Greg In The Desert

• Pledge of Allegiance Upheld in New Mexico – As a response to this disappointing outcome, here are some reasons to abolish the Pledge:
  1.) Partially designed as a marketing scheme to sell flags.
  2.) Before 1942 the accompanying salute, the Bellamy, was suspiciously similar to that of the Nazis.
  3.) I'm told that "God" isn't supposed to be involved with the American government.
  4.) There is no liberty in being forced by a republic to swear loyalty to that republic.
  5.) Cultish.
• Qwest ends "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" perk – The Denver Post – Qwest has eliminated a perk in which top executives were given tens of thousands of dollars each year to cover unreported expenses, the company disclosed in a filing today. A shareholder slammed the perk at the company's annual meeting in May, calling it "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compensation.
• Can the cocaine on dollar bills be used to track drug use around the country? – By Kim Gittleson – Slate Magazine – More than 90 percent of U.S. currency is contaminated with cocaine, according to a study presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. The study's lead author told reporters that the rate had been 67 percent two years ago and that the increase may be due to a rise in consumption of the drug spurred by the economic downturn. Can dirty money really be used to track cocaine use?
• The business of human smuggling in a Mexican border town. (1) – By Sacha Feinman – Slate Magazine – ALTAR, Mexico—I hadn't yet taken 10 steps off the bus when I made eye contact with someone for the first time. "Are you going north?" he hissed, walking quickly toward me. "Let's go. Let's go," he implored.
• Driving instructor charged with DWI – An Albuquerque driving instructor faces DWI charges after a Rio Rancho Police officer found him so intoxicated at a crash site that he couldn’t even stand without holding onto his car.
• www.KOB.com – Cops: Members of ‘Memphis Mob’ skipping town – In April, police arrested 45 members of the Memphis Mob—a criminal group that police say set up a drug pipeline that funneled crack cocaine from Albuquerque to Tennessee. Several members that were arrested on minor drug possession charges are now bonding out of jail, then leaving for Tennessee before more serious charges come their way, according to police.
• 92 markets caught in manufacturing slide – New Mexico Business Weekly: – According to the report, Albuquerque has lost 3,300 manufacturing jobs. Detroit is the market that has been hit hardest by the manufacturing slump, largely because of the difficulties currently besetting domestic automakers. The Detroit area has lost 118,600 manufacturing jobs during the half-decade, 39.4 percent of its June 2004 total of 301,200.
• www.KOB.com – Man indicted for simulated sex – with car – “Witnesses, including two children, told police that their attention was drawn to Brawner because his pants were around his ankles, he was swinging his arms in the air and shouting while he was ‘humping’ the trunk of his car,” Davis reports in a press release.
• Verizon adds cell site in Rio Rancho – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Verizon Wireless has added a new cell site to improve service to customers in Rio Rancho. The site expands 3G high-speed wireless coverage in northern Rio Rancho, including the city center, and in the Mariposa Ranch community.
• Mountain lion captured in eastern part of Denver metro area – The Denver Post – A Division of Wildlife officer tranquilized the animal, and it was relocated to the remote foothills on the west side of the metro region, where mountain lions more typically roam.

Roswell New Mexico was the site of a supposed alien crash site in 1947. In 2002 UFO researchers found a tiny piece of metal that isn’t native to the Roswell area. It must be from the UFO!

The Metal is aluminum silicon, which is a common alloy made on planet earth, isn’t native to Roswell because it’s a man made metal. However “proper scientific analysis” will apparently prove that the metal is from the alien space craft.

The UFO investigators have apparently ran out of money for the additional testing, whatever that is.

• Like a steel locomotive…
  Last fall, the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, England saw the roll out of The Tornado, the first steam-powered train to be built in the UK in nearly half a century
• McCain Shooter
  During one of such "demonstration" the John McCain's plane was shot down to the ground by this man on video. According to his words it was the 13th missile that hit the target finally, twelve missed. He says it was a great luck that a group of Russian soldiers has arrived to the crash site, and ordered Vietnamese not to harm the shot down pilot but just to take him out of the river, because, he explained, usually locals hammered down with their stone hoes any American pilot they managed to find, so actually they saved him life.
• Fighting a cold? Every bit of sleep counts – Los Angeles Times
  People who sleep less than seven hours a night appear to be almost three times as likely to catch a cold as those who sleep eight hours or more, a new study has found.
  (tags: news health psychology sleep research)
• Macworld Expo 2009 for Photographers
  This isn't a comprehensive look at everything photo-related at the expo, by any means, but they caught my eye while walking the show floor.