Friday, September 30, 2005

Owning your own Air Force

Daddy wants.

From Wired.com: This guy has his own Air Force.
A decade ago, only sovereign nations could afford to buy and maintain sophisticated, high-performance fighters. But Kirlin's unmarked hangars contain an air force more formidable than that of many countries. He has 30 jets in flying condition, 10 in line for maintenance, and dozens more to be delivered. His MiG-29 Fulcrums, designed in the late 1970s to go head-to-head with the hottest US planes, are the only privately owned Fulcrums in the world. Kirlin breaks into a big smile whenever he looks at them.

"Check this out," Kirlin says, leading me into a back room and opening a steel cabinet. He takes out a white cotton bag. Inside it is a pilot's helmet that connects to the plane's laser-guided tracking system. The result: A MiG-29 pilot can precisely target a missile just by looking in a certain direction. Federal regulations require all military equipment owned by civilians to be disabled, but somehow - "Can't tell you," Kirlin says - the Fulcrum's radar weapons systems are intact. The plane is no match for a US fighter's sophisticated avionics in an encounter beyond visual range. But if it can survive long enough to come within view of that fighter, the MiG-29's ability to fly at high angles of attack becomes a distinct advantage - and where the pilot's eyes aim, so does its weapon.

Cool! Read all the way through the article--I would love to hear more details of his quest to obtain a Mig-29.

Good grief!

RFID?

Bill St. Clair has been in Vegas for the past few days, and likes the fact that you can check out via the TV, though the "Intimacy Kit" appears to be RFID tagged:
The Rio, where I stayed in Las Vegas, has a TV-based checkout facility. Very nice. Press a few buttons on the remote control, and you can review your bill, and check out. Type your email address on the provided IR keyboard, and they email your receipt. I went to check out yesterday morning, and saw a $10 "refreshment" charge on the TV screen. I didn't remember taking any refreshments, so I called the desk. The lady asked if I had looked at the Intimacy Kit. I said that I had, but that I had put it back. She said there was a sensor that noticed I had taken it and automatically billed me, but she would remove the charge from my bill. She did. I checked out. I received my receipt via email. RFID?

The hotels in Vegas are full of technology, and are likely the most advanced in the country if not the world. The use of RFID is interesting, albeit mildly disturbing. Wow.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Women in the Church

Why don't we abide by this?

From I Cor 14:34,35:
34The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.

35If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.

I read this in my morning devotions this morning, and wondered--again--why we don't take these verses more seriously. I guess I know why--any attempt to enforce this command would be met with such loud squawking as to deafen all those within 100 yards.

The church I attend is pretty conservative--the women wear the prayer covering at all times, not just in church--and yet these verses aren't taken seriously at all. We haven't got to the point where women are teaching or preaching (thank goodness), except for children's SS classes, but in our mixed gender, married adult classes the females account for most of the commentary during the lesson. Of course, very rarely is anything of any substance or intelligence uttered, mostly obvious fluff or off-topic blather, and it's rather distracting.

Maybe I'm just a tad misogynistic, but on the other hand, I read the Bible literally and I don't think it's commands are subject to interpretation based on the current political and social climate.

At the church where I grew up, the coming debate will be whether to allow women to serve as Elders. (!) Of course, it's a Mennonite church, though not the black-bumper, black hat, don't-own-a-TV-or-you'll-go-to-hell kind of Mennonites--they gave up on the prayer covering long ago--and the Mennonite church as a whole is becoming more politically liberal all the time. The national conference is "struggling" with how to deal with homosexuality, specifically with how to deal with churches that have accepted homosexuals into their membership. I wouldn't be surprised if this "struggle" came to my old church, too.

To me, homosexuality is an obvious sin--the Bible says it is--but there are too many people who like to look at the Bible through the filter of political correctness, instead of the other way around.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Asking God for the little things

Daily Devotions

From TodayGodIsFirst.com comes one of the daily devotionals I get in my e-mail:
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

by Os Hillman

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! ~ 1 John 3:1a

"I have an important business meeting in the morning. Would you please set the alarm for 5:30 a.m.?" I said to my wife.

"Oh, that won't be necessary. Just tell the Lord what time you want to wake up. He does it for me all the time," my wife said.

I rolled my eyes in disbelief. "Well, I'd feel more comfortable if we set the alarm."

"Okay, ye of little faith. But just to prove my point I am going to ask the Lord to wake us up just before 5:30."

The next morning I awoke before the alarm went off. I looked at the clock. It read 5:15. I looked at my wife, who had just awakened at the same time with an I-told-you-so smile.

Sometimes we wrongfully view God as someone we go to for only the "big things." The idea of "bothering God" for such a trivial matter seems foolish and presumptuous. However, when you were a child and had to get up in the morning for school, didn't your mom or dad come wake you up? They were your parents, and you could come to them with the most trivial concerns or requests. Why would our heavenly Father be any less approachable? Perhaps our problem is that we simply have not developed a level of intimacy with God so that we feel the freedom to approach Him at these daily, routine levels. We often operate with an unwritten code that says our needs must have a certain degree of importance or crisis before we come to God with them. This is not God's character towards us.

Does the Lord desire this level of intimacy with you and me? The apostle Paul exhorted us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17 KJV). There is never a caution to pray only about matters of greater importance.

Today, go to God with matters that you might view as trivial and would normally avoid bringing to God. Ask God to increase your level of intimacy with Him. You may even be able to get rid of your alarm clock.

Even more interesting than the idea of asking God for something as seemingly trivial as being an alarm clock for us, to me, is the fact that He answers these small requests. What a great way for us to exercise faith, and experience answered prayer!

I just might try this--I currently have to use two alarm clocks: one on the nightstand, and one across the room so that I don't just turn the one off and sleep way past the time I want to get up. I'm sure that God can easily replace two alarm clocks...

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Invading Iran?

If the Wal-Mart guys say it's true...

From SaysUncle:
t’s sort of neat how you can figure out news and trends through wild-ass speculation just by shopping. I told you guys about how I learned from the sporting goods guy at Wal-Mart that ammo sales were up. Yesterday, I learned more from the friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart sporting goods guy. Since ammo is at a such a good price at Wal-Mart, every time me and the family go, I pick up a box of something (usually 9mm or 45ACP).

Yesterday while there, I asked if they had any 5.56X45MM. He said huh? I said you know, 223? He responded by stating they had a good sale on it (100 rounds for $11!) but couldn’t keep it in stock and can’t get it in the door fast enough. I asked why that was. The sporting goods guy then says that he’s heard from the supplier that the US military has ordered 300,000,000 rounds and most manufacturers have stopped making civilian ammo to help the military out. He then said that the last time he remembered Wal-Mart having a 223 shortage was about one month before the invasion. So, he speculated that someone was next. I don’t know if there’s any truth to it.

I have no idea whether we're invading Iran or not, but the reason for the shortage could be an estimated ratio of rounds fired to "insurgents" killed of ~250,000:1 (!)

That's some poor shooting, folks. Let's bring 'em all home, even if only to give them some marksmanship training!

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Complaint Letter of the Year

Feel free to cut/paste and use yourself

From Puree Soiree.com, a letter to one of the British telcomm companies (there are only two, and both are considered to be beneath awful in terms of customer service):

Dear Cretins,

I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office:

My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website....HOW?

I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it.

I estimate your internet server's downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers.

I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone
will call me back); that no telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme.

Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue.

I thought BT were sh*t, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no-one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum incompetents of the highest order.

British Telecom - w**kers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees.

Have a nice day - may it be the last in you miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats.

(Found on Fark).

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Job losses in the US

Worried about "exported" jobs? Don't be.

Vox Day analyzes the exportation of US jobs to China and India, and finds that it's not all that worrysome.
From Vox Popoli:
Productivity is notoriously difficult to calculate, but if we use the simplest possible national estimate, GDP/civilian worker, it's clear that even today, the American worker annually produces about $86,000 ($11.75 trillion/136.49 million) in value.* By comparison, if we assume that a similar percentage of the Chinese population is employed in the labor force - if anyone has an actual statistic, let me know and we'll plug it in - that indicates the average Chinese worker produces $212.77 annually, (1.21 trillion/568.7 million). This would put the number of American footwear manufacturing jobs lost at 49,500 if Chinese productivity had been at its current levels since 1970... which it hasn't, having quadrupled since 1978. So, the actual number of American jobs lost to these 20 million Chinese workers is probably somewhere around 20k to 25k.

Now keep in mind that the entire Indian IT market is smaller than this single Chinese footwear market, while the same productivity math applies. The American labor force is bleeding and this certainly may portend trouble for the future, but it's still more akin to a nasty cut on the hand, not a hemmorhage, and fails to account for the greater part of the historical decline in wages. These job losses are certainly not nothing, but their cumulative effect is still a relatively small one when compared to 21 million immigrants and 34 million women entering what was a workforce of 78 million in 30 years.

If you haven't done so, go read Vox's old blog posts, back for about three or four months. He forays into econimic theory, but skim the posts related to women voting and women working. Well proven points on the effect to society of both...

...plus, it pisses women and liberals off.

Oh, THIS is neat.

The fraud unravels

From TomFlocco.com:
French and American intelligence agents have arrested Barbara Olson, the wife of a former Bush administration official, a few days ago on the Polish-German border, according to agents close to and with knowledge of the incident.

The alleged 9.11 Pentagon crash victim was found to be in possession of millions in fake interbank Italian lyra currency, according to the agents.

Olson was also reportedly in possession of a fraudulent Vatican passport and was held on charges of counterfeiting.

The former Fox News TV commentator and Independent Women's Forum activist was said to have called her husband Theodore Olson from her plane to seek help in countering hijackers who had allegedly taken over American flight 77 which the Bush administration said was crashed into the Pentagon- although the impact only left an opening approximately 16 feet across.

Ted Olson is the former Bush 43 Solicitor General who had previously argued the President's legal interests in the controversial Bush-Gore 2000 election recount case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mrs. Olson's alleged cell phone call to her husband was employed by the administration and the 9.11 Commission as partial proof that American 77 crashed into the Pentagon, despite physical evidence to the contrary.

(Found via Vox Popoli, who has some more links to related articles.)

Hilarious. If this makes the mainstream media (which I doubt), we're in for some fireworks. I'm willing to be she's extradited to the US, then she disappears again.

Where's everyone else that was on that "flight"?

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Rumors abound

Gun confiscation in NO?

Several blogs have reported that gun confiscation is still going on in NO--that is, the "authorities" are taking (read: stealing) firearms from the general populace:

First:Standy by...
The original source of the rumor posts in the comments section:
No, I'm not a troll or asstard moonbat. Of course, my bud IS a grunt, so BS is always a factor, but this guy is a family member, and is in serious pain about what he has been ordered to do. I spoke to him today, and found out he had been deployed to the dome at first, then the convention center, and has only been in the ward for a few days. The NRA is looking at a legal battle, which is better than nothing I guess, but making the damnlawyers richer is no solution. I hope I'm not being BS'd (and spreading rumor); I await conformation with baited [sic] breath.

I replied thusly:
Your "bud" is then guilty of confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens in the hour of their greatest need, and those citizens:
a)have the moral right to shoot him;
b)have the moral right to sue his a$$ off in a court of law, hopefully bankrupting him and confiscating all or most of his wages for the rest of his life.

"I was just following orders" doesn't fly--a man is responsible for his own actions.

Over on The Smallest Minority, in the comments of a couple-days-old post, the same guy again:
I seriously hope my bud is not BSing me, but I don't think he is. I've posted this a few places in hopes that the truth will out. Talked to G today, and found out that he was deployed to the dome first, then the convention center, and has only been in the ward for a few day now. He said he hasn't had to deal with anyone decent, just a load of very very bad folks. He is also seriously torqued about the disarm order.

Why is he still my friend? Publicola, in the military, especially the sharp end folks, obeying orders is like breathing. You just simply do not NOT obey them. Lives depend (again, on the sharp end) on instantly obeying any order you get, even if you don't get it, or don't like it. Besides, I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who puts themselves in danger's path for their country.

To which:
He's not putting himself in danger's path for his country--he's stealing guns from his countrymen.

"I was just following orders" doesn't work. Your "bud" should stand up and be a man--he took an oath to defend the Constitution, and has the obligation to disobey illegal orders.

Your bud is now one of the "bastards" Claire Wolfe referred to.

http://www.lizmichael.com/shooting.htm


GWA.45 tries to confirm the rumors:
NOLA update
Hopefully tomorrow, I'll have a chance to connect with our informant directly, and get a reading. In the meantime, I've passed along some questions for our informant to obtain from his friend, probing as to the chain of command and the nature and scope of the orders in question.

What we know so far is that it's doesn't seem to be any sort of systematic search & siezure sort of affair, it more seems to be a "snag 'em when you see 'em" proposition.

We need to find out more of the specifics on that, because there are some circumstances under which that would be a defensible, and _possibly_ the responsible thing to do, (as in the case of abandoned and unsecured firearms, for example). On the other end of the spectrum, there are circumstances under which it's absolutely indefensible, and a lot of really questionable situations lurk between the extremes.

The reality of this is that we're probably going to wind up with a relatively clear picture of a narrow slice of a muddy and ambiguous story.

We'll see where it goes.


PawPaw, on his blog, opines:
...now might be an opportune time to discuss the relative merits of the quoted paragraph [the orders given to confiscate firearms]. The Guardsman is identified as a Captain, and if he is, he knows that he has an obligation to directly challenge an unlawful order. Sometimes orders are given that are unlawful, either through ignorance or stupidity. The officer receiving an unlawful order has a moral obligation to directly question the order.

The conversation might go like this:

Colonel: "Captain, I want you to take your men and go do such-and-such."

Captain: "Sir, with respect, I wish you would reconsider that order. I believe it violates the law. (or Constitution.. fill in the blanks yourself)

Colonel, ire rising: "Captain, are you telling me that the order I just gave you is illegal?"

Captain: "Yes sir, I believe it to be, and I wish you would reconsider. If you won't reconsider, I would request to be given the order in writing, so that when charges are filed, I can mount a legal defense."

At this point the Colonel will probably blow a gasket, throw the Captain out of the office, and try to figure out just what the hell went wrong. I have had this conversation once in my twenty year career in the service of Uncle Sam (three active, 18 reserve, called for Desert Storm), and I have heard the conversation twice. Each time, the superior officer checked his facts, rescinded the order and apologized in private to the Captain.

Colonels are career oriented, and sure as hell don't want to get caught in giving an order that might lead to a Courts Martial.

However, the Captain in the story above has serious legal difficulties, both in a civil sense and in a career sense. Captains know to a moral certainty that the "just following orders" defense died at Nuremburg, and at My Lai. Captains also know that giving an illegal order to their soldiers makes them culpable on the same scale as the Colonel is, for giving the order. The Captain has a moral responsibility to do the right thing, not withstanding the point that he has violated his oath to "protect and defend the Consititution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".

In an officers life, that oath comes first.

Now this whole thing disturbs me greatly, and stinks of, well, stinky stuff.

Note to any LE or Military in NO/LA: If you obey any order to confiscate weapons without due process, you have become one of those bastards referred to by Claire Wolfe.

I hope your pants are sued off, and you are ruined financially for the remainder of your life.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Shooting the Bastards

Is it time?

From LizMichael.com.

Liz Michael is sick of it, and has decided to make the call: It's time to shoot the bastards (See below for explanation)

(Entire article quoted for archival)
September 20, 2005. Copyright 2005, LizMichael.com

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin narrowly escaped having a universal death warrant placed on his head last week. How do I know this to be true? Because I was the one who planned to call for his execution.

Last week, Ray Nagin called for the confiscation of all weapons from all people except police officers. Such an act would have left most of New Orleans defenseless against roving bands of armed thugs. And I mean the ones that weren't wearing police or military uniforms. Accordingly, I had written an advisory that because of that order, New Orleans Police should be considered a hostile force by Americans, their officers should be shot, their vehicles and offices bombed, and their destruction in whatever manner. And the person who gave the order, Mayor Nagin, would have been the first person on the list I would have advised The People to go after.

Fortunately, common sense prevailed. Apparently, the New Orleans Police themselves, and several military troops, advised the powers that be that this was not going to happen. Many cited constitutional reasons. Others just plain weren't going to go in to do the job and get shot themselves by law abiding citizens enforcing their rights. Some just didn't want the victimization of the People of New Orleans by armed thugs not wearing police uniforms to actually be on their conscience. So the order was rescinded. Quietly and without much fanfare. Probably because of embarrassment.

Albeit I am a sinner, following the example of Yaheveh, to wit: repent of your sin, and I will repent of the judgment I had earmarked. Since Ray Nagin and the New Orleans Police reversed themselves and decided not to pursue this unconstitutional avenue, I too, will reverse myself, and not call for their assassination.

But THIS is how close it came.

"They Shot the Bastards!!!"

"Gee, she sounds like a radical" you say. And I suppose I am. But what example am I following? The example of the American Revolution. Beyond all the flowery words, beyond the toil and struggle to build a constitution, beyond the love of liberty, the longing for religious freedom, the spiffy tri-corner hats, everybody forgets the one thing that both initiated, and finished, the American Revolution. That rather inconvenient, for many, fact. That fact that makes the modern devotees of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi squeamish. What fact? This fact.

THEY SHOT THE BASTARDS!!!

Let me repeat that for effect. When the Founding Fathers set upon establishing a free republic, the first order of business was...

THAT THEY SHOT THE BASTARDS!!!

When the English general demanded that the colonials turn over their flintlocks, what was the response of the colonials?

THEY SHOT THE BASTARDS!!!

Every July 4th. We celebrate the fact that THEY SHOT THE BASTARDS!!! Every Veteran's Day. Every Memorial Day. Yes, we honor the troops. But what do we honor the troops for? We honor them because THEY SHOT THE BASTARDS and often died TRYING to shoot the bastards! Every time you sing "The Star Spangled Banner", you celebrate the anniversary of your forebears SHOOTING THE BASTARDS!!!

Obviously all this talk about "shooting the bastards" make the people who have BECOME the bastards, very nervous. Well, as Thomas Jefferson, that wild eyed radical, said, "When the government FEARS the People, there is liberty, but when the People fear the government, there is tyranny." I frankly am sick of the tyranny, and am up for a little liberty... actually, a lot of it. How about y'all?

The proper role of the militia

Public officials HAVE to be made to understand the way things are supposed to be. In a state of emergency, the proper response is not to confiscate weapons of The People to cause them to be defenseless and powerless. The proper course is that public officials DEPUTIZE armed members of the public to encourage order. You do NOT go to outside agencies first. You do NOT go to private mercenaries first. You go to The People first. If you attempt to disarm the People with the use of police, military or private mercenaries, you and all armed forces you send are subject to being shot or otherwise killed ON SIGHT,

You all need to understand this. We the People are NOT PLAYING.

Let me also remind you all of what precisely the militia is and what they do. The militia is not a bunch of redneck guys in cammies out in the woods practicing shooting their guns... not that there's anything WRONG with that. But what the militia is, as it was in the days of the Founders, is "The Whole of The People". You are the militia. I am the militia. Perhaps we are a "Militia of One". Despite unconstitutional attempts to limit who is the militia, what I have given you is the original, and correct, interpretation.

Let me also remind you that being the militia does not necessarily consist of bearing arms. Someone administering relief aid, and someone administering medical aid, both of which were actually attacked, blocked and prevented in Louisiana, in violation of the Geneva Convention, I might add... they are just as much a part of the People's militia. To interfere with their appointed duties is to engage in a state of war with the American People.

Advisory: Shoot them

What I am about to do now, I do with an extremely heavy heart. I had sincerely wished it would not come to this. But it has. This is a hard article to write. Because I thought that when I wrote it, and I knew someday I would have to, I thought I would be happy, sad, angry, vengeful, something. Actually, all I feel now is hesitant and numb. It is similar to the feeling a general has when he orders his troops into battle. Because what I am issuing is the equivalent of a declaration of war. The "other shoe" of the revolution has dropped in Louisiana. The "enemy" has more clearly defined themselves. Therefore, I am constrained to point out who the enemy is. And shooting them, or otherwise disabling or dispensing with them, has finally come into play.

Advisory #1: Disarmament of the People. Any public official, in whatever capacity, who calls for the disarmament of the People, and calls for the confiscation of their firearms and other weapons, the same public official should be assassinated. And the People should consider a State of War to exist between themselves, and whatever agency or agencies are entasked to pursue this task. This is not an advisory for just America. This is an advisory for all the world. Any organization being seen to be doing this, declared or not, should be subject to the rules of war. They should be shot on sight, and otherwise killed, their vehicles destroyed, their buildings attacked and destroyed.

If you are a public official or a law enforcement officer, your duty is very simple. You don't want to be shot? Then don't become the bastards. Issue no confiscation orders, enforce no confiscation orders, and if an official or an officer attempts to enforce a confiscation order, arrest them. If you must have a charge, try treason, for starters.

Advisory #2: California Highway Patrol. This is a limited advisory, and applies to the California Highway Patrol using the force and color of law outside of their jurisdiction. This advisory is being issued because of the video footage of California Highway Patrol officers assailing an armed elderly lady in her own home, after being ordered out of her home by her. They essentially bumrushed her, assaulted her, took away her weapon, and forcibly removed her from the property. For this cause, we are issuing an advisory that whenever the California Highway Patrol is present OUTSIDE of their jurisdiction, for any reason, and are operating under the color of authority, they should be shot on sight or otherwise killed. This advisory does NOT apply to the California Highway Patrol operating WITHIN their lawful authority and IN their legitimate jurisdiction in the State of California.

Advisory #3: Blackwater Security. Blackwater Security is the firm of hired mercenaries currently working in Iraq. Blackwater Security has been hired by various forces to patrol the streets of Louisiana. Now, I have no problem with PRIVATE companies hiring Blackwater, Wackenhut, or any other security firm, protecting their own PRIVATE property. But they have no right to be in the public streets of America as paid mercenaries, paid to shoot and assault American citizens. So if you see Blackwater Security patrolling your public thoroughfares and streets, shoot them, destroy their vehicles and property, and do whatever is necessary to eliminate them.

Advisory #4: Armed bands of thugs. If you see armed bands of thugs shoot them. I don't need to define thugs. Like pornography, you shall know it when you see it. If in an emergency, if there is a person looking to take advantage of people in your neighborhood through murder, rape, theft of valuables, extortion, etc., don't wait for a court of law or a law enforcement officer. Shoot them. If there is time, you might consider the three S's: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up.

Advisory #5: Transportation Security Administration. I have believed that the agents of the TSA, engaged in probably THE most unconstitutional behavior in the country today, all deserved to a man and woman to be shot on sight. Since war on the American People is now officially declared, I am now issuing the advisory, that members of the TSA are to be regarded as "targets of opportunity". I would like to caution you all that shooting them in the airports may not be the wisest course, and may result in excessive collateral damage of innocents. But there are plenty of ways to survey, uncover, and eliminate, TSA members. TSA falls into the category of "bands of thugs": they engage in intimidation, sexual assault, and theft on a daily basis, and this is their purpose. Additionally, they are destroying the airline industry and destroying the American right to travel. This month, two airlines have gone into bankruptcy: TSA intimidation plays a key part of this.

Advisory #6: Obstruction of aid. Several instances occurred during the emergency in Louisiana where duly authorized organizations, such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, had persons delivering disaster relief turned away by troops, most of them state of Louisiana troops. Also, many medical professionals seeking to offer assistance were forcibly turned away, and their patients left untreated, forcibly, either by troops or by members of FEMA. In the future, should any offer of aid or any medical care be obstructed by any authorities, you should engage in the removal of such authorities by whatever means necessary, including killing the obstructionists if need be.

Advisory #7: Obstruction of escape. Officials at the Louisiana Superdome also engaged in the activity of preventing people who had gone into the hostile and lawless environment of the Superdome, from leaving the Superdome. In the future, should any persons or entity prevent the egress or escape of persons not charged with a crime, such that they are virtually held illegally in custody, shoot such persons preventing the escape of free people, and give them the regard due to concentration camp guards.

Advisory #8: Animal abusers. In Louisiana, armed individuals operating under color of law, shot dogs to death, even when such dogs were not aggressive and did not represent a threat to anyone. In the future, if you observe any individuals engaged in such astonishing behavior, shoot them or otherwise destroy them.

Advisories not yet issued

I know many of you have your own personal laundry list of people who "need to be shot". Many of you believe various stories that have not yet been confirmed to be true. I had heard, for instance, of National Guard troops confiscating weapons: I cannot confirm or deny that this actually was the case, so I am waiting for more data on this. I also have received the rumor that the levees and canals were purposefully blown up. I cannot confirm that this has factually happened. However, it DID factually happen in the flood of 1927 to destroy poorer Saint Bernard parish neighborhoods in favor of richer New Orleans neighborhoods. Read it for yourself at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927
http://www.uvm.edu/perkins/landscape/1927_flood/flood.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/filmmore/ps_headlines.html

Olive Branch to the enemies of the US Federal Government

At this time I also make a plea to some of the enemies of the United States government in foreign lands. Everyone knows who I am talking about. Some of you, because of American interference and excursions into other lands, have declared that you intend to kill us. And here is where I'd like to get your assistance and forbearance. And that is in this thing: don't attack the American People. The American People are not your enemy. Rather, if you must fund something, enable the revolutionary movements within America to assert themselves and supplant this ungodly government. There are literal dozens of them. There are independence movements for the Confederate States, for New England, for Alaska, for Hawaii, for Texas, for California, for Michigan. There are electoral efforts to overthrow the two party duopoly and to establish a government of the People of America: one such movement can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheRevolutionaryCoalition . Don't shoot at us. Rather, help us to overcome and eliminate the current and unlawful Federal Government of the United States. if you wish to bomb federal buildings, and go after military targets, have at it: be our guest. Hey, I will even point out that there is easy access through our southern border, and probably our northern one too, to do just that. Just don't go after the American People. Don't bomb our subways. Don't blow up civilian airliners. Don't kill the civilians, because you are likely killing the very people that may become enabled to engage a détente between your people and ours.

And you foreign individuals, foreign governments, and whomever you are in the world who would like to see the American People overcome their evil government, I encourage you to join us, fund us, strategize with us.


For those who don't know which bastards I'm referring to, here's the background: A libertarian/freedom loving writer named Claire Wolfe once wrote about the mess that is our government, "America is at that awkward stage: It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." Since then, she's been asked in significant quantities if it's "time" yet.

Claire, too, since the fiasco in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina, has also concluded that it's time.
I admit that, somewhere between passage of the Real ID act and the brutal bureaucratic botch after Hurricane Katrina, I was slapped into the conclusion that this is the time to shoot the bastards. Effective or not, there just comes a day when a man or woman of self-respect can do nothing else.

Public proclamations of intent, however, are another matter. Neither Ms. Michael nor I have picked up arms and marched off to follow Ms. Michael's advice. It's fall and its beautiful here on my hill and I don't intend to die today unless the battle comes to me.


Well, now, isn't that interesting? I've got to say I'm not sure how I would react were I in the shoes of a New Orleans resident and were faced with armed military types demanding I turn over my firearms.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

The Power of Government

The old "whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" thing

From The Libertarian Enterprise, Bill Hartwell sounds off:
I have a livejournal account, and recently have been involved in an exchange with a friend who, as I have discovered through the course of the exchange, is a confirmed socialist because she believes (thanks to what she was taught in government schools and sees on TV) that human beings are, in general, backstabbing selfish scum who would kill one another for the slightest advantage. She has accused me of believing that government is evil because I don't understand human nature.

What follows is my response.

It is because I know human nature that I absolutely believe this.

The only way humans can get along is by operating from the basis of "if you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you"—government violates this with every single thing it does. It hurts you, and then stands over you with a big stick daring you to do anything about it.
and...
Every single thing government does, it does because people somehow believe that wearing the funny hat of government absolves its agents of obeying basic ethical principles. Government, in its very nature, is the violation of human rights and violation of the "if you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you" principle that allows humans to get along. This means that, no matter how bad things might be without government, they will still be better than government has already demonstrated itself to be.

(Found via Bill St. Clair.)

Hydrogen Generator

Saving the Planet

From Canada.com:
Smaller than a DVD player - small enough to sit comfortably under the hood of any truck or car - it could be big enough to solve the world's greenhouse gas emission problems, at least for the near future. In fact, it could make the Kyoto protocol obsolete. Basically, the H2N-Gen contains a small reservoir of distilled water and other chemicals such as potassium hydroxide. A current is run from the car battery through the liquid. This process of electrolysis creates hydrogen and oxygen gases which are then fed into the engine's intake manifold where they mix with the gasoline vapours.

It's a scientific fact that adding hydrogen to a combustion chamber will cause a cleaner burn. The challenge has always been to find a way to get the hydrogen gas into the combustion chamber in a safe, reliable and cost-effective way.

Williams claims he has achieved this with his H2N-Gen. His product, he said, produces a more complete burn, greatly increasing efficiency and reducing fuel consumption by 10 to 40 per cent - and pollutants by up to 100 per cent.

Most internal combustion engines operate at about 35 per cent efficiency. This means that only 35 per cent of the fuel is fully burned. The rest either turns to carbon corroding the engine or goes out the exhaust pipe as greenhouse gases.

The H2N-Gen increases burn efficiency to at least 97 per cent, Williams said. This saves fuel and greatly reduces emissions.

Interesting, to say the least, though I have a grain or three of healthy skepticism on just how ready-for-prime-time the unit really is.

From further down in the article:
The Gazette drove a 2000 six-cylinder Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with an H2N-Gen prototype from Montreal to Cornwall and back. We set the cruise control at 102 kilometres per hour. The trip computer indicated that on the highway the car averaged about nine litres per 100 kilometres, which is more than 10 per cent below the manufacturer's mileage rating of 10.5. The combined city/highway mileage was slightly more than 11; the car is rated at 12.9.

We also tested the Jeep SUV at one of Ontario's Drive Clean emissions inspection centres. The car's emissions were well below the manufacturer's ratings. For instance, on carbon monoxide, Daimler/Chrysler gives a rating of 5.5 grams per mile for this model of car. The Drive Clean rating for the Jeep was zero.

From this test, it doesn't really look like mileage is much improved, so there isn't much financial incentive to purchase the hydrogen generator, which will be of tantamount importance to achieve any success in the market.

We'll see...

Joke for today

From Wolfesblog:
Q. HOW MANY MEMBERS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION does it take to change a light bulb?

A. TEN.

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed,

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed,

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb,

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for eternal darkness,

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb,

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner Bulb Accomplished,

7. One administration insider to resign and in detail reveal how Bush was literally in the dark the whole time,

8. One to viciously smear #7,

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along,

10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.


Good 'ol Bush

My belated comments on Bush's New Orleans speech

Thank the Lord we have a Republican president: A Democrat would have rigged a massive show, probably spending millions of taxpayer money to go to New Orleans and give a speech on prime time televison that he could have just as easily done from the Oval Office, announcing that you, the taxpayer, had just picked up the multi-billion dollar bill for a natural disaster. Yeah, thank goodness we have a conservative president--a liberal would have just thrown money at the problem.

Sheesh...

Monday, September 19, 2005

Selling out to the Man

I'm a whore.

I've placed a Google ad on the site, over there to your right (my left), just to piss you off.

Go ahead, click it.

Click it again.

Now click it a thousand times, and tell all your friends to come on over and click it too. DO IT. I'M NOT KIDDING.

Seriously though, I'm trying AdSense out. I estimate that I'll make a smashing total of $0.00 with this, making me rich beyond my wildest daydreams, but I'm giving it a go anyhow, just to see how it works. I may pursue a seperate web venture with AdSense, so this will be a testing ground. My two visitors/day will likely never click it (jerks), but there it is, lonely as a big-boned, toothless girl with a cleft palate on prom night.

In a related story, I'm going to try to post on a more consistant basis again. I'll be focused on computers, libertarianism/anti-big-gov't, homeschooling/child rearing, news/politics, and anything else that strikes my fancy.

The look of the site will likely evolve slightly, to make it a bit more welcoming. I'm not a professional web designer, though I have built a couple of sites, so this will likely be a slow process.

I welcome any comments; critical or otherwise...

Fiddling...pardon

Playing with Adsense.

I'm goofing about with Google's Adsense...bear with me.

You could click on the links...heh, heh.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Thinking of enlisting, buddy?

Don't. Goodness sakes, DON'T.

From FredonEverything.net:
Combat is not the adventure you think it is. Know what happens when an RPG hits a tank? Nothing good. The cherry juice—hydraulic fluid that turns the turret—can vaporize and then blow. I saw the results in the Naval Support Activity hospital in Danang in 1967. A tank has a crew of four. Two burned to death, screaming as they tried to get out. The other two were scalded pink, under a plastic sheet that was always foggy with serum evaporating from burns where the skin had sloughed off. They probably lived. Know what burn scars look like?

The recruiters won’t tell you this. They know, but they won’t tell you. Ever seen a guy who just took a round through the face? He’s a bloody mess with his eyes gone, nasty hole where his nose was, funny white cartilage things sticking out of dripping meat. Suppose he’ll ever have another girlfriend? Not freaking likely. He’ll spend the next fifty years as a horror in some forsaken VA hospital.

But the recruiters won’t tell you this. They want you to think that it’s an adventure.

Other things happen that, depending on your head, may or may not bother you. Iraq means combat in cities. Ordinary people live there. You pop a grenade through a window, or hit a building with a burst from the Chain gun, or maybe put a tank round through it. Then you find the little girl with her bowels hanging out, not quite dead yet, with her mother screaming over what’s left. You’d be surprised how much blood a small kid has.

You get to live with that picture for the rest of your life. And you will live with it. The recruiter will tell you that it doesn’t happen, that it’s the exception, that I’m a commy journalist. Believe him if you want. Believe him now, while you can. When you get back, you’ll believe me.

I think I would have risked it, were I blessed with 20/20 vision. I've always been enamored with the A-10 "Warthog", and wanted more than anything to fly one, though I didn't have the required perfect vision. This is likely the only reason I didn't enter military service.

God is in control, though sometimes we wonder...I've no sadness that I never entered the armed forces, though I still have the flying bug. Maybe someday...

Socratic Method

Teaching with Questions

From Garlikov.com; teaching third graders binary numbers using questions instead of a "lecture" type style. Very effective; interesting read.
The experiment was to see whether I could teach these students binary arithmetic (arithmetic using only two numbers, 0 and 1) only by asking them questions. None of them had been introduced to binary arithmetic before. Though the ostensible subject matter was binary arithmetic, my primary interest was to give a demonstration to the teacher of the power and benefit of the Socratic method where it is applicable. That is my interest here as well. I chose binary arithmetic as the vehicle for that because it is something very difficult for children, or anyone, to understand when it is taught normally; and I believe that a demonstration of a method that can teach such a difficult subject easily to children and also capture their enthusiasm about that subject is a very convincing demonstration of the value of the method. (As you will see below, understanding binary arithmetic is also about understanding "place-value" in general. For those who seek a much more detailed explanation about place-value, visit the long paper on The Concept and Teaching of Place-Value.) This was to be the Socratic method in what I consider its purest form, where questions (and only questions) are used to arouse curiosity and at the same time serve as a logical, incremental, step-wise guide that enables students to figure out about a complex topic or issue with their own thinking and insights. In a less pure form, which is normally the way it occurs, students tend to get stuck at some point and need a teacher's explanation of some aspect, or the teacher gets stuck and cannot figure out a question that will get the kind of answer or point desired, or it just becomes more efficient to "tell" what you want to get across. If "telling" does occur, hopefully by that time, the students have been aroused by the questions to a state of curious receptivity to absorb an explanation that might otherwise have been meaningless to them. Many of the questions are decided before the class; but depending on what answers are given, some questions have to be thought up extemporaneously. Sometimes this is very difficult to do, depending on how far from what is anticipated or expected some of the students' answers are. This particular attempt went better than my best possible expectation, and I had much higher expectations than any of the teachers I discussed it with prior to doing it.

Great way to teach, it seems!

Quote of the Day

From The Claire Files forums:
Ice cream is an amazing substance. I'm sure that someday it'll be illegal.


Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Cool Honda ad

Neat-O

From Ebaumsworld (Flash, kinda hard to see):
Two minutes long, worth it--took 606 takes to film properly, and a whole lotta creativity.

Windows Media Player version of the ad(right-click once the video starts, select Zoom>Full Screen.):

Full history of the ad from Snopes--Here's a snip of the Snopes article:
New Honda commercial in the UK. Very important that you understand: There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it.

The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again.

The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete including a full engineering of the sequence.

In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free" viewings (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!).

When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation — including the costs.

There are six and only six hand-made Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film.

Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) are parts from those two cars.

When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.

Wow.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Hmmm...

Did someone blast those levies?

From Diver finds explosives residue on ruptured levy pieces.:
Divers inspecting the ruptured levee walls surrounding New Orleans found something that piqued their interest: Burn marks on underwater debris chunks from the broken levee wall!

One diver, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saw the burn marks and knew immediately what caused them. When he surfaced and showed the evidence to his superior, the on-site Coordinator for FEMA stepped-in and said "You are not here to conduct an investigation as to why this rupture occurred, but only to determine how best to close it." The FEMA coordinator then threw the evidence back into the water and said "You will tell no one about this."

Would our government do that? If so, why?

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Red Cross? Not me!

Remember the other times they got our money?

The Red Cross keeps your money, instead of using it in the areas affected by the disaster.
The Red Cross, under the Liberty Fund, collected $564 million in donations after 9/11. Months after the event, the Red Cross had distributed only $154 million. The Red Cross' explanation for keeping the majority of the money was that it would be used to help 'fight the war on terror'. To the victims, this meant that the money was going towards bombing broken backed third world countries like Afghanistan and setting up surveillance cameras and expanding the police state in US cities, and not towards helping them rebuild their lives.

Then Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy arrogantly responded when questioned about the withholding of funds by stating, "The Liberty Fund is a war fund. It has evolved into a war fund."

Despite the family members of victims of 9/11 complaining bitterly to a House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight panel, the issue seemed to be brushed under the carpet and the mud didn't stick.

The Red Cross' scandalous activities reach back far before 9/11.

After the devastating San Francisco earthquake in 1989, the Red Cross passed on only $10 million of the $50 million that had been raised, and banked the rest.

Similar donations after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the Red River flooding in 1997 were also greedily withheld.

Insight Magazine reported,

“The first days after the bombing,” says one family member, “people from all over the country were sending checks in lieu of flowers and we were getting a lot of checks and cash every day — hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. Then the Red Cross went down to the post office and made arrangements to collect the mail and they would deliver it to us in bulk. All the mail had been opened, and from that point on there never was a dime, even in letters that said money was enclosed.”

The Red Cross has been caught engaging in rampant corruption on an all too regular basis.

3,000 people died after thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from tainted blood supplies.The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year after they had been directly caught knowlingly shipping out the infected blood.

Smaller charities that were involved with the 2004 Tsunami relief project went public to say that large charities like Red Cross and United Way were engaged in secret backroom negotiations with each other that meant a large portion of the donation money was purposefully restricted from reaching the most needy areas affected by the disaster.

(Edit: Pulled the links to the charity rating services--they both rate the RC as A- or 4 stars--I need to look into this a bit deeper.)

I've worked with Mennonite Disaster Service before, (I'm a Mennonite) and their administrative costs are basially nil. The VAST majority of the money WILL go toward what it's supposed to, not toward buying a fat bureaucrat a cushy new chair. You can donate online on their site.