Analog TV sets are headed for an obsolescence deadline

Were you aware that the TV broadcasters are going to shut down their analog transmitters in about 18 months? If you weren’t, you’re in good company. According to a poll released this past January, 61% of those responding had no idea, either.

On 18 Feb 2009 the television broadcasting industry will be permitted to shut off their existing analog transmission network which will render any analog TV not equipped with a converter box or hooked to a cable or satellite provider obsolete and pretty useless. As of now, that’s leaving 19% of households in the dark unless they upgrade their gear.

This hasn’t been coming in under the radar, it’s been clearly announced for a couple of years. It’s just that the industry hasn’t been very loud about the deadline coming. (And I do consider it the responsibility of the industry to get that word out, not the government.) Knowing what they say about being forewarned, be sure you keep your eyes open as the date approaches.

TN Corrections Dept getting their panties in a bunch?

So here’s the primary question to the Tennessee Dept. of Corrections who has issued a revision of the visitation rules for people visiting inmates at the prisons banning visitors from wearing thong underwear:

How are you planning on enforcing that?

ICE to update DRO systems

ICE is preparing to solicit proposals for modernizing the system used by the Office of Detention and Removal (DRO) according to a report over at FCW.com.

The Homeland Security Department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division issued a pre-solicitation notice July 24 requesting project management support services for the Office of Detention and Removal (DRO).

ICE Chief Information Officer Luke McCormack said the current DRO system is 20 years old. The office is responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws requiring “removable aliens” to leave the United States. 

The existing systems clearly need an upgrade and that would be obvious even if you didn’t know they were 20 years old. The people who simply slip through the cracks when they should have been deported do so because the systems aren’t in place to adequately track them. This solicitation also deals with the concept of finding ways to track and assure compliance of those illegals who are being run through the system but aren’t necessarily put in detention centers. (Think GPS-enabled leg bands like those used for “house arrest” cases.) If such systems are made robust enough, they would greatly enhance our ability to maintain immigration control even if we don’t have enough prisons to hold them all.

Definitely something that should be looked into.

At least Churchill can admit his shorcomings

FoxNews.com has a story up about Ward Churchill’s firing. I find it gratifying that the ex-professor at least understands the basic issue.

A reporter asked Churchill if the professor was a fraud.

“Is it some kind of fraud to pretend you’ve got a mind?” Churchill responded.

Now that we know Churchill gets it that we think he’s only pretending to have a mind (ba-doom) the answer is: when you steal other people’s work and call it your own in order to make that pretense then hell, yes, it’s fraud. That’s the finding of several of the University’s investigations and the clearly appropriate penalty for engaging in that sort of academic misconduct is to have your fraudulent butt kicked to the curb.

Churchill could have gotten away with it, I’m sure, if his massive ego and desire to be “controversial” hadn’t gotten the better of him. But it did and he wrote an article he knew would offend the hell out of a lot of people. That act, by the way, isn’t what got him in trouble, nor should it be. Churchill’s an idiot and a generic jerk, but that’s a Constitutionally protected status in this country. He can be an idiot and a jerk to his heart’s content – and he’s clearly very content – but that’s not what got him fired. Those qualities merely brought his other activities to light and it’s those activities that got him fired.

In short, let him go right ahead and file his First Amendment legal challenge. No one’s suppressing his First Amendment rights. They’re kicking him out because he’s a fraud, a plagiarist, and a liar. A court trial will see to it that as wide an audience as possible sees that and that might get people wondering about the state of our education institutions today.

Al Qaeda steps way over the line; draws ire of Iraqi soccer hooligans

I made mention of the Iraqi soccer team’s win in the quarterfinals against Vietnam last week. I heard about their win in the semifinals against South Korea, but only in the light of the latest terror attack. Terrorists launched 2 suicide car bombs specifically targeting the celebratory crowd, killing 50 and wounding over 100 more.

They go after Iraqi citizens celebrating an Iraqi victory. To say they’ve lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the average Iraqi in an understatement. They might have been able to call it sectarian before, but soccer appears to have a way of making the Sunni/Shia distinction fade and I don’t think that will be lost on the Iraqi citizenry. The “surge” is already making serious progress and the people of Iraq are turning on the terrorists. This action on their part will hasten that process, I think.

TSA investigates bomb threat in Seattle

A Northwest Airlines flight out of Seattle had to be recalled to the airport yesterday after a man reported that there was a bomb on the plane. After interrogating the man, officials say they did not really believe there was a bomb on board but recalled the aircraft to be on the safe side. When the plane was brought back, they evacuated the passengers and offloaded the baggage to perform a sweep with bomb dogs.

The story was reported yesterday evening, but there’s been an update since then that indicates the man made the report because he had missed the flight and wanted the plane to return. If that is so, then this man should be treated as a terrorist. Actions like his are what desensitizes security agents and the general public to the real danger of terrorists. It puts a doubt into their head that some warning sign they’re seeing that would indicate a real terrorist action might just be a hoax, and that generates hesitation. Hesitation like that is all the opening an enemy needs.

If it turns out that this clown made his report because he thought that would get the plane to come back and that he would then be allowed on it to fly to his destination, then the airlines as a whole should petition to put him on the terror no-fly list. Mr. Bomb Report can just travel via trains, buses, and rental cars. The next idiot who thinks using a bomb scare as an air traffic control method might think twice.