January 13, 2010

Good News! NC Port's Contractors Spilled More PETN

Hey, it's only a slurry of one of the most powerful explosives on earth. We don't need to be careful with it, or anything:

Nine 50-kilogram drums filled with the explosive PETN were punctured by a forklift early Tuesday as they were being unloaded at the port. Also known as pentaerythritol tetranitrate, the colorless PETN crystals are used in detonating cords for industrial explosions, as well as in heart medications.

Officials said Wednesday afternoon that they had found more of the PETN spilled at the port that didn't come from the punctured drums, which necessitated additional cleanup. They said they didn't know how the PETN was spilled but said it might have occurred during shipping.

That's encouraging news. It seems that would-be terrorists don't need to manufacture explosives or try to smuggle them into the country. They can simply get custodial positions at the nation's ports, and then they can blow up what they retrieve from their dustpans or wring out of a mop.

Homeland security? Not so much.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 04:15 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Haitian Hell

As you probably know by now, a 7.0 earthquake centered just five miles underground apparently destroyed the Haitian capital of Port-au- Prince yesterday, and damged cites and towns throughout the impoverished island nation.

World governments, the Red Cross and other volunteer aide organizations are rushing in to save as many lives as possible.

The exact scope of the devastation is not precisely known and may not be known for some time, but there are expectations that thousands are dead in collapsed buildings, and that as many as three million people will need some sort of assistance in the wake of this natural disaster.

We're going to do the best we can with what we have, but we could do better.

In recent years there have been some novel ideas floated on using retiring U.S. Navy vessels as floating emergency response bases for natural disasters and terrorist attacks on coastal regions in our hemisphere. Theoretically, ships could be based strategically on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as in a port in the Gulf of Mexico with supplies and rescue equipment pre-loaded for dispatch on very short notice.

An acquaintance of mine named Ward Brewer (which I've unfortunately fallen out of contact with) was a firm proponent of the idea, and proposed using some of the retiring Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships in this role. While obsolete by Navy standards and being replaced by more modern vessels, many of the features that made the Tarawa-class so well-suited for landing Marines on hostile shore would work exceptionally well for transporting heavy equipment, medical supplies, and rescue craft to areas in need. Each Tarawa can create fresh water, electricity, and has a 300-bed hospital with four operating rooms, 17 ICU rooms, and a 1,000-unit blood bank.

As it so happens, two Tarawa class ships are still in service, and presumably could be re-tasked to this rescue role upon their retirements with minimal transition work, and the first ship in the series is presently inactive and presumably ready to be refit as needed.

With real unemployment presently at 22% and skilled American tradesmen at shipyards around the nation needing work, it would seem to be an excellent time for a President so concerned about America's image to announce plans to turn these old warriors into angels of mercy.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:18 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Thug Life: Democrat Roughs Up Reporter

Poor Martha Coakley.

The hand-picked machine politician selected as the heir to Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is having a tough time as of late. Ahead by double digits weeks before before the election, Coakley's campaign has been steady beat-down by revelations of her failures as a prosecutor to treat child predators aggressively, an arrogant, yet timid public facade, dumb political statements (still uses tired Bush/Cheney arguments, claims there are no terrorists in Afghanistan), and now, there emerges on-tape video evidence that someone associated with her campaign knocking down a journalist politely asking a simple question:

A photographer from the Associated Press got a good shot of the guy with Coakley's campaign that knocked down John McCormack of The Weekly Standard as Coakley looks on with her hands in her pockets and walks away.

McCormack has now revealed that the thug-on-loan is Michael Meehan, who seems to have been sent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to "help" Coakley as she desperately met with DC lobbyists to raise money and hopefully save her dying campaign in a state that her staff can't even spell.

It's amazing how political fortunes can change so quickly, but when intense public scrutiny of the campaign put Coakley in a position where she had to perform, she cracked.

I think the revelations of the past few weeks is great news for the people of Massachusetts. They now have a much better idea of the kind of lockstep, "me-too" Senator she would be if elected, and the kind of Senator Scott Brown will be if elected to the people's Senate seat.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:53 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 12, 2010

The More You Know

Do You know what the differences between Newsweek journalist Michael Isikoff and WorldNet Daily columnist/martial artist/actor/pitchman Chuck Norris are?

Norris has proven he's at least a moderate talent at more than one thing. Also, when Norris publishes what some consider a conspiratorial fantasy, people don't die.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:56 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Avatards

I'm still trying to determine how I feel about this:

James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora...

[snip]

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Okay—now I know how I feel. I feel disgust.

Listen up, cupcakes.

While it is as clichéd as Hell, the world really is what you make of it. Odds are that your life sucks because you enable the suck. You are responsible for it, and your negative attitude is the primary ingredient in the suck sandwich you love to gag yourself on.

I look at people CNN interviewed and the posting of these faceless drones and see people wallowing in woe-is-me mediocrity and co-dependency, waiting for someone else to give their lives meaning and purpose.

Life doesn't work like that.

Other people do not exist to give your miserable existence meaning or to give you edification. You and you alone are responsible for your actions, your thoughts, and how you deal with the circumstances of your life. You could be great, and make a great life, but you are terrified of doing anything worthwhile. You prefer to trap yourself into a pathetic, unhappy life. I feel no sorrow, only contempt for you.

Yes, some people are born with certain advantages, and some people are born with disadvantages. We all have strengths, and we all have flaws.

These—Avatards—live at the most prosperous time in the history of planet Earth, and have lives sufficiently comfortable that they can shell out more than some people in the world make in months, just to go blankly stare at a cartoon utopia. They then leave the theater, climb into their late model car and drive to their suburban home or apartment, grab a snack out of the fridge, and contemplate how much their lives suck.

These fools willing serve time in a solitary confinement of their own making, with lives not worth living because of the hell they create for themselves. They feel the world is better off without them.

They are probably right.

(h/t: Drudge)

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:30 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Port of Morehead City Closed By Explosives Incident

Everything between 4th St. and the Hwy 70 bridge to Radio Island has been shutdown in Morehead City, NC, in response to a hazmat emergency.

According to local media, nine containers carrying explosives were involved. No media are reporting precisely what the explosive material is, but Marine Corps EOD technicians from nearby Cherry Point are on-scene.

Is is SOP to call in a military EOD team for industrial accidents?

Update: I guess it is entirely appropriate to call in military EOD when the spilled explosives are PETN.

80 grams is enough to bring down an airliner. We don't yet know how large the containers were that were damaged, but since there are at least nine and this is an industrial shipment, a conservative guess is that we're probably talking a minimum of hundreds of pounds of the explosive.

As an aside, I wonder what kind of port security they have at Morehead. It seems to me such a shipment would make one heck of hijacking target.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:26 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Pro-Terrorist Obama Ally Invites Muslim Brotherhood to "Join Us in Cleansing Our Country."

You remember Jodie Evans, don't you?

She's a co-founder of Code Pink, an apologist for Osama bin Laden, and bundler for Barack Obama that gets direct access to the White House.

She now inviting the group that spawned some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world to join Code Pink in &quut;cleansing our country.&quut;

In a more sane time in American history, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, and other leaders of Code Pink would be viewed with the same scorn as the copperheads, but now they are instead embraced and consulted by the President himself.

We shouldn't be surprised that Barack Obama embraces radicals that hate America, as he has done that consistently his entire life. We retain the right, however, to be utterly appalled.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:11 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 11, 2010

Money Bomb

As I'm typing this, Republican Scott Brown is in the later stages of his attempt to raise $500,000 in his run for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. He seems to be doing okay. He's raised more than $836,000, and the night isn't over.

Rather obviously, this race isn't just about filling a vacant Senate seat. It has become something of skirmish over the health care rationing scheme known as Obamacare.

That Brown is raising so much in one day in an off-year special election is a clear warning to Democrats that November will be bloody, indeed.

Update: Brown broke $1,000,000 well before 11:00 PM ET.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:39 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

That Just Ain't Right

While I haven't had the chance to get out on the water in several years, I used to be an avid fisherman, stalking largemouth bass in lakes, farm ponds, and rivers. For bass fisherman, the &qout;holy grail&qout; has long been the 22 lb, 4 oz record bass caught by George W. Perry in Georgia in 1932. The catch spawned (sorry, couldn't resist) a multi-billion dollar industry, professional bass sport fishing, and made famous guys with names like Bill, Tom, and Ray.

Everyone suspected that one day soon Perry's record would be tied or broken, but we always figured it would be a good old boy in a remote Southern slough, or a new breed of big bass hunters that specialize in California's reservoir bass.

A bleach-blond Manabu Kurita isn't exactly the good old boy anyone expected to tie the record.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:58 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

So Hot, We'll Freeze to Death

I had to go out a few minutes early this morning to use the global warming scraper™ on my car's windows before I could begin my morning commute.

It seems that some scientists are suggesting that instead of being an exception, that might one day become a regular part of my routine.

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.

That's just the teaser; may sure you really dig into the article to get a full taste of just how much climate change cultists have lied to you about the direction our climate is heading.

The current, bitterly cold weather blanketing much of the northern hemisphere is a taste of what real science predicts for our future in the short term, and the long term as well.

The last 10,000 years have been very good to us; the 90,000 before that sucked, as it will again when our present interglacial comes to an end. The longer your view is of history, the more we see just how lucky we are that the human species had such an extended warm period in which to develop, but that long view also shows us that we're due for a long, and nasty temperature drop. We're overdue for the next ice age:

These data should frighten you. All of civilization developed during the last interglacial, and the data show that such interglacials are very brief. Our time looks about up. Data such as these are what led us to state, in the Preface, that the next ice age is about to hit us, any millennium now. It does not take a detailed theory to make this prediction. We don't necessarily know why the next ice age is imminent (at least on a geological timescale), but the pattern is unmistakable.

The real reason to be frightened is that we really don't understand what causes the pattern. We don't know why the ice ages are broken by the short interglacials. We do know something – that the driving force is astronomical.

Mankind is self-important, and arrogantly wants to believe that we can control the climate. Because of this we have wasted billions of dollars (and are poised to waste trillions more) trying to reverse a process in which we play a seemingly insignificant role.

We need to be focusing our efforts on trying to determine how—when the real climate change occurs—we're going to deal with longer periods of intense cold. We can't change the climate, but we can learn to adapt to it as it changes, as long as we don't waste our time, energy, and effort trying to control nature itself.

Update: I don't want to lose my funding! The scientist that was the bais for the Daily Mail article is challenging their representation of his work. Smart man. You don't bite the hand that feeds you all of that delicious grant money. He would probably come closer to agreeing with this Telegraph version of events, which will see him safely into retirement.

Attempting to claim that the reality of cooling and the projection of cooling actually supports a long term case for warming is a contortion to make a Cirque du Soleil gymnast wince, but it is amusing to watch.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:26 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 08, 2010

Did Abdulmutallab Want to Fail? Eh, No

Most days, I don't think about him at all. Some days, I question his sanity. And then there are days when I have no doubts at all.

Glenn invokes Jane's law.

Yeah... that fits.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 01:36 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

There Are No Coincidences

A U.S. solider deployed in Afghanistan captured the mastermind of the attack that killed his cousin three years before. When TankerBabe says she got chills hearing this story, I can understand why.

Via Thunder Run.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:15 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wait a Second.. Allahpundit Knows Ray Stevens?

When you read someone long enough, you start to develop the feeling you actually know them to a certain extent, even though you don't actually know the person at all.

Well, Allahpundit through me for a loop this morning.

I never would have expected him to know the first thing about Ray Stevens, much less post his video ripping Obamacare:

If I find that AP's a closet fan of Lewis Grizzard and Jerry Clower, I just don't know what I'll do.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:54 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 07, 2010

St. Louis Workplace Violence: Five Workers Shot, Shooter Commits Suicide

A disgruntled employee of more than 20 years entered the St. Louis branch of ABB Power and shot five others this morning before turning the gun on himself. The shooter, identified as Timothy Hendron, killed at least one of his co-workers. Several others are in serious-to-critical condition.

There is still a lot of confusion/misinformation over what precisely occurred and why, but several accounts indicate that Hendron was part of a class-action benefits lawsuit against his company, though it is unknown if that had any direct impact on today's events.

If anger over the court case is found out to be the proximate cause of the shooting, then it will be the second shooting this week with such a cause.

Please say a prayer for those affected.

Update: According to police, the suspect killed three ABB workers and wounded 5 others before taking his own life. There is still no word on a motive. The class-action lawsuit of which Hendron was a part was just getting underway this week.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Globe Columnist Tees Off on Martha Coakley

Ouch. Brian McGrory is not pulling his punches:

If you're a registered voter in Massachusetts, your friendly Democratic Senate candidate, Martha Coakley, is sticking her thumb in your eye.

Coakley, in exquisitely diva-like form, is refusing all invitations to debate her Republican opponent in the race, Scott Brown, unless a third-party candidate with no apparent credentials is included on the stage. She may also require a crystal bowl of orange-only M&Ms in her dressing room, but we haven't gotten that far yet. Her demands have led to an astonishing result: there will be just one -- that's one -- live televised debate in the Boston media market this general election season.

It gets mushy in the middle, but it ends strong.

If the Globe keeps hammering Coakley, will enough Massachusetts Democrats stay home to give Republican challenger Scott Brown an outside chance of winning Ted Kennedy's old seat? I still find it improbable, but Coakley's ineptitude, a continued withering assault from the typically left-leaning Globe, and the idea that some make use the race as a referendum against the health care rationing scheme seem to be making what should have been Coakley's race to win race more uncertain every day.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:35 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

White House Refuses to Address Obama Health Care Lie

Shocking, I know.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:59 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Was Michael Yon Targeted For Harassment by DHS?

I'm really bad for getting around to this so late, but Michael Yon was hassled at the Seattle airport as he came back after nearly a year overseas:

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not "arrested", but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eve...ntually came -- they were professionals -- and rescued me from the border bullies.

Over at Blackfive, Laughing Wolf wrote about the incident, and someone calling themselves "Johnnie von Bernhardi" responded back in detail, challenging Yon's account, straight up calling him a liar.

Interestingly enough, von Bernhardi provides Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with a motive:

Yon actually has a history with CBP. His Thai girlfriend got stopped and questioned by CBP and he has a hissy fit afterward.

The "history" they speak of isn't of a problem with Yon passing through customs, but of publishing this article that detailed the bullying behavior of a CBP officer experience by a friend of Yon's.

And von Bernhardi? He/she posts from a socket-puppet Department of Homeland Security IP address both as Von Bernhardi and as Nicole on Blackfive.

While there is certain to be another official explanation for their behavior, the DHS sockpuppet makes it clear that CBP was both known to them and on their bad side before he attempted to re-enter the country.

I'll let you ponder what that may mean on your own.

As for his part, Yon is a fighter. He's challenged DHS to release the video-tapes of his harassment and may attempt to file a libel suit against DHS for the comment at Blackfive calling him a liar.

Let me tell you a little about what I know of Michael Yon. We've worked together on several stories in the past, and his concern for accuracy and fairness in reporting is second to none. If I had to weigh his integrity versus that of a person who leaves sock-puppeted comments under multiple aliases in a blog's comments, I'm going with Mike's account all the way, without reservations.

And if Janet Napolitano's DHS is targeting critics for harrassment, they certainly picked the wrong former Green Beret to start in on.

Update: Laughing Wolf says via email that Nicole claims she is not von Bernhardi. Duly noted.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:35 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

January 06, 2010

Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie

Barack Obama, via Breitbart, promising on eight separate occasions to televise the health care debate.

Barack Obama is a liar. That isn't a slanderous accusation, just a well-documented fact. It rather makes you wonder what else he may have lied about.

Doesn't it?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:40 AM | Comments (29) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trouble for Coakley in Massachusetts

Before becoming a U.S. Senate candidate that expected to waltz into Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat merely for having a "D" behind her name, Martha Coakley was a prosecutor. The left-leaning Boston Globe is far from content with what would normally be their obvious choice over Republican candidate Scott Brown.

Maybe it's because she seemed so ambivalent about prosecuting child rapists:

In October 2005, a Somerville police officer living in Melrose raped his 23-month-old niece with a hot object, most likely a curling iron.

Keith Winfield, then 31, told police he was alone with the toddler that day and made additional statements that would ultimately be used to convict him.

But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.

It was only after the toddler's mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.

Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, Coakley's office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley's successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.

Even as an isolated case this looks bad for Coakley, but I could understand how sympathetic people might consider her giving her the benefit of the doubt for having a bad case. OH, if it were only one bad case. But Winfield wasn't the first rapist she'd been soft on.

As Jules Crittenden notes, Coakley was also the prosecutor who allowed John Geoghan, the poster boy for Catholic priest pedophilia, to secretly plead to a probation deal in 1995. Geoghan molested at least 130 victims before finally being sentenced to prison.

I'm sure that there are voters in Massachusetts who can hold their nose, find a comfortable rationalization, and cast a vote for Coakley knowing her past.

But I imagine there quite a few more that now look on her with richly deserved suspicion.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:58 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Obama: Screw You, America, And Screw Transparency. Let's Ram Through This Bill

The veneer has shattered. Despite pleas from America (and the media) to keep his word, President Obama is calling for House and Senate Democrats to ram through Obamacare in a panicked rush:

President Barack Obama is prodding House and Senate Democrats to get him a final health care bill as soon as possible, encouraging them to bypass the usual negotiations between the two chambers in the interest of speed.

Obama delivered the message at an Oval Office meeting Tuesday evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his No. 2, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined in by phone.

They agreed that rather than setting up a formal conference committee to resolve differences between health bills passed last year by the House and Senate, the House will work off the Senate's version, amend it and send it back to the Senate for final passage, according to a House leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private meeting.

Obama himself will take a hands-on role, convening another meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Wednesday, the aide said.

The aim is to get a final bill to Obama's desk before the State of the Union address sometime in early February.

Nationwide, Democrats are dropping like flies, with two U.S. Senators and governor dropping out of planned re-election bids within the past 24 hours. This is presumably due to a combination of the bullying political tactics of the Democratic leadership for radical and rushed pork-laden expenditures, and the realization that their constituents are sick and tired of unethically-purchased and tyrannical legislation.

The Obama Administration and Democratic Congress have abandoned the concept of "representative" democracy, in that they have no interest in listening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who do not want this bill rushed through recklessly. As we are all painfully aware, health care comprises 20% of our national economy, and any legislation concerning it deserves careful and open deliberation to make sure that it meets the needs of the American people, without it being an undue burden on future generations.

It becomes more apparent with every passing day, however, that the radical leaders of the Democratic Party have no interest in making laws that help the American people. They are only interested in usurping as much power as they can for themselves.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:07 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

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