America's Cup 2013

Great video from Oracle doing some two boat training.  Dual liftoff around 4:29 mark.

Secret-court judges upset at portrayal of ‘collaboration’ with government

  
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the former chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, took the highly unusual step Friday of voicing open frustration at the account in the report and court’s inability to explain its decisions. 

“In my view, that draft report contains major omissions, and some inaccuracies, regarding the actions I took as Presiding Judge of the FISC and my interactions with Executive Branch officials,” Kollar-Kotelly said in a statement to The Post. It was her first public comment describing her work on the intelligence court.

Can I get an "Awww Poor Babies" from my readers?!

Of course she is upset.  Because the FISA Court apparently gets it right 99.97 % of the time.  That's right boys and girls....the Court reviewed over 33,900 surveillance requests and turned down 11. (eleven, i.e. one more than 10)   0.03 percent.  How awesome is that?! USA! USA! USA! 

We all know that all governments programs operate with a high rate of success right? Right? Helloooo? Anyone? Buehler?

I have one other question....is Judge Whiney now a traitor, a whistle blower or Patriot?  

i get so confused...

Give It a Minute.

So......

Paging Alec Baldwin.... 

Mr. Baldwin.....Mr. Alec Baldwin, to the white racist homophobic courtesy phone, please.

 

Strong Letter to Follow......

 

Hey, hey....

Ain't that the truth.....

George Zimmerman, Part 2   

The trial continues and yet another prosecution witness testifies and helps the defense. Eye witness John Good watched from 20 feet away as the "tussle" continued.

The altercation seemed to escalate, according to Good. The struggle moved to the cement pathway, and he said the person in dark clothing straddled the other man in "mixed martial arts position" he later described to police as a "ground and pound." He said he saw "arm movements going downward," though he couldn't be certain the person on top was striking the person on the bottom.
"The person you now know to be Trayvon Martin was on top, correct?" asked defense attorney Mark O'Mara. "He was the one raining blows down on George Zimmerman, correct?"

"That's what it looked like," Good answered.

Today I read a story that seems of interest. The dead guy had a bit of a history that was for "them to know and us to find out. A little burglary action? But Mom said he was a good boy.
Well.... 

"The search of Trayvon Martin’s backpack turned up at least 12 pcs of ladies jewelry, and a man’s watch, in addition to a flat head screwdriver described as 'a burglary tool.'" 

Of course, he was never adjudicated in the juvenile system. At all. Maybe he would be alive today if the system had been allowed to work. Note that the news leaked when the police started an investigation to identify who leaked the original hidden away police report. Oops.

Let's review......why is George Zimmerman on trial for Second Degree murder? I dunno. Maybe those local police that investigated and refused to charge were not wrong after all.

Meanwhile.....que the race mobs.

Following a number of tweets making threats to kill white people if George Zimmerman is acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin, a former Chicago police officer warns that the outcome of the case could spark race riots in cities across America.

I predict an acquittal, followed shortly thereafter by a Civil Rights Act filing by Eric Holder's defenders of justice. Gonna be a long, hot, summer, kiddies.....

 

 

Coming Home.....

The WackoBirds......

h/t to Earl.

John  McCain Lyndsey Graham, Obama

It's Aloha Friday....
 
.....no work till Monday!!!


Doo de doo, de doo, de doo ....
 
Let the run up to the fourth begin! A little Friday nite CR-914 racing, splashing the Whaler, mounting the trusty jet ski and some Bar-B-Queing.  Y-all have a GREAT weekend!!!

Doo de doo, de doo, de doo ....

 

"Get your island fix on the Internet with KPOA!"

Listen live to the island sounds from Maui!

Ann Baby! 

Welcome home. I sense you may be coming out of that wilderness you have been wandering in since 2011.

Conservative firebrand and best-selling author Ann Coulter has changed her tune and flip-flopped on her support for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

In a Thursday tweet, she wrote: “@GovChristie’s dead to me.”

Immigracion Vote 


Here is a list of the Senators to thank for voting not to send our country and party down the road to ruin.  

I am still waiting to read an article on the out pouring of love, and kudos from tehe Latino community for the passge of the immigraion amensty bill by the Senate.  I'm sure it will be out later today........(crickets)


As to those those RINO's that voted for this travesty, thank for nothing ya schmucks.

Now we have to rely on Boner in the House to stand firm......  

June 26, 2006

We lost a "Tall Dog" that day.  Rob "Acidman" Smith.  We all have a Blogfaddah of some sort.  He was mine. 7 years and 3900 posts later, I am still carrying on.

I have written about Rob on several occasions. Here. Here.

 Miss ya buddy...

Flying Beavers!

Nice video up over at Oddball Pilot.  

What's your dream job??

George Zimmerman 

Well, the selfless defense trial of George Zimmerman has begun in Florida.  So far it looks like quite an assemblage of cranks, reprobates and ner do wells. (and a perhaps a "creepy ass cracker") 

Is George getting railroaded?  Will we ever know?  Seems like an unfortunate series of events led to the death of an up and coming banger. The ability to exploit the event is what has kept the matter in the news. Is there anything left?  Cue Reverand Al....

Star witness?  We got one.  Rachel Jeantel. When asked to read in open court a handwritten letter she wrote to Trayvon's mom she testified that she did not read cursive. This and her other responses may lead to her star billing becoming somewhat, uh, dimmer.

On a lighter note, Proof has his hoodie back up.  More commentary at his site.

Bottom line....it all seems a little half baked to me. 

 

Glamping? 

Is this what they mean?

Snowden in Russia?

It's Go time according to the Lumberjack!

Monday's Pun(s) !!! 

One of the first things you'll notice at the Beijing airport is a whole lot of Chinese checkers.

My friend was fired from his job at the road department for stealing. I have to say I saw it coming. The last time I was at his house all the signs were there.

I used to do balance and rotations at an auto shop. I felt like I was just spinning my wheels and decided to retire.

Hey! 

Micro Switches and the Oddments Tray. 

The olde Porsche had some issues that needed to be addressed.  Nothing major just those niggling little items.

The hinge on the console storage compartment was broken.  Seems this is a regular fix on a Boxster.  So much so that they have a repair kit for it.  My search began looking for a "console hinge repair kit".  Not much came up on GOOGLE so I went to the Boxster Forums and learned that Porsche calls the console catch all box an "oddments tray".  Apparently learning a new term is part of the process.  Quick search and bingo!  $35.00 was spent and the part ordered.

Now the instructions call for the removal of the entire console to access the area where the hinge is installed.  I did find one forum where the install was performed with the console in place.  So I set the part aside waiting for a free day to tinker.

Friday I took the car to work and the top would not raise. Hmmm.  This has been an intermittent issue for a few weeks. Not really a problem since I leave the top down 98% of the time. A little research indicated that the parking brake has a micro switch to prevent the top from being operated while the vehicle is moving. Seems they go bad. To replace the switch you need to, wait for it, remove the entire console. Imagine that.

I searched around for the switch and found the part on line.  On a whim I called the local Porsche dealer and they had one in stock. A quick blast up to Miramar and the switch was in hand. $11.95.

While at the Porsche dealer I spoke to the Service Manager.  He was familiar with the hinge and switch issues. He advised that they charge 3.5 hours of labor plus parts for repair. Shop rate is $175.00 per hour, $612.50 plus parts ( He quoted $52.00 and $24.95)  $689.45....I was stunned.  Even for a Porsche dealer that seemed a little steep.

Which leads us to Saturday morning. FJ Meckanecky reporting. Up early with a cup of coffee and a couple of pages of diagrams relating to removing the console. Might as well tackle both at the same time.  I have worked on cars my entire life, so the task at hand was not a tall challenge.  I viewed it as a good little project.  One thing looming in my mind was the issue of removing plastic cover panels from a car interior.  These are generally held in place by a myriad of plastic clips and fasteners that were designed to break off when touched by human hands. (i.e. my hands)  However, with a $700.00 price tag, I was diving in.

The tear apart took me 30 minutes.  All panels came off intact. Removing the shift knob on the Tiptronic was another problem solved by a quick GOOGLE search. The console was out and the hinge repair would be easy. I decided to focus on the micro switch. 

The switch was located under the parking brake lever.  It was a pain to remove. Inserting the new one was an even bigger problem because I could not twist and turn it like the old broken one.  After a little cajoling it popped in to place! I tested it and the top was

operational. One down.

Out to the workshop with the console.  Drilled a couple of holes, two pop rivets and voila! ....hinge installed.

Back to garage, as you can see from the photos there was a good amount of debris. I took some time to vacuum, and clean up the items under the console. Put a little graphite lube on the shifter.

Re assembly went well. Panels snapped back in place and lined up perfectly. Overall time was 3.6 hours. Total savings $642.50. 

and then I did yard work.......