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Macon County Commissioners

Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County Board of County Commissioners.

Franklin Town Board of Aldermen

Coverage of the meetings of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen.

Macon County School Board

Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County School Board.

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Photos from my photoblog.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008

BTR: Political Pistachio for May 31st
"List of 45 Communist Goals part III with Snooper"

The Communist Goals entered into Congressional Record by Albert Herlong Jr. in 1963 has been adopted by the liberal left and Islam - - and we are down to the final six; don't miss this broadcast!

Show begins at 10 pm and is scheduled for an hour:


Chat



Part I

Part II


If, for some reason, the audio is not available, I will upload an archive copy for you to download until the end of June...after that no deal. Just leave a comment with the request, and I'll do it as soon as I can.

BREAKING: Obama Resigns His Church Membership

It is 20 years too late, but a step in the right right direction. Now he needs to drop Marxism as a philosophy. (Like that's gonna happen!)

I notice this happens the same day of the DNC RUles & Bylaws Committee Meeting is taking place, and is an admission that TUCC is not a church in the Christian since, and that Black Liberation Theology is not an acceptable belief system for a candidate for President of the United States of America.

Live coverage of STS-124/Kibo Launch and Early Flight
Updated With Replay Video

**updated** 5.50pm The replay of the show launch and the first few minutes of flight is now available:
Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

The continuing live coverage is below...


Courtesy Space Vidcast, You can watch coverage of the 123rd Shuttleflight, the 35th flight of the Discovery vehicle, and the delivery of the experimental JAXA Kibo pressurized module to the ISS. After this flight, there are only eight more flights to the ISS planned by NASA shuttles. This flight is anticipated to last 15 days, minus the time required to repair the toilet. If it's anything like an earthly toilet repair, I hope they packed a lunch.

Free video streaming by Ustream


Click here to join the chatroom. Follow the chat rules, or you will be tossed.

The NASA Channel will be played on this channel, and the Live Show is scheduled to begin around 4 pm, give or take.

Buzz Lightyear will be making his first flight into space to the delight of children everywhere. NASA is hoping to encourage children to continue their interest in space.

Flightcrew for STS-124:


* Mark E. Kelly (3) - Commander
* Kenneth Ham (1) - Pilot
* Karen L. Nyberg (1) - Mission Specialist 1
* Ronald J. Garan, Jr. (1) - Mission Specialist 2
* Michael E. Fossum (2) - Mission Specialist 3
* Akihiko Hoshide (1) - Mission Specialist 4 - JAXA

Launching ISS Expedition 17 crew:

*
Gregory Chamitoff (1) - Flight Engineer

Returning ISS Expedition 17 crew:

*
Garrett Reisman (1) - Flight Engineer

The crewman's name is followed by a number in parenthesis to indicate number of times the astronaut has flown in space prior to this mission, assignment, and if applicable, space agency other than NASA as their sponsor. JAXA is the Japanese Space Agency.

More information: NASA STS-124 webpage
Space Vid Cast Showpage

Another Hateful, Cursing Pastor at Obama's Church
Updated With The Rezko Watch Hotlist for 5/31 and 6/01


Where do these people come from? And why is their hate tolerated and excused by the Legacy Media?

Could it be that they are so in the tank for Obama that they will tell any lie, ignore any crime, dismiss anything to get their anointed one elected?

**updated** 8.36 am

Everything Obama and Rezko, via Rezko Watch.




Friday, May 30, 2008

The Old Glory Radio Live Show for May 30th

Tom Fredrikson will be live, and in color, here at 9pm Eastern:


To keep you entertained if you show up, you can click the on button and watch previous shows, or you can watch the following you tube he put out earlier this week:

and see the post that accompanied it

BTR: Sonlit Knight on A Newt One

Sonlit Knight is scheduled to host the show tonight at 7 pm Eastern for an hour:


Chat


A Newt One

BTR: The Gathering Storm Report and
The Ed Morrissey Show for May 30th

It is too bad these to shows are on simultaneously, because I like them both!

This week on the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show are guests John Kenneth Press, author of 'Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future' and John Doe, who hosts his own BTR show, based in the D.C. area - Radio Free Dar al Harb
The show begins at 3 pm Eastern:

Chat

The Gathering Storm

Always On Watch



And here is The Ed Morrissey Show for today, which begins at 3 pm and lasts for 90 minutes as Ed looks at the week in news:



As usual, I will try to remember to embed the recording of Ed's Show later this evening. The Blog talk Radio Shows automatically switch to podcast an hour or so after the show is over. **4.50pm The show is recorded, and will playback for as long as it remains on the Ustream.tv servers.

Rush Limbaugh to Headline Historic Pro-Troop Effort

Rush Limbaugh made headlines in 2005 when he traveled to Afghanistan to meet with U.S. troops serving in the war on terror. As he reported to his huge listening audience, he witnessed first-hand the "awe-inspiring" jobs our troops were doing there.

Now Rush has signed on to help the pro-troop organization, Move America Forward to send the largest single shipment of care packages to U.S. troops in history. The drive will culminate in a June 26th 8-hour web-a-thon called "From the Frontlines" that will feature video reports from our troops serving in Iraq & Afghanistan - and Rush has agreed to participate in the program that will be hosted by Move America Forward Chairman, Melanie Morgan, and blogger extraordinare, Michelle Malkin.

More Information: Move America Forward
Live Stream Channel: From the Frontline

Choose Your Care Package Here


I will be hosting a live-stream of this event on this blog, so stand-by for more information as the time nears.

The Lost Geese


Geese in the Valley





Geese in a Grey Sky

I saw these geese circle the campus of Western Carolina University on my way to lunch. They flew from the north, paralleling NC107 on the west side of the campus, turning at the Ramsey Center, and flew back north along the east side of the campus.

When I worked in Maggie Valley, I saw the same sort of thing a lot...a formation of geese would fly by and wheel around and go back the way they came, sometimes repeating the path two or three times.

I wonder if they are lost, or just cruising?

BTR: Dr. Andrew Bostom on Fausta's Radio Show

Dr Andrew Bostom talks about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History.


The show is on from 11am to noon, and you can come back in a few hours to listen to the podcast:



Chat

Fausta's blog

Barack Obama and ACORN

What if Barack Obama’s most important radical connection has been hiding in plain sight all along? Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America. If I told you Obama had close ties with MoveOn.org or Code Pink, you’d know what I was talking about. Acorn is at least as radical as these better-known groups, arguably more so. Yet because Acorn works locally, in carefully selected urban areas, its national profile is lower. Acorn likes it that way. And so, I’d wager, does Barack Obama.
This is a story we’ve largely missed. While Obama’s Acorn connection has not gone entirely unreported, its depth, extent, and significance have been poorly understood. Typically, media background pieces note that, on behalf of Acorn, Obama and a team of Chicago attorneys won a 1995 suit forcing the state of Illinois to implement the federal “motor-voter” bill. In fact, Obama’s Acorn connection is far more extensive. In the few stories where Obama’s role as an Acorn “leadership trainer” is noted, or his seats on the boards of foundations that may have supported Acorn are discussed, there is little follow-up. Even these more extensive reports miss many aspects of Obama’s ties to Acorn.

An Anti-Capitalism Agenda
To understand the nature and extent of Acorn’s radicalism, an excellent place to begin is Sol Stern’s 2003 City Journal article, “ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities.” (For a shorter but helpful piece, try Steven Malanga’s “Acorn Squash.”)


Source: National Review

Commentary

The group ACORN is really a collection of nuts. They have been working in select urban areas to subvert our Republic, and have registered hundreds of thousands to vote, many of them fraudulently. Several of their members have been arrested for such activity.

KMOX--Eight ACORN Workers arrested for Election Fraud


Fraud in ACORN-led voter registration drives isn’t just limited to Missouri. “Idealistic” ACORN workers have been convicted of election-related offenses in Wisconsin and Colorado. What’s more, investigations have occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. In Minnesota, authorities found hundreds of voter registration cards in the trunk of a car owned by a former ACORN member suspected of registering voters twice so he could double his fees. A few disillusioned ACORN organizers admit that honesty was never a high priority in the organization. Loretta Barton, a former organizer in Dayton, Ohio, admits, “All ACORN wanted from registration drives was results.” Apparently, the group wasn’t too concerned about how those results came about. In 2004, for example, one Ohio ACORN worker was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations, which included underage, deceased or fictitious persons with names such as Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. Nate Toler, an ACORN organizer, told the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund: “There’s no quality control on purpose, no checks and balances. The internal motto is, ‘We don’t care if it’s a lie, just so long as it stirs up the conversation.’” He added, “I may have my head chopped off for telling the truth.” Now that’s not nice.




Source: National Legal & Policy Center


Be sure and read the entire article by Stanley Kurtz in the National Review. The body-count of illegal and unethical behavior surrounding Obama is breath-taking. This is also another reason that the American people cannot vote this man in as President of these United States.

The Money Motive Behind Scott McClellan Book

A little background for those who have been under a rock lately:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written a book in which he claims his boss (President George W Bush) lied to sell America on the Invasion of Iraq.

There has been much coverage of the book, his claims, and he is the current Golden Boy of the anti-Bush Media. They have neglected to probe a little deeper into motives and incentives for publishing the book.

Listen to this bit of audio from The Warroom with Quinn & Rose from just before the 8.30 am break this morning:

Quinn & Rose 05-30-2008


Scott McClellan's Mother is Carol Strayhorn, who ran for Governor of Texas as an Independent.

Texas Attorney Walter Umphrey

Texas Attorney John Eddie Williams


Political Merchandise Fire Sale: "Everything Must Go!"

Now, this is funny, I don't care who you are!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

BTR: A Newt One and Patriot Action for May 29th

Here are two Blog Talk Radio shows for your consideration tonight, or if you have plans, bookmark the page and return tomorrow to listen.

7pm to 8pm
A Newt One (Snooper is listed as the host tonight)

Chat

A Newt One Blog



8pm to 9pm
Patriot Action (Wyatt and Matt plan on discussing Scott McClellan's new book).


Chat

The Ed Morrissey Show for May 29th

I have been forgetting to post this show lately. It's been kinda busy around here.


The show is over, and the archive of the show will be available for a few weeks here, then after that, you are out of luck.

Presidency Thwarted, Ron Paul Movement Morphing

I continue to monitor the followers of Ron Paul (via 347 RSS Feeds currently), and have been neglecting to post some of what I have been reading.

Perhaps the best way to correct that over sight is to start with the new Ron Paul Book, The Revolution: A Manifesto. He appeared on C-SPAN's Book-TV recently, and here is the video:



I think it is good for the Ron Paul people to stay in the GOP, because this is the year that a Libertarian Party could take off. It is better that the movement be split right now between the GOP and the strengthening Libertarian Party.

June 12th Is Carbon Belch Day
Updated With Trapped Ice Breaker News

The idea is to generate as much carbon-dioxide as possible that day as protest, and to mock those who participated in the Earth Hour on March 31st:

Conservative grassroots group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 by “hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars.”

The point: the group wants to “help Americans break free from the ‘carbon footprint guilt’ being imposed by Climate Alarmists.”

Grassfire.org says it’s skeptical over claims that man-made sources of carbon dioxide emissions — from automobile exhausts to manufacturing plants — are raising the Earth’s temperature at a dangerous rate. Theories about global warming were highlighted by former Vice President Al Gore’s 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth.

Grassfire.org president Steve Elliott, in a statement, said such theories are off the mark. “It’s time for Americans to purge ourselves of the false guilt that Al Gore and the Climate Alarmists have placed on us,” Elliott said.

Source: Sister Toldjah

Commentary

Yes!!!

It's about time people began to participate in mocking the left on a larger, more co-ordinated scale. I will be participating in an CO2 producing series of events that day as well. Perhaps even a bonfire.

**update** 8.45am

A story found on The Pirates Cove relates the story of a powerful Russian Ice-Breaker has become trapped by unusually thick polar ice. Betcha you won't see that story on the Legacy Media!!! It would put the lie to the Global Warming Hoax from the Left.

Everything the Left is telling you from Global Warming to DDT to Iraq to Taxes is a lie, and the sooner people realize that, the better.

Newly Discovered Asteroid Is A Fast-Spinner

British amateur astronomer Richard Miles has discovered the fastest rotating natural object known in our solar system.

His observations, made using a telescope normally shared by students and professional scientists, have proved that the newly-discovered asteroid, 2008 HJ, is revolving once every 42.7 seconds, classifying it is as a superfast rotator. His discovery will boost our sparse knowledge of near-Earth asteroids and is another successful find for the Faulkes Telescope near-Earth asteroid project.

Miles made his discovery April 29 using the Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring, Australia, which he operated remotely via the Internet from his home in Dorset. Confirmation of his discovery was formally announced by the International Astronomical Union on May 22. The previous record holder was asteroid 2000 DO8, discovered eight years ago and found to rotate once every 78 seconds. The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) was involved in the initial set-up of the Faulkes Telescope Project and continues to provide support.

Source: Astronomy Magazine
Related: Earth Impact Risk Summary
Related: Neo DyS Object List


Since the asteroid masses around 5,000 tons (It is 12 x 24 meters) , that means on most of the surface, visitors would be tossed off the surface by the velocity of the rotation!

The asteroid passed nearest to earth on April 29th at about 670,000 miles away.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Clouds and Trees in Spring


Here are some Altocumulus Clouds providing a nice background to some trees.

Naked Hippies On Bikes (Aiee! My Eyes!!!)

According to Around Asheville, there may be some naked bike riders in Asheville on June 14th, so try to stay way from the downtown area that day if you don't want your eyes to melt. The Yahoo! Group cited has only two takers so far, but one of them is very enthusiastic...and knowing Asheville's population, it could takeoff.

So, keep your eyes on the road, and you can monitor their progress via their Yahoo! Group called (wait for it) Asheville Naked Bike Ride.


As for me, I plan on staying away from downtown Asheville on that day, and I'll pray for rain so some of the hippies can have a shower of sorts.

Nesbitt Ethics Problems

Buncombe Senator Martin Nesbitt is in the news again, and I have posted an article about it on WNC Citizens Blog. I meant to do it yesterday morning, but was interrupted when a neighbor's goats went on walkabout.

U.S. Marines In Helmand

US marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in southern Afghanistan.
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP





For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.

But it took the U.S. Marines, specifically the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 96 hours to clear out the Taliban in a fierce battle in the past month and push them back 10 kilometers, or six miles …

The marines’ drive against the Taliban in this large farming region is certainly not finished, and the Taliban have often been pushed out of areas in Afghanistan only to return in force. But for the British forces and for Afghan residents, the result of the recent operation has been palpable …

Major Neil Den-McKay, the officer commanding a company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland based here, said of the U.S. Marine’s assault: “They have disrupted the Taliban’s freedom of movement and pushed them south, and that has created the grounds for us to develop the hospital and set the conditions for the government to come back.” People have started coming back to villages north of the town, he added, saying, “There has been huge optimism from the people.”

For the marines, it was a chance to hit the enemy with the full panoply of their firepower in places where they were confident there were few civilians. The Taliban put up a tenacious fight, rushing in reinforcements in cars and vans from the south and returning again and again to the attack. But they were beaten back in four days by three companies of marines, two of which were dropped in by helicopter to the south east …

Marines from Charlie Company said the reaction from the returning population, mostly farmers, has been favorable. “Everyone says they don’t like the Taliban,” said Captain John Moder, 34, commander of Charlie Company. People had complained that the Taliban stole food, clothes and vehicles from them, he said …



Source: The Captain's Journal, where the author also offers analysis and wonders is we will repeat the mistakes of others in Afghanistan.

Commentary


The article reveals a difference in approach to warfighting doctrines. The British were apparently satisfied to "hole up" in the district with a fort mentality that focused on holding ground, and falling back to the medieval idea of abandoning agricultural lands in the face of conflict, and retreating to a central strong point. Even after the US Marines cleared out the province, the British seemed to not have caught on.

The results of the current Presidential Election will be very important in determining whether or not we have the intestinal fortitude to continue with a long-term strategy of helping the Afghanis become strong enough to resist the Taliban on their own, and to help them establish an economic and agriculture system that can displace the poppy fields, much to the dismay or druggies, libertarians, and Ron Paul Supporters everywhere.

Who is more likely to continue our current policy in Afghanistan? McCain or Obama?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

BTR: The Jawa Report Radio Edition

The radio version of The Jawa Report goes live at 9pm for an hour and a half.



Chat

The Jawa Report

Here Is One S.O.B. I'll Be Voting For In November

I really hate the man's views on a lot of issues. His position on the war is one of the few reasons I'll have to vote for him, and begrudgingly give him some money. Here he is having his right to Free Speech taken from him by snot nosed kids who need to be horse-whipped:


I'll have to pray extra hard for God to grant him wisdom, and for the same shield of spiritual protection I have prayed for President Bush to have about him.


Blog Talk Radio:
Snooper on American Truth Warriors

I have been a bit under the weather this weekend, so I haven't been posting the Internet Talk Shows like I should have been doing.

In this episode, Snooper will be playing sound clips from the various idiots around the globe, especially our retarded politicians of every stripe:


Show starts at 7pm Eastern.

Chat

Feds Mum On "Missile" Fired At Airliner

27 May 2008 Shortly after takeoff yesterday morning, the pilot of Continental Flight 1544 reported seeing a rapidly moving object with a thick smoke trail closing in on his aircraft and shooting past his cockpit window. According to some of the crew and passengers aboard Flight 1544 traveling from Houston to Cleveland, it appeared like some kind of missile was headed toward the aircraft. The plane was at an altitude of 5,000 feet and 11 miles east of Bush International Aircraft when the pilot radioed the control tower to report the sighting. The object was described as "missile-like with a thick contraii," and traveling at a high rate of speed.


Source: Northeast Intelligence Network

I guess this incident will be as ignored as the would-be suicide bomber in Oklahoma, and other incidents.

Another Obama Lie: Claims His Uncle Liberated Auschwitz



Hat Tip: Rezko Watch

By the way, for those of you who don't know...the Soviets liberated Auschwitz.
So, unless Obama's KGB Controller is code-named "uncle" Obama told a lie.


I wonder if the Obama-loving Media will report this as breathlessly as they did Clinton's lies. Me neither. Lemme see, they ignored the Obamamessiah claiming he had visited 57 states, or the error he made in
thinking he saw dead people.

Obama really is just an empty suit.

Morning Dew

McCain To Obama: Let's go To Iraq, Little Man!

Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

“Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost,” the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator’s last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.


Source: CBS News

Hat Tip: Pirate's Cove, especially for the title!

Commentary


I daresay I knew the Surge would be a success before Obama. I have blogged about it extensively. [Iraq posts just since the end of January]

And President bush has accomplished most of the goals of the surge as announced in January of 2007. (Please note that he was opposed every step of the way by the Democrats in General, and Barack Hussein Obama in Particular).

I am working on a post detailing the successes of the Surge, and the utter failure of the democrat Opposition to the Surge. If we had followed the advice of the Democrats...we would not have an ally in Iraq...Iran would.

Putting Democrats in charge of our Foreign Policy is suicidal.

Monday, May 26, 2008

MRO Takes Photo Of Phoenix With Parachute Deployed

Holy Photographic Feats, Batman!!!





The image faintly detects the chords attaching the backshell and parachute. The surroundings look dark, but correspond to the fully illuminated Martian surface, which is much darker than the parachute and backshell.

Phoenix released its parachute at an altitude of about 12.6 kilometers (7.8 miles) and a velocity of 1.7 times the speed of sound.

The HiRISE acquired this image on May 25, 2008, at 7:36 p.m. Eastern Time. It is a highly oblique view of the Martian surface, 26 degrees above the horizon, or 64 degrees from the normal straight-down imaging of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image has a scale of 0.76 meters per pixel.




Check out the rest of the story at Universe Today.


Is that not truly an awesome photo?

Ultralong Solar Cycle 23 and Possible Consequences

Here are snippets from the report:

SOLAR CYCLES AND TEMPERATURES

When the sun is more active, it is brighter than when it is quiet. This difference in brightness or irradiance over the 11 year cycle is about 0.1%. The irradiance change though since the little ice age may be as high as 0.4 or 0.5% and has been used to explain the ice age and recovery since. Even on the shorter term, there are other solar factors at play besides simple brightness or irradiance changes.

While irradiance changes just 0.1% over the 11 year cycle, ultraviolet radiation changes 6 to 8% and shorter wavelengths even more. Ultraviolet radiation destroys ozone, an exothermic process which produces warming in the higher atmosphere in low to mid latitudes that works its way down to the middle troposphere in time. Labitzke (2001) has shown statistically significant differences of temperatures in the lower stratosphere into the middle troposphere with the 11 year solar cycle (warmest at max) which she attributes to solar flux induced ultraviolet variance. Shindell et al NASS GISS (1999) showed results from a global climate model including ozone and UV found UV induced stratospheric ozone changes and generated heat that penetrates into the troposphere, in effect confirming Labitzke’s findings.

Also an active sun causes a diffusion of cosmic rays, which have a low cloud enhancement effect through ion mediated nucleation. Low clouds reflect radiation and have a net cooling effect. The absence of them during active solar periods means more radiation reaching the surface. Enhanced low cloudiness during solar minima would augment cooling.
--==[SNIP]==--

The best forecast in recent years has been by Ken Schatten (AI Solutions) and Sabatino Sofia (Yale). That forecast requires analysis of conditions at solar minimum and since that has not clearly happened yet it is not available. Schatten has another method he has used and is projecting a quieter (SSN maximum of 80 or less) cycle 24.



Clilverd and others in 2007 did a statistical analysis [pdf report] of the various cycles and used their superimposition to correctly hindcast the past cycles. He projects a cycle max of around 40 for the next two cycles, similar to the Dalton Minimum 200 years ago.





A similar finding was made by Archibald who speculates a major cooling ahead that could rival or be worse than the Dalton Minimum. In the hyperlinked paper [pdf report], he even projects the impact on some US locations based on historical trendlines. Such a cooling would of course further call into question the idea that greenhouse gases are behind all the changes in our climate and natural factors are now suddenly unimportant. In our recent stories, we have shown how important ENSO and the multidecadal cycles in the oceans are to temperatures. It is my belief that someday we will find proof that soplar changes drive the ocean cycles which drive the land temperatures.

Source: Intellicast (This Week In Weather)

Commentary

I've warned repeatedly on this blog that we may be headed for a Cold Catastrophe. This flies in the face of the Global Warming Hoaxers, Progressives and Socialists. The globe has been coolling since 1998, and even more is in store in the years ahead. Growing seasons will shorten, fuel supplies will dwindle as the winters lengthen, and people will die because these very same Global Warming people denied the truth of a cooling globe. Perhaps this folly will kill as many people as their failed ideology of Communism did in the 20th Century...when will people learn to do the opposite of what these progressives advocate?

Blogs4Borders! 052608

Our weekly vlog/podcast in illegal immigration and border security. In this weeks edition…

Jobs Americans Won’t Do? Or jobs Americans can’t get hired for?

100% Preventable! Americans continue to pay the bloody price for open borders! When will the madness end?


Download for your ipod here.


Click on image


If you’d like to sponsor a show contact us here.

This has been the Blogs For Borders Video Blogburst. The Blogs For Borders Blogroll is dedicated to American sovereignty, border security and a sane immigration policy. If you’d like to join find out how right here.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Seven Minutes Of Terror: Live Coverage Of Phoenix Landing On Mars
Update---Phoenix Has Landed!

**update** 8.02 pm The Phoenix Has Landed, and so far, all is well. When Ben makes the recording available, I will post it in place of the live stream player so you can relive the event.

Replay of event:

Free Videos by Ustream.TV


Here is my preferred viewing for all things NASA, Space Vid Cast:


Phoenix is scheduled to touch down on the northern icy plains of Mars tonight. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 7:53 p.m. EDT (4:53 p.m. PDT). Follow along on here during landing, the live coverage is expected to begin at 6pm. Until then, I have a few websites for you to peruse. Remember that Mars is about 15 Light Minutes away, so we won't know what happens on Mars until 15 minutes later.

Phoenix Website

University of Arizona Website

**update** 5.21pm Phoenix is even on "Twitter". Gag me with a spoon!

Time table (All Times pm Eastern)

7.16.00 Propulsion System Pressurization
7.39.17 Cruise Stage Separation
7.46.17 Enter Martian Atmosphere
7.49.57 Parachute Deploy
7.50.12 Heat Shield Jettison
7.52.50 Lander Separation
7.52.53 Descent thrusters Increase
7.53.33 Touchdown

Just remember, that we will have to wait for the radio signals to get from Mars to the Earth, and that will take several minutes.

Today's snapshot of the Solar System as viewed from above:

Mars is red, and the Earth is blue Venus is white, Mercury is green, and the Sun is yellow in this picture. Photo courtesy Solar System Live.

Mars is about 171,400,000 miles from Earth, and since light travels at just over 186,000 miles per second...it will take the messages 921 seconds, or 15 and a third minutes to get here. This is also why most everything taking place on the lander is automated. There is no way we could course correct in time. If there were astronauts on this lander...they would have to wait over 30 minutes for a reply! That should give you an idea of how truly vast space is, and how tiny we are, and how far we have to go in the exploration of the universe.
Other places with live coverage on the internet may be found at NASA TV, Green Banks Telescope, and CNN Live w/ Miles O'Brien.

Here is a quick video update via youtube:



Here is a video of the launch of Phoenix, nine months ago:


Memorial Day Movie: Midway (1942 Version)



IMDB

The Battle of Midway was the single most decisive battle of World War II, and signaled a turning of the tide in the Pacific. Here is the Henry Ford movie for you to watch as we ponder the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform so that we might live free.

For more information on the Battle of Midway, I refer you to these excellent resources:

Battle of Midway (hosted by Sunwest Monograms)

US NAVY Website


History of Midway Island

Honoring Those Who Served

Blue NC Protests Arrest Because Alleged Perp Is Gay

Here is an excerpt from the News & Observer:

Police on Saturday charged two West Raleigh men with a "crime against nature" for having sex early that morning. Each faces up to two years in prison if convicted of the Class I felony.

But that charge is unconstitutional, a state lawmaker says.

And the circumstances of the encounter are murky.

Raleigh police first charged Nelson Keith Sloan, 40, of Grand Manor Court, who called them to his apartment about dawn, saying he had been attacked.

Police later filed the same charge against Ryan Christopher Flynn, 25, of Glen Currin Drive.

They also charged Flynn with simple assault for biting Sloan. And they charged him with communicating threats by telling Sloan he was going to disembowel him and show him his innards.

"This looks like a case of a consensual act that may have gotten out of hand," said Raleigh police Capt. T.D. Hardy. "The law is still on the books. Our detectives got involved in it last night and decided this was the best thing to do. What the D.A.'s office will do with it, I don't know."

Sloan, however, said he was the victim of an assault.

"I didn't allow anything," he said Saturday after being reached at home by phone. "They knew it and turned it around and arrested me. I have never been so humiliated in all my life. It's just awful."


And not only has a state lawmaker jumped to defend the alleged rapist, so has (wait for it) a progressive group blog known as Blue NC [archive link]:


These arrest would seem to be a significant deviation from the constitutional issues decided in the Lawrence case. The arrests of these men is a disturbing deviation from what has seemed to be settle law. The fact that North Carolina's statutes still maintain anti-sodomy provisions, even after the Supreme Court's decision, is troubling enough in itself. However, it is the enforcement of the law that is an even more serious affront to Constitution.

It has been suggested that North Carolina's anti-sodomy statute has remained on the books in an effort to appease the Christian Right. I'm not sure if this is true, although I do know that many on the Christian Right take issue with the decision in Lawrence v. Texas. Let's hope that the charges issued in Raleigh are dropped, and no attempt is made to take this issue up again to the higher courts.


Notice the statute is not an ani-sodomy statute, but a statute against sexually explicit conduct...of any kind. Sodomy is included, but only as part of a list of acts. These nutroots types always try to blow everything out of proportion, and attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill, and everything into a Civil Rights Violation.

Note the dismissal of the charge that an assault had taken place. Of course, the person who is charged with an assault is that of a person who has "protected minority status" and can do no wrong. Or, if they do, it is brushed away with an excuse, or ignored.

The Blue NC blogger tries to assert that N.C. G.S. 18B-1005.1 is an anti-sodomy law. Here is the law below for you to see the BS in the Blue NC blogger:


§ 18B‑1005.1. Sexually explicit conduct on licensed premises.

(a) It shall be unlawful for a permittee or his agent or employee to knowingly allow or engage in any of the following kinds of conduct on his licensed premises:

(1) Any conduct or entertainment by any person whose genitals are exposed or who is wearing transparent clothing that reveals the genitals;

(2) Any conduct or entertainment that includes or simulates sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, or any act that includes or simulates the penetration, however slight, by any object into the genital or anal opening of a person's body; or

(3) Any conduct or entertainment that includes the fondling of the breasts, buttocks, anus, vulva, or genitals.

(b) Supervision. – It shall be unlawful for a permittee to fail to superintend in person or through a manager the business for which a permit is issued.

(c) Exception. – This section does not apply to persons operating theaters, concert halls, art centers, museums, or similar establishments that are primarily devoted to the arts or theatrical performances, when the performances that are presented are expressing matters of serious literary, artistic, scientific, or political value. (2003‑382, s. 2.)


The "astute" blogger fails to even mention the law is in the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Chapter, 18B, let alone that hetero-acts are also listed in the law. Once a homosexual act is mentioned...all else must be ignored.

I'm guessing that the pro-gay blogger at Blue NC has never spent any time around law enforcement. Often, people will be arrested on charges just to get the person in custody, then...later, the original charge is often dropped, or allowed to be pled away in favor of a lesser charge if the D.A. hasn't decided on a more specific charge to be added.

Would "niceweb" prefer that reported crimes by homosexuals be ignored...especially if they were gay sex crimes?

I suppose if the circumstances were that this law had been used to arrest a man that had been accused of the same crime against a woman, the blogger would have still blogged about it? No way, because it does not advance the agenda, nor does it match the template.

Of course, niceweb has only three posts up, and two of them are about gay issues. Connect the dots. This is much adoo about nothing.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Iraqi Army Continues Dismantling Mahdi Army Supplies

You know, if our Media was worth anything, they would be covering our successes in the Iraqi Theater of Action, and the successes of our allies, the Iraqis.

In 5 short years, they have gone from a defeated foe to ally we have helped rebuild, and retask. Theses men have risked their lives, and the lives of their families by just signing up to fight alongside us.

The Iraqi Army has gone from using the failed doctrine of Arab-style warfighting to learning how we fight. And they have learned marvelously.

Part of the success of our doctrine includes a well-oiled logistics network, and disrupting the logistics network of our enemy.

From The Long War Journal:


Less than one week after pushing into the northern two-thirds of Sadr City from the walled southern neighborhoods, the Iraqi Army is uncovering substantial weapons caches in the Mahdi Army stronghold. Iraqi and Coalition forces continue to press against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad as the New Baghdad district begins to heat up.

The Iraqi Army raided numerous Mahdi Army weapons caches in Sadr City May 22-23, Multinational Forces Iraq reported. The Mahdi Army has stockpiled weapons throughout the district. Eight of the armor piercing, Iranian-made explosively formed projectiles have been found along with chlorine poison, eight roadside bombs, and large quantities of explosives, weapons, ammunition, and materials used to make bombs.

Iraqi troops raided a school in Sadr City on May 23 and uncovered a substantial weapons cache. "Two bottles of chlorine poison" were found amongst a remote-controlled improvised explosive device, six 155 mm artillery rounds, an artillery warhead, five grenades, two PKC light machine guns and 450 rounds of PKC ammunition, a Katusha rocket launcher, and radios used to remotely detonate roadside bombs.

The largest cache was found by Iraqi soldiers on May 22. The cache consisted of "one explosively formed projectile; one homemade mine; more than 2000 7.62 mm rounds; 393 5.56 mm rounds; one 80 mm rocket-propelled grenade; RPG launchers, warheads and tails; one cannon ball; grenades; spools of wire; blasting caps; AK- 47 rifles; AK-47 and M-16 magazines; two body armor vests; a Kevlar helmet; two radios; and other assorted military equipment."


Friday, May 23, 2008

Old Glory Radio Live Video Show
Update with Hillary Talking Assassination

Here is the post for Old Glory Live Video Show; and tonight I will be on the show as a guest in the first segment. If you've never heard me speak before, now is your chance. The player will continue to cycle through old shows until show time at 9pm Eastern Time tonight.

Don't forget to click the button to play at 9pm.



Listen to Hillary discuss the possibility of assassination as a reason for staying in the race. Good thing she isn't a Republican, or the Democrats would be charging her with inciting an assassination attempt. Of course, those of us who lived through the Clinton years would take that as a warning to Barack. After all, how many of the Clinton's friends and opponents ended up dead under mysterious circumstances? At least she didn't cackle when she said it, that really would have been spooky.

Read more about at the following websites:

The Corner "Operation C.H.A.O.S."


Hillbilly White Trash

You Decide 2008

Fausta's Blog


Race 4 2008



Michelle Malkin


Sweetness & Light

And these progressive sites are a hoot:

Daily KKKos

MyDD #1

MyDD#2


MyDD#3


The Gathering Storm Radio Show

This week on the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show is Cassandra USA - author of 'Escape from an Arab Marriage' and 'Thirty-Three Secrets Arab Men Never Tell American Women'.

The show is scheduled from 3pm to 4pm.

Chatroom
.

The Gathering Storm Blog

Always On Watch

German Military Not Allowed To Use Lethal Force ?!?

German Special Forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped -- because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force.

The Taliban commander is regarded as a brutal extremist with excellent connections to terror cells across the border in Pakistan. Security officials consider him to be one of the most dangerous players in the region, which is under German command as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. The military accuses him of laying roadside bombs and of sheltering suicide attackers prior to their bloody missions.

Germany's KSK special forces have been charged with capturing the terrorist, in cooperation with the Afghan secret service organization NDS and the Afghan army. The German elite soldiers were able to uncover the Taliban commander's location. They spent weeks studying his behavior and habits: when he left his house and with whom, how many men he had around him and what weapons they carried, the color of his turban and what vehicles he drove.

At the end of March, they decided to act to seize the commander...


Source: The Gathering Storm

Not allowed to use lethal force??? I guess that needs to be writ as the epitaph of Wewstern Civilization. Not mine, of course. Stupid must be contagious lately.

Rubber Ducks Tour The World

Hold fast to that rubber ducky, Ernie!

On January 10, a container holding almost 29,000 plastic bath toys spills off a cargo ship into the middle of the Pacific Ocean and breaks open. The unsinkable toys, which were en route from Hong Kong to Tacoma (Washington), include a lot of iconic yellow rubber ducks that have since been caught up in the world’s ocean currents and continue turning up on the most improbable shores. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer, saw from the beginning how valuable the rubber duckies could be in tracing ocean currents, and correctly predicted their trip through the Northwest Passage.

The toys, or ‘Friendly Floatees’, as they became known, made their first landfall in mid November of 1992, when the counter-clockwise Subpolar Gyre started dumping the yellow rubber ducks (and blue turtles, red beavers and green frogs) on Alaskan shores. It took the ducks about three years to drift full circle on the Gyre – scientists calculate they drift 50% faster than the water in the current itself. They turned up all over the Pacific: Japan, Hawaii, North America and Australia.

Source: Strange Maps, where you'll see a map or two of this strange world tour.

Just How Stupid is John McCain?
Updated With More Stupidity

(CNN) — In the face of mounting controversy over headline-grabbing statements from Pastor John Hagee, CNN has learned presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has decided to reject his endorsement.

The Huffington Post had published a recording of Hagee saying that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God’s will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” McCain said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

He added that his relationship with Hagee did not compare with Obama’s lengthy association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today,” said McCain.

The Arizona senator had earlier renounced comments from Hagee that termed the Catholic church “the great whore” and “an apostate church.”




Source: Sister Toldjah

Commentary

Senator John McCain appears to be stupid beyond belief with this step of accommodating (or appeasing) his Democrat opponents. McCain is feeding Hagee to the Democrat Crocodile, hoping that it's hunger will be satisfied, and he won't, in turn, be eaten. Am I seeing the signs of a political coward? This is especially troubling for me since he has displayed courage against the first cousins of the Democrats, the North Vietnamese and Cuban Interrogators in the Hanoi Hilton.

I have been working on an endorsement of John McCain. This repudiation of Pastor Hagee forces me to abandon my contemplated endorsement of McCain for President. I cannot recall Pastor Hagee saying anything that is out of line with what I believe, and plenty McCain has said that I vehemently disagree with, so I stand with my brother in Christ, Pastor John Hagee.

I may find myself actually voting for Barr Barr as a protest vote in the General Election, an act I view akin to political suicide.

Note to Senator John McCain: Acts like these certainly isn't what I call courting my vote, nor is it likely to garner my assistance in getting others to vote for you. You are inviting me to actively campaign against you.

Just how stupid is John McCain?


**update** 8.25am John McCain has rejected Pastor Rod Parsley as well, according to this AP Article in the Asheville Citizen-Times:

McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of Texas preacher John Hagee after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. McCain called the comment "crazy and unacceptable."

He later repudiated the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent.

McCain issued a statement Thursday afternoon announcing his decision about Hagee.

"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well," he said.

Later, in Stockton, he told reporters: "I just think that the statement is crazy and unacceptable."

Then in an interview with The Associated Press, McCain said he rejected Parsley's support, too.

"I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn't endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement," McCain told the AP.

Pastor Rod Parsley is my Christian brother as well. This election is shaping up to be the first Godless Election in a while...at least since 1992 to my recollection. I do remember hearing a prophecy a couple of years back that I discounted that held this election would see a non-Christian elected as President, but that person would become saved during the course of their Presidency. Perhaps I should not have dismissed it so quickly out of hand. We shall see...

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Libertarians Are Back...So What?

Mark Brinker, writing in a blog for The Greensboro News-Record, notes that the Libertarians are back in business in North Carolina as a recognized party, having nearly 73,000signatures in that effort.

They call the requirements stringent. Good luck getting elected as a Libertarian to a statewide office if they think it is difficult to get a miniscule number to sign a petition.

Let's just see how many people register as Libertarians. (cricket, cricket)

How many of the Pauleroids will forgo their doomed quest to take over the GOP?

I note that they have found the going tougher than they expected. As long as I am alive, they will indeed find things tough in our party if they don't adhere to conservatism...like the Ten Principles offered by Russell Kirk. I expect many of them will choke on the first:

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order. That order is made for man, and man is made for it: human nature is a constant, and moral truths are permanent.
In other words, there is a God-shaped hole in the human heart. Many of these heathens have little more on their minds than getting high.

I predict this incarnation of the Libertarian Party will fail...just as all the rest have, and this time, in large part, due to the attempt to take over the GOP. They can't do both, so it will fun fun to chronicle their failure at both. They will be just like a coon with it's claw grasped around a shiny object in a simple nail trap. They will be too greedy to let go of the prize:

Years ago youngsters could make a little extra money by hunting raccoons with homemade traps. These young hunters built small wooden boxes with only one opening, and secured them to the trunk of a tree or fallen log. Around the opening they would drive nails at angles so the sharp ends pointed toward the back of the box. Next the hunters would drop a shiny piece of metal in the bottom. Inevitably, a curious raccoon would be attracted by the shiny object and, as skillfully as a monkey, reach his long, flexible fingers into the box and grasp it. Of course, it was no trouble to reach between the nails when his fingers were relaxed, but once the animal closed its strong claw around the object, there was no way to pull it out without running into the sharp nails. All the raccoon had to do was let go and withdraw its fingers to be free, but there it would sit--trapped by nothing but its own unwillingness to let go of the shiny--but worthless--metal.

They will be too fixated on their goals inside the GOP...and fail, especially in a year where our brand has taken a beating, and could be threatened with a third party.

Instead, I'll be eating popcorn, and watching them fail.