The Bully Pulpit

2006-04-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Too Close To Call

2006-04-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

For many weeks the polls and the pundits have been saying that the Italian elections were more or less a formality. Incumbent Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the center-right government was said to be doomed to challenger Romano Prodi.

As soon as the voting closed earlier today, the pundits were out again, declaring that they had been right all along, Prodi was in by a landslide.

Well maybe not.

Pollster Nexus said with 95 percent of the vote in the Senate counted, Berlusconi was projected to take 158 seats to the centre-left's 151. The margin of error for the sample was between 1 and 3 percentage points.

The current count in the Chamber of Deputies is also too close to call. But current projections based on 44 percent of the vote gave Berlusconi's centre-right alliance a wafer-thin 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent edge over challenger Romano Prodi in the lower house.

Prodi postponed a news conference after the latest projections were released.

The Senate and lower chamber of parliament have equal powers, and any coalition would have to control both in order to form a government. Berlusconi and Prodi have said new elections should be called if neither side controls both houses.

Immigration

2006-04-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Looking at the news today it seems the latest compromise on immigration reform has failed.

In looking at possible solutions I must admit to having mixed views as the legalist in me fights with the pragmatist in me.

I am a firm supporter of legal immigration. Our nation was built on the concept that the peoples of the world should come here and build a better life. But part of the deal is that you obey the law. Those who come here in violation of the law demean those who went through the proper process. That's what the process is there for.

So my basic instict is to say if you came here illegally you should be made to leave and go through the proper channels.

However it is here that the pragmatist in me takes over.

Right now the estimate is there are 10 to 15 million illegals in this country out of 300 million people. They are spread out across the country and have spent years learning how to hide.

So as a practical matter how do we find these 10 or 15 million people and how do we go about getting them out of the country ?

It would take a massive program that would cost billions of dollars to accomplish this and it could take decades.

While they did break the law, many of these illegals have become, to one degree or another, productive members of society.

Therefore I do think we need to take a pragmatic approach to this problem. Work with those who want to become part of the system and work out a program of amnesty. Not an out and out free pass, but a program where they pay penalties and work through the citizenship process.

For those who do not choose to participate, we can and should deport them.

Cynthia McKinney Is An Idiot

2006-04-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Capitol Police on Monday sent the results of their investigation of Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia to a federal prosecutor, who will decide, possibly this week, whether to press assault charges against her for striking a police officer.

The police filing left open the question of whether McKinney should be charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor, or assault on a police officer, a felony, police and legal authorities said.

Meanwhile, African-American clergy and elected officials rallied to support the six-term congresswoman at an Atlanta church Monday, and in an appearance on CNN with her lawyers, McKinney again contended that she was the victim of a white police officer's racial bias.

McKinney was stopped by a Capitol policeman while she was going around a security checkpoint in a House office building last Wednesday. Members of Congress are allowed to skirt those checkpoints, but the officer, not recognizing McKinney, tried to stop her. A scuffle ensued.

If the office of U.S. Attorney Ken Wainstein decides not to pursue charges, the police investigation would simply end. If the prosecutor decides to pursue charges, police would need a judge to approve the arrest warrant. The prosecutor has a third option of presenting the police findings to a grand jury, which legal authorities said could add weeks to the process.

The police officer who stopped McKinney touched her shoulder or arm, witnesses have said. That prompted McKinney to spin around and strike the officer, though there are conflicting reports as to whether she slapped him, punched him in the chest or struck him with a cell phone.

McKinney was not wearing a special lapel pin given to members of Congress to make them easier to identify. She also has changed her hairstyle since posing for her official House portrait, the picture police would check to identify her.

It does not show her encounter with the police officer, according to officials familiar with it.

While authorities in Washington were inching closer toward a decision on whether to charge McKinney, about two dozen lawmakers, community activists and clergy stood in support of the DeKalb County Democrat at Community Church of God in southwest Atlanta.

"It's really not about Cynthia McKinney. It's about African-Americans in America who are victims of racial profiling every day," said Tyrone Brooks, a state lawmaker and president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.

Alabama Idiocy

2006-03-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

Possibly the stupidest law in the world.

Car Seats

Charlie Sheen is Nuts

2006-03-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

Charlie Sheen is now officialy nuttier than his Dad.

He has decided that 9/11 was a giant government conspiracy.

The towers were not his by 2 planes, only one and it was not airliner.

The Pentagon was not hit by a plane at all.

The towers were brought down by explosives.

Charlie Sheen

Iowa Woman Fakes Death

2006-03-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

In the beyond stupid category....

An Iowa woman allegedly faked her death to avoid paying parking tickets.

Police say 36-year-old Kimberly Du was caught after she got another ticket a month after her 'death', reports said.Investigators said Du faked her own obituary and forged an afidavit telling a judge she had died in a car accident.

In her letter she allegedly included a phony obituary, made to look like a page from The Des Moines Register's website.

The case began to unravel when investigators said Du was stopped for another traffic ticket - a month after the obituary was dated.

If convicted she'll face up to five years in prison for fraud - instead of the $500 fine she might have been expected to pay for failing to pay her parking tickets. Ananova.com

"The state still has to convince a jury of 12, but faking your own death is not a good idea," said Bob Rigg, of the Drake Law Clinic.

Enigma Cracked By Computers

2006-03-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

Sixty years after the end of World War II, a network of several thousand PCs has cracked a message enciphered with the famous Enigma machine.

The M4 Message Breaking Project, started by Stefan Krah, a German amateur cryptographer took on three messages intercepted by British code-breakers during WWII, but never cracked by Bletchley Park.

The code breakers at Bletchley included computing pioneer Alan Turing and used a combination of human intelligence, guesswork, and elementary computing, called "bombs" to decipher messages."

At various times, Bletchley Park could read virtually all Enigma-ciphered messages to and from U-boats at sea, which was instrumental in locating and sinking the submarines, or steering convoys away from U-boat wolfpacks.

The three messages were enciphered using the vaunted Enigma, a machine that relied on a series of user-set rotors and an accompanying plugboard to encrypt text messages before they were radioed from U-boats in the North Atlantic to the German navy's headquarters ashore.

In January, Krah's Web site posted Unix and Windows versions of an open-source client that runs in the background on each machine. As in other distributed-computing projects -- such as the one recently started by the BBC to help model climate change -- the message-breaking chore was broken into small pieces, then parceled out to individual machines that had installed the software.

On Feb. 20, Krah announced that the first message had been broken.

The Enigma-enciphered message, which looked like this:

NCZWV USXPN YMINH ZXMQX SFWXW LKJAH SHNMC
OCCAK UQPMK CSMHK SEINJ USBLK IOSXC KUBHM
LLXCS JUSRR DVKOH ULXWC CBGVL IYXEO AHXRH
KKFVD REWEZ LXOBA FGYUJ QUKGR TVUKA MEURB
VEKSU HHVOY HABCJ WMAKL FKLMY FVNRI ZRVVR
TKOFD ANJMO LBGFF LEOPR GTFLV RHOWO PBEKV
WMUQF MPWPA RMFHA GKXII BG

Actually read, said Krah:

"F T 1132/19 Inhalt:
Bei Angriff unter Wasser gedrückt.
Wabos. Letzter Gegnerstand 0830 Uh
r AJ 9863, 220 Grad, 8 sm. Stosse nach.
14 mb. fällt, NNO 4, Sicht 10.
Looks"

And was translated into English to:
"F T 1132/19 contents:
Forced to submerge during attack.
Depth charges. Last enemy position 0830h
AJ 9863, [course] 220 degrees, [speed] 8 knots.
[I am] following [the enemy].
[barometer] falls 14 mb, [wind] nor-nor-east,
[force] 4, visibility 10 [nautical miles].
Looks"

Hartwig Looks, the captain of the U-264, was among the 52 survivors of a depth charge attack by two British sloops, the HMS Woodpecker and HMS Starling, on Feb. 19, 1944.

So far, several runs have been completed against one of the other messages, but with no success. "This does not mean that this particular message can't be broken with this method,"

Krah wrote on the project's blog. "Some messages require many more walks through the search space before a break occurs."

Currently, about 5,000 computers are participating in the project. Users who want to install the distributed-computing client can find it on the M4 Web site.

Busy Week

2006-02-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Between work and some family stuff it's shaping up to be a pretty busy week.

I promise more posting next week

Don Knotts Dies

2006-02-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

Very sad news out of Hollywood....

Don Knotts aka Barney Fife has died at the age of 81.

Don was a comic genius whose basic decency was, by all accounts, just as sincere and real for him as it was for his characters.

He will be missed.

Update: Also lost tonight was Darin McGavin, who played the dad in A Christmas story, he was 83.

Bruce Hart Dies

2006-02-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

Writer Bruce Hart has died at the age of 68.

Although his name is not well known, at least one of his works is.

For anyone under the age of 40, these words are part of your childhood...

Sunny Day, sweepin' the clouds away, on my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get.....how to get to Sesame Street.

Hate Crimes Study

2006-02-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

Don’t expect to see this reported in the mainstream media but the US Justice Department has come out with a study on hate crimes. This study is based on statistics gathered between July of 2000 and December of 2003 examining more than 200,000 annually reported hate crimes.

Amazingly this report was issued in November of 2005, but is just now starting to poke out into some media outlets.

Now I am not a big fan of the concept of hate crimes. To me the idea that one kind of assault is a hate crime while another is not seems ridiculous. All crimes are hate crimes.

However the study makes some interesting observations.

The conclusion is that the most likely victim of a hate crime in the U.S. is a poor, young, white, single urban dweller. While race is far the No. 1 factor cited as the reason for hate crimes, blacks are slightly less likely to be victims and far more likely to be perpetrators.

The report defined a hate crime as when offenders choose a victim because of some factor (race, religion, ethnicity, religion, etc) and showed some evidence that they committed the crime for that reason.

About 56 percent of hate crimes were motivated in some way by race and most were accompanied by violence. Interestingly, while nine in 10,000 whites and nine in 10,000 Hispanics are victimized by hate crimes, only seven in 10,000 blacks are targets.

Now to be fair this is basically a statistical wash, but it does belie the common view that all hate crimes are against minorities at the hands of whites.

The report finds that there does not seem to be any particular factor that makes one more likely to be a victim of a hate crime, although age, marital status and economic standing did show some increases.

In fact, those between the ages of 17 and 20 were far more likely to be victims than in any other age group – with 16 incidents per 10,000 people.

People who never married saw 16 incidents per 10,000, and those separated or divorced, experienced 26 incidents per 10,000. Those with incomes less than $25,000 faced worse odds of victimization, 13 per 10,000, as well as those in urban areas, also 13 per 10,000.

Again, these numbers are more or less a wash, 7 out of 10,000 versus 26 out of 10,000 is a very small variance and it could be argued that other factors play a role in these numbers (IE urban areas have more crime, divorce often leads to violence, etc)

The report says 38 percent of all those reporting hate crimes said the attacker was black, and in 90 percent of those cases, the victim believed the offender's motive was racial.

In incidents involving white attackers, only 30 percent attribute the hate crime to race, while 20 percent attributed it to ethnicity.

The report says 40 percent of white hate crime victims were attacked by blacks, adding, "The small number of black hate crime victims precludes analysis of the race of persons who victimized them."

So it seems that the reality of 'hate crimes' is different that the common wisdom holds.

Bush is Wrong

2006-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

President Bush today said he would veto any attempt to block the sale of companies controlling US ports to a company from the United Arab Emirates.

While I am a fan of the President, on this one he is dead wrong.

I don't want our ports controlled by ANY foreign power, let alone one from one of the most unstable regions of the world.

Bryant Gumbel Double Standard

2006-02-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

On HBO, Bryant Gumbel has made comments that are at best unwise and really amount to being racist.

Commenting on the Olympics he said that he didn't want to watch the Olympics because none of the people there were real athletes and that this was largely because there were few blacks there.

Now imagine if a white commentator had said he won't watch NBA basketball because there aren't very many white players.

Yet HBO is doing little or nothing to Gumbel...

FEMA Aid Ends for Katrina

2006-02-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

This week it was confirmed that FEMA aid to provide free housing for survivors of Katrnia will end.

This of course led to protests that this is cruel and evil to abandon these poor people.

Now maybe I am using a different calendar than everyone else but it seems to have been 5 months since the storm. I certainly can understand that the shock of the storm plus the time of moving around would probably kill a couple months.

But that gives you 3 months to get a job and find a place to live, it's not that hard. Certainly you might not get the best job or the best place and if you need a little additional help there are programs out there.

But from the stories, most of these people have made NO steps towards even thinking about finding work.

Which is a sad comment on the fact that there are people out there who look to the government as the only sources of income or support.

Far Left Showing True Colors.... Again

2006-02-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Once again the far left blogs are showing their complete lack of taste and compassion.

The tragic accident this weekend involving VP Cheney should be treated as just that, a tragic accident. Although the victim did seemingly violate the basic rules of quail hunting (IE you are supposed to identify your movements), Cheney also holds blame for turning and firing without checking himself.

But ultimately it is an accident, a sad accident.

Our focus should be to 1) accept this as an accident and 2) hope for a quick recovery.

But of course the far left blogs are again using this to attack Cheney, Bush and so on.

These people, like those on the far right, have absolutely no class or tact. Their hate is such that they tolerate nobody but themselves.

Letters From Iraq

2006-02-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

Want to know what the people of Iraq think of our troops ?

I found this while surfing the net... a letter from the mayor.

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful

To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city.

Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young.

This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.

I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.

The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era.

The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science.

This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.

God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget.

To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute.

They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.

Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven’t the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.

NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall ‘Afar, Ninewa, Iraq

Sharon Deathbed ??

2006-02-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

Although we are getting contradictory reports things do not sound good for Israeli Prime Minister Sharon.

The fact that he has remained in coma for the last 6 weeks is already a bad sign.

Now he is seeming to have organ failure, or at least the failure of his digestive system which has led to infections.

I admire and respect Mr. Sharon but it seems to me that this is time to let go.

I hope he goes peacefully and calmly to a better place.

Moving On Up......

2006-02-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Franklin Cover, the actor best known for playing George Jefferson's neighbor Tom Willis has died at the age of 77.

Cover had a succesful Hollywood career, appearing in both film and television. He was married to his wife Mary for over 40 years.

But today, he's moved on up to his deluxe apartment in the sky.

Trouble in UN Security Council ?

2006-02-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

As most of you have probably heard, the UN is currently trying to deal with both the Iranian nuclear weapons program crisis and an investigation into Syria's role in the assasination of the Prime Minister of Lebanon.

Both subjects are due to come before the Security Council of the UN in the coming weeks. The problems are being worsened by the recent riots over the cartoons published in a Danish newspaper that many found offensive to Islam.

So guess who is due to assume the rotating chair of the Security Council ??

Yep.... Denmark.

This should prove interesting, to say the least.

Fun Web Site

2006-02-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

We all love dumb crook stories, so it only makes sense someone would make a web site for it.

Lots of great stories

Dumb Crooks

Multi Lingual Ballots

2006-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Fifty-six members of the U.S. House on Friday urged House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), to fight the renewal of a provision in the Voting Rights Act that mandates multilingual ballots.

"We believe these ballot provisions encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth," the 56 House members wrote.

The letter refers to special provisions added to the Voting Rights Act in 1975 that are set to expire in 2007. The multilingual ballot provision requires local jurisdictions to provide multi-language ballots when more than 5 percent of the voting-age population belongs to a language minority.

The representatives wrote that "federal law protects the right of all citizens to bring an interpreter into the voting booth with them if they have difficulty understanding a ballot written in English."

Now I am sure the usual suspects will be pouring out to call this racist and evil, a way to be evil and brutal to the poor minorities.

But to me it makes perfect sense. My only issue is we would still help them with translators.

In order to vote you need to be a citizen. This is true in any country. Indeed in many countries you have to be a citizen to own land, get govenment benefits, etc.

In most countries, in order to become a citizen you must speak the language of that country (in many countries the legally official language).

In theory that is also the case here. In order to be a citizen of this country you should speak English. This doesn't mean you cannot come here to live on a visa, or even to live long term without speaking English (although in order to operate effectively it helps)

But if you want to be a citizen and have all the associated rights (including voting) you should be able to speak English.

Al "Grandpa" Lewis Dies at 95

2006-02-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Al Lewis, best known as Grandpa on the Munsters TV show has died at the age of 95.

Lewis

Majority Leader John Boehner

2006-02-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio was elected House majority leader.

Boehner defeated fellow Roy Blunt of Missouri, 122-109, after lagging behind his rival in a first, inconclusive ballot.

Boehner was the reform candidate, so this is good news.

GOP Leader Vote Today

2006-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

Voting today for the new House majority leader between Roy Blunt, John Boehner and John Shadegg.

Blunt of Missouri led with 110 votes, Boehner of Ohio had 79 and Shadegg of Arizona had 40, according to congressional officials.

Rep. Jim Ryun of Kansas received two votes, although he was not an announced candidate

Both Shadegg and Ryun have withdrawn from consideration.

Blunt would seem to have an edge, being just 7 votes short of a majority, but if Boehner gets most of the Shadegg votes he could pull it out.

Regardless, it should be decided on the 2nd ballot.