Red-Light Cameras Haven't Improved Safety in L.A.

As cities such as Colorado Springs, CO look to red-light cameras as offering a revenue stream to compensate for dwindling sales taxes, the L.A. Times reports:

"Los Angeles’ much-debated red light camera program has bypassed some of the city’s most dangerous intersections, cost more than $2.5 million over the last two years and failed to adequately demonstrate an improvement in safety, according to an audit due to be released Wednesday by City Controller Wendy Greuel....some of the most accident-prone corners were passed over -- partly for political reasons, such as ensuring that at least one camera system was placed in each of the 15 City Council districts...."

UPDATE: A judge in Louisiana has ruled that the traffic cams in New Orleans are illegal, but his decision was reversed, at least for the time being, by an appellate judge.

Law Professor Claims to Be Struggling, Gets NO Sympathy

We will not even bother to put up the World's Smallest Violin for Todd Henderson, a corporate law professor at the University of Chicago. According to a FOX News article, he complained on his blog that he was struggling to get by on a family income of $250,000/year, and was inundated by so much hate mail and threatening messages that he was forced to shut down his blog altogether.

Survey of Religious Knowledge Yields Surprises

An Associated Press article says that atheists, agnostics, Jews, and Mormons score better on general knowledge of religions than Catholics or Protestants. For more details, go to the article.

Because There's Money to Be Made Selling Books to Conservatives

It used to be that Regnery had the conservative book market to itself. No longer. Now major publishers such as Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin have gotten a piece of the action, and HarperCollins has now started Broadside Books, headed up by Adam Bellow, a son of author Saul Bellow. The New York Times has more details.

Pure Courage: Man Sneaks into Auschwitz, Stays Two-and-a-Half Years, Escapes

NPR has a fascinating story about Witold Pilecki, who infiltrated the infamous Auschwitz (Oswiecim) concentration camp, sent amazing intelligence reports that his readers found hard to believe, and successfully escaped. Later he was captured by the communists and executed for espionage.

Space Case

The United Nations, not content with messing things up on our planet, has appointed an ambassador to outer space, Dr. Mazlan Othman. She will be the go-to person in case E.T. comes back to visit his friends here on earth, or the first to be served for dinner if the aliens consider us just another source of protein.

In an unrelated development, someone has produced a birth certificate for President Barack Obama:-) Click on the illustration below to read what's in it.

Most Experienced Civil Rights Lawyer Demolishes Holder's Coddling of New Black Panthers

This hero story is brought to you by Pajamas Media, which also has the transcript of his testimony. The article starts out by saying:

"It has been a very bad week for the dwindling number of people defending the dismissal of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party by Eric Holder’s Justice Department. Today might have been the worst day of all. Former Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates testified to the United States Civil Rights Commission that Obama political appointees dismissed the case because they are opposed to enforcing civil rights laws in a racially neutral fashion...."

Double Amputee Goes Off to War in Afghanistan

Ladies and gentlemen, hats off to U.S. Army Capt. Dan Luckett, who lost his left foot and part of his right to an IED in Iraq, but through sheer determination and hard work became one of 41 amputee veterans serving in combat zones. His inspiring story has been covered by FOX News.

Karma Catches Up to Wiliam Ayers

Pajamas Media ran an article about how in 1973 Obama crony William Ayers published a book, Prairie Fire, and dedicated it to a long list of persons, including Sirhan Sirhan. Fast forward to 2010: The University of Illinois at Chicago board, headed by Chris Kennedy, a son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, unanimously refused to grant emeritus status to Ayers.

UPDATE: In another example of karma in action, the Telegraph (U.K.) reports that a poacher, Khanyisile Momoza, 29, was attacked and killed by a white shark as he harvested valuable perlemoen (abalone) shells in the waters near Gansbaai in South Africa.

Sign of Desperation: California Cutting Out Toilet Paper in State Parks

An excerpt from this tale of woe:

"Remote rural state parks will likely run out of toilet paper by early October," says an internal email from the state Finance Department. We've reached this crisis because it's taken legislators a record amount of time -- 85 days -- to come to something resembling an agreement about the state budget. Vendors, meanwhile, haven't been paid since the beginning of July....

Does it mean you should be taking your own roll of toilet paper on a road trip? I try to do that all the time, recession or no recession.

Tea Party Movement Compared to a Living Organism

American politics has never seen anything quite like the Tea Parties, though few appreciate the revolutionary organizational principle powering the movement. A major reason why the Tea Parties have been so successful, why the political establishment has found them so difficult to combat (and one that explains, among other things, why I've chosen to use the plural in referring to them), lies in their organization.

The Tea Parties comprise a distributed network -- a non-hierarchical system of autonomous nodes with no central control point, and with all nodes possessing the same value and freedom to act independently. A distributed network can be compared to a beehive. All the bees know their particular task and complete it autonomously, without directions from a central authority. If a threat appears, the bees overwhelm it not by direct confrontation, but by swarming, driving it away with sheer force of numbers.

The rest of this article can be found at American Thinker.

Failure to Fire Up the Base

The GOP has published its "Pledge to America," and reviews have been tepid to downright hostile - and we're just talking about Republican Party members! We can safely expect the liberals to blow it off without reading a single word. John Hawkins of Right Wing News cuts this nebulous document with a few good ideas and many escape hatches no slack.

UPDATE: According to The Hill, congressional Democrats intend to run on their record, despite misgivings from experts such as former President Clinton. This move has the fingerprints and DNA samples of Nancy Pelosi (who has a safe seat) all over it.

More Than Just a Bra

Caught in a disaster? You'd better hope you're wearing the Emergency Bra. Simply unsnap the bright red bra, separate the cups, and slip it over your head -- one cup for you, and one for your friend.

Dr. Elena Bodnar won an Ignoble Award for the invention last year, an annual tribute to scientific research that on the surface seems goofy but is often surprisingly practical. And now Bodnar has brought the eBra to the public; purchase one online for just $29.95.

Read the rest of the story on FOX News.

And Now, for a Truly Unique Tourist Attraction

Chernobyl. What can we say, except that the site of the worst meltdown in history and the nearby city of Pripyat have become the objects of tours. FOX News has more details.

More Reasons Why Chrysler Is the Weakest of the Big 3 Automakers

Check out this YouTube video in which workers at a Chrysler plant are caught in the act of drinking their lunch and smoking weed DAY AFTER DAY.

UPDATE1: Glenn Beck's The Blaze news site mentions this follow-up story, that Chrysler has suspended some of these auto workers.

UPDATE2: Justice at last! FOX News reports that 13 of these drunkards have been fired from their jobs.

Why Did an Ultra-Narcissist Like Obama Allow Bob Woodward to Write a Book About Him?

Bob Woodward has completed his latest book, Obama's Wars, which is scheduled for release next Monday. The Hill says that despite some controversial passages, it presents a mostly favorable picture of the 44th President's leadership skills. That there were heated discussions over the conduct of the war in Afghanistan should come as no surprise to anyone, and may actually be a good thing: we have seen how groupthink in the Japanese government before and during World War II got an entire nation into trouble. On the other hand, the Washington Post quotes a statement by President Obama that is likely to stir up a firestorm: "We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger." This means we have lowered our expectations from the Bush administration, which took the stand that one terrorist attack was one too many.

British Soldier's Amazing Drawings and Paintings Surface After 90 Years

The Daily Mail (U.K.) describes a set of drawings and paintings that accompanies Lieutenant Kenneth Wootton's 120-page journal from World War I. It was discovered by his great-granddaughter, who plans to auction it off at the end of September. The diary and artwork are expected to sell for at least £3,000.

Ben Shapiro's List of Five Most Annoying Republicans

Although we cheerfully lap up articles that pick apart Democrats, "progressives," liberals, and leftists, we know that Republicans are only human, so in the interest of fair and balanced coverage, we present Shapiro's list from the Townhall.com article:

5. Bristol Palin
4. David Brooks
3. Gen. Colin Powell
2. Sen. Lindsey Graham
1. Meghan McCain

Payback Time for Citizens of Bell, CA

The L.A. Times has this breaking news:

At least eight city of Bell officials were arrested Tuesday morning, as L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley prepared to announce criminal charges in the municipal salary scandal.

[Updated at 10 a.m.: Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo [who was being paid a higher salary than the President of the United States - ed.], whose high salary sparked the outrage that led to the investigations of the city, was among those arrested in the sweep. No details have been released, but a source not authorized to speak publicly about the case said that Rizzo; former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; Councilmembers Luis Artiga, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal; and former Councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello were among those arrested.]

We Are Shocked, but Not Taken by Surprise

Pajamas Media has the story:
Proof: New Records Show DOJ Lied About New Black Panther Dismissal
A FOIA request reveals contradictions in statements made to Congress, the Civil Rights Commission, and to the public. Some of these statements were made under oath....
September 20, 2010 - by J. Christian Adams