So, McClatchy Looked Into Lara Logan's Benghazi Report

More questions than answers:

CBS was taken to task for not revealing that Davies, on whose recollections the report was largely based, was the author of a soon-to-be released book published by a CBS-owned publishing company that features the work of politically conservative authors. On Oct. 31, The Washington Post revealed that Davies had filed a report with his employer, Blue Mountain Security, that contradicted his “60 Minutes” account, and The New York Times revealed Nov. 7 that Davies also gave an account to the FBI at odds with the “60 Minutes” version.

...The report repeatedly referred to al Qaida as solely responsible for the attack on the compound and made no mention of Ansar al Shariah, the Islamic extremist group that controls and provides much of the security in restive Benghazi and that has long been suspected in the attack. While the two organizations have worked together in Libya, experts said they have different aims – al Qaida has global objectives while Ansar al Shariah is focused on turning Libya into an Islamic state.

It is an important distinction, experts on those groups said. Additionally, al Qaida’s role, if any, in the attack has not been determined, and Logan’s narration offered no source for her repeated assertion that it had been.

“I think there are definitely connections, but I am not sure there is command and control” between al Qaida and Ansar al Shariah, said Aaron Y. Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who studies insurgent activity in North Africa.

Logan claimed that “it’s now well established that the Americans were attacked by al Qaida in a well-planned assault.” But al Qaida has never claimed responsibility for the attack, and the FBI, which is leading the U.S. investigation, has never named al Qaida as the sole perpetrator. Rather, it is believed a number of groups were part of the assault, including members and supporters of al Qaida and Ansar al Shariah, as well as attackers angered by a video made by an American that insulted Prophet Muhammad. The video spurred angry protests outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo hours beforehand.

Tyehimba's West African Dance Class At The Roberts Development Center

Nice video, showing Tyehimba, his Djembe cohort, and his dancers.

ICE Dance Company 2013 (Ruff Final)

This looks like it might be rehearsal for the Amber Rose video.

Car Gave Me A Service Engine Soon Light

Tire people shrugged their shoulders and turned it off. Hope it was nothing.

Thunderstruck At The Planned Size For This Thing

I picked up a copy of the Navajo Times, and started reading about a new solar power plant being planned out on the Res. The fact that it's so close to the Bisti Badlands (dinosaur heaven), and the simple size of what they are planning floored me:

Preliminary data collected by California-based Tetra Tech has determined that the Navajo Nation could help meet the energy demands of the future with a proposed 4,370-megawatt solar project at the Paragon Bisti Energy Renewable Ranch in the Eastern Navajo Agency.

...Prosuch added the proposed solar project has the potential for "world-class greatness," when 17,360 acres of the 22,000 acre ranch are producing 4,370 megawatts of energy from solar panels. The power produced by the project would nearly equal the entire new photovoltaic production in the U.S. this year, according to the U.S. Photovoltaic Installation Forecast of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

It is, by far, the largest renewable energy project currently being planned in the country, according to data supplied by Tetra Tech.

..."You don't just go up there with jumper cables," he said, explaining that Site I is ideal for development because it's close to the Bisti 230-kilowatt substation, transmission line and on the right-of-way of U.S. Highway 371.

That's 27.125 square miles of photovoltaic surface! If it was a square surface, the square would be 5.2 miles on a side! In comparison, the entirely-too-large city limits of Albuquerque is 181.3 square miles. That's 15% of the size of the city.

That's too damn big for one power plant!

Oddly Enough, Despite Drought, Albuquerque's Aquifer Is Beginning To Rise

The shift away from ground water to Rio Grande water is progressing well enough that some improvement in the aquifer level is noticeable.

And hopefully in time too:

Albuquerque's long-overdue wake-up call came in August 1993 when the U.S. Geological Survey released a report showing that Albuquerque was pumping out its groundwater nearly three times faster than it could be replenished.


Tests showed the underground water basin had dropped by as much as 40 feet between 1989 and 1992 and nearly 140 feet in some places over the past three decades. More important, the report shot down once and for all the notion that Albuquerque had a limitless source of water.


The Rio Grande, according to the USGS report, was not replenishing (or recharging) the city's aquifer at anything approaching a steady state. In 1993 the Albuquerque area pumped about 160,000 acre-feet of water from the aquifer, while the aquifer is being replenished by rainfall and mountain snowmelt at close to 65,000 acre-feet a year.

Perusing "Albuquerque Busted - America's Top Crime Paper"

When I was in Albuquerque, I picked up the (Vol. 1) October issue of "Albuquerque Busted - America's Top Crime Paper", subtitled 'Crooks, Hookers, Wife Beaters and Druggies From Your Neighborhood'. Sounds entertaining!

Hundreds of sad-looking mug shots fill this paper - Albuquerque residents not at their best.  There are web sites that traffic in these pictures too.

I was troubled by something I saw in the paper:

The ostensible point of these sites is to give the public a quick way to glean the unsavory history of a neighbor, a potential date or anyone else. That sounds civic-minded, until you consider one way most of these sites make money: by charging a fee to remove the image. That fee can be anywhere from $30 to $400, or even higher. Pay up, in other words, and the picture is deleted, at least from the site that was paid.

To Mr. Birnbaum, and millions of other Americans now captured on one or more of these sites, this sounds like extortion. ... ” Mr. Birnbaum said. “I know what I did was wrong, and I understand the punishment,” he continued. “But these Web sites are punishing me, and because I don’t have the money it would take to get my photo off them all, there is nothing I can do about it.”

...MUG shots have been online for years, but they appear to have become the basis for businesses in 2010, thanks to Craig Robert Wiggen, who served three years in federal prison for a scheme to lift credit card numbers from diners at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Tallahassee, Fla. He was looking for another line of work, according to news articles, and started Florida.arrests.org.

...Lance C. Winchester, a lawyer in Austin who represents BustedMugshots and MugshotsOnline, both named in the lawsuit, says Mr. Ciolek’s lawsuit is a stinker because the United States Supreme Court has ruled time and again that mug shots are public records.

“I understand people think there is a dilemma presented by a Web site where you can pay to have a mug shot removed,” he said. “I understand that people don’t like to have their mug shots posted online. But it can’t be extortion as a matter of law because republishing something that has already been published is not extortion.”

And if you are a woman who fights back against an attacking stalker, your life may be ruined:

...The screams and commotion caused a neighbor to call the police. The boyfriend — whom Dr. Trimaldi did not want named for fear that he would stalk her — contended that a bleeding scratch on his chest had been inflicted by Dr. Trimaldi with the knife. (It was from one of her fingernails, she says.) She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery domestic violence.

The state dropped the charges, according to a document signed by Mark A. Ober, the state attorney in Hillsborough County, Fla. A few months later, her booking photograph turned up on a Florida mug-shot Web site and with it another mug shot from a 1996 arrest on an accusation of possession of marijuana and steroids.

...She paid $30 to have the images taken down, but they soon appeared on other sites, one of which wanted $400 to pull the picture.

...“If I wasn’t a level-headed, positive person,” she wrote in an e-mail to Mr. Ciolek, the lawyer in Toledo, “I would have seriously considered ending my own life.”

So, what about "Albuquerque Busted - America's Top Crime Paper"?

Well, it's published by Pinnacle Holdings International, LLC. So, it's not based in Albuquerque, and likely isn't subject to American law.

People are labeled junkies and hoes, without having been charged for drug possession or prostitution. Apparently all you to be to end up on the 'Hoe' page is female.

I think this will be the last time I purchase this paper or look at these Websites.

Wondering How The Healing Is Going

There seems to be a surprising rash of bicycle/car accidents in the Sacramento area these days. It's unnerving!

Driving to work several weeks ago, I saw the mute testimony of an accident at 21st St. and Capitol Avenue: garbage truck, mangled bicycle, cop cars everywhere. I came across an October 24th story in the print version of the Sacramento Bee indicating the truck had turned left in front of the bicycle, and even though the bicyclist had been badly-hurt, he's expected to survive.

So, he's one of the lucky ones.....

New Mexico Comes Up With New Tourist Ideas

That was real scary there in 1980!:

An unlikely answer, it turned out, lay in the department’s darkest chapter, behind the locked gates of the shuttered Penitentiary of New Mexico on the outskirts of this picturesque city, where one of the nation’s deadliest prison riots broke out on Feb. 2, 1980. In 36 hours, 33 inmates were killed and more than 200 were injured — some dismembered, others burned alive inside their cells. Fourteen corrections officers were held hostage and brutalized during the rampage.

The savagery — fueled by feuds that had long festered inside a prison built for 900 but housing 1,100 — raged unimpeded and led to fundamental changes to the way prisoners were classified, housed and disciplined in the state. Opening the prison to visitors and telling the story of the riot, Mr. Marcantel said, was a way to preserve that history.

“We thought, let’s open it up for tours,” Mr. Marcantel said from his office here, where a state seal carved in wood by an inmate decorates one wall.

I Didn't Realize Avila Beach Had Been Ruined By A Massive Oil Spill

I also didn't realize it had been cleaned up:

It had been a charmed Central Coast existence, with one disastrous exception: a massive leak from an oil tank farm that sent 400,000 gallons of petrochemicals oozing under the town.

This was not just any oil spill - it was an underground lake of muck that built up over decades, polluting Avila Beach so severely before it was discovered in 1989 that the town had to be destroyed, effectively, to be saved.

Much of Avila Beach, including its entire business district, had to be torn down and reconstructed, its iconoclastic, working-class character, many believe, lost in a thicket of bulldozers, lawyers and regulators.

Today, a final chapter to that saga is underway: An oil company wants to build a resort on the very piece of land where the spill originated.

SacBee Talks To The Weather Modifiers

Shades of Dr. Fukuta! The Sacramento Bee had a nice feature article regarding cloud seeding in the Sierra Nevada.

The problem with cloud seeding has always been the difficulty of seeding at the right concentration in the right place. One intriguing new wrinkle is the development of drone aircraft technology which could, in principle, allow greater facility in delivering ice nuclei to where they can be most-efficiently used. Still, it's a huge challenge, and there is little sign this problem has been adequately addressed:

Once viewed by some as a fringe science, cloud seeding has entered the mainstream as a tool to pad the state’s crucial mountain snowpack. New technology to manage the practice, and research that points to reliable results, have cemented cloud seeding as a dependable and affordable water-supply practice.

“The message is starting to sink in that this is a cost-effective tool,” said Jeff Tilley, director of weather modification at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, which practices cloud seeding in the Lake Tahoe Basin and Eastern Sierra Nevada. “The technology is better; we understand how to do cloud seeding much better. And because we know how to do it more effectively, it’s definitely taken more seriously.”

Great Summary Of The Most-Difficult Original Musical Compositions For Breaking Bad

Hard to compose the music!

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

What a video!

Regarding Arlon Carlson

A Memorial service for Arnold Arlon Carlson will be held Saturday, November 16 at 11:00 am at The Table United Methodist Church at 5265 H Street in Sacramento. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to either The Table UMC, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or the various local theater groups in which he was active. Thank you.

Arnold's family is overwhelmed with the expressions of love and support posted on his FB page. We thank you for those kind expressions. --Kathy Carlson Daigle

RIP, Lee Mitchell

Apparently a former DMTC player, Lee Mitchell, died several months ago. Here is his record of shows at DMTC.

Jetta Comes Close To Falling For A Scam

And a fairly-obvious scam too: the old, flattering "we want you to model for us" dodge. Sent via RealityWanted.com and uses the real CaféPress.com for cover.

The prose is fairly-uneducated, which is one tip-off. Another tip-off is that the Culver Events Center in Los Angeles, the supposed site of this photo-shoot on November 29-30, closed for good on November 3rd.

Here is the E-Mail she received.

Thanks for responding. We are happy to inform you that you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed by us for the upcoming job in your area. Its all about you and your passion.



About US

we're the world's best destination for expressing yourself through merchandise. From your favorite T-shirt and Woodie, to the tote bag over your shoulder and bumper sticker on your car, we're here to let you express your interests. And what makes our products so unique, and so expressive, is that we don't create the designs on them. Our community of designers do - all through millions of shops we help them run. Cafe Press is the world's biggest destination for self-expression through merchandise. Each month over 11 million shoppers visit Cafe Press to buy or create T-shirts, mugs, posters and other gifts that reflect their interests, passions, beliefs and affiliations.Today, Cafe Press is a growing network of over 6.5 million members who have unleashed their EXHIBIT A creativity to transform their artwork and ideas into an impressive catalog of over 250 million unique gifts. Cafe Press is where folks from all walks of life gather online to create, sell, and buy a print on demand.Each brings to life whatever people are passionate about. It can be a white-hot political cause?

A gorgeous grandchild? An obsessive hobby? A funny (or flirty?) thought? Anything!


Offices


Corporate Headquarters: San Mateo, California
Production Facilities: Louisville, KY
Founded October 1999


Management Team
Fred Durham, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

Monica Johnson, Chief Financial Officer

Bob Marino, Chief Operating Officer

Amy Maniatis, Vice President Marketing

Neil Markey â?? Vice President Engineering

Abdul Popal, Vice President of Business Operations and Corporate Development

Robert Richard, Information Manager

Gregg Henchel, Project Supervisor

Employees,300+ employees

Independent Shopkeepers & Major Accounts CafePress.com is a global and growing network of over 6.5million independent shopkeepers and members in addition to corporate stores and licensedproperties.CafePress.com has over 100 major accounts, including American Idol, E! Television, Smithsonian Institute, Noggin and the Twilight series.
History Prior to founding CafePress.com, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, self-proclaimed serial entrepreneurs,launched several consumer and business technology companies after graduating from Northwestern University. Together, they focused on developing software applications targeted to the diverse needs of small businesses and the larger broadcast and commercial printing industries Durham and Jain set out to redefine the way business is done by using the power of the Internet to create a new class of entrepreneurs. In 1999,taking the best elements from each of their previous business ventures, the duo launched CafePress.com.




OBJECTIVE OF CONTACTING YOU

You have got the physical features we need for our products,we have a print ad clothing shoot coming up. Kindly confirm if you are interested. We want to update our products for the sole purpose of website designing and catalogue for a new clothing label. No nudity, fetish, bondage, escort and other adult content stuff, so if you are interested you can get back to us.

All make up will be taken care of in the studio. You can come along with an escort of your choice. The shoot would be taking place on 29th and 30th of November 2013. The management would be taking care of your feeding,accomodation(if need be),and transportation to the venue of the shoot. You dont have to worry about transportation. All arrangements would be made in due course

The shoot would be taking place at

Culver Events

11948 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles 90066



JOB DETAILS:
You have 4 different Fashion outfits to cover,which would be provided by our client on the day of the shoot. The shoot is just for 2 days(29th and 30th of November 2013) and you will be paid a total of $1,650 for the entire project. The Job is Urgent so you are to get back to us as soon as possible so that I can arrange on how to get you the part payment. You would be paid the initial payment of $400 to guarantee your participation in the shoot and secure your services for the said dates, as part of our work policy and ethics of the company, we give part payment to any client before we proceed with any job (to secure your position for the shoot)and balance immediately after the work. As i told you earlier this project is very urgent.We would be taking care of your payment,accommodation,transportation,feeding and other expenses. The payment would be mailed directly to you alongside with your cloth allowance, shoes and costume fee for the shoot. If you are interested kindly get back to us with your details as follows:

MODEL INFORMATION
1. Name on check:
_____________________________________________
2. Complete Mailing Address:
_____________________________________________
3 City:
_____________________________________________
4.State:
_____________________________________________
5.Zip Code:
_____________________________________________
6. Phone#:

Stage name :

Height :

Weight :

Age :

Years of experience :

Measurements :

Dress Size :

Shoe Size :

Skin Color :

Hair Color :

__________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
I here by represent and warrant that the above information is true and correct.The names listed above include my present name and every name that I have ever used including my maiden name, alias, nickname,professional or stage name.


JOB TIME DURATION :
You have different Fashion outfits to cover in a couple of 2 hours taking picture for the shoot.This will take just 2 days job of 2hours daily from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.Shoot dates are 29th and 30th of November 2013


WARNING AWARENESS:
The company has gone in agreement with the LOCAL AUTHORITY of the United State Of America just to make sure there is no illegal business moving around and that you will follow the instructions giving to you after the payment issued out.


Mike

You Probably Saw Me Dozing Off Outside At The 19th and Capitol Chipotle's On Saturday Afternoon

Waiting for my car to get fixed at Big-O Tires.

We decided to postpone struts replacement for another day.

The damage was $1,676.00 for replacing cracked intake manifold, cracked radiator, mushy hoses, antique spark plugs and attending leaking rear brake cylinders.

I was hoping the tune-up they added in there would fix the excessive vibration, but it didn't. Sigh. Another day, maybe.

Opening Weekend Of "Oliver!" AT DMTC

Marc Valdez and David Ewey (picture by Melody Ewey).


Opening weekend was fun. There were some mild problems, but things went better than I had feared. In my opinion, houses were surprisingly-large.

In the Sowerberry Funeral Parlor chaos of Act I, Gabe's service dog "Shadow" became worried at all the screaming on stage, slipped his minder, and galloped on stage to find out what was wrong. I had a bit of trouble executing a set change - removing the bed from the platform above - because it was the first time I had executed that recently-assigned set change.

During rehearsal period, Summer Rejmankova had offered praise that I had not stepped on her skirt when stepping over her in the "Consider Yourself" dance sequence. On Saturday, that luck ran out. Summer's heavy, Velcro-challenged skirt peeled off as I lifted her for better audience view, exposing abundant petticoats. Joe the Plumber was in the audience, and found much mirth in that scene.

Sally and the Bruenings were in the audience on Sunday. Shadow had another brief moment unescorted onstage, during the 'London Bridge' sequence, but he quickly realized his error and retreated into the wing. I got distracted by an interesting conversation with Summer and almost changed into the wrong clothes. I was in the wrong pants for the dance segment of "Who Will Buy?" Shane hammered either his shin or his knee on furniture during the show, and was limping painfully around during Act II.

But it could have been worse.

Marc Valdez and Gabe Avila as Bill Sykes (picture by Melody Ewey).

Hattie Craven adds a graffito backstage at DMTC.

David Ewey and Marc Valdez.

Needing That Grenade Just About Now

Texans respond to free speech:

According to a statement from the gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, four of its members were meeting inside the Blue Mesa Grill in Dallas when the confrontation took place.

The group said the confrontation was carried out by members of an organization called Open Carry Texas. The statement said that nearly 40 armed men and women, including some with semi-automatic rifles, arrived in the parking lot outside the restaurant after learning of the small gathering on Facebook.

Mel Tillis - Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town)

Very Slow Hurricane Season This Year In Florida

Good news!:

With October nearing end, this year's hurricane season's odds of being the quietest in about 45 years is likely to occur. This is on top of Florida not having a hurricane make landfall in 8 years, not since Wilma in October 2005.

With this amazing lull in activity for Florida, a new round of people who have never experienced a hurricane in Florida makes potential for something happening in future seasons more risky, as the false sense of security tends to build..

This year only two hurricanes formed in the Atlantic, and even then nothing above a category 1. None of these made landfall, only one Tropical storm made landfall in the US, Andrea, in the Panhandle. This year's ACE rating is only a third of an average year.

One month remains in the hurricane season this year, and there is nothing on the horizon to indicate much happening.

Matter/Anti-Matter

CBS' Conservative News Show, '60 Minutes', Tries To Skate By With An Apology

Isn't it time Lara Logan resigned?:

60 Minutes has a lot of explaining to do, and clearly isn't interested in doing so. The key question is why did the show base its entire story on the account of Davies, and not actually vet him with sources at the FBI? But there are other questions, like did Logan attempt to find sources to corroborate Davies' account? Did Davies ask to be paid for his story (beyond his book contract) like he did with Fox News (a demand that caused the Fox reporter to stop working with him)? How much influence does recent CBS News hire David Rhodes—a former Fox News executive—have at 60 Minutes? Why did 60 Minutes producers and editors allow Logan, who has a very clear and public political agenda on this issue, to run with it with apparently no fact checking?

Perceived personal political bias was enough for CBS to end Dan Rather's career after his story on then-candidate George W. Bush's national guard duty. Logan's story was far more harmful, not just to the families of the victims of Benghazi, but to national interests. CBS is so far refusing to acknowledge that, and refusing to hold itself and Logan accountable. An "apology" for being "misled" doesn't cover this huge journalistic malpractice, not by a long shot.

Here is Logan from last year, when her jihad against jihadism was in full bloom: