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When the Twin Towers fell on September 11th, 2008, amongst the wreckage 7.5 tons of steel was salvaged. It was reused to form the bow of a new amphibious assault ship. That ship, the USS New York is being dedicated today. You can find webcasts of the event here or here.

The USS New York (LPD 21) under construction in Northrop Grumman Ship Systems’ shipyard in Avondale, LA, will be the fifth amphibious transport dock of the San Antonio class. The ship will be used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies, by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft and Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical take off and landing aircraft. USS New York will support amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions throughout the first half of the 21st Century.

It seems rather fitting that the same wreckage that was formed that day, is now on the high seas making sure it never happens again.

Give ‘em hell New York.

Granted I’ve been told I’m so conservative I laughed at the “Daisy Ad”, so is it any surprise I laughed my ass off at Hillary’s attempt at the “Daisy Ad”??

Come on, you can’t tell you weren’t rolling as well? The absurdity has to be obvious even to Hillary. For example just today, she stated

We’ve got two wars. We’ve got to end one, we’ve got to win the other.

Guess what Patton….how about winning both?? There’s a genius move for you. You don’t even have to attend West Point to figure that one out.

Although to her credit she did probably have a lot of experience at that sort of thing. For eight years, she probably had to answer the phone and put the General on hold because Billy was off banging an intern or something. But I’m not sure putting the Joint Chiefs on hold quite qualifies you for the job here.I’d suggest just selling this commercial to the Clinton campaign. You kills two birds with one stone. You get some desperately needed cash and you don’t have to air an ad that’s obviously going to make you look silly.

Having mandated fluorescent lightbulbs for all, because apparently that’s a critical national issue, our government has made further advances in dealing with the whole mercury cleanup problem.

Most of you are probably aware that the fluorescent lightbulbs do contain mercury….the toxic kind. So if one breaks, well, you may very well have issues. Previously the solution was a $2,000 hazmat team.

Fortunately, the state of Maine has come to the rescue and offers “improved” disposal recommendations.

Basically I’ll boil it down for you.

First, evacuate the house and ventilate the room. This first step is all the more surprising considering Maine is also a cold-weather state. So presumably this is still the first step even in the dead of winter. Kids, pregnant women, pets and Oompa-Loompas are at the greatest risk.

Then having performed an airlift of your home, you need to clean it up. You being the sacrificial lamb. But don’t use a vacuum! Even on a rug. It spreads the mercury more by making it airborne, and contaminates the vacuum. If you just spent $500 on a Dyson, you may want to kick yourself, or your wife*, in the head now.

Use stiff paper or tape to pick up all the pieces. Then wipe the area down. If it broke on the carpet, boy are you screwed. Basically you need to replace the carpet. On the plus side, maybe you have hardwood floors underneath that carpet you didn’t know about. Now is the time to play the hardwood lotto!! Alternately maybe you could just vacuum it up and toss out the vacuum??

Ok you’ve gathered the contaminated “materials”. Now you need to dispose of it. Apparently a sealed glass jar is the absolute minimum that can be used. Any nuclear waste containers you have laying around are also satisfactory, but only if they’ve passed inspection within the last three years.

Once it has been sealed in the glass jar it can now be disposed of. Then your garbage man will then accidentally dump it and break it at the end of your driveway, and then you’ll have to evacuate and ventilate your driveway.

Having followed these procedures, the mercury levels of the room will have fallen to levels 100 times what is considered safe. So have no fear!! Be happy that you are helping to save the planet.

…..or just stock up on incandescent bulbs.

* Ok I’m not actually advocating kicking your wife. Seriously that would just be stupid. Because then she’s gonna learn why you did it and come after me, and I don’t want that. Maybe kick the dog instead.**

** PETA you can kiss my ass.

First we were promised a fence across the entire border. Then we were told that wasn’t feasible….because apparently 21st Americans can’t accomplish what 5th century Chinese were able to do. So instead we were to get a “virtual fence” and “vehicle barriers”.

I’ve pointed out before how the virtual wall has been repeatedly delayed. Now apparently they’ve punted

The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday.

Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.

Though the department took over that initial stretch Friday from Boeing, authorities confirmed that Project 28, the initial deployment of the Secure Border Initiative network, did not work as planned or meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Basically after it’s already been delayed countless times, now it’s being delayed three more years. And might I point out there is a lot less risk technology-wise in an actual fence than a virtual fence. This is really pretty sad. Boeing competed with several other defense contractors for this contract, and they won because their project was the LEAST high-tech….and they still can’t make it work.

What’s worse is what’s supposed to be complementing this virtual fence.

The virtual fence was to complement a physical fence that the administration now says will include 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers to be completed by the end of this year. The GAO said this portion of the project may also be delayed and that its total cost cannot be determined. The president’s 2009 budget does not propose funds to add fencing beyond the 700 or so miles meant to be completed this year.

By pedestrian fencing, what they mean is basically single strand barbed wire more suitable for penning cattle than protecting an international border. Of course, we were promised double barrier Israeli style fencing but when has the federal government kept their promise.

And the vehicle barriers have already proven worthless.  There have been repeated accounts that drug dealers and coyotes have figured out a rather low-tech solution.  Stage vehicles on both sides of the border, and simple walk through the vehicle barriers.

With solutions and progress like this, is it any wonder nobody trusts the federal government to handle the immigration issue??  Especially when just six days earlier, DHS tried to pass the whole project off as a great success.  And the SAVE Act despite having virtually the entire US House as a co-sponsor has still not advanced since Republican leaders are dragging their feet for…..well, nobody knows why.

Fortunately the states have been doing the job the feds won’t do, including Oklahoma, Indiana, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Maryland and DC.

Anyone think anything will change with either Juan McCain, Billary, or Obama get in office??

Recently a North Carolina university held a “mock gunman” drill. Basically they practiced having a gunman raid a classroom with a gun and practiced the university response. Reason it made the news was they didn’t let everyone know so a few people were a little freaked out by the whole ordeal.

Despite what they think, I think if you read the details we can all consider this drill a major failure.

The campus police officer who played the role of the intruder carried a red plastic model gun, the school said in a news release.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Wang said the man came to the door and said he wanted to talk. “Suddenly the man pointed the gun at me,” he said, adding that he didn’t have time to consider whether the gun was real.

The seven students were lined up against the wall, and the intruder threatened to kill the one with the lowest grade point average. Wang said the man told them that he had been kicked out of school and that he needed a lung transplant.

After about 10 minutes, campus police ended the drill by subduing the man.

Ok now let’s consider what would have happened if this were real. All those students and the professor would be dead, and the shooter would probably have committed suicide. Because everyone in this situation was depending on the police.

If I were a student at this school and this test was a demonstration of their best effort, I’d start asking how many of my credits would transfer.

Let’s face it, 10 minutes is forever and the police response is not the answer. Police show up after a crime is done, in this case after the shooter has satisfied his homicidal urges.  And just the fact that they are even considering this type of scenario should be a pretty good indicator that “gun-free” zones aren’t necessarily “gun-free”.

Just another example showing that universities and schools just don’t get it. But they would do well to learn from the few shootings which have been successfully stopped. In those cases, the shooter was stopped by people carrying their own weapons.

Time to try that drill all over again. This time consider how the situation would have turned out if someone directly involved was able to step in and defend the victims, rather than waiting for even the local campus police to show up.

I believe John Stossel sums it up pretty well in a related article he wrote recently on gun laws :

“It equalizes unequals,” Palmer told “20/20″. “If someone gets into your house, which would you rather have, a handgun or a telephone? You can call the police if you want, and they’ll get there, and they’ll take a picture of your dead body. But they can’t get there in time to save your life. The first line of defense is you.”

I’ll take the handgun.

Oh this young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country’s refusal to accept him, well, I guess that’s more than most 21-year-olds can handle…..

….Chris Simon, the newest member of the Minnesota Wild. You may remember him as the guy that tried decapitation and amputation instead of icing the puke as a way to get a stoppage of play.

True, he’s done his time, but he’s a thug and that’s about it. Of course, it means the Wild can now officially put the Hanson Brothers Line on the ice.

Todd Federuk as Jeff Hanson
Chris Simon as Steve Hanson
Aaron Voros* as Jack Hanson

Granted I like a good physical game and a good fight or three as much as the next guy. I mean without that you have….well, girls hockey, which is just like figure skating except with different skates.

But Chris Simon?? He’s been suspended more games than he’s played this year. I realize the Wild need a little spark, but trading for Dr. Strangelove is hardly the path I would have gone.

Let’s see. We can’t score. We need another center. Yes I can see how Chris Simon was the natural choice. On the plus side, we only had to trade a used puckbag for him.**

I set April 1st as the over/under data for his next suspension. Place your bets in the comments.

* Temporarily standing in for Derek Boogaard, who is on IR with….*shakes magic 8-ball*….back problems.

** My Slap Shot reference trifecta is now also complete.

Ok yeah the DFL is doing their best to make us a highly taxed socialist state but there is some sort of upside to this. Political activists are fired up. It has galvanized people like few issues before.  I’ve had people that I didn’t even know paid attention to politics bring up the gas tax and how upset they are.  I’ve had people that couldn’t even name their own legislator ponder if perhaps it might be time to move elsewhere if the legislature was only gonna jack up taxes every year.  I’ve had people I was pretty sure voted DFL out of reflex, indicate they are “voting out the bums while we can still afford it”.

Granted alot of the intensity and raw emotion isn’t going to be there in November, but I doubt many are going to forget a tax increase like this.  Especially when yet another tax is going to be on the ballot.  It’s up to conservatives to keep up movement and remind people that when they vote DFL they are voting for more taxes.

It’s also up to conservatives to kick out the RINOs who also are voting for these massive tax increases.  If you’re in one of their BPOUs I would strongly encourage you to find someone else to endorse.  If they’re not going to support the team on a clear cut issue like this, the team shouldn’t be supporting them.

Time to get working.  Only nine months to go.

I’ve been busy with a variety of things. I could whine and complain about it, but really do you care?? I barely do because I barely do. Instead it’s time to hit on all the topics I don’t have the energy/time/willpower/creativity to do in a real post.

Finally the MN GOP appears to be learning their role in Minnesota politics. The MN GOP is warning those politicians that voted to override Pawlenty’s veto, that they may forfeit their support by the party come November. GOOD! Why is it even a question. If you don’t be a teamplayer on the real critical plays, you obviously don’t care about the team, why should the team care about you?

Nader is running for President again. I realize it’s fashionable for me to be excited because it’s gonna split the lefty vote. I don’t think so. His relevance (tiny as it was) sailed long ago. Consider who is likely to vote for him….people that don’t think the Democratic candidate is liberal enough. Chances are the Democrat candidate will be Obama, the most liberal senator in the Senate. Well I’m sure the Democrats will miss all the voters that don’t think Obama is liberal enough….both of them.

Oh, how cute, Iran just purchased 74 new targets……er, I mean gunboats.

Ok I think we all knew that the Clinton campaign was having money issues. It was slightly odd when her staff started working without pay….but this is getting ridiculous. Now she’s not even paying her caterers?

From the What Could Go Wrong? Department, comes this study that determines that surprise surprise, when our Sun’s warranty starts to expire, the Earth won’t survive. The solution?? Well we should simply change our planets orbit to take us out of the danger zone….at least until it goes supernova. Let me get this straight….we can’t even understand how our planet’s climate works but changing the planet’s orbit is a good idea. Thankfully this won’t happen until my 7.6 billionth birthday, which because of my total awesomeness I’m assuming I’ll still be alive for.

Al Gore please call your office. Not only has this year found record low temperatures and record amounts of snow across the globe, but all that melted ice you talked about….it’s returned with a vengeance. Granted this is only data from one year, but then again your figures are only from a couple selectively picked years as well. On the other hand, yet another group of scientists are indicating their concern with the solar activity of the Sun lately. But then again, according to the Goracle the sun has no effect on temperatures on this planet, so I guess we’re okay.

The Taliban are threatening to blow up cellphone towers if the companies don’t turn them off at night. Because apparently they think US forces are using cellphone signals to track them. Solution, blow up the towers. A guess the whole idea of turning off their damn phone didn’t occur to them.

The Five Stage of McCain…..I think I’m still somewhere between Anger and Despair.

It’s nice to see there is a balance of insane people. In addition to people seeing Jesus and Mary on road signs and muffins, we now have atheists seeing pictures of the Big Bang on pieces of toast. How nice.

All those people who claim they would be happy to pay more in taxes?? Turns out they are full of shit.

On the MN House floor today, while discussing the massive tax grab, otherwise known as HF 2800, Rep. Shelley Madore (Apple Valley - D) gave a very impassioned speech on her reasons for voting to override the Governor’s veto of the bill. In order to justify her vote, she apparently felt the need to grab the moral highroad…through less than upstanding methods. She stated…

The bridge went down on August 1st and a gentleman from my district died. He left four children and I went to their funeral…I went to his funeral. And I stood there with his family and I looked them in the face. And what you’re asking me is if his life is worth a nickel a gallon? I’m telling you it is. Those four children will never have their father come home. He was trying to get home to his family to have dinner. That’s all he was trying to do on the bridge that day. And I will vote for that, as I have publicly stated for the last two election cycles, I will vote for this today. Thank you.

source - At time 01:57:30 in the house floor session (2/25/08) video.

Shelley, why do you feel the need to use another man’s gravestone as a bully pulpit? Especially when it’s not true.

Here are the facts :

1. NOBODY in Shelley Madore’s district (Apple Valley) lost their life to the 35W Bridge Collapse.
2. All indications are that no amount of money would have saved the 35W Bridge, if in fact it fell due to a design flaw
3. The 35W bridge was not being neglected due to lack of funds, as maintenance was being done on the bridge when it feel.

Facts #2 and #3 are just inconvenient for Shelley Madore, as they destroy one of the central DFL talking points about that disaster.

However, it’s particularly distasteful that Rep. Madore has to capitalize on the death of another person in order to justify her votes. Instead, she should just be honest with her citizens by admitting that she has never seen a tax she didn’t like.

Rep. Madore, it’s bad enough that you follow the lead of your inner-city liberal buddies and vote against the interests of your own district time and again. However, it’s just plain revolting and despicable that not only do you use a man’s grave as your soapbox, but then use his body to shield yourself from criticism.

[Crossposted at True North and at Madore Watch]