Archive for May, 2006
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Roanoke Times, 5/30/06, Pg A8: Increase in carbon-dioxide could mean more poison ivy.
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Big dynamic story with BIG headings. Did Orson Wells write this stuff?
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An experiment by Duke University indicated that as the percentage of carbon-dioxide increases in the air – plants grow faster. Tree-type plants grew 31% faster than normal but poison ivy grew 149% faster.
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Run! Hide! Get a weed-whacker! Stock-up on Round-Up! The Poison Ivy is coming! Lookout for the Kudzu!
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Lost in the article is the positive message that plants, which take in carbon-dioxide and give off oxygen, will do so more efficiently as carbon-dioxide levels increase.
This is something that the biosphere folks depended on for a self-contained man-plant environment and which is very important to our closed-loop system.
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We just have to get the newspaper publishers to stop cutting down trees!
Why can’t they print their stuff on poison ivy leaves?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Roanoke Times, 5/30/06, Pg A3: Reid defends taking free boxing tickets.
Harry Reid is the DEMOCRAT leader of the Senate.
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The article didn’t mention the value or number of these tickets – wonder why?
USA Today indicated there were many tickets on many occasions and that the ticket values were from $1,000 to $1,500 each. It appears Democrat Reid also has significant unpublished ties to the Abramoff indian money too: CLICK:
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,197350,00.html
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Then there’s Democrat Congressman William Jefferson. Apparently the focus of the FBI: $90,000 cash in his freezer and looking good on a sting video.
The FBI (WITH A COURT WARRANT) raided his congressional office. What a flap! Dem. Harry Reid left his ring-side free-tickets-seat and launched a heated attack on Pres. Bush for the raid. Why be mad at Bush? It appears the issue should be with the JUDGE WHO SIGNED THE WARRANT!
Reid doesn’t have any issues when Republicans are being investigated.
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Don’t remember seeing this in the Roanoke Times: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has prepared an ethics complaint against Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) regarding his role in a conspiracy and bribery scheme as well as for misusing federal resources in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Last fall, CREW named Mr. Jefferson as one of the 13 most corrupt Members of Congress.
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Then there’s Alan Mollohan, the top Democrat on the House ethics committee stepping down due to an ethics investigation! One would think that the ethics committee Democrats would know what the rules are wouldn’t you?
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Click for a scorecard of corrupt Congressmen (Guess who’s way ahead in the Pattern of Corruption Game?):
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/03/corrupt-congressmen.html
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Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I write to you with an urgent plea that I believe will be the difference between victory and defeat for Jim Webb and for Virginia on June 13.
It is a plea for money. The truth is, we need to raise $100,000 in the next seven days or Jim will not have enough funds to defeat the brutal, cynical, negative attacks of lobbyist Harris Miller.
Last week, Harris Miller spent $100,000 to run ads attacking Jim. We have all seen the lies, the distortions, the misrepresentations of Harris Miller. It is sad really. In all my 28 years of politics, I have seen nothing even remotely close to these attacks in a Democratic primary. (Bold Print by Me)
Webb is hurting and Steve Jarding knows it. Bloggers and parades do not replace TV and mailers. I am sure Miller has another 100k for a new round of ad's and mailers coming out soon. Those who say Miller is the biggest threat to Allen may be right. Remember I said it at his Gate City kickoff that the Webb campaign was not up to par.
Technorati : Harris Miller, Jim Webb, Virginia Politics
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I write to you with an urgent plea that I believe will be the difference between victory and defeat for Jim Webb and for Virginia on June 13.
It is a plea for money. The truth is, we need to raise $100,000 in the next seven days or Jim will not have enough funds to defeat the brutal, cynical, negative attacks of lobbyist Harris Miller.
Last week, Harris Miller spent $100,000 to run ads attacking Jim. We have all seen the lies, the distortions, the misrepresentations of Harris Miller. It is sad really. In all my 28 years of politics, I have seen nothing even remotely close to these attacks in a Democratic primary. (Bold Print by Me)
Webb is hurting and Steve Jarding knows it. Bloggers and parades do not replace TV and mailers. I am sure Miller has another 100k for a new round of ad's and mailers coming out soon. Those who say Miller is the biggest threat to Allen may be right. Remember I said it at his Gate City kickoff that the Webb campaign was not up to par.
Technorati : Harris Miller, Jim Webb, Virginia Politics
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I've still got the film-reviewing bug for now. I've posted reviews of
Murderball and
Wolf Creek at
film geeks if you're interested.
By the way,
happy 132 Birthday to a brilliant Catholic apologist who played such an important role in my own discernment that I felt obligated to
name a dog after him.
And by the way, go read this
outstanding piece from the Roanoke newspaper. I am, honestly, shocked that a newspaper that leans as far to the left as the
Roanoke Times would publish it. It's by Major John S. Phillips, who is currently stationed in Iraq. This is a man with firsthand information and insight that you aren't going to get from network news and the
New York Times.
Much of what Major Phillips has written here fascinated me. For instance, the mainstream media would have Americans believe that Iraqi insurgents are an underground army that just can't be stopped. From the perspective of Iraqi police and the burgeoning Iraqi military, the insurgents are something more akin to common street gangs, like the ones here in
our own big cities. Major Phillips also does a great job (and it can't be done often enough) of shattering the illusion that Iraq was a peaceful place before the war.
War isn't pretty. War isn't glamorous, and it shouldn't be treated like something it isn't. Nonetheless, the Iraqi people really stand to emerge from this war
much better off than they were before. If you're not convinced that at least that's
possible, please go read
what Major Phillips has to say.
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Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
In todays busy world we are constantly directed to do things.
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From time to time one might want to pause and ask "WHY"
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Click link for one of those times:
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http://roanokeslant.org/Why.jpg
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Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
We have all kinds of critters running around our property but this visitor in our driveway was an interesting surprise on Memorial Day.
Posted in Photography | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I came home last night to find that my house had been broken into. A couple (a family, actually. Husband, wife, and young son.) was there. As I was picking up the phone to call the police, the husband asked me not to. "Look around", he said. While you were out I fixed the light on the back porch. My son mowed your grass. My wife washed all the dishes, made the bed, and mopped the floors. She has
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Update: Firehouse.com is running this story now. You can view it here.
Women in the fire service. To me that is as normal as running EMS calls. I wonder how it was on the day, in any department, when the Chief said that a women would be working there. I would imagine it was culture shock. I am sure it was not easy on the women. Some can probably relate it to the days of hiring the first black
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Marc Fisher has this profile of Democratic candidate for Senate, Harris Miller, while this article asks which candidate -- Miller or James Webb -- is "the better Democrat?"
Take these for what their worth, as in the WaPo piece, Miller revels in being known as a liberal, while the other article has this opening paragraph:
Democrats trying [...]
Posted in 2006 Senate campaign, Virginia politics | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Congratulations:
Unbeaten, untied, and virtually untested, the Virginia men's lacrosse team wrapped up a storybook season Monday with a convincing 15-7 victory over Massachusetts in the NCAA Championship. It proved to be the sweet conclusion to a magical season as the Cavaliers finished the season a perfect 17-0, winning every game in the NCAA Tournament by [...]
Posted in Misc sports | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Can it possibly be? Have I finally gotten through? Now I almost don't want to post this in fear of jinxing myself but I think I may have pushed the right buttons and have seen the last of the midnight trash runs. Normally the Sunday into Monday will begin the three day ordeal and this week it was silent. I attribute that to it being a holiday weekend. But, something odd...yesterday during the
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Yes, I know the comments function has been screwy lately. My software upgrade is scheduled to be finished today, and that should solve those problems entirely.
Bear with me.
Posted in Blogging | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Some people were not intended to be parents. These two don't deserve to breathe our air:
Child found dead inside hot car
News Channel 11
Knox County, Tennessee authorities are investigating the death of a three-year-old boy.
The boy, who the sheriff's office isn't identifying, was found dead inside a scorching car Sunday afternoon. The temperature inside the car was measured at 169 degrees.
The child's parents believe he wandered out of their north Knox County home sometime after he was put to bed at 2:30 am [?] yesterday. (
link
)
That's tragic.
This makes it criminal:
They didn't notice him missing until about 1:45 later that afternoon.
There is, I'm sure, more to this story. But there can be no reasonable explanation. If there was ever a case for involuntary manslaughter ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Alton Foley had the same reaction to a Roanoke Times editorial that I did several days ago. See Alton's take
here
. See "An unhealthy remedy for a nursing shortage"
here
.
When I read the Times piece, I thought, "there is a shortage of nurses so we should raise the salaries of nursing ... teachers"
??
Why wouldn't they advocate higher wages for nurses?!
Anyway, good stuff, Alton.
And I like the new look of your weblog.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Want a reminder of the reasons why America is the greatest country on earth? Check out
Memorial Day, 2006
over at Cathouse Chat. Wonderful stuff.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Today's forecast calls for the temperature in Roanoke to reach 93 degrees Fahrenheit. That's over thirty degrees more than the current 62 degrees. This weather is only good for well watered...
Posted in Weather | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
Today's forecast calls for the temperature in Roanoke to reach 93 degrees Fahrenheit. That's over thirty degrees more than the current 62 degrees. This weather is only good for well watered...
Posted in Weather | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I once worked with this guy's (brief) venture here in the USA:Daewoo founder sentenced to prison term
By Bo-Mi Lim, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A Seoul court on Tuesday sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed conglomerate Daewoo to 10 years in prison for a range of charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud.
The Seoul Central District Court said it also ordered Kim Woo-choong, 69, to forfeit more than 21 trillion won ($22 billion) and pay a fine of 10 million won ($10,600).
Kim was indicted in June last year on charges of multi-trillion won accounting fraud, illegal financing and diverting funds out of the country. He was also accused of embezzlement and breach of trust.
(link)
Daewoo U.S. was a screwed up company from the git-go (before GM bought the automotive division, the parent company was in debt to the tune of $50 billion) but I had great fun working with Daewoo executives in Compton, CA who tried their best to execute the nutty directives emanating from Seoul and from Chairman Kim.Fond memories. Disheartening story. Important lessons learned.
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Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
They were once such a proud people, deserving of the admiration that the western world had for them. Today they've somehow managed to become pathetic creatures, deserving only of our scorn:
BRIT PROFS SLAP ISRAEL
By Andy Soltis, The New York Post
May 30, 2006 -- Britain's largest college teachers union yesterday voted to boycott Israeli academics because of what it called "apartheid" policies toward the Palestinians.
The association yesterday called on its members to consider having no contact with Israeli academics who a [sic] did not "disassociate themselves" from their government's Palestinian policies.
"It is frightening to consider that the education of students in [Britain] is, to some extent . . . in the hands of those who actually believe that the only country . . . whose academics . . . warrant a boycott is democratic Israel," said American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris. (
link
)
Frightening indeed.
I thought a number of years ago that anti-semitism was stamped out with the defeat of nazism. I was wrong. It's alive and well and flourishing in the academic community in formerly-Jolly-Old-England.
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