Kevin L. Connors – Page 8 – The Daily Brief

Cory Maye Summary

14. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Drug Prohibition, Media Matters Not

Radley Balko has posted a summary of what he knows, to date, on the Cory Maye murder case. If you’ve been following this, and you should be, this is a must read. Because, as Radley states, many errors have crept into the story, as it’s made its way around the blogosphere. Stephen Gordon is also making an effort to keep the facts in order.

In other news, CBS has picked up the story. But so far, only to the extent of following the blogs. There’s also a passing mention in Slate, but only relative to a Tookie Williams story. A Google news search shows no other MSM interest, as yet.

The Truth On The Ground

14. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Iraq

Ben Connable, a Marine heading back to Iraq for his third tour writes in WaPo:

When I told people that I was getting ready to head back to Iraq for my third tour, the usual response was a frown, a somber head shake and even the occasional “I’m sorry.” When I told them that I was glad to be going back, the response was awkward disbelief, a fake smile and a change of subject. The common wisdom seems to be that Iraq is an unwinnable war and a quagmire and that the only thing left to decide is how quickly we withdraw. Depending on which poll you believe, about 60 percent of Americans think it’s time to pull out of Iraq.

How is it, then, that 64 percent of U.S. military officers think we will succeed if we are allowed to continue our work? Why is there such a dramatic divergence between American public opinion and the upbeat assessment of the men and women doing the fighting?

Open optimism, whether or not it is warranted, is a necessary trait in senior officers and officials. Skeptics can be excused for discounting glowing reports on Iraq from the upper echelons of power. But it is not a simple thing to ignore genuine optimism from mid-grade, junior and noncommissioned officers who have spent much of the past three years in Iraq.

I always prefer to listen to those with boots on the ground to far-off commanders and pols, much less armchair talking heads. Further, we might listen to the Iraqi people themselves, who are overwhelmingly optimistic:

An ABC News poll in Iraq, conducted with Time magazine and other media partners, includes some remarkable results: Despite the daily violence there, most living conditions are rated positively, seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead.

Surprisingly, given the insurgents’ attacks on Iraqi civilians, more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004. And 61 percent say local security is good — up from 49 percent in the first ABC News poll in Iraq in February 2004.

Chinese Demand Perestroika

14. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: General Nonsense, World

This from William J. Dobson at TNR:

There is no question that the growing size and scope of public unrest is a matter of grave concern for Beijing’s leadership. But what must be more alarming than the number of protests is something more fundamental: the erosion of the political formula that is supposed to keep the current regime in power. The Chinese Communist Party believed that, with the ushering in of Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms more than two decades ago, it had struck a grand political bargain with the people: that as long as Beijing kept the country’s economic engine humming the public would accept both the lack of political freedom and the state’s abandonment of the socialist principles upon which it was founded. Income was supposed to replace ideology.

But the country’s economic growth, which remains among the world’s fastest, is not keeping a lid on dissent. Indeed, just about the only thing rising faster than the country’s economy is the people’s anger at the government. Since 2000, the country has held steady with 9 percent economic growth. During the same time, protests have grown by more than 20 percent a year. For Beijing’s leaders, what is worse than the rising number of protests is not knowing how to stem the tide.

[…]

China’s leaders have probably long since realized a growing economy isn’t enough. Indeed, the country’s experiments in cowboy capitalism have led to many of the abuses that are now fanning the flames of protest. No one doubts that Beijing’s technocrats know what it takes to engineer impressive GDP growth. It’s less clear that they can condition millions of party officials to stop preying on their local populace and to start providing the type of governance that will give the party a good name outside of Beijing.

China’s leaders have been good students of the recent experiences of the former Soviet bloc. yet they have failed to pay heed to one virtually incontrovertible historical fact: economic liberalization virtually always portends political liberalization. Revolt is fomented in the middle and upper, not the lower classes.

And, For This Week’s Victim Of The Evil War On Drugs…

13. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Drug Prohibition, Politics

…We have the common cold and allergy sufferer, who will have a much harder time getting the medication they need, due to a “Combat Meth” amendment snuck into the Patriot Act:

TalkLeft has previously criticized North Carolina's use of its “weapons of mass destruction” law to charge a meth lab owner (follow-up here), as well as Oklahoma's law and John Edwards and John Kerry's plan to introduce a federal restriction on buying cold pills.

As TChris wrote here, the meth crisis is a myth. The only effect this bill will have on those who cook meth is to cause them to steal the pills instead of buy them. Plus, here's who will get busted under the cold pill laws – convenience store clerks, probably those that have difficulty understanding English, who thought the undercover cop was talking about a barbecue when he mentioned a “cook.”

Henry Hyde tried to slip a provision into the Patriot Act that increased drug law penalties by designating them “narco-terrorism offenses.” The Patriot Act has been used to bust a marijuana smuggling ring.

We need to be vigilant about keeping terror laws and drug laws separate, except in such instances where the two clearly are linked. We already have laws that penalize terrorism and laws that penalize illicit drug activity. There is no need to combine them.

In Oregon, and other states, there’s talk of making pseudoephedrine “prescription only,” None of this will do anything to stem the use of methamphetamine. Besides increasing the incidence of burglaries, as Jeralyn notes, it will simply move more production south of the border – where most of the meth is produced already – further enriching ruthless Mexican drug gangs.

This is of grave concern to me. I don’t have to worry, at this point, because while I rely on 120mg/day of pseudoephedrine, along with some other medications, to control my chronic sinus drainage, I get mine on prescription already. However, it’s but a step from requiring prescriptions to outlawing altogether – “first they came for the…”

The surest way to reduce consumption of meth? Make cocaine legal.

Your Next $20 Bottle Of Wine May Have A Screw-Cap

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Eat, Drink and be Merry, Technology

I’m with Professor Bainbridge on this:

I like old things. Old ideas. Old books. Old wines. I guess that’s part of the reason I’m a conservative. Yet, the intelligent conservative combines a disposition to preserve with an ability to reform. And so we come to the question of closures for wine.

For generations our ancestors used cork to close wine bottles, and they were wise to do so. Indeed, cork is a nearly perfect closure for wine. It is mostly impermeable, yet apparently allows just enough minute amounts of air into the bottle for the wine to evolve with age. And cork lends a certain romance to the otherwise mundane process of opening a bottle, as anyone who has popped a champagne cork knows. (For real romance, of course, port tongs can’t be beat.)

However:

Many fine California and Australia wineries are now experimenting with the Stelvin closure. In my experience, wines capped with screw tops taste just as good as those closed with corks and, of course, loads better than those closed with tainted corks. But will wines capped with screw tops age as well? According to the Spectator, Bordeaux and Burgundy wineries are starting to conclude that they can:

“Burgundy négociant Jean-Claude Boisset is releasing small amounts of several bottles from the 2003 vintage topped with screw caps, including premier cru Santenay Grand Clos Rousseau, Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin Villages. … “We feel fairly confident after the research we’ve done that the Stelvin will work nicely,” said Jean-Charles Boisset, the founder’s son. Boisset said the decision to test the Stelvin was sparked by a tasting of a 1966 Mercurey that was closed by screw cap….”

So the next time you see a $20 bottle of wine topped by a screw cap, don’t assume you’re being ripped off. As Laube opined:

“I’ve long advocated twist-offs, and when I’m shopping I’ve found myself gravitating toward them. One reason is that I’m assured the wine won’t be corked. Another is that I want to taste how fresh the wine is. I also want to support those who are taking an important leadership role for the industry and consumers.”

Me too.

Look for premium wines to come in boxes as well

BTW: Tech Central Station has changed it’s moniker to TCS Daily.

New Engine Technology

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Technology

I’ve seen so many of these things before, I can’t understate my skepticism. But I have to say, I find the RandCam quite interesting:

Click For Animation

The RandCam Direct Charge engine is an internal-combustion engine built around a rotary design. The technology is owned and licensed in North America by Reg/Regi Tech, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada (regtech.com). A RandCam engine would have two to three times the power and weigh half as much as a Wankel engine of the same size. Simplicity, power, and efficiency are key design priorities in the development of the Rand Cam/Direct Charge Engine, a truly revolutionary form of rotary power.

The engine is comprised of a disc-shaped rotor and driveshaft which turn the housing, or stator, which remains stationary. Up to 12 vanes mounted parallel to the shaft slide up and down along the outside of the rotor as they follow a track along the inside of the stator housing. Combustion chambers form between the rotor, stator walls and vanes, and their volumes change as the vanes move during rotation. Although the design could use only two vanes, the current version has 12, which generate 24 combustion events (intake, compression, ignition, exhaust) per rotation. This lets the engine generate 1hp/0.75 lb, as compared to a conventional internal-combustion engine’s 1 hp/6 to 7 lb. The engine has a compression ratio of 20:1, which lets it burn a variety of fuels, including diesel. It also uses 13 moving parts rather than 40 for conventional piston engines. That’s because the rotor and vanes replace timing gears, connecting rods, pistons, cylinders, and valves. This should improve reliability and cut manufacturing costs. The engine also generates lower vibrations because all the components are spinning in the same direction. There are no pistons or valves making thousands of abrupt changes per minute. The combustion chambers are also balanced around the rotor, plus the rotor acts as a flywheel to smooth out power imbalances and eliminate destructive harmonics.

The Rand Cam TM engine has a variety of possible applications, ranging from the tiny weed-trimmer to the commercial and/or military jet engine, and a wide spectrum of uses, from air conditioner compressors to air and steam expanders to hybrid vehicle applications, to personal power generation. Multifuel capability, fewer moving parts, high and efficient rates of combustion, low weight, reduced vibration, and ease of maintenance are but a few of the advantages this technology offers.

My suspicion is that this will suffer from sealing problems – time will tell.

Scamming The Scammer

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: General, Technology, The Funny

I don’t know if I’d go to the trouble. But I have to give Jeff Harris his props for getting one over on an eBay scammer:

It’s an extended article. But well worth the read. What really chaps my hide, though, is this form letter he gets from eBay, after reporting the phony escrow company scam:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to eBay’s Customer Support with your concerns. My name is John and I appreciate the chance to answer your question. I’m happy to assist you further.

An Escrow service allows the buyer to send their money to the Escrow Company, and the Seller then ships the item to the Buyer. Once the Buyer approves the item the Escrow service then pays the Seller. eBay recommends escrow for transactions over $500.00.

The Escrow service affiliated with eBay is called Escrow.com. eBay encourages members to take advantage of the assurance that escrow services can provide. For more information on escrow, please see the following eBay page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/escrow.html

I wish you the best with your future transactions.

Regards,

John W. S.
eBay Customer Support

The Potato Gun Phenomenon

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: General

This from Dr. Helen:

Remember when kids could play with toy guns and they were not a symbol of all that was evil in the world? My daughter doesn’t. She warned me that she could never bring the potato gun to school without the risk of expulsion. The sheer joy of running around being a kid is denied to our children today. It is a shame–it is no wonder our kids are so fat today. The slightest hint of rambunctiousness is medicated out of them and diagnosed as ADHD. A pointed finger becomes a symbol of a weapon that requires therapy or suspension. The whole world is now a place where mean adults (especially males) will kidnap you if you dare venture out into the world. It is best to just stay home, watch tv and eat junk food to squelch whatever desire you have to be autonomous in the world. Do we ever realize what joy we have taken from our kids in exchange for safety?

Hear hear, Dr. Helen! You are reading from what is a recurrent theme, here at The Daily Brief. In today’s society, we even have those busy-bodies who condemn children playing out aggressive tendencies vicariously through video games. They deny the basic nature of human beings. And, in turn, serve to foster dysfunction, not arrest it.

Playing Fast And Loose With The Facts

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Drug Prohibition, Media Matters Not

If you haven’t been following Radley Balko’s seminal investigative series on the murder trial of Cory Maye, you really should. In his interview with the prosecutor today, I get the distinct impression McDonald is playing fast and loose with the facts, just hoping Balko will go away.

This is also another incidence where the blogosphere is way out in front of the mainstream media. Stay the course, Radley. Perhaps you’ll be the first blogger to win a Pulitzer.

It’s In The Cards: Israel To Bomb Iran

12. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Iran, Israel & Palestine

According to this Sunday Times article, it’s all go for March:

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.

The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.

I wonder if Israel has the weapons systems to accomplish this without considerable collateral damage?

Movie Trivia For 6/12/05

09. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: That's Entertainment!

Of all the great vocalists (most notably Sophie Tucker) to play with Frank Sinatra on The Joker is Wild (1957), only one other (perhaps even greater than The Chairman – Sinatra’s ideal) was heard singing. And he/she was not even credited. Give a name, a tune, and a scene.

The Answer! The scene is the after-show party, where Joe E. Lewis (Sinatra) first meets Letty Page (the lovely Jeanne Crain). The rest of the party is behind a screen. The singer, who is obviously too tall to be Bing, is doing “June in January”. And, while the signature is unmistakably Bing’s, it doesn’t quite sound right – like a really good impersonation.

Well, it turns out they didn’t hire Bing to do a fresh cover, but rather, took the recording from the “Musical Autobiography” album, and sped it up just a tad.

Oh, In Case You Think I Only Like “Sad” Christmas Tunes:

07. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: That's Entertainment!

Just thinking of my comments on Timmer’s post here, our readers might only think I only like “sad” Christmas tunes. Well, that’s hardly the case. But, as a phenomenon of the traditions within my family, where Christmas has been all about the children, now that all the cousins have become adults, and taken off for distant parts of the globe, and – in their turn – started their own families, Christmas is a melancholy season of remembrance, and detachment.

But yes, I like some “happy” Christmas tunes – but they are almost all kiddie stuff, which I used to sing to my little nieces and nephews – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer comes to mind.

But there are a few “happy” and “adult” Christmas tunes I like. Most notable is Santa Baby – which, like any old standard, has many covers. The best, IMHO, is Eartha Kitt’s. Imagine that Catwoman purrrrrr applied to “hurry down the chimney to me” – do you get it? Oh, and there have been huge rape-jobs; what comes immediately to mind are Madonna and Kylie Minogue. Anyway, you will find Eartha’s cover – along with several other greats, including Judy’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, here. This would be a good buy.

Also, I want to note: apart from Eartha, I couldn’t think of any better voice to do Santa Baby than Bernadette Peters. And there are many supposed covers out there on the web. But these are phonies. To the best of my knowledge, and a couple of pros I have consulted, Bernadette has never covered Santa Baby.

Caveat Emptor

Looking For Movie Trivia Inspiration

05. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Site News, That's Entertainment!

Let’s not be mistaken here: my untapped knowledge of movie trivia is still rather encyclopedic. The problem is that it is mostly, well, rather trivial – at least to those outside Hollywood.

I’ve tried to set a guidepost, in all my movie trivia puzzles, things that were of particular impact to the industry, or had impact on a broader scale. In short – things that weren’t really so trivial. I think that has a great deal to do with the series’ popularity on this blog.

But now, I’m feeling a bit taxed. I’m sure I could dredge-up many more goodies – but real life intrudes. So, in order to keep up the momentum, I call upon you – my dear readers – for inspiration. Please e-mail me your movie trivia ideas. I will follow up on them. And, if I think I have something good to offer, do a post.

If I use your idea, I will notify you, via email reply, as such. As well, I will give you a Hat Tip at the close. But PLEASE – don’t answer the puzzle yourself (for obvious reasons). And, please, don’t be offended if I don’t use your idea – you don’t know how many of my own boners I have run through my head since I started this thing – only to reject.

Oh, and please don’t overestimate my feeble intelligence, thinking I should just know why your idea has merit – sell it to me. 🙂

Fucking AOL!!!

05. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Rant, Technology

I pretty much had my fill of AOL just a few weeks after the first time I went online, about six years ago. And then I forswore them forever. But then, about three years ago, I acquired a couple of friends that use nothing but AIM, so I installed it.

And the mischief is incredible – it’s as if the have license to run roughshod over your computer! I finally all but uninstalled AIM about a month ago.

Well, having some wild hair up my ass, I decided to start AIM tonight – just to see if I had any messages. E – Freaking-Gad!. By no action of my own, I had two new things on my buddy list – “Shopping Buddy”, and “Some Sort Of Fucking ‘Bot'”. I am sure that the next time I do system maintenance (and I just spent three hours making it sparkling clean last night), I will find all sorts of shit related to this. And I will bet, the next time I restart my system, AIM comes up automatically.

If I had a Rocket Launcher…”

Mullen’s Build Up Plans

05. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Military, Politics

This from David S. Cloud at the NYTimes:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 – The Navy wants to increase its fleet to 313 ships by 2020, reversing years of decline in naval shipbuilding and adding dozens of warships designed to defeat emerging adversaries, senior Defense Department officials say.

The plan by Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who took over as chief of naval operations last summer, envisions a major shipbuilding program that would increase the 281-ship fleet by 32 vessels and cost more than $13 billion a year, $3 billion more than the current shipbuilding budget, the officials said Friday.

[…]

The Navy is planning to squeeze money from personnel and other accounts, and ask shipyards to hold down costs, even if it means removing certain capabilities.

[…]

Now Admiral Mullen is seeking a fleet that will give the Navy a greater role in counterterrorism and humanitarian operations.

The plan calls for building 55 small, fast vessels called littoral combat ships, which are being designed to allow the Navy to operate in shallow coastal areas where mines and terrorist bombings are a growing threat. Costing less than $300 million, the littoral combat ship is relatively inexpensive.

Navy officials say they have scaled back their goals for a new destroyer, the DD(X), whose primary purpose would be to support major combat operations ashore. The Navy once wanted 23 to 30 DD(X) vessels, but Admiral Mullen has decided on only 7, the Navy official said. The reduction is due in part to the ship’s spiraling cost, now estimated at $2 billion to $3 billion per ship.

The plan also calls for building 19 CG(X) vessels, a new cruiser designed for missile defense, but the first ship is not due to be completed until 2017, the Navy official said.

The proposal would also reduce the fleet’s more than 50 attack submarines to 48, the official said. Some Navy officials have called for keeping at least 55 of them.

The choices have led some analysts to suggest that the Navy is de-emphasizing the threat from China, at least in the early stages of the shipbuilding plan. Beijing’s investment in submarines, cruise missiles and other weapon systems is not expected to pose a major threat to American warships for at least a decade. That gives the Navy time, some analysts argue, to build capabilities that require less firepower and more mobility, a priority for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The plan also calls for building 31 amphibious assault ships, which can be used to ferry marines ashore or support humanitarian operations.

“This is not a fleet that is being oriented to the Chinese threat,” said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, a policy research center in Arlington, Va. “It’s being oriented around irregular warfare, stability operations and dealing with rogue states.”

I bet Murtha won’t like this.

Movie Trivia For 11/30/05

04. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: That's Entertainment!

Name the event, and the (7) films:

David Carradine and Burt Reynolds did it twice. Michael Sarrazin did it once. And Peter Fonda only got half way. But H. Nelson Jackson did it first.

Update: Hey, cool – RPD and 74: I was bigtime into California desert racing back in the early ’70s.

Hint: Anyway – RPD had it pretty-much correct. But he (she?) fell short on the details. But let me give you this: Every personality has at least one film associated with them. That makes 5. And I said, with reference to two: “twice”. That makes 7. Any help there?

The Answer! Well… the event, traveling coast-to-coast via non-tracked motor vehicle, and the first five films are pretty easy. The sixth one I put in just to throw you for a loop. And the final one is just plain obscure:

David Carradine:

Cannonball!
Death Race 2000

Burt Reynolds:

Cannonball Run
Cannonball Run II

Michael Sarrazin

Gumball Rally

Peter Fonda:

Easy Rider (New Orleans is a bit farther than half way, but close enough.)

And finally, H. Nelson Jackson:

The Ken Burns documentary, Horatio’s Drive

Note: Timestamp jiggered.

Mossberg Touts iMac

04. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Technology

The Wall Street Journal’s uber-geek, Walt Mossberg, was on this weekend’s WSJ Report with Maria Bartiromo, reprising his November column: Tempted by the Apple?:

Q: How do Macs compare in quality with Windows PCs?

I believe that, at the moment, Apple makes the best computers, and the best operating system, for mainstream consumers doing typical tasks — email, web surfing, office-productivity functions such as word processing and presentations, photo organizing and editing, playing and collecting music, and editing home video.

Of all the major computer makers, Apple is the most focused on consumers and small businesses. Most make the bulk of their money, and take most of their cues, from the information-technology departments of large corporations.

Apple’s iMac G5 consumer desktop is, in my opinion, the single best home computer on the market. Its PowerBook laptops are among the top portables.

[…]

Q: Are Macs more secure than Windows PCs?

Yes. Since the OS X operating system came out in 2001, there has never been a report of a successful virus for it-that is, a virus that has infected numerous computers, and spread from computer to computer, outside of a lab. And there is little or no known spyware for the Mac. By contrast, there are tens of thousands of viruses for Windows and untold numbers of spyware programs. Just as regular Windows programs can’t run natively on a Mac, none of these malicious Windows-specific programs can run on a Mac either.

The Mac isn’t invulnerable, but it has better built-in security than Windows, and such a small market share that virus and spyware writers haven’t targeted it yet. As a result, most Mac users have been able to dispense with running the morass of security software that Windows users must employ.

[…]

Ten years ago, when Apple was stagnant and its products troubled, I recommended that consumers shun the Mac. If Apple’s quality and innovation slip, I might revert to that position. But for now, the Mac is the best computer, with the best operating system and the fewest security problems, for average consumers.

One also has to consider the fact that major Wintel suppliers have largely moved away from the consumer market. Today, your choices are basically 1) Build your own – if you’re a geek 2) Find a good “White Box” store in your area – if you’re lucky (and realize they could be out of business tomorrow) or 3) Go to one of the larger specialty suppliers – in which case you will likely pay more than an “equivalent” Apple, not less.

This is reflected in this post, and the accompanying comments, from Eugene Volokh:

Appalling Service from Dell:
Dell gets the dubious honor of having given me what’s likely the most ridiculously bad customer service experience I’ve had in years. I have a simple problem: The hard drive for my Dell notebook crashed after my computer was out of warranty. I bought a new hard drive, but now I need a boot disk for the Microsoft XP Professional operating system that I originally bought loaded onto my computer. I suspect this happens very often; there ought to be a standard procedure for it.

I’ve now spent over an hour trying to get this straightened out — almost all of it navigating through the voice-mail menus, waiting on hold, or being transferred to some other department. I got cut off during the transfer process twice. I’ve probably talked to eight different people. I was transferred to spare parts, who told me I had to talk to customer support, who then tried to transfer me back to spare parts, except at that point the call was cut off.

I was eventually told that I had to re-buy the operating system — not a good position for Dell to take, but if that’s what it takes, fine. I was transferred to spare parts, who took my service tag, and told me they had to transfer me somewhere else. Where did they transfer me to? The same voice-mail menu I came from.

OK, I thought, but at least the person who transferred me to spare parts gave me a part number. Maybe I could find it online. Nope, the spare parts search form online tells me there’s no such part number. And the online chat system that they suggested on the phone as a substitute for waiting on hold? I did get through to someone in a few minutes; and what did she tell me? Call spare parts. I eventually got through to customer care, and asked to talk to a supervisor. I was put on hold for a while — and then disconnected.

Now maybe all computer manufacturers are like that, but I’m hoping they aren’t. If you can recommend some companies that actually provide decent customer service, please post the answer in the comments. I’m thinking that rather than dealing with Dell again, for this or for anything else, I should probably just get a new system from a company that’s actually interested in pleasing its customers. But in any event, folks, be warned about what dealing with Dell can sometimes be like.

UPDATE: I tried one more time, and finally got somewhere. I called the sales line and said that I was a customer who also had a popular Weblog, and that I wanted to speak to a supervisor. Why?, they asked. Because I had posted something critical of the company and wanted to give them a chance to respond. (Indeed, if Dell wants to send me a response, I’ll be glad to post it.) I got a supervisor, and told him the same thing. OK, he said, but before I transfer you to someone, can we try to solve the problem? Sure, I said. I told him the whole story; he figured out whom to call and transferred me to that person without making me wander through more voice-mail jungle; I talked to the person; and finally, finally got a chance to buy a new copy of Windows XP Pro (the software that they knew I had bought with my original system) for a $100 discount off their $309 standard price.

Now I wouldn’t have been happy with having to pay an extra $209 even if they’d made it easy for me. But why did it have to take me nearly two hours of telephone time to get to the point where I could actually pay Dell some money?

Finally, I should say that through all this the people I talked to at Dell (when I could talk to them) were always quite polite. I’m sure they wanted to help. It’s just that (except for the ones I noted in the update) they and the system in which they were operating were for some reason not actually able to help.

Reading through the many comments, one finds that customer service is a REAL iffy thing – with the Wintel people at least (IBM/Lenovo seems to be the best). But the Apple people seem to be universally satisfied. That should carry a lot of weight to someone about to part with a dozen or so Ben Franklins.

BTW: This reminds me, the last time I was on my brother’s recently purchased eMachine, I noticed a mysterious 5 gig partition on his drive – but I didn’t follow-up on it. And now, come to think of it, I don’t recall him getting any Windows distribution disks. I might have to burn him a set, before he has a problem.

Iraq Polls Explained

04. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Iraq, Media Matters Not, Politics

Almost any political debate has an element of “dueling citations”, where each party will come up with a brace of “recognized experts” – each with their own analysis of the matter at hand. And those experts will generally spout the results of some survey, or collection of surveys, in an effort to give their argument some gravitas.

However, on matters of public policy, surveys of the general public will frequently diverge widely in their results. And particularly partisan experts can then pick and choose those surveys which tend to reinforce their preconceived opinions. This is nowhere more true than on matters concerning Iraq.

It then becomes necessary for the debater to go to the rigor of critiquing the surveys themselves. Well, if the expert even cites what survey he/she is relying upon for the information (frequently not the case in brief op-ed pieces), the debater is lucky if the information source even makes details of their surveys available to those other than paid subscribers to their service. Then there’s the matter of actually dissembling the raw data and techniques – a bit of real drudgery, even for those of us with the skills to do it.

Well, for the past year or so, Mark Blumenthal, an opinion poll wonk, has been putting out a blog, Mystery Pollster, which gets to the bottom of these things for us. I, for one, couldn’t be more happy about it. In a post from a few days ago, he goes after the recent RT Strategies poll of public opinion relative to the Iraq War. This is quite extended, for a blog post, as Mark goes into excruciating scope and detail. But he writes at a level accessible to the average lay political blog reader.

I’ll just excerpt a particularly “meaty” piece here:

When pollsters move beyond general ratings to more specific questions about policy – as we do in almost every public political poll – we move to shakier ground. Here Americans often lack preexisting attitudes, yet most will work to answer our questions, often forming opinions on the spot based on the text of the question. When that happens, responses can be very erratic and contradictory across polls. Very small variations in wording, the number of answer choices offered or the order of the questions can result in big and often surprising differences in the results.

With that in mind, consider the three RT Strategies questions:

Thinking about the war in Iraq, when Democratic Senators criticize the President’s policy on the war in Iraq, do you believe it HELPS the morale of our troops in Iraq or HURTS the morale of our troops in Iraq? (IF HELPS/HURTS, ASK:) And do you believe it (HURTS/HELPS) morale A LOT or just SOME

44% hurts a lot
26% hurts some
6% helps some
7% helps a lot
17% not sure

When Democrats criticize the President’s policy in Iraq, do you believe they are (ROTATE) Criticizing the President’s policy because they believe their criticisms will help the United States’ efforts in Iraq, OR, Criticizing the President’s policy to gain a partisan political advantage?

31% believe will help
51% to gain advantage
6% some of both (volunteered)
6% neither (volunteered)
7% not sure

And thinking about the future of our policies in Iraq, do you believe the U.S. military should…. (ROTATE FIRST TWO, ALWAYS ASK "Set a fixed timetable" last) Withdraw our troops immediately, regardless of the impact OR Withdraw our troops as the Iraqi government and military meet specific goals and objectives OR Set a fixed publicly available timetable for withdrawal.

16% withdraw immediately
49% withdraw when goals met
30% set fixed timetable
3% none (volunteered)
2% not sure

A few reactions: First, all three of these questions fall into that second category of issues about which many Americans appear to lack preexisting attitudes. Non-attitudes are most evident on the morale question (something that Armando at DailyKos picked up on). The telltale clue is that 17% were completely unable to answer the question, a sure sign that many more came up with an answer on the spot. The fact that nearly a third chose one of the softer "some" categories (26% hurts morale "some," 6% helps "some") is consistent with that argument. Also consider the respondent who believes such criticism neither hurts nor helps troop morale, but does not realize that "neither" is an o[o[p]tion. Odds are good they will end up in the "hurts a little" category.

On the partisan advantage question, nearly one in five respondents (19%) could not choose between the two offered answer categories. Finally, for reasons that I’ll discuss below, I’d argue that the large number of respondents in the middle category of the future policy question (49%) suggests that it was an attractive choice for those respondents who were simply not sure how to answer.

Now MP is not averse to survey questions that offer new information and push respondents a bit to see where they might stand in debates they have not followed closely. And in this case, the results of the RT "morale" and "criticism" questions are more or less consistent with the similar questions asked elsewhere. For example, a Fox News poll in early November found that 58% of Americans agree that those "who describe U.S. military action in Iraq as a mistake" are "hurting U.S. troops." Only 16% believed they were "helping." The rest had mixed opinions (9%), believed the criticism had no effect (9%) or could not answer the question (8%).

It is also worth noting that Americans tend to dismiss much of the debate in Washington as attempts to gain "partisan advantage," so the results of the RT question are not particularly surprising. For example, back in September (9/8-11), Gallup asked about politics in the context of Hurricane Katrina:

"Do you think Democrats who criticize the way the Bush Administration has handled the hurricane response mainly want to find out what went wrong, or mainly want to use the issue for political advantage?"
36 find out, 60% use for advantage, 4% unsure

Seven years ago, ABC News and the Washington Post asked a similar question about the impeachment of President Clinton with nearly identical overall results:

"Do you think the House voted to impeach Clinton on the basis of the facts of the case, or on the basis of partisan politics?"
36% facts of the case, 61% Partisan politics, 3% no opinion

Questions that push respondents to consider questions for which they do not have pre-existing opinions do have a role in opinion research (one that should not be labeled as a fraudulent "push poll" — but that’s another subject for another day). However, in those instances pollsters need to take care to provide respondents with new information in a way that does not bias subsequent questions. For that reason, I am a bit surprised that RT Strategies asked two questions that mirrored the Bush administration talking points just before asking respondents their preference about prospective Iraq policy. Would the responses to the third question have been different if they followed a question about say, whether Bush "intentionally misled the American people about the presence of weapons?" We will never know, but it certainly seems possible that they would.

To be fair, Gallup asked a very similar question a few weeks ago (11/11-13) with similar results:

"Here are four different plans the U.S. could follow in dealing with the war in Iraq. Which ONE do you prefer? Withdraw all troops from Iraq immediately. Withdraw all troops by November 2006 — that is, in 12 months’ time. Withdraw troops, but take as many years to do this as are needed to turn control over to the Iraqis. OR, Send more troops to Iraq."
19% withdraw now, 33% withdraw within 12 months, 38% take as long as needed, 7% send more troops, 3% unsure.

Note that Gallup showed 19% ready to withdraw immediately; RT Strategies show 16%. Gallup shows 52% supporting withdrawal either immediately or within 12 months, RT shows 46% support withdrawal either immediately or on a fixed timetable.

Having said this, I want to caution readers against taking these these prospective policy questions at face value. I also tend to agree with those who argue that the questions on the RT poll are, in essense, the wrong questions, that other measures give a better sense of true, pre-existing opinions on the Iraq War. This is not necessarily a criticism of Riehle and Tarrance, merely a caution that focusing on these three questions alone can give a misleading impression. For example, review the questions asked since Labor Day as posted by the Polling Report and you will find some highly consistent results:

Approval of Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq varied between 32% and 36%, with disapproval between 62% and 65%, as measured by six different pollsters.

Differently worded questions about the worthiness of the war (asked by Gallup, CBS, ABC/Washington Post and NBC/Wall Street Journal) found between 31% and 40% that found the war worth the cost and between 52% and 60% that said it was not.

Differently worded questions about whether the decision to go to war was right or wrong (asked by Gallup, CBS and the Pew Research Center), found 42% to 45% who say the US made the right decision in going to war, between 50% and 54% who say we made the wrong decision or should have stayed out.

However, look at the range of questions about prospective policy and the results are all over map. Here is a sampling (full details at the Polling Report):

CNN/USA Today/Gallup (11/30): "If you had to choose, which do you think is the better approach for deciding when the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Iraq: to withdraw U.S. troops only when certain goals are met, or to withdraw U.S. troops by a specific date and stick to that time-table, regardless of conditions in Iraq at that time?"
59% when goals are met, 35% by a specific date, 6% unsure

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics (11/ 29-30): "Do you think there should be a publicly announced timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq?" 47% should, 41% should not, 12% unsure

Harris (11/8-13): "Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government there OR bringing most of our troops home in the next year?"
35% wait for stable government, 63% bring home next year, 3% unsure

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics (11/8-9): "What do you want U.S. troops in Iraq to do? Do you want them to leave Iraq and come home now or do you want them to stay in Iraq and finish the job?"
36% leave now, 55% finish the job, 9% unsure

NBC News/Wall Street Journal (11/4-7): "Do you think that the United States should maintain its current troop level in Iraq to help secure peace and stability, or should the United States reduce its number of troops now that Iraq has adopted a constitution?"
36% maintain level, 57% reduce number, 4% both depends, 4% unsure

ABC News/Washington Post (10/30-11/2): "Do you think the United States should keep its military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there, even if that means continued U.S. military casualties; or do you think the United States should withdraw its military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further U.S. military casualties, even if that means civil order is not restored there?"
52% keep forces in, 44% withdraw forces, 4% unsure

CBS News (10/30-11-1): "Should the United States troops stay in Iraq as long as it takes to make sure Iraq is a stable democracy, even if it takes a long time, or should U.S. troops leave Iraq as soon as possible, even if Iraq is not completely stable?" 43% stay as long as it takes, 50% leave ASAP, 7% unsure

Pew Research Center (10/6-10): "Do you think the U.S. should keep military troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, or do you think the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible?" 47% keep troops, 48% bring home ASAP, 5% unsure

So there we have it: A consistent majority of at least 60% of Americans now disapproves of President Bush’s performance on the Iraq war and believes it not worth the cost. A smaller majority now says that the war was a mistake. The consistency of the results suggests these are real attitudes, not opinions formed on the spot in the response to the language of the question.

If You Can Put Up With The Pledge Breaks

02. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: That's Entertainment!

I notice PBS is airing Carly Simon’s new A Moonlight Serenade On The Queen Mary 2. A truly magnificent vocalist, on a truly magnificent ship – it should be a great show. Unfortunately, it’s only a one hour show, so I’m pretty sure several of the numbers on the DVD will be missing.

Update: I was incorrect yesterday; it’s an hour and a half. There are three ten minute pledge breaks, which isn’t that bad. However, the selection of tracks is different from the commercial disk set – the latter being old standards. This has about half of those, mixed with Carly doing a few of her hits. The intimate “Chart Room” sequence, which features Carly singing with her daughter, Sally Taylor – an accomplished singer/songwriter in her own right, is not to be missed.

Who Is The Real Queen Of Pop?

02. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: That's Entertainment!

Camile Paglia returns to Salon with a review of Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor. She’s obviously a huge fan of Madonna (a passion I don’t share) but is lukewarm on this album. Anyway, this caught my eye:

Nevertheless, the positive response to “Confessions” probably signals a thirst on the part of the pop audience for emotional directness and shaped melody, which have languished in the hip-hop era, with its aggressive, incantatory rhyming and grinding percussive effects. Even Madonna’s archrival, Mariah Carey, with her virtuoso lyricism, is given to long, meandering vocal lines that assert passionate feeling (stressed in performance by pentecostal hand-waving and arm swoops) but in fact go nowhere. It’s a crooning, swooning, melting style that makes too many of Mariah’s songs sound the same.

Incidentally, the claim repeatedly made by CNN and the British press that Madonna is now “the undisputed queen of pop” was undercut by CNN.com’s current poll, “Who is today’s real ‘Queen of Pop’?” After 93,000 worldwide votes (as of this writing), Mariah is kicking Madonna’s hot pants at 57 percent to 34 percent. Far behind trail Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Beyoncé Knowles — all of whose careers were in varying degrees influenced by Madonna. The poll results will surely surprise most observers because Madonna, unlike Mariah, has such a hammerlock on MTV and international magazine journalism.

Your Fat Might Save Your Life

02. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Science!, Technology

This from BusinessWeek:

Cytori Therapeutics thinks your fat can save your life. The San Diego biotechnology company has come up with a method for isolating stem cells from a patient’s fat so they can be reinjected and grow into healthy tissue. Cytori’s groundbreaking Celution System, expected to begin clinical trials in humans next year, could be used to treat life-threatening ailments, such as ischemic heart disease, a restriction of blood flow to the heart.

[…]

Then there’s the vanity factor. “Everyone’s willing to give up a little fat these days,” says Cytori CEO Christopher Calhoun. And while the Food & Drug Administration currently doesn’t approve the use of stem cells extracted from fat, or adipose, tissue, these cells have been used abroad to repair bone injuries. What’s more, unlike many stem-cell companies, Cytori offers a relatively quick and straightforward procedure that can easily be explained to a patient.

Here’s how it works: After the fat is sucked out with a liposuction-like procedure, Cytori’s Celution device separates the stem cells from the bulk of the tissue. Within an hour of the removal, the patient receives an injection of his or her own concentrated stem cells.

PRIMING THE PUMP. This autumn, Cytori presented preclinical data demonstrating that after suffering heart attacks, pigs injected with their own adipose stem cells showed improvements over a control group. Calhoun says after a few weeks the treated pigs had more healthy cardiac muscle. “Whether it was newly created tissue or salvaged tissue we can’t say yet,” he says. “But the tissue was there.”

The study also found that the test groups’ hearts pumped blood more efficiently than those of the untreated animals. Because the procedure is quick, Calhoun argues that Celution is better equipped to treat the more dangerous acute cardiac episodes than other developing stem-cell treatments, which require the cells to be cultivated for days or weeks outside the body.

Still, the Celution device has a lot of clinical ground to cover. Even in a best-case scenario, it may be three to five years before the method wins FDA approval, Calhoun says. Generally speaking, that’s a little longer than it takes to win approval for a new medical device, but less than for a new drug.

[…]

FAT DEPOSITS. Cytori branched into new fields of medicine in 2002, acquiring StemSource, a company founded by UCLA professor Mark Hedrick, who discovered stem cells in fat tissue. Hedrick is now company president.

Despite the uncertainty of the approval process, outsiders see promise in Cytori. In November, it signed a joint venture agreement with Olympus (the camera maker also has medical-device businesses). Under the agreement, the companies are forming a joint venture that will manufacture future Celution products. Olympus also will take a stake in Cytori and has agreed to make an additional payment based on a predetermined milestone in the device’s development. Cytori plans to list on Nasdaq soon.

Should the Celution be approved, it might be a chance for Cytori to push a service no one ever expected to want: fat banking. Already on offer, it’s almost a novelty since there are no approved uses for the cells. Should Celution or adipose stem cells come into favor, that could change.

Younger fat, Calhoun says, has a higher concentration of stem cells and could be more effective than fat harvested later in life. Stored in a bank or in a body, these stem cells could introduce a new rationalization for rich holiday meals — particularly for the younger of the species. It’s not often that overindulgence could also turn out to be good for you.

Fascinating.

Hold On To Your Wallet Timmer

02. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Technology, That's Entertainment!

It’s probably not a very good time to invest in a home entertainment system. The reason is the upcoming war between the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format:

No one knows what the outcome of this format war will be – it all depends on which format consumers can get more cheaply, more quickly, with more movies available for it. Blu-Ray is technologically superior, true; however, the VHS and Betamax war shows that the technologically superior product does not always win. Sales of DVD drives and media only really took off after DVD player prices dropped below $300, and with HD-DVD’s lower manufacturing costs, this could prove to be a large benefit. However, Sony claims that within a few months of launch, Blu-Ray media will be priced within 10% of current DVD prices. With the first products set to hit the market by Christmas of this year, 2006 is going to be an interesting year for High Definition.

I don’t believe Blu-Ray will come that close to the price of HD-DVD – at least not within a one-year timeframe. My money is on HD-DVD. Just like the old VHS/Beta war, HD-DVD is good enough for most applications, it is cheaper, and it will be to market first. In any event, within a year, simple DVD will be obsolete.

Lemon Tree – Very Pretty

01. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: General

Why is it that I’m watching this PBS gig about “Peter, Paul and Mary”, and thinking: “wow, these idiots were just Mamas and Papas wannabes?” And yet, I think about today’s pretenders, and just gaff.

But yet, today, without disclaiming my original critique, there is something unique here.

Can we establish a context here? Perhaps the answer is blowin’ in the wind?

Some Amazing Figures

01. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Technology

I’ve seen this a few other places before. But I got this from David E. Davis at Automobile magazine (who received it via e-mail from his friend, Bill Neely):

Subject: Top Fuel Dragsters

One Top Fuel dragster’s 500-cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four rows at the Daytona 500.

A stock Dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster’s supercharger.

With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ig-nition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air-fuel mixture for nitromethane, the flame front temperature measures about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, separated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing heat of the exhaust gases.

Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

Spark plug electrodes can be totally consumed during a single pass. After half-distance, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine is shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

If a spark plug fails early in the run, un-burned nitro can build up in the affected cylinder and explode with sufficient force to blow the cylinder head off in pieces or split the cylinder block in half.

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of more than 4 g’s. In order to reach 200 mph before half-distance, the launch acceleration approaches 8 g’s. A Top Fuel dragster reaches more than 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.

With a redline that can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout, the engine needs to survive only 900 revolutions under load.

Assuming that all of the equipment is paid off, the crew works gratis, and nothing breaks, each run costs an estimated $1000 per second.

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile (October 5, 2003, Tony Schumacher). The top-speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the quarter-mile (November 9, 2003, Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo Corvette Z06. More than a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a measured quarter-mile as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The “tree” goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down, but you hear a brutal whine that sears your eardrums, and within three seconds, the dragster catches you and beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile from where you just passed him. From a standing start, the dragster spotted you 200 mph and not only caught you but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 feet.

Awsome.

Update: Currently, Doug Kalitta holds the record for low E.T. (4.420; 2004 NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill), and Tony Schumacher the record for Top Speed (337.58; 2005 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway).

Army Wants Synthetic Gills

30. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Military, Technology

Why this is an Army, and not Navy, project escapes me. But no matter, here’s an interesting tidbit I found over at Military.com:

The Army recently handed Case Western Reserve University and Waltham, MA’s Infoscitex Corp. a joint contract to start investigating a “Microfabricated Biomimetic Artificial Gill System… based on the subdividing regions of clef, filament, and lamellae found in natural fish gills.” In the first phase of the program, “gas exchange units will be designed and demonstrated for rapid, efficient extract of oxygen from surrounding water.”

Further, it seems the Israelis already have something

Necessary Clarification

30. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Military, Politics

The White House has issued this paper on our strategy in Iraq, which the President’s speech today tracked. Glenn Reynolds reminds us of Steven Den Beste’s seminal post from two years ago, and links to TigerHawk, who has been keeping the flame alive.

What I’m not seeing, however, is some tie-in between achievement of objectives and redeployment of troops.

More On Military Guinea Pigs

30. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Military, Science!, Veteran's Affairs

We recieved this extended comment yesterday to my post: “House Members Want Info On Military’s Human Guinea Pigs.” As it has fallen off the front page, I thought I’d repost it here.

SHADY SHAD SHELLGAME?

The U.S. Army’s Project 112 and its Navy component, Project SHAD, started in 1961 when Robert McNamara and JFK allotted $4 billion and ten years to create a Bio-Chemical juggernaut. Decades of unanswered questions had just begun.

In Judith Miller’s 1999 book, “Germs”, William Capers Patrick III, the head of Bio-Chemical Weapons development programs at Fort Detrick, Maryland for more than 30 years, states, “We didn’t sit around talking about the moral implications of what we were doing. We were problem-solving… you never connected it to people.” Nonetheless, Dr. J. Clifton Spendlove did indeed connect it to people via the Army’s Deseret Test Center, Utah command post. Deposed for a class action suit brought by the VVA on behalf of some Project SHAD participants, Spendlove revealed sailors were purposely used as “human samplers”, citing several documents and films laying out the scope and methods of the tests. Mind you, these “human samplers” were never trained or warned nor given any “informed consent” opportunity to opt out. The callous disregard continues to this day as the Pentagon, VA, Institute of Medicine and others ignore all attempts at Congressional oversight intended to reveal the true impact of the events.

At least five Flathead Valley, Montana Sailors served in the Granville Hall. One died by age 36 from “cancer of unknown origin”. Some were there from 1963-70 as they transported Smithsonian Institution scientists to numerous locations during their “Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program”, the purpose of which was to determine whether migratory birds could be used as effective “avian vectors” to deliver Biological Weapons. They could. Prior to Project SHAD, the Granville Hall and its sister ship, the USS George Eastman, collected radioactive fallout during a decade-long period encompassing dozens of aboveground nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. Another Flathead Veteran sailed on the Granville Hall shortly after Project SHAD and has been awarded a VA 100% service-connected disability. He never knew of either preceding project until he saw my guest opinion in the Daily Inter Lake.

No one has produced any documentation indicating that these two ships had ever had their interiors effectively decontaminated. The Granville Hall was the main lab ship for the programs, vulnerable to many pathogenic contaminants. The George Eastman had deadly VX Gas pumped directly into its ventilation system. The disturbing truth is that although SHAD Veteran Frank Tetro has located over 350 “Granny Boys” since 1985, fewer than 10 have surfaced from the George Eastman.

Contrary to the title “Shipboard Hazard and Decontamination”, which insinuates the concept of defending U.S. Servicemen, there’s not one page of the 28,444 listed in the official disclosure of information on Project 112 mandated by Public Law 107-314 containing any data on protective gear created by these programs. Please see here. The entire program from start to finish was designed to find ways to create and distribute deadly Bio-Chemical Weapons. The more than 10,000 Human Test Rats used and abused along the way are consequently no more than an aging inconvenience.

The Billings Gazette quoted Jack Alderson as saying, “Most of them are very proud of what they did, they’d just like to have it acknowledged.” However, of the more than 150 Project 112 and Project SHAD participants who have contacted me since the programs began being declassified in early 2000, none are seeking a red badge of courage. The want answers. Early on, one unforgettable caller told me, “Last week I received notification that I was involved in Project SHAD. Two weeks ago I was diagnosed with liver, spleen, and pancreatic cancer. Can you help me?” He’d been deserted by his country and died in shameful ignominy.

Please help us find the survivors. It’s crucial to support Representative Rehberg, currently the only Republican co-sponsor out of 16 for House Resolution 4259 [The Veterans Right to Know Act]. If you know anyone who might have been involved, direct them to http//www1.va.gov/SHAD where there is contact information and lists of ships, land locations, and dates utilized. They can also receive information and assistance by calling the VA at (800) 749-8387 and/or the DoD at (800) 497-6261.

Thank you,

J.B. Stone
900 Wisconsin Avenue #16
Whitefish, MT 59937

406-862-7514, 862-8739 – message

PS: J.B. served during Project SHAD on the Granville Hall in 1969. He was honorably discharged from the Navy less than 10 months afterward for unnamed “physical disabilities”. His infant daughter died from secondary SHAD exposures in 1980. He’s still waiting for approval of his VA Disability Claim.

Update: Here’s a recent Billings Gazette story:

Night after night, the jets growled overhead and sprayed clouds of dangerous germs and chemicals over the five U.S. tugboats drifting silently in the dark.

Each time, John Olsen hunkered inside tugboat No. 2085 and waited for the mist to settle.

He and the others then gathered air samples inside the boat and handed them over to the scientists who seemed out of place on a pitching tugboat more than 800 miles southwest of Hawaii.

In the morning, the sailors scrubbed the ship with powerful cleaning agents in preparation for the next airplane visit.

The tests, dubbed Shady Grove, were conducted between January and April of 1965 as part of a larger, top secret government program to try out chemical and biological weapons.

Olsen is sure that some of the germs leaked into the tugboats and is fairly convinced there’s a connection between Shady Grove and his health problems years later.

But back then, they assumed they were safe.

“We were just doing what we were supposed to do,” said Olsen, 65, who lives in Billings. “I trusted them.”

Now, 40 years later, those who took part in the tests are pressing the federal government to account for the harm the tests may have caused.

Read the whole thing.

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