http://www.intheav.com/Ray's Rantsnointheav.comintheav.com RSS-generatorhttp://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/02/07/prop-8-ruled-unconstitutionalBreaking News: Prop 8 overturned! More to followTue, 07 Feb 2012 18:03:08 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/02/06/obama-freezes-iranian-assets-in-u-sThe White House announced today that President Obama has ordered a freeze on all Iranian government and central bank assets held in the U.S. or any foreign branch of a U.S. entity. The order blocks all property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank, and all Iranian financial institutions, including those that haven’t been specifically designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury. Previously, only assets belonging to sanctioned Iranian entities or individuals were frozen. The measure was mandated as part of Iran sanctions legislation that was passed by Congress and signed by the president on December 31, 2011. U.S. regulations already prohibited American citizens or entities from virtually all transactions, direct or indirect, involving Iran or the government of Iran, aside from those exempted for transactions involving food, medicine and humanitarian relief. Iran has already characterized previous economic sanctions by the European Union as "provocative" and might prompt Iran to close the oil shipping lanes through the Straits of Hormuz. They have said that further sanctions, such as those announced today, could constitute an act of war. On Sunday (2-5-12), Iran threatened to attack any country that is used as a launching pad for strikes against their country, further ratcheting up the tensions throughout the region. Barring some unexpected capitulation by Iran to retreat from its nuclear ambitions, most analysts are predicting a military confrontation, probably involving Israel, in a matter of days or weeks. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:14:29 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/02/05/super-bowl-picksOkay, it's Saturday night and time to commit to a Super Bowl prediction. This has been a tough one. My heart says Tom Brady and the Patriots, my head says Eli Manning and the Giants. I think it will be a close game, a tough defensive game. And in the end, I think it will be the Giants... Giants 27 Patriots 21 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:29:06 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/01/20/paying-zero-taxesSeveral conservative websites are carrying sponsored advertisements for a book called "How To Pay Zero Taxes". It was written by Jeff A. Schnepper, a tax advisor at Haran, Watson & Company with offices in Columbus, Ohio and Chester, New Jersey. The book is designed for those making $250,000 (or more) as a means to pay no taxes by exploiting the "hidden loopholes" in the tax code. They claim The New York Daily News coined this book "The IRS's Worst Nightmare." The backers of this book see it as a righteous attack on "big government", a way for the wealthy to beat the system, tricks to get the government to pay for vacations, free cars and make charitable contributions on the government dime. They'll even give you three months free of the "Franklin Prosperity Report", a newsletter designed to "help the rich get richer" by avoiding income tax, by disguising property taxes and boosting Social Security payouts by manipulating the system with false or misleading but legal (they say) information. They claim that: "In one recent year alone 46.9% of Those Earning $250,000 (or more) Paid Zero Taxes." They claim this is a (legal) way to stop the government's annual "fleecing" of the rich. But the real question is, who's fleecing whom? Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:20:20 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/01/17/ron-paul-ignored-no-moreLargely ignored by his GOP rivals thus far in the campaign, Ron Paul was gang-banged in front of a raucous crowd in last night's GOP debate in South Carolina over some of his foreign policy positions, particularly whether the U.S. had the right to kill Osama bin Laden. Paul was booed, and his GOP rivals were quick to pile on, when Paul compared it to Chinese military killing a Chinese dissident here in the United States. Newt Gingrich called the comparison "utterly irrational" and Mitt Romney added the right solution for bin Laden was the “bullet in the head that he received.” Ron Paul faces a unique challenge in South Carolina. Governor Nikki Haley, who has endorsed Romney, said Paul’s isolationist message won’t play here. “South Carolina is a very strong military state,” she said. “Very strong military state, patriotic state, and so I don’t think that that part of his message resonates in South Carolina.” Paul’s dovish statements and the strong counter-attacks from his Republican rivals isolates him from the rest of the pack on foreign policy. Added to the fact that Paul has spent very little time campaigning in the state, there are questions about whether Paul, who wants all U.S. troops returned from overseas and would not confront Iran over nuclear weapons, can actually compete in hawkish South Carolina. YET... Ron Paul is one of only two candidates who have served in the military* (Rick Perry the other) and can claim more campaign donations from active military personnel than any other candidate. Speaking last night in a part of the state heaviest on retired military, Paul defended his pledge to cut military spending by arguing that he would not reduce domestic defense expenditures. “I want to cut military money. I don’t want to cut defense money,” he said. “I want to bring the troops home". The line that drew big applause, some of his only of the night, was "You don’t understand there’s a difference between military spending and defense spending. Just because you spend, spend a billion dollars on an embassy in Baghdad bigger than the Vatican, you consider that defense spending. I consider that waste”. South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly after the debate said, “I don’t know if he decided to play here less or anything. I’ve kind of been the one saying, ‘Please, come on in, get in the state.’ So it’s going to be interesting to see what he gets on Saturday.” ------------------------------------- Mitt Romney never served in the military. Before college, Romney had received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon 'minister of religion' for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years. In April 1965, Romney registered with the Selective Service but was not considered available for military service during the Vietnam War until December 1970. When he became eligible, he drew a high number in the annual draft lottery and at that time no one drawing higher than 195 was drafted. Newt Gingrich never served in the military. Gingrich received a draft deferment during the Vietnam War owing to the fact that he was studying at the time in Tulane University and he had children. In addition, he was also impaired with short-sightedness and had flat feet (pes planus). Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:40:56 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/01/12/friday-funnies"My dog has no nose." "How does it smell?" "Awful!" ------------------------------------ Two Lawyers & Ethics Two lawyers had been stranded on a desert island for several months. The only thing on the island were lots of tall coconut palms that provided them their only food and liquids. Each day one of the lawyers would climb to the top to see if he could spot a rescue boat coming. Finally, one day the lawyer yelled down from the tree, "WOW, I just can't believe my eyes. There is a woman out there floating in our direction!" The lawyer on the ground was most skeptical and said, "You're hallucinating, you've finally lost your mind." But within a few minutes, up to the beach floated a stunningly beautiful woman, face up, totally naked, unconscious, without even so much as a ring or earrings on her person. The two lawyers went down to the water, dragged her up onto the beach and discovered, yes, she was alive, warm and breathing. One of the lawyers then said to the other, "You know, we've been on this God forsaken island for months now without a woman. It's been such a long, long time....so....do you think we should...well...you know...screw her?" "Out of WHAT!!!?!?" ...asked the other. ------------------------------------ BRITISH HUMOUR: These are classified ads, which were actually placed in U.K. Newspapers: FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 8 years old, Hateful little bastard. Bites! FREE PUPPIES 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog. FREE PUPPIES. Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd. Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound. COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED. Also 1 gay bull for sale. JOINING NUDIST COLONY! Must sell washer and dryer £100. WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE . Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie. FOR SALE BY OWNER. Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes. Excellent condition, £200 or best offer. No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything. (That's a fact) ------------------------------------- Quotable Quotes: In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. John Adams If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. Mark Twain Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. Mark Twain I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. James Bovard, Civil Libertarian Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. Frederic Bastiat, French economist Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Ronald Reagan I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! P.J. O'Rourke In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. Voltaire Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! Pericles No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. Anonymous The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. Mark Twain The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress. Mark Twain What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. Edward Langley, Artist A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. Thomas Jefferson We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. Aesop ------------------------------------- Children Are Quick: TEACHER: Why are you late? STUDENT: Class started before I got here. TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor? JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables. TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?' GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L' TEACHER: No, that's wrong GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it. TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O. TEACHER: What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O. TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago. WINNIE: Me! TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty? GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are. TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ' I. ' MILLIE: I is.. TEACHER: No, Millie. Always say,'I am.' MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.' TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him? LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand? TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating? SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook. TEACHER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's.. Did you copy his? CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog. TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested? HAROLD: A teacher ----------------------------------- One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop.When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door. Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door. Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I can not accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Congressman was very happy and left the shop. The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut. It illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it. BOTH POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON! ------------------------------------- Other Republicans Agree Not to Tell Rick Perry Where Next Debate Is ‘Only Humane Thing,’ Candidates Say CONCORD, NH (The Borowitz Report) – In a move that they are calling “the only humane thing to do,” the other Republican candidates for President have agreed not to tell Texas governor Rick Perry where the next debate is being held. The candidates reached the decision after a two-debate weekend in which Mr. Perry put in a performance that, in the words of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, was “brave, but painful to watch.” Immediately following the final New Hampshire debate on Sunday morning, an awkward scene unfolded onstage as Mr. Perry asked the other candidates, “So, where is everyone going now?” “Um, I don’t know, Rick,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, looking down at his shoes. “Isn’t there going to be another debate after this?” Mr. Perry persisted. “Not that I know of, Rick,” said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, pretending to text with his phone. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.” After Mr. Perry left the stage, Mr. Romney told a reporter that he “felt bad about fibbing to Rick,” but added, “Putting him out there onstage again would just be cruel.” ----------------------------------- One day, in line at the company cafeteria, Bob says to Mike behind him, 'My elbow hurts like the dickens!! I guess I'd better see a doctor.' 'Listen, you don't have to spend that kind of money,' Mike replies. 'There's a diagnostic computer down at Wal-Mart . Just give it a urine sample and the computer will tell you what's wrong and what to do about it. It takes ten seconds and costs $10 - A lot cheaper than a doctor.' So, Bob deposits a urine sample in a small jar and takes it to Wal-Mart. He deposits $10, and the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample. He pours the sample into the slot and waits. Ten seconds later, the computer ejects a printout: 'You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and Epsom salts found on aisle 2. Avoid heavy activity. It will improve in 2 weeks. Thank you for shopping @ Wal-Mart.' That evening, while thinking how amazing this new technology was, Bob began wondering if the computer could be fooled. He mixed some tap water, a stool sample from his dog, urine samples from his wife and daughter, and a sperm sample for good measure. Bob hurries back to Wal-Mart, eager to check the results. H e deposits $10, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results. The computer prints the following: 1. Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener. (Aisle 9) 2. Your dog has ringworm.. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo. (Aisle 7) 3. Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab. 4. Your wife is pregnant. Twins. They aren't yours. Get a lawyer. 5. If you don't stop playing with yourself, your elbow will never get better! Thank you for shopping @ Wal-Mart. ----------------------------------- Conspiracy Theorists Believe Actual Republican Candidates Are Tied Up Somewhere Obama a Prime Suspect DES MOINES (The Borowitz Report) – A growing number of conspiracy theorists believe that the Republican candidates who keep showing up for televised debates are impostors and that the actual GOP candidates are tied up in a warehouse somewhere. “There’s no way that these people are the actual candidates,” said Tracy Klugian, a leading conspiracy theorist who subscribes to the warehouse theory. “The American people need to stand up and demand the return of the real ones.” Mr. Klugian, who started the website WhereAreTheRealOnes.com, said he started suspecting “something was up” months ago when the “supposed Republican candidates started debating,” but recent debates in Iowa and New Hampshire left little doubt in his mind that the actual Republican candidates have been detained elsewhere. “When the most sensible person onstage is Ron Paul,” he said, “you know that what you’re witnessing is an elaborate hoax.” Conspiracy theorists like Mr. Klugian leave little doubt who might be behind the conspiracy to tie up the actual candidates at some remote location: President Barack Obama. “If you could ensure that you’d be running against Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, wouldn’t you?” he said. “When the truth about this conspiracy comes out, it’s going to make what happened with the aliens at Roswell look like a game of duck-duck-goose.” Meanwhile, Mr. Klugian said he remains “baffled” by people who insist on believing that the people who debated in Iowa and New Hampshire are the actual Republican candidates. “There’s no way you can believe that if you actually watched the debates,” he said. “It was like a sitcom with no main characters and just wacky neighbors.” ------------------------------------- Airport Security: The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners. It's an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person. Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of long and expensive trials. You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter, an announcement: “Attention to all standby passengers, we now have a seat available on flight 670 to London. Shalom!" Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:46:08 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/01/08/deal-with-the-devilOne of my favorite websites, one I visit every day, is Cinema Retro (cinemaretro.com). The site is devoted to the films of the 1960's and 1970's and I've been corresponding with one of its two managing editors, Lee Pfeiffer, for some time on a variety of different films, actors and other subjects. Visiting the site this morning, I was struck by its lead story concerning the DVD release by First Run Features of a little-known documentary called "Dear Uncle Adolph", letters written to Hitler by the German people during his rise to power and his reign as Fuhrer. As Lee says in his piece, it's hard to find a new perspective on World War II after so much has been said and written, yet this film apparently manages to do precisely that because it speaks to a fascinating, and disturbing, sociological phenomenon. As Lee puts it: "The film presents a stark and timeless lesson about how cultured, educated and rational people can willingly suspend their common sense- as well as their civil liberties- in hopes of appeasing a charismatic leader." It's a history lesson as well as a cautionary tale that "frightened people will pay any price to have a benevolent strongman solve their problems. If the price of this pact with the devil is that countless numbers of their fellow citizens be deemed undesirables and marked for death, well, that was just too bad." When I spent time in Munich in the early 1960's, the (wonderful) people insisted they knew nothing of what was happening at the Dachau concentration camp just 15km outside the city. But the truth is they didn't want to know, they screened it out of their consciousness. Parallels will inevitably be drawn, depending on one's political persuasion, those religiously inclined with talk about the "Anti-Christ", some will cite Obama, others may point to Romney or some dynamic military leader yet to be revealed. Regardless, the lesson remains no less vital. Those who are willing to trade their liberty for security will likely have neither. Additionally, I recommend Cinema Retro for any film fan. btw - For any true movie fan, interested in original theatrical "coming attractions", visit trailersfromhell.com Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:02:30 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2012/01/06/romney-unstoppableAfter his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses (only eight votes behind Mitt Romney), Rick Santorum acknowledged that Romney probably had an insurmountable lead in New Hampshire (41%) and all but conceded there. But Santorum felt he could win in South Carolina, which has the highest percentage of evalgelicals and social conservatives of any state in the nation. And all the pundits seemed to agree. But a new CNN/Time/ORC International poll released today shows Romney surging in South Carolina and now has a solid lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. South Carolina is the first contest in the South in the race for the nomination with its critical January 21st primary. The poll also shows that Santorum's support in South Carolina has climbed since Iowa, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's numbers have nose-dived. According to the poll, 37% of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina say they are currently backing Romney, nearly double his most recent support from CNN's last South Carolina survey conducted early last month. Santorum had 19% support in the survey, up from 4%, and Gingrich was at 18%, down from 43% in the early December poll. The new poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, after Romney's eight-vote victory over Santorum in Tuesday night's Iowa caucuses. As the old saying goes: "Democrats fall in love with their candidate, Republicans fall in line". Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:40:22 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/12/15/cold-case-reopenedNBC's Dateline took another look... I posted this three weeks ago. --------------------------------- In a strange sidebar to the revelations of alleged child sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant football coach Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky is renewed interest in the mystery surrounding a cold case from 2005. Last week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly indicted Sandusky on forty counts of sex crimes against young boys. According to the grand jury report, there are eight victims, between ten and fifteen years old, between 1994 and 2009. Today’s New York Times alleges that another ten victims of sexual abuse by Sandusky have now come forward. Since Sandusky’s arrest, Penn State has been the subject of widespread criticism because of an alleged cover-up that may have reached to the highest levels of the university and its football program. There have been multiple firings, most notably legendary head coach Joe Paterno, and charges of a “culture of collusion” at the school. (Although Paterno met his minimum legal requirement under Pennsylvania law, he has been judged to have failed the moral test and has been stripped of all duties and honors.) The current allegations against Sandusky are portrayed as having begun with a claim by graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary that he witnessed Sandusky sodomize a boy, who he thought to be about ten or eleven years old, in the Penn State locker room showers in 2002. In his testimony before the Garnd Jury, McQueary said he told Paterno what he had witnessed but took no further action. (McQueary, now a Penn State assistant coach, is currently on paid administrative leave.) But story, and the mystery, begins years before. The cold case mystery surrounds Ray Gricar, the respected Centre County District Attorney who investigated allegations that Jerry Sandusky had inappropriate sexual contact with an eleven year-old boy in a school locker room in 1998. After a lengthy investigation, Gricar concluded he had insufficient evidence to prosecute the case under Pennsylvania law and subsequently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. In April 2005, Ray Gricar was 59 years old, had served as the Centre County District Attorney for nearly 20 years and was preparing to retire at the end of the year. He was wrapping up a successful career, was by all accounts in a “happy relationship” with a woman he worked with and looking forward to retirement. On the morning of April 15, 2005, Gricar called his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, and told her he was driving to nearby Lewisburg on one of his regular shopping trips for antiques. But when Gricar did not return that evening and did not answer his cell phone, Fornicola bacame alarmed and contacted Bellefonte police reporting him missing. The next day, Gricar’s red and white 2004 Mini Cooper was found locked and abandoned in a Lewisburg parking lot, near the Susquehanna River. Gricar’s cell phone was locked inside the vehicle, but his keys and other personal effects, including his wallet, were missing. Search dogs were brought in, but they were unable to pick up any trace of Gricar. A search of his vehicle did not indicate a struggle or any sign of foul play with one disturbing exception: there was trace evidence of cigarette ash inside the car. Gricar was known to be fastidious about his vehicle, would not allow anyone to smoke in it and did not smoke himself. A search of the home where Gricar and Fornicola were living also failed to produce any leads. None of his personal belongings were missing, but his work laptop was nowhere to be found. Speculation turned to a possible suicide but, after an extensive search of the Susquehanna River, no body or other evidence was found. Then three months after his disappearance, two men fishing in the river found Gricar’s laptop wedged among the pilings under a bridge. The laptop was badly damaged by exposure to the water and its hard drive had been removed. Two months after that, the hard drive was found near a railroad bridge about 200 yards from where Gricar’s Mini Cooper had been parked and locked. The hard drive was so badly damaged that no information could be retrieved and the case soon went cold. Authorities are quick to point out that they don’t believe there is any connection between Gricar’s disappearance, his investigation of Sandusky or the current charges against him, but many people would love to know what information Gricar’s laptop contained. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:13:01 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/12/08/air-force-dumped-remains-of-u-s-troopsThe story got little national attention when first reported last month in the Washington Post. It was treated as a local D.C.-Virginia issue that it seems Dover (Delaware) Air Force Base, the main port of entry for America's war dead, tried to treat as "old news" and sweep under the rug. But national outrage has been growning since the Air Force confirmed that the partial remains of at least 274 U.S. service men (and presumably women) had been incinerated and dumped in a Virginia landfill between 2004 and 2008. The total number of incinerated fragments dumped in the landfill since 2001 exceeded 2,700. Adding to the outrage, the Air Force and Pentagon response to inquiries was that figuring out how many remains were dumped in the landfill in King George County, Virginia would take combing through the records of more than 6,300 troops whose remains passed through the mortuary since 2001. "It would require a massive effort and time to recall records and research individually", according to Jo Ann Rooney, the Pentagon's acting undersecretary for personnel. In response to pressure from Rep. Rush Holt (Dem.-N.J.) on behalf of one of his constituents, the Air Force acknowledged that, between 2004 and 2008, 976 fragments from 274 personnel were cremated, incinerated and dumped in the landfill. An additional 1,762 body parts, which could not be identified through DNA testing because of damage from explosions, were gathered from the battlefield and dumped in a similar way. The families had been assured that the remains would be treated in a respectful and dignified manner. In a July e-mail to one of the widows, Trevor Dean, the mortuary director, said the practice of incinerating body parts and dumping them in the landfill had been going on at least since he began working at Dover in 1996. A congressional panel will now investigate the practices at the Dover mortuary. Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:52:11 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/11/15/cold-case-reopenedIn a strange sidebar to the revelations of alleged child sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant football coach Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky is renewed interest in the mystery surrounding a cold case from 2005. Last week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly indicted Sandusky on forty counts of sex crimes against young boys. According to the grand jury report, there are eight victims, between ten and fifteen years old, between 1994 and 2009. Today’s New York Times alleges that another ten victims of sexual abuse by Sandusky have now come forward. Since Sandusky's arrest, Penn State has been the subject of widespread criticism because of an alleged cover-up that may have reached to the highest levels of the university and its football program. There have been multiple firings, most notably legendary head coach Joe Paterno, and charges of a “culture of collusion” at the school. (Although Paterno met his minimum legal requirement under Pennsylvania law, he has been judged to have failed the moral test and has been stripped of all duties and honors.) The current allegations against Sandusky are portrayed as having begun with a claim by graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary that he witnessed Sandusky sodomize a boy, who he thought to be about ten or eleven years old, in the Penn State locker room showers in 2002. In his testimony before the Garnd Jury, McQueary said he told Paterno what he had witnessed but took no further action. (McQueary, now a Penn State assistant coach, is currently on paid administrative leave.) But story, and the mystery, begins years before. The cold case mystery surrounds Ray Gricar, the respected Centre County District Attorney who investigated allegations that Jerry Sandusky had inappropriate sexual contact with an eleven year-old boy in a school locker room in 1998. After a lengthy investigation, Gricar concluded he had insufficient evidence to prosecute the case under Pennsylvania law and subsequently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. In April 2005, Ray Gricar was 59 years old, had served as the Centre County District Attorney for nearly 20 years and was preparing to retire at the end of the year. He was wrapping up a successful career, was by all accounts in a “happy relationship” with a woman he worked with and looking forward to retirement. On the morning of April 15, 2005, Gricar called his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, and told her he was driving to nearby Lewisburg on one of his regular shopping trips for antiques. But when Gricar did not return that evening and did not answer his cell phone, Fornicola bacame alarmed and contacted Bellefonte police reporting him missing. The next day, Gricar's red and white 2004 Mini Cooper was found locked and abandoned in a Lewisburg parking lot, near the Susquehanna River. Gricar's cell phone was locked inside the vehicle, but his keys and other personal effects, including his wallet, were missing. Search dogs were brought in, but they were unable to pick up any trace of Gricar. A search of his vehicle did not indicate a struggle or any sign of foul play with one disturbing exception: there was trace evidence of cigarette ash inside the car. Gricar was known to be fastidious about his vehicle, would not allow anyone to smoke in it and did not smoke himself. A search of the home where Gricar and Fornicola were living also failed to produce any leads. None of his personal belongings were missing, but his work laptop was nowhere to be found. Speculation turned to a possible suicide but, after an extensive search of the Susquehanna River, no body or other evidence was found. Then three months after his disappearance, two men fishing in the river found Gricar’s laptop wedged among the pilings under a bridge. The laptop was badly damaged by exposure to the water and its hard drive had been removed. Two months after that, the hard drive was found near a railroad bridge about 200 yards from where Gricar’s Mini Cooper had been parked and locked. The hard drive was so badly damaged that no information could be retrieved and the case soon went cold. Authorities are quick to point out that they don’t believe there is any connection between Gricar’s disappearance, his investigation of Sandusky or the current charges against him, but many people would love to know what information Gricar’s laptop contained. Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:49:26 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/11/07/personhood-in-mississippiIf tomorrow (Tuesday) voters in Mississippi pass an unprecedented initiative that would declare a fertilized egg a "legal person" under the state Constitution, nobody (including the authors of the initiative) knows exactly how that law would be interpreted and enforced. But legal and medical experts are concerned that the "personhood" amendment could spur a flurry of court battles, bogus lawsuits and moral and political conundrums beyond the scope of Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose. The vague question facing Mississippi voters at the ballots is: Should an undeveloped embryo have the same legal rights as a person? If the answer is yes, then state lawmakers will be faced with figuring out what Proposition 26 means for practical purposes and how to implement it? The process of interpreting and implementing the amendment is likely to be complicated and fraught with legal challenges, considering the word "person" appears more than 9,000 times in the Mississippi constitution. The law would unequivocally ban abortion, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. But advocates on both sides argue about the legal implications beyond abortion. The initiative could be interpreted to prohibit emergency contraception as well as the birth control pill, which can affect a fertilized egg's ability to attach to the uterus. It could also complicate the legality of in-vitro fertilization (which can result in a number of unused embryos) as well as stem cell research. Michele Alexandre, a civil rights law professor at the University of Mississippi says, "This law can go to the silliest and most radical extreme if you take it literally". Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union says, "To try to figure out what it would mean to impose this standard definition that always includes an egg, embryo and fetus could have consequences we couldn't even speculate about, because we haven't thought of them". A number of doctors are expressing their fear of potential lawsuits as well. Dr. Wayne Slocum, head of the Mississippi section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says, "I assume some poor patient or doctor or both will have to be brought to court and made an example of so this case can rise through the courts to our nation's Supreme Court. The fear of litigation is real, and I can tell you that the physicians feel that, and it's our fear that this passes." The amendment could subject both women and doctors to an array of criminal and civil suits. For instance, a doctor could be prosecuted for trying to save a woman with ectopic pregnancy, an abnormal pregnancy which occurs outside the uterus and is the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. It could require coroners to investigate miscarriages, which are reported to occur in at least a quarter of pregnancies, and it could make it possible for someone to sue on behalf of the egg that didn't implant because the woman used birth control. Slocum said he considers himself pro-life, but he can't support the amendment when he considers all of its possible legal consequences and the difficult situations that could arise. The personhood initiative is so legally problematic that there are already people across the nation who are "lined up to challenge it," because it violates a number of Supreme Court precedents, said Alexandre. It would also make Mississippi the first state to directly challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that prevents states from banning abortion before the fetus would viable outside the womb. The initiative could additionally challenge Griswald v. Connecticut, which declared a state law banning contraceptives unconstitutional, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which prevents states from passing abortion restrictions that cast "undue burden" on a woman's ability to obtain an abortion. Les Riley, the leader of Mississippi's personhood movement, said he is hoping challengers will take this law all the way up to the Supreme Court. "We think that God has already told us when life begins, and science has confirmed it, and the court has just not dealt with it," Riley said. While a number of Mississippi lawmakers have expressed concerns about the vagueness and potential consequences of the personhood amendment, the vast majority of them are publicly supporting it. The state's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, says that he had concerns about the initiative's ambiguity and its ramifications for women's health. "I believe life begins at conception," Barbour said. "Unfortunately, this personhood amendment doesn't say that. It says life begins at fertilization, or cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof. That ambiguity is striking a lot of pro-life people here as concerning. And I'm talking about people that are very outspokenly pro-life." "I am concerned about some of the ramifications on in-vitro fertilization and [ectopic] pregnancies where pregnancies [occur] outside the uterus and [in] the fallopian tubes," he continued. "That concerns me, I have to just say it." The following day, Barbour voted for the initiative using an absentee ballot. Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:08:57 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/11/01/climate-skeptic-reversal(Associated Press 11-1-11) A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly. The study of the world's surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists. Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades. What's different, and why everyone from opinion columnists to "The Daily Show" is paying attention is who is behind the study. One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the tea party. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, run a large privately held company involved in oil and other industries, producing sizable greenhouse gas emissions. Muller's research team carefully examined two chief criticisms by skeptics. One is that weather stations are unreliable; the other is that cities, which create heat islands, were skewing the temperature analysis. "The skeptics raised valid points and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago," Muller said in a telephone interview. "And now we have confidence that the temperature rise that had previously been reported had been done without bias." Muller said that he came into the study "with a proper skepticism," something scientists "should always have. I was somewhat bothered by the fact that there was not enough skepticism" before. There is no reason now to be a skeptic about steadily increasing temperatures, Muller wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, a place friendly to skeptics. Muller did not address in his research the cause of global warming. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists say it's man-made from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Nor did his study look at ocean warming, future warming and how much of a threat to mankind climate change might be. Still, Muller said it makes sense to reduce the carbon dioxide created by fossil fuels. "Greenhouse gases could have a disastrous impact on the world," he said. Still, he contends that threat is not as proven as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is. On Monday, Muller was taking his results – four separate papers that are not yet published or peer-reviewed, but will be, he says – to a conference in Santa Fe, N.M., expected to include many prominent skeptics as well as mainstream scientists. "Of course he'll be welcome," said Petr Chylek of Los Alamos National Lab, a noted skeptic and the conference organizer. "The purpose of our conference is to bring people with different views on climate together, so they can talk and clarify things." Shawn Lawrence Otto, author of the book "Fool Me Twice" that criticizes science skeptics, said Muller should expect to be harshly treated by global warming deniers. "Now he's considered a traitor. For the skeptic community, this isn't about data or fact. It's about team sports. He's been traded to the Indians. He's playing for the wrong team now." And that started on Sunday, when a British newspaper said one of Muller's co-authors, Georgia Tech climate scientist Judith Curry, accused Muller of another Climategate-like scandal and trying to "hide the decline" of recent global temperatures. The Associated Press contacted Curry on Sunday afternoon and she said in an email that Muller and colleagues "are not hiding any data or otherwise engaging in any scientifically questionable practice." The Muller "results unambiguously show an increase in surface temperature since 1960," Curry wrote Sunday. She said she disagreed with Muller's public relations efforts and some public comments from Muller about there no longer being a need for skepticism. Muller's study found that skeptics' concerns about poor weather station quality didn't skew the results of his analysis because temperature increases rose similarly in reliable and unreliable weather stations. He also found that while there is an urban heat island effect making cities warmer, rural areas, which are more abundant, are warming, too. Among many climate scientists, the reaction was somewhat of a yawn. "After lots of work he found exactly what was already known and accepted in the climate community," said Jerry North, a Texas A&M University atmospheric sciences professor who headed a National Academy of Sciences climate science review in 2006. "I am hoping their study will have a positive impact. But some folks will never change." Chris Field, a Carnegie Institution scientist who is chief author of an upcoming intergovernmental climate change report, said Muller's study "may help the world's citizens focus less on whether climate change is real and more on smart options for addressing it." Some of the most noted scientific skeptics are no longer saying the world isn't warming. Instead, they question how much of it is man-made, view it as less a threat and argue it's too expensive to do something about, Otto said. Skeptical MIT scientist Richard Lindzen said it is a fact and nothing new that global average temperatures have been rising since 1950, as Muller shows. "It's hard to see how any serious scientist (skeptical, denier or believer – frequently depending on the exact question) will view it otherwise," he wrote in an email. In a brief email statement, the Koch Foundation noted that Muller's team didn't examine ocean temperature or the cause of warming and said it will continue to fund such research. "The project is ongoing and entering peer review, and we're proud to support this strong, transparent research," said foundation spokeswoman Tonya Mullins. NOTE: 2011 has seen more billion-dollar natural disasters than any year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:57:42 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/10/19/aclu-the-war-on-terrorFrom Newsmax.com ACLU’s Herman: Government Power Over You Quietly Growing Susan Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and author of “Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy," says that the 10-year-old Patriot Act could be considered a “dragnet.” “If you lay out a dragnet, you’re not only going to catch what you intend, you’re also going to catch the unintended,” Herman said in an exclusive Newsmax interview. The Patriot Act is one of several “blunt instruments” enacted in the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Herman said. “The problem was that they didn’t really know, at that point, what had happened on 9/11,” she said. “So, to me, a lot of these dragnets just do a lot of damage in many different ways to our constitutional rights under the First Amendment, under the Fourth Amendment ... due process.” When asked whether she believes the government has abused any of the security measures provided by the Patriot Act to spy on its citizens, she responded that the law skirts the Constitution. “This is not a situation under Fourth Amendment business-as-usual, where the government is limited to only go after people that it does have some individualized suspicion about,” she said. “The government is empowered to investigate and look at the records and information on all sorts of people who it doesn’t think are terrorists at all.” Increased surveillance “is only one of the many different kinds of powers that the Patriot Act enlarged and unleashed,” she said. “National security letters, for example, have been used hundreds of thousands of times — again, against people who are not themselves suspects — just to get information ... and we don’t really know how the government has been targeting people,” she said. There’s no way to determine whether the act has prevented another terrorist strike in the United States because “so much of this has been going on in secret,” she told Newsmax. “The surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act make it so easy for the government to know everything about what we’re doing, and so difficult for us to know what the government is doing,” she said, adding that the government’s right to immediately seize the assets of organizations with suspected ties to terrorist groups is unfair. “The idea that American organizations, or individuals, or charities were a source of funding to terrorists, to al-Qaida, was really wildly overblown,” she said. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Arizona Sen. John McCain disagreed about whether enhanced-interrogation techniques helped the military locate Osama bin Laden, she said. “There’s general controversy over whether enhanced-interrogation techniques get you anything more than ... unreliable information,” she said. She told Newsmax the ACLU is also concerned about the precedent set by President Barack Obama’s authorized assassination of American-born terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki in Yemen. “It seems to me that, if the Constitution means anything, it means that the president cannot just designate an American citizen to be a terrorist and then execute that citizen without any oversight, without any process, without our knowing what the standards are,” she said. “I think our history shows that once people start dispensing with due process … We make mistakes, there’s terrible injustices, and, at some point ... somebody who is not a terrorist is going to be executed.” Herman told Newsmax the topic of drone attacks arose during a discussion at the U.S. Army War College when she was guest speaker, and that military educators and officers disagreed over the strategy. If drone attacks can be ordered in the non-war theaters of Yemen and Pakistan, “some of them said, ‘Why not Chicago?’” “The whole idea that we are at war with terrorism, I think, is a metaphor that’s been taken too far,” she said. “If the whole world is the battlefield here, how do you avoid killing innocent civilians, as well?” © Newsmax. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:57:14 +0000http://www.intheav.com/blogs/Ray Cunneff/2011/10/17/website-adriftI've received several p.m.'s from bloggers who are at the point of despair about what has happened to this website. The level of peronal attacks and vile rumor-mongering has reached a point where thoughtful bloggers, those with diverse but respectful opinions, have been driven away. Although NewsTalk 1470 has been gone for over four years, I'm still listed as a "featured blogger" - a residual of its association with the radio station for which I was Program Director. I've asked Marvin Crist (the owner of this site) to remove my name as a "featured blogger" from the Home Page, but so far he has not responded. So I'm considering a couple of radical alternatives... Please let me know what you would like? Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:10:02 +0000