What the heck???

My Kaspersky antivirus software is showing my own blog as a phishing site. What the heck?

Makes me wonder about what else is wrong with Kaspersky...

In From the Cold: What Happened at Minot--an In From the Cold Special Report

In From the Cold: What Happened at Minot--an In From the Cold Special Report: "A “perfect storm” of failed leadership, lax supervision, ineffective internal communication, inexperienced personnel and poor career field management led to last year’s nuclear incident at Minot AFB, North Dakota, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of six-nuclear tipped missiles to an installation in Louisiana."

A decent post that fills in some of the holes in the mishandling of six nuclear warheads.

My little rant on this is here.

Chaplain gets plea bargain in sex case

Lawyer: Priest will plead guilty to sex charges - Navy News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Navy Times: "An HIV-positive Catholic Navy chaplain plans to plead guilty Thursday to charges involving sexual misconduct with an unspecified number of men, according to his attorney, who said the priest has known of his HIV status for more than two years."

Lieutenant Commander John Thomas Matthew Lee was facing life without parole if he didn't take the pre-trial agreement.

The Marines have not released the charge sheet on Lee so there is a lot that we don't know. Two of the charges are aggravated assault and indecent assault. Lee's attorney says that his client is "extremely remorseful." Lots of monsters are "extremely remorseful" after they're caught.

Can someone please explain to me why professions dedicated to helping others attract ambulatory turds like Lee?

EDIT: Lee's sentence has come down. He got twelve years with all but two of those years suspended. I am truly saddened by this. He raped a midshipman (Naval Academy cadet). Two years time served is not enough for someone like Lee who abused his authority and preyed upon people who came to him for help.

If you look at the left boot of the Marine following Lee you will see he has a dog tag in the laces. The other one is probably worn around his neck. The thought is that you won't lose your head and your feet at the same time and your buddies will have an easier time identifying your body.

It is men and women that have to think like that who were burdened with a sexual predator.

Homeopathy is quackery

BBC NEWS | UK | Concern over HIV homeopathy role: "Doctors and health charities have expressed concern about a conference which will examine the role of homeopathy in treating HIV. The event includes discussion of what have been described as 'healing remedies' for HIV and AIDS."

If they're going to play doctor, then they should be liable for malpractice. It is time we started to hold "complementary and alternative medicine" aka "evidence-free medicine" practitioners accountable for their claims.

Rather than burden you with a long-winded rant, I'll just point you at Ben Goldacre's blog.

Merry Christmas!

Michigan Messenger:: Crucifixes Sold in U.S. Are Made in Chinese Sweatshops, Rights Group Says: "Crucifixes marketed in the United States by a Christian retail group are made in a Chinese sweatshop with working conditions that are appalling even by Chinese legal standards, according to a report by a U.S. human rights organization."

This is Ed Brayton's article out of the Michigan Messenger. You can go to the source report here.

The sweatshop made lots of things besides Christian trinkets but Ed is quite rightly putting the Association for Christian Retail in the lead.

It's more than a little ironic that yuppies in line at Starbucks will demand fair trade coffee while American Christians are decorating their living rooms with tchotchkes made in sweatshops by child labor.

Dobby... please... nobody believes you

BBC NEWS | Europe | Putin says US behind poll boycott: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of pushing Western observers into boycotting Russian elections."

...

"The OSCE's election monitoring unit announced earlier this month that it would not attend Russia's election, saying Moscow had refused to provide visas to its staff."

You cannot simultaneously deny visas to election observers and complain about not having election observers. What upsets you is that you can't get election observers you can control.

Putin's latest antics out of WaPo:

"MOSCOW, Nov. 25 -- Russian riot police detained the leaders of an opposition party Sunday and violently dispersed what officials described as an illegal rally and march in St. Petersburg."

Some helpful vocabulary from the folks at Merriam Webster:

Kleptocracy: government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed; also : a particular government of this kind.

Jeffersonian democracy is not for everybody, but a kleptocracy isn't for anybody.

Knucklehead from Falwell funeral sentenced

Times Community Newspapers - Police briefs: "Liberty student sentenced for bomb possession Mark David Uhl, of Amissville, was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for possession of an unregistered explosive device, according to The Lynchburg News and Advance. He also received three years of probation and is required to meet with a mental-health counselor."

This is the Liberty University student who manufactured and intended to employ five IEDs in order to prevent a disturbance at Jerry Falwell's funeral by Fred Phelps and his band of merry men.

Maybe someday he'll write a book and explain how homemade Napalm would be used to prevent a disturbance. The kid's got issues, that's for sure.

It's a pretty light sentence considering the seriousness of the act.

Blogged about previously here.

Potemkin would be proud

Tough Punishment Expected for Warhead Errors - washingtonpost.com: "The Air Force has decided to relieve at least five of its officers of command and is considering filing criminal charges in connection with the Aug. 29 'Bent Spear' incident in which nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly flown from North Dakota to Louisiana, two senior Air Force officials said yesterday."

The legend of Potemkin villages is that one of Catherine the Great's ministers, Grigory Potemkin had mock villages constructed along the Dnieper river in order to impress his boss. The story is very probably false but it gives us a great label for sham enterprises.

It's been over sixty years since the United States actually used a nuclear weapon in war. I'm not complaining mind you, but this has allowed the nuclear arm of the Department of Defense to evolve into its own reality. The nuclear DoD is a veritable Disney Land of hypothetical questions and their accompanying hypothetical solutions.

In the kill-people-break-things branch of the DoD you periodically have to saddle up and go shoot somebody. Combat is a harsh teacher and units learn hard, invaluable lessons. The nuclear DoD has no such crucible. Officers who give great hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions get promoted. Some of these officers are good officers who have never been tested under pressure and some are officers who lack the character to persevere. To all but the most discerning observer, one who has actually seen a good man crack under pressure, both categories of officer look exactly the same.

And that, gentle reader, is how we got into our current situation. Supervisors at all levels found false comfort in their loose-leaf binders full of unread regulations and meaningless inspection results. This is not just a Minot AFB problem or even a USAF problem. The nuclear DoD is the single greatest collection of rear-echelon Formica-blind never-beens to ever wield a coffee mug.

In defense of Grigory Potemkin, at least he knew the villages weren't real.

Former Iraq prison commander to be court-martialed

The Associated Press: Ex-US Commander at Iraq Jail Faces Trial: "BAGHDAD (AP) — A former U.S. commander at the jail that held Saddam Hussein will face trial next week on charges of aiding the enemy by providing a cell phone to detainees and acting inappropriately with an interpreter, the military said Saturday.

Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele, a reservist from Prince George, Va., pleaded guilty on Oct. 7 to three of seven charges, which carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison, forfeiture of pay and dismissal from the Army, according to the military."

I've blogged on this guy before.

Even though the aiding the enemy charge could be a death penalty offense, it is now a non-capital trial.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for the men and women who had to obey this ambulatory turd's orders. During his Article 32 hearing (pretrial hearing similar to a grand jury) there was testimony about him menacing his tower guards with a pistol. Worse still, imagine being a prisoner, with all your means of self defense taken away from you, in a prison commanded by a madman.

On a side note, LTC Steele is looking at long sentence in a military prison. My bet is that his sentence will be ten years or more. During that time, at least some of the military policemen that suffered under his command will have the opportunity to serve as guards in the facility where prisoner Steele will be serving out his sentence.

Me and the phoney

So apropos of nothing, a gentleman came up to me and said "I just got back from Afghanistan." I retired from the military this year. I've got a pretty good sense of who has been and done and who has not. This guy did not have the vibe of a GI. He had the vibe of a pudgy dweeb who watched a war movie once and played make believe.

I asked him a few questions about his service in Afghanistan and he couldn't give respectable answers. So I started to turn away from him before I got annoyed. He then told some ridiculous story about putting a dismembered head into his lieutenant's helmet while the lieutenant slept.

I turned back around and he had this stupid smirk on his face. I said words to the effect that he had committed a war crime (depends on the source of the head, but it's not like he knew the difference). I was annoyed and it showed.

Pudgy dweeb changed the subject very quickly and soon left me lock jawed and trying to stare a hole in his back.

I see the guy fairly regularly. We don't talk.

He was pretending to be a National Guardsman. I have considered learning his name and reporting him to the NGB. For the time being I have decided not to hunt him and humiliate him. This is the new mature me.

But schmucko is hanging by a thread.

Just don't say "When suddenly..." because this was completely predictable

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Sixty hurt in China balloon blast: "More than 60 students were injured when hundreds of balloons exploded at a school in northwest China's Gansu province, state media reported."

They filled 1,500 balloons with hydrogen to celebrate the opening of a sporting event. Was this some sort of population control measure?

E! doesn't get it

Griffin's 'offensive' Emmy speech to be censored - CNN.com: "'Kathy Griffin's offensive remarks will not be part of the E! telecast on Saturday night,' the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said in a statement Monday. In her speech, Griffin said that 'a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus.'"

I guess my first question is: When did E! become an arbiter of good taste?

My second question is: Why does the media take Bill Donohue seriously? CNN, who has a reputation to protect, quotes documented nutter Bill Donohue as expressing outrage on behalf of Catholics. Donohue called Griffin's speech "hate speech." This is the Bill Donohue who thinks it's okay to say things like "gay death style." I do not think "hate speech" means what Mr. Donohue thinks it means.

E! screwed up. Mr. Donohue continues to screw up. Kathy Griffin continues to be Kathy Griffin and she's allowed to make jokes about Jesus.

If your belief system is that fragile, maybe there are other problems.

The First Post: bunch of slobs

The First Post: Pic of the Day: food queues in Iraq

I can't tell you why stupid stuff like this pisses me off... but it does. The lazy, incompetent bastards at The First Post have captioned the above picture "US soldiers push back Iraqi women..." Two guys wearing "chocolate chips", carrying Kalashnikovs, one not wearing a helmet and the other wearing a black "fritz" helmet are not US forces. The uniforms and equipment are consistent with Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Guard. I really couldn't tell you which, but then again it's not my picture, not my web page and it's not my job to write the caption.

It would be nice if the people writing about Iraq actually knew something about the subject, but that's really too much to ask.

This is not a double post

Guilty Plea Entered in Falwell Bomb Case - washingtonpost.com: "LYNCHBURG, Va. -- A Liberty University student who pleaded not guilty last month to charges of possessing a bomb the night before the Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral changed his plea in federal court."

Gomer started listening to his lawyers and changed his plea. He's looking at up to 10 years federal time. The federal system does not have parole.

Falwell funeral IED suspect pleads not guilty

WAVY TV 10 - News, Weather, Traffic, Sports for Hampton Roads, Virginia - North Eastern North Carolina - Liberty U. student denies making bomb; trial scheduled: "LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - A Liberty University student pleaded not guilty today to charges of possessing a bomb the night before the Reverend Jerry Falwell's funeral in May."

Well, we'll see how it goes. I think he's a pissant with delusions of grandeur. That's no big deal, except he's a pissant with violent delusions of grandeur.

Maybe he can start a prison ministry like Kent Hovind.

Former Army officer admits accepting kickbacks

Former Army officer admits accepting kickbacks: "Standing bolt upright in federal court in Austin on Monday, his cleanly shaved head shining above a charcoal gray suit, retired Army Maj. John Allen Rivard pleaded guilty to bribery and other charges for receiving kickbacks on contracts he administered while serving in Iraq.

Rivard, 49, used to live in Georgetown. His roommate there said Rivard began sending his friends and family envelopes of cash after he was deployed to Iraq in 2004."

This schmuck was low-hanging fruit. He was mailing home envelopes stuffed with money. Not exactly a criminal mastermind.

I do not care for the plea-bargain at all. In fact, I don't even care for the venue. This open running sore on the buttocks of humanity should have been brought back on active duty and tried under court martial.

Apparently religious freedom is only for a select few

Hindu prayer in the Senate draws protesters - CNN.com: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Three protesters disrupted a prayer by a Hindu chaplain Thursday at the opening of a Senate hearing, calling it an abomination and shouting slogans about Jesus Christ."

In my search for a Christian leader condemning the bigotry I found the American Family Association website. It wasn't what I was looking for.

Hopefully, we're just going through a phase and we're going to grow out of this.

If you'd like to watch the incident on YouTube, the link is here.

TheHill.com - Ex- convicts and addicts may get DoD clearance

TheHill.com - Ex- convicts and addicts may get DoD clearance: "Under the law, members of the military services, employees of the Department of Defense or contractors working for the Pentagon cannot receive a security clearance if they were convicted of a crime in any U.S. court and went to prison for at least one year; if they are unlawful users of illegal substances; if they are considered mentally incompetent or if they were dishonorably discharged or dismissed from the armed forces. "

This has nothing to do with existing law limiting “... the ability of the Department to manage its security clearance program and may create unwarranted hardships for individuals who have rehabilitated themselves as productive and trustworthy citizens.” The DoD really isn't about forgiveness and rehabilitation.

I believe this is being driven by the private military contractors (PMCs). PMCs such as Blackwater who draw from a candidate pool of increasingly dubious quality. The current DoD security clearance standards force at least some hiring standards onto the PMCs.

I will agree that a guy who smoked pot in college has not demonstrated himself to be untrustworthy, we could change that. But someone with a year or more in prison? A service member who was dishonorably discharged? I'm sorry both of those are signs of both bad character and terrible judgment.

If you'd like to read a little more about PMC hijinks, this is a good link.

First seen on Wonkette.

People who didn't listen in school continued...

An Australian TV station constructed a Trojan Horse and attempted to deliver it to various institutions.

It's one of my favorites.

Where do pollsters find these people?

Eppure si muove…or does it? � orgtheory.net: "A case in point is the following. The GSS folk actually made the mistake of asking the following question as part of their science module:

Now, does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?

Here we go. Now what follows is real social science data folks. No joking around:

Earth around sun 73.6%
Sun around earth 18.3%
Don’t Know 8.0%
Refused 0.1%"

Holy Schnikes. That's 26.3% of the respondents who either thought the sun revolved around the earth or didn't know the answer.

I see a couple of things happening in the near future. I see Galileo getting retried in absentia for heresy and I see physics instructors battling against the effort to get "Intelligent Falling" into their textbooks.

I hope there's some huge flaw in polling methods, that they're surveying people outside a bar at closing time or something.