Eideard

Coppers still searching for Davis [L] – Ortiz [R] sits in the slammer

Police arrested a suspect in an arsonist-for-hire in Titusville after they said he made a critical mistake — he left the tip of his finger at the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, detectives are seeking the public’s help in finding the man they say was trying to pull off an insurance scam by burning down his house.

Police were called to a fire at a home on North Dixie Avenue about 11:15 a.m. Saturday. While they were investigating, police said, they discovered evidence of accelerants, leading them to determine that the fire was likely an arson.

Then, while sifting through evidence, officers got a tip — literally. They found a piece of a latex glove with the tip of a finger inside.

Police said they found their suspect at a local hospital. They matched the tip to 24-year-old Ismael Ortiz, who detectives said quickly confessed. But how did the suspect clip his tip? Detective Jessica Edens explained: Trying to flee after setting the fire, “he slammed his finger in the door,” Edens said, “and it cut the tip of his finger off.”

Police said Ortiz told detectives he was hired by a resident of the home, Samuel “Sammy” Davis. Investigators said Davis hired Ortiz to burn down the house so he could collect on a renters insurance policy…

Edens said Ortiz was arrested and booked into the Brevard County Jail.

I guess you get what you pay for – even when hiring a crook.

Scottish officials are attempting to persuade American politicians to reverse a 40-year ban on the haggis.

Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs Secretary, has invited a delegation of American politicians to Scotland in the hope of persuading them to overturn the ban.

The iconic Scottish dish is been barred in the US for more than 20 years because its food safety department prohibits the use of sheep lungs in food products.

The US could provide a highly lucrative market for Scottish haggis producers, particularly in the run up to Burns Night, the traditional celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns…

Mr Lochhead said: “We want to capitalise on the diaspora of Scots in the US and many of them would enjoy the opportunity to indulge in authentic Scottish haggis to accompany their neeps and tatties on Burns Night.

“Scotland’s produce is amongst the best in the world and I’ve asked US Department of Agriculture officials to come here to see for themselves the high standards we have in animal health and processing.

This didn’t affect me personally – back when I lived in the Boston area. For all the whining of the Department of Agriculture and the other bureaucrats who march in lockstep against the import of traditional foodstuffs was meaningless when local butchers and meat markets produced their own haggis. I haven’t Googled it; but, I imagine I still could order one online for Burns Night.

This crap goes on and on – whether halting jambon from Spain or prosciutto from Italy, herbs and spices from the Caribbean and Africa, there always is a producer of plastic American food who claims the need for protection – or just good old Xenophobia getting in the way of choices.

Bob Barr speaks for Baby Doc Duvalier

An American attorney representing Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier said Saturday that the former dictator returned to Haiti in hopes of recovering millions frozen in Swiss bank accounts and channeling them through a U.S. intermediary to help rebuild his troubled homeland.

In the past, Duvalier has attempted to personally claim the $5.7 million in a bank account belonging to a family foundation. But attorney Ed Marger said the highly controversial and polarizing former leader now wants to use the money to help Haiti…

Marger is working with two other Georgia attorneys — former Republican congressman Bob Barr and Mike Puglise — to find a company that could transfer those funds…

Duvalier could face charges of human rights abuses committed under his leadership. Amnesty International wants Duvalier to face justice for the alleged torture and killings of thousands of Haitians.

Barr, who represented Georgia’s 7th District from 1995 to 2003, and was the Libertarian Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, said Saturday that the allegations against Duvalier are just that.

“I deal with allegations all the time,” he said. “They are the cheapest commodity on the market.”

Barr said he returned to Port-au-Prince for the first time in nearly 30 years because he believed Duvalier is genuinely interested in alleviating Haiti’s suffering. He said the three American lawyers were not involved in Duvalier’s legal problems in Haiti. They were there to advise him on international matters…

He has laid claim to the $5.7 million in Switzerland but that battle has dragged on for a quarter century…

After the earthquake, Duvalier pledged some of the money to the Red Cross for relief efforts. His attorney in Haiti, Reynold Georges, told CNN that Duvalier had already transferred money to the agency.

“There have been media reports for more than a year about a donation from Mr. Duvalier for Haiti earthquake relief, but the American Red Cross has no record of ever receiving any donation from him,” said Laura Howe, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

In any case, she said, the Red Cross is not willing to accept Duvalier’s money.

Baby Doc Duvalier’s funds are no less bloody than his father’s original fortune. Gathered by torture and murder through his Tonton Macoutes gangsters, his anguish results only from failure to grab all the money when he fled the country – courtesy of the US Air Force and Ronald Reagan.

Yes, even Hitler’s henchmen received fair trials and competent representation in the Nuremberg Trials. But, that’s not what Bob Barr is about. That’s not what Baby Doc has declared for the past three decades. It’s all about the money.

Ever dreamt of controlling a dot-gov or dot-edu? A hacker is selling access to dozens of military, government, and university Websites for $55-499 a piece.

Discovered by security firm Imperva, the hacker advertises varying fees, services, and proofs for cracking into .mil, .gov, and .edu sites around the world.

The priciest, access to the homepage of the U.S. Army, National Guard, and Army Forces, goes for $499 each, followed by access of university and governmental Websites. You’ll also find passes to the Italian Official Government Website for $99 or a Taiwanese educational center for $88…

Brian Krebs of Krebson Security said he saw the back-end evidence of the hacks and found them legit.

“Amid all of the media and public fascination with threats like Stuxnet and weighty terms such as “cyberwar,” it’s easy to overlook the more humdrum and persistent security threats, such as Web site vulnerabilities. But none of these distractions should excuse U.S. military leaders from making sure their Websites aren’t trivially hackable by script kiddies,” he wrote on his blog.

You wonder if the official webmanagers of all these sites even keep up-to-date with the world of patches?

Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish. The findings are internationally significant as the city’s sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities, and moreover, it is reputed to be the third largest treatment system in the world. Lead by Dr. Sébastien Sauvé…the research team found that the drugs accumulate in fish tissues and are affecting the fish’s brain activity.

The Saint Lawrence is a major international waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, and it surrounds the island of Montreal. Sauvé has been looking at the chemical pollution of the water system for years. “Montreal has a very basic sewage system – the city basically only removes solids, there’s no disinfecting of the water,” he explained. “In any case, the chemical structure of anti-depressants makes them extremely difficult to remove from sewage, even with the most sophisticated systems available…”

Sauvé was quick to point out that there is no immediate danger to humans. “The amount of anti-depressants being released into our river works out to roughly the equivalent of a grain of salt in an Olympic-size swimming pool,” he said. “That’s not enough to affect people, should they be brave enough to go fishing out there – I’d be more worried about the trace metals! Nevertheless, we are seeing an impact on the river’s ecosystem, which should concern cities everywhere.”

There will be more research. I wonder how much impact is required before energy and dollars are allotted to reverse the process.

Walid Jumblatt [R] meeting with Israeli-Druze delegation
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader from Lebanon’s opposition camp, has announced his support behind Hezbollah in a move that could give the group and its allies a veto over who becomes the country’s next prime minister.

Hezbollah, which has a parliamentary bloc as well as a powerful military wing, commands overwhelmingly support among Lebanon’s Shia Muslim community.

Jumblatt said the aim of his decision on Friday was to preserve Lebanon’s stability.

“I am announcing the right political stand … by assuring the steadfastness of the group [Progressive Socialist Party] alongside Syria and the resistance [Hezbollah],” he said…

Hariri announced on Thursday in a televised speech that he would seek to form a new government despite strong pressure from Hezbollah for him to step down…

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said Hariri made it clear in his speech that he will accept any outcome from political consultations expected to be launched by Michel Suleiman, the country’s president, on Monday…

“He seems to feel that he might lose the battle with the Hezbollah-led opposition if they get enough votes to nominate their own prime minister and form the next government without him,” our correspondent said…

In Lebanon’s power-sharing political system, the prime minister must be Sunni Muslim, the president Maronite Christian, and parliamentary speaker a Shia Muslim.

Stay tuned. Monday should be interesting.

Meanwhile, of course, Americans who spend all their time reading the American press, watching American TV – will be shocked to learn that many Lebanese not only don’t consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization – they feel they are patriots for resisting Israel’s invasions.

The USA passport card costs $55

Mexico will on Monday become the first country to start using iris scans for identity cards, according to the government.

The documents, which will include the eye’s image as well as fingerprints, a photo and signature, will be 99 per cent reliable, according to Felipe Zamora, who is responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican interior ministry…

Critics, including the National Human Rights Commission, have criticised the system, expressing concern that compiling personal data could violate individual rights.

The move will be introduced gradually, with some 28 million minors taking part in a first two-year stage, due to cost $25 million.

The cards are due to start for adults from 2013.

Iris recognition is increasingly used in airports, controlling access to restricted areas, and prisoner booking and release.

And anywhere else a copper feels like asking for your ID. Sooner or later.

The chuckle I’ll try to follow – is cost. The Mexican government says they can produce these for less than a buck apiece. When Real ID was being whined about discussed in the United States, the National Association of State Governments [which opposed the idea] said it would cost $26 billion over 5 years to implement.

Police in a New Zealand town who used Segways for beat patrols have been forced to abandon the scooters after they were deemed illegal.

The force in the North Island town of Taupo had embraced the electric-powered devices but had to abandon them after finding it was against the law to use them in public areas, according to the NZPA news agency.

The local Rotary Club purchased two of the Segways, which were then lent to police to make it easier for officers to conduct patrols.

The two-wheeled scooters, which use gyroscopes and computers to remain upright and can reach speeds of up to 12 miles per hour, had proven popular with the community, Inspector Steve Bullock said.

“They are a novel vehicle, I would liken them to a modern-day horse because they engender curiosity and people want to talk to you about them, which is what we want as a police organisation,” he told NZPA…

Insp Bullock said that because there was no separate vehicle classification for Segways, they fell into the same category as cars and had to be registered as roadworthy for use in public areas.

But he remained optimistic the technicality could be sorted out and the Segways, which have proved popular with police in many US cities, could resume their place on the pavements of Taupo.

Leave it to politicians too ignorant to come with an appropriate classification for a vehicle to resort to blocking use altogether. Something that’s simple, easy and useful confounds the bureaucrat.

Chemistry major?

Studying alone, reading and writing more, are helpful

A new study provides disturbing answers to questions about how much students actually learn in college — for many, not much — and has inflamed a debate about the value of an American higher education.

The research of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years.

One problem is that students just aren’t asked to do much, according to findings in a new book, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.” Half of students did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester, and one-third did not take a single course requiring even 40 pages of reading per week…

The study, an unusually large-scale effort to track student learning over time, comes as the federal government, reformers and others argue that the U.S. must produce more college graduates to remain competitive globally. But if students aren’t learning much that calls into question whether boosting graduation rates will provide that edge.

I’ve been arguing for a long time that graduation rates, in and of themselves, are meaningless.

Students who studied alone, read and wrote more, attended more selective schools and majored in traditional arts and sciences majors posted greater learning gains.

No surprises here, especially regarding the nonsense that somehow working in groups will magically improve student performance.

Social engagement generally does not help student performance. Students who spent more time studying with peers showed diminishing growth….

Read it all, and see if anything surprises you.

The field of education is full of texts from new faces on the proper way to teach– always some idea that has somehow escaped the imagination of lesser mortals. And there is always some fool ready to buy a couple cases to hand out as required reading for his teaching staff.

Tony Blair arrives to lie once again testify about the Iraq Invasion
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Tony Blair today admitted to brushing aside warnings that invading Iraq would be unlawful and made clear his overriding priority, even at the expense of opposition and secrecy at home, was to maintain a close relationship with the US president.

In four hours of testimony to the Chilcot inquiry, ending with expressions of regret for lives lost that provoked jeers from relatives of the dead, Blair disclosed that he privately told George Bush he could “count on us” in helping get rid of Saddam Hussein, an aim, he said, for which his government should be “gung-ho”…

He acknowledged the cabinet might not have seen official papers about plans for war, but said ministers would have been aware of the plans from the media…

Is that really how cabinet ministers should be kept up-to-date?

Throughout the hearings, and only occasionally subjected to sharp questioning, Blair described how he told Bush during a phone conversation in December 2001, well over a year before the invasion, that “if [regime change] became the only way of dealing with this issue, we were going to be up for that”.

Inquiry documents show how government lawyers, including Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, repeatedly warned that regime change as an objective of military action would be unlawful…

Blair, summoned back to the inquiry after apparent discrepancies in his evidence came to light, was questioned by Sir Roderic Lyne, a former ambassador and the most persistent member of Chilcot’s five-member panel, about claims he made to the Commons about the legality of an invasion, and what he was told privately.

Goldsmith has told the inquiry that by telling MPs in January 2003 that a fresh UN resolution was not necessary before an invasion, the former prime minister was ignoring legal advice he had given. In exchanges yesterday, Blair told Lyne: “I was making basically a political point.”

He continued: “I accept entirely that there was an inconsistency, but I was saying [that] not in a sense as a lawyer but politically.” If he had revealed publicly that the government had doubts about whether fresh UN authority was needed before an invasion went ahead it would, he added, have been a “political catastrophe for us”.

Once again, truth goes by the boards to satisfy politics. Decisions made which in the eyes of creeps like Blair and Bush neither require legality nor honesty to the electorate and the poor buggers sent off to die for their country.