Here is today’s column in the Los Angeles Times on the announcement that the House Page Program would be shutdown. After almost 200 years of loyal service, the pages deserve better and many former pages are asking the leadership to meet with us to consider alternatives.
Ready for a 12 minute flight from New York to Los Angeles? Well, those daring guys at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are about to launch Falcon HTV-2 — an arrow-shaped aircraft that will travel 20 times the speed of sound today.
Continue reading “DARPA To Launch Falcon To Reach Speed Of 13,000 MPH”
Remember the worldwide violence over a cartoon showing Muhammad with a bomb in his turban? Well, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met recently the country’s religious leaders to ask them to kindly ask militants to stop hiding bombs in turbans and other religious garments. It is a curious appeal since one would have thought the clerics could go a little further and say that hiding bombs in terrorist acts anywhere is immoral.
In our effort to be full service, I am posting a new governmental position for any of our contributions looking for gainful (baneful?) employment. I saw an interesting item on Reddit for a position with the Department of Transportation of “Associate Administrator for Administration” at the Department of Transportation. Now that is a bureaucrats dream — administering the administrators.
Continue reading “DOT Seeks An “Associate Administrator For Administration””
The United Stats Olympic Committee has issued a formal letter stating its intent to sue the “Redneck Olympics” over the use of the word “Olympic.” The Committee insists that it owns the word Olympic — despite the fact that it refers to an ancient sporting event from Greece that preceded both the United States and copyright/trademark laws. (It turns out that this early depiction of the Greek Olympics had been long misinterpreted as a race. It is actually early Greek lawyers serving an organizer with a complaint over the use of the word Olympic in 776 BC).
Continue reading “United States Olympic Committee Threatens To Sue The Redneck Olympics”
Honestly, what would we do on this blog without those hilarious guys in Iran. In their latest standup routine, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast issued a statement to the British government to show greater restraint in dealing with protesters in London and other cities. That’s right, the government that has killed, beaten, and raped protesters is publicly calling out England on its efforts to stop the rioting and looting in London.
Continue reading “Iran Calls For Investigation of England’s Treatment of Protesters and Calls For Dialogue With Rioters”
It appears that if they just stayed put Texans would be living seal steak and penguin chili. Just 1.1 billion years ago, rocks show that Texas was part of a remote part of the Antarctic continent south of the Atlantic Ocean basin.
A group of Buddhists announced recently that they were going to purchase 534 lobsters to return them to the sea. A group of lobstermen from Gloucester reportedly read about the designated site of the ceremony and followed the Buddhists — laying traps and capturing the lobsters and bringing them to market. This was viewed as really funny by the captain of the fishing vessel Degelyse — according to published reports. However, in an update below, Joe Ciaramitaro insists it is satire and not meant to be disrespectful.
Minister Thomas Fortenberry of the Greater Harvest Community Church in Pasadena will not face trial for allegedly filming girls at his church while showering because the passage of the statute of limitations. The case is an example of how the statute can cut off prosecution even though the crime only occurred in 2007.
In an important symbolic victory for soldiers who are atheist, agnostic, or non-theist, Fort Bragg has approved a concert called “Rock Beyond Belief.” While journalist Ernie Pyle may have said that “there are no atheists in foxholes,” we know that to be untrue. We have brave men and women fighting for their country without a belief in God or any specific God. They have faced open hostility in the military, so this is a major victory of sheer recognition.
Continue reading “Army Approves Concert For Agnostics and Atheists At Fort Bragg”
It is one of the oldest institution in our government and stretches back to the founding of our Republic. Yet, in a decision made without consulting other members, former pages, or historians, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) snuffed out the program to save just $5 million. As a former House leadership page in the 1970s (and here), I have written repeatedly in columns to propose page alumni taking over the program and even funding most or all of the program. The problems in the past have been entirely due to the pedophiles among the members and poor administration. Instead of allowing some discussion of alternatives, the House leadership moved to kill a program that has been a cherished and powerful symbol in our government.
Continue reading “House Leadership Moves To End Page Program After Roughly 200 Years — To Save $5 Million”
Illinois divorce attorney Jason W. Smiekel, 29, has been charged with trying to hire someone to kill his girlfriend’s ex-husband. Smiekel represented his girlfriend in the divorce. The undercover ATF officer claimed that Smiekel said the man had knowledge of possible criminal conduct and would soon give that evidence in a hearing.
The Taliban appear to have been responsible for the killing of 38 — mainly Navy Seals — this weekend in taking down a CH-47 Chinook. Our stalwart ally Afghan President Hamid Karzai — who previously expressed a lingering desire to fight with the Taliban — expressed regrets for the deaths.
Continue reading “Taliban Kills 30 Navy Seals and Seven Afghans in Operation in Afghanistan”
Jessalyn Stierwalt, 21, really really did not want to make her probation appointment. Stierwalt had been drinking and came up with a plan: to have two friends stab her in the stomach. That way the probation officer would not find out she had been drinking.
Seventeenth Century pirate Captain Henry Morgan is a fascination for many history buffs. That is likely to increase with the discovery of the Satisfaction, his flagship with tantalizing unopened crates. The maker of Captain Morgan rum, which helped finance the search, is hoping that the crate contain some bottles of rum. The discovery occurred just short of the anniversary of Morgan’s death.
Continue reading “Satisfaction: Captain Morgan’s Ship Located In Panama”