Saturday, October 6, 2012
Tougher day.
It seems that mild to severe vertigo is a frequent side effect of Gleevec, the cancer medicine I am taking. Well, I've sure got it. Am laying off the Gleevec at doctor's orders for the next few days to see if it eases. Until then, it is difficult to make it down the stairs to the computer. Sorry. Keep me in your prayers.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Tough day.
The inability to walk a straight line which first showed up at the Gun Rights Policy Conference is getting worse. Might be an inner ear infection, might be something worse. Going to the doctor tomorrow to see which.
"Black Jesus" unable to cast out the moneychanger -- political pagans depressed. Climate shaman Al Gore blames the altitude.
"You can't talk to Barack that way. Only I can talk to Barack that way."
Andrew Sullivan's breakdown.
Obama the debater: Making Jimmy Carter look awesome.
Gore Blames Altitude for Obama's Debate Woes.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
David Codrea: Romney could score major points on Fast and Furious in tonight’s debate
But will he?
The Brady Campaign has asked Jim Lehrer, moderator of tonight’s debate between President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney, to deviate from the announced agenda and ask the candidates questions about “gun violence,” a press release issued yesterday by the group announced.“Splendid idea,” Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman agreed. "Romney’s first and best answer to such a question would be that within 24 hours after taking office, he would order his attorney general to enforce the contempt of Congress citation against Eric Holder. And, Romney could add, he would also order his attorney general to fire those responsible for Operation Fast and Furious, and if warranted, pursue criminal charges against them.”
Ah, those illegal, constitutional abortions known as "Fusion Centers."
Many thanks to the readers who forwarded me this link: "Intelligence effort named citizens, not terrorists," which is based on this report from the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: "Federal Support for and Involvement in State and Local Fusion Centers."
A multibillion-dollar information-sharing program created in the aftermath of 9/11 has improperly collected information about innocent Americans and produced little valuable intelligence on terrorism, a Senate report concludes. It portrays an effort that ballooned far beyond anyone's ability to control.What began as an attempt to put local, state and federal officials in the same room analyzing the same intelligence has instead cost huge amounts of money for data-mining software, flat screen televisions and, in Arizona, two fully equipped Chevrolet Tahoes that are used for commuting, investigators found.The lengthy, bipartisan report is a scathing evaluation of what the Department of Homeland Security has held up as a crown jewel of its security efforts. The report underscores a reality of post-9/11 Washington: National security programs tend to grow, never shrink, even when their money and manpower far surpass the actual subject of terrorism. Much of this money went for ordinary local crime-fighting. . .
Meanwhile, federal intelligence agencies were under orders from Congress to hire more analysts. That meant state and local agencies had to compete for smart counterterrorism thinkers. And federal training for local analysts wasn't an early priority.Though fusion centers receive money from the federal government, they are operated independently. Counterterrorism money started flowing to states in 2003. But it wasn't until late 2007 that the Bush administration told states how to run the centers.State officials soon realized there simply wasn't that much local terrorism-related intelligence. Terrorist attacks didn't happen often, but police faced drugs, guns and violent crime every day. Normal criminal information started moving through fusion centers.Under federal law, that was fine. When lawmakers enacted recommendations of the 9/11 Commission in 2007, they allowed fusion centers to study "criminal or terrorist activity." The law was co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman, the driving forces behind the creation of Homeland Security.Five years later, Senate investigators found, terrorism is often a secondary focus."Many fusion centers lacked either the capability or stated objective of contributing meaningfully to the federal counterterrorism mission," the Senate report said. "Many centers didn't consider counterterrorism an explicit part of their mission, and federal officials said some were simply not concerned with doing counterterrorism work."When Janet Napolitano became Homeland Security secretary in 2009, the former Arizona governor embraced the idea that fusion centers should look beyond terrorism. Testifying before Congress that year, she distinguished fusion centers from the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces that are the leading investigative and analytical arms of the domestic counterterrorism effort."A JTTF is really focused on terrorism and terrorism-related investigations," she said. "Fusion centers are almost everything else."Congress, including the committee that authored the report, supports that notion. And though the report recommends the Senate reconsider the amount of money it spends on fusion centers, that seems unlikely."Congress and two administrations have urged DHS to continue or even expand its support of fusion centers, without providing sufficient oversight to ensure the intelligence from fusion centers is commensurate with the level of federal investment," the report said.And following the release of the report, Homeland Security officials indicated their continued strong support for the program.
The report demands a detailed study, which I am going to give later this week.
Praxis: Making your own metal water bottle tote/canteen cover.
Long time readers will recall my post of last year on po' boy militia logistics and stainless steel water bottles.
As Wikipedia reports the good and bad of uninsulated metal as a canteen:
Metal water bottles are growing in popularity. Made primarily from stainless steel or aluminum they are very durable and retain minimal odor or taste from contents. Aluminum bottles contain a plastic resin or epoxy liner to protect contents from taste and odor transfer. Although most liners are now BPA free, older and less expensive models can contain BPA. It is not recommended to fill aluminum bottles with acidic liquids (e.g. orange juice) as this could cause aluminum to leach into the contents of the bottle. Stainless steel bottles do not contain a liner but have been known to transfer a metallic taste and odor to contents. Bottles made with food grade (Type 304 or 18/8) stainless steel do not transfer taste or odor. Depending on the type of source material and manufacturing process behind your stainless steel bottle, trace amounts of minerals can leach into contents. Metal water bottles can be heavier than their plastic counterparts and readily transfer temperature of contents to external surfaces which makes them unsuitable for use with very hot or very cold liquids.
The last sentence is a real downer, but it can be remedied by making your own insulated cover with general instructions found here:
Easy to Make Insulated Water Bottle Tote
Such totes (as in the one pictured above) can be purchased, but they are generally more expensive than the bottle itself, especially when you pay $.39 each for them at the thrift store like I do.
Democratic Pollster To Megyn Kelly: Media Guilty Of ‘Corruption Of The First Order’ For Protecting Obama
"Son, we're gonna give you a fair trial . . . followed by a first class hanging." -- Sheriff in Silverado.
Nuremberg Rules for war-crime complicit journalists. Works for me.
“This isn’t about partisanship, this is about danger.”
“We’re entering territory we have never entered before,” said Caddell. “We’ve never had a situation where the press has purposefully decided to pick up a narrative rom the White House to not tell people things that happened in order to support their overwhelming candidate for president, Barack Obama.”“This isn’t about partisanship, this is about danger,” said Caddell. He equated the media to “Pravda,” a newspaper which was owned and operated by the state in the Soviet Union. Caddell went on to say that the problem of bias should be obvious citing how the story of the Libya attacks and subsequent mishandling of the response by the administration was not covered widely.
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