Category: Corruption Corner

So Much for Peer Review

The climatgate won’t close. The IPCC has claimed that their 2007 study, which is under severe scrutiny, was peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed, I don’t think that word means what you think it means:

The first report centred directly on the IPCC itself. When several of the more alarmist claims in its most recent 2007 report were revealed to be wrong and without any scientific foundation, the official response, not least from the IPCC’s chairman, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, was to claim that everything in its report was “peer-reviewed”, having been confirmed by independent experts.

But a new study put this claim to the test. A team of 40 researchers from 12 countries, led by a Canadian analyst Donna Laframboise, checked out every one of the 18,531 scientific sources cited in the mammoth 2007 report. Astonishingly, they found that nearly a third of them – 5,587 – were not peer-reviewed at all, but came from newspaper articles, student theses, even propaganda leaflets and press releases put out by green activists and lobby groups.

So much for the scientific process.

Can You Say Owned

Dvorak Uncensored let us know that if you buy property that you reasonably expect is stolen law enforcement is going to investigate. For the last couple of weeks there has been a saga going on at Gizmodo. They obtained what is believed to be the next version of the iPhone and they trickled out data for the better part of two weeks.

The saga involved how they obtained the iPhone prototype. After inquiry the story given by the Gizmodo people was they purchased it from a man who found it in a bar. Obviously the story sounds a little fishy and is dripping with potential criminal activity. Well that’s what the Feds thought so they raided the home of the Gizmodo editor who had the phone.

This story has intrigued me from the start. Not because I wanted to see the new iPhone, I really could care less about that. What I found intriguing was the potential legal ramifications involved here. It was very reasonable to believe the property Gizmodo purchased was stolen. To top that off this happened in California where buying merchandise you reasonably believe to be lost or stolen is a crime. Of course this case isn’t so black and white since journalists are able to get away with a lot more than you and me. Oh but we have yet another detail in that Gizmodo pretty much stated they knew the property was lost or stolen because the dragged poor Gary Powell through the mud. Mr. Powell is the Apple employee who lost the new iPhone prototype.

Still this case wouldn’t be a huge deal in my opinion if Gizmodo contacted Apple in an effort to return the device and in the mean time took some pictures and/or video of the new iPhone. But they also dissected the phone so they could show of the internals of the new device.

This should be an interesting case since it will further outline the rights of journalists in regards to buying reasonably believed to be stolen merchandise in order to do a story.

U.N. Proving Once Again That They’re Worthless

Everybody’s favorite organization is proving once again there are no people they’re not willing to fuck over hard. Here’s a video found via Dvorak Uncensored that shows what the U.N. is really doing in Haiti:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbieX5s-jHM]

Yup instead building shelters in convenient locations they’re kicking the Haitian population to the boonies while they drop down some nice air conditioned trailers in primo locations for themselves. Your donations at work ladies and gentlemen.

Who Watches The Watchmen

Some hilarity was pointed out over a Bruce Schneier’s blog. Apparently the number of Federal Air Marshals that have been arrested is greater than the number of arrests made by Federal Air Marshals (the link goes to a Tennessee congressman’s website, I don’t know who he is nor should this be taken as my promoting him):

And listen to this paragraph from a front-page story in the USA Today last November: “Since 9/11, more than three dozen Federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct. Cases range from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan.”

Actually, there have been many more arrests of Federal air marshals than that story reported, quite a few for felony offenses. In fact, more air marshals have been arrested than the number of people arrested by air marshals.

We now have approximately 4,000 in the Federal Air Marshals Service, yet they have made an average of just 4.2 arrests a year since 2001. This comes out to an average of about one arrest a year per 1,000 employees.

That’s just funny. This on the other hand isn’t:

Now, let me make that clear. Their thousands of employees are not making one arrest per year each. They are averaging slightly over four arrests each year by the entire agency. In other words, we are spending approximately $200 million per arrest. Let me repeat that: we are spending approximately $200 million per arrest.

That’s your tax money at work ladies and gentlemen. The scariest part about government is the fact that there is no accountability. If they’re spending far more money than they take in that’s just too bad. If their agents who are tasked with upholding the law are corrupt that’s just too bad. We either have to wait for the government to take care of their own corrupt personnel or… never mind there is no or here.

Damned Kids

Another story found via Dvorak Uncensored. Apparently 10 year-old kids are a lot tougher than I thought:

The release said that the officers, trying to prevent the child from hurting other children, staff members and himself, slapped the boy and then used a Taser to subdue him.

It’s a good thing they had that Taser otherwise somebody could have gotten hurt!

I Hate the TSA as Much as Anybody But Come On

OK I hate the TSA just as much as everybody else, possibly more. But after seeing a story on Dvorak Uncensored I have to call bullshit. Let’s see if you can find what’s wrong with this story. The story is titled, “Child rape charge rocks TSA.” Here is the story opener:

A Transportation Security Agency worker who pats down members of the flying public was charged with multiple child sex crimes targeting an underage girl yesterday.

The bust outraged privacy and passenger advocates who say it justifies their fears about Logan International Airport’s full-body scanner.

So what do you think happened? If you answered the TSA agent used his authority to take a child to the back interrogation room and raped the child you would be completely incorrect. Here is what happened (Buried towards the end of the article):

The 14-year-old victim watched a movie at his house, Okeeffe said. She said during the film, he massaged the victim’s thigh and touched her under a blanket, then during the February school vacation the girl stayed at his house with his daughter.

So what’s the point of this article? The huge majority of the article makes a big fuss about the fact that the TSA have naked body scanners attended by agents. It makes a huge fuss about one of these TSA agents being a pedophile. But the fact the perpetrator was a TSA agent is COMPLETELY irrelevant here since everything he did was done at HIS house not the airport. At no point was any evidence brought forth stating he made initial contact with the child at the airport or through his “authority” as a TSA agent. In fact the kid was apparently friends with his daughter. Yes instead of focusing on the crime it’s made into a hit piece about the TSA.

I hate the TSA with a passion. The entire organization is nothing more than security theater run by people given a badge and just enough authority to feel they can toss people around. But this hit piece is fucking stupid. It’s akin to making a hit piece about a police department because on of the officers committed a crime off company time and at his place of residence and didn’t in any way use his position or authority to commit the crime. The fact that a man committed statutory rape and was also a TSA agent are completely irrelevant. Yes the article focuses almost exclusively on the fact the person was a TSA agent and purposely misleads you to believe the crime happened at the airport. Finally the fact that the crime happened at the agent’s house is briefly mentioned in the second to last paragraph. Fuck!

Oh and since I’m on a rant I might as well point out the following bloody obvious:

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said Shanahan had passed two background checks, neither of which picked up any record that would prevent him from getting a job.

That’s right background checks don’t determine if you’re going to commit a crime, only if you have committed a crime and got caught. But Dippity Dipshit says:

“It’s a huge, huge issue,” said Kate Hinni of FlyersrRights.org. “The TSA needs a complete overhaul… If you have a pedophile looking at those naked pictures, they’ve got all your information, it’s a gross violation of their authority…. They should make sure none of them is corrupted in any deviant sexual manner.”

So how in the Hell are those hiring TSA agents suppose to make sure any applicant isn’t corrupted in any deviant sexual manner? Answer me that. What you don’t have an answer? Maybe that’s because it’s fucking impossible. This article is just full of stupidity from start to end.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

This time its being used to collect more tax dollars. Via Dvorak Uncensored we have a touching story of the IRS doing what the IRS does:

Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.

Oh crap I forgot to paste in the best part:

The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.

And that’s not all:

Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35.

So because of being short four cents on his taxes Mr. Zeff now owes the IRS $202.35. Yeah the American tax code is so just and fair.

Something That’s Always Annoyed Me

I rarely touch the Health Care debate but there is one little thing about it that’s always annoyed me. Take a look at the picture:

Nothing something odd, besides the condescending ass in the center. Those “doctors” behind him are wearing lab coats. When the Hell is the last time you’ve seen doctors wearing lab coats outside of the office? Hell most doctors I know don’t wear lab coats half of the time they’re in the office.

Does the president believe the American people are so stupid that we can’t identify a person as a “doctor” unless they’re wearing a lab coat? That’s the message I get out of that.

More Smith and Wesson News From SHOT Show

This time it isn’t good as The Firearms Blog reports. The FBI nailed one of their executives for bribery. The FBI agents posted as representatives of an African nation and apparently the executive attempted to bribe them. Ouch!

Also expect the Brady Bunch and Bloomberg’s Posse to make a press release attempting to say this was due to weak gun laws.

What the Government Giveth

They taketh away. The government handed banks of this country a lot of tax payer month, wether the banks wanted the money or not. Well the banks are not looking at potentially being taxed by the government to recoup costs. Yes that’s right the banks are in financial trouble so we give them bailout money. If a bank wasn’t in financial trouble they had to take the money anyways. Now those banks are going to be taxed. That’s your government at work everybody.