Civil War Cannonball Kills Collector

24lb Civil War Cannonball from Vicksburg, Ms, for sale on Ebay

Virgina native 53-year-old Sam White, an avid Civil War relic hunter and collector, was killed when a cannonball exploded on his driveway back in February. This was not the first time a Civil War collector was either killed or injured by an exploding cannonball. In 2006 a Georgia man, Lawrence Christopher, was severely injured while trying to deactivate a shell.

According to the Chicago Tribune, White may have been trying to disarm a 9-inch 75lb naval cannonball, a type which used a more powerful explosive than those in the artillery. White may have been using a drill or grinder attached to the grill to remove grit from the ball. White's wife believes her husband had already disarmed the ball and that it was somehow defective. Whatever the reason the ensuing detonation propelled shrapnel through the front porch of a house a 1/4 mile from White's home.

White estimated he had worked on approximately 1600 Civil War shells for collectors and museums while the day he was killed there were another 18 cannonballs lined up on the driveway.

6lb Civil War Borman Cannonball for sale on Ebay.

Lawrence Christopher, known as the Grandfather of Relics, was critically injured while attempting to defuse a Civil War cannonball back in July of 2006. After Christopher was injured other collectors were angered when a unit from the U.S. Department of Defense removed, then destroyed, more than 60 other Civil War shells from Christopher's home.

By LBG

Image - Cannonball
Source - American Digger - Lawrence Christopher
Source - The Daily Citizen - Buffs incensed over destruction of Civil War items
Source - Chicago Tribune - Civil War Cannonball Kills Virginia Relic Collector

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Clinton and Obama: Unconvincing Underdogs

Clinton! Obama! Calm Down! There's no need to fear!

To the ranks of history's great underdogs--1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, the 1969 New York Jets, and Rocky Balboa--add two posers: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

That these two individuals--with elite private university educations, multi-million dollar incomes (and access to countless millions more) and running for the presidency of still the most powerful nation on earth--could ever be convincingly portrayed as underdogs is amusing.

But there they were last week: both wheedled, bowed and postured in front of anyone not too jaded by the Democrat-campaign-that-never-ends, as they nagged to be tagged "The Underdog".

Some famous underdogs

Or, as the Boston Herald's Darren Garnick put it:

Hillary and Obama did everything short of coughing up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps during the Pennsylvania Primary — trying to seize the “fighter” and “underdog” storylines.

And now, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley is saying that Hillary is so tough that she “makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that gay rights organizations are about to let loose on the governor, but they’re missing the ball here. The bigger question is what right does a North Carolina politician have to ride the boxing robetails of the Italian Stallion?

Shouldn’t Gov. Easley be making Dawson’s Creek metaphors?

This famous underdog wanted to be the top dog

Which is more important to the two Democrat candidates: underdog or winner?

It was baffling to see them both scrambling to claim the title of April "underdog", while at the same time trying to convince super-important super-delegates that, come November, they'll be super-winners.

So, who was really the underdog?

Who knows for sure? But there ought to be some way to tell.

Why not give it to the first one who yells, "Cut me, Mick!"

by Mondoreb
images: dbkp; atlas;
Source: Rocky Balboa, Pansygate & Dawson's Creek


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Conservative Pundit Roundup: Jeremiah Wright and Obama

G. Will, Ann Coulter, P. Buchanan, Mark Steyn, et. al. On Jeremiah Wright



Random roundup of Wright (Jeremiah) and Wrong (Wright's sermons) on the web.

If it takes Obama 20 years to notice that his pastor is a traitorous, racist nut-job, it will probably take him his full term of office to realize that the U.S. has been invaded and subdued by al-Qaida. Let's just hope President Obama pays closer attention during national security briefings than he did during 20 years of the Rev. Wright's church services.

The only good news for the Obama campaign this week is that Obama admitted that his relationship with Rev. Wright is "a legitimate political issue," which at least makes him smarter than John McCain, who just last week denounced the North Carolina Republicans for an ad mentioning Obama's raving lunatic pastor.
--Ann Coulter: Obama Campaign Gives Up On Finding 'Mr. Wright'

For 20 years, Barack has attended Wright's church, listened to his weekly sermons, entertained him in his home. Yet, says Barack, he never heard any racist rants at church, nor was he aware that Wright held so poisoned a view of his country.

Sorry, that is not credible. Wright is a famous preacher in black America, and Barack's denial he was aware of his views marks him down either as a dissembler or a man so obtuse he ought not be a security guard at Wal-Mart, let alone president of the United States.

It is easy now to understand why Michelle Obama, before Barack began to win, had never once been proud of her country. Who could be proud of the America that lives in the malignant imagination of the Rev. Wright?
--Pat Buchanan: Jeremiah Wright—Pastor to the President?

Is Jeremiah Wright a “typical black person”? One would hope not. A century and a half after the Civil War, two generations after the Civil Rights Act, the Reverend Wright promotes victimization theses more insane than anything promulgated at the height of slavery or the Jim Crow era. You can understand why Obama is so anxious to meet with President Ahmadinejad, a man who denies the last Holocaust even as he plans the next one. Such a summit would be easy listening after the more robust sermons of Jeremiah Wright.
--Mark Steyn: Post ‘Post-Racial Candidate’

Obama was dealt a blow by this week’s media tour by his former “mentor” the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s response Tuesday showed him off-balance.

1. Wright appeared to be deliberately trying to hurt Obama’s candidacy, accusing him of posturing and misleading voters and the media regarding his views on race. This accusation threatens the crux of Obama’s campaign: the notion that, unlike Hillary, he is a principled man and not just an ambitious politician.

2. While repeating many of his more outrageous statements (that the federal government caused AIDS, for example), this time Wright didn’t just attack whites or the United States, but he repeatedly and sarcastically attacked the media. This earned him very bad press and made an Obama response that much more urgent.
--Robert Novak: McCain Not Taking Advantage of Obama Stumbles

For reasons known only to the Reverend Wright, he chose this week to drag me into the mess he has made of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. During a surreal appearance on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the Reverend Wright said that his congregation, of which Senator Obama is a member, had “stood in solidarity with the peasants in El Salvador and Nicaragua while our government, through Ollie North and the Iran-Contra scandal, was supporting the Contras, who were killing the peasants and the Miskito Indians in these two countries.”

When Reverend Wright made this stunningly inaccurate comment, I was blissfully unaware that he even knew my name -- until my cellphone started buzzing. In short order, the interviews we had so carefully arranged to talk about “American Heroes” became interrogations about events that took place more than two decades ago.
--Oliver North: Focus on Today's Heroes

Wright has seized the media spotlight to the detriment of Obama’s campaign. By yesterday’s press conference, Obama was hoping to put the issue behind him, and be able to press on with his North Carolina and Indiana campaigns before next Tuesday’s primaries. Was Tuesday’s presser enough to accomplish that?

Probably not. As long as Wright is grabbing air time, the media will let him. And he will remain a millstone tied around Obama’s neck.
--Erika Anderson: Obama and Wright, Breaking Up is Hard to Do

When North Carolina Republicans recently ran an ad featuring Wright in full cry, McCain mounted his high horse, from which he rarely dismounts, and demanded that the ad be withdrawn. The North Carolinians properly refused. Wright is relevant.

He is a demagogue with whom Obama has had a voluntary 20-year relationship that implies, if not moral approval, certainly no serious disapproval. Wright also is an ongoing fountain of anti-American and, properly understood, anti-black rubbish. His Monday speech demonstrated that he wants to be a central figure in this presidential campaign. He should be.
--George Will: Jeremiah Wright should be key figure in presidential race

In his speech to the National Press Club on Monday, for example, Wright described America as a country of "segregation, Jim Crow, lynching and the separate-but-equal fantasy." Then he ran outside to feed more quarters into the meter where his time machine was parked.
--Ann Coulter: Obama Campaign Gives Up On Finding 'Mr. Wright'

A representative sampling of conservative pundits on the "Wright stuff".


compiled by Mondoreb
Source: Conservative Pundit Roundup: Thoughts on Jeremiah Wright


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Iran Prosecutor Sees Barbie Dolls as Destructive

Same As it Ever Was



Iran has seen the face of the enemy--and it's plastic.

No, we're not talking about Nancy Pelosi; Iran's top prosecutor said imports of Barbie dolls and and other decadent Western toys will have destructive cultural and social consequences for the Islamic Republic.

Iran's conservative clerical establishment often rails against the perceived dangers of U.S.-inspired culture and consumerism, branding it "Westoxication."

But young Iranians are often keen consumers of such music, films and other goods from the West. Iconic toy brands can be bought in children's shops in the capital Tehran and elsewhere.

"The appearance of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and ... computer games and movies are all a danger warning to the officials in the cultural arena," said Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi in a letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi published in the Mardom Salari daily.

Najafabadi, a high-ranking cleric, said Iran was the world's third biggest importer of toys and suggested this posed a threat to the "personality and identity" of the new generation.

The cartoon at the beginning of this story is from October 2006: once again Cox and Forkum were ahead of the curve. The cartoon above chronicles the Saudi freak-out at the time over Barbie.

Maybe it's contagious.

by RidesAPaleHorse
image: cox and Forkum
Source: Official sees "Destructive" Barbie influence


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Hillary Clinton, Bill O'Reilly: O'Reilly Throws Softballs, Does Best Larry King Impression

Hillary Wins Big In O'Reilly Interview



Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com
May 1 2008

Hillary Clinton appeared on The O'Reilly Factor last night, finally facing off with Bill O'Reilly in the No-Spin Zone. Judge Napolitano described it as the "toughest interview she's ever had."

Hillary was pretty in pink with nary a crease in her smiling face. She was cool, calm and collected as she answered all the hard questions lobbed at her by tough interviewer Bill O'Reilly. Questions like, "Are you surprised Fox News has treated your campaign in a fair and balanced manner?" Hard one. Giggle, giggle.

O'Reilly then moved on to the Rev. Wright/Obama situation. Hillary fielded this tough question by saying unequivocally, "I take offense. I don't believe the US government caused the AIDS crisis." Hillary scored big by finally declaring what most of America already knows. Talk about speaking truth to power.

On to the next hardball question. When asked how much she would raise taxes, Hillary stuck to her deeply held belief that the rich, herself included, were not taxed enough. Her policy as president would be to up the taxes on the rich in order to give it to the "hardworking middle-class, who get up every morning and keep the country running." Boy, its tough getting up in the morning when one is middle-class. Bill didn't mention that the rich get up every morning also. And neglected to point out that all those hardworking middle class guys were working at jobs provided by all those rich geeks. Who keeps the country running, again?

The pundits are describing this morning how O'Reilly really pinned Hillary down on her oil policy. If you actually saw the interview, you could see quite clearly that the score then was Hillary: 3, O'Reilly: 0. He did manage to bring up the fact that Hillary has voted down nuclear power seven times. Hillary skated, unchallenged (Hill 4, O'Reilly 0) with her most amazing statements of the whole interview. "We (meaning all us guys in fly-over country) will have to change the way we behave." In other words, Hillary will now set the standards of behavior to which Americans will have to conform.



She then burnished her tough guy creds by passionately demanding that oil companies be "held accountable" and "there is no basis for their profits". Since profit is now regarded as a dirty word, this statement, too, went unchallenged. Also unmentioned was the fact that the government takes .48 cents in gas taxes while the oil companies settle for .09 cents.

O'Reilly, to his credit, said her redistribution policies smacked of socialism. Hill, taking a page from the liberal 'debate' book, skirted the issue by pointing to FDR, as if his socialism justified hers. She got away with it, too. Then O'Reilly let skate the most astonishing piece of spin I've ever heard. "Rich people deserve all the opportunity to see that the next generation does well." Well, who are we to deny the rich the opportunity to be taxed to death in order to pay for failed government programs. Not Bill O'Reilly.

Hillary mentioned several times the need for accountability. Bill O'Reilly missed out big time on this issue. Hillary's claim that she has been 'vetted' has been accepted by O'Reilly. No need to ask any questions about Travelgate (perjury), Whitewater (fraud), making $99,000 and change from a $1,000 investment (bribery, fraud), the fact that she received 99.9% of the vote from a small community after hubby Bill dished out pardons for their terrorists members (bribery, vote fraud), the Vince Foster 'suicide' (conspiracy), her proven complicity in illegal Chinese cash (bribery, treason), the FBI files she probably still has after the former bouncer she hired, Craig Livingston, was given a vital security job in the Clinton White House (blackmail). Not to mention her complicity and active participation in the hundreds of scandals hubby Bill was involved in.

You can't fault O’Reilly, I guess. No-one, with the exception of Reed Irvine of Accuracy in Media, and Chris Ruddy of Newsmax, has ever followed up on the documented evidence that shows without a doubt the corruption and amorality of Hillary. Documented evidence that would put a lesser mortal in the slammer.

Even conservatives have refused to publish the real Hillary scandals. Possibly for fear of losing their credibility by being branded part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. This remains a puzzle to me to this day.

Hillary is one smart cookie. Under that Dorian Gray exterior, she is ruthless, determined and has shown she will go to any lengths in her quest for power. The real danger is the fact that, unlike Bill Clinton, Hillary is, and has been her whole life, a dedicated socialist/Marxist. She is a true believer. She has a vision of the world, one that has already been tried and proven disastrous, that includes her as President, with her hands on the levers of power. Power to destroy capitalism in favor of her version of utopia. Knowing that, since man, not God, is responsible for the state of the world, man (Hillary) will finally be able to establish utopia.

Despite the fact that every effort she has made to date has met with resounding failure. And the American citizens have been left to pick up the tab.

Another issue O'Reilly never brought up.



by Nancy Morgan

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and a news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina, where she writes "Culture Watch" weekly.

Article may be reprinted with attribution. Bio available on request.


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America's Economy: Resilient or Declining?

Is America in Economic Decline?



America in economic decline?

Everyday, it seems there is a new economic statistic about a weakening US economy or a news report about the US$ dropping in value against other currencies.

My answer is: NO.

Maybe right now the dollar is at a low level and portions of the American economy could be better, but the overall economy is solid and the dollar weakness is temporary. If you read history, it seems to be a good rule to never underestimate the American people or our economy. In fact, i think some of the nation's best economic times lie ahead.

I'm writing this mostly because I'm a member of a very popular website called Little Green Footballs (www.littlegreenfootballs.com). Due to my online name (chicagodudewhotrades) I get asked a lot of stock market and economic questions by my fellow LGF'ers. Writing this I hope will help my LGF friends out. This is my first attempt at writing something like this, so don't beat me up too bad!!!

I'm also writing this because I get tired of the mostly negative coverage of the economy by the national media. This is my small attempt to try and convince my fellow Americans that the economy isn't as bad as portrayed.

What gives me the right to write about economic issues? In a word: Nothing. I'm not a economist or a CEO of a business. I don't have a Ph.D in Economics or International Finance. The bulk of my professional trading experience comes from several years spent working as a clerk in the trading pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. However, I have been able to make a decent living from day-trading the last few years. Day-trading is a very brutal, Darwinian profession. You either make money at this or go bankrupt. I'm still doing this, so I figure my ideas and advice have some credibility.

I think the best way to explain why I believe America's best economic days are ahead of us is to run down what is happening in the world and what I think may happen in the future.

ALSO at DBKP.com: * The Mainstream Media's Shifting Economic Definitions: A Reflection of MSM's Woes * The Mainstream Media's Recession Obsession

Europe

The European Union has become a huge entity whose member states have a combined population of nearly 500 Million (1). However, I have come to believe that they are too big, too slow ,and most damaging, too bureaucratic.

Yes, right now the Euro is doing well against the Dollar. However, people seem to forget that a few years ago, the euro was trading at a record low of 82 cents against the dollar. (2)

Inflation is above the European Central Bank's public goal of 2% and rising (3). Western Europe has also always had systematic higher unemployment historically than the US. Eventually, economic fundamentals like these will catch up to the Euro.

You may read a lot about the grim future of Social Security. That is true. Basically, starting in a few years, more money will start being taken out of the program than going into it. However, Europe faces the same demographic issue. The big difference is that the working-age population of Europe is declining while America's is increasing.

Asia

Today when you think of Asia, one country comes to mind: China. China is a huge country with a huge population. Because of low wages, China has become the manufacturing center of the world. All that manufacturing has brought huge sums of wealth into China.

But China has many issues. All that manufacturing has lead to huge environmental problems (4). Thanks to China's brutal 1-child policy and a Asian cultural preference for male babies, China has demographic imbalances in their youngest generations. How can a nation be successful with a demographic imbalance like that? China's biggest problem however, may be it's own Communist government. Folks, I don't know any other way to say it.: Communism , Socialism, etc, just doesn't work.. Eventually, China will pay a huge price because of their system of government. Free, democratic, open market economies work, nothing else comes close. It is truly that simple and basic.



Africa

It is hard to write off a entire continent, but unfortunately that is what I'm basically doing with Africa. I don't think Africa has moved beyond a tribal identity yet. They will not grow or be economically successful until the people of Africa start thinking in terms of national identities and not just tribal.

Middle East

Currently the Middle East is doing well because of high oil prices that bring huge amounts of wealth into their nations. Historically, however nations with commodity-dependent economies do not succeed in the long run. There is a theory in economic circles called the "commodity curse" . The theory states that commodity-dependent nations get politically and economically lazy because of the easy money pouring into their economy. I think this will happen in the Middle East someday. The Mid-East has one principle export: oil. What happens when that export runs out? There are questions about the true proven reserves of both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (5). Back in the late 1990's when oil prices were low. Saudi government bonds were rated "junk" status. This will give you a idea of what happens to the economic prospects of the region when the wells run dry.


Latin America

Latin America seems to be taken a turn for the worse lately. A couple governments seem to be going back down the Socialist path. Once again, democratic free market economies work, everything else doesn't come close. Democratic open market Brazil and Colombia are doing well. The ones going down the socialist path like Venezuela and Bolivia will have problems.

I see some parallels between the Middle East of today and the Japan of the 1980's. Remember how everyone thought back then that "Japan, Inc." was going to be the world's largest economy and how they would be the globe's dominant economic power? How did that work out for Japan? I do think that the sub-prime mess and resulting housing price slump will continue to hurt the American economy.But this is a incredibly flexible economy that will survive this mess. In fact, i think the sub-prime problem will hurt other economies worse than ours just because our national economy is so resilient and others aren't.

by Chicagodudewhotrades
images: thetropics; caglecartoons
Sources:
1. Website of the European Union www.europa.eu
2. Wikipedia's entry for the Euro Currency
3. Website of the European Central Bank www.ecb.eu
4. Financial Times article. China Report. Environment: 'Devasting price to pay for rampant growth' By Jamil Anderlini. Published: 9 Oct 2007
5. Reuters. "Kuwait oil reserves only half official estimate-PIW" . Published 20 Jan 2006
Also posted at:
* Guest Post: Is America in Economic Decline?
* The News of America's Economic Death is Greatly Exaggerated


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"CIA" Agent Shot by Houston Police: Death by Cop Suicide?

New details have emerged in the case of the man shot by Houston Police officers after a high speed chase on Tuesday morning near the Galleria. Was it a case of suicide by cop?

Suicide By Cop

Definition:
1. "Suicide by Cop" is a police colloquialism for a form of victim- precipitated homicide in which a suicidal individual engages in calculated, life-threatening and criminal behavior in order to compel the police to use deadly force.

In these killings, the initiator is a direct, positive precipitator of his or her own death.

2. "Suicide by Cop" is an act whereby a person presents a threat to a police officer in order to compel the officer or officers to use deadly force to stop that threat. The result is a suicide at the hands of a police officer. Source - About.com

The strange saga of Carnaby's life as well as his death have authorities searching for clues as to who Carnaby was and why he acted in a manner that lead to his death on the streets of Houston this past Tuesday morning.

Carnaby was pulled over on a routine traffic stop Tuesday morning on Texas 288 near Orem. The officers claim that when Carnaby produced a laminated CIA identification badge he appeared "shaky" and "nervous". When Carnaby took off he led the police on an hour long chase with speeds over 100 mph that eventually ended in an area near the Galleria, an upscale shopping mall.

Purportedly Carnaby refused to acknowledge the officers nor put his hands up. After the cops smashed his passenger side window he “stepped out of the vehicle, turned around and reached under the seat” according to Houston Police Sgt. John Chomiak. It was then that the officers, fearing for their safety, opened fire on Carnaby. He was later pronounced dead at Ben Taub hospital.

HPD discovered three weapons in the car, two pistols and a shotgun. Carnaby had permits for all three. The shotgun rested on the floor of the back seat with its safety off and a round in the chamber. Interestingly the first news reports stated that the cops were unable to find any weapons in the vehicle, that it wasn't until Carnaby's Jeep SUV was confiscated that authorities claim they found the three weapons.

Friends of Carnaby were shocked at his death, they believed Carnaby was a member of the CIA or an "intelligence" agent and that his death by the cops was unfathomable. On Wednesday DBKP wrote about Carnaby, that the man was engaged to be married.

According to the Houston Chronicle, we've learned that Carnaby also had a wife, Susan, in Pearland, Texas. Susan, who said she hadn't seen her husband since March, was amazed that her husband was in Houston and not out "traveling", so was the news that Carnaby also had a "fiancee".

We did some internet research on Ronald V. Carnaby and we found some interesting information on a blog that purportedly did a "news piece" on Ronald, his supposed "multi-million dollar company" that dealt with the CIA ,his "partner" former CIA operative, Alan Premel, and another surprise, the mention of former CIA number two guy, James Pavitt.

The blog is called Papparazzi Press, there's no background info listed with this blog other than it's hosted by Blogger. The article is titled: Covert Operations & Pornagraphy.

Read more Mystery Spy Man Shot by Houston PD: Suicide by Cop at DBKP.com


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