Photo Op

The perpetually tone-deaf administration of King Barack of KenyaHawaii, Lord of Savior of Big Media (the BM for short), has done it again.

A jumbo jet being chased by F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.

It was not a terrorist attack, however, but a photo opportunity for Air Force One, sources told the Post.

President Obama was in Washington at the time, but the low-flying 747 circling the Statue of Liberty was one of the planes used as Air Force One, sources said.

The NYPD and the city were notified of the planned flight, but did not share that information with Mayor Bloomberg and other New Yorkers, many of whom said they were terrified.

Gee, King Barack. It didn't occur to any of the rocket scientists in your administration that a 747 being pursued by an F-16 fighter jet near ground-effing-zero might cause just a WEE bit of panic?

Naturally, a low-level functionary in the administration fell on his sword to take blame for the debacle.

A White House official is taking responsibility for a Boeing 747's flying photo op over New York City that sent some workers in lower Manhattan into a panic. The plane is a version of the 747 that's called Air Force One when the president is aboard.

White House military office director Louis Caldera says federal officials notified local and state authorities in New York and New Jersey, but he also apologized in a statement on Monday for the confusion and disruption.

And, just as naturally, King Barack was as clueless as Sgt. Shultz.

Obama said he wasn’t informed in advance of yesterday’s low-altitude flight over New York Harbor, which rattled windows in New York’s financial district and prompted some office workers to flee buildings in fear it was a terrorist attack.

The FAA knew about the photo op. But, in typical bureaucratic arrogance, insisted on secrecy.

Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

Okay, let's take King Barack at his word. He didn't know about this travesty of a sham of a mockery - a traveshamockery! - and dopes within his Administration were to blame. The fact he has so many dopes in his administration isn't cause for concern, is it? Nah! Not. At. All.

Today mighty King O celebrates 100 days in office. A special Vulture Droppings will follow, devoted to the 100 days anniversary but also delving into the sycophantic press coverage that is sure to accompany said anniversary.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll hurl.

Damn Niners!

Uh, Toes...you may want to skip this one. It's (a) about the 49ers, (b) about the NFL, and (c) loaded with semi-censored profanity.

I have officially reached the limits of my patience with the 49ers and their asshat owners, the Yorks. Everything the 49ers did this past weekend either pissed me off or made me want to bang my head through the wall.

Let's start with the "new" uniforms. To paraphrase Willie "Too Big" Hall -- "At least we got a change of clothes. You're wearing the same shit you had on four decades ago". * Yes, that's right. 1960's style, to the max. The 49ers have exchanged what was EASILY the best uniform in the entire league for "the same shit they had on" in 1969!

Ooooh! But it's been modernized! The dopey 1960's-style stripes are thinner now! And they kept the updated helmet logo!

BFD! Those uniforms look like shit! The Niners now officially have the second-blandest uniform in the entire league (No one - let me repeat, NO ONE - will EVER overtake the quintessentially bland and awful uniforms of the Cleveland Browns).

Wide red-white-red helmet stripe. John Brodie and Charlie Krueger just called - they loved it....IN 1970!!!!!!! And the gray facemasks. Ugh. Talk about totally washing out the entire helmet. The jersey is fine. Boring, but fine. The pants are the same boring shit they wore for 30 years before the coolest uniform ever was unveiled between 1996 and 1998.

Now the coolest uniform ever is a thing of the past. I. Could. Just. Effing. Scream.

But if I thought the uniforms were bad, they were positively AWESOME compared to the goat-screw that was the Niners performance in the draft.

The Niners went into the draft with the stated goal of establishing Mike Singletary's kind of team -- smashmouth, imposing it's will on its opponents. No flash, just mash.

In order to accomplish this, they needed to bring in some big, strong, ugly dudes on both sides of the line of scrimmage. OL depth. A dominating nose tackle. A pass rusher.

They then proceeded to produce this abortion of a draft!

Round 1 - Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech.
Round 3 - Glen Coffee, RB, Alabama
Round 5 - Scott McKillop, ILB, Pittsburgh
Round 5 - Nate Davis, QB, Ball State
Round 6 - Bear Pascoe, TE, Fresno State
Round 7 - Curtis Taylor, S, LSU
Round 8 - Ricky Jean-Francois, DT, LSU

ARE. YOU. EFFING. KIDDING. ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!

Vulture's First Law of the NFL draft: Unless the player in question is a Jerry Rice, a Randy Moss, or a Larry Fitzgerald - that is to say, a once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-lifetime kind of player - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, N-E-V-E-R draft a Wide Receiver in the first round. Michael Oher was still on the board, a huge OL with a penchant for destroying defensive linemen!!!!! There were two decent OLB/DE prototype linemen still on the board.

But Vulture, he could end up being that once-in-a-decade guy! Yeah, and I could start shooting fire from my ass! C'mon! Texas Tech?!?!?! For crying out loud!

But that wasn't the worst. After trading the #2 pick to Carolina - the one smart thing they did all frigging weekend! - they proceeded to draft a Running Back. The 49ers have two superstar players: Frank Gore and Patrick Willis. Last time I looked, Frank Gore plays RUNNING BACK! Yes, depth is good. But that was a second round pick that could have gone towards defensive help! Or OL depth!

Based on the theme of the previous pick, guess what the next pick was? Yeah, AN MF-ING INSIDE LINEBACKER! Gee. Doesn't Patrick Willis play........INSIDE LINEBACKER?!?!??!

Oh, but they weren't done tearing my heart out! Now they proceeded to waste the next pick on A QUARTERBACK!!!! NOW I'm PISSED!!!!!!! They just renegotiated Alex Smith's contract - he's supposed to be the QB of the future. They've got my boy Shaun Hill, who has done nothing but win 70% of his starts on a team that hasn't sniffed .500 since 2002; a QB they insist on treating like a red-headed stepchild because there's no sizzle with his steak. Yeah, we needed another quarterback...

A blocking tight end (like there aren't 500 of THOSE available as free agents AFTER the draft!). A safety known for trying for SportsCenter big hits rather than for technically sound tackling. And then, to rub my nose in it like a dog who's pooped on the floor, they FINALLY draft a Defensive Lineman.

Yesterday evening I was threatening divorce. You know, I divorced a team I thought I would love for the rest of my life before. I divorced the Oakland A's in 1997 for the mortal sin of preferring to be cheap and finish 2nd every year rather than to re-sign the premier home run hitter of his generation, Mark McGwire.

But I can't do it. This team has brought me so much joy over the past 40 years. 5 championships. Two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. The greatest wide receiver EVER. The greatest Free Safety EVER. The Catch. The Catch II. Montana to John Taylor for the win in SB XXIII. Garrison Hearst's 96 yard TD run to beat the Jets in OT in '97.

49ers, I wish I knew how to quit you.

* from The Blues Brothers, one of my all-time favorite movies

Death Knell: Part II - The Propaganda Machine

Climate change – a term which makes "global warming" indisputable because if it cools in some places and heats in others, or gets dryer in one place and wetter in another (supposedly), then IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF HUMAN CO2 EMMISIONS! from The Urban Dictionary.

---

This installment and the next few following it address the never ending propaganda stream we're subjected to in an effort to convince a credulous populous that we're all doomed unless we take drastic measures to stop AGW.

There is more than the usual kind of boilerplate propaganda being employed to further the AGW agenda. There are the Hysterical Predictions. There is the Persecution of Non-believers. There are the Data Anomalies, Questionable Practices, and Bad Models (read: fraud). And lastly, there is the Governmental Full-court Press to force the issue.

I'm addressing each of these techniques separately, as their employment is crucial to the whole house of cards that is AGW propaganda. Today's technique: Hysterical Predictions.

Hysterical Predictions

In light of recent evidence that the planet is actually cooling, the True Believers have changed their focus and now refer to the "crisis" as Climate Change. Thus armed, ANY weather anomaly can be attributed to AGW!

Here are examples of hysterical predictions and, in some cases, an open mocking of those predictions that have come up short.

You'll be able to kayak to the North Pole!

Via the Canadian Free Press comes this little gem:

"You could potentially sail, kayak or even swim to the North Pole by the end of the summer. Climate scientists say that the Arctic ice . . . is currently on track to melt sometime in 2008." Ted Alvarez, Backpacker Magazine Blogs, June, 2008.

Soon after this prediction, a huge Russian icebreaker got trapped in the thick ice of the Northwest Passage for a full week.

The Russian icebreaker? Now THAT'S funny, I don't care who you are.

2009 will be the warmest year on record!

Next year is set to be one of the top-five warmest on record, British climate scientists said on Tuesday.

The average global temperature for 2009 is expected to be more than 0.4 degrees celsius above the long-term average, despite the continued cooling of huge areas of the Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon known as La Nina.

Yeah, about that. It's a pity all of these record low temperatures had to go and spoil that for you.

The E. coli outbreak was caused by global warming!

Hmmm. That's odd. Discover Magazine removed the article and comments from their site. Maybe it's because Mexican peppers were discovered to have caused the outbreak.

AGW is causing rampant disasters!

Global warming is destroying species, raising sea levels and threatening millions of poor people, the United Nations' top scientific panel will say today in a report that U.N. officials hope will help mobilize the world into taking tougher actions on climate change.

Funny thing. They don't bother to provide a single shred of evidence. Funny.

Obama only has 4 years to save the planet!

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added.

Soaring carbon emissions are already causing ice-cap melting and threaten to trigger global flooding.

This one is more than a little bit laughable, given the "kayak to the North Pole" item and the fact that ice around the poles hasn't changed in the past 30 years.

But there's one thing about this item that isn't funny in the least. Check the name of the "scientist". Jim Hansen is the numero uno NASA propagandist in chief. His agenda? He believes that climate change should be used as a vehicle for wealth distribution.

Excess carbon may result in an ice age!

Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that 630 million years ago the earth had a warm atmosphere full of carbon dioxide but was completely covered with ice.

The scientists studied limestone rocks and found evidence that large amounts of greenhouse gas coincided with a prolonged period of freezing temperatures.

Such glaciation could happen again if global warming is not curbed, the university's school of geography, earth and environmental sciences warned.

Pardon me for a second here - I'm going to wet myself laughing!

I mean, COME ON! Even at "high" levels of CO2, there is a gas that is much more plentiful and has a much bigger influence on planetary temperatures than CO2. You want to know that that dangerous gas is? It's effing WATER VAPOR!

Global warming causes extreme cold weather!

The recent cold wave sweeping across Mumbai and other parts of India could be attributed to global warming, experts said on Tuesday here at an environmental conference.

Yeah. They actually said it.

And, now...the coup de grace.

The top 10 dud predictions of 2008:

1. OUR CITIES WILL DIE OF THIRST
2. OUR [Great Barrier] REEF WILL DIE
3. GOODBYE, NORTH POLE
4. BEWARE HUGE WINDS
5. GIANT HAILSTONES WILL SMASH THROUGH YOUR ROOF
6. NO MORE SKIING
7. PERTH WILL BAKE DRY
8. ISLANDS WILL DROWN
9. BRITAIN WILL SWELTER
10. WE'LL BE HOTTER

Hysterical predictions may work short-term to generate public support for the fight to "beat" AGW. But as the public starts to wake up and see that these predictions are total crap, this could ultimately be the straw that breaks this straw man's back.

We can only hope.

Vulture Droppings - Spring cleaning

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

---

Over the course of time, as I wade through various news items on TV and on the web, I accumulate a "to do" list of items on which I wish to comment. The only problem with that approach is that new stuff is happening all the time, so only the most pressing (or personally appealing) items actually make it into the blog.

This issue of Vulture Droppings is my attempt at Spring cleaning -- to clear out the "to do" list and start afresh.

---

I had an epiphany this week.

Have you ever noticed that Earth Day falls on the day after 4/20 (or 4:20 for you stoners)? NOW Earth Day finally makes sense to me.

Hippy 1 (taking drag on joint): Dude, we should totally, like, do something, like, big.
Hippy 2 (irritated that Hippy 1 is Bogarting the joint): Like, what, man?
Hippy 1 (finally passing the joint): Like, I dunno. Maybe, like, save the Earth or something.
Hippy 2 (talking while trying to hold his breath to keep the smoke in): Dude! Like, totally!
Hippy 1 (irritated that Hippy 2 is Bogarting the joint): Dude! Let's make a special day for, like, demonstrations and action to save the Earth.
Hippy 2 (finally passing the joint): We can call it Earth Day! Let's do it! We could start today.
Hippy 1 (reaching for the Doritos): Nah, let's do it tomorrow...

---

Anyone who has read this blog for more than 5 minutes knows that I L-O-V-E the 49ers. But, if this rumor is true, I'm about to be mad as hell.

Following in the path of the Detroit Lions (which is always a good idea), the 49ers are scheduled to unveil some helmet and uniform tweaks this weekend.

Tweaks? According to the rumor, the Niners are going back to the old red-white-red helmet stripe and gray facemask. Gaack! Don't get me wrong, I love the old throwback uniforms. But the bland 1960's style stripes? And the gray facemask - something I ALWAYS disliked because it made a bland helmet look even blander? Please don't be true! Please!

---

Schadenfreude, sweet schadenfreude. Congressman Peter DeFazio got to experience his Frankenstein's monster first-hand.

The Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, reported that DeFazio "lost his temper" and denounced the security as "stupid" and complained to screeners that he was a member of Congress who had helped found the Transportation Security Administration. The paper said DeFazio swore and "caused a ruckus that drew extra security officers."

DeFazio told The Oregonian that he did not try to hinder the screening. He was screened at Eugene Airport, flew to Portland and then was pulled out of a passenger line boarding a flight to Washington, D.C.

And the Vulture smiled the kind of smile one associates with a vampire locked in a blood bank.

Wassumatta, DeFazio? You too good to be subjected to what the rest of us routinely experience? Your monster wasn't intended to harass the "important people", just us serfs?

I only wish they'd have done to you what they've done to other passengers who've raised a fuss. A picture of you getting tazed would have been...priceless.

---

A new criminal class has emerged in Washington State.

The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states.

But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green.

Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap.

As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds.

Smugglers! Contraband! Cascade?!?!?

Two thoughts. First, Washington is experiencing the Law of Unintended Consequences. The quest to "save the Earth", itself a hubris-induced product of the Chris Berman Generation (the 60's Baby Boomers), keeps resulting in more and more regulations that do little to change pollution levels due to the fact that one form of pollution (in this case, phosphates) is replaced by another (the energy cost of re-washing the dirty dishes that didn't get cleaned by the "green" products).

Second, little-by-little Leviathan is making criminals of us all. People who wouldn't DREAM of committing any sort of crime that harms another person or their community are now SMUGGLERS guilty of violating Washington State law.

Criminals. Because they want clean dishes. Priceless.

---

Caput Penitus Culus has been oddly silent for the past week. Maybe I wore him out...

I get the impression he's not well-liked outside of the sycophants, law fetishists, and judge-felators who frequent his site. I happened upon a post at The Plural Life where a commenter going by the name duaneh1 posted this:

In the ligher side of the news, Coram has a new friend:
http://thelurkingvulture.blogspot.com/2009/04/wiener-of-week_18.html

“Caput Penitus Culus” (latin for “head in a@@”) is Blueseys new nickname fondly given by Vulture.

He does having a winning personality, that Culus.

---

Okay, the "to do" list is officially cleaned up. Whew! A Vulture's work is never done!

---

Wiener of the Week

Blowback (blow-back): an unforeseen and unwanted effect, result, or set of repercussions (from Merriam-Webster Online).

I think that General Electric now understands the concept of blowback. And it's earned them a WotW.

Attendees who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter said shareholders asked about 10 politically charged questions concerning MSNBC as well as one about CNBC.

First up was a woman asking about a reported meeting in which CEO Jeff Immelt and NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker supposedly told top CNBC executives and talent to be less critical of President Obama and his policies.

Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told what to say or not to say about politics.

During the woman's follow-up question, her microphone was apparently cut off. A short time later, Watters asked a question and his mic was cut, too.

"The crowd was very upset with MSNBC because of its leftward tilt," one attendee said. "Some former employees said they were embarrassed by it."

When he got the floor, Watters focused his question about MSNBC on Olbermann's interview of actress Janeane Garofalo, who likened conservatives to racists and spoke of "the limbic brain inside a right-winger."

"He (Watters) was complaining that Olbermann didn't bother to challenge her," another GE shareholder said.

Wait...you mean that MSNBC is.......biased?!?!? No way! [/sarcasm]

Here is the thing. MSNBC reinvented itself as the counterweight to Fox News Network not too terribly long ago. It was intended to lean as far to the Left as Fox leans to the Right. But the reality is that Fox is Neo-Conservative, which is a Center-Right political viewpoint. So...the fact that MSNBC is somewhere to the Left of Frederick Engels but is viewed by its corporate overlords as a counterweight to a Center-Right news channel just goes to show you how out of touch Big Media (the BM for short) really is.

I thought it was a nice touch that questions that made the corporate overlords squirm were met by a dead microphone. Their news network has been practicing that very same technique with stories that don't toe the "official narrative" for quite some time.

General Electric and its official organ of Communist propaganda, MSNBC: you're the Wiener of the Week!

Attention sychophants! Here are your instructions.

We are fast approaching the 100 days milestone of the presidency of His Royal Highness, King Barack Obey-me, Lord and Savior of Big Media (the BM for short). The administration is gearing up for the "event".

April 29 will be the 100th day of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The “100 days” concept has had mythical status since the days of the New Deal, when Franklin D. Roosevelt made history with a blizzard of bold federal actions. And reporters have been addicted to stories around this milestone in every administration since.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod calls the 100th day a “Hallmark holiday,” an essentially artificial event with no genuine significance. But he and his colleagues also know the reality: The early-verdict stories are going to be written, creating both a challenge and opportunity for the new president.

So senior White House aides are playing the game with relish, doling out made-to-order anecdotes and what-it-means analytical insights to help reporters write their 100 days pieces. You can already see the results in a spate of stories that — thanks to competitive pressures — editors are deciding to publish before the actual 100th day.

[...]

Here are seven things the White House wants reporters to write:

Wha-wha-WHAT?!?!?! Here are seven things the White House wants reporters to write?!?!? Did I read that correctly?

I mean, c'mon! I know the BM worships the carbon dioxide this guy exhales, but to actually put forward talking points to the media telling them what to write?!?!? Now THAT's some chutzpah! A real media, neutral and suspicious of those in power, would be SCREAMING about an administration that TELLS them what to write. So why do I hear nothing but the sounds of crickets chirping?

I know you're curious about the 7 things His Royal Holiness wants the media to say about him. They are:

• Obama is a promise-keeper.
• Obama is a game-changer.
• Obama is the decider.
• Obama’s not in the bubble.
• Obama is not FDR.
• Obama is FDR.
• Obama is one cool cucumber.
  

Read the Politico story I provided a link to above to see what each of those bullet points is meant to portray. There actually isn't a contradiction between the 4th and 5th items, believe it or not.

Truthfully, Obey-me needn't have bothered with the talking points. The BM does a plenty good job of serving as the administration's cheerleaders on their own.