Quote of the Week, May 13 - 19

A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.

- Col. Jeff Cooper

CPL Holder Wins A Battle

Here in Detroit:

A 53-year old man was attacked by two thugs, one carrying a .22 and one armed with a baseball bat.

A robbery and crime spree aided by an unloaded gun came to a halt late Thursday when the gunman met more than his match: a gun with bullets.

Charles Parker Jr., 18, of Detroit was killed when a 53-year-old man pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot the teen, who was armed with an unloaded .22-caliber handgun.

Detroit police are calling it self-defense.

The botched carjacking on Grand River and Prevost came after a string of robberies in Detroit on Thursday, which police said were committed by Parker and four others, ranging in age from 16 to 20.

The good news:

After the shooting, police questioned the 53-year-old man and released him, noting that he had a valid concealed weapons permit.

Then they gave him back his gun.

Couple Days Off

I can't blog much through the end of May because work is very busy right now - a good problem to have, especially here in Michigan where jobs have been evaporating at an alarming rate (Michigan state motto: Make sure the last person leaving the state turns off the light).

Please excuse the slow down. I'll post lightly as possible.

God Bless,
J

Quote of the Week, May 6 - 12

Quote of the Week, May 6 - May 12, 2007

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

- Ronald Reagan

Carjacker Beats 91-Year-Old Man as Bystanders Look On

Out of Detroit, from Fox News:

A convenience store surveillance video shows each punch 91-year-old Leonard Sims took to the side of his face during a carjacking.

But the tape also caught a group of people standing only feet away who either didn't see the attack or chose not to get involved.

Mr. Sims was outside his car in the store parking lot about 8:30 p.m. when a man walked up and asked for a light for his cigarette. The man then pummelled Mr. Sims, a World War II veteran, hitting him at least 21 times in the head.

Our local police chief said the crime is "one of the most heinous" she's seen in years and is upset the bystanders did nothing. I thought the bystanders did exactly what they were trained to do. Nothing. See some old man getting pummeled? Do nothing. See someone attacked on the streets? Do nothing. Don't get involved and call 911. That's what the bystanders did. Except for the 911 part.

Crooks Pick the Wrong Victim

Crooks picked the wrong guy to pick on at Eastland Mall in Harper Woods (a suburb on Detroit's north border). From the Detroit News:

Two would-be thieves wound up fleeing their intended victim Saturday afternoon.

The men, one armed with a handgun, tried to carjack a man in the Sears parking lot about 2 p.m. at Eastland mall, according to a Harper Woods Police press release.

But the man turned out to be a retired Detroit Police officer -- and he had a handgun, Harper Woods Police said.

The retired officer fired one shot at the men, striking the stolen Dodge Durango truck they were driving, police said.

Detroit Police found the truck on Buckingham Street, but the suspects were gone. No one was harmed in the shooting and Harper Woods Police detectives are investigating the case.

When Non-Issues Become Dangerous

Here's one for the "Who Cares" files that just won't go away: Major League Baseball players may have done steroids. No shock there. Here is the more disturbing news: former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (a retired Georgia Democrat) is leading an "investigation" into the players medical records. And even if you hate baseball and couldn't care less about the 'roids "scandal" - this will trickle down to effect your life.

And please note, this post has nothing to do with whether or not it is "wrong" to use steriods... the MLB has banned them, so players shouldn't use them. If, however, players used them during the era when there was no prohibition against them - and while the MLB owners turned the other way and ignored what was going on - then the 'roid cases didn't break the rules... they may have bent them, but they didn't break them.

The medical records of Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro are being sought by investigators in baseball's steroids probe, The New York Times reported in Wednesday's editions.

The investigation, led by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, is seeking the files of dozens of other players, an unidentified baseball official with direct knowledge of the request told the Times.

A few years ago, Congress held hearings on the use of steroids in Major League Baseball. Now a former Senator is investigating - and medical records may open up to government agents. This can't be a good thing.

And perhaps the strongest union in the history of unionism, the MLB Players Union, is allowing this invasion of privacy to move forward.

Major League Baseball and the players' union reached an agreement earlier this week that players will decide whether to release their medical records, unidentified baseball sources told the Daily News reported.

Under the compromise, when Mitchell asks for a player's history, the team will give it to the player. After that, the player will decide whether he wants to cooperate.

Leave it to a former Senator and a bunch of billionaire team owners to take a complete non-issue and turn it into a violation of someone's privacy.

"They gave you your medical record, pal. Why won't you show it to us? What are you hiding? Hey, media sources, this guy won't release his records to us... he must be guilty of something."

Here's another thing that scared me:

Mitchell, picked by commissioner Bud Selig last year to lead the investigation, does not have subpoena power and has faced resistance in his effort to interview players and get medical records.

No subpoena power? No kidding. Why should he have subpoena power? What possible legal reason should he have to be given subpoena power? Is he a judge? A prosecuting attorney? No. He is a private citizen with a famous name hired to pry into medical records.

If this kind of medical privacy invasion can happen to a guy who inks a $40 million contract, it isn't much of a stretch saying it can happen to the guy in the factory or the office worker. Sure, it wouldn't be about steroids, but this abuse of justice opens another legal door to trample on people and their rights. All under the guise of keeping "America's game" clean.

This is no Mickey Mouse

This is just too much:

Hamas TV has a new children's show which features a Mickey Mouse lookalike. But this Mickey does not romp about with Pluto, nor does he woo Minnie Mouse. Instead – he teaches his young viewers to fight the "Zionist Occupation" and dream of a world dominated by Islam.

Click here to see "Mickey" say interesting things like "We are setting the cornerstone for world leadership under Islamic Leadership" and "It's the time of death, we will fight a war." All while sounding like he's been sucking on helium balloons.

The squeaky-voiced Mickey Mouse lookalike, named Farfur, is the star of a weekly children’s program called Tomorrow’s Pioneers on the official Hamas TV station (Al-Aqsa TV), which broadcasts from Gaza via satellite to the entire Arab world. Farfur and his co-host, a young girl named Saraa’, teach children about such things as the importance of the daily prayers and drinking milk, but also instruct them to hate Israel and the US and support "resistance" – a euphemism for terror.

Farfur tells children that they must pray in the mosque five times a day until there is “world leadership under Islamic leadership.” The earnest and soft-spoken Saraa’ explains that the nucleus of the Islamic leadership of the world will be from “all of Palestine,” including Israel. Farfur refers to Israel as “the oppressive invading Zionist occupation,” which the children must "resist."

Saraa’ announces that after death, the children will have to answer to Allah for what they did or did not do for the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and for Palestinian prisoners: “I remind you that Al-Aqsa and the prisoners are a responsibility on our shoulders, and Allah will ask us on Resurrection Day what we gave for their sake," she tells the tots viewing the show.

[...]

The program encourages participation by child viewers, who phone in to the show and recite poems with images of hate and violence; for example, “We will destroy the chair of the despots, so they will taste the flame of death,”
and, in another poem, "Rafah sings ‘Oh, oh.’ Its answer is an AK-47. We who do not know fear, we are the predators of the forest."

Herod the Great's Tomb Found

Maybe it isn't as exciting to the American Media as Paris Hilton's upcoming 45 days in the slammer, but archaeologists have discovered King Herod's tomb in the ruins of Herodium in modern-day Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem and north of Hebron.

A view of Herodium from the air.
Photo Copyright Arutz Sheva

Herod the Great is most famous for slaying the male babies 2 years old and under around Bethlehem. This forced Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to flee to Egypt until Herod the Great died (Matthew 2). His son, Herod Antipas, was the ruler during Jesus crucifixion (Luke 23) and resurrection. According to Acts 12, his grandson, Herod Agrippa I, killed the Apostle James (Yakov) and imprisoned Peter (Kefa) who was subsequently freed during an angelic visitation.

map copyright BBC

According to Arutz Sheva,

Herod was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37 to 4 BCE. He was renowned for his many monumental building projects, including the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the palace at Masada, and the Herodium complex, 15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. The Herodium, Herod's final resting place, is among the most outstanding of his building projects. Prof. Netzer has led archaeological digs there since 1972, and the "exposure of the king's tomb here becomes the climax of this site’s research," Netzer said.

The coffin was found broken into pieces, and Prof. Netzer explained that it was likely broken some 70 years after the unpopular king's death, during the Jewish rebellion. Herod had also been known for his cruelty, killing his wife and children, among other perceived opponents.

The Herodium is famous for the well-known mountain-top structure comprising a palace, a fortress and a monument. The excavations on the slope of that mountain, where the tomb was found, began in August 2006. The expedition, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was conducted by Prof. Netzer, together with Yaakov Kalman and Ro'i Porat.

The approach to the burial site was via a monumental flight of stairs 6.5 meters wide, leading to the hillside; the stairs were especially constructed for the funeral procession. Herod died in Jericho, but left instructions to be buried in the area known as the Herodium.

The mausoleum itself was almost totally dismantled in ancient times, but part of its well-built podium remains. Spread among the ruins are pieces of a large, unique coffin, nearly 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) made of a Jerusalemite reddish limestone, decorated by rosettes. The sarcophagus (coffin) had a triangular cover, which was decorated on its sides. Only very few similar sarcophagi are known in the country, and can be found only in elaborate tombs such as the famous one at the King’s Tomb on Salah a-Din Street in eastern Jerusalem. Although no inscriptions have been found yet at Herodium, archaeologists are hopeful that some might yet be found.

Wild Goose Chase
The search for Herod’s tomb, which began actively 30 years ago, focused until last year on Lower Herodium, which includes an area built especially for the king's funeral and burial. However, atop the Herod-era ruins was a large complex of Byzantine structures that took many years to dig out first.

Finally, Herod's Tomb Estate was dug. Though two monumental buildings and a large ritual bath (mikveh) were found, as well as a large route (350 meters long and 30 meters wide) that had been prepared for the funeral, no sign of the burial place itself was found.

The expedition then started to search for it on the slope of the hill, where it was finally found. Prof. Netzer emphasizes that there seems to be no doubt that the king's initial intention was to be buried in the estate. Herod later changed his mind, however, asking to be buried within the artificial cone which gave the hill of Herodium its current volcano-shape.

Josephus Leaves Out Detail
The main historical source of the Second Temple’s days, the historian Josephus Flavius, described the site of Herodium in detail, as well as the funeral - but left out the detail of the burial having taken place on the hillside instead of in the Tomb Estate.

A complex of tunnels from the days of Bar-Kokhba within the Herodium mount was opened to the public in the 1980's. The archaeological excavations at the site, which stopped in 1987, were renewed 10 years later and continued until 2000, and after a second break, were renewed at the end of 2005.

Blogs for Borders, May 8

Illegal Immigration Riots

Highlights the "illegal" part of illegal immigration.

Warning - protesters use bad language

Michigan State Senator Wants to Eliminate Gun-Free Zones

This is somewhat dated news (coming to light right after the VT tragedy), but very interesting. I saw it first on the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owner's site.

State Senator Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt), the man who led the legislative charge for our new Castle Doctrine protections, wants to eliminate gun-free zones (aka Criminal Empowerment Zones).

As highlighted in the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Cropsey declares "It's time that the American people say the Second Amendment should apply everywhere."

Of course, Michigan's Bastion of Socialism, Ann Arbor, has a State Senator who disagrees. She was Ann Arbor's mayor when I briefly taught at the U of Michigan - and hasn't changed at all.

Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, says it is time Michigan and other states investigate ways to learn about an applicant's mental-health history when issuing gun permits.

"We need to revisit the whole system of background checks and make it much more thorough," Brater said. "It's just much too lax."

I'll skip the expected liberal response and focus on Senator Cropsey:

Cropsey is among gun advocates who say the nation's campuses should be deregulated to allow professors to carry concealed weapons, eliminating what he calls "victim zones" where gunless people are left defenseless.

One valid reason for more guns on campus, he said, is because there is no armed security at most private colleges.

pring Arbor University and Albion College both operate safety departments staffed by officers who are neither sworn nor armed. Both schools rely on local police to provide protection, officials said.

Cropsey pointed to one instance in last week's tragedy where a professor died trying to block a door so his students could escape Cho's rampage.

"How come that professor wasn't allowed to defend himself?" Cropsey said. "We need to say, 'Educators have the right to defend themselves. They have a right to defend their classrooms.' "

As an interesting side note, the Executive Director of the Michigan Psychiatric Society is against "mental health evaluations" for those who want to purchase a gun.

Kathleen Gross, executive director of the Michigan Psychiatric Society, said it would be difficult to regulate guns based on mental illness and ensure accuracy, fairness and that it "holds up to constitutional muster."

"We can't predict behavior. We can kind of evaluate who might benefit from treatment."

Quote of the Week

Quote of the week, April 29 - May 5, 2007

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

- Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence

Rattlesnake Time

When I was a kid, the phone company replaced a phone pole right by our house. When they yanked the old pole out of the ground, there were rattlesnakes there in the pit! In Detroit! And I wasn't born in 1911 or some time when this would be typical.

I understood as a kid that Detroit may have a lot of faults, but rattlesnakes were not one of them. I'd never seen a live and up-close rattlesnake before - anywhere, let alone Detroit.

This memory flashed across my mind when I saw today's lead story in the Detroit Free Press by my favorite Free Press columnist, Mike Wendland (a certified good guy in 2Valuable's book):

Michigan is snake species' favorite locale, but don't be rattled

This photo is copyright Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press

Nowadays they are found further out from the city, especially in the counties on Detroit's northern border.

It's rattlesnake season in Michigan.

If you live near wetlands in southeastern Michigan, you probably have Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes nearby. They're just waking up from winter. And they can be cranky.

Massasaugas are in danger of extinction in every state, except Michigan. There are so many here that Purdue University researchers are trying to figure out why.

"There are thousands and thousands of them around southeastern Michigan," Dr. Bruce A. Kingsbury, director of Indiana-Purdue University's Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management in Ft. Wayne, Ind., said last week. "It's probably the last stronghold for the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake."

Of course, with any interesting article, government has to get in the way and tick you off.

It's a misdemeanor in Michigan to kill one, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

A misdemeanor to kill a snake? Gee, that's good to know, although I don't really expect to run into another rattlesnake in Detroit - at least one that isn't a metaphor.

Side Note:
During the War of 1812,more soldiers died from rattlesnake bites on the march up from Northern Ohio to Detroit than died from actual fighting trying to keep Detroit in American hands.

American General William Hull, a hero in the Revolutionary War, eventually surrendered Detroit to British forces. The US won it back before the end of the war.

Terrorism in Michigan

I've been to four or five weddings at this church. What happened here really caught my eye.

If you are an anti-gunner, please tell me what you would do in this situation, before the police nabbed the bad guy. Please tell me how a firearm wouldn't be a part of your self-defense.

This happened in Troy, a suburb of north of Detroit. These threats occurred during the same time period as when another disgruntled employee shot up an accounting office just a few miles away.

A displaced music director at the Evanswood Church of God faces four terrorism-related charges over e-mail threats to conduct a "Columbine or Virginia Tech type killing" aimed at 13 church members, police said.

Roy Owen Yaryan, 56, of Rochester Hills, was arraigned Tuesday and is held in lieu of $750,000 cash bond pending his preliminary exam in Troy's 52-4 District Court.

Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said Yaryan sent out e-mails under the name of Evanswood Church of God Pastor A.C. Phipps while describing himself as having a Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality.

"The e-mail indicated the recipients were about to see his Mr. Hyde side, as he was planning a Columbine or Virginia Tech-type killing at services the follow Sunday (April 29)," Scherlinck said.

Church officials at the 150 member congregation at 2601 Square Lake Road cancelled the services, but have reopened since Yaryan's arrest, an unidentified woman at the church said.

A worker at the church said Phipps was out-of-state and on vacation.

However, the church did issue a statement reading: "Thank you for your concern for our congregation at Evanswood Church of God. We understand from Troy Police that an arrest has been made and their investigation continues. We view this as a time of healing for our congregation and the families involved."

A church Web site said Phipps joined the church in June2004 and has served 35 years as pastor at churches in Texas, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Scherlinck said Yaryan had some "internal grudge" with the Evanswood Church of God pastor and the church's leadership team.

"My understanding is that he was the music director and they replaced him," Scherlinck said. "But there were other things he also didn't agree with."

Yaryan, Scherlinck said, took elaborate steps to disguise his computer trail from the victims.

"We have a forensic computer investigator who found software and encryptions," Scherlinck said. "(Yaryan) sent e-mails out of the country and back to victims to protect his identity."

Troy police executed a search warrant at Yaryan's residence on April 27 and confiscated two computers while no one was home, Scherlinck said.

Then on April 28, several members of the congregation received another threatening e-mail allegedly from Yaryan purporting to be the pastor. It contained the names of 13 church members indicating he intended to kill them, Scherlinck said.

The e-mail message indicated the sender knew the church had closed, but it was his intent to "engage in a mass killing whenever the church doors were re-opened," Scherlinck said.

Soon afterwards, police executed a second search warrant at Yaryan's house and found him inside with another computer that he tried to hide,

Scherlinck said. Police arrested Yaryan and confiscated the computer. Yaryan called the threats a "prank," Scherlinck said.

Oakland County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Walton described the accusations against Yaryan as "very, very serious."

"I know his assertions will be he never intended (to carry out) this," Walton said. "But that is irrelevant. The crime occurred when the threat was made. The defendant has effectively terrorized a small church. He did this on April 25 and April 28 and both times he reported he would kill specific people."

Walton said Yaryan is married. Yaryan doesn't appear to have a previous criminal record, Walton added.

Yaryan is charged with two counts of false report or threat of terrorism and two counts of using a computer to commit a false report or threat of terrorism. All are felonies, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The alleged threats follow three workplace shootings on April 9 at Gordon Advisors, 1301 Long Lake Road, Troy.

End of the Fast

The Bible records that Jesus the Messiah fasted for 40 days (Matthew 4:2). Elijah also fasted 40 days (1 Kings 19:5-9). Of course, Moses had his famous fast from food and water for 80 days straight (Deuteronomy 9:9-18).

My reasons weren't holy, but I did fast from Blogger. And it showed how addicting blogging is. It was much harder to "fast" from Blogger than it is to fast during Yom Kippur.

Anyways, I'm back.

Blogging Fast

I am crunched at work until Friday night.

Some people fast from food. I am on a fast from Blogger - until Friday night. I'll binge as soon as I can - but not for a couple of days.

In the meantime, God Bless.
Jay

Blogs for Borders, May 1

NY Times Suffers

I know people's reading habits are changing and newspaper readership has been suffering for years... but I can't help but wonder if plain crappy reporting is responsible for this current problem in "journalism."

From Family Business Magazine:

Investors withhold 42% of votes for N.Y. Times directors.

New York Times Co. shareholders withheld 42% of their votes for four directors at the company's annual meeting April 24. "While the vote is largely symbolic since the Sulzberger family remains in control of the company, the significant withhold vote reflects growing impatience among investors about the company's lagging stock price," the Associated Press reported. "The size of the withhold vote was even larger than last year, when 30 percent of investors withheld their votes for directors elected by holders of the company's publicly traded shares."

In a statement, Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said, "Management and the full Board will continue to listen carefully to the issues raised by our shareholders. That said, the Ochs-Sulzberger family remains firmly and unanimously committed to the dual class share structure that has been in place since before the Company went public in 1969. With approximately 19% of the Company's Class A shares and 89% of its Class B shares, our family's interests are very much aligned with other shareholders in seeing the Company's performance improve."

Before the vote, Institutional Shareholder Services, a shareholder advisory firm, had recommended that Times investors withhold their votes for the four directors elected by Class A shareholders. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece the day before the vote, Donald E. Graham, chairman and CEO of the family-controlled Washington Post Co. -- which has a similar stock structure -- decried ISS's recommendation. "[I]f the stock structure were eliminated," Graham wrote, "a line of buyers eager to purchase the company would form within minutes.... The line would include private equity firms, high-ego billionaires, international media companies lacking a famous property and lots more. Who would bid the highest? Perhaps a principled owner, dedicated to the welfare of the Times and the Boston Globe; willing to anger its friends on a regular basis, as good newspapers do; and prepared to spend money and run other risks to sustain the paper like the Sulzbergers. Or maybe the bidder would be someone quite different." (Sources: Associated Press, April 24, 2007; Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2007.)

What a funny quote, by the way, from the Chairman/CEO of the Washington Post. Apparently the only groups who can give "objective and accurate reporting" are people hired by the WaPo and the NYT.