TCS Daily: Blood Alcohol Blues

Over at TCS Daily (formerly Tech Central Station) Max Borders actually offers an alternative solution to what is in his eyes (I happen to agree) a problem. The problem is the lowering of BAC limits for an individual to be considered legally drunk. Being the ripe young age of 24 I still am frequently around people drinking, and drinking in large quantities. As such, the effects of varying amounts of booze on different individuals does not escape me. I know 250 lb guys who are considerably impaired after two or three drinks and I know 108 lb girls who can polish off a twelver with no problem. The problem with BAC in determining the ability to drive is that blood alcohol content measures just that, the amount of alcohol in your blood. It does not measure your ability to react to various situations, BAC gives only an indication as to the impairment of an individual. Should the pettie girl who can drink like a fish, blow a .10 and still drive go to jail while the house of a man who drinks like Nicole Kidman from Blind Date but only blows a .04 is sent on his way?

Mr. Borders offers an interesting solution at the end of his piece which may or may not be feasible, but at least he is trying to solve a problem.

So the question comes down to this: Are there other (non-cost prohibitive) standards available for testing drivers? One’s that actually test for impairment?
You bet -- and they’re inexpensive.
My tentative suggestion would be a portable driving simulator. If we train fighter-pilots and astronauts on sims, why not test drivers with them? In fact, there are all sorts of computer programs sitting on servers at different universities around the country, not to mention in for-profit companies. There are programs for everything from learning to drive an eighteen wheeler, to -- eureka -- testing people’s driving abilities under the influence.
Even if we thought the driving simulators extant were somehow insufficient for the task of determining whether or not someone is impaired, we know the technology exists and that a prototype for cops could be worked up in a matter of months. Don’t believe me? This following list of games should give us an idea of what’s out there:
 Beta Research Driving Simulator
 Gran Turismo 4
 Subaru (Online Simulator Game)
 Drivesquare
I admit that a formalized simulation might have to be studied extensively. But the technology is there: 3-D virtual reality glasses, algorithms that recreate physical forces, graphics, sound -- and everything else cool and realistic that you might find in your kids’ X-Box 360.
While such new technologies may have to be reworked and tested for use as a legal standard, it’s certainly a significantly better objective standard for determining whether a person is capable of driving than breathalyzers. And while there may be a minor inferential step from someone’s score on the simulation to the presence of alcohol in her body, such a step is far, far narrower than the giant leap between BAC and impairment.

MapSexOffenders.com - Coaching Up the Journal Ed Board

I was a little surprised to read the Journal’s editorial this morning about the new updates to the sex offender web site. According to the Journal:

As of Thursday, Department of Corrections Secretary Matt Frank has promised, it includes specific addresses for those offenders registered. The Web site at http://widocoffenders.org was clunky in practice when we tried it (because of "traffic congestion," said a spokesman), but addresses were included.
Go to the Web site, and click on Search Registry. You can search by name or location. In the location field, type in a ZIP code. Names of sexual offenders who are required to register will appear. Click on any one of them, and that offender's information will pop up, including address.
The ability to type in addresses and get offenders in proximity would be handier, but this addition is an improvement.

A cursory search of the web would have found them a number of sites that not only show sex offenders in the proximity of a given address, but also give a picture of said offender. My favorite is mapsexoffenders.com which uses the google map tool to plot each sex offender in the vicinity of an address or zip code. Clicking on each pinpoint brings up the address and mug shot of the offender. This is a fantastic resource that is far and away better than that listed by the Journal. Shocking.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the Turkey Fires!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving folks. Here are some deep friar mishaps brought to you by the folks at underwriter laboratories. Enjoy!

A Defeat That Stings...

Reported oil shortages, high gas prices because of skyrocketing demand, and untapped oil reserves in our own country. Seems to me the equation works itself out quite nicely. While the ANWR oil won't solve any problems, it will alleviate some immediate fears and allow for greater saving of oil, our own oil, the cost of which will undoubtedly be cheaper than shipping it in from overseas.

I simply don't understand how the aesthetic value of an environmental preserve, which serves no other purpose than "being pretty" trumps the social and economic needs of the greatest country in the history of civilization? To top it off, the Grand Ol Party congressmen couldn't even get the moratorium lifted on offshore drilling on the east and west coasts.

The worst part is how large the Republican defection was on this issue:

Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.

“Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation’s long-term economic leadership and security,” they said.

The moderates knew they had leverage, given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House. It only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.

Hopefully the Republicans in the Senate can throw a little clout around and get this thing done, finally, for the good of the country instead of cowtowing to the interests of nutty leftists who have twisted the issue into some all-important cause.

Red State Rumor Mill Gets Churning...Justice Sammy Alito?

I don't think they have gotten it right yet, but the folks over at Redstate.org are saying the next nominee will be Samuel Alito, known as Scalito to leftists.

Or, it could possibly be Luttig. Either would be a fantastic choice for the Roberts Court (still love saying it).

Multiple sources are telling RedState that Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will be named by the President at the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court as early as Monday.

"The situation is still in flux," says one source, "but not very much." Says another, "The White House Counsel's Office is not doing too good at keeping this a secret."

Still another source says, "Luttig and Alito were the fall backs to Miers. They have both been vetted. Alito seems more palatable. There is no need to drag this out, he's been vetted a million times."

Obviously it is still wait and see...

Liberal Pundits: "Abortion Is Murder"

I was reading Jonah Goldberg's piece over at TownHall (newly redesigned I might add) and saw a couple quotes I had not seen before.

And then Bennett offered the infamous hypothetical, saying: "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could - if that were your sole purpose - you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

Now, many of you probably know all of this so far. But some probably do not because you've heard about this second hand. And Democrats and many liberals have been trying to distort what Bennett said. Former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe: "The point he was trying to make, I guess, he said, you know, if you were to go out there and kill the black babies, the crime would go down." Ted Kennedy and a predictably long list of others have called him a racist. Radio host Ed Schultz said: Bennett is "out there advocating the murder of all black babies."

Umm, when did these folks start thinking of fetuses as babies? I am one of the rare people in America who has no solid stance on abortion, I have never felt in a position to say one way or the other and I can see compelling arguments on either side. My problem here is with the unabashed hipocrisy coming from these leftists.

Bennet obviously and explicitly said "abort." He was talking about abortion. And McAuliffe and Ed Schultz (radio host in Dakota or something, syndicated in a few place, I don't blame you if you never heard of him I hadn't until I got XM) immediatley say Bennett was advocating "killing black babies."

So has the left, some of the left, or just these two nutters changed their position on abortion (I have a feeling Schultz may be somewhat pro-life, based on DU rants). Is abortion now "murdering babies?" If it is, doesn't the act of murder trump a woman's right to privacy?

Goldberg touches on this later in the column.

Notice how so many righteously offended liberals keep referring to fetuses as people. In The New York Times, Bob Herbert proclaims that Bennett considers "exterminating blacks would be a most effective crime-fighting tool." Schultz and McAuliffe say Bennett wants to exterminate "babies."

Funny, I thought the bedrock faith of pro-abortion liberals is that fetuses aren't babies. Isn't it interesting how this lynchpin of liberal morality evaporates the moment an opportunity to call Bennett a racist presents itself? Talk about utilitarianism.

I cannot fathom how you can have it both ways? When talking about "aborting black fetuses" liberals call it murder, but when talking about abortion in general, it's a "right to choose." That line is far too fine for me.

Badger Hockey Preview!!

This is my favorite day of the sporting year. I'll be leaving work early to be all looped at a little bar near the Kohl Center with a thousand or so close friends to get ready for the rowdiest most intimate sporting experience you can imagine. Nothing beats a packed arena full of knowledgable fans, knowing exactly what to cheer and when to cheer it, all happening in sync no matter how drunk the fandom might be. With that in mind, here is all you need to know about the upcoming Badger season.





Cap Times Preview

State Journal Preview

USCHO WCHA Preview, Insidecollegehockey.com WCHA preview


My personal analysis? Well, oddly enough the Badgers are ranked 10th in the national preseason poll behind FIVE WCHA teams. However, in the WCHA coaches poll, the Badgers are picked to finish second. Odd things afoot. The Maroon and Mustard Goofers are solid, with a great young class. CC has incredible offensive potential, Denver the same. The Sioux of ND lost some talent but were able to retain a Milwaukee kid named Drew Stafford (who I owned in my day) which will help. The Badgers didn't add a ton but look out for Jack Skille, the guy can play and rumors have it he and Phil Kessel (the filthy traitorous scum bag) despise each other. Should be fun to watch! I think Bucky contends for the title, but finishes second or third in the WCHA.

As promised, here is a must see video. Honestly if you do one thing today, watch this idiot. This is after a game in Minnesota where he muffed two empty netters and basically played a poor game all around. So the teams clear the ice and Hirsch decides he isn't done. Watch and see a mental breakdown happen before your eyes. Screw the Gophers. (By the way, Tyler is fine and was back on the ice a few weeks later).

Are African American Women Inherrantly Racist? Kane seems to think so

I read Eugene Kane's column this morning with a little bit of disbelief. I read through the first three quarters of it and pretty much all he did was bash black men. The column was about how black women don't feel most black men would make suitable husbands or fathers hence they just get knocked up to "fill a void" and distance themselved from the father.

"Before pregnancy, these young women's lives were often spinning out of control, dogged by school failure, struggles with parents and peers, the lure of drugs and alcohol and the omnipresent dangers of their neighborhood streets.

"Into this void comes a baby, bringing a profound sense of meaning and identity."

I wanted to run this theory past someone who has worked extensively with black single mothers.

June Perry, executive director of New Concept Self Development in Milwaukee, a non-profit social service agency that has a variety of programs for low-income families in the African-American community, saw some credibility in the book's views.

"I think most people support marriage if it makes your life better and improves the life of the child," Perry said. "But for many black women, that reality is limited."

Many black women don't have a large pool of candidates for marriage due to social realities, Perry said.

"There's the lack of employment and lack of education among black men, and there's also the incarceration rate," Perry said. "Marriage is great if you have someone who can join your life as a partner, but if he's unemployed or incarcerated, he's probably not going to be there."

Perry said many women want children but resist marriage due to the circumstances of the men in their lives.

According to this specialist black women see black men as unemployable losers or worse, criminals who will not "make thier life better and improve the life of the child."

I was a little struck by the tone of the column, given that if Bill Bennet had made these comments Jesse Jackson would have been calling for his head. But it seems that African American women don't reserve their bigotry for just black men. Nope, according to Kane black women also have some sort of aversion to white men.

Compounding the problem is the fact that black women don't marry outside their race as often as other women do.

Compounding the problem is the fact that black women don't marry outside their race as often as other women do.

Kane doesn't give any facts supporting this, just claims it is so. I decided to write Mr. Kane to see if I could get some follow up (he is usually pretty good about getting back). Here is my letter:

Mr Kane,

I was struck by your most recent article. It seems that the people most inherently averse to African American men are African American women. You write, as a given, that most black women feel that most black men will not improve their lives. I was literally stunned. Do black women really peg black men as uneducated louts or criminals as the following paragraph suggests?

“"I think most people support marriage if it makes your life better and improves the life of the child," Perry said. "But for many black women, that reality is limited."
Many black women don't have a large pool of candidates for marriage due to social realities, Perry said.
"There's the lack of employment and lack of education among black men, and there's also the incarceration rate," Perry said. "Marriage is great if you have someone who can join your life as a partner, but if he's unemployed or incarcerated, he's probably not going to be there."
You have written back to back columns, one condemning Bill Bennet for inferring black people are more likely to be criminals, and the next saying most black men are unintelligent or criminals? I don’t really get it. They seem to be reflections of the same though.

To compound my confusion is your insinuation, without supporting facts, that black women are racist, or at least overly averse to men of other races. You candor is appreciated, but you don’t seem to find these things the least bit strange.

The conclusion I drew from your column is that African American women have children to fill otherwise empty lives “fill a void” and would rather be a single mom than pursue option A. an unemployable black man B. an African American criminal or C. heavens forbid, a white man. I can’t imagine this is the case, and if it is the situation is more bleak than poverty or wedlock babies. Forget changing the attitudes of racists Southerners or condescending white liberals, the attitudes that need to be changed most, from this article, is that of the African American mothers.

If these mothers are assuming black men are no good, that attitude obviously is picked up at one level or another by her children, thus resulting in an almost self perpetuating cycle of disdain for black men in the black community. The female children will share the mothers views and the male children will think of themselves as destined to be no good.

Thanks for you time and the thought provoking column

I'll let you know if I get anything.

I needed that!

Last night was a fantastic night for hockey fans. The stadums were 98% full, scoring was up over 30% (penalties were up 40%) and removing the red line really was a hit.

Here is a fantastic recap of all last night's action. I listened to the Bruins-Haps game for a little while while I was stuck at work and it was great, lawd lawd how I missed it!

An acquaintance of the family notched the first of many (and notched an assist, congrats Zack!)

Great Wisco alum Dany Heatley Q&A (by the way, our boy scored the put away in the first regular season shootout for the Sens!)

I have a treat for you guys tomorrow. I'm gonna post a link to a video that I have gotten a lot of heat over. It is the famous Tyler Hirsch meltdown video. I'll tell more tomorrow, but when I put it up my site meter almost melted and my comment section was loaded with Goofer fans yelling at me to take it down. I'm sorry but with College Hockey just around the corner (FSN 7pm tomorrow night for you unluky enough to not have tickets yet, and there is still a bit of room on the Bucky Badger Bandwagon!) I have to post the video of a kid I know literally losing his mind at the end of a game, especially since he plays for the Maroon and Mustard).

cross posted over at The Wisconsin Sports Bar

Tom DeLay

I have no been following the DeLay scandal and I have no real desire to at this point. Based on the tidbits I've read the thing seemed to start out as a partisan witch hunt, but if it resulted in finding illegal activity then I have no problem throwing the guy in jail.

I do, however, think it is too early to find him guilty, since as far as I know, there is still a little thing called a trial.

Politically speaking, I'm glad it happened now so that it does as little damage as possible. The earlier the better, as it lessens the effects it could potentially have on 06 elections, and basically makes it a dead issue in 08.

I am too young to really remember the leftist equivalent in 94 (i believe) Dan Rostenkowski (?) which ended up killing the dems in that election, but if this had happened a few months later I could definitely see the same results.

I await the fallout with baited breath.

Barak Obama's Black Problem

Last December, barely a month after his election as US Senator, the east coast press devoted reams of paper to the potential First Black President. He was hailed throughout the minority community as a sure thing, a rising star, a can't miss African American. Liberals dream about a candidate like Mr. Obama, eloquent, from average roots, minority, and liberal as Teddy Kennedy. To top it all off, he is from the midwest, young and handsome. There is only one problem;

Barak Obama is colored.


If you read that paragraph in the Washington Monthly you would be rightly stunned. I daresay Jesse Jackson would be shaking the place down with his Rainbow Coalition and Farrakahn would be threatening a black uprising if the Monthly didn't apologize.

Why then is the following paragraph, from Amy Sullivan, acceptible?

Last December, barely a month after Bush's reelection, George Will devoted a column to Romney's potential, and a quick succession of profiles in the Weekly Standard, National Review, and The Atlantic Monthly appeared in the spring. Who could blame them? Romney has had a successful business career (he is known to most Americans as the man who saved the Salt Lake City Olympics). He comes from noble moderate Republican lineage (his father was governor of Michigan). He is attractive (the National Review sighed over his "chiseled handsomeness"). And he grabbed national headlines—and the attention of social conservatives—by standing up to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage. Just as Democrats are always looking for a liberal nominee from a red state, Republicans dream about a candidate like Romney: a social conservative from the most cerulean of blue states who can please the base while not scaring off moderates.

There's only one problem. Romney is a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).

Sucks to suck...

I was talking to my buddy last night about the 2008 Presidential race. I am what I am and he is a slowly moving to the center lefty. I told him, I have no clue who the heck I will vote for, and if McCain is nominated it just may have to be the Democrat (or Pat Buchanan).

Anyway, I told him I assumed a emocrat would win, it just seems to go that way, and he told me he wasn't so sure but that if a lefty doesn't win, "what with all that's been going on" the democrat party is dead. I couldn't agree more. If the Republicans can somehow win in 2008 imagine the shockwave that would send through staunch socialists like Kennedy and Kucinich! It would literally be the stake through the heart of their idiotic ideology.

Jonah Goldberg has a nice column today about how terrible it is to be a democrat, amidst the low approval ratings of a Republican president, and still have absolutely ZERO power:

Of the myriad civic, legal and political lessons to be drawn from Thursday's assured vote to confirm Judge John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court, the most glaring is how much it just plain stinks to be a Democrat these days.

George W. Bush is at his lowest approval level of his presidency, Iraq will not likely be a political winner for the foreseeable future, congressional Republicans are balking at his agenda and, in response, Bush is throwing money out the window as if he's afraid it might catch fire. Yet his thoroughly rich, white male nominee has passed with barely a scratch.

We'll see how weak they really are in a week or so, when the next conservative white male is nominated to associate justice...

Congratulation La Crosse

La Crosse has been named the sixth best Oktoberfest destination in the United States. Pretty impressive for a place that lately has only been in the news because some lunatic parents blamed guys drowning in the river at bar time on a serial killer, and not on the most likely cause, guys falling into a river while taking a leak on their way home from the bars. I've been to La Crosse, I've gotten drunk in La Crosse and I can guaranty one of those scenarios is the correct one.

But I digress, here is what Askmen.com has to say about La Crosse's Oktoberfest Party:

The town of La Crosse began organizing Oktoberfest events in 1961, and over 40 years later, the festivities are better than ever. Famous for its numerous parades, La Crosse's version of Oktoberfest is a light-hearted, relaxing event where friendly people get together to eat the notoriously great bratwurst and down beer as if it were water. Yes, the people of Wisconsin know how to make Oktoberfest their own and 175,000 people gather to experience it with them.

To top it all off, a three-hour Maple Leaf Parade and a Miss La Crosse/Oktoberfest beauty pageant round out the festivities, proving that a visit to La Crosse is worth the trip.

Must-do: See the world's largest six-pack at the City Brewery.

Again, congratulations to all the good folks in the nort'west.

WI Librarians Naked for the Kids?

Seriously, I know sex sells, but northern Wisconsin librarians getting mostly naked for a calendar? That is definitely a new one on me.

The idea for the "Desperate Librarians" 2006 wall calendar came about because Craig Lahm is retiring after 32 years of running Kaukauna's library, and his colleagues in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System wanted to come up with a different kind of gift.

Twelve of them decided they would use photographs of themselves to make a simple calendar that they would print at a Walgreens. But after the librarians took their idea to Countryside Photographers in Seymour, they decided to professionally produce a calendar and sell it as a fund-raiser.

That's when six of the 12 librarians bailed out. But five middle-aged library directors and a 32-year-old assistant each put up $200 and posed provocatively, using oversize books to cover what their clothes usually do.

Proceeds benefit the public libraries in Weyauwega, Clintonville, Marion, Seymour and Manawa as well as Waupaca.

If you ask me, this should NOT have been done...

Porkbusters

I am terribly busy and so I am probably the last to post about this, but it is incredibly important. We all know what Mr. Delay had to say last week about there being "no fat" in the budget. Turns out the blogosphere has mobilized yet again, behind Instapundit and TTLB, to gather a comprehensive and ever expanding list of pork projects listed in searchable fashion here.

This is really fascinating to check out the various projects and how much they actually cost. It seems that so far, all Wisconsin really cares about are bike trails, odd?

Currently, Wisconsin is listed for $37 million in wasteful federal spending.

The site has helpful hints as to how to find pork, how to contact your senators and congressmen, and a list of every representative and their pork busting status; if they have commited to cutting spending or not.

This is the type of thing that bloggers can very successfully accomplish. By firing up enough people, and calling out representatives on individual projects with a loud enough voice, we can more than likely end, if not postpone to brighter days, this frivilous spending.

National Talk Like A Pirate Day

Just an FYI, today is national talk like a pirate day, so avast ye matey's and mind your wenches, many a swashbuckler will be roaming about using the Top Ten Pirate Pickup Lines...

0 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?

9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?

8. Come on up and see me urchins.

7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.

6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.

5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?

4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?

3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.

2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is …

1. Prepare to be boarded.

Guess the Film

That the following quote came from:

"Marching and heiling, heiling and marching. In him is planted no seed of laughter, hope, tolerance or mercy. For him - only heiling and marching, marching and heiling. The grim years of regimentation have done their work. Now he's a good Nazi. He sees no more than the party wants him to. He says nothing but what the party wants him to say. And he does nothing than what the party wants him to do. And so he marches, with millions of comrades, trampling on the rights of others. For now, his education is complete. His education... for death."

Read the whole fascinatging piece here (thanks to Tom McMahon, who has hands down the best blog tagline I have seen).


By the way, if you said it is from Education For Death: The Story of One of Hitler's Children, a freaking Walt Disney cartoon, you are right, and possibly need to get outside for a bit.

Louis Farrakhan: Giant Jackass and Race Baitor

I'm super busy and deathly tired from a weekend where I got less than five hours but this needs to be read, maybe finally African Americans will realize people like this HURT their cause, not help.

"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach. It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry," Farrakhan said.

Also online

Watch this story

Build your own newscast

Gilton Balanos lived in the very neighborhood Farrakhan was talking about.

"I think that's ludicrous," Balanos said. "When this happened we were caught by surprise. Individuals, the government and everybody were caught by surprise."

Farrakhan also said that the Red Cross’ response to the disaster was inadequate. Red Cross Spokesperson Pam Dagle said "there was no basis for the criticism."

How could you listen to this and not want to punch him in the teeth?

Hunger Strikers Pledge to Die in Gitmo

Good, may they be successful in their efforts.

More than 200 detainees in Guantánamo Bay are in their fifth week of a hunger strike, the Guardian has been told.

Statements from prisoners in the camp which were declassified by the US government on Wednesday reveal that the men are starving themselves in protest at the conditions in the camp and at their alleged maltreatment - including desecration of the Qur'an - by American guards.

The statements, written on August 11, have just been given to the British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith. They show that prisoners are determined to starve them selves to death. In one, Binyam Mohammed, a former London schoolboy, said: "I do not plan to stop until I either die or we are respected.

It could be worse Mr. Mohammed, you could have your head sawed off and the decapitation broadcast throughout the world...just to give you some perspective.

Like the kling klang king of the rim ram room...

In less than 24 hours I will be landing in Vegas and partaking in a whirlwind tour of debauchery. Days will be spent alternating between the sportsbook and the pool watching games and watching ladies. I can't go wrong.




The purpose of this post is not to gloat, but to allow you to follow along with me on my odyssey of football betting in real time. The games I will post in a few moments are the games I am leaning to right now, they may change they may not, but here is a taste of the action I am looking at (lines are as of a few hours ago):

PRO

Cincy -3.5
Minnesota by 6
Denver by 5
Arizona getting 3
St. Louis giving 6 (if this game stays below a TD it is a lock that I will be taking it).
Colts giving 3 is a lead pipe lock

COLLEGE

Texas getting 1 at Ohio State
Boston College giving 27.5 to Army
Notre Dame getting 7.5 at Michigan (knee-shaker)

Over/Under

Buffalo/Texas under 38
Chiefs/Jets under 37.5 (depends on the T. Green news pregame).

Well, kids, wish me luck!

More State of LA Failure

Radio Blogger:

"MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdome, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?

HH: And the answer is?

MG: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.

HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?

MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.

HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.

MG: That would have been Monday or Tuesday. The exact time, the hour, I don't have. But clearly, they had an evacuee situation at the Superdome, and of course, people gravitated to the convention center on an ad hoc basis. They sort of invented that as another place to go, because they couldn't stand the conditions at the Superdome.

HH: Any doubt in the Red Cross' mind that they were ready to go, but they were blocked?

MG: No. Absolutely none. They are absolutely unequivocal on that point."

I haven't really heard much about this, but if the state FEMA people were keeping out the "calvary" why the hell was the state FEMA guy on TV crying about "the calvalry isn't here yet!?"

Where Bodies Are Being Counted, Michael Moore Sees Loot to be Made

I wonder if he sits around, eating buckets of chicken, just hoping for the next American death. Any death will do. School shootings? Lets make Bowling for Columbine. Michigan suicides? Lets make Roger and Me. Terrorist attack? Fahrenheit 9/11! Well, it looks like the Master of Deathploitation, the King of Cinema Chaotica, the biggest individual profiteer of American sorrow and pain is gearing up to fatten his wallet off yet another coupld thousand American lives.

Will Michael Moore turn his cameras on Katrina?

The controversial filmmaker is “seriously considering” turning the devastating storm and its aftermath into a documentary, says a source. “It has all the elements that made ‘Fahrenheit 911’ such a powerful film,” says a source. “The political outrage, the human suffering, and the incredible footage.”

As long as there is politics to play, suffering to profit from, and damn compelling footage, Michael Moore will be there to try and make millions.

On your mark... SCOTUS trading begins in earnest!

Intrade is taking your iron as the world buys up pieces of various nominees. Currently most of the action is on Edith Brown Clement and Alberto Gonzales, with Michael Luttig getting some scraps.

Obviously, pretty much every lawyer/judge close to the President is being mentioned for the opening and as always, I expect the President to pick someone a little unexpected. A woman, maybe. A minority, who knows? Will he allow those quota considerations to cloud his judgement, almost certainly not. Has the left given him any credit for his appointments of minorities to cabinet level positions, of course not. They have ridiculed Condi and Colin as Uncle Tom's and other disgustingly derogatory terms so I would expect Janice Rodgers Brown to get the same treatment should she be nominated. She may be dark skinned but since she has different opinions than Eugene Kane, she just aint black enough.

Bench Memos over at NRO has some solid coverage, including a nice little essay here.

If this interpretation is correct — that the President made his decision to appoint Justice O'Connor's replacement based solely on merit and judicial philosophy in the long-term best interests of the nation — then it seems reasonable to suppose that he will make the same decision the same way the second time around. Nothing says this will point him to another white male, as the short list of the country's best available conservatives surely includes women and minorities, but it means the white males won't be categorically excluded from consideration either.

If that's so, here are a couple of new names to keep your eye on as dark horse candidates if the President tries to replicate the Roberts model: Steve Colloton, a judge on the Eighth Circuit, and Jeff Sutton, a Judge on the Sixth Circuit. Both are brilliant former Supreme Court clerks; both have long records of public service, Colloton primarily as a prosecutor and Sutton primarily as a Supreme Court and appellate advocate; both are widely respected, right to left, with plenty of supporters among Democrats of good faith; both are supported by influential home-state Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee; both are young men in their mid-40s; and both were originally appointed by this President and thus are seen as part of the Bush judicial "family." Some controversy attended Judge Sutton's confirmation, because he is closely identified based on his work as an advocate with the Supreme Court's new federalism jurisprudence. Colloton sailed to confirmation with no problems at all. Whether their time is now or in a future Republican administration, they're worth adding to the evolving lists of credible candidates

Personally, I can't wait! Football season and SCOTUS season! Honestly it is almost too much to comprehend.

13% of Americans Think President Bush has a Weather Machine

Just kidding (the Cheney caused Katrina nutters are out there though), but only 13% of Americans think President Bush is "most responsible for the problems in New Orleans." Over 50% think Bush did an adequate job (10% great, 25% good, 21% not good, not bad). On the other hand, 42% were not at all please with the President's response (18% bad, 24% terrible).

CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 609 adults taken September 5-6 shows:

Blame Game -- 13% said George W. Bush is "most responsible for the problems in New Orleans after the hurricane"; 18% said "federal agencies"; 25% said "state and local officials"; 38% said "no one is to blame"; 6% had no opinion. -- 29% said that "top officials in the federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired"; 63% said they should not; 8% had no opinion.

MORE

Government Performance -- 10% said George W. Bush has done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 25% said "good"; 21% said "neither good nor bad"; 18% said "bad"; 24% said "terrible"; 2% had no opinion. -- 8% said federal government agencies responsible for handling emergencies have done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 27% said "good"; 20% said "neither good nor bad"; 20% said "bad"; 22% said "terrible"; 3% had no opinion. -- 7% said state and local officials in Louisiana have done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 30% said "good"; 23% said "neither good nor bad"; 20% said "bad"; 15% said "terrible"; 5% had no opinion.

via Drudge

"Cold But Effective"

Using a technique seemingly much more effective than the proposed "force em at gunpoint" rescue strategy proposed for New Orleans (honestly, are we really going to make rescue workers into murderers?) Virginia rescue workers are using the "Magic Marker Strategy."

Instead of relying on a "Good Samaritan" policy - the fantasy in New Orleans that everyone would take care of the neighbors - the Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified.

"It's cold, but it's effective," Mr. Judkins explained.

That simple strategy could have persuaded hundreds of people to save their own lives in New Orleans. What the city needed most was coldly effective local leaders, not a president in Washington who could feel their pain. It's the same lesson we should have learned from Sept. 11 and other disasters, yet both liberals and conservatives keep ignoring it.

It's nice to see that SOMEONE put some thought into effective rescue strategy's, and the different situations that may arise.

Randi Rhodes is Completely Insane

Discussing New Orleans and response to Katrina relief efforts


Jim from Wisconsin calls in:

"The Bush administration isn't helping for two reason. Only democratic voters are dying, and the ones that survive are being moved to Texas where they will be told the Republicans saved them and their Democratic governor (Blance) failed them, thus creating a new bloc of GOP voters"
[paraphrased]

Randi's response?

"Oh my Gaawwwwd, you are soooo right."




Is this nut for real? Yesterday I tried to record the show with my MyFi in order to get some of it on here (she doesn't offer archives as far as I can tell, and I get why) but it didn't work.

In describing President Bush yesterday she alternated through "murderous," "psycho," "murderer," "alcoholic," "psycho," "racist," and "moron."

I have no idea how this woman makes it on during prime drive hours. The last week of her show has been like a cross between Art Bell and Teddy Kennedy.

She is also saying that she has seen rats eating people on TV [I have not heard or read that any place else, although some over at Huffingtons page claimed black people were eating each other to survive] and that America is racist because "she doesn't see a white face involved." Wouldn't that mean that the hurricane is the racist?

Just a warning, if the images and the truth of the horrors are enough to get you depressed, don't tune into AAR, which seems to be hyping as much negativity and human evil as it can in order to make the President look bad. Very, very nice.


UPDATE: In the middle of an oddly misplaced rant about this "incredibly and totally white" administration (do I really need to list the folks that aren't white, we all knwo who they are) and tossing around phrases like "illuminati" and "all seeing eye" (I have no idea where she was going with that) Randi Rhodes dropp the obligatory out of place Nazi refrence:

"They're raising good Germans!"

I can't believe it took a full two hours of listening to Air America Radio before I heard a Republicans are Nazis mention. The funny part is, she keeps bitching how President Bush is making this political (he is "murdering" these people because they are "the wrong type of Americans" and they "have democrats representing them") while she constantly laces her completely illogical, tin-foil-hat rants with GOP-bashing.

Jesus

This morning as I was at Bally's, Harry Connick Jr appeared on the TV. I know he is a native of New Orleans so I understood why he was in the city, and why he would be an interesting interview. I have sort of tried to distance myself from the news, part out of necessity (very very busy lately) part out of shock at what is going on in a city I have been to a few times (Mardi Gras has given me some of the greatest memories, and pictures/videos, of my life).

Anyway, Connick was asked about the situation in the Superdome. His response was "it can't be any worse than sitting there for three hours watching the Saints play." I laughed. It was funny because I didn't know the extent of the horror those in the Superdone are facing.

I do now...

A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers...

The Louisiana Superdome, once a mighty testament to architecture and ingenuity, became the biggest storm shelter in New Orleans the day before Katrina's arrival Monday. About 16,000 people eventually settled in...

"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.

At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.

The hurricane left most of southern Louisiana without power, and the arena, which is in the central business district of New Orleans, was not spared. The air conditioning failed immediately and a swampy heat filled the dome...

There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming. The city's water supply, which had held up since Sunday, gave out early Wednesday, and toilets in the Superdome became inoperable and began to overflow.

"There is feces on the walls," said Bryan Hebert, 43, who arrived at the Superdome on Monday. "There is feces all over the place..."

Thankfully, the stadium could be totally evacuated by tonight, and one assumes that the Astrodome and other locations are better prepared to handle the crisis.

Honestly, there isn't much to say, help if you can.

EconoPorn

The New Economist has a bunch of papers and speeches up from the August 2005 Jackson Hole Greenspan Love-In.

Alan Greenspans opening remarks about the role of central banks is especially interesting, if you're into that kind of thing. He outlines the new role central banks are finding themselves playing:

Given our inevitably incomplete knowledge about key structural aspects of an ever-changing economy and the sometimes asymmetric costs or benefits of particular outcomes, the paradigm on which we have settled has come to involve, at its core, crucial elements of risk management. In this approach, a central bank needs to consider not only the most likely future path for the economy but also the distribution of possible outcomes about that path. The decisionmakers then need to reach a judgment about the probabilities, costs, and benefits of various possible outcomes under alternative choices for policy.

Cindy's Brain

Byron York uncovered an interesting tidbit about Mother Martyr Sheehan, namely that she is being directed by a professional protestor and world class bitch and moan artist.

A notice on Cindy Sheehan's website, meetwithcindy.org, asks for donors who might be able to offer a camper, or an RV, or just money, for Sheehan's upcoming cross-country tour, scheduled to begin Wednesday in Crawford, Texas, and end in Washington at the big antiwar demonstration scheduled for September 24. At the end of the note, readers with something to offer are asked to "please call organizer Lisa Fithian."

Fithian is a legendary organizer who operates in the world of anti-globalism anarchists, antiwar protesters, and union activists; an advocate of aggressive "direct action" demonstrations, she protested the first Gulf war, played an important role in the violent shutdown of Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, was a key planner in protests at the Republican and Democratic national conventions in 2000 and 2004, and organized demonstrations at trade meetings in Washington, D.C., Prague, and Genoa.

An interesting way to make a buck, and Byron makes it sound like she is The Man when it comes to stirring things up, and that seems to be the image she cultivates:

"When people ask me, 'What do you do?' I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible."

Fithian is not exactly in line with the Wailing Mom image Sheehan has been trying to cultivate:

In an July 2001 interview with The International Socialist Review, Fithian — who told NRO she's been arrested "probably at least 30 times" — spoke of moving beyond the tradition of civil disobedience as practiced by Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr.; her inspiration, she explained, was not so much those leaders as the anarchist movement in Spain in the late 19th and early 20th century. And that meant different ways of doing things. "Nonviolence is a strategy. Civil disobedience is a tactic," Fithian said. "Direct action is a strategy. Throwing rocks is a tactic."

"I guess my biggest thing is that as people who are trying to create a new world, I do believe we have to dismantle or transform the old order to do that," Fithian continued. "I just fundamentally don't believe it will ever serve our interests as it's currently constructed."

If this woman comes blowing into your town with Sheehan, better board up the doors and windows:

I have no issue with property destruction. I think sometimes it’s appropriate, sometimes it’s not. Again, I look at it strategically. Does this help us or does it hurt us? Does it help us achieve our goal, or does it not? We’re in a society where property is idolized, so a lot of people don’t get it yet that it doesn’t really matter. It’s just glass or products.

It’s exactly what we do in training. We try to help people understand that what’s violent to one is not violent to another. And what might be violent in one situation might not be violent in another situation. It’s very subjective.

The windows being broken in Seattle had absolutely nothing to do with whether we shut down the WTO or not. It didn’t add value in that sense.

Nothing like spending you life going from city to city trying to stir up a good ol riot! Quite a wagon you hitched yourself to Cindy.

Fuel: Time to relax

Yeah, gas is a touch higher for the next few days. Will it stay above $3.00, absolutely not. Will it ever get below $2.00, no clue. All over the medias today we are getting predictions of $3.50+, with almost no effort by any media outlets to contradict the predictions the "experts" are floating out doomsday scenarios. Econopundit offers some perspective:

Oil spiked to $70.80 a barrel in overnight trading, before closing at $67.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.07 but short of the record close of $67.49 set Thursday. Prices for wholesale gasoline and natural gas leaped as well.

"This is unmitigated bad news for consumers," said Peter Beutel, an oil analyst with Cameron Hanover.

The fact is (as Paul Krugman might say) we don't really know how an anticipation of higher energy prices will actually play out in our economy.

Left over from the 1970's is the "stagflation principle" -- the idea that higher energy prices pushes the economy's aggregate supply curve to the left (simultaneously raising price levels and lowering equilibrium output and employment).

But left over from the 1980's is the "Lucas supply curve" -- the idea that anticipation of higher prices cause some firms to anticipate higher profits and consequently hire new workers faster than otherwise.

And to complicate things even more (ahem!) both principles can operate at the same time and to some degree cancel each other out.

So play it cool, don't hyperventilate, keep thinking about the sick and homeless and let the economy continute to do what it does best. You may be surprised.

The invisible hand is an amzing thing, best to just let it work its magic.

Jeans and Economic Theory

My little sister, who is going to a sort of boarding high school in Minnesota (for athletes not dopers or delinquents), was in town this weekend and informed me that I needed new jeans. I agreed, however she pointed out that since I had a big boy job, I should start spending big boy iron on clothes. She proceeded to pull up various $200+ jeans on the internets to show me what she meant. Now, I dress well, but I try to dress on the cheap. I pull it off for the most part, but little EK told me pulling off cheap jeans is impossible. I agreed to meet her in the middle and will tonight buy a little EK approved pair of jeans. Who cares? Well, since I am finally going to be forced to go shopping, I will also be picking up a copy of Freakonomics, THE economic buzz book of the day.



I am stoked.

The blog is fantastic as well, especially the post about peak oil.

The cover story of the New York Times Sunday Magazine written by Peter Maass is about "Peak Oil." The idea behind "peak oil" is that the world has been on a path of increasing oil production for many years, and now we are about to peak and go into a situation where there are dwindling reserves, leading to triple-digit prices for a barrel of oil, an unparalleled worldwide depression, and as one web page puts it, "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon."

One might think that doomsday proponents would be chastened by the long history of people of their ilk being wrong: Nostradamus, Malthus, Paul Ehrlich, etc. Clearly they are not.

What most of these doomsday scenarios have gotten wrong is the fundamental idea of economics: people respond to incentives. If the price of a good goes up, people demand less of it, the companies that make it figure out how to make more of it, and everyone tries to figure out how to produce substitutes for it. Add to that the march of technological innovation (like the green revolution, birth control, etc.). The end result: markets figure out how to deal with problems of supply and demand.

Expect a Freakonomics review by next week while the ladies will decide if the jeans were worth the big iron. Expect some extrememly positive reviews...

Mohammed McQueen?

This is an incredibly interesting story, although undoubtedly it did not end on a hilltop with a gatling gun.

The 105th Military Police Battalion, charged with running Camp Bucca in the scorching desert of southernmost Iraq, knew something was amiss: Undetectable to the naked eye, the field's changing color was picked up by satellite imagery. The excavated dirt was also clogging the showers and two dozen portable toilets. The dirt was showing up under the floorboards of tents; some guards sensed that the floor itself seemed to be rising. Mysteriously, water use in the compound had spiked.

Hours before the planned prison break on March 24, an informant tipped off the Americans, who then drove a bulldozer across Compound 5. What they discovered was breathtaking: a fully completed tunnel that stretched 357 feet, longer than a football field. Inside were flashlights built from radio diodes and five larger spaces to provide ventilation. The tunnel's walls were as smooth and strong as concrete, sculpted with water and, the Americans believe, milk. The exit, beyond the compound's fence, was camouflaged with sand-colored cardboard. It opened into a partially concealed trench that would lead the detainees to freedom.

I think it's time for quite a crackdown at the prison where an uprising was staged earlier in the year.

Around 8:30 a.m., the company commander and prison commandant, Lt. Col. T. Paul Houser, a social worker from Catawba County, N.C., heard the commotion. Houser jumped in the back of a covered cargo truck and headed for Compound 3. As he approached, a chunk of cinderblock struck him in the left eye, fracturing his cheek in three places and breaking three teeth.

"I turned and just caught it in the face," said Houser, who was flown by helicopter to a military hospital, where a doctor told him his protective glasses had saved his eyesight.

Suddenly, everything the Americans had provided the inmates over the previous months was turned against them, according to guards and a videotape of the riot made available by the military. The cinderblock had been chiseled from the concrete base of a tent pole. The detainees used floorboards as shields. They hurled socks filled with a cocktail of feces, dirt and flammable, slow-burning hand sanitizer, the Americans said. One of the crude devices ignited a Polaris all-terrain vehicle.

How, only a few months after this display, the terrorists were still being treated with kid-gloves and guards were giving them the unsupervised time to build a reinforced tunnel is beyond me.

You Can't Trust Russ

An unnoticed gem from Kevin Bleyer (what the hell happened to the "star" that were supposed to be on HuffBog?) on at the HuffPo.

And now this: Yesterday on “Meet The Press,” Sen. Russ Feingold revealed that he asked a top general in Iraq when he thought troops should be withdrawn from Iraq.
Problem is, at the time he asked him, it wasn’t on “Meet The Press.” Nor was it for the press.

Mr. Feingold?

I said, "Off the record, your own view, would it help if we had a timeline to let the world know that we're not staying here forever?" And this is what he said, verbatim. He said, "Nothing would take the wind out of the sails of the insurgents more than having a timeline in place."

Remind me: what does “off the record” mean? Just whisper it to me. I swear I won’t tell anybody. Verbatim.

So uh, off the record Russ, do you EVER plan to squeeze helping out Wisconsin in during this term, or is it solely Presidency or bust, constituents be damned?

"Handicapping the crap" out of Cindy Sheehan

The more I read Oddjack the more I like it. Today they decided to lay odds on various Sheehaningans. Since she has already shown her leanings toward antiSemitism, some of the lines have to do with that angle.

(By the way, the over/under on last nights "vigil" in Racine was 35, seems like the Under bettors killed that one!



(Thanks to Real Debate Wisconsin for the pic!)

Odds That Crawford Currently Has More Jews, Vegetarians And Blacks Than Any Other Time In Its History: 1/1

Odds That Larry Hagman Is Signing Autographs Somewhere Within A 10-Mile Radius: 7/2

Odds That Salon Is Spending Three-Quarters Of Its Budget Covering Cindy Sheehan: 2/1

Odds That Her Husband, Who Filed For Divorce This Week, Is Getting A Ton Of Tail Out Of This: 3/2...

FUN WITH THE OVER/UNDER

Percentage Of Texans Far More Concerned About Bill Parcells: 95

Number Of Times Bill Clinton Has Looked At Cindy Sheehan On Television, Gone Quiet For A Moment, Looked Down, Looked Back Up, Then Shook His Head And Said, “Nahhh … Too Old.” : 3

Number Of Times George Bush Has Looked Outside His Window, Turned To His Wife, And, With A Thoughtful, Pensive Look In His Eyes, Said, “It’s Horrible What’s Happened To Tom Cruise. Top Gun Ruled.”: 2

Number Of Hours Protestors Will Spend In Crawford Once Sheehan Leaves: 1

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead??

Come on, this is a blatant rip off right? Talk about real life immitating art.

A new company plans to unveil new high-tech tombstones with embedded flat screen monitors that would allow visitors to play memorial videos of the deceased, according to a report...

"What we're trying to do is create the ultimate funeral experience," Joachim said. "Funeral directors are realizing it's an important service we can offer, and and we're happy to offer it."

The solar-powered Vidstone will play a video of the person's life at the touch of a button.

Gentlemen, we have boat drinks.

Cindy Sheehan Pegged

I have resisted writing this because this woman really deserves no attention (her son bravely gave his life for a country and a cause he seemingly loved, but his mother is smearing his memory by suggesting he was either ignorant or part of a Zionist conspiracy "Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel.") but Christopher Hitchens really nails how I feel about the situation.

I think one must deny to anyone the right to ventriloquize the dead. Casey Sheehan joined up as a responsible adult volunteer. Are we so sure that he would have wanted to see his mother acquiring "a knack for P.R." and announcing that he was killed in a war for a Jewish cabal? This is just as objectionable, on logical as well as moral grounds, as the old pro-war argument that the dead "must not have died in vain." I distrust anyone who claims to speak for the fallen, and I distrust even more the hysterical noncombatants who exploit the grief of those who have to bury them.

As for the recent revelations that her husband is divorcing her, well, I guess that's the way public life works these days. She thrust herself into the public eye, and as the left has shown as recently as two weeks ago, nothing is sacred. How are adoption records any less personal and private than divorce records?

With smoking banned, NYC nannies march on...

Hate to say I told you so, but the nannystaters are not stopping with cigarette smoke. Look for this trend personal choice limitation trend to spread across the country...kiss your cheese curds good bye?

New York City wants restaurants to narrow their list of ingredients - and maybe some waistlines - by cutting out trans fats. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the voluntary change could also help fight the city's biggest killer, heart disease.

To comply, chefs would have to dump many margarines and frying oils, and possibly reworking long-held recipes for baked goods.

The New York State Restaurant Association supports the effort, Executive Vice President E. Charles Hunt said in a health department release Wednesday.

The fats, found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, raise diners' chance of developing heart disease in much the same way that saturated meat and dairy fats do, raising overall and bad cholesterol while lowering good cholesterol, American Heart Association President Robert Eckel said in the release.

The Food and Drug Administration has already targeted trans fats. Nationwide, all foods containing the chemically modified oils must be labeled beginning next January.

Some workers and diners were skeptical of the city plan.

"Labeling is as far as you want to go. You don't want to be telling people what to eat," Brooklyn waitress Karen Quam told The New York Times.

The city's request came two years after it outlawed smoking in bars, restaurants and offices, citing concerns about the ill effects of secondhand smoke.

Better start stocking up on those Creme Puffs.

The Trump Blog

What's not to love?

Jimmy Carter Makes Me Laugh

George Will on Jimmy Carter makes me laugh harder.

A quarter of a century has passed since 44 states said "No, thanks" to Jimmy Carter's offer to serve a second term, yet he still evidently thinks his loss is explained not by foreign policy debacles, such as invading Iran with eight helicopters, and a misery index -- inflation plus unemployment -- of 22, almost triple today's index...

The role of ex-president requires a grace and restraint notably absent from Carter. See, for example, his criticism of the United States when he is abroad, as in England two weeks ago. Having made such disappointing history as president, Carter as ex-president should at least refrain from disseminating a historical falsehood.

So strong, however, is the human impulse to believe comforting myths that Carter probably will continue to promulgate the fiction that I gave Reagan the utterly unimportant briefing book, thereby catalyzing the 1980 landslide. But to be fair: As a candidate, Carter promised only that as president he would never tell a lie, thereby leaving himself a loophole for his post-presidential career as a fabulist.

The fact that Carter thinks he lost to one of the best candidates in recent memory (Clinton was a great candidate because he was given a pass on his Vietnam experience, a helpful pass not granted to President Bush) because Reagan had some knowledge of what Carter might say in a debate is absurd. Hell, I know what Carter would say in any debate..."Weapons are bad mm kay. We should give up all our weapons and other will follow mm kay."

Yeah, brilliant man that Carter. I tried to read his historical fiction on the Revolutionary War and just couldn't make it through. Boring as all hell. THat has nothing to do with the fact that he is a sore loser, but it is in context of the article. Read the article.

My Apologies

Late summer is my busy season. Compound that with the fact that the Brewers are playing tantalizing basebell (which has kept me busy at The Wisconsin Sports Bar) and politics taking a vacation for August, and I have been neglecting this space. It might continue like this for a week and a half or so, but I will be back. In the meantime, just to keep it active, I might crosspost my sports bar posts over here.

Once things start to heat up again in the world of politics I will be back in a more solid nature, til then, hit the Bar and relax.

Enjoy Uecker!

Justin Sowa: Member of Democratic Underground and Running for Congress

This is the guy taking on Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin and a rising star in the GOP. Why is this interesting? Who cares that some dude with a buck or two made a web site and declared they are running for a locked up Congressional seat? Because he is a member of the "I Hate America" Democratic Underground! I look forward to going through the various threads and looking for Mr. Sowa's posts, his DU screen name is bugslsu9 in case you are interested.

By the way, an ongoing debate on DU involving 9/11 has been whether the Bush administration Made It Happen on Purpose (MIHOP) or Let It Happen On Purpose (LIHOP). I am busy working up an email questioning exactly which of these theories Mr. Sowa ascribes to.

I'll let you know what I find out!

PSA: COUP IN MAURITANIA!!!

Stunning news, I didn't even know there was a Mauritania, (but of course, the CIA did).

The military council said it had ended the "totalitarian regime" of President Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya.

Troops have seized control of state media and main routes in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

Presidential guards earlier blocked off access to the presidential palace and gunfire was heard.

The new Military Council for Justice and Democracy said it would rule the West African state for two years.

A plane carrying President Taya has landed in Niger's capital, Niamey, on his return from attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, officials say.

Interesting note, Mauritania is an Islamic Republic controlled by light-skinned Moors who apparently violently oppress the Black African population.

This Weeks "I Hate America" Professor? Luciana Bohne of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

This is some truely epic hatred of ones own country. Staggering. Not only does she hate America for having such a reprehensible past, but hates it for the men and women who are currently in office. Lucianna manages to elicit hatred not only for Puritans and men, but for (gasp!) African American conservatives! How dare they!

What brought this on? Why the sight of an American flag being proudly displayed across the street of course!

Some choice, dripping-with-hatred excerpts:

Across my lawn, I can see an American flag waving in my neighbor's backyard. Mr. Smith (not his name, of course) isa nice man but he's 95 years old, and I can't take issue with him. I can't tell him that the sporting of the flag, at this time, is tantamount to saying, "I am a fool. Traitors run the country in our name. They are taking our money from the treasury and spending it on a shortcut to world domination through war...Poor flag, to be raised in a time like this! Wouldn't it be more respectful to tuck it away for more honorable service in better times?

Better times? Time to stop fooling myself. The idiocy is contagious.

When were there better times? Since the birth of this nation, it has engaged in more than 200 armed interventions around the globe...

Since 1945, a conservative death count for US adventures abroad can easily tally up to 6 million. Easily! ...

And not just abroad. There was slavery, reputed to have cost forty million lives and the bloodiest conflict in history up until then, although freeing slaves was merely the hypocritical pretext for one industrial power block to crush the inefficient slave-agrarian one. A different slave system was born—imitated throughout the world, and now in its imperialist, full-spectrum, warpath phase. There was one of the most brutal and cynical genocides in history—against the native population—to reckon with. There was the crime of being the first and only nation to have used the atomic bomb . . . TWICE—without many scruples or visible residual guilt. In fact, today 50 percent of Americans say they would have no trouble using it again...

A slave democracy! And it hasn't changed. Oh, there's a black Secretary of State, but she is only black on the outside. Her heart is white, male, and propertied. Besides, she rubber-stamps the fiction of racial equality. Very useful cookie, ideologically speaking, is Condi Rice. And, anyway, she is only a servant, merely the means by which the social order of the truly Elect—the rich folks—reproduces itself. Ditto for Colin Powell and that fool on the Supreme Court—that black judge with the ethics and sense of humor of a guttersnipe. But it's not like the white-skinned servants are any less revolting. Just look at the president's "advisors." Hypocrites.

Not only does she despise America and everything it is about, she also claims America (and Brittain) have been behind the three latest major terrorist attacks, 9/11, Madrid, and London:

We are the people who will die in bogus terrorist attacks—in New York, in Madrid, in London. At 9 pm in the morning, when we are going to work...

European constitutions mostly forbid aggressive wars, and the European populations positively abhor war. If you go back to the Madrid "terrorist" attacks, you will note that the Bush gang at that time was very eager to get NATO involved. The attacks on Madrid were supposed to scare Europeans into agreeing to NATO deployment. It didn't work...

In the midst of this conflict between Britain and France, there is an alleged terrorist attack in the London tubes. And Blair doesn't want an investigation. What he wants is to terrorize the EU members into compliance with Washington's fiction of "the war on terror"—a.k.a. as the Plan for the New American Century of World Domination...

I believe they are sincere in this because without war for world domination and exploitation how can they hope to stave off the impending implosion of the US economy and the crash of Britain's credit economy which supports a personal debt per person of 110 percent? They are sincere: their backs are against the wall. It's just that they don't tell us that their values and way of life don't exactly coincide with ours. They let our naivete interpret those words: we see Western Civilization (those of us who are devoted to the Telebible) clashing with Islam! That's how they spin it after each convenient terror attack...

The one entity certain not to benefit from the London "terror" attacks is first of all us, the world's people, and, second, Iran—as Afghanistan and Iraq didn't benefit after 9/11. In fact, quite the contrary. It didn't help that the Iranians voted in a leader the West didn't like; Rafshanjani could have been bought; he was their choice....

We live in dangerous times. And the danger is state-grown, here at home. Under the cover of our flag....

Stunning stuff. She hates America, thinks Americans are responsible for all terror in an effort to bring about "world domination" and that Americans are installing anti-American Presidents in countries that "Cheney wants to nuke." Note that it's Cheney's will, not President Bush's.

To top it all of, she even manages to throw some hatred God's way!

This God of theirs is indeed a God of Hypocrisy, for He bestows on their remarkable aggression and love of war a unique affection.

If you want to get in touch with Professor Nutjob er..Bohne, she can be reached at lbohne@edinboro.edu

To get in touch with Edinboro University at Pennsylvania, you can call the Dean at 814-732-2477. His name is Dr. Terry L. Smith.

No Problems Left In Wisconsin!

So what are legislators to do? I know, let's tackle those pesky gift card loopholes that allow businesses to close open accounts payable in a reasonable time! Yeah!!!

In another brilliant idea to make sure the people of Wisconsin are never forced to be responsible Rep Peggy Krusick has introduced legislation to make gift cards redeemable until the end of days, and for full value!

Krusick said American consumers spent about $55 billion on gift cards last year, with the average person buying three of them for a total of more than $100. But about 10% of all gift cards are never redeemed, because they are lost or expired, she added...Store policies on gift cards can vary, with some companies charging up to $2 per month if they aren't used within a year, Krusick said. Other businesses require that the gift cards be used within a certain period, she added.

Wow. People who are stupid enough to exchange $50 dollars that can be used anywhere for 50 Best Buy Bucks, and then give this absurdity as a gift thereby displaying their stupidity for all to see aren't happy with the system? Shocking. So now, Best Buy will have to forever carry that $50 on their books as an outstanding debt, even though little Stevie lost the card three seconds after he got it, or just keeps forgetting to use the damn thing.

How about an ad campaing instead outlining how freaking retarded the people are who give gift cards in the first place? Why in God's name would I want store credit you paid for? Just give me the $50 bucks and let me be damn it! I can see gift cards for one group of people...

Addicts.

I get it, you don't want your boy running out and buying heroin so you get him a Barnes and Noble gift card. Fine. Otherwise, stay away from the gift cards for God's sake!

Democratic Underground: If only we could have another Depression!

Here's hoping...jackass.

A DUer will out themselves...

And run for a seat on the US House of Representatives, from our own great state of WI.

Seems he will be trying to represent the Janesville area, forgive me its friday and I don't feel like looking up who he will be running against. All I know is that the guys name is Justin and he'll be announcing his candidacy at Janesville Parker High School at 2 pm on August 7th.

I honestly can't wait. How easy would it be to discredit a DU poster? Good luck nutter.

Because it's Friday...

Are toilets my new Friday gimmick? You never really know, my mind tends to wander. However, I did go out one evening to about 12 dive bars in downtown Milwaukee that I hadn't been before and being drunk decided it would make a nice montage to take a photo of all the different stalls in each place. It was a nice screen saver for awhile...If I had my digital camera back from Casio right now, i would show you what a 23 year old's toilet looks like before it gets cleaned for the first time in a few years (I'm moving and it must be done) but alas...

Anyway, I don't like this urinal, and that's the real story.

NEW PABST PLAN

The folks over in Berlin have given me a fantastic idea for the decrepit old Pabst grounds. It is sure to attract tourists (look at Amsterdam)

A German company is looking to cash in on an expected boom in the sex trade during next year's soccer World Cup with a 60-room brothel a walk away from Berlin's Olympic Stadium, German media reported on Friday.

Named after the virgin huntress of Greek mythology, the "Artemis" complex is due to open for business in September with whirlpool, sauna, cinema, buffet restaurant and a staff of 100 prostitutes, mass circulation daily Bild reported.

"This is no flash rip-off joint where clients are taken for a ride," a spokesman for the Artemis GmbH investment company behind the project, told the newspaper.

Prostitution is legal in Germany in designated areas. Dortmund, one of 11 other cities to host World Cup matches, has said it will install drive-in wooden "sex garages" in time for the tournament in a bid to keep the trade off the streets.

Honestly, it is perfect. Build the area into a place to specifically employ women. The only way you can oppose this plan is if you are a sexist and don't want women to work. You don't want a brothel over at Pabst? Male-chaveunist pig!

No, You Show Me Your Documents

Interesting article by law professor Steven G Calabresi over at www.weeklystandard.com about Chuck Schumer's crusade for nominee Robets' documents (do you really need his grocery lists and fantasy football notes Chuckie?)

Evaluation of whether Schumer is or is not on a fishing expedition is impossible given the public record as it stands now. Accordingly, Senate Republicans and the administration should call on Senator Schumer to immediately release and make public all conversations and emails between the senator and his staff, between Schumer staffers and outside left-wing advocacy groups, and between Schumer staffers themselves relating to the Roberts nomination. Schumer should also be required to release phone records of all telephone and cell phone calls that were placed between his office and outside advocacy groups since the Roberts
nomination.

It is critically important that these internal Schumer-office documents be made public to determine whether the senator's demand for the Roberts's solicitor general's office memos is a good faith demand based on a genuine concern about positions Roberts may have taken as an executive branch lawyer or whether the senator is on a fishing expedition, as his cell phone declaration of war leads many on the right to suspect. There is simply no way given the public record as it currently stands to determine whether Schumer's request even meets the threshold for deserving serious consideration.{/satire off}

IN MY EXPERIENCE as an executive branch staffer, I became persuaded that some senators and congressmen simply do not appreciate how intrusive and improper their document requests are in terms of the chilling effect they have on the internal deliberations of a co-equal branch of the government. I think that is the case here.

If Schumer is really committed to the cause of openness in government and of transparency, he will not hesitate to make available his internal office records as described above. If Schumer refuses to honor this request, then his opponents are entitled to reject the senator's request for the solicitor general's office documents on the grounds that he is applying a level of disclosure from executive branch officials that he is unwilling to live by himself.

I Can't Believe She Is Still Alive?!?

Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to 'kill herself' if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president.

The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday.

MORE

"The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told the HILL. "All we need is one more liar."

Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."

How does she keep getting into briefings?

Senator Manslaughter thinks bloggers have a leg up

Teddy Kenndy thinks the White House is feeding info to rightleaning bloggers. It seems his wife is an astute surfer of the blogosphere (think she enjoyed all the Kennedy killed a hooker talk last wek?)

Senate Democrats and Judiciary Committee minority staffers are miffed that conservative bloggers appear to have more information about Bush Supreme Court nominee John Roberts than they do. "They've got material out there that we don't know about," complained Sen. Edward Kennedy, who's leading an effort to force the White House to turn over any documents it has on Roberts.

Other Democrats said that they believe the White House is providing supportive bloggers with information that paints Roberts only in a positive light. Kennedy, speaking to reporters last Friday, said that he was unaware of the prolific GOP blogging on behalf of Roberts until his wife pointed it out. Kennedy has said that while he doesn't want to mount a fishing expedition into Roberts's past, he will demand paperwork on most of the cases he has handled as a judge and lawyer.

Have another highball Senator, we barely recognize you when you aren't in a red-faced, forthing rage at a Bush nominee to something or other.

Follow Up; Souter Gets KELO'd

In a follow up to this post, it seems the "take Souters home" movement isn't losing steam. This emminent domain thing could get funny, and fast!

Clements has his share of local supporters, including David Archambault, who runs a go-cart track near Souter's home.

"What this is doing I think is wonderful, because he's getting a point across to all these people that they're getting too much power," Archambault said.

Robin Ilsley, who makes syrup on a family farm about two miles from Souter's place, thought the justice brought the controversy on himself. "It was a pretty stupid ruling," she said.

Even her mother, who watched Souter grow up, is unsympathetic.

"I like David very much, but I don't like his ideas," said Winnie Ilsley, 77, who runs a doll museum at her farm. "I just don't think it's fair," she said of the New London decision.

And the hotel?

"Let 'em build - but I don't think it's going to happen," she said.

What DU Thinks of You

Right now the brilliant minds over at DU are conduction a poll on their opinion of the Average American's intellect. Thus far the results are quite telling.

"Poll question: On A Scale Of One To Ten: How Smart Do You Think The Average American Is?"

So far, 76% of people who hve answered said they think American's are at a four or below on their 1-10 scale. So basically, they feel America is a bunch of idiots. 63% of respondents said the average American is a 3 or below.

What great respect for their common man. This is the attitude of the leftist, they are better than you and you should listen to them. High taxes are necessary because they can spend your money better than you can. Nannystate tactics like banning smoking, fast food, and Oreos are necessary, because you idiots can't handle making choices on your own.

The only choice you are smart enough to make is if you want to kill your unborn kid, and that is only if you are the mother. The guy is always too stupid to have any input.

Perhaps this is good news. These brilliant minds underestimate their competition, thus allowing the right to run away with most national elections.

I'll take being with the "dumb majority" if that means my team keeps on a-winnin'.

Former Klansmen Byrd calls Large American Cities Dangerous Jungles

If it were Barak Obama maybe it would slide. A Senator with well known ties to the KKK, probably not...

"One's life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America's large cities," he writes. "In my judgment, much of the problem has been brought about by the mollycoddling of criminals by some of the liberal judges who have been placed on the nation's courts in recent years."

I agree with the sentiment, that "mollycoddling" criminals has led to en explosion of crime, but to call cities more dangerous than African jungles seems to be a touch, shall we say, insensitive?

The story is basically about Byrd praising Judge Roberts, so it seems that his confirmation by the Group of 14 (who now control the senate it seems) is more and more likely.

Rove Still in the Spotlight (A "Rovian Ploy?")

And Kos is giddy about it.

Well, Roberts bought Rove all of what, 24 hours? I hope he got some sleep in, because he's got no reprieve.

I don't quite understand why.

Also, Drudge is reporting leading lefties are handing down marching orders instructing their minions to keep the heat on Rove.

ROLL CALL reports: "In a set of talking points issued Wednesday morning, the Senate Democratic leadership urged rank-and-file Senators to continue spotlighting Rove's involvement in the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. 'A Supreme Court nominee will not distract the country from the growing credibility problem at the White House,' Democrats were told to echo."

Most on the right like the nomination of Roberts and will be thrilled to have a 50 year old conservative (pretty on the record on everything except abortion) skate through confirmation as leftists focus on Rove.

This is great news to me. Pound on Rove all you want, tear him to shreds, the President has no more elections to win, only a legacy left to leave. Two or three staunch, young conservatives and a shift of the Court to the right is a pretty good place to start.

Lefties are claiming Bush released his nominee early to take the heat off of Rove, I disagree. It seems to me President Bush nominated Roberts in the midst of a leftists driven firestorm knowing they don't let go of a bone once they gets their jaws on it. This manufactured Rove story paves the way not only for a smooth Roberts nomination, but it sets a tone for future nominations, of which President Bush will surely get at least one, probably two more.

From the looks of it, and from the obvious way this is going to shake out, Rove will be battered a bit, Roberts will skate through, and a precedent will be set. Conservative are okay. Fillibusters are not.

I applaud the administration for using the rabid left to get a good man what looks to be an easy Supreme Court appointment.

Javon Needs a "Decent Wage"

Thank you, Mr. Rosenhaus, for putting things in perspective. I mean, it's not like Javon is asking for anything unreasonable. How do you expect a man to live on a measley half million a year? Javon has needs too people.

Seriously, if Tom Cruise is making $50 million a movie, surely Javon can get paid a decent, livable wage.

It's all relative, baby. It's OK for Tom Cruise to make $50 million a movie? But a guy who risks his life can't get paid a decent wage? B.S. I'm not standing for it."

No you idiot, your line of reasoning is bullshit, and Wisconsin won't stand for it. Perhaps you thought this time around Green Bay would buckle since new management was in town. Well as long as Thompson stays strong and keeps you and your meal ticket in limbo, I will put up with a thinner receiving corps. I will put up with two years of mediocre football to ensure that this never happens again.

At some point there has to be a massive backlash against people like Rosehaus, but first we need to find us some decent human beings who are willing to play football.

My email to a jackass...

As inspired by GBfan.

Finally, we get a glimpse into the men and women who write the editorials at the Journal Sentinel.

It is no longer shocking to me how you folks can be so incredibly stupid. It seems you simply are, in fact, incredibly stupid. I honestly hope you are an old codger a la Andy Rooney, because if you’re not you really need to get a life. I can’t wait to read your next complaint about Summerfest (I can’t sleep with that racket) the Milwaukee Mile (honestly can’t you find something quiet to enjoy, like a ballet?) or the NAACP convention (I couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere).

On pins and needles waiting for your next banal bitching,

I eagerly await his response.

Google Moon: Very Cool

Thanks again Lifehacker

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing. More about Google Moon.

How stupid do you think we are?

From Barbara Boxer:

"Without prejudging the nominee, I do believe Judge Roberts' record raises questions about his commitment to the right to privacy, protection of the environment and other important issues."

So, without prejudging the nominee she goes ahead and prejudges the nominee? Why even begin the sentence that way you stupid hag?

NYT on Roberts, quick and dirty hit

In an interesting editorial, the New York Times suggests that Senators take their time and wait for hearings before passing judgement, and then promptly passes judgement on what type of SC Justice Roberts WILL be.

The far right is on a drive to resurrect ancient, and discredited, states' rights theories. If extremists take control of the Supreme Court, we will end up with an America in which the federal government is powerless to protect against air pollution, unsafe working conditions and child labor. There are reasons to be concerned about Judge Roberts on this score. He dissented in an Endangered Species Act case in a way that suggested he might hold an array of environmental laws, and other important federal protections, to be unconstitutional.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, John Roberts wants America to have forced child labor. How do we know? Because he dissented in an Endangered Species Act case.

Are there really that many homeless insane in New York that the liberal press is forced to employ them? Who the hell wrote this insane bit?

Luttig in DC (Bench Memos)

KLo is reporting that CNN has shown Luttin family in DC shots, and that the kids are in "uncomfortable-for-D.C.-in-July kinda clothes."

I think this would be astounding, and fantastic. A Luttig/Edith Hollan Jones pick would be great.

Check out the DU thread already!

RedState.org: Bait and Switch

The folks over at Red State are claiming they are getting tips that President Bush will actually be nominating Edith Jones, whom they call "the female Scalia." I like that idea.

However as they say themselves:

Reminds me of the Novak generated Rehquist retirement frenzy of two weeks ago, but with more credible people participating this time.

Blowing CIA Cover, NYT Style

Remember when extraordinary rendition was the outrage of the day amongst pacifists and defeatists? They couldn't believe that we would send prisoners to foreing countries to be interrogated. They went so far in arguing this point that on May 31st of this year, Scott Shane, Stephen Grey and Margot Williams, in a NYT article written by Scott Shane, OUTED THREE CIA FRONT COMPANIES.

Central Intelligence Agency has rapidly expanded its air operations around world since 9/11, using rural hideaways, front companies and shell corporations to conceal its ownership of at least 26 planes; planes, regularly supplemented by private charters, are operated by real companies controlled by or tied to CIA; companies are Aero Contractors Ltd, Pegasus Technologies and Tepper Aviation

Where is the outrage? I am curious as to whether or not these companies had trouble flying their aircraft into "places American military craft would not be welcome" which is the reason the article gives for using these front companies?

cap tip econopundit