Whitney, Bobby, Rosie and Johnny Fever — Everything Old is Old Again

P-D:  $6M U of I tutoring center assists only athletes

Because nobody else needs tutoring; they got admitted because of their brain chops.

Schlafly:  Time to Follow Reagan’s Example

Who says the next President and Congress won’t?  Amnesty for illegal aliens is on their to-do list.

AP:  Whitney Houston denies reunion with ex Bobby Brown

She might be telling the truth — there was a crack pipe between them.

CNet:  Nokia to pull out of Japan market

The paucity of Finnish-Japanese language translators was probably the biggest hurdle.

AP:  Station takes call letters of TV show [WKRP in Cincinnati]

And gets Howard Hesseman off the unemployment line.

E!:  Rosie Live D.O.A., Rosie Says

To think, Knight Rider wasn’t on this past Wednesday because of this.

NPR:  Hip Hop Finds A Place On The [Indian] Reservation

Especially popular with the Slapahoes.

AFP:  Ugandan men warned of ‘booby trap’

Which will probably preclude Hooters from opening up a place in Kampala anytime soon.

The “Parental Involvement” Bromide Is Now Officially Dead

UK Independent :

White parents ’show less interest in education’

White parents are less likely to take an interest in their children’s education than black or Asian parents. And they are also more likely to believe that their children’s schooling should be left up to their teachers, according to a study for the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Their lack of involvement is likely to hamper their children’s chances of exam success later in life, it says, adding that black parents are more than twice as likely to say they are very involved in their children’s education than whites. Black and Asian parents say education…

But since black students consistently underperform whites, it means that parental involvement doesn’t necessarily matter.

Also, I don’t see why a presumably liberal British bureaucracy has a problem with any parents “believing that their children’s schooling should be left up to their teachers.”  That’s the semi-official position of American teachers’ unions and educrats, which they spout when a conservative white parent becomes “interested in their children’s education.”

The Face of St. Louis

St. Louis once had two mottos to summarize its industrial strength and importance:  One was “First in Booze, First in Shoes, and Last in the American League.”  The other was “Number One in Jets, Pets and Ice Cold Longnecks.”

Now that Anheuser-Busch is owned by a multinational conglomerate based in Belgium with a Brazilian CEO, the former McDonnell-Douglas facilities are now property of Boeing, Purina is a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle, and Brown Shoe, while still based in St. Louis, isn’t the force that it once was, nor manufactures shoes in St. Louis anymore, the top corporate citizen in St. Louis based in St. Louis is Energizer Battery.  And that makes the Energizer Bunny, who just turned 20, the face of St. Louis.

Fun With the Friday for Black Sheeple

NYDN:  Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

“Stampede,” as if human beings are herds of animals.  On Black Friday, they are.

AP:  Black Friday shoppers out in force, but cautious

They’re lining up at 1 AM in order not to buy as much China-made crap from the store that will open at 4 AM.

WFMY-TV 2 NC Triad:  Black Friday Begins With Long Lines Nationwide

There as another occasion this November for long lines, too, but then, a lot of people gave up, unlike today.  After all, shopping is more important than voting.

CSM:  Army uses video games in suicide prevention

Which are on sale this morning at Wal-Mart for $30, only up until 1 PM or supplies run out.

CSM:  Former South African addict helps others kick the habit – by surfing

Smoking, South Africa’s biggest problem, for sure.

Reuters:  Americans shun lotteries in times of trouble

In times of trouble, it’s even more true that the lotto is the only way that you’re going to get rich.

AFP:  Bush says he will miss commander-in-chief role

But not miss the press conferences and the requisite sight of Helen Thomas.

McClatchy:  Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses Lincoln, Obama _ and their ‘rivals’

She discusses somebody else’s historical insights.

AP:  Guyana to close Net cafes that offer cheap calls

Yet, they allowed Jonestown.

AP:  Cisco plans 4-day shutdown to cut costs

The article claims they’ll save $1 billion over their four-day shutdown.  At $250 million a day to run, the White House is cheaper.

Reuters:  Vive la difference — French say need biggest condoms

Concerning the subject that is most prone to hyperbole.

AP:  Santa Ana police pull over, stun naked DUI suspect

And therefore have no doubt what size condoms to get him.

AP:  Full-size cardboard figure causes NJ bank standoff

The cops passed on reading the cardboard figure his rights, because they figured he would remain silent.

AFP:  Helicopters fly to the rescue of Swedish beetles

Hello, Sweden?  Beetles can fly.

CSM:  Nepal’s unjust ban on private schools

NEA studing the Nepal model.

CNS:  President Washington Proclaims America’s Duty to ‘Obey’ God and ‘Be Grateful for His Benefits’

That had to drive the ACLU nuts…oh wait, there was no ACLU in 1789.

P-D:  For newly-arrived St. Louis immigrants an “opportunity to thank God” [on Tgiv]

Who do they thank on other days?

V-Dare:  Outsourcing Lawyers

They can start with about half the lawyers on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

Waiting Out the Election, on a “Daley” Basis

C-Trib:

Chicago defies forgotten 2nd Amendment

Since the Supreme Court upheld the individual right to own guns last summer, one municipality with handgun bans after another has faced reality. Washington, which lost the case, changed its law. Morton Grove repealed its ban. So did Wilmette. Likewise for Evanston. Last week, Winnetka followed suit.

Then there is Chicago, which is being sued for violating the 2nd Amendment but refuses to confront the possibility that what the Supreme Court said may apply to this side of the Appalachians.

(snip)

So it’s no surprise that Daley refuses to make the slightest change to the handgun ordinance, preferring to fight the lawsuits filed by the National Rifle Association. He is not impressed that 1) the law almost certainly violates the Constitution, which elected officials are supposed to uphold, and 2) it would cost taxpayers a lot of money to fight lawsuits the city is bound to lose.

He and all the other officials who preside over gun ban cities were dragging their heels in order to wait out the election.  With the victory of Mayor Daley’s own Barack H. Obama, they’re hoping that he can pack SCOTUS with liberals, who will then rehear Heller and decide the other way.

If that logic applies to the Washington statute, it very likely applies to Chicago’s law. The city, however, notes that the nation’s capital is a federal enclave, and that the court did not say states must respect the 2nd Amendment. That’s true. The court’s ruling also did not say that China is in Asia, which doesn’t make it part of South America.

That was my fear, too, that as the Roberts Court had been loath to create major precedents and wide-sweeping decisions, would weasel out and use the “federal enclave” Constitutional provision to apply a decision for Heller only to D.C.  But they did not:  Scalia’s majority opinion for Heller made a passing remark about Mayor Daley’s “federal enclave” reasoning, but only in a historical, pre-14th Amendment context.  Therefore, that was tantamount to stating that the Heller decision, combined with the “incorporation doctrine” of the 14th, applied to all levels of American government.

Also, what would Mayor Daley’s opinion be if the state of Mississippi wanted to bring back segregation, and they would use the argument that Federal civil rights laws only applied to “federal enclaves?’

Bricks Hate Blacks

The new symbol of racism today

P-D:

Brick homes could feel federal lawsuit’s effect

A federal judge in Texas is expected to rule by year’s end on a little known civil rights case challenging brick housing mandates that could have local and national implications.

The National Association of Home Builders, the NAACP and the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin have sued Kyle, Texas, an Austin suburb, over a municipal brick ordinance that they say prices minorities out of the single-family housing market. Similar ordinances requiring new home construction to have certain percentages of brick or stone masonry facades are on the books in Columbia, Ill., and Ellisville.

Seems to me there are plenty of brick houses in St. Louis City owned by blacks.

What is going on here is that the construction lobbies don’t like the ordinance, so they bought the NAACP in and are using the “disparate impact” argument as a bromide.

If the Federal courts rule for them, then the 1980s black boy band New Edition, which was also known as “The Bricks,” will have to remove that and call their former selves “The Vinyl Sidings.”

Also, maybe the Federal courts will put the town of Hyannisport, Massachusetts under a consent decree, finding that their high housing and real estate prices discriminate against minorities.

That’s Because “Our Part of Town” Is Looking More Like “Their Part of Town”

P-D:

Fox Tales: South Side, South County homicides hit home

(snip)

What is going on here? We South Siders used to be so certain, almost smug that bad things didn’t happen in our part of town.

And certainly not in solid south St. Louis County.

Forget it. That all changed now and violent crime can happen anywhere in the metropolitan area.

Is it a sign of the times?

Yes, and a sign of the black population increasing in south city and south county.  “Bad things didn’t happen in our part of town” because “our part of town” used to be exclusively “ours.”  Now that “our part of town” is becoming more like “their part of town,” the “bad things that happen” in “their part of town” will happen in “ours.”

In true P-D style, the writer takes the occasion of the second half of this op-ed to blame guns.  He can’t bring himself to say one word about race, or even make the slightest hint to race, also in true P-D style, save “our part of town,” which could be interpreted in any number of ways.

This article is technically in the Suburban Journals portion of the P-D website, but since the P-D bought the Suburban Journals several years back, I knew it would only be a matter of time until the P-D editorial mentality would seep into Journals.

Two Equals Eleven

Besides the fact that many former Channel 5 news personalities are now over at Channel 11, including anchor Rick Edlund and meterologist Ron Fuller, I have noticed that many Channel 2 reporters, such as John Gadson and Roche Madden, are also doing reporting on Channel 11, even though they’re also still on Channel 2.

Now I know why:  While I wasn’t looking, Channel 2 and Channel 11 also now have the same owner.  The P-D had an article today, stating that while the news departments of 2 and 11 are converging, and they will both eventually operate out of the same studios near Page and Lindbergh, their oh-so-important sports departments will stay separate.

Bread and circuses, not the legions in Germania, por favor.

David Bonior’s Paradox

The Democratic former Congressman from Michigan, and possible BHO Labor Secretary, advocates changes in Federal unionized labor laws to make it easier to form unions.  But at the same time, he’s for the North American Union (NAU), which, in its embryonic form (NAFTA) has helped to decimate his home state’s biggest city’s most famous industry, which utilized many thousands of union workers.

Explain.

Fedora 10 — Making Me Don a Red Hat

I first cut teeth in the Linux world in December 2004, when I gave Linspire a spin.  After having tested several distros, I settled on SUSE (now openSUSE) from 9.2, which was current at that time, up until the current stable release, 11.0.

While I have been waiting for 11.1, I heard about the coming Fedora 10.  Now, I auditioned Fedora starting at version 6 (when it was called Fedora Core), and tried 7 and 8.  For some reason, I didn’t give 9 a try, but I heard a lot of good things about it and 10, which was released yesterday.  Since openSUSE 11.1 won’t go final until December 18, I decided to d/l Fedora 10 and give it a try.

And I like it a lot.  So much so that, if openSUSE 11.1 isn’t anything special, I’m going to stay with Fedora.

What’s to like?

(1)  Because the DVD iso for the 32-bit version is only 3.4 GiB, it doesn’t take as long to download as if, like openSUSE, it took up close to the entire space of a DVD, that being 4.37 GiB.  The drawback to Fedora is that it doesn’t include any proprietary software packages, but, since the package manager is easier than in openSUSE (see below), getting them is simple.  And, openSUSE will stop including proprietary packages staring with version 11.1, so it will gain the advantage of being a smaller dowload, but the disadvantage of not having proprietary packages, and you having to wade through YaST to get them.

(2)  During the install process for Fedora, partitioning your hard drives is somewhat easier than it is on openSUSE.  What helps is the graphical indicator of your hard drives, where they already have partitions, and where they do not.  Also, selecting the software install pattern in Fedora is easier than in OS, because making any change in OS’s package selection scheme requires several seconds to reset itself, with Fedora, you either say yes or no to a package, and it’s instantly selected or deselected.

(3)  Since OS 10.3, I have not been a big fan of GNOME in openSUSE.  What they did was to create a start menu like Windows Vista and KDE 4.x, (openSUSE also used a KDE 4.x-style start slab in KDE 3.5.x for OS 10.3 and newer, differentiating KDE 3.5.x in OS from the upstream KDE releases of the same version number, all of which I liked btw), to mach what Novell offered in Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10, the stable and mature Linux version that they “sell,” really to make money on support and services.  Though I use KDE more than GNOME, when I do play around with GNOME, I always preferred (and still do) stock GNOME over openSUSE’s modifications.  Fedora makes very few changes in GNOME between upstream and distribution.  They also leave KDE 4.1.x alone, then again, since OS did the same for KDE 4.0.x, I don’t think 11.1 will modify 4.1.x, so OS never seems to modify KDE 4.

(4)  The default fonts in both KDE and GNOME in Fedora 10 seem a lot more consistent, clear and readable than they ever have been in OS.  I have always thought this about Fedora since I first started testing it, even if Fedora had a lot of other problems that made a non-starter in my opinion.

(5)  Similar to how software selection during installation is easier in F10 than in OS (see 2), PackageKit in the installed Fedora, both in GNOME and KDE, is easy to use, and dead obvious.

(6)  The only disadvantage is that KDE in F10 does not come with the variety of screensavers and wallpapers by default that KDE 4 in OS does.   However, GNOME in F10 has more default screensavers and wallpapers than GNOME in OS.  It seems to me that Red Hat, Fedora’s parent, prefers GNOME for both Fedora and the business-oriented Red Hat distribution, while Novell prefers KDE for SLED/SLES/OS, though the use of their sucky modified GNOME for SLED makes me doubt my theory.

(7)  The GRUB bootloader, which F10 wants to plop in the MBR by default, but it can be changed to go at the beginning of the root Linux partition, when installing F10, while it’s not eyecandy like OS’s GRUB, but it has the neat default option of directly booting the user-defined default OS without seeing a menu (for a lot of people, Microsoft Windows XP or Vista would be the default, while Fedora would be a second option), unless the user hits Enter, at which time they would get the menu of all bootable OSes.  GRUB in OS forces the menu on you, when you either do nothing and boot up the user-defined default OS, or choose one by hand and hit Enter.  BTW, OS by default installs GRUB at the beginning of the root Linux partition, (though you can change this at installation), and I think that’s preferrable, because fixing your MBR to delete Linux bootup options isn’t easy if you decide to uninstall a Linux distro such the *buntus that put its GRUB in the MBR and does not allow you to change that (usually you have to delete a whole distro off your HD  by manually deleting Linux partitions using a tool like GParted).

(8)  OpenOffice in openSUSE or its commercial cousins, a version that is called “Novell edition” because Novell tweaks the OOo codebase, sux.  I have always liked stock OOo better than Novell’s modified OOo.  Fedora has always used stock, and now that I like Fedora enough overall to make it my prime distro, I finally have stock.

Download Fedora 10.

***

End the Fed Rally Last Saturday

This is video of the L.A. “End the Fed” rally.  St. Louis had one, also, in front of the Old Courthouse.  It was one week before that that pro-gay “marriage” forces held a rally at the same place.  From what I saw on TV of both, it looks as if the End the Fed rally had about half the crowd as the gay marriage one.  Knowing how much of an advantage the left wing in this town has in terms of organization and networking, it’s either a very good sign for Federal Reserve opponents, or a very bad one for gay “marriage” supporters.

Fun With Turkey

CSM:  Is lobster the new turkey for Thanksgiving?

Yeah, let’s see you stuff a lobster with three pounds of pork sausage dressing.

McClatchy:  Candidate for top intelligence post withdraws name

Because he was linked to the CIA, his name is only known as “Rick.”

AP:  Ark. governor’s mansion has cameo on ‘30 Rock’

Will that part of the show involve one of Arkansas’s former governors and a few of his interns?

LiveScience:  How Geothermal Heat Pumps Could Power the Future

They already power a certain residence near Crawford, Texas.

Malkin:   The Left’s favorite bank

Was worth $55 a share in May of last year, and is at $6.78 at the time of this writing, and was under $4 late last week.

CNS:  NYT’s ‘Moderate’ David Brooks Wrong about GOP, Says Heritage Foundation President

David Brooks is so wrong.  That’s why he gets to work for the NYT.

CNS:  Turkey Eaters Vilified in Online Videogame

Waiting for the video game that vilifies car thieves.

CNS:  U.S., Mexico Mostly Silent About Deaths of American Tourists South of the Border

Of course they are, because we can’t stop that oh-so-important exchange of cheap labor for tourists.

CNS:  Religious Leaders: Churches Should be ‘Nonjudgmental’ about Behavior That Transmits HIV

But should be judgmental about white racism, discrimination and slavery.

P-D:   Environmentalists draft bold road map for Obama

Hope that map leads him in a direction far away from Washington, DC on January 20.

KSDK:  Source: Gen. James Jones to be Obama’s national security adviser

Jim Jones!!!

Paging Dr. Bergeron

National Post of Canada:

Ottawa university boots cystic fibrosis from charity drive

‘I think they see this, in their own twisted way, as a win for diversity’

OTTAWA — The Carleton University Students’ Association has voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, supporting a motion that argued the disease is not “inclusive” enough.

Cystic fibrosis “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men” said the motion read Monday night to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it.

So, if it doesn’t afflict non-whites, then it’s not important to find a cure or a treatment of the symptoms, because we all know that white people aren’t really human.

Earlier this year, a nurse posted to the Forums at American Renaissance that she was receiving indication that, in the years ahead, and because of racial diversity and equality, combined with many specious studies that blacks and Hispanics were victims of health care discrimination, that the mainstream health care system would engage in a concerted and sub rosa effort to deny health care to white patients.

This story from Ottawa might be the first indication that she wasn’t paranoid.

Tweedledum and Tweedledum in Illinois

P-D:

Durbin may seek commutation for ex-Gov. Ryan

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Senator Dick Durbin says he may ask the president to commute the prison sentence of former Illinois Governor George Ryan.

Durbin says he hasn’t taken any action yet and doesn’t know whether he will.

But he added, “I am considering it at this moment.”

(snip)

Durbin didn’t elaborate on why he might seek leniency for Ryan.

Because in Illinois, the Republicans are Democrats are essentially the same party, even worse than they are on a national scale.  It might also be because that Durbin and George Ryan are close on the political scale.  When Ryan won Governor in 1998, his Democrat opponent was then-Congressman Glenn Poshard, from southern Illinois.  Poshard openly took significantly more conservative positions than Ryan, and he ran as so much a conservative that he was the most right-wing major party nominee for Illinois Governor in my lifetime.  Some of Ryan’s media buys criticized Poshard using left-wing rationale.

Durbin is standing up for Ryan because they are both cut from the same Illinois Republocrat cloth.

Australia: No White Immigrants If They Need Public Assistance

CNS:

Family With Down Syndrome Child Finally Granted Australian Residency

Australia’s immigration minister granted permanent residency Wednesday to a German family whose application was twice denied because their 13-year-old son has Down syndrome.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans ruled that Dr. Bernhard Moeller and his family made a valuable contribution to their community and should be allowed to stay.

(snip)

Moeller was recruited by a regional hospital to be the only internal medicine specialist to serve an area of 54,000 people. Rural areas of Australia have for years faced a shortage of doctors and nurses and the government helps fund overseas recruiting efforts.

(snip)

But Moeller’s application for permanent residency was denied on the grounds that Lukas’ Down syndrome would pose a significant burden on Australian taxpayers for his medical care, education and other services.

But Australia can admit many thousands of Arabs and Africans, and there is no worry about their use of the welfare system, and little chance that there are any physicians willing to work in rural areas among them.

Incidentally, there are a cadre of ethnic Germans in Australia, most prominently in Adelaide, South Australia, that have been in Australia almost since the beginning of British colonization.  While English and Irish are by far the two most common white ethnicities in Australia, Germans are the majority of the small fraction that are not.  The reason is that after the Thirty Years War, Queen Anne of England accepted many German refugees, and over time, some of them and their descendants were resettled in British colonies, including those that would become the United States of America.  A significant part of the “Pennsylvania Dutch” (pre-Revolution German settlers into Pennsylvania) are Queen Anne’s Germans, though many were willing immigrants.

Math Teacher Needs a Math Teacher

P-D:

Math teachers often don’t add up for at-risk students

Math can be hard enough, but imagine the difficulty when a teacher is just one chapter ahead of the students.

It happens, and it happens more often to poor and minority students. Those children are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children’s advocacy group.

Minority students are more likely to have minority teachers, who are themselves more likely not to be as conversant in the subject matter they teach, all compared to white students and teachers.

Fun With Recessionary Headlines

AP:   Study: Math teachers 1 chapter ahead of students

Which is especially disheartening if the students are in elementary school.

CSM:  Schools feel pinch from economic woes

Oh no, public school students might not learn anything.

USNAWR:  In a Time of Crisis, A Look at America’s Best Leaders

So much for leadership, if this list is any indication.

McClatchy:  He’s young, tall, handsome _ and a possible successor to Dalai Lama

But won’t bring Peace on Earth among women of his generation if he gets the promotion.

Time:  Is There a Future for Black Republicans?

I don’t think he has much of a future.

LiveScience:  Flies Made to Live Longer

Not if my fly swatter can help it.

CNet:  Is the video game industry recession-proof?

The next release of Grand Theft Auto will require you to steal more cars, because of the recession.

NNCN:  ‘Pay what you want’ store forced to close

If only the PWYW store’s creditors would have adopted the PWYW business philosophy.

MOPNS:  Video: Left Wing UMSL Professor Asks If Electoral College Can Be Eliminated

It would take 38 state legislatures to approve of a Constitutional amendment.  Think North Dakota is going to give away its power?

AFP:  US taps online youth groups to fight crime, terrorism

But not suicide.

Racism Is Dead. Long Live Racism.

KSDK:

Racial disparities persist despite Obama election

The day after Barack Obama was elected president, Kari Fulton heard a white colleague proclaim that racism in America is dead.

She cringed, worrying it might be a sign of flagging interest in the fight against discrimination.

“In reality, racism is still very much alive and well,” said Fulton, who graduated last year from Howard University, a historically black college in the nation’s capital.

(snip)

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, knows the numbers well. Each year, the civil rights group publishes a book called “The State of Black America,” which has chapters of data on disparities between whites and blacks.

“A mere election does not change the abject conditions for African-Americans or the 230-plus years of racial injustice,” Morial said.

That’s why, because Marc Morial’s livelihood depends on guilty whites and white corporations dumping bags of money on the NAACP and the NUL based on “racism.”

About a quarter of black Americans live in poverty — nearly three times the rate for whites — at a time when rising budget deficits and expensive corporate bailouts are going to leave little federal money for anti-poverty programs. The federal budget deficit is likely to hit a record $1 trillion next year.

And why is the budget deficit so high?  Mainly because of a financial crisis created partly by Federal pressure on banks to dump mortgage lending standards and give loans to otherwise unqualified blacks and Hispanics.

Mayor Slay is Running for Re-Election Because…

…Our Diversity Is Our Strength.

Really, Mr. Mayor?  Your only opponent represents “strength,” as it is, so why not drop out of the race?  The President of the Board of Aldermen, who would become Mayor upon the sitting Mayor’s death, resignation or impeachment, represents the same kind of “strength.”  Why not resign the city can be more diverse and therefore strong?

Tom Tancredo’s Next Target…

…Might not be Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as the conventional wisdom suggested.  Instead, in 2010, he’s going to vie for Gov. Bill Ritter’s job.  That said, Tancredo’s vying for Governor instead of Senator might be interpreted to mean that he still has national ambitions.

Of my “good three” in the Republican Presidential primaries earlier this year, TT was my third favorite.  He didn’t score better than RP or Duncan Hunter, in my mind, becuase of his NAACP/NUL pandering.  But, since Colorado’s acute racial minority issue is Hispanics, not blacks, I would not hesitate to support him for Governor if I lived in Colorado.

Fun With a Narcissistic Blogger Writing in a Narcissistic Country

Business Wire:  Alan Colmes to Depart Top Rated Hannity & Colmes

FNC putting out a wanted ad, for a liberal named Colmes, in lieu of the network ordering new nameplates that read “Hannity & Huffington.”

KSDK:  GM ends 9-year endorsement deal with Tiger Woods

The multimillion dollar contract with a 30-year old did not work in selling cars mostly purchased by 60-year olds to 45-year olds.

NPI:  FALLBROOK: Crime-fighters’ push for gang injunction worries town’s Latinos

Because laws against murder and other things have worked so well, an injunction will cure everything.

KSDK:  Stiller, Rock say Israel’s better than Hollywood

I don’t think so, they’re both filled with angry, hateful minorities who think that the pale-skinned occupiers took what was theirs all along.

Rocky Mountain News:  Noise violators in Fort Lupton sentenced to listen to Barry Manilow

If I were the judge, I would have picked Michael Bolton.

Politico:  Obama skips church, heads to gym

He would have done well to skip church over the last nineteen years.

CNS:  ‘Narcissistic Sovereignty’ Has Kept U.S. from Ratifying U.N. Treaty on Children’s Rights

That, and other concerns, such as that it’s a bad idea.

DaniWeb:  Henry Ford Would Have Hated Linux

If someone who was singlehandedly responsible for making Detroit a largely Arab city would dislike Linux, that makes me like it that much more.

Reuters:  Annan and Carter call for intervention in Zimbabwe

Well, Jimmah already did intervene in Rhodesia when he was President.  See what it wrought?

NPR:  Renowned Slam Poet Takes Her Message To Youth

What’s a slam poet?  Is it someone who thinks that the mindless morass of regular “poetry” is too cereberal?

AFP:  Obama vows no ‘blank check’ for auto industry

It won’t be a blank check, it will already have the first ten zeroes filled in, so that they can write in the eleventh digit to whatever they want.

AP:  We seek snitches, Albuquerque police want ad says

A typical job application asks you yes/no if you have a felony criminal record, if yes list your rap sheet.  This one will do the same thing, but if no, explain why not.

Nine Random, Politically Incorrect Thoughs (and One PC Thought)

Victor Davis Hanson has an op-ed in Real Clear Politics today.  It’s mostly a good read, at least all but point number nine.  I’ll summarize them for you

(1)  More Latin, less liberalism, in public schools

(2)  Hollywood = Detroit

(3)  The MSM have gone way downhill since the 1950s

(4)  Corporate greed is bad

(5)  California is our canary in the coal mine

(6)  American young men have become metrosexualized

(7)  “Classy eccentricity” among political figures has been panned and largely replaced by moonbats

(8)  Something about farming

(10)  Repeat (1)

But he strikes out in Number Nine, flubbing his whole point:

Maybe it is that the Right already had its Reformation when Buckley and others purged the extremists–the Birchers, the neo-Confederates, racialists, the fluoride-in-the-water conspiracists, anti-Semites, and assorted nuts.–from the conservative ranks in a way the Left has never done with the 1960s radicals that now reappear in the form of Michael Moore, Bill Ayers, Cindy Sheehan, Moveon.org, the Daily Kos, etc.

So, for nine out of ten bullet points, Hansen bitches about the consequences of liberal ideology.  In number nine, he turns right around and celebrates neo-liberal (a.k.a. neo-conservative) Buckleyite purging of the very political elements of American society that could have prevented the educational, Hollywood, media, corporate, California and metrosexual rot which he claims to oppose, and might be able to once again if we could only de-Buckleyize and de-Hansenize the American political right.

Ironically, I found this article on the National Policy Institute website, which advocates the same kind of “racialism,” and to a lesser extent, the “neo-Confederatist” (duh, based in Augusta, Georgia) mentality that Hansen was glad to jettison.

Robert Spencer, Where Are You?

CofCC.org:

Police torture BNP member, tell protestors they can’t fly British flags because they are offensive.

CofCC.org News Team

The Mercyside Police Department in England is totally out of control. First they fired a police officer for being a BNP member, using illegally obtained information. Then, at the request of the Muslim Police Association, they ransacked the homes of thirteen local BNP members and arrested them for “hate speech.”

One of them was tortured when he refused to co-operate and give fingerprints.

I read Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch blogs every day in my feed reader, and a story about a “Muslim Police Association” sending in the bobbies against thirteen white critics of radical Islam is something he should have been all over like ducks on a june bug.  Alas, nary a peep.

The reason is that Spencer wants to distance himself from genuinely European nationalist parties, like the BNP, FN in France, and others in Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, because, while they’re the only parties in those countries that want to solve the problems that Spencer writes about on a daily basis, they do it in the spirit of racial and ethnic nationalism, which Spencer opposes.  Like Victor Davis Hansen, who I wrote about earlier today in this space, Spencer wants to have it both ways.

We’re Number Four

P-D:

New Orleans to top crime rankings; St. Louis comes in at No. 4

New Orleans officials weren’t aware of it yet last week, but their city could soon inherit a public-relations nightmare that has plagued the likes of St. Louis, Detroit and Camden, N.J.

On Monday, the publishing firm CQ Press is set to release its 15th annual ranking of U.S. cities by crime. The rankings have attracted increasing attention from media outlets and civic organizations across the country.

Late last week, the publisher said it would not discuss its results before Monday, but confirmed that it made no changes to the methodology used to arrive at past years’ rankings.

If that’s true, the Big Easy would be tops out of 397 U.S. cities with at least 75,000 people which report crime data to the FBI, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis. St. Louis — still trying to shake the “most dangerous city” tag from a couple of years ago — would drop to the fourth-highest crime ranking.

On the happier side of the list, O’Fallon, Mo., would finish with the fourth-lowest ranking.

Could there be some reason why St. Louis is the fourth worst in crime why O’Fallon is the fourth best?  And could that explanation be really simple and obvious?

As usual, cities that are high on this list are bitching about the methodology, which Congressional Quarterly Press (which, as you read, bought out Morgan Quitno) debunks.  A few cities, like STL, are complaining that it’s unfair to compare geographically big cities which are able to annex suburbs (e.g. Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville, Fla., Nashville, etc.) to cities like St. Louis that are locked in in terms of geography.  It’s a good enough point, but it’s also to tough luck of cities like St. Louis.  New Orleans, which topped the list, can claim that relatively the same raw number of crimes pre-Katrina and in 2007 is being compared against a lower overall city population in 2007 post-Katrina, therefore this raises the violent crime per capita, and artificially drove NO to the top of the list.  Again, tough luck.  CQ is comparing municipalities, not geography.  Now, if St. Louis wants to compare areas that might be smaller than an incorporated city but have the same demographics as the entire population of St. Louis, then fine by me.  This is one racial Pandora’s Box they don’t want to open.

Besides, being fourth on a bad list this year compared to being first two years ago should be an improvement that our civic leaders should be happy with.

But the Slinky Lives On

NYDN:  Toy Industry Hall-of-Famer Betty James, ran Slinky company, dead at 90

I have an idea on how to get her casket down a difficult flight of stairs if need be.

KSDK:  Minority enrollment up 27% at University of Missouri

It used to be a good school.

KSDK:  St. Louis creates virtual city to attract real tourists

Trouble is, a virtual city only attracts virtual tourists.

NYP:  KING BLOOMBERG – MIKE IS A MAYOR RUN AMOK

Unlike previous mayors, who were self-restrained and were careful not to abuse their power.

AP:  Astronauts try to work out kinks in urine machine

Just like many Earthlings are trying to do.

Reuters:  Obama picks point men for crisis fight back

Feminists promptly sue.

NPR:  Journalists Marked For Death In Mexican Town

And yet, many journalists here want to import more of Mexico.

Time:  Congress Sends Detroit Execs Back – With Homework

The dog ate your homework excuse isn’t going to work with the House Banking Committee.

Reuters:  Panda attacks Chinese man who wanted a cuddle

Maybe it’s because Pandas are bears.  Would you want to cuddle with a grizzley?

Gang Wars at Seattle Mall — Daiquan Got “Killt”

AP:

Gunfire at Wash. shopping mall kills 1, wounds 1

UKWILA, Wash. – Police on Sunday were searching for a gunman who opened fire in a packed Seattle-area shopping mall, killing one man and critically injuring another, before apparently slipping away in a crowd of panicked shoppers.

Officer Mike Murphy, a police spokesman, said the Saturday afternoon gunfire may have been gang-related. He said police anticipated identifying the shooter “soon” and then making an arrest.

(snip)

Chauncey Williams, a soldier from Fort Lewis, said he witnessed the shooting. He said he was coming out a store when he saw two men arguing and then saw one pull out a gun and start firing.

“I’ve got the heebie jeebies,” Williams told The Seattle Times. “It’s like I’m back in Iraq or something.”

(snip)

The assailant and the two victims were all in their late teens or early 20s. Murphy said no other people were injured.

Anything else other than their age?  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides the answers:

The deceased teen’s identity was confirmed by Harborview as Daiquan L. Jones, whose friends called him Lil’ Soup. The wounded teen, Jermaine D. McGowan, was listed in serious condition.

(snip)

“He was really fun,” said a grieving Javonna McGhee, 16, of her friend, Jones. “He was a class clown.”

Other friends said Jones, who loved sports, attended Opportunity Skyway, an alternative high school within the Seattle School District open to students ages 16 to 20.

(snip)

The gunman was described as an African American male in his teens or 20s, about 5 foot 6, wearing all black clothing, Murphy said.

The mall where this happened will probably soon be listed at deadmalls.com.

The Seattle P-I, unlike most of the rest of the MSM, has not been loath lately to break the usual media racial embargo when writing stories about violent crime.  For instance, there were anti-white race riots on the part of black revelers at Seattle’s Mardi Gras in 2000.  The P-I covered them for exactly what they were.

As for the AP, and the rest of the MSM that participate in racial coverups, their rationale is that they don’t to promulgate “bigotry” against protected minorities, e.g. they don’t want white people to put a stop to black and Hispanic crime.  However, they did list the suspect’s age and gender.  Doesn’t anyone think that this will “promulgate bigotry” against young men?  The truly universalist thing to do would have been to describe him as a human being.

One Man’s Graffiti is Another’s Protest

AP:  Carter, Annan, others refused entry to Zimbabwe

I wish we could refuse them entry into the U.S.

Jihad Watch:  Florida school board chooses not to reappoint Hamas supporter to “diversity committee”

How about not continuing the “diversity committee?”

MSNBC:  Graffiti triggers crime, littering, study shows

Sure, because my first impulse upon seeing graffiti on a wall is to rob and murder.

AP:  Obama economic plan aims for 2.5M new jobs by 2011

2011 is when the 2012 Presidential Campaign will start.

KSDK:  St. Louis man selected to join Team USA at Homeless World Cup

I’m hoping that homes factor in as prizes for members of the winning team.

C|Net:  Judge orders Ballmer to testify in Vista suit

Anchor down the chair in the witness box, because he has a reputation for throwing ‘em.

AFP:  Hard-hitting campaign targets young Aussie binge drinkers

They’ll roll out a softer-hitting campaign to target older Aussie binge drinkers.

AP:  MTV launches African music awards

Pardon me, but don’t Africans seem to win every other MTV music award anyway?

Which Came First? The Graffiti, or the Thugs?

MSNBC:

Graffiti triggers crime, littering, study shows

Signs of disorder in a neighborhood can lead to other broken social norms

The mere presence of graffiti doubles the number of people littering and stealing in a neighborhood, new research suggests.

The results, which are detailed in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Science, support and expand on the so-called broken windows theory, which forms the backbone of many crime prevention programs in major cities such as New York.

The theory suggests that signs of disorder, such as broken windows, graffiti and litter, can open the door to individuals breaking other social norms and rules. In New York’s “Quality of Life Campaign,” adopted in the mid-1990s, city filth, including graffiti, street litter and signs of vandalism, were removed. And petty crime rates did drop.

If so, then where did the graffiti come from to begin with?  Did the spray paint just seep through the walls of the buildings?

I am of the opinion that in New York, removing the graffiti didn’t stop the crime, it’s that stopping the crime meant that graffiti didn’t return after it was removed.

Flight Risk

We Hate Gringos:

CEO of Iowa slaughterhouse is considered a flight risk

Yesterday it was reported by AP that Judge [*****] ordered Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of Agriprocessors Inc to remain in custody. No bail for the criminal CEO who was caught by Federal agents with $20,000.00 and passports in a travel bag.

How ironic it would have been if he fled to Mexico.

I Might Have Voted for the Lizard People

H/T Malkin.   Notice this fool voted wrote in Lizard People for President, wrote in the name under Senator, then turned around and actually vote for the real Lizard for Senate.

You’ll note Dean Barkley on the Senate ballot.  He was appointed by then-Gov. Jesse Ventura to fill the last few months of Paul Wellstone’s term after he died in the plane crash, with Norm Coleman being elected to that seat shortly after.  It looks like Barkley made a bid for his old job, and since the Coleman-Franken was 42-42, he probably got most of the other 16 percent.