Border Wall Gaining Popularity in Mexico: The New York Times reports:

A growing number of elected officials and immigration experts [in Mexico] have begun to argue that a fortified border could dissuade undocumented immigrants from their perilous journeys across the Sonora desert, stemming the death toll and incidents of abuses by smugglers and corrupt law enforcement officers.

While the sentiment expressed is true, I doubt that the feelings are too widespread. After all, in some villages, mariachi music and feasts are customary sendoffs for those heading north.

Voting for Dollars: An initiative in Arizona would enter every voter in an election into a drawing for one million dollars. This is to encourage people to vote. What we should be concentrating on is encouraging people to know the candidates and issues so they can vote intelligently. Then again, if we did that the Democrat Party would vanish in a puff of smoke.

Poor Little Cork Critters: Bleeding heart alert!

Up to three quarters of the unique cork oak forests of the Mediterranean could be lost within 10 years because of the increasing popularity of the screw-top wine bottle.

The move away from traditional stoppers made of cork threatens the survival of one of Europe’s most important wildlife habitats, according to a study by the conservation group WWF.

This is one area in which I have very strong opinions, being a wine drinker. Corks fail, leading to cork taint. Five percent, 24 percent, even 33 percent of all bottles of wine are “corked”. In my experience, it is at least 20 percent.

Screw the cork forests. When I pay 10 to 25 bucks for a bottle of wine, it had better not have gone bad. If I wanted wine that smells of mouldy cardboard, I’d make it myself. Or drink a glass while standing next to a Frenchman.

Even Better Glenlivet: By law, stills in Scotland must be at least 40 gallons. But Glenlivet has received special permission to recreate a still from 200 years ago that was used to make contraband whisky:

The Glenlivet spirit, a Speyside malt, was renowned throughout Scotland and England. Such was its quality and reputation that during a visit to Scotland in 1822 King George IV requested a dram and is reported to have said he would drink nothing else from then on.

Now The Glenlivet distillery in Ballindalloch, Banffshire, has been given special dispensation by the “excisemen” to bring the original taste back to life. The Glenlivet, which is the top malt in the US and number two in Scotland, yesterday tried to turn back the clock two centuries by using a specially designed “small still” to produce the legendary whisky.

The “small still” will only have a capacity of 12 gallons. Sounds expensive.

I must have some!

Feds Reject Spotted Owl Protection: Tree huggers suffered another defeat in their fight to stop commerce in America, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a petition to put the California spotted owl back on the Endangered Species list:

The petition’s denial was based in part on the recommendation of scientists commissioned to study the owl, said Steve Thompson, manager of the agency’s California-Nevada operations office.

They found that fires that creep through excessive brush and eventually consume the old-growth forests the owls prefer are their main threat, Thompson said, adding that U.S. Forest Service tree thinning programs will prevent the spread of flames and ensure the owls remain off the endangered list.

The tree huggers claimed that the owl in question needs “mature trees” to nest. Never mind that they’ve been seen successfully nesting in a K-mart sign.

China Lowering Gas Subsidy: China, a member of the World Trade Organization since 2001, is going to raise gas prices at the pump to the equivalent of about $2.10 per gallon. But keeping gas prices low encourages waste and has resulted in heavy losses for refiners, and thus discouraged investment in new refining and distribution networks.

Other ways in which China is hurting the world economy: slowing rate of reforms mandated by the agreement to become a member of the WTO, and blatantly manipulating its currency, keeping it undervalued by as much as 40 percent.

Silly French in Canada: Nearly everyone in the world realizes that Kyoto was an unachievable goal — unless you want to bankrupt your economy, of course. But:

Quebec Premier Jean Charest says he’s ready to act alone to respect the Kyoto accord if the federal government reneges on its commitments.

Does anyone know of any country that has met the Kyoto reduction levels? A country that actually has cars and a manufacturing base, I mean.

Silly Scots War on Knives: They’re at it again, calling for tougher sentences for carrying a knife in Scotland:

Any person accused of carrying or using a knife who has a similar previous conviction will face prosecution before a judge and jury instead of a sheriff alone, meaning tougher sentences will be handed down.

Police have also been instructed to arrest anyone caught carrying a knife and police will no longer be able to grant bail to someone arrested for such an offence – instead they will be kept in custody before their first appearance in court.

I carry a pocket knife, which I’d be lost without. Silly Scots, attack the social issues, not the implements of destruction picked up by the social degenerates that your schools are turning out.

How Do You Keep That Lit? I’ll believe it when I see it:

Afghanistan is launching fishery projects in 12 provinces in an effort to convert opium poppy growers to fish farmers, local reports said Tuesday. …

Engineer Khalilullah Frogh, head of the fishery projects, said this would provide an alternative livelihood for those presently involved in cultivating poppies for sale to drug traffickers. He added that the government hoped the country could be self-sufficient in fish production in five years.

Afghanistan currently imports fish from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

The profits from poppy farming are astoundingly high. Tough to get people in remote areas to turn to fish farming.

Overdue Honors: 86-year-old Abraham Hanki received a Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal, finally receiving recognition for having spent three years in Japanese prison camps during World War II. Hanki is a survivor of the brutal Bataan Death March.

Thank you, Abraham Hanki, for your courage and sacrifice, and your commitment to make the military your career after your experience.

High School Faith: At a Kentucky high school graduation:

Earlier in the day, a federal judge had banned prayers from the ceremony in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

But during the principal’s opening remarks, about 200 students prayed aloud, drawing thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.

That’ll give you hope for our future generation.

Pictured is EveR-1, a robot built to resemble a 20-year-old Korean female:

Fifteen motors underneath her silicon skin allow her to express a limited range of emotions, and a 400-word vocabulary enables her to hold a simple conversation. …

KITECH [Korea Institute of Industrial Technology] scientists are now working on EveR-2, which they say will have improved vision, a wider range of facial expressions, and the ability to stand and move all four limbs.

An Australian scientist has built a partial DNA profile of Jack the Ripper using samples taken from the back of stamps and the gum used to seal the envelopes of letters purportedly sent by the killer to the police. While the results were inconclusive, the analysis suggests that Jack the Ripper could have been a woman.

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, aka Comet 73P, will make the closest approach by a coment in two decades when it whizzes past a mere 10 million kilometres from Earth in a string of dozens of pieces. You should be able to see two of the brighest chunks using a small telescope or even binoculars, and maybe we’ll even get a meteor shower next Monday or Tuesday.

It took 500 pounds of plastic explosives to send the USS Oriskany to the bottom of the ocean about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. The carrier, commissioned in 1950, was sunk in order to act as an artificial reef to attract fish and other marine life.

The FBI is looking for Jimmy Hoffa, this time executing a search warrent in Milford Township, about 35 miles west of Detroit.

New Jersey is fighting high gas prices by allowing some gas stations along the New Jersey Turnpike to go self-service, just to see if prices dip. That’s right — Jersey and Oregon actually forbid self-service stations.

Porn to the rescue! Technophiles will remember that it was the porn industry that drove VCR technology even as Hollywood moaned and complained that it would ruin them. Here they go again:

Starting Monday, Vivid Entertainment says it will sell its adult films through the online movie service CinemaNow, allowing buyers to burn DVDs that will play on any screen, not just a computer.

Dan Rather, veteran journalist who was infamous for his bias, derided for his softball interviews of Democrats, and publically shamed by his desire to run fictitious memos of Bush’s military service as fact, has the audacity to say that the media must retain “old-fashioned journalistic values.”

A fine column by a journalist on the subject of blogs. Money quote:

No matter how unappealing it may sound, the blogosphere is duty-bound to adopt the basic tenets of journalism – identifying your sources, checking facts and never sacrificing accuracy and fairness for the sake of a “good” story. The role of watchdog demands you be fully identifiable and accountable. (Full disclosure: we journalists need you.

CIA Watch: how we can learn from the Mossad in fixing our dysfunctional intelligence agency.

Kerry Watch: The hubris of a billionaire’s self defense fund.

Economy Watch: US Steelmakers are expecting robust demand for the rest of the year, making it the third year in a row that demand has remained strong.

Tax Watch: It looks like Republican lawmakers will succeed in extending some of the tax cuts for another year or two.

UN Watch: U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers are having sex with Liberian girls as young as 8 in return for money, food or favors.

MSM Watch: The New York Times has once again been caught plagerizing.

Illegal Alien Watch: An Arizona sheriff is using an old tactic to find and arrest those entering our country illegally: posses.

Health Watch: Cancer resistant mice have been discovered. “When white blood cells from the mice are injected into other mice, they eradicate advanced tumours and provide lifetime protection against the disease. … Even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with very large tumours were eradicated.”

Looney Watch: PETA has launched an ad campaign in which PETA President and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk is quated as saying, “Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we’d be against it.” [One supposes the same goes for cancer.]

Fun Facts for Lefties: Fidel Castro is apparently worth $900 million and ranked seventh on the Forbes magazine list of wealthy heads of state.

Today, 19 April, marks the 63^rd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

On April 19, 1943, hundreds of young Jewish fighters took up arms in the first major act of armed civilian resistance against the Nazis, who invaded and occupied Poland in 1939.

The insurgents opted to fight the Nazis in the face of the German plan to exterminate the tens of thousands of Jews remaining in the Ghetto.

63 years ago today, Jews recognized that they were being shipped off to death camps and took up arms to stop the horror. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the uprising remains an inspirational event.

I recommend ShrinkWrapped’s post on the subject.

Technorati Tags: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Here’s why I don’t give money to panhandlers:

[Elizabeth] Johnson and her 34-year-old partner, Jason Pancoast, who have been together for 14 years, support themselves and their three children, 6-year-old Seth, 3-year-old Adrianne and 3-month-old Synclair, by panhandling.

Pancoast refers to himself and his family as “affluent beggars.”

“If you’re an affluent beggar you stay in a hotel and eat a continental breakfast,” he says. “It makes it a lot easier to be philosophical about it.”

They’ve been begging for six years, yet have had two more children.

Carrying her smiling baby in a navy blue front pack and pushing Adrianne in a green jogging stroller, Johnson stops people on the street and asks them for money to find shelter for her children. … The family is staying at the Cedarwood Inn in a room with a kitchenette. It costs $243 a week.

Help her find shelter, because they are looking for someplace “more permanent” than an inn.

According to Pancoast, begging can be lucrative. He claims the family sometimes makes $300 a day asking for money and has made as much as $800. The family also receives $500 a month in food stamps.

$300 dollars a day, five days a week (you don’t expect them to work on weekends, do you?) for fifty weeks per year (they have to take vacation!) comes out to $75,000 a year. Do the math.

“I always felt bad for her because she had a baby in the hot summer sun,” says Debbie, an Ashland resident who asked that her last name not be used. …

But then Debbie saw Pancoast drop Johnson off at the Ashland Plaza in a nice car and kiss her and the baby goodbye. “Then I became a little bitter,” Debbie says. “I was working my tail off at three jobs — waitressing and babysitting — and I see her eating at restaurants that are so expensive I can’t afford to eat there.”

I spent a week in San Francisco a few years ago, a city overrun with homeless people. Every day on the way to the convention center I would pass one guy on a particular street corner and he was there each evening as I walked back to my hotel. He never missed a chance to hit me up for some cash. Until the last night of my trip when I was running a little late. He was on his cell phone calling someone to come pick him up.

Diamond Pet Foods has recalled 19 brands of dog and cat food for being contaminated with aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops.

Check the full list of recalled products to make sure your brand isn’t on it.

Just a Bump in the Beltway has a personal story on the matter that every pet owner should read. Scary.

Technorati Tags: Pets,
Cats,
Dogs,
Pet Food,
Product Recall.

Here’s a link to an awesome graphical representation of air traffic over the contentental U.S. during a 24 hour period.

Flights to Europe seem to be mostly inbound beginning at 5:30 a.m. or so and change to almost all outbound around 6 p.m. As expected, flight traffic ramps up fast and furious on the east coast starting about 6 a.m. and rapidly expands to the opposite coast by 9.

Found at Castle Argghhh!

A three-month investigation has shut down a counterfeit money ring responsible for up to 10 percent of all funny money in Arizona. What tipped off the authorities? They sent out a printer for repair which was jammed with counterfeit bills.

A deaf and blind Australian woman is suing her mother’s doctor in that country’s first “wrongful life” suit. The woman claims that if the doctor had correctly diagnosed rubella in the first trimester, her mother would have aborted her. She is suing for the costs arising from a lifetime of medical treatment that she needs to survive, not to mention pain and suffering.

A man that suffered brain damage in 2001 is suing his bank for $2 million dollars because the branch manager was rude to him when he asked that a $32 overdraft fee be reversed (after all, he was only $5 overdrawn). He claims that the stress from the encounter is making his condition worse.

Headline of the Day
UN has a Heart of Darkness

Most succint headline
He Had to Indict Somebody for Something!

From the Department of “Duh”
Bad blood exists between White House, CIA

An invisible could of sweet-smelling joy drifted through parts of Manhatten, prompting calls to emergency services:

Reports of the syrupy cloud poured in from across Manhattan after 9 p.m. Some feared that it was something sinister.

There were so many calls that the city’s Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to look into it.

Egads! The things that people freak out about freaks me out.