Category — Uncategorized

I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment, and have owned weapons my entire adult life, but you have to know when to draw the line: NRA opposes bill to stop gun sales to terror suspects.

I would like to see the list of terror suspects limited to those who actually have some connection to terrorism, and not simply to political activism, but if they are on the list, the sale shouldn’t take place. Maybe they shouldn’t be on the list, but this may be one of the few ways they will find out they are suspected of something, rather than finding out while they are trying to catch an airplane. The law allows for the appeal of the decision.

If there is a solid reason for someone’s name being on the list, I really would prefer that they not be sold an autoloading rifle and a thousand rounds of ammunition. I would also note that the license to purchase explosives is also covered by this bill.

Now, does anyone wonder why I don’t belong to the National Rifle Association?

She got off easy.

Some people may wonder about the conditions, but they obviously haven’t had a recent DWI/DUI. Three years probation, $1,500 fine, alcohol program, suspended license, and an official charge of reckless driving is some good lawyering, which is why she pled guilty.

She was given a warning in January about driving with a suspended license, you or I would have been in jail after that one, and had our car impounded.

In this latest episode she was driving with a suspended license, driving without headlights at night, and speeding. She has not enrolled in an alcohol program, she arrived late to court, she presented bogus testimony. You or I would be facing 3 years in jail without the parole or probation option.

The judge wasn’t going to give her a break of any kind, and probably wanted to impose the three years after the hearing, but chose to simply approve the prosecutor’s recommendation. This was a probation hearing and she violated her probation on multiple points. She tossed out any of the lesser options because this was a probation hearing.

Her claim of not understanding the rules of her license suspension are absurd – hey, you can’t drive. You have to jump through the hoops before the privilege of operating a motor vehicle on the public roads is restored. If you want a “work exemption” you have to apply for it.

She was treated differently, because she could afford multiple attorneys to work for her. She is probably going to have her license revoked after the February incident, because she still hasn’t answered those charges, and she will probably receive more jail time because she has violated parole on the initial charge.

She was given the opportunity to avoid jail and she choose to violate the conditions of her probation. She obviously didn’t understand that she was being shown leniency, so now society has to teach her what she has never learned: there are consequences for your actions.

She’s here for the Kentucky Derby, okay. She’s a dyed in the wool horse person and owns some very respectable stock. Her granddaughter [Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips] is currently ranked as the best dressage rider in the world.

It is highly doubtful she will appear anywhere near the Shrubbery as she wants to kill him for what his visit to Britain did to her mother’s garden. What kind of idiot land’s helicopters on the Queen Mum’s roses – the Shrubbery.

She can’t be all that pleased about having to put up with the tourist stuff in Virginia and listening to Darth Cheney, but it’s the price she pays for another chance to see Derby, and maybe buy some horses.

Update: She’s forced to attend a state dinner on Monday. That must be annoying. If I was on the Secret Service detail I’d be worried.

Pierre at Candide’s Notebooks has posted Nancy Pelosi’s speech in the House before she voted against the Authorization of the Use of Force against Iraq in October of 2002.

From the Wikipedia entry for cyanuric acid

Cyanuric acid is used as a stabilizer in recreational water treatment to minimize the decomposition of hypochlorous acid by light in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.

Chlorinated derivatives of cyanuric acid, such as trichloro-s-triazinetrione and sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione, are used as algacides or microbiocides in swimming pool water and large scale water systems in industry.

Testing for cyanuric acid concentration is commonly done with a turbidometric test, which uses a reagent, melamine, to precipitate the cyanuric acid. The relative turbidity of the reacted sample quantifies the CYA concentration. Referenced in 1957. Merck Turbidity Test

This test works because melamine combines with the cyanuric acid in the water to form a fine, insoluble, white precipitate that causes the water to cloud in proportion to the amount of cyanuric acid in it.

If you have a swimming pool or hot tub and your pet drinks from it, it will be ingesting cyanuric acid. Notice that it is also used in industrial water systems, like pet food factories, perhaps?

Remember the chicken and pork that was tainted? Do you swim in a pool? What about the water supply in the processing plant?

The voters in Britain have given Tony Blair a parting gift in the local elections that wasn’t as bad as feared. Fortunately not quite all politics are local in the UK system.

I’ll wait to see what Jams of Poor Mouth has to say about this. From this side of the “pond,” things don’t look good.

Update: Jams says not as bad as it could have been.

A CBS –Associated Press report: Pet Food Poisoning Mystery May Be Solved

The breakthrough was made at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. A week ago, scientist Perry Martos mixed together a few drops of melamine and cyanuric acid, the two unauthorized chemicals found in tainted pet food.

In less than a second, they formed a mass of crystals nearly identical to crystals found in the kidneys of sickened animals.

“If you can imagine an instantaneous kidney stone — that’s essentially the way I would perceive it,” says Martos.

We now know why kidneys are failing – they are being blocked by these “instant kidney stones.” The new search is for a method of dissolving the stones without harming the animals. This confirms what the problem is, and makes targeting the research possible.

Chris Regan of Mythstory reminds us that today in 1469 Darth Cheney’s favorite author, Niccolo Machiavelli was born.

The Shrubbery thinks Karl wrote his copy of The Prince, the only one with cartoons.

CNN on US Green Zone press briefing:

A U.S. military commander said Thursday that an al Qaeda in Iraq militant believed to be involved in last year’s kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll has been killed.

He is Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri and was identified as the senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.

[snip]

Operation Rat Trap, a 72-hour push against militants between April 28 and 30, resulted in the deaths of 15 militants and the detention of 95 others, Caldwell said. In April, 87 militants were killed in U.S.-led coalition operations and 465 people detained, he said.

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count report for April, 2007 deaths: US 104, UK 12, Poland 1 – Total 117.

Excuse me, minister of information = press secretary, just like Caldwell. They killed 117 of ours, and we claim to have killed 87 of theirs – that is not a good thing. It is apparent that their surge is more effective than ours.

The BCC reports on a major double-parking problem:

Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road.

The decommissioned aircraft was being driven through the city at the weekend when the driver got lost and then abandoned the plane.

And I used to complain about boat trailers blocking my driveway.

Melissa and Echidne, as well as many others, have been discussing the Saletan article on ultrasound.

I haven’t noticed an MD after Saletan. I’m not aware that he has any degrees or training in medical imaging. He’s an on-line columnist and occasional media talking head. Where is his basis for making medical decisions?

I use ultrasound [above 20kHz] for cleaning small parts and chasing off pests. While there have been no major studies that have revealed any problems with ultrasonic imaging, that may be because it is only used when problems are suspected. There are an awful lot of babies born in this world who have never been scanned by ultrasound.

I wonder how Mr. Saletan and legislators who are pushing sonographs would feel if they were required to have a prostate exam and marriage license before they could get a prescription for Viagra or buy condoms?

The guys and gals in Wired’s Danger Room have been looking at the new Army Regulation 530–1: Operations Security (OPSEC), and it is pretty pathetic.

The Army seems to believe Reporters = Foreign Spies?, and the DR people worry that New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too).

I know something about military security, you don’t get assigned to NSA unless it is thoroughly embedded in your brain. I dealt with stuff that had classified classifications, i.e. the indicators of the level of protection required for the information were themselves classified.

NSA isn’t only about gathering intelligence, it is also heavily concerned with insuring that US intelligence isn’t compromised. You have know what is important, and what isn’t. There is a lot of classified information, that isn’t inherently secret, but is classified because of how it was gathered. For example, there’s nothing secret about someone going to a particular restaurant, but if the only way you could know about it is via a phone tap, it is classified because of what it reveals about “sources and methods.”

When I read these reports the first things that came to mind were “Abu Ghraib and Pat Tillman.” These revisions are only peripherally concerned with operational security, the real thrust is to make it more difficult to expose incompetence and criminal behavior.

The flag officers must really be concerned that their retirements are threatened by the truth, and really worried they are going to be required to work for a living.

Ferret

Mustela putorius furo

Weasel¹

Mustela giuliana

1. see Wolcott on Weasels.

Responding to a thread over at Fallenmonk I realized there was a reasonable compromise that would be supported by Congress, and would enable the passage of a “clean” funding bill for the escalation in Iraq.

If the Shrubbery and Darth Cheney resign, I see no reason not to provide the funds to the Defense Department.