Combs Spouts Off

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Archive for November, 2007

Texting teen drivers

Posted by Richard on November 14, 2007

A few weeks ago, after I had a close call with a texting driver and saw a bizarre news story about another, I ranted a bit about the phenomenon, suggesting that texting while driving might just qualify as “felony stupidity.” Well, a new survey suggests that it’s astonishingly common among young people:

DENVER — A survey by AAA Colorado found 51 percent of Colorado teens admitted to sending or receiving text messages while driving. That means they were either typing or reading the screen while driving.

The survey also found that 66 percent of Colorado teens admitted to talking on their cell phones while driving. The Colorado figures are much higher than those found in a recent national survey, where the rates were 46 percent of teens who text and 51 percent who talk, AAA said.

The teens surveyed almost unanimously (97%) considered the practice dangerous, and 73% thought strict penalties would help.

I don’t want to get on a high horse regarding risk-taking by young people. Lord knows, my friends and I engaged in some behavior involving cars that โ€” well, it’s a wonder we managed to survive. But we were endangering ourselves and others because our judgment was temporarily impaired. What excuse do these texting fools have?

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New AG supports RKBA

Posted by Richard on November 13, 2007

David Codrea's The War on Guns had a bit of good news Friday: just-confirmed Attorney General Michael Mukasey believes that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms." Sen. Durbin cited that statement as one of the reasons he voted against Mukasey.

Codrea had been concerned about Mukasey because he supports Giuliani, and because Sen. Schumer supported his nomination. He expressed relief, if not exactly enthusiasm:

Excluding all other considerations, and with the caveat that this is based only on the rhetoric, it would appear gun owners could have done worse

And frequently have.

Hip, hip, hooray! (for now)

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Veterans Day salute

Posted by Richard on November 11, 2007

 soldier saluting flag

To those who have served, and to those who serve today:

Thank you
 


It Is The Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
 

Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army

Copyright Charles M. Province, 1970, 2005

http://www.pattonhq.com/koreamemorial.html

Papa, I love you and miss you. And I'm grateful.

This would be a good day to contribute to Project Valour-IT to help severely wounded soldiers. Please click on the Make a Donation button at the top of the left sidebar and help me help the Army team in this friendly rivalry for a good cause. Scroll down or click to this post for more information.

(Yes, this is the same photo and poem and thanks to my dad that I posted last Veterans Day. You got a problem with that?)

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Sweet revenge

Posted by Richard on November 10, 2007

How 'bout them Vols?!?

Last year, Arkansas embarrassed Tennessee. This year, the Vols avenged that humiliating defeat by crushing the Razorbacks, 34-13, in a game not as close as the score would indicate: 

Tennessee (7-3, 4-2 SEC) held Arkansas' powerful rushing game largely at bay, controlling the clock and the line of scrimmage in a 34-13 victory Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

While the 'Hogs Darren McFadden ran for 117 yards on 22 carries, he did not reach the end zone and his longest carry only went for 20 yards — a far cry from his 321-yard performance last week against South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Arian Foster rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and his 59-yard run in the third quarter put the Vols in command, 27-3. A strong rushing effort allowed Tennessee to have the football for more than 33 minutes, fulfilling a pregame goal by keeping the ball out of McFadden's dangerous hands.

The Vols now control their own destiny. If they can beat Vandy and Kentucky, they'll win the SEC East and face (gulp) the LSU Tigers (now #1 in the nation, after Ohio State's loss) for the SEC Championship.

The victory should quiet the critics calling for coach Phil Fulmer's head. On Friday, almost 200 former Tennessee players told the critics to shut up:

The former players took out a full-page advertisement in The Knoxville News Sentinel on Friday, printing a letter that said the cries for Fulmer to be fired were "laughable — if the potential consequences weren't so serious."

The letter was signed by 191 former Vols, including Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.

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A manufactured crisis

Posted by Richard on November 9, 2007

John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel:

I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you “believe in.” It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe a me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

 As oil climbed toward $100 per barrel, Investor's Business Daily noted that: 

By falsely demonizing oil in the debate over global warming, we assure an energy-impoverished future.

The real problem behind soaring oil prices — a lack of supply — hasn't been addressed at all. Today we have what economists call a "demand shock." It's a result of the greatest global economic boom in history — a result of more poor people in more countries being pulled out of poverty than ever, thanks to fast-growing economies and free trade.

As Weather Channel founder John Coleman said this week, global warming is "the greatest scam in history." Literally thousands of reputable climatologists agree with this.

Yet fear of warming is giving rise to all kinds of bad ideas that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and deliver very questionable benefits. These ideas include "carbon" taxes on all of us and "windfall" profit taxes on oil companies, bans on drilling for new oil in Alaska and off our coasts, and expensive new mandates — such as higher fuel economy for cars — to reduce "carbon footprints."

Crude mismatchAs the chart shows, our failure to replace our depleted domestic oil reserves has left us with a serious mismatch of supply and demand. We use more oil each year, but supply less of it ourselves.

That makes us vulnerable. We send hundreds of billions of dollars overseas each year to the Middle East, Africa and South America, helping fund terrorism and prop up some nasty regimes.

As Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, notes, if we had started drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1995 — when President Clinton nixed the idea — we'd be pumping millions more barrels today. Ditto if we had more vigorously pursued our offshore reserves.

But would that matter? According to the American Petroleum Institute, we have at least 131 billion barrels of oil and more than 1,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that we can get at now, with current technology. It's just waiting for us to find and pump it. But Americans — cowed into submission by aggressive global warming propaganda — are afraid to do so.

This is where Congress could be of help. Right now, we have an oil-based economy. We can't escape it — we need more oil.

If lawmakers stopped dithering and acted, we could turn our energy future around — feeding our need for oil in the short term, while spinning out new technologies like hydrogen fuel cells, clean coal and modern nuclear power plants over the long term.

That, however, would take vision and courage — two traits that today's leaders in Washington conspicuously lack.

So what else is new? Sigh.

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Michael Cain

Posted by Richard on November 9, 2007

The writers' strike may have some benefits you hadn't considered, such as the ability to catch up on some stuff you missed the first time around. For instance, tonight's Late Late Show rerun featured Craig Ferguson interviewing Michael Cain. I think Ferguson's interview skills are greatly underrated — he has a knack for getting guests to open up.

In this interview, Ferguson asked Michael Cain about whether he regretted giving up the stage for Hollywood, and Cain replied:

 I always regarded the theater as a woman who didn't give a damn about me, and the movies as a woman I could do anything with.

Cool.

That's strictly from memory. If you want to confirm my recollection, browse around the website. I make no guarantee that you'll find it.  

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Support Valour-IT

Posted by Richard on November 9, 2007

As I get older, I find that time keeps moving faster, and sometimes I let things sneak up on me. Take, for instance, Veterans Day. And the annual Project Valour-IT fundraiser leading up to it.

Project Valour-IT (Voice Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops) is a project of the wonderful Soldiers' Angels Foundation. The money raised provides laptop computers with voice-control software for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines with severe injuries — typically hand and arm injuries or amputations. Many of the laptops become part of "loaner libraries" at the major military medical centers, while others are provided to wounded heroes on a permanent basis. So far, over 1500 laptops have been distributed. More are needed. To learn more about the project, go here.

The annual fundraising event is a friendly competition among teams of bloggers representing the service branches to see who can raise the most money for this wonderful cause. I'm (belatedly) joining the Army team again this year, in honor of my late father, Col. Samuel R. Combs, United States Army Signal Corps, who passed away August 16, 2006, at the age of 89, and who the Rocky Mountain News described as epitomizing the Greatest Generation. (“He answered his country’s call even before the phone rang” is a phrase I shall always treasure. Thank you again, Bob Denerstein.)

Donations of any size are tax deductible and greatly appreciated. Please do me the honor of donating through my humble blog by clicking the button below (or in the left sidebar). I’ve kicked in $100. Give what you can — it's dead simple, whether you use a PayPal account or a credit card. Thanks for helping! 

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Burying the good news

Posted by Richard on November 8, 2007

Apparently, the front page of The New York Times is reserved for covering global warming, the (perennially) impending recession, and bad news from Iraq. Good news from Iraq has to figuratively sit in the back of the bus. From Newsbusters (emphasis in original):

When Rush Limbaugh opened today's show by mentioning that the New York Times had relegated to page A19 the story of the ridding of Al Qaeda-in-Iraq from all of Baghdad, I actually thought he might be joking. Surely not even the Times could be so brazenly biased as to bury such a huge story reflecting the success of the surge. But, sure enough, Rush was right. A19 is exactly the location to which the Times exiled the story. And to further reduce the number of people who would learn the good news, the paper stuck this bland headline on the story: "Rebel Unit Now Out of Baghdad, U.S. General Asserts". The headline of the online version of the story, "Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says," differs slightly, but the text is the same.

Yeah. It was just some "rebel unit" or "militant group" that the MNF has driven out of all of Baghdad: AL-FREAKING-QAEDA!

"Rebel Unit," indeed — it's just amazing what lengths the NYT editors will go to in order to avoid the obvious headline, "Al Qaeda Driven Out of Baghdad."

The Washington Post, not to be outdone in terms of burying the good news, relegated this story to page A20:

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — The drop in violence caused by the U.S. troop increase in Iraq has prompted refugees to begin returning to their homes, American and Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

Tahsin al-Sheikhly, an Iraqi government spokesman, said 46,030 displaced Iraqis had returned last month from outside the country to their homes in the capital. He declined to comment on how the government determined those statistics.

"People are starting to return to their homes," said Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of U.S. troops in Baghdad. "There's no question about it." 

The quote from Maj. Gen. Fil is from the same luncheon with reporters that the NYTimes story cited. WaPo not only buried the whole story one page deeper, they didn't mention the general's remarks about driving out al Qaeda until the 7th paragraph.

Here's something else I noticed: The NYTimes story described al Qaeda in Iraq as "the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led," and the WaPo story described it as "a largely homegrown Sunni insurgent group that U.S. officials say they believe is led by foreigners."

These aren't wire service stories, and they don't appear to share any authors — the NYT story is by Damien Cave, with contributions from Baghdad by Khalid al-Ansary, Anwar J. Ali, and Mudhafer al-Husaini; the WaPo story is by Amit R. Paley, with contributions from "Zaid Sabah and Dalya Hassan in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq." I suppose the NYTimes' Iraqi contributors could also be the "other" WaPo contributors. But I suspect the nearly identical descriptions are simply media group-think.

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Sarkozy: the moral value of America

Posted by Richard on November 8, 2007

French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday, and he spoke passionately about why he loves America (emphasis added):

The United States and France remain true to the memory of their common history, true to the blood spilled by their children in common battles. But they are not true merely to the memory of what they accomplished together in the past. They remain true, first and foremost, to the same ideal, the same principles, the same values that have always united them.

The deliberations of your Congress are conducted under the double gaze of Washington and Lafayette. Lafayette, whose 250th birthday we are celebrating this year and who was the first foreign dignitary, in 1824, to address a joint session of Congress. What was it that brought these two men-so far apart in age and background-together, if not their faith in common values, the heritage of the Enlightenment, the same love for freedom and justice?

Upon first meeting Washington, Lafayette told him: "I have come here to learn, not to teach." It was this new spirit and youth of the Old World seeking out the wisdom of the New World that opened a new era for all of humanity.

From the very beginning, the American dream meant putting into practice the dreams of the Old World.

From the very beginning, the American dream meant proving to all mankind that freedom, justice, human rights and democracy were no utopia but were rather the most realistic policy there is and the most likely to improve the fate of each and every person.

America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who-with their hands, their intelligence and their heart-built the greatest nation in the world: "Come, and everything will be given to you." She said: "Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent." America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.

Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That's what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.

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Michael Yon: Thanks and Praise

Posted by Richard on November 8, 2007

As regular readers are no doubt aware, I'm not religious. Nonetheless, Michael Yon's latest dispatch from Iraq, Thanks and Praise, moved me. It's yet another example of basically decent people of good will coming together in that country — at great risk to themselves, I'm sure — to declare that they want to live together in peace:

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers. (Videotape to follow.)

Amen. 

By all means, click the link and look at Yon's wonderful, heartwarming photograph. And please make a donation so that his reporting can continue. 

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Porkers

Posted by Richard on November 7, 2007

Monday, the Club for Growth released its 2007 Senate RePORK Card, a scorecard of senators' votes on 15 anti-pork amendments (the House RePORK Card was released back in August). Here's all you really need to know about how sorry the Senate is: only 2 of the 15 anti-pork amendments passed, one to kill a spinach-growers' subsidy included in an Iraq war funding bill, and the other to kill Sen. Clinton's $1 million grant for a Woodstock Festival museum.

PorkbustersNonetheless, some of the scores are interesting:

  • Only three senators received a perfect score of 100% (and were present for a majority of the votes): Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

  • The only senator receiving a 0% was Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) who voted against all 10 anti-pork amendments he was present for.

  • The average Republican score was 59%; the average Democratic score was 12%.

  • The best scoring Democrat was Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) with an impressive 80%, tying with or scoring better than thirty-nine Republican senators.

  • Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) scored a 53%; Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) scored a 7%, voting for only one amendment.

The House, meanwhile, voted last night to override the President's veto of the pork-laden Water Resources Development Act and to approve the conference report of a monstrous omnibus spending bill. The Labor-HHS-Military-VA conference report not only includes earmarks "airdropped" into the bill without a vote by either chamber, it also includes a Democratic amendment to gut an earlier reform that prohibited "backdoor" earmarks. The veto override vote was 361-54, so most Republicans abandoned their President to protect their pork.

In fact, 42 Republicans sided with Pelosi on both votes. The'yre listed here. The Club for Growth will undoubtedly support primary opponents for some of these people; if you value fiscal responsibility, you might consider helping them. 

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Great retorts

Posted by Richard on November 6, 2007

A friend who is decidedly not a jingoistic America-firster, but has a good sense of humor, sent me the following. They're certainly not new — the first one, according to Snopes , dates from 2003 (but it's basically true, although the location and the former Archbishop's question have been altered, and Powell's response shortened). But if you haven't seen them, you might get a chuckle or three out of them:

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by
the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example
of 'empire building' by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the
years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women
into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only
amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those
that did not return." It became very quiet in the room.

************************************************************

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a
break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying "Have
you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to
do, bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore
facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000
people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of
fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen
helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from
their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how many does France
have?" Once again, dead silence.

*************************************************************

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.
At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of
Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone
was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French
admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?" Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied
"Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged
it so you wouldn't have to speak German?" You could have heard a pin drop!

As I said, the first one is genuine, but I can't vouch for the second and third — no luck at Snopes, although there are plenty of pages with those quotes. But I really like the one about why the French don't have to speak German, and I hope it's true. 

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Duct tape server

Posted by Richard on November 6, 2007

This is several months old, but I just recently learned of it, and it's too cool not to share:

Duct Tape Server was built entirely from four rolls of gray Nashua duct tape, a quarter roll of translucent 3M duct tape, and these computer components:

  • Pentium P4 2.4 GHz
  • Intel SFF Motherboard
  • 1GB twinned DDR RAM
  • 80GB SATA HDD
  • 350W PSU
  • CDROM
  • 2 80mm LED fans

Check out some of the photos of the PC and its construction (click a thumbnail to see larger images). The machine ran continuously for four days at MillionManLan 6 in June, hosting a 15-person Armagetron tournament. Worked like a champ.

There's not much you can't do if you have enough duct tape. 

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Bad news Broncs

Posted by Richard on November 4, 2007

The Denver Broncos headed into Detroit having lost 4 of the last 5, with a 3-4 record. They have the worst rush defense in the NFL, and their offense moves the ball, but can't seem to score. They've suffered a spate of season-ending injuries, and hotshot running back Travis Henry is facing suspension for a drug offense. How much worse could the news get?

Significantly worse, it seems. With John Lynch injured, the already weak defense is positively terrible. The offense was already shaky, and now Cutler is out with a leg contusion. Midway through the third, they're trailing 23-0. The Lions just held them on 4th and goal at the 4. While I was typing the preceding, the Lions scored again, covering 90+ yards in two plays. 30-0.

I'm going for a walk.

UPDATE: Final: 44-7. But it's a warm, sunny day, the park was beautiful, and I had a nice long walk.

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Biting trout

Posted by Richard on November 2, 2007

The other day, I was looking through the online symbol library provided by the German technical documentation firm CPTec. In the warning symbols section, I happened across this amusing posting, a "watch for biting trout" sign:

 biting trout

Creator Günter Ratz entitled it "Warnung vor Hommingberger Gepardenforelle" ("Warning: Hommingberg Cheetah Trout"). A high-quality EPS version is available at the link above.

The cheetah trout is an imaginary species (and Hommingberg is an imaginary place) that figured in a German SEO (search engine optimization) competition a couple of years ago. Go here for details (in German) and a lovely picture of the fish.

Those wacky Germans. ๐Ÿ˜‰ 

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