Posts from — June 2006

Over at Shakespeare’s Sister Thesaurus Rex makes an important point about the Blight: they depend on character assassination. If you take ad hominem attacks away they can’t respond. This is the problem they have dealing with Cindy Sheehan and the “9/11 Widows” – they can’t successfully attack their motives, so they claim they aren’t allowed to question their statements.

The essential problem is that the Blight feels it is necessary to hate people who disagree with their worldview. This is part of the inherent xenophobia of many people attracted to the “Dark Side”. It is not enough to disagree, you must be able to damn them for heresy.

Cindy Sheehan has attained her status because the vaunted White House publicity machine has failed to take the relatively minor actions necessary to dispel the perception that they are afraid of her and showing disrespect to a Gold Star Mother.

[Read more →]

You must have watched a certain television show during a specific timeframe to understand what Culture Ghost is up to.

[Google chase franco]

A Mars probe slams into the planet instead of landing because the instructions were given in meters per second while the program was designed for feet per second.

A probe returns with samples of “stardust” and slams into the desert because backward switches doomed probe:

The 231-page document prepared by independent investigators found that gravity switches on the Genesis probe designed to trigger the deployment of its parachutes were installed backward.

[…]

Investigators found that the probe’s builder, Lockheed Martin, skipped a critical pre-launch test that would have uncovered the fatal flaw because of time constraints. Instead, engineers decided to do a simpler test by comparing Genesis’ design to drawings of another spacecraft, Stardust, which was built earlier and had passed rigorous testing.

Occasionally while “trimming fat” you sever an artery.

The VA remembered I existed and sent me their form letter to tell me how they lost my records and put me at risk of identity theft.

The real web site is firstgov.gov/veteransinfo.shtml, rather than the main page they provide, but you have to navigate the 1-800-333-4636 [Fed Info] system, because that’s a general number covering most of the government, not a special number for Vets or this problem.

From the insert:

Where should I report suspicious or unusual activity?

The Federal Trade Commission recommends the following four steps if you detect suspicious activity:

Step 1 – Contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit bureaus:

• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
• Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, Texas 75013
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Step 2 – Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

Step 3 – File a police report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place.

Step 4 – File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by using the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline by telephone: 1-877-438-4338, online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or by mail at Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20580.

They are using the IRS to make this mailing, so if you are a Vet and too poor to pay taxes, they aren’t going to contact you. At this point if you are Vet, or currently serving, assume your information was on that missing computer.

Note: When I verified the links for the credit bureaus I noticed they all had special pages for Vets.

Поздравляю НТодда с третьей годивщиней блога!

Yes, Sam’s valet is celebrating his third blogiversary™ ^{[Talk Left]}, and, after extensive kvetching, achieved his Sitemeter goal [even if he is in exile on the left coast].

Also on the left coast skippy scored 1.5 megahits.

Adopted as the flag of the United States of America by the Flag Resolution of 1777 enacted on 14 June, 1777.

The flag was first flown from Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present city of Rome, New York, on August 3, 1777. It was first under fire three days later in the Battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777.

An official flag has a rise to run ratio of 1 to 1.9 [the flag should be 1.9 times as long as it is high] with the canton [the dark blue part] that rises over the top seven stripes with a run of 40% of the flag’s run.

The only time you will see a “correct” US Flag is if you see the official colors of a military unit. Most flags are 3’X5′ or 4’X6′ instead of 3’X5.7′ or 4’X7.6′.

Frances Bellamy, the Baptist minister and socialist who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance was from Rome, New York.

Even the death of Zarqawi hasn’t helped the poll numbers after Haditha and the Gitmo suicides are factored in, so it was time for the new and improved visit to Iraq. This time the Shrubbery proved that things were better by leaving the airport to go to the Green Zone, and flying in during the day.

I’m sure Iraqis are really impressed with their sovereignty when their elected leader was called to an imperial audience with the Shrubbery on five minutes notice.

The Shrubbery was apparently worn out by the flight because the sound clips all feature him correctly pronouncing the name of the country instead of using the pseudo-redneck “Eye-rack” that was the norm for so long. He has had a lot of trouble lately staying in character as a West Texas “goat-roper”.

First, don’t hold your breath waiting to see the letter that Rove received from Fitzgerald; it probably spells out what Karl has to do to avoid indictment. The way things work he wouldn’t get a deal for testifying against Libby, because the Libby case is wrapped in ribbons. He has to rat out someone higher in the food chain to stay out of criminal trouble. I don’t see him going hunting with Cheney anytime soon.

It will be interesting to see if Republicans avoid telling Rove any secrets, because they have to know that Fitzgerald has “turned” Rove, and anything they say to him could be repeated in court.

[This could be my opinion, or it might be psy-ops to make Republicans nervous.]

The BBC reports that someone spoke out of turn: Guantanamo suicides ‘not PR move’

The US state department has distanced itself from comments by a top official that the three suicides by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were “a good PR move”.

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause”, but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

“I would not say that it was a PR stunt,” said spokesman Sean McCormack.

Ms Graffy is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, she is part of Karen Hughes’s “charm initiative” to improve the image of the US abroad. She has rather strong views on Guantanamo, and expressed them before accepting her current position.

The BBC article notes that one of the three men who committed suicide was due for release, but hadn’t been told.  Being due for release does tend to weaken the claim of his being part of a “jihadi plot.”

While it may only be a minimal hurricane, waiting for it is nerve racking, so how about some kind thoughts for Aikane Leo, Robert, and Van, who are closer than I want to be to the path.

The eye of the storm is not the only place that bad things happen, the outer-most band of the storm generates tornadoes, that are every bit as destructive. While I sat here watching Ivan come ashore 30 miles to the west of me, the tornadoes from the outer band killed 8 people in and around Panama City 60 miles to the east.

Hopefully the damage will be minimal and the rains will help to control the wildfires.

I don’t like the term “frame” as it is used in a political context, I prefer “lie”, as it is shorter and more realistic.

Three individuals have reportedly died in US military custody at the facility located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There is no way of independently confirming the deaths or the circumstances of the deaths or any of the particulars about the individuals who are reported to have died. There is no independent oversight and only the International Committee of the Red Cross has regular access to the facility.

As the Culture Ghost notes, NBC is reporting that: First suicides at controversial facility an ‘act of warfare,’ U.S. military says.

[Read more →]

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Maru liked the headline, Manatee reacts to al-Zarqawi death, but I saw it as another example of rudeness, when local Republicans literally toasted the man’s death at a meeting.

I’m reminded of the essay, “Of Cannibals”, by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne. Living at a time of religious wars and plague, de Montaigne would immediately understand 21^st century America.

The article also highlights a problem of entrusting the military to mortgage brokers:

NANCY DETERT, U.S. congressional candidate: “I was delighted to hear the news. I can think of no better punishment than a 500-pound bomb falling on his head. Hopefully, it will help cutting off the head of the snake. Still, it’s hard fighting a guerrilla war when the enemy is not wearing a uniform.”

Excuse me, Ms. Detert, but the lack of uniforms is a defining element of guerrilla wars and capturing him and trying him for his crimes would have reduced his status in the Muslim world.

While it is definitely a “good thing” that he has been “neutralized”, that doesn’t always mean killing someone. From an intelligence standpoint, he would have been more useful alive. Even if he never talked, his network couldn’t be sure, and that uncertainty would have been more disruptive than his death. It would have been nice, but local conditions may have made it impossible.

53^rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [USAFR]
403^rd Wing, Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi

Because of the damage caused by hurricane Katrina to Keesler AFB, the “Hurricane Hunters” are having to fly from Dobbins Air Reserve Base near Atlanta, Georgia.