Posts from — October 2005

John is wondering how Miers can say she supports civil rights for gays but believes that sodomy should be illegal.

Over at the American Street, Barbara O’Brien makes the point, that based on what they wanted in the Schiavo case, the Religious Reich is not really looking for a conservative.

Bush came on the radio and said that it was important to bring up Ms. Miers’s evangelical church membership, while the Republicans raised holy hell when Democrats suggested that John Roberts conservative Catholicism might affect his rulings on the court.

Frankly the only candidate that the Reich would have really applauded would have been Roy Moore, Alabama’s former Chief Justice of Ten Commandments infamy.

For those who weren’t paying attention during the Shiavo affair, the only judge who backed what the Reich wanted was a Clinton appointee.

After my first aircraft “incident” the station chaplain showed up with the necessities of life: a case of beer and a carton of cigarettes. He said he would be down the hall if anyone needed him, and at the club from 5 to 7pm for the next week.

That’s what Air Force chaplains used to be – available, but not pushy.

The garbage that has been going on in the Air Force chaplain service lately just grates. They are supposed to be there for the troops, not their sect. You don’t preach hellfire to people going into combat.

Colonel Lawrence thought that we ought to divide the old Ottoman Empire up along ethnic lines, rather than lumping different groups together. Of course, the “professionals” back at the European foreign offices had a different set of priorities, and we all know how “well” it has worked out.

There’s also a pointer to a jewel of snark from John Aravosis at America Blog. The last paragraph contains the money quote.

These little shows were amusing when done by the “Little Rascals” or Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland; they were a real hoot when John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd went with the same shtick; but they lose something when they are put on by the office of the President of the United States at taxpayer expense.

As Jack at The Grumpy Forester noted, his latest role is Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity job site. This is his second attempt at the “Jimmy Carter” role, the last being a pallid remake of Jimmy’s energy conservation speech.

He had tried for the role of FDR after 9-11, and had a shot at it when he shifted mid-stream to LBJ, i.e. going from a justified war to an unjustified war using fraudulent evidence. His LBJ war performance is actually his best work so far, so similar to the original that it’s occasionally eerie.

Of course he is best known for his “Tom Cruise” parody on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Personally I have felt that the greatest Americans are those who have what it takes to survive and raise a family. They are generally not known outside of a small circle of family and friends, but they pay the taxes and provide the sweat that has made the United States a country.

Consider that Napoleon’s life would have been exceedingly short without an army willing to follow his orders.

To celebrate Columbus Day today your state must agree to the Federal timing and ignore the original October 12^th date. This usually means that you have a significant Italian-American presence in your state, for they embrace Christoforo Colombo.

Some Hispanic groups also embrace Cristobal Colon, but I have a hard time celebrating a guy who was in serious error about the length of trip, failed to find what he was looking for, Japan, and misidentified what he had found as India.

In second place was a red Humvee from Carnegie Mellon University called Sandstorm, followed by a customized Hummer called H1ghlander. Coming in fourth was a Ford Escape Hybrid named Kat-5, designed by students in Metairie, Louisiana, who lost about a week of practice and some lost their homes when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

The vehicles were totally autonomous, not remotely controlled, and had to deal with natural and man-made obstacles.

This year 5 vehicles finished the course, while last year no vehicle was able to travel more than 8 miles before breaking down, or being blocked.

DARPA funds a lot of basic research that can result in useful things – like the Internet.

There are also real world posts about life with FEMA, getting things re-built, the changes that are taking place. It’s reality after the storm, and you’re not going to like it.

His store is no longer open 24/7, as he can’t make expenses when he doesn’t have gas to sell.

And, on the topic of silence, I agree with Steve Bates that the DLC should shut up.

Until they prove they can win an election, they have no business rendering opinions. The candidates who listen to them lose, so their advice is worse than worthless.

Whether he’s willing to admit it to himself, Bennett is a racist, more so because he doesn’t understand why people are upset. He keeps fixating on the abortion comment and misses the real point that he makes the automatic assumption that “black = criminal”.

For those who don’t have the experience in criminal justice statistics that I gained submitting reports to the New York State Police for inclusion in the FBI national statistics, minorities are over represented in the prison system because they are over represented in the lowest income group.

If you have the money there are a lot of options that are available to keep you out of prison, even if you are convicted. If you have the money, you can get out of jail by posting a bond before trial.

If you are poor, the number of options is greatly reduced and you will sit in jail prior to trial because you can’t make bail. In many jurisdictions the poorer you are, the more of a flight risk you are considered, and the higher your bail.

In Florida, if two people, one rich and the other poor, are convicted for the possession of a small quantity of drugs, the wealthy person can afford to enter a program that will keep them out of prison and erase the conviction after a year, while the poor person goes to prison, loses their right to vote, and has a felony conviction on their record.

You have to have the money for a private attorney to get the deal and to pay for the program. If you’re poor, you’re screwed.

Since Bennett refuses to recognize his racism, he should just shut up and go back to his crap tables. It is people like Bennett that almost let Charles Stuart and Susan Smith get away with murder.

1940-1980

[Editor: Yes, that’s a valid type of Florida license plate.]

[Update: Links to All Florida specialty plates and Florida Association of Food Banks, Inc. plate site.]

[Update deux: You can order a sample of this plate for $10. Thanks to Mustang Bobby.]

In his resignation letter, [Dr. Frank] Davidoff said he wrote: “I can no longer associate myself with an organization that is capable of making such an important decision so flagrantly on the basis of political influence, rather than the scientific and clinical evidence.”

We can’t protect ourselves from medical emergencies like bird flu when decisions are made based on private prejudice rather than public health.