CAROLINA NATURALLY

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in the excitement and challenges of your life that the days just fly by.
One minute it's Monday afternoon, and then suddenly it's Friday night!
But once time passes it's gone forever.
So right now it's important for you to realize that every day is something you need to experience as much as you can.
Take notice of the people and events around you and you'll be privy to some useful insight.
Slow down if you need to.
Don't take anything for granted.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Reykjavik, Reykjavik, Iceland
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Florence, Toscana, Italy
Cork, Cork, Ireland
Vilnius, Vilnaius Apskritis, Lithuania
Isai, Isai, Romania
Kiev, Kiev, Ukraine
Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea
Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
London, England, United Kingdom
Stoke On Trent, England, United Kingdom
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland

and in cities across the United States such as Rocky Point, High Point, South Point, Lookout Point and more.

Today is:

Today is Thursday, July 28, the 209th day of 2011.

There are 156 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

National Milk Chocolate Day
and
National Chili Dog Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Girl's death inspires charity

Donations flood girl's cause after death

Rachel Beckwith's tragic death inspires thousands to give far more than her $300 goal for clean water.

Birthday wish

Also:

Non Sequitur

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ucomics.com/nq110728.gif

'All-you-can-eat' diet foods

'All-you-can-eat' diet foods take off

New products let you eat two servings of noodles and a whole pint of dessert with 190 calories total.

'Realistic' approach

Also:

Coffee wars are heating up

Dunkin' heats up the coffee wars

The doughnut chain plans to double its stores, which could make it bigger than Starbucks.

Trouble for local shops

Also:

In the News

Girl struck by lightning on sunny day
An 11-year-old western Pennsylvania girl is recovering after she was struck by a bolt from the blue.

Man who posed as Texas student gets prison

A former star athlete who posed as a teenager to play high school basketball in West Texas was sentenced today to three years in prison after reaching a plea deal, a prosecutor said.

Wingnut media downplays heat wave in US

http://www.bartcop.com/gw-stupidity-24.gif

Remember the old "it's snowing here in X city now so there's no global warming" joke from the climate change deniers? Now that it's a record heat wave in many parts of the US, they're ignoring that as well. An inconvenient truth, indeed.

More from Media Matters:

See, NOAA keeps track of records for different time scales: The daily record compares the temperature on July 24, for instance, to the temperature on every previous July 24; the monthly record compares the temperature on July 24 to the temperature of any day in July of any year; and the all-time record compares the temperature on July 24 to the temperature of any day in any year. On top of that, NOAA provides these records for both the highest maximum temperature and the highest minimum (nighttime) temperature.

Sheppard is reporting the all-time records, describing them as though they are daily records, and ignoring everything else.

Here's the data (from NOAA) on the number of U.S. records broken or tied in the month of July so far:

All-Time Highest Maximum Temperature: 70
All-Time Highest Minimum Temperature: 175
Monthly Highest Maximum Temperature: 125
Monthly Highest Minimum Temperature: 330
Daily Highest Maximum Temperature: 2,125
Daily Highest Minimum Temperature: 4,787

North Korea demands treaty

North Korea demands U.S. peace treaty

On the 58th anniversary of the armistice, an editorial pushes for an official end to the Korean War.

Six-nation talks

Also:

Entire town being sold

Entire South Dakota town for sale

Everything in Scenic could be yours — including its train depot, dance hall, and two jails.

The asking price

Also:

America speaks ...

Obama asks America to contact congress about the debt ceiling, and America crashes congressional servers.

Worse than a U.S. default

One thing that's worse than U.S. default

A downgrade of America's bond rating would be especially damaging to the White House.

How it can be stopped

Also:

Is August 2nd real default deadline?

Is U.S. default deadline truly Aug. 2?

Analysts say the government's cash won't run out right away, even if no deal is in place.

Real date to worry about

Also:

Blunt debt warning to repugicans

Boehner delivers blunt warning to repugicans

The House speaker attempts to salvage his debt plan ahead of a high-stakes vote

repugicans report progress

Also:

It’s now the chamber of commerce vs. the tea party

Okay, I realized we're heading for a debacle if the debt limit isn't increased. But, I did take some satisfaction reading this NYT article about how the Chamber funded a lot of teabagger candidates last year. Now, those teabaggers on a path of economic destruction -- and they're ignoring their old friends at the Chamber:

The chamber and other business groups have pressed with increasing urgency for Congress to raise the maximum amount that the government can borrow. They have cataloged the consequences of default at meetings, parties and dinners and over drinks.

On Tuesday, the chamber threw its weight behind the proposal of the House speaker, John A. Boehner, telling recalcitrant repugicans that a pending vote on the plan was a with-us-or-against-us moment that would be remembered during the next election campaign.

But as the government runs out of money, those efforts have not produced the desired result. The freshman class of House repugicans, along with longer-serving members, is balking at Mr. Boehner’s plan, let alone anything that Senate Democrats and the White House might be willing to accept.

Oh well. The Chamber got what it wanted: A repugican misled House. Seems like they made some bad investments:

Among the beneficiaries was Daniel Webster, a Florida repugican. The chamber spent $250,000 on ads blasting the Democratic incumbent, Representative Alan Grayson. Mr. Webster won.

In July, Mr. Webster introduced legislation instructing the Treasury to prioritize interest payments, then military spending, then Social Security checks, then Medicare payments, “in the event the debt ceiling is reached.” Experts regard the idea as unworkable.

The cult that is destroying America

Paul Krugman again, calls it like he sees'm. and he's so spot on.

Think about what’s happening right now. We have a crisis in which the right is making insane demands, while the president and Democrats in congress are bending over backward to be accommodating — offering plans that are all spending cuts and no taxes, plans that are far to the right of public opinion.

So what do most news reports say? They portray it as a situation in which both sides are equally partisan, equally intransigent — because news reports always do that. and we have influential pundits calling out for a new centrist party, a new centrist president, to get us away from the evils of partisanship.

The reality, of course, is that we already have a centrist president — actually a moderate conservative president. once again, health reform — his only major change to government — was modeled on republican plans, indeed plans coming from the heritage foundation. And everything else — including the wrongheaded emphasis on austerity in the face of high unemployment — is according to the conservative playbook. -

NY Times

Highest U.S. debt loads

Where people are buried in debt

Residents of two states owe the most, shouldering more than $300,000 apiece on average.

10 least indebted states

Also:

County's huge money problem

County's bankruptcy would snap record

Alabama's largest county faces the sad possibility of shattering the current $1.7 billion mark.

Source of debt woes

Also:

The 400 richest Americans pay only 18% tax rate

The feeding frenzy at the top has to stop. It's not possible to ask the middle class to fund wars and fund bailouts for bankers so they can continue to squeeze the system. The disappointment is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are showing any serious signs of reform. If we're supposed to be all in this together, then it's time to start acting as though we're all in this together.
Watching yet another money grab from the richest Americans, non-stop wars and funding for the military industrial complex along with business as usual for Congress hardly sounds like shared sacrifice. Before asking the middle class to sacrifice, have some decency and ask the privileged class to put their money where their mouth is. Until that time, go away.