Sunday, April 30, 2006

Catfish Fishing with RPGs: Afghani Rednecks

Check out this video. That’s RPG as in Rocket Propelled Grenade. Tennessee, eat your heart out!

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Driving an Antique 911

As the photos below show, I have been driving a forty year old Porsche 911 on the race track. The car was set up very well by one the best shops for such cars here in the US, Ecurie Engineering, of Mequon, WI. Due to the care that the car had in setting up the suspension it is a very stable race car. In fact the car is likely far more stable than when it was originally raced. It was raced during the ‘60s and the early ‘70s. When the car was raced it was set up as a 911 T/S with the wider tires and corresponding fenders; in addition, late in its career it acquired a now ubiquitous whale tail (the last tail it used was actually known among Porsche geeks as the tea-tray tail). The person I purchased the car from had restored it to its current configuration, as a 911R. The 911R was a very rare race vehicle that was mostly used in FIA Rallies. The car employed a twin-plug version of the 2.0 liter (1991 cc) 911 engine, the type 901/23; it is the 911 version of the successful 906 race engine.

Set up as a 911R the car is a handful. Unlike modern cars, even race cars, this antique does not have any boost in the steering mechanism; so the driver is essentially controlling a constant battle between the steering wheel and the accelerator pedal. Too much of either one will send the car into an immediate spin, a condition known as being “tail happy” or oversteer. The car currently has a small racing steering wheel, the better to stay away from the roll cage, but I can see why the car was originally delivered with a huge steering wheel, a little more leverage can’t hurt and the old-time roll cages weren’t in the way of anything. The difference between the ’66 race car and a modern sports car is like night and day, primarily because of the steering, you simply do not need to muscle a modern car around the track. It gives one a lot a respect for those old time race drivers; and I’m not even talking about the mortality rates that they faced.

c Sideline Sports Photography
More Work on the North Course of ACC April 1

C Sideline Sports Photography
Working the North Course at the Autobahn Country Club in a '66 911 on April 1

Quit Calling Muslims Camel F***ers, Ayatollah Khomeini Said that They Like Sheep and Little Girls

Mark Steyn wrote a wonderful review of The Force of Reason by oft-sued Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, the Steyn piece is called Celebrate tolerance, or you’re dead. The review contains this eye-opener:

Signora Fallaci then moves on to the livelier examples of contemporary Islam -- for example, Ayatollah Khomeini's “Blue Book" and its helpful advice on romantic matters: "If a man marries a minor who has reached the age of nine and if during the defloration he immediately breaks the hymen, he cannot enjoy her any longer." I'll say. I know it always ruins my evening. Also: "A man who has had sexual relations with an animal, such as a sheep, may not eat its meat. He would commit sin." Indeed. A quiet cigarette afterwards as you listen to your favourite Johnny Mathis LP and then a promise to call her next week and swing by the pasture is by far the best way. It may also be a sin to roast your nine-year-old wife, but the Ayatollah's not clear on that.

If this is true, and I do not know enough about Mr. Khomeini’s work to state one way or another, this would be just ANOTHER disgraceful, backward aspect of Islam that we as a nation want to avoid at all costs. If true the opinions of the Grand Ayatollah should be shoved into the faces of those who wish to promote Islamic law (Sharia) in ANY community of the United States. After all, he was a major “thinker” on the Islamic scene for the last twenty-plus years of his life. Many Americans state that Republicans want to “drag us back to the ‘50s”, while ignoring the fact that we have a real live enemy (not a boogey man) that wants to drag us back to the middle ages, literally. An additional amusement with that line about the ‘50s is that it is usually spoken by members of a now stultified and reactionary Democratic Party.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

Saturday, April 29, 2006

An Iraqi Man Don’t Need Him Around Anyhow

The headline is a takeoff on a line from the Lynyrd Skynryd song Sweet Home Alabama, a response to Neil Young’s Southern Man, an often well deserved indictment of the southern US. Mr. Young has long lyrically thumbed his nose at “the establishment”, conservatives, and whatever he sees as wrong, usually it is a stance that does not make him out of step with his peers. In his song Rockin’ in the Free World, Neil seemed to complain that Bush I was the cause of drug addiction. A subject that he had written about in 1975’s Tonight’s the Night, a painful song about heroin addiction. Obviously that song was written long before Bush I was in office as either the President or the Vice President. The line from Rockin’ in the Free World that I personally found most poignant was a description of a child who, may have been abandoned by his crack addicted mother. Young describes the kid with these words:
“There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.”
That line is an apt description of children’s lives in much of the Mid-East and in fact much of the third world. It’s a shame that Neil and his fellow musicians are not able to see that the policies that they espouse are an anathema to the idea of being “cool”. “Cool” can’t be bought and it sure as hell can’t be dictated by a government. I have a Beatles EP record that was smuggled out of the old Soviet Union during the ‘70s. Whoever made that record was cool, even though the cover still smells like the barnyard hay that it was probably made out of. What I am trying to say is that in repressive regimes “cool” is being against the regime that will not allow uncensored ideas. Here we are in the United States, arguably the freest nation in world history, and the people who consider themselves to be the most “cool” believe that “cool” lies in taking on a government that is promoting freedom. I think that they have it backwards. Unfortunately the world is full of kids who will “never get to be cool” and some of them would be just as happy blowing up Neil Young as blowing up the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Arab Jihadists: More Attacks on the Internet

Apparently the Saudi jihadists responsible for Friday morning’s DNS attack (reported on below) have been busy bees; they were at it again last night. John Hinderaker of Powerline fame observed that the attack affected many conservative sites and asks if any liberal sites have been the target of jihadists.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Democratic “Star” Barack Obama Helped Mobster’s Banker

As commenter North Side Serf reminded me last night, Democratic star Barack Obama supported the alleged banker for mobsters Alexi Giannoulias to the extent that Sen. Obama appeared in TV ads that ran constantly during the weeks running up the election. In an editorial the Chicago Tribune comments that Barack received financial help from the Giannoulias family. Squeaky clean the guy is not; as North Side Serf rightly pointed out Mr. Obama came from the cesspool of the Illinois legislature. North Side Serf also beat the Tribune by several hours with that observation. I wonder, is it hard to be a pimp for mobsters?

Blogasphere Withstanding DNS Attack - Looks Like Arabs Doing Evil, Again

A number of blogs have been down today; in fact I could not access Powerline at all this morning. Michelle Malkin has been having problems but she does have a roundup of the problem. Glen Reynolds of Instapundit fame has been blogging on his back-up site. It has been reported that the denial of service attack originated in Saudi Arabia, a backwards mid-east kingdom. In fact Blogger seems to be having some quirks right now. They were also having problems last night.

Yale Grad and Rhodes Scholar Does Evil

The guys at Powerline have written about an article in the Yale Daily News concerning Yale grad Chesa Boudin ('03), son of two once jailed Weathermen and himself a Rhodes Scholar. Proving that nuts don’t fall far from the tree the kid is now supporting the fascist Hugo Chavez down in Venezuela. His parents wanted a Chavez type government for America. Brains aren’t helping this kid, nor did they help his parents or step parents for that matter.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Democratic Culture of Corruption: Illinois Democrats Run Alleged Mobster’s Banker for State Treasurer

The Illinois Democrats found themselves a real winner to run for State Treasurer. As a VP with his family’s bank he serviced the loans that they made to an alleged mob partnership, one guy had been convicted of bookmaking (twice) and prostitution (once). The candidate, thirty year old Alexi Giannoulias stated that one of the alleged mobsters, Michael “Jaws” Giorango “is a nice person.” Mr. Giannoulias has repeatedly lied to the press concerning his involvement with the seemingly mobbed-up real estate venture. He also states that he knew nothing about the men except that their collateral was “good.” Giannoulias, like so many Democrats, must think that the public is just a bunch of idiots. For decades Federal bank regulations have demanded that bankers “know their customers.” Those “know your customer” laws were beefed up in the wake of 9/11, meaning that Mr. Giannoulias may have broken the law and he may in fact be a complete ignoramus. I suspect that the Giannoulias family knew the character of the alleged mobsters pretty well; every time that I have gotten a mortgage the bankers pored over my firm’s books looking for inconsistencies, they also looked into my background. So yeh, these Democrats likely knew that who they were lending to; even if the family didn’t know, their kid has no business being in any business except the family business. He should lose their money. The obnoxious guy in me has to ask; if we elect this kid State Treasurer and the State gets into financial difficulty, what will he do, burn down the capital building in an insurance fraud? The Sun Times page 6 article can be found here. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Flying Debris has commented on the Democratic Culture of Corruption here and here. I must again note that corruption is a human frailty not necessarily specific to any American political party (Hello Ms. Pelosi).

Artist as Idiot

This is a nutty story about a London “artist” who assembled nail bombs (as art) and scattered them around London with threatening notes. Of course whole areas of London were closed down before this nuisance told the police that the “bombs” were really art. Nice place to do this performance piece, after all, they haven’t had any bomb problems in London during the last thirty or forty years.

Hat Tip: Wizbang

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Paris Bets Bentley and Loses


She Probably Shouldn't be Driving Anyways
c Luxist

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is reported to have put up her Bentley in a hand of poker at her parent’s casino and she promptly lost the car. Her parents have wisely banned her from their casino tables. This auto related story is what passes for celebrity reporting here at Flying Debris.

Hat Tip: Luxist

University of Chicago had Mohamed Cartoon Discussion, the Invited Muslim Students Watched Film on Suicide Murderers Instead


c Jyllands-Posten
Probably the funniest of the Danish cartoons


You absolutely could not make that headline up without getting into a lot of trouble from the Islamist apologists that haunt our media. Instead you only have to go as far as page 8 of section 2 in this morning’s Chicago Tribune for this laugher. The University of Chicago in Hyde Park is rightly considered one of the intellectual beacons of our society. What does it say about the Muslim community in Hyde Park that instead of having a rational discussion in which they defend their ideas (some would say taboos) they instead protest the event by spending the evening watching Paradise Now, a film that glorifies death by Jihad. It is interesting that the Tribune would even print the article considering their horrible (non)coverage of the cartoon controversy. Of course they couldn’t leave well enough alone, they had to bring CAIR into the discussion near the end of the article. I noticed the article this morning and as I never blog from the trading floor Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy beat me to it.

Update: Looks like Little Green Footballs wrote about the Trib article this morning.

Jesse Jackson: Looking for Cash at March

Look which dishonest Chicago political hack will be involved in Monday’s Chicago immigration march. All that Flying Debris wants to know is the following: Hey Jesse, how are you going to make some money from this? The involvement of the money-grubbing Jesse Jackson should worry the Hispanic organizers.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Ex-Cub Rick Monday Still Remembered for Saving Flag during Flag Burning Incident in 1976


c Washington Post
Rick Monday saves the day April 25, 1976. Dude, like where's my flag?

Rick Monday, a former outfielder for the Chicago Cubs (among other teams) saved an American Flag from being burned in the Dodger Stadium outfield during a game thirty years ago today. The nation was celebrating our Bi-Centenial that year, making it a bad year to mess with the flag. As you can see from articles here, here and here Mr. Monday is still considered a hero for saving that flag thirty years ago.

A Hooters in Shanghai!

This is great; there are now Hooters franchises in China. Check out the web site for Hooters China, the restaurant in Shanghai was the first to open. The Hooters Shanghai website features photos of the local Hooters Girls, some of them showing off some sort of Hooters Diploma. I did not realize that there was a Hooters school. Maybe they can get Hooters Air back up and running in China and then they could fly the hump.

Springsteen Channels Seeger and Marx

I was lucky enough to have seen Bruce Springsteen before he became a bore. During the ‘70s Springsteen put on some fantastic shows and he was writing wonderful material. Springsteen got rich and satisfied and as far as I’m concerned hasn’t really done much of anything in almost 30 years. He was once called a new Bob Dylan, poor Dylan. Bob Dylan has recreated himself many times while still being the same Dylan; Springsteen just seems to be milking it. I saw a photo of him recently performing with his wife, a band and an orchestra. An orchestra? What the? What happened to the E Street Band?

I have not heard any of the new Springsteen album on which he sings a number of songs by the late Pete Seeger. Seeger’s populist anthems have been used by American communists for years as their anthems; they probably actually are their anthems. An interesting article about Mr. Seeger and American communists can be found here.

I am not surprised that Mr. Springsteen is covering the Seeger classics, some of them are pretty good songs and I get the idea that Mr. Springsteen identifies closely with the early communist movement; it ran parallel to the early labor movement, a subject that he has written about. Besides, liberal boomers are all over that stuff.

Shallow Islamic Association

Afzal Ahmad, the Chairman of the American Islamic Association, wrote a letter to the editors of the Chicago Tribune. In the letter titled “Shallow knowledge”, Mr. Ahmad assumes that the Tribune’s readers do not pay any attention to what is printed in the Tribune and what is going on around them. I really have to wonder why the Tribune would even print such nonsense, but hey, they’ve printed worse. Mr. Ahmad mischaracterized a previous column written by Dennis Byrne and then went on to preach that what we have been seeing for decades simply never happened. For well over a quarter century the Chicago Tribune has reported on instances of Muslims murdering non-Muslims for the simple fact that the victims are not Muslim. The Arabic “war cry” used by these Muslims, “ala akbar” is very well known in non-Muslim communities; it is the last thing you hear before a Muslim blows you up.

We have also been repeatedly told by Muslims that the murders will “receive” seventy-two virgins for murdering infidels. The repeated and casual use of the term “infidels” by Muslims to describe non-Muslims also belies the “religion of peace” tag that Mr. Ahmad is trying to attach to his religion. Mr. Ahmad also neglected to write that we non-Muslims are considered inferior beings under Islamic law. Mr. Ahmad is simply trying to distance himself and his religion from other practitioners of his religion. If Mr. Ahmad was at all serious he would’ve written that he renounces Sharia, Islamic law. Mr. Ahmad also does not comment on the fact that Muslims around the world follow Imams rather than a central religious authority, so each one is essentially following the Koranic interpretations of a preacher. It is also notable that it is believed that the Koran can only be read in Arabic, leaving the non-Arabic speaker at the mercy of a preacher. Mr. Ahmad also leaves out the fact that the Koran (a document that I have only read in English) contains enough declarations on how life should be lead that one could make virtually any argument or excuse concerning the violence that is being perpetrated by Muslims around the world.

The sad truth is that being a neighbor to the Islamic world has historically been a dangerous proposition. Here in the US we are all fortunate that our Muslim neighbors are not actively taking up arms against “infidels” like Muslims in much of the rest of the world. Instead some try to get their way by employing people like Mr. Ahmad, who tries to make us feel so guilty for something that we have not done that we eventually acquiesce to much of Sharia anyways. Mr. Ahmad’s dishonesty cannot help relations between religions, we have eyes too. If Mr. Ahmad wants to be taken seriously he should be actively campaigning against any idea of imposing Islamic Law on non-Muslims, something that the poor “infidels” in the Islamic world would greatly appreciate.

Monday, April 24, 2006

This Time the Ferrari Stays Wheels Up

This is an interesting video of cars doing triple the double-nickel (165 mph+) on a Dubai freeway. Mid East rally champion Mohamed Bin Sulayem owns the two cars in the video; a Ferrari Enzo and a Mercedes SLK, of course the SLK had an engine transplant from the Mercedes SLR supercar. An Enzo and an SLR were involved in the notorious Pacific Coast Highway wreck that Flying Debris commented on here. Not to ruin the plot but the Mercedes won, that is if the drivers were actually trying. I don’t think that I could even get close to 160 on the Kennedy and live to blog about it.

Hat Tip: Autoblog

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Here’s a Shocker

Neil Young says in this video interview that 100 LA studio musicians gave his new song “Impeach the President” a standing ovation. Shocking, truly shocking. I have always enjoyed Mr. Young’s music but I am more than a little leery about listening to the constitutional opinions of high school drop outs. But in any case, as always, I must say to Neil Young, Long May You Run.

Hat Tip: Drudge

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Sloan Cars, the Low Mileage Porsche Place


Jerry Seinfeld's 7100 mile '97 Turbo S; at $225,000 the celebrity status likely doesn't add more than $25,000 to $50,000 to the price of this uber-rare air cooled classic
c Sloan Cars

The June issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Magazine has a great article (not yet on the web) about Richard Sloan and his passion for collecting low mileage and oddly optioned Porsches. His passion for those low mileage (mostly) 911s has lead him to start a business catering to those who want very low mileage used sports cars. It seems odd but some people don’t drive their Porsches, sometimes they are initially intimidated by the car and put it away, sometimes they have so many cars or do so little driving that they do not rack up many miles on any one vehicle, sometimes they plan not to drive the vehicle or it even falls through the cracks (what a problem!). His business, Sloan Cars in New Haven Connecticut has been advertising in Excellence Magazine for several years but the article about the collection/business is interesting in that it brings out tidbits like a relatively high mileage, at 30,000 miles, ’79 911 Turbo in beautiful Minerva Blue that had the $2000 (in 1979 dollars) optional color matching Blaupunkt radio control stick. Or his never titled ’97 Carrera with 450 miles on the clock. No doubt the cars are expensive, but when he says that this may be the most original, low mileage 914 on the planet, he may be right; other than some copies squirreled away in European museums. So if you are in the market for a low mileage original Porsche and you have the financial wherewithal, definitely head on out to New Haven and talk to Richard Sloan, just bring your checkbook.

A Challenge for the Blogosphere

This is a challenge that I am sure that the nation’s bloggers are up to. As we approach the 8 month anniversary of Hurricane Katrina there are still some unexplained mysteries surrounding the events that followed the storm. One of them involves a live broadcast from the Super Dome. On (I believe) Wednesday evening following the storm I was watching either FOX News or MSNBC (I think that it was FOX, but I was flipping between stations) when a reporter, broadcasting from just outside of the Super Dome spoke to a “doctor” in scrubs who claimed to have spent the past day working inside of the Super Dome. The doctor described a dire situation inside of the Super Dome that was spinning out of control. This “doctor’s” “eye-witness” account was false. He stated that there were murders, rapes and all sorts of horrific occurrences happening inside of the Super Dome. As Howard Dean is continuing to blame Bush for the weather and the fact that an overwhelmingly Democratic city was grossly unprepared for the obvious and the predictable, I believe that it is important to track down the people who helped to further the lies that came out of New Orleans during the aftermath of Katrina. That alleged doctor is one of those people. Who was that guy? Is he an actual doctor? Did he go down to the Super Dome on a bet that he could get on TV? Was he just a freelance troublemaker? Is he a member of the Ku Klux Klan who wanted to make African-Americans look like savages? Was he a Democrat who wanted to make Bush look awful during the storm’s aftermath? Does he work for the New York Times or even CBS?

Saturday, April 22, 2006

New Threat to the Electoral College – Congratulations Colorado

Even for those who think that the Electoral College is unfair I believe that most think that it should be abolished through our constitutional system. Not that wacky John Anderson (R-IL) and his buddies. Mr. Anderson was a Congressman who lost in the 1980 Republican Presidential primaries so he ran in the general election against Carter and Reagan as an Independent. Anderson and his pals have a plan to get the state legislatures of a number of large states to enact legislation that would force their electoral votes to be cast for the winner of the national popular vote. Great, these folks are still so unhinged over 2000 that they are willing to throw our Federalist system overboard in a snit. They have already gotten the Colorado legislature to go along with this nonsense. Congratulations Colorado, Florida now has part of your Presidential vote.

The National Review Online’s Tara Ross wrote a great article on this subject just the other day.

Hat Tip: Powerline News Blog of the Week Betsy’s Page

Foreign Supporters of Despots File “Amicus” Brief in Front of US Supreme Court

Once again a group of “concerned” foreigners has filed a friend of the court brief in front of the US Supreme Court. Once again they are trying to influence the ways that our courts rule in relation to American foreign affairs; essentially American internal affairs. Among the signatures to this nonsense is noted pro Saddam apologist and all around anti-freedom guy, the former British MP George Galloway. The Weekly Standard has an excellent piece that notes that though there may be some upstanding signatures to the document but that their opinions should still be considered immaterial.

Left Wing Culture of Corruption Protests Against Free Speech

The UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus held a job fair that included, gasp, military recruiters earlier this month. This offense got 200 Californians to head on over to UCSC to demand that the recruiters not speak to UCSC students. As seems to often be the case with those who demand the end of others right to speak, they included the usual hooded and masked clowns and the usual heavy dose of self-righteousness. That is 200 people protesting, probably not all students, out of a student body of 13,170. The 200 estimate comes from the protest organizers. Photos of the protest can be found here; as a warning, do not publish them, Little Green Footballs got a stern but misinformed letter concerning the use of their not so flattering photos.

Democratic Culture of Corruption Catches up with the CIA

The incredible war of leaks against the Bush administration that has engulfed Washington during the past several years is coming back to bite some of its participants. CIA officer Mary McCarthy, a former Special Assistant for Intelligence (appointed by Mr. “My Dog Ate the Top Secret Files” himself, Sandy Berger), has been fired by the CIA for leaking classified materials to the Washington Post.

In this NY Times article about the firing the Times continues their bizarre assertion that they have the right to declassify top secret governmental information but that the President of the United States has no such right. To further their assertion of that “right” they use another anonymous source in the CIA:
"’It's a terrible situation when the president approves the leak of a highly classified N.I.E., and people at the agency see management as so disastrous that they feel compelled to talk to the press,’ said one former C.I.A. officer with extensive overseas experience."

Great, so now the Times has allegedly found somebody in the CIA who has the same nonsensical take on the Constitution that they have. On the bright side, this opinion doesn’t seem to be held by the majority in the CIA, as the Times notes in this passage:
“But another official, whose experience was at headquarters, said most employees would approve Mr. Goss's action. ‘I think for the vast majority of people this will be good for morale,’ the official said. ‘People didn't like some of their colleagues deciding for themselves what secrets should be in The Washington Post or The New York Times.’”

So, here we have a former Democratic appointee leaking classified information to the press, likely in an effort to harm the President of the United States. This is another instance of an individual taking the role of policy making out of the hands of elected officials and giving that role to his allies through the leaking of selected, sometimes inaccurate information.

Flying Debris has previously noted this nonsense here and here.

Hat Tip: Drudge

Democratic Culture of Corruption Makes W Va. Democrat a Multi-Millionaire

For some time now Democratic Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) has been babbling on about something she calls the “Republican Culture of Corruption.” Ms. Pelosi simply is not bright enough (or honest enough, as the case may be) to figure out that corruption is a human problem. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Democrats are corrupt too. That last sentence is not news to those of us who watch Chicago politics; there may as well be a wing in the local Federal prison dedicated to Chicago Democratic Aldermen and Judges. Whether they are selling out African-Americans by allowing illegal waste dumping in their neighborhoods or they are doing favors for mob hit men from the bench, these folks are all Democrats and they are all crooked. Our beloved Mayor Daley has been surrounded by scandal for years. Even one of Pelosi’s Whips has had her share of corruption right in her own home; the husband of local congresswoman, Janet Schakowsky (D-IL) recently plead guilty in an elaborate check-kiting scheme. According to local Democrats this check-kiting scheme was all okay because he was doing it for the children and check-kiting is a harmless, victimless crime. Somehow sex played little or no part in his prosecution.

So back to West Virginia, Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-WVa), the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, was forced to step down yesterday after it was reported (several weeks ago) that Federal prosecutors were looking into Mr. Mollohan’s seemingly shady finances. Rich Galen, of the political blog Mullings, has reported that Mr. Mollohan’s net worth grew from $100,000 to $14,000,000 in just five years. Congressman Mollohan has an annual salary of $160,000 per year; his wife must be quite the saver. Now admittedly, Hilary Clinton’s futures trading endeavor had much higher returns (percentage wise), but this Mollohan guy is clearly no piker. Considering the crowd that she runs with, Ms. Pelosi may want to take a minute to ponder the old adage about throwing stones inside of glass houses.

Hat Tip: Powerline

Friday, April 21, 2006

Pro-Sharia Arab Group Represented by Son of US War Hero

CAIR, a group that has long struck me as essentially a dishonest pro-Sharia (Islamic law) group, has been represented by the son of Adm. Jeremiah Denton, a high ranking Vietnam POW who became famous for blinking SOS during a TV interview from prison. CAIR apparently settled a law suit against this web site and there has been no change in the web site; it is still accusing CAIR of being a front group for anti-American Arabs. They lost their suit and so did the son of the former POW and US Senator (R-AL). Jonathon Galt wonders if the Admiral is happy with his son. I wonder if the Admiral understands what his son has been up to. In an unsurprising aside, CAIR has been used by the Chicago Tribune to explain Islam to its readers. They were “very helpful” to the Tribune earlier this year when the Trib didn’t really cover the Mohamed Cartoon uproar. Thanks again for the propaganda Trib Kidz!

Vodka Pundit Just Wondering

Stephen Greene, the Vodka Pundit at Vodkapundit and the Weblog of Tomorrow (All the News that’s Fit to Drink) has a question about the Left and their newfound love affair with retired military Generals. The Vodka Guy concludes that: “(i)t's enough to make you ask if the Left is preparing this country for a military dictatorship.” It is slightly tongue in cheek but the short post brings up something that is interesting; traditional boomer liberals have been very suspect of anything said by any military person at any time anywhere. The left has also recently been very supportive of CIA leaks that have hurt President Bush; that entire line of thinking not only gives more power to the CIA but also to unelected bureaucrats. This is another one of those outcomes of Democratic politics that has clearly undermines much of their traditional rhetoric; these ideas take power away from “the people.” As Flying Debris recently noted in Democrats Try to Give Presidential Powers to the Press the current Democratic rhetoric would have us believe that the President of the US has no right to declassify governmental material and that the New York Times has the right, no the obligation to publish any classified governmental material that they can get their hands on, even if any fool could see the potential damage to the US and to freedom in general.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Maybe those Conspiracy Theorists are on to Something: the E85 Capers

I have a friend who is a drag racer and he is quite knowledgeable on the subject of engine building. Well, he has been ruminating about building an E85 engine for power. E85 is the ethanol blended fuel that we see quite a bit of here in Illinois; the fuel contains 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The big three are producing E85 vehicles and they are touting them for their lower emissions. GM even has a green and yellow bus driving around the country telling us what good environmentalists they are. Some E85 vehicles are said to run horribly on the alternative fuel. My friend the drag racer has a friend whose Explorer ran so poorly on E85 that the Ford dealership told him that he should use gasoline. The problems are likely due to the higher compression ratios that are desirable in alcohol engines combined with the need for advanced ignition timing. My friend spent yesterday at a dyno shop working on a 429 Ford engine with 10.5/1 compression and a Holley carburetor modified for the use of alcohol. After some amount of messing around they got the engine tuned for horsepower, torque, drivability and economy. E85 is a less expensive fuel than gasoline. In addition to being less expensive the fuel is 105 octane and burns much cooler than gasoline, due to the fact that it does produce less power.

What struck my friend (and myself) as unusual was that Holley, the big aftermarket carburetor company, did not have an aftermarket set-up for E85. The engine builder said that when he called the Holley tech line that he was told that it is against the law to offer a complete E85 system. All of the needed parts were available to put the proper carburetor together, they just couldn’t be offered as a kit. Many racing applications use methanol, another alcohol, so the parts do exist. This possible legal issue struck me as strange so I called the tech line myself. I really got no response on the issue other than the fact that they do not have any E85 applications. The tech did offer that they have some very large drag race alcohol set-ups. He could not say whether there was a legal issue, in fact he wasn’t very familiar with E85 and asked if it was an alcohol application. The legal issue could have been a ruse to keep the engine builder from finding another supplier or going into the business himself. On the other hand if it is actually against the law to sell E85 conversion kits that would warrant some investigation; possibly of Jack Abramoff. It would also make SEMA question its lobbyists. That would be one heck of an insert: Americans cannot buy a conversion kit that enables them to use available fuels. I think that it’s more likely that there is not large enough of a market of motorists using that fuel; likely due to its limited availability. A fact that just gives a little more room for those conspiracy theorists.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Institutional Investors in NY Times Protest Rigged NY Times Board of Director Elections

Here’s a good one, some institutional investors are genuinely upset with the corporate structure of the NY Times, a structure that they feel shortchanges the voting rights that should come with ownership. In all fairness to the Sulzberger family, these investors knew this when they bought the Class A shares. The class B shares that are primarily held by the Sulzberger family elect nine of the thirteen members of the Board of Directors. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports (likely still behind the subscription wall) that Morgan Stanley Investment Managing refused to even vote their shares in the recent Board of Directors election. These investors want more representation on the Board in order to help the stock price; I am sure that the Sulzbergers structured the company in this way to protect the newspaper and its editorial policies from the demands of money managers. One of Morgan Stanley’s arguments is likely that they are not making demands as newcomers to the Times; they have owned shares in the company since 1986 and currently own more than 5% of the Class A shares. This could be an interesting conflict; how important is the share price of the NY Times to its primary owners, the Sulzberger family? A rebuff of the institutional guys would likely mean less support from a large segment of the investment community and a likely sizable liquidation that would pressure the share price, especially if others follow Morgan Stanley out the door. On the other hand, acquiescence to the institutional investors would likely mean less power in the hands of Publisher Arthur Sulzberger and could even affect what many of us have seen as an overt liberal bias. I would expect the family to rebuff the institutional guys baring true stock price pressure.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

FOX Rumor on Duke Lacrosse Case May Explain Jesse Jackson’s Op/Ed Piece

Fox News just reported on a rumor that that the two Duke Lacrosse players charged with rape may be from the richest families on the team. The accuser named three names when she reported the rape; the accused do not have those names. The reported rumor (it was reported as such) says that the reported names or identities were changed by the accuser after somebody ran checks on public records of the team. Sounds kind of far fetched but it would explain the involvement of Jesse Jackson Sr. that Flying Debris reported on below.

More Hard Bigotry from Jesse Jackson Sr in the Chicago Sun Times

Jesse Jackson has a weekly column in the Chicago Sun Times that is always ridiculous but in this week’s column Mr. Jackson plays the part of some sort of black Klansman. He basically states that those Duke Lacrosse players are guilty because white men have had rape fantasies about black women for centuries. This is what Jesse the Race Monger wrote “The history of white men and black women -- the special fantasies and realities of exploitation -- goes back to the nation's beginning and the arrival of slaves from Africa.” If a white columnist had written that black men have lusted after white women for centuries, Mr. Jackson would be preparing a boycott of the Sun Times today; of course, the boycott could be avoided through some “donations” to “favored” causes. In his bizarre column Mr. Jackson drags in some professor who blames whitey for exploitative rap and hip-hop videos. After assuming the worst on the part of Duke University Mr. Jackson laments that the rest of America is just as racist and to explain his point he cites Rebecca Hall who “studies images of African-American women in the culture” at UC Berkeley. Ms. Hall’s statement is just as nonsensical as the rest of this opinion piece, she states ''Turn on a music video. A black woman is somebody who has excess sexuality. . . . It's excess sexuality that white men are entitled to.'' Really? Huh, who knew?

It was very easy for Mr. Jackson to dismiss the apparent lack of DNA evidence by stating that “Something happened that night”. Again, if the accused were black men and Jesse could make a buck off of it, he would be down in Durham chanting “Whitey’s ‘Something’ Don’t Mean Nothing” or some other, more lyrical chant. Mr. Jackson should not have a column in the Sun Times; he is nothing more than a shill for his bank account. When Jesse makes money, the rest of us lose.

Horowitz asks Q of Day: Will Leftists Apologize for Their Aid to Admitted Terrorist?

David Horowitz asks if the wide variety of leftist people and groups who aided Sami al-Arian, the admitted former North American leader of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, will apologize for intentionally trying to harm the United States and the free people of the world? Hello ACLU. Hello Salon.com.

Hat Tip: Powerline

Monday, April 17, 2006

Cheney's Donate $6.87 Million to Charity

Okay, they are loaded but that is still a good amount of change. Hugh Hewitt speculates that we won’t see this tax figure in the press. I’ve got to agree.

Real $4 Million Ferrari to Blow Us Away


Autoweek's Artist Renditions Disputed
c Autoweek

Last week’s Autoweek had an interesting letter to the editor concerning the $4 million Ferrari that Flying Debris noted here. The writer, Gary Bossert, claims to be a friend of the owner and he claims to have seen the car. Mr. Bossert wrote that the custom built Ferrari looks both different and better than the artist renditions that were in the Autoweek piece. Mr. Bossert says that the artist renditions “don’t do justice” to the real car and that we should all “just show up at Monterey, and be blown away.” For the owner’s sake I hope that Mr. Bossert is right, because the writer of the first letter has a point, the car does look kind of like a gussied up NSX.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Sky Harbor's Wi-Fi is Great

I wished that I had noticed this earlier. I could find no such settup at O'Hare, there are still Aldermen who need to be bribed before that concession can be let out. I am plugged into a vacum outlet and and have great access. I noticed that Memphis has tables with electricity and Wi-Fi instructions. Well they say that we can get ready to board so I must pack-up and go.

Live-Blogging From the Phoenix Airport

Stuck inside of Phoenix with the... Yep Chicago weather threatens to keep me in sunny Phoenix; actually it is keeping me in Sky Harbor Airport. On the way here I filled up the rental car with 87 octane for $2.839 per gallon. What passes for Hi-Test out here, 91 octane was $3.049 per gallon. All prices were seen at the Shell on the corner of Scottsdale and Pinnacle Peak Roads in northern Scottsdale; a very wealthy area. The Phoenix area is plagued by a limited delivery system; I seem to recall that the city is supplied by two pipelines.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Old News, Porsche Buys 20% of VW

Porsche, a publicly traded German company recently bought 20% of Volkswagen Group in what some thought a surprise. Many wrote how the purchase helped to ensure further chassis work and R&D cooperation. The purchase may also the influence the statist ideas of the Lower Saxony government, a sizable shareholder. There was also the threat of Stuttgart neighbor Mercedes buying into VW. Additional threats come from opening up the company. The family firm founded by former VW CEO Ferdinand Piech’s mother, Porsche Salzburg, still is the VW importer to Austria and points east. That arrangement would be less likely to continue with outside involvement.

The Mercedes threat is one that is almost genetic, Mercedes fired Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche in the ‘20s and blamed him for some manufacturing problems that they were experiencing at the time. It is said that the Porsche family has held a grudge ever since. When Porsche was looking for a partner to share the development costs of a new SUV they negotiated with Mercedes until Mercedes suggested that they take a share of Porsche in order to consummate the deal. Porsche Chairman Wendell Weideking walked out of the room. He knew that the Porsche and Piech families would never agree to such an arrangement.

A further Porsche genetic issue is the fact that Volkswagen was formed to build the car that we’ve come to know as the Beetle, a car entirely designed by Ferdinand Porsche and his engineering firm. In negotiations after WWII between Porsche and the Occupying Allies, the Porsche engineering firm received 1 German Deutschmark for every Beetle to be sold world-wide. This was payment for the prewar design work on the Beetle. Porsche has continued to do extensive amounts of design work for VW over the years. Porsche also shared design and manufacturing work with VW on the ill fated 914, a car whose unibody price was increased after a change in VW leadership, leaving Porsche without price control for a large portion of their product. That quickly doomed the wonderful but high priced 914-6; the standard 914 used a Porsche-breathed-on VW engine, as did a succession of the lowest priced Porsches. Porsche did not want to face this again with their very successful Cayenne line. The Cayenne shares its unibody with the VW Touareg. There were such rumblings last year concerning the VW engine used in the base model Cayenne, VW insinuated that it would stop building the engine that Porsche buys from them. For some family members it was 1968 all over again.

Since the early nineties when it looked like Porsche would go bankrupt or be swallowed up by another car company Porsche has radically changed their manufacturing processes. The company eagerly took the best of Japanese manufacturing prowess and added their own Germanic touches. They have also become very adept at exploiting the markets that they sell to. The cost of designing a new car has become so enormous that one failed vehicle could’ve put a small company like Porsche out of business. Since those dark days of the early ‘90s Porsche has successfully launched 3 new 911 Carrera models (1 air-cooled, 2 water-cooled, each having as many as 20+ variations), 2 models each of the Boxster and the Boxster S, the SUV Cayene (currently 4 variations), the new Cayman (a Boxster derivative) and in 2 years they plan to release a 4-door sedan named the Panamera. Add to that a very successful customer racing program. It is too early to judge the success of the Cayman but all of the other vehicles have been financial successes.

The Porsche management has struck me as prudent in the extreme; I doubt that they would take such a big risk if they didn’t believe in the future of VW. As the share prices for many auto companies are taking a beating Porsche likely sees value in VW at these price levels. They have also greatly aided their own business.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

NY Times: Even the Corrections are Dishonest. (Is the Times still Defending the Human Rights of Machines?)

The guys at Powerline have been at the forefront of the FISA/wiretap controversy since the news broke last December. Between the three writers at Powerline there has even been some disagreement about the constitutional powers of the executive branch. Last month the NY Times had (another) dishonest article about the FISA court that included the testimony of four FISA judges in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Strangely, accurate Senate transcripts have been available since the original testimony. After some badgering the Times finally issued a correction in Friday’s print and on-line editions. The Powerline guys have written on this ridiculous controversy here.

Beyond the fact that the correction does not go far enough the Times continues its abuse of the English language by describing the targets of the relevant wiretaps as “Americans”. It is likely that some of the wiretap’s targets are citizens but it is almost assured that most are not actual citizens. Are members of al qaeda who are here illegally “Americans”? Are green card-holding members of al qaeda “Americans”? Are members of al qaeda who are here on student and tourist visas “Americans”? Are telephonic routing devices now considered “Americans”? The last point is one that has been lightly glossed over by most observers; it is likely that some of the phone numbers that have been tapped are nothing more than devices that forward phone calls to another phone number. Even simple cell and land based phones have that option. The rerouted phone number could be anywhere in the US or the world. Ever since this story broke last December, it has struck me that the Times and most of the rest of the “goofball media” may very well be defending the human and civil rights of machines. This is coming from the people who make common cause with the anti-globalization crowd. Rage against the machine indeed!

Friday, April 14, 2006

Kill the Blasphemous PETA Members! Whoops, I forgot, I’m not a Muslim

Due to the fact that I am not a Muslim I will not call for the death of all PETA members after their Vienna chapter has decided to promote their cause (starvation) by “crucifying” three people made up to look like animals. That action is, of course, an insult to Christians around the world on Good Friday. I do not expect the Pope or any other Christian religious leaders to call for the death of PETA members. This is just another thing that separates enlightened humans from the Muslim horde. However, I do expect a number of the pansy editorial boards of western newspapers to publish photos of the “protest” all the while telling the world that they are standing up for free speech. PETA is smart not to use cartoons in their little “protest”. Cartoons scare newspaper people. “Oh no, not the cartoon! Anything but the CARTOON!”

In an amusing aside to this Muslim Jihad silliness; during the summer of 2001 I was reading the Financial Times when I noticed a blurb that one Jusuf Islam had re-issued a Jihad against the author Salmon Rushdie. Jusuf is the former Cat Stevens, a washed up pop singer from the ‘70s. Imagine if other religions allowed pop singers to issue death edicts, the world would be a mess. Keith Richards would issue Jihads against bottles of Jack Daniels, Dolly Parton would issue jihads against gravity and I don’t even get me started on Marilyn Manson.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Honda Introduces New Civic to Save the Planet

Honda is leading the charge into the world of pollution-free driving with a new natural gas powered Civic. They have unveiled the car at the New York Automobile Show. Although the natural gas powered Civic is a new model, Honda has been selling such cars to fleet operators for some years now. Fleet operators have the means to install natural gas dispensers, the cost of such dispensers has kept natural gas powered vehicles out of the home market. Honda has hooked up with the FuelMaker Corporation to market Phill, a product designed as a home garage based natural gas dispenser. Phill also has the ability to fuel the Civic during the over-night periods when gas companies often have lower rates. This is a big deal. Barring significant new finds it is reasonable to expect natural gas prices to trend higher in coming years. Despite that outlook, natural gas offers a much cleaner vehicle than the current eco-rage of hybrids. The natural gas vehicles do not contained a self-enclosed waste dump, a reasonable description of the hybrid batteries. I have ridden in natural gas powered taxis in Chicago for a few decades now and frankly, as a passenger it is nearly impossible to tell the difference.

Hat Tip the Guys at Autoblog.

Hilary Says that We Need a 5 Year Plan part 2

OK, here it is; that article about Hilary Clinton and her “important” speech on economics. She made a 55 minute speech on Tuesday and although the local papers covered the speech they didn’t tell their readers what Ms. Clinton said about economics. Both papers had splashy stories about the event with flattering pictures and predictable quotes. Like this one:

"I suggest that we agree on the need for an economic strategy that keeps our economy growing and creating good jobs in the face of new competition, and that we strengthen the middle class--which is, after all, the engine of our growth and the backbone of our democracy,"

That is not economic policy; that is pandering to people who may not know better. Which raises another question, who are these people in the Chicago Economics Club? The only published quote by Ms. Clinton at the event that was on the subject of economics is the following:

"We need investments, decisions and policies that only all of us, acting together through our government, can make to set the stage for future prosperity."

I find such comments to be insulting, how could somebody say that we should run our economic decisions through the federal government? Is Ms. Clinton suggesting that Congress decide what the nation’s companies should do; or should a bureaucracy make those decisions? “All of us acting together” has uninvolved “stakeholders” written all over it. This all is little more than the same uninformed communistic nonsense that I have heard from the far left for my entire life. Her juvenile economic ideas are dangerous.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Hilary Says that We Need a 5 Year Plan

Hilary Clinton made an “important” economic speech at the Chicago Economics Club yesterday. The local papers do not make it easy to discern what she said but the Tribune seemed to get the unsurprising gist of the speech. This Tribune article contains some typical Clinton economic thought. However because some new nonsense with the Tribune web site I cannot access the relevant quotes. A pox on the Tribune. I will try to get another paper and type the disgraceful quote. Let’s just say that Ms. Clinton wants to run all economic decisions through the government. She has a Five Year Plan.

For those too young to remember, communist governments made big splashy “5 Year Plans” and things never changed for the better. Thus they had a regular need for new “5 Year Plans.”

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Only 66 Days until Le Mans!


Audi Will be Tough to Beat Again This Year
c Flying Debris

Yep, only 65 test days left until the annual French 24 hour endurance race. The race was once immortalized by the late Steve McQueen in the movie Le Mans. Interestingly McQueen and his crew actually entered cars in the 1970 race and filmed the race for the movie. This year’s race is particularly interesting with a great variety cars and builders involved. The top tier prototype (LMP1) cars will likely be lead by the new Audi diesel race cars that were so successful at Sebring; they are however third and fourth on the grid. The less powerful prototype class (LMP2) has some interesting cars including a Radical; a car that you can go out and buy. I hear that the factory can even make the thing street legal. The top tier grand touring car class (GT1) includes a few racing versions of street going Ferraris, a Lamborghini, a bunch of Aston Martins and a bunch of Corvettes; this will be a great class to watch. The least powerful grand touring class (GT2) was once nearly completely filled with Porsche 911 GTRs, now the class includes a few Ferraris, a few Panozs and a few Strykers.

The entire field can be found here the French version of the great race’s web site can be found here and the English version can be found here.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Early Apexer and Allegedly Mobbed-Up Swedish Exec loses 2 Ferraris and 1 McLaren to LA Sheriff


Do Not Early Apex a Mid-Engine Car
c KTTV

Former Gizmodo executive Stefan Eriksson crashed his Ferrari Enzo into a pole while going 162 mph on the Pacific Coast Highway while still drunk at 6:30 one morning last February. He had some crazy story about a German guy driving the car and they were racing some mystery Mercedes McLaren SLR, sure thing pal. Mr. Eriksson left Gizmodo in the shambles of bankruptcy last year and the losses just keep piling up. There has also been talk concerning the involvement of the Swedish mob (who knew?) in the company’s sordid financial affairs. Just last month Mr. Eriksson’s wife was arrested for driving one of the uber-rare SLRs around LA with no driver’s license and British plates. I would say only in LA, but these two are actually European.

Last Saturday Mr. Eriksson was arrested and is being held without bail by Immigration authorities. CNN is reporting that his car collection, consisting of 2 Enzos and 1 SLR, actually owned by some British financial institutions who thought that the cars were in Britan, is now in the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. As you can see from the photo, one of his Ferrari Enzos is now a "parts car."

Foolish Affleck Wants to Hang President

Ben Affleck, a guy who plays dress-up for a living (and not very well at that) recently stated that President George W. Bush should be impeached and hung. He claims that Bush “leaked” Valerie Plame’s name and should be hung for that treasonous action. Hey Ben, have you been channeling Stalin? You can find Mr. Affleck’s comments here.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Sunday Porsche Blogging – Why the Cayenne is a Good Thing for Porsche

Due to time spent at the track the Porsche blogging is once again light. So light that I am linking to a post by another blogger; the Truth About Cars guy. He is rightly peeved at Porschephiles who make snide (and worse) remarks about the Cayenne, the Porsche SUV. His editorial can be found here. My experience with the brand has shown me that I want them to make money. Surprisingly there are parts for older street cars that Porsche no longer produces. Now I can see not producing the body panels for a low volume special but the starter switch for pre-1968 911s? When Porsche was at its nadir I was seriously worried about the supply of parts; if the company won’t produce a starter switch what will an OEM company decline to produce?

Democrats Try to Give Presidential Powers to the Press

While watching the White House press conference last Friday afternoon and reading the reaction during the last two days I have become convinced that members of the press, and by extension their handlers in the Democratic Party, believe that the press holds some of the powers that are actually held by the President under our constitutional system. One could reasonably say that they (the press and the Democrats) have been arguing that the NY Times and other media outfits have the absolute right to declassify top secret government information, whereas the President of the United States holds no such power. Their new slogan could be “Power to the Unelected People!” I wonder if they can get a hit song out of that one.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

More Evidence of Coming Collapse of Europe

“Collapse” may seem to be too strong a word to use, however it seems difficult to see a successful future for a Europe dominated by Islam, especially the violent extreme strain that dominates Islam these days. Flying Debris noted in “The Muslim Martin Luther” the difficulties in wresting control of Islam from fanatics. It clearly has never been good to be a neighbor of Islam; what with the forced conversions, the slave-taking, the beheadings, and so on and so on. Unfortunately for Islam’s neighbors these horrible acts are prescribed in certain passages of the Koran, thus empowering the demands of the religious zealots who today dominate Islam’s town square.

Swede Ilya Mayer, takes note of the Swedish Chancellor of Justice’s comments on Swedish Mosques calling for the wanton murder of Jews using suicide bombers, he described such calls as simply part of the ongoing Middle East debate. European states have much more strict hate speech laws than we have in the States but it is instructive to watch how some become subservient to a zealous and threatening religious minority. I don’t think that the Minister is helping anybody except certain extremist Imams with his comments.

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a Jesuit theologian concerning the likelihood of a reformation in Islam. My friend the theologian stated that he expects a reformation in Islam but that he expects that such a transformation would take centuries. I neglected to ask him whether he expects western civilization to still be viable at that time. I wonder if Islam can reform itself during a time when it is so obviously technologically and educationally behind western civilization.

Hat Tip to Dhimmi Watch

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Crazy Democratic Congresswoman Has Bodyguards

FOX News just showed Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga) entering congress flanked by a private bodyguard who pushed (actually checked) and threatened to throw a Georgia newsman's "ass in jail." The bodyguard has no ability to arrest anyone in the District of Columbia. This happened in front of what appeared to be an 8th grade class DC trip picture. That crazy woman just keeps on giving.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Busta Rhymes Busts on Ferrari Owner

This video is hysterical. Hip Hop guy Busta Rhymes was at a buddy’s house when a Ferrari 360 Spyder (convertible) crashed into the rose bushes out front; that’s when Busta took a camera guy out front and became the most profane newscaster in the country. It is very funny but not appropriate viewing in certain situations, don’t watch it at work!

Hat Tip to the Autoblog

Democrats Filibuster for Felons

In another of many “what is wrong with these guys” moments, the Senate Democrats have filibustered an amendment to the immigration bill that would bar felons from gaining citizenship. Beyond their refusal to allow a vote on a critical point of a major piece of legislation; one has to wonder why the Democrats have decided to rally around felons. Minority Leader, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has stated that the amendment would take away from what he said “is the goodness of this bill.” Let me get this straight Mr. Reid, the “goodness” of this piece of legislation is to empower felons? The Washington Times covered this bizarre filibuster here. Lost in this debate is Mexico itself; the country cannot employ its population because its economy is a failure.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Crazy Democratic Congresswoman to America – the Check’s in the Mail!

The Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that in addition to using office funds to fly in Isaac Hayes to celebrate an office opening in Atlanta, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga) also used Hayes' services at a fundraiser that evening in Stone Mountain. That violates federal campaign laws. The Journal Constitution reports that her aides have “vowed” to pay the money back. The amount of money involved is $900. Somebody down there should just pay the $900; somebody like that crazy congresswoman.

Monday, April 03, 2006

DeLay to Step Aside

Chris Mathews and MSNBC are reporting that Tom DeLay (R.-Tx.) will step aside in the Republican primary for his congressional seat. Mr. DeLay told Mathews that he would step aside for the good of his party; the poll numbers don’t look good for DeLay but he told Mathews that another Republican would “walk into the seat.”

Crazy Democratic Congresswoman Tried to get Taxpayers to Fund her Day with Chef

WSB-TV in Atlanta is reporting that crazy Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) broke House rules while spending $1000 of Federal funds to fly soul singer and the former voice of Chef on South Park, Isaac Hayes to Atlanta to dedicate her office. Presumably she did not build this office and I will assume that the office is rented. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the office is in a strip mall. Great, congresswoman McKinney thinks that it is appropriate that she have the rest of us pay good money so that she can hang out with a celebrity under the guise of dedicating a rented space in a strip mall. Now that is Progressive.

Hat Tip, Michelle Malkin

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Sunday Porsche Blogging: A Decades Spanning Photo


Four Decades of Porsche Technology on Display at the Autobahn CC Paddock Sunday Morning
c Flying Debris

From an early 911 through the latest supercar, the Autobahn Country Club had a museum worth of Porsches on track this weekend.