Year: 2006

This is why I drive / walk past the panhandler without even so much as a glance.

Couple supports family through panhandling

Jason Pancoast refers to himself and his family as “affluent beggars.”

“If you’re an affluent beggar you stay in a hotel and eat a continental breakfast,” he says. “It makes it a lot easier to be philosophical about it.”

The family is staying at the Cedarwood Inn in a room with a kitchenette. It costs $243 a week. Johnson and Pancoast are hoping to find something more permanent.

According to Pancoast, begging can be lucrative. He claims the family sometimes makes $300 a day asking for money and has made as much as $800. The family also receives $500 a month in food stamps.

When I was a kid I remember walking down a street in Seattle and seeing two hobos, one in a wheelchair and the other pushing him, stop at a corner. The guy in the chair had a sign that advertised himself as a Viet Nam Vet in need of food and shelter. Before the two crossed the street, the guy in the chair got up and switched places with the other. He handed the sign to his buddy, and they were on their way.

I witnessed this with complete incredulity. Then I got angry. I didn’t even think the scam was creative at all. I just remember how these guys were playing on people’s emotions.

While I don’t deny that there are homeless people who are sincere and are looking for every solution possible to improve their situation, there are a huge majority of bums on the street who love being there, for they know full well that they can have all of their needs cared for by honest, hard working folks like us, and that drives me crazy.

You know, if this speech was delivered by anyone other than Al Gore, I’d be concerned. (video)

I think there’s more of this kind of stuff happening every day. As the competition heats up, reporters have less time to check themselves and do the research necessary for the story, so they cut corners now and then and grab from the myriad of online sources available for free. No harm done, right?

Wrong. It’s not right and it can get you fired.

THE Honolulu Star-Bulletin has fired its entertainment reporter Tim Ryan following an investigation into his stories which seemed to lean a little too heavily on Wikipedia content.

According to editor Frank Bridgewater, Ryan’s stories contained phrases or sentences that appeared elsewhere before being included, unattributed, in stories that ran in the Star-Bulletin.

Ryan had been working on the paper since 1984 and his copy on stories that are stored on the starbulletin.com have been amended.

The whole lot was spotted by Wikipedia editors who noticed that language used in one of Ryan’s stories about Aloha Flight 243 closely matched a Wikipedia article. He was spotted because the bloke that wrote the Wikipedia entry came across Ryan’s story on news aggregator Fark.com.

Ryan told his boss that he got the information from Reference.com rather than directly from Wikipedia. The paper said it would have to run a proper attribution, and promptly did so.

However it also seemed Ryan borrowed content from other online sources including a 7 June 2005 review of the Toyota Highlander hybrid SUV. This apparently came from an article in the Sacramento Bee by Mark Glover, from 15 April 2005.

Another case involved an interview printed in 17 December 2004 which matched another conducted by another journalist in 2003. The interesting thing about the firing was that it did not happen immediately after Wikipedia complained, but only after other news agencies started to run stories based on Wikipedia’s side of the story here.

It seems that Bridgewater felt that there was going to be a little to much heat on this case and culled the wordsmith.

More: Reporter plagiarizes Wikipedia

Everyone seems to be making a big deal out of the remark made by First Lady Laura Bush last week when she said that she’d like to see Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice run for president. Funny thing is, if you actually read her comment, she said it would be likely that the US would have a woman president sometime in the next few election cycles. She said nothing about 2008, yet the media goes ga-ga and so we have this rush to hear the next word from Condi. Well, the Secretary said what we (those who follow politics) expected.

Asked about the first lady’s comments Sunday, Rice laughed and good naturedly answered the recurring question about her prospects for president in 2008. No dice, she said _ for the umpteenth time.

“Obviously, it’s flattering when people say things like that. The first lady is not only a terrific person, she’s my friend. And I was honored that she said that, of course. She’s a wonderful person,” Rice said.

“But I’ve spoken to this. I know what I’m good at, I know what I want to do and that’s not it.”

How about vice president?

“The two are the same,” she said with a grin and a shake of her head.

Can’t you just see the look on the face of the media upon hearing that comment? Good ‘ol Condi – always ready to tweak the MSM.

But the bottom line is Condoleezza Rice is not ready to be president. She’s not ready to be vice president either. In the same way many criticized Dan Quayle, Secretary Rice hasn’t yet had enough time in the seat. She’s just begun to put herself out among world leaders. She needs to be evaluated further on her ability to maneuver foreign relations in real-time. As a communicator, Condi needs more face-time in front of the American public. There’s just a lot that needs to be done to shape her into presidential material.

2012?

Eventually, all moonbats go wacko (with video!).

Who knew Marshall Mathers was a whipped boy?

EMINEM’s grandmother BETTY KRESIN has blasted the rapper for remarrying his ex-wife KIMBERLY yesterday (14JAN06) – insisting his spouse has “brainwashed” him.

Kresin boycotted the ceremony in Michigan and is enraged the superstar, real name MARSHALL MATHERS III, has taken back his “nasty” former love.

She fumes, “Boy, has he made a big mistake. No pre-nup or nothing. “She’ll take everything and leave. Kim is a nasty, mean woman. “We’ve never been anything but nice to her but she’s turned Marshall against us. I think she’s very controlling.”

Mathers originally wed Kim in 1999, but filed for divorce just 14 months later.

Slim Shady…riiiiight.

He’s a broadcasting legend; an old senile moonbat broadcasting legend.

Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he’d say the same thing today about Iraq.

“It’s my belief that we should get out now,” Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.

Now 89, the television journalist once known as “the most trusted man in America” has been off the “CBS Evening News” for nearly a quarter- century. He’s still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.

Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.

Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said.

“We had an opportunity to say to the world and Iraqis after the hurricane disaster that Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves missing the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation and rebuild some of our most important cities in the United States,” he said. “Therefore, we are going to have to bring our troops home.”

Iraqis should have been told that “our hearts are with you” and that the United States would do all it could to rebuild their country, he said.

“I think we could have been able to retire with honor,” he said. “In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway.”

Cronkite has spoken out against the Iraq war in the past, saying in 2004 that Americans weren’t any safer because of the invasion.

Cronkite, who is hard of hearing and walks haltingly, jokingly said that “I’m standing by if they want me” to anchor the “CBS Evening News.” CBS is still searching for a permanent successor to Dan Rather, who replaced Cronkite in March 1981.

“Twenty-four hours after I told CBS News that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday I was already regretting it and I’ve regretted it every day since,” he said. “It’s too good a job for me to have given it up the way that I did.”

Man, talk about navel gazing. These types are all the same. In a strange way, over time they believe they take on some level of deification. Their media underlings worship the very ground they walk on. Then, like Walt, they reach their upper eighties and believe they’re still relevant. How sad.

And how does one do the “DiFi”? Well, it can be done in a variety of ways. But here’s just one example, as it relates to the upcoming vote to confirm Judge Sam Alito.

“Let’s not filibuster, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be on the court, BUT I am not going to vote for him.”

Done as only Diane can.

A Democrat who plans to vote against Samuel Alito sided on Sunday with a Republican colleague on the Senate Judiciary Committee in cautioning against a filibuster of the Supreme Court nominee. “I do not see a likelihood of a filibuster,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. “This might be a man I disagree with, but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be on the court.” She said she will not vote to confirm the appeals court judge, based on his conservative record. But she acknowledged that nothing emerged during last week’s hearings to justify any organized action by Democrats to stall the nomination.

Way to weasel Diane. I expect your colleagues to follow suit.

That’s what I heard today, shouted by friends and family as I walked into the front door of my house. The next two words were Happy and Birthday.

At least once in your life you should be the guest of honor at a surprise birthday party. Today was my day, and man was I surprised. My lovely wife concocted the entire affair and succeeded in keeping everyone mum until the minute I walked through that door. No small feat, given we have a 6-year-old who loves to “spill the beans”. He didn’t, this time.

So, this explains my absence from the blog today. You see, I’ve been partying. 😉

Blogging will resume tomorrow.

Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire delivered her state of the state address this week and bragged about how she and the Democratic legislature solved the state’s budget problems “without a general tax increase.” Oh, well there was just that little $400 MILLION dollar general fund tax increase, but who’s counting right?

In a striking disregard for fact, Gregoire claimed on Tuesday (1/10) in her state of the state address that she and the Democratic legislature solved the state’s budget problems “without a general tax increase.”  Apparently Gregoire failed to remember that during the 2005 session she and other Olympia Democrats pushed through nearly $400 million in general fund taxes, and increased state spending by 12.4%.  Since then, Gregoire has proposed another $200 million in new spending, which would push the overall percentage to 16.3.

“The governor’s assertion that she did not raise taxes last session shows a lack of full disclosure with the citizens of Washington,” said House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. “We don’t know which governor we heard on Tuesday night – the one who said a year ago she wouldn’t raise taxes or the one in March who signed into law one of the biggest tax increases in our state’s history.  Republicans in the Legislature are going to continue to fight for greater truth in governing so that citizens can trust that what leaders say is consistent with what they do.”

Here’s some advice from one who lives in this blue state that’s ruled by those who come out of a single (royal) blue county called appropriate enough, “King” – don’t move here, unless of course, you enjoy being taxed to death.