Posts from — June 2007

Jams has a picture and short post on the research, and here is a more scientific write-up on Felis sylvestris lybica, the ur-cat.

Via the San Diego Union the Washington Post article that got the ball roll of yarn unraveling: Scientists believe cats ‘sort of domesticated themselves’

WASHINGTON – Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision.

But don’t take this feline diffidence personally. It runs in the family. And it goes back a long way – about 12,000 years, actually.

Those are among the inescapable conclusions of a genetic study of the origins of the domestic cat, being published today in the journal Science.

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Someone needs to provide Barak Obama a copy of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights and make him read them. For him to say he doesn’t believe that the Shrubbery has done anything that merits impeachment when this administration has willingly, knowingly, and intentionally violated the spirit and letter of eight of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights, makes him too incompetent to be President. Only the Second and Third Amendments have survived the crime wave that is the current administration.

Melissa addresses this in Obama Opposes Impeachment. PSotD in This is the wrong answer. Steve Soto has a couple of posts starting with Obama: Impeachment Off The Table.

To make this announcement at this time means I will not be voting in the next Presidential election if Obama is the nominee. I was already concerned by some of his foreign policy statements, but this is the last straw. I’m not voting for anyone with so little regard for the Constitution.

The UK just doesn’t understand terrorism. Okay, so Police avert car bomb ‘carnage’ , by having an ambulance driver notify the police that there was a car that appeared to be filled with smoke on the street.

Now they have defused the device, and begin the race for evidence by shipping it off to a special laboratory, and begin checking security cameras to look for the people who parked it on the street.

This will probably result in arrests, trials, and long prison terms for those responsible.

Didn’t anyone tell them they should have called in an airstrike on the car and then invaded a country picked at random, rather than relying in wimpy police procedures that will result in the punishment of those responsible without any innocent people dying. What kind of way is that to fight a “War on Terror,” without any war.

Oops – Update: Second car bomb located in the police impound lot where it had been towed for a parking violation. [I’m not making this up.]

[See Number 7 below]

From KPHO [via CNN]: Deputies Find Diabetic Man Kicked Off Train

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — A 65-year-old St. Louis man who Amtrak personnel kicked off a train in the middle of a national forest in Williams has been found dehydrated and disoriented two miles from where he was dropped off.

Amtrak officials said train workers followed policy when they put off the train a man they thought was drunk, but the man’s family says he was in diabetic shock at the time.

Police said Roosevelt Sims, a factory worker who had just retired last week, was discovered Thursday night walking along the railroad tracks barefoot by Coconino County sheriff’s deputies.
Click here to find out more!

Deputies said he was dehydrated and disoriented.

He was rushed to a Flagstaff hospital for emergency treatment, deputies said.

Sims headed to Los Angeles but was asked to leave the train shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday at a railroad crossing five miles outside Williams.

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Hellspawn

What you looking at?

[Editor: You will note the red glow from the flash that betrays Excise’s blue eyes. There’s a blue point Siamese in his family tree.]

Friday Ark

By now you’ve read about Irish Setter v. Romney, a transportation and accommodation case, well John McKay has found the appropriate response in The genius of capitalism.

I would note that cruelty to animals is one of the profile items for serial killers. They tend to be white males, socially adept, and well educated, as well.

From the Associated Press: Veggie Booty recalled due to tainting concerns

WASHINGTON – A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination.

All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the company said, following a report of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning that may be associated with the product.

Georgine Hertzwig of Robert’s American Gourmet in Sea Cliff, N.Y., said the company acted after the Food and Drug Administration contacted them about the illnesses in 17 states.

Too bad there are no inspections at food processing plants to detect these problems before they leave the facility, instead of depending on the Centers for Disease Control and people’s gastrointestinal tracts to check for problems.

CBS reports: U.S. To Stop Some Chinese Seafood Imports
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Jeff Fecke posting at the back-up Shakesville blog caught a sad truth in A Doctor Quits.

Dr. Scott of Just Practicing, was a pediatrician in Waveland, Mississippi, the little town on the Gulf Coast that caught the eye of hurricane Katrina. He has been hanging on in Waveland, hoping for the recovery, but, as he explains, he has had Enough.

Despite the fact that 90+% of all structures in Waveland, and 100% of all public structures are gone, the Federal government won’t waive the requirement of 10% in matching funds before the town can receive assistance. All of the utilities are gone, so they can’t bill for them until they exist. Without utilities people can’t live there, so there’s minimal rebuilding. The only funds being spent on health care are going to regional hospitals.

The Doctor gave it his best for almost two years, but he has a family to support, so he has left. It isn’t just New Orleans that is being ignored, it’s the entire Gulf Coast. The Republican governors of Mississippi and Alabama just aren’t complaining, which you have to assume is for political reasons.

The Synod is on its way to showing what it means by stare decisis, rather than what everyone else thinks. They have rendered a decision that foregos that “new kid,” Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), and returns to the glory days of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

Of course, if it weren’t for those pesky Constitutional amendments, they could have returned to their preferred judgment, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1856). Yes, they want to return to spirit of the first Roman Catholic Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney.

The article on the decision has a wonderful quote:

“Instead of spending zillions of dollars around the country to place a black child next to a white child, let’s reduce class size. All the schools are equal. We will no longer accept that an African-American majority within a school is unacceptable.”

Teddy Gordon, attorney for Louisville school system.

Full speed back to Y1K!

BBC reporting: Bullet causes US man’s headache

A bullet has been removed from behind the right ear of a US man who went to hospital complaining of a headache.

Michael Moylan, 45, from the state of Florida, is quoted as saying he had woken up with a headache so severe he thought it was caused by an aneurysm.

His wife, April, took him to hospital but left when the bullet was found. She was arrested later over the shooting, but said it was an accident.

Mr Moylan remains in hospital in a stable condition.

Y’all, we have no-fault divorce in this state. You can do it yourself without any lawyers. I know the legislature seem to think that guns solve everything, but there are other remedies available.

I just don’t understand why people keep moving down here.

Update: Major bummer, shot and busted.
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Okay, still looking for the Weather Channel I stumbled across a popular Latina singer and actress, Maria Conchita Alonso, on what turned out to be Faux News, and she was raising hell about Hugo Chavez.

As I have said in the past, there are a lot of reasons to dislike Hugo Chavez, but unfortunately his enemies don’t want to talk about those problems, because they are things that they want to do if they regain power.

Now, you might wonder why Ms. Alonso is being given time on a “news” network to talk about Chavez Well, she was born in Cuba, but her family left for Venezuela when she was five, so she knows all about the dangers of Communism and Fidel. Her political skills were honed in the beauty pageant arena, and she costarred in a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She obviously has all of the training necessary to be a pundit, and is over-qualified to work in the current State Department.

Oh, yes, the weather was to iffy to do what I wanted to do.  Maybe tomorrow.

I need to do something that is going to require about 12 hours without rain, so when I was checking my Mother’s house in the afternoon I turned on her TV for the Weather Channel.

While looking for the weather I saw Patrick Leahy and stopped to listen. He was commenting on this story:

[CBS version] White House, Cheney Subpoenaed On Spying

(CBS/AP) The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush’s controversial eavesdropping program that operated warrant-free for five years.

Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were the Justice Department and the National Security Council. The four parties have until July 18 to comply, according to a statement by Leahy’s office.

The committee wants documents that might shed light on internal disputes within the administration over the legality of the program, which Bush put under court review earlier this year.

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The BBC reports: Iran fuel rations spark violence

At least 12 petrol stations have been torched in the Iranian capital, Tehran, after the government announced fuel rationing for private vehicles.

Windows were smashed and stones thrown at the stations, and there was traffic chaos as motorists queued to buy fuel.

Iranians were given only two hours’ notice of the move that limits private drivers to 100 litres of fuel a month.

Despite its huge energy reserves, Iran lacks refining capacity and it imports about 40% of its petrol.

The country has a large budget deficit largely caused by fuel subsidies and the inflation rate is estimated at 20-30%.

The BBC’s Tehran correspondent, Frances Harrison, says Iran is trying to rein in fuel consumption over fears of possible UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.

Iran fears the West could impose sanctions on its petrol imports and cripple its economy.

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When I did my Single Payer post I should have included the cover story from Pensacola’s alt weekly, The Independent News.

Today Escambia County voted on a ½¢ increase to the sales tax to cover the cost of the uninsured in the county. The INWeekly bundled a couple of stories as The Cost Of The Uninsured to give people a feel for the problem.

It’s worth a read, because the situation is only going to get worse until we get serious about solving it.