POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Olympics: German Boobsledders Are Golden

Story and more pics are here. Via Nutty News.

Would RSM think it just another porndoggle? They do appear natural, unlike chihuahuas with frikkin' lasers.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Joe Stack’s Daughter Considers Him a Hero [UPDATE: Heroism Reconsidered]

Before attacking the IRS offices, Stack burned down his wife's home. While many debated Stack's motives for the arson, Bell said it was likely all part of his anti-government rampage.

"As we pay taxes, we pay taxes on our home as well and my belief is that the house was part of the government," she said. "He wanted to get rid of what was left."

Bell, who lives in Norway and criticized the American system as "very faulty," said that she hopes "everything" will change in light of her father's attack.

"But Rome was not built in one day. But one small step at a time. One step at a time," she said.

The US "system" is "very faulty" and needs to be changed, according to the daughter who lives in Norway. What could she possibly mean? Fortunately, ABC is here to lend a hand:

Melen, 25, said within minutes of taking the note down, the company was "bombarded" with around 3,000 e-mails demanding Stack's words be reposted. Some of the e-mails contained personal threats against Melen.

"What's funny is most people were pretty much praising him," Melen told ABC News last week.

Several pro-Stack Facebook groups popped in the hours after the attack, garnering hundreds of members and postings on Internet message boards from mainstream to extremist sites called Stack a hero and patriot.

The positive view of Stack's personal vendetta against the government online is a reflection of what experts are calling an "explosive" growth in the anti-tax, anti-government movement.

"Extremist groups are already aligning behind [Joe Stack], beginning to talk about him as a hero," said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which studies American militia and hate groups. "The growth of those groups has been astounding."

Bob Schulz, founder of the anti-tax group We the People Foundation, said that while he only advocates non-violent protest, he can understand Stack's motives and said it is a reflection of a movement unlike any he's ever seen.

"There's a huge patriot movement," Schulz told ABC News Friday. "I've been doing this kind of work for 30 years. Never have I seen the likes of what's going on now. It's delightful."

What? No mention of the Marxist and anti-religious, pro-government health care sentiments in the online manifesto cum suicide note? See, it's the Teabaggers! They're . . . why, they're inappropriate. Also, murderous. But in the eyes of ABC or the Southern Poverty Law Center, the mere position of opposing the administration and its progressive agenda makes one an extremist.

ABC redacts two statements on the part of Samantha Bell. Would they be willing to release their entire interview? I can't see much of her profile, but she's a fan of Barack and John Lennon. On the other hand, she's a fan of a Facebook site managed by Phil Kerpen.

What I want to know is: what made them immediately reach for the Southern Poverty Law Center for comment?

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Hiroshima Bombing Author Duped

Via Insty, the story of the story about the bomb that bombed.

A new book about the atomic destruction of Hiroshima has won critical acclaim with its heartbreaking portrayals of the bomb’s survivors and is set to be made into a movie by James Cameron.

Charles Pellegrino says he will correct a story in his book contested by Mr. Corliss’s family.

“The Last Train from Hiroshima,” published in January by Henry Holt, also claims to reveal a secret accident with the atom bomb that killed one American and irradiated others and greatly reduced the weapon’s destructive power.

There is just one problem. That section of the book and other technical details of the mission are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay.

But Mr. Fuoco, who died in 2008 at age 84 and lived in Westbury, N.Y., never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor.

There is ever a market for tales of the murderousness of Amerikkka, and there are ever people like James Cameron who will try to inject them into popular culture. It will be instructive to see what Cameron does in the wake of these counter-revelations.

Fuoco, strangely enough, is Italian for "fire."

It's amazing how stolen valor seems always to involve an anti-American storyline as one of its selling points.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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FCC Attempting “Fairness” Power Grab

Like the EPA, which declared CO2 emissions a safety hazard in order to extend the jurisdiction of unelected, unaccountable bureaucratic control of practically all aspects of our lives, the FCC is keen to take over the intarwebs in the name of fairness, a syllable-saving shorthand for censorship:

Last month a federal court raised doubts about whether the FCC had jurisdiction over Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as the company in question, Comcast, and AT&T and Verizon, when the FCC made a 2008 ruling that Comcast had illegally blocked the Internet content-sharing application BitTorrent. The court's questioning of the FCC authority now has many -- including senior FCC staff -- believing that the federal court will side with Comcast and rule that the agency has only "ancillary jurisdiction" over broadband services.

But already, the FCC is strategizing on how it can gain regulatory control of the Internet and the broadband networks that connect to it, if the courts rule against them. According to FCC sources, the agency is considering "reclassifying" broadband Internet services under rules that were once used for rotary phone service. To do this, the FCC would categorize broadband networks under Title II, or common carriage rules. Broadband networks have thus far been regulated under Title I, a section for "enhanced communications services."

"You have one set of rules, Title II, that were used for rotary phones, before there was a lot of competition in the communications space, like wireless and the like, and then you have Title I, which has rules more in line with the high-tech world," says an attorney who until recently worked at the FCC. "Common sense says, keep broadband and the Internet under rules for the modern world, not the rules that applied to a technology that was obsolete two decades ago. This just shows how desperate these people are to regulate the networks."

Screw them.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Hero Snatches Cupcake from Child

Defuses OBESITY TIME BOMB.

Ofercryinoutloud. Michelle Obama determines crusade, international press asks how high.

More brain-abusing hyperbole: "Hockey is more than a way of life in Canada. It is part of the nation's very fabric . . . ." Ow.

And thanks to RSM, for the shout out and the pic of our own Dahlhalla.

Death on the Diversity Plan: I've really got nothing new to add to this.

What? You were expecting teh funneh? Go see Treacher for that.

Times of London: Chicago Mafia Blamed for Obama's Troubles

For 100 years it was only a theory, but now dwarf dinosaur island did exist retrospectively.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Amy Bishop & James Anderson’s Distant Acquaintanceship with the Truth

Ladies and gentlemen of the Academy, nobody should have to worry about a colleague turning the building into a herpetarium.

NYT article doesn't advance our knowledge of weirdo Amy Bishop Anderson very much, although the story involving the gun keeps evolving. Now, it appears that she may have done a little target practice on her own.

As Sarah W. has pointed out several times, James Anderson's claims that they were cleared in a letter from ATF appear unsupported by his documents. Instead, we find:

Mr. Anderson initially insisted to The New York Times that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had sent him and his wife a letter clearing them in the pipe bomb case, but the law enforcement official said it was extremely unlikely the bureau had sent such a letter. Mr. Anderson later produced a letter from his lawyer, Robert Harrison, dated June 2000, saying that the United States Postal Service was “closing the file” on its separate investigation.

Dr. Bishop also arrived in Huntsville with a padded résumé, giving the impression that she had worked at Harvard two years longer than the university’s records indicate.

*******

“Her attitude was not, ‘I’m going to have to go find another job,’ ” said Eric Seemann, an assistant professor of psychology. “It was more like, ‘When are these idiots going to clear this up?’ ”

She lobbied for a revote in the department, badgering people for support, her colleagues said. They disputed an assertion by her husband after the shooting that Dr. Bishop had won the appeals process and the provost had overruled the decision. The appeals process identified only a minor procedural problem, which was remedied, they said. Last November, a university spokesman said, her appeal was finally denied.

According to her attorney, she has no recollection of the massacre. They both seem to have a little trouble with the truth.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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The Fu*&ing Bathroom!

Q: How many Irishmen does it take to renovate a bathroom?

A: It takes precisely one. One Irishman to renovate a bathroom. And it take one Irishman almost exactly one year to do it.

Now, anyone who knows a Collins of our particular clan knows that we are a determined bunch. But, we are also a very distracted bunch. To make matters worse, we have an incredible knack for underestimating our own limitations... or, putting it another way: we have a real "probably can do" attitude. That is, we are prideful.

I went into the bathroom one day and decided it was time to put my hardhat on. Of course, my loving wife, Jen, and children were very supportive. They loved the notion of a "new" bathroom. And the idea of being able to make it happen for them with my own two hands was too much for me to resist.

That was a major mistake.

I am not a construction guy. I am not particularly handy. I am impatient. I can be lazy (especially on weekends). But of all the things I am and am not, I am first and foremost not a carpenter. This is a problem. Especially when revamping an entire room. Especially a bathroom.

Dan will laugh, but this past Summer while he was in town he assisted with an hour or two of tiling. I could've sworn I was within striking distance of finishing what had become for me, "that f**king bathroom." But I was not even close.

It was about 10 months ago that James, my beloved friend who has now gone to the Great Beyond, took his truck to a local glass block guy to pick up the glass block window I had ordered. He had warned me before starting on the project that I was "insane", he having remodeled several himself. I can hear his voice, "dude... you can't even change the oil in your car". It pains me to reflect that he was right... even though he can't really gloat (at least to my face), given that he is no longer int the flesh.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Nick: my old friend. He came over on a Saturday to assist me with the install of the window. We stood in the shower together. He couldn't help himself and many jokes were made. Oh, the shame. Since then, Nick has been on and off the wagon a couple times. But the shower/window install and Nick's ongoing struggle with addiction are not at all related... you sick people.

Along the way, during this past year, James and I left our former employ, founded SunAnt, moved into a shitty basement office in a shitty section of town. Then he kicked the bucket, I banded together with our remaining team, and now we are out of the shitty basement and out of the shitty part of town. My kids have grown older, my mother more removed, my nephew (whom I held in my arms as a newborn) is off to college. My siblings continue to plow forward (or at least not backward), my dad grows more and more fully-blind by the day... my waistband is tired, and the muffler on my car louder.

How many Irishmen does it take to renovate a bathroom? One. How long does it take one Irishman to do it? One year.

What I have learned from this "experience":

1) no matter how tight money may be, there is a reason people get paid for doing this shit. Just pay the friggin' money and be done with it.
2) do what you can (like demo and maybe tiling) and stay away from stuff that looks easier than it invariably is.
3) don't EVER try tiling without someone assisting with lots of buckets of water and clean sponges
4) buy a small shop vac - it'll save the vacuum cleaner and your wife won't get pissed at you for "not thinking"
5) the right tool is imperative if you want to do a job right
6) when in doubt, google
7) coffee doesn't taste better with drywall in it
"8)" clean the work area continually
9) girls cannot go longer than 24 hours without a shower (well, they can, but after about 36 hours they turn into Grizzlies)
10) while you're remodeling, entropy happens

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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Dan, take it easy

To help Dan chill for a while, here is a couple low-key timewasters.

First up, test your vocabulary with freerice.com. Supposedly there's a donation made to combat world hunger as you play this, but the real drive is to learn esoteric words like "blenny", "catoptric", "rabato", and "aperient".

Second, the pit from which no person returns: TV Tropes. This is what the internet was invented for. You usually end up here because someone is claiming that your fave webcomic is using the old trope of running gags way too often, and then 4 hours later you're digging into Doctor Who episodes and MST3K quips.

A mesmerizing game: Flow. Though I'm not sure this is a good idea for someone with low blood pressure.

Anybody else got suggestions?

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

Daryle Jenkins Appears Disoriented at CPAC

References "integrity" purportedly belonging to him and Max Blumenthal.

Awesome. Jimmie Bise has more on Breitbart. Patterico scores the pin for Breitbart tag-teamer O'Connell.

Kind of related: "Okay. I'm really sorry I boinked you. Really. Sorry. It'll never happen again. Good?"

Tell you what. You can have my Tiger Woods apology. I've got nowhere to put it.

Stacy, back from CPAC, bemoans his craptastrophic wireless troubles at the Big Gig, and intimates that Dahlhalla may have some more debriefing to do. He also urges anyone who's got the chance to get behind the awesome Bike Week festivities at Daytona. As if you needed any more motivation, The RINOf*cktastic Governator supplies us with locker room cork board material.

Existential fundamentalists arrested in TX church arson cases. Hate crimes?

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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How Could You Do That To Us? You Don’t Appear To Be So . . . Retarded. Mostly.

To all of you who tweeted and emailed and linked and commented (and especially the much missed Bob Reed) about my latest (I'm assuming for the moment) medicine fail, I apologize.

It's entirely possible that it was an unconscious cry for links.

So, around the horn we go, and if I've managed to miss you, then please email me and let me know:

Serr8d says nice things bout me. But he doesn't have to anymore, becausee it seems I'm going to pull through. He's one of those underappreciated bloggers and creates a lot of the p-chops we post here.

Carolyn Tackett of Carol's Closet was very kind, and like Serr deserves blogroll linkage. She's also on top of the Potluck story, which the other Carol mentions, too. It's a collaborative blog of right women luminaries.

The indefatigable Carol of No Sheeples is on a tear. Just keep scrolling.

Cynthia Yockey was at CPAC, too, and appears to have made good use of her time, as did Stacy and Smitty and Peter. I'll not forget the support.

Bob Owens kindly asked that you keep me in your thoughts, as did Bob Belvedere, thanks very much.

Michael of Supply Side Politics 2.0 found out via Mike Hendrix that I was laid up. Thanks, guys, and you're quite right that I'm terribly greedy when it comes to prayers.

Over at Protein Wisdom, The Sanity Inspector remembered me, for which I am grateful, as I love that whole crew. And thanks, Jeff, for your kind wishes. Darleen, too.

Richard McEnroe of Three Beers Later, whom you should also blogroll requested prayers for that eternal account on which Barack may never lay a finger.

Many thanks, too, to William Teach, who mentioned me in the Sorta Blogless Sunday Pin-Up that sorta almost never usually doesn't raise my BP.

It's true that some of my capacity for teh stoopid is simply God-given ability, but people, you can't reach reach this level without practice, practice, practice. For all of you who tweeted or emailed their prayers and concerns, or congratulations regarding the not-dying thing, or commented, I'm sorry again and thanks very much. Special thanks to Tucker Carlson, too, who threatened to treat me to a round of fisticuffs (to the visage) should I ever do that again.

It's nice seeing so many of you whom I haven't for a while. I feel the love.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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