The Daily Drift

Yes, vote the repugicans out - America cannot take any more of their stupidity! 

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Today in History

394		Theodosius becomes sole ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus.
1422		Sultan Murat II ends a vain siege of Constantinople.
1522		One of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellan's trip around the world makes it back to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.
1688		Imperial troops defeat the Turks and take Belgrade, Serbia.
1793		French General Jean Houchard and his 40,000 men begin a three-day battle against an Anglo-Hanoveraian army at Hondschoote, southwest Belgium, in the wars of the French Revolution.
1847		Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond and moves back into town, to Concord, Massachusetts.
1861		Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces capture Paducah, Kentucky from Confederate forces.
1870		The last British troops to serve in Austria are withdrawn.
1901		President William McKinley is shot while attending a reception at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, by 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz. McKinley dies eight days later, the third American president assassinated.
1907		The luxury liner Lusitania leaves London for New York on her maiden voyage.
1918		The German Army begins a general retreat across the Aisne, with British troops in pursuit.
1936		Aviator Beryl Markham flies the first east-to-west solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1937		The Soviet Union accuses Italy of torpedoing two Russian ships in the Mediterranean.
1941		Germany announces that all Jews living in the country will have to begin wearing a Star of David.
1943		The United States asks the Chinese Nationals to join with the Communists to present a common front to the Japanese.
1953		The last American and Korean prisoners are exchanged in Operation Big Switch, the last official act of the Korean War.
1965		Indian troops invade Lahore; Pakistan paratroopers raid Punjab.
1976		A Soviet pilot lands his MIG-25 in Tokyo and asks for political asylum in the United States.
1988		Lee Roy Young becomes the first African-American Texas Ranger in the force's 165-year history.

Did you know ...

That Ryan Louis Cooper wonders if professional blogging might lead to plagiarism

... and the NYTimes wonders when lying became so prevalent. Uh, Pot? Meet Kettle...

That alcohol is a bigger gateway drug than marijuana

Oh, and here's the original Paul Ryan marathon running time calculator

The repugicans are livid over Dem video of Ted Kennedy criticizing Romney

Brilliant.

From HuffPo:

In a politically savvy move, Democrats on Tuesday used clips from Mitt Rommey's losing 1994 campaign for Senate against the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in a moving video tribute to Kennedy, who served nearly five decades in the Senate.
Clips shown during the first night of the Democratic National Convention included Romney's now infamous reiteration of his pro-choice position, in which he assured voters, "You will not see me wavering on that." More recently, as he pursued national office, Romney has reversed himself on abortion rights, and is now firmly anti-abortion.

rnc chair Reince Priebus, known of late for his racist attacks on President Obama, tweeted about the video in anger:

The video prompted repugican national cabal chairman Reince Priebus to tweet: “Classless Dems use tribute video of deceased Ted Kennedy to attack Mitt Romney.”

Right. Because the guy who planned on using a hologram of deceased Ronald Reagan at last week's repugican cabal would know anything about class.

And of course, why didn't they use a dead Reagan hologram? Not because of any sense of decorum. Oh no. Get this:

So why were the plans axed? According to Reynolds, it was out of concern the deceased Reagan might outshadow the very-much-alive Romney. ”At the time he hadn’t chosen Paul Ryan, so I think they were a little worried about his energy,” Reynolds said. ”Even in a hologram form I think Reagan’s going to beat a lot of people in terms of communicating.”

The repugicans were afraid that even a dead guy would have more appeal than a very much alive Mitt Romney.

Priceless.

CNN wingnut talking head calls Demoratic convention "vagina monologues"

CNN talking head, and wingnut blogger, Erick Erickson is finding himself in some hot water after his tweet about tonight's Democratic Convention speakers, many of whom were women:

"First night of the Vagina Monologues in Charlotte going as expected."

I guess to a repugican it's artifice when you let women-folk in to the boys' tree house.

Phil Lynott's mother deeply upset by Mitt Romney using Thin Lizzy's music

The mother of Irish rock legend Phil Lynott has objected to the Mitt Romney campaign using Thin Lizzy's music at last week's repugican national cabal. Philomena (Phyllis) Lynott said her son would not have approved of the US Republicans playing the Thin Lizzy anthem "The Boys Are Back In Town" at Romney's nomination as presidential candidate.

She said that the late Thin Lizzy front man would have rejected any association with the repugicans particularly the christian right wing of the cabal. The 81-year-old Dublin woman has said that she was upset that one of her son's most famous rock songs was used by the repugicans to endorse Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan. The Thin Lizzy singer would have opposed the repugican anti-gay and pro-rich policies, she said. Instead she believed her son would have backed Barack Obama.

She said: "As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney's opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported. He had some wonderful gay friends, as indeed I do, and they deserve equal treatment in every respect, whether in Ireland or the United States. Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas. There is nothing I can do about it except express my views,"

She added, "But I do want to be clear that I would not want Philip's music to be used in any way that could hurt a single person, and this is the effect of what happened with Paul Ryan using and abusing my son's music in that way. A lot of fans and musicians are very angry about it and I can fully understand why. There is a black president of America, which to me – as it would have been to Philip, as a proud, black Irishman – is wonderfully symbolic. I have a lot of time for Barack Obama, so to hear 'The Boys Are Back in Town' being appropriated by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their campaign against him is deeply upsetting."

The repugican cabal and Romney invent their own reality

The Romney campaign repeats its lies no matter how many times they're dis-proven  

A half-dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's claims that President Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $716 billion.
The New York Times even reported that Mr. Romney has been "falsely charging" President Obama with removing the work requirement. USA Today calls the Romney campaign's claim that Mr. Obama has "funneled" money out of Medicare to pay for the federal health care law a "false line of attack" that's directly contradicted by Medicare's chief actuary. "Medicare's money isn't being taken away," the paper concludes.

More

The DOJ accuses BP of "culture of corporate recklessness"

Everyone who follows the environment has known this for a long time, but glad to see the Department of Justice coming around. While in the US this week I've watched a few BP TV commercials that are floating their corporate line about cooperation and help, conveniently overlooking the widely reported problems starting with the failed response right into their payment problems with those negatively impacted by the massive oil spill.
The DOJ could and should be doing more to stand up for those hit by the bad choices made by big business. It's false to be labeled as "bad for business" when demanding accountability by a business though that won't stop some from making the charge.

Why should BP be above the law?

“The behavior, words and actions of these BP executives would not be tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall,” the government lawyers wrote.

“Yet they were condoned in a corporation engaged in an activity [deepwater drilling] that no less a witness than Tony Hayward [former BP chief executive] himself described as comparable to exploring outer space.”

If the DoJ can establish gross negligence, the penalties under the Clean Water Act would be up to $21 billion, depending on how much oil was spilled. Compensatory and punitive damages would come on top of that sum.

Creditors propose 6 day work week for Greece

Maybe the creditors would be even happier if first born children will be signed over to the creditors or would they prefer a country of indentured servants?

Shameful.

Greeks should operate a six-day working week for all sectors, international creditors said in a letter to the Greek government, a measure which forms part of a wider set of demands in return for aid to the country.

In the leaked letter, reported in the Guardian newspaper, the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund call for Athens to implement the measure as part of the bailout agreement with lenders.

According to the paper, the letter states that more flexibility must be implemented to work schedules, including working into the weekend by increasing the number of maximum working days to six.

Software Company CEO: "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar."

Kyle Wiens, the CEO of a software development company, gives an English grammar test to prospective employees. Here's why:

If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.
Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts.

But why is this important for computer programmers?

You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are "essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms." The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings — not just computers.
And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil's in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything.
I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don't think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren't important.

More

Forget TV Pickers, Meet The Real Mavericks Of The Antiques World

Long before Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz swaggered into the spotlight with 'American Pickers,' writer Maureen Stanton became fascinated with another rugged Alpha Male of the antiques world. But unlike Wolfe and Fritz, the brash 40-something man she calls by the pseudonym 'Curt Avery' tends to avoid the spotlight.

Avery is a professional antiques hustler, wheeling and dealing at flea markets all over the country - 30 or 40 per year. And between September 4 and 9, 2012, he'll be one of thousands of vendors at the last Brimfield Antique Show of the year, the largest such outdoor flea market in the country, which happens three times a summer.

Driveway

Cops Bust Teen Boys In Walmart "Arrest" Scheme

Dopey duo sought to steal $20 worth of Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards

In a scheme that could only be hatched by a pair of teenage boys, a 17-year-old Floridian yesterday posed as an plainclothes cop and "arrested" his underage buddy for purportedly shoplifting $20 worth of Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards from a Walmart, police report.

More

Elderly Farmer Accidentally Plants 1,000 Pot Plants

The 74-year-old German man mistook their seeds for those of sunflowers
By Sam Schulz

A German farmer unwittingly planted pot plants in his field, police told NBC News.

An elderly German farmer accidentally planted more than 1,000 pot plants, mistaking their seeds for sunflower seeds, police told NBC News on Wednesday.

Concerned neighbors alerted police in the Bavarian town of Moembris to the one-acre field where the 74-year-old was growing cannabis in place of his usual potatoes, NBC News reported.

The cops told the man, whose name they didn't release, to destroy the plants — which he did at their insistence. It is a crime in Germany to knowingly grow pot plants.

"The friendly elderly gentleman was surprised at the strange plants that had grown next to the flowers but did not identify them as cannabis plants," a police statement said.

According to police, officials said the leaves of the type of cannabis plants the man had accidentally planted were too weak to be intoxicating. Still, the case was presented to a local prosecutor so a judge could decide whether to file charges.

Buffalo man tried to eat bogus $50 bills

Authorities say a 35-year-old Larry Jones tried to swallow several counterfeit $50 bills after he was caught trying to use the bogus money at a western New York amusement park.
More 

The Benefits Of Drinking Water

This infographic dispels some of the common myths surrounding the benefits of drinking water. Additionally it shows how much men and women should drink and shows the proportion of water in the human body.

The Snappy Lunch

Owner of restaurant touted by Andy Griffith dies

 

The owner of a Mt. Airy, N.C., restaurant made famous by "The Andy Griffith Show" has died after a long illness.
Moody Funeral Home director Rixie Gordon said Charles Dowell died Tuesday. He was 84.
Dowell was known for his "World Famous Pork Chop Sandwich," and for the many years he stood in the window of his restaurant cooking the pork chops while tourists watched through a window.
Griffith's TV character, Sheriff Andy Taylor, once recommended Snappy Lunch as a nice place to take a date.
The restaurant opened in 1923 inside a former post office building and provided lunch for mill workers and students at nearby schools. Dowell started working there in 1943. After buying out his partner, he became the sole owner in 1960.

Vegetarian-Only McDonald's Opening in India

McDonald's is planning to open a vegetarian-only restaurant in India, the first ever in the fast food chain's history.

  More

So, even less real food at Micky D's - who thought that possible?!

Random Photo

ATMs installed in Indian police stations to ward off thieves

Banks in India's Jaipur city have begun installing cash machines inside police stations in a bid to ward off burglars.

The government-owned Bank of Baroda became the first to install a cash machine inside the Kotwali police station in north Jaipur. The police have rented out the space at 20,000 rupees (£227; $360) a month. Jaipur has 59 police stations.

Thieves have often targeted unguarded ATMs in the city to steal cash. In one case, they escaped with a machine. A Bank of Baroda official said they would no longer need to deploy security guards at the ATMs since burglars would not dare to enter a police station.

Jaipur police commissioner BL Soni said that they had reached an understanding with both government and private banks to install ATMs at police stations. "The scheme will benefit both sides. It will ensure security [for the ATMs] and we will earn some rent," Mr Soni said.