Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

UN Lays Out Bird Flu Battle Plan

From Science Blog:

Confronting the possibility of a potentially devastating human bird flu pandemic, the United Nations system — from Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the UN health and agricultural agencies — today laid out a blueprint for immediate preventive and mitigating action.

What are they going to do? Pass a resolution, write the virus a nasty letter and hope it goes away? This seems to be their plan on everything else.

Maybe the dickweeds at the UN ought to address the AIDS problem in Africa instead of going for the headlines by hyping their “galant” efforts to thwart avian flu. And, by the way, move their headquarters closer to Africa and get the hell out of the US.

And, while we’re at it, get the US the hell out of the UN.

04 Nov 2005 by Medix United Nations Whacko Politics

Star Wars Anthology Extended Weekend

Damsel and I settled in last evening to begin our extended weekend of viewing the entire six episodes of the Star Wars Anthology. We decided to watch them all – in sequence (I through VI) – to see the complete story of the fictitious events that took place in a galaxy far, far away, a long, long time ago. Now that we have Episode III, we can see them all.

Update: This sort of reminds me of this wonderful parody of the Movie Poster from Episode IV.

04 Nov 2005 by Entertainment

The Sky is Falling!

You may have noticed some fireballs overhead the last few nights. It’s the annual Taurids meteor shower, seen as the Earth passes through the orbit of Comet Encke. This from SpaceWeather.com:

FIREBALL SIGHTINGS: In recent nights, sky watchers have seen some spectacular fireballs. Experts suspect it’s the Taurid meteor shower, a display caused by debris from Comet Encke.
Photo: a Taurid fireball photographed by Hiroyuki Iida of Toyama, Japan on Oct. 28th.

Most years the Taurid shower is weak, producing few meteors, mostly dim. 2005 appears to be different. Earth may be passing through a “swarm” of pebbles and rocks within the larger cloud of Taurid space dust. The pebbles are responsible for the fireballs.

The 2005 Taurid meteor shower is not over. Indeed, it’s just beginning. Forecasters expect the complex shower to peak during the first two weeks of November. So keep an eye on the sky!

Read the full story from Science @ NASA.

03 Nov 2005 by Astronomy Environment Science Space Rocks

John McCain vs. Judge Wapner

Last evening we saw a TV ad where Senator John McCain (R – AZ) endorsed California Proposition 77, the redistricting initiative.

The Senator, now campaigning in favor of Governor Schwarzenegger‘s ballot initiatives, invokes his “clash of ideas” argument – the same logic he uses to oppose the “nuclear” option in the Senate – to the California redistricting question (Proposition 77).

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona joined the governor to promote the redistricting measure – and all Schwarzenegger ballot initiatives – at campaign appearances Monday with the governor in Oakland and Burbank.

“Today more people lose their seats in the Politburo in Havana than in the Congress of America,” McCain said. “We need to have competitive races for the Legislature. … We have to have a clash of ideas.”

When Senator McCain appeared on Hannity and Colmes recently to discuss the possible filibuster of Judge Samuel Alito, he used similar remarks in defending his reluctance to use the nuclear option. While we disagree with the Senator on that issue, we are happy that his argument gets him behind the California redistricting issue.

Judge Wapner, who appears in TV ads opposing the redistricting initiative, is seriously outclassed by Senator McCain (as the Rainman may put it, “definitely outclassed, definitely!).

Please read this article regarding Wapner’s TV spot, and the misrepresentation of facts by the retired TV Judge (scroll down to Wapner).

02 Nov 2005 by California

The Flim Flam Man

If your favorite issue isn’t at the top of the news, create a diversion to draw attention away from real issues while you cheat at the game at hand. With the nation contemplating the new SCOTUS nominee, call a closed session to bring their attention back to Iraq, Scooter, Karl and the Veep.

Flim Flam: n. 1. Nonsense; humbug. 2. A deception; a swindle.

Update: After watching the news this evening, I’m convinced that Harry Reid, Chuck Shumer and Dick Durbin are all accomplished flim-flammers.

01 Nov 2005 by Whacko Politics

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