Wednesday - June 22, 2005

On This Day In History

1870 - Congress Establishes The Department Of Justice

The Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 20, sec. 35, 1 Stat. 73, 92-93 (1789) created the Office of the Attorney General. Originally a one-person part-time position, the Attorney General was to be “learned in the law” with the duty “to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments, touching any matters that may concern their departments.” The workload quickly became too much for one person, necessitating the hiring of several assistants for the Attorney General. With an increasing amount of work to be done, private attorneys were retained to work on cases.

In 1870, after the post-Civil War increase in the amount of litigation involving the United States necessitated the very expensive retention of a large number of private attorneys to handle the workload, a concerned Congress passed the Act to Establish the Department of Justice, ch. 150, 16 Stat. 162 (1870) on June 22, 1870 setting it up as “an executive department of the government of the United States” with the Attorney General as its head. Officially coming into existence on July 1, 1870, the Department of Justice, pursuant to the 1870 Act, was to handle the legal business of the United States. The Act gave the Department control over all criminal prosecutions and civil suits in which the United States had an interest. In addition, the Act gave the Attorney General and the Department control over federal law enforcement. To assist the Attorney General, the 1870 Act created the Office of the Solicitor General.

The 1870 Act is the foundation upon which the Department of Justice still rests. However, the structure of the Department of Justice has changed over the years, with the addition of the Deputy Attorneys General and the formation of the Divisions. Unchanged is the steadily increasing workload of the Department. It has become the world’s largest law office and the central agency for enforcement of federal laws.

Happy Birthday Today To: Meryl Streep - 56, Brit Hume - 62, Kris Kristofferson - 69, Cyndi Lauper - 52, Todd Rundgren - 57.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/22/2005 at 03:32 AM   
Filed Under: • History •  
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Duh!

_{Michael Ramirez, California—The Los Angeles Times}

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/22/2005 at 03:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Terrorists •  
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   Tuesday - June 21, 2005

Déjeuner Bruyant

.... and a great time was had by all. Dottie, Barb and I had a wonderful luncheon today at TGI Fridays. Barb talked non-stop for over four hours. Amazing. Simply amazing! Dottie and I just sat back and listened. And listened. And listened. And listened. Skipper dove into a 16 oz. New York Strip and interrupted the steady stream of consciousness every few minutes. Well, maybe twice an hour. For those who don’t pay attention around here, Barb is “Annoying Little Twerp” and has her own blog of that title. Go visit her site for more. She and her family are visiting here in St. Louis this weekend. Dottie also comments on this blog and is a wonderful nurse at one of the local hospitals. Great ladies, both of them.

As you can see below, in the first picture Barb (left) and Dottie (right) emerged in fine shape, full of good food and exhausted from the conversation. In the second picture, the Skipper is shown being carried out by Barb after he collapsed with a complete shutdown of his auditory facilities. His last words were .... “huh?”

We expect him to survive though .... Skipper would like to thank the fine ladies for an extremely pleasureable afternoon and the excellent company. Now, ten points goes to whoever can translate the title of this post first ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 05:24 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal •  
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Another One Bites The Dust

From the obituary pages of the Tucson.com classified pages ....

Corwyn (Cory) William Zimbleman
Tucson, AZ (formerly of Champaign, IL)

Age 53. Born April 18, 1952 to the late Willard and Gilda (Ebert) Zimbleman, died June 10, 2005. Throughout his life Cory was an extraordinary artist. His artistic talent and imagination would bring awe to all who viewed his work. His works grace an LP cover and numerous books; using Computer Aided Design (CAD) he designed home and business exteriors, interiors, and furniture for several architectural firms. His talent went beyond the fine arts as he added sculpturing, woodworking, metals, and other mediums to his repertoire. Having never gained the recognition he deserved in his own lifetime his family hopes to publish a book of his works. Another of his passions was herpetology. As a child he was always bringing home reptiles. His friends nicknamed him “Snake.” He even built a turtle pond in his backyard. An avid atheist, he studied the bible and religion with more fervor than most Christians. He had strong political opinions and followed Amy Goodman’s radio broadcast “Democracy Now.” Alas the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise. Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled. Cory, a great man, so very talented, compassionate and intelligent, dedicated to the arts and humanities and the environment, will be greatly missed by his wife, family, and friends. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Montiel; his step-daughter, Esperanza Hernandez both of Tucson; his brother, Mike (Dana) of St. Louis, MO; his sisters, Susan St. Claire of San Jose, CA and Laura Zimbleman of Ypsilanti, MI, and his turtles Heidie, Skinhead and Studley and many other pets. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, June 21, 2005 from 6:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m., please call 883-2862 for information. Cremation has taken place.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/21/2005 at 05:04 PM   
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Turn ‘Em On, Switch ‘Em Off

Pardon me but I’ve still got the giggles after reading this news article which is the latest revelation from the world of scientific research ....

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - New research indicates parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm but remain active if she is faking.

In the first study to map brain function during orgasm, scientists from the Netherlands also found that as a woman climaxes, an area of the brain governing emotional control is largely deactivated.

“The fact that there is no deactivation in faked orgasms means a basic part of a real orgasm is letting go. Women can imitate orgasm quite well, as we know, but there is nothing really happening in the brain,” said neuroscientist Gert Holstege, presenting his findings Monday to the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

In the study, Holstege and his colleagues at Groningen University recruited 11 men, 13 women and their partners.

The volunteers were injected with a dye that shows changes in brain function on a scan. For men, the scanner tracked activity at rest, during erection, during manual stimulation by their partner and during ejaculation brought on by the partner’s hand.

For women, the scanner measured brain activity at rest, while they faked an orgasm, while their partners stimulated their clitoris and while they experienced orgasm.

Holstege said he had trouble getting reliable results from the study on men because the scanner needs activities lasting at least two minutes and the men’s climaxes didn’t last that long. However, the scans did show activation of reward centers in the brain for men, but not for women.

Holstege said his results on women were more clear.

When women faked orgasm, the cortex, the part of the brain governing conscious action, lit up. It was not activated during a genuine orgasm.

Even the body movements made during a real orgasm were unconscious, Holstege said.

The most striking results were seen in the parts of the brain that shut down, or deactivated. Deactivation was visible in the amygdala, a part of the brain thought to be involved in the neurobiology of fear and anxiety.

“During orgasm, there was strong, enormous deactivation in the brain. During fake orgasm, there was no deactivation of the brain at all. None,” Holstege said.

Shutting down the brain during orgasm may ensure that obstacles such as fear and stress did not get in the way, Holstege proposed. “Deactivation of these very important parts of the brain might be the most important necessity for having an orgasm,” he said.

Donald Pfaff, professor of neurobiology and behavior at Rockefeller University in New York, said the interpretations were reasonable. “It makes poetic sense,” said Pfaff, who was not connected with the research.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 10:09 AM   
Filed Under: • Science-Technology •  
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BMEWS Luncheon Today

If you’re anywhere near the TGI Fridays on South Lindbergh Blvd in southeast St. Louis today at 11:30am, look for the big guy in the Skipper’s hat. Hopefully, the two ladies (Dottie and Barb) will not stand him up. Any of our other readers who are close by are invited to drop in and join us. No autographs, please.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 09:14 AM   
Filed Under: • Personal •  
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Tuesday News Bytes

• Senate Democrats block John Bolton again. Quarterback Bush may decide to go with naked bootleg around right end.


• Saddam Hussein misses Ronald Reagan. Don’t we all?


• Female Palestinian suicide bomber caught at Israeli border with explosives in her panties. New “exploding snatch” trick learned from watching Paris Hilton videos.


• Grapefruit makes women seem younger to men. In my case, all it takes is eight or ten beers and they all look like beauty queens ....

NEW YORK - A study of smells shows that the scent of grapefruit on women make them seem about six years younger to men. However, grapefruit fragrance on men does nothing for them.

The study by the Smell and Taste Institute in Chicago was conducted by Institute director Alan Hirsch. Hirsch smeared several middle-aged woman with broccoli, banana, spearmint leaves, and lavender but none of those scents made a difference to the men.

But the scent of grapefruit changed men’s perceptions. Hirsch said that when male volunteers were asked to write down how old the woman with grapefruit odor was, the age was considerably less than reality.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 07:20 AM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs •  
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On This Day In History

1788 - U.S. Constitution ratified

ew Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land.

By 1786, defects in the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation were apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and domestic commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.

Beginning on December 7, five states--Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut--ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.

On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution--the Bill of Rights--and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 07:14 AM   
Filed Under: • History •  
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Helping Hand

_{Henry Payne, The Detroit News, Michigan}

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/21/2005 at 07:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias •  
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   Monday - June 20, 2005

Blog Problems

As you may be aware by now, this blog has been off the air most of the day. We came under attack from spammers this morning and before I could stop them, I had a corrupted database. Hosting Matters has been great and I want to thank them for quickly restoring the master database. As always, their service is unmatched.

I will be making a few changes to the blog configuration in the next few days to stop these attacks. I will keep you all updated on progress. I apologize for the outage. It seems that the more popular this site becomes, the more it becomes a target for every lunatic out there with a computer and a connection to the internet.

I thank you all for your patience.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/20/2005 at 11:30 PM   
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Pusher Man

_{Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—The Philadelphia Daily News}

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/20/2005 at 09:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine •  
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   Sunday - June 19, 2005

Feel The Force

I just sent this to my two rat-fink sons to remind them to call me. Sigh. You change their diapers, feed them, clothe them, raise them, put them through school, spend tens of thousands of dollars on them and whaddya get ....?

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/19/2005 at 03:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor • Personal •  
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Photo Du Jour

“Krakatau Volcano”
-by-
Space Imaging

Lying in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, Krakatau Volcano is famous for producing one of the largest explosions on Earth. In about 416 AD, a caldera collapse destroyed a larger island. Krakatau, Verlaten and Lang are all that remains of that volcano. In 1883, the explosion of the volcano destroyed much of Krakatau. The eruption was one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recorded history. The effects were experienced on a global scale. Fine ashes from the eruption were carried by upper level winds as far away as New York City. The explosion was heard more than 3000 miles away. Volcanic dust blew into the upper atmosphere affecting incoming solar radiation and the earth’s weather for several years. A series of large tsunami waves generated by the main explosion, some reaching a height of nearly 40 meters (more than 120 feet) above sea level, killed more than 36,000 people in the coastal towns and villages along the Sunda Strait on Java and Sumatra islands. Tsunami waves were recorded or observed throughout the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the American West Coast, South America, and even as far away as the English Channel.

Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite took this image June 11, 2005.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/19/2005 at 12:14 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Environment •  
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Campaign ‘08

I just received this bumper sticker from Karl Rove. Pass it on ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/19/2005 at 11:02 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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