Attack Deer In Michigan

Folks in Ironwood, Michigan have a new thing to worry about. Deranged deer that are damaging dogs.

Reports of dogs chasing deer are common in the city, but Ironwood Public Safety Department officers received a Wednesday afternoon complaint of a deer chasing a dog.

Elsa Brors, of 338 E. Tamarack St., told officers she let her small dog out in the fenced yard and a doe began chasing the pooch. She was afraid the dog might get hurt by the deer.

Now, since longtime readers know that the deer are the enforcers for the Animal Uprising™, this incident brings up the question: what were the deer really after? We suspect that it was yet another message that no dog will remain safe unless they cross over to the dark side. We're glad Lassie is dead. We couldn't bear to hear the words, "What's that, Lassie? You pushed Timmy down the well!"

Um, No

This is probably one of those things that will be an internet buzz frenzy by morning. (apparently, the Washington Post has taken a bit of an interest.) Let's start at the Yahoo News story:

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Transportation Security Administration is denying allegations that an airport screener seized a toddler's sippy cup and mistreated his mother, taking the unusual step of posting security camera footage on its Web site.

The TSA said in a statement that the incident and the videotape demonstrate that its "officers display professionalism and concern for all passengers."

At issue is whether Monica Emmerson, a former Secret Service officer, was improperly detained June 11 after she spilled water out of her child's sippy cup at Washington's Reagan National Airport.

TSA has banned most fluids at airport security checkpoints for nearly a year because of concern about possible liquid explosives.

"I was distraught. I opened my son's sippy cup. I twisted off the top. I wanted to drink the water. It spilled out," Emmerson said Saturday.

Emmerson said an officer threatened to arrest her after the water spilled, telling her she was "endangering the public." She said there was no place to dump the water near the security area, and that she was worried when her son started wandering away from her.

The story quickly spread on the Internet this week after blogger Bill Adler, a Washington author, saw a note Emmerson wrote on a Web site for city parents. Adler interviewed Emmerson and relayed her account.

Why, yes he did. And here's how he concluded his piece (titled "Nightmare at Reagan National Airport: A Security Story to End all Security Stories"):

TSA's rules allow passengers to take up to three ounces of liquid on board; they also allow parents to take milk or baby formula on board in larger quantities than that, if declared to TSA. But the question that she was asked by TSA –was this "nursery water" in the sippy cup?– was an unanswerable one, since there's no such thing as nursery water in the TSA regulations, and it's not a generic term.

Monica Emmerson was detained for 45 minutes. She wasn't questioned about possible ties to terrorists. Her carry-on items weren't rigorously searched — or even searched again. Neither the police nor TSA took any action that indicated that they throught she might be a security risk. She was just detained, harassed and threatened with arrest. All because of a sippy cup with water in it.

Now the TSA, not my personal favorite in the world of Federal bureaucracy, incidentally, has posted the video. There is nothing - not a thing - that backs up the histrionics here. And it looks, very much, like Emmerson dumped the cup and shook it right there in the exit. Which negates her claim outright. It does not look accidental at all. (TSA video here). But that really isn't the story here, the reaction of Bill Adler is, I think. After he was informed - by the Washington Post, apparently - that the TSA had raised serious questions about Emmerson's allegations, here is the reaction:

I've watched the video, and you might want to, too. There's more in the TSA incident report, as well. (If the link is no longer there, look for a link to "Mythbusters" on TSA's site.) While the video does raise some questions about Monica's story, it doesn't seem to explain everything in her narrative. Is the video itself the full story?

So what did happen? What are the full facts? And if some details in Monica Emmerson's accounting –or the TSA's report– are incorrect, does that mean that the way Monica Emmerson described the incident is incorrect? Monica Emmerson was upset, angry, worried about her son (who can be seen in the video running away from her), and could have gotten some of the details wrong, while the truth of her story remains intact. Few people can recall all the details of what happens to them perfectly during an this kind of incident.

I wish I had all the answers to these questions. I'm glad that TSA has posted their videos and incident report. And I'm looking forward to seeing the final conclusion to this story.

What's missing from the TSA's video and incident report? What's missing from Monica Emmerson's narrative? What other facts, details and information do we still need?

Which brings me to a question: What is the role of citizen journalism with a story like this? Can citizen journalists report an entire story with the complete truth? The answer is, in part, that stories like this that citizen journalists report sometimes are the beginning — the first chapter. And the interest –and scrutiny– that they generate helps produce a fuller picture. Citizen journalists don't always have the resources to uncover the entire truth, but if the full truth comes out that's what's important.

I write a lot of opinion here - not journalism, not original reporting. I do not pretend to be a journalist. Nor do I confuse the roles. A journalist should report fact, a pundit/editorialist/columnist notes facts from journalists and offers opinion on them. Different set of rules, different priorities. For what it is worth, I think Adler crossed into opinion space but is trying to defend himself as a journalist. This is not journalism:

Monica Emmerson was detained for 45 minutes. She wasn't questioned about possible ties to terrorists. Her carry-on items weren't rigorously searched — or even searched again. Neither the police nor TSA took any action that indicated that they throught she might be a security risk. She was just detained, harassed and threatened with arrest. All because of a sippy cup with water in it.

That is commentary. That is opinion. That is drawing conclusions. (Which is what opinion writers do, but journalists are not supposed to.) Is this a big deal in the great scheme of things? No, not really. But it is a club that the beleaguered mainstream media will use - and already is using - to beat hell out of the online journalists - and there are some outstanding ones - and the online opinion community? Because Adler confused the two and is now on the hot seat, we all get to get beaten on by the media.

So to answer Adler's question: can citizen journalists report the whole truth? Yes - but only if they keep the roles straight and don't conflate reporting with opinion. That is what is sinking the MSM, and that is where we should not go.

Bitter Fruit - Part Two

As noted earlier, Yasser Arafat's ungrateful "children" looted his home in Gaza, stripping it of the very tiles on the walls. But wait, there's more! They also stole the Nobel Peace Prize medal that the suckers in the West eminent Nobel committee bestowed upon him despite his track record of murder and mayhem. 

Enraged Fatah leaders on Saturday accused Hamas militiamen of looting the home of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.

"They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize medal," said Ramallah-based Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman. "Hamas militiamen and gangsters blew up the main entrance to the house before storming it. They stole many of Arafat's documents and files, gifts he had received from world leaders and even his military outfits."

Abdel Rahman said the attackers also raided the second floor of the house and stole the personal belongings of his widow, Suha, and daughter, Zahwa. "They stole all the widow's clothes and shoes," he added. "They also took Arafat's pictures with his daughter."

Eyewitnesses told The Jerusalem Post that dozens of Palestinians participated in the raid, which took place late Friday.

"Most of the looters were just ordinary citizens," they said. "They stole almost everything, including furniture, tiles, water pipes, closets and beds."

According to the Fatah spokesman, the raid on Arafat's house, which has been empty since 2001, occurred despite promises from Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to prevent such an attack.

Yeah, Hamas is always to be taken at their word. Which is why, despite their media-trumpeted "amnesty" for Fatah leaders, they are trying to keep their hostages guests in country. Wretchard at the Belmont Club isn't exactly thrilled with the Palestinian behavior right now. But they bring this down on themselves with the behavior that Arafat encouraged.

Linux Cool Stuff

Longtime readers know I have been experimenting a bit with Ubuntu Linux. I have it running (actually right this minute) on a prehistoric Dell GX1, Pentium II (333MHz) box with 384Mb of RAM. (That would be my "Hot Rod Yugo" - not to be confused with this one.) I can't get Ubuntu to deal with an old wireless card I have - but then, Windows XP has issues with this card, so it's no great loss. But I have found a rather neat - and free - application for Linux. If you're a bit of a space buff, as I am, there is a program called "KStars" that gives you a live, real-time planetarium on your desktop. And it appears to be scary accurate. I just compared the sun position (still daylight here) with the model and it is right where the program said it would be (one assumes the stars are, too, but I'll know that after dark.)

Hell, if I had known this puppy was available, I would have installed Linux a long time ago. If you have a spare box sitting around, go ahead and try it. Ubuntu 7.04 has a lot of nice features added in. (I've been using mine off and on to post with. It is rather limited in capabilities due to age and power, but it works really well as a basic internet computer. Absolutely rock-solid with no hangups or glitches yet. The processor is about screaming for mercy, though - it is pretty much at 100% all the time if something is running.)

But KStars is a very cool program.

Hamas: Seeking Hostages?

This report has one little tidbit in it that should raise hackles. It would appear that Hamas is attempting to keep high-ranking Fatah officials from leaving Gaza.

Gaza and the much larger West Bank are only about 45 km (30 miles) apart, with Israel in between, but they now appear poised to function as two separate territories.

"Gaza, unfortunately at this stage, is out of the control of the Palestinian Authority," Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said.

Hamas said it did not seek its own state in Gaza, where 1.5 million people are crowded along 40 km (25 miles) of coast.

Western powers imposed an aid embargo after Hamas came to power in March 2006 because it failed to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.

Hamas set up checkpoints in Gaza to prevent high-ranking Fatah officials from leaving the coastal enclave. (Emphasis added)

Palestinian officials said hundreds of Fatah supporters were allowed by Israel and Egypt to travel to the West Bank.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel had allowed people to leave Gaza for the West Bank on a case-by-case basis but the border was later closed.

"I will not live in a Hamas-run state," said Shadi, a fighter from Abbas's Fatah faction, after escaping Gaza for the occupied West Bank through an Israeli crossing point.

That does not look good at all. Hamas has strong backing from Iran and that country, of course, has a history of hostage taking. I suspect it would be a really good idea for them to get out if they can.

Bitter Fruit

The Opinion Journal has an editorial that recounts the many, many missteps and bad choices made by the West regarding the murderous Yasser Arafat and the cult of death he installed in the Palestinian territories. They are not surprised at the logical outcome to the nihilistic barbarity that passes for Palestinian civilization.

In 1972 Palestinian terrorists murdered Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Yet only two years later Yasser Arafat addressed the U.N.'s General Assembly–the first non-government official so honored. In 1970 Arafat attempted to overthrow Jordan's King Hussein and tried to do the same a few years later in Lebanon. Yet in 1980, the European Community, in its Venice Declaration, recognized Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization as a legitimate negotiating partner.

In 1973, the National Security Agency recorded Arafat's telephoned instructions to PLO terrorists to murder Cleo Noel, the U.S. ambassador in Sudan, and his deputy George Curtis Moore. Yet in 1993, Arafat was welcomed in the White House for the signing of the Oslo Accords with Israel. That same year, the British National Criminal Intelligence Service reported that the PLO made its money from "extortion, payoffs, illegal arms-dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud." Yet over the next several years, the Palestinian Authority would become the largest single recipient of foreign aid on a per capita basis.

In 1996, after he had formally renounced terrorism in the Oslo Accords, Arafat told a rally in Gaza that "we are committed to all martyrs who died for the cause of Jerusalem starting with Ahmed Musa until the last martyr Yihye Ayyash"–Musa being the first PLO terrorist to be killed in 1965 and Ayyash being the Hamas mastermind of a series of suicide bombings in which scores of Israeli civilians were killed. Yet the Clinton Administration continued to pretend that Arafat was an ally in the fight against Hamas. In 2000, Arafat rejected an Israeli offer of statehood midwifed by President Clinton and instead initiated the bloody intifada that left 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians dead.

In 2005, only months after Arafat's death, Israel dismantled its settlements and withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have used the opportunity to intensify their rocket fire at civilian targets within Israel. Last month, Israeli security services arrested two Gazan women, one of them pregnant, who were planning to enter Israel on medical pretexts in order to carry out suicide attacks. Yet the same month, the World Bank issued a report faulting Israel for restricting Palestinian freedom of movement.

Now it appears Hamas has taken control of the Gaza Strip's main road and its border with Egypt, as well as the offices of the so-called Preventive Security Services, traditionally a Fatah stronghold. "They are executing them one by one," a witness told the Associated Press of Hamas's reprisals against the Preventive Security personnel.

And in the end, the inhabitants of Gaza even stripped the tiles from the walls of Arafat's home there. In a way it is too bad he didn't live to see the bitter fruit borne by the tree he planted and feel the bite of the serpent's tooth as his ungrateful children turned on him. Meanwhile, many Palestinians are apparently trying desperately to flee Gaza - to Israel. Gaza is about to become the latest hell in a very small place. Arafat - and that which he spawned - should have been shunned by the West. By accommodating Arafat, the West enabled this turn of events.

Nifong Accepts Disbarment

Mike Nifong has agreed that he should be disbarred and will not appeal the decision of the disciplinary committee.

RALEIGH, N.C. - District Attorney Mike Nifong believes he should be disbarred following a disciplinary committee ruling Saturday that said he broke numerous rules of professional conduct during his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, his attorney said…….

…….Nifong, who had already pledged to resign his position in Durham County, would waive any right to appeal any punishment imposed by the disciplinary committee, said his attorney, David Freedman.

"He hopes this helps restore some of the confidence in the criminal justice system of North Carolina," Freedman said.

The actual decision will be a formality, then. But that brings up the question: What formal penalty will there be for the professors at Duke who demanded the legal lynching of the three players? (At the very least, they should be looking at lawsuits.)

UPDATE: It's official. Nifong has been disbarred:

"This matter has been a fiasco. There's no doubt about it," said committee chairman F. Lane Williamson.

Nifong sat motionless, one hand resting over his mouth, as Williamson recounted how he engaged in dishonest and deceitful conduct. The veteran prosecutor would not appeal the punishment, his lawyer said.

Nifong Committed Serious Offenses: Committee

The disciplinary committee that has been hearing the case of Mile Nifong, persecutor of the Duke lacrosse players, has just found that he committed very serious misconduct.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Mike Nifong broke numerous rules of professional conduct during his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, committing "deceit and misrepresentations," a disciplinary committee ruled Saturday.

The committee must now decide if the longtime prosecutor in Durham County, who has already pledged to resign his post as district attorney, should be stripped of his law license. That decision was expected later Saturday.

The North Carolina State Bar charged Nifong with breaking several rules of professional conduct, including lying to both the court and bar investigators and withholding critical DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys.

The committee, after deliberating for a little more than an hour, unanimously agreed with the bar on almost every charge — including the most serious allegations — that Nifong's actions involved "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."

Nifong will certainly be disbarred, heck, he's going to be lucky if criminal charges aren't brought against him for his behavior. Then there are the civil suits that are sure to follow.

I Foresee Terrible Trouble

Well, the Steely Dan song Dirty Work has nothing whatsoever to do with this subject, but that line from it seems appropriate anyway. The Telegraph is reporting that a British Computer store chain is planning on selling a "zero carbon" computer. It will be made of wood (and they already stole my joke that I thought of when I read the headline. It isn't an abacus.)

PC World is to produce a "zero carbon" computer made from wood and aluminium - and no, it's not an abacus.

The retailer will remove the PC's fans - which use up most of the power - and use an aluminium casing that has large ventilation slats that allow the heat to escape and uses fewer materials.

Computers are one of the most energy intensive machines in the household, costing about £40 in energy bills each year to run. PC World says its machine, which will retail at £599, will cut that bill to as little as £12.

The keyboard and screen will be encased in wood - either ash or beech. Most PCs are made from steel and reinforced plastic.

They plan on buying "carbon offsets" for the rest of the carbon footprint. Yeesh. This, of course, tends to ignore the energy (and materials) used to produce the computer components themselves and the energy used to produce the wooden components. I also have doubts about the fan-less case since heat is a real problem in modern computers. I have a P4 that goes from ambient temperature to 140° F as soon as it is turned on - literally. And it has fans. (And under a heavy graphics load, the temperature climbs very rapidly.) So if you have to replace the computer sooner because of heat-related failure, are you really saving the planet? If you want to sell it on aesthetics, that's one thing. But things like this smack of feel-good gestures rather than actual savings.

Then there's the terrible trouble part: What happens when the bugs your computer is experiencing are termites? Or powder post beetles? Inquiring minds want to know.

Cracking Heads In Iran

The Washington Post notes that sweeping crackdowns by the Iranian government are a blatant attempt to force Iran back to the way things were in 1979 when Khomeini took power.

Iran is in the midst of a sweeping crackdown that both Iranians and U.S. analysts compare to a cultural revolution in its attempt to steer the oil-rich theocracy back to the rigid strictures of the 1979 revolution.

The recent detentions of Iranian American dual nationals are only a small part of a campaign that includes arrests, interrogations, intimidation and harassment of thousands of Iranians as well as purges of academics and new censorship codes for the media. Hundreds of Iranians have been detained and interrogated, including a top Iranian official, according to Iranian and international human rights groups.

The move has quashed or forced underground many independent civil society groups, silenced protests over issues including women's rights and pay rates, quelled academic debate, and sparked society-wide fear about several aspects of daily life, the sources said.

Few feel safe, especially after the April arrest of Hossein Mousavian, a former top nuclear negotiator and ambassador to Germany, on charges of espionage and endangering national security.

The widespread purges and arrests are expected to have an impact on parliamentary elections next year and the presidential contest in 2009, either discouraging or preventing reformers from running against the current crop of hard-liners who dominate all branches of government, Iranian and U.S. analysts say. The elections are one of several motives behind the crackdowns, they add.

Iran has been fomenting war in Lebanon and Gaza by backing groups of islamist hardliners, not to mention their suspected activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it isn't even remarkable that they are trying to force the same ideals down the throats of their own citizens. But the Iranian economy is being to show serous signs of strain right now, with skyrocketing inflation. That may also be one of the prime movers here. Believe it or not, that may be a bright spot in all this. Regimes that rigidly enforce ideological purity while ignoring economic realities tend to fall apart in the long run.

Revisiting Joan Of Arc

I don't recall ever seeing a link to a Smithsonian Magazine article over at Real Clear Politics before, but this one must have caught someone's eye. (I posted about the revelation that her "relics" were forgeries late last year). The Smithsonian article is a pretty good capsule history of her. Despite the question in the article's title, we probably know more from direct sources about someone of her station than is normal. Her life was amazing well documented, considering that she was born a peasant at a time when only royalty rated historical coverage.

Nearly 600 years after she was burned at the stake, Joan of Arc is still making headlines. This past April, forensic scientists at Raymond Poincaré Hospital in Garches, France, announced in the journal Nature that relics supposedly found beneath her pyre are a forgery. The remains, which included a human rib, were never burned, and instead show evidence of embalming. Using carbon-14 analysis, the researchers dated the fragments to between the third and sixth centuries B.C. They concluded that the relics were taken from an Egyptian mummy, a component, in powdered form, of some medieval pharmaceuticals.

Found in the attic of a Paris apothecary in 1867, the manufactured relics date to a time when history was rediscovering Joan of Arc, and they were probably created to add to the mystique of the French martyr. The scheme may have been effective, since shortly afterward, in 1869, the Catholic Church took the first step toward Joan's 1920 canonization as a saint. The Church, which in 1909 had recognized the relics as likely genuine, accepted the 2007 study's findings. But though this tantalizing fragment of Joan of Arc has been proven a fake, her legend carries on.

Much of what we know about Joan of Arc comes from the transcript of her 1431 trial for heresy—an inquisition that resulted not only in her execution but also assured her immortality as a French heroine and Catholic martyr. In 1455, additional testimony from a posthumous retrial (requested by King Charles VII and Joan's elderly mother, and authorized by Pope Calixtus III) restored Joan's reputation and fleshed out her story. Thanks to these records, Joan's narrative is remarkably complete.

As I said, there is a nice capsule summary of her life - and death. At the end of the article, author Amy Crawford notes that both major parties in the French elections routinely invoke Joan of Arc's name. She has become the very symbol of France.

Snakes In A Can!

Sometimes, even the masterminds of the Animal Uprising™ make terrible miscalculations. For example, what sounded like a great opportunity to smuggle a member of the reptile legion into the home of an unsuspecting human went terribly awry - for the commando at least. Smuggling snakes in a can turns out to be a really bad idea.

PHILADELPHIA - Earl Hartman was a little rattled by something he says he found in a can of green beans: a snake head. The Philadelphia man said he found the inch-long head on his plate Wednesday night, right between a chicken breast and buttered noodles. He said it came out of the green bean can.

"When I sat down, I noticed something didn't look right," Hartman told WCAU-TV. "It didn't look like a green bean."

Hartman said he called the Pathmark store where he bought the beans, and got a call back from Seneca Foods in upstate New York, where the vegetables were canned.

Rich Savner, a spokesman for Carteret, N.J.-based Pathmark Stores Inc., confirmed that a customer reported finding a "foreign substance" in a can of green beans, but said officials had not determined what it was.

The problem: they were sliced green beans. It must have been a terrible shock for the commando when he realized that. It is highly unlikely that snake and beans will ever be a real hot-selling item at the local grocery store. A spokesperson for the company that canned the beans refused to comment on the matter. (Which perfectly illustrates why we here at Blue Crab Boulevard are never asked to be corporate spokespersons. We would have demanded payment for the extra protein.)

Meanwhile, In The West Bank

Yesterday there were reports of continued violence and looting in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Lest anyone get confused as to who the thugs are, Fatah today stormed Hamas-controlled government buildings in the West Bank and evicted the tenants. They also told the people with ties to Hamas that they had better not return.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hundreds of Fatah gunmen on Saturday stormed Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank, including parliament and government ministries, and told staffers that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, his office said. The meeting between Abbas and Jacob Walles took place at Abbas' headquarters in Ramallah hours before Abbas was expected to swear in an emergency government.

Abbas had dismantled the Hamas-Fatah coalition, fired Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and appointed Finance Minister Salam Fayyad in his place after Hamas took control of Gaza by force.

Deputy Parliament Speaker Ahmed Bahar of Hamas said Saturday that any government that does not win parliament approval is to be considered unconstitutional. Hamas has a majority in parliament, but the legislature stopped operating months ago after Israel arrested most of the Hamas members.

At the parliament, the Fatah supporters chanted, "Hamas Out," climbed on the roof of the building and fired in the air. They planted Fatah and Palestinian flags on the building, and also tried to seize the deputy speaker but were stopped by employees.

Many government employees tied to Hamas had not showed up for work on Saturday, the start of the work week in the West Bank, after Hamas took control of Gaza in a military campaign. Apparently, the staffers feared reprisals.

A member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Fatah, said his group planned to take control of all Hamas institutions, in response to Hamas' takeover of Gaza.

In Nablus at least seven people with ties to Hamas have been kidnapped. And back in jolly Gaza, mobs are looting border crossing facilities and Yasser Arafat's home has been stripped of everything - they literally took the walls.

Also Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians looted Palestinian police positions at the Erez crossing into Israel, drawing Israeli warning fire, witnesses said.

The looters walked off with scrap metal and furniture. The Israeli army said it was checking the report of shooting at the crossing, which has largely been closed for the past week.

Since the fall of Gaza to Hamas, Israel has permitted some senior Fatah officials to pass through Erez, via Israel, to the West Bank.

Meanwhile, a crowd looted the home of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, destroying one of the strongest symbols of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and Fatah officials said.

Fatah officials said the crowd took furniture, wall tiles and Arafat's personal belongings.

It isn't like either group has the moral high ground at this point. They do appear to be seeing who can claim the lowest point in the swamp, however. There are a lot of potential scenarios floating around out there as to where all of this is heading. But all of the speculation says that Gaza is going to be a very bleak place.