Tiger Woods, entering the 3rd round of the WGC-American Express Championship at Chandlers Cross, England, missed 4 birdie puts of less than 8 feet on the front nine, missed a 6 foot birdie putt on the 10th and a 10 footer on the 13th and finally closed out his round with a 33 foot eagle putt on the 18th. That's 6 very makeable birdie putts he blew, choked, clutched or otherwise crapped out on. He still increased his lead by one shot and now leads by six.
Sigh.
I really miss Roller Derby on Saturday afternoons. There always seemed to be at least some suspense involved.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Tiger Woods, winning again, so what's new?
Hugo Chávez announced today that he narrowly escaped assassination by a highly trained hit squad sent, no doubt, by Condoleezza Rice.
The assassins escaped Chavez's bodyguards by outrunning them all the way to Columbia.
Rice's Raiders, later identified as Shadrack, Meshack, Abendago and John Furd.
Chávez was quoted as saying, "Dey hat peeztols deez lonk!" He also stated that he could still smell the presence of frankenscence and myrhh after the bloodthirsty, would-be killers made their getaway, indicating the involvement of Mossad in the failed plot.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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18 soldiers in bullet resistant vests disembark form a Naval helicopter
at Oaxaca's airport after overflying the city for 2 hours this afternoon.
Another military helicopter flies over the city this afternoon
It is being reported that soldiers have been flying into Oaxaca all day and are continuing to be flown in. Various helicopters have been overflying the city during the afternoon apparently photographing the blockades installed and manned by APPO. Some news outlets are predicting that the federal government will move against the street thugs tonight. The betting all day has been that the major action would be taken around Wednesday after the APPO and SNTE had received a final warning to clear the streets.
If it does indeed happen, either tonight or in the next few days, it is long overdue. While regaining control of the streets and bringing some order to the rampant crime and vandalism will certainly be welcome, the underlying problems in the state of Oaxaca and, for that matter, the entire country, will not be solved.
If Governor Ruiz Ortiz decides to celebrate the impending recovery of law and order in the streets as a great victory, he'll soon enough find himself in just as hot a water as that in which he is currently boiling. If it is the governor's intentions to continue with business as usual after the feds leave, and the feds allow him to get away with this, the next social uprising will be a truly bloody affair.
Let's see how this is handled and pray that bloodshed, at least among the soldiers who will just be doing their jobs, can be held to a minimum. There will be violence and a lot of it. The striking teachers and then the APPO have had an almost unbroken string of successes against law enforcement and their confidence is running high. I fear that only the smell of gunsmoke and the sight of their own blood running in the streets will bring them to heel.
If previous state and federal government attempts to regain control of streets both here and in other locations around the country are any indication, this is not going to go well.
APPO thugs transporting Molotov cocktails in stolen shopping carts.
Cockles! Mussels! Alive-O!
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, APPO, Oaxaca teachers' strike, SNTE, anarchy
Loyal reader James of England . . . well, loyal to the crown if not to Mark in Mexico, passes along a link to an article in, d'oh, The Economist. James says that he was "saddened" upon reading the article because it "seemed to suggest that APPO was genuinely reflective of the popular will." He asks for my input.
The writer(s) of the article (unidentified), suffer a spin, crash and then burn in turn no. 3 almost immediately. Their lede is "The governor v most of the people". The article then goes on to offer little or no support for this statement. The number af anarchists on the streets committing all of the spray painting, vandalism, thefts, assaults, manning the barricades and those still occupying the zócalo number about 2500, at most. The population of the city itself is 250,000. That's 1% of the population causing all of the current grief.
What the article fails to point out is that, since Governor Ruiz Ortiz won the election by 2% of the vote, at least 48% of the population believe him to be a thief, a liar and a usurper of authority. That's normal. If one travels around the United States or Great Britain, one will come into contact with some 48%, more or less, depending, of the population who also believe that their governors or "mandatarios" or however they are known are also thieves, liars and usurpers of authority. They are politicians. That's how they got to where they got and how they intend to stay there, be it in Honolulu, Miami, London, Paris or Oaxaca.
Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is a liar, a theif and a usurper of authority. He's a politician. George Bush is a liar, a theif and a usurper of authority. So are the Clintons. So are Reid, Pelosi, McCain, Blair, Livingstone, Merckel and Chirac (he's probably the worst). Thay are all politicians. They excel in telling one group at one time and place what that group wants to hear while knowing what they are telling is false or, at best, only partially true. They're politicians. They further excel at spinning around and telling yet another group at another time and place exactly the opposite of what they told the first group, also knowing full well that this telling is patently false, or, at best, only partially true. That's how they get votes. That's how they remain in power.
What the article fails to point out is that Ruiz Ortiz, as a member of the PRI political party, would be accused of lying, stealing, murdering and usurping authority if he were the second coming of Benito Juárez himself, and he's a long, long way from being that. The PRI held power in Mexico for more than 70 years through a combination of bribes, intimidation, theft and murder. They certainly didn't hold the reins of power for so long due to competent governance. I don't know how long it will be before anyone believes in the word of a Priista, but I shouldn't think that 2 or 3 decades more would be an inappropriate guess.
Was Ruiz Ortiz's election fraudalant? To some degree, yes. But the IFE manages and watches elections so closely here in Mexico that any widespread vote fraud would be detected and the election would have been thrown out. The IFE has done this several times before. And, since the party most in control of the federal government is in opposition to the PRI, it wouldn't have taken much to have allowed the IFE to gleefully void the election and call for a new one.
But that didn't happen because the evidence just wasn't there. Did Ruiz Ortiz buy votes? Of course he did. So did the PAN and the PRD and their various coalitions. Everyone got a big hoot out of an interview with a Oaxacan campesino that was published in the daily Reforma in the months leading up to the governor's election a couple of years ago. This simple fellow even allowed his photo to be published along with his name. He said, as best I can recall, "I'll vote for the party that gives me the most money." He was hauling a roll of shiny new barbed wire that he had just received at a political rally and was no doubt planning to attend the opposition's upcoming rally to see what they had to offer. That's the way business is done in Mexico. It's done by Mexicans to Mexicans.
And that's the way business is also done in the United States, Great Britain, France, Australia and Afghanistan. I'm sure that the we Americans as well as the British, the French, the Germans and the Canadians take greater pride in our votes than to sell them for a mere roll of barbed wire or a few sacks of beans and rice, but we sell them nevertheless. I remember my grandfather, spying a city work crew patching potholes in the streets, saying, "Is there an election coming up? I gotta go register!"
You take all that graft, lying, theft, intimidation and vote buying, common to democracies, move it to Mexico, where for 500 years "rule of law" was enforced at the whim of whomever was in power and at the point of clubs, knives and guns, and you might begin to understand why the Economist would declare, "The governor v most of the people." What the Economist fails to point out is this salient fact. Next month, the governor's political party, the PRI, will lose control of the state's congress for the first time in 70 some years. That's how things are supposed to work.
If the PAN joins with the PRD in opposition to the PRI, the governor will be forced to deal with an opposition state congress. The big problem for the governor's opposition is the crime on the streets brought on by some lawless members of the oppostion itself. They are turning the PAN and many members of their own PRD against them with this ongoing anarchy. Who wants to be associated with masked thugs?
Now let's address Governor Ruiz Ortiz and his performance in office. He has spent a gazillion pesos -- and still counting -- to move his offices to temporary headquarters while new state offices are being built and the former government palace was turned into a museum. In a state this poor and desperately needy, could such sums have been better spent? Of course they could have. A huge waste of resources has occurred. He further spent another gazillion pesos or two to completely redesign and rebuild the city's famous Zócalo, or central square.
People have been coming here for generations to spend their dollars, sterling, marks, francs and now Euros to visit "Colonial Oaxaca". The colonial zócalo no longer exists. It now looks like a park one would visit in Kansas City. No offense to Kansas City, but KC doesn't have 350-500 years of colonial history behind it. And the governor's inept and incompetent contractors felled many huge trees, some by design and some by accident, which has rendered the formally shady Zócalo of Oaxaca a place where you now can get a good blistering.
The governor has done the same thing to Parque Llano or, as it is identified on tourist maps, Parque Benito Juárez. He spent some 90 million pesos, about 9 million dollars, on the Zócalo alone. I don't know how much he has spent on Parque Llano but it has to be close to the same amount. I would estimate that $250,000 US each would have been enough to completely refurbish both areas with new water lines to the fountains, new electrics, new lights, new grass, flowers and shrubbery and some repair to the stone work. They started their project at Parque Llano by hacking the largest tree in the city to pieces.
And, of course, you know what is going to happen now. There will be almost no money spent to maintain these areas over the coming years and decades and, one day in the future, another maniac will tear it all out and do it again. To add to the misery, the SNTE and APPO thugs downtown have destroyed much of the new Zócalo, so that many millions more pesos will have to be spent just to fix it back to what it sadly became.
APPO barricades and street blockades now dot the city, making traffic a snarling nightmare. So, what does the governor do to at least try to alleviate this situation? He closes off even more streets for construction work then sends few if any of his poorly trained traffic policemen to at least attempt to keep traffic moving through what few streets are still open. Crossing the city during rush hours has become a challenge like that facing the Carthaginians at the base of the Alps. Only, we don't have any elephants.
The incompetence and stupidity are mind boggling in their pervasiveness. And it gets worse. The governor has taken all of these unilateral actions because, well, he's the governor, by God. He is a man still living in a sad and horrific, but none too distant past. He failed to realize that the old ways of doing things wre and are fast going out of style. I think that, even if he had realized this, he would have forged ahead, anyway. His offices and those of the state's congress are still at least partially filled with those who have got theirs and wanna git more.
Sound familiar? The national and state capitols of all the world are at least partially filled by people who have got theirs and wanna git more. And campaigns are being waged all around the world by other people who don't have theirs yet but are greedily trying to git it.
So, does all this justify the anarchy in the streets of Oaxaca? No way. Theft, vandalism, intimidation and murder are not to be excused under any circumstances. Criminals are criminals whether they occupy the halls of power or stand behind a stack of burning tires in the streets. There is no, "Yes, but . . ." And the majority of the people in Oaxaca City as well as those in other affected cities and towns around the state know this. They want this problem resolved. If it means federal force, they'll support it. The dirt poor indians from the hills will not support it. Neither will the criminals in the streets currently making a good living.
And it will be the dirt poor campesinos and the street criminals who will be making all the noise. It will be their reactions that you will see sread out all over the news. They'll be the ones hurling the Molotov cocktails and shooting at the police. They'll be the ones joined at the hip (but from a distance) by irrsponsible and fast-becoming-irrelevant demagogues like Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Jimmah Cahtah, Chávez and Fidel. Well, in the case of Carter and the great bearded one, long ago irrelevant, I guess.
Are most of the people against the governor? Define "most" and then define "against". Do most of the people support the anarchy in the streets? No. Are most of the people pleased with a crime ridden, money losing, poor-and-getting-poorer-by-the-day city and state? No. Will most of the people support federal intervention, by force if necessary (and it'll be more than necessary), to clear the streets? Overwhelmingly. Would most of the people support the governor's leaving office if they thought that all this would immediately go away? Undoubtedly. Would most of the people support the governor's leaving office because of the incompetency of his administration as demonstrated so far? Probably.
And the dirt poor campesinos who have been suckered -- again -- into believing that all this anarchy will improve their miserable lots? They are the ones who must rely upon Felipe Calderón to do something that no PRI government and no pre-PRI government has been willing or able to do in the past. Create jobs. That's what has really been lost here. Even the peaceful actions by the SNTE have all been a demand for charity. The teachers and the APPO thugs and the campesinos are all asking for, no, demanding charity. I haven't heard one word, not one word, from the protesters nor the criminals in the streets about the creation of jobs. They just want cash.
While it is easy to understand their demands for a portion of the money they see as being wasted on parks and zócalos, when, or if, they ever get some of that money, what's next? They can look forward to next year's strike and occupation of the downtown. And they can look forward to the ones to follow in the years to follow. Without jobs, this situation will never improve. So long as so many Mexicans believe that it is a man's right to raise a family and retire on a 1500 square meter cornfield, their lot in life will continue to deteriorate. And so long as one incompetent government after another, at the local, state and federal levels, does next to nothing to improve infrastructure and education, the campesino's lot in life will continue to deteriorate.
So, hey, why not burn buses in the streets?Note: Not spell-checked due to Spanish strong accent inflections.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, APPO, Oaxaca teachers' strike, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, anarchy
APPO street thugs are beefing up their defenses -- which are actually street blockades where they extort money from passersby during the nights -- in anticipation of an assault by state and/or federal police. While outsiders may be gleeful at the anarchy which rules the streets of the state capitol, most residents here are most assuredly not happy. There is a building groundswell of support for federal forces, called "fuerza pública", to arrive from Mexico City and put an end to all this crap. Hence, the APPO criminals, fearful of losing their nightly source of revenue, are preparing for the expected confrontations.
And this is whom they are awaiting. The Four Horsemen -- The Riders on the Storm -- Los Jinetes de Infierno, comprised by (top to bottom); Presidente Vicente "Death" Fox, Gobernador Ulises "Pestilence" Ruiz Ortiz, Comandante Manuel David "War" Moreno and Presidente-electo Felipe "Famine" Calderón.
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, APPO, anarchy, SNTE
The 2 day work stoppage which began yesterday to great fanfare has proved to be a complete failure. Everything from taco stands to supermarkets, Sears to Scotiabank and hardware stores to pastry shops were functioning as usual. Buses and taxis were running and the big movie theaters were open.
I initially misunderstood the driving force behind this particular work stoppage (there have been others). This one is a protest against the economic losses incurred since May due to the insurgency gripping the state. This work stoppage is actually being promoted by the various chambers of commerce. They are demanding that the federal government step in to bring law and order to the streets so that people can once again safely shop til they drop. Their chosen method was to call for all businesses to close up for two days so that people couldn't shop at all.
Hmmm. Seems perfectly logical to me. You are angry over low levels of sales so you close up for a couple of days which brings sales levels to zero. This kind of reminds me of the Muslims who riot in the streets and lop off a few heads in response to being accused of promoting violence. Or the folks who complain about the high price of oil whilst on their way to an anti-nuclear power plant demonstration. Or this new "October 11" group I read about just today who plan to mobilize against Target stores to protest the sales of all items made of plastic. These deluded folk will communicate by cell phones which are 95% plastic and navigate to and from various Target outlets in automobiles whose entire interiors are composed of 80% plastic by weight and 99% plastic by volume.
Not to be outdone by the boneheads running the state's business chambers, now comes the head of Governor Ruiz Ortiz's security staff, one Roberto Negrete, to offer wads of cash to reporters from the daily, "Reforma". They've got him on tape being ever so jolly in trying to pass around bills to the reporters to "cover their taxi expenses or just for their wallets or whatever." Of all the reporting staffs of all the newspapers in all the world not to try to bribe publicly, Reforma reporters would be right there at the top of the list. Reforma is now gleefully reporting this incredibly inept miscue and has made the tapes available for your listening pleasure.
Perhaps he was thinking, "Gee. I think I'll try to take the poor governor's mind off of the current, ongoing, getting-worse-by-the-day social and economic disaster by creating a mini-firestorm to add to his list of troubles which is now approaching biblical proportions in length and complexity." Or maybe he had merely left his thinking cap home for the day, I dunno.
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Thanks!TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, anarchy, APPO, SNTE, Oaxaca teachers' strike
This may be the worst (or best, depending on one's point of view) attack ad I've ever seen.
Vernon Robinson campaign ad for Congress.Jeez!
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Thanks! TAGS: Vernon Robinson, Brad Miller
Yesterday, a contingent of 500 people, including some 300 mayors from around the state, staged a rally in front of the state senate to demand "public force" be used to reestablish "the rule of law" in Oaxaca state. The mayors issued a statement saying that "the current situation cannot be allowed to continue." As one drives around the city -- no simple task these days -- one can begin to see posters and painted graffiti demanding, "Fox resolver la situación, ya", meaning, "President Fox, come and fix this, already".
The APPO's top leadership has fled the city and is hiding out in Mexico City, no doubt being hosted and fed by AMLO and his supporters. The APPO thugs who control the streets here have now erected what is claimed to be 2000 street blockades. That seems like a very big number to me -- too big. Many of the street blockades, most of which are only assembled and manned during the night between the hours of 9 PM and 7 AM, have been erected by neighborhood citizens to stop the flow of traffic through their local streets. Traffic flows through these streets because of APPO's blockades of some of the main city streets. The neighborhoods have learned the hard way that the increased traffic brings in the muggers, burglars and assorted street trash and other riff-raff that the police cannot control.
APPO thugs have been reinforcing their permanent (24/7) blockades with concrete blocks, boulders, 55 gallon drums and barbed wire in anticipation of an effort to dislodge them from the city. The daily Reforma had a photo yesterday of 3 guys filling up about a hundred bottles with gasoline to use against the expected assault by the police. No wonder the price of gas in the US is so high. It's all being used for Molotov cocktails in Oaxaca.
The failed attempt by the police to recover control of the city's center back on June 14 was carried out by Municipal Police forces. Any new attempt will be carried out by the Policia Ministerial. These guys used to be called the Policia Judicial. President Fox, in an effort some years ago to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt Judicial police forces, changed their name. Voilá! All squeaky clean, now.
In any event, the APPO thugs will find that facing the Ministeriales will be a bit different than facing the Municipales. It was the Ministeriales who had to enter the zócalo in June to rescue and pull out the besieged municipal police when they were counter-attacked by the protesters. That loss of the control of the downtown and loss of face by the government is what has led to the anarchy we experience today.
The Ministeriales will, if pushed, use real bullets. Witness their actions this past Sunday when APPO's thugs attacked the Camino Real Hotel looking for the governor. When the Ministeriales rescued 3 congressmen through a side door, they were detected by the APPO thugs. Shots were fired -- score: 3-1 in favor of the Ministeriales, bullet wound-wise.
Tomorrow and Friday will see a state-wide work stoppage. Even CANACINTRA (state Chamber of Commerce, more or less) has agreed to go along with the work stoppage to avoid risks to workers, merchants and businesspersons. CANACINTRA executives, in announcing their decision, also demanded that President Fox send in the Federal Preventive Police to "reestablish rule of law" in Oaxaca.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, anarchy, APPO, SNTE, Oaxaca teachers' strike
This past Sunday, a contingent of APPO supporters began a march to Mexico City. They have been invited by AMLO to take up residence on Reforma Boulevard, probably close to the American Embassy. They stopped in Etla, just north of Oaxaca, where they were to be addressed by Sr. Rueda Pacheco, head of the striking teachers' union. Rueda Pacheco was lustily booed off the stage and had to be hustled away by his assistants to avoid injury.
The APPO is now eating its own. Remember that it was Rueda Pacheco and the state's teachers who started all this way back in May. The ongoing and increasing violence by the thugs from APPO has chased away the teachers.
It has been reported to me by state government officials that they believe that only about 10,000 of the 70,000 striking teachers are in favor of continuing the strike and the actions in the streets in Oaxaca City as well as throughout the rest of the state. The remaining 60,000 want a settlement and a return to work.
The photos show teachers in their classrooms in the city of Ixtepec in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This group of teachers, in School Zone 068, voted on Monday to return to work. I'm not sure how many there are but it would be a significant number.
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, anarchy, APPO, SNTE, Oaxaca teachers' strike
Thank you for all the concerned emails. I'm OK. I've been out of the city almost constantly for about a month, working on a project up along the border. I don't have all of the electronic gizmos and whizbangs necessary to blog while on the road. When I must travel it is difficult to maintain the blog. I had some co-bloggers for awhile but they all left due to health reasons. I made them sick to their stomachs. Also, none of them wanted to be seen standing too close to me out in public. Bullet fragments, ricochets, shrapnel and all that seemed to be of great concern to them. I cannot understand why.
There follows posts about the current state of anarchy in Oaxaca, where we are and where we are expected to be in the next few days. Once again, thank you for your concern. I'll try to answer all of your emails personally.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, anarchy, APPO, SNTE, Oaxaca teachers' strike
James B. Meigs, the Editor-in-Chief of the 104 year-old magazine "Popular Mechanics" and writing in The New York Post, says that he and his magazine have joined BUSHAZICIANWOICOWDOM. That would be the "Bush/Halliburton/Zionist/CIA/New World Order/Illuminati Conspiracy" for World Domination. Not only has the magazine published a book debunking the crazed cranks who are perpetrating the various 9/11 conspiracy myths, it has now published a story about it in its regular issue. And the reaction from the "cranks"?Within hours, the online community of 9/11 conspiracy buffs - which calls itself the "9/11 Truth Movement" - was aflame with wild fantasies about me, my staff and the article we had published. Conspiracy Web sites labeled Popular Mechanics a "CIA front organization" and compared us to Nazis and war criminals.
For a 104-year-old magazine about science, technology, home improvement and car maintenance, this was pretty extreme stuff. What had we done to provoke such outrage?
Research.
Meigs says that his staff at Popular Mechanics has been fact checking the various conspiracy theories since 2004.In every single case, we found that the very facts used by conspiracy theorists to support their fantasies are mistaken, misunderstood or deliberately falsified.
Meigs gives us some examples of some of the most popular "evidence" cited by the conspirationists: Here's one example: Meyssan and hundreds of Web sites cite an eyewitness who said the craft that hit the Pentagon looked "like a cruise missile with wings." Here's what that witness, a Washington, D.C., broadcaster named Mike Walter, actually told CNN: "I looked out my window and I saw this plane, this jet, an American Airlines jet, coming. And I thought, 'This doesn't add up. It's really low.' And I saw it. I mean, it was like a cruise missile with wings. It went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon."
We talked to Walter and, like so many of the experts and witnesses widely quoted by conspiracy theorists, he told us he is heartsick to see the way his words have been twisted: "I struggle with the fact that my comments will forever be taken out of context."
Here's another: An article in the American Free Press claims that a seismograph at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory picked up signals indicating that large bombs were detonated in the towers. The article quotes Columbia geologist Won-Young Kim and certainly looks authoritative. Yet the truth on this issue is not hard to find. A published Lamont-Doherty report on the seismic record of 9/11 says no such thing. Kim told Popular Mechanics that the publication's interpretation of his research was "categorically incorrect." Yet the claim is repeated verbatim on more than 50 Web sites as well as in the film "Loose Change."
Meigs sums it up nicely: Every 9/11 conspiracy theory we investigated was based on similarly shoddy evidence.
The real shame of it all is that so many Americans have been suckered into believing all this trash. And, according to this article, it's even worse overseas.
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Thanks! TAGS: 9/11 Conspiracy, Popular Mechanics, James B. Meigs
Kevin Costner thinks that even doctored images of President Bush's assassination are not "cute". "It's awfully hard if you're his children, his wife, his mother, his dad; there's a certain thing we can't lose as human beings, which is empathy for maybe the hardest job in the world. Whether we think it's being performed right or not we can't, like, wish... or think that's even cute."
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Thanks! TAGS: Kevin Costner, Death of a President
Everybody did their jobs perfectly.
It was all someone else's fault.
Why we despise politicians and have little faith in either political party.
The only reason we are even moderately safe is because of the untiring efforts of tens of thousands of lower level grunts in many governmental departments from Homeland Security to the CIA, all working their asses off to save us from the lying sons-of-bitches in Washington, DC, those that were in Washington, DC and those who hope to be in Washington, DC.
And, oh yeah, the 150,000 +/- who have been kicking ass -- and bleeding and dying -- in Afghanistan and Iraq.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: The Path to 9/11
What else is there left to say about Tiger Woods? He won last weekend's tournament, his fourth straight, jumped on a plane and flew to Ireland for two days of meetings, strategy sessions and poker with the rest of the Ryder Cup team, re-boarded a plane for home and then teed off on Friday for this weekend's (I guess that would now be last weekend's) Deutsche Bank tournament.
He had the lead after Friday's first round, played a dreadful second round to fall into a tie, then poked along yesterday with a pedestrian 4 under 67. Meanwhile, Vijay Singh managed to stay within 3 shots of the lead going into yesterday's third round where he shot a course record and career best 10 under 61 to roar around Woods and take a 3 shot lead into today's final round.
Singh's round yeserday included a very rare 2 eagles in the same round. "What's that?" Woods must have asked, "Two eagles in the same round? Harummph!"
Woods' final round today: Par-eagle-birdie-par-birdie-par-eagle etc. Woods wins by 2 shots.
Yawn.
The other PGA tour players are fast approaching the point where they'd just as soon play King Kong as Tiger Woods. Maybe the mighty Kong would sign the wrong scorecard or eat an official and get disqualified, or something. Woods makes mistakes now and again but not enough that anyone can beat him.
Tiger's record in the Ryder Cup is less than sterling and I'm sure that grates on him a bit. If he ever cuts loose -- this year, maybe? -- the Cup will not see the shores of Jolly Ol' for the next 20 years or so.
This makes 5 straight tournaments that Tiger Woods has won, including 2 majors. He may never lose again.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Tiger Woods, Tiger wins, yawn
From Australia's "The Age", written by one Sarah Smiles: While the interior of the ambulance has been gutted, a Red Cross volunteer who was in the same ambulance as Mr Fawaz said he did bleed onto his stretcher, but not excessively as his leg had been cauterised.
From Time Magazine, written by one Nicholas Blanford:The father's leg was severed by the exploding missile and he was losing blood fast.
From The Age, again, now quoting Ahmed Fawaz, the man who lost his leg: When he came to after the blast, he remembers reaching for his glasses that were knocked to the back of his head, adjusting them and then feeling a sense of malaise. "I put my hand on my leg and I couldn't feel it," he said. "I tried to take the cord of the IV drip to tie up my leg to stop it bleeding, but I couldn't manage it."
The Boston Globe, written by one Thanassis Cambanis: An elderly woman patient was relatively unscathed, but Mohammed Mustafa Fawaz, 46, was in the intensive care unit, the stump where his right leg used to be swollen and bleeding.
The Age and Sarah Smiles: However, Red Cross volunteers manning the ambulances and Mr Fawaz insist the hit was caused by small weapons fired from unmanned drones that they heard circling above after the attack.
The Boston Globe and Thanassis Cambanis: Shaalan said he was swinging the back door shut when everything around him was engulfed in a flash of light.
"A big fire came toward me, like in a dream. I thought I was dying, at first," Shaalan said. "Then I opened my eyes, and I could see. I thought everyone in the ambulance was dead."
A rocket or missile had made a direct hit through the roof, Shaalan said, severing one patient's right leg. Shaalan took cover in a nearby building.(no mention of drones or of hearing drones prior to the attack)
So, who is lying, Smiles or Blanford, Fawaz or the unnamed Red Cross volunteer?
Andrew Bolt at The Herald Sun takes this apart in much more detail. The missile through the Red Cross painted on the roof of one ambulance becomes a possible missile through the back of the other of the two that were attacked.
The first ambulance that was hit by a missile is now hit instead by "small weapons".
A man who had his leg blasted off in the ambulance with the hole through the Red Cross now has it blasted off in the ambulance with the bigger hole in the back.
A medic explains the strange absence of blood in that ambulance by saying the injured man's leg was "cauterised".
An attack launched by Apache helicopters is now launched by drones.
A driver who was first reported to have been knocked unconscious in the attack this time fails to mention that, claiming only that shrapnel-pocked helmet saved him.
Curiously, all three Red Cross workers who were there and were interviewed after the alleged incident, claim they were saved by a shrapnel-pocked helmet. None were actually wounded with all this shrapnel flying about.
No explicit acknowledgement is made of what seems even from this story to be conceded: that The Age's initial claim that a missile was fired through the Red Cross symbol of ambulance was false.
Nor does it admit what it also seems to concede: That the ambulance first pictured as "proof" of that missile strike was not hit by a missile at all.
Nor is any explanation is offered for the following:
Why we are only now shown a picture of the alleged ambulance that Smiles says was damaged worst - and presumably this time by a missile? Why did the media ignore this more dramatic picture that would have better proved their claims of an Israeli atrocity?
Why is an ambulance hit by a missile still largely intact? Don't Israeli missiles work?
Why did a missile attack on ambulances not only fail to destroy them, but fail to kill any of the people inside?
Why did The Age initially report both ambulances were in fact hit by missiles, when it now seems to concede that - at best (or really worst) just one was?
Why has an attack that one medic first said occurred as he was driving now changed to an attack as he was transferring patients?
Why was an ambulance hit by something that caused a huge "explosion" and "fire" show no scorch marks at all, and have a window caved inwards, not outwards?
Why did an ambulance allegedly attacked by Israel have the torn metal covered in rust in an initial Age picture take just one or two days later?
Why did a medic shown in hospital covered in bandages appear in pictures just days later with not a scar or scratch on his skin?
All strange questions needing answers which Smiles fails to provide. Nor does Smiles report that her main informant is an ambulance driver whose nickname, says the Boston Globe, is "Abou Harb" or "Father of War".
But bottom line from The Age report: The famous hole through the Red Cross sign on the ambulance roof was NOT caused by a missile. The picture of the ambulance it gave as proof told an untruth.
There is a lot more from Mr. Bolt, and precious little from The Age, Time Magazine or The Boston Globe.
Here is the original zombietime debunking of the whole "ambulance attack" story that brought frowns to Smiles.
Tim Blair has evidence of the perfidy of "The Age".
John Hinderaker at Power Line is not at all convinced.
Dan Rhiel says, "Please don't let me be misunderstood."Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Lebanon, Red Cross ambulance
Australia's inimitable wildlife protagonist, Steve Irwin, 44, father of two small children, has been killed. The tireless champion of nature, wildlife and the environment, was killed in a freak accident while swimming above a stingray off Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. The stingray's barbed tail punctured his chest, leaving a hole in his heart and resulting in almost instant death.
His 8 year-old daughter had accompanied him on the trip and was in the boat when he was hauled on board. He also leaves a 3 year-old son and his wife, Terri.
My kids love his show, "The Crocodile Hunter", on The Discovery Channel, and repeat his oft expressed views on the protection of all species, no matter how scary or dangerous to humans some of those species may seem to be. Regarding the world's most dangerous snakes and other reptiles, amphibians and fish, my kids will tell you, "If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone."
"Steve, from all God's creatures, thank you. Rest in peace." Joe Gandelman has some nice comments as well as some links that you may wish to take a look at. Some people, besides his family, of course, have been personally affected. Others, unfortunately, think it's pretty funny.
RIP, Steve Irwin.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter
In a speech yesterday, the defeated left-wing presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador praised the congressional thugs who forced the cancellation President Fox's State of the Union address last week. AMLO said that his out-of-control supporters were, "persons with principles, persons with ideals" and "would not turn their backs on the people."
As is typical with those from the left, free speech is demanded for setting forth their ideas but is to be squelched in any manner possible, legal or illegal, when that free speech might be exercised by their opponents. President Fox's right of free speech as well as his constitutional duty to present the "Informe" to the legislature could not be permitted by the leftists. Free speech only goes so far, which is to say that my right of free speech is guaranteed while yours is not if you oppose my views on, well, just about anything.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Mexico election, AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador , anarchy
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez claimed Friday he had uncovered a plot to topple his government, blaming his political opponents and calling them "lackeys" of the United States.
What's this, the 16th coup plot against Cavez that has been "uncovered" this year?
I think that Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press writer, needs a better translator. She is mis-translating "uncovered". She should say, "dug up."Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Venezuela, Hugo Chavez
High schools in Shanghai are using new history books this year. The Cultural Revolution as well as Communism prior to the economic reforms of 1979 have been reduced to a one sentence mention. Mao himself now appears in a chapter on etiquette:Now, the wall in front of the just executed enemy of the revolution may be somewhat stained. You might notice that the bullet which was fired under the left ear of the vile running dog passed through his less-than-worthless skull and left a bit of a mess on the wall. That messy stain will be composed of bits of skin, bone, brain matter and a lot of blood. It is very important to thoroughly wash the nastiness from the wall prior to the next traitor's elimination. Leaving the stains in place might cause some consternation on the part of the next evil one because he surely has been told he was being taken to the library.
So Mao joins the ranks of Heloise, Emily Post, Amy Vanderbilt and the International Center for Bathroom Etiquette.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: China, Shanghai, Mao, Mao Zedong
Several people have written asking about specific hotels, whether they were open or whether there were vacancies etc.. I cannot answer about any specific hotel, except perhaps the Marquis del Valle on the Zócalo. That hotel was partially sacked by the striking teachers back on June 14 and is surrounded by what is left of the downtown tent city. Most of the teachers who started this whole thing have moved out and they have been partially replaced by the anarchists. As for the rest of the hotels, they are reporting 10% occupancy on average.
There is a great map of the city which can be highly magnified to bring up street names here.
Some have also written asking about specific streets and specific routes through the city. Some street blockades are permanent and some are temporary, being set up at the whim of the anarchists. The city is basically shut down after 9:00 PM every night and free movement does not begin again until about 7:00 AM every day.
When the traffic began to use the side streets through residential neighborhoods to avoid the blockades of the main streets, neighborhood groups began blocking those accesses. I am not sure why this is. It may be the neighborhood residents' attempts to keep the criminal elements that now roam the city out of their residential areas. I'm not sure. The anarchists would have you believe that the entire population of the state is participating in this insurrection. That is far from the truth.
The vast majority of people are trying to get on with their daily lives while avoiding trouble. With almost no police protection anywhere in the city, that becomes a real task. There is no police presence whatsoever within some 20-50 blocks surrounding the downtown. There is also no police presence in the Parque Conzatti area just north of Santo Domingo nor in the area surrounding the public radio and TV studios ENE of the downtown. Police will answer no emergency calls to any of those areas. If you get into trouble there, you are on your own.
Outside of those areas, in the rest of the city, most police have been disarmed and are not allowed to wear their uniforms. There are some traffic policemen at the busier intersections -- in uniform, even -- helping to exacerbate the congestion. It's hilarious, unless you really have somewhere to go. The traffic cops toot their whistles and wave their arms and send a phalanx of unfortunate motorists creeping from one traffic jam to another.
Crime is rampant and out of control. From simple vandalism like the shooting out and bashing in of windows to the pharmacy just down the street from my office which suffered armed robberies three times last week. Motorcyclists are now using the sidewalks to get around the traffic jams.
I reported a couple of weeks ago that armed guerilla groups might join the fray. A certain commenter pooh-poohed that idea. Hmmm. Who are these guys, I wonder. The state congress is formally asking the federal government the same question.
People continue writing and asking if it is safe to come here. In a word, "No." I don't understand how anyone could consider visiting here for any reason other than some pressing personal or business reason or some other type of emergency. One poor fellow wrote that his wife and son had arrived and he was now concerned for their safety. My question would be, "Why are they here at all?" I don't mean to be too harsh, but in this day of almost instantaneous communication as well as Google Search, being concerned for the safety of loved ones who were sent here after June 14 seems a little, er, tardy.Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Thanks! TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico
