Saturday, April 28, 2007

The Fishing Boys


Nice weather again today so the boys and I went down to the the local fishing hole. We had some luck, each of us caught at least one fish and again no one got hooked. Normally I'm a pretty strict catch and release fisherman, but today there were a couple of boys, sans caps, who were looking to take home some dinner, so we gave our trout to them.

Friday, April 27, 2007

The Bloody Sock


About certain things, I'm a believer. No matter what anyone, or any "scientific" test may say about the Holy Shroud of Turin, I believe it to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. I can never prove it, I just believe it and I'm probably a better man for doing so.
On a much less important topic, I believe that the bloody sock of Kurt Schilling is just that, a bloody sock. If a man has surgery on his ankle, then tries to push off the pitching mound repeatedly with that ankle, is it so hard to believe that his incision may bleed? What is unbelievable is also what is undeniable, how Schilling pitched with that injury.
People these days are so willing to buy into conspiracy theories they will ignore the simple truth; sports injuries will bleed, fire weakens steel etc..

The Old Negro Space Program

If you like Ken Burns' documentaries on The Civil War, Jazz and Baseball, and who doesn't? This little known documentary is a must see.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Gun Control



I have a concealed carry permit and a few fine quality firearms, but rarely, if ever, carry any of them. I live in a decent town and lead a very domesticated life so I rarely think it worth the trouble to lug the damn thing around. But being an able, if somewhat ample, bodied citizen, do I have a responsibility to carry it more than I do? I'd like to think that if I saw some crazy bastard walking down the street shooting pedestrians on sight, I could make a difference and perhaps save a life. If every guy like me packed his heater, would there be a reduction of crime or an increase in shootings of morons with fifty bumper stickers?
I went to the range the other day and did pretty well considering that I hadn't been shooting in over a year. For the first few magazines, I'd hit dead center then to begin to creep left and a little bit low. Classic right handed trigger torque and bad form. I made some adjustments and kept every round in the paper malefactor's K5. Still I'd like to get some trigger work done on all my Glocks, because compared to my Browning the Glock triggers feel like a rusty gate.

Monday, April 23, 2007

On Second Thought, Hold The Pepperoni

Better yet, just give us the check so we can get out of here.

Cheryl Crow: Urges Less Use of Toilet Paper




It's not enough that she sucks as a musician now Cheryl Crow, your ecological better, is traveling the country urging everyone she comes in contact with to be green.

Crow: I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming. Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.
There you have it, the meridian of liberal theory and innovation.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sweep!


Great weekend, took the boys fishing and no one other than one poor trout got hooked and oh yeah, the Red Sox swept the Yankees. Yoink!

For those of you reside out of New England, this weekend's weather reminded me why I live here. Sunny, warm but not hot. Cool at night. After the Nor'easter we had all last week, the fine clime was just what the doctor ordered.

It was so nice we packed up the family in the gas guzzling SUV and went to the drive in movie last night. Yes, for you UCONN alums it was at Mansfield Drive In, which is like one of two drive ins left in Connecticut. Meet The Robinsons, which could be a good movie, I don't know I was in a car with 3 kids hopped up on Twizzlers. The second feature was Mark Wahlberg's Shooter. The kids had wound down by this point, which is a shame since I could have used the entertainment. What a shitty movie. Cliched, implausible, condescending, inane and politically fubar. Take my word for it, it sucked and I'm inclined to like shoot 'em up films.

Separated at Birth


Mr. Incredible and the nearly equally incredible slugger Jim Thome.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Travelling Salesman, Kid in a Tutu


A travelling salesman rings a doorbell. The door is opened by a boy, about eight years old, wearing a top hat and a tutu. He has a large martini in one hand, and a cigar in the other. "Young man, are your parents home?" asks the travelling salesman. Replies the boy, "What the fuck do you think?"

Red Sox Defeat The Yankees 7 to 6

While the world remains an imperfect place, it just became a little bit better when the Sox scored 5 runs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat the Yankees. That is all, except for this:
The Boston Symphony Orchestra was performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In the piece, there's a long passage, about 20 minutes, during which the bass violinists have nothing to do. Rather than sit around that whole time looking stupid, some bassists decided to sneak offstage and go to the tavern next door for a drink. After slamming several beers in quick succession, one of them looked at his watch. "Hey! We need to get back!" he cried. "No need to panic," said a fellow bassist. "I thought we might need some extra time, so I tied the last few pages of the conductor's score together with string. It'll take him a few minutes to get it untangled." A few moments later, the drunk musicians staggered back into the concert hall and took their places in the orchestra. About this time, a member of the audience noticed the conductor seemed a bit edgy. She pointed this out to her date. "Well, of course," said her companion. "Don't you see? It's the bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the bassists are loaded."

Charles Krauthammer on Virginia Tech

Shows yet again why he's in the big leagues while pikers like me toil in anonymity:
What can be said about the Virginia Tech massacre? Very little. What should be said? Even less. The lives of 32 innocents, chosen randomly and without purpose,
are extinguished most brutally by a deeply disturbed gunman. With an event such
as this, consisting of nothing but suffering and tragedy, the only important questions are those of theodicy, of divine justice. Unfortunately, in today’s supercharged political atmosphere, there is the inevitable rush to get ideological mileage out of the carnage.

Read the whole thing.

Red Sox Vs. Yankees



The sun shines, the beer flows, it's that time of year again when the mighty, mighty Boston Redsox practice the art of baseball against the evil empire in pinstripes, also known as the New York Yankees.

The way the Sox have been pitching, I like their chances, particularly since most of the Yankee's starters all have boo-boos and a few have oucheys.

Tonight ace veteran pitcher Kurt Schilling faces yet another willy vet Andy Pettite. Pettite is always tough but Schilling looked unhittable in his last start with his new change up working.

Saturday the Sox put up Josh Beckett against Pee Wee Herman or whoever the hell it is the Yankees can find to face him. Beckett looks the best I have ever seen him, look for an epic performance from him.

On Sunday high tech Japanese import "Dice K" Matsuzaka throws against yet another Yankee AAA scrub fill in. Dice K has lost a few games the Sox should have won. At his worst he pitched O.K. and his best he'll be tough to beat. Look for the Sox win at least 2 out of 3, in fact a sweep wouldn't surprise me.

A Rod, he of the famous hamburger helper glove swat away in the 2004 ALCS, has been, as they say, en fuego knocking the steinbrenner out of the ball. Good for him. Now maybe the classless Yankee fans will stop booing him.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban

Red State has a link to a pdf of the decision. It's 73 pages long. Kennedy wrote the opinion. Ginsberg wrote the dissent. I haven't read any of it yet. I'm happy with the result at least. Other than that, I can't comment yet.

Unarmed and Vulnerable

Bradford Wiles is a grad student at VT. He's also licensed to carry a gun in Virginia but not on the campus of VT. If he'd been caught with a handgun on campus, he would have faced expulsion.
On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."

Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.

It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself...

I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out...
Here's the rest of the article.

"Barack the Hack"

That's Mickey Kaus' headline today. He's referring to Barack Obama's recent speech where he attempts to link the VT killings to a larger theme about violence in America. It's not a very impressive effort.

More here.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Tragedy at Virginia Tech


I have little new to add except my condolences to the family and friends of those affected by this tragedy.
As I flipped through the channels I caught a minute or two of Bill O'Reilly on Fox News interviewing Michell Malkin. The fat mick was saying that Virginia Tech was negligent because they didn't shut down the university after the first shootings were reported. Fuck him. In hindsight maybe they should have frisked every person who tried to enter the campus today or maybe the Chinese shouldn't have invented gun powder. He reminded me, in case I had forgotten - which I hadn't, why I hate him. Because he's the sort of prick that shows up at a tragedy to second guess and finger point before the facts are known and the spilled blood is mopped up.
Beware my friends, beware those will try to make political hay out of this. Some will say that gun control could have prevented it. Others will say the campus being a gun free zone invited attack. The truth is that nothing can stop someone from hurting others if he or she is prepared to do so. For now let's tend to the dead and the injured and leave the blame game for another day.

Filthy Parrot Joke of the Month


Avast me hearties, I'm going to start a new tradition; a filthy parrot joke posted monthly for your amusement. They probably won't be original or funny, but they probably will be filthy and refer to a parrot. So if you don't like salty parrot language or crude humor, you may wan't to stop reading right now. I mean it, you've been warned.

A guy decides that he’d like to have a pet and goes to a pet shop. After looking around he spots a parrot sitting on a small perch. “It doesn’t have any feet or legs,” the guy says aloud. “I wonder what happened to this bird?”
“I was born this way,” says the parrot. “I’m a defective parrot.”
“Ha, ha,” the guy laughs. “It sounded like this parrot actually understood what I said!”
“I understood every word,” says the parrot. “I am a highly intelligent, thoroughly educated bird.”
“Yeah?” the guy asks. “Then answer this: how do you hang onto your perch without any feet?”
“Well,” the parrot says, “this is a little embarrassing, but since you asked I'll tell you. I wrap my little parrot penis around this wooden bar. You can’t see it ’cause of my feathers.”
“Wow,” says the guy, “you really can understand and answer, can’t you?”
“Of course. I speak both Spanish and English. I can converse with reasonable competence on almost any subject: politics, religion, sports, physics, philosophy ...and I am especially good at ornithology. You ought to buy me. I am a great companion.”
The guy looks at the price tag. $200. He says. “I can’t afford that.”
“Pssst,” the parrot hisses, motioning the guy over with one wing. “Nobody wants me cause I don’t have any feet. You can get me for $20 just make an offer.” The guy offers 20 dollars and walks out with the parrot.
Weeks pass. The parrot is sensational. He’s funny, he’s interesting, he’s a great pal, he understands everything, sympathizes, gives good advice. The guy is delighted.
One day the guy comes home from work and the parrot says, “pssst,” and motions him over with one wing. The guy goes up close to the cage. “I don’t know if I should tell you this or not,” says the parrot, “but it’s about your wife and the mailman...”
“What is it?” says the guy.
“Well,” the parrot says, “when the mailman came to the door today your wife greeted him in a sheer night-gown and kissed him on the mouth.”
“What happened then?” asks the guy.
“Then the mailman came into the house, lifted up the night-gown and began petting her all over,” reports the parrot.
“My God!” exclaimed the guy. “Then what?”
“Then he lifted up the night-gown, got down on his knees and began to lick her body, starting with her breasts slowly going down and down...”
The parrot pauses for a moment.
“What happened? What happened?” says the frantic guy.
“I don't know,” says the Parrot. “My dick got hard, and I fell off my perch.”

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Seeing the Unseen

If Steven Den Beste was still blogging, I'd be linking to posts of his about once a week. But since he's not, Bill Whittle will do.
Rosie O’ Donnell making such a claim on a major network is a national disgrace. The fact that much of the audience cheered and applauded is nothing less than a national catastrophe...

"This is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel," she said. This is a statement of such pristine and perfect idiocy that it surely must be emblazoned in stone across the entrance to the Physics Imbecile wing of the Moron Museum of Natural History. But mastery of physics and engineering requires some intelligence, some perseverance and some discipline: none of which are in evidence in this buffoon. Everything is a conspiracy to a mind this far gone. The 15 British sailors kidnapped at sea? All a plan by our evil (but incompetent!) government to get the next war it so desperately needs. “Gulf of Tonkin! Google It, people!” she said on national TV.

And I will, Rosie. I promise. As soon as I finish googling MAD COW DISEASE.

I will make the point yet again because I believe it is the crux of the issue: what kind of moral universe do you have to inhabit to be able to believe that your own people... are capable of such a thing? How much hate for your own society do you have to carry in order to live in such a desolate and ridiculous mental hell? What psychoses must a mind be riddled with in order to negate what was perfectly obvious and instead believe a theory of such monumental fantasy? How much pure constant hatred does that take?

What, in short, is the miserable black hole of self-loathing that drives a person like Rosie O’Donnell and millions like her?
(link via Glenn Reynolds)

p.s. Do yourself a favor and check out part one too.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Woman Scarred For Life When Sausage Explodes In Her Face

No, it's not Ann Heche:

The accident occured when a waiter topped up a flaming chorizo sausage dish with rum. A woman diner was left with horrific burns after a Portuguese sausage dish exploded in her face. The victim was eating with friends when the accident took place at the Sporting Clube de Londres in west London.
Restaurant owner Rui Daniel Faria Velosa was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs for breaching safety rules. Witnesses described how the flaming chorizo sausage dish burnt out of control when a waiter topped it up with rum at a table packed with people.
The woman, who spent two weeks in hospital and has since undergone two skin graft operations, said it was like being hit by a "flame-thrower".

Final Thoughts on Imus

What do we learn from this lamentable series of events? It's not what you say, it's who says it. It's not what you say, it's who you say it about. It's not what you say, it's who will mau mau your employer.
The Rutgers Women's Basketball team, once fierce division 1 competitors, now have promising careers on the victim hood circuit. Oprah, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, NPR. We can all listen in rapt disbelief as these poor waifs explain how the ugly, old, troll ruined their lives.
Meanwhile rap "artists" continue to say and do the same thing, only thousands of times worse with the full support of those moaning loudest about Imus.
When the dust settles, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton will claim victory. Imus, who cares about Imus, deserves what he gets for going on Sharpton's radio show to seek absolution.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Rutgers Woman "Scarred for Life"

Not to beat a dead horse, but I was watching the 11:00 p.m. news where they had one of the Rutgers Basketball Players commenting on the Imus debacle, she said she was "scarred for life". It might help to remember the bad old days, like what a great man like Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was made to endure at West Point.

During the entire four years of his Academy term Davis was shunned by his classmates, few of whom spoke to him outside the line of duty. He never had a roommate. He ate by himself. His classmates hoped that this would drive him out of the academy. The "silent treatment" had the opposite effect. It made Davis more determined to graduate.

To be scarred for life by a stupid comment by some buffoon who doesn't even know you, is absurd. I think these ladies will find it's better to wear slippers than to carpet the world.
UPDATE: Stan Simpson of The Hartford Courant has a good take on this sad affair.
Señora Duderino thinks that these women have every reason to feel upset over Imus' stupid remarks considering how prominent he is. I still think a better attitude would be "screw him, who the hell is he to me".

Who Would You Fight?


In Fight Club the "two" main characters ponder which historical figure or celebrity, living or dead, they would like to fight. I never thought about much and for good reason, it's kind of pointless.

Then it occurred to me you could go a couple of ways with it. I would probably opt for someone like Gary Coleman or Gary Burghoff, any small guy named Gary. A tougher guy may want to be challenged and go for someone like Max Baer or Hillary Clinton. So here it is a list of people living or dead I'd like to mix it up with and my reasons for doing so:


  1. John Wilkes Booth - I'd kick his rebel ass but good for shooting Abraham Lincoln.

  2. Ephialtes - I never liked traitors and since he lived so long ago he was probably much smaller than me, so I could probably take him.

  3. Airman Hamilton - You don't know this kid, he was in my flight at Basic Training and the first and last person I ever really hated. Unlike the Marines who encourage their trainees to pound the sand out of each other, the Air Force frowns on such behavior so I never had a chance to hurt him. Even today I'd like to kick him in the balls for being such a weasel.

  4. Chuck Schumer - Every time this man opens his mouth he annoys me and he looks like he would be fun to punch.

  5. Bill O'Reilly - I bet he's tougher then he looks but not as tough as he thinks he is. He would be fun to mix it up with just to see if you could shut him up for ten minutes.

  6. James Joyce - For fucking up literature for generations and writing Ulysees that I had to read in college. Eye patch or not, artsy fartsy boy is going down.

  7. Ernest Hemingway - What list like this would be complete without him? He would probably kick my ass. I would hope good to get a few good ones in so at least he would respect, you know, the effort. Afterward we'd go to the corner cafe and drink grappa and it would be good.

  8. Jerry Springer - This man makes his living by having the clueless demean themselves on national TV. It would be fun to kick his ass on his own show. Next on Jerry, irate middle aged white guys who want to kick Jerry's ass! Tune in to see what happens.

  9. Scott Peterson - Self explanatory.

  10. The Rev. Fred Phelps - This is the guy who hates gays so much he travels around the country disrupting funerals of servicemen and women killed in Iraq. I hate to judge, not really, but I think he has at least a couple of ass kickings coming.

Don Imus: Moral Equivalency



By now everyone has heard about Don Imus and his stupid "nappy headed hos" comment. As bad as that was, and it was pretty stupid, I think it pales in comparison to Imus going on Al Sharpton's radio show to apologize and beg for absolution from a man with actual blood on his hands.
I won't defend Imus because I've always thought of him as a loud mouthed, self important prick and despite his multiple mea culpas he's only apologizing because he was called on the carpet for it.
Why the outrage? Because a somewhat prominent old white man said something demeaning about young black women.
Now listen to what former professor Dr. Kamau Kambon had to say at Howard University Law School in October of 2005 and broadcast on C-Span. This wasn't some lame attempt at humor, nor was it in some out of the way Podunk college operating out of a rehabbed IHOP, this was an invited speaker at America's "Black Harvard" and broadcast internationally on C-Span.
If a black Imus had called some other team a bunch of “bleach blonde bimbos” it wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but if a white professor, no matter how marginal, called for the extermination of blacks, what do you think would happen?

Monday, April 09, 2007

New Favorite Beer


Please forgive me Sierra Nevada IPA, but I have found a new beer Berkshire Brewing Company Lost Sailor IPA. If you live outside of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island or Connecticut you're SOL because this brew is only sold locally, probably because it's not pasteurized it must be kept cold. Great stuff if you see it, try it.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

British Marines

Don't worry I 'm not going to jump on the the British Marines and Sailors by accusing them of cowardice. I'm pretty sure I'd say whatever they Iranians wanted me to if they showed me a straight razor and asked me to drop trou, so I'm in no position to criticize.
With that said, if these yahoos sell there story and make it rich, they should be ashamed of themselves and they should be shunned accordingly. They did what they did, for whatever reason and that's between them and their conscience. After WWII Chester Nimitz refused work that could be construed as profiting from his experience during the war because he didn't want to profit from the death and suffering of his subordinates. Where have men like this gone?

On The Wealth of Nations by P. J. O'Rourke


P.J. O'Rourke is normally funnier than a nun with Tourette's syndrome, but not here. I don't know why, maybe weighty economic theory isn't all that funny. Still it's somewhat of a good read if you don't want to read the original and who does.

In a way I hate reading books about uber geniuses. Mozart as a five year old mastered musical concepts I struggle to comprehend as an adult. Adam Smith sitting around cogitating on economic theory thinks of pretty much everything you need to know about economics 250 years before everybody else. Pity it takes him 1200 plus pages to tell you, but still.

Defense of The Narrow Space


There is a long tradition in the Western Cannon from Beowulf to High Noon of defending the narrow space. You know the drill. The enemy is following, one warrior stays behind at the bridge or the log, ala Predator, and defends the pass.

Tonight I was reminded of this as I watched Jonathan Papelbon defend the narrow space against the Texas Rangers by throwing some Godawful heat. It was beautiful and something to behold. He came in the eighth inning with one out, bases loaded with a one run lead and shut Texas down with five pitches.
Thomas Jambeck would be proud I remembered something from all his efforts.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Separated at Birth, or Given Up for Adoption


Madam and Quentin Tarantino.

MLK Shot in Memphis


39 years ago today.

Elis Burn Old Glory

I have always suspected a fifth column in this country, fortunately for us, so far, it's a confederacy of dunces:
BOSTON (Reuters) - Three Yale University students, including a Briton and a Greek national, have been charged in a case involving the burning of a U.S. flag outside a Connecticut house, a court official said on Wednesday.
Said Hyder Akbar, 23, Nikolaos Angelopoulos, 19, and Farhad Anklesaria, 19, were arrested on Tuesday and charged in New Haven Superior Court with reckless
endangerment, arson, breach of peace, criminal mischief and other offenses

If you begin to doubt the tolerance of the great unwashed American public, imagine what would happen to you, as an American, if you went to Greece and burned a Greek flag or went to Pakistan and drew a cartoon of Mohamed or went to Britain and said grace before eating.
How burning anything can be protected as speech is beyond me. I did okay on that part of the SAT where they ask you "spoon is to cereal as ______ is to paper", but speech and burning? Yet another example of our pasty judiciary bending over backwards to kiss the ass of those who would stick a fork in ours. Besides, flag burning is so done. It's like wearing Doc Martins, a Che Guevara t-shirt and a PLO keffiyeh, radical just like every other poseur lefty college kid and ultimately as pointless.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Meanwhile, In Argentina

The vicissitudes of Great Britain in Iran are well known and lamentable. Now comes our friend to the south, Argentina, to kick Britain when she's down:

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentina clung to its claim of sovereignty over Britain's Falkland Islands Monday as the two countries marked the 25th anniversary of their war over the small Atlantic islands.
Vice President Daniel Scioli reaffirmed the government's goal of winning control of the Falklands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, in a speech before war veterans in Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city.
"The war has not changed the reality: the Malvinas are Argentine, they have always been and they always will be," Scioli said in the capital of Tierra del Fuego province, which would oversee the Malvinas.
"We will recover what is ours," he said at the main ceremony marking the anniversary, attended by hundreds of people. Scioli also urged Britain to sit down for negotiations on the islands.

Two thoughts occur to me. How weak do you have to be before a nation like Argentina begins to feast on your carcass? Secondly, who in their right mind would want the Falkland Islands? Slightly smaller than Connecticut with a population of less than 3000, the Falkland Islands experience snow every month of the year except January and February. When it's not snowing, it's raining, more than half the time.
Britain once ruled the waves and imparted civilization and rule of law throughout the world. Now she's a weak old dame roughed up by third rate thugs for her dole money. Winston Churchill must be spinning in his grave.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

DNA: A Not So Perfect Match

60 Minutes aired this story on partial DNA matches:

There's a new saying in law enforcement circles these days: don't do the crime if your brother's doing time. And the reason for that is the power of DNA.
As 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, every state in this country collects DNA from convicted felons and loads it into computer databases, all linked together by the FBI. When detectives find DNA at a crime scene, they run it through that database looking for a perfect match. You see this on crime shows all the time.
But sometimes a search yields a not so perfect match – a partial match, in which case it's clear that the felon in the database did not commit the crime. But the DNA is so similar, maybe their father, mother, or brother did.
Which raises a dilemma: should police start investigating those family members, or is that going too far?

Law enforcement has the legal and moral obligation to use every tool available to solve and prevent crime. Let's ask the next victim of a serial rapist if we should tip toe around the alleged privacy concerns of incarcerated felons and their blood relatives.
On the program attorney Stephen Mercer, presenting the opposing view, said that by looking at family members of partial DNA matches we are "...subjecting a whole new class of innocent people to genetic surveillance by the government." Please. If the police dragged all these people downtown and forced them to confess to crimes they did not commit, Mercer might have a point. No one is surveilling anybody. When a doughy, middle aged, white man commits a crime in my town, I and every other doughy, middle aged, white man is suspect, as well we should be. Now let's say, God forbid, DNA that closely resembles my incarcerated brother's is found at a serious crime scene. Should the police roust every doughy, middle aged, white man or focus their efforts on me? It seems that how you answer that question depends on what you value, public safety and the rights of victims or chimerical privacy concerns.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek tavern owner who tried to break up a fight between customers watching a Greece-Turkey soccer match had both ears bitten off, police said on Wednesday.
Owner Dimitris Tsibibakis intervened as scuffles erupted after a group of Bulgarians shouted slogans supporting Turkey when they scored their third goal in the European championship qualifier and locals told them to stop.
"I tried to split them up and ended up on the floor with one of the Bulgarians biting one ear and another one chewing the other ear off," Tsibibakis told state television on Wednesday from hospital.