Friday, January 16, 2009
Odd, Weird and other News stories
Odd, Weird and other News stories:
- Guards angered after stripper performs at jail
- 'Joba-The-Not' charged with impersonating Yankee
- Man beats speeding ticket by saying sign too small
- Lithuanian firm hires witch to hunt debt dodgers
- Man waiting for tools gets brick of marijuana
- Historic NYC diner will get hauled to Alabama
- Burglar caught after cops post footage on Facebook
- Police say NJ man posed as female veterinarian
- Gun goes off in Utah restroom, shatters toilet
- Feces-throwing monkey on the loose in Tampa Bay
- Mass. man shot twice in year at same pizza place
- Robber mistakes building for a bank, demands cash
- Dad accused of hiring hitman to beat his daughter
- Goats blamed for starting house fire in Iowa
- Peru court rules city was wrong to fire drunk maid
- Cops recognize robbery suspect at police station
N.C. man who died tested positive for salmonella
North Carolina health officials say an elderly man who died in November tested positive for the same strain of salmonella that's causing a national outbreak.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Friday tests were taken the day before the Catawba County resident died. Dr. Zack Moore, an epidemiologist, said the tests indicated the infection had overrun the man's digestive system and spread to his bloodstream.
Three other people have tested positive for salmonella in North Carolina. Health officials said they've all recovered.
The outbreak has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and killed at least six. Earlier this week, it prompted Kellogg to pull some of its venerable Keebler crackers from store shelves, as a precaution.
Chipotle Beef Chili
These cold days have me making all the 'comfort foods' in my cookbook.
Chipolte Beef Chili
You Need:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
Nonstick spray coating
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 teaspoons chopped, canned chipotle peppers
8 ounces beef top sirloin steak
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1 14-1/2-ounce can low-sodium tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 8-ounce can low-sodium tomato sauce
How To:
2. Carefully add oil to hot saucepan. Cook garlic in hot oil until tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, chipotle peppers, basil, oregano, chili powder and cumin. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Return beef to saucepan. Heat through. Makes three 1-1/2-cup servings.
Our world may be a giant hologram
Driving through the countryside south of Hanover, it would be easy to miss the GEO600 experiment. From the outside, it doesn't look much: in the corner of a field stands an assortment of boxy temporary buildings, from which two long trenches emerge, at a right angle to each other, covered with corrugated iron. Underneath the metal sheets, however, lies a detector that stretches for 600 metres.
For the past seven years, this German set-up has been looking for gravitational waves - ripples in space-time thrown off by super-dense astronomical objects such as neutron stars and black holes. GEO600 has not detected any gravitational waves so far, but it might inadvertently have made the most important discovery in physics for half a century.
For many months, the GEO600 team-members had been scratching their heads over inexplicable noise that is plaguing their giant detector. Then, out of the blue, a researcher approached them with an explanation. In fact, he had even predicted the noise before he knew they were detecting it. According to Craig Hogan, a physicist at the Fermilab particle physics lab in Batavia, Illinois, GEO600 has stumbled upon the fundamental limit of space-time - the point where space-time stops behaving like the smooth continuum Einstein described and instead dissolves into "grains", just as a newspaper photograph dissolves into dots as you zoom in. "It looks like GEO600 is being buffeted by the microscopic quantum convulsions of space-time," says Hogan.
Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet
This image shows concentrations of Methane discovered on Mars.
Credit: NASA
Credit: NASA
Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts, apparently without life of any kind, at least on the surface. Worse still, it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.
But there is evidence of a warmer and wetter past -- features resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that form in the presence of water indicate water once flowed through Martian sands. Since liquid water is required for all known forms of life, scientists wonder if life could have risen on Mars, and if it did, what became of it as the Martian climate changed ...
Liars and Fools
Liars and Fools today:
And what else is new: Cheney again lies that Saddam was linked to al Qaeda
Dimbulb lies about Planned Parenthood
Cornyn (r-Texas): What if waterboarding were your only interrogation option?
Rove again lies in his Wall Street Journal column ... so tell me -when does his prison term begin?
And what else is new: Cheney again lies that Saddam was linked to al Qaeda
Dimbulb lies about Planned Parenthood
Cornyn (r-Texas): What if waterboarding were your only interrogation option?
Rove again lies in his Wall Street Journal column ... so tell me -when does his prison term begin?
BofA wants more ...
Bank of America wants billions more in federal funds to complete its takeover of Merrill Lynch. And you know what?! I somehow suspect they're going to get it.
Read more in the McClatchy Newspapers.
And I Quote
"Many people will disagree over many aspects of the Bush legacy, but on Katrina... It is impossible to challenge what so many of us witnessed firsthand, what the entire country witnessed through the images on our television screens day and night. Mr. President, you cannot pat yourself on the back for that one.
We will debate the war in Iraq, debate national security, the economy, and the rest of your legacy. Those debates will continue for years to come. But on how you handled Katrina, there is no debate."
We will debate the war in Iraq, debate national security, the economy, and the rest of your legacy. Those debates will continue for years to come. But on how you handled Katrina, there is no debate."
~ CNN's Campbell Brown
Case dropped against aide accused of helping Iraq
The government has quietly dropped its case against a former congressional aide accused of helping an Iraqi spy agency but later ruled mentally unfit for trial.
But Susan Lindauer said she won't go away quietly.
The Tacoma Park, Maryland, woman vowed to sue, saying she was falsely arrested and prosecuted.
"I am furious. I am going to be filing a civil lawsuit seeking punitive damages," Lindauer said Friday.
"Nobody should think they did me any favors by denying me a trial."
Prosecutors said in court papers filed Thursday that prosecuting Lindauer would no longer be in the interests of justice.
Lindauer was arrested in 2004 on charges that she conspired to act as a spy for the Iraqi intelligence service, making contact through the Iraqi consulate in New York.
A judge made the ruling on her mental fitness last year.
She has worked in the press offices of four Democratic members of Congress and as a journalist for two magazines, two newspapers and a television news company.
During a hearing last year, psychiatrist Stuart Kleinman, who examined Lindauer at prosecutors' request, said Lindauer has a serious, long-standing mental disorder that includes grandiose delusions, such as the belief that Osama bin Laden told her about a hidden bomb.
She had been jailed for about a year but released from custody in 2006 after another judge ruled the government could not force her to be medicated for her delusions so she could stand trial.
On Friday, Lindauer said she helped provide information for years to the U.S. government about Iraq and Libya.
She said she was prosecuted in retaliation for opposing the invasion of Iraq.
"They hope they're done, but I'm not done. I'm going to haul them into civil court and prove everything I've said is true, and I've been hideously abused," she said.
Federal prosecutors had no comment, said spokeswoman Janice Oh.
Lindauer is a distant relative of the shrub's former chief of staff Andrew Card.
Her father, John Lindauer, once owned an Alaska newspaper chain and ran for the state's governorship in 1998.
But Susan Lindauer said she won't go away quietly.
The Tacoma Park, Maryland, woman vowed to sue, saying she was falsely arrested and prosecuted.
"I am furious. I am going to be filing a civil lawsuit seeking punitive damages," Lindauer said Friday.
"Nobody should think they did me any favors by denying me a trial."
Prosecutors said in court papers filed Thursday that prosecuting Lindauer would no longer be in the interests of justice.
Lindauer was arrested in 2004 on charges that she conspired to act as a spy for the Iraqi intelligence service, making contact through the Iraqi consulate in New York.
A judge made the ruling on her mental fitness last year.
She has worked in the press offices of four Democratic members of Congress and as a journalist for two magazines, two newspapers and a television news company.
During a hearing last year, psychiatrist Stuart Kleinman, who examined Lindauer at prosecutors' request, said Lindauer has a serious, long-standing mental disorder that includes grandiose delusions, such as the belief that Osama bin Laden told her about a hidden bomb.
She had been jailed for about a year but released from custody in 2006 after another judge ruled the government could not force her to be medicated for her delusions so she could stand trial.
On Friday, Lindauer said she helped provide information for years to the U.S. government about Iraq and Libya.
She said she was prosecuted in retaliation for opposing the invasion of Iraq.
"They hope they're done, but I'm not done. I'm going to haul them into civil court and prove everything I've said is true, and I've been hideously abused," she said.
Federal prosecutors had no comment, said spokeswoman Janice Oh.
Lindauer is a distant relative of the shrub's former chief of staff Andrew Card.
Her father, John Lindauer, once owned an Alaska newspaper chain and ran for the state's governorship in 1998.
Three men held in Massachusetts election night church fire
Three men were arrested Friday in connection with the torching of a church hours after Barack Obama won the presidential election.
The suspects, Benjamin Haskell, 23, Michael Jacques, 24, and Thomas Gleason, 21, were held without bail after a hearing in federal court in Springfield.
No pleas were entered at the hearing.
The men were charged with violating a civil rights conspiracy statute that makes it illegal to injure, threaten, or intimidate anyone from exercising their civil rights.
It wasn't immediately clear if the men were being charged with setting the fire.
A judge continued the hearing until Wednesday and said he was considering a $100,000 bail with electronic monitoring for the men.
The blaze caused an estimated $2 million in damage. Within hours, state fire investigators called it arson.
Investigators got a break in the case when a witness came forward and said he'd been driven to the site of the fire by two of the accused men.
He said Jacques asked him who he had voted for in the election; when he responded "Obama," Jacques replied with a profane racial epithet, then said he thought Obama would be assassinated, the unidentified witness told investigators.
One of the suspects told investigators the men purposefully ignited vinyl siding to ensure the church went up in flames quickly, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
The suspects, Benjamin Haskell, 23, Michael Jacques, 24, and Thomas Gleason, 21, were held without bail after a hearing in federal court in Springfield.
No pleas were entered at the hearing.
The men were charged with violating a civil rights conspiracy statute that makes it illegal to injure, threaten, or intimidate anyone from exercising their civil rights.
It wasn't immediately clear if the men were being charged with setting the fire.
A judge continued the hearing until Wednesday and said he was considering a $100,000 bail with electronic monitoring for the men.
The blaze caused an estimated $2 million in damage. Within hours, state fire investigators called it arson.
Investigators got a break in the case when a witness came forward and said he'd been driven to the site of the fire by two of the accused men.
He said Jacques asked him who he had voted for in the election; when he responded "Obama," Jacques replied with a profane racial epithet, then said he thought Obama would be assassinated, the unidentified witness told investigators.
One of the suspects told investigators the men purposefully ignited vinyl siding to ensure the church went up in flames quickly, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
$50 million promised to soften border fence impact
Well at least they promising something for a fence we don't need in the first place!
The Department of Homeland Security will allocate as much as $50 million to mitigate the environmental impact of the U.S.-Mexico border fence ordered by the shrub and the cabal.
The agency signed an agreement Wednesday with the Department of the Interior to set aside funds for projects that the Interior department determines will soften the environmental damage caused by the fence.
"Today's signing of this memorandum of agreement demonstrates that our commitment is not only words, but actual resources, which have been set aside to allow DOI to mitigate the impact of our border security efforts in environmentally sensitive areas," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said in a statement released Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security includes Customs and Border Protection, which is overseeing the fence project.The Department of Interior must give DHS its list of proposals by June 1, 2009.
The environmental consequences have been part of the loudest opposition to building 670 miles of pedestrian fence and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Matt Clark, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said he expected the projects to target threatened and endangered species most affected by the fence."It demonstrates goodwill on the part of both agencies," Clark said. "We see this as a down payment; $50 million will not come close to fixing the damage caused by the wall. Some of these impacts may not be able to be offset."
On April 1, 2008, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used authority granted by Congress to waive a host of environmental protection laws sparking howls of opposition and lawsuits.
At that time, Chertoff promised the agency would be a good environmental steward even while the change allowed speedier construction of the fence.
In place of the established environmental impact statements that require a long list of extensive studies, the agency developed its own plans.
Some, including one for the Rio Grande Valley that would clear about 508 acres of land, acknowledged the fence would affect wildlife and "potential for gene flow" because some species cross the border into Mexico to mate.
Seventeen of the 21 fence sections in the Valley will affect wildlife management areas or national wildlife refuges, 14 of them directly.
The Department of Homeland Security will allocate as much as $50 million to mitigate the environmental impact of the U.S.-Mexico border fence ordered by the shrub and the cabal.
The agency signed an agreement Wednesday with the Department of the Interior to set aside funds for projects that the Interior department determines will soften the environmental damage caused by the fence.
"Today's signing of this memorandum of agreement demonstrates that our commitment is not only words, but actual resources, which have been set aside to allow DOI to mitigate the impact of our border security efforts in environmentally sensitive areas," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said in a statement released Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security includes Customs and Border Protection, which is overseeing the fence project.The Department of Interior must give DHS its list of proposals by June 1, 2009.
The environmental consequences have been part of the loudest opposition to building 670 miles of pedestrian fence and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Matt Clark, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said he expected the projects to target threatened and endangered species most affected by the fence."It demonstrates goodwill on the part of both agencies," Clark said. "We see this as a down payment; $50 million will not come close to fixing the damage caused by the wall. Some of these impacts may not be able to be offset."
On April 1, 2008, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used authority granted by Congress to waive a host of environmental protection laws sparking howls of opposition and lawsuits.
At that time, Chertoff promised the agency would be a good environmental steward even while the change allowed speedier construction of the fence.
In place of the established environmental impact statements that require a long list of extensive studies, the agency developed its own plans.
Some, including one for the Rio Grande Valley that would clear about 508 acres of land, acknowledged the fence would affect wildlife and "potential for gene flow" because some species cross the border into Mexico to mate.
Seventeen of the 21 fence sections in the Valley will affect wildlife management areas or national wildlife refuges, 14 of them directly.
Doctor cleared in British terror plot free on bail
A Jordanian doctor cleared of involvement in botched car bomb attacks in Britain but still facing deportation has been granted bail and freed.
Although neurologist Mohammed Asha was acquitted of involvement in the June 2007 failed car bomb plots in central London and at a Scottish airport, he was ordered sent back to Jordan.
He is appealing that order and was released Friday while the legal process plays out.
Britain's Home Office said Asha was a threat to national security and that there was a risk he would flee if bailed.
But Asha lawyer Stephen Kamlish rejected that Friday.
"What on earth would motivate him to abscond?" said Kamlish, adding that Asha wants to stay in Britain and practice medicine.
Another doctor, Bilal Abdulla, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the failed attacks.
An accused accomplice, Kafeel Ahmed, died after trying to crash a Jeep loaded with explosives through the entrance doors to Glasgow airport on June 30, 2007.
The car's path was blocked and explosives failed to detonate.
A day earlier, officials said Abdulla and Ahmed parked two cards full of explosives in a busy London neighborhood.
Police said the men didn't get the mixture of oxygen and fuel right to create an explosion.
Ahmed's brother, Sabeel Ahmed, was deported to India after he admitted withholding evidence from police.
Although neurologist Mohammed Asha was acquitted of involvement in the June 2007 failed car bomb plots in central London and at a Scottish airport, he was ordered sent back to Jordan.
He is appealing that order and was released Friday while the legal process plays out.
Britain's Home Office said Asha was a threat to national security and that there was a risk he would flee if bailed.
But Asha lawyer Stephen Kamlish rejected that Friday.
"What on earth would motivate him to abscond?" said Kamlish, adding that Asha wants to stay in Britain and practice medicine.
Another doctor, Bilal Abdulla, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the failed attacks.
An accused accomplice, Kafeel Ahmed, died after trying to crash a Jeep loaded with explosives through the entrance doors to Glasgow airport on June 30, 2007.
The car's path was blocked and explosives failed to detonate.
A day earlier, officials said Abdulla and Ahmed parked two cards full of explosives in a busy London neighborhood.
Police said the men didn't get the mixture of oxygen and fuel right to create an explosion.
Ahmed's brother, Sabeel Ahmed, was deported to India after he admitted withholding evidence from police.
Trial opens for US suspect in Italy slaying
An American college student and her Italian former boyfriend went on trial Friday charged with sexually assaulting and murdering her roommate in a slaying that shocked Italy.Amanda Knox from Seattle and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito appeared in front of an eight-member jury in the tiny courthouse in Perugia, central Italy, for the first session of what is expected to be a long trial.
The defendants - who both proclaim their innocence - were indicted in October for the slaying of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, who was found stabbed to death in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, a picturesque, medieval city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Rome.
A lawyer for Kercher's family sought to have the proceedings closed to the public and the media to prevent the publication of sensitive evidence. Presiding judge Giancarlo Massei barred cameras from filming the proceedings but ruled the trial would remain open, though some sessions could be held behind closed doors.
Both Knox and Sollecito, who are accused of murder and sexual assault, were denied bail and have been detained for more than a year in Italy.
Among other procedural issues discussed at the hearing, lawyers for Sollecito argued the arrest warrant for their client was invalid because he was not immediately allowed to speak to his attorney. The court dismissed the request.
The jury also heard arguments from the defense teams and the prosecution on what evidence and witnesses should be admitted. Massei adjourned the session, and the court was expected to rule on the issue later Friday.
Among the witnesses proposed by prosecutors is Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, who has already been convicted of the same charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year. Guede, who had also denied wrongdoing, underwent a fast-track trial at his request.
Knox's lawyers also asked the court to let the American testify."We want to prove that Amanda Knox was not in the house of the murder that night, but that she was with Raffaele Sollecito somewhere else," said lawyer Luciano Ghirga.
Knox, a University of Washington student, was on an exchange program in Italy and sharing a Perugia flat with Kercher, an exchange student from Leeds University in England, when the Briton was found dead in their apartment Nov. 2, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that the woman was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife.
They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher, and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Sollecito has maintained he was in his own apartment in Perugia and that he doesn't remember if Knox spent part or all the night of the murder with him.
Knox initially told investigators she was in the house when Kercher was killed and covered her ears against the victim's screams.
Later, Knox said she wasn't in the house.
"Raffaele is absolutely not afraid of what can happen during this trial because he knows he's innocent," Sollecito lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said.
Italy does not have the death penalty and a conviction could bring a maximum sentence of life in prison.Prosecutors have indicated the court intends to hold a maximum of two sessions of the trial each week. Lawyers say it could last a year.
The defendants - who both proclaim their innocence - were indicted in October for the slaying of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, who was found stabbed to death in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, a picturesque, medieval city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Rome.
A lawyer for Kercher's family sought to have the proceedings closed to the public and the media to prevent the publication of sensitive evidence. Presiding judge Giancarlo Massei barred cameras from filming the proceedings but ruled the trial would remain open, though some sessions could be held behind closed doors.
Both Knox and Sollecito, who are accused of murder and sexual assault, were denied bail and have been detained for more than a year in Italy.
Among other procedural issues discussed at the hearing, lawyers for Sollecito argued the arrest warrant for their client was invalid because he was not immediately allowed to speak to his attorney. The court dismissed the request.
The jury also heard arguments from the defense teams and the prosecution on what evidence and witnesses should be admitted. Massei adjourned the session, and the court was expected to rule on the issue later Friday.
Among the witnesses proposed by prosecutors is Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, who has already been convicted of the same charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year. Guede, who had also denied wrongdoing, underwent a fast-track trial at his request.
Knox's lawyers also asked the court to let the American testify."We want to prove that Amanda Knox was not in the house of the murder that night, but that she was with Raffaele Sollecito somewhere else," said lawyer Luciano Ghirga.
Knox, a University of Washington student, was on an exchange program in Italy and sharing a Perugia flat with Kercher, an exchange student from Leeds University in England, when the Briton was found dead in their apartment Nov. 2, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that the woman was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife.
They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher, and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Sollecito has maintained he was in his own apartment in Perugia and that he doesn't remember if Knox spent part or all the night of the murder with him.
Knox initially told investigators she was in the house when Kercher was killed and covered her ears against the victim's screams.
Later, Knox said she wasn't in the house.
"Raffaele is absolutely not afraid of what can happen during this trial because he knows he's innocent," Sollecito lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said.
Italy does not have the death penalty and a conviction could bring a maximum sentence of life in prison.Prosecutors have indicated the court intends to hold a maximum of two sessions of the trial each week. Lawyers say it could last a year.
Groups sue over EPA change in farm emissions rule
A look at yet another shrub and cabal blunder ...
Six environmental groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday over a new rule exempting dairies and other large-scale livestock operations from having to alert officials when toxic emissions are released.
Earthjustice filed the suit Thursday in a federal appeals court in Washington.
It says the exemption threatens the health and safety of people living and working near lagoons that store farm animals' urine and feces, sources of dangerous ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
Large-scale farms had been required to notify government officials when air pollution levels exceeded safety thresholds.
The EPA rule change goes into effect Tuesday.
These 11th hour 'regulations' are designed to fuck up the country even further and keep repugican sycophants richer and everyone else poorer even if it is just poorer health.
They are one of the first things President Obama will be removing when he takes over from the usurper.
Six environmental groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday over a new rule exempting dairies and other large-scale livestock operations from having to alert officials when toxic emissions are released.
Earthjustice filed the suit Thursday in a federal appeals court in Washington.
It says the exemption threatens the health and safety of people living and working near lagoons that store farm animals' urine and feces, sources of dangerous ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
Large-scale farms had been required to notify government officials when air pollution levels exceeded safety thresholds.
The EPA rule change goes into effect Tuesday.
*****
These 11th hour 'regulations' are designed to fuck up the country even further and keep repugican sycophants richer and everyone else poorer even if it is just poorer health.
They are one of the first things President Obama will be removing when he takes over from the usurper.
Brother visits Iraqi who threw shoes at the shrub
Relatives of the Iraqi journalist detained after throwing his shoes at the shrub says he's in good shape and has been allowed to meet with his brother.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi has enjoyed widespread support around the world (even in the USA) since he hurled both his shoes at the shrub during a news conference last month.
But he has been denied access to his lawyer and requests from his family to visit him have been rebuffed.
His brother Dhargham al-Zeidi says another brother visited Muntadhar in his Green Zone detention cell Friday.
He says Muntadhar is being kept in a comfortable cell and guards even organized a party for his 30th birthday on Thursday.
Al-Zeidi's lawyer says he has only been allowed to meet with his client once.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi has enjoyed widespread support around the world (even in the USA) since he hurled both his shoes at the shrub during a news conference last month.
But he has been denied access to his lawyer and requests from his family to visit him have been rebuffed.
His brother Dhargham al-Zeidi says another brother visited Muntadhar in his Green Zone detention cell Friday.
He says Muntadhar is being kept in a comfortable cell and guards even organized a party for his 30th birthday on Thursday.
Al-Zeidi's lawyer says he has only been allowed to meet with his client once.
A farewell to the shrub and cabal
MadKane has this to say on the departure of the shrub and cabal:
I think she is being too kind to the shrub and the cabal and the rest of the repugnican wing-nuts.
Back in 2004 I summed up George Bush’s first term in my Alpha Politics. So it seems only appropriate to do the same for the Bush-Cheney second term. (Most of the links point to one of my satirical posts on the topic.)
An Alpha-Political Farewell to Bush and CheneyA is for Jack Abramoff who’s big in pay-to-play.
B’s for greedy bankers who have fleeced the USA.
C is for Rep. Craig who isn’t gay, except in bed.
D is for democracy which Dubya hasn’t spread.
E’s for the economy which George and Dick destroyed.
F’s for filibuster. You need merely say the “woid”.
G’s for Giuliani who is 9-1-1 obsessed.
H is for hypocrisy — the right-wing does it best.
I is for impeachment which Bush/Cheney sure deserve.
J’s for Joe The Plumber — right-wing symbol. What a nerve!
K is for Ms. Kennedy, the would-be New York Sen.
L is for Joe Lieberman, the worst of traitor men.
M’s for John McCain who zigged and zagged till he was hoarse.
N is for Ralph Nader who is still without remorse.
O is for O’Reilly — shuts up those who disagree.
P is for Gov. Palin who has “saved” the GOP.
Q is for the air quotes placed by John on mother’s “health.”
R is for recession — say goodbye to all your wealth.
S is for Gov. Spitzer. Prostitution did him in.
T is for the terrorists, now savoring their win.
U is for the USA, on life support right now.
V is for the victor. Prez Obama take a bow.
W’s for the White House left by Bush in disarray.
X is for the X’ing out of Bush regs any day.
Y’s for “Yes, we can,” Barack Obama’s sanguine creed.
And Z’s for right-wing zealots who methinks are off their feed.
*****
I think she is being too kind to the shrub and the cabal and the rest of the repugnican wing-nuts.
10 Most Popular Ideas in the "Citizen's Briefing Book" at Change.gov
I'm going out on a limb here and say that legal online poker will not help the economy; too many monkey shines with computer numbers is the heart of the problem as it is, folks.10. Increased Funding for Childhood Cancer
9. Boost America's Economy with Legal Online Poker
8. Get the Insurance Companies out the Health Care
7. Revoke the George W. Bush tax cuts for the top 1 %.
6. Increase [miles per gallon] requirements now!
5. Stop using federal resources to undermine states' medicinal marijuana laws
4. The permanent closure of all Torture facilities. (Facilities such as: Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib)
3. An end to the government sponsored abstinence education to be replaced by an introduction of age appropriate sex education.
2. Ending Marijuana Prohibition
1. Bullet Trains and Light Rail
Also, ending Marijuana prohibition is a good thing only if the prohibition on the use as a street drug is still prohibited ... Hemp (from which derives the drug colloquially known as Pot) has many thousands of other uses we know of - mainly rope and cloth - and more could be found.
I don't have an issue with any of the rest.
By Flying Car from London to Timbuktu
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“A voyage to fabled Timbuktu in a flying car may sound like a magical childhood fantasy. But this week a British adventurer will set off from London on an incredible journey through Europe and Africa in a souped-up sand buggy, traveling by road - and air.
With the help of a parachute and a giant fan-motor, Neil Laughton plans to soar over the Pyrenees near Andorra, before taking to the skies again to hop across the 14-km (nine-mile) Straits of Gibraltar. The ex-SAS officer then aims to fly over the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, above stretches of the Sahara desert and, well, wherever else the road runs out. But forget Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - this flying machine is based on proven technology.”
Read the rest at BBC News
UK fast food restaurants urged to put calorie-counts on menus
A British food watchdog group is asking fast-food restaurants to add calorie-counts to their menus -- and want to adopt a set of "traffic light" labels that indicate dangerously high levels of salt, fat, sugar.
Men in Britain now get a quarter of their food energy intake outside the home, while women get 21%. A number of chains, including KFC, Starbucks and McDonald's, already offer nutritional information on websites or leaflets, but now the catering industry will be expected to go far further. Officials at the agency hinted that if the calorie counting was a success, the drive for information could see an extension of the traffic light scheme, which applies to food sold in stores for home cooking and consumption. Red labels suggest levels of salt, sugar or fats are too high, amber shows they are at medium level and green at a low level. The calorie counting might also reduce portion sizes.
Bike-light that paints a laser-lit bike-lane on the road around you
Great idea - now if it doesn't fall prey to prohibitive production cost and resale costs.
LightLane is a concept gadget that paints a bike lane around your bicycle with laser-light as you pedal through the night:
LightLane is a concept gadget that paints a bike lane around your bicycle with laser-light as you pedal through the night:
Superb Idea: Bike Lane That Travels With YouEnter LightLane, a safety concept from the clever designers at Altitude, Inc. The system projects a virtual bike lane (using lasers!) on the ground around the cyclists, providing drivers with a recognizable boundary they can easily avoid. The idea is to allow riders to take safety into their own hands, rather than leaving it to the city.
Zimbabwean $100 trillion note
Zimbabwe's hyperinflation has become so extreme that the treasury there is set to print 100 trillion, 50 trillion, 20 trillion and 10 trillion notes.
100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars are worth about US$300.
Wait. Now it's US$290.
Wait. No, it's US$280.
Hold on. No, US$270 ...
Hurry, spend it, while there's still time!
100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars are worth about US$300.
Wait. Now it's US$290.
Wait. No, it's US$280.
Hold on. No, US$270 ...
Hurry, spend it, while there's still time!
Even vegetable vendors prefer the U.S. dollar, South African rand or Botswanan pula, and most workers now demand their salaries in foreign currency. Doctors and nurses have been on strike since last September, demanding salaries in U.S. dollars. The strike coincided with a cholera epidemic that now has claimed more than 2,000 lives.Last week, the state media reported that most teachers had left their jobs. As a result, the end-of-year examinations taken in November are yet to be graded after the markers demanded their wages in foreign currency. Schools are yet to re-open this year awaiting the examination results
It's cold outside!
30º / 7º
That's right today is supposed to have a low of 7 degrees Fahrenheit and a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. This in the land where asphalt melts on a mild summer's day!
At the moment one source says it is 30 degrees Fahrenheit another says it is 22 degrees Fahrenheit ... the thermometer outside the window says it's 17 degrees Fahrenheit.
That's right today is supposed to have a low of 7 degrees Fahrenheit and a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. This in the land where asphalt melts on a mild summer's day!
At the moment one source says it is 30 degrees Fahrenheit another says it is 22 degrees Fahrenheit ... the thermometer outside the window says it's 17 degrees Fahrenheit.
Either way ... it's bloody cold outside!
Ted Nugent want to be Obama's Drug Czar
What a difference 17 months can make.
Ted Nugent, the self-proclaimed "rock legend," who said during an August 2007 concert (as he was holding two assault rifles), "Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun," seems to have had a change of heart.
But, now he wants a job. And not just any job, but the job of US Drug Czar
Ted Nugent, the self-proclaimed "rock legend," who said during an August 2007 concert (as he was holding two assault rifles), "Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun," seems to have had a change of heart.
But, now he wants a job. And not just any job, but the job of US Drug Czar
Read the rest here.
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