EckerNet.Com

Senator Ted Kennedy just passed away after losing his fight with brain cancer.  Nobody ever wants to see a fellow human being pass away, and despite extreme political differences, it\’s not the time to air those or make snarky insults at the recently deceased.  In fact I\’ve always been moderately proud of the fact that the political right tends to bite it\’s lip at times like this unlike our leftist brethren.

So I\’ll simply send my sympathies to his family and withhold any snarky comments.

Mary Jo Kopechne on the other hand is welcome to air any grievances she may have here.

With a ceasefire declared and an uneasy peace sort of being maintained, it appears that the conflict between Georgia and Russia, at least this chapter of it, may be over. Although admittedly with conflicting reports of further Russian military movements, it\’s likely to not be the last chapter. But there are possibly other reason, which I\’ll address later on.

So who won…..or at least as far as one can \”win\” a conflict like this?

On the surface, Russia appears to have won. After all their military moved with impunity wherever they wanted. But what did they achieve?

Russian leaders made it clear that one of their primary goals was the removal of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. This they failed to achieve. Not only is Saakashvili still in power, and enormously popular with his people, leaders around the world have rallied to his side

[Ukranian President] Yushchenko, 54, yesterday flew to the Georgian capital Tbilisi to show solidarity with Saakashvili along with the leaders of four ex-Communist eastern European nations that joined NATO as a bulwark against Russia.

In addition, Condi Rice has flown to Georgia to show support for the Georgians. Russia even asked the US to chose between Russia or Georgia. Rice indicated the US choses the democracy of Georgia. In their quest to remove Saakashvili from power, the Russians utterly failed.

Russians also made attempts to destroy the oil pipeline running through Georgia. They failed. It remains intact and for the most part functional.

In recent years, Russia has protested the arms building of the Georgian military. No doubt part of their objective was to smash the Georgian military and eliminate it as a functional force. Once again they failed. The Georgian military, either by chance or design, essentially fought a rearguard delaying fight. They made a few token hits, but for the most part appears to have evaded any major confrontation with Russian forces. As a result, they remain relatively intact, and perhaps even slightly improved having had the experience and learned the lessons of how a battle with Russians might go.

In addition, while Georgian is to be the subject of massive international aid, Russia stands to lose significant standing on the world stage. US leaders have hardly been shy with their criticism. G-8 is threatening to make itself G-7, with Russia being the odd man out. This may only be the start of things, as the world is clearly still adjusting to the shock and details are still sketchy from battlezone.

Probably the single success Russia has accomplished is to insert a feeling of doubt into formerly eastern bloc countries in their relations with the United States. In fact, all US allies will no doubt be re-evaluating if they can depend on the United States in a time of need. While Georgia wasn\’t a NATO member, nor had it signed a security assurance agreement with the US, it was clearly an ally. Despite having a military of only 37,000 soldiers, they had contributed 2,000 to the efforts in Iraq. This puts them as one of the largest contributors to the Iraqi peacekeeping efforts. They had applied for NATO membership and was clearly a friend of the West. Yet when their time of need came, the West and the US in particular did not respond. Georgians supported the US in their time of need, but the favor was not returned.

Clearly Russia failed to achieve many of it\’s objectives and this may be the reason why there are conflicting reports of what the Russian military is doing. They themselves may not be quite certain. So, militarily, this may have been an overwhelming failure. But politically this might soon be seen as a resounding success. Time will tell.

Headline : Police seek \’professionals\’ who removed St. Paul man\’s testicles

Then it gets weird.

Two or three people operated on the man, Russell Daniel Angus, 62, a couple weeks ago at his home in St. Paul. He was unconscious during the surgery, and when he woke up, his testicles had been removed.

And the \”professionals\” were gone.

His groin area was bleeding heavily, so he called his daughter. She called for help. When police arrived, they found a makeshift operating room set up in the upper level of the house. There were bright lights, an apparent operating table, medical supplies and equipment, and a camera. Angus was still bleeding, and there was blood in the living room, hall and bathroom, the affidavit said. He was taken to Regions Hospital.

And he won\’t tell who they were because he doesn\’t want to get them in trouble.  On one hand I pity the guy, he\’s obviously not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.  On the other hand I kinda envy him, apparently he has friends who he values so much he\’s willing to let them remove his testicles and then not say a word when they leave him unconscious and bleeding on in his living room.  I don\’t think I can say the same.

Unless…..he wants them out of prison so he can take his revenge.  Not that is a motive I could probably understand.  Although this sets up the inevitable and obvious wise-crack amongst his friends?? Do I dare degrade myself to utter it?? Ah, who am I kidding.

\”He doesn\’t have the balls to take revenge\”

Thank you, thank you, I\’ll be here all week.  Tip your veal, try the waiters.

Holy crap, the 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed less than an hour ago. The images on TV are insane.

Thirty to fifty cars were on the bridge including a school bus full of children. From aerial video it looks like more than a couple people are hurt, no word yet on any fatalities…which can only be a good thing so far. I hope the ones I see hurt are the only ones. Although at the back of my mind I\’m wondering what\’s underneath all that concrete and metal. I\’m also noticing alot of gasoline floating on the surface of the water….with burning trucks on the bridge they better hope the river itself doesn\’t ignite.

No words yet on what caused it. Some have raised the spectre of possibly terrorism, but I would be very cautious of that. There is certainly nothing indicating that at this point. I do see construction equipment in the area, so it\’s possibly they were doing some work on it, or it was brought it for rescue work.

I guess my first thought is, what the hell? Bridges don\’t collapse anymore. We\’ve been building bridges for thousands of years, we got this thing down. How does a bridge just collapse without earthquakes or tornadoes or whatever?? Answer : They don\’t.

I guess I\’m also wondering how this is likely to play out. Certainly it\’s gonna be at least a year before they get another one built. There\’s gonna be investigations, lawsuits and non-stop grandstanding. But certainly this is not a good time to be working at MNDOT.

Very bad timing, not that there is a good one though. Yeah, it was during rush hour but at least it was the tail end. Yeah, it was during the summer but at least it wasn\’t the start of summer.

It does occur to me that this happens literally the day before hundreds of Republicans come to town to plan the 2008 National Republican Convention. With the collapse less than 24 hours before the start of that meeting, does that put the convention at jeopardy for Minnesota?? Certainly both Minneapolis and St. Paul have already sunk alot of time, effort and money into that. Does the RNC now decide it\’s not a good location, especially since I\’m not entirely certain a new bridge would be in place for 2008??

Of course those are all petty things compared to the immediate concerns of getting the people still on that bridge to safety. And it is nice to see nearby residents helping out victims. We even saw one guy paddle his KAYAK over to the collapsed section. What he\’s planning on accomplishing with a kayak I have no idea, but he gets an A for effort.

UPDATE : It is absolutely disgusting to see how the liberals respond to this. We don\’t even know why it collapsed yet but they are reading to hang Pawlenty and Bush over it. In their eyes…

1. Bridge collapses
2. ????
3. Profit!!! (Bush and Pawlenty blamed)

Now they are just trying to figure out step 2….disgusting.

UPDATE : So I\’m trying to decide if that fact that it\’s now a \”recovery\” operation rather than a \”rescue\” mission is a good thing or bad? On one hand, it means everyone that can be rescued has been, on the other hand considering the number of cars involved here, does that mean there were alot of people who could not be rescued?? Six deaths confirmed….although I\’m already hearing rumors of more. Let\’s hope that\’s all they are.

UPDATE : They had bomb-sniffing dogs going over the wreckage. Ok, not surprising. I absolutely cringed when I heard witnesses talking on the news when they\’d say things like \”…it was like a bomb…\”. I understand why they say it, it\’s an easy and universal comparison, but it\’s this same sort of loose talk that conspiracy theorists latch onto. We got enough to worry about without people claiming terrorists were involved.

UPDATE : I keep going back to my initial reaction \”Bridges just don\’t collapse in the US\”. This is not something that happens. Oh sure, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc, then it happens. Little rickety neglected wooden bridges to take carts across stream, yeah then it happens. But bridges, especially very large and heavily constructed steel bridges just don\’t collapse. I\’m stuck wondering, how?

Reportedly the bridge was just inspected last year, and while they found signs of fatigue, they found no cracks and they did not force MN DOT to replace the bridge. And really it\’s only 40 years old and it\’s made of steel. Plus construction crews were on it at the time of collapse so it\’s not like it was being neglected.

Pull all that together and I haven\’t answered my own damn question, but I keep coming back to it. Certainly I\’ll be very interested in what happened. I see people speculating about construction on the bridge but that was concrete work, not steel work. I\’ve heard mention that a train was going underneath at the time (indeed it was crushed by the collapse) and I guess I don\’t buy it. I\’ve heard people point out bumper to bumper traffic, hell we have that all the time. I\’ve heard people point out the heat….well it was less than 90 degrees at the time. Maybe all of it together?? I still don\’t buy it, all of those have been in combination lots of times before. It still doesn\’t make sense.

UPDATE : Ugh, 7 dead….and reportedly expected to increase.

Although it\’s worth remembering the good things here. That school bus of kids?? All safe. All those people on the bridge, after getting out of their cars instead of running away, they helped others. First responders were people from nearby apartment buildings. Some bright spots in all this.

UPDATE : Just heard someone on Channel 5, although I missed the name. He was claiming that the inspection last year saw cracks….NOTHING I have read indicates that. And since the guy was trying to blame the state and lack of funding I suspect he was exaggerated just trying to point fingers.

UPDATE : And like clockwork they immediatly interview a \”bridge expert\” who states that MN DOT does an \”excellent job\” inspecting their bridges. And apparently that report states that cracks are \”not likely\”, and that it just recommended monitoring FOR fatigue cracking. It does not state there WAS cracking. I\’m trying to find this report online….I\’m sick of going off what I\’m hearing from media. Federal requirements are every two years, MN DOT does it every year.

UPDATE : 2001 Inspection Technical Report can be found here. Still working on the 2006 one.

UPDATE : Ok it\’s kinda amusing to hear FoxNews describe what Minnesotans are like. I feel like we\’re the subject of a National Geographic special or something.

I\’m all for honorary titles, and can understand the reasoning behind them….but seriously, let\’s not get silly.

Because if you want the title of Admiral for the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska….it\’s open.

You read that right. Nebraska. Navy.

For those of you who need a little help…please go here to see the definition of \”landlocked\” and how it applies to Nebraska. There is not a place in North America farther from a major body of water than Nebraska.

Morbid curiousity alone makes me wonder what their \”Navy\’s\” flagship looks like.

Heh, I don\’t make this stuff up, don\’t yell at me.

So the big news this weekend was the pro-defeat anti-war rally at the US Capital.  So how did it turn out?? Let's go down the list…

• Genuine traitor Hanoi Jane    Check!
• Vandalizing private property    Check!
• Vandalizing military property    Check!
• Signs promoting violence, terrorism, anti-americanism, and general insanity    Check!
• Spitting on veterans (even though that's just a myth right?)    Check!
• Defacing public property (such as the fucking capital itself)    Check!

Excellent…looks like the 60s style protest is back in style.

Of course, you would have thought that with our modern tactics and equipment, the police could protect the capital building.  Of course, I forget that thanks to political correctness we no longer have the backbone to promote public order.

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of the west front steps of the United States Capitol building after police were ordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill.

According to the sources, police officers were livid when they were told to fall back by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Phillip Morse and Deputy Chief Daniel Nichols.  "They were the commanders on the scene," one source said, who requested anonymity. "It was disgusting."

Ok here's a question for the parents out there.  You have an unruly child, who is acting up.  If despite having voiced your disapproval in the past, if you relent and let them get away with it, what have you taught them??? … … … Exactly.  If these losers activists know there is no negative consequences for their actions, what is their motivation for not doing it again, or worse??

Morse responded to these claims in an e-mail Sunday afternoon explaining that the protesters were seeking confrontation with the police.

And what is wrong with confronting them?  Might I remind you that they buy you groovy stuff like tear gas, tasers, mace, etc for a reason.  And might I also remind you that part of the job of being police is to confront people breaking the law.

He added, "It is the USCP's duty and responsibility to protect the Capitol complex, staff and public while allowing the public to exercise their First Amendment rights … at the end of the day, both occurred without injury to protestors or officers."

And you failed miserably at your duty.  The capital complex was not protected, it was violated and vandalized.  The disorder and chaos endangers the public.  And the staff were put in danger by allowing violent protesters to breach barriers placed there for the protection of those inside.  The assholes protesters "First Amendment" rights do not cover breaking the law, they went BEYOND their rights….well into the category of where you should let your officers do their job.

I don't blame the officers on the scene.  They followed the orders of their superiors.  I blame Chief Phillip Morse and Deputy Chief Daniel Nichols.  You owe every American an apology, and preferably your resignation. 

I also blame this belief that has apparently spread across Washington DC that convinces people are all levels of government that somehow letting people break the law without penalty will lead to good things.  This protest is one example.  Illegal aliens are another.  Leakers within our national security infrastructure is another.  Where did this belief come from and why do so many buy into it.  Are we that blind to reality and common sense?

Do we honestly believe that if we just ignore something it'll go away?? Did the Cold War and 9/11 teach us nothing?? 

Damn….Al Gore isn't running from President.  I'm totally serial!

More the shame.  The material for satire and ridicule would have been great indeed.  Fortunately, we still have Dennis "Stop calling my crazy!" Kucinich, Al "We Need More Race Riots" Sharpton, Hillary "I was a liberal before I wasn't one, and am again" Clinton, Barak "Drugs? What drugs?" Obama, Dick "Don't Call Me A" Durbin, etc.

[For those of you with a malformed humor gland and/or abnormal current event blood deficiency, here is your medication]

From the Still In Denial Department comes a story about Mary Mapes. Unfortuanately, she seems to have come down with a bad case of completely-missing-the-point-itis. Not sure how else to explain her following statement

There was no analysis of what the documents actually said, no work done to look at the content, no comparison with the official record, no phone calls made to check the facts of the story, nothing beyond a cursory and politically motivated examination of the typeface. That was all they had to attack, but that was enough.

You see the problem was the content doesn\’t make a difference. I mean if something is obviously just fabricated does it really matter what the person who fabricated it wanted to tell you?? Especially since instead of reading a long boring memo you can just wait for Michael Moore to make the \”documentary\”. For example, is someone claims they found some previously unknown amendments to the Constitution…but they are written on Hello Kitty stationary, your first phone call is to the local hospital.

Although, if content of probably false documents still matters, then boy do I have an exclusive EckerNet scoop!! I was digging in my backyard and I found a letter that Jesus H. Christ wrote shortly before he died. It\’s got the dirt on Sheehan, Jackson, Moore and the rest of the usual suspects. Below is a picture of the letter (click for larger graphic) and for convenvience I\’ve transcribed the letter in the extended entry.

Remember, even if you think the letter is completely bogus, you still have to pay attention to the content. You gotta compare it to the rest of holy scripture (all of it!!!) and you gotta make phone calls to verify it (I assume the Pope\’s switchboard is infallible).
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Despite being warned three times by officers that she was breaking the law, Cindy Sheehan continued to camp out in front of the White House.

As a result, Sheehan was arrested, and has written about her adventures on HuffPo. Including this little tidbit

The fine for \”demonstrating without a permit\” is $75.00. I am certain that I won\’t pay it. My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law??

That, of course, should be of no surprise since she has already declared that she will not pay her taxes.

Which makes one wonder, if there is ANY law she agrees with or is willing to follow??

Awhile back I wrote about gay penguins in Germany and the outrage the eternally offended gay rights crowd had over attempts to turn them straight.

Turns out the zoo-keepers maybe just didn\’t know their type. Perhaps like Silo, a gay penguin in New York, he didn\’t want a \”female seductress\”, he was more into the \”girl next door variety\”.

Silo has left his gay lover Roy for a new female neighbor named Scrappy. Roy has been left to raise their two offspring by himself, an adopted chick and….a rock (heh, I just write this crap, don\’t ask me).

No word on who wears the pantstux in this relationship (oh quiet, you\’re just jealous you didn\’t think of that line).

Wedding invitations to be issued shortly. Instead of gifts, the happy couple would prefer you send fish.