Blogging the world around me.
Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County Board of County Commissioners.
Coverage of the meetings of the Franklin Town Board of Aldermen.
Coverage of the meetings of the Macon County School Board.
Photos from my photoblog.
During a thunderstorm Thursday afternoon, my modem was taken out by a VERY CLOSE lightning strike. Of course, my machine was unplugged, except for the err, modem. Doh! So I won't be able to post this next week, except from public terminals.
About the Paul Houle interview, it was very good, and had the extra bonus of Dr. Forstchen sitting in as historian, avaition terminologist, and color commentator. All in all, I give it a 15 out of 10.
Paul Houle, a local amateur historian, will be on WZGM after the ten a.m. newsbreak. His efforts have led the NTSB to reopen its investigation into a 1967 crash over Hendersonville, NC involving a 727 and a Cessna that left 82 dead.
Click here to listen live, provided they get the web stream up and running by that time. If not, and you are near Western North carolina, tune your radio dial to 1350 AM. If I can, I will take notes and, as Bill Cunningham says, "Give you a Full Report."
Here is a Asheville Citizen-Times article, and this article is from the News-Leader out of Springfield, MO. Below is an excerpt:
Feds reopen probe of '67 crash
Three local men were among 82 killed when a plane from Springfield collided with an airliner.
By Mike O'Brien
FOR THE NEWS-LEADER
Federal investigators have agreed to take another look into a 1967 midair collision of a private plane from Springfield and a Piedmont Airlines jetliner that killed 82, including three local men.
In an extraordinary move, the National Transportation Safety Board will consider previously ignored evidence that indicates the pilot of the Springfield plane was unfairly blamed for the tragedy.
The News-Leader reported in December that Paul Houle, an amateur historian who lives a few miles from the rural North Carolina crash site, had submitted a petition to the NTSB challenging that federal agency's finding that the Cessna 310 had intruded into the Boeing 727 airliner's assigned flightpath.
Houle's petition argued that the original probe was flawed because:
Air traffic controllers issued confusing instructions, and then gave an OK when the Cessna pilot accurately radioed his location and heading.
The 737 pilot strayed from his specified heading and altitude.
Investigators disregarded the fact that the airliner crew was distracted by a fire in a cockpit ashtray during the 41 seconds before the collision.
An improper conflict of interest existed because the NTSB's chief investigator was the brother of a Piedmont vice president.
Houle's petition seemed a long shot because of the time elapsed since the crash, and because the NTSB usually accepts only requests filed by "parties to the investigation or hearing, or persons having a direct interest in the accident investigation."
Houle (rhymes with "pool") was only 3 years old when the collision occurred and had no connection to anyone aboard the planes nor to the original investigation. The NTSB's acting chairman, Mark V. Rosenker, recently wrote in a letter to Houle that "although the regulations do not define 'persons having a direct interest,' this language was not meant to include independent researchers who have no other connection to an accident."
Nevertheless, Rosenker said, "I have decided that we will consider and evaluate your request as a proper petition."
I've been waiting for more people to be named, and have seen only the initial announcement on his web page. The full text is below:
Cornyn Named To Conference Committee For Immigration Reform Bill
'The differences between the House and Senate bills are significant, and the solutions will be difficult. But it's important to have border state Senators on this committee'
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Good enough. Then for a few weeks, nothing showed on my radar until this announcement, also reproduced in full below:
Cornyn: We Need To Start The Conference Committee Now To Find Agreement On Border Security, Immigration Reform
Though we will be coming to the negotiations with starkly different views on how best to address our immigration system, the bottom line is that we must meet before any reforms can take place, Cornyn says
Monday, June 05, 2006
WASHINGTON— U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, made the following statement Monday regarding the need to ‘get started now’ on a conference committee for the immigration bill. Cornyn will be a member of that panel that will work out the differences between the Senate and House bills:
“We need to get started now if the House and Senate are going to reach agreement on a border security and comprehensive immigration reform bill. Though we will be coming to the negotiations with starkly different views on how best to address our immigration system, the bottom line is that we must meet before any reforms can take place. So I encourage the leadership in both chambers to quickly name conferees, and for the conferees to agree to begin the negotiations this month.
“Doing nothing is just not an option. Any delay will not only halt reforms of our immigration system, it will also slow our efforts to secure our nation’s porous borders. And I fear that if we don't get a bill out of conference that addresses border security soon, we won’t have another opportunity to address this critical need for some time.
“There is at least one issue with broad, bipartisan agreement between both the House and Senate: both chambers have recognized the immediate need to gain control of and secure our nation's borders. But securing our borders and reforming our immigration law is an urgent priority, but we can only do that by starting the negotiations soon.”
Sens. Cornyn and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) are the authors of The Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act (S.1438).
We need to keep an eye on this conference committee on immigration if it ever gets off the ground. I suggest sending emails and calling your elected critters in the Senate and House of Representatives and ask them to tell their leadership that you want no R.I.N.O.s on this very important committee. Also, if anyone has more information, feel free to add your comments below.
Hat Tip to Scrutiny Hooligans
The truck on the cover is mine, and yes, I can backfire it at will!!! All this while getting less than 6 mpg on a 75 mile roundtrip commute!
Follow the links:
4:54 AM EDT
Al-Zarqawi Killed in U.S. Bombing in Iraq
By PATRICK QUINN
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo
World Video
Advertisement
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, carried out some of the bloodiest suicide attacks in Iraq and led a campaign of kidnappings and hostage beheadings until he was killed in a U.S. bombing Thursday. He was the apparent victim of his own hubris after Iraqi leaders said a video he put on the web helped lead them to him.
The immediate impact of his death on the insurgency was unclear.
Al-Zarqawi was the most prominent of the insurgency's leaders, but his strength within the movement was never certain. Homegrown Sunni Iraqi guerrillas are believed to have had as important a role in the fight against U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government.
Still, al-Zarqawi was behind the most vicious of the bloody wave of attacks that has helped turn the swift U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 into a grueling counter-insurgency fight.
The Jordanian-born militant is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004. The United States put a $25 million bounty on his head, the same amount as al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
In the past year, he moved his campaign beyond Iraq's borders, carrying out a Nov. 9, 2005 triple suicide bombing against hotels in Amman that killed 60 people, as well as other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.
He also sought to expand...
The internet is incredibly slow this morning, so I'm only gonna post these two items above. It has taken me an hour or so to get this together. My computer clock says 5.38am, and you'll see what the post time is when I finally logged on to ctreate a post at blogger. When I started, Drudge didn't even have the story...bet he does now!
There is still time to buy the miniseries and the episodes for season 1 and 2.0 (2.5 should be out soon) so you'll be caught up in time for the October air date of Season 3. You can thank me in the comments!
Yesterday, I overlooked another voice in the analysis of the Canadian Terrorists.
Here is an AP story on the Canadian Terrorists via The Drudge Report. Drudge currently running with the headline "Suspect Sought To Behead Prime Minister". At least the media are now acknowledging the terrorists are Muslim. So much for the canadian experiment in dhimmi 'ism'.
I was happy to hear Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch on The Mike Reagan Show on XM166 last night spaeking about the Canadian Terrorists (that phrase seems to roll off my tongue) with guest host mark Taylor. here is another story at Jihad Watch focusing on another aspect of the problem with muslim terrorists, especially in a country suffering under the yoke of PC oppression.
I used to think that September 11, 2001 could be equated with December 7, 1941. I think perhaps it should be thought of as a date equivalent to September 1, 1939, for those of us who wish a sort of shorthand way to figure out where we stand in World War IV. I think of our current involvement in the war is like a lend lease program for the silent moderate muslim world. My current belief is we won't do what is truly needed until we suffer a debillitating attack.
Fjordman reports via The Gates of Vienna, and tells us Why the European Union Needs to be Destroyed, and Soon. Very Powerful piece. Personally, I think Europe is lost to us, and we should prepare for operations that would save the Europeans for the fourth time in a century.
Wretchard has some disturbing news about the Eunichs at the United Nations covering up a mass execution of people "under their protection".
Regarding the 17 or so terrorists arrested in Canada, Jihad Watch has the best all-around coverage. Start here, and work your way back to follow the history as it broke, go in the other direction to keep up with events. Be sure to read the comments as well. I have found some good blogs by following the links of the commenters.
Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America
President George Bush, President Vicente Fox of Mexico, and Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada unveiled a blueprint for a safer and more prosperous North America when they announced the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) on March 23 in Waco, TX. They agreed on ambitious security and prosperity agendas to keep our borders closed to terrorism and open to trade. The SPP is based on the premise that security and our economic prosperity are mutually reinforcing, and recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions.
Isn't this how the European Union began?
I guess I should have a link to where I found this template. As luck would have it, Thur is rebuilding his site, hmmm.
Over the next few weeks, I intend to re-arrange my links on the sidebars into more coherent catgories and add a blogrolling service. I have spent the weekend trying to absorb the 5GW thing I stumbled on last week. I have some things to say, but I don't want to repeat what has already been debunked by the theorists.
I can already tell I don't like the color of the link-text. Gotta figure out how to change that without killing the template again.
The sun rises over Barber's Orchard in Haywood County one day this week, either Tuesday or Wednesday. Oh, and I've now busted the 2k mark on pix...this is madness!!!
In my firm opinion, the Main Stream Legacy Media wants nothing less than our defeat in Iraq, and will go to any length to achieve that goal.
I have been a voracious consumer of news from Iraq since my brother first went there in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The news from The Big three (ABC/CBS/NBC) was almost always slanted to point out where The United States was wrong, or had failed, or would fail in whatever it was trying to achieve. Even the addition of CNN, CNBC, FOX, MSNBC, and so on haven't really changed the equation except to increase the number of people playing, "Gotcha".
What does all that have to do with Haditha? The 24-hour news cycle. The jackals will converge and do their thing.
Others have looked down the road, and say we've been down this road before. Have we? Will we repeat past mistakes?
Global Guerrillas has a disquieting take, with a helpful link, from which I will post part:
In other words, he who fights against the weak - and the rag-tag Iraqi militias are very weak indeed - and loses, loses. He who fights against the weak and wins also loses. To kill an opponent who is much weaker than yourself is unnecessary and therefore cruel; to let that opponent kill you is unnecessary and therefore foolish. As Vietnam and countless other cases prove, no armed force, however rich, however powerful, however advanced, however well motivated is immune to this dilemma. The end result is always disintegration and defeat...That is why the present adventure will almost certainly end as the previous one (Vietnam) did. Namely, with the last U.S. troops fleeing the country while hanging on to their helicopters' skids.
Here is the Wikipedia article about Martin van Creveld, who wrote the words I quoted. It seems he is a thinker, but is he right? Have we taken on a tar baby fashioned by Br'er Fox?
I believe we are fighting the right war, in the right place, at the right time. We are fighting the Fourth World War. The enemy has Allies and Sympathizers from our own population, and we are not treating them as such. Sometimes I wonder if our own government has been infiltrated.
This Haditha thing will get very ugly if our "friends" in the press have anything to say about it.
I say we hit them back. Anybody game?
If you are sipping coffee right now, put. the. cup. down. Trust. Me.
Now go here. That is just WRONG!!!
I just followed a link from Drudge to an article with the headline, "Gore unleashed:Bush is 'Renegade Rightwing Extremist'". Sure, Al. From where you live, a centrist is rightwing. I consider Bush a member of the Rockefeller Republicans (as are all neocons!). If a real Conservative were President, Al Gore's head would explode in protest! (Not a bad thing, I think.)
A. Because they run away from danger. Cowards!!!!
Meant to protect civilians, UN staff have run away from the capital of East Timor after an outbreak of violence. Australian forces stand firm, meanwhile.
I expect nothing less than standing firm for the Aussies are made from sterner stuff than the powder blue skirted helmeted U.N. forces.
I should have written about The Action Club earlier, and I am now correcting that mistake since I have today off work.
Here is their Mission Statement:
Mission Statement
To actively work year-round to elect qualified Republican candidates to local and state offices; and
To actively work year-round to effect policy changes which are in keeping with our belief system as it relates to government.
Right now, I believe the big motivator is the illegal alien problem in our country.
They even have a set of tools for us to use to combat this problem and take back our government.
If you are able, join them and/or donate. If you do, I'll be seeing you at the meetings because I think it is important enough to take a couple of hours off work and join them.
I have pasted a small excerpt below:
I am so disturbed by the remarks of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) regarding the Haditha incident ["Death Toll Rises in Haditha Attack, GOP Leader Says," news story, May 20]. Mr. Murtha said, "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
In the United States, we have a civil and military court system that relies on an investigatory and judicial process to make determinations based on evidence. The system is not served by such grand pronouncements of horror and guilt without the accuser even having read the investigative report.
Due to the strategy and tactics employed by our enemies in this 4GW type of conflict, Murtha's reactions could be construed as giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war.
I will quote John Robb on what it will take to win this war, and you decide for yourself whether or not Murtha's words contribute to the opposite:
Winning a 4GW conflictVictory in 4GW warfare is won in the moral sphere. The aim of 4GW is to destroy the moral bonds that allows the organic whole to exist -- cohesion. This is done by reinforcing the following (according to Boyd):
Menace. Attacks that undermine or threaten basic human survival instincts.
Mistrust. Increases divisions between groups (ie. conservatives and liberals in the US).
Uncertainty. Undermine economic activity by decreasing confidence in the future.
Is it just me, or does it seem the closer we get to victory, the more unhinged progressives and their lapdogs get?
Updated
What? When did 5GW get invented?!?
Smells like Victory to me!!! [response to Anonymous post at 9.51am]
Apparently, I'm so ahead of the curve, even the creators of the display haven't put their info on line yet! However, when they do, it will be on their blog.
And as promised, here it is!!! Added 05-29-2006
Click here for more information about Decoration Day.
Other Posts on Decoration/Memorial Day check for updates.
Defense Tech has information on saving Memorial Day.
Senate Bill 2611 has passed the Senate and will go to Conference Committee soon to try to reconcile it with HR 4437.
As soon as the House and Senate members of this committee are announced, we need to bombard them with phone calls, emails, faxes, and even good oldfashioned letters and postcards. They need to know that we are watching them with intense interest and will remember and remind everyone else how they voted when the next election cycle comes around. I will do my best to keep you informed; however I will point you to some people who are on the point in this battle.
Another action I would suggest is to enlist others to get involved by keeping them informed. Call your local radio talk shows with information about this debate and how their Congressional Delegation has voted. Give out the local office numbers for your senators and representative on the air so people can get involved. Email a link to the NumbersUSA website to your friends. Donate money if you can/or don't have the time for citizen activism. One more thing, call the White House Comment Line at 202-456-1111 and leave a comment with the operator who answers your call. Be cordial, have a brief comment about your concerns prepared before you call, and stay on topic.
STATUS: On May 25, the Senate concluded work on S. 2611, the “compromise” amnesty bill, when it passed by a 62-36 vote. If the bill became law in its current form, it would create the largest immigration increase in U.S. history – a disaster for American workers and taxpayers. S. 2611 would increase legal immigration by 60 million people over the next 20 years and grant amnesty to an estimated eight to 10 million illegal aliens. The Senate passed the bill despite recent polling indicating that Americans oppose amnesty and want legal immigration numbers reduced. The next step could be a conference committee with the House, which passed a strong enforcement-first immigration reform bill last December.
May 28, 2006, 4:40AM
Immigration bill divide goes from miles to 'moons apart'
By GEBE MARTINEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Asked recently how effective President Bush might be in upcoming congressional negotiations over an immigration bill, the point man in the House on the issue sidestepped the question.
"We have a great respect for the Senate," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
Sensenbrenner's reaction reflected the anger of many House Republicans toward the president as House and Senate members prepare for negotiations on what has become the president's top domestic priority.
Because of the wide differences between the bills passed by the two chambers, and because of the sharp divisions among Republicans, the deliberations are expected to be long, acrimonious and possibly futile.
So far, leaders of the House and Senate have not even been able to agree when to begin the conference committee's negotiations.
"The Senate and House started miles apart, and as a result of some amendments that were offered in the Senate, miles have become moons apart or oceans apart, (making) a difficult task even more so," Sensenbrenner said.
Let your elected critters know you are against this invasion of The United States of America, and you won't go quietly into the night!!!
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