I’ll let the Salon article speak for itself, but I’d suggest those who see the South as the center of racism and the North as enlightened take a few breaths before reading.

There is a brewing controversy involving Food Network personality Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa. According to multiple media reports she has turned down a request from a sick, possibly dying six year old boy to cook with her. In fact she turned the request down twice. In her defense there are reports from Make A Wish that she does fill wishes and she certainly does have a busy schedule. I partly post this story because *IF* it is true that she has been this callous with an ill...

If you haven’t been following the road to the Final Four this year has been one of the most unusual in recent memory. Not only is there no #1 seed in the final four there is also no #2 seed either and that has never happened before. Or to put it another way, on ESPN they have 5.9 million people post their bracket picks. As of now, there are just 844 who have it right… So already 99.9% of those brackets are out.

Sad yet hopeful. Stunningly powerful. And thankfully, a bit of the wish has been granted.

The Canadian Parliament has approved a motion of no confidence in the government by a vote of 156-145. Under the Canadian system this means that the Government of Stephen Harper has fallen and an election campaign will go forward. Canada has been operating under a minority government for the last 5 years, so it was not entirely stunning that a united opposition of Liberalds, New Democrats and Bloq Quebecois would result in a defeat. However this is only the 6th such vote in the last 144 years and...

Almost as soon as word broke that Elizabeth Taylor had died at the age of 79 came reports that the hate mongers (I will not use the word Christian in relation to them) wanted to protest the funeral. I guess they didn’t bother to research Jewish law, which requires a funeral right after death. The services have already been held. Score one for Darwin.

The media has been having a field day reporting on the incident at Reagan National Airport where an air traffic controller on overnight duty seems to have fallen asleep, although he says the mike stuck. The report led Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to order 2 controllers at all times at Reagan and has caused many panic stricken newscasts. But was it really that big of a deal ? Now as always the disclaimer that I am not an expert in the sense of being a pilot, but aviation is a topic interest...

One of the more stunning statistics out of the census. Certainly we knew Detroit had been on a long term decline but I’m not sure it was expected that they would have such a huge drop. The state of Michigan also saw a drop in population and it appears to be the only state to have actually lost people.

Note: This post got somewhat mangled for some reason but has been updated and corrected. One of the major events of US military policy in the last part of the 20th century was the passage of the War Powers Act of 1973. In brief the act requires that if a President is going to commit US forces that he must obtain the consent of Congress. This would seem to have been an unnecessary action since the Constitution clearly grants the power to wage war to the President, but that same document grants the...

One of the side aspects to the crisis in Japan has been the very orderly reaction of the public to the crisis, a reaction which (had it occurred somewhere else) we might have even termed ‘Japanese’ in nature. Japan has long been a society of conformity and the people have maintained a faith in the truth and honesty of the government that hasn’t been seen in the US for decades (if not longer). But it may be that there are cracks emerging in that wall of trust. When the government...

NHK, the main Japanese news network can be viewed live on the net. Main Site Backup Site

A few days back I posted about the tragic loss suffered by a Michigan high school when their star basketball player died just after carrying the team to an undefeated season. Well today we have a little joy to report as the team won the championship, with their newest brother at their side. Mitchell Leonard is the younger brother of Wes Leonard, the fallen teammate and although he is only in eight grade and not on the team, he has become the adopted brother of everyone. In a week marked by tragic...

ESPN is just now reporting that the NFL will announce a lockout tonight, possibly meaning that there will be no football for the 11-12 season. I’m not big fan nor do I really dislike football, but I have to say this prospect of billionaires and millionaires yelling at each other like little kids does not make me care for the lockout (other than for the many players who don’t make millions and will really be hurt. Ditto to the regular employees).

This post is a rework of one I made about two or three years ago. Given the events in the Middle East and word that the revolt in Libya may be fading, I thought it worth reposting. I am quite sure that the title to this posting caused some of you to gasp or express outrage over the idea that something as inherently evil as American (and/or Bush or Obama etc) Foreign Policy could be too moral but I would ask you to hear me out. My original post was prompted by the fact that I was watching a series...

As always when disasters like this strike we have to watch not only for the best in people (as seen in the rescue workers) but also the worst. One of the worst aspects of these kinds of events is when crooks and scam artists start up fake charities to scam money from us. If you want to help the victims either in Japan or here in the US, be sure to donate to a well recognized charity like the Red Cross and make sure you go to them. Don’t give money to telemarketers or other possible scammers.

Reports now indicating at least one fatality has occurred when a bystander in California was swept out to sea by the waves. Amid the damage and destruction caused by the 8.9 quake in Japan is devastation of boats and docks all along the Pacific coast. Living in Northern California I am able to watch the local coverage and in places like Santa Cruz, Crescent and Moro Bay we are seeing millions of dollars in damages. Much like with Katrina, there were early hopes that the damage would not be too bad...

Amid the coverage of the horrible tragedy in Japan we are hearing stories saying that the experts now think that Libyan strongman Ghadaffi will prevail and stay in power. Yesterday a top US intelligence officer said that he thinks the dictator will prevail and talk of no fly zones are now fading, even as some European governments move to recognize the rebels. It could be the wave of revolt is ebbing

An earthquake measuring 7.9  (new reports now say 8.8) on the Richter scale has struck Japan. The quake was centered 60-80 miles off the coast nearest to the Miyagi Prefecture. Reports are of a 24 km depth which is relatively shallow. There are reports that a tsunami could have been created, possibly as high as 20 feet and of course this could come in several waves. Areas all over the Western Pacific could be impacted by the tsunami. At this point it does not appear there was major damage on the...

Perhaps the first of many to recognize the new government of Libya.

I think wow pretty much sums it up. 1906 Quake Color Photos