Help Wanted

Want to be a Game Warden? The Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries has announced they are going to hire 20 new Game Wardens this year. Click here to get more information on the job and hiring process.

Stanislaw Lem

I just read that Stanislaw Lem has died. He was a great science fiction writer although he didn't like that title. My first exposure to his works was Star Diaries. I was a collection of short stories following the same intrepid space traveler, Ijon Tichy. My favorite fact about Tichy is that while traveling, he would bake his potatoes in the nuclear pile that powered his rocket.


His most famous book was Solaris which was made into a pretty good movie with George Clooney.


Here are some more picks from his works. For a more complete list, here's a link to Stanislaw Lem's works. Happy reading!

Ensign Delays A Vice Admiral

Senator Ensign (R-NV) has put a hold on VADM Thad Allen's nomination to be the next Commandant. From the Washington Post;

WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, a former veterinarian who criticized pet evacuation efforts after Hurricane Katrina, is blocking the promotion of a Coast Guard vice admiral who headed the hurricane recovery.

So, does the hold have something to do with pets? No. The Senator is mad at FEMA. What does that have to do with the Coast Guard? Tidewater Muse has the inside scoop.
It looks like the Muse beat CNN by half an hour!

Roe Effect

Here in Tidewater, Virginia we had a horrible crime committed a few weeks ago. A woman who was 9 months pregnant was found in a car dealer's parking lot with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She was rushed to the nearest trauma center but her baby died. She was due to give birth that day.

As police tried to find the shooter, her story started to fall apart. Eventually, she confessed to shooting herself. It was interesting to see local columnist, Tamara Dietrich condemn the act while trying to keep her pro-abortion credentials intact. Her column was called "Justice Cried." I can't get it online anymore. The other newspaper in the area, The Virginian Pilot, doesn't seem to have editorialized on the matter.

Now the Commonwealth's Attorney is having a hard time finding any crime to charge her with. The only thing they've been able to come up with is illegally inducing an abortion, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and filing a false police report. She can't be charged with killing a fetus because the code outlaws killing the "fetus of another." I am just dumbfounded that the Code of Virginia has such a glaring gap and this woman may just get off scott free. That's what she's counting on, when interviewed on TV she said that she's "been punished enough."

I wonder how Chad Dotson would prosecute this case.

Links,
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100336&ran=212974
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-87065sy0mar16,0,3705573.story (second letter)
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100614&ran=69553
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-81182sy0mar12,1,1638004.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=tammy+skinner&btnG=Search+News

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Submitted to the Virginia Blog Carnival

Warning!

Don't click here!

Oklahoma Suicide Bomber

Did you hear about the suicide bomber whose bomb went off prematurly outside of the University of Oklahoma's football stadium? Neither had I.

The initial report was; "One person was killed in an explosion in a traffic circle about 100 yards from a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night."

Michelle Malkin is on it.

UPDATE: Where's the MSM?

UPDATE 2: Michelle Malkin has an update on the case here.

Richmond Follies

I miss the Richmond Times-Dispatch. For years, the antics of the elected officials in the City of Richmond made politics in Southside Virginia seem normal and, yes, refreshingly boring. The hunger strikes, shady business deals and junkets to Jamaica made for wonderfully entertaining reading. Things have quieted down there now that some jail sentences were handed down and the hoi polloi were allowed to elect their mayor. That took care of the City Council.

Now, enter the school board. A few months ago, the school board chairman was discovered to have submited his dating profile on a gay pr0n site. (Link to the newspaper article, not the site.) Now, that same member was found with marijuana while going through security at the Richmond Internation Airport. Don't worry, it was strictly for "medicinal purposes."

It might be time to see if I can get the Richmond paper delivered to Tidewater.

Another Odd Quiz

You belong in Time Enough For Love.
You are older than you look.
Your wit and wisdom are prized by others.
People throw themselves on you, begging to be with you.


Which Heinlein Book Should You Have Been A Character In?
brought to you by Quizilla

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Hat tip Castle Argghhh!!!