Friday July 11, 2003

TROPICAL STORM CLAUDETTE FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 12 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042003 1500Z FRI JUL 11 2003

AT 11 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO HAS DISCONTINUED TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS FOR THE YUCATAN PENINSULA WEST OF PROGRESO AND SOUTH OF TULUM. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN COASTS OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA FROM PROGRESO TO TULUM.

INTERESTS IN WESTERN CUBA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF
CLAUDETTE.

TROPICAL STORM CENTER LOCATED NEAR 21.6N 87.4W AT 11/1500Z
POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 30 NM

PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE NORTHWEST OR 315 DEGREES AT 12 KT

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 1008 MB
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 50 KT WITH GUSTS TO 60 KT.
50 KT....... 50NE 0SE 0SW 0NW.
34 KT.......100NE 100SE 20SW 100NW.
12 FT SEAS..200NE 200SE 75SW 100NW.

WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN EACH QUADRANT. RADII IN NAUTICAL
MILES ARE THE LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE IN THAT QUADRANT.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 11/1500Z 21.6N 87.4W 50 KT
12HR VT 12/0000Z 22.9N 88.9W 50 KT
24HR VT 12/1200Z 24.3N 90.4W 55 KT
36HR VT 13/0000Z 25.2N 91.5W 60 KT
48HR VT 13/1200Z 25.8N 92.6W 65 KT
72HR VT 14/1200Z 26.0N 95.0W 70 KT

For the fiscally conservative among you who feel that the current administration has abandoned the cause of limited government, read this:

Support by the Bush Administration and the congressional leadership for a new federal entitlement in the form of a Medicare drug benefit, large increases in the Department of Education, and additional spending on Clintonite programs such as the make-work Americorps program are just some examples conservatives cite when complaining about the failure of a federal establishment controlled by Republicans to restrain the growth of government.

Meanwhile Ron Paul believes that "foreign entanglements" and a "spectacular state" is one of the main goals of the neoconservatives:

Precise philosophic ideas prompted certain individuals to gain influence to implement these plans. The neoconservatives—a name they gave themselves—diligently worked their way into positions of power and influence. They documented their goals, strategy and moral justification for all they hoped to accomplish. Above all else, they were not and are not conservatives dedicated to limited, constitutional government.

This is encouraging. I hope it's the beginning of a trend. Here's the nut:

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian security officers shot and wounded a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip as Security Minister Mohammad Dahlan's convoy drove past after talks with Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Another example of Bush wisdom: withdrawal from the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC):

The Court came into being on April 11, 2002. Now the court is beginning its first session and guess who is the first to come under investigation for possible war crimes charges? Saddam Hussein? Osama Bin Ladin? The murderous Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, who is starving his own people and stealing any land owned by a white farmer?

The answer: Tony Blair! The British Prime Minister now finds himself among one of the first world leaders to be reviewed by the incoming prosecutor of the ICC for his participation in the Iraq war. The Greek Bar Association has announced that it will file a complaint with the ICC against Blair.

Any organization that would appoint Libya to chair it's Human Rights Commission (while voting the United States off that Commission), and was prepared to have Iraq serve on the disarmament committee is just wholly corrupt and should not be taken seriously.

First, Jessse Jackson and now, Pat Robertson supports Liberian President Charles Taylor. What a crazy ole world. Excerpt,

The Liberian leader whom President Bush denounced as a bloody dictator has an influential friend in America - televangelist Pat Robertson.

Though the White House has called for Liberian President Charles Taylor's ouster and is considering sending troops to the civil war-racked country, Robertson recently ripped Bush for trying to take out a "Christian" leader.

During my stint in the USAF, this was referred to as the E-1 test. I don't think we would have used an officer. Excerpt,

A British officer acted as a "human canary" during the first enemy missile attack of the Iraq war because the troops did not have enough batteries for their chemical agent monitors, defence sources said yesterday.

When the first al-Samoud missile attack on allied troops in Kuwait took place on March 20, the nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) officer for one of the British brigades did not have any batteries for his monitor.

"He had to go out of the tent and stand there," one source said. "The thinking was that if he fell down there were probably chemical agents around."

Thursday July 10, 2003

TROPICAL STORM CLAUDETTE FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 8 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042003 1500Z THU JUL 10 2003
AT 11 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WARNING ON THE EAST COAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA FROM CHETUMAL TO CABO CATOCHE...AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING ALONG THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN COASTS OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA FROM CABO CATOCHE TO CAMPECHE.
AT 11 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FROM BELIZE CITY NORTHWARD TO THE BELIZE-MEXICO BORDER.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR GRAND CAYMAN. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR LITTLE CAYMAN AND CAYMAN BRAC. THESE WARNINGS COULD BE DISCONTINUED LATER TODAY.
INTERESTS ELSEWHERE IN BELIZE AND THE YUCATAN PENINSULA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF CLAUDETTE.
TROPICAL STORM CENTER LOCATED NEAR 17.8N 83.6W AT 10/1500Z POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 25 NM
PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST OR 300 DEGREES AT 14 KT
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 993 MB
EYE DIAMETER 10 NM

MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 60 KT WITH GUSTS TO 75 KT.
50 KT....... 75NE 10SE 10SW 75NW.
34 KT.......140NE 30SE 30SW 140NW.
12 FT SEAS..250NE 250SE 100SW 150NW.
WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN EACH QUADRANT. RADII IN NAUTICAL
MILES ARE THE LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE IN THAT QUADRANT.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 10/1500Z 17.8N 83.6W 60 KT
12HR VT 11/0000Z 19.0N 85.4W 70 KT
24HR VT 11/1200Z 20.7N 87.6W 80 KT...INLAND
36HR VT 12/0000Z 22.3N 89.9W 45 KT...OVER WATER
48HR VT 12/1200Z 23.5N 91.6W 50 KT
72HR VT 13/1200Z 25.0N 93.5W 60 KT

Read this amazing story about a man who was in a coma for 19 years (since 1984) before "waking up" earlier this year. I'm sure it was due to the enduring love of his family. The CNN transcript of the story is here.

A real Rip Van Winkle. Ronald Reagan was president last he knew. He knows nothing of the Internet, email, cell phones. Doesn't know of the fall of the wall, Desert Storm, Somalia, Haiti. Has no recollection of Bush I or the Clinton era (well, there are some benefits).

Hal "Late Great" Lindsay on the origins of the Palestinians:

In the mid-1800s, some Jews came to Palestine and, with the generous aid of some successful Jews like the Rothschilds, began to buy property from Muslim Ottoman Turks. The Muslims thought the land was worthless anyway, so they sold it to the "dumb Jews" for extremely inflated prices.

To everyone's amazement, the Jews were very successful at reclaiming the land. Many of them died from malaria and the rigorous life the work demanded, but they performed an agricultural miracle that made the land very productive again. As a result of their success, poor migrant workers from the surrounding Muslim countries began to flood in to work for the Jews. The Jews literally became victims of their own success – almost all of the people calling themselves "Palestinians" today are the descendants of those migrant workers.

An interesting expose on Jesse Jackson's role in exacerbating the crisis in Africa. Excerpt,

As President Clinton's special envoy for Democracy and Human rights in Africa, starting in October 1997, Jackson became the administration's point man for Africa.

It was Jackson who legitimized both Liberian strongman Charles Taylor and his protégé, the machete-wielding militia leader in neighboring Sierra Leone, Cpl. Foday Sankoh. The two hacked to death several hundred thousand citizens of their respective countries.

Jackson's involvement in the diamond wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone arguably caused tens of thousands of African children to be murdered, because his political support for ruthless killers masquerading as political leaders encouraged them to continue their mayhem.

Political Correctness run amok at Cal Poly. Excerpt,

Steve Hinkle is an undergraduate at California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly). He has been found guilty in the campus kangaroo court of posting a flier on a student bulletin board offending the sensibilities of a small group of students so intellectually fragile they belong in a day-care center.

The flier invited one and all to a speech by Mason Weaver, a black man, author of a book called "It's OK to Leave the Plantation," comparing black dependency on government to dependency on the old massa down on the old plantation. The metaphor is hardly new, but the book was not written for the faint of heart. The offended students hadn't read the book, indeed, hadn't heard of it and didn't know anything about it, but the title upset them. They called the campus police to report "a suspicious white male passing out literature of an offensive racial nature."...

...At the hearing, the vice president for student affairs described the offense in explicit terms: "You are a young white male member of [the Cal Poly College Republicans]," he told Mr. Hinkle. "To students of color, this may be a collision of experience ... The chemistry has racial implications, and you are naive not to acknowledge it."...

... He was ordered to write letters of apology to the students, apologizing for being white, dumb and Republican. He refused. "I get offended all the time on campus when teachers bash conservatives," he said. "Since when do we have a right not to be offended?" Now he faces stricter punishment, which could lead to expulsion.

Here's the take from CNS News.

Tuesday July 8, 2003

USA Today explores the recent reference to foreign laws in the majority Supreme Court decision overturning the Texas anti-sodomy statute.

In theory, that could mean the currently conservative court someday might be influenced by other countries' opposition to the death penalty, their emphasis on foreign prisoners' rights and even their acceptance of same-sex marriages. (Last month, a court in Canada lifted a ban on such unions.)

"Currently conservative court"??? God forbid we should ever have a liberal court.

But it is far from clear that the U.S. high court routinely will turn to foreign law, and the practice has its critics -- notably Justice Antonin Scalia. When the court interprets the Constitution, he has written, U.S. attitudes about what is decent and right -- not foreign ones -- are what should matter.

Now I'm not a Constitutional scholar, or some Harvard law professor, or even a paralegal, but I thought the SCOTUS was supposed to interpret the Constitution based on what the Constitution actually says. Not based on the latest fads or trends or attitudes. That's the whole "Living Constitution" argument that conservatives rightly reject.

Jonah Goldberg on the Constitution (living and otherwise). Excerpt,

...amending the Constitution is so much less pernicious than redefining the existing words. Amending the Constitution is hard because the Founders rightly wanted it that way. Making it a slow and difficult process — often taking years or even generations — not only guaranteed that only the most important changes would be considered as binding precommitments for future generations. It ensured that any proposed changes would be debated and argued over by just about everyone over a sufficient period of time so as to make certain that everyone thought about the lasting repercussions for generations to come. In other words, the Founders designed the amendment process to make us all wear the hat of a Founding Father. But when the Court simply redefines the existing words to mean whatever the majority wants, the Constitution is not longer about precommitting future generations to agreed-upon rules, it's about rank power in the here and now.

Paul Harvey would be proud of the rest of this story:

She was the most famous spokesperson for civil rights, at a time when the idea of equal rights for people of color was very politically incorrect. "We can't afford to have two kinds of citizens," she insisted. "We must have equal citizenship for anybody in our country."

And though she was a well-known talker, she also walked the walk. In 1958, at age 74, she made plans to go down to Tennessee to speak at a civil-rights workshop at the Highlander Folk School.

The Ku Klux Klan learned about her plans. The day before her trip, the elderly, gray-haired woman was contacted by the FBI. "We can't guarantee your safety," they told her. "The Klan's put a bounty on your head, a $25,000 bounty on your head. We can't protect you. You can't go." But the little old lady answered, "I didn't ask for your protection... I have a commitment. I'm going."

And she did. She flew down to the Nashville airport, where she was joined by a friend, an elderly white woman aged 71. The pair got into the car, lay a loaded pistol on the front seat between them, and drove into the night. No Secret Service or police escort. Just the two little old ladies with a gun to keep them safe...

...That determined grandmother, of course, was Eleanor Roosevelt. And it was Eleanor's handgun, not some hired bodyguard, that helped her stay alive in the face of real danger.

As you might have guesssed, this is not just about "the rest of the story" but about Second Amendment rights. Gooood Day!