate anything."

I thought this was a bad joke!

Dog shoots man in hunting accident

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Pheasant season took an ugly turn for Michael Murray when he was shot by Sonny, his year-old English setter pup. Murray, 42, was hunting in western South Dakota on the first day of the season last Saturday. He said he was lining up a photo of the seven birds his hunting party shot in the first hour. A loaded 12-gauge shotgun lay on the ground near the frisky dog. "He stepped on the gun and it went off," Murray said. "At first I didn't know what happened. I got that blinding flash of pain and I sat down. Blood was pumping out of my ankle." His brother-in-law quickly tied a tourniquet above Murray's right boot. They drove to a relative's house and a half-hour later, an ambulance took Murray to a nearby hospital. After 15 stitches and a night in the hospital, Murray is on course for a complete recovery

Wimpy Dem cries as Lamar! shakes his hand

Grip'N'Grin Gets Ugly

DICKSON, Tenn. - Politicians don't normally get into trouble for shaking hands. But Republican Senate candidate Lamar Alexander is accused of shaking a little too hard when he encountered a protester.

The police chief in Dickson says the two men had to be separated "before it got out of control."

Officials say Paul Hunton attended a GOP rally and slipped Alexander a fake dollar bill bearing Alexander's picture. The bogus bills -- being distributed by a Democratic opponent -- carry the words "in greed we trust."

Hunton claims he didn't realize the dollar bills were in his hand -- and he says Alexander lost his temper.

Police say the result was a "hand-gripping contest."

Complaining of a swollen finger, Hunton filed a police report.

Alexander says Hunton gave him a "firm handshake" so he replied in kind. Alexander insists he "was trying to be polite."

If snookums can't handle the grip of an old man, then maybe snookums shouldn't pretend to be a man.

EU wants to defend themselves

Cool! According to the Telegraph, there is a proposal afoot to design an EU mutual defense force which will replace NATO, although those involved deny that this would occur.

Under the plan the new defence force will have its responsibilities extended from those backed by Mr Blair - peacekeeping and crisis management in neighbouring states - to include full-scale defence of the EU.

Any terrorist or military attack on one member of the Union would enable that country to invoke an EU version of Nato's Article 5, calling member states' military forces to its aid.

Although the European force is supposed to be coordinated with Nato, and to be drawn from the same pool of troops, it will be separately commanded.

This is nothing less than a repudiation of NATO. There's no need for a separate mutual defense pact unless you plan to withdraw from the present one. Europe was happy to be a part of NATO when it was their butts on the line, when the threat was primarily to them, but now that the threat seems to be mostly aimed at the US, we can see European gratitude in action; they are distancing themselves from the US. Since Islamic terrorism is aimed primarily at the US and US interests, the EU figures the best way to avoid getting drawn in is to step aside.

Handicapper's dream

Rudy! vs. Hillary! for all the marbles.

I'll put a dime on Rudy. He can pull both the red and the blue zones. Hillary's demographic will look just like Gore's, if she did that well.

Add this to that estimate:

Senator Hillary Clinton was facing the destruction of her New York power base yesterday as her Democratic Party headed for humiliation in the state gubernatorial election on November 5.

In an extraordinary upset, a traditionally Democratic state appears poised not only to re-elect a Republican governor, but to force the Democrat challenger into third place behind a pro-business Independence Party candidate with no record of public service.

Political analysts predict that such a humiliation could damage the former First Lady's credibility as a New York senator and a much-touted future potential presidential candidate.

Double my bet....

James, Jesus, and a box of bones

Ha'aretz has a very interesting article on the recent find of an inscription on an ossuary which contains a reference to Jesus.

The discovery of an ossuary (burial box) bearing the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," which was reported last week by the Biblical Archaeological Review, is firing the imagination of scholars and Christian believers. If the James (Ya'akov) in question is indeed the brother of the Jesus (Yeshua) of the New Testament - though this point will probably remain unresolved - this will be the first physical evidence of the existence of the person whose teachings led to the emergence of one of the world's most widespread religions.

The article goes on to examine the historical evidence for the existence of Jesus. Worth reading.

More alarmist "journalism"

This time from World Net Daily Here is the headline:

Iraq, Arafat, bin Laden coalition formed?
Terrorism expert reports joint offensive against West planned

The story has a dateline of OCT 26, but the events they are reporting on were announced April 2, over 6 months ago.

You know, there's enough real threats to worry about; I don't need any sloppy journalism to give me more worries

The End is Near!

great Signs and Portents abound. The end of the world is at hand!
How do I know?
Because of this!
Jackass is the number one movie in America this week.

Oh, the shame of it!

That's news to me!

I just found this little gem on Debka.

NATO, Greek and Israeli navies are scouring three seas - the eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Aegean - for a cargo ship, the 1,600-ton Tonga-flagged Cristi, which is believed to be carrying a band of al Qaeda terrorists to a fresh target.

Why haven't we heard about this here? Isn't this news?
Debka goes on to report:

DEBKAfile’s maritime and counter-terror sources report that the Cristi , like the Sara, which was detained in Italy carrying suspected Pakistani terrorists, and another suspect vessel, Twillinger, is owned by the Greek ship-owner, Dimitris Kokkos, and a Pakistani-American, Rifat Muhammed.

Kokkos, who also owned the Palestinian arms-smuggling ship Karine-A captured last January by the Israel Navy, is said to live in Romania. He is wanted by the Greek authorities for smuggling.

Our investigation reveals that the pair head Nova Spirit Inc., a company registered in Delaware, US, which runs al Qaeda’s shipping operations from the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanza and Nador on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast.

I typed "Cristi" and "Twillinger" into a search engine, and got this:

"The USS Monterey conducted a compliant boarding of the merchant vessel Tara" at around 4 am (0200 GMT) on Wednesday, Commander Bob Ross, spokesman for the US Sixth Fleet in Gaeta, Italy, told AFP.

"The Monterey was directed to conduct an interception after the merchant vessel displayed suspicious behaviour," Ross said, declining to outline what that behaviour was. The Tongan-registered Tara was found to be in order and allowed to proceed following the search which was "likely to have lasted several hours", said Ross.

On Monday Italian anti-terrorist police working closely with the US naval intelligence service said the Tara, formerly known as the Cristi, was associated with two other ships stopped by Italian authorities earlier this year.

A full day before Debka posted their story, the ship in question was found, boarded, searched, and released. So much for breaking a story.

Sleeping gas, or nerve gas?

According to this Reuters report, the Russians may have used a nerve gas to icapacitate the terrorists at the Moscow theater.

London-based security expert, Michael Yardley, said he believed the gas used was BZ, a colorless, odorless incapacitant with hallucinogenic properties, first used by the United States in Vietnam.

He said the symptoms displayed by the hostages in Moscow -- inability to walk, memory loss, fainting, heartbeat irregularities, sickness -- all pointed to BZ. According to the U.S. army the side effects last 60 hours, Yardley said.

"The Russians wouldn't want a big shout about it because it (BZ) is just the sort of stuff they are not supposed to have," he said. "It's not specifically banned, but...it is in a sort of gray area."

115 hostages died from exposure to the gas, along with about 50 terrorists.

I'm having a hard time with this. On the one hand, the Russians had to use something fast acting, to prevent the terrorists from blowing up the theater, slaughtering all of the hostages. On the other hand, the actions of the Russian government directly killed more hostages than the terrorists. This isn't like getting caught in a cross-fire between rescuers and kidnappers; assuming the Russians knew what they were doing, they deliberately chose to kill some hostages to save the lives of others. I'm a little leery of playing numbers games when the numbers represent lives. At the same time, the terrorists' tactics leave little choice.

A little FL news

Jeb Bush and Bill McBride are in a close race for governor of FL. As seen in this post from SKBubba, McBride's campaign just started using footage of Bush praising McBride as a counter to attack ads by Bush.
This is a tactic which will quickly be emulated by other campaigns, resulting in even less civility in our government. What pol is going to praise a potential future rival for office when he knows those words may come back during a hard fought campaign?
Bubba quotes from the first section of the article, but fails to include the Bush response:

The Bush campaign is ready with its own, Nov. 15, 1999, St. Petersburg Times dispatch from Jerusalem covering McBride's travel then with Bush on a trade mission to Israel. McBride praised Bush then as "a person who cares for people," and said the governor had used his first year in office to "boldly tackle problems."

McBride described traveling with Bush as similar to being in the company of a rock star, the newspaper reported at the time. "There is gravity and substance to this governor," McBride was quoted as saying. "He knows how to do the right thing."

Politicians must get along once the campaign is done. They have to work together, and support each other. That becomes a little more difficult now that anything said outside of the campaign is fair game.

In an ironic twist, Bush can now crow that McBride's hometown newspaper has chosen to endorse the republican for governor.

Bill McBride is a quality person and candidate, but Bush has kept his word to the people of Florida and deserves a second term. For governor of Florida, the Tribune endorses Jeb Bush.

Elitists and Populists

Steven Den Beste has a post on the right and left bloggers, elitists and populists, and declares where he stands on the whole thing.

But that deep division to which I referred, elitism versus populism, comes down to this: do you believe that the "common man" is wise enough to make up his own mind and pick the right answer if he's exposed to all sides of an issue?

The elitists do not. From their point of view, the common man is foolish, stupid, gullible, careless and intellectually lazy (not to mention being uneducated and simplistic). If he is exposed to the wrong information he will be seduced by it and will make the wrong choice. Thus it is important for that small segment of the population which is sufficiently intelligent, sophisticated, well educated and wise to evaluate the issues, and then to only let the proles see arguments for the right answer.

At its most fundamental, this point of view is based on deep contempt for the majority of the population.

I'm a populist. I have confidence in my fellow citizens, and I'm not afraid to let them see all sides of an issue. I'm willing to present my opinions and to see opposing opinions also be presented.

I'm a popular elitist. I don't share Den Beste's confidence in my fellow man. I do think most of us are intellectually lazy, greedy, uneducated, easily swayed, etc. In fact, history shows us that every democracy fails, based on those very factors. The common man is common, hence the name.
Look, we all know that some folks are smarter than others, are more attractive, are more athletic, or charming. We also know that some folks are born leaders. Through their charisma, force of personality, native intelligence, whatever, when they walk into a room, they take control, while the rest of us simply fall in line. We respond to their very presence. This effect occurs at an individual level, but is more profound in groups. Rational autonomous individuals can become sheep in a group, given a strong enough leader. It's just the way the human animal is built.
But, I don't believe that this gives me, or you, or anybody else the right to curtail our fellow sheeps' rights, responsibilities, or freedom of choice. For democracy to survive, it must be allowed to operate unfettered by elitist controls and countermeasures. If it fails, then so be it; it wasn't strong enough to survive. If we put in artificial controls, (censorship, repression of dissent, limitation of the electorate, etc), then democracy has already died, and we are back to aristocracy.
We are well down that road already, as the federal and state governments becomes increasingly paternalistic. In my home state of Tennessee for example, we have a ballot referendum for a constitutional amendment allowing a state lottery. As I blogged earlier, much of the opposition to this amendment centers on protecting people from their own weakness. This simply is not a function of a democratic government, because once we allow the government to protect us from ourselves, we are setting the governors in an elite position. If I want to gamble my money away, so be it. At the same time, if I do gamble my money away, it is not the government's responsibility to take care of me until I get another paycheck. I am responsible for my actions, and solely accountable. Any assistance from the government should be on a quid pro quo basis. By allowing the government to curtail my freedoms in return for securty, I am voluntarily assuming a subordinate status, creating an elite which is antithetical to democratic ideals.
So, I do believe that some people are better than others, that the bell curve may be an optimistic projection, and that those on the right half of the curve represent the ideal leaders and voters, and I don't give a tinker's damn. Everybody gets to play, or we give up, and go back to an oligarchy. Sadly, there's probably a lot of "common people" who wouldn't mind. It's much easier being a plebe than a citizen.

Why am I so hard on the Vols?

Hey, I'm a fan, like most of you, but I expect people to perform up to their potential. If we had mediocre athletes, I would be happy with a 7-5 record. If we played to the best of our ability and had a mediocre record, I wouldn't be angry. But we don't have mediocre athletes, and we aren't playing up to our potential, either individually, or as a team. And that infuriates me.
There is no heart to this team, and I blame Clausen, Washington, and Fulmer for that. Clausen and Washington are two of the most divisive players ever to walk onto the Tennessee campus, and Fulmer continues to coddle both of them. When Clausen made his comments about beating Georgia wih one arm, Fulmer should have benched him immediately. Same for Washington when he told reporters that he was playing for himself, not a National or SEC championship. As long as Fulmer allows these non-performing hot-dogs to go their own way, this team will never live up to it's potential.

Tropical Depression Smokey

Yes, the Vols sucked so bad last night, a permanent low pressure zone has formed over Neyland Stadium. Casey, the one-armed-mouth showed that maybe he couldn't have beaten Georgia with one arm after all. Kelley Washington demonstrated yet again that he doesn't have the heart to play Division 1 college ball. Randy Sanders put on a clinic on how not to run an offense. And, as we have come to expect, the officials showed a complete lack of knowledge and vision on the field.
Report Card:
Quarterbacks F.
Clausen was completely ineffective last night. On occasion, he showed flashes of competence, but quickly overcame them with poor decisions and bad throws. To give him credit, on his first interception in the end zone, he threw to the only open man. Unfortunately, the open man was an Alabama player. Twice he threw to non existant players, although to be fair, one of those was a busted route. His pitches were awkward, poorly timed, and difficult to handle, directly contributing to at least one fumble. He simply was not prepared to play.
Receivers B
Tony Brown and Montrell Jones both looked good. They made the catches, and held onto the ball even when taking a vicious hit. It's too bad Casey couldn't find them more often. Jason Witten did his usual excellent job both catching and blocking. I don't think we will have his services next season; he'll be playing on Sunday instead. Losing Kelley Washington was not a factor, as he is of limited benefit to this team. I know, this puts me at odds with every sportswriter in Tennessee, but consider that the Vols are 2-1 without Washington, and 2-2 with him. Add to that the dissension and distraction he causes, and it seems clear that Washington is a negative.
Running Backs D-.
Until the offensive line begins to fuction as a unit, there is no way to tell how good these kids are, with one exception. Troy Fleming could not block a blitzing pass rusher if his life depended on it. He throws a half hearted attempt at pushing the rusher down, then falls on his face. There was one play in the first half where the outside linebacker lined up to blitz. Fleming sidestepped him and went for a three yard pass. By the time he turned around, Clausen had been flattened. Somebody show this kid some films of Shawn Bryson. Throw in the fumbles, and you get another lack-luster performance.
Offensive Line D-
This is a unit of exceptional athletes who don't play as a unit. They consistently miss assignments, fail to pick up even simple stunts, and allow themselves to get manhandled by smaller opponents. When they come up against a good defensive front, they crumble. They are marginally better at pass blocking than run blocking, but that's not saying much since their run blocking is virtually non-existant
Defensive Line/Linebackers C+
They played well in the first half, controlling the line of scrimmage, handling the option, and limiting Alabama's rushing attack. However, they slacked off in the second half and never got much pressure on the Alabama quarterbacks.
Secondary C-
The secondary neglects the fundamentals to go for the big play. The tip and interception was great, but they also gave up several long passes, which wasn't so great.
Special Teams B-
This would have been higher, except for 2 fumbles by Cory Larkins. Dustin Colquitt's punting kept the game in reach for much longer than we had a right to expect; Larkin's first fumble came from trying too hard to do to much, an error I can live with; our kick-offs were consistently in the end zone; and our punt and kick coverage was above average. It's too bad our offense couldn't take advantage of the gift of good field position.
Coaching F-

• Why did Clausen play in the second half when it was clear he was ineffective? James Banks showed he could play during the 4th quarter of the Georgia game. Why didn't Sanders/Fulmer put him in earlier?
• Why didn't Sanders know that there was a chance Kelly Washington wouldn't play?
  

  "I didn't know there was a potential for him not to play until Thursday morning."

  This is inexcusable.
• Why can't Mike Barry get the offensive line functioning as a unit?
• Why can't Fulmer admit that Clausen is a washout as a quarterback?

  "Casey played his rear off. There were a lot of guys who played hard, but we're not disciplined and not very functional'' on offense, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said.

  3 interceptions, including a crucial pick in the end zone? That's not playing your rear off, that's playing like a read end.
• Will LArry Slade ever start telling his safeties and cornerbacks to at least be in the same stadium with the guys they are supposed to cover?

The rest of the teams grades are directly affected by the coaching failures listed above.
One thing I don't blame the coaches for is the team's lack of heart. Desire comes from within; you can't coach it. If these kids can't get up for the Alabama game, then there is nothing the coaches can do.
Officiating No credit.
In a season marked by poor officiating, this crew manages to stand feet and ankles below the crowd. Joe Pa would have hauled off and punched these guys, had this been a Big10 game. First, they call an incomplete forward pass a fumbled lateral. Watching the tape, it is clear that Clausens feet are just inside the 38 yard line when he throws the ball to Tinsley. Tinsleys feet are also just inside the 38 and he is leaning forward to make the catch. This puts his hands ahead of where Clausen's hands were at the time he released the pass. According to Bobby Gaston, SEC Supervisor of officials, that is the deciding criteria. The refs blew the call and cost Tennesse 7 points.
Next comes the infamous lateral. Quarterback Brodie Croyle was clearly down when he pitched the ball to Santonio Beard, who was also down. Inexplicably, the refs allowed play to continue, resulting in 3 points for Alabama.
Overall D
The Vols will go 7-5 this season, losing to Miami, and either South Carolina or Kentucky (probably Kentucky), and will wind up in the Music City Bowl, which is probably better than they deserve.

A computer question

Hey folks, I have a question. My computer just started doing something a little strange. I'll shut it down normally, and go off to do something else. Occasionally, when I come back to it, it will have restarted all by itself. I've even seen it do it. The computer is in my bedroom, and I've seen it do a regular startup without me even toucching it.

Are there any trojans or viruses that will allow a hacker to do a remote start through a dial up connection? I did a little experiment today by shutting down the computer, then unplugging the phone line. It didn't restart. This isn't conclusive, because the restarts appear to happen randomly, but it does bother me.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? Is it a malfunction of my computer, or something more nefarious?

Simply surreal

Gunman have taken 700 hostages in a moscow theater. We don't know what they want, or why they've done it, but check out how this article ends:

Located in southeastern Moscow in a working class neighborhood, the musical is based on Veniamin Kaverin's novel "Two Captains." The romantic novel recounts the story of two students and their different destinies during the Soviet times.

According to the theater's Web site, more than 350,000 people have seen the production since it opened.

Save the show reviews for the theatrical page, if you don't mind.
----------
Happens all the time!

A Lake City woman was airlifted to Shands Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon, after her gun fell into the commode and shot her in the buttocks, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

A deputy was called to the Moore Road address shortly after 3 p.m., about a shooting and saw a woman bleeding severely from her left buttock. Emergency medical technicians were on the scene and had the woman airlifted to Jacksonville, reports say.

Reports say the woman had just taken classes on firearm safety and she had a fear of being robbed due to past incidents.

The woman heard something outside her home and reached over the toilet to raise the window and the gun fell into the toilet. The woman was injured when the 9 mm handgun discharged into the commode, reports say.

What more can I say?
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Where's Steve Irwin when you need him?

A crocodile grabbed and killed a 24-year-old German tourist as she took a late-night swim with her sister in Kakadu National Park.

The two women were members of a tour group, several of whom went swimming at Sandy Billabong around 11.30pm CST last night (midnight AEST), despite signs warning of the danger of crocodiles in the area.

I'll bet her family sues somebody....
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Tell a big lie...

and people will believe you. That's what's going on in Iraq right now.

Hundreds of people were seen at the police building on Tuesday night. They came from Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces and some said they had been sleeping there since the amnesty was announced Sunday.

They said security officials told them they would see their relatives once release procedures are completed — though government officials have insisted Iraq's prisons had already been emptied.

If they've all been released, where are they? Dead?
Probably.

Government opponents contemplating going home have the example of Saddam's two sons-in-law. The two brothers, married to Saddam's daughters, fled into exile in 1995 and talked with Western intelligence agents. They went back to Iraq six months later under an offer of forgiveness, and were killed within hours of their return.

Maybe that's what Saddam means by freedom.
Death.

Why do we listen to these nuts?

You know, I've about had my fill of "celebrities" using their fame to mount a soap box and preach to me about their favorite causes. I didn't like hearing Sally Struthers pimping for cash to "Save the Children", I don't like listening to movie stars making political statements while presenting awards for mediocre performances in contrived movies (Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, this means you) and I don't like hearing Bob Barker command us all to spay or neuter our pets after the consumer orgy "The Price is Right!"

A happy pet is a neutered pet

You know, I talked to my dog the other day, and asked him if he would be happier with his nuts cut off. He just looked at me and growled, but I got the message.

The worst part is that most celebrity/activists know almost nothing about their causes. Take some of the celebrities quoted in this article as an example. Here's that font of all wisdom, Johnny Depp, best known for starring in 21 Jump Street and quirky films by Tim Burton and John Waters.

"America is a giant dollar machine, so if you really believe that they'll give the same rights to the baker or the plumber as to a guy who runs a huge multinational company, you must be really naïve," the Kentucky native said. "I believe that the American Dream is based on greed."

I'm sure that Johnny works on his pictures at union minimum scale, rather than participate in the "giant dollar machine."

Yeah, sure he does.

As for rights, it's interesting that he complains that money affects rights in America, since we are the first nation that encoded the notion that money should not affect rights into its laws. To be fair, that ideal is not often reached, but America has a far better track record than most European nations, some of which still have, are you ready for this, royalty! People set apart from the common man through birth, and yes, money.
Shocking, I know, but true. I wonder how Johnny feels about elitism outside of America? Sadly, he doesn't say, but isn't it telling that Europe is where he spends most of his time?
Apparently elitism is okay if you're one of the elite.

Next, we turn our gaze to that renowned intellect, Woody Harrelson, who shot to stardom playing a dim bartender, ironically named Woody, (Typecasting? You make the call!) and went on to fame and fortune in such cinematic classics as The Money Train and The Cowboy Way, not to mention playing porn kings and sociopathic mass murderers.

"Every media outlet is beating the war drum and even sensible people can hear nothing else. In the U.S., God forbid you should suggest the war is unjust. … In a country that lauds its freedom of speech, a word of dissent can cost you your job."

Is that why Woody went to England in order to speak his mind? Let me clue you in to something Woody; there is no right to a job. Nobody owes you a living. If you express sentiments which anger the majority of the people around you, like calling Amercan soldiers cowards, don't be surprised if they decide not to watch your TV show, or buy products from your advertisers. This is not a governmental stifling of dissent; this is freedom of choice. People can chose who they support and who they don't. If you take your fame as an opportunity to climb on your soapbox, you have to be prepared to take the consequences, which just might include people turning the channel whenever they see your face. Now, if President Bush went on national television, and ordered all television stations to stop showing reruns of Cheers, then you could claim repression of dissent. How is it that Woody can't tell the difference between government suppression of dissent, and the people's right of free association? Oh, typecasting...that's right. Now we come to Sean Penn. and his ad in the Washington Post:

Many of your actions to date and those proposed seem to violate every defining principle of this country over which you preside: intolerance of debate ("with us or against us"), marginalization of your critics, the promoting of fear through unsubstantiated rhetoric, manipulation of a quick comfort media, and the position of your administration's deconstruction of civil liberties all contradict the very core of the patriotism you claim. You lead, it seems, through a blood-lined sense of entitlement.

At some point Sean, it would be nice if you at least attempted to substantiate any of these claims. Take the stifling of debate you mentioned. Have you been subject to any government sanctions since you voiced your dissent? Have government thugs in jackboots beat down your door and hauled you off to prison? Here's a more apt question: Could you have published a similar ad in an Iraqi paper, criticizing Saddam Hussein, and still be breathing today? You see, Sean, there is a difference between providing leadership and acting like a totalitarian dictator. You may disagree with the course the President is charting, but you are free to express that disagreement, and even act on it. You can spend your money and buy an ad in the free press, expressing your disagreement. You can slander the President, list unsubstantiated accusations by the dozen, with no fears of governmental reprisals. These are benefits of a free society, benefits which you appear to take for granted. In a tyranny, you wouldn't have the money to pay for the ad, since entertainers generally don't flourish in tyrannies; even if you had the money, there would be no free press for you to place your ad; even if you found an underground pamphlet that would print your essay, you and the publisher would risk a long term in a nasty place for daring to speak against the tyrant.

It concerns me that what you are asking of us is to abandon all previous lessons of history in favor of following you blindly into the future.

Sean, this is completely wrong. The lessons of history are quite clear. If you fail to act against a man like Saddam Hussein, he only grows stronger, and causes more damage. I'll give you an example. In WWII, the world perceived Hitler as a dangerous man. He threatened his neighbors, failed to live up to poeace accords from a previous war, and in general, acted like the totalitarian dictator he was. The world tried to appease him, going to great lengths to avoid war. How many paid the price for that forebearance? How many children, how many Slavs and Romani, among others, died in labor camps? In the end, the world acted, and put Hitler down, but the cost in lives and material was tremendous.
Now look at a case where we didn't act, and allowed a tyrant to go his own way. Stalin made Hitler look like an amateur. Stop reading your philosophers for a minute and start reading historians, Sean. See how many Russians died of starvation after the Stalin took over. See how many died in gulags and labor camps. See how many were imprisoned for their politics, or their religion. The cost of war is blood; the cost of appeasement is even more blood.

OK, enough of this. I can't blame this all on them. After all, they are just voicing their opinions, silly though they may be. They have an absolute right to do so, and I will defend their right to do so, even as I laugh at them. But, why do they get taken seriously? Johhny Depp was a telemarketer selling ball point pens before he became an actor; why should we care what he thinks about the American economy? Are we so overawed by the cachet of glamour that we automatically believe that celebrities are somehow better than the rest of us? Do we honestly believe that because a person is talented, he or she is also intelligent? Surely the tabloid headlines have proven that to be false.
So what is it? Why do we listen?

Bad Timing

America. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

Where you can be deported for making a phone call from the wrong booth.

Of course, if they hadn't been here illegally in the first place, they wouldn't be facing deportation now, but I bet you won't hear that from thir defenders.

A sign that blogging is over...

We're featured in Doonesbury, a strip that was topical and timely in the 70's but has become tepid and tiresome.

Trudeau should have done like Berkely Breathed and gone out on top.

Saturday Night Live rocks!

John McCain was the guest host, and he took no prisoners. HIs demolition of Babs Streisand was devastatingly funny, although I'm sure she's not laughing.

"I've been in politics for over 20 years, and for over 20 years, I've had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job," said McCain during the spot. "So I decided to try my hand at her job."

The Republican, who in real life is known to be a fan of The Beach Boys, also slaughtered other tunes by the longtime Democrat activist, including "People" and "The Way We Were."

"Do I know how to sing?" McCain asked. "About as well as she knows how to govern America," he said to roaring laughter from the studio audience.

Fool me once, shame on you!

You won't get the chance to fool me twice.
North Korea has announced that they will consider halting their nuclear weapons program if the US will end it's "hostile policy" towards them.

"We consider the recent situation seriously," pool reports quoted Kim as telling the chief South Korean delegate, Jeong Se-hyun. "If the United States is willing to withdraw its hostile policy toward the North, the North also is ready to resolve security concerns through dialogue."

You know, they played this blackmail card once before, and it bought them a couple of new high tech nuclear reactors and tons of fuel oil. I'm not surprised they are trying it again. Of course, the difference is there is a new administration in Washington. I don't see President Bush paying blackmail to North Korea in order to "build a legacy."

The effrontery of the N. Korean government is astounding.

In talks with Kelly, North Korea said it considered the so-called Agreed Framework invalid because the reactors were not expected to be completed by 2003 as promised.

But on Monday, North Korea's Pyongyang Radio urged the United States to honor its commitments under the deal, and said the most pressing issue was compensation for loss of electricity caused by the delay.

In other words, they are refusing to hold up their end of the bargain, while calling on us to hold up our end. Cheeky little fellows, aren't they?

Sniper is talking

The sniper is talking to the police, although they won't tell us what he is saying.

"[I] just want to ask the indulgence of the media that the message that needed to be delivered is that we are going to respond to a message that we have received," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said. "We'll respond later. We are preparing our response at this time."

Interesting quote. The police are trying to keep things quiet for two reasons. The first, and most important, is that by keeping the details quiet, they reduce the amount of noise generated by wanna bees, and can focus on the sniper. Since nobody knows what the message said, impersonators can be weeded out, reducing increasing the signal to noise ratio. The second reason is related to the first. By not tipping their hand, they give the sniper less to go on. We are already seeing signs that he is adapting is tactics to law enforcment action.

• They started military reconnaisance flights; he moved further down range.
  
• They noted a pattern in his timing, i.e. no weekend shootings; he waited for a weekend for his next attack.

By not letting the sniper know whow much they know, they reduce his ability to countermove.

The police have valid reasons for maintining a high level of secrecy, reasons which have nothing to do with avoiding public hysteria over a possible Middle Eastern terrorist link.

It's a dangerous job, even when they aren't shooting at you!

A sailor took a 7 hour swim when he was swept off the flight deck of the USS Constellation by the exhaust of an EA-6B jet.
Life on a carrier is full of risks, particularly when you work on the flight deck. While I was stationed on the Nimitz we had a guy go overboard under similar circumstances. He was a new pilot, and was about to make his first night launch from the flight deck.

Since there is limited room on the flight deck, the planes parked there are often parked with their tails sticking out over the edge. As the pilot was doing his preflight walk around with his plane captain, an enlisted man who "owned" the plane, he came to some safety netting covering a what he thought was a weapons elevator shaft. During earlier daytime flights, he had seen other pilots and plane captains hop over the netting, so he decided to emulate them, and hopped over the netting.

Sadly for him, what he jumped over was the last thing between him and a 65 foot free fall into some very cold, dark water. WE sounded a man overboard, and he was recovered in less than an hour. The only thing hurt was his pride.

A Fair Settlement

The US Navy has reached agreement with most of those involved in the collison betwen a japanese fishing boat and a surfacing submarine.

The U.S. Navy will pay about $13 million in compensation to the victims of a collision between one of its nuclear submarines and a Japanese fishing boat, Kyodo news agency said Saturday.

Nine people, mostly teenage trainee fishermen, were killed when the Ehime Maru was rammed by the surfacing submarine off the coast of Hawaii on February 9 last year.

It bothers me that they took a year to come up with this settlement. I wonder how much the lawyers are going to get, and how much will actually get to the victims.

Paging Mr Orwell, Mr. George Orwell

Somebody get this guy a blanket. He missed his nap and is getting a little cranky.

For the last 21 months, we have tried very hard to keep this discussion board open to all left-wing points of view. It was one of our guiding principles, because we believed deeply that talking is better than not talking.

Gee, that's mighty big of you! You have complete freedom to post whatever you wish, as long as it is follows the party line.

But now we have come to the conclusion that the current state of affairs is untenable.

I should think so! Total freedom of speech would be anarchy! Not only should you be on the left, but you have to be on the correct part of the left. NO extremists allowed.

There is a small but outspoken group of liberals who simply are not our friends. Please be aware that I am not singling out Greens, most of whom are capable of participating on this message board in a productive and thought-provoking way. Rather, I am referring to people who are consumed with hatred and contempt for any and all liberals who don't share their exact point of view.

A little self referential, isn't it?

In case you haven't heard, there is a very important election occurring in less than three weeks. The stakes in this election are as high as they have ever been. You are being given a clear choice: Hand over complete control of all three branches of government to the forces of evil - or don't.

Nothing extremist here! Anybody who isn't of the left is evil. There is no hope of common ground, or compromise. It's a good thing Mr Skinner isn't given to hyperbole, or exaggeration...

As the administrator of this message board, I have the opportunity to have an impact on the outcome of this election. As an American, I have a moral obligation to do what I can to stop the conservative juggernaut.

Talk about a bloated sense of self importance!

We still allow all points of view, but we have our limits.

Paging Mr. Orwell, Mr George Orwell....

Whenever you find it necessary to restrict the free exchange of ideas and information, you have conceded that your arguments cannot survive without draconian measures. If you must stifle dissent through censorship, you're already over. Have the good grace to withdraw from the scene, and let somebody else take over. The best part of this whole thing is that he is crying about dissent from within the left itself.

That's what I said!

That's what I said!
Yesterday, I posted on the North Korean admission that they had a nuclear weapons program. I proposed that the reason they admitted it was that they had already achieved success. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so:

It was not clear to U.S. officials whether the North actually has a nuclear capability or whether it is still in development. At a minimum, North Korea apparently is close to joining the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, India and Pakistan as declared nuclear powers. Israel is thought to have hundreds of nuclear warheads but has never confirmed it has a nuclear weapons program.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press conference that he believes the North Koreans not only have a weapons program but have already produced some weapons.

He cited an intelligence report in which the CIA said North Koreans "may have one or two," and added, "I believe they have a small number of nuclear weapons."

And what are we going to do?

Talk.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said North Korea must allow international inspections of their nuclear facilities and must agree to destroy whatever weapons of mass destruction they have.

"Pyongyang's reckless brinkmanship must be met with firm and united resolve by the allies of freedom and democracy," said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

Folks, I don't want to rain on anybodies parade here, but if they built the bomb while we told them not to, they aren't going to destroy it just because we, or the Chinese, tell them to. Catch a clue, congressman.

Did he really say that?

Did he really say that?
According to this story in the Independent, Philip Roth doesn't like how America has reacted to 9-11. Here are some of his reactions:

• To me, New York had become interesting again, because it had once again become a city in crisis, particularly in the weeks that followed, with everybody waiting for the next explosion.
  
• It was a strange time and the first time that New York interested me again since I left the city to go and live in Connecticut in 1993. And I thought, well, this is great, I'll stay, and I did.
  
• It's almost embarrassing, the kitschification of 3,000 people's deaths. Other cities have experienced far worse catastrophes.
  
• One wouldn't dream of slighting these people, it is awful, but we need to keep a sense of proportion about these things. What we've been witnessing since September 11 is an orgy of national narcissism and a gratuitous sense of victimisation that is repellent.
  

Enough already. Philip Roth finds New York boring, unless it is a city in crisis? It takes the wholesale slaughter of 300 people, and financial losses in the billions to make New York interesting? Talk about your ivory tower! Mr. Roth, I hope east Tennessee never becomes "interesting" to you. You know what's really sad? The fact that a man renowned for his abilities with the English language, famous for his insight into the American character, could be blind enough to say these things. Stick to writing, Philip, cause off the cuff, you're just embarrassing...

Woohoo!

Alright. Got the template almost perfect on the first try! I ignored MT's stylesheet, and went with the integral styles from blogger. Then all I had to do was blend the two templates so that the div classes agreed, and viola! I have my template back, along with the added features of movable type, search and integral comments!

Now if I can just get the format right to import my old entries, I'll be done.

Yikes!

My second attempt at importing my blogger files wasn't pleasant. 600+ entries of nothing. Blank. I had to delete them all. The good news is that MT recognized that there were multiple entries. Now I have to figure out why it didn't recognize the entries themselves.

It's always something!

Horsewhipping sounds about right to me

Horsewhipping sounds about right to me
Can you believe this jerk?

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - A witness who says he saw the Washington-area sniper fire with an assault rifle and flee in a cream-colored van gave a phony story, investigators said Thursday in a setback that casts doubt on much of what the public thought it knew about the roving killer.
Prosecutors are investigating the witness, whose name wasn't released, to determine whether he should be charged with filing a false statement.
Fairfax County police Lt. Amy Lubas said the inaccurate account didn't match that of other witnesses to Monday night's killing of an FBI (news - web sites) cyberterrorism analyst in a crowded Virginia parking lot outside a Home Depot. It was the only shooting so far that people actually saw.
Asked if the witness intentionally misled investigators with his description of a cream-colored van and a burned-out rear taillight, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation, said simply, "Yes."

I don't know this guy's name, or why he would choose to lie about this, and I don't really care. People are living in fear, and this idiot has the balls to make things worse, as a prank!

I was wrong; horsewhipping is too good for him.

UPDATE:

I wrote last night that the change in methdology of the sniper indicated a lack of professionalism, which tended to argue against his being militarily trained. Now, that is out the window, since the report of the witness has been discredited. It now appears that the sniper held true to form, and fired from a distance of over 100 yards.

Welcome to my new home!

Please leave your shoes at the door, the carpet is brand new! Come on inside and relax. Sorry, there isn't much furniiture yet, and the decoraters haven't gotten started, but I'll try to make you feel at home anyway.

While I'm building would be a great time for y'ell to make any sugggestions, about what you'd like to see here, what you likes about the old place, and what you'd like to see vanish forever. MT uses a very different format for their templates, that I am slowly figuring out. It seems to be more flexible than Blogger, but the learning curve is a little steeper.

Blogger and Blogspot are the AOL of the weblog world. They are a great place to start out, but it's like training wheels on a bicycle; once you out grow them, they just get in the way, causing you to crash.

Geting there!

Geting there! It ain't pretty, and I'm having trouble getting my blogger entries imported, but the new home for Shots Across the bow is up and running. I don't have the domain name registered yet, so for now, you'll have to use this addy:
http://64.21.37.2/~rhailey/weblog

I expect the domain name will be active in about a week, and then the addy will be
http://www.shotsacrossthebow.com/weblog

I'll keep posting here until I get everything in order over there.

First Bigfoot, now Big Bird?

First Bigfoot, now Big Bird? Anchorage, Alaska is being visited by a bird the size of a small airplane.

A giant winged creature, like something out of Jurassic Park, has reportedly been sighted several times in Southwest Alaska in recent weeks.

Villagers in Togiak and Manokotak say they have seen a huge bird that's much bigger than anything they have seen before.

A pilot says he spotted the creature while flying passengers to Manokotak last week. He calculated that its wingspan matched the length of a wing on his Cessna 207. That's about 14 feet.

Other people have put the wingspan in a similar range.

reminds me of the Mothman...

Sniper not a pro

Sniper not a pro
I'm not an expert, but I don't think the DC sniper is a professional, i.e. somebody with extensive training and/or experience. Some of his actions just don't jibe:
He approached within 40 feet of his last target, risking needless exposure. The area is highly populated, making concealment difficult at best. Since he chooses his targets at random, the sniper could easily have picked another target at a more remote location, one where his chances of being seen would be reduced significantly.
If the tarot card was left by the sniper, it would be out of character for a professional, who would maintain his anonymity. He seems to be leading with his ego now, almost daring the police to catch him.

'Axis of evil' validated!

'Axis of evil' validated!
President Bush took a lot of heat for identifying three nations as comprising an "axis of evil," hearkening back to WWII. His critics said he was overstating his case, that there was no call to lump Iran and North Korea in with Iraq. Indeed, some said that even Iraq did not deserve the designation.

Today, those critics just took a sucker punch to the gut, as North Korea admitted to carrying out a nuclear weapons research program in direct violation of the 1994 agreement.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a startling revelation, North Korea (news - web sites) has told the United States it has a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an 1994 agreement with the United States, the White House said Wednesday night.
Spokesman Sean McCormack called the North Korean disclosure a serious infringement of the agreement, under which Pyongyang promised not to develop nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said North Korea told U.S. officials that it was no longer bound by the anti-nuclear agreement.

Chalk one up for the President. Now, what are we going to do about it?

Talk.

McCormack said the United States is consulting with it allies, South Korea (news - web sites) and Japan, and with members of Congress on next steps.

"We seek a peaceful resolution of this situation," McCormack said. "Everyone in the region has a stake in this issue and no peaceful nation wants to see a nuclear-armed North Korea."

"The United States and our allies call on North Korea to comply with its commitments under the nonproliferation treaty and to eliminate its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner."

That'll teach 'em!

Here's the scary part:

Until now, the United States' main concern with North Korea has been its sale of ballistic missiles to Syria, Iran and other countries. Now North Korea's nuclear program is added to the mix.

The United States has been suspicious about North Korea's nuclear intentions for some time despite the agreement.

A CIA report in January said that during the second half of last year, North Korea "continued its attempts to procure technology worldwide that could have applications in its nuclear program.F

"We assess that North Korea has produced enough plutonium for at least one, and possibly two, nuclear weapons."

Ballistic missiles and enough Pu for 1 or 2 bombs. If you have the Pu, and you have the delivery vehicle, what's left ain't rocket science folks. N Korea will have a nuclear missile within the year, if they don't already. Something to consider: Why would they admit to a research program, unless they had alredy completed the research?

If you're on my site

If you're on my site now, you'll see some drastic changes. Don't worry, I'm just exporting my files for MT

Formatting--a new art

OK. I've got MT working, and I'm starting to find my way around it. Now all I have to do is figure out how to import my blogger template, then add my old archives, and I'll be done.

Oh happy day!

Oh happy day! I have my new page working, and am getting Movable Type installed. I actually have it responding right now. The next step will be to move my archives over there, and set up a template. Things are progressing nicely.

test

my first entry in movable type

A different perspective

A different perspective
A friend of mine at work brought up an interesting point about the Beltway sniper. While his method of execution leads us to think he must have some military or paramilitary background, we have to remember that any hunter worth his salt with a decent rifle and scope could make the shots the sniper has been making.

I may not know much about art

I may not know much about art but this makes me glad I don't! From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Damien Hirst, one of Britain's most celebrated artists, told the BBC last month that the Sept. 11 attacks were "visually stunning" artworks and that the perpetrators "need congratulating." He's sorry for that now.

"You've got to hand it to them on some level," he originally said of the murderers, "because they've achieved something which nobody would have thought possible."

This from a guy who's chief claim to fame is slicing up animals and putting them on display.

Next we hear from Gail Haffern of New Zealand:

Meanwhile, as Hirst was slapping al Qaeda on its collective back, a New Zealand artist named Gail Haffern was telling the Auckland art press that the destruction of the World Trade Center while filled with people was "wonderful .

. . because it was a new idea."

Haffern's only notable achievement is that she holds New Zealand's first- ever doctorate in fine arts. "Being an artist," she says of her reaction to the attacks, "I thought what if this had been a performance piece and Osama bin Laden had declared himself an artist, how would the world have seen it then?" Her answer is a sculptural installation involving representations of the trade towers, surrounded by blocks featuring such "wordplay" as "Pentagone. "

I can't wait to see what she does with the Bali bombing....

Finally we hear from Karlheinz Stockhausen, noted composer:

Stockhausen was speaking to journalists in Hamburg, Germany, a few days after the attacks, and called the destruction "the greatest work of art ever." Stockhausen immediately asked the interviewers not to report what he had said.

The piece further quotes him:

That characters can bring about in one act what we in music cannot dream of, that people practice madly for 10 years, completely fanatically, for a concert and then die. That is the greatest work of art for the whole cosmos."

I'm speechless...

I've been slumming over at WarbloggerWatch

I've been slumming over at WarbloggerWatch and I ran across the most amusing piece by Philip Shropshire. In it, he challenges warbloggers to send him on an all expense paid trip to Iraq. This is apparently an extension of the tired "chickenhawk" argument, where the extreme left criticizes anybody who supports a war against Iraq if they aren't currently enlisted in the armed forces. He "proves" his own validity by volunteering to go to Iraq, buth then insists on so many restrictions and provision to ensure that nobody takes him seriously. The whole exchange reminds me of Usenet flamewars, where one idiot threatens another idiot with an ass whipping, even though they may be separated by 1000 miles. Easy to brag when you know the chances are good you won't get called on to put up or shut up.

The hilarity really gets going with this bit:

It takes a certain amount of wealth to be a rebel. The upper middle class people who threw their planes into buildings didn’t think like Americans. True, they had wealth and privilege but they didn’t think of themselves as rich because, unlike Americans—the bestest greatest keenest group of folks in the world who wouldn’t dream of killing 1 or 2 million peasants in Guatemala or East Timor—they probably thought I’m not rich unless my people are rich.

Yep, the Sauds are known throughout the world for their generousity. The Royal Family is dedicated to ensuring that their vast wealth is distributed equitably among their people. Of course, the gap between the rich and poor in Saudi Arabia is approximately 100 times the gap in the US, but who's counting? Besides, it's the US's fault that the gap is so wide; after all, we keep insisting on giving the Saudi princes more oil money. The princes just can't give it away fast enough. So, in a remarkable generous move, they spend it all on cars, and palaces, and limos, and trips, distributing that wealth the best way they can. Sadly, most of what they purchase comes from outside the country, so the peasants really don't feel the benefit of this income redistribution, but I'm sure they appreciate the gesture. What wonderful people these wealthy rebels are!

Not content with this howler, Philip continues:

Let's assume for a moment that our country is run by oilman and let us assume that maybe they've concluded that the biggest threat to their Crack-like oil supply is not the Arab countries, but a country that has over 400 nuclear weapons. Now, Sharon has said that he'll retaliate if Saddam attacks Israel with germ warfare. I'm making the assumption that Sharon means nuclear weapons. But what if the US doesn't let him? What if they decide to attack Israel preemptively in order to protect the oil supply?

So Philip finds it conceivable that the US would launch a pre-emptive strike against Israel, to prevent them from launching a counter strike against Iraq, which would attack Israel in response to a pre-emptive strike from the US. I haven't laughed that hard since the first time I heard Abbott and Costello perform "Who's on First?"

Philip continues with this bit of fluff:

I just don't think that force creates longterm peace or stability...

Define "long term peace and stability," Philip, then tell us how disputes may be settled without the application of force.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Force, or the threat of force is the ultimate arbiter of all disputes. It ranges from a parent withholding privileges from a naughty child all the way to full scale war. Even diplomacy is the application of force, albeit implicitly rather than directly.

Peace is not the natural state of man, as any student of human history, or biology for that matter, can tell you. Coexistence involves a balance of power, and that balance is constantly shifting. Every group seeks an advantage, utilizing all available resources to get ahead. Groups which do not do so quickly fall behind, and die out. This is a natural consequence of the evolutionary process, and man is the ultimate result (so far) of this process. To expect the species to abandon the strategy which has proven so successful is like a child wishing for the moon. It ain't gonna happen. And if by some strange chance it does happen, then it will be another species' time to go for the gold. ( My bet would be on dogs. They aren't all that smart, but their evolutionary path has mimicked that of man. No other species of animal has adapted to such a wide range of environments while maintain species integrity.) What pacifists call peace is a temporary condition when all interacting forces are at equilibrium, and the system is at rest. This is also known as stagnation. Not a good thing, evolutioanally speaking. Fortunately, the real definition of peace has more in common with Ambrose Bierce's definition:

In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

In other words, the game continues, we just put our guns under the table for awhile. However, all diplomacy is bolstered b those guns, even when they are under the table. Come to the game unarmed, and you are guaranteed to walk out a loser.

Philip finishes up with a little gratuitous name calling, but we'll let that slide.

You heard it here first!

You heard it here first!
I said here that the Washington sniper was a terrorist. Now it looks like the experts agree:

The recent sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area are probably terrorist attacks rather than the work of a traditional "spree killer," according to a local psychologist who specializes in violent behavior.

Dr. Helen Smith, a forensic psychologist and author of the book "The Scarred Heart," earned her doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1994. She often is called to testify as an expert witness in Juvenile Court proceedings; in "The Scarred Heart," she dedicated a chapter to the 1997 Lillelid murder case in Greene County, and she is currently making a documentary on the slayings.

"This is most likely a terrorist act, that's my take on it," Smith said of the D.C.-area shootings, which began Oct. 2 and have claimed the lives of eight people so far. "It's not typical, it just doesn't really meet any of the profiles we look at."

She goes on:

According to Smith, the real target of the sniper or snipers in the Washington area is the larger community rather than individuals.

"The anger's not toward the victims, it's toward the community," she said. "People use guns because you can step back, make it impersonal. They're probably not even seeing these people as actual people, but as things or objects used to further their goal, whatever their goal is."

My thoughts exactly.

The move

The move
OK, the first steps are underway. I have a new host, a domain name, and I've downloaded an FTP client. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to get all the parts working together. AS soon as the new site is running, I'll post a link to it here.

The move

The move
OK, the first steps are underway. I have a new host, a domain name, and I've downloaded an FTP client. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to get all the parts working together. AS soon as the new site is running, I'll post a link to it here.

The Good, the Bad, and the UGA

The Good, the Bad, and the UGA
Well, the game is over, and I wish I was eating crow right now, but it was not to be.

The Good
James Banks--Give this young man the ball. Send Clausen home to momma, cause James is money in the bank. He's quick, fast, and can throw the ball. He performed better as a true freshman than Clausen has in his entire career.

Tennessee stuffed the run all afternoon. The defensive line and linebackers never allowed Ga to get their rushing game going.

Cory Larkins showed passion, and some nifty moves on punt and kickoff returns.

Tennessee's rushing game finally seemed to get a spark, despite the mediocre performance of the offensive line.

The Bad

The offensive line couldn't open a hole, unless it was to allow a blitzing linebacker in to harass our quarterback, or a stunting defensive end to block a punt. The failure of this unit to live up to their potential is one of the most glaring problems with this team. Granted, they were handicapped by Randy Sanders and his completely predictable offensive scheme.

The secondary couldn't cover me. 'nuff said.

The Ugly

Everybody in the stadium knew the Vols were going to run. Unfortunately, that included the Dawg defense, who played all afternoon with 7-8 players in the box. They dared the Vols to throw the ball, and Sanders failed to respond. I don't accept the excuse of Clausen's injury for two reasons. First, on the few passes they did try, Leak and Banks were on target for the most part. They certainly performed as well as Clausen has. Second, a coaching staff must be prepared for an injury to key personnel. Tennessee's staf failed to do so. Fulmer pinned the hopes of the entire team on one man's shoulders. Obviously, they couldn't carry the load.

The officiating. It seems strange to me that every team the Vols play is almost flawless as far as penalties go(Scroll down). Tennessee's opponents have been penalized 20 times for an average of under 35 yards per game. That's the least in the SEC by a long shot. LSU's opponents are next on the list with 33 penalties over 5 games for an average of 52 yards per game. That's a significant jump.

The secondary. Yeah, I know I listed them under the bad, but they were really bad.

You want a lottery? Sure! Why not?

You want a lottery? Sure! Why not?

Joe Sullivan tries to tell us why not in the Metro Pulse. Joe writes an article with the thesis that pouring 300 million dollars per year into higher education, funded through a totally voluntary contribution, is a bad thing. He tries really hard, but is doomed to failure by the ridiculous nature of his premise.
The mental gymnastics required to prove such a strange idea lead him into some incredible contortions of logic. Here's one example:

Beyond that, retaining better students has helped in raising admission standards at the University of Georgia to the point where SAT scores of enrollees now average 1210, up from 1161 in 1993. And improving the quality of its student body contributes to improving the quality of a university.

But in Tennessee:

A leading lottery proponent, Sen. Steve Cohen, suggests that any pinch resulting from heightened demand for higher ed can be dealt with by making enrollment more selective. But this is an unacceptable answer. Some form of higher ed should be accessible to anyone who is prepared for it.

So raising the standards is good if you're Georgia, but bad if you're Tennessee? Nice try Joe. But wait, there's more! Joe goes on to say:

While UT would welcome making its student body more select, and other four-year universities might follow its lead in capping their enrollments, that only pushes the added demand down into the community colleges (where poorer qualified students probably belong).

So now he agrees with raising standards. I'm getting whiplash here! First it's good, then bad, then grudgingly good again.

As a brief aside, I think anybody who has to take any basic skills courses is by definition unready for college, and should not be admitted to a four year university. At UT, like most state universities, that equals roughly half the student body. Pathetic.

So why is Joe flopping around like a fish on a hook? The answer is in his opening paragraph.

If you can get past the fact that a lottery is a rip-off that mainly exploits poor people, then you can get to the question of whether lottery revenues can benefit the state sufficiently for the end to justify the means.

Let's deconstruct this little beauty, shall we?

• "Rip-off." implies that the Lottery would not deliver what it promises to those who play. Obviously, this is incorrect. The odds of winning are published; the jackpot is calculated based on the level of play, and is also published. Every prize claimed is paid. It isn't a rip-off. Sure, you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than hitting the jackpot, but that doesn't make it a rip-off, just a poor investment. You don't play the lottery to fund your retirement; you play it for the dream.
  
• "Mainly exploits poor people." Nope, mainly exploits greed and laziness. We all want something for nothing. We all want to get the better end of the bargain. A lottery uses that universal desire to draw people into it's game. Somebody who really wants to get ahead may drop a dollar or two on the lottery for fun, but will concentrate his investment in time and effort in areas that have a much greater chance of success. Only the lazy would depend on the lottery to solve all their problems.
  So the poor play the lottery with greater frequency that those who are comfortable. Are they coerced into doing so? Nope. Nobody forces them to play, so how are they exploited? Mr. Sullivan is demonstrating a subtle form of elitism here that is endemic on the left. He is reducing the autonomy of the poor folks by refusing to allow them to make their own decisions, and live with the consequences of those decisions. In effect, he is declaring them to be incapable of managing their own funds.
  
• "Whether lottery revenues can benefit the state sufficiently for the end to justify the means." In effect, the lottery is a mean horrible nasty business, but if it pays well enough, maybe it will be worth it. 'nuff said.

Now, his final paragraph:

For the most part, though, the proposed state lottery looks to me like a way to get mostly poor people to pay for the college education's of families that are mostly better off. Voters should reject such an insidious income transfer system.

Once again, the lottery is voluntary. Nobody has to play.

Pop Quiz

Pop Quiz

When is a terrorist not a terrorist?

A. When he is a freedom fighter.
B. When you agree with his cause.
C. When labeling him as a terrorist would cause widespread fear and panic.
D. When his motives are unknown.
E. All of the above.

The whack job running around Maryland and Virginia shooting innocent people for reasons unknown is a terrorist, pure and simple, no different than Timothy McVeigh, or the dogs that crashed into the WTC. While his (or her) affiliation is yet to be determined, the sniper's activities does not fit the typical profile of a serial killer, or a mass murderer. These aren't rage killings, carried out sporadically in the heat of passion, nor is it a single orgy of violence, spending itself in a furythat ends with the destruction of the killer, nor is it the planned, almost ritualized actions of the serial killer. These are the actions of a rational individual, planned to maximize the fear, while allowing the killer to continuekilling for as long as possible. He will continue to kill until he is himself gunned down, which won't happen anytime soon, given the random nature of his actions. There are some reports that there are two individuals involved, acting in tandem, which suggests a professional sniper team. So, we have a team of professionals acting to maximize fear and confusion by the random slaughter of innocent people. Sure sounds like terrorism to me. This is a suicide bomber, streamlined and upgraded for American consumption.

So, what can we expect over the next few days? I can think of two possibilities. The team continues to kill until they are caught, or they kill for a little while longer, then quit for awhile, to let the tension build. Once people start to relax, they go back into action, or another team begins in a different region. That's probably my worst fear. Even if these guys are not affiliated with a major terrorist group, even if they are just a couple of crazies, they are providing a detailed blueprint to the real terrorists on how to strike at American targets without reprisals.

Enough is enough!

Enough is enough! I'm outta here!

No, I'm not quitting the blog, but I am packing up for better digs. This template error thing is driving me nuts. That, combined with the trouble I'm having getting my homepage set up as an image server has convinced me that the old saying is true: you get what you pay for.

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to be moving to a new hosting