A Very Happy New Year

Courtesy of frequent commenter NortonPete who sent this link, comes a story about a town that would not ignore a wounded veteran. In fact, they made sure that Jim Benoit and his wife Pam have a new home to live in. Wharton, New Jersey pulled together and built a house for the wounded Iraq veteran and handed him the keys in a ceremony on December 27 - a New Year present that could not be better for the Benoits, who can now move out of a cramped mobile home.  

Wounded veteran Jim Benoit was officially handed the keys to a new Wharton home Thursday, capping a year-plus long effort that enlisted hundreds of volunteers, help from 70 local companies and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to build it for him.

Benoit and his wife Pam are preparing to move out of a cramped trailer at nearby Picatinny Arsenal into the two-story, wheelchair-accessible, 2,400 square-foot Colonial in January.

Benoit joined the Army out of high school, had served a month in Afghanistan and was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when an explosive device detonated under the Humvee he was driving, nearly killing him.

The September 2005 blast blew a hole out of Benoit's backside that required 80 surgeries and sparked his hometown to rally around him.

Wharton Borough Council President Scott Hutchins enlisted support from the Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization Homes for Our Troops. Local companies donated everything from a floor heating system to portable toilets for the construction site.

Military personnel from the rank of private right on up through a general and lots and lots of local folks pitched in to make this come true for the Benoits.  

“Dozens” Turn Out To Support Sheehan: Crowd Boos

The 2008 Tournament of Roses parade was, yet again, a huge success. Cindy Sheehan's "Absolute Moral Authority", not so much.

Those who spent New Year's Eve camped curbside were joined at dawn by giddy visitors arriving by car, bus and train. The city estimates more than a million people visit Pasadena during the parade and Rose Bowl game festivities.

Gail Paulson was drawn to the parade route although she is blind.

"There's a lot a blind person can appreciate at this parade. There's electricity in the air, the smell of the flowers, the clomping of the horses," Paulson, 64, of Oxnard, said as her guide dog Elton led her to a seat……

…..Two groups were protesting at the parade. Dozens of anti-war protesters led by "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan staked out spots across from television cameras, hoisting signs reading "Impeachment is Patriotic." The protesters were booed by parade watchers sitting in the grandstand.

"This is not the occasion for this," said Mary Feichtel, 63, of Florida.

The other protest was not much of a success, either.

The March Of The Emperors

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll laugh until you cry. Then, you'll fall out of your chair.

Just one of the top time-wasters of 2007, as picked by Steve Bass at PC World. My personal favorites are the above video, Animator versus Animation II, and do not miss the advanced tin foil hat instructions.

(If you try any of the games, I disavow any marital problems they may cause.)

HDTV Converter Coupons Now Available

The Federal government has made coupons worth $40 toward the cost of buying a converter box that will allow existing televisions work with the new HDTV system available starting today. The current broadcasts will cease on Feb. 18, 2009. If you do not own an HDTV or have a converter by that date, you will have no television - unless you get cable or satellite television.

Beginning Feb. 18, 2009, anyone who does not own a digital set and still gets their programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer receive a picture.

That's the day the television industry completes its transition from old-style analog broadcasting to digital.

The converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70 and will be available at most major electronics retail stores. Starting Tuesday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will begin accepting requests for two $40 coupons per household to be used toward the purchase of the boxes.

Viewers who have satellite or cable service will not need a box.

To request a coupon, consumers can apply online at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ starting Tuesday. The government also has set up a 24-hour hotline to take requests, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).

There are only 33.5 million coupons available. The coupons will expire 90 days after they are issued - and converter boxes are not expected to be available until sometime in February of this year.

Would-Be Assassin Paroled

Sara Jane Moore, who attempted to kill President Gerald Ford has been released from Federal prison after 32 years in custody. Officials are not saying why Moore, now 77 years old, was released. She was serving a life sentence.

Prison officials have offered no details on why Moore, 77, was paroled Monday from a federal penitentiary east of San Francisco, where she had been serving a life sentence. Moore had been behind bars for 32 years.

The one-time aspiring film actress was 40 feet away from Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco when she fired a shot at him on Sept. 22, 1975. As she raised her .38-caliber revolver and pulled the trigger, Oliver Sipple, a disabled former Marine standing next to her, pushed up her arm. The bullet flew over Ford's head by several feet.

The attempt came 17 days after a disciple of Charles Manson tried to kill the president in Sacramento.

Despite Moore's troubled background, which included five failed marriages, name changes and involvement with political groups like the Symbionese Liberation Army, her motives have never been clear.

In recent interviews, Moore said she regretted her actions, saying she was blinded by her radical political views and convinced that the government had declared war on advocates of left-wing politics. (Emphasis added.)

"I was functioning, I think, purely on adrenaline and not thinking clearly. I have often said that I had put blinders on and I was only listening to what I wanted to hear," she said a year ago in an interview with KGO-TV.

Cheerful thought, isn't it? Blinded by politics. Well, I'm a bit surprised she was released. While there is no current Federal parole, persons in the Federal prison system who were sentenced before 1987 may still be paroled by the vestigial Federal Parole Commission (you learn something new every day). But enough about Moore. Let's take a look at the man who may well have saved Ford's life, Oliver Sipple.

Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the United States Marines and saw action in Vietnam. Shrapnel wounds suffered in December 1968 caused him to finish out his tour of duty in a Philadelphia veterans hospital, from which he was released in March 1970. He later spent six months in San Francisco's VA hospital, and was frequently being readmitted into the hospital in 1975, the year he saved Ford's life.

Listed as being totally disabled on psychological grounds, he was unable to hold a job and was receiving disability pay. He lived, with a merchant seaman roommate, in a fourth-floor walk-up apartment located in San Francisco's Mission District. Sipple was active in local causes, including the historic political campaigns of openly gay City Council candidate Harvey Milk.

Sipple was part of a crowd of about 3,000 people who had gathered outside San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel to see President Ford on September 22, 1975.

Ford, just emerging from the building, was vulnerable despite heavy security protection. Sipple noticed a woman next to him had pulled and levelled a .38-caliber pistol as Ford headed to his limousine. Reacting instinctively, Sipple lunged at the woman, Sara Jane Moore, just as her finger squeezed the trigger. While the gun did go off, the impact was enough to deflect her aim and cause the bullet to veer five feet wide of its mark. Had it not been for Sipple's action, the bullet could have struck the president.

The media "outed" Sipple as gay - despite his pleas that they not do so. As a result, his mother and family disowned him for a time before reconciling before Sipple died. He died, alone, in his rented apartment in 1989. His most treasured possession was said to be the letter Gerald Ford sent him, thanking him for his actions on that day in 1975.

Pigeon Smuggling Ring Busted

US Customs officials have broken up a pigeon smuggling operation at the Canadian border. The pigeons are in custody, but their human accomplices are taking the rap.

LEWISTON, N.Y. - Border agents pulled four live birds from the pockets of a pigeon collector and a traveling companion trying to enter the United States from Canada.

The pair were stopped Sunday at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge border crossing, where they told inspectors they were on their way to visit an uncle in LeRoy, outside Rochester, Customs and Border Protection spokesman Kevin Corsaro said.

Inspectors found the pigeons wrapped and taped from neck to tail in pockets of the pair's coats after they asked the men from Uxbridge, Ontario, to remove their jackets.

As usual, the authorities have the whole thing backward. The pigeons were attempting to smuggle Canadians into the country.

In Today’s Happy Nude Year News

A woman has been arrested on assault charges after allegedly beating the heck out of her boyfriend while the two were nude together in a shower. The cause of the incident was the boyfriend's insistence that the man's dog be allowed to watch the couple showering. No, I am not making this up.

A police report said the man, 26, wanted his dog to join them in the bathroom, but the woman objected on Thursday night.

The woman told her boyfriend that if the dog doesn't stay out, she didn't want to be his girlfriend anymore. He replied that maybe his next girlfriend would appreciate the dog more, and called her a name.

The police report said the woman punched him in the face several times and the man dislocated his shoulder after the naked couple grappled. He told police his girlfriend threw a picture frame, which broke and cut him.

Obviously, the dog was the instigator in all this. We're pretty sure that the dog is a North American Peeping Tom Hound, also known as a Voyeur Terrier.

If Guns Are Outlawed…..

How will idiots get tattoos? Two geniuses in New Mexico managed to shoot themselves when the loaded .357 magnum they were tracing to make a pattern for a tattoo went off. Yes, you read that correctly. They managed to both get lead tattoos, so to speak.

Robert Glasser and Joey Acosta, both 22, were treated at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, after the shooting Thursday evening in nearby Chaparral.

Authorities said Glasser was struck in the hand when the gun accidentally went off, and Acosta was hit in the left arm. Their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

The scars will undoubtedly last just as long as the planned tattoo. Considering the point-blank nature of the injuries, there is likely quite a bit of gun shot residue tattooed under their skins, as well.

American Diplomat Murdered In Sudan

An American diplomat and his driver were gunned down in Khartoum, Sudan today. Officials are not certain whether the killing was political in nature or just a random street crime.

It was not immediately known if the attack had a political motive or was a random crime. Though Darfur, far to the west, is engulfed in violence, the Sudanese capital and its surroundings rarely see political violence or attacks by Islamic militants.

The Sudanese driver was killed immediately, and the American died of his injuries within hours, officials said.

"This afternoon, the American officer succumbed to his injuries and passed away," said Walter Braunohler, the spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.

Braunohler said the diplomat, whose name was not released, worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Sudanese Interior Ministry identified the wounded American as a humanitarian aid official and said he was shot five times in the hand, shoulder and belly. The diplomat underwent surgery following the attack, according to the ministry's statement.

It seems a bit of a reach to claim this might be street crime. Al Qaeda called for jihad if the UN peacekeepers went into Darfur - which they did on Monday. One rather suspects it is not coincidence.

Cascades

In today's New York Times, John Tierney makes a bold prediction: global warming hysterics will seize upon every weather anomaly that they can say proves their point and will completely ignore any event that does not fit their scenarios. In other words, business as usual for the global warming racket.

I’d like to wish you a happy New Year, but I’m afraid I have a different sort of prediction.

You’re in for very bad weather. In 2008, your television will bring you image after frightening image of natural havoc linked to global warming. You will be told that such bizarre weather must be a sign of dangerous climate change — and that these images are a mere preview of what’s in store unless we act quickly to cool the planet.

Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific. I don’t know if disaster will come by flood or drought, hurricane or blizzard, fire or ice. Nor do I have any idea how much the planet will warm this year or what that means for your local forecast. Long-term climate models cannot explain short-term weather.

But there’s bound to be some weird weather somewhere, and we will react like the sailors in the Book of Jonah. When a storm hit their ship, they didn’t ascribe it to a seasonal weather pattern. They quickly identified the cause (Jonah’s sinfulness) and agreed to an appropriate policy response (throw Jonah overboard).

Today’s interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year’s end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record — it was actually lower than any year since 2001 — the BBC confidently proclaimed, “2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend.”

In other words, they are selectively manipulating the news - or to put it another, less neutral way - they are lying. This is the "cascade effect" that I have posted about before. Yes, last year saw a "record" ice melt in the arctic - but those records only go back a few decades. There was also a NASA study that showed that the record ice melt happened because there was also a record low amount of cloud cover. In other words, the sun melted the ice.

What a surprise.

A blatantly mendacious person who has enormous vested business interests in promoting global warming hysteria, Al Gore, is treated as the new messiah by the true believers. Never mind that his propaganda film has been shown in court to contain materially false statements. Gore has become personally wealthy, with an estimated $100 million in the bank, uses more energy and emits more carbon than some nations do, and still is the hero of this cult.

People froze to death in Beunos Aires in 2007 and snow blanketed the area for the first time since 1918. Australia saw the coldest June since 1950. Though the media reported on those, the true believers focused on their cascades and ignored the inconvenient weather. They confidently claim that 2007 was one of the warmest years on record. But who do you believe, their claims or your own shivering body?

Incidentally, John Tierney's blog, called Tierney Lab, at The New York Times is worth checking out. You have to love his guiding principles:

1. Just because an idea appeals to a lot of people doesn't mean it's wrong.

2. But that's a good working theory.

Indeed it is.

Iraqi New Year!

It is impossible for even Reuters to ignore the fact that things have changed so much in Iraq that this year civilians are partying to ring in the new year.

2008 arrived in a less-violent Baghdad, and residents said it was the first real party they had seen in years.

At the stroke of midnight, exuberant locals fired into the air with automatic rifles, sending red tracer fire streaking over the city, as fireworks lit up the sky.

While the city is still far from peaceful and many of the festive gatherings had a tentative feel, many said it was a happier occasion than they could have dared to hope just a few months ago.

"The security has changed and it took us by surprise. We're very happy. Especially us young people," said al-Azzawi, a 22-year-old student taking a break from dancing to a traditional Iraqi band in the ballroom of the Palestine Hotel.

"I haven't seen a happy place like this in so long. I wanted to see if I could maybe meet a few girls!" he said. "I only hope the Iraqi people can enjoy more happy times like this."

Salah al-Lami, 27, the singer who performed at the Palestine ballroom and then for another New Year's Eve crowd at the Sheraton Hotel across the street, said it was the first time he had sung before a live audience in four years.

"This will be the year that we take our freedom!" he told Reuters after singing through a boisterous set in front of a packed dancefloor.

The difference that General Petraeus and his surge strategy has made is phenomenal. I looked back at what I posted about on January 1st, 2007 and there was not one thing about Iraq - meaning that I had no good news to discuss. Things are still not perfect in Iraq, but despite the efforts of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to lose the war, things have turned around. That's good for our troops and even better for the Iraqi people. Happy New Year!