Posts from — May 2007

Ellroon at Rants from the Rookery writes Carter is just a big meanie because he unloaded on the Shrubbery in response to a question about foreign policy.

The BBC reports that the White House hits back at Carter:

The White House has dismissed former US President Jimmy Carter as “increasingly irrelevant”, following his sharp criticism of President George W Bush.

Mr Carter on Saturday said the administration’s impact on the world had made it “the worst in history”.

A White House spokesman responded by saying that Mr Carter had engaged in “reckless personal criticism”.

Such bitter exchanges are rare between an incumbent US president and one of his predecessors, analysts say.

I don’t know where the analysts were hiding during the Clinton administration, but Terry at Nitpicker clears up that bit of misinformation.

It is possible that it is unusual for former Democratic Presidents to criticize the current President, but it is standard procedure for Republans. The same goes for the absurd claim that Congress doesn’t criticize the “Commander in Chief” when troops are in action. Every President who was in office during a war has been criticized by Congress.

Jeff Masters doesn’t think much of the latest NOAA move: A new name for the National Hurricane Center?.

He also provides link to the NOAA Proposed Change To National Weather Service Web site banners which has a comment area.

I reminded them of the disaster that was “new Coke”, the business concept of “good will”, and the value of an established brand. I also suggested that doing this after start of the hurricane season [June 15th end of comments] was stupid.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

The Associated Press reports that the House Passes $646 Billion Defense Bill and the veto threat follows.

Fallenmonk says: Bush Shows Us How to Support the Troops; Think Progress says: Bush Threatens Veto Over Troop Pay Raise, Military Widow Benefits; The Army Times reports: White House: 3.5 percent pay hike unnecessary; and Speaker Pelosi has more information on her blog, The Gavel.

Back in October of 2006 I wrote a post, Non-Support, about the income of an E-4 [Corporal, Airman First] who was married with two kids and deployed to Iraq. The E-4’s after tax income was $ 47,314.81, but most of that were various allowances, the actual salary was $ 22,111.20. This year the salary is $ 22,597.20, but the allowances haven’t increased, so the corporal is getting around $40 more a month.

If the 3.5% pay raise is passed the corporal will get about $66 more per month. There’s nothing about increasing the allowances.

Another part of the package that the White House opposes is a $40/month increase in Dependency and Indemnity Compensation [DIC], the widow’s pension. Currently if the corporal is killed his/her spouse will lose all allowances and with two children will receive $ 19,164 a year. Essentially his/her income will drop by $ 28,000/year. DIC is the same for all spouses, $1067/month plus $265/month for each minor child, regardless of rank or years of service.

Can we just stop pretending they care about the welfare of the troops?

An Associated Press report tells us NOAA Wasted Millions:

The federal government is spending millions of dollars on a publicity campaign while its hurricane forecasters are struggling with budget cuts, the National Hurricane Center’s director said Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is spending up to $4 million to publicize a 200th anniversary celebration, said Bill Proenza, who heads the hurricane center, part of the National Weather Service, which is a NOAA agency. At the same time, it has cut $700,000 from hurricane research, he said.

“No question about it, it is not justified. It is using appropriated funds for self promotion,” Proenza said in a phone interview while attending the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale.

NOAA spokesman Anson Franklin said the agency is only spending about $1.5 million on the campaign over two years. He said it is justified to publicize the agency’s mission to a public that is often unaware of its involvement in weather prediction and forecasting.

“It’s part of our responsibility to tell the American people what we do,” Franklin said. “It’s inaccurate and unfair to just characterize this as some sort of self-celebration.”

Facing South reports that even FEMA is upset about what NOAA is doing and that Problems still beset hurricane readiness systems.

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Bob Geiger, a Navy vet, is a bit upset: American Legion Attacks On Edwards Sicken This Veteran.

I have had issues with the American Legion for a very long time. I have always viewed them as less than effective at helping vets than other organizations, and have never been happy about their status as under regulated bars in many areas. Vets have enough problems with alcohol, that I don’t appreciate vet organizations that sell it.

The Legion not only enables drunks, they enable militarism through faux patriotism. They should be supporting vets and the troops, not political parties.

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Microsoft buys ad firm for $6bn:

Microsoft is paying $6bn (£3bn) to buy digital marketing firm Aquantive in its biggest ever acquisition.

The all-cash takeover will allow Microsoft to expand into the highly lucrative internet advertising market, that Google and Yahoo have targeted.

[snip]

But analysts are sceptical.

“There had to have been some desperation for Microsoft to pay the price that it did,” said Morningstar analyst Toan Tran.

“Sometimes, I am worried that Microsoft has Google-tunnel vision. It’s so worried what Google is doing that it becomes way too reactionary,” he added.

Microsoft is going after Google. They view Google as a threat and they want to bury them. This is what they do in every market they attack: they come in late, buy an existing player, destroy the price structure, and then screw things up for everyone else. Microsoft views everything as a zero-sum game – the only way to prosper is to be the last company standing in the wreckage of the market. If you’re a Microsoft stockholder you may have noticed that the strategy hasn’t been working lately.

Now, savvy media buyers are going to hold off on ad purchases to wait for Microsoft to slam the price down to nothing, and then sign long-term contracts.

When you hear “Judeo-Christian Tradition” you are supposed to understand that it means “evangelical Christian.”

Louisiana school district sued over Bibles in school:

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday filed its fifth religion-related lawsuit in 13 years against an eastern Louisiana school district, this time alleging that a principal improperly allowed people to distribute Bibles to students.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the parents of a fifth-grader at Loranger Middle School in Tangipahoa Parish, who were upset that Gideons Bibles were being given to students on school property during class hours.

“School officials in Tangipahoa Parish habitually show disdain for the Constitution, while disrespecting the right of parents, who happen to be Catholic in this case, to choose the religious tradition in which to raise their children,” said Joe Cook, the ACLU executive director for Louisiana.

People forget that there is no such thing as a single Bible, which is a bit embarrassing for those who claim it is the “inerrant Word of G-d.” I personally prefer the King James Version. It isn’t the most accurate, but it has a better class of sex and violence.

One of the odd things about godless Communists is that they tend to be prudes which makes most Socialist Realist literature rather dull. Thus, if you have been paying attention, this should come as no surprise: Bible drawn into Hong Kong sex publication row

HONG KONG (Reuters) – More than 800 Hong Kong residents have called on authorities to reclassify the Bible as “indecent” due to its sexual and violent content, following an uproar over a sex column in a university student journal.

A spokesperson for Hong Kong’s Television and Entertainment Licensing authority (TELA) said it had received 838 complaints about the Bible by noon on Wednesday.

The complaints follow the launch of an anonymous Web site — www.truthbible.net — which said the holy book “made one tremble” given its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest.

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Busted!

But it always worked before?

[Editor: This time I saw the little miscreant trying to turn off the power. Fortunately my custom power switch protector prevented his nefarious scheme from working.]

Friday Ark

Lt. Colonel Bob Bateman is subbing for Eric at Altercation and he displays his old school attitude about the officers who failed to investigate Haditha.

He also links to a Washington Post op-ed piece, It’s Our Cage, Too, by retired Generals Krulak and Hoar. Charles C. Krulak was commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Joseph P. Hoar was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994.

They explain why anything that might be considered torture is wrong for the military and wrong for the country. They are not happy about the current leadership, and what it has done to the military.

What is a Tom Grubisich? Well, it would appear he is a screenwriter who, once upon a time, was a reporter and editor for the Washington Post and a group of Virginia newspapers. What are his qualifications for writing about bloggers? People are willing to publish them.

He doesn’t seem to be a blogger, nor does he seem to comment on blogs, but nearly every Spring he shows up somewhere complaining about blogs. He is under the impression that blogs are about citizen journalism, when, in fact, few blogs claim to be about more than opinion, unless you count fact checking as essential to journalism, which doesn’t seem to be case in much of what passes as major media journalism these days.

This Spring he doesn’t like people who use Internet names, like Atrios of Eschaton, no, he thinks you should use proper, real names, like Mary Rosh.

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CBS News asks: Are FEMA Trailers Making Residents Sick? Answer: of course. Anyone who has ever owned a travel trailer could have told them that after a week you need to find some place else to be.

The culprit is very well known: formaldehyde.

Most formaldehyde is used in the production of polymers and other chemicals. When combined with phenol, urea, or melamine, formaldehyde produces a hard thermoset resin. These resins are commonly used in permanent adhesives, such as those used in plywood or carpeting. It is used as the wet-strength resin added to sanitary paper products such as (listed in increasing concentrations injected into the paper machine headstock chest) facial tissue, table napkins, and roll towels. They are also foamed to make insulation, or cast into molded products. Production of formaldehyde resins accounts for more than half of formaldehyde consumption.

The problem is that these trailers were designed for occasional use for limited periods and the sealing that takes place in regular construction, doesn’t take place in travel trailers. OSB [oriented strand board / chip board] is replacing plywood as sheathing and it has even more resin than plywood. Normally it is used on the exterior and the fumes vent to the outside. When it is used for the subflooring it is capped by something else to exclude the fumes. Those techniques are not used in travel trailers, and there is little in the way of cross ventilation to exhaust the fumes.

The huge order for trailers after Katrina meant that the OSB had less curing time than normal, and therefore more fumes. The need for air conditioning means the trailers aren’t aired, but are sealed up recirculating the air inside. There is nothing unknown here.

First, suspend your disbelief, then go see what Michael found.

He’s in France surrounded by medieval buildings and he finds medieval thinking in the US. Fortunately there was a church nearby where he could undergo exorcism.