Well, I have finally arrived back home from the Corporate Mothership in Maitland, FL.  As usual, I return with an ever-increasing distaste for travel.

Some random thoughts on travel...

Runaround Sue's site is down for the count, reporting a MySQL error:

MySQL ERROR:

Error Number: 1146

Description: Table 'sbynew03_eedata.sbynew03_sites' doesn't exist

Query: SELECT es.* FROM sbynew03_sites AS es WHERE es.site_id = '1'

MySQL is a database engine, just like SQL Server or Oracle.  Basically, that error is saying his site was deleted.  Oops.

Washington Whispers over at US News and World Report has a rumor that AG Alberto Gonzales -- the most incompetent Attorney General since Janet Reno -- might bail soon.  What's worse?  Michael Chertoff might be named the new AG.

He did such a great job NOT enforcing the law at Homeland Security, why not?  He's so concerned about the lettuce harvest, why not?  He did such a great job at controlling "Brownie" at FEMA, why not?

I have a better idea.  Mark Levin for Attorney General.

... when they censor themselves?

Word is out that many large national newspapers -- including The Washington Post -- will not carry the Opus Cartoons on August 26th and September 2nd for fear of --- offending Muslims.  Of course, they never miss an opportunity to offend Christians or Jews.

However, you can still view the cartoons over at Salon.

If it is censorship when citizens groups band together to protest the publication of offensive material, why isn't it  censorship when a newspaper refuses to publish an article or comic?

Who's more green?  Al Gore or George W. Bush?

http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/2007/070806twohouses.htm

H/T: my Aunt Brenda

Thanks to Mark Steyn over at The Corner on National Review, the Huffington Post has once again been exposed as a group of brainless boobs who lack the ability to put a coherent thought into a real blog post. 

If you have never been to the Huffington Post, you should reall visit.  It's like having a site of 100 Joe Albero's all the posting the same inane garbage in one place.

The target of my ire this sultry August morning is Martin Lewis, who suggests that General Peter Pace-- the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should relieve President Bush of his role as commander in chief.  Martin Lewis is obviously just plain stupid, and does not realize how the law actually works -- as opposed to how he wishes it did work in the land where marijuna grows on roadsides like black-eyed susans.

Guvnah O'Malley's plan to raise the gasoline tax from its current level of 23.5 cents per gallon to 35.5 cents a gallon is a VERY bad idea, and will hurt the state more than help it.

I am adding a poll question to the site.  Should we add a message board to the Gunpowder Chronicle?

Now, if I do decide to add a message board, I would most certainly require registration to post on it, and posts would probably be moderated.

If you have ideas on what forums we should have, post them as comments here. I am interested to hear what my readers have to say.

If there is interest, I'll do it.

Rich Lowery over at National Review Online has a fantastic commentary piece on the Inspector General report about the failure of the CIA to accurately predict and deal with the threat of terrorism on US soil.

Baltimore's FOX 45 is reporting on their website that the city is slowing down-- maybe even stopping their efforts to sell the large number of residential and commercial properties currently on city books.

If true, this represents a poor, pathetic vision on the part of City leadership and a continuation of the rampant stupidity that has plagued the City since the administration of Kurt Schmoke.

Charles Krauthammer has joined the growing chorus of nay sayers against Iraqi PM Nouri al Maliki (like Senators Clinton, Reid, and Levin) in calling for his removal.

Just something we might want to keep in mind:  the last time the United States President ordered/authorized a coup de tat against an the sitting head of allied state, that President was dead two months later from an assassin's bullet.

President Kennedy authorized the coup de tat that resulted in the murder of Ngo Dinh Diem on November 2, 1963.

Now, before the Oliver Stones of the blogosphere start going nutso over this bit of trivia, I am not trying to establish a conspiratorial cause to the Kennedy assassination.

I am just pointing out that George W. Bush doesn't have much incentive to tease a repeat of history.

Just so everyone knows, posting will be a little lite this week.  I have to travel to Florida on business to visit the company Mothership, so I will only be able to post late at night, if at all.

From the blog CARPE DIEM, between 2002 and 2007 -- the greatest period of "globalizing economics" the world has ever seen, stock market capitalizations have increased $35 trillion dollars.  That is a doubling in value in just five years.

It took us almost 2000 years to reach the original $35 trillion dollars.

This success is the result of ever-increasing integration of the global economy, which fuels growth and prosperity for all people, given the chance.  But if the so-called Progressives in the Democrat party get their way, no one will be given the chance.

Question is:  when will we be able to get Africa into the game?

Imagine my surprise this last Thursday evening when all of sudden, my little old farm house up here on York Road was lit up like a carnival ride from the lights of the Baltimore County Police department. 

The President really lit a tinderbox in his speech to the VFW this week when he invoked the aftermath of the Vietnam War as a lesson for us in Iraq.

Ralph Peters has a must-read article in the New York Post.

Leave it to the leadership of the NAACP to squander a century of moral authority on someone as fundamentally worthless as former NFL faux quarterback Michael Vick.

Is the NAACP so desperate for fundraising these days that they will stand up for any worthless little walking colostomy bag?

Maryland Townie has uncovered a VERY interesting document that indicates that Runaround Sue may have perjured himself.

The document is the deed of transfer for the old Pittsville fire station (the one that became the Station 7 Restaurant).

In the document, Runaround Sue clearly identifies that he is a legal resident of MARYLAND.  However, as Runaround Sue has regularly stated for some time now, he is and has been a legal resident of DELAWARE.

Furthermore, we know that when Runaround Sue was charged with assault at the Zoo, he could not post a property bond because he does not live in MARYLAND, but DELAWARE.  In fact, his father-in-law had to post that property bond.

So if Runaround Sue committed perjury, does that not also force States Attorney Davis Ruark to pull the assault charges off the STET docket and make the case active again?

Or is this just another "paperwork mixup" like in the tax case awaiting to be resolved?  (Note:  that trial was rescheduled.  Isn't it pretty easy to dispense with a "paperwork mixup"?  And if it is only a "paperwork mixup", how come Runaround Sue's good friend Rick Pollitt hasn't stepped in to get this straightened out?)

Please visit Maryland Townie for the document. 

Michael Vick, faux quarterback and scum of the earth, is now officially and indefinitely suspended from the National Football League.  On Monday, he will go before the judge and enter his official guilty plea.  Unfortunately, he is not allowed to plead guilty to be an absolutely worthless colostomy bag who deserves nothing better than the way he treated those dogs.

Let's just hope he doesn't get the lead role in "Longest Yard 3".

After reading this post over at Delmarva Dealings, I remain amazed how people continue to reject Occam's Razor in favor of conspiracy theories.

The vaunted legal mind John Robinson, lately relieved of his gig at WICO, is now proferring legal advice on his blog at http://robinson1320.blogspot.com/. Luckily for the attorneys in Salisbury -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- his legal advice will be no more successful than his abortive radio career.

Guvnah Marty the Mick should read the Wall Street Journal on gas taxes and bridges.  Or he might be next in their target site.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep buying my groceries and my gas in Pennsylvania.

I do this at my own risk, but I am afraid I must rise up to disagree with the Great Curmudgeon, a/ka/ Bill Duvall, and his post over at Duvafiles.

Over at Captain's Quarters, there is a pretty devastating post that shows that John Edwards is an empty suit, with an empty head, and an empty campaign.

Yes, John, there are two Americas:  the one you live in, and the one where everyone knows that you are full of more bullsh*t than a barnyard.

It seems like Immigration and Customs Enforcement might finally be doing their job, as Elvira Arellano has been arrested in Los Angeles.  She's been under a deportation order since August 15, 2006, but has been hiding out in a United Methodist Church in Chicago since then.

Michelle Malkin has more.

I wonder what Michael Chertoff will have to say about this year's lettuce crop now.

According to this article from Bill Gertz in Friday's Washington Times, the Dragon apparently offered the US the opportunity to split the Pacific in half.

Disturbing and comical news out of the Far East this week, as the Chi-Coms and the Russians have announced they are conducting joint exercises in CHEBARKUL TESTING RANGE, Russia.  That is the disturbing news.

The comical news is that Russian Czar Vladimir Putin, in a bid to establish Russia as a global military power, has ordered Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers back in the air on their station-keeping Cold War-era patrols.

In case you missed it, I got a nice mention in The Daily Times "Story Chat" feature.  You can read the post here.

While my numbers aren't stellar, it's good to know that folks like accomack_transplant think this site is worth reading.

Some bloggers are obsessed with numbers.  I am not.  I know who reads my postings.  Many choose not to comment.  Some because they can't due to who they are and what they do, others because they don't know how, and a few because they think that posting "I agree" serves no purpose.  All those choices are fine with me.

Anyway, thanks for the shoutout, and if there is something you want to see me write on, contact me at blog@gunpowderchronicle.com.

We've seen a pretty wild ride this week on the stock market.  Yes, there has been troubling news coming out the sub-prime mortgage market (in my opinion, the bad news is that there IS a sub-prime mortgage market), but the wild extremes of highs and lows has been a little scary.

Why?

Because wild negative swings in value are what cause margin calls, and margin calls are what start runs.  It was margin calls that started the subprime crisis, as lenders starting calling their chits and the mortgage companies became cash-strapped.

So why the wild swings?

Runaround Sue keeps pushing the lies.  In a comment to my post here, Runaround Sue continues to push this notion that I sent the "real fightin4th" a two page letter.

Well, Runaround Sue has re-appeared over at his old blogspot address.  And he is claiming once again that the hackers are ruling the roost.  Only his story today has shifted.  Yesterday, they were "tracking down IP addresses".  Today, he "needs to contact our server and find out what the problem is".

But wait, I thought you and your host were teaming up to bring down the big bad mighty hacker. Today, you can't get in contact with them?

Very suspicious, very suspicious indeed.  Which story is it, Runaround Sue?  Or is this just another one of those claims like you will root out and expose the real Fightin4th?  Because we know it is never your fault.   Nothing you ever do could cause a shutdown. Like maybe violating the Terms of Service of your host.  Or being so amaturish that you can't even optimize a couple photos so you don't suck the bandwidth out of people's connections.

Runaround Sue's sbynews.com has been suspended.  At 11:33 pm, the site is showing the following:

This Account Has Been Suspended

Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.

Runaround Sue is now claiming that someone is trying to hack his site, and they are tracking down the IP addresses as they speak.  Hmm... so did they issue subpoenas for that information yet?

The reality is that his site is slow because he is a complete and utter moron who does not know how to scale and optimize images -- or use tools like Picasa or Flickr -- to do it for him.

Runaround Sue has a post on his blog today titled Honored To Be In The Presence Of Four Great Men Yesterday.  He was referring to Guvnah Marty the Mick O'Malley, Ricky Pollitt, John Cannon, and Mike Lewis.