North Carolina bullying ban dies in committee

And to think they protested with howls and shrill whines about a plastic doll wearing fishnet stockings ... but let a child be bullied - no problem!

North Carolina legislation protecting schoolchildren from bullying died Thursday in committee, Raleigh's News & Observer reported.

"The failure of this bill to pass . . . sends a bad message," state Sen. Doug Berger told the Observer.

To quote one, Gloria Brame:

"Ya reckon? Give that man the Understatement of the Year Award."

The controversy that prevented the bill from passing surrounded the addition of "sexual orientation" as a reason a student may face discrimination or bullying, the Observer reported.

The Christian Action League and the North Carolina Family Policy Council objected, saying that LGBT groups would use the bill as leverage for other rights legislation.

Hurricanes in Iowa?

Actually it's only thunderstorms, but ...

Officials in Iowa say thunderstorms with winds of up to 100 mph have knocked out electricity for thousands of residents.

No injuries have been reported.State and local officials say the storms ripped up trees and power lines early today and ripped the roof off a building at the state prison for women in Mitchellville.

The utilities MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy say more than 200,000 of their customers have been blacked out. MidAmerican Energy is controlled by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

National Weather Service meteorologist Ben Moyer says there hasn't been a lot of rain with the system but winds gusted up to 100 mph.

... with winds at 100 mph they would be called hurricanes out over the water sea instead of the grassy sea.

Who else thinks the weather patterns are getting wackier!?

Fish Pedicures

Ready for the latest in spa pampering?

Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.

Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far."This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.

He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.

Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.

*****

I wonder if it tickles or not?

OOPS!

The White House this past Saturday afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined “Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine.”

The story was about how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that “he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months … ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time-frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,’” the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

The gaff comes at an odd time for the shrub's foreign policy, at a time when Obama’s campaign alleges the shrub is moving closer toward Obama’s recommendations about international relations — sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, discussing a “general time horizon” for U.S. troop withdrawal and launching talks with Iran.

Regarding the Maliki announcement:

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, “We’re fucked.”