12 May 2007

The Kiowa Warrior (OH-58D) Helicopter:

Here’s an official video of the helicopter my office manages. It does a pretty good job of covering some of the Kiowa's history. There are some other KW videos there as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep2YT__ulg0

Washinton State law require children to use booster seats until they are 16 years old if a vehicle's seat belt "does not properly fit the child."
May 10, 2007
Thousands of Washington children will be forced back into car and booster seats next month when a change to state law takes effect.

On June 1, children will have to stay in the safety seats until they are at least 8 years old or 4 feet, 9 inches tall. Violators face a $112 ticket.

About half of all children between 6 to 8 years old will be affected by the change, according to safety advocates.

"It's going to be a big challenge for those kids who have been out of the booster seat to get back," said Shawneri Guzman of Snohomish County SAFE KIDS, a nonprofit group that works to prevent childhood injuries.

The change means parents such as Renee Shonko, 44, of Lake Stevens must break the news to their children.

Daughters Lexi, 8, and Karly, 10, aren't exactly thrilled to be going back into booster seats.

"I don't like it," said Karly, who at 4-foot-8 (with shoes on) is taller than most of her classmates. But that's not tall enough for a seat belt to fit her properly. (by whose definition I wonder?)

Currently, children are required to ride in booster seats until they're 6 years old or weigh 60 pounds.

The changes also require children to use booster seats until they are 16 years old if a vehicle's seat belt does not properly fit the child.

Another change requires children younger than 13 to ride in the back seat whenever possible. They're allowed to ride in the front only if the vehicle has no lap-and-shoulder belts in the back seat.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/11/100loc_a1seats001.cfm
I can just see a couple of highschoolers going on a date and one is in a booster seat. How romantic.

Pizza store 'heroics' concern (government) watchdog

May 09, Australia

PIZZA store staff who overpowered an armed robber and held him until police arrived are having their actions investigated by the West Australian work safety watchdog...

...WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said today she was investigating the actions of the pizza store staff who overpowered the armed robber.

"We're very concerned that people may get the impression that attempting to overpower an armed robber is a good idea," she said.

"If a person is desperate enough to commit an armed robbery, you can never be sure how violent that person may become."

Workplaces such as late-night food outlets, chemists and service stations needed to have an established armed hold-up procedure, with all staff trained in its use, Ms Lyhne said.

"The best course of action is to co-operate with the robber – it is never worth putting yourself and others at risk in these situations by trying to be a hero," she said.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21702107-1702,00.html

(yeah, so you should just sit idly by and wait to see if the robber is going to kill everyone in the store or not… If the folks on United Flt 93 had not resisted and fought back the 9/11 terrorists might have wiped out another building in addition to hitting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It could have been the Capital Building or the White House…)

Government Health Care a Universal Failure

the third paragraph is great...

05/10/2007

In a recent Arizona Republic column, State Representative Phil Lopes called for universal health care. But, the Lopes proposal confuses government paid health services with universal health care. As Europe demonstrates, millions go without good health care under government paid systems regularly.

According to 2004 survey only 22 percent of Spaniards think their universal care system offers “satisfactory” service. It is certainly unsatisfactory that citizens there have to wait months for a simple test like an MRI. In England, patients must wait nearly a year for hip and knee replacements.

In Spain everyone pays taxes for the universal health care system. There is, however, a select group of people who get to choose. Central government civil servants can opt-out of the public system and have the government pay for their private insurance. 91 percent of civil servants choose private insurance. That is quite an endorsement of the free market’s ability to meet consumers needs better than socialized medicine.

Health care services need to be accessible and affordable. But, a government take-over of the industry is not the answer.

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=1573

Another success story of socialized medicine…

U.K. Hospitals to Deny Treatment to “High Risk” Patients

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it can no longer serve high risk patients. Anne Bullock, spokeswoman for the NHS explained, “It costs a lot of money to treat those who are really sick. The surgeries, high-tech equipment, and medications required are beyond our budgetary means.”

Bullock touted recent surveys that she says support the new policy. “When you get right down to it, the overwhelming number of people suffer from relatively mild illnesses,” Bullock observed. “These are easily and cheaply treated. Consequently, the new policy will allow us to concentrate our efforts on the vastly larger numbers of people who have less onerous ailments. The desperately sick are only a small minority. We cannot allow them to consume such a disproportionate share of the nation’s medical resources. In a democracy, the needs of the majority must take precedence over the needs of the few. Simple equity demands this.”

An estimated six million patients are expected to be affected by this rationing scheme, a statistic that Bullock argues makes her point. “Sixty million people live in the UK,” Bullock said. “Those on the outs with the new policy represent only ten percent of the population. The other, healthier, ninety percent are, thus, assured of their needs being met.”

read more... http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm

Why are medical costs raising you ask...

LITIGATION: Priceless pants no aberration

May 10, 2007

Why is health care so expensive? Check Roy Pearson's pants. He's the fussy-britches administrative law judge from Washington, D.C., who filed a $65.5 million lawsuit against the dry cleaners for losing his trousers. Rather than accept a succession of reasonable settlement offers from the owners, Judge Pearson adopted a vindictive strategy that has given the trial judge "significant concerns that the plaintiff is acting in bad faith."

The trial bar will claim Judge Pearson is an anomaly and his lawsuit an aberration. But he is the product of a culture that believes no matter is too small to litigate and no demand is too outrageous to pursue. His case is symptomatic of a malignant system that gives lip service to stopping frivolous litigation, which costs Americans more than $200 billion a year and contributes to the health-care crisis.

Among the frivolous-lawsuit industry's favorite targets are doctors and hospitals. According to the Physician Insurers Association of America, 75 percent of medical-liability lawsuits are settled without payment to the plaintiff. Of the 7 percent that go to trial, the defendant wins 83 percent, meaning that only 1 percent of all malpractice cases involve verifiable medical errors. Win or lose, doctors and hospitals spend an average of almost $100,000 per case defending themselves. To reduce their costs, they often will pay five-figure settlements to make undeserving plaintiffs to go away. All this contributes to soaring medical-malpractice-insurance premiums, which doctors and hospitals factor into their charges.

Knowing people sue at a drop of a hat, doctors practice defensive medicine. They will order a full array of mostly unnecessary diagnostic tests just so they may prove to a jury they did everything they could to provide the best possible care. But defensive medicine overuses the health-care system and inflates medical costs. That leads to inflation-busting increases in health-insurance premiums and to the swelling of the ranks of the uninsured. The health-care industry estimates defensive medicine wastes between $70 billion and $126 billion a year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, says frivolous lawsuits force taxpayers to pony up as much as $56.2 billion more a year for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs.

http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=23574

Remember, win or lose, the lawyers always win...

State stops gas discounts at Merrill service station

May 8, 2007

...Bhandari said he was unaware the offers -- a card supporting the Merrill Youth Hockey Association and a senior discount -- violated Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires retailers to sell gasoline for about 9.2 percent above the wholesale price.

The law had been explained to retailers in a December 2003 letter. Bhandari has owned the Merrill store since May 2006.

He said he received a letter in late April from a state auditor saying the cash discounts he offered put his fuel prices too far below the state's minimum markup....

...Bhandari said he could be sued by the state if he continued the discounts. A state penalty would be assessed for each gallon discounted, with the amount decided by a judge...

[however] ...Gas discounts at local grocery stores involved in the Pump Perks program still are allowed because the discount is funded by food vendors...David Bonnell Jr., store manager at County Market in Merrill, said the store's gasoline sales have spiked since it started the Pump Perks program nearly two years ago...

(I guess free enterprise is dead in Wisconsin...)

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070508/WDH0101/705080562/1581/WDHnews#Scene_1

Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act

read what the Federal Trade Commission said a few years back about the State of Wisconsin requiring gas stations to charge over 9% of wholesale to consumers....

http://www.ftc.gov/be/v030015.shtm

UN calls climate debate 'over'
May. 10, 2007
UNITED NATIONS-- A former chief of the U.N. World Health Organization who also is a former prime minister of Norway and a medical doctor has declared an end to the climate-change debate. Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, one of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's three new special envoys on climate change, also headed up the 1987 U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development where the concept of sustainable development was first floated.

"This discussion is behind us. It's over," she told reporters. "The diagnosis is clear, the science is unequivocal -- it's completely immoral, even, to question now, on the basis of what we know, the reports that are out, to question the issue and to question whether we need to move forward at a much stronger pace as humankind to address the issues."
http://www.upi.com/International_Intelligence/Analysis/2007/05/10/analysis_un_calls_climate_debate_over/6480/
This is dangerous talk, saying there is no room for discussion or disagreement... Also all the problems in Africa cited in the article have more to do with the growth of Islam than gorebal warming... The west and Christians spend billions to improve water, sanitation, food, housing, medical etc and the Muslims keep destroying the new infrastructure and killing people who either set it up or partake of the benefits. Gorebal warming is a red herring.

Weather Expert: Sub-tropical Storms Being Named to Fuel Global Warming Alarmism

May 9, 2007

They did not use to name sub-tropical storms. I guess the debate isn’t over for this feller…

For weather watchers, the name Joe Sobel should be a familiar one, as he has been with AccuWeather for 35 years, and is a regular guest on radio stations as well as MSNBC.

With that in mind, Dr. Sobel posted an article at the AccuWeather blog Wednesday highly critical of the naming of sub-tropical storms, most recently Andrea.

In his view, this practice – which is only five years old – is exaggerating the number of storms per year thereby adding to global warming alarmism

Sobel began: Well ladies and gentlemen, we have our first named storm of the hurricane season. Interesting because... it's not yet hurricane season... and it's not a tropical storm! It is a sub-tropical storm, and its name is Andrea. As of this writing, it is about 150 miles east of Jacksonville, Fla., with peak winds of about 45 miles per hour.

After explaining the difference between a tropical and a sub-tropical storm, Sobel addressed the importance of the distinction in this highly-charged, global warming environment:

Back in the old days... and I'm only talking 5 years or so ago... we did not name sub-tropical storms. Names were only given to storms that were deemed to be truly tropical. In the last few years, there have been a number of sub-tropical storms named. Those named storms go into the total of named storms and obviously increase the number of storms that year and consequently increase the average number of storms per year. It has been claimed that global warming is responsible for an increasing number of tropical storms and hurricanes, but here is a reason that the number of storms is increasing that has absolutely nothing to do with global warming. It's because we are mixing apples and oranges and calling them all apples! And, by the way, on that topic, there was an interesting article recently published by the American Geophysical Union written by C.W. Landsea, a very respected hurricane researcher, that says any increase in the number of hurricanes observed over the last 100 years is only the result of the fact that we have more ships at sea, more people living on coastlines, and satellites to see storms now that would have gone unrecorded 50 or 75 years ago.

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&blog=sobel

http://newsbusters.org/node/12668

Here’s another expert that isn’t finished with the debate the UN said “is over.”

Dr. Spencer: Subtropical Storm Andrea Mitchell Caused By COLD
May 10, 2007
Roy Spencer, the climatologist from the University of Alabama in Huntsville said Subtropical Storm Andrea "is the result of unusually cold air."

Interview transcript:

RUSH: Now, refresh people's memories. You called the program once a few weeks ago discussing why you deviate from the established belief of manmade global warming. Your hypothesis basically is that precipitation is one of the primary factors and the computer models don't measure precipitation because we can't figure out -- we don't have the equipment, sophistication to even measure -- total precipitation on the planet on a daily basis. Correct?

DR. SPENCER: Well, let's be a little more specific than that. Basically, precipitation systems act as the atmosphere's air conditioner. It's kind of like in your house, the air is constantly being recycled, right? Well, precipitation systems constantly recycle the atmosphere's air. The air you were breathing was probably, in the last few days, going through a precipitation system. Those systems are what cause most of the earth's greenhouse effect, which is water vapor and clouds.

RUSH: Precisely. I remember. When you say "most," could you attach a percentage of greenhouse-gases to water vapor?

DR. SPENCER: Over 90%. Our addition of CO2 has enhanced the greenhouse effect by maybe 1% so far.

RUSH: Okay. So that's automobiles, exhalation of human breath, factory smoke stacks, all these things that we're being told are really polluting the planet are really such a small percentage of the so-called greenhouse gases. By the way, is it a bad thing the planet might warm up?

DR. SPENCER: I don't know. I think that's a toss up.

RUSH: If you go back and look at -- I forget what it was called, but back in the days of the Vikings, they were able to grow crops and so forth in Greenland, able to traverse the North Atlantic and come to North America. The Northern Hemisphere was a lot more fertile than it was. My point is that the idea that global warming is destructive, calamitous and deadly is a bit absurd.

DR. SPENCER: Yes. I think a little bit warmer would actually be better and I think the extra CO2... They estimate crop productivity has gone up 15 percent just because of the extra CO2 we've put in the atmosphere...

read complete transcript at http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_051007/content/01125115.guest.html

Who is Dr. Roy Spencer ?
Principal Research Scientist, University of Alabama

Dr. Roy Spencer is a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA's Aqua satellite. In the past, he has served as Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Dr. Spencer is the recipient of NASA's Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and the American Meteorological Society's Special Award for his satellite-based temperature monitoring work. He is the author of numerous scientific articles that have appeared in Science, Nature, Journal of Climate, Monthly Weather Review, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, Remote Sensing Reviews, Advances in Space Research, and Climatic Change.

Dr. Spencer received his Ph.D. in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin in 1981.

Areas of Expertise:

Satellite data temperature
Hurricanes
Interfaith Stewardship Alliance
Evangelical Movement and Global warming
General climate change issues
http://www.tcsdaily.com/Authors.aspx?id=267

Hamas TV refuses to axe contested kids cartoon

Middle East Times ^ | May 10, 2007

A Hamas-run television channel has defied a Palestinian government request to axe a controversial children's cartoon in which a Mickey Mouse look-alike urges resistance against Israel.

A senior official working for Al Aqsa (Jerusalem) television in the Gaza Strip said that the program - "Tomorrow's Pioneers" - would air as normal this Friday in defiance of information minister Mustafa Barghouti.

"The program will continue and it will be broadcast tomorrow at 4.00 pm Mustafa Barghouti misunderstood the issue," said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Earlier, the information ministry in the West Bank city of Ramallah said: "A politically-oriented children's television program was withdrawn by the Al Aqsa TV station today following a request by the ministry of information."

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070510-082538-3237r

Johnstown PA imam forced to resign over comments

May 10, 2007

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania. -- The leader of a Muslim center has resigned after telling a newspaper that, in the eyes of the Islamic community, a death sentence was warranted for the best-selling author and critic of radical Islam Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who recently visited the area.

Fouad ElBayly said yesterday he had stepped down as imam and president of the Islamic Center of Johnstown. He said the center's board members requested his resignation.

The request came in response to Mr. ElBayly's comments about Ms. Hirsi Ali, who spoke April 17 at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.

Mr. ElBayly, a native of Egypt who came to the United States in 1976, and Mahmood A. Qazi, the center's founder, had tried to get the university to cancel Ms. Hirsi Ali's appearance, saying her criticisms were unjustified and could create dissension in their community.

"She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death," Mr. ElBayly was quoted saying in an April 22 newspaper story.

more at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07130/784971-100.stm

Whoopee!! They canned the guy. The interesting thing is he's been in the US since 1976 and he's still saying Muslims must kill anyone who disagrees with them, I mean "defames the faith".

Al Qaedism, Again. Another straw on the back of the proverbial American camel
May 11, 2007
Victor Davis Hanson
Why would Albanian-speaking Muslim refugees from the Balkans try to murder American soldiers? After all, the United States — not bin Laden’s rag-tag jihadists — saved Bosnia and Kosovo? And we did that by bombing the capital of a Christian European nation...
more at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2UxMTFmMDc2NGEwMzllZjgwOGUwOWVkMGU3OGFkZDM=

Hometown Jihad: The Hamas Connection-Will appearance at rally with HAMAS chief derail citizenship
Frontpagemagazine
05/11/2007
Will Salah Sultan’s appearance at a rally with HAMAS terror chief Ismail Haniyeh derail his US citizenship application?

Last July, an estimated three hundred thousand supporters of the radical Islamic Turkish Saadet Party gathered in Istanbul to rally in support of the Palestinian terrorist organization HAMAS and their kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. Among the keynote speakers at the rally were HAMAS terrorist-in-chief Ismail Haniyeh (speaking via videophone), former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan (political mentor to Saadet Party leaders), and my own Hilliard, Ohio neighbor, Salah Sultan.

Sultan, president of the Columbus, Ohio-based American Center for Islamic Research and protégé of Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Youssef Al-Qaradawi (described by the Anti-Defamation League as the “Theologian of Terror” and designated by the US Government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist), whipped up the crowd by condemning the Israeli response to the HAMAS kidnappings and calling for a boycott of Israel, as reported by Qaradawi’s own mouthpiece, Islamonline.net.

Since introducing Salah Sultan to FrontPage readers in April of last year (“Hometown Jihad”), I’ve been keeping readers informed on Sultan’s activities in several subsequent articles:
more at http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28089

How to Lose an Ally

5/10/2007

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/05/how_to_lose_an_ally.html

David Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com