Bob Owen

Posted 8/30/2002 07:25:00 AM by Bob
The appearance of security:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon-proposed plan to restrict foreign-owned commercial and cargo aircraft from flying into and from New York and Washington and over Somerset County, Pa., was dropped Thursday following protests from the carriers and after an assessment by U.S. officials that such a ban probably would be illegal, an official said.

But restrictions on so-called general aviation aircraft over New York from Sept. 11-13 were still being considered. Small private plane owners and pilots were lobbying against the proposal, said Warren Morningstar, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House Office of Homeland Security, said the government had no specific information suggesting events commemorating Sept. 11 at those sites were terror targets. No firm decisions had been made on flight restrictions, he said.

I can't wait until September 14 when there will no longer be a threat of terror from the skies. Terrorists must be under some sort of contractual obligation to not attack after midnight, Sept. 13. (sigh)

Posted 8/30/2002 06:05:00 AM by Bob
Oooh, I'm on pins and needles. Will the ballplayers strike or won't they?

(Channel 4000) Baseball negotiators talked into Friday morning, inching toward a possible labor deal as the nation awaited word on whether players would strike later in the day.

The nation waits?! Please. What if the nation's grocers went on strike? Maybe then the nation would watch negotiations closely. How many folks are actually hoping the rich players strike against the even richer owners? The lowest paid players would each lose two paychecks, totaling $30,000 dollars. Where can I donate to a fund for unemployed players?

I'd find a strike amusing. And I still find something else to do with my free time.

Posted 8/29/2002 07:48:00 AM by Bob
Pioneer Press headline about basefall today: Pending strike could kill or save Twins.

And on the weather page, it may rain today. Or it may not.

Posted 8/29/2002 07:37:00 AM by Bob
My boys start school on Tuesday. The older one will be in third grade, the younger one in first.

I'm looking forward to it. Daily routines. Homework. Early bedtimes. They're looking forward to seeing friends and teachers again. The first grader didn't have homework last year but he knows all about it because he loved reminding me that his brother needed to get started on it. I think this year the third grader is looking forward to homework time, if only to see the look on his brother's face.

Posted 8/28/2002 01:19:00 PM by Bob
Oh my gosh, can you believe what Target has done? At least the store is taking appropriate measures.

(AP/Pioneer Planet) Target Stores of Minneapolis issued a call Tuesday to all 1,100 stores nationwide to stop selling the clothing printed with "eight eight" and "88," which stands for "Heil Hitler" because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Good catch, guys. Now somebody had better let Bubba Franks and Marcus Robinson know about this.

Posted 8/27/2002 09:06:00 AM by Bob
Maybe Harper's can index this.

Number of delegates from 182 countries attending the Earth Summit in Johannesburg this week: 60,000
Expected number of bottles of mineral water the delegates will consume: 80,000
Number of African children that die each day from diseases from contaminated water: 6,000

Number of Africans living in poverty during the 1992 Brazil Earth Summit: 220 million
Number of Africans living in poverty now: 300 million

One summit topic: environment
Number of trees cut down to make room for limousines: hundreds

Feedling chilly? Make your blood boil -- read the entire article in The Sun.

Posted 8/27/2002 08:12:00 AM by Bob
Longing to belong? You have a 1:366 chance to be in this group. Someone placed a personal add in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today looking to recruit people into the 9/11 Association. Membership is limited to those born on Sept. 11th.

I'm guessing this isn't the happiest group of people.

Posted 8/25/2002 09:33:00 PM by Bob
USS Clueless has had some very interesting posts lately about U.S. and Soviet-era military hardware. I think this paragraph sums up his thinking nicely:

And ultimately that's what all the third world customers of Soviet tanks and other sophisticated military equipment have discovered: they're great as long as you don't try to actually use them. If you actually expected to fight, you were a hell of a lot better off with American or European equipment, even though it was a lot more expensive.

The Soviet stuff looked nasty but in actualy operation, wasn't. There are a number of posts before this one; they're very interesting.

Posted 8/24/2002 09:10:00 AM by Bob
An updated Smarter Harper's Index

Posted 8/23/2002 10:08:00 AM by Bob
Here's a picture of a baseball fan holding a sign explaining one more reason why the players shouldn't go on strike.

Posted 8/23/2002 09:30:00 AM by Bob
A great article by Mark Steyn. One portion (of many) that I liked:

I believe Western culture -- rule of law, universal suffrage, etc. -- is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria. Follow the traffic. I support immigration, but with assimilation.

Posted 8/23/2002 08:54:00 AM by Bob
Syl Jones is "Paralyzed by my own prejudice..."

Posted 8/23/2002 07:24:00 AM by Bob
Soccer season has started.

Both of my kids are playing this year. And I'm more involved that I ever imagined -- I'm the co-coach of my younger son's mite team. I was asked to help and I just couldn't say no to something like this. I played the game myself as a kid but it's been years since I've actively participated.

We ran through various drills. A number of the boys played on the team last year and have a pretty good grasp of the rules. The rest are playing for the first time. They follow the lead of the older boys so practice wasn't nearly as chaotic as I had pictured. When I reminded the kids that they can't use their hands they groaned and looked at me like I was some sort of, you know, parent. Duh, coach; like, we know. Geez, sorry. Okay, smarty-pants, let's try this: If train A leaves the station at...

Bonus feature last night - Another mite team was practicing on an adjoining field. The coach of that team and I decided to have a scrimmage at the end of the practice. The boys were excited to play a real "game" on their first night of practice.

Additional bonus feature last night - The large puddle of water in the middle of the field. It wasn't deep but it sure made for some nice mud. Six- and seven-year old boys plus mud: you do the math. Soccer is more fun when you can slide, I guess. Moms and dads will be sure to remember towels for the next practice.

Posted 8/21/2002 12:54:00 PM by Bob
Is this from The Onion?

A group of Saudis plans to sue the U.S. government and media organizations for the alleged psychological and financial damage they suffered in the aftermath of September 11, their lawyer said on Wednesday.

"Tens of Saudi nationals seriously plan to file lawsuits against U.S. government, civil and media entities, the majority of whom are students who had been attending American universities and were forced to leave," Saudi lawyer Katib al-Shamri said.

Nope. It's from Reuters.

Posted 8/21/2002 06:35:00 AM by Bob
Late before it even started:

(Star Tribune) The trains on the Hiawatha Avenue light-rail line are already running behind schedule: Transit officials plan to push back the start of service on the new line from fall 2003 to April 2004 to save money.

Just think how much money they would have saved on the twelve-mile, $675 million line by pushing back the start date fifty or sixty years. Or would it?

A six-month delay will defer $2 million in hiring and training start-up costs for the line and help the Metropolitan Council comply with the Department of Finance order to all state agencies to reduce their budgets by 10 percent starting July 2003, according to Met Council Chairman Ted Mondale.

They're really not "saving" any money, just paying it out later. Moving money around makes a corporation evil and corrupt but it's okay here because this is for public transportation. Trust us, we know what's good for you.

Posted 8/19/2002 03:01:00 PM by Bob
When people who don't think write letters to the editor. In the Minneapolis Star Tribune today:

911 memorial

As the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks draws near, I found myself wondering what we should do to remember this date, now and forever more. A big structure could be built, but would everyone be able to view the memorial and realize its significance in the future?

I propose that all air travel be closed down for an entire 24-hour period on each Sept. 11. The sound of silence will be our reminder that this day has changed all of our lives in different ways. The sound of silence will be our reminder that this day was a special day on which many people paid for the freedom that we all hold dear. The sound of silence will be our reminder that this day is a day to reflect on peace. The sound of silence will be our reminder that this day is a day to say a prayer for our nation, for our loved ones, and for our future.

More people than all of those who heard the bombs that were dropped in Afghanistan will hear the sound of silence. The sound of silence will become a peaceful symbol that everyone in our nation can experience and be thankful that we have the privilege to live in a free nation.

Remember 3,000 people by putting a million out of work for a day? How about letting the free people have the freedom to remember 9/11 the way they want to, not by preventing them from traveling or working.

Posted 8/19/2002 02:38:00 PM by Bob
Look what a free market gets us.

The New York Times reporting that CNN had obtained tapes showing Al Qaeda testing chemical weapons had this great quote:

Asked why the C.I.A. failed to obtain the archive before CNN, Bill Harlow, the agency's spokesman, replied, "There are more of them in Afghanistan than there are of us, and they are paid better."

Closed and oppressive societies will just never get this.

The NYT piece mentioned that tests were conducted on dogs.

CNN began broadcasting portions of tapes it obtained, one of which shows what appears to be the agonizing death of three dogs exposed to a chemical agent, apparently before Sept. 11.

The PETA web site doesn't have any comment.

Posted 8/17/2002 02:20:00 PM by Bob
From Max Power's blog:

YOU KNOW, ONCE YOU sue for a hundred trillion dollars, you might as well sue for a gazillion dollars and get it over with. Journalists are always impressed by the sums of damages demanded, but don't realize that in federal cases where punitive damages are sought, there is no requirement that the complaint's demand for damages have any bearing on reality.

I like that: gazillion. Is earth and all it holds worth one-hundred trillion dollars? Well, the lawsuit has since been "corrected" and the amount is now just "more than $1 trillion."

Posted 8/17/2002 02:11:00 PM by Bob
My friend Ross writes in response to my earlier "Stupid arguments" post earlier today. I like what he wrote:

This is an additional thought on why that carry-conceal writer was a moron. Martha Donald was already violating the law. She was, against the current law, carrying a concealed weapon. Whether the new law passed and she could legally carry it doesn't change anything. The relevant inquiry is not how many current criminals would carry conceal legally and kill someone, but how many non-criminals who currently don't carry a weapon because it's against the law would suddenly arm themselves and kill people. The writer might've had a point it Martha wasn't carrying a gun, the law passed, she got one and then killed the cop. How is it that carry conceal has anything to do with this shooting? Whether or not carry conceal is the law you still can't shoot a cop.

Last, I do think there is an element of inherent risk in being a cop such that being killed in the line of duty is a job hazard. My guess is that far more construction workers die on the job each year than cops. However, the construction worker is not dying to protect me. The cops, like them or not, have taken an oath to come to my aid, protect my house, street, kids, etc. that no one else save firefighters do. Even the military isn't quite such a direct protection of my interests. Therefore, yes, one who shoots a cop is beneath the cop and is lesser.

Posted 8/17/2002 12:11:00 PM by Bob
More commentary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. This time Syl Jones adds his thoughts about the fallout of the Donald/Schmidt killing. Note: Schmidt was a white female. Donald was a black female. No one has said these shootings were motivated by race or gender. Until now.

Lord, we all know that police officers should never get killed and we hate to see it happen. But it does. Thousands have died in the service of their communities, and they have been remembered and honored. But the mourning for Office Schmidt, with its willingness to dismiss the woman who shot her as less than human, smacks of a strange combination of gender and racial bias. Would Officer Schmidt really want to be singled out and elevated to icon status, above the thousands of other officers who have died in the line of duty? On what basis? Would people have reacted differently if Martha Donald had been somebody's 60-year-old Swedish grandmother suffering from a bipolar disorder? You betcha they would have, Lord.

If Star Tribune writers and a Minneapolis City Council member had referred to the Swedish grandmother as a "victim" just as they did for Martha Donald, then, no, we would not have reacted differently. Is a cop killer subhuman? I won't argue against it. Swedish grandmother or black resident of a public housing complex -- it makes no difference. But, to Jones, it's always about race.

See, you have to understand what kind of city we live in here, Lord. [...] We've got a white City Council member [Joe Biernat] who's admitted to the FBI that he's a crook, but do you think the City Council has said word one about that? Nope. Meanwhile, when black City Council Member Brian Herron sold out his constituents a couple of years ago, people were stampeding to the microphone in council chambers so they could condemn him.

Readers should note that Herron plead guilty and resigned from the City Council in quick order. Biernat has not yet been charged with a crime.

Maybe if you sent us something with Martin Luther's name written on it, something that looked official, they'd think that you worked for him and maybe then they'd listen. Just don't send any more Bibles, Lord. They have no idea what to do with them.

Maybe Minneapolis needs to re-name a street after King, just as the other Twin City of St. Paul recently did.

Posted 8/17/2002 11:51:00 AM by Bob
Stupid arguments. A commentary piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

A big thank-you to Charlie Weaver and Robert Ulrich for their Aug. 7 Commentary article. Even though the intent of their article seemed to be to impress upon citizens how difficult it is for authorities to track what we now call "terrorists," they have given Minnesota lawmakers the best reason why they should not pass the concealed-carry gun law that narrowly missed passage for two years.

It was also interesting that their commentary appeared on the same day that several articles detailed the death and funeral of Officer Melissa Schmidt, who was killed by an individual [Martha Donald] carrying a concealed weapon.

The argument that the National Rifle Association and many pro-gun citizens use as a selling point for passing the concealed law is that criminals, the mentally ill and the chemically dependent would be barred from obtaining a license after the completion of a criminal background check would reveal their unsuitability and disqualify those individuals.

With a concealed carry law and accompanying criminal checks, Martha Donald may or may not have had the opportunity to legally carry a gun. We'll never know. Not that it mattered anyway to Donald. She still had her gun. But the writer doesn't want anyone else to have one.

The price we'll pay, if this law is passed, will be more citizens and more law enforcement officers losing their lives. The ones doing the killing will be the new criminals the law will create.

Huh?

I've never been a big advocate of concealed carry laws but moronic commentaries like this don't sway me at all.

Posted 8/16/2002 09:14:00 PM by Bob
"The Left" Objects to Inappropriate Mine Rescue. (Okay, it's fake but still a little funny, no?)

Posted 8/15/2002 01:33:00 PM by Bob
My street remains under construction. The new water pipes have been buried but individual household connections aren’t complete. The workers can't start paving until the underground work is complete. So the street is still a muddy, sloppy mess. And every child who lives on this block is a muddy, sloppy mess.

My younger son's skin is particularly smooth and soft today. This is a result of his lengthy mud bath last evening. We did manage to retrieve his shoes, which came off his feet as he trudged through ten inches of liquid street.

Kids' bathtime at our house now starts in the garage where all clothing is shed before entering the house. Each youngster gets a prewash with the garden hose, too.

Posted 8/15/2002 01:19:00 PM by Bob
Think the sponsors of terrorism are afraid of U.S. B-52s, F-16s and Apache attack helicopters?

Just wait 'til the lawyers get going.

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 600 family members of Sept. 11 victims filed a 15-count federal lawsuit Thursday against Saudi officials and institutions, charging they financed Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s terrorist network.

The suit, modeled after action filed against Libya in the Pan Am flight 103 disaster, seeks to cripple banks, charities and some members of the Saudi royal family — as well as vengeance for the families of those who perished, the plaintiffs said.

"It's not the money. We want to do something to get at these people," said Irene Spina, whose daughter, Lisa L. Trerotola, 38, perished in the World Trade Center. "There's nothing else we can do."

Maybe the charaties that will receive the winnings will be named later. Because, you know, it's not about the money.

Posted 8/14/2002 01:04:00 PM by Bob
Letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today:

The United States, with a larger military budget than that of the rest of the entire world, is complaining like a spoiled brat that Iraq is a threat to world peace, such a big threat that we have to attack that country to prevent the awful things that Saddam Hussein may be planning. Give me a break.

-- Emil J. Slowinski, Minneapolis.

War is bad. Always bad. Iraq can't hurt us, right? Right. Just like nineteen highjackers could never hurt 3,000 Americans. Saddam wouldn't use weapons of mass destruction. No, Saddam wouldn't do that. The U.S. is the only bully in this world.

Give us all a break.

Posted 8/14/2002 12:21:00 PM by Bob
I'm on vacation this week. I took a week off from my full-time job to go work at the PGA Championship, which is being held at Hazeltine National Golf Club this year. I have a second job and we were contracted to do some work at the club where Tiger and the others are playing. I thought I'd double dip -- paid vacation plus some part-time work at the same time. Well, the part-time stuff fell through. I didn't have anything else planned for this week, so I'm making the best of it by doing some fall cleaning now. And painting. And more cleaning. If my wife and I recycled all the plastic from the broken toys we're throwing out we'd have enough to build a Saturn.

The kids are getting really anxious for me to go back to work. Then they can continue fighting and bickering without penalty of housework. Each tussle results in me finding more work for them to do.

Their rooms have never been so clean. You can almost eat off the garage floor, too.

The thought of being friendly to each other becomes more appealing with each passing day. In fact, today has been a good day. Later, we're going to Home Depot to get ideas for remodeling the bathroom and to buy nails. Nothing distracts two young boys like pounding lots of nails into two-by-fours.

Posted 8/12/2002 08:15:00 AM by Bob
When not to believe children: when my six-year-old son, enroute to the bathroom with a confident look and a toilet plunger says, "It's okay, dad."

Posted 8/09/2002 09:21:00 PM by Bob
Yah, I got your road rage right here! And here, too.

Posted 8/09/2002 03:57:00 PM by Bob
This morning my blog saw its 5,000th visitor. I know some people get that many (or more) in a single day but I'm pleased to see I have a few regulars.

Thanks for visiting.

Posted 8/09/2002 03:45:00 PM by Bob
Not all Twins are identical. OpinionJournal points out these two quotes from one of our local ballplayers:

"It's OK when you do it in a close game. But to do it when you're seven runs up is kind of stupid."--Minnesota Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz on the celebratory antics of "demonstrative Baltimore reliever Willis Roberts," quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Aug. 9

"It's fine [to do that] when you're up seven runs, but to do it in a close game, I think that's pretty stupid."--Mientkiewicz, quoted in the Washington Post, same day

Posted 8/09/2002 10:34:00 AM by Bob
Good grief, Charlie Brown.

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 2,000 computers and 72 weapons have been lost or stolen from the U.S. Customs Service over the last three years, Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday as he prodded the agency to fix the problem quickly.

The information comes from an audit by the Treasury Department's inspector general. Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, had requested the audit that was completed Monday, and he released a heavily edited copy of the IG's report Thursday.

The report comes as the customs service — the nation's oldest law enforcement agency, founded in 1789 — has shifted its primary mission from detecting smuggled narcotics to preventing terrorists, possibly with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, from getting into the country. The change was prompted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks..

Focus on stopping terrorists? Losing weapons and badges can't possibly be helping. How about focus on cleannig up your act.

With 19,000 Customs employees, 2,000 missing computers is one missing for each ten employees.

And shouldn't an audit do more than "raise questions?"

Posted 8/08/2002 09:45:00 AM by Bob
Want to read a story at LATimes.com but don't want to go through the hideous registration process? After a few quick attempts with different names and passwords I found user name johndoe with password johndoe works just fine.

Posted 8/08/2002 07:26:00 AM by Bob
Minneapolis City Council member Natalie Johnson Lee, like the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has difficulty with the difference between a police officer who gave her in the line of duty and a person who took a life by murdering a police officer. In a letter to her Fifth Ward residents, Johnson Lee asks them to "reflect on the untimely deaths of two fellow citizens" and "pledge to ensure that those who are deceased will not have died in vain."

A murdered cop and the person who murdered the cop. Can you make the distinction?

Today, probably anticipating a flood of angry letters, the Star Tribune ran an editorial titled "Officer down / Giving thanks for the brave ones," praising slain officer Melissa Schmidt. Without devoting equal newsprint and praise to cop killer Martha Donald. Thank heaven for small wonders.

Posted 8/07/2002 05:16:00 PM by Bob
Great moments in airport security (via Instapundit)

WABC -- In the latest in a series of airport security nightmares, a woman flying from New York to Florida was forced to drink three bottles of her own breast milk before being allowed to board a flight at JFK International Airport - in an incident that has one prominent New York civil rights attorney ready to sue.

[The woman] said that when she asked the guards why they were putting her through the ordeal, they explained, "There could be explosives in the baby bottles and I could throw something at the stewardesses."

Posted 8/07/2002 04:29:00 PM by Bob
Question: Who of the following can rightly be called a victim?

Minneapolis police officer Melissa Schmidt, murdered by a resident in a Minneapolis Public Housing building.

Martha Donald, the resident who murdered Melissa Schmidt (Donald was then shot and killed by police).

Well, if you're a writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune the correct answer is actually c. Both of the above.

Excerpts from a Strib story today:

About 20 feet away, posters signed by members of the neighborhood honoring both Schmidt and the other victim, Martha Donald, were taped to a garage door. (Bold lettering mine)

Horn Towers resident Preston Howze Sr. said, "Both [victims] should be recognized." (The brackets and the word 'victim' are the Star Tribune's.)

Note how the paper describes the shooting:

But less than a week after a resident and a Minneapolis police officer fell victim to gunfire in one of the apartment buildings, community members turned the annual celebration into a memorial for them.

That's right - "fell victim to gunfire." As if both shootings are morally equivalent. The newspaper is morally bankrupt.

Posted 8/07/2002 12:28:00 PM by Bob
Surprise, surprise.

(AP) Saudi Arabia has made clear to Washington — publicly and privately — that the U.S. military will not be allowed to use the kingdom's soil in any way for an attack on Iraq, Foreign Minister Prince Saud said Wednesday.

Posted 8/06/2002 09:48:00 PM by Bob

(AP) HIROSHIMA, Japan -- The mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, criticized the United States as his city marked the 57th anniversary Tuesday of the world's first atomic bomb attack.

At the annual ceremony, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said the United States has no right to force its ideas on the rest of the world. He also said the United States shouldn't act alone in determining the world's fate.

The mayor urged nations to ban nuclear weapons and said President George W. Bush should visit Hiroshima to see the damage that nuclear weapons can do "with his own eyes."

Apparently Hizzoner didn't share his feelings about the Bataan Death March, Pearl Harbor, the Rape of Nanking or Unit 731. Or this little revelation.

Posted 8/06/2002 09:16:00 PM by Bob
Tonight was National Night Out. Neighborhood watch groups and neighbors get together and keep in touch. Usually, in my city (and others) police officers stop by for visits. There aren't enough cops and squad cars to stop by every neighborhood. One year the city dog catcher stopped by. Hey, she works for the city, was in uniform and her truck had flashing lights.

This year the Minnesota National Guard unit stationed in my city was out. A number of the guard members were driving around and stopping at various neighborhoods. The unit that stopped by my block was driving a nice new Humvee. The kids thought this was pretty neat. They wanted to sit in it and so they lined up. Behind me.

Yep, I was first in line to check out the truck. Lucky for me the driver was more than happy to explain every latch, switch and part to me. If he'd stuck around long enough I would have asked to borrow the keys.

Posted 8/05/2002 09:48:00 AM by Bob
Reporters at the local TV stations are falling all over themselves reporting on the news of a Minneapolis police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty last week. Here's one teaser: Coming up at 10 PM, Randi Kaye interviews a female police officer on the loss of one of her own.

What an interesting adjective. Both the cop and the suspect, who was also killed, were female. Gender doesn't appear to have played any role in the incident.

What's next? Male nurses, black businessmen and Hispanic doctors?

Posted 8/05/2002 08:15:00 AM by Bob
I guess it's just possible that some people never read or listen to the news and wouldn't consider their actions unusual (in light of recent events).

Washintgon Post -- PITTSBURGH –– A 17-year-old Canadian passenger on a US Airways flight from Toronto was arrested for using a lighter on his shoe, authorities said.

The teen told police he was burning loose material off his tennis shoes as the plane taxied into Pittsburgh International Airport Saturday. The boy's father was seated next to him.

Silly Canadians.

Posted 8/02/2002 06:13:00 PM by Bob
Martha Donald, 60, allegedly shot and killed Minneapolis police officer Melissa Schmidt yesterday. Donald was then shot and killed by police. Police had responded to a call of a woman with a gun. KSTP news reported this:

The children of a woman shot to death along with a Minneapolis police officer says the shootings don't make sense, and describe their mother as a church-going, loving, non-violent person.

And this:

Relatives concede that she did carry a gun for protection after being attacked years ago when she was living in Chicago

Additionally, KSTP had these quotes from Donald's family:

"She wasn't violent, she wasn't a violent person. I don't understand what happened to my mom." -- daughter Michelle Donald

"We don't want our mother to be portrayed as a cop killer. She's not the type of person that just can go out and kill, take someone else's life." -- son Terrance Jones

It appears that if you asked the Donald family to define "victim" the answer might not be what most people would say.

Posted 8/02/2002 11:13:00 AM by Bob
This won't give you a good feeling about airport security and the Transportation Safety Administration. If airport security is so critial that we need federal employees, no delay is acceptable, right?

(Minneapolis Star Tribune) -- The arrival of federal security screeners at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will be later than expected -- perhaps not until late August or September.

"We pushed it back," he said, and there is "not a solid date" when the new screeners will begin, but he said officials still are trying to meet the federal Nov. 19 deadline.

Officials of the firm hiring the new screeners said several factors, including scheduling mixups, have contributed to the unexpectedly slow pace of hiring.

If you have unqualified people doing the hiring, is there any chance the they'll hire qualified people?

This is amusing:

A spokesman for the screening firm said that the hiring process has taken longer than expected because in some cities applicants hadn't shown up for scheduled appointments and then had to be tracked down.

Track them down?! If they don't bother to show up for an interview why would you want to hire them?

Posted 8/02/2002 08:35:00 AM by Bob
Tony Woodlief's quote of the week:

"The fact that the Pittsburgh plane was filled with normal Americans, businessmen with wives and kids – let’s face it: yuppies – and not with the political science department of a typically left-wing university is the difference between a White House that’s still standing and a smoldering ruin on Pennsylvania Avenue." (Rob Long)

Posted 8/02/2002 07:32:00 AM by Bob
An excerpt from USS Clueless today:

We have no problem living side by side with them, but to Islamic extremists we are a stark danger – and we would remain a stark danger even if we militarily disengaged from the world, stopped supporting Israel, and made all the other concessions that some suggest we should. Because it isn't the Third Armored division which they fear; it's television and radio and fashion and the Internet. It's bikinis and Saturday night dates; it's rock-and-roll. It's comfortable clothing. It's Saturday in the park, and hanging out at the mall after school. And it's our women, our damnably independent women, who not only demand equality with men but have proved that they deserve it by performing just as well as men. They fear our women, because they fear their own women.

Posted 8/01/2002 01:25:00 PM by Bob
More political correctness?

WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI agents wearing protective gloves searched trash bins Thursday at the apartment complex of a former Army researcher considered a "person of interest" in the anthrax investigation.

Posted 8/01/2002 12:07:00 PM by Bob
Maureen Dowd, selectively comparing potential political candidates Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rob Reiner:

The Republican lives in a mansion with a charming Democrat, Maria Shriver. The liberal lives in a row house on Nick at Nite with a cranky wingnut, Archie Bunker.

One's real life is compared to the other's screen life. Huh? Don't feel left out Arnold, she also had a good quote about your screen life:

Mark Barabak of the Los Angeles Times wrote that promoting an education initiative might help improve Schwarzenegger's stilted small talk and "soften the image of an actor responsible, by one count, for more than 275 on-screen murders."

Could Dowd, mixing reality and acting, think Schwarzenegger is a real murderer? Maybe it's just a fantasy.

Posted 8/01/2002 07:17:00 AM by Bob
Ken Pentel, Green Party candidate for Minnesota Governor, on transportation spending:

(Minneapolis Star Tribune) -- Pentel said his proposed one-quarter increase in transportation spending would go to new technology, village planning, bicycle freeways and other alternative travel modes. "The car culture is just an economic sinkhole right now," he said.

Bicycle freeways? In Minnesota? Perhaps commuters will use cross-country skis when snow covers the ground and the temperature is closer to zero than Worldcom stock. That part about "alternative travel modes" worries me. I might be allergic to horses and ever since I saw "The Fly" I'm not too keen on the whole idea of teleportation.

Posted 8/01/2002 07:09:00 AM by Bob
Instapundit notes:

EVERYONE KILLED in the University bomb attack was a non-Israeli, but thousands of Palestinians still celebrated. This combination of bloodthirstiness and ineptitude is characteristic.

Instapundit has an update to the earlier post:

I WAS WRONG (well, the early reports I relied on were wrong) when I posted last night that all of those killed in the Hebrew University bombing were non-Israelis. It turns out two were Israeli citizens. The other five were Americans. I was still right about the Palestinians dancing in the streets, though.

What would things be like for Palestinians now, if Israelis or Americans thought like Arabs?

They wouldn't be like anything at all, of course. There wouldn't be any Palestinians.