Odds and Ends

Q: What does this…

…have in common with this?

A: There were 295 of the latter in the hold of the former when it nearly capsized off the coast of Alaska in July of last year.

Mazda has decided to scrap all 4,703 cars on the Cougar Ace cargo ship that nearly capsized off the coast of Alaska in July.

Although some of the cars appeared to be undamaged despite spending nearly a month tied down at severe angles, the automaker felt that the risk of future problems and the public relations fiasco that would follow was too great.

Bargain hunters were hoping that Mazda would decide to sell some of the undamaged cars at cut-rate prices.

The total bodycount: 2,475 Mazda3s (pictured) (ed: not.), 329 Mazda3 five-doors, 56 Mazda5s, 1,329 CX-7s, 214 RX-8s, 5 MazdaSpeed6s and 295 Miatas.

Scrapping 295 brand new Miatas. Right out of the box, so to speak. That’s almost enough to make a grown man cry. A grown man who’d like a new Miata, that is.

I’m sure more than a few grown men in Hiroshima burst into tears when they heard the news about the MV Cougar Ace. Losing nearly five thousand cars is a substantial hit to the bottom line…and that’s enough to make a grown man cry.

(source: Motor Trend blog)

I have no idea why memeorandum decided to dignify this post by including a link on this morning’s page, other than to illustrate just how frickin’ idiotic some of us are. This time Cheney is gonna blow up the Bay Bridge in SFO.

There has been a lot of threats of terrorist attacks coming form the government. Looks like they are preparing the public. Or else it could be their usual scare tactics.

On the other hand, Bush’s term is coming to an end. The public is pushing to ban voting machines. The power of the Bush administration is deteriorating with major figures resigning, almost daily scandals on the news and constant threat of impeachment. Their only weapon is fear, it’s their last hope. I can see them really desperately needing a terrorist attack in the near future. 911 did them a great deal of good. 911 was, of course, the work of the Bush administration, the Pentagon, and others connected tightly to the Bush administration. Osama had no authority to put the US Airforce on stand down. He would have never been able to rig the World Trade Center with explosives. If you still have doubts about 911 please watch Loose Change at www.loosechange911.com (ed: link removed)

[...]

So, the Bay Bridge is between a rock and a hard place. It would be very easy to imagine an investigation being made impossible if the bridge did get blown up by so called “terrorists.”

Having said all this I would like to hope that I am wrong, that it is indeed a legitimate bridge repair work. But if the bridge does get blown up in the near future don’t buy the “terrorist” story! Investigate, document, take pictures, samples of soil, water, anything and don’t let them institute marshal (sic) law or sign Patriot Act 3!

If you plan on driving across the bridge tomorrow or any time soon, please, bring a camera, still camera, video camera, film the top of the bridge while driving. You can take it home and play it frame by frame. If you get slowed down in traffic look up at the ceiling, take pictures, examine later. Look for boxes with explosives, look for anything suspicious. Email me any suspicious evidence: uncensored911@yahoo.com Post articles on Indymedia. The more we publicize it the less chance that they will have the nerve to do it.

Sheesh. This “Gypsy” person is seriously unhinged. I mean…seriously out of touch. And…Loose Change? That same Loose Change movie (and its idiot producers) that was completely and totally discredited by that History Channel program a couple of weeks ago? Oh, never mind.

It must really suck to be “Gypsy.” I mean, just how much eye-rolling can one person take when you walk into a room, ANY room?

Cannon will get a squadron of special tactics operators, as in combat air controllers and para-rescuemen, in addition to the expected C-130s of various flavors and CV-22s.

Cannon Air Force Base’s transition from a fighter wing to a special operations wing will include a special tactics squadron comprised of about 100 people, according to retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Hanson Scott.

[…]

The squadron will consist of about 50 support and 50 operational personnel. Its job is to secure landing zones for aircraft in hostile territories, Scott said.

“They’re air traffic controllers and combat-capable guys that come, jump in and control traffic and set up drop zones or landing zones for special ops aircraft,” he said. “They have all the combat skills, and they’re all air traffic controllers.”

The squadron will also consist of pararescue airmen, which is a legacy of the combat-rescue Air Force.

[…]

New aircraft coming to Cannon
24 Unmanned Air Surveillance Predators — 2008
12 MC-130W’s — 2008
10 MC-130P’s — 2008-2009
8 MC-130H Combat Talons — 2008-2009
8 AC-130H Gunships — 2009-2010
20 CV-22s — 2010-2011

The information about the Predators conflicts with earlier reports, which stated only the operations personnel would be located at Cannon; a decision had not been made to relocate the actual Predator aircraft to Cannon from Nellis AFB, Nevada.

I think there’s only one person who reads EIP (besides YrHmblScrb) who will find this of more than passing interest:

Meeting his favourite hockey players has been on Tim Johnson's wish list since he was a kid.

He never imagined that wish would come true in the Afghan desert, amid insurgent attacks and grenades flying overhead.

For the 26-year-old corporal, meeting Bob Probert, the former Detroit Red Wing and Chicago Blackhawk from Windsor, was one of the highlights of his six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, otherwise marked by dangerous missions, sleepless nights and tragic losses of comrades and friends.

[…]

Johnson first met Probert when the retired player joined a group of National Hockey League alumni on a tour to visit Canadian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan in late April. Dan Daoust, Mike Pelyk, Dave Hutchison and Dave (Tiger) Williams also made the trip, among others. So did the Stanley Cup.

Probert did not forget Johnson. He attended Sunday's party to welcome him back to the area and wish him well.

"It's amazing what (the soldiers) go through," Probert said. "It was great to go and see that for myself. They just invited me to go back, so I'm looking forward to that."

Good for Probie. It’s very, very pleasing to see him doing good, looking good, and (as far as I know) being good. Frequent readers know that Bob Probert is one of my heroes.

(Photograph by : Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star)