Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.

Franz Kafka
1883-1924

As pointed out by "Ed" in the comments of this posting sex is also good for reducing stress and blood pressure.  This why when Barb and I get our blood pressure taken they always comment on how good it is.  The research indicates the effects last for up to a week afterward but Dr. Joe's advice is that this is actually risking more than is necessary and since it's nearly impossible to overdose you should repeat the treatment as frequently as you have the time and energy for.

Here are some links:

• The Independent
• BBC News
• Reuters via Yahoo

And from News.Scotsman.com:

HAVING full sexual intercourse helps the body cope with stress for up to a week, according to a study by a Paisley University psychologist.

Professor Stuart Brody found that a man and a woman who had had this kind of sex became less stressed than those who had abstained when asked to speak in public or do mental arithmetic out loud.

Their blood pressure rose by about half the amount of people who had other kinds of sex or none at all and it also returned to normal more quickly.

"The effects are not attributable simply to the short-term relief afforded by orgasm, but rather, endure for at least a week," Professor Brody told today's issue of New Scientist magazine. He said that the release of the "pair-bonding" hormone oxytocin between partners might account for the calming effect.

In the study, which was reported earlier in the journal Biological Psychology, 24 women and 22 men were asked to keep diaries of their sex lives for a fortnight. They were then given a range of stress tests. Those who did not have sex had the highest blood pressure response to stress.

Prof Brody said: "The difference wasn't just statistically significant, it was really meaningful. This was a big, big effect on the blood pressure response to stress."

I have a bit of a problem with high cholesterol problem.  According to this I need to convince Barb we need to spend some more time on those kisses before we move on to curing the common cold:

REGULAR kissing is good for your health and women prefer it to making love, a survey suggests.

In the study of more than 500 men and women aged between 16 and 91, most men said they felt kissing was "more of a duty and obligation".

But 56 per cent of women said they "enjoyed kissing and willingly kissed".

Sixty per cent of women felt kissing was better than sex.

The survey also revealed that a long kiss can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Just this last weekend I received the Boomershoot entry for the guy that keeps trying to put his anvil into orbit.  I don't know if he is bringing them back this year or not but here is a picture from one of the Boomershoot 2004 launches:

These guys have been sniffing around Boomershoot.org for years.  But I first noticed them on this blog last December when they were looking for exploding targets.  Now they are looking for where their own IP address can be found on the web.  Very curious folks they are.

Continent	:	North America
Country	:	United States  (Facts)
State	:	Virginia
City	:	Dulles
Lat/Long	:	39.0853, -77.6452 (Map)

There is a new tool for remotely searching your body even while you are moving.  Haven't these people heard of the 4th Amendment?

Wednesday, January 25, 2006  E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version

New US security device spots weapons under clothes

By Christian Wiessner

At its first public demonstration on Monday in New York, the device was able to detect a mock gun and a bomb replica, which the company said, was similar to that used by Al Qaeda

A new surveillance device using radio waves to look under peoples’ clothing for concealed guns, bombs or other weapons may be coming soon to a security checkpoint near you.

But the modest need not worry about screeners sneaking a voyeuristic peek because the system only identifies non-human material tucked inside clothing and does not convey images of the naked form underneath, the maker of the device - Brijot Imaging Systems Inc. of Orlando, Florida - said on Monday.

The BIS-WIDS Prime is the first and only surveillance camera that immediately detects and identifies the exact location of objects hidden beneath a person’s clothing while the person is in motion, the company said.

At its first public demonstration on Monday in New York, the device was able to detect a mock gun and a bomb replica the company said was similar to that used by Al Qaeda.

“The software in the machine itself actually looks at the person, looks at the objects, and actually tells you what it is and, most importantly, where it is on the body,” said Brijot Chief Executive Brian Andrew. “It doesn’t just go ‘bing’ like a metal detector. We can identify weapons’ shapes.”

The device uses computer panels that display images of the body to the security screener, with dark patches marking the location of hidden objects.

The invention was described by company officials as basically a small radio telescope that “sees” radio waves transmitted by the body. If a portion of the body is covered by something underneath clothing, no waves will transmit from that part of the body, raising a red flag to screeners.

“Our bodies radiate radio waves just like a cell phone does, and our camera sees that,” Andrew said.

Since when has the 4th Amendment been about voyeurs?  It's about preventing a police state.  The use of this by the government or under the direction of government on the general public (in a prison situation, sure, that would be appropriate) fails my Jews In The Attic Test in a big way.

I helped design and build a device using similar technology that was intended to guiding a missle on it's terminal descent to take out a tank when I worked at Boeing.  I made a simple change in the test unit such that it with the flip of a switch it would track humans instead of a tank.  It was rather creepy to have the seeker point at you as you walked across the room.

One way to defeat it is to create lots of false positives.  A sheet of aluminum foil will block these emissions from your body just as a firearm or other object will.  Sew them into your coat.  Cut them into shapes and make it appear as if you are carrying dozens of guns, drop them into the coat pockets of others, and put them into books and magazines in airport stores.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

Thomas Jefferson
The Declaration of Independence
Listing the abuses of King George III
[Sound like any government you know in present day?--Joe]

Barb's been saying for about 30 years, "Joe's cure for everything is more sex."  Now scientists are confirming (thanks to Samantha Burns) what Barb and I have long known:

Hot sex treats common cold

Majority of people consider even minor throat irritation or mild fever as a good-enough excuse to isolate themselves from their loved ones.

That is understandable, of course. Up until recently, this was regarded as a logical move. Not so long ago, however, scientists were able to prove just the opposite: it is better to be sick together. This obviously does not mean that one should purposely sneeze at his/her partner. In this case, the effect will be minimal. It is important to battle the disease. And as for microbes, hot passionate kisses and good sex is something they fear the most - concluded Manfred Schedlovski, a Swiss researcher from Zurich.

In the course of his lengthy neuroimmunological experiments, the scientist arrived at the conclusion that sexual intercourse has a positive effect not only on the overall physical condition of both partners but also on their immune systems. Phagocytes are to be praised for the marvel. Phagocytes are cells that help the body rid itself of various ailments. This is how they work: once they locate an alien body, they penetrate it and trigger self-destruction.

During sexual intercourse, number of phagocytes tends to increase significantly; oftentimes, number of these cells almost doubles after orgasm. This in turn enables these cells to detect and destroy antibodies more quickly.

Shcedlovski's research results have already found support among his colleagues. Immunologist Peter Schleicher also shares the initial hypothesis of his colleague from Zurich. "Not only does sex heal our organism; it also sustains its immune system," stated Peter Schleicher in his interview to Bild am Sonntag.

Always the optimist I sometimes I fantasize about people being rational in a political environment.  I know, rationally, that is it is irrational to expect people to be rational.  But I sometimes think that if only I can come up with the right set of facts and logic I could convince almost anyone of the truth of some things--such as gun control is wrong.  Here's evidence that it's hopeless:

Political bias affects brain activity, study finds
Democrats and Republicans both adept at ignoring facts, brain scans show

Updated: 6:46 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2006

Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows.

And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that's contrary to their point of view.

Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored while they pondered.

The results were announced today.

"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts."

And people think I'm the one with the problem because they give the way my mind works a name--they call it Asperger Syndrome (thanks Mike, that was a big help--seriously).  I'm with the Aspies that call them Neurotypical.

More Boomershoot 2006 blogging:

• Laws and Guns and Blogs
• Range Hour
• Rangeday, Part Deux
• Meandering
• Boomershoot
• Boomershoot (some of the people leaving comments think it is a hoax)
• Press coverage of Boomershoot
• Boomershoot Rifle

And that’s the difference between Mr. B and myself. He shakes his head in bafflement, I resume sharpening the M4 bayonet while crooning “Soon, soon, my precioussss...”

Kim du Toit

From the U.K. Sun:

O’Mahoney used her video phone to film the attack that left David dying from 44 injuries, including a ruptured spleen and five fractured ribs.

She booted the 37-year-old’s head like a football as other gang members piled in, making sure she had it all on film.

She even gloated: “Pose for the camera.”

Three other members of O’Mahoney’s evil gang were sentenced to 12 years each for manslaughter — in a crime that shocked Britain.

...

The gang attacked SEVEN other victims later that night and filmed their agony in an orgy of violence on London’s South Bank.

After they were sentenced there were sickening scenes outside the court. Friends and relatives of the killers hurled insults at David’s pals and family, including his elderly dad Geoffrey.

They screamed and even made throat cutting gestures. Incredibly, one voice shouted: “Your friend has cost my cousin 12 years.”

Emphasis in the original.

Don't you wish we too lived in a gun free paradise like the U.K.?

There are plans for one or more Boomershooters from India this year.  This is going to be the year of international attention--the media from U.K. and shooters from Canada and India.  Very cool.

The more I learn about people and society the more I love guns and explosives.  Guns and explosives are more understandable, more predictable, and less hazardous.

A story on the origin of the yodel.  Read the comments too--so you'll better understand why I sometimes refer to her as a future lesbian pornographer.

Another picture of her and her friends on top of the roof wearing their porn prom dresses.

I've been saying for a long time that airport screening for weapons on airplanes may be an insolvable problem and that we need to consider alternatives.  Now research from the University at Buffalo and Georgia State University suggest we may now know why it is such a difficult problem:

Screeners at airport security checkpoints perform an important task in which they search for objects that belong to threat categories in complex X-ray images. New research by cognitive psychologists at UB and Georgia State University explores the cognitive processes that underlie screening, suggests limits on those processes and has implications for the training and evaluation of screeners in the field.

The findings were published in the article "Specific-Token Effects in Screening Tasks: Possible Implications for Aviation Security" in the November-December issue of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition (Vol. 31, No. 6) and in the article "Visual Search and the Collapse of Categorization," in the November-December issue of the APA's Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (Vol. 134, No. 4).

...

The problem addressed by the research, Smith says, "is that screeners must be able to bring 'category-level' knowledge to their search for targets. That is, they must search for guns and knives generally, not for specific Beretta guns or Bowie knives they have been trained to recognize. Yet it has been unknown how the processes of categorization stand up to visual complexity or why they fail facing it. We filled this research gap by creating a visual-search and categorization paradigm in which participants searched for members of target categories in complex displays."

...

The reliance on familiarity might also have implications for the training and evaluation of screeners in the field for the following reason: The "Threat Image Projection" (TIP) system provides an important potential means of assessing performance at security checkpoints. It includes a library of test images that can be digitally injected into the X-ray image of a bag as it is presented to the screener. This lets screeners' ongoing target-detection performance be evaluated, provides ongoing training and maintains screener vigilance. Yet, a strategy of using a fixed library of test images risks the specific-token effects that Smith and his colleagues observed. Estimates of screener performance might be inflated by these familiarity effects, compared to the detection levels that would be observed for real threats that will be from outside the library and unfamiliar. A more conservative and truer estimate of screener performance would result if one arranged testing so that targets essentially never repeated, so that familiarity could never develop and so that screeners were forced to rely on category general knowledge and strategies.

Smith notes that it is to the Transportation Security Administration's credit that it has actively responded to this specific-token effect by increasing the size of TIP libraries and by planning periodically to infuse new targets. These changes have the potential to keep TIP as a viable and accurate indicator of detection levels in the security system. These steps also show the promise of cognitive scientists and sponsoring agencies cooperating toward solving important problems. 

Unfortunately, knowing why it is a difficult problem also means everyone knows how to make it difficult for the screeners.  We need to consider the alternatives.

It is our duty to protect the citizens of Fayette County, even those that don't want to be protected.
 
Comment by a member of the Fayette County (Ga.) Board of Health 
During a meeting on a proposed smoking ban.
[The socialist mindset.  Does their constitution even allow them to have a "Board of Health"?  --Joe]

I have been criticized by referring to our federal masked men as "ninja," when in the view of the critic the traditional role of the ninja in Japan was to fight against oppression and tyranny. Let us note that almost no one ever resorts to force and violence unless he is convinced that his cause is right, but without going into that let us reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face shows reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it upon himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is a revolting perversion of the warrior ethic.

It has long been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper's Commentaries
Vol. 2, No. 16
20 December 1994

It is my firm conviction that man has nothing to gain, emotionally or otherwise, by adhering to a falsehood, regardless of how comfortable or sacred that falsehood may appear.  Anyone who claims, on the one hand, that he is concerned with human welfare, and who demands, on the other hand, that man must suspend or renounce the use of his reason, is contradicting himself. There can be no knowledge of what is good for man apart from knowledge of reality and human nature-and there is no manner in which this knowledge can be acquired except through reason.  To advocate irrationality is to advocate that which is destructive to human life.

George H. Smith
From: Atheism: The Case Against God
[I regard gun control and socialism as religions.  They are faith based and ignore factual data.  Understanding the psychology of religiosity is useful in understanding the psychology of the anti-freedom crowd.--Joe]

Canadian liberals are about to get trounced in the upcoming election (recent polls are saying there is a 13 point margin).  And what do you think the issues are that are getting them in so much trouble?  Health care and gun control!

Among the main policy differences is health care reform. The Tories want to allow for public and private health care provision, and, along with the Liberals, have pledged to shorten waiting times. The Liberals and the NDP have vowed to stop any privatisation of the system.

On gun control, the Liberals have promised to move towards a ban on handguns, which are already tightly regulated, and consider tightening gun crime laws.

Handguns have been essentially banned in Canada for decades.  And in the last few years spent nearly two billion dollars on registration of all guns.  And what is the result?  The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has the scoop on that:

CANADA'S GUN REGISTRATION FAILURE: VIOLENT CRIME RATE DOUBLE THAT OF U.S.

For Immediate Release: January 17, 2006

BELLEVUE, WA – Canada's billion-dollar boondoggle – the national gun registration scheme – has proven itself an abysmal failure, as that country's violent crime rates are double those reported in the United States, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) noted today.

"We looked at violent crime rates per 100,000 population in both countries, using the most recent available data," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "and we were not surprised at what we found. Since Canada started this ridiculous and costly program, violent crime has gone up dramatically, at the same time that crime in the United States has declined. Yet, there are people in the states who think Canada's gun legislation should be the model for America.

"By comparing the data," he detailed, "we found that the violent crime rate in the United States was 475 per 100,000 population, while up north, there were 963 violent crimes per 100,000 population. The figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 population is more than double that of the United States, 74 as opposed to 32.1, and the assault rate in Canada is also more than twice that of the states, 746 to our 295 for the population rate."

Noted CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron: "What happened in the states to actually contribute to a reduction in our overall crime rate is simple. We've got 38 states with shall-issue, right-to-carry concealed handgun laws. While Canada has clamped down on its citizens' gun rights, our citizens have been empowered against criminals by passage of these laws. The disparity in crime rates between the two countries says it all about how well gun registration works to stop crime, as opposed to actually carrying guns to deter criminals, and fight back if necessary."

A Jan. 3 story in Canada's National Post by writer David Frum confirmed CCRKBA's independent finding. Frum wrote, "Canada's overall crime rate is now 50% higher than the crime rate in the United States." Later, Frum added: "Gun registries and gun bans…do not work."

"Instead of promising to ban legally-owned handguns in Canada," Waldron observed, "Prime Minister Paul Martin should be urging citizens to arm themselves. He should encourage Parliament to scrap gun registration and replace it with a gun ownership and training program."

"Since going on the warpath against guns, Canada's Liberals have presided over the sharpest rise in violent crime in the nation's history," Gottlieb said. "There are more rapes, more robberies and more murders. If that tells Canadian citizens anything at all, it's that Paul Martin and his Liberals have literally been ‘dead wrong' on guns."

What is it called when you keep trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result?  Yeah, that's right, it's called insanity.  Socialism and gun control have been shown again, and again, and again, to be the tools of tyrants and cost hundreds of millions of lives.  Won't people ever face reality?

There should be some sort of Darwin like award for people that chose such loser economic systems.  I've been blogging about this for some time and it just gets worse and worse.  Here is the latest from the failing U.K. medical system:

Hospitals shut wards as cash crisis bites
By Sam Lister, David Charter and Nigel Hawkes

THE spiralling cash crisis in the NHS has already forced two thirds of hospitals to close wards and will soon start directly affecting patient care, health chiefs give warning today.

A survey of 117 chief executives of NHS trusts reveals the depth of concern among healthcare professionals about the destabilising impact of wide-ranging government reforms. Three quarters of them say that growing financial pressures brought on by primary and acute care restructuring will affect patient treatment.

Almost half of hospital trust managers said that building and refurbishment projects were being delayed, while many trusts were also having to make staff redundant and to introduce recruitment freezes.

...

The poll of trust executives, conducted by Health Service Journal, comes as nursing leaders also give a bleak warning of massive NHS deficits. Their research suggests that health service debts in England will hit £1.2 billion this year, putting up to 4,000 jobs at risk.

The new minister, who will be charged with promoting the reform agenda in the media, is expected to be imposed on the Department of Health in a reshuffle due within days. The jobs of Jane Kennedy, the Minister for quality and patient safety, and Rosie Winterton, the Minister for health services, are both at risk.

The Times understands that a number of senior bureaucrats will also be moved in an attempt to speed up the pace of delivery.

Don't you just get a thrill at the thought of "a number of senior bureaucrats" being moved in to speed things up?  Are these people using the hospital pharmaceuticals recreationally?

And if this is bad, with recruitment freezes in the U.K., it must be really bad in Germany because the doctors there are threatening to go to work in the U.K.!

Striking doctors on the march
By Roger Boyes
50,000 surgeries closed as GPs threaten to desert Germany and head for Britain, reports our correspondent

THOUSANDS of German doctors threatened yesterday to desert Europe’s most modern health system and work in Britain, rather than put up with declining wages and longer hours.

The doctors, many wearing operating masks, marched through the centre of Berlin to besiege the Health Ministry in the first big demonstration against Angela Merkel’s coalition Government. Hospitals worked at half strength and about 50,000 doctors’ surgeries across the country were closed.

“It’s no longer bearable,” Andreas Dahmen, a 31-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, said. “I earn €2,800 [£1,920] a month here after taxes. I’m moving to England where I can earn double that amount for much less work.”

In Britain, he said, he could expect to earn £3,000 a month after tax, with the promise of bonuses bringing his earnings to £4,500. The hip specialist was speaking in a sea of placards held aloft by his colleagues, announcing: “England, we’re on our way!” and “If you want to see a German doctor, come to England!”.

I personally knew six people before they went to Iraq in the last couple of years.  Greg and John were over and back without me knowing they were headed that way.  Both made it home safely. Adam and Walter went over about a year ago.  Adam came home in a body bag and Walter was seriously and permanently injured (initial reports were overly optimistic about his recovery).  Our nephew Jason lost an arm, vision in one eye and other injuries.  That leaves one person unaccounted for.

Boomershooter Scott, who I worked with at Microsoft in '98 and '99, was headed over in 2004 and after all the bad news about the other guys I knew I dreaded even trying to check up on him.  Finally I got a hold of his Microsoft email address and sent him a message a couple weeks ago.  No response.  That could mean anything.  My old email address at MS didn't bounce so it could be he wasn't working there anymore either.  Yesterday I called him at his old MS number.  There was no answer so I left a voice mail message.  Again, that didn't mean much--my old number went to voice mail too.

Four hours and 35 minutes later Scott called me.  He's back at Microsoft and in one piece.  He lost friends and others that went with him to Iraq were severely injured but Scott is okay and planning to attend Boomershoot 2006 with another Iraq war vet.  While in Iraq they had Internet access and spent time looking at Boomershoot.org.

I'm very relieved.

This has been reported elsewhere but tomorrows Quote of the day is from some XXXXX people (Updated-- People that preferred their associations not be known) that needs this as background material:

(CNSNews.com) - The City of Seattle is running a help-wanted ad for a "Crime Gun Program Coordinator," who will "develop, maintain and coordinate a centralized and regionally comprehensive crime gun database" and "integrate" that data with other law enforcement databases.

The person hired for the job also will "assist in the development of local and regional strategies to stop illegal gun trafficking and related gun violence."

A Second Amendment group says don't be fooled -- the person hired for the job will be the Seattle Police Department's "official gun control advocate," and as such, he or she will be expected to "create and advocate gun control schemes under the guise of stopping criminal misuse of firearms."

The Seattle Police Department's "Crime Gun Program Coordinator" will be paid between $61,366 and $92,060 -- a waste of taxpayer money, said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).

CCRKBA also objected to the term "crime gun," calling it an inflammatory term intended to demonize any and all firearms, including those that are stolen in burglaries but are never actually used in crimes.

The actual job posting is as follows (emphasis added):

 

Job	Crime Gun Program Coordinator (SPD-701177)
Status	Regular / Full Time
Shift	Day Shift
Filing Dates	Sun, Jan 15, 2006 - Sun, Jan 29, 2006
Openings	1 Opening
Salary	$61,366 - $92,060 (Ord. Title: Strategic Advisor 2)
Department	Police
Location	Seattle Justice Center

Position Duties

Provide strategic support to the City’s Crime Gun Violence Reduction Program. Develop, maintain and coordinate a centralized and regionally comprehensive crime gun database and integrate the data with relevant information from the State Department of Licensing (DOL), Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and other law enforcement agency databases. Assist in the development of local and regional strategies to stop illegal gun trafficking and related gun violence. Serve as inter-agency liaison and represent SPD at local and regional meetings pertaining to crime gun issues. Provide information and support to the Office for Intergovernmental Relations in developing legislation relating to firearms. Assist in the development of other specialized information technology systems with SPD relating to crime gun tracking gun violence reduction.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, public administration or a closely related field, and three years of experience working in planning and research related to program design, including data collection and analysis, and program development and coordination involving a variety of stakeholders. Experience in policy analysis and development, strategic planning, and advising management on program direction and allocation of resources. Must pass a Seattle Police Department background investigation.

Desired Qualifications

Master’s degree in criminal justice, public administration or a closely related field; the proven ability to design, develop, implement and evaluate complex programs involving sensitive issues and requiring interagency cooperation between multiple jurisdictions; experience, knowledge and/or technical expertise in crime gun issues; expertise in database management practices, statistical analysis and report writing; the ability to analyze data using the Geographic Information System; and excellent oral and written communication skills.

Additional Requirements

Candidates selected for this position will be required to provide a conviction history. A background check will be required for candidates selected for this position.

Bruce at mAss Backwards left a comment for my post Just One Question:

I've been contemplating the "just one question" approach for a while now. There's a series of town meeting-style forums coming up in Boston with our Mayor Tom "Never Met a Gun Control Scheme I Didn't Like" Menino.

I'm going to put my name in for one of the limited slots available. Shoudl I get the chance to address the Mayor, I'd ask:

"Mr. Mayor, as you know, the City of Boston over the last year has seen a marked increase in the rate of homicides and armed robberies. My question for you is a simple YES or NO question. Do the hard-working, law-abiding citizens of Boston have the right to defend themselves from violent criminals?"

A "yes" answer woudl be an outright lie.

A "no" answer, though truthful, would be cause for his immediate removal from office (not that that's very likely, though).

That seems to be a very good question to ask as well.  The only disadvantage I can see is that they can say, "Yes.", "Yes, but not with a gun.", or "Yes, but guns only make the situation worse."  And you are left with having to justify the use of a firearm for task of self-defense.  My question forces them defend their desire to impose restrictions on firearms.  In nearly all situations it's better to make your opponent defend rather than for you to defend against them.

As I write this I see Bruce has posted on this "Just One Question" topic with the request "So...what would your "one question" be?" in the context of being able to ask some politician a question in a public forum.

The news of Jill Carroll about to be killed by her abductors if all Iraqi women in military custody are not freed is incredibly disturbing to me.  But that does not mean I relieve her of the responsibility for her situation.  She and many others like her who persist in maintaining their ignorance of the threat posed by the Islamic extremists will continue to pay a heavy price for their willful ignorance.  These extremists literally say they have a religious duty to kill non-believers.  Unless she has converted to Islam and advocates the world-wide replacement of democracy by the rule of sexist religious extremists her situation should not come as a surprise to anyone.

While I hope and wish for a successful rescue of Ms. Carroll I think the odds of this are very low.  And certainly we should not release any prisoners, pay any ransom, or comply with any demands made by these criminals.  To do so would only put others at risk of similar abduction and death.  Her family and friends have my sympathy.

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.

Alexander Hamilton