Category: News
Republishing of exerpts from news sources.
Cheyenne Mountain Shutting Down
The famous home of NORAD is switching to "warm standby." Cost overruns appear to be part of the problem.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Defense Department has spent about $700 million to upgrade early-warning systems at the Cheyenne Mountain center. [Source]
“The Cheyenne Mountain center, at the eastern foot of the Rockies near the base of Pikes Peak, was constructed underground in the mid-1960s. Fearing nuclear attacks at the time, the United States built sites such as the Cheyenne Mountain complex. The Navy prepared a floating White House aboard the communications cruiser USS Northampton, in case the president needed to be evacuated from U.S. soil. Another protective bunker was created near White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., for members of Congress.”
[Source]
I think military bases are really cool. Check out this underground Russian submarine base.
Powell High School Teacher Screwed
I heard it on the radio this morning that a vice principal at a local high school is being investigated for having a sexual relationship with a student. With all these teacher/student sex scandals, I couldn’t help but wonder where were these women when I was coming to age?! Of course, can you really blame them? I mean, wouldn’t a teenage boy be like having a vibrator that never needed the batteries changed? And wouldn’t a school full of teenage boys be like working quality control at the vibrator factory? "Ooop. That one’s a dud."
So did she do it? Doesn’t matter. She cannot continue at Powell High School and who would hire her at this point? One way or another she got screwed. Of course, I’d say the sex part of this is sensationalism while the real investigation probably has more to do with "tampering with several students’ grades."
Call me a sentimentalist but developing Chimney Rock is WRONG
This could be sad (well…unless I win the lottery and could buy an estate up there..nonono!) I was born in North Carolina and have been through much of its great remaining wilderness. As Roosevelt and the Davis’ recognized, some things should be preserved.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Chimney Rock Park, the popular private park set in the cliffs overlooking Lake Lure in western North Carolina, is being offered for private sale, with an asking price of $55 million, owner Todd Morse said Tuesday.
With its dramatic views, elevator ride to the top of the signature Chimney Rock and sheer rock faces, the park has been a tourist destination since it opened in 1902 after it was first developed by Morse’s great-great uncle Lucius B. Morse.
The park’s trails and cliffs were a site for filming of the 1992 movie “Last of the Mohicans,†and it has been featured in numerous other productions.
Maybe I can get the kids to see it before things change. Thank you Michael Silence for the link.
For the love of Mr Rogers find your war funds elsewhere!
Apparently congress is once again trying to cut funding to NPR and PBS. Folks, National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service are your voice.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs.
…It would reduce the corporation’s budget by 23 percent next year, to $380 million, in a cut that Republicans said was necessary to rein in government spending. [Source]
Can you imagine having your household budget cut by 23 percent?! They tried doing this last year and with MoveOn’s help, it was stopped.
in a defeat for House leaders, 87 Republicans joined unanimous Democrats in bucking an attempt to cut funding from the stations.
…
Markey expressed confidence that supporters of public broadcasting would have more than enough votes to stop a cut again this year.[Source]
There is still time to stop this one!
The reduction, which would come in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, must be approved by the full Appropriations Committee, and then the full House and Senate, before it could take effect. [Source]
Sign the petition at MoveOn and contact your Representative!
Is the real issue here that Republicans see PBS and NPR as having a liberal slant? With this current administration we have seen a great of loss of freedom with people being arrested for wearing "Veterans for Peace" t-shirts while drinking coffee and an introduction of propaganda bias as demonstrated in Kentucky with the blocking of liberal media while allowing conservate media. Here is a picture of the offending t-shirt. I would not have to shield my child’s eyes from that unlike some of the non-protest shirts I see in public and wonder why the wearers are not embarassed for themselves.
A similar move last year by Republican leaders was turned back in a fierce lobbying campaign launched by Public Broadcasting Service stations and Democratic members of Congress, in a debate that was colored by some Republicans’ frustration with what they see as a liberal slant in public programming.
…
Republicans attacked the PBS for programming they said represented out-of-the-mainstream viewpoints, highlighting in particular a "Postcards From Buster" episode that featured lesbian couples and their children in Vermont. [Source]
I don’t want to lose Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!
Paula Kerger , PBS’s president and chief executive, said in a statement that the cuts would force the network to "drastically reduce the programming and services public television and public radio can provide to local communities." [Source]
I made my quotes from a single source but there is a lot of chatter about this! See also Stupid Evil Bastard for several comments, The 2002 Oversight of PBS, MoveOn’s Petition, and remember contacting your representative is easier than ever! Other references to this issue include Environmentalists Against War, delraysteve (interesting comments), Washington Post (2005), Wikipedia, and Where PBS Gets Funding. Use Blingo to find much more!
Thanks to Brainstream for the alert!
Building collapses in NY
Swap blog reports "A three story building just blew up in New York." Any confirmation on this?
Update: MSNBC reports "A three-story building collapsed Monday in midtown Manhattan after an explosion and fire at the site, fire officials said. Smoke rose high above the building, located on 62nd Street between Park and Madison avenues. "
Other information I’m hearing
- is that it was a doctor’s office.
- Possible gas leak
- NOT terrorism
- Power surge
- building 70 feet wide
- witnesses say didn’t sound like an explosion but like something fell
- 4 injuries, no deaths yet
So, what’s going on in Congress that needed a swing vote based on public sentiment?
Update: One person trapped alive in the rubble.
Not to make light of a horrible situation but does anyone get the feeling this will end with a fat man with bad flatuance ala Confederacy of Dunces?
UPDATE: I was just told that in an interview on MSNBC that the NYC fire chief confirmed the building collapse as a gas leak. CNN has the scoop and of course it is credible because, well, they quote Larry King who was in a hotel somewhere in the city when it happened.
Update: Word on the street is that suicide is being investigated as the leading cause of the building collapse…I guess even buildings gets depressed.
Amanda Hits CNN
Andy Warhol eat your heart out!
Amanda Congdon Fired.
Yesterday I posted that Amanda Congdon has left Rocketboom. Now Bob Stepno has much more detail and Tim also has info (as well as disliking for Andrew Baron). Amanda gives some details at her blog.
Personally, they had a good thing going and it was a mistake on Baron’s part to not find a better way to handle this.
Jobs turns down money for job
I so look forward to the day I can turn down $65,000 per year for sitting on the board of directors of something.
Convenient Passing
In case you haven’t yet heard about Ken Lay, see Latte Man for the details and the seed of the coming Oliver Stone movie.
Bloggers are terrorists
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism.
The cost of this study is $450,000! You know, I do good research For $450,000 I could give them some very pretty reports. Thanks to Newscoma for pointing this one out!
3-year project entitled "Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information."
One of the problems analysts may have with blog monitoring, Ulicny noted, is there is too much actionable information for the analyst to properly analyze.
“We are developing an automated tool to tell analysts what bloggers are most interested in at a point in time,†Ulicny said.
Does this sound a lot like Technorati? Maybe they should just buy Technorati.
Orwell
…could require Internet providers and social-networking sites to record for a fixed time, perhaps one or two years, which IP address is assigned to which user. The other would be far broader, requiring companies to record data such as the identities of e-mail correspondents, logs of who sent and received instant messages (but not the content of those communications), and the addresses of Web pages visited.
…
Comcast announced that it will begin to retain logs that map IP addresses to user identities for 180 days, up from its current policy of 31 days. (The company stressed that it does not record information such as "Internet use or Web surfing habits.") [Source]
Let me ask you something. This is done under the guise of protecting children from child pornographers.
Barton said, adding that it was time to "protect our children against these despicable child predators that are on the loose right now in our land."
They are now adding that emotional word "terrorism" into play.
it would aid in terrorism investigations as well
Child porn and terrorism are words that get an emotional response from the public while simultaneously causing the public to shield their eyes because they would rather be ignorant than look at the problem. So my question is is there really a problem or are we being played to give up our liberties? There might a problem. I don’t know. But it could also be that we are spending billions and giving up the freedoms that founded our country for something negligible. Yes, even if one child is hurt it is not a negligible problem but if the numbers are small then our government’s response is not just inappropriate but manipulative in that they say they are doing one thing (attacking child porn) and doing another (intentially eroding our freedoms).
Just because someone yells fire in a theatre doesn’t mean we should blindly run from the building. Is there smoke? Are we sheep?
Child pornography existed long before the Internet. Our government is treating a symptom and not the problem which gives credence to a potential hidden agenda. Tracking the viewers of child porn does nothing to stop the photographer and distributor.
The Internet hype has made us afraid to take pictures of our children. I know I have failed to click the shutter because of it. We should be able to record their childhood without fear. Natural is not porn.
Saturday – more boobs than normal seen at Victoria’s Secret!
Note: For those that haven’t had their morning coffee yet, the subject line is a double entendre.
I’m a man and I get very offended when people downtalk breastfeeding and particularly upset when they suggest that breastfeeding should be done in a bathroom. I think every person that suggests a baby eat in the bathroom should be forced to have their lunch on the toilet!
Rebecca Cook of Burlington said she tried to use a dressing room at the store [Victoria’s Secret Burlington, Wis], but when one wasn’t available, she prepared to breast-feed in the store. An employee said no, pointing her toward the mall’s restrooms.
…
Jessie Chandler of [Quincy,] Massachusetts entered a Victoria’s Secret store on June 22 to shop. Chandler asked if she could use the dressing room to nurse the baby and was directed to a bathroom outside the store instead.
[Source]
My wife was recented pictured in Pathways magazine along with a wonderful article of breastfeeding in public. Her picture shows how descreet breastfeeding can be, how important and nurturing, and how natural. Our society has to get over the hysteria surrounding breasts! Breastfeeding should never be assumed to be offensive. Breastfeeding should be admired and respected!
Cook said the store manager told her the employee probably thought the "sight of her breasts might offend a customer."
We need to pamper the offended less (those who are doing wrong) and commend the breastfeeders (those who are doing right). The more common public breastfeeding becomes, the more it will become "acceptable." Taboo is reserved for that which we keep hidden.
In response, the two moms have organized a national “Nurse-In†at the Victoria’s Secrets across the country, not to protest the business but to make people aware of women’s legal right to breast-feed in public.
It is very humorous that Victoria’s Secret would imply that breasts are offending.
"I find it especially absurd that Victoria’s Secret of all places is freaking out about exposed breasts, since it’s pretty much what they sell," Branco said.
Corporate of course has decided to put some spin on the incident.
At corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, spokesman Anthony Hebron of Limited Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret, said the incident was an unfortunate mistake.
Breast-feeding in public is legal, he said, adding, “We have a long-standing policy which permits mothers to nurse in our stores. We regret that recently our policies weren’t adhered to, but that did prompt us to make sure to re-educate our associates and let the public know.â€
The AAP recommends "Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child."
See also (call for nurse-in), also (discussion), also (abc news with opinion poll), also (Suntimes), also (rant/discussion), and ProMom (promoting breastfeeding awareness). [Primary Source].
A blogger passes
I’ve seen this on many blogs today. "Rob Smith, aka Acidman of Gut Rumbles is dead." I personnally only read Gut Rumbles a few times. I liked his style. His picture made me think I was reading Buddy Ebsen. When a blogger, a relative stranger, passes away I feel more remorse than hearing about a celebrity or reading an obit in the paper. Bloggers feel connected.
Rob Smith, rest in peace!
Rush Limbaugh held UP for 3 1/2 hours
It’s hard for me to comment on this without laughing.
Customs officials found in Limbaugh’s luggage a prescription bottle labeled as , a prescription drug that treats erectile disfunction, Miller said.
“The problem was that on the bottle itself was not his name, but the name of two Florida doctors,” Miller said.
This is certainly going to get a rise out of the left while leaving the right a little hard up. . Some more at Daily KOS.
