On a hot August night back in 69...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
This Just In!
This just in -
From the News Desk:
Apparently John McPain invented the Blackberry!
According to his campaign McPain is responsible for the Blackberry - that device that all the 'Yuppies' of today must have to survive.
Who knew?
Yeah, Right and the moon really is made of green cheese!
From the News Desk:
Apparently John McPain invented the Blackberry!
According to his campaign McPain is responsible for the Blackberry - that device that all the 'Yuppies' of today must have to survive.
Who knew?
Yeah, Right and the moon really is made of green cheese!
As of this moment ...
Just in case you've forgotten with all the attempts at diversion the repugicans are pulling
As of this moment ...
As of this moment ...
4157 Brave men and women are dead!
"... In the morning they return with tears in their eyes.
The stench of death drifts up to the skies.
A young soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot -
Remembers the words ... 'Thou Shalt Not Kill!' ..."
Support our troops ... Bring them home, now!
The stench of death drifts up to the skies.
A young soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot -
Remembers the words ... 'Thou Shalt Not Kill!' ..."
Support our troops ... Bring them home, now!
Sandwich bag has fake mold printed on it to discourage thieves
Got any 'lunch thieves' at your work or school?
This little device just might keep your lunch safe from sticky fingers.
That's one way to do it
A New York man reporting for jury duty has been taken into custody after a records check revealed he's wanted in Ohio.
James Geiger, of Sciopo, N.Y., reported Tuesday to the Cayuga County Court for grand jury duty and indicated on jury forms that he had been convicted of a felony in Ohio.
(A felony conviction disqualifies a person from serving on a jury.)
Court officials contacted Ohio authorities, who said Geiger was wanted on larceny and welfare fraud charges.
But Geiger told a judge in New York that he's not the man in the Ohio case.
The judge set cash bail at $500 and adjourned the case until Oct. 21.
James Geiger, of Sciopo, N.Y., reported Tuesday to the Cayuga County Court for grand jury duty and indicated on jury forms that he had been convicted of a felony in Ohio.
(A felony conviction disqualifies a person from serving on a jury.)
Court officials contacted Ohio authorities, who said Geiger was wanted on larceny and welfare fraud charges.
But Geiger told a judge in New York that he's not the man in the Ohio case.
The judge set cash bail at $500 and adjourned the case until Oct. 21.
Obama's plan is better
The big threat to growth in the next decade is not oil or food prices, but the rising cost of health care. The doubling of health insurance premiums since 2000 makes employers choose between cutting benefits and hiring fewer workers.
Obama's plan is better.
Obama's plan is better.
Read the entire WSJ article here.
A good one
The longest word in the English language is the one that follows the phrase, 'And now a word from our sponsor'.
~ Hal Eaton
Posterior Unination and Rectal Intrusion
Go ahead piss down their backs and tell'em it's raining - they'll believe you!
I was just reading a series of posts on a economic forum that has seen some Doozies posted by the wing-nuts but today's latest is truly off the charts.
To wit:
Since the avalanche began (which started about 30 years ago and built up to the massive slide we are witnessing now) to show itself to everyone - even the blind, deaf and dumb, or so one would think - there have been several posts made citing non-partisan sources (many from non-US entities) and poofs in the actual numbers as to how bad it really is and it is not going to get better for at least a decade to which the wing-nuts have responded in true ditto-head fashion that everything is hunky dory and it is the Liberals and the Liberal Media just trying to scare everyone into blaming them for the mess that they say doesn't exist.
Talk about denial!
The 'mess' is very real and worse than most could imagine and getting even more worse by the second. And whether they like it or not the wing-nuts are directly responsible for the 'mess' and all their denials of it won't change that.
They are just too numb in the posterior to feel the buttfu_king the rest of us have been feeling for years.
But this past weekend the old adage 'what goes around, comes around' came around to shove itself up the rectal orifices of those that have been doing the buttfu_cking and they were bereft of Vasoline when it happened just as the rest of us have been all these years and that numbness mentioned earlier is beginning to wear off.
I was just reading a series of posts on a economic forum that has seen some Doozies posted by the wing-nuts but today's latest is truly off the charts.
To wit:
Since the avalanche began (which started about 30 years ago and built up to the massive slide we are witnessing now) to show itself to everyone - even the blind, deaf and dumb, or so one would think - there have been several posts made citing non-partisan sources (many from non-US entities) and poofs in the actual numbers as to how bad it really is and it is not going to get better for at least a decade to which the wing-nuts have responded in true ditto-head fashion that everything is hunky dory and it is the Liberals and the Liberal Media just trying to scare everyone into blaming them for the mess that they say doesn't exist.
Talk about denial!
The 'mess' is very real and worse than most could imagine and getting even more worse by the second. And whether they like it or not the wing-nuts are directly responsible for the 'mess' and all their denials of it won't change that.
They are just too numb in the posterior to feel the buttfu_king the rest of us have been feeling for years.
But this past weekend the old adage 'what goes around, comes around' came around to shove itself up the rectal orifices of those that have been doing the buttfu_cking and they were bereft of Vasoline when it happened just as the rest of us have been all these years and that numbness mentioned earlier is beginning to wear off.
Man with 86 wives arrested
Police in northern Nigeria have arrested a Muslim preacher who claims 86 wives and 107 children, charging him with breaking Islamic laws governing marriage.
Authorities detained Mohammed Bello Masaba, 84, on Monday after an order from northern Niger state's Islamic court, according to police spokesman Richard Oguche.
The preacher was charged with "infringing on Islamic laws," Oguche said.
It was unclear when the man would appear before the court, or what the potential punishment could be.
Muslim principles forbid men to take more than four wives.
Around half of Nigeria's 140 million people are Muslim, and Niger was one of twelve majority-Muslim states that adopted the Islamic Sharia criminal code after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
The move sparked religious riots throughout the country that left thousands dead.
Authorities detained Mohammed Bello Masaba, 84, on Monday after an order from northern Niger state's Islamic court, according to police spokesman Richard Oguche.
The preacher was charged with "infringing on Islamic laws," Oguche said.
It was unclear when the man would appear before the court, or what the potential punishment could be.
Muslim principles forbid men to take more than four wives.
Around half of Nigeria's 140 million people are Muslim, and Niger was one of twelve majority-Muslim states that adopted the Islamic Sharia criminal code after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
The move sparked religious riots throughout the country that left thousands dead.
Home-Brewed Biodiesel Goes Prime-Time
Home-brewed biodiesel may be ready to move from your neighbor’s garage to prime time. No longer is the practice limited to a few mechanically inclined hippies with old converted electric water heaters. Now anyone can order up their own bio-brew kit online.“We are testing some products now to make sure they work at the level of quality our customers expect,” said Go Green Home Stores spokesman Dennis Healy. “We’re really looking forward to having these products in our store.”
And Go Green’s interest in mass-marketing a processor comes on the heels of a decision earlier this year by Northern Tool, the Sears of professional-grade tools, to put biodiesel processors for home brewers in its catalog, for $3,000 to $13,500.
The Collective Biodiesel Project estimates that home brewers, who filter used vegetable oil from restaurants and then mix it with lye and methanol to create their own biodiesel, produced 450 million gallons of fuel last year. Some brewers say they got tired of waiting for alternatives to petroleum to come from big biz and set out to change their own habits.
Monday, September 15, 2008
And I Quote
"In this 20th century, every great step forward has come during Democratic administrations.
Every movement backward has come under Republican auspices, and it is the people who have
paid dearly...Too much is now at stake--here and throughout the world--to take the wrong path now.
There is one way to stop the forces of reaction. Get every vote out on election day, and make it count.
You can't afford to waste your votes this year. I'm not asking you just to vote for me.
Vote for yourselves!...
Vote for the standard of living that you have won under a Democratic administration!
Get out there on election day, and vote for your future!"
Every movement backward has come under Republican auspices, and it is the people who have
paid dearly...Too much is now at stake--here and throughout the world--to take the wrong path now.
There is one way to stop the forces of reaction. Get every vote out on election day, and make it count.
You can't afford to waste your votes this year. I'm not asking you just to vote for me.
Vote for yourselves!...
Vote for the standard of living that you have won under a Democratic administration!
Get out there on election day, and vote for your future!"
~ Harry Truman, 1948
(As true today as it was 60 years ago, if not more so)
(As true today as it was 60 years ago, if not more so)
Palin named a liar
"She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation known as "Troopergate". "And she's not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me."
Palin has seen dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them
Okay, I am going out on a limb here by saying ... the beotch is freakin' looneytunes.
Read the latest on this misanthropic wacko here.
Read the latest on this misanthropic wacko here.
Mickey Mouse must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric
Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" ...
Read the Telegraph story here.
*****
Damn, how he did know?!
*****
*****
Some days it does not pay to have a functioning brain ... stories like this give me a headache.
Read the Telegraph story here.
Palin won't meet with 'Troopergate' investigator
A campaign spokesman says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won't speak with an investigator hired by lawmakers to look into the firing of her public safety commissioner.
The campaign insists the investigation has been hijacked by Democrats. It says it can prove Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was fired because of insubordination on budget issues — not because he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.
"The campaign insists the investigation has been hijacked by Democrats."
Huh?
Of the 5 members of the investigation panel, 3 are Republicans.
The tortured logic of the McPain campaign is truly astounding!
Read the entire article here.
The film is shutting down
A tragic comedy of mistruths and outright falsehoods from fanatsyland where sane people shake their heads and avert their eyes from the horrors of a senile old coot and a smarmy harridan copulating in public in an orgy of hate and denial.
Thankfully this film is leaving your local theaters shortly
Newly-discovered ant
Scientists have dubbed this newly-discovered ant Martialis heureka, implying that it's so odd it could have come from Mars. Found in the Brazliian rainforest, it has no eyes, and its "mouth" is like a pair of long forceps. According to University of Texas at Austin evolutionary biologist Christian Rabeling, Martialis heureka is from the oldest ant lineage still living.From Science News:
Its DNA may be even more interesting. Genetic analysis puts the new ant so far from other species that it deserves its own subfamily, Martialinae, Rabeling and his colleagues report in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It’s the first new subfamily described for a living ant since 1923, the discoverers say...
“The fact that a single ant ‘rediscovered’ in the rainforests of Brazil can tell us so much about the evolution of the ants highlights how little we know about the diversity of life on the planet,” says (Corrie Moreau, ant specialist at Chicago's Field Museum.)
Witchcraft claim leads to deadly riot
A riot broke out at a soccer match in the Congo yesterday, apparently after one of the players was accused of using witchcraft. Thirteen people were killed, most of whom were teenagers.
From the Associated Press:
From the Associated Press:
Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.
The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.
Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.
Everyone is calling him a liar
It seems that all those lies on top of lies on top of lies on top of lies are being recognized for what they are by everyone except the wing-nuts ... go figure.
Feds: Was Text Messaging involved?
Federal officials investigating a commuter rail collision that killed 25 people said they want to review cell phone records to determine if an engineer blamed for running a stop signal before the crash may have been text messaging at the time.
What with the rudeness of those text-ing around here all the time and ignoring all that is happening around them while doing so, I would not doubt the engineer was text-ing at the time of the wreck.
But we will see in time.
What with the rudeness of those text-ing around here all the time and ignoring all that is happening around them while doing so, I would not doubt the engineer was text-ing at the time of the wreck.
But we will see in time.
Black Monday on Wall Street
Now everyone is going to feel the screwing they have been getting for the last seven plus years and they well not be able to ignore it.
In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for around $44 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer, people briefed on the deals said. - New York Times
James K. Galbraith had this to say ... "The world will not be a better place with two free-standing investment banks—Goldman [Sachs] and Morgan [Stanley]—and a half-dozen major commercial banks, if that, running everything. Further, there is a risk that the unraveling will become disorderly and out of control from this point, as assets hit the market in fire sales and do not find takers. this will affect pension funds and greatly compound the collapse of the wealth position of the middle class.... the collapse of Wall Street will hit Main Street like Ike hit Houston."
And let us not forget who has given us this screwing - and not even a kiss before either - with this truism ... "The republicans always figure out a way to bring about economic despair for the normal people!" ... which any person alive now knows as did their grandparents when the last time the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the GREAT DEPRESSION as did their grandparents when the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the Panic during the 1880s. The whole reason for the party's existence is to fu_k up the economy so a select few can become richer and everyone else become poorer and has been from the start.
What others are saying about this:
"This is indeed the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression and occurring at a time when the US is falling in a now severe consumer led recession. The vicious interaction between a systemic financial and banking crisis and a severe economic contraction will get much worse before there is any bottom to it. We are only in the third inning of a nine innings economic and financial crisis. And the only light at the end of the tunnel is the one of the incoming train wreck." ~ Kontent News
"Suddenly, the term "too big to fail" is off the table. With Lehman Brothers likely to go into bankruptcy, Wall Street is preparing for a very rocky trading day. We'll get a hint of what's in store in a few hours when Asian markets open for business. Already, there's been an emergency trading session at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association to "reduce risk associated with a potential Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy." The ISDA was allowing customers to make trades and unwind positions linked to Lehman." ~ LA Observed
In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for around $44 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer, people briefed on the deals said. - New York Times
James K. Galbraith had this to say ... "The world will not be a better place with two free-standing investment banks—Goldman [Sachs] and Morgan [Stanley]—and a half-dozen major commercial banks, if that, running everything. Further, there is a risk that the unraveling will become disorderly and out of control from this point, as assets hit the market in fire sales and do not find takers. this will affect pension funds and greatly compound the collapse of the wealth position of the middle class.... the collapse of Wall Street will hit Main Street like Ike hit Houston."
And let us not forget who has given us this screwing - and not even a kiss before either - with this truism ... "The republicans always figure out a way to bring about economic despair for the normal people!" ... which any person alive now knows as did their grandparents when the last time the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the GREAT DEPRESSION as did their grandparents when the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the Panic during the 1880s. The whole reason for the party's existence is to fu_k up the economy so a select few can become richer and everyone else become poorer and has been from the start.
What others are saying about this:
"This is indeed the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression and occurring at a time when the US is falling in a now severe consumer led recession. The vicious interaction between a systemic financial and banking crisis and a severe economic contraction will get much worse before there is any bottom to it. We are only in the third inning of a nine innings economic and financial crisis. And the only light at the end of the tunnel is the one of the incoming train wreck." ~ Kontent News
"Suddenly, the term "too big to fail" is off the table. With Lehman Brothers likely to go into bankruptcy, Wall Street is preparing for a very rocky trading day. We'll get a hint of what's in store in a few hours when Asian markets open for business. Already, there's been an emergency trading session at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association to "reduce risk associated with a potential Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy." The ISDA was allowing customers to make trades and unwind positions linked to Lehman." ~ LA Observed
McPain went 'too far'
The Original and Slimiest King of Sleazy Lies, Karl Rove says McPain lies like a rug ... and he should know!
As one has put it ... Those chickens are coming home to roost - and how!
Read the full story here.
As one has put it ... Those chickens are coming home to roost - and how!
Garrison Keillor: The ‘bums’ try for an end run
“So the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, “Throw the bums out!” They’ve been running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is an advocate for small-town America. Bravo.
They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend $20 billion or $50 billion (pick a number) go floating out the Treasury door. Hello? Do you see us out here? We are not fruit flies, we are voters, we can read and write, we didn’t just fall off the coal truck.
It is a bold move on the Republicans’ part—forget about the past, it’s only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be.
Sen. John McCain has decided to run as a former prisoner of war and a maverick, a maverick’s maverick, rather than President Bush’s best friend, and that’s understandable, but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It’s real money, it could’ve paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious R&D. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We’re wasting our chances. The Republican culture of corruption in Washington hasn’t helped.
And a former mayor of Wasilla, a town of about 8,500, who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she could keep taxes low in Wasilla.
Stunning.
And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, “I am a Christian and when you gave me a D, you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly hard-working people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battle-ax you.”
In school, you couldn’t get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don’t uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers lest they gain power and hurt us, but in politics we bring forth phonies and love them to death.
I must say, it was fun having the Republicans in St. Paul and to see it all up close and firsthand. Security was, as one might expect, thin-lipped and gimlet-eyed, but once you got through it, you found the folks you went to high school with—farm kids, jocks, the townies who ran the student council, the cheerleaders, some of the bullies—and they are as cohesive now as they were back then, dedicated to school spirit, intolerant of outsiders, able to jump up and down and holler for something they don’t actually believe.
But oh, Lord, what they brought forth this year.
When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who’s had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first woman president, a hustling evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once—a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed services. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She’s like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices…”
NFL Predictions
Oh, by the way the Panthers won again! Beating the Bears 20 to 17 in Charlotte.
That makes my running predictions for the season 100% thus far - something I hope to maintain ... knock on wood.
For all those on that old forum still predicting the games - sorry I am not there, but I am in a larger group including several former NFL coaches and players and the competition is fierce but I am holding on to the lead on the board which is hard considering most of the predictors are over 90%.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A reader responds
In response to my post Mexican Prisoners Rioting:
I do not know what I can do personally from here except to let the world know what is going on as far as we can tell - there is always more to the story.
What the cause(s) of the prisoners rioting I am not even hazarding a guess but with some saying a few are injured and some saying others have been killed something has gone terribly wrong.
I have friends in Mexico - a few with some pull. I will give them a call and suggest they or someone they know look into what is going on in Tiajuana. What good if any it will do, I cannot say.
So, Deissy, know that we in the blogosphere and the real world are paying attention and that we will do what we can to help.
What the cause(s) of the prisoners rioting I am not even hazarding a guess but with some saying a few are injured and some saying others have been killed something has gone terribly wrong.
I have friends in Mexico - a few with some pull. I will give them a call and suggest they or someone they know look into what is going on in Tiajuana. What good if any it will do, I cannot say.
So, Deissy, know that we in the blogosphere and the real world are paying attention and that we will do what we can to help.
Two from the Bubblegum files
The Royal Guardsmen with Snoopy vs the Red Baron
Johnny Horton with The Battle of New Orleans
Johnny Horton with The Battle of New Orleans
The Ramones: I wanna be sedated
With the extreme negativity and nastiness the repugicans are spewing I Wanna Be Sedated:
Nice segue, huh?!
Mexican Prisoners Rioting
Prisoners are rioting at a state penitentiary in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Red Cross official Fernando Esquer says at least four prisoners are injured with bullet wounds and have been evacuated for treatment.
The riot began Sunday afternoon and quickly escalated.
A fire raged on the patio and prisoners have hung messages from the prison's roof and windows.
Several messages claim guards have killed at least two prisoners in the past week or so.
Soldiers and police surrounded the building, and a helicopter clattered overhead.
Family members trying to find out information on those inside have clashed at least twice with police.
Red Cross official Fernando Esquer says at least four prisoners are injured with bullet wounds and have been evacuated for treatment.
The riot began Sunday afternoon and quickly escalated.
A fire raged on the patio and prisoners have hung messages from the prison's roof and windows.
Several messages claim guards have killed at least two prisoners in the past week or so.
Soldiers and police surrounded the building, and a helicopter clattered overhead.
Family members trying to find out information on those inside have clashed at least twice with police.
Dubious Qualifications
She actually makes a better qualified candidate than does Palin. NakedJen makes more sense as a veep candidate ... she has the experiences needed. Here's how she puts it:
I am very obviously not running for Vice President of the United States of America.
We all know, quite well, that even though there are certain members of my family that would stand up and applaud and cheer more loudly than they perhaps ever had for anything I’ve done previously in my life, there is no possible way I would ever run on the Republican ticket.
All that aside, the more I keep learning about Sarah Palin, the more I can’t help but think I would actually make a better candidate than she. I know it sounds completely implausible since I’m the naked woman on the Internet (well, yes, it is completely implausible), but I am going to share just a few of the reasons why I feel this is so.
I have experience working in Washington, D.C. for a lobbyist on Capitol Hill. A lobbyist that was often invited to lunch at the Reagan White House. Where I lunched as well. A lobbyist who represented Miller Brewing Company. Which means that I know all about the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms. And how insider Washington really works. How to get things done on Capitol Hill. What you do to assure that your initiatives are included in bills and actually do get passed into law.
I also have experience working for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. I know how both of those organizations actually work and why they are important. I know how they decide to fund projects or not. I have helped to organize and have attended their global conferences. In other words, I know how to work in a truly global organization.
I have managed and have been entrusted with budgets as large as $50 million for just one simple global campaign. I have never had a project go over budget or over time. I have also been quite successful at creating global mindshare for my projects when none previously existed. I’m quite good at bringing divergent views to the table and getting everyone not only on the same page but to actually agree.
I was accepted into the Peace Corps.
I have traveled to all continents except Antarctica. I spent 20 years traveling with the Grateful Dead and while I know that creates a lot more suspicion about my background, it does mean I've been to every state in America at least once, if not more, with the exception of Alaska. Funny that Alaska is the only state I've never visited.
I am a holistic healer and master herbalist who truly understands that food is a political issue, that energy is also a political issue and that real changes must be made now if our planet and the people on it are going to survive.
I’m not a soccer mom, I do not eat moose or caribou, I can’t shoot a gun.
Sarah Palin and I are the same age. We’ve had such divergent paths in our lives that it is very hard for me to even begin to imagine my life in her shoes. I do try. Because my heart is one that tries, very hard, to embrace all people. To find the common thread that binds us all. I’m still searching for my common thread with Sarah. Other than being a woman, I’m having a hard time finding one. But I am going to continue to search. I am just really, really scared, at the moment, of the possibility that she might one day be the POTUS.
I feel like the citizen’s of the United States are being cast as extras in a very bad Disney movie. We can stop it, of course. By choosing real hope and real change and voting the Obama/Biden ticket in November. At this point it feels like the only responsible and sane thing to do. If we don’t, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves and we’ll have a woman with rather dubious qualifications a heartbeat away from the presidency.
*****
Photo from NakedJen.
The difference in IQ
The difference in IQ between those that vote Democrat and those who do not is pretty obvious and it has been studied and tested several times by different independent groups and each time the results were the same ... Voters who vote Democrat have higher than normal IQs. Those not voting Democrat have less than average IQs, a point Michael Seitzman makes clear in his piece below in response to "the Interview" with Palin on Thursday night.
Sarah Palin Naked
By Michael Seitzman
September 11, 2008
*****
*****
She said "nucular." Twice.
I realized three things tonight. For one, if you are a McCain/Palin/Bush voter, you and I do not have a difference of opinion. We have a difference in brain power. Two, she really is as ignorant as I feared. And, three, she really is kinda hot. Basically, I want to have sex with her on my Barack Obama sheets while my wife reads aloud from the Constitution. (My wife is cool with this if I promise to "first wipe off Palin's tranny makeup." I married well.)Now, I want to be clear and speak directly to those of you who LOVED that Palin interview. You're an idiot. I mean that. This is not one of those cases where we're going to agree to disagree. This isn't one of those situations where we debate it passionately and then walk away thinking that the other guy is wrong but argued well. I'm not going to think of you as a thoughtful but misguided person with different ideas who still really cares about the country and the world. No, sorry, not this time. This time, if you watched those interview excerpts and weren't scared out of your freakin' mind, then you're mentally ill, mentally disabled, or mentally disturbed. What you are NOT is responsible, informed, curious, thoughtful, mature, educated, empathetic, or remotely serious. I mean it.
But I like to think that anyone can change.
Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent.
Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they're terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.
Obama raises record $66 million in August
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised a record $66 million in August, a campaign spokesman said on Sunday.
And yet the polls claim McPain is ahead?
Something isn't quite kosher here!
Read the Reuters article here.
And yet the polls claim McPain is ahead?
Something isn't quite kosher here!
You don't suppose the pollsters are telling lies, do you?
Palin Aide Tells Blogger To Stop Blogging
In the world of Gov. Sarah Palin, criticism by the press and especially by the blogosphere is unwelcomed and countered by silence or direct commands.
According to an expose today in the New York Times, Republican vice-presidential candidate had her assistant call a blogger who closely followed the Palin administration and had been critical of it actions.
One wonders what a Vice President, or President Palin might suggest to the FCC in suppressing or regulating the Internet and the freedom of speech — especially those who disagree with her!Four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an aide to the governor on the line, she said. “You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
Few safeguards for Mexican produce heading north
At the end of a dirt road in northern Mexico, the conveyer belts processing hundreds of tons of vegetables a year for U.S. and Mexican markets are open to the elements, protected only by a corrugated metal roof.
Read the rest of the article here.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspects this packing plant, its warehouse in McAllen, Texas, and a farm in Mexico are among the sources of the United States' largest outbreak of food-borne illness in a decade, which infected at least 1,440 people with a rare form of salmonella.
A plant manager confirmed that workers handling chili peppers aren't required to separate them according to the sanitary conditions in which they were grown, offering a possible explanation for how such a rare strain of salmonella could have caused such a large outbreak.Read the rest of the article here.
World's oceans could become "soupy swill"
Our seas are suffocating under a layer of slime.
That slime - algae feasting on pollutants and fertilizers and starving the ocean of oxygen - is growing rapaciously and killing off sea life at an alarming rate.
Read the entire article from Canada.com here.Sarah Palin is a spammer and digital secrecy scofflaw.
Above, snapshot of a rally organized by "Alaska Women Against Palin" this weekend. Some 1500 people are said to have participated, making it possibly the largest political rally in the state's history. Photo from Mudflaps
Buried on page 4 of a 5-page New York Times article on Sarah Palin's political history in Alaska we find this:
[L]awmakers in April accused her of improperly culling thousands of e-mail addresses from a state database for a mass mailing to rally support for a policy initiative.While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”
Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account “when there was significant state business.”
On Feb. 7, Frank Bailey, a high-level aide, wrote to Ms. Palin’s state e-mail address to discuss appointments. Another aide fired back: “Frank, this is not the governor’s personal account.” Mr. Bailey responded: “Whoops~!”
Mr. Bailey, a former midlevel manager at Alaska Airlines who worked on Ms. Palin’s campaign, has been placed on paid leave; he has emerged as a central figure in the trooper investigation.
Another confidante of Ms. Palin’s is Ms. Frye, 27. She worked as a receptionist for State Senator Lyda Green before she joined Ms. Palin’s campaign for governor. Now Ms. Frye earns $68,664 as a special assistant to the governor. Her frequent interactions with Ms. Palin’s children have prompted some lawmakers to refer to her as “the babysitter,” a title that Ms. Frye disavows. Like Mr. Bailey, she is an effusive cheerleader for her boss.
“YOU ARE SO AWESOME!” Ms. Frye typed in an e-mail message to Ms. Palin in March.
The Sorrow and the Pity
When it comes to foreign policy, Sarah Palin doesn't know what she's talking about.
Judging from the excerpts shown Thursday on ABC's World News and Nightline, there are several appropriate responses to watching Sarah Palin answer Charlie Gibson's questions on foreign policy and national security—sorrow, pity, incredulity, fear.
Read the rest of the story here.
Photo from Slate.
So-Called Energy Expert Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know How Much Energy Her State Produces
Challenged by Gibson on her “national security credentials,” Palin cited her experience as the governor of a “state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy” as a credential that she “brings to the table“.
But, as the non-partisan FactCheck.org points out, Palin’s claim about Alaska producing 20 percent of America’s domestic energy supply is “not true. Not even close.” In fact, “Alaska’s share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent.”
Mom accused of stealing daughter's identity to attend highschool and become a cheerleader
Can you say 'Made for TV Movie'?!
A 33 year old woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing her 15-year-old daughter's identity and going back to high school to become a cheerleader and get a diploma. Her daughter lived in another state with her father, from whom the woman was estranged. She faces six years in prison for identity theft. That would be a pretty interesting ending to a wild summer teen comedy about a mom who yearns to be a cheerleader.
According to the complaint, Brown wanted to get her high school degree and become a cheerleader because she didn't have a childhood and wanted to regain a part of her life that she'd missed.Brown allegedly attended cheerleading practices before school started, received a cheerleader's locker and went to a pool party at the cheerleading coach's house.
The $134.50 check Brown gave to the cheerleading coach for her uniform bounced, the complaint said.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Tom Palin subpoenaed in 'Troopergate' investigation
From the Reuters news wire:
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin defended her record as governor of Alaska on Friday in the face of fierce Democratic attacks, while a state ethics panel subpoenaed her husband.
In the last installment of an exclusive interview with ABC News, Palin rejected her critics’ insistence that she had initially been in favor of building an Alaska bridge project held up as a symbol of wasteful government spending.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has denounced Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere” as a place where government fat needed to be cut. The $398 million bridge would have been built to a small island with only about 50 residents, and has since been shut down.
Palin insists she helped kill the project but Democrats emphasize that she was in favor of the bridge when she was a candidate for governor. It is an assault on her attempts to present herself as a reformer.
Palin, who was mayor of tiny Wasilla before becoming governor less than two years ago, told ABC News she did seek money for infrastructure in the state,” saying it was “not inappropriate for a mayor or a governor” to seek such funding.
But ultimately, she said, “I said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. We’re not going to spend it on the bridge.’”
She also defended, as Wasilla’s mayor, seeking and obtaining $27 million in federal funding in the form of individual spending items that U.S. lawmakers called “earmarks.” McCain has made cutting “earmark” projects a pillar of his campaign.
“We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office,” she said.McPain denies that he has ever flip flopped on a single issue
Okay, for once he is telling the truth ...
He hasn't flip-flopped on a single issue.
He has flip-flopped on 76 of them.
Which are listed at The Official John McCain Flip-Flop List
He hasn't flip-flopped on a single issue.
He has flip-flopped on 76 of them.
Which are listed at The Official John McCain Flip-Flop List
National Security Policy
1. McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
2. McCain insisted that everyone, even “terrible killers,” “the worst kind of scum of humanity,” and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, “deserve to have some adjudication of their cases,” even if that means “releasing some of them.” McCain now believes the opposite.
3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
4. In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
5. McCain was for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he was against it.
6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with predators, McCain criticized him for it. He’s since come to the opposite conclusion.
Foreign Policy
7. McCain was for kicking Russia out of the G8 before he was against it. Now, he’s for it again.
8. McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
9. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
10. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
11. McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
13. McCain was against divestment from South Africa before he was for it.
Military Policy
14. McCain recently claimed that he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea.
16. McCain was against additional U.S. forces in Afghanistan before he was for it.
17. McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
18. McCain has repeatedly said it’s a dangerous mistake to tell the “enemy” when U.S. troops would be out of Iraq. In May, McCain announced that most American troops would be home from Iraq by 2013.
19. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill before he was for it.
20. McCain staunchly opposed Obama’s Iraq withdrawal timetable, and even blasted Mitt Romney for having referenced the word during the GOP primaries. In July, after Iraqi officials endorsed Obama’s policy, McCain said a 16-month calendar sounds like “a pretty good timetable.”
Domestic Policy
21. McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
22. On Social Security, McCain said he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Soon after, asked about a possible increase in the payroll tax, McCain said there’s “nothing that’s off the table.”
23. McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
24. McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
25. He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
26. In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
27. McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
28. McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
29. McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
30. McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
31. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
32. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
33. In 2005, McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite, and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time.
34. And on gay adoption, McCain initially said he’d rather let orphans go without families, then his campaign reversed course, and soon after, McCain reversed back.
35. In the Senate, McCain opposed a variety of measures on equal pay for women, and endorsed the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision. In July, however, McCain said, “I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That … is my record and you can count on it.”
36. McCain was against fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act before he was for it.
37. McCain was for affirmative action before he was against it.
38. McCain said the Colorado River compact will “obviously” need to be “renegotiated.” Six days later, McCain said, “Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact.”
Economic Policy
39. McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them.
40. John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise for him, saying, “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to be educated,” and “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” He now falsely denies ever having made these remarks and insists that he has a “very strong” understanding of economics.
41. McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal. And soon after that, McCain abandoned his second position and went back to his first.
42. McCain said in 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and falsely argued that he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
43. McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
44. McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
45. McCain has changed his entire economic worldview on multiple occasions.
46. McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off economically than they were before Bush took office.
47. McCain was against massive government bailouts of “big banks” that “act irresponsibly.” He then announced his support for a massive government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Energy Policy
48. McCain supported the moratorium on coastal drilling ; now he’s against it.
49. McCain recently announced his strong opposition to a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
50. McCain endorsed a cap-and-trade policy with a mandatory emissions cap. In mid-June, McCain announced he wants the caps to voluntary.
51. McCain explained his belief that a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax would provide an immediate economic stimulus. Shortly thereafter, he argued the exact opposite.
52. McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.
53. McCain was for national auto emissions standards before he was against them.
Immigration Policy
54. McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. In 2007, he announced his opposition to the bill. In 2008, McCain switched back.
55. On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill.
56. In April, McCain promised voters that he would secure the borders “before proceeding to other reform measures.” Two months later, he abandoned his public pledge, pretended that he’d never made the promise in the first place, and vowed that a comprehensive immigration reform policy has always been, and would always be, his “top priority.”
Judicial Policy and the Rule of Law
57. McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
58. McCain’s position was that the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
59. McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
60. In June, McCain rejected the idea of a trial for Osama bin Laden, and thought Obama’s reference to Nuremberg was a misread of history. A month later, McCain argued the exact opposite position.
61. In June, McCain described the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush was “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” In August, he reversed course.
Campaign, Ethics, and Lobbying Reform
62. McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.
63. In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
64. McCain supported a campaign-finance bill, which bore his name, on strengthening the public-financing system. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
65. In May 2008, McCain approved a ban on lobbyists working for his campaign. In July 2008, his campaign reversed course and said lobbyists could work for his campaign.
Politics and Associations
66. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist John Hagee. Now he doesn’t. (He also believes his endorsement from Hagee was both a good and bad idea.)
67. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
68. McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
69. McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
70. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
71. In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
72. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
73. McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
74. McCain believed powerful right-wing activist/lobbyist Grover Norquist was “corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm) Jack Abramoff’s gay lover.” McCain now considers Norquist a key political ally.
75. McCain was for presidential candidates giving speeches in foreign countries before he was against it.
76. McCain has been both for and against considering a pro-choice running mate for the Republican presidential ticket.
*****
If and when you learn of a reversal that has not yet made the list. Let the folks know over at The Carpet Bagger Report
Damn, it's the third grade all over again!
 | Yeah--You and Whose Army? |
So everyone's talking about the nasty spike of nastiness in the presidential race--a spike brilliantly orchestrated by the Republican machinery--and Republican John McCain takes a moment to point out that even this is Barack Obama's fault.
Y'see, all the crap being thrown at Obama--the fear-mongering, the half-truths, the full lies--all the character assassination hurling Obama's way, is in fact, his own doing.
"I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America," the Senator from Arizona tells us.
Am I just losing my freaking mind? Seriously. I keep looking around the room to see if I'm living in some suddenly altered state where everything we know is now called the opposite, and nobody notices. Or can stop it.
"I wish I didn't have to take your lunch money, but you shouldn't of hadda brung it."
We're in the 3rd grade again. The skinny, smart kid who just moved in to the neighborhood is getting roughed-up by the asshole bully. The kid who hits you in the head with your hand and says, "Why're you hitting yourself? Why're you hitting yourself?"
"Um, actually I'm not. You're hitting me."
"You calling me a liar?"
"No, I'm just pointing out that..." SMACK!
"Why're you hitting yourself?"
And there seems to be no one to appeal to. There're no grown-ups around when you need 'em. No one to step in and say, "Alright, that's enough now. We don't do that here, fella." And in the absence of any authority, the asshole gets to keep doing it.
"Why're you hitting yourself? SMACK! Why're you hitting yourself?"
From the few minutes of the GOP convention I could stomach watching, all I could think was that Giuliani and Sarah Palin were doing some big-person, lethal version of "I know you are, but what am I?"
America: "Well, respectfully, Governor Palin, it could be argued that you are, in fact, relatively inexperienced."
Her: "I know you are but what am I?"
"Hm? No, perhaps you misunderstood. We are talking about you."
"I know you are but what am I."
"Well, Governor, just listening to your speech, you seem awfully caustic."
"You are."
"And, frankly, a little bitter."
"You're bitter."
"I mean, where's your sense of humility?"
"I'm rubber, you're glue. It bounces off me and sticks to you."
"My God - you're... dangerous."
"I know you are, but what am I?"
Maybe that's the problem. Obama treats us like adults, and McCain's team treats us like children.
Obama seeks to inspire and raise us as a nation. McCain's people want to reduce us to infants.
Obama asks us to be deep. And courageous.
McCain prays that we're simple. And cowardly.
Now everyone is calling for Obama to "get angry." "Get out there and frown this way, curl your lip that way, and clench your fist like so." And, I don't know...That'd be cool. Sure. But I don't think the fix can come just from him. There's only so much the guy can do. It's going to have to be us. I don't know what exactly we need to do, but I know we'll do it. I have to believe--I mean I really have to believe we're big enough, strong enough and smart enough to reclaim what's ours. I love my children too much to let the assholes take over the school yard.
REM- Shiny Happy People
What with the dreariness of the repugicans lie and smear machine belching its foulness a little light and levity is in order...
Lyrics:
Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People people
Throw your love around
Love me love me
Take it into town
Happy happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing
Everyone around love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it take it
Theres no time to cry
Happy happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing
*****
And don't forget ... you haven't made it as a band until you play with the Muppets!
Lyrics:
Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People people
Throw your love around
Love me love me
Take it into town
Happy happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing
Everyone around love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it take it
Theres no time to cry
Happy happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing
*****
And don't forget ... you haven't made it as a band until you play with the Muppets!
McPain: Mayors, Governors Don't Have National Security Experience
Both sides now ... speaking with forked tongue ...
Huh?! And he asks a mayor/governor to be his veep?
Oh, I get it!
We are not supposed to pay attention to what he says and remember what he says!
How stupid of me.
Huh?! And he asks a mayor/governor to be his veep?
Oh, I get it!
We are not supposed to pay attention to what he says and remember what he says!
How stupid of me.
It is Grandparents Day not patriot day
You know ...
This year I see calendars where September the 11th is labeled as Patriot Day!
When did this happen and why?
Remembering the tragic events that occurred on that particular date in 2001 is all well and good ... but calling it Patriot Day is a gross disservice to those memories.
Point of fact ... September the 11th is Grandparents Day and has been for many years - I gave my grandparents a card and took them out to dinner way back in the day and my grandchildren give me cards and take me to dinner.
This year I see calendars where September the 11th is labeled as Patriot Day!
When did this happen and why?
Remembering the tragic events that occurred on that particular date in 2001 is all well and good ... but calling it Patriot Day is a gross disservice to those memories.
Point of fact ... September the 11th is Grandparents Day and has been for many years - I gave my grandparents a card and took them out to dinner way back in the day and my grandchildren give me cards and take me to dinner.
He Abandoned American POWs
Want to know what McPain isn't telling you about him being a POW or his treatment of other POWs?
Over at BartCop on the BartBlog you can find some of the answers.
Over at BartCop on the BartBlog you can find some of the answers.
Former Congressmen Warn Troops: As Senator He Abandoned American POWs Trapped in Indochina; as President He’ll Abandon You
Special to the U.S. Veteran Dispatch
By former U.S. Congressmen Bill Hendon (R-NC)
and John LeBoutillier (R-NY)
August 16, 2008
“He [McCain] has told me several times over the years that the myth of live POWs was a cruel hoax on the families. He chaired hearings into the issue in the 1990s and found nothing. ‘The committee … pored over thousands of records and every claim of a sighting, no matter how outlandish,’ says Salter. ‘It was all untrue.’” Jonathan Alter, When Ross Perot Calls…, Newsweek.com January 16, 2008 ...
Read the entire piece here.
Modular multi-compartment fridge for student houses
This refrigerator from Electrolux uses modular stacking mini-units to provide personal refrigeration compartments for everyone in the household -- it's designed for shared student accommodations:
Roommates often fall apart over the politics of the shared fridge. There’s always a roommate with low hygiene standards and another with sticky fingers and leftovers compulsion. With the Flatshare fridge, everyone gets there own very separate compartment that still has a tall section for bottles and a smaller side for veg and there can be no arguments about who’s turn it is to clean it out. When another roommate moves in, they can simply buy another unit to go on top.
Mounties review Tasers, conclude that they're dangerous, misused and under-researched
I wonder if those using Tasers in the United States will heed this report?
"Perhaps there would have been a delay in implementation, or at least a limited deployment (e.g., to supervisors or their designates and to tactical squads)."The review, which questions the safety of stun guns — especially when used on pregnant women, drug users or people with medical conditions — argues that there should be national standards to guide Taser use by police forces across the country. The standards could be developed with the help of the Canadian Firearms Centre and Public Safety Canada.
The stuff movies are made of ...
A federal appeals court has rejected a second attempt by a delivery man to claim a piece of Howard Hughes' fortune, a plight first dramatized by the 1980s Academy Award-winning "Melvin and Howard."
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a jury in 1978 already determined that a hand-scrawled will offered by Melvin Dummar as evidence wasn't authentic.
Dummar, of Brigham City, Utah, renewed his claim in 2006 after pilot Roberto Deiro came forward to say he dropped Hughes off at a Nevada brothel in December 1967, near where Dummar says he discovered Hughes face down and bloodied in the desert.
Dummar said the man claimed he was Hughes, but he didn't believe it until someone he said was Hughes' personal messenger delivered the handwritten will to the Brigham City gas station that Dummar owned.
Dummar claims Hughes left him $156 million in his will as a reward.
Dummar filed suit against Frank William Gay, a senior corporate officer for Hughes, and Hughes' cousin William Lummis, a major beneficiary of the Hughes estate, who settled the estate with 21 distant cousins after years of litigation.
Gay was included in the lawsuit because he was a senior executive for Hughes' enterprises.
"Obviously, we and the family of Mr. Gay are very pleased by the decision, and this finally puts an end to a matter that was resolved 30 years ago," said Peggy Tomsic, an attorney for Gay, who died in May.
A message left at a number listed for Dummar in Utah was not immediately returned as were phone and e-mail messages left for his attorney.
Dummar's appeal argued that Hughes' associates knew about Deiro, the pilot, but didn't disclose it at the original probate trial in 1977-78.
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court said Friday it was too late for Dummar to bring up claims of fraud and racketeering, saying the statute of limitations began in 1978 when a jury declared the handwritten will invalid.
Those testifying at the probate trial said Hughes never left his hotel in December 1967, which was contradicted when Deiro came forward four years ago, saying he routinely flew Hughes to brothels in rural Nevada and confirmed parts of Dummar's improbable story.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a jury in 1978 already determined that a hand-scrawled will offered by Melvin Dummar as evidence wasn't authentic.
Dummar, of Brigham City, Utah, renewed his claim in 2006 after pilot Roberto Deiro came forward to say he dropped Hughes off at a Nevada brothel in December 1967, near where Dummar says he discovered Hughes face down and bloodied in the desert.
Dummar said the man claimed he was Hughes, but he didn't believe it until someone he said was Hughes' personal messenger delivered the handwritten will to the Brigham City gas station that Dummar owned.
Dummar claims Hughes left him $156 million in his will as a reward.
Dummar filed suit against Frank William Gay, a senior corporate officer for Hughes, and Hughes' cousin William Lummis, a major beneficiary of the Hughes estate, who settled the estate with 21 distant cousins after years of litigation.
Gay was included in the lawsuit because he was a senior executive for Hughes' enterprises.
"Obviously, we and the family of Mr. Gay are very pleased by the decision, and this finally puts an end to a matter that was resolved 30 years ago," said Peggy Tomsic, an attorney for Gay, who died in May.
A message left at a number listed for Dummar in Utah was not immediately returned as were phone and e-mail messages left for his attorney.
Dummar's appeal argued that Hughes' associates knew about Deiro, the pilot, but didn't disclose it at the original probate trial in 1977-78.
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court said Friday it was too late for Dummar to bring up claims of fraud and racketeering, saying the statute of limitations began in 1978 when a jury declared the handwritten will invalid.
Those testifying at the probate trial said Hughes never left his hotel in December 1967, which was contradicted when Deiro came forward four years ago, saying he routinely flew Hughes to brothels in rural Nevada and confirmed parts of Dummar's improbable story.
Slasher gets thirty years
A woman who slashed a young mother's throat and kidnapped her newborn in rural eastern Missouri, setting off a frantic search that drew national attention, was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
The woman Shannon Torrez attacked two years ago testified at her sentencing hearing.
Stephenie Ochsenbine said she remembered being covered in blood and pleading with Torrez while her 1-year-old son, who also was covered in his mother's blood, watched the attack.
"You gave me no regard and no caring to my pleading," she said to Torrez.
Ochsenbine said she becomes panicked whenever she sees her attacker in court and whenever her children are out of her sight.
Torrez, 38, of Lonedell, entered an Alford plea in May to one count each of child kidnapping, armed criminal action and first-degree assault.
She did not admit guilt with her plea but conceded there was enough evidence for a guilty verdict.
DUH!
Too lenient I tell you.
The court went soft on Torrez, if you ask me.
You do not mess with a kid!
The woman Shannon Torrez attacked two years ago testified at her sentencing hearing.
Stephenie Ochsenbine said she remembered being covered in blood and pleading with Torrez while her 1-year-old son, who also was covered in his mother's blood, watched the attack.
"You gave me no regard and no caring to my pleading," she said to Torrez.
Ochsenbine said she becomes panicked whenever she sees her attacker in court and whenever her children are out of her sight.
Torrez, 38, of Lonedell, entered an Alford plea in May to one count each of child kidnapping, armed criminal action and first-degree assault.
She did not admit guilt with her plea but conceded there was enough evidence for a guilty verdict.
DUH!
Too lenient I tell you.
The court went soft on Torrez, if you ask me.
You do not mess with a kid!
The best dressed
Fashionistas ... want to know what all the best dressed people are wearing this week?
Check out the picture to the left and find out.
(You know we all have thought it, Just some of us have more couth than to blurt it out, but we knew someone would)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Commonality
People in:
Faro, Portugal; Montreal, Quebec; Saint Petersburg, Russia;
Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland;
Mississauga and Toronto, Ontario;
Dortmund and Leipzig, Germany;
Chelmsford, Oldham and Manchester, England;
Perth, Melbourne and Sidney, Australia;
Durango, Mexico; Calgary, Alberta; Lima, Peru;
Zurich, Switzerland; Anakara, Turkey; Amsterdam, Netherlands;
Riga, Latvia; Haifa, Israel; Barcelona, Spain;
Paris and Rouen, France; Stockholm, Sweden; Vancouver, British Columbia ...
...all have something in common...
... They read Carolina Naturally.
Faro, Portugal; Montreal, Quebec; Saint Petersburg, Russia;
Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland;
Mississauga and Toronto, Ontario;
Dortmund and Leipzig, Germany;
Chelmsford, Oldham and Manchester, England;
Perth, Melbourne and Sidney, Australia;
Durango, Mexico; Calgary, Alberta; Lima, Peru;
Zurich, Switzerland; Anakara, Turkey; Amsterdam, Netherlands;
Riga, Latvia; Haifa, Israel; Barcelona, Spain;
Paris and Rouen, France; Stockholm, Sweden; Vancouver, British Columbia ...
...all have something in common...
... They read Carolina Naturally.
Fourth grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener
From the "Get Real" department:
Today, September 12th 2008 will be remembered as the day we finally caught one of the bad guys ...
A 4th grader with a broken pencil sharpener.
A 10-year-old Hilton Head Island boy has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.The problem was his sharpener had broken, but he decided to use it anyway.
The boy -- a fourth-grader described as a well-behaved and good student -- cried during the meeting with his mom, the deputy and the school's assistant principal.
He had no criminal intent in having the blade at school, the sheriff's report stated, but was suspended for at least two days and could face further disciplinary action.
Fourth grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener
The deputy and assistant principal should be on a two-day suspension and be facing further disciplinary action for even batting an eye over this.
Come on people Get Real here!
Come on people Get Real here!
The Audition Tape
This explains it!
How an unknown radical kook could be selected as a veep candidate!
Check out the audition tape:
Do we really need this!?
How an unknown radical kook could be selected as a veep candidate!
Check out the audition tape:
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
Do we really need this!?
Terror cops hunt down ornamental Castor bean plant
Another story in the continuing saga of our homeland insecurity ...
A man in Orem, Utah had the Homeland Security flying squad at his house because he'd planted a Castor bean plant on his front lawn, prompting a neighbor or passing snitch to decide he was making Ricin:
A man in Orem, Utah had the Homeland Security flying squad at his house because he'd planted a Castor bean plant on his front lawn, prompting a neighbor or passing snitch to decide he was making Ricin:
A startled homeowner got a visit from Orem Police Tuesday afternoon. They were interested in a plant that he was growing by his mailbox in the front yard. They were so interested that they put a call into Homeland Security. No, it wasn’t marijuana. It was a Castor bean plant...He says with a laugh, “I’m not a terrorist, but I was terribly frightened when the call came in. I was terrorized (for) my humble little plant that’s over there in the corner.”
North Texas house burns because local authorities switched off hydrants "to fight terrorism"
A house in North Texas burned down because the local authorities had switched off the fire-hydrants to stop terrorists from poisoning the water supply through them?! Huh!?
So, who is the Tool that thought this up? On the stupid-meter, this is a 12 and the meter only goes from 1 to 10!
All the district's hydrants, including those in Alexander Ranch, have had their water turned off since just after 9/11 - something a trade association spokesman tells us is common practice for rural systems.Turned back on with a tool? So these fire-hydrants will prevent terrorists who could poison the water supply through them, but only if they cannot of get a tool?!"These hydrants need to be cut off in a way to prevent vandalism or any kind of terrorist activity, including something in the water lines," Hodges said.
But Hodges says fire departments know, or should have known, the water valves can be turned back on with a tool.
So, who is the Tool that thought this up? On the stupid-meter, this is a 12 and the meter only goes from 1 to 10!
Germ-free baby under glass: scientific parenting of 1947
The lost art of parenting, 1947-style:
Little John Gray Jr., three months old when these pictures were taken, has seldom been outside of this glass house in which he lives.
His showcase home is temperature and humidity controlled, dirt-free and has a built-in air filter.
It is partially sound-proof-he can bellow without straining the family nerves.
He doesn’t catch cold; visitors can’t pass their germs through the glass and the house’s temperature never varies from 84 degrees.
At the slightest deviation, a bell rings.
There are no drafts and neither is there the fear of smothering; there are no bed covers.
Papa John Gray Sr. built the ingenious baby house in the workshop of his home in Sea Cliff, Long Island, New York.
Only time will tell whether the child will escape the usual ills.
'Take a Child Outside' week gains ground
A large group of well-meaning officials from several states have a message for you and your family: Go take a hike.
They're urging moms and dads to take their kids away from the television and go outside for some fresh air as part of "Take a Child Outside" week from Sept. 24-30.
The special week began last year in North Carolina, and has now spread throughout much of the U.S.
About 250 organizations in the U.S. and Canada are taking part this year.
The only question is: Do children really need a themed week to encourage them to play outside?
If so, then you know we are in a pathetic shape as a nation - and the way it looks ... we are in a pathetic shape as a nation.
And no, I do not mean just physically, I mean the over all well-being and the actual need to get the kids out of the house to play and just be a kid.
Back in the day it was the opposite problem - getting us to come into the house was a monumental task.
Times have sure changed.
They're urging moms and dads to take their kids away from the television and go outside for some fresh air as part of "Take a Child Outside" week from Sept. 24-30.
The special week began last year in North Carolina, and has now spread throughout much of the U.S.
About 250 organizations in the U.S. and Canada are taking part this year.
The only question is: Do children really need a themed week to encourage them to play outside?
If so, then you know we are in a pathetic shape as a nation - and the way it looks ... we are in a pathetic shape as a nation.
And no, I do not mean just physically, I mean the over all well-being and the actual need to get the kids out of the house to play and just be a kid.
Back in the day it was the opposite problem - getting us to come into the house was a monumental task.
Times have sure changed.
Navajos seeks full control of national monument
The Navajo Nation is seeking full control of one of the only national monuments entirely on reservation land, the majestic Canyon de Chelly and its hundreds of ancient rock carvings and paintings.
Since 1931, the National Park Service has been charged with preserving thousands of artifacts and ruins within the monument's towering red sandstone walls, while the land revered by the Navajos as sacred remained tribally owned.
Now the Tribal Council wants full control of the 131-square-mile monument in northeastern Arizona and the more than $1.8 million in federal funding that goes with it.
Doing so would strengthen the tribe's sovereignty and demonstrate its expertise and competence in administering tribal land and resources to benefit Navajo people, supporters say.
Canyon de Chelly, near Chinle, in the heart of the Navajo Nation, has been inhabited for some 2,000 years.
Artifacts and cliff dwellings lining the canyon walls date from the 4th to 14th centuries.
The Navajo call the canyon "tsegi," which means "within the rock."
Since 1931, the National Park Service has been charged with preserving thousands of artifacts and ruins within the monument's towering red sandstone walls, while the land revered by the Navajos as sacred remained tribally owned.
Now the Tribal Council wants full control of the 131-square-mile monument in northeastern Arizona and the more than $1.8 million in federal funding that goes with it.
Doing so would strengthen the tribe's sovereignty and demonstrate its expertise and competence in administering tribal land and resources to benefit Navajo people, supporters say.
Canyon de Chelly, near Chinle, in the heart of the Navajo Nation, has been inhabited for some 2,000 years.
Artifacts and cliff dwellings lining the canyon walls date from the 4th to 14th centuries.
The Navajo call the canyon "tsegi," which means "within the rock."
Charged for their Rape Kit?!
Charging a rape victim for the cost of the medical exam commonly known (thanks to Law&OrderSVU) as a "rape kit" is beneath all contempt, yet that is exactly what that shill shrew did in Wasilla and wants to do in the entire nation.
Not only do you have to keep a fetus conceived during your raping but you have to pay for the exam afterward!!!?
This election is over.
No one with any sense of decency or moral fiber will vote for that hag now.
Americans may stupid but NOT that stupid!
Not only do you have to keep a fetus conceived during your raping but you have to pay for the exam afterward!!!?
This election is over.
No one with any sense of decency or moral fiber will vote for that hag now.
Americans may stupid but NOT that stupid!
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Please help
i've got two uncles in there
='[
We recieved a Devastating
call from My uncle himself
who's trapped.
Many have died due to the raging fired