Federal Case

I'm kind of at a loss where to begin here. So let's just start with some of the article that caught my eye:

WASHINGTON - It's the nightmare of pet lovers everywhere: Their beloved Fido or Whiskers gets lost, is scooped up by animal thieves, then sold to be dissected in a university research lab.

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that every year middlemen known as "Class B" animal dealers round up about 18,000 dogs and cats through flea markets and free-to-good-home ads, and then sell them to laboratories and university research labs.

In the process, it says lost pets are rounded up, too.

Now that Congress has undergone a change in leadership, the animal advocacy group hopes lawmakers will make it illegal for "Class B" dealers to sell "random source" cats and dogs to research labs.

The proposed ban is dubbed "Buck's Bill" in honor of Buck, a black hound dog seized in 2003 in Oklahoma from a dealer. Buck, who had heartworm disease and other ailments, died of internal hemorrhaging months after his rescue, while in foster care.

Mary Hanley, the executive vice president of the National Association for Biomedical Research, said she sees no reason for the law change. There may have been past abuses, she said, but it's not the current reality; Labs are required to keep documentation on where their research animals came from.

"Research facilities take great care," Hanley said. "They don't want dogs that they don't know where they came from. They take great care so that they do know."

Pennsylvania Reps. Phil English and Mike Doyle disagree.

"Lost or stolen animals may be getting in the queue for experimentation" without their owners' knowledge despite laws designed to prevent that, said English, a Republican who sponsored a House bill with Doyle, a Democrat.

Under their bill, labs would still be able to obtain research animals from breeders, pet owners who donate them, or shelters as long as the animal in question is not a stray. The bill is still pending before both the House and Senate agriculture committees.

Let's be quite clear here. Longtime readers understand that while I have a lot of fun with the "Animal Uprising" shtick, that I truly actually like animals and do not - ever - condone wanton cruelty to them. I also do not condone worship of them over humans. This particular waste of time by our Federal elected officials is, quite frankly, sickening. I don't care a whit what party the idiots who are pushing this nonsense belong to - they are out-of-their-heads crazy on this nonsensical legislation. Bringing the full power and might of the Federal government down on a very, very few people who may traffic in a very small number of animals used for research. Are you kidding? When there are real problems for the elected officials to address?

This sick, sick pimping of a non-issue is disgusting. How much of a non-issue? This much:

The Department of Agriculture estimates that there are about 10 to 20 Class B dealers that sell to labs — far fewer than in the late 1970s and early '80s when there were more than 1,000 such dealers.

10-20 (Want to bet it is closer to the lower figure?) as opposed to more than 1,000 20-30 years ago. a staggeringly little number of 18,000 - total - animals some unknown percentage of which may be lost pets. This is a Federal case? This requires Federal intervention? The market is working - all by itself, without the heavy hand of the government getting involved.

This is obscene. This is exactly why politicians in general are held in the esteem they are in this country. Phil English and Mike Doyle would do a lot better to try to address real issues that their constituents sent them to Congress to address than to try to pimp a piece of garbage like this.

Gee, did that sound angry?

Good.

“Freeze! Step Away From The Cream Puff!”

The British police actually said something close to that fictitious quote when they actually arrested a child for throwing a "cream bun" at a bus. Now, is that offense better or worse on the scale of British justice than being found in possession of an egg with intent to throw? Or throwing a slice of cucumber removed from a sandwich at a student?

Sorry, trick question. ALL of the above are offenses that will get you arrested in Britain these days. And ever so many others, each more ludicrous than the next.

Police officers are being forced to make "ludicrous" arrests in an attempt to hit Home Office targets, it has been claimed.

Ridiculous examples include the case of a Cheshire man who was cautioned for being "found in possession of an egg with intent to throw".

And in Kent, a child was arrested for throwing a slice of cucumber from a tuna sandwich at another youngster.

Now the Police Federation, which represents rank-andfile officers, has called on the Government to reverse the target-chasing culture.

It says the pressure to meet performance indicators is compelling many officers to "criminalise" Middle England.

The issue will be debated at the organisation's Blackpool conference this week.

Officers will discuss whether judging them on how many arrests, cautions or onthespot fines they deliver is making a mockery of the criminal justice system.

A spokesman for the organisation, which represents 130,000 frontline staff in England and Wales, said the power to use discretion should be returned to the officers on the beat.

"We have got into the situation where everyone is so busy chasing targets and securing ticks in boxes we are on the verge of distancing ourselves from Middle England," he said.

"The cases we have compiled show incidents where an officer has been under such pressure to deliver it has resulted in an arrest or caution when even the officer themselves thinks it is ludicrous.

The problem with this kind of overzealous chasing of target numbers is that after a while, people figure they are going to get popped for something stupid anyway. Why not make it worthwhile? It also teaches people who have never been in trouble with the law to deeply mistrust the police. Lose-lose. (This is completely different, incidentally, from the way Rudy Giuliani went after real low-level crimes in New York City. There the target was real, low-level criminal activities to send a message that bigger offenses would really draw heat. In Britain, it appears to be making things up out of the whole cloth. I'd like to see the statute on assault with a deadly cucumber. And yes, I'm sure they justified it somehow, but it really is asinine.)

Today’s Genius Money-Making Scheme

Let's see. Metal prices are up, so selling scrap metal can be profitable. Cartridge casings are made of brass, much in demand at scrap yards. Ergo, cartridge casings are valuable. But first, we have to get rid of the other pesky ingredients like lead bullet, powder and primer.

So, all you have to do is put the bullet in a vise and hit it with a hammer!

Damion M. Mosher, 18, had been discharging .223-caliber rounds, placing them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with the hammer, deputies said.

Deputies were called to his home in Lake Luzerne shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday when one bullet went about a half-inch into his abdomen. He was treated at Glens Falls Hospital and was released. No charges were filed.

Mosher told authorities he was trying to empty the rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.

Sheriff Larry Cleveland said about 100 other rounds that Mosher hit had "fizzled," but one was somehow sent with more force. It was unclear if the bullet ricocheted or hit him directly.

An employee of Capitol Scrap Co. in Albany said Monday the business pays $1.70 a pound for scrap brass shell casings.

Cleveland said Mosher's shells amounted to just a few pounds.

There are easier - and safer - ways to make money of course. We do not recommend this as a path to riches. But it will get you famous. As an object of derision, but famous.

Snakes On A Videotape!

Rather, snakes IN a videotape. South African authorities have discovered ten extremely poisonous snakes disguised as videotapes. That's right, it turns out that it is a good thing the VHS tape is going away - snakes are camouflaging themselves as videotapes and mailing themselves to people. The Animal Uprising™ has sunk to a new low.

According to the SAPA news agency, investigators seized a package at a Johannesburg post office and found "extremely venomous snakes" in it.

"There is no anti-venom for these snakes so if anyone had been bitten, that would have been the end," it quoted spokesman Jacques du Toit as saying.

The posted snakes were three albino monocle cobras from southern Asia, three Arabian or Palestinian saw-scaled vipers, two Nubian spitting cobras and two taipans.

Taipans, a sub-species usually found in Papua New Guinea, are considered to be the most venomous.

The intended recipient of the parcel was arrested.

Oh sure, blame the intended victim. Poor guy gets a package with what looks to be harmless videotapes inside. When he sits down to watch a movie - bam - he's a snake snack. We here at Blue Crab Boulevard strongly recommend doing what we are about this newly identified menace. We're insuring that we have no venomous viper video vehicles by using all of the video cases as clay pigeons. Pull!

Badgering Trust

Here's an interesting bit of finger-pointing going on over in Ireland at the moment. The UK Badger Trust and a group called Badgerwatch Ireland are on the offensive against a badger cull that has been going on in Ireland for a while now. The cull is meant to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis. (I posted about a planned badger cull in Britain here.) The Badger trust is charging that the culling is not helping stop the spread of bovine TB and call for a boycott of tourism, Irish beef and dairy products. The National Farmer's Union, however, point to statistics that show that the number of animals destroyed for having the disease have declined by 40% since the culling began.

Badgers are related to weasels, stoats, polecats, ferrets and otters and are often found in country areas near farms. There are around 200,000 badgers in Ireland.

Animal rights groups have won growing political influence in Britain in recent years with major animal welfare legislation passed last year.

The National Farmers Union, representing farmers in England and Wales and has been calling for a badger cull in Britain, disputed the report's findings.

It said the Irish government policy was succeeding with the number of cattle slaughtered as TB reactors falling by more than 40 percent between 2002 and 2006.

"This is only the latest example of the Badger Trust's state of denial over the role that badgers play in transmitting TB to cattle and other wildlife and it is doing their credibility no good at all," NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said in statement.

As I have written before, I suspect that many animal rights "activists" are not really driven by their love of animals as much as by a loathing for fellow humans. The fact is that Bovine TB is spreading to cats which greatly increases the risks it will spread to humans at some point. (There is also the fact that badgers make lousy neighbors.) If you have a known disease vector, you have to control it. (This offensive is very likely part of an attempt to muddy the waters for when the British government does authorize culling in Britain.)

Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Confirms Dadullah Dead

I saw yesterday that some internet jihadis were trying to claim Mullah Dadullah was not killed by NATO forces in Afghanistan. Apparently, they forgot to send the memo to Mullah Omar because he has given formal condolences to the family of Dadullah while issuing fresh threats of jihad.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban leader Mullah Omar vowed to carry on the fight against U.S.-led forces despite the death of the group's top field commander, a spokesman said Monday, insisting militants would press "his same type of jihad."

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told The Associated Press that Omar and other militant leaders passed condolences to the family of Mullah Dadullah — the first Taliban confirmation of his death.

Ahmadi read a statement attributed to Omar insisting that militants will continue their attacks against "occupying countries." He said Dadullah's death "won't create problems for the Taliban's jihad."

Dadullah, a one-legged militant who orchestrated a rash of Taliban suicide attacks and beheadings, died of gunshot wounds after a U.S.-led operation over the weekend in the southern province of Helmand.

Ahmadi said Omar and his council of top Taliban leaders decided against naming an immediate replacement for Dadullah.

"Mullah Dadullah was the commander of all the fighting groups. Now all of the mujahedeen will carry on his same type of jihad. They will carry out attacks just as Mullah Dadullah did in his life," Ahmadi quoted Omar as saying.

It is too bad that the media sees fit to print the "press releases" of a terrorist spokesman, even if it is confirming the death of one very bad guy. If the media would stop giving an outlet to these thugs, their efforts would collapse. They are manipulating the media in an information war. The article even admits that none of what this guy claims can be verified.

Microsoft Declares War

Microsoft has telegraphed its intention to go after Linux and open source software for allegedly violating Microsoft patents. They want the users of open source software to pay royalties to Microsoft.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, and Horacio Gutierrez, the company's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, said open-source software, including Linux, violates 235 Microsoft patents. And Microsoft wants distributors and users of open-source software to start paying royalties for these alleged violations.

"This is not a case of some accidental, unknowing infringement….There is an overwhelming number of patents being infringed," Gutierrez said.

Microsoft executives in Singapore were not immediately available to comment on the article.

Smith broke down the alleged patent violations during the Fortune interview, saying the Linux kernel violates 42 patents and the operating system's user interface violates a further 65. He went on to claim that the Open Office application suite violates 45 patents and open-source e-mail applications infringe on 15 more. Other open-source software applications infringe on 68 patents, Smith said.

Microsoft has been laying the groundwork for patent claims against Linux and open-source software for some time. Most notably, the Redmond, Washington, software company signed a Linux deal with Novell Inc. that indemnifies the company against Microsoft patent claims over Linux. Last week, Dell Inc. joined the deal, becoming the first hardware vendor to do so.

This is ugly. Linux must really worry Microsoft a lot. Expect some very drawn out court battles over this strategy.

Universal Health Care Implosion

Those busily touting universal health care (read socialized medicine) in this country would do well to look at the horror stories that are reported almost daily in Britain at the moment. And at studies like this one that show that access to the newest cancer fighting drugs is ten times better in the US than in all of Europe put together. More importantly, they should look closer to home and look at what just transpired in Illinois when governor Rod Blagojevich tried to force a "progressive" Universal health funding scheme through the legislature. The result was a disaster when even Democrats realized that it would essentially destroy business in Illinois.

Easily re-elected in November, the Governor used every trick in the "progressive" political playbook to sell his proposal. Instead of a general tax increase, he claimed it would be "targeted" for universal health care and education. Instead of raising individual taxes, he aimed at business and even built in an exemption for smaller firms. "These corporate guys, they can't avoid this tax," declared the Governor, sounding one of the "populist" themes that liberal columnists are now recommending for national Democrats.

Mr. Blagojevich also pitched his plan as a moral imperative, unveiling it while standing in the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and saying it was necessary to force businesses to pay their "fair" share of the tax burden. He wanted to force most employers to offer health insurance or pay a 3% payroll tax. Liberal special interest groups–including the state AFL-CIO and the Illinois Education Association–initially supported him.

But a funny thing happened on this road to Canadian health care. The state's more rational Democrats revolted, arguing it would drive businesses out of Illinois. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was an early opponent, and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn was cool to it. House Speaker Michael Madigan very publicly withheld his support and last week came out against the tax hike.

As tax increases go, this was one of the worst. A "gross receipts tax" is popular with politicians because it applies to every dollar of company revenue, not merely on profits, or on final sales the way a retail sales tax does. But this means the tax tends to hit hardest those small and medium-sized businesses that have healthy sales volumes but narrow profit margins. The tax is a huge revenue-raiser but can also be a job killer.

Mr. Blagojevich tried to soften this impact by creating an exemption for business with annual revenues of less than $5 million. But even with that exemption, retailers would feel the squeeze from the higher cost of goods. And because the tax applies to all business transactions, it creates what economists call a "pyramiding" effect that has a damaging overall economic impact.

The scheme was defeated by a small margin: 107-0. That's right, a unanimous vote against the idea. Funding a national plan would be even worse for the American economy. The resulting socialized medicine program would be a disaster. Britain is having to ration health care already.

Nightfall In Venezuela

The last light of freedom in Venezuela is being extinguished. In two weeks, the Chavez dictatorship will silence the last independent television network in that country. Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, will be no more after 53 years. The network is incredibly popular in Venezuela and some 70% of the people oppose (T)Hugo closing the network down. Which means nothing whatsoever to Chavez.

It's not just that Ch?vez is eliminating, at a stroke, the media that gave the biggest platform to his opponents. Almost as significant is the way he has gone about it. The process against RCTV has consisted almost entirely of statements by the president on television. The law governing the license Ch?vez says he is withdrawing has been ignored; RCTV's appeals to the courts have gone unanswered. Protests and appeals from the Organization of American States, the Chilean senate, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter American Press Association, and countless human rights and press freedom NGOs have been answered with crude insults. Ch?vez called OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza "pendejo," a vulgarism referring to pubic hair.

"Say what they say, do what they do, howl where they want, the license will not be renewed," was the way Ch?vez put it. In other words, neither domestic nor international institutions matter in a regime that is becoming increasingly personal. "Ch?vez's position is that 'no one can change the decisions I make,' and anyone who tries to do so is a traitor," Granier says. "That includes the judges on the Supreme Court, the OAS — anyone who disagrees with him is an enemy."

Those whom Ch?vez calls enemies suffer more than insults. Granier says some 150 journalists and station workers have been assaulted by pro-government thugs. He distributes photos of one of several attempts to storm the station made by Ch?vez's gangs, who set a truck on fire and sent it hurtling at RCTV's front entrance. No one has been held accountable for the attacks.

In his countless television appearances, Ch?vez has made clear that his problem with Granier and RCTV is political. He accuses both of supporting an abortive coup against him in 2002. There's no question that Granier and most of his journalists oppose the government. During the attempted coup the network broadcast movies and music videos. Granier says that if Ch?vez believes that amounts to treason he's welcome to prosecute the station or its directors in the government-controlled courts. "If I'm guilty, charge me," Granier said. "He's never done it."

Let's see (T)Hugo Chavez's American shill Joseph Kennedy defend this action as the will of the people. Explain how overruling the overwhelming popular support for the network by authoritarian decree is the right thing to do. It looks like it will be a long night for Venezuela.