BlueGrassRoots

Ford's Woes

While Ford lays off workers around the country, including Kentucky, and bleeds billions annually, its CEO gets an annual bonus of $18.6 million for...well, something I guess.  Surely it's not job performance.

The Last of the Great War

Last WWI Combat Veteran Laid to Rest.

The echo of a 21-gun salute and bugler playing Taps seemingly marked the end of an era as a state and national treasure was laid to rest in Portland, Ore., March 2.

Retired Army Cpl. Howard V. Ramsey, Oregon's last living World War I veteran and the last known U.S. combat veteran of WWI, died in his sleep Feb. 22 at an assisted living center in southeast Portland. ...

Of the seven known WWI veterans still living, none were shipped overseas, making Ramsey the last known combat veteran of "The Great War." ...

Nearly 90 years later, Ramsey was still haunted by regret for not breaking the rules and keeping a diary that fell from the pocket of one deceased American Soldier. Ramsey told family and friends, "I wanted to keep that diary so badly to send it to his mother, but it was against the rules to keep anything from off the bodies."

In 90 or so years when we bury our last Iraq combat veteran what will haunt them?  And how will we as a collective population remember this war?

In Other News

Mitch McConnell's war continues to spread democracy and freedom fries:

A suicide bomber killed more than 30 people Wednesday in a popular cafe northeast of Baghdad, and three American soldiers died when a roadside bomb exploded northwest of the capital, authorities said.

The bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, two police officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The bomber walked into the cafe where people had gathered around 5:30 p.m. and detonated his explosives among customers, police said. At least 30 people — a mix of Sunnis and Shiites — were killed and 25 were wounded, they said.

The U.S. soldiers were killed by the roadside bomb as they patrolled a well-traveled route northwest of Baghdad to clear it of explosives, the military said. Nine soldiers died in two separate attacks on Monday — the deadliest single day for Americans in Iraq in nearly a month.

Attacks on Shiite pilgrims showed no sign of easing, with at least 11 slain as they streamed toward a Muslim shrine ahead of a weekend holiday.

The violence came a day after two suicide bombers exploded themselves among pilgrims lining up at a checkpoint, killing at least 120 people and wounding about 190, police and hospital officials said.

In Other News

Nine more soldiers died so Mitch McConnell could help George Bush avoid responsibility for his failures in Iraq:

Nine American soldiers died in explosions north of Baghdad, the U.S. military announced Tuesday after the deadliest single day for U.S. troops in Iraq in nearly a month.

Six soldiers died when a bomb exploded Monday near their vehicles during a combat operation in Salahuddin province, the military said. Three others were wounded in the blast.

Another three soldiers died the same day in a roadside bomb attack in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

Shiite pilgrims, too, came under attack as they streamed south, mostly on foot, toward a shrine in Karbala ahead of a weekend holiday. Police said at least 20 were killed Tuesday in shootings and bombings along the way.

While We're Grieving Anna's Death

Mitch McConnell's war continues to proceed glowingly:

A suicide car bomber shattered a relative lull in Baghdad's violence Monday, killing at least 28 people in a blast that touched off raging fires and a blizzard of bloodstained paper from a popular book market.

It was the largest bombing in the capital in three days, and came on the heels of a major push by nearly 1,200 U.S. and Iraqi troops into Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold and base for fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But dont' miss the good news - the city had three days where bombs not that big went off.

Iran in Space

I've long said this is the biggest step that Iran could take to threaten its neighbors and any military action.  Now they may have actually established a presence in space.  If they get a satellite up there then any troop movements are known when made and in particular our troops in Iraq.  If they had a mind to do so, they could launch some of their short range missiles and cause some real trouble.

(can't link to previous posts now due to internet spottiness in the mountains - ski country doesn't lend itself to good blogging - assuming anyone thinks this is good blogging)

Fox Attacks

Obama edition.

Meanwhile, In Mitch McConnell's War

But HEY, I'm sure somewhere in Iraq there was a business that didn't explode:

Thunderous explosions and dense black smoke swirled through central Baghdad on Monday when two car bombs tore through a crowded marketplace, setting off secondary blasts and killing at least 71 people, police said. Another bombing nearby killed at least nine. ...

Shops and stalls were obliterated and billowing smoke blackened the entire area on a sunny day in Baghdad.

Debris and clothing mannequins were scattered in pools of blood on the floor of the warehouse-type building while men tossed plastic chairs onto piles. Two men carried a limp body, while small fires burned in rubble outside the building. ...

The attacks, which occurred in busy market districts on the east side of the Tigris River, came despite stepped up security in the capital as U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a new operation aimed at stopping the sectarian violence that has been on the rise since the Samarra bombing.

Legacy of Abuse

Our country was once defined by how we treated our enemies.  Sadly, we still are, but the definition has been changed.

Let's not forget that some of these 'detainees' were held for little or no rational basis, other than that they were not discernible from people that may or may not have been 'terrorists' (meaning whatever random definition might have been assigned post facto to justify the otherwise pointless war in Iraq).  In other words they looked like Arabs and therefore must (or may) be 'terrorists.'  Even without the innocents, what kind of sick, twisted, and perverse fear has taken hold of the bedwetters like Mitch McConnell that leads them to believe becoming inhumane in flagrant disregard of basic human decency is in any way related to protecting 'freedom and democracy'?

But to Mitch McConnell, all Arabs are al qaeda, and all al qaeda are Arabs.  In the debate over establishing military commissions (in response to the unlawful detainee ruling by the US Supremes) McConnell says:

This system is exceedingly fair since al-Qaida in no way follows the Geneva Conventions or any other international norm. Al-Qaida respects no law, no authority, no legitimacy but that of its own twisted strain of radical Islam.

You see, in McConnell's world all Muslim appearing people must be al qaeda, whether they were 'detained' in Afghanistan, Iraq, or at the Canadian border.  And if we can define any ol' Arab as an 'enemy combatant' then why hell, we can torture that mother until we get us some good ol' fashioned Really Useful Intelligence.  I'm sure Maher Arar could enlighten savages like McConnell that indiscriminate torture yields nothing.  Especially when done to an innocent law abiding citizen.

These people have pissed on America's good name.  They should be run out of the government if not the country.  But instead, they get picked to run the Republican party in the Senate.

Nice.

Ford's Buyouts

What is absolutely stunning to me is that Ford executives and engineers (read:  management, nonunion employees) never saw increased market "competition from more fuel-efficient models from Asian automakers."  I've never been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or an auto manufacturer of any size, but I'd like to think I was blessed with an ounce (give or take) of common sense.  Seems like a no brainer to me, and no hourly workers are going to pay the price.  Setting aside snickers about union jobs being overpaid, 75,000 workers are about to exit the job market with skill sets geared towards a diminishing industry.

With American auto manufacturers facing these dilemmas this won't be the last time hourly wage earners pay the price for corporate incompetence.  Now cue right wingers:  "Unchecked free markets that pay CEOs millions for being idiots will save us all!!"

Media Follies

One would think that stuff like this would teach the media a lesson since any reasonable person would find them all to be a bunch of cackling jackasses after their wall to wall coverage of Mark Karr, his in flight meal, and bombardment of aerial photos of being escorted from place to place.  Sadly, I doubt these collective imbeciles will ever cease their tabloid journalism ways now that they have started down that road.  The worst part is that once Ramsey's killer does surface we'll have to go through this same crap again.

ProofThere is a God

As if Dobson's existence weren't enough, MSNBC cancels Rita Cosby's missing white women lovefest to prove there is a God.  It's one of the worst "talk" shows on television by one of the most annoying and appallingly fake personalities I have ever seen.

Close Encounters

An asteroid will come mighty close to the Earth on July 3.  Although coming no closer than the Moon to Earth, when one considers the sheer size of the galaxy the encounter is actually very close - considered perhaps a "near miss."  An asteroid of this size (about a half-mile) would not burn up upon entering the atmosphere (if a collision was imminent) and an actual impact would probably cause cataclysmic changes in the atmosphere - tectonic shifts causing massive volcanic eruptions, resulting in the equivalent of a nuclear winter from the ash that would black out the sun for about a year.  An impact in the water would cause worldwide tsunamis that would make the one a year and a half ago look like ripples in a pond.

Think it can't happen?  A much smaller asteroid entered the atmosphere above Chicago in 1871, that same night Ms. O'Leary's cow was about to catch some unmerited heat (no pun intended).  The theory goes that it was small enough that it actually burned to nothing before impact with the Earth (a good reason to protect the atmosphere) but the velocity of the asteroid and the heat produced in the burn out blasted a searing heat wave much as an atomic bomb would.  Simultaneous fires occured that same evening in the mid-west in smaller more remote towns that went largely unnoticed.

It is of course widely theorized that a large asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago (or 10,000 years ago depending on whether one believes in goofy things like "science").

The point of this post?  None really, just food for thought.  Well...there is this little nugget - Clinton used the now unconstitutional line item veto to strike out asteroid busting technology from the budget in (I think) 1997.  How vindicated would the panty sniffing impeachment hounds feel if the asteroid collided with the Earth and killed us all?

All Camm, All The Time

Those outside the Louisville area may not have heard of David Camm...and I say good for you.  Every night for the past couple of weeks, on virtually every news channel, the anchors have devoted a significant amount of time to a case about a guy that may or may not have killed his family.  They devoted about 15 seconds to the debate of Dan Seum's bill to kill the local STAR Program, effectively permiting unfettered pollution in the poorest parts of the City of Louisville - pollution that is literally killing the poorest members of our community...most of whom happen to be African-American (background here on grassroots efforts, click through links for data).

I live in Louisville, and I'll let everyone guess which story is more important to me and to those in the community.  I just don't understand the voyeuristic mentality of news organizations.  There are simply some things that are more important for citizens to know than whether David Camm killed his family while pollution continues to kill and destroy the lives of people too poor to get out of its way.

Scary Jelly Fish

Anyone that's ever snorkeled or scuba dived will understand why this is freaky:

They are 6ft wide and weigh 450lb (200kg), with countless poisonous tentacles, they have drifted across the void to terrorise the people of Japan. Vast armadas of the slimy horrors have cut off the country’s food supply. As soon as one is killed more appear to take its place.

Admin: Poop, Meet Fan

Well, faithful visitors, it's that time of year again. 

The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you.  Yet, I cannot come out to play.  With just two and a half weeks before the start of law school finals, it is time for me to sit down and get serious, real serious, about learning the material I have so successfully neglected this semester.  Evidence.  Administrative Law.  Criminal Trial Process.  Environmental Law.  Election Law.  These will be my bread, my butter.  My guide by day and pillow by night.

As such, we will be having some open threads here for the next few weeks.  The last thread was a fantastic success, I thought, with much speculation about the next gubernatorial and above-the-belt banter from all sides. 

Please peruse our links, especially all of the fantastic Kentucky blogs out there. 

As for the open thread, it's wide open.  Azubuike's departure, Bush's low approval ratings, good music you're listening to, clever posts on your blog.  Whatever.  Here's a caption contest photo for your enjoyment. 

Oh, and if any of you have great outlines for any of the aforementioned law classes, feel free to email them to me.