oh boy dontcha line the track-a-lack-a

h/t RT

Dreams

I’ve been thinking about this post for some time.

That doesn’t mean anything special in and of itself, except that it’s something that has been on my mind for several months.

Blogging has been an interesting hobby.

I like to write.

Sometimes, I think I’ve even put together some pretty good pieces. Sometimes, not. But, over the past two years, blogging has been an experience that has brought me the satisfaction of seeing my thoughts in words, held out to the public, good, bad, or indifferent.

Having said that, I’ve decided to make some changes.

My intentions are to continue posting on a weekly, rather than a daily basis. I’ll also put up an occasional post, whenever the mood hits.

Naturally, any of the regular contributors who want to post an entry are welcome to continue to do so, just like always.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the process, it is the people I’ve met along the way that have made it all the more special for me. N2l, Robert D., Swamps, MOR, Vimto, Beto: you guys are great. Angel, Mick, WC, VH, Tammy, Doug, David, Doc Bulldog, Ronin, Ed, RT, Coz, Stefania, Eric, IOR, Kamangir, Richard, Jenn, Nem, Thanos, and  others who have contributed, commented, linked, tracked, etc. etc. etc., let me just say “thanks.”

See you around.

Gas, Stocks, Houses, Cars

It seems like we have been conditioned to believe that rising prices are always a bad thing.

The price of gas at $4.00? B-a-a-a-a-a-d.

Food prices up? B-a-a-a-a-a-d.

So, when housing prices go down, why is that also bad?

Or when stock prices go down, it’s also bad?

For whatever reason, houses and stocks are two things that people feel better about paying a higher price for. Go figure.

And when you have the answer, ponder this … when a house catches on fire, it “burns down.” But a car on fire? Well, it “burns up.”

Have a good Thursday.

Oh yeah, one more thing … the next boneheaded idea from the enlightened class: Save The Planet — stop mowing your lawn

++++

Trackposted to Pet’s Garden Blog, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Alabama Improper, Online Gym, Faultline USA, third world county, Allie is Wired, Alabama Improper, The World According to Carl, DragonLady’s World, The Pink Flamingo, Big Dog’s Weblog, Cao’s Blog, Chucjk’s Place, , Democrat=Socialist, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

June 12th Is Carbon Belch Day! Show Your Support!

The good folks at GrassFire.org, have released a brief statement.

Al Gore says we are in a planetary emergency. Congress is getting ready to debate a $1.2 trillion dollar carbon tax! To do our part, Grassfire is inviting citizens to save the planet by belching as part of Carbon Belch Day on June 12. To calculate your individual carbon belch, see below.

Of course, they don’t actually mean expelling gas from your stomach(I don’t think), but by making a Global Carbon Belch. They have used existing guilt driven enviro-whacko models of reducing carbon emissions, and have identified twenty-one things that can increase your Carbon Belch.
So please, go to this link, click on each item, calculate your Carbon Belch, take the Carbon Belch Pledge, and even buy some Carbon Debit Credits, if you are a serious Belcher.
Personally, I think a good tar’far(tire fire for yankees), firing up my grill and my smoker, burning old documents in the fire place, setting my thermostat at 69 degrees, and countless runs to the store/s for items I don’t really need, might be my approach. Maybe there will be some good drag races that day.

Wednesday photos

I had some business in the River counties today, and stopped to take a few photos along the way.

These were taken near Lorman, Mississippi.

Windsor Ruins

Presbyterian Church

Battle of Port Gibson

Blue poodle

After taking the special election in Mississippi’s First Congressional District, Travis Childers sought to reassure voters that he was one of them, a good old boy from Booneville who went to Ole Miss, became a successful realtor, and served Prentiss County as Chancery Clerk.

Does this mark the return of conservatism in the Democrat Party in Mississippi?

Not according to Mr. Childers’ voting record since moving on up to DC…..

…once in Washington, he drank the Democratic leadership’s Kool Aid. In the first 13 House roll calls contested along partisan lines after Childers took his seat in Congress, he voted with the Democrats 12 times. source

In 12 out of 13 votes, Childers voted as instructed by Speaker Pelosi.

A 92% approval rate puts Travis among the leaders in subservience to Pelosi’s dictates.

For a so-called “independent-minded” Blue Dog, Childers is turning out to be nothing but Nancy Pelosi’s poodle.

Fetch Travis, Fetch. Good dog.

Coach Bill McClure:RIP! You Served Your Lord Well!

I received an email from my Aunt in Baton Rouge, informing me of Coach McClure’s passing, and that her oldest son, and his wife, dropped everything, and went to Baton Rouge for the funeral on Tuesday. I always knew there was a deep affection for Coach by my family, and my cousins all ran track there. My oldest cousin that ran track, did so under the leadership of this gentleman, and inspired him, and helped him be the best he could be. Including a thrilling steeplechase win at the Texas Relays, against some of the best runners in the world.
That’s what coaches/teachers do, they look inside a young person, and find the best of them, and help them bring it out. Coach McClure did that for forty-seven years.
After graduating from high school in 1939, serving in the USMC in the Pacific until 1945, then graduating from Abilene Christian College in 1948, Coach always found the young people, and their abilities, to excel.
A list of his professional accomplishments:

McClure amassed a sterling coaching record at Abilene Christian (Texas), South Carolina and LSU during a head coaching career that began with the Wildcats in 1963. McClure also served as an assistant track and field coach for the United States Olympic Team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, which were plagued by a terrorist attack that led to the death of 11 Israeli athletes.

During his ACU career, McClure coaches 42 athletes who won all-America honors a total of 63 times.McClure coached a total of 145 United States Track and Field Federation (USTFF) and NCAA all-America athletes, and achieved the unusual feat of mentoring all-America athletes in every event on the track and field schedule.

Teams and individual athletes that McClure was associated with have held world records in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, the 440-yard relay (twice), the 880-yard relay (twice), the mile relay, and the pole vault (indoors). While at Abilene Christian, his teams won 22 major titles at the Texas, Kansas, Drake, Modesto and Penn relays.

From 1976-1981, McClure coached 34 NCAA all-America athletes at LSU and began the women’s track and field program. During his tenure, the Tigers produced several Southeastern Conference individual champions. His 1979 men’s team placed second in the SEC indoor championships, fifth in the NCAA outdoor championships, and won the NCAA men’s 4×400.

Sources: Here and Here.

I never met Coach, and while I wish I could have known him like my family, I think I know the measure of the man. While he is unique to his chosen profession, he is of that greatest generation, that went to war as a young man, returned home and resumed his life. The impact he, and others, of his era have made on us and the world is still being appreciated to this day. Coach gave of himself, even offering to give his life for his country so we could live free, helped rebuild this country and the world, and helped shape attitudes of hundreds of young men and women.

“Bill McClure was one of the great track and field coaches of his generation, He was an outstanding Christian gentlemen, an excellent teacher and an excellent coach in both football and track and field.”

I am grateful to know that such men have done so much for so many. I feel more pride in his existence, than sorrow in his passing.
God Bless You, Coach McClure…one more time!

Pic of the Day

Happy 75th Anniversary Barksdale AFB …

(click on photo for full size)

Conduct Unbecoming the CIC

In New Mexico, Barack Obama began a brief Memorial Day address with the following statement…

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

This is the best that the Democrats have?

If this were a prepared speech, then obviously Mr. Obama doesn’t understand that Memorial Day honors those who have died in our Nation’s military service.

Otherwise, you would have to conclude that he misspoke, as a result of giving an on-the-fly speech on a solemn ocassion.

Certainly not Presidential behavior in either case.

Hat-tip: John Hinderaker

Update: Obama’s remarks were prepared.  The inappropriate language was not a part of the prepared remarks.  Sheesh, what a maroon.

Some Wore Green, a poem

Today May 26th, is Memorial Day. This poem is dedicated to all those who have served in time of war, and to their families who have suffered the pain of their loss.

Two by two and four by four
The brave young men all marched to war
Some wore green and some wore blue
And each one had a job to do.
She could merely stand and wave.
She told herself she must be brave,
That surely he’d return to her
And married they would be for sure.

Her true love brave in battle died.
With his last breath her name he cried.
Buried under foreign sand,
No more to see his native land.
She swore that with her dying breath,
If not in life, then fast in death
She would be joined forever more
To her true love who died in war.

She journey’d half a world away
To find the place her love did lay
With spirit steeled and visage grim
For that was all she’d left of him.
This thought alone consumed her mind
And yet his grave she could not find.
Until one day, so near despair
She met a man with long gray hair.
Bent and lame, a soldier old
Whose eyes still glittered, blue and bold.

“No more to weep, no more to cry
I know the place your love does lie.
I say to you by heaven above:
None fought so brave as your true love.
He was gallant, loyal, brave and true;
With his last breath he cried for you.
Just beyond that rocky hill
Lies your love buried, cold and still.”

She slowly climbed the hard terrain
Beyond which her true love was lain.
And when she finally reached the top
She felt her quickened heartbeat stop.
For there as far as she could see
Were gravestones to infinity.
All bore these words upon a plate:
“This one was sacrificed to hate.”

Past countless headstones carved the same
She ran and wept and called his name.
Long she searched, and long she tried,
Not finding him whose name she cried.
Too many deaths, too many tombs,
Too many crypts that held the doomed.
Forever more she’ll search the graves
To find the love she couldn’t save.
But silent stones forevermore
Will keep her love who went to war.

Stephen P. Smith

Please visit my blog at murderofravens.org

Barry Certainly Is Getting Lots Of Letters These Days!

We already know that B-HO is the world leader in unsolicited campaign songs. Now it appears he is taking the lead in the candidate receiving the most unsolicited letters.
First, there is a post at Gates of Vienna, with a very reasonable and thoughtful letter to Barry, from a mother and daughter, that are Iranian-Americans.

In closing, Senator, even if you manage to dialogue with the ruling clergy in Iran, they will never keep their word. They are masters of deception, manipulation, rhetoric and spin. They are incapable of even honoring their own signatures, and refuse to abide by the terms and conditions of treaties that they themselves have agreed upon time and time again, as we have witnessed in their reactions to U.N. resolutions.

While the above letter is a sincere attempt to inform and sway B-HO from his statements to have “unconditional” talks with the President of Iran, it has a certain naivety. It doesn’t hit quite hard enough, and will most likely never receive a response.
However, our old friend iowahawk has been busy, and has found three letters to B-HO, that have received replies. Dear Barry…Relationship Advice From Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

1)Dear Barry:

I try to get along with the people in my neighborhood, but sometimes it can be difficult. Take for example my neighbor “Mahmoud.” Last weekend while I was seeding my lawn, he drove back and forth slowly in front of my house “flipping the bird” from his minivan, which is painted with pictures of bloody corpses and mushroom clouds and “welcome 12th Imam.”

2)Dear Barry:

My girlfriend and I have been talking about “taking it to the next level” and moving in together. The trouble is that she doesn’t know I live in a Satanist-only condo complex. To tell you the truth I’m not really into the whole Satanism thing, and moved into the complex mostly because they offered me a free 10-speed bike with a one year lease. I’m also a member of the condo board, which knocks an extra $100 off my monthly lease, but it also means I have to attend the weekly goat sacrifice rituals.

3)Throughout dinner Michelle continued hectoring my boss about how screwed up my company is, and too obsessed with profits, and how she and I were going to fix all that, and why everyone probably should all drop out of the corporate world and become artists. To top it all off, during dessert she brought out her black velvet paintings of Che Guevara.

Anyway, this week at work my CEO hasn’t returned any of my emails or phone messages. What should I do to get back on the career ladder?

Mortified in Lake Forest

Want to read the advice B-HO has to offer? Well, follow the little blue hyperlink, but I must caution against having any food or beverage near your computer. You know how hysterically funny iowahawk can be. If you don’t, you soon will.

State of TN declares war on homeschoolers

The Democrat administration of our neighbors to the north has succeeded in disenfranchising thousands of graduates of Tennessee church related schools and home-schoolers.

In fact, “Cindy Benefield, the Tennesseee Department of Education Executive Director of Field Services, who oversees the state’s homeschooling office, recently declared that a diploma from a church-related school is “not worth the paper it is written on.” That is not just the idle opinion of one uninformed bureaucrat, but has become Department policy. Bredesen’s education commissioner, Tim Webb, told four legislators in April that until the legislature passes a law stating that the diplomas given by church-related schools are acceptable, they aren’t acceptable for certain kinds of employment.” source

I think maybe “disenfranchising” is the wrong choice of words, as it is commonly used to describe the right to vote. This goes much deeper than the right to vote, as it affects the right to work. Especially since Tennessee is a Right to Work state, TN D.O.E.’s actions are an attempt to isolate home or church schooled students to create a “closed shop” atmosphere. I cannot imagine that TN voters will allow this state-sponsored discrimination to stand.

Read More at:

The Tennessee Conservoliance,

Contending with Culture,

Bill Hobbs

Radiation leaks detected in Chinese earthquake zone

Radiation leaks in the Chinese earthquake zone.  The news from China keeps getting more grim.

Chinese environment authorities say they have found fifty hazardous sources of radiation since this month’s earthquake.

Senior environment official, Wu Xiaoqing has said the situation is returning to normal after the discovery of thirty five of the radiation sources. The other fifteen had been also been pinpointed but not yet dealt with.  … …

The disaster area is home to China’s chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.

The known death toll from the quake already exceeds 55,000, but more bodies are expected to be found as the debris from the dozens of flattened cities, towns and villages is cleared.

Source: story.malaysiasun.com

NowPublic

Tags: authorities | Chinese | detected | Earthquake | Environment | FIFTEEN | fifty | hazardous | Leaks | official | RADIATION | returning | SENIOR | situation | sources | thirty | World | Xiaoqing | zone

Times Like These

Dave Grohl doing an acoustic version of the Foo Fighter’s Times Like These.

Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend y’all.

Denning Cicero Johnson:Not Just A Name On The Wall!

DENNING CICERO JOHNSON.
Another Memorial Day approaches, and I am again reminded of a man I once called friend, that left this mortal plane far too soon, but he did so in the name of honor, duty, and country.
His friends called him DJ, and he was one of the kindest men I have ever known. DJ had a permanent smile of self-satisfaction, seldom spoke, never cursed, and his behavior was always exemplary, as opposed to many of us that admired him. While he was a little older than most of us, he did enjoy an occasional beer with his friends, when he wasn’t working as a Med Tech on AeroMed flights, but his heart was always with his wife and daughters.
It has been thirty-three years now, and I can remember he had daughters, but not how many. In doing research, I have come across the names of two of his daughters, Denise and Yvonne, but as of yet, have been unable to contact them.
DJ was a gentle man, and his temperament was perfectly suited for his job as a Med Tech, flying the C-9 “Nightingales,” evacuating and caring for those who were ill or injured. It was his job, which he loved, where he gave his all, and left so many saddened, and in a less perfect world. DJ was assigned to a C-9 that was in Saigon at Tan Son Nhut AB, when the order was given by President Ford, to initiate Operation Babylift, and when volunteers were requested to leave the C-9, and join the fateful C-5 Galaxy that had just been requisitioned on the runway, to fly the orphans to Clark AB, DJ was one of those who volunteered. That was DJ, he just could not have responded any other way; it was who he was.
Here is a brief description of events, and I will include some other links at the bottom, for historical perspective.

A Note from The Virtual Wall
At 4:03 pm 03 Apr 1975 an Air Force C-5A Galaxy, serial number 68-218, of the 60th Military Airlift Wing lifted off the runway at Tan Son Nhut AB near Saigon, bound for Clark AB in the Philippines. As the initial mission in “Operation Babylift”, the C-5 carried Vietnamese orphans enroute to the United States. The aircraft commander was Captain Dennis Traynor, the copilot Captain Tilford Harp, and there was a crew of 15 others, including a 10-person medical team.

The C-5’s troop compartment contained 145 orphans and seven attendants, most of them civilian volunteers being evacuated from Vietnam. The cargo compartment held 102 orphans and 47 others.

Twelve minutes after takeoff, while the aircraft was passing though 23,000 feet, the rear loading ramp’s locks failed, leading to explosive decompression and massive structural damage to the aircraft as the pressure door, most of the rear loading ramp, and the center cargo door departed the airframe. Control cables to the rudder and elevators were severed, leaving only one aileron and wing spoilers operating, and two of the four hydraulic systems were out.

Using engine power changes, the functional aileron, and the wing spoilers, Traynor and Harp managed to regain marginal control of the aircraft and turned back toward Tan Son Nhut. The aircraft had to be maintained between 250 and 260 knots, with a considerable lag between power adjustments and aircraft response. Traynor anticipated that the minimum landing speed would be somewhere in the range of 250 knots.

As the C-5 passed through 4,000 feet while turning to the final approach heading it became apparent that they could not make the runway. Traynor applied full power to hold the nose up while Harp attempted to maintain a wings-level attitude. Just off the ground, Traynor reduced power to idle and the C-5 touched down in a rice paddy, skidded about 1,000 feet before becoming airborne again, hit a dike, and broke into four parts. The cargo compartment was completely destroyed, killing 141 of the 149 orphans and attendants. Only three of 152 in the troop compartment perished. Five of the flight crew, three of the medical team, and three other servicemen lost their lives, but 175 of the 328 aboard survived.

The eleven service personnel who died in or of injuries received in the crash were

* Lt Col William S Willis, Coats NC, Air Ops Officer
* Capt Mary T Klinker, Lafayette IN, Flight Nurse
* Capt Edgar R Melton, Dallas TX, Pilot
* MSgt Joe Castro, Fresno CA, Photographic Instrumentation Technician
* MSgt Denning C Johnson, Dunn NC, Medical Service Technician
* MSgt Wendle L Payne, Essex MO, Loadmaster
* TSgt Felizardo C Aguillon, San Francisco CA, Loadmaster
* TSgt William M Parker, Vacaville CA, Loadmaster
* SSgt Donald T Dionne, Sylmar CA, Flight Engineer
* SSgt Kenneth E Nance, Los Angeles CA, Photographer
* SSgt Michael G Paget, Woodland Hills CA, Medical Service Specialist

While I knew many on that fateful flight, including some who survived, the loss of DJ shook many of us in a way that we couldn’t understand. Such a kind and gentle man, who loved life, his family, his job, and his friends, suddenly snatched from us all, left many of us to stand around in stunned silence as we recalled his pleasant persona, his quiet demeanor, and how he elevated us all in a positive manner, by his mere presence.
I have never forgotten my old motorcycle buddy, DJ, as he was part of our group of friends that I have referenced before, in this story, and this one. The crash that took our friend, and loving husband and father away from us, hung over us for weeks, even as Operation Babylift took on a much larger and better planned role, we just couldn’t stop thinking of DJ, and his family.
I still do, to this day, and probably always will.
God Speed, DJ!
You were the best of us.

Operation New Life/Babylift.
USAF Heritage:Operation Babylift.
A Galaxy of Heroes.
Viet Nam Babylift Home Page.

Autoerotica

57 year old Ed Smith loves cars. Literally.

In fact, he admits to having sex with over 1000.

from Telegraph UK

“I just loved cute cars right from the beginning, but over the years it got stronger once I got into my teenage years and was my first having sexual urges.

“When I turned 13 and the famous Corvette Stingray came about, that car was pure sex and just an incredible machine. I wanted it.

“I didn’t fully understand it myself except that I know I’m not hurting anyone and I do not intend to.”

He added: “There are moments way out in the middle of nowhere when I see a little car parked and I swear it needs loving.

“There have been certain cars that attracted me and I would wait until night time, creep up to them and just hug and kiss them.

“As far as women go, they never really interested me much. And I’m not gay.”

Mr Smith is now part of a global community of more than 500 “car lovers” brought together by internet forums.

This is the World Famous Friday Open Thread: A Free Speech Zone.

Comments, trackbacks, questions, linkage, and sexy car pictures, are welcome.

WFFOT: Bringing you the Math Question Of The Day…. “If it’s zero degrees outside today and it’s supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?”

More car stuff: Gary Numan, “Cars”

=====

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Woman Honor Thyself, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, The Pink Flamingo, Cao’s Blog, Wolf Pangloss, , Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Insolvency?

Speaking of the interesting times that we live in, have a look at this graph of Non-Borrowed Reserves of Depository Institutions, and take your best guess as to the extent of the financial crisis now facing the US.

Or, if your not a graph-kind of person, here are the raw numbers, as compiled by the FED Board of Governors.

What’s that? Oh, OK. Nothing to see here, folks. Back to sleep.

h/t George

More: Dollar Slips as investors await Fed Minutes

+++++

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, Kodera’s Korner, DragonLady’s World, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Cao’s Blog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Faultline USA, third world county, Allie is Wired, Woman Honor Thyself, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, , Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Frogmarch, part 2

Yesterday I posted about the Chinese frogswarm in Sichuan Province, and a similar frogswarm in Bakersfield, CA.

Well, the frogs are marching again in Sichuan…

For the second time this month, residents observed a huge migration of frogs and toads, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Residents of Zunyi, a southern city that saw little damage in China’s huge earthquake last week, noticed the amphibians’ march yesterday, Xinhua said, quoting Vice Mayor Zeng Yongtao.

Thousands of residents camped out in fear overnight in downtown Zunyi, the news agency said.

“We don’t know what else we can do,” Zunyi resident Liu Yong was quoted as saying.

A coincidence, a sign of the times, I dunno.

We live in interesting times.

Video Proof: Obama Will Destroy America

Video proof of Barack Hussein Obama’s plans to destroy America.

That’s some scary stuff right there. I’ve been saying all along that without security we have nothing, and in 52 seconds he explaines his plan to disarm America. He can’t lie his way out of this one, it’s all right there on video. He’ll make Carter look like an upstanding American and THAT is really hard to do. The more I hear him speak, the more I dislike and distrust him.
H/T American Thinker.

Kentucky Blowout

Hillary Clinton opened a giant-sized can of W.A. on Barack H. Obama tonight in the Kentucky Democratic Primary. It’s hard to imagine how the Obama campaign can spin any type of positive message coming out of the Bluegrass State, as their hopes now are hanging on a large margin of victory in Oregon.

Even though BHO expects to earn enough delegate votes to put him over the top tonight, his loss of momentum, and the growing negative perception of his viability as the presumptive Democrat nominee is troubling to many voters. Suffering another West Virginia-style drubbing, especially among white voters, Obama simply cannot put Hillary away.

With 90% of the votes in, Clinton has a whopping 35 point lead.

CNN reports some interesting exit polls, which suggest a bitter divide between the two camps.

Two-thirds of Clinton’s supporters there said they would vote Republican or not vote at all rather than for Obama, according to the polls.

Forty-one percent of Clinton supporters said they’d cast their vote for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and 23 percent said they would not vote at all.

Just 33 percent said they would back Obama in the general election, according to the polls.

Those numbers are even worse for Obama than in West Virginia one week ago, where 36 percent of Clinton voters said they would back him in the fall.

More: video–Clinton not out yet

Beware the toads…what’s in your emergency kit?

UPDATE: CNN has video of the Bakersfield “frog-swarm”

Here’s an interesting article from the “Unknown Country” website that just might make you go, “hmmmmm.”

In the days prior to the gigantic earthquake that devastatedSichuan province in China, oddswarmsof frogs were seen inthe streets of cities in the area, and have subsequentlybeen identified as unusual animal behavior of the type thatis thought by some geologists to precede earthquakes. Now ithas developed that similar frog appearances have been takingplace inBakersfield,California for about two weeks, andnobody is sure why. Strange swarms of frogs also appearedbefore the 6.9LomaPrieta Earthquake in October of 1989.

The frogs are emerging from a drainage ditch and are beingobserved in swarms of hundreds by local residents. Nobodycan remember a frog swarm like this in the area. The animalsappear to be emerging from a drainage ditch, and it ispossible that a lack of natural predators in the water hasallowed the overgrowth of frogs.

Source: unknowncountry.com via nukegingrich

An odd piece, certainly.  But, it does remind us of the need to be prepared in the event of an emergency.  What’s in your emergency kit?
h/t: George

NowPublic

Tags: BAKERSFIELD | California | China | Allowed | behavior | being | Cities | days | devastated | Developed | ditch | drainage | Earthquake | emerging | frog | geologists | gigantic | hundreds | identified | lack | Loma | observed | October | overgrowth | precede | predators | Prieta | World

LifeLock ID theft protection fraud?

If it sounds too good to be true …

For a time, the ads were everywhere on TV and radio, the ones with the head of a security company brazenly challenging would-be thieves to try to steal his identity.

Richard Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock Inc., was so confident in his company’s ability to protect his identity that he publicly revealed his Social Security number: 457-55-5462.

But according to a new class-action lawsuit filed last week in Jackson County, LifeLock’s identity theft protection services were so inept that Davis’ personal information was stolen repeatedly.

“While LifeLock has only publicly acknowledged that Davis’ identity was compromised on one occasion, there are more than 20 driver’s licenses that have been fraudulently obtained [using his personal information],” the suit states.

Source: wvgazette.com via nukegingrich

Of course, the lawsuit only presents the plaintiff’s side of the story, but this doesn’t look good for Lifelock.

NowPublic

Tags: DAVIS | Jackson | Todd | ability | according | brazenly | challenging | class-action | confident | county | everywhere | filed | firm | Identity | inept | information | lawsuit | LifeLock | ones | publicly | revealed | Security | services | STEAL | Stolen | sued | Tech & Biz | theft | thieves | would-be

Pic of the Day

“All Hat And No Cattle”

Video dynamite

Messiah Obama dared Republican congressional candidates to keep linking their Democratic opponents to him. “The same kinds of tactics that the Republican Party has been employing over the last several election cycles just aren’t going to work this time,” Obama said last week. The next round of ads may include some linkage that the Messiah may have trouble brushing off. This is from Larry Johnson’s website…

I now have it from two three four sources (three who are close to senior Republicans) that there is video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church. Republicans may have a lousy record when it comes to the economy and the management of the war in Iraq, but they are hell on wheels when it comes to opposition research. Someone took the chance and started reviewing the recordings from services at Jeremiah Wright’s United Church of Christ. Holy smoke!! I am told there is a clip that is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time. The last thing Barack and Michelle need is a new clip that raises further questions about her judgment and temperament. Here’s what the Republicans are currently using in Tennessee:

Such a video would make for a nice “October Surprise.” Heh.

31,000 scientists reject global warming theory

Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM)

Who: Dr. Arthur Robinson of the OISM

What: release of names in OISM “Petition Project”

When: 10 AM, Monday May 19

Where: Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW, Washington, DC

Why: the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) will announce that more than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition rejecting claims of human-caused global warming. The purpose of OISM’s Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climate damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists. As indicated by the petition text and signatory list, a very large number of American scientists reject this hypothesis.

It is evident that 31,072 Americans with university degrees in science – including 9,021 PhDs, are not “a few.” Moreover, from the clear and strong petition statement that they have signed, it is evident that these 31,072 American scientists are not “skeptics.”

CONTACT: Audrey Mullen, +1-703-548-1160, for the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine

h/t: Noel Sheppard