A grotesque crime in which a pregnant woman was murdered and her fetus snatched and adopted by another has been solved quickly, thanks to the enormous amount of electronic evidence the murderer left behind.
Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kansas (The new death penalty poster child) arranged the fatal meeting with her victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, via e-mail and instant messaging.
The late Stinnett was a dog breeder, and Montgomery approached her on line with the pretext of wishing to buy a puppy. Stinnett invited Montgomery to her Skidmore, Missouri house, where Montgomery strangled her, performed an impromptu Caesarian, and stole the fetus.
After murdering Stinnett and stealing her fetus, Montgomery drove to Topeka, Kansas and rang her husband, telling him that she'd given birth. Why the husband was not suspicious has not been explained.
Montgomery was apparently none too savvy about the techniques of covering one's tracks online, and leaked prodigious amounts of data. While she did have the foresight to use an alias for her emails to Stinnett, she connected from her house without any precautions, and appears to have posted a message to Stinnett on a board where her IP address was logged. Stinnett's computer provided enough evidence for police to zero in on Montgomery within a day.
It was trivial to trace Montgomery's IP address to her house, where police found the stolen infant, pretty much blowing any non-insanity defence Montgomery might have hoped to mount.
The premature infant, named Victoria, is reported to be healthy and has since been re-united with her father.
#3
Aparently she miscarried and didn't tell her husband. How she could still convince him she was pregnant is another story. The guy must be half a sandwich short of a pic-nic.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/21/2004 15:13 Comments ||
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Archaeologists in the United Arab Emirates have found the remains of a 7,500-year-old man, the oldest skeleton found in the country, the official WAM news agency reported. The skeleton was found buried on Marawah island, some 100 kilometres off the coast of the capital Abu Dhabi. The man was aged between 20 and 40 years. It was buried facing east, indicating a sophisticated community lived on Marawah, Peter Hellyer, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, said.
No, it means he was facing away from Mecca -- trying to tell us something, I think.
Excavations at the island, which have lasted several years, have also unearthed remains of buildings and utensils. The UAE is located on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/21/2004 9:02:06 PM ||
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"It was buried facing east, indicating a sophisticated community lived on Marawah, Peter Hellyer, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, said."
There's nothing quite so demeaning and embarrassing as pandering to the foibles and egos of your benefactors, but who can blame him, eh? He might have to get a job, otherwise. Regards the facing East thingy: News Flash for Pete, it could just as easily be random chance, kneepad-boy, but we won't go there...
Archaeologists in Afghanistan have found the remains of a 7,500-year-old tall man, the oldest skeleton found in the country, the official WAM news agency reported. The skeleton was found buried in a cave, some 100 kilometres north of the Khyber Pass in the Hindu Kush region. The man was aged between 30 and 40 years. It was buried in a fetal position, indicating an intense fear of what was transpiring around him, Shabnum al-Afghani, executive director of the Afghanistan Archaeological Survey, said. Excavations beneath the mountain, which have lasted several years, have also unearthed remains of hardened bunkers and AK-47s.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/21/2004 3:48 Comments ||
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#4
Prolly facing east as thats where the sun rises .. ancient thought concept .. new beginning etc . blah blah blah .
#5
The man was aged between 20 and 40 years. It was buried facing north, indicating the Marawah people believed in Santa Claus, said Peter Hellyer, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey.
#6
No doubt some ice age European or Asian looking for oil.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/21/2004 8:31 Comments ||
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#7
Does this mean that one fourth of all ancients lived in sophisticated communities?
Posted by: Tom ||
12/21/2004 8:34 Comments ||
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#8
who cares which way he was facing? It so meaningles. And why does being buried in the feal postion mean "fear"? Maybe he was sick when he died and that's the position he died in. Good grief!
#9
7,500 years from now, they will uncover a well preserved American community. They will note that in every house, a shrine was present. Historians will note that at least twice daily, ancient citizens would visit the shrine to communicate with their local community's god and to recieve a blessing of holy water. The shrine was just large enough to insert ones head into it, to recieve the daily blessing of the water.
#14
I have strict instructions to be buried with my 1908 O Injun Head penny, one of me Clovis points and a DVD of quality porn.
Not bad, how about dressed in a Star Fleet uniform?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/21/2004 12:46 Comments ||
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#15
Remains of 7,500-year-old man found in UAE
Parade the remains around the Middle Eastern Muslim countries. Given the mindset in many of them, quite a number of people should be able to recognize the guy...
#16
For students of Biblical chronology the 7,500 year dating of the remains would pose a problem! Man's 'creation' can be reasonably reverse dated to about 4026BCE, the Noahian flood to 2370BCE and the birth of Christ to 1BCE.
Was carbon dating used? If so, it has to be inaccurate as this would put the man on the island of Marawah before Adam was created in Eden (Mesapotamia). My questions would be to ask the archaeologists if the skeleton was found in sedimentary soil or rock (water laid), 2) how did they 'age' the remains? This would provide clues as to whether the death could be traced to the cataclysmic effects of the global deluge in 2370BCE some 4,374 years ago! That point on the island may have been the highest and last point he could achieve!!
actually if his head was facing east, his ass was pointing towards Mecca...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2004 18:43 Comments ||
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#22
Foetal position, facing east, waiting for the dawn, head on a prehistoric roll of toilet paper... yep, I've been there. Too much Triple Sec 'll do it to you every time.
But at least now we know he wasn't a Mooslimb!
Saudi Arabia yesterday called on Gulf leaders to strengthen their ties and unite their voices. "We (the Gulf leaders) meet under one roof in Manama in disturbing regional and international circumstances," said Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation. Leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) began their two-day annual summit in Manama yesterday amid tight security measures. Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa, opened the summit with a short speech. "We have always been a symbol of coherence and integration and we will continue to be so," the king told the GCC leaders.
"We trust that Bahrain's king will aim to achieve that goal, the goal of unity — it is an international need," said Prince Sultan, the leader of the Saudi delegation. "The Bahraini leader is wise in his decisions and the region needs a strong push to continue its goals. The Gulf region needs to strengthen its presence in the international community. The GCC was set up to achieve certain goals of the citizens and that project should continue. The leaders will continue to achieve the goals set by the citizens. We are heading toward reforms and development," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2004 00:00:00 ||
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They used to run the GCC and everyone kow-towed and stayed in line like good little pip-squeaks, lol. Fading power can be an ugly scene, man, heh.
SEOUL — North Korea has expelled 27 foreigners it said tested positive for HIV and claimed the country remains free of AIDS.
North Korea is "the only country on the earth that has no AIDS-related patients," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported quoting North Korea's Pyongyang Time. Yonhap reported the magazine in Pyongyang carried an interview with Han Kyong-Ho, director of Pyongyang's Central Hygienic and Anti-Epizootic Center in its Dec. 4 issue.
In the interview, Han said that more than 400,000 people have been tested for AIDS since 1989, and that none other than the 27 foreigners was found to have the disease.
"Those 27 foreigners were sent home at their request," Han said. He did not elaborate on the period of time in which the disease was allegedly discovered and when the foreigners were expelled or to which nations they went.
Han attributed the non-existence of AIDS patients in North Korea to the "sound and moral lifestyle" of North Korean people. That and killing all mixed race Korean-Chinese babies at birth (a standard procedure of Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer).....
Many North Korean statements are impossible to confirm independently and objectively, to health officials in South Korea say. "WHO [World Health Organization] reports every year that there is no AIDS patient reported from North Korea, but the international health organization has no way to confirm the report," said Koh Eun-A, an official at the AIDS & Tuberculosis Section of the National Institute of Health in Seoul.
China is up to something with it's second hand Russian aircraft carrier, the Varyag. After spending over $50 million to buy the unfinished 67,000 ton Varyag, and tow it to the Chinese naval base at Dalian, work continues to do
Well, no one is quite sure. Originally, the Varyag was bought, for three times its scrap value, by a Chinese front company (that turned out to be owned by the Chinese navy). Their stated intention was to convert the ship into a floating casino in Macao (near Hong Kong). This turned out to be a cover story, to get Turkey to allow the Varyag to be towed out of the Black Sea. There's an international treaty that allows Turkey to control what warships pass through the Turkish controlled entrance to the Black Sea. The Chinese then spent $30 million, and 627 days, to tow the engineless Varyag to a Chinese naval base. That was two years ago.
Since then, refurbishment work has slowly continued on the Varyag. Parts of the ship have been rebuilt, and electronic equipment has been installed. But the Varyag is nowhere near ready to go to sea. Originally designed to operate the Su-27 fighter (which the Chinese have). To further complicate matters, the Chinese have been seen conducting flight exercises from a mock up of a 20,000 ton class aircraft carrier. Such a carrier, the former Australian HMAS Melbourne was sold for scrap in 1985, and broken up in Dalian, China. Apparently Chinese naval architects took careful notes as the Melbourne was broken up. Now learning how to operate aircraft from a Melbourne class carrier is not much help for anyone planning to put a larger Varyag class carrier to work. So the Chinese appear to be working on the utility of building smaller carriers as well.
Then again, both small carriers, and a refurbished Varyag, could be useful for carrying troops, and operating helicopters, during an invasion of Taiwan. So whatever the Chinese are doing with aircraft carrier development, they have spent over $100 million on it so far and appear determined to learn as much as they can. Maybe we can sell them the old Forrestal to "scrap".
Posted by: ed ||
12/21/2004 10:39:32 AM ||
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Seawolf drivers will be racing each other to see who gets to paint a carrier on their conning tower.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/21/2004 11:15 Comments ||
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#2
Ah yes, the wiley chinnee do want an aircraft carrier. Oh please let me be there to see the fire drill.
#3
I have no doubt that the Chinese are building a modern spaceship beneath the metalwork of the old Carrier much as the Japanese built a spaceship beneath the rusted hulk of the Yamato in Star Blazers.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/21/2004 13:30 Comments ||
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#5
I'd be guessing there may be a few Russian naval architects assisting in this project?
Posted by: john ||
12/21/2004 14:21 Comments ||
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#6
Shipman: Ah yes, the wiley chinnee do want an aircraft carrier. Oh please let me be there to see the fire drill.
I doubt it's all that difficult. The Japanese built aircraft carriers 70 years ago based on a level of development decades behind American capabilities then.
The question isn't Chinese technical ability - it's whether they're prepared to spend the large sums of money involved. I suspect the Russians could have built and kept a really capable fleet of carrier battle groups in the water - but the Soviet Union would have collapsed decades earlier because of the level of economic strain that would have involved. The question is whether the Chinese are prepared to absorb the financial expense. A billion here, a billion there - pretty soon we're talking real money.
Note that China doesn't need aircraft carriers to attack Taiwan, since Taiwan is only 100 miles away. The only reason China might want them is to challenge existing US dominance of vital waterways. (They may also be reacting to the possibility that the US will impose a blockade on shipments of oil to China in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan).
#7
ZF: The question isn't Chinese technical ability - it's whether they're prepared to spend the large sums of money involved.
Note also that the Chinese have technical ability in spades. They developed ballistic missiles and nukes in the 60's, while being embargoed on every side (including the Soviets, who weren't thrilled about having a border-line hostile nuclear neighbor).
On a personal note, I encountered several Chinese graduate students over a decade ago in some very math-intensive classes that started out with two dozen students and were whittled down to the low single digits after several weeks of classes. They were scarily bright. Not to stereotype, but if they're an example of what the average Chinese weapons scientist is like, I suspect we'll stop hearing about the Russian arms industry in a decade or so - the Chinese will have outdone them in terms of both cost and quality.
#8
You may be right ZF, but operating an attack carrier for the first time is frought with froughtness for any country. So literally I want to see the fire drill. :)
#9
Shipman, ZF--as you well know, NATOPS is written in blood. The Russians were unprepared to pay that price, also. The Chinese may well be willing to pay that price. A blue water Navy for China? Not likely, but a Navy that pushes defense of the homeland 500 to 1000 miles farther out to sea would be a great asset to China, complicating the US Navy's missions immensely.
I do remain thoroughly skeptical about anybody's ability to operate Flanker-sized aircraft off of tiny, non-catapult boats like the Varyag or Kuznetsov. We never tried to fly Tomcats off the Midway, the deck was too small, only two elevators. The Flanker is huge, and will need Nimitz-class decks with the elevators forward of the island, which in turn will require nuclear propulsion. And as the Brits learned in the Falkland war, your flat decks are painfully vulnerable without AEW aircraft. Don't forget airborne tankers, either. Finally, they have to sustain, requiring a whole layer of essential but unsexy technology supporting underway replenishment. America has been the only country to really maintain these arts since the Japanese dropped out of the running in WWII. The Chinese may well be up to deploying a carrier, but we'll most certainly see it coming from a long ways away.
#10
Note that China doesn't need aircraft carriers to attack Taiwan, since Taiwan is only 100 miles away. The only reason China might want them is to challenge existing US dominance of vital waterways.
It's also quite possible that they may be used as refueling/rearming stations. i.e. not deploy with embarked aircraft. Reduces the turnaround time.
Some months back, there was a blog written by a Brit expat in Shanghai, that displayed photos taken by him of the Varyag. As for the carrier-sized airfield - the PLAAF has had one of those for at least five years.
#11
Reverse logic, boys, the Commies are primarily intent on using CV's and other surface warfare ships to protect their SUBMARINES - read BOOMERS and anti-carrier capable SSK's/SSN's, from dedicated surface- and airborne- anti-sub threats, NOT to develop US/NATO-style "BLUE WATER" CVBG's. US GMD/NMD only makes submarines and submarine-/UW warfare centric milops more important to the cash-strapped Commies and their Navies, alongst with dual military-civilian or multipurpose DISGUISED/STEALTH MISSLE andor SEA CONTROL SURFACE SHIPS - oops, like Britney Spears I meant [Clintonian] Communist-controlled Fascists-Rightists-Nationalists of Russia-China, etal. This is not to argue that these small or medium CV's can't also be used for traditional but limited carrier-based support roles - the greatest singular historical endowment of Russia-China ags hi-tech Western milfors has always been their AVAILABLE MANPOWER, i.e. QUANTITY OF MEN + CHEAP BUT SUFFICIENT MATERIEL USED TO BLUDGEON THEIR ENEMY. The underlying, ultim premise behind China's dev of so-called ASSASSIN's MACE technologies is NOT merely to achieve parity, suffic of scale, or even superiority ags America but like an assassin/hunting predator to ensure that a "kill", the defeat and destruction of US milfors andor America itself, is quickly, surprisingly, decisively, unconditionally and undeniably achieved REGARDLESS OF WHAT AMERICA DOES TO COUNTER, RESIST, OR PREVENT - NO ONE SHOULD DOUBT THAT THE CLINTONS, 9-11 AND RADICAL ISLAM [aka FAITH-BASED DESPOTIC SOCIALISM], AND THE [PC]FOSTERING OF INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL ANTI-AMERICANISM AND ANTI-US UNO IS PART OF ASSASSIN'S MACE!
A LOLLY-giving exercise by a Santa Claus in southern France turned sour when a group of greedy teenagers kicked him to the ground and beat him up for not handing over his sack of goodies, police said today. The man, dressed up as Father Christmas to hand out the lollies to children in the centre of the town of Ales on the weekend, was set upon when he refused to give more sweets to one of the youths. The teenager and his friends, all aged around 15, kicked and pummelled the man until they were scared off by passers-by. Officers said Father Christmas suffered bruising and had lodged a criminal complaint.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/21/2004 4:39:58 PM ||
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DONETSK, Ukraine - Supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko traveling in a convoy of 50 orange-draped cars ran into a roadblock of his rival's backers Tuesday and failed to carry their campaign into this industrial city — a center of opposition to Yushchenko.
With five days until Sunday's court-ordered rerun of Yushchenko's runoff election against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the faceoff underscored the division in this former Soviet republic of 48 million people between the expanding European Union (news - web sites) and a reinvigorated Russia.
But in a conciliatory gesture, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who has strongly backed Ukraine's prime minister, said Tuesday that he could work with an administration headed by Yushchenko, a former prime minister and head of the Central Bank.
"We have worked with him already and the cooperation was not bad," Putin said during a visit to Germany. "If he wins, I don't see any problems."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/21/2004 7:38:22 PM ||
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Hopefully that gesture will 'call the dogs off' in the search to find who poisoned Yushchenko. Or as "DeepThroat" would say,"...follow the dioxin!"
The title is, shall we say, the understatement of the day - or century...
International health officials warned yesterday that the world was closer to its next pandemic - a potent mix of avian influenza and a human flu virus - and that Asia was likely to be its epicentre. Francois-Xavier Meslin, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) co-ordinator for disease control, prevention and eradication, said: "We are getting closer, but when it's going to happen, I don't know. If it happens, which is not yet proven, it's going to be worse than Sars. A full-blown flu virus you can transmit easily to people in your family or people you work with. It's a highly contagious disease compared to Sars."
Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, killed 774 and infected nearly 8,000, mostly in Asia, in 2003. The H5N1 bird-flu virus, which ravaged the region's poultry stocks, also spread to people, killing 32 people in Thailand and Vietnam. But there was no evidence that it had acquired the human-flu characteristics it would need to be passed easily between people. Once that happens, the result would be a pandemic that could cause as many as seven million deaths, the WHO has warned. ... There will be a very select few to thank for this bad boy when it finally comes to pass and is unleashed on the modern world...
Posted by: .com ||
12/21/2004 1:50:33 AM ||
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Fortunately, between the reasonalbly good public health services, and given our current paranoia WRT any kind of infectious disease, the likely hood of a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic is medium-low.
Not that this is an excuse to slack off. Wash your filthy paws, and cover (or avert) your face when you sneeze, you pigs!
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/21/2004 4:20 Comments ||
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#2
In a first world country with good medical care, yes. In the rest of the world, look out.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/21/2004 8:40 Comments ||
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#3
Well at least I got an early start. I don't feel achey or feverish, but my throat feels like its full of sand grains and I have lung congestion, all of which started around last Saturday. Just my luck...
#4
Bar--If you think you might be getting a cold instead of the flu, go get yourself some Zicam stat! That stuff is great for bringing a cold to its knees before it can do it to you.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/21/2004 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
Our local hospital has solved the problem...anyone who arrives at the door with a fever or feeling unwell is asked to go away...go home...leave.
You know state medicare is on the ropes when they refuse to treat sick people.
Posted by: john ||
12/21/2004 15:18 Comments ||
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In a lecture at CalTech, Crichton notes how the global warming publicity tsunami repeats other junk science agitprop: global overpopulation, the "green revolution," Nuclear Winter, "secondhand smoke causes cancer". Crichton analyzes the depressingly familiar phenomenon of junk science allied with advocacy groups, an incompetent and reckless MSM, and equally incompetent public officials, to advance "good" public policy causes.
...[Carl Sagan's 1980's-era] "Nuclear Winter" was a meaningless formula, tricked out with bad science, for policy ends. It was political from the beginning, promoted in a well-orchestrated media campaign that had to be planned weeks or months in advance.
Further evidence of the political nature of the whole project can be found in the response to criticism. Although Richard Feynman was characteristically blunt, saying, "I really don't think these guys know what they're talking about," other prominent scientists were noticeably reticent. Freeman Dyson was quoted as saying "It's an absolutely atrocious piece of science but
who wants to be accused of being in favor of nuclear war?" And Victor Weisskopf said, "The science is terrible but---perhaps the psychology is good."...
...for most people, the fact that nuclear winter was a scenario riddled with uncertainties did not seem to be relevant. I say it is hugely relevant. Once you abandon strict adherence to what science tells us, once you start arranging the truth in a press conference, then anything is possible. In one context, maybe you will get some mobilization against nuclear war. But in another context, you get Lysenkoism. In another, you get Nazi euthanasia. The danger is always there, if you subvert science to political ends. That is why it is so important for the future of science that the line between what science can say with certainty, and what it cannot, be drawn clearly-- and defended.
Continued on Page 49
"The deterioration of the American media is dire loss for our country. When distinguished institutions like the New York Times can no longer differentiate between factual content and editorial opinion, but rather mix both freely on their front page, then who will hold anyone to a higher standard?"
This is the greatest tragedy in the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century. The loss of rational ability of the press, and the politicization of the press. Journalism has become advocacy not reporting. And that is the bigest threat to our democracy. Bigger than Al Quaeda, bigger than Socialism, bigger than Micahel Moore and his prpagandada presented as fact.
A republican democracy requires an informed populace to make informed decisions and hold its representatives to matters of FACT. The failure of modern jopurnalism to present "Jus the Facts" as "Joe Friday" once said, is crippling to our democracy. The reason we have so many self deluded people in the Blue states is that they actually beleive the spin, half truths and opinion posted by the MSM as being the whole and actual truth. The problem for them is that reality, as it ever does, tends to be harsh with people who are not cognizant of it. THe Red states are hardly more well informed, but do take a distrustful view - pretty much as Missouris says, the Red States say "Show Me". The problem with this is that eventually a decision must be made and a helathy scepticism soon descends into cynicism which leads to apathy.
The Press needs to be taken to task, first in theor organizations and second in the journalism schools. Gather the facts, report the facts. ALL of them. Cover the new, good and bad, and do not leave out stories because you disagree withthem or they are politically unpalatable to your (liberal) belief. Be sure you can substantiate everythign with facts and a chain of reasoning.
And when something is opinion or conjecture, be it political conjecture or scientific opinion (e.g. global warming, etc), save it for the Op-Ed page.
To do anything less or anything more is a disservice to the republic, and is contributing to the breakdown we see in society.
When the Blue State news organizationd wonder what is wrong with America, the second place they should go is to this article. The first place they should go is to a mirror.
#5
"Once you abandon strict adherence to what science tells us"... you get an idiotic megalomaniac who writes bad books closely associated with popular conceptualization of "science," but quite divorced from any sort of scientific relevance.
What's "scientific opinion?" Might as well call it "scientific faith." It's as closely connected to fact, anyway.
#6
Sagan particularly was given to spewing BS.
I particularly enjoyed his description of how relativity actually makes interstellar voyages faster (ship time). He correctly calculates the amount of time required based on constant 1 G acceleration (fixed time), and calculates the elapsed ship time based on that. Unfortunately, that overlooks the ship-time perspective of the acceleration, which reaches hundreds of G for even a short trip.
Still, it sounds kinda cool. Too bad it's bullshit.
#7
Rest assured that if the anti-US International Lefts proclaimed that the sun was going nova, they'll launch a missle into the sun, ala STAR TREK:TNG movie, to make sure that it did so as not to proven wrong!
#8
Still, it sounds kinda cool. Too bad it's bullshit.
No the equations account for the fact that the dilated time also includes the acceleraltion effects as they take place in the same time frame as the ship and passengers. but that did not prevent Sagan from spouting his quasi Marxist Bullshit about politics. When he stuck to the Astromonical stuff he could be quite good. But when he strayed he got out of his depth, rapidly IMO. Must of been his Brokklyn upbringing
"The deterioration of the American media is dire loss for our country. When distinguished institutions like the New York Times can no longer differentiate between factual content and editorial opinion, but rather mix both freely on their front page, then who will hold anyone to a higher standard?"
This is the greatest tragedy in the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century. The loss of rational ability of the press, and the politicization of the press. Journalism has become advocacy not reporting. And that is the bigest threat to our democracy. Bigger than Al Quaeda, bigger than Socialism, bigger than Micahel Moore and his prpagandada presented as fact.
A republican democracy requires an informed populace to make informed decisions and hold its representatives to matters of FACT. The failure of modern jopurnalism to present "Jus the Facts" as "Joe Friday" once said, is crippling to our democracy. The reason we have so many self deluded people in the Blue states is that they actually beleive the spin, half truths and opinion posted by the MSM as being the whole and actual truth. The problem for them is that reality, as it ever does, tends to be harsh with people who are not cognizant of it. THe Red states are hardly more well informed, but do take a distrustful view - pretty much as Missouris says, the Red States say "Show Me". The problem with this is that eventually a decision must be made and a helathy scepticism soon descends into cynicism which leads to apathy.
The Press needs to be taken to task, first in theor organizations and second in the journalism schools. Gather the facts, report the facts. ALL of them. Cover the new, good and bad, and do not leave out stories because you disagree withthem or they are politically unpalatable to your (liberal) belief. Be sure you can substantiate everythign with facts and a chain of reasoning.
And when something is opinion or conjecture, be it political conjecture or scientific opinion (e.g. global warming, etc), save it for the Op-Ed page.
To do anything less or anything more is a disservice to the republic, and is contributing to the breakdown we see in society.
When the Blue State news organizationd wonder what is wrong with America, the second place they should go is to this article. The first place they should go is to a mirror.
"The deterioration of the American media is dire loss for our country. When distinguished institutions like the New York Times can no longer differentiate between factual content and editorial opinion, but rather mix both freely on their front page, then who will hold anyone to a higher standard?"
This is the greatest tragedy in the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century. The loss of rational ability of the press, and the politicization of the press. Journalism has become advocacy not reporting. And that is the bigest threat to our democracy. Bigger than Al Quaeda, bigger than Socialism, bigger than Micahel Moore and his prpagandada presented as fact.
A republican democracy requires an informed populace to make informed decisions and hold its representatives to matters of FACT. The failure of modern jopurnalism to present "Jus the Facts" as "Joe Friday" once said, is crippling to our democracy. The reason we have so many self deluded people in the Blue states is that they actually beleive the spin, half truths and opinion posted by the MSM as being the whole and actual truth. The problem for them is that reality, as it ever does, tends to be harsh with people who are not cognizant of it. THe Red states are hardly more well informed, but do take a distrustful view - pretty much as Missouris says, the Red States say "Show Me". The problem with this is that eventually a decision must be made and a helathy scepticism soon descends into cynicism which leads to apathy.
The Press needs to be taken to task, first in theor organizations and second in the journalism schools. Gather the facts, report the facts. ALL of them. Cover the new, good and bad, and do not leave out stories because you disagree withthem or they are politically unpalatable to your (liberal) belief. Be sure you can substantiate everythign with facts and a chain of reasoning.
And when something is opinion or conjecture, be it political conjecture or scientific opinion (e.g. global warming, etc), save it for the Op-Ed page.
To do anything less or anything more is a disservice to the republic, and is contributing to the breakdown we see in society.
When the Blue State news organizationd wonder what is wrong with America, the second place they should go is to this article. The first place they should go is to a mirror.
The U.S. Department of Justice has declared that the Second Amendment explicitly recognizes the right of individual Americans to own and carry firearms. Gun rights advocates call the statement a "good first step" but cautioned that it is not the end of the gun control debate. The "Memorandum Opinion for the Attorney General" released on the Internet last week is entitled "Whether the Second Amendment Secures an Individual Right."
The 103 page report, with 437 footnotes, concluded that, "... the Second Amendment secures a personal right of individuals, not a collective right that may only be invoked by a State or a quasi-collective right restricted to those persons who serve in organized militia units." That conclusion is based, according to the authors, "... on the Amendment's text, as commonly understood at the time of its adoption and interpreted in light of other provisions of the Constitution and the Amendment's historical antecedents."
The Aug. 24 memorandum stated that it did not consider the "substance" of the individual right to own and carry firearms or the legitimacy of government attempts to limit the right. The document also declared that the authors were not calling into question the constitutionality of any particular limitations on owning, carrying or using firearms.
Joe Waldron, executive of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), told Cybercast News Service that the memorandum is "a good start, a good first step. "What this does," Waldron explained, "is it puts the federal government -- the U.S. Justice Department -- which is the nation's chief law enforcement agency, on record as recognizing that the Second Amendment, without question, is intended to apply to individuals and not to collective organizations such as the National Guard or any kind of lesser militia."
The memo does not protect individuals from being prosecuted under existing gun laws, Waldron acknowledged, but he said it does require a fundamental change in how the government approaches those cases. "It changes the courts' view of the issue and it applies a stricter standard of scrutiny as to whether or not a given law does infringe on an individual's constitutional rights," Waldron said. "They have to look at it from a civil rights perspective now instead of just [whether] the individual violated a given law." EFL, more at link.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/21/2004 9:40:02 AM ||
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One more statement that the left will use against the hated John Ashcroft, but to us red staters seems to be from the Center for the Studies of the Completely Obvious(tm)!
Posted by: BA ||
12/21/2004 10:15 Comments ||
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Imagine that, we have been granted the right to bear arms!
#5
2b you are wrong. Have you not read the founding fathers?
The government does not grant rights. It can no more grant a right than it can cause my heart to beat and put breath into my lungs. Rights are inborn, the only thing the government can do is either enforce the preservation of the rights or prevent their free exercise. They can free me or they can kill me but the government did not create my life nor the rights I was born with. No judge except The Final Judge can take that away.
So its best stated:
Imagine that - the Government finally recognizes our natural right to bear arms!
#7
2b you are wrong. Have you not read the founding fathers?
The government does not grant rights. It can no more grant a right than it can cause my heart to beat and put breath into my lungs. Rights are inborn, the only thing the government can do is either enforce the preservation of the rights or prevent their free exercise. They can free me or they can kill me but the government did not create my life nor the rights I was born with. No judge except The Final Judge can take that away.
So its best stated:
Imagine that - the Government finally recognizes our natural right to bear arms!
#8
2b you are wrong. Have you not read the founding fathers?
The government does not grant rights. It can no more grant a right than it can cause my heart to beat and put breath into my lungs. Rights are inborn, the only thing the government can do is either enforce the preservation of the rights or prevent their free exercise. They can free me or they can kill me but the government did not create my life nor the rights I was born with. No judge except The Final Judge can take that away.
So its best stated:
Imagine that - the Government finally recognizes our natural right to bear arms!
Slaying of woman baffles friends The 2200 block of North Sibley Street is a typical suburban street ... which makes Friday's slaying of pregnant teacher Iman Muhanna Mohammed all the more baffling. No arrests have been made, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office parted with few new details Monday. Among them were the autopsy results that Mohammed, 42, was stabbed 33 times in her chest, shoulders, back and neck, including some defensive cuts.
Sounds like it was very personnel, that many stab wounds.
Detectives are investigating the case as a double homicide because Mohammed was six months pregnant, Lee said, but Mohammed's abdomen had no wounds. Fakhri Mohammed, 45, found his wife's body Friday about 11:15 a.m. when he returned home after driving the couple's two children to school at the Muslim Academy in Harvey. Mohammed, a taxi driver, and his wife, a teacher on maternity leave from the school, were both U.S. citizens born in Palestinian territory. Lee said Mohammed and the rest of the family are cooperating with the investigation.
Iman Mohammed was a sister-in-law of Abdelhaleem Ashqar, an Alexandria, Va., resident who is a minor candidate in the Jan. 9 Palestinian presidential election to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat. Ashqar, who is married to a sister of Iman Mohammed's, faces federal racketeering charges in connection with alleged fund raising for the Palestinian group Hamas, which the U.S. government has identified as a terrorist organization.
Lee said detectives have no evidence that the killing was a hate crime. The FBI is monitoring the investigation in case such evidence surfaces, because of Iman Mohammed's Palestinian heritage, spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said. Lee said no valuables seem to have been taken from the Mohammed home and there was no signs of forced entry (and) the evidence so far points to a struggle confined to the bedroom where she was found.
The Mohammeds were a popular couple who met in the early 1990s during a trip Fakhri Mohammed made to the Gaza Strip, where his future wife, then Iman Jamal, lived, relatives said. He traveled back and forth during their courtship, and they returned to the United States together after marrying in 1995. Lee said Mohammed's ex-wife, who lives in the New Orleans area, also is cooperating with the investigation.
As the last person known to see Iman Mohammed alive, Fakhri Mohammed remains a possible suspect in the case, but Lee said Mohammed is cooperating extensively and indicated that detectives have no evidence against him.
Wonder if she "offended" her families honor in any way? Did her family back home approve of her marrying Fakhri? Are the local cops and FBI aware that "muslim on muslim" hate crimes exist?
Posted by: glenmore ||
12/21/2004 7:35:31 AM ||
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Mohammed, a taxi driver, and his wife, a teacher on maternity leave from the school, were both U.S. citizens born in Palestinian territory.
Well that's a rather unusual way of putting it. Are they....."immigrants"???
Police in Pakistan have re-arrested Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Mr Zardari was held at Islamabad airport after a judge ordered his detention in connection with the killing of a judge and his son in 1996. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Mr Zardari's supporters who had gathered at the airport. He was freed on bail last month after eight years in jail on charges of corruption and conspiracy to murder. Judge Pir Ali Shah of the special anti-terrorism court in the southern city of Karachi cancelled Mr Zardari's bail on Tuesday after he failed to appear in court. Lawyers for Mr Zardari say he plans to challenge the decision. "This is clearly political victimisation," the AFP news agency quoted Mr Zardari as saying. "The way they have cancelled the bail clearly shows that they [the government] are scared of my popularity," he said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/21/2004 5:17:32 AM ||
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These asshats think the rules that apply to everyone else, DO NOT apply to them. If you don't show up for trial....they come arrest your lying ass and throw your lying ass in jail....with NO chance for bail. Nothing political about it......
A US Air Force pilot escaped with his life on Monday when his FA-22 "Raptor" fighter jet crashed in a ball of flames during take-off in the western state of Nevada, defence officials said.
Oops.
The brand new jet ploughed into the ground as it attempted to lift off from Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada at about 3:45 pm (2345 GMT), an official at the base told AFP. "The plane crashed on the runway take-off but the pilot managed to eject to safety," the official, who declined to be identified, said. The pilot was rushed to hospital and a safety board has been set up to investigate the crash, the air force official added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2004 12:13:54 AM ||
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don't blame the hardware, it's the damn software I'll bet.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/21/2004 3:24 Comments ||
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Could be pilot induced oscilation(sp?), but I thought they had that solved with training/software.
Fly by wire goes all the way back to the F-16, mojo. The hardware **should** be fully debugged by now. My guess is software, like R, or a random hardware failure.
IIRC, one of the early f-117s was lost bcause somebody cross-wired the pich/yaw gyros. It crashed on take-off like this.
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/21/2004 4:14 Comments ||
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Uh, guys - the software is part of the FBW system. Given that he ejected ok, I'd say it wasn't a roll problem like the old Widowmaker(grin), but something went south. Not enough info to guess.
#5
In my above post I am attemping (badly) to differentiate between implementation of flight control laws in hardware vs. in software. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear.
On the older FBW birds the system was analog. 1970 vintage digital computers were too slow, and so the analog computers were specificly hardwired to each design.
The more modern airframes flight control systems tend to use (relatively) general purpose boxes. The flight laws were encoded, as opposed to hardwired. For an example, IIRC there was an experimaental SSTO rocket called Delata Clipper. It used the FCS box from the F-15c with some heavy modifications of the encoded flight laws. It made 2 or 3 takeoff and landing cycles b4 it crashed.
If I understand from the public lit on the F-22, all of the boxes are a general purpose design, with the software determining what each box does. so all it takes is some bad code, without actual mechanical failure to cause a crash.
Which is strange, for the flight laws like the contrl wiring should be debugged by now.
Oh well, the cause will come out in the accident review. I'm glad the pilot got out OK.
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/21/2004 11:54 Comments ||
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Couldn't this also be a thrust-vectoring problem? If the thrust-vectoring cut in when it wasn't supposed to, it probably would have killed enough thrust to keep the aircraft from flying.
Dono how T/V works in the bird, but suspect it is linked to the F/C puter, so that points back to a puter problem.
Could've also been a plain old fuel delivery thing, too.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A LOLLY-giving exercise by a Santa Claus in southern France turned sour when a group of greedy teenagers kicked him to the ground and beat him up for not handing over his sack of goodies, police said today. The man, dressed up as Father Christmas to hand out the lollies to children in the centre of the town of Ales on the weekend, was set upon when he refused to give more sweets to one of the youths. The teenager and his friends, all aged around 15, kicked and pummelled the man until they were scared off by passers-by. Officers said Father Christmas suffered bruising and had lodged a criminal complaint.
Police in Pakistan have re-arrested 
