Aces Full of Links

You and James Read the News

You didn’t ask for it. But, dammit, you’re gonna get it. My take on a short stack of news. As always, an uncomfortable mix of the serious and the humorous. (image by Chad Miller )

Many of these stories deserve their own post, but I am pressed for time.

Contents:

• Ex-FEMA director admits errors, calls for Chertoff’s resignation
• Germans Selling Powdered Alcoholic Drinks
• Homeland Insecurity
• Troops: Don’t Read the Liberals!
• Pay Your Debt? You’re A Suspected Terrorist!
• Grand Theft Taunton
• Taunton flasher ‘aggressive, brazen’

Ex-FEMA director admits errors, calls for Chertoff’s resignation

“I should have owned up to the public very early in this disaster — probably on Monday and Tuesday — that’s how catastrophic it was, how serious it was, and that we were going to have problems,” Brown said.

New take on Brownie: Bush was propping him up because he knew the full depth of White House incompetence and couldn’t get out of its way. It must really have rankled him to have the nation coming down on his head and seeing the White House take little of the flak off him for their role in the screwups.

Germans Selling Powdered Alcoholic Drinks

And experts are worried about the possibility of abuse , especially in minors.

You know me, I’ll try lots of weird foods. But they’re never going to make a powdered Gin and Tonic as good as B.O.B. and Patti serve. Never.

Homeland Insecurity

What’s the protocol for handling an anthrax threat in the offices of the Department of Homeland Security?

If you said “Shake the powder out the window” then you shouldn’t be surprised at this story.

An envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at the headquarters. Daniels and other current and former guards said they were shocked when superiors carried it past the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff’s window without evacuating people nearby.

The scare, caused by white powder that proved to be harmless, “stands as one glaring example” of the agency’s security problems, Daniels said. “I had never previously been given training … describing how to respond to a possible chemical attack.”

Chertoff, dude. You gotta lock that down.

Troops: Don’t Read the Liberals!

Wonkette is reporting that the Marine web has something in common with the Chinese government (as my friend Brian I. put it). They filter content that is politically objectionable to the current government.

If marines want to read Bill O’Reilly’s website, or catch a dose of Rush Limbaugh, it’s all good. But try surfing Air America Radio or Al Franken’s website and they are blocked. The reason given? “Forbidden, this page is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”

Opinion considered harmful.

Pay Your Debt? You’re A Suspected Terrorist!

Walter Soehnge learned that the government is keeping tabs on us to such a degree that you can’t even pay off your credit card debt without Homeland Security getting involved. It’s not just that they get notified… it’s worse.

When Walter decided to pay off his credit card debt to the tune of $6,522, something odd happened. The money never made it to the credit company.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn’t move until the threat alert is lifted.

It would be a bummer if you got hit with a surcharge as a result, wouldn’t it? As did Edie Booth.

Upon calling the credit card company, Booth was told that Homeland Security would not allow her to make two payments from two different sources in the same day.

Booth was then slapped with the $140 overcharge for causing the hard working boys at Homeland so much inconvenience.

Let’s call it the Chertoff Stupidity Tax.

Grand Theft Taunton

Sometimes, reality is more ridiculous than a video game. As when two Providence women were fleeing police after allegedly shoplifting in Taunton.

When the suspects’ vehicle reached the ramp to westbound I-195 at about 80 mph, Mitchell said, it “bottomed out, flipped over and crossed three lanes of 195 west, ending up in the median strip on its side, facing east.”

See, when ridiculous stuff happens in Fall River, it’s not always Fall River’s fault. But now do you see why we in the Bay State are so critical of you Rhode Island drivers?

Taunton flasher ‘aggressive, brazen’

Apparently, a crazy fellow is wandering around the mall in Taunton, cornering women and exposing himself to them. This is just gross, but I feel the need to warn my local readers.

He’s driven up close to women, sometimes cutting them off, and then doing something that is, thankfully, unspecified, which includes exposing himself to women and children.

So, look out folks. The guy is getting more daring, he’s possibly using a stolen license plate, and I worry that this could escalate as he tests the waters for what he can get away with.

Posted by James at March 7, 2006 11:53 AM
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