Blog Heap of Links for the day 2 May 2012

Seven thousand miles, one way, is a long journey to share war remarks with countrymen that he should have and could have shared back home many months ago. Despite the administration's best backgrounding sales efforts, the document he signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a meaningless basic agreement to talk later about forging a real agreement. ... Nothing was essentially changed by what the media lovingly called his "secret trip" to the war zone, which was simply unannounced for security reasons. ... One little-noticed provision of the agreement Obama and Karzai signed Tuesday, however, is that American troops will remain in Afghanistan for not one, not two, not even three more years. They will be there for 12 more years, until 2024, helping. So, John McCain was correct after all about lengthy U.S. troop stationings. ... Nor, as it turns out, could the politically-inclined president of the United States find room anywhere among his 1,556 words for the seven letters that could make his surges and all those sacrifices seem more worthwhile: "victory."

One night I took her to see a new play by a black playwright. It was a very angry play, but very funny. Typical black American humor. The audience was mostly black, and everybody was laughing and clapping and hollering like they were in church. After the play was over, my friend started talking about why black people were so angry all the time. I said it was a matter of remembering—nobody asks why Jews remember the Holocaust, I think I said—and she said that’s different, and I said it wasn’t, and she said that anger was just a dead end. We had a big fight, right in front of the theater. When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn’t be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn’t. She could only be herself, and wasn’t that enough. [Presidential bullsh!t from Dreams From My Father; only the names are real; the facts have been changed to seduce the innocent.]

One of the more mysterious characters from President Obama's 1995 autobiography Dreams From My Father is the so-called 'New York girlfriend.' Obama never referred to her by name, or even by psuedonym, but he describes her appearance, her voice, and her mannerisms in specific detail. But Obama has now told biographer David Maraniss that the 'New York girlfriend' was actually a composite character, based off of multiple girlfriends he had both in New York City and in Chicago. [Or boyfriends. Or both or neither. Or Ayers made the whole thing up. Everything the SCoaMF says is a lie, so who cares!]

The federal probe that resulted last night in the arrest of five purported anarchists for allegedly plotting to bomb an Ohio bridge began last year at an Occupy Wall Street rally in Cleveland that was infiltrated by an informant who was directed to attend the event by his FBI handlers. ... Defendant Brandon Baxter... “suggested getting tacks that they could throw out of the back of the car if they get in a chase.” This getaway tactic was last successfully used in a Batman episode from 1967.

The Drug Enforcement Administration issued an apology Wednesday to a California student who was picked up during a drug raid and left in a holding cell for several days without food, water or access to a toilet.... was never arrested, was not going to be charged with a crime and should have been released... drank his own urine to survive and that he bit into his glasses to break them and tried to use a shard to scratch “Sorry Mom” into his arm.... lights went off at one point and stayed off for several days.... [My crystal ball suggests this student has a rich lawsuit in his future.]

Left-Wing Bizarro World [poster: "Cracker" v "Minority"]

A man exposed himself to a woman inside the Bucks County Association for the Blind. [This made Drudge I presume because haha it's funny a man exposing himself to the blind, except that isn't the story, just the inference you're expected to make. Sheesh!]

This is no joke. ...May 19 to May 21... flight advisory... by the Federal Aviation Administration... bans non-commercial aircraft from flying within 10 nautical miles of downtown Chicago and below 18,000 feet. A nautical mile is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian. It amounts to 1,852 meters, or about 1.15078 standard miles. “The United States Government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft, if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat.... Be advised that noncompliance with the published (notice to airmen) may result in the use of force.” ...lesser violations by airmen might result in civil penalties and the suspension of airmen certificates, as well as criminal charges....

...Bill Warren... Californian treasure hunter... claims he has located [Osama Bin Laden's] cadaver... 200 miles to the west of the Indian city of Surat.... says he's aiming at starting the mission [to retrieve the body] on June 1, and that he may be able to find the body in "under a week...." declares that his only fear is that the US Government would kill him or sink his boat....

Houston's ConocoPhillips, the oil giant formed ten years ago by merging Conoco Inc., with Phillips Petroleum, will spin off its refinery business effective tomorrow, May 1, 2012. ... The upstream company, which will retain the ConocoPhillps name and continue to headquarter in Houston, is the largest independent oil and gas in the US. The refining and distribution company will be named Phillips 66 and will also be headquartered in Houston. ... There is as yet no word about job losses here in Houston or at the former headquarters company towns of Bartlesville (Phillips) and Ponca City (Conoco), Oklahoma.

At least a dozen people in the United States have been diagnosed with H-SAM [Highly Superior Auto-Biographical Memory]. “Every single thing that you have ever done is on your hard drive....” she believes that by improving your memory you can live a more conscious life.

At least a dozen people in the United States have been diagnosed with H-SAM [Highly Superior Auto-Biographical Memory]. “Every single thing that you have ever done is on your hard drive....” she believes that by improving your memory you can live a more conscious life.

That gem from outer space was found at the Lotus park where Brenda, her kids and her collie come to nearly every day.... Meteorites landed in California’s Gold Country several days ago, creating a modern day gold rush.... Geologists, treasure hunters and scientists all took a look at Brenda’s find. “As I opened my hand, there was a huge gasp,” she said. Scientists have told her what she had in her hands could be 4 to 6 billion years old.

...two [Hamilton, N.J.] sisters, aged 94 and 93, fought off an armed 27-year-old man who tried to rob them and steal their car.... he started swinging his knife and threatening the women... instead of simply giving in, the 94-year-old driver swung her arm back to hit and block the suspect while the 93-year-old sister got out and began to scream for help.... the man took off.... He was later located and taken into custody.... As for the two sisters, they are doing fine and don't know what all the fuss is all about. They declined a request for an interview and asked for their names to remain private....