Helter Skelter, Gravel-style

Yeah, I know...long time no blog. Trip out on this video featuring Sen. Mike Gravel. Charles Manson stole it from the Beatles. U2 stole it back. I'm not sure WHAT Gravel is doing with it.



Seriously, I'm impressed by the video, especially Gravel's willingness to play-along. Not sure if other candidates could pull this off. Gravel has always marched to his own beat in the campaign. Perhaps this is a sign of campaigns to come?

Friday Beagle Blogging

Baxter enjoys sleeping sideways in his bed. It's not that he shifts around to get into this position. He'll walk over to the bed and purposely lie down this way. Perhaps in this case it was to catch the little bit of sunshine on his head. They say you can keep your feet warm by keeping your head warm. Wise old beagle.

Childhood Memories

I remember when this photo first appeared in newspapers and news magazines. The iconic 1960s photo of a Vietnam War protester placing flowers in soldiers' gun barrels at a rally was taken by Bernie Boston. The retired newspaper photographer has died at age 74.

Boston's photograph, "Flower Power," was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. He took the picture at a war protest in Washington on Oct. 22, 1967. He covered every president from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.

It's a pity we don't have similar anti-war protests today. The war is out of sight, out of mind for far too many people. Heck, I produce a daily newscast and rarely include war news stories. How dramatically different than previous wars.

News Tip

If you want news media to take you seriously and cover your event, make sure you have correct information in your news release. Received the following just moments ago:

PRESS CALL: Fixing the Housing Crisis
Housing experts and economists to discuss solutions to the current crisis

WHEN: Monday, February 1, 2008 at 12:00 PM EDT

(emphasis added)
So is the event on Monday, or on February 1?

Friday Beagle Blogging

Must keep Granny and Strannix happy!


The boy likes to patrol the yard as part of his daily job, which is to keep the elephants out of the neighborhood.

And no, the photo was not taken this week. Baxter doesn't care for the snow, thankyouverymuch.

The Surge is Working?

News item from the BBC caught my attention:

Two bombs in busy Baghdad animal markets have killed at least 64 people.

An Iraqi official said the devices were attached to two women with learning disabilities, and detonated remotely.

Maybe I've missed it, but the use of "women with learning disabilities" to likely unknowingly carry bombs to be detonated remotely is new to me. If this behavior is what the surge has produced I think the world would be better without it.

The Few, The Proud, The Gullible

It seems the Nigerian businessman/government official has enlisted in the U.S. Marines and is now serving in Iraq:

From: Lieutenant Colonel William Adams
Reply-To: adams_williams111@ubbi.com
Subject: Re:From Lieutenant Colonel William Adams{A US MARINE IN IRAQ}

Attention Please!!!

Greetings to you!

I am Lieutenant Colonel William Adams...a US MARINE in Iraq.As you may Know,there areseveral cases of insurgents attacks and suicide bombing going on here.However We managed to move funds belonging to some deceased persons who were attacked and killed through insurgent attacks.The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash.

We want to move this money to you so that you may keep our share for us untill when we shall come over to meet You. We will take 70%, my partner and I while you take 30%.No strings attached.Just help us move it out of Iraq as Iraq we all know is a war zone.Note that We plan to use the British Diplomatic courier in shipping the money out in two large metallic Boxes,using diplomatic immunity.If you are interested I will send you the full details.

My job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone/fax numbers for quick communication and also your contact details. This business is risk free. Get back to me immediately for more directives.

Respectfully,
Lieutenant Colonel Williams Adams

I had no idea the Marines used a dot com URL. But this marine is serving under the influence (Lit.Col.William). And this scheme of his doesn't sound very honorable. But at least we're assured the money comes from people attacked and killed through insurgent attacks.

Would accepting this offer be considered supporting the troops?

Holocaust Survivor Stepping Down

The only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress is retiring.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Tom Lantos, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and is the only Holocaust survivor elected to the Congress, on Wednesday said he has been diagnosed with cancer and will not seek re-election in November.

The 79-year-old California Democrat, who was born in Hungary and twice escaped Nazi labor camps, said he will serve the remainder of his 14th term, which ends in January 2009.

In announcing he has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and would end his House career at the end of his term, Lantos reflected on his life.

"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress," Lantos said.

Shortly after Lantos came to Congress in 1981, he pushed for legislation granting honorary U.S. citizenship to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. That came nearly four decades after Wallenberg protected Lantos and other occupants of an apartment building from Nazi arrest.

Throughout his congressional career, Lantos was an outspoken critic of international human rights abuses.

Lantos helped win passage in 2002 of a congressional resolution authorizing the U.S. attack on Iraq that unfolded the following year. More recently, Lantos has been critical of the "U.S. involvement in the civil war in Iraq."

When Democrats gained majority control of the House a year ago, Lantos used his new position as chairman of the foreign affairs panel to conduct oversight of the Iraq war, including a high-profile hearing last September on progress from the U.S. troop increase.

Of course, Bradley Smith, David Duke, and Hutton Gibson all deny the existence of of Rep. Lantos, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary.

End of Year Beagle Blogging

Because Strannix asked for it.

Baxter is ALWAYS the center of attention.

This photo is actually from Christmas 2005. MrsDocLarry, the boy and I have made the trek north to spend the holiday with her family every year we've been married, except for the odd year when weather made traveling unwise.

This year I had to work (the newscast doesn't stop for holidays, although sometimes the news does) and Mrs. DocLarry planned to stay in town with me. But the death of an aunt forced her to head north on her own Christmas day. And since the boy no longer deals well with being alone for long periods when it's dark outside, Baxter spent a few days at Caroline's Pampered Pet Motel in Ozark (special thanks to Caroline for taking him in on short notice despite being full).

We're all back home now. Mrs. DocLarry is battling a cold. Baxter is battling boredom (he NEVER gets to have any fun). DocLarry is battling deadlines and must be going.

Happy New Year!

Ron Paul Stuck in the (18)60s

Kos highlights a 1992 article from Ron Paul’s self-published newsletter, The Ron Paul Political Report:

Indeed, it is shocking to consider the uniformity of opinion among blacks in this country. Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action…. Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the “criminal justice system,” I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.

If similar in-depth studies were conducted in other major cities, who doubts that similar results would be produced? We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, but it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings, and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers.

Text Messaging

Contrasting stories about trends in text-messaging:

LONDON (Reuters) - U R dumped -- one in seven say they have suffered the same fate as Britney Spears' ex-husband and been told it's all over via text message or email, a survey said Friday.

While hiding behind technology might appear a cowardly way of splitting up, it contrasts with the four percent who simply drop all communication with their lovers without notice.

and:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Text messaging is playing a growing role in the 2008 presidential race as a handful of candidates look to the technology to reach younger voters often glued to their mobile phones.

The three leading Democratic candidates -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- are providing "mobile updates" to supporters who choose to receive SMS or short message service updates on their cell phones.

Ain't technology grand?

Iraq: US Troops Needed for 10 Years

Reuters:

Iraq will need foreign troops to help defend it for another 10 years, but will not accept U.S. bases indefinitely, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

"Of course we need international support. We have security problems. For 10 years our army will not be able to defend Iraq," Dabbagh told the state-run al-Iraqiya television in an interview broadcast late on Sunday.

"I do not think that there is a threat of an invasion of Iraq, or getting involved in a war. (But) to protect Iraqi sovereignty there must be an army to defend Iraq for the next 10 years," he said.

"But on the other hand, does Iraq accept the permanent existence of U.S. bases, for instance? Absolutely no. There is no Iraqi who would accept the existence of a foreign army in this country," he said. "America is America and Iraq is Iraq."

The United States now has about 155,000 troops in Iraq, formally operating under a U.N. Security Council mandate enacted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Iraq has asked the Security Council to extend the mandate for what it says will be a final year to the end of 2008, and conditions for U.S. troops to stay on beyond that date are to be negotiated in the next few months.

Violence has subsided after the United States dispatched 30,000 additional troops to Iraq this year, and Washington now says it will bring about 20,000 home by mid-2008. Troop levels for the second half of the year are to be decided in March.