Posts from — March 2009

The Dorothy Page Halfway Award and $3,000 in gold nuggets go to Lance Mackey (47), or, more properly, to his 16 superdogs. They made the run from Ophir in under 10 hours, just over 9 mph. In fresh snow that’s amazing.

Only Kim Darst (52)^R and Rob Loveman (50)^R have yet to arrive in McGrath.

The weather is forecast to get colder, which is good news for the dogs. Cold weather during the daylight also helps Rachael Scdoris (58), who is totally blind at night.

The Current Standings [12:50 AM CDT]:

1 Lance Mackey (47)
2 Aaron Burmeister (56)
3 Hugh Neff (55)
4 Sebastian Schnuelle (34)
5 Ken Anderson (54)
6 Jeff King (41)
7 Mitch Seavey (21)
8 Paul Gebhardt (15)
9 John Baker (44)
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For Bloggg

What do you mean, weird?

[Editor: See, all toms do it, not just Ollie. I told you that Friday the 13^th happens a lot.]

Friday Ark

In Memoriam
OWL had to say goodbye to Cotton this week. He was a beautiful white tom.

Neil Macdonald, the Washington correspondent for the CBC, has a reasonably thorough look at the dysfunctional mess that is my state in his article, The giant Ponzi scheme that is Florida.

Republicans are not fiscal conservatives, no matter what they claim. They refuse to accept the concept of “saving for a rainy day”, because they apparently don’t believe in rain. If they receive a windfall they throw it away on nonsense and then lower taxes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. If things go into a slump, they lower taxes to ensure it will continue longer than necessary.

It doesn’t occur to them to pay off bonds, i.e. retire long-term debt, or to save for bad times. Republicans want to continually run at a loss. They lie openly about states having balanced budgets. Issuing bonds is taking on debt – it is running a deficit. All the states do it, and then claim only the Federal government has deficits.

Many people have been consigned to political death for suggesting that the state needs to reform its revenue structure. The successive Republican governments have suggested that there really is “a free lunch”. They have been hoping for someone else to pick up the check.

Bjornar Andersen (18) of Team Norway has scratched at Takotna where he was in 10^th place. His dogs made better than 7mph coming in, so I’ll have to wait to find out the story.

Update: the ADN reports that Andersen was injured in the piece of work that is called a trail between Rohn and Nikolai, but stayed in the race until it became obvious that his condition was getting worse. He was dragged after getting bounced off the sled and hit a stump, probably causing internal injuries.

The trail beyond Ophir is buried under snow, so the group headed towards Iditarod are going to have a hard slog, breaking trail. Normally the lead will switch off a lot as dogs get really tired jumping more than running. The group that Martin Buser passed in Takotna have finished their 24 hour stop and have to move on, while he rests in Ophir. There’s a reason he has won the Iditarod 4 times and holds the record for the fastest race ever.

Current Top Ten [2pm CDT]:

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The hits keep coming for local law enforcement as the Local Puppy Trainer reports on the Crestview Police Department: Two police officers arrested at Ying Yang Twins concert

OKALOOSA ISLAND – Two Crestview Police officers were arrested after an altercation with security and deputies at The Swamp nightclub early Thursday morning following a Ying Yang Twins concert.

Bryan Crawford, 26, was arrested for battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly intoxication. His brother, Danny Crawford, 28, was arrested for resisting arrest with violence and disorderly intoxication, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office offense report.

The Ding Dong Brothers should have passed on the Ying Yang Twins concert. Well, they made lay off decisions easier for their chief.

Martin Buser (33) whipped by the leaders while they rested in Takotna and took the lead. He has been hanging back between 30^th and 40^th place, and then passed them all. He rests on the trail more than at checkpoints and keeps his own schedule. He arrived at Ophir at 7:50pm CDT. The six teams at the back of the race are on the trail between Rohn and Nikolai.

Even though there is $43K in gold nuggets waiting for the first team into Iditarod, it is 90 miles away, so I don’t see Martin rushing to get on the trail.

Teams have to take a 24 hour break at some point, and an 8 hour break at one of the check points on the Yukon, so strategy is kicking in at this point.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that the Cause of dog’s death remains unknown after necropsy. Jeff Holt doesn’t run a racing kennel. Most of his dogs were pets that people couldn’t keep, so he can’t be happy that they can’t find an obvious reason for a healthy 6-year-old dog to just die. They will continue looking.

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There is a major problem in Florida even when the police do manage to make a mental health arrest [Baker Act], and not much is being done to correct it. Just today the local paper reported: Baker Act patient escapes, calls taxi, heads to Destin.

The local hospital is owned by HCA, and HCA hospitals in Florida have a rotten record on keeping people who have been ordered held in a facility for mental evaluation from walking away. If they can’t or don’t want to confine these people, they shouldn’t apply for the contract to supply the services.

If your actions have been obvious enough to actually be confined by a Baker Act proceeding, you are dangerous to yourself or others. The purpose of the confinement is to protect people while the best course of action is determined. Some people just need their medication straightened out, other need to be confined to the secure state facility. Until that is determined, the individual is a “ward of the state” and the state is responsible for them.

I assume it will take a major law suit before any real reform takes place. I hope it doesn’t involve mass murder.

I located the Florida Sheriffs Association biography of Charles W. “Charlie” Morris (R), and it turns out I didn’t forget he was retired military. According to the timeline he was caught in Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney’s reduction in force after the first Gulf War and pushed out after 18 years, two years short of retirement. Cheney targeted people who were one more enlistment from retirement to be sure that they weren’t eligible for any benefits.

Fortunately the Air Force is part of the Social Security system, because Charlie only has 16 years in the state law enforcement retirement system, and, if he isn’t re-instated, that’s another retirement option that is gone. With no cash flow, by the time this trial is over, he will have lost all of his “encumbered” real estate holdings, so he is in deep yogurt regardless of the verdict.

In a related story, the Northwest Florida Daily News has more detail on the Sheriff’s Office shakeup. My initial reaction is two make-work jobs.

The Pensacola Beach Blog notes how bad the timing of the arrest was for Morris, because the Chumuckla Chucklehead, AKA Congresscritter Jeff Miller, had a $500K “enforcement technology” grant in the recently passed budget bill. Miller is, of course, a Republican fiscal conservative who doesn’t believe in earmarks or pork barrel spending. I haven’t got a clue as to what Charlie wanted, because our deputies would never be confused with geeks. Frankly I think they switched to Glock auto-loaders because revolvers were too complicated for many of them. I would really love to see that grant proposal.

Ambassador Chas. W. Freeman, Jr., former President of the Middle East Policy Council, has just withdrawn himself from consideration for the National Intelligence Council. Juan Cole has the text of Freeman’s reasoning.

The bottom line is that he doesn’t want to put up with the infantile tantrums of AIPAC and the Likudnik apologists anytime anything is said that doesn’t support the policy position for the right-wing whackos that currently control Israeli policy.

I see no special relationship with Israel. I haven’t seen a single incident in which the United States has benefited from supporting Israel. The only time there has been significant movement in the Middle East peace process was when Jimmy Carter implemented an even-handed policy.

I would like to see supporters of Israel providing some real facts to justify the US taxpayers’ money being sent to Israel, and an end to this pointless favoritism.

Rookie musher, Nancy Yoshida (3) finally made it into Rainy Pass and scratched.

It was the logical thing to do after losing both runners on her first sled, one runner on the second, and having a dog run off.

In the search for the dog, a volunteer had a snowmobile crash and the machine had to be cut apart to get the driver free.

Maybe next year.

Update: On a happier note, Aaron Burmeister (56) was the first team into McGrath and won the Spirit of Alaska award.

The first dozen mushers are beyond Nikolai and the trail to McGrath. The first one to McGrath wins the Spirit of Alaska award that includes a custom spirit mask and a $500 air freight credit for PenAir.

Those in 13 to 31 places are in Nikolai. The rest are spread out back to Rainy Pass with the exception of Nancy Yoshida (3), who is in last place and has to await a new sled.

The temperature climbed to 40° in Nikolai today which is not good for the dogs or the trail. The dogs are better off at 20° and below. They will actually have heat related health issues at 40° and mushers will have to switch to running at night and resting during the day. Climate change is going to force the race to be scheduled earlier in the year. The warmer weather is going to turn the trail into slush during the day and a skating rink at night.

This is the current list of teams as of 12:46am CDT:

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March 11^th, 2004, Madrid

Nuestros profundos condolencias en vuestra perdida.

Todos somos Madrileños.

M-11

BBC In Depth

The CNN breaking story: At least 10 dead in two-town Alabama shooting spree

(CNN) — At least 10 people were killed Tuesday in a shooting spree that spanned two small southern Alabama towns, state officials confirmed. The gunman, and the wife and child of a sheriff’s deputy were among those killed.

The shooting started in a neighborhood in Samson, a town of about 3,000 about 15 miles north of the Florida border, just after 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) and ended 12 miles away at a manufacturing plant in Geneva, said Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, who represents Geneva County.

Geneva is about 50 miles Northeast of me as the crow flies. It is located on the Choctawhatchee River which flows into the Choctawhatchee Bay. The bayou I live on is part of the Choctawhatchee Bay system.

When they get around to interviewing the neighbors you will hear either disbelief as the murderer “was a quiet person who kept to himself”; or “one of the friendliest people you would ever meet”.  With luck someone will admit: “he has been crazy for years and no one would do anything about him.” That is at least consistent in these incidents.

The lead group are in Nikolai:

1 Sebastian Schnuelle (34)
2 Hugh Neff (55)
3 Paul Gebhardt (15)
4 Aaron Burmeister (56)
5 Ed Iten (4)
6 Hans Gatt (25)
7 Lance Mackey (47)

But things are not rosy behind them.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Nancy Yoshida (3) has crashed in the Happy River Gorge and is partially blocking the narrow trail. A sled is being sent to her after it became available because Bob Hickel (38) decided to scratch in Finger Lake. As expected the trail is deteriorating as more sleds pass over it.

Even worse a dog has died:

A dog in the team of North Pole musher Jeff Holt (68) today became the first animal to die in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Six-year-old Victor died between the Rainy Pass and Rohn checkpoints, according to a press release from the Iditarod Trail Committee.

The cause of death hasn’t been determined.