There has been much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and general screeching coming from the left bemoaning the "imperial presidency" of George Bush. Their rusty-hinge, fingernails-on-a-blackboard yowling would mean a bit more if they also condemned the Speaker of the House and her unabashed foray into foreign affairs. Which is not her constitutional duty or responsibility. And yet Pelosi is planning to jaunt to Syria.
I have no use for the members of congress – from either party – meddling in international relations. It is simply insane to have hundreds of voices all trying to speak for the US government. The expression that too many cooks spoil the broth applies here. There are constitutional duties assigned to each of the branches of our government. Congress has no business crossing those lines.
As Ed Morrisey points out, Pelosi's regime in the House is working to condemn an ally, Turkey, for a genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago - not by Turkey (which overthrew the Ottomans). And Pelosi is jaunting off to visit a hereditary dictator in a country long at odds with the United States. What's wrong with this picture?
Nobody in this nation – not one single voter – elected Nancy Pelosi to the presidency. It would be a good idea for her to realize that before she completely jumps the shark and the voters come to realize what a disaster this is bringing down on this nation and the world. But, being Pelosi, she won't and the voters will wake up. There is a real danger here for the Democrats, whether they are going to realize it in time or not. Their promises to the voters that got them elected are being ignored while the Speaker intrudes into matters that are not her responsibility. The voters will not be amused by an Imperial Speakership.
It is currently storming again here where I live, for the third day in a row. This one roaring overhead right now is a bad one. There is hail as well as torrential rain. These storms appear to be coming in from the Southeast, a fairly unusual direction in these parts. Cars driving down the rain-swept streets have their lights on and are creeping along, wipers running at full speed, but unable to keep the windows clear.
Midwestern springs can be interesting. I have not heard any reports of tornadoes in the area and the town sirens did not sound when the latest storm was beating against the windows. But the building shook several times as fists of wind pummeled the old structure. Almost as quickly as it appeared, the storm is already over, past us and beating up on the next town. Such is the weather at this time of the year. It changes so fast, it's hard to figure out what to wear.
I stepped outside to survey the damage just now. The wind, blowing hard from the South, is quite cold. The flowers out front look a little forlorn and drooping, but they are still there. The tree on the South edge of the property has lost a lot of it's spring "flowers" – just messy things that accumulate in drifts like dark brown snow around this time of year. I don't think we are quite finished for today, though. It is brightening outside, but the sky to the South appears to have bands of clouds – rather ominous ones – heading this way quickly, driven by that cold wind.
Sometimes, I wish I lived somewhere with climate instead of weather. But I'd miss the storms, I think.
The media is not giving favorable treatment to the lawsuit brought by the six flying imams and their attempt to chill reporting of suspicious behavior by airline passengers. Will this be the case that finally damages CAIR in the media and the public's perception? Quite possibly. When even MSNBC is coming down on the imams by running an AP story critical of the attempted legal abuse, it may be time for the imams and their enablers to back down.
MINNEAPOLIS – Six Muslim men removed from a plane last fall after being accused of suspicious behavior are suing the airline and threatening to sue the passengers who complained — a move some fear could discourage travelers from speaking up when they see something unusual.
The civil rights lawsuit, filed earlier this month, has so alarmed some lawyers that they are offering to defend the unnamed “John Doe” passengers free of charge. They say it is vital that the flying public be able to report suspicious behavior without fear of being dragged into court.
“When you drive up the road towards the airport, there’s a big road sign that says, ‘Report suspicious behavior,”’ said Gerry Nolting, a Minneapolis lawyer. “There’s no disclaimer that adds, ‘But beware if you do that, you might get sued.”’
The fact that this is the only incident like this on record should indicate to rational people that the six imams set up a stunt specifically with the intent of filing a lawsuit. The fact that people who were on the flight are still convinced that the six were up to no good (as is stated later in the article) should show that the behavior was highly unusual and meant to provoke a response.
A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah!
If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al
(Paul Simon, You Can Call Me Al)
The Daily Mail has an unusual picture taken by retired policeman Andy (not Al) Key while in Rome on vacation. The picture, of sunlight streaming through the windows of Saint Peter's Basilica show an odd pattern of light that resembles the traditional shape of an angel floating over the heads of other visitors. Apparently, even professional photographers are completely at a loss as to how this particular image appeared on the digital picture.
But it was only when Mr Key, 48, and his wife Susan, 44, returned home and and downloaded their photographs that they noticed a strange apparition in the picture.
They were amazed to see what looked like the image of a guardian angel above the heads of other visitors to St Peter's Basilica.
Mr Key, from March, Cambridgeshire, said: "It looks like an angel hovering on the people's heads.
"No-one can explain it – there's nothing on their heads for the light to bounce off."
Mr Key went on the holiday to mark his retirement from his job as a police constable for Cambridgeshire Police.
He and his wife, a medical secretary, were looking around the famous church when they noticed a large group of people and realised the Pope was making an address nearby.
"I was taking pictures of all the things around us and saw this huge window with the light streaming through and thought it looked beautiful," he explained.
"I snapped the picture and didn't noticed anything until I got home.
"It looks almost like a hologram. I thought it was really spooky."
The picture is very unusual. But excuse us a moment, won't you? We have to call uncle Guido in Rome and tell him to knock it off. These angel-shaped smoke rings of his are very clever, but he shouldn't be smoking inside the Vatican. We will not help bail him out if he gets caught this time.
The sleepy little English village of Harthill with Woodall is living with terror these days. A mad killer is stalking the area. So far, the beast has beheaded over 5,000 victims. No, really. The daffodils are all dead.
For years Peter Dungworth painstakingly planted thousands of daffodil bulbs in the hope of one day leading his village to a Britain in Bloom award.
But just days before he was due to welcome judges to view this year's entry he awoke to find each and every flower had been deliberately beheaded.
Now police have launched an investigation amid claims that mean-spirited saboteurs from a rival village may have crept in under the cover of darkness.
Mr Dungworth, a retired salesman, claims the perpetrators deliberately used secateurs in a bid to scupper the village's chances of winning the competition.
The father of two said: "I planted the daffodils over the last few years, doing a stretch at a time and I reckon it has cost me about £500 to buy all the bulbs.
"I didn't plant them with the competition in mind, I just wanted to brighten up the grass verges near my home.
"You could say it was a labour of love because I am a keen gardener and I have enjoyed seeing them flower over the years."
Harthill has been around since before the Norman conquest and is one of the places mentioned in the Domesday book that cataloged all of William the Bastard's conquered territory. (Oh, sure, he called himself "The Conqueror" after winning at Hastings, but he was known by the other moniker prior to that). We here at Blue Crab Boulevard point out that the daffodils are just the beginning. Just wait until the wheat starts being decapitated later in the summer. That's when residents of Harthill with Woodall will realize that they are dealing with a cereal killer.
Interesting developments in the new Iranian hostage drama. European governments appear to be backing the idea of escalating sanctions or punitive measures against Iran over the kidnapping of 15 British sailors and marines from Iraqi territorial waters. Even the Guardian newspaper is sounding increasingly belligerent.
The EU threatened to act against Iran last night if it did not immediately and unconditionally release the 15 British sailors and marines it has been holding for more than a week.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Bremen, Germany, threatened "appropriate measures" if Tehran did not let the group go, supporting Britain's position that the crew had been in Iraqi waters when they were seized eight days ago. The ministers did not spell out what measures would be taken, but British diplomats hoped they would involve an escalating array of punitive steps.
The tough statement was the kind of direct rebuke Britain had sought in vain from the UN security council on Thursday night when, in the face of resistance from Russia and others, the council only expressed concern but threatened no action. Despite the EU statement, prospects for a quick resolution to the crisis dwindled yesterday after another propaganda video and letter featuring more dubious confessions and apologies by the captives.
The only glimmer of hope for a quick diplomatic solution was a note presented yesterday to Britain's ambassador in Tehran, portrayed by Iranian officials as conciliatory, which bore some resemblance to a letter sent shortly before the end of a similar drama in 2004.
Iran is growing more bold – and hence acting with less rationality – directly as a result of the political posturing going on in the United States. As the US displays more and more internal disarray, it is going to get a lot worse in the world in the near future.
First, find an old laptop computer on eBay. We're talking a Toshiba Satellite 4000CDT with a mighty Pentium II (with MMX technology, thank you very much, as the sticker on the case proudly proclaims) and an awe inspiring 96 Megabytes of RAM. Dead battery that won't take a charge, but with a functional CD-ROM and a floppy drive. Second, install a copy of Windows 98 (Second Edition) and make sure everything works. Check the expansive 3 Gigabyte hard disk drive and find it works perfectly with no bad sectors. Run all your various diagnostics that you have accumulated over the years and find that the computer, though old and slow, is flawless. Literally everything on it works to perfection. Third, install a few odd old games that were originally meant for Windows 95 and confirm that they all work properly. Rediscover the world of Myst. Then give it to your 12 year old son as an early birthday present.
It seems to be amusing him, too.
Not a bad way to spend $50.
Wow, this one even got a major raspberry from Briton. John Travolta is lecturing people to "do their bit" to curb global warming.
That would be the John Travolta who owns a fleet of private jets. Which he flies around for fun. What's wrong with this picture? (Oh, and do, please, click the link to see the picture.)
His serious aviation habit means he is hardly the best person to lecture others on the environment. But John Travolta went ahead and did it anyway.
The 53-year-old actor, a passionate pilot, encouraged his fans to "do their bit" to tackle global warming.
But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway.
Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally.
Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs.
He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using "alternative methods of fuel" – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson.
Wow. Al "Gorezilla" Gore has a weird attraction to power lines and uses 20 times the national average of electricity in his home – and strip mines Tennessee to boot. John Travolta flies enormous carbon emitters into the upper atmosphere – pretty much just for the hell of it. (And I'd love to see the power bill for that little pad of his, too.) And these are the spokesmen for global warming?
Apparently, they are both in favor of it, so long as they get to cause it all by themselves. Screw the little people. Boy are their supporters getting shafted. They appear to be unable to see that.
If you are a person who prays, please do so for Ed Morrisey's wife and for Ed himself. She underwent a
kidney transplant today. If you are not one who prays, please keep them in your thoughts. So far all the signs are that this has been very successful. Best wishes to them both.
I remember growing up in Rochester, New York when there were still some small, old fashioned amusement parks in the area. Right in Rochester was Seabreeze Amusement Park, at that time it had slipped into a state of seedy disrepair, still functional, but old and run down. It was kind of the lower-level park in the area. (Interestingly, Seabreeze managed to reinvent itself in later years and is still around today.) The other major amusement park was Roseland, in Canandaigua, a bit South and East of Rochester itself. That was the better kept of the two parks, but it is no longer there, the land sold for real estate development. Both parks had, as I recall, Tilt-A-Whirl rides. Those were not new inventions, they were already fixtures of many amusement parks all across the country having been introduced in 1926. Many a child and adult tossed their cookies as a direct result of those infernal machines (I loved riding them – it was fun trying to walk when you got off the ride). Now a lawmaker in Minnesota has stepped up to the plate to address the yawning need of nostalgic boomers to relive their childhoods. Or something like that.
ST. PAUL – State Rep. Patti Fritz, DFL-Faribault, has introduced a bill designating the Tilt-A-Whirl the official amusement ride in Minnesota.
Fritz said she's taking up the cause of 52 kindergarten students from her district who say it deserves special attention because it was invented in their town.
"I represent children too," Fritz said, adding, "Minnesotans like to have fun, and it's a fun thing to do."
The Tilt-A-Whirl is a platform-type ride consisting of seven freely spinning cars holding up to four riders apiece.
I didn't realize that "DFL" meant "Demented Feel-good Lunacy". But there you have it; today's serious state legislatures addressing serious issues all across the country. Seriously.
I've mentioned the unintended consequences the sudden mad rush to produce ethanol for fuel is generating. Rising cost of animal feed has already been seen and is predicted to go higher. The last warnings being generated focused on meat prices. They will continue to rise as feed costs skyrocket. At that time I predicted there would be more bad news for consumers. Told ya so. There are now dire warnings that diary product prices are set to climb sharply in the near future. (I'll bet the next price jumps are going to be felt in soft drinks and consumer foods that use corn – especially high-fructose corn sweeteners.)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Dairy economists predict the retail price of milk could rise as much as 30 cents per gallon — a 9 percent jump — by fall. The reasons include rising fuel and feed costs for farmers and increasing demand for milk products around the globe.
The average retail price of whole milk could rise to $3.35 per gallon by October, up from $3.07 in January, said Ken Bailey, an agricultural economist at Penn State University who specializes in the dairy industry.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast also predicts an increase in the price that processors pay to farmers for raw milk. That is typically an indicator that the retail price of milk also will rise.
Yet seesawing milk prices seem to have little effect on the buying habits of consumers like Celesta Powell.
Powell buys four gallons of milk every week for her four children, and even with milk prices expected to rise, she says she has no plans to cut back.
"You can't look at cutting your kids back on milk," she said after loading several bottles of milk from Meyer Dairy store into her minivan recently. "What are you going to give them, soda?"
When the average price of milk rose 19 percent in the spring of 2004, milk purchases declined less than 4 percent, said Stephanie Smith, a Denver-based nutritionist and spokeswoman with the National Dairy Council.
Despite being hideously inefficient, they push to produce ethanol is reaching a fever pitch (there are several facilities under construction or in the planning stages all over the region I live in). And there will be dramatic – very dramatic – impacts on American consumers as a result. These surging prices will, as always, hurt the poorest of Americans the worst. Yet another unlovely repercussion of the agenda-driven rush to ethanol.
I am not sure why the British sailors and marines captured by Iran inside Iraqi waters appear to be caving in to Iranian pressure very, very quickly. When they get released, Iran will have some explaining to do. But they have paraded yet another of the people they kidnapped, a marine this time, "apologizing" for having trespassed in Iran's waters. The crisis continues to escalate as a result of this behavior on Iran's part.
TEHRAN, Iran – One of the 15 British service members held captive in Iran appeared Friday on the government's Arabic-language TV and apologized for entering Iranian waters "without permission." The Iranians meanwhile released a third letter allegedly by captured sailor Faye Turney, in which she said she has been "sacrificed" to the policies of the British and U.S. governments.
The Iranian Embassy in London criticized both Britain and the U.N. Security Council on Friday for becoming involved in the crisis.
Prior to the release of the third letter, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government has insisted that its navy personnel were captured in Iraqi waters, immediately denounced the broadcast and said it would only lead to further isolation for Iran. The standoff has added to tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions and over allegations that Iran is arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq.
"I don't know why the Iranian regime keeps doing this, all it does it heightens people's sense of disgust. Captured personel being paraded and manipulated in this way, it doesn't fool anyone," he said in a brief statement. "And what the Iranians have to realize is that if they continue in this way they will face continued isolation."
In the video Friday, Royal Marine rifleman Nathan Thomas Summers was shown sitting with another male serviceman and the female British sailor Faye Turney against a pink floral curtain. Both men wore camouflage fatigues with a label saying "Royal Navy" on their chests and a small British flag stitched to their left sleeves. Turney wore a blue jumpsuit and a black headscarf.
"Again I deeply apologize for entering your waters," Summers said in the clip broadcast on Al-Alam television. "We trespassed without permission."
The latest letter, addressed to the British people, said that Turney had been treated well, unlike the prisoners held by the at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "I'm writing to you as a British serviceperson who has been sent to Iraq, sacrificed due to the intervening policies of the Bush and Blair government," the letter said.
Interestingly, even the reliably left-leaning Guardian newspaper in Britain is not real happy with Iran right now. But these are the direct dividends of Western weakness and lack of resolution when dealing with the rogue mullahs and their psychotic president, Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was rumored to have been one of the people involved in the taking of American hostages in Tehran in 1979. It really isn't surprising that he is attempting to relive his "glory days". I really hope that Iran has overplayed its hand this time and will generate world wide revulsion. But I am also waiting for the apologists to start kicking in.
Tornado season has roared to life with a massive wave of twisters hitting three states and killing at least four people. A huge storm front swept across most of the nation's midsection today spawning 65 tornadoes so far today alone.
Sixty-five tornadoes were reported late Wednesday in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska, the National Weather Service said. By early Thursday, the storm system stretched from South Dakota to Texas.
Rosemary Rosales, 28, was found critically injured in the tree after the huge tornado destroyed several homes and damaged dozens of others in Holly, a town of 1,000 people about 235 miles southeast of Denver near the Kansas line.
In Oklahoma, a twister killed a couple as it blew their home to pieces. In Texas, a man was found dead in the tangled debris of his trailer.
At least seven other people were hurt when the tornado skipped for a mile-and-a-half through Holly and surrounding areas.
"All they heard was this big ugly noise, and they didn't have no time to run," said Victoria Rosales, the victim's sister. She said the woman and her husband, Gustavo Puga, were in the kitchen and their 3-year-old daughter, Noelia, was sleeping in a front room when the tornado hit.
Puga was holding onto the little girl when rescuers found them, said his brother, Oscar Puga. The two were in fair condition Thursday at a Colorado Springs hospital.
I can tell you that there was one heck of a series of thunderstorms where I live, too. It was hard to see across the street at one point, the rain was so heavy. Life in the Midwest is not for the faint of heart at times. When I lived in Illinois, the locals were all still talking about the series of twisters that had ripped through the area in the late '40s. They said that papers from a destroyed gas station in the Western part of the state had been found in Chicago after the storms. I have no idea if that's true or not, but the storms were a regular topic of conversation whenever tornado season rolled around.
And this time they are trying to shoot down airplanes. The pilot of a Chilean airliner reported that glowing, incandescent objects hurtled past his aircraft as it was entering New Zealand air space.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) – Pilots of a Chilean commercial jetliner spotted flaming objects falling past their plane as it headed for a landing in New Zealand, airline officials said Wednesday.
U.S. experts suggested the objects were likely meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere and questioned Australian media reports they were probably pieces of a falling Russian spacecraft.
LAN Chile airline said in a brief statement that the pilot, who was not identified, “made visual contact with incandescent fragments'' several miles away on Monday. The Airbus 340 had just entered New Zealand airspace when the space debris was spotted.
The airline said it reported the incident to authorities in Chile and New Zealand.
Web sites of several Australian news media quoted officials as saying that pieces of a Russian satellite had narrowly missed the jet.
But Nicholas Johnson, orbital debris chief scientist for NASA's Johnson Space Center, said that was likely not the case. Russian space junk was expected to come back to Earth – but not until about 12 hours after the incident with the jet, Johnson said.
He said he checked with the Russians and the debris – an empty Progress resupply ship that had been at the International Space Station – re-entered Earth's atmosphere on schedule.
“Unless someone has their times wrong, there appears to be no correlation,'' Johnson told The Associated Press.
We have photographic evidence (Real Professional Newswire Quality™, too!) of the earlier assaults on Christchurch, New Zealand. It's getting kind of dangerous down there.
I have posted about Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix, Arizona once before. He is the physician who denounced the six flying imams after their stunt in the Minneapolis airport. Now he's going even further: he is volunteering to raise money to pay for the defense of any person the six imams try to sue for daring to report their antics. The imams may have finally had their little rock turned over, exposing them for what they are. Dr. Jasser is a Muslim who detests islamists and he's not afraid to speak out against it.
Though he is well-known in Arizona, he has not been visible outside the state. But that changed a few weeks ago, when he publicly challenged the six imams who filed suit after being detained at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Five of them are from Arizona, and Jasser knows several of them, he says. He has volunteered to raise money to help any passengers they sue for reporting their behavior, as they have threatened to do.
Suddenly Jasser is a sought-after radio and TV commentator. His new role is taking lots of time, a scarce commodity for Jasser, who practices internal medicine and is president of the Arizona Medical Association.
But he believes that a Muslim voice is critical in response to the imams' charges, which include one that they were discriminated against for praying in the airport gate area. "Americans are so worried about offending religious sensibilities," he says. "We as Muslims must step forward and say, 'This is not about prayer, it's about airline security.' "
The context in which faith is displayed is important, according to Jasser. "I pray five times a day; for example, I pray publicly in the park with my family when we are on a picnic," he says. "But the issue is one of prudence. After 9/11, the airport gate is the most anxiety-laden area for Americans. It is supreme naivete for these individuals to feel the way to exercise their religious freedom is embodied by their ability to pray as a group at an airport gate."
He is stepping up against the attempt by the six to use legal blackmail to silence people. He's the imam's worst nightmare, a Muslim who is exposing them for what they really are.
Insanity, Left Wing, Politics, World news | Gaius March 31, 2007 | 
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