Free Republic

DVDs are encoded with a region code. The USA is part of region code 1, whereas Europe (including the UK) is region code 2. The commercial DVD player specification requires that a player to be sold in a given place not play discs encoded for a different region. So chances are, the Prime Minister won’t be able to play the DVDs when he gets home (unless he can find a region free DVD player).

The State Division of Elections isn’t going to start posting results until after 8:00 pm. I just checked their website, and it’s still at 0%. Where is abc getting their pre-8 pm results?

I live in Okaloosa County, Florida, one of the most Republican-leaning counties in the USA. (The county cast 77.7% of its vote for Bush in 2004.) Our Supervisor of Elections announced that we tripled the previous early voting record for this election. So the Republican turnout in this panhandle county looks to set a record if the early voting turnout trend continues through election day.

When I attended the program manager’s course at the Defense Systems Management College at Ft Belvoir, part of the curriculum involved a Capitol Hill day, where we visited Congress, sat in on defense related sessions, and met with congressmen, to get acquainted with Congress’ role in the acquisition process. Observing congress that day was part of our official duties, as well as a required part of the program management course. For the Congressman to get all hot and bothered over something like this is absurd.

It is interesting to contrast the attitudes of the Louisiana "leadership" and citizenry with that of neighboring Mississippi. Consider the following comment:

"The morale is higher in Mississippi about the future than in Louisiana," says Douglas Brinkley, history professor at Tulane University and author of The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, published in May. "There's a can-do spirit in Mississippi that transcends what you'll find in New Orleans."

I found the above quote in the following USA Today article (today's edition): In Mississippi, Katrina recovery gaining steam

There are unusual circumstances, not applicable to the present case, when a promotion occurs at retirement. For example, when an Air Force officer accepts the position of permanent head of a department at the Air Force Academy, they serve on active duty at the rank of Full Colonel. They are promoted to Brigadier General upon retirement, and receive BG retired pay and protocol rank. Again, not applicable to the present case, but there are unusual cases when it happens.

I found the most interesting line of this article to be the following:

"Some employees will get revised W-2 forms to include money they were paid without being reported as taxable income by the university."

I suspect this is tied to the low-interest rate loans given to some UC administrators and faculty as mentioned earlier in CA: Low-rate loans for UC's elite on homes - Some less than 2 percent -- system won't divulge names.

Depending on the conditions of the loan, the amount by which the loan rate falls below a standardized rate computed by the IRS generates taxable income to the recipient.

I hope the recipients of these loans are aware of the potential tax consequences. Depending on the details of the terms of the loan, the employer is treated as if it paid additional compensation to the employee in the amount of the difference between the actual rate of interest and something called the applicable federal rate (AFR). The AFR is a kind of "market" interest rate computed using average yields of U. S. Treasury Obligations. This additional compensation income is deductible by the employer and is taxable to the executive.

I worked for two years in Germany at one of their research institutes as part of an engineering exchange program. Some of my older German colleagues told me they were required to learn the Gettysburg Address in the original English as part of their education. They would have attended school in the 50s and 60s. I don't think it's still part of the standard educational curriculum in Germany.

I don't know where Louie Freeh got the designation "4404th" for the unit that lost airmen in the Khobar Towers bombing. I was stationed at Eglin AFB and attended the memorial service at King Hangar where Bill Clinton spoke for the lost airmen of the 33rd Fighter Wing, nicknamed "the Nomads". I recall Clinton talking big about bringing those responsible to justice, a promise easily made but, like so many uttered by his lips, left unfufilled by his administration.

The 33rd Fighter Wing has a memorial at Eglin to their airmen who died at Khobar Towers. Here is a picture of it:

Our local paper had a photo today on their front page of one of the widows placing a bouquet of flowers at her late husband's (Sgt. Millard "Soup" Campbell) spot on this memorial to mark the 10th anniversary of his loss. I would have posted this image, but the online version of the paper requires a paid subscription.

Publisher's Synopsis:

Dr. Bennett is currently working on his next work, America: The Last Best Hope, a two-volume history of the United States. America: The Last Best Hope is a vibrant account of this country's record from before the Founding of the United States to the present day. In recent decades, many histories have treated the American story largely as a social study of missteps and injustices. This treatment is different. Dr. Bennett does not shrink from any hard truths about the nation's past, and he trumpets the glory, romance, and exceptionalism of American achievement. At 512 pages, the first volume covers the discovery of the Americas to the eve of World War I. Volume Two takes readers from World War I to September 11, 2001. The first volume will be published and released May 23, 2006 by Nelson Current, and the second in 2007.

I was surprised to read this article after watching Fox News this morning, during which they reported exactly the opposite, that crude prices actually dropped. I think the explanation is that prices dropped in after-hours trading based on speculation that crude inventories in the U.S. are up. At least that's what Bloomberg is reporting this morning:

Oil Falls on Speculation U.S. Gasoline Supplies Rose Last Week

Does anything else have a hard time figuring this stuff out when simultaneous headlines provide exactly the opposite news?

Where I live in the Florida panhandle, the gasoline stations obtain 90% of their product from a local Citgo terminal supplied by fuel barges. After Dennis, Emily, and Katrina, we have had intervals of a week or more when no gasoline was available anywhere locally. The waters of the Gulf were too choppy for the barges to make it over to us. Tourists told to evacuate the area in advance of these storms would naturally fill up before leaving the area for the drive home. Evacuees from LA, MS, and AL took what gasoline was left. So unless you are prepared to get by for a week on a half a tank of gas, which may be impractical depending on your commute, I don't see how your approach would work in these circumstances.

Danny Wuerffel's father was an Air Force chaplain stationed at Eglin AFB while Danny played his High School football at Fort Walton. After winding up his not-so-stellar professional football career with the Saints, Danny got involved with the Desire Street Ministry/Academy in New Orleans.

My wife got a call today from one of her "Bunko Babes" asking for a donation to help raise money to buy t-shirts and other clothes for these kids. (We live near Niceville.)

For more info on the Desire Street Academy, you can go to their website here.

Should federal dollars go towards repairing interstate highways, such as the section of I-10 east of New Orleans knocked out by Katrina, or the section of I-10 east of Pensacola destroyed by Ivan? What about the cost of clearing downed trees and other debris from the interstates and other public roadways? What about repairing assets with an impact on the national economy, such as the port of New Orleans, or the telephone interchanges that, when damaged, affect the telephone network of an entire interstate region? What about the cost of repairing Keesler AFB in Biloxi, or Penasacola NAS, or Eglin AFB near Ft Walton Beach, Florida?

Are you sure that MG Landreneau is related to Louisiana's Senator Landrieu?.

FEMA is a federal agency. There is no Louisiana "branch" of FEMA. Louisiana has instead a state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. According to their website, the LOHSEP is directed by Major General Bennett C. Landreneau, who is also the Adjutant General for Louisiana. Basically, he wears two hats: he heads the Louisiana National Guard, and directs this state office. His bio is here.

It looks like from his bio that he was appointed to his position in the National Guard by whoever was governor of Louisiana in 1997. I'm not sure when this other office was established, or when he was appointed director. However, it is a certainty he was appointed to his positions by the Louisiana governor, not the President.

I've been listening to WWL radio New Orleans early in the morning, and heard them discussing this story. The Memphis DA has stated that there will be no plea deals offered to anyone charged with a crime perpetrated on an evacuee.

Even though he's not supposed to use web sites as "sources", he can use them to download documents and reports relevant to his report. If he's going to write about the 911 Commission, he should take a look at its final report. He can download the entire thing at no cost (or sections of it) at the Commission's official website: Commission Report.

He should also look at unclassified reports and documents relevant to the 911 Commission at the CIA's website: War on Terrorism.

RE: "and the head of Florida wildlife..."

What is the proper title of such an official in Florida? Chief alligator?

Answer: