Pointless And Dishonest

I read this Reuters article just because of the title: Greyhound bus trip provides snapshot of U.S. poor. Because back in the day, I rode Greyhound (or sometimes Trailways) buses rather often. My Mother rode them fairly regularly to visit my Grandmother long after I stopped taking the bus. It was cheaper than the cost of gas from Rochester, New York to Saranac Lake - and she actually enjoyed chatting with other passengers. But I read this and despite the headline, there is one thing missing: the poor. Oh, some of the riders mentioned weren't exactly rolling in dough - like the guy just released from prison - but there really isn't any proof the people were destitute as the title implies.

The passengers on one such trip in May included an elderly couple with the twitchy movements of drug users. They boarded in Mobile, Alabama, and the man promptly locked himself in the bathroom at the back of the bus, refusing to come out.

When the bus halted in the small town of Greenville, Alabama, and the driver told the couple they had paid to disembark there, they appeared astonished.

It also included Rita Williams, a 79-year-old retired seamstress from Mobile who was heading to the capital to see one of her 26 grandchildren graduate from college.

"I love to ride the bus. I used to ride the plane. My son tried to get me to take the plane but I haven't taken a plane since 9/11," said Williams, part-way through a journey that would take more than 24 hours.

Joseph Ulysses, who also sat alone on the bus, said he had just been released from jail in Louisiana after serving 12 years of a life sentence for murder in what he said was a drug-related incident.

Ulysses was heading to north Tennessee aiming to put the past behind him but he said that he, and many others leaving prison after long stints, were angered by their experiences and that made starting again difficult…..

…..Greyhound bus stations are often located in run-down parts of cities or just off an interstate and some appear to act as a magnet for people on the margins of society.

Passengers waiting to board a bus can play video games, snack on fast food or relax on plastic chairs stapled to the floor.

The Mobile bus station, where the Atlanta-bound bus made its first stop, is where security guard Joseph Salter, 33, pursues his mission in life — to help people in distress.

Salter stood at the entrance to the station and welcomes people arriving off buses.

Inside he made a point of trying to speak to every passenger even those slumped in chairs. In this way he said he had been able to help people including those suffering from addiction or depression.

"It has given me a sense of peace to do this. It's like a calling. I am destined to give people comfort, to be a servant," said Salter, who checks passengers' boarding buses.

So far, we've met a couple that appear to be drug users, a just-released prison inmate and a woman who could have taken a plane but chose not to (who sounds a lot like someone my mother would have chatted with for hours. Mom chose not to drive, even though she had a car.) If you read the rest, you'll meet a Canadian woman taking her kids around the US.

So, is it just me, or is one thing missing from the "snapshot of the poor"? Like maybe the poor? Yes, someone just released from prison is "poor" - but he's also back on the outside (after a murder - that's another discussion) with a chance to stay out. The apparent drug users may be in their own prison, but it is one of their own making. The woman who could fly but chooses not to? Poor? Actually, I think she could tell you a lot and make the miles go by quickly. The Canadian woman complaining that there isn't a lot to see from the interstate? Get a clue - there is almost never anything to see from an interstate.

I grew up in what today would be considered devastating poverty. Single mother, five kids and she made a whopping $4,000 a year as a secretary (in 1974 - even less through the '60s). We ate government cheese and peanut butter when we had to - there were no food stamps then. And I rode the bus - a lot. So what exactly is the point of this article? And exactly how dishonest is it? You decide.

It Must Be Tough

One man who happens to own 273 acres where Flight 93 crashed on 9/11 is demanding $10 million for his property where a memorial is planned. The memorial project envisions a memorial and National Park covering about 1,300 acres. The landowner, Mike Svonavec, has installed a donation box on his land to "cover security costs".

PITTSBURGH - A man who owns property at the site where Flight 93 crashed has demanded millions for his portion of land where a memorial is planned, and has installed a donation box to help pay for security. The actions by Mike Svonavec have angered victims' families, who believe he is overcharging and disagree with the need for a donation box.

"That land has been paid for with 40 lives … the donation box is an insult to that cost," said Patrick White, vice president for Families of Flight 93.

Svonavec wants $10 million for his 273-acre property in Somerset County, far more than the per-acre amount paid for nearby land, White said Tuesday. He said Svonavec told him about his asking price last July, and that he has rejected three offers from the group — the latest for more than $500,000.

"I think Svonavec believes his land, because it has the blood of my cousin and 39 other people, it's worth more," he said.

Svonavec said he wants fair market value for the parcel and he would accept no money for the exact site where 40 passengers and crew members died when the hijacked United Airlines flight crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. He declined to comment on the $10 million figure.

The donation box, installed near a temporary memorial on the land, would help cover security costs. Security has been handled by a firm at a cost of about $10,000 per month since federal funding ran out in February. The site has also incurred other costs, he said.

"I just can't afford it," Svonavec said. "I need some help."…..

……Svonavec said he is working with advisers, including Randall Bell, a California-based real estate appraiser who specializes in properties where disasters have occurred. Svonavec said he is waiting for a completed appraisal.

Um, yeah, almost $37,000 per acre for farm land is an extraordinarily "fair" price, Mr. Svonavec. Why, it's so "fair" we only have one little question for you - and for your adviser, Mr. Bell: however do the two of you manage to shave in the morning? Because if either one of you can look yourself in the eye in the mirror, you're both worse than we think. By a considerable amount.

And in your honor, Mr. Svonavec and Mr. Bell, I've inaugurated a brandy-spanking new category.

Destroying The Environment In Order To Save It

In an object lesson of the muddle-headedness of some folks who claim to love the environment, an "artist" has been arrested after attempting to paint the top of Mont Blanc red.

Marco Evaristti, 43, originally from Chile, was picked up by police after having used a raspberry-based biodegradable dye based on the top of the famous Alpine peak.

Police spokesman Olivier Kim said the artist might be charged with damaging the environment on a listed site, namely Mont Blanc itself.

Evaristti had announced on Monday that he wanted to colour the peak of Mont Blanc — the highest mountain in western Europe — and establish a sovereign "Pink State" there to raise awareness for environmental issues.

"As France has taken the right to conduct nuclear testing in French Polynesia thousands of kilometres away, it would be a clear case of double-standards if they now prevented me from occupying a small piece of land for peaceful purposes," he said.

Perhaps if Mr. Evaristti was not so self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing, he might have had the time to study a bit of elementary physics. Mont Blanc has a permanent snow and ice cap. Part of the reason why this cap exists is that the white color reflects the heat of the sun rather efficiently.

Painting the summit red would change that, wouldn't it? Want to try an interesting experiment? Take a block of ice (it's a bit late in the season for snow, even in Minnesota) and place a few of those red plastic tiddly winks on it and set it in the sun (if you can find tiddly winks anymore, that it). Pretty soon, you'll have a number of neat, little tiddly wink shaped depressions in the block of ice. (Someone actually patented that idea years back as a really environmentally-friendly way to melt ice from your driveway.)

So, any true believers going to condemn this man's self-righteous little stunt for the massive damage he'd cause? Damn, those crickets are loud.

Those That Can

The old saying, "those that can, do; those that can't, teach" came to mind when I read this story. Two older men, one a retired police officer, the other a former US Marine subdued an unruly passenger on a Northwest Airlines Flight between Boston and Minneapolis. Younger men averted their eyes and ignored the problem the passenger was causing.

Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior.

Hayden, a 65-year-old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine.

"I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to me if he was up to it, all he said was, 'Retired captain. USMC.' I said, 'You'll do,' " Hayden recalled. "So, basically, a couple of grandfathers took care of the situation."

The incident on Northwest Airlines Flight 720 ended peacefully, but not before Hayden, a former Boston police deputy superintendent and former Lawrence police chief, and the retired Marine had handcuffed one man and stood guard over another until the plane touched down safely at Logan International Airport around 7:50 p.m.

State Police troopers escorted two men off the flight. Trooper Thomas Murphy, a State Police spokesman, said one of the men was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for "an unspecified medical issue, possibly mental health."

Apparently, the second man identified himself as the brother of the unruly one. But the best part of this story is the conduct of Hayden's wife of 42 years:

Hayden's wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

That is someone who has lived a long time with one of those that can.

Penguin Invasion Denialists

Some "scientists" are ignoring the consensus among imminently qualified, bona fide experts (the readers of Blue Crab Boulevard) that the Animal Uprising™ is sending penguin invasion fleets against the Northern hemisphere. They say its all the human's fault.

A Humboldt penguin known only from the Southern Hemisphere but recently found thousands of miles from home likely was a stowaway on a fishing ship, say scientists.

The seemingly peripatetic penguin turned up in July 2002 when fisherman Guy Demmert netted an atypical batch of salmon off the coast of southeast Alaska. There among the salmon was the Humboldt penguin that somehow had strayed a nearly impossible distance from where the species lives.

When sightings of penguins in northern waters occur, including Demmert's find, they present a puzzle of sorts for scientists: All of Earth's 17 penguin species live primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. The Galápagos penguin is the only one with a habitat that extends somewhat north of the equator. So how would any of these flightless birds manage to voyage deep into the Northern Hemisphere?

A marathon swim (or waddle) is unlikely, partly because the birds are ill-equipped for the range of climate conditions found along the way, according to two University of Washington biologists, Dee Boersma and Amy Van Buren, who conducted research on errant penguins that is detailed in the June issue of the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

Zoo escapees? Not likely either, they say. While penguins were routinely shipped from the south to zoos in North America in the past, international regulations that prohibited such trade were adopted in 1972, so all shipments ceased.

But the animal overlords are not signatories to those treaties, are they? We're supposed to dismiss the evidence of penguin invasions. One of those, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" moments? Hah! They even have evidence of the fleets that they chose to ignore:

• In 1944, a Humboldt penguin was reported off British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands.
• In 1975, a penguin was spotted near Long Beach in Washington.
• In 1978, up to three Humboldts were seen off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
• In 1985, a penguin was reported off the coast of Washington.

And that doesn't even account for the recent invasion of Brazil by penguins! They were hitting on the bikini babes looking for dates! We here at Blue Crab Boulevard are heartily sick of these so-called scientists who are obviously funded by the animal lobby. We're developing an Animal Uprising™ Denialist Database® so we can keep a close eye on them.

Some Scary Numbers

Longtime readers know I am not a big fan of polls and polling in general. I personally think they are more valuable over time to watch trends than each, individual poll is since they represent a snapshot and tend to skew because of that. But I still look at them now and then if one looks interesting. This one does. A man who has not even formally entered the race and has relatively low name recognition right now is in the front of the pack overall. That would be Fred Thompson.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson has broad potential appeal among Republican voters even before his expected entrance into the presidential race. Thompson is not nearly as well known as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani or the other leading GOP candidates. But 37% of the Republican and Republican-leaning voters who have heard of Thompson say there is a "good chance" they will support him. This is equal to the level of support Giuliani receives from GOP voters who have heard of him, and reflects far more enthusiasm than any of the other Republican candidates garner.

Democratic voters continue to express somewhat more enthusiasm for their party's top-tier candidates than do Republicans, and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to draw the greatest potential support. The enthusiasm advantage Clinton enjoyed in February has all but disappeared, as the percentage of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters saying there is a good chance they would support her has dipped from 52% to 44%.

Support for Obama is unchanged from February; 40% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say there is a good chance they would vote for him. Former Vice President Al Gore has gained ground in recent months - 34% say there is a good chance they would vote for Gore today, up from 27% in February.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 30-June 3 among 1,503 adults, finds that overall voter engagement in the presidential campaign remains somewhat limited, despite intense press coverage of the race. Just 33% of all voters say they have given a lot of thought to the presidential candidates, up only modestly from December (27%). However, Republican voters have caught up with the Democrats in campaign engagement, after trailing in previous surveys.

By all means take a look at this report, it has a few very interesting bits. But I said when rumors started that Thompson might run that a lot of candidates - from either party - should be nervous. Heck, these numbers should terrify many of them. Correction, most of them - either party. Will these numbers hold? I'd be very surprised if there isn't a lot of shifting in the months to come. But a non-candidate who out-polls most of the field should be giving a lot of operatives ulcers right about now. And Hillary! Clinton's rapid erosion of support is not good for her.

I said Thompson's entry into the field would make it very interesting. I think it is right now.

Brits Ban Nose Art

The British Ministry of Defense has banned "Nose Art" from British aircraft.

In killer heels and little else, they have a definite deadly charm.

But the risque images of women that have decorated warplanes since the First World War have been scrubbed out.

The Ministry of Defence has decreed they could offend the RAF's female personnel.

Officials admitted they had no record of any complaints from the 5,400 women in the RAF.

But commanders are erring firmly on the side of caution and "nose art", as it is known, has been consigned to the history books.

Harrier jump jet bombers currently launching daily airstrikes against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan have been scrubbed clean to comply with the orders.

Critics said the MoD should be focusing on more important issues - such as the quality and quantity of equipment available to British forces sent off to war.

Nose art first appeared on warplanes during the First World War and enjoyed a golden age during the Second World War when thousands of American fighters and bombers were decorated with pictures of glamorous women.

For some examples of the kinds of nose art that appeared on military aircraft through the years, see this site, this site and this site. Some of the art may not be acceptable in today's workplace, so be forewarned. (Frankly, I'm surprised it hadn't already been banned, given the advance PC insanity in Britain in particular.) It feels like a bit of history is being taken away, doesn't it?

Have At You! Gesundheit!

It seems Robin Hood has been arrested in New York City. Well, ok, it isn't really Robin Hood just some guy who decided to celebrate his 40th birthday by firing several arrows out the window of his apartment.

On Monday, Noel Luria, who reportedly said he was using the "elegant instrument" to celebrate his 40th birthday, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon, the district attorney's office said.

He was released on bail and scheduled to return to court on Sept. 26.

According to court papers, Luria, 39, "under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, recklessly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to another person."

Police said Luria fired the arrows from his apartment on 81st Street on Sunday, reportedly into a target block mounted on his windowsill.

One errant arrow landed in a woman's fifth floor apartment, police said.

The woman, identified in the complaint only as Serena F., woke up Sunday morning to find that "the sliding glass door in her apartment had a hole in it, the glass was shattered and an arrow was on her kitchen floor," causing $250 in damage, it said.

Luria "admitted to shooting the arrow," according to the complaint, but told the Daily News in Tuesday editions that it was not his intention to hurt anyone.

"My intention was not to pick off somebody," he said. "My intentions were to have a good time. I'm turning 40. It's an elegant instrument."

One feels that one must point out that said elegant instrument is also a deadly weapon. Mr. Luria is extremely lucky that he did not "pick off" anyone, intentionally or not.

Of Beauty And Politics

Libby Spencer - with whom I had a civil exchange about one of her posts (and thanks to both Libby and Cernig for keeping it civil even if we disagree) - has admitted that she was not aware that the term "trophy wife" is generally considered insulting. I believe her when she says she did not mean it that way. But she still thinks that the good looks of Jeri Kehn are a net negative for Fred Thompson. That, I think, is not the case.

For myself, despite my initial reaction, which I already admitted was colored by personal experience of having been dumped for someone my daughter's age, I tend to agree with Jane Galt, who takes a neutral stance, but with one caveat. I don't think among informed voters, Jeri will make a difference. I've got some serious problems with her politics, but I don't care at all that she's young and beautiful. However, we don't really have an informed electorate.

With a media that devotes umpteen news cycles to such trivialities such as haircuts and sweaters over substantive analysis, our candidates are chosen on such shallow issues and appearances define a potential nominee more so than policy. It's not so much the age difference as that it's so visually apparent. Fred looks old and Jeri looks younger than her years and yes, very hot. Worse yet she flaunts it.

Libby makes a good point about some of the more crude response, incidentally. They are crude and ultimately demeaning. On the other hand, I'd be curious to hear Libby's reaction to this particular bit of news:

So I’m in New Hampshire for the Democrats’ debate Sunday, watching on two huge screens. The instant Hillary appears, the woman behind me whispers, “Oh look at Hillary. She’s had work done!”
 
I put the question to WBZ’s political guru Jon Keller: Notice anything about Hillary? “Botox,” he replied, not missing a beat. “But it’s time for Botox to win one.”
 
He was referring to John Kerry and Botox. And elaborate dental work. And chin reduction. Google our senator, before and after.
 
Hillary’s new glow was all the talk on “The View.” This was when we needed Rosie O’Donnell to cut to the chase and bellow, “Did she get an eye job? A face lift?” Sadly, Rosie’s gone and nobody else dared admit what they were thinking.

But speculation reigned elsewhere.
 
In the offices of dermatologist-to-the-stars Jeffrey Dover of SkinCare Physicians, Chestnut Hill, a visiting “anchorwoman,” said Dover, noted Hillary’s “flawless, almost dewy” appearance and wondered if it was spectacular makeup or Botox, or perhaps fillers or microdermabrasion.
 
Here’s the good news, ladies. “Hillary could’ve left an event in Washington at 9 o’clock,” said Dover, “had all this done and been back on the campaign trail next morning.”
 
And if she didn’t want to tell, no one would know, not Bill, staff or the Secret Service.
 
Oh, the debt we aging boomers owe to medical miracles! Plus, if this is true, the debt we owe Hillary! I mean, who’s got more substance, stature, brains and gravitas? If even she submits to the knife, the injection needle, whatever, does that not validate the rest of us mere vain mortals?
 
“Anybody should do whatever they want,” says TV commentator Callie Crossley. “But I would feel bad if she did anything to respond to somebody who said she’s ugly.” 

The pictures accompanying the article show the difference. It certainly looks like she had work done - or has a makeup artist with magic powers. Because that would take an awful lot of makeup.

Do I care? Only in an amused sort of way. Will it make a difference? I don't think so. I happen to think a lot of voters are a lot better informed than some folks realize. I suspect that they'll shrug off a Hillary facelift (or whatever), the same way they'll shrug off Jeri Kehn's good looks. (It seems to me there was some criticism of Jackie Kennedy as being too glamorous to be a first lady, too. That didn't quite turn out to be the case, did it?)

Ah-OOOOOOO!

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get a big dish of beef chow mein
(Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London)

The British police swear they have discovered a link between the full moon and a rise in violent crime - even though researchers have not been able to find any link. So the police intend to put additional forces on the streets during full moons.

Sussex Police have found that drinkers in the seaside city of Brighton and Hove are particularly aggressive during full moons, despite mixed findings from researchers who have examined the issue previously.

"I compared a graph of full moons and a graph of last year's violent crimes and there is a trend," Inspector Andy Parr told the Brighton Argus newspaper.

"People tend to be more aggressive generally. I would be interested in approaching the universities and seeing if any of their post-graduates would be interested in looking into it further. This could be helpful to us."

The announcement has led some locals to joke that werewolves — humans who, according to myth, turn into wolf-like creatures during a full moon — may be loose on the city's streets.

"When there is a full moon out, we look at the sky and say, 'Oh no, all the idiots will be out tonight,'" bouncer Terry Wing told the paper.

"I will start looking at the back of people's hands for hair next time."

Research on a link between the lunar cycle and violent behaviour has tended to be sceptical of any connection.

Earlier this year, Professor Michal Zimecki of the Polish Academy of Sciences reportedly found that a full moon could affect criminal activity.

But in a 1998 article for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Sydney and Manly Hospital in New South Wales found "no significant relationship."

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have long been wary of werewolves. Which is why we stocked up on silver bullets before the price of silver skyrocketed. And don't get us started about vampires.

Nancy Of 100 Days

The much ballyhooed Pelosi "reforms" in the House were passed with great celebration in the first 100 hours of the new, super ethical Democratic majority takeover of the house. Pelosi nearly sprained herself patting herself on the back over the great changes and transparency she brought to the House.

The reforms lasted 100 days or so. Then the rules were simply ignored and the Democrats began behaving much, much worse than the Republicans had.

When Democrats took control of Congress four months back, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., bragged it would take her party less than 100 hours to curb wasteful pork spending by requiring members to attach their names to their "earmarks," exposing such waste to the harsh light of public scrutiny.

She failed to mention this "reform" would remain in effect for little more than 100 days.

At this point, "Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify 'earmarks' — lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states — in documents that accompany spending bills," The Associated Press reported Monday.

"Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them," The AP continued………

…….Meantime, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chuckled and accepted congratulatory handshakes on May 22 after his fellow Democrats banded together to permanently table (219-189) an official reprimand of the Pennsylvania Democrat for violating his party's own four-month-old rule barring "revenge killing" of other members' earmarks.

The whole point of the Democratic "reform" was to allow other members to criticize and oppose pork set-asides. But last month, when Rep. Murtha (the second-ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, a man so powerful that he secured more than $200 million for his personal pet projects in 2006 alone, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense) sponsored an earmark to authorize $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center — a government agency that happens to be based in his district — Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a former FBI agent, had the nerve to rise and propose the allocation be canceled.

And so it goes in the doublespeak world of the most ethical leadership the House has ever seen. The new boss is much worse than the old one. The polls are starting to collapse for the Democrats, incidentally. The rank and file will look back and revile the Reid-Pelosi regime in Congress.

Experts

Dan Senor, writing in the Opinion Journal, points out the failure of the Democrats to listen to experts - the exact same failing they routinely accuse George Bush of.

Consider Brent Scowcroft, dean of the Realist School, who openly opposed the war from the outset and was a lead skeptic of the president's democracy-building agenda. In a recent Financial Times interview, he succinctly summed up the implication of withdrawal: "The costs of staying are visible; the costs of getting out are almost never discussed. If we get out before Iraq is stable, the entire Middle East region might start to resemble Iraq today. Getting out is not a solution."

And here is retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Centcom Commander and a vociferous critic of the what he sees as the administration's naive and one-sided policy in Iraq and the broader Middle East: "When we are in Iraq we are in many ways containing the violence. If we back off we give it more room to breathe, and it may metastasize in some way and become a regional problem. We don't have to be there at the same force level, but it is a five- to seven-year process to get any reasonable stability in Iraq."

A number of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors also opposed the war as well as the U.S. push for liberalizing the region's authoritarian governments. Yet they now backchannel the same two priorities to Washington: Do not let Iran acquire nukes, and do not withdraw from Iraq.

A senior Gulf Cooperation Council official told me that "If America leaves Iraq, America will have to return. Soon. It will not be a clean break. It will not be a permanent goodbye. And by the time America returns, we will have all been drawn in. America will have to stabilize more than just Iraq. The warfare will have spread to other countries, governments will be overthrown. America's military is barely holding on in Iraq today. How will it stabilize 'Iraq Plus'?" (Iraq Plus is the term that some leaders in Arab capitals use to describe the region following a U.S. withdrawal.)

I heard similar warnings made repeatedly on a recent trip to almost every capital in the Persian Gulf–to some of America's closest allies and hosts of our military.

Likewise, withdrawal proponents cite career U.S. intelligence professionals as war skeptics, and not without basis. Yet here is what the U.S. intelligence community predicted in its National Intelligence Estimate early this year: "Coalition capabilities, including force levels, resources, and operations, remain an essential stabilizing element in Iraq. If Coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during the term of this Estimate, we judge that this almost certainly would lead to a significant increase in the scale and scope of sectarian conflict in Iraq. . . .

"If such a rapid withdrawal were to take place, we judge that the Iraqi Security Forces would be unlikely to survive as a non-sectarian national institution: neighboring countries–invited by Iraqi factions or unilaterally–might intervene openly in the conflict; massive civilian casualties and forced population displacement would be probable; al Qaida in Iraq would attempt to use parts of the country–particularly al-Anbar province–to plan increased attacks in and outside of Iraq; and spiraling violence and disarray in Iraq, along with Kurdish moves to control Kirkuk and strengthen autonomy, could prompt Turkey to launch a military incursion."

Senor cites other experts who are warning that a precipitous withdrawal would be a disaster - and that it would be virtually certain that the United States would have to return in a few years under much worse - and much more costly - conditions.

Torpedo 8

On June 4, 1942, the 30 members of VT-8, also called Torpedo Squadron 8 or just Torpedo 8, flying from USS Hornet (CV-8) launched a low-level attack against Japanese aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway. They did not have any fighter escort.

Only Ensign George Gay returned from that attack.

But the actions of Torpedo 8, along with the other torpedo squadrons, VT-6 and VT-3, drew the Japanese Combat Air Patrol out of positions and expended much of their ammunition and fuel. When squadrons of American dive bombers appeared over the Japanese carriers, they were virtually unopposed. And they sank three of the carriers as a result.

Torpedo 8

Lt. Commander John C. Waldron
Lt. Raymond A. Moore
Lt. James C. Owens, Jr.
Lt.(jg) George M. Campbell
Lt.(jg) John P. Gray
Lt.(jg) Jeff D. Woodson
Ens. William W. Abercrombie
Ens. William W. Creamer
Ens. Harold J. Ellison
Ens. William R. Evans
Ens. Henry R. Kenyon
Ens. Ulvert M. Moore
Ens. Grant W. Teats
Robert B. Miles, Aviation Pilot 1c
Horace F. Dobbs, Chief Radioman
Amelio Maffei, Radioman 1
Tom H. Pettry, Radioman 1
Otway D. Creasy, Jr. Radioman 2
Ross H. Bibb, Jr., Radioman 2
Darwin L. Clark, Radioman 2
Ronald J. Fisher, Radioman 2
Hollis Martin, Radioman 2
Bernerd P. Phelps Radioman 2
As well L. Picou, Seaman 2
Francis S. Polston, Seaman 2
Max A. Calkins, Radioman 3
George A. Field, Radioman 3
Robert K. Huntington, Radioman 3
William F. Sawhill, Radioman 3

A very few remaining survivors of the Battle of Midway returned there for the anniversary. One of those men, William Tunstall, served on the USS Hornet as an aviation machinist mate 2nd class.

MIDWAY ATOLL - Holding their hands over their hearts, six veterans of the Battle of Midway stood as a Navy band played the national anthem to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the fight that marked a turning point in World War II.

About 1,800 people ventured to this remote atoll Monday to honor those who served in the U.S. victory on the atoll 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, including other veterans and relatives of those who died.

"We salute the fallen warriors of the Battle of Midway. We remember their great victory and tremendous sacrifice," said Adm. Robert F. Willard, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander. "We honor them with our eternal vigilance and combat readiness."

William Tunstall, 87, an aviation machinist mate 2nd class on the USS Hornet on June 4, 1942, said he felt lonesome as he remembered those who died.

"I lost a lot of good friends," said Tunstall, of Portland, Ore.

The observance drew World War II veterans and their families, who sailed to Midway on a Princess Cruise Lines ship from Los Angeles. Another 100 or so were flying on a chartered plane from Honolulu.

Only a few dozen people live on the island now — mostly wildlife researchers and support staff at the U.S. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles frequent the clear, blue waters of the atoll's lagoon, and hundreds of thousands of Laysan albatross nest where bombs once fell.

Go Green, Kill A Peasant

Palm oil: it's not just good for killing orangutans, its also good for eradicating peasants.

Armed groups in Colombia are driving peasants off their land to make way for plantations of palm oil, a biofuel that is being promoted as an environmentally friendly source of energy.

Surging demand for "green" fuel has prompted rightwing paramilitaries to seize swaths of territory, according to activists and farmers. Thousands of families are believed to have fled a campaign of killing and intimidation, swelling Colombia's population of 3 million displaced people and adding to one of the world's worst refugee crises after Darfur and Congo.

Several companies were collaborating by falsifying deeds to claim ownership of the land, said Andres Castro, the general secretary of Fedepalma, the national federation of palm oil producers.

"As a consequence of the development of palm by secretive business practices and the use of threats, people have been displaced and [the businesses] have claimed land for themselves," he said. His claim was backed up by witnesses and groups such as Christian Aid and the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia.

The revelations tarnish what has been considered an economic and environmental success story. The fruit of the palm oil tree produces a vegetable oil also used in cooking, employs 80,000 people, and is increasingly being turned into biofuel.

"Four years ago Colombia had 172,000 hectares of palm oil," President Alvaro Uribe told the Guardian. "This year we expect to finish with nearly 400,000.".

This is from the Guardian, which has resumed its typical tilt to the left by blaming this on "rightwing" paramilitary groups - except for one little sentence buried in the depths of the story:

However the lawlessness created by four decades of insurgency in the countryside has enabled rightwing paramilitaries, and also possibly leftwing rebels, to join the boom.

You can bet the farm that the leftwing groups are as much to blame for the situation. Once again - this demonstrates the law of unintended consequences when a headlong rush to "do something" leads to bad policy. On top of the allegations of widespread fraud in the "carbon offset" ponzi scheme, it really is time to take a timeout in this headlong rush. Because something is very badly wrong here. The routine claims that the oil companies are evil and the "green" businesses are good and fluffy and lovable appears to be unraveling. The new boss is actually worse than the old boss. You could ask the orangutans and the peasants, but they're dead.

What The HECK Is That?

Good heavens. The London Olympic Committee kiddies have unveiled their brandy-spanking new £400,000 logo for the London Olympics. And we'd just like to ask one teensy question: What the heck is that thing?

Bosses of the 2012 Olympics were plunged into a fresh row last night after spending £400,000 on a controversial new logo for the London Games..

In a move billed as the most significant event since London beat Paris in 2005 in the race to host the Games, the organising committee unveiled a striking, jagged emblem as the official symbol for the Olympics.

Aimed at the younger, "internet generation", it will will also be used as the logo for the Paralympics and will be crucial to hopes of raising private sponsorship for both events.

Based roughly on the figures 2012 and apparently inspired by graffiti artists, the image - which replaces an earlier logo devised for London's bid to host the Games - was hailed as "dynamic" and "vibrant" by organisers.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London Games organising committee (Locog), said the new logo was "edgy" and appeared to suggest it was designed to provoke a strong reaction: "We don't do bland - this is not a bland city. We weren't going to come to you with a dull or dry corporate logo that would appear on a polo shirt and we're all gardening in it a year's time."

Tony Blair raised hopes that the symbol would leave people "inspired to make a positive change in their life" while Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, praised it as a "truly innovative brand" that would appeal to the young.

Um. Why? What in the world would this provoke - in a positive sense - from anyone? But we don't just complain around here, we take action! We gave the monkeys in the back room a break from their efforts to crack the Shakespeare code (the typewriter ribbons needed to be changed anyway) and set them to coming up with an improved version of the logo, just to help out. And if the Loco committee wants to pay for the use of the new and improved logo, the monkeys work for bananas - 400,000 of those would be appreciated. (They eat a lot).

As ever, glad we could help.