Tuesday Links

Some recent news and opinion:

From ABC News, according to a study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 42% of Americans don't know that Obamacare is the law.

In Townhall, John Hawkins gives us 30 reasons to dislike President Obama.

From Breitbart's Big Government, Tea Party Patriots gets ready to rally against the "Gang of Eight" immigration bill.

From the Washington Free Beacon, extremists with ties to Al Qaeda have been using the Boston area as a base ever since 1993.

From Yahoo News, many in the Muslim world want Sharia as the official law of their lands.

From The Examiner, a study finds that over a quarter million Somalis have died from famine and terrorism.

From The Blaze, the FDA has approved over-the-counter sales the "morning after" pill - to girls as young as 15.

From the Washington Post, some officials say that Obama is "moving toward" sending weapons to Syrian rebels.

The American Thinker asks, is Obama working hard or hardly working?

From CNS News, a Miami archbishop says that establishing gay marriage would spread "moral relativism" and eventually bring about tyranny.

The American Spectator tells the story of the "Pigs of Pigford".

From USA Today, a D.C. councilman has introduced a resolution calling for the Washington Redskins to change their name to the Redtails.

And from CBS Sports, San Diego cartoonist Steve Breen welcomes soon-to-be-Charger Manti Te'o.

Tsarnaev Gets New High-Profile Lawyer

The defense team for surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev has added Judy Clark, a high-profile lawyer from San Diego known for handling death penalty cases.  Her previous clients have included Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber; Jared Loughner, who shot congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon; and Eric Rudolph, who bombed the Atlanta Olympics and several abortion clinics.  The appointment of Clark was approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler.

Read more at the Boston Herald, Newsday, Philadelphia Metro and the Brandon Sun.

Man Stabs Four At Albuquerque Church

At around 12:15 this afternoon, a man entered St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, yelled "fake preacher!", ran towards the choir, and stabbed four people, injuring two of them critically.  He was subdued by other members of the congregation, and later identified as Lawrence Capener, who is not himself a parishoner.  The victims were all taken to local hospitals.

Read more at KOAT, KOB, the Santa Fe New Mexican, and the Los Angeles Times.

The George W. Bush Library Opens & Other News

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated today in a ceremony attended by President Obama and former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Bush.  The library is on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  Here are some stories from today's events:

From the Washington Post, the other presidents offer tributes to George W. Bush.

From CBS News, a look inside the George W. Bush library.

From the Los Angeles Times, the second President Bush gives his speech, affirming his faith in the U.S.

Fox News has some video highlights of the dedication.

The Christian Science Monitor wonders if Bush is "on the rebound".

Writing in CNN, Donna Brazile says that "Bush came through on Katrina."

From Business Insider, the Bush presidency in pictures.

From Weasel Zippers, Dubya's mom doesn't seem to too comfortable with his successor.

In other news:

From the Times Union, today is indeed World Penguin Day.  A hundred years ago the world saw the first professional photographs of Antarctic penguins.

From the Daily Mail, in Dubai, female U.S. sailor 1 - would-be rapist 0.

From the Miami Herald, a California filmmaker has been detained in Venezuela.

From the New York Daily News, Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, who has so far missed the entire season due to an ankle injury, promises to return.

From CNS News, one out of every five U.S. households is on food stamps.

From Kurier, about 40 Muslims in Vienna demonstrate for the Boston bomber.  Via Weasel Zippers, who provides a partial translation.

And from SF Gate, a school in the U.K. stops airport noise with domes.

Loys Station Covered Bridge

One of only six covered bridges still in use in Maryland, the Loys Station bridge was named for a nearby railroad station.  Originally constructed in 1848, the bridge may have been used by Union General George Meade pursuing Confederate troops retreating from Gettysburg.  In 1991, the bridge was damaged when a pickup truck was parked inside it and set on fire.  After undergoing repairs, the bridge was reopened in 1994.  The bridge's namesake railroad station is long gone, but the tracks are still in place.

Here's a view of the bridge from near its north end, with its east side in sunlight.

This view looks directly through the bridge from its south end.

For more information on Loys Station Bridge, go here, and browse around the site to learn about the other five covered bridges in Maryland.

Canada Foils Terror Plot

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with some help from the American FBI, have prevented two men from carrying out a plan to derail a VIA passenger train.  The suspects were arrested in Montreal and Toronto.  They are not Canadian citizens, and are said to have been supported by "Al Qaeda elements in Iran".  At first, the RCMP would not indicate the nationalities of the two men, or how long they have been in Canada, but later stated that one was originally from Tunisia and the other from the United Arab Emirates.

Read more at BBC News, Yahoo News, USA Today, CTV News, The Age and Russia Today.

Music Break - Some Old Favorites

For this month's music break, I offer up some old favorites of mine.  Some are rather well known, and others more obscure, but that's just my tastes.

The first number is Feel So Good by Jefferson Airplane, from their 1971 album Bark, written and sung by lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen.  At this time, the band had lost founding lead singer Marty Balin and longtime drummer Spencer Dryden.  Kaukonen and new drummer Joey Covington stepped up to contribute some lead vocals, along with holdovers Paul Kantner (also rhythm guitar) and Grace Slick (also piano).  After one more studio album, Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady left the Airplane, which would turn their side project Hot Tuna into their main gig.  Kantner and Slick would later regroup to create Jefferson Starship.

Further Developments In Boston

Now that a Saudi man who was injured in one of the explosions at the Boston Marathon is no longer under suspicion, two brothers of Chechen ethnicity have been identified as the alleged bombers.  The older of the two, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been killed in a shootout with police.  The younger man Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, has remained at large.  The two are reported to have killed an MIT police officer, wounded another policeman, and thrown explosives at police during a car chase.

Fox News reports the second suspect to be "down", inside a boat or a shed behind a house, and surrounded by police.

My Way gives a summary of what's happened so far.

BBC News has live coverage from Boston.

According to World Net Daily, the suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, claims that her sons were set up.

The Daily Mail reports that Mrs. Tsarnaeva was arrested for shoplifting in 2012.  (via Pat Dollard)

ABC News reports that the man still at large could be wearing a suicide vest.

From the Daily Caller, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "very religious" and an accomplished boxer.

From the Daily Mail, more on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his family, and his in-laws.

From Boston(dot)com, a profile of slain MIT officer Sean Collier.

From the New York Post, the suspects' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, calls them "losers".

From Reuters, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's website "venerates Islam" and calls for Chechen independence.

UPDATE:  The Fox News link above now reports that the Boston police have the second suspect in custody.

UPDATE 2:  From Viral Read, how Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured.

"Master Suite" Being Phased Out

When staff reporter Michael Neibauer of the Washington Business Journal surveyed ten major homebuilders in the area of Washington, DC, he found that six of them would no longer refer to a house's largest bedroom as the "master".  These builders will no longer indicate a "master bedroom" or a "master suite", but instead will replace "master" with "owner's", because the former term "has connotation problems, in gender (it skews toward male) and race (the slave master)", as Neibauer puts it.

This begs several questions.  Since slaves were considered to be property, why wouldn't the term "owner" likewise have "connotation problems"?  Will Master's degrees have to be re-titled?  Will sound amplifiers no longer have a "master volume" control?  Will automotive braking systems no longer have a "master cylinder"?  In craft guilds, after spending time as an apprentice and then a journeyman, will a full-fledged craftsman no longer be called a "master"?  Will PBS be willing to change the name of Masterpiece Theater?  And what about that major PGA golf tournament held every spring in Augusta, Georgia?

Read Neibauer's article at the topmost link.

The Regulars Are Coming Out!

On April 16, 1775 Bostonian silversmith and express rider Paul Revere was sent by Dr. Joseph Warren to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the approach of British soldiers intending to arrest them.  He rode out toward Lexington, stopping at houses along the way.  As he approached the place where Adams and Hancock were staying, he was asked not to make so much noise.  His response was "Noise!  You'll have noise enough before long.  The regulars are coming out!"  It was this statement that over the years has been distorted into "The British are coming!"  Calling the troops "British" would not have made much sense at the time, because in April of 1775, the Massachusetts colonists were all British.  Before the night was over, Revere was joined by two other riders, arrested by British troops, and released without his horse.  Read more about the ride at  The Paul Revere House.

More about Paul Revere can be found at The New American, The History Channel, NNDB and Biography(dot)com.

Revere's ride was re-enacted on Patriot's Day, several hours before the attack at the Boston Marathon.