Saturday, July 9, 2011

Real people in comic books make an interesting conversation…

I grew up in what is often referred to as “The Silver Age” of comics, when Marvel Comics made their big marketing move against the well-established DC Comics collection of Super Hero’s such as Superman and Bat Man.

I was fascinated with the whole concept of  Super Hero's. I didn’t care much for comics like Archie, or the Donald Duck series that was so popular in the late fifties and early sixties. Spiderman vied with Thor and the Incredible Hulk for being my favorite character.

Comics books are often reflective of our society. It’s been that way for a long time and I don’t expect it’ll change soon. 

As the November elections loom, the philosophical gulf between President Obama and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin seems to yawn ever wider. But there is at least one place they can find common ground: the Chok’lit Shoppe, venerable hangout for Archie and the gang.

Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis starred in long-running comic book series back in the 1950s and ’60s. Once-popular actors like Alan Ladd and Buster Crabbe had their own titles, as did western stars like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and John Wayne.

But those comics were fantasy narratives about their on-screen personas, not the actors themselves. The same could be said about the rock band KISS, who battled Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom in a 1977 comic.

Popular musicians are appearing in more realistic accounts of their real lives; Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Madonna are a few examples. But you don’t have to be a rock star to get your own comic:

You can be a politician (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton), a TV star (Martha Stewart, Betty White or Stephen Colbert), a business mogul (Mark Zuckerberg, a planned Donald Trump bio), or just notorious (Lindsay Lohan appears on the cover of a series called “Infamous,” and a future issue on Charlie Sheen is in the works).

As It Stands, my only problem with comic books today is they’re so expensive. I still see those issues for a dime in my mind. Wish I’d have saved some back then!

Saturday stuff: over-reaction to flipping the ‘bird,’ gold coin controversy, and ‘Save Phonehedge West’

middle-finger

Good Morning Humboldt County!

It’s time to sip on the hot beverage of your choice while we leisurely look at today’s stories. I think this trio of tales ought to get you going: 

Guards over-react to middle finger

South African President Jacob Zuma's elite guards overstepped their authority when they arrested and roughed up a student who they thought made an obscene hand.

 Family fights government over rare ‘Double Eagle’ gold coins

A jeweler's heirs are fighting the United States government for the right to keep a batch of rare and valuable "Double Eagle" $20 coins that date back to the Franklin Roosevelt administration. It's just the latest coin controversy to make headlines.

Philadelphian Joan Langbord and her sons say they found the 10 coins in 2003 in a bank deposit box kept by Langbord's father, Israel Switt, a jeweler who died in 1990. But when they tried to have the haul authenticated by the U.S. Treasury, the feds, um, flipped.

They said the coins were stolen from the U.S. Mint back in 1933, and are the government's property. The Treasury Department seized the coins, and locked them away at Fort Knox. The court battle is set to kick off this week.

Calif. oddity's creator ordered jailed by judge   (AP)

Calif. oddity's creator ordered jailed by judge

LANCASTER, Calif. – The eccentric creator of a Mojave Desert compound of whimsical buildings known as Phonehenge West was jailed Friday for failing to obey an order to cut electricity and keep guests out of the illegal structures.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daviann Mitchell put off Kim Fahey's sentencing for code violations, but ordered him held in lieu of $75,000 bail for disobeying a previous order.

Mitchell said Fahey's "blatant refusal" to demolish the structures and disconnect electricity put his family, the community and first-responders at risk because the buildings pose a significant fire hazard. The judge had allowed Fahey to remain free pending sentencing on the condition that he follow the order.

"I did not want to put Mr. Fahey in custody. I wanted to work with Mr. Fahey. I gave him an opportunity," Mitchell said. "I don't think he has taken the public risk to heart. He has chosen to do nothing."

The case has turned into something of a fight-the-system cause celebre with more than 29,000 fans of a "Save Phonehenge West" Facebook page.

Friday, July 8, 2011

What a surprise: Mexican cartel boss says he buys all of his guns from the USA

Image: Jesus Enrique Aguilar

I’ve written about this subject a couple of times in the last three years. One of the many claims by the NRA and other gun activists is that the Mexican cartels don’t get a significant amount of their guns from the U.S.

I’ve always taken the position that the U.S. has been a main provider of guns for the cartels. My columns were both vilified by numerous NRA websites, and websites operated by outright wackaloon gun lovers who threatened me for suggesting we need stronger gun laws. I’ve just got one thing to say to all of those smart asses…sit on this story and spin!

During an interview recorded by Mexico’s Ministry of Public Safety, Jesus Enrique Rejon, alias 'El Mamito,' told officials that the feared drug gang purchases all of its guns in the US.

In the interview (the video of which is available here), Mr. Rejon claims the group used to sneak the arms through border checkpoints, but stricter security measures have forced them to smuggle them across the Rio Grande. He also alleged that the Zetas’ rival Gulf Cartels have an easier time bringing weapons across the border. “It got harder, but we can still get them,” Rejon said. “Those in the Gulf Cartel get them a lot easier; we don’t know why. It’s impossible to buy them and smuggle them in a vehicle trunk, but they do it. There must be a deal somewhere. I don’t know.”

It has long been known that gun stores in the American Southwest are a significant source of weaponry to Mexican cartels, a topic that InSight Crime has covered extensively in its GunRunners report.

Story Here - By Geoffrey Ramsey -

Geoffrey Ramsey is a writer for Insight – Organized Crime in the Americas, which provides research, analysis, and investigation of the criminal world throughout the region. Find all of his research here.

U.S. official says pre-infected computer tech entering country

This news is very discouraging…we, those with computers, could be pawns for other governments or private interests!

Confirming years of warnings from government and private security experts, a top Homeland Security official has acknowledged that computer hardware and software is already being imported to the United States preloaded with spyware and security-sabotaging components.

The remarks by Greg Schaffer, the Department of Homeland Security's acting deputy undersecretary for national protection and programs, came Thursday during a tense exchange at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The panel is considering an Obama administration proposal to tighten monitoring and controls on computer equipment imported for critical government and communications infrastructure.

Schaffer didn't say whether the equipment he was talking about included end-user consumer tech like retail laptops, DVDs and media players. If so, his comments, first reported Friday morning by Fast Company, would be the first time the United States has publicly confirmed that foreign consumer technology is arriving in the country already loaded with nasty bugs like key-logging software, botnet components and even software designed to defeat security programs installed on the same machine.

Schaffer made the statement under questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who noted that "the issue of software infrastructure (and) hardware built overseas with items embedded in them already by the time they get to the United States ... poses, obviously, security and intellectual property risks."

DEA Closes Eyes to Evidence, Rejects Petition to Reschedule Marijuana for Medical Use

20101007_34676

After nine years of regulatory delay, the DEA rejected a petition by a coalition of groups including California NORML to reschedule marijuana for medical use.

The response came only after advocates sued in federal court for unreasonable delay.The petition, filed in 2002 by the Cannabis Rescheduling Coalition (http://drugscience.org), cited a growing body of scientific evidence plus the approval of medical marijuana in several states as grounds that marijuana qualifies as having "accepted medical use" and should be removed from Schedule I.

The DEA countered that none of the evidence was valid since it did not meet the standard of FDA new drug application trials.The DEA  cited a five-year old DHHS paper claiming that marijuana did not have medical use.  While referencing innumerable studies showing potential health risks of marijuana, it failed to reference any of the hundreds of studies showing medical efficacy of marijuana on the grounds that they did not meet the standard of well-controlled, large-scale, double blind FDA approval trials.  However, none of the negative evidence cited by the government met that standard, either.

The DEA failed to mention that it has deliberately obstructed FDA trials from taking place by denying the approval of a research-grade marijuana growing facility at the University of Massachusetts, contrary to the recommendation of its own administrative law judge. The only existing legal source of marijuana for U.S. researchers is the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has stated that it will not pursue FDA studies of the drug for medical use.

"The government has created a Catch-22 situation, in which the DEA is free to ignore mounting scientific evidence and the experience of countless physicians and users who have found medical marijuana effective in order to protect its bureaucratic position," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer, who helped author the re-scheduling petition. " The government's response raises serious questions about its competence to manage Americans' health care. Surveys have shown that patients who use medical marijuana can dramatically reduce their use of other, more costly but less effective FDA-approved prescription drugs. Yet DEA drug bureaucrats are deliberately ignoring these facts so as to protect their bloated agency."

Advocates are planning how to challenge  the DEA decision. Medical marijuana advocates are supporting a bill by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the State's Medical Marijuana Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 1983), which would end marijuana's schedule one status and let states regulate its medical availability. Under a policy recently reaffirmed by the Obama administration, the federal government has arrested, charged , threatened, and/or imprisoned hundreds of individuals in states with legal medical marijuana for violating  federal laws. (http://www.canorml.org/fedcasessum.html.)

California NORML is calling on  Congress to investigate the DEA's malfeasance with regards to medical marijuana.

DEA answer to CRC petition:

http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/CRC_Petition_DEA_Answer.pdf

CRC rescheduling petition:

http://www.drugscience.org/PDF/Petition_Final_2002.pdf

canorml@canorml.org

California NORML, 2261 Market St. #278A, San Francisco CA 94114 -(415) 563- 5858 - www.canorml.org

Finally Friday: poo police, win a baby game, and French robbers copy Wild West tactics to rob train

Good Morning Humboldt County!

I’m looking forward to another beautiful day. Have you got your cup of coffee or tea? Well then, join me this morning as we check out the news. Let’s start off with a case of POO POLICE!

Doggie DNA nails owners of pets leaving smelly piles

Some pet owners who failed to clean up after their dogs got a nasty surprise from apartment complex manager Deb Logan. Using DNA evidence, Logan started fining the irresponsible dog owners $100 per offense. Logan, property manager at Twin Ponds in Nashua, New Hampshire, started using a dog DNA-testing system to reveal which pooches were leaving feces scattered about outside.

Logan says the DNA technology called "PooPrints", developed by BioPet Vet Labs of Knoxville, Tennessee, is working "amazingly" well for Twin Ponds, a 339-unit complex that is home to about 241 dogs.

At Twin Ponds, all tenants with a dog now must use a PooPrints pet DNA sampling kit when they move in. To set up a profile, owners come to Logan's office, swab their dogs' cheeks for a saliva sample, and Twin Ponds then sends that to BioPet, which creates a reference database that includes all the community's canines. Photo source

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New "win a baby" game draws fire

A controversial IVF lottery will launch in Britain this month giving prospective parents the chance to win thousands of pounds toward expensive fertility treatments in top clinics.The scheme, which the media have dubbed "win a baby," has already run into trouble on ethical grounds with critics calling it inappropriate and demeaning to human reproduction.

Britain's Gambling Commission has granted a license to fertility charity, To Hatch, to run the game from July 30. photo source

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

French train robbers revive Wild West tactics

In a scene taken straight out of an American Wild West movie, masked men robbed a freight train in southern France Thursday night after blocking the railway tracks with shopping carts and metal beams. About 20 bandits looted several carriages and then vanished into the night. It was unclear what was taken.

"Attacks on trains aren't new, but it is a pretty rare phenomenon," David-Olivier Reverdy, a police union official in the area said. "It's worthy of stagecoach attacks in the Wild West," he said.

photo source

Time for me to head on down the road…

Thursday, July 7, 2011

What's in your navel? Hundreds and hundreds of types of bacteria

Belly button

When I was a teenager we use to kid about contemplating our navels to reach enlightenment.

It was back in the 60s and there were gurus and yogis everywhere.

Recently, scientists from the Belly Button Biodiversity project went navel-gazing and discovered 662 new species of bacteria.

Yuckkkk…read all about it here.

Immortal jellyfish: Does it really live forever?

Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish

While it is often joked that cats have nine lives, a certain species of jellyfish has been deemed “immortal” by scientists who have observed its ability to, when in crisis, revert its cells to their earliest form and grow anew.

That means that these tiny creatures, 4 mm to 5 mm long, potentially have infinite lives.

The creature, known scientifically as Turritopsis nutricula, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea in 1883, but its unique regeneration was not known until the mid-1990s.

Muscle cells can become sperm or eggs, or nerve cells can change into muscle cells, “revealing a transformation potential unparalleled in the animal kingdom,” according to the original study of the species published in 1996.

Father gives daughter most unique name in America

It Was Bound To Happen: Baby Named After Facebook "Like" Button

Given the sheer number of people on Facebook — and given the vast number of parents who have no problem saddling a child with a name that will require an explanation for its entire lifetime — it was inevitable that someone out there would be so inspired by Facebook that they would name their kid after the site's "Like" button.

"We named her Like because it's modern and innovative," said the little girl's father. "I checked that the name does not exist anywhere elsewhere in the country, that was the main condition for me." The new pop says his baby girl's name is going over well, at least with his Facebook pals: "When I posted her picture and name on Facebook I got 40 'likes,'... Considering that I have only a little more than 100 friends on the network that's a lot."

image source

Thursday Thoughts: weird crime and punishment stories

spongebob

Man in Spongebob pajamas robs store

A man wearing Spongebob Squarepants pajama bottoms and an accomplice robbed a Family Dollar Store in north Harris County, officials said Wednesday.

Investigators said the first robber was a black male in his late teens to early 20s, 5 feet 5 to 5 feet 7 inches tall, 200 to 220 pounds, with short Afro hair and a light complexion. He wore a light blue McDonald's work shirt with yellow Spongebob Squarepants pajama bottoms.

 [perv

Burglar caught with blow-up doll in closet

This burglar couldn't wait to get his hands on the merchandise.Police said they caught a man inside a sex shop in Woodbridge in Virginia's Prince William County, Inside Nova reported. It happened early Tuesday morning at the MVC Late Night adult store along Jefferson Davis Highway. Police found Justin Dale Little Jim, 28, in the closet with a blow-up doll, prosecutors said. According to Inside Nova, law enforcement said Jim was caught "attempting sexual relations" with the plastic doll. He’s now charged with burglary, grand larceny and felony destruction of property, police said.

Bad-boy taxman paid dominatrix with city money

A tax collector who pleaded guilty to raiding town coffers of nearly $800,000 and using some of the money to pay a dominatrix is due to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Hernandez said Bartolozzi, a Secaucus city employee for the past 25 years, stole about $750,000 in tax funds between February 2008 to May 2009. He also stole about $25,000 from the local municipal union, according to prosecutors.

Bartolozzi made 19 wire transfers to a dominatrix, named "Tara Juliana," at addresses in five different states and internationally, prosecutors said. The dominatrix's website at one time included a picture of Bartolozzi, the dominatrix and others, the Journal reported.

Woman wearing purse on head tries to rob store

A woman wearing a purse on her head who claimed she was armed with a gun attempted to rob the Grill & Grocery store on Highway 700 in Ruffin on Saturday, Rockingham County deputies said.Deputies said the clerk asked the woman to show her gun, but the woman refused. She did have a bulge under her shirt, deputies said. Deputies said the woman left after being given no money and drove away in a red car that according to a witness was parked in a nearby driveway.No video of the incident was captured because the store's video surveillance system wasn't working properly, deputies said. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Crimestoppers at 336-349-9683. Editor’s Note: the photo is not of the woman who robbed the store in the story. Just a way of helping you envision what she might have looked like.

That’s all for now junior crime stoppers. It’s time for me to head on down the road…

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...