Governor Doyle to Lead Trade Mission to Japan, China

Arrogance...What makes Doyle think he is above the law? What an asshole! Tax the hell out of Wisconsinites then piss away money “lavishly”!

That’s it...SER for Governor!

“But I remain concerned both about Governor Doyle’s record keeping and the seemingly lavish travel arrangements.

According to recent press accounts, Governor Doyle has refused to answer questions regarding his failure to abide the state’s travel policy.

Source: Racine News

Read the complete story by our friends at Racine News - Doyle.

Patrick Cudahy Meats

Yesterday a friend of mine and I took a ride to see the devastation at Patrick Cudahy meat plant. Due to the layout of the factory, we were not able to get very close, but we did get a couple of pictures. These pictures where taken about a block away from the plant.

You can see where the brick walls fell because of the heat and in one picture blown out windows.

There was a big “digger” with a claw inside the ruins hauling out refuse. Apparently, there still must be a concern of fire; every time the claw picked up a bunch of debris, we could see a huge blast of water squirt into the area where the operator just removed some stuff.

Looking at the mess, it is truly amazing there wasn’t more damage to the rest of the structures, they are all connected together!

All the firefighters involved need a huge ”thank you”, from the community. Even Racine set equipment and firefighters to assist.

I heard on the news, Patrick Cudahy employs around 2,000 people, it be great to have more companies around like them!


......SER

"Mexican drug ring reaches into Watertown"

"Watertown — In this Wisconsin town 1,500 miles from Mexico, in a place that proudly proclaims itself the birthplace of kindergarten, Coco the cocaine kingpin flourished.

"Coco came to the United States illegally, and used layers of family members and henchmen to build an operation that saturated southeastern Wisconsin with cocaine until authorities moved in. Then the players started falling - two dead in Mexico, nearly two dozen locked up in American prisons.

"Coco's tale illustrates just how far from the border Mexican drug dealers set up shop, and how easily they infiltrate a town, hide in plain sight and build a lucrative operation."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/51065972.html

Wow, Watertown. I know, I know, don't be naive, crime is everywhere, yadda, yadda, but still, Watertown. Is there anywhere in the US that is relatively secluded but still has reliable internet broadband available? That's where I'm going . . .

Revenge of Hot Dog Guy

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/07/17/local_news/doc4a611fc2c54e0117965059.txt

This made the national news, too. It's not nice to mess with hard working street vendors.

Kush

http://www.kushsupport.com/

I offer the above for informational purposes only. Obviously, I do not use this product (at least, not yet), so I neither approve nor disapprove of it.

The Apollo 11 Landing Site

Okay, I know I have been blogging a lot about the Apollo missions, but lots of cool stuff is coming out. Today's really cool thing is an image of the Apollo 11 landing site taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC for short). Get a load of this.

The Lunar module had two parts. The bottom part essentially served as a launch pad for the top part which the astronauts rode bade to lunar obrit. It is this bottom part that we see here. The Sun was low in the sky and you can clearly see its long shadow (just like we cast near sunset or sunrise here on Earth) pointing to the right. The got an even more impressive image of the Apollo 14 site.

Here you can see an instrument package they left on the Moon as well as the astronauts tracks leading from the lander to the instrument! These aren't individual footprints (the resolution isn't quite that good!) but rather more like a path they made in the lunar regolith (that dry dusty stuff that covers the surface). You can check out the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 landing sites as well.

And these aren't even the best images we will get. The LRO is not in its final mapping orbit. When it lowers its orbit, we will get even better images. Stay tuned!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicst Blog.

The Recently Concluded Sotomayor Hearings

It looks like she is cruising for confirmation with not much more than the usual little bumps and curves that the opposition usually throws at at nominees to drum up fundraising. Most of the criticism focuses on her famous "Wise Latina Woman" remark. What about the following quote that has received much less attention?

"But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, 'You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country.' . . . When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."

Should this not give us pause about her ability to put aside her feelings and judge based on the law? Is she going to favor certain groups in cases that come before the Supreme Court? Can we allow her to be confirmed?

Okay, you can bring the blood pressure back down. Sotomayor did not really say that. That was said by Samuel Alito during his confirmation hearings. You can find it on liberal blog sites using it to defend Sotomayor and conservative sites where they defend Alito citing his other statements about how he would be a fair judge, similar to those made by Sotomayor (and I read several conservative blog posts on this to see if they could convince me it was as different as they claimed). We are supposed to believe Alito but be suspect of Sotomayor. Alito ruled in the famous New Jersey firefighters case in which the Supreme Court overturned a case Sotomayor voted the other way on the appeals court...could his Italian American background have influenced his vote since the firefighters were predominantly Italian American? People ask about how Sotomayor's race influenced her vote, so it seems that questioning Alito's vote is no worse than questioning her vote.

My point isn't that Sotomayor is all good or that Alito is all evil. In this respect, they are closer to each other than either conservatives or liberals would care to admit. The differences in the way the MSM have handled each case is striking...the assumption that a white male would never be influenced by his background versus the assumption that a Hispanic woman can't resist the influence of her background.

There is a good chance we are not finished with this issue. If Obama gets to nominate another Supreme Court justice, we could go through this again. And I will again probably be shaking my head at the media coverage.

Must be feeling militant

Wake up head jukebox

Stevie Wonder Talks About Michael Jackson

A Powerful Message from Stevie Wonder On Michael Jackson's Death

....... .. … .. …..

.. . . … . . ; . . . .. . .. …. ; .. .. . … ...

... .... .. ... ... ... ... .... ...... ... ... ... .... ..... .. .

.. . . … .. . . . ..

... . .... ... .... ...... ...

...... ..... .... .... ..... ..... ..... .. . . .... ....

. .. .

. . .. . .. . ...

....... ... ... ... .. ... ....... ... ... .... ... ... .... ....

. .. .. .

.. ....

.. . . . . . .. .. … ..

.. .... .. ... ... ......... ....... .....

Deep stuff huh?

I nearly cried when he said . .. . . . .. .. .. .. . . .... ....

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

I recently came across a link to this video in an anonymous comment left on my personal blog almost a year ago.

The man in the video does not play the drums or the piano. He edited video of himself doing different things on the instruments into this remarkable composite.

Made in China

Lead-tainted toys. Poisoned pet food. Toxic drywall.

All products imported from a country that the US is outsourcing much of its manufacturing to; China.

In a country that cares little about human safety or product quality, are we surprised that this happens to a residential building?

Buildings don't usually fall down - this brand new apartment building in CHINA fell OVER.

Apollo 11: The Big Picture

Boston Globe's the Big Picture series takes on Apollo 11 today. Here is a sample.

I like this one as it does a good job of showing the scale of a Saturn V. A Saturn V clocks in at about 111 meters tall. One of the other notable photos shows a very human side of the astronauts as they have breakfast before launch. Check out all the photos.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Party on!

Thanks to Hale for the inspiration.

Divorce Cakes........

Ya gotta admit, they are creative!

The Feyman Lectures: Project Tuva

I saw an article on CNET today about Bill Gates and Project Tuva. Project Tuva is putting classic science videos online and they have picked a doozy to start out: A series of physics lectures by Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman.

Feynam is one of the true giants of 20th century physics as well as a legendary character who had a real zest for life. If you have never read Surely Your're Joking, Mr. Feynman, go get it now. It's not a hardcore physics book (although there is some science in it) but rather a collection of short stories about his life from playing with radios as a child to working on the Manhatten Project to his Nobel Prize. It is the most laugh out loud science book you will ever read (my favorites are the mischief he caused at Los Alamos while learning to crack safes).

The name, Project Tuva, is a tribute to Feynman. He had a quest to travel to Tuva which is related in the book Tuva or Bust.

Feyman is not just known for his brilliant science and quirky personality, but his ability to explain science in terms others could understand, a master teacher on top of it all. These videos give us a glimpse at one of the most remarkable teachers and scientists of the last 100 years. Watch and enjoy...thank you Bill Gates.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

40 Years Since Apollo 11

40 years ago on July 16th, 1968 three astronauts sat on top of a Saturn V rocket and headed toward the Moon. It was the culmination of a challenge issued by Kennedy in 1961 and the final push in a race with the Soviet Union. It wasn't exactly shaping up to be a banner year for the U.S. at that point with political unrest and a controversial war raging in Vietnam.

But for the duration of Apollo 11 the U.S. finally had something that everyone could be proud of. We all know how it ended, a rousing success. They only spent a couple of hours on the surface (NASA wanted the least chance for things to go wrong...subsequent missions would be longer).

You can relive the mission 40 years after it happened at We Choose the Moon. Tomorrow you can watch the launch, followed by the landing and splashdown. After the end, you can come back and watch them all at your own pace.

I remember in 1988 on the 20th anniversary when A&E aired the original David Brinkley coverage 20 years later. Now 40 years later, I am watching it on the internet which says something about our progress since then as well.

I have been to both of the Spacefest events. I have met many of the Apollo astronauts and had lunch with Buzz Aldrin this year.

The sad part is that we have not been back.

Well, 11 hours 56 minutes to liftoff and counting...that's early for us Pacific time zone people!

Get Me Out of Here...I Am an Atheist!

Reality television has reached a new low. "What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?" This is the tagline for a new reality show called Penitents Compete. The rabbi, priest, monk, and iman all try to convert the atheists to their religion.

I am not sure who should be more offended by this. The atheists are being told "We are giving the biggest prize in the world, the gift of belief in God." Or the religious as they are being reduced to a marketing campaign on the level of Coke vs Pepsi.

JT Irregulars Reported for "Link Spamming"

We have been reported for a violation of terms of service, for alleged link spamming. (I assume this is for Huck's blogs on the Racine Post's story about the Hispanic Center - but it wasn't filed until just now, because it's really in retaliation for my recent comments here and on the Post.) We have requested a review. Until the powers that be at Blogspot make a ruling, bloggers on this site must fill out a CAPTCHA form if they want to post a blog, to prove that you are not a machine spamming the Racine Post.

It's worth noting that we have been linking to stories on the Racine Post for over a year, as well as carrying three links to them on our sidebar. Those, apparently, were not spam. But, now, suddenly, they are. Because...? Because Dustin or Pete said so, I guess.

We could conceivably lose the site.

That's Positively Racine!

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ADDENDUM: In the comments below, Dustin Block of the Racine Post denies any connection to this site being charged with a terms of service violation. I accept that.

Am I Spam?

I looked at my Blogger Dashboard and found this message awaiting me.

"This blog has been locked due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations. You may not publish new posts until your blog is reviewed and unlocked.

This blog will be deleted within 20 days unless you request a review."

So this is partly a test...can I post? Did anyone else get this message or is it directed just at me?

Any clues? I clicked the link to request a review but am not quite sure what I did to bring this on!

Racine Post to Decide What is Positive, What is Negative in Racine

Your opinion is not needed.

http://news.racinepost.com/2009/07/note-on-racinepost-comments.html

"Flare sparked fire at Patrick Cudahy plant"

Surveillance video at plant shows explosion on roof, small fire

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/50790692.html

Someone shot a "military" style flare over the plant, it exploded and started the fire. Wow. $16.000 reward being offered for the perpetrator.

Hey Lehman

From all the cowards:

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my special sparrows! How are you? The tomatoes that I planted (no charms this time) are actually starting to grow. I think I’ve even seen the sun a few times. Hooray!

I received a message this week from Mr. Huck Finn, who wrote:

“I don’t tell this story as it is one that runs counter to my belief system. When I was very young, around the age of three, Dad was heavy into mental telepathy. He figured that a reason people couldn’t was because they weren’t trained early enough. We used to run though the cards with interesting results. Statistical analysis said the results were enough out of the norm that at age four he started trying to train telekinesis. I never managed to make anything move, even though he tried to trick me into thinking it could be done by using a weathervane light meter that spun in a vacuum.

“One of the very weird things I used to be able do was to name the top card on the ESP cards deck with over 50% accuracy. There are four cards (triangle, square, circle, wavy lines) in that deck, so I should have had a 25% ratio.

“What I’m wondering is, do gypsy children get trained young, or is it just if you have the gift or not?”

Dear Mr. Finn, thank you for such an interesting question - interesting because it is about my background. I share your father’s belief that most people do not tap the full extent of the psychic powers within themselves. You can learn to work with your natural abilities, but like most skills, it is easier learned in childhood than later on in life.

That is not to demean talent, however. People are born with more or less ability than others. Someone with a knack for clairvoyance who is also trained in the psychic arts from an early age can become a master of the occult.

In our culture, we seek out the gifted children among us. They are trained much like the apprentice of any craft. Our elders guide them through the process. And in the end, you have someone like me, Madame Zoltar®.

Like many other professionals, I strive to stay up to date with the latest developments in my field. Recently, I took an interest in web bots, in the hopes of integrating my love of the internet with my psychic powers. Web bots, in case you don’t know, are programs designed to “crawl” the internet, looking for specific words or terms. Google and other search engines use them to index the internet, so that when you type in search words, they know where to point you.

Other people have also designed web bots to crawl the internet looking for specific terms and/or words, many of them also incorporating the preceding and succeeding words or phrases, and then using some linguistic programs to interpret the data. Some claim that the internet as a whole is similar to the Jungian collective unconscious and that it can be mined to predict future events (much like Edgar Cayce claimed). That is right up my alley, so I decided to look into it.

Most of what I found was a little strange, even for me, and kind of out there, even for someone like Mr. OrbsCorbs (*jk*). Some web bot programmers say that they can predict stock market trends. Others are linked to the 2012 phenomenon. Their bots crawl the web looking for references to 2012. When they find them, they trumpet the results online, adding to the frenzy. As near as I can determine, this is the home of the Web Bot Project, the one that supposedly foretold of 9/11: http://www.urbansurvival.com/simplebots.htm.

Other sites related to web bot predictions have a tendency to also be linked to UFO sites and their ilk. They don’t help their credibility any, either, when they broadcast things like the following. I apologize beforehand for the length and tedium of the video (it’s mostly audio), but if it loads fast for you, you can skip ahead to about 4:30 when the predictions turn to Omni Humanity and thereafter. Mind you, dearies, much of this is supposed to be happening now:



At this point, I’ve decided to stick with the tried and true tools of my trade instead of seeking guidance from the internet. My crystal ball and tarot cards are still the finest instruments of prognostication available in the world today. On that, you have my word as Madame Zoltar™.

Don’t forget to send me your comments and questions at: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a wonderful week, my buttercups. I’m placing a special blessing on Racine today.

Uh-oh, let's hope he has a permit

300 block of downtown Racine:



I put a buck in his instrument case.

Man gets underwear ripped off by a bull

How embarrassing.

"Tony Romo dumps Jessica Simpson the night before her birthday"

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/07/13/2009-07-13_tony_romo_dumps_jessica_simpson_the_night_before_her_birthday.html

OMG!

The Becker problem

You guys are treading deep water. Becker has NOT been found guilty, and when all of the charges are dismissed, he can and may come after you for defamation of character.. The problem with Racine is we have become infected by the Illinois Machine.

Why hasn’t anyone called the FBI? They are the ones needed when something becomes as corrupt as our city has become. All a person has to do is look at how Becker is being prosecuted, and they can see the barn isn’t smelling like roses.

Why nobody had ADHD when we were growing up!

Swearing Makes the Pain Tolerable...

At least according to a study to be published in the journal NeuroReport on August 5th. The study by Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Steele had volunteers put their hand in a tub of icewater for as long as they could stand. One group was allowed to swear during this process and the other group was not. The group that was swearing kept their hands in the icewater longer showing an increased tolerance of pain.

So go ahead and don't hold back...read those lips of the injured athlete and know that they are just doing what they can to deal with the pain.

Burned Body Discovered in Racine County

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/50642762.html

OK, maybe I am a reporter. No one else is reporting this.

"Study shows alcohol might reduce risk of Alzheimer's"

"One of the longest and largest studies looking at alcohol consumption in older people found that moderate drinking was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of developing dementia.

"The research, which is the latest development in the perplexing issue of alcohol and health, is being presented Monday at an Alzheimer's Association conference in Vienna, Austria.

"The study confirms earlier research, mainly in middle-aged people, showing that moderate drinking can reduce the risk of dementia, said Piero Antuono, a professor of neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa."

http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/50590097.html


W00t! Party on!!!

Positively Pedophilia

NOTE: I originally wrote and published this blog yesterday. It was up for a little while, received one unrelated comment, and then I deleted it. My reason for that was that I did not want to add to the "negativity" in our community.

Since then, a few considerations have changed my mind. First, I was contacted by two separate individuals on two separate matters of concern to the city that the powers-that-be (including our so-called "alternative" media) have chosen to suppress. (Listen, people in Racine are really, really, REALLY getting pissed off about the good old boys club. They're contacting me and sending evidence to me, and I'm not even a reporter. They are VERY frustrated by the city's and the media's refusal to address their concerns. Trust me, you don't want someone like me in charge of this stuff - I'm unstable and likely to post it at any time. Then how will you explain it to your constituents?)

Second, stu's blog on the Beckerphile's appearance at the Raiders game (http://www.jtirregulars.com/2009/07/anyone-else-see-becker-on-saturday.html) pushed me over the edge. The city fathers and the usual gang of cronies have decided that ex-mayor Becker is to be welcomed back into our town. His reintegration into our community continues whether we the people like it or not. This is being rammed down our throats (as will his acquittal/dismissal of charges and/or probation). I personally believe that a man with a penchant for sex with 14 year old girls should not be involved with the power brokers at City Hall. Why does he still have the ear of city officials?

So, I'm going to publish the diatribe below. I know that it won't change anything, but let it serve as a warning to the elitists: I WILL publish evidence of your shenanigans unless you clean up your act. I do not especially want to get involved in your dirty games, but we are sick and tired of the BULLSHIT you spread all over our city. It's the digital age and there are eyes and ears everywhere. Wise up, or move on.

Yesterday's blog:

The recent positive exposure given to former mayor Gary Becker has given me pause to think. Perhaps I have been too harsh in my assessment of pedophilia. After all, if the leader of an entire city thinks it’s OK to have sexual relations with a 14 year old, then perhaps it is?

I have been scouring the web in an effort to find positive articles in regard to pedophilia, and, to my surprise, there are quite a few. The following is published on the NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality) website:

“Then in 1990, the Journal of Homosexuality produced a special double issue devoted to adult-child sex, which was entitled ‘Male Intergenerational Intimacy’ (1). One article said many pedophiles believe they are ‘born that way and cannot change’ (p. 133). Another writer said a man who counseled troubled teenage boys could achieve ‘miracles... not by preaching to them, but by sleeping with them.’ The loving pedophile can offer a ‘companionship, security and protection’ which neither peers nor parents can provide (p. l62). Parents should look upon the pedophile who loves their son ‘not as a rival or competitor, not as a thief of their property, but as a partner in the boy's upbringing, someone to be welcomed into their home...’ (p. 164).” http://www.narth.com/docs/pedophNEW.html

Gee, I sure wish my parents had known that when a family friend stole into our home and my bed some 45 years ago. Instead of threatening to kill the guy, my dad should have welcomed the “loving pedophile” as a “partner” in my upbringing. I really can’t blame my father, though, for he did not have access to the positive information that we have today. Thank God that we now recognize the positive influence of pedophilia in Racine.

An article entitled “In Defense of Pedophilia” also defends pornographic pictures of children: “Perhaps looking at such pictures can act as a ‘relief valve’, allowing pedophiles to flex their kinks without actually hurting any kids.” http://pyesetz.furtopia.org/defense-of-pedophilia.php

A few years back, Judith Levine published a book entitled Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex. Ms. Levine believes that sex between children and adults can be a good thing. You can buy her book here: http://www.amazon.com/Harmful-Minors-Perils-Protecting-Children/dp/0816640068

There are other examples out there to cite, but you get the idea. As long as something is seen positively, it doesn’t matter what it is. The scales have finally fallen from my eyes. It is time to embrace the positive influence of crime and criminals in Racine.

Positively party on!

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Anyone else see Becker on Saturday night?

He was there, at historic Horlick field, with kids all over the place, taking in a Raiders Game.

Party On!

On the Reliability of Eyewitness Accounts

You would think that big events would be easy to remember. And you would go to some lengths to be sure your memory was good if you were writing for a nationally syndicated magazine.

This week's USA Weekend Magazine has a story where various celebrities recall where they were when Apollo 11 landed. Kareem Abdul-Jabar recalls visiting Trinidad during that time and says people took out their telescopes to look at the Moon since there was no television (at least he says they did not see Apollo! Our telescopes just can't do that!)

His closing line is where the problem comes in. "I'll never forget how full and bright the moon looked that night -- how much of a sense of accomplishment you felt by looking at it."

The problem is that he obviously forgot. It doesn't take much to find out the Moon phase that day was a waning crescent, not full! The Full Moon in July of 1968 occurred on the 10th, a 10 days before the Apollo Moon landing.

This memory lapse probably seems minor in the cosmic scheme of things and, well, it is. However, it would be good to bear in mind that even big events that you can "never forget" frequently happened much differently than you might remember.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Racine Post: Marie Black: Focus on new Hispanic Center

Why is Porky Pig an America-Hating Atheist?

Good bit of history here for those that care to find the answer.