Must be his lungs

because we know he doesn't have a heart...

Rush Limbaugh hospitalized with chest pains - Celebrities- msnbc.com

Conservative U.S. radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was resting comfortably at a hospital in Hawaii after suffering chest pains, his Web site said.

History vs Religion

OK, color me stupid, but why in the world is the Catholic Church really worried about the outcry from Jewish groups about whether or not to bestow Sainthood on a former Pope?

Vatican defends move on World War II-era pope - Yahoo! News

The Vatican sought Wednesday to quell its latest public dispute with Jewish groups, saying the pope's decision to move Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood isn't an act of hostility against those who say he didn't sufficiently denounce the Holocaust.
In what has now become a routine effort at fence-mending, the Vatican issued a statement saying the German-born Benedict feels great respect for and friendship toward Jews — a sentiment he hopes to reinforce during his first visit to Rome's synagogue next month.
Benedict sparked renewed outrage among some Jewish groups on Saturday by signing a decree on Pius' heroic virtues, paving the way for him to be beatified once a miracle attributed to his intercession is confirmed.
Some Jews and historians have argued Pius should have done more to prevent the deaths of 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II.

How to fix RR crossings? Or should we fix the idiots instead?

Roomier crossings - Letters - NewsObserver.com

The terrible tragedy that befell the mother of two young boys in Durham at a railroad crossing should be a rallying cry to the county and state to provide more safety at crossings. The news media can help by reminding us that this occurrence is not isolate and giving us local and statewide history on the subject. The media can also help by publicizing safety procedures on traversing a railroad crossing and on what to do if you get stuck in one.

Traffic engineers talk about waiting for federal money to build an overpass or underpass. Instead, I propose a change for 1/20th the cost that would increase the margin of safety now: Simply reposition the four crossing barriers outward away from the tracks so that if you were caught in your vehicle between the barriers, you could back up or move forward off the tracks because enough room would be available between the tracks and the barriers.

Here's a thought - DON'T DRIVE ONTO THE TRACKS UNLESS YOU KNOW YOU CAN EXIT THE OTHER SIDE!
Why the f*&$ would you ever stop on the tracks?!

Brant crashes the N&O

Resident says helicopter flew too low

Many ambitious folks woke up early by choice Nov. 27 to take advantage of Black Friday bargains at local stores.

Brant Guillory and his wife were not among them.

"We were sleeping in," said Guillory, who lives on North Hills Drive near Crabtree Valley Mall.

But his family's slumber was interrupted about 6:50 a.m. when a WTVD-TV (ABC 11) news helicopter hovered over his neighborhood to record the shopping craze at the mall. The chopper angered other neighbors, too, Guillory said, and he thinks it was flying too low over a residential neighborhood.

John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 11, confirmed that the chopper was in the Crabtree area for 15 to 20 minutes on the morning of Black Friday. He said its altitude was within what the station considers a proper range.

The helicopter typically stays at 1,300 to 1,500 feet, Idler said, and it doesn't fly or hover below 750 feet. "That was the case that morning," he said.

The pilot changed location three or four times so nearby residents wouldn't have to deal with the noise for too long, Idler added.

Guillory, an Army veteran who said he's been on helicopters several times, thinks the TV chopper was actually flying below 500 feet.

The Federal Aviation Administration regulates all aircraft, including news helicopters. Usually, pilots for news choppers agree not to fly below 1,500 feet, said Kathleen Bergen, communications manager for the FAA's Atlanta office. But choppers are allowed to go lower as long as conditions are safe, she said.

The FAA says no aircraft can fly below 1,000 feet over congested areas and 500 feet over non-congested areas. Again, choppers can go lower if it's safe, Bergen said.

Idler said his station gets about 10 complaints a year about helicopter noise. "We're very careful over neighborhoods," he said.

Idler said he wouldn't be surprised if the ABC chopper flies above the Crabtree area more than some other neighborhoods. Traffic jams are common there.

If several residents in a neighborhood complained, Idler said, the station likely would let the pilot know. But it wouldn't necessarily mean the helicopter would avoid the area, he said.

Guillory, who has lived in his neighborhood about a year and a half, said he can recall at least two other times he was troubled by a news helicopter near his home. "My biggest problem is, I don't know who to complain to," he said.

On Black Friday, Guillory said, he sent three e-mails to ABC 11, and he admitted he used profanity in one message. He hadn't heard back as of late last week. Idler said his station gives complaints filled with profanity a lower priority.

The station didn't get any other complaints on Black Friday, he said.

Guillory said he also contacted the FAA office in Greensboro. A representative told him about helicopters' guidelines, he said.

If people suspect an aircraft is flying too low, they should contact the FAA, Bergen said.

The FAA will investigate complaints, she said, but investigators need to know the aircraft's identification number, which is printed on the aircraft. At the very least, she said, they need to know what company the aircraft is affiliated with.

Minimum sanctions for flying too low could include warning letters to pilots, Bergen said. But the FAA would need evidence.

The FAA got no complaints about low-flying aircraft in the Raleigh area on Black Friday, Bergen said.

Guillory said he wishes news choppers would linger less if they must be over his neighborhood. And he'd prefer they not show up on days his 6-year-old doesn't have to get up for school. "Unless you're the police looking for an escaped fugitive," he said.

Sarah Nagem is filling in for Troubleshooter LeahFriedman, who is on maternity leave.

Here are the comments:

walshaw wrote on December, 5 9:29 AM:
Death of common sense again. Frankly, there's really nothing newsworthy in a crowd gathered for Black Friday shopping - just goes to show you how degraded and insensible the American press has gotten - and how self-indulgent they have become while hiding behind their "free press" protections. This kind of stupidity is what got the U.S. in the mess we are in now - everyone wants to be an expert, but no one wants to take any personal responsibility for one's selfish actions. A good long organized boycott of this TV channel's news programs would fix this problem in a heartbeat - waiting for the FAA to actually respond to a citizen complaint could take years, as they can't even investigate air crashes in a timely manner. Broken system - death of common sense - self-aggrandizement and failure to know what is really important to those of us out there in the world who have to get up and do real work every day.


Annoyed_Commenter wrote on December, 5 7:45 PM:
Bottom line is this - it doesn't matter how high/low the helicopter is flying if it's waking people up before 7am on a holiday. Anyone who cares about the line outside Best Buy at 7am is already at Best Buy by 7am.


aquaman4life68 wrote on December, 5 8:14 PM:
I couldn't agree with you more!!! This is just plain stupid. This surely shows what little news that the news stations actually care about reporting...
I wonder who knew about black friday? Hmmm.. EVERYONE
I wonder who knew about the sales...hmmmmm EVERYONE
I wonder who knew there were going to be long lines early .....hmmmmm EVERYONE
I wonder who knew the parking lots were going to be jammed packed..hmmmmm EVERYONE
I wonder if there's going to be future Black Fridays...hmmmm....as long as we have Thankgsgiving we will have a Black Friday the day after it.
SEE...NOTHING NEW to report!!
I'm glad i don't liver near the malls....because this is down right STUPID. And even if they want to fly over adn report....do it...BUT do you you need to hover over the area 30 minutes or more...I think ONE SHOT will do it for folks.


dougdeep wrote on December, 5 9:08 PM:
I put up with the helicopters buzzing me on their way to and from Rex hospital. They come in real low! Maybe I should complain.


bonexx wrote on December, 6 1:11 AM:
Wow, its amazing what people can find to complain about. I live next to the Beltline, but its part of urban living and I accept that. My friends bought out in North Raleigh and live under the RDU flightpath. They accept that. I sometimes get woken up by the dumpster guy over at North Hills and I....roll over and go back to sleep. I can't believe this guy got so wound up as to send 3 emails to the TV station. America is now officially a nation of NIMBY crybabies.

And on a completely different topic, when is the city council going to pass a law requiring deer in the city limits to pick up their own poopie? It's getting out of hand!


Annoyed_Commenter wrote on December, 6 8:31 AM:
Bonexx: there's a difference between buying a house under the RDU flight path (which hasn't changed in 25+ years) or buying a house near the hospital (where you *know* helicopters fly) and having a helicopter parked on your roof to cover a non-story just so the news can show off that they have one. If there's a *legit* news story there - say a bomb went off outside Best Buy while everyone was lined up - then yeah, put a bird in the air to cover it. But covering a line outside a store on a say you *expect* a line outside the store? Big f'n deal!

Bitch!

BBC News - US woman of 98 accused of choking roommate aged 100

A Massachusetts jury has charged a woman of 98 with suffocating her 100-year-old nursing home roommate after complaining of too many visitors.
Police in Dartmouth initially believed Elizabeth Barrow had committed suicide but eventually recommended a murder charge against Laura Lundquist.
A judge ordered Ms Lundquist to be placed in a local hospital to assess her fitness to stand trial.
The women had been sharing a room for about a year when the death occurred.
Ms Barrow was found with a plastic bag tied around her head in her bed at the Brandon Woods nursing home on 24 September.

Hey - A solution!

Promotion day arrives for white Conn. firefighters - Yahoo! News

A group of white firefighters who persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to sanction their promotions over black colleagues are receiving their new badges Thursday in a ceremony that provides symbolic recognition of their victory.
The high court ruled in June that New Haven officials violated white firefighters' civil rights when they threw out 2003 test results in which too few minorities did well.
The case became an issue in confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who ruled against the white firefighters when she served on a federal appeals court.
Fourteen firefighters who sued are being promoted Thursday to lieutenant and captain. Another 10 firefighters, including four minorities, who took the 2003 tests but were not plaintiffs in the court case also will be promoted.

Yeah, that's right - they can use the Supreme Court to try to make the case that they should have unqualified minority candidates promoted in positions of increasing responsibility ahead of more highly-qualified non-minority candidates, especially in jobs that involve saving people's lives!

Solutions?

Black lawmakers grow impatient with White House - Yahoo! News

Black lawmakers who have held their tongues during most of President Barack Obama's first year in office are stepping up their demands that the nation's first black president do more for minority communities hit hardest by the recession.

yeah, I dunno - maybe they can institute some kind of cool minority hiring preferences for fat government contracts, or redraw Congressional district lines to ensure that black candidates get elected, or maybe take the highest-profile sports league in the nation and force them to interview and hire black candidates for coaching gigs... I mean, there's got to be something they can do, isn't there?

Haven't been great add adding things here...

I've been commuting to/from Fort Bragg for work this week, and that cuts into the time I've got to hop online, plus limited access down there... ugh.

First reactions to 2010 World Cup Draw

Yes, I'm a soccer nut who wants to watch as much of the World Cup as I can.

My picks for who gets out of which group? In bold...

Group A South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France - SA becomes first host to not advance. Tho I'd love to see them over Mexico . If Mexico or France falter, look for Uruguay to go before SA.

Group B Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece - Upset city. Nigeria gets very frustrated when they can't run free; Greece will get under their skin.

Group C England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia - All it takes is a draw v England and the US has a chance to nick the group.

Group D Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia - Neven "the Traitor" Subotic goes home early. Waah.

Group E Holland, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark - Dutch will dominate the group with a +7 goal differential and lose in the first knockout game. Why? They do it all the time.

Group F Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia - Kiwis are just happy to be here; Paraguay is a rugged team that'll push people around and win ugly.

Group G Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal - Portugal almost didn't make it, having to get in by playoff in a group dominated by Denmark. Ivorians will win with flair and style. North Korea looks worse than US did in '98.

Group H Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland - CONCACAF puts 3 teams in knockout rounds with Honduras playing a bunch of EPL veterans and riding them to a 2 wins. Jonathan Bornstein gets free vacations for life in Honduras.


Not going to try to pick the next rounds, b/c I don't have the matchups in front of me. GO U-S-A!

Great perspective from Friedman about Afghanistan

The State | 12/03/2009 | Friedman: What I believe about Afghanistan: "Friedman: What I believe about Afghanistan"

Friedman: What I believe about Afghanistan
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The New York Times
Let me start with the bottom line and then tell you how I got there: I can't agree with President Barack Obama's decision to escalate in Afghanistan. I'd prefer a minimalist approach, working with tribal leaders the way we did to overthrow the Taliban regime in the first place. Given our need for nation-building at home right now, I am ready to live with a little less security and a little-less-perfect Afghanistan.

I recognize that there are legitimate arguments on the other side. At a lunch on Tuesday for opinion writers, the president lucidly argued that opting for a surge now to help Afghans rebuild their army and state into something decent - to win the allegiance of the Afghan people - offered the only hope of creating an "inflection point," a game changer, to bring long-term stability to that region. May it be so. What makes me wary about this plan is how many moving parts there are - Afghans, Pakistanis and NATO allies all have to behave forever differently for this to work.

But here is the broader context in which I assess all this: My own foreign policy thinking since 9/11 has been based on four pillars:

1.The Warren Buffett principle: Everything I've ever gotten in life is largely due to the fact that I was born in this country, America, at this time with these opportunities for its citizens. It is the primary obligation of our generation to turn over a similar America to our kids.

2.Many big bad things happen in the world without America, but not a lot of big good things. If we become weak and enfeebled by economic decline and debt, as we slowly are, America may not be able to play its historic stabilizing role in the world. If you didn't like a world of too-strong-America, you will really not like a world of too-weak-America - where China, Russia and Iran set more of the rules.

3.The context within which people live their lives shapes everything - from their political outlook to their religious one. The reason there are so many frustrated and angry people in the Arab-Muslim world, lashing out first at their own governments and secondarily at us - and volunteering for "martyrdom" - is because of the context within which they live their lives. That was best summarized by the U.N.'s Arab Human Development reports as a context dominated by three deficits: a deficit of freedom, a deficit of education and a deficit of women's empowerment. The reason India, with the world's second-largest population of Muslims, has a thriving Muslim minority (albeit with grievances but with no prisoners in Guantanamo Bay) is because of the context of pluralism and democracy it has built at home.

4.One of the main reasons the Arab-Muslim world has been so resistant to internally driven political reform is because vast oil reserves allow its regimes to become permanently ensconced in power, by just capturing the oil tap, and then using the money to fund vast security and intelligence networks that quash any popular movement. Look at Iran.

Hence, post-9/11 I advocated that our politicians find sufficient courage to hike gasoline taxes and seriously commit ourselves to developing alternatives to oil. Economists agree that this would ultimately bring down the global price, and slowly deprive these regimes of the sole funding source that allows them to maintain their authoritarian societies. People do not change when we tell them they should; they change when their context tells them they must.

To me, the most important reason for the Iraq war was never WMD. It was to see if we could partner with Iraqis to help them build something that does not exist in the modern Arab world: a state, a context, where the constituent communities - Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds - write their own social contract for how to live together without an iron fist from above. Iraq has proved staggeringly expensive and hugely painful. The mistakes we made should humble anyone about nation-building in Afghanistan. It does me.

Still, the Iraq war may give birth to something important - if Iraqis can find that self-sustaining formula to live together. Alas, that is still in doubt. If they can, the model would have a huge impact on the Arab world. Baghdad is a great Arab capital. If Iraqis fail, it's religious strife, economic decline and authoritarianism as far as the eye can see - the witch's brew that spawns terrorists.

Iraq was about "the war on terrorism." The Afghanistan invasion, for me, was about the "war on terrorists." To me, it was about getting bin Laden and depriving al- Qaida of a sanctuary - period. I never thought we could make Afghanistan into Norway - and even if we did, it would not resonate beyond its borders the way Iraq might.

To now make Afghanistan part of the "war on terrorism" - i.e., another nation-building project - is not crazy. It is just too expensive, when balanced against our needs for nation-building in America, so that we will have the strength to play our broader global role. Hence, my desire to keep our presence in Afghanistan limited. That is what I believe. That is why I believe it.

Driver who pissed me off:

Silver Passat
NC tag XZR-5679
Crossed 2 lanes thru left turn at intersection of North Hills & Lead Mine, and kept crossing them after multiple honkings of the horn.

Follow-up to the FAA complaint

I've actually got the FAA and the local newspaper contacting me about the complaints over that damned helicopter.