Pawlenty Out, Palin In?

Another political prognostication by the Impudent One ends up on the dust heap of history. It sounds like Pawlenty is not likely to be McCain's pick. I am not making another prediction here, but today's buzz that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will get the nod sounds better all the time. She is likely to appeal to women who want to see a woman in the White House. She will definitely appeal to the superficial-male vote...

The Republican Dream Team

Well, it's official.  Barak H. Obama has selected the gaffe-prone, self-admitted plagiarist Senator Joe Biden.  Like Obama, Biden is also an "articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy".  Also, like Obama, he is both arrogant and clueless when it comes to foreign policy. On one ticket, we have the only US politician who still refuses to accept that the Surge in Iraq has been successful paired with the main proponent for imposing segregation in Iraq by partitioning the country based on ethnicity. Just think about it. These guys could end up running our foreign policy. 

McCain: Lift Ban On Offshore Drilling

John McCain has seen the light. He must have read my recent post. Yeah, right.

Frodo Baggins Euthanised

The thoroughbred Frodo Baggins was euthanised after suffering serious injuries in a Kentucky equine event. Also seriously injured in the accident was the rider, Laine Ashker.

Frodo Baggins was best known from film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The horse was used in the "Escape Off the Road" scene where the four hobbits hide under the roots of a tree as a Black Rider rides up.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

As usual, the Left-stream Media has failed to bring this story to our attention. This past Sunday morning, airport security at Tampa International Airport found a box cutter hidden in a hollowed out book in the backpack of a 21 year old man from Clearwater, Florida.

After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates.

Baines told officers he was moving to Las Vegas and forgot the cutter was in the book. Officers found books in the backpack titled "Muhammad in the Bible," "The Prophet's Prayer" and "The Noble Qur'an." He also had a copy of the Quran and the Bible.

Oh, yes. There is one more thing. The title of the hollowed out book was Fear Itself.

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt (and James Lileks who gave Hugh the "heads up" on this story) for bringing this story into the light.

Castro Steps Down

Oh, shut up. You know you were thinking the same thing.

Iraqis Taking the Battle to AQI

Reuters reports that the Iraqi security forces have begun an offensive against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

HT: Pajamas Media

Thompson Exits Stage Right

Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson has given up his run for the White House. I still have not settled on a candidate yet, but Fred was high on my list. None of the Republican candidates are perfect. However, Thompson's positions seemed to be closest to my own. I did not catch many of the debates, but from what I did see, Thompson impressed me the most. With his departure, he will likely end up on the short list of possible running mates along with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

As for the other candidates, I will comment on them when I am not so busy at the office.

Christmas Present for Tolkien Fans

There's some good new for fans of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films. The Daily Mail has reported that Jackson and New Line Cinema have agreed to work together in making J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The Hobbit, which is often referred to as a "prequel" to the LOTR, was actually Tolkien's first commercially successful book. The success of The Hobbit resulted in Tolkien writing what some consider to be the greatest novel of the 20th Century.

Jackson and New Line settled their lawsuit over the proceeds from the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring and worked out a deal with MGM Studios in order to clear the way for making a film version of The Hobbit. Jackson, who directed the three LOTR films, will be the executive producer this time around. The director has not yet been named. As I have long suspected given the success of the LOTR films, The Hobbit will actually be two films and will be shot simultaneously, in the same way Jackson shot the three films for the LOTR. Let's face it. There's too much money to be made to only make one film.

With Peter Jackson on board, the odds of Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Andy Serkis reprising their roles has greatly increased. Tolkien fans will note that the characters played by a couple of these actors do not appear in the book, The Hobbit. However, we are talking about the film, The Hobbit. I doubt Hollywood will have too much cognitive dissonance over that minor point. As many Tolkien fans found out with the LOTR films, the movie ticket isn't the only price you pay for seeing Professor Tolkien's world on the big screen.

UPDATE:

There is a website that has been set up by the film-makers in order to keep fans updated on the latest news regarding The Hobbit film.

GOP Wins Big In Louisiana

The voters of Louisiana have just elected the first non-white governor in the state' history. Bobby Jindal, whose parents were immigrants from India, is a Republican Congressman from Louisiana. At 36 years old, he is also the youngest governor in the nation. In a field of 11 candidates, Jindal received 53 percent of the vote. The nearest opponent was Democrat Walter Boasso who finished with a distant 18 percent despite spending millions of dollars of his own money on his campaign.

The pathetic performance of current governor, Democrat Kathleen Blanco, especially during the Katrina disaster, was clearly a major factor in the election of Jindal.

Not the Cruise He Expected

Saint Paul of Fraters Libertas has posted an amazing first-person account of the bridge collapse by Sisyphus of the blog Nihilist in Golf Pants. Sisyphus (aka Jim) was on a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi River just north of the I-35W bridge when the collapse occurred before his eyes. Unbelievable.

A Little Good News

In my earlier post, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse #2, I expressed my concern for fellow bloggers Mondo and Muzzy. I have since been in contact with both of them. They were both thankfully uninvolved, although Muzzy did have to take the long way home from downtown Minneapolis. You can read his account at his blog, Blogizdat.

Video of Bridge Collapse

Liveleak.com has security camera footage of the I-35W bridge collapse...






HT: Drudge

Coverage of the Coverage

There has been wall to wall local news coverage pretty much since the bridge collapsed yesterday at 6:05 PM. For the most part, the coverage I have seen has been very good, given the circumstances. There have been a few inevitable stupid comments by some of the reporters and anchors giving live, unrehearsed reports. However, I am inclined to give them a lot of latitude in this situation.

Having said that, in this post, Chad the Elder of Fraters Libertas gives the over-inflated ego of local TV anchor Don Shelby a skewering for his coverage of himself in reporting on the bridge collapse. To his credit, Shelby waited nearly 3-1/2 hours before bringing is left-leaning politics into his reporting. Nice, Don.

For Those Wondering Why...

Pastor John Piper is the Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis which is only a short distance from the collapsed bridge. He shares his thoughts on this disaster at Desiring God Blog.

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse #4

KSTP is reporting that the official fatality count has been lowered to 4, but that will certainly rise as they estimate 20-30 people unaccounted for. The estimate is based on the number and type of vehicles that they know were involved in the incident.

Rescuers are poised and waiting to get the go ahead to start looking for victims. I presume they are still concerned about the structural stability of the remnants of the bridge.

Governor Pawlenty was just interviewed and said it will take at least a year before the bridge might be replaced.

The Coast Guard has closed off the Mississippi River 5 miles on either side of the bridge according to KMSP, the local Fox affiliate.

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse #3

For more local commentary, check out Powerline, SCSU Scholars, Captain Ed and Fraters Libertas. Hot Air also has coverage of this major story.

A map of the bridge location can be found here.

A map of the detour route is here.

UPDATE: It has been reported that Highway 280, which is part of the detour route, will be turned into a temporary freeway. I confirmed this on the MnDOT website. This means that the traffic lights on Highway 280 will be turned off while the highway is designated a freeway.

Metro Transit will increase the number of buses at its North Metro park-and-ride locations to help with the inevitable increase in congestion as a result of this disaster.

KSTP is now reporting that a train car, which was crushed under the collapsed bridge, is leaking some sort of noxious gas. Officials are not sure what it is but have called in HazMat experts to assess the danger.

They are also reporting that the US Coast Guard still has divers in the river. It's surprising, given the darkness and swirling currents, that they would take such a risk. However, if they are...God bless them!

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse #2

The rescue efforts have been officially called off. Recovery efforts will resume after daybreak. The official fatality total is at seven, but I suspect it will enter double digits shortly after work resumes in the morning.

I was completely unaware of the catastrophy until I received a call from my very concerned mother. I think she knew I'd be working late and wasn't overly concerned, but was concerned nonetheless. She informed me that my younger sister, who lives in Minneapolis, was also safe. I have yet to hear from my friends and fellow bloggers Mondo and Muzzy. I pray that they were not involved in this disaster.

I'm watching the local ABC affiliate, KSTP. They are reporting that officials are concerned that there are several vehicles in the river that they don't know about. There have also been reports that they are concerned that debris from the collapse might make its way downstream and damage other bridges. In addition, the remaining bridge structure is unstable and moving. They are concerned that more of the bridge could collapse. It seems as if all of the survivor reports mention that they credit their survival to the fact that they were wearing their seatbelts.

KSTP also has a very moving slide show of photos taken by victims and witnesses.

More on this major local, national and international story later.

Update: The number of injured is reported at over 60. That number may increase a bit, but I think we can only hope that that is the only statistic that will change.

Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

A major disaster has taken place in Minneapolis a short time ago. I've been watching streaming coverage of it on FoxNews.com. The four-lane bridge that spans the Mississippi River was full of crawling rush-hour traffic when it collapsed. The bridge was also under repair at the time. All reports thus far indicate that terrorism is not suspected.