Sunday, April 29, 2007

Global Warming. On Mars!

Yes Mars. Hmmm. Has George Bush been to Mars? Have big oil corporations been operating up there? Seems like it. Mars is warming and the polar ice caps could start melting. Have dealers up there started selling SUV's. Where's the Algore when you need him? Does he have a home up there?

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s.
This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same
period.
Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in
planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

Natural phenomena? Hmmm. Similar to earth? Hmmm. You can look at the article here.

(A tip of the ol' ten gallon to The Baron)

This may answer a question or two. Then maybe not. This is Algore's only issue and word is that he's going to run (heresay of course).

Just a thought.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Russia Becoming U.S.S.R.

According to this article anyway. Didn't they learn anything the last time?

MOSCOW, April 21 — At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s
largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their
own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia
must be “positive.”
In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned
on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists
employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new
managers, who are allies of the Kremlin


Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. That is not all however.

This month alone, a bank loyal to President Vladimir
V. Putin
tightened its control of an independent television station,
Parliament passed a measure banning “extremism” in politics and prosecutors have
gone after individuals who post critical comments on Web chat rooms.


Wow again. Any chance Russian officials can stifle one of the world's fastest growing economies? Looks like freedoms didn't last too long in Russia. Maybe having a middle class makes government officials nervous.

Just a thought.

Hand Gun Laws

As the Virginia Tech shootings segments are aired on television and radio to the nth degree, nobody wants to talk much about the Virginia legislature not allowing Va. Tech students to be armed for protection. Studies don't bode well for the anti-gun crowd. This Ann Coulter column addresses the issue to some degree.

Only one policy has ever been shown to deter mass murder: concealed-carry laws.
In a comprehensive study of all public, multiple-shooting incidents in America
between 1977 and 1999, the inestimable economists John Lott and Bill Landes
found that concealed-carry laws were the only laws that had any beneficial
effect. And the effect was not insignificant. States that allowed citizens to
carry concealed handguns reduced multiple-shooting attacks by 60 percent and
reduced the death and injury from these attacks by nearly 80 percent.


Eighty (80) percent is far from insignificant. Especially when more than two decades are evaluated. It is a very telling number. Of course Ann's caustic opinions don't sit well with the socialist-communist crowd, but in many cases her opinions are steeped in facts.

Ol' BC tends to be of the guns don't kill people, people do camp. I've been trying to think of the last time I saw a gang of guns walking down the street. I'm coming up empty. Plus there's that constitution thing that's for our protection in a number of areas.

Just a thought.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Hip Hop Videos

Yep. Hip Hop Videos could be the basis for this little problem. They do watch that crap in Germany. Kind of makes Imus pale in comparison.

BERLIN - A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in New
York City facing hostile blacks while firing his machine gun, a video that aired
Saturday on national television showed.


Now, where in the world would a German army officer get such an idea? Hip Hop video and CD's? Odds are better there than most other alternatives.

Of course, Rev. Al chimed in quickly, off base as usual. When is the black community going to drop this guy as the go to guy. They are losing all credibility by allowing this nutcase to continue to babble. Much of the blame is with the main stream media I know. Here's Rev. Al's take.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he was outraged that Germans were “depicting
blacks as target practice.”


Nothing I've read indicates there was any depiction of American blacks on their targets, but that's Rev. Al and what he brings to the table. Facts mean nothing. Air time is everything. After all, the Duke lacrosse players would have been executed if it were up to Rev. Al. Them being innocent has nothing to do with the matter at hand.

Just an observation.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Imus And Sharpton. What A Pair.

The racial activist folks are going wild over the Don Imus comments. While trying my best to find other topics in the news this and Anna Nicole's baby seem to dominate. One thing I've ascertained over the past few days is this - outrage over "racism" is a one way street. It is clearly racism since Imus is an ugly white guy and his targets were mostly black (not all the team is black by the way). The Rev. Al was quick to pounce as you can imagine. He has been remarkably quiet when the "rappers", now known as hip hop artists, use the same language in reference to the black women.

But, we can't say the same of Shaun Powell. He says,

Tell me: Where did an old white guy like Imus learn the word "ho"?Was that
always part of his vocabulary? Or did he borrow it from Jay-Z and Dave Chappelle
and Snoop Dogg?What really disappointed me about that exhausting Rutgers news
conference, which was slyly used as a recruiting pitch by Stringer, was the
absence of the truth and the lack of backbone and courage. Black women had the
perfect opportunity to lash out at their most dangerous oppressors -- black men
-- and yet they kept the focus on a white guy.


Of course Snoop and the boyz say rap lyrics aren't comparable because they refer to THEIR thoughts and ideas from THEIR hood and it's THEIR hos out there. Idiocy? Ol' BC will let each decide that on his own.

I have heard a couple of other thoughts lately while running through news and sports talk shows on the tube and radio. How about this?

Is Rev. Al going to make a rapid trek to North Carolina to apologize to the Duke lacrosse players whom he berated and convicted publicly now that it turns out there was no criminal activity (as most people said from the start)? Will he have them on his radio show to apologize? How about Jesse?

Jesse who called New York "himeytown?" Yep. That's him. No outrage there.

Or this. Is the Yankee announcer's home run call of "an A-bomb by A-Rod" insensitive to all the Japanese players in the majors now? Is it hurting their feelings? How about if he launches one against "Dice-K"? Is it in bad taste then? Is it in bad taste every time?

Here's where I hope we are - at the acme of lunacy. Let's hope the pendelum swings back to some level of common sense where free speech if concerned, for all of us, not just militants and minorities. Imus said nothing hateful. He's a shock jock and bad taste has been his m.o. a lot like Stern. This era of ultra-sensitivity is getting really old really quickly.

Remember when "sticks and stones can break my bones..."? Those days may be gone forever.

Just an observation.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Back From Sunny Florida

Ol' BC picked a great week to go to the sunshine of Florida. Weather from the great lakes to the northeast sucked. Usually that crap doesn't happen until I get back home. Today was day one back at the grind. Have to do some catching up.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

English - Language Of Opportunity

I have to agree with what Newt Gingrich said in this MSNBC article. It shouldn't be too long before we start hears allegations of racism.

“The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any
one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up” to vote, said Gingrich,
who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He
made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican
Women.
“The American people believe English should be the official language
of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in
English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the
language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich said
to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.


Very astute , Newt. Funny how so few seem to be able to notice these things. It's right in front of them. Just look around. Yes, there are English ghettos, too. Just not anywhere near the frequency of the "other language" ghettos.

Just an observation.