Josephine County Commissioner Keith Heck said residents of the county that opposed the tax levy need to realize there is no fat to cut.
Heck said though he supports neighborhood watch groups, the rise of increasingly “aggressive” community watch groups make him worried the situation could escalate to violence. Watch groups have been under increasing scrutiny nationally ever since the George Zimmerman case in Florida.
Heck said the only real solution is for the county citizens to approve more funds.
"There is this little shimmer out there of some giant Santa that is going to come and drop all this money on us because we are well-meaning folks,” he said. “The sleigh is broken, the deer are dead, it’s not going to happen. We have to figure out how we are going to solve this problem.”
....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/28/citizens-take-law-into-own-hands-after-cash-strapped-ore-county-guts-sheriff/?intcmp=obnetwork
....
Its quite simple. Rural Josephine County has very little land subject to taxation and is not going to over-tax its residents to support overly paid police or other bloated organizations. For a long time local residents were the only law that existed in Oregon Territory and the local residents are perfectly willing to return to the days of local law enforcement, citizen posses and direct and immediately effective action having learned that such a situation is preferable to excessive taxation by authorities consisting largely of government employees.
These scare tactics often work: Our TV news programs follow a policy of "If it bleeds, it leads" making everyone think crime rates are high instead of extremely low due largely to the availability of cheap abortions. Then the voters believing the lies of the police and the media vote higher and higher taxes that gets them nothing but bloated bureaucrats proposing endlessly more costly programs such as Red Light Cameras that raise revenue and increase accidents or pervert printouts that save no children but increase the public burden immensely. DARE programs pay cops 80K a year to go around to schools and stare at teenage girls breasts, then the police make speeches about needing more officers.
Or we get laws about Driving while Texting which INCREASE risk because violators have to go to extreme measures to hide their telephones from passing cops and passing tattle talers.
Well, Josephine County, Oregon has opted to have quality of life the most important factor and that means freedom from taxation to support bloated bureaucrats fighting imaginary problems. Their sheriff's office is now open M-F from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Prisoners will not be kept at the local jail, judges must use community centered punishment rather than give some local jail staff a reason to exist. Fires are handled by volunteers, SAR missions are volunteers. And if to keep a rural and tax-free lifestyle necktie parties become a necessity, those will be handled by volunteers also.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Jail for overdue library books.
Texas, in keeping with its punish everyone to the max philosophy jailed a man who kept a GED study book that was over due by three years. Of course putting someone in jail who has tried to better themselves does seem foolish.
Wealthy Mercer Island in Washington does not even have an anti-theft protection system but is the lowest in lost materials in the King County System.
Wealthy Mercer Island in Washington does not even have an anti-theft protection system but is the lowest in lost materials in the King County System.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Yep. Its started. And it will persist!!
Even though Ryan Ferguson is finally a free man its still a litany of guilt. "We won't re-try him" rather than "He is obviously innocent". And now the former police chief going on record as approving of prosecutor Kane and believing that Erickson and Ferguson were properly arrested, properly interrogated and are the actual perpetrators.
Cops just can't give up or admit they were wrong. They want to win at any cost.
Cops just can't give up or admit they were wrong. They want to win at any cost.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Baby Hope
None of the seven people living in that Queens, NY apartment stepped forward to report the little girl's disappearance, so perhaps the "hope" was more in the eyes of the media. Even minority children from slum areas when killed at very young ages are never described in the media as likely to have grown up to become a drug addict or violent criminal.
Now it looks like some pervert and murderer will get free food and free medical care for the rest of his life.
When will the taxpayers be the ones who have any hope?
Now it looks like some pervert and murderer will get free food and free medical care for the rest of his life.
When will the taxpayers be the ones who have any hope?
Friday, September 20, 2013
Charlotte police kill unarmed ex-FAMU football player.
Charlotte police kill ex-FAMU football player.
No report from anyone of a weapon being used.
No weapon displayed.
Each hand clearly empty.
THREE officers on scene.
One fired a Taser... almost certainly unlawfully, yet clearly indicating no need for deadly force to be used.
Two fired live ammunition at a then stationary person screaming "wait, wait" as he saw red dots on his chest and held up his empty hands.
Why didn't they wait.
What were they afraid of?
There was absolutely no indication that the deceased person knew the cops had donuts in the car when they fired their weapons in defense of the donuts.
It seems the Police Department has been criticized for promptly filing criminal charges rather than letting the police get their stories straight but I see no reason for unnecessary delay.
No weapon. No report of a weapon. An excited motorist? Yes. He had just been involved in a serious auto accident. It tends to make people excited. The police are expected to be able to deal with excited or agitated individuals...but then again, that is just what the police did in this case.
No report from anyone of a weapon being used.
No weapon displayed.
Each hand clearly empty.
THREE officers on scene.
One fired a Taser... almost certainly unlawfully, yet clearly indicating no need for deadly force to be used.
Two fired live ammunition at a then stationary person screaming "wait, wait" as he saw red dots on his chest and held up his empty hands.
Why didn't they wait.
What were they afraid of?
There was absolutely no indication that the deceased person knew the cops had donuts in the car when they fired their weapons in defense of the donuts.
It seems the Police Department has been criticized for promptly filing criminal charges rather than letting the police get their stories straight but I see no reason for unnecessary delay.
No weapon. No report of a weapon. An excited motorist? Yes. He had just been involved in a serious auto accident. It tends to make people excited. The police are expected to be able to deal with excited or agitated individuals...but then again, that is just what the police did in this case.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
No readers.
Well, I guess I have few, if any, readers.
Perhaps that should be a viewed as a good thing. I do not know. This day is less and less difficult for me.
Perhaps that should be a viewed as a good thing. I do not know. This day is less and less difficult for me.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Do I Have Any Readers, At All?
Anyone want this blog to continue? If you from time to time read it feel free to comment below.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
New Data? New Hope? ... New Money?
It still stands that the S/V Nina is well overdue and has not been spotted despite search flights both publicly and privately directed.
Catastrophic event: Who knows. There was no debris of any sort and most yacht sinkings gush forth a variety of cushions, pillows and galley debris but the main thing is the location and date of any such event and that is unknowable.
EPIRB: Known to be aboard and known to be of an older model. Did it not get turned on or did it not get removed from its mounting bracket? How difficult would it be to free the EPIRB and activate it if the vessel had capsized or pitch-poled? Crew would know vessel is clearly an object of a search by now and would activate the EPIRB if able. So perhaps the EPIRB was never deployed or perhaps it simply failed to send out a signal for some reason. I believe two of the crew were more vagabonds than sailors did they not know to turn it on prior to deploying it.
Lack of communications: Satphone and Spot beacon each silent.
Type of difficulty: Unknown. Can not allocate any priority amongst: Dismasted, Capsized, Loss of Keel, Collision, Pitch poled, Abandoned. No way to know that if Abandoned, the crew successfully took to the life raft. Its possible to stow the EPIRB in the life raft and then have the life raft ripped away from the crew's desperate grasp.
Location of difficulty: Unknown. Could be immediately after attempting to send final message. Could be several days of bare-poled sailing on last mentioned course.
Primary effect on survivors: Unknown. Could be wind, current, waves, depending on freeboard and drag coefficients.
Significant prior SAR events: NZRCC was unable to track an 11 meter steel-hulled yacht despite such a structure being a prime candidate for both radar and thermal searching. NZRCC does not seem to review AIS data for possible impact nor plot shipping lanes in search area determinations. Drift modeling varies greatly with no model having any particularly history of accuracy.
Costs: Expenditure of funds is always a factor. Many SAR missions are smuggling interdiction flights that would be flown anyway though perhaps with different sensors selected or at different altitudes. Donated funds are assumed to have been donated despite bleak circumstances and so may be spent free of guilt in comparison to other searches.
Catastrophic event: Who knows. There was no debris of any sort and most yacht sinkings gush forth a variety of cushions, pillows and galley debris but the main thing is the location and date of any such event and that is unknowable.
EPIRB: Known to be aboard and known to be of an older model. Did it not get turned on or did it not get removed from its mounting bracket? How difficult would it be to free the EPIRB and activate it if the vessel had capsized or pitch-poled? Crew would know vessel is clearly an object of a search by now and would activate the EPIRB if able. So perhaps the EPIRB was never deployed or perhaps it simply failed to send out a signal for some reason. I believe two of the crew were more vagabonds than sailors did they not know to turn it on prior to deploying it.
Lack of communications: Satphone and Spot beacon each silent.
Type of difficulty: Unknown. Can not allocate any priority amongst: Dismasted, Capsized, Loss of Keel, Collision, Pitch poled, Abandoned. No way to know that if Abandoned, the crew successfully took to the life raft. Its possible to stow the EPIRB in the life raft and then have the life raft ripped away from the crew's desperate grasp.
Location of difficulty: Unknown. Could be immediately after attempting to send final message. Could be several days of bare-poled sailing on last mentioned course.
Primary effect on survivors: Unknown. Could be wind, current, waves, depending on freeboard and drag coefficients.
Significant prior SAR events: NZRCC was unable to track an 11 meter steel-hulled yacht despite such a structure being a prime candidate for both radar and thermal searching. NZRCC does not seem to review AIS data for possible impact nor plot shipping lanes in search area determinations. Drift modeling varies greatly with no model having any particularly history of accuracy.
Costs: Expenditure of funds is always a factor. Many SAR missions are smuggling interdiction flights that would be flown anyway though perhaps with different sensors selected or at different altitudes. Donated funds are assumed to have been donated despite bleak circumstances and so may be spent free of guilt in comparison to other searches.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
S/V Nina Time and Tide.
We know that the Nina was Dancing With A Gale and finding her dance partner not particularly to her liking. I would not want to characterize the Nina's contacts with the volunteer meteorologist as acts of desperation but it does bespeak a certain urgency of purpose. Clearly the electronics were not working too well since the final text was never sent. If at 6:00pm the Nina were still afloat her electronics may have deteriorated even more. It seems spray would be the first thought at to cause though I do imagine there could well be other reasons for signal strength to be so close to background noise that the message would not be sent.
Shipping lanes and known AIS signals have never been plotted, this seems strange. Later storms have not been plotted for the correct area. A number of events could have taken place that would have allowed little time for deployment of the EPIRP but one wonders: these were experienced blue water sailors, they had life lines, life vests, knives.
Experienced blue water sailors, with two inexperienced deckhands aboard, would still know to go over emergency procedures and would have focused their attention on freeing the EPIRB from its bracket and turning it on. There would have been lifelines tied to all aboard though the wise sailor always has a knife to cut his lifeline if he really and truly needs to. Loss of the garboards, the strakes closest to the keel, has been suggested though no particular reason has ever been given. This catastrophic event would have capsized the Nina, possibly flooding it first. Even at nighttime there would have been time for the EPIRB before people started severing their life lines and hoping to get to a life raft.
How securely are life rafts stowed? No use losing it just before you need it but usually they do have quick release mechanisms of some sort.
French satellite data might be more useful than commercial satellite data, particularly since France and New Zealand have rather strained relations. RCCNZ had a poor record with a search for an eleven meter steel hulled sloop yet this would be an excellent radar and thermal signature for search missions.
We all remember the Norwegian sailboat that made it from Bermuda to Ireland without ever being spotted despite various Coast Guard and satellite searches. They never turned on their radio so as to save the battery strength and altered course slightly due to initial storm damage in Bermuda waters. It was a small boat in a big ocean. The Nina, on the other hand, has an EPIRB and is well over due by now, so there is little real expectation that she is still afloat even if capsized.
Shipping lanes and known AIS signals have never been plotted, this seems strange. Later storms have not been plotted for the correct area. A number of events could have taken place that would have allowed little time for deployment of the EPIRP but one wonders: these were experienced blue water sailors, they had life lines, life vests, knives.
Experienced blue water sailors, with two inexperienced deckhands aboard, would still know to go over emergency procedures and would have focused their attention on freeing the EPIRB from its bracket and turning it on. There would have been lifelines tied to all aboard though the wise sailor always has a knife to cut his lifeline if he really and truly needs to. Loss of the garboards, the strakes closest to the keel, has been suggested though no particular reason has ever been given. This catastrophic event would have capsized the Nina, possibly flooding it first. Even at nighttime there would have been time for the EPIRB before people started severing their life lines and hoping to get to a life raft.
How securely are life rafts stowed? No use losing it just before you need it but usually they do have quick release mechanisms of some sort.
French satellite data might be more useful than commercial satellite data, particularly since France and New Zealand have rather strained relations. RCCNZ had a poor record with a search for an eleven meter steel hulled sloop yet this would be an excellent radar and thermal signature for search missions.
We all remember the Norwegian sailboat that made it from Bermuda to Ireland without ever being spotted despite various Coast Guard and satellite searches. They never turned on their radio so as to save the battery strength and altered course slightly due to initial storm damage in Bermuda waters. It was a small boat in a big ocean. The Nina, on the other hand, has an EPIRB and is well over due by now, so there is little real expectation that she is still afloat even if capsized.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
NZRCC and International Cooperation
Regarding the S/V Nina:
Most rescue coordination centers merely make use of military assets such as a P3 Orion long-range submarine patrol plane. The exact equipment aboard is not revealed. Now, I will admit there are not very many submarines approaching New Zealand with hostile intent. Its been a long time since the French paid a few visits to New Zealand in preparation for the voyage of Rainbow Warrior.
The long range marine surveillance flights are conducted for military purposes but the major effort right now is smuggling interdiction: drugs and refugees from the poverty and political instability in the area. Even with drugs, a good portion of the drugs smuggled into New Zealand waters are merely transshipped to richer markets in Australia. All nations wish to protect their fisheries and marine economic zones from premature depletion or fouling by ships that violate the laws of the sea.
Some searches for submersibles requires looking almost directly downward whereas searching for a dis-masted yacht is often done from an oblique angle. Searches can be in different areas of the spectrum so as to enhance contrasts.
The major point is that only a small portion of the Orion capabilities will be known to the RCC and a far smaller fragment of that information will ever be released by it.
Raw data from radar scans are unlikely to be shared. Algorithms for drift induced by winds or currents are not likely to be shared.
Most rescue coordination centers merely make use of military assets such as a P3 Orion long-range submarine patrol plane. The exact equipment aboard is not revealed. Now, I will admit there are not very many submarines approaching New Zealand with hostile intent. Its been a long time since the French paid a few visits to New Zealand in preparation for the voyage of Rainbow Warrior.
The long range marine surveillance flights are conducted for military purposes but the major effort right now is smuggling interdiction: drugs and refugees from the poverty and political instability in the area. Even with drugs, a good portion of the drugs smuggled into New Zealand waters are merely transshipped to richer markets in Australia. All nations wish to protect their fisheries and marine economic zones from premature depletion or fouling by ships that violate the laws of the sea.
Some searches for submersibles requires looking almost directly downward whereas searching for a dis-masted yacht is often done from an oblique angle. Searches can be in different areas of the spectrum so as to enhance contrasts.
The major point is that only a small portion of the Orion capabilities will be known to the RCC and a far smaller fragment of that information will ever be released by it.
Raw data from radar scans are unlikely to be shared. Algorithms for drift induced by winds or currents are not likely to be shared.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
S/V Nina Lost while attempting to transit the Tasman Sea
A sleek re-built racing schooner that had not been out of the water for several years was delayed by five weeks due to a need for a new engine to be installed. As far as is known there was no shakedown voyage for the engine and its fittings but the owner was a noted marine contractor and no such shakedown voyage would normally be needed.
Sailed to "dance with atleast two of the three gales" that awaited them. It seems the second storm shredded their stormsails and left them with bare poles but making four knots to the northwest intending to update a position report at six pm.
We force the Amish to affix bright orange displays to their antiquated buggies, can't we force yachties to update their equipment to a certain required minimum. As sportsmen they may value the old ways of bare bones sailing. One hydrostaticaly activated EPIRB and at least we would know where and when it happened.
Its different for a 73 year old woman since she has already made her mark on the world but an 18 year old photography model and student just starting out in the world has the same fate imposed on her: no more dance clubs, no more boyfriends, no more photography. And this imposition is due to the Captain's decision to eschew modern electronic doodads costing but a few hundred dollars.
Sailed to "dance with atleast two of the three gales" that awaited them. It seems the second storm shredded their stormsails and left them with bare poles but making four knots to the northwest intending to update a position report at six pm.
We force the Amish to affix bright orange displays to their antiquated buggies, can't we force yachties to update their equipment to a certain required minimum. As sportsmen they may value the old ways of bare bones sailing. One hydrostaticaly activated EPIRB and at least we would know where and when it happened.
Its different for a 73 year old woman since she has already made her mark on the world but an 18 year old photography model and student just starting out in the world has the same fate imposed on her: no more dance clubs, no more boyfriends, no more photography. And this imposition is due to the Captain's decision to eschew modern electronic doodads costing but a few hundred dollars.
Monday, July 8, 2013
S/V Nina: Davy Jones Locker. Rest In Peace.
Scandalous accusations made in barely literate article in Northern Advisor:
>It is presumed the classic yacht, which left Opua with seven people
>on board on May 29, sank in a storm it was battling on June 4
>when its last message was received.
Factually erronious in several respects.
>The seaworthiness of the 85-year-old yacht is now being questioned.
Not by anyone of any common sense its not! And absolutely no one had better question the seamanship of those sailors. They eschew modern electronic doo dads for a reason!
>And the owner of another overseas sailboat has been stopped from
>leaving the Bay of Islands because his yacht is considered unsafe.
No, he has been stopped for purely bureaucratic reasons so as to make headlines and reap more money in needless examination fees.
>The Rescue Co-ordination Center formally ended the search for the
>Nina on Saturday.
No, it ended active searching and arbitrarily presumed the vessel was lost but is still receiving information.
The main problem was the mis-determination of the areas that were to be searched.
On board the 21-metre schooner when it left Opua were Americans skipper David Dyche III, 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, their son David Dyche IV, 17, Evi Nemeth, computer scientist and navigator, 73, Kyle Jackson, Nebraska vagabond and deckhand, 27, Danielle Wright, Louisiana photography model and deckhand, 18, and Briton Matthew Wootton, 35 a vagabond-journalist and deckhand.
>The last message was Was missing Nina seaworthy?
Pure utter nonsense.
>If it [locator beacon] had [been on] we'd know where they were
>within 10 to 15 minutes.
Yes, that is why emergency beacons are not on unless there is danger. Imminent danger of sinking, not merely a difficult situation. Some beacons deploy and activate rather easily older models have to be manually activated and deployed. That does not make them museum pieces or antiques.
>Experts are now saying the schooner was unseaworthy
Absurd. What experts? The owner retired from his own maritime construction firm. He knew and respected boats all his life. Why would he sail on an unseaworthy boat much less take his wife and son and family friends and crew along with him? Do you think he was foolishly uncaring about the life of 18 year old Danielle Wright who although familiar with blue water sailing was more interested in photography, boys and beaches. Take a look at Evi Nesmeth's yacht, still in New Zealand. Is it unseaworthy? Is she incompetent to judge a boat as being well found? She joined the Nina and she is not blind to nautical defects just because she is 73.
> and that skipper David Dyche III did not favour modern technology.
Many skippers favor classical sailing just as many people in New Zealand reject modern technology.
>The yacht had no long-range radio
Many yachts do not. It often forces the owner to be extra careful.
>its emergency locator beacon had not been switched on.
Thus indicating that whatever happened took place so suddenly there was no time to activate the beacon or that those on board felt that their situation no matter how difficult was not yet desperate enough that it merited the activation of an EPIRB.
>former mayor Russ Rimmington: the Nina looked good above the waterline, but
So you think an expert craftsman was fooled by this? You think a passerby was more alert than the owner who had restored the boat himself? Perhaps the former mayor is ever so much the politician with a weather eye out for publicity and power grabs.
The situations with the Iridium is that in dry weather and over land it gives a good position report. The SPOT has been referred to as a toy but that is a bit extreme. The Evi position report to Weatherman Bob should have been accepted by NZRCC.
>It is presumed the classic yacht, which left Opua with seven people
>on board on May 29, sank in a storm it was battling on June 4
>when its last message was received.
Factually erronious in several respects.
>The seaworthiness of the 85-year-old yacht is now being questioned.
Not by anyone of any common sense its not! And absolutely no one had better question the seamanship of those sailors. They eschew modern electronic doo dads for a reason!
>And the owner of another overseas sailboat has been stopped from
>leaving the Bay of Islands because his yacht is considered unsafe.
No, he has been stopped for purely bureaucratic reasons so as to make headlines and reap more money in needless examination fees.
>The Rescue Co-ordination Center formally ended the search for the
>Nina on Saturday.
No, it ended active searching and arbitrarily presumed the vessel was lost but is still receiving information.
The main problem was the mis-determination of the areas that were to be searched.
On board the 21-metre schooner when it left Opua were Americans skipper David Dyche III, 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, their son David Dyche IV, 17, Evi Nemeth, computer scientist and navigator, 73, Kyle Jackson, Nebraska vagabond and deckhand, 27, Danielle Wright, Louisiana photography model and deckhand, 18, and Briton Matthew Wootton, 35 a vagabond-journalist and deckhand.
>The last message was Was missing Nina seaworthy?
Pure utter nonsense.
>If it [locator beacon] had [been on] we'd know where they were
>within 10 to 15 minutes.
Yes, that is why emergency beacons are not on unless there is danger. Imminent danger of sinking, not merely a difficult situation. Some beacons deploy and activate rather easily older models have to be manually activated and deployed. That does not make them museum pieces or antiques.
>Experts are now saying the schooner was unseaworthy
Absurd. What experts? The owner retired from his own maritime construction firm. He knew and respected boats all his life. Why would he sail on an unseaworthy boat much less take his wife and son and family friends and crew along with him? Do you think he was foolishly uncaring about the life of 18 year old Danielle Wright who although familiar with blue water sailing was more interested in photography, boys and beaches. Take a look at Evi Nesmeth's yacht, still in New Zealand. Is it unseaworthy? Is she incompetent to judge a boat as being well found? She joined the Nina and she is not blind to nautical defects just because she is 73.
> and that skipper David Dyche III did not favour modern technology.
Many skippers favor classical sailing just as many people in New Zealand reject modern technology.
>The yacht had no long-range radio
Many yachts do not. It often forces the owner to be extra careful.
>its emergency locator beacon had not been switched on.
Thus indicating that whatever happened took place so suddenly there was no time to activate the beacon or that those on board felt that their situation no matter how difficult was not yet desperate enough that it merited the activation of an EPIRB.
>former mayor Russ Rimmington: the Nina looked good above the waterline, but
So you think an expert craftsman was fooled by this? You think a passerby was more alert than the owner who had restored the boat himself? Perhaps the former mayor is ever so much the politician with a weather eye out for publicity and power grabs.
The situations with the Iridium is that in dry weather and over land it gives a good position report. The SPOT has been referred to as a toy but that is a bit extreme. The Evi position report to Weatherman Bob should have been accepted by NZRCC.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
A mortal stain on the soul of a city that visits itself upon the innocent victims of today.
I don't know what her parents were thinking letting her go to that drippy hairdressing school with its druggies and hooligans? She lay down with dogs and got up with fleas. One of those fleas took too much of her blood because it was fun. Fun for him only though. It happens. Big deal.
I have utter contempt for the Wenatchee police dept and anyone they would use as an informant. I remember the witch hunt trials. Prosecutor and Judge and Police all got away with too much nonsense to have earned any trust even now. And lets not forget the mainstream press there... they were tarred with the same brush and have not earned any respect afterwards.
A young pretty girl with her life ahead of her and much promise is dead, largely because she was in a bad crowd. That "bad crowd" happened to be in Wenatchee. The geography places her and her family beyond the pale of a civilized response to her plight. If this had happened somewhere else I would be appalled at the crime, but it happened in Wenatchee and Wenatchee has not purged itself of its terrible mortal stain. The citizens of Wenatchee who lose their daughters are without recourse. They should have stood up during the Wenatchee Witchhunt and they should have campaigned for a town living in utter poverty so as to make funds available for compensation well beyond those insurance limits. Parks, ambulances, fire stations and police cars should have been sold. Police, prosecutors and judges should have been held accountable. Reporters should have been held accountable. The people of Wenatchee did not pay for their crimes against civilized society and the people of Wenatchee did not atone for their sinful support of their police, judicial systems or newspapers.
I have utter contempt for the Wenatchee police dept and anyone they would use as an informant. I remember the witch hunt trials. Prosecutor and Judge and Police all got away with too much nonsense to have earned any trust even now. And lets not forget the mainstream press there... they were tarred with the same brush and have not earned any respect afterwards.
A young pretty girl with her life ahead of her and much promise is dead, largely because she was in a bad crowd. That "bad crowd" happened to be in Wenatchee. The geography places her and her family beyond the pale of a civilized response to her plight. If this had happened somewhere else I would be appalled at the crime, but it happened in Wenatchee and Wenatchee has not purged itself of its terrible mortal stain. The citizens of Wenatchee who lose their daughters are without recourse. They should have stood up during the Wenatchee Witchhunt and they should have campaigned for a town living in utter poverty so as to make funds available for compensation well beyond those insurance limits. Parks, ambulances, fire stations and police cars should have been sold. Police, prosecutors and judges should have been held accountable. Reporters should have been held accountable. The people of Wenatchee did not pay for their crimes against civilized society and the people of Wenatchee did not atone for their sinful support of their police, judicial systems or newspapers.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Stockton, CA Bankruptcy ruling.
City of Stockton, CA to be adjudged a bankrupt municipality and will receive the bankruptcy court's contract-amending "cramdown" powers to re-negotiate contracts for basic services such as the grossly-overpaid police and firemen. Primary question was how much "bullet" a city has to bite in discretionary cuts before it "throws in the towel" and uses the bankruptcy court to attack the really troublesome debt items.
At no time was the court urged to hold the city responsible for giving in to the "if it bleeds it leads" media frenzy that caused the general populace to approve of over-hiring in police and fire departments and the granting of such high salaries and overly generous pension benefits. City taxpayers will not have to pay for unwise past spending or unwisely relied on income projections. This means the city will have the power to amend present contracts but will not be required to bear the financial burden of having created an over-supply of overly paid public service employees such as police/fire/teachers who then formed the core of an unholy alliance between voters and city officials. The officials hire and grossly over pay the city workers who then act as a voting block to retain the officials in office. No one stands up and states that crime rates are not that bad, that police are not needed, that social problems should not be criminalized and that schools should not be local day care centers that liberate housewives at tremendous costs to the taxpayers.
After decades of such over spending based on tabloid reasoning, suddenly the city is permitted to start paring the overly generous contracts in the upper class strata that it created.
At no time was the court urged to hold the city responsible for giving in to the "if it bleeds it leads" media frenzy that caused the general populace to approve of over-hiring in police and fire departments and the granting of such high salaries and overly generous pension benefits. City taxpayers will not have to pay for unwise past spending or unwisely relied on income projections. This means the city will have the power to amend present contracts but will not be required to bear the financial burden of having created an over-supply of overly paid public service employees such as police/fire/teachers who then formed the core of an unholy alliance between voters and city officials. The officials hire and grossly over pay the city workers who then act as a voting block to retain the officials in office. No one stands up and states that crime rates are not that bad, that police are not needed, that social problems should not be criminalized and that schools should not be local day care centers that liberate housewives at tremendous costs to the taxpayers.
After decades of such over spending based on tabloid reasoning, suddenly the city is permitted to start paring the overly generous contracts in the upper class strata that it created.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Surveillance cameras rarely solve crimes.
Surveillance cameras are a budget sinkhole that absorbs manpower for monitoring and review, often resulting in very few crimes solved and usually only unimportant ones at that. Recently a murder in Philadelphia was solved by revealing an exterminator passing by the murder scene both before and after the murder.
Now Philadelphia want to have merchants register all surveillance cameras so that their video feeds can be automatically checked by the police if a nearby incident is reported.
Now Philadelphia want to have merchants register all surveillance cameras so that their video feeds can be automatically checked by the police if a nearby incident is reported.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Falklands ... again!
Margaret Thatcher underestimated the desperation of the Junta's situation and the Argentinian economy and was caught unprepared for war. This time its not a Junta and its nowhere near so desperate an economy ... but its not just saber rattling.
This time the Argentinians know what they did wrong and they know the odds are with them. The distance to the UK did not get any shorter in the interim. The UK is again wrapped up in its own problems.
Those barren windswept islands won't be invaded tomorrow, but Argentina is doing more than just rattling sabers from time to time. Its going to be an economic and public relations campaign over the islands, but it will come to a second Argentinian invasion eventually.
This time the Argentinians know what they did wrong and they know the odds are with them. The distance to the UK did not get any shorter in the interim. The UK is again wrapped up in its own problems.
Those barren windswept islands won't be invaded tomorrow, but Argentina is doing more than just rattling sabers from time to time. Its going to be an economic and public relations campaign over the islands, but it will come to a second Argentinian invasion eventually.
Punching Above Our Weight ?
No. No such Foreign Office phrase is applicable at all. MI5 and MI6 have always felt they played the game longer and better than the better-funded Americans. No amount of Retro-Colonial desires are applicable. MI5 and MI6 will be happy to stand on their own without any foolish longings for the days of past glory. British intelligence seduced? Don't be absurd.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Grafton was lucky.
Grafton, NSW, had their flood waters reach to within two centimeters of the top of their existing flood wall. So each year their "monsoon season" brings cyclonic storms and floods. At some point Australia has to adopt Natural Progression Farming to bring their river systems back into contact with their catchment areas.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Parents of JonBenet Ramsey indicted?
JBR:
JonBenet Ramsey related article in Daily Camera alleges once again that the Grand Jury actually voted to indict each of the Ramseys but that DA Hunter, doubtful he could get a conviction against either one, refused to sign the indictment. Colorado law requiring both the Foreman of the Grand Jury and the Prosecutor to sign a True Bill of Indictment.
There were tabloid inspired rumors of this right from the start and even now I'm not convinced it actually happened. The indictment, if it existed, was for child neglect not murder or torture. Four year statute of limitations.
Most of the Grand Jurors are refusing to speak and it seems some are only speaking if their identity is not revealed. The indictment, if indeed it ever existed, seems to have been born of frustration and hopelessness, and not based on any specific actions or inactions by the Ramseys.
It still seems strange that the parents would have been indicted by the grand jury when the jury failed to call either of the parents as witnesses.
Scott Shapiro is, of course, magnifying this out of all proportion and claiming that the possible indictment for child neglect is a complete repudiation of Lou Smit and his theories and complete acceptance of the theories of that incompetent motor mouth from the BPD.
JonBenet Ramsey related article in Daily Camera alleges once again that the Grand Jury actually voted to indict each of the Ramseys but that DA Hunter, doubtful he could get a conviction against either one, refused to sign the indictment. Colorado law requiring both the Foreman of the Grand Jury and the Prosecutor to sign a True Bill of Indictment.
There were tabloid inspired rumors of this right from the start and even now I'm not convinced it actually happened. The indictment, if it existed, was for child neglect not murder or torture. Four year statute of limitations.
Most of the Grand Jurors are refusing to speak and it seems some are only speaking if their identity is not revealed. The indictment, if indeed it ever existed, seems to have been born of frustration and hopelessness, and not based on any specific actions or inactions by the Ramseys.
It still seems strange that the parents would have been indicted by the grand jury when the jury failed to call either of the parents as witnesses.
Scott Shapiro is, of course, magnifying this out of all proportion and claiming that the possible indictment for child neglect is a complete repudiation of Lou Smit and his theories and complete acceptance of the theories of that incompetent motor mouth from the BPD.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Death of Gareth Williams: MI 6 Agent
Once again, I visit the death of an MI6 agent and note certain disquieting facts.
Despite all attempts by the various intelligence agencies involved to portray him as a nerdy technician rather than field agent, it is clear that he had been trained for operations and, in fact, had been conducting field operations.
As someone tasked to any field assignment it is necessary to have a cover story and as all good cover stories go, it is sensible to have depth and breadth to them so that any character appears to have a variety of interests and activities and does not appear to be one-dimensional and therefore a suspected mole. Those who look for moles or intruders are apt to be impressed by discoveries of non-mainstream interests. The famed "cover story within a cover story" is far more believable than a shallow, single-dimensional cover story that is easily blown.
To what extent the decedent's visitations to cross-dressing sites, auto-eroticism sites, bondage sites, etc. represented an actual interest versus a career-motivated affectation is unknown and to a great extent unknowable.
It is true that twenty thousand pounds is a rather substantial investment in ladies undergarments but it is also clear that a one time purchase of such items is more suggestive of a cover story than an ongoing interest persisting over the course of many years.
Exploration of a variety of extreme websites is a very sensible way to build a complex cover story for later adventures in the world of Hackers. Hackers who discover one of their number has various cross-dressing interests and auto-eroticism interests would be less likely to view him as a possible government agent sent to penetrate their network.
As in any forensic investigation, it is often impossible to exclude an option it is only possible to term it unlikely. People often have extreme skills or unusual knowledge: regurgitated keys, cat burglar climbing skills, lock picking skills, contortionist routines, etc. all come to mind as items frequently possessed by the general population and therefore unable to be rejected by a coroner.
A person who wished to advance his career by becoming accepted in the world of auto-eroticism and cross dressing may well have applied himself to some fairly interesting situations. Not only is the self entry into the holdall physically possible but there is a measure of evidence to indicate that self entry into the holdall may have been a particularly valuable career skill for him to acquire as it transcends the world of auto eroticism and extends to ordinary burglary skills.
It is impossible for a coroner to rule that self entry into the holdall did not take place. We may find comfort in the fact that we ourselves would never attempt such a thing and that if we were indeed to attempt such a dangerous contortion we would do so under conditions of greater safety, but such thoughts are of no use to the coroner. We can think the intelligence services played a role and that forensic evidence was tampered with. It is a comfort to us to think that but a coronial inquiry is not an exercise in intellectual comfort.
Would the appropriate coroner's verdict be Death by misadventure? No. Death by patriotism seems much more appropriate.
Please note that the coroner is of the opinion that the visitations to the alternative lifestyle sites were brief and sporadic and therefore should be given little weight. I accord the sites greater weight due to the assumed goal in such visitations to the alternative sites. Everything is strange about the case. Even the initially much sought after and now discounted Mediterranean Couple has ties to the Italian embassy so the intrigue seems to never stop.
Despite all attempts by the various intelligence agencies involved to portray him as a nerdy technician rather than field agent, it is clear that he had been trained for operations and, in fact, had been conducting field operations.
As someone tasked to any field assignment it is necessary to have a cover story and as all good cover stories go, it is sensible to have depth and breadth to them so that any character appears to have a variety of interests and activities and does not appear to be one-dimensional and therefore a suspected mole. Those who look for moles or intruders are apt to be impressed by discoveries of non-mainstream interests. The famed "cover story within a cover story" is far more believable than a shallow, single-dimensional cover story that is easily blown.
To what extent the decedent's visitations to cross-dressing sites, auto-eroticism sites, bondage sites, etc. represented an actual interest versus a career-motivated affectation is unknown and to a great extent unknowable.
It is true that twenty thousand pounds is a rather substantial investment in ladies undergarments but it is also clear that a one time purchase of such items is more suggestive of a cover story than an ongoing interest persisting over the course of many years.
Exploration of a variety of extreme websites is a very sensible way to build a complex cover story for later adventures in the world of Hackers. Hackers who discover one of their number has various cross-dressing interests and auto-eroticism interests would be less likely to view him as a possible government agent sent to penetrate their network.
As in any forensic investigation, it is often impossible to exclude an option it is only possible to term it unlikely. People often have extreme skills or unusual knowledge: regurgitated keys, cat burglar climbing skills, lock picking skills, contortionist routines, etc. all come to mind as items frequently possessed by the general population and therefore unable to be rejected by a coroner.
A person who wished to advance his career by becoming accepted in the world of auto-eroticism and cross dressing may well have applied himself to some fairly interesting situations. Not only is the self entry into the holdall physically possible but there is a measure of evidence to indicate that self entry into the holdall may have been a particularly valuable career skill for him to acquire as it transcends the world of auto eroticism and extends to ordinary burglary skills.
It is impossible for a coroner to rule that self entry into the holdall did not take place. We may find comfort in the fact that we ourselves would never attempt such a thing and that if we were indeed to attempt such a dangerous contortion we would do so under conditions of greater safety, but such thoughts are of no use to the coroner. We can think the intelligence services played a role and that forensic evidence was tampered with. It is a comfort to us to think that but a coronial inquiry is not an exercise in intellectual comfort.
Would the appropriate coroner's verdict be Death by misadventure? No. Death by patriotism seems much more appropriate.
Please note that the coroner is of the opinion that the visitations to the alternative lifestyle sites were brief and sporadic and therefore should be given little weight. I accord the sites greater weight due to the assumed goal in such visitations to the alternative sites. Everything is strange about the case. Even the initially much sought after and now discounted Mediterranean Couple has ties to the Italian embassy so the intrigue seems to never stop.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Don't You Just Get Tired of It All?
Okay. Okay. Enough already. A ten year old girl got killed and her body was dumped in North Las Vegas, a city not unknown for violence.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Innocent until proven guilty but lets face it the evidence against the father's sometime girlfriend is pretty damning. The girl's blood was found in the "step mother's" vehicle and apartment.
Meanwhile the step mother was being held on high bail charges involving her razor slashing of a fellow female blackjack dealer at the Bellagio whom she apparently believed had become romantically involved with the dead girl's father.
Now it turns out that although official records were all Katrina-drowned, the defendant had a history of razor attacks having boasted of a razor attack on a former lover's penis in Moss Point, MS. Whether she pre-positioned razors near her bed and then invited the former lover to drop by enroute to his wedding to another woman or whether the former lover attacked her and she just happened to use razors on his penis is hardly the issue.
The bereaved father of the ten year old girl knew of the prior razor attack yet chose to associate with the woman and entrust his daughter to her care. Don't you just get tired of these headlines when the inevitable happens?
The very upscale Bellagio casino is supposed to have better quality dealers than this.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Innocent until proven guilty but lets face it the evidence against the father's sometime girlfriend is pretty damning. The girl's blood was found in the "step mother's" vehicle and apartment.
Meanwhile the step mother was being held on high bail charges involving her razor slashing of a fellow female blackjack dealer at the Bellagio whom she apparently believed had become romantically involved with the dead girl's father.
Now it turns out that although official records were all Katrina-drowned, the defendant had a history of razor attacks having boasted of a razor attack on a former lover's penis in Moss Point, MS. Whether she pre-positioned razors near her bed and then invited the former lover to drop by enroute to his wedding to another woman or whether the former lover attacked her and she just happened to use razors on his penis is hardly the issue.
The bereaved father of the ten year old girl knew of the prior razor attack yet chose to associate with the woman and entrust his daughter to her care. Don't you just get tired of these headlines when the inevitable happens?
The very upscale Bellagio casino is supposed to have better quality dealers than this.
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