Kicking It 'Old School'

Only In St. Charles, Missouri (maybe): Wedding brawl ends in arrests

A brawl outside of a wedding reception sent six people to jail.
The incident happened about 9:25 p.m. Saturday night in the parking lot of the Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Street on the edge of the historic district in St. Charles.

Police gave this account of the incident:

When officers arrived, Michael A. Williams, 33, was lying on the ground, and another man, James Skaggs, 31, was sitting on top of him, punching him in the face. Police told Skaggs to stop fighting, but he refused, and an officer tased him, causing Skaggs to fall off Williams.

Skaggs' sister, Susan Swim, 35, became upset, and jumped on the back of the police officer. The officer was able to push her off, and she fell on the ground. At one point during the melee, another wedding guest, Joshua Jackson, 20, was hit over the head with a whiskey bottle.

Maybe someone didn't get what they wanted on their gift registry?

Getting hit over the head with a whiskey bottle has got to hurt like a sonofabitch, but what a way to make the paper! Joshua can just sit back and retire after that one.

What Does This Look Like?

Now, I'm sure the designers were shooting for "space age futurism," but I think they ended up hitting somewhere below the belt.

I think they should build it as is. Imagine the tourist trade!

Alarmism Denied (For A Change)

From CNN: National Hurricane Center director leaves position

National Hurricane Center director Bill Proenza has left his position, CNN has learned. Sources say Proenza is still employed with the center, but the nature of his new position is unclear.

Deputy Director Ed Rappaport has been temporarily placed in charge.

Proenza, 62, became the director in January after the retirement of Max Mayfield.

His staffers issued a petition for his ouster last week and on Friday Proenza told CNN he had contacted his superiors in Washington about "ways to move forward," but added, "I am not going to resign."

The petition said the center's "effective functioning" is at stake as the Atlantic hurricane season heads toward its peak.

"An unfortunate public debate is now occurring over the ability of the National Hurricane Center to meet its mission," said the petition, which was released Thursday.

"The undersigned staff ... has concluded that the center needs a new director, and with the heart of the hurricane season fast approaching, urges the Department of Commerce to make this happen as quickly as possible."

Twenty-three people -- about half of the center's staff -- signed the petition.

Proenza told CNN he did not think the staff should dictate the leadership through "signing petitions."

Proenza caused an uproar last month with comments about a key hurricane satellite called QuikSCAT. The satellite is five years beyond its life expectancy and operating on a backup transmitter. Proenza said if it were to fail, forecast tracks could be thrown off by as much as 16 percent.

He said Washington reprimanded him for the remarks: "They wanted me to be quiet about it."

But one of the center's longtime forecasters said Proenza's comments were misguided.

"QuikSCAT is another tool that we use to forecast," Lixion Avila said. "The forecast will not be degraded if we don't have the QuikSCAT."

When I first heard Proenza's remarks last month I thought they were obviously BS, but understandable BS. It was exactly the sort of overblown remark bureaucrats make when they want to add something to the old budget line. Proenza wanted the replacement satellite for QuikSCAT on the fast track, which it presently is not. So what is better to do, in this post-Katrina world, then claim our ability to forecast hurricanes will be harmed? Anyone who really looked into the matter would know that our actual ability to forecast storms would not be negatively impacted in the least, but who cares??? It was just a bit of silly alarmism to boost the bottom line.

Well, it turns out lots of folks at the National Hurricane Center cared. If you pick up on anything by reading the literature about the folks at the NHC you pick up how important their credibility is to them. It has been hammered into them for decades that they can only be as effective as as their credibility allows them to be. They measure their effectiveness not just by how accurate their forecasts are (as important as that is), but also by how the general public reacts when they issue warnings. Ultimately, their effectiveness is measured by how many people take precautions and remove themselves from harms way based upon their word.

On one level, Proenza was simply playing a budget game that managers in almost every Federal agency play day in and day out. But, on another level, he was cheapening the word of the National Hurricane Center. I don't think Proenza is a bad guy. After all he was looking out for the well being of the organization. However, in doing so he forgot to look after the well being of the job that organization needs to perform.

The Rubinoos Make The News (Hey That Rhymes!)

This will be interesting to follow: Avril Lavigne Denies Plagiarism Claim

Avril Lavigne has denied a claim by a member of a 1970s rock band that her hit "Girlfriend" rips off one of his tunes.

Songwriters Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer allege in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that Lavigne and her co-writers lifted their 1979 song, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

The song was performed by The Rubinoos, which included Dunbar, on their 1979 album, "Back to the Drawing Board."

"We are not so naive as to chalk it up to some sort of cosmic coincidence," Dunbar said last week. "The lyric, the meter, the rhythm -- they're identical."

Terry McBride, Lavigne's manager, said in a statement Monday that "upon the expert opinion of the country's foremost musicologists, there is no basis" for the allegations. The statement was released in an e-mail from a representative at Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which distributes Lavigne's music.

We will let the courts figure this out, but I'll admit the first time I heard Lavigne's song I said to my wife, "I think this is a remake of 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend!'" Evidently, I wasn't the only person to think that.

Lavigne says:

"They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life."

That is too bad. It is a fabulous song.

A Real Unmitigated Disaster (Thank God)

I think it is safe to say that this weekend's Gore-a-thon wasn't quite the rousing success folks were hoping for when Al dreamed it up on a Lear jet ride to one of his homes.

First, there were attendance problems for the Global Warming love fest in South Africa because it was too damn cold. (h/t to QandO)

Officials at Live Earth Johannesburg have blamed the effects of climate change for poor audience attendance at Saturday's (07Jul07) South African event. Organiser John Langford believes extremely cold weather in the region - it snowed last week (ends06Jul07) for the first time in a quarter of a century - kept people away from the concert, which starred Joss Stone, UB40, Angelique Kidjo and Baaba Maal.

This simply goes to prove the first rule in AGW hysteria making: blame Global Warming for every bit of weather you don't care for, including record cold.

Second, it seems not many folks in the U.S. or UK were, well, interested. From the Daily Mail:

Live Earth has been branded a foul-mouthed flop.

Organisers of the global music concert - punctuated by swearing from presenters and performers - had predicted massive viewing figures.

But BBC's live afternoon television coverage attracted an average British audience of just 900,000.

In the evening, when coverage switched from BBC2 to BBC1, the figure rose to just 2.7million.

And the peak audience, which came when Madonna sang at Wembley, was a dismal 4.5million. Three times as many viewers saw the Princess Diana tribute on the same channel six days before.

Two years ago, Live 8 drew a peak television audience of 9.6million while Live Aid notched 10million in 1985.

From CQ:

A new survey by Rasmussen shows that Americans didn't pay much attention to the celebrity-driven Live Earth concerts, mostly because of skepticism about their motivation. Less than a quarter of those surveyed bothered to follow the news stories about Al Gore's project, which may have political implications of its own.

At Heading Right, I take a look at the numbers and see a reality check for those who believe climate change to be a winning issue in the next election. Although a 22 share would be pretty good ratings for a televised event, it shows a distinct lack of resonance for political benefit. The Draft Gore movement may have to rethink its chances for success.

And here was this from the Rasmussen survey itself:

The Live Earth concert promoted by former Vice President Al Gore received plenty of media coverage and hype, but most Americans tuned out. Just 22% said they followed news stories about the concert Somewhat or Very Closely. Seventy-five percent (75%) did not follow coverage of the event.

By way of comparison, eight-in-ten voters routinely said they were following news coverage of the recent Senate debate over immigration. Fifty-four percent (54%) said they followed news coverage of the President’s decision to commute Scooter Libby’s sentence.

Skepticism about the participants may have been a factor in creating this low level of interest. Most Americans (52%) believe the performers take part in such events because it is good for their image. Only 24% say the celebrities really believe in the cause while another 24% are not sure. One rock star who apparently shared that view is Matt Bellamy of the band Muse. Earlier in the week, he jokingly referred to Live Earth as "private jets for climate change."

Bellamy's concern is echoed over at Stubborn Facts:

Tully's already touched on this, but the irony is delicious enough to double-dip: this weekends..."Live Earth" concerts, which aimed to raise awareness of global warming, are a carbon disaster zone:

far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists' and spectators' travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year.

The concert will also generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste at the concert stadiums - much of which will go directly into landfill sites.

Hmmm...doesn't look like they are getting bang for their buck...excuse me, I mean for their carbon footprint.

I'd like to say I was pleasantly surprised by this dreadful showing, but I really wasn't surprised at all. The entire movement has all the subtlety of a political campaign, and if you have been paying any attention to those you already know there is nothing subtle about them. Of course, the reason the AGW campaign resembles a political campaign is that that is exactly what it is. It is an expression of political ideology pure and simple, and there was no way to disguise that fact from people, even young people. (Gee, Al maybe they are not the sheep you thought they were.)

One wonders where the "movement" will decide to go from here. Pseudo-documentaries and phony agit-pop only took them so far, and it doesn't look like they will be able to PR their way to "consensus." I'm hoping it will splinter between those with sensible ideas to combat pollution without hamstringing our economy, and the ideological dead-enders who can hold onto their pure visions of societal "transformation" as they fade into the obscure oblivion they so richly deserve.

An Astronomical Question

Anyone else out there watch for meteors on a regular basis? I ask because last night the wife and I were sitting outside when the wife got a good look at a nice long lasting meteor. It was over my shoulder and back behind the storage unit so I missed it. If you are lucky or just look at the night sky long enough I know you will see your fair share of meteors even without a "shower" going on. I also know there is no shower going on now, so I thought I was SOL for last night. But I continued to look up and less than a minute later I saw one. Lucky me, I thought.

Then a couple of more minutes passed and we saw another one. And another one. And another one.

In a thirty minute period we saw 12 to 15 of them. The thing is, because of where we were sitting we probably had only 30% of the sky visible to us. Even if we just double the rate we saw last night, 24-30 per hour makes for a pretty damn good meteor shower. I looked around online for a culprit and really couldn't find one. There is a little shower called the Capricornids, but it usually doesn't peak until early August and it doesn't normally account for more than a couple meteors an hour.

I enjoy meteor showers quite a bit and I have spent my fair share of nights looking for them, but I never had witnessed an unexpected shower like last nights.

Has anyone else? Its a long shot, but maybe one of my regular readers is an astronomy hound??

You never know.

Malayasia's Concentration Camps And The BBC

From the BBC:

A Malaysian woman held for months in an Islamic rehabilitation centre says she was subjected to mental torture for insisting her religion is Hinduism.

Revathi Massosai, the name by which she wants to be known, says she was forced to eat beef despite being a Hindu.

Miss Massosai was seized by the Islamic authorities in January when she went to court to ask that she be registered as a Hindu rather than a Muslim.

The case is one of a number that have raised religious tensions in Malaysia.

Miss Massosai was born to Muslim converts and given a Muslim name, but she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and has always practised that faith.

However, under Malaysia's Islamic law, having Muslim parents makes one a Muslim and, as such, one is not allowed to change one's faith or marry a non-Muslim.

But Miss Massosai married a Hindu man in 2004 and the couple have a young daughter.

This story begs for a crap load of how dare they's.

For starters, how dare the Malaysian government attempt to coerce, under pain of torture, acceptance of the muslim faith.

Where is the U.N.'s human rights campaigners? Oh, yeah, that's right, they are too busy condemning Israel.

And, you know what, how dare the BBC print the phrase "Islamic rehabilitation centre" and not, at least, put the damnably evil thing into quotation marks. During World War II was the BBC referring to Nazi Germany's concentration camps as "Holiday Rest Camps for Jews"?

A lawyer representing the Malacca state Islamic department responsible for Miss Revathi's arrest, rejected her allegations and said officials believe that she can still be persuaded to embrace Islam. [emphasis added]

Notice that the BBC will not even credit Ms. Revathi's claim to be married? Nice.

The BBC will have to decide if they are an independent news gathering organization, or the propaganda arm for the Malaysian concentration camp industry.

Your Musical Interlude, Part VIII

The original (yet wonderfully derivative) and still "cham-peeeeen" Jellyfish:

July 4th

For my money the best fireworks backdrop in the country.

Britain May Be Less Smart Than It Was Just Last Week

Some questions get to the heart of the matter:

Prime Minister Gordon Brown keeps repeating that the attacks have nothing to do with Islam - but, at the same time, keeps inviting "Muslim community leaders" to Downing Street to discuss how to prevent attacks. If the attacks have nothing to do with Islam, why invite Muslim "leaders" rather than Buddhist monks?

Maybe Brown is thinking of converting.

Is Pelosi And Co. Really Favoring Communist Terrorists In Columbia?

That is the claim.

Now... Democrats drive another nail through the heart of Pro-US Colombia.
On Monday, democrats sided with the terrorists. Democrats refused to give preferred status the crucial US ally.
From the US House Ways and Means Committee:

“With regard to the Colombia FTA, the House of Representatives recently passed the 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which redirects U.S. foreign assistance in Colombia. All of us regard Colombia as a crucial ally in a region that deserves our active engagement, and the bill represents an effort to have U.S. funds help address the root of numerous problems there. There is widespread concern in Congress about the level of violence in Colombia, the impunity, the lack of investigations and prosecutions, and the role of the paramilitary. Issues of this nature cannot solely be resolved through language in a trade agreement.

“We believe there must first be concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground in Colombia, and Members of Congress will continue working with all interested parties to help achieve this end before consideration of any FTA. Consequently, we cannot support the Colombia FTA at this time.

Did you get that?
Democrats are upset about the violence in Colombia, a country that has been fighting Leftist terrorists for over 40 years!

And... Democrats totally disregard the truth:
** Colombia has knocked down deaths by unionists by 90%.
** Murders are at ten/twenty year lows. So are kidnappings. Just this past year in Medellin murders are down 40%.
(This is despite Hugo Chavez's funding of the FARC terrorists.)

Now, I'm gonna be a bit agnostic about this as I don't know all that much about Columbia. But shouldn't being anti-FARC be a given of U.S. policy for Democrats and Republicans alike?

Conyers To Subpoena James Madison?

From QandO:

I have no particular opinion on the Scooter Libby commutation, but I'm pretty sure that conducting a Congressional investigation into it is absurd...

[House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (Mich.)] ... was expected to move swiftly to conduct hearings on the commutation, congressional sources said.

Rep. Conyers might begin his investigation by examining a copy of the US Constitution - Article II, Section 2 - which grants the President "Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States".

That should also conclude his investigation.

I love the new Democratic meme. They cannot argue that the President doesn't have the Constitutional authority to do what he has done, so they complain about the manner in which he uses that authority.

Now that's substantive.

Of Course Obama Isn't Alone

There is John Conyer:

Until now, it appeared that the President merely turned a blind eye to a high ranking Administration official leaking classified information. The President’s action today makes it clear that he condones such activity.

Nancy Pelosi:

The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the President shows his word is not to be believed.

Maybe he would have if Richard Armitage were ever charged and convicted.

Words Of Wisdom?

Here is Barack Obama:

This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security...

Um...does Barack know what Libby was actually convicted of? Sure doesn't sound like it.

Scooter's Sentence Commuted

Does this mean our long national nightmare is over?