On the Web:
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So much for HIPAA. According to press reports he’s a personal injury lawyer whose father-in-law works for the CDC.
A tuberculosis patient under the first federal quarantine since 1963 was taken Thursday to National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, which specializes in respiratory disorders, officials said.
CBS News has learned the man with the extreme form of tuberculosis is Andrew Harley Speaker, a 31-year-old lawyer from Atlanta. A medical official in Atlanta also confirmed the name on condition of anonymity.
In an odd twist, Speaker’s father-in-law works as a microbiologist at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory that studies tuberculosis and other bacterial infections.
Bob Cooksey said he gave his son-in-law “fatherly advice” when he learned he had contracted the disease.
They say Andrew could be confined to his room for several weeks. I think he’ll find that life has changed once he’s allowed to roam freely. People aren’t happy with the seemingly selfish choices he made - his profession isn’t helping matters. The jokes have already started:
What do you call a personal injury lawyer with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis? A good start.
Now how long do you think it will be until this guy and his family are on Oprah?
Update:
Diane Sawyer got to him first. He’s apologizing and claims to have a reasonable explanation:
Andrew Speaker has asked for forgiveness from the airline passengers he exposed to a rare strain of tuberculosis, and told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview that he has a tape recording of a meeting with health officials that he claims will confirm his view that it was all right to travel in his condition.
“He says he wants everyone to know how he made the decision, why he felt so strongly that it was not endangering anybody else and [is] also asking forgiveness of those onboard who are now having to be tested,” Sawyer said after spending an hour with the TB patient and his wife, Sarah Speaker, at the National Jewish Research Center in Denver, where he is currently in isolation
Bloggers React:
Michelle Malkin
He is Andrew Harley Speaker–and what a selfish, reckless man he is.
Wizbang!
He’s educated enough to have known better than to fly on an airplane when he was infected with tuberculosis. You do not need to be a doctor to know you don’t put yourself in an enclosed space with hundreds of other unsuspecting people for hours at a time when you have an infectious airborne disease.
JSOW is all about stealth, survivability, and flexibility - and they say it’s cheaper:
A joint Navy and Air Force program, JSOW is a family of low-cost, air-to- ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS and inertial navigation system to guide them to the target. The JSOW uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying various payloads. Its long standoff range, up to 70 nautical miles (approximately 80.5 statute miles), allows
delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses. It is produced for use on the F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-2 and B-52 aircraft.
The improved JSOW is hitting the shelves now and could soon be found in locations near you.
On the Web:
Raytheon
Need to Know is a short roundup of key stories that shouldn’t be missed on your cruise through the blogosphere. The number of links in the roundup may vary but if you find it here you can trust that it’s must-read material.
Homeland Security Watch | The financial fallout from a terrorist nuke
As we debate the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed Securing the Cities Initiative, its worth considering the actual impact of a nuclear weapon detonated in a densely populated urban environment. Defense Canada’s R&D arm partnered with Battelle to produce a schematic illustrating a “preliminary analysis on the economic impact of a nuclear weapon event in Vancouver.”
DefenseTech | The risk of sharing
One of the American military’s strongest advantages in ground combat is its ownership of the night. IR markers, glint tape and IR illuminators are key to nighttime fighting for US forces. If the NVG technology intended for our Afghan allies falls into the wrong hands, that advantage will quickly turn into a major vulnerability.
Times Online | We own the night
The SAS and SBS have been engaged in covert missions against al-Qaeda for four years, serving with American troops from the US Joint Special Operations Command under Lieutenant-General Stanley McCrystal. US military sources said the special forces teams had killed a total of 2,000 al-Qaeda fighters, carrying out missions at night.
Human Rights Foundation | Chavez democratizes protesters with live ammo
Mass protests shook Venezuela over the last three days as people—many of them high school and university students—took to the streets to protest this weekend’s shutdown of the Venezuelan television station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV). Severe government crackdowns included the use of live ammunition, tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, and riot gear. More than one hundred minors and eighty adults were in custody of the Venezuelan police as of this afternoon. Their identities and condition are being withheld by the government.
James P. Pinkerton | How the Dems can lose 2008
So when the Republicans finally found their voice on immigration, the Reagan Democrats were re-Reaganized. Finally, Republicans were speaking about realism and the national interest, always a winner for them. The Democrats tried to fight back, using the health care issue, but the GOP was ready with a response, pointing to moderate health plans enacted by Republican governors from Massachusetts to California. Finally, late in the ‘08 campaign, the Democrats attempted to energize their own small base, endorsing gay marriage and repeal of the Patriot Act.
It didn’t work. The Republicans, nominating a ticket free of any close association with the outgoing administration, won a comfortable victory. And so, for the eighth time in 11 presidential elections, liberalism was defeated.
The New York Sun | Islamic extremism is a global threat - Duh
Switzerland seems to be an unlikely locus for a battle over jihadist Islamism, but according to reports, its Muslim citizens, who make up about 5% of the total population, increasingly look to radical Middle East clerics for spiritual guidance. The country is also home to a controversial professor, Tariq Ramadan, whose visa to come to America was revoked by the State Department, and reports indicate there has been a rising tension between Muslims and non-Muslims there. In what could be considered pouring fuel on a fire, two weeks ago, the League of Swiss Muslims invited Sheik Salman bin Fahd Al-Odah of Saudi Arabia to participate in their annual conference.
BuzzMachine | Newspapers are lagging. Lag = death
How many newspapers have reconfigured their staffing to reflect the new hybrid print/online reality? Why are high-paid editors and reporters uploading jpegs and podcasts when digital assistants ought to be doing the mechanical tasks? Fast-moving web companies have learned to move with audiences and make those audiences part of a community. Newspapers, for the most part, hold on to rigid models and jump on new tools (everybody blog now!) without understanding how those tools can be used.
David Limbaugh | Global Warming & Euro hypocrisy
Again, the facts are not Speaker Pelosi’s friends. According to Chris Horner’s delicious “Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism,” Europe promised it would live up to Kyoto; it isn’t. It promised its carbon dioxide emissions would be down, but they’re up, it promised its emissions would be dropping, but they are rising. “Since 2000 they are increasing three times as fast as America’s.” No matter. Europe still lambastes America because, like good liberals, it subscribes to the axiom that good intentions mean more than results.
Gateway Pundit | A revealing photo from Iraq
Right Wing Nut House | Watching Fred Thompson
When I survey the disaster that is the current Republican party – a leaderless, rudderless, dispirited mob without a clue of how to begin fixing what’s broke – the obvious question that leaps to mind is can anything be salvaged from the current situation? Or is the GOP condemned to walk the earth like Zombies for the foreseeable future with no direction, no heart, and little in the way of motivation to animate its followers?
D-Ring | Preaching the new media gospel
I’ll be speaking at Fort Meade on June 11 to a group of students at the Defense Information School (holding down the new media front on a panel with two MSMers). I’m excited to be joining Scott Wykoff of Baltimore-Washington radio fame and Gina Cavallaro, who has made quite a name for herself at Army Times. Are you in the next Public Affairs Officer course for distance learners at DINFOS? If so, leave a comment or pop me an e-mail. I am curious to see who among the class is down with new media.
Patterico’s Pontifications | MSM Spins a Gitmo suicide
Of course, the New York Times editors who reprinted this piece might remember that they published a lengthy article in September 2006, based on interviews with over a hundred detainees and GTMO personnel, that provided extensive and detailed support for the idea that the 2006 suicides at GTMO were a publicity stunt. That article set forth clear evidence that the suicides were designed as an act of propaganda, specifically to get people across the world to believe that Gitmo was driving inmates to suicide, and had to be shut down. Have New York Times editors forgotten about that article? Is the AP unaware of it?
USA Today | DHS Taps Sci-Fi Writers for Sigma
The writers make up a group called Sigma, which Andrews put together 15 years ago to advise government officials. The last time the group gathered was in the late 1990s, when members met with government scientists to discuss what a post-nuclear age might look like, says group member Greg Bear. He has written 30 sci-fi books, including the best seller Darwin’s Radio.
Thanks to CQPolitics you can easily compare Fred Thompson’s Senate record to John McCain’s - if you haven’t made up your mind in that contest already:
Earlier this year, when Thompson made it clear he was contemplating a 2008 White House bid, CQPolitics.com published a chart and analysis of Thompson’s positions on key votes. The chart, which can be accessed here, compares Thompson’s votes with those of three GOP senators who served with Thompson and who are running for president or weighing a bid — Sam Brownback of Kansas and John McCain of Arizona, who are announced candidates, and Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska, who is still considering a presidential bid, possibly as an independent.
The CQPolitics.com analysis found that Thompson and McCain voted the same way on 83 of 102 CQ-defined “key votes” (81.4 percent) during the eight years the two men served together. Thompson agreed with Brownback on 57 of 70 votes (81.4 percent) and with Hagel on 57 of 71 votes (80.3 percent).
Thompson amassed an average score of 86 percent (out of a maximum 100) from the American Conservative Union (ACU), with scores ranging from 83 percent in 1995 to 92 percent in 2000. His average score is lower than that of Brownback (94 percent) and slightly higher than that of Hagel (85 percent) and McCain (82 percent).
Thompson sided with conservative groups and with most Republican senators in voting to cut taxes and spending; remove barriers among banking, securities and insurance companies; drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; protect gun owners’ rights; and oppose abortion.
My main problem (and I’m not alone here) is his support of McCain-Feingold. It’s an issue he’s addressed recently:
Many on the right remain angry Mr. Thompson supported the campaign finance law sponsored by his friend, John McCain. “There are problems with people giving politicians large sums of money and then asking them to pass legislation,” Mr. Thompson says. Still, he notes he proposed the amendment to raise the $1,000 per person “hard money” federal contribution limit. Conceding that McCain-Feingold hasn’t worked as intended, and is being riddled with new loopholes, he throws his hands open in exasperation. “I’m not prepared to go there yet, but I wonder if we shouldn’t just take off the limits and have full disclosure with harsh penalties for not reporting everything on the Internet immediately.”
I’ve started compiling links for even more voting record fun.
Installing software in Linux used to require a bit of work. These days both Windows and Mac take a back seat to Ubuntu (and many other brands of Linux) when it comes to managing applications.
For more on Ubuntu, and hundreds of videos, head over to my other blog. You might also want to check out the newest flavor of Ubuntu, the one I’m using now, Ubuntu Studio.
Ubuntu Links:
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I was just surfing through Google News and I stumbled across this shocker:
A group of unidentified insurgents have brutally killed ten Iraqi Shia women in a district in northern Baghdad after kidnapping them.
The women were on their way to Baghdad Monday when they were kidnapped by militants in the Habhab district of northern Baghdad.
Reports out of Habhab say the headless and scorched corpses of the women and their driver were found in the area.
And then, this:
According to informed sources, terrorist operations in violence-stricken Iraq are organized by the US and British intelligence services and perpetrated by the remaining members of the Baath party affiliated with Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
That’s some really heavy-handed propaganda there. Time to check the “About” page:
PRESS TV is the first international Iran-based news network to broadcast in English on a round-the-clock schedule.
Our Tehran-based headquarters is staffed by media professionals from around the world. PRESS TV has an extensive network of bureaus located in the world’s most strategic places.
Suddenly it all makes sense. Surfing back to the home page I find even more Iranian propaganda. Digging a little deeper I discover that some of it is generated by the American left, specifically the folks at CounterPunch.
None of this is surprising really - except for the laughably bad execution. Is this the Iranian cooperation the Bush administration is chasing after?
This is alarming:
The man told the Journal-Constitution he was in Rome during his honeymoon when the CDC notified him of the new tests and told him to turn himself in to Italian authorities to be isolated and be treated. The CDC told him he couldn’t fly aboard commercial airliners.
“I thought to myself: You’re nuts. I wasn’t going to do that. They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged,” the man said.
He told the newspaper he and his wife decided to sneak back into the U.S. through Canada. He said he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to Atlanta.
He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.
“I’m a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person,” he told the paper. “This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I’ve cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing.”
And we’re keeping known and suspected terrorists out how?
Bloggers React:
Michelle Malkin
Homeland security? What homeland security?
Webloggin
The selfishness of the man is unbelievable.
Thompson is on my short list so I’m looking forward to this:
Thompson’s formal announcement is planned for Nashville. Organizers say the red pickup truck that was a hallmark of Thompson’s first Senate race will begin showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire as an emblem of what they consider his folksy, populist appeal.
A testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, and staffers will go on the payroll in early June, the organizers said. A policy team has been formed, but remains under wraps.
Fred ThompsonThe supporters on Tuesday’s call make up a group the campaign is calling “First Day Founders.” When launched, the campaign will have offices in Nashville and Northern Virginia, the advisers say.
A new web site is on the way:
In addition, the nascent campaign is planning to launch a Web site in the next 10 days, according to one person familiar with campaign planning. Thompson will give a speech in Virginia this weekend and is scheduled to appear on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” next month.
And I trust that the videos will be rolling out frequently.
Bloggers React:
The Hillary Spot
Just talked to a Thompson source I’ll call “TA3″ (Thompson Associate 3). Much more coming shortly, but the first word was, there will not be a presidential announcement from Fred Thompson on July 4. The Politico got it wrong, it appears.
Don Surber
Fred is like the second-string quarterback in the NFL. He looks good holding that clipboard in that nice crisp uniform on the sidelines. He ain’t never thrown an interception or fumbled the ball. On the other hand, look who we’ve got in the game.
Scared Monkeys
But Fred Thompson has the right stuff. He walked away from the Senate and all its sycophantic garbage that McCain thinks of as the be all and end all. He can express in very simple and concise terms complicated ideas, something that Giuliani and Romney are far from able to do. And when it is time to face Hillary or Obama, he carries himself so well that they will look shrill and lightweight compared to him.
Wonkette
It seems like only yesterday when we were bemoaning the terrible non-Hollywood crop of not-that-tall Republican front-runners Rudy, Walnuts and L. Ron Romney. When, oh when would giant right-wing dreamboat Fred Thompson and his latest wife join the race?
Gay Patriot
Thompson will unfortunately have to pander somewhat to the extreme Right in order to win the nomination which I hate to see. Since the GWOT remains my #1 issue above any other, in order for him to get my vote he will need to convince me that he is far more capable than any other candidate of successfully prosecuting the war while not going overboard like Bush on other issues I care about. My loved ones and this country mean far more to me than anything else, including gay rights.
MyDD
Without even announcing, Thompson has reached double-digits nationally. It will be interesting to see if this announcement boosts him even further. Given current Republican dissatisfaction with their announced candidates, he certainly has a lot of potential in this campaign. The Republican top tier now includes four candidates.
Captain’s Quarters
Unlike Sager, though, I believe that Thompson has made several serious moves towards his candidacy — just nothing official. He has managed to make himself very relevant by delivering much-anticipated speeches to various Republican groups. Thompson has also written a series of essays, erudite and sensational, on various hot issues as well as explaining and expanding on his federalist beliefs. It’s almost a philosopher’s campaign for the White House, an approach that may not have a parallel since Woodrow Wilson.
Hot Air
I can live with the hokiness of the pick-up truck, I guess, but if he starts riding horses I’m out of here.
Michelle Malkin
What’s there to say?
The American Mind
Fred Thompson entering the race means more competition which is good. Giuliani, McCain, Romney, and the other candidates will have to stay sharp, hone their messages, and continue building up their campaign infrastructure. Also, a benefit of primaires is the new ideas candidates bring. To win next November the Republican nominee will have to offer a positive program to make government better, more accountable, and cheaper. He must offer substansive ideas the public can glom onto.
Mary Katherine Ham
I, for one, was tired of waiting. I like the prospect of a Fred! in the race, but I was wondering if he’d hit a point where waiting so long was producing diminishing returns. Donations on June 4, huh? Right around the corner.
Blue Crab Boulevard
Oddly, I was just reading a Newsweek magazine while waiting for my daughter in the dentist’s office. They reported that the red pickup was sitting in Thompson’s driveway with peeling paint. Their spin was that local political prognosticators were watching that truck to see if it suddenly underwent a facelift.
Wizbang!
Right now he is polling really well as someone not officially in the race. There are actually many advantages to not being in the race now — not having to participate in those early debates for one. Okay, I know there are advantages and disadvantages to participating in the debates, but for someone with high name recognition, and even higher face recognition, like Thompson, I think not being in the early debates has been a plus.
TexasFred’s
Fred Thompson needs to get this thing going, NOW!! America needs him, Conservatives can and will support him, and by God, if we don’t, then we deserve whatever bullshit that DOES fall out of the mouths of the Repubs or Dems, because if we don’t get Thompson in the White House, it really doesn’t matter WHO you put in, there’s not a dimes worth of difference in the lot of em…
The Hase Times
Aarons prediction: After announcing, Thompson will quickly gain support, easily jumping to number two in the GOP standings, with McCain taking a hit in support. Then as the January primaries/caucuses roll around Thompson will have consecutive losses in all of the crucial states, with the possible exception of South Carolina. After that, the snowball effect will catch up to him, and Romney will walk away with the nomination. At the RNC convention in Minneapolis, Romney will announce (or at least offer) Thompson as his VP running mate, shoring up the crucial Southern vote.
The Jump Blog
He’s the bandwagon I’m gonna hop on (well, as soon as he gets it rolling).
Misunderestimation
Will he actually run? Will people vote for Fred Thompson? Could Fred Thompson the second-coming of Ronald Reagan? Will Law & Order’s ratings drop? I don’t know. What I do know is this already interesting presidential race just got more interesting.
Need to Know is a short roundup of key blog posts that shouldn’t be missed on your cruise through the blogosphere. The number of links in the roundup may vary but if you find it here you can trust that it’s must-read material.
Tengu House | The truth about Halliburton
It’s true that the profit motive looms big and strong over there. Personally, I see that as a good thing, because that’s what gets a lot of our civilians over there to support those guys. But then, lots of folks disagree with me, and that’s fine. But you can’t say we’re not doing our job. Whatever happens, you can’t say that KBR isn’t supporting the troops. We handle everything from food service to laundry to entertainment. We build everything from gyms to barracks to dining facilities for our troops, embassies for our stuffed suits, and schools, oil infrastructure, military and medical facilities for the Iraqis. We’re laying sidewalks, planting friggin’ trees, surveying roads, and training engineers. We’re helping. We’re doing our part. More than our part, really. And some of our people have died doing it.
Michelle Malkin | Uh, feminists?
Last August, I wrote about the plight of an ex-Muslim woman in Malaysia named Lina Joy. She had converted to Christianity and wanted to marry a Christian man. As the Abdul Rahman case made chillingly clear to the world, there are dire consequences for leaving Islam. Joy bravely went to court to stop being identified as a Muslim–and earned death threats and family disavowal for her apostasy. Now, the verdict is in. Sharia wins, Lina Joy loses
The Jump Blog | The perception is the reality
We are losing the war not due to operational failures but due to popular perception. If the perception of the support base for the war is that we are losing it then we will lose it. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. And all of the human interest stories about this school and that project and this village and that unit and these men simply do not have the collective weight enough to shift that perception.
Dean Barnett | The McCain campaign dead pool
The general trend of the polls is unmistakable. John McCain’s campaign is sinking like the Titanic after having run into the iceberg of immigration “reform”. Oh sure, we can expect the McCain campaign and its misguided sympathizers to cling to the occasional outlier poll that shows the opposite much the way Leo DiCaprio clung to that piece of driftwood after the Titanic sank. But the rest of the Republican Party is like Kate Winslet, desperately trying to pry the McCain campaign’s frozen clammy hand from our own as we prepare for a limitless future.
NewsBusters | Creepy Al Gore worshippers
News magazines love to float above the real news and focus on nebulous trends, and perhaps none are more nebulous than the sudden popularity of the “beta male,” as represented by Al Gore. The “cultural dispatch” by writer Jennie Yabroff celebrates Gore as “the proto beta male” who’s “having the last laugh as a movie star, an ecosavant, a best-selling author, and a potential dark-horse presidential candidate.”
Cheat Seeking Missiles | Robert B. Zoellick heads to the World Bank
What’s missing from all the summaries I’ve read so far is what cred he’s got in the area of his most important task: Rooting out corruption and streamlining the bank. We know such stuff can get you fired from the World Bank (forget all the girlfriend smoke and mirrors!), so hopefully Zoellick has the stamina and smarts to take on the World Bank staff and its more corrupt participating states.
The Belmont Club | Transformation
Western society still needs to find ways to mobilize all the sources of its national power to fight in the economic, intelligence and information warfare fields. This will likely take the form of public/private partnerships which are still evolving.
Captain’s Quarters | Valerie Plame covert?
She traveled abroad under her own name. She helped arrange for her husband to do some fact-checking on a sensitive intelligence matter. Her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, then came home and leaked his observations to two nationally-known journalists, and then wrote his own op-ed in the New York Times under his byline.
