This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Below the Beltway. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.
Author: Gunner
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A&M Fires Defensive Coordinator
Well, I’ll reserve judgement for now.
There were tons of legitimate excuses along the way, but the results on the field and the restlessness of an alumni fanbase spoiled by Wrecking Crew memories pretty much made it a done deal. Today, the expected axe fell.
Texas A&M defensive coordinator Carl Torbush was fired on Monday, the first casualty from the Aggies’ disappointing 5-6 season, its second losing record in three seasons under head coach Dennis Franchione.
Franchione announced the firing in an e-mail Monday afternoon.
Texas A&M’s defense was ranked 108th out of 117 Division I-A schools and its pass defense was the worst in the nation. The Aggies allowed a whopping 443.82 yards per game and gave up 31.2 points a contest.
[…]
“After evaluating our defense, I felt like it was in the best interest of our football program to make a change at defensive coordinator,” Franchione said in the statement. “I think Carl is an outstanding person and an excellent coach, but for whatever reason, we were not effective on defense.”
Franchione said he would begin a national search for a replacement immediately.
The Aggies entered the season ranked 17th in The Associated Press poll, but lost their opener to Clemson and never entered the poll again.
Not mentioned is the disgusting 77 points given up on a single day in 2003.
Well, I assume these folks are happy.
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Canadian Gov’t Falls on No-Confidence Vote
On what otherwise seems a relatively slow news day, it seems a big winter political storm is brewing in the Great White North.
A corruption scandal forced a vote of no-confidence Monday that toppled Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority government, triggering an unusual election campaign during the Christmas holidays.
Canada’s three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Martin’s government, claiming his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation.
The loss means an election for all 308 seats in the lower House of Commons, likely on Jan. 23. Martin and his Cabinet would continue to govern until then.
Opposition leaders last week called for the no-confidence vote after Martin rejected their demands to dissolve Parliament in January and hold early elections in February. Monday’s vote follows a flurry of spending announcements in Ottawa last week, with the government trying to advance its agenda ahead of its demise.
Martin is expected to dissolve the House of Commons on Tuesday and set a firm date for the elections. Under Canadian law, elections must be held on a Monday — unless it falls on a holiday — and the campaign period is sharply restricted.
“The vote in the House of Commons did not go our way,” Martin said. “But the decision of the future of our government will be made by Canadians. They will judge us.”
The Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper joined with the New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois parties to bring down the government — prompting the first Christmas and winter campaign in mostly Christian Canada in 26 years. Recent polls have given the Liberals a slight lead over the Conservatives, with the New Democrats in third place.
[…]
“This is not just the end of a tired, directionless, scandal-plagued government,” Harper said after Monday’s vote. “It’s the start of a bright new future for this country.”
The opposition is banking on the public’s disgust with a corruption scandal involving the misuse of funds targeted for a national unity program in Quebec.
An initial investigation absolved Martin of wrongdoing, but accused senior Liberal members of taking kickbacks and misspending tens of millions of dollars in public funds.
Canadian Damian J. Penny of Daimnation! suggests his personal six-part strategy for the Conservatives in the pending elections. Here’s a little taste (hat tip to Viking Pundit):
The Conservatives are behind in most of the polls, but this election is ours to win. My advice:
1. Don’t let the Liberals set the agenda. They have betrayed the public trust, and the onus is on the Martin government to show why it deserves to stay in power – not on Stephen Harper to prove he isn’t “scary”.
2. Don’t be afraid to run as Conservatives, not a “Lite” version of the Liberal Party of Canada. Canadians are much more open to new ideas in areas such as health care and immigration than the CBC or Toronto Star would have you believe.
Go give the rest a gander.
Meanwhile, nearly-Canadian Captain Ed of Captain’s Quarters (hey, Canada, Minnesota, same thing from a Texas vantage — besides, the good captain has had the blogosphere’s best coverage of the recent Canadian Adscam scandals) thinks he has divined the Liberal’s strategy for the upcoming campaign.
I’m listening to the aftermath on CPAC, where the Liberal apologist wants to tell Canada that Adscam involved “a few Liberals”, but that “no one believes that it involved the party as a whole”. That apparently will be the line that the Liberals take in this election, along with a scolding tone about all of the great work that the Commons could be doing instead of holding another election seventeen months after the last one.
I’m still holding out for reaction from two of my favorite bloggers from our neighbor to the north: Small Dead Animals and Angry in the Great White North. If we’re truly lucky, Damian Brooks of Babbling Brooks will briefly rouse himself from his blogging hibernation.
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Oregon Man Stole $200K Worth of Legos
Look, I have many fond memories of Legos from my childhood. Heck, I even bought a 1000-piece set recently to jack around with during dull times [bummer side note: no wheels included, so I can’t build two Lego cars to repeatedly crash into each other]. Vodkapundit‘s Stephen Green really digs them.
Still, with that disclaimer, I have never let a single Lego brick lead me to a life of crime.
Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the evidence from a suspect’s house — mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks from Target stores.
Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets from stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos were resold on the Internet, officials said.
Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000 bail, were unsuccessful. It wasn’t known if he had an attorney.
Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk of the Washington County fraud and identity theft team. Police haven’t said how he was able to manipulate codes.
Records of the Lego collector’s Web site, Bricklink.com, show that Swanberg has sold about $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, Dolyniuk said.
If found guilty, the man should be sentenced to a supervised, brick-by-brick construction of his own cell.
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Mother’s Iraq Protest Plays to Smaller Crowd
Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s Thanksgiving vigil in Crawford will not go down as a rousing success.
Dancing to reggae music and hugging her supporters, Cindy Sheehan led an anti-Iraq war rally Saturday at a one-acre campsite adjoining the ranch where President Bush is spending his holiday weekend
Wait, whoa, stop right there! Dancing to reggae music? Is this Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s idea of a mournful vigil? A traditional Thanksgiving? No, it’s a brief crack in the mainstream media’s coverage of Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan. Oops, sorry about that folks, don’t expect to hear more about it, or about her actual radically leftist views. Now, back to the story.
As in August, when she galvanized attention and made headlines for days with similar protests, there were songs and speeches and demonstrators holding signs reading “Bring the Troops Home” near the main entrance of the 1,600-acre ranch where Bush has been vacationing since Tuesday.
Unlike then, when hundreds came from all over the country for major events at the two campsites named after Sheehan’s son, who was killed in Iraq, Sheehan found herself addressing a crowd of only about 100 Saturday afternoon. The large tent where supporters had erected a stage hung with the banner “Speak Truth to Power” was only partially full. In the morning Sheehan signed copies of her new book, being published this week, for an even smaller crowd.
Regarding that sparsely-attended book signing, Jawsblog looks at a picture similar to the one accompanying the WaPo piece and reminds us of a time-tested business axiom.
Meanwhile, turn out the lights, the party’s over … for now.
Dozens of war protesters packed up their tents and left their campsite in a field near President Bush’s ranch Sunday, vowing to return during Easter for a third vigil if U.S. troops are still in Iraq.
The weeklong protest, which coincided with Bush’s Thanksgiving holiday visit to his ranch, drew about 200 people. It was a continuation of the August demonstration led by California mother Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year during combat.
[…]
Before leaving town Sunday, the group of about 50 war protesters held an interfaith service at the Crawford Peace House.
They also planted a tree at their campsite, a private lot about a mile from Bush’s ranch. The landowner who let demonstrators use the property the last few weeks of the August vigil has leased it to them through next year. Before last week’s protest, the group had water and electricity installed.
“We’re here for the long haul. As long as this country is at war with Iraq, we’ll be here to oppose it,” said Hadi Jawad, a co-founder of the Crawford Peace House, which opened a month after the war began in March 2003. “I think Crawford has become a point of pilgrimage to a lot of people. This has become hallowed ground.”
Hmmm … I’ve been to Crawford, and it ain’t hollowed ground. Not even if one adds a silly sculpture and calls it a monument. For hallowed ground, I would instead offer the site where Casey Sheehan raised his right hand and volunteered for our country’s military. Or perhaps the site where he chose to re-enlist, again vowing to support his nation. Or perhaps the site where he fell, giving all in service to his nation and his comrades in a manner he rightly held noble.
I am curious about the financing of that water and electricity installation. Any chance we could get some names there?
Perhaps upon Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s return to Crawford in Easter, we can actually get media coverage of the woman herself? Maybe some video of the mournful Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan dancing to reggae during the traditional egg roll? Maybe an inciteful look at her controversial quotes that have pretty much gone uncovered outside the blogosphere? Nah, that would take reporting.
During her autumn stunts, I blogged that Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan was fighting tooth and nail for an addition to her fifteen minutes of fame. In a comment on my post about the silly monument, Phil pegged her as currently being at about her nineteenth minute. The woman is addicted to attention, as demonstrated by her jealousy of hurricane coverage, and will not wait until Easter. I only fear how low Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan will stoop to be in front of cameras in the meantime.
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Court of Public Opinion has Saddam’s Fate Set
From the mouths of Baghdad:
Most residents of Iraq’s biggest city don’t mince words when it comes to their former leader.
The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven of his associates — charged with killing more than 150 residents of the northern city of Dujail in 1982 — is scheduled to resume Monday.
A random sampling of Iraqis in and around the capital, a city that still bears numerous relics from Saddam’s 24-year rule, were asked what message they would like to give to the former dictator, if given the chance.
“I hope I see you in hell,” said tomato seller Radi Abd al-Hussein, 30, a Baghdad resident who has sold vegetables at an east Baghdad marketplace for five years.
“I want to cut his head off,” he elaborated, through a translator. “He’s a tyrant. He hurt all of the Iraqi people. All of us. In times before, we couldn’t stand here and do what we want.”
Go read for other choice quotes.
In related stories, Saddam’s trial is set to resume as an alleged plot to kill the chief judge is foiled.
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Quote of the Week, 27 NOV 05
I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinion.
—General Omar Bradley
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India calls for scrutiny of AQ Khan network
Not a bad idea here, but perhaps it’s more of a case of proposing shutting the barn door after the animals have taken to the hills.
India has demanded a scrutiny of the “Pakistan-based AQ Khan network” for greater transparency in non-proliferation.
In his statement at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday, India’s permanent representative Dr Sheel Kant Sharma called for “greater clarity” regarding clandestine proliferation activities. He singled out the AQ Khan nuclear proliferation network, saying that Pakistan needed to shed greater light on its activities.
“Greater clarity and transparency in this area will serve the objectives of non-proliferation, to which we are all committed,” the Indian representative said. “This would also enhance the IAEA’s credibility.” India also expressed “happiness and relief” that Iran’s controversial nuclear programme was not put to a vote for referral to the UN Security Council at the IAEA meeting. “We are extremely happy and relieved that there was no vote,” a senior Indian official said. The meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors — of which India is a member — even refrained from passing a fresh resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran claims that its programme is for peaceful purposes, but the US and Europe suspect that it is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
At the nuclear watchdog’s last meeting in September, India had surprisingly sided with the West on a resolution criticising Iran’s nuclear activities and threatening referral to the UN Security Council. India’s vote had caused an uproar in the country, with both government allies and opposition criticising it. The left-wing parties, whose 60 seats in parliament provide crucial support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), had vowed to oppose a fresh Indian vote against Iran.
External Affairs Ministry officials claimed that the outcome was the result of a diplomatic campaign launched by India with some other countries, including the US, several European nations, Russia and China. “It has kept the door open for resolving the issue between Iran and the EU-3 through negotiations,” a Foreign Ministry official said.
Indian officials said that the West had the numbers on the 35-member IAEA board to refer the issue to the Security Council, but the “divisive” move would have created fresh tensions in the already-volatile region.
Negotiations between the EU-3 — Britain, France and Germany — and Iran are scheduled to begin early next month. All key players are now discussing a proposal that allows Iran’s enrichment programme to be outsourced to Russia. Tehran has so far opposed this. “Every country has a public position on the issue. However, it remains to be seen how willing they are to be flexible to find a solution,” the Indian official said.
And, just because I can: Khan!!!
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Vt. Teacher Accused of Anti-Bush Quiz
Ah, one wonders at the state of public schooling and our educators. Now, a tale arises of a teacher injecting his political views into English vocabulary lessons.
A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right.
Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, said he gave the quiz to his students several months ago. The quiz asked students to pick the proper words to complete sentences.
One example: “I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes.””Coherent” is the right answer.
Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned. She said she also would talk with Chenkin. School Superintendent Wesley Knapp said he was taking the situation seriously.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Knapp said. “They (teachers) don’t have a license to hold forth on a particular standpoint.”
Quite right. It’s bad enough that some teachers are afraid to use red ink to grade papers for fear of being abrasive. Now, here’s a fool who feels that his position as an English instructor entitles him with the authority to indoctrinate students with political views. Does he even understand the argument against his practice?
Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn’t shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context.
“The kids know it’s hyperbolic, so-to-speak,” he said. “They know it’s tongue in cheek.” But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned.
“I’ll put in both sides,” he said. “Especially if it’s going to cause a lot of grief.”
No, Chenkin does not understand the issue. Since he seems to have trouble understanding the language he teaches, I’ll spell it out in simple words — leave politics out of your English class.
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Anti-War Protesters Unveil Monument In Crawford
As if the story of Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan in Crawford wasn’t beat down enough, it has resurfaced with “news” of a big, heavy tribute to Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan waiting for her on her recent return to the site of Camp Casey for a little Thanksgiving shindig.
Anti-war demonstrators unveiled a stone monument in Crawford, Texas today that honors the California mother who inspired their efforts.
Cindy Sheehan, who staged a 26-day protest outside Bush’s ranch in August, cried when she saw the two-foot-high sandstone marker with the words “Sheehan’s Stand.”
Sheehan and other protesters are back in Crawford to protest during President Bush’s holiday vacation,
The 12-hundred pound rectangular slab lists the names of more than two dozen soldiers whose families were part of the vigil.
Several Bush supporters also gathered in Crawford today with a sign reading: “The price of freedom is not free.”
Anti-war and pro-Bush rallies were planned for tomorrow in Crawford.
Folks, I just happened to be there at Camp Casey when this “monument” was delivered in August. I blogged that day with pictures of the memorial and its hippie-leftover creator. This is all as sadly silly now at it was then. And Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan supposedly cried when she saw it? That woman can apparently cry at the drop of a hat or, to be more accurate, the sight of a camera.
Other photos of my August trip to Crawford can be found here.