April 29, 2013

Morning Schmo's coverage of Sandy is interesting.

One thing I notice is the devastation on the coast is mostly the ugly broken boxes littering gorgeous beaches.

The governor said they were offered 100% of the PRE-hurricane valuation..and they go elsewhere, or they pay out of pocket to build up on 10 feet pilings (50K personal expense).. Apparently people are "holding out" to see if someone else will pay the cost..

NONE of those houses shown are in any way repairable, so I don't see why they don't just get bulldozer in there and remove them. Let people and the state/insurance companies haggle , but in the meantime get them off the damned beaches.

The aerial shots pretty much show that houses should have never been there anyway, so pay them off, move them away and let the public have the beaches back.. Then when a storm comes, there is no damage except for sand shifting around..

I know the people who have been there for a long time are heartbroken, but they had a good long run and things have changed now..

There are just some places that should not have "permanent homes"..and not only beaches.. It's the same out here for all the canyon-perchers with houses impossible to get to when wild fires break out (as they always do).

April 26, 2013

"America must strive to expand the reach of freedom".. Same Ole George

spouting empty platitudes..

stick with the painting georgie..,,and STFU

April 24, 2013

"I think my neighbor is a radicalized Jihadist, plotting something terrible"

Let's say your neighbor is actually a young person who has a propensity to make a lot of noise, has a messy yard and a barking dog.

If "you" or someone else "alerts" the FBI,and they have to waste manpower/time/money to go investigate, it adds to the workload they already have, and may allow them to actually miss something important.

This expanded search for "terra-ists" under every rock, can lead to a wild goose chase of epic proportions.

This sort of "enemy-reporting" helped fill Guantanamo as people saw a great way to get rid of people they did not like. All they had to do was turn him in and poof..the guy's gone.

The sad truth is that terroristic activities are secretive by nature, and the people who intend to perpetrate an atrocity, often will be trying their damndest to "blend in", to be as "normal" as possible, so as not to create suspicion before they actually complete their mission.

Republicans are eager to add to the national angst by slyly encouraging more vigilantism in us all.

Terrorist-hunting needs to be laser-focused...not done with a blunderbuss

April 21, 2013

How did "the brothers" support themselves.. I am curious about that

The older had a nice Mercedes (but no drivers license apparently)
The younger went to college, and the only reference to finances I have seen is a $2500 scholarship. Supposedly he lived in a dorm..He also had a car.There must also be an apartment somewhere where they assembled these devices, since the wife & her family claim to know nothing about it.

No job is mentioned for the older, but apparently he had a wife & child and was able to take 6 months off to go to Russia. The amount of boxing training he did probably impeded his chances of work too.

Boston area living is NOT cheap.

When did the parents go back to Russia?
Why did they leave the younger one behind?
Who was taking care of him? paying his expenses?
College aged people are technically "adults", but in actuality they are anything but. Most have to have a LOT of financial help. Who paid?

April 19, 2013

Wistful dislocation's effect on the psyche

These two guys were moved from their homeland (probably with little or no input from them because they were children) but they surely remembered the places they lived..the friends they had. Even in wartime, children fixate on their home. Perhaps their image of what America was, happened to be nothing like they imagined. Maybe they focused on what they lost, more than what they could have here.

There are Cubans in my own family would never got over the fact that they were never going back "home". Even though they became Americans, and knew they were here for the duration, they never tired of dredging up painful memories of Cuba. This is probably why so many Cuban republicans are so intransigent. The younger ones who were babies when they arrived, have no real imprinting of Cuba. To them, Cuba is just a collection of fringed black & white photos.

There are Palestinians who still carry keys to homes they will never go back to, and the bitterness of it all and the wistfulness of what they lost forever probably drives a lot of their hatred.

People who are wrenched from their "place", may never "get over it". Being a refugee or one who has been banished, is totally different from one who goes elsewhere by their own free will. Someone who leaves willingly to go elsewhere does so with eagerness & anticipation. Most immigrants I have met like this, are ready and willing to BE American, and even though they acknowledge their heritage, they assimilate fully.

They give up their past, in exchange for a new belonging in their adopted homeland. They may not feel a dramatic pull to identify strongly with the place they left behind.

None of this excuses what they did , but maybe these two identified too much with where they used to be (and all its drama) and not enough with what they had right in front of them.

April 19, 2013

I know many here are not fond of law enforcement people, but

I have a LOT of sympathy for them.

They are besieged by the swarm of media that simply cannot take "later" or "stay back" seriously.

I know that media's job is to cover what's happening, but what we have here is little more than a voyeuristic game of cat and mouse, and at a time when the law enforcement people are trying to capture a dangerous person (and perhaps disrupt a true terror cell)..

The breathless "BREAKING NEWS" scenario, often consists of saying stuff that is recanted 30 minutes later....and repeating endlessly what is already known, followed by re-asking the same questions when they do get a chance to ask questions.

Their abundant attendance/intrusion only adds to the responsibilities of the police, etc.

April 19, 2013

"Will Box for Passport"..Dead terrorist wanted to be an American

He had an odd way of showing it...

http://johanneshirn.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Will-Box-For-Passport/G0000VQW7v6xWA7o/I0000ralXhXM06wE

He had a girlfriend.. I suppose the FBI has talked to her already

photos #11 & 13 in the gallery

photo # 8 shows "the bag"....(at least it looks like the one he used

April 18, 2013

Gohmert: Radical Muslims ‘being trained to come in and act like Hispanics’

Oh Louie....you never disappoint..


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/17/gohmert-radical-muslims-being-trained-to-come-in-and-act-like-hispanics/




Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) on Wednesday connected the Monday bombings in Boston to the immigration debate and warned that “radical Islamists” were “being trained to come in and act like Hispanics.” During an interview on C-SPAN, host Greta Wodele Brawner asked the Texas Republican about a bipartisan “Gang of Eight” proposal in the Senate that would increase funding for border security by $5.5 billion over ten years and establish a 13-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

“What I first thought after my prayers went for the victims and the families in Boston is, ‘My gosh, we’ve seen this in Israel,’” Gohmert recalled. “And after Israel had to suffer the slings and arrows and the deaths and the maimings… Finally the Israeli people said, ‘You know what? Enough.’ They built, over 70 percent of it is just a fence, and the rest is a wall, prevents snipers from knocking off their kids. And they finally stopped the domestic violence from people that wanted to destroy them.”
snip

Pressing Gohmert, the C-SPAN host noted that Rep. Steve King (-R-IA) had speculated that the Boston bombings were perpetrated by a “foreign national” and that Congress should proceed with caution on immigration reform.

“We know that al Qaeda has camps with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border,” Gohmert agreed. “We know that people are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanics when they’re radical Islamists. We know these things are happening, and it’s just insane to not protect ourselves and make sure that people come in — as most people do, they want the freedoms we have.”

Watch the video below video from C-SPAN, broadcast April 17, 2013.

April 18, 2013

Lee County (MS) Judge Sadie Holland received letter similar to Wicker, Obam

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130417/NEWS/130417026/Lee-County-Justice-Court-Judge-Sadie-Holland-received-letter-similar-Wicker-Obama?nclick_check=1

Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland received a letter containing a suspicious substance that is thought to be linked to letters sent to Sen. Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama.

Holland is the mother of state Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, who is married to Plantersville Mayor Gloria Holland. “His mother, Sadie, did get a letter with a white, grainy substance in it and apparently it is from the same person, the same signature as the letters to Roger Wicker and President Obama,” Gloria Holland said.

Rep. Holland said his mother received the letter either Thursday or Friday. She has already talked to the FBI.
snip

April 16, 2013

You are in a public place..at a sporting event..at a mall

Every other person has a backpack on.. Does it contain a change of clothes? extra provisions? goodies for the kiddies? or maybe a bomb/weapon?

Women have always carried handbags/purses/pocketbooks/diaperbags, but until quite recently men carried a hankie, a pocket comb, a wallet , keys & change..all in their pockets.

Professional men carried briefcases, but for the most part, men carried nothing with them.. (although husbands have given their wives all kinds of stuff to carry in their purses for them ..)

People these days are addicted to carrying shit around with them at all times.. i-pads...extra clothes/shoes...water...snacks..you name it. It's as if they may be stranded somewhere for days and must survive with what they have on them.

Perhaps future public gatherings should be back-pack free zones.

Couldn't we all survive for a few hours at a ball game, a race, a trip to the mall, without a backpack?

I am 64 , and never even SAW a backpack until I was 10...and it was on a hiker in the Rocky Mountains...and then never saw another one until my own kids informed me that they needed them for school...

I know the backpack manufacturers are thrilled at turning us all into pack animals, but the loner with a backpack would be easier to spot, if he was the only one who showed up at an event with a backpack..