Blog Heap of Links for the day 9 April 2011

There is no doubt here at all, unless you are a clueless and insecure liberal. The Commander-In-Chief had come out and said he would veto troop pay. He was checkmated right then and there.

Make no mistake: The knock-down, drag-out battle in Wisconsin is based on total self-interest, pushing for past privileges, recast as workers' "rights" that ultimately could bankrupt that state. One would think "collective bargaining rights" are immutable, found in the Bill of Rights, or in The Universal Rights of Man, to hear the public union officials and their lackeys in the Legislature. It is simply not so. No matter how often the Orwellian construction of "rights" is flung to describe collective bargaining, it does not make it so. A lie, a mantra repeated incessantly, is not truth, no matter how fervently held.

If the federal government shuts down come Friday, House Speaker John Boehner may be in for quite a mess at his Washington, D.C. residence if some Facebook users have their way. A Facebook event, entitled "If Boehner shuts down the government I am taking my trash to his house," has popped up and is gaining steam as the shutdown showdown ramps up on Capitol Hill. If the federal government shuts down, one of the District's services that will stop is trash pickup. "Speaker John Boehner is ready to shut down the government, including District of Columbia city services like trash collection," it says on the page. "Well, if he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM." [At least these jerks are ADMITTING they are the politics of GARBAGE!]

Prior to the election, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus was heavily criticized for her decision to keep the county results on an antiquated personal computer, rather than upgrade to a new data system being utilized statewide. Nickolaus cited security concerns for keeping the data herself — yet when she reported the data, it did not include the City of Brookfield, whose residents cast nearly 14,000 votes.

Total number of rockets, mortars fired from Gaza reaches over 70; 15 Grads fired overnight; Hamas commander killed in IDF strike on Gaza.

Even as the House voted to repeal federal Internet access rules Friday, top Democratic policymakers called free and open communications a vital part of American democracy. Speaking at Free Press's National Conference for Media Reform, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she was pleased by Democratic opposition to the GOP-backed resolution, which cleared the House Friday afternoon. The resolution would nullify Federal Communications Commission net neutrality regulations that aim to prevent Internet service providers from blocking certain websites. "No one should be guarding the gate on the Internet," Pelosi said. [My doublespeak dictionary is wearing out] Critics of the regulations say they unnecessarily interfere in the private market. Republicans who sponsored the House legislation argued that the FCC overstepped its authority to enact rules that aren't needed.

Authorities say a small plane carrying four people has crashed into a storage facility in Ventura County.... caught fire after going down... Three... with minor injuries. One... in serious condition....

Brazilian police say they've arrested two men in connection to a school shooting in Rio that left at least 12 students dead... ne of the men allegedly put the gunman in touch with the other, who allegedly sold the gunman a pistol used in the shooting...

Attacker opened fire with machine gun before shooting himself in crowded mall in suburb of Alphen aan den Rijn near Amsterdam... At least five people have died ... described as a 25-year-old white male with blonde hair who wearing a leather jacket and camouflage pants.... Four of the wounded are in critical condition, five were in serious condition and at least two others were slightly wounded,,,,

A powerful blast that launched an improvised missile through the roof of a Jewish synagogue in Santa Monica, Calif., was determined late Friday to be a deliberate attack with an improvised explosive and not an accident as police originally thought. … [60yo] transient who regularly sought charity from members of the synagogue and community center is wanted as a suspect by an FBI and police task force.

Nine people have been shot, one killed after a gunman opened fire in a hall filled with teenagers in Philadelphia. The victims were celebrating the 18th birthday of a girl,

The gunman who allegedly opened fire in a Rio de Janeiro school this morning, killing 12 children before shooting himself, left behind a suicide note asking for forgiveness and revealing that he had HIV

But the over-arching theme is getting government to fix the media. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, whose school also includes the well-known and partly Soros-funded Columbia School of Journalism, is one of several speakers advocating for increased government funding for media. He called for federal funding of the media in a 2010 Wall Street Journal piece with the terrifying headline: "Journalism Needs Government Help." Bollinger pushed for the creation of a public media that combines NPR, PBS and Voice of America. He also wants to "end to the regulation of 'indecent' language and images in broadcast programming" and return to the Fairness Doctrine.

Attorney for Fort Hood Jihadi, Major Hasan: "Delays are due to prosecution/White House refusal to disclose evidence. Blame them for the delays."

The feeble 75-year-old was discovered stranded alone in his small farmhouse on Friday, surrounded by fallen trees, dead pigs and garbage strewn by the deadly March 11 tsunami in Japan. He doesn't know where his wife is, and his neighbors have all fled his city of Minami Soma because it's within the 12-mile zone of a radiation-leaking plant. Authorities had ordered evacuations but Shiga, who has trouble walking, and was unable to leave... 'The tsunami came right up to my doorstep," he recounted. "I don't know what happened to my wife. She was here, but now she's gone."... "I'm old," he said from his home. 'I don't know if I could leave here. Who would take care of me?"

"Some will go toward Hawaiian beaches, and other parts will slip between islands and return to the garbage patch, to return the next time," Maximenko said in an interview. "It is safe to say after five years Hawaii will be the main coastline impacted by this debris." ... Its longer-term destination will be the garbage patch, an area of light winds perhaps twice the size of Texas....

The appearance of "naked" penguins -- afflicted with what is known as feather-loss disorder -- in penguin colonies on both sides of the South Atlantic in recent years has scientists puzzled as to what could be causing the condition.

An Alaska Airlines flight Saturday from Sacramento to Hawaii returned to Sacramento safely after suffering engine trouble from a bird strike...

The Navy identified Thursday the two crew members who died when their F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed during a training flight in central California.... The Navy identified Thursday the two crew members who died when their F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed during a training flight in central California.....