MaxRedline

Cold!

Temps are in the upper 20's, but there's a strong wind blowing tonight.  Glad this place is fairly well-insulated!

Could be worse, though: a friend in California just emailed, noting that they have two feet of snow.  He included a helpful photo of what that might look like.  

Best wishes for a safe and happy new year!

More Crops Up On The National Front

That wascally Aussie wapscallion, Assange, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic to have set up kind of the ultimate "dead man switch":  if he's killed or otherwise goes away for a long period of time, he says, his organization will release files naming top officials in several Arab countries (who) have close links with the CIA.

The interviewer, Ahmed Mansour, said at the start of the interview which was a continuation of last week’s interface, that Assange had even shown him the files that contained the names of some top Arab officials with alleged links with the CIA.

Assange or Mansour, however, didn’t disclose the names of these officials. The WikiLeaks founder said he feared he could be killed but added that there were 2,000 websites that were ready to publish the remaining files that are in possession of WikiLeaks after “he has been done away with”.

Although his whistle-blowing has thus far proven little more than a gossipy embarrassment to diplomats, it's easy enough to see why they'd want to shut him up for a while.  Diplomats and high officials are sensitive folks, after all.

Here at the various airports under the domination of Big Sis , it looks as though a lot of folks have had just about enough of her crap: increasingly, airports are considering ditching her TSA in favor of private security firms:

Some of the nation's biggest airports are responding to recent public outrage over security screening by weighing whether they should hire private firms such as Covenant to replace the Transportation Security Administration. Sixteen airports, including San Francisco and Kansas City International Airport, have made the switch since 2002. One Orlando airport has approved the change but needs to select a contractor, and several others are seriously considering it.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which governs Dulles International and Reagan National airports, is studying the option, spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.

For airports, the change isn't about money. At issue, airport managers and security experts say, is the unwieldy size and bureaucracy of the federal aviation security system. Private firms may be able to do the job more efficiently and with a personal touch, they argue. 

As a government entity, it's unrealistic to expect TSA to perform efficiently - that's why the post office is having their shorts handed to them by private companies such as FedEx and UPS.

Undeterred, however, EPA "regulators" have met to discuss possible actions they can take to address the problem of "obesogens" in the environment.  There's little or no need for an individual to eat responsibly, nor to haul that lardy butt off the couch, because lardiness is beyond your control.  Thankfully, the EPA is moving to help.  They've done so much for you in the past.

Word Games

You're not supposed to refer to illegal aliens by that term, even though they are foreign nationals (aliens) who are here illegally.  

Some prefer the term "illegal immigrants", but in recent years even that has come under fire.  In theory, the politically-correct term has evolved into "undocumented immigrants" - but that's incorrect as well, because immigrants refer to their new country as "home", while most illegal aliens send money home.

Thus, the latest terminology is "undocumented workers".  Please make a note of it.

But there's no need to stop there - as one wag noted, in today's news, a gun battle occurred between a homeowner and an unlicensed invasive extrajudicial wealth redistributor.

But this raises another question: how do we properly refer to the folks who are busily taking your money to build trains and trams that nobody wants?

Bow-Tie Blummie "Regrets The Wording"

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is distancing himself from a memo sent by his office that urged health reform advocates not to advertise new end-of-life counseling regulations to avoid reviving talk of “death panels.”

The weeks-old memo recommended that end-of-life advocates celebrate a “quiet” victory out of concern that Republican leaders would “use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.”

In the memo, first reported on Dec. 26 by The New York Times, Blumenaeur’s office expressed concern that new attention to end-of-life care planning could doom an end-of-life provision included in a Medicare regulation issued last month.

“Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response,” the memo read. “The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.”

Blumenauer now says he regrets the letter's secretive language, which has only bolstered conservatives’ claims that the Obama administration tried to sneak the provision in under the radar.

“If I had seen the memo, I would have suggested it be worded differently,” Blumenauer told The Hill.

In other words, Earl deeply regrets being caught, which is standard for Democrats who inadvertently reveal what they're actually up to.  In true Democratic fashion, he's claiming not to have seen the memo.

Bad News For Sam

SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla - A 62-year old St. Petersburg man was arrested Tuesday for stalking a teen and offering him money for sex.

The problem, here, appears to be that the old guy didn't follow Portland "mayor" Sam's approach: Sam doesn't offer money up front; he gives cash "gifts" later on.

Be that as it may, Sam's too busy for such foolishness, these days: in just a couple of weeks, he's set to convene a "town hall" meeting at a presently undisclosed location; the purpose of which is to debate whether or not to rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

After Sam's predecessor, Tommy Potter, was denied an ultra-top secret clearance by JTTF, Tommy pitched a hissy fit and insisted on pulling Portland out of the force - making the city once again unique in the nation.  Thus, five years ago, Sam and the gang at Portland City Hall pulled the plug.  In light of the recent arrest of a muslim terrorist who planned to blow up Portland's tree-lighting ceremony, some folks have been reconsidering that whole hissy-fit thing.

Because the OSP remains a member of JTTF, governor Ted was briefed by the FBI on the impending take-down several days prior to its occurrence; "mayor" Sam heard about it on the news.  This puts Sam in an uncomfortable position.  Given his antics, it's unlikely that he'd be eligible for any kind of clearance; let alone top secret.

Big Sis Aims To Improve Border Security

At a time when hundreds of thousands are fleeing Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, for almost any location - with substantial numbers heading north to El Paso, Texas and points beyond - it's interesting to see that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is taking border security and Customs enforcement seriously; even to the point of personally traveling to the border.

There's good reason for concern over Juarez, where more than 3,000 people have been killed this year, according to the federal government, making it among the most dangerous places on earth.

Of all of the border cities, it's by far the most out-of-control, and thus represents a clear danger not only to Mexican citizens, but to Americans, as the violence spills across the border.

Of course, that's not where Big Sis is hanging out.  No, the border she's visiting and vowing to beef up is in Afghanistan.

Keep 'Em Stupid, Momma

The philosophy has worked well for Democrats over the years, and it's one that the highest ranking Democrat in the Georgia state senate continues to employ:

On a local television program in Middle Georgia, Senator Brown was asked about a series of party switchers from Democrats to Republicans. Brown responded, “I mean, what does the wife do then, put on some red sheets on the bed and say ‘You know we can get rid of the blue sheets, but keep the white one over there because we might need that one for the midnight meeting.’”

That's a typical southern Democrat tactic - if you repeat a lie often enough, then people begin to believe it's the truth.  Never mind that by far, the majority of KKK members were Democrats; they've linked Republicans to the organization so often that many have come to equate Republicans with slavery, and with other means of holding people down.  It may be stupid, but so far, it's worked.

Why Unions Really Need "Card Check"

Last month, a newspaper in Baltimore published an article by one Van Smith noting the historically checkered record of International Longshoremen's Association Local 333.  In addition to having one heck of a lot of felons in their ranks, they hold incredible "fundraisers".

As you can imagine, the publication of lines such as "Tillman and Jackson are arguably two of the most enduring names in the modern annals of Baltimore crime. And both are members of Local 333." hasn't especially endeared the author nor the publisher to the brothers of 333.

And so it was that a couple of days ago, the brothers turned out in force; staging a picketing demonstration on the sidewalk in front of the newspaper offices, they demanded, among other things, the "resonation" of the reporter, Van Smith.  For such reasons was the concept of using "card check", rather than the secret ballot, to "organize brothers and sisters" born.

How Cold Is It?

BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years.

Latest figures reveal that the average temperature since December 1 has been a perishing -1C.

That makes it the second coldest since records began in 1659.

Brits are just being silly, these days.  Everybody knows that we're in a period of unprecedented Man-Made Global Warming, and we need to take emergency steps  to keep the polar bears from drowning.

The record freeze in Great Britain is causing tens of thousands of the new green condensing boilers to freeze up and shut down. Yorkshire alone experienced 60,000 call-outs to the plumber already.

The Daily Mail reported:

Five years ago, New Labour heralded them as the modern, clean and green way to heat your house. As a result, today there are already eight million ‘condensing boilers’ in homes across Britain. In fact, since 2005 it is illegal to fit any other kind. 

 

 

One-Day Wonder

On Christmas Day, visits to Facebook in the U.K. outstripped  visits to Google for the first time ever.  Don't look for it to last, though:

The rise in Facebook use would suggest that UK Internet users were more interested in connecting with their friends and family, updating them with stories of presents and how much food they ate. Google can expect an increase in searches in the coming days as people try to work out the best apps for their iPads or Android devices.

Oddly enough, though the upstart has just been cited as the 3rd largest site in the world, displacing Yahoo.  Number one Google and number two Microsoft may not be holding onto those slots much longer, either, as Marc Andreesen and his team have put together Rockmelt - a browser designed specifically to interface with Facebook.

Rockmelt is fast and seamless when accessing Facebook data, and robust when accessing other sites as well.  I've been using it in beta for a month or two, and it appears to update itself as new extensions are tested.  If anything, it seems to move faster with increased use.

History:  While a student at University of Illinois, Andreesen built (with assistance) MOSAIC, which became the first browser for the web.  MOSAIC became Netscape, and the browser wars were officially underway.  The vehemence of discourse between supporters of Netscape and Internet Explorer was similar to that often experienced when discussing Apple vs. P.C. platforms.

Eventually, Microsoft went on to dominate, largely because its I.E. browser was integrated into the operating system.  Netscape went away, and re-evolved as Mozilla.  While there are several browsers today, I.E. still dominates; although some users run Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, and/or Google's Chrome, I.E. and its variants (Slimbrowser, Maxthon) still top the U.S. market.

The advent of a new browser, optimized for Facebook, seems rather an ominous development for Microsoft and for Google.  

Google's Chrome is excellent and multifunctional, but it isn't optimized (as yet) for Google sites.  Should that occur, one has to wonder whether the next generations of browsers will all be optimized for specific sites (while allowing access to other sites).