The minority prime minister of Israel tells the American President what to do.

From an interview in The Atlantic magazine: Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran—Or I Will

In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.

There is no explanation as to how one stops what isn’t occurring. The Iranian nuclear weapons program is an wholly owned fantasy of the Likud used as an election ploy. If Israel attacks Iran, Israel will have created a real existential threat. Paranoia is unbecoming in a political leader, especially when it threatens the existence of your country.

[Read more →]

The Morris Massacre continues: Two fired at Sheriff’s Office

Michael Coup, chief deputy of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Charlie Morris, was terminated Thursday.

So was David Yacks, the sheriff’s chief assistant of information technology.

Interim Sheriff Ed Spooner announced that both men had been fired following an internal investigation into their conduct during the time they worked for Morris, who is presently suspended and facing federal criminal charges.

Yacks received $89K in performance bonuses his first year, and most of what he did was buy first class airline tickets to Las Vegas using his American Express card so he could rack up bonus points. For investment bankers $89K may not seem like a lot, but that’s better than twice the median household income for the county. It looks like Charlie had a serious gambling problem, among other things.

FYI: the county only reimburses for coach, not first class.

So, the Local Puppy Trainer says State: Flooded Emerald Coast should qualify for federal aid.

The total rainfall in the past week varies by location, but some parts of Okaloosa County have received more than 20 inches.

There was a lot of rain, but the guy quoted who thinks it was worse than a hurricane obviously doesn’t remember my old friend Georges who dumped 48 inches of rain on us in 4 days. The frogs were wearing little orange life jackets for that one.

The best part of the article was the poll down on the sidebar: “Are recent actions by our government officials leading the United States toward socialism, as some critics contend?”, to which 73% said “Yes”.

Understand that most of the damage was to unpaved, red clay roads that turn into a slippery, slimy mess in the rain. We still have them in the county because they won’t raise taxes enough to pave them. These roads are cheap to pave because the only thing really missing is the asphalt top.

This county will take FEMA money as its due, and not worry that its inaction is the real cause of the problem.

CNN reports that Blagojevich indicted on 16 federal felony charges. He got the news at Disney World, where I’m sure he would rather be than in a Federal courtroom with Patrick Fitzgerald as the prosecutor.

It is interesting that this is charged as a racketeering case, which means the Feds will be going after his assets, just like major organized crime cases. He is facing poverty as well as prison.

Tornado Watch until 8PM.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 2:45PM.

Flood Warnings for the Shoal River, Coldwater Creek, and Blackwater River. [I didn’t want to go North anyway.]

[Watches mean it could happen. Warnings mean it is happening.]