This Isn’t Good. At All.

We sincerely hope this was just some kind of a mix up by a living human being. Really we do. Cremated human remains were found in a mailbox in Pottstown, Pennsylvania today.

The letter carrier found the package wrapped haphazardly in a plastic bag, with no mailing address or return address, and notified police. A police dog did not detect any explosives, so officers opened it and found a box with a metal plate with the deceased person's name on it and the years "1957-2000."

Police asked that the person's name not be released until relatives are found.

If it wasn't a mix up, then we have a real problem. If the dead are mailing themselves around the country it could get ugly. Be careful when you open your mailbox, folks. Zombie mail is no fun at all. Trust us.

Cradle To Grave

The latest news on Britain's National Health Service and its care of the elderly should give proponents of socialized medicine in this country pause. It won't, of course, because they are so convinced that they are right – and will do it right this time – that they will not open their eyes. They'll look at Britain through their Sicko-tinted lenses and push America to emulate Britain. Hey, health care is free there, right? You have cradle to grave medical care. They won't notice that the emphasis is on the grave part – as in killing off seniors as fast as possible by mistreating them institutionally.

Elderly people are suffering from abuse, neglect and malnutrition in hospitals and care homes, according to a report by peers and MPs.

The report, published today by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, calls for changes in the law to safeguard the care of older people, and for a “complete change of culture” in health and care services.

More than a fifth of care homes have been found to be failing basic standards for privacy and dignity, with the most vulnerable residents struggling to eat without proper help, being subjected to verbal and physical abuse or being left to lie in their urine or excrement.

Two thirds of NHS hospital beds are occupied by the over65s, while the number of older people in the population is growing such that, by 2050, there will be twice as many Britons aged over 80 as there are today. Although the committee was told that some patients received excellent care, it said “there are serious concerns about poor treatment, neglect, abuse, discrimination and ill-considered discharge”.

It also found evidence of “historic and embedded ageism” within healthcare services, causing a failure to “respect and protect the human rights of older people”.

The report includes the example of an 80-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident in a care home in 2004: “It was recorded in a log book but no action taken . . . It was only reported to the resident’s daughter in July 2005. She reported the matter to the police.”

Another woman, who had difficulty feeding herself, “appeared to be slowly starving to death” because visitors who could have helped her were discouraged from staying during meal times. In other cases, bed sores were not treated because staff said “it was not their job”. The charity Age Concern estimates that 500,000 older people are subject to abuse at any one time, mostly in healthcare settings.

My mother passed away in a community hospital. She was treated with respect and dignity up to – and even after her death. The staff in the supposedly broken American system took care of her and made her passing easier. They never neglected, abused or tormented her – in fact she was genuinely cared about by the staff. When she died, the staff made sure all her meager belongings were carefully boxed and given back to us.

She wasn't starved to death or made to lie in her own urine or feces by an uncaring bureaucratically unanswerable staff who could not care less about her, her needs or even her humanity. Still think socialized medicine is a great idea?

Have fun when you get older, then.

Agenda Check

I'm not quite sure that I have ever read anything from the Associated Press that was this nakedly partisan. This is obviously an attempt to cover a huge misstep by Barack Obama. It is not "Republican spin" to call him on his actual words. It is hyper-partisan spin by a purported "news" organization to try to justify the damning words Obama used.

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there," Obama said.

THE SPIN:

The suggestion whispered by Obama's opponents was that he was maligning the efforts of troops fighting in Afghanistan by stating they are "just" out there killing civilians.

The Republican National Committee simply repeated the comment as one of their "They Said It!" series used to highlight statements by opponents that supposedly put them in a bad light. RNC Chairman Mike Duncan followed up later in a statement demanding that Obama apologize for his "offensive" statement…….

…….A check of the facts shows that Western forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents have been killing civilians.

The U.S. and NATO say they don't have civilian casualty figures, but The Associated Press has been keeping count based on figures from Afghan and international officials. Tracking civilian deaths is a difficult task because they often occur in remote and dangerous areas that are difficult to reach and verify.

As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can't be attributed to one party.

Nedra Pickler, the AP reporter pontificating the "fact check" has admitted that the AP has no casualty figures that are from its own reporters, only figures from other sources. Those sources may or may not have been accurate. They probably, in fact almost certainly, include inflated figures provided by helpful Taliban spokesmen who have free access to the AP. The large number of US ground forces in Afghanistan prove that Obama's allegations are false. Obama's words are exactly what they are and the AP cannot cover for him here. He implicitly accused American military forces of war crimes. Obama probably just destroyed his campaign – and Pickler probably destroyed her credibility trying to save him.

From The Fury Wimpiness Of The Norsemen, Oh Lord, Please Deliver Us

I've posted quite a bit about the Sea Stallion of Glendalough, the modern replica of one of the fearsome Viking ships of old. They just pulled the ship into Dublin harbor. All I can say is that the Irish have nothing to fear from this invasion. Not only did the ship have to get towed to make the crossing, but a number of the hearty crew had to go spend their time on the support ships. They may have built a replica Viking ship, but they sure don't build Vikings the way they used to.

More than 1,000 years after marauding Vikings invaded the British Isles, a replica longboat recreated one of the epic sea voyages undertaken by the Scandinavian warriors.

The Sea Stallion of Glendalough, the world's largest reconstructed Viking vessel, landed in Dublin after a 900-nautical mile journey that took her from the Danish port of Roskilde via Norway and the Orkneys into the Irish Sea.

Forty two days after setting out, the crew received a far warmer welcome than their forebears presumably did when they sailed up the Liffey 1,211 years ago intent on rape and pillage.

Although mercifully less warlike than the Vikings, the 65 oarsmen and women also proved slightly less resilient than the seafarers of one thousand years ago. A few crew members suffered minor injuries or from hypothermia and had to spend time on the support ship.

Poor weather also meant that the 30-metre Sea Stallion suffered the indignity of having to be towed 345 miles across the North Sea at the beginning of the journey. Viking Sagas suggest that the original Vikings would have showed more patience and waited for favourable conditions.

Yuck of the day: Reuters version of the story says that the ship was towed "for a small part of the trip".  

"We put on our survival suits and prepared the life rafts," Hvid told reporters after arriving in Dublin. But he added that no one was washed overboard.

The vessel was towed for a small part of the trip. Most of the voyage was spent braving the elements on an open deck, with just a square metre of living space for each crew member.

Some of the assembled team spent stints on a support ship due to hypothermia or minor injuries.

Reuters-grade news isn't what it used to be, either.

(Side note: Yeah, I'm having some fun at their expense here. They actually did something amazing and will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience to brag about. Good for them for doing it.)

How Bad Is It In Britain?

I've posted quite a lot about the various bits of insanity over in Britain for some time now. The deplorable conditions of the National "Health" Service is one regular topic. Insane bureaucracy and demented law enforcement priorities are other pretty common things to post about. But this is flat-out shocking. I had no idea just how bad it has gotten over there until I read this. Parents are paying a company to provide their children with school uniforms. Not exactly shocking you say? Would it make a difference if you knew that the school uniforms were, in fact, body armor for the kids?

Parents are sending children to school in stab-proof uniforms to guard against knife crime, it has emerged.

They are paying a firm which makes body armour to line blazers and jumpers with a stab-resistant material called Kevlar.

The precautions are aimed at protecting pupils from knife attacks as street crime spills over into schools.

A wave of stabbings involving teenagers includes the killing of promising footballer Kiyan Prince, who was knifed just yards from his school gates in north London.

Kevlar is a synthetic fibre that can be spun into fabric five times stronger than steel and is used in armoured vests worn by British troops in Iraq.

Essex-based firm BladeRunner produces clothing lined with the material for police and security guards.

But inquiries from parents have now prompted it to modfify school uniforms.

Barry Samms, one of the firm's directors, said the company initially produced stab-proof hooded tops that were bought by teenagers.

It was then asked by parents about the possibility of strengthening school uniforms with Kevlar.

The firm now offers to line blazers and jumpers with the material if pupils send in their uniforms.

Kids need body armor to go to school safely. Remember that Britain has draconian gun laws that keep firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. It hasn't exactly made it any safer, has it? In fact, it would appear that the opposite has happened. I had no idea it had gotten this bad.

On The Road Again

On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin' our way
And our way
Is on the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

Willie Nelson, On The Road Again)

Well, we here at Blue Crab Boulevard suggest that Oliver "Capuchin" Monkey be given a new nickname. Houdini. He has picked the lock to his cage and gone on the lam for the second time in two weeks. And this time he broke out another prisoner as well.

TUPELO – Next time the zoo manager will put titanium locks on Oliver's cage.

That is, if there is a next time.

Oliver, the white-faced capuchin whose flight to freedom made international headlines a couple of weeks ago, escaped again Monday from the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo.

Park manager Kirk Nemecheck and other employees noticed the monkey cage open and the lock on the ground about 8:30 a.m.

They spotted Oliver and another capuchin named Baby wandering nearby. Workers easily nabbed Baby, but Oliver fled the park and headed for the Tupelo Country Club, Nemecheck said.

Emily Le Coz, the reporter for this story, reports that Oliver has been known to visit the country club on previous occasions. Golfers there are strongly urged not to get suckered into a skins game with Oliver. First of all, monkeys are notorious cheaters on the links. Secondly monkeys play for real skins.

(Previous Oliver posts here, here and here.

Fast, Cheap Or Good. You Can Pick Any Two.

The post title is an old engineering saying that reflects the true nature of any engineering project. It might as well be a natural law – it holds across the board for any type of engineering endeavor. If you want a project completed quickly at the lowest cost, it won't be very good. The other options all follow from there. Which is what worries me about the rush ahead plans by Minnesota authorities to replace the collapsed bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Some other people are starting to sound the alarm over the headlong rush to do something. Because the "something" they are leaning toward is fast and cheap.

Politicians, meanwhile, wrangled over how to replace a 1,900-foot highway span that once carried 140,000 cars a day.

The state Department of Transportation released a preliminary design Tuesday for the new bridge, but it showed little more than an aerial view of a 10-lane span, two lanes wider than the old bridge. It will be up to a contractor, to be chosen from an initial field of five, to flesh out the design.

The state's goal is to open the new bridge by the end of 2008, a speedy timetable that worries Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Steve Murphy, head of the state Senate Transportation Committee.

Murphy said transportation officials appeared to be "rushing headlong" into rebuilding, and it could lead to shortcuts that compromise safety.

"They could throw up that bridge and only spend $250 million, but 10 years from now we might be back investing another $250 million in it so it functions the way we want," he said Monday. "Let's not build it fast and not to last. Let's build it to last, period."

Both men said the state also should consider adding light rail tracks to the bridge design. The state already has expansion plans for a north-south light rail line that currently runs from downtown to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"It's possible we could save millions of dollars by putting it on or next to this bridge, Rybak said. "Now is the time to ask that question."

But MnDOT spokeswoman Lucy Kender argued there isn't time to wait, and speed doesn't have to equal lower quality.

"Our economy, our society here, needs that bridge back up," she said.

It may be politically expedient to get it built fast, but it honestly is more important to get it done right. Officials would be advised to keep that in mind. Fast, cheap or good. Pick two.

Lascaux Envy

The discovery of the Lascaux cave paintings showed that stone-age man had an artistic side. Many other sites with cave paintings have been found and documented over the years, but cave art was pretty well missing in Britain for some unknown reason. It's possible that British cavemen were busy doing other things or that they simply didn't have any discernible artistic talent. Who can say?

But intrepid British researchers now believe they have discover real, live cave art in Britain! The Daily Mail kindly provides pictures of the discovery and the scientist's interpretive sketch of what the art shows. Supposedly.

A 13,000-year-old carving discovered in an ancient cave is being hailed as one of the most significant examples of prehistoric art ever found in Britain.

The carving – a little larger than a man's hand – is only the second piece of representational cave art found in Britain which is contemporary with the golden age of cave art in Europe.

It was discovered in Gough's Cave at Cheddar Caves and Gorge, Somerset, by researchers from Bristol University.

Gough's Cave is the largest showcave at Cheddar and was home to Stone Age ancestors. It was re-discovered by Richard Gough in 1890.

Britain had a flourishing Stone Age culture but unlike prehistoric sites in France and Spain no cave paintings or carvings had been found until recently, when the discovery of Stone Age carvings of animals and humans at Cresswell Crags, near Sheffield in April 2003 launched a new hunt for prehistoric cave art.

All we can say is that if that's a mammoth, British caveman artists were apparently members of the toddler school of drawing. But we certainly do not want to rain on the British expert's parade. So we here at Blue Crab Boulevard have helpfully offered our assistance in interpreting the carving. Our photo experts at the Magic 8-Ball Photographic Interpretation Academy and Day Spa, LTD. have taken the relevant portion of the image and discovered what the artist was actually depicting. Here's the enlarged area of interest:

And here's our expert's interpretive drawing, clearly showing the correct animal and a human rider:

Which proves conclusively that Raquel Welch was right all along.

Crocodiles Almost Succeed

Sometime back, some uncredited genius invented what has become a staple food at state and county fairs all across America: the pork chop on a stick. The tasty fare is easy to handle and a lot less messy than holding a chop in your bare hand. (Many countries have similar food-on-a-stick taste treats.) Well, it isn't just Americans who can get creative. Crocodiles in Australia came very close to perfecting a new taste treat. Rancher on a stick.

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian rancher described Tuesday how he spent a week up a tree in a remote crocodile-infested swamp as maneaters stalked him — after he fell off his horse.

The manager of the Silver Plains cattle station in the far northeast Cape York peninsular, David George, said he watched crocodiles' eyes glowing red beneath him for seven nights before he was rescued by helicopter.

"Every night I was stalked by two crocs who would sit at the bottom of the tree staring up at me," George told Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper.

"All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out.

"I'd yell out at them, 'I'm not falling out of this tree for you bastards'."

George, 53, said his nightmare began when he was thrown by his horse. Dazed and bleeding, he climbed back into the saddle and gave the animal its head, expecting it to take him home.

But later, in the pre-dawn darkness, he realised it had taken him more than a kilometre (about a mile) into the heart of a crocodile swamp.

The horse was obviously in on it and was making a delivery.

Last Words On Rove

The Karl Rove resignation is pretty much sucking up all the available oxygen. You can tell we're in the dog days. But the Opinion Journal has a calm look at Rove's White House career that avoids a lot of the rhetoric that is out there.

One of our biggest arguments with Karl Rove was over the Bush Administration's first-term steel tariffs. We opposed them, and in one editorial calling for their repeal we scored "Secretary of State Rove" for letting politics trump U.S. interests. Mr. Rove never gave any quarter, and when trade promotion authority passed Congress in 2002 by 215-212, he tracked us down to read a list of Members who had voted aye: They all belonged to the Steel Caucus.

The episode captures the essential Rove–the political strategist whose larger purpose was always to advance President Bush's policy goals. In this case, he judged that Congress would never give Mr. Bush free-trade expansion power without evidence first of tough trade enforcement. We think Congress would have done so anyway, and that the steel tariffs and 2002 farm bill hurt America's trade leadership in the world. But right or wrong, Mr. Rove has always been as much policy wonk as political operative, and always loyal to the President's agenda.

This truth is hard for many partisans to accept on both the left and right, as yesterday's reaction to Mr. Rove's resignation announcement shows. Democrats either rejoiced that the evil "Bush's Brain" is gone, or blamed him as Barack Obama did as "an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided." The former is a way of diminishing Mr. Bush, while the latter is highly selective history.

The editorial points out that a lot of the wilder charges about Rove from the opposition are dishonest. Was Rove all that different from James Carville or Harold Ickes? Not really. They sum it up:

Mr. Rove is no Merlin or Rasputin, as much as liberals and some reporters want to believe it. He is above all a George Bush man. His rare mastery of history, demographics and policy made him a formidable political force, and we suspect it is his success far more than his methods that infuriates his critics.

I think that is what has been the main reason for the demonization of Rove. He was really quite good at getting things done.

Der Spiegel Hedging Bets?

Ray Drake, writing at David's Medienkritic, has found a real shocker. Der Spiegel, a longtime basher of the American efforts in Iraq, has been relentless in calling the war a disaster. Only now they have shockingly changed their tune. Not by a small amount, either.

Historical consistency has never been a strong point for SPIEGEL magazine or SPIEGEL ONLINE – but this is shocking:

Just look at this article.

After years of calling Iraq a disaster, debacle and quagmire, SPIEGEL ONLINE has decided to declare the following:

"The US military is more successful in Iraq than the world wants to believe."

This all stems from last week's Der SPIEGEL magazine cover feature article by Ullrich Fichtner: An enormous, fascinating and remarkably honest report on the complex situation in Iraq. (The first link above in bolded-italics leads to the English translation of that report.) SPIEGEL ONLINE is also publishing Fichtner's report that US troops are in a remarkably good mood and have high morale. That also flies directly in the face of past SPIEGEL reporting that consistently depicted US troops as demoralized, depressed, defeated, prone to suicide and suffering from low morale.

Here's the rest of the paragraph that Drake gets that quote from:

Ramadi is an irritating contradiction of almost everything the world thinks it knows about Iraq — it is proof that the US military is more successful than the world wants to believe. Ramadi demonstrates that large parts of Iraq — not just Anbar Province, but also many other rural areas along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers — are essentially pacified today. This is news the world doesn't hear: Ramadi, long a hotbed of unrest, a city that once formed the southwestern tip of the notorious "Sunni Triangle," is now telling a different story, a story of Americans who came here as liberators, became hated occupiers and are now the protectors of Iraqi reconstruction.

Drake has a link to one possible explanation of the sudden turnaround from Victor Davis Hanson.