• USC Baseball

    USC Baseball Coach Rod Dedeaux Passes Away

    January 5, 2006 /

    Former USC Baseball Coach Rod Dedeaux at the 1995 NCAA Baseball World Series, Omaha, Nebraska with Flap, Jr.

    Los Angeles Times: Former USC Baseball Coach Rod Dedeaux Dies at 91

    Rod Dedeaux, whose 45 years as USC’s baseball coach produced 11 national and 28 conference championship teams, died Thursday in Glendale of complications of a stroke he suffered Dec. 2. He was 91.

    Dedeaux’s teams won a record 1,331 games before his retirement in 1986. From 1970 to 1974, his Trojans won five consecutive NCAA championships. No other school has won more than two in succession. He was named coach of the year six times by the American Baseball Coaches Assn., and was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 1970.

    Flap has fond memories of “Coach of the Century.”

    The most memorable was on the plane returning from Omaha after USC lost to Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA World Series Final Title game. Flap, Jr. and I were sitting across the aisle from this baseball giant and his insight and observations of the game and life are priceless.

    May he rest in peace……..

    Fight on Rod!

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  • Iran Nuclear Watch,  Politics

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will Resume Atomic Fuel Research

    January 5, 2006 /

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to supporters during his weekly trips, in the city of Qom, 125 km (77 miles) south of Tehran January 5, 2006. Ahmadinejad insisted on Thursday that Iran would resume atomic research, despite warnings from the West that it would endanger efforts to find a diplomatic compromise over its nuclear ambitions.

    Reuters: Iran firm on resuming atomic research: Ahmadinejad

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday Iran would still resume atomic fuel research despite Western warnings that this would endanger efforts to find a diplomatic compromise over its nuclear plans.

    Tuesday’s announcement of a resumption after a break of more than two years brought swift demands for restraint from the European Union and Washington, which fear Iran seeks nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program.

    Concern about Iranian intentions deepened when a delegation from Tehran failed to show up for a meeting in Vienna to explain to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei what the new research would encompass, the IAEA said.

    IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said there was no word from Iran as to why the delegation had not appeared and no new talks were scheduled. ElBaradei has called for Iran to clarify its decision and feared it would aggravate tensions, diplomats said.

    Ahmadinejad was defiant in a speech in the holy city of Qom.

    “Some … have said the Iranian nation has no right to nuclear research,” he said in the address carried by state TV.

    “But they should know that the Iranian nation and government will defend the right to nuclear research and technology and will go forward prudently,”he said.

    Western diplomats have said the move, which follows Iran’s resumption in August of uranium conversion, the first stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, was likely to amplify calls for Iran to be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

    The United States and European Union must IMMEDIATELY refer this mattter to the United Nations Security Council for consideration of sanctions.

    Israeli and American military action is on the horizon and Flap thinks imminent.

    Particularly since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just made the most MORONIC and OUTRAGEOUS comment:

    “Hopefully, the news that the criminal of Sabra and Chatilla has joined his ancestors is final.”

    Ahmadinejad was referring to Sharon, who as defense minister in 1982 directed Israel’s ill-fated invasion of Lebanon. An Israeli commission found him indirectly responsible for a massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps by Christian Phalangist soldiers.


    “Hopefully, others (criminals like him) will join him too.”

    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran’s resumption of atomic fuel research would signal its rejection of a diplomatic solution, but stopped short of saying this would finally trigger a U.S. push for U.N. Security Council action.

    Rice told reporters she hoped “diplomacy has not been exhausted.”

    Flap hopes that a diplomatic solution can avert a global NUCLEAR crisis.

    John Bolton should IMMEDIATELY call for an EMERGENCY SESSION of the United Nations Security Council or the B-2’s are in the AIR.

    Previous:

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Seeking Components to Manufacture Nuclear Bombs and Ballistic Missle Capability

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Resumes Nuclear Fuel Research

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – “Israel Completed Holocaust”

    Drudge Report Watch: ‘United States planning a military strike against Iran’

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?


    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Says Still Wants to Enrich Uranium in IRAN


    Iran Nuclear Watch: Russians Helping with Missle Threat to Europe

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Holocaust Is a “MYTH”

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Readies Forces to Strike Nuclear Iran

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  • Blogosphere,  Dentistry,  Morons

    Dentistry Today: Marquette University School of Dentistry Suspends Dental Student for Blog Posts – The RESOLUTION

    January 5, 2006 /

    Flap first reported on a Marquette University Dental Student Blogger in December.

    The Dental School Dean, William K. Lobb, D.D.S., M.S, through snail mail released his adjudication of the student’s appeal.

    Marquette Warrior has the story.

    Marquette Warrior: Dental School Blogger: Dean Reduces Punishment

    It created a firestorm: the decision of the Marquette Dental School to severely punish a student who had unkind words on his blog concerning an (unnamed) professor and his (unnamed) classmates.

    The draconian punishment imposed included a two semester suspension from school, the loss of a scholarship, and a requirement that the student see a counselor for supposed “binge drinking.”

    The sentence was appealed to Dental School Dean William Lobb.

    Flap predicted the Dean who controls the Dental School purse strings (spelled fund raising) knew this was a NO WIN situation for the school. He overturned (spelled rebuked):

    Dental School Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Denis Lynch

    Dr. Anthony Ziebert, who presided at the hearing.

    The Marquette Connection – Dr. Tony Ziebert, Mr. Brian Trecek, Dr. Dennis Lynch, Fr. Patrick Dorsey, Ms. Nanci Dabareiner.

    The entire Student-Faculty Review Committee

    The dental student blogger’s REDUCED penalties according to Scott Taylor, the student’s attorney):

    1. The suspension has been overturned. Rather, the student will face three semesters of probation.

    2. The action of the Student-Faculty Review Committee stripping him of his scholarship has been reversed.

    3. The student will not be required to seek counseling for (nonexistent) “behavioral issues.”

    4. The student will have to do 100 hours of community service, and make a public apology to his class.

    The entire Marquette Dental School community should be ashamed of this FLAP.

    Marquette Warrior has the school’s statement here.

    Flap says if the student had been my son/daughter that Marquette would have offered a FREE dental school education for him/her at ANOTHER dental school.

    As a Catholic dentist I am APPALLED.

    Oh, yes for the MORONS at Marquette here is a link to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

    Update:

    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No suspension for dental student

    The dean of Marquette University’s School of Dentistry has overturned the suspension of a student who posted negative comments about classmates and professors on a blog, saying the discipline was “not appropriate” for the circumstance, according to Scott Taylor, the student’s lawyer.

    Instead, Theodore Schrubbe, a second-year dental student, will be placed on probation and required to perform 100 hours of community service. He must also make a public apology to his class, Taylor said.

    “Ted is very relieved,” he said. “This punishment differs dramatically from the first.”

    And it turns out that Schrubbe’s mother works at the dental school.

    Taylor said Schrubbe’s mother did not want to release the letter because she works in the dental school and fears retribution from the administration. The Schrubbes did not return a call for comment.

    Flap wonders how long that will last?

    Flap does not think this story is over…….

    Stay tuned………

    Previous:

    Dentistry Today: Marquette University School of Dentistry Suspends Dental Student for Blog Posts

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  • Media,  Media Bias,  Politics

    Los Angeles Times Watch: Pulitzer Prize Winning Reporter – An UNHINGED Blogger

    January 5, 2006 /

    Michelle Malkin: THE THIN-SKINNED LA TIMES

    Over the holidays, I linked to Patterico’s devastating year-end review of journalistic malpractice at the LA Times.

    One left-wing LA Times columnist, Michael Hiltzik, has responded by comparing Patterico and other media watchdog bloggers to Stalin. Read more about the unhinged attack at Patterico’s.

    Michael Hiltzik is taking today off from blogging but his two UNHINGED posts against Patterico are:

    On Partisan Criticism of the Press (Part One)

    …To back up their assertions, they often quote articles selectively, take out of context what they do quote, and ascribe imaginary motivations to reporters and editors, which they then feel free to decry. As any student of history knows, these are tools and techniques that were used to great effect during the Stalinist show trials of the ‘40s and ‘50s. The functionaries who wielded them then had the same goals as the self-anointed press watchdogs on the right do today: To support the regime in power through intimidation and threat and to impose ideological conformity, while avoiding at all costs debate on the merits…


    On Partisan Criticism of the Press (Part Two)

    Unfortunately, the world is as it is, not as we want it to be. The goal of Frey, Hewitt, Kaus, and others of their ilk is to prevent the press from reporting on the world in all its messy, kaleidoscopic complexity. If they think that viewing the wide world with open eyes and an open mind is “bias,” so be it. They’re welcome to their comfy little burrow, embowering themselves in their sedulously-sought ignorance, if they can keep it. I’ll live in and cover the real world, thanks.

    Patterico has A Response to Michael Hiltzik

    You know you’ve arrived when an L.A. Times columnist compares you to a dishonest, totalitarian Stalinist apparatchik.

    Hiltzik has become UNHINGED.

    First, it was with Hugh Hewitt some time ago (the transcript and audio is here) and now with Patterico.

    Flap wonders if the Chicago-based Tribume Company owned Los Angeles Times, smarting from a dramatic decline in circulation and layoffs (spelled nobody is subscribing to your newspaper and you cannot pay the bills, thank you) is supporting this blatant disinformation and attack on the blogosphere.

    If this is how Big Media MSM plans to wage the information/media wars – the blogosphere has WON.

    Previous:

    Michelle Malkin Watch: 2005 IN REVIEW: THE WAR ON BLOGS

    Bear Flag League Watch: Patterico’s Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2005

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  • Criminals,  Politics

    France Riot Watch: Train Terrorism on New Years Day

    January 5, 2006 /

    Riot policemen protect themselves from bottle-throwing at the bottom of the Eiffel tower during clashes following new year celebrations in Paris January 1, 2006.

    The Washington Times: Gang terrorizes train in France

    A gang of more than 20 youths — thought to be North African immigrants — terrorized hundreds of train passengers in a rampage of violence, robbery and sexual assault on New Year’s Day, French officials said yesterday.

    The five-hour-long criminal frenzy was “totally unacceptable,” French President Jacques Chirac told reporters. “Those guilty will be found and punished, as they deserve.”

    Why has it taken three days to report these crimes?

    Bad news has a slow path out of France…….

    Riot policemen throw water to revellers at the bottom of the Eiffel tower during clashes following new year celebrations in Paris January 1, 2006.

    The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year’s Eve partying overnight.

    Once inside, they went wild, forcing passengers to hand over mobile phones and wallets, and slashing seats and breaking windows.

    A 20-year-old woman cornered by several of the marauders was sexually molested.

    “It was a real scene of pillage on the train,” said the regional state prosecutor, Dominique Luigi, adding that the passengers were in a state of “panic.”

    Chirac’s expression of unacceptable is ludicrous.

    Mr. President, you have some real “law and order” problems in your country.

    Tourism to France – Thumbs Down……….

    Only three — two 19-year-old Moroccans and a minor, all living in France — were arrested. Both men were being held for robbery and one also was facing charges of sexual assault. The minor was to be judged separately.

    Stay tuned….. France is only starting to feel their problems seen is last year’s riots and within their immigrant communities.

    The opposition Socialist Party said it viewed the incident with “astonishment.”

    It said “such acts show a worrying lack of security” and questioned why it took so long for police to rescue the passengers and why so few arrests were made.

    Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has championed hard-line security policies in France, partly blamed the state rail company SNCF for not communicating better with the police.

    “The problem is that law-enforcement services didn’t know that there was a promotional fare going,” he said.

    France’s Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy hangs a medal on a flag at Velizy-Villacoublay, western Paris January 4, 2006. Sarkozy attended a ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of the Compagnies Republicaines de securite (CRS), the French riot police units.

    When will the French people hold these morons who are running their government accountable?

    Michelle Malkin has THE SILENCE OF THE FEMS

    Previous:

    France Riot Watch: State of Emergency Lifted

    France Riot Watch: New Years Alert for Renewed Riots

    France Riot Watch: Chirac Vows Firm Response to Unrest

    France Riot Watch: France Extends State of Emergency for Three Months

    France Riot Watch: More Cars Torched Overnight

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  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  California,  Election 2006,  Politics

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Toll Roads in California’s Future?

    January 5, 2006 /

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks during the 68th Street School in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006. Schwarzenegger visited the school to discuss education and after-school program funding.

    Los Angeles Times: Gov. to Seek New Freeway Toll Lanes

    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose today adding special toll lanes — some exclusively for trucks — to California’s most congested freeways, and speeding their construction by easing environmental reviews.

    The toll proposal is only part of a multibillion-dollar public works agenda the governor will unveil during his annual State of the State speech, administration officials said Wednesday. But it would have a direct impact on the quality of life for millions of Californians and challenge their long-standing aversion to toll lanes.

    How many times do Californians have to asked to fund transportation projects by taxes or indirect taxes (bonds)? the tax money is always diverted to the schools, other social programs or simply pay Sacramento’s debt service on previous budget shortfalls.

    There are transportation needs. The California Legislature has been too interested in funding pensions for their UNION contributors, approving Gay Marriage or Driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.

    But, will California voters buy into this plan?

    Can we afford it?

    Flap refers you to a piece that appeared in yesterday’s Flash Report from Donna Arduin, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first Director of Finance.

    California’s debt load is another concern. Moody’s Investor Service reports that the state’s net tax supported debt is ninth highest in the country on a per capita basis and 12th highest as a percentage of personal income, and double the national average by either measure. California’s debt levels were similar to other states in the early 1990’s, and have grown out of proportion only in the last four years, from both the budget borrowing and voter approved debt issuances.

    With that in mind, the state should make sure any future debt financed projects are truly investments in the state’s long term growth, that private sector ideals are put to use as much as possible, such as user and beneficiary fees, and congestion pricing for roads, and that the state’s structural deficit, which reflects past commitments not yet paid for, is addressed first. If the state is not going to cut up its credit cards, it should at least pay them off before using them again.

    The Governor and Legislature have alot of convincing ahead of them.

    Two years ago the voters were asked to approve bonds (Prop. 57) to pay off a structural budget deficit. The deficit has now disappeared or been ameliorated by a one time infusion of funds by a tax amnesty plan and the potential sale of Prop. 57 Economic Recovery bonds.

    Shouldn’t the State of California pay off its debts FIRST and BALANCE their budget before undertaking a massive infrastructure bond initiative?

    Stay tuned……..

    Previous:

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Infrastructure Bond Trial Balloon – $25-27 Billion


    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governor Expected to Propose College Fee Freeze

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Infrastructure Bond Will NOT Include Tax Increases


    California Taxes Watch: Builders and Politicians Pushing Bond Package

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Here Come the Tax Increases

    Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Election 2006, , , ,

  • Day By Day

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    January 5, 2006 /

    But, Chris the NY Times does NOT want to hurt James Risen’s book sales…….they might have to pay him more!

    They will probably will be paying his BAIL when the DOJ subpoenas his sources……