[People don’t believe me when I tell them moose are crazy.]

Speaking of crazy, how about a “suicider” pelican taking out one of Oz’s Aardvarks.

…it couldn’t get worse, Ellroon at Rants from the Rookery mentions that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania uses paperless electronic voting machines, so when you look at the results you can ask: “Is it real, or is it Diebold?”

Just so no one can accuse me of trying to hide it, I have had links to the Weather Underground for years. Actually there are three links right on this page. There’s the little graphic down in the Local Interest section of the left side bar, and then there are the two links under the Hurricanes portion of the blogroll.

I would hate to have anyone think I’m hiding my connections.

Oh, I don’t own a flag pin, just a few badges and medals and stuff, as well as a couple of actual flags for flying, when appropriate under the Flag Code.

It’s a good thing I’m not running for President.

😈

The Associated Press reports on another sweet-talking Republican: Lawmaker punished for Mexicans remark

DENVER – A Colorado legislator known for kicking a photographer was ordered to leave the podium of the state House of Representatives on Monday because he called Mexican workers “illiterate peasants.”

State Rep. Douglas Bruce, who has a history of provoking controversy, made the comment during debate on a bill that would allow the state to help immigrant workers get temporary federal visas. The measure is intended to ease a shortage of farm workers in the state.

“I would like to have the opportunity to state at the microphone why I don’t think we need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in Colorado,” Bruce said.
…

[Read more →]

Juan Cole on the Secretary of State playing “the dozens” with al Sadr:

Rice has her ‘bring’em on moment’ in Iraq, talking trash to the Mahdi Army and calling Muqtada al-Sadr a ‘coward.’ Muqtada al-Sadr eluded Saddam Hussein for 4 years after Saddam killed his father and two elder brothers; and in 2004 he twice took on the US military. He may be a lot of things, but he is not a coward. Has Rice ever said anything about Iraq that was true or useful? Even as she was talking up ‘improved security’ in Baghdad, mortar shells were falling about her in the Green Zone.

These people keep woofing, and they aren’t impressing anyone. They let their ‘gator mouths get them into situations their canary butts can’t handle. She just added thousands of people to the al Sadr movement with her statements, and made Maliki look like even more of a loser. Throwing insults is not very effective against people who lob mortars in response.

MSNBC tells us that the Air Force must do more for war, Gates says

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business.”

Gates complained in a speech at the Air University on Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been “like pulling teeth.”

He indicated that the Air Force’s desire to use pilots for its missions has kept the Defense Department from employing more effective and lower cost unmanned aircraft.

[Read more →]

It takes time for the plates to adjust: Another quake shakes southern Illinois

(CNN) — A 4.5-magnitude earthquake shook southern Illinois early Monday, the latest in a string of quakes that have rattled the region since last week, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake — the 18th since a magnitude 5.2 hit the area Friday morning — was centered about six miles below ground and about 37 miles (60 km) north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana, or about 131 miles (211 km) east of St. Louis.

It struck at 12:38 a.m. local time (1:38 a.m. ET). There were no immediate reports of damage.

Until the Hedgemony decides no one really cares about such things and abolishes it, you can get more information at the USGS Earthquake Center.

These are probably a series of aftershocks, but occasionally the release of pressure at one location over-stresses another fault and you have a separate quake. The veteran ‘quake people don’t get too excited about these “minor” events, forgetting the first time they realized that the ground wasn’t as solid as they had believed all their lives.