Joe Lieberman has stands for convictions not politics.


Read the rest here by Joe Lieberman his WSJ Opinion column.

I don't care what side of the "Right To Life"/"Right To Choose" arguments you are on. This story makes all of us think about how life finds a way to succeed.

The doctor said that he wouldn't have tried as hard to save this baby if he knew that she was a 21 week fetus. They later checked the in vitro records to confirm when she was conceived.

The baby named Amillia weighed in at 10 ounces and 9 1/2 inches at birth went home at 5.5 pounds and 16" long.
This little baby has changed how the medical world thinks. She wasn't the smallest to survive. That title belongs to an 8.6 ounce baby that was born in 2004.

The top picture is when Amillia was born. The bottom picture is mom and baby leaving the hospital

The left leaning main stream media for the most part is more interested in sensationalism, their image and an in many cases an agenda, that slants the news you see and read; showing a distorted picture of the reality of the Iraq conflict here at home. Thanks to DVIDS (Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System) the situation isn't always as bleak as we are led to believe.

What is DVIDS?



The clip below is "Freedom Journal Iraq #591." It shows the optimism of the people in Haifa. Haifa an area where streets once a notorious battle ground empty of activity, are again busy with optimistic activity. People selling, buying and just going about their life with hope. Thanks to new strategies by the US led coalition and the IA, situations like these can only improve with the surge.

There is no hope without security. As a result of the IA growing in numbers and training; backed by US forces, the worst areas of Iraq are beginning to see hope. The the left would throw away that hope because their political interest is served by failure. Failure that comes at the expense of the Iraqi people.

With all the recent hubbub about the big changes being made to the Daylight Saving Time system (specifically the activation date), a lot of folks are crying "malarchy" about the potential impacts, especially in the financial sector. They point to Y2K and how that "huge threat" never amounted to anything. As an IT Specialist, I have to find that somewhat offensive.

I will most certainly grant that there was a great deal of hyperbole surrounding Y2K's potential impacts. Some idiots were running around screaming that water would disappear and planes would fall from the sky. That was all nonsensical bullshit. I mean, really - an arbitrary date change was not going to alter the fundamentals of basic physics or make matter disappear. The number itself is completely fabricated - it only mattered to those that used it in their everyday lives. The Chinese didn't give a rat's ass - they've got their own calendar, and it wasn't "2000."

Anyway, on the other side of the coin were all the people with the opposite reaction - that absolutely nothing would happen, nothing would go wrong - there would be no problems. In January of 2000, these people strode confidently around, smugly smirking at everyone that told them that it was a genuine problem. These people are just as ignorant as the "airplanes falling from the sky" people.

The truth is that nothing major happened because of tens of thousands of talented IT people, including me, that busted their asses to identify problem code and systems and fix it. Saying that there was never a problem is like telling a New York City cop that he's a waste of taxpayer money because crime in New York is low.

The same can be said for the Daylight Saving Time correction. Millions of systems, especially financial systems (such as banks and mortgage companies) and complex scheduling systems (such as airlines and airports) rely on the exact time to calculate interest or remain in sync with hundreds of other complex schedule systems to keep things running right.

If your bank flubbed the interest on your mortgage, you'd be upset (unless it happened to be in your favor, but that NEVER happens). If American Airlines has fixed their DST, but Delta hasn't, I don't want to be sitting on ANY plane when that screwup comes back to bite them in the ass.

Perhaps the moral of the story.... Hug an IT person today. No matter who you are, there are hundreds of us touching all facets of your life, helping you keep track of who you are. Some of us are as fun to talk to as a box of hammers (programmers, I'm talking about you!), but either way we are there for you every day, and most of us are on call 24 hours a day.

Liberman says that the forthcoming war vote showdown could be a factor that would convince him him to switch to the Republican Party.


Maybe he should just stay Independent as the Republicans are not presently to popular either. He can always caucus with the Republicans instead of the Democrats.

In Wisconsin 63.5 percent of the people pay little or no taxes. Of the little more than a third remaining less than 10 percent are considered higher income, but they pay the bulk of the state taxes. Also keep in mind that Wisconsin's taxes are among the top in the nation, and that doesn't even include the increases in licenses and other fees our Governor keeps increasing to replace tax dollars he raids for his balanced budget shell game.

As Frank Lasee points out this causes two kinds of people to move, the Rich, and the poor. The Wealthy move out of the state for greener taxation pastures, and the poor move into the state where everything you need "is given to you for free or nearly free."


It appalls me that our legislators can get away with this, but the reason is really quite simple; people in the middle class just don't pay attention for the most part, catching only the sound bites intended as a political sell to dig deeper into pockets. Besides even though state/local elections are more important, only 15-20 percent typically turn out—the only way to combat too high taxes.

Also many assume the higher taxes will come out of the pockets of the 8.7 percent that are wealthy, so they don't get overly concerned until it is too late. Yet because a large portion of the benefits of tax increases go to the 63.5 percent that pay little or no taxes, the few concerned enough to vote will keep electing the fools that cause the state to loose billions in net worth.

The opposition denounces a huge fraud but not even the international organism and observers listened. Everyone said that the Electoral council was very objective and didn’t try to help neither the government nor the opposition. And now take a look, that “objective, neutral” man… Jorge Rodríguez slaps everyone in the face by being the right hand of Mr. Chávez, nothing less and nothing more than the vice president. And now some international observers say that they have some doubts about the latest election process in Venezuela; too late my friends, just too late.

It's too late is correct, written by Julia in her blog The end of Venezuela as I know it

"This is a blog about Venezuela from inside. The silent scream of someone who has lost a fight but still cant shut her mouth. Before start reading I must warn you: I dont speak english, so excuses in advance for all the following grammar and spelling mistakes"

To obtain a full view, as you watch a country die, read Venezuela, Your Three Minutes Are Up
Column by Jeffrey Perren - Feb 20, 2007 The Atlasphere

In January 1969, Ayn Rand published an essay titled “The ‘Inexplicable Personal Alchemy,’” in which she discussed a New York Times editorial about the Soviet trial of several young dissidents. After hearing his sentence for the crime of merely speaking his mind about the Soviet Union’s then-recent invasion, one of the young men stated, “For three minutes in Red Square, I felt free. For that, I’m happy to take your three years.”

These words rang in my ears as I read her blog. History has an unfortunate way of repeating itself.

Not only is history repeating itself, it's also happening in the United States as well, and as I sit back and watch having shrugged many years ago, these words of Rands below ring in my ears, as they do in Jerrrey Perren's.....just differently.

The truly deliberately evil men are a very small minority, it is the appeasers who unleashes them on mankind; it is the appeaser's intellectual abdication that invites them to take over. When a culture's dominant trend is geared to irrationality, the thugs win over the appeasers. When intellectual leaders fail to foster the best in the mixed, uninformed, vacillating character of people at large, the thugs are sure to bring out the worst. When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.

Watch her blog as she may not live long enough to keep writing, as you watch a country die and a lone voice cry out...it's too late!

The United States, does not need to philosophically return to a morality...it needs to discover it.

I quote from Galt's' speech: "Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice--and the alternative his nature offers him is; rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man--by choice; he has to hold his life as a value--by choice; he has to learn to sustain it--by choice he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues--by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality."

If man choses to live, a rational ethics will tell him what principles of action are required to implement his choice. If he does not chose to live, nature will take it's course.

Sandi said, "Don't call me paranoid yet, but you can call me skeptical."

Maybe paranoia, is justified, based on this report back in 2006 from the Security Community and updated just lately, that stated:

Contactless credit cards, which allow data to be read without swiping through a reader, pose a serious privacy and security risk because some information is not stored encrypted, according to a paper written by five university and industry researchers.

The researchers claim that nearly 20 million radio-frequency identification (RFID) credit cards in circulation today could be vulnerable to skimming attacks, which could harvest names and credit-card details from the cards of passers-by. A skimming attack uses a normal reader, or one that has been enhanced to read cards from a greater distance, to grab unencrypted data from the card.

"Without even removing their cards from wallets or pockets, consumers can potentially see their privacy and security compromised," Ari Juels, an author of the paper and researcher at RSA Labs, stated in a blog post. "A scanner in a crowded subway station might surreptitiously harvest credit-card data from passersby.

The problems are nothing new for security researchers interested in RFID chips, which can store and transmit data. The United States has already begun issuing passports with the chips embedded inside the back cover, despite the privacy concerns of some researchers. The devices could also be used to carry malicious code.

Credit card companies have claimed that the research generalizes from only a very small sample set, and so, is flawed, according to the New York Times. Believe that one, and the Times will gladly tell you some additional bullshit.

Where will it end? With one large socially acceptable, collectivist society watching each other..anyone remember Germany in 1939 to 1945?

Hitachi has produced a RFID chip so small they are being referred to as RFID "Powder." While I'm not too concerned yet at this point, I intend to keep an eye on the uses that they implement for these chips in the future. As I explained in an earlier post over a year ago (see "The Camels Nose Is Under The Tent" below), RFID planners tend to let their imaginations run wild. Here is a comparison between the new RFID chips and a human hair.


(Powder RFID chips next to a human hair)


Two years ago Lauren Scott, an apparel maker of California announced it was putting RFID chips in children's pajamas. Japan is putting RFID into shoes, suits and books.

Don't call me paranoid yet, but you can call me skeptical.

Via Kurzweil.AI

Back in May of last year Rep. William Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana was allegedly caught on video by the FBI is some pretty embarassing situations. More damning evidence was gathered in a raid of Jefferson's congressional office and home.

From a may article in the Washington Post:


Yes our legal system presumes innocence until proven guilty. Still Nancy Pelosi was smart enough to remove Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee to show that Democrats take seriously allegations of corruption.

That was then, but time has passed and worse members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been infuriated because there has been no official indictment. Now according to a another recent Washington Post article it looks like Jefferson will receive an appointment on one of the most important committees.


If this appointment goes through we will have a Representative under investigation for, among other alleged crimes, taking bribes from foreign leaders, on a committee making decisions about our national security.

Unbelievable. Just totally unbelievable.

The question below asked by Ed in "It doesn't get more senseless"
"Has this sort of thing increased in recent years, or is it just that we're more aware of it because of instantaneous national and global news dispersion?"

The answer is YES on both accounts. The first part, begs an answer "Why?" the second is too obvious, as any long slowed down lines of traffic at any roadway accident will tell you. The gorier, the slower the crawling traffic as the gawkers get their emotional senses filled with delight.

Yes, I said, "delight" and having been a paramedic, at many such accidents I can feel my stomach churn, at the fake and senseless oohs and ahs trying to shove the gawkers out of the way to get to the victims, or even getting to the site, as they block the roadway, necks stretched trying to get a look.

Mankind has loved blood and gore, since the first tribe members beat one of their members to death with a thigh bone, or watched as one got mauled to death by a animal out hunting. There may have been some reason or even justification in those past yet, uncivilized minds, but there is none today or is there?

Now with todays communication, cell phone videos, and pictures, the gratification is "instantaneous," and we don't even have to slow down in traffic, or stand around while putting the various parts of a victim in a body bag. All those sheets and blankets you see at such sites, are not to cover the victim, but to block the views of the delighted gawkers. So our 'fix' is "global news dispersion," while less satisfying perhaps than actually being at the scene, there is more than enough to delight.

Take a look at the picture again, only this time really look, and what do you see, and not see. Do you see the orange cones placed around the scene; So ask yourself, where is the blanket covering the victim of a senseless killing by those that put those cones there?

The only one with a legal right to photograph a crime scene is the Medical Examiner, or the assigned photographer from that department, and releasing such photos or videos, is a matter for the law to determine, should some relevance be required. One thing the picture does for those still civilized enough to look then have to turn away, is it brings the "Why?" into focus, even though it numbs the senses. In this case it does add relevance to the words, of a senseless crime. The orange cones, and the missing blanket, also tell a story for others.

I don't presume to know the full answer, but I can give you some clues to the why; "Has this sort of thing increased in recent years?" Here from one report alone, out of hundreds I could list:

From 1992 to 2002, prescriptions written for controlled drugs increased more than 150 percent, almost 12 times the rate of increase in population and almost three times the rate of increase in prescriptions written for all other drugs.

From 1992 to 2003, the number of people abusing controlled prescription drugs increased seven times faster than the increase in the U.S. population.

From 1992 to 2003, abuse of controlled prescription drugs grew at a rate twice that of marijuana abuse; five times that of cocaine abuse; 60 times that of heroin abuse.

From 1992 to 2000, The number of new opioid abusers grew by 225 percent; new tranquilizer abusers, by 150 percent; new sedative abusers, by more than 125 percent; new stimulant abusers, by more than 170 percent.

The increase in new abusers 12 to 17 years old was far greater than among adults (four times greater for opioids; three times for tranquilizers and sedatives; two and one-half times for stimulants).


From 1992 to 2002, new abuse of prescription opioids among 12 to 17 year olds was up an astounding 542 percent, more than four times the rate of increase among adults.

In 2003, 2.3 million 12 to 17 year olds (nearly one in 10) abused at least one controlled prescription drug; for 83 percent of them, the drug was opioids.

In 2003, among 12 to 17 year olds, girls were likelier than boys to abuse controlled prescription drugs (10.1 percent of girls vs. 8.6 percent of boys).

Between 1991 and 2003, rates of lifetime steroid abuse among high school students increased 126 percent, with abuse among girls up by nearly 350 percent, compared to 66 percent among boys.

Teens who abuse controlled prescription drugs are twice as likely to use alcohol, five times likelier to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin, 15 times likelier to use Ecstasy and 21 times likelier to use cocaine, compared to teens who do not abuse such drugs.

Highlights of CASA Surveys of Physicians and Pharmacists on Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs Full Report

Physician Survey Highlights

43.3 percent of physicians do not ask about prescription drug abuse when taking a patient’s health history.

33 percent do not regularly call or obtain records from the patient's previous (or other treating) physician before prescribing controlled drugs on a long-term basis.

47.1 percent say that patients commonly try to pressure them into prescribing a controlled drug.

74.1 percent have refrained from prescribing controlled drugs during the past 12 months because of concern that a patient might become addicted to them.

59.1 percent believe that patients account for the bulk of the diversion problem.

Physicians perceive the three main mechanisms of diversion to be doctor shopping (when patients obtain controlled drugs from multiple doctors) (96.4 percent), patient deception or manipulation of doctors (87.8 percent), and forged or altered prescriptions (69.4 percent).

Only 19.1 percent received any medical school training in identifying prescription drug diversion; only 39.6 percent received any training in medical school in identifying prescription drug abuse and addiction.

Pharmacist Survey Highlights

28.4 percent do not regularly validate the prescribing physician’s DEA number when dispensing controlled drugs; one in 10 (10.5 percent) rarely or never do so.

61 percent do not regularly ask if the patient is taking any other controlled drugs when dispensing a controlled medication; 25.8 percent rarely or never do so.

When a patient presents a prescription for a controlled drug, 26.5 percent “somewhat or very often” think it is for purposes of diversion or abuse; 78.4 percent become “somewhat or very” concerned about diversion or abuse when a patient asks for a controlled drug by its brand name.

83.1 percent have refused to dispense a controlled drug in the past year because of suspicions of diversion or abuse; 51.8 percent believe that patients account for the bulk of the diversion problem.

28.9 percent have experienced a theft or robbery of controlled drugs at their pharmacy within the last five years; 20.9 percent do not stock certain controlled drugs in order to prevent diversion.

Only about half received any training in identifying prescription drug diversion (48.1 percent) or abuse or addiction (49.6 percent) since pharmacy school.

If your mind can't quite get around that one above, try these:


1. Yale-Lilly Experiment: Adolescents Rx Toxic Drug for Presumed Mental Illness They Do Not Have

2. "Do Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States?"

3. Full Report Note this study by an old colleague of mine

On December 13, 2006 the FDA’s Psychopharmaceutical Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) is meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland to discuss antidepressant-induced suicidal behavior in adults. In 2004 the FDA held similar hearings on children and concluded that antidepressants do in fact cause suicide in humans under age eighteen. A warning has been placed in all antidepressant labels or package inserts.

Now the agency has given advanced notice of its new findings—antidepressants, all of them according to the FDA, cause increased suicidality in young adults. Suicide occurs more than twice as much on antidepressants than on sugar pills in individuals under age 25.

First the agency admits that antidepressants cause suicidality in children. Now the agency admits the drugs cause the same disasters in young adults. Meanwhile, an independent review of all antidepressant trials submitted to the FDA has shown that the drugs are no better than placebo.[i] America’s drug watchdog needs to come clean. It’s been approving depressants as antidepressants.

Conclusion: Ask yourself over these last 20-30 years or so, since this country has become a pill-popping nation, what have those parents in that period of time spawned.

Are you even aware their are only three actual 'diseases of the brain' the rest listed in the DMV-IV are disorders without a shred of scientific data to back up the claims of even one of them.

Are you aware that the majority of Psychiatrist's or Psychologist's have zero medical training or degrees, but want the government to allow them to dispense drugs, without the aid or advice of a actual Medical Doctor.

Don't ask why...the answer is simple, and so I'll leave you with this question;

How am I to face the odds of man's bedevilment, and of Gods,I alone and afraid n a world, I never made?

The answer is...Why didn't you?

Plato said, "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

If I ever get this cantankerous in my old age I hope someone will just shoot me. This 66-year-old German decided to show his ire towards security by acting like a child and disrobing.

A man in a long, tan trenchcoat with a mullet halfway down his back went into one of our malls this evening and began indiscriminately gunning people down. There are six dead, and quite a few wounded. One of the dead is a 16 year old boy. Another, this woman here, appearing to be in her late teens or early 20s.

The perpetrator is "no longer a threat" according to police. Translation: they gunned the son of a bitch down.

At least when someone goes after particular people, a motive can be discerned. This one was sleeping with my wife, this one beat up my kid, this one tried to steal my boyfriend and I wanted to get her quick so I wore diapers for the drive...

What the hell is the point of going to a public place and shooting total strangers? Some of these people were just kids.

Has this sort of thing increased in recent years, or is it just that we're more aware of it because of instantaneous national and global news dispersion? Discuss...

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has recently announced plans to nationalize utilities and telecommunications companies. Fox News Brief

Chavez claims that this theft of private property from its owners is necessary to improve the lot of the poor in Venezuela. But as history has shown, nationalization is both immoral and impractical. Industries under state control are highly inefficient and much less productive than private industries free to function in a capitalist market. As production is throttled, rich and poor alike suffer.

Marxist policies always lead to poverty and disaster. There can be no significant progress, prosperity or wealth creation in a social system that does not recognize individual rights, particularly property rights. Property rights are both moral and practical.

If Venezuelans want to avoid an economic disaster that will eventually wipe out their savings, their investments, their businesses and their livelihoods, they must get rid of Chavez and reject the Marxist ideology he embodies."Also see Sandi's Chavez's House of Cards

It seems the earlier visit by our Furry Rat predicting an early spring, may have gotten a boast out of his shadowy hole by Daylight Savings time.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with first proposing the idea of Daylight Saving Time in 1784. He hoped to save on candles. The United States didn't get around to even agreeing on what Standard Time was until 1883, when the railroads clamored for some uniformity. Daylight Saving Time as we now know it was signed into law in with the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Before that act, someone traveling a 35-mile stretch of Highway 2 in West Virginia and Ohio would have had to change a watch setting SEVEN times to remain current.

In case you didn't know, that will happen four weeks earlier this year, thanks to congressional fiat. Will your computer be ready?
And though it might not seem like a big deal, consider this:

Every e-mail you send is stamped with the time it was sent, as are important transactions such as the automatic deposits you make to a savings account or payments you make on-line on a credit card balance.

In some cases, your computer's clock being off by an hour can make a difference, and many computers are still operating under the assumption that daylight saving time is coming April 1, not March 11 — meaning that precious hour could very well be lost for you.

So what to do? Start checking all of your computer hardware and software now, to see what needs to be fixed before you run into a problem.
For a home user running one computer on the dominant Windows operating system, a quick visit to Microsoft's Support Listings will tell you whether you have anything to worry about: If your computer is running Windows XP with the Service Pack 2 upgrade, or Windows Vista, carry on as usual — your system will update itself. But if you're running XP and didn't take the SP2 upgrade, nows the time to do so.

Older versions of Windows, such as Windows 2000 or NT, you need to visit Microsoft on-line for: US here to get specific instructions. Or you could wait until your clock is inaccurate and change it manually.

If you byte the Apple (pun intended) they say OS X operating system was "patched" with a fix for the problem months ago. Anyone running the system should have already gotten an automatic update and won't have a problem. Believe that one...and the smug guy in the TV Commercials will tell you another one.

Apple has not posted sufficient information regarding how the change in Daylight Saving Time affects their products, nor which products are patched or unpatched. This situation is sadly familiar, for they likewise do not post life cycle support schedules for Mac OS X (again in contrast with Microsoft, Red Hat, and Sun), leaving customers to guess whether they can expect patches for security vulnerabilities. In this case, it's a simple matter of making sure the clock is right, and Apple's silent, de facto message of "upgrade to Tiger" is woefully inappropriate.

For IT's, running many other applications and systems, as well as the knowledgeable user this link provided by Berkley Education should provide all you need to make the changes. Daylight Saving Time (DST) changes in 2007

Last but not least, Blackberry nuts, don't forget, since any electronic devices will be affected, and you wouldn't want to be late for that corporate meeting, or that clandestine affair you've been having, maybe arriving a bit early or a bit late could be a major disaster or at least a blushing moment. (Smile)

I think we all need one of those Robby the Robots screaming Danger..Danger...Danger...you idiot!....the government is at it again.

Todays Quote: "The most successful people are those who are good at plan B"

A group called "Union of Concerned Scientists" have enticed us with a poll to show that the Bush administration is silencing global warming research. This immediately brings to mind Michael Crichton's words: "There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period."

At any rate this group gives us a survey of 1,600 federal climate scientists, as evidence that the Bush administration was engaged in "political interference in climate science" that has brought a "system-wide epidemic." Dennis Byrne takes a look at the numbers, and it appears that Dr. Francesca Grifo, Director of the group is guilty by his own words that: "Tailoring scientific fact for political purposes has become a problem across many federal science agencies."


And finally the questions were worded so poorly that while those taking the poll assumed the answers were about global warming, they could easily have been about working conditions. Dr. Grifo, if not the UCS group is as best the pot calling the kettle black, and at worst using politics to counter what can't be done with science.

Do I buy global warming? Sure without a doubt, historically global average climate has been cycling between 12C (53.6F) and 22C (71.6F). The historical norm from 1860 to 2000 has been 15.08C (59.14F) which mean we have to warm at least another 3F to reach our historical mean. Of course historical figures need to be taken with a large grain of salt because they are estimated from ambiguous findings like from core samples and tree ring growth. However if they are going to use those figures in their models to prove that we are dooming ourselves, I can use them to show we are nowhere near average.

It is also quite likely that humans are contributing some amount to to greenhouse gas accumulation, but they cannot with any scientific certainly tell us what (if any) that extra human contribution is having of global temperatures.

Via Lucianne.

Hugo Chavez has been piling a burden of more than $9 billion a year onto Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela's state-owned petroleum company for his social and political ventures. PDVSA purchased 50% of the United States gasoline brand Citgo from Southland Corporation in 1986 and the remainder in 1990.

Chavez's social programs are keeping him in power with high popularity. Following through on many of his promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority solidifies his power making the fact that he is becoming increasingly more of a despot, by concentrating power of judicial and legislative branches of no consequence.

Besides extravagant social and political spending at home Chavez is overstretching PDVSA by $20 billion in joint energy ventures with other Latin American countries. This is too much of a drain on the companies needed resources, and as a result production output has dropped. If production continues to fall, or oil prices drop further, some believe that it could lead to bankruptcy of Chavez's goose that lays the golden egg.


You don't need to be a financial expert to predict the outcome of turning a well run company into a cash cow for the state, and squandering the country's vast oil wealth. If not stopped, it will ruin not only the company and the raised standard of living for the poor, Venezuelans, but will effect world oil prices.

It would be nice to see the doom of Chavez through mismanagement of state-run oil, but the price is too high. When the wheels start coming off will the people be able to pry his hands loose from his autocratic grip on power? I certainly hope so but only time will tell.

He was bent over, sitting at a bench focused on some task with such intensity; I thought only I'd ever known. Some mysterious tools I had never seen moved with deliberate precession, held in huge but lightening quick hands, as I peered into the window of his shop, my nose pressed close to the glass. I was entranced, and little did I know, hooked then on what was to come.

It was Friday, and I’d just cut classes again at John Adams High, word of another race riot was about to begin with another school Jefferson High and I knew better than to hang. Hough and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio was not a place one wanted to be.

So there I was, with time on my hands, before the afternoon caddy job in Shaker Heights was to begin and my part time job at the bowling alley on weekend nights where I repaired AMF automatic pin setters. I was underage with no working papers so hidden from view by the owner, but my sister and I had to eat, and I wasn’t looking forward to going home anyway. I also had to do collections for my 3:30 am paper route, for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, dreading the huge Sunday edition to come.

I felt guilty with all those thoughts whirling in my head, as I stood their looking in. I knew I should be making extra money carrying doubles that day, but for some reason I could not move from my spot. My eyes took in the shop as I stood my books in hand, watching the old man work. Above his bench hanging on the wall above was an old and small Grandfathers Clock, which I knew about from living in Maysville, Kentucky with a woman, Bessie who raised me for a time, as she had a standing one in the foyer that would wake the dead when it chimed that looked similar and was my job to wind.

The shop was small, mostly darkened, but narrow and long, that went all the way down to a back alley, and the shop was filled with wondrous and intriguing mechanical devises, I couldn’t quite make out. The bench had tools hanging in wooden holders, and though it seemed cluttered, I could tell everything had a place, the light shinning down from a shaded lamp, his hands moving from his task reaching to put back or take down some other tool. His huge hands moved like the dance of a ballerina, each move calculated and deliberate with no wasted motion. It was a thing of beauty, and reminded me of Bessie in her kitchen preparing meals for the folks in her old age home. She was a big woman, but moved the same way.

I don’t know why I stopped that day, as I’d walked past that shop many times from school; the 5 miles like a gift of release, as the cost of bus tickets were out of the question, making money was the driving force then, and every nickel counted. I had looked in many times before as I went past, but only a short interested glance or two, as other things were more important than some old man sitting at a bench, except that day.

So, there I stood and watched, the old man never taking his eyes off his task. Then daylight burst through the somewhat dark shop, except for his bench, as a door opened from the back alley. I moved over towards the door of the shop to get a better view, and two men with a huge black box, were rolling it in on a hand truck, with some effort I thought. Later I would find out it was a safe. Out of the corner of my eye, my nose still pressed to the window, I saw the old man move, and his bald head glistened as the light from the work bench played on it, and I laughed out loud.

I watched as he headed to the back of the shop, but I could see he was stooped, and unable to fully stand, yet moved like a cat, and I knew he’d been a big man tall and strong at some time in his life. I choked off the laughter. I was a tall skinny and gangly kid, and had always admired the descriptions of Greek athletes I’d read about in books. I felt sad and ashamed at my laugh, with what I saw as his body played against the daylight his shadows moving against the lighted walls, as that stooped body headed down the long hall, to the back alley.

I moved back to my original place, to look at the bench to see what had been hidden by his bent over body, and there on the clean orderly bench, lay several locks and an old chess game clock. I could not see them clearly, but I knew what they were. Parts were scattered here and there, and one lock seemed to be complete, but even in the scattered placement you could see order. For some reason I can’t explain to this day, I felt strange, and I could feel my heart pounding as I had to step back from the glass, to catch my balance, books slipping from my hands.

I took a minute to focus my eyes which were now accustomed to the darkness inside, and looked up at the shop front, and saw the sign that read “Locks and Clocks.” That was it, nothing more, no names no other words, as my head finally cleared my hands still trembling, I reached down to pick up the books I’d dropped, my heart still pounding. I went back to the window, but the daylight was gone, and the old man could not be seen down the long hallway, so I waited a few minutes, but he did not return. My guilt I supposed at the time got the better of me, but other thoughts I can’t describe played in my head as I left and ran the rest of the way home, but I vowed I’d be back. It was like I’d stepped into another world that day and it shook me.

Fall would come early that year, the temperatures dropping and with them, would also come the worst snowstorm Cleveland had seen in years. I still had part of the summer left, and had to make as much money as I could somehow sensing the long winter to come, and my loss of income. Being a Doubles Caddy paid well, 12 bucks for 18 holes, and sometimes tips. I was glad in a way I’d be late, as I was not built for doubles bags, but singles got you 6 bucks for 18 holes so I wouldn’t lose much. The paper route paid pretty well, especially since I’d built it up to 179 customers that summer, and I looked forward to holiday tips, that were great, since people had a different mind-set then.

My daily focus however was now on the old man and the Locks and Clocks shop, as all other things somehow became less intense, even if important. For three weeks I cut classes, skipped school, and day after day stood at that window for some reason I could not fathom never daring to enter. I never got a B except once in all my schooling, and never needed the books, as mostly it came too easy. So, I didn’t sweat the school, since the public school was 4 years behind what I already knew, and you could get lost in a school with 3000 others, so that old man and the shop took over my existence.

Each day, I stood transfixed as I watched trying to catch a glimpse of what he was doing, and my love for the mechanical perhaps from my fathers ability with the tool an die company, as I heard later he was considered one of the best, and an inventor of some machined device he made, that cured the failing of bomb bay doors to open properly in B-17’s in WWII. In any event, I had a mechanical inquisitive mind, so there I stood each day watching.

It was a Monday, one of those days I decided again that school could do without me, and I’d become rather adept at writing notes, it was early so I headed to the shop. I supposed I looked a sight, as people always seemed to stare, at what was considered in those days as white trash, old beat up 4 year old sneakers, and clothes that didn’t fit, but I didn’t care, as being a half-breed I ignored their stares, I’d been that road early on. Once a cop stopped and asked me what I was doing, like I was going to rob the place, but with my gift of gab, so I thought… they watched but left me alone. I’d find out later why they did.

I’d finished my route early, and was a bit worn out, but the store front had a small ledge I could sit on, as I peered into the shop that day. I’d been sitting for some time, when suddenly the old man turned looking straight at me, something he’d never done all those days and weeks past. My heart jumped, and I wanted to run, having been caught, but I sat transfixed for what seemed like some very long minutes, my gaze on his eyes, deep set, not cold but not friendly either as he stared at me.

He raised his arm, his big hand motioned to me to come in. I thought at first he was looking at someone behind me so I turned, to look, but there was no one on the walk but me. I turned back, and he motioned to me again, and his eyes softened a bit and I knew he meant me, and I felt shame at the way I was dressed, but exhilarated and safe all at the same time. I stood up, reached for the brass knob on the door, and turned it.

I recall to this day that moment, a bit scared, tears in my eyes, as I wiped my nose, and went in. I quietly closed the door, as though I had entered a quiet church, with respect for the silence and stood there unable to move. He never took his eyes off me, and never spoke a word, as his hand pointed to a stool sitting next to him. That stool had never been there before in all the days and weeks I stared through that window. I tried to gather myself together, and stand tall, and then cursed myself remembering his walk to the back of the store, and the only time I’d ever seen him move from the bench. Finally my legs moved, as his head turned back to his work.

I moved slowly as I glanced around the shop, clocks of all kinds, locks of every description covered the walls, keys of every conceivable variety hung on one wall, but the sounds of ticking clocks, and the smells of oils, and other things that my young mind could not comprehend then flooded my senses. I couldn’t believe my good fortune, as the only place I’d ever felt at home, was my attic, where I built a complete city of trains, I’d swapped for some baseball cards from a kid at school since his parents wouldn’t let him have them. It was my escape, like my long walks, and the only clear reality of a world I could not understand then. With my head swimming my legs finally got me to the stool.

The space in front of me as I sat down on the stool was clean, except for a hand scrawled note, with only one word on it. WATCH.

The world ceased to exist that day, as did the remaining days to come that summer. Over the years some moments, have become a blur yet are still intense…they are crystal moments in my mind so more is yet to come, from the Old Man, the Lock and the Clock, and the lessons learned.

(To be continued)

In our modern age, the diner, coffee shop or water cooler is often replaced with online forums. There are millions of them - for bands, television shows, actors, games, operating systems, local news, politics - probably just about everything. As we spend time at one, or many, we develop relationships with others, indeed sometimes more important than those we have with flesh and bone acquaintances (an idea recently explored in the mainstream on an episode of "My Name is Earl," one of the best shows on TV). I've spent time on many forums in the last several years, and lived on various BBSes in the early 80s and even my rudimentary UNIX college network in the late 80s.

But what happens when the diner burns down? Too much grease for the gyros, or whatever. Generally, you contact your friends in some other way, and meet elsewhere until "your" diner is rebuilt. Because you've established so many means of communication with these people, you have contact redundancy, and you can all adapt and move on with minimal interruption.

What happens when your favorite forum is down, though? I'm finding that out right now. For the last several years, I've been a regular poster at the forum for our local newspaper. The discussions, especially about politics and religion, can get really heated and passionate. These are things about which so many people feel so strongly, yet so differently about, that calamity is the only possible result.

Regardless, I went to "my" forum on Friday, and I got a 404 error. No biggie, it happens from time to time. It'll be back a little later, I told myself. It wasn't back later, and then by Friday night - when I knew anyone that could be working on it had gone home for beer, chips, and World of Warcraft - I really started to wonder. "Would it be back? Is it shut down? Gone forever? Did someone's post go too far, so far that the publishers decided the forum itself was too much of a liability?"

It remained down all weekend, and then early yesterday morning, the site's main page told a story of a massive server failure, and that they were working on getting the forum back online. It was a relief, and in that relief I realized that for almost all of my friends and antagonists there (there are a few lingering trolls), I didn't have any means of contacting ANY of them if that forum was gone, and never to return. If this forum is scrapped, relationships I've spent years building - for good or naught - will be gone as if everyone died in a fiery synchronized swimming accident. That's a pretty major loss.

Think about it. When my forum returns, there are several people I will reach out to - break the anonymity - and ensure that we can continue our friendships long after our diner is scrapped for lack of shareholder value. I encourage everyone reading this to think about who their friends are and do the same.

“The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired.” - Robert Southey

Caution this is very boring stuff.

I discussed some simple things you can do with your home to protect your self against surreptitious entries.
I get many questions regarding safes. To most people any safe will do that fits into their budget. This can lead to some sad experiences down the road if you don't pick the one that you need.
Without getting too technical I hope this will help you.

You first need to truly understand your need for a safe. There are three basic types of safes for this discussion.
Fire Safe
Burglary Safe
Data Safe

A fire safe is a safe that will shield your papers from the 1250 degree average house fire. These fires heat up quickly and if not put out by the fire department may have high heat for long periods.
The main thing you should look at are how much space do I need to store my papers. Note I said papers. Fire safes are for paper protection. Not film, not floppy disks.
Consider what your future uses might be. Normally standard shelving which is the cheapest is the most flexible. Most safe companies will build you a custom model with specializes compartments etc. This is usually at an expensive add on price.
The second thing you should consider is the labeling of the safe. It will usually be in a number of hours. Half hour, One hour, Two hour, Three etc.
The most important labeling given to a safe manufacturer is by Underwriter's Laboratory or U.L.
They charge safe manufacturers big bucks to put on a label. The safe company must submit a group of the same design for U.L. to test.
I won't bore you with all the specs but simply put they put the safe into a blast furnace, heat it up to a given temperature from 1500 to 2000 degrees depending on it's hourly rating. The interior of the safe cannot exceed 350 degrees. They put it through a long cool down period also. This is when most safes fail as it continually absorbs heat from the atmosphere until everything is cool.
Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware. Because labeling is very expensive, safe companies use tricks to make you think that their safe is labeled. There are foreign labels. The J.I.S. or Japanese Industrial Standard is one of the better foreign labels. They are almost to the U.L. standards. Most other labels are worthless.
Some companies will put a U.L. burglary label on an unrated fire safe. The technically are correct that the safe is labeled. Just not as a fire safe.
Fire or record safes have to insulate against high heat and therefore have a very thin metal covering over a fire insulation.
Almost any safe qualifies as a Class B safe. Five walls, a door and a lock will just about be a Class B safe.
A true burglar safe has way too much metal to protect against heat. They are to resist tool attacks from burglars trying to get your jewels or your money. Some safe companies offer composite safes that are supposed to be both fire and burglar resistant. Remember what your Dad told you. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true.
You can wrap or clad thick metal with lots of insulation but generally they don't hold up as well for fire protection. Maybe if the fire is of short duration it can work. I just have seen too many safes that were supposed to be fire proof have only ashes inside when opened.
Just last month one of my customers came home to find his log home smoldering. His very expensive gun collection was housed in an expensive gun safe that he felt was fire rated. He paid $4000 for this safe. When it was opened up only the metal from the barrels was there. All else was ash.
His safe failed as he didn't consider the amount of fuel (his log home) he had there in a fire. He was also out in the country where the firemen had a slower response time. Had his safe been in a basement or maybe even in standard type home, his guns might have survived. He probably had a 2 hour safe in a 6 hour fire. Remember the average house fire is 1250 degrees measured 6 feet off of the floor. His fire with the logs may have exceeded 2000 degrees for this longer period. Take a look at the picture

Gun safes should be rated for both burglary and fire. Remember to pay attention to the labels.
Meilink Safe company used to have the only U.L. fire rated gun safe. It was also the most expensive. It was called the Winchester. If you can find one of those Meilink's for sale they are a good one.
Winchester gun safes are now manufacturered by another company. I haven't looked at them so again look at the label if you find one of those. Beware of buying gun safes at gun shows. They are often touted as a fire safe when they are not rated in the least.
Data safes are another type of fire safe. They are rated in hours and by temperature and humidity. 125 degrees for floppy disk type media. 150 for films and tape drives. I have seen many times when someone was storing their media in a paper or record safe. When the interior went above the 125 degrees their floppies were toast but their paper was safe for another 225 degrees.
Data safes cost usually three times more for the same size that conventional record safes cost due to the extra insulation they require. One of my customers paid $75,000 to rebuild his files back to prefire state and still lost some of the receivables. Protect your data.
Some companies send their companies records home with a couple of people on all sorts of storage media. They think that the possibility of Murphy's law catching up with them is slim. They will learn the hard way.

Burglary safes are completely different. Ever since people wanted to protect their money there have been dishonest people who wanted to lift it.
In the 1800's some manufacturers touted their line as burglar proof until someone broke into it. It has been a cat and mouse game ever since. The safes generally keep getting better as do the safe burglars.
Burglar safes have letter designation or a minute rating and also a side rating.
Generally a B rate is the simplest safe and many safes can pass this rating including fire safes. For metal safes they will have a 1/4“ door and an 1/8” body. A “C” rate will have a 1 inch door and a 1/2” body. An E rate will have a 1 1/2” door and a 1” body.
U.L. give them a more specific rating. TL-15 mean it will resist burglary attack under laboratory conditions for 15 minutes. In the real world this safe should take an hour to open under attack. This is because in the lab they have complete blueprints that the manufacturer has provided and they stop the clock when a machine is shut off. Burglars don't have it so good.
There are 30, 60 minute ratings. So a U.L. label reading TL-30 will resist for 30 minutes. If it has a TL-30 x 6 then it is rated for 30 minutes for all 6 sides. Without the x 6 they are only rating the door.
Other designations might go like this TRTL 60 x 6. The TR stands for torch or acetylene torch resistance plus the TL for tool resistance for 60 minutes on all six sides. A safe like this would probably be a jewelers safe.
Call your insurance company to see what they want you to store your valuables in. If you don't follow their guidelines then they might not have to pay out.
Safes should be at least 750 pounds or be able to be attached to the floor from inside the safe to prevent someone from easily hauling them off. One strong man with a safe cart can handle a lot of weight but if you get into the 750 range, they are very hard to move quickly by two men.
Once I was called to a very wealthy man's home. He hadn't opened his safe in years and wanted to give his grandson a Rolex and a diamond ring. I was shown his safe. It was a fire safe that I knew all too well. I had it open quickly and silently in 15 seconds. The man almost fainted. He had over $100,000 in additional jewelry inside plus piles of cash. I sold him a proper safe the next day.
You will see many old safes for sale in auctions or in the paper. If they have wheels they are usually very old. Even if they say fire safe on the front chances are that they are not. The old fire insulators such as diatomaceous earth concrete or just concrete often have cracks as they have been moved previously. These cracks is where the heat will get into the interior of the safe.
If you are looking just for a burglar safe they often are okay. I would have you buy a modern safe if you can afford it. They have parts available for them and many of the old safes don't.
Hard plate is what protects the safe lock from fast attack. The modern hard plates across the board are generally better. Again some of the older safes can have decent hardplate but a lot of the older safes don't have any.

Safes In The Basement.
I helped a man build a vault in his basement. He was fully under the ground level of his yard. This is somewhat important as heat rises and a basement is somewhat cooler in a fire.
We designed his vault area with extra rebar in the interior wall and ceiling. We also poured an extremely thick outer wall and a layer of concrete that is used as a fire barrier in new apartments. We installed a large TL-30 into the vault and built the vault around it. We put on a 4 “ mercantile vault door. This is the type your might see in a small bank in the suburbs and then we put on a 30 minute fire door over that plus alarms and sprinklers. I am not sure what he was storing. I do know that he was well protected for most problems.
The last area to consider is the lock type. In this day and age people want to punch in numbers digitally. They often choose electronic locks for convenience. The best of digital locks are very expensive and still have problems. The average run of the mill electronic lock is reasonable in price, have a short life span and a higher amount of problems.
As a safeperson, I like electronic as I make a lot more money servicing them. A standard three wheel safe lock can last 100 years if not abused and are relatively trouble free.
If you have a problem with an electronic safe lock, you almost always have to drill the safe which sometimes also destroys the U.L. labeling.
If you have a problem with a standard safe lock there are many options to consider before you would have to drill. It's your choice but I recommend the standard one.

In recent months various news casters plus several contributors to YouTube have created quite a stir regarding “bump keys.” These people lead you to believe that all locks are susceptible to this type of attack.

Bump keys are sold on eBay and other websites. They basically take advantage of one of Newton's Laws. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion and objects at rest tend to stay at rest.

Lock pick guns also use this science to open locks.

To set the record straight, no one technique works universally. The bump keys work better on certain shapes of keyways and also on locks that have greater tolerances. To use them you have to create a certain amount of noise. Noise works against would be burglars. It lets everybody inside and outside that there is something going on.

The same is true for pick guns either manual or electric.

If you are worried about such things, there are a few things you should do around your home or business.

The least expensive security tip is to cut down or trim bushes and branches near your door that might prevent a passerby or neighbor from seeing a person trying to get into your home or business.

Let you neighbors know just who they might expect to see at your home and what type of vehicle they drive.

Turn on your lights. Burglars do not want to be seen. If you have too much light on your property they will want to go visit someone else.

Alarms and alarm signs work in your favor. If you don't have an alarm but can get a professional sign in the front of your home, it can keep some dishonest people away. Just don't tell anyone outside of your family that the sign might be a fake one. Burglars are often from families that know you. All families have someone that you wouldn't want in your home. Keep personal schedules to yourself as much as you possible can.

Noise maker alarms can scare off some burglars. They don't have to be connected to an alarm station. If you can afford it, I recommend connecting your alarm. You could get a discount from your insurance company. You can't keep a burglar from going through a wall to get inside but a noise maker will scare off most.

Back to the bump keys. They and other varieties of picks won't work on several makes of locks.

Medeco, Abloy, Kaba, Primus are some that come to mind. They just aren't pickable. Bump keys will not work in this type of lock.

I remember attending a security convention. Abloy Lock company had some of their locks attached to their table. Behind the table was a large Plexiglas container filled with cash. $5000 worth of cash to be exact. They offered all at the convention that if someone picked their lock they would get the cash.

Several thousand locksmiths lined up for a week to attempt this. The only person who made any money on this was a charlatan who was selling a bogus Abloy Lock pick.

Medeco generally is not pickable although in the last 30 years their lock has been picked maybe a couple of time. Kaba isn't easily picked.

You owe it to your self to find a reputable locksmith in your area and ask him or her which pick resistant lock that they service and sell. No locksmith sells all the brands. They usually will have one or two of the better ones. Expect to pay more but isn't your family's safety worth it?

I will tell you that Abloy and Medeco have deadbolts that exceed the strength of the average home door. Metal doors and metal frames are of course the strongest. You usually don't find these frames on homes. Your home might have a metal over foam door for insulation but that is not the type of metal door I am talking about.

A cheaper(than Medeco or Abloy) deadbolt is made by Lori Lock. Most all locksmith can get you into these and they can be fitted with a pick resistant cylinder. They can be 50% less and almost as strong.

Back in the early 80's Lori used to attach one of their deadbolts to a bobcat or a tractor for TV commercials. They used to have the bobcat take off fast and the door and frame would be pulled out of the house.

Home Depot, Lowe's or most hardware stores do not carry high security deadbolts. They will tell you that they do as they have to keep their stock moving. They carry Schlage which used to be one of the better locks. The Schlage line that home centers carry is marginal at best. I have seen this deadbolt fail under physical attack too many times. Schlage's standard commercial bolt isn't a lot better.

What ever deadbolt you install in your home, make sure you have a locksmith reinforce the door frame. If you omit doing this one thing, having the best deadbolt won't do you any good in a home.

Have him check your window locks while he is there. There are some reasonable add on locks for windows that would still allow your family to get out of a window in case of fire.

Window wells into your basement can be easily circumvented. One of the cheapest and best remedies is to attach two 2” x 1/4” by 48” metal straps to the concrete wall over your basement window. Any metal shop can cut you the size you need and you attach them with lag bolts and lad shields that are available in any hardware store.

The last tip I will give you today is...Make sure your garage door opener is not set on a common opening combination. If you are not sure, check with your overhead door company.

Hardware stores often carry a standard programming on the openers they sell. In some neighborhoods you can buy one at the store and open and close other peoples garages on your way home. With modern electronic technology this doesn't need to be.

I will talk about safes and what you need to know about them in my next posting.

OK, so it's not really a Rat, but it is part of the Rodent family, or hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) which in my day and age was just a big rat. Seems the furry Groundhog, that some may still refer to as a Woodchuck....How much wood could a woodchuck chuck...oh never mind...decided that all of us freezing our rumps off are in for an early spring.

Seems the Germans believed that if a hibernating animal (must have been an overabundance back in 1886 of old Woody's) cast a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.


In the U.S. the tradition derives from a Scottish poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

So should you be concerned about your pea crop, don't sweat it, as Punxsutawney Phil, our furry rat with great teeth that only seems to live in PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. saw his shadow for the first time since 1999. If you would like a bit of history (kids love this stuff)go here: Wiki

MSN Video

Oh ignore the ad from the video, since they are not selling Woodchucks for personal use.

Now if I could just get warm.

The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to divert up to $1.3 billion for levee repairs from the Mississippi River's East Bank, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, to the West Bank, where tens of thousands of people have resettled.

Clem: I told ya Clyde this'n make the news.
Clyde: Betcha that thar Nagin went en blabbed.

The West Bank was one of the only parts of the New Orleans metropolitan area spared the flooding that followed the 2005 hurricane. But the levees protecting it -- and the roughly 250,000 people who live there -- are inadequate, the corps concedes.

Clem: Now who'da figured they'd all lump up in the same hole.
Clyde: Well them thar corp boys sure be lookin out fer em.

If approved, the plan has the potential to slow new levee work on the East Bank, where most of New Orleans is situated, and pit the city's residents against those on the West Bank.

Clem: Reckon it's a East vs West thing Clyde?
Clyde: Weren't that thar a Civil War thing Clem?
Clem: Naw stupid, that wer'en North and South ya fool.

"I think what the corps is trying to do is create some kind of turf war," said state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, one of the West Bank's most prominent politicians.

Clem: What turf they be talking about Clyde, it's all under water.
Clyde: That turf be under sea level ya dummy.
Clem: Thars be a difference?

The shift in funding is outlined in a budget proposal to be released this week and which Congress must approve. It would bring the total earmarked for West Bank projects to $3.3 billion, the bulk of $5.7 billion approved to fix and shore up the levees after Katrina.

Clem: Now seems to me Clyde, if'n they divied up that thar money to them 250,000 that would be a Heep of bucks and they could move to above ground.
Clyde: Naw Clem, somes like liven in a filler up next hurricane hole.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Ray Nagin said the mayor is not pleased with the plans and wants the corps "to live up to the promise of full protection" for the city.

Clem: Seems he ain't ever pleased Clyde
Clyde: Well if liven under water in a filler up hole don't make em happy, why not move.

If more money is needed, the corps should get it and "not compromise our already vulnerable level of protection," Nagin spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said.

Clem: Hell Clyde, with 5.7 billion, you and the boys could dig that thar New Orleans place up and move it to Texas.
Clyde: Reckon..seems Texas is still mad over what few did get planted thar.

The corps says projects on the East Bank will continue and that the levee system is as good now as it was before Katrina. Plans to further improve that system are tied up in technical reviews, according to the corps.

Clem: Hell, e'en it's as good now as then, what they need 5.7 Billion for Clyde?
Clyde: I suppose e'en ya gets it, yaws got ta spends it.

"There are still lots of areas where we haven't built anything" on the West Bank, said Carol Burdine, a corps official overseeing West Bank projects. "It's got a more serious need because it is behind other projects."

Clem: Seems to me e'en they got 250,000 people thar, they musta built something Clyde.
Clyde: Ya think they might be living in sleeping bags Clem?
Clem: Na ya fool, in then thar Femer Boxes.
Clyde: Most all them Femer Boxes rotted Clem.
Clem: Dang!

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Murray Starkel said the West Bank "probably is one of our most vulnerable areas." The work there is ready to go, and is already lagging behind other projects, so the corps argues that shifting the money now makes sense.

"We're working to build the most comprehensive system, that is, the best money can buy," Starkel said.

Clem: Seems to me they need more than money Clyde.
Clyde: Could be that all that thar money IS the problem Clem.

The West Bank would face serious flooding if a major hurricane like Katrina came ashore from the south or southwest. Some neighborhoods are below sea level, and there are navigation channels and lakes threaded through the region that can funnel a storm's surge. Plus, the levees are very low -- in some places, only 5 feet high.

Clem: Hell Clyde, they knew all that for'en the last bigging hit em.
Clyde: Yep, but sometimes it takes two-es ta larn anything

"Thank God the hurricane didn't hit the city dead even. There would have been no bank to run to," Shepherd said. "Thank God we have at least one side of the river where we can all congregate."

Clem: Makes sense ta me, since thar be nothin left to speak of on the other bank.
Clyde: Yep..

Louisiana's senators have already pleaded with President Bush for billions in new money to address the rising cost of levee work instead of shifting the funds.

Clem: Seems that 100 billion thet was ear marked for New Orleans weren't enough.
Clyde: Then what's all this fuss about 5.7 Billion, whole lot of Billions left over.
Clem: That be's if'n they can finds it.

"I am deathly afraid that this vital emergency post-Katrina work is now being treated like typical Corps projects that take decades to complete. We will not recover if this happens," U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, wrote in a letter to President Bush dated Thursday.

Clem: Maybe they should read Re-enginerring New Orleans Clyde.
Clyde: Reckon they'en can read Clem?
Clem: Hummm..well maybe not.

Marie Centanni, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Blanco, said she could not comment.

Clem: Well, better to keep ones yap shut and be thinking she's a fool, than open it again, and remove any lingering doubt.
Clyde: Got that right Clem, en Nagin could use some of that thar yap glue.

Source CNN

Todays Quote: "A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need the advice." Bill Cosby

It pretty much is left up to them and their honor I guess, but in at least one instance an officer of the law gave himself no slack. Richard Knoebel, Chief of Police in Village of Kewaskum, Wisconsin wrote himself a ticket for passing a stopped school bus with its lights flashing.


Since the incident last September Knoebel has been getting calls from CNN. The article also says that the incident remained quiet until it showed up in court records. However I am unable to find it in Wisconsin CCAP (Consolidated Court Automation Programs) where any records of this kind should always show up.

This is on a par with the story of George Washington's cherry tree incident. Although that incident was probably invented by Mason Locke Weems, who according historian Karal Ann Marling: Weems was struggling to "flesh out a believable and interesting figure ... to humanize Washington" who had been painted as "cold and colorless" in an earlier, poorly-selling biography.

Still in this day of self reliance and expectations of everyone else doing the same, it is nice to see some old fashioned honesty.

But Then again maybe not so much.

Via We Heart Pets who has lots of cuties.

As the Super Bowl XLI approaches, and many thousands or perhaps millions of sports fans will be enjoying the spectacle.....I wonder if it's worth it.

Yes, I love to occasionally watch sports, however mostly Olympic Sports. Not the hard-driving one on one Football type except for perhaps the Super Bowl. The "best of the best" is hard to resist.

In an Op-ed by Thomas A. Bowden who writes for the Ayn Rand Institute Source he states; "Spectator sports invite us to take pleasure in our capacity for admiration. Different athletes display different virtues--one performs well under pressure, another shows consistent excellence despite advancing age, a third publicly takes pride in his accomplishments--but each contributes to the vast storehouse of sporting memories that fans draw upon every day, as reminders that difficult goals can be achieved by focused, dedicated effort."

I can agree with his evaluation, and his overall Op-ed, but still a nagging doubt arises, after reading in The New York Times two weeks ago about Andre Waters, the former Philadelphia Eagles player who committed suicide last November and was later determined to have had significant brain damage caused by football-related concussions.

Now another New York Times article Dark Days by Alan Schwarz and despite the positive spin by Thomas A. Bowden, which I can philosophically agree with nags at me.

The reality of Ted Johnson comments; “There’s something wrong with me,” said Mr. Johnson, 34, who spent 10 years in the National Football League as the Patriots’ middle linebacker. “There’s something wrong with my brain. And I know when it started.” should cause alarm among the NFL, but I doubt it will, nor will Football come to an end.

In my own youth I loved Baseball, as many young boys do, and wanted to be the greatest pitcher in the world. My idol was Bobby Shantz, because one of my Stepfathers had been his Minor League catcher before Shantz would become famous, and then disappeared to relief pitcher because of a pitched ball breaking his left wrist. Shantz was a lefty, and considered one of the best Fielding pitchers of all time.Source:Bobby Shantz

With coaching from my Stepfather, I became a better than average pitcher, though not a lefty, and as things were in those days, bats, balls, gloves, and catchers masks were a premium, unless some neighborhood kid had one. So,filling in as a catcher one day, I missed my pitchers wave off call, and caught a rising fastball dead square in the forehead, and was out cold they tell me for more than 15 Min's.
I'd suffered a majo