101st Blog Of The Day

Continuing my project to visit one member of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists each day, today I visited Jimmie at the Sundries Shack. Jimmie runs a nice place, and his post on what he's missed in pop culture pretty well describes the inhabitants here in the Crabitat…..

About Interesting Polls (Verily)

One of the regular commenters here asked what I thought of the Newsweek poll that has diametrically opposed numbers than the fast Washington Post poll. My first impression is the WaPo poll was a very fast reaction poll and admitted it was done that way - the margin of error is likely higher, but it may actually be quite accurate. I have not seen the raw data, but I'm guessing they simply did cold calls and did not worry about how many Democrats and how many Republicans, etc. The Newsweek poll was done by an outfit I am not real familiar with, and there is no raw data, so it's impossible to say how they set the sample up.

Frankly, if it's up to the standard of many polls I have commented on, it's likely got a badly - and I mean badly of biblical proportions - skewed sample. Most of the latest polls have had absolutely absurd samples. Republicans outnumbered by over 10% by Democrats and and an enormous independent count. Far, far outside the rather consistent over time Harris Poll numbers.

So, until I see raw data, I won't be able to judge. Interestingly, the Mystery Pollster thought the WaPo survey was pretty well done.

UPDATE: Actually, this is probably enough to do a new post on, but I'll post it here. First, Dan Riehl of Riehl World View was actually called by Gallup and is one of their poll sample. Read his take on the poll, because it is important. Assuming his description is accurate (and I am willing to bet it is) the form of the questions provide a "push". Look - I was a psych major once upon a time and had to take design of experiments. That's a push poll. There is a vaguely threatening air about the questions - be intellectually honest. (I know this is a different poll than the Newsweek, but I think it is relevant).

Second, Curt over at Flopping Aces has got the sample data for the Newsweek poll. It is heavily biased. There are 9% more Democrats and 32% ind pendant? 32%? Are you serious?

Now I'm calling it a biased poll, and a serious problem.

I have to ask a question and ask that you answer honestly. Is gaining political power so important that you are willing to do so by using fabricated data to do it? Is it so important that you are willing to lie, cheat and steal to gain it?

If the answer is yes, then explain exactly how are you one iota better than the people you charge with using those tactics?

I'll wait.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

A company called LifeGem Memorials will take the cremated remains of a loved one and turn it into a man made diamond. They have now perfected a way of making the diamonds from hair samples, so the remains can be interred. To publicize this technology, they are going to turn a sample of the composer Ludwig Von Beethoven into several diamonds which will then be sold to raise money for charity.

LifeGem Memorials, a company that first gained attention in 2002 by making diamonds out of the carbon from cremated human remains, now says it can make diamonds out of human hair, allowing people to bury their loved ones but still have a memento they can carry with them.

To publicise this — and to raise money for charity — the company has teamed with John Reznikoff, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest and most valuable collection of celebrity hair.

Reznikoff is giving six to 10 strands of Beethoven's hair to LifeGem, which will use it in a process to create three diamonds of between 0.5 and 1 carat in weight.

Greg Herro, chief executive officer of LifeGem, said the diamonds will initially be put on a worldwide tour of museums and opera houses for about half a year as the company tries to gain attention for its ability to make diamonds from hair.

"We thought, well, what better way to do it than with an international icon who is known to millions," Herro said.

Eventually, the diamonds will be sold at auction, with the proceeds donated to raise money for military families, Herro said.

Now, the charity they are going to support is very worthwhile - the money is to go to the families of soldiers. So I think their hearts are in the right place. It just seems kind of creepy to me, but I'm old fashioned, I guess. However, if you want to turn aunt Gertrude into a gemstone in the afterlife, more power to you. It beats having the relatives freeze-dried.

Here's the LifeGem website. 

Welcome To The Rest Of Your Life

Zacarias Moussaoui arrived at the Supermax Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado to begin serving his two consecutive life sentences. His cheery routine - for the rest of his natural life - will include 23 hours a day locked into a 7 foot by 12 foot concrete cell. With concrete furniture.

Have a nice long life, Zach. Bet it will seem even longer.

Good.

Grossly Misleading

Here's a headline for you: Spy Agency Watching Americans From Space. Sounds threatening, sinister, scary - they're spying on us!

Unless you actually read the article, which reveals that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has been helping out with damage assessments from hurricanes and forest fires and helping with security arrangements for Superbowls and political conventions.

On Clapper's watch of the last five years, his agency has found ways to expand its mission to help prepare security at Super Bowls and political conventions or deal with natural disasters, such as hurricanes and forest fires.

With help, the agency can also zoom in. Its officials cooperate with private groups, such as hotel security, to get access to footage of a lobby or ballroom. That video can then be linked with mapping and graphical data to help secure events or take action, if a hostage situation or other catastrophe happens.

How about "Intelligence agency helping Americans"? Wouldn't that be more accurate? But that wouldn't have the scare factor, would it? It sounds like these are all good ways to use a very, very damned expensive investment for the direct good of the American people.

This is a grossly misleading headline.

VERY Interesting

Richard Falkenrath, currently a fellow at the Brookings Institution, writing in today's Washington Post, has a rather interesting defense of the NSA program collecting "anonymized" telephone information. Anonymized meaning of course that all personal identifiers and all actual content is removed.

The potential value of such anonymized domestic telephone records is best understood through a hypothetical example. Suppose a telephone associated with Mohamed Atta had called a domestic telephone number A. And then suppose that A had called domestic telephone number B. And then suppose that B had called C. And then suppose that domestic telephone number C had called a telephone number associated with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The most effective way to recognize such patterns is the computerized analysis of billions of phone records. The large-scale analysis of anonymized data can pinpoint individuals — at home or abroad — who warrant more intrusive investigative or intelligence techniques, subject to all safeguards normally associated with those techniques.

Clearly, there is a compelling national interest in understanding and penetrating such terrorist networks. If the people associated with domestic telephone numbers A, B and C are inside the United States and had facilitated the Sept. 11 attacks, perhaps they are facilitating a terrorist plot now. The American people rightly expect their government to detect and prevent such plots. (Emphasis added).

Which sums the whole thing up pretty neatly. (Prediction: many spittle splashed monitors in lefty circles on reading Falkenrath's piece). There's even something in here I have not seen in any of the legal analyses I have seen on this program - and it could be the thing that disarms every complaint.

There are, of course, strict legal limits on the ability of federal agencies such as the NSA to compel the provision of domestic information or to collect it secretly. The USA Today story, however, alleges that three telecommunications companies — AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth — provided it voluntarily. How else could one company (Qwest) decline to provide the information? Since there is no prohibition against federal agencies receiving voluntarily provided business records relating to their responsibilities, it appears that the NSA's alleged receipt and retention of such information is perfectly legal.

That's an interesting position, indeed. Since I don't even play a lawyer on television, I won't speculate on it. Combined with the last post, this is beginning to look like a world class set-up. I think it will be interesting next week. Very interesting.

Note: Falkenrath served as deputy homeland security adviser and deputy assistant to the president.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one sensing something. Dread Pundit Bluto, posting at Jawa Report, is also feeling a disruption in the Force.

This Will Be Interesting

Today's New York Times has an article about the upcoming confirmation hearings for General Michael Hayden as CIA director. The Times reports that Democrats see an opportunity.

Senate Democrats intend to use next week's confirmation hearings for a new CIA director to press the Bush administration on its broad surveillance programs, engaging Republicans on national security grounds that have proved politically treacherous for Democrats in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

Here's where it becomes very, very tricky:

To date, however, Democrats have been careful to calibrate their public statements about the N.S.A.'s domestic eavesdropping and data-mining programs. Most have focused their criticisms on questions about the program's legal underpinnings and whether Congress was sufficiently consulted about it, with only a handful calling outright for an end to the efforts.

….

Other Republicans say Democrats still risk raising questions about their own national security priorities if they push too hard on the surveillance programs. "It could hurt them if they go too far," Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said about the Democrats.

Republicans were able to effectively turn national security issues against the Democrats in the 2002 and 2004 elections. A Congressional fight over the creation of the Department of Homeland Security contributed to Republican gains in the Senate in 2002, and Mr. Bush and Congressional Republicans portrayed themselves as stronger on terrorism in 2004.

The tricky part: Push too hard and look like you're against protecting Americans. Don't push hard enough and you are in serious trouble with your "netroots". I'll make a prediction here, the Democrats will be unable to restrain themselves and will come off these hearings looking bad. Their track record for never failing to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity is astonishing.

I'm sensing a set-up here.

True Genius

In an awesome display of sheer genius, two 17-year old budding young arsonists posted pictures and bragged of their fire-starting exploits on MySpace.com. Police promptly arrested the brainy duo.

"The significant thing is they posted on the Internet, and bragged about the fires, and that certainly allowed us to break the case," county Fire Chief Thomas W. Carr Jr. said. "They posted photos of these fires."

The dynamic duo had started some 17 fires since January involving cars, school buses, stores and a bowling alley.

I wonder if they are eligible for any reward money?

Your Tax Dollars Inaction

Folks in West Milford, West Virginia are getting a firsthand lesson in bureaucratic buck passing. It seems nobody from any of the various State or local government entities contacted by residents wants to actually do anything about the resident's problem.

Said problem being a very large, very dead cow stuck on a dead tree at the West Milford Dam. The cow's been dead for a while, too.

The brown and white Hereford is stuck on a dead tree at the West Milford Dam, about 500 feet outside West Milford's town limits. The cow has not been claimed by farmers upstream, and officials are not sure how the animal ended up in the river.

"You can definitely smell it before you get to it," said Ken Lasure, who lives about 300 yards from the dam. "Personally, I think it's the (DNR's) problem. I don't think it's the community's problem."

Town secretary Roberta Ash says she's called every state department she can think in response to citizens' complaints. She also called the Clarksburg Water Board, which referred her to other agencies.

Everyone contacted says it's not their problem. So, who's going to be the first bureaucrat brave enough to step up and say, "The buck cow stops here"?

Open Season On Big Bird

Thomas County (Kansas) Sheriff Mike Baughn is defending his decision to order a deputy to shoot big bird. No, not the goofy, yellow Sesame Street variety, the 6-foot tall ostrich kind. It seems the bird was wandering about on Interstate 70. At least one person who witnessed the deputy shooting the bird is complaining:

"I think the deputy ought to be reprimanded," (Dennis) Espinosa said. "In my opinion, that was not just a chicken or a small bird. It was somebody's big bird."

Well, yeah, it probably was since they're not exactly native to Kansas. However somebody's big bird would have acted about the same as somebody's bowling ball had a car hit it. Get some sense, dude.

This is the first ostrich the Sheriff has had to have destroyed. He has had to have about 10 emus killed in the past decade.

Who knew Kansas had an out of control big bird problem?

Big Tent - Big Problem

Well, it's nice to see some things never change for the Democrats. In keeping with the grand tradition of Robert Byrd, the party of the big tent now welcomes unwillingly gets a holocaust denier and white supremacist! Larry Darby is running for Attorney General in Alabama. He's also quite publicly vocal about his belief that the holocaust is completely fabricated and is heading to New Jersey this weekend to address a "pro-white" organization.

"I am what the propagandists call a Holocaust denier, but I do not deny mass deaths that included some Jews," Darby said. "There was no systematic extermination of Jews. There's no evidence of that at all." (Note - Darby maintains about 140,000 Jews died, mostly from typhus).

Darby said he will speak Saturday near Newark, N.J., at a meeting of National Vanguard, which bills itself as an advocate for the white race. Some of his campaign materials are posted on the group's Internet site.

"It's time to stop pushing down the white man. We've been discriminated against too long," Darby said in the interview.

Oh, he's also apparently endorsed legalizing drugs and shooting all illegal immigrants.

Now, to be fair about this, there are actually a number of Democrats that are very upset that Darby is running.

"Hate and prejudice are destructive qualities that are not welcome in New Jersey and should be condemned wherever they occur," said (Democratic state ) party Chairman Joe Cryan. "Mr. Darby should turn around before crossing the Jersey stateline and then give thought to turning his abhorrent attitudes around as well."

Which is a good thing. What's bad is that Darby apparently pulled about 12 of Democratic votes back home in Alabama. I don't think that's something for the big tent to be real proud of.

UPDATE: As was pointed out in comments the term "welcomes" is off the mark and was edited accordingly.

Guarding The Border

According to the New York Times, one of the things President Bush is considering is whether to deploy National Guard units along the border with Mexico. Which would be a fine temporary step until a more permanent means of securing the border (read fence) can be implemented.

The problem with deploying troops to show you're getting tough on the issue is exactly the same as a bunch of showy catch and release INS raids. It's meaningless unless you actually stop the flood, or at least slow it to a trickle. After some sort of legislation is passed, the troops can quietly be withdrawn and we are right back where we started. A permanent way of securing the border must be part of any solution.

So, unless the troops are being deployed as a stopgap until a fence can be built, it will be a meaningless gesture. It will not appease the majority who want that border closed. I sincerely hope the White House realizes that. There are a lot of very angry voters right now. The old smoke and mirrors tricks won't work this time.