California Republicans - Stupidest in America:

Seems I write this every six months or so that California Republicans are really, really stupid. They have a dream candidate in Arnold, and yet their egos get in the way and they'll split the Republican vote and lose...pathetic.

BBC Distorts The Truth:

Can't the BBC even tell the truth correctly with a graph? In this graph it looks like US electric consumption is up a thousand or more percent...but then you realize that their vertical axis starts not at zero, but at "2.0"....hmmmm. More dishonesty from across the pond...

AMATEUR ANALYSIS: Blackout Began in US!

After investigating the online records of incidences (at www.i-grid.com) of swag/swells/ and interuptions on the grid, I have identified the following as the first anomaly:

Local Time Event Type Location
08/14/03 04:05:55 PM Instantaneous Sag 2.6 cycles OHIO

this was followed by three more sags in Ohio over the course of three seconds and then a sustained deep undervoltage at 04:09:02 PM in Michigan.

The first anomaly identified in Canada was in Ontario at 04:10:57 PM Instantaneous Swell.

First power interuption occurred in the US at 04:10:34 PM in Michigan.

The first Canadian interruption was noted at 04:11:55 PM in Ontario.

So it looks like the problem started in the US (but this is just my analysis).

MORE:
From another website, here is the graph of the fatal moment for the grid in NYC,
from http://currentenergy.lbl.gov/ny/archive/:

Hawash Guilty!

This site has always maintained the US government knew what it was doing on this case. It is now time for all the Hawash supports to apologize to Ashcroft.

Dell Computer Customer Service Disaster:

I have a Dell and like it alot, but I've also had nightmarish customer service from many companies in my life and like to give voice to frustration whenever I can. Here is a piece of one man's story:

"When I called back, there was no history or place for the tech to see I had been on the phone for hours and a hard drive had been approved. I had to start all over with my case. This tech asked me if I had reformatted my hard drive since the new system board had been put in. I had reformatted twice before but not since the new system board was put in. Reformatting takes over 13 hours with back-up, reformatting, reinstalling the operating system, reinstalling programs, updating the programs online, reinstalling back-up and all of the other items needed. I did not want to do this and was upset that I had been approved for the hard drive and now I was un-approved. I can't tell you how emotional I was. It had been a long day with Dell. With each call I begged to speak to someone who was in charge. But after many pleas to many persons I realized that it must be part of Dell's policy to never, ever let the customer know a manager exists or to give out the number. Finally I gave up."

Ungrateful Scum

Appears the French have taken down American flags at the battle museum in Normandy.

Blogger Writes About Organ Donation:

Wonderful piece about the power of organ donation and the ability of weblogs to tell important stories.

Maureen Dowd - Woman Hater:

The following is a Maureen Dowd piece on a remake of The Stepford Wives.

The question one is left with is, "Who is she writing about?" Granted, one of the fun things about reading the NY Times (and often The Boston Globe) is the fact that their writers don't know any "real people", only wealthy, Leftist Nuts. But even this latest Dowd piece goes beyond the typical useless Times drivel...a fun read....I can't wait to show it to my wife so she can learn from Dowd what typical American women worry are worrying about....

In the long interval between the two [Stepford Wives] movies, women have turned themselves into Stepford wives.
They can no longer wince at their mates because they have frozen their faces with Botox. They're sedated with Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax and Paxil. (As one mother told New York magazine about rampant pill-popping: "People say `I'm anxious' and I think, how quaint.")
Women puff their lips, balloon their breasts and suck fat from their hindquarters. The spring fashions were so hourglass sexy, frothy and pastel, they were dubbed "Stepford style" in the Times fashion section.

Martha Stewart (a haywire robot with a team of lawyers) led women — and culture — back to the wifely arts of cooking, gardening, decorating and flower arranging. Hillary Clinton, once so angry about tea and cookies, is now so eerily glazed and good-natured that she could be the senator from Stepford.

If 70's feminism produced the squat and blunt Betty Friedan, this decade has produced the sensual and zaftig Nigella Lawson, who wryly calls herself a "domestic goddess" and is a purveyor of what fans call "gastro porn." More of a male fantasy than Stepford husbands could ever conjure up, the British cooking show hostess is always in the kitchen purring hot home economics advice such as mangoes are "best eaten in their natural state, and preferably in the bath."

There's even a retro trend among women toward deserting the fast track for a pleasant life of sitting around Starbucks gabbing with their girlfriends, baby strollers beside them, logging time at the gym to firm up for the he-man C.E.O. at home.

As Mr. Rudnick slyly points out: "Men and women are working in tandem to create the Stepford wife of tomorrow. Once the technology advances, there'll be a Botox babe who runs on solar power."

Slight Criticism of the Hub Blog:

Just a small bit of criticism about the Hub Blog today.

Blogger Jay Fitzgerald includes this following entry:

'The repeal was gaveled through on a voice vote,' Part III: Brian Moroney makes all the right connections: Clean elections, the smoking ban, bilingual education, charter schools. What the hell else did they put in that bill? ... Moroney makes another interesting connection: Why the hell didn’t Republicans ask for a roll-call vote? Maybe that explains why Mitt has been so quiet on this issue. ... Wayne Woodlief is covering roughly the same ground (pay-to-view).

In the above entry, Hub Blog links to Boston Herald columnist Woodlief's article that bloggers must pay to read.

On principle, I am against bloggers linking to "pay per view" columns. One of the most critical aspects of the Blogosphere is the ability to discuss a subject or column or idea and link to some of the primary sources regarding the topic being discussed. To remain part of the "biosphere dialogue", those whose ideas wish to be included must keep the links to those ideas free and unencumbered. It is for that reason I won't link to pay per view columns nor to Boston Globe or NYTimes pay per view archived articles.

Perhaps this the beginning of a discussion the wider world of blogs should discuss....Blogger Ethics: Pay Per View Links and Archives....discuss amongst yourselves....

UPDATE: Hub Blog responds-

"I usually don't link to pay-to-view columns for the reasons mentioned. But in this case, the Herald columns all dealt with issues I've been hammering away at in recent days. Peter Gelzinis, in particular, broke the Reilly/Billy story in a paid column -- and it's turned out to be one of the biggest stories in Boston in recent days. So I linked to him both yesterday and today. I've been hammering away at the Voice Vote antics of the lawmakers over the past few days, and Wayne was writing about it today. So I linked to him. Sometimes linking to pay-to-view/subscriber material is necessary to further and/or bolster an argument. ... As for your line: "Perhaps this the beginning of a discussion the wider world of blogs should discuss....Blogger Ethics: Pay Per View Links and Archives....discuss amongst yourselves" .... Ugh. Double ugh. Let's end the discussion right here. You're starting to sound like a stuffy non-blogger journalist. No 'Blogger Ethics,' please. To each his own, I say."

One of the All-Time Great Sport Photos:

Liberal Bias Confirmed at LA Times:

Memo from Editor of LA Times:

"...The apparent bias of the writer and/or the desk reveals itself in the third paragraph, which characterizes such bills in Texas and elsewhere as requiring "so-called counseling of patients." I don't think people on the anti-abortion side would consider it "so-called," a phrase that is loaded with derision.

The story makes a strong case that the link between abortion and breast cancer is widely discounted among researchers, but I wondered as I read it whether somewhere there might exist some credible scientist who believes in it.

Such a person makes no appearance in the story's lengthy passage about the scientific issue. We do quote one of the sponsors of the bill, noting that he "has a professional background in property management." Seldom will you read a cheaper shot than this. Why, if this is germane, wouldn't we point to legislators on the other side who are similarly bereft of scientific credentials? "

A Polish Socialist Defends America:

"Many of us participated in the anti-American protests of 1968, which is why we were horrified and guilt-stricken at the image of so many Vietnamese escaping the regime after the communist victory in tiny boats, risking their own lives and those of their families. We also remember the Manichaeism of the supporters of the Viet Cong who burned the American flag but later failed to denounce the regime. We want to avoid this. Today we are not burning the Iraqi flag; we just do not understand those protesting under Saddam Hussein’s portraits."

NYTimes Kills Dissent at the Boston Globe:

Hub Blog picks up a Boston Herald piece about the spiking of a Globe column that takes the NYTimes leadership to task...why am I not surprised.

Great Answer to an American-Hater:

"These are the arguments of idiots or scoundrels. The last thing America wants is to be alone in the world trying to uphold the values of liberal democracy. The problem is that it does find itself alone, forced into unilateralism by Dame Margaret's UN, which would not enforce any of its 17 resolutions on Iraq. But for her and her ilk, everything comes back to the fault of the US.

Castro's executions get a frown from her, but "as far as Cuba's Castro is concerned, his stay in power has been very much facilitated by certain policies... from outside". The last refuge of the totally blinkered Left-liberal is, when faced with the undeniable evidence of a monstrous regime, to say it is all the fault of America."

Bush Never Went AWOL

Important bit of journo/blogging here about the non-story of Bush being AWOL in the Guard.

Lots to Disagree Over:

Be sure to check out Jay at HubBlog today.

It is rare for him to take loss of his senses so often as his insight is usually dead-on, but this day he has faltered on more than one issue:

Quote #1 from Jay:
"Sadly, Bob Ryan deserves what he got."

I disagree. After 33 years of loyal service to the Boston Globe, Bob Ryan deserved the opportunity to apologize and move on. If loyalty is not a two-way street, what is its worth? Bob Ryan deserves plenty of criticism for his stupid remark, but the Boston Globe should stand-by its loyal employee as he makes his contrition - rather than leading his inquisition.

Quote #2 from Jay:
"Yes, legally and technically, the health board acted within its legal authority [to ban smoking in pubs]. But, yes, the system was rigged, as we all know it, to skirt democratic debate and votes by elected officials."

I would suggest that in a democracy, "legally and technically" is all that matters. Further, I believe that the state legislature, in adopting the powers for local boards of health, specifically wished to insulate those boards from the pressures of local governments.

Quote #3 from Jay:
"Tip's Tunnel -- at last: I'm glad they're renaming it after Tip."

Ugh. Can Boston be more insular and small minded? When will we FINALLY stop naming things after Tip, Moakely, and Rose Kennedy?

Oh yes, the wonderfully named "Leonard Zakim - Bunker Hill Blah Blah Blah Memorial Bridge"....."well, you see little Johnny, instead of making a real statment with the naming of the our 'signature' bridge, it broke out into a political squabble between petty pols resulting in a pathetically named, jumble mouthed monstrosity of a name...so instead of being a symbol of what is great about Boston, it is a showcase of how awful Boston politics really is...isn't that nice little Johnny?...San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge and we have a bridge named after our inability to name a bridge"

And what might we say to little Johnny about the Tip O'Neil Tunnel, "...well, little guy, when Tip died everyone loved him because he brought home the bacon to the district, like getting the Feds to approve money for the Big Dig, but at that time nobody knew that Tip was getting the Feds to sign on to a financial boondoggle of which they would only pay a fixed amount. You see, Johnny, Tip got the boondoggle started and now the state is stuck with the entire cost of the billions in over-runs. Actually, that is not true. The state moved the boondoggle to an "authority" now they are stuck with the cost overuns and they force people who drive East-West on the Pike in the suburbs to pay for improvement on a North-South corridor in the city...isn't Tip great? So instead of naming a tunnel after something we should be proud of, we've chosen to name it after the person who got the whole debacle started....sweet, eh?"

Fear not everyone, I'm sure Jay will return to his senses shortly, perhaps after a visit to a (now) clear-aired tavern.

Bennett Gambling Losses Top $8,000 Annually!

What is all the fuss?

If Bill Bennett cycles through $8 million over a decade on video poker machines that average returns of 99%, Bennett only loses about eight grand a year. Who cares?

For him to have lost (as some allege) $1.4 million, he would have had to cycle through $140 million dollars! Even if you are betting $500 bucks a hand and each hand takes two minutes,Bennett would have to have been sitting in front of video poker machine for six hours a day, evey day, for over four years to lose $1.4 million at your average Nevada video poker machine! !

The Newsweek numbers just don't add up.

Hillary Knew:

According to Sidney Blumenthal's new book on Clinton, just one moment after being sworn in for the second time as President, Clinton's bible toting wife turned to him and said, "They're going to screw you on the Paula Jones case."

Either this is another Blumenthal lie, or the Clinton's are the most demented people on earth.

The Hawash Scandal: What Do Photos Mean?

As I peruse Left-leaning, Bush-hating, Ashcroft-vilifying Blog sites, it is interesting to note that they chose to show this particular photo of Maher Hawash. It is the one that shows him as the average joe:


These same Bloggers NEVER show this next photo. The face of Maher that so worried his neighbors following 9/11 that they called the FBI. It was soon after 9/11 that Maher allegedly became a virtual recluse and began to grow out his beard, allegedly, in sympathy with the suffering of Arabs around the world.
To be honest, pro-Hawash bloggers should show both pics.

pics via KATU TV

via shortarmguy.com