Another Light Blogging Weekend

I'll be driving my vintage 911 this weekend
c Flying Debris

I will be out driving my 1966 Porsche 911 at the Autobahn Country Club with the Chicago chapter of the Audi Club of North America. It has a twin plug 906 racing engine (type 901/22) that was scavenged from a 911 T/S that wrecked at Le Mans in 1969.

Ignorant Democrat Now Has an Excuse

Cynthia McKinney now has an excuse for why she punched a cop the other day. She says that she was stopped by the Capital Hill Police Force because she is a “black progressive". For some time Democrats have been labeling themselves as “progressive”. Great, now the word “progressive” means backward, regressive and ignorant. Do they have any more words that they need to change the meaning of? I mean really, I need to buy a new dictionary. Now the woman has Glover and Belafonte supporting her, couldn’t they get John Dean to join them?

Crazy Democratic Congresswoman Punches Cop

Crazy Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has allegedly punched a Capital Hill Policeman. The story is here. This is par for the course for such an ignorant Democratic bitch.

The “All You Need to Know” Book Review

My congressman, Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), is currently writing a book that seeks to define the Democratic message going into the fall congressional elections. Jonathon Alter has written about the book in a typically (for Alter) one sided Newsweek article. Having watched Mr. Emanuel and his hard-left Democratic buddies in action here on their home turf, let me save you a few hours of reading. The basic tenet of these guys is summed up in just a few words, “Give Me Your Money and Shut-Up!”

A $4 Million Ferrari?

Computer Rendition of Custom Ferrari
c Autoweek

Autoweek is reporting that a New York collector and Ferrari fan has commissioned Pininfarina to build a one-off modern recreation of the famous Ferrari P3/4 Series on top of a Ferrari Enzo. The P3s and P4s were gorgeous mid-sixties Ferrari GT race cars that are extremely rare. The collector, James Glickenhaus owns one of the three P4s. It is a very interesting situation; here is a collector who is moving a classic Ferrari design into a more modern era by hiring the design firm used by Ferrari. The Autoweek article is excellent and includes money manager Glickenhaus’ early B film credits!

Bay City Brass Band in Full Funeral Mode - Mobile, Al.
c Flying Debris

Light Blogging Ahead!

Blogging will be light on Flying Debris due to travel issues and the fact that our benefactor won't set us up as well as techno-geek Glen Reynolds over at Instapundit.

Iraq War Vet Wins in Illinois

Tammy Duckworth won the Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional District of Illinois last Tuesday. Flying Debris wrote about her race in Assuming that Voters are Dolts is Rarely a Good Strategy and generally belittled her candidacy in that post. Like many others locally, I didn’t believe that the district’s Democrats would be so susceptible to the campaigning of the national Democrats. She will face Republican state Sen. Pete Roskam, who ran unopposed. Mr. Roskam garnered 1 1/2 times the vote total of all three Democrats running in the primary. In that earlier post Flying Debris stated a belief that Ms. Duckworth had moved into the 6th District, in fact she still lives outside of the district that she wants to represent. The Chicago Sun Times’ columnist Lynn Sweet has written another article about the Duckworth campaign and Ms. Sweet is also less than impressed with Ms. Duckworth. A Chicago Tribune article on the 6th District race can be found here.

Here at Flying Debris we just can’t resist reprinting our speculation on the conversation surrounding the national Democrats decision to run Ms. Duckworth, and here it is:


Dem 1: “Yeh, up in Illinois, Hydes’ seat, we got Crane last time, how can we pick this one up?”

Dem 2 “I got a chick with no legs.”

Dem 3: “What the?”

Dem 2: “They were blown off in Iraq”

Dem 1: “Perfect.”

Dem 3: “At least that asshole Bush is good for something.”

Dem 2: “Here’s how I see it; screw the locals, we can get them to drop out of the primary. Throw them a few bones, state contracts or something. Then we “out-defense” the Republicans in the general with the big money advertising!”

Dem 1: “Brilliant!”

Dem 3: “Fantastic!”

John Kerry: “Touché! I’ll call my Band of Brothers!”

Dem 3: “Who the hell let him in here?”

Yale University – the Nuthouse in New Haven?

How Did Work of Yale Freshman Aid This Murder?
c Zaheeruddin Webstan/CORBIS

In Thursday’s Wall Street Journal editor John Fund wrote another excellent article, this time on the former Taliban spokesman who Yale admitted last year. Flying Debris wrote about this nonsense in That Kid at Yale and Attention High Schoolers – How to Get into Yale, concluding that although Mr. Hashemi may have given aid to the US in exchange for admittance to the States and to a university, it is likely that the Admissions Board at Yale simply found such a despicable human to be irresistible. In this subscription article Mr. Fund informs us that the Yale fascist has a fourth grade education and a GED. I’m going to guess that he didn’t attend Kabul Country Day and that a fourth grade education in Afghanistan may not be up to Yale’s usual standards.

A Guy (?) Named Doudou Lives Down to His Name

Last Saturday Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran a piece about UN special rapporteur Doudou Diéne and his (?) take on the Cartoon Mohamed Jihad violence that we recently saw. His summary follows:

"Their [the cartoon-reprinting newspapers'] uncompromising defense of a Freedom of Speech without limits or restrictions is not in accordance with the international rules which are based on a necessary balance between Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion, especially to combat calls for racial and religious hatred, and which all the member countries of UN have decided are the basic rules for Human Rights. This attitude shows an alarming lack of sensitivity and understanding of the religious conviction and deep emotions of the groups of society in question. Thus the newspapers strengthen the connection between Islam and Terrorism which arose after September 11th and which is the most important reason for Islamophobia being on the rise in the world at large and in their own countries."

This guy has got to be kidding. Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy has a full run down of the relevant UN code that people like this Doudou want to use to undermine national documents like the US Constitution.

Hat Tip: Instapundit

How to Make Juggling Entertaining, Especially to Beatles Fans!

Check out this guy, Chris Bliss, juggle to Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End, the last three songs on the Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Before seeing this video the most amusing juggling act that I have ever seen required me to get drunk and go to Jackson Square in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras.

Hat Tip: Robbo

If You're Going to Get Pulled Over, Be a Rich Guy in Italy

But Officer, I Thought That the Sign Said 200 mph!
c rsportscars.com

Italian telecom executive Riccardo Ruggiero told the local police that he was just putting his new Porsche Carrera GT “through its paces” when he was pulled over doing 193 mph. The 357 Euro fine seems like quite a deal considering the lousy excuse he gave to the cop.

How Could A Conservative Vote For Democrats?

I am a politically conservative person who lives in a place dominated by liberal Democrats, so what’s a guy to do? Here in Chicago all of the local elections are settled in the primary. The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to win in the general election, sometimes unopposed. My answer to this problem is to vote in the Democratic primary, you are no longer forced to declare a party upon registration in Illinois. I know some people who take exception to this practice; they say that I should not vote in their primary.

Pal: You’re just going to vote for Bush, you shouldn’t vote in our primary.

El Rider: So, what you’re saying is that I should not have a say in local elections?

Pal: No, I’m saying that you’re a Republican, so you shouldn’t vote in our election.

El Rider: You actually are saying that I should not have a citizen’s role in local elections.

Pal: No I’m not.

Amazingly I the above is a verbatim transcript of discussions that I have had, more than once. It is outrageous to believe that someone should not have a say in the elections of elected officials because that person holds different political beliefs.

So as I decided which party to choose for this election the two races that I looked at were Republican Governor's primary and the Democratic Cook County President's primary. In the Governors race the polls have put Judy Barr Topinka as running away with the race. At this early date the polls have Topinka beating Democratic Governor Ron Blagojevich. The Cook County Presidents race is a nose holder; sitting President John Stroger against Forrest Claypool, both Daley people. Mr. Stroger had a stroke last week. Mr. Claypool also has been part of the Daley machine for years. Mr. Stroger is not likely to serve the coming term and may not even run in the November election, meaning that the Democratic Party machine will appoint the candidate. Even if the candidate is Claypool, it is better that the man gain office through elections. So I held my nose, took the Democratic ballot and voted for Mr. Claypool. What really made my decision was a poll that I saw on the Daily KOS this afternoon. They were going for Stroger big-time. Yes I voted for Rahm Emanuel (D-IL).

These People Again

A Look at the Tape Shows That These Girls Went to the Wrong March
c Flying Debris

I posted this photo yesterday before I had reviewed some of the video that I shot. The Saturday anti-war march was made up of a few mostly (dis)organized groups with a large number of average Joes thrown in between. The more organized groups had chants, not signature chants, this was an overwhelmingly white crowd after all, but chants that seemed to change any time a distinct group marched by. In some respects the experience was like attending a junior high cheerleading conference, without the parents. The group that the women pictured above marched with was a distinct group with those anti-Israel signs, plus they had their own chant about ending a “racist war”. Considering the signs that they carried, combined with the Democrat’s penchant for tossing any cause into a protest, one could reasonably wonder what they were protesting. I can see why the Jewish woman who I wrote about here was so upset. They really appear to simply be a pro-Palestinian group just tossed into the middle of this march.

A Photo-Op Delay! By the way, the Cops Did a Great Job
c Flying Debris

Does Alan Colmes Know About This?
c Flying Debris

Sunday Porsche Blogging: Very Light This Week

Tight Urban Garage, and Glad to Have It
c Flying Debris

Due to ongoing issues with Blogger discussed here, the weekly Porsche Blogging is light, the time that I would normally have spent writing has been spent dealing with ongoing posting issues. There are also more parade photos to be posted; hopefully Blogger will get it together soon. Ther above photo shows what urban car nuts have to put up with. In this case it is the garage of a Porsche fan, thus giving me an excuse to call it Porsche Blogging!

Oooh, It's a Scarey Dick Cheney Sign! More of the Pink Women
c Flying Debris

Some Homeless Guy on the Near North Side is Missing His Shopping Cart!
c Flying Debris

They Were There From Evanston!
c Flying Debris

One Pitiful March

I've Seen Better Parades
c Flying Debris

The Chicago Tribune is estimating that “as many as 7,000” people marched in last night’s anti-war march on Michigan Ave. I have no experience at estimating crowds but I would’ve put the number at around 5,000, tops. It took the people less than 20 minutes to march by Michigan and Chicago avenues, they only used 1 side of the street, they had floats that were sparsely populated, they marched slowly and there were some gaps, one of which was substantial. The march had the usual participants that all of these marches have; a few strategically placed parent’s of soldiers (2 or 3, 1 had died), a lot of normal looking, well groomed boomers, a lot of normal looking younger people, some of whom had brought their children, some people with their dogs (try walking a few miles down city streets with your poodle and see how he feels about this peace thing!) and then there are the rest of them.

Now let me clear, I’ve been to my fair share of Grateful Dead concerts, so I am on very familiar turf here; some of the very worst aspects of “hippie culture” were on display last night. I suspect that the majority of people who could be described as “hippies” were simply not motivated to go all the way downtown to march around. There is a minority in that group who spend parts of their lives preying off of others, through “sharing”, outright scams or even cult-like activities. They assume that most of us approach others in “our” group as we would approach our friends and they take advantage of that. I always thought that the Dead was speaking to that issue in the Robert Hunter - Bob Weir song Jack Straw, with this line, “We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine”. A march like this is fertile ground for these folks; they are drawn to these events like moths to light. Here was a concentration of people who are more receptive to their “ideas” than the normal population. Those people worked the fringes of the march.

There was also the tiresome contingent of college racists, the anti-Israel groups that are part of so many Universities these days. There was a very well dressed Jewish woman standing near me who was very agitated by their signs and their pleas to “join us”; her reply was “not until you put down those signs!” She doesn’t get it, nobody in that protest supported Israel, except possibly, in the most superficial ways. Code Pink, or some sort of pink women’s group was there with a 4 foot tall pink peace sign on a shopping cart. No anti-war march is complete without the usual phalanx of communist front groups. There was 1 guy with a poorly written Russ Feingold sign, a few anti-Fox News signs and a lot of anti-Bush signs. There were people passing out literature giving driving instructions to the march that we were at. Please read the last sentence again.

Chicago March Information

Here is a link the Protester Warrior Chicago statement about their anti-anti-war protest. Here is a link to the web site of the anti-war people.

The Crack Team from Flying Debris Is Planning to Attend the Chicago Anti-War Rally This Evening

The locals are having a big march on Michigan Ave. this evening and the team from Flying Debris plans to witness and report on the event. It starts in the Federal Plaza in a few minutes so by the 7:00 PM Michigan Ave. kickoff the anti-war folks should be all fired up by speeches and what not. The El Rider will be joined by representatives of the local legal, teaching and insurance communities; we planned on getting all geared-up by watching hoops in a local watering hole. The camera batteries are charged and the Flying Debris Wagon is washed and ready to go.

Porsche Spyder RS has Problems

One of Roger Penske's new Porsche Spyder RSs is having problems at Sebring. They are having a problem with the voltage regulator, a problem that I had with my old '67 Porsche 912. Luckily it's a Bosch part and easy to find. Roger Penske is probably pissed. Ron Fellows in his Corvette just passed the Aston Martin.

Audi Celebrates Diesel’s B-Day by Winning the Pole at Sebring in a Diesel!

The 12 hour endurance race at Sebring Florida starts this morning at 9:30 AM CST on Speed. In Friday’s qualifying both the pole position and the second spot were won by the new Audi R10 TDI, a diesel powered race car! There have long been diesel powered race cars, a few turbine cars, Jay Leno even drives around in a steam powered race car; so this is nothing new. It is however extremely rare. Rarer still is any success. Due to the huge market for diesel vehicles in Europe this is a good marketing idea for Audi. The coming diesel regulations here in the States mean the Audi will likely be selling more diesel cars here and some racing victories can’t hurt. The Sebring race is run on the old airfield down there and is a true endurance test due to the rather decrepit old surface. You can even see planes in the background. Today would be Rudolph Diesel's 148th birthday, Flying Debris commented on the birthday here.

Ray Meyer, RIP

I was lucky enough to have met the former De Paul basketball coach Ray Meyer, he was truly a wonderful guy. He was nice to everybody, maybe not the best thing for an NCAA coach in the modern era but Ray had a wonderful life. He has gone to join his wife Marge. Rest In Peace Ray.

Tomorrow is National Bio-Diesel Day! OK, It’s Really Rudolph Diesel’s B-Day

Saturday, March 18 is National Bio-Diesel Day! Who knew? I always considered it St. Joseph’s Day. Anyways, it is the birthday of Rudolph Diesel. The engine guy, not the jeans guy! Mr. Diesel was born March 18, 1858 in Paris, he is listed as having died September 29, 1913, “in the English Channel” under suspicious circumstances, likely suicide. This Wikipedia entry includes the theories surrounding his death.

David Sicks One Goliath on Another Goliath

This blog is hosted by Blogger, they own the blogspot.com domain and they are owned by Google. I have been experiencing problems with Blogger for the past 24 hours, as have many other Blogger users. Glen Reynolds of Instapundit fame has written a book named An Army of Davids, and I presume that it is about how the Davids of the world can take on the corporate and media Goliaths. Well this morning I was David, but in this case my best move was to de-sling my rock and hand it to one of the Goliaths. In my capacity as a trader on one of Chicago’s exchanges I deal with the press daily, I am one of those “anonymous floor sources” who are the bane of some peoples’ existence. One of the first things that I did this morning after getting on to the trading floor was to take a stroll over to see my friends in the press. I gave them the tip that Blogger was having problems and that Blogger is owned by Google. The mention of Google sent them to the phones. This afternoon they all mentioned that they appreciated the tip quite a bit; they got to scoop the New York guys on a stock story. One guy told me that the response that he got was “(T)hat’s the kind of information we need!” Google shares hit their lows a little before 9 AM Central time, 1½ hours after I told my friends in the press. The shares then rallied and closed higher. Nothing like sicking the financial press on your problems!

Strange Jihadi Ham Radio Broadcasts

Little Green Footballs has this e-mail from a reader concerning a strange anti-American rant that was repeated over and over on a few ham radio frequencies.


This post was written on 3/16 but problems with Blogger prevented it from being uploaded.

Al Qaeda Chatter and an Odd Story About the Sears Tower

Tallest Infidel Building
c Flying Debris

The Counterterrorism blog is reporting on increased chatter level within al qaeda circles. They point to a few recent public posts by old line al qaeda, as opposed to Zarqawi, who is active in Iraq and is the part of al qaeda getting the most attention. The Chicago Tribune reported that security at the Sears Tower recently stopped three guys who were photographing the building. They let them go; the car that they drove was rented by someone with a fictitious name who turned in the vehicle an hour after the confrontation with the Sears Tower building security. The Sears Tower is the tallest building in the Infidel World.

Local ABC Chicago Report here.

This post was written on 3/16 but problems with Blogger kept it from being uploaded.

Markos of the Daily KOS was on Keith Olberman’s show tonight

During the ten minutes that I could stay awake while watching the Countdown, Keith interviewed some strange, whining kid who appeared to be from junior high. Low and behold it Markos himself. He displayed a working knowledge of the NSA controversy that was on par with that twelve year old he was channeling. Somebody should let the Democrats know that it probably is not such a great idea to be defined as whiny effeminate scolds.

The Revolution Has Been Scheduled – Will There Be Showers?

On March 20 in Washington DC this group plans some sort of sit-in near the White House, plus they plan to wait until George Bush leaves the White House. This could get ugly. Warning: bad whiny music on the linked site!

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Thanks For the History Lesson

This morning the Chicago Tribune printed an opinion piece by Salim Muwakkil, the Senior Editor of In These Times, a local super liberal or socialist weekly. Mr. Muwakkil addressed the issue of Governor Blagojevich’s appointment of Claudette Marie Muhammad to the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes, Ms. Muhammad is a minister in the strange, locally based religion, the Nation of Islam (NOI). Flying Debris addressed this issue here, here and here. The founding of the Nation of Islam relied on the fable that white people were invented by a black evil scientist name Yakub; in light of that, Flying Debris concluded that it would not be out of line to describe the NOI as a cult. A further hint towards the flavor of the NOI comes with Mr. Muwakkil’s description of Ms. Muhammad’s stance:

“Obedience to Farrakhan is a requirement in the authoritarian organization. One reason for the Nation of Islam's continuing popularity within the black community is the group's resolute image. Other civil rights groups have come and gone, but Farrakhan has managed to keep the Nation of Islam relevant with public shifts between charm and bile.”

The description of the NOI as a “civil rights organization” is bizarre in itself but Mr. Muwakkil continues his disjointed lecture to white Chicago by giving a short and no doubt rosy history of the Black Panthers (Flying Debris has made a conscious decision to stay out of the local Black Panther dust-up) followed by this:

“Most white Chicagoans don't know this history; a history that included 12 generations of chattel slavery and four more of Jim Crow apartheid. This repressive history has produced an eccentric legacy and odd heroes. Farrakhan is one of those heroes, and Jewish groups gain nothing by avoiding dialogue with him.”

Yes Mr. Muwakkil, we know about slavery, we know about the Jim Crow laws, and yes, we know about the odd heroes. Between Mr. Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson we are well aware of local “odd heroes”. Jewish leaders have been meeting with Mr. Farrakhan and the NOI for over twenty years to what seems like little effect.

That Kid at Yale

Yale freshman Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the now notorious former Taliban spokesman, has caught the eye of the US Senate. Senator John Cornyn (R-Tx.) has written this letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking how a former Taliban spokesman got into this country. Flying Debris speculated in this post that Mr. Hashemi may have had an agreement with our government at some point late in the Taliban rule. It would not be safe for Mr. Hashemi to publicly admit any involvement with the US forces, if that is what happened. At the time of the earlier post the crack staff at Flying Debris agreed that this was not a likely occurrence, just a possibility and that assessment still holds.

The guys at Powerline have the letter and some interesting comments on it.

Race Against Time

This report from Health and Human Services on the avian flu is a must read. So far this has only affected birds and those who work closely with birds. Let’s hope that it stays that way. They are aiming to recognize a human outbreak anywhere in the world within 1 to 2 weeks.

The First Biofuel Index Fund

This must be getting hot; the Autoblog guy picked up on it so the media should notice it any day now. UBS and the Swiss derivative firm Diapason Commodities Management have developed an index that they feel should track the cost of bio fuels. The fund is slated to hold positions in the futures markets of agriculture products that can be converted to fuel, notably corn and sugar. They are limited to a maximum amount of exposure for any commodity, the two grades of sugar, an important fuel source in Brazil add up to a little less than 33%. Corn, the source of ethanol here in the states comprises 30% of the fund. Some of the components are counter-intuitive like lumber, the CME lumber contract is for 2x4s, nobody is making bio fuel from 2x4s. It may be that some amount or some component of a fuel may be saw dust or chips and 2x4s may track that component well enough to include them. The CBOT corn contract is for a feed grade corn but a few of the other components are grains consumed by humans, wheat, barley and rice are all exchange traded and I would think that they are relatively expensive for fuel use. With all of these they may be hedging against the unused parts of the plants. Those parts can be converted into fuel and the unused parts would be just as prevalent or rare as the traded product in a supply driven market. Who knows, those markets may simply show the historical volatility that they want.

Patriotism: If You Actually Have It You Really Shouldn't Have to Tell Us

When I was a kid we all assumed that everybody we knew was a patriot. As kids we knew about the Days of Rage and the ’68 convention and maybe there were some older siblings who were hippies or something and maybe they took part in something and maybe they hated America, but we really didn’t think about it very much. Some homes had medals from WWII or Korea and we knew that those people were patriotic. Many of our teachers, coaches, Scout leaders and family members were those quiet heroes that marked that generation. We knew that they were patriots even though in many cases we wouldn’t know of their service until we got older. A while back I found out that my junior high social studies teacher was a fighter pilot in the Pacific; no wonder we had to learn the name of every damn atoll out there! A friend’s father was a bombardier over Europe, we didn’t know it until much later but he still has German shrapnel in his body, we still knew that he was a patriot.

None of those people had to tell us that they were patriots, they didn’t have to. Nothing that we could see would give anybody the idea that these folks were not patriots. When people feel that they have to tell us that they are patriots I feel uncomfortable; it sounds like a used car salesman telling me he’s honest. When a person needs to evoke patriotism they should probably examine what the heck they’ve been doing. What is that old saying about patriotism and a scoundrel’s last refuge?

Google Hosts al queda Recruiters - What Would Yale Do?

Last week USA Today reported that an online community site named Orkut, hosted by Google includes online recruiting for al queda. Google of course, has a mission statement that includes “do no evil”. This is evil. A few additional observations; not surprisingly, very little media attention has been paid to this issue and what do liberals think that our government can do to observe those Americans who actively participate in such forums? After all participation in recruitment against America is an act of war. Senator Durbin, Senator Feingold, Senator Rockefeller, can you stand up and tell us what you would allow our government to do about this outrageous situation?

Another question about military recruitment is, what would Yale do?

Senator Feingold Flushes Future

Senator Russ Feingold (D) Wi. has introduced a resolution to censure President George Bush. Mr. Feingold wants to censure the President for not breaking the law. The Senator is upset because the President did not reveal classified information to the public. I am not kidding. This Feingold character is supposed to be one of the shining lights of the Democratic Party, this episode really says a lot about the sorry state of the Democrats. The Senator was on ABC today with the journalistic equivalent of a hair band, George Stephanopoulos; on the program Mr. Feingold continued his pompous, uninformed whining about the NSA program but added the new twist of complaining that the President did not break any laws concerning classified documents. Mr. Feingold flushed his slim national chances down the toilet last December; do we have to watch him use the plunger on national television?

Sunday Porsche Blogging: the New Porsche Turbocharger

As Porsche prepares to release its new type 997 Turbo, they are starting to show the car off to the press. The Porsche factory magazine Christophorus has an interesting piece on the turbocharger itself(1). The new turbocharged version of the 911 Carrera utilizes one of the fifteen pound devices on each of the two exhaust streams, one on each side of the flat six cylinder engine. For this new car Porsche has developed the first turbocharger to be used in a gasoline engine that uses variable-turbine geometry, meaning that the turbocharger is always working and thus ready to immediately increase power by working harder. This is a big deal.

The turbocharger for piston engines was patented by Swiss engineer Alfred Buchi in 1905, a time when the full potential of the device was not realized due to the materials available back then. Turbochargers increase power by increasing the amount of the air/fuel mixture consumed by the engine; they greatly increase the amount of air forced into the intake manifold. This attribute of higher manifold pressure was the attraction for one of its first major applications; piston airplane engines used in the low pressure environment of high altitude before and during WWII.

Turbochargers work by placing a powered impellor rotating at very high speeds that acts as a compressor in the path of the air going into the engine, thus increasing the airflow’s speed and pressure. If the impeller was powered by a belt off of the engine it would be a supercharger, or Kompressor in Mercedes-speak. Instead the turbocharger saves engine power by using a shaft attached to an impellor placed in the fast moving, highly heated stream of exhaust gasses. This proximity to the exhaust has caused serious heat issues with turbochargers over the years; that combined with the fact that compressed air heats up are the reasons that intercoolers have been so popular with turbocharged applications. It is desirable both in terms of power output and engine longevity to have a cooler fuel/air input charge.

Diesel engines have used turbochargers for years; this makes sense as diesels are powered by pressure driven explosions in the cylinders. Exhaust gas temperatures of Diesel engines run cooler than Otto (gasoline) engines, 1350 degrees F vs. 1850 degrees F, making the construction of turbocharging devices easier in the diesel world. Diesels have been using turbochargers with variable turbine technology for some time now due to the lower temperature environment; the metallurgy was not all that expensive as there already were jet engine and space travel applications. The differing expansion rate of different metals was the difficult problem that Porsche engineers had to surmount in order to build this new turbocharger.

When I first heard about this variable-turbine geometry I assumed that variable part referred to the actual vanes on the exhaust impeller, with the vanes changing their angles of attack depending on how forceful the passing gasses are. In fact it refers to a device that directs the exhaust stream through the impellers. The device, consisting of eleven small blades, expands like tiny lobster tails into the exhaust stream to capture more of the exhaust stream at times when the exhaust stream is less powerful, i.e. lower RPMs. By contrast the device retracts to capture less of the stream at higher engine speeds due the lower relative power needs to keep the turbocharger impeller spinning at optimum levels. This is the portion of the turbocharger that needed the metallurgy breakthroughs.

This is a big deal because it allows the turbocharger to spin at optimum levels at a wider range of engine speeds, especially low speeds. Traditional turbochargers need higher engine speeds with the corresponding higher exhaust gas speeds in order to spin fast enough to push the amount of air needed to boost the intake pressure. This often produced dramatic “turbo lag”, the time that the turbocharger took to spool up fast enough to make a difference to the engine’s power output. In some cars the power would come on with such a surge that the driver needed some skill to control the vehicle. Because the exhaust can account for a loss of up to thirty-percent of an engine’s power, the turbocharger allows the engine to capture some of this lost power and put it to use, allowing for a smaller, lighter and more efficient engine relative to power output. The turbo lag problem has been a definite marketing issue, a smaller engine that doesn’t get good power until it reaches 3000 RPM and then has a rush of power is much less comfortable to use than a larger engine that puts out good usable power at lower engine speeds but gets worse gas mileage. In addition to being more efficient fuel wise, the smaller engine also weighs less, another efficiency that leads to better gas mileage. The smaller size also offers a host of other advantages including engine placement.

This new Porsche turbocharger is a big deal because it dramatically advances turbocharger technology and if this new technology can be produced in a cost efficient manner it seems likely that we will see more, and more usable turbocharged automobiles. This technology could lower the amount of energy that we use for each mile traveled. The new Porsche turbocharger also has a usable range large enough to find use in the gas engine portion of hybrid vehicles, making those vehicles even more efficient.



(1)Christophorus, The Porsche Magazine; number 318, February/March 2006, pages 16-27

Keeping Up With the Gates'

Forbes Magazine recently presented a list of the world’s billionaires for the inspiration of its readers. Forbes writer Nate Chapnick had the patience, or interns, to call DMVs around the US and the world to inquire what those billionaires are driving. Porsche nuts know that both Paul Allen and Bill Gates own the exotic and rare Porsche 959 and that they were not able to title the cars in the US during the ‘80’s when the cars were built. However not many people know that Paul Allen also has a 1988 Mazda B-Series pick-up; that is about as inconspicuous as one could get. It made me think of a gentleman who owned three homes in my parent’s neighborhood. Although he was worth a rumored $100 million in the mid 1970s, he drove a late sixties Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser like this one (actually the one in the photo is an early '70s model, but you get the idea). In addition to being some sort of industrialist he had been an engineer, so the back of that wagon was full of tools. Check out Forbes to find out what your favorite billionaire is driving these days!

Telegraph Forced to Remove Islamic Article

Last month the Telegraph newspaper’s website put up this story concerning an Englishman of Arab descent who has done, among other things, a poll of the Arab communities of England. His conclusions were not pretty; he believes that Muslims in England may become essentially a society within a society. He also explains how Tony Blair just doesn’t get Islam. The article has since been taken down for “legal reasons.”

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

Dan Tanna, Eat Your Heart Out

This isn't Vegas Anymore
c Paul-Lincke-Hofe

This German Company is building condo buildings that include elevators in which the residents ride in their cars up to their floor and park in private parking spaces, on their balconies. This is definitely for car nuts.

For Sale: Brickyard – Lousy Views, Hundreds of Baths, Race Course, Museum, Golf Course

Rumored Real Estate Opportunity
c WorldStadiums.com

In the April edition of Car & Driver the great Brock Yates reports that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana is rumored to be for sale. The Hulman family bought the Brickyard from WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in 1945 for a rumored $750,000. Yates reports that interested parties include NASCAR’s France family and the Disney Corp. Unlike most other American professional sporting venues, Speedway attendees are allowed to bring in coolers full of food, beer and booze; as long as the coolers can slide through an airport style luggage cutout. That would likely change under Disney ownership. So if you loaded up on Google as an IPO and are looking for a 2 ½ mile track to run your new Ferrari flat out, this could be your lucky day.

Reader Correction

Thanks to the heads up work of reader “Brother to the King” the crack staff at Flying Debris has been reminded that indeed, members of the Nation of Islam (NOI) have recently been involved in terrorizing their own neighborhood. In this post Flying Debris claimed that NOI members were not terrorising their neighborhoods. Although we do not often hear of NOI members' involvement in crimes, just last December a liquor store in Oakland Ca. was rampaged by a group of men dressed exactly like NOI members. The rampagers also used NOI rhetoric in their threats against the liquor store owner. Being that the rampage occured in a liquor store, the whole thing was on video. Two members of the Oakland NOI organization were arrested in connection with the incident. To an Irishman from Chicago messing with the local liquor store qualifies as terrorism.

Brother, You Can Believe In Stones, Just Don’t Throw Them At Me

The title is a quote from Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan responding to an apparent Islamist in her amazing interview on Al-Jazeera TV. The video was translated by Memri TV and is available in video form here and as a script here. It is a must see, or read.

Hat Tip to the guys at Powerline.

Hey Governor Blagojevich, Were the Branch Davidians Busy?

As I wrote here and here, Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has appointed a “minister” in the Nation of Islam (NOI) to some sort of state anti-hate commission. As I have already noted, the NOI is a bizarre group that spent years espousing the goofy idea that white people were invented by a black mad-scientist named Yakub six-thousand years ago. They also taught that Yakub and his successors spent the next six-hundred years “whitening” them. Amazingly Michael Jackson whitened himself in ten or fifteen years. Normally we reasonably describe groups like the NOI as a cult. I just don’t see a reasonable argument against the description. Recently they have modified their public utterances on a few of their particularly strange ideas.

The woman Mr. Blagojevich appointed is a leader in this NOI operation. Cults are composed of leaders who prey on the followers. This issue could be a killer for Blagojevich during the general election; I know that I would regularly mention this incident in campaign speeches.

I have had the distinct pain of having lived next door to two different cults in my life; one moved to California and I have no idea what happened to the other. While living in Wrigleyville (part of Chicago) during the early ‘90s I lived next to a small cult of lost souls who followed a really strange guy, literally. They would sometimes follow him around like a family of ducks, and get this; part of the spirituality of the group involved a Ouija board. I don’t know what the heck the Ouija board told them but they were scared to death of me. Now that I think of it, the members of the other cult were also pretty scared of me. I should mention that I am not exactly an imposing figure. One day the Wrigleyville group just up and moved to California; swimming pools, movie stars.

The other group lived next to my parent’s house for a time while I was young. They lived in a nice four bedroom house that really was not meant to sleep fifty or sixty. In the end we found out that there were out of state runaway kids living there with a group of strange adults. Those people would sit around all day and play the recorder; it was like living next door to a home of recorder crazed third graders. My bedroom window looked out on their house and when they started up with the recorder at night; well, let’s just say that may have explained their fear of me.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I am glad that the members of the NOI are not out terrorizing their neighborhoods. But I must ask, is the only path to that life one that involves evil scientists? In fact, if Governor Blagojevich had appointed a “minister” from a nearly all white religion that had recently espoused that blacks had been “invented” by an evil moonshiner named Bubba six-thousand years ago everybody, including the press, would understand that all involved are off their rockers.

Terrorist Supporters Complain That Guantanamo Feedings Preclude Future Complaining

Lawyers for Guantanamo terrorists and assorted self proclaimed civil rights activists are now up in arms because the US military is force feeding Guantanamo prisoners. Despite such an idea being mocked by Flying Debris last weekend, the feeding is being called torture in some quarters. The American military is making sure that those prisoners live, something that they may one day be thankful for. Due to the nature of the al quada force, these prisoners do not have Geneva Convention rights; no rights that have been agreed to by the US Senate as Geneva Convention Treaty rights anyways. Why should the US military give those prisoners any control of their situation? Some of these prisoners have been released only to go directly back to attacking American troops, yet I have seen no mention of this inconvenient fact in the glowing articles about these poor, wronged men locked up in Guantanamo. It is ironic that al quada thugs are now trying to use a nonviolent protest tactic to further their struggle to tear down all of the freedoms that we take for granted. Tiresomely, this is just another part of the al quada training manual that correctly understood our media. A further part urges al quada members to claim prisoner abuse, something else that we’ve been hearing a lot of lately. It sounds like some in the press could be acting like shills for lawyers or much worse.

Senator Kerry Wings Straw Man

Senator Kerry is at it again. After last week’s successful fundraising effort commented on earlier, my friend has sent me another John Kerry fund raising letter. In this new letter he sets up the straw man that Democratic candidates are being attacked because they have been in the military. He wrote:

“And, standing together shoulder to shoulder, you and I are making it clear that we won't tolerate vicious personal attacks on the service, courage or patriotism of men and women who served America proudly and stand ready to serve again.”

Could somebody please clue the Senator in to the fact that he is one of the few who has attacked the military service of so many Americans in front of the United States Senate.

The candidates that he supports will get reasonable questions from their opponents about where their funding comes from. This may not be a good time to tell the Senator, but there are a lot of people in large swaths of this country who simply do not like him. He is reasonably seen as a pompous man who has accomplished little in his years in the Senate. Really, shouldn’t he be in Gstaad this time of year?

Update: If you feel that you must, you can find information on donating to the John Kerry causes here.

Kirby Puckett R.I.P.

He died too young.

Assuming That Voters Are Dolts Is Rarely A Good Strategy

A friend of mine is on the Kerry e-mail list and is kind enough to send me the latest nonsensical musings of America’s Most Unaccomplished Senator. How my friend, who undoubtedly is an NRA lifetime member, got on that list is unknown. So I knew that Mr. Kerry would be out trying to drum up funds for this class of Armed Services Veterans that the Democrats are running for congress. This has been a fairly big deal in the Chicago area due to the involvement of Senator Dick Durbin and my congressman, Rahm Emanuel. Here in the Chicago area they aim to take the seat of retiring Congressman Henry Hyde.

There are two local Democrats who have spent the last two years preparing the ground for a shot at Hydes’ seat. Last December Dick Durbin and Rahm Emanuel threw water on their parades by announcing that they had their own candidate. They had found a disabled Iraqi war veteran. Tammy Duckworth tragically lost her legs while piloting a helicopter in the skies over Iraq. It did not matter that Duckworth had no political experience, likely had spent little time in the area and in fact did not even live in the district at the time that she announced. One need not actually live in the district one represents, merely the state. It is however considered bad form to live outside of your congressional district and I think that she has since moved into the district. Let me say that as a military pilot she is likely a very competent person, unfortunately for Ms. Duckworth, the voters have no way of knowing that. She had only three months to campaign and it seems that she is spending more time out of state raising money than working the district.

If I were a Democrat in that district I would be livid at my party, and by extension, Ms. Duckworth. They insert some woman into the race who until recently had trouble articulating her political views, was not up on local issues, did not even live in the district and who will likely be completely beholden to Democratic money men and politicians. The Democrats believe that running a disabled war veteran against established locals is a winner. Look, as I said, what happened to Ms. Duckworth was a tragedy, but that doesn’t necessarily entitle her to a vote for a seat in the US Congress. She has raised more than 95% of her sizable war chest outside of the district and she has been having problems getting people to attend her events in the district. I do not even want to fathom the voter who does not assume that Ms. Duckworth will be generally beholden to those who would put her into congress. It is a very cynical political strategy and seems to assume that the electorate is composed of dolts.

This entire episode strikes me as rather smarmy. The use of the disabled in such a blatant political manner is very unseemly and it speaks volumes about the current Democratic Party and its use of symbols to cover its current lack of substance. I can almost hear the conversation now:

Dem 1: “Yeh, up in Illinois, Hydes’ seat, we got Crane last time, how can we pick this one up?”

Dem 2 “I got a chick with no legs.”

Dem 3: “What the?”

Dem 2: “They were blown off in Iraq”

Dem 1: “Perfect.”

Dem 3: “At least that asshole Bush is good for something.”

Dem 2: “Here’s how I see it; screw the locals, we can get them to drop out of the primary. Throw them a few bones, state contracts or something. Then we “out-defense” the Republicans in the general with the big money advertising!”

Dem 1: “Brilliant!”

Dem 3: “Fantastic!”

John Kerry: “Touché! I’ll call my Band of Brothers!”

Dem 3: “Who the hell let him in here?”

Mr. Kerry’s involvement just adds to the smarminess of the entire affair. I will confess that two years ago I did not care to hear what either candidate did during the Vietnam War, nor did I care in the three previous elections when service or the lack thereof during Vietnam was an issue. I want to know what they plan to do today. Mr. Kerry’s use of Vietnam as one of his strongest campaign issues was ill advised in light of his post-war actions. As a member of the Naval Reserves, John Kerry went to Paris in order to attempt to negotiate some kind of “peace”. Not only does that show incredible pompousness but it was likely treasonous. Citizens can not negotiate for our country, unless of course, their name is Jesse Jackson.

Dr. Sanity, although far more fair-minded than your humble correspondent, wrote today that those Democratic military veterans should refuse the donations raised by John Kerry. Plus she has written a song for Mr. Kerry, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Kerry” that ends with these two memorable lines:

“In the room Teresa comes and goes
Buying Michaelangelos”

Thank you, Dr. Sanity.

Oscar Blogging

OK, I didn’t see any of the Oscar broadcast but I did watch this funny parody of Brokeback Mountain done by rabbits. It is part of some sort of bunny feature film collection., done by Angry Alien Productions.

Sunday Porsche Blogging: The type 987 Coupe, the New Porsche Cayman S

I was lucky enough to test drive the new Porsche Cayman S in mid January at Loeber Motors in Lincolnwood, IL. That car is an apex eater; I can only imagine what the Cayman would be like through the Carrousel at Road America. The car feels like it just wants to go faster through turns. After looking the car over for about fifteen minutes I got to climb into a black model with 18 miles on the odometer and fire it up. The interior is comfortable and definitely advanced from my ’02 Boxster S. When you sit in the car it feels solid, especially when the door closes. The transmission is wonderful; the shifter is placed correctly, with shorter throws than either of the previous Boxster models and it is very, very smooth. Here was a mid-engine car with 18 miles on the clock and the transmission felt as smooth as silk. When the engine is fired up the interior fills with the fabulous sound of the new 3.4 liter flat-six engine directly behind you. At least at low speeds the engine sounds better inside the car than outside of it. That is as it should be; the passerby is not making the payments on the thing.

My test drive was in a rather crowded urban area so I took the car out to a nearby highway clover leaf and was able to do several “laps” through the entire Touhy Ave. clover leaf at relatively high speeds. Because it was winter there was debris on the edges of the ramps and on a few of those passes I intentionally put the inside wheels on this gravelly debris in an effort to unsettle the car. The Cayman would have none of that; it just give a hint of slip before once again settling into its attack the corner mode. The car that I drove was equipped with PSM, the Porsche yaw control system and if PSM did kick in, I never noticed it.

The car that I drove was not equipped with the Sport Chrono option, which in addition to putting a stop watch on your dashboard, gives you a sportier shift pattern when it’s engaged. Further, when the Sport Chrono package is combined with the GPS package and its space hogging screen you will be able to record lap and split times in the GPS system. Very cool.

The Cayman S is a type 987, as are the current two Boxster models, the Boxster and the Boxster S. The initial Boxster models, the standard and the S, built through 2004 were type 986 models. The Boxster models have always shared components with their more expensive Carrera siblings, the 996s and the new 997s, thus the numerical designations of 986 and 987.

Building this car is an interesting marketing decision; Porsche has shown that they understand the market they operate in and they have been able to successfully exploit that knowledge. Mercedes and Lexus have shown that there is a market for a $60,000 two-seater and Porsche saw that niche as missing a truly sporting component. Porsche feels that they can fill that niche with a vehicle that shares enough with the existing Boxster line to make even relatively limited production a profitable endeavor. The shame about the mid-engine Porsche line up is the lack of racing experience. It has been said that Porsche does not want their expensive and profitable Carrera streetcars and GT3 race program to be at all shown up by the less expensive Boxsters.

The Cayman is interesting in the race aspect because the thing is a track car, right out of the box. When the Sport Chrono and GPS goodies are thrown in, the car appears to be perfect for people who get in a decent amount of track time. If guys start taking these cars out to places like the Autobahn Country Club and whooping up on Carreras, then it may be tough to keep the Cayman off of the track. I would like to add that I do not know whether the Cayman S can take the Carrera, I would rather not hazard a guess. There were rumors, later quashed by the factory, that implied the Cayman S was faster than the Carrera in testing at the Nurburgring.

Further Flying Debris Porsche Blogging can be found here, here, and here.

Madonna to Buy View of Second Coming

Pop singer Madonna is a member of a Jewish sect named Kabbalah (many Jews do not believe that Kabbalah should be legitimately associated with Judaism) that believes that the Messiah will return to some town in Israel named Rosh Pina. Never one to pass up a good publicity shot Madonna is negotiating to purchase property in the town.

This article about Madonna's real estate interest is from the Times Online and has a small amount of background on the sect including this tidbit, “Believers wear red string to ward off the evil eye.” You’ve just got to love the evil eye. All that I have to say about this is that Madonna will be pretty pissed if the Second Coming occurs in Detroit, her home town.

Air America Can’t Even Make It On WLIB?

Thanks to the fantastic reporting of the Radio Equalizer, we have been able to learn about the financial troubles and irregularities of liberal radio outfit Air America Radio. It now seems that they are up against the realities of supply and demand in the New York City radio market. They may lose their New York City outlet, the aptly named WLIB at 12:00 AM, April 1. April Fools indeed.

Most of the media has ignored the financial shenanigans pulled by Air America as they try to stay on the air; some have even been continuing their glowing pieces on the radio company. Despite what appears to be attempts to scam a New York City children’s charity, the stars of Air America continue to receive what some have called unjustified salaries. One of those on-air personalities, Al Franken, rumored to be on a salary of over $2 million annually, has also been rumored to be contemplating a run for the US Senate in his home state of Minnesota. This largely unreported Air America story could be the undoing of any attempt by Mr. Franken to successfully run for a Senate seat. Could he win in a “safe” congressional district? Sure. Could he win in a diverse state? Doubtful.

In addition to Brian Maloney of the Radio Equalizer, the indefatigable Michelle Malkin has also done yeoman’s work on the Air America story. If you are interested in the story I urge that you to both check out the Radio Equalizer and use his link to Amazon if you happen to be going to that site. He is doing the work that professionals won’t do and he needs to be remunerated for it.

Oh No, Not the Comfy Chair!

Here’s a real shocker, the BBC is siding with Islamic terrorists in their quest to convince the world that they are being tortured at Guantanamo. Years after captured al quada training manuals were found outlining this strategy of claiming torture to gullible western news outlets, the folks at the BBC are still falling for this strategy; the chumps.

The prisoners are now complaining that their hunger strikes are being rudely interrupted by feedings and that they are being forced to sit upon an aluminum chair! To quote Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now, “the horrors, the horrors.” The aluminum chair in question is alleged to be worse than any other aluminum chair known to man, “’One guy, a Saudi, told me that he had once been tortured in Saudi Arabia and that this metal chair treatment was worse than any torture he had ever endured or could imagine,’ Mr (sic) Odah said.” This “torture” involved feeding these people.

Now let me be clear, this world would likely be better off without these fascist thugs; their self inflicted starvation would be nothing to be mourned. Let me also be clear that if these odious thugs were allowed to kill themselves every weenie in the world would be going off half cocked about how America is now “killing” these fascists. The foolish article in question can be found here.

Who Took Justice Ginsburg’s Blankie?

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fell asleep during oral arguments on Wednesday. If this had happened to Justice Thomas or Justice Scalia the hue and cry in the media would be overwhelming. The story involved liberal icon Ginsburg so it was not even a story for much of the media. If Justice Scalia had been sleeping on the bench the media people would be speculating on his health and/or his nighttime activities. The following has not happened (yet):

Network Person (NP): “We have NBC White House correspondent David Gregory on the phone with us this morning. Dave, are you there?”

Gregory: “I’m here Bryant.”

NP: “My name is Bill.”

Gregory: “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”

NP: “What?”

Gregory: “What?”

NP: “What did you say about the Reaper?”

Gregory: “Oh, sorry Kurt, all they played at the Hooters Bangalore last night was Blue Oyster Cult and I just can’t get that Reaper song out of my head. Do you know how many cow bells there are in India?”

NP: “No I don’t Dick, and Dick, my name is Bill. Of course we are here this morning to talk about Justice Scalia falling asleep on the bench Wednesday. Dick, what have your contacts been telling you about this most recent incident with Scalia? Is he ill, is he too old or is there something more sinister at work here?”

Gregory: “He sure as hell wasn’t too old in the Hard Rock Calcutta Tuesday night!”

NP: “What?!”

Gregory: “You heard me. He was in there with Anna Nichol Smith and some stripper.”

NP: “In Calcutta?!”

Gregory: “He sent over some tequila shooters; he even came over and helped me with my Cagney imitation. Do you”

NP: “We seem to have lost our connection with NBC White House Correspondent David Gregory, live from India. We will have more on this latest Scalia judicial outrage later in the broadcast when we talk live to Northwestern Law School employee and former Weather Underground member Bernadine Dohrn from Chicago.”

Note to Self: When Showing off the On-Star, Stash the Crack

This is just too funny. Some goof in Florida is showing off his Escalade (Sclade) to his girlfriend when he accidentally triggered his On-Star. Unfortunately for genius, the volume was set so low that he couldn't hear it. On-Star, unable to contact the subscriber, called the local police for assistance. The police arrived to find an empty car and four ounces of crack in the front seat.

I’m Not Sure What to Think of This…

But I’ll give it a go. The Sikh religion requires that orthodox men wear a type of dagger called a kirpan. This story reports that the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that orthodox Sikhs can carry those daggers into school. I wrote that I don’t know what to think because I know some Sikhs and although in the back of my mind I knew about the dagger thing, I never think about those guys walking around with knives. One of those guys owns a late night convenience store; he should wear a ceremonial M-16. Back to Canada, although the Sikhs that I know are pretty damn peaceful people, so are most of the people I know. With all respect to my Sikh friends, I think that they should be subject to the same rules and laws that the rest of us are subject to. Maybe they just need their own private schools where everybody has a dagger.

I wrote on this in relation to Islam in the end of the third paragraph of this post.

See this link for information on the kirpan and other ceremonial Sikh wear.

Hat Tip: Mike W.

the Box of Rocks 1 – Gov Blagojevich 0

The Chicago Sun Times reports here that Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) IL. will resist pressure to remove the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) Minister of Protocol from the state’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. Last week I wrote on this subject here and tried to explain why a minister from NOI should not be considered for an appointment to a governmental body. A simple rule of thumb should be: if a person ministers in a religion that preaches that one race is the invention of another race's evil scientist, then that person should not be considered for non-elective public office. Is Blagojevich so desperate for black votes that he would pander to religious crackpots?

New Camry?

If Toyota was selling this Camry to the public I’d have to seriously think about buying one.

Attention High Schoolers - How to get into Yale

As the ever informative NY Times Magazine informed us last Sunday, to get into Yale University you simply need to emulate this former Taliban fascist. Forget SATs, forget extracurriculars and forget the grades; spend your formative years as a fascist selling out freedom and keeping the people down! Actually, has anybody considered that this guy may have been working for the CIA? It would explain why the State Dept. let him into the country without a fight. I’m not big on CIA conspiracy theories, but this seems to be a possibility. However, until proven otherwise I will assume that Mr. Rahmatullah is simply a thug that Yale couldn’t resist.


The copyright for photo above is held by PBS. It shows Mr. Rahmatullah being interviewed by Ray Suarez on PBS. The transcript can be found here and is typical of Mr. Suarez's excellent work.