Fish Fear Me

Local Notes

Ham Lake Fire: A Washington D.C. man has been indicted in connection with the Ham Lake fire back in May of 2007:

Almost a year and a half after the Ham Lake fire consumed about 75,000 acres along the Gunflint Trail, a federal grand jury indicted a Washington, D.C., man on charges he started the blaze.

Authorities say the blaze began after Stephen G. Posniak, 64, set fire to trash May 5, 2007, at a Ham Lake campsite in northern Minnesota and then left without completely extinguishing the flames.

The resulting two-week-long fire crossed the U.S-Canadian border, destroyed 140 structures in Minnesota valued at $4 million and cost $11 million more to put out.

Posniak, a retired computer programmer, faces three counts: setting timber afire, leaving a fire unattended and unextinguished and giving false information to a U.S. Forest Service officer.

We'll have to see how this plays out, innocent until proven guilty and all that, and accidents do happen. It sounds like Mr. Posniak was an experienced visitor to the area so I would be surprised if he was blatantly negligent in extinguishing his campfire, if in fact he was the one who camped at the fire's point of origin. If it was his camp, it's entirely possible that he thought he had properly extinguished his fire and gone on his way. I know I've drowned enough campfires to be an expert and I'm still paranoid about something like this happening to me. This part of the article makes me wonder though:

Questioned later, Posniak gave "false, fictitious and fraudulent information" to U.S. Forest Service officers by stating he camped overnight May 4 on Cross Bay Lake, not Ham Lake. He told officers he had encountered an out-of-control fire at a Ham Lake campsite while paddling back through Ham Lake to Tuscarora Lodge.

Hmmm. As horrified and crushed as I'd be, I like to think that I would be honest about something like that. If the above is true, that makes me think that the fire got out of control while he was there and he panicked and booked. That's just speculation and to be fair to Mr. Posniak, they may have the wrong person or it may have been something entirely different. If it did happen that way and he didn't make a beeline straight to the nearest phone then he's not going to get much sympathy from me. We'll find out soon enough.

Remember the Outrage? There were all sorts of screams against the pre-emptive raids on some groups just before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Now one of those persons has admitted to plotting to plant bombs:

A 23-year-old Michigan man has admitted to plotting to detonate a homemade bomb in the tunnels near the Xcel Energy Center, hoping it would cause a power failure and prompt cancellation of the Republican National Convention.

Matthew B. DePalma of Flint, pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis Tuesday to illegally possessing Molotov cocktails.

And this:

In an urelated case, two Texas men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly making Molotov cocktails during the convention. The Texans are accused of planning to use the bombs on police cars parked in a lot not far from the Xcel Center. David McKay and Bradley Crowder were part of a group of convention protesters that came north to St. Paul from Austin, Texas. Police found the bombs in a common area of an apartment building taht the men were seen entering and leaving.

St. Paul provided plenty of venues for people who just wanted to make their voices heard. Unfortunately, there was a small group of people who came to keep others, Republicans, from exercising their political right to assemble. Those people aren't protesters, they are anti-democratic thugs, and should be treated accordingly. Shame on anyone who tries to justify their actions.

Wrong again. Yesterday I wrote that the precipitation that was headed our way would be rain and not sleet. We're getting both right now on this rather dreary day.

Charming. Looks like we have some bipartisan nutcases running around the Twin Cities:

Vandals struck the garages and homes of at least six Minnesota members of Congress Tuesday night, spray painting angry graffiti including a Biblical reference to "Psalm 2."

When Laurie Coleman, wife of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, hauled her trash to the alley at 7:30 this morning, a chilling sight greeted her.

Spray-painted in black on the wooden siding of the garage in the couple's Summit Hill neighborhood, in letters nearly a foot high: "U R A CRIMINAL RESIGN OR ELSE! PSALM 2"

On the alley side, each double-bay stall door had the word "SCUM" spray painted in black ink, as a did a wooden partition in between.

Also vandalized in similar fashion: U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison, John Kline, Michelle Bachmann and Jim Ramstad. Klobuchar and Ellison are Democrats; Coleman, Kline, Bachmann and Ramstad, Republicans.

The thought of having someone slinking around defacing your property while you sleep is at least creepy, if not downright scary. It sounds like the cops are taking it seriously because of the "or else" aspect. I can't imagine they have much to work with though.

Super Tuesday

Dear Pundits(professional and amateur),

Please remain calm.

Thanks,

Dave

...

Hahahahahahaha!

Sorry, just had to get that out of the way. Some people will stay rational after today, but just guessing from the number of people who have gone batshit already in the last month, they may be few and far between. That's not to say strong beliefs and passion about politics are bad things, I don't think so at all. But I'm a little disappointed in some of the hysteria that is coming from parts of the right these days. And it's coming from people who I agree with often and enjoy reading even if I don't always agree with them.

I'm not going to tell anyone to relax, because that will almost certainly piss them off more. What I will say is that discourse is meant to persuade, not bludgeon opponents into submission. I understand the anger about McCain and the distrust. But I also think that you have to live to fight another day. Insults and harsh words may feel good today, but when the pendulum swings again those people who are flinging them now may find that all they really accomplished was to marginalize themselves. Rachel Lucas is dead on here my friends:

And I have a suggestion for those bloggers and commenters (on both sides) out there who find it so irresistible to make up silly names and be a dick about your argument: you would be so much more effective if you’d just calm down. I’m learning that myself. Rants are impotent and the only way to sway intelligent people to your side (which I’m not saying I’m even able to do but I’m trying to learn) is to state your case like a civil adult.

And of all the intemperate things that are beings said, the one I find the most irritating is how people who will vote for McCain are just happily gobbling down the establishment GOP's "shit sandwich". I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for yet, or even if I'm going to vote, but if I do end up voting for McCain(assuming he's the nominee) it will be because I think he's better for the country than Hillary or Obama. 

And let's also talk a little about "shit sandwiches". There's a lot I don't like about John McCain, but he's not a shit sandwich. Hugo Chavez, that's a shit sandwich. Robert Mugabe, that's a double-decker shit sandwich. Have we become so pampered and self-indulgent, have we lost so much faith in America and the checks and balances in our system, that we have to use that kind of hyperbole? Well, I haven't, for all my gripes and complaints. No matter who wins, there will still be issues to be debated and proposals to be fought for and against. I think you still have a better chance engaging with reason and persuasion than by sitting on the sidelines hurling invective and insults.

Sometimes there are no good choices, only less bad ones. Iraq was like that. Nobody seems to bother to ask, but what I kind of shit sandwich would we be eating today if we had not invaded? I'm guessing a Saddam on wry with extra WMD and some Eason Jordan sauce to mask the dead Iraqis. We can't know the future, we can only try to make the best decisions we can right now. If to you that means voting against McCain or sitting this one out then fine, by all means that's your right. But don't think you can divorce yourself from the consequences, and please spare me the hyperbole and the insults.

Should I stay or should I go?

If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double *

The one figure in the presidential race that I think I could have stepped into a voting booth in November and voted for, Fred Thompson, is out. What's left now is either mustering up enough interest in voting for someone in order to be against someone else, or just sitting it out. I've never done the latter, but in 1996 I didn't really vote for Bob Dole as much as vote against Bill Clinton.

Mike Hendrix at Cold Fury, among others, says go. There's nobody left on the GOP side that is worth voting for and doing so will actually be counter-productive in the long run. The Anchoress and others say stay. There are some reasonable arguments on both sides I think. The only thing I know for sure is that I don't have to decide for another nine months or so.

My own reason for sitting out 2008, or even voting for Clinton or Obama, would be to see one of those two elected and then enjoy my time in the peanut gallery as they try to govern with the nutroots in their left pocket. Yeah, it's kind of childish. I'm so tired though of the relentless criticism and demonization of GW and the right, and the distortion and outright dishonesty that's inherent in much of that criticism. Fine Mrs. Clinton, go ahead and do what the Möbius Blogger** wants and don't sift through international communications between the US and some foreign nation. I'm guessing you will not get the pass for that next smoking crater in Manhattan that Bubba got in 2001. Go ahead Mr. Obama, try that lovely rhetoric out on the rest of the world. While the world is picking your(our) pockets, we'll find out if there are still enough Eason Jordan's left in the media to keep all those untidy bodies out of sight.

Sigh. I actually think that Clinton is hard-headed enough to do a 180 on national security if she gets in office. If she gets there, she and Bill will do what it takes to stay there, and I think that includes so-called "domestic spying", among other things like a realistic policy on Iraq. Obama? Reality will hit him like a two-by-four between the eyes if he makes into the Oval Office. If he actually believes the worldview that he espouses he'll make Jimmy Carter look Trumanesque. Democrats will think that 1980 was a gentle kiss goodbye from voters compared to what 2012 will be.

On the GOP side, one thing I do know is I won't vote for Huckabee or Ron Paul. Not a chance. In fact, I'll vote for Clinton or Obama over either of those two men, words I thought I would never write. I might be able to vote for "Presidential Ken", aka Mitt Romney. I'm not terribly enthused though. I'm even less enthused by McCain. I'm pretty sure there's another choice out there, but for the life of me I can't think of his name.

Nine months is a long time. Some event may occur that will clarify my thoughts and send me firmly in one direction, or I may just decide that The Anchoress is right and that the stakes are too high to just sit it out. We'll see how things play out in the next few months. And I'll try not to be childish whichever direction seems the way to go.

Really.

**Glenn Greenwald. There's only one side, ever. He's somewhat twisted. And there's no end...he just goes on and on and on.