Obama's Cabinet taking shape

President Barack Obama's Cabinet is taking shape, and other top jobs are being filled.

TREASURY SECRETARY: Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
SECRETARY OF STATE: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general.
DEFENSE SECRETARY: Robert Gates, a holdover from Bush administration.
HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Retired Marine Gen. James Jones.
COMMERCE SECRETARY: Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.
NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: Lawrence Summers, former treasury secretary.
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET DIRECTOR: Peter Orszag, director of Congressional Budget Office.
VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY: Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki

Today's readers

Readers in the following countries have read Carolina Naturally today:

la France (France)
Alban (Scotland)
ישראל(Israel)
Deutschland (Germany)
مصر (Egypt)
England (England)
السعودي (Saudi Arabia)
Cymru (Wales)
Canada (Canada)
België (Belgium)
España (Spain)
台湾 (Taiwan)
(Bahrain)
日本 (Japan)
Κύπρος (Cyprus)
Australia (Australia)
Suomi (Finland)
Sverige (Sweden)
Italia (Italy)
Norge (Norway)
Brasil (Brazil)
Ísland (Iceland)

I have listed the countries in their native or dominant language (except for Bahrain - my Arabic is not that great so I do not know what they people living there call their country).

Now, who said you could not learn something from reading this blog.

Country Ham

The slow-cured country ham is the opposite of fast food.

It is also one of North Carolina's oldest culinary traditions.

Salty. Leathery. The skin dried so hard, it can take a band saw to cut through it. Before cooking, you have to heft it into a sink and scrub off the mold. This is not most people's definition of food. But in the Carolinas, it's a good description of one of our most important contributions to the American food story: Slow-cured country ham.

It once kept people in this part of the world alive through tough winters. It added flavor and protein to meager plates of grits and greens. It was so prized, colonists made scarce cash by shipping it to Europe for the gentry.

Today, slow-cured country ham is not much more than a lingering taste of Carolinas history. In supermarkets, you usually find mass-produced versions that use climate controls to hurry the process.

What is hard to find is the original kind, treated with nothing but salt and maybe sugar, and hung in a room with open windows, exposed to months of spring breezes and humid summer nights.

The 'Days of Pork ... are over'

President Barack Obama issued a warning Sunday to officials around the country who want to fund projects with federal dollars: no more business as usual.

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said: "What we need to do is examine: What are the projects where we're going to get the most bang for the buck? How are we going to make sure taxpayers are protected?

"You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over."

Workers in Argentina taking over dead factories and running them democratically

There is a lesson here somewhere ...

As Argentine factories go bankrupt and shut their doors, workers are breaking in, starting the machines up again, electing their own leaders, and running the businesses themselves, putting up fierce resistance when the police try to evict them.

On 19 March 2003, we were on the roof of the Zanón ceramic tile factory, filming an interview with Cepillo. He was showing us how the workers fended off eviction by armed police, defending their democratic workplace with slingshots and the little ceramic balls normally used to pound the Patagonian clay into raw material for tiles. His aim was impressive. It was the day the bombs started falling on Baghdad...

The movement of recovered companies is not epic in scale - some 170 companies, around 10,000 workers in Argentina. But six years on, and unlike some of the country's other new movements, it has survived and continues to build quiet strength in the midst of the country's deeply unequal "recovery". Its tenacity is a function of its pragmatism: this is a movement that is based on action, not talk. And its defining action, reawakening the means of production under worker control, while loaded with potent symbolism, is anything but symbolic. It is feeding families, rebuilding shattered pride, and opening a window of powerful possibility.

"Occupy, resist, produce"

Riots in Greece cities after teen killed

Hundreds of youths angered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager rampaged through Greece's two largest cities for a second day Sunday in some of the worst rioting the country has seen in years.

Gangs smashed stores, torched cars and erected burning barricades in the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki.
Riot police clashed with groups of mostly self-styled anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles.
Clouds of tear gas hung in the air, sending bystanders dashing for cover.

Rioting in several cities, including Hania in Crete and cities in northern Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Exarchia.
The downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants is seen as the anarchists' home base.

Soon stores, banks and cars there were in flames.

This is but the latest in a long history of rioting in Greece over the slightest of provocations or no provocation at all. It is an odd note that the last series of riots set off for the same 'reason' was also a fifteen year old boy killed by police. What is it that the police in Greece have against 15-year-old boys?

Nobel winner says Internet might have stopped Hitler

The spread of information on the Internet has given the world a new tool to forestall conflicts, Nobel literature prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio said Sunday.

In his Nobel lecture to the Swedish Academy, the 68-year-old Frenchman said an earlier introduction of information technology could even have prevented World War II.
"Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded - ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day," he said.

Still, the globe-trotting writer noted that access to computers remains a luxury to many in the developing world and said eradicating hunger and illiteracy remain the "two great urgent tasks" of humankind.
"Literacy and the struggle against hunger are connected, closely interdependent," he said.
"One cannot succeed without the other. Both of them require, indeed urge, us to act."

Le Clezio was praised by the Nobel jury at the Swedish Academy for his "poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy" in such works as "Terra Amata," "The Book of Flights" and "Desert."
Though he was born in France, Le Clezio's father is British and he holds dual nationality with Mauritius, where his family has roots.
He spends much of his time in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Recalling his beginnings as a writer, Le Clezio said the books that had the greatest impact on him were anthologies of travelers tales, including those of Marco Polo.
"Those books gave me a taste for adventure, gave me a sense of the vastness of the real world, a means to explore it through instinct and the senses rather than through knowledge," he said in a speech delivered in French.

Le Clezio called on publishers to make books available to a broader public in developing countries and to publish more material in lesser-known languages.
"In Africa, Southeast Asia, Mexico, or the South Sea Islands, books remain an inaccessible luxury," Le Clezio said.

He will receive the Nobel Prize in literature at a ceremony on Wednesday. The medicine, chemistry, physics and economics prizes are also handed out in Stockholm, while the Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo, Norway.

Chicago workers' sit-in becomes rallying point

A sit-in by laid-off workers at a shuttered window factory in Chicago is becoming a cause celebre for those who want action to avert economic pain.

Politicians, community leaders and members of outside unions turned up Sunday at the Republic Windows and Doors company to support the 250 or so former workers occupying the plant.

Workers say they'll stay put until they're given severance and vacation pay.

Factory worker Melvin Maclin says the protesters expected to face arrest when they began the sit-in Friday.

But he says spirits are high after all the backing they've received.

Supporters fill the lobby of the building, and workers take turns occupying the plant floor.

The shrub reported to be drinking heavily

With less than two months remaining in office, George W. Bush, witnessing a devastating defeat for the Republican Party, worse favorability ratings than those of Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal, and the most devastating economic situation since the Great Depression, is reported by a number of well-placed sources in Washington as drinking heavily.

After having tried to explain away the collapse of several Wall Street brokerage houses by saying, “Wall Street got drunk,” it appears that it is Bush who is suffering from bouts of drunkenness.

According to informed sources who spoke to WMR, Bush was visibly drunk at the recent G-20 economic summit in Washington and at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru.

Read the rest here.

India arrests two in Mumbai probe

One of the two Indian men arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks was a counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission, security officials said Saturday, demanding his release.

The arrests, announced in the eastern city of Calcutta, were the first since the bloody siege ended. But what was touted as a rare success for India's beleaguered law enforcement agencies, quickly turned sour as police in two Indian regions squared off against one another.

Senior police officers in Indian Kashmir, which has been at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan, demanded the release of the officer, Mukhtar Ahmed, saying he was one of their own and had been involved in infiltrating Kashmiri militant groups.

Read the rest here.

And I Quote

I heard guys say they got into rock and roll to pick up women. I didn`t get into rock to pick up women, but I sure adapted.

~ Ted Nugent

They killed their neighbors: genocide's foot soldiers

Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosevic. They are household names, infamous for masterminding genocide. But who were the foot soldiers who did the dirty work?

In many cases they were equally notorious in their communities because they were the friends, neighbors and co-workers of those they raped, slaughtered and buried alive.

Read the rest here.

I know it had to be a mis-print, they left the shrub off the list above of genocidal nut-cases.

Canadian coroner matches pair of mysterious feet

An pathology investigator has matched a pair of dismembered female feet that mysteriously washed up on the shores of British Columbia, the coroner's service said Saturday.

The British Columbia coroner matched a female right foot discovered on Canada's West coast in November with a left foot discovered in May.
Both were encased in New Balance running shoes.

They were among five feet that have mysteriously floated ashore along the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland since August 2007.

A sixth foot was found on the shores of Washington State's Orcas Island in Puget Sound in August. All six were found in athletic shoes.

"In all cases, these remains appear to have naturally separated from the body," said the B.C. Coroners Service.

Obama's Saturday Address to the nation

Here is a transcript of the video:

Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama
Radio Address on the Economy
Saturday, December 6, 2008

Good morning.

Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.

But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about each of the families those numbers represent. It’s about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband’s job or your daughter’s or son's job be the next one cut?

These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.

But we need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.

We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve -- by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future. And that’s exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.

Thanks for listening.

North Carolina Bans Telemarketing Firm

In what is great news for those of us living in North Carolina - There will be one less annoying call from telemarketers.
Now if other states will follow where we lead , the scourge of the telemarketers will cease to exist.

Dateline Raleigh:

A telemarketing company that promised to provide customers a credit card and an improved credit rating in exchange for a fee has been ordered to stop soliciting in North Carolina.

Attorney General Roy Cooper's office announced Friday that it had won a court order against Enterprise Technology Group Inc. of Florida, which does business as Ameritrust and Ameritrust Financial Card.

Cooper's office filed suit this week against the company. The attorney general said the company called North Carolinians on the Do Not Call Registry and offered a credit card that would improve their credit ratings for an upfront fee of $200 to $300.

Consumers who agreed to the service had to provide their checking account information, and the fee was deducted immediately, according to Cooper's office. But most people said they never received a credit card or that they received a card that could be used only for merchandise from the company's Web site or catalog.

*****

One scam down - but many more to go! In this house telemarketers get a bullhorn set at its highest pitch blasted straight into their ears so no one calls back a second time! Serves them right too!

Growing up poor can impair kids' prefrontal cortex activity

A paper in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience describes a study that concludes that poor children aged 9 and 10 are likely to have lowered brain activity, comparable to a stroke victim. The researchers say that it's due to growing up in a stressful, "resource poor" environment, with "fewer books, less reading, fewer games, fewer visits to museums." However, the effects can be remediated through playing stimulating games.

"When paying attention to the triangles, the prefrontal cortex helps you process the visual stimuli better. And the prefrontal cortex is even more involved in detecting novelty, like the unexpected photographs," he said. But in both cases, "the low socioeconomic kids were not detecting or processing the visual stimuli as well. They were not getting that extra boost from the prefrontal cortex."

"These kids have no neural damage, no prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, no neurological damage," Kishiyama said. "Yet, the prefrontal cortex is not functioning as efficiently as it should be. This difference may manifest itself in problem solving and school performance."

Poor Children's Brain Activity Resembles That Of Stroke Victims, EEG Shows

Angry laid-off workers occupy factory in Chicago

In yet another sign of how we have been and are being screwed by the repugicans and their sycophants ...

Workers who got three days' notice their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won't go home without assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay they say they are owed.

About 200 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.
Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.

During the peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.
"We're doing something we haven't since the 1930s, so we're trying to make it work," Fried said.

Protest organizers said the company can't pay employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month.
In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors."

Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package.
"Across cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame," said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743.
"If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to the workers of this country."

Outside the plant, protesters wore stickers and carried signs that said, "You got bailed out, we got sold out."

Larry Spivack, regional director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, said the peaceful action will add to Chicago's rich history in the labor movement, which includes the 1886 Haymarket affair, when Chicago laborers and anarchists gathering in a square on the city's west side drew national attention when an unidentified person threw a bomb at police
"The history of workers is built on issues like this here today," Spivack said.

Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling the area.

Workers were angered when company officials didn't show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, Fried said.
Union officials said another meeting with the company is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

"We're going to stay here until we win justice," said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours.
Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she's owed.
A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck.

Police chief urges struggling parents not to steal

In another sign of how bad the world economy is due to the repugicans:

A British police chief has warned financially strapped parents not to steal gifts for their children this Christmas.

Cambridgeshire's Chief Constable Julie Spence says parents shouldn't give in to the temptation to shoplift toys they can't afford.
In a podcast to her force's Web site, she says: "What might start out as an idea to keep a child happy could finish with a criminal record, a substantial financial penalty and the social stigma of being known as a thief.
Spence says: "Don't be pressured into stealing. Nothing can ever be worth that final sacrifice."

Britain's economy has been battered by the global financial meltdown, and a recent leaked government document predicted the economic turmoil would result in a rise in crime.

Obama does the Top Ten

Here is why Obama was elected! In this clip from January 28, 2008 Obama gives us the 'Top Ten Obama Campaign Promises' on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Anyone who can and does see humor in themselves and is willing to run with it is a well rounded and fully grounded person.
And anyone who will do so before an audience of 10 million 'live' is more than ready to be in a position such as the President of the United States.
Even more so when that person has the ability to listen, the ability to articulate correctly and clearly and completely, the ability to look forward and the desire to bring others along with them into the future.

We have arrived ...

...Sort of ...

At 1:05AM this morning Carolina Naturally had a PageRank of 7 out of 10.
(PageRank is Google's view of the importance of this page 7/10)

At 1:08AM this morning Carolina Naturally had a PageRank of 1 out of 10.

Clearly Google had a moment of clarity and epiphany however it was some clouded after a brief dalliance with the brilliant light unable to handle the luminescence.

So we lurch along at the blinding speed of a snail up the ladder of importance on Google while we have surpassed Warp-10 on the importance ladder for several other search engines.

Welcome new readers

Carolina Naturally welcomes our newest readers from our newest country:

American Samoa

Glad you found us.

This makes 147 out of 196! Only 49 more to go!

Quake hits Mojave Desert in Southern California

A moderate earthquake struck a sparsely populated area of California's Mojave Desert on Friday night.
The shaking was felt from Southern California to the fringes of Nevada and Arizona, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The 5.1-magnitude temblor struck just outside Ludlow on Interstate 40 in San Bernardino County, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The initial reports measured the quake at 5.5-magnitude.

*****

OK, I give up. Just what constitutes a major earthquake and what constitutes a moderate earthquake and is there such thing as a mild earthquake? An earthquake is an earthquake people. The ground moves and it normally doesn't do that! And from where I sit, the ground moving isn't the best thing to happen since sliced bread.

Daily Horoscope

My horoscope for the day says:

You're so busy you don't have time to waste.

Duh, and which truck did they just fall off the back of to be so astute!

Man comes home and finds drunk passed out

From the "Methinks Thou Hast Imbibed In Excess" Department:

Sarasota, Florida, police said a man came home to find a drunk burglar asleep on the living room floor. The arrest report said a 36-year-old man broke into the apartment Wednesday and rummaged through the bedroom and cabinets before passing out.

Police said when he woke up, the man was apparently so intoxicated he thought he was in his own apartment.

Police charged him with burglary and criminal mischief.

Texas town heads to Las Vegas for vacation

The tiny town of Cranfills Gap really needs a vacation.
That's why Las Vegas tourism officials decided to fly nearly half the 350 residents to the desert playground for a five-day getaway and publicity stunt.

Up to 120 people - those who could get off work and were over 21 - will be treated to swanky hotels, fancy restaurants and glitzy shows when they arrive Dec. 13, 2008.

It's all free with a catch: They'll be followed around by video cameras for tourism commercials to air early next year.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," said Tanya Davidson, 33. She plans to marry her fiance in a drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is spending $2.5 million for the trip and marketing campaign. Officials looked at 125 small communities around the nation before settling on the farming and ranching town that has one gas station, one bank, a bar and grill, and few other businesses.

"It really is the quintessential American town," said Doug Finelli, from an advertising agency working on the campaign. "The people are really welcoming, and everyone works really hard. Most people work multiple jobs."

Cranfills Gap, with two stop signs and no traffic lights about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth, is more than ready for the getaway.

"It'll give people an opportunity to go somewhere they wouldn't have had a chance to go to normally," Mayor David Witte said.

He's like Freddy Krueger

Four days before coming to Charlotte for a Monday night mega-game, Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden used some choice words to describe a certain Carolina receiver.

“That guy Steve Smith, he's a nightmare, man,” Gruden said on a conference call with reporters Thursday. “He's like Freddy Krueger to me. He scares the (heck) out of me.”

“Every film I pick up, he's brilliant,” said Gruden. “He makes some of the darndest catches.

“I don't like to see Steve.”

Even before speaking with reporters who cover the Panthers, Gruden used the “Freddy” moniker to describe Smith when addressing his Tampa players during a Bucs' team meeting Thursday morning.

Considering the source, it's a particularly impressive comparison. For years, Gruden has been dubbed “Chucky” after another horror film character because of his intense facial expressions on the sidelines during games.

Smith was flattered.

“I think that's a good compliment,” Smith said when told about Gruden's comments. “A lot of coaches don't always compliment the opposing team in the media. I don't think he said it to throw me off or to get me to relax.

“I appreciate it. I'll just kind of go home and smile and check that off and say, ‘Hey, that's pretty cool.'”

*****

It will be a 'Nightmare On Graham Street' for Tampa Bay, Monday night

Coral Reefs off Carolinas targeted for protection

Ancient, deep-sea coral reefs off the southeastern coast from North Carolina to Florida should be protected, a federal fisheries board says.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, meeting this week in Wilmington, scheduled public hearings on designating the pristine reefs as “habitat areas of particular concern.” The 23,000-square-mile area is believed to be world's largest contiguous deep-water coral ecosystem.

Fishing for deep-water shrimp and golden crabs would be allowed within some of the protected areas.

Public hearings will be held in Charleston, S.C., on Jan. 26, in New Bern on Jan. 27 and in Georgia and Florida in early February. The council is expected to give final approval to the designation at its March meeting in Jekyll Island, Ga.

Found in dark, cold waters 1,200 feet or more deep, the fragile coral mounds have been explored only in the past decade. Fishing trawlers have damaged similar reefs around the world.

Food vs Fuel ...

Saltwater Crops May Be Key To Solving Earth’s Land Crunch

Saltwater-loving plants could open up half a million square miles of previously unusable territory for energy crops, helping settle the heated food-versus-fuel debate, which nearly derailed biofuel progress last year.

By increasing the world’s irrigated acreage by 50 percent, saltwater crops could provide a no-guilt source of biomass for alt fuel makers and tone down the rhetoric of U.N. officials worried about food prices, one of whom called the conversion of arable land to biofuel crops “a crime against humanity.”

While growing crops in saltwater has been on the fringes of horticulture for decades, the new demand for alternative energy has pushed the idea onto the pages of the nation’s most prestigious scientific journal and drawn the attention of NASA scientists.

Citing the work of Robert Glenn, a plant biologist at the University of Arizona, two biologists argue in this week’s Science that “the increasing demand for agricultural products and the spread of salinity now make this concept worth serious consideration and investment.”

Read the Full Story

Fifty first dates in reality

H.M., an amnesiac whose condition opened new doors in the study memory, died on Tuesday at age 82. A 1953 brain operation left H.M., now revealed to be Henry Gustav Molaison, with no ability to form new long-term memories. From then on, every time he met someone, or experienced something, it would be just like the very first time. His short-term memory was fine.

From the New York Times:

“The study of H. M. by Brenda Milner stands as one of the great milestones in the history of modern neuroscience,” said Dr. Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist at Columbia University. “It opened the way for the study of the two memory systems in the brain, explicit and implicit, and provided the basis for everything that came later — the study of human memory and its disorders.”

Living at his parents’ house, and later with a relative through the 1970s, Mr. Molaison helped with the shopping, mowed the lawn, raked leaves and relaxed in front of the television. He could navigate through a day attending to mundane details — fixing a lunch, making his bed — by drawing on what he could remember from his first 27 years.

"H.M., An Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82"

Three Presidents

Presidents 41,42 & 43 were flying across the country.
With them was a college student traveling and an old man.

While in flight, the intercom came on and the pilot said, “ We just lost an engine, but nothing to worry about. We have three left”.
A little while later the intercom came on again. “ We just lost a second engine, but no frets. We still have two”.
30 seconds later, once more the intercom came on.” We just lost the third engine, There are 4 parachutes in the closet in the rear of the plane. Good luck. This is a recording”.

President 41, George H.W. Bush says, “ I was president of the US. I was successful in getting Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Yes, I did say “ Read my lips” and raised taxes, but hey, everybody makes mistakes. I feel I deserve one”. So he takes one and jumps out the door.

President 42, Bill Clinton says,” I was president of the U.S. I over saw a great economic expansion and balanced the budget. Even got a surplus. Yeah, there was that cigar thing and the “ It wasn’t sex” thing, but hey everybody makes mistakes. I feel I deserve one”. So he takes a parachute and goes out the door.

President 43, George W. Bush says, “ I am the decider and I’ve decided I’m taking this one” So, he takes it and goes out the door.

The old man says to the student, “ You take the last chute. I am old and lived a good , long life. You are young. You take it.

The student replies, “Not to worry. Here is one for you and here is one for me. The Decider decided to take my backpack."

Pinup Bettie Page hospitalized after heart attack

This is sad news ...

Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven-haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.
"She's critically ill," said Mark Roesler of the Curtis Management Group.

He said the 85-year-old had the heart attack Tuesday and was hospitalized Friday in the Los Angeles area.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, "I would not deny that," but he would not comment further on her condition.

Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.

Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.

After resurfacing in the 1990s, she occasionally granted interviews but refused to allow her picture to be taken.

Mueller credits his business dealings with Page for bringing her out of seclusion. He said he first met her in 1989 when he offered her "a bunch of money" to show up at autograph signings.

"I probably sold 3,000 of her autographs, usually for $200 to $300," he said. "Eleanor Roosevelt, we got $40-$50. ... Bettie Page outsells them all."

*****

On a personal note:

Bettie I hope you recover and live to smile at the sun again!

Massachusetts man ticketed in gridlock while wife in labor

A man in Massachusetts is appealing a $100 ticket he got for driving to a hospital in the breakdown lane of a gridlocked Boston highway while his wife was in labor.

John Davis of Dracut says his wife Jennifer's contractions were three minutes apart on November 18, 2008 when a state trooper pulled them over for using the breakdown lane.

The couple says the trooper made them wait five to 10 minutes while he wrote a ticket for another car on Route 2, asked to see Jennifer's belly to prove her pregnancy, then issued them a ticket.

The couple then made it to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.
Their daughter was born five hours later.

State police say no discipline is likely for the trooper.

*****

No discipline?! How about a swift kick in the pants! Around here a Trooper would have escorted the couple to the hospital and expressed his wishes that they have a healthy child as he made sure they were inside the hospital and had the attention of the doctors and nurses there before going back to his job of patrolling our highways for miscreants and other ne'r-do-wells out for mischief and misdemeanors.

105-year-old singer says Hitler was a `good guy'

A 105-year-old singer whose past as a singer in Nazi Germany has dogged his reputation for decades is back in the spotlight after telling a Dutch television show Adolf Hitler was a "good guy."

The Dutch-born Johan Heesters, who now has Austrian citizenship and is still popular and performing in Germany, was asked by a Dutch journalist what he thought of Hitler.

"A good guy, that's what he was," he said on the clip shown Thursday on the current affairs show "De Wereld Draait Door".
His wife, Simone Rethel, immediately corrected him, saying that Hitler was the worst criminal in the world.
"I know, doll," Heesters responded. "But he was nice to me."

Rethel protested after the clip was aired, telling Dutch papers that he had been tricked into making the remarks, and that the program had cut out other parts of the interview where Heesters condemned the Nazi regime.

Heesters has made headlines twice in the past year for attempts to repair his reputation internationally, though he has remained popular in Germany throughout the war and after.
In February, he braved protests to perform in his native Netherlands for the first time in more than 40 years.
In his previous attempt, in 1964, he was booed off the stage in Amsterdam when he tried to appear as Nazi-hating Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music."

Last month, he filed a lawsuit to clear himself of allegations he sang for SS guards at the Dachau concentration camp.
Heesters acknowledges he visited the camp outside Munich in 1941, but the suit will try to force a German author to retract statements that the singer entertained SS troops while there.
"It never happened," Heesters said in a lengthy statement explaining his connections to Nazi-era Germany on his Web site.

The author, Volker Kuehn, maintained Heesters performed for the troops, basing the assertion on a 1990 interview he did with former Dachau inmate Viktor Matejka.
Matejka died in 1993.

Heesters was never accused of being a propagandist or anything other than an artist willing to perform for the Nazis, and the Allies allowed him to continue his career after the war.
But in his native country - which was occupied by Germany for most of the conflict - some view him as irredeemable.
Heesters said it gave him a "heavy heart" to know he was "not wanted in my homeland."
"Sure, I wanted to build my career. But...through no fault of my own, Adolf Hitler was one of the fans of my art. What have I done?"

NFL Notes

New York Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, speeding and driving without insurance after being pulled over by police last weekend.
*
The New England Patriots have signed 39-year-old linebacker Junior Seau to replace Adalius Thomas.
*
The city of Pontiac is accepting bids again for the former home of the Detroit Lions.
*
Antonio Pierce is finally going to talk to investigators about what he did on the night Plaxico Burress shot himself.

A Good Question

If Happiness is just an illusion then why are the deluded (read: wing-nuts) so angry all the time - they should be ecstatic shouldn't they?

*****

Damn, I ask some good questions and normally have great answers. But this one has me stumped!

Just found out ...

Just found this out ...

There are only 19 people in the US that have my name, so you know it's not John Smith.

Only 19 out of over 500 million.

The Mrs., will be shocked to know there are so many of us.
She is forever saying "Thank, god there is only one of you!"

*****

Just told the Mrs., and her first reaction was "Oh! Fuck!"
Then she said, "19, oh, jesus - there's not but one of my nacktman!"

Drink Tea

Ben Franklin said, "In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria."

That is why I drink Tea!

Besides, it is good for what ails you.

Our Sister Blog

Don't forget to check out our sister blog: The Naked, The Nude and The Nekkid
Don't be fooled by the title, it is not just naked pictures and stories about sex.

Some of the things over there are:

Cheer spreads like a touchy-feely virus

Amsterdam fights marijuana crackdown

Study finds 1 in 5 young adults has a personality disorder

Judge blocks suspensions of Vikings' Williamses

$200k worth of inflatable boobs lost at sea

OK, so the last one has a bit of 'blue' to it but it is not what you think!

So be sure to check it out and find out why there are so many readers over there as well.
And no they are not all the same readers. In fact only about a third of Carolina Naturally readers also read The Naked, The Nude and the Nekkid and the total numbers of readers is virtually the same.

United States employers slash 533,000 jobs

If not knowing the actual numbers was bad enough ... along come the numbers and it is worse!

Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7%.

That's 533,000 people that were working that are no longer working in November alone, people!

That means 533,000 no longer getting paid so they are no longer spending money to help drive the economy.

Does anyone (outside the wing-nut cadre) still think we are all doing the hokey-pokey and all is roses and lilacs with the economy?

Otto Wreacks Havoc

The culprit of the smashed glass and broken lamp is two foot seven inch Otto. Photo: EUROPICS

Staff believe that the octopus called Otto had been annoyed by the bright light shining into his aquarium and had discovered he could extinguish it by climbing onto the rim of his tank and squirting a jet of water in its direction.

The short-circuit had baffled electricians as well as staff at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany, who decided to take shifts sleeping on the floor to find out what caused the mysterious blackouts.

Read the rest in the Telegraph.

Der Untergang

Hey, Canada! How does it feels to be living through "Der Untergang"?!

Neo-cons in Canada reveled for what they truly are!

Another Iconic symbol bites the dust ...

Say it ain't so Sergei!

After more than 90 years, the Russian stars will no longer be all red.

They'll be red, white and blue.

The Kremlin-controlled lower house of parliament voted 389-2 Friday to replace Soviet-era red stars on military aircraft with ones bearing the three colors of the Russian national flag.
The five-pointed red stars have adorned the planes since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

The State Duma made the move even though the red star was officially restored as a military symbol and brought back to the military's parade banners in 2002.
The stars had remained on the planes all along, however.

But not all things Soviet have been abandoned. During Vladimir Putin's presidency, Russia also restored the old Soviet national anthem - albeit with new lyrics.

From the Inbox

Mark in Charlotte, NC says:
"You nailed it on November 4th when you said Perdue and Hagan would be the day's winners in NC."
I also said so before November 4. 2008, as well.

Hans writes:
I like your blog. It makes me think and practise my English.

Sue in Middlesex says:
Great stories and poetry and I loved your recipe!

Honda says:
My friends and I read your blog everyday at University.
(Ed. Note: they're in school somewhere in Japan around Tokyo)

Phyllis has this to say:
Can I have your baby?!

anonymous writes:
You Liberal (expletive deleted) you.
(Normally I would not redact the expletive but this way it gives it more absurdity and therefore more hilarity - and as ever they won't leave their name when they rail against you)

Karen at Truth Center writes:
... A refreshing look and a scathing eye for the idiocies and beauties that are a part of life.
(Damn I love that review)

Walter from somewhere in the Great White North says:
It's a wonderful read.

Patel writes:
An American blog that is a world citizen. There are Gods then!
(You've been reading too many wing-nut blogs, there Patel. There are many American blogs that are 'world citizens'. But thanks for noticing.)

Michelle writes to say:
Thanks

These are just some of the things laying about in the Inbox amid the spam and still more spam and 'legitimate' offers for male enhancement, a Nigerian millionaire's money and enlargement of either the lower male anatomy or the upper female anatomy that clutter the pile on the floor.

Reader Scan

Man o' man, Carolina Naturally was mighty popular in Simi Valley, California, yesterday!
It seemed like every other reader was from Simi Valley. Of course they weren't, but it sure seemed that way - especially at one point in the day.

Man killed for not sharing karaoke microphone

From the "See, this is why I don't karaoke" Department:
(You have to pay me and pay me well to sing)

Police say a Malaysian man has been stabbed to death by customers at a karaoke bar for singing too much and refusing to share the microphone.

A district police official says witnesses saw a group of men punch and stab 23-year-old Abdul Sani Doli with a knife at the bar late Wednesday in eastern Sandakan town on Borneo island.

The official says a brawl broke out because the men were furious that Abdul Sani was hogging the stage.

He says police detained two suspects after Abdul Sani was found dead outside the bar.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements.

Is this a photo of world's oldest living animal?

This photo of a tortoise was taken around 1900 on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. The tortoise, named Jonathan, still lives there today. He may be the world's oldest living animal.

From The Telegraph:

A spokesman for the island's tourist board said Jonathan is owned by the St Helena government and lives in the specially built plantation on the governor's land.

He said: "Jonathan is the sole survivor of three tortoises that arrived on St Helena Island in 1882.

"He was already mature when he arrived and was at least 50-years-old.

"Therefore his minimum age is 176-years-old. He is the oldest inhabitant on St Helena and is claimed to be the oldest living tortoise in the world.

"World's oldest living animal discovered after he is pictured in 1900 photograph"

Science News

From MIT News:

The simple razor clam has inspired a new MIT robot that could lead to a "smart" anchor that burrows through the ocean floor to reposition itself and could even reverse, making it easier to recover.

The so-called RoboClam is being developed to explore the performance capabilities of clam-inspired digging, as well as to shed light on the behavior of the real animal.

"Our original goal was to develop a lightweight anchor that you could set then easily unset, something that's not possible with conventional devices," said Anette "Peko" Hosoi, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering whose collaborators on the work are Amos Winter, a graduate student in her lab, and engineers at Bluefin Robotics Corp.

Such devices could be useful, for example, as tethers for small robotic submarines that are routinely repositioned to monitor variables such as currents and temperature. Further, a device that can burrow into the seabed and be directed to a specific location could also be useful as a detonator for buried underwater mines.

MIT: RoboClam

And I Quote

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.

It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

~ Mark Twain

America on Food Stamps

From Reuters:

Food stamps, the main U.S. antihunger program which helps the needy buy food, set a record in September as more than 31.5 million Americans used the program -- up 17 percent from a year ago.

The number of people using food stamps in September surpassed the previous peak of 29.85 million seen in November 2005 when victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma received emergency benefits, said Jean Daniel of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service.

"It's a disturbing trend," said Ellen Vollinger, legal director with the Food Research and Action Center.
She expects more people will turn to food stamps as unemployment rises and the economy remains weak.

One in 10 Americans were participating in the food stamp program as of September.

Read the rest of the Reuters article here.

Obama Reps, Retired Generals talk torture

A dozen retired generals met with President Barack Obama's top legal advisers Wednesday, pressing their case to overturn seven years of the shrub and the cabal's policies on detention, interrogation and rendition in the war on terror.

For those who have said or thought our military had no honor read the rest of this piece from Military.com here.

As of this moment ...

4209 Brave men and women will not be returning from Iraq
Alive!

Suit claims Halliburton, KBR sickened base

From Army Times:

(Yes, we Marines do read and we read Army Times among many other things)

A Georgia man has filed a lawsuit against contractor KBR and its former parent company, Halliburton, saying the companies exposed everyone at Joint Base Balad in Iraq to unsafe water, food and hazardous fumes from the burn pit there.

Joshua Eller, who worked as a civilian computer-aided drafting technician with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, said military personnel, contractors and third-country nationals may have been sickened by contamination at the largest U.S. installation in Iraq, home to more than 30,000 service members, Defense Department civilians and contractors.

“Defendants promised the United States government that they would supply safe water for hygienic and recreational uses, safe food supplies and properly operate base incinerators to dispose of medical waste safely,” according to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. “Defendants utterly failed to perform their promised duties.”

Eller and his attorneys are seeking to have the lawsuit declared a class action.

Rest the rest at Army Times.

Military contractor in Iraq holds foreign workers in warehouses

From McClatchy Newspapers:

About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor to KBR, an engineering, construction and services company, hired the men, who're from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Read the rest of the piece and watch the video here.

And you thought slavery was illegal for Americans didn't you!?

Boot Knut: Berlin Stern Eisbär Gesichter Ausweisung

Knut the superstar polar bear turns 2 on Friday looking nothing like the button-eyed ball of white fluff who captured hearts around the world.

The star of the Berlin Zoo is a fully grown bear with yellowish fur who, at 440 pounds, has grown too big for his enclosure.
Worried fans are lobbying for him to stay, but zoo officials say he will have to move if they do not build a new enclosure, which appears virtually impossible due to lack of space.

Knut lives in a small section of the current enclosure, home to Knut's parents, Tosca and Lars, and two older females.
Bearkeeper Heiner Kloes said Knut, who will reach sexual maturity around the age of 6, urgently needs enough space for both him and a fertile mate.
The zoo's two eligible female bears will be too old to have cubs by the time Knut is ready to reproduce.

Scientists estimate that there are between 20,000 and 25,000 polar bears in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the species is listed as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Canada and Russia have listed polar bears as a species of concern, citing shrinking habitats.

Brother, Could You Spare A Dime

Of course with the economic meltdown going global this song from the Great Depression has begun to see air time on many radio stations around the world. And while there are many versions of the song and videos for the song I (like many other bloggers) have found Tom Waits' version to be the grittiest so I am using his version here.

He can't sing worth a damn, but by damn, he can sing!

For some reason the first video is not working properly so here is another version with Tom singing as Depression Era pictures scroll on a slideshow.

He still can't sing worth a damn, but damn it he can sing!

You want to talk about being undemocratic!

Canada's prime minister has asked that Parliament be suspended until next month in an effort to delay a vote that could bring down his new government.

A senior official in the office of Stephen Harper said the prime minister made the request, but did not say if the governor general had agreed to it.

And he is howling about those seeking his removal (the majority of Canadians via their parties) accusing the of being 'undemocratic'.

Suspending the government is the most UNDEMOCRATIC thing there is to do, there Harper ol' boy!

It would be a colossal mistake for the governor-general to even entertain the idea of suspending the government for a month in an effort by conservatives to hold on to undeserved and stolen power.

Harper must go!

If Canadians wish to see their nation not sink into the abysmal morass the US has because of the conservatives here - Harper must go!
We have kicked most of the troglodytes to the curb and the rest are heading that way come next trash pick-up day (excuse me ... election day) here in the US ... unfortunately we waited until it was all but too late to do so.
Don't make the same mistake and wait until it is almost too late, Canada - get rid of them now!
You deserve better.

ADDENDUM:

The governor-general not only made the colossal mistake of entertaining the idea of suspending the government, she actually made the humongous, monumental mistake of agreeing to it.

Canadians I fear are about to be butt-fucked in the worst way.
You want us to send you some Vaseline - we have a goodly stock ... we have had to for the past eight years ... now we need to shed ourselves of it (or at least most of it - government is government after all).

Spaced Out Bunny

Bugs is at it again!

Pearl of Wisdom

Skinny-dippers never have to worry where to put wet swimwear so it won't soak the car seats on the way home!

Obama calls Iraq's Prime Minister to discuss cooperation

President Barack Obama has called Iraq's prime minister and stressed his commitment to a responsible withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, the government said.

During Wednesday's call, Obama thanked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi government for their efforts in gaining parliament's approval of a security pact that sets out a three-year time-frame for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops, according to a statement.

Obama also gave assurances he's committed to respecting Iraq's sovereignty and to a responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces, al-Maliki's press office said.

Fractured Fairy Tales

Snow White and Rapunzel

Quran in mass grave unlocks 30-year mystery

A small golden Quran helped Afghan authorities identify the body of a president killed in a coup three decades ago that led to 10 years of Soviet domination, officials said Thursday.

The body of President Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan was among dozens discovered at two mass graves in the Pul-e-Charkhi area, east of Kabul, six months ago, said Ahmad Farid Raaid, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health.

Daud Khan and 17 family members and associates were executed inside the presidential palace in Kabul during a communist-inspired coup in 1978, Raaid said.
Their bodies were taken to a secret location east of the capital and their whereabouts remained a mystery for nearly three decades until a former army general who was involved in the burial came forward earlier this year and identified the spot, Raaid said.

The killings ushered in an era of Soviet domination over the country that lasted for a decade.
Soviet troops rolled into Afghanistan in late December 1979.
They occupied the country for 10 years and were forced to leave as the Soviet Union was collapsing in 1989.

Following the discovery of the mass graves in July, current President Hamid Karzai formed a commission to determine whether some of the remains were those of Daud Khan and his family.
Teeth molds were used to identify the late president's body but the key was a small golden Quran that was found with his remains, Raaid said.
"This Quran was given to him as a gift by the king of Saudi Arabia when he went on a trip" to the kingdom, Raaid said.

New Readers

And then there was 146 ...

Carolina Naturally would like to welcome our newest readers from our newest country:

Marshall Islands

Only 50 more to go and we will have reached every nation on the planet!

Great minds really do think alike

Ain't it the truth, George ain't it the truth!

Few people think more than two or three times a year.
I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

~ George Bernard Shaw

Did you know that ...

The Peanut was first domesticated in Prehistoric Peru.

And I Quote

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

~ Bill Vaughan

You get it, now!

OK, one more time ...

For all of you raving lunatics out there who keep insisting Obama is not a citizen of the United States.

Let's see what the Constitution of the United States has to say on the matter, shall we!?!

14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

1) Jus soli: ANYBODY born on United States territory* is a US citizen and can run for President once they come of age (except for a few exceptions having to do with children born to diplomatic personnel of foreign powers).

The citizenship of the parents does not matter. Even if the parents are tourists. Even if the parents are illegal aliens. Even if the parents are extra-terrestrials. Even if the parents are a petri dish and an eyedropper their status as citizens or not, does not matter!

(*Those born in US "possessions" are accorded that status of "US Nationals", which is the equivalent of a permanent resident. The only US possessions which are not territories that automatically confer natural born citizen status are American Samoa and Swains Island.)

2) Jus sanguinis: The child of two American citizens born anywhere in the universe is an American citizen. Or, any universe for that matter.

3) Anyone born abroad prior to November 14, 1986 with one parent who is a US citizen, so long as that citizen parent has lived in the US a total of at least 5 years, 2 which were after the age of 14.

Obama's mother was a citizen of the United States, having resided in the country from birth until well past her 14th year ... so no matter how you try to combine half-lies and outright lies, Obama is a natural born citizen of these United States. Where he was born or where his father was a citizen of is immaterial.

The one that didn't get away ...

The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

"My first reaction was - you gotta be kidding," he said Wednesday.

The fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted Richardson on November 28th in Buna, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, after tracking him down with help from the Internet.

His fisherman hero asked to remain anonymous.

Richardson, 41, said he lost the ring about two weeks after his 1987 graduation from Universal Technical Institute in Houston. His mom had bought it for about $200 and wasn't pleased when it went missing.

As a mechanic, Richardson said he doesn't wear jewelry so he tucked the undamaged ring away.

"I have not cleaned it," he said. "I told my wife I don't want to clean it."

Customer spots cook butchering deer in pizzeria

A Pennsylvania pizzeria insists venison is not on the menu - despite the impression a customer may have gotten when she saw one of the cooks butchering a deer in the shop's kitchen.

The manager of Stromboli Pizza in Allentown says a customer saw one of the restaurant cooks carving up a deer Tuesday. But John Okumus says the venison was not intended for the store.

He says he shot a doe during a hunt and left the carcass in the store's kitchen for pickup by a friend. Okumus says a customer complained to the city health department after seeing a cook mistakenly butcher the deer.

The department investigated the incident but did not issue a citation.

*****

Mistakingly butcher a deer?! Oh, there is no mistake in butchering the deer unless he didn't now how to do it. The mistake was in where he did the job. I don't know about up there but around here ... you butcher any game animal in a restaurant - you are shut down. Heck you even butcher a domestic animal in a restaurant - you are shut down. Restaurants are not designed to be a butcher shop and contamination of foods is all but a certainty if you do.

Man pinched in NC for murder in Texas

A Texas fugitive has been arrested in North Carolina on capital murder charges in the 1989 deaths of two men who were shot while sitting at a bar.

Pedro Romero was appointed a public defender Wednesday during his first court appearance in Winston-Salem. He is being held without bond at the Forsyth County Jail. No future court date has been set.

Fort Worth, Texas, police and the U.S. Marshal's Service tracked Romero to North Carolina. It's unclear how long he had been in the state. Winston-Salem police said the 59-year-old was arrested without incident Tuesday during a traffic stop.

Authorities said Romero fled to Mexico after shooting Juan Pablo Chavez and Isidro Carbajal following an argument at the bar Romero ran with his brother.

Black is back

Vintage Lewis Black

Florida man accused of making boy drive on beer run

From the "Air or Granite because it sure isn't brains between the ears" Department:

Authorities in southwest Florida say an intoxicated man had his 9-year-old son take him on a beer run. Cape Coral police arrested the 27-year-old man last week, after seeing a pickup truck drive onto a median.

When officers stopped the truck, the man told them he was teaching his son to drive. Officers say the father's speech was slurred, his breath smelled of alcohol and he unable to stand without swaying. Police said an open case of Budweiser beer was in the backseat.

The man was charged with cruelty toward a child and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive. He was released from jail on $2,000 bond

Man uses candy cane to foil knife wielding attacker

A man using a candy cane lawn ornament fended off a knife-wielding neighbor who had been attacking holiday guests at a Sacramento home. Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said the man used the two-foot-tall plastic ornament to subdue the attacker until officers arrived.

He said the 49-year-old suspect became intoxicated, went over to a neighbor's home on Thanksgiving and began waving a kitchen knife at people gathered on the lawn.

He cut several peoples' clothing before one of them decided to fight back.

Police said the man with the knife was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The guest who took up the candy cane was not arrested because police determined he acted in self-defense.

Harper is not right ... ahem, correct that is

To let you know ALL neo-cons be they homegrown crazies here in the USA or elsewhere are the same - exactly.

In Canada a banding together of the majority parties to oust the unresponsive and uncooperative minority party of the conservatives and Stephen Harper has been called 'undemocratic' by the same said Harper ranting against the majority for attempting to be democratic and let the majority rule.

One Canadian blogger puts it this way:

"The proposed coalition could be the most representative government of my lifetime, it could perhaps be the most democratic government in Canadian history."

It is painfully obvious that neo-cons don't deal well with reality (hell, they don't deal with it at all).
And in typical call it something other than what it is in hopes of distracting the mindless, Harper is crying foul trying to call the most democratic of means of governance undemocratic.
Pathetic really.

It is a good thing they are tossing him and his party out on their collective arses.

Prop 8 - The Musical

In answer to the nit-wits who pushed for Prop 8!

'Self-embedding disorder' among teens

A new study by radiologists reports on teenage girls embedding needles, glass, and other objects in their flesh. While sub-dermal implants are nothing new in the realm of extreme body modifications, the researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio suggest that the increasing number cases they've seen are actually a form of self-injury similar to cutting.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Personnel at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, report extracting 52 foreign objects that 10 teenage girls deliberately embedded in their arms, hands, feet, ankles and necks over the last three years, including needles, staples, wood, stone, glass, pencil lead and a crayon.

One patient had inserted 11 objects, including an unfolded metal paper clip more than 6 inches long...

The study, presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, is the first to report on this type of self-inflicted injury among teenagers, the researchers said. They call the behavior "self-embedding disorder."

Dr. William E. Shiels II, the study's principal investigator and the hospital's chief of radiology, said that uncovering the behavior was unexpected but that researchers are now hearing about cases in other cities. The hospital recently set up a national registry to track incidents and conduct research.

"Radiologists uncover, label new teen affliction"

Lots of eggs, but no babies for Galapagos tortoise

By this point in his long life, Lonesome George should be at least a grandfather.
But even fatherhood appears to be eluding the Galapagos tortoise, estimated to be between 75 and 80 years old and believed to be the last living member of the Geochelone abigdoni species.
Galapagos National Park officials announced Wednesday that eight eggs laid by the giant tortoise's two female companions are infertile.
The disappointing news came 130 days after conservationists placed the eggs in an artificial incubator - the first time any of George's mates had produced eggs after 36 years of attempts by park rangers.

Nosey Seas Confounding Whales and Dolphins

The songs that whales and dolphins use to communicate, orient themselves and find mates are being drowned out by human-made noises in the world's oceans, U.N. officials and environmental groups said today.

That sound pollution - everything from increasing commercial shipping and seismic surveys to a new generation of military sonar - is not only confounding the mammals, it also is further threatening the survival of these endangered animals.

Studies show that these cetaceans, which once communicated over thousands of miles (kilometers) to forage and mate, are losing touch with each other, the experts said on the sidelines of a U.N. wildlife conference in Rome.

"Call it a cocktail-party effect," said Mark Simmonds, director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, a Britain-based NGO.
"You have to speak louder and louder until no one can hear each other anymore."

A further, indirect source of noise pollution may also be coming from climate change, which is changing the chemistry of the oceans and making sound travel farther through sea water, the experts said

States Flunk College Affordability

An independent report on American higher education flunks North Carolina and all but one other state when it comes to affordability -- an embarrassing verdict that is unlikely to improve as the economy contracts.

The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, which evaluates how well higher education is serving the public, handed out Fs for affordability to 49 states, up from 43 two years ago. Only California received a passing grade in the category, a C, thanks to its relatively inexpensive community colleges.

The report card uses a range of measurements to give states grades, from A to F, on the performance of their public and private colleges. The affordability grade is based on how much of the average family's income it costs to go to college.

In North Carolina, the study found that poor and working-class families must devote 32 percent of their income, even after financial aid, to pay for costs at two-year colleges.

The problem of affordability seems likely to worsen as the economy does, said Patrick Callan, the center's president.

Historically during downturns, "states make disproportionate cuts in higher education and, in return for the colleges taking them gracefully, allow them to raise tuition," Callan said. "If we handle this recession like we've handled others, we will see that this gets worse."

Callan said the United States is at best standing still while other countries pass it in areas like college enrollment and completion. And as higher education fails to keep up with population growth, the specter lurks of new generations less educated than their Baby Boomer predecessors.

"The educational strength of the American population is in the group that's about to retire," Callan said. "In the rest of the world it's the group that's gone to college since 1990."

See the full report is available at www.highereducation.org.

President Obama and governors tackle the economy

Obama speaking to an assembly of nearly all of the nation's governors

From Change.gov

Speaking to an assembly of nearly all of the nation's governors in Philadelphia on Tuesday, President-elect Obama called for innovation and collaboration, and invited dissenting opinions on how best to fix the economy.

"To solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states, we're going to need action, and we're going to need action swiftly," he said. "[I]f we're listening to the governors, then the money that we spend is going to be well-spent. And it means that it's going to get working faster, and the people in your states are going to experience prosperity sooner."

Governors and governors-elect from nearly every state attended. President-elect Obama quoted Justice Louis Brandeis, who said "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory," and encouraged Democratic and Republican governors alike to seek creative solutions.

"We are not going to be hampered by ideology in trying to get this country back on track," he said. "We want to figure out what works."

Before the meeting began, President-elect Obama walked across the street to greet some schoolchildren who had assembled there.

DC wants Obama to back Congress vote with limo tag

The District of Columbia is urging President Barack Obama to use license plates on the presidential limousine that support the city's attempt to get a vote in Congress.

A letter sent from the city council this week asks Obama to use license tags that proclaim: "Taxation Without Representation."

Eight years ago, the city began printing license plates with the slogan.
Shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton had the tags on his presidential limousine.
The shrub quickly them removed.

Obama supported a bill last year that would have given D.C. a seat in the House.
His transition team said in an e-mail that they would respond later to the council's letter.

Humming right along

2600 posts and humming right along!

Costco says 'No' to Christmas...literally

In a letter sent to fellow low-brows Wildmon, the founder of that cluster-fuck of religo-loonys, the un-American Family-less ASS0ciation, implores his brethren morons to whine even more about their self deluded 'they declared war on xmas' fanatical lunacy they spout every year right about now.

To Wit:

Costco has 520 stores nationwide. But you will not find "Christmas" in a single store.

That's because Costco says it will not use the term "Christmas" on its website or in its stores.
Instead, Costco is telling customers it purposely chooses to use the generic "holiday" verbiage.
You know, they stock holiday gifts, not Christmas gifts.

Last week, a customer wrote to Costco and asked this direct question – "Does Costco use the word
'Christmas' in your store advertising or on any signs anywhere in your stores during the Christmas season?"
Kory Rosacrans, staff manager for Costco replied, "I guess the answer would be No."

Costco wants you to do your "Christmas" shopping with them,
while refusing to recognize that Christmas even exists.

Take Action!

Do what I'm doing. WRITE TO COSTCO and bitch like the religiously-insane wing-nut you are.
We have two wars going badly and our economy is dying but the only thing on my mind is punishing American businesses who fail to jump through my idiotic rhetorical hoops.

Sincerely, Donald E Wildmon,

Founder and Chairman, American "Hummer" Association

Do what they are doing?!

I am going to shop at Costco simply because they are standing up to these whack-jobs and so should everyone else with a pulse who wants to.

(Editors Note: OK, so the last paragraph of the letter was edited to properly and more accurately reflect the intent and purpose of the letter during the editorial process ... so what of it!?)

For these severely screwed-up individuals ... Go to hell!

For the rest of us ... Happy Holidays, be it xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Zippie-de-do-dah, or whatever.

By the way to all you not learned in the proper spelling of xmas ... it is just that x-m-a-s.

The Roman catholic church's liturgy of christ's mass is another whole ball game.

Alabama county sets 'Barack Obama Day' as new holiday

And you thought only ignorant rednecks lived in Alabama ...

A central Alabama county has created an annual holiday in honor of president Obama.

The Perry County commission voted to observe the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day."

County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday.

The holiday is meant to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved by reflecting on Obama's victory.

Ihrer Referate, bitte.

UK government sneaking in mandatory ID cards

"The UK Government planning to sneak in a police power to make anyone who has ever entered the country, at any time, prove who they are. This would effectively cover any British citizen who has ever left the UK, even for a holiday, because they will have "entered" the UK on their return. It will mean that for the first time in more than half a century that the police will be able to demand your papers."

ID cards are not voluntary

American Folk Music Legend

Odetta
(December 31, 1930 - December 2, 2008)

Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century,
died yesterday.
She was 77

Did you get the Memo

By Order Of The Management.

Memo To the following staff:
Anyone, Someone, Everyone, No-one

Instructions for Job Delegation:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there is an important job to be done get Someone to do it.
If it isn’t so important, Anyone can do it.
If Everyone is out, No-one can do it.
And if No-one can do it, then Someone will pay for it.
If the job does not get done, Someone will still pay for it, but No-one can
blame Anyone if Everyone was responsible.
Furthermore, if Anyone has anything to say, don’t talk to Everyone about it
because Someone will get upset and No-one will like it, so come and see one
of us.