Sleepless in Midland

Bumper Sticker Politics

Being a Democrat means accepting contradictions. For example, take a look at these bumper stickers on one vehicle. They might be on the rear window, but they are bumper stickers first and foremost.

The top one says:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin

Must be an old one, but it sounds very libertarian. That slogan gained popularity after the attack on the twin towers as the Patriot Act, the TSA, and all sorts of restrictions became part of our daily lives. George W. Bush was president then, but once Democrats regained the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House we would be free people again. Right? At least that was the hope and change promised in the campaign.

Freedom is a wonderful thing, but Americans have given up so much that we are like the quintessential boiled frogs.

Let's skip to the bottom sticker:

"Mean people breed little mean people."

This is the one that got my attention, and I didn't even notice the others until I enlarged the photo. It's a rather controversial theory, but there are a smattering of studies supporting the proposition that some people have a genetic disposition toward criminal behavior. So is the person who put the sticker there merely making a statement or advocating for a cure? The cure, in this case, is worse than the disease, and it's just a tiny bit contradictory to bumper sticker number one.

Sandwiched between those two, an Obama sticker:

2012
Barackobama.com

How the heck does one reconcile an Obama sticker with those other two?

The first sticker was for liberty, and President Obama has done nothing to make Americans freer. All the restrictions there were in place before he became president are still there plus many more. Ask the financial, automobile and healthcare industries if they are freer than they were four years ago. In fact, with ObamaCare he turned up the heat under the frogs so high it triggered a splash-back that might just make him a one term president.

As for the eugenics sticker, President Obama hasn't made any public statements on the issue, as far as I know, other than to encourage abortion. Democrats always seem to have a boogie man, however. And one characteristic that many liberals have in common is a hostility toward people who are successful. Perhaps it's resentment for their own lack of skills, but their boogie man is typically someone who has been economically successful and doesn't agree with the liberal agenda. And he won't share what he earned with those who lack his skills. He's that mean.

So here's the way to reconcile all of these stickers. Sure, the vehicle owner favors liberty and freedom. But not for everyone. Those rich mean people should be punished by having their wealth removed. And if they breed little mean offspring, a death tax should be big enough to cut them down to size. Obama 2012.

John Klassen at the 2012 MPD awards ceremony

Last night the Midland Police Department held its 20th annual awards ceremony at the Midland Country Club where some of Midland's finest were celebrated for their accomplishments during the year just past.

Chief attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Midland, John Klassen, was the keynote speaker, and he gave a brilliant and very relevant talk.

Mr. Klassen attended school at Columbia University in time to see New York City reap the benefits of James Q. Wilson's Broken Windows theory. And he was convinced.

The broken windows theory is very simple. If there's one broken window in a building, and it doesn't get fixed, they all will eventually be broken. Address problems while they are small, and they don't become big problems. Back when squeegee men made driving a nuisance, and fare beaters jumped the turnstiles, respect for the law declined. The crime rate increased, and honest citizens felt insecure. So Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton put the broken windows theory into practice and significantly improved the lives of New Yorkers. That's a lesson Mr. Klassen took to heart.

There is an emphasis on U.S. Attorneys, Mr. Klassen said, to go for the big stuff. Prosecute the major crimes, and get the headlines. That's important, but that means de-emphasizing the smaller things. There's that broken window theory again -- ignore the small problems, and before long you've got big problems. So Mr. Klassen doesn't ignore the small stuff, and he believes it pays off.

Another theory Mr. Klassen discussed was deterrence. If someone is thinking about breaking a law, there's a rational thought process going on. But the possibility of a long sentence doesn't seem to matter. What does matter is swiftness and certainty of punishment.

As a good attorney, Mr. Klassen has had offers to work elsewhere, but he enjoys working in Midland and wants to continue living here. One has to wonder what the transition must have been like when he moved from New York City to Midland. But here he is. And taking him at his word, he likes it.

Having worked with the police he had complimentary words for the police department. And whether it's the broken windows theory or the swiftness and certainty of arrest and punishment, the Midland Police Department has made the city a nice place to live.

The police officers and civilian who were awarded last night have done a lot to make Midland the city it is. And we the citizens have benefited greatly from the high quality of police officers in the MPD.

Cold case got hot -- another suspect indicted in murder case in which Michael Morton was exonerated

Remember Michael Morton? He was the fellow who was released last year after serving 25 years for his wife's murder when DNA evidence was found to belong to someone else.

That DNA was found 100 yards from the crime scene on a bandana that also contained the victim's blood. A man named Mark Norwood is alleged to be the owner of said DNA.  And a Williamson County Grand Jury has indicted Mr. Norwood -- see TexasTribune.org. Mr. Norwood's attorney says he's innocent.

Here's where it gets really interesting. The M.O. in Mrs. Morton's murder was very similar to other murders in the area where Mr. Norwood lived. And last year someone else was convicted on circumstantial evidence for one of those murders. Could that have also been a wrongful conviction? The Travis County D.A. may be looking into that one.

Thank goodness those District Attorneys are entertaining the possibility that some of the people that get convicted might be innocent. Contrast that with controversy surrounding the Harris County District Attorney.

And if that's not enough, Prosecutorial Oversight issued a news release today saying that:

From 2004 to 2008, courts found that prosecutors committed error in 91 [Texas criminal] cases. Of these, the courts upheld the conviction in 72 of the cases, finding that the error was “harmless.” In 19 of the cases, the court ruled that the error was “harmful” and reversed the conviction. From 2004 until November 2011, only one prosecutor was publicly disciplined by the Texas Bar Association, and this was from a case that arose before 2004.

The Texas Bar Association might not be the best arbiter in cases involving prosecutorial misconduct, however.

As for Ken Anderson, the prosecutor in Michael Morton's case, he's headed for a court of inquiry scheduled for September 11 regarding accusations that he withheld evidence that a jury could have used to decide Mr. Morton was not guilty. Mr. Anderson, now a Williamson County state district judge, says he's innocent.

How to tell if your airline pilot has cracked up

The JetBlue pilot running up and down the aisle must have been a frightening thing for the passengers to witness. That's a scene none of us want to see first hand. So as a public service, we here at Sleepless in Midland would like to help future passengers size up the situation and determine ahead of time whether their pilot is crazy.

Top ten signs your pilot has lost it:

1. Pilot says, "If the TSA didn't grope you, please grope yourself prior to takeoff."

2. You get a glimpse of a manuscript he is writing, and all it says is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," over and over, page after page.

3. Pilot says, "It's OK to turn on your electrical devices during take off and landing. I don't care!"

4. Pilot says, "Hey folks I'm going to hit the eject button. You all brought your parachutes, didn't you?"

5. You overhear him asking a soldier if he can borrow some C-4 to take home for Christmas.

6. Pilot says, "Having a nice trip? I sure am. LSD with coffee is one heck of a flight prep. Whoa, look at that cloud!"

7. through 10. Pilot says, "Can't talk ... 300 pound man ... sitting on me."

Nine year old summoned for jury duty in Massachusetts -- is he also registered to vote?

Eric Holder is hot to stop Texas' voter ID law because he's afraid there will be people who can't vote because of it, and he is probably right. But most rational observers assume it's all about partisan politics, and the people prevented from voting were not eligible to vote anyway.

So along comes this interesting news item from CapeCodOnline.com via Legal Blog Watch. A nine year old Massachusetts kid got a jury duty summons. They explain that the names were taken from the census and someone must have guessed wrong at his birthday. And that raises a question.

Was the kid registered to vote?

It's not hard to register there. PewCenterOnTheStates.org says this:

Massachusetts -- First-time voters who register by mail and do not provide ID verification with registration application - photo and non-photo ID accepted

Acceptable identification must include your name and the address at which you are registered to vote, for example: a current and valid driver’s license, photo identification, current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or other government document showing your name and address. Source: State Voter Guide

Emphasis mine.

That State Voter Guide directs prospective voters to the National Voter Registration Form which contains this unedited instruction for filling out the form:

Box 4 — Date of Birth
Put in this box your date of birth in this order —
Month, Day, Year. Be careful not to use today’s date!

Note the helpful hint in italics (theirs). Better yet: Be careful not to use a date that is fewer than18 years ago!

As for acceptable identification, a "current utility bill" must be a favorite. Although we would never do it, except to make a point, it doesn't appear to be too hard to take a real utility bill and with a little computer manipulation, change the name.

So the next time you vote in Massachusetts, don't step on a child.

Marriage advice for people who marry dead people

Not everyone would want to marry a dead person. But it happens. This one took place last January in Thailand. See Surin Man Married His Dead Girlfriend:

After having been through thick and thin with Sarinya for over a decade, Deff stood by his promise and married her in a bittersweet ceremony.

"Bittersweet." Shouldn't that be "sweet and sour?"

Moving right along, it's off to Paris. Woman to wed slain French soldier posthumously --  the soldier was murdered, and his pregnant girlfriend still wants to tie the knot:

Such ceremonies are unusual but not unheard of in France, where the law allow posthumous marriages in cases where a fiance dies before the wedding. The law states that such weddings can only be approved by the French president "in grave circumstances."

Being internet busy bodies, don't we have a duty to give them advice? Of course we do. Here goes:

Don't get angry when your spouse won't do chores.

Be tolerant of body odor.

Don't get frisky until after the embalming.

Don't assume that just because they are deceased you can marry a second spouse. Get proper legal advice first.

Thank them for not nagging.

Finally and most importantly, apply for spouse's death benefits.

Congratulations, til death do you part.

As for Woman plans to marry partially demolished warehouse in gay marriage ceremony, now that's just plain weird. Stick with the intact warehouses.

Movie archery in Hunger Games

The big movie of the weekend is "The Hunger Games" which is supposed to be raking in the big money. Good for them, and good for the economy.

It looks like one of those movies which you shouldn't watch too closely or else you see something that just couldn't be. But that's OK. That particular characteristic has been a component of every science fiction movie since A Trip to the Moon.

But ordinary stuff should be presented correctly, otherwise the viewer just can't stop thinking about it. For example, take a look at this promo photo of Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine holding a bow and arrow.

Great photo. But look at this closeup of her left hand.

The arrow appears to be resting on the sleeve of her jacket. I'm not an archer, but that just doesn't look like a good way to shoot an arrow. Looks more like an actress who doesn't care where the arrow lands and who wants to protect her hands from feather burn.

Meanwhile, stay hungry.

Advertising humor -- Most Germans own a second property, called Greece

This is supposed to be a real ad for The Spectator. Via BlameItOnTheVoices.com.

It says, "Most Germans own a second property. It's called Greece." The Spectator probably doesn't have a huge American audience. But a more localized version might look like this:

So should we be worried about the huge federal government debt yet, or should we keep kicking the can down the road? Most Americans have crossed their fingers and are looking at the election in 2012 as a first step toward an antidote to the spending epidemic that has afflicted our elected officials.

When human performed movie stunts, not computers

There was a time not too long ago in movie making history when real humans performed real stunts, not like today's movies in which scenes are either generated on a computer or edited with scenes so short that the viewer's mind conveniently fills in the missing parts.

This comes to mind as the TV screens are filled with news of customers salivating in anticipation of The Hunger Games movie.

There was a time when stuntmen like Hal Needham fell out of trees, fell off horses, and fell off buildings. Falling was the common factor. Gravity was his friend and his foe, and while he endured many injuries, he lived to tell about it. Listen to him in an interview on a Fresh Air podcast from last year to hear his stories.

One of the highlights of the interview was his telling of the most dangerous stunt he performed. It was in the movie "Little Big Man," and the scene was an Indian attack on a stage coach in which the hero jumped from the coach to one of the horses pulling the coach. An Indian rode up and jumped onto the horse next to him. The race was on as each man jumped from horse to horse at full gallop.

"We did that three times, but we did the whole scene 13 times," Needham says. "Here's what's really hard to believe: We had to do a standing broad jump from the back of one horse to the back of the next one over 14 feet [away]. There's no athlete, I think, that can do that standing still."

Had Needham failed, he would have been trampled, he says — and not just by the horses, but by a 4,000-pound stagecoach.

You couldn't fail," he says. "If you messed up, you were going to be in big trouble."

Hey, what do you know. Here's the scene on Youtube. Hal Needham plays the Indian, and the other guy goes unidentified.

It's probably better that humans don't have to risk life and limb for a spot in the movies like they did back then. But watching them now makes one marvel at how tough and athletic those guys were.

Obama as Captain America?

If there's a character with whom President Obama should be identified, would it be Captain America? His followers are no doubt nostalgic for the good old days, when audience members were swooning and students were totally smitten by The One.

So this caricature from Obama Poster Project seems like a blast from the past. Via Granitegrok.

See the JibJab video He's Barack Obama he's come to save the day for a refresher. Seriously, watch that video for a cartoon reminder of all the expectations his followers had of him.

As for which character with whom President Obama should be identified, I nominate Norma Desmond, the Hollywood has-been obsessed with the fame she once had.

He's Barack Obama he's tryin' to save his job.

What would the church lady do about a dog at a funeral?

This sounds like something from Dana Carvey's old church lady routine.

An 81 year old Swedish dog lover cherished Milo, the loyal family dog that kept him company during his final months on earth. And one of the gentleman's last wishes was for Milo to attend the funeral.

Nope. No dogs allowed. This comes from The Local which goes on to explain that the priest simply would not bend the rules:

“This is primarily because we have people with allergies. If we allow dogs in the church then we’ll be forced to clean up afterwards. That’s a big project for a church from the 1100’s,” ...

Aw, the clean up. If they are stuck in the 1100s maybe they don't allow plastic bags, either.

Via Arbroath.

A surreptitious peak at Clint Eastwood reality show transcript -- satire alert

Sleepless in Midland's ace reporter was dumpster diving in a posh Carmel neighborhood and found a discarded transcript from the new Clint Eastwood reality show. As follows:

Producer: OK everyone, thanks to the hospitality of the Eastwood family we just started filming our new reality show right here in their home.

Clint Eastwood: (Whisper whisper whisper.)

Producer: Huh?

Clint Eastwood: (Whisper whisper whisper.)

Clint's wife: Clint honey, you have to speak up.

Clint: (Whisper whisper whisper.)

Co-producer: I'm sorry, I can't hear a word he's saying. Mic him up.

Producer: He's already mic-ed up. Haven't you seen any of his movies? All he ever does is whisper. That's as loud as he gets.

Clint: (Whisper whisper whisper.)

Co-producer: Dammit. This won't work. We need some personality.

Producer: Relax. We only need his name. The only reason we're here is because the wife is  trying to promote a band.  We'll slip in a Kardashian from time to time to keep the viewers tuned in. After all, it ain’t Shakespeare, it's reality.

Two reasons why people hate jury duty

Reason number 1:

If the powers disagree with your verdict they'll try to shame you.

Reason number 2:

Judge is going to do what he wants anyway.

If it tastes good it's bad for you -- more red meat bad news

There was a joke from an old movie in which the people in the future scoff at the ancient myth that the consumption of red meat was unhealthy. Unfortunately, those days aren't here yet.

And here's another study showing increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer from red meat consumption and a slightly higher risk with processed meat consumption. Read the study at Archives of Internal Medicine. Via SciTechDaily.com.

Meanwhile, better grab a hot dog before they become extinct.

Hilarious street art by Oakoak

The problem with most graffiti is that it's not just narcissistic, but it takes so much work to get rid of it. This guy has a better idea -- find something unusual on the street, apply some creativity, create a cutout, and make a drab scene funny. It's the art of OakOak.

Did I mention that he's funny?

This is better than graffiti. It's removable.

Via Pleated-jeans.com.

Respecting cultures -- Leprechauns are not 2nd class citizens

It's time to end the prejudice. It hurts those to whom it's directed. And it's wrong.

A Message From A Leprechaun Advocacy Group. Excerpt:

I’m addressing you on behalf of “Li’l Lucky Ones,” which is a non-profit group that helps raise awareness of Leprechauns and their plight. Treating Leprechauns right and respecting their culture is particularly important this St. Patty’s Day season. ...

So what do you really need to know about leprechauns and why should you care?

You should care because if you don’t, they will inevitably find a way to spite you. That’s what they’re good at. In fact, some Irish historians claim that the great potato famine was the result of a vengeful clan of leprechauns destroying crops all over the countryside.

Leprechauns are people too, and we should end the stereotyping, except when the stereotypes happens to be true.

Wired -- 12% chance of catastrophic solar megastorm within decade

The good news is that it probably won't happen this weekend, per Spaceweather.com.

But according to Wired.com, there's about a 12% chance of an "enormous megaflare" within the next decade.

The last really big one did extensive damage to electronic communication, such as it was in 1859, so we can assume the damage next time will be significant. So there's time to plan.

With all that money the government wasted on worthless stimulus expenditures it's a crying shame the money could not have been put to better use, fortifying the power grid, for example.

Hopefully, the experts will provide advice to on how ordinary people can protect the electrical devices in homes and vehicles in the event a huge solar flare heads this way. And one thing even we can predict: store shelves will be cleared of surge protectors.

Tips for stalkers, robbers, assassins and terrorists -- explore Geotagging

Sorry about that teaser title. This isn't a tip for bad guys, this is for the good guys: DON'T use geotagging on your smartphone. Cheryl Rodewig explains it in Geotagging poses security risks at Army.mil, and it's a warning that the GPS feature in the typical camera phone records the user's location, and some social media services publish that information. Excerpt:

Someone with the right software and the wrong motivation could download the photo and extract the coordinates from the metadata.

Warren cited a real-world example from 2007. When a new fleet of helicopters arrived with an aviation unit at a base in Iraq, some Soldiers took pictures on the flightline, he said. From the photos that were uploaded to the Internet, the enemy was able to determine the exact location of the helicopters inside the compound and conduct a mortar attack, destroying four of the AH-64 Apaches.

Geotagging leads to body bagging. It's the 21st century version of "Loose lips sink ships."

Needless to say, there are plenty of reasons to be wary on the domestic side as well. There's no good reason to broadcast to strangers the fact that no one is home.

Via nakedsecurity.

James O'Keefe strikes again

You'll remember James O'Keefe and his hilarious video in which he posed as a pimp, and accompanied with a female dressed to look like a prostitute, got advice from Acorn employees on how to establish a brothel employing underage girls.

This time he appeared at voting stations in Vermont and gave the name of a legitimate registered Vermont voter to see if they would give him their ballot. One more thing, the actual voter happened to be dead.

He was offered city election and presidential primary ballots without showing an ID. In some cases he tried to show them an ID, but they told him he didn't need one even when he protested that he had to show one when he voted in Quebec or Kazakhstan. It appears that in no case did he actually accept the ballot, so those who seek to investigate him may find they have a weak case.

Then to demonstrate the hypocrisy, his team tried to buy alcohol, get a marriage license, and rent a hotel room, but each time they are turned away without an ID.

Here's the video, and here's his website. Via Brieitbart.com.

Hypocrisy is nothing new in election season, so it isn't all that surprising that Mr. O'Keefe was so successful in exposing it. If only he would come to Texas with a similar exposure now that Attorney General Eric Holder, in what has to be one of the most blatant political uses of such an important office, has blocked Texas' voter ID law. One would think that an impartial Attorney General should help prevent fraud rather than trying to make it easier.

Video demonstrates how to sneak something through TSA's full body scanners

The theory is that the image the scanner takes is of the front and back of the terrorist. The terrorist simply puts his box cutters in a secret pocket on the side of his shirt. And when the photo is taken the box cutters appear black, but since the background also appears black, the box cutters are invisible.

Video here.

It would seem that if the TSA isn't doing it already, they'll take four images: front, back and both sides. Or maybe not. More here.

Buried, cremated or fed to vultures

Anyone who has ever signed a will has pondered whether he/she wants the dead body to be buried or cremated. There or other options, donation to a medical school for example, so that students can carve you up and make sophomoric jokes about your anatomy.

Here's an option many of us didn't know was available -- feed it to the vultures. This comes to us by way of news.yahoo.com which tells us about an experiment at Texas State University which placed a cadaver out in a field under a watchful camera eye to study the decay. Excerpt:

For more than five weeks, a woman's body lay undisturbed in a secluded Texas field. Then a frenzied flock of vultures descended on the corpse and reduced it to a skeleton within hours.

This could be very significant to homicide investigators. More:

"If you say someone did it and you say it was at least a year, could it have been two weeks instead?" said Michelle Hamilton, an assistant professor at the school's forensic anthropology research facility. "It has larger implications than what we thought initially."

Best part:

...they have a list of about 100 people prepared to donate their bodies to the project...

Quote of the day

This one comes from Neal Boortz:

"I’m waiting for Jackie Chan to climb down a drainpipe, throw away all of Susie’s lemonade, and then force her to drink a V8."

BTW, there's a message in those Susie's Lemonade commercials: "If your preteen daughter isn't a business tycoon it's because you are such a cheapskate. Would it kill you to buy her a smart phone?"

Warren Buffet is jumping sharks

He's everywhere -- in the newspaper, on magazine covers, on the TeeVee. Sure, he's made some good investments, fabulous in fact. And those who bought a share or two in his company some years ago have profited handsomely. But what has he done for us lately?

His recent publicity stunt of lending his brand to President Obama's sock-it-to-the-rich tax plan simply feeds into the Obama efforts to use class war to pump up the base.

But here's some advice from Warren Buffet we should heed. It appears as the fourth sentence in number 11 of 11 Interesting Facts About Warren Buffet:

11. His advice to young people:

... Don’t do what others say, listen to them, but then do what you feel is the right thing to do. ...

Good advice, Warren. We'll practice that next time someone tells us we need the Buffet Rule.

Does anyone really know what time it is?

There was a time in American when knowing the precise time wasn't that important. And everyone set their own watches and clocks to the time of the clock on the church steeple or in a jeweler's shop. Then came the railroads and schedules to keep. The variations of time in various locations along a route from one coast to the other was an inconvenience to travelers. From The Century, Volume 26, Issue 5, Sept 1883:

It is a lamentable fact that our railways are run today by no less than fifty different meridian times, varying from each other by all sorts of odd combinations of minutes. The roads using the various standards cross and interlace each other in such a puzzling manner as to render any ready acquisition of knowledge of the standard by which each is governed a sheer impossibility. ...

The inconvenience this causes was aptly expressed, not long since, by a bright and intelligent Virginia lady, one of a party of tourists. Finding herself utterly unable to reconcile the time shown by her usually reliable watch to the varying times shown by the railway clocks at different points, she turned to the writer, and, using a provincial expression, asked appealingly: Please tell me what is sure enough time?

The railroad industry recognized the need for coordinated time, and some railroad execs got together and came up with Standard Railway Time which went into effect on November 18,1883. Standard Railway Time caught on and became so popular that it was adopted by law on March 19, 1918, with the Standard Time Act. That act also established the controversial Daylight Saving Time which was repealed a short time later, then reenacted in WWII. After the war it became more or less a local option although Congress kept fiddling with the start and end dates. The current version, established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, sets DST beginning on the 2nd Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November.

What time is it now? Two answers: XKCD or for more precision, USNO. Bottom line: Spring forward tonight.

Clock widget available at Time.gov.

That Kony 2012 video

PBS News Hour promoted the video for two nights in a row. Yesterday afternoon it had received 38 million hits, and as of a few minutes ago, 56 million. What it is is an emotion packed documentary type promo film with a bad guy, plenty of victims and a call to arms. Click Kony 2012 to watch it when you have 30 minutes to spare.

InvisibleChildren.com sponsors the film and wants to change the world with it. Making a persuasive video takes talent, and the folks who made this one certainly are talented. They are very good at manipulating the viewers' emotions with music, sympathetic images and a good spiel which includes a highly edited scene in which an adorable little white boy is pressured by one of the film makers to make a moral judgment about the subject of the film.

The subject of said film is Joseph Kony, who by most accounts, is a brutal warlord with a horrendous record of abducting, torturing and brutalizing otherwise peaceful people in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But what exactly do they want viewers to do? According to their website:

Invisible Children's mission is to stop LRA violence and support the war-affected communities in East and Central Africa. These are the three ways we achieve this mission; each is essential:

1) Make the world aware of the LRA. This includes making documentary films and touring them around the world so that they are seen for free by millions of people.

2) Channel energy from viewers of IC films into large-scale advocacy campaigns to stop the LRA and protect civilians.

3) Operate programs on the ground in LRA-affected areas that provide protection, rehabilitation and development assistance.

As you will see, we spend roughly one third of our money on each of these three goals.

But what the film wants you to do is pressure the U.S. government to do something, i.e., send troops to accomplish their goals for them. I'm going to take a wild guess here and speculate that these people would have been more than willing to turn a blind eye to Saddam Hussein's atrocities.

Vaguely stated humanitarian goals and heavy reliance on government, it seems designer made for the Occupy movement. And in fact, one tactic they recommend is for their followers to vandalize their cities with promotional posters on the night of April 20.

To those of us who had our sympathies dulled by Sally Struthers and her weeping pleas to end starvation, it's just another infomercial. And anyone with a normal degree of skepticism might appreciate a more sober assessment.

In the current environment of deep government debt and many people learning to be more self reliant, perhaps Invisible Children could serve their country better by adopting a do-it-yourself attitude. Their 990 for 2010 shows they pulled in donations of $10 million. With the money they are sure to receive from their 56 million viewers, they could hire an efficient team of mercenaries to go do their dirty work.

Mercedes invisible car

If the prospect of a fuel celled car isn't remarkable enough -- hydrogen is mixed with oxygen to produce electricity which is stored in lithium batteries -- Mercedes promoted it in an amazing way, by making it invisible. Via Yahoo.com.

They covered one side of the car with flexible mats covered with led lights and put a camera on the other side. Someone watching the led side would see what's on the other side of the car as if the car were transparent. See for yourself. It's quite entertaining.

I don't own a Mercedes, but it would seem that half the benefit of owning one has to be the look-at-me factor. So making it invisible would seem counterproductive.

But never mind. It's a cool video. And the point they are trying to make is that there's no smoke coming from the tail pipe. If you buy one, you're on you own procuring the hydrogen.

A bird in the hand is worth shooting -- government wants to save one brand of owl by killing another

[Notice to readers: Some of the posts at this blog are satirical. And this one sounds so much like a joke that it could easily be mistaken for one. It's not, it's real. Follow the links to see for yourself.]

When the government takes aim at something, duck. In this case, it's the spotted owl which has been a protected bird for quite some time. And efforts to save it have been attributed to the demise of the timber industry in certain parts of the country. But it hasn't worked. The spotted owl keeps heading down that path mother nature designed to insure survival of the fittest.

Now that the timber industry has been eliminated as a danger to the spotted owl, the next target is a natural competitor, the barred owl. The barred owl got his name from the lines on his chest - see photo on the right. But he competes with the spotted owl for food, and the spotted owl is losing.

What's the solution? Kill off the barred owls. Yeah, I know it sounds like a joke. But click the link and see for yourself: BLM news release of 2/28/2012:

Barred Owl Control

A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) also announced today outlines options for experimental removal of barred owls from certain areas throughout the spotted owl’s range to test the effect of such removal on spotted owl population trends. The Service is considering combinations of both lethal and non-lethal (capturing and relocating or placing in permanent captivity) methods for removing barred owls.

“We can’t ignore the mounting evidence that competition from barred owls is a major factor in the spotted owl’s decline, and we have a clear obligation to do all we can to prevent the spotted owl’s extinction and help it rebound,” said Ashe.

If the barred owl removal experiment proceeds and the effects of removal are positive, the Service may consider the feasibility and efficacy of barred owl removal on a broader scale. This action would involve a separate National Environmental Policy Act process. For more information about the barred owl draft EIS, click here.

From Fish and Wildlife:

Removal methods: In the Draft EIS, we will evaluate lethal removal (killing), non‐lethal removal (capture and placement in captivity or release in historic range), and a combination of these methods. Our goal is to accomplish removal, lethal or non‐lethal, in the most humane way possible for the barred owls.

They explain "lethal" with the parenthetical definer so the reader will know it means "termination with prejudice, extreme prejudice."

But it's not yet a done deal. They will be taking public comments before they start annihilating the little hooters. Defenders of the barred owl have taken notice. And a petition drive is under way at SaveTheBarredOwl.com. Actually, they are not so much defenders of the barred owl as they are critics of government overreach. But with a slogan like"Give a hoot, don't shoot," you know they are on the side of the angels.

Related links: Obama's spotted owl plan targets rival bird via Greenie Watch.

Cool robots

Those of us whose first experience with robots was from a theater seat watching them on the big screen have had to adapt to the notion that a robot doesn't have to have two legs, two arms, a head, and a basic human structure. Whether it was the "Jetsons" or "Terminator," back in the day a typical robot was built like a humanoid. Like Cronos, for example.

All of that changed when real robot builders put function at the top of the list. So if they wanted something that would climb up a wall, the folks at Boston Dynamics built RISE, a bug like robot with six legs and a bunch of tiny hooks on its feet. See one walk straight up a wall at this Youtube video.

But sometimes there's real work to be done. It's a dirty job, and somebody has to do it, as the old saying goes. To heck with that, send in a thing.  Roomba is a vacuum cleaner robot made by iRobot which was recently restructured into three divisions: home robots, military robots, and emerging technologies.

They've got some rugged bots in the military division, like the 710 Warrior which can haul a heavy load, help with bomb disposal, and lots of other useful stuff.

But the coolest one is the throw-able 110 FirstLook. As a team in hostile territory reaches a structure, they don't want to just poke their heads in to look around. So a team member hurls the 110 through a window for a look see. The 110 rights itself and scoots around the room providing remote eyes to the human controller. Watch a video of this little guy in action. But the best part is how he descends stairs -- that first step is a doozy as gravity takes over and he tumbles down the steps. Then he rights himself and takes off again on his mission.

All that is well and good, but back on the home front none of them could beat the Marilyn Monrobot, that is if she can run a vacuum cleaner. Yeah, I've seen the warnings. But who could resist?

Hushing Rush

The big brew-ha-ha of last week is still smoldering as the perennially aggrieved feign their outrage. The issue developed over Rush Limbaugh's verbal treatment of law student Sandra Fluke for her Congressional testimony complaining that the government should pay for her contraceptives. The whole scene was ripe with jokes waiting to be released into the world. Limbaugh obliged, and the atmosphere exploded with complaints.

Don Imus springs to mind. Recall how he let loose with an ill placed joke, and as a result of the grievance industry's barrage of complaints, MSNBC viewers got stuck with "Morning Joe."

So now the professional complainers have targeted Rush Limbaugh's sponsors with demands that they abort. And apparently some sponsors have stopped advertising on his show. That's a tell. The ultimate goal of the grievance industry isn't to get an apology but to shut him up.

Limbaugh has an audience that sees this for what it is and aren't likely to be dissuaded. So what liberals need to do is buy him out. Pay him to shut up. With an annualized take of $37 million a year it's going to take a lot. Enter George Soros.

Soros has invested big bucks in Democrats for a long time. And during the Reagan administration he was asked hypothetically in an interview if he would commit his entire wealth toward his political goals. He thought for a few seconds and said he would but only if there were guaranteed results. So we know what he wants and what he's willing to pay. The issue is the guarantee.

Soros is supposedly worth $14.5 billion. By comparison Limbaugh's $37 million a year is chicken feed. At that rate Limbaugh would need to work almost 400 years to catch up.

Limbaugh probably has a price he would take to shut up which would certainly have to be in the billions. They just need to haggle a little bit.

So Limbaugh haters, there's the answer to your problem. Now don't be stingy.

You are what you drive

The big Silicon Valley company people probably have lots of discretionary cash, and they've got the fancy cars to prove it. That's according to Businessinsider.com. See Check Out The Hottest Cars At Apple, Facebook, Google And Other Silicon Valley Spots to see a Tesla Roadster, a Maserati, some Porsches, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and as you would expect, there had to be an electric vehicle.

Tooling around the parking lots here in Midland, Texas, doesn't give an amateur photog a shot at very many exotic cars. Although, we do have the occasional Porsche. (That one was in a hospital parking spot for docs only.)

West Texans are a humble lot, and while there might be some outrageously expensive cars in town, they rest quietly in garages, not driven but gazed upon by the owners, like some priceless art pieces kept hidden from view by eccentric, reclusive owners.

Furthermore, West Texans are practical. How many sensible vehicles could someone purchase for the price of one Ferrari?

Salesman: Good morning sir. I could see from the second you walked in that you are someone to reckon with, a man of importance, power, substance. And I'm certain we can put you in a vehicle that when people see you behind the wheel they will stare in awe and say, 'That is an important man. I envy that man. I want to be that man.' Tell me sir, what would it take to put you in a this exotic sports car today?

Customer: Gimme five pickups. White.

Moving right along. If a vehicle makes a statement, take a gander at "The Sticker Bus." Talk about sending a message. This one sends more messages than you can count.

Now that's making a statement.