Friday, April 13, 2012
Shovel Ready in San Fran: $205,075 to ‘Translocate’ One Shrub from Path of Stimulus Project By Thomas Cloud April 12, 2012 Subscribe to Thomas Cloud's
“In October 2009, an ecologist identified a plant growing in a concrete-bound median strip along Doyle Drive in the Presidio as Arctostaphylos franciscana,” the U.S. Department of Interior reported in the Aug. 10, 2010 edition of the Federal Register. “The plant’s location was directly in the footprint of a roadway improvement project designed to upgrade the seismic and structural integrity of the south access to the Golden Gate Bridge.
“The translocation of the Arctostaphylos franciscana plant to an active native plant management area of the Presidio was accomplished, apparently successfully and according to plan, on January 23, 2010,” the Interior Department reported.
The bush—a Franciscan manzanita—was a specimen of a commercially cultivated species of shrub that can be purchased from nurseries for as little as $15.98 per plant. The particular plant in question, however, was discovered in the midst of the City of San Francisco, in the median strip of a highway, and was deemed to be the last example of the species in the “wild.”
More @ CNS News
LANGUAGE! Second Chance on Shoot First A National Campaign to Reform "Shoot First" Laws
First name: Natural
Last name: Right
Email address: Fuckyou@aol.com
Zip code: 20500 (White House)
Petition
Al-Qaeda Airlines' Magazine: Home Manufacture of Chloroform
On April 7, 2012, Shumoukh forum member "'Adnan Shukri" published to the forum the first issue of a magazine titled Al-Qaeda Airlines. The 73-page magazine, compiled from various internet sources, is the work of "'Abdallah Dhu Al-Bajadin," who is known as an explosives expert on jihadi forums and who has reportedly mentored other explosives experts. His real identity is unknown.[1]
The first issue is devoted entirely to the home manufacture of chloroform. Al-Bajadin says he chose to write about the topic for a number of reasons, including to introduce variety on the forum's military section, which focuses primarily on explosives, and to share knowledge about the chemical's various applications in jihadi operations: manufacturing poisons and deadly gases, assassinating enemy targets, and supplementing explosives.
Two on Zimmerman’s Affidavit
......Trayvon Martin’s mother stated (but later retracted) that she believed Zimmerman’s shooting of Martin was accidental. Such a statement would undermine the 2nd degree murder charge in that such a charge requires it to be shown that the defendant was of a “depraved mind” at the time of the shooting. An accidental killing doesn’t indicate a depraved mind so it was in Ms. Fulton’s best interest to retract that statement.
The affidavit doesn’t point to any evidence of which we were previously unaware. Instead, it indicates that Corey placed an emphasis on three points: the phone conversation between Martin’s girlfriend and Martin right before the incident, and Martin’s mother’s statement that it was her son heard screaming in the background of the 911 call. The former might be considered hearsay and it is as of yet undetermined if we can even show beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Martin heard screaming in the background of that call. If Corey believes she has probable cause to convict on 2nd degree murder, she should have some forensics evidence or eyewitness testimony to back her case up.
********
If - IF! - the affidavit described above is the arrest warrant mentioned by the Herald, then how did it come to include the details from the cellphone girlfriend? She was brought forward by Martin family attorney Ben Crump after the release of the 911 calls and was originally only going to talk to the Federal investigators [my skepticism about the circumstances of her emergence is here].
The obvious guess is that she (i.e., Mr. Crump) changed her mind and talked to the state investigators, who used her story to update the base affidavit.
More @ Just One Minute
GSA official to take the Fifth
The General Services Administration official tasked with organizing a now-infamous $822,000 Las Vegas conference plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights ahead of a scheduled Monday grilling on the Hill.
On Thursday, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) served a subpoena to require Jeff Neely to appear before the committee, according to Democratic committee documents obtained by POLITICO. Neely’s attorney on Friday informed the committee Neely will exercise his right against self-incrimination and requested not to attend the hearing.
“Requiring Mr. Neely to travel from California to appear before the Committee when you have been advised that he will not answer any substantive questions posed to him does not advance any legitimate Committee purpose,” the attorney wrote, according to the documents.
Issa wrote Neely’s lawyer Friday to advise the attorney and Neely that the subpoena remains in effect.
“Mr. Neely is uniquely qualified to answer questions about the WRC,” Issa wrote. “The Committee requires Mr. Neely’s appearance because of, among other reasons, the possibility that he will waive or not assert the privilege as to some or all questions.”
Neely’s attorney later Friday confirmed Neely will attend the hearing.
More @ Politico
NC Middle School Student Suspended For Hugging Teacher
Via Old Virginia Blog
A North Carolina middle school student has been suspended for hugging a teacher.
WECT-TV reports that Ryan Blackmon, an eighth grade student at Bladenboro Middle School, was suspended when he hugged his teacher after she broke up a potential fight between himself and another student.
“”I said, ‘Thank you,’ after she got done,” Blackmon told the station. “I went to hug her, then she just snatched me up by the arm and drug me to the other teacher and said that I needed to be written up, and that something serious had happened.”
According to school documents obtained by the station, it is against the rules for a student to hug a teacher.
Blackmon’s parents have filed a police report against the teacher and the school after a mark was left on the boy’s arm from where the teacher grabbed him.
More @ CBS Charlotte
UC Berkeley: “Teaching as a Subversive Activity”: The Theory of Political Indoctrination
Because this was a presentation aimed at education insiders only, the lecturer, retired professor H. Douglas Brown from S.F. State, seemed perfectly willing to let the cat out of the bag about political indoctrination on college campuses. Fortunately, I had my trusty camera with me, so I was able not only to snap a few pictures but also record several key portions of his speech, which I found so eye-opening that I felt the general public deserved to hear it as well.
The timing couldn’t have been better: A devastating new report issued by the National Association of Scholars had just been issued a few days beforehand, which documented with exquisite and irrefutable detail the extreme liberal bias at the University of California. However, the main problem with the NAS report (which you can download in full here if you’re interested) is that it’s too overwhelming and too technical to deliver the kind of emotional impact needed to sway public opinion. To drive home the point in a more personal way, the NAS report needed an introductory companion anecdote of a professor frankly confessing the rationale behind what is essentially the “theory of indoctrination.” As if on cue, Professor Brown stepped into that role, unwitting though he may have been.
Let it be noted that Professor H. Douglas Brown is no wild-eyed extremist; in fact, he’s rather bland and respectable and not the most thrilling of speakers, as you will soon hear. But that’s what made his presentation so disturbing: radical and self-admittedly “subversive” attitudes that affect the future of society are discussed with matter-of-fact nonchalance. The main drawback of Professor Brown’s verbal style (at least from my point of view) is that he often resorts to the academics’ tried-and-true escape hatch, which is to rephrase statements as questions, so as to have plausible deniability if later confronted. Thus, for example, instead of just flatly saying something like “We should indoctrinate students with leftist ideologies,” he asks “Should we indoctrinate students with leftist ideologies?” and only after five minutes of talking in circles eventually concludes “Yes.”
More @ PJ Media
Mommy Wars? Seriously?
“Guess what, his wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” said Rosen, who was being interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the “war on women.”And via Drudge, we find that there is already a poll up at the Washington Post, your flagship Operation Mockingbird outfit. What can we contrast this with? Ah I know, the current first lady who never had the luxury of staying at home.
And then, just like that, a familiar name popped up on Twitter: @AnnDRomney.
“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” Ann tweeted.
The Romney campaign confirmed to ABC News that the account belongs to Ann Romney.
Tom Engelhardt: America's Soviet Decline
A Florida DA: “High likelihood” case dismissed
Depending on the timing of legal developments in Florida, the court proceedings and possible trial of Trayvon Martin’s killer - one of the highest-profile and most racially charged cases in years - could be thrust into the middle of the 2012 presidential election.
“If the judge were to rule in the pre-trial that Zimmerman has a legitimate claim in the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law defense and was as a result released, I think that could have national impact and as a result it could bleed into the political system,” Dan Abrams, legal analyst and founder of Mediaite, told POLITICO. Or, he added, “If there is an acquittal … I think that it could have national political implications, because at that point I think both [Mitt] Romney and [President Barack] Obama could be asked to comment on it.”
More @ Politico
‘Trayvon' shouted as group attacks Good Samaritan
The name of Trayvon Martin was invoked again Wednesday night in Gainesville during an attack by a group that police say stomped on a white man who was scuffling with a black robbery suspect on the Bo Diddley Community Plaza.
The robbery suspect, Carl Milton Babb, 50, had been released from prison earlier in the day after serving more than two years in prison for the same crime he is accused of committing Wednesday — snatching a purse from a woman near the downtown plaza.
According to a Gainesville Police Department arrest report, Babb approached a woman eating dinner at the Lunchbox on the plaza at about 8:50 p.m. and asked her for a light.
When she said she didn't have one, Babb took off with her purse, which contained her $500 cellphone, according to the report.
The woman's dinner companion and another person took off after Babb.
When her friend caught up with Babb, according to the police report, Babb punched him in the face and grabbed his hair, but he was able to keep Babb pinned down, according to the report.
The scene attracted a crowd, and a number of people on the plaza approached Babb and the Good Samaritan, who tried to explain that Babb had just stolen his friend's purse.
GPD spokeswoman Cpl. Angelina Valuri said some members of the crowd shouted "Trayvon!" and that at least three of members of the crowd began stomping on the hands of the woman's friend to force him to let go of Babb.
More @ The Gainesville Sun
The $7 billion dollar warship being built to maintain American naval supremacy over China in the 21st Century
One of the largest, most expensive and advanced warships ever commissioned for the U.S Navy is taking shape at Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine.
Named the U.S.S Zumwalt, the $7 billion guided-missile destroyer is at the cutting edge of technology and now deemed vital for defence following President Obama's Asia-Pacific pivot.
Fitted with diagonally launching missile tubes as opposed to traditional vertical tubes and carrying deck-guns that fire rocket propelled warheads 100 miles, the Zumwalt will be a formidable beast.
Even though it is the largest destroyer the U.S Navy has built in years it will have half the crew because of the extensive automation of systems on the ship.
With 32 ships originally envisioned for the class, that was lowered after a government review to 24, then to seven and eventually shot down to just three.
More @ Mail Online
The Only Man In The World Who Can Swim With A Polar Bear
Via Theo Spark
ABBOTSFORD, CANADA: Grizzly man Mark Dumas, 60, is the only man in the world who can touch a polar bear. And as these incredible pictures show the fearless bear handler from Abbotsford, British Columbia, even goes for dip in his swimming pool where he and 16-year-old polar bear Agee enjoy a watery cuddle together. Mark and wife Dawn, 60, train the 60-stone (800lb) friendly beast - the world's largest land predator - to star in high-budget TV adverts. She has even performed in movies like 'Alaska' in 1995 when she was just a few weeks old. With his incredibly intimate bond Mark wrestles on the grass with Agee, kisses her, puts his head in her huge jaws, and even bear hugs her as she rears up on her hind legs to over seven feet. Mark and Dawn have owned Agee since she was six weeks old and the colossal mammal even lived in their home as a cub where she played with the family dogs and was bottle fed.
Vietnam backs the Philippines against China
Hanoi backs Manila, hoping for a multilateral approach to settling conflicts with Beijing in the South China Sea, an area that is at the centre of fierce dispute over resources. This is one of the outcomes of a recent summit in Cambodia by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Mr. Benigno Aquino, president of the Philippines, suggested that the ten-nation association "maintain a common stance" vis-Ã -vis China, which favours instead bilateral deals with the various stakeholders. Meanwhile Filipino and Chinese warships remain engaged in a naval confrontation off the island of Luzon, a situation that can only increase tensions in the area.
Vietnam accuses the Chinese of holding 21 Vietnamese fishermen it captured inside Vietnamese territorial waters, demanding a US$ 11,000 ransom for each. Vietnam's appeal for their release has been ignored.
Lộc, a fisherman from Lý Sơn Island, said that people are very angry with the "cruel Chinese". He insists that the Paracel Islands belong to Viet Nam.
Lê thị Háºu, 31, said her husband Nguyá»…n Lợi, 34, was arrested by China's Navy. "I am worried for the fishermen," she added, "because they are often beaten by Chinese naval forces."
The confrontation over resources in the sea now involves India. In the past week, Beijing warned New Delhi that "India should not explore and exploit [resources] in the South East Asia."
The statement follows a series of agreements signed by the Indian and Vietnamese governments, which grants Indian oil companies exploration rights in Vietnamese territorial waters. In response, New Delhi informed Beijing that the affected area is under Vietnam's exclusive jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, a high-profile confrontation between Filipino and Chinese warship.
More @ Asia News
NC Dem official sexually harrassed staffer; Party fears credibility ‘doomed’
Via Free Republic
A former North Carolina Democratic Party staffer was sexually harassed by a party official, made a financial settlement with the party and signed a non-disclosure agreement to keep the incident quiet.
“If this hits the media, the Democratic Party, our candidates, and our credibility are doomed in this election,” reads one email exchange between state Democratic leaders.
An email chain between those Democratic leaders, obtained by The Daily Caller, indicates the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jay Parmley, and the alleged sexual harassment victim both signed non-disclosure agreements.
More @ The Daily Caller
How Not To Draft A Probable Cause Affidavit
I'm in a rush, but I can't avoid commenting on the affidavit of probable cause submitted in the matter of George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin.
It's a piece of crap.
Explaining why could be an epic post, but I don't have much time, so I will make it brief.
The affidavit is argumentative, it's conclusory, and it lacks attribution.
An affidavit shows proper attribution when it explains how the affiant knows each piece of information in the affidavit. That doesn't mean that a proper affidavit can't be based on second-hand or even third-hand or fourth-hand information — it can. But a proper affidavit must explain how each link in the chain gained the information — how everyone knew what they knew — so that the judge can make an intelligent assessment of the sufficiency of the evidence.
For example,Blacks, Latinos should "attack those common enemies"
The video below is audio of Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza saying the following (via Radio Equalizer, [1]):
I think for us it's about understanding that we have common interests and we have to be able to understand that our demographics today, a lot of people want to pit who’s the largest minority vs. who's taking over as the largest demographic and all that.
We need to understand that when you put those two demographics together you know when you put sixteen percent of the Latino population now in the US combined with fourteen percent of the African American population is what can we do together now to attack those common enemies? To attack the common barriers that present themselves for us.
There's very little chance that she means "attack" in a physical sense: the NCLR isn't a radical group even if they have some radical links. Who exactly she means by "common enemies" isn't clear: does she mean all white people, or white people plus Asians, or just white people who support our immigration laws? Whatever she means, clearly many or most white people are in her enemy camp. And, this is clearly a bit of racial triumphalism (groups like Imagine2050 are even more explicit). This is an example of liberal racism, even if she isn't as forthright as others.
More @ 24 Ahead
