Then there is this unusual looking guy that visits from time to time:
Lizzardbird
You aught to see the acrobatics he does to get on and off our feeder.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
A Little Confusion
We've had a good bird season here this year. Our hummingbird feeders dispatched about two cups of sugar water each week, feeding primarily Rubythroated Hummingbirds.
Then there is this unusual looking guy that visits from time to time:
Lizzardbird
You aught to see the acrobatics he does to get on and off our feeder.
Then there is this unusual looking guy that visits from time to time:
Lizzardbird
You aught to see the acrobatics he does to get on and off our feeder.
If You Want To Start Worrying…Don’t—It’s Too Late
"And If It’s True—I'm Afraid That We’re All Screwed"
I just sit here on St. Simons Island and shrug smugly.
Or maybe I smugly shrug?
What I mean is, it’s hard for me to not snicker at the media and the wide eyed (usually liberal) hysterics that are displayed on TV and in newspapers talking about the “domestic security” of our large cities.
Take the latest series of scares in NYC and Washington DC, for instance.
Suspiscious packages….scary coke cans…OOOOHHHHHHAAAA….aaaa AAAAA...AHHHHHH
Somebody hand me a towel and a breath mint.
I have to be politically incorrect and ask "the authorities" about the “normal” everyday imbeciles and freaks that everyone has always been forced to deal with when they ride “public transportation” in the days before the elevated terror alerts?
Don't get me wrong here--I agree with the caution employed in closing down and investigating the latest terror threats, but there is a bigger picture here that is lost on most people.
WE CAN’T WIN THIS BATTLE WITH DOGS, ROBOTS AND CHECKPOINTS!!
You got that?
I rode the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Buses and Trains on and off for 25 years and there wasn’t one single day that I didn’t face some itinerant moron that was panhandling or preaching or smelled bad or was otherwise WEIRD or STRANGE based on upstanding “normal” standards. If you wanted to ride "public transit", you just had to pay your twenty five cents or dollar and twenty five cents fare and put up with their presence.
Even today, like then, I guarantee that I could walk onto any bus or train with a pant load of chemicals and possibly kill and maim zillions and close down the entire infrastructure of Atlanta, Georgia and there is nothing that they could do then or now to stop it unless I lost my mind in a drug induced stupor and botched the exercise.
Serious, trained terrorists can extract serious, deadly consequences and there is LITTLE or NOTHING that we can do once they are indoctrinated, motivated, and they are allowed to cross our borders into our country.
So much for viability of the latest “TERROR ALERTS.”
I challenge our population, our state and national representatives, and our President to regain control of our national borders and to remove any persons already in our country illegally.
That is the only true solution to the perceived “terror threats.’
In the absence of the successful completion of that effort, I’ll promise to do my part.
You can expect me to be highly likely to make every effort to KICK YOUR ASS if you start misbehaving in public (particularly on any mode of mass transit) and you might actually get SHOT and KILLED if I DECIDE that you are presenting a tangible threat to the safety of MYSELF and/or my FAMILY, FRIENDS, and PROPERTY.
By the way, I’m not in the least bit sorry for feeling this way…
How about you?
I just sit here on St. Simons Island and shrug smugly.
Or maybe I smugly shrug?
What I mean is, it’s hard for me to not snicker at the media and the wide eyed (usually liberal) hysterics that are displayed on TV and in newspapers talking about the “domestic security” of our large cities.
Take the latest series of scares in NYC and Washington DC, for instance.
Suspiscious packages….scary coke cans…OOOOHHHHHHAAAA….aaaa AAAAA...AHHHHHH
Somebody hand me a towel and a breath mint.
I have to be politically incorrect and ask "the authorities" about the “normal” everyday imbeciles and freaks that everyone has always been forced to deal with when they ride “public transportation” in the days before the elevated terror alerts?
Don't get me wrong here--I agree with the caution employed in closing down and investigating the latest terror threats, but there is a bigger picture here that is lost on most people.
WE CAN’T WIN THIS BATTLE WITH DOGS, ROBOTS AND CHECKPOINTS!!
You got that?
I rode the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Buses and Trains on and off for 25 years and there wasn’t one single day that I didn’t face some itinerant moron that was panhandling or preaching or smelled bad or was otherwise WEIRD or STRANGE based on upstanding “normal” standards. If you wanted to ride "public transit", you just had to pay your twenty five cents or dollar and twenty five cents fare and put up with their presence.
Even today, like then, I guarantee that I could walk onto any bus or train with a pant load of chemicals and possibly kill and maim zillions and close down the entire infrastructure of Atlanta, Georgia and there is nothing that they could do then or now to stop it unless I lost my mind in a drug induced stupor and botched the exercise.
Serious, trained terrorists can extract serious, deadly consequences and there is LITTLE or NOTHING that we can do once they are indoctrinated, motivated, and they are allowed to cross our borders into our country.
So much for viability of the latest “TERROR ALERTS.”
I challenge our population, our state and national representatives, and our President to regain control of our national borders and to remove any persons already in our country illegally.
That is the only true solution to the perceived “terror threats.’
In the absence of the successful completion of that effort, I’ll promise to do my part.
You can expect me to be highly likely to make every effort to KICK YOUR ASS if you start misbehaving in public (particularly on any mode of mass transit) and you might actually get SHOT and KILLED if I DECIDE that you are presenting a tangible threat to the safety of MYSELF and/or my FAMILY, FRIENDS, and PROPERTY.
By the way, I’m not in the least bit sorry for feeling this way…
How about you?
I'm So Proud
Well...not really...
We keep trying to act like life goes on here on the Georgia Coast, in spite of the fact that the rain keeps falling and because certain sane individuals realize that since we live on the coast in a FLOOD PLAIN there is the distinct possibility that once in a while the weather might cause a few problems.
Today was one of those days....
We had a couple of more inches of rain, and water is standing on every hard surface like lawns, roads, and parking lots.
I just saw the Weather Channel do a special "Storm Story" on neighboring Brunswick, Georgia and their decision today to close Glynn Academy, Brunswick High, and all of the middle schools at 11:30 AM because of our continuing rainfall.
Of course the first thing I asked myself was "what about all of the little munchkins in the Elementary Schools?"
I guess that they had to swim home else the parents were taking off from work and scrambling to find a rented boat at 2:45 PM, or maybe New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagan sent his own new amphibious Bus Fleet to the rescue.
I'm really happy that I only have to worry about my own oversized, middle aged, pompus carcass when things don't go as planned.
Instead of listening to their warnings, we went out and had some drinks, enjoyed a nice dinner with some neighbors, stopped by the liquor store, and arrived safely at home.
All of this was accomplished in spite of the media hype.
I've got to go outside now and talk to my good friend "Mr. Frog"...see you later...
We keep trying to act like life goes on here on the Georgia Coast, in spite of the fact that the rain keeps falling and because certain sane individuals realize that since we live on the coast in a FLOOD PLAIN there is the distinct possibility that once in a while the weather might cause a few problems.
Today was one of those days....
We had a couple of more inches of rain, and water is standing on every hard surface like lawns, roads, and parking lots.
I just saw the Weather Channel do a special "Storm Story" on neighboring Brunswick, Georgia and their decision today to close Glynn Academy, Brunswick High, and all of the middle schools at 11:30 AM because of our continuing rainfall.
Of course the first thing I asked myself was "what about all of the little munchkins in the Elementary Schools?"
I guess that they had to swim home else the parents were taking off from work and scrambling to find a rented boat at 2:45 PM, or maybe New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagan sent his own new amphibious Bus Fleet to the rescue.
I'm really happy that I only have to worry about my own oversized, middle aged, pompus carcass when things don't go as planned.
Instead of listening to their warnings, we went out and had some drinks, enjoyed a nice dinner with some neighbors, stopped by the liquor store, and arrived safely at home.
All of this was accomplished in spite of the media hype.
I've got to go outside now and talk to my good friend "Mr. Frog"...see you later...
Friday, October 07, 2005
Activists Call Peace Prize “Reward For Failure”
Boo Hoo Hoo…
OK, I’m officially laughing my rear end off over the goings on in response to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IAEA and corrupt Egyptian General ElBaradei.
Survivors of the well deserved US nuking of Japan to end WWII are screaming foul as the “Chief Nuclear Inspector” preens for the cameras.
Chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday he feels "humbled" after winning the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, and said it sends "a very strong message" about the importance of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) role.
The Egyptian diplomat shares the prize with the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency that he leads.
"I'm extremely humbled and honoured," ElBaradei said.
Journalists welcomed him with applause and cheers as he entered the room.
ElBaradei said the prize is a recognition of the agency's work, and of the road that lies ahead as it continues its work to keep the world safe from nuclear weapons.
"The award ... is something that gives me lots of pride and also lots of responsibility," he said. "The award sends a very strong message. Keep doing what you are doing."
ElBaradei said his agency strives to be a neutral agent for peace.
Excuse me while I wipe my eyes…he’s so humble…
But there is dissidence in the ranks of nominees for the prize coming from of all places, the country that brought us Pearl Harbor, Karaoke singing, and cheep 70’s import autos—Japan.
Meanwhile, nuclear-bomb survivors nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize accused the prize committee on Friday of passing them over in order not to offend the US, and said the award is slanted against grassroots groups.
Senji Yamaguchi, an activist whose face was disfigured by the Nagasaki bombing, openly criticised the Nobel judges after the award went to the IAEA and ElBaradei.
The 75-year-old, captured in a 1945 photograph showing gruesome radiation burns, has lectured across the world to urge an end to nuclear weapons. He helped found Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese confederation of nuclear survivors.
"I don't understand why Nihon Hidankyo didn't get the award this year. It makes me wonder if the Nobel Peace Prize committee is paying special consideration to a certain country," Yamaguchi said.
"The US is responsible for not being able to stop other countries from possessing nuclear weapons," he told reporters at his Nagasaki nursing home where he has spent the past two years. "I want ElBaradei and the IAEA to work harder to stop the possibility of repeating the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedies in the future."
Of course they can’t resist dragging the US into the discussion and blaming our civilian and military nuclear programs for the world’s problems. It’s sorta like the gun control nuts out there that think that if you remove the guns from the hands of law abiding citizens that all of the criminals will start doing their work with butter knives rather than AK-47’s.
I’m sorry Mr. Hidankyo, but you seem to forget that Japan attacked the US FIRST, as we sat on the sidelines of WWII and watched your country and the Axis powers run amok over the rest of the world.
When you pick a fight, you have to expect to possibly get your ass kicked.
Tough shit if you don’t like the outcome…
OK, I’m officially laughing my rear end off over the goings on in response to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IAEA and corrupt Egyptian General ElBaradei.
Survivors of the well deserved US nuking of Japan to end WWII are screaming foul as the “Chief Nuclear Inspector” preens for the cameras.
Chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday he feels "humbled" after winning the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, and said it sends "a very strong message" about the importance of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) role.
The Egyptian diplomat shares the prize with the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency that he leads.
"I'm extremely humbled and honoured," ElBaradei said.
Journalists welcomed him with applause and cheers as he entered the room.
ElBaradei said the prize is a recognition of the agency's work, and of the road that lies ahead as it continues its work to keep the world safe from nuclear weapons.
"The award ... is something that gives me lots of pride and also lots of responsibility," he said. "The award sends a very strong message. Keep doing what you are doing."
ElBaradei said his agency strives to be a neutral agent for peace.
Excuse me while I wipe my eyes…he’s so humble…
But there is dissidence in the ranks of nominees for the prize coming from of all places, the country that brought us Pearl Harbor, Karaoke singing, and cheep 70’s import autos—Japan.
Meanwhile, nuclear-bomb survivors nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize accused the prize committee on Friday of passing them over in order not to offend the US, and said the award is slanted against grassroots groups.
Senji Yamaguchi, an activist whose face was disfigured by the Nagasaki bombing, openly criticised the Nobel judges after the award went to the IAEA and ElBaradei.
The 75-year-old, captured in a 1945 photograph showing gruesome radiation burns, has lectured across the world to urge an end to nuclear weapons. He helped found Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese confederation of nuclear survivors.
"I don't understand why Nihon Hidankyo didn't get the award this year. It makes me wonder if the Nobel Peace Prize committee is paying special consideration to a certain country," Yamaguchi said.
"The US is responsible for not being able to stop other countries from possessing nuclear weapons," he told reporters at his Nagasaki nursing home where he has spent the past two years. "I want ElBaradei and the IAEA to work harder to stop the possibility of repeating the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedies in the future."
Of course they can’t resist dragging the US into the discussion and blaming our civilian and military nuclear programs for the world’s problems. It’s sorta like the gun control nuts out there that think that if you remove the guns from the hands of law abiding citizens that all of the criminals will start doing their work with butter knives rather than AK-47’s.
I’m sorry Mr. Hidankyo, but you seem to forget that Japan attacked the US FIRST, as we sat on the sidelines of WWII and watched your country and the Axis powers run amok over the rest of the world.
When you pick a fight, you have to expect to possibly get your ass kicked.
Tough shit if you don’t like the outcome…
Gore Says “White House Filipino Employees Valued”
ABC Keeps Pouring The Kool Aid—“Love You Long Time”
ABC News is still rowing their boat upstream without a paddle today. The new headline reads: “White House Spy Probe Shows Computer Vulnerability”
The proliferation of computers and network technology has made it a lot easier to create and share vital information. Sometimes, too easy.
Leandro Aragoncillo, a former White House staff member, was arrested last month for allegedly using his top secret security clearance to download more than 100 classified intelligence documents and pass them to others – mostly via e-mail, say federal prosecutors.
More worrisome, federal investigators believe Aragoncillo may have been spying for his Philippine contacts for more than three years.
How could this type of espionage case have been prevented? Security experts and computer industry consultants offer mixed views.
Richard Clarke, former White House advisor on cyber-security and now an ABC News consultant, told ABC News' "Good Morning America" that the espionage case clearly shows how far government computer networks lag behind corporate systems in terms of online security and monitoring programs.
Same song, different verse.
ABC is actually telling you the facts without correcting their original premise—that Aragoncillo stole secrets from Dick Cheney’s office.
Let me say this again:
The “100 classified intelligence documents” were stolen from FBI computers AFTER Aragoncillo left the White House.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore hired Aragoncillo. You got that?
President Bush is only guilty of keeping him on staff, along with dozens if not hundreds of other Clinton era employees in the name of CONTINUITY.
Does anyone actually believe that President Bush showed up on inauguration day with busses filled with employees and moving vans full of new computer systems?
Finally, does anyone actually believe ANYTHING that Richard Clarke has to say?
I thought not…
ABC News is still rowing their boat upstream without a paddle today. The new headline reads: “White House Spy Probe Shows Computer Vulnerability”
The proliferation of computers and network technology has made it a lot easier to create and share vital information. Sometimes, too easy.
Leandro Aragoncillo, a former White House staff member, was arrested last month for allegedly using his top secret security clearance to download more than 100 classified intelligence documents and pass them to others – mostly via e-mail, say federal prosecutors.
More worrisome, federal investigators believe Aragoncillo may have been spying for his Philippine contacts for more than three years.
How could this type of espionage case have been prevented? Security experts and computer industry consultants offer mixed views.
Richard Clarke, former White House advisor on cyber-security and now an ABC News consultant, told ABC News' "Good Morning America" that the espionage case clearly shows how far government computer networks lag behind corporate systems in terms of online security and monitoring programs.
Same song, different verse.
ABC is actually telling you the facts without correcting their original premise—that Aragoncillo stole secrets from Dick Cheney’s office.
Let me say this again:
The “100 classified intelligence documents” were stolen from FBI computers AFTER Aragoncillo left the White House.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore hired Aragoncillo. You got that?
President Bush is only guilty of keeping him on staff, along with dozens if not hundreds of other Clinton era employees in the name of CONTINUITY.
Does anyone actually believe that President Bush showed up on inauguration day with busses filled with employees and moving vans full of new computer systems?
Finally, does anyone actually believe ANYTHING that Richard Clarke has to say?
I thought not…
My Dog Has Low Self Esteem
Plueeeeeaaasssssseeee…
I‘ve always been suspicious that the people on the Nobel prize committees had cornered the market on Crack Cocaine and were personally in charge of disposing of as much of it as was possible at their meetings each year.
When they gave Yasser Arafat and Jimmy Carter Peace Prizes I thought that we had seen everything.
I was wrong.
Now they’ve voted to give the guy that invented “fake dog testicles” the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
You heard me right, and I’m NOT smoking Crack…
BOSTON - Gregg Miller mortgaged his home and maxed out his credit cards to mass produce his invention — prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs.
What started 10 years ago with an experiment on an unwitting Rottweiler named Max has turned into a thriving mail-order business. And on Thursday night Miller's efforts earned him a dubious yet strangely coveted honor: the Ig Nobel Prize for medicine.
"Considering my parents thought I was an idiot when I was a kid, this is a great honor," he said. "I wish they were alive to see it."
The Ig Nobels, given at Harvard University by Annals of Improbable Research magazine, celebrate the humorous, creative and odd side of science.
Ah hah…It’s the “Ig Nobels” prize, not the Nobel prize.
THANK GOD I WAS WRONG.
But then again, there really is a company making fake doggie balls. It’s called a Neuticle.
I’ll take a pair of the five and three quarter inchers myself…
But I digress.
They really are issuing Nobel Prizes today, and they just gave General Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency this year's Nobel Peace Price.
How appropriate...
You do remember Generalissimo ElBaradei, don’t you?
He’s the guy that went to the NY Times the month before the election in 2004 and claimed that the US had “lost” a bunch of nuclear material in Iraq. The media acted like President Bush went to Iraq and personally cut the locks off of the buildings.
And you remember all of the nuclear material that Iraq was said to not have in support of the nuclear weapons program that Saddam didn’t possess?
Saddam didn't have WMD's...Remember?
So what was the "nuclear material" for? Medical research?
It turned out that the UN and the IAEA dropped the ball and let the Iraqis and various “looters” (I call them terrorists) run off with some of the material before the US entered Iraq in 2003. All of the material that was still there when the US forces arrived they secured. A total non-story...
ElBaradei turned out to be a partisan liar--else he was just a simple idiot.
And finally, you remember the International Atomic Energy Agency?
The IAEA is the group of Socialist Scientists and Terrorist wanna-be’s that have been busy having endless useless meetings and have conviently set on their hands while Iraq and North Korea and Iran have fearlessly developed their nuclear weapons programs.
I think that IAEA secretly desires to “level the playing field” by allowing every country on the planet including Bermuda and Jamaica to have ICBM’s pointed at us here on St. Simons.
Some contributors to peace ElBaradi and the IAEA have turned out to be.
Let’s take up a collection and buy them all some Neuticles so they can have the self esteem to prosecute their real job—preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
You're not interested?
Yeah, I thought so…
I‘ve always been suspicious that the people on the Nobel prize committees had cornered the market on Crack Cocaine and were personally in charge of disposing of as much of it as was possible at their meetings each year.
When they gave Yasser Arafat and Jimmy Carter Peace Prizes I thought that we had seen everything.
I was wrong.
Now they’ve voted to give the guy that invented “fake dog testicles” the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
You heard me right, and I’m NOT smoking Crack…
BOSTON - Gregg Miller mortgaged his home and maxed out his credit cards to mass produce his invention — prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs.
What started 10 years ago with an experiment on an unwitting Rottweiler named Max has turned into a thriving mail-order business. And on Thursday night Miller's efforts earned him a dubious yet strangely coveted honor: the Ig Nobel Prize for medicine.
"Considering my parents thought I was an idiot when I was a kid, this is a great honor," he said. "I wish they were alive to see it."
The Ig Nobels, given at Harvard University by Annals of Improbable Research magazine, celebrate the humorous, creative and odd side of science.
Ah hah…It’s the “Ig Nobels” prize, not the Nobel prize.
THANK GOD I WAS WRONG.
But then again, there really is a company making fake doggie balls. It’s called a Neuticle.
I’ll take a pair of the five and three quarter inchers myself…
But I digress.
They really are issuing Nobel Prizes today, and they just gave General Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency this year's Nobel Peace Price.
How appropriate...
You do remember Generalissimo ElBaradei, don’t you?
He’s the guy that went to the NY Times the month before the election in 2004 and claimed that the US had “lost” a bunch of nuclear material in Iraq. The media acted like President Bush went to Iraq and personally cut the locks off of the buildings.
And you remember all of the nuclear material that Iraq was said to not have in support of the nuclear weapons program that Saddam didn’t possess?
Saddam didn't have WMD's...Remember?
So what was the "nuclear material" for? Medical research?
It turned out that the UN and the IAEA dropped the ball and let the Iraqis and various “looters” (I call them terrorists) run off with some of the material before the US entered Iraq in 2003. All of the material that was still there when the US forces arrived they secured. A total non-story...
ElBaradei turned out to be a partisan liar--else he was just a simple idiot.
And finally, you remember the International Atomic Energy Agency?
The IAEA is the group of Socialist Scientists and Terrorist wanna-be’s that have been busy having endless useless meetings and have conviently set on their hands while Iraq and North Korea and Iran have fearlessly developed their nuclear weapons programs.
I think that IAEA secretly desires to “level the playing field” by allowing every country on the planet including Bermuda and Jamaica to have ICBM’s pointed at us here on St. Simons.
Some contributors to peace ElBaradi and the IAEA have turned out to be.
Let’s take up a collection and buy them all some Neuticles so they can have the self esteem to prosecute their real job—preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
You're not interested?
Yeah, I thought so…
Just In Case You Were Wondering...
It's STILL RAINING here on the Georgia Coast...
Mr. Frog
These guys are everywhere. I took this photo this afternoon with my Cannon G3 using the "macro setting", bracing my hand on the wall adjacent to one of our windows.
When asked for comment, all he had to say was:
"Ribbitttttttttttttt....Ribbittttttttttttttttt....."
Mr. Frog
These guys are everywhere. I took this photo this afternoon with my Cannon G3 using the "macro setting", bracing my hand on the wall adjacent to one of our windows.
When asked for comment, all he had to say was:
"Ribbitttttttttttttt....Ribbittttttttttttttttt....."
Thursday, October 06, 2005
The Spy That Wasn't
White House Non-Scandal Gets Expected Headlines
Here we go again folks. I can’t decide who is worse—the idiots writing the headlines or the logic-deficient morons posing as news reporters at ABC news.
Last night ABC broke a story with this headline: "Espionage Case Breaches the White House."
Here is most of the story as published on the ABC internet site:
Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.
In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House…
Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation…
Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.
Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.
Aragoncillo began working at the White House in 1999. Officials are now trying to learn how he landed the job, when he started spying, and how he escaped detection for so long.
So if you read the story closely you'll see that ABC says two different things in the same news story. First they say that Aragoncillo stole the files while working for the hated VP DICK CHENEY. Then they say that the files that they know about were taken while he worked for the FBI.
Which is it?
I personally don't know for sure, but I do believe that this is yet another perfect example of a major media outlet using their headlines and the story's wording to stab at the Bush administration…AGAIN.
What I want to know is, what was he doing while working in “Ape Shit” AL GORE’S office in 1999 and 2000? Further, how can they claim that he worked in the white house for only 3-1/2 years when he was there from sometime in 1999 until last year (2004?) I count 5 years of service—why are they omitting his time in the White House working for “Ape Shit” Al?
Convenience? Lack of math skills? Partisan BS reporting?
I believe that the problem is most likely the latter.
Now sit down and hold onto your hat, because additional clarifying information comes out today from, of all places, the New York Times:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday it had expanded a New Jersey espionage investigation in an effort to determine whether one of its own agents, charged last month with spying for the Philippines, might have also had improper access to classified information while working in Vice President Dick Cheney's office several years ago.
The F.B.I. agent, Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, N.J., an American citizen who was born in the Philippines, was charged Sept. 12 with passing classified information to government officials in Manila.
The charges filed against Mr. Aragoncillo relate only to classified information that officials say he took from F.B.I. computers after joining the agency in July 2004.
But the investigation is widening, officials said, in light of the fact that he had worked for several years prior to joining the agency as a marine in the vice president's office under both Al Gore and Mr. Cheney. Military aides usually hold security clearances.
ABC News reported Wednesday night that Mr. Aragoncillo was accused of stealing classified material from White House computers at the vice president's office, including information damaging to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
On Wednesday, government officials said they had no corroboration that any material had been taken from the vice president's office, but they acknowledged that investigators had been focusing on Mr. Aragoncillo's work at the White House.
I have to give the Times credit here for broadening the story beyond ABC’s implication that “Dick Cheney hired a spy to work in his office.”
IF Aragoncillo was spying during his tenure at the White House, shouldn’t ABC’s headline and story text state that “Al Gore hired a spy for his staff”?
The investigation is ongoing, but the NY Times story clearly says that there is no evidence at this time that Aragoncillo took anything from Dick Cheney’s computers.
On the other hand, ABC's latest story has yet to correct their earlier false assertions and it seems that they are insistent on continuing along their previous track:
Federal officials tell ABC News the recruitment of the alleged White House spy began in July 2000. At that time, Joseph Estrada, then president of the Philippines, came to the White House for a state visit with President Clinton.
Officials say Estrada and his aides used offers of small amounts of money and appeals to ethnic loyalties to recruit Leandro Aragoncillo, the alleged spy, who was half a million dollars in debt…
At the time of the recruitment, Aragoncillo was working as an intelligence analyst for Vice President Al Gore. He later told Philippine television that he was eager to stay in the White House and work for Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Because with the change of administration, everybody was asked if they wanted to stay and asked me, and I said, 'Well, I don't have to think twice. I will not think twice about staying here,'" he said.
Officials say even after Philippine President Estrada was forced out of office for corruption, Aragoncillo continued to feed him secret files in an apparent attempt to start a coup.
"The notion that classified documents would be transferred from the vice president's office into the hands of some political party challenging the regime of a foreign country is staggering," said Jane Harman, a Democratic congresswoman from California.
See, ABC just can’t help themselves.
They still don’t admit that the files found so far were taken from FBI computers, not Dick Cheney’s office. The FBI and CIA are still looking into that possibility, but why wait for things like facts and details when you can jump to conclusions and put them in print?
I also think that it is very disingenuous for them to add Congresswoman Jane Harman’s quote. What the heck does she know except what ABC has told her?
Can you say NOTHING?
Apparently neither Miss Harman nor any of the ABC news staff reads the NY times.
Imagine THAT...
Here we go again folks. I can’t decide who is worse—the idiots writing the headlines or the logic-deficient morons posing as news reporters at ABC news.
Last night ABC broke a story with this headline: "Espionage Case Breaches the White House."
Here is most of the story as published on the ABC internet site:
Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.
In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House…
Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation…
Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.
Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.
Aragoncillo began working at the White House in 1999. Officials are now trying to learn how he landed the job, when he started spying, and how he escaped detection for so long.
So if you read the story closely you'll see that ABC says two different things in the same news story. First they say that Aragoncillo stole the files while working for the hated VP DICK CHENEY. Then they say that the files that they know about were taken while he worked for the FBI.
Which is it?
I personally don't know for sure, but I do believe that this is yet another perfect example of a major media outlet using their headlines and the story's wording to stab at the Bush administration…AGAIN.
What I want to know is, what was he doing while working in “Ape Shit” AL GORE’S office in 1999 and 2000? Further, how can they claim that he worked in the white house for only 3-1/2 years when he was there from sometime in 1999 until last year (2004?) I count 5 years of service—why are they omitting his time in the White House working for “Ape Shit” Al?
Convenience? Lack of math skills? Partisan BS reporting?
I believe that the problem is most likely the latter.
Now sit down and hold onto your hat, because additional clarifying information comes out today from, of all places, the New York Times:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday it had expanded a New Jersey espionage investigation in an effort to determine whether one of its own agents, charged last month with spying for the Philippines, might have also had improper access to classified information while working in Vice President Dick Cheney's office several years ago.
The F.B.I. agent, Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, N.J., an American citizen who was born in the Philippines, was charged Sept. 12 with passing classified information to government officials in Manila.
The charges filed against Mr. Aragoncillo relate only to classified information that officials say he took from F.B.I. computers after joining the agency in July 2004.
But the investigation is widening, officials said, in light of the fact that he had worked for several years prior to joining the agency as a marine in the vice president's office under both Al Gore and Mr. Cheney. Military aides usually hold security clearances.
ABC News reported Wednesday night that Mr. Aragoncillo was accused of stealing classified material from White House computers at the vice president's office, including information damaging to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
On Wednesday, government officials said they had no corroboration that any material had been taken from the vice president's office, but they acknowledged that investigators had been focusing on Mr. Aragoncillo's work at the White House.
I have to give the Times credit here for broadening the story beyond ABC’s implication that “Dick Cheney hired a spy to work in his office.”
IF Aragoncillo was spying during his tenure at the White House, shouldn’t ABC’s headline and story text state that “Al Gore hired a spy for his staff”?
The investigation is ongoing, but the NY Times story clearly says that there is no evidence at this time that Aragoncillo took anything from Dick Cheney’s computers.
On the other hand, ABC's latest story has yet to correct their earlier false assertions and it seems that they are insistent on continuing along their previous track:
Federal officials tell ABC News the recruitment of the alleged White House spy began in July 2000. At that time, Joseph Estrada, then president of the Philippines, came to the White House for a state visit with President Clinton.
Officials say Estrada and his aides used offers of small amounts of money and appeals to ethnic loyalties to recruit Leandro Aragoncillo, the alleged spy, who was half a million dollars in debt…
At the time of the recruitment, Aragoncillo was working as an intelligence analyst for Vice President Al Gore. He later told Philippine television that he was eager to stay in the White House and work for Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Because with the change of administration, everybody was asked if they wanted to stay and asked me, and I said, 'Well, I don't have to think twice. I will not think twice about staying here,'" he said.
Officials say even after Philippine President Estrada was forced out of office for corruption, Aragoncillo continued to feed him secret files in an apparent attempt to start a coup.
"The notion that classified documents would be transferred from the vice president's office into the hands of some political party challenging the regime of a foreign country is staggering," said Jane Harman, a Democratic congresswoman from California.
See, ABC just can’t help themselves.
They still don’t admit that the files found so far were taken from FBI computers, not Dick Cheney’s office. The FBI and CIA are still looking into that possibility, but why wait for things like facts and details when you can jump to conclusions and put them in print?
I also think that it is very disingenuous for them to add Congresswoman Jane Harman’s quote. What the heck does she know except what ABC has told her?
Can you say NOTHING?
Apparently neither Miss Harman nor any of the ABC news staff reads the NY times.
Imagine THAT...
Good News—We’re Back To A Yellow Alert Status
I’ll call FEMA when they get in to their offices tomorrow morning…
OK, I donned my shoes and slicker, grabbed the old digital camera and, thinking of acting in the style of the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantori, I wandered out into the aftermath of Tropical Storm Tammy.
Believe me, I did my best, but I came up empty.
I must have driven past thirty or forty million dollars of fancy smancy real estate and all I could find was some flooded golf cart paths and a bunch of vegetative debris that had fallen in the road. There were a few larger tree limbs that had fallen on the pavement forcing me to swerve wildly at 20 MPH across the centerline—I even had to drive entirely in the opposite lane once. I did see a mailbox that had been dislodged from its mooring, such a tragedy. I guess since we don’t have any mobile homes here on the island that God spared us the obligatory death by tornado
My fellow Miami blogger Steve over at Hog On Ice mentioned how unfair it was that this storm formed this morning and didn’t give all of the weather persons a week’s worth of open collar, slack tied, hysterical broadcasts to entertain and confuse the general public with.
Actually, after dodging four storms last August and September we were starting to feel a little left out here in the Golden Isles. And after all, everyone loves the media attention and the old people need something to force them to run to the pharmacy and grocery store to restock their arsenal of “Hurricane Supplies.”
Steve said that the weather persons should have just gone on the radio and TV and yelled something like “Everybody Duck”.
I agree, that’s the way Tammy worked. Named this morning, and gone by the next day.
That's the way it's supposed to be here on the Georgia coast...
When we moved here to St. Simons in the spring of 2004 we understood that we were living a couple of feet above the high tide line, within a mile of the Atlantic Ocean.
Once again Tammy provided us with a little titillation and excitement, but we also dodged a bullet.
Bring on TS Vincent…we're ready
OK, I donned my shoes and slicker, grabbed the old digital camera and, thinking of acting in the style of the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantori, I wandered out into the aftermath of Tropical Storm Tammy.
Believe me, I did my best, but I came up empty.
I must have driven past thirty or forty million dollars of fancy smancy real estate and all I could find was some flooded golf cart paths and a bunch of vegetative debris that had fallen in the road. There were a few larger tree limbs that had fallen on the pavement forcing me to swerve wildly at 20 MPH across the centerline—I even had to drive entirely in the opposite lane once. I did see a mailbox that had been dislodged from its mooring, such a tragedy. I guess since we don’t have any mobile homes here on the island that God spared us the obligatory death by tornado
My fellow Miami blogger Steve over at Hog On Ice mentioned how unfair it was that this storm formed this morning and didn’t give all of the weather persons a week’s worth of open collar, slack tied, hysterical broadcasts to entertain and confuse the general public with.
Actually, after dodging four storms last August and September we were starting to feel a little left out here in the Golden Isles. And after all, everyone loves the media attention and the old people need something to force them to run to the pharmacy and grocery store to restock their arsenal of “Hurricane Supplies.”
Steve said that the weather persons should have just gone on the radio and TV and yelled something like “Everybody Duck”.
I agree, that’s the way Tammy worked. Named this morning, and gone by the next day.
That's the way it's supposed to be here on the Georgia coast...
When we moved here to St. Simons in the spring of 2004 we understood that we were living a couple of feet above the high tide line, within a mile of the Atlantic Ocean.
Once again Tammy provided us with a little titillation and excitement, but we also dodged a bullet.
Bring on TS Vincent…we're ready
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Singing In The Rain
Blogger just came back up, so I tossed my "play by play" storm writings out on the Blog just now. It looks like our damage was limited to broken stems and leaves on our potted plants on the front patio and some torn screens on the sun porch.
The weather service site is reporting over 5” of rain today, with over 9” falling on St. Simons this week. Our parking lots are floating up to the curbs and water is standing on all of the grass lawns.
I’m going to walk outside in a few minutes and take a drive around the immediate area to see if anything interesting has happened.
I’ll take the camera…
The weather service site is reporting over 5” of rain today, with over 9” falling on St. Simons this week. Our parking lots are floating up to the curbs and water is standing on all of the grass lawns.
I’m going to walk outside in a few minutes and take a drive around the immediate area to see if anything interesting has happened.
I’ll take the camera…
I Spoke Too Soon
I knew it was too good to be true…
I have power. I have cable. I have Internet, but the Blogger dashboard is down for maintenance for a couple of hours so I can’t make new postings. I know that everyone out there is just dieing to get a storm update.
The wind’s calmed down a good deal, but we’ve had some major quantities of rain with more on the way. The wind just started picking up again…
So much for live blogging our exciting tropical adventure from inside the “Cone of Death.”
Dang it…
I have power. I have cable. I have Internet, but the Blogger dashboard is down for maintenance for a couple of hours so I can’t make new postings. I know that everyone out there is just dieing to get a storm update.
The wind’s calmed down a good deal, but we’ve had some major quantities of rain with more on the way. The wind just started picking up again…
So much for live blogging our exciting tropical adventure from inside the “Cone of Death.”
Dang it…
Live Blogging From “The Cone Of Death”
Lucky She’s Just A Tropical Storm…
Tammy has arrived in full force to our area about 8:00 PM. It’s been raining all day, but the rain has steadily increased and now we’re getting wind gusts of at least 40 MPH. The weather service says the maximum sustained winds are about 50 MPH.
The electricity has blinked on and off a couple of times, sending us scrambling for flashlights, candles, and our trusty old oil lantern. Adelphia has also managed to keep the cable TV and broadband service up so far.
Knock on wood…
I just looked out the front door and our front patio is ponding up with water (we’re on the second floor) and all of our plants have tipped over on their sides. We’ve learned our lesson about buying inexpensive Wal mart and Home Depot plants in plastic pots. When you live on the coast you need giant oversized pots made of clay or lead or kryptonite or some other heavy element that will prevent them from blowing away in the tropical weather.
Last year we made the mistake of leaving an 8 foot tall palm tree in its pot on a little wheeled dolly on our sun porch. Did you know that palm branches make excellent sails? That tree would probably still be rolling around somewhere in south Georgia right now if we hadn’t caught it and removed the dolly. So far tonight the two palms have managed to hold their positions in the face of the gale.
Lawn furniture is another problem. If you buy those cheep resin chairs you might as well have them delivered to your neighbor’s house down the street because that is where they will end up after a storm. Ditto for plastic garbage cans.
We have two metal framed lounge chairs on the front patio that are pretty heavy, but the adjustable backs keep flopping around and based on the way the wind keeps increasing, I’m going to have to go out and flip them over so they don’t leave the patio in haste.
I bet the condo’s pool furniture is all blown in the lake by the 18th fairway. Usually our caretaker tosses all of it in the pool before a storm, but I noticed that it was still on the pool deck late this afternoon. I don’t feel like wading down there in my poncho to move it myself.
Well, I’ve got to go out to patrol our perimeter and see what the plants are doing. There’s still plenty of time for the palm trees to jump off of the porch to go visit our downstairs neighbors.
Tammy has arrived in full force to our area about 8:00 PM. It’s been raining all day, but the rain has steadily increased and now we’re getting wind gusts of at least 40 MPH. The weather service says the maximum sustained winds are about 50 MPH.
The electricity has blinked on and off a couple of times, sending us scrambling for flashlights, candles, and our trusty old oil lantern. Adelphia has also managed to keep the cable TV and broadband service up so far.
Knock on wood…
I just looked out the front door and our front patio is ponding up with water (we’re on the second floor) and all of our plants have tipped over on their sides. We’ve learned our lesson about buying inexpensive Wal mart and Home Depot plants in plastic pots. When you live on the coast you need giant oversized pots made of clay or lead or kryptonite or some other heavy element that will prevent them from blowing away in the tropical weather.
Last year we made the mistake of leaving an 8 foot tall palm tree in its pot on a little wheeled dolly on our sun porch. Did you know that palm branches make excellent sails? That tree would probably still be rolling around somewhere in south Georgia right now if we hadn’t caught it and removed the dolly. So far tonight the two palms have managed to hold their positions in the face of the gale.
Lawn furniture is another problem. If you buy those cheep resin chairs you might as well have them delivered to your neighbor’s house down the street because that is where they will end up after a storm. Ditto for plastic garbage cans.
We have two metal framed lounge chairs on the front patio that are pretty heavy, but the adjustable backs keep flopping around and based on the way the wind keeps increasing, I’m going to have to go out and flip them over so they don’t leave the patio in haste.
I bet the condo’s pool furniture is all blown in the lake by the 18th fairway. Usually our caretaker tosses all of it in the pool before a storm, but I noticed that it was still on the pool deck late this afternoon. I don’t feel like wading down there in my poncho to move it myself.
Well, I’ve got to go out to patrol our perimeter and see what the plants are doing. There’s still plenty of time for the palm trees to jump off of the porch to go visit our downstairs neighbors.
Broadband Welfare
Streaming video in the 'Hood
Most of the mainstream media snobs are constantly harping about the validity of “news” stories that reverberate around the blogs.
They poo-poo us (bloggers) because they say that we have no “filter”—no quality control. You know—checks and balances like the work done by Mary Mapes on the discredited Dan Rather “Memogate” story about President Bush’s Texas Air National Guard service.
They seem to think that if you studied engineering or law instead of spending 5-1/2 years getting a journalism degree from Columbia University that you can’t possibly be trusted to write about and report what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears.
I’ll agree that most of the blogs are strictly personal opinion pieces harboring little intent to do any accurate news gathering or reporting. Many like Daily Kos actually try to pose as serious information sites, but if you have the time and mettle to check their sources and look at their stories you find a serious left-wing “barking moon bat” slant. Then there is Democratic Underground.
Don’t even get me started…
Whether or not a person is a blogger, the use of laymen as news sources is on the upswing and the media is having to acknowledge the trend. What began as a few grainy Betamax video images made by a lucky tourist back in the 1970’s has exploded into a deluge of digital video and still images of everything from police chases/shootings to hurricane coverage from ground zero.
The professional media recently had a conference about layman-generated news and they not only like the idea, they want to start handing out video and tape recorders and providing broadband internet service to “poor people.”
"We don't own the news any more," Sambrook said. "This is a fundamental realignment of the relationship between large media companies and the public."
…Larry Kramer, the head of digital operations at Viacom Inc.'s CBS unit, said CBS was eager for more feedback from listeners via its newly expanded online presence, but he said the company would keep a "filter" on such contributions rather than allow open posting by users.
…"This is something we do every day," Curley said. However, the emerging area of citizen-generated news was still in the "first inning," Curley said. "There are lots of opportunities--The audience is growing."
Another member of the opening panel, Farai Chideya, a correspondent for National Public Radio Inc. in Los Angeles and founder of blog called PopandPolitics.com, expressed concern that many big stories may be affecting people who don't have broadband access to the Internet, resulting in a risk that they could be excluded from citizen-generated news.
Chideya said it "breaks my heart" that many poor people and people of color may not be able to participate in the online generation and dissemination of news. The big question, she said, was how to get people "in the caboose of the digital train" involved.
Chideya suggested a "middle ground" where journalists can collaborate with non-journalists, such as distributing tape recorders to people in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina to collect sound, which could then be culled and edited by NPR journalists.
See, here is another group of idiots campaigning for “broadband for poor people.”
I can just see it now....
NPR's new show opposite FOX's Hannity & Combs: "Leroy and the Homies" with live video feeds from the projects.
Or how about "The Crackhead News Hour"?
What the heck is going on here?
Did they forget that Oprah got out of Mississippi and into a Chicago penthouse without free broadband?
I waited 45 years to get broadband access. Broadband was available in the areas in which I lived for as long as there has been consumer broadband access. I didn't have broadband for one simple reason...
IT WAS TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE.
To those not on the government dole, that means "I couldn't afford or chose not to spent MY money buying broadband internet access." Now they want me to spend MY money to supply broadband to total strangers?
I guess AFFORDING an optional service (a luxury) is a foreign concept to the "activists."
We finally bought broadband last year—all $49.99 per month’s worth. It is wonderful being off 0f a dial-up internet connection, but at nearly $600 per year it is expensive.
Before I got broadband, was I considered deaf, dumb, and blind or otherwise unable to see, understand, and report what was going on around me to anyone that cared and would listen?
No?
I did damn fine without broadband access and a digital camera. I’ve got the Polaroid pictures to prove it.
I still don’t own a video camera, but I’m not out there lobbying my congressmen and senators to have the government provide me with one.
Get this straight, people…
EVERYBODY DOESN’T NEED OR DESERVE BROADBAND INTERNET…PARTICULARLY IF THEY EXPECT ME TO PAY FOR IT...
It’s just that simple.
Most of the mainstream media snobs are constantly harping about the validity of “news” stories that reverberate around the blogs.
They poo-poo us (bloggers) because they say that we have no “filter”—no quality control. You know—checks and balances like the work done by Mary Mapes on the discredited Dan Rather “Memogate” story about President Bush’s Texas Air National Guard service.
They seem to think that if you studied engineering or law instead of spending 5-1/2 years getting a journalism degree from Columbia University that you can’t possibly be trusted to write about and report what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears.
I’ll agree that most of the blogs are strictly personal opinion pieces harboring little intent to do any accurate news gathering or reporting. Many like Daily Kos actually try to pose as serious information sites, but if you have the time and mettle to check their sources and look at their stories you find a serious left-wing “barking moon bat” slant. Then there is Democratic Underground.
Don’t even get me started…
Whether or not a person is a blogger, the use of laymen as news sources is on the upswing and the media is having to acknowledge the trend. What began as a few grainy Betamax video images made by a lucky tourist back in the 1970’s has exploded into a deluge of digital video and still images of everything from police chases/shootings to hurricane coverage from ground zero.
The professional media recently had a conference about layman-generated news and they not only like the idea, they want to start handing out video and tape recorders and providing broadband internet service to “poor people.”
"We don't own the news any more," Sambrook said. "This is a fundamental realignment of the relationship between large media companies and the public."
…Larry Kramer, the head of digital operations at Viacom Inc.'s CBS unit, said CBS was eager for more feedback from listeners via its newly expanded online presence, but he said the company would keep a "filter" on such contributions rather than allow open posting by users.
…"This is something we do every day," Curley said. However, the emerging area of citizen-generated news was still in the "first inning," Curley said. "There are lots of opportunities--The audience is growing."
Another member of the opening panel, Farai Chideya, a correspondent for National Public Radio Inc. in Los Angeles and founder of blog called PopandPolitics.com, expressed concern that many big stories may be affecting people who don't have broadband access to the Internet, resulting in a risk that they could be excluded from citizen-generated news.
Chideya said it "breaks my heart" that many poor people and people of color may not be able to participate in the online generation and dissemination of news. The big question, she said, was how to get people "in the caboose of the digital train" involved.
Chideya suggested a "middle ground" where journalists can collaborate with non-journalists, such as distributing tape recorders to people in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina to collect sound, which could then be culled and edited by NPR journalists.
See, here is another group of idiots campaigning for “broadband for poor people.”
I can just see it now....
NPR's new show opposite FOX's Hannity & Combs: "Leroy and the Homies" with live video feeds from the projects.
Or how about "The Crackhead News Hour"?
What the heck is going on here?
Did they forget that Oprah got out of Mississippi and into a Chicago penthouse without free broadband?
I waited 45 years to get broadband access. Broadband was available in the areas in which I lived for as long as there has been consumer broadband access. I didn't have broadband for one simple reason...
IT WAS TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE.
To those not on the government dole, that means "I couldn't afford or chose not to spent MY money buying broadband internet access." Now they want me to spend MY money to supply broadband to total strangers?
I guess AFFORDING an optional service (a luxury) is a foreign concept to the "activists."
We finally bought broadband last year—all $49.99 per month’s worth. It is wonderful being off 0f a dial-up internet connection, but at nearly $600 per year it is expensive.
Before I got broadband, was I considered deaf, dumb, and blind or otherwise unable to see, understand, and report what was going on around me to anyone that cared and would listen?
No?
I did damn fine without broadband access and a digital camera. I’ve got the Polaroid pictures to prove it.
I still don’t own a video camera, but I’m not out there lobbying my congressmen and senators to have the government provide me with one.
Get this straight, people…
EVERYBODY DOESN’T NEED OR DESERVE BROADBAND INTERNET…PARTICULARLY IF THEY EXPECT ME TO PAY FOR IT...
It’s just that simple.
It's Tammy
And She's Coming This Way...
The National Weather Service just named Tropical Depression #20, currently located off the east coast of Florida near Melbourne, and plotted a track that carries her north northwest, moving just to our south later this week.
Oh Noooooo!!!
Where's my inflateable raft and oars?
The National Weather Service just named Tropical Depression #20, currently located off the east coast of Florida near Melbourne, and plotted a track that carries her north northwest, moving just to our south later this week.
Oh Noooooo!!!
Where's my inflateable raft and oars?
You Think Gasoline Is Too Expensive???
Stop Your Whining...
Look at these prices per gallon (along with the source) for things that are a lot less useful:
Starbucks latte
Starbucks $29.20
Horizon organic milk
Freshdirect.com $6.98
Hot Hooters Booby Oil
Adam & Eve $331.52
Echinacea with goldenseal
GNC $1,150.72
Ortho fire ant killer
Home Depot $111.04
Benjamin Moore matte finish #221
National Home Centers $33.00
Goccia black truffle oil
Eurogrocer.com $564.33
Grgich Hills 2000 cabernet sauvignon
Grgich Hills Winery $328.08
Dove firming lotion
Rite Aid $53.23
Frontiersman bear attack deterrent
Brigade Quartermasters $625.95
Similac baby formula
CVS $23.96
Bull semen
Bovine Elite, Texas $189,270.70
Gasoline
Kildare, Ireland $6.28
Gasoline
Krakow, Poland $5.09
Papaya drink
Papaya King $13.98
Silk vanilla soy milk
D’Agostino $8.38
Red Bull energy drink
Beveragesdirect.com $31.47
NyQuil
Duane Reade $89.47
Artificial grape flavor
Sciencelab.com $803.04
Glow by J. Lo
Macy’s $1,995.29
Look at these prices per gallon (along with the source) for things that are a lot less useful:
Starbucks latte
Starbucks $29.20
Horizon organic milk
Freshdirect.com $6.98
Hot Hooters Booby Oil
Adam & Eve $331.52
Echinacea with goldenseal
GNC $1,150.72
Ortho fire ant killer
Home Depot $111.04
Benjamin Moore matte finish #221
National Home Centers $33.00
Goccia black truffle oil
Eurogrocer.com $564.33
Grgich Hills 2000 cabernet sauvignon
Grgich Hills Winery $328.08
Dove firming lotion
Rite Aid $53.23
Frontiersman bear attack deterrent
Brigade Quartermasters $625.95
Similac baby formula
CVS $23.96
Bull semen
Bovine Elite, Texas $189,270.70
Gasoline
Kildare, Ireland $6.28
Gasoline
Krakow, Poland $5.09
Papaya drink
Papaya King $13.98
Silk vanilla soy milk
D’Agostino $8.38
Red Bull energy drink
Beveragesdirect.com $31.47
NyQuil
Duane Reade $89.47
Artificial grape flavor
Sciencelab.com $803.04
Glow by J. Lo
Macy’s $1,995.29
Darn I'm Good...
Earlier this morning (5:25 AM) I posted my concern about potential tropical weather developing to the southeast offshore of Melbourne, Florida.
I just got this E-mail (5:45 AM) from the National Weather Service (no...I'm not that important--I subscribe to the service):
RADAR DATA AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT A CLOSED SURFACE CIRCULATION HAS FORMED JUST OFF THE COAST OF EAST-CENTRALFLORIDA... WITHIN THE LARGE AREA OF DISTURBED WEATHER EXTENDINGFROM FLORIDA EASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTHERN BAHAMAS. A TROPICAL CYCLONE IS FORMING... AND ADVISORIES WILL BE INITIATED SHORTLY WITHA SPECIAL ADVISORY. A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO INVESTIGATE THIS SYSTEM LATER TODAY.
I checked the Melbourne, Florida weather radar and there is most definitely a counterclockwise rotation visible on the radar loop.
The good news is that the system is not very far offshore so IF it tries to develop further it hopefully won't be able to get very far before it comes ashore.
Things could get interesting here on the Georgia coast depending on which way the wind is blowing over the next few days...
I just got this E-mail (5:45 AM) from the National Weather Service (no...I'm not that important--I subscribe to the service):
RADAR DATA AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT A CLOSED SURFACE CIRCULATION HAS FORMED JUST OFF THE COAST OF EAST-CENTRALFLORIDA... WITHIN THE LARGE AREA OF DISTURBED WEATHER EXTENDINGFROM FLORIDA EASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTHERN BAHAMAS. A TROPICAL CYCLONE IS FORMING... AND ADVISORIES WILL BE INITIATED SHORTLY WITHA SPECIAL ADVISORY. A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO INVESTIGATE THIS SYSTEM LATER TODAY.
I checked the Melbourne, Florida weather radar and there is most definitely a counterclockwise rotation visible on the radar loop.
The good news is that the system is not very far offshore so IF it tries to develop further it hopefully won't be able to get very far before it comes ashore.
Things could get interesting here on the Georgia coast depending on which way the wind is blowing over the next few days...
Rainy Night In Georgia
I feel like I’m growing gills and fins.
More accurately, I guess that I should say that I feel like I need to grow gills and fins based on the weather we’ve enjoyed over the past four days.
IT’S STILL RAINING TONIGHT.
We’ve had this persistent area of high pressure lying north of us causing a nice easterly fetch of wind, and the nearby Atlantic Ocean is soaking us with moist air. You can see the rain showers and thunderstorms forming just a few miles offshore on the weather radar. One minute the sun is shining, and the next minute its pouring rain—two or three inches every 24 hours.
The temperatures continue to be unseasonably warm—in the mid 80’s—but using the swimming pool is impossible because of the rain. I also discovered that the pool filter pump was broken last weekend, so I’m crying on my soggy flip flops as I sit inside looking out the window and pouting.
Now we have a “tropical disturbance” sitting southeast of us over the northern Bahamas that could develop further and keep the rain coming through the rest of the week. It gets rather exciting when you live just a few feet above the normal sea level and you have a couple of feet of rain in a short period of time.
I know everyone feels really sorry for this poor state of my affairs. Yeah, yeah, I know…I could always take my own advice and move to higher ground.
The rain again washed out my attempt to photograph the combined moonset/sunset opportunity this evening, although I did talk Pat into getting out of her PJ’s long enough to spend a half hour with me looking across the salt marsh hoping that a break in the clouds would provide a photo opportunity. No such luck.
Oh well, I’ll just have to try again later this winter.
Meanwhile, my potential tenant was also a washout. Some people have no clue how to do business, and I’m a magnet for imbeciles and hard luck stories. Yesterday on the telephone I explicitly told this girl what my move in terms were—rent, deposit, etc. She said she wanted the place and arranged to meet me after lunch on Tuesday to make payment and pick up the keys. I spent four hours last night rewriting my rental agreement and I made a special trip to Ace to have extra keys made.
I finally heard from her about 5:30 PM when she called and tried to convince me to allow her to move in by paying only 1/3 of the rent and deposit. I had to tell her no, and now she’s supposed to get back with me when she comes up with the rest of the money. For some reason I don’t have a good feeling about the possibility of a long term business relationship.
Next prospect…
More accurately, I guess that I should say that I feel like I need to grow gills and fins based on the weather we’ve enjoyed over the past four days.
IT’S STILL RAINING TONIGHT.
We’ve had this persistent area of high pressure lying north of us causing a nice easterly fetch of wind, and the nearby Atlantic Ocean is soaking us with moist air. You can see the rain showers and thunderstorms forming just a few miles offshore on the weather radar. One minute the sun is shining, and the next minute its pouring rain—two or three inches every 24 hours.
The temperatures continue to be unseasonably warm—in the mid 80’s—but using the swimming pool is impossible because of the rain. I also discovered that the pool filter pump was broken last weekend, so I’m crying on my soggy flip flops as I sit inside looking out the window and pouting.
Now we have a “tropical disturbance” sitting southeast of us over the northern Bahamas that could develop further and keep the rain coming through the rest of the week. It gets rather exciting when you live just a few feet above the normal sea level and you have a couple of feet of rain in a short period of time.
I know everyone feels really sorry for this poor state of my affairs. Yeah, yeah, I know…I could always take my own advice and move to higher ground.
The rain again washed out my attempt to photograph the combined moonset/sunset opportunity this evening, although I did talk Pat into getting out of her PJ’s long enough to spend a half hour with me looking across the salt marsh hoping that a break in the clouds would provide a photo opportunity. No such luck.
Oh well, I’ll just have to try again later this winter.
Meanwhile, my potential tenant was also a washout. Some people have no clue how to do business, and I’m a magnet for imbeciles and hard luck stories. Yesterday on the telephone I explicitly told this girl what my move in terms were—rent, deposit, etc. She said she wanted the place and arranged to meet me after lunch on Tuesday to make payment and pick up the keys. I spent four hours last night rewriting my rental agreement and I made a special trip to Ace to have extra keys made.
I finally heard from her about 5:30 PM when she called and tried to convince me to allow her to move in by paying only 1/3 of the rent and deposit. I had to tell her no, and now she’s supposed to get back with me when she comes up with the rest of the money. For some reason I don’t have a good feeling about the possibility of a long term business relationship.
Next prospect…
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
My Head Is Starting To Spin Around…
Not Again
Do we actually raise people like this here in the US, or do they fly in from somewhere in outer space?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became internationally known for his campaign a year ago to legalize gay marriage, on Monday said he considered wireless Internet access a fundamental right of all citizens.
Officials said 24 proposals had been turned into the city to deliver wireless Internet services, ranging from Web search company Google Inc., Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, to Internet service provider EarthLink Inc.
Newsom told a news conference that he was bracing for a battle with telephone and cable interests along with state and federal regulators who he said are looking to derail a campaign by cities to offer free or low-cost municipal Wi-Fi services…
"This is inevitable -- Wi-Fi. It is long overdue," Newsom told a news conference at San Francisco's City Hall. "It is to me a fundamental right to have access universally to information," he said.
Mayor Newsom is a complete roaring idiot and imbecile. Nowhere in the US constitution do I see the words “life, liberty, and really fast free wireless internet service.”
Am I wrong?
OK, I really have no problem with the concept of “free internet.” Further, I have no problem with “free wireless internet”—particularly if I can use it myself. Google's bid is actually based on using ads to pay for the wireless access so no taxpayer funds in theory will be required to complete the implementation.
The thing is, once you have free internet, the next thing you know San Francisco is going to decide that they want to start handing out free computers with wireless cards. Last time I checked in a computer store I found that computers aren’t free.
This is truely a slippery slope they're entering--forget about gay marriage.
I’ve put a couple hundred dollars into our wireless network in the past six months. Where the hell was the Mayor of San Francisco when I got tired of dragging a 50’ long CAT5 cable around the living room?
Here’s another thing to remember. It has been recently reported that 20% of California's high school seniors have been unable to pass the manditory graduation exam. The graduation exam is testing reading and math skills that should have been developed by the 10th grade level of education. Further, you don't have to make a score of 70% to pass the test.
If you can’t do simple things like READ AT AN 10th GRADE LEVEL and do MATH AT A 10th GRADE LEVEL, what the hell business do you have screwing around worrying about free wireless internet?
Hobo’s (excuse me…urban outdoorsmen) and masses of illiterates with wireless laptops…
What's next?
Dumpster Blogging?
Only in California…
Do we actually raise people like this here in the US, or do they fly in from somewhere in outer space?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became internationally known for his campaign a year ago to legalize gay marriage, on Monday said he considered wireless Internet access a fundamental right of all citizens.
Officials said 24 proposals had been turned into the city to deliver wireless Internet services, ranging from Web search company Google Inc., Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, to Internet service provider EarthLink Inc.
Newsom told a news conference that he was bracing for a battle with telephone and cable interests along with state and federal regulators who he said are looking to derail a campaign by cities to offer free or low-cost municipal Wi-Fi services…
"This is inevitable -- Wi-Fi. It is long overdue," Newsom told a news conference at San Francisco's City Hall. "It is to me a fundamental right to have access universally to information," he said.
Mayor Newsom is a complete roaring idiot and imbecile. Nowhere in the US constitution do I see the words “life, liberty, and really fast free wireless internet service.”
Am I wrong?
OK, I really have no problem with the concept of “free internet.” Further, I have no problem with “free wireless internet”—particularly if I can use it myself. Google's bid is actually based on using ads to pay for the wireless access so no taxpayer funds in theory will be required to complete the implementation.
The thing is, once you have free internet, the next thing you know San Francisco is going to decide that they want to start handing out free computers with wireless cards. Last time I checked in a computer store I found that computers aren’t free.
This is truely a slippery slope they're entering--forget about gay marriage.
I’ve put a couple hundred dollars into our wireless network in the past six months. Where the hell was the Mayor of San Francisco when I got tired of dragging a 50’ long CAT5 cable around the living room?
Here’s another thing to remember. It has been recently reported that 20% of California's high school seniors have been unable to pass the manditory graduation exam. The graduation exam is testing reading and math skills that should have been developed by the 10th grade level of education. Further, you don't have to make a score of 70% to pass the test.
If you can’t do simple things like READ AT AN 10th GRADE LEVEL and do MATH AT A 10th GRADE LEVEL, what the hell business do you have screwing around worrying about free wireless internet?
Hobo’s (excuse me…urban outdoorsmen) and masses of illiterates with wireless laptops…
What's next?
Dumpster Blogging?
Only in California…
Everyone Talks About The Weather…
But No One Ever Does Anything About It
Well, so much for my much touted ”Solar Lunar” photo opportunity last evening.
It was a complete washout.
We seem to be stuck in some kind of monsoonal weather pattern that started last Saturday and about every thirty minutes the bottom falls out of the clouds.
We must have had three or four inches of rain in the past two days.
There is the possibility of another decent opportunity here on Tuesday night, then I think that it’s another couple of months before everything lines up the way I want.
Well, so much for my much touted ”Solar Lunar” photo opportunity last evening.
It was a complete washout.
We seem to be stuck in some kind of monsoonal weather pattern that started last Saturday and about every thirty minutes the bottom falls out of the clouds.
We must have had three or four inches of rain in the past two days.
There is the possibility of another decent opportunity here on Tuesday night, then I think that it’s another couple of months before everything lines up the way I want.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Duty Calls, I'm Into Pain
And At Least The Telephone Wasn't Busy...
I'm perhaps the worst businessman in the entire western world.
Like Jimmy Buffett says, "I've made enough money to buy Miami and I've pissed it away so fast...never meant to last..."
Out of the clear blue I decided to get into the "slumlord business" last year and I've found out that I suck at it.
The problem is elemental, fundamental, or whatever you want to call it.
I HATE having to collect my rent, and at the level my property operates on I have to go get my money each and every thirty days if Iexpect to get any money at all out of the endeavor. I've let an entire duplex sit empty for MONTHS rather than get back into the "solicitation of lame excuses" business.
Then I had a revelation...
Our lawnkeeper, "Ozzy," lives over in Brunswick near my property and is a bit more comfortable dealing with people in the socioeconomic group that is my target demographic.
Let's just say that Ozzy is a little less intimidating to my potential tenants than a 6'-3" tall, 225 pound, bearded white guy with a pony tail driving a big white Suburban Truck is to certain segments of the population.
Some people say I can look really mean, but hey--I'm actually a pussycat inside most of the time.
Besides, if you punched me in the nose right now I'd drop like a sack of potatoes because my recent illness still has me limping around like a three legged dog.
Any way, Ozzy recently asked if he could show my property to someone, took the keys, and here it is a week later and I'm looking at positive cash flow again--starting tomorrow.
I hate long term agreements with potential deadbeats, so I'm sitting here manually re-typing my old 1 year "lease" into a "month to month" rental agreement.
Did I mention that I was an engineer, not a lawyer?
Did I mention that I HATE most lawyers?
Lawyers live to make simple things more complicated than the average human has any desire to fathom, thus everyone needs a lawyer and even the lawyers need lawyers. My mother for some reason thinks that I'd make a good Lawyer. I'm not sure if I'm insulted or flattered...
Regarding my current legal document development, I'd like to try to keep the whole thing down to a length of only two pages because most of my "tennants" can apparently barely read at an 8th grade level and at the sight of the first "Where AS" or "Thereof" their eyes glaze over in a catatonic funk.
Come to speak of it, my eyes have glazed over also in the past half hour.
Apparently the key to a good rental agreement involves writing just enough words to allow you to kick your tenant out on their ass before the aforementioned ass grows attached to any part of your structure that you're allowing them to occupy on a temporary basis. At the same time you try to write as many words as possible that tell your guest that they can't a) sell your building, b) burn your building down, c) allow a herd of cattle or known child rapeist to move into your building, and finally d) to open a crack kitchen, crystal meth lab, or whorehouse without providing you with a substantial share of the profits.
Having a parking lot full of inoperative automobiles is also a big no-no in the landlord business.
The neat thing about this building is that it is solid concrete block, inside and out. There are a few nail holes in the walls, but a little putty and a fresh coat of paint almost puts the whole thing back in it's original 1959 condition.
The sad thing is that my building and I are the same age, and I'm afraid that it's in better condition than I am.
I'm perhaps the worst businessman in the entire western world.
Like Jimmy Buffett says, "I've made enough money to buy Miami and I've pissed it away so fast...never meant to last..."
Out of the clear blue I decided to get into the "slumlord business" last year and I've found out that I suck at it.
The problem is elemental, fundamental, or whatever you want to call it.
I HATE having to collect my rent, and at the level my property operates on I have to go get my money each and every thirty days if Iexpect to get any money at all out of the endeavor. I've let an entire duplex sit empty for MONTHS rather than get back into the "solicitation of lame excuses" business.
Then I had a revelation...
Our lawnkeeper, "Ozzy," lives over in Brunswick near my property and is a bit more comfortable dealing with people in the socioeconomic group that is my target demographic.
Let's just say that Ozzy is a little less intimidating to my potential tenants than a 6'-3" tall, 225 pound, bearded white guy with a pony tail driving a big white Suburban Truck is to certain segments of the population.
Some people say I can look really mean, but hey--I'm actually a pussycat inside most of the time.
Besides, if you punched me in the nose right now I'd drop like a sack of potatoes because my recent illness still has me limping around like a three legged dog.
Any way, Ozzy recently asked if he could show my property to someone, took the keys, and here it is a week later and I'm looking at positive cash flow again--starting tomorrow.
I hate long term agreements with potential deadbeats, so I'm sitting here manually re-typing my old 1 year "lease" into a "month to month" rental agreement.
Did I mention that I was an engineer, not a lawyer?
Did I mention that I HATE most lawyers?
Lawyers live to make simple things more complicated than the average human has any desire to fathom, thus everyone needs a lawyer and even the lawyers need lawyers. My mother for some reason thinks that I'd make a good Lawyer. I'm not sure if I'm insulted or flattered...
Regarding my current legal document development, I'd like to try to keep the whole thing down to a length of only two pages because most of my "tennants" can apparently barely read at an 8th grade level and at the sight of the first "Where AS" or "Thereof" their eyes glaze over in a catatonic funk.
Come to speak of it, my eyes have glazed over also in the past half hour.
Apparently the key to a good rental agreement involves writing just enough words to allow you to kick your tenant out on their ass before the aforementioned ass grows attached to any part of your structure that you're allowing them to occupy on a temporary basis. At the same time you try to write as many words as possible that tell your guest that they can't a) sell your building, b) burn your building down, c) allow a herd of cattle or known child rapeist to move into your building, and finally d) to open a crack kitchen, crystal meth lab, or whorehouse without providing you with a substantial share of the profits.
Having a parking lot full of inoperative automobiles is also a big no-no in the landlord business.
The neat thing about this building is that it is solid concrete block, inside and out. There are a few nail holes in the walls, but a little putty and a fresh coat of paint almost puts the whole thing back in it's original 1959 condition.
The sad thing is that my building and I are the same age, and I'm afraid that it's in better condition than I am.
Animal EMT?
I'm having a hard time being serious today, but that's OK because the news is helping me out with some unintentional humor.
Check out this story bout the guy getting caught hauling a dead deer around in a stolen ambulance.
Cops in North Carolina thought it was odd enough a Jacksonville (Florida) man was driving an ambulance reported stolen hours earlier.
Odder still was that he was wearing a makeshift doctor's uniform consisting of a stethoscope, a pager-like gadget and latex gloves stuffed in his back pocket.
But then things started getting really strange when they saw a dead deer, fully stretched out and wedged in the back. Some said there was an intravenous line attached to the animal and there was evidence a defibrillator had been used.
Others were just stunned.
"I don't know how the man got it up in there," said Sgt. Robert Pearson of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. "It was a six point buck."
I'm afraid to ask...
Check out this story bout the guy getting caught hauling a dead deer around in a stolen ambulance.
Cops in North Carolina thought it was odd enough a Jacksonville (Florida) man was driving an ambulance reported stolen hours earlier.
Odder still was that he was wearing a makeshift doctor's uniform consisting of a stethoscope, a pager-like gadget and latex gloves stuffed in his back pocket.
But then things started getting really strange when they saw a dead deer, fully stretched out and wedged in the back. Some said there was an intravenous line attached to the animal and there was evidence a defibrillator had been used.
Others were just stunned.
"I don't know how the man got it up in there," said Sgt. Robert Pearson of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. "It was a six point buck."
I'm afraid to ask...
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Chinese Food, Anyone?
I’ve consumed some interesting things in my day.
I’ll eat almost any kind of seafood, including Sushi (except sea urchin.)
I’ve had Alligator, Bison, Emu, Ostrich, Bear, Turtle, I’ve killed and eaten Squirrel, and while my Navy ship was in the Philippines I once ate some Monkey meat sold by a vendor on the street of Cebu City.
Somehow I survived the Monkey meat adventure.
One thing that I’ve NEVER tried to eat was tiger meat, especially when the ”tiger meat” was actually donkey meat seasoned with TIGER URINE.
“HARBIN: Want to become strong and potent like a tiger? Then why not try our special tiger meat dish? This was the question posed to customers at a restaurant in Hailin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The establishment was later fined and ordered to close for inspection, after a local newspaper revealed its recommendation of the outlawed dish.
The restaurant, which is called "Hufulou", is situated about a kilometre away from the Hengdaohezi Siberian Tiger Park, China's largest Siberian tiger breeding centre.
The restaurant was offering a dish of stir-fried tiger meat with hot peppers for 800 yuan (US$98), according to reports…
When asked how the restaurant obtained the tiger meat, a waiter replied that the owner of the restaurant had good connections within the tiger park and could get the meat of dead tigers.
The tiger-meat story published in a local newspaper has created shock waves.
Police subsequently raided the restaurant and confiscated the so-called tiger meat.
After inspection, the owner, Ma Shikun, confessed that the so-called tiger meat was actually donkey meat that had been dressed with tiger urine, to give the dish a "special" flavour.
Local authorities ordered the restaurant to close for inspection and confiscated its illegal profits, 800 yuan the price of a plate of 'tiger' meat and added another 2,400 yuan (US$296) by way of a fine.
All I can say is…
Yummy
I’ll eat almost any kind of seafood, including Sushi (except sea urchin.)
I’ve had Alligator, Bison, Emu, Ostrich, Bear, Turtle, I’ve killed and eaten Squirrel, and while my Navy ship was in the Philippines I once ate some Monkey meat sold by a vendor on the street of Cebu City.
Somehow I survived the Monkey meat adventure.
One thing that I’ve NEVER tried to eat was tiger meat, especially when the ”tiger meat” was actually donkey meat seasoned with TIGER URINE.
“HARBIN: Want to become strong and potent like a tiger? Then why not try our special tiger meat dish? This was the question posed to customers at a restaurant in Hailin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The establishment was later fined and ordered to close for inspection, after a local newspaper revealed its recommendation of the outlawed dish.
The restaurant, which is called "Hufulou", is situated about a kilometre away from the Hengdaohezi Siberian Tiger Park, China's largest Siberian tiger breeding centre.
The restaurant was offering a dish of stir-fried tiger meat with hot peppers for 800 yuan (US$98), according to reports…
When asked how the restaurant obtained the tiger meat, a waiter replied that the owner of the restaurant had good connections within the tiger park and could get the meat of dead tigers.
The tiger-meat story published in a local newspaper has created shock waves.
Police subsequently raided the restaurant and confiscated the so-called tiger meat.
After inspection, the owner, Ma Shikun, confessed that the so-called tiger meat was actually donkey meat that had been dressed with tiger urine, to give the dish a "special" flavour.
Local authorities ordered the restaurant to close for inspection and confiscated its illegal profits, 800 yuan the price of a plate of 'tiger' meat and added another 2,400 yuan (US$296) by way of a fine.
All I can say is…
Yummy
