Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Saturday, June 6, 2009

Green tea and basil flavored Coca Cola to debut in Japan

Green tea coca cola is soon to debut in Japan as spokesman Katsuya Sato said that new green tea coke will hit stores in Japan on June 8th.

Green tea and basil flavored Coca Cola to debut in Japan

90 and she has her diploma

A 90-year-old suburban Chicago woman who dropped out of school to help her family during the Great Depression now has her high school diploma.

90-year-old Ill. woman who dropped out of school during Depression now has high school diploma

More important things

'But the Emperor has nothing on at all,' cried a little child in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes.

Obama recalls 'unimaginable hell' of D-Day

Obama recalls 'unimaginable hell' of D-Day

President Obama commemorates the Allied landings that broke Nazi Germany's grip on France 65 years ago.

Obama recalls 'unimaginable hell' of D-Day

Also:

Bodies found near Air France crash site

Bodies found near Air France crash site

Searchers find two bodies — and a plane ticket — in the Atlantic Ocean near the area where Flight 447 is believed to have crashed.

Bodies found near Air France crash site

Also:

Hardest jobs to fill in America

Hardest jobs to fill in AmericaIf you're looking for work in any of these fields, you may be in luck.

Hardest jobs to fill in America

Our Newest Readers

Carolina Naturally would like to welcome our newest readers in Burkina Faso.

Our 169th Country!

The Big Picture

From BBC-Science:
THE BIG PICTURE
Click to reveal

For What It's Worth

Buffalo Springfield

Rescued Dog, Sanctuary Elephant Form Unsual Bond

Bella, a rescued dog, and Tara, an elephant, are living out their lives together on 2,700 acres of natural habitat refuge designed for endangered African and Asian elephants.

Rescued Dog, Sanctuary Elephant Form Unsual Bond

Daily Alamanac

Today is Saturday, June 6, the 157th day of 2009.
There are 208 days left in the year.

Today In History June 6, 2009

Ambush kills aides to pro-Taliban Pakistani cleric

They're killing their own now ...

Militants ambushed a military convoy carrying prisoners in Pakistan's volatile northwest on Saturday, killing two detained aides of a senior Islamist cleric from the Swat Valley.

Ambush kills aides to pro-Taliban Pakistani cleric

Nun Arrested For Confronting Police

A South Florida nun found herself in handcuffs this week after she allegedly confronted a Miami police officer who was trying to disarm a homeless man.

Nun Arrested

Toymaker fined $2.3M for lead hazard

Toymaker fined $2.3M for lead hazard

Mattel and Fisher-Price agree to pay a civil penalty for importing toys from China with excessive levels of lead in 2007.

Toymaker fined $2.3M for lead hazard

Also:

Can't refinance your home? Call Washington

Can't refinance your home? Call Washington Lawmakers with districts drowning in foreclosures are picking up the phone to help their constituents.

Can't refinance your home? Call Washington

Also:

10 cities with real estate prices on the rise

10 cities with real estate prices on the riseWhile other markets struggle, these ten spots have seen modest growth in median prices.

10 cities with real estate prices on the rise

Also:

Obama marks D-Day's solemn 65th anniversary

On the 65th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day landings, President Barack Obama on Saturday paid tribute to the invasion that turned the tide of World War II.

Read the rest here.

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Not only is today the 65th anniversary of the Normandy Landings also known as D-Day
- it is Do Dah Day as well.

The Longest Day

D-Day

Sixty-five years ago today men from the allied nations stormed the beaches of Normandy to end the blight that was the Third Reich.

Lest we forget!

Saturday Jam

Today's Saturday Jam is Electrified - The Electric Light Orchestra that is ...

Do Ya
ELO

Livin' Thing
ELO

Telephone Line
ELO

Can't Get It Out Of My Head
ELO

Turn To Stone
ELO

President Obama's Weekly Address


Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, June 6, 2009


Over the past few days, I’ve been traveling through the Middle East and Europe working to renew our alliances, enhance our common security, and propose a new partnership between the United States and the Muslim world.

But even as I’m abroad, I’m firmly focused on the other pressing challenges we face – including the urgent need to reform our health care system. Even as we speak, Congress is preparing to introduce and debate health reform legislation that is the product of many months of effort and deliberation. And if you’re like any of the Americans I’ve met across this country who know all too well that the soaring costs of health care make our current course unsustainable, I imagine you’ll be watching their progress closely.

I’m talking about the families I’ve met whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy or forcing them to go without the check-ups or prescriptions they need. Business owners who fear they’ll be forced to choose between keeping their doors open or covering their workers. Americans who rightly worry that the ballooning costs of Medicare and Medicaid could lead to fiscal catastrophe down the road.

Simply put, the status quo is broken. We cannot continue this way. If we do nothing, everyone’s health care will be put in jeopardy. Within a decade, we’ll spend one dollar out of every five we earn on health care – and we’ll keep getting less for our money.

That’s why fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve – it’s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer.

The growing consensus around that reality has led an unprecedented coalition to come together for change. Unlike past attempts at reforming our health care system, everyone is at the table – patient’s advocates and health insurers; business and labor; Democrats and Republicans alike.

A few weeks ago, some of these improbable allies committed to cut national health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade. What makes this so remarkable is that it probably wouldn’t have happened just a few short years ago. But today, at this historic juncture, even old adversaries are united around the same goal: quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Now, I know that when you bring together disparate groups with differing views, there will be lively debate. And that’s a debate I welcome. But what we can’t welcome is reform that just invests more money in the status quo – reform that throws good money after bad habits.

We must attack the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs. Some of these costs are the result of unwarranted profiteering that has no place in our health care system, and in too many communities, folks are paying higher costs without receiving better care in return. And yet we know, for example, that there are places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and other institutions that offer some of the highest quality of care in the nation at some of the lowest costs in the nation. We should learn from their successes and promote the best practices, not the most expensive ones. That’s how we’ll achieve reform that fixes what doesn’t work, and builds on what does.

This week, I conveyed to Congress my belief that any health care reform must be built around fundamental reforms that lower costs, improve quality and coverage, and also protect consumer choice. That means if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold.

I also made it very clear to Congress that we must develop a plan that doesn’t add to our budget deficit. My budget included an historic down payment on reform, and we’ll work with Congress to fully cover the costs through rigorous spending reductions and appropriate additional revenues. We’ll eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system, but we’ll also take on key causes of rising costs – saving billions while providing better care to the American people.

All across America, our families are making hard choices when it comes to health care. Now, it’s time for Washington to make the right ones. It’s time to deliver. And I am absolutely convinced that if we keep working together and living up to our mutual responsibilities; if we place the American people’s interests above the special interests; we will seize this historic opportunity to finally fix what ails our broken health care system, and strengthen our economy and our country now and for decades to come.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Vilnius, Vilniaus Apskritis, Lithuana
Chenni, Tamil Nadu, India
Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Durango, Durango, Mexico
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

as well as Turks and Caicos, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Secrets and lies -- you've never been fond of either.
You're about to mention that fact to one and all, seconds after you catch someone you've never been fond of anyway in a whopper.
This won't come as a surprise to those who know you, but if there's anyone around who doesn't, try not to use that tone of voice when you tell them off.
You know the one: the authority-figure tone.

Aw Shucks, where's the fun it that?