text:
The BATF reveals major problems in the NFA branch. Lost forms and perjured testimony concerning the accuracy of NFA registration information. A web page with the complete paper trail is found here.
An old man with a bolt-action rifle was shot and killed by the BATF in a dawn raid January 2001.
An FFL in Mesa, AZ had his business trashed by BATF agents without a warrant or an arrest, for the "crime" of not having a $100 local permit.
John Ross, author of Unintended Consequences is now being harrassed by BATF agents as a result of his book.
Bob Stewart, maker of a legal gun parts kit, is arrested by the BATF. An editorial account of his first day in court contains a lot of judicial misinterpretation.
A complete set of news items related to this case is here.
Prepare for Y2K, get a visit from the Brute Squad
Desperate F-Troop In South Florida
Gun Shop Owner 'commits suicide' in raid. Yeah. Right.
F-Troop loses another case, this time in Birrmingham, AL
A decorated vet fights the BATF
David Scott (Spudgun Confiscation)
Another Al Woodbridge article.
BATF Cover-Up Results In Charges
Colorado Springs FFL Crackdown
Harry & Teresa Lamplugh (and three cats)
53-year-old-man in Clifton, New Jersey
Pillar of Community Paralyzed for Life
Franklin Arms (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
Branch Davidian Massacre (David Koresh)
BATF storm empty house in Parma, OH
Joint BATF/USCS Goatscrew in California (Eagle Exim)
BATF and SWAT team beat up on bus full of paintball players
BATF and local Police terrorize a family of four in the St. Louis area
The Georgia Militia 'Scare' brought to you by the BATF
From: Neal Knox
Sent: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 21:15:30 EDT
The attorney for John Ross, author of the best-selling "Unintended Consequences," has written the Attorney General and Treasury Department Inspector General complaining that St. Louis BATF agents have contacted Ross' estranged wife asking her to make comments against him.
In late May, according to the letter from former prosecutor James H. Jeffries III, two BATF agents approached her on the street, identified themselves, and asked for her comments on the book. A few weeks before, someone called her new phone number, claimed to be a fan of the book and asked if she agreed that it was "a manual for the murder of federal agents."
Ross' wife, Carolyn, once confessed to John in my presence that she had only read about half the lengthy book, which is filled with the arcane minutia of ballistics and gun design that have made it popular with gunowners. His firearms technical dissertations are excellent; unlike much of his discussion of airplanes.
The book also details, with reasonably good accuracy, the history of "gun control," its effects in the U.S. and overseas, and, with some artistic license, relates several BATF horror stories. In an initially plausible plot that becomes fantasy, his protagonist kills by mistake, then deliberately and imaginatively, several BATF agents and anti-gun politicians.
When it first came out, I received several direct reports from gun dealers who said BATF had threatened unspecified "trouble" unless they quit selling the book in their stores.
Considering the way BATF undoubtedly feels about this book, and the ham-handedness of some agents, I don't doubt that Carolyn was contacted in hopes that she would act as a disgruntled ex-wife and reveal violations of law by her machine gun collector husband -- who, like his protagonist in the book, enjoys safely shooting trap with machine guns in an old quarry.
This is the text of the letter sent by Mr. Jefferies to the BATF et al.
Another commentary on the incident can be found here.
From: Ken "Y"
In response to your lucid comments, it seems appropriate to relate events
of last night. South Florida Firearms Owners (SFFO) met last night. Our
guest speaker was Paul F. Gerson, attorney at law. In his words, a local
liar, er, uh, local lawyer.
He had just finished defending a man on federal gun charges. The defendant
had a rather large and very nice gun collection, 214 guns, including SIG
550s (.223 semiautos), H&K 91s, 93, 94s, etc. He'd been selling off
cheaper handguns (Colts and Smiths were this guy's cheap guns) at gun
shows - sometimes 20 or 30 on a table at a gunshow at one time - so he
could buy more SIGs and H&Ks.
ATF approached him 5 times, wired, trying to buy full auto parts illegally.
Several times, he pointed them to a Class 3 dealer who could get them a
full auto drop-in sear for an H&K, with all the requisite paperwork, fees,
$200 tax, etc. However, when they raided the poor bastard's house, they
found a WWII Schmeisser MP38 or 40, badly rusted with a seized bolt and
still wrapped in the U.S. Army blanket from when the guy's father brought
it back from WWII as a relic and curio. After "cleaning it up", they got
it to fire. This involved removing rust, and perhaps more.
There was also an H&K trigger group in the house. Evidently, there are H&K
semiauto trigger groups with the "extra bullets" apparently intended to
make others think you have a full auto, when all you have is semiauto.
[There were faux diamonds, now there are faux subguns.] Well, the semiauto
and fullauto H&K trigger groups are absolutely indistinguishable from one
another to the untrained, and even semi-trained, observer. This trigger
group was an illegal fullauto trigger group. It took expert witness for
the defense Dan Shea, of Machine Gun News, to distinguish one from another.
He had to disassemble it with a special H&K tool to show it was fullauto
and that it was not possible, unless you had the equivalent knowledge and
experience of Dan Shea, to identify whether a trigger group was in fact
fullauto or semiauto. He spoke about the H&Ks and Schmeissers for about 3
hours. His expertise and knowledge blew away the machine gun charges.
There were charges of illegal possession of a destructive device -- a CO2
powered bean bag gun and similar items.
After a two week trial, attended by the U.S. Attorney and the head of the
NFA branch of ATF, the jury became hopelessly deadlocked for two days.
After the judge threatened to sequester the jury over the weekend, they
reached a not guilty verdict on all charges, except one -- felon in
possession of a firearm. Seems he was charged 17 years ago with assault.
Things weren't very clear, there is doubt as to whether the judge in that
case did or did not convict for felony assault, and no one from the Broward
County Courthouse could or would produce records one way or the other. ATF
claimed they had a copy of the conviction, and that was allowed. Wait, it
gets better.
OK, so one charge of a felon with a gun, and 18 months in a camp. Right?
Wrong. All of the charges, for which he was acquitted, are being used to
rack up points. Sounds like a case of double jeopardy to me, and it did to
Paul Gerson. When he objected, the judge overruled him and allowed it.
The prosecutor wants 12-20 years citing a case in New Jersey in which
"assault style" guns led to extra years -- again, charges for which he was
acquitted are being used to rack up points on his conviction of felon with
a gun.
So, Mister Gerson goes back to court tomorrow to try and keep this poor
slob outta the clink.
I've been unable to find references to the case in the local fish wrappers.
TV news reported this case when it first broke -- particularly the 214 guns
being hauled outta the house. I'd say this one was a very near miss. Had
it hit, a month before a vote on a Constitutional Revision allowing a hole
to be punched in statewide preemption, we'd have been in more serious shit
down here -- and elsewhere of course.
Finally, a Mister Busey was replaced at ATF. Mister Gerson, attorney for
the defense, said there is a videotape floating around of Mister Busey and
others at an official ATF function or meeting talking about the NFA
registry (machineguns, silencers, etc.)
They openly admitted 50-60 percent of the Registry is incorrect.
If anyone knows where to get a copy of this tape, I'd really like the specifics.
If I find anything, I will pass it along.
Ken "Y"
Wednesday, September 30, 1998
DETROIT -- Two ATF special agents face criminal charges stemming
from a raid where one agent allegedly kicked a suspect in the head and
both tried to cover it up.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agents Regan J. Scott and
Joel J. Kirkpatrick were indicted earlier this month by a federal
grand jury on charges they abused their positions and disobeyed orders
by participating in a raid with Detroit Police on Oct. 7, 1996.
Scott faces the additional charge of kicking Arthur Bruce Norris
-- the target of the raid -- in the head hard enough to injure the
Detroit man, the indictment said.
Special Agent Vera Fedorak, an ATF spokeswoman in Detroit, said
both men have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome
of the case. She was unable to say if it is a paid leave.
The agents will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge George
Caram Steeh in Ann Arbor. No date has been set.
Neither the agents nor Norris could be reached for comment
Detroit Police were unable to say Tuesday why Norris was targeted
for arrest during the raid.
According to the indictment, Norris was under surveillance by
Scott and Kirkpatrick before the raid, but ATF Supervisory Special
Agent John Carpenter warned Scott not to arrest Norris without
authorization from the agency.
According to the indictment, the agents had not been cleared to
participate in the raid that led to Norris' arrest.
After Norris was apprehended, Scott allegedly lied about the
circumstances surrounding the arrest, telling Carpenter that he and
Kirkpatrick went into the house 15 to 20 minutes after the police and
that he kicked Norris because Norris was struggling with a Detroit
police officer, the indictment said. The indictment said Scott's
attack on Norris was unprovoked.
Kirkpatrick allegedly went along with Scott's false account of the
arrest when both agents were questioned by Carpenter and then
allegedly lied to FBI agents and other ATF officials who were
reviewing the matter, the indictment said.
From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Curtis)
Last year the BATF in Colorado Springs decided that they were going to check out all of the Federally licensed dealers of firearms in town. The media reported it as a no big deal inspection, it actually turned out to be a strong arm tactic from the BATF t
o remove as many licenses as possible.
The only way I know about this is a friend of mine was the recipient of these tactics. He is a small time dealer that makes only enough profit to fund his personal collection as well as target and hunting costs. He has never been suspected of anything ill
egal and has no criminal record of anykind.
He had been recording his sales for years and paying all necessary taxes on business to all agencies. He maintained the current laws on gun dealing and followed them. He had started a small business and was paying the necessary taxes to operate a small bu
They came to his house to to inspect his records looking more like commandos than government workers. On inspection of his records they found that a person who bought a pistol from him 6 months ago had mistakenly entered the current date instead of their
birthdate. They told him they would charge him with saling a firearm to a minor since he had sold a pistol to a 6 month old child. He offered to have the person come over who had purchased the pistol to straighten out the paperwork. They said "fine", then
they pulled their trump card.
"There's this little matter of a zoning violation. You have been operating a business from a residence not zoned for that". Forget that the city, state and county had accepted his small business tax money for years and not complained once.
Then they gave him **THE** option.
"You can fight us in court and risk 6 months in jail and $5,000 for every day you operated a business in a area not zoned for that, **OR** you can surrender your Federal Firearm License and we will forget the whole thing.
When an ordinary citizen with little financial resources is offered an option like that from the federal government it's not very hard to figure out which option he chose.
There was about 120 FFL licenses in our county before the BATF attack, today about 20 remain. I wonder how many other cities have been attacked like this?
The BULLET
The Official Publication of the Western Missouri Shooters' Alliance
Permission to reprint material granted, with full attribution
September, 1994
The BATF raided the North Carolina Military Museum and found
(gasp) automatic weapons!!!! All legally registered. The museum
curator was arrested nonetheless for possession of these guns,
some ammunition, deactivated artillery shells, and a dewat rocket
launcher; all legal.
NRA Alert July 1, 1994
The curator of the North Carolina Military Museum was the target of a
BATF raid Tuesday, June 28. With search warrants in hand, ATF agents
seized about 20 fully automatic firearms -- all legally registered to
the curator -- inert artillery shells on display and about 100,000
rounds of small arms ammunition, according to the curator. Agents
claimed the shells contain powder residue -- yet were clearly labeled
"EOD INERT." Agents also claimed that the ammunition could have been
stolen from the military. Curator Greg Pruess told NRA Public Affairs
that he holds a Class III and a destructive device manufacturing
Pruess noted that ATF's computer print-out of the Class III firearms he
had registered was inaccurate and said the agents did not know how to
identify some of the firearms in question.
The small arms ammo was stored in a storage building adjacent to the
museum. Once the agents noted the extent of the ammo, they called the
press. Parroting comments made by the agents, local reporters said an
explosion of the ammo cache could have cau sed a crater a half-mile
wide. (Later news reports expanded the crater porential to a
The agents came across an RPG launcher (inert, with operating devices
welded-over) and allowed a member of the news crew to shoulder it while
videotaping. "This is the kind of communist bloc weaponry" that
prompted the raid, an agent told the press.
The seizure was the result of "an ongoing investigation for three years"
involving an informant, Pruess said. -- This information is presented as
a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA. Many files are
available via anonymous ftp from ftp.nra.org and via WWW at
WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuter) - The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday said Congress should curb the power of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to take guns away from Americans."
"As an example of what he said were ATF's abuses, Brooks introduced Louis and Kimberly Katona of Bucyrus, Ohio, who described an ATF raid on their House in 1992 to seize more than $100,000 worth of weapons they had collected.
Kimberly Katona said she suffered a miscarriage after she was shoved during the raid and her husband was indicted on 19 federal firearms violations. A federal judge dismissed the charges and ordered the weapons returned.
"It's been 2.5 years of hell," Louis Katona said. He said he is suing the agency."
From: email@example.com (Bob Hennan)
Much of Texas is also following the BATF recommendations for harassment. I was denied a handgun purchase earlier this year in Houston. I called Barry McDermitt of the Houston Police Department, ID Section, and discussed the matter with him (he has the ind
ividual who made the decision to deny purchase). Barry was very professional and polite, and shed some light some on the "logic" behind the madness.
I was denied due to a misdemeanor charge from twenty years ago. In the state of Texas, the computer files show only the date and place of arrest, so if you show up on the computer for any kind of arrest whatsoever, you are denied. I checked on this with m
ultiple sources, and was convinced that this is true.
Therefore, Barry found that I had been arrested, and left burden of proof on me that I was not a convicted felon. I argued with Barry that this was a case of guilty until proven innocent. Barry said that the Houston Police Department and the BATF had dete
rmined that this was within their authority to do so.
Coincidentally, I had to take a day off from work for jury duty. I thought I'd have some fun, so stopped by Barry's office in the main office downtown. I handed Barry my jury summons and asked him to get me out of jury duty due to my new status of "felon"
Barry was visibly flustered, I could tell that he hadn't thought out the implications of their policies. He stammered for a while and then said he'd call in the gun purchase approval. I had my court disposition with me (I had to send off for it from anoth
er city) and ended up showing it to Barry to make him feel better.
Another interesting tidbit, Officer McDermitt explained the Houston Police Department's reasoning for rejecting transfers because of outstanding traffic tickets. He says that this means you must have lied on your transfer application (4473), i.e. you are
a "fugitive from justice".
My take on all this Brady [crap] is that it's not having any affect on crime. The only thing that it's doing is hassling honest citizens. Fortunately, I think some of the backlash from these infringements on freedom showed up in the recent elections.
Bob Hennan (713) 282-3698 Barrios Technology, Inc., Houston, TX
This morning my local newspaper, The Bergern Record of Hackensack, N.J. carried a front page story of a BATF raid on the apartment of a 53 year old man in Clifton New Jersey. In the raid 37 guns were seized along with 3,000 rounds of ammunition and wh
at were described by and ATF spokesman as 2 homemade handgrenades and 3 "tubular devices" that could be pipe bombs. Additional 25 pounds of black powder and some quantity of smokeless powder were confiscated.
The ATF spokesman is quoted as saying the raid was the conclusion of a month long investigation after someone complained to the FBI that they thought the man was selling guns. Among the firearms confiscated were three which are considered assault weapo
ns under N.J. and hence illegal.
What is frightening about this raid is that the investigation was triggered by some who thought this man was selling guns. Moreover, the ATF spokeman didn't say the man man was arrested for selling guns, so it is doubtful that he did. He was arrested
for possession of the alleged explosive devices. Whether or not they are indeed real bombs may not make a difference since they were found along with a quantity of black powder and smokeless powder.
Also the photo that accompanied the article showed two ATF agents (their blue hats on backwards in gang fashion) carrying out three rifles, what appear to be a tubular magazine .22, a bolt action center-fire hunting rifle and a muzzleloader. There wer
e no photos of the so called assault weapons nor of the explosive devices. The reporter seemed to have taken everything the ATF agent said as fact. He (the reporter) also reported that the man arrested was Korean War veteran, when at age 53 that is impo
What this article and raid make clear is that if you own more than a few guns along with reloading supplies, and if one of your neighbors reports you to the FBI, ATF or local police, you could expect this type of raid to occur.
BTW: Please note the photo would indicate that the press were along for the raid, and therefore notified ahead of time.
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 15:03:34 EST
Since posting this two days ago,my local paper, the same Bergen Record has had a follow up story. It seems the explosive devices were nothing more than fireworks, and so any charges related to the posession of said devices were not pressed. However, t
he 53 year old ATF victim was charged with five counts of illegal weapons posession relating to his having had in his possession several illegal semi-automatic assault weapons (The charges were in State superior court not federal). His bail was set at $7
Remember, this is someone who was only reported to have been thought selling guns and there was no proof that he was. Since only five counts of illegal weapons possessions have been filed and the raid seized 37 guns, I imagine that he had had all his N
J paperwork for the other guns. This is an ordinary citizen with no previous criminal record who simply owned guns.
One more note, the paper is reporting that this "successful" raid was a result of a cooperative program between the ATF and state and local police on the east coast called Operation Trigger Lock. Its supposed intent is to stop illegal gun running from
other states. Now we see that its real target is law abiding gun owners (an easy bust).
When the DiFi ban becomes law you can expect an expansion of this program into other states, bet on it.
{{file from RKBA archives at aphrodite.nectar.cs.cmu.edu, excerpted}}
"(3) The BATF also made the grave error of providing the organized gun owners with their first martyr. In Maryland, in 1971, a local pillar of the community, -- a boy scout leader, volunteer fireman, and gun collector -- was in his bathtub when a group o
f armed men in beards and rough clothes -- BATF agents -- broke through the door. Understandably, he reached for a handy antique cap-and-ball pistol and was shot four times and left on the floor while his wife, still in her underwear, was dragged screamin
g from the apartment. What had happened was that a local boy reported a hand grenade in the apartment. There was, but it was only the shell of a hand grenade. A simple records check would have been adequate to establish the resident's bona fides, and if t
here was an interest in following up the matter, someone might have come and knocked on his door. He is now crippled for life."
Report: this is from the original sources
FFL dealer persecuted by political foes with the contrivance of BATF
ON April 29, 1994 at 1:50 PM the BATF raided the Slidelle Louisiana home of Ron and Elaine Miller. They kicked down the doors, used a torch on the floors of the house and distroyed a family vehicle in the search for weapons. They then left takeing every
weapon in the house including a knife collection.
It seems that Ron upset the local powers that be by announcing this winter that he intended to run for Chief of Police of the small town of Pearl River, LA. Immediatly after making his intentions public he and his family have been the target of harassing
phone calls and attempts to intemidate. He was told if he didn't back off the run for Chief, he would be hurt.
The threating phone calls increased in intensity until the BATF raid. They made several mistakes including not bothering to have the search warrant signed before they broke down Mr Miller's door.
Not being one to give into intimidation, Ron Miller and his wife contacted constitutional law attorney, Michael Connolly, 5917 Jones Creek Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70817 - (504) 753-3286. to represent them in a civil suit against the BATF and the "informer"
(the informer is alleged to be a close political cronie of the current chief of police of Pearl River).
Since contacting Mr Connolly and retaining him, they have been getting ever increasing threats directed against Mr Miller and more specifically against his wife and children. Today at 11 AM the BATF paid another visit. This time they had a warrant for M
r Miller's arrest - charging him with 3 counts of illegal weapons possession. NONE - of the firearms removed from Mr. Miller's residense were full auto weapons when they left the premisis according to Mr Miller and the inventory that he had.
Anyone wishing more information can contact Mike Connolly - (504) 753-2286. He is on the board of directors for the 2nd Ammendment Foundation and I have been in contact with the NRA civil defense fund. However they need immediate help to avoid being rail
roaded by Janet Reno and Her Storm Troopers.
September 10, 1993
Dear Friends,
My name is Cindy Pollock. In July of this year I was helping out at Franklin Arms when two agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) came in to inspect the store's BATF 4473 forms. This is not unusual, except that they said they
would be here on Monday, July 19th at 10:00 am, but they showed up unannounced on Wednesday afternoon, July 14th.
[Emphasis in the original document]
I became very upset when they started copying the information from these forms. I said that I am an NRA Live Member, and this looks like firearms registration to me. The agent's response was,"No, [they] were just taking a survey of firearms sold along the
border states." I asked what happens when the survey is over, will these names be taken out of the computer? No answer!
Since I was not on the firearms license and was just a private citizen I felt completely helpless. I had purchased firearms at Franklin Arms over the past two years, and now information concerning these arms would be in a computer somewhere. Who knows who
would have access to this information? Look what happened to the IRS records in Atlanta, which were examined by unauthorized personnel!
I am a retired school teacher and an avid shooter. I have enjoyed shooting since I was twelve. I feel that my right to privacy has been violated. I am not a criminal! Why am I being treated like one?
I am now back at Franklin Arms full time and hope to help prevent this from happening again. If you purchased a firearm in the past two years, your BATF 4473 forms were also copied. Let your congressman know how you feel. DON'T SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING.
Who knows what's next?
[Franklin Arms is located at 3025 South Main, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001. Phone number is 505-526-2600. Hours are 10:00 to 5:00 Mountain Time]
From: email@example.com
Birmingham, AL
The local television news media has been reporting a BATF raid on a small gunshop in the suburbs of Birmingham.
According to the report by WVTM-TV, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms entered Traders Gun Shop, 1731 Center Point Road, at 10 AM today with a search warrant, closed the shop, and proceeded on a six-hour search of the premises. The own
er, Jeannie Dollar, was not allowed in the shop during the search.
At the conclusion of the search, agents removed three cardboard boxes containing unspecified items, but there were assurances that there were no illegal weapons involved. No arrests were made, but it was stated that the search was part of an ongoing inves
There was no mention of the tactics used during the raid, but the agents pictured in the television news report were shown wearing body armor and dressed in "raid attire" such as Tee shirts, and blue fatigue pants.
Scott Sanders
If you have any comments on the material in these Web pages or if you have a BATF
incident to contribute, send email to
Abuses of the BATF
Desperate F-Troop In South Florida
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 1998 13:59
To: Tim "X"
Miami, FL
Abuses of the BATF
Detroit Cover-Up Results In Charges
ATF agents accused of lying Charges claim one mistreated suspect,
both covered it up
By Wayne Woolley / The Detroit News
Abuses of the BATF
Colorado Springs FFL Crackdown
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 09:25:58 -0700
Organization: Cray Computer Corporation
Abuses of the BATF
Bert Grant (Yakima Brewery)
Abuses of the BATF
Museum Raided by BATF
Louis & Kimberly Katona
From: Ted Drude
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Brooks promises BATF investigation
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 94 17:39:12 -0500
"House chairman attacks federal gun agency
Abuses of the BATF
Bob Hennan
Subject: Brady Misfires at *Accused* Felons
Date: 21 Nov 1994 16:22:06 GMT
Organization: Barrios Technology, Inc.
Abuses of the BATF
53-year-old-man in Clifton, New Jersey
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Frightening ATF Raid in N.J.
Lines: 46
Abuses of the BATF
Pillar of Community Paralyzed for Life
Barry Bruce-Briggs
_The_Public_Interest_ No. 45, Fall 1976, pp 37-62
Copyright 1976 by National Affairs, Inc."
Abuses of the BATF
Ron & Elaine Miller
Msg#: 65 Date: 05-17-94 17:20
Subj: Ron Miller Vs BATF
-= Quoting Diane Aguilera to All =-
Abuses of the BATF
Franklin Arms (Las Cruces, New Mexico)
Cindy Pollack.
Abuses of the BATF
Janice Hart
Abuses of the BATF
Randy Weaver (Ruby Ridge)
Abuses of the BATF
Traders Gun Shop
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 1994 22:43:47 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: AL: BATF raid on local gun shop.
Sept 7, 1994
Report written by author as taken from television news accounts.


text:
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed as a "proof-of-concept" to establish whether CTA has the capability to identify morphologic features of plaque disruption.
METHODS: In patients with unstable angina undergoing CTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) within 30 days, quantitative CTA analysis was performed on all plaques for percent stenosis, volume, remodeling index, and volume of low attenuation plaque (LAP, <50 HU). Plaques >25% stenosis were evaluated for CTA features of disruption, including ulceration and intra-plaque dye penetration. Using ICA complex plaque as the reference standard for disruption, the sensitivity and specificity of ulceration and intra-plaque dye penetration by CTA were determined.
RESULTS: In 60 patients, 294 plaques were identified by CTA, of which 109 (37%) had features of disruption, including ulceration in 53 (18%) lesions and intra-plaque dye penetration in 80 (27%). Compared to non-disrupted lesions, plaques with ulceration or intra-plaque dye penetration by CTA were more voluminous (313 ± 356 mm(3) vs 118 ± 93 mm(3) p<0.0001), more often positively-remodeled (94.5% vs 44.3%, p<0.0001), contained more LAP (99 ± 161 mm(3) vs 19 ± 18 mm(3), p<0.0001), and were more often complex by ICA (57.8% vs 8.1%, p<0.0001). CTA features of disruption demonstrated modest to good sensitivity (53-81%), and good specificity (82-95%) for complex plaque by ICA.
CONCLUSIONS: In this highly selected group of patients with unstable angina, CTA can delineate features of plaque disruption, including ulceration and intra-plaque dye penetration, which are specific markers of invasively-identified complex plaque. Further studies are needed to confirm the generalizability of the results and to explore the clinical and prognostic implications of these findings.
Ronen Rubinshtein
Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center
Haifa, Israel
Latest posts by Ronen Rubinshtein (see all)
- Anatomic Characteristics and Outcome of Adults With Coronary Arteries Arising From an Anomalous Location Detected With Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography - October 2, 2014
- Fractional Flow Reserve Calculation From 3-Dimensional Quantitative Coronary Angiography and TIMI Frame Count: A Fast Computer Model to Quantify the Functional Significance of Moderately Obstructed Coronary Arteries - September 4, 2014
- Iterative Model Reconstruction: Improved Image Quality of Low-Tube-Voltage Prospective ECG-Gated Coronary CT Angiography Images at 256-Slice CT - June 1, 2014

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Open Pantry's Emergency Food Pantry (EFP) has been providing non-perishable groceries for people in need since 1975. Both individuals and families in the Springfield area come to the EFP on an emergency basis.
From July 2015 – June 2016, the staff performed 12,696 service visits which in turn provided non-perishable food
to 51,706 people, nearly half of whom were children.
Families comprise 63% of the people served and nearly 40% of all the food distributed is for children. Recipients may use this service up to six times a year. Senior recipients may access the service 12 times a year.
We have a special program specifically for seniors. The Senior Food Choice program is a program designed for seniors to shop exclusively on the 3rd Monday of each month at our Emergency Food Pantry. Senior Day offers Seniors the opportunity to choose their own food in a dignified grocery store like setting. Seniors are assisted by a staff member or volunteer who assists them with selecting their groceries, pushing their carts and helping with any questions they may have.
Staff members at EFP complete an intake process with each recipient. This process not only allows EFP staff to report on existing needs, but it also creates an opportunity to refer people to other essential services. Additionally, we assist with applications for SNAP benefits (no longer called food stamps). We also have advocacy services for those who are having difficulties getting or accessing their SNAP benefits.
EFP is located at 2460 Main Street in Suite 108 & 108B in the Plaza Del Mercado in Springfield. Hours of operation are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Emergency Food Pantry
2460 Main Street
Springfield, MA
Ph: (413) 737-5353
Fax: (413) 737-4440
Contact: Heather Clark, Program Director
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Thanks to Zaycon Fresh for providing me with a case of chicken breasts. All opinions are my own.
Happy Friday friends! What a week! It started out perfect here in Colorado. Warm weather and lots of sun. I even got out for a couple of afternoon hikes. Then come Thursday morning the cold, wet, snowy weather moved in. Can you believe it, SNOW in the middle of April…such is spring living here. Today hasn't been much better, but hopefully the sun will be back tomorrow. Until then there won't be any grilling going on, but there will be these fabulous Skillet Chicken Fajitas!
Chicken breasts are a staple item around our house. We use them in everything from salads, pasta dishes, casseroles, and one of my favorite ways, fajitas! A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to receive a case of Zaycon Fresh Chicken Breasts. If you've never heard of Zaycon Fresh they are a great farm to consumer company. I love that they skip the middle man so you can be sure you are getting the freshest quality products! Picking up my case of chicken was such a smooth and organized process. To be honest it was a lot less stressful than standing in line at the grocery store. I simply drove up to the pickup location (which was only a few miles from my house), pulled up to the Zaycon delivery truck, gave the driver my name, and he loaded my case of chicken into the trunk of my car. The whole process took maybe 2 minutes and I didn't even have to get out of the car!
So now that I had 40 glorious pounds of quality chicken breasts, I needed to freeze them and then figure out the first thing I was going to cook with them. Here's where the skillet chicken fajitas come into play.
The recipe for these chicken fajitas is one that my mom has always used. I made a couple changes, but nothing major. The fajitas use all natural and simple ingredients. No premixed seasoning packets, just a few basic spices and a whole lot of flavor! If you are gluten free or following a Paleo diet these fajitas just happen to be both. How you serve the skillet chicken fajitas is up to you. I enjoyed mine in lettuce cups the first night topped with homemade pico de gallo and on top of a salad the next night. My husband prefers more carbs with his dinner so he had his in tortillas.
With Cinco de Mayo coming up and busy end of the school year nights, these skillet chicken fajitas are perfect for serving. They only require the use of one cast iron skillet and they cook up super fast! If you love fresh and flavorful chicken fajitas this easy skillet version is just what you need!
Yields 4 servings
Easy, delicious, one skillet chicken fajitas with peppers and onions!
20 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
- 1 pound Zaycon Fresh Chicken Breasts , sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or parsley if you don't like cilantro
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- Juice of half a lime
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1/2 of a yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- In a large bowl combine all of the chicken fajita ingredients minus the lime juice and the pepper and onion ingredients.
- Toss the thinly sliced chicken in the marinade until coated, cover, and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.
- Preheat a 12 inch cast iron skillet over high heat with 2 teaspoons of the oil.
- When the skillet is hot add in the sliced peppers, onion, chili powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- Saute the peppers and onions for about 4 minutes or until they are golden and have softened slightly.
- Remove the peppers and onions from the skillet onto a plate and set aside.
- Add another 2 teaspoons of oil to the hot skillet.
- Add in the chicken fajita mixture and saute until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.
- Add the peppers and onions back into the skillet along with the juice of half a lime.
- Cook everything for another minute then serve immediately.
- Serve the fajitas in lettuce cups or on tortillas and top with pico de gallo if desired.


text:
Tweeting multiple times a day, every single day, can be quite tiring. Why not make things easier for yourself? There are many tools available that can help you ease this load. If you want every Tweet to be the best Tweet then you have to know which of your Tweets performed the best. If you know this, you can find the pattern that buy permanent twitter followers connects and try to employ that tactic in your future Tweets. The first way you can do this is to manually record the interactions that each Tweet received, but that hardly seems like the best way of doing things.
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1899 Preston White Drive, Reston, Virginia 20191 USA


text:
Monster - Selfportrait 2008
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Photo license: © All rights reserved
11 responses
J. Harris Blacklist gave props (15 Jun 2008):
I like it...especially like the electrical plug touching the shadow.
Natalie S gave props (15 Jun 2008):
This is really, really interesting Lucian - awesome self-portrait (I don't believe however that you look quite like a monster) :)
Fran Ott gave props (15 Jun 2008):
One of the most creative interpretation of a self portrait I have seen. Bravo!
Ashley Parsons gave props (16 Jun 2008):
this is really clever, nice work :D
Lucy Lambriex gave props (17 Jun 2008):
Very clever idea and great result!
Pilar Coll i Gatells said (18 Jun 2008):
Bon dia, Lucian!
Sonia Adam Murray gave props (12 Dec 2008):
Very original.
sasha ormond said (20 Dec 2008):
cool! my vote!
Robert Carey gave props (25 Dec 2008):
cool shot. I like it! Got my vote.
Sonia Adam Murray gave props (6 Feb 2009):
Came back to vote again, because not all your votes are up!
Brandon Jennings said (6 Jun 2009):
great image! wonderful idea. vote!


text:
This will be the year, according to most economic forecasters, when investment finally rebounds. It had better, if the forecasters are to avoid another blot on their tarnished reputations. Many see investment as the driving force behind economic growth of 3-3.5 per cent this year.
The Treasury, for example, predicts business investment will grow 10.75 per cent after a 2 per cent rise last year. It puts total growth in fixed investment, including housing and government investment, at 5.75 per cent, up from 3.75 per cent. Many priv a te economists have made similar predictions. Yet it is hard to avoid the suspicion that part of the reason for forecasting an investment boom this year is its absence so far.
A variety of explanations have been put forward, the most prominent being the notion that companies have clung to high target rates of return for investment projects rather than reducing them in acclamation of the new era of low and stable inflation. Surveys carried out last year by both the Bank of England and the Confederation of British Industry supported this theory.
Both surveys found that large numbers of firms target rates of return of more than 20 per cent or require excessively short payback periods for planned investments. The CBI remarked: "Some companies are clearly not convinced that the current low inflation rates will continue."
Some firms have made the adjustment, but these have mainly been big and financially sophisticated companies - such as Hanson, which announced last summer that lower inflation and interest rates had made it appropriate to lengthen the payback period. Others have been slow to follow.
Christopher Taylor, finance director of the engineering group Smiths Industries, argues that there are good institutional reasons for sticking to strict investment criteria. "Many companies would use a high target rate of return to force local managementto put forward a good strong case," he said. "In many of our projects there is a high level of risk which we often tackle with a high discount rate."
However, Mr Taylor does believe that a majority of British firms set hurdles that are too high, which makes them overlook projects that would be steady earners and take on high-risk projects instead.
A second reason for weak investment in the recovery has been the slow process of rebuilding company balance sheets after the borrowing binge of the late 1980s. In 1993 companies repaid £11.3bn in bank loans, and are likely to have repaid £2-3bn more in 1
994. Rights issues since 1991 have totalled nearly £30bn.
This financial restructuring left British businesses with a financial surplus of £4.8bn in the second quarter of 1994, the biggest on record, and a remarkable recovery from 1990's £23bn deficit.
Many economists argue that the corporate sector must now have enough cash to start spending it.
John Marsland, UK economist at UBS, said: "Companies' financial surplus in 1994 is unprecedented in the post-war period. It should encourage them to increase their investment spending."
Others are not so sure. Mark Brown, chief strategist at Hoare Govett, said: "They are awash with cash, but it will go to other things as well as capital expenditure." He expects another solid rise in dividends and an increase in takeover activity.
The third in the trio of excuses for the weakness of investment has been businesses' lack of confidence so far about demand and the absence of pressures on capacity. CBI surveys show that it is only recently that capacity shortages have begun to emerge, and that from a low base.
The prospects for a better year for investment in 1995 depend on how biting these shortages are and how confident firms are about their sales prospects. Sudhir Junankar, associate director of economics for the CBI, argues for a strong pick-up on the basis of survey evidence. The balance of firms expecting to raise investment spending was 16 per cent in the CBI's last quarterly industrial trends survey - the highest positive balance since April 1989.
Richard Freeman, chief economist at ICI, agrees. "Companies are taking old investment plans off the shelf and dusting them down," he said. The reason he gives is emerging capacity pressures, in the chemicals industry and others.
Sage, a small Newcastle software company, is investing internally and by takeover. Paul Walker, chief executive, said: "It demonstrates our confidence in both our business and the economy generally."
However, elsewhere in industry this year's outlook is not so rosy. A survey of more than 2,000 of its medium-sized business customers by Lloyds Bank, published this week, reported high order books and sales but weaker investment intentions compared with six months ago. Lloyds suggests that this reflects growing caution, with companies reckoning the economic cycle has turned.
Pressac, a Nottingham manufacturer of motor components, has invested heavily for the past three years in anticipation of higher demand, and is about to cut capital spending back in line with depreciation. Geoff White, chief executive, said: "We incorporated our anticipation of capacity needs when we made the investments."
The other rationale for £10m spent on new plant and equipment during the past three years was updating technology to improve productivity.
Cost-cutting has been a common theme in investment in the 1990s. Mr Taylor of Smiths Industries said: "If we need to cut costs, we would invest."
If business investment does not bounce back this year, the long-run consequences for Britain will be perturbing, to say the least. Manufacturing output is still lower than it was five years ago.
Britain invests a lower proportion of national output than other industrial countries, and earns a lower rate of return on capital - 11.5 per cent last year compared with an average of 16 per cent in the other OECD economies.
Mr Freeman of ICI said: "If the investment does not come through this year, we have not had the economic miracle everyone has been talking about." There is a lot at stake in those forecasts of an investment boom in 1995.
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Linked by Eugenia Loli on Sat 12th Aug 2006 19:07 UTC
OpenBSD strives to be the most secure UNIX derivation. Design principles, such as code auditing, extensive use of encryption, and careful configuration choices, combine to ensure OpenBSD's secure by default philosophy holds true. This article gives you a close look at the operating system so secure that it was once banned for use in a DEF CON competition, where crackers go after each other's systems.
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RE[2]: Correctness matters
by iangibson on Sun 13th Aug 2006 22:00 UTC
in reply to "RE: Correctness matters"


text:
Reports suggest that Dimitar Berbatov's agent is in London for crisis talks as speculation over the player's future continues.
Emil Danchev hopes to meet boss Juande Ramos and chairman Daniel Levy in a bid to thrash out a deal that will see the Bulgarian move to Manchester United.
It is believed that Tottenham will insist on their valuation of Dimitar Berbatov being met before allowing the striker to leave White Hart Lane.
Berbatov missed Saturday's defeat to Sunderland after being deemed psychologically unfit and a threat to dressing-room harmony - and a repeat could see the Bulgaria captain feature in Clive Allen's reserve team.
Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is believed to be willing to see Berbatov feature with the reserves if they do not receive a suitable offer for the striker from Manchester United.
Spurs are understood to be looking for at least £30m for the 27-year-old - who has handed in a transfer request in pursuit of a move to Old Trafford - and they are waiting for a bid from United before the end of the transfer window.
Tottenham's next match is Sunday's Barclays Premier League trip to Chelsea, and they will hope Berbatov's future is resolved by then - whether he stays or the club receive funds for Ramos to spend before the following day's summer transfer deadline.
Ramos and Berbatov met last Sunday for more talks about the future of the £10.9million signing from Bayer Leverkusen, who has spent two years with Tottenham.


text:
Saturday, August 25, 2012
A Small Step for One Man
Armstrong had proposed not only future investments, but along with other astronauts had sensibly proposed retaining the space shuttle program until they were ready, instead of scrapping the shuttle program and distributing viable shuttles to museums. Armstrong was critical of the Bolden regime at NASA that had stripped the space agency of its best people and its ability to conduct manned space exploration or even reach the International Space Station without begging passage on Soviet Soyuz tubs.
"The reality that there is no flight requirement for a NASA pilot-astronaut for the foreseeable future is obvious and painful to all who have, justifiably, taken great pride in NASA's wondrous space flight achievements during the past half century," Armstrong concluded his testimony. "In space fight, we are in the process of exhausting alternatives. I am hopeful that, in the near future, we will be doing the right thing."
If we ever do get around to doing the right thing, in space or on the ground, Neil Armstrong will not be around to see it. The famously reclusive astronaut passed away after being drawn out to make a final bid at reviving the space program. His final contribution may be that he joined the many voices warning of the decline of America. His final legacy may be determined by whether the American people choose to listen to some of his final words.
Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, the year that a young researcher watching the sky over Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered Pluto. By 2006, it was decided that Pluto was no longer a planet. By 2016 we may decided that Neil Armstrong never really walked on the moon and that walking on the moon is an assault on the lunar ecology.
Two years ago, Charles Bolden, the incompetent Obama appointee who has implemented his mission of killing America's space program, declared that the agency's chief goal was outreach to the Muslim world. This was not his original idea.
While visiting Egypt, Bolden told Al-Jazeera that Obama had given him three missions. "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering,"
Space exploration was not on the list for a reason. Michael Griffin, Bolden's predecessor, who had done much to rebuild NASA, only to have his work ruined by Obama's affirmative action appointees, Charles Bolden and Lori Garver, said of those comments, "NASA ... represents the best of America. Its purpose is not to inspire Muslims or any other cultural entity. If by doing great things, people are inspired, well then that's wonderful. If you get it in the wrong order ... it becomes an empty shell... That is exactly what is in danger of happening."
NASA, like the rest of American exceptionalism, has become that empty shell in the throes of Obama's Post-American national order. It exists to make Muslim boys feel good about imaginary Muslim inventions and to provide jobs to Russian engineers. In the last week NASA premiered a new song from one of Obama's favorite musicians, will.i.am and demonstrated a new "green" alternative to existing rocket fuels.
In a memo for NASA's OEOD, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, Charles Bolden declared that, "Diversity and inclusion are integral to mission success at NASA". Because how can we possibly reach the stars unless there are mandated diversity targets among the launch crews and the conflict management specialists?
"As NASA's Diversity and Inclusion Champion," Bolden wrote,"I belicve it is incumbent on every member of the NASA community to advocate for promote, and most importantly, practice the principles of diversity and inclusion in everything that we do."
To be properly diverse and inclusive, NASA would have to launch some rockets that would work and some that wouldn't. Some of its personnel would have to be qualified and some completely illiterate. For total inclusion, it has to stop focusing on space and focus on other priorities, like convincing everyone to constantly advocate inclusiveness, while the space program goes to seed.
Neil Armstrong would probably never have made it into NASA. But then he would have had little place in Obama's NASA, where the goal isn't to reach the sky, but to score diversity credits. To that end, OEOD's Endeavor magazine announced an eLearning institute to provide the NASA family with "real-time education and awareness opportunities on various aspects of EO (equal opportunity), diversity and inclusion... that will allow all NASA employees to add to their SATERN learning history with valuable credits in diversity and EO."
Forget the stars, the new frontier is right here in the latest regulation on transgender rights in the workplace, located on Page 4 of the newest issue of Endeavor. But that's not all. Don't speak English? NASA may not have a space program anymore, but under Obama Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency," it has developed a "Language Access Plan" for people who don't speak English.
As guided by Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency," NASA's commitment to equal opportunity includes the Agency's efforts to ensure that all members of the public who wish to participate in Agency-conducted programs and activities have an equal opportunity to do so," Charles Bolden writes. "Whether patrons of our Visitors' Centers, participants in guided tours of our Centers, or students being inspired by our Astronaut corps to become a part of the next generation of explorers, we welcome all."
Not speaking English doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to become part of the next generation of explorers boarding broken-down Soviet capsules to travel to a conference on inclusive workplace policies on a space station built by transgender Muslims who immediately honor-killed themselves after its completion.
The mission to create a NASA that is "reflective of the nation that it represents" really means creating a NASA that is as useless and dysfunctional as every government agency and exists only to promote politically correct programs and make diverse people feel equally good about themselves in exactly equal amounts of diversity.
"A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain," Neil Armstrong warned Congress. That is true in all areas, not just in space exploration.Leading requires achievement and achievement is exceptional, not diverse. It is based on the achievements of individuals who pull others forward with them. It is driven by the restless, the innovative and the perfectionists who are not willing to accept the diverse standard of the lowest common denominator.
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," JFK said in his famous speech. After the safe return of Apollo 13, Nixon said, "From the beginning, man's ventures into space have been accompanied by danger. Apollo 13 reminds us how real those dangers are. It reminds us of the special qualities of the men who dare to brave the perils of space."
We are no longer concerned with doing hard things and finding the men with the special qualities to do them. It is the easy things that concern us now. The political pandering of diversity and the search for "Green" solutions to problems that don't exist. We no longer look to the stars, instead we hang our heads in shame because our diverse green elites tell us that we should.
The American lead has not been lost so much as thrown away by an ideology that does not believe in leading, except in the number of foreign language Muslim transgender engineers bundling up a Space Shuttle that could still fly as a relic to a well-connected museum that will use the money from the spurt of admissions to add on a program about the influence of Islamic art on the space program. We can still do the great and difficult things, but we are being barred from doing them by a system that is threatened by greatness and exceptionalism that is not framed in terms of group collectivism.
"I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats and I don't intend to waste any of mine," Neil Armstrong has been quoted as saying. Now Armstrong has died at 82 of complications after heart surgery. Nations, like men, also have finite numbers of heartbeats. It is best that we remember not to waste ours.
32 comments:
- Bosch Fawstin said...
Exceptional piece, Daniel, thank you. That last paragraph is as Good as it gets.
- 26/8/12
- Ex-Dissident said...
Great article. At the same time, I wonder if the venture into space has been something like the erecting of giant heads on Easter Island, or the building of the pyramids in Egypt. A great achievement, but also a way to exhaust a nation's resources.
- 26/8/12
- American Genie said...
Just when I think your writing could not possibly get any better you surprise me.
Excellent, Daniel.
I wonder how we ever got to the point where making Muslims feel good about themselves is the driving force behind all of our actions as a country? They have nothing to feel good about. Their entire culture is based on the psychotic rantings of a murderous, serial rapist and pedophile.
Better to exhaust our resources on ventures into space than on industrial strength lipstick for the pig called Islam. - 26/8/12
- SabaShimon said...
RIP Commander Armstrong, You are one of the few men in history that just saying your name out loud becomes a humbling experience.
Thank you.
And thank you Sultan, for another great and sobering piece.
We're in deep doodoo. - 26/8/12
- SoCal Observer said...
Neil Armstrong was an exceptional pilot, an exceptional person, and achieved greatness by doing what he loved and excelled at. It took effort, talent, and hard work. In addition, he faced danger in combat, danger in his profession, and danger in exploration. Unfortunately, his passing marks the passing of a culture that once valued hard work, sacrifice, and exceptional achievement. We are now bombarded with victims, pseudogreatness, and celebrity worship. We pay ball throwing illiterates millions, worship talentless tarts who rise to fame in their birthday suits, and gangster wannabees that can't carry a tune in a bucket are considered role models until they are capped by a real gangster. By the way, for most Americans, it was your grandparents that did the following with slide rules, log tables, brains, and hard work: designed and built rockets, piloted space vehicles and rocket propelled aircraft, and not only landed on the moon, but came back to tell us about it. We have allowed elected servants to dictate to us what is valued and what is not, instead of them carrying out our wishes. Ultimately, Americans can blame only ourselves for not valuing what made us great in the first place. However, we should not expect the Caliphate to send emissaries to their dhimmi subjects reminding us of all the great contributions our ancestors made to medicine, science, architecture, and engineering. We will get invited to the spectacles at the Juma Masjid whenever those of the LGBT crowd, blasphemers, or adulterers are discovered. Thank you Mr. G for recognizing a truly exceptional American and for contrasting our current state of affairs.
- 26/8/12
- Edward Cline said...
"Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, the year that a young researcher watching the sky over Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered Pluto. By 2006, it was decided that Pluto was no longer a planet. By 2016 we may [have] decided that Neil Armstrong never really walked on the moon and that walking on the moon is an assault on the lunar ecology."
And also an affront to Allah, the True Moon God. Allah never intended man to walk on moons. The whole story of men walking on the moon was a Zionist fabrication and a pack of lies meant to perpetuate the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Besides, men walking on the moon would insult Allah, the True Moon God, who does not tolerate mere mortals walking all over him.
But, thank you, Daniel, for a moving tribute for Neil Armstrong. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
I must disagree with the focus of this piece. Space flight in the US began as the work of private tinkerers in sheds. Men such as Robert Goddard essentially created modern rocketry with the help of donations from wealthy capitalist investors. While the US government largely ignored such programs, the 1950s saw a complete alteration in policy, with the creation of the socialized government driven NASA. This led to an era of huge monopolistic government programs such as Mercury, Gemini and finally Apollo. Rather than private competition ultimately lowering prices, NASA owned and operated these titanic launch vehicles and flew them at an ever rising cost and lowering efficiency. The whole US space program with its cost plus style of operation simply became a gross unproductive way to get into space. The Shuttle, originally billed as being $20,000,000 per launch ballooned to $1.5,000,000,000 per launch by 2000. The state monopoly that was NASA could no longer effectively operate launch vehicles. This has led NASA to depart from the old way of doing things by setting up the COTS program. Effectively now, we are entering the end of socialized spaceflight and the start of the era of private spaceflight where NASA will purchase seats on privately owned, built and operated vehicles, rather than government owned systems. The government will become the customer.
Several private companies such as SpaceX and Orbital, are now in competition with others which will eventually lower prices and lead to greater efficiency. Already SpaceX has delivered cargo to the ISS at a fraction of the cost of a Shuttle launch. The idea, therefore, that the end of government state monopoly spaceflight is a bad thing is questionable at best. No, NASA will not be able to EVER field a large government owned and operated launch vehicle again; however, the US WILL be able to launch a plethora of privately owned and operated vehicles, effectively the space equivalent of airlines which will drive costs down..Armstrong was a great individual, but his backing for the SLS (which is doomed) was a wrong move. As for NASA running a load of trendy outreach, this is yet another reason to ditch the government and go private... - 26/8/12
- fsy said...
Great post about the decline of America, but I'm still having trouble understanding why NASA is the exception to conservative opposition to big expensive government projects. Shouldn't we be pushing for private space exploration instead?
- 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
Too true fsy. While Obama is a douche, he has effectively got it right in trying to privatize the American launch industry...
- 26/8/12
- Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog said...
He's not privatizing it. Privatizing it would be a transition from government to private. Right now the transition is from government to Russian government.
There are also things that are within the legitimate purview of government. Space exploration is one of them. Private companies are not going to be able to do much more than provide a basic means of getting to low earth orbit. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
He is privatizing it.
You are out of touch sk
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/04/15/debate-obamas-space-privatization-plan-is-a-costly-mistake/ - 26/8/12
- Empress Trudy said...
My grandchildren will believe manned spaceflight is science fiction. And when my generation passes there will be no one left with a living memory of it. The US and mankind generally is done with it for perhaps a hundred years or more as part of a general decline into witchcraft and stupidity. "A Canticle for Liebowitz" will wind up being a documentary.
- 26/8/12
- Ravis said...
If we do return to the moon, the landing party will consist of a black, a woman, an Hispanic and a Muslim, four American groupings that couldn't get to the moon on their own in a thousand years. But that's diversity: leeching onto others' achievements, then draining the host dry.
- 26/8/12
- Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog said...
It will be privatized when the private sector has actually taken over, that hasn't happened yet. And a privatization effort that involves Elon Musk stinks of crony capitalism to me.
In any case the private sector has neither the resources nor the motive to do the kind of exploration necessary to open up the solar system. - 26/8/12
- fsy said...
There are also things that are within the legitimate purview of government. Space exploration is one of them. Private companies are not going to be able to do much more than provide a basic means of getting to low earth orbit.
Isn't this just "Only govt. is big enough to do X"? But X could just as well be "run the economy", "guarantee equality", "preserve the environment", etc. etc.
There has to be some answer to why space exploration is special and why people who preferred to spend their hard-earned money on their own little dreams rather than on the big dream of that Irish playboy from Boston didn't have that choice.
Don't get me wrong; I agree putting a footprint on the moon was really cool, and I watched it on TV at the age of 11, but now that I'm just a little bit more grownup, I wonder why that was OK to do through coercion, but other things aren't. - 26/8/12
- Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog said...
There's a big difference between the legitimate national functions of government, e.g. national defense, territorial exploration, and social functions.
If you believe that government has no legitimate function, then that's fine. But historically territorial exploration has been a legitimate function of the government since Jefferson.
And securing new territory for the common benefit of all is how the United States operated under Manifest Destiny. - 26/8/12
- fsy said...
And securing new territory for the common benefit of all is how the United States operated under Manifest Destiny.
I thought of this, but as far as I know, the U.S. has never claimed ownership of the areas of the moon that were explored, and also this seems completely impractical. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
"In any case the private sector has neither the resources nor the motive to do the kind of exploration necessary to open up the solar system"
What about these guys?
http://www.planetaryresources.com/ - 26/8/12
- Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog said...
It's not impractical, we're simply governed by UN collectivist politics when it comes to outer space or deep sea mining.
Anon, sounds nice, if they get anywhere and make a going concern of it, but mining a few asteroids is not big picture stuff.
And all this is still piggybacking on the technologies and pioneering work of the space program, which is my point about the work of the private sector and the role of the government in opening up new territories for it to exploit. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
Some more thoughts on the matter:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2099/1 - 26/8/12
- Bill said...
As one whose first 'real' job was on the Skylab program in the late 60's, I had the honor to work with engineers who had designed the Gemini capsule. I remember their dedication and professionalism, similar to Neil Armstrong's. I have not worked with a more talented group of people since.
Times have changed since the 60's, America no longer has dreamers and doers, it is a country of lazy and irresponsible do-nothings. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
Empress Trudy said "My grandchildren will believe manned spaceflight is science fiction."
Why? Are they not very bright? - 26/8/12
- Richard said...
Why did you have to turn his death into something political?
You could not just make a simple tribute?
Disgusting. - 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
No, anonymous;
They'll believe it's fiction, because nobody will be doing it anymore. If current trends continue, space flight will fade away, and become a legend, like Prestor John, or Camelot.
You could have figured this out yourself, you know; speaking of people not being real bright. . .
Richard, the space program Neil Armstrong worked in, and the reasons for it's being cut off, and made into another "Let's Celebrate Islam!/Green power!" boondoggle, are extremely political. It's hard to remember Armstrong the man, without remembering the NASA he worked for, and what's become of it, and why this has happened.
I suspect what disgusts you is that the Sultan had the temerity to point all this out. I guess we're just supposed to wipe away a few, politically correct tears at the news of his death, and, maybe, light a few candles, hug some teddy bears, mumble something about the cosmos in general, and not actually remember the man himself, or what he did, or his times.
/IguanaDonna - 26/8/12
- Keliata said...
It is a beautiful tribute.
- 26/8/12
- Phyllis Blickensderfer said...
This is a moving tribute - to a man who valued privacy, but went public to voice his opinion in a political world. We were married with three children when Armstrong set foot on the moon. I was proud of my cousin and his work with NASA. He did not set foot on the moon, but his work was instrumental in getting Armstrong there. To think of the 'diversity' requirements that will change the workforce is disquieting when we need the smartest workforce possible. Thank you for remembering Neil Armstrong and the dream he lived.
- 26/8/12
- Anonymous said...
Knish I'm a pretty smart guy myself a mensa member, your stuff is just great man I enjoy reading it daily, one day I'll send in a donation. Thanks oh and by the way whenever I repost or blog some thought or idea I got here, I always credit you.
- 26/8/12
- Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog said...
thank you, I appreciate that
- 26/8/12
- Dovber Schwartz said...
Daniel strikes again
- 26/8/12
- fsy said...
It's not impractical, we're simply governed by UN collectivist politics when it comes to outer space or deep sea mining.
How do you go about defending claims on the moon when it costs billions to go there for a couple of days?
Besides, only a few very small areas were actually explored. Is that enough to claim the whole moon or large portions for the U.S.? If so, I can do it from here by just pointing at it.
Space "exploration" so far, beyond Earth orbit, has been only scientific research, and so my question remains, "Why is funding scientific research within the proper functions of govt.?" The question could apply to any area of research, but this is a big one and the one mentioned here.
I don't think I have to tell you or your loyal commenters the downside of govt. funding of science. In fact I think you've written about it yourself more than once. - 27/8/12
- lemon lime moon said...
Armstrong was an interesting man.
- 27/8/12
- Custom Postcards said...
A true American hero who believe in humility. One of the more stand-up heroes and legends that our country has. I was happy to see that he wasn't next to Buzz Aldrin in that Transformers movie...so tacky
- 30/10/12


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