Freedom and Socialism are Mutually Exclusive

Freedom requires small government. As government grows, it takes over choices that were previously handled by the individual. A free society requires that individuals make their own choices. This makes the individual self reliant. A self reliant person looks only to himself for answers. As government grows and takes those choices away, the individual begins to look to the government for answers.

The erosion of freedom is very real in this country. We are now asking out Presidential candidates what their plans for health care, retirement, and schools are. These questions are what we should be asking ourselves. There is NO right to health care. There is NO right to a comfortable retirement. There is NO right to an education. These things are made up by those who have discovered that your vote can be bought by government programs. In so doing they rob you of choice. They rob you of freedom. And all I hear is the clamoring for more freedom to be taken away. More liberty removed. More property and money confiscated from those who earn it, given to those who do not.

Freedom no longer rings. The socialists roll on with their programs. You allow them.

Nakamura Tests Hot for Weed

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=9234

I guess it worked for Nick Diaz...

It also explains his hair and ring entrance. He was just high.

Don't Tase Me, Bro!!

Small lesson about police:
The men and women of law enforcement, for the most part, are drawn to their job not because the want to help people, or to enforce the law. They are mostly drawn to law enforcement because they get a charge out of the power that their office gives them. They enjoy being obeyed, feared, and they enjoy enforcing their demands with violence if necessary.

This is not a bad thing. Many people wish they could enforce their wishes with violence. The vast majority of police are good people who do their job the best way they know how. They are incorruptible, honest, and hard working.

In the "Don't tase me, bro!" video you saw what happens when a person does not understand what the police's job is. You had a young man who wanted to grand stand at an event. He thought that because of his right to free speech he could dominate the time of the crowd and the guest speaker. This is incorrect. The young man was not the organizer of the event. He was a member of the crowd. Even in a public building the organizer of an event has the right to expel you, a member of the crowd, from the event if you are behaving in a way that is deemed inappropriate by the organizer.

This young man was asked to give up the microphone and let the speaker respond. He chose instead to keep talking. The event organizer then asked the police to remove the young man. The police's job was clear. Remove the young man.

The police had no wish to injure, detain, or humiliate the young man. It was their job to remove him. They grabbed the young man lightly around the arms and began to escort him out. The young man resisted this escort. Very very very bad move. The police warned him that if he continued to resist he would be arrested. The young man continued to resist. In the police's minds the young man just crossed the line from someone they wanted to get out of the room and release to someone they wished to detain. Now that the intention of the police was changed from escort to arrest, they could use whatever force they deemed necessary.

The police warned the young man that if he resisted any longer they would tase him in to compliance. He resisted. They tased him, arrested him, and hauled him away.

The mistake the young man made was that he did not know what the police's job was. He believed that because he had done nothing wrong the police would not use violence, or try to detain him. This is incorrect. He believed that if he argued his case to the police they would let him go. This is incorrect. It is NOT the police's job to listen to you plead your case. It is the police's job, in part, to gather information about crimes committed, and use the State's monopoly on physical force to arrest those in violation of the law. It is the job of the Judge to hear your case. Should the Judge deem that the police did their job improperly, you now have legal avenues to claim damages from the state.

With any contact with the police, do exactly what they say, and answer any questions that pertain to who you are. DO NOT answer any questions that have to do with any commission of crime. It is their job to gather evidence to prosecute you. If they can find no evidence they will release you. If you are at a function where the police are asked to escort you out, you go with the police the very first time they ask you. Otherwise the police will use what ever force they deem necessary, including deadly force, do bring you in.

The young man should count himself luck that one of the police had a taser with them. In most places he would have gotten a few fists, or even a baton across his head.

It Warrents Re-Posting

UFC 76 Knockout Recap

It is good to know that the Universe still has a healthy sense of irony, that a show with the moniker "Knockout" wouldn't have a fight end by knockout...

Matt Wiman def Michihiro Omigawa Decision
My Pick: Wiman by KO second round.
Matt moves on to bigger things. This is good. I like to see the Midwestern guys win.


Christian Wellisch def Scott Junk Submission (Heel Hook) 3:19 rnd 1
My Pick: Wellisch by KO first round
Heel hook? When was the last time we saw one of those?? Cool. I hope to see this on on an episode of Unleashed soon.


Jeremy Stephens def Diego Saraiva Decision
My Pick: Diego by armbar first round
Jeremy seems to be better than I anticipated...

Rich Clementi def Anthony Johnson Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3:05 rnd 2
My Pick: Johnson by KO first round
Rich catches Johnson... To be very honest, I did not think that Rich had one chance in a thousand of beating Johnson. I guess I was wrong.

Tyson Griffin def Thiago Tavares Decision
My Pick: Tyson by decision
Incredible fight!!! Very entertaining, very good fight.

Ryoto Machida def Kazuhiro Nakamura Decision
My Pick: Ryoto by KO second rond
Nakamura walked in looking like a Chinese delivery man... And wearing his gi, a yukatta, and a t-shirt... That's a lot of clothing.

Jon Fitch def Diego Sanchez Decision (Split)
My Pick: Diego by decision
Fitch looked very strong, defended the takedown, and won the stand up game. Diego needs to stop dating UFC ring card girls and get back in the gym with Greg Jackson!

Forrest Griffin def Mauricio Rua Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 4:45 rnd 3
My Pick: Shogun by KO first round
Why the hell was Shogun trying to take Forrest down the whole fight long? Why the hell did Shogun gas 30 seconds in to the fight?
To be fair, I have never seen Forrest fight so well, but I had never seen Shogun fight so poorly. Do steroids have that much advantage? Did the cage freak him out? What the hell happened?

Keith Jardine def Chuck Liddell Decision (Split)
My Pick: Chuck knocks out Keith in the first round.
Chuck looked like any other fighter who begins to believe that they can knock anybody out with a single punch. We see it happen in boxing all of the time. They abandon any semblance of game that they had previously and just throw the bomb. It worked for Chuck for a while, but not this time out. Chuck looked old and could not find his rhythm.
Jardine on the other hand saw something that many fighters have not seen. Most fighters try to take Chuck down. Jardine noticed that Chuck never goes for the take down himself. So Keith would lean way over on his plant leg during his kicks to avoid the big right hand counter. Against anyone else, this would have resulted in an immediate take down attempt. Not Chuck, though. Chuck does not take anybody down. Kieth was able to land the kicks and avoid the KO punch. Excellent work.

I go 4 for 9 and drop below .500 for the first time in a very long time.

UFC 76 Fighers Make Weight

Keith Jardine (204.5) vs. Chuck Liddell (205.5)

Mauricio Rua (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)

Diego Sanchez (170) vs. Jon Fitch (172) (Fitch was given an extra hour to make weight)

Kazuhiro Nakamura (205) vs. Ryoto Machida (205.5)

Thiago Tavares (154.5) vs. Tyson Griffin (155.5)

Anthony Johnson (177.5) vs. Rich Clementi (169) (This fight is at a catch weight of 177)

Diego Saraiva (155.5) vs. Jeremy Stephens (155)

Scott Junk (257.5) vs. Christian Wellisch (230.5)

Michihiro Omigawa (152.5) vs. Matt Wiman (156)

UFC 76 Knockout

This shouldn't be called "Knockout." It should be called, "No Middleweights." Where the hell are the 185 pounders? Are they all fighting in October? WTF??
This PPV culminates in the main event that no one wants to see, and that has no berring on the Light Heavyweight scene. Liddell won't get another title shot after this, and Jardine certainly won't get a tilte shot afterwards. Houston Alexander will get a title shot before Chuck and Keith will. Anyway here are my picks: the Middleweights loose! Oh all right my fight picks:

Michihiro Omigawa Vs. Matt Wiman (Lightweight)
Omigawa is a Judo guy fighting out of Yoshida's dojo. He got destroyed by Aaron Riley in Pride Bushido, but has comeback and made a name for himself in the DEEP organization, even beating Eddie Bravo student, and History Channel star Jason Chambers by split decision. Omigawa's evolution has come just as the other Judo fighters have come, first throws, then ground work, then striking. He has come a long way, winning his last two both by KO.
Handsome Matt Wiman knocked out Brian Geraghty on the TUF 5 final show. That was his first win in a big show against a decent opponent. Matt fights out of Tul$a Top Team. Yes the dollar sign is how they spell their name...
Omigawa has more experience in bigger shows, but I don't think that he has faced someone with Matt's explosive power since Aaron Riley knocked him out. I don't see a different outcome here, especially since Omigawa considers himself to be a "striker" now... Wiman by KO second round.

Scott Junk Vs. Christian Wellisch (Heavyweight)
Scott Junk makes his debut in the UFC, with a 6-1 record. His only loss was to a bloated and out of shape Ricco Rodriguez by guillotine choke back in 2005. Since then he has gone 6-0 knocking out nearly everyone else in his way.
Wellisch comes back to the UFC after winning a decision over Anthony Perosh back in December 2006. He trains with AKA.
This should be a quick fight. Junk really has no experience and has not really fought any top opposition. Wellisch has been in the UFC with Kongo and Perosh. I think this will be Wellisch by KO first round.

Diego Saraiva Vs. Jeremy Stephens (Lightweight)
Diego Saraiva has dropped his last two in the UFC, first a decision to Dustin Hazelett then a decision to Jorge Gurgel. Diego trains with Velocity Kickboxing in Atalanta, but is a Nova Uniao Black Belt. His record shows it with all of his wins coming by decision or submission.
Stephens lost the last time we saw him in the UFC by armbar to Din Thomas. Stephens is a committed striker, winning most of his 13 wins by KO.
I think that the telling part of this fight is that the two losses on Stephen's record all come from submissions. He lost his last fight to Din Thomas 15 seconds before the bell in the first round by armbar. Diego has a black belt from one of the most prestigious schools of BJJ in the universe. Diego by armbar first round.

Anthony Johnson Vs. Rich Clementi (Welterweight)
Johnson is best known in the UFC for knocking the ever loving crap out of Omaha native, and my training partner Chad Reiner. His record is 4-0, and he trains with Chute Boxe Los Angles.
Rich Clementi has had very little luck in his UFC career both before and after TUF. His only win there post TUF was a gimme RNC of Ross Pointon. He was also choked out (RNC) by Din Thomas, then lost a decision to Roan Carneiro.
Is this a comeback fight for Clementi or a coming out fight for Johnson? I think it is a coming out fight. Rich showed that he has a suspect chin. He seems to deflate and loose his will after getting hit, and he will get hit in this match. Johnson by KO first round.

Thiago Tavares Vs. Tyson Griffin (Lightweight)
Thiago triangled the crap out of Jason Black in his last fight, and has shown with his 8-0 record he is for real in the lightweight division. He is a BJJ black belt like so many of the guys at ATT, and shows it with all but one of his 8 by submission.
Tyson Griffin "won" a split decision over Clay Guida. I thought that Guida won that fight, but what do I know? Anyway, Griffin is a dynamic fighter who is well rounded on the ground and on his feet. He has several knock outs, and submissions. His only weakness I can honestly see is that he is too nice. His one loss in 10 fights comes by decision to Frank Edgar. At then end of that fight Tyson had a knee bar locked on, and Edgar refused to tap. Tyson chose to take the fight in a different direction rather than break the knee.
This is a very good fight that could go in any direction. Tyson will definitely want to keep the fight standing to avoid Thiago's submissions. Thiago will definitely want to take the fight to the ground to avoid Tyson's stand up. No one has been able to finish Tyson yet, and I don't think that Thiago will here. Tyson by decision.

Kazuhiro Nakamura Vs. Lyoto Machida (Light Heavyweight)
Nakamura makes his UFC debut after proclaiming "No PRIDE, No Life!" after loosing his last fight to Mauricio Rua in the now defunct PRIDE organization. I guess there is life after PRIDE after all...
Nakamura is a Judo fighter out of Yoshida's dojo. He has really become more than just a Judo fighter as of late. He has very solid ground skills, and while not perfect, his stand up is good as well.
Machida has made a good name for himself with his unorthodox and dangerous stand up. A kajikenpo karate fighter, his stand up utilizes front stances and awkward kicks. With two decision wins in the UFC, he has not lived up to the knockout artist he was billed as, he knocked out Stephan Bonnar and Rich Franklin in other shows, but has proven to be a very tough guy indeed. He has a perfect 10-0 record.
Nakamura has shown that the fight needs to be on the ground for him to be competitive. He has a very bad record against strikers, (Rua decision, Henderson KO, Silva almost killed him). Lyoto will come right at Kazuhiro. If Nakamura wants to go to the ground the UFC veteran will certainly make him pay by dropping elbows on Nakamura's noggin. Lyoto by KO second round.

Jon Fitch Vs. Diego Sanchez (Welterweight)
Jon Fitch is riding a 13 fight win streak, the last 6 being in the UFC. With a nasty 17-2 record, Jon is a certified bad man. He wins by any way he can, KOs, decisions, and submissions dot his record.
Diego lost his last fight to Josh Koscheck, in a rather boring but technical fight. Diego seemed tentative in that fight, not his normal aggressive self. Koscheck managed to threaten with the takedown enough taking Diego out of his game, and denying him the rhythm necessary to mount a decent offence. Outside of that one loss, Digo is an aggressive fighter with very good stand up skills, and very solid ground skills.
I think that this will be a tough fight, but I don't think that Fitch will be able to make Diego worry too much about the take down. Even though Fitch trains at AKA, Koscheck's gym, I don't think that Diego will have as much respect for Fitch as he did for Koscheck. Diego will find his rhythm, and ride Fitch down. Diego by decision.

Mauricio Rua Vs. Forrest Griffin (Light Heavyweight)
Shogun did not really look like himself in his decision win over Nakamura, in Japan. Then did look like himself in his last fight a KO over Alistair Overeem in the US. I don't think that the rules change would be such a big deal to him. Anyway, Shogun is the next generation of ass kickers out of Chute Boxe. He is hyper aggressive, strong, and has not one care about the well being of his opponent.
Forrest Griffin won his last fight out a decision victory over the unknown Hector Ramirez, a guy who should not have been able to last a round with Griffin. Forrest was visibly shaken mentally after his knockout loss to Kieth Jardine. It is still questionable if he has recovered.
I really don't think that Griffin has any sort of chance if Shogun shows up to fight like he did in PRIDE. Shogun is very good on the ground, and very solid on his takedown defense. I don't think that Forrest can get him to the ground, especially if he could not get Stephan Bonnar to the ground. Shogun by KO first round.

Chuck Liddell Vs. Keith Jardine (Light Heavyweight)
Chuck lost to Rampage.
Keith lost to Houston.
Chuck knocks out Keith in the first round.

UFC Fight Night Recap

I have been out of town and busy, so I did not get these picks out in time, but here is the recap none the less:

Dustin Hazelett def Jonathan Goulet Submission (Armbar)1:14 rnd 1
Dustin finally gets a win, and a HUGE win it is. He was suposed to loose to Goulet!

Thiago Alves def Kuniyoshi Hironaka Submission (Verbal - Low Kicks)4:04 rnd 2
Low kicks suck

Gray Maynard def Joe Veres KO (Punch) 0:09 rnd 1
One punch? I have to see this one...

Cole Miller def Leonard Garcia Decision
Meh. Cole Miller looks like Peyton Manning.

Luke Cummo def Edilberto de Oliveira TKO (Strikes) 1:45 rnd 1
Luke gets a win over an unknown opponent...

Nathan Quarry def Pete Sell KO (Punch) 0:44 rnd 3
What a fight!!! They just smashed in to one another until Pete could not get up!

Nathan Diaz def Junior Assuncao Submission (Ten-Finger Guillotine) 4:10 rnd 1
Great choke by Diaz. I did not think that he could finish it, but there it was!

Chris Leben def Terry Martin KO (Punch) 3:56 rnd 3
Chris was first penalized for holding the fence, then was nearly KOed by Martin's heavy fists, then out of nowhere, BAM out goes Terry.

Kenny Florian def Din Thomas Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 4:31 rnd 1
Din got hurt and could not defend himself. Not a great win for Kenny, but a win none the less.

Choke as Your Guard is Passed

Luke is so dead now.

UFC 75 Recap

Jess Liaudin def Anthony Torres TKO (Strikes) 4:10 rnd 1
My Pick Anthony by decision.
Anthony got smacked around by all accounts in this fight.

Dennis Siver def Naoyuki Kotani KO (punch) 2:04 rnd 2
My Pick Kotani by RNC second round
Dennis looked good and was able to floor Kotani

Thiago Silva def Tomasz Drwal TKO (Strikes) 4:23 rnd 2
My Pick Silva by KO first round
No surprise.

Gleison Tibau def Terry Etim Decision
My Pick Gleison by RNC first round
Again, no surprise.

Houston Alexander def Alessio Sakara TKO (Strikes) 1:01 rnd 1
My Pick Sakara by KO second round
I don't know why I pick against Alexander... His Muay Thai looked great, landing a picture perfect knee to bring Sakara down then finish him with strikes. Houston has dangerous power, but he says he does not work on his ground game... I wonder if there is anyone out there who can weather the storm long enough to expose him.

Marcus Davis def Paul Taylor Submission (Armbar) 4:14 rnd 1
My Pick Davis by KO second round
Marcus looked like he was out early, but came back to connect with a perfect armbar from back mount. Very very very slick!

Cheick Kongo def Mirko Filipovic Decision
My Pick CroCop by KO head kick second round
Cro Cop can not take a fighter that comes at him. He gets tentative and throws single strikes. Mirko needs to find sparing partners that will not fold and that will press and bully him.

Michael Bisping def Matt Hamill Decision (split)
My Pick Mike Bisping by KO third round
Hamill won this fight. I don't know what fight the judges were watching, perhaps they were distracted by the English dental work (cheap I know, I am sorry). If Matt can improve his submission game and his G&P he will be a force in the Light Heavyweight division.

Quinton Jackson def Dan Henderson Decision
My Pick Henderson by decision
Rampage looked awesome. He stuck to his game plan, showed that he could escape on the bottom and did very very well against Henderson. I was impressed.

I look forward to who they shove at Jackson next. I think that it will be Shogun if he beats Forrest, or Silva if he beats Chuck. Either way a Chute Boxe fighter will be across the Octagon from him. I really look forward to this, because I want to know how Rampage deals with the kicks. He trains with Check Kongo and Michael Bisping, so he deals with kicks, but his is a primarily boxing training and style. Those styles typically don't match up well against an aggressive kickboxing style. Interesting future match up.

I go 4 for 9. Not very well... I have to admit that I know nothing about MMA after this event... 1000 times out of 1000 I would have picked Mirko over Kongo. I guess that is why they fight!

UFC 75 Fighters Make Weight!

Quinton Jackson (204) vs. Dan Henderson (204)
Michael Bisping (205) vs. Matt Hamill (205)
Cheick Kongo (231) vs. Mirko Cro Cop (220)
Marcus Davis (169) vs. Paul Taylor (171)
Houston Alexander (203) vs. Alessio Sakara (205)
Gleison Tibau (156) vs. Terry Etim (155)
Tomasz Drwal (204) vs. Thiago Silva (204)
Naoyuki Kotani (155) vs. Dennis Siver (154)
Anthony Torres (170) vs. Jess Liaudin (170)

Doing Business With the Poor

I liked this article so much... Here it is:

A Wall Street Trader Draws Some Subprime Lessons

By Michael Lewis

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- So right after the Bear Stearns funds blew up, I had a thought: This is what happens when you lend money to poor people.

Don't get me wrong: I have nothing personally against the poor. To my knowledge, I have nothing personally to do with the poor at all. It's not personal when a guy cuts your grass: that's business. He does what you say, you pay him. But you don't pay him in advance: That would be finance. And finance is one thing you should never engage in with the poor. (By poor, I mean anyone who the SEC wouldn't allow to invest in my hedge fund.)
That's the biggest lesson I've learned from the subprime crisis. Along the way, as these people have torpedoed my portfolio, I had some other thoughts about the poor. I'll share them with you.

1) They're masters of public relations.

I had no idea how my open-handedness could be made to look, after the fact. At the time I bought the subprime portfolio I thought: This is sort of like my way of giving something back. I didn't expect a profile in Philanthropy Today or anything like that. I mean, I bought at a discount. But I thought people would admire the Wall Street big shot who found a way to help the little guy. Sort of like a money doctor helping a sick person. Then the little guy wheels around and gives me this financial enema. And I'm the one who gets crap in the papers! Everyone feels sorry for the poor, and no one feels sorry for me. Even though it's my money! No good deed goes unpunished.

2) Poor people don't respect other people's money in the way money deserves to be respected.

Call me a romantic: I want everyone to have a shot at the American dream. Even people who haven't earned it. I did everything I could so that these schlubs could at least own their own place. The media is now making my generosity out to be some kind of scandal. Teaser rates weren't a scandal. Teaser rates were a sign of misplaced trust: I trusted these people to get their teams of lawyers to vet anything before they signed it. Turns out, if you're poor, you don't need to pay lawyers. You don't like the deal you just wave your hands in the air and moan about how poor you are. Then you default.

3) I've grown out of touch with "poor culture.''

Hard to say when this happened; it might have been when I stopped flying commercial. Or maybe it was when I gave up the bleacher seats and got the suite. But the first rule in this business is to know the people you're in business with, and I broke it. People complain about the rich getting richer and the poor being left behind. Is it any wonder? Look at them! Did it ever occur to even one of them that they might pay me back by WORKING HARDER? I don't think so.
But as I say, it was my fault, for not studying the poor more closely before I lent them the money. When the only time you've ever seen a lion is in his cage in the zoo, you start thinking of him as a pet cat. You forget that he wants to eat you.

4) Our society is really, really hostile to success. At the same time it's shockingly indulgent of poor people.

A Republican president now wants to bail them out! I have a different solution. Debtors' prison is obviously a little too retro, and besides that it would just use more taxpayers' money. But the poor could work off their debts. All over Greenwich I see lawns to be mowed, houses to be painted, sports cars to be tuned up. Some of these poor people must have skills. The ones that don't could be trained to do some of the less skilled labor -- say, working as clowns at rich kids' birthday parties. They could even have an act: put them in clown suits and see how many can be stuffed into a Maybach. It'd be like the circus, only better.
Transporting entire neighborhoods of poor people to upper Manhattan and lower Connecticut might seem impractical. It's not: Mexico does this sort of thing routinely. And in the long run it might be for the good of poor people. If the consequences were more serious, maybe they wouldn't stay poor.

5) I think it's time we all become more realistic about letting the poor anywhere near Wall Street.

Lending money to poor countries was a bad idea: Does it make any more sense to lend money to poor people? They don't even have mineral rights!
There's a reason the rich aren't getting richer as fast as they should: they keep getting tangled up with the poor. It's unrealistic to say that Wall Street should cut itself off entirely from poor -- or, if you will, "mainstream'' -- culture. As I say, I'll still do business with the masses. But I'll only engage in their finances if they can clump themselves together into a semblance of a rich person. I'll still accept pension fund money, for example. (Nothing under $50 million, please.) And I'm willing to finance the purchase of entire companies staffed basically with poor people. I did deals with Milken, before they broke him. I own some Blackstone. (Hang tough, Steve!)
But never again will I go one-on-one again with poor people. They're sharks.

EXCELLENT!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5lhZkEauCu8

If You Commit the Perfect Crime... Don't Write a Novel About It

Seriously. The cops will read it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10462024&pnum=0

Great Muay Thai Fight

Sakmongkol vs Jongsanan
Uploaded by n0xin

Holy cow those elbows in the second round!!!
The knees in the fourth!!!

Brits Are On To Something...

If you are obese or live an unhealthy lifestyle, no treatment for you. Very interesting. We in the US do not put as much emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle and keeping a healthy weight.

Because the UK has universal (socialist) health care and coverage, this new policy would need to come from government. This I have a problem with, as treatment should be made available to all IF the government is the provider. However, it is certainly something that the private sector could look at. Every percentage point your body fat is over normal for your height would cause an increase of 50% in your premium. I like it!!!! Fat people have so many more health problems than healthy people (No, you can not be fat and healthy at the same time. It is not possible. I don't care about the fatties that run marathons. Their excessive body weight still cause all the health problems of someone who does not run marathons. High blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease is all caused by having to deal with all of the fat). Not to mention the better we make our view with fit people rather than the sea of disgusting fat bodies that we have to look at now.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23410977-details/'NHS+should+not+treat+those+with+unhealthy+lifestyles'+say+Tories/article.do

Bad Day For General Aviation

First I hear of a young boy pulled out of Lake Erie after his dad ditched his Cessna 172C in to the lake.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_us/lake_erie_crash_4

Then I learn that Steve Fossett took off in his Citabria from Barron Hilton's Flying Ranch, and did not check in with his wife in a timely manner.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_us/steve_fossett;_ylt=Aic8XbY44lAHZHP6SnWlEqUDW7oF

Both pilots were flying under Visual Flight Rules. That means that they did not need to file a flight plan, they were not being followed by ATC, and they really did not have to check in with anybody.

Both airplanes are required to have an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter). This device sends out a signal if the airplane suffers a severe jar. It is rather sensitive, because a hard landing will set it off.

While the dad piloting the 172 is certainly dead, Fosset may still be alive. I hope they find him.

The EU Gets Something Right!

The EU considers Scientology a commercial organization that takes advantage of vulnerable people. We think that it is a Religion...
For once I gotta go with the EuroWennies. They absolutely have this correct. Scientology DOSE takes advantage of vulnerable people. Just like all religions. If we could get them all recognized as such, life would be so much simpler.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_eu/belgium_scientology;_ylt=ArWWpcUtASjfMkZL57yBtj8DW7oF