Is There a Real Need for Coast Guard Gunboats on Great Lakes?

I'm troubled by the deployment of armed U.S. Coast Guard boats with .30 caliber machine guns on the Great Lakes and the inauguration of live-fire exercises.

Are relations so bad with Canada that we're going to need to repel Canadian mounties showing up in rowboats to plant their flag on the U.S. side of the border?

Are we going to deploy sonar sensors to detect enemy submarines in Lake Superior?

What about putting a radar base on Isle Royale and reactivating KI Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to blow intruders out of the water?

The Great Lakes aren't the problem...the Mexican border is. They should secure that instead of scaring our Canadian neighbors and our own people who enjoy the Great Lakes.

If the Coast Guard wants it's sailors to practice with firearms, then they should deploy them to Florida periodically and help with drug interdiction efforts. That's about as live-fire as they can get without deploying to a combat area.

I don't want anyone I know getting their boat blown out from underneath them while they're fishing and minding their own business.

Klingon Bat'leth Seized in London Raid: Police Take Full Advantage of PR Stunt for Their Knife Amnesty Program

Star Trek fans who collect replicas of Klingon weapons could face prison time in London, England.

A bat'leth was seized from a home in Gloucaster, England, and put on display as an example of the terrible problem of knife violence in the streets of London.

Except that the bat'leth is too big and unwieldy to use in street crime. The bat'leth (a Klingon word for 'sword of honor') is between four and five feet long and has a wicked curve. The bat'leth was seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in episodes where the Klingons were engaged in combat. It's designed to be seen.

I think that the London police are after switchblade and butterfly knives and not the hobbies of Star Trek fanatics (who are not predisposed to cut off someone's head or take off someone's arm.) The bat'leth is an attention-getter. If someone is going to mug a person with a knife, they're going to use something small and can be easily concealed as they flee the crime scene.

And if people in London are afraid of a bat'leth, remember that a canoe paddle can separate a man's head from his body too. And so can a whole host of other common items that aren't thought of as dangerous weapons.

This entire affair is pretty dumb.

Heartbreak in Colorado: Gunman Kills Hostage, Self in Platte Canyon High School as SWAT Moves In

Memories of the terror at Columbine High School bubbled back to the surface again today as a gunman seized hostages in a Colorado high school and threatened to kill all of them if his demands were not met.

He had released four of them thanks to the efforts of intense police negotiations, but the situation began to deteriorate until the man broke off the dialogue and set a time for the police to meet his demands. SWAT stormed the building and blew open the door to the classroom, but the gunman killed one of his two hostages and then killed himself.

Why do these madmen target kids?

This time it looks like it was someone from outside the school system who attacked, and not students targeting students. They've GOT to lock down the schools tighter to keep those whose intentions are nasty OUT of there.

Contaminated Spinich Leads to Huge Questions: Where in Salinas Valley Did E. Coli Bacteria Start, and Are Other Vegetables Contaminated?

Perhaps I'm over-reacting, but I bought a package of Classic Iceberg vegetables (not mixed with spinich) the other day and noticed later that it was from Salinas, California, where health experts suspect that E. coli-contaminated spinich came from.

I decided not to open it, just to play it safe.

Then the news came that the E. coli bacteria was found in a processing plant, plus in five rivers in the Salinas Valley watershed, back on June 30th. Blame was cast on factory farms in the region, where liquid waste made it into the water table.

I've subsequently thrown the bag of Iceberg out and am looking for vegetables that do not come from the area.

So far people are sick or dying from the spinich that came out of there, but if E. coli IS present in the water, then it may be spread into the crops by the factory farms, which draw water out of the river system to irrigate the crops. I'm told that using river water to irrigate is a very common practice, and not just in this part of the country.

The questions that need to be answered and soon:

Is E. coli present in the watershed as is being reported by the media? If it is, has the contaminated water been used to irrigate the crops?

How widespread is the E. coli contamination in the watershed?

Is there a connection between the contaminated water and the bad spinich, or is it a mere coincidence?

Is the processing plant currently being examined by investigators used to process other vegetables? And if so, which ones?

Should we be buying any fruits or vegetables from the Salinas Valley for now?

How worried should we be?

The local supermarket only carries bagged vegetables from Salinas, so for the moment, bagged salads from Salinas are off my menu, until they nail down the problem and fix it.

Pope Should Not Go to Turkey: Danger is Too Great

Pope Benedict XVI should not go to Turkey in November.

It's too dangerous and he's too tempting a target for a dunderheaded extremist to ignore. What kind of situation will exist if a Roman Catholic Pontiff is assassinated in a Muslim country, even if it's considered a moderate government and friend of the West?

I hope the Pope does reconsider going to Turkey. Now isn't the time.

US Navy Retires F-14 Tomcat: F/A-18 to Replace Cold War Weapon

The United States Navy retired the F-14 Tomcat from service today after 34 years of service. The fighter projected American air power into all corners of the world and protected the various U.S. Navy fleets and bases.

The F/A-18 Hornet will replace it.

Most will remember the F-14 from the Tom Cruise film "Top Gun" in 1986.

It got very expensive to maintain the fighter, which required forty hours of service on the ground to keep it in the air for one hour of flight time. Over the last year every F-14 squadron was deactivated and their equipment flown back to the United States for mothballing, dismantling, or preparation for their new role as museum pieces.

The Soviets definitely didn't like the F-14; it was designed to shoot down Soviet bombers and fighters that were threatening U.S. Navy aircraft carriers or military bases. Now Iran is the only nation left in the world flying the F-14 and they're in various states of disrepair since the U.S. government won't sell them spare parts to maintain the air-superiority fighter.

Wikipedia has a fairly complete list of F-14 squadrons and their histories. It should be noted that some of the F-14 squadrons now fly the F/A-18 as well as other combat aircraft.

Chavez Uses the Very Free Speech to Criticize Bush That He Denies to His Own People

Much is being said about Venezuelan President Chavez's juvenile comments at the U.N. and in Harlem the last couple of days.

Ironic that he criticized Bush on a free speech platform that he denies to his own people. He ought to allow that kind of speech at home against him, as he is not as universally loved by his people as some would have you believe.

Churches Set on Fire, Nun Murdered by Uneducated Dolts Professing to Belong to Islam: Divine Retribution Awaits Them, Not Virgins in Paradise

As predicted, news broke that the uneducated dunderheads began killing Roman Catholics and burning down churches belonging to several Christian denominations, and not only the Roman Catholic Church.

Seven churches have been damaged or destroyed by firebombs. Also, an elderly Roman Catholic num was gunned down in a childrens' hospital in Somalia in apparent revenge for Pope Benedict XVI's remark about force-conversion of the unwilling being evil. She was shot three times in the back and died in an operating room a short time later.

So what did the nun do wrong that made her a victim of Somali gunmen in a hospital? What earned her a death penalty from Muslim extremists?

Not a thing, except that she was a Catholic and she was a convenient target.

Islam, Judism and Christianity all share some core beliefs found in the Old Testament. Among those are a strict prohibition against the murder of innocents. Yet these dunderheads persist in slaughtering innocent people under the banner of a religion that says their actions are "un-Islamic." They bring shame to their entire religion and add to the misunderstanding and distrust about Islam that already exists in the West.

Some of their senior clerics were on the radio yesterday, calling the murder of the nun a vile act from those who profane Islam with their ill-considered actions.

Someone needs to tell her killers that the only one going to heaven out of that situation will be the nun, who was killed while caring for the sick and injured in that hospital, and forgave her killers with her dying words.

No virgins await the killers in paradise. All that awaits them is God, who abhors the murder of innocents and has already welcomed Sister Leonella into heaven.

Crocodile Hunter Remembered: Steve Irwin's Life Celebrated in Memorial Service

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was remembered in a memorial service at the zoo that he co-owned and loved. Some 5,000 people were in attendance and the service was carried live around the world.

It was a celebration of Steve Irwin's life and comes two weeks after his fatal encounter with a stingray, which perceived his presence as a threat and rammed it's tail barb into his chest, killing the popular conservationist and TV star.

It was a very nice service.

May he rest in peace.

Muslim Reaction to Pope's Words are Confusing: Are They Defending Spreading Their Religion Through the Sword and Proving the Pope's Point for Him?

Pope Benedict XVI is under fire from Muslims around the world, and angry demonstrations are taking place in many Muslim countries because of his quotation of a Byzantine emperor who criticized Mohammed's use of jihad to force-convert others to Islam. Muslims are taking offense...when they shouldn't.

The pope was making the point that religious teachings that call for forced conversions to any religion were and are evil. So he was also criticizing Christianity too, but the Muslims seem to be ignoring that fact.

No apology from the Pope is warranted.

On a related topic, I see the Jewish population around the world hasn't held violent street protests over the publication of Holocaust cartoons in Iran and Europe. They haven't burned down any embassies or murdered bystanders in those countries.

Oh, right. The Jews don't do that. The extremist Muslims do.

Strange how some members of a so-called "religion of peace" throw it straight into the garbage can whenever it suits them, whether it's over a publication of a cartoon of Mohammed, or the Roman Catholic Pontiff pointing out that any religion that resorts to violence to convert the unwilling is worthy of that same garbage can.

When will the extremist Muslim double-standards stop? And how many embassies are they going to burn this time with their (barely) adolescent behavior? How many (of their own) people will pay the ultimate price when they're killed in the streets to satisfy their religious blood-lust?

September 11th Observed: We Will Never Forget the Heroes of 9/11

No politics today.

Patriot Day went off without a hitch, as millions from around the world paused to remember the horrifying events of September 11th, 2001, and to remember the names of the lost.

May they rest in peace.

9/11 Video of South Tower Collapse: Video Debunks "Building Brought Down by Explosives" Argument

I had not see this video of one of the World Trade Center towers collapsing before. This particular video was shot over on 6th Avenue according to the caption as the South Tower began to break apart. It is zoomed in so close that you can see debris falling away from the building, then the corner twists inward and the entire thing just caves in.

This video seems to debunk the 9/11 conspiracy theorists that the building was brought down by demolition charges. It is clearly a structural failure.

What I found amazing was that the floors on the top part of the building were pancaking the same way as the floors that were at the line of collapse as the whole thing caved in under its own weight. This was all going on simutaneously.

Pay particular attention to the hole in the concrete slab on the corner of the building as it twisted in on itself.

Withdrawing From Iraq Immediately Won't Change the World Situation One Bit: Americans Will Continue to Die

It's amazing that people assume that if we pulled out of Iraq immediately that the violence would stop and Americans would cease being killed by terrorists, both in foreign lands and in our own lands. That's not what would happen. History proves it.

To illustrate that point, let's take a look at how many Americans have died and been maimed since the jihaddis declared war on us before we realized we were in a war. I've also included figures for the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

1993 World Trade Center Bombing---------6 dead, >1,000 wounded
1/25/93 Shooting at CIA HQ------------------2 dead, 3 wounded
1998 Embassy Bombings--------------------12 dead, unknown number of wounded
Khobar Tower Bombings--------------------19 dead, 24 wounded
2000 USS Cole Bombing--------------------17 dead, 39 wounded
9/11 Terror Attacks------------------------2,902 dead, >10,000 wounded/sick
Afghan War*----------------------------------329 dead, 893 wounded
Iraq War*------------------------------------2,974 dead, >19,773 wounded
*As of 9/5/06

Totals:
6, 261 dead Americans
>31,732 wounded Americans

All of this due to the jihaddis deciding to murder people to protest U.S. foreign policy decisions.

They won't stop once the war in Iraq is over. They've already been killing Americans for over ten years...both here and over there, and before we went after Iraq and Afghanistan. And the number would be worse if we included all the 1980's hijackings of airliners, passenger ferries and bombings, such as the 1986 Berlin nightclub bombing and Pan-Am Flight 103.

A pullout from Iraq now would simply be a signal to the terrorists that the old target was taken down and a new one put up in it's place.

Honestly, how long after a pull-out would it be before an Iraq War jihaddi walked into a New York cafe with an explosive belt and blew himself to hell and brought the war to our streets? It would only take one incident like that to prove that the "fight terrorism over there to keep it from coming over here" crowd was right. ONE.

As much pain as the Iraq War has caused here, we can't leave until the Iraqi government is strong enough to stand alone and rely on it's own resources to secure itself.

More Election Year Politics: Immigration Reform Set Aside By GOP Despite Major Problems Across the Border in Mexico

In a very unwise move, the GOP shelved plans to address immigration reform before Election Day, in spite of Mexico's continued disputed Presidential Election and growing threat of political violence across Mexico.

This decision may come back and bite them hard.

Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the election results this morning, but Mr. Obrador has vowed to disregard the decision if it didn't go his way.

He's also said that he would form a rival government and attempt to run Mexico, while disrupting the legitimate leadership of Mr. Caulderon. This can only go so far. With President Fox vowing to install the winner by any means necessary, this escalates the possibility of violence.

The GOP is trying to focus attention on their political strengths in order to reinforce their election campaigns, but securing the border will quickly become a national security issue if Mexico erupts in violence. This is not a problem that they should sweep under the carpet. Immigration reform includes securing the border, which is also a national security matter, but they're choosing to ignore it because it doesn't help them win their elections.

People will start to come across the border in force if violence does begin in earnest and our immigration problem will be ten times worse in very short order. And in a worse-case scenario, Mexicans already living here take up arms against other Mexicans living here who support the opposite side.

We don't need this. Like I said before, Mexico's problems have to stay south of the Rio Grande.

Mexican Election Court Set to Make Final Ruling Tuesday: Leftist Challenger Vows to Form Second Government, Setting Stage For Civil War

The Mexican court system is set to make it's final ruling on the disputed July 2nd presidential election sometime Tuesday.

It is widely believed that it will choose to affirm the results of the election. But the challenger has vowed not to accept such a decision, claiming that he will form a new government in Mexico City, attempt to collect taxes, and to put the winner of the election, Felipe Calderon, "under seige."

Protests have already turned violent, with police using clubs and tear gas to break up a small protest after the protesters began throwing rocks at them. This is merely a sign of things to come if the court affirms the election results.

Outgoing President Fox has vowed to make sure that the winner is installed as Mexico's sole leader, whether it's Calderon or his opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. This is going to get a lot worse real quick.

TV's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin Dies: Severe Injury From Stingray Kills TV Star

Well-known Austrailian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin died early today from a severe injury caused from a stingray stabbing him in the chest.

It happened as Irwin was scuba diving and swam over the top of the stingray. It reacted and one of the fish's tail barbs hit him hard, going through his chest and into his heart.

Fans and detractors alike are in shock. He was 44 and leaves his wife and two children behind.

Many questioned his wisdom over doing the kind of stunts that he did, but over time he just seemed to anticipate every possible behavior displayed by the creatures he stalked. His reaction time was nothing short of astonishing. He didn't die facing a crocodile on land. He was hurt underwater, where his speed and reaction time were neutralized and the advantage belonged to the creatures of that underwater realm.

I still think his decision to hold his baby while feeding one of his crocodiles a couple of years ago was a very bad mistake and it harmed his public image. I referred to him as an idiot at the time. But the work he has done since then in the area of crocodile research aided the scientific community and his popularity rebounded after a while. His documentaries are facinating.

His legacy will endure through his research.

His death is being described as a "freakish" accident, but that's a demeaning way to describe how a man died. May he Rest in Peace.

Mexican Democracy Under Fire: Mob Rule Reigns in Halls of Mexican Government

Mexican democracy is in grave danger of being toppled.

Opposition members of the Mexican Congress physically took control of the floor of their chamber, preventing President Fox from delivering his final State of the State address. The protesting members are supporting leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's challenge of the July 2nd presidential election which he lost by a slim margin.

Huge street protests have been taking place, and though no one has said it openly, Mexico is headed toward a civil war. That's my opinion. Now is the time to reinforce our border with Mexico as Mexican problems need to stay south of the Rio Grande. We don't need their political problems to spill over our border.

Democrats Haven't Articulated What Their Party's Alternatives to GOP Plans Are: They Can't Replace Something With Nothing and Expect to Win Election

The Democratic are employing their "stealth" strategy again across the country, refusing to take positions on anything. They are very vocal in saying "NO" to GOP legislation, "NO" to President Bush, and "NO" to those in their own party who disagree with the activists who appear to have captured control of the Democratic Party.

So far they are sitting back and enjoying making the GOP squirm as early polls point to voter dissatisfaction with the GOP-controlled House, which is dominated by "moderate" (aka closet liberal) Republicans.

Does anyone remember the "Anyone but Bush" mantra employed by the Democrats during the 2004 Presidential campaign? They used this to draw attention away from Kerry's terrible record of being on both sides of an issue and flip-flopping like a fish out of water during the campaign itself; Kerry's unwillingness to take a side on specific issues didn't help them either.

There's no doubt that the Republicans will definitely lose some seats in the House, but how many? Pundits have already awarded control of the House to the Democrats, but it isn't over until the fat lady sings. And she isn't singing until Election Day is over.

If the Dems rely too much on voter dissatisfaction alone to win the day, they may not have things go their way. Voters want to hear what candidates stand for. And they want to cast their vote based on those views. The Republicans are speaking loud and clear, but the Democrats aren't.

They're using a failed tactic again, hoping that voters will put them back in charge of the government BEFORE they put their platform together.

Casting a blind vote like that is not an option. People need to think before they vote.

No Word on Damage to Wake Island from Super-Typhoon

There's no word yet on how Wake Island fared from taking a direct hit from Super-Typhoon Ioke. The island atoll was expected to be completely submerged as the storm pushed water over the top of the low-lying island.

The U.S. Navy and Air Force are sending units to assess the damage to the island and to see if the waters have receded.


Should be interesting to see.