Hispanic attacked by white NY gang, dies

Police say a Hispanic man has been attacked on Long Island by a gang of white teenagers and stabbed to death.

Suffolk County police officers responding to an emergency call Saturday night say they found 37-year-old Ecuadorean Marcello Lucero stabbed in the chest in Patchogue.

They say a friend who was with him was unhurt.

Police say they quickly rounded up seven white boys ages 16 and 17 from Medford and East Patchogue.

The boys are charged with gang assault.

One of them is charged with manslaughter as a hate crime.

They're being held until arraignment Monday.

*****

Sadly ... The Hate continues.

While this incident may have nothing to do with the recent election - it has everything to do with it.
We as a nation turned to our foundations of truth and hope.
Yet there are those that wallow in the muck and mire of hate and want all of us to wallow with them.
In this climate those who hate feel free to hate even more and to act upon that hate.

We have to put an end to their sense of entitlement to hate and do as they please.
The election of those seeking to progress and the reverence to hope in lieu of the reverence of fear is the first step.

As for these low-brows, breaking a stout hickory ax handle across the bridge of their noses would be a good start.

Nurse in Times Square war photo reunites with Navy

A 90-year-old who says she's the woman being kissed by a sailor in Times Square in one of World War II's most famous photographs reunited in town with the Navy on Sunday - days before she is to serve as grand marshal of the city's Veterans Day parade.

Edith Shain of Los Angeles, donning a white nurse's uniform like the one she wore back in 1945, went to see the musical revival of "South Pacific" and posed for pictures, being hoisted off her feet on stage by five of the actors in their Navy whites.

On Tuesday, she'll ride in the parade at the head of a contingent of World War II veterans.

The Three Stooges

They Stooge to Conga

Old Time Blues with Robert Johnson

Crossroads Blues

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now,
Save poor Bob if you please

Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by

Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down

You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin',
Lord, baby I'm sinkin' down

I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well,
Babe, in my distress

A Farewell To Douchebags & The New Rules

Bill Maher on November 7, 2008

Also on November 7, 2008

And I Quote

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.

~ Elbert Hubbard

'Madagascar' roars into theaters

Families herded into movie theaters for another trek with stranded zoo animals as the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" led the weekend with a $63.5 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The haul for the DreamWorks Animation comedy far surpassed the $47.2 million debut for "Madagascar" over Memorial Day weekend in 2005.

Its three-day total also beat the $61 million gross the first movie took in over that full four-day holiday weekend.

"It just shows people seem happy to escape to the movies and have a good laugh," said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.

While parents with children were the bulk of the audience, "Madagascar" also drew teens and adults on their own, who made up half the audience on Friday and one-third on Saturday, Globe said.

Well said, well said indeed.

More Zippity-Doo-Dah From the Fading Right

By RS Janes

In the anguished ‘why we lost’ analyses in the days to come from the Fox News-Karl Rove-Bill Kristol neocons and their compadres in the Big Media, still discombobulated over Obama’s landslide victory in what they think is a ‘center-right’ conservative nation – the ‘liberal socialist’ Obama of November 3rd even magically transforming into a ‘fiscal conservative’ 24 hours later to preserve this incredible myth — you’ll read much about how the economic meltdown in late September killed McCain’s chances after he had pulled even or ahead in the polls. Horse pucky. McCain and Palin’s sour performance in the debates, the GOP’s over-the-top negative ads, a miserably run campaign, Palin’s exposure as an ignorant nitwit, plus the general public disgust with the Bush Republican Party had as much to do with his loss as the financial crisis. Also underestimated are Obama’s superior organization, discipline, massive GOTV efforts in most of the fifty states, and that the country, already centrist-liberal except in name, has been trending more to the left for many years.

Read the rest here.

Monks brawl at christian holy site in Jerusalem

How 'very christian' of them, don't you think?! The epitome of 'christian charity'!



Rival monks brawled at one of christianity's holiest sites, and police have detained two clergymen for questioning.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says fighting erupted Sunday between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The church marks the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Police detained one monk from each side.

Rosenfeld says fighting flared over preparations for the annual ceremony held by the Armenians to commemorate the 4th century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.

Six Christian sects control the ancient church.

They regularly fight over turf and influence, and Israeli police must occasionally intervene.

Mac Duff is a very talented dog

Mac Duff is a very talented dog.
Just don't call him a dog - he thinks he's human.

His newest talent in his cadre is 'opening cabinets' ... doors in general to be exact.
He knows where we keep his food at and will open the door when he is hungry and get his bowl and push it up the the cabinet and then tap on it loudly to say 'hey, feed me'.

Now I know a lot of you out there have dogs that do the same or similar so no biggie right.
Well you are right it is no real biggie but his talent for answering the phone is.

He will take the phone off the hook when it rings and listen to whomever is on the other end ... if it is a friend he barks once to say 'hang on' and comes and gets one of us.
But if it is a telemarketer he barks incessantly into the phone (very loudly, too) until they hang up - he is such a good dog.
He began answering the phone about two years ago on his own, out of the blue and began his routine as I described instantly - we haven't been bothered by too many telemarketers since.
He knows who are our friends and good people are in general so telemarketers beware.

And the recent election calls got the same treatment as telemarketers.
He only got us for Obama's calls. The rest got an earful.

What If McCain's Concession Speech Was As Bitter As His Campaign

As I said earlier McCain found where he had lost himself to McPain when he gave his concession speech last Tuesday and gave a statesman-like speech.
Had he taken that approach during the campaign it might have been a close race - he still would have been defeated, but it probably would have been less of a landslide for Obama.

However from the reactions of his supporters during the speech and after I don't think they heard the same speech as the rest of us did.
The following is an example of what they more than likely heard:

If McCain's Concession Speech Was As Bitter As His Campaign -- powered by Cracked.com

It is not the speech he gave but it is the speech the rabid wing-nuts heard ... or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Plans for a Food Policy?

Ethicurean, has a rather extensive post exploring what the newly elected American president might do differently about food, farms, and related systems of energy and technology in the United States:

According to Speech Wars, between April and October, John McCain uttered the word “agriculture” only twice, and “nutrition” just once. Barack Obama did slightly better, referring to “agriculture” twelve times and “nutrition” four times. He gave farms a passing mention in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August. But let’s face it: for the most part, food was a quiet issue, sacrificed to our discussions about race and religion, gender and sexism, oil and bailouts.

Meanwhile, food prices continued to rise. Our nation continued to lose farms daily. We continued to spend billions of dollars treating lifestyle diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Rural towns continued to wither. Fertilizer runoff continued to damage our drinking water.

There’s no way around it: the Obama administration will need to address food issues head-on.

Last month, Michael Pollan published a sweeping letter to the next president, Farmer in Chief, in the New York Times. After Pollan’s article was published, the American Farmland Trust noted that “there is no topic of greater importance than the issues [Pollan] raises…it is time to elevate these issues to their rightful place on our national agenda.”

Turns out Obama might agree; Obama read Pollan’s article and even worked it into discussions of energy policy. So what might we expect from an Obama administration when it comes to food policy? Maybe quite a bit. In his plan for rural America, he lays out a number of policy positions that are a departure from the status quo.

Read the whole post here: What does an Obama win mean for the U.S. food supply?

As of this moment ...

4192 Brave men and women will not be returning from Iraq
ALIVE!

Twenty-Two Hundred

Some days you are the Lion and some days you are the Baboon.
The secret is in knowing the difference!

First Dog

Among the offices Barack Obama has yet to fill, one has a special importance to his family: first dog.

At his first postelection news conference on Friday, the president-elect called choosing a dog a "major issue" in the Obama household and a hot topic on his Web site.

"We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic," he said. "On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me."

*****

With everybody else putting their two-cents on this issue of massive importance (And no, I am not joking. The selection of a canine family member is of the utmost importance.), my two-cents is 'get the mutt', they make better friends than most 'pure breeds'.

Chipotle Beef Chili

You need:

1 teaspoon extra olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
Nonstick spray coating
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 4 teaspoons chopped, chipotle peppers
8 ounces beef top sirloin steak
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1 14-1/2-ounce can no salt added/low sodium tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 8-ounce can no salt added/low sodium tomato sauce

How to:

1. Trim fat from beef. Cut beef into bite-size strips. Spray a large saucepan with nonstick coating. Preheat on medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef in saucepan over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until beef is browned. Remove beef from saucepan; set aside.

2. Carefully add oil to hot saucepan. Cook garlic in hot oil until tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, chipotle peppers, basil, oregano, chili powder, and cumin. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Return to simmering. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Return beef to saucepan. Heat through. Makes three 1-1/2-cup servings.

Bali nightclub bombers executed

Three men convicted of killing 202 people in a 2002 bombing at two nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali were executed by firing squad early Sunday.

Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and his brother Mukhlas, who is also known as Ali Ghufron, were executed at 12:15 a.m. at Nusa Kampangan prison, said Jasman Panjaitan, a spokesman for Indonesia's attorney-general.

Same old clap-trap

"His promise to 'spread the weath around', scares the shit out of me. Watch your wallets with the Democrats in charge!"

The quote above and many such quotes are coming from the still ignorant and ill-informed about Obama's and the Democrats Landslide (a true landslide and not just called one to benefit the republicans as they have called every election they have stolen) last Tuesday.

They are ignorant to believe the lies they are fed by the republicans - particularly the repugican fringe - and woefully ill-informed as to who is better for your wallet.

From the very beginning of the republican party to today, the largest and most severe tax hikes in history have been their doing - every single one!

And it is not only taxes but investments as well are far better off with the Democrats in charge than when the republicans are screwing everyone over.

Each party has 'controlled' the government for 40 years each - give or take - since the stock market crash of 1929 that plunged us into Great Depression.

Now here is a little fact for you to chew on all you wing-nuts out there.

If you had $10,000 dollars to invest in 1929 and you only invested it during times republicans were 'in charge' you would have made a profit of $41,000 dollars in those forty years and have $51,000 dollars in the bank.

Not too shabby you say.

But wait ...

With the Democrats in charge and with that same initial $10,000 dollar investment invested only when they were in charge for their forty years you would have a profit of $375,000 dollars and have $385,000 in the bank.

OK, so tell me again that the republicans are better for my wallet again?!

Statehood

Found this over at Grow-A-Brain.
Do you know when your state joined the United states?

Monkey waiters ... Honest!

I have had some 'monkeys' for waiters in restaurants before but not quite as literal as these.
A restaurant in Japan has two monkeys waiting on tables.
Check out this BBC video of the two waiters in action.