RadioActive Chief

(3WD? = What Would Willard Do?)

At first this seemed like a piece of science fiction; but apparently it’s really science.

Implant Makes Mind Reading Possible in Rats

Neuroscientists at Duke University have proven that telepathic communication—between rats—is not only possible, but can be done across continents. Similar experiments are already being tested on monkeys.

The discovery, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, is the first confirmed brain-to-brain communication between animals….

“Nobody had ever done this, so the challenge was significant. We didn’t know if it would work,” says study lead researcher Miguel Nicolelis. “It took us years to get this to work.”

Apparently the initial successes were using implanted and hard-wired implanted electrodes, but researchers have moved past that into wireless links….Yes–including over the internet:

To prove the same experiment could be done with what Nicolelis calls “interference,” he placed one rat in his lab in Durham, N.C., and one in a lab in Brazil. Using an Internet connection, he found the rats were still able to work together. “We wanted to show that even when the line was noisy, we were able to get this to work,” he says. “We used to do this with wires but now we’re doing everything wirelessly and experimenting with swarms of rats.”

This is strange enough that IMHO it deserves some attention to the ramifications of what has been, and what may be done with this: Imagine swarms of trained rats…attacking designated infrastructural targets…say, for example, things like wiring systems, fiber-optic lines, plastic water and drainage pipes, food supplies, etc….the possibilities for this de-facto militarization of rat swarms are virtually endless! But wait! There’s more:

Since his first successful experiment, Nicolelis has been able to create wireless connections between rats’ brains and has begun experimenting with monkeys. Though that research is yet to be published, Nicolelis says early results are promising.

“Once we got it to work in rats, we were able to unlock the secret to this technology. We’re already doing very much more sophisticated experiments with monkeys,” he says. “They’re learning to play games, controlling avatars of themselves on a screen.”

MONKEYS!!!! If rats could be effective…imagine flocks of linked, trained, and guided monkeys! WOW! (Remember the winged monkeys in the Wizard of Oz???) Of course a U.S. Monkey Corps wouldn’t have wings…but why not make them truly airborne by meshing this with the drone-helicopter technology? Another possible application could lead to the first instance of REAL guerilla-gorilla fighters!

There’s STILL MORE:

As for the swarms of rats, the researcher says that getting dozens of rats to communicate with each other is more difficult, but possible. Someday, he imagines neural computing networks that could be more powerful than current technology.

“We may have a way to come up with new architectures of computing,” he says. “How will it work? We don’t know, but that’s why we’re going to test.”

Sort of reminds one of Einstein’s observation that “If we really knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?”

Where could this end? Where else:

Nicolelis says it’s far too early to think about experimenting with the technology on humans, but that his breakthrough “opens a completely new line of research.”

“I’m not implying we should test now in humans, but when people made the first telephone transmission 100 years ago, people said it was too simplistic, it’d never work,” he says. “I think this is an important first step.”

First step to where? Truly synchronized swimming at the Olympics? Or REALLY synchronized Waffen SS-style goose-steppers in Iran, North Korea, and/or other similarly inclined societies. Where is George Orwell now that we really need him?

Police: Boston Bombing Suspects Didn’t Have Gun Permits

A Massachusetts police official say the brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon before having shootouts with authorities didn’t have gun permits.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas tells The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that neither Tamerlan Tsarnaev (tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) nor his brother Dzhokhar had permission to carry firearms.

Shocking, simply shocking! Homicidal jihadists breaking the Taxachusetts gun laws!

Fear not…this will no doubt stimulate the drive for more laws to be ignored by lawbreakers.

Merkel To Europe: “Prepare To Cede Sovereignty”

…as always happens, once the crisis talk is back, so is discussion of a fiscal union. Sure enough, earlier today Germany’s Angela Merkel once again reminded everyone just what the stakes are in order to achieve a truly stable, and sustainable European union: nothing short of ceding sovereignty to Germany. And with that we are back to square one, because that has always been the trade off – want a unified, fiscally and monetarily, Europe? You can get it: just bow down to Merkel.

Just goes to show…you can catch more countries with cash than with bullets.

The Euros can at least be glad that the Germans didn’t figure this out 75 years ago or so when a somewhat different set of people were in charge of the Reich!

Iran Hopes Hagel Nomination Will Improve Relations Between US, Tehran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry appears to be backing President Barack Obama’s pick of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as secretary of defense. Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in an interview Tuesday that he hopes the Hagel nomination will improve relations between the United States and Tehran. “We hope there will be practical changes in American foreign policy and that Washington becomes respectful of the rights of nations,” Mehmanparast said, according to Reuters.

This sure doesn’t make the chief feel any better about this particular nomination. I didn’t care for Hegel then, and I still don’t care for him.

Many (most?) peoples’ heads spin and their brains go TILT! at trying to understand the fiscal mess in Washington.

So…try it a different way:

from radio talker Michael Savage:

“I have said that the only thing that can save America from this drift towards internationalism is my slogan ‘borders, language, culture’ and a new nationalist party.

Now, it almost happened with the Tea Party, but it was decimated by the unions and others.

First the Tea Party was attacked by the Congressional Black Caucus, who lied about them.

Then the Democratic Party went after the Tea Party.

The very essence of America is the Tea Party. And yet they were cast as the enemies of America. Socialists completely lied about them.

Most liberals are afraid of nationalism. They always come to the same conclusion: that nationalism will lead to Hitler.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Nationalism can lead to pride and survival.

The ideal nationalist party will have a strict firewall, never going over the line into racism. That’s important.

If I had the time left on earth, I would start this nationalist party. It would take approximately 10 years to have an effect on the country.

I don’t know if America has that much time.

The Chief concurs!

BANNED ON FACEBOOK:

Received via e-mail.  It seemed to cry out for an answer. Here’s mine:

I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama which says:  “Our second amendment rights are long overdue a reevaluation.

Going back to the Declaration of Independence: “…CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS…AMONG THESE ARE LIFE…” The right to life nust necessarily include a right to self-defense. Self-defense must necessarily include the means to act in self-defense. Guns do the job, with the added benefit that they keep our rulers nervous—a good thing according to Jefferson. It’s also worth noting that the “unalienable Rights” (capitalized in the original!) are “endowed by their Creator” and therefore logically take precedence over the laws of man.

This is NOT a theoretical situation. In our immediate “neighborhood” in extremely rural South Dakota there has been circumstances where people were required to defend themselves using firearms, covered fortunately by SD’s version of a “Castle Law” which specifically reaffirms the right to appropriate self-defense. As far as police protection goes, all it can do is come in afterwards and try to clean up the mess. With the local sheriff 20 miles away on a good day, an evildoer can do a LOT of damage before any help arises.

How many more senseless and entirely PREVENTABLE shootings have to occur before we do something about Gun Control?

Uh…how’s about mental health control? There are too many people who are dangerous who cannot be taken care of properly, since courts have ruled that to administer treatment (against the free-will of a schizophrenic, for instance) is a violation of their civil rights…the right to be dangerously crazy one must presume.

My idea of gun control means that you maintain control (including custodial control) of your weapons, and are able to hit what you aim at when you use them.

As a citizen and constituent of this great country, I am asking that you take a firm stand and make a positive change by restricting access to guns and saving lives.

Studies, even ones run by scholars who started with an anti-gun agenda, have shown that where jurisdictions allow gun possession and “right to carry” that violent gun crime is reduced. (No, I don’t have the citation at my finger-tips. Yes, the findings are available if you do want to see ‘em.)

As for positive change? I taught Native American students for a quarter century…one of the first things enforced on the reservations was STRICT gun control. That worked out really well for them, didn’t it? How’s about the gun control law enacted by the 3rd Reich marching society. which effectively disarmed their opponents and potential opponents. Then, when the guys with the spiffy balck uniforms showed up at you door at oh-dark-thirty, they were sure there could be no way their evening’s visit would have an unpleasant (to them) outcome. (By the way, the Nazi gun law of 1938 was used as the template (sometimes word-for-word) for several laws and wanna-be laws that have found their way to Congress since the ‘60’s.

I don’t have a gun. I don’t want a gun.

Fair enough. Don’t get one. But don’t force me (via indirect use of the gun-backed power of the government) to have your preference imposed on me.

I don’t need a gun. But somehow the guns always wind up in the hands of people crazy enough to use them irresponsibly and dangerously.

Guns ARE dangerous. Just as are automobiles, 120 V electrical outlets, alcohol, texting cell phones, knives,  (some) TV programs,  baseball bats, claw hammers, and so on.  What was the one recently about the nut-ball who started that fire…he killed his 92 year old mother with a hammer…then they let him out after 18 years and he continued his insanity by committing arson, murder, and then shooting at the firemen?  See above comment on mental health control.

The Roman sage Seneca had it pegged:  QUAEMADMOEUM GLADIUS NEMINEM OCCIDIT, OCCIDENTIS TELUM EST.  (A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer’s hands.)

This HAS TO BE STOPPED.

Living in this world…there is no way to guarantee ANY type of security given humanity and life as it is. Not in the past. Not in the present. And not in the future.

Thank you for your action!!”

I recently renewed my NRA membership—does that count?

Will you sign this petition?

Uh…not in this universe, but thanks for asking anyway. Hope you’re having a good Christmas season.

Biden promotes free colonoscopies to seniors in Florida

Occasionally something comes along that just leaves one in a state of amazement. This stuff couldn’t be made up.

In Florida this afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden reminded supporters that thanks to President Obama, they could now get colonoscopies without a co-pay.

SO now we can get reamed for free thanks to B.O. and company.

They already have the recently expanded I.R.S., so bend over, they’ll get you one way or the other.

Sampling errors seen skewing polls Obama’s way
Not much of a surprise here…various commentators have drilled into polls to take prior note of this. It’s nice to have it consolidated, along with a good graphical chart to illustrate the point:

. Photo Credit:Twitter

Ever since the arguably skewed CNN poll of a few weeks back, conservative voters have been looking at the methodology of polling companies with an increasing amount of skepticism. The fact that most polls have used a model that tries to mimic the voter turnout in 2008, when Democrats beat Republican turnout by 7 points (as opposed to presidential elections like 2004, where turnout between the two parties was relatively even), has not improved this state of affairs. …

Another shot of economic methamphetamine from the Fed:

Fed Pulls Trigger, to Buy Mortgages in Effort to Lower Rates

The Federal Reserve fulfilled expectations of more stimulus for the faltering economy, taking aim now at driving down mortgage rates.

The Fed said it will buy $40 billion of mortgages per month in an attempt to foster a nascent recovery in the real estate market. The purchases will be open-ended, meaning that they will continue until the Fed is satisfied that economic conditions, primarily in unemployment, improve.

Enacting the third leg of quantitative easing will take the Fed’s money creation past the $3 trillion level since it began the process in 2008.

One can go back in American history and find repeated episodes of inflationary policies to attempt to revive and overcome economic difficulties. Based on the historical record (even ignoring cases of foreign inflationary experiences like Zimbabwe, Wiemar Germany, and others) from the 1770′s on, inflationary policies have ultimately failed every time they have been tried.

It’s worth recalling Einstein’s definition of insanity as expecting a different outcome from repeating the same procedure over and over again.

By that definition, our current liberal financial managers are a perfect casebook illustration of the Michael Savage observation that “Liberalism is a mental disorder.”

NY Federal Judge Strikes Down ‘Indefinite Detention’ Provision in NDAA

It’s nice to know that the Constitution still trumps Kafkaesque legislative acts of tyranny.

An anti-terrorism law was struck down Wednesday by a federal judge who said she saw legitimate fears in claims by journalists, scholars and political activists that they could face indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled that the law, passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, was unconstitutional. She said the government has softened its position toward those who filed suit challenging the law, but she said the “shifting view” could not erase the threat of indefinite military detention. She urged Congress to make the law more specific or consider whether it is needed at all.

“First Amendment rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be legislated away,” Forrest wrote. “This Court rejects the Government’s suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention.”

The Chief sees no other possible outcome for this…assuming that we still want to have constitutional government.

“That is no small question bandied about amongst lawyers and a judge steeped in arcane questions of constitutional law; it is a question of defining an individual’s core liberties,” she said.

She questioned in her 112-page opinion whether a news article perceived as favorable to the Taliban and garnering support for the Taliban could be considered to have “substantially supported” the Taliban?

“How about a YouTube video? Where is the line between what the government would consider “journalistic reporting” and “propaganda?” she asked. “Who will make such determinations? Will there be an office established to read articles, watch videos, and evaluate speeches in order to make judgments along a spectrum of where the support is ‘modest’ or ‘substantial?’”

Russians Say Anti-U.S. Attack in Libya Vindicates Their Position

Upon learning of the violent death of the United States ambassador to Libya on Wednesday, many Russians responded with variations on “I told you so.”

Russia has long argued that the West should not support popular uprisings against dictatorships in the Middle East lest Islamic fundamentalism take hold.

They just may have a pretty good point…one they say they learned the hard way…in Afghanistan.

Britain and US ‘have no moral right to prevent Israel acting against Iran’

Content in reports from the London Telegraph that is typically missing from  US lamestream media.

US and UK essentially tell Netanyahu: go slow, or better yet, just go away without standing up to Adolf Ahmadinejad:

Benjamin Netanyahu denounced American and British efforts to restrain Israel from striking Iran, saying that no-one had a “moral right” to prevent his country from acting against a mortal threat.

Meanwhile, in addition to admonitions from both the Brit PM and Hilary C, there are dueling reports concerning the willingness/unwillingness of B.O.’s willingness to meet with Netanyahu.

Based on the reported details, it sure looks like The One is more than willing to throw Israel under the bus in the name not not being willing to rock the Islamist’s boat. What else is new?

Obama warns ‘unelected’ Supreme Court against striking down health law

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law — while repeatedly saying he’s “confident” it will be upheld….The president, adopting what he described as the language of conservatives who fret about judicial activism, questioned how an “unelected group of people” could overturn a law approved by Congress

The Supreme Court is merely “an unelected group of people”?! Well, yes, that’s the way the Constitution sets it up, the last time I looked. Article II Section 2, and Article III section 1. Of course if one has the view that anything that limits the grandiose sweep of executive power is a mere archaism that should be ignored at will, then this WOULD be annoying. (Tough rocks, B.O. – you’re not First General Party Secretary, or Reichsfuhrer…at least not yet!)

AS for the bit about “judicial activism”…there is also a fundamental error in that also.  “Judicial activism” is extending the Constitution to say or do something that is beyond the bounds of what is Constitutionally stated as being a part of the powers granted to the government.  It is NOT, as in the present case, applying the standard of the Constitution to determine whether an act at issue is constitutionally granted.  As the prez goes on with his pseudo-reasoning he then states:

“I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” Obama said.

At BEST this is wildly disingenuous; at worst he’s totally immersed in some form of governmental psychosis where his view of the reality of constitutional review, established in the early days of the republic by Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison 5 US 137 (1803). Laws have been overturned on average of about every 16 months or so since then…not QUITE unprecedented OR extraordinary.

…and Obama claims to have been a constitutional scholar? Really?

If he came up with today’s comment as a submission in a H.S. history or government class that I was teaching, it would earn an “F” grade, for having missed the whole main point that applies in this situation.

If you don’t get the above Latin,  you’re on-line, find it for yourself!

GSA chief resigns amid reports of excessive spending

The chief of the General Services Administration resigned, two of her top deputies were fired and four managers were placed on leave Monday amid reports of lavish spending at a conference off the Las Vegas Strip that featured a clown, a mind reader and a $31,208 reception.

Administrator Martha N. Johnson, in her resignation letter, acknowledged a “significant misstep” at the agency that manages real estate for the federal government. “Taxpayer dollars were squandered,” she wrote. At the start of her tenure in February 2010 she called ethics “a big issue for me.”

…and this from the agency that is supposedly the watchdog to prevent inappropriate use of government funds and resources. Yeah. Right. (Refer again to the Latin tag.)

Visualizing this “conference” brings to mind part of the trailer I saw for the current film The Death Games.

Destroy all churches
Obama silent while Saudi grand mufti targets Christianity

If the pope called for the destruction of all the mosques in Europe, the uproar would be cataclysmic. Pundits would lambaste the church, the White House would rush out a statement of deep concern, and rioters in the Middle East would kill each other in their grief. But when the most influential leader in the Muslim world issues a fatwa to destroy Christian churches, the silence is deafening.

And this is a problem with B.O. how?

The White House has placed international outreach to Muslims at the center of its foreign policy in an effort to promote the image of the United States as an Islam-friendly nation. This cannot come at the expense of standing up for the human rights and religious liberties of minority groups in the Middle East. The region is a crucial crossroads. Islamist radicals…are testing the waters in their relationship with the outside world, looking for signals of how far they can go in imposing their radical vision of a Shariah-based theocracy. Ignoring provocative statements like the mufti’s sends a signal to these groups that they can engage in the same sort of bigotry and anti-Christian violence with no consequences.
Mr. Obama’s outreach campaign to the Muslim world has failed to generate the good will that he expected.

DUH!

In part, this was because he felt it was better to pander to prejudice than to command respect.

DUH, again!

When members of the Islamic establishment call for the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing, the leader of the free world must respond or risk legitimizing the oppression that follows. The United States should not bow to the extremist dictates of the grand mufti, no matter how desperate the White House is for him to like us.

True, but too late with the warning. Stuff like this contrinutes to polling results showing that many state that B.O. is really Muslim. By their fruits ye shall know them? Just sayin’…

Harold Camping, rapture prophet: ‘We were wrong’

The 90-year-old Alameda preacher who convinced hundreds of followers that the world was going to end last May now acknowledges he was wrong.

“Events in the last year have proved that no man can be fully trusted,” Harold Camping wrote in a letter Thursday to listeners of his evangelical Family Radio program. “Even the most zealous of us can be mistaken.”

Camping went on to state:
“We have learned the very painful lesson that all of creation is in God’s hands and he will end time in his time, not ours!
Maybe he should have read his Bible a bit more…in Matthew 24 Jesus Christ talks at some length of future dire apocalyptic events, but in v.39 warns us “But of the day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Seems pretty simple and clear to me.

US offered Israel advanced weaponry in exchange for delaying Iran attack

Instead of drumming up a war to meet the needs of the political moment, B.O. is trying to drum up a fake temporary “peace(?)” or something that could pass for it to the undiscriminating.

Now, what could be the motivation for THAT? Hmmmm. Oh, here it it, right in the article:

Under the proposed deal, Israel would not attack Iran until 2013, after US elections in November this year.

Such a deal for Israel. Yeah, right!

The ‘Top 5’ Most Loved and Hated States

Least liked: California.

Most liked: Hawaii // South Dakota ranked 4th most liked. Not bad at all.

Received from an e-mail correspondent:

Subject: Irony

The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever.

Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to “please do not feed the animals” because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.

This is just too obvious!

New bill takes shot at removing concealed weapon permit requirement

Unlike the first version bill (HB 1015), the current version (HB 1248) looks like a winner so far.

I like it! Of course permits will still be de rigueur for travel out of state (in states that grant reciprocity to SD).

Navy ship-naming by Secretary mired in controversy

The USS Medgar Evers? The USS John Murtha? The USS Cesar Chavez?

The SECNAV has been turning new naval construction into a series of unpaid political advertisement…what is known in the ad world as “product placement” on a previously unimaginable scale.

Our Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus, has this diversity thing down cold. Each one of those ships was in a class that previous names of their sister ships had nothing to do with civil rights, or corrupt Democratic politicians. Ships are usually named after states, cities, even famous explorers and war heroes.

But Mabus has injected partisanship into this tradition, naming another ship for Democrat Gabriel Giffords, who has shown courage in her recovery from an assassination attempt but had expressed little interest in the military during her career on Capitol Hill.

As a retired Navy Chief, this form of political spoils is disrespectful of the traditions of the service that the Secretary is supposed to at least support and respect. Unfortunately, it’s just par for the course for the most blatantly anti-military administration in the history of the republic.

At least the blowback from this has apparently attracted even Mabus’ attention:

Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition
Recent choices drew criticism

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, under fire from Congress and veterans for naming ships after fellow Democrats and social activists, plans to announce another round of ship names in the near future that will be more traditional, a Pentagon official tells The Washington Times.

The official said Mr. Mabus has chosen names for five surface ships – three for war heroes and two for locations. Ships typically are named after states and cities.

“I think they would be more consistent with what most people would say traditions and naming conventions are,” the official said.

Of course, according to the SECNAV’s mouthpiece the objections to the prior politically biased naming had nothing to do with any change.

Asked whether this was a response to criticism, the official said: “It isn’t. I think if you look at these five additional ships, I think you’ll see examples that are very traditional.” The official said three ships would be named after highly decorated Navy or Marine Corps personnel.

Yeah, right!

Mr. Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, broke with Navy conventions in the past three years when he named an amphibious ship, two cargo ships and a littoral combat ship after two social activists and two fellow Democrats.

What really added insult to injury was the naming of the USS John Murtha…after the Murtha-f’er, without evidence, falsely accused Marines of murder in Iraq. (Charges were not substantiated in later proceedings.) What an insult to the Marines, and to the fleet. I pity the Sailors who will have to serve aboard ships with no Naval tradition or pride in their ship’s name.

Prof. Dershowitz calls Media Matters ‘Stalinist’

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who was a key supporter of Obama in 2008, told WOR710 today that he could not vote for President Obama’s re-election unless the president cuts ties with the controversial anti-Israel group Media Matters. He also warned that Obama’s association with Media Matters – which was raised by the Daily Caller in an investigative series this week – will lose him support in the pro-Israel community:…

He went on to state unequivocally that he could not and would not ever vote for anyone associated with Media Matters (like Obama) who did not clearly and fully repudiate said organization and its running-mates.

Dr. Dershowitz must have gotten a really good cup of reality…but then, as a strong supporter of the existence of Israel, Samuel Johnson’s observation about the prospect of immanent hanging having a tremendous effect in focusing one’s mine. In any case, welcome him to the daylight!

Obama King Herod of His Day?

Someday it will go down as one of history’s most indelible ironies: the man who imposed birth control on Catholics was one without a valid birth certificate or any other kind of provable identity.

This is how future generations will read about how it all happened:

Read the article…the comparison is instructive.

Jesus wept!

Sen. DeMint: “We don’t have shared goals with the Democrats”

Simple and to the point!

Here’s Sen. Jim DeMint talking with bloggers after opening CPAC. During his speech he said cautioned Republicans in Congress on compromising with Democrats.

“Compromise works well in this world when you have shared goals,” he said. “We don’t have shared goals with the Democrats.”

“Elementary my dear Watson!”

LAPD Pioneers High-Tech Crime-Fighting ‘War Room’

The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world and KCAL9 got an exclusive tour inside from Chief Charlie Beck. “We are targets on our own soil,” says Beck. “We have to be ready.”…

What began as a grass roots idea following the 9/11 terrorist attacks is now a state-of-the-art Real-time Analysis Critical Response center. It’s called the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) RACR, and it’s located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

“This is a system that cuts through the red tape, that gets information to the people that need it,” says Chief Beck. He calls it “the brains of the department, Twenty Four twenty-four/seven.”

Police in the activity center monitor live feeds of city and traffic cameras, counter-terrorism information, and real-time crime mapping, with cutting edge software inspired by Fox Television’s “24″.

…er…disclosure: some of the above may not be exactly true…but fortunately the Chief was able to catch this material in the edit…although it was emotionally tough to red-line it! Oh well.

H/T to Jack Bauer.

Federal Judge Dismisses PETA Lawsuit Claiming SeaWorld Whales Are Slaves

An effort to free whales from SeaWorld by claiming they were enslaved made a splash in the news but flopped in court Wednesday….A federal judge in San Diego dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit seeking to grant constitutional protection against slavery to a group of orcas that perform at SeaWorld parks, saying the 13th amendment applies only to humans.

What? What sort of logic did he use that was apparently something that PETA was/is unable to comprehend.

“As ‘slavery’ and ‘involuntary servitude’ are uniquely human activities, as those terms have been historically and contemporaneously applied, there is simply no basis to construe the Thirteenth Amendment as applying to non-humans,” Miller wrote in his ruling.

A big “DUH!” for PETA.

Ayatollah: Kill all Jews, annihilate Israel
Iran lays out legal case for genocidal attack against ‘cancerous tumor’

The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people.

The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide.

Just some spouting off of another cracked-pot Imam, right? Guess again:

The article, written by Alireza Forghani, a conservative analyst and a strategy specialist in [Grand Ayatollah] Khamenei’s camp, now is being run on most state-owned conservative sites, including the Revolutionary Guards’ Fars News Agency, showing that the regime endorses this doctrine….On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the “cancerous tumor” of Israel. Though his statement was seen by some in the West as fluff, there is substance behind it.

Some “in the west” said that Mein Kampf was fluff too…until 1939. (By the way, in this context it’s worth noting that the literal, direct translation of the title of Adolf’s book is al Jihad and it’s a best seller in the Arab world these days…but I digress.)
The following is also of relevant interest:

The Iranian secret documentary “The Coming Is Upon Us” clearly indicates that these radicals believe the destruction of Israel will trigger the coming of the last Islamic Messiah and that even Jesus Christ, who will convert to Islam, will act as Mahdi’s deputy, praying to Allah as he stands behind the 12th Imam.

See the video:

Noted from the Pierre Capital Journal:

Professionals meet to discuss environmental literacy

This virtually reeks of the long-standing progressive paradigm. Liberal/Progressives gotta love this approach. It sounds so…nice, who could possibly object?

A group of seven professionals – all holding positions that touch the environment in some way…

Foxes guarding the henhouse: all have a vested interest in the environmental bureaucratic industry.

…pondered ways to teach children about the natural world Wednesday at the South Dakota Discovery Center.

OK. This COULD be either a good or bad thing. The devil is in the details…some of the following details don’t give cause for optimism.

They attended a session that’s part of the Discovery Center’s effort to create an environmental literacy plan that can be used widely throughout the state. The center is tapping a grant by the Environmental Protection Agency to create resources for parents, superintendents, teachers and others in a position to teach children about the environment, said Anne Lewis the special projects director of the Discovery Center.

Hmmmm. EPA? By its record, not exactly a source of balanced information these days.

Marie Steckelberg, with Steckelberg Consulting, in Yankton, led the discussion by asking questions designed to elicit views about environmental education. Steckelberg said she’d taught science education at the University of South Dakota.

Let’s see. Ms. Steckelberg has an EdD – an Education Doctorate, and as noted in the article she taught science education…NOT the same thing as science. One other notable thing from her professional website is an expertise in grant writing…how to leap through the hoops of bureaucracy in order to gain access to the Federal cash spigot.

One of the participants, Paul Lepisto, is the regional conservation coordinator for the Izaak Walton League of America.

There are some good programs that the League promotes. There is also an orientation towards limiting and restricting access to needed resources, including energy resources. May be a wash overall, but based on this setting it seems like another progressive front, albeit a rather mild one compared to some other advocacy groups.

He said his goal was to draw a different kind of attention to nature. “(The more) we can do to get kids more in tune with the environment and natural resources and the love of spending time outdoors, the better,” he said.

Uh, anyone think about what the Boy Scouts do with this stuff? Ooops. Sorry. Not politically correct. My bad!

Lewis said a catalyst for an environmental literacy plan was a 2009 federal bill called “No Child Left Inside.” States with their own plans, she said, would be eligible to receive federal money if the legislation passed.

Ah yes…the prospect for a place at the Federal cash teat! If only that pesky Congress would realize the importance of this vital conditioning educational program and pass the bill…!

The legislation has languished, Lewis said,…

Oh, rats! (sarcasm alert!)

…but she noted the value for creating such plans nonetheless – and she said there were some other funding opportunities.

Yeah, maybe B.O. can figure out a way to call it stimulus, or something. If the Feds can cough up the cash, we’ll be waiting to do the job (and of course get a sweet pay package out of it all for planning and administrating this bit of progressive conditioning education.

A goal, she said, is “to help guide people in their sphere to develop environmental literacy skills.”

Translation: We experts will educate all you yahoos out there, and only after we shove down your throats give you an appreciation for OUR view of “environmental literacy skills” will you too be fit to enter the participatory process.

By the way, searching the web tells one that the above-mentioned “No Child Left Behind” is presented in best left/lib/progressive terminolgy as “a movement”.