Ed Stoffel

To me, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of education. Over and over again, I've encountered questions akin to "tell me what I'm thinking". I have no idea what they are thinking, the list of what they might be thinking is endless. It doesn't seem productive to list all the possibilities of what they might be thinking, so why don't they just tell me what they're thinking? This could be a form of torture, telling the starving captive that you'll feed him... just as soon as he tells you what you're thinking. "So sorry, that isn't it. Try again." Related to this is the skill of note taking, where I am to write down what they think is important. What part of what they're saying is important to them? I don't know. Why don't you just tell me what you think is important? I can't write down everything... I can't write that fast, and besides, that wouldn't be notes... that would be a transcript. It's not that I don't write down some of what is important, but in the end, some things will be missing. How am I to know? Are there actually other students in the room that magically know what is important and what is not? Do they come with this sense already built in? Or do I have an overactive imagination, seeing too many possibilities when there is only one that stands out to most people? Aren't there always multiple possibilities? Then exam day comes along, and the essay question says to explain the importance of whatever. What is the right answer? What seems important to me? Apparently not. The process seems designed to sift out those who think alike and use them in particular roles. Those who think differently are sent off to find their own way to do what they think is important, which is apparently, any one of an endless list of possibilities.

There is a flurry of activity on social networking sites in recent years. I have found each of them to have a different focus, and serve a different purpose. MySpace serves the youngest crowd, and I originally joined to keep an eye on my kid's activity. But I soon found the site also spotlights emerging artists, including musicians, actors and comedians. Facebook is more for the college and workplace crowd, and where you connect to the people you really know as adults. Twitter is where you send and receive status updates, which can announce new posts and submissions, as well as just letting everyone know what's happening. Delicious is a bookmarking service allowing me to save and tag a long list of sites and articles I've found. Flickr is to share photos and YouTube is to share videos. I use Google Share to point out important emerging news from the world's hot spots and news of specific interest to the intelligence community. I post more general news including media industry stories to Facebook.

You'll also find links to various websites which I've established, and rss feeds from several of them. EdStoffel is my personal blog, FlyingReports is a journal I wrote when learning to fly, and David Stoffel is a tribute to the memory of my brother. Homesat Installation Help is a technical help site I wrote to consolidate the advise I gave to help homeschooling families setup satellite systems to receive the broadcast video curriculum.

In the end, what you see here is a selection of what I see each and every day from many of the sites and services, a collection of Stuff I've Heard.

28 December 2007

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:

As 2007 draws to a close, you should look back with pride on what you, your fellow troopers, our Iraqi partners, and Iraqi Coalition civilians have achieved in 2007. A year ago, Iraq was racked by horrific violence and on the brink of civil war. Now, levels of violence and civilians and military casualties are significantly reduced and hope has been rekindled in many Iraqi communities. To be sure, the progress is reversible and there is much more to be done. Nonetheless, the hard-fought accomplishments of 2007 have been substantial, and I want to thank each of you for the contributions you made to them.

Tiffany Johnson and Philip Crouse were among those killed in the attacks at a megachurch in Colorado Springs and at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the Denver suburb of Arvada, while five others were wounded.

In the first incident, a black-clad young man armed with a handgun opened fire after being turned away from a Christian missionary training centre in Arvada, a Denver suburb in Colorado, around 12.30am. He had knocked at the door asking if he could spend the night. He shot four staff members at the Youth With A Mission Center, killing Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, and seriously injuring two other men before escaping on foot into the snowy night. Despite a search using dogs, police were unable to find him.

Some 12 hours later and 70 miles away, a gunman wearing a black trench coat and armed with a rifle and at least one handgun opened fire at the New Life Church, a leading evangelical megachurch in Colorado Springs. The gunman was shot dead by a female church security guard. The New Life Church has a congregation of 10,000. Richard Meyers, Colorado Springs police chief, praised the church guard who shot dead the gunman, describing her as "a courageous security staff member who probably saved many lives today." The shooting at the New Life Church occurred at the end of the 11am service as hundreds of people were milling about and parents were collecting their children from nursery. As the shots rang out, church leaders herded those still inside the building into the basement.

Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachel Works, 16, were killed when Murray entered the main foyer of New Life Church and opened fire with a high-powered rifle, police said. Their father, David Works, 51, was in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and groin area. Also injured were Judy Purcell, 40, who suffered a gunshot wound to her right shoulder, and Larry Bourbannais, 59, who had a gunshot wound in his left forearm, police said. The deceased gunman has been identified as Matthew J. Murray, 24, of Englewood, Co.

Officers found several smoke-generating devices on the church campus; their intended purpose wasn't clear. Boyd said the security guard rushed the attacker, who didn't get more than 6 feet inside the building, and "took him down in the hallway." About 7,000 people were on the church campus at the time of the shooting, said Boyd. Security had been beefed up after the shootings hours earlier in Arvada, he said.

 Hero guard: 'It was me, the gunman, and God', WorldNetDaily

 Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941, Naval Historical Center

Lots of folks were upset awhile back when it was revealed that tech writers were recommending products to their readers, only to find out they were being paid to do so. It would be just as despicable if they were being forced to make such recommendations.

Such is the state of labor negotiations today when companies coerce union negotiators to recommend contract proposals. Union members should be able to trust the word of their negotiators that a recommendation is genuine, not coerced.

One set of contract talks broke down this week, and amazingly, the company involved admitted it was because the union negotiators refused their requirement to "recommend the proposal." This extra arm-twisting is unnecessary. Some union members are considering what to require company representatives to say back to their people.

A timeline of major events in Annapolis history, from the Associated Press:

1648 - Annapolis founded on the banks of the Severn River on the Chesapeake Bay.

1694 - Annapolis becomes Maryland's capital.

1772 - Construction begins on the Maryland State House.

Nov. 16, 1783 - Annapolis becomes the U.S. capital.

Dec. 23, 1783 - Gen. George Washington resigns his commission in the Continental Army.

Jan. 14, 1784 - Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War with England.

June 3, 1784 - Congress no longer meets in Annapolis.

1786 - Delegates from five states meet in Annapolis to consider governance of the new nation; they resolve to meet again in Philadelphia, where the Constitution was written.

1845 - The U.S. Naval Academy is founded on the site of Fort Severn, a former Army base.

1937 - Start of the "Great Books" curriculum at St. John's College in Annapolis, dedicated to the study of the classics.

1946 - Future President Jimmy Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.

1976 - Women first admitted to the Naval Academy.

2007 - Annapolis chosen to host Mideast peace talks.

This is a view of Washington from the Pentagon, after 9/11.

After failing to condemn MoveOn for their slander against General Petraeus, some in Congress thought they could deflect the heat by blaming Rush Limbaugh for something he said. In a recent show, Limbaugh recounted the story of Jesse MacBeth, a boot-camp dropout who claimed he witnessed atrocities in Iraq, and received wide media coverage of his comments. It was later learned and reported by ABC News that MacBeth was never in Iraq, couldn't have witnessed such things, and was a liar. Limbaugh called him a "phony soldier".

Democrats in Congress ran to the floors of the House and Senate to denounce Rush and offer resolutions of condemnation. Hillary Clinton saw no irony in her failure to denounce Rush while she defended MoveOn.org's attack against Petraeus. Richest of all, however, was Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) denouncing Rush from the floor of the Senate and accusing Rush of being under the influence of narcotics. Harkin, of course, saw his hopes for the Presidency sink in 1992, when it was revealed he had lied about his own war record. If the Democrats really though Republicans would run away from Rush Limbaugh, they were sorely mistaken.

Limbaugh has replayed his original comments, also making the audio and transcript available on his website. Those who take the time to see what he actually said know it's much ado about nothing.

In some towns, it's against the law to water your lawn due to water restrictions. In other towns, it's against the law NOT to water your lawn. In Orem, Utah, a 70-year-old great grandmother was arrested after dismissing a police officer attempting to cite her on the landscaping violation, a class-three misdemeanor there...

Perry was cited by Officer James Flygare of the police's Neighborhood Preservation Unit for failing to water her lawn. Perry refused to give her name to the officer and, when Flygare tried to stop her from going back inside her house, she reportedly tripped and injured her nose. She was arrested and taken to police station but released shortly afterwards.

So in this stretch of the desert, they don't want anyone to know they're IN THE DESERT! A real case of malum prohibitum.

 Great-grandma Betty pleads innocent to resisting arrest over dead grass, Salt Lake Tribune

For a surprisingly large number of Americans, the attacks of 9/11 are no longer an act of terrorism by Islamic fanatics... 9/11 was now somehow our own fault. They believe that the President either let it happen, or made it happen. Conspiracy theorists have manufacturers lie upon lie about the events of 9/11, and some now calling themselves "Truthers". Their most common myths are answered in a column by Mary Katharine Ham...

By Pastor Chip Hammond

Washington D.C. mayor, Adrian Fenty, was visibly shaken when in early March a federal appeals court stuck down the District's thirty-year standing violation of the Constitution, specifically Amendment Two of the Bill of Rights. In September Fenty announced filing an appeal to the Supreme Court.

If the high court takes the case, it will mark the first time in some seventy years that the Supreme Court has ruled on the Second Amendment. Both sides have good reason to be both excited and fearful.

Church leaders often comment on societal matters because Christian teaching speaks on such topics. But Senator Obama blames conservatives for creating divisions by challenging society on social issues that concern the church:

Speaking to one of the nation's most liberal Protestant denominations, the United Church of Christ, Mr. Obama said, "Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us." The senator went on to say that, "faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart," and that evangelical leaders are to blame.

It remains unclear why liberal churches are allowed to speak on social issues, but conservatives are not.

 Obama's Religion, NY Sun

 Obama says some have 'hijacked' faith, Boston Globe

Traditional television is struggling to hang on to an audience, as more and more turn to the internet. That's where the audience can get what they want, when they want it, without filters. There's plenty of commentary too, not just one view like the mainstream media dispenses...

Over the next four years, it is thought that the number of videos watched over the internet will quadruple, with people moving from short clips to hour-long programmes. Broadband companies claim that the service will cause "traffic jams", which will cost millions of pounds to sort out and that customers will ultimately end up paying the bill. But Vint Cerf, who helped to build the internet, dismissed the warnings as "scare tactics", saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the net would collapse when people all around the world started to use it en masse.

  TV is dying, says Google expert, Telegraph

The British are coming unglued at revelations that the British media fakes things. At issue is the discovery that phone-in contests were rigged over a number of years, preventing the public from winning anything. In another matter, the royal family is upset at liberties taken in a documentary about the Queen, distorting actual events with editing trickery. It seems to escape the public notice that the media is in the illusion business.

 A Right Royal Media Mess, Forbes

 BBC sets up new standards panel, BBC

Visiting with President Bush at Kennebunkport, Russian President Vladimir Putin is really trying to dissuade us from building missile shield sites in Europe. Putin is offering site locations within Russia instead, so he can be sure we can't use the system to defend against Russian aggression. Will we take the deal?

 Putin offers U.S. missile site concession, Joseph Curl, Washington Times

Wired Magazine notes that CIA operations in Italy were reconstructed by examining cellphone records there...

 In Italy, CIA Agents Were Undone By Their Cell Phones, Matthew Cole, Wired Magazine

And it's nice to know there are honest people out there. AP reports on a woman who discovered $20,000 in a bank's drive-thru tube. Maybe it was too heavy to make it into the bank? Would you have done the same?

 Woman Finds $20K in Bank Deposit Tube, Associated Press

Brave parents are standing up against our culture's recent push to make boys sit down and shut up. While our public schools may be afraid to let them be boys, some parents are doing just that, and looking for ideas on how to restore the natural order of things. Now, a new book helps parents resist the wussification of their boys...

I wrote "The Dangerous Book for Boys" as a handbook for boys with scenes like that from my childhood in mind. I wasn't trying to please anyone else. I was just trying to free boys to be themselves again, the way we were when my brother and I were growing up. --- It's about remembering a time when danger wasn't a dirty word. It's safer to put a boy in front of a PlayStation for a while, but not in the long run. The irony of making boys' lives too safe is that later they take worse risks on their own. You only have to push a baby boy hard on a swing and see his face light up. It's not learned behavior -- he's hardwired to enjoy a little risk. Ask any man for a good memory from childhood and he'll tell you about testing his courage or getting injured. No one wants to see a child get hurt, but we really did think the bumps and scratches were badges of honor, once.

 In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces, Washington Post

 The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn & Hal Iggulden

You've heard it said that the old media is dead. Today's consumers of news, information and entertainment have more choices than ever before. Gone are the days when people had to choose between 3 television networks, a few radio stations, and one or two local newspapers.

The majority of busy Americans today don't even subscribe to a newspaper, rarely listen to terrestrial radio, and have hundreds of television stations to choose from, coming to their homes from a variety of providers (cable, satellite, fiber). Today, a large portion of the public gets their news from the internet, visiting some of the old media's online presence, but also reading new media sources that are only found online. For old media to survive, they found it necessary to improvise, adapt, & overcome. As more outlets of news, information and entertainment emerge, each outlet's impact is lessened, requiring them to broaden their reach by feeding the audience what they want through additional outlets. Each company's cost structure must change carefully, as the audience is unlikely to pay for what is free elsewhere.

Old media companies that fail to provide what the audience desires will loose, both in audience numbers and in their long-term reputations. People may visit an old media company's website, but if it is difficult to get what they're looking for, they'll move on. Old media can't count on having a captive audience.

Some old media companies have waited too long to adapt. The New York Times went on the air with a cable-news channel just after 9-11... but few people ever saw it because NYT thought people would pay a premium to watch it. During one of the most watched times in television history, the Times-Discovery News Channel lost an enormous opportunity to capture and build viewership. Today, few even know the channel exists. CBS and ABC have failed to launch 24-7 news channels at a time when CNN, NBC and Fox all grew their audiences. Today, ABC's news channel exists but lacks clearance in most markets and satellite services, clearance the network should have achieved during 'retransmission consent' negotiations with carriers. The only movement for CBS has been to discuss a merger with CNN - failing in those talks twice.

Will old media step up and provide the news, information and entertainment the public desires? Or will they continue to shrink staffs, and close offices, fearing the future? Tough choices at the top of old media companies will determine their futures, and that of their workers. Successful decisions rest upon each company's vision of how best to use their employees' skills to meet future demand. The audience will be voting on those choices with their remote controls and keyboards.

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

3. Colt: The original point and click interface.

4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

7. "Free" men do not ask permission to bear arms.

8. If you don't know your rights you don't have any.

9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.

11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.

13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

14. Guns only have two enemies: rust and politicians.

15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

17. 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.

18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

19. Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.

20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.

21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control their guns.

22. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

23. Enforce the "gun control laws" we ALREADY have, don't make more.

24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

25.. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

26. "A government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

27. Doctors' malpractice kills millions more people world wide than legitimate gun owners kill.

This is one of those internet forwards I've received. Who knows where it originated.

There's just something wrong with having to buy an extended warranty. Shouldn't products be made to last in the first place? But the reality is, things aren't always made to last. Ever since watching the movie Tucker, A Man And His Dream, I've suspected that product life is a calculated decision by manufacturers. It could also be we have higher expectations than folks used to. We don't want to be inconvenienced in the least. When I buy appliances and electronics, I've tended to avoid buying service contracts. My policy has been that if it proves to be bad, I'll never buy that brand again. I'm running out of brands.

We're buying a number of appliances for our new home, and we've stumbled upon a decent offer. Spichers of Winchester VA offers reasonably priced service contracts for a period of 5-years. If, at the end of a service contract, you haven't made any service calls on that contract, the store will offer the cost of the contract back as a store credit. I've never heard of a store doing that. Considering that the store sells appliances and electronics, I can even think of some fun ways to spend the credits... if any of the appliances really last for 5 years without the need for service.

It has now been revealed that NBC News heard from Cho Seung-Hui before he killed 30 at VT's Norris Hall. NBC willingly handed over this evidence to police, and will air portions of this during NBC Nightly News tonight. So what did NBC know, and when did they know it? What could NBC have done differently to stop the tragic event?

 Gunman contacted NBC News during massacre, NBC News

 Virginia Shooter Sent Writings and Photos to NBC, NY Times

It's now come out that file-sharing can hurt your future chances of getting a job requiring a security clearance...

Have you ever downloaded tunes off of LimeWire? Swapped TV show torrents? Then don't bother trying to work for the NSA. At a recent recruiting session, an Agency staffer told wannabe spooks that "illegal file sharing" was one of the things that would keep them from getting the security clearances needed to work at the NSA.

Don't be surprised when other employers use this as a gauge of your honesty, too.

 NSA: File-Sharers Unfit to Spy on Americans, Wired News

If you follow what society tells you to eat and drink, they'll eventually have you running in circles. Time and time again, they laud one thing to replace another, eventually dispensing the opposite advice. That's happened with eggs, butter, bacon, and alcohol, to name a few. I'm wondering if someday they'll tell us to start smoking again...

How the tables have turned! The health nut crowd now lauds wine as a cure-all while blasting Coke and Pepsi as the devil's own true brew. How soon we forget. Soft drinks (as they were once called) were invented and promoted in part to replace the "hard stuff," alcohol. The industry that grew up to promote these drinks was hailed as the savior of the masses. Coke became the virtuous alternative to Demon Rum. Alas, no good deed goes unpunished, the corner cynic reminds us. And the corner cynic has a point. The willingness of culture's cruel pendulum to swing back and kick us when we've just gotten up is a lesson for the ages.

While you're at it, beware of the coming Ice Age. Or was it global warming?

 Continue Reading: Name your poison, Paul Jacob

 Update: Study warns of health risk from ethanol, SF Chronicle

After a fun series of advice for wives, Doug Giles now dispenses some good advice for husbands, all while making some fun of those who claim to hear directly from God apart from the scriptures...

"God inspired you to write this?" you say. Yep, God did. The way I'm almost certain it was maybe God speaking to me is that every time He speaks to me about something (and it's pretty often), I begin to smell WD40, packing popcorn begins to fall from the ceiling of my trailer house, and then a voice begins speaking to me in English but with an angry and commanding high-pitched Chinese accent. It's quite an experience.

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 1, Doug Giles

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 2, Doug Giles

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 3, Doug Giles

 The 10 Commandments for Men, Doug Giles

Fred Thompson lets loose on how Presidents use intelligence...

It's absurd. Presidents in the future, as always, have to make a determination based on a lot of things, and intelligence is one of them. And the president not only has the right to evaluate the intelligence that he's receiving, he has a duty to do that. He listens to the British. I mean, if history was any judge, I don't know about now, but if the Brits tell me that there's an [Iraqi] deal with Niger and our guys don't know whether there was or not, I tend to rely on the Brits. I mean, those are the calls the president's got to make, and the question is really: Which way do you want the president to lean? Caution--that it's probably not so? When bad news is delivered, he gets mixed messages, he gets various intelligence reports of various kinds. Did you want him all balled up in all of that, you know, trying to apply some kind of a scientific equation to it for fear that somebody in an intelligence committee is going to wave it around at a hearing later on or something like that? Is that what it's come to? If so, the world is going to be a lot more dangerous than it otherwise already is. You've got to exercise the authority and the responsibilities that you've been given.

 Continue Reading: From the Courthouse to the White House, Weekly Standard

In 2003, CNN decided to clean house of their engineers, dismissing them all under their existing contract but inviting them to reapply individually. The effect was to keep less than half, hand-picking those they wanted to keep without regard to seniority as it existed under the former contract. It's now four years later...

The union filed unfair labor practice charges against the network, contending it illegally voided the workers' union contract. The charges accused the network of improperly dismissing a number of former TVS employees, while rehiring the balance at reduced wages and benefits.

The National Labor Relations Board has now issued a complaint in the dispute that CNN will have to answer in an administrative hearing. The complaint, which was issued April 4 and circulated to the parties this week, states that forced remedies to the situation could include CNN's rehiring those dismissed and reinstating the union contract.

Those out of work get to keep waiting. A hearing before an administrative judge is expected in September of this year.

 CNN hit with NLRB complaint, Hollywood Reporter

 NABET-CWA Applauds Labor Board Ruling against CNN for Tearing up Union Contracts in New York, Washington, Broadcast Newsroom

In its choice between people and profits, Circuit City let us know which they really value the most this week, announcing layoffs of 3400 workers because they make too much money. Yes, in a rare moment of honesty, this company actually admitted that's why they were doing it. So much for their company slogan "Our associates are our greatest assets."

Regrettably, this race-to-the-bottom approach is hardly limited to Circuit City. Retailers in a wide variety of specialties have looked at the leveling effects of the Internet and concluded that sales associates are not really that valuable. If they were, prices for goods bought with the assistance of salespeople would be higher than for goods bought with a few clicks of the mouse.

Change is inevitable, and to survive, employees need to have the training and skills most valued by employers. Clearly, older experienced workers are no longer valued at Circuit City.

  Circuit City's harsh layoffs give glimpse of a new world, USA Today

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether unions must obtain the consent of their workers before spending their dues for political purposes. While some members may want their dues going to Democrats (where union dues usually go), clearly others do not...

The high court has often said workers have the right not to have their earnings taken for political activities with which they disagree, but that right is usually more theoretical than real. These unions often take great pains to conceal how much money they spend so workers won't know how much they are owed. Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court held this unconstitutional but unions keep doing it. And since neither Congress nor the president is willing to challenge the unions' enormous political influence, those decisions have gone largely un-enforced.

 Continue Reading: Union dues and free speech, Timothy Sandefur, Washington Times

Google chooses today (April 1st) to announce their FREE PAPER GIVEAWAY...

For April Fools Day, they were also giving away FREE INTERNET WIFI.

 Thanks to John Fenzel

Where was the media coverage? When anti-war protestors show up, that's news. But when these 30,000 Americans arrive to challenge them, the MSM yawns...

It was a breath-taking, historic, and emotional day in Washington, D.C. You won't know it if you tune in to the usual MSM channels. But new media--bloggers, conservative documentarians, Internet activists, FReepers, citizen journalists, photojournalists, and talk radio hosts--turned out in full force to participate and cover the Gathering of Eagles counter-protest. Thousands upon thousands turned out despite freezing temperatures and hairy travel conditions. --- A pure, grass-roots effort, the Gathering of Eagles' volunteers matched the massive Soros-funded anti-war machine sign for sign, chant for chant, and marcher for marcher. The contrast was most stark right before the entrance to the Memorial Bridge, where Eagles gathered with a field of American flags--while anti-Bush, 9/11 conspiracy nuts wrapped themselves in a figurative blanket of yellow "Out of Iraq" placards. Several of the vets shouted, "Yellow! How appropriate!"

 Continue Reading: Blogburst: Gathering of Eagles--30,000 strong, Michelle Malkin

 3/19 Update: What they didn't show you on TV, Michelle Malkin

I was honored to meet Michail Makarenko in the fall of 2005. I spoke with him at length through his translator Gregory Burnside, and heard some of the most amazing things about his life in the Soviet Union.

He knew they told lies to the West, and he stood up to them about it. With every claim they made about how much the Russian people were provided in terms of rights and provisions, Michail pushed them to follow through and actually do it. He was imprisoned but never silenced until now...

The Soviet government couldn't stop him. The KGB couldn't silence him. And years of imprisonment didn't break his will. Makarenko spent 11 years in Soviet gulags for anti-communist activism. Even before that, he was a thorn in the Soviet side and he paid for it. But he never gave up. In 1962, he organized a strike at a concrete factory that cost him his job, his home, his parental rights and his education at Moscow State University. Raisa Gorbachev, the wife of the last Soviet leader, had been in his class, one friend said.

In 1965, he became director of an independent art gallery, where he displayed the works of artists who had been banned by the government. The government shut the gallery weeks before a show of works by Marc Chagall. One of his prison terms was for involvement with an alternative political party. But even prison didn't deter him. He wrote and smuggled out two books, including an autobiography, From My Life, which was later published in Russian and German. He organized fellow prisoners to complain about their conditions. Out of prison in the late 1970s, but still under government supervision, he sneaked away from his monitors and led an expedition to a mass grave for victims of the communist regime. His group exhumed some of the remains and secretly buried them at the Kremlin Wall.

Michail Makarenko was killed on March 15th in an apparent random act of violence, beaten to death by a stranger at a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop. Prior to this,

...he was attacked in the men's room of a bus station in Vermont by men he suspected of being Soviet agents. In yet another, a gunshot tore into his apartment in Washington.

Police have arrested a suspect. Makarenko was on his way to New York seeking to publish his memoirs in English. A memorial he helped create is due to open in Washington this June, honoring victims of communism.

 A senseless attack ended dissident's life, Philadelphia Inquirer

 Hillsboro man murdered in New Jersey, Loudoun Times-Mirror

 The Catch - Michail Makarenko, National Review, June 24, 1988

 Testimony of Michail Makarenko, CCAC Newsletter, July 15, 1982

After decades of insults directed at bible-believing conservatives, this campaign season seems to have produced a revival on the left. Suddenly, Hilliary, Obama, and Edwards sound right at home among the faithful, in an attempt to reach out to values voters:

Liberals who snickered at George W. Bush as a God-fearing president open about his faith will no doubt refrain from similarly mocking these Democratic believers. The Washington Post, which once sneered at evangelical Christians as "poor, uneducated and easy to command" (and later apologized for the slur), will no doubt refrain from applying the slur to the Religious Left. Other Democratic partisans will have to adjust their contempt for the faithful, too. After the 2004 elections, novelist Jane Smiley described voters in the red states as ignorant and unteachable. "Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to," she wrote in Slate, the Internet magazine. "They know who they are -- they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence." Suddenly sinners have never looked so good.

 Continue Reading: Nobody Here but Us Believers, Suzanne Fields

NBC's Brian Williams, just back from a trip to Iraq, acknowledged that there is good news to be found in Iraq, a sharp contrast to what we hear each night on the evening news:

"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams says his recent five-day stint in Iraq "left my head spinning because the story lines are all over the place." The trip -- during which he reported extensively for his evening newscast and for other shows -- gave him the perspective he needed to report what he calls "the story of our time." It's even more so since President Bush announced a radical shift in war strategy this year, and Williams saw elements of the plan that are working. "This story is a living, breathing dichotomy," Williams said. "If you go to Iraq looking for good news, I can take you right to it. If you're looking for bad news, I can take you right to it."

We look forward to hearing both perspectives in future broadcasts.

 Continue Reading: Iraq trip left NBC anchor's head spinning, Hollywood Reporter

The Department of Defense's European Command has announced the closing of High Wycombe's school and dorms for American Dependents at the end of the 2006-07 school year.

London Central High School has been located there since 1962. LCHS was located at Bushey Heath from 1952 to 1962. The base, known as USAF High Wycombe, reverts to British ownership as RAF Daws Hill. The eventual disposition of the facility is unclear, covered by the Official Secrets Act. Some facilities there were used as a secure command center during World War II, where Winston Churchill is said to have been present.

I knew students who attended LCHS at High Wycombe from American bases and posts from Oslo to Gibraltar. Now, the wisdom of schooling closer to home has prevailed. Years ago, the choice was between sending kids to local foreign schools or away to the American boarding school. The school system is now suggesting other options  including local British schools, home study, or private British boarding schools.

  London Central school to be shut down at end of academic year, Stars & Stripes

  London Central Elementary High School to Close in June 2007, Message from the LCHS Principal, Theresa Barba

  Closure of Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) Residential Dormitory and London Central High School, Gen. James L. Jones, Commander, United States European Command 

  London Central High School, Networking/Reunion Info

Support: verb - argue or speak in defense of; to be in favor of something and wish to see it succeed; give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to; aiding the cause or policy or interests of; the activity of providing for or maintaining by supplying with money or necessities

Boston was terrorized Monday by illuminated mini-billboards promoting a cartoon series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball. Photo by Todd Vanderlin. Cartoon series by Turner Broadcasting.

From the front lines in the war on terror...

Things that I am tired of in this war: I am tired of Democrats saying they are patriotic and then insulting my commander in chief and the way he goes about his job. I am tired of Democrats who tell me they support me, the soldier on the ground, and then tell me the best plan to win this war is with a "phased redeployment" (liberal-speak for retreat) out of the combat zone to someplace like Okinawa. I am tired of the Democrats whining for months on T.V., in the New York Times, and in the House and Senate that we need more troops to win the war in Iraq, and then when my Commander in Chief plans to do just that, they say that is the wrong plan, it won't work, and we need a "new direction." --- I am tired of Code Pink, Daily Kos, Al-Jazzera, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, the ACLU, and CAIR thinking that they somehow get to have a vote in how we blast, shoot and kill these animals who would seek to subdue us and destroy us. I am tired of people like Meredith Vieria from NBC asking oxygen thieves like Senator Chuck Hagel questions like "Senator, at this point, do you think we are fighting and dying for nothing?" Meredith might not get it, but soldiers do know the difference between fighting and dying for something and fighting and dying for nothing.

 Continue Reading: Sergeant in Afghanistan - Stop the BS and "Let's Get It Done", Blackfive

Cal Thomas recommends this film which opened this week...

"Amazing Grace" is the account of William Wilberforce, a courageous member of the British Parliament in the latter part of the 19th century who, more than any person, was responsible for ending the English slave trade. Starring Ioan Gruffudd as Wilberforce and co-starring Albert Finney as the slave trader, John Newton, who converted to Christianity and subsequently wrote the hymn, "Amazing Grace," this is a film about political and moral heroism with implications for our time, offering all of the rationalizations for maintaining the slave trade, including allegations that it would wreck the British economy and the most outrageous of all, that the slaves, themselves, had allegedly not registered any opposition to the trade.

If we gripe about the lousy films most of the year, we should support the films that do it right, like Amazing Grace.

 Continue Reading: What a Friend We Have in Hollywood, Cal Thomas

A group of illegal immigrants at a Baltimore area 7-Eleven had the misfortune of asking ICE agents for work. Incredibly, the agents took the time to look into the men's background, and arrested 24 of them.

"Fugitive aliens and other immigration-status violators [flout] our laws and threaten the integrity of our immigration system," said John Alderman, acting director of ICE's Baltimore field office. "Although ICE conducts targeted enforcement actions, we will not ignore immigration violations we encounter during the course of doing business." Six of the men have criminal records in the United States, eight of the men have failed to comply with final removal orders from an immigration judge and one man had been caught at the border on four occasions, ICE officials said. --- "We're making it more difficult for people to be good," said the Rev. Robert Wojtek, pastor of neighboring St. Michael and St. Patrick Roman Catholic parishes. "What sin against God have these people done?"

Apparently, illegal immigrants are only breaking "man's laws".

 Continue Reading: Aliens ask wrong people in van about work, Washington Times

Illegal immigrants have been sneaking into the country, stealing identities, and taking jobs from those here legally. National Guardsman have been overrun at the border. Now we learn that a deal is in the works to give away billions of dollars in Social Security money to millions of today's illegal Mexican workers.

At first glance, a law called the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 seems to prevent this giveaway from occu