Who’s to say there won’t be a whacked out teacher. Who’s to say a whacko won’t get the gun from the teacher. This is some crazy shit………

WHEN teachers return for a new school term in the tiny Texas farming town of Harrold, they may be packing more than books and pens. To defend students from any gun-toting maniacs, they can also carry loaded pistols into the classroom.

The remote rural community has appalled gun-control advocates by becoming America’s first to allow teachers to bear concealed firearms.

Harrold’s school board maintains that the move is necessary because the town is 40 kilometres from the nearest sheriff’s office, making it hard to get swift help in an emergency. Also, its location, just metres from a major highway, makes it a potential target for armed maniacs.

“We are 30 minutes from law enforcement,” said Harrold’s school superintendent, David Thweatt. “How long do you think it would take to kill all 150 of us? It would be a bloodbath.”

Selected teachers are to be trained in crisis management. Mr Thweatt said: “When you have good guys with guns, the bad guys do less damage.”

More at The Age

H/T to Scottie for this post and a belated happy birthday to you!!

While we’re discussing the rich irony and Orwellian nature of Bill O’Reilly calling John Edwards a “charlatan” on the plight of homeless vets, I wanted to highlight another instant classic, from that eloquent, persuasive statesman, President Bush:

“But yeah, look, I’m sure people view me as a warmonger and I view myself as peacemaker.”

Dan Froomkin has much more, if you can stand it.

Clearly, Newspeak continues. Of course, this is the same crew that thinks General Petraeus deserves the Nobel Peace Prize , and discuss such issues with all the intellectual integrity and eloquence of schoolyard taunts in junior high. I don’t think this is mere hackdom. Yes, they are hacks, and more importantly, scoundrels. But some of them are also really, really this goddam stupid.

But let’s let libural Hollywood get in the last word:

(Cross-posted at Vagabond Scholar)

(I posted this at VS back on Thursday, but am posting it here today due to travel and a sloooow dial-up connection.)

It’s one of the chief reasons I love the internets, but the liberal blogosphere in particular. I can read a piece such as “The atheist delusion” in Salon, get annoyed by John Haught’s straw man arguments, and feel the urge to rebut them - but then I’ll find someone else, in this case Brian at Incertus, has already done so. It’s a really sharp (and quick) dissection. Check it out. As he concludes:

My point here is that while I appreciate Haught’s efforts in bringing religious belief more in tune with scientific understanding–he was the only theologian to testify in the 2005 Dover, PA case about ID in the schools–he really needs to lay off of us atheists, especially if he’s not going to actually address our stances and opinions.

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Bur$atil alerted us to this story. I googled it and this is what I came up with. It seems they sprayed Checkmate OLR-F over the area prior to testing it for potential harmful effects to humans. Later tested, they claim it is harmless to humans, although many people reported respiratory problems. Who do you believe. Let’s see…..I’ll believe the people who got sick.

From the 9/6/07Mcweekly.com:

Mr. Unpopularity: State Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura got an earful at last week’s meeting about unpopular plans to spray pheromones over the Peninsula.

Under pressure from three mayors, an Assemblyman, local nonprofits and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), the State has postponed plans to aerially spray the Peninsula with a synthetic pheromone designed to disrupt the light brown apple moth’s mating pattern - but only for four days. The spray, originally scheduled for Sept. 5-7, has been moved to Sept. 9-11.

On Aug. 29, California Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura and members of his staff presented their case to more than 200 residents at the Monterey Conference Center. They emphasized the need to eradicate the invasive moth, which can damage more than 250 plant varieties, before it spreads.

During public comment, about 50 speakers questioned the health impacts of coating the area with pheromone products. Members of Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment cited a federal designation of the products as “moderately toxic” to marine invertebrates.

From a 10/25/07 article: An 11 month old child nearly died from breathing difficulties. A six year old child developed asthma as a result of the aerial spraying. Over one hundred people signed affidavits stating that they got sick from the spraying. Hundreds of people had symptoms like; shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, burning lungs, nausea, and muscle aches.

Allen Roland claims he experienced respiratory problems while visiting the area, and after investigating, found out the spraying was the cause.

From a 10/25/07 article, some people left town for fear of respiratory problems.

From an 11/2//07 article: The Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors sued the California Department of Food and Agriculture to stop the treatmentsI, to no avail.

From an 11/3/07 article: It seems they went ahead, and OVERSPRAYED.

From an 11/4/07 article: They are now going to spray North County, where residents are quieter about it.

In their continuing “shorter” series, Gavin M. at Sadly, No! offers “Shorter Uncle Jimbo”:

The counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance wrote an informative, definitive and persuasive piece for Small Wars Journal titled Waterboarding Is Torture, Period which nonetheless fails in that I shall keep on quibbling smugly over the definition of torture.

Here’s “Waterboarding is Torture… Period” by Malcolm Nance (he’s since added a ton of links) and here’s “My Increasing Support of Waterboarding” by Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive. (Yes, that is his real post title. Oh, and here’s one of my earlier posts on torture, “Jack Bauer versus Maher Arar,” which explores the subject and links several significant pieces on it.)

Who is Malcolm Nance? Here’s his blurb at Small Wars Journal, but as a SERE trainer his qualifications to speak on the issue are pretty strong. His piece itself is extraordinary, and should be read in its entirety. (Go ahead. This post will wait.)

Let’s look at a key excerpt:

There is No Debate Except for Torture Apologists

1. Waterboarding is a torture technique. Period. There is no way to gloss over it or sugarcoat it. It has no justification outside of its limited role as a training demonstrator. Our service members have to learn that the will to survive requires them accept and understand that they may be subjected to torture, but that America is better than its enemies and it is one’s duty to trust in your nation and God, endure the hardships and return home with honor.

2. Waterboarding is not a simulation. Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.

Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning.

Pretty blunt and clear, right? Apparently not to Uncle Jimbo. Let’s go to the key section of his post:
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Over at The Non Sequitur a short while ago, jcasey dissected the tortured logic of a 10/4/07 Roger Cohen op-ed for the The New York Times. Cohen’s agenda? Bashing liberals for criticizing the neocons, and creating a false equivalency about how both sides engage in unfair name-calling, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, Cohen doesn’t go after actual liberal positions, just the evil phantoms he’s conjured. What’s all the more laughable is one of the few liberals he actually cites is Matthew Yglesias, one of many “liberal hawks” who advocated for invading Iraq (although at least Yglesias has apologized for it).

I’ve previously described Cohen’s sort of assertion as “a straw man argument with an ad hominem attack nestled inside.” (It’s a GOP favorite.) Jcasey uses similar terms, but also observes that Cohen employs “the basic bait and switch typical of all fallacies of relevance.” Over at Gin and Tacos, Ed delves into the same article and considers its other “false or misleading analogies.” Check out both their takes.

Of course, as Jonathan Schwarz points out, “America’s conservatives either cannot or will not construct accurate analogies.” Cohen may not be an official conservative, but like Richard Cohen (more on him in a subsequent post), Roger Cohen offers a ridiculous, unfounded and poorly argued attack on liberals. He and other “liberal hawks” often achieve the same goals as their more conservative brethren, and with the same means to boot. As Ed notes:
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via The Huffington Post

COLUMBUS, Ohio - David Stroupe said it was one of the worst experiences with a performer in the history of the Funny Bone Comedy Club.

He was referring to Andy Dick, a former co’star on the 1990s sitcom “NewsRadio,” who appeared at the Funny Bone last weekend.

Stroupe, the club’s managing partner, said the 41-year-old actor-comedian made inappropriate comments while on stage, groped patrons, took women into the men’s room and urinated on the floor and on at least one person.

A limousine driver was to meet Dick early Monday morning at a hotel near the club, Stroupe said, but he couldn’t be found and missed that morning’s flight to Los Angeles.

Dick was across town, where he was issued a citation for urinating on the sidewalk by Columbus policeman John Fantin. Police eventually escorted Dick back to the hotel, Stroupe said.

Dick’s manager, Max Burgos, did not immediately respond Friday to phone and e-mail messages by The Associated Press seeking comment.

Dick is scheduled to appear Thursday in Franklin County Municipal Court, but instead could pay a $126 fine and court costs for the misdemeanor offense, a court employee said.

The United States has built a “fortress” in Baghdad in the new American embassy, a building which speaks volumes about the way the U.S. views the situation there, according to a critic of the new diplomatic headquarters writing in Foreign Policy magazine.

The largest, most expensive embassy ever built will be completely isolated from the nation in which is centered, writes historian Jane Loeffer in the September/October issue.

“Walled off and completely detached from Baghdad, it conveys a devastating message about America’s global outlook,” she reports.

“The United States has designed an embassy that conveys no confidence in Iraqis and little hope for their future,” Loeffler says in her article, “Fortress America.”

“The embassy in Baghdad is designed to be completely self’sufficient. American diplomats will have their own shopping market, movie theater, gym, and dry cleaners,” Loeffler reports. “The embassy will be encased by 15-foot-thick blast walls, house a special defense force, and operate its own electrical, sewage, and water treatment plants. There will be no need to interact with Iraqis for anything.

This is a strong departure from the way America’s embassies historically have been built, Loeffler says. Traditionally, U.S. embassies were designed to further interaction with the community. Diplomats visited with local officials at their offices, shopped at local businesses, and mixed with the general public.

More at the Swamp

Screw the Petraeus report… king-rat-bastard already has his mind made up. (Oh, don’t act so surprised!)

Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout

President Bush pauses Tuesday during a news conference at the North American Leaders summit in Canada.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As he awaits a crucial progress report on Iraq, President Bush will try to put a twist on comparisons of the war to Vietnam by invoking the historical lessons of that conflict to argue against pulling out.

On Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, Bush will tell members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that “then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America’s presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end,” according to speech excerpts released Tuesday by the White House.

“Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left,” Bush will say.

“Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘re-education camps’ and ‘killing fields,’ ” the president will say.

The president will also make the argument that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today’s terrorists by compromising U.S. credibility, citing a quote from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the American people would rise against the Iraq war the same way they rose against the war in Vietnam, according to the excerpts.

Source: CNN.com

Since we haven’t heard yet from the great Reverend Graham, (son of Reverend Billy Graham), on the flooding going on in Texas and God’s hate for the evil that goes on in that region, I thought I’d help him out.

Tropical Storm Erin had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph and was centered about 250 miles east’southeast of Brownsville, Texas, at 11:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Tropical storm Erin makes landfall in Texas

Flash flood warnings issued for 6 counties; National Guard sent to region

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Tropical Storm Erin made landfall Thursday morning and brought rain to the Texas Gulf Coast even as it was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Erin came ashore at Copano Bay, about 25 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

Though the wind speed dropped to 35 mph, the storm was still expected to bring 3 to 6 inches of rain across much of central and southern Texas. Up to 10 inches of rain were forecast in some areas.

Associated Press

Source: MSNBC.com