Just a thought.

I am sitting here thinking about this LIVE EARTH thing this weekend. Something I heard on the television keeps popping up when I hear or think about it. One of the members of the British band Arctic Monkeys pointed out the hypocrisy of this concert. These performers are going to show up with their entourage, by coming on their private airplanes, drive to the show in big posh gas guzzling limos, and then use huge amounts of energy to power the amps, lights, and all the amenities in their dressing rooms just to keep them satisfied. That doesn’t even take into account the band that is going to Antarctica to play. I mean how much fuel are they going to use? By the way it is winter down in that part of the world now, so if they fly the plane will not be able to turn off the engines or they will freeze up. Now, I’m no brain genius but it seems to me that is another HUGE waste of energy there. However maybe the plane will just drop them off, and come back when they are done. Does this whole thing seem a bit self defeating? What good is having a concert to save the world from carbon emissions if you are going to be putting tons of carbon into the atmosphere? Further is the Goreacle going to be at all the concerts or just one? If he goes to all how will he get there, obviously in a private plane, so that means he will be the biggest polluter on the planet that day.

Now I don’t know if any of you have ever worked a big rock concert, but I have, and I can tell you these people make all kinds of strange demands about what is to be in their dressing rooms. Van Halen for instance wanted K-Y Jelly in gallon jars, don’t ask, not tubes; at least that is what I heard from one of the owners of the company that catered their show. Others have demanded no brown M&M’s, I heard one band, at a show I worked, complaining about laminates, the plastic badges that hang around their necks so they are identified, and can go where they want, they were upset about the plastic. They wanted something other then plastic, said it was in their contract, but since they had to have them to eat they shut up and put them on. Then there is the meal, usually that is fairly straight forward but sometimes it can get outrageous only cooked with a certain brand of oil, or in certain type pots and pans. You may think I am making this up, but I assure you I am not, I worked a couple of shows with a friend who ran a catering company that did shows at Painters Mill, the Civic Center, Capitol Center, and the Lyric, and I heard the horror stories from her. Some were funny but other were just what are these people thinking. Anyway, back to my original subject, what are these rock stars going to demand and what kind of a “carbon foot print” will it leave. Hell, I am sure it will be more then I leave in a year, and that is just them getting there in their planes and limos.

So, as I pen this missive I have decided to not worry about my carbon output as the people telling me to conserve and live a carbon neutral lifestyle are hypocrites. Well, there is another rant by the Swamp Fox, hope you got a little bit to think about the next time you hear Sheryl Crow, or the Goreacle telling you how to behave and live, just remember they are living a lifestyle most of us will never attain, and have luxuries we can only dream of for the most part. Any thoughts about this yourselves?

Two quotes again this time, both I think are in keeping with the rant above.

“The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.” —Samuel Adams

"A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." —Abraham Lincoln

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Question?

Hey folks how are you all doing? First, to the Rodent, Welcome back brother, sorry I didn't hold up my end as well as I should have. But as with you work conspired to keep me busy and unable to get a good rant or post going. This is just a stream of consciousness; I hope it makes a little sense.I was reading the paper last week, and looking at the picture of the hamas thugs in Palestine occupying the Presidents Office, and I was curious. Does it strike anyone else as a bit cowardly, that these PUNKS who call themselves freedom fighters, and are so proud of what they do, wear masks? If they are so proud why are they wearing the FREAKIN’ MASK? Are they afraid of something, or what, are they embarrassed, and don't want their mama to see them acting the fool? I have always thought the same about the klan, and those gang bangers one sees posturing on TV, and in the paper. They are so proud of being racists, crimanals, and terrorists, but yet, they wear hoods. Does anyone else see the dichotomy of this; proud of what they are but won't show their face, that doesn't make sense. Does it? As I thought more about this, and the fight that brought about this turn of events, the hamas thugs in the Presidents Office and them taking over the Gaza Strip, I knew I was going to be called a racist or islamaphobe or whatever. Well you know what, I don't care because this is America and I can have, and voice an opinion, be it wrong or not. Besides, I don't make things the way they are, I just calls 'em like I sees it. But, anyway, here are my thoughts, first the Palestinians can't have or aren't ready for self rule, not if it is a Democratic form of government. They need someone who can rule with an iron fist. If that were not true then why is their economy and infrastructure in such disarray? Why are the conditions so dire when the European Union and America gives the Palestinian Authority millions of dollars yearly? Answer, because the government is nothing but a bunch of corrupt, thieving bastards. Second, why since they haven't been able to get an honest government going, one that could control the terrorists from hamas and fatah, are they still saying it is Israel's fault? How can it be Israel’s fault if they can’t build a country with such largess from the world over? Further, I heard that thousands of Palestinians are fleeing to Israel to escape the fighting in the Gaza strip. Does anyone see the irony in this, I know the Palestinians don't. First they wanted to have their own home land and self rule; now that they have it they want back into Israel where it is safe. The next thing that came to mind was that Israel should tell them NO, You can't come in; they don’t want Israeli settlements in Gaza, then No, settlements in Israel. Another thing was why Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East that has any semblance of Democracy, even though it has very tenuous hold on it. What with Hezbollah being funded by Iran, and doing everything in its power at Iran’s behest to topple it. What is it about the Middle East that none of these people want to be free? Are they all masochist or what. Well, as I said back with my first post I will sometimes rant, sometimes make sense and others not. I hope I didn't sound like some wingnut, but sometime you just got the get things off your chest.

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Hide From The Secret Police

Does anybody remember Rodney King? If you forgot, click the link to see Rodney King getting brutally beaten after a high-speed chase, eventually leading to the 1992 race riots in LA. What most people don't know is that thirteen seconds of footage, edited out and not aired on television, showed Rodney King getting up and charging at a police officer. Perhaps that video, if aired, could have prevented the deaths of fifty-three people.

My point is this -- information is power, and video is the most powerful form of information. It influences in a way that the written word cannot. Seeing is believing, and controlling what people see is a sure why to control them. Which leads me to my big question of the day -- do the police control people, or do people control the police?

Brian Kelly, an eighteen year old in Carlisle, PA, was riding in the passenger seat of a friend's pickup when the truck was pulled over by police for speeding. When the officer began yelling at his friend, Brian started recording the incident on his camcorder. He was arrested, and is currently facing up to seven years for violating Pennsylvania's wiretapping statute. (more info)

Wiretapping? Pennsylvania has a law prohibiting the recording of any conversations of any persons without their knowledge. The video wasn't the problem, but recording the police officer speaking was against the law. Ironically, the law has an explicit exception to allow police officers to record traffic stops themselves.

So let's review. The police are allowed to film you, but you cannot film them. The police are the only ones who can have footage of an incident. Maybe Pennsylvania learned from Rodney King. If you control the video, you can control what to release. Right now, the police can show their side, but nobody can (legally) record video to show the other side of the story.

Any regular reader of the Rodent is going to agree with me here: A police officer is a public servant. Everything he does in the line of duty is, by definition, public information. Yes, there are undercover policemen who need to have information, including their identity, concealed temporarily. However, at the end of the day, all police must be accountable for their actions.

I've personally been the subject of illegal and unwarranted searches by overzealous police. The attitude is simple -- if you're innocent, you've got nothing to worry about. Let's turn that around. If you're acting properly, you have nothing to fear from being filmed.

Pennsylvanians -- PLEASE contact your state legislator and let them know this law must be changed to allow the recording of all state employees in the line of duty.

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RIAA Lapdogs

Sorry for being gone so long; sometimes things come up. I'm back!

I love our country. Every now and then I hear someone talking about how corrupt our government is, and how they wished they lived somewhere else. I've lived in a great many different countries, and I have to say America is unique in it's government's transparency. Sure, sometimes a politician is caught with ninety thousand dollars in a freezer, but that's the point, isn't it? He was caught.

I bring this up because America lets us watch over our politicians and see what they're up to, and who they're accepting money from. And I'm going to make the assumption that the majority of readers realize the RIAA is evil, whether for suing widows for their departed's prior downloads, support for DRM, or for extortion and computer fraud. Most recently I've been upset at their claims they must be paid royalties for all Internet radio transmissions, regardless if the artists played are members of RIAA.

So without further ado, click here for the names and addresses of politicians who accepted money from RIAA in the last election cycle. Write your local politician, change your vote, or just let Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both on the list, know exactly how you feel.

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The Real Cost of Daylight Savings Time

I've always felt Daylight Saving Time was a waste
of time and productivity. Moving DST around is an
even greater waste of money. To be honest, I'm not
a big fan of time zones in general. What's so magic
about 6AM that it has to be the correct waking time?
I've heard that people want noon to be mid-day (why?),
but noon isn't mid-day anyway. Personally, I tend
to wake up about 5:30AM and go to bed at 11:0PM,
making my "mid-day" around 2:15PM. Today the sun
will be halfway to sunset in Washington DC at
12:40PM. Whatever.

The entire idea is centered around the concept that
people are too stupid to deal with problems themselves.
In a survey, the government found that people liked
DST because it gave them more time to do things in
the evenings before sunset. Duh. Go to work earlier,
get off work earlier. Do you really need the
government to tell you that? If you aren't able to
set your own hours, talk to your boss. Apparently
the majority of the country wants to wake up sooner
and get off work earlier, so what's the issue?

Oh, and it saves money, too. Or at least that's
what the DOE tells us. In a frequently-touted report,
California found DST saves money by shifting power
usage from expensive "peak" periods into cheaper
morning hours.
http://www.energy.ca.gov/publications/displayOneReport.php?pubNum=P400-01-013

Okay, this may sound like a stupid question, but if
the power usage shifts from the "peak" period into
the cheaper morning hours, don't the morning hours
become peak? If everyone gets up an hours earlier,
then they'll turn on all their lights an hour
earlier, and the peak period will start at hour
earlier. What the hell?

The fact is there were no energy savings from moving
DST. Frankly put, DST has no real effect on energy
at all.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070403-the-daylight-savings-change-no-savings-no-point.html

But that's not to say it doesn't have any effect.
Besides lots of computers getting hosed up, and
people showing up to meetings an hour off, DST
actually kept an innocent 12 year old boy in jail
for twelve days. Yep. Next time someone tells you
that we can all just live with the temporary
confusion that moving the clocks causes, tell them
about Cody Webb, a Pennsylvania student who was
arrested for making a prank bomb threat. He had
called the school exactly one hour before the threat
was called in, and well, you can guess the rest.
The best part of the story was the Catch-22 attitude
of his principal, who refused to let him argue in his
defense, stating 'Well, why should we believe you?
You're a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.'
http://www.passablynews.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1175830780

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe these folks really do need
the government to tell them when to wake up and
when to go to bed. They don't appear intelligent
enough to decide on their own.

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The Swamp Fox Rants.

I am ticked off, and I know I said I will keep a civil tongue in my head, but I got a question. What in the hell has happened to this freakin' country? Can somebody tell me? Anybody? Please? Now, you may ask what has my panties in a bunch. Well, it is this carp called political correctness.

There is in Littleton CO a group of parents mostly if not all women who are having a fit over a statue. The statue hasn’t even been erected yet, but these people have deemed it in appropriate, because it is, they think too close to three Elementary schools, and two parks. Why, is it inappropriate, you may ask? Good question. Well, it seems the statue depicts a man in uniform holding a gun.

So, how did this all start? Let’s go back to the very beginning. Years ago there was a young boy named Danny Deitz Jr., who like most boys was fascinated by all things military. However young Danny, who grew up in Littleton CO, lived out his soldierly dreams, he became a Navy SEAL. From what I have been able to glean from different sources Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL(BUD/S) Training is one of, if not the toughest, most challenging, and grueling training regimes in the Armed Forces. This is not meant to minimize the training to become a Green Beret, Army Ranger, Marine Force Recon, Air Force Special Air Police(if I am wrong about this units name or anything else, I apologize the all those in the Air Force), or Delta Force. Although, I do believe it is the longest training process, after six months of BUD/S there is another eighteen months of specialized training.

Jump forward to 27, 28 June, 2005 the vicinity of Asadabad, Konar province Afghanistan. His Special Reconnaissance element was to locate high level anti- Coalition militia leader, in support of a follow on direct action mission to disrupt enemy activity. They are spotted by militia sympathizers who reveal their position to the militia. They were as a result confronted directly by the enemy, with a much larger force, and a tactically superior position. In this attack Petty Officer Danny P. Deitz Jr. is wounded. Also wounded is a Team Mate Petty Officer Matthew Axelson. These men though mortally wounded continued to fight on, for forty five minutes by the accounts I have seen, while urging, and allowing their wounded Team Mate to escape. They stood their ground, and continued to fight even after a rescue helicopter crashed due to enemy fire, killing eight other SEALS, and they fought until they succumbed to their wounds. They were, a year later, Posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor( also known as the Congressional Medal of Honor), for their bravery, and valor.

Now, as a statue is being readied to be dedicated to this brave man, who gave his last full measure for his nation and his Team Mates, some people are offended by the statue. This is where the political correctness comes in. This statue shows P.O. Deitz crouched in full combat gear, including his M-16 with grenade launcher attached resting on his knee. It seems it is the weapon that is offensive to the good people of Littleton. Some of them say he should be holding a child, or a bouquet of flowers, can you believe that one, or nothing. There is even the idea of one moonbat who thinks that a better statue to honor P.O. Dietz by having a statue of a peace dove. A FREAKIN’ PEACE DOVE!! When was the last time a peace dove kept you safe Lady? Geez, where do they find these people. It has been said that one of the reasons they don’t like the statue of P.O. Dietz is because of those two pieces of human detritus that massacred their school mates at Columbine. But as P.O. Dietz’s widow, who is sympathetic to the message that guns and school don’t mix, puts it "It's a parent's job, including these parents who are protesting, to teach their children the difference between two thugs who murder their classmates and a soldier who died fighting for their freedom," she said. "Danny represents every soldier and sailor who has fallen, and for them to take this stand, well, that's offensive to me." She also said comparing the guns used at Columbine to her husband’s M-16, “one is used to take lives,” she said. “And the other is used to save them.” They want to change a monument a man who gave his life for the very right they are exercising to stop his monument, I wonder if they even realize the irony of it. Here is the link to Danny’s Navy Cross Citation. Navy Cross Citation for Danny P. Dietz

I have two quotes for this post.

The first, and I forget who said it, but I vowed to remember it when I heard I, is.
We sleep safe in our beds at night, because rough men stand ready to do violence in our name.
The second is
"It is only the warlike power of a civilized people that can give peace to the world." --Theodore Roosevelt

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Bestiality, Urination, Defecation, as well as Sadistic and Masochistic Behavior

I must open by apologizing for not having my regular images and nice
formatting, but I'm away on the previously-mentioned business and unable to
log into Blogger. This is my test of a backwards method of bringing a post to
the Internet.<P>

<a
href="http://nervous-rodent.blogspot.com/2005/09/big-brother-or-nanny.html">I
posted</a> about the government's unhealthy obsession with pornography back in
September 2005. That story, like most sick and unhealthy obsessions, hasn't
died. In that article, entitled "Big Brother or Nanny?", I argued that by
making pornography between consenting adults a "focus area" for prosecution,
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales was not only wasting valuable tax
dollars, but encouraging prosecutions that the government would ultimately
lose. It turns out that the eight fired prosecutors had one thing in common:
<a
href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2007/03/porn_and_the_doj.php">refusing
to prosecute these cases.</a><P>

I'm not going to suggest, as others have, that the failure to prosecute these
pornography cases was the underlying reason behind the firing of the
attorneys. That would be ludicrous, even if it does appeal somewhat to my
sense of conspiracy. In the case of Paul Charlton, the reason for the firing
was obvious: Charlton had <a
href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/blumenthal">just initiated an
investigation</a> into the corruption of a Republican candidate and Bush
loyal: Rick Renzi. It doesn't take a genius to know why Charlton was fired --
but it takes a spinster to come up with an excuse that doesn't taste bad for
TV.<P>

So the White House released e-mails that showed evidence the eight attorneys
were ineffective and needed to be fired. In Charlton's case, he had been
reluctant to prosecute pornographers for distributing content between
consenting adults. It's time to sigh, and reaffirm our understanding that the
government, regardless of party, is infesting with self-serving politicians
who do not hold your best interests at heart. The need for transparency is
obvious.

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