Category: News

Here’s a heartening story for those who like security cameras: Apparent kidnapping videotaped by California mall camera; woman put in trunk of car:

Two men were caught on a mall’s security camera as they chased a woman through a parking lot, then grabbed and stuffed her into the trunk of a car, authorities said.

Shoppers nearby seemed to notice the incident Sunday night, but none attemped to stop it.

Police on Thursday were still trying to determine the identities of the woman, who appeared to be in her 20s, and two men seen on the tape made at Corona Discount Mall about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Remember, the camera doesn’t make the victim less dead or less in-the-trunk-of-the-car; it gives the authorities, safely seated at a desk before a monitor, clues to who did it.

Now, class, how would this scenario played out differently if the woman had been carrying a gun?

To add fun to the story:

“It’s very discouraging right now and it’s really difficult for us, because we don’t know who the victim is,” he told KCAL-TV. “And it’s obvious that some kind of crime occurred.”

The department had received several calls from witnesses and others in recent days, but had no solid leads, Officer Jesse Jurado said. He said investigators had not yet ruled out the possibility that the incident was a hoax.

Because the camera caught it so clearly, the authorities think it might have been a hoax. So instead of using the camera to determine if the shooting were justified as self defense or not, the discouraged authorities are confused. Was it the crime of kidnapping, or the crime of confusing the authorities and making fun of their cameras?

I guess they’ll know when they find the body.

Here’s what you should put in a “perfect” Scouting for Food bag this year:

• 2 cans of hearty soup, stew or chili supply many nutrients;
• 2 cans of tuna, chicken, salmon or luncheon meat contain protein and iron, and canned salmon is a source of calcium and omega-3 fatty acids;
• 1 can of fruit supplies vitamins A and C, folate, potassium, fiber and other healthy substances;
• 1 can of 100 percent pure fruit juice contains vitamin C and often beta carotene;
• 1 can of vegetables supplies beta carotene, vitamin C, folate, complex carbohydrates, fiber and potassium;
• 1 can of tomato or pasta sauce contains lycopene, a healthy substance that is more available to your body in canned and cooked tomatoes than in fresh tomatoes;
• 1 canned meal offers a variety of ingredients and nutrients;
• 1 can of beans contains plenty of protein, complex carbohydrates and fiber; and
• 1 can of evaporated milk makes an excellent source of calcium and protein.

Here’s what you’re getting out of the Noggle home again this year, same as last year:

• Any cans of meat, such as Spam, we received as a joke.
• Any stray cans of stuff that I bought on sale as a bachelor (but was too lazy to prepare) which archeological digs have uncovered in our pantry.
• The annual can of clam chowder that I buy because I like clam chowder (but was too lazy to prepare). Because Heather doesn’t like the the smell, she gets rid of the can by any means necessary.
• A can of mandarin oranges. Where do they keep coming from?
• A can or two of corn or beans that we have, which we would eat on our own but because we have an extra, we throw it in.
• Any cans of french-cut green beans bought by mistake. Probably by me.

I mean, come on, it’s charity. I give surplus and cast offs. Whenever someone starts telling me what to give, I think he or she is about one step away from telling me what he or she wants to take and one and a half steps away from just taking it.

Back in the old days, we could say ex post facto, but apparently nobody in Webster Groves studied Latin:

Some of the chickens have to go, too, and/or some of Silpoch’s pigeons, under a resolution passed Nov. 2 by the Webster Groves City Council. It stipulates that Silpoch may keep a total of a dozen birds, no rooster, at her Grant Road home. She now has 44 birds; the council has given her until Jan. 2 to find homes for the remaining 32.

You see, it was once tradition that the government could not pass a law and punish you for behavior before the law was passed. But now, as far as owning property is concerned, the governments can and do strip you of your possession by fiat whenever it wants.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch does some fine investigative journalism–namely, examining public records–to uncover a fundamental flaw in the public educational system as exemplified by the St. Louis City schools. The problem: lots of money going to administrative personnel, including a number who make over $100,000 a year. Story: High-paying salaries triple in district.

Too many administrators drawing on too much gravy. I mean, how many assistant superintendents do you need? There’s too much infrastructure designed to perpetuate itself and its funding, and too little of the money goes to teachers and to purchase resources that actually directly impact the students.

I don’t disagree that you have to competitively pay administrators, or that some administration is necessary, but I do question the number of employees who spread the gravy around.

In this story, entitled “Rogue pilot ruffles feathers on migration“, we discover that some people do their part to improve the world by flying planes to lead migrating cranes south for the winter.

And sometimes those crazy calhouns get upset:

As a pilot, crane impersonator and chief executive officer of Operation Migration – the whooping crane migration organization – Duff’s emotional well-being relies upon making sure his cranes are happy and healthy.

So when a rogue ultralight pilot recently sneaked up behind his craft and cranes – as the whoopers were migrating south over Illinois’ Lee and DeKalb counties – Duff’s mood darkened.

“For the most part, the ultralight community has been very respectful” about the crane project, he said. If they see Duff and his flying family coming, they get out of the way and land.

But this time, an unidentified pilot decided to come in for a closer look.

“I’d seen them ahead of me – maybe about a mile or so in front,” he said. There were two crafts, he said. And they moved off to the side.

Not long after that, he noticed that his birds were falling out of formation and trying to fly ahead of him.

At first, this didn’t ruffle him too much.

The cranes see Duff and his plane as their parent. And, like any kid, they’ll occasionally challenge their sire’s authority. When young cranes do this during migration, they fly ahead.

But this time, Duff said, the birds looked more frightened than sassy. That’s when he realized something was wrong.

He was being tailed.

Man, there’s so much snark to be had that I only have time to offer a sample:

• In its white papers, Operation Migration probably describes itself as the leading migration organization which delivers value in a rapid-flight market or something. The migration organization.
• In addition to oppressing women, killing dissidents, and funding terror, most Middle East societies probably don’t personally lead migratory birds to their winter (or wet season) habitats. Time to liberate some seedcrackers.
• Dude’s wife, if he’s married, has probably resigned herself to marriage with an adulterer, whether that’s the case or not. Come on, “Honey, I’m going to fly the birds to Texas this week”? She’s probably even mad at him for not lying better.
• The fellow, in addition to being the leading defender of cranes, is also the leading proponent of an annual season on ultralights.

Bah, that’s enough for now.

Drudge proclaims that UK PAPERS TRASH BUSH and displays the cover of the Daily Mirror, which features a headline How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB? (See it here.)

My friends, that’s not a blast at Bush. That’s a blast to those of us who voted for Bush, and indirectly a blast all of America.

Whether Americans who agree with the sentiment know it or not.

I’ve seen speculation on blogs this morning and heard it on the radio that Michael Moore must be depressed this morning. If you think so, you’re crazy.

Michael Moore has achieved greater infamy and fiscal success in the last four years of his ranting and raving (mostly raving) about George W. Bush. A John Kerry presidency would have proved limiting for Michael Moore’s “talents.” Fortunately, Michael Moore can continue now with the “work” that has proven so lucrative for him.

If the maelstrom of lawsuits comes, will Green Bay Packer safety Darren Sharper testify, as an expert for the defense, upon the theft of an election that was a guaranteed Kerry victory based on the unrelated and certainly non-causual occurrence regarding the Redskins’ wins and losses preceding a presidential election?

If so, the Republicans should call Manny Ramirez to testify that 2004 is an outlier, wherein historical streaks come to an end.

In an e-mail with a friend, I just referred to Israel as the Middle East’s oldest democracy.

How cool is that? That would be a legacy for a president, ainna?

I don’t know which is worse, the headline “Dutch filmmaker accused of ridiculing Islam slain“, with its passive voice implication that maybe he had it coming to him since he was, after all, accused of ridiculing Islam, or the first paragraph:

A controversial Dutch filmmaker accused by Muslims of ridiculing their religion was stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam on Tuesday, shocking the Netherlands where the killing was denounced as an attack on free speech.

Pardon my Midwestern simplicity here, but I think that a more basic right was violated somewhere along the line. But to some people, the metaphor’s more important than the concrete, and the abstract more important than the specific, and you cannot suffer along with the oppressed dead guy if it’s just murder–but if it’s suppression of free speech, it’s just like Bush’s America!

(Link seen on Instapundit.)

Preposition A: Shall the St. Louis County Charter be amended so that any County assistance of value, whether direct or indirect, to development of a professional sports facility, requires prior to any assistance being given that the County Auditor first prepare a fiscal note and that the governing body proposing to take action to provide financial assistance hold a public hearing and that the financial assistance be approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the County voting thereon?

Jeez, in the last ten years, they’ve built or funded a new hockey/basketball arena, a football stadium, and a baseball stadium. This will pretty much eliminate a new professional dog racing track or perhaps an Olympic venue.

On the other hand, if this passes, it will be funny to see how the politicos in power deal with the trigger in the St. Louis Rams’ current lease that they can leave if the Edward Jones Dome falls out of the top ten facilities in the nation. Undoubtedly, the County and the city will find money to refurbish professional sports arenas without a pesky hearing.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bill McClellan favors a draft for important reasons:

The military used to be the Church of the Second Chance. If a youngster got in trouble, he was often given the choice – the military or jail.

I think that’s the only actual reason why he favors a draft. The rest is a ramble.

It looks like Neil Steinberg said this:

That isn’t enough, however. Christianity never seems happy unless it is on the march, and why be satisfied practicing your faith when you can also try to impose it upon others?

Outrageous. Absolutely outrageous.

Okay, so read this bit in Ann Althouse’s Dick Cheney’s Hawaiian visit:

5) Another very pretty girl whom I could only conclude was a Secret Service groupie. She came in and as I gave her a lei she held up her Bush Cheney sign and asked where she could get autographs from Secret Service guys. I pointed them out to her but told her I didn’t know if she’d have any luck. I saw her after the event and she had managed to get several!

So here’s the question from your shidoshi of paranoia:

What can someone forge with a Secret Service agent’s signature?

Note to Pediatrics: Instead of banning BB guns and paintball guns because FOUR CHILDREN A YEAR or fewer die from them, how about we focus first on the more dangerous schnucking STAIRCASES and BATHTUBS, which kill far more?

Because they don’t look like EEEEEEEEVIL GUNS? Okay, then, as long as we understand the real goal here.

Coming soon in this month’s Musings magazine: a study about how deadly raging academic stupidity is. Never mind the study or the methodology, the press release announcing the study is the important thing.

As some of you know, I was home in Milwaukee this weekend. As some of you in Wisconsin know, John Kerry and George Bush are holding simultaneous rallies in downtown Milwaukee (please don’t anything blow up).

I knew about the Kerry rally the minute I walked down Wisconsin because I was accosted by Kerry volunteers on every corner who wanted my attendance.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t have known about the Bush rally if I hadn’t seen it on the news.

I hope this smacks of a certain amount of desperation to get bodies–that Bush has already filled up the convention center and that Kerry needs street people to fill the plaza outside the Starbucks. But who knows? One sees what one wants to see.

Special invective to James Mosby, undoubtedly what Ayn Rand would call a moocher, for this outburst reprinted in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Business story entitled “Companies can call the shots on office space“:

“It’s an unfair playing field,” said James Mosby, a vice president with the commercial real estate firm Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

“There’s a lot more office space than there are tenants … I think it will swing back in the other direction in the future,” he said. “But whether it’s 12 months or 24 months, I just can’t say.”

Undoubtedly, Mr. Mosby and his firm desperately need corporate tax incentives and other handouts to continue constructing empty office buildings and parks. Still, Mosby plays to the Post-Dispatch‘s favorite type, that of the wealthy businessman or corporateman who only thinks it’s fair if he holds the scarce resource and can demand exorbitant sums for it, preferably from the poor, widows, and orphans.

However, allow me to speak for my small cadre of small-time capitalists without offices downtown and without commission seats, luxury boxes, or connections with the ruling families of our community–and by small cadre, I mean me–when I say, “Shut up and scratch your own back for crying out loud.”

I stopped reading an article entitled “Lawyers argue over $50 fee designed to replenish fund that helps poor“, before I got to the “The Internationale”. Actually, I stopped pretty much after the first couple of paragraphs:

What’s $50 to a lawyer? A nice lunch or a designer tie?

For many lawyers, $50 amounts to not even one billable hour.

But a proposal to assess members of the State Bar of Wisconsin $50 to help pay for civil legal services for the poor has led to a pretty strong debate among attorneys.

Without the $50 assessments, the foundation that helps fund legal service programs will be broke and out of business soon, said Deborah M. Smith, past president of the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation.

I didn’t make it to the part at the bottom where the socialism-loving journalist decides that she’s going to kick in any of her salary to help out. But then again, as a crusading journalist out to reallocate the funds of other people, she’s contributing enough just framing stories in a right-minded fashion.