Disgusted

I visit stlbloggers, the collection of St. Louis area bloggers, a few times a day. This morning, I found that Arch Pundit's been attacked by an unsavory, and I thought I'd share part of the letter he received.

My skeptical mind, upon first reading, thought there was no way on EARTH that an intelligent person would craft and then send this letter. But, there's a post confirming authenticity a few posts above this. Make of it what you will.

Hey Commie:

Imagine my chagrin when I used a search engine to find commentary about myself, and there was your shallow, dilettante, asshole self, labeling me a "white supremacist."

Being the shallow, nigger-loving dilettante that you are, you probably DO consider niggers to be your equal (who am I to question this?): Yet, unlike you and your allies, I have an I.Q. in excess of 130, which grants me the ability to objectively evaluate the Great American Nigro (Africanus Criminalis.)

The nigro is 11.5 % of the U.S. population, yet he commits in excess of 55% of all felonies (although felonies are UNDER-represented in the nigro community, where observing the law is considered "acting White!") Moreover, he (or should I say she?)accounts for 48% of all ADC recipients in the U.S. We have spent over $7 TRILLION on "Urban Welfare Spending" since the mid-1960s, (black economists Thomas Sowell & Walter Williams) and the nigro is still as criminal, surly, lazy , violent and stupid as he/she ever was, while his illegitimacy rate is 80% nationwide, and over 90% in the "large urban areas."

Go read the whole thing.

hln

JetBlue Hiring for PR Positions

JetBlue Hiring for PR Positions

Wired (and everyone else, really - I found one on the NY Times later) has an article about the JetBlue debacle.

JetBlue Airways began sending out apologetic e-mails Thursday to customers who are infuriated that the airline gave 5 million passenger records to a defense contractor investigating national security issues.

The form letter, provided by JetBlue to Wired News, confirmed a Wired News story that JetBlue turned over the names, addresses and phone numbers of its customers in September 2002 in response to an "exceptional request from the Department of Defense to assist their contractor, Torch Concepts, with a project regarding military base security."

The e-mail was carefully worded to say that data was never provided to a government agency or used for airline security testing, that the sole copy had been destroyed, and that the Torch presentation was developed without JetBlue's knowledge. The company also expressed regret and promised never to turn over passenger information again without court order.

We're sorry. We won't do it again.

The letter will not be placed on the company's website, but will go out under the name of JetBlue's CEO, David Neeleman, said JetBlue spokesman Gareth Edmundson-Jones. The e-mail closed with, "I am saddened that we have shaken your faith in JetBlue but I assure you personally that we are committed to making this right." Jones added the company was "flabbergasted" when they first saw the Torch Concepts presentation.

You'll get a better taste if you read the whole thing.

That last sentence I quoted is a bit damning, really. It's the presentation that bit Jet Blue the worst, not the provision of the data (which was against JetBlue's privacy policy), according to an earlier Wired article. Worse yet to the public, Jet Blue isn't apologizing for its actions of handing over customers' data; it's apologizing that the action was made publicly undeniable by the presentation.

It's sad, too - another blow to the airline industry.
JetBlue turns a profit.

hln

Posted by hln at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

That's. Just. Great.

SAN DIEGO - A fire that destroyed three homes under construction early Friday was the work of a radical environmentalist group, officials said. Investigators are also looking into a second fire at another construction site.

Yeah, great. The zombies of the Earth Liberation Front are likely behind this latest mess.

Hey, zombies. Just where do you live? Caves? Tents made of grape leaves. Really, I want to know.

Alan of Elegance Against Ignorance has more.

hln

Not Quite the Darwin Awards; Still, Mind-Baffling Reality

So, here's a good idea. You're in love with your friend's wife. So you kill your friend. Simple, right?

Miller, 49, of De Soto, said he fatally shot Larry Holman at the request of Holman's wife, Tammy. Miller said he was in love with Tammy Holman and had hoped to move in with her and her children, then ages 10 and 12.

Ooh, look, mommy. A new daddy! Where'd the old one go?

Miller told Judge Jeff Schaeperkoetter that he had been emotionally disturbed and medicated at the time of the killing and was unable to refuse Tammy Holman's demands that he kill her husband.

"I wish I had been strong enough to turn her in as a cheating wife, but I couldn't," Miller said. "Every time I tried, she talked me out of it." Miller said he and Tammy Holman planned the killing during hunting season to make the death appear to be a deer-hunting accident. That's a claim she denies.

Hmm, I'm emotionally disturbed right now. Perhaps my spouse should hide? Unable to refuse. I, um, see. So, essentially, you're a weak-minded fool with the mental processing power of a syringe filled with a five-day-old unused tetanus shot. Please write that 100 times on the chalkboard, and then you can go home. This obviously is not your fault, right? The courts say, "our bad." And that's your punishment.

Of course, the courts didn't say "our bad." They put the man in prison. They also imprisoned the woman.

hln

The Rest of the Story?

On April 25th, Brian gave brief mention to the Missouri legislature's bill to make it a FELONY to photograph animal production facilities without prior written consent. This wasn't the point of his story, though, but it will be the point of this evening's discussion.

We give a fair sum of money to groups like the Humane Society (both local and national), the APA, and Metro Animal Resource Services, for whom I volunteer by doing things like occasional website updates and wearing very short skirts to fundraising events. So, when animal legislation changes are possibly afoot, I'm often included in mailings, both paper and electronic. This situation has everyone's attention in the animal community.

I link you to this: Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation

First, felonies. A felony conviction, as probably all of you know, can remove many of an American's inherent rights. The first flyer I received on this gave an overview of a Missouri Class D felony - up to 5 years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine. Don't forget, when you apply for that next job with your local government, you'd have to mark that you'd been convicted of "a felony" if somehow you were to violate this proposed law. Does this seem a bit harsh to you?

Next, animals, both companion and dinner animals. Animals are not people, though obviously companion animals can become part of the family. Though not self-aware, animals feel pain and pleasure, joy and sadness. Dinner animals, for lack of better terminology, well, we want our dinner animals to be as healthy and well treated as possible. After all, garbage in, garbage out.

Last, let's discuss obfuscation. Earlier, this was HB494 (officially known as SCS HB352/494). As of May 7, 2003, a mere four days ago, the debated language has been migrated (most likely strategically) to SB 668, otherwise known as the Omnibus Farm Bill, according to this article. It bothers me that I cannot verify the veracity of this information, but I'm going to go ahead and assume it is true given how long I've been following this concern, and I'll be digging deeper as the week progresses. And, if the claims are substantiated, I will make my requisite phone calls.

And I leave you with this, taken from http://nopuppymills.com/newsletters/0303.htm.

Missouri – “The Don’t Show-Me State”

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but if certain special interest groups in Missouri get their way, a picture will soon be worth an all expense paid trip to the state prison.

Crimes are categorized as misdemeanors or felonies, a felony being the more serious. Misdemeanors and felonies are further classified from ‘A’ to ‘D’, with an ‘A’ being the most serious. A Class ‘A’ misdemeanor is a step below a Class ‘D’ felony. A Class ‘D’ misdemeanor is at the opposite end of the scale from a Class ‘A’ felony.

In Missouri:

It is a Class ‘A’ misdemeanor to molest a child under the age of seventeen. 566.068
It is a Class ‘A’ misdemeanor to conduct sexual activities with an animal. 566.111.
It is a Class D felony to knowingly abandon a child under the age of eight. 568.032.
Knowingly starting a fire or explosion is a Class D felony. (569.055.)
Trespassing on someone else’s property is a Class B misdemeanor. (569.140)
Participating in dog fighting or cockfighting is a Class D felony (578.173)
To desecrate a flag is a Class A misdemeanor (578.095}

The site also asserts that Missouri produces 1/3 of the nation's pet shop puppies.

The bill's purported sponsors:
Sen. John Cauthorn 573/751-6858 (filibustered against a good puppy mill bill in 2001)
Sen. David Klindt 573/751-1415 (bill co-sponsor, chairman of Senate Agriculture Committee)
Rep. Peter Myers 573/751-5471 (chairman of House Agriculture Committee)

Thanks for reading.

hln