Auschwitz Photo Album

I had written about this previously here. On Sunday National Geographic Channel did a documentary about this and another German album that showed the processing of a train load of Hungarian Jews at the camp. The documentary added some more to the story, although it could have been more complete. There is more on the documentary here.

Stories Like This Erode Sympathy For Those With Mortage Issues

The women in this article at CNNMoney.com is failing to pay her mortgage. If you read the story she bought at the top of her buying power and only by using a convoluted mortgage that combined interest only payments that could suddenly shoot up. Maybe if she had been a little more judicious in what she bought she wouldn't be in this situation. Nice Harley though, and she probably has a nice big screen TV as well.

Arsenal Crushes Derby County

Adbeyor had a hat trick coming in off the bench as Arsenal won 6-2. They cement their hold on 3rd place. Actually depending on how the last two games fall out they can still win the Premiership. Derby County unfortunately looks headed for relegation. See more here.

Scenes from Evening Walk

Handmaid's Tale Revisited

This 1985 novel tells of a land where "right wing conservatives" have taken over and repress women. It is kind of funny in retrospect, it probably was meant to illustrate leftists deepest fears of Ronald Reagan. Of course, there is a society out in the world that wants to take over and repress women - Muslim. The book would have made perfect sense if it was written about Taliban run Afghanistan, or even Saudi Arabia. This came to me a bit when thinking about the death of Pamela Bone, an Australian Feminist, who at the end of her life came to the conclusion that Western Feminism wasn't fighting Muslim tradition enough. See Mark Steyn on this here.

Intolerance Begats Intolerance

This Newsweek author is arguing the US is becoming more like the "South", and, hence, more intolerant. He makes this argument by expressing intolerance. Sure to win converts that way. See this for more.

Rainy Corner

Nick Davis and Wal-Triana Sunday Morning.

"Invisible Sun" and Iraq

I saw this video this morning and the two things that struck me is that the slums of Belfast in the 1970's look like Fallujah today, and that the UK troops and police are patrolling in berets and raincoats. The US Army would be wearing ridiculous amounts of body armor.

Raiders Take McFadden

I guess the Raiders are hoping to score a lot of points this year as they didn't help the defense with the 4th pick. JaMarcus and now McFadden the last two years. If thet get some blocking we will see.

Snake on Sidewalk

Saw it last night around 1930 as we went for a walk.

I Guess Abstaining Won't Work

Another nefarious effect of the recession, although if I were their boyfriends I guess I would be upset to. See this for more.

Transfer Rumors Swirl Around Arsenal

As always as the season winds down there are lots of rumors of players leaving their current team for Europeon ones. Most of the time they don't come true. This is what is going on with Arsenal right now, as all of their main players, including Adbeyor, are rumored to be leaving. We will have to see what turns out. Arsenal still has a good chance to finish second as Man U and Chelsea play each other this weekend.

Great Blog Post Title

Any reference to Being There, especially one that makes sense, is worth linking to. So see Time's political post here.

Fancy Monitor Set Up

This is TV's fancy monitor set up at work.

Campainging Getting to Obama

He just can't catch a break from the media. First hard questions about those he chooses to associate with and give money to, and now they won't let him eat his breakfast. Lemme Eat My Waffle. Oh yeah, he dropped the North Carolina debate for some reason.

This is Not Iraq, Just Chicago

Bloody Weekend: 32 Shot, 2 Stabbed, 6 Dead.

Bo Jackson Plaque - Most Important

 

Scenes Continued from Auburn

 
 
 
 

Scenes of the Auburn Campus

 

 

 

 

Alabama 2008 Junior High All State Band National Anthem

Shaky as I held camera with my left hand as right was on my heart.

Arsenal Beat Reading

A result that was expected, but a win is still good. They are four points behind Chelsea with three to go, so second place is still possible. See this for more. Key quote "Unrecognisable from the Basil Fawlty character of Anfield and Old Trafford,".

All State Band Festival

We are at Auburn U for the Alabama Bandmasters All State Band Festival. There is also a SEC Tennis Tournament going on. Further updates to follow.

Chicken at the gas station somewhere near Birmingham, AL

Azeleas Start to Bloom

 

 

 

Moon at 4:30 CDT

Government of, and People In, Huntsville Acting Like Fools

The City Counselors and some of the population of HSV are being idiots. See this article here for more. Stop me if I am wrong, but the City wanted the Downtown Rescue Mission to move so they could fix a road problem. Now they have moved, and it is suddenly a big conspiracy to destroy Northwest Huntsville. Some how I doubt that, since the City had little or no role in where the Mission would move to, other then give them a deadline to move. I think the best solution would be for everyone to give the money back and just stay where they are. I really didn't picture Huntsville as being split so geographically.

Arsenal Lose on Yet Another Penalty

Arsenal lost 2-1 today to Man U. So there season is completely over except to finish in the top 4 for the Champions League next year. Once again it was on a penalty, although I don't know how controversial. Oh well, better luck next year. See this for a roundup.

Stop Sign the Corner of Capshaw and Balch

Obama Voter Explains Why He is Bitter

All is explained here. I guess a lot of my fellow Alabamians are bitter too since they go to church and own guns and those sort of things.

Great Amateur History Site

I call it amateur as none of these fine people do this for a living. They track down the stories of their families and people and tell them. This, to me, is one of the best sites for personalizing WW I you can use. It also sets an example of how one can research issues like this. It helps that England seems to have copious records that allow this to be done. See Hellfire Corner. It is impossible not to be moved.

Hyperbolic Advertising

While I am no expert this kind of claim in a city where there is no shortage of overpriced, unsold condos in good locations is pretty strong. As far as I can tell the whole building was empty. Across the street were some nicer ones, too, in my opinion.

Wenger winges about officials

While I agree that Arsenal has come up on the short end of the stick recently from the refs, I don't think whining about it is going to help. Arsenal needs to bear down and win some games, starting Sunday with Man U. They also need to shake up the roster a bit, maybe get some older players. Anyway, see this for more.

Aubiematt and Mager

Aubiematt is a guy I met on Twitter. He is trying to become the East Coast version of mager. His blog is here. He is already expressing his desire to meet ijustine and photo-blogging his life.

Another Example of Good Governance by DC

The DC Tax office was being raided by an employee to the tune of $35 M over the last 15 years or so. Actually nobody knows yet how much was lost. There have been several arrests and firings, but the City's CFO still has his job. He is friends with the mayor. Anyway an independent audit of 2007 found even more checks not flagged by the city, and now the city and the auditors are arguing. See this for that story. But what is worse is the City's response - hire more tax collectors. Let's see an office that has proven it cannot manage money is being torn apart due to corruption and crime and the solution is to collect more taxes? That will really make the DC residents feel good about their government. Of note the only way the scam was found out was a bank thought something odd was happening and called the Feds. They city had no clue.

Arsenal Collapses

Arsenal loses 4-2 at Liverpool. A 2-2 draw would have had them advance, but two late goals ended there season. They play Man U on Saturday and a win would help cement their finish in the Top 4, which is all they can play for now. See this for more. As usual it came down to referee's decisions.

HSV Council Remains Embarrasment on Mission

After approving the buying of the Downtown Rescue Mission, paying for it and actually conducting the closing the President of the City Council now wants to change his mind. The Mission also closed on their new property. The reasoning is that he did not understand where the Mission was moving too, and I guess he has heard it from those neighbors. Unfortunately he cannot undo the transaction without rewriting a good chunk of Alabama real estate law. See AL.com here for more.

Cat Blogging to End the Weekend

Alabama Politics Hit the Big Time

For some reason the Huffington Post wanted to write about the huge scandal that has occurred with our fine Two Year College system. See this post. For those who don't know the Federal and State have been investigating all of the various ties between the system and legislators among other things. It had increasingly become common for state legislators to work for the system either as employees or contractors while overseeing giving the system money through the budget process. Alabama has part time legislators so they need jobs outside of that. As the post points out many of the people involved so far are Democrats but also some Republicans. It is also convoluted as the most powerful force in Alabama is the Teachers Union, and those who work for the 2 Year system are members.

For a more reasonable discussion of the issue see this from AL.com.

The scandal has led to a bunch of reforms and people quitting jobs and arrests and so on. One recent reform was that employees could not use their annual leave from work to attend the legislative session. That is now considered double dipping.

We will see how this goes, but based on the arrests and convictions of both legislators and employees the argument of the Huff Post is minimal at best.

Updated to have AL.com editorial.

Arsenal Draw Liverpool Again

Unless somehow Man U loses tomorrow it is about up for the Gunners in the Premiership. They drew Liverpool again 1-1 to add only a point. They are now 2-0-9 over their last 11 games played. Not good enough by far to do anything in the Premiership or Champions League. They need to beat Liverpool cleanly on Tuesday to move on to the top 4 in the Champions.

Some Historical Antipathy Runs Deep

Ukraine and Russia argue if Stanlins targeting of the Kulaks and Ukrainian peasants was genocide or just famine. Either way people, lots of them, died.

See this for more.

If North Korea Wasn't So Jacked Up this Would Be a Lot Cooler and Funnier

But the set is perfect.

Arsenal Draw at Home

Arsenal played hard and had their opportunities, but they only drew 1-1 at home. That means next week they need to win at Liverpool. We will see. They also play Liverpool on Saturday in the Premiership. The only really good news is that Chelsea lost to Fehnerbache.