Scientist who predicted Italy earthquake was silenced

Filed under:General — posted by Maverick on 4/6/2009 @ 10:38 am

From Reuters:

The first tremors in the region were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating mounting alarm in the medieval city, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome.

Vans with loudspeakers had driven around the town a month ago telling locals to evacuate their houses after seismologist Gioacchino Giuliani predicted a large quake was on the way, prompting the mayor’s anger.

Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for “spreading alarm” and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet.

I’m sure once the fellows at the Ministry of Truth get ahold of this it’ll read “Italian Gov’t Predicted Earthquake: Scientist Jailed for Halting Efforts to Evacuate.”

Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,Shooting Sports — posted by 3wire on 4/2/2009 @ 12:43 pm

From: Fox

While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.

You’ve heard this shocking “fact” before — on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.

— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.

— CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.

— California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: “It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States.”

There’s just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it’s a big one:

It’s just not true.

In fact, it’s not even close. By all accounts, it’s probably around 17 percent.

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More evidence that Video Games can improve health

Filed under:Gaming,Science — posted by Maverick on 3/30/2009 @ 6:14 am

According to a study published in Nature Neuroscience, playing games can improve your vision.

Far from being harmful to eyesight, as some had feared, action games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, or Left 4 Dead provide excellent training for what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity, the study found.

Contrast sensitivity is the ability to notice tiny changes in shades of grey against a uniform background, and is critical to everyday activities such as night driving and reading. It often degrades with age.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unsuspected adaptability in the brain, and could open the way to new therapies, the researchers said.

What I love is that the study pointed out that only action/shooter games affect this improvement. What has Jack Thompson to say now?

Pro-gun Democrats oppose new assault weapon ban

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,Shooting Sports — posted by 3wire on 3/26/2009 @ 9:07 pm

This is a few days old now but this is the kind of proactive effort we need if we are going to be successful in defending the constitution.  We should all contact these 65 representatives and thank them for their leadership in putting principal above party.

From: AP via Google

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty-five House Democrats said Wednesday that they would oppose any attempt by the Obama administration to revive a ban on military-style weapons that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 and President George W. Bush let expire.

The pro-gun Democrats, led by Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder that they would “actively oppose any effort to reinstate the 1994 ban, or to pass any similar law.”

Article

D.C. Resident Told Her Gun “Wrong Color”

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,General,Shooting Sports — posted by 3wire on 3/25/2009 @ 2:13 pm

From: SAF

…three Washington, D.C. residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a regulation by District of Columbia city government that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “acceptable” handguns approved by the State of California.

…Attorney Alan Gura, representing the plaintiffs in this case, noted that District bureaucrats “told Tracy Ambeau Hanson her gun was the wrong color.” Americans are not limited to a government list of approved books, or approved religions, he said. A handgun protected by the Second Amendment doesn’t need to appear on any government-approved list either.

News Release

Let’s Save the Newspapers Too!

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,Our Money — posted by 3wire on @ 9:03 am

What do you call it when the government controls the banks and the newspapers? Let’s see, its right on the tip of my tongue … I know it ends in “ism”. I think China’s government is similar. Oh well, it will come to me I’m sure.

From: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

Article

Military Demands Details on Soldiers’ Private Guns

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War — posted by 3wire on 3/23/2009 @ 1:56 am

From: World Net Daily

A military commander at Fort Campbell in Kentucky demanded his soldiers give him the registration numbers of any guns they own privately and then reveal where they are stored.

The order was stopped, according to base officials, when it was discovered the commander was not “acting within his authority.”

The original order was issued on the letterhead of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and said effective March 11, any soldier with a “privately owned weapon” was required to submit the information, along with any information about any concealed carry permit the soldier may have, and what state issued the permit.

Full Article

Ron Silver – Ann Coulter Remembers

Filed under:General — posted by 3wire on 3/19/2009 @ 10:09 am

From: Ann Coulter

Ron sometimes told me of the cruelty directed at him by his former friends, but never with bitterness or for publication — although I’m tempted to get it off my chest even if he didn’t want to get it off his chest. You know who you are.

As with his impending death, Ron mostly joked about his banishment from the plutocracy. When I off-handedly mentioned in December 2004 that I had to get a Christmas tree, he told me he’d like to help, but having recently spoken at the Republican National Convention, the last thing he needed was to be seen walking through the streets of New York carrying a Christmas tree.

After an aborted operation on his cancer in July 2007, as soon as I saw Ron in his hospital bed, I told him I had Christians across the country praying for him. He said, “That’s good, because the Jews are praying for me to die.

Full Article

President Fails Our Wounded Vets

Filed under:Our Money,War on Terror — posted by Q Ball on 3/17/2009 @ 1:46 am

The President has proposed a new plan that would place the burden of care for disabled veterans on private companies, instead of the government. The idea is that the government should be reimbursed for the veterans´ healthcare. There are countless ways to make money and the Presidentś first idea is the government should not have to pay for the healthcare of our service men and women?

U.N. Power of Discussion

Filed under:War on Terror — posted by Maverick on 3/13/2009 @ 10:30 am

According to guardian.co.uk, the South Korean foreign ministry issued a statement regarding the imminent launch of a North Korean rocket stating, “If North Korea goes ahead with the launch, we believe there will be discussions and a response by the security council on the violation of the resolution.”

I cannot believe that anyone actually believes that the U.N. really has any power. What good is a United Nations Security Council resolution if the strongest response they can muster is a discussion. Saddam didn’t care about the U.N., and he was much more composed than Kim Jong Il.

Obama Intel Nominee Blames Jews For His Woes

Filed under:Culture War,War on Terror — posted by 3wire on 3/11/2009 @ 3:35 pm

From: WSJ

Freeman’s nomination could not withstand the broad bipartisan opposition that ensued. And if there was any doubt about his unfitness for an intelligence post, he dispelled it yesterday by publishing a screed, quoted by Politico, in which he blamed his own disgrace on a Jewish conspiracy:

“The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East,” he wrote.

“The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, issued a statement saying that Freeman’s “statements against Israel were way over the top and severely out of step with the administration” and that the White House “did the right thing” in defenestrating him.

Pledging to be a Servant to Obama – WTF

Filed under:Culture War — posted by 3wire on 3/9/2009 @ 3:52 am

Penn Jillette voices his opinion about people pledging to be a servant of Obama. Click on the Crackle link below the movie if it doesn’t play.

From Crackle: Pledging to be a Servant

Southwest Tests In-flight WiFi

Filed under:Science,Technology — posted by 3wire on 2/11/2009 @ 5:23 pm

From: Wired

Southwest customers over the next few months onboard the Wi-Fi enabled aircrafts will be offered on board instruction sheets on how to log on. And it will be free during the test period. Cellular technology will not work with the Wi-Fi service, says Southwest.

SWA

New Stimulus Watch Website

Filed under:Our Money,Technology — posted by Q Ball on 2/3/2009 @ 6:18 pm

A new website was just launched to keep an eye on all the projects proposed in the new “stimulus” bill. The website www.stimuluswatch.org is designed to allow people to comment on whether or not a local project is worthy of the money and if the project is being managed adequately. People can vote for or against certain projects.

Islam Trumps Justice in Netherlands

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,War on Terror — posted by 3wire on 2/2/2009 @ 6:51 pm

A member of the Dutch Parliament is to be prosecuted for hate crimes for making a film critical of Islam. Here is Pat Condell’s response.

Dutch MP to be charged
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/euro…

“America Last Man Standing” – Speech by Geert Wilders
http://www.cicentre.com/articles/gw_a…

Decision to prosecute is political
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1…

American Woman Burned Alive by Taliban

Filed under:Culture War,War on Terror — posted by 3wire on 1/30/2009 @ 5:01 pm

In November 2008 Paula Loyd, a civilian contractor and  social scientist working for the Human Terrain program in Afghanistan, was doused with flammable liquid and set on fire by an Afghan man. The Taliban took credit for the attack.

The Taliban has a long history of setting women on fire as a way of punishing them for perceived immodesty.

Paula died from her injuries on January 7th 2009.

See how the “Fair and Balanced” Reuters reported the attack.

KABUL (Reuters) – A U.S. civilian shot dead an Afghan civilian who tried to set fire to another American on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

At least 4,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, some 1,000 of them civilians. It is still rare though for foreign civilians to be directly engaged in the conflict.

The shooting occurred after an altercation, a U.S. military statement said.

“Reports indicate the local national was shot after pouring and igniting a flammable liquid on another U.S. civilian. The civilian sustained serious burns and was transported to the nearest coalition forces medical facility for treatment,” it said.

I would say that the Afgan did more than “try” to set Paula Loyd on fire. A religious fanatic burns an American woman alive but Reuters reports it as the death of an Afgan “civilian”. No agenda there.

Massive Greenland meltdown? Not so fast, say scientists

Filed under:General — posted by 3wire on 1/14/2009 @ 9:09 am

From: PHYSORG.com

The recent acceleration of glacier melt-off in Greenland, which some scientists fear could dramatically raise sea levels, may only be a temporary phenomenon, according to a study published Sunday.

Researchers in Britain and the United States devised computer models to test three scenarios that could account for rapid — by the standards applied to glaciers — melting of the Helheim Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest.

Wing Suit Base Jumping

Filed under:General,Science,Technology — posted by 3wire on 1/13/2009 @ 5:52 pm

Scary Cool


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

British Gov to Hack Citizen’s PCs Without Warrants

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Technology,War on Terror — posted by 3wire on 1/12/2009 @ 3:30 pm

From: London Times

THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.

The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws.

The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room.

Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.

more

The Cleanest State Meets the Pushiest Person, Al Franken

Filed under:Bill of Rights,Culture War,General — posted by 3wire on 12/3/2008 @ 10:01 pm

From: Human Events

Until now, Minnesota was always famous for its clean elections. Indeed, Democratic consultant Bob Beckel recently attested to the honesty of Minnesota’s elections, joking: “Believe me. I’ve tried. I’ve tried every way around the system out there, and it doesn’t work.”

But that was before Minnesota encountered the pushiest, most aggressive, most unscrupulous person who has ever sought public office, Al Franken.

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