The Grey Lady Weasels Around Again

A few weeks back, the "executive editor" for the NYT said that they will now call what the CIA did to prisoners "torture", rather than some bullshit Cheney-approved euphemism.

This what the Weasel in Charge said about the situation back then:

When the first revelations emerged a decade ago, the situation was murky. The details about what the Central Intelligence Agency did in its interrogation rooms were vague. The word “torture” had a specialized legal meaning as well as a plain-English one. While the methods set off a national debate, the Justice Department insisted that the techniques did not rise to the legal definition of “torture.” The Times described what we knew of the program but avoided a label that was still in dispute, instead using terms like harsh or brutal interrogation methods.

Bull-motherfucking-shit.

This is what my Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (7th Edition) says is torture: "The infliction of intense pain to punish, coerce or afford sadistic pleasure." By any rational review of what the CIA and the Army was reportedly doing to prisoners, at the time, they were practicing torture. There is nothing "murky" about waterboarding or beating people to jelly or stripping them naked, dousing them with cold water and tossing them into refrigerated cells. That was torture.

Here's an easy test: If the Gestapo or the KGB did the same thing, would the Times have called that "brutal interrogation" or "torture"? If the Taliban had captured a Times reporter and beat the shit out of him until he confessed to being a Crusader spy, would they have said that "he received a severe beating" or "he was tortured"?

There wasn't anything murky about what the CIA was doing. But if a book is ever written about the Grey Lady's connivance at the aggression of the Iraq War or her turning her back on the CIA's war crimes, I have a suggestion for a title:

"Profiles in Cowardice".

Asshole Parkers, Aviation Edition

I see this over and over at airports with self-service fuel pumps-- Some Nimrod of the Skies refuels his airplane and then, rather than move it from the pumps so others can refuel, just leaves it there while he visits the can or checks the weather, or gets some chow.

This morning, at my local airport, some putz with a Navion did that. A helicopter came in to land and, hoping to refuel, hovered by the pumping station for a bit, before air-taxing over to the tiedowns and shutting down. Turbine guys don't like to start up and shut down unnecessarily, so he'll probably get his Jet-A fix when he leaves. But it didn't need to go that way, if the nimrod with the Navion had merely exercised some good manners.

Probably the worst jerk I ever saw do this was at 44N, where the clown driving this airplane left it parked at the fuel island while he ate at the cafe:

Anyway, this Bellanca Viking was in one of the transient hangar spaces today:

And this Eclipse-500 was on the ramp:

I see a lot of jets that have engine covers to keep the breeze from rotating the turbine elements, but maybe this guy didn't care.  That airplane was here over a year ago and it had covers then.

What the Hell; Microsoft Edition

Apologies for the quality of these photos, but I couldn't get them with screenshots.

So, every so often, this pops up on my computer screen:

But why something purportedly from Microsoft wants to install itself into a Garmin directory, I don't know.

The next three are from the boxes where I can look at its "certificate". Note that the validity date range expired in 2010.

I don't let it install. But I'm wondering what the hell it is and how do I get rid of it.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise (Sort of)

"How to Fly a Ford" (F4D).

No engine noise; you'll live.

Things I Don't Get; Short Barreled Rifles Edition

Mossberg has a new series of rifles out, the "MVP" series. You can go from a "patrol rifle", which has a 16.5" barrel, the "predator model", either 18.5" or 20" barrels, or a "varmint" model, which has a 24" barrel and a bench-rest type stock.

I don't really get short-barreled bolt-action rifles, at least for civilian uses. The idea of a rifle is to have, to use an old neighbor's term, an "AT&T gun". A carbine is for close-in work and why the hell would you want a bolt gun for such a situation? It'd be like trading in an AK for a M-44 Mosin.

Bangity, PPC Edition

My club had a PPC match today. It doesn't strictly follow the NRA's rules; the club likes to mix things up a little bit each year.

The course of fire is 45 rounds. I shot 433-19X with a S&W Model 19 (6") for my best round. I was three points off a perfect score until the 25 yard stage. Lots of 9s and two 8s.. sheesh. I know I can do better than that.

On my first run through, I shot 408-17X. I was shooting handloads for that, 4gr of Trail Boss pushing lead 158gr SWCs. I had one light primer strike on one stage and I fumbled the reload on another stage, so I ended up dropping two shots. For the second pass, I switched to Winchester White Box ammo from Wally-Woild. The reloading stages went smoother.

I might end up taking the gun in and have a local guy lightly chamfer the charging holes. My suspicion is that the sharp edges of the chambers were slightly grabbing the lead noses of the bullets. On the other hand, it is a "P&R" gun and I kind of hate to have anyone messing around with it.

Must Be a Big IED Threat from College Kids

Otherwise, why would the Ohio State University campus cops have a MRAP?

Caturday; Neighborhood Watch Edition

Jake is keeping an eye on the comings and goings.

Charter Meeting of Ye Olde Society of Dog Abusers

The guy on the left is the Puppy Kicker. You already know ol' "Roof Rack" on the right.

"Community Policing? We Doan Got to Do No Steenkin' Community Policing!"-- Ferguson Edition

Now this is just insulting:

As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's body had been sprawled in plain view for more than four hours. Flowers and candles were scattered over the bloodstains on the pavement. Someone had affixed a stuffed animal to a streetlight pole a few yards away. Neighborhood residents and others were gathering, many of them upset and angry.

Soon, police vehicles reappeared, including from the St. Louis County Police Department, which had taken control of the investigation. Several officers emerged with dogs. What happened next, according to several sources, was emblematic of what has inflamed the city of Ferguson, Missouri, ever since the unarmed 18-year-old was gunned down: An officer on the street let the dog he was controlling urinate on the memorial site.

Do I even need to expound on how insulting that was for a cop to have a police dog piss on the memorial to a man gunned down by the police? It might not have made it into the papers right away, but you can be pretty sure that the folks on the street knew about it.

Within the last few days, I stumbled across a police chief's blog. Fuck me, I can't find it, now.* But he was bitching that the cops are at war and they need even more militarized gear

Not only no, but hell, no. If we need an army patrolling out streets, then the proper way to do that is to declare martial law (as Dick Cheney probably wanted to do) and bring in the fucking Army. We are supposed to have civilian cops in this country, not heavily-armed paramilitary goon squads.

I'll make a sad prediction: If the police want to keep acting like an occupying army, sooner or later, they're going to be treated like one.
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* But did you know that former NYPD Commish/convicted felon Bernie Kerik has a blog?