CAROLINA NATURALLY: Dec 21, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Gotta love the irony

... that the owner of the station that is "home" to the hate-mongering bloviating radio repugicans is filing for bankruptcy.

Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the nation's third-largest radio broadcasting company, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday in an effort to restructure its hefty debt load as it continues to face declining advertising revenue.

Citadel owns and operates 224 radio stations, including KABC-am in Los Angeles, WLS-am in Chicago, WABC-am and WPLJ-fm in New York and KGO-am in San Francisco. Citadel's Wabc is home to several syndicated hosts, including Don Imus, Lush Dimbulb, Joe Scarborough and Mark Levin.

Full Story

And I Quote

When you repeat a lie over and over people actually start to believe it as fact.

~ Glenn Beck, explaining the repugican credo ... echoed by Faux News and of course the Brick himself

And he should know as he does nothing but lie.

Funeral for dissident Iranian cleric morphs into anti-government protest

An opposition protester at Tehran University on December 7.

The funeral procession for Iran's most senior dissident cleric on Monday became a giant anti-government protest.

Full Story

Briton loses China death appeal

A British citizen has lost his final appeal against the death sentence imposed upon him in China, human rights campaigners said.

Full Story

Sorcery Charges On The Rise In Saudi Arabia

A Lebanese man who hosted a popular TV show where he gave callers advice and sometimes predicted the future was sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia last month.

Full Story

Online shipping deadlines extended

Some web retailers have bumped back the standard shipping cutoff date.

East Coast snowstorm connection

Also:

Exercises you can do at work

10 exercises you can do at work

Your co-workers might look at you funny, but these moves can fight off weight gain and stress.

Easy

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New rule aims to end tarmac horror stories

Airlines must now let passengers stuck in stranded planes disembark after a certain time.

Fine of $27,500 per flier

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Where to find the next housing boom

A Harvard economist says the weather will determine the next real estate hotspots.

Surprising theory

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Watch out, world: El Niño is back

Record snowstorms are just one sign that the wacky weather phenomenon is in effect.

What's next

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Seven quick dinners

Get a hot dinner on the table promptly with these easy recipes for every day of the week.

Get recipes

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Shedding light on the darkest day

The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, brings good news and bad.

The countdown to summer begins

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Unraveling teen sailor's mysterious trip

A 14-year-old Dutch girl banned from sailing around the world turns up on a Caribbean isle.

Police want answers

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Ways retailers get you to spend more

6 ways retailers get you to spend more

Retailers are more aggressive than ever when it comes to getting customers to buy.

Tricks you should know

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When it comes to carbon emissions ...

Dogs might be more dangerous than SUVs

A study says man's best friend is worse on the environment than gas-guzzling automobiles.

Pet owners react

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He fell 6,000 feet and lived to tell the tale

Fell 6,000 feet and lived to tell the tale

James Boole talks about the accident that nearly killed him, and why he wants to sky-dive again.

Story

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Cops give holiday speeders a break

Police officers in Texas give drivers caught speeding a rare chance to avoid a fine.

A different kind of ticket

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Reasons you feel 'fake hungry'

4 reasons you feel 'fake hungry'

Eating meals made up of certain foods can leave you feeling hungrier.

How to stay full and satisfied

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What's left of world's highest glacier

Chacaltaya Glacier, home of Bolivia's only ski resort, will vanish in months, experts say.

See it then and now

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Stunning view of blizzard from space

The East Coast snowstorm was so big that even a picture of it taken from space is impressive.

Look

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Cop News

In Cop News

South Carolina school cop arrested on drug charges

South Carolina deputy arrested on drug charges
(not the same cop as above)

Female armed robber stripped, beaten and set alight by angry lynch mob

Stripped naked to the waist, she begs for mercy as she is savagely beaten by a lynch mob in the middle of the street.

Alejandra Maria Torres was part of an armed gang that tried to rob bus passengers in Guatemala City.
But as she tried to escape the passengers stripped and beat her before dousing her in petrol and setting her alight.

Police put out the flames and arrested her. Her three companions escaped. lynching in Guatemala City

Alejandra Maria Torres sits bloodied on a street after being beaten, doused with petrol and set on fire during a lynching in Guatemala City

Lynchings are common in Guatemala. In the last year, mobs have attacked more than 250 people, leaving at least 40 of them dead.

Criminals are a frequent target but officials are sometimes attacked, including a judge who issued a rape verdict thought by the public to be too lenient.

The practice stems from the civil war of 1960 to 1996 when civil defence patrols carried out many of the murders in the state-sponsored genocide of Left-wing rebels, many of them peasants.

About 200,000 people died. Passengers of a public bus accused Torres

Passengers of a public bus accused Torres and three men, who escaped on foot, of participating in an armed robbery

Full Story

And the moral to this tale is: Don't attempt to rob a large group ... it will backfire on you (literally).

New Yorkers Object To Study Labeling Them Unhappy

From the "Cry me a river" Department:

The verdict is in, and, when it comes to New Yorkers, they are in a class by themselves.

Full Story

Woodpecker takes on 10ft snake in heroic struggle for nest

After a fight lasting about four minutes, the wounded bird left the area and is likely to have died of its injuries or been killed by a predator.

Full Story

Most painfully annoying office jargon

Corporate folks love to toss around these expressions — too bad they're almost meaningless.

'Out of pocket'

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First Jesus-era house found in Nazareth

Archaeologists uncover a home that sheds new light on Jesus' childhood town.

» Who may have lived there

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Find more on Nazareth

World's tallest waterfall may get new name

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez wants to change what Angel Falls is called.

Proposed new name

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List of tallest water falls

Health bill passes make-or-break test vote

The Senate votes 60 to 40, in the first and most critical test vote for health care reform.

The next steps

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Unlikely fuel source takes center stage

It's cleaner than coal and cheaper than oil — and a 90-year supply is under our feet.

But it has to overcome bad rep

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Wilderness Makes West Virginia Wonderful

From Treehugger:

west virginia wilderness photo
Scene from West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest Wilderness. Image credit:Wilderness Society

West Virginia is more than deserving of its state slogan: "Wild and Wonderful." It boasts Ancient mountains, untamed rivers, caves, culture, and much more.

What's bizarre to me, however, is that the West Virginia Hospitality and Tourism Association believes that its members who cater to tourists should support none other than coal mining -- even when that involves blowing off the tops of those ancient mountains. The association wrote a letter to its members asking them to join a group that promotes the coal industry. That must've had some river guides and bed and breakfast owners scratching their heads.

Article continues: Wilderness Makes West Virginia Wonderful

Liars and Fools

The Liars and Fools for today are;

Chuck Norris lies when he claims if Mary had Obamacare, she might have aborted the baby Jesus.
Give it up Chuckie you were a has been never was and you never will be.

A Santa Barbara daily 'newspaper' calls for bounty on Obama's head.
One word: Treason!

Anti-Rape amendment has survived - so far

The anti-rape amendment introduced by Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) to the fury of pro-rape repugicans has survived, so far.

It's in the final version of the Defense Spending Bill.

Studies say ...

More research - More bad news for high fructose corn syrup.

And remember folks, this poison is in practically all processed food in America!

Let's play a game

"Whack-a-banker", er, I mean "Whack-a-mole" - wait, no I mean "Whack-a-banker"

This recreation of a funhouse staple is wildly popular.

Economic Problem Solved ... Not

Reduce the minimum wage.
That's the economic solution proposed by Charles Lane, who's paid to have such 'opinions' by the Washington Post.

Yes, yes.

By all means reduce what is already only half of what it should be to live a life just barely over the poverty line.
(Last count had the poverty line at $12.48hr and minimum wage just now has made it to what, $7.85hr).

No Freedom of Speech in Canada

From the "This is bad - very bad!" Department:

Freedom of speech has been suspended by law in Canada, at least until after the Olympics ends.

Oh, by the way ...

Blue Shield of California is threatening to violate state law by skipping the grace period and immediately canceling coverage for anyone late with a payment.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Health Care Hell in America

Raw Story decided to count the countless victims, and put a number to their misery, and their conclusion is that 135,000 American citizens will die due to a lack of health insurance before current proposed health care reform measures would take effect.

And I Quote

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.

~ John Kenneth Galbraith

How we rank

Just checked on our ranking and we sit at the 17,606th most popular blog on the net.
Considering that there is well over 100million blogs on the net right now that's not too shabby.

A first ...

Today In Entertainment History December 21

Disney released the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," its first full-length animated film in color in 1937 on December 21st.

Winter Officially Starts Monday, The Shortest Day Of The Year

The Winter Solstice occurs at 12:47pm EST on Monday, December 21.
This marks the beginning of Winter for the Northern Hemisphere and is the shortest day of the year - daylight speaking.

Winter Officially Starts Monday, The Shortest Day Of The Year

Gun Owners Way Less Gun-Crazy Than NRA

From Gawker:

According to a recent poll (sponsored, albeit, by a pro gun-control organization) gun owners are more supportive of tighter gun laws than the NRA.
Every gun owner does not want the right to carry a concealed flamethrower.

Full Story

I can hear the howling from the gun nuts at the NRA now, over this one.

Illegal Animal Trade

Bryan Christy writes in the January issue of National Geographic about a notorious animal smuggler.

It took the undercover unit of the US Fish & Wildlife Service five years to track down Anson Wong, the world's most wanted smuggler of endangered species. But he got out of prison in 47 months, during which time his wife kept the business going full force. And when Wong got out of prison he set his sights on a 'new wildlife venture, a zoo that promises to be his most audacious enterprise yet' -- smuggling tigers.

Christy tells the story of how the Fish & Wildlife Special Ops team set up a sting operation to capture Wong, who boasted of having horns of Sumatran and Javanese rhinoceroses, both forbidden Appendix I animals. He talked openly about getting shahtoosh, the 'king of wool,' from the Tibetan antelope. He had access to extraordinary birds, including the Rothschild's mynah, whose wild population was estimated to number fewer than 150. He bragged about his Spix's macaws, a bird now believed to be extinct in the wild, claiming he'd recently sold three. The black market rate for a Spix's macaw was $100,000. His expanding list of astonishing illegal rarities included panda skins and snow leopard pelts."

While no one knows exactly how large the illegal wildlife trade is, this much is certain: It's extraordinarily lucrative. Profit margins are the kind drug kingpins would kill for. Smugglers evade detection by hiding illegal wildlife in legal shipments, they bribe wildlife and customs officials, and they alter trade documents. Few are ever caught, and penalties are usually no more severe than a parking ticket. Wildlife trafficking may very well be the world's most profitable form of illegal trade, bar none.

Asia's Wildlife Trade

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is:

Ann and Samantha Day,
Forefathers Day,
Humbug Day,
Phileas Fogg Win A Wager Day,
National Haiku Poetry Day,
World Peace Day,

as well as

the Winter Solstice,
Yalda,

and

Yule

Daily Almanac

Today is Monday, Dec. 21, the 355th day of 2009.

There are 10 days left in the year.

Winter arrives at 12:47 p.m. EST.

Today In History December 21

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ravena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Welwyn Garden City, England, United Kingdom
Norwich, England, United Kingdom
Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Letchworth, England, United Kingdom
Valencia, Comunidad Valencia, Spain
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

as well as Brazil, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Once you're able to put your shyness aside, you'll learn to love the sound of applause.
Use your creativity to your advantage.
Your competitors probably won't see the same possibilities you do, which gives you the edge over them.
If you get the opportunity to merge one of your hobbies with your career, by all means take it.
Whether it's a knack for art, music or a similar creative talent, this is your time to capitalize on whatever you have to offer the world.

I have shyness?!