Gridlock News

OK, so earlier I blogged that CNN was stating that they had phoned the hospital and confirmed that one of the attackers had died and that the hospital had not been evacuated.  I also lambasted Fox News for not updating their own reporting.

Well it turns out that CNN was all screwed up and imagine this, Fox was right!

The British Police just had a press conference and confirmed that the hospital had been temporarily evacuated when some sort of  'device' presumably dangerous and possibly explosive was found on this person.

Live news is always a tough thing to get correct as the situation is usually fluid and interpretations change rapidly in the heat of the moment.  Still a certain amount of confirmation processes are supposed to be performed to lock in facts.  Sometimes I think it would help if they would clearly state when they have two different conflicting reports in existence.  It kind of rubs dead sea salt in the wounds when they get it wrong, and then get it wrong with the correction and then maybe , just maybe they get it right or maybe wrong with the correction of the correction.

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One of the Glasgow attacker that was part of the campaign driven attack against Glasgow Airport has died in the hospital as a result of his wounds.  Several eye witnesses described one of the men as being on fire, or having his clothes smoking heavily and then he went back to the car to attempt to get something out of the rear of the car, while it was on fire.  Many eye witnesses described very graphic descriptions of burn injuries.

There are still some reports on Fox that the hospital that was treating him had been evacuated itself, but that turned out to be just a rumor and not true.  Apparently CNN actually performed a little bit of journalism and called the hospital where hospital workers indicated that they were still present and there was no evacuation.  So I guess Fox is reporting and we can decide that they are too lazy to make a phone call.

I do like to watch Fox as they tend to provide more live video feeds on events as they break, but you almost have to hit mute when you have it on the Fox channel or else face listening to absolute gibberish.  It seems that the Fox News team isn't really qualified to do their job.  I don't think they could qualify to work as a real estate broker. They'd probably screw up the offers with the wrong facts, but they'd probably make good TSA screeners.

At least 2 people drove a Landrover into the main entrance of Glasgow Airport in Scotland.  Steel barriers installed to prevent such attacks stopped the Landrover, which reportedly was travelling at high speed.

The vehicle caught on fire.  Both people got out of the car, one was on fire, but attempting to open up the back of the vehicle.  One was reportedly carrying a cylinder of gasoline, possibly to take into the actual aiport to detonate.  The people were arrested almost immediately and one may have been taken to a hospital.  Flames from the vehicle were shooting straight up from the vehicle to the ceiling about 10 feet above according to eye witnesses.

This attack follows two attempts yesterday in London.  A car was found with vapors looking like smoke coming from the vehicle.  The bomb squad came in and disarmed the behicle which was filled with numerous cylinders of gasoline.

Much later that day, an attendant at an automobile impound lot watching the news of the car bomb attempt unfold on television, noticed that one of the cars in their impound lot smelled like gasoline.  The authorities were called in and found the vehicle filled with fuel cylinders.  The vehicle had apparently been towed from the same location as the first car.  It had been illegally parked.

Many news pundits are calling the Glasgow attack as a sign that this is a complete campaign being launched by multiple people or groups around Great Britain. 

Pundits are speculating that these attacks are very similar to attacks in Iraq.  There is concern that Iraq like tactics are being exported to the United Kingdom.

President Bush just announced that there is no credible information of an imminent attack on the US.

A half dozen years ago I was looking for an online degree program.  I received my bachelors degree the old-fashioned way through Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois.  I had even taken one class was online during college.  That was in 1998 it was a terrible experience.  The Internet advance rapidly however and by 2001 I was looking for an online degree program to get my masters.  I was working for a company that would pay for me to take my masters and I wanted to do it online so I could continue working full time without having to travel a great deal.

Back then even in 2001 there were very few places that provided an online degree yet retained a good reputation.

Today according to a recent release their over 1,300 different universities and colleges to provide online degrees.  Those 1300 different schools provide people with the choice of choosing over 9000 different degree programs of bachelors, associates and even masters degrees.  There's definitely a lot more choice today and when I start looking at my next degree whether it's my third bachelors or possibly a Ph.D. or maybe another law degree, I will definitely have many more options.

Roy Pearson sued Custom Cleaners for failing to live up to his expectatins under their 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' sign.  They lost his pants and he was not satisfied.  He sued for $54 million under a Washington DC Consumer Protection Act and lost.

Now $54 million is obviously excessive for a pair of pants, but it is also troubling that the cleaners doesn't have to live up to their advertised guarantee.  It would seem to me that in this case, Roy lost (he has to pay fees to the defendant also), the dry cleaners lost (bad publicity and time in court), the system lost(lots of time on a half silly/ half serious lawsuit), and future consumers have lost as their protections against false advertising have been gutted some more.

Link to KGAN :: CBS 2

 I'm sure I have a much better chance of getting struck by lightning, but there's something about the bird flu that spooks me.  Maybe it's the fact that the government has proved to be so completely inept at taking care of its citizens lately.  Maybe it's the law of averages that says that eventually we're going to get hit by a plague, and a nice little reminders that CNN provides us all the time.

Maybe it's the progression of this strange bird flu that seems to be migrating its way around the world and like the West Nile virus did not so long ago.  The problem is that this one seems a little bit more deadly.

The dead birds were found in two Bavarian lakes, which were cordoned off after the find, the first cases in the country this year.

People were asked to stay away from waterfowl after the five swans, one duck and one goose all tested positive for the H5N1 virus, German media said.

Source: People's Daily Online -- Bird flu discovered in Germany

This one seems to have a little close to home since my ancestors are from Bavaria.  Assure the bird flu has defined passage from Amsterdam to New York and then settle west Illinois or what have you just like my ancestors did it right?

Unfortunately that's not right, I'll have to do is fly across the ocean, and that seems to happen all the time for birds.  That's what birds do.

Living with fear of anything is one of the aspects of the human condition and it doesn't slow me down, and I don't really lose any sleep over this one anymore than I lose sleep over the potential of an asteroid hitting the planet.

But if I see a duck sneeze, I'm probably not going to offer a handkerchief.

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 You get what you pay for when you outsource too many thing for the wrong reasons.  Walter Reed Army Hospital utilizes an outsourced security firm to provide security for the hospital that takes care of troops coming home from the war in need of medical attention.  They even take care of the President.

Two of the guards of the firm got into an argument this morning and one pulled his weapon and started firing at the second security guard.  The second guard ran across the street to escape and evade hostile fire in our Nations Capital and the hospital that serves our capital.

Outsourced contracting of work at Walter Reed Hospital was one of the focal points of an investigation into sub standard living conditions and care provided for our troops.  Now the security of our troops when they are on their home soil under the care of  an Army Hospital is in question.

Link to Walter Reed Security Officer Arrested for Firing Gun - washingtonpost.com

General Pace may have demonstrated an inability to deliver candor and get things done as the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but at least he showed good leadership when he departed.  The Bush Administration wanted him to resign voluntarily, a standard request in the Bush Administration for anyone that fails.  It enables them to make it look like they did not have to fire anyone.

That enables Bush to continue to admit that he has not made any mistakes under the false logic that if he didn't have to fire someone then that person must have been a good choice in the first place.

General Pace however looked inside of himself and finally (at the end) found some strong stuff.  Apparently at the end of the day he still had a little bit of Marine in his soul.  He would not voluntarily resign.

Why not Resign like all other Bush Administration Appointee Push Overs?

He did not want to make a bad example to the troops in Iraq that do not have the luxury of resigning voluntarily from the battle field and walking away from the War. 

"I said I could not do that for one very fundamental reason, and that is that [a service member] in Baghdad should not think — ever — that his chairman, whoever that person is, could have stayed in the battle and voluntarily walked off the battlefield," Pace told an audience in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday, according to a transcript released by his office Friday. "That is unacceptable as a leadership thing in my mind."

Source: Pace declined to retire voluntarily - Los Angeles Times

So at the end of the day, Pace finally picked up the Pace.  Congress did not trust him any more as he never delivered candid assessments of the situation in Iraq, not to mention the lack of positive results.  Congress might have been able to sit back and pretend the war in Iraq is a bad movie and that the halls of Congress is just an ellaborate theatre where they can sit in their comfy home theater seating conditions and watch as passive observers. However, when the American people started to see that Congress was not fulfilling its role as the watch dog over the Executive branch the farce was over. The Republicans lost Congress and the Democrats came in under the pretense of re-establishing the Congressional role of watch dog. Pace could be seen as a victim of a Congress that was at least paying lip service to their job, but the truth is that Pace did not do his job by the Constitution when he chose to follow Bush's political line as opposed to serving a Commander in Chief. I'm sure that was not easy for him as the Commander in Chief as been AWOL for over seven years now.

Americans definately want the Immigration bill to die. They also desperately want Immigration reform.  The truth is almost no one is happy with the current situation.  So when the immigration bill died last week, many people were immediately happy and then immediately upset that nothing had changed to improve the situation.

Probably the biggest problem with last weeks immigratin bill is that it just was not a workable plan.  But at the same time no one has put together a workable plan yet.

We are looking at a classic case of super gridlock.  Something that is so broken that it must be fixed now, but so broken that no one can find a plan to fix it now.

The result is that we are in a catch 22.  There is no way to escape a catch 22 successfully.  The only way out is to break the loop.  That means that there will never be a compromise that will solve the loop conundrum.  To put it another way, any plan will work better than no plan.  We need to purposefully take 2 steps forward knowing that we will likely take at least 1 step backwards, but at least we will be in a new position and able to potentially have a new option in the future. 

Link to Broad Effort to Resurrect Immigration Bill - New York Times

The federal government has made it a law that mattresses should be fire resistant to decrease the likelihood of a fire flashover.  They have not yet made requirements of sheets and blankets yet.  Many manufacturers do make fire resistant kids bedding, but just like the Colgate knock off scandal many cheap imports or knock offs are not as safe nor tested.

The federal government should consider tightening up this area of law to increase safety of these bedding products and enable manufactures to compete on a level playing field.  After all the bedding is typically on top of the bed and is therefore more likely to catch on fire first in an emergency.  Resistance technology slows the spread of the fire which prevents flash over and allows families more time to get out of harms way.

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that the LA County Sheriff that released Paris Hilton from jail early has reportedly taken campaign contributions from her grandfather.  He is an elected public official and Paris Hilton's grandfather probably has check receipts for many politicians in his pocket.

Now, its starting to be revealed that the Sheriff in this fiasco, received campaign donations from Paris Hilton’s grandfather.  In fact he received campaign donations from lots of rich and famous types.

Source: No More Incumbents Blog - Working to insure natural term limits by removing all incumbents from office.

Its getting difficult to list all of the things wrong with this Paris Hilton scandal.  The list seems to grow longer daily as politician after politician is exposed for being part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution for helping to reform a trouble young woman. I do make the distinction between reform and branding her a witch.  There is definitely an air of unfairness in the prosecution and persecution of Paris Hilton.

She definitely broke the law, but she is being turned into bit of a martyr and this is probably only going to fuel her ego in a way that ultimately will incite her to more crazy antics.

Michael Bloomberg's plan to charge drivers for entering New York City has met with luke warm approval in the New York state congress.  However, Governor Spitzer and the Federal Government are behind it.  The Federal government is preparing to pay a half billion dollars to fund the costs of the project even.

Pork Barrel politics at work with your tax dollars

charge cars and trucks a flat fee to drive into Manhattan below 86th Street earned key support earlier this week when it was endorsed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and by federal transportation officials. The city is under consideration for as much as $500 million in federal grants for a pilot program on congestion pricing, enough to pay for all the start-up costs for the system.

Under the plan, it would cost $8 to drive a car and $21 to drive a truck into the congestion zone between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays, when traffic in Manhattan is the worst. But those fees, like many elements of the sweeping city-planning initiative Mr. Bloomberg unveiled last month, would require Albany’s approval.

You might have thought that it was expensive to fill up your car with gas, well if you travel to New York City every day, that cost is going to be $40 per week, plus parking, plus gas now.

The gridlock that this may fend off on the roads is being countered by extra gridlock in government.  Bloomberg is looking to create a new authority to cover this new agency that would police and charge commuters.  The new authority is expected to bring in $380 million in revenue per year. 

The skeptic in me thinks that this will help traffic, but I suspect this same authority will end up costing at least $381 million per year to run.  Since we are talking about New York City politics that should probably be adjusted to $1.2 billion per year in costs.  $381 million actual costs, $381 million for illegal graft, corruption and waste and $381 million paid out to legitimate contractors for excessive prices for maintenance and services.

Source: State Lawmakers Give Bloomberg Traffic Plan a Cool Reception - New York Times

If you're looking to get away from the news, especially as the news has been extremely crazy the last few weeks, I would recommend going to Hawaii and enjoying a beach front vacation. Just imagine a vacation with no Paris Hilton news, no George Bush, no presidential election, and no scandal du jour on the TV at night.

I took a break from the news today and spent a few minutes fantasizing over a vacation at the wailea makena condos on Maui.  These beach villas are on the island of Maui which is booming from a new concept of ecotourism. This is not just a catchphrase, it's a way for people to truly enjoy the history and culture and environment of an area and support it at the same time.

Traveling to an exotic location only to do spoil it is not that romantic. Traveling to an exotic location to savor the diversity of the culture and the environment and enjoy nature, that's a beautiful thing and almost guaranteed to revitalize the gridlock embattled soul.

The boom in the real estate industry has created a sudden edge within many local economies. In vacation destinations many people have moved in and set up small businesses running rental businesses. Essentially they lease out beach condos or beach villas to travelers trying to get away from cookie-cutter hotels. You get right on the beach with twice the amount of space for half the price typically.

That puts you closer to nature, closer to the ocean and closer to relaxation. More importantly it will help you put the troubles of the modern world and everything associated with the big corporate hotel out of your mind.

Paris is having a bad day.  She was ordered back to jail this afternoon and not very happy about it.

Cameras followed her the entire way and almost made the scene into an OJ moment.

She originally went to jail because she said that she listened to her publicist who told her it was OK to drive while on driving probation.  Now she apparently is heading back to jail after allowing her over zealous lawyer to cook up a deal with the LA County Sheriff's department attempting to run around the judge and the prosecutor.

Big Mistake!

Looks like Los Angeles county is getting some justice after all.  I doubt the Sheriff will get re-elected.

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Paris Hilton was hang cost and crying as she was photographed and videotaped being taken back in the custody by the LA County Sheriff's Department on her way back to court. A self-righteous media Blitzkrieg is taking place around this incident where the rich heiress and controversial TV star has been fighting to stay out of jail.

After going to jail for three days the shares department agreed with her attorney to release her to home arrest. They didn't clear that what the prosecutor nor with the judge.

The judge is considering putting the shares department in contempt of court until she has returned to jail. So now she's in handcuffs, on her way to court, and the judges waiting to hear why the shares department letter out in the first place.

Meanwhile, activists from the NCAA to Al Sharpton and many more are complaining that she's receiving unfair treatment while many of other inmates have to stay in prison despite their medical conditions and their tears.

Putin didn't spend all that time in the KGB because he was stupid.  This week he played a wild card on President Bush at the G8 summit.

Going into the summit he had threatened a new cold war on the United States and Europe if the US proceeded to install missile defense installations in the Czech Republick and other former Soviet Satellite countries.  A flustered George Bush promised to have a good dialogue with Putin and save the day.

Instead President Bush walked into a Czech Mate as President Putin pulled a ploy is akin to a judo move.  They have suggested that they would not be against the missile defense installation if it were relocated away from the Czech Republic where it looks more defensively threatening to Russia and into Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan borders Iran to the North.  There are already Radar systems in place in Azerbaijan installed originally by the former Soviet Union.  Putin has indicated that he might allow the US to share these or tap into them.

Control

The question then becomes one of control. 

1. Who controls the sensors that provide the information?
2. Who can turn them on and off?
3. Who can change their mind?
4. What does the President of Azerbaijan think?  (Reports are mixed . . . )

Thornier issue of intercept missiles

The other thing that Putin was upset about was the potential that the US would place intercept missiles in Poland.  There has been no word on whether or not intercept missiles would be placed in Azerbaijan, however it would probably be just as easy for the US to place intercept missiles in the Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean and rotate them in and out.

Of course, if the US had a long term base in Iraq, they could just plant some intercept missiles there . . .

Sponsored Article

What happened to the good old days when immigrants would come to the United States on a visa and find a spouse to marry so they could claim citizenship the old-fashioned way, through marriage?

These days it just is unnecessary, all you have to do is come here and you get to stay.  This doesn't do are melting pot environment in a good.  I think it would be a bit of an improvement if people look to make good matches across borders again.  Our sponsor shopforweddings.com recently provided a new release, their Internet site provides plenty of personalized gifts and tools that engaged couples can utilize to make your wedding special. 

They are currently providing some very good deals on wedding cameras for example.  Look at be a happier event than getting married and snapping a picture to prove your new claim on citizenship.  New love, a new spouse, the new country, it's a great way to kick off a great new life.

From a Republican perspective this would be profamily.  It would help illegal immigrants he built families and get out of the Catch-22 that there and when they can't operate in our country within the law.  In some states it's not impossible for illegal immigrants to get married whether they're attempting to marry a US citizen or another illegal immigrant.  The concept of the more the merrier only works in great big happy family's, that's what helped build the United States and that's what could continue to fuel our growth if we let it.

By a vote of 49 to 48 the Senate approved amendment last night to the immigration bill.  A Democrat, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota offered up an amendment that would end the immigration bill after five years. 

That means that immigrants to United States will have five years to race in the country and set up shop under the temporary worker program.  In some ways it's reminiscent of landgrab races of the 1800s.  Settlers would line up their wagons and race to stay can claim the land that they could homestead on claiming the land for their own.

Immigrants have five years to stake a claim on the United States and make the United States their home under the temporary worker program.  It almost looked like gridlock would come to the rescue and torpedo this bill, but in the end it looks like it just might pass.  There are still several politicians working too poor to it by throwing and poison pills and" shows that the bill doesn't have significant amount of support.

I'm not against immigration myself, but I think that this bill is the wrong way to go.  I'm definitely not in favor of anything that even hints of an amnesty program.  There is definitely a better way that this can be done.

Just when it almost seemed reasonable for President Vladimir Putin to threaten a new cold war against Europe and the United States( I did say 'almost'), North Korea stepped up to remind the world that they are still here, still dangerous and don't forget, still a missille supplier of Iran.  Bush couldn't have received better news in his through the looking glass world where evil is good for his agenda.  North Korea delivered up a two teaspoons of evil to remind Putin that there are other countries in the world that would fire missiles at the US or sell those missiles to others like Iran.

If Putin really wanted to put an end to a US led Missile defense system, then he would work a little over time to insure that North Korea and Iran were not threats to the world.  If North Korea and Iran's missile and budding nuclear technology were not a potential threat to Europe, Japan, South East Asia and the United States, then the US would not be able to say that the missile defense technology is in place to combat rogue nations.  Instead Russia continues to condone and ignore the problems in Iran and North Korea.

Strangely absent from complaints about the missile defense system is China. Once they would have stood arm in arm with Russia on this issue but they are oddly silent about their trade partner, the United States and its missile defense system.  Maybe they know that the best counter to a good defense is a stronger offense. 

Link to N Korea fires up missile backlash | The World | The Australian

This video shows a man attempting to jump over or from a barricade onto the back of the open air Pope Mobile, which shouldn't be confused with the version that is enclosed in bullet resistant glass.

Body guards wrestled him to the ground and the Pope was not injured. 

After that man climbs up on the concrete barricade, he almost seems to use the barricade as leverage to leap almost onto the back of the pope mobile where the pope is standing.  He is still grabbing at a rear side railing or ladder rack as he continues to move towards the pople.  Its not yet clear if the man just wanted to touch the pope or if he meant the Pope bodily harm.  Pope John II was shot in the abdomen and seriously injured in a similar attack in the early 1980's.

The US FBI and other authorities stopped several people involved in arranging a coup d'tat in California.  More specifically they were planning a coup and purchasing weapons in California to execute the coup in Laos. 

Authorities indicated that the details sounded like something out of a movie script.  It involved General Vang Pao, a former general inthe Laos Army in the 1960's and 1970's.  It also included at least one former United States Army Officer that graduated from West Point in the sixties.

Twenty years ago this type of thing might have been spawned and encouraged by the US government, think Ollie North, the Sandinistas and Iran Contra . . . if you can remember.  President Reagan could not.

But in 2007, six years after 9/11 its a different story.  Authorities don't want people amassing weapons of destruction in the US. 

Our sponsors at Capella University have recently provided a press release about Professor Sara Orem's new book 'Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change.’   Sara Orem teaches pscyhology through Capella's online psychology degree program.

Her new book highlights the benefits of inspiring people, workers, students and populations to get things done by motivating them to act on their ideals.  When you can tap into the emotional connection of what someone believes is the 'right' thing to do you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

The problem is that everyone has different ideals and tapping into the potential of a population is not always easy.  In general, we see in politics a great deal of conflict when politicians reach out to people with different ideals and attempt to 'please everyone' so that they obviously end up 'pleasing no one.'

This was the hat trick that John Kennedy pulled.  Instead of trying to please people he charged them with the job of pleasing themselves and the nation by achieving goals inline with their ideals.

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Scooter Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and a fine of $250,000 resulting from his conviction for purjury relating to the Valerie Plame scandal, which released her identity as a covert CIA agent to the world.

The cost was minor for Scooter Libby who offered up 100 letters from prominent politicians hoping to reduce his sentence.  The truth is that someone revealed the identity of a CIA agent and Scooter Libby's actions did not help investigators identify the culprit.

The cost of the conviction to Scooter may be minor, but the cost of the pardon to President Bush and the Republican Party may cost them an election.  Republicans can hope for a closed mouth Libby to serve his time quietly like G. Gordon Libby, I mean Liddy.  The problem is that Liddy was cut from a different mold, which was fortunately broken a long time ago.

Bush will have to pardon Libby, the question will be, "How long can he stall the pardon?"